Virtual reality is more efficient in learning human heart anatomy especially for subjects with low baseline knowledge

New technologies make their way into education and one of the most prominent of them is the immersive Virtual Reality (IVR). But the scientific data about its efficiency in the educational process is controversial. In the present study three randomized groups of students, who did not have biological and medical classes amongst their courses, studied human heart anatomy using three different learning methods – a paper (text and images); a 3D interactive human heart model presented on a computer display; an IVR human heart model. Prior and after learning session students performed the test of human heart anatomy with 28 open questions. The IVR group showed the increase of correct answers within the group and compared with other groups. Also, the subjects with lesser baseline knowledge in IVR group showed the greater increase of correct answers following IVR session. The structure and the way how the learning material should be presented in IVR and how it affects the learning outcomes are discussed.     

Moderating effects of the valence of social interaction on the dysfunctional consequences of perseverative cognition: an ecological study in major depression and social anxiety disorder

Background and Objectives: Major depression disorder (MDD) and social anxiety disorder (SAD) are characterized by the use of perseverative cognition (PC) as a dysfunctional coping strategy. We sought to investigate the dysfunctional physiological and psychological consequences of PC and how the valence of social interactions moderates such consequences in these psychopathological conditions.

Design/Methods: The study combined 24-hour heart rate variability (HRV) and ecological momentary assessments in 48 individuals with MDD, SAD, and sex-matched controls.

Results: In all participants, PC was associated with mood worsening and reduced ability of the parasympathetic nervous system, mainly the vagus, to inhibit sympathetic arousal (i.e., reduced HRV). Individuals with SAD had the highest frequency of daily PC, while those with MDD reported that PC interfered more with their ongoing activities. In SAD, daily PC was associated with significantly lower HRV after negative social interactions. Individuals with MDD reported higher levels of sadness during PC irrespective of the valence of the preceding social interaction but higher levels of anxiety and efforts to inhibit PC following positive interactions.

Conclusions: Results highlight the need to account for important moderators like the valence of social interaction when looking at the physiological consequences of maladaptive emotion regulation strategies.     

Is emotion regulation associated with cancer-related psychological symptoms?

Objectives: This study examined the cross-sectional and prospective relationships between subjective (cognitive reappraisal, expressive suppression and experiential avoidance) and objective (high-frequency heart rate variability [HF-HRV]) measures of emotion regulation (ER) and a set of psychological symptoms (anxiety, depression, fear of cancer recurrence [FCR], insomnia, fatigue, pain, and cognitive impairments) among women receiving radiation therapy for non-metastatic breast cancer.

Design: Eighty-one participants completed a battery of self-report scales within 10 days before the start of radiotherapy (T1) and within 10 days after its end (T2; approximately 6 weeks after T1). HF-HRV at rest was measured at T1.

Results: Canonical correlation analyses revealed that higher levels of experiential avoidance and expressive suppression were cross-sectionally associated with higher levels of all symptoms, except pain, at T1 and at T2 (both p’s?<?0.0001). Higher levels of suppression and reappraisal at T1 were marginally associated with reduced FCR and with increased depression and fatigue between T1 and T2 (p?=?0.07). HF-HRV was not associated with symptoms cross-sectionally or prospectively.

Conclusions: Although preliminary, these results are consistent with the hypothesis that maladaptive ER strategies, assessed subjectively, may cross-sectionally act as a transdiagnostic mechanism underlying several cancer-related psychological symptoms.     

A multimethod assessment to study the relationship between rumination and gender differences

Rumination is described as the propensity of responding to distress by repetitively and passively focusing on one’s negative emotions, and failures, and their consequences (Nolen-Hoeksema, 1991, 1998). Therefore, given that rumination is characterized especially by difficulties in managing and controlling negative emotional states, it is considered as the most common (impaired) emotional regulation strategy, and can be defined as an emotional process related to a repetitive, undesired, and past-oriented negatively inclined thought (Compare, Zarbo, Shonin, Van Gordon, & Marconi, 2014; Smith & Alloy, 2009). Recent evidence suggested that because of problems related to monitoring of negative states, rumination may be associated with exaggerated physiological reactivity relative to demands from the environment, and to some difficulties in attentional control abilities. The current study aimed at deepening our understanding of the role that a maladaptive emotional regulation strategy – such as rumination – might play in physiological response changes and in engaging dysfunctional attentional strategies. We used a multimethod assessment including self-reports (i.e., Rumination and Reflection Questionnaire, and Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale), physiological measures, (i.e., Heart Rate Variability recording), and attention tasks (i.e., Stroop Task) in order to examine the multiple aspects of rumination across genders. Sixty-eight individuals (30 males and 38 females) were administered DERS −16, RRQ and, soon after them, the Stroop task. Immediately after completing the Stroop task (T1), participants were exposed to a three-phase, baseline-stress-recovery experimental paradigm while their heart rate variability (HRV) was recorded. After completing the experimental paradigm, Stroop stimuli were presented for the second time (T2), in order to examine possible intra-individual differences between the two performances in the Stroop task. Our findings showed that rumination was higher in females than in males, but in men it appeared to be strongly associated with an overall impaired emotional regulation. However, no gender differences in rumination and emotion dysregulation were found when inspecting physiological data. The current study aims to contribute towards a better understanding which emotion regulation strategies and which physiological mechanisms are associated with rumination.     

Transfer of conditioned fear and avoidance: Concurrent measurement of arousal and operant responding

A reversal design was employed for the analysis of transfer of fear and avoidance through equivalence classes. Two 5-member equivalence classes (A1-B1-C1-D1-E1 and A2-B2-C2-D2-E2) were established. Then B1 and C1 were paired with shock (CS+) and served as S^Ds in avoidance training (B2 and C2 were trained as CS-/S^∆s for avoidance). Further avoidance training followed with D1 and E1 (as S^Ds) and D2 and E2 (as S^∆s), with the first presentation of each of these stimuli serving as the first transfer test. Afterwards, aversive conditioning contingencies were reversed: B2 and D2 were paired with shock and trained as S^Ds for avoidance, B1 and D1 were presented without shock (CS-/S^∆s). Transfer was tested again with C1, E1, C2 and E2. This reversal was implemented to allow for the within-subject replication of transfer effects upon changes in the function of only a subset of each class's elements. Avoidance (key presses) and conditioned fear (skin conductance and heart rate) were simultaneously measured. Results show a clear transfer effect for avoidance, with between- and within-subject replications. For physiological measures, transfer effects in the first test could only be imputed on the basis of group-based inferential statistical analysis. Evidence for between-subject replication was weaker, with only a limited proportion of participants meeting the individual criterion for transfer.     

The relationship between resting heart rate and aggression in males is racially variant

Although resting heart rate is thought to be a generalizable risk factor for aggression, very little research has examined whether this relationship varies by race. We addressed this limitation using longitudinal data from the Pittsburgh Youth Study. Current data are from 197 men who participated in a teenage biosocial study (mean age = 15.7 years) and adult follow-up study (mean age = 32.1 years). Teenage resting heart rate interacted with race to predict teenage and adult aggression. The relationship between heart rate and aggression was significant in White, but not in Black males. To our knowledge, this is the first study to find that the relationship between resting heart rate and aggression is racially variant, suggesting that resting heart rate may not be a generalizable biomarker for conduct problems. At an intervention-level, findings could contribute to the development of more accurate risk assessment tools that take into account racial variance in risk factors.     

Subjective and physiological responses to the 35% carbon dioxide challenge in healthy and non-clinical control populations: a meta-analysis and systematic review

Background/Rationale: The carbon dioxide (CO₂) challenge has been reliably used in laboratory settings as a panicogen in clinical populations. However, the magnitude of these effects on healthy and non-clinical control populations are not clear. The aim of this meta-analysis and systematic review is to provide quantitative estimates of those effects. Specifically, the current paper will evaluate the relative efficacy of the CO₂ challenge in eliciting both subjective and physiological arousal in healthy and non-clinical control populations.

Method: A total of 16 articles with 35 independent samples were included in the meta-analysis, while 37 studies with 74 independent samples were included in the systematic review.

Results: Both the meta-analysis and systematic review found the CO₂ challenge to elicit an increase in subjective distress via self-reported anxiety and fear. Physiological responses via blood pressure and heart rate were heterogeneous in studies sampled, with no significant changes observed across studies. Moderator analyses revealed the variations in findings may be attributed to participant screening and invasive sampling.

Discussion: Findings highlight the CO₂ challenge as a useful tool in the provocation of subjective distress. Implications for both the use of the CO₂ challenge and its anticipated effects in healthy and non-clinical control populations are discussed.