Prospective and concurrent correlates of emotion perception in psychotic disorders: A naturalistic,longitudinal study of neurocognition,affective blunting and avolition

This naturalistic study investigated longitudinal and cross‐sectional symptomatic and neurocognitive correlates of social cognition indexed by emotion perception. Participants were 31 persons admitted to a psychiatric emergency ward due to acute psychosis. Positive and negative (i.e., affective blunting and avolition) symptoms were assessed at baseline and 12‐month follow‐up using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale. Participants completed neuropsychological assessments with alternative versions of the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status at baseline and at 12‐month follow‐up. Emotion perception was measured using the Face/Voice Emotion Test at 12‐month follow‐up. Correlational analyses (Spearman's rho) revealed strong and statistically significant associations between neurocognition and emotion perception (baseline r = 0.58, follow‐up r = 0.43). Associations between positive symptoms and emotion perception were weak or non‐existent (baseline r = 0.13, follow‐up r  =  –0.01). Emotion perception was moderately, but not significantly, associated with affective blunting at follow‐up (r = 0.33), but not at baseline (r = 0.21). The association with avolition was non‐existent (baseline r  =  –0.05, follow‐up r = 0.01). This study supports the notion that emotion perception has neurocognitive correlates. The cross‐sectional trend level association with affective blunting suggests that the ability to perceive emotions might be related to, but dissociable from the ability to express emotions.     

Altered working memory capacity for social threat words in high versus low social anxiety

ABSTRACT

Background and objectives: Differences in working memory capacity (WMC) have been suggested in individuals with high levels of social anxiety (SA). Specifically, these individuals may preferentially maintain socially threatening material in working memory.

Design and methods: We adapted the digit span task to a series of word span tasks. We assessed WMC for lists of words that varied in terms of their threat-relatedness, in individuals either high or low in SA.

Results: Experiment 1 revealed reduced WMC for socially threatening words in those with high compared to low SA. Importantly, this relative reduction in WMC was driven by the low SA group showing expanded capacity for socially threatening words relative to neutral or generally threatening words. Furthermore, reductions in WMC for social threat were uniquely predicted by SA, and not by other theoretically related constructs such as state general anxiety, trait general anxiety, or depression. Experiment 2 showed that the semantic similarity of the words within each list was not responsible for the differences in WMC between list type or SA group.

Conclusions: Our findings suggest that individuals high in SA may fail to upregulate WMC for social information due to the activation of, or rumination upon, socially threatening concepts.     

Attention to faces and gaze-following in social anxiety: preliminary evidence from a naturalistic eye-tracking investigation

Social attentional biases are a core component of social anxiety disorder, but research has not yet determined their direction due to methodological limitations. Here we present preliminary findings from a novel, dynamic eye-tracking paradigm allowing spatial–temporal measurement of attention and gaze-following, a mechanism previously unexplored in social anxiety. 105 participants took part, with those high (N?=?27) and low (N?=?25) in social anxiety traits (HSA and LSA respectively) entered into the analyses. Participants watched a video of an emotionally-neutral social scene, where two actors periodically shifted their gaze towards the periphery. HSA participants looked more at the actors’ faces during the initial 2s than the LSA group but there were no group differences in proportion of first fixations to the face or latency to first fixate the face, although HSA individuals’ first fixations to the face were shorter. No further differences in eye movements were found, nor in gaze-following behaviour, although these null effects could potentially result from the relatively small sample. Findings suggest attention is biased towards faces in HSA individuals during initial scene inspection, but that overt gaze-following may be impervious to individual differences in social anxiety. Future research should seek to replicate these effects.     

社会排斥的心理行为特征及其脑机制

社会排斥损害个体基本的归属需要, 对个体的心理和生理会造成严重影响。根据需要威胁时间模型, 社会排斥后的心理和行为特征可以分为三个阶段。社交媒体的发展使社会排斥出现了新的心理和行为特征。近年来功能性磁共振成像研究发现, 突显网络和默认网络等网络中的一些核心脑区都参与了社会排斥各阶段的情绪和认知加工过程。未来研究应以需要威胁时间模型为基础, 以脑网络方法为手段, 探索社会排斥神经机制, 预测排斥后的心理和行为反应模式。     

公平感对社会认知的影响:经济因素的调节作用

目的及方法:基于中国综合社会调查2010年数据,采用多层结构方程模型,探究中国民众公平感对社会认知的作用,及经济因素在其中的调节效应。研究结果:第一,公平感越高,则社会冲突感越低,外在政治效能感越高,越倾向于对社会不平等进行内部归因,即对于社会的整体认知更加积极; 第二,经济因素能调节公平感与社会不平等内归因的关系,具体而言,经济水平越低,则公平感对于社会不平等的内部归因正向预测作用越大。     

心理理论研究的进展及展望:来自文献计量学的证据

心理理论作为个体重要的社会认知能力之一,从1978年被提出以来一直备受关注。值此心理理论研究发展40年之际,研究试图借助文献计量学的方法,从宏观的视角呈现1999年到2018年心理理论研究的状况。结果表明,近二十年来心理理论的文献年发表量保持线性增长。文献的主题从关注心理理论的发展和测量,逐渐过渡到将心理理论放在社会认知的框架中进行探讨。研究同时以发表文献数量为指标,探讨了该领域的代表性杂志和重要作者。结合现有心理理论研究的成果,文章最后从心理理论的研究问题领域、相关脑区、毕生发展、异常发展和人工心理理论的建构几个方面进行了延伸讨论。     

入学过渡期高中新生大五人格与主观社会地位变化轨迹的关系：基于潜变量增长模型的分析

为了考察入学过渡期高中新生主观社会地位（subjective social status, SSS）的变化轨迹及人格在其中的作用,本研究对546名高一新生进行了历时4个月的4次追踪测试。基于潜变量增长模型的分析结果显示：（1）SSS呈阶段化线性增长,且个体间差异显著;（2）人格中的外倾性、宜人性、责任心和开放性均能显著预测SSS的初始水平;（3）外倾性、宜人性和神经质对SSS的第一阶段变化速度有显著预测作用。结果表明,SSS会在新生入学后1个月内初步形成,且人格与其变化轨迹有关。     

新冠疫情相关压力对青少年心理健康损害的研究进展

新型冠状病毒肺炎疫情相关压力使得全球青少年焦虑、抑郁、创伤后应激障碍的患病率和严重程度增加。对国内外相关文献综述发现,青少年面临的新型冠状病毒肺炎疫情相关压力源包括对感染与患病的恐惧、日常生活方式的剧变、防控隔离与社会孤立、社会支持系统遭到破坏等。这些压力源与个体易感性因素和社会脆弱性因素交互作用,协同影响青少年的心理健康状况。未来研究可抓取疫情不同阶段青少年心理反应的纵向数据,探查诸多压力源的累积叠加效应,开展社会脆弱性群体与普通青少年间的比较性研究,为制定个性化的心理干预措施和有效的公共卫生政策提供新的思路。

     

药物认知增强剂使用的伦理思辨

为提升专注力、记忆力等认知能力,健康人群以“超说明书用药”方式摄入延缓衰老或修复脑损伤造成的认知能力衰退的药品。该种认知增强技术的应用需要通过“伦理之前”的技术可行性审核和“技术之后”的生命伦理辨析才能初步确认其道德容许性。目前针对药物认知增强剂使用的担忧主要来自新药的疗效与风险尚不明确、市场主导下的药物获取渠道难以管控,以及亟待完善的社会规范。因此,当下药物认知增强技术的合理应用需强化政府对个体和商业力量的监管,重视经验数据的获取,以及科研机构对用药风险性的进一步研究与科学指导。

     

Influence of social stigma on subjective well‐being of persons with albinism in Ghana

Previous studies have shown that social stigma adversely affects quality of life. However, little research has assessed the influence of social stigma on subjective well‐being (SWB) of persons with albinism (PWA) in Ghana, and the role that perceived social support plays in this relationship. This study investigated the SWB of PWA in Ghana. Participants (N = 105) completed a survey questionnaire on social stigma, social support, and SWB. Results from structural equation modelling showed a significant negative association between social stigma and SWB. Perceived social support partially mediated the negative effect that social stigma has on SWB, with significant other support emerging as a reliable predictor of SWB in this sample. Results suggest that the population with albinism in Ghana is experiencing high levels of social stigma, which is adversely affecting its SWB. Social stigma seems to be preventing PWA from being accorded the needed social support by family and friends. The results highlight the importance of designing stigma‐reduction educational interventions that target social stigma at family, community, and societal levels.