Early Institutionalization: Neurobiological Consequences and Genetic Modifiers

Children raised in the profound deprivation associated with institutionalization are at elevated risk for negative outcomes across a host of social and cognitive domains. This risk appears to be mitigated by early foster care or adoption into a family setting. Although pervasive developmental problems have been noted in a substantial proportion of previously institutionalized children, marked variation exists in the nature and severity of these deficits. Increasing evidence suggests that institutional deprivation impacts the developing brain, potentially underlying the wide range of outcomes with which it is associated. In the current review we examine the neural consequences of institutionalization and genetic factors associated with differences in outcome in an effort to characterize the consequences of early deprivation at a neurobiological level. Although the effects of institutional deprivation have been studied for more than 50 years much remains unanswered regarding the pathways through which institutionalization impacts child development. Through a more complete and nuanced assessment of the neural correlates of exposure and recovery as well as a better understanding of the individual factors involved we will be better able to delineate the impact of early adversity in the setting of severe social deprivation.     

Habitual reappraisal in context: peer victimisation moderates its association with physiological reactivity to social stress

Although the emotion regulation strategy of reappraisal has been associated with adaptive outcomes, there is a growing evidence that it may not be adaptive in all contexts. In the present study, adolescents reported their use of habitual reappraisal and their experiences with peer victimisation, a chronic stressor that is associated with reduced well-being in this population. We examined how these variables predicted physiological reactivity (vagal withdrawal and changes in pre-ejection period) during a social stressor (i.e., Trier Social Stress Task). In line with previous research, at high levels of victimisation, habitual reappraisal predicted adaptive physiological reactivity (i.e., greater vagal withdrawal). Conversely, at low levels of victimisation, habitual reappraisal predicted maladaptive physiological reactivity (i.e., blunted vagal withdrawal). These findings were specific to parasympathetic reactivity. They suggest that habitual reappraisal may exert different effects on parasympathetic reactivity depending on the presence of stressors, and highlight the importance of examining the role of contextual factors in determining the adaptiveness of emotion regulation strategies.     

Vividness of positive mental imagery predicts positive emotional response to visually presented Project Soothe pictures

Lang's bioinformational theory of mental imagery proposes that mental imagery and external stimuli engage emotional information-processing systems in similar ways. However, the positive and negative systems are thought to be distinct, so this similarity is likely to show a valence-specific effect. Therefore, we hypothesized that an individual's ability to construct vivid positive, but not negative, mental imagery would predict positive emotional responding to positive visual stimuli, independently of depressive symptoms. Our stimuli were pictures collected through Project Soothe for possible use in psychotherapy ( www.projectsoothe.com ); as these pictures were intended to induce soothing emotion, we hypothesized that theoretically linked variables Self-compassion and Self-criticism would also predict positive responding to the stimuli. A total of 214 participants completed an online study including validated questionnaire measures, mental imagery tasks, and a picture-rating exercise. Only Positive Imagery Vividness and Self-compassion were significant predictors of positive responding to the soothing pictures, even controlling for depressive symptoms, and Negative and General Imagery Vividness. These findings support Lang's theory and provide evidence for individual differences in a positive processing tendency shared across mental imagery-based and perceptual representations. As this relationship is distinct from depressive symptoms, future imagery-based psychotherapies might aim to influence this positive processing tendency.     

Development of a metabolic equation for the NuStep recumbent stepper in older adults

The purpose of this study was to develop an accurate metabolic equation for estimating steady-state oxygen consumption (VO2) during submaximal NuStep exercise. Adults (N = 40; M age = 64.0 yr., SD = 6.5; M height = 170.1 cm, SD = 9.1; M weight = 85.7 kg, SD = 19.9) performed two randomized testing sessions. Each session consisted of six stages with combinations of four workloads (1, 3, 5, and 7) at 3 cadences (60, 80, and 100 steps/min.). Multiple regression analysis to predict steady-state VO2 from NuStep workload (W), NuStep steps/min., and subject body mass resulted in the following model (R2 = .73): Steady-state VO2 = 3.5 + 0.016 (W* steps/min.) + 0.092 (steps/min.) - 0.053 (weight). The standard error of the estimate and total error for the prediction of steady-state VO2 under all NuStep workload conditions were 2.3 mL/kg/min. and 2.4 mL/kg/ min., respectively. The standard error of the estimate and total error values are similar to those previously reported in the literature regarding the accuracy of metabolic equations for other exercise modalities. These findings support the use of the equation developed to predict steady-state VO2 for NuStep exercise in older adult clientele.     

Posttraining prefrontal lesions impair jaw movement conditioning performance,but have no effect on accompanying heart rate changes

This experiment examined the role of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) in regulating learned autonomic and somatomotor responses in rabbits using appetitive Pavlovian conditioning. Interstimulus interval (ISI) duration [i.e., the time between the onset of the conditioned stimulus (CS) and unconditioned stimulus (US)] was manipulated in order to determine whether ISI duration was related to the heart rate (HR) responses obtained during conditioning. Two groups received either a 1- or a 4-s ISI, with a tone as the CS and an intraoral pulse of water as the US. Another two groups received explicitly unpaired presentations of either the 1- or 4-s tone CS and water US. Few conditioned jaw movement (JM) or HR conditioned responses (CRs) were observed in the unpaired conditions. Significant JM conditioning was, however, elicited by the paired conditions, especially to the 4-s ISI. Consistent CS-evoked HR accelerations were observed in both ISI conditions. After five sessions of training, the mPFC was lesioned in half the animals. A separate group of paired animals received sham lesions. After surgical recovery, all animals received 3 days of postoperative training. During the first postoperative training session, JM CRs significantly declined in both groups with mPFC lesions in comparison to the groups with sham lesions. The mPFC lesions, however, did not affect the CS-evoked cardiac accelerations, which again occurred during postoperative training.     

Suggested behavioral interventions in the classroom to assist students prenatally exposed to drugs

The population of children exposed prenatally to alcohol, cocaine, methamphetamine, and other legal or illegal substances has been rapidly growing in America. The known characteristics of this group include deficits in rule-governed behavior, impulsivity, attention to task, language, sleep attachment, learning, social competence, coordination, hypersensitivity to environmental stimuli, and conduct problems. The purpose of this paper was to describe the characteristics of this population and match known, empirically demonstrated, data-based strategies, such as teacher attention and praise, token reinforcement programs, daily report cards, contingency contracting, self-instructional training, self-management, peer tutoring, Direct Instruction, and combining behavior therapy with stimulant medication therapy, to specific academic and social deficits in children with parental histories of substance abuse. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A Spiritual Dimension to Sex Education?

This article engages in a preliminary exploration from a broadly philosophical perspective of the notion of a 'spiritual dimension' to sex education. An inescapable 'value' dimension to sex education is recognized, and the possibility that this might include a 'spiritual' dimension is pursued in the light of a consideration of the nature of the spiritual domain. A distinction is drawn between 'religiously tethered' and 'religiously untethered' conceptions of spirituality and four strands characteristic of the spiritual domain are outlined. Possibilities relating to a 'spiritual' dimension in sex education are identified in relation to each of the strands and their value and justification are discussed in relation to common school and separate religious schools, respectively.     

Pavlovian heart rate and jaw movement conditioning in the rabbit: effects of medial prefrontal lesions

An experiment was conducted in which jaw movements (JM) and heart rate (HR) were concomitantly assessed in rabbits during simple Pavlovian conditioning. A 2-s 1200-Hz tone was the conditioned stimulus (CS) and an intraoral 1-cc pulse of 0.5 M sucrose-water solution was the unconditioned stimulus (US). Sham and medial prefrontal (mPFC)-lesioned animals received paired CS/US training with a 70- to 75-dB CS and were compared with sham- and mPFC-lesioned animals that received explicitly unpaired CS/US presentations. The percentages of JM CRs were significantly greater in the paired than the unpaired groups, but mPFC lesions had no effect on this measure. Conditioned HR decelerations occurred only in the paired groups and then only during the first session of training. Moreover, these CS-evoked cardiac decelerations were somewhat attenuated by the mPFC lesion. CS-evoked HR accelerations, which were significantly greater in unpaired than in paired animals, occurred during the four subsequent sessions. These results suggest that a CS-evoked cardioinhibitory process, mediated by the mPFC, is engendered by Pavlovian appetitive conditioning, as has been previously demonstrated for aversive conditioning. However, during JM conditioning these inhibitory changes are quickly replaced by tachycardia, possibly related to increased nonspecific somatomotor activity, since the tachycardia was somewhat greater in the unpaired animals.