Atsunobu Suzuki

Publications (16)50.04 Total impact

• Article: Sustained happiness? Lack of repetition suppression in right-ventral visual cortex for happy faces.

  Atsunobu Suzuki, Joshua O S Goh, Andrew Hebrank, Bradley P Sutton, Lucas Jenkins, Blair A Flicker, Denise C Park
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  ABSTRACT: Emotional stimuli have been shown to preferentially engage initial attention but their sustained effects on neural processing remain largely unknown. The present study evaluated whether emotional faces engage sustained neural processing by examining the attenuation of neural repetition suppression to repeated emotional faces. Repetition suppression of neural function refers to the general reduction of neural activity when processing a repeated stimulus. Preferential processing of emotional face stimuli, however, should elicit sustained neural processing such that repetition suppression to repeated emotional faces is attenuated relative to faces with no emotional content. We measured the reduction of functional magnetic resonance imaging signals associated with immediate repetition of neutral, angry and happy faces. Whereas neutral faces elicited the greatest suppression in ventral visual cortex, followed by angry faces, repetition suppression was the most attenuated for happy faces. Indeed, happy faces showed almost no repetition suppression in part of the right-inferior occipital and fusiform gyri, which play an important role in face-identity processing. Our findings suggest that happy faces are associated with sustained visual encoding of face identity and thereby assist in the formation of more elaborate representations of the faces, congruent with findings in the behavioral literature.
  Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience 09/2011; 6(4):434-41. · 6.13 Impact Factor
• Article: Enhanced memory for the wolf in sheep's clothing: facial trustworthiness modulates face-trait associative memory.

  Atsunobu Suzuki, Sayaka Suga
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  ABSTRACT: Our decision about whether to trust and cooperate with someone is influenced by the individual's facial appearance despite its limited predictive power. Thus, remembering trustworthy-looking cheaters is more important than remembering untrustworthy-looking cheaters because we are more likely to trust and cooperate with the former, resulting in a higher risk of unreciprocated cooperation. The present study investigated whether our mind adaptively copes with this problem by enhancing memory for trustworthy-looking cheaters. Participants played a debt game, wherein they learned to discriminate among good, neutral, and bad lenders, who respectively charged no, moderate, and high interest on the debt. Each lender had either a trustworthy- or untrustworthy-looking face. A subsequent memory test revealed that participants remembered the bad traits of trustworthy-looking lenders more accurately than those of untrustworthy-looking lenders. The results demonstrate enhanced memory for trustworthy-looking cheaters, or wolves in sheep's clothing, implying that humans are equipped with protective mechanisms against disguised, unfaithful signs of trustworthiness.
  Cognition 11/2010; 117(2):224-9. · 3.16 Impact Factor
• Article: [Insula and disgust].

  Atsunobu Suzuki
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  ABSTRACT: The disgust emotion is elicited by a variety of stimuli ranging from rotten food to immoral persons. When we encounter such disgusting stimuli, whether they are physical or social, we commonly experience rejection responses by the body such as nausea and revolt. In fact, since the time of Darwin, it has been argued that disgust has its origins in a rejection response to offensive food, and that the sensations of tastes and odors play a crucial role in the experience of disgust. This view predicts that the insula is closely related to disgust because it serves both gustatory and visceral motor functions including the control of vomiting. Indeed, the insula is activated by a broad range of disgust-related stimuli such as disgusted facial expressions, unpleasant odors, pictures of rotten food, and unfair acts. However, increasing evidence indicates that the insula plays an important role in the experience of not only unpleasant but also pleasant bodily feelings. In brief, the insula seems to be involved in the conscious perception of emotional bodily feelings in general, or somatic markers, and assist in our decisions as to approach vs. avoidance.
  Rinshō shinkeigaku = Clinical neurology. 11/2010; 50(11):1000-2.
• Article: Reduced neural selectivity increases fMRI adaptation with age during face discrimination.

  Joshua O Goh, Atsunobu Suzuki, Denise C Park
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  ABSTRACT: Ventral-visual activity in older adults has been characterized by dedifferentiation, or reduced distinctiveness, of responses to different categories of visual stimuli such as faces and houses, that typically elicit highly specialized responses in the fusiform and parahippocampal brain regions respectively in young adults (Park et al., 2004). In the present study, we demonstrate that age-related neural dedifferentiation applies to within-category stimuli (different types of faces) as well, such that older adults process less distinctive representations for individual faces than young adults. We performed a functional magnetic resonance imaging adaptation experiment while young and older participants made same-different judgments to serially presented face-pairs that were Identical, Moderate in similarity through morphing, or Different. As expected, older adults showed adaptation in the fusiform face area (FFA), during the Identical as well as the Moderate conditions relative to the Different condition. Young adults showed adaptation during the Identical condition, but minimal adaptation to the Moderate condition. These results indicate that older adults' FFA treated the morphed faces as Identical faces, reflecting decreased fidelity of neural representation of faces with age.
  NeuroImage 02/2010; 51(1):336-44. · 5.89 Impact Factor
• Article: Facial emotion recognition and cerebral white matter lesions in myotonic dystrophy type 1.

  Mutsutaka Kobayakawa, Natsuko Tsuruya, Akitoshi Takeda, Atsunobu Suzuki, Mitsuru Kawamura
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  ABSTRACT: In order to investigate the cognitive and neurological bases of social cognitive impairment in myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1), we examined the facial expression recognition abilities and the cerebral lesions in a group of DM 1 (5 men, 4 women). We measured sensitivity to facial emotions and compared the findings with magnetic resonance image (MRI) findings evaluated using a semi-quantitative method. The DM1 patients showed lower sensitivity to disgusted and angry faces as compared to the healthy controls. The assessment of brain lesions revealed that more severe lesions occurred in the frontal, temporal, and insular white matters. Sensitivity to the emotion of disgust was negatively correlated with temporal lesions, and sensitivity to anger negatively correlated with frontal, temporal, and insular lesions. The results of this study indicate an association between lesions in the frontal, temporal, and insular subcortices and decreased emotional sensitivity to disgust and anger in DM1 patients. These areas are thought to play an important role in emotional processing in the normal brain. Our results suggest that social cognitive impairment in DM1 patients is attributable to impaired emotional processing linked to white matter lesions.
  Journal of the neurological sciences 12/2009; 290(1-2):48-51. · 2.32 Impact Factor
• Article: Lowered sensitivity to facial emotions in myotonic dystrophy type 1.

  Akitoshi Takeda, Mutsutaka Kobayakawa, Atsunobu Suzuki, Natsuko Tsuruya, Mitsuru Kawamura
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  ABSTRACT: It has been observed that patients with myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1) exhibit social-cognitive impairment. However, the cognitive and neurological bases of the social-cognitive impairment in DM1 have not been adequately investigated. We studied cognitive deficits and impairment in facial expression recognition in two DM1 patients (one man and one woman). We measured the sensitivity of these patients to basic emotions and compared the results with those from magnetic resonance imaging and single photon emission computed tomography. The DM1 patients showed lower sensitivity to fearful, disgusted, and angry faces than did the healthy controls. They also had lesions in the anterior temporal white matter, the amygdala, and the insular and orbitofrontal cortices. The results of this study revealed that the DM1 patients had subcortical lesions in the anterior temporal areas, including the amygdala and the insular and orbitofrontal cortices. The limbic system, which includes these areas of the brain, plays an important role in emotional processing. Hence, the social-cognitive impairment in DM1 patients could be associated with a decreased sensitivity to facial expressions owing to lesions in the limbic system.
  Journal of the neurological sciences 03/2009; 280(1-2):35-9. · 2.32 Impact Factor
• Chapter: Decreased sensitivity to negative facial emotions and limbic lesions in patients with myotonic dystrophy type 1

  Mitsuru Kawamura, Akitoshi Takeda, Mutsutaka Kobayakawa, Atsunobu Suzuki, Masaki Kondo, Natsuko Tsuruya
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  ABSTRACT: It has been noted that patients with myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM 1) exhibit social cognitive impairment. However, the mechanisms of social cognitive functions in DM 1 have not been well examined. We investigated the recognition of facial expressions in patients with DM 1. Four DM 1 patients participated in the experiment. The sensitivity of basic emotions in patients with DM 1 was measured and compared with MRI and SPECT findings. DM 1 patients showed lower sensitivity to fearful, disgusted, and angry faces. DM 1 patients showed lesions in the anterior temporal white matter, the amygdala, the insular, and the orbitofrontal cortex. The sensitivity to facial expressions was decreased in the patients with marked lesions in the anterior temporal area. Patients with relatively mild anterior temporal lesions did not show a significant decrease in sensitivity to facial emotions. The present results indicate subcortical lesions in anterior temporal areas, including the amygdala, the insular, and the orbitofrontal cortex, in some DM 1 patients. Given that the limbic system, including the amygdala, plays an important role in emotional processing, social cognitive impairment in patients with DM 1 could be associated with decreased sensitivity to facial expressions caused by limbic lesions.
  12/2008: pages 161-173;
• Article: Decline or improvement? Age-related differences in facial expression recognition.

  Atsunobu Suzuki, Takahiro Hoshino, Kazuo Shigemasu, Mitsuru Kawamura
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  ABSTRACT: We examined age-related differences in facial expression recognition in association with potentially interfering variables such as general cognitive ability (verbal and visuospatial abilities), face recognition ability, and the experiences of positive and negative emotions. Participants comprised 34 older (aged 62-81 years) and 34 younger (aged 18-25 years) healthy Japanese adults. The results showed not only age-related decline in sadness recognition but also age-related improvement in disgust recognition. Among other variables, visuospatial ability was moderately related to facial expression recognition in general, and the experience of negative emotions was related to sadness recognition. Consequently, age-related decline in sadness recognition was statistically explained by age-related decrease in the experience of negative emotions. On the other hand, age-related improvement in disgust recognition was not explained by the interfering variables, and it reflected a higher tendency in the younger participants to mistake disgust for anger. Possible mechanisms are discussed in terms of neurobiological and socio-environmental factors.
  Biological Psychology 02/2007; 74(1):75-84. · 3.22 Impact Factor
• Source

  Available from: colorado.edu

  Article: Is the genetic structure of human personality universal? A cross-cultural twin study from North America, Europe, and Asia.

  Shinji Yamagata, Atsunobu Suzuki, Juko Ando, Yutaka Ono, Nobuhiko Kijima, Kimio Yoshimura, Fritz Ostendorf, Alois Angleitner, Rainer Riemann, Frank M Spinath, W John Livesley, Kerry L Jang
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  ABSTRACT: This study examined whether universality of the 5-factor model (FFM) of personality operationalized by the Revised NEO Personality Inventory is due to genetic influences that are invariant across diverse nations. Factor analyses were conducted on matrices of phenotypic, genetic, and environmental correlations estimated in a sample of 1,209 monozygotic and 701 dizygotic twin pairs from Canada, Germany, and Japan. Five genetic and environmental factors were extracted for each sample. High congruence coefficients were observed when phenotypic, genetic, and environmental factors were compared in each sample as well as when each factor was compared across samples. These results suggest that the FFM has a solid biological basis and may represent a common heritage of the human species.
  Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 07/2006; 90(6):987-98. · 5.08 Impact Factor
• Article: Measuring individual differences in sensitivities to basic emotions in faces.

  Atsunobu Suzuki, Takahiro Hoshino, Kazuo Shigemasu
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  ABSTRACT: The assessment of individual differences in facial expression recognition is normally required to address two major issues: (1) high agreement level (ceiling effect) and (2) differential difficulty levels across emotions. We propose a new assessment method designed to quantify individual differences in the recognition of the six basic emotions, 'sensitivities to basic emotions in faces.' We attempted to address the two major assessment issues by using morphing techniques and item response theory (IRT). We used morphing to create intermediate, mixed facial expression stimuli with various levels of recognition difficulty. Applying IRT enabled us to estimate the individual latent trait levels underlying the recognition of respective emotions (sensitivity scores), unbiased by stimulus properties that constitute difficulty. In a series of two experiments we demonstrated that the sensitivity scores successfully addressed the two major assessment issues and their concomitant individual variability. Intriguingly, correlational analyses of the sensitivity scores to different emotions produced orthogonality between happy and non-happy emotion recognition. To our knowledge, this is the first report of the independence of happiness recognition, unaffected by stimulus difficulty.
  Cognition 05/2006; 99(3):327-53. · 3.16 Impact Factor
• Article: Disgust-specific impairment of facial expression recognition in Parkinson's disease.

  Atsunobu Suzuki, Takahiro Hoshino, Kazuo Shigemasu, Mitsuru Kawamura
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  ABSTRACT: There is contradictory evidence regarding whether the impairments of the recognition of emotional facial expressions in Parkinson's disease are specific to certain emotions such as disgust and fear. Generally, neurological case reports on emotion-specific impairments have been suspected of being confounded with the factor of task difficulty. Using a refined assessment method in which the difficulty factors were controlled by means of mixed facial expressions and item response theory, we attempted to clarify whether Parkinson's disease disproportionately impaired the recognition of specific emotions. We studied 14 patients with Parkinson's disease and 39 healthy controls who were matched in terms of gender, age, years of education and intelligence quotient. Whereas the refined method revealed that the patients with Parkinson's disease displayed significantly lower scores in disgust recognition alone, conventional methods failed to detect this impairment. In addition, control measures including face recognition abilities did not statistically explain the impairment observed in the patients. The results indicate that Parkinson's disease can indeed selectively impair the recognition of facial expressions of disgust; this provides concrete evidence for emotion-specific impairments that sufficiently withstands criticisms regarding the difficulty artefacts. Furthermore, the results support the proposed role of the basal ganglia-insula system in disgust recognition. This study effectively demonstrates the benefits of refining neuropsychological assessment by taking advantage of the modern psychometric theory.
  Brain 04/2006; 129(Pt 3):707-17. · 9.46 Impact Factor
• Article: Behavioral genetics of the higher-order factors of the Big Five

  Kerry L. Jang, W. John Livesley, Juko Ando, Shinji Yamagata, Atsunobu Suzuki, Alois Angleitner, Fritz Ostendorf, Rainer Riemann, Frank M. Spinath
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  ABSTRACT: There is empirical evidence that underlying the Big Five personality factors are two higher-order factors which have come to be known as “alpha” (α) and “beta” (β). The α factor is defined by the agreeableness, conscientiousness, and emotional stability domains; whereas β is delineated by extraversion and intellect. It has been argued that α and β are important constructs because they bridge the gap between psychometric studies of personality and theories of personality development. However, it is unclear if α and β are constructs that can be reliably reproduced across a diverse range of independent samples. In a sample of 1209 MZ and 701 DZ twin pairs from Canada, Germany, and Japan who completed the NEO-PI-R, factorial analyses of the five NEO-PI-R domains extracted two factors resembling α and β. Subsequent multivariate genetic analyses revealed that this factor structure was a clear reflection of the organizing effects of multiple genetic influences, providing evidence for α and β as stable heuristic devices that can be used to integrate personality measurement and developmental theory.
  Personality and Individual Differences 01/2006; 41(2):261-272. · 1.88 Impact Factor
• Article: Genetic and environmental structure of Cloninger's temperament and character dimensions.

  Juko Ando, Atsunobu Suzuki, Shinji Yamagata, Nobuhiko Kijima, Hiroko Maekawa, Yutaka Ono, Kerry L Jang
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  ABSTRACT: The multivariate genetic and environmental structure of Cloninger's Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) was investigated in a sample of 617 pairs of adolescent and young adult twins from Japan. Additive genetic factors accounted for 22% to 49% of the variability on all TCI temperament scales. Although the theory predicts lower heritability for the character scales, all character subscales had a substantial genetic contribution, and nonshared environmental influences accounted for the remainder. Multivariate genetic analyses showed that several subscales used to define one dimension shared a common genetic basis with subscales defining others. Using the degree of shared genetic influence as the basis to rearrange the TCI subscales into new dimensions, it was possible to create genetically independent scales. The implications for personality measurement, theory, and molecular genetic research are discussed.
  Journal of Personality Disorders 09/2004; 18(4):379-93. · 2.31 Impact Factor
• Article: Application of the somatic marker hypothesis to individual differences in decision making.

  Atsunobu Suzuki, Akihisa Hirota, Noriyoshi Takasawa, Kazuo Shigemasu
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  ABSTRACT: The somatic marker hypothesis (Damasio, Tranel, & Damasio, 1991) is a controversial theory asserting that somatic activities implicitly bias human behavior. In this study, we examined the relationship between choice behaviors in the Iowa Gambling Task and patterns of skin conductance responses (SCRs) within a healthy population. Results showed that low SCRs for appraising the monetary outcome of risky decisions were related to persistence in risky choices. Such adherence to risky decisions was not related to poor explicit knowledge about the task. On the other hand, anticipatory SCRs and the effect of them on performance were not confirmed. Our findings suggest that a variation in covert physiological appraisal underlies individual differences in decision making.
  Biological Psychology 12/2003; 65(1):81-8. · 3.22 Impact Factor
• Source

  Available from: psych.colorado.edu

  Article: Behavioral genetics of the higher-order factors of the Big Five

  Kerry L. Jang, W. John Livesley, Juko Ando, Shinji Yamagata, Atsunobu Suzuki, Alois Angleitner, Fritz Ostendorf, Rainer Riemann, Frank Spinath
  [show abstract] [hide abstract]
  ABSTRACT: There is empirical evidence that underlying the Big Five personality factors are two higher-order factors which have come to be known as “alpha” (α) and “beta” (β). The α factor is defined by the agreeableness, conscientiousness, and emotional stability domains; whereas β is delineated by extraversion and intellect. It has been argued that α and β are important constructs because they bridge the gap between psychometric studies of personality and theories of personality development. However, it is unclear if α and β are constructs that can be reliably reproduced across a diverse range of independent samples. In a sample of 1209 MZ and 701 DZ twin pairs from Canada, Germany, and Japan who completed the NEO-PI-R, factorial analyses of the five NEO-PI-R domains extracted two factors resembling α and β. Subsequent multivariate genetic analyses revealed that this factor structure was a clear reflection of the organizing effects of multiple genetic influences, providing evidence for α and β as stable heuristic devices that can be used to integrate personality measurement and developmental theory.
  Personality and Individual Differences.
• Article: Happiness is unique: A latent structure of emotion recognition traits revealed by statistical model comparison

  Atsunobu Suzuki, Takahiro Hoshino, Kazuo Shigemasu
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  ABSTRACT: Is an individual who is sensitive to the facial expressions of a given emotion also sensitive to those of other emotions? This study addressed this simple but fundamental question by examining the latent structure underlying the sensitivity scores for basic emotions expressed by faces (Suzuki, Hoshino, & Shigemasu, 2006a). Eight hundred and five participants took part in the study, and for each participant, the sensitivity scores for happiness, fear, anger, disgust, and sadness were calculated. Variants of a single-factor model were fit to the matrix of correlations among the five sensitivity scores. A solution for the best-fit model indicated an equal contribution from the single factor to the four negative emotions (path coefficient = 0.635) and a smaller contribution to happiness (0.183). Our results imply minimally overlapped mechanisms underlying the recognition of positive and negative emotions.
  Personality and Individual Differences 48(2):196-201. · 1.88 Impact Factor