Effects of emotion on oxytocin,prolactin, and ACTH in women

Research on both non-human mammals and humans has raised interest in the role that oxytocin may play in human attachment and attachment-related emotions. This study examined changes in plasma oxytocin, prolactin, and ACTH concentrations in response to laboratory-induced positive and negative emotions related to close, interpersonal relationships. Participants were 32 female volunteers recruited from university communities. During positive emotion induction, oxytocin decreased over time (F(1,3) = 4.41, p < 0.007), prolactin increased (F(1,3) = 4.80, p < 0.004) and ACTH remained constant. During negative emotion induction, prolactin levels increased (F(1,3) = 2.81, p < 0.05), ACTH decreased only after the induction terminated (F(1,3) = 4.02, p < 0.01) and oxytocin remained constant. While oxytocin decreased during positive emotion, this finding contrasted previous research that showed decreases in response to negative emotion. In conclusion, plasma oxytocin levels were not reliably altered by positive or negative emotion induction. While prolactin and ACTH were expected to decrease over time due to diurnal variation, they instead either increased or remained level during emotion induction, or decreased only after the induction. Overall, the degree of change in circulating hormones in response to happy and sad emotions was very small and possibly not functionally significant.     

An Upgrading Procedure for Adaptive Assessment of Knowledge

In knowledge space theory, existing adaptive assessment procedures can only be applied when suitable estimates of their parameters are available. In this paper, an iterative procedure is proposed, which upgrades its parameters with the increasing number of assessments. The first assessments are run using parameter values that favor accuracy over efficiency. Subsequent assessments are run using new parameter values estimated on the incomplete response patterns from previous assessments. Parameter estimation is carried out through a new probabilistic model for missing-at-random data. Two simulation studies show that, with the increasing number of assessments, the performance of the proposed procedure approaches that of gold standards.     

Group Activities to Promote Early Rehabilitation in an Acute Psychiatric Ward: A Relationship-Based Approach Focusing on Movies

Our Psychiatry Institute has a long-standing tradition of providing training in the importance of relational and emotional skills and helping relationships. Here we describe techniques that are routinely used on our psychiatric ward (Maggiore della Carità Hospital, Novara, Italy) to promote early rehabilitation of acute psychiatric inpatients. We focus on the Cinema group, which is typical of our approach to informal, therapeutic group activity. Targeting social and relational issues as adjunct to treatment as usual is useful in acute settings and can begin at an early stage of hospitalization. Our intervention is designed to improve patients’ coping strategies, relational and communication skills, and overall quality of life.     

Promoting socioemotional competence in primary school classrooms: Intervention effects of the EMOscope

The aim of the study was to determine the effectiveness of a brief, teacher-led intervention (EMOscope) developed to promote children’s socioemotional competence. Our sample consisted of 339 Polish pupils and their 16 teachers from 16 third grade classrooms. Teachers in the experimental condition (8 teachers) were trained to deliver the EMOscope intervention. Data were collected at pre-test and post-test. Performance tests were administered to measure children’s social understanding and emotional awareness. Furthermore, peer ratings were used to measure children’s cooperative behaviour and teachers’ reported on children’s prosocial behaviour, hyperactivity, emotional problems, conduct problems, and peer problems. Multilevel regression analysis revealed that children in the experimental condition improved significantly on emotional self- and other-awareness and on social understanding. Moreover, they decreased in teacher-rated hyperactivity, conduct problems, and total difficulties. No effects were found, however, on teacher-rated prosocial behaviour, emotional problems, peer problems, and peer-rated cooperative behaviour.     

Dolls are for Girls and Not for Boys: Evaluating the Appropriateness of the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure for School-Age Children

The Psychological Record - The Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP) has been used for assessing implicit attitudes across different domains. The current study aimed to investigate...     

The relationship between executive functioning and self-regulated learning in Australian children

Executive functioning (EF) and self-regulated learning (SRL) are established predictors of academic achievement, both concurrent and future. Although it has been theorized that EF development enables SRL in early childhood, this directional model remains empirically untested against plausible alternatives. Thus, this study investigated the longitudinal relations between children’s EF and SRL during the transition from kindergarten to Year 1 in an Australian sample to determine the direction and strength of the association between EF and SRL. We compared four directional models and also tested whether EF and SRL can be construed as manifestations of a common factor. Children’s EF was assessed using a battery of tasks tapping working memory, inhibition, and shifting, and their SRL was assessed by teachers using the Checklist of Independent Learning Development. Cross-lagged structural equation modelling analyses were conducted on a longitudinal dataset of 176 children at the end of kindergarten (age M = 5 years, 8 months; SD = 4.02 months), and 1 year later (age M = 6 years, 5 months; SD = 3.65 months). EF predicted SRL longitudinally (β= .58, controlling for kindergarten SRL), consistent with common assumptions, whereas SRL did not predict EF. However, the common factor model also fit the data very well. We concluded that EF and SRL are indeed related concurrently and longitudinally but that further evidence is needed to disambiguate whether EF is best understood as a necessary antecedent of SRL development in early childhood, or whether they reflect the same general construct.