Perceiving the Self and Emotions with an Anxious Mind: Evidence from an Implicit Perceptual Task

Anxiety disorders cause mental distress and low wellbeing in many people worldwide. Theories of anxiety describe negative worldviews and self-views as maintaining factors of the disorders. Recent research in social cognition has found a link between depression and altered perceptual biases to emotions, but the same research on anxiety is still missing. In this study, we measured perceptual biases to emotional and self-related stimuli in sub-clinically anxious participants and healthy controls using a self-emotional shape-label matching task. Results demonstrate that anxious participants had a diminished perceptual self-bias compared with healthy controls. Furthermore, the severity of anxiety was related to an emotional bias towards valanced other-related stimuli. The findings confirm the hypothesis that anxious individuals display an altered self-prioritisation effect in comparison with healthy individuals and that anxiety severity is linked to altered responses to emotionally valanced others. These findings have potential implications for early diagnosis and treatment of anxiety disorders.

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Self-bias and the emotionality of foreign languages

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology ◽

10.1177/1747021818781017 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 72 (1) ◽

pp. 76-89 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Lela Ivaz ◽

Kim L Griffin ◽

Jon Andoni Duñabeitia

Keyword(s):

Foreign Language ◽

Emotional Processing ◽

The Self ◽

Foreign Languages ◽

Matching Task ◽

Bias Effect ◽

Self Bias ◽

Emotional Distance ◽

Language Effects ◽

Language Context

Foreign language contexts impose a relative psychological and emotional distance in bilinguals. In our previous studies, we demonstrated that the use of a foreign language changes the strength of the seemingly automatic emotional responses in the self-paradigm, showing a robust asymmetry in the self-bias effect in a native and a foreign language context. Namely, larger effects were found in the native language, suggesting an emotional blunting in the foreign language context. In the present study, we investigated the source of these effects by directly comparing whether they stem from a language’s foreignness versus its non-nativeness. We employed the same self-paradigm (a simple perceptual matching task of associating simple geometric shapes with the labels “you,” “friend,” and “other”), testing unbalanced Spanish–Basque–English trilinguals. We applied the paradigm to three language contexts: native, non-native but contextually present (i.e., non-native local), and non-native foreign. Results showed a smaller self-bias only in the foreign language pointing to the foreign-language-induced psychological/emotional distance as the necessary prerequisite for foreign language effects. Furthermore, we explored whether perceived emotional distance towards foreign languages in Spanish–English bilinguals modulates foreign language effects. Results suggest that none of the different indices of emotional distance towards the foreign language obtained via questionnaires modulated the self-biases in the foreign language contexts. Our results further elucidate the deeply rooted and automatic nature of foreign-language-driven differential emotional processing.

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Inclusion of the other in the self as a potential risk factor for prolonged grief disorder: A comparison of patients with matched bereaved healthy controls

10.31234/osf.io/hkt5a ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Octavia Harrison ◽

Sabine Windmann ◽

Rita Rosner ◽

Regina Steil

Keyword(s):

Mental Distress ◽

Treatment Options ◽

Diagnostic Category ◽

The Self ◽

The Other ◽

Healthy Controls ◽

Prolonged Grief Disorder ◽

Prolonged Grief ◽

Pathological Grief ◽

The Impact

Pathological grief has received increasing attention in recent years, as about A10% of the bereaved suffer from one kind it. Pathological grief in the form of Prolonged grief disorder (PGD) is a relatively new diagnostic category which has been introduced into the ICD-11 beta version in 2018. To date, various risk and protective factors, as well as treatment options for pathological grief, have been proposed. Nevertheless, empirical evidence in that area is still scarce. Our aim was to identify the impact interpersonal closeness with the deceased has on bereavement outcome.Interpersonal closeness with the deceased in 54 participants (27 patients suffering from PGD and 27 bereaved healthy controls) was assessed as the overlap of pictured identities via the Inclusion of the Other in the Self Scale (IOS-scale). In addition to that, data on PGD symptomatology, general mental distress, and depression were collected.Patients suffering from PGD reported higher inclusion of the deceased in the self. By contrast, they reported feeling less close towards another living close person. Results of the IOS-scale were associated with PGD-severity, general mental distress, and depression. Inclusion of the deceased in the self is a significant statistical predictor for PGD-caseness.

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A comparison of self-bias measures across cognitive domains

BMC Psychology ◽

10.1186/s40359-021-00639-x ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Letizia Amodeo ◽

Jan R. Wiersema ◽

Marcel Brass ◽

Annabel D. Nijhof

Keyword(s):

Repeated Measures ◽

Autistic Traits ◽

The Self ◽

Self Report ◽

Cognitive Domain ◽

Matching Task ◽

Bayesian Analyses ◽

Cognitive Domains ◽

Weak Support ◽

Self Bias

Abstract Background The ‘self-bias’—i.e., the human proneness to preferentially process self-relevant stimuli—is thought to be important for both self-related and social processing. Previous research operationalized the self-bias using different paradigms, assessing the size of the self-bias within a single cognitive domain. Recent studies suggested a reduced self-bias in autism, yet findings are inconsistent. The lack of consensus across existing studies may result from variation in paradigms and cognitive domains tested. Therefore, the primary goal of the current study was to investigate whether self-biases found across cognitive domains (i.e., perception, memory, attention) are related or independent. The secondary goal was to explore the relationship between these self-biases and the extent of autistic traits in a neurotypical sample. Methods In an online procedure, 99 Dutch-speaking adults performed three self-processing tasks in counterbalanced order—i.e., the shape-label matching task (perception), the trait adjectives task (memory) and the visual search task (attention)—and completed two self-report measures of ASD symptomatology, i.e., AQ-10 and SRS-A. To control for level of familiarity, self-, close other- and famous other-relevant stimuli were included in each task. Repeated measures ANOVAs were conducted for each task, and both frequentist as well as Bayesian analyses were applied to investigate the correlational patterns between self-bias measures. Results We observed significant correlations of the self-bias magnitude between memory and attention, as well as attention and perception. However, Bayesian analysis provided only weak support for the latter association. Further, the size of the self-bias was not significantly related across memory and perception. No significant correlation between autistic traits and the self-bias magnitude was found for any of the three tasks, with Bayesian analyses strongly favoring the null hypothesis. Conclusions In contrast with the view of a ‘unidimensional’ self-bias, our findings provide evidence for a heterogeneous and multifaceted self consisting of a variety of related and unrelated aspects. None of the self-bias indices were found to relate to autistic traits in our neurotypical sample.

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A comparison of self-bias measures across cognitive domains

10.21203/rs.3.rs-401846/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Letizia Amodeo ◽

Jan Roeljan Wiersema ◽

Marcel Brass ◽

Annabel Nijhof

Keyword(s):

Repeated Measures ◽

Autistic Traits ◽

The Self ◽

Self Report ◽

Cognitive Domain ◽

Matching Task ◽

Bayesian Analyses ◽

Cognitive Domains ◽

Weak Support ◽

Self Bias

Abstract Background: The ‘self-bias’ – i.e., the human proneness to preferentially process self-relevant stimuli – is thought to be important for both self-related and social processing. Previous research operationalized the self-bias using different paradigms, assessing the size of the self-bias within a single cognitive domain. Recent studies suggested a reduced self-bias in autism, yet findings are inconsistent. Therefore, the primary goal of the current study was to investigate whether self-biases found across cognitive domains (i.e., perception, memory, attention) are related or independent. The secondary goal was to explore the relationship between these self-biases and the extent of autistic traits in a neurotypical sample.Methods: In an online procedure, 99 Dutch-speaking adults performed three self-processing tasks in counterbalanced order – i.e., the shape-label matching task (perception), the trait adjectives task (memory) and the visual search task (attention) – and completed two self-report measures of ASD symptomatology, i.e., AQ-10 and SRS-A. To control for level of familiarity, self-, close other- and famous other-relevant stimuli were included in each task. Repeated measures ANOVAs were conducted for each task, and both frequentist as well as Bayesian analyses were applied to investigate the correlational patterns between self-bias measures.Results: We observed significant correlations of the self-bias magnitude between memory and attention, as well as attention and perception. However, Bayesian analysis provided only weak support for the latter association. Further, the size of the self-bias was not significantly related across memory and perception. For neither of the tasks, a significant correlation between autistic traits and the self-bias magnitude was found, with Bayesian analyses strongly favoring the null hypothesis.Conclusions: In contrast with the view of a ‘unidimensional’ self-bias, our findings provide evidence for a heterogeneous and multifaceted self consisting of a variety of related and unrelated aspects. None of the self-bias indices were found to relate to autistic traits in our neurotypical sample.

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Phenotypic and Functional Alterations of Immune Effectors in Periodontitis; A Multifactorial and Complex Oral Disease

Journal of Clinical Medicine ◽

10.3390/jcm10040875 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (4) ◽

pp. 875

Author(s):

Kawaljit Kaur ◽

Shahram Vaziri ◽

Marcela Romero-Reyes ◽

Avina Paranjpe ◽

Anahid Jewett

Keyword(s):

Periodontal Disease ◽

Peripheral Blood ◽

Mononuclear Cells ◽

Oral Disease ◽

Healthy Controls ◽

Healthy Individuals ◽

Tnf Α ◽

Blood Mononuclear Cells ◽

Ifn Γ ◽

And Function

Survival and function of immune subsets in the oral blood, peripheral blood and gingival tissues of patients with periodontal disease and healthy controls were assessed. NK and CD8 + T cells within the oral blood mononuclear cells (OBMCs) expressed significantly higher levels of CD69 in patients with periodontal disease compared to those from healthy controls. Similarly, TNF-α release was higher from oral blood of patients with periodontal disease when compared to healthy controls. Increased activation induced cell death of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) but not OBMCs from patients with periodontal disease was observed when compared to those from healthy individuals. Unlike those from healthy individuals, OBMC-derived supernatants from periodontitis patients exhibited decreased ability to induce secretion of IFN-γ by allogeneic healthy PBMCs treated with IL-2, while they triggered significant levels of TNF-α, IL-1β and IL-6 by untreated PBMCs. Interaction of PBMCs, or NK cells with intact or NFκB knock down oral epithelial cells in the presence of a periodontal pathogen, F. nucleatum, significantly induced a number of pro-inflammatory cytokines including IFN-γ. These studies indicated that the relative numbers of immune subsets obtained from peripheral blood may not represent the composition of the immune cells in the oral environment, and that orally-derived immune effectors may differ in survival and function from those of peripheral blood.

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Characterization and Performance of Carbon Films Deposited by Plasma and Ion Beam Based Techniques

MRS Proceedings ◽

10.1557/proc-354-87 ◽

1994 ◽

Vol 354 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

K.C. Walter ◽

H. Kung ◽

T. Levine ◽

J.T. Tesmer ◽

P. Kodali ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Wear Rate ◽

Surface Area ◽

Ion Beam ◽

Carbon Films ◽

The Self ◽

Line Of Sight ◽

Rf Power ◽

Hard Carbon ◽

Self Bias ◽

Cathodic Arc

AbstractPlasma and ion beam based techniques have been used to deposit carbon-based films. The ion beam based method, a cathodic arc process, used a magnetically mass analyzed beam and is inherently a line-of-sight process. Two hydrocarbon plasma-based, non-line-of-sight techniques were also used and have the advantage of being capable of coating complicated geometries. The self-bias technique can produce hard carbon films, but is dependent on rf power and the surface area of the target. The pulsed-bias technique can also produce hard carbon films but has the additional advantage of being independent of rf power and target surface area. Tribological results indicated the coefficient of friction is nearly the same for carbon films from each deposition process, but the wear rate of the cathodic arc film was five times less than for the self-bias or pulsed-bias films. Although the cathodic arc film was the hardest, contained the highest fraction of sp3 bonds and exhibited the lowest wear rate, the cathodic arc film also produced the highest wear on the 440C stainless steel counterface during tribological testing. Thus, for tribological applications requiring low wear rates for both counterfaces, coating one surface with a very hard, wear resistant film may detrimentally affect the tribological behavior of the counterface.

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A Circulating Exosome RNA Signature Is a Potential Diagnostic Marker for Pancreatic Cancer, a Systematic Study

Cancers ◽

10.3390/cancers13112565 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (11) ◽

pp. 2565

Author(s):

Yixing Wu ◽

Hongmei Zeng ◽

Qing Yu ◽

Huatian Huang ◽

Beatrice Fervers ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Pancreatic Cancer ◽

Chronic Pancreatitis ◽

Early Detection ◽

Validation Dataset ◽

Healthy Controls ◽

Rna Seq ◽

Healthy Individuals ◽

Kras Mutations ◽

Significant Difference ◽

Rna Signature

Several exosome proteins, miRNAs and KRAS mutations have been investigated in the hope of carrying out the early detection of pancreatic cancer with high sensitivity and specificity, but they have proven to be insufficient. Exosome RNAs, however, have not been extensively evaluated in the diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. The purpose of this study was to investigate the potential of circulating exosome RNAs in pancreatic cancer detection. By retrieving RNA-seq data from publicly accessed databases, differential expression and random-effects meta-analyses were performed. The results showed that pancreatic cancer had a distinct circulating exosome RNA signature in healthy individuals, and that the top 10 candidate exosome RNAs could distinguish patients from healthy individuals with an area under the curve (AUC) of 1.0. Three (HIST2H2AA3, LUZP6 and HLA-DRA) of the 10 genes in exosomes had similar differential patterns to those in tumor tissues based on RNA-seq data. In the validation dataset, the levels of these three genes in exosomes displayed good performance in distinguishing cancer from both chronic pancreatitis (AUC = 0.815) and healthy controls (AUC = 0.8558), whereas a slight difference existed between chronic pancreatitis and healthy controls (AUC = 0.586). Of the three genes, the level of HIST2H2AA3 was positively associated with KRAS status. However, there was no significant difference in the levels of the three genes across the disease stages (stages I–IV). These findings indicate that circulating exosome RNAs have a potential early detection value in pancreatic cancer, and that a distinct exosome RNA signature exists in distinguishing pancreatic cancer from healthy individuals.

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Circulating Natural IgM Antibodies against Angiogenin in the Peripheral Blood Sera of Patients with Osteosarcoma as Candidate Biomarkers and Reporters of Tumorigenesis

Biomarkers in Cancer ◽

10.4137/bic.s6040 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 2 ◽

pp. BIC.S6040 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Yulia A. Savitskaya ◽

Genaro Rico ◽

Luis Linares ◽

Roberto González ◽

René Téllez ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Early Diagnosis ◽

Sensitivity And Specificity ◽

Peripheral Blood ◽

Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay ◽

Control Group ◽

Healthy Individuals ◽

Igm Antibodies ◽

Potential Biomarker ◽

Increased Risk ◽

Natural Igm

Background Tumor immunology research has led to the identification of a number of tumor-associated self antigens, suggesting that most tumors trigger an immunogenic response, as is the case in osteosarcoma, where the detection of natural serum IgM antibodies might achieve the diagnosis of osteosarcoma. Natural IgM antibodies to tumor-associated proteins may expand the number of available tumor biomarkers for osteosarcoma and may be used together in a serum profile to enhance test sensitivity and specificity. Natural IgM antibodies can be consistently detected in the peripheral blood sera months to years before the tumor is diagnosed clinically. The study of the level of a potential biomarker many months (or years) prior to diagnosis is fundamentally important. Integrated circulating and imaging markers in clinical practice treating osteosarcoma have potential applications for controlling tumor angiogenesis. Objectives To study the expression of natural IgM antibodies to the tumor antigens of angiogenesis in the peripheral blood sera of osteosarcoma patients and healthy individuals, and to develop serum-based predictive biomarkers. Methods Peripheral venous blood samples were collected from 117 osteosarcoma patients and 117 patients with other tumors. All diagnosis was histologically confirmed. Staging of patients was performed according to the Enneking Surgical Staging System. The control group consisted of 117 age- and sex- matched healthy individuals. In this study, novel immunoconjugates were designed, synthesized and then used to develop a rapid, specific and sensitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method to detect angiogenin (ANG)–IgM directly in the peripheral blood sera of humans. Results Serum ANG–IgM levels are significantly higher in osteosarcoma patients than in healthy individuals ( P < 0.005). Serum ANG–IgM levels varied widely, but were highly dependent on the concentration of IgM (r = 0.85; P < 0.0005). We found ANG–IgM in the sera of 85% of newly diagnosed osteosarcoma patients and ANG–IgM levels were significantly higher in osteosarcoma patients compared to any other tumors ( P < 0.001). Conclusions These results demonstrated that the combined biomarker ANG–IgM has greater sensitivity and specificity in early diagnosis of osteosarcoma patients than the traditional biomarkers (ANG and vascular endothelial growth factor). Circulating ANG–IgM immune complexes can potentially serve as a biomarker for increased risk of osteosarcoma, because relatively high serum levels were also detected in otherwise healthy individuals with a first degree family history of osteosarcoma and in patients with a diagnosis of benign conditions. Immunological aspects of angiogenesis for managing osteosarcoma will have a practical value in early diagnosis, prognosis and monitoring response to antiangiogenic therapy.

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Irritable bowel syndrome and psychological stress

Health SA Gesondheid ◽

10.4102/hsag.v4i1.6 ◽

1999 ◽

Vol 4 (1) ◽

pp. 19-26 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Barbara S Bayne ◽

Anita D Stuart ◽

H Gertie Pretorius

Keyword(s):

Occupational Stress ◽

Psychological Stress ◽

The Other ◽

Theory Building ◽

Healthy Controls ◽

Healthy Individuals ◽

Daily Stress ◽

Stress Inventory ◽

Irritable Bowel ◽

The Relationship

The purpose of this study was twofold. The first aim was to clarify the relationship between psychological stress and lrritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) by establishing whether individuals suffering from IBS experience minor stress differently from healthy individuals in terms of its frequency or intensity. The second aim was more general and concerns theory building in a field filled with ambiguity and confusion. Two groups, one comprising IBS sufferers and the other healthy controls, completed the Daily Stress lnventory and the Occupational Stress lnventory - questionnaires designed to measure minor daily and occupational stress respectively. The findings indicate that IBS sufferers do not experience more stress than healthy individuals, but they experience the stressors with greater intensity.OpsommingDie doel van die studie was tweeledig. Eerstens is daar gepoog om duidelikheid te kry oor die verband tussen sielkundige stres en Prikkelbare Dermsindroom (PDS), deur te bepaal of individue wat aan PDS ly geringe stres anders ervaar as gesonde individue in terme van gereeldheid of intensiteit. Die tweede doelwit was meer algemeen en spreek die kwessie van teorie ontwikkeling aan in 'n veld gevul met dubbelsinningheid en verwarring. Twee groepe, een bestaande uit PDS lyers en die ander 'n gesonde kontrolegroep, het die "Daily Stress Inventory'' en die "Occupational Stress Inventory" voltooi. Die vraelyste is ontwerp om onderskeidelik daaglikse stres en werkstres te meet. Die resultate dui daarop dat PDS lyers nie meer stres ervaar as die gesonde individue nie, maar dat hulle wel die stressors ervaar met groter intensiteit.

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Experimentally-induced and real-world acute anxiety have no effect on goal-directed behaviour

10.1101/606145 ◽

2019 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

CM Gillan ◽

MM Vaghi ◽

FH Hezemans ◽

Grothe S van Ghesel ◽

J Dafflon ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Individual Differences ◽

Anxiety Disorders ◽

Healthy Volunteers ◽

Real World ◽

Real Life ◽

Stressful Events ◽

Panic Attacks ◽

Healthy Individuals ◽

Correlational Design ◽

Acute Anxiety

AbstractCompulsivity is associated with failures in goal-directed control, an important cognitive faculty that protects against developing habits. But might this effect be explained by co-occurring anxiety? Previous studies have found goal-directed deficits in other anxiety disorders, and to some extent when healthy individuals are stressed, suggesting this is plausible. We carried out a causal test of this hypothesis in two experiments (between-subject N=88; within-subject N=50) that used the inhalation of hypercapnic gas (7.5% CO2) to induce an acute state of anxiety in healthy volunteers. In both experiments, we successfully induced anxiety, assessed physiologically and psychologically, but this did not affect goal-directed performance. In a third experiment (N=1413), we used a correlational design to test if real-life anxiety-provoking events (panic attacks, stressful events) impair goal-directed control. While small effects were observed, none survived controlling for individual differences in compulsivity. These data suggest that anxiety has no meaningful impact on goal-directed control.

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