Sex differences in response to an observational fear conditioning procedure

The present study evaluated sex differences in observational fear conditioning using modeled “mock” panic attacks as an unconditioned stimulus (UCS). Fifty-nine carefully prescreened healthy undergraduate participants (30 women) underwent 3 consecutive differential conditioning phases: habituation, acquisition, and extinction. It was expected that participants watching a confederate display mock panic attacks (UCS) paired with a previously neutral stimulus (CS⁺) would learn to respond fearfully to the CS⁺, but not to the CS⁻ (i.e., a stimulus never associated with displays of panic). Women also were expected to report more distress and ratings of panic to the CS⁺ than the CS⁻ compared to men, but no sex differences were anticipated on autonomic indices of conditioning (i.e., electrodermal responses). Consistent with expectation, aversive conditioning was demonstrated by greater magnitude electrodermal and verbal-evaluative (e.g., subjective units of distress scale, panic ratings) responses to the CS⁺ over the CS⁻, with women reporting more distress to the CS⁺ over the CS⁻, but not greater autonomic conditioning, compared to men. Overall, the results support the notion that modeled panic attacks can serve as a potent UCS for both men and women. Discussion focuses on sex differences in observational fear conditioning and its relation to the clinical presentation of anxiety disorders.     

Treating excessively slow responding of a young man with Asperger syndrome using differential reinforcement of short response latencies

Fjellstedt and Sulzer-Azaroff (1973) used differential reinforcement of short latencies to decrease a child's latency to comply with instructions. We replicated this contingency with a young man diagnosed with Asperger syndrome across two tasks (question answering and math problem solving). We added a differential reinforcement contingency to teach the participant to discriminate between math problems that could be answered rapidly and those that required more time for accurate performance.     

Grit: perseverance and passion for long-term goals

The importance of intellectual talent to achievement in all professional domains is well established, but less is known about other individual differences that predict success. The authors tested the importance of 1 noncognitive trait: grit. Defined as perseverance and passion for long-term goals, grit accounted for an average of 4% of the variance in success outcomes, including educational attainment among 2 samples of adults (N=1,545 and N=690), grade point average among Ivy League undergraduates (N=138), retention in 2 classes of United States Military Academy, West Point, cadets (N=1,218 and N=1,308), and ranking in the National Spelling Bee (N=175). Grit did not relate positively to IQ but was highly correlated with Big Five Conscientiousness. Grit nonetheless demonstrated incremental predictive validity of success measures over and beyond IQ and conscientiousness. Collectively, these findings suggest that the achievement of difficult goals entails not only talent but also the sustained and focused application of talent over time.     

Work-family conflict, and psychological distress in men and women among Canadian police officers

The present study examined the relations among sex, work-family conflict, and psychological distress in 78 Canadian police officers (50 men and 28 women). The average age of the officers was 36.1 yr. (SD=8.0), and nearly one-third of the respondents had been in policing 16 years or more. Ordinary least-squares regression was conducted to examine the association of Psychological Distress scores, as measured by the K6, with four types of work-family conflict: Time-based Work-to-Family Conflict, Time-based Family-to-Work Conflict, Strain-based Work-to-Family Conflict, and Strain-based Family-to-Work Conflict. Being single and having higher perceived Strain-based Work-to-Family Conflict were associated with greater scores on Psychological Distress. No statistically significant sex differences emerged in the self-reported type or direction of work-family conflict or in the factors associated with Psychological Distress.     

Cancer Family History Reporting: Impact of Method and Psychosocial Factors

Family history is one the greatest risk factors for disease and one of the most important informational tools in medical genetics for the purpose of diagnosis, risk assessment, prevention and treatment. However, research is needed on the comparability of different methods of cancer family history assessment and the influence of psychosocial factors in family history reports. The purpose of this study was to determine if individuals had discrepancies between written and interview reports of cancer family history and the role of psychosocial factors in these discrepancies. Oncology patients (n=104) were administered a survey to assess psychosocial factors (i.e., information-seeking, worry, perceived risk, and health literacy) and were asked to provide family history in a written and an interview form. Randomization determined which form individuals received first. No differences in the amount of missing data or the amount of unspecified data were noted between the written and interview method. Psychosocial factors did not differentiate between those who had discrepancies in family history reports and those who did not have discrepancies in family history reports; although there was a trend for those with lower literacy and those who were blunters to be more discrepant on type of cancer diagnosis. In sum, this preliminary study indicates that written and interview methods of family history assessment for first degree relatives may be used interchangeably. The ability to use written methods will facilitate collection of basic family history information in the oncology clinic.     

Acute inhibition of calcineurin restores associative learning and memory in Tg2576 APP transgenic mice

Misfolded amyloid beta peptide (Abeta) is a pathological hallmark of Alzheimer's disease (AD), a neurodegenerative illness characterized by cognitive deficits and neuronal loss. Transgenic mouse models of Abeta over-production indicate that Abeta-induced cognitive deficits occur in the absence of overt neuronal death, suggesting that while extensive neuronal death may be associated with later stages of the human disease, subtle physiological changes may underlie initial cognitive deficits. Therefore, identifying signaling elements involved in those Abeta-induced cognitive impairments that occur prior to loss of neurons may reveal new potential pharmacological targets. Here, we report that the enzymatic activity of calcineurin, a key protein phosphatase involved in phosphorylation-dependent kinase activity crucial for synaptic plasticity and memory function, is upregulated in the CNS of the Tg2576 animal model for Abeta over-production. Furthermore, acute treatment of Tg2576 mice with the calcineurin inhibitor FK506 (10mg/kg i.p.) improves memory function. These results indicate that calcineurin may mediate some of the cognitive effects of excess Abeta such that inhibition of calcineurin shall be further explored as a potential treatment to reverse cognitive impairments in AD.     

MAP2 and synaptophysin protein expression following motor learning suggests dynamic regulation and distinct alterations coinciding with synaptogenesis

Learning a new motor skill can induce neuronal plasticity in rats. Within motor cortex, learning-induced plasticity includes dendritic reorganization, synaptogenesis, and changes in synapse morphology. Behavioral studies have demonstrated that learning requires protein synthesis. It is likely that some of the proteins synthesized during learning are involved in, or the result of, learning-induced structural plasticity. We predicted the expression of proteins involved in neural plasticity would be altered in a learning dependent fashion. Long-Evans rats were trained on a series of motor tasks that varied in complexity, so that the effects of activity could be teased apart from the effects of learning. The motor cortices were examined for MAP2 and synaptophysin protein using Western blotting and immunohistochemistry. Western blotting revealed that expression of MAP2 was not detectably influenced by learning, whereas synaptophysin expression increased on day 1, 3, and 5 of complex motor skill learning. Expression of MAP2 does not seem to indicate difficulty of task or duration of training time, whereas increases in synaptophysin expression, which appear diffusely across the cortex, seem to be correlated with the first 5 days of motor skill learning. Similar findings with GAP-43 suggest the change in synaptophysin may coincide with synapse formation. Immunohistochemistry did not reveal any localized changes in protein expression. These data indicate a difference in learning-induced expression in the mammalian brain compared to reports in the literature, which have often focused on stimulation to induce alterations in protein expression.     

Psychosocial stress evoked by a virtual audience: relation to neuroendocrine activity.

A modified version of the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) was employed to determine whether exposure to a virtual audience using virtual reality (VR) technology would prompt an increase of neuroendocrine activity comparable to that prompted by a real audience. Following an anticipatory period, participants completed a speech or a speech-plus-math challenge in front of either a virtual audience, a panel of judges they were led to believe was behind a one-way mirror, or an audience comprised of confederates. An additional group that had prepared a speech was simply directed to observe the virtual audience but did not deliver the speech. Finally, a control group completed questionnaires for the duration of the experiment. Cortisol samples were obtained upon arrival to the laboratory, just before the challenge, and 15 and 30 minutes after the task. Participants also completed a measure assessing stressor appraisals of the task before and after the challenge. Anticipation of the task was associated with a modest increase of cortisol levels, and a further rise of cortisol was evident in response to the challenge. The neuroendocrine changes evoked by the virtual audience were comparable to those elicited by the imagined audience (behind the one-way mirror) but less than changes evoked by the panel of confederates. Stressor appraisals were higher post-challenge compared to those reported prior to the task; however, appraisals were similar across each group. These data suggest that VR technology may be amenable to evaluating the impact of psychosocial stressors such as the TSST.     

Observational fear conditioning in the acquisition and extinction of attentional bias for threat: an experimental evaluation

Anxious persons show automatic and strategic attentional biases for threatening information. Yet, the mechanisms and processes that underlie such biases remain unclear. The central aim of the present study was to elucidate the relation between observational threat learning and the acquisition and extinction of biased threat processing by integrating emotional Stroop color naming tasks within an observational differential fear conditioning procedure. Forty-three healthy female participants underwent several consecutive observational fear conditioning phases. During acquisition, participants watched a confederate displaying mock panic attacks (UCS) paired with a verbal stimulus (CS+), but not with a second nonreinforced verbal stimulus (CS-). As expected, participants showed greater magnitude electrodermal and verbal-evaluative (e.g., distress, fear) conditioned responses to the CS+ over the CS- word. Participants also demonstrated slower color-naming latencies to CS+ compared to the CS- word following acquisition and showed attenuation of this preferential processing bias for threat following extinction. Findings are discussed broadly in the context of the interplay between fear learning and processing biases for threat as observed in persons suffering from anxiety disorders.