Rodent ultrasonic vocalizations as biomarkers of future alcohol use: A predictive analytic approach

Excessive alcohol consumption has a vast, negative impact on society. Rodent models have been successful in furthering our understanding of the biological underpinnings that drive alcohol consumption. Rodents emit ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) that are each composed of several acoustic characteristics (e.g., frequency, duration, bandwidth, power). USVs reflect neurotransmitter activity in the ascending limb of the mesolimbic dopaminergic and cholinergic neurotransmitter systems and serve as noninvasive, real-time biomarkers of dopaminergic and cholinergic neurotransmission in the limbic system. In the present study, we recorded spontaneously emitted USVs from alcohol-naïve Long-Evans (LE) rats and then measured their alcohol intake. We compared the USV acoustic characteristics and alcohol consumption data from these LE rats with previously published data from selectively bred high-alcohol (P and HAD-1) and low-alcohol (NP and LAD-1) drinking lines from studies with the same experimental method. Predictive analytic techniques were applied simultaneously to this combined data set and revealed that (a) USVs emitted by alcohol-naïve rats accurately discriminated among high-alcohol consuming, LE, and low-alcohol consuming rat lines, and (b) future alcohol consumption in these same rat lines was reliably predicted from the USV data collected in an alcohol-naïve state. To our knowledge, this is the first study to show that alcohol consumption is predicted directly from USV profiles of alcohol-naïve rats. Because USV acoustic characteristics are sensitive to underlying neural activity, these findings suggest that baseline differences in mesolimbic cholinergic and dopaminergic tone could determine the propensity for future alcohol consumption in rodents.     

What’s Your Style? Preliminary Validation of the Gaming Styles Questionnaire

Within-group differences amongst gamers must be considered when studying the psychological correlates of gameplay. A conceptual framework, whereby gaming may be treated as a means to other ends—such as coping with boredom or bonding with friends—or as an end in itself, was the basis upon which the Gaming Styles Questionnaire was developed. Factor analysis and criterion-group validity, based on data obtained from a heterogeneous sample of gamers, offered support to a continuum of gamers, ranging from those for whom gaming is a means to other ends to those for whom gaming is an end in itself. Although age did not correlate with gaming style, men’s endorsement of gaming as an end in itself was stronger than women’s.     

Increasing the salience of fluency cues does not reduce the recognition memory impairment in Alzheimer's disease!

In Alzheimer's disease (AD), it is now well established that recollection is impaired from the beginning of the disease, whereas findings are less clear concerning familiarity. One of the most important mechanisms underlying familiarity is the sense of familiarity driven by processing fluency. In this study, we attempted to attenuate recognition memory deficits in AD by maximizing the salience of fluency cues in two conditions of a recognition memory task. In one condition, targets and foils have been created from the same pool of letters (Overlap condition). In a second condition, targets and foils have been derived from two separate pools of letters (No‐Overlap condition), promoting the use of letter‐driven visual and phonetic fluency. Targets and foils were low‐frequency words. The memory tasks were performed by 15 patients with AD and 16 healthy controls. Both groups improved their memory performance in the No‐Overlap condition compared to the Overlap condition. Patients with AD were able to use fluency cues during recognition memory as older adults did, but this did not allow to compensate for dysfunction of recognition memory processes.     

ERP evidence for temporal independence of set size and object updating in object substitution masking

To keep track of dynamically changing objects in one’s environment, it is necessary to individuate them from other objects, both temporally and spatially. Spatially, objects can be selected from nearby distractors using selective attention. Temporally, object updating processes incorporate new information into existing representations over time. Both of these processes have been implicated in a type of visual masking called object-substitution masking (OSM). Previous studies have found that the number of distractors (impacting selective attention) interacts with the strength of OSM. However, it has been suggested that this interaction is an artifact of ceiling performance at low set sizes, rather than necessitating a failure of attention during masking. Using event-related potentials (ERPs), we examined whether set size and masking interact as measured by markers of selective attention (N2pc) and visual working memory consolidation/maintenance (SPCN). Set size was found to affect the N2pc (200–350 ms) and late SPCN (500–650 ms), reflecting increased demands on selective attention and unnecessary storage respectively. An early window of the SPCN (350–500 ms) was affected by masking, suggesting that OSM influences object consolidation processes in this window, independent of the number of distractors. Overall, it was found that selective attention and visual awareness are dissociable neural processes in OSM, and that they are independently affected by set size and masking manipulations. Moreover, we found that the early SPCN may reflect disruptions to object consolidation, potentially revealing a neural mechanism supporting an object individuation-through-updating account of OSM.     

Breath Versus Emotions: The Impact of Different Foci of Attention During Mindfulness Meditation on the Experience of Negative and Positive Emotions

Mindfulness meditation yields beneficial effects on the processing of emotions. However, it is still unclear whether the focus of attention during meditation influences these effects. In the present study we aimed at comparing the effects of breathing meditation and emotion-focused meditation on the immediate and delayed processing of negative and positive emotions. The study included 65 adult novice meditators who were exposed to positively and negatively valenced film clips. Participants were randomly assigned to three conditions. While watching the films at t1, they were asked to mindfully focus on their breath (condition 1), on emotions (condition 2), or on nothing in particular (condition 3). Ten minutes later at t2, comparable film clips were shown but all participants watched them without taking up a mindful attitude. Dependent measures were emotional states at t1 and t2. Participants of both meditation conditions particularly showed a more preferable delayed emotional reaction to negative stimuli than participants of the control condition. Breathing meditation and emotion-focused meditation may constitute effective emotion regulation strategies to deal with negatively valenced emotional states.     

Self-construal,affective valence of the encounter,and quality of social interactions: Within and cross-culture examination

In two samples, one from Greece and another from Germany, we examined relationships between self-construal, emotional experience, and the quality of social interactions. In Greece, a more collectivistic culture, the negative affect people experienced in social interactions was more weakly related to the quality of social interactions for those higher in interdependent self-construal than it was for those lower in interdependent self-construal. In Germany, a more independent culture, a contrasting pattern was observed such that the positive affect people experienced in social interaction was more strongly related to the quality of social interactions for those higher in independent self-construal than it was for those lower in independent self-construal. These findings suggest that positive and negative affect in social encounters can have different effects for persons with independent and interdependent cultural orientations within different cultural settings.     

On the malleability of the meaning of contexts: the influence of another person’s emotion expressions on situation perception

Research on the relationship between context and facial expressions generally assumes a unidirectional effect of context on expressions. However, according to the model of the meaning of emotion expressions in context (MEEC) the effect should be bidirectional. The present research tested the effect of emotion expression on the interpretation of scenes. A total of 380 participants either (a) rated facial expressions with regard to the likely appraisal of the eliciting situation by the emoter, (b) appraised the scenes alone or (c) appraised scenes shown together with the expressions they supposedly elicited. The findings strongly supported the MEEC. When a scene was combined with an expression signalling a situation that is undesirable, or high in locus of control or sudden, the participants appraised the scene correspondingly. Thus, the meaning of scenes is malleable and affected by the way that people are seen to react to them.     

Memory rehabilitation for older adults: preserving independent living / Rehabilitación de la memoria para adultos mayores: preservación de la autonomía de vida

Abstract

Episodic memory problems are the hallmark of cognitive ageing in normal elderly people. Learning of new material is worse in pathological cognitive ageing, such as dementia and its preliminary states (mild cognitive impairment). Because episodic learning is crucial to preserve independent living in the elderly, rehabilitation programmes for everyday memory problems are welcomed. The scope of scientific interest has switched from treatment to prevention. We claim that lifestyle interventions are the most direct way to preserve cognition. We summarize evidence for changes in nutrition and exercise. In addition, psychological interventions for elderly people with normal or pathological cognitive ageing are available. Recent meta-analyses found lacking evidence of transfer to everyday life and long-term effects. We critically assess these meta-analyses. We propose theoretically derived experimental interventions relying on spared learning mechanisms. As an example we report visual-imagery training showing positive effects in a randomized control trial, using individual memory diaries on memory improvement.