Aesthetic appreciation of poetry correlates with ease of processing in event-related potentials

Rhetorical theory suggests that rhythmic and metrical features of language substantially contribute to persuading, moving, and pleasing an audience. A potential explanation of these effects is offered by “cognitive fluency theory,” which stipulates that recurring patterns (e.g., meter) enhance perceptual fluency and can lead to greater aesthetic appreciation. In this article, we explore these two assertions by investigating the effects of meter and rhyme in the reception of poetry by means of event-related brain potentials (ERPs). Participants listened to four versions of lyrical stanzas that varied in terms of meter and rhyme, and rated the stanzas for rhythmicity and aesthetic liking. The behavioral and ERP results were in accord with enhanced liking and rhythmicity ratings for metered and rhyming stanzas. The metered and rhyming stanzas elicited smaller N400/P600 ERP responses than their nonmetered, nonrhyming, or nonmetered and nonrhyming counterparts. In addition, the N400 and P600 effects for the lyrical stanzas correlated with aesthetic liking effects (metered–nonmetered), implying that modulation of the N400 and P600 has a direct bearing on the aesthetic appreciation of lyrical stanzas. We suggest that these effects are indicative of perceptual-fluency-enhanced aesthetic liking, as postulated by cognitive fluency theory.     

Trajectories of scholastic well-being: The effect of achievement emotions and instructional quality in the first year of secondary school (fifth grade)

Social Psychology of Education - Due to their connections with positive educational outcomes, the maintenance of good health and scholastic well-being are highly relevant topics. However, to date,...     

Positive emotion impedes emotional but not cognitive conflict processing

Cognitive control enables successful goal-directed behavior by resolving a conflict between opposing action tendencies, while emotional control arises as a consequence of emotional conflict processing such as in irony. While negative emotion facilitates both cognitive and emotional conflict processing, it is unclear how emotional conflict processing is affected by positive emotion (e.g., humor). In 2 EEG experiments, we investigated the role of positive audiovisual target stimuli in cognitive and emotional conflict processing. Participants categorized either spoken vowels (cognitive task) or their emotional valence (emotional task) and ignored the visual stimulus dimension. Behaviorally, a positive target showed no influence on cognitive conflict processing, but impeded emotional conflict processing. In the emotional task, response time conflict costs were higher for positive than for neutral targets. In the EEG, we observed an interaction of emotion by congruence in the P200 and N200 ERP components in emotional but not in cognitive conflict processing. In the emotional conflict task, the P200 and N200 conflict effect was larger for emotional than neutral targets. Thus, our results show that emotion affects conflict processing differently as a function of conflict type and emotional valence. This suggests that there are conflict- and valence-specific mechanisms modulating executive control.     

Aggravation of DSS-induced colitis after chronic subordinate colony (CSC) housing is partially mediated by adrenal mechanisms

Chronic subordinate colony housing (CSC) is a relevant chronic psycho-social stressor for male mice. Here, we investigated effects of CSC on the severity of dextran sulphate sodium (DSS)-induced colitis and the involvement of adrenal mechanisms. After 19 days of CSC, male C57BL/6 mice were treated with 1% DSS (8 days). After 8 days, inflammatory shortening of the colon and the histological inflammation score were increased in CSC mice. Additionally, the increased secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines by mesenteric lymph node cells found on day 2 and 4 of DSS treatment was down-regulated in CSC mice on day 8 of DSS treatment, paralleled by an increase in plasma corticosterone. In contrast, in unstressed controls, elevation of cytokine secretion was delayed and only found on day 8 of DSS treatment, associated with a prompt rise in plasma corticosterone. To reveal adrenal mechanisms in CSC-induced effects on colitis, mice were adrenalectomized, exposed to CSC and treated with DSS (8 days). In adrenalectomized CSC mice, the severity of DSS-induced colitis was reduced, as body weight loss, shortening of colon, histological damage score, and cytokine secretion from mesenteric lymph node cells were diminished compared with sham-operated CSC mice. In conclusion, exposure to chronic psycho-social stress increases the severity of acute DSS colitis, an effect which is, at least partly, mediated by adrenal mechanisms.     

Chronic psychosocial stress increases the risk for inflammation-related colon carcinogenesis in male mice

Patients with inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs) have a higher risk of developing colorectal cancer (CRC) than the general population. Furthermore, chronic psychosocial stress increases the likelihood of developing IBD and multiple types of malignant neoplasms, including CRC. Here, for the first time, we investigate the effects of chronic psychosocial stress in male mice on an artificially induced CRC, by employing the chronic subordinate colony (CSC) housing paradigm in combination with the reliable azoxymethane (AOM)/dextran sodium sulfate (DSS) CRC model. Colonoscopy revealed that CSC mice showed accelerated macroscopic suspect lesions. In addition, more CSC mice developed low-grade dysplasia (LGD) and/or high-grade dysplasia (HGD) in the colonic tissue compared to the single-housed control mice (SHC). CSC mice showed an increased number of Ki67+ and a decreased number of terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling epithelial cells in colonic tissue. Colonic liver receptor homolog-1 (LRH-1), cyclooxygenase II (COXII), tumor necrosis factor, forkhead box P3 (FoxP3) mRNA as well as colonic ?-catenin, COXII, and LRH-1 protein expression were also increased in CSC compared with SHC mice. Although the number of CD4+ Th cells was increased, a tendency toward a decreased colonic interferon-γ (IFN-γ) mRNA expression was observed. Furthermore, despite an increased percentage of CD3+ cells and CD3+/FoxP3+ double-positive cells within mesenteric lymph node cells of CSC mice, IFN-γ secretion from these cells was unaffected. Altogether, our results suggest that chronic psychosocial stress increases the risk for AOM/DSS-induced and, thus, inflammation-related CRC. Finally, assessment of additional time points may test whether the shift from tumor-protective Th1 cell to regulatory T-cell immunity represents a consequence of increased carcinogenesis or a causal factor involved in its development.     

Effects of a companion dog on associations of danger and threat with oriental-looking targets

In the current study we extend previous findings on the shooter bias toward targets with Arab ethnicity. In an adapted shooter task, we presented stereotypically oriental-looking targets without explicit symbols of Islam (e.g., a turban) and additionally tested if presenting a “harmless” companion dog, together with Arab versus White targets, would affect the shooter bias. Participants responded faster and made fewer errors for armed Arab than for armed White targets. Moreover, compared to the “neutral” no dog condition, the presence of a dog triggered fewer false alarms for White than for Arab targets and slowed down (correct) responses in general. Implications and potential underlying mechanisms are discussed.