Neural Consequences of Infant Attachment

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaret A. Sheridan ◽  
Kim A. Bard
Keyword(s):  
Negative Affect ◽  
Affect Regulation ◽  
Neural Substrates ◽  
Neural Systems ◽  
Infant Attachment ◽  
Attachment Relationships ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Negative Affect Regulation ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Insight Into

Typical studies of the impact of the quality and presence of attachment relationships on child development have focused on the child’s safe-base behavior. In terms of neurobiology, this has primarily led to investigations of the child’s control over negative affect. In nonhuman primates, early investigations into the neurobiological consequences of attachment used models where attachment relationships were absent or severely curtailed. Institutionalization of infants, a common practice, mirrors these early primate studies since attachment relationships are limited or absent. These investigations are based on models of disruptions in attachment and used here to illustrate the impact of attachment relationships on two neural systems not typically considered: the neural substrates of reward learning and the neural substrates supporting complex cognitive function such as executive function. While attachment is central to the development of negative affect regulation, it is argued that the context in which the brain develops can also serve as an additional focus of early attachment relationships. This offers insight into the multiple functions served by attachment, and thus the role it plays in the development of other neural systems.

scholarly journals A selective effect of dopamine on information-seeking

eLife ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valentina Vellani ◽  
Lianne P de Vries ◽  
Anne Gaule ◽  
Tali Sharot
Keyword(s):  
Parkinson’S Disease ◽  
Parkinson's Disease ◽  
Information Seeking ◽  
Selective Effect ◽  
Reward Seeking ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Primary Reward

Humans are motivated to seek information from their environment. How the brain motivates this behavior is unknown. One speculation is that the brain employs neuromodulatory systems implicated in primary reward-seeking, in particular dopamine, to instruct information-seeking. However, there has been no causal test for the role of dopamine in information-seeking. Here, we show that administration of a drug that enhances dopamine function (dihydroxy-L-phenylalanine; L-DOPA) reduces the impact of valence on information-seeking. Specifically, while participants under Placebo sought more information about potential gains than losses, under L-DOPA this difference was not observed. The results provide new insight into the neurobiology of information-seeking and generates the prediction that abnormal dopaminergic function (such as in Parkinson’s disease) will result in valence-dependent changes to information-seeking.

Resilience

2019 ◽  
pp. 286-303 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Alexander ◽  
Justine Megan Gatt
Keyword(s):  
Well Being ◽  
Neural Systems ◽  
Dynamic Interactions ◽  
Control Networks ◽  
Effective Interventions ◽  
Adaptive Recovery ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Over Time

Resilience refers to the process of adaptive recovery following adversity or trauma. It is likely to include an intertwined series of dynamic interactions between neural, developmental, environmental, genetic, and epigenetic factors over time. Neuroscientific research suggests the potential role of the brain’s threat and reward systems, as well as executive control networks. Developmental research provides insight into how the environment may affect these neural systems across the lifespan towards greater risk or resilience to stress. Genetic work has revealed numerous targets that alter key neurochemical systems in the brain to influence mental health. Current challenges include ambiguities in the definition and measurement of resilience and a simplified focus on resilience as the absence of psychopathology, irrespective of levels of positive mental functioning. Greater emphasis on understanding the protective aspects of resilience and related well-being outcomes are important to delineate the unique neurobiological factors that underpin this process, so that effective interventions can be developed to assist vulnerable populations and resilience promotion.

scholarly journals Math anxiety and executive function: Neural influences of task switching on arithmetic processing

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel Pizzie ◽  
Nikita Raman ◽  
David J. M. Kraemer
Keyword(s):  
Executive Function ◽  
Task Switching ◽  
Neural Activity ◽  
Math Anxiety ◽  
Math Performance ◽  
Negative Thoughts ◽  
Neural Influences ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Insight Into

Math anxiety (MA) is associated with negative thoughts and emotions when encountering mathematics, often resulting in under-performance on math tasks. One hypothesized mechanism by which MA affects performance is through anxiety-related increases in working memory (WM) load, diverting resources away from mathematical computations. Here we examine whether this effect is specific to WM, or whether the impact of MA extends to an overall depletion of executive function (EF) resources. In this fMRI experiment, we manipulated two separate factors known to impact EF demands—task-switching (TS) and increased WM load—in order to evaluate how MA relates to behavioral performance and neural activity related to mathematical calculations. Relative to a difficult non-math task (analogies), we observed MA-related deficits in math performance and reduced neural activity in a network of regions in the brain associated with arithmetic processing. In response to TS demands, higher levels of math anxiety were associated with a pattern of avoidance and disengagement. When switching from the control task, high math anxiety (HMA) was associated with disengagement from math trials, speeding through these trials and exhibiting reduced neural activity in regions associated with arithmetic processing. The effects of math anxiety and WM were most pronounced at the lowest levels of WM load. Overall, the results of this study indicate that the effects of MA are broader than previously demonstrated, and provide further insight into how EF deficits in MA might impact recruitment of neural resources that are important for successful math computations.

Computational neurostimulation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ainslie Johnstone ◽  
James J. Bonaiuto ◽  
Sven Bestmann
Keyword(s):  
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation ◽  
Motor Cortex ◽  
Magnetic Stimulation ◽  
Computational Models ◽  
Primary Motor Cortex ◽  
Health And Disease ◽  
Small Footprint ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Insight Into

Computational neurostimulation is the use of biologically grounded computational models to investigate the mechanism of action of brain stimulation and predict the impact of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) on behavior in health and disease. Computational models are now widespread, and their success is incontrovertible, yet they have left a rather small footprint on the field of TMS. We highlight and discuss recent advances in models of primary motor cortex TMS, the brain region for which most models have been developed. These models provide insight into the putative, but unobservable, mechanisms through which TMS influences physiology, and help predicting the effects of different TMS applications. We discuss how these advances in computational neurostimulation provide opportunities for mechanistically understanding and predicting the impact of TMS on behavior.

scholarly journals Synchronization and Redundancy: Implications for Robustness of Neural Learning and Decision Making

2011 ◽  
Vol 23 (11) ◽  
pp. 2915-2941 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jake Bouvrie ◽  
Jean-Jacques Slotine
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Decision Function ◽  
Neural Systems ◽  
Cortical Circuits ◽  
Neural Learning ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Source Of Error

Learning and decision making in the brain are key processes critical to survival, and yet are processes implemented by nonideal biological building blocks that can impose significant error. We explore quantitatively how the brain might cope with this inherent source of error by taking advantage of two ubiquitous mechanisms, redundancy and synchronization. In particular we consider a neural process whose goal is to learn a decision function by implementing a nonlinear gradient dynamics. The dynamics, however, are assumed to be corrupted by perturbations modeling the error, which might be incurred due to limitations of the biology, intrinsic neuronal noise, and imperfect measurements. We show that error, and the associated uncertainty surrounding a learned solution, can be controlled in large part by trading off synchronization strength among multiple redundant neural systems against the noise amplitude. The impact of the coupling between such redundant systems is quantified by the spectrum of the network Laplacian, and we discuss the role of network topology in synchronization and in reducing the effect of noise. We discuss range of situations in which the mechanisms we model arise in brain science and draw attention to experimental evidence suggesting that cortical circuits capable of implementing the computations of interest here can be found on several scales. Finally, simulations comparing theoretical bounds to the relevant empirical quantities show that the theoretical estimates we derive can be tight.

scholarly journals COMP-03. TUMOR CONNECTOME: INSIGHT INTO THE IMPACT OF CNS NEOPLASIA AND THERAPY ON THE BRAIN NETWORK

2018 ◽  
Vol 20 (suppl_6) ◽  
pp. vi64-vi64
Author(s):  
Drew Parker ◽  
Jacob Alappatt ◽  
Mark Elliott ◽  
Steven Brem ◽  
Ragini Verma
Keyword(s):  
Brain Network ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Insight Into

scholarly journals Phenotypic Analysis of Mice Deficient in the Type 2 Galanin Receptor (GALR2)

2005 ◽  
Vol 25 (11) ◽  
pp. 4804-4811 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle L. Gottsch ◽  
Hongkui Zeng ◽  
John G. Hohmann ◽  
David Weinshenker ◽  
Donald K Clifton ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sensory Function ◽  
Seizure Susceptibility ◽  
Wild Type ◽  
Galanin Receptor ◽  
Phenotypic Analysis ◽  
Signaling Mechanisms ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Insight Into

ABSTRACT Galanin is a neuropeptide implicated in the regulation of feeding, reproduction, cognition, nociception, and seizure susceptibility. There are three known galanin receptor (GALR) subtypes (GALR1, GALR2, and GALR3), which bind to galanin with different affinities and have their own unique distributions, signaling mechanisms, and putative functions in the brain and peripheral nervous system. To gain further insight into the possible physiological significance of GALR2, we created mutant mice that were deficient in GALR2 and compared their phenotype to that of wild-type (WT) littermate or age-matched controls, with respect to basic motor and sensory function, feeding behavior, reproduction, mood, learning and memory, and seizure susceptibility. Phenotypic analysis revealed that animals bearing a deletion of GALR2 did not differ significantly from their WT controls in any of the measured variables. We conclude that either GALR2 plays no role in these physiological functions or through redundancy or compensation these mutant animals can adapt to the congenital absence of GALR2. It is also conceivable that GALR2 plays only a subtle role in some of these functions and that the impact of its loss could not be detected by the analytical procedures used here.

Linking Forgiveness at Work and Negative Affect

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 222-241 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rinki Dahiya ◽  
Santosh Rangnekar
Keyword(s):  
Regression Analysis ◽  
Negative Affect ◽  
Psychological Tests ◽  
Organizational Research ◽  
Positive Interventions ◽  
Manufacturing Organizations ◽  
Interpersonal Development ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Insight Into

The present study investigates the impact of forgiveness at work (self, others and situations) on negative affect (NA) using age as a moderator. Data, collected from 376 employees working in various Indian manufacturing organizations, were analysed with the help of regression analysis. The results show that forgiveness (self, others and situations) is significantly associated with lower NA and age moderates the relationship between forgiveness (self and others) and NA. The study offers a concrete insight into the complicated play of age in linking forgiveness dimensions and NA, an area that has largely been ignored in organizational research. The study shows that forgiveness significantly reduces the NA on employees and hence, organizations should make positive interventions in order to encourage forgiveness at work. Organizational psychologists and HR counsellors can similarly develop psychological tests and use theme-based interventions to foster intrapersonal and interpersonal development of forgiveness at work.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document