Electrolytic lesions of the dorsal hippocampus disrupt renewal of conditional fear after extinction

There is a growing body of evidence that the hippocampus is critical for context-dependent memory retrieval. In the present study, we used Pavlovian fear conditioning in rats to examine the role of the dorsal hippocampus (DH) in the context-specific expression of fear memory after extinction (i.e., renewal). Pre-training electrolytic lesions of the DH blunted the expression of conditional freezing to an auditory conditional stimulus (CS), but did not affect the acquisition of extinction to that CS. In contrast, DH lesions impaired the context-specific expression of extinction, eliminating the renewal of fear normally observed to a CS presented outside of the extinction context. Post-extinction DH lesions also eliminated the context dependence of fear extinction. These results are consistent with those using pharmacological inactivation of the DH and suggest that the DH is required for using contextual stimuli to regulate the expression of fear to a Pavlovian CS after extinction.     

The relationship between family support; pain and depression in elderly with arthritis

The prevalence and chronic nature of arthritis make it the most common cause of disability among U.S.A adults. Family support reduces the negative impact of chronic conditions generally but its role in pain and depression for arthritic conditions is not well understood. A total of 844 males (35.0%) and 1567 females (65.0%) with arthritic conditions (n = 2411) were drawn from the 2012 Health and Retirement Study to examine the effect of family support on pain and depressive symptoms. Using regression analysis and controlling for age, ethnicity, gender, marital/educational status and employment/income, physical function/disability status, pain and antidepressant medications, and other clinical indicators of chronic health conditions, we examined the effects of family support (spouse, children, other) on pain and depression levels. Results indicated that depressive symptoms decreased significantly with strong family and spousal support (p < .05). Pain decreased as support levels increased, but was non-statistically significant. This study provides new insights into the relationship between family support, pain, and depression for individuals with arthritis. Future longitudinal studies are needed to evaluate family support and relationships over a wider spectrum of demographics.     

The importance of being flexible: the ability to both enhance and suppress emotional expression predicts long-term adjustment

Researchers have documented the consequences of both expressing and suppressing emotion using between-subjects designs. It may be argued, however, that successful adaptation depends not so much on any one regulatory process, but on the ability to flexibly enhance or suppress emotional expression in accord with situational demands. We tested this hypothesis among New York City college students in the aftermath of the September 11th terrorist attacks. Subjects' performance in a laboratory task in which they enhanced emotional expression, suppressed emotional expression, and behaved normally on different trials was examined as a prospective predictor of their adjustment across the first two years of college. Results supported the flexibility hypothesis. A regression analysis controlling for initial distress and motivation and cognitive resources found that subjects who were better able to enhance and suppress the expression of emotion evidenced less distress by the end of the second year. Memory deficits were also observed for both the enhancement and the suppression tasks, suggesting that both processes require cognitive resources.     

Factors regulating the effects of hippocampal inactivation on renewal of conditional fear after extinction

After extinction of fear to a Pavlovian conditional stimulus (CS), contextual stimuli come to regulate the expression of fear to that CS. There is growing evidence that the context dependence of memory retrieval after extinction involves the hippocampus. In the present experiment, we examine whether hippocampal involvement in memory retrieval after extinction is related to the history of CS presentations in the context used for retrieval testing. We used infusions of muscimol to inactivate the dorsal hippocampus (DH) during postextinction retrieval tests that were conducted in contexts that differed in their history of CS presentations in that context. We found that DH inactivation affected the context-dependent retrieval of extinction (i.e., renewal) when testing occurred in a context that had no history of CS exposure, but not in a context that reliably predicted the CS. These results are discussed in terms of theories regarding the role of the hippocampus in contextual memory retrieval.     

Comparing the neural correlates of affective and cognitive theory of mind using fMRI: Involvement of the basal ganglia in affective theory of mind

Theory of Mind (ToM) is the ability to infer other people’s mental states like intentions or desires. ToM can be differentiated into affective (i.e., recognizing the feelings of another person) and cognitive (i.e., inferring the mental state of the counterpart) subcomponents. Recently, subcortical structures such as the basal ganglia (BG) have also been ascribed to the multifaceted concept ToM and most BG disorders have been reported to elicit ToM deficits. In order to assess both the correlates of affective and cognitive ToM as well as involvement of the basal ganglia, 30 healthy participants underwent event-related fMRI scanning, neuropsychological testing, and filled in questionnaires concerning different aspects of ToM and empathy. Directly contrasting affective (aff) as well as cognitive (cog) ToM to the control (phy) condition, activation was found in classical ToM regions, namely parts of the temporal lobe including the superior temporal sulcus, the supplementary motor area, and parietal structures in the right hemisphere. The contrast aff > phy yielded additional activation in the orbitofrontal cortex on the right and the cingulate cortex, the precentral and inferior frontal gyrus and the cerebellum on the left. The right BG were recruited in this contrast as well. The direct contrast aff > cog showed activation in the temporoparietal junction and the cingulate cortex on the right as well as in the left supplementary motor area. The reverse contrast cog > aff however did not yield any significant clusters. In summary, affective and cognitive ToM partly share neural correlates but can also be differentiated anatomically. Furthermore, the BG are involved in affective ToM and thus their contribution is discussed as possibly providing a motor component of simulation processes, particularly in affective ToM.     

Integration sozialarbeiterischer Kompetenz in die psychotherapeutische Versorgung

Social and socioeconomic issues are a risk factor for the development of mental health problems and have the potential to negatively impact the psychotherapeutic treatment process. In addition, mental disorders can also result in socioeconomic stress. Neither professional training nor parameters of everyday practice of medical or psychological psychotherapists are geared towards acquiring sufficient competence to adequately handle complex social problems of highly impaired patients. Especially in times of social crises, three interrelated strategies may be helpful: to enhance psychotherapists’ sensibility and competence to recognize and deal with severe social crises, to promote cooperation with clinical social workers and to incorporate sociotherapeutic elements in the overall treatment planning. Using an approach of integrated care at a university medical department as an example, this article presents examples of how to implement these strategies into everyday therapeutic practice.     

Normative Embodiment. The Role of the Body in Foucault's Genealogy. A Phenomenological Re-Reading

In Foucault's later works, experience and embodiment become important for explaining the normative constitution of the subject: for norms to be effective, discourses are insufficient – they must be experienced and embodied. Practices of “discipline” inscribe power constellations and discourses into subjective experience and bodies. In his lectures on the Hermeneutics of the Subject, he turns this “violent” form of normative embodiment into an ethical perspective by referring to the Stoic tradition. Even though Foucault never developed a notion of experience and embodiment himself, his ideas can be re-read and complemented from a phenomenological perspective.

The article tries to investigate the role of bodily experience and practice in Foucault's Genealogy and to bring it into dialogue with Husserl and Merleau-Ponty's conceptions of the lived body. It will attempt to show that concepts like sedimentation and habituality can help to explain how cultural norms not only influence the way we think about, but also how we perceive and are affected by the world. This operation of norms happens already at the lowest stages of experience, where embodied experience leaves its traces, in sedimentation and habitualization. These passive layers of experience are permeable to historical discourses, so that norms are literally inscribed in the body. These are the foundations for what I seek to define as normative embodiment.     

Psychophysiological responses to appraisal dimensions in a computer game

A computer game was used to study psychophysiological reactions to emotion‐relevant events. Two dimensions proposed by Scherer (1984a, 1984b) in his appraisal theory, the intrinsic pleasantness and goal conduciveness of game events, were studied in a factorial design. The relative level at which a player performed at the moment of an event was also taken into account. A total of 33 participants played the game while cardiac activity, skin conductance, skin temperature, and muscle activity as well as emotion self‐reports were assessed. The self‐reports indicate that game events altered levels of pride, joy, anger, and surprise. Goal conduciveness had little effect on muscle activity but was associated with significant autonomic effects, including changes to interbeat interval, pulse transit time, skin conductance, and finger temperature. The manipulation of intrinsic pleasantness had little impact on physiological responses. The results show the utility of attempting to manipulate emotion‐constituent appraisals and measure their peripheral physiological signatures.