scholarly journals Embodying Stressful Events: No Difference in Subjective Arousal and Neural Correlates Related to Immersion, Interoception, and Embodied Mentalization

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah De Coninck ◽  
Bart Aben ◽  
Eva Van den Bussche ◽  
Peter Mariën ◽  
Frank Van Overwalle
Keyword(s):  
Somatosensory Cortex ◽  
Neural Activity ◽  
Default Mode Network ◽  
Positive Emotions ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Posterior Cingulate Cortex ◽  
Stressful Events ◽  
Stressful Event ◽  
High Level ◽  
Subjective Arousal

Repetitive thought about oneself, including one’s emotions, can lead to both adaptive and maladaptive effects. Construal level of repetitive self-referential thought might moderate this. During interoception, which engages areas such as the insula, the anterior and/or posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) and the somatosensory cortex, concrete low level construal self-referential thought is applied, which has been shown to lead to more positive emotions after upsetting events. Contrarily, during immersion, related to neural activity in the default mode network (DMN), abstract high level construal self-referential thought is applied, which is linked to depression. The current study investigated whether the integration of concrete and abstract self-referential thought by means of embodied mentalization leads to less subjective arousal, decreased DMN activity and increased somatosensory activity as compared to immersion, and to more DMN activity as compared to interoception. In the fMRI scanner, participants imagined stressful events while adopting immersion, interoception or embodied mentalization. After each imagined stressful event, participants rated their subjective arousal and how difficult it was to apply the mode of self-referential thought. Results showed that participants felt that immersion was easier to apply than embodied mentalization. However, no differences in subjective arousal or neural activity were found between immersion, interoception and embodied mentalization. Possible reasons for this lack of significant differences are discussed.

Default-Mode Activity during a Passive Sensory Task: Uncoupled from Deactivation but Impacting Activation

2004 ◽  
Vol 16 (9) ◽  
pp. 1484-1492 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael D. Greicius ◽  
Vinod Menon
Keyword(s):  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Neural Activity ◽  
Default Mode Network ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Block Design ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Posterior Cingulate Cortex ◽  
High Demand ◽  
Default Mode

Deactivation refers to increased neural activity during low-demand tasks or rest compared with high-demand tasks. Several groups have reported that a particular set of brain regions, including the posterior cingulate cortex and the medial prefrontal cortex, among others, is consistently deactivated. Taken together, these typically deactivated brain regions appear to constitute a default-mode network of brain activity that predominates in the absence of a demanding external task. Examining a passive, block-design sensory task with a standard deactivation analysis (rest epochs vs. stimulus epochs), we demonstrate that the default-mode network is undetectable in one run and only partially detectable in a second run. Using independent component analysis, however, we were able to detect the full default-mode network in both runs and to demonstrate that, in the majority of subjects, it persisted across both rest and stimulus epochs, uncoupled from the task waveform, and so mostly undetectable as deactivation. We also replicate an earlier finding that the default-mode network includes the hippocampus suggesting that episodic memory is incorporated in default-mode cognitive processing. Furthermore, we show that the more a subject's default-mode activity was correlated with the rest epochs (and “deactivated” during stimulus epochs), the greater that subject's activation to the visual and auditory stimuli. We conclude that activity in the default-mode network may persist through both experimental and rest epochs if the experiment is not sufficiently challenging. Time-series analysis of default-mode activity provides a measure of the degree to which a task engages a subject and whether it is sufficient to interrupt the processes—presumably cognitive, internally generated, and involving episodic memory—mediated by the default-mode network.

scholarly journals Coping strategies as predictors of professional burnout in Polish nurses

2020 ◽  
Vol 130 (1) ◽  
pp. 48-51
Author(s):  
Anna Goś ◽  
Katarzyna Szczekala ◽  
Ewa Humeniuk
Keyword(s):  
Coping Strategies ◽  
Stressful Events ◽  
Stressful Event ◽  
Professional Burnout ◽  
Self Blame ◽  
Brief Cope ◽  
Demographic Questionnaire ◽  
High Level ◽  
Nursing Professionals

Abstract Introduction. Professional burnout, as a defensive, psycho-physical reaction to chronic occupational stress resulting from the imbalance between the demands of the environment and resources of an individual, is the phenomenon which considerably affects the nursing profession. Coping strategies reflect typical ways of reacting to stressful events. The following dissertation is an attempt to provide information on which coping strategies predispose nurses to burnout. Aim. The aim of the study is determination of coping strategies that are predictors of professional burnout in Polish nurses. Material and methods. The research group comprised 29 nurses employed in hospitals located in Eastern Poland. The authors’ own socio-demographic questionnaire and standardised psychometric tools were utilised in the course of the research. Brief COPE by S.CH. Carver, adapted into Polish by Z. Juczyński and N. Ogińska-Bulik was applied to determine coping strategies. Link Burnout Questionnaire by M. Santinello, adapted into Polish by A. Jaworowska, was used to measure burnout. Results. Psychophysical exhaustion is to a great extent connected with such coping strategies as self-blame and planning. Relationship deterioration affects individuals who tend to react to a stressful event by venting emotions. The greater the tendency to self-blame and venting when faced with a stress-related situation, the greater the risk of experiencing the sense of professional ineffectiveness. Disillusion with work is conditioned by denial whereas self-distraction protects from disillusion. Conclusions. Polish nurses present a moderate and high level of burnout. Some coping strategies (self-blame, venting, self-distraction, planning and denial) are predictors of professional burnout in nurses. It can be assumed that interventions aimed at training certain coping strategies based on the research results may enhance resistance to burnout in nursing professionals.

Differences in the Way to Conceive Happiness Relate to Different Reactions to Negative Events

2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giulia Fuochi ◽  
Chiara A. Veneziani ◽  
Alberto Voci
Keyword(s):  
Positive Emotions ◽  
Satisfaction With Life ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Protective Role ◽  
Stressful Events ◽  
Interactive Effects ◽  
Negative Events ◽  
Orientations To Happiness ◽  
Specific Reactions ◽  
The Way

Abstract. This paper aimed to assess whether differences in the way to conceive happiness, measured by the Orientations to Happiness measure, were associated with specific reactions to negative events. We hypothesized that among orientations to pleasure (portraying hedonism), to meaning (representing a eudaimonic approach to life), and to engagement (derived from the experience of flow), orientation to meaning would have displayed a stronger protective role against recent negative and potentially stressful events. After providing a validation of the Italian version of the Orientations to Happiness measure (Study 1), we performed regression analyses of the three orientations on positive and negative emotions linked to a self-relevant negative event (Study 2), and moderation analyses assessing the interactive effects of orientations to happiness and stressful events on well-being indicators (Study 3). Our findings supported the hypotheses. In Study 2, meaning was associated with positive emotions characterized by a lower activation (contentment and interest) compared to the positive emotions associated with pleasure (amusement, eagerness, and happiness). In Study 3, only meaning buffered the effect of recent potentially stressful events on satisfaction with life and positive affect. Results suggest that orientation to meaning might help individuals to better react to negative events.

scholarly journals Maternal exposure to a high-magnitude earthquake during pregnancy influences pre-reading skills in early childhood

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Luis Federico Bátiz ◽  
Yasna K. Palmeiro-Silva ◽  
Gregory E. Rice ◽  
Lara J. Monteiro ◽  
Albert M. Galaburda ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Reading Skills ◽  
First Trimester ◽  
Maternal Exposure ◽  
Stressful Events ◽  
Stressful Event ◽  
Prenatally Exposed ◽  
Alphabet Knowledge ◽  
Print Knowledge ◽  
Effective Strategies ◽  
High Magnitude

AbstractExposure to an adverse prenatal environment can influence fetal development and result in long-lasting changes in the offspring. However, the association between maternal exposure to stressful events during pregnancy and the achievement of pre-reading skills in the offspring is unknown. Here we examined the association between prenatal exposure to the Chilean high-magnitude earthquake that occurred on February 27th, 2010 and the development of early reading precursors skills (listening comprehension, print knowledge, alphabet knowledge, vocabulary, and phonological awareness) in children at kindergarten age. This multilevel retrospective cohort study including 3280 children, of whom 2415 were unexposed and 865 were prenatally exposed to the earthquake shows substantial evidence that maternal exposure to an unambiguously stressful event resulted in impaired pre-reading skills and that a higher detrimental effect was observed in those children who had been exposed to the earthquake during the first trimester of gestation. In addition, females were more significantly affected by the exposure to the earthquake than their male peers in alphabet knowledge; contrarily, males were more affected than females in print knowledge skills. These findings suggest that early intervention programs for pregnant women and/or children exposed to prenatal stress may be effective strategies to overcome impaired pre-reading skills in children.

scholarly journals Can binocular rivalry reveal neural correlates of consciousness?

2014 ◽  
Vol 369 (1641) ◽  
pp. 20130211 ◽  
Author(s):  
Randolph Blake ◽  
Jan Brascamp ◽  
David J. Heeger
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Binocular Rivalry ◽  
Neural Activity ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Causal Link ◽  
Neural Dynamics ◽  
Perceptual Decision Making ◽  
Neural Correlate ◽  
Neural Correlates Of Consciousness ◽  
Neural Correlate Of Consciousness

This essay critically examines the extent to which binocular rivalry can provide important clues about the neural correlates of conscious visual perception. Our ideas are presented within the framework of four questions about the use of rivalry for this purpose: (i) what constitutes an adequate comparison condition for gauging rivalry's impact on awareness, (ii) how can one distinguish abolished awareness from inattention, (iii) when one obtains unequivocal evidence for a causal link between a fluctuating measure of neural activity and fluctuating perceptual states during rivalry, will it generalize to other stimulus conditions and perceptual phenomena and (iv) does such evidence necessarily indicate that this neural activity constitutes a neural correlate of consciousness? While arriving at sceptical answers to these four questions, the essay nonetheless offers some ideas about how a more nuanced utilization of binocular rivalry may still provide fundamental insights about neural dynamics, and glimpses of at least some of the ingredients comprising neural correlates of consciousness, including those involved in perceptual decision-making.

Influence of environmental factors on the psychoemotional state of young athletes

2020 ◽  
pp. 53-63
Author(s):  
Elena Aleksandrovna Potapova ◽  
Elena Viktorovna Scherba ◽  
Dmitriy Alekseevich Zemlyanoy ◽  
Viktoriya Valerievna Danilova ◽  
Viktor Gennadievich Puzyrev ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Female Athletes ◽  
Emotional State ◽  
Sport Activity ◽  
Stressful Events ◽  
Dynamic Monitoring ◽  
Daily Routine ◽  
Young Athletes ◽  
Reactive Anxiety ◽  
Personal Anxiety ◽  
High Level

Sport activity are associated with significant physical and psychological stress and determine the relevance of monitoring the conditions for sports, studying the health of athletes and their regime. The purpose of the study: to study the sanitary and hygienic conditions in sports schools, the features of the daily routine and lifestyle of young athletes and their psycho-emotional state. Materials and methods. The analysis includes data from a study of 70 girls aged 13–15 who are engaged in rhythmic gymnastics. We used methods of sanitary and hygienic research, questionnaires, methods for identifying the level of situational and personal anxiety (Spielberger C. D.) and competitive anxiety (R. Martens), a questionnaire for studying one’s own reaction to stressful events (Greenberg). Results. The number of violations of sanitary and hygienic requirements for the conditions of sports activities have been identified. The most common violations of the day-lack of sleep and stay in the fresh air, a high amount of training load. Moderate personal anxiety was detected in 76 % of athletes, 7 % of respondents — low anxiety, 17 % — high personal anxiety. A high level of reactive anxiety was detected in 24 % of female athletes, and high-level sports anxiety was observed in 25 % of those surveyed. The relationship between the severity of violations of hygiene standards and the level of manifestation of personal and reactive anxiety was Revealed. The age dynamics for all diagnosed types of anxiety was revealed: higher rates of anxiety were observed in the age group of 13 years compared to 14 and 15-year-old athletes. Conclusion. The results of the study showed the need for dynamic monitoring of the state of health, including psycho-emotional state of athletes, allocation of athletes with pronounced errors in the regime to observation groups, carrying out preventive measures to explain the importance of compliance with hygiene rules and monitoring and assistance in their implementation in the lifestyle of young athletes.

scholarly journals Clinical typology and mechanisms of psychogenesis of states of psychological maladaptation of internship doctors

2019 ◽  
Vol 84 (3) ◽  
pp. 55-60
Author(s):  
V.V. Vyun
Keyword(s):  
Professional Training ◽  
Positive Emotions ◽  
Professional Activity ◽  
Low Level ◽  
Professional Stress ◽  
Pathogenic Factors ◽  
Comprehensive Examination ◽  
Stage System ◽  
High Level ◽  
Level Of Motivation

A comprehensive examination of 213 interns of both sexes was carried out. A system of psychotherapeutic correction of maladaptive states and psycho-preventive support of interns during the period of professional training has been developed. Levels of adaptation of internship doctors for professional activity were emphasized: high (14,1 %), average (20,2 %) and low level (65,7 %). It was described the asthenical (25,8 % of men and 22,5 % of women), hypersthenic (20,6 % of men and 23,2 % of women), anxiodepressive (11,3 % and 20,6 % respectively), psychosomatic (14,5 % of men and 18,1 % of women), asthenic-apathetical (12,3 % and 11,2 % respectively) and addictive (15,5 % of men and 4,4 % of women) variants of maladaptive reactions among the internship doctors. The developed model of the formation of disorders of adaptation of internship doctors is presented by a complex of pathogenic factors. It was established that the basis for the formation of maladaptive reactions among the internship doctors is the presence of somatic pathology, craniocerebral injury and neuroinfection in the anamnesis and the tendency to addictive behavior. Prognostically important factors in the formation of adaptation disorders are conflicts of family and professional relations, disturbing suspiciousness, low communicativeness, difficult working conditions, lack of positive emotions, awareness of inadequate level of competence, low level of motivation, and imperfectiveness of mechanisms of psychological protection. Triggers for the development of maladaptive states are the high level of professional stress, depletion of adaptation, prolonged mental stress, frustration of significant basic needs, and high rates of clinical scale of anxiety and depression HDRS. An individualized three-stage system of medical and psychological support during the professional training period, which involves the application of complex psychodiagnostic, psychotherapeutic, psychoeducational and psychoprophylactic influences, has been developed and tested.

scholarly journals Neural correlates of beauty retouching to enhance attractiveness of self-depictions in women

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chisa Ota ◽  
Tamami Nakano
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Resonance Imaging ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Neural Activity ◽  
Facial Attractiveness ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Neural Mechanisms ◽  
Functional Magnetic Resonance ◽  
Resonance Imaging ◽  
Amygdala Activity ◽  
Increased Activity

AbstractBeauty filters, while often employed for retouching photos to appear more attractive on social media, when used in excess cause images to give a distorted impression. The neural mechanisms underlying this change in facial attractiveness according to beauty retouching level remain unknown. The present study used functional magnetic resonance imaging in women as they viewed photos of their own face or unknown faces that had been retouched at three levels: no, mild, and extreme. The activity in the nucleus accumbens (NA) exhibited a positive correlation with facial attractiveness, whereas amygdala activity showed a negative correlation with attractiveness. Even though the participants rated others’ faces as more attractive than their own, the NA showed increased activity only for their mildly retouched own face and the amygdala exhibited greater activation in the others’ faces condition than the own face condition. Moreover, amygdala activity was greater for extremely retouched faces than for unretouched or mildly retouched faces for both conditions. Frontotemporal and cortical midline areas showed greater activation for one’s own than others’ faces, but such self-related activation was absent when extremely retouched. These results suggest that neural activity dynamically switches between the NA and amygdala according to perceived attractiveness of one’s face.

scholarly journals Olfaction Modulates Early Neural Responses to Matching Visual Objects

2015 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 832-841 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda K. Robinson ◽  
Judith Reinhard ◽  
Jason B. Mattingley
Keyword(s):  
Neural Activity ◽  
Visual Processing ◽  
Sensory Information ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Neural Responses ◽  
Visual Objects ◽  
Cortical Areas ◽  
Early Visual Processing ◽  
Considerable Research ◽  
Matter Concentration

Sensory information is initially registered within anatomically and functionally segregated brain networks but is also integrated across modalities in higher cortical areas. Although considerable research has focused on uncovering the neural correlates of multisensory integration for the modalities of vision, audition, and touch, much less attention has been devoted to understanding interactions between vision and olfaction in humans. In this study, we asked how odors affect neural activity evoked by images of familiar visual objects associated with characteristic smells. We employed scalp-recorded EEG to measure visual ERPs evoked by briefly presented pictures of familiar objects, such as an orange, mint leaves, or a rose. During presentation of each visual stimulus, participants inhaled either a matching odor, a nonmatching odor, or plain air. The N1 component of the visual ERP was significantly enhanced for matching odors in women, but not in men. This is consistent with evidence that women are superior in detecting, discriminating, and identifying odors and that they have a higher gray matter concentration in olfactory areas of the OFC. We conclude that early visual processing is influenced by olfactory cues because of associations between odors and the objects that emit them, and that these associations are stronger in women than in men.

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