Hearing others’ pain: neural activity related to empathy

The human voice is one of the principal conveyers of social and affective communication. Recent neuroimaging studies have suggested that observing pain in others activates neural representations similar to those from the first-hand experience of pain; however, studies on pain expressions in the auditory channel are lacking. We conducted a functional magnetic resonance imaging study to examine brain responses to emotional exclamations of others’ pain. The control condition comprised positive (e.g., laughing) or negative (e.g., snoring) stimuli of the human voice that were not associated with pain and suffering. Compared to these control stimuli, pain-related exclamations elicited increased activation in the superior and middle temporal gyri, left insula, secondary somatosensory cortices, thalamus, and right cerebellum, as well as deactivation in the anterior cingulate cortex. The left anterior insular and thalamic activations correlated significantly with the Empathic Concern subscale of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index. Thus, the brain regions involved in hearing others’ pain are similar to those activated in the empathic processing of visual stimuli. Additionally, the findings emphasise the modulating role of interindividual differences in affective empathy.     

Reward-related brain function as a predictor of treatment response in adolescents with major depressive disorder

The present study provides preliminary evidence that pretreatment reward-related brain function in the striatum and medial prefrontal cortex (PFC) could have relevance for predicting both final level and rate of change of clinical characteristics in adolescents with major depressive disorder. Adolescents with depression underwent a functional MRI scan during a monetary reward task, participated in an 8-week open trial of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) or CBT plus selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor, and completed reports of anxiety and depressive symptoms before, during, and after treatment. Clinicians rated adolescents’ improvement and severity at the same time points. Growth models were used to examine change in clinical characteristics and its association with brain function. Severity, anxiety symptoms, and depressive symptoms decreased over treatment. Final levels of severity and anxiety symptoms were associated with pretreatment striatal reactivity, and rate of anxiety symptom reduction was associated with greater striatal reactivity and lower medial PFC reactivity.     

A Tripartite Approach to Right‐Wing Authoritarianism: The Authoritarianism‐Conservatism‐Traditionalism Model

Right‐Wing Authoritarianism (RWA) has been conceptualized and measured as a unidimensional personality construct comprising the covariation of the three traits of authoritarian submission, authoritarian aggression, and conventionalism. However, new approaches have criticized this conceptualization and instead viewed these three “traits” as three distinct, though related, social attitude dimensions. Here we extend this approach providing clear definitions of these three dimensions as ideological attitude constructs of Authoritarianism, Conservatism, and Traditionalism. These dimensions are seen as attitudinal expressions of basic social values or motivational goals that represent different, though related, strategies for attaining collective security at the expense of individual autonomy. We report data from five samples and three different countries showing that these three dimensions could be reliably measured and were factorially distinct. The three dimensions also differentially predicted interpersonal behaviour, social policy support, and political party support. It is argued that conceptualizing and measuring RWA as a set of three related ideological attitude dimensions may better explain complex sociopolitical phenomena than the currently dominant unidimensional personality based model.     

Callous-unemotional features, behavioral inhibition, and parenting: independent predictors of aggression in a high-risk preschool sample

A behaviorally-uninhibited temperament, callous-unemotional (CU) features, and harsh parenting have been associated with specific patterns of aggressive behavior in older children and adolescents. We tested the additive and interactive effects of these factors in predicting different types of aggressive behavior in a high-risk preschool sample. Forty-nine preschoolers and their parents registering for Head Start programs were recruited for participation. Behavioral inhibition, CU features, and attitudes toward various types of parenting were assessed through parent rating scales completed at the time of registration. Behavioral inhibition, CU features, and aggression were assessed by teacher ratings approximately six months later. Analyses revealed that behavioral inhibition, CU features, and harsh parental attitudes all contributed independently to the prediction of aggressive behavior. These associations were strongest for proactive types of aggression. Our results suggest that a behaviorally uninhibited temperament, CU features, and attitudes favoring harsh parenting are all important for understanding the development of aggression in preschool children.     

Application of Latent Semantic Analysis to Divergent Thinking is Biased by Elaboration

Scoring divergent‐thinking response sets has always been challenging because such responses are not only open‐ended in terms of number of ideas, but each idea may also be expressed by a varying number of concepts and, thus, by a varying number of words (elaboration). While many current studies have attempted to score the semantic distance in divergent‐thinking responses by applying latent semantic analysis (LSA), it is known from other areas of research that LSA‐based approaches are biased according to the number of words in a response. Thus, the current article aimed to identify and demonstrate this elaboration bias in LSA‐based divergent‐thinking scores by means of a simulation. In addition, we show that this elaboration bias can be reduced by removing the stop words (for example, and, or, for and so forth) prior to analysis. Furthermore, the residual bias after stop word removal can be reduced by simulation‐based corrections. Finally, we give an empirical illustration for alternate uses and consequences tasks. Results suggest that when both stop word removal and simulation‐based bias correction are applied, convergent validity should be expected to be highest.     

Cortico-subcortical contributions to executive control

The term "executive functions" refers to a range of cognitive processes, their common feature being the coordination of information processing and action control. Cortico-subcortical circuits which connect the prefrontal cortex (PFC), the basal ganglia and the cerebellum via the thalamus are believed to serve as neuroanatomical substrates of executive processing. This paper focuses on information processing related to executive functions by the PFC and related subcortical regions. Findings are mainly derived from neuropsychological investigations of brain-damaged patients but also from imaging studies in healthy subjects. There is evidence for subtle differences between these regions with respect to the cognitive mechanisms contributing to inhibition of habitual responses, task management/multitasking and set shifting, although the data base is sparse so far.     

Facets of dynamic positive affect: differentiating joy, interest, and activation in the positive and negative affect schedule (PANAS)

This article proposes the differentiation of Joy, Interest, and Activation in the Positive Affect (PA) scale of the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS; D. Watson, L. A. Clark, & A. Tellegen, 1988). Study 1 analyzed the dynamic course of PA before, during, and after an exam and established the differentiation of the three facets. Study 2 used a multistate-multitrait analysis to confirm this structure. Studies 3-5 used success-failure experiences, speaking tasks, and feedback of exam results to further examine PA facets in affect-arousing settings. All studies provide convincing evidence for the benefit of differentiating three facets of PA in the PANAS: Joy, Interest, and Activation do have distinct and sometimes even opposite courses that make their separation meaningful and rewarding.     

Book Reviews

L uke , H elen M. Kaleidoscope: The Way of Woman and Other Essays.
P rétat , J ane R. Coming to Age: The Croning Years and Late-Life Transformation.
R yce -M enuhin , J oel . (ed.). Jung and the Monotheisms: Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
W hitmont , E dward C. The Alchemy of Healing: Psyche and Soma.
H orowitz , M ardi J., K ernberg , O tto F. and W einshel , E dward M. (eds). Psychic Structure and Psychic Change: Essays in Honor of Robert S. Wallerstein, M.D.
G oldman , D. In Search of the Real: The Origins and Originality of D. W. Winnicott.
L angs , R obert . Empowered Psychotherapy: Teaching Self-Processing: A New Approach to the Human Psyche and Its Reintegration.
R oazen , P aul . Meeting Freud's Family.     

The independence of positive and negative affect depends on the affect measure

This study examined the degree of independence between Positive Affect (PA) and Negative Affect (NA) within a given situation. The affective state was measured before and after an experimentally induced success or failure experience in an anagram task. Two types of affect measures were used to assess PA and NA: the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) and a Pleasantness-Unpleasantness scale. Consistent with our hypotheses, results show that PA and NA are independent when measured with the PANAS but are correlated when assessed with the other scale. These PA-NA correlations differed significantly from each other before and after emotion induction, respectively. Additional analyses indicate that both PA scales are differentially sensitive to the mood induction procedure. The findings are discussed with respect to circumplex models of emotion.