Statistical Learning Is Not Affected by a Prior Bout of Physical Exercise

This study examined the effect of a prior bout of exercise on implicit cognition. Specifically, we examined whether a prior bout of moderate intensity exercise affected performance on a statistical learning task in healthy adults. A total of 42 participants were allocated to one of three conditions—a control group, a group that exercised for 15 min prior to the statistical learning task, and a group that exercised for 30 min prior to the statistical learning task. The participants in the exercise groups cycled at 60% of their respective O₂max. Each group demonstrated significant statistical learning, with similar levels of learning among the three groups. Contrary to previous research that has shown that a prior bout of exercise can affect performance on explicit cognitive tasks, the results of the current study suggest that the physiological stress induced by moderate‐intensity exercise does not affect implicit cognition as measured by statistical learning.     

Exploring the associations shared by mood,pain-related attention and pain outcomes related to sleep disturbance in a chronic pain sample

Objective: Sleep disturbance in chronic pain is common, occurring in two-thirds of patients. There is a complex relationship between chronic pain and sleep; pain can disrupt sleep and poor sleep can exaggerate pain intensity. This may have an impact on both depressive symptoms and attention to pain. This study aims to evaluate the relationship between chronic pain and sleep, and the role of mood and attention.

Methods: Chronic pain patients, recruited from a secondary care outpatient clinic, completed self-report measures of pain, sleep, depressive symptoms and attention to pain. Hierarchical regression and structural equation modelling were used to explore the relationships between these measures. Participants (n = 221) were aged between 20 and 84 (mean = 52) years.

Results: The majority of participants were found to be ‘poor sleepers’ (86%) with increased pain severity, depressive symptoms and attention to pain. Both analytical approaches indicated that sleep disturbance is indirectly associated with increased pain severity Instead the relationship shared by sleep disturbance and pain severity was further associated with depressive symptoms and attention to pain.

Conclusions: Our results indicate that sleep disturbance may contribute to clinical pain severity indirectly though changes in mood and attention. Prospective studies exploring lagged associations between these constructs could have critical information relevant to the treatment of chronic pain.     

Pain perception to the cold pressor test during the menstrual cycle in relation to estrogen levels and a comparison with men

Animal and human research has shown that pain sensitivity changes during the menstrual cycle. This has sometimes been ascribed to hormonal variations. The aim of the present study was to examine how perception of pain, induced by the cold pressor test to the dominant hand, was related to gender and phases of the menstrual cycle. A repeated-meausres design was used, where twenty-two female students participated at two different phases of the menstrual cycle (days 2–4 and days 20–24). A control group of nineteen male students participated on two occasions, separated by a three week period. The cycle phase during which each woman began her participation was randomized. Pain was induced using the cold pressor test. Pain threshold was determined as the duration of time between when the subject first reported pain and exposure to the painful stimulus. Pain tolerance was determined as the duration of time until the subject withdraw her/his hand from the test water because the pain was too intensive. The results showed that men tolerated significantly greater pain than women. Women’s pain threshold was significantly higher during the second phase of the menstrual cycle. Systolic pressure was higher in men than women, increasing more in men in response to cold pressor testing than women. Further research, including measurments of plasma hormone levels during the menstrual cycle, is needed to clarify the role played by estrogens in pain perception.     

疼痛恐惧对疼痛的影响及其认知机制

疼痛恐惧是把将要出现的疼痛刺激视为主要威胁而产生的一种恐惧,它会影响与疼痛相关的感知觉、注意、回避行为以及安慰剂止痛的效果.疼痛恐惧的认知模型主要有活动回避模型、恐惧-回避模型以及内感受性恐惧条件模型.未来的研究要进一步探究疼痛恐惧的认知机制,完善疼痛恐惧的认知模型并扩展疼痛恐惧的研究方法.     

心理痛苦研究述评 ——聚焦5·12汶川大地震受灾群众心理痛苦

心理痛苦是社会认知心理学和灾难心理学的重要概念之一,目前对心理痛苦的研究已经取得一定成果,主要包括心理痛苦的界定;心理痛苦的测量方法;心理痛苦客观存在的证据、心理痛苦与生理疼痛的关系、心理痛苦与自杀的关系。进一步的研究应注重研究方法趋向多元化、建立消除或缓解心理痛苦的干预机制及对心理痛苦的跨文化研究。关注心理痛苦的研究对个体的生存、适应和发展具有重大意义     

Invertebrate Minds: A Challenge for Ethical Theory

This paper argues that navigating insects and spiders possess a degree of mindedness that makes them appropriate (in the sense of “possible”) objects of sympathy and moral concern. For the evidence suggests that many invertebrates possess a belief-desire-planning psychology that is in basic respects similar to our own. The challenge for ethical theory is find some principled way of demonstrating that individual insects do not make moral claims on us, given the widely held belief that some other “higher” animals do make such claims on us.     

The effects of exposure to feminist ideology on women's body image

Body image disturbance has become a common problem among women and there is a need to focus on creating empirically supported treatments. Psychoeducational interventions have reduced body image dissatisfaction, but their impact is limited because they do not offer women adaptive methods of interpreting the many appearance-related messages they receive. This study examined if exposure to a feminist perspective may provide alternative interpretations of cultural messages, thereby increasing body image satisfaction. Participants were randomly assigned to a feminist or psychoeducational intervention, or a control group. Exposure to the feminist condition resulted in increased self-identification as a feminist and greater appearance satisfaction, and changes in feminist identity were related to positive changes in body image. The findings indicate that exposure to feminist theories may serve as an effective intervention strategy.     

多模式镇痛在幻肢痛预防中的临床研究

为探讨多模式镇痛预防截肢后幻肢痛的临床效果。选择50例下肢截肢患者,随机分为2组,试验组（Ⅰ组）和对照组（Ⅱ组）,观察患者疼痛评分,患者自控镇痛按压次数,使用其他镇痛药物的情况,记录所有的不良反应及幻肢痛发生率。结果显示,镇痛评分,Ⅱ组高于Ⅰ组（P〈0．01）;PCA按压次数,Ⅱ组多于Ⅰ组（P〈0．01）;不良反应发生率Ⅱ组高于Ⅰ组（P〈0．01）;Ⅱ组幻肢痛发生率明显高于Ⅰ组（P〈0．01）。采取多模式镇痛预防幻肢痛是安全有效的。     

The Human Being in the Context of Nature: Philosophical Anthropology and Natural Sciences in Hedwig Conrad-Martius

The most original aspect of Hedwig Conrad-Martius’ research is her interpretation of nature, performed through the phenomenological method. She pinpoints the very essences of the natural phenomena, discovering entelechies inside them and a trans-physical dimension. She reads the evolution of nature in a new way, against the deterministic interpretation of it. Inside nature one can discover many levels, qualitatively different. The human being participates to all of them, but his/her peculiarity is linked to the mental–spiritual life.     

Optimism and pessimism as predictors of physical and psychological health among grandmothers raising their grandchildren

This study examines the role of personality in predicting psychological and physical health among grandmothers who are coping with a non-normative non-traumatic stressor, i.e. serving as primary caregivers for their grandchildren. Using the Life Orientation Test-Revised (LOT-R), a measure of personality disposition, we examine the contributions of both optimism and pessimism to health outcomes. ANOVAs and regression analyses of the LOT-R and self reports of health in 67 African American and Latino grandmothers revealed psychological (obsessive compulsive symptoms, depression, hostility) and physical (sleep disorder, hypertension) health outcomes are differentially predicted by optimism and pessimism among older and younger age-groups of grandmothers. Implications for grandmothers’ response to caregiving stress and for future studies of personality’s relation to health are discussed.