Prospective and concurrent correlates of emotion perception in psychotic disorders: A naturalistic,longitudinal study of neurocognition,affective blunting and avolition

This naturalistic study investigated longitudinal and cross‐sectional symptomatic and neurocognitive correlates of social cognition indexed by emotion perception. Participants were 31 persons admitted to a psychiatric emergency ward due to acute psychosis. Positive and negative (i.e., affective blunting and avolition) symptoms were assessed at baseline and 12‐month follow‐up using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale. Participants completed neuropsychological assessments with alternative versions of the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status at baseline and at 12‐month follow‐up. Emotion perception was measured using the Face/Voice Emotion Test at 12‐month follow‐up. Correlational analyses (Spearman's rho) revealed strong and statistically significant associations between neurocognition and emotion perception (baseline r = 0.58, follow‐up r = 0.43). Associations between positive symptoms and emotion perception were weak or non‐existent (baseline r = 0.13, follow‐up r  =  –0.01). Emotion perception was moderately, but not significantly, associated with affective blunting at follow‐up (r = 0.33), but not at baseline (r = 0.21). The association with avolition was non‐existent (baseline r  =  –0.05, follow‐up r = 0.01). This study supports the notion that emotion perception has neurocognitive correlates. The cross‐sectional trend level association with affective blunting suggests that the ability to perceive emotions might be related to, but dissociable from the ability to express emotions.     

A Systematic Review of the Literature Exploring Illness Perceptions in Mental Health Utilising the Self-Regulation Model

Psychologists have utilised a range of social cognition models to understand variation in physical health and illness-related behaviours. The most widely studied model of illness perceptions has been the Self-Regulation Model (SRM, Leventhal, Nerenz, & Steele, 1984). The illness perceptions questionnaire (IPQ) and its revised version (IPQ-R) have been utilised to explore illness beliefs in physical health. This review examined 13 quantitative studies, which used the IPQ and IPQ-R in mental health in their exploration of illness perceptions in psychosis, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, depression and adolescents experiencing mood disorders. Across these studies the SRM illness dimensions were largely supported. Mental illnesses were commonly viewed as cyclical and chronic, with serious negative consequences. Perceptions regarding chronicity, controllability and negative consequences were associated with coping and help seeking, while engagement with services and help seeking were also related to illness coherence beliefs. Treatment adherence was linked to beliefs that treatment could control one’s illness. Whilst a major limitation of the reviewed studies was the use of cross-sectional designs, overall the applicability of the SRM to mental health was supported. The IPQ and IPQ-R were shown to be valuable measures of illness perceptions in mental health, offering implications for clinical practice.     

Multisensory self‐motion encoding in parietal cortex

Navigation through the environment requires the brain to process a number of incoming sensory signals, such as visual optical flow on the retina and motion information originating from the vestibular organs. In addition, tactile as well as auditory signals can help to disambiguate the continuous stream of incoming information and determining the signals resulting from one's own set of motion. In this review I will focus on the cortical processing of motion information in one subregion of the posterior parietal cortex, i.e., the ventral intraparietal area (VIP). I will review (1) electrophysiological data from single cell recordings in the awake macaque showing how self‐motion signals across different sensory modalities are represented within this area and (2) data from fMRI recordings in normal human subjects providing evidence for the existence of a functionally equivalent area of macaque area VIP in the human cortex.     

Not all job demands are equal: Differentiating job hindrances and job challenges in the Job Demands–Resources model

This study aimed to integrate the differentiation between two types of job demands, as made in previous studies, in the Job–Demands Resources (JD-R) model. Specifically, this study aimed to examine empirically whether the differentiation between job hindrances and job challenges, next to the category of job resources, accounts for the unexpected positive relationships between particular types of job demands (e.g., workload) and employees' work engagement. Results of confirmatory factor analyses supported the differentiation between the three categories of job characteristics in two samples (N ₁ = 261 and N ₂ = 441). Further, structural equation modelling confirmed the hypotheses that job hindrances associate positively with exhaustion (i.e., the main component of burnout) and negatively with vigour (i.e., the main component of work engagement). Job resources displayed the reversed pattern of relations. Job challenges were positively related to vigour. Rather unexpectedly, they were unrelated to exhaustion. Based on these findings, we discuss the importance of the differentiation between different types of job demands in the JD-R model for both theory and practice.     

Can organizational justice mitigate the negative effects of shift work and fixed-term employment?

The present study examined whether organizational justice moderates the association of shift work and employment type with patient-related stress, stress symptoms, and musculoskeletal symptoms. Cross-sectional survey data from 1270 Finnish female elderly care staff aged 18–69 years was used. Analyses of covariance were used to examine the associations adjusted for age,marital status, education, and tenure. Organizational justice was associated with lower levels of patient-related stress, stress symptoms, and musculoskeletal symptoms. Organizational justice mitigated stress symptoms related to working night shift and three shifts. In addition, organizational justice mitigated the patient-related stress associated with working on fixed-term contracts. Organizational justice was also able to alleviate musculoskeletal symptoms associated with working on permanent contracts. Thus, we found evidence for organizational justice being able to mitigate the negative effects of shift work and employment type. Promoting organizational justice in organizations with shift work and lots of fixed-term contracts is of importance.     

Unemployed Individuals' Work Values and Job Flexibility: An Explanation from Expectancy‐Value Theory and Self‐Determination Theory

Changes in the contemporary labour market have resulted in an increasing demand for flexibility in the work context. The present research examines the associations between unemployed individuals' work values and their attitudes towards job flexibility. Consistent with Expectancy‐Value Theory, results showed that the general concept of employment value was positively related to all measured types of flexibility, that is, training flexibility, pay flexibility, the flexibility to accept an undemanding job, and the flexibility to accept a job for which one is over‐qualified. In line with Self‐Determination Theory, holding an intrinsic work value orientation related positively to training and pay flexibility, whereas extrinsic work value orientation was negatively related to these two types of flexibility. Overall, these results indicate that not only the degree of employment value but also the content of unemployed individuals' work value orientations matter in understanding their job flexibility. L'évolution actuelle du marché de l'emploi a provoqué une demande croissante de flexibilité dans le domaine du travail. On étudie dans cette recherche les liens qui existent entre les valeurs professionnelles de chômeurs et leurs attitudes envers la flexibilité. Dans la ligne de la théorie expectation‐valence, les résultats montrent que le concept général de valence de l'emploi est relié positivement à toutes les mesures de la flexibilité, c'est‐à‐dire la flexibilité de la formation, du salaire et de l'acceptation d'un poste sans intérêt ou sous‐qualifié. En accord avec la théorie de l'autodétermination, le fait d'accorder une valeur intrinsèque au travail entretient une corrélation positive avec la flexibilité de la formation et du salaire, tandis que la valeur extrinsèque est en relation négative avec ces deux aspects de la flexibilité. En somme, ces résultats indiquent que chez les chômeurs non seulement le niveau de la valence de l'emploi, mais aussi le contenu des valeurs relatives au travail permettent de comprendre leur flexibilité.     

Latent variable assessment of outcomes in a nurse-managed intervention to increase latent tuberculosis treatment completion in homeless adults.

OBJECTIVE: To assess predictors of latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) completion by using structural equation modeling (SEM) among homeless adults, a group at great risk for LTBI and active tuberculosis (TB). LTBI therapy is effective in stemming the progression to active TB, yet treatment adherence among homeless persons is difficult to attain. DESIGN: By using SEM, the authors assessed predictors of LTBI completion among a sample of 494 homeless adults in Los Angeles, CA, who received either a nurse case-managed program (NCM) or a usual care program. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Latent variables were created with the baseline variables of site type, age, intervention status, dissatisfaction with health care, depression, TB risk assessment, alcohol use, heroin or cocaine use, and TB knowledge. Outcome variables included many of the same baseline variables as well as treatment completion. RESULTS: LTBI treatment completion (100% adherence) was significantly and positively associated with participation in NCM, older age, and less heroin or cocaine use. NCM also predicted greater TB knowledge, greater ease of treatment, and more satisfaction with treatment (NCM completion rate = 64%, control rate = 42%). CONCLUSION: The culturally competent NCM program, combined with active tracking and incentives, was successful in a difficult-to-treat and highly transient population.     

Self‐paced study time as a cue for recall predictions across school age

Recent work on metacognition indicates that monitoring is sometimes based itself on the feedback from control operations. Evidence for this pattern has not only been shown in adults but also in elementary schoolchildren. To explore whether this finding can be generalized to a wide range of age groups, 160 participants from first to eighth grade participated in a study based on a self‐paced study time (ST) allocation paradigm. In contrast to previous studies, picture pairs instead of word pairs were used as stimuli to compensate for reduced reading skills in younger participants. Actual ST and judgments of learning (JOLs) made at the end of each study trial were used as core variables. The results are in line with previous findings, in that children's JOLs decreased with increasing ST, suggesting that JOLs were based on the memorizing effort heuristic that easily learned items are more likely to be remembered. Weaker inverse relationship between JOLs and ST was found for the younger children. Overall, these results underline the importance of mnemonic cues in shaping metacognitive feelings not only in adults but also in older children and expose a developmental trend in their use along childhood.     

Thinking sadly: In favor of an adverbial theory of emotions

Introspective as well as empirical evidence indicates that emotions shape our thinking in numerous ways. Yet, this modificatory aspect of emotions has received relatively little interest in the philosophy of emotion. I give a detailed account of this aspect. Drawing both on the work of William James and adverbialist conceptions of perception, I sketch a theory of emotions that takes these aspects into consideration and suggest that we should understand emotions as manners of thinking.