From Feasibility to Utility: A Meta-Analysis of Amygdala-Neurofeedback

Amygdala dysregulation is core to multiple psychiatric disorders. Real-time fMRI enables Amygdala self-modulation through NeuroFeedback (NF). Despite a surge in Amygdala-NF studies, a systematic quantification of self-modulation is lacking. Amygdala-NF dissemination is further restricted by absence of unifying framework dictating design choices and insufficient understanding of neural changes underlying successful self-modulation. The current meta-analysis of Amygdala-NF literature found that real-time feedback facilitates learned self-modulation more than placebo. Intriguingly, while we found that variability in design choices could be explained by the targeted domain, this was rarely highlighted by authors. Lastly, reanalysis of six fMRI data-sets (n=151), revealed that successful Amygdala down-modulation is coupled with deactivation of posterior insula and Default-Mode-Network major nodes, pointing to regulation related processes. While findings point to Amygdala self-modulation as a learned skill that could modify brain functionality, further placebo-controlled trials are necessary to prove clinical efficacy. We further suggest that studies should explicitly target neuro-behavioral domain, design studies accordingly and include 'target engagement' measures. We exemplify this idea through a 'process-based' NF approach for PTSD.

Cultural Intelligence of Foreign Language Lecturers: A Measurement towards Global Competence

This research measured the cultural quotient (CQ) of foreign language lecturers at Bina Nusantara University. Two major research strategies were applied in this research: (1) qualitative approach through the interview, and (2) quantitative approach through CQ scale measurement. Firstly, the CQ scale developed by Ang et al. was tested on ten lecturers. Modifications were made to some test items to suit the context of foreign language teaching. Through the questionnaire, the analysis shows the mean and standard deviation of the overall test at M = 5,19 and SD = 1,7. For each domain of the scale, the analysis indicates that M = 5,16 SD = 1,75 occurs for metacognitive domain, M = 4,4 and SD = 1,57 occurs for cognitive domain; M = 5,4 and SD = 1,6 occurs for motivational domain; and M = 5,5 and SD = 1,8 occurs for behavioral domain. Among ten lecturers, eight lecturers are considered to have high CQ, one lecturer to be medium CQ, and one lecturer to be low CQ. A further bivariate correlation analysis is then conducted to see the relationship between CQ lecturer’s background. The statistical data indicates no significant correlation found between CQ results and lecturer’s age (r = -0,575), time spent living abroad (r = -0,862), and time spent for teaching foreign language (r = -0,644). However, the further interview reveals that the experience of having relatives in a foreign country and living in a diverse cultural group shape lecturers’ paradigm in language teaching.

Behavioral Information Security: Defining the Criterion Space

The success of information security appears to depend in part upon the effective behavior of the individuals involved in its use. Appropriate and constructive behavior by end users, system administrators, and others can enhance the effectiveness of information security while inappropriate and destructive behaviors can substantially inhibit its effectiveness. The present research focuses on “behavioral information security” which is defined as the complexes of human action that influence the availability, confidentiality, and integrity of information systems. Because research in this area is so new, in the present in study we focused on delineating and understanding the behavioral domain. Our goal for this study was to construct and test a taxonomy of information security behaviors. We expect that this knowledge can support later research efforts that focus on understanding the antecedents and consequences of information security behavior.

Perbedaan Kebersihan Rongga Mulut dan Kesehatan Periodontal Antara Mahasiswa Kedokteran Gigi dengan Mahasiswa Kesehatan Non-Kedokteran Gigi di Universitas Jember

Oral health is an important part of general body health and is related by several factors, behavioral domain factor is one of related factor consisting of knowledge, attitudes, and actions. The purpose of this study is to analyze the differences of oral hygiene and periodontal health in dental students with non-dental health students at Jember University. This research was an observational analytic with cross-sectional findings. The subjects were 274 Jember University health students. Data obtained by taking questionnaires and clinical examinations using OHI-S to determine the oral hygiene status and CPITN to examine the periodontal health status. The result of this study is dental students and non-dental health students has the same level of oral hygiene that is the medium level with lower OHI-S scores for dental students compared to non-dental health students. The conclusion of this study is there is no difference in the periodontal health status of dental students with non-dental health students at Jember University.

Association between Poststroke Depression and Psychological Crisis: A Retrospective Cross-Sectional Study

Objective. To investigate the association between poststroke depression (PSD) and psychological crisis in patients who have experienced a stroke within 6 months. Methods. This was a retrospective cross-sectional study that enrolled patients within 6 months after stroke onset. The investigators reviewed medical charts to obtain patients’ baseline characteristics, and a psychologist evaluated each patient for depression using the Taiwanese Depression Questionnaire (TDQ) and for psychological crisis using the Triage Assessment System (TAS). A generalized linear model (GLM) was used to analyze the association between the results of the TDQ and TAS. Results. Ninety-seven patients with stroke were included. Age ( p = 0.003 ), time since onset of stroke ( p = 0.041 ), diabetes mellitus ( p = 0.004 ), hypertension ( p = 0.016 ), heart disease ( p = 0.005 ), and TDQ score were significantly different between the hemorrhagic stroke group and the ischemic stroke group. The TDQ score was significantly lower in the hemorrhagic stroke group ( p = 0.012 ). The TDQ score was associated with the TAS total score and each domain score, and the presence of heart disease was associated with poorer TAS score in the behavioral domain ( p = 0.016 ). Conclusion. PSD is likely an important component of psychological crisis in stroke patients. For clinicians, a comprehensive psychologic evaluation is necessary to optimize treatment.

Scale-Independent Aggression: A Fractal Analysis of Four Levels of Human Aggression

Using fractal analyses to study events allows us to capture the scale-independence of those events, that is, no matter at which level we study a phenomenon, we should get roughly the same results because events exhibit similar structure across scales. This is demonstrably true in mathematical fractals but is less assured in behavioral fractals. The current research directly tests the scale-independence hypothesis in the behavioral domain by exploring the fractal structure of aggression, a social phenomenon comprising events that span temporal scales from minutes of face-to-face arguments to centuries of international armed conflicts. Using publicly available data, we examined the temporal fractal structure of four scales of aggression: wars (very macrolevel, worldwide data), riots (macrolevel, worldwide data), violent crimes (microlevel, data gathered from cities and towns in the United States of America), and body movement during arguments (very microlevel, data gathered on American participants). Our results lend mixed support to the scale-independence hypothesis and provide insight into the self-organization of human interactions.

Human sleep consolidates allergic responses conditioned to the environmental context of an allergen exposure

Allergies are highly prevalent, and allergic responses can be triggered even in the absence of allergens due to Pavlovian conditioning to a specific cue. Here we show in humans suffering from allergic rhinitis that merely reencountering the environmental context in which an allergen was administered a week earlier is sufficient to trigger an allergic response—but only if participants had slept after allergen exposure. This context-conditioning effect was entirely absent when participants stayed awake the night after allergen exposure or were tested in a different context. Unlike in context conditioning, cue conditioning (to an odor stimulus) occurred independently of sleep, a differential pattern that is likewise observed for conditioning in the behavioral domain. Our findings provide evidence that allergic responses can be conditioned to contextual information alone, even after only a single-trial conditioning procedure, and that sleep is necessary to consolidate this rapidly acquired maladaptive response. The results unravel a mechanism that could explain part of the strong psychological impact on allergic responses.

A COMPARISON OF THE EXPLANATORY PRACTICES OF MENTALISM AND BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS

Mentalism is an orientation to the causal explanation of behavior in which the causes are inferred to be unobservable structures from a non-behavioral domain. Typically, the structures are held to underlie behavior, and the domain is that of “mind.” In some but not all cases, mentalism subscribes to traditional psychophysical or substance dualism. Arguments that mental explanations are at the theoretical or conceptual level fail to consider the source of the explanation in question. Behavior analysts oppose mentalism on pragmatic, rather than ontological grounds: mentalism impedes a genuine science of behavior contributing to prediction and control by misleading scientists and inducing them to accept ineffective explanations of their subject matter. Key words: behavior analysis, explanation, mentalism, scientific method, theory, verbal behavior.