Choice as a Moderator of Placebo Expectation Effects: Additional Support From Two Experiments

Two experiments investigated the hypothesis that treatment choice enhances placebo treatment efficacy. In Experiment 1, prior to a pain task, participants were given either an expectation that two (inert) products could reduce pain or no expectation. In addition, participants either selected between the two products or were assigned a product to use. Participants given both the placebo expectation and treatment choice reported the lowest pain. Experiment 2 conceptually replicated this finding using a placebo paradigm with aversive auditory stimuli. Additional control conditions indicated that a choice availability (rather than choice restriction) explanation best accounted for these results.     

Uncertainty is associated with biased expectancies and heightened responses to aversion

Uncertainty is an omnipresent force in peoples' lives that has been shown to amplify the negative impact of aversive events. This amplified aversiveness, together with the negative attitudes that individuals can have toward uncertainty, suggests that a cue indicating uncertainty about future events might be associated with biased expectancies of negative outcomes or biased contingency estimates, similar to biases that have been observed for traditional fear-relevant cues, such as snakes or spiders. Participants in this study saw three different cues: one that indicated with certainty that an aversive picture would follow, one that indicated with certainty that a neutral picture would follow, and one that indicated uncertainty about whether an aversive or neutral picture would follow. Online self-report data revealed negatively biased expectancies of aversion after uncertain cues. The degree of this online expectancy bias predicted participants' estimates, at the conclusion of the experiment, of the relationship between uncertain cues and aversive pictures. Aversive pictures after the uncertain cue (relative to those after the certain cue) were accompanied by increased skin conductance responses and self-reported negative mood. These findings that uncertainty is accompanied by biased expectancies of aversion and heightened responses to aversion warrant extensions of this research in anxiety disorders, given evidence for intolerance of uncertainty and anticipatory dysfunction in the pathology of such disorders.     

Vicarious responses to pain in anterior cingulate cortex: Is empathy a multisensory issue?

Results obtained with functional magnetic resonance imaging show that both feeling a moderately painful pinprick stimulus to the fingertips and witnessing another person’s hand undergo similar stimulation are associated with common activity in a pain-related area in the right dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). Common activity in response to noxious tactile and visual stimulation was restricted to the right inferior Brodmann’s area 24b. These results suggest a shared neural substrate for felt and seen pain for aversive ecological events happening to strangers and in the absence of overt symbolic cues. In contrast to ACC 24b, the primary somatosensory cortex showed significant activations in response to both noxious and innocuous tactile, but not visual, stimuli. The different response patterns in the two areas are consistent with the ACC’s role in coding the motivational-affective dimension of pain, which is associated with the preparation of behavioral responses to aversive events.     

A cognitive neuropsychological and psychophysiological investigation of a patient who exhibited an acute exacerbated behavioural response during innocuous somatosensory stimulation and movement

We report findings from a cognitive neuropsychological and psychophysiological investigation of a patient who displayed an exacerbated acute emotional expression during movement, innocuous, and aversive somatosensory stimulation. The condition developed in the context of non-specific white matter ischaemia along with abnormalities in the cortical white matter of the left anterior parietal lobe, and subcortical white matter of the left Sylvian cortex. Cognitive neuropsychological assessment revealed a pronounced deficiency in executive function, relative to IQ, memory, attention, language and visual processing. Compared to a normal control group, the patient [EQ] displayed a significantly elevated skin conductance level during both innocuous and aversive somatosensory stimulation. His pain tolerance was also significantly reduced. Despite this, EQ remained able to accurately describe the form of stimulation taking place, and to rate the levels of pain intensity and pain affect. These results suggest that EQ's exaggerated behavioural response and reduced pain tolerance to somatosensory stimulation may be linked to cognitive changes, possibly related to increased apprehension and fear, rather than altered pain intensity or pain affect per se.     

Choice‐making,Expectations, and Treatment Positivity: How and When Choosing Shapes Aversive Experiences

Every day we use products and treatments with unknown but expected effects, such as using medication to manage pain. In many cases, we have a choice over which products or treatments to use; however, in other cases, people choose for us or choices are unavailable. Does choosing (versus not choosing) have implications for how a product or treatment is experienced? The current experiments examined the role of choice‐making in facilitating so‐called expectation assimilation effects—or situations in which a person's experiences (e.g., discomfort and pain) are evaluated in a manner consistent with their expectations. In Experiment 1, participants were initially exposed to a baseline set of aversive stimuli (i.e., sounds). Next, some participants were given expectations for two “treatments” (i.e., changes in screen display) that could ostensibly reduce discomfort. Critically, participants were either given a choice or not about which of the two treatments they preferred. Participants in a control condition were not provided with treatment expectations. Results revealed that discomfort experiences assimilated to expectations only when participants were provided with choice. Experiment 2 replicated this finding and provided evidence against the idea that demand characteristics and choice‐making unrelated to the core task (i.e., choices without associated expectations) could account for the results. Further, Experiment 2 showed that choosing reduced discomfort because of increased positivity about the treatment. Results are discussed in the context of extant research on choice‐making and expectation effects. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Asymmetrical effects of Pavlovian excitatory and inhibitory aversive transfer on Pavlovian appetitive responding and acquisition

Predictions of a theory of Pavlovian motivational transfer, which incorporates principles of both the theory of reciprocal inhibition and the Rescorla-Wagner model, were tested in several Pavlovian aversive to Pavlovian appetitive transfer tasks. As predicted, the presence of a signal for an aversive event, conditioned stimulus (AV CS+), reliably suppressed performance of appetitive conditioned responses (CRs) whether imposed during acquisition or on independently established responding. Acquisition of appetitive responding to a novel CS reinforced in compound with an AV CS+, however, was enhanced (“superconditioning”). This observation suggests that the effects of a discrepancy between expectation and actual outcome on a conditioning trial are influenced by the affective value of both the expectation and the reinforcer. These transfer effects were not symmetrical for an inhibitory aversive stimulus (AV CS?). An AV CS? did not enhance appetitive responding compared to a random control condition, nor did the AV CS? reduce (i.e., block) appetitive conditioning to a novel CS when appetitive reinforcement occurred in the presence of the AV CS?. Comparison of the two shock-exposed conditions with a naive control condition suggests that previous results that were apparently consistent with inhibitory aversive enhancement and blocking of appetitive conditioning may have been due to aversive context conditioning.     

Neurocognitive aspects of pain perception

The perception of pain is sensitive to various mental processes such as the feelings and beliefs that someone has about pain. It is therefore not exclusively driven by the noxious input. Attentional modulation involving the descending pain modulatory system has been examined extensively in neuroimaging studies. However, the investigation of neural mechanisms underlying more complex cognitive modulation is an emerging field in pain research. Recent findings indicate an engagement of the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex during more complex modulation, leading to a change or reappraisal of the emotional significance of pain. Taking placebo-induced analgesia as an example, we discuss the contribution of attention, expectation and reappraisal as three basic mechanisms that are important for the cognitive modulation of pain.     

Intracellular calcium chelation and pharmacological SERCA inhibition of Ca2+ pump in the insular cortex differentially affect taste aversive memory formation and retrieval

Variation in intracellular calcium concentration regulates the induction of long-term synaptic plasticity and is associated with a variety of memory/retrieval and learning paradigms. Accordingly, impaired calcium mobilization from internal deposits affects synaptic plasticity and cognition in the aged brain. During taste memory formation several proteins are modulated directly or indirectly by calcium, and recent evidence suggests the importance of calcium buffering and the role of intracellular calcium deposits during cognitive processes. Thus, the main goal of this research was to study the consequence of hampering changes in cytoplasmic calcium and inhibiting SERCA activity by BAPTA-AM and thapsigargin treatments, respectively, in the insular cortex during different stages of taste memory formation. Using conditioned taste aversion (CTA), we found differential effects of BAPTA-AM and thapsigargin infusions before and after gustatory stimulation, as well as during taste aversive memory consolidation; BAPTA-AM, but not thapsigargin, attenuates acquisition and/or consolidation of CTA, but neither compound affects taste aversive memory retrieval. These results point to the importance of intracellular calcium dynamics in the insular cortex during different stages of taste aversive memory formation.     

Differential regulation of glutamic acid decarboxylase gene expression after extinction of a recent memory vs. intermediate memory

Extinction reduces fear to stimuli that were once associated with an aversive event by no longer coupling the stimulus with the aversive event. Extinction learning is supported by a network comprising the amygdala, hippocampus, and prefrontal cortex. Previous studies implicate a critical role of GABA in extinction learning, specifically the GAD65 isoform of the GABA synthesizing enzyme glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD). However, a detailed analysis of changes in gene expression of GAD in the subregions comprising the extinction network has not been undertaken. Here, we report changes in gene expression of the GAD65 and GAD67 isoforms of GAD, as measured by relative quantitative real-time RT-PCR, in subregions of the amygdala, hippocampus, and prefrontal cortex 24-26 h after extinction of a recent (1-d) or intermediate (14-d) fear memory. Our results show that extinction of a recent memory induces a down-regulation of Gad65 gene expression in the hippocampus (CA1, dentate gyrus) and an up-regulation of Gad67 gene expression in the infralimbic cortex. Extinguishing an intermediate memory increased Gad65 gene expression in the central amygdala. These results indicate a differential regulation of Gad gene expression after extinction of a recent memory vs. intermediate memory.     

Distressed behavior and its context

Behavior that is commonly labeled as indicating distress may have an important function in certain clinical problems. Evidence suggests that "distressed" behavior is displayed more frequently by persons who are depressed or experiencing chronic pain. Such behavior includes nonverbal facial expressions and body postures which are typically labeled as "sad," and verbal responses involving self-denigration or complaints. Such behaviors appear to form a functional response class which has a unique impact on others. The behavior appears to be more likely among persons who are receiving aversive stimulation. Recipients of distressed behavior are more likely to experience negative emotion, yet be solicitous toward the person who displays distressed behavior. Under circumstances where distressed behavior is unsuccessful in reducing aversive stimulation, the behavior may be shaped and maintained by the fact that it temporarily reduces the probability of others behaving aggressively toward the person displaying distress. Thus, the development of a pattern of high rates of distressed behavior that characterizes clinically depressed persons and persons in chronic pain may be partly a result of the unique social contingencies that surround this behavior.     

Modulation of the conflict monitoring intensity: The role of aversive reinforcement,cognitive demand,and trait-BIS

According to Botvinick’s (2007) integrative account, conflict monitoring is aversive because individuals anticipate cognitive demand, whereas the revised reinforcement sensitivity theory (rRST) predicts that conflict processing is aversive because individuals anticipate aversive reinforcement of erroneous responses. Because these accounts give different reasons for the aversive aspects of conflict, we manipulated cognitive demand and the aversive reinforcement as a consequence of wrong choices in a go/no-go task. Thereby, we also aimed to investigate whether individual differences in conflict sensitivity (i.e., in trait anxiety, linked to high sensitivity of the behavioral inhibition system [trait-BIS]) represent the effects of aversive reinforcement and cognitive demand in conflict tasks. We expected that these manipulations would have effects on the frontal N2 component representing activity of the anterior cingulate cortex. Moreover, higher-trait-BIS individuals should be more sensitive than lower-trait-BIS individuals to aversive effects in conflict situations, resulting in a more negative frontal N2 for higher-trait-BIS individuals. In Study 1, with N = 104 students, and Study 2, with N = 47 students, aversive reinforcement was manipulated in three levels (within-subjects factor) and cognitive demand in two levels (between-subjects factor). The behavioral findings from the go/no-go task with noncounterbalanced reinforcement levels (Study 1) could be widely replicated in a task with counterbalanced reinforcement levels (Study 2). The frontal mean no-go N2 amplitude and the frontal no-go N2 dipole captured predicted reinforcement-related variations of conflict monitoring, indicating that the anticipation of aversive reinforcement induces variations in conflict monitoring intensity in frontal brain areas. The aversive nature of conflict was underlined by the more pronounced conflict monitoring in higher- than in lower-trait-BIS individuals.     

The effect of expectancy of a threatening event on time perception in human adults

Two experiments were conducted to investigate the effect of a threatening stimulus in human adults in a temporal bisection task. In Experiment 1, for two anchor duration conditions (400/800 vs. 800/1600 ms), the participants completed trials in which the probe duration was followed by an aversive stimulus or a nonaversive stimulus. The results showed that the duration was judged longer when the participants expected an aversive rather than a nonaversive stimulus. In Experiment 2, the effect of the temporal localization of the aversive stimulus was also tested, with the aversive stimulus being presented at the beginning or at the end of the probe duration. The results revealed a temporal overestimation in each condition compared to the trials in which no aversive stimulus was presented. Furthermore, the temporal overestimation was greater when the expectation for the forthcoming threatening stimulus was longer. This temporal overestimation is explained in terms of a speeding-up of the neural timing system in response to the increase in the arousal level produced by the expectation of a threatening stimulus.     

Emotion, attention, and the startle reflex

This theoretical model of emotion is based on research using the startle-probe methodology. It explains inconsistencies in probe studies of attention and fear conditioning and provides a new approach to emotional perception, imagery, and memory. Emotions are organized biphasically, as appetitive or aversive (defensive). Reflexes with the same valence as an ongoing emotional state are augmented; mismatched reflexes are inhibited. Thus, the startle response (an aversive reflex) is enhanced during a fear state and is diminished in a pleasant emotional context. This affect-startle effect is not determined by general arousal, simple attention, or probe modality. The effect is found when affects are prompted by pictures or memory images, changes appropriately with aversive conditioning, and may be dependent on right-hemisphere processing. Implications for clinical, neurophysiological, and basic research in emotion are outlined.     

心理预期与认知方式对负面情绪的交互调节

近年来, 研究发现对负性事件发生之前预先的心理准备, 即心理预期, 能有效降低负性事件发生后的情绪影响, 但预期过程本身却导致情绪相关神经环路的激活与主观焦虑体验。因此, 采用适应性认知调节方式克服预期过程本身的负面情绪效应, 以充分发挥事先预期的情绪调控优势, 成为情绪调节领域亟待解决的问题。另一方面, 过度负性预期--对潜在负性事件不仅作负面心理预期同时以情绪化的认知方式应对该事件, 是焦虑障碍的核心特征。因此, 对焦虑症患者进行适应性认知方式的训练以消除其情绪化应对方式, 最终减弱该人群对未知事件的过度负面预期, 可能是焦虑障碍干预的重要途径。因此, 有必要综合行为学, 多导外周生理记录与神经成像手段以揭示认知方式与心理预期对负面情绪的交互调节效应; 旨在探求发挥心理预期情绪调节优势, 减弱其情绪代价的方法; 并为焦虑症的临床治疗提供新的思路。     

Neural coding of reward magnitude in the orbitofrontal cortex of the rat during a five-odor olfactory discrimination task

The orbitofrontal cortex (OBFc) has been suggested to code the motivational value of environmental stimuli and to use this information for the flexible guidance of goal-directed behavior. To examine whether information regarding reward prediction is quantitatively represented in the rat OBFc, neural activity was recorded during an olfactory discrimination “go”/“no-go” task in which five different odor stimuli were predictive for various amounts of reward or an aversive reinforcer. Neural correlates related to both actual and expected reward magnitude were observed. Responses related to reward expectation occurred during the execution of the behavioral response toward the reward site and within a waiting period prior to reinforcement delivery. About one-half of these neurons demonstrated differential firing toward the different reward sizes. These data provide new and strong evidence that reward expectancy, regardless of reward magnitude, is coded by neurons of the rat OBFc, and are indicative for representation of quantitative information concerning expected reward. Moreover, neural correlates of reward expectancy appear to be distributed across both motor and nonmotor phases of the task.     

Rapid plastic changes of human primary motor cortex with repetitive motor practice and transcranial magnetic stimulation

Excitability changes of human primary motor cortex are assumed to be associated with motor learning processes. To examine motor behavioral and neural mechanisms in these processes, the adaptive motor learning processes of the index finger abduction were investigated using motor evoked potential (MEP) elicited from the first dorsal interosseous and extensor carpi radialis muscles. Practice effects were examined on changes of MEP amplitudes elicited from these muscles during motor imagery. Given general consensus that the MEP amplitude change during motor imagery is a useful parameter reflecting changes in excitability of the human primary motor cortex, the present results, that MEP amplitudes of both muscles increased with repeated practice by the index finger abduction and that magnitudes of MEP amplitudes of both muscles (motor learning curves) were clearly different, suggested that participation of the muscles performing the index finger abduction gradually changed with practice. Short-term plastic changes of human primary motor cortex occur with repetitive practice and such adaptive change in human primary motor cortex is expressed in human voluntary movement that becomes more automatic.     

Diathesis stress model for panic-related distress: a test in a Russian epidemiological sample

To investigate a cognitive diathesis-stress model, the present study evaluated the main and interactive effects of anxiety sensitivity (AS) and exposure to aversive conditions (past month) in predicting theoretically relevant panic vulnerability variables in an epidemiologically defined sample from Russia (N = 390). Consistent with expectation, findings suggested that the combination of high levels of exposure to aversive conditions and high AS physical concerns predicted panic attacks (past week) and agoraphobic avoidance above and beyond the variance accounted for by negative affect. These findings are discussed in relation to biopsychosocial theories of panic disorder, which emphasize the importance of both a cognitive diathesis and stress component in the pathogenesis of the disorder.     

习得性无助是习得的吗？——对习得性无助理论及其反思的评述

Seligman和Maier（1967）在动物实验的基础上提出了著名的习得性无助理论,但在2016年,Maier和Seligman二人却联合发文对该理论进行了反思：从最新的神经生物学证据来看,习得性无助的经典理论概括存在基本错误,习得性无助并非习得而来！所谓“习得性”无助,实质上是动物对厌恶刺激长期作用的先天适应性反应,而非认知学习的结果。本文简要梳理习得性无助理论的起源与发展,深入分析这一反思的核心内容、依据及意义,对其中否定习得性无助理论概括的观点,从证据的充分性、研究范式的效度、规范概念等角度作了进行进一步的探讨,并结合新的实验范式对未来研究提出建议。     

The pain was greater if it will happen again: the effect of anticipated continuation on retrospective discomfort

Across 7 laboratory studies and 1 field study, we demonstrated that people remembered an unpleasant experience as more aversive when they expected this experience to return than when they had no such expectation. Our results indicate that this effect results from people's tendency to brace for unpleasant experiences. Specifically, when faced with the anticipated return of the experience, people prepare for the worst, leading them to remember the initial experience as more aversive. This bracing can be reduced either by limiting people's self-regulatory resources or by denying them the time to brace. These results indicate that people's tendency to remember aversive experiences as less unpleasant than they actually were (as demonstrated in prior research) does not necessarily imply that people are willing to re-engage in these experiences-because the anticipation of repeating the experience may counteract the initial memory bias.     

Taking an elemental approach to the conceptualization and measurement of Machiavellianism,narcissism, and psychopathy

The study of aversive or ‘dark’ personality traits (e.g., Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy) is afflicted by three types of issues. Measures of aversive traits that are meant to assess the same traits often capture different content—an issue of jingle. Measures that are meant to assess different traits often capture near-identical content—an issue of jangle. Finally, disagreement over what unites aversive personality traits leads to different conclusions about what is and is not an aversive personality trait—an issue of conceptual centrality. This study outlines how decomposing personality traits into smaller elements can address these three issues. It also provides a primer on the history and assessment of these traits and sets an agenda for future research.