scholarly journals Threat learning impairs subsequent memory recombination with past episodes

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olivier de Vries ◽  
Raoul P P P Grasman ◽  
Merel Kindt ◽  
Vanessa van Ast
Keyword(s):  
Pupil Dilation ◽  
Neutral Element ◽  
Relational Memory ◽  
Novel Association

To successfully predict important events, the representations in memory on which we rely need to be constantly updated and transformed to best reflect a complex and dynamic world. Here we employed a novel paradigm to investigate how memories of threat learning affect the flexible recombination across distinct but overlapping experiences, an ability referred to as relational memory. Participants (n=35) visited the lab to first encode neutral associations (A - B), which were reactivated and predictively associated with a new aversive or neutral element (B - C) on the following day, whilst pupil dilation was measured as an index of arousal. Then, again one day later, the accuracy of relational memory judgements (A - C?) was tested. Novel association to threat was found to impair relational memory. Unexpectedly, this effect was not moderated by arousal. We propose that compartmentalization of threat learning events could be a function of a healthy memory, preventing maladaptive ‘episodic overgeneralization’ of threat to previously encoded episodes.

Oxytocin-Based Health Information Priming Does Not Impact Categorization of Others into Social Groups

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miranda Lynn Groft ◽  
Nathan Pistory ◽  
Rachel Hardy ◽  
Peter Joseph McLaughlin
Keyword(s):  
Social Behavior ◽  
Pupil Dilation ◽  
Popular Media ◽  
Eye Tracker ◽  
News Stories ◽  
Written Information ◽  
Race Politics ◽  
Politics And Religion ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Lay Public

With the proliferation of neuroscience-related messages in popular media, it is more important than ever to understand their impact on the lay public. Previous research has found that people believed news stories more when irrelevant neuroscientific explanations were added. We sought to reveal whether such information could cause a change in social behavior. Specifically, based on publicized findings of the relationship between social behavior and the neurotransmitter oxytocin, we proposed that participants would accept more strangers into their in-group, or alternatively decrease in-group size, if told that there were oxytocin-based (relative to psychological construct-based) health benefits for doing so. In two tasks, participants were shown faces and written information about stimuli that could match their race, politics, and religion to varying degrees. In spite of evidence that participants processed the primes, and were sensitive to their level of similarity with stimuli, oxytocin-based priming did not alter categorization, or pupil dilation. It did not alter cross-race viewing behavior, as measured by an eye tracker, in consistent ways. Unexpectedly, pupil dilation increased when viewing stimuli of the same religion, an effect entirely related to White liberal Christians viewing other Christians. Overall, these results suggest that neuroscience information may impact some judgments, but lay people will not alter their likelihood of acceptance of strangers simply because they were primed with a neuroscience- (or more specifically, neurotransmitter-) based reason for doing so.

Clinical manifestations of Liver and Renal impairments in asymptomatic, moderate and severe COVID-19 patients of Madinah city of Saudi Arabia: a retrospective analysis (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Firdous Beigh ◽  
Nidda Syeed ◽  
Walaa Saeed ◽  
Ziab Alahmadey ◽  
Ibrahim Seedi
Keyword(s):  
Saudi Arabia ◽  
Clinical Status ◽  
Clinical Manifestations ◽  
Normal Liver ◽  
Significant Percentage ◽  
Renal Functions ◽  
Moderate Disease ◽  
Novel Association ◽  
Liver And Kidney ◽  
Kidney Functions

BACKGROUND Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is a budding infectious disease that has affected various countries globally. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to analyze the effect of COVID-19 disease on liver and kidney functions and to determine their association with the severity and mortality of disease METHODS A total of 100 confirmed COVID-19 adult patients from Madinah city of Saudi Arabia hospitalized between April 28, and June 30, 2020 were included,and categorized into asymptomatic,mild to moderate and severely ill patients.We analyzed the clinical status of liver and renal functioning in all of the three groups. RESULTS The majority of patients (51%) were diagnosed with mild to moderate disease, 27% of patients were severely ill and 22% of patients were asymptomatic.The liver and renal functional analysis showed that the severity of the COVID-19 patients were significantly associated with the kidney and renal impairments exhibiting higher levels of ALT, AST, Creatinine, Urea levels (P < 0.05). Furthermore, in this study, a novel association is found between high Na and Cl levels with the severely ill COVID-19 patients. CONCLUSIONS We concluded from the present study that a significant percentage of COVID-19 patients continued to have a normal liver and renal function during the course of their disease. Nevertheless, severely ill COVID-19 patients were more prone to have abnormal liver and renal functions. During the course of treatment, the patients had a gradual normalization of their liver and kidney parameters and subsequently achieved a complete normal liver and renal functions upon discharge with no mortality.

scholarly journals Serum Lutein is related to Relational Memory Performance

Nutrients ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 768 ◽  
Author(s):  
Corinne Cannavale ◽  
Kelsey Hassevoort ◽  
Caitlyn Edwards ◽  
Sharon Thompson ◽  
Nicholas Burd ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Task Performance ◽  
High Performance ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Beta Carotene ◽  
Study Phase ◽  
Relational Memory ◽  
Neuroprotective Effects ◽  
Diet Records ◽  
Spatial Reconstruction ◽  
Serum Carotenoids

Dietary carotenoids, plant pigments with anti-oxidant properties, accumulate in neural tissue and are often found in lower concentrations among individuals with obesity. Given previous evidence of negative associations between excess adiposity and memory, it is possible that greater carotenoid status may confer neuroprotective effects among persons with overweight or obesity. This study aimed to elucidate relationships between carotenoids assessed in diet, serum, and the macula (macular pigment optical density (MPOD)) and relational memory among adults who are overweight or obese. Adults aged 25–45 years (N = 94) completed a spatial reconstruction task. Task performance was evaluated for accuracy of item placement during reconstruction relative to the location of the item during the study phase. Dietary carotenoids were assessed using 7-day diet records. Serum carotenoids were measured using high-performance liquid chromatography. Hierarchical linear regression analyses were used to determine the relationship between carotenoids and task performance. Although initial correlations indicated that dietary lutein, beta-carotene, and serum beta-carotene were positively associated with memory performance, these relationships were not sustained following adjustment for age, sex, and BMI. Serum lutein remained positively associated with accuracy in object binding and inversely related to misplacement error after controlling for covariates. Macular carotenoids were not related to memory performance. Findings from this study indicate that among the carotenoids evaluated, lutein may play an important role in hippocampal function among adults who are overweight or obese.

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