Paternal expressed emotion influences psychobiological indicators of threat and safety learning in daughters: A preliminary study

This preliminary study examined the association of children's anxiety, paternal expressed emotion (EE), and their interaction with psychophysiological indices of children's threat and safety learning. Participants included 24 father-daughter dyads. Daughters (ages 8-13 years, 100% Latina) self-reported their anxiety levels and completed a differential threat conditioning and extinction paradigm, during which psychophysiological responding was collected. Fathers completed a Five-Minute Speech Sample, from which paternal EE (i.e., criticism, emotional overinvolvement) was assessed. Anxiety-dependent associations emerged between paternal EE and individual differences in daughters' psychophysiological responding to safety signals during threat conditioning. Paternal EE was positively associated with psychophysiological responding to safety in daughters with high and mean, but not low, levels of anxiety. Although previous work suggests that chronic harsh maternal parenting is a potential risk factor for children's general threat and safety learning, these preliminary findings implicate milder forms of negative parenting behavior in fathers, particularly for highly anxious children.

Proof-of-Concept and Test-Retest Reliability Study of Psychological and Physiological Variables of the Mental Fatigue Paradigm

This study provided a proof-of-concept and test–retest reliability of measures frequently used to assess a mental fatigue paradigm. After familiarization, 28 healthy men performed (40-min) the Rapid Visual Information Processing (RVP) test in a test–retest design, having mental fatigue sensation, motivation, emotional arousal, total mood disturbance, and electroencephalography (EEG) in the prefrontal cortex measured before and after the test. EEG was recorded during a 3-min rest so that the power spectral density of theta (3–7 Hz) and alpha (8–13 Hz) bands was calculated. Pre-to-post RVP test changes in psychological and physiological domains were compared (paired-T tests), and absolute (standard error of measurement (SEM) and minimal difference (MD)) and relative reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC)) were calculated. The RVP test induced an increase (p < 0.05) in mental fatigue sensation (120.9% (109.4; 132.4)) and total mood disturbance (3.5% (−6.3; 13.3)), and a decrease in motivation (−7.1% (−9.2; −5.1)) and emotional arousal (−16.2% (−19.1; −13.2)). Likewise, EEG theta (59.1% (33.2; 85.0); p < 0.05), but not alpha band, increased due to RVP test. All psychophysiological responses showed poor-to-moderate relative reliability. Changes in mental fatigue sensation and motivation were higher than SEM and MD, but changes in EEG theta band were higher only than SEM. Mental fatigue sensation, motivation, and EEG theta band were sensitive to distinguish a mental fatigue paradigm despite true mental fatigue effects on theta activity may be trivial.

Depression in individuals who subsequently develop inflammatory bowel disease: a population-based nested case-control study

OBJECTIVE

Depression is a potential risk factor for developing IBD. This association may be related to GI symptoms occurring before diagnosis. We aimed to determine whether depression, adjusted for pre-existing GI symptoms, is associated with subsequent IBD.

DESIGN

We conducted a nested case-control study using the Clinical Practice Research Datalink identifying incident cases of UC and Crohn's disease (CD) from 1998 to 2016. Controls without IBD were matched for age and sex. We measured exposure to prevalent depression 4.5-5.5 years before IBD diagnosis. We created two sub-groups with prevalent depression based on whether individuals had reported GI symptoms before the onset of depression. We used conditional logistic regression to derive ORs for the risk of IBD depending on depression status.

RESULTS

We identified 10 829 UC cases, 4531 CD cases and 15 360 controls. There was an excess of prevalent depression 5 years before IBD diagnosis relative to controls (UC: 3.7% vs 2.7%, CD 3.7% vs 2.9%). Individuals with GI symptoms prior to the diagnosis of depression had increased adjusted risks of developing UC and CD compared with those without depression (UC: OR 1.47, 95% CI 1.21 to 1.79; CD: OR 1.41, 95% CI 1.04 to 1.92). Individuals with depression alone had similar risks of UC and CD to those without depression (UC: OR 1.13, 95% CI 0.99 to 1.29; CD: OR 1.12, 95% CI 0.91 to 1.38).

CONCLUSIONS

Depression, in the absence of prior GI symptoms, is not associated with subsequent development of IBD. However, depression with GI symptoms should prompt investigation for IBD.

Longitudinal investigation of shyness and physiological vulnerability: Moderating influences of attention biases to threat and safety

Shyness has long been identified as a vulnerability factor to developing psychosocial problems, but there is heterogeneity in these observed outcomes. One potential factor underlying these relations is individual differences in threat sensitivity. Using a longitudinal design, we examined whether attentional biases toward social threat and safety measured during adulthood moderated the association between shyness measured in emerging adulthood (N = 83, n_female = 48; M_age = 23.56 years, SD_age = 1.09 years) and frontal electroencephalogram (EEG) asymmetry at rest, a physiological index of vulnerability to psychopathology, measured nearly a decade later in adulthood (M_age = 31.68 years, SD_age = 2.27 years). We found that only biases to threat moderated the association between shyness and resting frontal EEG asymmetry longitudinally. In individuals who displayed relative vigilance to social threat, shyness was associated with greater relative right frontal EEG activity at rest (i.e., increased physiological vulnerability). These findings suggest that attentional biases to threat may play a role in understanding the relation between shyness and some known physiological vulnerabilities to psychopathology in adults.

Respiratory sinus arrhythmia as a moderator of early maltreatment effects on later externalizing problems

Physiological regulation may interact with early experiences such as maltreatment to increase risk for behavior problems. In the current study, we investigate the role of parasympathetic nervous system regulation (respiratory sinus arrhythmia [RSA] at rest and in response to a frustration task) as a moderator of the association between early risk for maltreatment (i.e., involvement with Child Protective Services; CPS) and externalizing behavior problems in middle childhood. CPS involvement was associated with elevated externalizing problems, but only among children with average to high RSA at rest and average to high RSA withdrawal in response to frustration. Effects appeared to be specific to CPS involvement as the association between cumulative risk (i.e., nonmaltreatment experiences of early adversity) and externalizing problems was not significantly moderated by RSA activity. These findings are consistent with the theoretical idea that the consequences of early maltreatment for later externalizing behavior problems depend on children's biological regulation abilities.

Predicting Fatigue in Long Duration Mountain Events with a Single Sensor and Deep Learning Model

AIM

To determine whether an AI model and single sensor measuring acceleration and ECG could model cognitive and physical fatigue for a self-paced trail run.

METHODS

A field-based protocol of continuous fatigue repeated hourly induced physical (~45 min) and cognitive (~10 min) fatigue on one healthy participant. The physical load was a 3.8 km, 200 m vertical gain, trail run, with acceleration and electrocardiogram (ECG) data collected using a single sensor. Cognitive load was a Multi Attribute Test Battery (MATB) and separate assessment battery included the Finger Tap Test (FTT), Stroop, Trail Making A and B, Spatial Memory, Paced Visual Serial Addition Test (PVSAT), and a vertical jump. A fatigue prediction model was implemented using a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN).

RESULTS

When the fatigue test battery results were compared for sensitivity to the protocol load, FTT right hand (R² 0.71) and Jump Height (R² 0.78) were the most sensitive while the other tests were less sensitive (R² values Stroop 0.49, Trail Making A 0.29, Trail Making B 0.05, PVSAT 0.03, spatial memory 0.003). The best prediction results were achieved with a rolling average of 200 predictions (102.4 s), during set activity types, mean absolute error for 'walk up' (MAE200 12.5%), and range of absolute error for 'run down' (RAE200 16.7%).

CONCLUSIONS

We were able to measure cognitive and physical fatigue using a single wearable sensor during a practical field protocol, including contextual factors in conjunction with a neural network model. This research has practical application to fatigue research in the field.

Using the Ball-in-Bowl Metaphor to Outline an Integrative Framework for Understanding Dysregulated Emotion

Dysregulated emotion plays an important role for mental health problems. To elucidate the underlying mechanisms, researchers have focused on the domains of strategy-based emotion regulation, psychophysiological self-regulation, emotion evaluations, and resulting emotion dynamics. So far, these four domains have been looked at in relative isolation from each other, and their reciprocal influences and interactive effects have seldom been considered. This domain-specific focus constrains the progress the field is able to make. Here, we aim to pave the way towards more cross-domain, integrative research focused on understanding the raised reciprocal influences and interactive effects of strategy-based emotion-regulation, psychophysiological self-regulation, emotion evaluations, and emotion dynamics. To this aim, we first summarize for each of these domains the most influential theoretical models, the research questions they have stimulated, and their strengths and weaknesses for research and clinical practice. We then introduce the metaphor of a ball in a bowl that we use as a basis for outlining an integrative framework of dysregulated emotion. We illustrate how such a framework can inspire new research on the reciprocal influences and interactions between the different domains of dysregulated emotion and how it can help to theoretically explain a broader array of findings, such as the high levels of negative affect in clinical populations that have not been fully accounted for by deficits in strategy-based emotion regulation and the positive long-term consequences of accepting and tolerating emotions. Finally, we show how it can facilitate individualized emotion regulation interventions that are tailored to the specific regulatory impairments of the individual patient.

Influence of Cognitive Orientation and Attentional Focus on Pain Perception

Background. Recently, a growing interest has emerged in the role of attention and hypervigilance in the experience of pain. Shifting attention away from pain seems likely to reduce the perception of pain itself. Objectives. The present study has been designed to test the following overall hypotheses: (1) disposition to catastrophize, self-efficacy perceived in pain resistance (task self-efficacy), previous experiences concerning the tolerance of physical pain, and degree of impulsiveness are significant predictors of the decision to abandon a painful test such as the cold pressor test (CPT); (2) the manipulation of the attentive focus (internal or external) can influence the level of perceived pain. Methods. Effects of the manipulation of attentional focus (internal and external) on pain perception and response of trial abandonment were evaluated in a sample of university students (n = 246) subjected to the cold pressor test. Results. A significant effect (p < 0.05) was found through a test–retest comparison on the final level of perceived pain among subjects who had received instruction to externalize the focus of their attention (mixed factorial analysis of variance), but no significance was observed with respect to the decision to abandon the experiment. A general explanatory model of the abandonment behavior demonstrating overall good fit measurements was tested too. Conclusion. The abandonment of tests has been shown to be predicted mainly by catastrophic attitude. Attentive impulsiveness showed a further positive effect on catastrophic attitude. Perceived self-efficacy in the tolerance of pain limited learned helplessness, which in turn positively influenced catastrophizing.

Does Attentional Focus Influence Psychophysiological Responses to an Acute Bout of Exercise? Evidence From an Experimental Study Using a Repeated-Measures Design

Attentional focus during aerobic exercise has been studied in the context of sports performance, injury prevention and affective experience. Previous research suggests that an additional mental task parallel to the physical activity might influence exercise experience and performance. It has been tested if attentional focus influences cardiovascular activity, positive/negative affect, and subjective exertion during a cycling exercise. Data from N = 30 female participants has been collected using a repeated measures design, with the following experimental manipulations: (A) an internal attention focus (i.e., paying attention to force production of the quadriceps muscles), (B) an external attention focus (i.e., paying attention to changes in brightness in the cycling track simulation), and as control conditions, (C) exercise without attention focus (i.e., no specific instruction was given) and (D) no exercise, no attention focus. Subjective affect and subjective exertion were assessed, and changes in cardiovascular activity were recorded via mobile impedance cardiography (ICG) at rest, during and after the exercise, including HR, HRV (RMSSD, HF), PEP, CO, SV, LVET, and RSA. Exercise was associated with adaptations in cardiovascular activity, positive/negative affect, and subjective exertion. However, this did not interact with attentional focus. The original hypothesis could not be supported: instructed attentional focus does not influence affect, exertion, or cardiovascular activity during a cycling exercise. Therefore, attentional focusing during exercise does not appear to put notable additional mental demands on the physically active participant. Nonetheless, impedance cardiography delivered reliable measurements even during the cycling exercise.

The psychophysiological response during post-traumatic stress disorder treatment with modular motion-assisted memory desensitisation and reconsolidation (3MDR)

Background: Psychophysiological changes are part of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptomatology and can signal emotional engagement during psychological treatment. Objectives: The aim of this study was to explore psychophysiological responses during multi-modular motion-assisted memory desensitization and reconsolidation (3MDR) therapy. Increased self-reported distress, substantially increased heart rate (HR) and breathing rate (BR) were expected at the start of therapy and predicted to improve over time. Since physical exercise demands during therapy were low, any large HR or BR responses were considered part of the psychophysiological response. Methods: This study used pooled data collected during a randomized controlled trial of 3MDR, which demonstrated significant improvement as measured by the Clinician Administered PTSD Scale. Whilst attending therapy, HR and BR data, subjective units of distress (SUD) score and phrases to describe feelings whilst exposed to trauma-related images were collected continuously from 37 UK male military veterans with PTSD. Results: HR and BR were significantly increased throughout all sessions (p < .01 for both). Whilst HR was raised slightly remaining on average below 100 beats/minute, BR was increased substantially with average values between 40 and 50 breaths/minute. SUD scores were very high during therapy which concurred with the many negative feelings experienced during therapy sessions. Across the course of the treatment, SUD scores (p < .01) and negative feelings were reduced (p < .001), and positive feelings have increased (p < .01) significantly, reflecting improvements in clinicians assessed PTSD symptoms. Across therapy sessions, HR (p = .888) and BR (p = .466) responses did not change. Conclusions: The strong psychophysiological response alongside high levels of self-reported distress and negative feelings is interpreted as high emotional engagement during therapy. A novel finding was the very significant BR increase throughout recorded sessions. Future PTSD research should include BR response to therapy and explore breathing control as a treatment target.

Heart Rate Variability in Psychology: A Review of HRV Indices and an Analysis Tutorial

The use of heart rate variability (HRV) in research has been greatly popularized over the past decades due to the ease and affordability of HRV collection, coupled with its clinical relevance and significant relationships with psychophysiological constructs and psychopathological disorders. Despite the wide use of electrocardiograms (ECG) in research and advancements in sensor technology, the analytical approach and steps applied to obtain HRV measures can be seen as complex. Thus, this poses a challenge to users who may not have the adequate background knowledge to obtain the HRV indices reliably. To maximize the impact of HRV-related research and its reproducibility, parallel advances in users' understanding of the indices and the standardization of analysis pipelines in its utility will be crucial. This paper addresses this gap and aims to provide an overview of the most up-to-date and commonly used HRV indices, as well as common research areas in which these indices have proven to be very useful, particularly in psychology. In addition, we also provide a step-by-step guide on how to perform HRV analysis using an integrative neurophysiological toolkit, NeuroKit2.

Psychophysiology during exposure to trauma memories: Comparative effects of virtual reality and imaginal exposure for posttraumatic stress disorder

BACKGROUND

This investigation involved an in-depth examination of psychophysiological responses during exposure to the trauma memory across 10 sessions among active duty soldiers with combat-related posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) treated by Prolonged Exposure (PE) or Virtual Reality Exposure (VRE). We compared psychophysiological changes, session-by-session, between VRE and traditional imaginal exposure.

METHODS

Heart rate (HR), galvanic skin response (GSR), and peripheral skin temperature were collected every 5 min during exposure sessions with 61 combat veterans of Iraq/Afghanistan and compared to the PTSD Checklist (PCL-C) and Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS) outcomes using multilevel modeling.

RESULTS

Over the course of treatment, participants in the PE group had higher HR arousal compared to participants in the VRE group. With reference to GSR, in earlier sessions, participants demonstrated a within-session increase, whereas, in later sessions, participants showed a within-session habituation response. A significant interaction was found for GSR and treatment assignment for within-session change, within-person effect, predicting CAPS (d = 0.70) and PCL-C (d = 0.66) outcomes.

CONCLUSION

Overall, these findings suggest that exposure to traumatic memories activates arousal across sessions, with GSR being most associated with reductions in PTSD symptoms for participants in the PE group.

User Experience With Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment Methods for an Affective Exergame: Comparative Laboratory-Based Study

BACKGROUND

In affective exergames, game difficulty is dynamically adjusted to match the user's physical and psychological state. Such an adjustment is commonly made based on a combination of performance measures (eg, in-game scores) and physiological measurements, which provide insight into the player's psychological state. However, although many prototypes of affective games have been presented and many studies have shown that physiological measurements allow more accurate classification of the player's psychological state than performance measures, few studies have examined whether dynamic difficulty adjustment (DDA) based on physiological measurements (which requires additional sensors) results in a better user experience than performance-based DDA or manual difficulty adjustment.

OBJECTIVE

This study aims to compare five DDA methods in an affective exergame: manual (player-controlled), random, performance-based, personality-performance-based, and physiology-personality-performance-based (all-data).

METHODS

A total of 50 participants (N=50) were divided into five groups, corresponding to the five DDA methods. They played an exergame version of Pong for 18 minutes, starting at a medium difficulty; every 2 minutes, two game difficulty parameters (ball speed and paddle size) were adjusted using the participant's assigned DDA method. The DDA rules for the performance-based, personality-performance-based, and all-data groups were developed based on data from a previous open-loop study. Seven physiological responses were recorded throughout the sessions, and participants self-reported their preferred changes to difficulty every 2 minutes. After playing the game, participants reported their in-game experience using two questionnaires: the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory and the Flow Experience Measure.

RESULTS

Although the all-data method resulted in the most accurate changes to ball speed and paddle size (defined as the percentage match between DDA choice and participants' preference), no significant differences between DDA methods were found on the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory and Flow Experience Measure. When the data from all four automated DDA methods were pooled together, the accuracy of changes in ball speed was significantly correlated with players' enjoyment (r=0.38) and pressure (r=0.43).

CONCLUSIONS

Although our study is limited by the use of a between-subjects design and may not generalize to other exergame designs, the results do not currently support the inclusion of physiological measurements in affective exergames, as they did not result in an improved user experience. As the accuracy of difficulty changes is correlated with user experience, the results support the development of more effective DDA methods. However, they show that the inclusion of physiological measurements does not guarantee a better user experience even if it yields promising results in offline cross-validation.

Novel Methodological Tools for Behavioral Interventions: The Case of HRV-Biofeedback. Sham Control and Quantitative Physiology-Based Assessment of Training Quality and Fidelity

Scientific research on heart rate variability (HRV) biofeedback is burdened by certain methodological issues, such as lack of consistent training quality and fidelity assessment or control conditions that would mimic the intervention. In the present study, a novel sham HRV-biofeedback training was proposed as a credible control condition, indistinguishable from the real training. The Yield Efficiency of Training Index (YETI), a quantitative measure based on the spectral distribution of heart rate during training, was suggested for training quality assessment. A training fidelity criterion derived from a two-step classification process based on the average YETI index and its standard deviation (YETI_SD) was suggested. We divided 57 young, healthy volunteers into two groups, each subjected to 20 sessions of either real or sham HRV-biofeedback. Five standard HRV measures (standard deviation of the NN (SDNN), root mean square of the standard deviation of the NN (RMSSD), total power, low-frequency (LF), and high-frequency (HF) power) collected at baseline, after 10 and 20 sessions were subjected to analysis of variance. Application of a training fidelity criterion improved sample homogeneity, resulting in a substantial gain in effect sizes of the group and training interactions for all considered HRV indices. Application of methodological amendments, including proper control conditions (such as sham training) and quantitative assessment of training quality and fidelity, substantially improves the analysis of training effects. Although presented on the example of HRV-biofeedback, this approach should similarly benefit other behavioral training procedures that interact with any of the many psychophysiological mechanisms in the human body.

Impact of acute stress on cortical electrical activity and cardiac autonomic coupling

Assessment of heart rate variability (reflective of the cardiac autonomic nervous system) has shown some predictive power for stress. Further, the predictive power of the distinct patterns of cortical brain activity and - cardiac autonomic interactions are yet to be explored in the context of acute stress, as assessed by an electrocardiogram and electroencephalogram. The present study identified distinct patterns of neural-cardiac autonomic coupling during both resting and acute stress states. In particular, during the stress task, frontal delta waves activity was positively associated with low-frequency heart rate variability and negatively associated with high-frequency heart rate variability. Low high-frequency power is associated with stress and anxiety and reduced vagal control. A positive association between resting high-frequency heart rate variability and frontocentral gamma activity was found, with a direct inverse relationship of low-frequency heart rate variability and gamma wave coupling at rest. During the stress task, low-frequency heart rate variability was positively associated with frontal delta activity. That is, the parasympathetic nervous system is reduced during a stress task, whereas frontal delta wave activity is increased. Our findings suggest an association between cardiac parasympathetic nervous system activity and frontocentral gamma and delta activity at rest and during acute stress. This suggests that parasympathetic activity is decreased during acute stress, and this is coupled with neuronal cortical prefrontal activity. The distinct patterns of neural-cardiac coupling identified in this study provide a unique insight into the dynamic associations between brain and heart function during both resting and acute stress states.

Cognitive-Perceptual-Affective-Motivational Dynamics During Incremental Workload Accounting for Exertion Tolerance

Inquiry of the psychological states during the exercise experience failed to fully account for the role of motivation to adhere and the disposition of exertion tolerance (ET). The current study expands the scope of the integrated cognitive-perceptual-affective framework by measuring the motivation to sustain effort in two physical tasks and accounting for ET. Thirty male participants performed cycling and isometric handgrip tasks to assess the progression of the rating of perceived exertion, attentional focus, affective responses, and motivation to adhere, along with an incremental workload. The ET was determined by a handgrip task time to voluntary exhaustion. The findings indicated significant time effects and linear trends for perceived exertion, attentional focus, affect, and perceived arousal but not motivation to adhere during the handgrip and cycling tasks. The ET played a key role in the integrity of the model, particularly in perceptual, attentional, and affective responses. The intended model serves to stimulate new research into adaptation mechanisms.

Pleasant Emotions Widen Thought-Action Repertoires, Develop Long-Term Resources, and Improve Reaction Time Performance: A Multistudy Examination of the Broaden-and-Build Theory Among Athletes

The authors investigated relationships between emotions, coping, and resilience across two studies. In Study 1a, 319 athletes completed dispositional questionnaires relating to the aforementioned constructs. In Study 1b, 126 athletes from Study 1a repeated the same questionnaires 6 months later. In Study 2, 21 athletes were randomly allocated to an emotional (e.g., pleasant or unpleasant emotions) or control group and undertook a laboratory-based reaction-time task across three time points. Questionnaires and salivary cortisol samples were collected before and after each performance with imagery-based emotional manipulations engendered during the second testing session. Partial longitudinal evidence of the broaden-and-build effects of pleasant emotions was found. Pleasant emotions may undo lingering cognitive resource losses incurred from previous unpleasant emotional experiences. In Study 2, pleasant and unpleasant emotions had an immediate and sustained psychophysiological and performance impact. Taken together, this research supports the application of broaden-and-build theory in framing emotional interventions for athletes.

Neurophysiological Approach by Self-Control of Your Stress-Related Autonomic Nervous System with Depression, Stress and Anxiety Patients

BACKGROUND

Heart Rate Variability Biofeedback (HRVB) is a treatment in which patients learn self-regulation of a physiological dysregulated vagal nerve function. While the therapeutic approach of HRVB is promising for a variety of disorders, it has not yet been regularly offered in a mental health treatment setting.

AIM

To provide a systematic review about the efficacy of HRV-Biofeedback in treatment of anxiety, depression, and stress related disorders.

METHOD

Systematic review in PubMed and Web of Science in 2020 with terms HRV, biofeedback, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), depression, panic disorder, and anxiety disorder. Selection, critical appraisal, and description of the Random Controlled Trials (RCT) studies. Combined with recent meta-analyses.

RESULTS

The search resulted in a total of 881 studies. After critical appraisal, nine RCTs have been selected as well as two other relevant studies. The RCTs with control groups treatment as usual, muscle relaxation training and a "placebo"-biofeedback instrument revealed significant clinical efficacy and better results compared with control conditions, mostly significant. In the depression studies average reduction at the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) scale was 64% (HRVB plus Treatment as Usual (TAU) versus 25% (control group with TAU) and 30% reduction (HRVB) at the PSQ scale versus 7% (control group with TAU). In the PTSD studies average reduction at the BDI-scale was 53% (HRV plus TAU) versus 24% (control group with TAU) and 22% (HRVB) versus 10% (TAU) with the PTSD Checklist (PCL). In other systematic reviews significant effects have been shown for HRV-Biofeedback in treatment of asthma, coronary artery disease, sleeping disorders, postpartum depression and stress and anxiety.

CONCLUSION

This systematic review shows significant improvement of the non-invasive HRVB training in stress related disorders like PTSD, depression, and panic disorder, in particular when combined with cognitive behavioral therapy or different TAU. Effects were visible after four weeks of training, but clinical practice in a longer daily self-treatment of eight weeks is more promising. More research to integrate HRVB in treatment of stress related disorders in psychiatry is warranted, as well as research focused on the neurophysiological mechanisms.

No Association Between Autonomic Functioning and Psychopathy and Aggression in Multi-Problem Young Adults

Background

Aberrant functioning of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) is an important factor in the occurrence of antisocial behavior. Baseline autonomic functioning and the responsivity of the ANS have been related to psychopathic traits and aggression. Here we investigated whether a naturalistic sample of male multi-problem young adults (age 18-27) present with similar autonomic deficits in relation to their psychopathy and aggression as previous studies observed in clinical samples.

Methods

In a sample of 112 multi-problem young adults, baseline autonomic functioning and autonomic responsivity to emotional stimuli were assessed through four physiological measures: heart rate, respiratory sinus arrhythmia, pre-ejection period, and skin conductance. 27 control participants were included primarily to assess whether the task worked appropriately. Participants watched a neutral 5 min video to assess baseline autonomic functioning and watched two sad clips to assess autonomic reactivity to sadness. We investigated the association between autonomic functioning and self-reported psychopathic traits and aggression within the multi-problem group.

Results

We found no significant associations between autonomic functioning and psychopathy and aggression.

Conclusion

These null-findings highlight the importance of research in naturalistic samples in addition to research in clinical and general populations samples and underscore the complexity of translating research findings into practical and clinical implications.

Normatively Irrelevant Affective Cues Affect Risk-Taking under Uncertainty: Insights from the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), Skin Conductance Response, and Heart Rate Variability

Being able to distinguish between safe and risky options is paramount in making functional choices. However, deliberate manipulation of decision-makers emotions can lead to risky behaviors. This study aims at understanding how affective reactions driven by normatively irrelevant affective cues can interfere with risk-taking. Good and Bad decks of the Iowa Gambling Task have been manipulated to make them unpleasant through a negative auditory manipulation. Anticipatory skin conductance response (SCR) and heart rate variability (HRV) have been investigated in line with the somatic marker hypothesis. Results showed fewer selections from Good decks when they were negatively manipulated (i.e., Incongruent condition). No effect of the manipulation was detected when Bad decks were negatively manipulated (i.e., Congruent condition). Higher anticipatory SCR was associated with Bad decks in Congruent condition. Slower heart rate was found before selections from Good decks in Control and Congruent condition and from Bad decks in Incongruent condition. Differences in heart rate between Bad and Good decks were also detected in Congruent condition. Results shed light on how normatively irrelevant affective cues can interfere with risk-taking.

Medical and Psychosocial Challenges Associated with Breast Cancer Survivorship

Objective

To assess the association between common survivorship issues and characteristics of breast cancer survivors presenting at a tertiary care hospital in Karachi, Pakistan. 

Methodology

This study was conducted in the medical oncology department of Jinnah Medical Postgraduate Center from March 27, 2019, to September 27, 2019. A number of 257 females of age group 18-90 years who had either completed their treatment or were undergoing treatment at the time were included using non-probability consecutive sampling techniques. Face-to-face interviews were personally conducted by the researcher, and data regarding the socio-demographics and common survivorship issues faced by breast cancer patients were obtained. The data acquired were entered and analyzed using SPSS version 23 (IBM Corp, Armonk, NY).

Results

The mean age of the breast cancer survivors were 42.58 ± 10.07 years. Of the main challenges, lack of energy received the highest mean score of 3.44 ± 1.26, followed by fatigue and financial issues. Overall the most common survivorship issue were financial issues (81.3%), followed by fatigue (80.9%), cessation of the menstrual cycle (66.1%), weak social support (59.1%), and cosmetic disfigurement (51.8%).

Conclusion

Breast cancer survivors have various psychological, medical, and social issues and may require unique attention during follow-up visits.

Emotion context insensitivity in depression: Toward an integrated and contextualized approach

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is characterized by pervasive mood disturbance as well as deficits in emotional processing, reactivity, and regulation. There is accumulating evidence that MDD is characterized by emotional patterns consistent with environmental disengagement, as reflected in attenuated positive and negative emotional reactivity, consistent with Emotion Context Insensitivity (ECI) theory. However, MDD individuals vary considerably in the extent to which they exhibit specific alterations in patterns of emotional responding. Emotions are complex, multicomponent processes that invoke responses across multiple functional domains and levels of analysis, including subjective experience, behavior, autonomic regulation, cognition, and neural processing. In this article, I review the current state of the literature on emotional responding and MDD from the lens of ECI. I focus on the importance of assessing emotional indices from multiple levels of analysis across development and contexts. I also discuss methodological and measurement issues that may contribute to inconsistent findings. In particular, I emphasize how psychophysiological measures can help elucidate emotional processes that underlie the pathophysiology of MDD as part of an integrated and contextualized approach.

The Goal Scale: A New Instrument to Measure the Perceived Exertion in Soccer (Indoor, Field, and Beach) Players

The rating of perceived exertion (RPE) can be used to monitor the exercise intensity during laboratory and specific tests, training sessions, and to estimate the internal training load of the athletes. The aim of the present study was to develop and validate a specific pictorial perceived exertion scale for soccer players (indoor, field, and beach soccer) called GOAL Scale. The pictorial GOAL Scale (six drawings; 1 “low exertion” to 6 “exhaustion”) was validated for twenty under-17 soccer players (16.4 ± 0.68 years; 175.4 ± 9 cm; 66.4 ± 7.7 kg; % fat mass 12.4 ± 3.3). In the validation phase, the athletes were evaluated in a progressive protocol involving stimuluses of 3 min with 1 min for the rest into the stages until the voluntary exhaustion in Maximal Cardiopulmonary Effort Test (MCET), and in the Yo Yo Intermittent Recovery Test – Level 1 (Yo-Yo). The RPE identified by the GOL Scale, by the Borg Scale 6 – 20 and by the Cavasini Scale, as well as the heart rate (HR), perceptual of the heart rate (%HR_max) and the blood lactate concentration ([La]) were immediately evaluated after each stage of both tests. Spearman’s correlation coefficient (p < 0.05) was used. Construct scale validity was examined by regressing GOAL Scale against Borg Scale 6 – 20 and Cavasini Scale and concurrent scale validity was investigated by regressing GOAL Scale against HR, beats/min and blood lactate concentration (mmol/L) during two progressive tests. There was a significant correlation values of the GOAL Scale with Borg Scale (r = 0.93; r = 0.88), Cavasini Scale (r = 0.91; r = 0.90), %HR_max (r = 0.91; r = 0,86), HR (r = 0.87; r = 0.83) and lactate (r = 0.68; r = 0.83) during tests (Maximal Incremental Cardiopulmonary Test and Yo-Yo test, respectively). The results evidenced concurrent and construct validity of the GOAL Scale across a wide range of exercise intensity. The absence of verbal anchors makes the use of this instrument to soccer, futsal and beach soccer athletes of different languages and different literacy levels possible.