Self-Regulation in High-Level Ice Hockey Players: An Application of the MuSt Theory

The purpose of the study was to examine the validity of core action elements and feeling states in ice hockey players in the prediction of performance. A second aim of the study was to explore the effectiveness of a 30-day program targeting action and emotion regulation. Participants were male ice hockey players drawn from two teams competing at the highest level of the junior Finnish ice hockey league. They were assigned to a self-regulation (n = 24) and a control (n = 19) group. The self-regulation program focused on the recreation of optimal execution of core action elements and functional feeling states. Separate repeated measures MANOVAs indicated significant differences in ratings of perceived control and execution accuracy ratings of self-selected visual and behavioral components of the action (critical for optimal performance) and psychobiosocial (feeling) states across recalled best and worst games. Results support the use of both action- and emotion-centered strategies for performance enhancement. Future research including psychophysiological markers is warranted.

Circular Causality of Emotions in Moving Pictures

In the framework of predictive coding, as explained by Giovanni Pezzulo in his article Why do you fear the bogeyman? An embodied predictive coding model of perceptual inference (2014), humans construct instances of emotions by a double arrow of explanation of stimuli. Top-down cognitive models explain in a predictive fashion the emotional value of stimuli. At the same time, feelings and emotions depend on the perception of internal changes in the body. When confronted with uncertain auditory and visual information, a multimodal internal state assigns more weight to interoceptive information (rather than auditory and visual information) like visceral and autonomic states as hunger or thirst (motivational conditions). In short, an emotional mood can constrain the construction of a particular instance of emotion. This observation suggests that the dynamics of generative processes of Bayesian inference contain a mechanism of bidirectional link between perceptual and cognitive inference and feelings and emotions. In other words, “subjective feeling states and emotions influence perceptual and cognitive inference, which in turn produce new subjective feeling states and emotions” as a self-fulfilling prophecy (Pezzulo 2014, 908). This article focuses on the short introductory scene from Steven Spielberg’s Jaws (1975), claiming that the construction / emergence of the fear and sadness emotions are created out of the circular causal coupling instantiated between cinematic bottom-up mood cues and top-down cognitive explanations.

Neocortical substrates of feelings evoked with music in the ACC, insula, and somatosensory cortex

Neurobiological models of emotion focus traditionally on limbic/paralimbic regions as neural substrates of emotion generation, and insular cortex (in conjunction with isocortical anterior cingulate cortex, ACC) as the neural substrate of feelings. An emerging view, however, highlights the importance of isocortical regions beyond insula and ACC for the subjective feeling of emotions. We used music to evoke feelings of joy and fear, and multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) to decode representations of feeling states in functional magnetic resonance (fMRI) data of n = 24 participants. Most of the brain regions providing information about feeling representations were neocortical regions. These included, in addition to granular insula and cingulate cortex, primary and secondary somatosensory cortex, premotor cortex, frontal operculum, and auditory cortex. The multivoxel activity patterns corresponding to feeling representations emerged within a few seconds, gained in strength with increasing stimulus duration, and replicated results of a hypothesis-generating decoding analysis from an independent experiment. Our results indicate that several neocortical regions (including insula, cingulate, somatosensory and premotor cortices) are important for the generation and modulation of feeling states. We propose that secondary somatosensory cortex, which covers the parietal operculum and encroaches on the posterior insula, is of particular importance for the encoding of emotion percepts, i.e., preverbal representations of subjective feeling.

How Processing of Sensory Information From the Internal and External Worlds Shape the Perception and Engagement With the World in the Aftermath of Trauma: Implications for PTSD

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is triggered by an individual experiencing or witnessing a traumatic event, often precipitating persistent flashbacks and severe anxiety that are associated with a fearful and hypervigilant presentation. Approximately 14–30% of traumatized individuals present with the dissociative subtype of PTSD, which is often associated with repeated or childhood trauma. This presentation includes symptoms of depersonalization and derealization, where individuals may feel as if the world or self is “dream-like” and not real and/or describe “out-of-body” experiences. Here, we review putative neural alterations that may underlie how sensations are experienced among traumatized individuals with PTSD and its dissociative subtype, including those from the outside world (e.g., touch, auditory, and visual sensations) and the internal world of the body (e.g., visceral sensations, physical sensations associated with feeling states). We postulate that alterations in the neural pathways important for the processing of sensations originating in the outer and inner worlds may have cascading effects on the performance of higher-order cognitive functions, including emotion regulation, social cognition, and goal-oriented action, thereby shaping the perception of and engagement with the world. Finally, we introduce a theoretical neurobiological framework to account for altered sensory processing among traumatized individuals with and without the dissociative subtype of PTSD.

Effect of Quick Coherence Technique on Psychophysiological Coherence, Heart Rate, Stress, Anxiety, Depression and Feeling State in Young Adults in India

HeartMath technology is an innovative technique to improving emotional mental health. A small-scale study was conducted to investigate the effect of quick coherence technique on psychophysiological coherence, stress, anxiety, depression and feeling state in young adults in India. Present study is in line with the past research done by S.D. Edwards (2016) on ‘Influence of Heartmath Quick Coherence Technique on Psychophysiological Coherence and Feeling States’. Six postgraduate students who complained of stress, anxiety and depression were included in the present study. There were 4 female and 2 males between the age group of 22-28 years. They were screened for stress, anxiety and depression using DAS 21 scale and their physiological coherence score was recorded using emWave system. They were asked to rate their feeling states (anger, sadness, happiness and calmness) before and after each session. Six (twice a week) sessions were conducted using quick coherence technique. In the initial session they were taught quick coherence technique. They were given heart focused breathing exercise and affirmation as a home plan. After six sessions their physiological coherence score was recorded using emWave system. Then they were screened for stress, anxiety and depression using DAS 21 scale. There was a significant improvement in psychophysiological coherence, anxiety, stress and feeling state after quick coherence training. The present study supports the past research done by S.D. Edwards (2016) where the results showed significant changes in psychophysiological coherence, negative feeling states and positive feeling state after five sessions.

Psychedelic Telepathy: An Interview Study

This article presents an interview study of telepathic experiences induced by psychedelic drugs, with the aim of broadening our understanding of the nature and characteristics of such experiences. Of 40 psychedelics users interviewed about their experiences, 16 reported some form of psychedelic telepathy. Respondents were recruited at various online fora for individual interviews via private messaging. They reported three main types of telepathic communication: 1) an information-exchange type of telepathy that often enabled people to communicate in images as well as words; 2) a type sometimes referred to as telempathy that allowed for the direct exchange of feeling-states; 3) a state of self-dissolution and telepathic unity where one could not differentiate one’s own thoughts and feelings from those of the friend or partner. Some participants complained about the lack of privacy especially in the more intense forms of telepathic states, and were hesitant to repeat the experience, while others claimed they had become accustomed to such states and experienced them regularly. The article concludes that further studies are warranted, and suggests a research design for an experimental study of psychedelic telepathy. Keywords: psychedelic, interview, qualitative, telepathy, self-dissolution