Physiological aspects of flow experiences: Skills-demand-compatibility effects on heart rate variability and salivary cortisol

This research addresses flow theory according to which the compatibility of skills and task demands involved in an activity elicits flow experiences that render the activity intrinsically rewarding. Departing from correlational research, we applied experimental paradigms designed to test the impact of a skills-demands-compatibility on the emergence of flow in computerized tasks. On the one hand, the results from self-reports support the balance hypothesis and indicate that skills-demands-compatibility results in a pleasurable flow experience. On the other hand, the results also indicate that skills-demands-compatibility resulted in (a) reduced heart rate variability indicating enhanced mental workload, and (b) stress as indicated by relatively high levels of salivary cortisol. These results indicate that flow experiences combine subjectively positive elements with physiological elements reflecting strainful tension and mental load.     

Hormonal changes after competition predict sex‐differentiated decision‐making

Recent neuroendocrinology research has pointed out that testosterone (T) and cortisol (C) changes after social interactions can predict risk‐taking behavior in decision‐making, depending on the sex of participants. However, previous research has focused on the effects of the changes in only one hormone, rather than the interaction between them, even though C can suppress T activity. Our aim was to test, in men and women, the role of T changes moderated by C changes after competition in decision‐making. Thus, 48 males and 46 females completed the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) after a laboratory competition or a noncompetitive task (control task). Saliva samples were collected before and after the competition/control task. IGT was employed to measure risk‐taking decision‐making, considering the degree of uncertainty. Our results showed sex‐differentiated effects of T and C changes on risk‐taking behavior. On the one hand, men from both task groups (Competition/Control) who had higher C and T changes after competition showed more risk‐taking decision‐making (higher IG Risk). On the other hand, women from the competitive task who had high C and T showed conservative decision‐making. Therefore, these results show sex‐differentiated decision‐making profiles, which would help to understand how men and women behave after experiencing a competitive social context.     

I knew you'd understand: How gendered expectations of understanding affect stress

An experimental design was used to examine the effects of interviewer gender and (mis)understanding on physiological stress (i.e., cortisol). A total of 103 undergraduate students wrote about a recent social conflict and then discussed that conflict with either a male or a female interviewer. During these discussions, the interviewer displayed verbal and nonverbal cues of (mis)understanding toward the participants. Participants' cortisol was assessed four times throughout the study. Results from a 2 × 2 × 4 mixed‐model analysis of variance demonstrated an interaction between the gender of the interviewer, understanding condition, and time such that cortisol decreased the most over time when the interviewer used cues of understanding that matched stereotypical expectations for the interviewers' gender (i.e., when women were understanding and men were misunderstanding).     

The legacy of the silver methods and the new anatomy of the basal forebrain: implications for neuropsychiatry and drug abuse

The first part of the paper highlights the remarkable legacy of the silver methods, with special emphasis on the travails and opportunities offered by the various Nauta methods and their modifications. When the tracer methods based on axoplasmic flow were introduced in the early 1970s, they were exploited on a backdrop of a basic anatomical framework, which had already been established through the tracing of the major CNS pathways by the aid of the silver methods, especially the widely used Nauta-Gygax methods and their modifications. Some of the silver methods that were developed in the late 1960s for the staining of degenerating boutons (e.g. the Fink-Heimer method and de Olmos cupric silver method) provided the necessary technical improvements that eventually led to a new and more productive way to look at the basal forebrain functional/anatomical organization; if it was not for the silver methods, we would in all likelihood still be promoting the nebulous notion of the substantia innominata rather than the concepts of the ventral striatopallidal system and the extended amygdala. The discovery and elaboration of these two macroanatomical systems symbolize what might deservedly be called the "new anatomy" of the basal forebrain. Following a review of the critical experiments which led to the development of the new anatomy of the basal forebrain, its topography in the human is reviewed in drawings of an abbreviated series of coronal sections. The discovery of the ventral striatopallidal system and its thalamic projection to the mediodorsal thalamus rather than to the ventral anterior-ventral lateral thalamic complex ushered in the idea of parallel cortico-subcortical reentrant circuits, which to a large extent has replaced the limbic system as a theoretical framework for neuropsychiatric disorders. The extended amygdala, which appears as a large ring formation around the internal capsule, is still controversial in some quarters, although it is slowly but surely making its way into the general neuroscience literature, especially in the field of addictive disorders. The ventral striatopallidal system and the extended amygdala are interwoven in a complex fashion with the basal nucleus of Meynert within the basal forebrain. Together, these three systems represent important output channels for so-called "limbic" forebrain regions, especially orbitomedial prefrontal cortex and medial temporal lobe structures, which are increasingly implicated in major neuropsychiatric disorders.     

Socio-economic status,executive functions,and theory of mind ability in adolescents: Relationships with language ability and cortisol

Socio-economic status (SES) is linked to the development of cognitive abilities, particularly language and executive processes. It is unclear whether these represent a single or independent correlates. We studied 110 Ecuadorian youths aged 12–17 with measures of SES, language, executive function, and theory of mind (ToM), a.k.a. mentalizing. A subsample gave hair samples to estimate recent cortisol levels. Restricting analyses to reliable measures, SES was highly associated with language skill, and to a lesser extent with executive function and ToM performance. However, those latter associations were attenuated and non-significant when language ability was controlled for statistically. Systemic cortisol levels were not associated with SES, but were significantly and negatively correlated with ToM, independent of variation in language skills. We conclude that language development underlies most of the impact of SES on executive function and ToM ability of adolescents, but that stress-related cortisol may have an independent, direct effect on mentalizing.     

Being an optimist or a pessimist and its relationship with morning cortisol release and past life review in healthy older people

Objective: Investigate the relationship between optimism and pessimism and the cortisol awakening response (CAR) and past life review in healthy older people.

Design: 76 older volunteers summarised their lives, highlighting the most important events, impressions and experiences. Cortisol saliva samples were collected on two consecutive weekdays. High and low optimism and pessimism groups were computed by mean split.

Main Outcome Measures: Percentages of positive (PE) and negative events (NE) and positive (PCE) and negative cognitions and emotions (NCE) were obtained. Optimism and pessimism were measured with the Life Orientation Test Revised. The areas under the curve with respect to the ground and with respect to the increase were computed, with the latter understood as the CAR.

Results: The high pessimism group reported more NE and NCE and less PE and PCE (p’s < 0.041). No significant differences in CAR were found between high and low optimism and pessimism groups after removing suspected non-adherent participants (p’s > 0.116). Higher CAR was related to lower PCE, but higher NCE (both p < 0.008).

Conclusion: Pessimism seems to increase the focus on negative aspects of the past, which may lead to a worse perception of life in ageing, whereas optimism contributes to a healthier CAR.     

A Biologically Plausible Action Selection System for Cognitive Architectures: Implications of Basal Ganglia Anatomy for Learning and Decision‐Making Models

Several attempts have been made previously to provide a biological grounding for cognitive architectures by relating their components to the computations of specific brain circuits. Often, the architecture's action selection system is identified with the basal ganglia. However, this identification overlooks one of the most important features of the basal ganglia—the existence of a direct and an indirect pathway that compete against each other. This characteristic has important consequences in decision‐making tasks, which are brought to light by Parkinson's disease as well as genetic differences in dopamine receptors. This paper shows that a standard model of action selection in a cognitive architecture (ACT‐R) cannot replicate any of these findings, details an alternative solution that reconciles action selection in the architecture with the physiology of the basal ganglia, and extends the domain of application of cognitive architectures. The implication of this solution for other architectures and existing models are discussed.     

Physical fitness and prior physical activity are both associated with less cortisol secretion during psychosocial stress

Background: Evidence linking fitness and decreased psychosocial stress comes from studies of athletes and typically relies upon self-report measures. Furthermore, there is little evidence regarding the impact of physical activity (PA) prior to a stressor. The aims of this study were to determine whether fitness and prior PA influence cortisol concentrations during psychosocial stress.

Methods: Seventy-five non-athletic participants took part in a submaximal walk prior to the Trier Social Stress Test for Groups (TSST-G). During the walk, fitness was assessed using heart rate (HR). A further 89 participants took part in the TSST-G without the walk. Stress responsiveness was assessed using salivary cortisol collected at 10-min intervals on seven occasions.

Results: Hierarchical multiple regression revealed that average walking HR accounted for 9% of the variance in cortisol secretion (P?=?.016), where a higher HR was associated with higher cortisol secretion. Between-subjects ANCOVA revealed that the walking group had a significantly lower cortisol secretion than the non-walking group (P?=?.009).

Conclusions: These findings indicate that fitter individuals have reduced cortisol secretion during psychosocial stress. They also indicate that prior PA can reduce cortisol concentrations during psychosocial stress and are suggestive of a role of PA in reducing the impact of stress on health.     

From cybernetics to brain theory,and more: A memoir

While structured as an autobiography, this memoir exemplifies ways in which classic contributions to cybernetics (e.g., by Wiener, McCulloch & Pitts, and von Neumann) have fed into a diversity of current research areas, including the mathematical theory of systems and computation, artificial intelligence and robotics, computational neuroscience, linguistics, and cognitive science. The challenges of brain theory receive special emphasis. Action-oriented perception and schema theory complement neural network modeling in analyzing cerebral cortex, cerebellum, hippocampus, and basal ganglia. Comparative studies of frog, rat, monkey, ape and human not only deepen insights into the human brain but also ground an EvoDevoSocio view of “how the brain got language.” The rapprochement between neuroscience and architecture provides a recent challenge. The essay also assesses some of the social and theological implications of this broad perspective.