Brain functional connectivity correlates of coping styles

Coping abilities represent the individual set of mental and behavioral strategies adopted when facing stress or traumatic experiences. Coping styles related to avoidance have been linked to a disposition to develop psychiatric disorders such as PTSD, anxiety, and major depression, whereas problem-oriented coping skills have been positively correlated with well-being and high quality of life. Even though coping styles constitute an important determinant of resilience and can impact many aspects of everyday living, no study has investigated their brain functional connectivity underpinnings in humans. Here we analyzed both psychometric scores of coping and resting-state fMRI data from 102 healthy adult participants. Controlling for personality and problem-solving abilities, we identified significant links between the propensity to adopt different coping styles and the functional connectivity profiles of regions belonging to the default mode (DMN) and anterior salience (AS) networks—namely, the anterior cingulate cortex, left frontopolar cortex, and left angular gyrus. Also, a reduced negative correlation between AS and DMN nodes explained variability in one specific coping style, related to avoiding problems while focusing on the emotional component of the stressor at hand, instead of relying on cognitive resources. These results might be integrated with current neurophysiological models of resilience and individual responses to stress, in order to understand the propensity to develop clinical conditions (e.g., PTSD) and predict the outcomes of psychotherapeutic interventions.     

The role of maladaptive anger in self-criticism: A quasi-experimental study on emotional processes

The present study examines the role of emotion in the self-critical process of individuals with anger problems. Self-criticism is a prevalent intra-personal feature which greatly impacts an individual’s emotion. So far, it is unclear, which emotions individuals with maladaptive anger experience when they work through their self-criticism. Using a quasi-experimental design, the present study compared n = 23 anger-prone under-graduate students to n = 22 controls on process indices of contempt, fear, shame, anger and global distress, as well as on their access to underlying need, as participants were working through personalized self-critical content. This was achieved using a single-session enactment from emotion-focused therapy, augmented with a standardized procedure for priming participants to focus on their unmet needs. Findings suggested that this work on self-criticism reduced for both groups distress, fear and shame, as well as increased assertive anger (McNemar tests significant at p = .05). More centrally, anger-prone individuals expressed more self-contempt (t(1, 44) = 3.65; p < .05), and they had more difficulty in accessing their underlying need (χ² = 5.35; p < .05), when compared to controls. These results have implications for clinical work with anger-prone individuals, and clarify key features in the use of enactment interventions when working towards emotional resolution. The present study also demonstrates the use of personalized stimuli in the context of clinically relevant quasi-experimental research on emotional processes.     

Reflections on working memory: are the two models complementary?

By means of the theoretical modeling of data from Kemps, De Rammelaere, and Desmet (2000, this issue), the working memory theory of Baddeley and the theory of constructive operators of Pascual-Leone are contrasted and compared. It is concluded that although the theory of constructive operators is complementary with working memory theory (for it explains developmental and individual differences that working memory theory cannot explain), the converse is not true; the theory of constructive operators explains all the data without need of working memory theory.     

CROSS-CULTURAL SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES ON TWO NEO-PIAGETIAN COGNITIVE TASKS*

Two studies are reported concerning performance differences and similarities across cultures. Pascual-Leone's tests of mental attention/energy (M-power) were administered to Zulu-speaking township children aged from 7 to 12 years. In study 1, the Compound Stimulus Visual Information task (CSVI) was used to determine whether children (N = 292) performed at theoretically predicted levels previously obtained with middle-class Canadian children. In study 2, the children (N = 252) were required to complete the Figural Intersection Test (FIT) four times. Unlike the CSVI, in which learning is controlled by training prior to testing, the FIT assumes basic familiarity with the general test requirements. The purpose of repeated testing was to assess the extent of learning across trials. The results for study 1 indicate that subjects do perform at the predicted levels on the CSVI and have the same M-power as Canadian children. The results for study 2 indicate that the subjects underperform on trial 1 of the FIT but overperform on trial 2 relative to Canadian children. Deux études sont rapportées concernant des différences et des similarités inter-culturelles de performance. Les tests de l'attention mentale/énergie (‘M-power’) de Pascual-Leone ont été administrés à des enfants âgés de 7 à 12 ans provenant de communautés d'expression Zulu. Dans la première étude, la tâche d'information visuelle du stimulus composé (CSVI) a été utilisée pour déterminer si les enfants (N = 292) pouvaient performer aux niveaux prédits théoriquement qui avaient été préalablement observés chez les enfants Canadiens de classe moyenne. Dans la seconde étude, les enfants (N = 252) devaient compléter quatre fois le test de l'intersection des figures (FIT). Contrairement au CSVI, dans lequel l'apprentissage est contrôlé par l'entraînement qui précède l'administration du test, le FIT assume une familiarité de base avec les prérequis généraux du test. Le but visé par la répétition du test était d'évaluer l'étendue de l'apprentissage en fonction des essais. Les résultats de la première étude indiquent que les sujets obtiennent les performances prévues au CSVI et possèdent le měme niveau de ‘M-Power’ que les enfants Canadiens. Les résultats de la seconde étude indiquent que, par comparaison avec les enfants Canadiens, les sujets livrent une performance inférieure au premier essai du FIT, alors qu'ils obtiennent une performance supérieure au second essai.     

Paradoxical facilitation of attention in healthy humans

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)-induced virtual lesions in healthy subjects can be used to test neurofunctional models of disease. The interhemispheric rivalry model of heminglect is well suited for such investigations, as simple predictions derived from clinical data can be tested without the caveats normally associated with lesion studies. One of these predictions is that release from contralateral inhibition should lead to increased parietal responsiveness, which, in turn, would enhance spatial attention. Here, we detail studies showing TMS-induced paradoxical functional facilitation of attention in healthy individuals and highlight their contribution to the understanding and treatment of neglect syndromes.     

Emotion in an alliance rupture and resolution sequence: A theory‐building case study

Aims: Alliance rupture and resolution processes are occasions for the client to have his or her core interpersonal patterns activated in the here and now of the therapy and to negotiate them with the therapist. So far, no studies have been conducted on emotional processing, from a sequential perspective using distinct emotion categories, in alliance rupture and resolution therapy sessions. This is the objective of this theory‐building case study. Method: This client underwent a 34‐session long, psychodynamic psychotherapy within the context of an open trial. An alliance rupture‐resolution sequence of two subsequent sessions, along with a third control session, was selected from this case and these sessions were rated using the Classification of Affective‐Meaning States (CAMS), an observer‐rated method to classify distinct emotions, according to current emotion‐focused models. Results: The results indicate that the rupture session was associated, above all, with core maladaptive fear, evoked in the actual here and now of the therapeutic relationship, whereas the resolution session was associated with the expression and experience of adaptive hurt as regards biographical issues of the client. Discussion: These results are discussed with regard to the alliance rupture and resolution model and the exploration of integrating client's emotional processing in the model.     

A sensitive period for language in the visual cortex: distinct patterns of plasticity in congenitally versus late blind adults

Recent evidence suggests that blindness enables visual circuits to contribute to language processing. We examined whether this dramatic functional plasticity has a sensitive period. BOLD fMRI signal was measured in congenitally blind, late blind (blindness onset 9-years-old or later) and sighted participants while they performed a sentence comprehension task. In a control condition, participants listened to backwards speech and made match/non-match to sample judgments. In both congenitally and late blind participants BOLD signal increased in bilateral foveal-pericalcarine cortex during response preparation, irrespective of whether the stimulus was a sentence or backwards speech. However, left occipital areas (pericalcarine, extrastriate, fusiform and lateral) responded more to sentences than backwards speech only in congenitally blind people. We conclude that age of blindness onset constrains the non-visual functions of occipital cortex: while plasticity is present in both congenitally and late blind individuals, recruitment of visual circuits for language depends on blindness during childhood.