Linking major depression and the neural substrates of associative processing

It has been proposed that mood correlates with the breadth of associative thinking. Here we set this hypothesis to the test in healthy and depressed individuals. Generating contextual associations engages a network of cortical regions including the parahippocampal cortex (PHC), retrosplenial complex, and medial prefrontal cortex. The link between mood, associative processing, and its underlying cortical infrastructure provides a promising avenue for elucidating the mechanisms underlying the cognitive impairments in major depressive disorder (MDD). The participants included 15 nonmedicated individuals with acute major depressive episodes and 15 healthy matched controls. In an fMRI experiment, participants viewed images of objects that were either strongly or weakly associated with a specific context (e.g., a beach chair vs. a water bottle) while rating the commonality of each object. Analyses were performed to examine the brain activation and structural differences between the groups. Consistent with our hypothesis, controls showed greater activation of the contextual associations network than did depressed participants. In addition, PHC structural volume was correlated with ruminative tendencies, and the volumes of the hippocampal subfields were significantly smaller in depressed participants. Surprisingly, depressed participants showed increased activity in the entorhinal cortex (ERC), as compared with controls. We integrated these findings within a mechanistic account linking mood and associative thinking and suggest directions for the future.     

The Dynamics of Religious Practice in Spain from the Mid‐19th Century to 2010

Like other Western countries, Spain is rapidly becoming more secularized. While there is almost unanimous agreement that this is happening, significant discord exists about the phases of the process and the speed of its development. This is mostly due to the use of partial and sometimes unreliable data. The aim of this study is to remedy these uncertainties. Our work is based on the data provided by time‐use surveys conducted in 2003 and 2010. Using some basic provisional but reasonable assumptions, we demonstrate that it is possible to identify a plausible dynamic of secularization in Spain starting in the second half of the 19th century. We also highlight the fact that the different indicators feature some significant time lags. Indeed, the dating of the start of the secularization process varies depending on whether reference is made to data on birth cohorts, the overall population, or the “visibility” of the phenomenon.     

Is systemic thinking really extraneous to common sense?

Systemic therapists assume, but have not yet proved that ordinary people: (i) normally do not use triadic thinking and (ii) are able, thanks to therapists' interviewing techniques, to construct triadic explanations. To test these assumptions this study analyses the explanations provided by 400 undergraduates of an unexpected piece of behaviour framed in four stimulus situations where the breadth of the observation field was manipulated. The results show that triadic explanations are unusual and increase with the widening of the field of observation from the monad to the triad. It is the ‘enigmatic’ triadic situation – adding a puzzling discrepancy between the actors' forms of behaviour – that elicits more triadic explanations. This suggests that therapists should explore with clients the contradictions disclosed by the widening of the field of observation and support reframings actively co‐constructed with them instead of ‘pre‐packaged’ ones.     

Temporal pattern of pre-shooting psycho-physiological states in elite athletes: A probabilistic approach

Objective

The IZOF-based probabilistic approach provides a methodology to study within-individual patterns of a performer's states. So far, the time course of physiological data before performance have not been investigated within the probabilistic methodology framework. The purpose of this study was to examine the value of the probabilistic approach in the assessment of the time course of physiological indicators of arousal/activation and vigilance during the period preceding the shot, in comparison with the performance-based method.

Design

Longitudinal assessment of psycho-physiological data and performance outcomes was conducted on eight elite pistol shooters in a controlled setting.

Methods

Each participant performed 60 air-pistol shots in 2 sessions. Skin conductance level and cardiac activity were recorded. Affective states intensity was evaluated on a modified 11-point Borg scale. Affect, HR and SC level were evaluated with a Performance-based approach and a Probabilistic method, and results compared at an individual level.

Results

Findings showed the higher effectiveness of the probabilistic method to analyse physiological parameters (skin conductance and heart rate) and to describe the physiological mechanisms associated with shooters’ performance.

Conclusions

The probabilistic method better discerned the contribution of arousal/activation and vigilance to optimal and non-optimal performance in elite shooters, thereby providing a sharper representation of the temporal pattern of performers' states before shooting. From an applied perspective, we believe that the probabilistic approach can help athletes become aware of the subtle variations occurring in their psychophysical states during the preparatory period preceding the shot and not only at the moment of shot release.     

Beyond Pro-Social Behaviour: An Exploration of Altruism in Two Cultures

Altruism is primarily defined as behaviour aimed at benefiting others. Recent studies in evolutionary, social and positive psychology have highlighted that altruistic emotions and behaviours significantly contribute to wellbeing, happiness, health and longevity. However, few studies specifically focused on the concept of altruism, its experiential dimensions, cultural variants, meaning and related life domains. Hence, this study aims at exploring: a) how do people define altruism; b) perceived individual and social consequences of altruism; c) perceived difficulties in being altruistic; d) cultural influences on conceptions of altruism and related behaviours. The Altruism Questionnaire was specifically developed to address these issues. Qualitative data were collected among 119 adult participants (60 Indians and 59 Italians). Findings revealed that in both cultures altruism is perceived more than just as pro-social behaviour, emphasising it as human and social value along with its relational and psychological features. Improvement in relationships is reported as the most prominent benefit of being altruistic. Paradoxically, negative social evaluation such as criticism, isolation and misunderstanding is reported as the prominent difficulty. Influences of culture-specific factors were detected in the conceptualization and evaluation of altruism and altruistic behaviours, raising questions for assessment, intervention and further research.     

The impact of emotions on recall: An empirical study on social ads

Emotions are a complex phenomenon that entails a tricky problem regarding the measurement. To partially overcome this question, we assess emotions both using self‐report and measures commonly used in neuromarketing. This study assesses the accuracy of the recall after 4 months regarding two social advertising videos about female genital mutilation. Forty female participants were recruited. The skin conductance trend of the participants is different when viewing the two videos. The majority of participants (94.9%) reported that the two videos elicited different emotions (sadness for the first video and anger for the second one). Furthermore, according to arousal and valence model, these data are consistent with the literature that underlines the importance of psychophysiological indexes in measuring emotions and their associations with memory performances.     

Reasoning About Collectively Accepted Group Beliefs

A proof-theoretical treatment of collectively accepted group beliefs is presented through a multi-agent sequent system for an axiomatization of the logic of acceptance. The system is based on a labelled sequent calculus for propositional multi-agent epistemic logic with labels that correspond to possible worlds and a notation for internalized accessibility relations between worlds. The system is contraction- and cut-free. Extensions of the basic system are considered, in particular with rules that allow the possibility of operative members or legislators. Completeness with respect to the underlying Kripke semantics follows from a general direct and uniform argument for labelled sequent calculi extended with mathematical rules for frame properties. As an example of the use of the calculus we present an analysis of the discursive dilemma.     

How different is a 3D‐printed replica from a conspecific in the eyes of a zebrafish?

Robotics is emerging as a promising tool for aiding research on animal behavior. The possibility of generating customizable, controllable, and standardized robotic stimuli has been demonstrated through a number of behavioral assays, involving vertebrates and invertebrates. However, the specific appraisal of the nature of robotic stimuli is currently lacking. Here, we attempt to evaluate this aspect in zebrafish, through a within‐subject design in which experimental subjects are faced with three experimental conditions. In the first test, we investigated sociability by measuring zebrafish response to a conspecific separated by a one‐way glass. In the second test, we studied zebrafish behavior in response to a 3D‐printed zebrafish replica actuated along realistic trajectories through a novel four‐degree‐of‐freedom robotic platform. Last, we investigated fear responses in a shelter‐seeking test. In agreement with our expectations, zebrafish exhibited an equivalent preference for live and robotic stimuli, and the degree of preference for the robotic replica correlated negatively with the individual propensity to seek shelter. The equivalent preference for the replica and conspecific suggests that the appraisal of the target stimuli is analogous. The preliminary evidence of a correlation between behavioral responses across tests points to the readability of robotics‐based approaches to investigate interindividual differences.     

The prospect of negotiating: Stress, cognitive appraisal, and performance

Despite a significant literature on the impact of stress on performance in achievement settings, little is known about whether and how stress might matter for would-be negotiators. In two studies, we investigate how bargainers cognitively appraise a looming negotiation, whether its prospect is stressful and what the consequences are for performance. Individuals who appraised a prospective negotiation as a threat experienced more stress ahead of a negotiation, and reached lower quality deals compared to those who had appraised a challenge. Results from a follow-up experiment showed that would-be negotiators who had appraised a threat behaved more passively and were less likely to use tough tactics compared to those who appraised a challenge. Those who appraised a threat also had relatively inaccurate perceptions of their partners’ priorities and interests, which undermined their outcomes. The outcome advantage for those who appraised a challenge was limited to negotiations that contained integrative potential.