Subjects: Psychology >> Physiological Psychology Subjects: Psychology >> Medical Psychology submitted time 2023-12-24
Abstract： Objective: Identify the acute stress response patterns, and explore the difference of state anxiety and positive and negative emotion scores of different acute stress response models at different time points. Methods: The acute stress response of 226 healthy adults was induced by the stress inducing task. Salivary cortisol was collected and the trait anxiety scale, state anxiety scale, and positive and negative emotion scale were filled out at different time points. The latent class growth analysis of salivary cortisol was used for heterogeneity testing. Results: The results showed that the acute stress response pattern can be divided into three latent class: low stress response, medium stress response and high stress response. The state anxiety scores and negative emotion scores of individuals with low acute stress response after the end of stress task were significantly lower than those at the end of stress task. Conclusion: The acute stress response pattern has obvious classification characteristics, including low stress response, medium stress response and high acute stress response. Low stress response individuals will experience negative emotional experience for a short time after stress.
Peer Review Status:
Awaiting Review
Subjects: Psychology >> Physiological Psychology submitted time 2023-09-26
Abstract： Pain-related attention biases have a crucial role in the development and maintenance of chronic pain. Previous meta-analyses have demonstrated that individuals with chronic pain exhibit a sustained attentional biases toward pain-related stimuli. Several studies have also highlighted associations between the maintenance of pain-related attention biases and poorer long-term chronic pain outcomes. However, traditional measures used in previous studies including total fixation or duration indexes, cannot capture the dynamic nature of attention or variability in attentional processes between individuals. Some researchers have suggested that the attentional biases associated with chronic pain may exist at different stages of attention processing. Therefore, in order to gain a deeper understanding of the dynamic nature of visual attention biases toward pain-related stimuli and their potential predictive effects on responses to chronic pain, this study employed a time window segmentation analysis of eye movement data. Additionally, real pain stimuli were utilized in the visual task to elicit more authentic responses.
GPower3.1 was utilized to estimate the required sample size for this study; 49 participants were needed to detect an effect size (f) of 0.17 with a significance level (α) of 0.05 and a power of 95%. A total of 94 participants (69 women) experiencing chronic musculoskeletal pain (e.g., neck pain, shoulder pain, or low back pain), were recruited for this study. During the experiment, participants completed two tasks while their eye movements were recorded using an Eyelink 1000 eye tracker. The eye tracker had a sampling rate of 500 Hz, a spatial accuracy greater than 0.5°, and a resolution of 0.01° in the pupil-tracking mode. After receiving instructions, participants began the first task comprising 16 pairs of pain-neutral pictures and 16 pairs of neutral-neutral pictures, each measuring 11 cm ×10 cm. The viewing angle of each picture was 8.99° × 8.17°. In this task, picture pairs were displayed for 2000 ms, during which participants were instructed to freely view the pictures. Following the disappearance of the stimuli, a detection point appeared at the location of one of the pictures, and participants had to quickly and accurately judge the location of the detection point. Task 2 was identical to Task 1, exception that, no detection point was presented following the offset of picture pairs; instead, there was a possibility that an actual somatosensory pain stimulus would be delivered. Specifically, participants had a 25% chance of receiving a painful stimulus after each pain-neutral picture pair appeared while there was no chance a painful stimulus delivery after neutral-neutral picture pairs appeared. Participants were instructed to quickly and accurately determine whether or not they experienced a painful stimulus. At the start of the experiment, baseline data was collected, including the participants' chronic pain grade, pain catastrophizing scale scores, center for epidemiologic studies depression scores, and demographic information. Additionally, after a period of 6 months, the experimenters followed up with the participants to gather information on their chronic pain intensity and interference.
Task 1 results revealed patients with chronic pain displayed attentional biases toward pain-related stimuli during the first three epochs (0~500 ms, 500~1000 ms, and 1000~1500 ms). In Task 2, which incorporated real pain stimuli, participants exhibited attentional biases toward pain cues during all four epochs (0~500 ms, 500~1000 ms, 1000~1500 ms, and 1500~2000 ms). By examining the magnitude of attentional biases across the four time windows in the two tasks, it was evident that attentional biases toward pain-related stimuli in patients with chronic pain were imbalanced. Attention was engaged in the first epoch of stimulus presentation (0~500 ms), reached its peak during the second epoch (500~1000 ms), and then gradually decreased during the third and fourth epochs (1000~1500 ms and 1500~2000 ms). Further analysis revealed that attentional biases toward pain-related stimuli during the third and fourth epochs (1000~1500 ms and 1500~2000 ms) of both tasks independently predicted the maintenance of chronic pain intensity and interference levels at a six month follow-up. These effects were maintained even after controlling for baseline levels of pain intensity and interference and other baseline correlates of follow-up outcomes.
The present study represents the first attempt to examine the impact of attentional bias towards pain-related stimuli on the maintenance of dysfunctional chronic pain outcomes from a dynamic perspective. These findings offer an explanation and valuable insights into attentional training, which holds significant importance in enhancing chronic pain management. Moving forward, training individuals to redirect their attention away from pain and associated cues during the later stages of attention may prove to be an effective approach for alleviating suffering due to chronic pain.
Subjects: Psychology >> Physiological Psychology submitted time 2023-06-27
Abstract： Although studies have found that exercise can lead to changes in the plasticity of the motor cortex, little is known about the changes in primary motor cortex synaptic plasticity associated with different forms of exercise among older adults. The purpose of this study was to compare the differences in motor cortex synaptic plasticity associated with a small hand muscle among older adults who regularly participated in table tennis or tai chi or who were sedentary.
Based on inclusion/exclusion criteria and their answers to a self-reported questionnaire, 54 older adults (60~70 years) were selected who often participated in table tennis (n=18) or tai chi (n=18) exercise or who were sedentary (n=18). The target muscle was the abductor pollicis brevis of the right hand. Motor cortex synaptic plasticity associated with the abductor pollicis brevis muscle was induced by a paired combination of peripheral nerve electrical stimulation and transcranial magnetic stimulation with an interval of 25 ms (PAS25). Single-pulse and double-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation was applied to the left primary motor cortex to measure changes in motor evoked potentials (MEPs) and short-interval intracortical inhibition recorded in the abductor pollicis brevis muscle before and after PAS25, to compare the differences in primary motor cortex synaptic plasticity among the three groups.
The results showed that mean MEP amplitudes immediately and 30 and 60 min after PAS25 in the table tennis group were significantly higher than those in sedentary group; mean MEP amplitudes immediately and 30 min after PAS25 in the tai chi group were significantly higher than those in the sedentary group; and mean MEP amplitudes immediately and 30 and 60 min after PAS25 in the table tennis group were significantly higher than those in the tai chi group. There were no differences in the short-interval intracortical inhibition at any time point after PAS25 among the three groups.
These results indicated that regular participation in table tennis or tai chi can induce a sustained increase in primary motor cortex excitability in older adults and that there are differences in primary motor cortex synaptic plasticity in older adults associated with different forms of exercise. These results suggest that increased synaptic plasticity in the motor cortex may play an important role in the acquisition and promotion of motor skills during exercise in older adults.
Subjects: Psychology >> Physiological Psychology submitted time 2023-06-19
Abstract： Stress contagion refers to the phenomenon where people unconsciously absorb stress reactions from another individual in the stressed state, through observation or direct contact, and match their own physiological and psychological state to that individual. The experimental paradigm for stress contagion can be categorized into two types: vicarious stress and stress crossover. In vicarious stress paradigms, the observer receives stress information transmitted through one or more sensory channels from a demonstrator. In stress crossover paradigms, the observer comes into direct contact with the demonstrator after they have experienced stress, receiving stress information through multiple sensory channels. The behavioral responses elicited by different sensory information exhibit similarities, such as decreased autonomic activity, increased anxiety-like behavior and elevated cortisol levels. The neural circuit and key brain regions involved are not entirely consistent across all sensory channels. However, stress contagion effects tend to be stronger when multiple sensory channels are involved compared to single sensory channels (visual, auditory, or olfactory). The amygdala has been identified as a central brain region for stress contagion, consistently demonstrating significant activation across various stress contagion paradigms. In future studies, it is crucial for researchers to carefully consider the experimental paradigms employed in studying stress contagion and identify specific brain regions of interest based on the underlying neural mechanisms associated with stress contagion effects induced by different sensory channels.
Subjects: Psychology >> Physiological Psychology submitted time 2023-05-24
Abstract： The left visual word form area (VWFA) of the brain in adults is more sensitive to orthographic information, whereas the right fusiform face area (FFA) is preferentially involved in the processing of facial information. However, the developmental mechanism of the complementary pattern of hemispheric lateralization still needs to be clarified. The neuronal recycling hypothesis postulates that learning to read words and face representation compete for neural processing resources in the left fusiform gyrus (FG), which leads to left hemispheric lateralization of the VWFA in word recognition, and drives the right hemispheric lateralization of FFA in face recognition. The distributed account of hemispheric organization of word and face recognition proposes three key neural computational principles to systematically elucidate a multilevel and bidirectional dynamic processing mechanism of the competitive development of word and face lateralization. Based on recent discoveries of cytoarchitectonic areas and functional organizational features of the FG, a multidimensional computational model of word and face recognition is constructed. Therefore, the cognitive neural processing mechanism of the competitive development of the complementary pattern of hemispheric lateralization in word and face recognition is systematically examined using the neuronal recycling hypothesis and distributed account of the hemispheric organization, combined with the structural and functional characteristics of FG and recent evidence. Further studies are necessary to explore the cortical spatial sites and the functional neurohistological basis of competitive processing between words and faces, the competitive mechanism of Chinese character processing on face processing, the developmental mechanism of the right hemispheric specialization for face recognition, and the mechanisms of brain plasticity changed by learning to read numbers and musical notations.
Subjects: Psychology >> Experimental Psychology Subjects: Psychology >> Physiological Psychology submitted time 2023-03-10
Abstract： As a kind of prosocial behavior, helping behavior is universal across species. In recent years, it has become a new trend for scholars at home and abroad to use rodent models to explore the motivation of helping behavior. Empathy, relieving personal distress and desire for social contacts are considered to be plausible motivations for rodents to help, but debates about whether helping behavior is inspired by one of the motives or a combination of them still exist. In this study, in order to explore the motivation of helping behavior in rodents, the two-chamber experimental apparatus designed by Carvalheiro et al. (2019) was improved by adding an intermediate chamber to manipulate the possibility of the free rat's social contact with the entrapped rats after implementing the helping behavior as well as the possibility of the free rat's escaping from the helping context to relieve its personal distress in the process of helping decision-making. 108 male Sprague– Dawley rats were used as subjects in three experiments. The latency to open the door for helping the entrapped rat escape was recorded as the main outcome variable. Experiment 1 confirmed the existence of helping behavior and the impact of social contact on helping behavior under the condition of being unable to escape from the helping context, using a 2 (possibility of social contact: yes/no) by 4 (restrainer condition: empty restrainer, familiar rat, unfamiliar rat, toy rat) mixed experimental design. The results show that when social contact was allowed, the free rat maintained a consistently short latency to help, but when social contact was not allowed, the free rat’s latency to help became longer and longer as sessions went on until that the free rat no longer helped at all within the 15min session limit. Experiment 2 explored the impact of social contact on helping behavior under the condition of being able to escape from the helping context, using the same experimental design as Study 1 but keeping the door between the middle chamber and the dark chamber open. The results show that the existence of the dark chamber was beneficial for the non-social contact group to help continuously, but extended the latency to help in the social contact group, namely, relieving personal distress contributes to the emergence of helping behavior, but the emergence of helping behavior ultimately depends on whether social contact could be made. Experiment 3 explored the influence of previous social contact experience and current social contact possibility on helping behavior under the condition of the free rats’ having been trapped before, using a 2(possibility of social contact: yes/no) by 2 (previous social contact experience: yes/no) by 4 (restrainer conditions: empty restrainer, familiar rat, unfamiliar rat, toy rat) mixed experimental design. The results show that previous experiences of being trapped did not affect helping behavior, but previous experiences of social contact were conducive to maintain continuous helping behavior in the non-social contact group. In summary, the following conclusions were obtained through this study: (1) Desires for social contact and the pursuit of interesting environment are important motivations for rodents’ helping behavior, regardless of the possibility to escape from the helping context. (2) Relieving personal distress can help sustain helping behavior, but the emergence of helping behavior ultimately depends on whether social contact can be carried out after helping. (3) Previous experiences of social contact rather than the experiences of having been trapped contribute to the occurrence of helping behavior. (4) Empathy may not the main reason to maintain helping behavior but rather can be used to describe the process of helping behavior. This study extends the comparative research on the motivation of helping behavior and provides some hints for the psychological development and educational practices in humans.
Subjects: Psychology >> Physiological Psychology Subjects: Psychology >> Medical Psychology submitted time 2022-12-28
Abstract：
One of the core symptoms of autism spectrum disorder (ASD)is persistent social dysfunction. In recent years, many studies have indicated that tactile input can affect social function through regulating the oxytocin system. The affective touch conducted by C-fiber promotes the synthesis and release of oxytocin and enhances social motivation and social preference. According to the social salience hypothesis of oxytocin, oxytocin increases the salience of social information through enhancing activation of corresponding brain regions. Under this theoretical framework, when social interaction happens, tactile input can enhance the synthesis and release of oxytocin, and oxytocin can also increase the salience of tactile information, which further promotes the occurrence of social interaction. Previous studies have shown that people with ASD have deficits in the oxytocin system. The main manifestations are lower peripheral oxytocin concentration than normal developing individuals and the change of Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP)of oxytocin receptor. People with ASD also show abnormal tactile sensitivity, including hypersensitivity and hyposensitivity. At the peripheral level, they manifest abnormal tactile threshold. At the central level, they manifest abnormal activation in the brain’s affective touch processing regions (such as insula). Based on the social salience hypothesis of oxytocin, this article summarizes the possible regulations between touch and oxytocin on social function. We point out that the deficits in the oxytocin system can decrease the salience of touch information in people with ASD, reducing the attention resources in social interaction and affecting the emotional feelings for touch. Abnormal tactile sensitivity results in social avoidance, which decreases the synthesis and release of oxytocin in social contact, decreasing the social motivation and social preference, ultimately resulting in social dysfunction. Exploring the interaction between touch, oxytocin system and social function can help us understand the pathogenesis of social dysfunction, and providing new ideas for the prevention and intervention in the future.
Peer Review Status:Awaiting Review
Subjects: Psychology >> Physiological Psychology submitted time 2022-09-29
Abstract： Insufficient behavior control in patients with attention deficit / hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is closely related to decision impulsivity, which is regulated by medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and nucleus accumbens (NAc). mPFC and NAc is involved in the regulation of decision-making process and impulsivity, and the structure and function of mPFC and NAc are abnormal in ADHD. The relationship between the functional coupling of mPFC-NAc circuit and abnormal decision impulsivity in ADHD is still under debate, abnormality of this circuit may provide explanations to the neural mechanism underlying ADHD. Wistar (WIS) rats and ADHD rats (SHR, spontaneously hypertensive rat) were used as subjects of this study. We recorded the local field potential (LFP) of mPFC and NAc using multi-channel electrophysiology during a delay discounting task (DDT). We further analyzed the coherence difference of Theta (4~12Hz) oscillation in expectation period (0~3s) and compared this measure between the two groups. Results: (1) SHR rats had higher decision impulsivity level than WIS group. Power spectral density between 7~9Hz of LFP in mPFC and NAc increased in both groups. (2) When choosing large/delayed rewards, coherence of mPFC-NAc activity increased compared to small/immediate rewards in WIS group. This indicates the mPFC-NAc circuit involves in decision impulsivity. (3) When choosing large/delayed rewards, mPFC-NAc activity in SHR group showed lower coherence than WIS group, indicating SHR rats have weaker mPFC-NAc functional connections. (4) Coherence of mPFC-NAc activity is higher during initial choice behavioral than continuous choice behavior. It indicated that stronger mPFC-NAc functional connections are required during controlled information processing which is dominant in initial choice behavioral, while automatic processing is dominant in continuous choice behavior. Coherence of mPFC-NAc activity is higher in WIS group than WIS group when choosing large/immediate rewards. It indicated that the decision impulsivity deficits in SHR rats results from mPFC-NAc weak functional connections. (5) Coherence of mPFC-NAc activity is higher in shift trials than continuous trials. Plus, WIS group showed an overall higher coherence than SHR group. This indicated that mPFC-NAc circuit heavily involves in controlled information processing, and SHR group has deficiency of this process. (6) Regression analysis showed that coherence difference of mPFC-NAc activity in prediction period has positive correlation with delayed large reward selection rate in WIS group, that is, the more coherence of mPFC-NAc Theta activity increased during prediction period, the less decision impulsivity WIS rats behaved during choice period. However, the coherence difference cannot predict decision impulsivity in SHR group. Conclusion: mPFC-NAc heavily involves in decision impulsivity. Increase of coherence of mPFC-NAc theta oscillation in prediction period can predict impulsivity level. Decision impulsivity in ADHD as a consequence of the dysfunction, is caused by a weak mPFC-NAc functional connection.
Peer Review Status:Awaiting Review
Subjects: Psychology >> Physiological Psychology submitted time 2022-03-23
Abstract：
Stress includes two main stages: response and recovery. Stress recovery measurement mainly quantifies the recovery process through the area under the curve, curve fitting, average recovery rate, population pharmacokinetic model and other methods. Stress recovery is closely related to people's physical and mental health. Slow recovery will have an adverse impact on physical and mental health. Personality traits, environment, sleep, cognitive model and other factors will affect stress recovery. Future research can systematically investigate the impact of cognitive models on stress recovery, and pay attention to the physical and mental health of individuals with different recovery models.
Peer Review Status:Awaiting Review
Subjects: Psychology >> Physiological Psychology submitted time 2022-03-04
Abstract：
Self-regulation is the ability to monitor and adjust one's cognition, emotion, and behavior to adapt to the changing environment and achieve goals. It plays a role in achievement, interpersonal communication and health, which is regarded as the key to human success and happiness. However, many studies have found that low socioeconomic status has a significant negative impact on self-regulation. To promote the self-regulation ability of people living in low socioeconomic conditions, it is necessary to deeply understand the internal mechanism of low socioeconomic status affecting self-regulation. Neuroscience provides unique information: Low socioeconomic status changes the structure and function of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, cingulate gyrus, ventromedial prefrontal cortex, amygdala, hippocampus and ventral striatum, and then affects various components of self-regulation (cognitive regulation, emotional regulation and behavioral regulation). In addition to more rigorous investigation of each causal chain in the neural mechanism, future research should also connect neurobiology with developmental psychology to reveal the unique impact mechanism of low socioeconomic status on self-regulation at different stages, and develop a systematic, sustainable and effective intervention program.
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Peer Review Status:Awaiting Review
Subjects: Psychology >> Social Psychology Subjects: Psychology >> Physiological Psychology submitted time 2022-01-20
Abstract：
Altruistic behavior is a behavior that benefits others at a cost to oneself. Recently, researchers have focused on the role of genes in altruistic behavior. Based on quantitative and molecular genetics, the heritability of altruism is summarized, demonstrating the influence of heredity on altruistic behavior; and four categories of altruistic related candidate genes are discussed, including dopamine receptor gene, serotonin transporter gene, oxytocin receptor gene, and vasopressin receptor gene, then an in-depth discussion of the influence of environment on the relationship between genetics and altruism is included. On the one hand, genotype is associated with environment that jointly influence altruistic behavior, known as gene-environment correlation; on the other hand, the effect of genetics on altruistic behavior is influenced by the environment, known as the differential susceptibility model. Future research need to expand on and further explore the effect of neurobiological system on altruistic behavior, which may focus on genome-wide research, meta-analysis, mechanism exploration, and systematic environmental intervention practice.
Peer Review Status:Awaiting Review
Subjects: Psychology >> Physiological Psychology submitted time 2021-12-20
Abstract： Severe stress is one of the major external triggers of emotion-related mental disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Stress-induced sustained hyperarousal state is not only a core symptom but also a contributor to other symptoms such as sleep disturbance and negative mood. Serotonin, or 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT), is a monoamine neurotransmitter that regulates emotional response. In addition, the 5-HT system is the target for pharmacological treatment such as selective-serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRIs) for major depressive disorder, PTSD, and other emotional disorders. However, it remains unknown whether serotonin is involved in the hyperarousal state caused by severe stress, as well as the mechanism by which genetic polymorphism in serotonin regulation contributes to the vulnerability of stress-related psychiatric disorders. Tryptophan-hydroxylase-2 (Tph2) is a serotonin synthesizing enzyme that converts tryptophan to 5-hydroxytryptophan in the brain. A genetic deficiency in the expression of Tph2 may lead to a lower level of serotonin in the brain. The present study focused on the role of serotonin in the development of stress-induced hyperarousal, investigating the behavioral effect of Tph2 gene-deficiency after severe stress in a mice model. Mice lacking Tph2 (Tph2-/-) in the brain have a vitally low level of serotonin and a bad health condition, so we used heterozygous Tph2-deficient mice (Tph2+/-) which have been shown to have a mild low level of serotonin in the brain. We measured the auditory startle reflex as an indicator of arousal level at different time points after predator-exposure stress or footshock stress in both male and female Tph2+/- and wild-type mice. The predator-exposure stress was to exposure a mouse to a cat for 5 minutes with a trained experimenter protecting the mouse from direct attack from the cat. The footshock stress was to exposure a mouse to a series of footshock (1.5 mA × 5s × 5, inter-shock interval 60 ~ 120 s) in a shock chamber. Then we measured the auditory startle reflex at 1-, 2-, 10-, and 18-day post-stress. For each startle test session, a total of 30 white noise stimuli were presented to the mice in a sound-isolated chamber (90 dB, 100 dB, 110 dB, ten stimuli for each level). The results showed that the Tph2+/- male mice had a higher level of startle than the non-stressed group at 1, 2, and 10 days after footshock stress, indicating a sustained hyperarousal. However, wild-type male mice only had an increased startle response on the day after the footshock stress. For mice with predator exposure stress, both Tph2+/- male mice and wild-type male mice showed an increased startle response on the first day after the predator stress, but then returned to the same level as the non-stressed mice. We also observed a sex difference in mice’s startle response that the female mice had a lower level of startle amplitude than that of male mice at baseline test before stress. In addition, female mice with different genotypes showed minor differences in their startle response at different time points after both types of stress. The results of the study indicate that the Tph2 genotype interacts with stress types in the regulation of long-term hyperarousal after severe stress events. Our results also provide preclinical evidence that individuals with Tph2 gene deficiency may be more vulnerable to stress-induced hyperarousal and highlight the potential of targeting the serotonin system for post-traumatic intervention.
Peer Review Status:Awaiting Review
Subjects: Psychology >> Physiological Psychology submitted time 2021-12-17
Abstract： " Having lower socioeconomic status is one of the most well-established social predictors of poor health. However, little is known about why some lower-class individuals maintain good physical health despite experiencing adversity. From a large number of empirical studies, researchers have found that psychological factors such as the "shift-and-persist" strategy can effectively protect the health of lower-class individuals in adversity and prevent them from developing certain diseases. Specifically,the “shift-and-persist” strategy reduces responses to stress, thereby reducing the acute physiological activation of the HPA axis. Over time, this prevents the development of the pathogenic process and ultimately slows pathogenic disease processes over the long term among lower-class individuals. Meanwhile, Preliminary evidence shows that different dimensions of the “shift-and-persist” strategy can reduce the health-threatening behavior of lower-class individuals to reduce the risk of disease.To address the problem of health poverty in a period of relative-poverty in China and better serve the health of lower-class individuals, future research should vigorously develop intervention programs on the basis of in-depth exploration of the core mechanism. "
Peer Review Status:Awaiting Review
Subjects: Psychology >> Social Psychology Subjects: Psychology >> Physiological Psychology Subjects: Psychology >> Cognitive Psychology submitted time 2021-11-19
Abstract： Recipients often reject unfair offers at the cost of their own interests in ultimatum games (UGs), reflecting their fairness preference. Yet fairness preference is not invariable. It is affected by various factors, among which empathy plays an important role. Individuals might, for example, sacrifice own interests to help others in need. This kind of behavior not only is contrary to the pursuit of self-interest maximization but also violates fairness principles. As individuals are not only concerned about fairness but also care for others, this study focuses on managing the relationship between the two potentially conflicting goals. We explored individuals’ behaviors and time dynamic processes of brain activities when fairness conflicted with empathy. It was hypothesized that empathy could modulate fairness-related decision making behaviors and ERPs. Thirty-seven college students (26 females, 21.00 ± 2.07 years) participated in this study and completed multiple ultimatum games. EEG signals were recorded during play. In the task, the proposers were underprivileged students (empathy condition) and ordinary children (non-empathy condition). Each proposer distributed 10 yuan between themself and one recipient. The participants played as recipients who would choose to accept or reject distribution offers (fair, unfair–disadvantageous, unfair–advantageous) by the proposers. The proposers and recipients would get the assigned money only if participants accepted the distribution offers. They received nothing if participants rejected the offer. The behavioral results showed that the acceptance rate in the empathy condition was greater than that in the non-empathy condition for the disadvantageous–unfair condition, while the opposite result occurred in the advantageous–unfair condition. The EEG results showed that in the non-empathy condition, the advantageous–unfair offer induced more negative anterior N1 (AN1) than it did in the empathy condition, but there was no difference between the disadvantageous–unfair versus fair conditions. In the advantageous–unfair condition, the P2 amplitude of the empathy condition was significantly more positive than that for the non-empathy condition, while in the disadvantageous–unfair condition, P2 amplitude of the non-empathy condition was slightly positive than that of the empathy condition. The disadvantage–unfair offer induced more negative medial frontal negativity (MFN) in the empathy condition, while no difference was found between fair versus unfair offers in the non-empathy condition. Additionally, the amplitude of P3 was larger in the fair versus the unfair conditions as it was not modulated by empathy. These findings suggest that experimentally-induced state empathy modulates fairness-related decision making behaviors and accompanying neural activity. Behavioral results indicate that state empathy takes priority in guiding people's behavior when it conflicts with the fairness criterion. For EEG results, empathy mainly modulates the early stage of the fairness concern and affects early attention and motivation as well as cognition and emotion. In later stages, the higher cognitive process represented by P3 is modulated only by fairness, not empathy. In conclusion, our study systematically explored and compared behavior patterns of fairness processing with temporal dynamic characteristics of brain activities by modulating empathy. The findings provide further insight into fairness-related decision making behaviors. They indicate the potential to influence individuals’ behaviors and cognition by manipulating empathy." "
Peer Review Status:Awaiting Review
Subjects: Psychology >> Physiological Psychology submitted time 2021-09-21
Abstract： Task interruption is known to harm work performance, especially on working memory-related tasks. However, little is known about brain activity patterns during task interruption and the moderating effects of mental fatigue. The impact of work interruption on subsequent behavioral performance is mainly caused by affecting working memory (WM) and attention. Therefore, exploring the mechanisms underlying the impact of interruption on work performance in different fatigue states will improve and contribute to the development of the cognitive theory of interruption. Combined with behavioral and electrophysiological data, we adopted the event-related potential (ERP) technique to explore the effect of interruption on working memory and the moderating role of fatigue on the interruption process. We designed a 2 (fatigue: fatigue, nonfatigue) ×2 (task type: task interruption, suspension interruption) ×2 (trial type: before interruption, after interruption) within-group design and added a noninterrupted baseline task as the control condition. The study randomly selected 20 healthy participants to perform spatial 2-back tasks in different fatigue states in various interruption conditions (math problem task interruption, suspension interruption and noninterrupted). A continuous performance test (AX-CPT) was used to induce fatigue before the fatigue session. The behavioral data showed that accuracy in the primary task was reduced, and response time was increased after interruption. The behavioral performance decline in the primary tasks in the fatigue state was more significant than that in the nonfatigue state. ERP results showed that the P200 and P300 amplitudes induced by the 2-back task significantly increased after interruption. The P200 latency in the fatigue state was significantly shorter than that in the nonfatigue state; the latency with task interruption was longer than that with suspension interruption; and the latency after interruption trials was significantly longer than that before interruption trials. The P300 amplitude in the frontal lobe in the fatigue state was lower than that in the nonfatigue state. The amplitude difference between trials after interruption was more significant in the fatigue state than in the nonfatigue state. In addition, the P300 amplitude induced by task interruption was significantly higher than that induced by suspension interruption, while the same effect did not appear in the nonfatigue state. In conclusion, work interruption caused a decrease in the attention resources available for the primary task after the interruption. The irrelevant information in the task interruption interfered with primary task performance (working memory task), and the fatigue state further aggravated the negative effect of the interruption on working memory and attention. This research revealed the cognitive process underlying task interruption, identified the effects of fatigue and supported the memory for goals model of interruption. " "
Peer Review Status:Awaiting Review
Subjects: Psychology >> Cognitive Psychology Subjects: Psychology >> Physiological Psychology submitted time 2021-09-10
Abstract： " Working memory training (WMT) has induced neuroplasticity, but its specific mechanism remains unclear. In order to explore the spatio-temporal characteristics of brain function changes induced by WMT in normal population, the findings of 37 fMRI studies on WMT in normal population over the last 20 years were summarized with a step-by-step approach and two assumptions based on two theories, Extended Parieto-Frontal Integration Theory(ExtPFIT) and neuro efficiency hypothesis. First, the changes in activation pattern and function connectivity of the various brain regions before and after WMT were compared using descriptive review, frequency analysis and Chi-square test. It showed that there were 5 networks, 7 macroscopic areas and 3 sub-regions in brain involved in WMT. Especially, the activation in 3 respective sub-regions of superior frontal gyrus, inferior parietal lobule and cingulate gyrus was weakened more than their activation enhanced, and this difference was statistically significant. Then, 26 studies among them were used to conduct meta-analysis with activation likelihood estimation method, and it showed that 3 sub-regions with the statistically significant effect were middle frontal gyrus (BA6 and 8), superior frontal gyrus (BA6) and anterior cingulate gyrus (BA24 and 32). Next, based on the comprehensive results of qualitative and quantitative research analysis, a spatio-temporal model of decreased distribution in brain regions was proposed, and 5 results and their discussion were obtained with the said model. In addition, 33 studies among them were analyzed using non-parametric tests to check the factors that possibly regulated the training effect of WMT, which showed that the task type and time of WMT had statistically significant effects on brain activation. According to the above analysis, four conclusions were drawn regarding the neuroplasticity induced by WMT in normal population, i.e. 1) WMT could either weaken or enhance the brain activities, and the weakening effect appeared to be more prominent; 2) such changes occurred mostly in the frontal-parietal network, but also in the temporal network, occipital network, cingulate gyrus, striatum and other network, which reflected the whole-brain functional connectivity within a certain range. In addition, updating and shorter time of WMT tended to induce more weakening effects; 3) 3 sub-regions of the middle frontal gyrus, superior frontal gyrus and anterior cingulate gyrus highlighted the spatial characteristics, and the other three sub-regions of superior frontal gyrus, inferior parietal lobule and cingulate gyrus mainly reflected the temporal characteristics of neuroplasticity induced by WMT; 4) ExtPFIT and neural efficiency hypothesis respectively supported the spatial-temporal characteristics of neuroplasticity induced by WMT. Finally, it was proposed that future further research of neuroplasticity induced by WMT need to distinguish the training effect reflected in 3 sub-regions of superior frontal gyrus, inferior parietal lobule and cingulate gyrus, and to explore the comprehensive influencing factors that increase or decrease the acitivation of brains induced by WMT.
Peer Review Status:Awaiting Review
Subjects: Psychology >> Physiological Psychology submitted time 2021-07-27
Abstract： Disgust is an important basic emotion for human beings and animals, and it derives from distasteful oral responses to bitter (toxic) tastants, often accompanied with nausea and vomiting and a strong desire to stay away from the induced stimulus, and it has the function of avoiding potential disease threats. A large number of studies have shown that oxytocin, progesterone, and estrogens can affect perception, generation and expression of core disgust, as well as learning conditioned disgust and recognizing facial expression in varying degrees. These three hormones mainly affect the processing of disgust by modulating neurotransmitter receptors including serotonin, γ-aminobutyric acid, acetylcholine, and glutamic acid receptors, and thus affecting the activities of amygdala, insula, anterior cingulate gyrus, putamen, piriform cortex, and middle frontal gyrus. Future studies should explore the effects of these hormones on disgust in different sensory channels and also consider their moderating roles in different genders by accurately measuring hormone levels and controlling the task difficulties. In addition, researchers can combine neuroimaging technologies with behavioral studies to clarify the neuroendocrine mechanism of these hormones affecting disgust processing.
Subjects: Psychology >> Physiological Psychology Subjects: Biology >> Zoology submitted time 2021-05-15
Abstract： Rats are widely used in experimental research in biology, medicine, and psychology, and many studies need the measurement of rats’ emotional states. Ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) of rats are means to express and transmit emotions: among them FM-50 kHz USVs are for positive emotions such as pleasure, flat-50 kHz USVs are for social communication, and 22 kHz USVs are for negative emotions such as anxiety and disgust. Collecting and analyzing the USVs of rats provides researchers a possible way to quantify the emotional states of rats during experimental manipulations. This paper discusses the emotional meaning of USVs in rats and provides suggestions for measuring and analyzing USVs in rats.
Peer Review Status:Awaiting Review
Subjects: Psychology >> Physiological Psychology submitted time 2021-03-23
Abstract： " Growing studies have reported the alternations of the cortico-basal ganglia-corticothalamic loops and insular networks, which belong to the sensorimotor system, might be responsible for the clinical symptoms and cognitive deficits in schizophrenes. However, the mainstream researches and clinical treatments have focused on the abnormity of high-leveled brain regions and paid little attention to the primary sensorimotor system in schizophrenes. Relevant studies have revealed the dance training could promote the cortico-basal ganglia-corticothalamic loops and insular networks, which would improve the advanced brain functions. It indicates the dance training might be an efficient treatment for the schizophrenia and the related cognitive deficits. Based on multimodal magnetic resonance imaging technology, this study focuses on the sensorimotor network of schizophrenia. It aims to reveal the neuro mechanism of the dance training effects on schizophrenia, in a way of integrative analyzation involving the image/clinical/cognitive data pre-and post- intervention.
Peer Review Status:Awaiting Review
Subjects: Psychology >> Physiological Psychology submitted time 2021-02-12
Abstract： One hallmark of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) involves impairments in the ability to extinguish conditioned fear memory. Accumulating evidence suggests that extinction training that occurs shortly after fear conditioning is less effective than delayed extinction training in yielding long-term extinction memory, a phenomenon that is referred to as immediate extinction deficit (IED). However, unknown is whether the IED is just an aberration or continues to affect re-extinction. In Experiment 1, 32 Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into four groups (Immediate-Extinction, Immediate-No Extinction, Delayed-Extinction, Delayed-No Extinction) and underwent a standard fear conditioning procedure in which they received five tone-footshock trials in chamber A. After either 1 h (immediate) or 24 h (delayed), half of the animals underwent 30 extinction trials (1st extinction session) in chamber B where the tone was presented alone. The other half remained in chamber B without any tone or footshock (these animals served as a no-extinction control group). Twenty-four hours later, these rats underwent the 2nd extinction session (re-extinction) in chamber B. Twenty-four hours after the 2nd extinction session, the rats were once again returned to chamber B and tested for their fear response to four continuous tones. The fear response was assessed by freezing behavior, and the effect of the 1st extinction session was assessed by the average freezing response across the first four trials of the 2nd extinction session. Compared with rats in the delayed extinction group, recently conditioned rats exhibited significantly higher levels of fear in the 2nd extinction session, although an equivalent decline in freezing was observed in both groups across the 1st extinction session, suggesting that immediate extinction failed to maintain fear suppression the next day. Furthermore, after undergoing two extinction training sessions, rats in the immediate extinction group exhibited no significant reduction of freezing compared with the non-extinguished control during the retention test, suggesting that the deficit reappeared during re-extinction. The aim of Experiment 2 was to investigate whether the deficit that was induced by immediate extinction could be rescued by the β-adrenergic receptor antagonist propranolol. In Experiment 2, 20 Sprague-Dawley rats underwent the same procedures as the immediate extinction groups in Experiment 1, with the exception that they received saline or propranolol (10 mg/kg, i.p.) within minutes after fear conditioning. We found that one injection of propranolol immediately after fear acquisition rescued the deficit of re-extinction but not immediate extinction. This study revealed that the early extinction intervention after severe trauma may not only fail to inhibit the fear response but also act as a secondary trauma which can continually damage the ability to extinguish fear memory. Propranolol may be a good candidate to repair such damage. Our findings improve our understanding of the pathogenesis of PTSD and outcomes of an early intervention and may be helpful for selecting appropriate and effective interventions after trauma exposure and avoid secondary trauma that is caused by the intervention itself. "
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