Inhibition of the LH Surge by Restraint Stress in Cyclic Rats: Studies on the Role of GABAA and GABAB Receptors

There is evidence that stress can alter the activity in the brain of gamma-aminobutyricacid (GABA), a neurotransmitter that has been implicated in the regulation of LH secretion. In the present study the role of GABA in the restraint stress-induced inhibition of the LH surge was investigated in the intact cyclic rat. Intracerebroventricular (icv) administration of the GABAA receptor agonist muscimol (0.1, 0.5 or 1 μg) 5 min before the presumed onset of the pro-oestrous LH surge (at 0900 h) caused a dose dependent suppression of the surge. A single dose of the GABAB receptor agonist baclofen (1 μg; icv) injected at 0855 h postponed the onset of the LH surge, and repeated injections at 0855 and 1130 h suppressed the surge. These data indicate that GABA-ergic activity in the brain can inhibit the LH surge in the cyclic rat via GABAA and GABAB receptors. Pro-oestrous rats were subjected to 5 hrs of restraint starting at 0855 h. Pretreatment with the GABAA receptor antagonist bicuculine (1 μg; icv) at 0840, 0940 and 1040 h or pretreatment with the GABAB receptor antagonist phaclofen (10 μg; icv) at 0840 h were ineffective in preventing the restraint-induced inhibition of the LH surge. The results suggest that GABAA and GABAB receptors are not involved in the inhibitory effect of restraint stress on the LH surge.     

Field dependence and physical ability.

Field-dependence scores of professional dancers, highly skilled performers in tennis, soccer, cricket and track and field athletics, medium-ability level players in the same four sports and a group of non-game players were measured using a rod and frame test. Results showed that highly skilled tennis players were significantly more field-dependent than top-class track and field athletes and medium-ability level tennis players.     

Integrating experiential-phenomenological methods and neuroscience to study neural mechanisms of pain and consciousness

Understanding the nature of pain at least partly depends on recognizing its inherent first person epistemology and on using a first person experiential and third person experimental approach to study it. This approach may help to understand some of the neural mechanisms of pain and consciousness by integrating experiential-phenomenological methods with those of neuroscience. Examples that approximate this strategy include studies of second pain summation and its relationship to neural activities and brain imaging-psychophysical studies wherein sensory and affective qualities of pain are correlated with cerebral cortical activity. The experiential paradigm of offers the possibility of improved designs and methods for investigating neural mechanisms underlying pain and consciousness.     

Empirical support for the gender‐as‐culture hypothesis.

This investigation provided a test of the gender‐as‐culture, or ‘two cultures’, hypothesis proposed by Maltz and Borker (1982) to explain male/female differences in language use. Analysis of previous empirical investigations located 16 language features that had consistently been shown to indicate communicator gender and these were tested within the framework of the four dimensions of intercultural style proposed by Gudykunst and Ting‐Toomey (1998): direct versus indirect, succinct versus elaborate, personal versus contextual and instrumental versus affective. Study 1 provided preliminary evidence supporting the hypothesized language‐feature‐by‐dimension relationships (e.g., male directives were rated more direct and female uncertainty verbs more indirect). In Study 2, respondents rated multiple exemplars of the 16 language features, as well as 16 contrasting foil sentences, on all four dimensions, finding that nearly all of the variables fell on the hypothesized intercultural dimensions. In Study 3, respondents rated four sets of naturally occurring target sentences and matching foil sentences, representing all language variables, on their appropriate intercultural dimensions in order to establish dimensional polarity. Results across the three studies supported the hypothesized language feature‐by‐stylistic dimension relationship for 15 of the 16 variables: The 6 male language features were rated as more direct, succinct, personal, and instrumental, whereas 9 of the 10 female features were perceived as more indirect, elaborate, and affective. The findings demonstrate that gender preferences for language use function in ways that are consistent with stylistic preferences that distinguish national cultures.     

Anticipatory Processing and Post‐Event Processing in Social Anxiety Disorder: An Update on the Literature

Two repetitive thinking processes that have been proposed in prominent maintenance models of social anxiety disorder (SAD) are anticipatory processing and post‐event processing. Research into these two processes has steadily increased over the last 20 years. This review highlights the main lines of existing research on anticipatory processing and post‐event processing, including studies on the nature of these processes, their association with social anxiety, the predictors, and consequences of these processes, as well as how these processes respond to treatments for SAD. The review also highlights some of the conceptual and methodological issues that have prevented the literature on anticipatory processing and post‐event processing from being more integrated and focused. Finally, the review draws together some new directions in terms of theory and research to further advance the field.     

Some general laws of human emotion: Interrelationships between intensities of desire, expectation, and emotional feeling

Two experiments were performed to determine how desires and expectations interact to influence the intensities of emotional feelings. The first experiment required participants to respond to their imagined intensities of desire and expectation in two hypothetical situations, (1) anticipating different probabilities of receiving money (2) anticipating the possibility of different durations of continuous rain combined with different probabilities of rain occurring. Participants responded by producing line lengths to desire and feeling, a form of cross-modality matching. Feeling intensity but not desire intensity increased as a negatively accelerating power function of expectation for the positive approach goal of receiving money (F =KE^0.5) and both desire and feeling were negatively accelerating power functions of the hypothetical amount of money presented (F=K$⁴; D=K$⁴). Feeling intensity but not desire intensity increased as a positively accelerating function of expectation for the negative avoidance goal of anticipating different amounts of rain (F=KE^1.9) and both desire and feeling were negatively accelerating functions of amount of rain (F=KR^0.9; D=KR_0.9). The second experiment required participants to make visual analogue scale responses to desire, expectation, and emotional feeling intensities in ordinary life situations. Similar to Experiment 1, feeling intensity but not desire intensity increased as a negatively accelerating function of expectation for positive approach goals (F=KE^0.6) and as a positively accelerating function of expectation for negative avoidance goals (F=KE^2.0). Functional interrelationships found in both experiments were fit to the general equations F=K₁D+K₂DE^0.5 for positive approach goals and F=K₁D+K₂DE^2.0 for negative avoidance goals. Both equations have the same general form and indicate that desire and expectation have a multiplicative interaction with respect to their influence on emotional feeling intensity. Both functions