Terapirommet er ikke et nøytralt rom. Om Friluftssykehuset og potensialet i de fysiske omgivelsene for barn og unge i behandling.

Background and aim: The purpose of this article is to demonstrate how we can use nature cabins and their natural surroundings therapeutically. Method: Published research of relevance for this therapeutic practice is discussed in relation to and informed by experiences from practice, collected through conversations with therapists using the Outdoor care retreat at Rikshospitalet in Norway. Results: The literature review demonstrates how therapy in nature cabins can influence cognitive and emotional processes. All physical environments carry symbolic meanings; therefore, no therapy setting is neutral, and the setting will affect the client and therapist. Place attachment may contribute to create a safe foundation for exploration and self-development. The experiences from practice demonstrate how nature and natural objects are rich in potential for the creative application of symbols in therapy and opens for different stories on growth and development. Conclusions and implications: The evidence-based approach of this article supplies a therapeutic rationale to use cabins in natural surroundings more strategically for positive therapeutic outcomes. Keywords: nature, architecture, therapy settings, hospital environments

GABAA/Benzodiazepine Receptor Complex in the Dorsal Hippocampus Mediates the Effects of Chrysin on Anxiety-Like Behaviour in Female Rats

Systemic injections of the flavonoid chrysin (5,7-dihydroxyflavone) exert anxiolytic-like effects in ovariectomised and cycling female rats through actions on gamma-aminobutyric acid-A (GABAA) receptors; however, it is unknown if chrysin directly acts on brain structures that are involved in regulating emotional processes, such as the hippocampus. The present study evaluated the effects of intrahippocampal microinjections of 0.25, 0.5, and 1 μg of chrysin on anxiety-like behaviour in the elevated plus maze (EPM) and locomotor activity test (LAT) in female rats in proestrus and dioestrus. Similar doses of the neurosteroid allopregnanolone were used as a reference GABAergic anxiolytic drug. The participation of the GABAA/benzodiazepine receptor complex was evaluated by administering the antagonists picrotoxin, bicuculline and flumazenil. In proestrus, 0.5 and 1 μg of chrysin and allopregnanolone induced anxiogenic-like behaviour. In dioestrus, chrysin, and allopregnanolone (0.5 μg) induced anxiolytic-like effects. Picrotoxin, bicuculline and flumazenil prevented the effects of chrysin and allopregnanolone in both proestrus and dioestrus. None of the treatments significantly affected locomotor activity. These results indicate that the GABAA/benzodiazepine receptor complex in the dorsal hippocampus regulates the effects of chrysin on anxiety-like behaviour, similar to the actions of allopregnanolone. The divergent effects of treatments across the oestrous cycle phases suggest complex interactions between GABAA receptors and compounds with an anxiolytic potential.

Changes in noradrenaline and dopamine levels under oxygen debt conditions in the brain of rats during experimental acute pancreatitis

This study’s aim was to assess the level of catecholamines, i.e., noradrenaline and dopamine, under oxygen debt conditions in the brain of experimental animals in which acute pancreatitis was experimentally induced. Catecholamines play the role of neurotransmitters and neuromediators. They are responsible for the regulation of motor and emotional processes, take part in the regulation of hormonal activities, sleep, wakefulness, concentration, attention, and learning processes. The experiment also determined the oxygen tension as an indicator of respiratory failure and the activity of amylase and lipase in the development of the inflammatory process. The animals on which the experiment was conducted were Wistar rats (140 animals) divided into 3 research groups: control (C) animals (n = 30), healthy (H) animals (n = 30), and operated (O) animals (n = 80). The determination of amylase, lipase, oxygen pressure, NA, and DO levels were performed at hours 2, 6, 12, 24, and 48 of the experiment. The animals in group C had an injection needle inserted to investigate only the effects of mechanical damage to the organs. On the other hand, the animals in group O had a 5% solution of sodium taurocholate introduced into the common bile-pancreatic duct. The research conducted shows that the most significant changes in NA and DO levels were observed on the first day of the experiment. The concentrations of the above catecholamines were statistically significantly correlated with the level of amylase in the blood. The peak of dopamine was observed between the 6th and 12th hours of the experiment, while the lowest concentration of noradrenaline was observed at the 6th hour of the experiment.

Decoding Emotion in Drug Abusers: Evidence for Face and Body Emotion Recognition and for Disgust Emotion

Background: Different drugs damage the frontal cortices, particularly the prefrontal areas involved in both emotional and cognitive functions, with a consequence of decoding emotion deficits for people with substance abuse. The present study aims to explore the cognitive impairments in drug abusers through facial, body and disgust emotion recognition, expanding the investigation of emotions, processing, measuring accuracy and response velocity. Method: We enrolled 13 addicted to cocaine and 12 alcohol patients attending treatment services in Italy, comparing them with 33 matched controls. Facial emotion and body posture recognition tasks, a disgust rating task, and the Barrat Impulsivity Scale were included in the experimental assessment. Results: We found that emotional processes are differently influenced by cocaine and alcohol, suggesting that these substances impact diverse cerebral systems. Conclusion: The contribution made by the duration of consumption on emotional processing seems far less important than for cognitive processes. Drug abusers seem to be slower on elaboration of emotions and, in particular, of disgust emotion. Considering that the participants were not impaired in cognition, our data support the hypothesis that emotional impairments emerge independently from damage to cognitive functions.

Adolescents’ Attachment to Parents and Reactive–Proactive Aggression: The Mediating Role of Alexithymia

Aggressive behaviors can serve different functions, which might be understood by distinguishing between reactive (RA) and proactive (PA) aggression. Few studies were conducted on adolescents’ family precursors and emotional processes associated with RA or PA. Accordingly, the current study compared RA and PA by evaluating their association with adolescents’ attachment to parents and alexithymia. N = 453 Italian adolescents aged 15–19 years (Mage = 16.48; SD = 0.69; 33.6% males) participated in the study filling in self-report measures. Results showed that PA and RA are significantly associated and that PA was higher among males. Moreover, four mediational models were performed to assess the influence of adolescents’ attachment to mothers vs. fathers on RA or PA, considering the mediating role of alexithymia. Gender was included as a covariate. Mediational models’ results showed a direct and indirect effect, through lower alexithymia, of adolescents’ attachment to mothers and fathers on RA. Differently, only attachment to mothers showed a direct effect on PA, while attachment to fathers only an indirect effect, mediated by lower alexithymia, on PA was shown. Findings support the greater relevance of emotional processes for RA while highlighting the differential contribution of adolescents’ attachment to mothers vs. fathers upon PA. Implications are discussed, and suggestions for future research are provided.

Social Identity, Perceived Emotional Synchrony, Creativity, Social Representations, and Participation in Social Movements: The Case of the 2019 Chilean Populist Protests

This paper analyzes the socio-cognitive and emotional processes related to collective action in the context of the 2019 populist social movement in Chile. It proposes an integrative explanation of populism as social movements and collective gatherings along with their relation with creativity and social representations of mass movements. A comprehensive online survey was used (n = 262) that included measures of participation in demonstrations, identification with protesters or the government, agreement with social movement grievances, collective efficacy, perceived emotional synchrony, collective action, self-reported cognitive creativity, and individuals’ proposals for improvement of society and ideas associated with stimuli (e.g., the concepts of majority or minority). Our results revealed that identification with demonstrators, agreement with protesters’ grievances, a high perceived emotional synchrony or collective effervescence, and higher creativity responses were associated with an active participation in the social movement. Higher participation and factors conducive to participation were associated with lexical clusters of responses to stimuli that include words such as rights, justice, injustice, bravery, dignity, or hope, which were conceived of as positive social representations of the populist social movement. These findings are discussed within the neo-Durkheimian framework of collective gatherings and the perspective of populism as a social movement that seeks to renew and expand democracy.

Gibt es eine Gestalttheorie der Emotionen? Ein Diskussionsvorschlag

An emotional episode consists of psychological, physiological, motor and expressive components that are tied together. Present theories and previous contributions by gestalt theorists to emotions are discussed. It is shown that the synergetic system theory represents a fruitful model for emotional processes, in which self-organisation plays a central role. Also, a selection of neuropsychological findings in this context is taken into account.

How cognitive, social, and emotional profiles impact humor appreciation: sense of humor in autism spectrum disorder and Williams syndrome

Humor is a complex and multi-faceted phenomenon composed of a variety of cognitive, social, and emotional processes. This paper will discuss humor appreciation in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and individuals with Williams syndrome (WS), a rare genetic disorder mainly characterized by intellectual disabilities, high social approach tendencies and high positive emotions. Drawing on research on the comprehension and appreciation of humor in individuals with ASD, this paper aims to better understand how the particular cognitive, social, and emotional profile of individuals with WS might affect their appreciation of humor and how such research could ultimately lead to a greater understanding of the nature of humor.

Potential and Actual Cognitive-Emotional Engagement with Characters: A Response to Michael Whitenton and Bonnie Howe & Eve Sweetser

This article addresses the contributions by Michael Whitenton, and Bonnie Howe and Eve Sweetser, in the present volume. I endorse all three contributors’ use of cognitive-linguistic approaches, highlighting their helpfulness for the reconstruction of frames that shape the reading experience of audiences located in different historical and cultural contexts. The two chapters meticulously trace the complexity and dynamics of understanding exemplary biblical characters. I emphasise that the level of attention to linguistic detail displayed by cognitive stylistics is a desideratum for a reader-oriented analysis of a text’s potential reading effects. At the same time, I question some assumptions in cognitive linguistics concerning the cognitive-emotional processes real readers are actually likely to perform. The two chapters serve as a starting point for me to discuss general tendencies in recent cognitive and empirical literary studies, which have perhaps overstated the intensity and impact of some processes, while overlooking others that may be just as important.

Heritability of hippocampal functional and microstructural organisation

The hippocampal formation is an uniquely infolded anatomical structure in the medial temporal lobe and it is involved in a broad range of cognitive and emotional processes. It consists of anatomically and functionally different subfields, including the subiculum (SUB), cornu ammonis areas (CA), and the dentate gyrus (DG). However, despite ample research on learning and plasticity of the hippocampal formation, heritability of its structural and functional organization is not fully known. To answer this question, we extracted microstructurally sensitive neuroimaging (i.e., T1w/T2w ratios) and resting-state functional connectivity information along hippocampal subfield surfaces from a sample of healthy twins and unrelated individuals of the Human Connectome Project Dataset. Our findings robustly demonstrate that functional connectivity and local microstructure of hippocampal subfields are highly heritable. Second, we found marked covariation and genetic correlation between the microstructure of the hippocampal subfields and the isocortex, indicating shared genetic factors influencing the microstructure of the hippocampus and isocortex. In both structural and functional measures, we observed a dissociation of cortical projections across subfields. In sum, our study shows that the functional and structural organization of the hippocampal formation is heritable and has a genetic relation to divergent macroscale functional networks within the isocortex.