Emotional Arousal and Multiple Memory Systems in the Mammalian Brain

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Mark G. Packard

2012-03-01

Full Text Available Emotional arousal induced by stress and/or anxiety can exert complex effects on learning and memory processes in mammals. Recent studies have begun to link study of the influence of emotional arousal on memory with earlier research indicating that memory is organized in multiple systems in the brain that differ in terms of the type of memory they mediate. Specifically, these studies have examined whether emotional arousal may have a differential effect on the cognitive and stimulus-response habit memory processes subserved by the hippocampus and dorsal striatum, respectively. Evidence indicates that stress or the peripheral injection of anxiogenic drugs can bias animals and humans towards the use of striatal-dependent habit memory in dual-solution tasks in which both hippocampal and stritatal-based strategies can provide an adequate solution. A bias towards the use of habit memory can also be produced by intra-basolateral amygdala administration of anxiogenic drugs, consistent with the well documented role of efferent projections of this brain region in mediating the modulatory influence of emotional arousal on memory. In some learning situations, the bias towards the use of habit memory produced by emotional arousal appears to result from an impairing effect on hippocampus-dependent cognitive memory. Further research examining the neural mechanisms linking emotion and the relative use of multiple memory systems should prove useful in view of the potential role for maladaptive habitual behaviors in various human psychopathologies.

Neural activation toward erotic stimuli in homosexual and heterosexual males.

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Kagerer, Sabine; Klucken, Tim; Wehrum, Sina; Zimmermann, Mark; Schienle, Anne; Walter, Bertram; Vaitl, Dieter; Stark, Rudolf

2011-11-01

Studies investigating sexual arousal exist, yet there are diverging findings on the underlying neural mechanisms with regard to sexual orientation. Moreover, sexual arousal effects have often been confounded with general arousal effects. Hence, it is still unclear which structures underlie the sexual arousal response in homosexual and heterosexual men. Neural activity and subjective responses were investigated in order to disentangle sexual from general arousal. Considering sexual orientation, differential and conjoint neural activations were of interest. The functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study focused on the neural networks involved in the processing of sexual stimuli in 21 male participants (11 homosexual, 10 heterosexual). Both groups viewed pictures with erotic content as well as aversive and neutral stimuli. The erotic pictures were subdivided into three categories (most sexually arousing, least sexually arousing, and rest) based on the individual subjective ratings of each participant. Blood oxygen level-dependent responses measured by fMRI and subjective ratings. A conjunction analysis revealed conjoint neural activation related to sexual arousal in thalamus, hypothalamus, occipital cortex, and nucleus accumbens. Increased insula, amygdala, and anterior cingulate gyrus activation could be linked to general arousal. Group differences emerged neither when viewing the most sexually arousing pictures compared with highly arousing aversive pictures nor compared with neutral pictures. Results suggest that a widespread neural network is activated by highly sexually arousing visual stimuli. A partly distinct network of structures underlies sexual and general arousal effects. The processing of preferred, highly sexually arousing stimuli recruited similar structures in homosexual and heterosexual males. © 2011 International Society for Sexual Medicine.

Homosexual Behavior in Female Mountain Gorillas: Reflection of Dominance, Affiliation, Reconciliation or Arousal?

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Cyril C Grueter

Full Text Available Humans are unique among primates for not only engaging in same-sex sexual acts, but also forming homosexual pair bonds. To shed light on the evolutionary origins of homosexuality, data on the occurrence and contexts of same-sex behavior from nonhuman primates may be of particular significance. Homosexual behavior involving females is poorly researched in most primate taxa, exceptions being Japanese macaques, rhesus macaques, Hanuman langurs and bonobos. We present data on homosexual behavior in female mountain gorillas in the Virunga Volcanoes (Rwanda and test four functional hypotheses, namely reconciliation, affiliation, dominance expression and sexual arousal. Homosexual interactions between females involved both ventro-dorsal and ventro-ventral copulations accompanied by vocalizations and courtship displays. The only sociosexual hypothesis that received partial empirical support is the social status hypothesis, i.e., that mounting reaffirms the dominance hierarchy. There is also some limited evidence that same-sex behavior reflects an overall state of arousal or is triggered via a 'pornographic' effect. An adaptive function of female homosexual behavior is not readily apparent, and we tentatively conclude (until a more rigorous test becomes available that it may simply be related to sexual gratification or that it is an evolutionary by-product of an adaptation.

Homosexual Behavior in Female Mountain Gorillas: Reflection of Dominance, Affiliation, Reconciliation or Arousal?

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Grueter, Cyril C; Stoinski, Tara S

2016-01-01

Humans are unique among primates for not only engaging in same-sex sexual acts, but also forming homosexual pair bonds. To shed light on the evolutionary origins of homosexuality, data on the occurrence and contexts of same-sex behavior from nonhuman primates may be of particular significance. Homosexual behavior involving females is poorly researched in most primate taxa, exceptions being Japanese macaques, rhesus macaques, Hanuman langurs and bonobos. We present data on homosexual behavior in female mountain gorillas in the Virunga Volcanoes (Rwanda) and test four functional hypotheses, namely reconciliation, affiliation, dominance expression and sexual arousal. Homosexual interactions between females involved both ventro-dorsal and ventro-ventral copulations accompanied by vocalizations and courtship displays. The only sociosexual hypothesis that received partial empirical support is the social status hypothesis, i.e., that mounting reaffirms the dominance hierarchy. There is also some limited evidence that same-sex behavior reflects an overall state of arousal or is triggered via a 'pornographic' effect. An adaptive function of female homosexual behavior is not readily apparent, and we tentatively conclude (until a more rigorous test becomes available) that it may simply be related to sexual gratification or that it is an evolutionary by-product of an adaptation.

Dissociable contributions of the amygdala to the immediate and delayed effects of emotional arousal on memory.

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Schümann, Dirk; Sommer, Tobias

2018-06-01

Emotional arousal enhances memory encoding and consolidation leading to better immediate and delayed memory. Although the central noradrenergic system and the amygdala play critical roles in both effects of emotional arousal, we have recently shown that these effects are at least partly independent of each other, suggesting distinct underlying neural mechanisms. Here we aim to dissociate the neural substrates of both effects in 70 female participants using an emotional memory paradigm to investigate how neural activity, as measured by fMRI, and a polymorphism in the α 2B -noradrenoceptor vary for these effects. To also test whether the immediate and delayed effects of emotional arousal on memory are stable traits, we invited back participants who were a part of a large-scale behavioral memory study ∼3.5 yr ago. We replicated the low correlation of the immediate and delayed emotional enhancement of memory across participants ( r = 0.16) and observed, moreover, that only the delayed effect was, to some degree, stable over time ( r = 0.23). Bilateral amygdala activity, as well as its coupling with the visual cortex and the fusiform gyrus, was related to the preferential encoding of emotional stimuli, which is consistent with affect-biased attention. Moreover, the adrenoceptor genotype modulated the bilateral amygdala activity associated with this effect. The left amygdala and its coupling with the hippocampus was specifically associated with the more efficient consolidation of emotional stimuli, which is consistent with amygdalar modulation of hippocampal consolidation. © 2018 Schümann and Sommer; Published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press.

Resting-state functional connectivity differentiates anxious apprehension and anxious arousal.

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Burdwood, Erin N; Infantolino, Zachary P; Crocker, Laura D; Spielberg, Jeffrey M; Banich, Marie T; Miller, Gregory A; Heller, Wendy

2016-10-01

Brain regions in the default mode network (DMN) display greater functional connectivity at rest or during self-referential processing than during goal-directed tasks. The present study assessed resting-state connectivity as a function of anxious apprehension and anxious arousal, independent of depressive symptoms, in order to understand how these dimensions disrupt cognition. Whole-brain, seed-based analyses indicated differences between anxious apprehension and anxious arousal in DMN functional connectivity. Lower connectivity associated with higher anxious apprehension suggests decreased adaptive, inner-focused thought processes, whereas higher connectivity at higher levels of anxious arousal may reflect elevated monitoring of physiological responses to threat. These findings further the conceptualization of anxious apprehension and anxious arousal as distinct psychological dimensions with distinct neural instantiations. © 2016 Society for Psychophysiological Research.

Hyper-arousal decreases human visual thresholds.

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Adam J Woods

Full Text Available Arousal has long been known to influence behavior and serves as an underlying component of cognition and consciousness. However, the consequences of hyper-arousal for visual perception remain unclear. The present study evaluates the impact of hyper-arousal on two aspects of visual sensitivity: visual stereoacuity and contrast thresholds. Sixty-eight participants participated in two experiments. Thirty-four participants were randomly divided into two groups in each experiment: Arousal Stimulation or Sham Control. The Arousal Stimulation group underwent a 50-second cold pressor stimulation (immersing the foot in 0-2° C water, a technique known to increase arousal. In contrast, the Sham Control group immersed their foot in room temperature water. Stereoacuity thresholds (Experiment 1 and contrast thresholds (Experiment 2 were measured before and after stimulation. The Arousal Stimulation groups demonstrated significantly lower stereoacuity and contrast thresholds following cold pressor stimulation, whereas the Sham Control groups showed no difference in thresholds. These results provide the first evidence that hyper-arousal from sensory stimulation can lower visual thresholds. Hyper-arousal's ability to decrease visual thresholds has important implications for survival, sports, and everyday life.

Neural evidence that human emotions share core affective properties.

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Wilson-Mendenhall, Christine D; Barrett, Lisa Feldman; Barsalou, Lawrence W

2013-06-01

Research on the "emotional brain" remains centered around the idea that emotions like fear, happiness, and sadness result from specialized and distinct neural circuitry. Accumulating behavioral and physiological evidence suggests, instead, that emotions are grounded in core affect--a person's fluctuating level of pleasant or unpleasant arousal. A neuroimaging study revealed that participants' subjective ratings of valence (i.e., pleasure/displeasure) and of arousal evoked by various fear, happiness, and sadness experiences correlated with neural activity in specific brain regions (orbitofrontal cortex and amygdala, respectively). We observed these correlations across diverse instances within each emotion category, as well as across instances from all three categories. Consistent with a psychological construction approach to emotion, the results suggest that neural circuitry realizes more basic processes across discrete emotions. The implicated brain regions regulate the body to deal with the world, producing the affective changes at the core of emotions and many other psychological phenomena.

The effects of valence and arousal on the neural activity leading to subsequent memory.

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Mickley Steinmetz, Katherine R; Kensinger, Elizabeth A

2009-11-01

This study examined how valence and arousal affect the processes linked to subsequent memory for emotional information. While undergoing an fMRI scan, participants viewed neutral pictures and emotional pictures varying by valence and arousal. After the scan, participants performed a recognition test. Subsequent memory for negative or high arousal information was associated with occipital and temporal activity, whereas memory for positive or low arousal information was associated with frontal activity. Regression analyses confirmed that for negative or high arousal items, temporal lobe activity was the strongest predictor of later memory whereas for positive or low arousal items, frontal activity corresponded most strongly with later memory. These results suggest that the types of encoding processes relating to memory (e.g., sensory vs. elaborative processing) can differ based on the affective qualities of emotional information.

White-nose syndrome-affected little brown myotis (Myotis lucifugus) increase grooming and other active behaviors during arousals from hibernation.

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Brownlee-Bouboulis, Sarah A; Reeder, DeeAnn M

2013-10-01

White-nose syndrome (WNS) is an emerging infectious disease of hibernating bats linked to the death of an estimated 5.7 million or more bats in the northeastern United States and Canada. White-nose syndrome is caused by the cold-loving fungus Pseudogymnoascus destructans (Pd), which invades the skin of the muzzles, ears, and wings of hibernating bats. Previous work has shown that WNS-affected bats arouse to euthermic or near euthermic temperatures during hibernation significantly more frequently than normal and that these too-frequent arousals are tied to severity of infection and death date. We quantified the behavior of bats during these arousal bouts to understand better the causes and consequences of these arousals. We hypothesized that WNS-affected bats would display increased levels of activity (especially grooming) during their arousal bouts from hibernation compared to WNS-unaffected bats. Behavior of both affected and unaffected hibernating bats in captivity was monitored from December 2010 to March 2011 using temperature-sensitive dataloggers attached to the backs of bats and infrared motion-sensitive cameras. The WNS-affected bats exhibited significantly higher rates of grooming, relative to unaffected bats, at the expense of time that would otherwise be spent inactive. Increased self-grooming may be related to the presence of the fungus. Elevated activity levels in affected bats likely increase energetic stress, whereas the loss of rest (inactive periods when aroused from torpor) may jeopardize the ability of a bat to reestablish homeostasis in a number of physiologic systems.

The effects of valence and arousal on the neural activity leading to subsequent memory

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Mickley Steinmetz, Katherine R.; Kensinger, Elizabeth A.

2009-01-01

This study examined how valence and arousal affect the processes linked to subsequent memory for emotional information. While undergoing an fMRI scan, participants viewed neutral pictures and emotional pictures varying by valence and arousal. After the scan, participants performed a recognition test. Subsequent memory for negative or high arousal information was associated with occipital and temporal activity, while memory for positive or low arousal information was associated with frontal ac...

Sexual arousal in men: a review and conceptual analysis.

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Janssen, Erick

2011-05-01

Sexual arousal is an emotional/motivational state that can be triggered by internal and external stimuli and that can be inferred from central (including verbal), peripheral (including genital), and behavioral (including action tendencies and motor preparation) responses. This article, while focusing on sexual arousal in men, provides a conceptual analysis of this construct, reviews models of sexual arousal, and discusses the usefulness of perspectives derived from motivation and emotion research in improving our understanding of its determinants and behavioral correlates. In this, it considers the role of genital feedback in men's subjective sexual arousal and the connections between sexual arousal and sexual desire. Future research and definitions may increasingly focus on its central integrative functions (as opposed to its input and output characteristics). Yet, the study of sexual arousal can be expected to continue to benefit from the measurement of its genital, verbal, and behavioral components. Instances of discordance between response components suggest that they are, at least in part, under the control of different mechanisms, and it is proposed that a better understanding of sexual arousal will prove contingent on a better understanding of such mechanisms and the conditions under which they converge and diverge. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A computerized algorithm for arousal detection in healthy adults and patients with Parkinson disease

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Sørensen, Gertrud Laura; Jennum, Poul; Kempfner, Jacob

2012-01-01

arousals from non-rapid eye movement (REM) and REM sleep, independent of the subject's age and disease. The proposed algorithm uses features from EEG, EMG, and the manual sleep stage scoring as input to a feed-forward artificial neural network (ANN). The performance of the algorithm has been assessed using......Arousals occur from all sleep stages and can be identified as abrupt electroencephalogram (EEG) and electromyogram (EMG) changes. Manual scoring of arousals is time consuming with low interscore agreement. The aim of this study was to design an arousal detection algorithm capable of detecting...

Do drives drive the train of thought?-Effects of hunger and sexual arousal on mind-wandering behavior.

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Rummel, Jan; Nied, Laura

2017-10-01

Physiological needs that are currently unfulfilled are known to affect human cognition and behavior. The present study investigates whether and how the temporary activation of two primary physiological needs, namely hunger and sexual arousal, influence both the frequency and the contents of mind-wandering episodes. To induce hunger, one group of participants fasted for a minimum of five hours whereas another group of participants was exposed to audio material with explicit sexual content to provoke sexual arousal. Both groups as well as an additional control group, which had not received hunger instructions and had not been exposed to arousing material of any kind beforehand, performed a reading task during which mind wandering was assessed using a standard experience-sampling method. Results showed that acute hunger but not elevated sexual arousal renders the occurrence of mind-wandering episodes more likely. Induction of both hunger and sexual arousal rendered the occurrence of need-related off-task thoughts more likely and changed time orientations of mind wandering. The present findings are well in line with the assumption that unfulfilled needs regularly achieve cognitive priority and extend the cognitive-priority idea to self-generated thoughts. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Sexual arousal, is it for mammals only?

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Ball, Gregory F.; Balthazart, Jacques

2012-01-01

Sexual arousal has many dimensions and has consequently been defined in various ways. In humans sexual arousal can be assessed based in part on verbal communication. In male non-human mammalian species it has been argued that arousal can only be definitively inferred if the subject exhibits a penile erection in a sexual context. In non-mammalian species that lack an intromittent organ, as is the case for most avian species, the question of how to assess sexual arousal has not been thoroughly addressed. Based on studies performed in male Japanese quail, we argue that several behavioral or physiological characteristics provide suitable measures of sexual arousal in birds and probably also in other tetrapods. These indices include the performance of appetitive sexual behavior in anticipation of copulation (although anticipation and arousal are not the synonyms), the activation of specific brain areas as identified by the detection of the expression of immediate early genes (fos, egr-1) or by 2-deoxygucose quantitative autoradiography, and above all the release of dopamine in the medial preoptic areas as measured by in vivo dialysis. Based on these criteria, it is possible to assess in birds sexual arousal in its broadest sense but meeting the more restrictive definition of arousal proposed for mammals (erection in an explicit sexual context) is and will probably remain impossible in birds until refinement of in vivo imaging techniques such fMRI allow us to match in different species, with and without an intromittent organ, the brain areas that are activated in the presence of specific stimuli. PMID:21073874

Animal models of female sexual dysfunction: basic considerations on drugs, arousal, motivation and behavior.

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Ågmo, Anders

2014-06-01

Female sexual dysfunctions are a heterogeneous group of symptoms with unknown but probably varying etiology. Social factors may contribute both to the prevalence and to the origin of these dysfunctions. The present review focuses on female hypoactive sexual desire disorder, sexual arousal disorder and orgasmic disorder. These disorders are generally the most common, according to epidemiological studies, and they can all be considered as disorders of motivation. An incentive motivational model of sexual behavior, applicable to humans as well as to non-human animals, is described and the dysfunctions placed into the context of this model. It is shown that endocrine alterations as well as observable alterations in neurotransmitter activity are unlikely causes of the disorders. A potential role of learning is stressed. Nevertheless, the role of some transmitters in female rodent sexual behavior is analyzed, and compared to data from women, whenever such data are available. The conclusion is that there is no direct coincidence between effects on rodent copulatory behavior and sexual behavior in women. Based on these and other considerations, it is suggested that sexual approach behaviors rather than copulatory reflexes in rodents might be of some relevance for human sexual behavior, and perhaps even for predicting the effects of interventions, perhaps even the effects of drugs. Female copulatory behaviors, including the proceptive behaviors, are less appropriate. The common sexual dysfunctions in women are not problems with the performance of copulatory acts, but with the desire for such acts, by feeling aroused by such acts and experiencing the pleasure expected to be caused by such acts. Finally, it is questioned whether female sexual dysfunctions are appropriate targets for pharmacological treatment. © 2013.

Sexual arousal, is it for mammals only?

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Ball, Gregory F; Balthazart, Jacques

2011-05-01

Sexual arousal has many dimensions and has consequently been defined in various ways. In humans, sexual arousal can be assessed based in part on verbal communication. In male non-human mammalian species, it has been argued that arousal can only be definitively inferred if the subject exhibits a penile erection in a sexual context. In non-mammalian species that lack an intromittent organ, as is the case for most avian species, the question of how to assess sexual arousal has not been thoroughly addressed. Based on studies performed in male Japanese quail, we argue that several behavioral or physiological characteristics provide suitable measures of sexual arousal in birds and probably also in other tetrapods. These indices include, the performance of appetitive sexual behavior in anticipation of copulation (although anticipation and arousal are not synonymous), the activation of specific brain area as identified by the detection of the expression of immediate early genes (fos, egr-1) or by 2-deoxyglucose quantitative autoradiography, and above all, by the release of dopamine in the medial preoptic area as measured by in vivo dialysis. Based on these criteria, it is possible to assess in birds sexual arousal in its broadest sense but meeting the more restrictive definition of arousal proposed for male mammals (erection in an explicit sexual context) is and will probably remain impossible in birds until refinement of in vivo imaging techniques such fMRI allow us to match in different species, with and without an intromittent organ, the brain areas that are activated in the presence of specific stimuli. Copyright © 2010. Published by Elsevier Inc.

The impact of threat appeals on fear arousal and driver behavior: a meta-analysis of experimental research 1990-2011.

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Carey, Rachel N; McDermott, Daragh T; Sarma, Kiran M

2013-01-01

The existing empirical research exploring the impact of threat appeals on driver behavior has reported inconsistent findings. In an effort to provide an up-to-date synthesis of the experimental findings, meta-analytic techniques were employed to examine the impact of threat-based messages on fear arousal and on lab-based indices of driving behavior. Experimental studies (k = 13, N = 3044), conducted between 1990 and 2011, were included in the analyses. The aims of the current analysis were (a) to examine whether or not the experimental manipulations had a significant impact on evoked fear, (b) to examine the impact of threat appeals on three distinct indices of driving, and (c) to identify moderators and mediators of the relationship between fear and driving outcomes. Large effects emerged for the level of fear evoked, with experimental groups reporting increased fear arousal in comparison to control groups (r = .64, n = 619, pappeals on driving outcomes, however, was not significant (r = .03, p = .17). This analysis of the experimental literature indicates that threat appeals can lead to increased fear arousal, but do not appear to have the desired impact on driving behavior. We discuss these findings in the context of threat-based road safety campaigns and future directions for experimental research in this area.

Noradrenergic modulation of neural erotic stimulus perception.

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Graf, Heiko; Wiegers, Maike; Metzger, Coraline Danielle; Walter, Martin; Grön, Georg; Abler, Birgit

2017-09-01

We recently investigated neuromodulatory effects of the noradrenergic agent reboxetine and the dopamine receptor affine amisulpride in healthy subjects on dynamic erotic stimulus processing. Whereas amisulpride left sexual functions and neural activations unimpaired, we observed detrimental activations under reboxetine within the caudate nucleus corresponding to motivational components of sexual behavior. However, broadly impaired subjective sexual functioning under reboxetine suggested effects on further neural components. We now investigated the same sample under these two agents with static erotic picture stimulation as alternative stimulus presentation mode to potentially observe further neural treatment effects of reboxetine. 19 healthy males were investigated under reboxetine, amisulpride and placebo for 7 days each within a double-blind cross-over design. During fMRI static erotic picture were presented with preceding anticipation periods. Subjective sexual functions were assessed by a self-reported questionnaire. Neural activations were attenuated within the caudate nucleus, putamen, ventral striatum, the pregenual and anterior midcingulate cortex and in the orbitofrontal cortex under reboxetine. Subjective diminished sexual arousal under reboxetine was correlated with attenuated neural reactivity within the posterior insula. Again, amisulpride left neural activations along with subjective sexual functioning unimpaired. Neither reboxetine nor amisulpride altered differential neural activations during anticipation of erotic stimuli. Our results verified detrimental effects of noradrenergic agents on neural motivational but also emotional and autonomic components of sexual behavior. Considering the overlap of neural network alterations with those evoked by serotonergic agents, our results suggest similar neuromodulatory effects of serotonergic and noradrenergic agents on common neural pathways relevant for sexual behavior. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. and

Amines, Astrocytes and Arousal

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Bazargani, N.; Attwell, D.

2017-01-01

Amine neurotransmitters, such as noradrenaline, mediate arousal, attention, and reward in the CNS. New data suggest that, from flies to mammals, a major mechanism for amine transmitter action is to raise astrocyte [Ca2+]i and release gliotransmitters that modulate neuronal activity and behavior.

Bidirectional interactions between the baroreceptor reflex and arousal: an update.

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Silvani, Alessandro; Calandra-Buonaura, Giovanna; Benarroch, Eduardo E; Dampney, Roger A L; Cortelli, Pietro

2015-02-01

Studies involving genetic engineering on animal models and mathematical analysis of cardiovascular signals on humans are shedding new light on the interactions between the arterial baroreceptor reflex (baroreflex) and arousal. Baroreceptor stimulation, if very mild or performed under anaesthesia, may inhibit cortical arousal. However, substantial increases or decreases in baroreflex activation cause arousal in animal models and human subjects in physiological conditions. On the other hand, cardiovascular changes during autonomic arousals and between the states of wakefulness and sleep involve changes in the baroreflex set point and balance with central autonomic commands. Neural connectivity and functional data suggest that the nucleus of the solitary tract, adrenergic C1 neurons of the medulla, and the parabrachial nucleus of the pons mediate the bidirectional interactions between the baroreflex and arousal. These interactions may constitute a positive feedback loop that facilitates sharp and coordinated brain state and autonomic transitions upon arousal: upon arousal, central autonomic commands may increase blood pressure, thereby loading baroreceptors and further increasing arousal. Anomalies of this feedback loop may play a role in the pathophysiology of disease conditions associated with cardiovascular and sleep-wake cycle alterations. These conditions include: obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome, with its association with excessive daytime sleepiness and baroreflex impairment; and insomnia, with its association with autonomic hyperarousal and hypertension. When faced with disorders associated with cardiovascular and sleep-wake cycle alterations, clinical reasoning should entertain the possibility that both conditions are strongly influenced by anomalies of baroreflex function. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Light and Cognition: Roles for Circadian Rhythms, Sleep, and Arousal

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Fisk, Angus S.; Tam, Shu K. E.; Brown, Laurence A.; Vyazovskiy, Vladyslav V.; Bannerman, David M.; Peirson, Stuart N.

2018-01-01

Light exerts a wide range of effects on mammalian physiology and behavior. As well as synchronizing circadian rhythms to the external environment, light has been shown to modulate autonomic and neuroendocrine responses as well as regulating sleep and influencing cognitive processes such as attention, arousal, and performance. The last two decades have seen major advances in our understanding of the retinal photoreceptors that mediate these non-image forming responses to light, as well as the neural pathways and molecular mechanisms by which circadian rhythms are generated and entrained to the external light/dark (LD) cycle. By contrast, our understanding of the mechanisms by which lighting influences cognitive processes is more equivocal. The effects of light on different cognitive processes are complex. As well as the direct effects of light on alertness, indirect effects may also occur due to disrupted circadian entrainment. Despite the widespread use of disrupted LD cycles to study the role circadian rhythms on cognition, the different experimental protocols used have subtly different effects on circadian function which are not always comparable. Moreover, these protocols will also disrupt sleep and alter physiological arousal, both of which are known to modulate cognition. Studies have used different assays that are dependent on different cognitive and sensory processes, which may also contribute to their variable findings. Here, we propose that studies addressing the effects of different lighting conditions on cognitive processes must also account for their effects on circadian rhythms, sleep, and arousal if we are to fully understand the physiological basis of these responses. PMID:29479335

The impact of threat appeals on fear arousal and driver behavior: a meta-analysis of experimental research 1990-2011.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rachel N Carey

Full Text Available The existing empirical research exploring the impact of threat appeals on driver behavior has reported inconsistent findings. In an effort to provide an up-to-date synthesis of the experimental findings, meta-analytic techniques were employed to examine the impact of threat-based messages on fear arousal and on lab-based indices of driving behavior. Experimental studies (k = 13, N = 3044, conducted between 1990 and 2011, were included in the analyses. The aims of the current analysis were (a to examine whether or not the experimental manipulations had a significant impact on evoked fear, (b to examine the impact of threat appeals on three distinct indices of driving, and (c to identify moderators and mediators of the relationship between fear and driving outcomes. Large effects emerged for the level of fear evoked, with experimental groups reporting increased fear arousal in comparison to control groups (r = .64, n = 619, p<.01. The effect of threat appeals on driving outcomes, however, was not significant (r = .03, p = .17. This analysis of the experimental literature indicates that threat appeals can lead to increased fear arousal, but do not appear to have the desired impact on driving behavior. We discuss these findings in the context of threat-based road safety campaigns and future directions for experimental research in this area.

Influence of arousal threshold and depth of sleep on respiratory stability in man: analysis using a mathematical model.

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Longobardo, G S; Evangelisti, C J; Cherniack, N S

2009-12-01

We examined the effect of arousals (shifts from sleep to wakefulness) on breathing during sleep using a mathematical model. The model consisted of a description of the fluid dynamics and mechanical properties of the upper airways and lungs, as well as a controller sensitive to arterial and brain changes in CO(2), changes in arterial oxygen, and a neural input, alertness. The body was divided into multiple gas store compartments connected by the circulation. Cardiac output was constant, and cerebral blood flows were sensitive to changes in O(2) and CO(2) levels. Arousal was considered to occur instantaneously when afferent respiratory chemical and neural stimulation reached a threshold value, while sleep occurred when stimulation fell below that value. In the case of rigid and nearly incompressible upper airways, lowering arousal threshold decreased the stability of breathing and led to the occurrence of repeated apnoeas. In more compressible upper airways, to maintain stability, increasing arousal thresholds and decreasing elasticity were linked approximately linearly, until at low elastances arousal thresholds had no effect on stability. Increased controller gain promoted instability. The architecture of apnoeas during unstable sleep changed with the arousal threshold and decreases in elasticity. With rigid airways, apnoeas were central. With lower elastances, apnoeas were mixed even with higher arousal thresholds. With very low elastances and still higher arousal thresholds, sleep consisted totally of obstructed apnoeas. Cycle lengths shortened as the sleep architecture changed from mixed apnoeas to total obstruction. Deeper sleep also tended to promote instability by increasing plant gain. These instabilities could be countered by arousal threshold increases which were tied to deeper sleep or accumulated aroused time, or by decreased controller gains.

Night-to-night arousal variability and interscorer reliability of arousal measurements.

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Loredo, J S; Clausen, J L; Ancoli-Israel, S; Dimsdale, J E

1999-11-01

Measurement of arousals from sleep is clinically important, however, their definition is not well standardized, and little data exist on reliability. The purpose of this study is to determine factors that affect arousal scoring reliability and night-to-night arousal variability. The night-to-night arousal variability and interscorer reliability was assessed in 20 subjects with and without obstructive sleep apnea undergoing attended polysomnography during two consecutive nights. Five definitions of arousal were studied, assessing duration of electroencephalographic (EEG) frequency changes, increases in electromyographic (EMG) activity and leg movement, association with respiratory events, as well as the American Sleep Disorders Association (ASDA) definition of arousals. NA. NA. NA. Interscorer reliability varied with the definition of arousal and ranged from an Intraclass correlation (ICC) of 0.19 to 0.92. Arousals that included increases in EMG activity or leg movement had the greatest reliability, especially when associated with respiratory events (ICC 0.76 to 0.92). The ASDA arousal definition had high interscorer reliability (ICC 0.84). Reliability was lowest for arousals consisting of EEG changes lasting <3 seconds (ICC 0.19 to 0.37). The within subjects night-to-night arousal variability was low for all arousal definitions In a heterogeneous population, interscorer arousal reliability is enhanced by increases in EMG activity, leg movements, and respiratory events and decreased by short duration EEG arousals. The arousal index night-to-night variability was low for all definitions.

Polymorphisms in the dopamine D4 receptor gene (DRD4) contribute to individual differences in human sexual behavior: desire, arousal and sexual function.

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Ben Zion, I Z; Tessler, R; Cohen, L; Lerer, E; Raz, Y; Bachner-Melman, R; Gritsenko, I; Nemanov, L; Zohar, A H; Belmaker, R H; Benjamin, J; Ebstein, R P

2006-08-01

Although there is some evidence from twin studies that individual differences in sexual behavior are heritable, little is known about the specific molecular genetic design of human sexuality. Recently, a specific dopamine D4 receptor (DRD4) agonist was shown in rats to induce penile erection through a central mechanism. These findings prompted us to examine possible association between the well-characterized DRD4 gene and core phenotypes of human sexual behavior that included desire, arousal and function in a group of 148 nonclinical university students. We observed association between the exon 3 repeat region, and the C-521T and C-616G promoter region SNPs, with scores on scales that measure human sexual behavior. The single most common DRD4 5-locus haplotype (19%) was significantly associated with Desire, Function and Arousal scores. The current results are consistent with animal studies that show a role for dopamine and specifically the DRD4 receptor in sexual behavior and suggest that one pathway by which individual variation in human desire, arousal and function are mediated is based on allelic variants coding for differences in DRD4 receptor gene expression and protein concentrations in key brain areas.

The Neural Basis of and a Common Neural Circuitry in Different Types of Pro-social Behavior

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Jun Luo

2018-06-01

Full Text Available Pro-social behaviors are voluntary behaviors that benefit other people or society as a whole, such as charitable donations, cooperation, trust, altruistic punishment, and fairness. These behaviors have been widely described through non self-interest decision-making in behavioral experimental studies and are thought to be increased by social preference motives. Importantly, recent studies using a combination of neuroimaging and brain stimulation, designed to reveal the neural mechanisms of pro-social behaviors, have found that a wide range of brain areas, specifically the prefrontal cortex, anterior insula, anterior cingulate cortex, and amygdala, are correlated or causally related with pro-social behaviors. In this review, we summarize the research on the neural basis of various kinds of pro-social behaviors and describe a common shared neural circuitry of these pro-social behaviors. We introduce several general ways in which experimental economics and neuroscience can be combined to develop important contributions to understanding social decision-making and pro-social behaviors. Future research should attempt to explore the neural circuitry between the frontal lobes and deeper brain areas.

Complexity and competition in appetitive and aversive neural circuits

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Crista L. Barberini

2012-11-01

Full Text Available Decision-making often involves using sensory cues to predict possible rewarding or punishing reinforcement outcomes before selecting a course of action. Recent work has revealed complexity in how the brain learns to predict rewards and punishments. Analysis of neural signaling during and after learning in the amygdala and orbitofrontal cortex, two brain areas that process appetitive and aversive stimuli, reveals a dynamic relationship between appetitive and aversive circuits. Specifically, the relationship between signaling in appetitive and aversive circuits in these areas shifts as a function of learning. Furthermore, although appetitive and aversive circuits may often drive opposite behaviors – approaching or avoiding reinforcement depending upon its valence – these circuits can also drive similar behaviors, such as enhanced arousal or attention; these processes also may influence choice behavior. These data highlight the formidable challenges ahead in dissecting how appetitive and aversive neural circuits interact to produce a complex and nuanced range of behaviors.

Tracking arousal state and mind wandering with pupillometry.

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Unsworth, Nash; Robison, Matthew K

2018-04-13

In four experiments, the association between arousal state and different mind-wandering states was examined. Participants performed a sustained attention task while pupil responses were continuously recorded. Periodically during the task, participants were presented with thought probes to determine if they were on task or mind wandering. Across the four experiments, the results suggested that in situations that promoted on-task behaviors and focused external attention, mind wandering was associated with lowered arousal, as seen by smaller tonic pupil diameters and smaller phasic pupillary responses. However, in situations that promoted a more internal focus of attention, there were no differences between on-task states and mind wandering in tonic pupil diameter (although differences emerged for phasic pupillary responses), suggesting similar arousal levels. Furthermore, across the four experiments, mind blanking and mind wandering dissociated in terms of whether the situation promoted focused external attention or focused internal attention. These results are broadly consistent with the notion that mind wandering is a heterogeneous construct, with different forms of mind wandering being associated with different arousal states, and suggest that a combination of behavioral and pupillary measures can be used to track these various states.

Neural Behavior Chain Learning of Mobile Robot Actions

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Lejla Banjanovic-Mehmedovic

2012-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a visual/motor behavior learning approach, based on neural networks. We propose Behavior Chain Model (BCM in order to create a way of behavior learning. Our behavior-based system evolution task is a mobile robot detecting a target and driving/acting towards it. First, the mapping relations between the image feature domain of the object and the robot action domain are derived. Second, a multilayer neural network for offline learning of the mapping relations is used. This learning structure through neural network training process represents a connection between the visual perceptions and motor sequence of actions in order to grip a target. Last, using behavior learning through a noticed action chain, we can predict mobile robot behavior for a variety of similar tasks in similar environment. Prediction results suggest that the methodology is adequate and could be recognized as an idea for designing different mobile robot behaviour assistance.

The Impact of Threat Appeals on Fear Arousal and Driver Behavior: A Meta-Analysis of Experimental Research 1990–2011

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Carey, Rachel N.; McDermott, Daragh T.; Sarma, Kiran M.

2013-01-01

The existing empirical research exploring the impact of threat appeals on driver behavior has reported inconsistent findings. In an effort to provide an up-to-date synthesis of the experimental findings, meta-analytic techniques were employed to examine the impact of threat-based messages on fear arousal and on lab-based indices of driving behavior. Experimental studies (k = 13, N = 3044), conducted between 1990 and 2011, were included in the analyses. The aims of the current analysis were (a) to examine whether or not the experimental manipulations had a significant impact on evoked fear, (b) to examine the impact of threat appeals on three distinct indices of driving, and (c) to identify moderators and mediators of the relationship between fear and driving outcomes. Large effects emerged for the level of fear evoked, with experimental groups reporting increased fear arousal in comparison to control groups (r = .64, n = 619, pappeals on driving outcomes, however, was not significant (r = .03, p = .17). This analysis of the experimental literature indicates that threat appeals can lead to increased fear arousal, but do not appear to have the desired impact on driving behavior. We discuss these findings in the context of threat-based road safety campaigns and future directions for experimental research in this area. PMID:23690955

Personality modulates the effects of emotional arousal and valence on brain activation.

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Kehoe, Elizabeth G; Toomey, John M; Balsters, Joshua H; Bokde, Arun L W

2012-10-01

The influence of personality on the neural correlates of emotional processing is still not well characterized. We investigated the relationship between extraversion and neuroticism and emotional perception using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in a group of 23 young, healthy women. Using a parametric modulation approach, we examined how the blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) signal varied with the participants' ratings of arousal and valence, and whether levels of extraversion and neuroticism were related to these modulations. In particular, we wished to test Eysenck's biological theory of personality, which links high extraversion to lower levels of reticulothalamic-cortical arousal, and neuroticism to increased reactivity of the limbic system and stronger reactions to emotional arousal. Individuals high in neuroticism demonstrated reduced sustained activation in the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and attenuated valence processing in the right temporal lobe while viewing emotional images, but an increased BOLD response to emotional arousal in the right medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). These results support Eysenck's theory, as well as our hypothesis that high levels of neuroticism are associated with attenuated reward processing. Extraversion was inversely related to arousal processing in the right cerebellum, but positively associated with arousal processing in the right insula, indicating that the relationship between extraversion and arousal is not as simple as that proposed by Eysenck.

Effects of violent video games on aggressive behavior, aggressive cognition, aggressive affect, physiological arousal, and prosocial behavior: a meta-analytic review of the scientific literature.

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Anderson, C A; Bushman, B J

2001-09-01

Research on exposure to television and movie violence suggests that playing violent video games will increase aggressive behavior. A metaanalytic review of the video-game research literature reveals that violent video games increase aggressive behavior in children and young adults. Experimental and nonexperimental studies with males and females in laboratory and field settings support this conclusion. Analyses also reveal that exposure to violent video games increases physiological arousal and aggression-related thoughts and feelings. Playing violent video games also decreases prosocial behavior.

Electrophysiological evidence for emotional valence and competitive arousal effects on insight problem solving.

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Li, Yadan; Xiao, Xiao; Ma, Wenjuan; Jiang, Jun; Qiu, Jiang; Zhang, Qinglin

2013-11-13

Accumulating evidence suggests that insight can be substantially influenced by task-irrelevant emotion stimuli and interpersonal competitive situation, and a close link might exist between them. Using a learning-testing paradigm and Event-Related Potentials (ERPs), the present study investigated the independent and joint effects of emotional and competitive information on insight problem solving especially their neural mechanisms. Subjects situated in either competitive or non-competitive condition learned heuristic logogriphs first and then viewed task-irrelevant positive or negative emotional pictures, which were followed by test logogriphs to solve. Both behavioral and ERP findings showed a more evident insight boost following negative emotional pictures in competitive context. Results demonstrated that negative emotion and competitive situation might promote insight by a defocused mode of attention (as indicated by N1 and P2), the enhanced semantic integration and breaking mental set (as indicated by N450), and the increased forming of novel associations activated by motivational arousal originating from competition (as indicated by P800-1600 and P1600-2500). These results indicate that the dynamic interactions between emotional valence and competitive arousal effects on insight. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automatic Detection of Cortical Arousals in Sleep using Bi-direction LSTM Networks

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Brink-Kjaer, A.; Olesen, Alexander Neergaard; Jespersen, C. A.

2018-01-01

) and chin electromyography (EMG) to compute a probability of arousals through a bi-directional long short-term memory neural network. The study used a dataset of 233 nocturnal PSGs of population-based samples from Wisconsin Sleep Cohort (WSC) and 30 nocturnal PSGs of clinical samples from the Stanford Sleep...

Influence of Body Odors and Gender on Perceived Genital Arousal.

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Alves-Oliveira, Patrícia; Carvalho, Joana; Ferreira, Jacqueline; Alho, Laura; Nobre, Pedro; Olsson, Mats J; Soares, Sandra C

2018-04-01

Olfaction is often linked to mating behavior in nonhumans. Additionally, studies in mating behavior have shown that women seem to be more affected by odor cues than men. However, the relationship between odor cues and sexual response-specifically, sexual arousal-has not been studied yet. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of the exposure to human body odors (from individuals of the opposite gender) on perceived genital arousal, while these were presented concomitantly to sexually explicit video clips. Eighty university students (40 women) rated their perceived genital arousal (perceived degree of erection/genital lubrication) in response to an audiovisual sexual stimulus, while simultaneously exposed to a body odor from an opposite-gender donor or no odor. Participants also rated each odor sample's (body odor and no odor) perceived pleasantness, intensity, and familiarity. Findings indicated that odor condition had an effect on women's (but not men's) perceived genital arousal, with women showing higher levels of perceived genital arousal in the no odor condition. Also, results showed that women rated body odors as less pleasant than no odor. Notwithstanding, the odor ratings do not seem to explain the association between body odor and perceived genital arousal. The current results support the hypothesis that women, rather than men, are sensitive to odors in the context of sexual response. The findings of this study have relevance for the understanding of human sexuality with respect to chemosensory communication.

Transient decoupling of cortical EEGs following arousals during NREM sleep in middle-aged and elderly women.

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Ramanand, Pravitha; Bruce, Margaret C; Bruce, Eugene N

2010-08-01

Spontaneous cortical arousals in non-REM sleep increase with age and contribute to sleep fragmentation in the elderly. EEG spectral power in the faster frequencies exhibits well-described shifts during arousals. On the other hand, EEG activities also exhibit correlations, which are interpreted as an index of interdependence between distant cortical neural activities. The possibility of changes to the interdependence between cortical regions due to an arousal has not been considered. In this work, using previously recorded C3A2 and C4A1 EEG signals from two groups of adults, middle-aged (42-50 years) and elderly (71-86 years) women, we examined the effects of spontaneous arousals in NREM sleep on cortical interdependence. We quantified the auto- and cross-correlations in these signals using mutual information and characterized these correlations in periods before the onset and following the end of arousals. The pre-arousal period exhibited significantly higher interdependence between central regions than that following the arousal in both age groups (middle-aged: p=0.004, elderly: ppower changes characteristic of an arousal are no longer visible. The findings suggest that the state following an arousal characterized by lower interdependence may resemble a more vigilant period during which the system may be vulnerable to more arousals. Copyright 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Understanding the Implications of Neural Population Activity on Behavior

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Briguglio, John

Learning how neural activity in the brain leads to the behavior we exhibit is one of the fundamental questions in Neuroscience. In this dissertation, several lines of work are presented to that use principles of neural coding to understand behavior. In one line of work, we formulate the efficient coding hypothesis in a non-traditional manner in order to test human perceptual sensitivity to complex visual textures. We find a striking agreement between how variable a particular texture signal is and how sensitive humans are to its presence. This reveals that the efficient coding hypothesis is still a guiding principle for neural organization beyond the sensory periphery, and that the nature of cortical constraints differs from the peripheral counterpart. In another line of work, we relate frequency discrimination acuity to neural responses from auditory cortex in mice. It has been previously observed that optogenetic manipulation of auditory cortex, in addition to changing neural responses, evokes changes in behavioral frequency discrimination. We are able to account for changes in frequency discrimination acuity on an individual basis by examining the Fisher information from the neural population with and without optogenetic manipulation. In the third line of work, we address the question of what a neural population should encode given that its inputs are responses from another group of neurons. Drawing inspiration from techniques in machine learning, we train Deep Belief Networks on fake retinal data and show the emergence of Garbor-like filters, reminiscent of responses in primary visual cortex. In the last line of work, we model the state of a cortical excitatory-inhibitory network during complex adaptive stimuli. Using a rate model with Wilson-Cowan dynamics, we demonstrate that simple non-linearities in the signal transferred from inhibitory to excitatory neurons can account for real neural recordings taken from auditory cortex. This work establishes and tests

Hypocretin as a Hub for Arousal and Motivation

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Susan M. Tyree

2018-06-01

Full Text Available The lateral hypothalamus is comprised of a heterogeneous mix of neurons that serve to integrate and regulate sleep, feeding, stress, energy balance, reward, and motivated behavior. Within these populations, the hypocretin/orexin neurons are among the most well studied. Here, we provide an overview on how these neurons act as a central hub integrating sensory and physiological information to tune arousal and motivated behavior accordingly. We give special attention to their role in sleep-wake states and conditions of hyper-arousal, as is the case with stress-induced anxiety. We further discuss their roles in feeding, drug-seeking, and sexual behavior, which are all dependent on the motivational state of the animal. We further emphasize the application of powerful techniques, such as optogenetics, chemogenetics, and fiber photometry, to delineate the role these neurons play in lateral hypothalamic functions.

On the elementary neural forms of interaction rituals

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Heinskou, Marie Bruvik; Liebst, Lasse Suonperä

Randall Collins’ interaction ritual (IR) theory suggests solidarity as neurologically hardwired in the capacity for rhythmic entrainment. Yet, this article suggests that IR theory may benefit from being tied more firmly to recent neurological research, specifically Stephen W. Porges......’ neurophysiological polyvagal theory. IR theory does not sufficiently acknowledge the autonomic nervous system as a system involving a phylogenetically ordered response hierarchy, of which only one subsystem supports prosocial behavior. The ritual ingredients of shared attention and mood may be clarified as part...... of a social engagement system, neurally regulating attention and arousal via brain-face-heart circuits. This allows rhythmic entrainment to be specified as a neural epiphenomenon of the social engagement system. The polyvagal perspective, moreover, challenges IR theory to reconsider the importance...

Modification of medullary respiratory-related discharge patterns by behaviors and states of arousal.

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Chang, F C

1992-02-07

The modulatory influences of behaviors and states of arousal on bulbar respiratory-related unit (RRU) discharge patterns were studied in an unanesthetized, freely behaving guinea pig respiratory model system. When fully instrumented, this model system permits concurrent monitoring and recording of (i) single units from either Bötzinger complex or nucleus para-ambiguus; (ii) electrocorticogram; and, (iii) diaphragmatic EMG. In addition to being used in surveys of RRU discharge patterns in freely behaving states, the model system also offered a unique opportunity in investigating the effects of pentobarbital on RRU discharge patterns before, throughout the course of, and during recovery from anesthesia. In anesthetized preparations, a particular RRU discharge pattern (such as tonic, incrementing or decrementing) typically displayed little, if any notable variation. The most striking development following pentobarbital was a state of progressive bradypnea attributable to a significantly augmented RRU cycle duration, burst duration and an increase in the RRU spike frequencies during anesthesia. In freely behaving states, medullary RRU activities rarely adhered to a fixed, immutable discharge pattern. More specifically, the temporal organization (such as burst duration, cycle duration, and the extent of modulation of within-burst spike frequencies) of RRU discharge patterns regularly showed complex and striking variations, not only with states of arousal (sleep/wakefulness, anesthesia) but also with discrete alterations in electrocorticogram (ECoG) activities and a multitude of on-going behavioral repertoires such as volitional movement, postural modification, phonation, mastication, deglutition, sniffing/exploratory behavior, alerting/startle reflexes. Only during sleep, and on occasions when the animal assumed a motionless, resting posture, could burst patterns of relatively invariable periodicity and uniform temporal attributes be observed. RRU activities during

Brief Emotion Regulation Training Facilitates Arousal Control During Sexual Stimuli.

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van Overveld, Mark; Borg, Charmaine

2015-01-01

Disgust, a negative emotion which evokes strong behavioral avoidance tendencies, has been associated with sexual dysfunction. Recently, it was postulated that healthy sexual functioning requires a balance between excitatory (increased sexual arousal) and inhibitory processes (lowered disgust levels). This suggests that amplification of excitatory processes (like sexual arousal) could be a valuable addition to treatments for affect-based sexual dysfunctions. The major aim of the present study was to establish whether up-regulation could effectively enhance arousal levels during sexual stimuli, and whether such a training would simultaneously reduce disgust. Students (N = 163, mean age = 20.73 years, SD = 2.35) were trained in up-regulation of affect using either a sexual arousal film (i.e., female-friendly erotic movie) or a threat arousal film clip (i.e., horror movie), while control groups viewed the films without training instructions. Following this, participants viewed and rated state emotions during a series of pictures (sexual, disgusting, or neutral). Up-regulation of mood successfully enhanced general arousal in both groups, yet these arousal levels were not paralleled by reductions in disgust. Overall, the findings indicate that emotion regulation training by maximizing positive affect and general arousal could be an effective instrument to facilitate affect-related disturbances in sexual dysfunctions.

Nipple/Breast stimulation and sexual arousal in young men and women.

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Levin, Roy; Meston, Cindy

2006-05-01

The role of nipple/breast stimulation in influencing sexual arousal in men and women during lovemaking has only been the subject of opinion-based comment rather than evidence-based study. No attempt to question people about such sexual behavior has ever been undertaken. The study was designed to ascertain the effects of nipple/breast manipulation in young men and women on their sexual arousal. A short questionnaire about nipple/breast stimulation during sexual activity was administered to 301 (148 men; 153 women) sexually experienced undergraduates (age range 17-29 years, 95% between 18 and 22). Replies to questions in questionnaire. The major findings in regard to the women were that 81.5% reported that stimulation of their nipples/breasts caused or enhanced their sexual arousal, 78.2% agreed that when sexually aroused such manipulation increased their arousal, 59.1% had asked to have their nipples stimulated during lovemaking, and only 7.2% found that the manipulation decreased their arousal. In regard to the men, 51.7% reported that nipple stimulation caused or enhanced their sexual arousal, 39% agreed that when sexually aroused such manipulation increased their arousal, only 17.1% had asked to have their nipples stimulated, and only 7.5% found that such stimulation decreased their arousal. Manipulation of the nipples/breasts causes or enhances sexual arousal in approximately 82% of young women and 52% of young men with only 7-8% reporting that it decreased their arousal.

Early brain-body impact of emotional arousal

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Fabien D'Hondt

2010-04-01

Full Text Available Current research in affective neuroscience suggests that the emotional content of visual stimuli activates brain–body responses that could be critical to general health and physical disease. The aim of this study was to develop an integrated neurophysiological approach linking central and peripheral markers of nervous activity during the presentation of natural scenes in order to determine the temporal stages of brain processing related to the bodily impact of emotions. More specifically, whole head magnetoencephalogram (MEG data and skin conductance response (SCR, a reliable autonomic marker of central activation, were recorded in healthy volunteers during the presentation of emotional (unpleasant and pleasant and neutral pictures selected from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS. Analyses of event-related magnetic fields (ERFs revealed greater activity at 180 ms in an occipitotemporal component for emotional pictures than for neutral counterparts. More importantly, these early effects of emotional arousal on cerebral activity were significantly correlated with later increases in SCR magnitude. For the first time, a neuromagnetic cortical component linked to a well-documented marker of bodily arousal expression of emotion, namely, the skin conductance response, was identified and located. This finding sheds light on the time course of the brain–body interaction with emotional arousal and provides new insights into the neural bases of complex and reciprocal mind–body links.

Financial Anxiety, Physiological Arousal, and Planning Intention

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John Grable

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Results from this exploratory clinical study indicate that financial anxiety—holding an unhealthy attitude about one’s financial situation—and physiological arousal—the physical precursor to behavior—play important roles in shaping consumer intention to engage in future financial planning activity. Findings suggest that those who are most likely to engage the services of a financial adviser exhibit low levels of financial anxiety and moderate to high levels of physiological arousal. The least likely to seek the help of a financial adviser are those who exhibit high financial anxiety and low physiological arousal. Results support findings documented in the literature that high anxiety levels often lead to a form of self-imposed helplessness. In order to move those experiencing financial anxiety towards financial solutions, financial advisers ought to take steps to simultaneously reduce financial stressors and stimulate arousal as a way to promote behavioral change and help seeking.

The dynamic opponent relativity model: an integration and extension of capacity theory and existing theoretical perspectives on the neuropsychology of arousal and emotion.

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Comer, Clinton S; Harrison, Patti Kelly; Harrison, David W

2015-01-01

Arousal theory as discussed within the present paper refers to those mechanisms and neural systems involved in central nervous system activation and more specifically the systems involved in cortical activation. Historical progress in the evolution of arousal theory has led to a better understanding of the functional neural systems involved in arousal or activation processes and ultimately contributed much to our current theories of emotion. Despite evidence for the dynamic interplay between the left and right cerebral hemispheres, the concepts of cerebral balance and dynamic activation have been emphasized in the neuropsychological literature. A conceptual model is proposed herein that incorporates the unique contributions from multiple neuropsychological theories of arousal and emotion. It is argued that the cerebral hemispheres may play oppositional roles in emotion partially due to the differences in their functional specializations and in their persistence upon activation. In the presence of a threat or provocation, the right hemisphere may activate survival relevant responses partially derived from hemispheric specializations in arousal and emotional processing, including the mobilization of sympathetic drive to promote heightened blood pressure, heart rate, glucose mobilization and respiratory support necessary for the challenge. Oppositional processes and mechanisms are discussed, which may be relevant to the regulatory control over the survival response; however, the capacity of these systems is necessarily limited. A limited capacity mechanism is proposed, which is familiar within other physiological systems, including that providing for the prevention of muscular damage under exceptional demand. This capacity theory is proposed, wherein a link may be expected between exceptional stress within a neural system and damage to the neural system. These mechanisms are proposed to be relevant to emotion and emotional disorders. Discussion is provided on the

Functional wiring of hypocretin and LC-NE neurons: implications for arousal.

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Matthew E Carter

2013-05-01

Full Text Available To survive in a rapidly changing environment, animals must sense their external world and internal physiological state and properly regulate levels of arousal. Levels of arousal that are abnormally high may result in inefficient use of internal energy stores and unfocused attention to salient environmental stimuli. Alternatively, levels of arousal that are abnormally low may result in the inability to properly seek food, water, sexual partners, and other factors necessary for life. In the brain, neurons that express hypocretin neuropeptides may be uniquely posed to sense the external and internal state of the animal and tune arousal state according to behavioral needs. In recent years, we have applied temporally precise optogenetic techniques to study the role of these neurons and their downstream connections in regulating arousal. In particular, we have found that noradrenergic neurons in the brainstem locus coeruleus are particularly important for mediating the effects of hypocretin neurons on arousal. Here, we discuss our recent results and consider the implications of the anatomical connectivity of these neurons in regulating the arousal state of an organism across various states of sleep and wakefulness.

Emotion and language: Valence and arousal affect word recognition

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Brysbaert, Marc; Warriner, Amy Beth

2014-01-01

Emotion influences most aspects of cognition and behavior, but emotional factors are conspicuously absent from current models of word recognition. The influence of emotion on word recognition has mostly been reported in prior studies on the automatic vigilance for negative stimuli, but the precise nature of this relationship is unclear. Various models of automatic vigilance have claimed that the effect of valence on response times is categorical, an inverted-U, or interactive with arousal. The present study used a sample of 12,658 words, and included many lexical and semantic control factors, to determine the precise nature of the effects of arousal and valence on word recognition. Converging empirical patterns observed in word-level and trial-level data from lexical decision and naming indicate that valence and arousal exert independent monotonic effects: Negative words are recognized more slowly than positive words, and arousing words are recognized more slowly than calming words. Valence explained about 2% of the variance in word recognition latencies, whereas the effect of arousal was smaller. Valence and arousal do not interact, but both interact with word frequency, such that valence and arousal exert larger effects among low-frequency words than among high-frequency words. These results necessitate a new model of affective word processing whereby the degree of negativity monotonically and independently predicts the speed of responding. This research also demonstrates that incorporating emotional factors, especially valence, improves the performance of models of word recognition. PMID:24490848

Measuring Customer Behavior with Deep Convolutional Neural Networks

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Veaceslav Albu

2016-03-01

Full Text Available In this paper, we propose a neural network model for human emotion and gesture classification. We demonstrate that the proposed architecture represents an effective tool for real-time processing of customer's behavior for distributed on-land systems, such as information kiosks, automated cashiers and ATMs. The proposed approach combines most recent biometric techniques with the neural network approach for real-time emotion and behavioral analysis. In the series of experiments, emotions of human subjects were recorded, recognized, and analyzed to give statistical feedback of the overall emotions of a number of targets within a certain time frame. The result of the study allows automatic tracking of user’s behavior based on a limited set of observations.

Cracking the Neural Code for Sensory Perception by Combining Statistics, Intervention, and Behavior.

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Panzeri, Stefano; Harvey, Christopher D; Piasini, Eugenio; Latham, Peter E; Fellin, Tommaso

2017-02-08

The two basic processes underlying perceptual decisions-how neural responses encode stimuli, and how they inform behavioral choices-have mainly been studied separately. Thus, although many spatiotemporal features of neural population activity, or "neural codes," have been shown to carry sensory information, it is often unknown whether the brain uses these features for perception. To address this issue, we propose a new framework centered on redefining the neural code as the neural features that carry sensory information used by the animal to drive appropriate behavior; that is, the features that have an intersection between sensory and choice information. We show how this framework leads to a new statistical analysis of neural activity recorded during behavior that can identify such neural codes, and we discuss how to combine intersection-based analysis of neural recordings with intervention on neural activity to determine definitively whether specific neural activity features are involved in a task. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Evidence of Rapid Modulation by Social Information of Subjective, Physiological, and Neural Responses to Emotional Expressions.

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Mermillod, Martial; Grynberg, Delphine; Pio-Lopez, Léo; Rychlowska, Magdalena; Beffara, Brice; Harquel, Sylvain; Vermeulen, Nicolas; Niedenthal, Paula M; Dutheil, Frédéric; Droit-Volet, Sylvie

2017-01-01

Recent research suggests that conceptual or emotional factors could influence the perceptual processing of stimuli. In this article, we aimed to evaluate the effect of social information (positive, negative, or no information related to the character of the target) on subjective (perceived and felt valence and arousal), physiological (facial mimicry) as well as on neural (P100 and N170) responses to dynamic emotional facial expressions (EFE) that varied from neutral to one of the six basic emotions. Across three studies, the results showed reduced ratings of valence and arousal of EFE associated with incongruent social information (Study 1), increased electromyographical responses (Study 2), and significant modulation of P100 and N170 components (Study 3) when EFE were associated with social (positive and negative) information (vs. no information). These studies revealed that positive or negative social information reduces subjective responses to incongruent EFE and produces a similar neural and physiological boost of the early perceptual processing of EFE irrespective of their congruency. In conclusion, the article suggests that the presence of positive or negative social context modulates early physiological and neural activity preceding subsequent behavior.

Evidence of Rapid Modulation by Social Information of Subjective, Physiological, and Neural Responses to Emotional Expressions

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Martial Mermillod

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Recent research suggests that conceptual or emotional factors could influence the perceptual processing of stimuli. In this article, we aimed to evaluate the effect of social information (positive, negative, or no information related to the character of the target on subjective (perceived and felt valence and arousal, physiological (facial mimicry as well as on neural (P100 and N170 responses to dynamic emotional facial expressions (EFE that varied from neutral to one of the six basic emotions. Across three studies, the results showed reduced ratings of valence and arousal of EFE associated with incongruent social information (Study 1, increased electromyographical responses (Study 2, and significant modulation of P100 and N170 components (Study 3 when EFE were associated with social (positive and negative information (vs. no information. These studies revealed that positive or negative social information reduces subjective responses to incongruent EFE and produces a similar neural and physiological boost of the early perceptual processing of EFE irrespective of their congruency. In conclusion, the article suggests that the presence of positive or negative social context modulates early physiological and neural activity preceding subsequent behavior.

Norepinephrine ignites local hotspots of neuronal excitation: How arousal amplifies selectivity in perception and memory.

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Mather, Mara; Clewett, David; Sakaki, Michiko; Harley, Carolyn W

2016-01-01

Emotional arousal enhances perception and memory of high-priority information but impairs processing of other information. Here, we propose that, under arousal, local glutamate levels signal the current strength of a representation and interact with norepinephrine (NE) to enhance high priority representations and out-compete or suppress lower priority representations. In our "glutamate amplifies noradrenergic effects" (GANE) model, high glutamate at the site of prioritized representations increases local NE release from the locus coeruleus (LC) to generate "NE hotspots." At these NE hotspots, local glutamate and NE release are mutually enhancing and amplify activation of prioritized representations. In contrast, arousal-induced LC activity inhibits less active representations via two mechanisms: 1) Where there are hotspots, lateral inhibition is amplified; 2) Where no hotspots emerge, NE levels are only high enough to activate low-threshold inhibitory adrenoreceptors. Thus, LC activation promotes a few hotspots of excitation in the context of widespread suppression, enhancing high priority representations while suppressing the rest. Hotspots also help synchronize oscillations across neural ensembles transmitting high-priority information. Furthermore, brain structures that detect stimulus priority interact with phasic NE release to preferentially route such information through large-scale functional brain networks. A surge of NE before, during, or after encoding enhances synaptic plasticity at NE hotspots, triggering local protein synthesis processes that enhance selective memory consolidation. Together, these noradrenergic mechanisms promote selective attention and memory under arousal. GANE not only reconciles apparently contradictory findings in the emotion-cognition literature but also extends previous influential theories of LC neuromodulation by proposing specific mechanisms for how LC-NE activity increases neural gain.

Sex differences in the neural basis of emotional memories.

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Canli, Turhan; Desmond, John E; Zhao, Zuo; Gabrieli, John D E

2002-08-06

Psychological studies have found better memory in women than men for emotional events, but the neural basis for this difference is unknown. We used event-related functional MRI to assess whether sex differences in memory for emotional stimuli is associated with activation of different neural systems in men and women. Brain activation in 12 men and 12 women was recorded while they rated their experience of emotional arousal in response to neutral and emotionally negative pictures. In a recognition memory test 3 weeks after scanning, highly emotional pictures were remembered best, and remembered better by women than by men. Men and women activated different neural circuits to encode stimuli effectively into memory even when the analysis was restricted to pictures rated equally arousing by both groups. Men activated significantly more structures than women in a network that included the right amygdala, whereas women activated significantly fewer structures in a network that included the left amygdala. Women had significantly more brain regions where activation correlated with both ongoing evaluation of emotional experience and with subsequent memory for the most emotionally arousing pictures. Greater overlap in brain regions sensitive to current emotion and contributing to subsequent memory may be a neural mechanism for emotions to enhance memory more powerfully in women than in men.

Emotion identification and aging: Behavioral and neural age-related changes.

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Gonçalves, Ana R; Fernandes, Carina; Pasion, Rita; Ferreira-Santos, Fernando; Barbosa, Fernando; Marques-Teixeira, João

2018-05-01

Aging is known to alter the processing of facial expressions of emotion (FEE), however the impact of this alteration is less clear. Additionally, there is little information about the temporal dynamics of the neural processing of facial affect. We examined behavioral and neural age-related changes in the identification of FEE using event-related potentials. Furthermore, we analyze the relationship between behavioral/neural responses and neuropsychological functioning. To this purpose, 30 younger adults, 29 middle-aged adults and 26 older adults identified FEE. The behavioral results showed a similar performance between groups. The neural results showed no significant differences between groups for the P100 component and an increased N170 amplitude in the older group. Furthermore, a pattern of asymmetric activation was evident in the N170 component. Results also suggest deficits in facial feature decoding abilities, reflected by a reduced N250 amplitude in older adults. Neuropsychological functioning predicts P100 modulation, but does not seem to influence emotion identification ability. The findings suggest the existence of a compensatory function that would explain the age-equivalent performance in emotion identification. The study may help future research addressing behavioral and neural processes involved on processing of FEE in neurodegenerative conditions. Copyright © 2018 International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Neural Correlates of Processing Negative and Sexually Arousing Pictures

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Bailey, Kira; West, Robert; Mullaney, Kellie M.

2012-01-01

Recent work has questioned whether the negativity bias is a distinct component of affective picture processing. The current study was designed to determine whether there are different neural correlates of processing positive and negative pictures using event-related brain potentials. The early posterior negativity and late positive potential were greatest in amplitude for erotic pictures. Partial Least Squares analysis revealed one latent variable that distinguished erotic pictures from neutral and positive pictures and another that differentiated negative pictures from neutral and positive pictures. The effects of orienting task on the neural correlates of processing negative and erotic pictures indicate that affective picture processing is sensitive to both stimulus-driven, and attentional or decision processes. The current data, together with other recent findings from our laboratory, lead to the suggestion that there are distinct neural correlates of processing negative and positive stimuli during affective picture processing. PMID:23029071

Happiness and Arousal: Framing Happiness as Arousing Results in Lower Happiness Ratings for Older Adults

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Par eBjalkebring

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Older adults have been shown to describe their happiness as lower in arousal when compared to younger adults. In addition, older adults prefer low arousal positive emotions over high arousal positive emotions in their daily lives. We experimentally investigated whether or not changing a few words in the description of happiness could influence a person’s rating of their happiness. We randomly assigned 193 participants, aged 22-92 years, to one of three conditions (high arousal, low arousal, or control. In line with previous findings, we found that older participants rated their happiness lower when framed as high in arousal (i.e., ecstatic, to be bursting with positive emotions and rated their happiness higher when framed as low in arousal (i.e., satisfied, to have a life filled with positive emotions. Younger adults remained uninfluenced by the manipulation. Our study demonstrates that arousal is essential to understanding ratings of happiness, and gives support to the notion that there are age differences in the preference for arousal.

Modulation of neural circuits: how stimulus context shapes innate behavior in Drosophila.

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Su, Chih-Ying; Wang, Jing W

2014-12-01

Remarkable advances have been made in recent years in our understanding of innate behavior and the underlying neural circuits. In particular, a wealth of neuromodulatory mechanisms have been uncovered that can alter the input-output relationship of a hereditary neural circuit. It is now clear that this inbuilt flexibility allows animals to modify their behavioral responses according to environmental cues, metabolic demands and physiological states. Here, we discuss recent insights into how modulation of neural circuits impacts innate behavior, with a special focus on how environmental cues and internal physiological states shape different aspects of feeding behavior in Drosophila. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Design and Implementation of Behavior Recognition System Based on Convolutional Neural Network

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Yu Bo

2017-01-01

Full Text Available We build a set of human behavior recognition system based on the convolution neural network constructed for the specific human behavior in public places. Firstly, video of human behavior data set will be segmented into images, then we process the images by the method of background subtraction to extract moving foreground characters of body. Secondly, the training data sets are trained into the designed convolution neural network, and the depth learning network is constructed by stochastic gradient descent. Finally, the various behaviors of samples are classified and identified with the obtained network model, and the recognition results are compared with the current mainstream methods. The result show that the convolution neural network can study human behavior model automatically and identify human’s behaviors without any manually annotated trainings.

Brain activations to emotional pictures are differentially associated with valence and arousal ratings

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Antje B M Gerdes

2010-10-01

Full Text Available Several studies have investigated the neural responses triggered by emotional pictures, but the specificity of the involved structures such as the amygdala or the ventral striatum is still under debate. Furthermore, only few studies examined the association of stimuli’s valence and arousal and the underlying brain responses. Therefore, we investigated brain responses with functional magnetic resonance imaging of 17 healthy subjects to pleasant and unpleasant affective pictures with comparable arousal levels and afterwards assessed ratings of valence and arousal. As expected, unpleasant pictures strongly activated the right and left amygdala, the right hippocampus, and the medial occipital lobe, whereas pleasant pictures elicited significant activations in left occipital regions, and in parts of the medial temporal lobe. The direct comparison of unpleasant and pleasant pictures which were comparable in arousal clearly indicated stronger amygdala activation in response to the unpleasant pictures. Most important, correlational analyses revealed on the one hand that the arousal of unpleasant pictures was significantly associated with activations in the right amygdala and the left caudate body. On the other hand, valence of pleasant pictures was significantly correlated with activations in the right caudate head, extending to the nucleus accumbens (NAcc and the left dorso-lateral prefrontal cortex. These findings support the notion that the amygdala is primarily involved in processing of unpleasant stimuli, and the stronger the more arousing the stimuli are, whereas reward-related structures like the NAcc primarily responds to pleasant stimuli, the stronger the more positive the valence of these stimuli is.

A Reward-Based Behavioral Platform to Measure Neural Activity during Head-Fixed Behavior

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Andrew H. Micallef

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Understanding the neural computations that contribute to behavior requires recording from neurons while an animal is behaving. This is not an easy task as most subcellular recording techniques require absolute head stability. The Go/No-Go sensory task is a powerful decision-driven task that enables an animal to report a binary decision during head-fixation. Here we discuss how to set up an Ardunio and Python based platform system to control a Go/No-Go sensory behavior paradigm. Using an Arduino micro-controller and Python-based custom written program, a reward can be delivered to the animal depending on the decision reported. We discuss the various components required to build the behavioral apparatus that can control and report such a sensory stimulus paradigm. This system enables the end user to control the behavioral testing in real-time and therefore it provides a strong custom-made platform for probing the neural basis of behavior.

Extending unified-theory-of-reinforcement neural networks to steady-state operant behavior.

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Calvin, Olivia L; McDowell, J J

2016-06-01

The unified theory of reinforcement has been used to develop models of behavior over the last 20 years (Donahoe et al., 1993). Previous research has focused on the theory's concordance with the respondent behavior of humans and animals. In this experiment, neural networks were developed from the theory to extend the unified theory of reinforcement to operant behavior on single-alternative variable-interval schedules. This area of operant research was selected because previously developed neural networks could be applied to it without significant alteration. Previous research with humans and animals indicates that the pattern of their steady-state behavior is hyperbolic when plotted against the obtained rate of reinforcement (Herrnstein, 1970). A genetic algorithm was used in the first part of the experiment to determine parameter values for the neural networks, because values that were used in previous research did not result in a hyperbolic pattern of behavior. After finding these parameters, hyperbolic and other similar functions were fitted to the behavior produced by the neural networks. The form of the neural network's behavior was best described by an exponentiated hyperbola (McDowell, 1986; McLean and White, 1983; Wearden, 1981), which was derived from the generalized matching law (Baum, 1974). In post-hoc analyses the addition of a baseline rate of behavior significantly improved the fit of the exponentiated hyperbola and removed systematic residuals. The form of this function was consistent with human and animal behavior, but the estimated parameter values were not. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Anticipation of high arousal aversive and positive movie clips engages common and distinct neural substrates.

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Greenberg, Tsafrir; Carlson, Joshua M; Rubin, Denis; Cha, Jiook; Mujica-Parodi, Lilianne

2015-04-01

The neural correlates of anxious anticipation have been primarily studied with aversive and neutral stimuli. In this study, we examined the effect of valence on anticipation by using high arousal aversive and positive stimuli and a condition of uncertainty (i.e. either positive or aversive). The task consisted of predetermined cues warning participants of upcoming aversive, positive, 'uncertain' (either aversive or positive) and neutral movie clips. Anticipation of all affective clips engaged common regions including the anterior insula, dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, thalamus, caudate, inferior parietal and prefrontal cortex that are associated with emotional experience, sustained attention and appraisal. In contrast, the nucleus accumbens and medial prefrontal cortex, regions implicated in reward processing, were selectively engaged during anticipation of positive clips (depicting sexually explicit content) and the mid-insula, which has been linked to processing aversive stimuli, was selectively engaged during anticipation of aversive clips (depicting graphic medical procedures); these three areas were also activated during anticipation of 'uncertain' clips reflecting a broad preparatory response for both aversive and positive stimuli. These results suggest that a common circuitry is recruited in anticipation of affective clips regardless of valence, with additional areas preferentially engaged depending on whether expected stimuli are negative or positive. © The Author (2014). Published by Oxford University Press. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Female sexual arousal in amphibians.

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Wilczynski, Walter; Lynch, Kathleen S

2011-05-01

Rather than being a static, species specific trait, reproductive behavior in female amphibians is variable within an individual during the breeding season when females are capable of reproductive activity. Changes in receptivity coincide with changes in circulating estrogen. Estrogen is highest at the point when females are ready to choose a male and lay eggs. At this time female receptivity (her probability of responding to a male vocal signal) is highest and her selectivity among conspecific calls (measured by her probability of responding to a degraded or otherwise usually unattractive male signal) is lowest. These changes occur even though females retain the ability to discriminate different acoustic characteristics of various conspecific calls. After releasing her eggs, female amphibians quickly become less receptive and more choosy in terms of their responses to male sexual advertisement signals. Male vocal signals stimulate both behavior and estrogen changes in amphibian females making mating more probable. The changes in female reproductive behavior are the same as those generally accepted as indicative of a change in female sexual arousal leading to copulation. They are situationally triggered, gated by interactions with males, and decline with the consummation of sexual reproduction with a chosen male. The changes can be triggered by either internal physiological state or by the presence of stimuli presented by males, and the same stimuli change both behavior and physiological (endocrine) state in such a way as to make acceptance of a male more likely. Thus amphibian females demonstrate many of the same general characteristics of changing female sexual state that in mammals indicate sexual arousal. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Attribution of Arousal as a Mediator of the Effectiveness of Fear-Arousing Communications.

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Schwarz, Norbert; And Others

Characteristics of the situation in which a fear-arousing communication is received affect the effectiveness of the communication. The influence of situational factors affecting a recipient's interpretation of the arousal induced by communication were investigated with smokers (N=37) who were exposed to a fear-arousing anti-smoking movie. Prior to…

Using event related potentials to identify a user's behavioural intention aroused by product form design.

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Ding, Yi; Guo, Fu; Zhang, Xuefeng; Qu, Qingxing; Liu, Weilin

2016-07-01

The capacity of product form to arouse user's behavioural intention plays a decisive role in further user experience, even in purchase decision, while traditional methods rarely give a fully understanding of user experience evoked by product form, especially the feeling of anticipated use of product. Behavioural intention aroused by product form designs has not yet been investigated electrophysiologically. Hence event related potentials (ERPs) were applied to explore the process of behavioural intention when users browsed different smart phone form designs with brand and price not taken into account for mainly studying the brain activity evoked by variety of product forms. Smart phone pictures with different anticipated user experience were displayed with equiprobability randomly. Participants were asked to click the left mouse button when certain picture gave them a feeling of behavioural intention to interact with. The brain signal of each participant was recorded by Curry 7.0. The results show that pictures with an ability to arouse participants' behavioural intention for further experience can evoke enhanced N300 and LPPs (late positive potentials) in central-parietal, parietal and occipital regions. The scalp topography shows that central-parietal, parietal and occipital regions are more activated. The results indicate that the discrepancy of ERPs can reflect the neural activities of behavioural intention formed or not. Moreover, amplitude of ERPs occurred in corresponding brain areas can be used to measure user experience. The exploring of neural correlated with behavioural intention provide an accurate measurement method of user's perception and help marketers to know which product can arouse users' behavioural intention, maybe taken as an evaluating indicator of product design. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd and The Ergonomics Society. All rights reserved.

One Session of Autogenic Training Increases Acute Subjective Sexual Arousal in Premenopausal Women Reporting Sexual Arousal Problems.

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Stanton, Amelia M; Hixon, J Gregory; Nichols, Lindsey M; Meston, Cindy M

2018-01-01

Below average heart rate variability (HRV) has been associated with sexual arousal dysfunction and overall sexual dysfunction in women. Autogenic training, a psychophysiologic relaxation technique, has been shown to increase HRV. In a recent study, sexually healthy women experienced acute increases in physiologic (ie, genital) and subjective sexual arousal after 1 brief session of autogenic training. To build on these findings by testing the effects of a single session of autogenic training on sexual arousal in a sample of women who reported decreased or absent sexual arousal for at least 6 months. Genital sexual arousal, subjective sexual arousal, and perceived genital sensations were assessed in 25 women 20 to 44 years old before and after listening to a 22-minute autogenic training recording. HRV was assessed with electrocardiography. Change in genital sexual arousal, subjective sexual arousal, and perceived genital sensations from the pre-manipulation erotic film to the post-manipulation erotic film. Marginally significant increases in discrete subjective sexual arousal (P = .051) and significant increases in perceived genital sensations (P = .018) were observed. In addition, degree of change in HRV significantly moderated increases in subjective arousal measured continuously over time (P autogenic training, and other interventions that aim to increase HRV, could be a useful addition to treatment protocols for women who are reporting a lack of subjective arousal or decreased genital sensations. There are few treatment options for women with arousal problems. We report on a new psychosocial intervention that could improve arousal. Limitations include a relatively small sample and the lack of a control group. Our findings indicate that autogenic training significantly improves acute subjective arousal and increases perceived genital sensations in premenopausal women with self-reported arousal concerns. Stanton AM, Hixon JG, Nichols LM, Meston CM. One Session of

Behavioral and neural concordance in parent-child dyadic sleep patterns.

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Lee, Tae-Ho; Miernicki, Michelle E; Telzer, Eva H

2017-08-01

Sleep habits developed in adolescence shape long-term trajectories of psychological, educational, and physiological well-being. Adolescents' sleep behaviors are shaped by their parents' sleep at both the behavioral and biological levels. In the current study, we sought to examine how neural concordance in resting-state functional connectivity between parent-child dyads is associated with dyadic concordance in sleep duration and adolescents' sleep quality. To this end, we scanned both parents and their child (N=28 parent-child dyads; parent M age =42.8years; adolescent M age =14.9years; 14.3% father; 46.4% female adolescent) as they each underwent a resting-state scan. Using daily diaries, we also assessed dyadic concordance in sleep duration across two weeks. Our results show that greater daily concordance in sleep behavior is associated with greater neural concordance in default-mode network connectivity between parents and children. Moreover, greater neural and behavioral concordances in sleep is associated with more optimal sleep quality in adolescents. The current findings expand our understanding of dyadic concordance by providing a neurobiological mechanism by which parents and children share daily sleep behaviors. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Neural correlates of fear: insights from neuroimaging

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Garfinkel SN

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Sarah N Garfinkel,1,2 Hugo D Critchley1,2 1Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science, 2Department of Psychiatry, Brighton and Sussex Medical School, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK Abstract: Fear anticipates a challenge to one's well-being and is a reaction to the risk of harm. The expression of fear in the individual is a constellation of physiological, behavioral, cognitive, and experiential responses. Fear indicates risk and will guide adaptive behavior, yet fear is also fundamental to the symptomatology of most psychiatric disorders. Neuroimaging studies of normal and abnormal fear in humans extend knowledge gained from animal experiments. Neuroimaging permits the empirical evaluation of theory (emotions as response tendencies, mental states, and valence and arousal dimensions, and improves our understanding of the mechanisms of how fear is controlled by both cognitive processes and bodily states. Within the human brain, fear engages a set of regions that include insula and anterior cingulate cortices, the amygdala, and dorsal brain-stem centers, such as periaqueductal gray matter. This same fear matrix is also implicated in attentional orienting, mental planning, interoceptive mapping, bodily feelings, novelty and motivational learning, behavioral prioritization, and the control of autonomic arousal. The stereotyped expression of fear can thus be viewed as a special construction from combinations of these processes. An important motivator for understanding neural fear mechanisms is the debilitating clinical expression of anxiety. Neuroimaging studies of anxiety patients highlight the role of learning and memory in pathological fear. Posttraumatic stress disorder is further distinguished by impairment in cognitive control and contextual memory. These processes ultimately need to be targeted for symptomatic recovery. Neuroscientific knowledge of fear has broader relevance to understanding human and societal behavior. As yet, only some of

Nocturnal agitation in Huntington disease is caused by arousal-related abnormal movements rather than by rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder.

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Neutel, Dulce; Tchikviladzé, Maya; Charles, Perrine; Leu-Semenescu, Smaranda; Roze, Emmanuel; Durr, Alexandra; Arnulf, Isabelle

2015-06-01

Patients with Huntington disease (HD) and their spouses often complain of agitation during sleep, but the causes are mostly unknown. To evaluate sleep and nocturnal movements in patients with various HD stages and CAG repeats length. The clinical features and sleep studies of 29 patients with HD were retrospectively collected (11 referred for genotype-phenotype correlations and 18 for agitation during sleep) and compared with those of 29 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. All patients had videopolysomnography, but the movements during arousals were re-analyzed in six patients with HD with stored video. The patients had a longer total sleep period and REM sleep onset latency, but no other differences in sleep than controls. There was no correlation between CAG repeat length and sleep measures, but total sleep time and sleep efficiency were lower in the subgroup with moderate than milder form of HD. Periodic limb movements and REM sleep behavior disorders were excluded, although 2/29 patients had abnormal REM sleep without atonia. In contrast, they had clumsy and opisthotonos-like movements during arousals from non-REM or REM sleep. Some movements were violent and harmful. They might consist of voluntary movements inappropriately involving the proximal part of the limbs on a background of exaggerated hypotonia. Giant (>65 mcV) sleep spindles were observed in seven (24%) patients with HD and one control. The nocturnal agitation in patients with HD seems related to anosognostic voluntary movements on arousals, rather than to REM sleep behavior disorder and other sleep problems. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Greater emotional arousal predicts poorer long-term memory of communication skills in couples.

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Baucom, Brian R; Weusthoff, Sarah; Atkins, David C; Hahlweg, Kurt

2012-06-01

Many studies have examined the importance of learning skills in behaviorally based couple interventions but none have examined predictors of long-term memory for skills. Associations between emotional arousal and long-term recall of communication skills delivered to couples during a behaviorally based relationship distress prevention program were examined in a sample of 49 German couples. Fundamental frequency (f(0)), a vocal measure of encoded emotional arousal, was measured during pre-treatment couple conflict. Higher levels of f(0) were linked to fewer skills remembered 11 years after completing the program, and women remembered more skills than men. Implications of results for behaviorally based couple interventions are discussed. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Neural systems supporting and affecting economically relevant behavior

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Braeutigam S

2012-05-01

Full Text Available Sven BraeutigamOxford Centre for Human Brain Activity, University of Oxford, Oxford, United KingdomAbstract: For about a hundred years, theorists and traders alike have tried to unravel and understand the mechanisms and hidden rules underlying and perhaps determining economically relevant behavior. This review focuses on recent developments in neuroeconomics, where the emphasis is placed on two directions of research: first, research exploiting common experiences of urban inhabitants in industrialized societies to provide experimental paradigms with a broader real-life content; second, research based on behavioral genetics, which provides an additional dimension for experimental control and manipulation. In addition, possible limitations of state-of-the-art neuroeconomics research are addressed. It is argued that observations of neuronal systems involved in economic behavior converge to some extent across the technologies and paradigms used. Conceptually, the data available as of today raise the possibility that neuroeconomic research might provide evidence at the neuronal level for the existence of multiple systems of thought and for the importance of conflict. Methodologically, Bayesian approaches in particular may play an important role in identifying mechanisms and establishing causality between patterns of neural activity and economic behavior.Keywords: neuroeconomics, behavioral genetics, decision-making, consumer behavior, neural system

Dissociable modulation of overt visual attention in valence and arousal revealed by topology of scan path.

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Jianguang Ni

Full Text Available Emotional stimuli have evolutionary significance for the survival of organisms; therefore, they are attention-grabbing and are processed preferentially. The neural underpinnings of two principle emotional dimensions in affective space, valence (degree of pleasantness and arousal (intensity of evoked emotion, have been shown to be dissociable in the olfactory, gustatory and memory systems. However, the separable roles of valence and arousal in scene perception are poorly understood. In this study, we asked how these two emotional dimensions modulate overt visual attention. Twenty-two healthy volunteers freely viewed images from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS that were graded for affective levels of valence and arousal (high, medium, and low. Subjects' heads were immobilized and eye movements were recorded by camera to track overt shifts of visual attention. Algebraic graph-based approaches were introduced to model scan paths as weighted undirected path graphs, generating global topology metrics that characterize the algebraic connectivity of scan paths. Our data suggest that human subjects show different scanning patterns to stimuli with different affective ratings. Valence salient stimuli (with neutral arousal elicited faster and larger shifts of attention, while arousal salient stimuli (with neutral valence elicited local scanning, dense attention allocation and deep processing. Furthermore, our model revealed that the modulatory effect of valence was linearly related to the valence level, whereas the relation between the modulatory effect and the level of arousal was nonlinear. Hence, visual attention seems to be modulated by mechanisms that are separate for valence and arousal.

Emotional arousal impairs association-memory: Roles of amygdala and hippocampus.

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Madan, Christopher R; Fujiwara, Esther; Caplan, Jeremy B; Sommer, Tobias

2017-08-01

Emotional arousal is well-known to enhance memory for individual items or events, whereas it can impair association memory. The neural mechanism of this association memory impairment by emotion is not known: In response to emotionally arousing information, amygdala activity may interfere with hippocampal associative encoding (e.g., via prefrontal cortex). Alternatively, emotional information may be harder to unitize, resulting in reduced availability of extra-hippocampal medial temporal lobe support for emotional than neutral associations. To test these opposing hypotheses, we compared neural processes underlying successful and unsuccessful encoding of emotional and neutral associations. Participants intentionally studied pairs of neutral and negative pictures (Experiments 1-3). We found reduced association-memory for negative pictures in all experiments, accompanied by item-memory increases in Experiment 2. High-resolution fMRI (Experiment 3) indicated that reductions in associative encoding of emotional information are localizable to an area in ventral-lateral amygdala, driven by attentional/salience effects in the central amygdala. Hippocampal activity was similar during both pair types, but a left hippocampal cluster related to successful encoding was observed only for negative pairs. Extra-hippocampal associative memory processes (e.g., unitization) were more effective for neutral than emotional materials. Our findings suggest that reduced emotional association memory is accompanied by increases in activity and functional coupling within the amygdala. This did not disrupt hippocampal association-memory processes, which indeed were critical for successful emotional association memory formation. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A new perspective on behavioral inconsistency and neural noise in aging: Compensatory speeding of neural communication

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S. Lee Hong

2012-09-01

Full Text Available This paper seeks to present a new perspective on the aging brain. Here, we make connections between two key phenomena of brain aging: 1 increased neural noise or random background activity; and 2 slowing of brain activity. Our perspective proposes the possibility that the slowing of neural processing due to decreasing nerve conduction velocities leads to a compensatory speeding of neuron firing rates. These increased firing rates lead to a broader distribution of power in the frequency spectrum of neural oscillations, which we propose, can just as easily be interpreted as neural noise. Compensatory speeding of neural activity, as we present, is constrained by the: A availability of metabolic energy sources; and B competition for frequency bandwidth needed for neural communication. We propose that these constraints lead to the eventual inability to compensate for age-related declines in neural function that are manifested clinically as deficits in cognition, affect, and motor behavior.

Brief Emotion Regulation Training Facilitates Arousal Control During Sexual Stimuli

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Overveld, Mark; Borg, Charmaine

2015-01-01

Disgust, a negative emotion which evokes strong behavioral avoidance tendencies, has been associated with sexual dysfunction. Recently, it was postulated that healthy sexual functioning requires a balance between excitatory (increased sexual arousal) and inhibitory processes (lowered disgust

Neural representations of emotion are organized around abstract event features.

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Skerry, Amy E; Saxe, Rebecca

2015-08-03

Research on emotion attribution has tended to focus on the perception of overt expressions of at most five or six basic emotions. However, our ability to identify others' emotional states is not limited to perception of these canonical expressions. Instead, we make fine-grained inferences about what others feel based on the situations they encounter, relying on knowledge of the eliciting conditions for different emotions. In the present research, we provide convergent behavioral and neural evidence concerning the representations underlying these concepts. First, we find that patterns of activity in mentalizing regions contain information about subtle emotional distinctions conveyed through verbal descriptions of eliciting situations. Second, we identify a space of abstract situation features that well captures the emotion discriminations subjects make behaviorally and show that this feature space outperforms competing models in capturing the similarity space of neural patterns in these regions. Together, the data suggest that our knowledge of others' emotions is abstract and high dimensional, that brain regions selective for mental state reasoning support relatively subtle distinctions between emotion concepts, and that the neural representations in these regions are not reducible to more primitive affective dimensions such as valence and arousal. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A sleep state in Drosophila larvae required for neural stem cell proliferation

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Szuperak, Milan; Churgin, Matthew A; Borja, Austin J; Raizen, David M; Fang-Yen, Christopher

2018-01-01

Sleep during development is involved in refining brain circuitry, but a role for sleep in the earliest periods of nervous system elaboration, when neurons are first being born, has not been explored. Here we identify a sleep state in Drosophila larvae that coincides with a major wave of neurogenesis. Mechanisms controlling larval sleep are partially distinct from adult sleep: octopamine, the Drosophila analog of mammalian norepinephrine, is the major arousal neuromodulator in larvae, but dopamine is not required. Using real-time behavioral monitoring in a closed-loop sleep deprivation system, we find that sleep loss in larvae impairs cell division of neural progenitors. This work establishes a system uniquely suited for studying sleep during nascent periods, and demonstrates that sleep in early life regulates neural stem cell proliferation. PMID:29424688

Female Sexual Arousal Disorders

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Giraldi, Annamaria; Rellini, Alessandra H; Pfaus, James

2012-01-01

Introduction.  Definitions and terminology for female sexual arousal disorder (FSAD) are currently being debated. While some authors have suggested that FSAD is more a subjective response rather than a genital response, others have suggested that desire and arousal disorders should be combined...... and psychological disorders, as well as to discuss different medical and psychological assessment and treatment modalities. Methods.  The experts of the International Society for Sexual Medicine's Standard Committee convened to provide a survey using relevant databases, journal articles, and own clinical experience....... Results.  Female Arousal Disorders have been defined in several ways with focus on the genital or subjective response or a combination of both. The prevalence varies and increases with increasing age, especially at the time of menopause, while distress decreases with age. Arousal disorders are often...

Arousal from sleep mechanisms in infants.

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Franco, Patricia; Kato, Ineko; Richardson, Heidi L; Yang, Joel S C; Montemitro, Enza; Horne, Rosemary S C

2010-08-01

Arousals from sleep allow sleep to continue in the face of stimuli that normally elicit responses during wakefulness and also permit awakening. Such an adaptive mechanism implies that any malfunction may have clinical importance. Inadequate control of arousal in infants and children is associated with a variety of sleep-related problems. An excessive propensity to arouse from sleep favors the development of repeated sleep disruptions and insomnia, with impairment of daytime alertness and performance. A lack of an adequate arousal response to a noxious nocturnal stimulus reduces an infant's chances of autoresuscitation, and thus survival, increasing the risk for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). The study of arousability is complicated by many factors including the definition of an arousal; the scoring methodology; the techniques used (spontaneous arousability versus arousal responses to endogenous or exogenous stimuli); and the confounding factors that complicate the determination of arousal thresholds by changing the sleeper's responses to a given stimulus such as prenatal drug, alcohol, or cigarette use. Infant age and previous sleep deprivation also modify thresholds. Other confounding factors include time of night, sleep stages, the sleeper's body position, and sleeping conditions. In this paper, we will review these different aspects for the study of arousals in infants and also report the importance of these studies for the understanding of the pathophysiology of some clinical conditions, particularly SIDS. Copyright 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Neural Circuit Mechanisms of Social Behavior.

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Chen, Patrick; Hong, Weizhe

2018-04-04

We live in a world that is largely socially constructed, and we are constantly involved in and fundamentally influenced by a broad array of complex social interactions. Social behaviors among conspecifics, either conflictive or cooperative, are exhibited by all sexually reproducing animal species and are essential for the health, survival, and reproduction of animals. Conversely, impairment in social function is a prominent feature of several neuropsychiatric disorders, such as autism spectrum disorders and schizophrenia. Despite the importance of social behaviors, many fundamental questions remain unanswered. How is social sensory information processed and integrated in the nervous system? How are different social behavioral decisions selected and modulated in brain circuits? Here we discuss conceptual issues and recent advances in our understanding of brain regions and neural circuit mechanisms underlying the regulation of social behaviors. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Epidural electrocorticography for monitoring of arousal in locked-in state

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alireza eGharabaghi

2014-10-01

Full Text Available Electroencephalography often fails to assess both the level (i.e. arousal and the content (i.e. awareness of pathologically altered consciousness in patients without motor responsiveness. This might be related to a decline of awareness, to episodes of low arousal and disturbed sleep patterns, and/or to distorting and attenuating effects of the skull and intermediate tissue on the recorded brain signals. Novel approaches are required to overcome these limitations.We introduced epidural electrocorticography (ECoG for monitoring of cortical physiology in a late-stage amytrophic lateral sclerosis patient in completely locked-in state. Despite long-term application for a period of six months, no implant-related complications occurred. Recordings from the left frontal cortex were sufficient to identify three arousal states. Spectral analysis of the intrinsic oscillatory activity enabled us to extract state-dependent dominant frequencies at < 4, ~ 7 and ~ 20 Hz, representing sleep-like periods, and phases of low and elevated arousal, respectively. In the absence of other biomarkers, ECoG proved to be a reliable tool for monitoring circadian rhythmicity, i.e. avoiding interference with the patient when he was sleeping and exploiting time windows of responsiveness. Moreover, the effects of interventions addressing the patient’s arousal, e.g. amantadine medication, could be evaluated objectively on the basis of physiological markers, even in the absence of behavioral parameters.Epidural ECoG constitutes a feasible trade-off between surgical risk and quality of recorded brain signals to gain information on the patient’s present level of arousal. This approach enables us to optimize the timing of interactions and medical interventions, all of which should take place when the patient is in a phase of high arousal. Furthermore, avoiding low-responsiveness periods will facilitate measures to implement alternative communication pathways involving brain

Seeing Jesus in toast: Neural and behavioral correlates of face pareidolia

OpenAIRE

Liu, Jiangang; Li, Jun; Feng, Lu; Li, Ling; Tian, Jie; Lee, Kang

2014-01-01

Face pareidolia is the illusory perception of non-existent faces. The present study, for the first time, contrasted behavioral and neural responses of face pareidolia with those of letter pareidolia to explore face-specific behavioral and neural responses during illusory face processing. Participants were shown pure-noise images but were led to believe that 50% of them contained either faces or letters; they reported seeing faces or letters illusorily 34% and 38% of the time, respectively. Th...

Simultaneous conditioning of valence and arousal.

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Gawronski, Bertram; Mitchell, Derek G V

2014-01-01

Evaluative conditioning (EC) refers to the change in the valence of a conditioned stimulus (CS) due to its pairing with a positive or negative unconditioned stimulus (US). To the extent that core affect can be characterised by the two dimensions of valence and arousal, EC has important implications for the origin of affective responses. However, the distinction between valence and arousal is rarely considered in research on EC or conditioned responses more generally. Measuring the subjective feelings elicited by a CS, the results from two experiments showed that (1) repeated pairings of a CS with a positive or negative US of either high or low arousal led to corresponding changes in both CS valence and CS arousal, (2) changes in CS arousal, but not changes in CS valence, were significantly related to recollective memory for CS-US pairings, (3) subsequent presentations of the CS without the US reduced the conditioned valence of the CS, with conditioned arousal being less susceptible to extinction and (4) EC effects were stronger for high arousal than low arousal USs. The results indicate that the conditioning of affective responses can occur simultaneously along two independent dimensions, supporting evidence in related areas that calls for a consideration of both valence and arousal. Implications for research on EC and the acquisition of emotional dispositions are discussed.

Segregation of information about emotional arousal and valence in horse whinnies.

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Briefer, Elodie F; Maigrot, Anne-Laure; Mandel, Roi; Freymond, Sabrina Briefer; Bachmann, Iris; Hillmann, Edna

2015-04-21

Studying vocal correlates of emotions is important to provide a better understanding of the evolution of emotion expression through cross-species comparisons. Emotions are composed of two main dimensions: emotional arousal (calm versus excited) and valence (negative versus positive). These two dimensions could be encoded in different vocal parameters (segregation of information) or in the same parameters, inducing a trade-off between cues indicating emotional arousal and valence. We investigated these two hypotheses in horses. We placed horses in five situations eliciting several arousal levels and positive as well as negative valence. Physiological and behavioral measures collected during the tests suggested the presence of different underlying emotions. First, using detailed vocal analyses, we discovered that all whinnies contained two fundamental frequencies ("F0" and "G0"), which were not harmonically related, suggesting biphonation. Second, we found that F0 and the energy spectrum encoded arousal, while G0 and whinny duration encoded valence. Our results show that cues to emotional arousal and valence are segregated in different, relatively independent parameters of horse whinnies. Most of the emotion-related changes to vocalizations that we observed are similar to those observed in humans and other species, suggesting that vocal expression of emotions has been conserved throughout evolution.

The polarizing effect of arousal on negotiation.

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Brown, Ashley D; Curhan, Jared R

2013-10-01

In this research, we examined the impact of physiological arousal on negotiation outcomes. Conventional wisdom and the prescriptive literature suggest that arousal should be minimized given its negative effect on negotiations, whereas prior research on misattribution of arousal suggests that arousal might polarize outcomes, either negatively or positively. In two experiments, we manipulated arousal and measured its effect on subjective and objective negotiation outcomes. Our results support the polarization effect. When participants had negative prior attitudes toward negotiation, arousal had a detrimental effect on outcomes, whereas when participants had positive prior attitudes toward negotiation, arousal had a beneficial effect on outcomes. These effects occurred because of the construal of arousal as negative or positive affect, respectively. Our findings have important implications not only for negotiation, but also for research on misattribution of arousal, which previously has focused on the target of evaluation, in contrast to the current research, which focused on the critical role of the perceiver.

Neural and Behavioral Correlates of Song Prosody

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Gordon, Reyna Leigh

2010-01-01

This dissertation studies the neural basis of song, a universal human behavior. The relationship of words and melodies in the perception of song at phonological, semantic, melodic, and rhythmic levels of processing was investigated using the fine temporal resolution of Electroencephalography (EEG). The observations reported here may shed light on…

Affective traits link to reliable neural markers of incentive anticipation.

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Wu, Charlene C; Samanez-Larkin, Gregory R; Katovich, Kiefer; Knutson, Brian

2014-01-01

While theorists have speculated that different affective traits are linked to reliable brain activity during anticipation of gains and losses, few have directly tested this prediction. We examined these associations in a community sample of healthy human adults (n=52) as they played a Monetary Incentive Delay task while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging (FMRI). Factor analysis of personality measures revealed that subjects independently varied in trait Positive Arousal and trait Negative Arousal. In a subsample (n=14) retested over 2.5years later, left nucleus accumbens (NAcc) activity during anticipation of large gains (+$5.00) and right anterior insula activity during anticipation of large losses (-$5.00) showed significant test-retest reliability (intraclass correlations>0.50, p'santicipation of large gains, while trait Negative Arousal correlated with individual differences in right anterior insula activity during anticipation of large losses. Associations of affective traits with neural activity were not attributable to the influence of other potential confounds (including sex, age, wealth, and motion). Together, these results demonstrate selective links between distinct affective traits and reliably-elicited activity in neural circuits associated with anticipation of gain versus loss. The findings thus reveal neural markers for affective dimensions of healthy personality, and potentially for related psychiatric symptoms. © 2013. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Ascending control of arousal and motivation: role of nucleus incertus and its peptide neuromodulators in behavioural responses to stress.

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Ma, S; Gundlach, A L

2015-06-01

Arousal is a process that involves the activation of ascending neural pathways originating in the rostral pons that project to the forebrain through the midbrain reticular formation to promote the activation of key cortical, thalamic, hypothalamic and limbic centres. Established modulators of arousal include the cholinergic, serotonergic, noradrenergic and dopaminergic networks originating in the pons and midbrain. Recent data indicate that a population of largely GABAergic projection neurones located in the nucleus incertus (NI) are also involved in arousal and motivational processes. The NI has prominent efferent connections with distinct hypothalamic, amygdalar and thalamic nuclei, in addition to dense projections to key brain regions associated with the generation and pacing of hippocampal activity. The NI receives strong inputs from the prefrontal cortex, lateral habenula and the interpeduncular and median raphe nuclei, suggesting it is highly integrated in circuits regulating higher cognitive behaviours (hippocampal theta rhythm) and emotion. Anatomical and functional studies have revealed that the NI is a rich source of multiple peptide neuromodulators, including relaxin-3, and may mediate extra-hypothalamic effects of the stress hormone corticotrophin-releasing factor, as well as other key modulators such as orexins and oxytocin. This review provides an overview of earlier studies and highlights more recent research that implicates this neural network in the integration of arousal and motivated behaviours and has begun to identify the associated mechanisms. Future research that should help to better clarify the connectivity and function of the NI in major experimental species and humans is also discussed. © 2015 British Society for Neuroendocrinology.

Menopause-related brain activation patterns during visual sexual arousal in menopausal women: An fMRI pilot study using time-course analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Gwang-Won; Jeong, Gwang-Woo

2017-02-20

The aging process and menopausal transition are important factors in sexual dysfunction of menopausal women. No neuroimaging study has assessed the age- and menopause-related changes on brain activation areas associated with sexual arousal in menopausal women. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the time course of regional brain activity associated with sexual arousal evoked by visual stimulation in premenopausal and menopausal women, and further to assess the effect of menopause on the brain areas associated with sexual arousal in menopausal women using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Thirty volunteers consisting of 15 premenopausal and 15 menopausal women underwent the fMRI. For the activation condition, volunteers viewed sexually arousing visual stimulation. The brain areas with significantly higher activation in premenopausal women compared with menopausal women included the thalamus, amygdala, and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) using analysis of covariance adjusting for age (psexual arousal. These findings might help elucidate the neural mechanisms associated with sexual dysfunction in menopausal women. Copyright © 2016 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Sex differences in the neural and behavioral response to intranasal oxytocin and vasopressin during human social interaction.

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Rilling, James K; Demarco, Ashley C; Hackett, Patrick D; Chen, Xu; Gautam, Pritam; Stair, Sabrina; Haroon, Ebrahim; Thompson, Richmond; Ditzen, Beate; Patel, Rajan; Pagnoni, Giuseppe

2014-01-01

Both oxytocin (OT) and vasopressin (AVP) are known to modulate social behavior, and dysfunction in both systems has been postulated as a potential cause of certain psychiatric disorders that involve social behavioral deficits. In particular, there is growing interest in intranasal OT as a potential treatment for certain psychiatric disorders, and preliminary pre-clinical and clinical studies suggest efficacy in alleviating some of the associated symptoms. However, the vast majority of research participants in these studies have been male, and there is evidence for sexually differentiated effects of nonapeptides in both humans and non-human animals. To date, no study has investigated the effect of intranasal OT on brain function in human males and females within the same paradigm. Previously, in a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind fMRI study, we reported effects of intranasal OT and AVP on behavior and brain activity of human males as they played an interactive social game known as the Prisoner's Dilemma Game. Here, we present findings from an identical study in human females, and compare these with our findings from males. Overall, we find that both behavioral and neural responses to intranasal OT and AVP are highly sexually differentiated. In women, AVP increased conciliatory behavior, and both OT and AVP caused women to treat computer partners more like humans. In men, AVP increased reciprocation of cooperation from both human and computer partners. However, no specific drug effects on behavior were shared between men and women. During cooperative interactions, both OT and AVP increased brain activity in men within areas rich in OT and AVP receptors and in areas playing a key role in reward, social bonding, arousal and memory (e.g., the striatum, basal forebrain, insula, amygdala and hippocampus), whereas OT and AVP either had no effect or in some cases actually decreased brain activity in these regions in women. OT treatment rendered neural responses

Positive effect of acute mild exercise on executive function via arousal-related prefrontal activations: an fNIRS study.

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Byun, Kyeongho; Hyodo, Kazuki; Suwabe, Kazuya; Ochi, Genta; Sakairi, Yosuke; Kato, Morimasa; Dan, Ippeita; Soya, Hideaki

2014-09-01

Despite the practical implication of mild exercise, little is known about its influence on executive function and its neural substrates. To address these issues, the present study examined the effect of an acute bout of mild exercise on executive function and attempted to identify potential neural substrates using non-invasive functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Twenty-five young individuals performed a color-word matching Stroop task (CWST) and a two-dimensional scale to measure changes of psychological mood states both before and after a 10-minute exercise session on a cycle ergometer at light intensity (30% v(·)o2peak) and, for the control session, without exercise. Cortical hemodynamic changes in the prefrontal area were monitored with fNIRS during the CWST in both sessions. The acute bout of mild exercise led to improved Stroop performance, which was positively correlated with increased arousal levels. It also evoked cortical activations regarding Stroop interference on the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and frontopolar area. These activations significantly corresponded with both improved cognitive performance and increased arousal levels. Concurrently, this study provides empirical evidence that an acute bout of mild exercise improves executive function mediated by the exercise-induced arousal system, which intensifies cortical activation in task-related prefrontal sub-regions. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Interplay between affect and arousal in recognition memory.

Science.gov (United States)

Greene, Ciara M; Bahri, Pooja; Soto, David

2010-07-23

Emotional states linked to arousal and mood are known to affect the efficiency of cognitive performance. However, the extent to which memory processes may be affected by arousal, mood or their interaction is poorly understood. Following a study phase of abstract shapes, we altered the emotional state of participants by means of exposure to music that varied in both mood and arousal dimensions, leading to four different emotional states: (i) positive mood-high arousal; (ii) positive mood-low arousal; (iii) negative mood-high arousal; (iv) negative mood-low arousal. Following the emotional induction, participants performed a memory recognition test. Critically, there was an interaction between mood and arousal on recognition performance. Memory was enhanced in the positive mood-high arousal and in the negative mood-low arousal states, relative to the other emotional conditions. Neither mood nor arousal alone but their interaction appears most critical to understanding the emotional enhancement of memory.

Interplay between affect and arousal in recognition memory.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ciara M Greene

2010-07-01

Full Text Available Emotional states linked to arousal and mood are known to affect the efficiency of cognitive performance. However, the extent to which memory processes may be affected by arousal, mood or their interaction is poorly understood.Following a study phase of abstract shapes, we altered the emotional state of participants by means of exposure to music that varied in both mood and arousal dimensions, leading to four different emotional states: (i positive mood-high arousal; (ii positive mood-low arousal; (iii negative mood-high arousal; (iv negative mood-low arousal. Following the emotional induction, participants performed a memory recognition test. Critically, there was an interaction between mood and arousal on recognition performance. Memory was enhanced in the positive mood-high arousal and in the negative mood-low arousal states, relative to the other emotional conditions.Neither mood nor arousal alone but their interaction appears most critical to understanding the emotional enhancement of memory.

Variability in emotional/behavioral problems in boys with oppositional defiant disorder or conduct disorder: the role of arousal.

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Schoorl, Jantiene; Van Rijn, Sophie; De Wied, Minet; Van Goozen, Stephanie H M; Swaab, Hanna

2016-08-01

It is often reported that children with oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) or conduct disorder (CD) are under-aroused. However, the evidence is mixed, with some children with ODD/CD displaying high arousal. This has led to the hypothesis that different profiles of arousal dysfunction may exist within children with ODD/CD. This knowledge could explain variability within children with ODD/CD, both in terms of specific types of aggression as well as comorbid symptoms (e.g., other emotional/behavioral problems). We measured heart rate variability (HRV), heart rate (HR) and skin conductance level (SCL) during rest and stress, and obtained parent and teacher reports of aggression, anxiety, attention problems and autism traits in a sample of 66 ODD/CD and 36 non-clinical boys (aged 8-12 years). The ODD/CD group scored significantly higher on aggression, anxiety, attention problems and autism traits than the controls; boys with ODD/CD also had higher resting HRs than controls, but HR stress, HRV and SCL did not differ. Hierarchical regressions showed different physiological profiles in subgroups of boys with ODD/CD based on their type of aggression; a pattern of high baseline HR and SCL, but low stress HRV was related to reactive aggression, whereas the opposite physiological pattern (low HR, low stress SCL, high stress HRV) was related to proactive aggression. Furthermore, high stress SCL was related to anxiety symptoms, whereas low stress SCL was related to attention problems. These findings are important because they indicate heterogeneity within boys with ODD/CD and highlight the importance of using physiology to differentiate boys with different ODD/CD subtypes.

Female sexual arousal disorders

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Giraldi, Annamaria; Rellini, Alessandra H.; Pfaus, James; Laan, Ellen

2013-01-01

Definitions and terminology for female sexual arousal disorder (FSAD) are currently being debated. While some authors have suggested that FSAD is more a subjective response rather than a genital response, others have suggested that desire and arousal disorders should be combined in one entity.

A BDNF loop-domain mimetic acutely reverses spontaneous apneas and respiratory abnormalities during behavioral arousal in a mouse model of Rett syndrome

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Miriam Kron

2014-09-01

Full Text Available Reduced levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF are thought to contribute to the pathophysiology of Rett syndrome (RTT, a severe neurodevelopmental disorder caused by loss-of-function mutations in the gene encoding methyl-CpG-binding protein 2 (MeCP2. In Mecp2 mutant mice, BDNF deficits have been associated with breathing abnormalities, a core feature of RTT, as well as with synaptic hyperexcitability within the brainstem respiratory network. Application of BDNF can reverse hyperexcitability in acute brainstem slices from Mecp2-null mice, suggesting that therapies targeting BDNF or its receptor, TrkB, could be effective at acute reversal of respiratory abnormalities in RTT. Therefore, we examined the ability of LM22A-4, a small-molecule BDNF loop-domain mimetic and TrkB partial agonist, to modulate synaptic excitability within respiratory cell groups in the brainstem nucleus tractus solitarius (nTS and to acutely reverse abnormalities in breathing at rest and during behavioral arousal in Mecp2 mutants. Patch-clamp recordings in Mecp2-null brainstem slices demonstrated that LM22A-4 decreases excitability at primary afferent synapses in the nTS by reducing the amplitude of evoked excitatory postsynaptic currents and the frequency of spontaneous and miniature excitatory postsynaptic currents. In vivo, acute treatment of Mecp2-null and -heterozygous mutants with LM22A-4 completely eliminated spontaneous apneas in resting animals, without sedation. Moreover, we demonstrate that respiratory dysregulation during behavioral arousal, a feature of human RTT, is also reversed in Mecp2 mutants by acute treatment with LM22A-4. Together, these data support the hypothesis that reduced BDNF signaling and respiratory dysfunction in RTT are linked, and establish the proof-of-concept that treatment with a small-molecule structural mimetic of a BDNF loop domain and a TrkB partial agonist can acutely reverse abnormal breathing at rest and in response to

Neural substrates of sexual desire in individuals with problematic hypersexual behavior

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ji-Woo eSeok

2015-11-01

Full Text Available Studies on the characteristics of individuals with hypersexual disorder have been accumulating due to increasing concerns about problematic hypersexual behavior (PHB. Currently, relatively little is known about the underlying behavioral and neural mechanisms of sexual desire. Our study aimed to investigate the neural correlates of sexual desire with event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI. Twenty-three individuals with PHB and 22 age-matched healthy controls were scanned while they passively viewed sexual and nonsexual stimuli. The subjects’ levels of sexual desire were assessed in response to each sexual stimulus. Relative to controls, individuals with PHB experienced more frequent and enhanced sexual desire during exposure to sexual stimuli. Greater activation was observed in the caudate nucleus, inferior parietal lobe, dorsal anterior cingulate gyrus, thalamus, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in the PHB group than in the control group. In addition, the hemodynamic patterns in the activated areas differed between the groups. Consistent with the findings of brain imaging studies of substance and behavior addiction, individuals with the behavioral characteristics of PHB and enhanced desire exhibited altered activation in the prefrontal cortex and subcortical regions. In conclusion, our results will help to characterize the behaviors and associated neural mechanisms of individuals with PHB.

Dissociation of immediate and delayed effects of emotional arousal on episodic memory.

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Schümann, Dirk; Bayer, Janine; Talmi, Deborah; Sommer, Tobias

2018-02-01

Emotionally arousing events are usually better remembered than neutral ones. This phenomenon is in humans mostly studied by presenting mixed lists of neutral and emotional items. An emotional enhancement of memory is observed in these studies often already immediately after encoding and increases with longer delays and consolidation. A large body of animal research showed that the more efficient consolidation of emotionally arousing events is based on an activation of the central noradrenergic system and the amygdala (Modulation Hypothesis; Roozendaal & McGaugh, 2011). The immediately superior recognition of emotional items is attributed primarily to their attraction of attention during encoding which is also thought to be based on the amygdala and the central noradrenergic system. To investigate whether the amygdala and noradrenergic system support memory encoding and consolidation via shared neural substrates and processes a large sample of participants (n = 690) encoded neutral and arousing pictures. Their memory was tested immediately and after a consolidation delay. In addition, they were genotyped in two relevant polymorphisms (α 2B -adrenergic receptor and serotonin transporter). Memory for negative and positive emotional pictures was enhanced at both time points where these enhancements were correlated (immediate r = 0.60 and delayed test r = 0.46). Critically, the effects of emotional arousal on encoding and consolidation correlated only very low (negative r = 0.14 and positive r = 0.03 pictures) suggesting partly distinct underlying processes consistent with a functional heterogeneity of the central noradrenergic system. No effect of genotype on either effect was observed. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Steroid abnormalities and the developing brain: Declarative memory for emotionally arousing and neutral material in children with congenital adrenal hyperplasia

OpenAIRE

Maheu, Françoise S.; Merke, Deborah P.; Schroth, Elizabeth A.; Keil, Margaret F.; Hardin, Julie; Poeth, Kaitlin; Pine, Daniel S.; Ernst, Monique

2007-01-01

Steroid hormones modulate memory in animals and human adults. Little is known on the developmental effect of these hormones on the neural networks underlying memory. Using Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia (CAH) as a naturalistic model of early steroid abnormalities, this study examines the consequences of CAH on memory and its neural correlates for emotionally arousing and neutral material in children. Seventeen patients with CAH and 17 age- and sex-matched healthy children (ages 12 to 14 years...

Modulation of neural circuits: how stimulus context shapes innate behavior in Drosophila

OpenAIRE

Su, Chih-Ying; Wang, Jing W.

2014-01-01

Remarkable advances have been made in recent years in our understanding of innate behavior and the underlying neural circuits. In particular, a wealth of neuromodulatory mechanisms have been uncovered that can alter the input-output relationship of a hereditary neural circuit. It is now clear that this inbuilt flexibility allows animals to modify their behavioral responses according to environmental cues, metabolic demands and physiological states. Here, we discuss recent insights into how mo...

Trigeminal induced arousals during human sleep.

Science.gov (United States)

Heiser, Clemens; Baja, Jan; Lenz, Franziska; Sommer, J Ulrich; Hörmann, Karl; Herr, Raphael M; Stuck, Boris A

2015-05-01

Arousals caused by external stimuli during human sleep have been studied for most of the sensorial systems. It could be shown that a pure nasal trigeminal stimulus leads to arousals during sleep. The frequency of arousals increases dependent on the stimulus concentration. The aim of the study was to evaluate the influence of different stimulus durations on arousal frequency during different sleep stages. Ten young healthy volunteers with 20 nights of polysomnography were included in the study. Pure trigeminal stimulation with both different concentrations of CO2 (0, 10, 20, 40% v/v) and different stimulus durations (1, 3, 5, and 10 s) were applied during different sleep stages to the volunteers using an olfactometer. The application was performed during different sleep stages (light sleep, deep sleep, REM sleep). The number of arousals increased with rising stimulus duration and stimulus concentration during each sleep stage. Trigeminal stimuli during sleep led to arousals in dose- and time-dependent manner.

Musical Tasks and Energetic Arousal.

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Lim, Hayoung A; Watson, Angela L

2018-03-08

Music is widely recognized as a motivating stimulus. Investigators have examined the use of music to improve a variety of motivation-related outcomes; however, these studies have focused primarily on passive music listening rather than active participation in musical activities. To examine the influence of participation in musical tasks and unique participant characteristics on energetic arousal. We used a one-way Welch's ANOVA to examine the influence of musical participation (i.e., a non-musical control and four different musical task conditions) upon energetic arousal. In addition, ancillary analyses of participant characteristics including personality, age, gender, sleep, musical training, caffeine, nicotine, and alcohol revealed their possible influence upon pretest and posttest energetic arousal scores. Musical participation yielded a significant relationship with energetic arousal, F(4, 55.62) = 44.38, p = .000, estimated ω2 = 0.60. Games-Howell post hoc pairwise comparisons revealed statistically significant differences between five conditions. Descriptive statistics revealed expected differences between introverts' and extraverts' energetic arousal scores at the pretest, F(1, 115) = 6.80, p = .010, partial η2= .06; however, mean differences failed to reach significance at the posttest following musical task participation. No other measured participant characteristics yielded meaningful results. Passive tasks (i.e., listening to a story or song) were related to decreased energetic arousal, while active musical tasks (i.e., singing, rhythm tapping, and keyboard playing) were related to increased energetic arousal. Musical task participation appeared to have a differential effect for individuals with certain personality traits (i.e., extroverts and introverts).

Cerebral activation associated with visually evoked sexual arousal in the limbic system: functional MR imaging

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Eun, Sung Jong; Kong, Gwang Woo; Kim, Hyung Joong; Seo, Jeong Jin; Kang, Heoung Keun; Cho, Ki Hyun; Yoon, Ka Hyun; Kim, Kyung Yo

2004-01-01

To identify the brain centers associated with visually evoked sexual arousal in the human brain, and to investigate the neural mechanism for sexual arousal using functional MRI (fMRI). A total of 20 sexually potent volunteers consisting of 10 males (mean age: 24) and 10 females (mean age: 23) underwent fMRI on a 1.5T MR scanner (GE Signa Horizon). The fMRI data were obtained from 7 slices (10 mm slice thickness) parallel to the AC-PC (anterior commissure and posterior commissure) line, giving a total of 511 MR images. The sexual stimulation consisted of a 1-minute rest with black screen, followed by a 4-minute stimulation by an erotic video film, and concluded with a 2-minute rest. The brain activation maps and their quantification were analyzed by the statistical parametric mapping (SPM 99) program. The brain activation regions associated with visual sexual arousal in the limbic system are the posterior cingulate gyrus, parahippocampal gyrus, hypothalamus, medial cingulate gyrus, thalamus, amygdala, anterior cingulate gyrus, insula, hippocampus, caudate nucleus, globus pallidus and putamen. Especially, the parahippocampal gyrus, cingulate gyrus, thalamus and hypothalamus were highly activated in comparison with other areas. The overall activities of the limbic lobe, diencephalon, and basal ganglia were 11.8%, 10.5%, and 3.4%, respectively. In the correlation test between brain activity and sexual arousal, the hypothalamus and thalamus showed positive correlation, but the other brain areas showed no correlation. The fMRI is useful to quantitatively evaluate the cerebral activation associated with visually evoked, sexual arousal in the human brain. This result may be helpful by providing clinically valuable information on sexual disorder in humans as well as by increasing the understanding of the neuroanatomical correlates of sexual arousal

Cerebral activation associated with visually evoked sexual arousal in the limbic system: functional MR imaging

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Eun, Sung Jong; Kong, Gwang Woo; Kim, Hyung Joong; Seo, Jeong Jin; Kang, Heoung Keun; Cho, Ki Hyun; Yoon, Ka Hyun [School of Medicine, Chonnam National Univ., Kwangju (Korea, Republic of); Kim, Kyung Yo [Wonkwang Univ., Iksan (Korea, Republic of)

2004-08-01

To identify the brain centers associated with visually evoked sexual arousal in the human brain, and to investigate the neural mechanism for sexual arousal using functional MRI (fMRI). A total of 20 sexually potent volunteers consisting of 10 males (mean age: 24) and 10 females (mean age: 23) underwent fMRI on a 1.5T MR scanner (GE Signa Horizon). The fMRI data were obtained from 7 slices (10 mm slice thickness) parallel to the AC-PC (anterior commissure and posterior commissure) line, giving a total of 511 MR images. The sexual stimulation consisted of a 1-minute rest with black screen, followed by a 4-minute stimulation by an erotic video film, and concluded with a 2-minute rest. The brain activation maps and their quantification were analyzed by the statistical parametric mapping (SPM 99) program. The brain activation regions associated with visual sexual arousal in the limbic system are the posterior cingulate gyrus, parahippocampal gyrus, hypothalamus, medial cingulate gyrus, thalamus, amygdala, anterior cingulate gyrus, insula, hippocampus, caudate nucleus, globus pallidus and putamen. Especially, the parahippocampal gyrus, cingulate gyrus, thalamus and hypothalamus were highly activated in comparison with other areas. The overall activities of the limbic lobe, diencephalon, and basal ganglia were 11.8%, 10.5%, and 3.4%, respectively. In the correlation test between brain activity and sexual arousal, the hypothalamus and thalamus showed positive correlation, but the other brain areas showed no correlation. The fMRI is useful to quantitatively evaluate the cerebral activation associated with visually evoked, sexual arousal in the human brain. This result may be helpful by providing clinically valuable information on sexual disorder in humans as well as by increasing the understanding of the neuroanatomical correlates of sexual arousal.

Neural response to pictorial health warning labels can predict smoking behavioral change.

Science.gov (United States)

Riddle, Philip J; Newman-Norlund, Roger D; Baer, Jessica; Thrasher, James F

2016-11-01

In order to improve our understanding of how pictorial health warning labels (HWLs) influence smoking behavior, we examined whether brain activity helps to explain smoking behavior above and beyond self-reported effectiveness of HWLs. We measured the neural response in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and the amygdala while adult smokers viewed HWLs. Two weeks later, participants' self-reported smoking behavior and biomarkers of smoking behavior were reassessed. We compared multiple models predicting change in self-reported smoking behavior (cigarettes per day [CPD]) and change in a biomarkers of smoke exposure (expired carbon monoxide [CO]). Brain activity in the vmPFC and amygdala not only predicted changes in CO, but also accounted for outcome variance above and beyond self-report data. Neural data were most useful in predicting behavioral change as quantified by the objective biomarker (CO). This pattern of activity was significantly modulated by individuals' intention to quit. The finding that both cognitive (vmPFC) and affective (amygdala) brain areas contributed to these models supports the idea that smokers respond to HWLs in a cognitive-affective manner. Based on our findings, researchers may wish to consider using neural data from both cognitive and affective networks when attempting to predict behavioral change in certain populations (e.g. cigarette smokers). © The Author (2016). Published by Oxford University Press.

Micro-arousals during nocturnal sleep.

Science.gov (United States)

Halász, P; Kundra, O; Rajna, P; Pál, I; Vargha, M

1979-01-01

In 8 young adult human subjects EEG- and polygraphic characteristics of transient shifts towards arousal (micro-arousal, MA) have been studied during sleep under five different experimental conditions in 40 night sessions. Out of the five applied experimental situations, two (psychostimulant application and sensory stimulation) resulted in a shift of the balance between the systems of sleep and arousal towards an increased activity of the arousal system, while an other condition (rebound following partial sleep deprivation) led to an opposite change to a rise in "sleep pressure". An inverse correlation has been found between the frequency of MA and the depth of sleep, a finding consistently observed in every subject and in every experimental situation. During the process of sleep periodic changes in the dispersity of MA could be seen; the number of MA-s decreased and increased according to the descending and ascending slope of the sleep cycles. During the ascending slope of cycles there was a coupling between the occurence of MA-s and the changes of phases. Increases in the level of activation and in sleep pressure did not influence the occurrence of MA-s. Increasing the tone of the arousal system in chemical way, or by means of enhancing the phasic sensory input resulted in a reduction of the difference between the number of MA on the descending and ascending slopes of cycles. During the phases of sleep, the spontaneous occurrence of MA-s went parallel with the possibility to evoke MA-s by sensory stimuli. These data show that MA is a regular phenomenon of nocturnal sleep; MA manifests itself as a result of phasic functioning of the reticular arousal system and plays a role in the organization of those periods of the sleep cycle, which tend toward arousal. It is suggested that MA-phenomenon is considered a standard measure of sleep and that it could represent an indicator of the function of the arousal system controlled by external or internal mechanisms during

Stimuli eliciting sexual arousal in males who offend adult women: an experimental study.

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Kolárský, A; Madlafousek, J; Novotná, V

1978-03-01

The sexually arousing effects of short film scenes showing a naked actress's seductive behavior were phalloplethysmographically measured in 14 sexual deviates. These were males who had offended adult women, predominantly exhibitionists. Controls were 14 normal men. Deviates responded positively to the scenes and differentiated strong and weak seduction scenes similarly to normals. Consequently, the question arises of why deviates avoid their victim's erotic cooperation and why they do not offend their regular sexual partners. Post hoc analysis of five scenes which elicited a strikingly higher response in deviates than in normals suggested that these scenes contained reduced seductive behavior but unrestrained presentation of the genitals. This finding further encourages the laboratory study of stimulus conditions for abnormal sexual arousal which occurs during the sexual offense.

Neural basis of three dimensions of agitated behaviors in patients with Alzheimer disease

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Banno K

2014-02-01

Full Text Available Koichi Banno,1 Shutaro Nakaaki,2 Junko Sato,1 Katsuyoshi Torii,1 Jin Narumoto,3 Jun Miyata,4 Nobutsugu Hirono,5 Toshi A Furukawa,6 Masaru Mimura,2 Tatsuo Akechi1 1Department of Psychiatry and Cognitive-Behavioral Medicine, Nagoya City University Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Nagoya, Japan; 2Department of Neuropsychiatry, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan; 3Department of Psychiatry, Graduate School of Medical Science, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, 4Department of Neuropsychiatry, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan; 5Department of Psychology, Kobe Gakuin University; Hyogo, Japan; 6Departments of Health Promotion and Human Behavior and of Clinical Epidemiology, Graduate School of Medicine/School of Public Health, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan Background: Agitated behaviors are frequently observed in patients with Alzheimer disease (AD. The neural substrate underlying the agitated behaviors in dementia is unclear. We hypothesized that different dimensions of agitated behaviors are mediated by distinct neural systems. Methods: All the patients (n=32 underwent single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT. Using the Agitated Behavior in Dementia scale, we identified the relationships between regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF patterns and the presence of each of three dimensions of agitated behavior (physically agitated behavior, verbally agitated behavior, and psychosis symptoms in AD patients. Statistical parametric mapping (SPM software was used to explore these neural correlations. Results: Physically agitated behavior was significantly correlated with lower rCBF values in the right superior temporal gyrus (Brodmann 22 and the right inferior frontal gyrus (Brodmann 47. Verbally agitated behavior was significantly associated with lower rCBF values in the left inferior frontal gyrus (Brodmann 46, 44 and the left insula (Brodmann 13. The psychosis symptoms were significantly correlated

Early cortical facilitation for emotionally arousing targets during the attentional blink

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Ihssen Niklas

2006-07-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The present study aimed to investigate the time course of electrocortical facilitation for affectively arousing written words during the so-called 'attentional blink' (AB period in a rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP task. The AB refers to a period of reduced awareness for second-target stimuli following a first target by an interval of about 200–500 ms. Pleasant, neutral, and unpleasant written verbs were used as second targets in an 8.6-Hz RSVP paradigm that contained affectively neutral words as distractors. Replicating and extending behavioral studies, we expected that emotional second targets would be associated with better identification accuracy and greater electrocortical activity, compared with neutral targets. Results The steady-state visual evoked potential was recorded using 129 scalp electrodes. The time-varying energy at the presentation frequency of 8.6 Hz was extracted as a continuous measure of electrocortical activity related to the RSVP stream. Behavioral data showed that at an inter-target interval of 232 ms, the report for emotionally arousing (pleasant and unpleasant words was more accurate than for neutral control words. This result was mirrored by the electrocortical response at posterior sensors, which showed rapid amplitude enhancement (120–270 ms after T2 onset for pleasant and unpleasant targets specifically. Conclusion The present data suggest that identification facilitation for emotionally arousing target words in the AB is related to rapid enhancement of sensory processing. Affectively arousing information is preferentially selected at the level of early perceptual analysis, leading to facilitation at later stages of processing, including consolidation in working memory and visual awareness.

Structural connectomics of anxious arousal in early adolescence: Translating clinical and ethological findings

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Paul B. Sharp

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Etiological explanations of clinical anxiety can be advanced through understanding the neural mechanisms associated with anxiety in youth prior to the emergence of psychopathology. In this vein, the present study sought to investigate how trait anxiety is related to features of the structural connectome in early adolescence. 40 adolescents (21 female, mean age = 13.49 years underwent a diffusion-weighted imaging scan. We hypothesized that the strength of several a priori defined structural connections would vary with anxious arousal based on previous work in human clinical neuroscience and adult rodent optogenetics. First, connection strength of caudate to rostral middle frontal gyrus was predicted to be anticorrelated with anxious arousal, predicated on extant work in clinically-diagnosed adolescents. Second, connection strength of amygdala to rostral anterior cingulate and to medial orbital frontal cortex would be positively and negatively correlated with anxious arousal, respectively, predicated on rodent optogenetics showing the former pathway is anxiogenic and the latter is anxiolytic. We also predicted that levels of anxiety would not vary with measures of global network topology, based on reported null findings. Results support that anxiety in early adolescence is associated with (1 the clinical biomarker connecting caudate to frontal cortex, and (2 the anxiogenic pathway connecting amygdala to rostral anterior cingulate, both in left but not right hemisphere. Findings support that in early adolescence, anxious arousal may be related to mechanisms that increase anxiogenesis, and not in a deficit in regulatory mechanisms that support anxiolysis.

Autoshaped choice in artificial neural networks: implications for behavioral economics and neuroeconomics.

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Burgos, José E; García-Leal, Óscar

2015-05-01

An existing neural network model of conditioning was used to simulate autoshaped choice. In this phenomenon, pigeons first receive an autoshaping procedure with two keylight stimuli X and Y separately paired with food in a forward-delay manner, intermittently for X and continuously for Y. Then pigeons receive unreinforced choice test trials of X and Y concurrently present. Most pigeons choose Y. This preference for a more valuable response alternative is a form of economic behavior that makes the phenomenon relevant to behavioral economics. The phenomenon also suggests a role for Pavlovian contingencies in economic behavior. The model used, in contrast to others, predicts autoshaping and automaintenance, so it is uniquely positioned to predict autoshaped choice. The model also contemplates neural substrates of economic behavior in neuroeconomics, such as dopaminergic and hippocampal systems. A feedforward neural network architecture was designed to simulate a neuroanatomical differentiation between two environment-behavior relations X-R1 and Y-R2, [corrected] where R1 and R2 denote two different emitted responses (not unconditionally elicited by the reward). Networks with this architecture received a training protocol that simulated an autoshaped-choice procedure. Most networks simulated the phenomenon. Implications for behavioral economics and neuroeconomics, limitations, and the issue of model appraisal are discussed. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A model for integrating elementary neural functions into delayed-response behavior.

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Thomas Gisiger

2006-04-01

Full Text Available It is well established that various cortical regions can implement a wide array of neural processes, yet the mechanisms which integrate these processes into behavior-producing, brain-scale activity remain elusive. We propose that an important role in this respect might be played by executive structures controlling the traffic of information between the cortical regions involved. To illustrate this hypothesis, we present a neural network model comprising a set of interconnected structures harboring stimulus-related activity (visual representation, working memory, and planning, and a group of executive units with task-related activity patterns that manage the information flowing between them. The resulting dynamics allows the network to perform the dual task of either retaining an image during a delay (delayed-matching to sample task, or recalling from this image another one that has been associated with it during training (delayed-pair association task. The model reproduces behavioral and electrophysiological data gathered on the inferior temporal and prefrontal cortices of primates performing these same tasks. It also makes predictions on how neural activity coding for the recall of the image associated with the sample emerges and becomes prospective during the training phase. The network dynamics proves to be very stable against perturbations, and it exhibits signs of scale-invariant organization and cooperativity. The present network represents a possible neural implementation for active, top-down, prospective memory retrieval in primates. The model suggests that brain activity leading to performance of cognitive tasks might be organized in modular fashion, simple neural functions becoming integrated into more complex behavior by executive structures harbored in prefrontal cortex and/or basal ganglia.

A model for integrating elementary neural functions into delayed-response behavior.

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Gisiger, Thomas; Kerszberg, Michel

2006-04-01

It is well established that various cortical regions can implement a wide array of neural processes, yet the mechanisms which integrate these processes into behavior-producing, brain-scale activity remain elusive. We propose that an important role in this respect might be played by executive structures controlling the traffic of information between the cortical regions involved. To illustrate this hypothesis, we present a neural network model comprising a set of interconnected structures harboring stimulus-related activity (visual representation, working memory, and planning), and a group of executive units with task-related activity patterns that manage the information flowing between them. The resulting dynamics allows the network to perform the dual task of either retaining an image during a delay (delayed-matching to sample task), or recalling from this image another one that has been associated with it during training (delayed-pair association task). The model reproduces behavioral and electrophysiological data gathered on the inferior temporal and prefrontal cortices of primates performing these same tasks. It also makes predictions on how neural activity coding for the recall of the image associated with the sample emerges and becomes prospective during the training phase. The network dynamics proves to be very stable against perturbations, and it exhibits signs of scale-invariant organization and cooperativity. The present network represents a possible neural implementation for active, top-down, prospective memory retrieval in primates. The model suggests that brain activity leading to performance of cognitive tasks might be organized in modular fashion, simple neural functions becoming integrated into more complex behavior by executive structures harbored in prefrontal cortex and/or basal ganglia.

Approach and Withdrawal Tendencies during Written Word Processing: Effects of Task, Emotional Valence, and Emotional Arousal.

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Citron, Francesca M M; Abugaber, David; Herbert, Cornelia

2015-01-01

The affective dimensions of emotional valence and emotional arousal affect processing of verbal and pictorial stimuli. Traditional emotional theories assume a linear relationship between these dimensions, with valence determining the direction of a behavior (approach vs. withdrawal) and arousal its intensity or strength. In contrast, according to the valence-arousal conflict theory, both dimensions are interactively related: positive valence and low arousal (PL) are associated with an implicit tendency to approach a stimulus, whereas negative valence and high arousal (NH) are associated with withdrawal. Hence, positive, high-arousal (PH) and negative, low-arousal (NL) stimuli elicit conflicting action tendencies. By extending previous research that used several tasks and methods, the present study investigated whether and how emotional valence and arousal affect subjective approach vs. withdrawal tendencies toward emotional words during two novel tasks. In Study 1, participants had to decide whether they would approach or withdraw from concepts expressed by written words. In Studies 2 and 3 participants had to respond to each word by pressing one of two keys labeled with an arrow pointing upward or downward. Across experiments, positive and negative words, high or low in arousal, were presented. In Study 1 (explicit task), in line with the valence-arousal conflict theory, PH and NL words were responded to more slowly than PL and NH words. In addition, participants decided to approach positive words more often than negative words. In Studies 2 and 3, participants responded faster to positive than negative words, irrespective of their level of arousal. Furthermore, positive words were significantly more often associated with "up" responses than negative words, thus supporting the existence of implicit associations between stimulus valence and response coding (positive is up and negative is down). Hence, in contexts in which participants' spontaneous responses are

Not always a matter of context: direct effects of red on arousal but context-dependent moderations on valence

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Vanessa L. Buechner

2016-09-01

Full Text Available The arousal theory of color proposes that red is associated with arousal. Research on the color-in-context theory, in turn, states that the context in which red is perceived influences its valence-related meaning and behavioral responses to it. This study faces and integrates these theories by examining the influence of red on both arousal and valence perceptions of test-relevant and neutral stimuli, rendering a color 2 (red vs. blue × context 2 (test vs. neutral between-subjects design. Participants rated different pictures regarding their arousal and valence component, respectively. In line with the assumptions of both theories, red increased arousal perceptions of stimuli irrespective of their valence but a context × color interaction was found for valence perceptions: for participants viewing test-relevant pictures, red increased their perceptions of negativity compared to neutral pictures. The present study shows that both theories are actually compatible when differentiating the arousal and valence component.

High baseline activity in inferior temporal cortex improves neural and behavioral discriminability during visual categorization

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Emadi, Nazli; Rajimehr, Reza; Esteky, Hossein

2014-01-01

Spontaneous firing is a ubiquitous property of neural activity in the brain. Recent literature suggests that this baseline activity plays a key role in perception. However, it is not known how the baseline activity contributes to neural coding and behavior. Here, by recording from the single neurons in the inferior temporal cortex of monkeys performing a visual categorization task, we thoroughly explored the relationship between baseline activity, the evoked response, and behavior. Specifically we found that a low-frequency (baseline activity. This enhancement of the baseline activity was then followed by an increase in the neural selectivity and the response reliability and eventually a higher behavioral performance. PMID:25404900

Modulation of neural circuits underlying temporal production by facial expressions of pain

OpenAIRE

Ballotta, Daniela; Lui, Fausta; Porro, Carlo Adolfo; Nichelli, Paolo Frigio; Benuzzi, Francesca

2018-01-01

According to the Scalar Expectancy Theory, humans are equipped with a biological internal clock, possibly modulated by attention and arousal. Both emotions and pain are arousing and can absorb attentional resources, thus causing distortions of temporal perception. The aims of the present single-event fMRI study were to investigate: a) whether observation of facial expressions of pain interferes with time production; and b) the neural network subserving this kind of temporal distortions. Thirt...

Congruent bodily arousal promotes the constructive recognition of emotional words.

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Kever, Anne; Grynberg, Delphine; Vermeulen, Nicolas

2017-08-01

Considerable research has shown that bodily states shape affect and cognition. Here, we examined whether transient states of bodily arousal influence the categorization speed of high arousal, low arousal, and neutral words. Participants realized two blocks of a constructive recognition task, once after a cycling session (increased arousal), and once after a relaxation session (reduced arousal). Results revealed overall faster response times for high arousal compared to low arousal words, and for positive compared to negative words. Importantly, low arousal words were categorized significantly faster after the relaxation than after the cycling, suggesting that a decrease in bodily arousal promotes the recognition of stimuli matching one's current arousal state. These findings highlight the importance of the arousal dimension in emotional processing, and suggest the presence of arousal-congruency effects. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Sexual arousal, is it for mammals only?

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Ball, Gregory F.; Balthazart, Jacques

2010-01-01

Sexual arousal has many dimensions and has consequently been defined in various ways. In humans sexual arousal can be assessed based in part on verbal communication. In male non-human mammalian species it has been argued that arousal can only be definitively inferred if the subject exhibits a penile erection in a sexual context. In non-mammalian species that lack an intromittent organ, as is the case for most avian species, the question of how to assess sexual arousal has not been thoroughly ...

The neural and behavioral correlates of social evaluation in childhood

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Michelle Achterberg

2017-04-01

Full Text Available Being accepted or rejected by peers is highly salient for developing social relations in childhood. We investigated the behavioral and neural correlates of social feedback and subsequent aggression in 7–10-year-old children, using the Social Network Aggression Task (SNAT. Participants viewed pictures of peers that gave positive, neutral or negative feedback to the participant’s profile. Next, participants could blast a loud noise towards the peer, as an index of aggression. We included three groups (N = 19, N = 28 and N = 27 and combined the results meta-analytically. Negative social feedback resulted in the most behavioral aggression, with large combined effect-sizes. Whole brain condition effects for each separate sample failed to show robust effects, possibly due to the small samples. Exploratory analyses over the combined test and replication samples confirmed heightened activation in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC after negative social feedback. Moreover, meta-analyses of activity in predefined regions of interest showed that negative social feedback resulted in more neural activation in the amygdala, anterior insula and the mPFC/anterior cingulate cortex. Together, the results show that social motivation is already highly salient in middle childhood, and indicate that the SNAT is a valid paradigm for assessing the neural and behavioral correlates of social evaluation in children.

Subjective Sexual Arousal to Films of Masturbation

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Mosher, Donald L.; Abramson, Paul R.

1977-01-01

A film of a male or female masturbating was viewed by 96 males and 102 females. Males reported the highest level of sexual arousal to the female film and the lowest level of arousal to the male film. Females were sexually aroused by both films. (Author)

The fiber-optic imaging and manipulation of neural activity during animal behavior.

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Miyamoto, Daisuke; Murayama, Masanori

2016-02-01

Recent progress with optogenetic probes for imaging and manipulating neural activity has further increased the relevance of fiber-optic systems for neural circuitry research. Optical fibers, which bi-directionally transmit light between separate sites (even at a distance of several meters), can be used for either optical imaging or manipulating neural activity relevant to behavioral circuitry mechanisms. The method's flexibility and the specifications of the light structure are well suited for following the behavior of freely moving animals. Furthermore, thin optical fibers allow researchers to monitor neural activity from not only the cortical surface but also deep brain regions, including the hippocampus and amygdala. Such regions are difficult to target with two-photon microscopes. Optogenetic manipulation of neural activity with an optical fiber has the advantage of being selective for both cell-types and projections as compared to conventional electrophysiological brain tissue stimulation. It is difficult to extract any data regarding changes in neural activity solely from a fiber-optic manipulation device; however, the readout of data is made possible by combining manipulation with electrophysiological recording, or the simultaneous application of optical imaging and manipulation using a bundle-fiber. The present review introduces recent progress in fiber-optic imaging and manipulation methods, while also discussing fiber-optic system designs that are suitable for a given experimental protocol. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Male bisexual arousal: a matter of curiosity?

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Rieger, Gerulf; Rosenthal, Allen M; Cash, Brian M; Linsenmeier, Joan A W; Bailey, J Michael; Savin-Williams, Ritch C

2013-12-01

Conflicting evidence exists regarding whether bisexual-identified men are sexually aroused to both men and women. We hypothesized that a distinct characteristic, level of curiosity about sexually diverse acts, distinguishes bisexual-identified men with and without bisexual arousal. Study 1 assessed men's (n=277) sexual arousal via pupil dilation to male and female sexual stimuli. Bisexual men were, on average, higher in their sexual curiosity than other men. Despite this general difference, only bisexual-identified men with elevated sexual curiosity showed bisexual arousal. Those lower in curiosity had responses resembling those of homosexual men. Study 2 assessed men's (n=72) sexual arousal via genital responses and replicated findings of Study 1. Study 3 provided information on the validity on our measure of sexual curiosity by relating it to general curiosity and sexual sensation seeking (n=83). Based on their sexual arousal and personality, at least two groups of men identify as bisexual. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Sexual Arousal Patterns of Autogynephilic Male Cross-Dressers.

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Hsu, Kevin J; Rosenthal, A M; Miller, David I; Bailey, J Michael

2017-01-01

Men's sexual arousal patterns have been an important window into the nature of their erotic interests. Autogynephilia is a natal male's paraphilic tendency to be sexually aroused by the thought or image of being a woman. Autogynephilic arousal per se is difficult to assess objectively, because it is inwardly focused. However, assessing sexual arousal patterns of autogynephilic males in response to external stimuli is also potentially useful. For example, there is substantial association between autogynephilia and gynandromorphophilia (GAMP), or sexual attraction to gynandromorphs (GAMs), colloquially "she-males." GAMP men's sexual arousal patterns in response to GAM, female, and male stimuli have recently been characterized. In the present study, we extended this understanding by comparing the sexual arousal patterns of autogynephilic male cross-dressers, GAMP men, heterosexual men, and homosexual men. Erotic stimuli included sexually explicit videos of men, women, and GAMs. Autogynephilic men were much more similar in their arousal patterns to heterosexual and GAMP men than to homosexual men. However, similar to GAMP men, autogynephilic men showed increased arousal by GAM stimuli relative to female stimuli compared with heterosexual men.

Automatic, ECG-based detection of autonomic arousals and their association with cortical arousals, leg movements, and respiratory events in sleep

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Olsen, Mads; Schneider, Logan Douglas; Cheung, Joseph

2018-01-01

The current definition of sleep arousals neglects to address the diversity of arousals and their systemic cohesion. Autonomic arousals (AA) are autonomic activations often associated with cortical arousals (CA), but they may also occur in isolation in relation to a respiratory event, a leg movement...... event or spontaneously, without any other physiological associations. AA should be acknowledged as essential events to understand and explore the systemic implications of arousals. We developed an automatic AA detection algorithm based on intelligent feature selection and advanced machine learning using...... or respiratory events. This indicates that most FP constitute autonomic activations that are indistinguishable from those with cortical cohesion. The proposed algorithm provides an automatic system trained in a clinical environment, which can be utilized to analyse the systemic and clinical impacts of arousals....

Modeling the thermotaxis behavior of C.elegans based on the artificial neural network.

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Li, Mingxu; Deng, Xin; Wang, Jin; Chen, Qiaosong; Tang, Yun

2016-07-03

ASBTRACT This research aims at modeling the thermotaxis behavior of C.elegans which is a kind of nematode with full clarified neuronal connections. Firstly, this work establishes the motion model which can perform the undulatory locomotion with turning behavior. Secondly, the thermotaxis behavior is modeled by nonlinear functions and the nonlinear functions are learned by artificial neural network. Once the artificial neural networks have been well trained, they can perform the desired thermotaxis behavior. Last, several testing simulations are carried out to verify the effectiveness of the model for thermotaxis behavior. This work also analyzes the different performances of the model under different environments. The testing results reveal the essence of the thermotaxis of C.elegans to some extent, and theoretically support the research on the navigation of the crawling robots.

Understanding how discrete populations of hypothalamic neurons orchestrate complicated behavioral states

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Allison eGraebner

2015-08-01

Full Text Available A major question in systems neuroscience is how a single population of neurons can interact with the rest of the brain to orchestrate complex behavioral states. The hypothalamus contains many such discrete neuronal populations that individually regulate arousal, feeding, and drinking. For example, hypothalamic neurons that express hypocretin (Hcrt neuropeptides can sense homeostatic and metabolic factors affecting wakefulness and orchestrate organismal arousal. Neurons that express agouti-related protein (AgRP can sense the metabolic needs of the body and orchestrate a state of hunger. The organum vasculosum of the lamina terminalis (OVLT can detect the hypertonicity of blood and orchestrate a state of thirst. Each hypothalamic population is sufficient to generate complicated behavioral states through the combined efforts of distinct efferent projections. The principal challenge to understanding these brain systems is therefore to determine the individual roles of each downstream projection for each behavioral state. In recent years, the development and application of temporally precise, genetically encoded tools have greatly improved our understanding of the structure and function of these neural systems. This review will survey recent advances in our understanding of how these individual hypothalamic populations can orchestrate complicated behavioral states due to the combined efforts of individual downstream projections.

Investigating the Influence of Biological Sex on the Behavioral and Neural Basis of Face Recognition.

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Scherf, K Suzanne; Elbich, Daniel B; Motta-Mena, Natalie V

2017-01-01

There is interest in understanding the influence of biological factors, like sex, on the organization of brain function. We investigated the influence of biological sex on the behavioral and neural basis of face recognition in healthy, young adults. In behavior, there were no sex differences on the male Cambridge Face Memory Test (CFMT)+ or the female CFMT+ (that we created) and no own-gender bias (OGB) in either group. We evaluated the functional topography of ventral stream organization by measuring the magnitude and functional neural size of 16 individually defined face-, two object-, and two place-related regions bilaterally. There were no sex differences in any of these measures of neural function in any of the regions of interest (ROIs) or in group level comparisons. These findings reveal that men and women have similar category-selective topographic organization in the ventral visual pathway. Next, in a separate task, we measured activation within the 16 face-processing ROIs specifically during recognition of target male and female faces. There were no sex differences in the magnitude of the neural responses in any face-processing region. Furthermore, there was no OGB in the neural responses of either the male or female participants. Our findings suggest that face recognition behavior, including the OGB, is not inherently sexually dimorphic. Face recognition is an essential skill for navigating human social interactions, which is reflected equally in the behavior and neural architecture of men and women.

Investigating the Influence of Biological Sex on the Behavioral and Neural Basis of Face Recognition

Science.gov (United States)

2017-01-01

Abstract There is interest in understanding the influence of biological factors, like sex, on the organization of brain function. We investigated the influence of biological sex on the behavioral and neural basis of face recognition in healthy, young adults. In behavior, there were no sex differences on the male Cambridge Face Memory Test (CFMT)+ or the female CFMT+ (that we created) and no own-gender bias (OGB) in either group. We evaluated the functional topography of ventral stream organization by measuring the magnitude and functional neural size of 16 individually defined face-, two object-, and two place-related regions bilaterally. There were no sex differences in any of these measures of neural function in any of the regions of interest (ROIs) or in group level comparisons. These findings reveal that men and women have similar category-selective topographic organization in the ventral visual pathway. Next, in a separate task, we measured activation within the 16 face-processing ROIs specifically during recognition of target male and female faces. There were no sex differences in the magnitude of the neural responses in any face-processing region. Furthermore, there was no OGB in the neural responses of either the male or female participants. Our findings suggest that face recognition behavior, including the OGB, is not inherently sexually dimorphic. Face recognition is an essential skill for navigating human social interactions, which is reflected equally in the behavior and neural architecture of men and women. PMID:28497111

Neural mechanisms underlying the induction and relief of perceptual curiosity

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Marieke eJepma

2012-02-01

Full Text Available Curiosity is one of the most basic biological drives in both animals and humans, and has been identified as a key motive for learning and discovery. Despite the importance of curiosity and related behaviors, the topic has been largely neglected in human neuroscience; hence little is known about the neurobiological mechanisms underlying curiosity. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI to investigate what happens in our brain during the induction and subsequent relief of perceptual curiosity. Our core findings were that (i the induction of perceptual curiosity, through the presentation of ambiguous visual input, activated the anterior insula and anterior cingulate cortex, brain regions sensitive to conflict and arousal; (ii the relief of perceptual curiosity, through visual disambiguation, activated regions of the striatum that have been related to reward processing; and (iii the relief of perceptual curiosity was associated with hippocampal activation and enhanced incidental memory. These findings provide the first demonstration of the neural basis of human perceptual curiosity. Our results provide neurobiological support for a classic psychological theory of curiosity, which holds that curiosity is an aversive condition of increased arousal whose termination is rewarding and facilitates memory.

Emotions and false memories: valence or arousal?

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Corson, Yves; Verrier, Nadège

2007-03-01

The effects of mood on false memories have not been studied systematically until recently. Some results seem to indicate that negative mood may reduce false recall and thus suggest an influence of emotional valence on false memory. The present research tested the effects of both valence and arousal on recall and recognition and indicates that the effect is actually due to arousal. In fact, whether participants' mood is positive, negative, or neutral, false memories are significantly more frequent under conditions of high arousal than under conditions of low arousal.

Effects of valence and arousal on emotional word processing are modulated by concreteness: Behavioral and ERP evidence from a lexical decision task.

Science.gov (United States)

Yao, Zhao; Yu, Deshui; Wang, Lili; Zhu, Xiangru; Guo, Jingjing; Wang, Zhenhong

2016-12-01

We investigated whether the effects of valence and arousal on emotional word processing are modulated by concreteness using event-related potentials (ERPs). The stimuli included concrete words (Experiment 1) and abstract words (Experiment 2) that were organized in an orthogonal design, with valence (positive and negative) and arousal (low and high) as factors in a lexical decision task. In Experiment 1, the impact of emotion on the effects of concrete words mainly resulted from the contribution of valence. Positive concrete words were processed more quickly than negative words and elicited a reduction of N400 (300-410ms) and enhancement of late positive complex (LPC; 450-750ms), whereas no differences in response times or ERPs were found between high and low levels of arousal. In Experiment 2, the interaction between valence and arousal influenced the impact of emotion on the effects of abstract words. Low-arousal positive words were associated with shorter response times and a reduction of LPC amplitudes compared with high-arousal positive words. Low-arousal negative words were processed more slowly and elicited a reduction of N170 (140-200ms) compared with high-arousal negative words. The present study indicates that word concreteness modulates the contributions of valence and arousal to the effects of emotion, and this modulation occurs during the early perceptual processing stage (N170) and late elaborate processing stage (LPC) for emotional words and at the end of all cognitive processes (i.e., reflected by response times). These findings support an embodied theory of semantic representation and help clarify prior inconsistent findings regarding the ways in which valance and arousal influence different stages of word processing, at least in a lexical decision task. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

No arousal-biased competition in focused visuospatial attention.

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Ásgeirsson, Árni Gunnar; Nieuwenhuis, Sander

2017-11-01

Arousal sometimes enhances and sometimes impairs perception and memory. A recent theory attempts to reconcile these findings by proposing that arousal amplifies the competition between stimulus representations, strengthening already strong representations and weakening already weak representations. Here, we report a stringent test of this arousal-biased competition theory in the context of focused visuospatial attention. Participants were required to identify a briefly presented target in the context of multiple distractors, which varied in the degree to which they competed for representation with the target, as revealed by psychophysics. We manipulated arousal using emotionally arousing pictures (Experiment 1), alerting tones (Experiment 2) and white-noise stimulation (Experiment 3), and validated these manipulations with electroencephalography and pupillometry. In none of the experiments did we find evidence that arousal modulated the effect of distractor competition on the accuracy of target identification. Bayesian statistics revealed moderate to strong evidence against arousal-biased competition. Modeling of the psychophysical data based on Bundesen's (1990) theory of visual attention corroborated the conclusion that arousal does not bias competition in focused visuospatial attention. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Homology and homoplasy of swimming behaviors and neural circuits in the Nudipleura (Mollusca, Gastropoda, Opisthobranchia)

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Newcomb, James M.; Sakurai, Akira; Lillvis, Joshua L.; Gunaratne, Charuni A.; Katz, Paul S.

2012-01-01

How neural circuit evolution relates to behavioral evolution is not well understood. Here the relationship between neural circuits and behavior is explored with respect to the swimming behaviors of the Nudipleura (Mollusca, Gastropoda, Opithobranchia). Nudipleura is a diverse monophyletic clade of sea slugs among which only a small percentage of species can swim. Swimming falls into a limited number of categories, the most prevalent of which are rhythmic left–right body flexions (LR) and rhythmic dorsal–ventral body flexions (DV). The phylogenetic distribution of these behaviors suggests a high degree of homoplasy. The central pattern generator (CPG) underlying DV swimming has been well characterized in Tritonia diomedea and in Pleurobranchaea californica. The CPG for LR swimming has been elucidated in Melibe leonina and Dendronotus iris, which are more closely related. The CPGs for the categorically distinct DV and LR swimming behaviors consist of nonoverlapping sets of homologous identified neurons, whereas the categorically similar behaviors share some homologous identified neurons, although the exact composition of neurons and synapses in the neural circuits differ. The roles played by homologous identified neurons in categorically distinct behaviors differ. However, homologous identified neurons also play different roles even in the swim CPGs of the two LR swimming species. Individual neurons can be multifunctional within a species. Some of those functions are shared across species, whereas others are not. The pattern of use and reuse of homologous neurons in various forms of swimming and other behaviors further demonstrates that the composition of neural circuits influences the evolution of behaviors. PMID:22723353

The Impact of Sexual Arousal on Sexual Risk-Taking and Decision-Making in Men and Women.

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Skakoon-Sparling, Shayna; Cramer, Kenneth M; Shuper, Paul A

2016-01-01

Sexual arousal has emerged as an important contextual feature in sexual encounters that can impact safer-sex decision-making. We conducted two experiments that investigated the effects of sexual arousal among male and female participants. Experiment 1 (N = 144) examined the impact of sexual around on sexual health decision-making. Sexually explicit and neutral video clips as well as hypothetical romantic scenarios were used to evaluate the effects of sexual arousal on sexual risk-taking intentions. Men and women who reported higher levels of sexual arousal also displayed greater intentions to participate in risky sexual behavior (e.g., unprotected sex with a new sex partner). Experiment 2 (N = 122) examined the impact of sexual arousal on general risk-taking, using the same videos clips as in Experiment 1 and a modified version of a computerized Blackjack card game. Participants were offered a chance to make either a risky play or a safe play during ambiguous conditions. Increased sexual arousal in Experiment 2 was associated with impulsivity and a greater willingness to make risky plays in the Blackjack game. These findings suggest that, in situations where there are strong sexually visceral cues, both men and women experiencing strong sexual arousal may have lower inhibitions and may experience impaired decision-making. This phenomenon may have an impact during sexual encounters and may contribute to a failure to use appropriate prophylactic protection.

A Single Session of Autogenic Training Increases Acute Subjective and Physiological Sexual Arousal in Sexually Functional Women.

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Stanton, Amelia; Meston, Cindy

2017-10-03

Heart rate variability (HRV) has recently been associated with female sexual function (Stanton, Lorenz, Pulverman, & Meston, 2015). Below-average HRV was identified as a possible risk factor for sexual arousal dysfunction and overall sexual dysfunction in women. Based on this newly established relationship between HRV and female sexual function, the present study examined the effect of autogenic training to increase HRV on acute physiological and subjective sexual arousal in women. Specifically, vaginal pulse amplitude (VPA), an index of genital sexual arousal, and subjective sexual arousal were assessed in 33 sexually functional women, aged 18 to 27, before and after a short session of autogenic training. Autogenic training, a relaxation technique that restores the balance between the activity of the sympathetic and the parasympathetic branches of the autonomic nervous system, has been shown to significantly increase HRV (Miu, Heilman, & Miclea, 2009). After autogenic training, significant increases in both VPA (p <.05) and subjective sexual arousal (p <.005) were observed. Moreover, change in HRV from pre- to postmanipulation significantly moderated changes in subjective sexual arousal (p <.05) when it was measured continuously during the presentation of the erotic stimulus. This cost-effective, easy-to-administer behavioral intervention may have important implications for increasing sexual arousal in women.

Can Arousal Modulate Response Inhibition?

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Weinbach, Noam; Kalanthroff, Eyal; Avnit, Amir; Henik, Avishai

2015-01-01

The goal of the present study was to examine if and how arousal can modulate response inhibition. Two competing hypotheses can be drawn from previous literature. One holds that alerting cues that elevate arousal should result in an impulsive response and therefore impair response inhibition. The other suggests that alerting enhances processing of…

Caffeine effects on resting-state arousal.

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Barry, Robert J; Rushby, Jacqueline A; Wallace, Mark J; Clarke, Adam R; Johnstone, Stuart J; Zlojutro, Ilinka

2005-11-01

This study examined the use of caffeine to manipulate arousal level without the confounds associated with task-related activation. From previous work in our laboratory, an increase in skin conductance level (SCL) and EEG alpha frequency, together with a global decrease in alpha power, were used as markers of arousal increase, and we sought to identify these effects with caffeine ingestion. We examined the effect of a single oral dose of caffeine (250 mg) in a randomised double-blind placebo-controlled repeated-measures cross-over study. Eighteen healthy university students (mean age 21 years; 13/18 females) participated in two sessions 1 week apart. EEG and autonomic data (SCL, heart rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and respiration rate) from a 2 min eyes-closed epoch, commencing approximately 30 min after ingestion of caffeine or placebo, were examined. Caffeine was associated with increased SCL, a global reduction in EEG power in the alpha band, and a global increase in alpha frequency. There were no cardiovascular effects. The positive results are consistent with recent electrodermal and EEG studies of arousal and suggest that caffeine may be utilised as a task-free means of manipulating arousal in future investigations. Further work is necessary to clarify the absence of cardiovascular effects, and to integrate those data with emerging conceptualisations of arousal and activation. The present data support the use of caffeine as a simple tool to explore the role of arousal in both normal and atypical functioning, and this may be useful in determining the validity and importance of supposed hyper- or hypo-arousal in such syndromes as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD).

Daily stress, presleep arousal, and sleep in healthy young women: a daily life computerized sleep diary and actigraphy study.

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Winzeler, Katja; Voellmin, Annette; Schäfer, Valérie; Meyer, Andrea H; Cajochen, Christian; Wilhelm, Frank H; Bader, Klaus

2014-03-01

Our study aimed to further elucidate the mediating role of presleep arousal in the relationship between daily stress and sleep by investigating subjective sleep quality and actigraphy-assessed sleep efficiency (SE) on both within- and between-participant levels in a sample of healthy young women. Multilevel modeling was applied on electronically assessed data comprising 14 consecutive nights in 145 healthy young women to assess the relationship between daily stress, presleep (somatic and cognitive) arousal, and sleep on both levels between participants and within participants across days. Higher levels of daily stress were consistently and significantly associated with higher levels of somatic and cognitive arousal. Somatic arousal mediated the relationship between daily stress and worsened subjective sleep quality on the between-participant level, while cognitive arousal mediated the relationship between daily stress and worsened subjective sleep quality on the within-participants level. Unexpectedly, healthy young women showed higher SE following days with above-average stress with somatic arousal mediating this relationship. Our data corroborate the role of presleep arousal mediating the relationship between daily stress and subjective sleep quality. Interestingly this effect was restricted to somatic arousal being relevant on interindividual levels and cognitive arousal on intraindividual levels. For young and healthy individuals who experience high stress and arousal, well-established cognitive-behavioral techniques could be useful to regulate arousal and prevent worse subjective sleep quality. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Enhanced sympathetic arousal in response to FMRI scanning correlates with task induced activations and deactivations.

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Markus Muehlhan

Full Text Available It has been repeatedly shown that functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI triggers distress and neuroendocrine response systems. Prior studies have revealed that sympathetic arousal increases, particularly at the beginning of the examination. Against this background it appears likely that those stress reactions during the scanning procedure may influence task performance and neural correlates. However, the question how sympathetic arousal elicited by the scanning procedure itself may act as a potential confounder of fMRI data remains unresolved today. Thirty-seven scanner naive healthy subjects performed a simple cued target detection task. Levels of salivary alpha amylase (sAA, as a biomarker for sympathetic activity, were assessed in samples obtained at several time points during the lab visit. SAA increased two times, immediately prior to scanning and at the end of the scanning procedure. Neural activation related to motor preparation and timing as well as task performance was positively correlated with the first increase. Furthermore, the first sAA increase was associated with task induced deactivation (TID in frontal and parietal regions. However, these effects were restricted to the first part of the experiment. Consequently, this bias of scanner related sympathetic activation should be considered in future fMRI investigations. It is of particular importance for pharmacological investigations studying adrenergic agents and the comparison of groups with different stress vulnerabilities like patients and controls or adolescents and adults.

Coordination: Neural, Behavioral and Social Dynamics

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Fuchs, Armin

2008-01-01

One of the most striking features of Coordination Dynamics is its interdisciplinary character. The problems we are trying to solve in this field range from behavioral phenomena of interlimb coordination and coordination between stimuli and movements (perception-action tasks) through neural activation patterns that can be observed during these tasks to clinical applications and social behavior. It is not surprising that close collaboration among scientists from different fields as psychology, kinesiology, neurology and even physics are imperative to deal with the enormous difficulties we are facing when we try to understand a system as complex as the human brain. The chapters in this volume are not simply write-ups of the lectures given by the experts at the meeting but are written in a way that they give sufficient introductory information to be comprehensible and useful for all interested scientists and students.

Effect of emotional arousal on inter-temporal decision-making: an fMRI study.

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Sohn, Jin-Hun; Kim, Hyo-Eun; Sohn, Sunju; Seok, Ji-Woo; Choi, Damee; Watanuki, Shigeki

2015-03-07

Previous research has shown that emotion can significantly impact decision-making in humans. The current study examined whether or not and how situationally induced emotion influences people to make inter-temporal choices. Affective pictures were used as experiment stimuli to provoke emotion, immediately followed by subjects' performance of a delay-discounting task to measure impulsivity during functional magnetic resonance imaging. Results demonstrate a subsequent process of increased impulsive decision-making following a prior exposure to both high positive and negative arousal stimuli, compared to the experiment subjects' experiences with neutral stimuli. Findings indicate that increased impulsive decision-making behaviors can occur with high arousal and can be characterized by decreased activities in the cognitive control regions such as prefronto-parietal regions. These results suggest that 'stabilization of high emotional arousal' may facilitate a reduction of impulsive decision-making and implementation of longer term goals.

Low social status decreases the neural salience of unfairness

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Jie eHu

2014-11-01

Full Text Available Social hierarchy exists in almost all social species and affects everything from resource allocation to the development of intelligence. Previous studies showed that status within a social hierarchy influences the perceived fairness of income allocation. However, the effect of one’s social status on economic decisions is far from clear, as are the neural processes underlying these decisions. In this study, we dynamically manipulated participants’ social status and analyzed their behavior as recipients in the ultimatum game, during which event-related potentials (ERPs were recorded. Behavioral results showed that acceptance rates for offers increased with the fairness level of offers. Importantly, participants were less likely to accept unfair offers when they were endowed with high status than with low status. In addition, cues indicating low status elicited a more positive P2 than cues indicating high status in an earlier time window (170 – 240 ms, and cues indicating high status elicited a more negative N400 than did cues indicating low status in a later time window (350 – 520 ms. During the actual reception of offers, the late positivity potential (LPP, 400 – 700 ms for unfair offers was more positive in the high status condition than in the low status condition, suggesting a decreased arousal for unfair offers during low status. These findings suggest a strong role of social status in modulating individual behavioral and neural responses to fairness.

Oxytocin and vasopressin neural networks: Implications for social behavioral diversity and translational neuroscience.

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Johnson, Zachary V; Young, Larry J

2017-05-01

Oxytocin- and vasopressin-related systems are present in invertebrate and vertebrate bilaterian animals, including humans, and exhibit conserved neuroanatomical and functional properties. In vertebrates, these systems innervate conserved neural networks that regulate social learning and behavior, including conspecific recognition, social attachment, and parental behavior. Individual and species-level variation in central organization of oxytocin and vasopressin systems has been linked to individual and species variation in social learning and behavior. In humans, genetic polymorphisms in the genes encoding oxytocin and vasopressin peptides and/or their respective target receptors have been associated with individual variation in social recognition, social attachment phenotypes, parental behavior, and psychiatric phenotypes such as autism. Here we describe both conserved and variable features of central oxytocin and vasopressin systems in the context of social behavioral diversity, with a particular focus on neural networks that modulate social learning, behavior, and salience of sociosensory stimuli during species-typical social contexts. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Neural plasticity and behavior - sixty years of conceptual advances.

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Sweatt, J David

2016-10-01

This brief review summarizes 60 years of conceptual advances that have demonstrated a role for active changes in neuronal connectivity as a controller of behavior and behavioral change. Seminal studies in the first phase of the six-decade span of this review firmly established the cellular basis of behavior - a concept that we take for granted now, but which was an open question at the time. Hebbian plasticity, including long-term potentiation and long-term depression, was then discovered as being important for local circuit refinement in the context of memory formation and behavioral change and stabilization in the mammalian central nervous system. Direct demonstration of plasticity of neuronal circuit function in vivo, for example, hippocampal neurons forming place cell firing patterns, extended this concept. However, additional neurophysiologic and computational studies demonstrated that circuit development and stabilization additionally relies on non-Hebbian, homoeostatic, forms of plasticity, such as synaptic scaling and control of membrane intrinsic properties. Activity-dependent neurodevelopment was found to be associated with cell-wide adjustments in post-synaptic receptor density, and found to occur in conjunction with synaptic pruning. Pioneering cellular neurophysiologic studies demonstrated the critical roles of transmembrane signal transduction, NMDA receptor regulation, regulation of neural membrane biophysical properties, and back-propagating action potential in critical time-dependent coincidence detection in behavior-modifying circuits. Concerning the molecular mechanisms underlying these processes, regulation of gene transcription was found to serve as a bridge between experience and behavioral change, closing the 'nature versus nurture' divide. Both active DNA (de)methylation and regulation of chromatin structure have been validated as crucial regulators of gene transcription during learning. The discovery of protein synthesis dependence on the

Ventilatory response to induced auditory arousals during NREM sleep.

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Badr, M S; Morgan, B J; Finn, L; Toiber, F S; Crabtree, D C; Puleo, D S; Skatrud, J B

1997-09-01

Sleep state instability is a potential mechanism of central apnea/hypopnea during non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep. To investigate this postulate, we induced brief arousals by delivering transient (0.5 second) auditory stimuli during stable NREM sleep in eight normal subjects. Arousal was determined according to American Sleep Disorders Association (ASDA) criteria. A total of 96 trials were conducted; 59 resulted in cortical arousal and 37 did not result in arousal. In trials associated with arousal, minute ventilation (VE) increased from 5.1 +/- 1.24 minutes to 7.5 +/- 2.24 minutes on the first posttone breath (p = 0.001). However, no subsequent hypopnea or apnea occurred as VE decreased gradually to 4.8 +/- 1.5 l/minute (p > 0.05) on the fifth posttone breath. Trials without arousal did not result in hyperpnea on the first breath nor subsequent hypopnea. We conclude that 1) auditory stimulation resulted in transient hyperpnea only if associated with cortical arousal; 2) hypopnea or apnea did not occur following arousal-induced hyperpnea in normal subjects; 3) interaction with fluctuating chemical stimuli or upper airway resistance may be required for arousals to cause sleep-disordered breathing.

Oxytocin mediated behavior in invertebrates: An evolutionary perspective.

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Lockard, Meghan A; Ebert, Margaret S; Bargmann, Cornelia I

2017-02-01

The molecular and functional conservation of oxytocin-related neuropeptides in behavior is striking. In animals separated by at least 600 million years of evolution, from roundworms to humans, oxytocin homologs play critical roles in the modulation of reproductive behavior and other biological functions. Here, we review the roles of oxytocin in invertebrate behavior from an evolutionary perspective. We begin by tracing the evolution of oxytocin through the invertebrate animal lineages, and then describe common themes in invertebrate behaviors that are mediated by oxytocin-related peptides, including reproductive behavior, learning and memory, food arousal, and predator/prey relationships. Finally, we discuss interesting future directions that have recently become experimentally tractable. Studying oxytocin in invertebrates offers precise insights into the activity of neuropeptides on well-defined neural circuits; the principles that emerge may also be represented in the more complex vertebrate brain. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Develop Neurobiol 77: 128-142, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Identifying Emotions on the Basis of Neural Activation.

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Kassam, Karim S; Markey, Amanda R; Cherkassky, Vladimir L; Loewenstein, George; Just, Marcel Adam

2013-01-01

We attempt to determine the discriminability and organization of neural activation corresponding to the experience of specific emotions. Method actors were asked to self-induce nine emotional states (anger, disgust, envy, fear, happiness, lust, pride, sadness, and shame) while in an fMRI scanner. Using a Gaussian Naïve Bayes pooled variance classifier, we demonstrate the ability to identify specific emotions experienced by an individual at well over chance accuracy on the basis of: 1) neural activation of the same individual in other trials, 2) neural activation of other individuals who experienced similar trials, and 3) neural activation of the same individual to a qualitatively different type of emotion induction. Factor analysis identified valence, arousal, sociality, and lust as dimensions underlying the activation patterns. These results suggest a structure for neural representations of emotion and inform theories of emotional processing.

Sex differences in neural and behavioral signatures of cooperation revealed by fNIRS hyperscanning

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Baker, Joseph M.; Liu, Ning; Cui, Xu; Vrticka, Pascal; Saggar, Manish; Hosseini, S. M. Hadi; Reiss, Allan L.

2016-01-01

Researchers from multiple fields have sought to understand how sex moderates human social behavior. While over 50 years of research has revealed differences in cooperation behavior of males and females, the underlying neural correlates of these sex differences have not been explained. A missing and fundamental element of this puzzle is an understanding of how the sex composition of an interacting dyad influences the brain and behavior during cooperation. Using fNIRS-based hyperscanning in 111 same- and mixed-sex dyads, we identified significant behavioral and neural sex-related differences in association with a computer-based cooperation task. Dyads containing at least one male demonstrated significantly higher behavioral performance than female/female dyads. Individual males and females showed significant activation in the right frontopolar and right inferior prefrontal cortices, although this activation was greater in females compared to males. Female/female dyad’s exhibited significant inter-brain coherence within the right temporal cortex, while significant coherence in male/male dyads occurred in the right inferior prefrontal cortex. Significant coherence was not observed in mixed-sex dyads. Finally, for same-sex dyads only, task-related inter-brain coherence was positively correlated with cooperation task performance. Our results highlight multiple important and previously undetected influences of sex on concurrent neural and behavioral signatures of cooperation. PMID:27270754

How Arousal Affects Younger and Older Adults' Memory Binding

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Nashiro, Kaoru; Mather, Mara

2009-01-01

A number of recent studies have shown that associative memory for within-item features is enhanced for emotionally arousing items, whereas arousal-enhanced binding is not seen for associations between distinct items (for a review see Mather, 2007). The costs and benefits of arousal in memory binding have been examined for younger adults but not for older adults. The present experiment examined whether arousal would enhance younger and older adults' within-item and between-item memory binding. The results revealed that arousal improved younger adults' within-item memory binding but not that of older adults. Arousal worsened both groups' between-item memory binding. PMID:21240821

The Carotid Body and Arousal in the Fetus and Neonate

Science.gov (United States)

2012-01-01

Arousal from sleep is a major defense mechanism in infants against hypoxia and/or hypercapnia. Arousal failure may be an important contributor to SIDS. Areas of the brainstem that have been found to be abnormal in a majority of SIDS infants are involved in the arousal process. Arousal is sleep state dependent, being depressed during AS in most mammals, but depressed during QS in human infants. Repeated exposure to hypoxia causes a progressive blunting of arousal that may involve medullary raphe GABAergic mechanisms. Whereas CB chemoreceptors contribute heavily to arousal in response to hypoxia, serotonergic central chemoreceptors have been implicated in the arousal response to CO2. Pulmonary or chest wall mechanoreceptors also contribute to arousal in proportion to the ventilatory response and decreases in their input may contribute to depressed arousal during AS. Little is known about specific arousal pathways beyond the NTS. Whether CB chemoreceptor stimulation directly stimulates arousal centers or whether this is done indirectly through respiratory networks remains unknown. This review will focus on arousal in response to hypoxia and CO2 in the fetus and newborn and will outline what we know (and don’t know) about the involvement of the carotid body in this process. PMID:22684039

High baseline activity in inferior temporal cortex improves neural and behavioral discriminability during visual categorization

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Nazli eEmadi

2014-11-01

Full Text Available Spontaneous firing is a ubiquitous property of neural activity in the brain. Recent literature suggests that this baseline activity plays a key role in perception. However, it is not known how the baseline activity contributes to neural coding and behavior. Here, by recording from the single neurons in the inferior temporal cortex of monkeys performing a visual categorization task, we thoroughly explored the relationship between baseline activity, the evoked response, and behavior. Specifically we found that a low-frequency (< 8 Hz oscillation in the spike train, prior and phase-locked to the stimulus onset, was correlated with increased gamma power and neuronal baseline activity. This enhancement of the baseline activity was then followed by an increase in the neural selectivity and the response reliability and eventually a higher behavioral performance.

The neural basis of visual behaviors in the larval zebrafish.

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Portugues, Ruben; Engert, Florian

2009-12-01

We review visually guided behaviors in larval zebrafish and summarise what is known about the neural processing that results in these behaviors, paying particular attention to the progress made in the last 2 years. Using the examples of the optokinetic reflex, the optomotor response, prey tracking and the visual startle response, we illustrate how the larval zebrafish presents us with a very promising model vertebrate system that allows neurocientists to integrate functional and behavioral studies and from which we can expect illuminating insights in the near future. Copyright 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Neural Reactivity to Emotional Faces Mediates the Relationship Between Childhood Empathy and Adolescent Prosocial Behavior

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Flournoy, John C.; Pfeifer, Jennifer H.; Moore, William E.; Tackman, Allison; Masten, Carrie L.; Mazziotta, John C.; Iacoboni, Marco; Dapretto, Mirella

2017-01-01

Reactivity to others' emotions can result in empathic concern (EC), an important motivator of prosocial behavior, but can also result in personal distress (PD), which may hinder prosocial behavior. Examining neural substrates of emotional reactivity may elucidate how EC and PD differentially influence prosocial behavior. Participants (N=57) provided measures of EC, PD, prosocial behavior, and neural responses to emotional expressions at age 10 and 13. Initial EC predicted subsequent prosocial behavior. Initial EC and PD predicted subsequent reactivity to emotions in the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and inferior parietal lobule, respectively. Activity in the IFG, a region linked to mirror neuron processes, as well as cognitive control and language, mediated the relation between initial EC and subsequent prosocial behavior. PMID:28262939

Arousal, mood, and the Mozart effect.

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Thompson, W F; Schellenberg, E G; Husain, G

2001-05-01

The "Mozart effect" refers to claims that people perform better on tests of spatial abilities after listening to music composed by Mozart. We examined whether the Mozart effect is a consequence of between-condition differences in arousal and mood. Participants completed a test of spatial abilities after listening to music or sitting in silence. The music was a Mozart sonata (a pleasant and energetic piece) for some participants and an Albinoni adagio (a slow, sad piece) for others. We also measured enjoyment, arousal, and mood. Performance on tbe spatial task was better following the music than the silence condition but only for participants who heard Mozart. The two music selections also induced differential responding on the enjoyment, arousal and mood measures. Moreover, when such differences were held constant by statistical means, the Mozart effect disappeared. These findings provide compelling evidence that the Mozart effect is an artifact of arousal and mood.

Can sustained arousal explain the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome?

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Eriksen Hege R

2009-02-01

Full Text Available Abstract We present an integrative model of disease mechanisms in the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS, unifying empirical findings from different research traditions. Based upon the Cognitive activation theory of stress (CATS, we argue that new data on cardiovascular and thermoregulatory regulation indicate a state of permanent arousal responses – sustained arousal – in this condition. We suggest that sustained arousal can originate from different precipitating factors (infections, psychosocial challenges interacting with predisposing factors (genetic traits, personality and learned expectancies (classical and operant conditioning. Furthermore, sustained arousal may explain documented alterations by establishing vicious circles within immunology (Th2 (humoral vs Th1 (cellular predominance, endocrinology (attenuated HPA axis, skeletal muscle function (attenuated cortical activation, increased oxidative stress and cognition (impaired memory and information processing. Finally, we propose a causal link between sustained arousal and the experience of fatigue. The model of sustained arousal embraces all main findings concerning CFS disease mechanisms within one theoretical framework.

Disgust versus Lust: Exploring the Interactions of Disgust and Fear with Sexual Arousal in Women.

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Diana S Fleischman

Full Text Available Sexual arousal is a motivational state that moves humans toward situations that inherently pose a risk of disease transmission. Disgust is an emotion that adaptively moves humans away from such situations. Incongruent is the fact that sexual activity is elementary to human fitness yet involves strong disgust elicitors. Using an experimental paradigm, we investigated how these two states interact. Women (final N=76 were assigned to one of four conditions: rate disgust stimuli then watch a pornographic clip; watch a pornographic clip then rate disgust stimuli; rate fear stimuli then watch a pornographic clip; or watch a pornographic clip then rate fear stimuli. Women's genital sexual arousal was measured with vaginal photoplethysmography and their disgust and fear reactions were measured via self-report. We did not find that baseline disgust propensity predicted sexual arousal in women who were exposed to neutral stimuli before erotic content. In the Erotic-before-Disgust condition we did not find that sexual arousal straightforwardly predicted decreased image disgust ratings. However, we did find some evidence that sexual arousal increased self-reported disgust in women with high trait disgust and sexual arousal decreased self-reported disgust in women with low trait disgust. Women who were exposed to disgusting images before erotic content showed significantly less sexual arousal than women in the control condition or women exposed to fear-inducing images before erotic content. In the Disgust-before-Erotic condition the degree of self-reported disgust was negatively correlated with genital sexual arousal. Hence, in the conflict between the ultimate goals of reproduction and disease avoidance, cues of the presence of pathogens significantly reduce the motivation to engage in mating behaviors that, by their nature, entail a risk of pathogen transmission.

Disgust versus Lust: Exploring the Interactions of Disgust and Fear with Sexual Arousal in Women

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Fleischman, Diana S.; Hamilton, Lisa Dawn; Fessler, Daniel M. T.; Meston, Cindy M.

2015-01-01

Sexual arousal is a motivational state that moves humans toward situations that inherently pose a risk of disease transmission. Disgust is an emotion that adaptively moves humans away from such situations. Incongruent is the fact that sexual activity is elementary to human fitness yet involves strong disgust elicitors. Using an experimental paradigm, we investigated how these two states interact. Women (final N=76) were assigned to one of four conditions: rate disgust stimuli then watch a pornographic clip; watch a pornographic clip then rate disgust stimuli; rate fear stimuli then watch a pornographic clip; or watch a pornographic clip then rate fear stimuli. Women’s genital sexual arousal was measured with vaginal photoplethysmography and their disgust and fear reactions were measured via self-report. We did not find that baseline disgust propensity predicted sexual arousal in women who were exposed to neutral stimuli before erotic content. In the Erotic-before-Disgust condition we did not find that sexual arousal straightforwardly predicted decreased image disgust ratings. However, we did find some evidence that sexual arousal increased self-reported disgust in women with high trait disgust and sexual arousal decreased self-reported disgust in women with low trait disgust. Women who were exposed to disgusting images before erotic content showed significantly less sexual arousal than women in the control condition or women exposed to fear-inducing images before erotic content. In the Disgust-before-Erotic condition the degree of self-reported disgust was negatively correlated with genital sexual arousal. Hence, in the conflict between the ultimate goals of reproduction and disease avoidance, cues of the presence of pathogens significantly reduce the motivation to engage in mating behaviors that, by their nature, entail a risk of pathogen transmission. PMID:26106894

Disgust versus Lust: Exploring the Interactions of Disgust and Fear with Sexual Arousal in Women.

Science.gov (United States)

Fleischman, Diana S; Hamilton, Lisa Dawn; Fessler, Daniel M T; Meston, Cindy M

2015-01-01

Sexual arousal is a motivational state that moves humans toward situations that inherently pose a risk of disease transmission. Disgust is an emotion that adaptively moves humans away from such situations. Incongruent is the fact that sexual activity is elementary to human fitness yet involves strong disgust elicitors. Using an experimental paradigm, we investigated how these two states interact. Women (final N=76) were assigned to one of four conditions: rate disgust stimuli then watch a pornographic clip; watch a pornographic clip then rate disgust stimuli; rate fear stimuli then watch a pornographic clip; or watch a pornographic clip then rate fear stimuli. Women's genital sexual arousal was measured with vaginal photoplethysmography and their disgust and fear reactions were measured via self-report. We did not find that baseline disgust propensity predicted sexual arousal in women who were exposed to neutral stimuli before erotic content. In the Erotic-before-Disgust condition we did not find that sexual arousal straightforwardly predicted decreased image disgust ratings. However, we did find some evidence that sexual arousal increased self-reported disgust in women with high trait disgust and sexual arousal decreased self-reported disgust in women with low trait disgust. Women who were exposed to disgusting images before erotic content showed significantly less sexual arousal than women in the control condition or women exposed to fear-inducing images before erotic content. In the Disgust-before-Erotic condition the degree of self-reported disgust was negatively correlated with genital sexual arousal. Hence, in the conflict between the ultimate goals of reproduction and disease avoidance, cues of the presence of pathogens significantly reduce the motivation to engage in mating behaviors that, by their nature, entail a risk of pathogen transmission.

Determinants of subjective experience of sexual arousal in women: feedback from genital arousal and erotic stimulus content

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Laan, E.; Everaerd, W.; van der Velde, J.; Geer, J. H.

1995-01-01

Sixty-two women participated in a study designed to explore the association between genital and subjective sexual arousal. Four stimulus conditions were created, designed to evoke differential patterns of genital arousal over time. Subjects were instructed to report sensations in their genitalia

The scoring of arousal in sleep: reliability, validity, and alternatives.

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Bonnet, Michael H; Doghramji, Karl; Roehrs, Timothy; Stepanski, Edward J; Sheldon, Stephen H; Walters, Arthur S; Wise, Merrill; Chesson, Andrew L

2007-03-15

The reliability and validity of EEG arousals and other types of arousal are reviewed. Brief arousals during sleep had been observed for many years, but the evolution of sleep medicine in the 1980s directed new attention to these events. Early studies at that time in animals and humans linked brief EEG arousals and associated fragmentation of sleep to daytime sleepiness and degraded performance. Increasing interest in scoring of EEG arousals led the ASDA to publish a scoring manual in 1992. The current review summarizes numerous studies that have examined scoring reliability for these EEG arousals. Validity of EEG arousals was explored by review of studies that empirically varied arousals and found deficits similar to those found after total sleep deprivation depending upon the rate and extent of sleep fragmentation. Additional data from patients with clinical sleep disorders prior to and after effective treatment has also shown a continuing relationship between reduction in pathology-related arousals and improved sleep and daytime function. Finally, many suggestions have been made to refine arousal scoring to include additional elements (e.g., CAP), change the time frame, or focus on other physiological responses such as heart rate or blood pressure changes. Evidence to support the reliability and validity of these measures is presented. It was concluded that the scoring of EEG arousals has added much to our understanding of the sleep process but that significant work on the neurophysiology of arousal needs to be done. Additional refinement of arousal scoring will provide improved insight into sleep pathology and recovery.

Arm injury produces long-term behavioral and neural hypersensitivity in octopus.

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Alupay, Jean S; Hadjisolomou, Stavros P; Crook, Robyn J

2014-01-13

Cephalopod molluscs are the most neurally and behaviorally complex invertebrates, with brains rivaling those of some vertebrates in size and complexity. This has fostered the opinion that cephalopods, particularly octopuses, may experience vertebrate-like pain when injured. However, it is not known whether octopuses possess nociceptors or if their somatic sensory neurons exhibit sensitization after injury. Here we show that the octopus Abdopus aculeatus expresses nocifensive behaviors including arm autotomy, and displays marked neural hyperexcitability both in injured and uninjured arms for at least 24h after injury. These findings do not demonstrate that octopuses experience pain-like states; instead they add to the minimal existing literature on how cephalopods receive, process, and integrate noxious sensory information, potentially informing and refining regulations governing use of cephalopods in scientific research. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd.

Increasing the Persuasiveness of Fear Appeals: The Effect of Arousal and Elaboration.

OpenAIRE

Keller, Punam Anand; Block, Lauren Goldberg

1996-01-01

We investigate the conditions under which messages that prompt low and high levels of fear are likely to be effective. Our premise is that when a low level of fear is ineffective, it is because there is insufficient elaboration of the harmful consequences of engaging in the destructive behavior. By contrast, when appeals arousing high levels of fear are ineffective, it is because too much elaboration on the harmful consequences interferes with processing of the recommended change in behavior....

Effects of Voice on Emotional Arousal

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Psyche eLoui

2013-10-01

Full Text Available Music is a powerful medium capable of eliciting a broad range of emotions. Although the relationship between language and music is well documented, relatively little is known about the effects of lyrics and the voice on the emotional processing of music and on listeners’ preferences. In the present study, we investigated the effects of vocals in music on participants’ perceived valence and arousal in songs. Participants (N = 50 made valence and arousal ratings for familiar songs that were presented with and without the voice. We observed robust effects of vocal content on perceived arousal. Furthermore, we found that the effect of the voice on enhancing arousal ratings is independent of familiarity of the song and differs across genders and age: females were more influenced by vocals than males; furthermore these gender effects were enhanced among older adults. Results highlight the effects of gender and aging in emotion perception and are discussed in terms of the social roles of music.

Viewing sexual images is associated with reduced physiological arousal response to gambling loss.

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Lui, Ming; Hsu, Ming

2018-01-01

Erotic imagery is one highly salient emotional signal that exists everywhere in daily life. The impact of sexual stimuli on human decision-making, however, has rarely been investigated. This study examines the impact of sexual stimuli on financial decision-making under risk. In each trial, either a sexual or neutral image was presented in a picture categorization task before a gambling task. Thirty-four men made gambling decisions while their physiological arousal, measured by skin conductance responses (SCRs), was recorded. Behaviorally, the proportion of gambling decisions did not differ between the sexual and neutral image trials. Physiologically, participants had smaller arousal differences, measured in micro-siemen per dollar, between losses and gains in the sexual rather than in the neutral image trials. Moreover, participants' SCRs to losses relative to gains predicted the proportion of gambling decisions in the neutral image trials but not in the sexual image trials. The results were consistent with the hypothesis that the presence of emotionally salient sexual images reduces attentional and arousal-related responses to gambling losses. Our results are consistent with the theory of loss attention involving increased cognitive investment in losses compared to gains. The findings also have potential practical implications for our understanding of the specific roles of sexual images in human financial decision making in everyday life, such as gambling behaviors in the casino.

Metabolic regulation and behavior: how hunger produces arousal - an insect study.

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Wicher, Dieter

2007-12-01

The metabolic state affects the level of general activity of an organism. Satiety is related to relaxation while hunger is coupled to elevated activity which supports the chance to balance the energy deficiency. The unrestricted food availability in modern industrial nations along with no required locomotor activity are risk factors to develop disorders such as obesity. One of the strategies to find new targets for future treatment of metabolic disorders in men is to gain detailed knowledge of molecular and cellular mechanisms involved in the regulation of metabolic homeostasis in less complex, i.e. invertebrate systems. This review reports recent molecular studies in insects about how hunger signals may be linked to global activation. Adipokinetic peptide hormones (AKHs) are the insect counterpart to the mammalian glucagon. They are released upon lack of energy and mobilize internal fuel reserves. In addition, AKHs stimulate the locomotor activity which involves their activity within the central nervous system. In the cockroach Periplaneta americana various neurons express the AKH receptor. Some of these, the dorsal unpaired median (DUM) neurons belonging to a general arousal system, release the biogenic amine octopamine, the insect counterpart to mammalian adrenergic hormones. The two Periplaneta AKHs activate Gs proteins, and AKH I also potently activates Gq proteins. AKH I and - less effectively - AKH II accelerate spiking of DUM neurons via an increase of a pacemaking Ca2+ current. Systemically injected AKH I stimulates locomotion in contrast to AKH II. This behavioral difference corresponds to the different effectiveness of the AKHs on the level of G-proteins.

Flooding and Systematic Desensitization: Efficacy in Subclinical Phobics as a Function of Arousal

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Suarez, Yolanda; And Others

1976-01-01

Flooding and systematic desensitization procedures were investigated for possible interactions with subject arousal level on reduction in phobic reactions. No such interaction was found. Behaviorally and on GSR response, both flooding and systematic desensitization were effective, but only the latter was effective on subjective reports. (NG)

The neural signature of emotional memories in serial crimes.

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Chassy, Philippe

2017-10-01

Neural plasticity is the process whereby semantic information and emotional responses are stored in neural networks. It is hypothesized that the neural networks built over time to encode the sexual fantasies that motivate serial killers to act should display a unique, detectable activation pattern. The pathological neural watermark hypothesis posits that such networks comprise activation of brain sites that reflect four cognitive components: autobiographical memory, sexual arousal, aggression, and control over aggression. The neural sites performing these cognitive functions have been successfully identified by previous research. The key findings are reviewed to hypothesise the typical pattern of activity that serial killers should display. Through the integration of biological findings into one framework, the neural approach proposed in this paper is in stark contrast with the many theories accounting for serial killers that offer non-medical taxonomies. The pathological neural watermark hypothesis offers a new framework to understand and detect deviant individuals. The technical and legal issues are briefly discussed. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Two Aspects of Activation: Arousal and Subjective Significance – Behavioral and Event-Related Potential Correlates Investigated by Means of a Modified Emotional Stroop Task

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Kamil Imbir

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The arousal level of words presented in a Stroop task was found to affect their interference on the required naming of the words’ color. Based on a dual-processes approach, we propose that there are two aspects to activation: arousal and subjective significance. Arousal is crucial for automatic processing. Subjective significance is specific to controlled processing. Based on this conceptual model, we predicted that arousal would enhance interference in a Stroop task, as attention would be allocated to the meaning of the inhibited word. High subjective significance should have the opposite effect, i.e., it should enhance the controlled and explicit part of Stroop task processing, which is color naming. We found that response latencies were modulated by the interaction between the arousal and subjective significance levels of words. The longest reaction times were observed for highly arousing words of medium subjective significance level. Arousal shaped event related potentials in the 150–290 ms time range, while effects of subjective significance were found for 50–150, 150–290, and 290–530 ms time ranges.

Identifying Emotions on the Basis of Neural Activation.

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Karim S Kassam

Full Text Available We attempt to determine the discriminability and organization of neural activation corresponding to the experience of specific emotions. Method actors were asked to self-induce nine emotional states (anger, disgust, envy, fear, happiness, lust, pride, sadness, and shame while in an fMRI scanner. Using a Gaussian Naïve Bayes pooled variance classifier, we demonstrate the ability to identify specific emotions experienced by an individual at well over chance accuracy on the basis of: 1 neural activation of the same individual in other trials, 2 neural activation of other individuals who experienced similar trials, and 3 neural activation of the same individual to a qualitatively different type of emotion induction. Factor analysis identified valence, arousal, sociality, and lust as dimensions underlying the activation patterns. These results suggest a structure for neural representations of emotion and inform theories of emotional processing.

Arousal and exposure duration affect forward step initiation

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Daniëlle eBouman

2015-11-01

Full Text Available Emotion influences parameters of goal-directed whole-body movements in several ways. For instance, previous research has shown that approaching (moving toward pleasant stimuli is easier compared to approaching unpleasant stimuli. However, some studies found that when emotional pictures are viewed for a longer time, approaching unpleasant stimuli may in fact be facilitated. The effect of viewing duration may modulate whole-body approach movement in previous research but this has not been investigated before. In the current study, participants initiated a step forward after viewing neutral, high-arousal pleasant and high-arousal unpleasant stimuli. The viewing duration of the stimuli was set to 7 different durations, varying from 100 to 4000ms. Valence and arousal scores were collected for all stimuli.The results indicate that both viewing duration and the arousal of the stimuli influence kinematic parameters in forward gait initiation. Specifically, longer viewing duration, compared to shorter viewing duration, (a diminished the step length and peak velocity in both neutral and emotional stimuli, (b increased reaction time in neutral stimuli and, (c decreased reaction time in pleasant and unpleasant stimuli. Strikingly, no differences were found between high-arousal pleasant and high-arousal unpleasant stimuli. In other words, the valence of the stimuli did not influence kinematic parameters of forward step initiation. In contrast, the arousal level (neutral: low; pleasant and unpleasant: high explained the variance found in the results. The kinematics of forward gait initiation seemed to be reflected in the subjective arousal scores, but not the valence scores. So it seems arousal affects forward gait initiation parameters more strongly than valence. In addition, longer viewing duration seemed to cause diminished alertness, affecting GI parameters. These results shed new light on the prevailing theoretical interpretations regarding approach

Behavioral, Cognitive and Neural Markers of Asperger Syndrome

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Farnaz Faridi

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Asperger syndrome (AS is a subtype of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD characterized by major problems in social and nonverbal communication, together with limited and repetitive forms of behavior and interests. The linguistic and cognitive development in AS is preserved which help us to differentiate it from other subtypes of ASD. However, significant effects of AS on cognitive abilities and brain functions still need to be researched. Although a clear cut pathology for Asperger has not been identified yet, recent studies have largely focused on brain imaging techniques to investigate AS. In this regard, we carried out a systematic review on behavioral, cognitive, and neural markers (specifically using MRI and fMRI studies on AS. In this paper, behavior, motor skills and language capabilities of individuals with Asperger are compared to those in healthy controls. In addition, common findings across MRI and fMRI based studies associated with behavior and cognitive disabilities are highlighted. 

Interobserver variability in recognizing arousal in respiratory sleep disorders.

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Drinnan, M J; Murray, A; Griffiths, C J; Gibson, G J

1998-08-01

Daytime sleepiness is a common consequence of repeated arousal in obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Arousal indices are sometimes used to make decisions on treatment, but there is no evidence that arousals are detected similarly even by experienced observers. Using the American Sleep Disorders Association (ASDA) definition of arousal in terms of the accompanying electroencephalogram (EEG) changes, we have quantified interobserver agreement for arousal scoring and identified factors affecting it. Ten patients with suspected OSA were studied; three representative EEG events during each of light, slow-wave, and rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep were extracted from each record (90 events total) and evaluated by experts in 14 sleep laboratories. Observers differed (ANOVA, p ASDA definition of arousal is only moderately repeatable. Account should be taken of this variability when results from different centers are compared.

Predicting behavior change from persuasive messages using neural representational similarity and social network analyses.

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Pegors, Teresa K; Tompson, Steven; O'Donnell, Matthew Brook; Falk, Emily B

2017-08-15

Neural activity in medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC), identified as engaging in self-related processing, predicts later health behavior change. However, it is unknown to what extent individual differences in neural representation of content and lived experience influence this brain-behavior relationship. We examined whether the strength of content-specific representations during persuasive messaging relates to later behavior change, and whether these relationships change as a function of individuals' social network composition. In our study, smokers viewed anti-smoking messages while undergoing fMRI and we measured changes in their smoking behavior one month later. Using representational similarity analyses, we found that the degree to which message content (i.e. health, social, or valence information) was represented in a self-related processing MPFC region was associated with later smoking behavior, with increased representations of negatively valenced (risk) information corresponding to greater message-consistent behavior change. Furthermore, the relationship between representations and behavior change depended on social network composition: smokers who had proportionally fewer smokers in their network showed increases in smoking behavior when social or health content was strongly represented in MPFC, whereas message-consistent behavior (i.e., less smoking) was more likely for those with proportionally more smokers in their social network who represented social or health consequences more strongly. These results highlight the dynamic relationship between representations in MPFC and key outcomes such as health behavior change; a complete understanding of the role of MPFC in motivation and action should take into account individual differences in neural representation of stimulus attributes and social context variables such as social network composition. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

If it makes you feel bad, don't do it! Egoistic rather than altruistic empathy modulates neural and behavioral responses in moral dilemmas.

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Sarlo, Michela; Lotto, Lorella; Rumiati, Rino; Palomba, Daniela

2014-05-10

According to Greene et al.'s dual-process theory, the differential involvement of emotional processes would explain the different patterns of moral judgments people typically produce when faced with Trolley- and Footbridge-type dilemmas. As a relevant factor, dispositional empathy is known to motivate prosocial behaviors, thus playing a central role in moral judgment and behavior. The present study was aimed at investigating how behavioral and neural correlates of moral decision-making are modulated by the cognitive and affective dimensions of empathy. Thirty-seven participants were presented with 30 Footbridge-type and 30 Trolley-type dilemmas. Participants were required to decide between two options: letting some people die (non-utilitarian) vs. killing one person to save more people (utilitarian). Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded stimulus-locked to a "decision slide". Response choices and ratings of valence and arousal were also collected. Trait empathy was measured through the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI), assessing both the cognitive and affective dimensions. Scores on the Empathic Concern affective subscale of the IRI positively predicted unpleasantness experienced during decision-making for all dilemmas. On the other hand, for Footbridge-type dilemmas only, scores on the Personal Distress affective subscale predicted negatively the mean percentages of utilitarian choices and positively the mean amplitudes of the P260, an ERP component reflecting an immediate emotional reaction during decision-making. It is concluded that "self-oriented" feelings of anxiety and unease, rather than "other-oriented" feelings of concern, affect behavioral choices and emotion-related cortical activity in Footbridge-type moral dilemmas. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Intrinsic activity in the fly brain gates visual information during behavioral choices.

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Shiming Tang

2010-12-01

Full Text Available The small insect brain is often described as an input/output system that executes reflex-like behaviors. It can also initiate neural activity and behaviors intrinsically, seen as spontaneous behaviors, different arousal states and sleep. However, less is known about how intrinsic activity in neural circuits affects sensory information processing in the insect brain and variability in behavior. Here, by simultaneously monitoring Drosophila's behavioral choices and brain activity in a flight simulator system, we identify intrinsic activity that is associated with the act of selecting between visual stimuli. We recorded neural output (multiunit action potentials and local field potentials in the left and right optic lobes of a tethered flying Drosophila, while its attempts to follow visual motion (yaw torque were measured by a torque meter. We show that when facing competing motion stimuli on its left and right, Drosophila typically generate large torque responses that flip from side to side. The delayed onset (0.1-1 s and spontaneous switch-like dynamics of these responses, and the fact that the flies sometimes oppose the stimuli by flying straight, make this behavior different from the classic steering reflexes. Drosophila, thus, seem to choose one stimulus at a time and attempt to rotate toward its direction. With this behavior, the neural output of the optic lobes alternates; being augmented on the side chosen for body rotation and suppressed on the opposite side, even though the visual input to the fly eyes stays the same. Thus, the flow of information from the fly eyes is gated intrinsically. Such modulation can be noise-induced or intentional; with one possibility being that the fly brain highlights chosen information while ignoring the irrelevant, similar to what we know to occur in higher animals.

On the Control of Social Approach-Avoidance Behavior: Neural and Endocrine Mechanisms.

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Kaldewaij, Reinoud; Koch, Saskia B J; Volman, Inge; Toni, Ivan; Roelofs, Karin

The ability to control our automatic action tendencies is crucial for adequate social interactions. Emotional events trigger automatic approach and avoidance tendencies. Although these actions may be generally adaptive, the capacity to override these emotional reactions may be key to flexible behavior during social interaction. The present chapter provides a review of the neuroendocrine mechanisms underlying this ability and their relation to social psychopathologies. Aberrant social behavior, such as observed in social anxiety or psychopathy, is marked by abnormalities in approach-avoidance tendencies and the ability to control them. Key neural regions involved in the regulation of approach-avoidance behavior are the amygdala, widely implicated in automatic emotional processing, and the anterior prefrontal cortex, which exerts control over the amygdala. Hormones, especially testosterone and cortisol, have been shown to affect approach-avoidance behavior and the associated neural mechanisms. The present chapter also discusses ways to directly influence social approach and avoidance behavior and will end with a research agenda to further advance this important research field. Control over approach-avoidance tendencies may serve as an exemplar of emotional action regulation and might have a great value in understanding the underlying mechanisms of the development of affective disorders.

Dissociable effects of valence and arousal on different subtypes of old/new effect: Evidence from event-related potentials

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Huifang eXu

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Here we utilized the study-test paradigm combined with recognition confidence assessment and behavioral and event-related potential (ERP measurements to investigate the effects of valence and arousal on the different subtypes of the old-new effect. We also test the effect of valence and arousal at encoding stage to investigate the underlying mechanism of the effect of the two emotional dimension on different retrieval process. In order to test the effects of valence and arousal on old/new effect precisely, we used the subject-oriented orthogonal design which manipulated valence and arousal independently according to subjects’ verbal reporting to investigate the effects of valence and arousal on old/new effect respectively. Three subtypes of old/new effect were obtained in the test phase, which were FN400, LPC, and late positivity over right frontal. They are supposed to be associated with familiarity, recollection, and post-retrieval processes respectively according to previous studies. For the FN400 component, valence affected mid-frontal negativity from 350 to 500 ms. Pleasant items evoked an enhanced ERP old/new effect relative to unpleasant items. However, arousal only affected LPC amplitude from 500 to 800ms. The old/new effect for high-arousal items was greater than for low-arousal items. Valence also affected the amplitude of a positive-going slow wave at right frontal sites from 800 to 1000 ms, possibly serving as an index of post-retrieval processing. At encoding stage, the valence and arousal also have dissociable effect on the frontal slow wave between 350-800ms and the centro-parietal positivity in 500-800ms. The pleasant items evoked a more positive frontal slow wave relative to unpleasant ones, and the high arousal items evoked a larger centro-parietal positivity relative to low arousal ones. These results suggest that valence and arousal may differentially impact these different memory processes: valence affects familiarity and

Adolescence and Reward: Making Sense of Neural and Behavioral Changes Amid the Chaos.

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Walker, Deena M; Bell, Margaret R; Flores, Cecilia; Gulley, Joshua M; Willing, Jari; Paul, Matthew J

2017-11-08

Adolescence is a time of significant neural and behavioral change with remarkable development in social, emotional, and cognitive skills. It is also a time of increased exploration and risk-taking (e.g., drug use). Many of these changes are thought to be the result of increased reward-value coupled with an underdeveloped inhibitory control, and thus a hypersensitivity to reward. Perturbations during adolescence can alter the developmental trajectory of the brain, resulting in long-term alterations in reward-associated behaviors. This review highlights recent developments in our understanding of how neural circuits, pubertal hormones, and environmental factors contribute to adolescent-typical reward-associated behaviors with a particular focus on sex differences, the medial prefrontal cortex, social reward, social isolation, and drug use. We then introduce a new approach that makes use of natural adaptations of seasonally breeding species to investigate the role of pubertal hormones in adolescent development. This research has only begun to parse out contributions of the many neural, endocrine, and environmental changes to the heightened reward sensitivity and increased vulnerability to mental health disorders that characterize this life stage. Copyright © 2017 the authors 0270-6474/17/3710855-12$15.00/0.

Diminished behavioral and neural sensitivity to sound modulation is associated with moderate developmental hearing loss.

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Merri J Rosen

Full Text Available The acoustic rearing environment can alter central auditory coding properties, yet altered neural coding is seldom linked with specific deficits to adult perceptual skills. To test whether developmental hearing loss resulted in comparable changes to perception and sensory coding, we examined behavioral and neural detection thresholds for sinusoidally amplitude modulated (sAM stimuli. Behavioral sAM detection thresholds for slow (5 Hz modulations were significantly worse for animals reared with bilateral conductive hearing loss (CHL, as compared to controls. This difference could not be attributed to hearing thresholds, proficiency at the task, or proxies for attention. Detection thresholds across the groups did not differ for fast (100 Hz modulations, a result paralleling that seen in humans. Neural responses to sAM stimuli were recorded in single auditory cortex neurons from separate groups of awake animals. Neurometric analyses indicated equivalent thresholds for the most sensitive neurons, but a significantly poorer detection threshold for slow modulations across the population of CHL neurons as compared to controls. The magnitude of the neural deficit matched that of the behavioral differences, suggesting that a reduction of sensory information can account for limitations to perceptual skills.

Neurobiology of empathy and callousness: implications for the development of antisocial behavior.

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Shirtcliff, Elizabeth A; Vitacco, Michael J; Graf, Alexander R; Gostisha, Andrew J; Merz, Jenna L; Zahn-Waxler, Carolyn

2009-01-01

Information on the neurobiology of empathy and callousness provides clinicians with an opportunity to develop sophisticated understanding of mechanisms underpinning antisocial behavior and its counterpart, moral decision-making. This article provides an integrated in-depth review of hormones (e.g. peripheral steroid hormones such as cortisol) and brain structures (e.g. insula, anterior cingulate cortex, and amygdala) implicated in empathy, callousness, and psychopathic-like behavior. The overarching goal of this article is to relate these hormones and brain structures to moral decision-making. This review will begin in the brain, but will then integrate information about biological functioning in the body, specifically stress-reactivity. Our aim is to integrate understanding of neural processes with hormones such as cortisol, both of which have demonstrated relationships to empathy, psychopathy, and antisocial behavior. The review proposes that neurobiological impairments in individuals who display little empathy are not necessarily due to a reduced ability to understand the emotions of others. Instead, evidence suggests that individuals who show little arousal to the distress of others likewise show decreased physiological arousal to their own distress; one manifestation of reduced stress reactivity may be a dysfunction in empathy, which supports psychopathic-like constructs (e.g. callousness). This integration will assist in the development of objective methodologies that can inform and monitor treatment interventions focused on decreasing antisocial behavior. Copyright 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Brain mast cells link the immune system to anxiety-like behavior

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Nautiyal, Katherine M.; Ribeiro, Ana C.; Pfaff, Donald W.; Silver, Rae

2008-01-01

Mast cells are resident in the brain and contain numerous mediators, including neurotransmitters, cytokines, and chemokines, that are released in response to a variety of natural and pharmacological triggers. The number of mast cells in the brain fluctuates with stress and various behavioral and endocrine states. These properties suggest that mast cells are poised to influence neural systems underlying behavior. Using genetic and pharmacological loss-of-function models we performed a behavioral screen for arousal responses including emotionality, locomotor, and sensory components. We found that mast cell deficient KitW−sh/W−sh (sash−/−) mice had a greater anxiety-like phenotype than WT and heterozygote littermate control animals in the open field arena and elevated plus maze. Second, we show that blockade of brain, but not peripheral, mast cell activation increased anxiety-like behavior. Taken together, the data implicate brain mast cells in the modulation of anxiety-like behavior and provide evidence for the behavioral importance of neuroimmune links. PMID:19004805

A Neural Network Classifier Model for Forecasting Safety Behavior at Workplaces

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Fakhradin Ghasemi

2017-07-01

Full Text Available The construction industry is notorious for having an unacceptable rate of fatal accidents. Unsafe behavior has been recognized as the main cause of most accidents occurring at workplaces, particularly construction sites. Having a predictive model of safety behavior can be helpful in preventing construction accidents. The aim of the present study was to build a predictive model of unsafe behavior using the Artificial Neural Network approach. A brief literature review was conducted on factors affecting safe behavior at workplaces and nine factors were selected to be included in the study. Data were gathered using a validated questionnaire from several construction sites. Multilayer perceptron approach was utilized for constructing the desired neural network. Several models with various architectures were tested to find the best one. Sensitivity analysis was conducted to find the most influential factors. The model with one hidden layer containing fourteen hidden neurons demonstrated the best performance (Sum of Squared Errors=6.73. The error rate of the model was approximately 21 percent. The results of sensitivity analysis showed that safety attitude, safety knowledge, supportive environment, and management commitment had the highest effects on safety behavior, while the effects from resource allocation and perceived work pressure were identified to be lower than those of others. The complex nature of human behavior at workplaces and the presence of many influential factors make it difficult to achieve a model with perfect performance.

Quantifying the Arousal Threshold Using Polysomnography in Obstructive Sleep Apnea.

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Sands, Scott A; Terrill, Philip I; Edwards, Bradley A; Taranto Montemurro, Luigi; Azarbarzin, Ali; Marques, Melania; de Melo, Camila M; Loring, Stephen H; Butler, James P; White, David P; Wellman, Andrew

2018-01-01

Precision medicine for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) requires noninvasive estimates of each patient's pathophysiological "traits." Here, we provide the first automated technique to quantify the respiratory arousal threshold-defined as the level of ventilatory drive triggering arousal from sleep-using diagnostic polysomnographic signals in patients with OSA. Ventilatory drive preceding clinically scored arousals was estimated from polysomnographic studies by fitting a respiratory control model (Terrill et al.) to the pattern of ventilation during spontaneous respiratory events. Conceptually, the magnitude of the airflow signal immediately after arousal onset reveals information on the underlying ventilatory drive that triggered the arousal. Polysomnographic arousal threshold measures were compared with gold standard values taken from esophageal pressure and intraoesophageal diaphragm electromyography recorded simultaneously (N = 29). Comparisons were also made to arousal threshold measures using continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) dial-downs (N = 28). The validity of using (linearized) nasal pressure rather than pneumotachograph ventilation was also assessed (N = 11). Polysomnographic arousal threshold values were correlated with those measured using esophageal pressure and diaphragm EMG (R = 0.79, p < .0001; R = 0.73, p = .0001), as well as CPAP manipulation (R = 0.73, p < .0001). Arousal threshold estimates were similar using nasal pressure and pneumotachograph ventilation (R = 0.96, p < .0001). The arousal threshold in patients with OSA can be estimated using polysomnographic signals and may enable more personalized therapeutic interventions for patients with a low arousal threshold. © Sleep Research Society 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Sleep Research Society. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail journals.permissions@oup.com.

Behavioral and neural responses to infant and adult tears : The impact of maternal love withdrawal

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hendricx-Riem, M.M.E.; van IJzendoorn, M.H.; De Carli, P.; Vingerhoets, A.J.J.M.; Bakermans-Kranenburg, M. J.

2017-01-01

The current study examined behavioral and neural responses to infant and adult tears, taking into account childhood experiences with parental love-withdrawal. With functional MRI (fMRI), we measured neural reactivity to pictures of infants and adults with and without tears on their faces in

Respiratory and spontaneous arousals in patients with Sleep Apnea Hypopnea Syndrome.

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Mesquita, J; Porée, F; Carrault, G; Fiz, J A; Abad, J; Jané, R

2012-01-01

Sleep in patients with Sleep Apnea-Hypopnea Syndrome (SAHS) is frequently interrupted with arousals. Increased amounts of arousals result in shortening total sleep time and repeated sleep-arousal change can result in sleep fragmentation. According to the American Sleep Disorders Association (ASDA) an arousal is a marker of sleep disruption representing a detrimental and harmful feature for sleep. The nature of arousals and its role on the regulation of the sleep process raises controversy and has sparked the debate in the last years. In this work, we analyzed and compared the EEG spectral content of respiratory and spontaneous arousals on a database of 45 SAHS subjects. A total of 3980 arousals (1996 respiratory and 1984 spontaneous) were analyzed. The results showed no differences between the spectral content of the two kinds of arousals. Our findings raise doubt as to whether these two kinds of arousals are truly triggered by different organic mechanisms. Furthermore, they may also challenge the current beliefs regarding the underestimation of the importance of spontaneous arousals and their contribution to sleep fragmentation in patients suffering from SAHS.

A neural population model incorporating dopaminergic neurotransmission during complex voluntary behaviors.

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Stefan Fürtinger

2014-11-01

Full Text Available Assessing brain activity during complex voluntary motor behaviors that require the recruitment of multiple neural sites is a field of active research. Our current knowledge is primarily based on human brain imaging studies that have clear limitations in terms of temporal and spatial resolution. We developed a physiologically informed non-linear multi-compartment stochastic neural model to simulate functional brain activity coupled with neurotransmitter release during complex voluntary behavior, such as speech production. Due to its state-dependent modulation of neural firing, dopaminergic neurotransmission plays a key role in the organization of functional brain circuits controlling speech and language and thus has been incorporated in our neural population model. A rigorous mathematical proof establishing existence and uniqueness of solutions to the proposed model as well as a computationally efficient strategy to numerically approximate these solutions are presented. Simulated brain activity during the resting state and sentence production was analyzed using functional network connectivity, and graph theoretical techniques were employed to highlight differences between the two conditions. We demonstrate that our model successfully reproduces characteristic changes seen in empirical data between the resting state and speech production, and dopaminergic neurotransmission evokes pronounced changes in modeled functional connectivity by acting on the underlying biological stochastic neural model. Specifically, model and data networks in both speech and rest conditions share task-specific network features: both the simulated and empirical functional connectivity networks show an increase in nodal influence and segregation in speech over the resting state. These commonalities confirm that dopamine is a key neuromodulator of the functional connectome of speech control. Based on reproducible characteristic aspects of empirical data, we suggest a number

Lack of Responsiveness during the Onset and Offset of Sevoflurane Anesthesia Is Associated with Decreased Awake-Alpha Oscillation Power

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Kara J. Pavone

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Anesthetic drugs are typically administered to induce altered states of arousal that range from sedation to general anesthesia (GA. Systems neuroscience studies are currently being used to investigate the neural circuit mechanisms of anesthesia-induced altered arousal states. These studies suggest that by disrupting the oscillatory dynamics that are associated with arousal states, anesthesia-induced oscillations are a putative mechanism through which anesthetic drugs produce altered states of arousal. However, an empirical clinical observation is that even at relatively stable anesthetic doses, patients are sometimes intermittently responsive to verbal commands during states of light sedation. During these periods, prominent anesthesia-induced neural oscillations such as slow-delta (0.1–4 Hz oscillations are notably absent. Neural correlates of intermittent responsiveness during light sedation have been insufficiently investigated. A principled understanding of the neural correlates of intermittent responsiveness may fundamentally advance our understanding of neural dynamics that are essential for maintaining arousal states, and how they are disrupted by anesthetics. Therefore, we performed a high-density (128 channels electroencephalogram (EEG study (n = 8 of sevoflurane-induced altered arousal in healthy volunteers. We administered temporally precise behavioral stimuli every 5 s to assess responsiveness. Here, we show that decreased eyes-closed, awake-alpha (8–12 Hz oscillation power is associated with lack of responsiveness during sevoflurane effect-onset and -offset. We also show that anteriorization—the transition from occipitally dominant awake-alpha oscillations to frontally dominant anesthesia induced-alpha oscillations—is not a binary phenomenon. Rather, we suggest that periods, which were defined by lack of responsiveness, represent an intermediate brain state. We conclude that awake-alpha oscillation, previously thought to be

Addiction and arousal: the hypocretin connection

Science.gov (United States)

Boutrel, Benjamin; de Lecea, Luis

2015-01-01

The hypocretins, also known as orexins, are two neuropeptides now commonly described as critical components to maintain and regulate the stability of arousal. Several lines of evidence have raised the hypothesis that hypocretin-producing neurons are part of the circuitries that mediate the hypothalamic response to acute stress. Intracerebral administration of hypocretin leads to a dose related reinstatement of drug and food seeking behaviors. Furthermore, stress-induced reinstatement can be blocked with hypocretin receptor 1 antagonism. These results, together with recent data showing that hypocretin is critically involved in cocaine sensitization through the recruitment of NMDA receptors in the ventral tegmental area, strongly suggest that activation of hypocretin neurons play a critical role in the development of the addiction process. The activity of hypocretin neurons may affect addictive behavior by contributing to brain sensitization or by modulating the brain reward system. Hypocretinergic cells, in coordination with brain stress systems may lead to a vulnerable state that facilitates the resumption of drug seeking behavior. Hence, the hypocretinergic system is a new drug target that may be used to prevent relapse of drug seeking. PMID:18262574

Neural and Behavioral Correlates of PTSD and Alcohol Use

Science.gov (United States)

2014-12-01

Rezayof A, Hosseini SS, Zarrindast MR (2009) Effects of Morphine on Rat Behaviour in the Elevated Plus Maze: The Role of Central Amygdala Dopamine...The current research takes a multi-level approach to study the psychological , behavioral, cognitive and neural relationships between PTSD and alcohol...presented with combat-associated stimuli, an effect mediated by the anterior cingulate cortex. PTSD was associated with heightened anterior cingulate

Emotionally arousing pictures increase blood glucose levels and enhance recall.

Science.gov (United States)

Blake, T M; Varnhagen, C K; Parent, M B

2001-05-01

Arousal enhances memory in human participants and this enhancing effect is likely due to the release of peripheral epinephrine. As epinephrine does not readily enter the brain, one way that peripheral epinephrine may enhance memory is by increasing circulating blood glucose levels. The present study investigated the possibility that emotionally arousing color pictures would improve memory and elevate blood glucose levels in human participants. Blood glucose levels were measured before, 15 min, and 30 min after male university students viewed 60 emotionally arousing or relatively neutral pictures. Participants viewed each picture for 6 s and then had 10 s to rate the arousal (emotional intensity) and valence (pleasantness) of each picture. A free-recall memory test was given 30 min after the last picture was viewed. Although the emotionally arousing and neutral picture sets were given comparable valence ratings, participants who viewed the emotionally arousing pictures rated the pictures as being more arousing, recalled more pictures, and had higher blood glucose levels after viewing the pictures than did participants who viewed the neutral pictures. These findings indicate that emotionally arousing pictures increase blood glucose levels and enhance memory, and that this effect is not due to differences in the degree of pleasantness of the stimuli. These findings support the possibility that increases in circulating blood glucose levels in response to emotional arousal may be part of the biological mechanism that allows emotional arousal to enhance memory. Copyright 2001 Academic Press.

Sexual Arousal and Sexually Explicit Media (SEM): Comparing Patterns of Sexual Arousal to SEM and Sexual Self-Evaluations and Satisfaction Across Gender and Sexual Orientation.

Science.gov (United States)

Hald, Gert Martin; Stulhofer, Aleksandar; Lange, Theis

2018-03-01

Investigations of patterns of sexual arousal to certain groups of sexually explicit media (SEM) in the general population in non-laboratory settings are rare. Such knowledge could be important to understand more about the relative specificity of sexual arousal in different SEM users. (i) To investigate whether sexual arousal to non-mainstream vs mainstream SEM contents could be categorized across gender and sexual orientation, (ii) to compare levels of SEM-induced sexual arousal, sexual satisfaction, and self-evaluated sexual interests and fantasies between non-mainstream and mainstream SEM groups, and (iii) to explore the validity and predictive accuracy of the Non-Mainstream Pornography Arousal Scale (NPAS). Online cross-sectional survey of 2,035 regular SEM users in Croatia. Patterns of sexual arousal to 27 different SEM themes, sexual satisfaction, and self-evaluations of sexual interests and sexual fantasies. Groups characterized by sexual arousal to non-mainstream SEM could be identified across gender and sexual orientation. These non-mainstream SEM groups reported more SEM use and higher average levels of sexual arousal across the 27 SEM themes assessed compared with mainstream SEM groups. Only few differences were found between non-mainstream and mainstream SEM groups in self-evaluative judgements of sexual interests, sexual fantasies, and sexual satisfaction. The internal validity and predictive accuracy of the NPAS was good across most user groups investigated. The findings suggest that in classified non-mainstream SEM groups, patterns of sexual arousal might be less fixated and category specific than previously assumed. Further, these groups are not more judgmental of their SEM-related sexual arousal patterns than groups characterized by patterns of sexual arousal to more mainstream SEM content. Moreover, accurate identification of non-mainstream SEM group membership is generally possible across gender and sexual orientation using the NPAS. Hald GM

Genetic and anatomical basis of the barrier separating wakefulness and anesthetic-induced unresponsiveness.

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William J Joiner

Full Text Available A robust, bistable switch regulates the fluctuations between wakefulness and natural sleep as well as those between wakefulness and anesthetic-induced unresponsiveness. We previously provided experimental evidence for the existence of a behavioral barrier to transitions between these states of arousal, which we call neural inertia. Here we show that neural inertia is controlled by processes that contribute to sleep homeostasis and requires four genes involved in electrical excitability: Sh, sss, na and unc79. Although loss of function mutations in these genes can increase or decrease sensitivity to anesthesia induction, surprisingly, they all collapse neural inertia. These effects are genetically selective: neural inertia is not perturbed by loss-of-function mutations in all genes required for the sleep/wake cycle. These effects are also anatomically selective: sss acts in different neurons to influence arousal-promoting and arousal-suppressing processes underlying neural inertia. Supporting the idea that anesthesia and sleep share some, but not all, genetic and anatomical arousal-regulating pathways, we demonstrate that increasing homeostatic sleep drive widens the neural inertial barrier. We propose that processes selectively contributing to sleep homeostasis and neural inertia may be impaired in pathophysiological conditions such as coma and persistent vegetative states.

The significance of ASDA arousals in children.

Science.gov (United States)

Lopes, Maria-Cecilia; Marcus, Carole L

2007-12-01

Sleep disorders are common in children. The sleep disturbances associated with these disease processes may impact neurodevelopment and result in daytime behavioral and cognitive changes. Currently, there are no precise methods to accurately assess sleep disruption in the pediatric age group. There is evidence that American Sleep Disorders Association (ASDA) arousals are insufficient markers of sleep disruption in children. Other techniques that have been used to assess sleep disruption include unconventional means of evaluating the electroencephalogram (EEG) during sleep and evaluating subcortical or autonomic activation. The aim of this review is to discuss the application of conventional and unconventional markers of sleep disruption in children.

Hypothalamic Tuberomammillary Nucleus Neurons: Electrophysiological Diversity and Essential Role in Arousal Stability.

Science.gov (United States)

Fujita, Akie; Bonnavion, Patricia; Wilson, Miryam H; Mickelsen, Laura E; Bloit, Julien; de Lecea, Luis; Jackson, Alexander C

2017-09-27

Histaminergic (HA) neurons, found in the posterior hypothalamic tuberomammillary nucleus (TMN), extend fibers throughout the brain and exert modulatory influence over numerous physiological systems. Multiple lines of evidence suggest that the activity of HA neurons is important in the regulation of vigilance despite the lack of direct, causal evidence demonstrating its requirement for the maintenance of arousal during wakefulness. Given the strong correlation between HA neuron excitability and behavioral arousal, we investigated both the electrophysiological diversity of HA neurons in brain slices and the effect of their acute silencing in vivo in male mice. For this purpose, we first validated a transgenic mouse line expressing cre recombinase in histidine decarboxylase-expressing neurons ( Hdc -Cre) followed by a systematic census of the membrane properties of both HA and non-HA neurons in the ventral TMN (TMNv) region. Through unsupervised hierarchical cluster analysis, we found electrophysiological diversity both between TMNv HA and non-HA neurons, and among HA neurons. To directly determine the impact of acute cessation of HA neuron activity on sleep-wake states in awake and behaving mice, we examined the effects of optogenetic silencing of TMNv HA neurons in vivo We found that acute silencing of HA neurons during wakefulness promotes slow-wave sleep, but not rapid eye movement sleep, during a period of low sleep pressure. Together, these data suggest that the tonic firing of HA neurons is necessary for the maintenance of wakefulness, and their silencing not only impairs arousal but is sufficient to rapidly and selectively induce slow-wave sleep. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The function of monoaminergic systems and circuits that regulate sleep and wakefulness is often disrupted as part of the pathophysiology of many neuropsychiatric disorders. One such circuit is the posterior hypothalamic histamine (HA) system, implicated in supporting wakefulness and higher brain

Proposers’ Economic Status Affects Behavioral and Neural Responses to Unfairness

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Yijie Zheng

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Economic status played an important role in the modulation of economic decision making. The present fMRI study aimed at investigating how economic status modulated behavioral and neural responses to unfairness in a modified Ultimatum Game (UG. During scanning, participants played as responders in the UG, and they were informed of the economic status of proposers before receiving offers. At the behavioral level, higher rejection rates and lower fairness ratings were revealed when proposers were in high economic status than in low economic status. Besides, the most time-consuming decisions tended to occur at lower unfairness level when the proposers were in high (relative to low economic status. At the neural level, stronger activation of left thalamus was revealed when fair offers were proposed by proposers in high rather than in low economic status. Greater activation of right medial prefrontal cortex was revealed during acceptance to unfair offers in high economic status condition rather than in low economic status condition. Taken together, these findings shed light on the significance of proposers’ economic status in responders’ social decision making in UG.

Differential effects of arousal in positive and negative autobiographical memories.

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Ford, Jaclyn Hennessey; Addis, Donna Rose; Giovanello, Kelly S

2012-01-01

Autobiographical memories are characterised by a range of emotions and emotional reactions. Recent research has demonstrated that differences in emotional valence (positive vs. negative emotion) and arousal (the degree of emotional intensity) differentially influence the retrieved memory narrative. Although the mnemonic effects of valence and arousal have both been heavily studied, it is currently unclear whether the effects of emotional arousal are equivalent for positive and negative autobiographical events. In the current study, multilevel models were used to examine differential effects of emotional valence and arousal on the richness of autobiographical memory retrieval both between and within subjects. Thirty-four young adults were asked to retrieve personal autobiographical memories associated with popular musical cues and to rate the valence, arousal and richness of these events. The multilevel analyses identified independent influences of valence and intensity upon retrieval characteristics at the within- and between-subject levels. In addition, the within-subject interactions between valence and arousal highlighted differential effects of arousal for positive and negative memories. These findings have important implications for future studies of emotion and memory, highlighting the importance of considering both valence and arousal when examining the role emotion plays in the richness of memory representation.

Interplay between Affect and Arousal in Recognition Memory

OpenAIRE

Greene, Ciara M.; Bahri, Pooja; Soto, David

2010-01-01

Background: Emotional states linked to arousal and mood are known to affect the efficiency of cognitive performance. However, the extent to which memory processes may be affected by arousal, mood or their interaction is poorly understood. Methodology/Principal Findings: Following a study phase of abstract shapes, we altered the emotional state of participants by means of exposure to music that varied in both mood and arousal dimensions, leading to four different emotional states: (i) positive...

Artificial neural networks in prediction of mechanical behavior of concrete at high temperature

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mukherjee, A.; Nag Biswas, S.

1997-01-01

The behavior of concrete structures that are exposed to extreme thermo-mechanical loading is an issue of great importance in nuclear engineering. The mechanical behavior of concrete at high temperature is non-linear. The properties that regulate its response are highly temperature dependent and extremely complex. In addition, the constituent materials, e.g. aggregates, influence the response significantly. Attempts have been made to trace the stress-strain curve through mathematical models and rheological models. However, it has been difficult to include all the contributing factors in the mathematical model. This paper examines a new programming paradigm, artificial neural networks, for the problem. Implementing a feedforward network and backpropagation algorithm the stress-strain relationship of the material is captured. The neural networks for the prediction of uniaxial behavior of concrete at high temperature has been presented here. The results of the present investigation are very encouraging. (orig.)

Synaptic plasticity in a recurrent neural network for versatile and adaptive behaviors of a walking robot.

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Grinke, Eduard; Tetzlaff, Christian; Wörgötter, Florentin; Manoonpong, Poramate

2015-01-01

Walking animals, like insects, with little neural computing can effectively perform complex behaviors. For example, they can walk around their environment, escape from corners/deadlocks, and avoid or climb over obstacles. While performing all these behaviors, they can also adapt their movements to deal with an unknown situation. As a consequence, they successfully navigate through their complex environment. The versatile and adaptive abilities are the result of an integration of several ingredients embedded in their sensorimotor loop. Biological studies reveal that the ingredients include neural dynamics, plasticity, sensory feedback, and biomechanics. Generating such versatile and adaptive behaviors for a many degrees-of-freedom (DOFs) walking robot is a challenging task. Thus, in this study, we present a bio-inspired approach to solve this task. Specifically, the approach combines neural mechanisms with plasticity, exteroceptive sensory feedback, and biomechanics. The neural mechanisms consist of adaptive neural sensory processing and modular neural locomotion control. The sensory processing is based on a small recurrent neural network consisting of two fully connected neurons. Online correlation-based learning with synaptic scaling is applied to adequately change the connections of the network. By doing so, we can effectively exploit neural dynamics (i.e., hysteresis effects and single attractors) in the network to generate different turning angles with short-term memory for a walking robot. The turning information is transmitted as descending steering signals to the neural locomotion control which translates the signals into motor actions. As a result, the robot can walk around and adapt its turning angle for avoiding obstacles in different situations. The adaptation also enables the robot to effectively escape from sharp corners or deadlocks. Using backbone joint control embedded in the the locomotion control allows the robot to climb over small obstacles

Fatty acid-induced gut-brain signaling attenuates neural and behavioral effects of sad emotion in humans.

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Van Oudenhove, Lukas; McKie, Shane; Lassman, Daniel; Uddin, Bilal; Paine, Peter; Coen, Steven; Gregory, Lloyd; Tack, Jan; Aziz, Qasim

2011-08-01

Although a relationship between emotional state and feeding behavior is known to exist, the interactions between signaling initiated by stimuli in the gut and exteroceptively generated emotions remain incompletely understood. Here, we investigated the interaction between nutrient-induced gut-brain signaling and sad emotion induced by musical and visual cues at the behavioral and neural level in healthy nonobese subjects undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging. Subjects received an intragastric infusion of fatty acid solution or saline during neutral or sad emotion induction and rated sensations of hunger, fullness, and mood. We found an interaction between fatty acid infusion and emotion induction both in the behavioral readouts (hunger, mood) and at the level of neural activity in multiple pre-hypothesized regions of interest. Specifically, the behavioral and neural responses to sad emotion induction were attenuated by fatty acid infusion. These findings increase our understanding of the interplay among emotions, hunger, food intake, and meal-induced sensations in health, which may have important implications for a wide range of disorders, including obesity, eating disorders, and depression.

Helping behavior induced by empathic concern attenuates anterior cingulate activation in response to others' distress.

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Kawamichi, Hiroaki; Yoshihara, Kazufumi; Sugawara, Sho K; Matsunaga, Masahiro; Makita, Kai; Hamano, Yuki H; Tanabe, Hiroki C; Sadato, Norihiro

2016-01-01

Helping behavior is motivated by empathic concern for others in distress. Although empathic concern is pervasive in daily life, its neural mechanisms remain unclear. Empathic concern involves the suppression of the emotional response to others' distress, which occurs when individuals distance themselves emotionally from the distressed individual. We hypothesized that helping behavior induced by empathic concern, accompanied by perspective-taking, would attenuate the neural activation representing aversive feelings. We also predicted reward system activation due to the positive feeling resulting from helping behavior. Participant underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging while playing a virtual ball-toss game. In some blocks ("concern condition"), one player ("isolated player") did not receive ball-tosses from other players. In this condition, participants increased ball-tosses to the isolated player (helping behavior). Participants then evaluated the improved enjoyment of the isolated player resulting from their helping behavior. Anterior cingulate activation during the concern condition was attenuated by the evaluation of the effect of helping behavior. The right temporoparietal junction, which is involved in perspective-taking and the dorsal striatum, part of the reward system, were also activated during the concern condition. These results suggest that humans can attenuate affective arousal by anticipating the positive outcome of empathic concern through perspective-taking.

Valence, arousal, and task effects in emotional prosody processing

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Silke ePaulmann

2013-06-01

Full Text Available Previous research suggests that emotional prosody processing is a highly rapid and complex process. In particular, it has been shown that different basic emotions can be differentiated in an early event-related brain potential (ERP component, the P200. Often, the P200 is followed by later long lasting ERPs such as the late positive complex (LPC. The current experiment set out to explore in how far emotionality and arousal can modulate these previously reported ERP components. In addition, we also investigated the influence of task demands (implicit vs. explicit evaluation of stimuli. Participants listened to pseudo-sentences (sentences with no lexical content spoken in six different emotions or in a neutral tone of voice while they either rated the arousal level of the speaker or their own arousal level. Results confirm that different emotional intonations can first be differentiated in the P200 component, reflecting a first emotional encoding of the stimulus possibly including a valence tagging process. A marginal significant arousal effect was also found in this time-window with high arousing stimuli eliciting a stronger P200 than low arousing stimuli. The P200 component was followed by a long lasting positive ERP between 400 and 750 ms. In this late time-window, both emotion and arousal effects were found. No effects of task were observed in either time-window. Taken together, results suggest that emotion relevant details are robustly decoded during early processing and late processing stages while arousal information is only reliably taken into consideration at a later stage of processing.

Sexual Arousal and Sexually Explicit Media (SEM)

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hald, Gert Martin; Stulhofer, Aleksandar; Lange, Theis

2018-01-01

-mainstream and mainstream SEM groups, and (iii) to explore the validity and predictive accuracy of the Non-Mainstream Pornography Arousal Scale (NPAS). METHODS: Online cross-sectional survey of 2,035 regular SEM users in Croatia. MAIN OUTCOMES MEASURES: Patterns of sexual arousal to 27 different SEM themes, sexual...

Altered behavior and neural activity in conspecific cagemates co-housed with mouse models of brain disorders.

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Yang, Hyunwoo; Jung, Seungmoon; Seo, Jinsoo; Khalid, Arshi; Yoo, Jung-Seok; Park, Jihyun; Kim, Soyun; Moon, Jangsup; Lee, Soon-Tae; Jung, Keun-Hwa; Chu, Kon; Lee, Sang Kun; Jeon, Daejong

2016-09-01

The psychosocial environment is one of the major contributors of social stress. Family members or caregivers who consistently communicate with individuals with brain disorders are considered at risk for physical and mental health deterioration, possibly leading to mental disorders. However, the underlying neural mechanisms of this phenomenon remain poorly understood. To address this, we developed a social stress paradigm in which a mouse model of epilepsy or depression was housed long-term (>4weeks) with normal conspecifics. We characterized the behavioral phenotypes and electrophysiologically investigated the neural activity of conspecific cagemate mice. The cagemates exhibited deficits in behavioral tasks assessing anxiety, locomotion, learning/memory, and depression-like behavior. Furthermore, they showed severe social impairment in social behavioral tasks involving social interaction or aggression. Strikingly, behavioral dysfunction remained in the cagemates 4weeks following co-housing cessation with the mouse models. In an electrophysiological study, the cagemates showed an increased number of spikes in medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) neurons. Our results demonstrate that conspecifics co-housed with mouse models of brain disorders develop chronic behavioral dysfunctions, and suggest a possible association between abnormal mPFC neural activity and their behavioral pathogenesis. These findings contribute to the understanding of the psychosocial and psychiatric symptoms frequently present in families or caregivers of patients with brain disorders. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Effects of Arousal on Mouse Sensory Cortex Depend on Modality

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Daisuke Shimaoka

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Summary: Changes in arousal modulate the activity of mouse sensory cortex, but studies in different mice and different sensory areas disagree on whether this modulation enhances or suppresses activity. We measured this modulation simultaneously in multiple cortical areas by imaging mice expressing voltage-sensitive fluorescent proteins (VSFP. VSFP imaging estimates local membrane potential across large portions of cortex. We used temporal filters to predict local potential from running speed or from pupil dilation, two measures of arousal. The filters provided good fits and revealed that the effects of arousal depend on modality. In the primary visual cortex (V1 and auditory cortex (Au, arousal caused depolarization followed by hyperpolarization. In the barrel cortex (S1b and a secondary visual area (LM, it caused only hyperpolarization. In all areas, nonetheless, arousal reduced the phasic responses to trains of sensory stimuli. These results demonstrate diverse effects of arousal across sensory cortex but similar effects on sensory responses. : Shimaoka et al. use voltage-sensitive imaging to show that the effects of arousal on the mouse cortex are markedly different across areas and over time. In all the sensory areas studied, nonetheless, arousal reduced the phasic voltage responses to trains of sensory stimuli. Keywords: cerebral cortex, cortical state, locomotion, sensory processing, widefield imaging

Frequency of EEG arousals from nocturnal sleep in normal subjects.

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Mathur, R; Douglas, N J

1995-06-01

Brief arousals are clinically important and increasingly scored during polysomnography. However, the frequency of arousals during routine polysomnography in the normal population is unknown. We performed overnight polysomnography in the 55 of 59 control subjects from a family practice list who were approached and agreed to undergo polysomnography. Awakenings were scored according to the criteria of Rechtschaffen and Kales and briefer arousals according to three different criteria, including the American Sleep Disorders Association (ASDA) definition. There was a mean of 4 [95% confidence interval (CI), 1-15) Rechtschaffen and Kales awakenings per hour, whereas the ASDA definition gave 21 (95% CI, 7-56) per hour slept. Arousal frequencies increased significantly (p < 0.001) with age in our subjects, who ranged from the late teens to early 70s. The high upper limit of the frequency of brief arousals was not altered by exclusion of patients who snored or had witnessed apneas or daytime sleepiness. It is important that those scoring arousals on routine polysomnography recognize that high arousal frequencies occur in the normal population on 1-night polysomnography.

Termination of respiratory events with and without cortical arousal in obstructive sleep apnea.

Science.gov (United States)

Jordan, Amy S; Eckert, Danny J; Wellman, Andrew; Trinder, John A; Malhotra, Atul; White, David P

2011-11-15

A total of 20-30% of respiratory events in obstructive sleep apnea are terminated without clear arousal. Arousals are thought to predispose to further events by promoting hyperventilation, hypocapnia, and upper-airway dilator muscle hypotonia. Therefore, events terminated without arousal may promote stable breathing. To compare physiologic changes at respiratory event termination with American Sleep Disorders Association (ASDA) Arousal to No Arousal, and determine whether secondary respiratory events are less common and have higher dilator muscle activity after No Arousal compared with ASDA Arousal. Patients with obstructive sleep apnea wore sleep staging, genioglossus (EMG(GG)), and tensor palatini (EMG(TP)) electrodes plus a nasal mask and pneumotachograph. During stable sleep, continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) was lowered for 3-minute periods to induce respiratory events. Physiologic variables were compared between events terminated with (1) ASDA Arousal, (2) No Arousal, or (3) sudden CPAP increase (CPAPinc, control). Sixteen subjects had adequate data. EMG(GG), EMG(TP), and heart rate increased after ASDA Arousal (340 ± 57%, 215 ± 28%, and 110.7 ± 2.3%) and No Arousal (185 ± 32%, 167 ± 15%, and 108.5 ± 1.6%) but not CPAPinc (90 ± 10%, 94 ± 11%, and 102.1 ± 1%). Ventilation increased more after ASDA Arousal than No Arousal and CPAPinc, but not after accounting for the severity of respiratory event. Fewer No Arousals were followed by secondary events than ASDA Arousals. However, low dilator muscle activity did not occur after ASDA Arousal or No Arousal (EMG(GG) rose from 75 ± 5 to 125 ± 7%) and secondary events were less severe than initial events (ventilation rose 4 ± 0.4 to 5.5 ± 0.51 L/min). Respiratory events that were terminated with ASDA Arousal were more severely flow-limited, had enhanced hyperventilation after event termination, and were more often followed by secondary events than No arousal. However, secondary events were not

Evoking and Measuring Arousal in Game Settings

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Cusveller, J.; Gerritsen, C.; de Man, J.; Gobel, S.; Wiemeyer, J.

2014-01-01

Serious games seem to be more effective if the participant feels more involved in the game. The participant should experience a high sense of presence which can be obtained by matching the level of excitement to the level of arousal a participant experiences. The level of arousal should be measured

Emotional Arousal Does Not Enhance Association-Memory

Science.gov (United States)

Madan, Christopher R.; Caplan, Jeremy B.; Lau, Christine S. M.; Fujiwara, Esther

2012-01-01

Emotionally arousing information is remembered better than neutral information. This enhancement effect has been shown for memory for items. In contrast, studies of association-memory have found both impairments and enhancements of association-memory by arousal. We aimed to resolve these conflicting results by using a cued-recall paradigm combined…

Using Neural Data to Test A Theory of Investor Behavior: An Application to Realization Utility.

Science.gov (United States)

Frydman, Cary; Barberis, Nicholas; Camerer, Colin; Bossaerts, Peter; Rangel, Antonio

2014-04-01

We use measures of neural activity provided by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to test the "realization utility" theory of investor behavior, which posits that people derive utility directly from the act of realizing gains and losses. Subjects traded stocks in an experimental market while we measured their brain activity. We find that all subjects exhibit a strong disposition effect in their trading, even though it is suboptimal. Consistent with the realization utility explanation for this behavior, we find that activity in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, an area known to encode the value of options during choices, correlates with the capital gains of potential trades; that the neural measures of realization utility correlate across subjects with their individual tendency to exhibit a disposition effect; and that activity in the ventral striatum, an area known to encode information about changes in the present value of experienced utility, exhibits a positive response when subjects realize capital gains. These results provide support for the realization utility model and, more generally, demonstrate how neural data can be helpful in testing models of investor behavior.

Glucocorticoids interact with the noradrenergic arousal system in the nucleus accumbens shell to enhance memory consolidation of both appetitive and aversive taste learning.

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Wichmann, Romy; Fornari, Raquel V; Roozendaal, Benno

2012-09-01

It is well established that glucocorticoid hormones strengthen the consolidation of long-term memory of emotionally arousing experiences but have little effect on memory of low-arousing experiences. Although both positive and negative emotionally arousing events tend to be well remembered, studies investigating the neural mechanism underlying glucocorticoid-induced memory enhancement focused primarily on negatively motivated training experiences. In the present study we show an involvement of glucocorticoids within the nucleus accumbens (NAc) in enhancing memory consolidation of both an appetitive and aversive form of taste learning. The specific glucocorticoid receptor (GR) agonist RU 28362 (1 or 3ng) administered bilaterally into the NAc shell, but not core, of male Sprague-Dawley rats immediately after an appetitive saccharin drinking experience dose-dependently enhanced 24-h retention of the safe taste, resulting in a facilitated attenuation of neophobia. Similarly, GR agonist infusions given into the NAc shell immediately after pairing of the saccharin taste with a malaise-inducing agent enhanced memory of this negative experience, resulting in an intensified conditioned aversion. Importantly, a suppression of noradrenergic activity within the NAc shell with the β-adrenoceptor antagonist propranolol blocked the facilitating effect of a concurrently administered GR agonist on memory consolidation in both the appetitive and aversive learning task. Thus, these findings indicate that GR activation interacts with the noradrenergic arousal system within the NAc to enhance memory consolidation of emotionally arousing training experiences regardless of valence. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Emotional arousal and memory after deep encoding.

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Leventon, Jacqueline S; Camacho, Gabriela L; Ramos Rojas, Maria D; Ruedas, Angelica

2018-05-22

Emotion often enhances long-term memory. One mechanism for this enhancement is heightened arousal during encoding. However, reducing arousal, via emotion regulation (ER) instructions, has not been associated with reduced memory. In fact, the opposite pattern has been observed: stronger memory for emotional stimuli encoded with an ER instruction to reduce arousal. This pattern may be due to deeper encoding required by ER instructions. In the current research, we examine the effects of emotional arousal and deep-encoding on memory across three studies. In Study 1, adult participants completed a writing task (deep-encoding) for encoding negative, neutral, and positive picture stimuli, whereby half the emotion stimuli had the ER instruction to reduce the emotion. Memory was strong across conditions, and no memory enhancement was observed for any condition. In Study 2, adult participants completed the same writing task as Study 1, as well as a shallow-encoding task for one-third of negative, neutral, and positive trials. Memory was strongest for deep vs. shallow encoding trials, with no effects of emotion or ER instruction. In Study 3, adult participants completed a shallow-encoding task for negative, neutral, and positive stimuli, with findings indicating enhanced memory for negative emotional stimuli. Findings suggest that deep encoding must be acknowledged as a source of memory enhancement when examining manipulations of emotion-related arousal. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Memory enhancement by a semantically unrelated emotional arousal source induced after learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Nielson, Kristy A; Yee, Douglas; Erickson, Kirk I

2005-07-01

It has been well established that moderate physiological or emotional arousal modulates memory. However, there is some controversy about whether the source of arousal must be semantically related to the information to be remembered. To test this idea, 35 healthy young adult participants learned a list of common nouns and afterward viewed a semantically unrelated, neutral or emotionally arousing videotape. The tape was shown after learning to prevent arousal effects on encoding or attention, instead influencing memory consolidation. Heart rate increase was significantly greater in the arousal group, and negative affect was significantly less reported in the non-arousal group after the video. The arousal group remembered significantly more words than the non-arousal group at both 30 min and 24 h delays, despite comparable group memory performance prior to the arousal manipulation. These results demonstrate that emotional arousal, even from an unrelated source, is capable of modulating memory consolidation. Potential reasons for contradictory findings in some previous studies, such as the timing of "delayed" memory tests, are discussed.

Synaptic plasticity in a recurrent neural network for versatile and adaptive behaviors of a walking robot

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eduard eGrinke

2015-10-01

Full Text Available Walking animals, like insects, with little neural computing can effectively perform complex behaviors. They can walk around their environment, escape from corners/deadlocks, and avoid or climb over obstacles. While performing all these behaviors, they can also adapt their movements to deal with an unknown situation. As a consequence, they successfully navigate through their complex environment. The versatile and adaptive abilities are the result of an integration of several ingredients embedded in their sensorimotor loop. Biological studies reveal that the ingredients include neural dynamics, plasticity, sensory feedback, and biomechanics. Generating such versatile and adaptive behaviors for a walking robot is a challenging task. In this study, we present a bio-inspired approach to solve this task. Specifically, the approach combines neural mechanisms with plasticity, sensory feedback, and biomechanics. The neural mechanisms consist of adaptive neural sensory processing and modular neural locomotion control. The sensory processing is based on a small recurrent network consisting of two fully connected neurons. Online correlation-based learning with synaptic scaling is applied to adequately change the connections of the network. By doing so, we can effectively exploit neural dynamics (i.e., hysteresis effects and single attractors in the network to generate different turning angles with short-term memory for a biomechanical walking robot. The turning information is transmitted as descending steering signals to the locomotion control which translates the signals into motor actions. As a result, the robot can walk around and adapt its turning angle for avoiding obstacles in different situations as well as escaping from sharp corners or deadlocks. Using backbone joint control embedded in the locomotion control allows the robot to climb over small obstacles. Consequently, it can successfully explore and navigate in complex environments.

Increasing arousal enhances inhibitory control in calm but not excitable dogs

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Bray, Emily E.; MacLean, Evan L.; Hare, Brian A.

2015-01-01

The emotional-reactivity hypothesis proposes that problem-solving abilities can be constrained by temperament, within and across species. One way to test this hypothesis is with the predictions of the Yerkes-Dodson law. The law posits that arousal level, a component of temperament, affects problem solving in an inverted U-shaped relationship: optimal performance is reached at intermediate levels of arousal and impeded by high and low levels. Thus, a powerful test of the emotional-reactivity hypothesis is to compare cognitive performance in dog populations that have been bred and trained based in part on their arousal levels. We therefore compared a group of pet dogs to a group of assistance dogs bred and trained for low arousal (N = 106) on a task of inhibitory control involving a detour response. Consistent with the Yerkes-Dodson law, assistance dogs, which began the test with lower levels of baseline arousal, showed improvements when arousal was artificially increased. In contrast, pet dogs, which began the test with higher levels of baseline arousal, were negatively affected when their arousal was increased. Furthermore, the dogs’ baseline levels of arousal, as measured in their rate of tail wagging, differed by population in the expected directions. Low-arousal assistance dogs showed the most inhibition in a detour task when humans eagerly encouraged them while more highly aroused pet dogs performed worst on the same task with strong encouragement. Our findings support the hypothesis that selection on temperament can have important implications for cognitive performance. PMID:26169659

Increasing arousal enhances inhibitory control in calm but not excitable dogs.

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Bray, Emily E; MacLean, Evan L; Hare, Brian A

2015-11-01

The emotional-reactivity hypothesis proposes that problem-solving abilities can be constrained by temperament, within and across species. One way to test this hypothesis is with the predictions of the Yerkes-Dodson law. The law posits that arousal level, a component of temperament, affects problem solving in an inverted U-shaped relationship: Optimal performance is reached at intermediate levels of arousal and impeded by high and low levels. Thus, a powerful test of the emotional-reactivity hypothesis is to compare cognitive performance in dog populations that have been bred and trained based in part on their arousal levels. We therefore compared a group of pet dogs to a group of assistance dogs bred and trained for low arousal (N = 106) on a task of inhibitory control involving a detour response. Consistent with the Yerkes-Dodson law, assistance dogs, which began the test with lower levels of baseline arousal, showed improvements when arousal was artificially increased. In contrast, pet dogs, which began the test with higher levels of baseline arousal, were negatively affected when their arousal was increased. Furthermore, the dogs' baseline levels of arousal, as measured in their rate of tail wagging, differed by population in the expected directions. Low-arousal assistance dogs showed the most inhibition in a detour task when humans eagerly encouraged them, while more highly aroused pet dogs performed worst on the same task with strong encouragement. Our findings support the hypothesis that selection on temperament can have important implications for cognitive performance.

Physiological arousal in processing recognition information

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Guy Hochman

2010-07-01

Full Text Available The recognition heuristic (RH; Goldstein and Gigerenzer, 2002 suggests that, when applicable, probabilistic inferences are based on a noncompensatory examination of whether an object is recognized or not. The overall findings on the processes that underlie this fast and frugal heuristic are somewhat mixed, and many studies have expressed the need for considering a more compensatory integration of recognition information. Regardless of the mechanism involved, it is clear that recognition has a strong influence on choices, and this finding might be explained by the fact that recognition cues arouse affect and thus receive more attention than cognitive cues. To test this assumption, we investigated whether recognition results in a direct affective signal by measuring physiological arousal (i.e., peripheral arterial tone in the established city-size task. We found that recognition of cities does not directly result in increased physiological arousal. Moreover, the results show that physiological arousal increased with increasing inconsistency between recognition information and additional cue information. These findings support predictions derived by a compensatory Parallel Constraint Satisfaction model rather than predictions of noncompensatory models. Additional results concerning confidence ratings, response times, and choice proportions further demonstrated that recognition information and other cognitive cues are integrated in a compensatory manner.

Video lottery: winning expectancies and arousal.

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Ladouceur, Robert; Sévigny, Serge; Blaszczynski, Alexander; O'Connor, Kieron; Lavoie, Marc E

2003-06-01

This study investigates the effects of video lottery players' expectancies of winning on physiological and subjective arousal. Participants were assigned randomly to one of two experimental conditions: high and low winning expectancies. Participants played 100 video lottery games in a laboratory setting while physiological measures were recorded. Level of risk-taking was controlled. Participants were 34 occasional or regular video lottery players. They were assigned randomly into two groups of 17, with nine men and eight women in each group. The low-expectancy group played for fun, therefore expecting to win worthless credits, while the high-expectancy group played for real money. Players' experience, demographic variables and subjective arousal were assessed. Severity of problem gambling was measured with the South Oaks Gambling Screen. In order to measure arousal, the average heart rate was recorded across eight periods. Participants exposed to high as compared to low expectations experienced faster heart rate prior to and during the gambling session. According to self-reports, it is the expectancy of winning money that is exciting, not playing the game. Regardless of the level of risk-taking, expectancy of winning is a cognitive factor influencing levels of arousal. When playing for fun, gambling becomes significantly less stimulating than when playing for money.

Sexy thoughts: effects of sexual cognitions on testosterone, cortisol, and arousal in women.

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Goldey, Katherine L; van Anders, Sari M

2011-05-01

Previous research suggests that sexual stimuli increase testosterone (T) in women and shows inconsistent effects of sexual arousal on cortisol (C), but effects of cognitive aspects of arousal, rather than behaviors or sensory stimuli, are unclear. The present study examined whether sexual thoughts affect T or C and whether hormonal contraceptive (HC) use moderated this effect, given mixed findings of HC use confounding hormone responses. Participants (79 women) provided a baseline saliva sample for radioimmunoassay. We created the Imagined Social Situation Exercise (ISSE) to test effects of imagining social interactions on hormones, and participants were assigned to the experimental (sexual) or one of three control (positive, neutral, stressful) conditions. Participants provided a second saliva sample 15 min post-activity. Results indicated that for women not using HCs, the sexual condition increased T compared to the stressful or positive conditions. In contrast, HC using women in the sexual condition had decreased T relative to the stressful condition and similar T to the positive condition. The effect was specific to T, as sexual thoughts did not change C. For participants in the sexual condition, higher baseline T predicted larger increases in sexual arousal but smaller increases in T, likely due to ceiling effects on T. Our results suggest that sexual thoughts change T but not C, baseline T levels and HC use may contribute to variation in the T response to sexual thoughts, and cognitive aspects of sexual arousal affect physiology. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Arousal from sleep: implications for obstructive sleep apnea pathogenesis and treatment.

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Eckert, Danny J; Younes, Magdy K

2014-02-01

Historically, brief awakenings from sleep (cortical arousals) have been assumed to be vitally important in restoring airflow and blood-gas disturbances at the end of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) breathing events. Indeed, in patients with blunted chemical drive (e.g., obesity hypoventilation syndrome) and in instances when other defensive mechanisms fail, cortical arousal likely serves an important protective role. However, recent insight into the pathogenesis of OSA indicates that a substantial proportion of respiratory events do not terminate with a cortical arousal from sleep. In many cases, cortical arousals may actually perpetuate blood-gas disturbances, breathing instability, and subsequent upper airway closure during sleep. This brief review summarizes the current understanding of the mechanisms mediating respiratory-induced cortical arousal, the physiological factors that influence the propensity for cortical arousal, and the potential dual roles that cortical arousal may play in OSA pathogenesis. Finally, the extent to which existing sedative agents decrease the propensity for cortical arousal and their potential to be therapeutically beneficial for certain OSA patients are highlighted.

From behavior to neural dynamics: An integrated theory of attention

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Buschman, Timothy J.; Kastner, Sabine

2015-01-01

The brain has a limited capacity and therefore needs mechanisms to selectively enhance the information most relevant to one’s current behavior. We refer to these mechanisms as ‘attention’. Attention acts by increasing the strength of selected neural representations and preferentially routing them through the brain’s large-scale network. This is a critical component of cognition and therefore has been a central topic in cognitive neuroscience. Here we review a diverse literature that has studied attention at the level of behavior, networks, circuits and neurons. We then integrate these disparate results into a unified theory of attention. PMID:26447577

Enhanced auditory arousal increases intake of less palatable and healthier foods.

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Privitera, Gregory J; Diaz, Melissa; Haas, Meagan C

2014-01-23

Two experiments were conducted to test a prediction of the arousal hypothesis that increased arousal will increase intake of less palatable and healthy foods. In both experiments, arousal was manipulated by adjusting the volume of a movie (soft, loud volume) while participants consumed foods. In Experiment 1, participants ate fresh (palatable) or stale (less palatable) popcorn during a 9-minute movie played at a soft or loud volume. Experiment 2 used the same procedures with healthier foods (carrot sticks and apple slices). Partial support for the arousal hypothesis in Experiment 1 showed that participants consumed more stale but not fresh popcorn in the loud (high arousal) versus soft (low arousal) volume group. These findings suggest that low but not high palatable foods are susceptible to manipulations of arousal. Consistent with this interpretation, Experiment 2 showed that high but not low environmental arousal increased intake of the fruits and vegetables, which are typically rated as lower in palatability compared to high fat foods. These results show that high arousal in an eating-typical environment increases intake of less palatable foods, and healthy foods (i.e., fruits and vegetables). Increasing the availability of healthier foods in a loud food environment can have a positive impact on increasing intake of fruits and vegetables in that environment.

Parental modelling of mathematical affect: self-efficacy and emotional arousal

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Bartley, Sarah R.; Ingram, Naomi

2017-12-01

This study explored the relationship between parents' mathematics self-efficacy and emotional arousal to mathematics and their 12- and 13-year-old children's mathematics self-efficacy and emotional arousal to mathematics. Parental modelling of affective relationships during homework was a focus. Eighty-four parent and child pairings from seven schools in New Zealand were examined using embedded design methodology. No significant correlations were found when the parents' mathematics self-efficacy and emotional arousal to mathematics were compared with the children's mathematics self-efficacy and emotional arousal to mathematics. However, the parents' level of emotional arousal to mathematics was found to have affected their willingness to assist with mathematics homework. For those parents who assisted, a significant positive correlation was found between their mathematics self-efficacy and their children's emotional arousal to mathematics. Parents who did assist were generally reported as being calm, and used techniques associated with positive engagement. Fathers were calmer and more likely to express readiness to assist with mathematics homework than mothers. A further significant positive correlation was found between fathers' emotional arousal to mathematics and children's mathematics self-efficacy. Implications from the study suggest directions for future research.

Discharge patterns of human genioglossus motor units during arousal from sleep.

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Wilkinson, Vanessa; Malhotra, Atul; Nicholas, Christian L; Worsnop, Christopher; Jordan, Amy S; Butler, Jane E; Saboisky, Julian P; Gandevia, Simon C; White, David P; Trinder, John

2010-03-01

Single motor unit recordings of the human genioglossus muscle reveal motor units with a variety of discharge patterns. Integrated multiunit electromyographic recordings of genioglossus have demonstrated an abrupt increase in the muscle's activity at arousal from sleep. The aim of the present study was to determine the effect of arousal from sleep on the activity of individual motor units as a function of their particular discharge pattern. Genioglossus activity was measured using intramuscular fine-wire electrodes inserted via a percutaneous approach. Arousals from sleep were identified using the ASDA criterion and the genioglossus electromyogram recordings analyzed for single motor unit activity. Sleep research laboratory. Sleep and respiratory data were collected in 8 healthy subjects (6 men). 138 motor units were identified during prearousalarousal sleep: 25% inspiratory phasic, 33% inspiratory tonic, 4% expiratory phasic, 3% expiratory tonic, and 35% tonic. At arousal from sleep inspiratory phasic units significantly increased the proportion of a breath over which they were active, but did not appreciably increase their rate of firing. 80 new units were identified at arousals, 75% were inspiratory, many of which were active for only 1 or 2 breaths. 22% of units active before arousal, particularly expiratory and tonic units, stopped at the arousal. Increased genioglossus muscle activity at arousal from sleep is primarily due to recruitment of inspiratory phasic motor units. Further, activity within the genioglossus motoneuron pool is reorganized at arousal as, in addition to recruitment, approximately 20% of units active before arousals stopped firing.

Lost in Time and Space: States of High Arousal Disrupt Implicit Acquisition of Spatial and Sequential Context Information

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Maran, Thomas; Sachse, Pierre; Martini, Markus

2017-01-01

Biased cognition during high arousal states is a relevant phenomenon in a variety of topics: from the development of post-traumatic stress disorders or stress-triggered addictive behaviors to forensic considerations regarding crimes of passion. Recent evidence indicates that arousal modulates...... the engagement of a hippocampus-based “cognitive” system in favor of a striatum-based “habit” system in learning and memory, promoting a switch from flexible, contextualized to more rigid, reflexive responses. Existing findings appear inconsistent, therefore it is unclear whether and which type of context...

Functional Roles of Neural Preparatory Processes in a Cued Stroop Task Revealed by Linking Electrophysiology with Behavioral Performance.

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Chao Wang

Full Text Available It is well established that cuing facilitates behavioral performance and that different aspects of instructional cues evoke specific neural preparatory processes in cued task-switching paradigms. To deduce the functional role of these neural preparatory processes the majority of studies vary aspects of the experimental paradigm and describe how these variations alter markers of neural preparatory processes. Although these studies provide important insights, they also have notable limitations, particularly in terms of understanding the causal or functional relationship of neural markers to cognitive and behavioral processes. In this study, we sought to address these limitations and uncover the functional roles of neural processes by examining how variability in the amplitude of neural preparatory processes predicts behavioral performance to subsequent stimuli. To achieve this objective 16 young adults were recruited to perform a cued Stroop task while their brain activity was measured using high-density electroencephalography. Four temporally overlapping but functionally and topographically distinct cue-triggered event related potentials (ERPs were identified: 1 A left-frontotemporal negativity (250-700 ms that was positively associated with word-reading performance; 2 a midline-frontal negativity (450-800 ms that was positively associated with color-naming and incongruent performance; 3 a left-frontal negativity (450-800 ms that was positively associated with switch trial performance; and 4 a centroparietal positivity (450-800 ms that was positively associated with performance for almost all trial types. These results suggest that at least four dissociable cognitive processes are evoked by instructional cues in the present task, including: 1 domain-specific task facilitation; 2 switch-specific task-set reconfiguration; 3 preparation for response conflict; and 4 proactive attentional control. Examining the relationship between ERPs and behavioral

Functional Roles of Neural Preparatory Processes in a Cued Stroop Task Revealed by Linking Electrophysiology with Behavioral Performance.

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Wang, Chao; Ding, Mingzhou; Kluger, Benzi M

2015-01-01

It is well established that cuing facilitates behavioral performance and that different aspects of instructional cues evoke specific neural preparatory processes in cued task-switching paradigms. To deduce the functional role of these neural preparatory processes the majority of studies vary aspects of the experimental paradigm and describe how these variations alter markers of neural preparatory processes. Although these studies provide important insights, they also have notable limitations, particularly in terms of understanding the causal or functional relationship of neural markers to cognitive and behavioral processes. In this study, we sought to address these limitations and uncover the functional roles of neural processes by examining how variability in the amplitude of neural preparatory processes predicts behavioral performance to subsequent stimuli. To achieve this objective 16 young adults were recruited to perform a cued Stroop task while their brain activity was measured using high-density electroencephalography. Four temporally overlapping but functionally and topographically distinct cue-triggered event related potentials (ERPs) were identified: 1) A left-frontotemporal negativity (250-700 ms) that was positively associated with word-reading performance; 2) a midline-frontal negativity (450-800 ms) that was positively associated with color-naming and incongruent performance; 3) a left-frontal negativity (450-800 ms) that was positively associated with switch trial performance; and 4) a centroparietal positivity (450-800 ms) that was positively associated with performance for almost all trial types. These results suggest that at least four dissociable cognitive processes are evoked by instructional cues in the present task, including: 1) domain-specific task facilitation; 2) switch-specific task-set reconfiguration; 3) preparation for response conflict; and 4) proactive attentional control. Examining the relationship between ERPs and behavioral

In Vivo Recording of Neural and Behavioral Correlates of Anesthesia Induction, Reversal, and Euthanasia in Cephalopod Molluscs

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Hanna M. Butler-Struben

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Cephalopod molluscs are among the most behaviorally and neurologically complex invertebrates. As they are now included in research animal welfare regulations in many countries, humane and effective anesthesia is required during invasive procedures. However, currently there is no evidence that agents believed to act as anesthetics produce effects beyond immobility. In this study we demonstrate, for the first time, that two of the most commonly used agents in cephalopod general anesthesia, magnesium chloride and ethanol, are capable of producing strong and reversible blockade of afferent and efferent neural signal; thus they are genuine anesthetics, rather than simply sedating agents that render animals immobile but not insensible. Additionally, we demonstrate that injected magnesium chloride and lidocaine are effective local anesthetic agents. This represents a considerable advance for cephalopod welfare. Using a reversible, minimally invasive recording procedure, we measured activity in the pallial nerve of cuttlefish (Sepia bandensis and octopus (Abdopus aculeatus, Octopus bocki, during induction and reversal for five putative general anesthetic and two local anesthetic agents. We describe the temporal relationship between loss of behavioral responses (immobility, loss of efferent neural signal (loss of “consciousness” and loss of afferent neural signal (anesthesia for general anesthesia, and loss of afferent signal for local anesthesia. Both ethanol and magnesium chloride were effective as bath-applied general anesthetics, causing immobility, complete loss of behavioral responsiveness and complete loss of afferent and efferent neural signal. Cold seawater, diethyl ether, and MS-222 (tricaine were ineffective. Subcutaneous injection of either lidocaine or magnesium chloride blocked behavioral and neural responses to pinch in the injected area, and we conclude that both are effective local anesthetic agents for cephalopods. Lastly, we

In Vivo Recording of Neural and Behavioral Correlates of Anesthesia Induction, Reversal, and Euthanasia in Cephalopod Molluscs.

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Butler-Struben, Hanna M; Brophy, Samantha M; Johnson, Nasira A; Crook, Robyn J

2018-01-01

Cephalopod molluscs are among the most behaviorally and neurologically complex invertebrates. As they are now included in research animal welfare regulations in many countries, humane and effective anesthesia is required during invasive procedures. However, currently there is no evidence that agents believed to act as anesthetics produce effects beyond immobility. In this study we demonstrate, for the first time, that two of the most commonly used agents in cephalopod general anesthesia, magnesium chloride and ethanol, are capable of producing strong and reversible blockade of afferent and efferent neural signal; thus they are genuine anesthetics, rather than simply sedating agents that render animals immobile but not insensible. Additionally, we demonstrate that injected magnesium chloride and lidocaine are effective local anesthetic agents. This represents a considerable advance for cephalopod welfare. Using a reversible, minimally invasive recording procedure, we measured activity in the pallial nerve of cuttlefish ( Sepia bandensis ) and octopus ( Abdopus aculeatus, Octopus bocki ), during induction and reversal for five putative general anesthetic and two local anesthetic agents. We describe the temporal relationship between loss of behavioral responses (immobility), loss of efferent neural signal (loss of "consciousness") and loss of afferent neural signal (anesthesia) for general anesthesia, and loss of afferent signal for local anesthesia. Both ethanol and magnesium chloride were effective as bath-applied general anesthetics, causing immobility, complete loss of behavioral responsiveness and complete loss of afferent and efferent neural signal. Cold seawater, diethyl ether, and MS-222 (tricaine) were ineffective. Subcutaneous injection of either lidocaine or magnesium chloride blocked behavioral and neural responses to pinch in the injected area, and we conclude that both are effective local anesthetic agents for cephalopods. Lastly, we demonstrate that a

Neural processing of emotional-intensity predicts emotion regulation choice.

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Shafir, Roni; Thiruchselvam, Ravi; Suri, Gaurav; Gross, James J; Sheppes, Gal

2016-12-01

Emotional-intensity is a core characteristic of affective events that strongly determines how individuals choose to regulate their emotions. Our conceptual framework suggests that in high emotional-intensity situations, individuals prefer to disengage attention using distraction, which can more effectively block highly potent emotional information, as compared with engagement reappraisal, which is preferred in low emotional-intensity. However, existing supporting evidence remains indirect because prior intensity categorization of emotional stimuli was based on subjective measures that are potentially biased and only represent the endpoint of emotional-intensity processing. Accordingly, this study provides the first direct evidence for the role of online emotional-intensity processing in predicting behavioral regulatory-choices. Utilizing the high temporal resolution of event-related potentials, we evaluated online neural processing of stimuli's emotional-intensity (late positive potential, LPP) prior to regulatory-choices between distraction and reappraisal. Results showed that enhanced neural processing of intensity (enhanced LPP amplitudes) uniquely predicted (above subjective measures of intensity) increased tendency to subsequently choose distraction over reappraisal. Additionally, regulatory-choices led to adaptive consequences, demonstrated in finding that actual implementation of distraction relative to reappraisal-choice resulted in stronger attenuation of LPPs and self-reported arousal. © The Author (2016). Published by Oxford University Press. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

The role of nucleus accumbens core/shell in sleep-wake regulation and their involvement in modafinil-induced arousal.

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Mei-Hong Qiu

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: We have previously shown that modafinil promotes wakefulness via dopamine receptor D(1 and D(2 receptors; however, the locus where dopamine acts has not been identified. We proposed that the nucleus accumbens (NAc that receives the ventral tegmental area dopamine inputs play an important role not only in reward and addiction but also in sleep-wake cycle and in mediating modafinil-induced arousal. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: In the present study, we further explored the role of NAc in sleep-wake cycle and sleep homeostasis by ablating the NAc core and shell, respectively, and examined arousal response following modafinil administration. We found that discrete NAc core and shell lesions produced 26.5% and 17.4% increase in total wakefulness per day, respectively, with sleep fragmentation and a reduced sleep rebound after a 6-hr sleep deprivation compared to control. Finally, NAc core but not shell lesions eliminated arousal effects of modafinil. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: These results indicate that the NAc regulates sleep-wake behavior and mediates arousal effects of the midbrain dopamine system and stimulant modafinil.

Does Emotional Arousal Influence Swearing Fluency?

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Stephens, Richard; Zile, Amy

2017-08-01

This study assessed the effect of experimentally manipulated emotional arousal on swearing fluency. We hypothesised that swear word generation would be increased with raised emotional arousal. The emotional arousal of 60 participants was manipulated by having them play a first-person shooter video game or, as a control, a golf video game, in a randomised order. A behavioural measure of swearing fluency based on the Controlled Oral Word Association Test was employed. Successful experimental manipulation was indicated by raised State Hostility Questionnaire scores after playing the shooter game. Swearing fluency was significantly greater after playing the shooter game compared with the golf game. Validity of the swearing fluency task was demonstrated via positive correlations with self-reported swearing fluency and daily swearing frequency. In certain instances swearing may represent a form of emotional expression. This finding will inform debates around the acceptability of using taboo language.

Dissociable Patterns of Neural Activity during Response Inhibition in Depressed Adolescents with and without Suicidal Behavior

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Pan, Lisa A.; Batezati-Alves, Silvia C.; Almeida, Jorge R. C.; Segreti, AnnaMaria; Akkal, Dalila; Hassel, Stefanie; Lakdawala, Sara; Brent, David A.; Phillips, Mary L.

2011-01-01

Objectives: Impaired attentional control and behavioral control are implicated in adult suicidal behavior. Little is known about the functional integrity of neural circuitry supporting these processes in suicidal behavior in adolescence. Method: Functional magnetic resonance imaging was used in 15 adolescent suicide attempters with a history of…

Suppression of anomalous synchronization and nonstationary behavior of neural network under small-world topology

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Boaretto, B. R. R.; Budzinski, R. C.; Prado, T. L.; Kurths, J.; Lopes, S. R.

2018-05-01

It is known that neural networks under small-world topology can present anomalous synchronization and nonstationary behavior for weak coupling regimes. Here, we propose methods to suppress the anomalous synchronization and also to diminish the nonstationary behavior occurring in weakly coupled neural network under small-world topology. We consider a network of 2000 thermally sensitive identical neurons, based on the model of Hodgkin-Huxley in a small-world topology, with the probability of adding non local connection equal to p = 0 . 001. Based on experimental protocols to suppress anomalous synchronization, as well as nonstationary behavior of the neural network dynamics, we make use of (i) external stimulus (pulsed current); (ii) biologic parameters changing (neuron membrane conductance changes); and (iii) body temperature changes. Quantification analysis to evaluate phase synchronization makes use of the Kuramoto's order parameter, while recurrence quantification analysis, particularly the determinism, computed over the easily accessible mean field of network, the local field potential (LFP), is used to evaluate nonstationary states. We show that the methods proposed can control the anomalous synchronization and nonstationarity occurring for weak coupling parameter without any effect on the individual neuron dynamics, neither in the expected asymptotic synchronized states occurring for large values of the coupling parameter.

Estimating the behavior of RC beams strengthened with NSM system using artificial neural networks

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Seyed Rohollah Hosseini Vaez

2017-12-01

Full Text Available In the last decade, conventional materials such as steel and concrete are being replaced by fiber reinforced polymer (FRP materials for the strengthening of concrete structures. Among the strengthening techniques based on Fiber Reinforced Polymer composites, the use of near-surface mounted (NSM FRP rods is emerging as a promising technology for increasing flexural and shear strength of deficient concrete, masonry and timber members. An artificial neural network is an information processing tool that is inspired by the way biological nervous systems (such as the brain process the information. The key element of this tool is the novel structure of the information processing system. In engineering applications, a neural network can be a vector mapper which maps an input vector to an output one. In the present study, a new approach is developed to predict the behavior of strengthened concrete beam using a large number of experimental data by applying artificial neural networks. Having parameters used as input nodes in ANN modeling such as elastic modulus of the FRP reinforcement, the ratio of the steel longitudinal reinforcement, dimensions of the beam section, the ratio of the NSM-FRP reinforcement and characteristics of concrete, the output node was the flexural strength of beams. The idealized neural network was employed to generate empirical charts and equations to be used in design. The aim of this study is to investigate the behavior of strengthened RC beam using artificial neural networks.

Distinctive and common neural underpinnings of major depression, social anxiety, and their comorbidity.

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Hamilton, J Paul; Chen, Michael C; Waugh, Christian E; Joormann, Jutta; Gotlib, Ian H

2015-04-01

Assessing neural commonalities and differences among depression, anxiety and their comorbidity is critical in developing a more integrative clinical neuroscience and in evaluating currently debated categorical vs dimensional approaches to psychiatric classification. Therefore, in this study, we sought to identify patterns of anomalous neural responding to criticism and praise that are specific to and common among major depressive disorder (MDD), social anxiety disorder (SAD) and comorbid MDD-SAD. Adult females who met formal diagnostic criteria for MDD, SAD or MDD-SAD and psychiatrically healthy participants underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging as they listened to statements directing praise or criticism at them or at another person. MDD groups showed reduced responding to praise across a distributed cortical network, an effect potentially mediated by thalamic nuclei undergirding arousal-mediated attention. SAD groups showed heightened anterior insula and decreased default-mode network response to criticism. The MDD-SAD group uniquely showed reduced responding to praise in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex. Finally, all groups with psychopathology showed heightened response to criticism in a region of the superior frontal gyrus implicated in attentional gating. The present results suggest novel neural models of anhedonia in MDD, vigilance-withdrawal behaviors in SAD, and poorer outcome in MDD-SAD. Importantly, in identifying unique and common neural substrates of MDD and SAD, these results support a formulation in which common neural components represent general risk factors for psychopathology that, due to factors that are present at illness onset, lead to distinct forms of psychopathology with unique neural signatures. © The Author (2014). Published by Oxford University Press. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Early life stress accelerates behavioral and neural maturation of the hippocampus in male mice.

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Bath, K; Manzano-Nieves, G; Goodwill, H

2016-06-01

Early life stress (ELS) increases the risk for later cognitive and emotional dysfunction. ELS is known to truncate neural development through effects on suppressing cell birth, increasing cell death, and altering neuronal morphology, effects that have been associated with behavioral profiles indicative of precocious maturation. However, how earlier silencing of growth drives accelerated behavioral maturation has remained puzzling. Here, we test the novel hypothesis that, ELS drives a switch from growth to maturation to accelerate neural and behavioral development. To test this, we used a mouse model of ELS, fragmented maternal care, and a cross-sectional dense sampling approach focusing on hippocampus and measured effects of ELS on the ontogeny of behavioral development and biomarkers of neural maturation. Consistent with previous work, ELS was associated with an earlier developmental decline in expression of markers of cell proliferation (Ki-67) and differentiation (doublecortin). However, ELS also led to a precocious arrival of Parvalbumin-positive cells, led to an earlier switch in NMDA receptor subunit expression (marker of synaptic maturity), and was associated with an earlier rise in myelin basic protein expression (key component of the myelin sheath). In addition, in a contextual fear-conditioning task, ELS accelerated the timed developmental suppression of contextual fear. Together, these data provide support for the hypothesis that ELS serves to switch neurodevelopment from processes of growth to maturation and promotes accelerated development of some forms of emotional learning. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Synaptic plasticity in a recurrent neural network for versatile and adaptive behaviors of a walking robot

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Grinke, Eduard; Tetzlaff, Christian; Wörgötter, Florentin

2015-01-01

correlation-based learning with synaptic scaling is applied to adequately change the connections of the network. By doing so, we can effectively exploit neural dynamics (i.e., hysteresis effects and single attractors) in the network to generate different turning angles with short-term memory for a walking...... dynamics, plasticity, sensory feedback, and biomechanics. Generating such versatile and adaptive behaviors for a many degrees-of-freedom (DOFs) walking robot is a challenging task. Thus, in this study, we present a bio-inspired approach to solve this task. Specifically, the approach combines neural...... mechanisms with plasticity, exteroceptive sensory feedback, and biomechanics. The neural mechanisms consist of adaptive neural sensory processing and modular neural locomotion control. The sensory processing is based on a small recurrent neural network consisting of two fully connected neurons. Online...

Behavioral and neural indices of affective coloring for neutral social stimuli

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Schaefer, Stacey M; Lapate, Regina C; Schoen, Andrew J; Gresham, Lauren K; Mumford, Jeanette A; Davidson, Richard J

2018-01-01

Abstract Emotional processing often continues beyond the presentation of emotionally evocative stimuli, which can result in affective biasing or coloring of subsequently encountered events. Here, we describe neural correlates of affective coloring and examine how individual differences in affective style impact the magnitude of affective coloring. We conducted functional magnetic resonance imaging in 117 adults who passively viewed negative, neutral and positive pictures presented 2 s prior to neutral faces. Brain responses to neutral faces were modulated by the valence of preceding pictures, with greater activation for faces following negative (vs positive) pictures in the amygdala, dorsomedial and lateral prefrontal cortex, ventral visual cortices, posterior superior temporal sulcus, and angular gyrus. Three days after the magnetic resonance imaging scan, participants rated their memory and liking of previously encountered neutral faces. Individuals higher in trait positive affect and emotional reappraisal rated faces as more likable when preceded by emotionally arousing (negative or positive) pictures. In addition, greater amygdala responses to neutral faces preceded by positively valenced pictures were associated with greater memory for these faces 3 days later. Collectively, these results reveal individual differences in how emotions spill over onto the processing of unrelated social stimuli, resulting in persistent and affectively biased evaluations of such stimuli. PMID:29447377

Neural Reactivity to Emotional Faces May Mediate the Relationship between Childhood Empathy and Adolescent Prosocial Behavior

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Flournoy, John C.; Pfeifer, Jennifer H.; Moore, William E.; Tackman, Allison M.; Masten, Carrie L.; Mazziotta, John C.; Iacoboni, Marco; Dapretto, Mirella

2016-01-01

Reactivity to others' emotions not only can result in empathic concern (EC), an important motivator of prosocial behavior, but can also result in personal distress (PD), which may hinder prosocial behavior. Examining neural substrates of emotional reactivity may elucidate how EC and PD differentially influence prosocial behavior. Participants…

Enhanced fear recall and emotional arousal in rats recovering from chronic variable stress.

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McGuire, Jennifer; Herman, James P; Horn, Paul S; Sallee, Floyd R; Sah, Renu

2010-11-02

Emergence of posttraumatic-like behaviors following chronic trauma is of interest given the rising prevalence of combat-related posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Stress associated with combat usually involves chronic traumatization, composed of multiple, single episode events occurring in an unpredictable fashion. In this study, we investigated whether rats recovering from repeated trauma in the form of chronic variable stress (CVS) express posttraumatic stress-like behaviors and dysregulated neuroendocrine responses. Cohorts of Long-Evans rats underwent a 7 day CVS paradigm followed by behavioral and neuroendocrine testing during early (16 h post CVS) and delayed (7 day) recovery time points. A fear conditioning-extinction-reminder shock paradigm revealed that CVS induces exaggerated fear recall to reminder shock, suggestive of potentiated fear memory. Rats with CVS experience also expressed a delayed expression of fearful arousal under aversive context, however, social anxiety was not affected during post-CVS recovery. Persistent sensitization of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocorticotropic response to a novel acute stressor was observed in CVS exposed rats. Collectively, our data are consistent with the constellation of symptoms associated with posttraumatic stress syndrome, such as re-experiencing, and arousal to fearful contexts. The CVS-recovery paradigm may be useful to simulate trauma outcomes following chronic traumatization that is often associated with repeated combat stress. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The missing link: Mothers’ neural response to infant cry related to infant attachment behaviors

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Laurent, Heidemarie K.; Ablow, Jennifer C.

2012-01-01

This study addresses a gap in the attachment literature by investigating maternal neural response to cry related to infant attachment classifications and behaviors. Twenty-two primiparous mothers and their 18-month old infants completed the Strange Situation Procedure (SS) to elicit attachment behaviors. During a separate functional MRI session, mothers were exposed to their own infant’s cry sound, as well as an unfamiliar infant’s cry and control sound. Maternal neural response to own infant cry related to both overall attachment security and specific infant behaviors. Mothers of less secure infants maintained greater activation to their cry in left parahippocampal and amygdala regions and the right posterior insula. consistent with a negative schematic response bias. Mothers of infants exhibiting more avoidant or contact maintaining behaviors during the SS showed diminished response across left prefrontal, parietal, and cerebellar areas involved in attentional processing and cognitive control. Mothers of infants exhibiting more disorganized behavior showed reduced response in bilateral temporal and subcallosal areas relevant to social cognition and emotion regulation. No differences by attachment classification were found. Implications for attachment transmission models are discussed. PMID:22982277

The missing link: mothers' neural response to infant cry related to infant attachment behaviors.

Science.gov (United States)

Laurent, Heidemarie K; Ablow, Jennifer C

2012-12-01

This study addresses a gap in the attachment literature by investigating maternal neural response to cry related to infant attachment classifications and behaviors. Twenty-two primiparous mothers and their 18-month old infants completed the Strange Situation (SS) procedure to elicit attachment behaviors. During a separate functional MRI session, mothers were exposed to their own infant's cry sound, as well as an unfamiliar infant's cry and control sound. Maternal neural response to own infant cry related to both overall attachment security and specific infant behaviors. Mothers of less secure infants maintained greater activation to their cry in left parahippocampal and amygdala regions and the right posterior insula consistent with a negative schematic response bias. Mothers of infants exhibiting more avoidant or contact maintaining behaviors during the SS showed diminished response across left prefrontal, parietal, and cerebellar areas involved in attentional processing and cognitive control. Mothers of infants exhibiting more disorganized behavior showed reduced response in bilateral temporal and subcallosal areas relevant to social cognition and emotion regulation. No differences by attachment classification were found. Implications for attachment transmission models are discussed. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Frequent arousals from winter torpor in Rafinesque's big-eared bat (Corynorhinus rafinesquii.

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Joseph S Johnson

Full Text Available Extensive use of torpor is a common winter survival strategy among bats; however, data comparing various torpor behaviors among species are scarce. Winter torpor behaviors are likely to vary among species with different physiologies and species inhabiting different regional climates. Understanding these differences may be important in identifying differing susceptibilities of species to white-nose syndrome (WNS in North America. We fitted 24 Rafinesque's big-eared bats (Corynorhinus rafinesquii with temperature-sensitive radio-transmitters, and monitored 128 PIT-tagged big-eared bats, during the winter months of 2010 to 2012. We tested the hypothesis that Rafinesque's big-eared bats use torpor less often than values reported for other North American cave-hibernators. Additionally, we tested the hypothesis that Rafinesque's big-eared bats arouse on winter nights more suitable for nocturnal foraging. Radio-tagged bats used short (2.4 d ± 0.3 (SE, shallow (13.9°C ± 0.6 torpor bouts and switched roosts every 4.1 d ± 0.6. Probability of arousal from torpor increased linearly with ambient temperature at sunset (P<0.0001, and 83% (n=86 of arousals occurred within 1 hr of sunset. Activity of PIT-tagged bats at an artificial maternity/hibernaculum roost between November and March was positively correlated with ambient temperature at sunset (P<0.0001, with males more active at the roost than females. These data show Rafinesque's big-eared bat is a shallow hibernator and is relatively active during winter. We hypothesize that winter activity patterns provide Corynorhinus species with an ecological and physiological defense against the fungus causing WNS, and that these bats may be better suited to withstand fungal infection than other cave-hibernating bat species in eastern North America.

Electroencephalographic brain dynamics of memory encoding in emotionally arousing context

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Carlos Enrique eUribe

2011-06-01

Full Text Available Emotional content/context enhances declarative memory through modulation of encoding and retrieval mechanisms. At encoding, neurophysiological data have consistently demonstrated the subsequent memory effect in theta and gamma oscillations. Yet, the existing studies were focused on the emotional content effect and let the emotional context effect unexplored. We hypothesized that theta and gamma oscillations show higher evoked/induced activity during the encoding of visual stimuli when delivered in an emotionally arousing context. Twenty-five healthy volunteers underwent evoked potentials recordings using a 21 scalp electrodes montage. They attended to an audiovisual test of emotional declarative memory being randomly assigned to either emotionally arousing or neutral context. Visual stimulus presentation was used as the time-locking event. Grand-averages of the evoked potentials and evoked spectral perturbations were calculated for each volunteer. Evoked potentials showed a higher negative deflection from 80 to 140 ms for the emotional condition. Such effect was observed over central, frontal and prefrontal locations bilaterally. Evoked theta power was higher in left parietal, central, frontal and prefrontal electrodes from -50 to 300 ms in the emotional condition. Evoked gamma power was higher in the emotional condition with a spatial distribution that overlapped at some points with the theta topography. The early theta power increase could be related to expectancy induced by auditory information processing that facilitates visual encoding in emotional contexts. Together, our results suggest that declarative memory enhancement for both emotional content and emotional context are supported by similar neural mechanisms at encoding, and offer new evidence about the brain processing of relevant environmental stimuli.

Valence, arousal and cognitive control: A voluntary task switching study

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Jelle eDemanet

2011-11-01

Full Text Available The present study focused on the interplay between arousal, valence and cognitive control. To this end, we investigated how arousal and valence associated with affective stimuli influenced cognitive flexibility when switching between tasks voluntarily. Three hypotheses were tested. First, a valence hypothesis that states that the positive valence of affective stimuli will facilitate both global and task-switching performance because of increased cognitive flexibility. Second, an arousal hypothesis that states that arousal, and not valence, will specifically impair task-switching performance by strengthening the previously executed task-set. Third, an attention hypothesis that states that both cognitive and emotional control ask for limited attentional resources, and predicts that arousal will impair both global and task-switching performance. The results showed that arousal affected task-switching but not global performance, possibly by phasic modulations of the noradrenergic system that reinforces the previously executed task. In addition, positive valence only affected global performance but not task-switching performance, possibly by phasic modulations of dopamine that stimulates the general ability to perform in a multitasking environment.

Valence evaluation with approaching or withdrawing cues: directly testing valence-arousal conflict theory.

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Wang, Yan Mei; Li, Ting; Li, Lin

2017-07-19

The valence-arousal conflict theory assumes that both valence and arousal will trigger approaching or withdrawing tendencies. It also predicts that the speed of processing emotional stimuli will depend on whether valence and arousal trigger conflicting or congruent motivational tendencies. However, most previous studies have provided evidence of the interaction between valence and arousal only, and have not provided direct proof of the interactive links between valence, arousal and motivational tendencies. The present study provides direct evidence for the relationship between approach-withdrawal tendencies and the valence-arousal conflict. In an empirical test, participants were instructed to judge the valence of emotional words after visual-spatial cues that appeared to be either approaching or withdrawing from participants. A three-way interaction (valence, arousal, and approach-withdrawal tendency) was observed such that the response time was shorter if participants responded to a negative high-arousal stimulus after a withdrawing cue, or to a positive low-arousal stimulus after an approaching cue. These findings suggest that the approach-withdrawal tendency indeed plays a crucial role in valence-arousal conflict, and that the effect depends on the congruency of valence, arousal and tendency at an early stage of processing.

Sex differences in patterns of genital sexual arousal: measurement artifacts or true phenomena?

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Suschinsky, Kelly D; Lalumière, Martin L; Chivers, Meredith L

2009-08-01

Sex differences in patterns of sexual arousal have been reported recently. Men's genital arousal is typically more category-specific than women's, such that men experience their greatest genital arousal to stimuli depicting their preferred sex partners whereas women experience significant genital arousal to stimuli depicting both their preferred and non-preferred sex partners. In addition, men's genital and subjective sexual arousal patterns are more concordant than women's: The correlation between genital and subjective sexual arousal is much larger in men than in women. These sex differences could be due to low response-specificity in the measurement of genital arousal in women. The most commonly used measure of female sexual arousal, vaginal photoplethysmography, has not been fully validated and may not measure sexual arousal specifically. A total of 20 men and 20 women were presented with various sexual and non-sexual emotionally laden short film clips while their genital and subjective sexual arousal were measured. Results suggest that vaginal photoplethysmography is a measure of sexual arousal exclusively. Women's genital responses were highest during sexual stimuli and absent during all non-sexual stimuli. Sex differences in degree of category-specificity and concordance were replicated: Men's genital responses were more category-specific than women's and men's genital and subjective sexual arousal were more strongly correlated than women's. The results from the current study support the continued use of vaginal photoplethysmography in investigating sex differences in patterns of sexual arousal.

Personality change at the intersection of autonomic arousal and stress.

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Hart, Daniel; Eisenberg, Nancy; Valiente, Carlos

2007-06-01

We hypothesized that personality change in children can be predicted by the interaction of family risk with susceptibility to autonomic arousal and that children characterized by both high-risk families and highly reactive autonomic nervous systems tend to show maladaptive change. This hypothesis was tested in a 6-year longitudinal study in which personality-type prototypicality, problem behavior, and negative emotional intensity were measured at 2-year intervals. The results indicated that children who both had exaggerated skin conductance responses (a measure of autonomic reactivity) and were living in families with multiple risk factors were most likely to develop an undercontrolled personality type and to exhibit increases in problem behavior and negative emotional intensity. The implications of the results for understanding personality change are discussed.

Neural foundations to moral reasoning and antisocial behavior

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Yang, Yaling

2006-01-01

A common feature of the antisocial, rule-breaking behavior that is central to criminal, violent and psychopathic individuals is the failure to follow moral guidelines. This review summarizes key findings from brain imaging research on both antisocial behavior and moral reasoning, and integrates these findings into a neural moral model of antisocial behavior. Key areas found to be functionally or structurally impaired in antisocial populations include dorsal and ventral regions of the prefrontal cortex (PFC), amygdala, hippocampus, angular gyrus, anterior cingulate and temporal cortex. Regions most commonly activated in moral judgment tasks consist of the polar/medial and ventral PFC, amygdala, angular gyrus and posterior cingulate. It is hypothesized that the rule-breaking behavior common to antisocial, violent and psychopathic individuals is in part due to impairments in some of the structures (dorsal and ventral PFC, amygdala and angular gyrus) subserving moral cognition and emotion. Impairments to the emotional component that comprises the feeling of what is moral is viewed as the primary deficit in antisocials, although some disruption to the cognitive and cognitive-emotional components of morality (particularly self-referential thinking and emotion regulation) cannot be ruled out. While this neurobiological predisposition is likely only one of several biosocial processes involved in the etiology of antisocial behavior, it raises significant moral issues for the legal system and neuroethics. PMID:18985107

Workplace injuries, safety climate and behaviors: application of an artificial neural network.

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Abubakar, A Mohammed; Karadal, Himmet; Bayighomog, Steven W; Merdan, Ethem

2018-05-09

This article proposes and tests a model for the interaction effect of the organizational safety climate and behaviors on workplace injuries. Using artificial neural network and survey data from 306 metal casting industry employees in central Anatolia, we found that an organizational safety climate mitigates workplace injuries, and safety behaviors enforce the strength of the negative impact of the safety climate on workplace injuries. The results suggest a complex relationship between the organizational safety climate, safety behavior and workplace injuries. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed in light of decreasing workplace injuries in the Anatolian metal casting industry.

Afferent Neural Feedback Overrides the Modulating Effects of Arousal, Hypercapnia and Hypoxemia on Neonatal Cardio-respiratory Control.

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Lumb, Kathleen J; Schneider, Jennifer M; Ibrahim, Thowfique; Rigaux, Anita; Hasan, Shabih U

2018-04-20

Evidence at whole animal, organ-system, and cellular and molecular levels suggests that afferent volume feedback is critical for establishment of adequate ventilation at birth. Due to the irreversible nature of vagal ablation studies to date, it was difficult to quantify the roles of afferent volume input, arousal and changes in blood gas tensions on neonatal respiratory control. During reversible perineural vagal block, profound apneas, and hypoxemia and hypercarbia were observed necessitating termination of perineural blockade. Respiratory depression and apneas were independent of the sleep states. We demonstrate that profound apneas and life-threatening respiratory failure in vagally denervated animals do not result from lack of arousal or hypoxemia. Change in sleep state and concomitant respiratory depression result from lack of afferent volume feedback, which appears to be critical for the maintenance of normal breathing patterns and adequate gas exchange during the early postnatal period. Afferent volume feedback plays a vital role in neonatal respiratory control. Mechanisms for the profound respiratory depression and life-threatening apneas observed in vagally denervated neonatal animals remain unclear. We investigated the roles of sleep states, hypoxic-hypercapnia and afferent volume feedback on respiratory depression using reversible perineural vagal block during early postnatal period. Seven lambs were instrumented during the first 48h of life to record/analyze sleep states, diaphragmatic electromyograph, arterial blood gas tensions, systemic arterial blood pressure and rectal temperature. Perineural cuffs were placed around the vagi to attain reversible blockade. Post-operatively, during the awake state, both vagi were blocked using 2% xylocaine for up to 30 minutes. Compared with baseline values, pHa, PaO 2 and SaO 2 decreased and PaCO 2 increased during perineural blockade (P Respiratory depression and apneas were independent of sleep states. This

cables1 Is Required for Embryonic Neural Development: Molecular, Cellular, and Behavioral Evidence From the Zebrafish

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GROENEWEG, JOLIJN W.; WHITE, YVONNE A.R.; KOKEL, DAVID; PETERSON, RANDALL T.; ZUKERBERG, LAWRENCE R.; BERIN, INNA; RUEDA, BO R.; WOOD, ANTONY W.

2014-01-01

SUMMARY In vitro studies have suggested that the Cables1 gene regulates epithelial cell proliferation, whereas other studies suggest a role in promoting neural differentiation. In efforts to clarify the functions of Cables1 in vivo, we conducted gain- and loss-of-function studies targeting its ortholog (cables1) in the zebrafish embryo. Similar to rodents, zebrafish cables1 mRNA expression is detected most robustly in embryonic neural tissues. Antisense knockdown of cables1 leads to increased numbers of apoptotic cells, particularly in brain tissue, in addition to a distinct behavioral phenotype, characterized by hyperactivity in response to stimulation. Apoptosis and the behavioral abnormality could be rescued by co-expression of a morpholino-resistant cables1 construct. Suppression of p53 expression in cables1 morphants partially rescued both apoptosis and the behavioral phenotype, suggesting that the phenotype of cables1 morphants is due in part to p53-dependent apoptosis. Alterations in the expression patterns of several neural transcription factors were observed in cables1 morphants during early neurulation, suggesting that cables1 is required for early neural differentiation. Ectopic overexpression of cables1 strongly disrupted embryonic morphogenesis, while overexpression of a cables1 mutant lacking the C-terminal cyclin box had little effect, suggesting functional importance of the cyclin box. Lastly, marked reductions in p35, but not Cdk5, were observed in cables1 morphants. Collectively, these data suggest that cables1 is important for neural differentiation during embryogenesis, in a mechanism that likely involves interactions with the Cdk5/p35 kinase pathway. PMID:21268180

What the laboratory rat has taught us about social play behavior: role in behavioral development and neural mechanisms.

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Vanderschuren, Louk J M J; Trezza, Viviana

2014-01-01

Social play behavior is the most vigorous and characteristic form of social interaction displayed by developing mammals. The laboratory rat is an ideal species to study this behavior, since it shows ample social play that can be easily recognized and quantified. In this chapter, we will first briefly describe the structure of social play behavior in rats. Next, we will discuss studies that used social isolation rearing during the period in life when social play is most abundant to investigate the developmental functions of social play behavior in rats, focusing on the consequences of play deprivation on social, cognitive, emotional, and sensorimotor development. Last, we will discuss the neural substrates of social play behavior in rats, with emphasis on the limbic corticostriatal circuits that underlie emotions and their influence on behavior.

Higher motivation - greater control? The effect of arousal on judgement.

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Riemer, Hila; Viswanathan, Madhu

2013-01-01

This research examines control over the effect of arousal, a dimension of affect, on judgement. Past research shows that high processing motivation enhances control over the effects of affect on judgement. Isolating and studying arousal as opposed to valence, the other dimension of affect, and its effect on judgement, we identify boundary conditions for past findings. Drawing from the literature on processes by which arousal influences judgement, we demonstrate that the role of motivation is contingent upon the type of judgement task (i.e., memory- versus stimulus-based judgement). In stimulus-based judgement, individuals exert greater control over the effect of arousal on judgement under low compared to high motivation. In contrast, in memory-based judgement individuals exert greater control over the effect of arousal under high compared to low motivation. Theoretical implications and avenues for future research are discussed.

Beyond intensity: Spectral features effectively predict music-induced subjective arousal.

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Gingras, Bruno; Marin, Manuela M; Fitch, W Tecumseh

2014-01-01

Emotions in music are conveyed by a variety of acoustic cues. Notably, the positive association between sound intensity and arousal has particular biological relevance. However, although amplitude normalization is a common procedure used to control for intensity in music psychology research, direct comparisons between emotional ratings of original and amplitude-normalized musical excerpts are lacking. In this study, 30 nonmusicians retrospectively rated the subjective arousal and pleasantness induced by 84 six-second classical music excerpts, and an additional 30 nonmusicians rated the same excerpts normalized for amplitude. Following the cue-redundancy and Brunswik lens models of acoustic communication, we hypothesized that arousal and pleasantness ratings would be similar for both versions of the excerpts, and that arousal could be predicted effectively by other acoustic cues besides intensity. Although the difference in mean arousal and pleasantness ratings between original and amplitude-normalized excerpts correlated significantly with the amplitude adjustment, ratings for both sets of excerpts were highly correlated and shared a similar range of values, thus validating the use of amplitude normalization in music emotion research. Two acoustic parameters, spectral flux and spectral entropy, accounted for 65% of the variance in arousal ratings for both sets, indicating that spectral features can effectively predict arousal. Additionally, we confirmed that amplitude-normalized excerpts were adequately matched for loudness. Overall, the results corroborate our hypotheses and support the cue-redundancy and Brunswik lens models.

Reactive Neural Control for Phototaxis and Obstacle Avoidance Behavior of Walking Machines

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Manoonpong, Poramate; Pasemann, Frank; Wörgötter, Florentin

2007-01-01

as a sensory fusion unit. It filters sensory noise and shapes sensory data to drive the corresponding reactive behavior. On the other hand, modular neural control based on a central pattern generator is applied for locomotion of walking machines. It coordinates leg movements and can generate omnidirectional...

Optimization behavior of brainstem respiratory neurons. A cerebral neural network model.

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Poon, C S

1991-01-01

A recent model of respiratory control suggested that the steady-state respiratory responses to CO2 and exercise may be governed by an optimal control law in the brainstem respiratory neurons. It was not certain, however, whether such complex optimization behavior could be accomplished by a realistic biological neural network. To test this hypothesis, we developed a hybrid computer-neural model in which the dynamics of the lung, brain and other tissue compartments were simulated on a digital computer. Mimicking the "controller" was a human subject who pedalled on a bicycle with varying speed (analog of ventilatory output) with a view to minimize an analog signal of the total cost of breathing (chemical and mechanical) which was computed interactively and displayed on an oscilloscope. In this manner, the visuomotor cortex served as a proxy (homolog) of the brainstem respiratory neurons in the model. Results in 4 subjects showed a linear steady-state ventilatory CO2 response to arterial PCO2 during simulated CO2 inhalation and a nearly isocapnic steady-state response during simulated exercise. Thus, neural optimization is a plausible mechanism for respiratory control during exercise and can be achieved by a neural network with cognitive computational ability without the need for an exercise stimulus.

AffectCam : arousal- augmented sensecam for richer recall of episodic memories

OpenAIRE

Sas, Corina; Fratczak, Thomasz; Rees, Matthew; Gellersen, Hans; Kalnikaitė, Vaiva; Coman, Alina; Höök, Kristina

2013-01-01

This paper describes the design and evaluation of AffectCam, a wearable system integrating SenseCam and BodyMedia SenseWear for capturing galvanic skin response as a measure of bodily arousal. AffectCam’s algorithms use arousal as a filtering mechanism for selecting the most personally relevant photos captured during people’s ordinary daily life, i.e. high arousal photos. We discuss initial findings showing that emotional arousal does improve the quality of memory recall associated with emoti...

Multilevel analysis of facial expressions of emotion and script: self-report (arousal and valence) and psychophysiological correlates.

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Balconi, Michela; Vanutelli, Maria Elide; Finocchiaro, Roberta

2014-09-26

The paper explored emotion comprehension in children with regard to facial expression of emotion. The effect of valence and arousal evaluation, of context and of psychophysiological measures was monitored. Indeed subjective evaluation of valence (positive vs. negative) and arousal (high vs. low), and contextual (facial expression vs. facial expression and script) variables were supposed to modulate the psychophysiological responses. Self-report measures (in terms of correct recognition, arousal and valence attribution) and psychophysiological correlates (facial electromyography, EMG, skin conductance response, SCR, and heart rate, HR) were observed when children (N = 26; mean age = 8.75 y; range 6-11 y) looked at six facial expressions of emotions (happiness, anger, fear, sadness, surprise, and disgust) and six emotional scripts (contextualized facial expressions). The competencies about the recognition, the evaluation on valence and arousal was tested in concomitance with psychophysiological variations. Specifically, we tested for the congruence of these multiple measures. Log-linear analysis and repeated measure ANOVAs showed different representations across the subjects, as a function of emotion. Specifically, children' recognition and attribution were well developed for some emotions (such as anger, fear, surprise and happiness), whereas some other emotions (mainly disgust and sadness) were less clearly represented. SCR, HR and EMG measures were modulated by the evaluation based on valence and arousal, with increased psychophysiological values mainly in response to anger, fear and happiness. As shown by multiple regression analysis, a significant consonance was found between self-report measures and psychophysiological behavior, mainly for emotions rated as more arousing and negative in valence. The multilevel measures were discussed at light of dimensional attribution model.

The effect of personality type and musical task on self-perceived arousal.

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Lim, Hayoung A

2008-01-01

This study was designed to measure the level of arousal influenced by 4 different musical experiences classified by task difficulty and to examine the relationship between music-induced arousal level and personality type. Participants included 32 university students who were neither musicians nor music majors. The Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (Eysenck & Eysenck, 1975) was used to identify participants as either extravert or introvert. Participants were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 types of musical tasks: listening, singing, rhythm tapping, or keyboard playing. Arousal level was measured using the Activation-Deactivation Adjective Check List (ADACL) (Thayer, 1978) before and after the musical task. The ADACL is a self-report scale consisting of a list of 20 adjectives which describe various transitory arousal states, including energy, tiredness, tension, and calmness. Results showed no significant difference between personality types and the changes in arousal level. Result indicated a significant effect of listening on decreased tension arousal. Singing and rhythm tapping, which are regarded as having a relatively moderate task difficulty, increased energy arousal significantly and decreased tiredness arousal significantly. Participants' tiredness arousal levels also decreased significantly after keyboard playing. These findings suggest that engaging in musical experience that has a moderate level of task difficulty makes individuals more energetic and less tired.

Persistent genital arousal disorder

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Eibye, Simone; Jensen, Hans Mørch

2014-01-01

We report a case of a woman suffering from persistent genital arousal disorder (PGAD) after paroxetine cessation. She was admitted to a psychiatric department and diagnosed with agitated depression. Physical investigation showed no gynaecological or neurological explanation; however, a pelvic MRI...

Stability of Self-Reported Arousal to Sexual Fantasies Involving Children in a Clinical Sample of Pedophiles and Hebephiles.

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Grundmann, Dorit; Krupp, Jurian; Scherner, Gerold; Amelung, Till; Beier, Klaus M

2016-07-01

In forensic research, there is a controversial discussion concerning the changeability or stability of pedophilia. Seto (2012) conceptualized pedophilia as a sexual age orientation characterized by an early onset, correlations with sexual and romantic behavior, and stability over time. However, empirical data are sparse and are mostly based on samples of detected offenders. The present study examined self-reported arousal to sexual fantasies involving children in a clinical sample of pedo-/hebephiles. In Study 1, retrospective self-reports on the age of onset and duration of sexual interest in minors were examined. In Study 2, the stability and variability of self-reported arousal to sexual fantasies involving children were evaluated prospectively. Non-prosecuted self-identifying pedo-/hebephilic men seeking professional help were recruited within the Berlin Prevention Project Dunkelfeld. Between 2005 and 2013, 494 participants completed the intake assessment. Self-reported data were collected via questionnaire focusing on sexual arousal to fantasies during masturbation involving prepubescent and/or early pubescent minors. Subsequent assessments of sexual arousal were obtained for 121 of the participants. The average time between the first and last assessment was approximately 29 months. Spearman's correlation coefficients examined the between-group rank-order and Wilcoxon signed-rank tests examined the within-individual mean-level stability. The majority of subjects reported an early onset of their pedo-/hebephilic sexual arousal. The rank-order stability was medium to high. Over the investigated period, the majority of subjects showed no or only minimal decrease or increase of self-reported sexual arousal. These results suggested that sexual arousal to fantasies involving prepubescent and/or early pubescent children is stable. Furthermore, the results support the conceptualization of pedo-/hebephilia as a sexual age orientation in men.

Seeing Jesus in toast: neural and behavioral correlates of face pareidolia.

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Liu, Jiangang; Li, Jun; Feng, Lu; Li, Ling; Tian, Jie; Lee, Kang

2014-04-01

Face pareidolia is the illusory perception of non-existent faces. The present study, for the first time, contrasted behavioral and neural responses of face pareidolia with those of letter pareidolia to explore face-specific behavioral and neural responses during illusory face processing. Participants were shown pure-noise images but were led to believe that 50% of them contained either faces or letters; they reported seeing faces or letters illusorily 34% and 38% of the time, respectively. The right fusiform face area (rFFA) showed a specific response when participants "saw" faces as opposed to letters in the pure-noise images. Behavioral responses during face pareidolia produced a classification image (CI) that resembled a face, whereas those during letter pareidolia produced a CI that was letter-like. Further, the extent to which such behavioral CIs resembled faces was directly related to the level of face-specific activations in the rFFA. This finding suggests that the rFFA plays a specific role not only in processing of real faces but also in illusory face perception, perhaps serving to facilitate the interaction between bottom-up information from the primary visual cortex and top-down signals from the prefrontal cortex (PFC). Whole brain analyses revealed a network specialized in face pareidolia, including both the frontal and occipitotemporal regions. Our findings suggest that human face processing has a strong top-down component whereby sensory input with even the slightest suggestion of a face can result in the interpretation of a face. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Eyes Wide Shopped: Shopping Situations Trigger Arousal in Impulsive Buyers

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Serfas, Benjamin G.; Büttner, Oliver B.; Florack, Arnd

2014-01-01

The present study proposes arousal as an important mechanism driving buying impulsiveness. We examined the effect of buying impulsiveness on arousal in non-shopping and shopping contexts. In an eye-tracking experiment, we measured pupil dilation while participants viewed and rated pictures of shopping scenes and non-shopping scenes. The results demonstrated that buying impulsiveness is closely associated with arousal as response to viewing pictures of shopping scenes. This pertained for hedonic shopping situations as well as for utilitarian shopping situations. Importantly, the effect did not emerge for non-shopping scenes. Furthermore, we demonstrated that arousal of impulsive buyers is independent from cognitive evaluation of scenes in the pictures. PMID:25489955

Eyes wide shopped: shopping situations trigger arousal in impulsive buyers.

Science.gov (United States)

Serfas, Benjamin G; Büttner, Oliver B; Florack, Arnd

2014-01-01

The present study proposes arousal as an important mechanism driving buying impulsiveness. We examined the effect of buying impulsiveness on arousal in non-shopping and shopping contexts. In an eye-tracking experiment, we measured pupil dilation while participants viewed and rated pictures of shopping scenes and non-shopping scenes. The results demonstrated that buying impulsiveness is closely associated with arousal as response to viewing pictures of shopping scenes. This pertained for hedonic shopping situations as well as for utilitarian shopping situations. Importantly, the effect did not emerge for non-shopping scenes. Furthermore, we demonstrated that arousal of impulsive buyers is independent from cognitive evaluation of scenes in the pictures.

Distributed Recurrent Neural Forward Models with Synaptic Adaptation and CPG-based control for Complex Behaviors of Walking Robots

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Sakyasingha eDasgupta

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Walking animals, like stick insects, cockroaches or ants, demonstrate a fascinating range of locomotive abilities and complex behaviors. The locomotive behaviors can consist of a variety of walking patterns along with adaptation that allow the animals to deal with changes in environmental conditions, like uneven terrains, gaps, obstacles etc. Biological study has revealed that such complex behaviors are a result of a combination of biomechanics and neural mechanism thus representing the true nature of embodied interactions. While the biomechanics helps maintain flexibility and sustain a variety of movements, the neural mechanisms generate movements while making appropriate predictions crucial for achieving adaptation. Such predictions or planning ahead can be achieved by way of internal models that are grounded in the overall behavior of the animal. Inspired by these findings, we present here, an artificial bio-inspired walking system which effectively combines biomechanics (in terms of the body and leg structures with the underlying neural mechanisms. The neural mechanisms consist of 1 central pattern generator based control for generating basic rhythmic patterns and coordinated movements, 2 distributed (at each leg recurrent neural network based adaptive forward models with efference copies as internal models for sensory predictions and instantaneous state estimations, and 3 searching and elevation control for adapting the movement of an individual leg to deal with different environmental conditions. Using simulations we show that this bio-inspired approach with adaptive internal models allows the walking robot to perform complex locomotive behaviors as observed in insects, including walking on undulated terrains, crossing large gaps as well as climbing over high obstacles. Furthermore we demonstrate that the newly developed recurrent network based approach to sensorimotor prediction outperforms the previous state of the art adaptive neuron

Anger arousal and behavioral anger regulation in everyday life among people with chronic low back pain: Relationships with spouse responses and negative affect.

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Burns, John W; Gerhart, James I; Bruehl, Stephen; Post, Kristina M; Smith, David A; Porter, Laura S; Schuster, Erik; Buvanendran, Asokumar; Fras, Anne Marie; Keefe, Francis J

2016-01-01

To determine the degree to which anger arousal and anger regulation (expression, inhibition) in the daily lives of people with chronic pain were related to spouse support, criticism, and hostility as perceived by patients and as reported by spouses. Married couples (N = 105, 1 spouse with chronic low back pain) completed electronic daily diaries, with assessments 5 times/day for 14 days. On these diaries, patients completed items on their own anger arousal, anger expression, and inhibition, and on perceived spouse support, criticism, and hostility. Spouses reported on their responses toward patients and their negative affect. Hierarchical linear modeling tested concurrent and lagged relationships. Patient-reported increases in anger arousal and anger expression were predominantly related to concurrent decreases in patient-perceived and spouse-reported spouse support, concurrent increases in patient-perceived and spouse-reported spouse criticism and hostility, and increases in spouse-reported negative affect. Relationships for anger expression remained significant with anger arousal controlled. These effects were especially strong for male patients. Spouses reported greater negative affect when patients were present than when they were not. Social support may facilitate adjustment to chronic pain, with declining support and overt criticism and hostility possibly adversely impacting pain and function. Results suggest that patient anger arousal and expression may be related to a negative interpersonal environment for married couples coping with chronic low back pain. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Prenatal loud music and noise: differential impact on physiological arousal, hippocampal synaptogenesis and spatial behavior in one day-old chicks.

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Sanyal, Tania; Kumar, Vivek; Nag, Tapas Chandra; Jain, Suman; Sreenivas, Vishnu; Wadhwa, Shashi

2013-01-01

Prenatal auditory stimulation in chicks with species-specific sound and music at 65 dB facilitates spatial orientation and learning and is associated with significant morphological and biochemical changes in the hippocampus and brainstem auditory nuclei. Increased noradrenaline level due to physiological arousal is suggested as a possible mediator for the observed beneficial effects following patterned and rhythmic sound exposure. However, studies regarding the effects of prenatal high decibel sound (110 dB; music and noise) exposure on the plasma noradrenaline level, synaptic protein expression in the hippocampus and spatial behavior of neonatal chicks remained unexplored. Here, we report that high decibel music stimulation moderately increases plasma noradrenaline level and positively modulates spatial orientation, learning and memory of one day-old chicks. In contrast, noise at the same sound pressure level results in excessive increase of plasma noradrenaline level and impairs the spatial behavior. Further, to assess the changes at the molecular level, we have quantified the expression of functional synapse markers: synaptophysin and PSD-95 in the hippocampus. Compared to the controls, both proteins show significantly increased expressions in the music stimulated group but decrease in expressions in the noise group. We propose that the differential increase of plasma noradrenaline level and altered expression of synaptic proteins in the hippocampus are responsible for the observed behavioral consequences following prenatal 110 dB music and noise stimulation.

Prenatal loud music and noise: differential impact on physiological arousal, hippocampal synaptogenesis and spatial behavior in one day-old chicks.

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Tania Sanyal

Full Text Available Prenatal auditory stimulation in chicks with species-specific sound and music at 65 dB facilitates spatial orientation and learning and is associated with significant morphological and biochemical changes in the hippocampus and brainstem auditory nuclei. Increased noradrenaline level due to physiological arousal is suggested as a possible mediator for the observed beneficial effects following patterned and rhythmic sound exposure. However, studies regarding the effects of prenatal high decibel sound (110 dB; music and noise exposure on the plasma noradrenaline level, synaptic protein expression in the hippocampus and spatial behavior of neonatal chicks remained unexplored. Here, we report that high decibel music stimulation moderately increases plasma noradrenaline level and positively modulates spatial orientation, learning and memory of one day-old chicks. In contrast, noise at the same sound pressure level results in excessive increase of plasma noradrenaline level and impairs the spatial behavior. Further, to assess the changes at the molecular level, we have quantified the expression of functional synapse markers: synaptophysin and PSD-95 in the hippocampus. Compared to the controls, both proteins show significantly increased expressions in the music stimulated group but decrease in expressions in the noise group. We propose that the differential increase of plasma noradrenaline level and altered expression of synaptic proteins in the hippocampus are responsible for the observed behavioral consequences following prenatal 110 dB music and noise stimulation.

Anger in brain and body: the neural and physiological perturbation of decision-making by emotion.

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Garfinkel, Sarah N; Zorab, Emma; Navaratnam, Nakulan; Engels, Miriam; Mallorquí-Bagué, Núria; Minati, Ludovico; Dowell, Nicholas G; Brosschot, Jos F; Thayer, Julian F; Critchley, Hugo D

2016-01-01

Emotion and cognition are dynamically coupled to bodily arousal: the induction of anger, even unconsciously, can reprioritise neural and physiological resources toward action states that bias cognitive processes. Here we examine behavioural, neural and bodily effects of covert anger processing and its influence on cognition, indexed by lexical decision-making. While recording beat-to-beat blood pressure, the words ANGER or RELAX were presented subliminally just prior to rapid word/non-word reaction-time judgements of letter-strings. Subliminal ANGER primes delayed the time taken to reach rapid lexical decisions, relative to RELAX primes. However, individuals with high trait anger were speeded up by subliminal anger primes. ANGER primes increased systolic blood pressure and the magnitude of this increase predicted reaction time prolongation. Within the brain, ANGER trials evoked an enhancement of activity within dorsal pons and an attenuation of activity within visual occipitotemporal and attentional parietal cortices. Activity within periaqueductal grey matter, occipital and parietal regions increased linearly with evoked blood pressure changes, indicating neural substrates through which covert anger impairs semantic decisions, putatively through its expression as visceral arousal. The behavioural and physiological impact of anger states compromises the efficiency of cognitive processing through action-ready changes in autonomic response that skew regional neural activity. © The Author (2015). Published by Oxford University Press. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

The Comparisons of Cerebral Hemodynamics Induced by Obstructive Sleep Apnea with Arousal and Periodic Limb Movement with Arousal: A Pilot NIRS Study.

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Zhang, Zhongxing; Schneider, Maja; Laures, Marco; Qi, Ming; Khatami, Ramin

2016-01-01

Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSA) and restless legs syndrome (RLS) with periodic limb movement during sleep (PLMS) are two sleep disorders characterized by repetitive respiratory or movement events associated with cortical arousals. We compared the cerebral hemodynamic changes linked to periodic apneas/hypopneas with arousals (AHA) in four OSA-patients with periodic limb movements (PLMA) with arousals in four patients with RLS-PLMS using near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). AHA induced homogenous pattern of periodic fluctuations in oxygenated (HbO2) and deoxygenated (HHb) hemoglobin, i.e., the decrease of HbO2 was accompanied by an increase of HHb during the respiratory event and resolved to reverse pattern when cortical arousal started. Blood volume (BV) showed the same pattern as HHb but with relative smaller amplitude in most of the AHA events.These changing patterns were significant as Wilcoxon signed-rank tests gave p Wilcoxon signed-rank tests, p Wilcoxon signed-rank test, p Wilcoxon signed-rank test, p Wilcoxon signed-rank test, p < 0.001) and then decreased. The results of this preliminary study show that both AHA and PLMA induce changes in cerebral hemodynamics. The occurrence of cortical arousal is accompanied by increased HR in both events, but by different BV changes (i.e., decreased/increased BV in AHA/PLMA, respectively). HR changes may partially account for the increased cerebral hemodynamics during PLMA; whereas in AHA probable vasodilatation mediated by hypoxia/hypercapnia is more crucial for the post-arousal hemodynamics. The differences between changes of cerebral hemodynamics and HR may indicate different pathological mechanisms behind these two sleep disorder events.

Subjective sleep quality, unstimulated sexual arousal, and sexual frequency

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Rui Costa

Full Text Available Introduction: REM sleep deprivation increases unstimulated erections in rats, and total sleep deprivation increases erections during audiovisual sexual stimulation in men, but the effects of sleep problems on human unstimulated sexual arousal are unknown. Objective: We examined the associations of subjective sleep quality with unstimulated sexual arousal, satisfaction with sex life, and sexual frequency and desire over the past month. Methods: 275 Portuguese (169 women reported their anxiety, sexual arousal and sexual desire during a resting state, and completed the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, the sexual satisfaction subscale of the LiSat scale, the Desire dimensions of the Female Sexual Function Index (women only and International Index of Erectile Function (men only. They additionally reported how many days in the past month they engaged in penile-vaginal intercourse, noncoital sex, and masturbation. Salivary testosterone (T was assayed by luminescence immunoassays. Results: Poorer sleep quality correlated with greater unstimulated sexual arousal in men with higher T levels and in women with higher T levels not taking oral contraceptives. In women with lower T, poorer subjective sleep quality correlated with greater sexual dissatisfaction. In both sexes, sleep quality was uncorrelated with sexual desire and sexual frequency over the past month. Discussion: Consistently with other studies in humans and animals, the findings are congruent with the notion that lack of sleep can increase sexual arousal, but not sexual frequency. T might play a role in the sexual arousal caused by lack of appropriate sleep.

Arousal-But Not Valence-Reduces False Memories at Retrieval.

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Mirandola, Chiara; Toffalini, Enrico

2016-01-01

Mood affects both memory accuracy and memory distortions. However, some aspects of this relation are still poorly understood: (1) whether valence and arousal equally affect false memory production, and (2) whether retrieval-related processes matter; the extant literature typically shows that mood influences memory performance when it is induced before encoding, leaving unsolved whether mood induced before retrieval also impacts memory. We examined how negative, positive, and neutral mood induced before retrieval affected inferential false memories and related subjective memory experiences. A recognition-memory paradigm for photographs depicting script-like events was employed. Results showed that individuals in both negative and positive moods-similar in arousal levels-correctly recognized more target events and endorsed fewer false memories (and these errors were linked to remember responses less frequently), compared to individuals in neutral mood. This suggests that arousal (but not valence) predicted memory performance; furthermore, we found that arousal ratings provided by participants were more adequate predictors of memory performance than their actual belonging to either positive, negative or neutral mood groups. These findings suggest that arousal has a primary role in affecting memory, and that mood exerts its power on true and false memory even when induced at retrieval.

False physiological feedback and persuasion: effect of fear arousal vs. fear reduction on attitude change.

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Hendrick, C; Giesen, M; Borden, R

1975-06-01

Two experiments tested the hypothesis that increases in false physiological feedback of fear arousal will enhance persuasion and that reduction in the arousal feedback is unnecessary for increased persuasion to occur. Prior research has usually found a positive relation between level of arousal and persuasion, but support for the drive reduction hypothesis is tenuous. However, Harris and Jellison (1971) claimed support for such a hypothesis. They manipulated subjects' fear arousal cognitively via false physiological feedback while the subjects listened to a persuasive communication. The present experiments used a similar procedure in an attempt to test an "arousal only" against an "arousal reduction" hypothesis. Subjects listened to a persuasive speech while receiving false feedback via a meter concerning their fear arousal. In Experiment I half of the subjects received high arousal and half received moderate arousal information. Within each of these conditions half of the subjects had their arousal reduced, and the other half did not. In Experiment II subjects received either low arousal, high arousal, or high then low arousal feedback while listening. The results of the two studies generally provided support for the "arousal only" hypothesis. An interpretation in terms of Bem's attribution theory was tentatively suggested.

Neural Network modeling of forward and inverse behavior of rotary MR damper

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bhowmik, Subrata; Høgsberg, Jan Becker; Weber, Felix

2010-01-01

of nonlinear problems. The present paper concerns the nonparametric neural network modeling of the dynamic behavior of a rotary MR damper. A rotary type MR damper consists of a rotating disk which is enclosed in a metallic housing filled with the MR fluid which is operated in shear mode. The dissipative torque...

Alexithymia and empathy predict changes in autonomic arousal during affective stimulation.

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Bogdanov, Volodymyr B; Bogdanova, Olena V; Gorlov, Dmytro S; Gorgo, Yuriy P; Dirckx, Joris J J; Makarchuk, Mykola Y; Schoenen, Jean; Critchley, Hugo

2013-09-01

Alexithymia, the inability to describe one's own emotions, is linked to deficits in empathy, manifesting as a diminished capacity to recognize or understand the emotions and mental states of others. Several brain centers of autonomic control and interoception that are activated in empathy are thought to misfunction in alexithymia. We hypothesized that individual differences in autonomic changes under affective stimulation might be associated with differences in alexithymia and empathy. We studied 21 healthy volunteers, comparing their alexithymia and empathy scores with changes in their sympathetic autonomic arousal, indexed by the palmar skin potential level, during 3 tasks: playing a computer game, performing mental arithmetic, and watching a negative emotional valence video. Both autonomic and subjective sense of arousal increased at the beginning of each task and then gradually subsided over the course of the task. Higher autonomic arousal at the onset of the computer game was associated with higher empathy scores, and at the onset of the negative video with higher scores for both empathy and alexithymia. Alexithymia delayed the habituation of autonomic arousal during the computer game, while the empathy score was related to a faster decline in arousal during the negative video task. High alexithymia and high empathy scores were linked to increased autonomic arousal at the onset of emotional stimulation, but were distinguishable in the rates of habituation of the evoked arousal. Our data provide insight into the relationships among interacting psychological traits, physiologic regulation, and the arousal dimension of emotional experience.

Bias or reality? : negative perceptions of ambiguous social cues, social performance and physical arousal in socially anxious youth

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Miers, Anne Claire

2010-01-01

This thesis deals with the negative perceptions of socially anxious youth in three different cognitive domains: (a) interpretation of ambiguous social situations, (b) self-evaluation of social skills and nervous behaviors, and (c) perception of physical arousal during social situations. It also

Eyes wide shopped: shopping situations trigger arousal in impulsive buyers.

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Benjamin G Serfas

Full Text Available The present study proposes arousal as an important mechanism driving buying impulsiveness. We examined the effect of buying impulsiveness on arousal in non-shopping and shopping contexts. In an eye-tracking experiment, we measured pupil dilation while participants viewed and rated pictures of shopping scenes and non-shopping scenes. The results demonstrated that buying impulsiveness is closely associated with arousal as response to viewing pictures of shopping scenes. This pertained for hedonic shopping situations as well as for utilitarian shopping situations. Importantly, the effect did not emerge for non-shopping scenes. Furthermore, we demonstrated that arousal of impulsive buyers is independent from cognitive evaluation of scenes in the pictures.

Predicting musically induced emotions from physiological inputs: linear and neural network models.

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Russo, Frank A; Vempala, Naresh N; Sandstrom, Gillian M

2013-01-01

Listening to music often leads to physiological responses. Do these physiological responses contain sufficient information to infer emotion induced in the listener? The current study explores this question by attempting to predict judgments of "felt" emotion from physiological responses alone using linear and neural network models. We measured five channels of peripheral physiology from 20 participants-heart rate (HR), respiration, galvanic skin response, and activity in corrugator supercilii and zygomaticus major facial muscles. Using valence and arousal (VA) dimensions, participants rated their felt emotion after listening to each of 12 classical music excerpts. After extracting features from the five channels, we examined their correlation with VA ratings, and then performed multiple linear regression to see if a linear relationship between the physiological responses could account for the ratings. Although linear models predicted a significant amount of variance in arousal ratings, they were unable to do so with valence ratings. We then used a neural network to provide a non-linear account of the ratings. The network was trained on the mean ratings of eight of the 12 excerpts and tested on the remainder. Performance of the neural network confirms that physiological responses alone can be used to predict musically induced emotion. The non-linear model derived from the neural network was more accurate than linear models derived from multiple linear regression, particularly along the valence dimension. A secondary analysis allowed us to quantify the relative contributions of inputs to the non-linear model. The study represents a novel approach to understanding the complex relationship between physiological responses and musically induced emotion.

Predicting musically induced emotions from physiological inputs: Linear and neural network models

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Frank A. Russo

2013-08-01

Full Text Available Listening to music often leads to physiological responses. Do these physiological responses contain sufficient information to infer emotion induced in the listener? The current study explores this question by attempting to predict judgments of 'felt' emotion from physiological responses alone using linear and neural network models. We measured five channels of peripheral physiology from 20 participants – heart rate, respiration, galvanic skin response, and activity in corrugator supercilii and zygomaticus major facial muscles. Using valence and arousal (VA dimensions, participants rated their felt emotion after listening to each of 12 classical music excerpts. After extracting features from the five channels, we examined their correlation with VA ratings, and then performed multiple linear regression to see if a linear relationship between the physiological responses could account for the ratings. Although linear models predicted a significant amount of variance in arousal ratings, they were unable to do so with valence ratings. We then used a neural network to provide a nonlinear account of the ratings. The network was trained on the mean ratings of eight of the 12 excerpts and tested on the remainder. Performance of the neural network confirms that physiological responses alone can be used to predict musically induced emotion. The nonlinear model derived from the neural network was more accurate than linear models derived from multiple linear regression, particularly along the valence dimension. A secondary analysis allowed us to quantify the relative contributions of inputs to the nonlinear model. The study represents a novel approach to understanding the complex relationship between physiological responses and musically induced emotion.

Developmental Reversals in False Memory: Effects of Emotional Valence and Arousal

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Brainerd, C. J.; Holliday, R. E.; Reyna, V. F.; Yang, Y.; Toglia, M. P.

2010-01-01

Do the emotional valence and arousal of events distort children's memories? Do valence and arousal modulate counterintuitive age increases in false memory? We investigated those questions in children, adolescents, and adults using the Cornell/Cortland Emotion Lists, a word list pool that induces false memories and in which valence and arousal can…

Sexual touching and difficulties with sexual arousal and orgasm among U.S. older adults.

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Galinsky, Adena M

2012-08-01

Little is known about the non-genitally-focused sexual behavior of those experiencing sexual difficulties. The objective of this study was to review the theory supporting a link between sexual touching and difficulties with sexual arousal and orgasm, and to examine associations between these constructs among older adults in the United States. The data were from the 2005-2006 National Social Life Health and Aging Project, which surveyed 3,005 community-dwelling men and women ages 57-85 years. The 1,352 participants who had had sex in the past year reported on their frequency of sexual touching and whether there had been a period of several months or more in the past year when they were unable to climax, had trouble getting or maintaining an erection (men) or had trouble lubricating (women). Women also reported how often they felt sexually aroused during partner sex in the last 12 months. The odds of being unable to climax were greater by 2.4 times (95% CI 1.2-4.8) among men and 2.8 times (95% CI 1.4-5.5) among women who sometimes, rarely or never engaged in sexual touching, compared to those who always engaged in sexual touching, controlling for demographic factors and physical health. These results were attenuated but persisted after controlling for emotional relationship satisfaction and psychological factors. Similar results were obtained for erectile difficulties among men and subjective arousal difficulties among women, but not lubrication difficulties among women. Infrequent sexual touching is associated with arousal and orgasm difficulties among older adults in the United States.

Emotionally enhanced memory for negatively arousing words: storage or retrieval advantage?

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Nadarevic, Lena

2017-12-01

People typically remember emotionally negative words better than neutral words. Two experiments are reported that investigate whether emotionally enhanced memory (EEM) for negatively arousing words is based on a storage or retrieval advantage. Participants studied non-word-word pairs that either involved negatively arousing or neutral target words. Memory for these target words was tested by means of a recognition test and a cued-recall test. Data were analysed with a multinomial model that allows the disentanglement of storage and retrieval processes in the present recognition-then-cued-recall paradigm. In both experiments the multinomial analyses revealed no storage differences between negatively arousing and neutral words but a clear retrieval advantage for negatively arousing words in the cued-recall test. These findings suggest that EEM for negatively arousing words is driven by associative processes.

Psychopathology and Deviant Sexual Arousal in Incarcerated Sexual Offenders.

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Serin, Ralph C.; And Others

1994-01-01

Investigates the relationship between psychopathology and deviant sexual arousal in sexual offenders (n=65), with approximately equal numbers of rapists and child molesters. Differentiating between rapists, extrafamilial pedophiles, and incest offenders revealed that the relationship between psychopathology and arousal was most apparent for…

An optimally evolved connective ratio of neural networks that maximizes the occurrence of synchronized bursting behavior

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2012-01-01

Background Synchronized bursting activity (SBA) is a remarkable dynamical behavior in both ex vivo and in vivo neural networks. Investigations of the underlying structural characteristics associated with SBA are crucial to understanding the system-level regulatory mechanism of neural network behaviors. Results In this study, artificial pulsed neural networks were established using spike response models to capture fundamental dynamics of large scale ex vivo cortical networks. Network simulations with synaptic parameter perturbations showed the following two findings. (i) In a network with an excitatory ratio (ER) of 80-90%, its connective ratio (CR) was within a range of 10-30% when the occurrence of SBA reached the highest expectation. This result was consistent with the experimental observation in ex vivo neuronal networks, which were reported to possess a matured inhibitory synaptic ratio of 10-20% and a CR of 10-30%. (ii) No SBA occurred when a network does not contain any all-positive-interaction feedback loop (APFL) motif. In a neural network containing APFLs, the number of APFLs presented an optimal range corresponding to the maximal occurrence of SBA, which was very similar to the optimal CR. Conclusions In a neural network, the evolutionarily selected CR (10-30%) optimizes the occurrence of SBA, and APFL serves a pivotal network motif required to maximize the occurrence of SBA. PMID:22462685

Neural substrates and behavioral profiles of romantic jealousy and its temporal dynamics.

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Sun, Yan; Yu, Hongbo; Chen, Jie; Liang, Jie; Lu, Lin; Zhou, Xiaolin; Shi, Jie

2016-06-07

Jealousy is not only a way of experiencing love but also a stabilizer of romantic relationships, although morbid romantic jealousy is maladaptive. Being engaged in a formal romantic relationship can tune one's romantic jealousy towards a specific target. Little is known about how the human brain processes romantic jealousy by now. Here, by combining scenario-based imagination and functional MRI, we investigated the behavioral and neural correlates of romantic jealousy and their development across stages (before vs. after being in a formal relationship). Romantic jealousy scenarios elicited activations primarily in the basal ganglia (BG) across stages, and were significantly higher after the relationship was established in both the behavioral rating and BG activation. The intensity of romantic jealousy was related to the intensity of romantic happiness, which mainly correlated with ventral medial prefrontal cortex activation. The increase in jealousy across stages was associated with the tendency for interpersonal aggression. These results bridge the gap between the theoretical conceptualization of romantic jealousy and its neural correlates and shed light on the dynamic changes in jealousy.

The porous boundaries between explicit and implicit memory: behavioral and neural evidence.

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Dew, Ilana T Z; Cabeza, Roberto

2011-04-01

Explicit memory refers to the conscious retrieval of past information or experiences, whereas implicit memory refers to an unintentional or nonconscious form of retrieval. Much of the literature in cognitive psychology and cognitive neuroscience has focused on differences between explicit and implicit memory, and the traditional view is that they rely on distinct brain systems. However, the potential interplay between implicit and explicit memory is not always clear. This review draws from behavioral and functional neuroimaging evidence to evaluate three areas in which implicit and explicit memory may be interrelated. First, we discuss views of familiarity-based recognition in terms of its relationship with implicit memory. Second, we review the challenges of distinguishing between implicit memory and involuntary aware memory, at both behavioral and neural levels. Finally, we examine evidence indicating that implicit and explicit retrieval of relational information may rely on a common neural mechanism. Taken together, these areas indicate that, under certain circumstances, there may be an important and influential relationship between conscious and nonconscious expressions of memory. © 2011 New York Academy of Sciences.

CAP, epilepsy and motor events during sleep: the unifying role of arousal.

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Parrino, Liborio; Halasz, Peter; Tassinari, Carlo Alberto; Terzano, Mario Giovanni

2006-08-01

Arousal systems play a topical neurophysiologic role in protecting and tailoring sleep duration and depth. When they appear in NREM sleep, arousal responses are not limited to a single EEG pattern but are part of a continuous spectrum of EEG modifications ranging from high-voltage slow rhythms to low amplitude fast activities. The hierarchic features of arousal responses are reflected in the phase A subtypes of CAP (cyclic alternating pattern) including both slow arousals (dominated by the ASDA arousals). CAP is an infraslow oscillation with a periodicity of 20-40s that participates in the dynamic organization of sleep and in the activation of motor events. Physiologic, paraphysiologic and pathologic motor activities during NREM sleep are always associated with a stereotyped arousal pattern characterized by an initial increase in EEG delta power and heart rate, followed by a progressive activation of faster EEG frequencies. These findings suggest that motor patterns are already written in the brain codes (central pattern generators) embraced with an automatic sequence of EEG-vegetative events, but require a certain degree of activation (arousal) to become visibly apparent. Arousal can appear either spontaneously or be elicited by internal (epileptic burst) or external (noise, respiratory disturbance) stimuli. Whether the outcome is a physiologic movement, a muscle jerk or a major epileptic attack will depend on a number of ongoing factors (sleep stage, delta power, neuro-motor network) but all events share the common trait of arousal-activated phenomena.

Enhanced conflict-driven cognitive control by emotional arousal, not by valence.

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Zeng, Qinghong; Qi, Senqing; Li, Miaoyun; Yao, Shuxia; Ding, Cody; Yang, Dong

2017-09-01

Emotion is widely agreed to have two dimensions, valence and arousal. Few studies have explored the effect of emotion on conflict adaptation by considering both of these, which could have dissociate influence. The present study aimed to fill the gap as to whether emotional valence and arousal would exert dissociable influence on conflict adaptation. In the experiments, we included positive, neutral, and negative conditions, with comparable arousal between positive and negative conditions. Both positive and negative conditions have higher arousal than neutral ones. In Experiment 1, by using a two-colour-word Flanker task, we found that conflict adaptation was enhanced in both positive and negative contexts compared to a neutral context. Furthermore, this effect still existed when controlling stimulus-response repetitions in Experiment 2, which used a four-colour-word Flanker task. The findings suggest emotional arousal enhances conflict adaptation, regardless of emotional valence. Thus, future studies should consider emotional arousal when studying the effect of emotion on conflict adaptation. Moreover, the unique role of the emotional context in conflict-driven cognitive control is emphasised.

Adaptive memory: Is the animacy effect on memory due to emotional arousal?

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Meinhardt, Martin J; Bell, Raoul; Buchner, Axel; Röer, Jan P

2018-05-07

Animate entities are often better remembered than inanimate ones. The proximal mechanisms underlying this animacy effect on recall are unclear. In two experiments, we tested whether the animacy effect is due to emotional arousal. Experiment 1 revealed that translations of the animate words used in the pioneering study of Nairne et al. (Psychological science, 24, 2099-2105, 2013) were perceived as being more arousing than translations of the inanimate words, suggesting that animacy might have been confounded with arousal in previous studies. In Experiment 2, new word lists were created in which the animate and inanimate words were matched on arousal (amongst several other dimensions), and participants were required to reproduce the animate and inanimate words in a free recall task. There was a tendency towards better memory for arousing items, but robust animacy effects were obtained even though animate and inanimate words were matched on arousal. Thus, while arousal may contribute to the animacy effect when it is not carefully controlled for, it cannot explain the memory advantage of animate items.

Thinking anxious, feeling anxious, or both? Cognitive bias moderates the relationship between anxiety disorder status and sympathetic arousal in youth.

Science.gov (United States)

Rozenman, Michelle; Vreeland, Allison; Piacentini, John

2017-01-01

Cognitive bias and physiological arousal are two putative markers that may underlie youth anxiety. However, data on relationships between cognitive bias and arousal are limited, and typically do not include behavioral measurement of these constructs in order to tap real-time processes. We aimed to examine the relationship between performance-based cognitive bias and sympathetic arousal during stress in clinically anxious and typically-developing youth. The sample included children and adolescents ages 9 to 17 (Mean age=13.18, SD=2.60) who either met diagnostic criteria for primary generalized anxiety, social phobia, or separation anxiety (N=24) or healthy controls who had no history of psychopathology (N=22). Youth completed performance-based measures of attention and interpretation bias. Electrodermal activity was assessed while youth participated in the Trier Social Stress Test for Children (TSST-C; Buske-Kirschbaum, Jobst, & Wustmans, 1997). A mixed models analysis indicated significant linear and non-linear changes in skin conductance, with similar slopes for both groups. Interpretation bias, but not attention bias, moderated the relationship between group status and sympathetic arousal during the TSST-C. Arousal trajectories did not differ for anxious and healthy control youth who exhibited high levels of threat interpretation bias. However, for youth who exhibited moderate and low levels of interpretation bias, the anxious group demonstrated greater arousal slopes than healthy control youth. Results provide initial evidence that the relationship between anxiety status and physiological arousal during stress may be moderated by level of interpretation bias for threat. These findings may implicate interpretation bias as a marker of sympathetic reactivity in youth. Implications for future research and limitations are discussed. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Contagious yawning, social cognition, and arousal: an investigation of the processes underlying shelter dogs' responses to human yawns.

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Buttner, Alicia Phillips; Strasser, Rosemary

2014-01-01

Studies of contagious yawning have reported inconsistent findings regarding whether dogs exhibit this behavior and whether it is mediated by social-cognitive processes or the result of physiological arousal. We investigated why some dogs yawn in response to human yawns; particularly, whether these dogs are exceptional in their ability to understand human social cues or whether they were more physiologically aroused. Sixty shelter dogs were exposed to yawning and nonyawning control stimuli demonstrated by an unfamiliar human. We took salivary cortisol samples before and after testing to determine the role of arousal in yawn contagion. Dogs were tested on the object-choice task to assess their sensitivity for interpreting human social cues. We found that 12 dogs yawned only in response to human yawns (i.e., appeared to exhibit yawn contagion), though contagious yawning at the population level was not observed. Dogs that exhibited yawn contagion did not perform better on the object-choice task than other dogs, but their cortisol levels remained elevated after exposure to human yawning, whereas other dogs had reduced cortisol levels following yawning stimuli relative to their baseline levels. We interpret these findings as showing that human yawning, when presented in a stressful context, can further influence arousal in dogs, which then causes some to yawn. Although the precise social-cognitive mechanisms that underlie contagious yawning in dogs are still unclear, yawning between humans and dogs may involve some communicative function that is modulated by context and arousal.

The Elementary Nature of Purposive Behavior: Evolving Minimal Neural Structures that Display Intrinsic Intentionality

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John S. Watson

2005-01-01

Full Text Available A study of the evolution of agency in artificial life was designed to access the potential emergence of purposiveness and intentionality as these attributes of behavior have been defined in psychology and philosophy. The study involved Darwinian evolution of mobile neural nets (autonomous agents in terms of their adaptive weight patterning and structure (number of sensory, hidden, and memory units that controlled movement. An agent was embedded in a 10 × 10 toroidal matrix along with “containers” that held benefit or harm if entered. Sensory exposure to content of a container was only briefly available at a distance so that adaptive response to a nearby container required use of relevant memory. The best 20% of each generation of agents, based on net benefit consumed during limited lifetime, were selected to parent the following generation. Purposiveness emerged for all selected agents by 300 generations. By 4000 generations, 90% passed a test of purposive intentionality based on Piaget's criteria for Stage IV object permanence in human infants. An additional test of these agents confirmed that the behavior of 67% of them was consistent with the philosophical criterion of intention being “about” the container's contents. Given that the evolved neural structure of more than half of the successful agents had only 1 hidden and 1 memory node, it is argued that, contrary to common assumption, purposive and intentional aspects of adaptive behavior require an evolution of minimal complexity of supportive neural structure.

Independent effects of relevance and arousal on deductive reasoning.

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Caparos, Serge; Blanchette, Isabelle

2017-08-01

Emotional content can have either a deleterious or a beneficial impact on logicality. Using standard deductive-reasoning tasks, we tested the hypothesis that the interplay of two factors - personal relevance and arousal - determines the nature of the effect of emotional content on logicality. Arousal was assessed using measures of skin conductance. Personal relevance was manipulated by asking participants to reason about semantic contents linked to an emotional event that they had experienced or not. Findings showed that (1) personal relevance exerts a positive effect on logicality while arousal exerts a negative effect, and that (2) these effects are independent of each other.

Arousal-But Not Valence-Reduces False Memories at Retrieval.

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Chiara Mirandola

Full Text Available Mood affects both memory accuracy and memory distortions. However, some aspects of this relation are still poorly understood: (1 whether valence and arousal equally affect false memory production, and (2 whether retrieval-related processes matter; the extant literature typically shows that mood influences memory performance when it is induced before encoding, leaving unsolved whether mood induced before retrieval also impacts memory. We examined how negative, positive, and neutral mood induced before retrieval affected inferential false memories and related subjective memory experiences. A recognition-memory paradigm for photographs depicting script-like events was employed. Results showed that individuals in both negative and positive moods-similar in arousal levels-correctly recognized more target events and endorsed fewer false memories (and these errors were linked to remember responses less frequently, compared to individuals in neutral mood. This suggests that arousal (but not valence predicted memory performance; furthermore, we found that arousal ratings provided by participants were more adequate predictors of memory performance than their actual belonging to either positive, negative or neutral mood groups. These findings suggest that arousal has a primary role in affecting memory, and that mood exerts its power on true and false memory even when induced at retrieval.

Differential arousal regulation by prokineticin 2 signaling in the nocturnal mouse and the diurnal monkey.

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Zhou, Qun-Yong; Burton, Katherine J; Neal, Matthew L; Qiao, Yu; Kanthasamy, Anumantha G; Sun, Yanjun; Xu, Xiangmin; Ma, Yuanye; Li, Xiaohan

2016-08-18

The temporal organization of activity/rest or sleep/wake rhythms for mammals is regulated by the interaction of light/dark cycle and circadian clocks. The neural and molecular mechanisms that confine the active phase to either day or night period for the diurnal and the nocturnal mammals are unclear. Here we report that prokineticin 2, previously shown as a circadian clock output molecule, is expressed in the intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells, and the expression of prokineticin 2 in the intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells is oscillatory in a clock-dependent manner. We further show that the prokineticin 2 signaling is required for the activity and arousal suppression by light in the mouse. Between the nocturnal mouse and the diurnal monkey, a signaling receptor for prokineticin 2 is differentially expressed in the retinorecipient suprachiasmatic nucleus and the superior colliculus, brain projection targets of the intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells. Blockade with a selective antagonist reveals the respectively inhibitory and stimulatory effect of prokineticin 2 signaling on the arousal levels for the nocturnal mouse and the diurnal monkey. Thus, the mammalian diurnality or nocturnality is likely determined by the differential signaling of prokineticin 2 from the intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells onto their retinorecipient brain targets.

Dynamical Behaviors of Stochastic Reaction-Diffusion Cohen-Grossberg Neural Networks with Delays

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Li Wan

2012-01-01

Full Text Available This paper investigates dynamical behaviors of stochastic Cohen-Grossberg neural network with delays and reaction diffusion. By employing Lyapunov method, Poincaré inequality and matrix technique, some sufficient criteria on ultimate boundedness, weak attractor, and asymptotic stability are obtained. Finally, a numerical example is given to illustrate the correctness and effectiveness of our theoretical results.

Upbeat and happy: arousal as an important factor in studying attention.

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McConnell, Meghan M; Shore, David I

2011-11-01

The present study examined the effects of music-induced mood changes on different components of visual attention. Affective valence (positive vs. negative) and arousal (high vs. low) were manipulated by having participants listen to one of four versions of a Mozart Sonata that varied in mode (major or minor) and tempo (fast or slow). Attention was measured in three domains-alerting, orienting, and executive control. Affective valence and arousal had an effect on executive control, but not on alerting or orienting. Individuals who experienced positive valence had less efficient control over their responses than those who experienced negative valence, but only when arousal levels were high. Positive and negative valence did not influence executive control measures when arousal levels were low. These findings demonstrate that affective valence and arousal interact with one another to influence the processing of items in visual attention.

Exposure to arousal-inducing sounds facilitates visual search.

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Asutay, Erkin; Västfjäll, Daniel

2017-09-04

Exposure to affective stimuli could enhance perception and facilitate attention via increasing alertness, vigilance, and by decreasing attentional thresholds. However, evidence on the impact of affective sounds on perception and attention is scant. Here, a novel aspect of affective facilitation of attention is studied: whether arousal induced by task-irrelevant auditory stimuli could modulate attention in a visual search. In two experiments, participants performed a visual search task with and without auditory-cues that preceded the search. Participants were faster in locating high-salient targets compared to low-salient targets. Critically, search times and search slopes decreased with increasing auditory-induced arousal while searching for low-salient targets. Taken together, these findings suggest that arousal induced by sounds can facilitate attention in a subsequent visual search. This novel finding provides support for the alerting function of the auditory system by showing an auditory-phasic alerting effect in visual attention. The results also indicate that stimulus arousal modulates the alerting effect. Attention and perception are our everyday tools to navigate our surrounding world and the current findings showing that affective sounds could influence visual attention provide evidence that we make use of affective information during perceptual processing.

Effects of music on arousal during imagery in elite shooters: A pilot study.

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Kuan, Garry; Morris, Tony; Terry, Peter

2017-01-01

Beneficial effects of music on several performance-related aspects of sport have been reported, but the processes involved are not well understood. The purpose of the present study was to investigate effects of relaxing and arousing classical music on physiological indicators and subjective perceptions of arousal during imagery of a sport task. First, appropriate music excerpts were selected. Then, 12 skilled shooters performed shooting imagery while listening to the three preselected music excerpts in randomized order. Participants' galvanic skin response, peripheral temperature, and electromyography were monitored during music played concurrently with imagery. Subjective music ratings and physiological measures showed, as hypothesized, that unfamiliar relaxing music was the most relaxing and unfamiliar arousing music was the most arousing. Researchers should examine the impact of unfamiliar relaxing and arousing music played during imagery on subsequent performance in diverse sports. Practitioners can apply unfamiliar relaxing and arousing music with imagery to manipulate arousal level.

The influence of valence and arousal on reasoning: Affective priming in the semantic verification task

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Orlić Ana

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The aim of the present study was to examine the effects of affective valence and arousal on the reasoning process. Reasoning was measured using a semantic verification task and the influence of valence and arousal was tracked using the affective priming paradigm. Primes were photographs varied on two dimensions - emotional valence (positive, neutral, negative and arousal (high, low. Forty-nine psychology students participated in the experiment. Results showed that reaction time needed for semantic verification was significantly faster for positive-high arousing in comparison to positive-low arousing condition and for neutral high arousing in comparison to neutral-low arousing condition, but there were no significant differences in negative low and high arousing conditions. Also, significant differences were found among all three valences in high arousing conditions and there were no such differences in low arousing conditions. These results reveal the importance of both arousal and valence in the research on the influence of emotions on the reasoning process. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 179033

Cultural differences in emotion: differences in emotional arousal level between the East and the West

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Nangyeon Lim

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Whether emotion is universal or social is a recurrent issue in the history of emotion study among psychologists. Some researchers view emotion as a universal construct, and that a large part of emotional experience is biologically based. However, emotion is not only biologically determined, but is also influenced by the environment. Therefore, cultural differences exist in some aspects of emotions, one such important aspect of emotion being emotional arousal level. All affective states are systematically represented as two bipolar dimensions, valence and arousal. Arousal level of actual and ideal emotions has consistently been found to have cross-cultural differences. In Western or individualist culture, high arousal emotions are valued and promoted more than low arousal emotions. Moreover, Westerners experience high arousal emotions more than low arousal emotions. By contrast, in Eastern or collectivist culture, low arousal emotions are valued more than high arousal emotions. Moreover, people in the East actually experience and prefer to experience low arousal emotions more than high arousal emotions. Mechanism of these cross-cultural differences and implications are also discussed.

Cultural differences in emotion: differences in emotional arousal level between the East and the West.

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Lim, Nangyeon

2016-06-01

Whether emotion is universal or social is a recurrent issue in the history of emotion study among psychologists. Some researchers view emotion as a universal construct, and that a large part of emotional experience is biologically based. However, emotion is not only biologically determined, but is also influenced by the environment. Therefore, cultural differences exist in some aspects of emotions, one such important aspect of emotion being emotional arousal level. All affective states are systematically represented as two bipolar dimensions, valence and arousal. Arousal level of actual and ideal emotions has consistently been found to have cross-cultural differences. In Western or individualist culture, high arousal emotions are valued and promoted more than low arousal emotions. Moreover, Westerners experience high arousal emotions more than low arousal emotions. By contrast, in Eastern or collectivist culture, low arousal emotions are valued more than high arousal emotions. Moreover, people in the East actually experience and prefer to experience low arousal emotions more than high arousal emotions. Mechanism of these cross-cultural differences and implications are also discussed.

Desensitization to media violence: links with habitual media violence exposure, aggressive cognitions, and aggressive behavior.

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Krahé, Barbara; Möller, Ingrid; Huesmann, L Rowell; Kirwil, Lucyna; Felber, Juliane; Berger, Anja

2011-04-01

This study examined the links between desensitization to violent media stimuli and habitual media violence exposure as a predictor and aggressive cognitions and behavior as outcome variables. Two weeks after completing measures of habitual media violence exposure, trait aggression, trait arousability, and normative beliefs about aggression, undergraduates (N = 303) saw a violent film clip and a sad or a funny comparison clip. Skin conductance level (SCL) was measured continuously, and ratings of anxious and pleasant arousal were obtained after each clip. Following the clips, participants completed a lexical decision task to measure accessibility of aggressive cognitions and a competitive reaction time task to measure aggressive behavior. Habitual media violence exposure correlated negatively with SCL during violent clips and positively with pleasant arousal, response times for aggressive words, and trait aggression, but it was unrelated to anxious arousal and aggressive responding during the reaction time task. In path analyses controlling for trait aggression, normative beliefs, and trait arousability, habitual media violence exposure predicted faster accessibility of aggressive cognitions, partly mediated by higher pleasant arousal. Unprovoked aggression during the reaction time task was predicted by lower anxious arousal. Neither habitual media violence usage nor anxious or pleasant arousal predicted provoked aggression during the laboratory task, and SCL was unrelated to aggressive cognitions and behavior. No relations were found between habitual media violence viewing and arousal in response to the sad and funny film clips, and arousal in response to the sad and funny clips did not predict aggressive cognitions or aggressive behavior on the laboratory task. This suggests that the observed desensitization effects are specific to violent content.

Single-Cell Memory Regulates a Neural Circuit for Sensory Behavior.

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Kobayashi, Kyogo; Nakano, Shunji; Amano, Mutsuki; Tsuboi, Daisuke; Nishioka, Tomoki; Ikeda, Shingo; Yokoyama, Genta; Kaibuchi, Kozo; Mori, Ikue

2016-01-05

Unveiling the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying memory has been a challenge for the past few decades. Although synaptic plasticity is proven to be essential for memory formation, the significance of "single-cell memory" still remains elusive. Here, we exploited a primary culture system for the analysis of C. elegans neurons and show that a single thermosensory neuron has an ability to form, retain, and reset a temperature memory. Genetic and proteomic analyses found that the expression of the single-cell memory exhibits inter-individual variability, which is controlled by the evolutionarily conserved CaMKI/IV and Raf pathway. The variable responses of a sensory neuron influenced the neural activity of downstream interneurons, suggesting that modulation of the sensory neurons ultimately determines the behavioral output in C. elegans. Our results provide proof of single-cell memory and suggest that the individual differences in neural responses at the single-cell level can confer individuality. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Effects of music on arousal during imagery in elite shooters: A pilot study.

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Garry Kuan

Full Text Available Beneficial effects of music on several performance-related aspects of sport have been reported, but the processes involved are not well understood. The purpose of the present study was to investigate effects of relaxing and arousing classical music on physiological indicators and subjective perceptions of arousal during imagery of a sport task. First, appropriate music excerpts were selected. Then, 12 skilled shooters performed shooting imagery while listening to the three preselected music excerpts in randomized order. Participants' galvanic skin response, peripheral temperature, and electromyography were monitored during music played concurrently with imagery. Subjective music ratings and physiological measures showed, as hypothesized, that unfamiliar relaxing music was the most relaxing and unfamiliar arousing music was the most arousing. Researchers should examine the impact of unfamiliar relaxing and arousing music played during imagery on subsequent performance in diverse sports. Practitioners can apply unfamiliar relaxing and arousing music with imagery to manipulate arousal level.

Low-Arousal Speech Noise Improves Performance in N-Back Task: An ERP Study

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Zhang, Dandan; Jin, Yi; Luo, Yuejia

2013-01-01

The relationship between noise and human performance is a crucial topic in ergonomic research. However, the brain dynamics of the emotional arousal effects of background noises are still unclear. The current study employed meaningless speech noises in the n-back working memory task to explore the changes of event-related potentials (ERPs) elicited by the noises with low arousal level vs. high arousal level. We found that the memory performance in low arousal condition were improved compared with the silent and the high arousal conditions; participants responded more quickly and had larger P2 and P3 amplitudes in low arousal condition while the performance and ERP components showed no significant difference between high arousal and silent conditions. These findings suggested that the emotional arousal dimension of background noises had a significant influence on human working memory performance, and that this effect was independent of the acoustic characteristics of noises (e.g., intensity) and the meaning of speech materials. The current findings improve our understanding of background noise effects on human performance and lay the ground for the investigation of patients with attention deficits. PMID:24204607

Low-arousal speech noise improves performance in N-back task: an ERP study.

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Han, Longzhu; Liu, Yunzhe; Zhang, Dandan; Jin, Yi; Luo, Yuejia

2013-01-01

The relationship between noise and human performance is a crucial topic in ergonomic research. However, the brain dynamics of the emotional arousal effects of background noises are still unclear. The current study employed meaningless speech noises in the n-back working memory task to explore the changes of event-related potentials (ERPs) elicited by the noises with low arousal level vs. high arousal level. We found that the memory performance in low arousal condition were improved compared with the silent and the high arousal conditions; participants responded more quickly and had larger P2 and P3 amplitudes in low arousal condition while the performance and ERP components showed no significant difference between high arousal and silent conditions. These findings suggested that the emotional arousal dimension of background noises had a significant influence on human working memory performance, and that this effect was independent of the acoustic characteristics of noises (e.g., intensity) and the meaning of speech materials. The current findings improve our understanding of background noise effects on human performance and lay the ground for the investigation of patients with attention deficits.

Low-arousal speech noise improves performance in N-back task: an ERP study.

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Longzhu Han

Full Text Available The relationship between noise and human performance is a crucial topic in ergonomic research. However, the brain dynamics of the emotional arousal effects of background noises are still unclear. The current study employed meaningless speech noises in the n-back working memory task to explore the changes of event-related potentials (ERPs elicited by the noises with low arousal level vs. high arousal level. We found that the memory performance in low arousal condition were improved compared with the silent and the high arousal conditions; participants responded more quickly and had larger P2 and P3 amplitudes in low arousal condition while the performance and ERP components showed no significant difference between high arousal and silent conditions. These findings suggested that the emotional arousal dimension of background noises had a significant influence on human working memory performance, and that this effect was independent of the acoustic characteristics of noises (e.g., intensity and the meaning of speech materials. The current findings improve our understanding of background noise effects on human performance and lay the ground for the investigation of patients with attention deficits.

The sound of arousal in music is context-dependent.

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Blumstein, Daniel T; Bryant, Gregory A; Kaye, Peter

2012-10-23

Humans, and many non-human animals, produce and respond to harsh, unpredictable, nonlinear sounds when alarmed, possibly because these are produced when acoustic production systems (vocal cords and syrinxes) are overblown in stressful, dangerous situations. Humans can simulate nonlinearities in music and soundtracks through the use of technological manipulations. Recent work found that film soundtracks from different genres differentially contain such sounds. We designed two experiments to determine specifically how simulated nonlinearities in soundtracks influence perceptions of arousal and valence. Subjects were presented with emotionally neutral musical exemplars that had neither noise nor abrupt frequency transitions, or versions of these musical exemplars that had noise or abrupt frequency upshifts or downshifts experimentally added. In a second experiment, these acoustic exemplars were paired with benign videos. Judgements of both arousal and valence were altered by the addition of these simulated nonlinearities in the first, music-only, experiment. In the second, multi-modal, experiment, valence (but not arousal) decreased with the addition of noise or frequency downshifts. Thus, the presence of a video image suppressed the ability of simulated nonlinearities to modify arousal. This is the first study examining how nonlinear simulations in music affect emotional judgements. These results demonstrate that the perception of potentially fearful or arousing sounds is influenced by the perceptual context and that the addition of a visual modality can antagonistically suppress the response to an acoustic stimulus.

A psychophysiological investigation of sexual arousal in women with lifelong vaginismus.

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Cherner, Rebecca A; Reissing, Elke D

2013-05-01

Relatively little is known about the subjective reactions of women with lifelong vaginismus to erotic stimuli and genital arousal has never been investigated. Reports of maladaptive cognitions and fears regarding sexuality and intercourse suggest that anxiety may interfere with sexual arousal in women with vaginismus. To examine the genital and subjective responses to sexually explicit film stimuli of women with lifelong vaginismus compared with women with lifelong dyspareunia and women with no pain. Forty-five women (15 vaginismus, 15 dyspareunia, and 15 no pain) viewed two neutral and two erotic film sets, one depicting sexual activity without vaginal penetration and the other depicting intercourse, over two testing sessions. Vulvar temperature was recorded using an infrared camera. Participants completed a measure of subjective responses after viewing each film. All groups experienced increased vulvar temperature during the erotic films regardless of activity depicted. In response to the erotic films, the vaginismus group reported less mental arousal than the no-pain group and a range of negative subjective responses, including threat and disgust. Overall, participants showed concordance between peak subjective sexual arousal and temperature change from baseline to peak arousal. Despite negative subjective responses, women with vaginismus responded with increased genital sexual arousal to erotic films. The resilience of genital arousal may have resulted from moderate levels of anxiety experienced in the laboratory setting facilitating sexual response regardless of subjective appraisal; however, anxiety experienced in a dyadic context may interfere more substantially. © 2013 International Society for Sexual Medicine.

Sexual Touching and Difficulties with Sexual Arousal and Orgasm Among U.S. Older Adults

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2013-01-01

Little is known about the non-genitally-focused sexual behavior of those experiencing sexual difficulties. The objective of this study was to review the theory supporting a link between sexual touching and difficulties with sexual arousal and orgasm, and to examine associations between these constructs among older adults in the United States. The data were from the 2005–2006 National Social Life Health and Aging Project, which surveyed 3,005 community-dwelling men and women ages 57–85 years. The 1,352 participants who had had sex in the past year reported on their frequency of sexual touching and whether there had been a period of several months or more in the past year when they were unable to climax, had trouble getting or maintaining an erection (men) or had trouble lubricating (women). Women also reported how of ten they felt sexually aroused during partner sex in the last 12 months. The odds of being unable to climax were greater by 2.4 times (95% CI 1.2–4.8) among men and 2.8 times (95% CI 1.4–5.5) among women who sometimes, rarely or never engaged in sexual touching, compared to those who always engaged in sexual touching, controlling for demographic factors and physical health. These results were attenuated but persisted after controlling for emotional relationship satisfaction and psychological factors. Similar results were obtained for erectile difficulties among men and subjective arousal difficulties among women, but not lubrication difficulties among women. Infrequent sexual touching is associated with arousal and orgasm difficulties among older adults in the United States. PMID:22160881

Depression, Fatigue, and Pre-Sleep Arousal: A Mediation Model

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Karlson, Cynthia W.; Stevens, Natalie R.; Olson, Christy A.; Hamilton, Nancy A.

2010-01-01

Fatigue is a common and debilitating symptom of clinical depression; however, the causes are not well understood. The present study was designed to test the hypotheses that subjective sleep, objective sleep, and arousal in the pre-sleep state would mediate the relationship between depression status and fatigue. Sleep, pre-sleep arousal, and…

Neural correlates of distraction in borderline personality disorder before and after dialectical behavior therapy.

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Winter, Dorina; Niedtfeld, Inga; Schmitt, Ruth; Bohus, Martin; Schmahl, Christian; Herpertz, Sabine C

2017-02-01

Neural underpinnings of emotion dysregulation in borderline personality disorder (BPD) are characterized by limbic hyperactivity and disturbed prefrontal activity. It is unknown whether neural correlates of emotion regulation change after a psychotherapy which has the goal to improve emotion dysregulation in BPD, such as dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT). We investigated distraction as a main emotion regulation strategy before and after DBT in female patients with BPD. Thirty-one BPD patients were instructed to either passively view or memorize letters before being confronted with negative or neutral pictures in a distraction task during functional magnetic resonance imaging. This paradigm was applied before and after a 12-week residential DBT-based treatment program. We compared the DBT group to 15 BPD control patients, who continued their usual, non-DBT-based treatment or did not have any treatment, and 22 healthy participants. Behaviorally, BPD groups and healthy participants did not differ significantly with respect to alterations over time. On the neural level, BPD patients who received DBT-based treatment showed an activity decrease in the right inferior parietal lobe/supramarginal gyrus during distraction from negative rather than neutral stimuli when compared to both control groups. This decrease was correlated with improvement in self-reported borderline symptom severity. DBT responders exhibited decreased right perigenual anterior cingulate activity when viewing negative (rather than neutral) pictures. In conclusion, our findings reveal changes in neural activity associated with distraction during emotion processing after DBT in patients with BPD. These changes point to lower emotional susceptibility during distraction after BPD symptom improvement.

Malware Classification Based on the Behavior Analysis and Back Propagation Neural Network

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Pan Zhi-Peng

2016-01-01

Full Text Available With the development of the Internet, malwares have also been expanded on the network systems rapidly. In order to deal with the diversity and amount of the variants, a number of automated behavior analysis tools have emerged as the time requires. Yet these tools produce detailed behavior reports of the malwares, it still needs to specify its category and judge its criticality manually. In this paper, we propose an automated malware classification approach based on the behavior analysis. We firstly perform dynamic analyses to obtain the detailed behavior profiles of the malwares, which are then used to abstract the main features of the malwares and serve as the inputs of the Back Propagation (BP Neural Network model.The experimental results demonstrate that our classification technique is able to classify the malware variants effectively and detect malware accurately.

Yawning, acute stressors, and arousal reduction in Nazca booby adults and nestlings.

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Liang, Amy C; Grace, Jacquelyn K; Tompkins, Emily M; Anderson, David J

2015-03-01

Yawning is a familiar and phylogenetically widespread phenomenon, but no consensus exists regarding its functional significance. We tested the hypothesis that yawning communicates to others a transition from a state of physiological and/or psychological arousal (for example, due to action of a stressor) to a more relaxed state. This arousal reduction hypothesis predicts little yawning during arousal and more yawning (above baseline) during and after down-regulation of arousal. Experimental capture-restraint tests with wild adult Nazca boobies (Sula granti), a seabird, increased yawning frequency after release from restraint, but yawning was almost absent during tests. Natural maltreatment by non-parental adults also increased yawning by nestlings, but only after the maltreatment ended and the adult left. CORT (corticosterone) was a logical a priori element of the stress response affecting the stressor-yawning relationship under the arousal reduction hypothesis, and cannot be excluded as such for adults in capture-restraint tests but is apparently unimportant for nestlings being maltreated by adults. The arousal reduction hypothesis unites formerly disparate results on yawning: its socially contagious nature in some taxa, its clear pharmacological connection to the stress response, and its temporal linkage to transitions in arousal between consciousness and sleep. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Behavioral responses to a repetitive visual threat stimulus express a persistent state of defensive arousal in Drosophila.

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Gibson, William T; Gonzalez, Carlos R; Fernandez, Conchi; Ramasamy, Lakshminarayanan; Tabachnik, Tanya; Du, Rebecca R; Felsen, Panna D; Maire, Michael R; Perona, Pietro; Anderson, David J

2015-06-01

The neural circuit mechanisms underlying emotion states remain poorly understood. Drosophila offers powerful genetic approaches for dissecting neural circuit function, but whether flies exhibit emotion-like behaviors has not been clear. We recently proposed that model organisms may express internal states displaying "emotion primitives," which are general characteristics common to different emotions, rather than specific anthropomorphic emotions such as "fear" or "anxiety." These emotion primitives include scalability, persistence, valence, and generalization to multiple contexts. Here, we have applied this approach to determine whether flies' defensive responses to moving overhead translational stimuli ("shadows") are purely reflexive or may express underlying emotion states. We describe a new behavioral assay in which flies confined in an enclosed arena are repeatedly exposed to an overhead translational stimulus. Repetitive stimuli promoted graded (scalable) and persistent increases in locomotor velocity and hopping, and occasional freezing. The stimulus also dispersed feeding flies from a food resource, suggesting both negative valence and context generalization. Strikingly, there was a significant delay before the flies returned to the food following stimulus-induced dispersal, suggestive of a slowly decaying internal defensive state. The length of this delay was increased when more stimuli were delivered for initial dispersal. These responses can be mathematically modeled by assuming an internal state that behaves as a leaky integrator of stimulus exposure. Our results suggest that flies' responses to repetitive visual threat stimuli express an internal state exhibiting canonical emotion primitives, possibly analogous to fear in mammals. The mechanistic basis of this state can now be investigated in a genetically tractable insect species. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Appetite-Inducing Peptide, Ghrelin, Induces Intracellular Store-Mediated Rises in Calcium in Addiction and Arousal-Related Laterodorsal Tegmental Neurons in Mouse Brain Slices

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Hauberg, Katrine; Kohlmeier, Kristi Anne

2015-01-01

Ghrelin, a gut and brain peptide, has recently been shown to be involved in motivated behavior and regulation of the sleep and wakefulness cycle. The laterodorsal tegmental nucleus (LDT) is involved in appetitive behavior and control of the arousal state of an organism, and accordingly, behaviora...

Cognitive control in adolescence: neural underpinnings and relation to self-report behaviors.

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Jessica R Andrews-Hanna

Full Text Available Adolescence is commonly characterized by impulsivity, poor decision-making, and lack of foresight. However, the developmental neural underpinnings of these characteristics are not well established.To test the hypothesis that these adolescent behaviors are linked to under-developed proactive control mechanisms, the present study employed a hybrid block/event-related functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI Stroop paradigm combined with self-report questionnaires in a large sample of adolescents and adults, ranging in age from 14 to 25. Compared to adults, adolescents under-activated a set of brain regions implicated in proactive top-down control across task blocks comprised of difficult and easy trials. Moreover, the magnitude of lateral prefrontal activity in adolescents predicted self-report measures of impulse control, foresight, and resistance to peer pressure. Consistent with reactive compensatory mechanisms to reduced proactive control, older adolescents exhibited elevated transient activity in regions implicated in response-related interference resolution.Collectively, these results suggest that maturation of cognitive control may be partly mediated by earlier development of neural systems supporting reactive control and delayed development of systems supporting proactive control. Importantly, the development of these mechanisms is associated with cognitive control in real-life behaviors.

The effects of arousal reappraisal on stress responses, performance and attention.

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Sammy, Nadine; Anstiss, Paul A; Moore, Lee J; Freeman, Paul; Wilson, Mark R; Vine, Samuel J

2017-11-01

This study examined the effects of arousal reappraisal on cardiovascular responses, demand and resource evaluations, self-confidence, performance and attention under pressurized conditions. A recent study by Moore et al. [2015. Reappraising threat: How to optimize performance under pressure. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 37(3), 339-343. doi: 10.1123/jsep.2014-0186 ] suggested that arousal reappraisal is beneficial to the promotion of challenge states and leads to improvements in single-trial performance. This study aimed to further the work of Moore and colleagues (2015) by examining the effects of arousal reappraisal on cardiovascular responses, demand and resource evaluations, self-confidence, performance and attention in a multi-trial pressurized performance situation. Participants were randomly assigned to either an arousal reappraisal intervention or control condition, and completed a pressurized dart throwing task. The intervention encouraged participants to view their physiological arousal as facilitative rather than debilitative to performance. Measures of cardiovascular reactivity, demand and resource evaluations, self-confidence, task performance and attention were recorded. The reappraisal group displayed more favorable cardiovascular reactivity and reported higher resource evaluations and higher self-confidence than the control group but no task performance or attention effects were detected. These findings demonstrate the strength of arousal reappraisal in promoting adaptive stress responses, perceptions of resources and self-confidence.

Neuroendocrine response to film-induced sexual arousal in men and women.

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Exton, N G; Truong, T C; Exton, M S; Wingenfeld, S A; Leygraf, N; Saller, B; Hartmann, U; Schedlowski, M

2000-02-01

The psychoneuroendocrine responses to sexual arousal have not been clearly established in humans. However, we have demonstrated previously that masturbation-induced orgasm stimulates cardiovascular activity and induces increases in catecholamines and prolactin in blood of both males and females. We presently investigated the role of orgasm in producing these effects. Therefore, in this study parallel analysis of prolactin, adrenaline, noradrenaline, and cortisol concentrations, together with cardiovascular variables of systolic/diastolic blood pressure and heart rate were undertaken during film-induced sexual arousal in nine healthy adult men and nine healthy adult women. Blood was drawn continuously via an indwelling cannula and connected tubing system passed through a mini-pump. In parallel, the cardiovascular parameters were recorded continuously via a computerised finger-cuff sensor. Subjective sexual arousal increased significantly in both men and women during the erotic film, with sexual arousal eliciting an increase in blood pressure in both males and females, and plasma noradrenaline in females only. In contrast, adrenaline, cortisol and prolactin levels were unaffected by sexual arousal. These data further consolidate the role of sympathetic activation in sexual arousal processes. Furthermore, they demonstrate that increases in plasma prolactin during sexual stimulation are orgasm-dependent, suggesting that prolactin may regulate a negative-feedback sexual-satiation mechanism.

Graphic and Arousing? Emotional and Cognitive Reactions to Tobacco Graphic Health Warnings and Associated Quit-Related Outcomes Among Low SEP Population Groups.

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Bekalu, Mesfin Awoke; Ramanadhan, Shoba; Bigman, Cabral A; Nagler, Rebekah H; Viswanath, Kasisomayajula

2018-02-01

Research on graphic health warnings (GHWs) indicates that beyond changing cognitions about the health effects of smoking, GHWs evoke emotional reactions that can influence quit-related outcomes. Emotions can be classified based on valence (positive or negative) and arousal (calm or excited). However, although considerable research has examined the differential effectiveness of positive versus negative GHW-evoked emotions, research investigating the role of arousal activation in quit-related behaviors is scarce. This study examined associations between quit-related outcomes (intention and attempt to quit) and GHWs-evoked negative emotions classified as high and low in arousal activation as well as cognitive reactions among smokers of low socioeconomic position (SEP). It also examined whether perceived health risks of smoking moderate the relationship between emotional and cognitive reactions to GHWs and quit-related outcomes. Data were collected from low SEP smokers in three Massachusetts communities. Participants were screened and randomized to view one of the nine GHWs initially proposed for use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and answered pre- and post-exposure questions. Results showed that GHW-evoked negative emotions high in arousal activation and cognitive reactions were both significantly associated with intention to quit during immediate post-test, controlling for age, warning label difference, and prior quit intention. However, these associations did not hold for quit attempts at follow-up. Perceived health risks of smoking moderated the association between cognitive reactions to GHWs and quit attempts at follow-up. The findings suggest that not all negative emotions evoked by GHWs are effective. Negative emotions high in arousal activation may be more effective in influencing quit-related behavioral intentions in low SEP groups. Additionally, unlike emotional reactions, cognitive reactions to GHWs may have effects that last relatively

Synchrony and Physiological Arousal Increase Cohesion and Cooperation in Large Naturalistic Groups.

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Jackson, Joshua Conrad; Jong, Jonathan; Bilkey, David; Whitehouse, Harvey; Zollmann, Stefanie; McNaughton, Craig; Halberstadt, Jamin

2018-01-09

Separate research streams have identified synchrony and arousal as two factors that might contribute to the effects of human rituals on social cohesion and cooperation. But no research has manipulated these variables in the field to investigate their causal - and potentially interactive - effects on prosocial behaviour. Across four experimental sessions involving large samples of strangers, we manipulated the synchronous and physiologically arousing affordances of a group marching task within a sports stadium. We observed participants' subsequent movement, grouping, and cooperation via a camera hidden in the stadium's roof. Synchrony and arousal both showed main effects, predicting larger groups, tighter clustering, and more cooperative behaviour in a free-rider dilemma. Synchrony and arousal also interacted on measures of clustering and cooperation such that synchrony only encouraged closer clustering-and encouraged greater cooperation-when paired with physiological arousal. The research helps us understand why synchrony and arousal often co-occur in rituals around the world. It also represents the first use of real-time spatial tracking as a precise and naturalistic method of simulating collective rituals.

Differences in neural responses to reward and punishment processing between anorexia nervosa subtypes: An fMRI study.

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Murao, Ema; Sugihara, Genichi; Isobe, Masanori; Noda, Tomomi; Kawabata, Michiko; Matsukawa, Noriko; Takahashi, Hidehiko; Murai, Toshiya; Noma, Shun'ichi

2017-09-01

Anorexia nervosa (AN) includes the restricting (AN-r) and binge-eating/purging (AN-bp) subtypes, which have been reported to differ regarding their underlying pathophysiologies as well as their behavioral patterns. However, the differences in neural mechanisms of reward systems between AN subtypes remain unclear. The aim of the present study was to explore differences in the neural processing of reward and punishment between AN subtypes. Twenty-three female patients with AN (11 AN-r and 12 AN-bp) and 20 healthy women underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging while performing a monetary incentive delay task. Whole-brain one-way analysis of variance was conducted to test between-group differences. There were significant group differences in brain activation in the rostral anterior cingulate cortex and right posterior insula during loss anticipation, with increased brain activation in the AN-bp group relative to the AN-r and healthy women groups. No significant differences were found during gain anticipation. AN-bp patients showed altered neural responses to punishment in brain regions implicated in emotional arousal. Our findings suggest that individuals with AN-bp are more sensitive to potential punishment than individuals with AN-r and healthy individuals at the neural level. The present study provides preliminary evidence that there are neurobiological differences between AN subtypes with regard to the reward system, especially punishment processing. © 2017 The Authors. Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences © 2017 Japanese Society of Psychiatry and Neurology.

Developmental Reversals in False Memory: Effects of Emotional Valence and Arousal

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Brainerd, C. J.; Holliday, R. E.; Reyna, V. F.; Yang, Y.; Toglia, M. P.

2010-01-01

Do the emotional valence and arousal of events distort children’s memories? Do valence and arousal modulate counterintuitive age increases in false memory? We investigated those questions in children, adolescents, and adults using the Cornell/Cortland Emotion Lists, a word list pool that induces false memories and in which valence and arousal can be manipulated factorially. False memories increased with age for unpresented semantic associates of word lists, and net accuracy (the ratio of true...

The motivation and pleasure dimension of negative symptoms: neural substrates and behavioral outputs.

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Kring, Ann M; Barch, Deanna M

2014-05-01

A range of emotional and motivation impairments have long been clinically documented in people with schizophrenia, and there has been a resurgence of interest in understanding the psychological and neural mechanisms of the so-called "negative symptoms" in schizophrenia, given their lack of treatment responsiveness and their role in constraining function and life satisfaction in this illness. Negative symptoms comprise two domains, with the first covering diminished motivation and pleasure across a range of life domains and the second covering diminished verbal and non-verbal expression and communicative output. In this review, we focus on four aspects of the motivation/pleasure domain, providing a brief review of the behavioral and neural underpinnings of this domain. First, we cover liking or in-the-moment pleasure: immediate responses to pleasurable stimuli. Second, we cover anticipatory pleasure or wanting, which involves prediction of a forthcoming enjoyable outcome (reward) and feeling pleasure in anticipation of that outcome. Third, we address motivation, which comprises effort computation, which involves figuring out how much effort is needed to achieve a desired outcome, planning, and behavioral response. Finally, we cover the maintenance emotional states and behavioral responses. Throughout, we consider the behavioral manifestations and brain representations of these four aspects of motivation/pleasure deficits in schizophrenia. We conclude with directions for future research as well as implications for treatment. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. and ECNP. All rights reserved.

Affective experience and motivated behavior in schizophrenia spectrum disorders: Evidence from clinical and nonclinical samples.

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Lui, Simon S Y; Shi, Yan-Fang; Au, Angie C W; Li, Zhi; Tsui, Chi F; Chan, Constance K Y; Leung, Meranda M W; Wong, Peony T Y; Wang, Yi; Yan, Chao; Heerey, Erin A; Cheung, Eric F C; Chan, Raymond C K

2016-09-01

Individuals with schizophrenia have been found to exhibit emotion-behavior decoupling, particularly with respect to anticipated, rather than experienced events. However, previous research has focused on how emotion valence translates into motivated behavior, ignoring the fact that emotion arousal should also modulate emotion-behavior coupling. Few studies have examined emotion-behavior coupling in prepsychotic conditions. This investigation aimed to examine the nature and extent of emotion valence- and arousal-behavior coupling across the schizophrenia spectrum. We examine how emotional valence and arousal couple with behavior in 3 groups of individuals (25 individuals with chronic schizophrenia; 27 individuals early in the disease course, and 31 individuals reporting negative schizotypal symptoms). Participants completed a task using slides to elicit emotion and evoke motivated behavior. We compared participants with their respective matched control groups to determine differences in the correspondence between self-reported emotion valence/arousal and motivated behavior. Both groups with schizophrenia reported similar affective experiences as their controls, whereas individuals reporting negative schizotypal symptoms showed "in-the-moment" anhedonia but not emotion-behavior decoupling. In addition, the schizophrenia groups' affective experiences corresponded less well to their behavior relative to controls. Our findings suggest emotion-behavior decoupling along both valence and arousal dimensions in schizophrenia but not in participants with high levels of schizotypal symptoms. Findings appear to support the idea that emotion-behavior decoupling differs in nature and extent across the schizophrenia spectrum. Interventions to recouple emotion and behavior may be particularly helpful in allowing people with schizophrenia to gain functional independence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Melanopsin Regulates Both Sleep-Promoting and Arousal-Promoting Responses to Light.

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Violetta Pilorz

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Light plays a critical role in the regulation of numerous aspects of physiology and behaviour, including the entrainment of circadian rhythms and the regulation of sleep. These responses involve melanopsin (OPN4-expressing photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (pRGCs in addition to rods and cones. Nocturnal light exposure in rodents has been shown to result in rapid sleep induction, in which melanopsin plays a key role. However, studies have also shown that light exposure can result in elevated corticosterone, a response that is not compatible with sleep. To investigate these contradictory findings and to dissect the relative contribution of pRGCs and rods/cones, we assessed the effects of light of different wavelengths on behaviourally defined sleep. Here, we show that blue light (470 nm causes behavioural arousal, elevating corticosterone and delaying sleep onset. By contrast, green light (530 nm produces rapid sleep induction. Compared to wildtype mice, these responses are altered in melanopsin-deficient mice (Opn4-/-, resulting in enhanced sleep in response to blue light but delayed sleep induction in response to green or white light. We go on to show that blue light evokes higher Fos induction in the SCN compared to the sleep-promoting ventrolateral preoptic area (VLPO, whereas green light produced greater responses in the VLPO. Collectively, our data demonstrates that nocturnal light exposure can have either an arousal- or sleep-promoting effect, and that these responses are melanopsin-mediated via different neural pathways with different spectral sensitivities. These findings raise important questions relating to how artificial light may alter behaviour in both the work and domestic setting.

Sexual Arousal and Sexually Explicit Media (SEM: Comparing Patterns of Sexual Arousal to SEM and Sexual Self-Evaluations and Satisfaction Across Gender and Sexual Orientation

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Gert Martin Hald, PhD

2018-03-01

Hald GM, Stulhofer A, Lange T, et al. Sexual Arousal and Sexually Explicit Media (SEM: Comparing Patterns of Sexual Arousal to SEM and Sexual Self-Evaluations and Satisfaction Across Gender and Sexual Orientation. Sex Med 2018;6:30–38.

Frequent arousals from winter torpor in Rafinesque's big-eared bat (Corynorhinus rafinesquii).

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Johnson, Joseph S; Lacki, Michael J; Thomas, Steven C; Grider, John F

2012-01-01

Extensive use of torpor is a common winter survival strategy among bats; however, data comparing various torpor behaviors among species are scarce. Winter torpor behaviors are likely to vary among species with different physiologies and species inhabiting different regional climates. Understanding these differences may be important in identifying differing susceptibilities of species to white-nose syndrome (WNS) in North America. We fitted 24 Rafinesque's big-eared bats (Corynorhinus rafinesquii) with temperature-sensitive radio-transmitters, and monitored 128 PIT-tagged big-eared bats, during the winter months of 2010 to 2012. We tested the hypothesis that Rafinesque's big-eared bats use torpor less often than values reported for other North American cave-hibernators. Additionally, we tested the hypothesis that Rafinesque's big-eared bats arouse on winter nights more suitable for nocturnal foraging. Radio-tagged bats used short (2.4 d ± 0.3 (SE)), shallow (13.9°C ± 0.6) torpor bouts and switched roosts every 4.1 d ± 0.6. Probability of arousal from torpor increased linearly with ambient temperature at sunset (Pdata show Rafinesque's big-eared bat is a shallow hibernator and is relatively active during winter. We hypothesize that winter activity patterns provide Corynorhinus species with an ecological and physiological defense against the fungus causing WNS, and that these bats may be better suited to withstand fungal infection than other cave-hibernating bat species in eastern North America.

Preattentive processing, poststimulus elaboration, and memory for emotionally arousing stimuli.

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Migita, Mai; Otani, Hajime; Libkuman, Terry M; Sheffert, Sonya M

2011-01-01

Christianson (1992) proposed two mechanisms to explain emotionally enhanced memory: preattentive processing and poststimulus elaboration. Experiment 1 examined these processes by instructing participants to perform (1) a concurrent distractor task, (2) a continuous distractor task, or (3) both while viewing the negatively arousing, positively arousing, and neutral pictures. Recall of negatively arousing pictures showed a small decline in one of the distractor conditions, indicating that elaboration plays a minor role in remembering these pictures. Experiment 2 partially replicated Experiment 1 with an intentional learning instruction to investigate whether participants in Experiment 1 were anticipating a recall test. For all three picture types, recall declined in the continuous distractor task condition, indicating that elaboration played a role, even when the pictures were negatively arousing. Overall, these results were consistent with the notion that remembering negatively valenced stimuli is largely based on preattentive processing with a minor role played by poststimulus elaboration.

Behavioral and neural responses to infant and adult tears: The impact of maternal love withdrawal.

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Riem, Madelon M E; van IJzendoorn, Marinus H; De Carli, Pietro; Vingerhoets, Ad J J M; Bakermans-Kranenburg, Marian J

2017-09-01

The current study examined behavioral and neural responses to infant and adult tears, taking into account childhood experiences with parental love-withdrawal. With functional MRI (fMRI), we measured neural reactivity to pictures of infants and adults with and without tears on their faces in nulliparous women with varying childhood experiences of maternal use of love withdrawal. Behavioral responses to infant and adult tears were measured with an approach-avoidance task. We found that individuals with experiences of love withdrawal showed less amygdala and insula reactivity to adult tears, but love withdrawal did not affect amygdala and insula reactivity to infant tears. During the approach-avoidance task, individuals responded faster to adult tears in the approach condition compared with the avoidance condition, indicating that adult tears facilitate approach behavior. Individuals responded faster to infant tears than to adult tears, regardless of approach or avoidance condition. Our findings suggest that infant tears are highly salient and may, therefore, overrule the effects of contextual and personal characteristics that influence the perception of adult crying. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Development of social skills in children: neural and behavioral evidence for the elaboration of cognitive models

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Soto-Icaza, Patricia; Aboitiz, Francisco; Billeke, Pablo

2015-01-01

Social skills refer to a wide group of abilities that allow us to interact and communicate with others. Children learn how to solve social situations by predicting and understanding other's behaviors. The way in which humans learn to interact successfully with others encompasses a complex interaction between neural, behavioral, and environmental elements. These have a role in the accomplishment of positive developmental outcomes, including peer acceptance, academic achievement, and mental health. All these social abilities depend on widespread brain networks that are recently being studied by neuroscience. In this paper, we will first review the studies on this topic, aiming to clarify the behavioral and neural mechanisms related to the acquisition of social skills during infancy and their appearance in time. Second, we will briefly describe how developmental diseases like Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) can inform about the neurobiological mechanisms of social skills. We finally sketch a general framework for the elaboration of cognitive models in order to facilitate the comprehension of human social development. PMID:26483621

Preschool externalizing behavior predicts gender-specific variation in adolescent neural structure.

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Jessica Z K Caldwell

Full Text Available Dysfunction in the prefrontal cortex, amygdala, and hippocampus is believed to underlie the development of much psychopathology. However, to date only limited longitudinal data relate early behavior with neural structure later in life. Our objective was to examine the relationship of early life externalizing behavior with adolescent brain structure. We report here the first longitudinal study linking externalizing behavior during preschool to brain structure during adolescence. We examined the relationship of preschool externalizing behavior with amygdala, hippocampus, and prefrontal cortex volumes at age 15 years in a community sample of 76 adolescents followed longitudinally since their mothers' pregnancy. A significant gender by externalizing behavior interaction revealed that males-but not females-with greater early childhood externalizing behavior had smaller amygdala volumes at adolescence (t = 2.33, p = .023. No significant results were found for the hippocampus or the prefrontal cortex. Greater early externalizing behavior also related to smaller volume of a cluster including the angular gyrus and tempoparietal junction across genders. Results were not attributable to the impact of preschool anxiety, preschool maternal stress, school-age internalizing or externalizing behaviors, or adolescent substance use. These findings demonstrate a novel, gender-specific relationship between early-childhood externalizing behavior and adolescent amygdala volume, as well as a cross-gender result for the angular gyrus and tempoparietal junction.

Influence of emotional valence and arousal on the spread of activation in memory.

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Jhean-Larose, Sandra; Leveau, Nicolas; Denhière, Guy

2014-11-01

Controversy still persists on whether emotional valence and arousal influence cognitive activities. Our study sought to compare how these two factors foster the spread of activation within the semantic network. In a lexical decision task, prime words were varied depending on the valence (pleasant or unpleasant) or on the level of emotional arousal (high or low). Target words were carefully selected to avoid semantic priming effects, as well as to avoid arousing specific emotions (neutral). Three SOA durations (220, 420 and 720 ms) were applied across three independent groups. Results indicate that at 220 ms, the effect of arousal is significantly higher than the effect of valence in facilitating spreading activation while at 420 ms, the effect of valence is significantly higher than the effect of arousal in facilitating spreading activation. These findings suggest that affect is a sequential process involving the successive intervention of arousal and valence.

Top-down control of arousal and sleep: Fundamentals and clinical implications.

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Krone, Lukas; Frase, Lukas; Piosczyk, Hannah; Selhausen, Peter; Zittel, Sulamith; Jahn, Friederike; Kuhn, Marion; Feige, Bernd; Mainberger, Florian; Klöppel, Stefan; Riemann, Dieter; Spiegelhalder, Kai; Baglioni, Chiara; Sterr, Annette; Nissen, Christoph

2017-02-01

Mammalian sleep emerges from attenuated activity in the ascending reticular arousal system (ARAS), the main arousal network of the brain. This system originates in the brainstem and activates the thalamus and cortex during wakefulness via a well-characterized 'bottom-up' pathway. Recent studies propose that a less investigated cortico-thalamic 'top-down' pathway also regulates sleep. The present work integrates the current evidence on sleep regulation with a focus on the 'top-down' pathway and explores the potential to translate this information into clinically relevant interventions. Specifically, we elaborate the concept that arousal and sleep continuity in humans can be modulated by non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) techniques that increase or decrease cortical excitability. Based on preclinical studies, the modulatory effects of the stimulation are thought to extend to subcortical arousal networks. Further exploration of the 'top-down' regulation of sleep and its modulation through non-invasive brain stimulation techniques may contribute to the development of novel treatments for clinical conditions of disrupted arousal and sleep, which are among the major health problems worldwide. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Neural Based Orthogonal Data Fitting The EXIN Neural Networks

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Cirrincione, Giansalvo

2008-01-01

Written by three leaders in the field of neural based algorithms, Neural Based Orthogonal Data Fitting proposes several neural networks, all endowed with a complete theory which not only explains their behavior, but also compares them with the existing neural and traditional algorithms. The algorithms are studied from different points of view, including: as a differential geometry problem, as a dynamic problem, as a stochastic problem, and as a numerical problem. All algorithms have also been analyzed on real time problems (large dimensional data matrices) and have shown accurate solutions. Wh

Reduction of the Misinformation Effect by Arousal Induced after Learning

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English, Shaun M.; Nielson, Kristy A.

2010-01-01

Misinformation introduced after events have already occurred causes errors in later retrieval. Based on literature showing that arousal induced after learning enhances delayed retrieval, we investigated whether post-learning arousal can reduce the misinformation effect. 251 participants viewed four short film clips, each followed by a retention…

Distinct parietal sites mediate the influences of mood, arousal, and their interaction on human recognition memory.

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Greene, Ciara M; Flannery, Oliver; Soto, David

2014-12-01

The two dimensions of emotion, mood valence and arousal, have independent effects on recognition memory. At present, however, it is not clear how those effects are reflected in the human brain. Previous research in this area has generally dealt with memory for emotionally valenced or arousing stimuli, but the manner in which interacting mood and arousal states modulate responses in memory substrates remains poorly understood. We investigated memory for emotionally neutral items while independently manipulating mood valence and arousal state by means of music exposure. Four emotional conditions were created: positive mood/high arousal, positive mood/low arousal, negative mood/high arousal, and negative mood/low arousal. We observed distinct effects of mood valence and arousal in parietal substrates of recognition memory. Positive mood increased activity in ventral posterior parietal cortex (PPC) and orbitofrontal cortex, whereas arousal condition modulated activity in dorsal PPC and the posterior cingulate. An interaction between valence and arousal was observed in left ventral PPC, notably in a parietal area distinct from the those identified for the main effects, with a stronger effect of mood on recognition memory responses here under conditions of relative high versus low arousal. We interpreted the PPC activations in terms of the attention-to-memory hypothesis: Increased arousal may lead to increased top-down control of memory, and hence dorsal PPC activation, whereas positive mood valence may result in increased activity in ventral PPC regions associated with bottom-up attention to memory. These findings indicate that distinct parietal sites mediate the influences of mood, arousal, and their interplay during recognition memory.

Sympathetic arousal increases a negative memory bias in young women with low sex hormone levels

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Nielsen, Shawn E.; Barber, Sarah J.; Chai, Audrey; Clewett, David V.; Mather, Mara

2015-01-01

Emotionally arousing events are typically better attended to and remembered than neutral ones. Current theories propose that arousal-induced increases in norepinephrine during encoding bias attention and memory in favor of affectively salient stimuli. Here, we tested this hypothesis by manipulating levels of physiological arousal prior to encoding and examining how it influenced memory for emotionally salient images, particularly those that are negative rather than positive in valence. We also tested whether sex steroid hormones interact with noradrenergic activity to influence these emotional memory biases in women. Healthy naturally cycling women and women on hormonal contraception completed one of the following physiological arousal manipulations prior to viewing a series of negative, positive and neutral images: 1) Immediate handgrip arousal – isometric handgrip immediately prior to encoding, 2) Residual handgrip arousal – isometric handgrip 15 min prior to encoding, or 3) No handgrip. Sympathetic arousal was measured throughout the session via pupil diameter changes. Levels of 17β-estradiol and progesterone were measured via salivary samples. Memory performance was assessed approximately 10 minutes after encoding using a surprise free recall test. The results indicated that handgrip successfully increased sympathetic arousal compared to the control task. Under immediate handgrip arousal, women showed enhanced memory for negative images over positive images; this pattern was not observed in women assigned to the residual and no-handgrip arousal conditions. Additionally, under immediate handgrip arousal, both high estradiol and progesterone levels attenuated the memory bias for negative over positive images. Follow-up hierarchical linear models revealed consistent effects when accounting for trial-by-trial variability in normative International Affective Picture System valence and arousal ratings. These findings suggest that heightened sympathetic arousal

Excluded and behaving unethically: social exclusion, physiological responses, and unethical behavior.

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Kouchaki, Maryam; Wareham, Justin

2015-03-01

Across 2 studies, we investigated the ethical consequences of physiological responses to social exclusion. In Study 1, participants who were socially excluded were more likely to engage in unethical behavior to make money and the level of physiological arousal experienced during exclusion--measured using galvanic skin response--mediated the effects of exclusion on unethical behavior. Likewise, in Study 2, results from a sample of supervisor-subordinate dyads revealed a positive relationship between experience of workplace ostracism and unethical behaviors as rated by the immediate supervisors. This relationship was mediated by employees' reports of experienced physiological arousal. Together, the results of these studies demonstrate that physiological arousal accompanies social exclusion and provides an explanatory mechanism for the increased unethical behavior in both samples. Theoretical implications of these findings for research on ethical behavior and social exclusion in the workplace are discussed. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved.

The effect of exercise-induced arousal on chosen tempi for familiar melodies.

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Jakubowski, Kelly; Halpern, Andrea R; Grierson, Mick; Stewart, Lauren

2015-04-01

Many previous studies have shown that arousal affects time perception, suggesting a direct influence of arousal on the speed of the pacemaker of the internal clock. However, it is unknown whether arousal influences the mental representation of tempo (speed) for highly familiar and complex stimuli, such as well-known melodies, that have long-term representations in memory. Previous research suggests that mental representations of the tempo of familiar melodies are stable over time; the aim of the present study was to investigate whether these representations can be systematically altered via an increase in physiological arousal. Participants adjusted the tempo of 14 familiar melodies in real time until they found a tempo that matched their internal representation of the appropriate tempo for that piece. The task was carried out before and after a physiologically arousing (exercise) or nonarousing (anagrams) manipulation. Participants completed this task both while hearing the melodies aloud and while imagining them. Chosen tempi increased significantly following exercise-induced arousal, regardless of whether a melody was heard aloud or imagined. These findings suggest that a change in internal clock speed affects temporal judgments even for highly familiar and complex stimuli such as music.

Evaluative ratings and attention across the life span: emotional arousal and gender.

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Ferrari, Vera; Bruno, Nicola; Chattat, Rabih; Codispoti, Maurizio

2017-04-01

This study was designed to investigate the evolution of emotional processing over the whole adult life span as a function of stimulus arousal and participants' gender. To this end, self-reported affective evaluation and attentional capture prompted by pleasant and unpleasant pictures varying in arousal were measured in a large sample of participants (n = 211) balanced by gender and equally spread across seven decades from 20 to 90 years. Results showed age differences only for affective evaluation of pleasant stimuli, with opposite patterns depending on stimulus arousal. As age increased, low-arousing pleasant cues (e.g. images of babies) were experienced as more pleasant and arousing by both males and females, whereas high-arousing stimuli (e.g. erotic images) were experienced as less pleasant only by females. In contrast, emotional pictures (both pleasant and unpleasant) were effective at capturing attention in a similar way across participants, regardless of age and gender. Taken together, these findings suggest that specific emotional cues prompt different subjective responses across different age groups, while basic mechanisms involved in attentional engagement towards both pleasant and unpleasant stimuli are preserved in healthy ageing.

Examining overlap in behavioral and neural representations of morals, facts, and preferences.

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Theriault, Jordan; Waytz, Adam; Heiphetz, Larisa; Young, Liane

2017-11-01

Metaethical judgments refer to judgments about the information expressed by moral claims. Moral objectivists generally believe that moral claims are akin to facts, whereas moral subjectivists generally believe that moral claims are more akin to preferences. Evidence from developmental and social psychology has generally favored an objectivist view; however, this work has typically relied on few examples, and analyses have disallowed statistical generalizations beyond these few stimuli. The present work addresses whether morals are represented as fact-like or preference-like, using behavioral and neuroimaging methods, in combination with statistical techniques that can (a) generalize beyond our sample stimuli, and (b) test whether particular item features are associated with neural activity. Behaviorally, and contrary to prior work, morals were perceived as more preference-like than fact-like. Neurally, morals and preferences elicited common magnitudes and spatial patterns of activity, particularly within the dorsal-medial prefrontal cortex (DMPFC), a critical region for social cognition. This common DMPFC activity for morals and preferences was present across whole-brain conjunctions, and in individually localized functional regions of interest (targeting the theory of mind network). By contrast, morals and facts did not elicit any neural activity in common. Follow-up item analyses suggested that the activity elicited in common by morals and preferences was explained by their shared tendency to evoke representations of mental states. We conclude that morals are represented as far more subjective than prior work has suggested. This conclusion is consistent with recent theoretical research, which has argued that morality is fundamentally about regulating social relationships. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Arousal and attention re-orienting in autism spectrum disorders: evidence from auditory event-related potentials

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Elena V Orekhova

2014-02-01

Full Text Available The extended phenotype of autism spectrum disorders (ASD includes a combination of arousal regulation problems, sensory modulation difficulties, and attention re-orienting deficit. A slow and inefficient re-orienting to stimuli that appear outside of the attended sensory stream is thought to be especially detrimental for social functioning. Event-related potentials (ERPs and magnetic fields (ERFs may help to reveal which processing stages underlying brain response to unattended but salient sensory event are affected in individuals with ASD. Previous research focusing on two sequential stages of the brain response - automatic detection of physical changes in auditory stream, indexed by mismatch negativity (MMN, and evaluation of stimulus novelty, indexed by P3a component, - found in individuals with ASD either increased, decreased or normal processing of deviance and novelty. The review examines these apparently conflicting results, notes gaps in previous findings, and suggests a potentially unifying hypothesis relating the dampened responses to unattended sensory events to the deficit in rapid arousal process. Specifically, ‘sensory gating’ studies focused on pre-attentive arousal consistently demonstrated that brain response to unattended and temporally novel sound in ASD is already affected at around 100 ms after stimulus onset. We hypothesize that abnormalities in nicotinic cholinergic arousal pathways, previously reported in individuals with ASD, may contribute to these ERP/ERF aberrations and result in attention re-orienting deficit. Such cholinergic dysfunction may be present in individuals with ASD early in life and can influence both sensory processing and attention re-orienting behavior. Identification of early neurophysiological biomarkers for cholinergic deficit would help to detect infants at risk who can potentially benefit from particular types of therapies or interventions.

Reliability of scoring arousals in normal children and children with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome.

Science.gov (United States)

Wong, Tat Kong; Galster, Patricia; Lau, Tai Shing; Lutz, Janita M; Marcus, Carole L

2004-09-15

Scoring of arousals in children is based on an extension of adult criteria, as defined by the American Sleep Disorders Association (ASDA). By this, a minimum duration of 3 seconds is required. A few recent studies utilized modified criteria for the study of children, with durations as short as 1 second. However, the validity and reliability of scoring these shorter arousals have never been verified. Based on studies in adults, we hypothesized that interscorer agreement for scoring arousals shorter than 3 seconds was poor. Retrospective review of polysomnograms by 2 experienced sleep practitioners who independently scored arousals according to the ASDA 3-second criteria and modified duration criteria of 1 and 2 seconds. Academic hospital. 20 polysomnographic studies from children aged 3 to 8 years with mild to severe obstructive sleep apnea syndrome, and 16 polysomnographic studies from normal children. None. The intraclass correlation coefficient for scoring ASDA arousals was 0.90 (95% confidence interval: 0.81-0.95), indicating excellent interscorer agreement. The intraclass correlation coefficient for scoring modified 1-second and 2-second arousals were 0.35 (95% confidence interval: 0.02-0.61) and 0.42 (95% confidence interval: 0.12-0.65) respectively, indicating poor to fair interscorer agreement. Furthermore, modified 1-second and 2-second arousals accounted for less than 15% of all arousals scored. We conclude that there is much poorer interscorer agreement for scoring arousals shorter than 3 seconds, when compared to the standard ASDA criteria. We propose that scoring of arousals in children should follow the standard ASDA criteria.

Being watched by others eliminates the effect of emotional arousal on inhibitory control

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Yu, Jiaxin; Tseng, Philip; Muggleton, Neil G.; Juan, Chi-Hung

2015-01-01

The psychological effect of being watched by others has been proven a powerful tool in modulating social behaviors (e.g., charitable giving) and altering cognitive performance (e.g., visual search). Here we tested whether such awareness would affect one of the core elements of human cognition: emotional processing and impulse control. Using an emotion stop-signal paradigm, we found that viewing emotionally-arousing erotic images before attempting to inhibit a motor response impaired participants’ inhibition ability, but such an impairing effect was completely eliminated when participants were led to believe that their facial expressions were monitored by a webcam. Furthermore, there was no post-error slowing in any of the conditions, thus these results cannot be explained by a deliberate speed-accuracy tradeoff or other types of conscious shift in strategy. Together, these findings demonstrate that the interaction between emotional arousal and impulse control can be dependent on one’s state of self-consciousness. Furthermore, this study also highlights the effect that the mere presence of the experimenter may have on participants’ cognitive performance, even if it’s only a webcam. PMID:25653635

How fear appeals work: Motivational biases in the processing of fear-arousing health communications.

OpenAIRE

Das, E.H.H.J.

2001-01-01

This dissertation deals with the study of fear appeals, i.e. messages in which people are presented with fear-arousing health information, in order to convince them they should alter unhealthy habits and adopt healthy lifestyles. Fear appeals typically start with the presentation of the negative consequences of a certain behavior, followed by a recommendation in which a solution to the health risk is offered. The majority of empirical studies examining the effects of fear appeals on persuasio...

Factors associated with sexual arousal, sexual sensation seeking, and sexual satisfaction among African-American adolescent females

OpenAIRE

Sales, Jessica M.; Smearman, Erica; Brody, Gene H.; Milhausen, Robin; Philibert, Robert A.; DiClemente, Ralph J.

2013-01-01

Sexuality-related constructs such as sexual arousal, sexual sensation seeking (SSS) and sexual satisfaction have been related to sexual behaviors that place one at risk for adverse consequences such as sexually transmitted infections (STIs), HIV, and unintended pregnancy. The biopsychosocial model posits an array of factors, ranging from social environmental factors, biological, and psychological predispositions that may be associated with these sexuality constructs in adolescent samples. Afr...

Behavioral and Physiological Neural Network Analyses: A Common Pathway toward Pattern Recognition and Prediction

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Ninness, Chris; Lauter, Judy L.; Coffee, Michael; Clary, Logan; Kelly, Elizabeth; Rumph, Marilyn; Rumph, Robin; Kyle, Betty; Ninness, Sharon K.

2012-01-01

Using 3 diversified datasets, we explored the pattern-recognition ability of the Self-Organizing Map (SOM) artificial neural network as applied to diversified nonlinear data distributions in the areas of behavioral and physiological research. Experiment 1 employed a dataset obtained from the UCI Machine Learning Repository. Data for this study…

Extracting the Behaviorally Relevant Stimulus: Unique Neural Representation of Farnesol, a Component of the Recruitment Pheromone of Bombus terrestris.

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Martin F Strube-Bloss

Full Text Available To trigger innate behavior, sensory neural networks are pre-tuned to extract biologically relevant stimuli. Many male-female or insect-plant interactions depend on this phenomenon. Especially communication among individuals within social groups depends on innate behaviors. One example is the efficient recruitment of nest mates by successful bumblebee foragers. Returning foragers release a recruitment pheromone in the nest while they perform a 'dance' behavior to activate unemployed nest mates. A major component of this pheromone is the sesquiterpenoid farnesol. How farnesol is processed and perceived by the olfactory system, has not yet been identified. It is much likely that processing farnesol involves an innate mechanism for the extraction of relevant information to trigger a fast and reliable behavioral response. To test this hypothesis, we used population response analyses of 100 antennal lobe (AL neurons recorded in alive bumblebee workers under repeated stimulation with four behaviorally different, but chemically related odorants (geraniol, citronellol, citronellal and farnesol. The analysis identified a unique neural representation of the recruitment pheromone component compared to the other odorants that are predominantly emitted by flowers. The farnesol induced population activity in the AL allowed a reliable separation of farnesol from all other chemically related odor stimuli we tested. We conclude that the farnesol induced population activity may reflect a predetermined representation within the AL-neural network allowing efficient and fast extraction of a behaviorally relevant stimulus. Furthermore, the results show that population response analyses of multiple single AL-units may provide a powerful tool to identify distinct representations of behaviorally relevant odors.

Bruxism in children: effect on sleep architecture and daytime cognitive performance and behavior.

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Herrera, Marcela; Valencia, Ignacio; Grant, Mitzie; Metroka, David; Chialastri, Augustine; Kothare, Sanjeev V

2006-09-01

Sleep bruxism is an involuntary mandibular movement with tooth grinding during sleep. The prevalence of sleep bruxism in children is high and may lead to frequent arousals with altered daytime functioning. We investigated the sleep architecture, the incidence of gastroesophageal reflux, and the daytime cognitive behavioral functioning in a group of children with sleep bruxism. DESIGN-PATIENTS: This prospective pilot study included 10 children. Polysomnographic data with pH-probe analysis was compared with 10 age- and sex-matched controls. Each patient completed a dental evaluation, a nighttime polysomnogram, and cognitive behavioral tests (Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test and Achenbach Child Behavior Checklist). Eight of 10 children had clinically significant bruxism and the 2 remaining patients had recent teeth exfoliation. There was no difference on sleep architecture between patients and controls, except for a higher arousal index for the bruxism group (36.7 vs 20.7, p Sleep bruxism occurred more frequently in stage 2 and rapid eye movement sleep, with arousals in 66% of the cases. There was no relationship of bruxism to gastroesophageal reflux or intelligence. However, 40% of the patients had elevated scores on the Achenbach Child Behavior Checklist, indicating significant attention and behavior problems, and there were moderate correlations between the arousal index and several of the behavior-problem scales from the Achenbach Child Behavior Checklist (0.5 to 0.6). The data suggest that children with bruxism have a higher arousal index, which may be associated with an increased incidence of attention-behavior problems. Future studies investigating pediatric sleep bruxism will need to focus on behavior issues that may be prevalent in this population.

The arouser EPS8L3 gene is critical for normal memory in Drosophila.

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Holly LaFerriere

Full Text Available The genetic mechanisms that influence memory formation and sensitivity to the effects of ethanol on behavior in Drosophila have some common elements. So far, these have centered on the cAMP/PKA signaling pathway, synapsin and fas2-dependent processes, pumilio-dependent regulators of translation, and a few other genes. However, there are several genes that are important for one or the other behaviors, suggesting that there is an incomplete overlap in the mechanisms that support memory and ethanol sensitive behaviors. The basis for this overlap is far from understood. We therefore examined memory in arouser (aru mutant flies, which have recently been identified as having ethanol sensitivity deficits. The aru mutant flies showed memory deficits in both short-term place memory and olfactory memory tests. Flies with a revertant aru allele had wild-type levels of memory performance, arguing that the aru gene, encoding an EPS8L3 product, has a role in Drosophila memory formation. Furthermore, and interestingly, flies with the aru(8-128 insertion allele had deficits in only one of two genetic backgrounds in place and olfactory memory tests. Flies with an aru imprecise excision allele had deficits in tests of olfactory memory. Quantitative measurements of aru EPS8L3 mRNA expression levels correlate decreased expression with deficits in olfactory memory while over expression is correlated with place memory deficits. Thus, mutations of the aru EPS8L3 gene interact with the alleles of a particular genetic background to regulate arouser expression and reveals a role of this gene in memory.

Musical aptitude and second language pronunciation skills in school-aged children: neural and behavioral evidence.

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Milovanov, Riia; Huotilainen, Minna; Välimäki, Vesa; Esquef, Paulo A A; Tervaniemi, Mari

2008-02-15

The main focus of this study was to examine the relationship between musical aptitude and second language pronunciation skills. We investigated whether children with superior performance in foreign language production represent musical sound features more readily in the preattentive level of neural processing compared with children with less-advanced production skills. Sound processing accuracy was examined in elementary school children by means of event-related potential (ERP) recordings and behavioral measures. Children with good linguistic skills had better musical skills as measured by the Seashore musicality test than children with less accurate linguistic skills. The ERP data accompany the results of the behavioral tests: children with good linguistic skills showed more pronounced sound-change evoked activation with the music stimuli than children with less accurate linguistic skills. Taken together, the results imply that musical and linguistic skills could partly be based on shared neural mechanisms.

Effects of Relaxing and Arousing Music during Imagery Training on Dart-Throwing Performance, Physiological Arousal Indices, and Competitive State Anxiety.

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Kuan, Garry; Morris, Tony; Kueh, Yee Cheng; Terry, Peter C

2018-01-01

Music that is carefully selected to match the requirements of activities and the characteristics of individuals has been shown to produce significant impacts on performance enhancement (Priest et al., 2004). There is also evidence that music can enhance imagery (Grocke and Wigram, 2007), although few studies have investigated the effects of music on imagery in the context of sport skills. In the present study, the effects of relaxing and arousing music during imagery on dart-throwing performance, physiological arousal indices, and competitive state anxiety, were investigated among 63 novice dart throwers. Participants had moderate-to-high imagery ability and were randomly assigned to unfamiliar relaxing music (URM), unfamiliar arousing music (UAM), or no music (NM) groups. Performance was assessed by 40 dart throws at a concentric circles dartboard before and after 12 imagery sessions over 4 weeks. Measures of galvanic skin response (GSR), peripheral temperature (PT), and heart rate (HR) were taken during imagery sessions 1 and 12, and the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 Revised (CSAI-2R) was administered prior to the pre- and post-intervention performance task. Dart-throwing gain scores were significantly higher for URM than for UAM and NM, with no significant difference between UAM and NM (URM = 37.24 ± 5.66, UAM = 17.57 ± 5.30, and NM = 13.19 ± 6.14, F 2,62 = 5.03, p = 0.01, η 2 = 0.14). GSR, PT, and HR reflected lower arousal for URM than for UAM or NM. Significant decreases in somatic anxiety were evident for URM and UAM but not NM. Significant decreases in cognitive anxiety were evident for URM and NM but not UAM. Significant increases in self-confidence were evident for URM but not UAM or NM. Performance improved in all three conditions but URM was associated with the largest performance gain, the lowest physiological indices of arousal, and the most positive CSAI-2R profiles. Listening to relaxing music during imagery may have benefits for

Effects of Relaxing and Arousing Music during Imagery Training on Dart-Throwing Performance, Physiological Arousal Indices, and Competitive State Anxiety

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Garry Kuan

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Music that is carefully selected to match the requirements of activities and the characteristics of individuals has been shown to produce significant impacts on performance enhancement (Priest et al., 2004. There is also evidence that music can enhance imagery (Grocke and Wigram, 2007, although few studies have investigated the effects of music on imagery in the context of sport skills. In the present study, the effects of relaxing and arousing music during imagery on dart-throwing performance, physiological arousal indices, and competitive state anxiety, were investigated among 63 novice dart throwers. Participants had moderate-to-high imagery ability and were randomly assigned to unfamiliar relaxing music (URM, unfamiliar arousing music (UAM, or no music (NM groups. Performance was assessed by 40 dart throws at a concentric circles dartboard before and after 12 imagery sessions over 4 weeks. Measures of galvanic skin response (GSR, peripheral temperature (PT, and heart rate (HR were taken during imagery sessions 1 and 12, and the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 Revised (CSAI-2R was administered prior to the pre- and post-intervention performance task. Dart-throwing gain scores were significantly higher for URM than for UAM and NM, with no significant difference between UAM and NM (URM = 37.24 ± 5.66, UAM = 17.57 ± 5.30, and NM = 13.19 ± 6.14, F2,62 = 5.03, p = 0.01, η2 = 0.14. GSR, PT, and HR reflected lower arousal for URM than for UAM or NM. Significant decreases in somatic anxiety were evident for URM and UAM but not NM. Significant decreases in cognitive anxiety were evident for URM and NM but not UAM. Significant increases in self-confidence were evident for URM but not UAM or NM. Performance improved in all three conditions but URM was associated with the largest performance gain, the lowest physiological indices of arousal, and the most positive CSAI-2R profiles. Listening to relaxing music during imagery may have benefits for

Non-monotonic relationships between emotional arousal and memory for color and location.

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Boywitt, C Dennis

2015-01-01

Recent research points to the decreased diagnostic value of subjective retrieval experience for memory accuracy for emotional stimuli. While for neutral stimuli rich recollective experiences are associated with better context memory than merely familiar memories this association appears questionable for emotional stimuli. The present research tested the implicit assumption that the effect of emotional arousal on memory is monotonic, that is, steadily increasing (or decreasing) with increasing arousal. In two experiments emotional arousal was manipulated in three steps using emotional pictures and subjective retrieval experience as well as context memory were assessed. The results show an inverted U-shape relationship between arousal and recognition memory but for context memory and retrieval experience the relationship was more complex. For frame colour, context memory decreased linearly while for spatial location it followed the inverted U-shape function. The complex, non-monotonic relationships between arousal and memory are discussed as possible explanations for earlier divergent findings.

"Not for all the tea in China!" political ideology and the avoidance of dissonance-arousing situations.

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H Hannah Nam

Full Text Available People often avoid information and situations that have the potential to contradict previously held beliefs and attitudes (i.e., situations that arouse cognitive dissonance. According to the motivated social cognition model of political ideology, conservatives tend to have stronger epistemic needs to attain certainty and closure than liberals. This implies that there may be differences in how liberals and conservatives respond to dissonance-arousing situations. In two experiments, we investigated the possibility that conservatives would be more strongly motivated to avoid dissonance-arousing tasks than liberals. Indeed, U.S. residents who preferred more conservative presidents (George W. Bush and Ronald Reagan complied less than Americans who preferred more liberal presidents (Barack Obama and Bill Clinton with the request to write a counter-attitudinal essay about who made a "better president." This difference was not observed under circumstances of low perceived choice or when the topic of the counter-attitudinal essay was non-political (i.e., when it pertained to computer or beverage preferences. The results of these experiments provide initial evidence of ideological differences in dissonance avoidance. Future work would do well to determine whether such differences are specific to political issues or topics that are personally important. Implications for political behavior are discussed.

"Not for all the tea in China!" political ideology and the avoidance of dissonance-arousing situations.

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Nam, H Hannah; Jost, John T; Van Bavel, Jay J

2013-01-01

People often avoid information and situations that have the potential to contradict previously held beliefs and attitudes (i.e., situations that arouse cognitive dissonance). According to the motivated social cognition model of political ideology, conservatives tend to have stronger epistemic needs to attain certainty and closure than liberals. This implies that there may be differences in how liberals and conservatives respond to dissonance-arousing situations. In two experiments, we investigated the possibility that conservatives would be more strongly motivated to avoid dissonance-arousing tasks than liberals. Indeed, U.S. residents who preferred more conservative presidents (George W. Bush and Ronald Reagan) complied less than Americans who preferred more liberal presidents (Barack Obama and Bill Clinton) with the request to write a counter-attitudinal essay about who made a "better president." This difference was not observed under circumstances of low perceived choice or when the topic of the counter-attitudinal essay was non-political (i.e., when it pertained to computer or beverage preferences). The results of these experiments provide initial evidence of ideological differences in dissonance avoidance. Future work would do well to determine whether such differences are specific to political issues or topics that are personally important. Implications for political behavior are discussed.

Time-limited effects of emotional arousal on item and source memory.

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Wang, Bo; Sun, Bukuan

2015-01-01

Two experiments investigated the time-limited effects of emotional arousal on consolidation of item and source memory. In Experiment 1, participants memorized words (items) and the corresponding speakers (sources) and then took an immediate free recall test. Then they watched a neutral, positive, or negative video 5, 35, or 50 min after learning, and 24 hours later they took surprise memory tests. Experiment 2 was similar to Experiment 1 except that (a) a reality monitoring task was used; (b) elicitation delays of 5, 30, and 45 min were used; and (c) delayed memory tests were given 60 min after learning. Both experiments showed that, regardless of elicitation delay, emotional arousal did not enhance item recall memory. Second, both experiments showed that negative arousal enhanced delayed item recognition memory only at the medium elicitation delay, but not in the shorter or longer delays. Positive arousal enhanced performance only in Experiment 1. Third, regardless of elicitation delay, emotional arousal had little effect on source memory. These findings have implications for theories of emotion and memory, suggesting that emotion effects are contingent upon the nature of the memory task and elicitation delay.

Neural correlates of the popular music phenomenon: evidence from functional MRI and PET imaging

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chen, Qiaozhen [The Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, Hangzhou (China); Zhejiang University Medical PET Center, Hangzhou (China); Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging of Zhejiang University, Hangzhou (China); Key Laboratory of Medical Molecular Imaging of Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou (China); The Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Department of Nuclear Medicine, Hangzhou, Zhejiang (China); Zhang, Ying; Hou, Haifeng; Du, Fenglei; Wu, Shuang; Chen, Lin; Shen, Yehua; Chao, Fangfang; Zhang, Hong; Tian, Mei [Zhejiang University Medical PET Center, Hangzhou (China); Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging of Zhejiang University, Hangzhou (China); Key Laboratory of Medical Molecular Imaging of Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou (China); The Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Department of Nuclear Medicine, Hangzhou, Zhejiang (China); Chung, June-key [Seoul National University Hospital, Department of Nuclear Medicine, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

2017-06-15

Music can induce different emotions. However, its neural mechanism remains unknown. The aim of this study was to use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and position emission tomography (PET) imaging for mapping of neural changes under the most popular music in healthy volunteers. Blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) fMRI and monoamine receptor PET imaging with {sup 11}C-N-methylspiperone ({sup 11}C-NMSP) were conducted under the popular music Gangnam Style and light music A Comme Amour in healthy subjects. PET and fMRI images were analyzed by using the Statistical Parametric Mapping software (SPM). Significantly increased fMRI BOLD signals were found in the bilateral superior temporal cortices, left cerebellum, left putamen and right thalamus cortex. Monoamine receptor availability was increased significantly in the left superior temporal gyrus and left putamen, but decreased in the bilateral superior occipital cortices under the Gangnam Style compared with the light music condition. Significant positive correlation was found between {sup 11}C-NMSP binding and fMRI BOLD signals in the left temporal cortex. Furthermore, increased {sup 11}C-NMSP binding in the left putamen was positively correlated with the mood arousal level score under the Gangnam Style condition. Popular music Gangnam Style can arouse pleasure experience and strong emotional response. The left putamen is positively correlated with the mood arousal level score under the Gangnam Style condition. Our results revealed characteristic patterns of brain activity associated with Gangnam Style, and may also provide more general insights into the music-induced emotional processing. (orig.)

Neural correlates of the popular music phenomenon: evidence from functional MRI and PET imaging.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Qiaozhen; Zhang, Ying; Hou, Haifeng; Du, Fenglei; Wu, Shuang; Chen, Lin; Shen, Yehua; Chao, Fangfang; Chung, June-Key; Zhang, Hong; Tian, Mei

2017-06-01

Music can induce different emotions. However, its neural mechanism remains unknown. The aim of this study was to use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and position emission tomography (PET) imaging for mapping of neural changes under the most popular music in healthy volunteers. Blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) fMRI and monoamine receptor PET imaging with 11 C-N-methylspiperone ( 11 C-NMSP) were conducted under the popular music Gangnam Style and light music A Comme Amour in healthy subjects. PET and fMRI images were analyzed by using the Statistical Parametric Mapping software (SPM). Significantly increased fMRI BOLD signals were found in the bilateral superior temporal cortices, left cerebellum, left putamen and right thalamus cortex. Monoamine receptor availability was increased significantly in the left superior temporal gyrus and left putamen, but decreased in the bilateral superior occipital cortices under the Gangnam Style compared with the light music condition. Significant positive correlation was found between 11 C-NMSP binding and fMRI BOLD signals in the left temporal cortex. Furthermore, increased 11 C-NMSP binding in the left putamen was positively correlated with the mood arousal level score under the Gangnam Style condition. Popular music Gangnam Style can arouse pleasure experience and strong emotional response. The left putamen is positively correlated with the mood arousal level score under the Gangnam Style condition. Our results revealed characteristic patterns of brain activity associated with Gangnam Style, and may also provide more general insights into the music-induced emotional processing.

Neural correlates of the popular music phenomenon: evidence from functional MRI and PET imaging

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen, Qiaozhen; Zhang, Ying; Hou, Haifeng; Du, Fenglei; Wu, Shuang; Chen, Lin; Shen, Yehua; Chao, Fangfang; Zhang, Hong; Tian, Mei; Chung, June-key

2017-01-01

Music can induce different emotions. However, its neural mechanism remains unknown. The aim of this study was to use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and position emission tomography (PET) imaging for mapping of neural changes under the most popular music in healthy volunteers. Blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) fMRI and monoamine receptor PET imaging with "1"1C-N-methylspiperone ("1"1C-NMSP) were conducted under the popular music Gangnam Style and light music A Comme Amour in healthy subjects. PET and fMRI images were analyzed by using the Statistical Parametric Mapping software (SPM). Significantly increased fMRI BOLD signals were found in the bilateral superior temporal cortices, left cerebellum, left putamen and right thalamus cortex. Monoamine receptor availability was increased significantly in the left superior temporal gyrus and left putamen, but decreased in the bilateral superior occipital cortices under the Gangnam Style compared with the light music condition. Significant positive correlation was found between "1"1C-NMSP binding and fMRI BOLD signals in the left temporal cortex. Furthermore, increased "1"1C-NMSP binding in the left putamen was positively correlated with the mood arousal level score under the Gangnam Style condition. Popular music Gangnam Style can arouse pleasure experience and strong emotional response. The left putamen is positively correlated with the mood arousal level score under the Gangnam Style condition. Our results revealed characteristic patterns of brain activity associated with Gangnam Style, and may also provide more general insights into the music-induced emotional processing. (orig.)

Pre-Sleep Arousal and Sleep Problems of Anxiety-Disordered Youth

Science.gov (United States)

Alfano, Candice A.; Pina, Armando A.; Zerr, Argero A.; Villalta, Ian K.

2010-01-01

The current study examined sleep problems and pre-sleep arousal among 52 anxious children and adolescents, aged 7-14 years, in relation to age, sex, ethnicity, and primary anxiety disorder. Assessment included structured diagnostic interviews and parent and child completed measures of sleep problems and pre-sleep arousal. Overall, 85% of parents…

Pupil-linked arousal is driven by decision uncertainty and alters serial choice bias

Science.gov (United States)

Urai, Anne E.; Braun, Anke; Donner, Tobias H.

2017-03-01

While judging their sensory environments, decision-makers seem to use the uncertainty about their choices to guide adjustments of their subsequent behaviour. One possible source of these behavioural adjustments is arousal: decision uncertainty might drive the brain's arousal systems, which control global brain state and might thereby shape subsequent decision-making. Here, we measure pupil diameter, a proxy for central arousal state, in human observers performing a perceptual choice task of varying difficulty. Pupil dilation, after choice but before external feedback, reflects three hallmark signatures of decision uncertainty derived from a computational model. This increase in pupil-linked arousal boosts observers' tendency to alternate their choice on the subsequent trial. We conclude that decision uncertainty drives rapid changes in pupil-linked arousal state, which shape the serial correlation structure of ongoing choice behaviour.

The Effects of GABAergic Polarity Changes on Episodic Neural Network Activity in Developing Neural Systems

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Wilfredo Blanco

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Early in development, neural systems have primarily excitatory coupling, where even GABAergic synapses are excitatory. Many of these systems exhibit spontaneous episodes of activity that have been characterized through both experimental and computational studies. As development progress the neural system goes through many changes, including synaptic remodeling, intrinsic plasticity in the ion channel expression, and a transformation of GABAergic synapses from excitatory to inhibitory. What effect each of these, and other, changes have on the network behavior is hard to know from experimental studies since they all happen in parallel. One advantage of a computational approach is that one has the ability to study developmental changes in isolation. Here, we examine the effects of GABAergic synapse polarity change on the spontaneous activity of both a mean field and a neural network model that has both glutamatergic and GABAergic coupling, representative of a developing neural network. We find some intuitive behavioral changes as the GABAergic neurons go from excitatory to inhibitory, shared by both models, such as a decrease in the duration of episodes. We also find some paradoxical changes in the activity that are only present in the neural network model. In particular, we find that during early development the inter-episode durations become longer on average, while later in development they become shorter. In addressing this unexpected finding, we uncover a priming effect that is particularly important for a small subset of neurons, called the “intermediate neurons.” We characterize these neurons and demonstrate why they are crucial to episode initiation, and why the paradoxical behavioral change result from priming of these neurons. The study illustrates how even arguably the simplest of developmental changes that occurs in neural systems can present non-intuitive behaviors. It also makes predictions about neural network behavioral changes

A Case of Frequent Arousal Following Nocturnal Dyspnea Caused by Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease

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Dae Wui Yoon

2013-06-01

Full Text Available Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD is a common disorder that is associated with many esophageal syndromes and complications. Most cases of reflux event occur during the day, but reflux during sleep can cause not only esophageal problems, but also sleep problems, such as arousal and poor sleep quality. We report the case of a 17-year-old man who had been referred to us with frequent arousal following sudden dyspnea. On polysomnography, no respiratory disturbances and periodic limb movements were found during the sleep study, but frequent events of arousal were reported (arousal index: 12.3/h. On a 24-hr esophageal pH monitoring test, his DeMeester score was 176.43 and the total reflux time was 1120.9 min (76.9%, indicating the presence of significant acid reflux. After treatment with a proton-pump inhibitor, the arousals following nocturnal dyspnea and fatigue in the morning disappeared in the patient. GERD should be considered as a cause of spontaneous arousal or awakening not accompanying respiratory disturbances.

Framing effects: behavioral dynamics and neural basis.

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Zheng, Hongming; Wang, X T; Zhu, Liqi

2010-09-01

This study examined the neural basis of framing effects using life-death decision problems framed either positively in terms of lives saved or negatively in terms of lives lost in large group and small group contexts. Using functional MRI we found differential brain activations to the verbal and social cues embedded in the choice problems. In large group contexts, framing effects were significant where participants were more risk seeking under the negative (loss) framing than under the positive (gain) framing. This behavioral difference in risk preference was mainly regulated by the activation in the right inferior frontal gyrus, including the homologue of the Broca's area. In contrast, framing effects diminished in small group contexts while the insula and parietal lobe in the right hemisphere were distinctively activated, suggesting an important role of emotion in switching choice preference from an indecisive mode to a more consistent risk-taking inclination, governed by a kith-and-kin decision rationality. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Neural Markers of Performance States in an Olympic Athlete: An EEG Case Study in Air-Pistol Shooting.

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di Fronso, Selenia; Robazza, Claudio; Filho, Edson; Bortoli, Laura; Comani, Silvia; Bertollo, Maurizio

2016-06-01

This study focused on identifying the neural markers underlying optimal and suboptimal performance experiences of an elite air-pistol shooter, based on the tenets of the multi-action plan (MAP) model. According to the MAP model's assumptions, skilled athletes' cortical patterns are expected to differ among optimal/automatic (Type 1), optimal/controlled (Type 2), suboptimal/controlled (Type 3), and suboptimal/automatic (Type 4) performance experiences. We collected performance (target pistol shots), cognitive-affective (perceived control, accuracy, and hedonic tone), and cortical activity data (32-channel EEG) of an elite shooter. Idiosyncratic descriptive analyses revealed differences in perceived accuracy in regard to optimal and suboptimal performance states. Event-Related Desynchronization/Synchronization analysis supported the notion that optimal-automatic performance experiences (Type 1) were characterized by a global synchronization of cortical arousal associated with the shooting task, whereas suboptimal controlled states (Type 3) were underpinned by high cortical activity levels in the attentional brain network. Results are addressed in light of the neural efficiency hypothesis and reinvestment theory. Perceptual training recommendations aimed at restoring optimal performance levels are discussed. Key pointsWe investigated the neural markers underlying optimal and suboptimal performance experiences of an elite air-pistol shooter.Optimal/automatic performance is characterized by a global synchronization of cortical activity associated with the shooting task.Suboptimal controlled performance is characterized by high cortical arousal levels in the attentional brain networks.Focused Event Related Desynchronization activity during Type 1 performance in frontal midline theta was found, with a clear distribution of Event Related Synchronization in the frontal and central areas just prior to shot release.Event Related Desynchronization patterns in low Alpha band

WARMING UP FOR SLEEP - GROUND-SQUIRRELS SLEEP DURING AROUSALS FROM HIBERNATION

NARCIS (Netherlands)

DAAN, S; BARNES, BM; STRIJKSTRA, AM

1991-01-01

Hypothermia during mammalian hibernation is periodically interrupted by arousals to euthermy, the function of which is unknown. We report that arctic ground squirrels (Spermophilus parryii) consistently sleep during these arousals, and that their EEG shows the decrease in slow wave activity

Genital responsiveness in healthy women with and without sexual arousal disorder

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Laan, Ellen; van Driel, Esther M.; van Lunsen, Rik H. W.

2008-01-01

INTRODUCTION: Most pharmacological treatments that are currently being developed for women with sexual arousal disorder are aimed at remedying a vasculogenic deficit. AIM: This study investigated whether pre- and postmenopausal women with sexual arousal disorder are less genitally responsive to

Differences in Perceived and Physiologic Genital Arousal Between Women With and Without Sexual Dysfunction.

Science.gov (United States)

Handy, Ariel B; Stanton, Amelia M; Pulverman, Carey S; Meston, Cindy M

2018-01-01

Many sexual psychophysiologic studies have failed to find differences in physiologic genital arousal between women with and those without sexual dysfunction. However, differences in self-reported (ie, perceived) measures of genital responses between these 2 groups of women have been noted. To determine whether women with and without sexual dysfunction differ on measures of physiologic and perceived genital arousal based on type of analytic technique used, to explore differences in perceived genital arousal, and to assess the relation between physiologic and perceived genital arousal. Data from 5 studies (N = 214) were used in this analysis. Women were categorized into 3 groups: women with arousal-specific sexual dysfunction (n = 40), women with decreased sexual function (n = 72), and women who were sexually functional (n = 102). Women viewed an erotic film while their physiologic genital arousal was measured using a vaginal photoplethysmograph. After watching the film, women completed a self-report measure of perceived genital arousal. There were differences in vaginal pulse amplitude (VPA) levels and association of VPA with perceived genital sensations based on level of sexual function. Commonly used methods of analysis failed to identify significant differences in VPA among these groups of women. When VPA data were analyzed with hierarchical linear modeling, significant differences emerged. Notably, women with arousal-specific dysfunction exhibited lower VPA than sexually functional women at the beginning of the assessment. As the erotic film progressed, women with arousal-specific dysfunction became aroused at a faster rate than sexually functional women, and these 2 groups ultimately reached a similar level of VPA. Sexually functional women reported the highest levels of perceived genital responses among the 3 groups of women. No significant relation between VPA and perceived genital arousal emerged. Women's perception of their genital responses could play

Modeling the behavioral substrates of associate learning and memory - Adaptive neural models

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Chuen-Chien

1991-01-01

Three adaptive single-neuron models based on neural analogies of behavior modification episodes are proposed, which attempt to bridge the gap between psychology and neurophysiology. The proposed models capture the predictive nature of Pavlovian conditioning, which is essential to the theory of adaptive/learning systems. The models learn to anticipate the occurrence of a conditioned response before the presence of a reinforcing stimulus when training is complete. Furthermore, each model can find the most nonredundant and earliest predictor of reinforcement. The behavior of the models accounts for several aspects of basic animal learning phenomena in Pavlovian conditioning beyond previous related models. Computer simulations show how well the models fit empirical data from various animal learning paradigms.

Neural and Behavioral Evidence for an Online Resetting Process in Visual Working Memory.

Science.gov (United States)

Balaban, Halely; Luria, Roy

2017-02-01

Visual working memory (VWM) guides behavior by holding a set of active representations and modifying them according to changes in the environment. This updating process relies on a unique mapping between each VWM representation and an actual object in the environment. Here, we destroyed this mapping by either presenting a coherent object but then breaking it into independent parts or presenting an object but then abruptly replacing it with a different object. This allowed us to introduce the neural marker and behavioral consequence of an online resetting process in humans' VWM. Across seven experiments, we demonstrate that this resetting process involves abandoning the old VWM contents because they no longer correspond to the objects in the environment. Then, VWM encodes the novel information and reestablishes the correspondence between the new representations and the objects. The resetting process was marked by a unique neural signature: a sharp drop in the amplitude of the electrophysiological index of VWM contents (the contralateral delay activity), presumably indicating the loss of the existent object-to-representation mappings. This marker was missing when an updating process occurred. Moreover, when tracking moving items, VWM failed to detect salient changes in the object's shape when these changes occurred during the resetting process. This happened despite the object being fully visible, presumably because the mapping between the object and a VWM representation was lost. Importantly, we show that resetting, its neural marker, and the behavioral cost it entails, are specific to situations that involve a destruction of the objects-to-representations correspondence. Visual working memory (VWM) maintains task-relevant information in an online state. Previous studies showed that VWM representations are accessed and modified after changes in the environment. Here, we show that this updating process critically depends on an ongoing mapping between the

Disconnection of the Ascending Arousal System in Traumatic Coma

Science.gov (United States)

Edlow, Brian L.; Haynes, Robin L.; Takahashi, Emi; Klein, Joshua P.; Cummings, Peter; Benner, Thomas; Greer, David M.; Greenberg, Steven M.; Wu, Ona; Kinney, Hannah C.; Folkerth, Rebecca D.

2013-01-01

Traumatic coma is associated with disruption of axonal pathways throughout the brain but the specific pathways involved in humans are incompletely understood. In this study, we used high angular resolution diffusion imaging (HARDI) to map the connectivity of axonal pathways that mediate the 2 critical components of consciousness – arousal and awareness – in the postmortem brain of a 62-year-old woman with acute traumatic coma and in 2 control brains. HARDI tractography guided tissue sampling in the neuropathological analysis. HARDI tractography demonstrated complete disruption of white matter pathways connecting brainstem arousal nuclei to the basal forebrain and thalamic intralaminar and reticular nuclei. In contrast, hemispheric arousal pathways connecting the thalamus and basal forebrain to the cerebral cortex were only partially disrupted, as were the cortical “awareness pathways.” Neuropathologic examination, which utilized β-amyloid precursor protein and fractin immunomarkers, revealed axonal injury in the white matter of the brainstem and cerebral hemispheres that corresponded to sites of HARDI tract disruption. Axonal injury was also present within the grey matter of the hypothalamus, thalamus, basal forebrain, and cerebral cortex. We propose that traumatic coma may be a subcortical disconnection syndrome related to the disconnection of specific brainstem arousal nuclei from the thalamus and basal forebrain. PMID:23656993

Influences of social reward experience on behavioral responses to drugs of abuse: Review of shared and divergent neural plasticity mechanisms for sexual reward and drugs of abuse.

Science.gov (United States)

Beloate, Lauren N; Coolen, Lique M

2017-12-01

Different factors influence the development of drug addiction in humans, including social reward experiences. In animals, experience with social rewards, such as sexual behavior, pair bonding, social and environmental enrichment, can be protective. However, loss or lack of social rewards can lead to a vulnerability to drug-seeking behavior. The effects of social reward experience on drug-seeking behavior are associated with changes in the neural pathways that control drug-related behavior. This review will provide an introduction and overview of the mesolimbic pathway and the influence of social reward experience on drug-seeking behavior in rodents. Moreover, the research from our laboratory on effects of sexual experience and loss of sex reward on psychostimulant and opiate reward will be reviewed. Finally, we will review current knowledge of the neural mechanisms that underlie these interactions. Investigations of the neural underpinnings by which social and drug rewards interact contribute to improved understanding of the neural basis of vulnerability for drug addiction and reward-related behaviors in general. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Attenuated heart rate response in REM sleep behavior disorder and Parkinson's disease

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sorensen, Gertrud Laura; Kempfner, Jacob; Zoetmulder, Marielle

2012-01-01

The objective of this study was to determine whether patients with Parkinson's disease with and without rapid‐eye‐movement sleep behavior disorder and patients with idiopathic rapid‐eye‐movement sleep behavior disorder have an attenuated heart rate response to arousals or to leg movements during...... sleep compared with healthy controls. Fourteen and 16 Parkinson's patients with and without rapid‐eye‐movement sleep behavior disorder, respectively, 11 idiopathic rapid‐eye‐movement sleep behavior disorder patients, and 17 control subjects underwent 1 night of polysomnography. The heart rate response...... associated with arousal or leg movement from all sleep stages was analyzed from 10 heartbeats before the onset of the sleep event to 15 heartbeats following onset of the sleep event. The heart rate reponse to arousals was significantly lower in both parkinsonian groups compared with the control group...

The effect of exercise-induced arousal on chosen tempi for familiar melodies

OpenAIRE

Jakubowski, Kelly; Halpern, Andrea; Grierson, Mick; Stewart, Lauren

2014-01-01

Many previous studies have shown that arousal affects time perception, suggesting a direct influence of arousal on the speed of the pacemaker of the internal clock. However, it is unknown whether arousal influences the mental representation of tempo (speed) for highly familiar and complex stimuli, such as well-known melodies, that have long-term representations in memory. Previous research suggests that mental representations of the tempo of familiar melodies are stable over time; the aim of ...

Arousal, anxiety, and performance: a reexamination of the Inverted-U hypothesis.

Science.gov (United States)

Arent, Shawn M; Landers, Daniel M

2003-12-01

Until recently, the traditional Inverted-U hypothesis had been the primary model used by sport psychologists to describe the arousal-performance relationship. However, many sport psychology researchers have challenged this relationship, and the current trend is a shift toward a more "multidimensional" view of arousal-anxiety and its effects on performance. In the current study, 104 college-age participants performed a simple response time task while riding a bicycle ergometer. Participants were randomly assigned to one of eight arousal groups (between 20 and 90% of heart rate reserve) and were told they were competing for a cash prize. Prior to the task, the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 and Sport Anxiety Scale (SAS) were administered to assess the influence of cognitive and somatic anxiety. As hypothesized, regression analysis revealed a significant quadratic trend for arousal and reaction time. This accounted for 13.2% of the variance, F change (1, 101) = 15.10, p performance beyond that accounted for by the nonsignificant linear trend. As predicted by the Inverted-U hypothesis, optimal performance on the simple task was seen at 60 and 70% of maximum arousal. Furthermore, for the simple task used in this study, only somatic anxiety as measured by the SAS accounted for significant variance in performance beyond that accounted for by arousal alone. These findings support predictions of the Inverted-U hypothesis and raise doubts about the utility theories that rely on differentiation of cognitive and somatic anxiety to predict performance on simple tasks that are not cognitively loaded.

The changing brain--insights into the mechanisms of neural and behavioral adaptation to the environment

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bergersen, L H; Bramham, C R; Hugdahl, K

2013-01-01

level and behavior. Thus a single amino acid change in a transcriptional repressor can disrupt gene regulation through neural activity (Greenberg). Deep sequencing analysis of the neuropil transcriptome indicates that a large fraction of the synaptic proteome is synthesized in situ in axons...... and dendrites, permitting local regulation (Schuman). The nature of the 'reset' function that makes animals dependent of sleep is being revealed (Cirelli). Maternal behavior can cause changes in gene expression that stably modify behavior in the offspring (Meaney). Removal of a single sensory channel protein...... in the vomero-nasal organ can switch off male-specific and switch on female-specific innate behavior of mice in response to environmental stimulation (Dulac). Innate behaviors can be stably transmitted from parent to offspring through generations even when those behaviors cannot be expressed, as illustrated...

Affective picture modulation: valence, arousal, attention allocation and motivational significance.

Science.gov (United States)

Leite, Jorge; Carvalho, Sandra; Galdo-Alvarez, Santiago; Alves, Jorge; Sampaio, Adriana; Gonçalves, Oscar F

2012-03-01

The present study analyses the modulatory effects of affective pictures in the early posterior negativity (EPN), the late positive potential (LPP) and the human startle response on both the peripheral (eye blink EMG) and central neurophysiological levels (Probe P3), during passive affective pictures viewing. The affective pictures categories were balanced in terms of valence (pleasant; unpleasant) and arousal (high; low). The data shows that EPN may be sensitive to specific stimulus characteristics (affective relevant pictures versus neutral pictures) associated with early stages of attentional processing. In later stages, the heightened attentional resource allocation as well as the motivated significance of the affective stimuli was found to elicit enhanced amplitudes of slow wave processes thought to be related to enhanced encoding, namely LPP,. Although pleasant low arousing pictures were effective in engaging the resources involved in the slow wave processes, the highly arousing affective stimuli (pleasant and unpleasant) were found to produce the largest enhancement of the LPP, suggesting that high arousing stimuli may are associated with increased motivational significance. Additionally the response to high arousing stimuli may be suggestive of increased motivational attention, given the heightened attentional allocation, as expressed in the P3 probe, especially for the pleasant pictures. The hedonic valence may then serve as a mediator of the attentional inhibition to the affective priming, potentiating or inhibiting a shift towards defensive activation, as measured by the startle reflex. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Uncovering category specificity of genital sexual arousal in women: The critical role of analytic technique.

Science.gov (United States)

Pulverman, Carey S; Hixon, J Gregory; Meston, Cindy M

2015-10-01

Based on analytic techniques that collapse data into a single average value, it has been reported that women lack category specificity and show genital sexual arousal to a large range of sexual stimuli including those that both match and do not match their self-reported sexual interests. These findings may be a methodological artifact of the way in which data are analyzed. This study examined whether using an analytic technique that models data over time would yield different results. Across two studies, heterosexual (N = 19) and lesbian (N = 14) women viewed erotic films featuring heterosexual, lesbian, and gay male couples, respectively, as their physiological sexual arousal was assessed with vaginal photoplethysmography. Data analysis with traditional methods comparing average genital arousal between films failed to detect specificity of genital arousal for either group. When data were analyzed with smoothing regression splines and a within-subjects approach, both heterosexual and lesbian women demonstrated different patterns of genital sexual arousal to the different types of erotic films, suggesting that sophisticated statistical techniques may be necessary to more fully understand women's genital sexual arousal response. Heterosexual women showed category-specific genital sexual arousal. Lesbian women showed higher arousal to the heterosexual film than the other films. However, within subjects, lesbian women showed significantly different arousal responses suggesting that lesbian women's genital arousal discriminates between different categories of stimuli at the individual level. Implications for the future use of vaginal photoplethysmography as a diagnostic tool of sexual preferences in clinical and forensic settings are discussed. © 2015 Society for Psychophysiological Research.

When the Heat Is On: The Effect of Temperature on Voter Behavior in Presidential Elections

Science.gov (United States)

Van Assche, Jasper; Van Hiel, Alain; Stadeus, Jonas; Bushman, Brad J.; De Cremer, David; Roets, Arne

2017-01-01

Hot temperatures lead to heightened arousal. According to excitation transfer theory, arousal can increase both antisocial and prosocial behavior, depending on the context. Although many studies have shown that hot temperatures can increase antisocial behavior, very few studies have investigated the relationship between temperature and prosocial behavior. One important prosocial behavior is voting. We analyzed state-level data from the United States presidential elections (N = 761). Consistent with excitation transfer theory, which proposes that heat-induced arousal can transfer to other activities and strengthen those activities, changes in temperature and voter turnout were positively related. Moreover, a positive change in temperature was related to a positive change in votes for the incumbent party. These findings add to the literature on the importance of non-ideological and non-rational factors that influence voting behavior. PMID:28642723

Arousal responses in babies at risk of sudden infant death syndrome at different postnatal ages.

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

Dunne, K P

1992-03-01

Hypercarbic and hypoxic arousal responses during sleep were measured in healthy term infants, infants where a previous sibling died from sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and infants suffering a clearly defined apparent life threatening event (ALTE) requiring vigorous or mouth to mouth resuscitation. Groups of infants were tested at approximately one, six and 13 weeks postnatally. Arousal was defined as gross body movement with eyes opening and moving or crying. Hypercarbic arousal was by step increases in F1 Co2 until arousal occurred or until endtidal (PETCO2) reached 8.7 KpA (65 mm Hg) Hypoxic arousal was by step decreases in FIO2 until arousal occurred or until an FIO2 of 0.15 had been maintained for 20 minutes. There was no difference in hypercaribic arousal threshold with age in any group. Hypercarbic arousal threshold was significantly higher in siblings (mean 53.4, 53.6, 54.7 mmHg. [7.12, 7.14, 7.29 KPA] at 0, 6, 13 postnatal weeks) compared to controls (mean 50.9, 52.3, 53.0mm Hg. [6.78, 6.97, 7.29 KPS respectively). ALTE infants differed only at 12 weeks having a significantly lower threshold (51.0mmHg. [6.80 KPA] V 53.0mm Hg. (7.06 KPA]) compared to controls. There was no difference in hypoxic arousal response with age in any group. An arousal response to hypoxia occurred in only 22% of ALTE infants and 40% of siblings compared to 67% of normal infants. Deficient sleep arousal, especially to hypoxia, is common in infants and especially those considered at increased risk from SIDS. This deficiency is present in the first postnatal week and did not vary overy the first three months of postnatal life.

The Influence of Presession Factors in the Assessment of Deviant Arousal

Science.gov (United States)

Reyes, Jorge R.; Vollmer, Timothy R.; Hall, Astrid

2011-01-01

Three adult male sex offenders with developmental disabilities participated in an evaluation of presession factors that may influence levels of sexual arousal measured with a penile plethysmograph. We evaluated the effects of presession masturbation (1 participant) and arousal-suppression strategies (2 participants). Results showed that presession…

Understanding the neural control of ingestive behaviors: helping to separate cause from effect with dehydration-associated anorexia.

Science.gov (United States)

Watts, A G

2000-06-01

Eating and drinking are motivated behaviors that are made up of coordinated sets of neuroendocrine, autonomic, and behavioral motor events. Although the spinal cord, hindbrain, and hypothalamus contain the motor neurons and circuitry sufficient to maintain the reflex parts of these motor events, inputs from the telencephalon are required to furnish the behavioral components with a motivated (goal-directed) character. Each of these motor events derives from the complex interaction of a variety of sensory inputs with groups of neural networks whose components are distributed throughout the brain and collectively support motor expression and coordination. At a first approximation based on a variety of data, these networks can be divided into three groups: networks that stimulate, those that inhibit, and those that disinhibit motor functions. A fourth contributor is the circadian timing signal that originates in the hypothalamic suprachiasmatic nucleus and provides the temporal anchor for the expression of all behaviors. This article discusses the nature of these networks using neuroanatomical (tract-tracing and neuropeptide in situ hybridization), endocrine, and behavioral evidence from a variety of experimental models. A persistent problem when studying the control of food intake from a neural systems perspective has been the difficulty in separating those neuronal changes that result in hunger from those that are as a consequence of eating. To address this problem, dehydration-associated anorexia is presented as a particularly useful experimental model because it can be used to distinguish between neural mechanisms underlying anorexia and those changes that occur as a consequence of anorexia. The article concludes by highlighting the potential role of neuropeptidergic action in the operation of these networks, using forebrain neuropeptidergic innervation of the parabrachial nucleus as an example. Copyright 2000 Academic Press.

Preliminary support for a generalized arousal model of political conservatism.

Science.gov (United States)

Tritt, Shona M; Inzlicht, Michael; Peterson, Jordan B

2013-01-01

It is widely held that negative emotions such as threat, anxiety, and disgust represent the core psychological factors that enhance conservative political beliefs. We put forward an alternative hypothesis: that conservatism is fundamentally motivated by arousal, and that, in this context, the effect of negative emotion is due to engaging intensely arousing states. Here we show that study participants agreed more with right but not left-wing political speeches after being exposed to positive as well as negative emotion-inducing film-clips. No such effect emerged for neutral-content videos. A follow-up study replicated and extended this effect. These results are consistent with the idea that emotional arousal, in general, and not negative valence, specifically, may underlie political conservatism.

Preliminary Support for a Generalized Arousal Model of Political Conservatism

Science.gov (United States)

Tritt, Shona M.; Inzlicht, Michael; Peterson, Jordan B.

2013-01-01

It is widely held that negative emotions such as threat, anxiety, and disgust represent the core psychological factors that enhance conservative political beliefs. We put forward an alternative hypothesis: that conservatism is fundamentally motivated by arousal, and that, in this context, the effect of negative emotion is due to engaging intensely arousing states. Here we show that study participants agreed more with right but not left-wing political speeches after being exposed to positive as well as negative emotion-inducing film-clips. No such effect emerged for neutral-content videos. A follow-up study replicated and extended this effect. These results are consistent with the idea that emotional arousal, in general, and not negative valence, specifically, may underlie political conservatism. PMID:24376687

Neural Rhythms of Change: Long-Term Improvement after Successful Treatment in Children with Disruptive Behavior Problems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Steven Woltering

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Neural changes were investigated for children with disruptive behavior problems one year after a treatment program ended. Thirty-nine children and their parents visited the research lab before, after, and a year after treatment ended. During those lab visits, electroencephalography (EEG was recorded during a challenging Go/No-go task. Treatment consisted of intensive 14-week combined cognitive behavioral therapy and parent management training sessions. For the analysis, participants were divided into long-term improvers (IMPs and long-term nonimprovers (NIMPs based on changes in their externalizing problem scores. The results showed early no-go theta power (4–8 Hz, 100–250 ms decreased for long-term IMPs compared to NIMPs. When participants were divided based on changes in their comorbid internalizing symptoms, effects were stronger and reductions in theta power were found for early as well as later phases (250–650 ms. We provided preliminary evidence that theta power is a useful neural measure to trace behavioral change linked to improved self-regulation even up to a year after treatment ended. Results may have implications for the characterization of children with disruptive behavior problems and may lead to the development of novel markers of treatment success.

Distinct contributions of functional and deep neural network features to representational similarity of scenes in human brain and behavior.

Science.gov (United States)

Groen, Iris Ia; Greene, Michelle R; Baldassano, Christopher; Fei-Fei, Li; Beck, Diane M; Baker, Chris I

2018-03-07

Inherent correlations between visual and semantic features in real-world scenes make it difficult to determine how different scene properties contribute to neural representations. Here, we assessed the contributions of multiple properties to scene representation by partitioning the variance explained in human behavioral and brain measurements by three feature models whose inter-correlations were minimized a priori through stimulus preselection. Behavioral assessments of scene similarity reflected unique contributions from a functional feature model indicating potential actions in scenes as well as high-level visual features from a deep neural network (DNN). In contrast, similarity of cortical responses in scene-selective areas was uniquely explained by mid- and high-level DNN features only, while an object label model did not contribute uniquely to either domain. The striking dissociation between functional and DNN features in their contribution to behavioral and brain representations of scenes indicates that scene-selective cortex represents only a subset of behaviorally relevant scene information.

Distributed Recurrent Neural Forward Models with Neural Control for Complex Locomotion in Walking Robots

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dasgupta, Sakyasingha; Goldschmidt, Dennis; Wörgötter, Florentin

2015-01-01

here, an artificial bio-inspired walking system which effectively combines biomechanics (in terms of the body and leg structures) with the underlying neural mechanisms. The neural mechanisms consist of (1) central pattern generator based control for generating basic rhythmic patterns and coordinated......Walking animals, like stick insects, cockroaches or ants, demonstrate a fascinating range of locomotive abilities and complex behaviors. The locomotive behaviors can consist of a variety of walking patterns along with adaptation that allow the animals to deal with changes in environmental...... conditions, like uneven terrains, gaps, obstacles etc. Biological study has revealed that such complex behaviors are a result of a combination of biomechanics and neural mechanism thus representing the true nature of embodied interactions. While the biomechanics helps maintain flexibility and sustain...

Neural Rhythms of Change: Long-Term Improvement after Successful Treatment in Children with Disruptive Behavior Problems

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Woltering, S.; Liao, V.; Liu, Z.X.; Granic, I.

2015-01-01

Neural changes were investigated for children with disruptive behavior problems one year after a treatment program ended. Thirty-nine children and their parents visited the research lab before, after, and a year after treatment ended. During those lab visits, electroencephalography (EEG) was

Classification of behavior using unsupervised temporal neural networks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Adair, K.L.

1998-03-01

Adding recurrent connections to unsupervised neural networks used for clustering creates a temporal neural network which clusters a sequence of inputs as they appear over time. The model presented combines the Jordan architecture with the unsupervised learning technique Adaptive Resonance Theory, Fuzzy ART. The combination yields a neural network capable of quickly clustering sequential pattern sequences as the sequences are generated. The applicability of the architecture is illustrated through a facility monitoring problem

Influence of uvulopalatopharyngoplasty on alpha-EEG arousals in nonapnoeic snorers.

Science.gov (United States)

Boudewyns, A; De Cock, W; Willemen, M; Wagemans, M; De Backer, W; Van de Heyning, P H

1997-01-01

Arousals are more numerous in heavy snorers than in nonsnorers and might be a cause of excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) in these patients. The present study investigated whether treatment of snoring by uvulopalatopharyngoplasty (UPPP) had an influence on sleep microstructure in nonapnoeic snorers. The polysomnographic records of 10 nonapnoeic snorers were reviewed retrospectively and arousals scored according to the American Sleep Disorders Association (ASDA) 3 s definition. Scores for snoring, EDS and polysomnographic data were compared before and after UPPP (mean (+/-SD) time interval 249 +/- 183 days). UPPP resulted in a subjective improvement of snoring and a significant decrease in the arousal index (mean 14.6, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 8.5-20.8 vs mean 9.1, 95% CI 6.6-11.5) (p = 0.01). EDS and the amount of slow-wave sleep remained unchanged. Uvulopalatopharyngoplasty resulted in an improvement of subjective snoring and a significant decrease of arousals in nonapnoeic snorers. Although these data do not provide any insight into whether the improvement observed can be maintained on a long-term basis, uvulopalatopharyngoplasty can be considered as a useful treatment modality to reduce sleep fragmentation and snoring in nonapnoeic snorers.

Sexual Behavior in Adults with Autism.

Science.gov (United States)

Van Bourgondien, Mary E.; And Others

1997-01-01

A survey of the sexual behavior of 89 adults with autism living in group homes found that the majority of individuals were engaging in some form of sexual behavior. Masturbation was the most common sexual behavior; however, person-oriented sexual behaviors with obvious signs of arousal were also found. Information regarding group home sexuality…

Threat but not arousal narrows attention: Evidence from pupil dilation and saccade control

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Henk eVan Steenbergen

2011-10-01

Full Text Available It has been shown that negative affect causes attentional narrowing. According to Easterbrook’s (1959 influential hypothesis this effect is driven by the withdrawal motivation inherent to negative emotions and might be related to increases in arousal. We investigated whether valence-unspecific increases in physiological arousal, as measured by pupil dilation, could account for attentional narrowing effects in a cognitive control task. Following the presentation of a negative, positive, or neutral picture, participants performed a saccade task with a prosaccade versus an antisaccade instruction. The reaction time difference between pro- and antisaccades was used to index attentional selectivity, and while pupil diameter was used as an index of physiological arousal. Pupil dilation was observed for both negative and positive pictures, which indicates increased physiological arousal. However, increased attentional selectivity was only observed following negative pictures. Our data show that motivational intensity effects on attentional narrowing can occur independently of physiological arousal effects.

Unusual social behavior in HPC-1/syntaxin1A knockout mice is caused by disruption of the oxytocinergic neural system.

Science.gov (United States)

Fujiwara, Tomonori; Sanada, Masumi; Kofuji, Takefumi; Akagawa, Kimio

2016-07-01

HPC-1/syntaxin1A (STX1A), a neuronal soluble N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive fusion attachment protein receptor, contributes to neural function in the CNS by regulating transmitter release. Recent studies reported that STX1A is associated with human neuropsychological disorders, such as autism spectrum disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Previously, we showed that STX1A null mutant mice (STX1A KO) exhibit neuropsychological abnormalities, such as fear memory deficits, attenuation of latent inhibition, and unusual social behavior. These observations suggested that STX1A may be involved in the neuropsychological basis of these abnormalities. Here, to study the neural basis of social behavior, we analyzed the profile of unusual social behavior in STX1A KO with a social novelty preference test, which is a useful method for quantification of social behavior. Interestingly, the unusual social behavior in STX1A KO was partially rescued by intracerebroventricular administration of oxytocin (OXT). In vivo microdialysis studies revealed that the extracellular OXT concentration in the CNS of STX1A KO was significantly lower compared with wild-type mice. Furthermore, dopamine-induced OXT release was reduced in STX1A KO. These results suggested that STX1A plays an important role in social behavior through regulation of the OXTergic neural system. Dopamine (DA) release is reduced in CNS of syntaxin1A null mutant mice (STX1A KO). Unusual social behavior was observed in STX1A KO. We found that oxytocin (OXT) release, which was stimulated by DA, was reduced and was rescued the unusual social behavior in STX1A KO was rescued by OXT. These results indicated that STX1A plays an important role in promoting social behavior through regulation of DA-induced OXT release in amygdala. © 2016 International Society for Neurochemistry.

Tune yourself in: Valence and arousal preferences in music-listening choices from adolescence to old age.

Science.gov (United States)