Electrodermal Response to Mirror Exposure in Relation to Subjective Emotional Responses, Emotional Competences and Affectivity in Adolescent Girls With Restrictive Anorexia and Healthy Controls

Objective: Body image disturbances and the attendant negative emotions are two of the major clinical symptoms of eating disorders. The objective of the present experimental study was to shed more light on the degree of association or dissociation between the physiological and emotional response to mirror exposure in patients with restrictive mental anorexia, and on the relationships between the physiological response and characteristics connected with emotional processing.Materials and Methods: Thirty adolescent girls with the restrictive type of anorexia and thirty matched healthy controls underwent bilateral measurement of skin conductance (SC) during rest, neutral stimulus exposure, and mirror exposure, and completed a set of measures focused on emotion regulation competencies, affectivity, and eating disorder pathology.Results: Compared to healthy controls, girls with restrictive anorexia rated mirror exposure as a subjectively more distressful experience. Differences in skin conductance response (SCR) were not significant; however, variance in SCR was substantially greater in the group of anorexia patients as compared to healthy controls. The overall skin conductance level (SCL) was lower in anorexia patients. Increase in SCR during mirror exposure, as opposed to exposure to neutral stimuli, was positively related to the tendency to experience negative emotions, interoceptive sensitivity, body dissatisfaction and suppression, but not to other symptoms of eating pathology or emotional awareness. A post hoc analysis suggested that physiological reactivity might be associated with interoceptive sensitivity to mirror exposure especially in anorectic patients.Conclusion: The study seems to demonstrate some degree of dissociation between psychophysiological reactivity and subjective response to body exposure in patients with restrictive anorexia. Factors affecting differences in psychophysiological responsiveness to body exposure in anorectic patients require further exploration.

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Real-life dental examination elicits physiological responses different to visual and auditory dental-related stimuli

PLoS ONE ◽

10.1371/journal.pone.0252128 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 16 (6) ◽

pp. e0252128

Author(s):

Tadea Košir ◽

Jakob Sajovic ◽

Maja Grošelj ◽

Aleš Fidler ◽

Gorazd Drevenšek ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Heart Rate ◽

Heart Rate Variability ◽

Skin Conductance ◽

Dental Anxiety ◽

Skin Conductance Level ◽

Real Life ◽

Visual Modality ◽

Healthy Controls ◽

Dental Examination ◽

Conductance Level

Background Previous studies on dental anxiety have examined the psychophysiological responses evoked in dentally anxious subjects by dental-related stimuli, but not during a real-life dental examination, which was achieved in the present study. Methods The heart rate, skin conductance level, and heart rate variability of 25 subjects with dental anxiety and 25 healthy controls were examined. Anxiety was determined by the Modified Dental Anxiety Scale and the Dental Anxiety Scale–Revised. The psychophysiological reactions of the two groups were compared during exposure to dental-related pictures, dental-related sounds, and an actual examination in a dental surgery. Results All the dental-related stimuli provoked an increase in heart rate, i.e. visual stimuli (p<0.001; 95% CI 0.98–3.95 bpm), auditory stimuli (p<0.001; 95% CI 1.34–4.99 bpm), and a dental examination (p<0.001; 95% CI 1.26–5.39 bpm). Dental-related pictures provoked inferior skin conductance level changes compared to dental-related sounds and the dental examination (visual modality vs auditory p<0.001; 95% CI 0.039–0.152; visual modality vs examination p<0.001; 95% CI 0.083–0.275). Heart rate variability manifested in a complex pattern of responses to the dental examination. However, when exposed to all three dental-related stimuli presentation conditions, the heart rate (F = 0.352, p = 0.556), skin conductance level (F = 0.009, p = 0.926), and heart rate variability parameters of subjects with dental anxiety did not differ in comparison to the healthy controls. Conclusions This pilot study represents an evaluation of psychophysiological reactions during a real-life dental examination compared to single modality stimuli, and shows that a real-life dental examination provokes an increase in heart rate, heart rate variability and skin conductance level. Additionally, autonomic responses did not differ between the experimental and control groups. The key issue for future studies is the effect of real-life situations on the physiological and psychological state of the subjects, which should be considered when planning new research and studied in depth.

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Distress tolerance across self-report, behavioral and psychophysiological domains in women with eating disorders and healthy controls

10.1101/170217 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Angelina Yiu ◽

Kara Christensen ◽

Jean M. Arlt ◽

Eunice Y. Chen

Keyword(s):

Skin Conductance ◽

Distress Tolerance ◽

Negative Emotions ◽

Self Report ◽

Control Group ◽

Healthy Controls ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Sinus Arrhythmia ◽

Skin Conductance Responses ◽

Serial Addition

AbstractBackground and objectivesThe tendency to engage in impulsive behaviors when distressed is linked to engagement in disordered eating. The current study comprehensively examines emotional responses to a distress tolerance task by utilizing self-report, psychophysiological measures (respiratory sinus arrhythmia [RSA], skin conductance responses [SCRs] and tonic skin conductance levels [SCLs]), and behavioral measures (i.e., termination of task, latency to quit task).Methods26 healthy controls (HCs) and a sample of treatment-seeking women with Bulimia Nervosa (BN), Binge Eating Disorder (BED) and Anorexia Nervosa (AN) (N=106) completed the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Task-Computerized (PASAT-C). Psychophysiological measurements were collected during baseline, PASAT-C, and recovery, then averaged for each time-period. Self-reported emotions were collected at baseline, post-PASAT-C and post-recovery.ResultsOverall, we found an effect of Time, with all participants reporting greater negative emotions, less happiness, lower RSA, more SCRs and higher tonic SCLs after completion of the PASAT-C relative to baseline. There were no differences in PASAT-C performance between groups. There was an effect of Group for negative emotions, with women with BN, BED and AN reporting overall higher levels of negative emotions relative to HCs. Furthermore, we found an effect of Group for greater urges to binge eat and lower RSA values among BED, relative to individuals with BN, AN and HCs.LimitationsThis study is cross-sectional and lacked an overweight healthy control group.ConclusionDuring the PASAT-C, individuals with EDs compared to HCs report higher levels of negative emotions, despite similar physiological and behavioral manifestations of distress.

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The Effect of Searching Versus Surfing on Cognitive and Emotional Responses to Online News

Journal of Media Psychology Theories Methods and Applications ◽

10.1027/1864-1105.21.2.49 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 21 (2) ◽

pp. 49-59 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Kevin Wise ◽

Hyo Jung Kim ◽

Jeesum Kim

Keyword(s):

Heart Rate ◽

Skin Conductance ◽

Skin Conductance Level ◽

Emotional Responses ◽

Online News ◽

Self Report ◽

Mixed Design ◽

Information Need ◽

News Stories ◽

Rate Acceleration

A mixed-design experiment was conducted to explore differences between searching and surfing on cognitive and emotional responses to online news. Ninety-two participants read three unpleasant news stories from a website. Half of the participants acquired their stories by searching, meaning they had a previous information need in mind. The other half of the participants acquired their stories by surfing, with no previous information need in mind. Heart rate, skin conductance, and corrugator activation were collected as measures of resource allocation, motivational activation, and unpleasantness, respectively, while participants read each story. Self-report valence and recognition accuracy were also measured. Stories acquired by searching elicited greater heart rate acceleration, skin conductance level, and corrugator activation during reading. These stories were rated as more unpleasant, and their details were recognized more accurately than similar stories that were acquired by surfing. Implications of these results for understanding how people process online media are discussed.

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Emotional processing and the autonomic nervous system: a comprehensive meta-analytic investigation

10.31234/osf.io/kmpq5 ◽

2018 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Pedro Silva Moreira ◽

Pedro Chaves ◽

Nuno Dias ◽

Patrício Costa ◽

Pedro Rocha Almeida

Keyword(s):

Nervous System ◽

Autonomic Nervous System ◽

Skin Conductance ◽

Emotional Processing ◽

Skin Conductance Level ◽

The Body ◽

Analytic Investigation ◽

Physiological Basis ◽

Autonomic Nervous ◽

Conductance Level

Background: The search for autonomic correlates of emotional processing has been a matter of interest for the scientific community with the goal of identifying the physiological basis of emotion. Despite an extensive state-of-the-art exploring the correlates of emotion, there is no absolute consensus regarding how the body processes an affective state.Objectives: In this work, we aimed to aggregate the literature of psychophysiological studies in the context of emotional induction. Methods: For this purpose, we conducted a systematic review of the literature and a meta-analytic investigation, comparing different measures from the electrodermal, cardiovascular, respiratory and facial systems across emotional categories/dimensions. Two-hundred and ninety-one studies met the inclusion criteria and were quantitatively pooled in random-effects meta-analytic modelling. Results: Heart rate and skin conductance level were the most reported psychophysiological measures. Overall, there was a negligible differentiation between emotional categories with respect to the pooled estimates. Of note, considerable amount of between-studies’ heterogeneity was found in the meta-analytic aggregation. Self-reported ratings of emotional arousal were found to be associated with specific autonomic-nervous system (ANS) indices, particularly with the variation of the skin conductance level. Conclusions: Despite this clear association, there is still a considerable amount of unexplained variability that raises the need for more fine-grained analysis to be implemented in future research in this field.

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Decision making under ambiguity and risk in adolescent-onset schizophrenia

BMC Psychiatry ◽

10.1186/s12888-021-03230-1 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 21 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Dandan Li ◽

Fengyan Zhang ◽

Lu Wang ◽

Yifan Zhang ◽

Tingting Yang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Executive Function ◽

Iowa Gambling Task ◽

Clinical Symptoms ◽

Healthy Controls ◽

Syndrome Scale ◽

Significant Difference ◽

Abnormal Pattern ◽

Negative Syndrome ◽

The Relationship

Abstract Objective Numerous studies have identified impaired decision making (DM) under both ambiguity and risk in adult patients with schizophrenia. However, the assessment of DM in patients with adolescent-onset schizophrenia (AOS) has been challenging as a result of the instability and heterogeneity of manifestations. The Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) and Game of Dice Task (GDT), which are frequently used to evaluate DM respectively under ambiguity and risk, are sensitive to adolescents and neuropsychiatric patients. Our research intended to examine the performance of DM in a relatively large sample of patients with AOS using the above-mentioned two tasks. We also aimed to take a closer look at the relationship between DM and symptom severity of schizophrenia. Methods We compared the performance of DM in 71 patients with AOS and 53 well-matched healthy controls using IGT for DM under ambiguity and GDT for DM under risk through net scores, total scores and feedback ration. Neuropsychological tests were conducted in all participants. Clinical symptoms were evaluated by using Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) in 71 patients with AOS. Pearson’s correlation revealed the relationship among total score of DM and clinical and neuropsychological data. Results Compared to healthy controls, patients with AOS failed to show learning effect and had a significant difference on the 5th block in IGT and conducted more disadvantageous choices as well as exhibited worse negative feedback rate in GDT. Apart from DM impairment under risk, diminished DM abilities under ambiguity were found related to poor executive function in AOS in the present study. Conclusions Our findings unveiled the abnormal pattern of DM in AOS, mainly reflected under the risky condition, extending the knowledge on the performance of DM under ambiguity and risk in AOS. Inefficient DM under risk may account for the lagging impulse control and the combined effects of developmental disease. In addition, our study demonstrated that the performance on IGT was related to executive function in AOS.

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Eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing versus exposure in vivo

The British Journal of Psychiatry ◽

10.1192/bjp.171.1.82 ◽

1997 ◽

Vol 171 (1) ◽

pp. 82-86 ◽

Cited By ~ 55

Author(s):

Peter Muris ◽

Harald Merckelbach ◽

Hans Van Haaften ◽

Birgit Mayer

Keyword(s):

Eye Movement ◽

Skin Conductance ◽

Skin Conductance Level ◽

Specific Phobia ◽

Self Report ◽

Post Traumatic Stress ◽

Positive Effects ◽

Additional Value ◽

Conductance Level

BackgroundEye movement desensitisation and reprocessing (EMDR) is a relatively new therapeutic technique that has been proposed as a treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder and other anxiety complaints.MethodWe compared the efficacy of EMDR with that of exposure in viv. in the treatment of a specific phobia. Twenty-two spider-phobic children who met the DSM – III – R criteria for specific phobia participated in the study. Children were treated with one session of exposure in viv. and one session of EMDR in a crossover design. Treatment outcome was evaluated by self-report measures, a behavioural avoidance test and a physiological index (skin conductance level).ResultsResults showed positive effects of EMDR, but also suggest that it is especially self-report measures that are sensitive to EMDR. Improvement on a behavioural measure was less pronounced, and exposure in viv. was found to be superior in reducing avoidance behaviour. With regard to skin conductance level, EMDR and exposure in viv. did not differ.ConclusionsEMDR has no additional value in treatment of this type of animal phobia, for which exposure in viv. is the treatment of choice.

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Neuronal variability of Resting State activity in Eating Disorders: increase and decoupling in Ventral Attention Network and relation with clinical symptoms

European Psychiatry ◽

10.1016/j.eurpsy.2018.08.005 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 55 ◽

pp. 10-17 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Angela V. Spalatro ◽

Federico Amianto ◽

Zirui Huang ◽

Federico D’Agata ◽

Mauro Bergui ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Eating Disorders ◽

Resting State ◽

Clinical Symptoms ◽

Blood Oxygen Level Dependent ◽

Healthy Controls ◽

Resting State Functional Connectivity ◽

Blood Oxygen Level ◽

Attention Network ◽

State Activity ◽

New Perspective

AbstractBackground:Despite the great number of resting state functional connectivity studies on Eating Disorders (ED), no biomarkers could be detected yet. Therefore, we here focus on a different measure of resting state activity that is neuronal variability. The objective of this study was to investigate neuronal variability in the resting state of women with ED and to correlate possible differences with clinical and psychopathological indices.Methods:58 women respectively 25 with Anorexia Nervosa (AN), 16 with Bulimia Nervosa (BN) and 17 matched healthy controls (CN) were enrolled for the study. All participants were tested with a battery of psychometric tests and underwent a functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) resting state scanning. We investigated topographical patterns of variability measured by the Standard Deviation (SD) of the Blood-Oxygen-Level-Dependent (BOLD) signal (as a measure of neuronal variability) in the resting-state and their relationship to clinical and psychopathological indices.Results:Neuronal variability was increased in both anorectic and bulimic subjects specifically in the Ventral Attention Network (VAN) compared to healthy controls. No significant differences were found in the other networks. Significant correlations were found between neuronal variability of VAN and various clinical and psychopathological indices.Conclusions:We here show increased neuronal variability of VAN in ED patients. As the VAN is relevant for switching between endogenous and exogenous stimuli, our results showing increased neuronal variability suggest unstable balance between body attention and attention to external world. These results offer new perspective on the neurobiological basis of ED. Clinical and therapeutic implication will be discussed.

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Broad cognitive complaints but subtle objective working memory impairment in fibromyalgia patients

PeerJ ◽

10.7717/peerj.5907 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 6 ◽

pp. e5907 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Marina Pidal-Miranda ◽

Alberto Jacobo González-Villar ◽

María Teresa Carrillo-de-la-Peña ◽

Elena Andrade ◽

Dolores Rodríguez-Salgado

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Clinical Symptoms ◽

Poor Performance ◽

Cognitive Status ◽

Future Research ◽

Neuropsychological Performance ◽

Healthy Controls ◽

Cognitive Complaints ◽

Cognitive Difficulties ◽

Memory Functioning

BackgroundCognitive dysfunction in fibromyalgia (FM) encompasses objective cognitive difficulties, as measured in neuropsychological tests, and self-reported cognitive complaints. Although it has been suggested that FM patients display problems in working memory, the data are inconsistent, and the overall working memory status of the patients is unclear. It is also not clear whether the working memory problems are related to cognitive complaints or how the dyscognition is affected by the characteristic clinical symptoms of FM.MethodsTo clarify these aspects, we explored the neuropsychological performance for different components of working memory and the subjective self-perception of cognitive status in a sample of 38 women with FM. They were compared with a matched group of 32 healthy women.ResultsOur findings suggested that the FM patients do not differ from healthy controls in their overall working memory functioning. Only a poor performance was found in a single task of visuospatial working memory, mediated by the presence of depressive symptoms, fatigue and pain. The FM patients also displayed a higher level of perception of cognitive difficulties than healthy controls, and this difference was mediated by depression and fatigue. Furthermore, cognitive complaints in FM patients were only associated with a lower verbal WM capacity.DiscussionFM patients have a subtle specific impairment in their working memory functioning, as well as elevated concern about their cognitive status. These findings suggest a disconnection between neuropsychological performance and subjective complaints. In FM patients, clinical variables such as pain, fatigue, and depression play an important role in dyscognition, as assessed by both objective and subjective measures, and should be taken into account in future research.

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Physiological synchrony promotes cooperative success in real-life interactions

10.1101/792416 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

F. Behrens ◽

J. A. Snijdewint ◽

R. G. Moulder ◽

E. Prochazkova ◽

E. E. Sjak-Shie ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Heart Rate ◽

Skin Conductance ◽

Cooperative Behavior ◽

Skin Conductance Level ◽

Real Life ◽

Dyadic Interaction ◽

Gut Feelings ◽

The Face ◽

Social Decision Making ◽

Conductance Level

AbstractCooperation is pivotal for society to flourish and prosper. To ease cooperation, humans express and read emotions and intentions via explicit signals or subtle reflections of arousal visible in the face. Evidence is accumulating that humans synchronize these nonverbal expressions, as well as the physiological mechanisms underlying them, potentially promoting cooperative behavior. The current study is designed to verify the existence of this putative linkage between synchrony and cooperation. To that extent, 152 participants played multiple rounds of the Prisoner’s Dilemma game in a naturalistic dyadic interaction setting. During one round of games they could see each other, and during a second round they could not. The results showed that when people’s heart rate and skin conductance level aligned, they cooperated more successfully. Interestingly, for skin conductance level synchrony to boost cooperation, face to face contact was essential. The effect of heart rate synchrony on cooperation was context independent. Skin conductance level, but not heart rate, tended to closely correlate with changes in pupil size and we discuss how the pupil might provide a window to partners’ sympathetic arousal. These findings show how unconscious mechanisms guide social behavior and emphasize the importance of studying social processes between rather than within individuals in real-life interactions.Significance StatementHuman cooperation is remarkable in its scale, complexity, and efficiency. However, whereas people think of themselves as rational agents, they actually partly base their decision to cooperate with someone on gut feelings. These feelings are informed by non-verbal expressions that are picked up implicitly and that synchronize across interaction partners. For the first time, we show that the alignment of people’s arousal over multiple rounds of the Prisoners’ dilemma game predicts cooperative success. Through synchrony, partners converge emotionally, fostering understanding and bonding, which are key ingredients when it comes to successful cooperation. This suggests that successfully cooperating does not depend on individuals, but on the connection between individuals, emphasizing the importance of studying social decision-making processes in real-life settings.

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Abnormalities of EEG Microstates In Drug-Naïve, First-Episode Schizophrenia

10.21203/rs.3.rs-1042706/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Qiaoling Sun ◽

Linlin Zhao ◽

Liwen Tan

Keyword(s):

Clinical Symptoms ◽

Early Stage ◽

First Episode ◽

Healthy Controls ◽

Brain Functions ◽

Class D ◽

Syndrome Scale ◽

Drug Naïve ◽

Microstate Analysis ◽

First Episode Schizophrenia

Abstract Objective: Microstate analysis is a powerful tool to probe the brain functions, and changes in microstates under electroencephalography (EEG) have been repeatedly reported in patients with schizophrenia. This study aimed to investigate the dynamics of EEG microstates in drug-naïve, first-episode schizophrenia (FE-SCH) and to test the relationship between EEG microstates and clinical symptoms.Methods: Resting-state EEG were recorded for 23 patients with FE-SCH and 23 healthy controls using a 64-channel cap. Three parameters, i.e., contribution, duration, and occurrence, of the four microstate classes were calculated. Group differences in EEG microstates and their clinical symptoms (assessed using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale) were analyzed.Results: Compared with healthy controls, patients with FE-SCH showed increased duration, occurrence and contribution of microstate class C and decreased contribution and occurrence of microstate class D. In addition, the score of positive symptoms in PANSS was negatively correlated with the occurrence of microstate D.Conclusions: Our findings showed abnormal patterns of EEG microstates in drug-naïve, first-episode schizophrenia, which might help distinguish individuals with schizophrenia in the early stage and develop early intervention strategies.

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