Psychological skills and mindfulness training effects on the psychological wellbeing of undergraduate music students: An exploratory study

This study explored the efficacy of psychological skills and mindfulness training intervention on the psychological wellbeing of undergraduate music students. Participants were undergraduate music students (n = 36) from the Department of Music at a South African university, 21 of whom were elected to take the psychological skills and mindfulness training intervention. Data on their self-reported psychological wellbeing, psychological skills, mindfulness and performance anxiety levels were collected pre-and post-intervention. The analysis applied non-parametric procedures to determine changes in students’ psychological wellbeing after the seven-week intervention programme. Findings suggest improvements in psychological wellbeing, psychological skills, mindfulness and performance anxiety with training. Psychological skills and mindfulness training may have benefits to the psychological wellbeing of music students.     

Changes in Behaviour and Body Weight Following a Single or Double Social Defeat in Rats

In a series of experiments, the consequences of a single and double social conflict on various behaviours and body weight in rats were studied. Animals were subjected to social defeat by placing them into the territory of an aggressive male conspecific for one hour, either once, or twice at the same time on two consecutive days. To assess the consequences of social defeat, three experiments were performed with independent groups of rats. In the first experiment, an open field test was performed two days after the last conflict. Locomotor activity was strongly reduced after social defeat. There were no differences between the single and double defeat group. To assess the effects of social defeat on subsequent social behaviour, a second experiment was performed in which experimental animals were confronted with an unfamiliar non-aggressive rat two days after a single or double conflict. Social defeat resulted in a reduction of social contact with the unfamiliar conspecific. There was no difference between the single and double conflict group. In the third experiment, the effects of social conflict on food intake, body weight and saccharine preference were measured. Food intake was not affected after a single conflict, but in the double conflict group food intake was decreased for several days. Body weight gain was decreased after both single and double social defeat. The decrease was stronger in the double conflict group. Water intake and saccharine preference were not significantly affected. This study revealed that social defeat in rats causes pronounced changes in various behaviours and body weight. Different aspects of behaviour are differentially affected by defeat with respect to the magnitude and time course of the changes induced. Moreover, different behavioural parameters are differentially sensitive to repetition of the stressor.     

Water temperature determines neurochemical and behavioural responses to forced swim stress: an in vivo microdialysis and biotelemetry study in rats

Forced swimming is a behavioural stress model increasingly used to investigate the neurocircuitry of stress responses. Although forced swim stress clearly is a psychological stressor (anxiety, panic), its physical aspects are often neglected. There are indications that behavioural and neurochemical responses to swim stress depend on the water temperature. Thus, we investigated the responsiveness of hippocampal serotonergic neurotransmission (important in the coordination of stress responses), and of behaviour and core body temperature to forced swimming at different water temperatures (19, 25 and 35 degrees C). In vivo microdialysis and biotelemetry in freely-behaving rats were used. Dialysates were analysed for serotonin (5-HT) and its metabolite 5-HIAA (5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid) by HPLC with electrochemical detection. Forced swimming in water at 25 and 19 degrees C decreased core body temperature by 8 and 12 degrees C, respectively. A rapid and pronounced increase in hippocampal 5-HT and 5-HIAA was found in rats that swam at 35 degrees C, whereas biphasic responses in 5-HT and 5-HIAA were observed at 25 and 19 degrees C. Also swim stress behaviour and post-stress home cage behaviour depended on the water temperature. Comparing the serotonergic and core body temperature changes revealed that a combination of two different 5-HT and 5-HIAA responses seems to shape the neurotransmitter response. Swimming-induced increases in hippocampal extracellular concentrations of 5-HT and 5-HIAA occurred at all water temperatures, but these increases were temporarily quenched, or concentrations were transistently decreased, when core body temperature fell below 31 degrees C in water at 25 or 19 degrees C. These data demonstrate that water temperature is a key factor determining the impact of forced swim stress on behaviour and neurochemistry, and underscore that changes in these parameters should be interpreted in the light of the autonomic responses induced by this stressor.     

Left hemispheric interference with nonverbal performance in aphasics: comparison with data from split-brain studies

Two nonverbal tasks (Nebes' Figural Unification Test and Arc-Circle Matching Task) were given to 10 aphasic patients and 10 normal controls. Observations in split-brain patients have shown that the right hemisphere performs almost normally on these tasks while the left hemisphere fails completely. Left and right hand performances of aphasics and controls were compared with those of split-brain patients as reported in the literature. In the Figural Unification Test the aphasics' left hand performance was significantly poorer than that of split-brain patients. This is interpreted as an effect of left hemispheric interference with right hemispheric nonverbal performance. The lack of a similar impairment of left hand performance in the Arc-Circle Matching Task suggests that this interference is only provoked by tasks which, due to the possible verbalization of stimulus material, tend to stimulate left hemispheric activity.