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The experience of empathy for pain is underpinned by sensorimotor and affective dimensions which, although interconnected, are at least in part behaviorally and neurally distinct. Spinal cord injuries (SCI) induce a massive, below‐lesion level, sensorimotor body–brain disconnection. This condition may make it possible to test whether sensorimotor deprivation alters specific dimensions of empathic reactivity to observed pain. To explore this issue, we asked SCI people with paraplegia and healthy controls to observe videos of painful or neutral stimuli administered to a hand (intact) or a foot (deafferented). The stimuli were displayed by means of a virtual reality set‐up and seen from a first person (1PP) or third person (3PP) visual perspective. A number of measures were recorded ranging from explicit behaviors like explicit verbal reports on the videos, to implicit measures of muscular activity (like EMG from the corrugator and zygomatic muscles that may represent a proxy of sensorimotor empathy) and of autonomic reactivity (like the electrodermal response and Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia that may represent a general proxy of affective empathy). While no across group differences in explicit verbal reports about the pain stimuli were found, SCI people exhibited reduced facial muscle reactivity to the stimuli applied to the foot (but not the hand) seen from the 1PP. Tellingly, the corrugator activity correlated with SCI participants' neuropathic pain. There were no across group differences in autonomic reactivity suggesting that SCI lesions may affect sensorimotor dimensions connected to empathy for pain. To explore how sensorimotor deprivation affects empathic reactivity we recorded facial muscle (FM) and autonomic reactivity (AR) in controls and people with spinal cord injury (SCI) watching painful stimuli applied to a virtual, intact (hand) or deprived (foot) body part. SCI participants displayed reduced FM when viewing foot stimuli. AR was not differentially affected by group, stimulus or body part indicating that SCI affects sensorimotor rather than affective pain empathy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This study evaluates the heart rate variability (HRV), body composition parameters, physical activity level means by International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ), and sleep quality [means by Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI)] in non-obese, overweight, and obese individuals. Methods: 51 adults were included in this study. The age of the participants ranged from 18 to 39 years old, and they underwent vital signs measurement, nutritional status classification means body mass index (BMI), and body composition through the bioelectrical impedance (BIA), questionnaires (IPAQ and PSQI), and HRV measurement. Results: The most influenced body composition variables in the normal weight, overweight, and obese groups were age, body weight, BMI, resting metabolic rate, visceral fat level (VFL), skeletal muscle mass, body fat mass (BFM), body fat percentage, and minerals with p < 0.05, for all comparisons. The stress index (SI) was the HRV variable most influenced by different levels of BMI p < 0.05. The PSQI was more influenced by body water, lean mass, fat-free mass, and proteins, with p < 0.05. Furthermore, SI was the only HRV index that negatively correlated (r = − 0.395; p < 0.05) with physical activity (PA) and BFM (r = − 0.409; p < 0.05). Conclusion: Obesity increases stress and sleep disturbance and is reduced with increased PA levels. In addition, PA level was negatively associated with SI and BFM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background While thermoregulatory behavior is critical for maintaining homeostasis, our knowledge of behavioral thermoeffectors in humid heat is limited compared to the control of autonomic thermoeffectors. The predictions that the frequency and duration of intensified humid heat events are expected to increase in the coming years underline this shortcoming. Therefore, this study aims to elucidate the activation of autonomic thermoregulatory responses and subjective thermal perceptions upon deciding to initiate thermal behavior in a hot and humid environment. Methods Ten young male adults participated in an experimental trial where local cooling was permitted at any time during the behavioral assessment during passive exposure to humid heat. The air temperature and relative humidity were kept at 33 $$^{\circ }$$ ∘ C and 80 $$\%$$ % , respectively. Skin temperatures, core body temperature (T $$_{\text {core}}$$ core ), and skin blood flow (forearm, upper arm, and upper back) were obtained 120 s preceding thermal behavior. Local sweat rate (forearm and upper arm) and subjective thermal perceptions (neck and whole-body) upon thermal behavior initiation were also recorded. Results Mean skin temperature ( $${\overline{\mathrm {T}}}_{\text {sk}}$$ T ¯ sk ) and T $$_{\text {core}}$$ core increased prior to thermal behavior initiation (p $$=$$ = 0.002; p $$=$$ = 0.001). An increase in mean body temperature ( $${\overline{\mathrm {T}}}_{\text {body}}$$ T ¯ body ) was also observed (p < 0.001). However, the initiation of thermal behavior is not preceded by an increase in skin blood flow (p $$\ge$$ ≥ 0.154) and local sweat rate (p $$\ge$$ ≥ 0.169). An increase in thermal discomfort and skin wetness perception was observed (p $$\le$$ ≤ 0.048; p $$\le$$ ≤ 0.048), while thermal sensation did not differ from the baseline (p $$\ge$$ ≥ 0.357). Conclusion These findings suggest that when given the opportunity to behaviorally thermoregulate in a hot and humid environment, changes in skin blood flow and sweat rate are not required for thermal behavior to be initiated in resting humans. Moreover, an increase in $${\overline{\mathrm {T}}}_{\text {sk}}$$ T ¯ sk and T $$_{\text {core}}$$ core , which appears to cause an increase in thermal discomfort, precedes thermal behavior. In addition, an increase in $${\overline{\mathrm {T}}}_{\text {body}}$$ T ¯ body leading up to thermal behavior initiation was observed, suggesting that changes in $${\overline{\mathrm {T}}}_{\text {body}}$$ T ¯ body rather than $${\overline{\mathrm {T}}}_{\text {sk}}$$ T ¯ sk and T $$_{\text {core}}$$ core alone mediate thermal behavior in humid heat. Collectively, the results of this study appear to support the hypothesis that the temporal recruitment of autonomic thermoeffectors follows an orderly manner based on their physiological cost.

A single session of high-intensity exercise promotes exaggerated increases in sympathetic cardiac activity, which may increase the risk of acute cardiovascular events. However, it is not clear if similar responses occur after an FT session. Thus, this study aimed to: (1) analyze the acute autonomic responses to a single FT session in healthy adults; and (2) compare the autonomic responses to two different orders of exercise during a FT session. Twenty participants completed three experimental sessions in a random order: no exercise/control (C) or FT with different exercise orders (FT1 and FT2). The FT bout consisted of four phases including warm-up, two phases neuromuscular and another with high-intensity interval training. Linear [time–mean RR intervals and standard deviation of all RR intervals (SDNN)–and frequency domains–low frequency (LF) and high frequency (HF)] and non-linear parameters [Poincaré index (SD1/SD2 ratio) and Sample Entropy (SampEn)] of heart rate variability were collected before and 60-minutes after the experimental sessions. Data were analyzed by ANOVA with significance achieved at P < 0.05. Compared to the pre-exercise, RR Interval, SDNN, HF and SampEn decreased and LF and SD2/SD1 increased until 60 minutes after FT1 and FT2 (P < 0.05), while no change was found following C session (P > 0.05). Thus, in both FT sessions, all aforementioned parameters were different compared to the same post-exercise time point in the C session (P < 0.05). No differences were found between FT1 and FT2 (P > 0.05). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Psychological theories consider autonomic arousal to be a reinforcer for problem gambling. Structural characteristics such as near-misses, which are non-win events that come close to a real win, have been shown to elicit win-like responses while increasing motivation and gambling persistence. This study investigated the autonomic and subjective responses of young adults to different gambling outcomes. This study also investigated sex differences in autonomic and subjective responses to different gambling outcomes. Participants from Sweden (n = 270) performed a computerized slot machine task that produced wins, near-misses (before and after payline) and full-misses. Phasic measurements of heart rate (HR) and skin conductance responses (SCR) were recorded during gambling performance and ratings of perceived chance of winning, pleasure and motivation to play were collected following each gambling outcome. Autonomic responses differed across slot machine outcomes as indicated by HR and SCR. Compared with other gambling outcomes, near-misses elicited the largest HR accelerations, and they also elicited larger HR decelerations and SCRs relative to full-misses. Near-misses before and after payline elicited differential psychophysiological responses and subjective reports, suggesting different emotional processing of near-miss subtypes. Females showed increased SCRs and motivation following win outcomes compared with males. In conclusion, wins, near-misses and full-misses generate differential physiological and subjective responses among young adults. Autonomic responses to wins differed between male and female players, emphasizing the need to consider sex differences when investigating the role of autonomic arousal in gambling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bellovary, Bryanne N., Andrew D. Wells, Zachary J. Fennel, Jeremy B. Ducharme, Jonathan M. Houck, Trevor J. Mayschak, Ann L. Gibson, Scott N. Drum, and Christine M. Mermier. Could orthostatic stress responses predict acute mountain sickness susceptibility before high altitude travel? A pilot study. High Alt Med Biol. 24:19–26, 2023. Purpose: This study assessed head-up tilt (HUT) responses in relation to acute mountain sickness (AMS)-susceptibility during hypoxic exposure. Materials and Methods: Fifteen participants completed three lab visits: (1) protocol familiarization and cycle maximal oxygen consumption (VO2max) test; (2) HUT test consisting of supine rest for 20 minutes followed by 70° tilting for ≤40 minutes; and (3) 6 hours of hypobaric hypoxic exposure (4,572 m) where participants performed two 30-minute cycling bouts separated by 1 hour at a 50% VO2max workload within the first 3 hours and rested when not exercising. During HUT, systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure, heart rate (HR), and variability (blood pressure variability [BPV] and HR variability [HRV]) were measured continuously. The AMS scores were determined after 6 hours of exposure. Correlations determined relationships between HUT cardiovascular responses and AMS scores. Repeated-measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) assessed differences between those with and without AMS symptoms during HUT. Results: Higher AMS scores correlated with greater change in SBP variability (r = 0.52, p = 0.048) and blunted changes in HRV (root mean square of successive differences between normal heartbeats r = 0.81, p = 0.001, percentage of adjacent normal sinus intervals that differ by more than 50 milliseconds [pNN50] r = 0.87, p < 0.001) during HUT. A pNN50 interaction (p = 0.02) suggested elevated cardiac sympathetic activity at baseline and a blunted increase in cardiac sympathetic influence throughout HUT in those with AMS (pNN50 baseline: AMS = 26.2% ± 15.3%, no AMS = 51.0% ± 13.5%; first 3 minutes into HUT: AMS = 17.2% ± 19.1%, no AMS = 17.1% ± 10.9%; end of HUT: AMS = 6.2% ± 9.1%, no AMS 11.0% ± 10.0%). Conclusions: The results suggest autonomic responses via HUT differ in AMS-susceptible individuals. Changes in HRV and BPV during HUT may be a promising predictive measurement for AMS-susceptibility, but further research is needed for confirmation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: While thermoregulatory behavior is critical for maintaining homeostasis, our knowledge of behavioral thermoeffectors in humid heat is limited compared to the control of autonomic thermoeffectors. The predictions that the frequency and duration of intensified humid heat events are expected to increase in the coming years underline this shortcoming. Therefore, this study aims to elucidate the activation of autonomic thermoregulatory responses and subjective thermal perceptions upon deciding to initiate thermal behavior in a hot and humid environment. Methods: Ten young male adults participated in an experimental trial where local cooling was permitted at any time during the behavioral assessment during passive exposure to humid heat. The air temperature and relative humidity were kept at 33 ∘ C and 80 % , respectively. Skin temperatures, core body temperature (T core ), and skin blood flow (forearm, upper arm, and upper back) were obtained 120 s preceding thermal behavior. Local sweat rate (forearm and upper arm) and subjective thermal perceptions (neck and whole-body) upon thermal behavior initiation were also recorded. Results: Mean skin temperature ( T ¯ sk ) and T core increased prior to thermal behavior initiation (p = 0.002; p = 0.001). An increase in mean body temperature ( T ¯ body ) was also observed (p < 0.001). However, the initiation of thermal behavior is not preceded by an increase in skin blood flow (p ≥ 0.154) and local sweat rate (p ≥ 0.169). An increase in thermal discomfort and skin wetness perception was observed (p ≤ 0.048; p ≤ 0.048), while thermal sensation did not differ from the baseline (p ≥ 0.357). Conclusion: These findings suggest that when given the opportunity to behaviorally thermoregulate in a hot and humid environment, changes in skin blood flow and sweat rate are not required for thermal behavior to be initiated in resting humans. Moreover, an increase in T ¯ sk and T core , which appears to cause an increase in thermal discomfort, precedes thermal behavior. In addition, an increase in T ¯ body leading up to thermal behavior initiation was observed, suggesting that changes in T ¯ body rather than T ¯ sk and T core alone mediate thermal behavior in humid heat. Collectively, the results of this study appear to support the hypothesis that the temporal recruitment of autonomic thermoeffectors follows an orderly manner based on their physiological cost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is characterized by difficulties in social communication, social interactions, and repetitive behaviors. The earlier the diagnosis, the sooner the intervention therapy can begin, thus, making early diagnosis an important research goal. Technological innovations have tremendous potential to assist with early diagnosis and improve intervention programs. There is a limited understanding of the Wearable Technologies (WTs) currently available for autistic individuals, and how they measure functioning in this population. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this review is to identify advancement in wearable technologies used to monitor behavioral and physiological responses in the intervention of children with ASD. METHODS: A literature search was performed for English language articles and conference papers indexed in Science direct, PubMed, Web of science, Google scholar, ERIC, ProQuest and Cochrane in last five years (2017–2021), resulting in eighteen studies being reviewed. RESULTS: Wearable technology present a potential solution that can support and complement existing interventions. WTs measured a range of physiological and behavioural functions to objectively measure stereotypical motor movements, social function, communication, and emotion regulation in autistic youth in the context of a range of environments and activities. CONCLUSIONS: Advancement in technology that include behavioral and physiological response monitoring with wearable sensors provide the opportunity to acquire new understanding of the internal components of observable behavior of children with ASD. This could lead to better individualization of treatment and greater treatment effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction Autonomic arousal is believed to be an underlying reinforcer for problematic gambling behavior. Theories suggests that near-misses (outcomes falling just short of a true win) are structural characteristics affecting emotion and motivation while increasing gambling persistence. Objectives Psychophysiological responses to different outcomes in gambling were investigated in a community-based sample of young adults. Furthermore, sex differences in responses to different gambling outcomes were investigated. Methods Young adults (n=270) performed a simplified virtual slot machine producing wins, two types of near-misses (before/after payline) and full-misses, with simultaneous measurements of heart rate (HR) and skin conductance responses (SCR). Self-reports of perceived chance of winning, pleasure and motivation to play were given by the participants on each trial. Results Near-misses were associated with the largest HR acceleration compared to wins and full-misses, and larger HR deceleration and SCRs compared to full-misses. Differential autonomic and subjective reports were observed for near-misses subtypes, suggesting that near-misses are processed differently depending on their position before or after payline. Females showed larger SCR responses and increased motivation following wins compared to males. Conclusions Slot machine gambling outcomes elicit differential physiological and subjective responses in young adults. Specifically, near-misses produce larger autonomic responses compared to regular full-misses. However, near-misses are complex, multifaceted events producing various emotional responses depending on their characterization. Males and females respond differently to wins, highlighting the importance of considering sex differences in experimental research on autonomic responses in gambling. Disclosure No significant relationships.

Gestural communication allows providing information about thoughts and feelings, characterizing face-to-face interactions, also during non-verbal exchanges. In the present study, the autonomic responses and peripheral synchronization mechanisms of two individuals (encoder and decoder) were recorded simultaneously, through the use of biofeedback in hyperscanning, during two different experimental phases consisting in the observation (watching videos of gestures) and reproduction of positive and negative different types of gestures (affective, social and informative) supported by linguistic contexts. Therefore, the main aim of this study was focused on the analysis of simultaneous individuals' peripheral mechanisms during the performing of complex joint action, consisting of the observation (watching videos) and the reproduction of positive and negative social, affective, and informative gestures each supported by a linguistic script. Single-subject and inter-subject correlation analyses were conducted to observe individuals' autonomic responses and physiological synchronization. Single-subject results revealed an increase in emotional arousal, indicated by an increase in electrodermal activity (skin conductance level - SCL and response - SCR), during both the observation (watching videos) and reproduction of negative social and affective gestures contextualized by a linguistic context. Moreover, an increase of emotional engagement, expressed by an increase in heart rate (HR) activity, emerged in the encoder compare to the decoder during gestures reproduction (simulation of gestures). Inter-subject correlation results showed the presence of mirroring mechanisms, indicated by an increase in SCL, SCR, and HR synchronization, during the linguistic contexts and gesture observation (watching videos). Furthermore, an increase in SCL and SCR synchronization emerged during the observation (watching videos) and reproduction of negative social and affective gestures. Therefore, the present study allowed to obtain information on the mirroring mechanisms and physiological synchronization underlying the linguistic and gesture system during non-verbal interaction.

Depression is characterised by attentional bias to emotional information and dysregulated autonomic reactivity. Despite its relevance to understanding depressive mechanisms, the association between attentional bias and autonomic reactivity to emotional information remains poorly characterised. This study compared behavioural and autonomic responses to emotional images in 32 participants in whom subclinical depressive symptomatology was quantified using the Beck Depression Inventory. Pairs of emotional and neutral images (unpleasant-neutral, U-N; pleasant-neutral, P-N; neutral-neutral, N-N) were presented while attentional indices (eye movements) and autonomic activity (skin conductance responses, SCRs; heart rate, HR) were recorded. Results showed that all recorded ocular parameters indicated a preferential orientation and maintenance of attention to emotional images. SCRs were associated with a valence effect on fixation latency: lower fixation latency to pleasant stimuli leads to lower SCRs whereas the opposite was observed for unpleasant stimuli. Finally, stepwise linear regression analysis revealed that latency of fixation to pleasant images and scores of depression predicted SCRs of participants. Thus, our research reveals an association between autonomic reactivity and attentional bias to pleasant information, on the one hand, and depressive symptomatology on the other. Present findings therefore suggest that depressive individuals may benefit from attention training towards pleasant information in association with autonomic biofeedback procedures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research describes the working, benefits and challengers of polygraph tests. Polygraph tests are lie-detecting devices that help ascertain individuals’ honesty based on physiological indicators. The heart rate/blood pressure, respiration, and skin responses are the three indicators measured in the test to assess honest/deceitful behavior. The underlying assumption behind the working of polygraph tests is that the autonomic responses of dishonest individuals are distinctively different from those of honest people because the liars will be more nervous than truth tellers. Control Question Test (CQT), Guilty Knowledge Test (GKT) or Concealed Information Test (CIT) and Neuroscience-Based Advanced Polygraph Tests are the important types of polygraph tests used today. Polygraph tests are used to detect truthfulness of individuals in such important fields as crime investigation departments, national security agencies, and business and industry. However, accuracy of polygraph tests and ethical issues associated with the tests are highly debated.

New Findings: What is the central question of this study?Auditory stimulation produces a response in different physiological systems: cardiac, peripheral blood flow, electrodermal, cortical and peripheral haemodynamic responses and auditory event‐related potentials. Do all these subsystems covary when responding to auditory stimulation, suggesting a unified locus of control, or do they not covary, suggesting independent loci of control for these physiological responses?What is the main finding and its importance?Auditory sensory gating reached a fixed level of neural activity independently of the intensity of auditory stimulation. The use of multivariate techniques revealed the presence of different regulatory mechanisms for the different physiologically recorded signals. We studied the effects of an increasing amplitude of auditory stimulation on a variety of autonomic and CNS responses and their possible interdependence. The subjects were stimulated with an increasing amplitude of auditory tones while the auditory event‐related potentials (ERPs), the cortical and extracerebral functional near‐infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) signal of standard and short separation channel recordings, the peripheral pulse measured by photoplethysmography, heart rate and electrodermal responses were recorded. Trials with eight tones of equal amplitude were presented. The results showed a parallel increase of activity in ERPs, fNIRS and peripheral responses with the increase in intensity of auditory stimulation. The ERPs, measured as peak‐to‐peak N1–P2, showed an increase in amplitude with auditory stimulation and a high attenuation from the first presentation with respect to the second to eighth presentations. Peripheral signals and standard and short channel fNIRS responses showed a decrease in amplitude in the high‐intensity auditory stimulation conditions. Principal components analysis showed independent sources of variance for the recorded signals, suggesting independent control of the recorded physiological responses. The present results suggest a complex response associated to the increase of auditory stimulation with a fixed amplitude for ERPs, and a decrease in the peripheral and cortical haemodynamic response, possibly mediated by activation of the sympathetic nervous system, constituting a defensive reflex to excessive auditory stimulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emotions are experienced differently by individuals, and thus, it is important to account for individuals' experienced emotions to understand their physiological responses to emotional stimuli. The present study investigated the physiological responses to a fear-inducing stimulus and examined whether these responses can predict experienced fear. A total of 230 participants were presented with neutral and fear-inducing film clips, after which they self-rated their experienced emotions. Physiological measures (skin conductance level and response: SCL, SCR, heart rate: HR, pulse transit time: PTT, fingertip temperature: FT, and respiratory rate: RR) were recorded during the stimuli presentation. We examined the correlations between the physiological measures and the participants' experienced emotional intensity, and performed a multiple linear regression to predict fear intensity based on the physiological responses. Of the participants, 92.5% experienced the fear emotion, and the average intensity was 5.95 on a 7-point Likert scale. Compared to the neutral condition, the SCL, SCR, HR, and RR increased significantly during the fear-inducing stimulus presentation whereas FT and PTT decreased significantly. Fear intensity correlated positively with SCR and HR and negatively with SCL, FT, PTT, and RR. The multiple linear regression demonstrated that fear intensity was predicted by a combination of SCL, SCR, HR, FT, and RR. Our findings indicate that the physiological responses to experiencing fear are associated with cholinergic, sympathetic, and α-adrenergic vascular activation as well as myocardial β-sympathetic excitation, and support the use of multimodal physiological signals for quantifying emotions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: The intensity and the type of the cardiovascular responses differ depending on the exercise type and intensity and the muscle groups involved. However, the responses in static and dynamic exercises are hardly comparable since the protocol used for grading the intensity of these exercises are different. Thus, we compared the cardiovascular autonomic responses in dynamic and static exercises of same muscle groups at increasing intensities graded using similar heart rate. Methods: 32 subjects performed dynamic and static exercises of lower limbs at 50% (HR50max) and 60% (HR60max) of their maximum achievable heart rates. Continuous ECG was recorded for 2 min during the exercise. Target heart rate specific single beat R–R intervals were extracted from the recorded ECG, and heart rate variability was determined. Results: A factorial two way analysis of variance was conducted on the influence of two independent variables (load and exercise type) on the heart rate variability during different manoeuvres with baseline values taken as covariates. Exercise load had a main effect on HFnu and RMSSD. HFnu increased (p = 0.001) while RMSSD decreased (p = 0.025) with an increase in the exercise load. Exercise type also had a main effect on RMSSD with RMSSD being higher in dynamic exercise (p = 0.028). With increased load, LFnu decreased in dynamic exercise but was maintained in static exercise. Conclusion: Time domain parameter RMSSD decreases with an increase in the exercise load indicating a decrease in vagal modulation of heart rate with an increase in exercise load. RMSSD is more in dynamic exercise compared with static exercise indicating higher vagal modulation in dynamic exercise. However, increase in HFnu with exercise load may be due to the influence of increased ventilation on heart rate modulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a new instrument for the assessment of responses to threat-related imagery directed towards a human body – the Body-Threat Assessment Battery (BTAB). The BTAB consists of a series of high-definition dynamic clips depicting body-threats and matched non-threat baseline behaviours. For body-threat stimuli a perspective manipulation was included to assess the effects of viewing threats from the point-of-view of the observer (POV) or from an external/exocentric perspective (EXO). Green-screen technology was used so that extraneous background information could be removed and standardised in post-production. Categorical normative data for psychological ratings (valence, arousal and pain), psychophysiological, phasic skin conductance responses (SCRs) and tonic skin conductance levels (SCLs) were obtained for all stimuli. Body-threat stimuli evoked significantly higher psychological ratings of arousal and pain, with more negative ratings of valence, relative to baseline stimuli. In addition, threat stimuli also had an increased efficacy at evoking SCRs, and these were significantly stronger relative to baseline stimuli. There were no effects of perspective on psychophysiological or psychological responses to threat imagery. The findings are discussed in the context of the utility and scope of the BTAB for supporting neurocognitive investigations of aversive imagery and body-threats specifically in the study of embodiment, body-processing and self-consciousness. • A new instrument for examining threats directed on a human body is presented. • Body-threats and non-body related baseline clips are provided. • A perspective manipulation for body-threat stimuli was created. • Normative large sample data for all dynamic clips are presented. • Psychophysiological and Psychological data are presented for all stimuli. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of International Journal of Medicine & Science of Physical Activity & Sport / Revista Internacional de Medicina y Ciencias de la Actividad Física y del Deporte is the property of Revista Internacional de Medicina y Ciencias de la Actividad Fisica y del Deporte and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Alcohol use disorders (AUD) are among the most common and undertreated mental disorders in developed countries. The co-occurrence of psychiatric comorbidity and AUD has already been well documented. Moreover, alexithymia was found associated with heavy drinking and alcohol dependence. A large part of AUD individuals, between 45 and 67%, have been identified as alexithymics. Both psychiatric comorbidity and alexithymia can negatively impact the course of recovery from alcohol. Alcohol consumption has also been shown to significantly influence autonomic responses. Chronic use of alcohol may induce significant changes in heart rate variability, respiratory frequency, electrodermal activity and skin temperature. To date, only a few studies have comprehensively investigated the comorbidity of alexithymia in AUD individuals with dual diagnosis. Thus, the aim and also the novelty of the present investigation were to disclose in individuals with AUD the emotional and cognitive stress responses to selected physiological parameters measured by ProComp5 Infiniti™ encoder in AUD patients suffering alexithymia with or without concomitant dual diagnosis. Quite interestingly, in AUD subjects with concomitant dual diagnosis we found that the alexithymia elevated skin temperature, heart rate variability and decreased respiratory frequency. Alexithymia, if associated with the dual diagnosis condition in AUD individuals, can be considered as a further vulnerability factor to stressing factors, impacting psychosomatic processing and inducing alterations in physiological parameters. In this paper, we discuss the implications of these findings in the early treatment of alexithymic AUD individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The process of information concealment is more relevant than ever in this day and age. Using a modified concealed-information test (CIT), we aimed to unmask this process by investigating both the decision and the attempt to conceal information in 38 students. The attempt to conceal (vs. reveal) information induced a differential physiological response pattern within subjects—whereas skin conductance increased in both conditions, respiration and heart rate were suppressed only in the conceal condition—confirming the idea that these measures reflect different underlying mechanisms. The decision to conceal (vs. reveal) information induced enhanced anticipatory skin conductance responses. To our knowledge, this is the first study that observed such anticipatory responses in an information-concealment paradigm. Together, these findings imply that our physiological responses reflect, to some degree, both the decision and the attempt to conceal information. In addition to strengthening CIT theory, this knowledge sheds novel light on anticipatory responding in decision making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Adicciones is the property of Sociedad Cientifica Espanola de Estudios sobre el Alcohol and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Background: The dorsal hippocampus has a central role in modulating cardiovascular responses and behavioral adaptation to stress. The dorsal hippocampus also plays a key role in stress-associated mental disorders. The endocannabinoid system is widely expressed in the dorsal hippocampus and modulates defensive behaviors under stressful conditions. The endocannabinoid anandamide activates cannabinoid type 1 receptors and is metabolized by the fatty acid amide hydrolase enzyme.Aims: We sought to verify whether cannabinoid type 1 receptors modulate stress-induced cardiovascular changes, and if pharmacological fatty acid amide hydrolase inhibition in the dorsal hippocampus would prevent the cardiovascular responses and the delayed anxiogenic-like behavior evoked by restraint stress in rats via cannabinoid type 1 receptors.Methods: Independent groups received intra-dorsal-hippocampal injections of N-(piperidin-1yl)-5-(4-iodophenyl)-1-(2,4-dichlorophenyl)-4-methyl-hpyrazole-3-carboxamide (AM251; cannabinoid type 1 receptor antagonist/inverse agonist, 10-300 pmol) and/or cyclohexyl carbamic acid 3'-carbamoyl-biphenyl-3-yl ester (URB597; fatty acid amide hydrolase inhibitor, 10 pmol) before the restraint stress session. Cardiovascular response during restraint stress or later behavioral parameters were evaluated.Results: Acute restraint stress altered the cardiovascular response, characterized by increased heart rate and mean arterial pressure, as well as decreased tail cutaneous temperature. It also induced a delayed anxiogenic-like effect, evidenced by reduced open arm exploration in the elevated plus maze 24 h after stress. AM251 exacerbated the stress-induced cardiovascular responses after injection into the dorsal hippocampus. In contrast, local injection of URB597 prevented the cardiovascular response and the delayed (24 h) behavioral consequences of restraint stress, effects attenuated by pretreatment with AM251.Conclusion: Our data corroborate previous results indicating that the hippocampal endocannabinoid system modulates the outcome of stress exposure and suggest that this could involve modulation of the cardiovascular response during stress exposure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • The present study aimed to elucidate the process involved in spontaneous eyeblinks in a concealed information test (CIT). • Both eyeblinks and autonomic responses were compared between two groups both with and without an intention to conceal crime-related information. • In autonomic measures, the difference between the groups was only in HR, in which the process of arousal inhibition was reflected. • Fewer eyeblinks were found for the crime-related item in both groups, in which the process of selective attention was reflected. • This study suggested that there is still room for improvement in simultaneously measuring eyeblinks and autonomic responses in the CIT. Abstract The concealed information test (CIT), a memory detection test, compares physiological responses to crime-related and crime-unrelated items. This study elucidated processes involving spontaneous eyeblinks during the CIT by manipulating participants' intention to conceal. Thirty-four participants committed mock theft. In the CIT, wherein eyeblinks are measured simultaneously with autonomic responses, the secret group concealed the crime-related item, whereas the no-secret group did not. As a result, heart rate (HR) was modulated by the intention of concealment in autonomic measures, whereas the effect of concealment on the decrease of eyeblinks was not found to be significant. In addition, the latency of the first eyeblink was longer for the crime-related item in both groups. These results imply that CIT eyeblinks mainly involve the process of selective attention for the item, and the latency of the first eyeblink reflects a delay in attentional disengagement from the item. This study also suggested that there is still room for improvement in simultaneously measuring eyeblinks and autonomic responses in the CIT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research describes the working, benefits and challengers of polygraph tests. Polygraph tests are lie-detecting devices that help ascertain individuals' honesty based on physiological indicators. The heart rate/blood pressure, respiration, and skin responses are the three indicators measured in the test to assess honest/deceitful behavior. The underlying assumption behind the working of polygraph tests is that the autonomic responses of dishonest individuals are distinctively different from those of honest people because the liars will be more nervous than truth tellers. Control Question Test (CQT), Guilty Knowledge Test (GKT) or Concealed Information Test (CIT) and Neuroscience-Based Advanced Polygraph Tests are the important types of polygraph tests used today. Polygraph tests are used to detect truthfulness of individuals in such important fields as crime investigation departments, national security agencies, and business and industry. However, accuracy of polygraph tests and ethical issues associated with the tests are highly debated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emotional expressions provide strong signals in social interactions and can function as emotion inducers in a perceiver. Although speech provides one of the most important channels for human communication, its physiological correlates, such as activations of the autonomous nervous system (ANS) while listening to spoken utterances, have received far less attention than in other domains of emotion processing. Our study aimed at filling this gap by investigating autonomic activation in response to spoken utterances that were embedded into larger semantic contexts. Emotional salience was manipulated by providing information on alleged speaker similarity. We compared these autonomic responses to activations triggered by affective sounds, such as exploding bombs, and applause. These sounds had been rated and validated as being either positive, negative, or neutral. As physiological markers of ANS activity, we recorded skin conductance responses (SCRs) and changes of pupil size while participants classified both prosodic and sound stimuli according to their hedonic valence. As expected, affective sounds elicited increased arousal in the receiver, as reflected in increased SCR and pupil size. In contrast, SCRs to angry and joyful prosodic expressions did not differ from responses to neutral ones. Pupil size, however, was modulated by affective prosodic utterances, with increased dilations for angry and joyful compared to neutral prosody, although the similarity manipulation had no effect. These results indicate that cues provided by emotional prosody in spoken semantically neutral utterances might be too subtle to trigger SCR, although variation in pupil size indicated the salience of stimulus variation. Our findings further demonstrate a functional dissociation between pupil dilation and skin conductance that presumably origins from their differential innervation.

Autonomic responses elicited by myocardial infarction vary depending on the site of injury, but accurate assessment using heart rate variability during the acute phase is limited. We systematically searched PubMed without language restrictions throughout July 2023. We reviewed studies reporting autonomic indices separately for anterior and inferior infarcts, followed by a meta-analysis of those reporting the standard deviation of the inter-beat interval between normal sinus beats during the initial 24 hours after the onset of symptoms. Six studies were included, comprising 341 patients (165 anterior, 176 inferior infarcts), all with satisfactory scores on the Newcastle-Ottawa quality scale. The estimated average of the standardized mean difference (based on the random-effects model) was -0.722 (95% confidence intervals: -0.943 to -0.501), which differed from zero (z=-6.416, p<0.0001). This finding indicates sympathetic and vagal dominance during acute anterior and inferior infarcts, respectively, with excessive responses likely contributing to early arrhythmogenesis. Despite the amelioration of autonomic dysfunction by revascularization, infarct location should be considered when commencing β-adrenergic receptor blockade, especially after delayed procedures., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright © 2023, Schismenos et al.)

Highlights • Sheep experienced a more pleasurable state during brushing. • Anticipatory behaviour was performed mainly before brushing. • HR and RMSSD/SDNN reflected the activation of PNS in both procedures. • Brushing elicited more relaxing effects in highly reactive ewes. • Genetic differences indicate that reactivity influences sheep responses. Abstract Welfare concerns not only the absence of negative emotional experiences but also the presence of positive experiences. However, scientific investigation on positive emotions in farm animals has been long neglected. This study aimed to investigate the perception of sheep to positive stimuli and whether emotional reactivity influences such perception, through behavioural and cardiac indicators. Therefore, 38 Romane ewes belonging to two divergent lines, high (R+) or low (R−) reactive, were submitted to the presence of a familiar experimenter (HUM) or brushing by a familiar experimenter (BRU). The procedure was divided in three phases: before (2.5 min), during (3.0 min) and after (2.5 min) HUM or BRU. Body postures, head orientation, ear changes and postures, closed and half-closed eyes, tail wagging and feeding behaviour were analyzed, and heart rate variability parameters (RMSSD, RMSSD/SDNN and LF/HF ratios) were estimated. Data were analyzed using linear models with different correlation structures. The models considered treatment, genetic line and phase as fixed effects, including their interactions. Brushed ewes showed fewer body posture, head orientation and ear posture changes and a higher proportion of closed and half-closed eyes, tail wagging and rumination during the procedure, when compared to ewes submitted to the human presence (P < 0.05). Both BRU and HUM ewes had lower HR during and after the procedures and higher RMSSD/SDNN rate during the procedures, reflecting the activation of the parasympathetic nervous system in response to both treatments (P < 0.05). Behavioural and cardiac results suggest that both treatments induced a relaxing state in sheep, more pronounced for the brushing treatment. Interestingly, an anticipatory agitation before the treatment was observed mainly in BRU sheep. Highly reactive ewes expressed less head orientation changes and a higher proportion of horizontal ear postures and feeding behaviour in response to brushing than when submitted to human presence (P < 0.05), indicating that brushing might have elicited a more relaxing effect on R+ animals. Differences between R+ and R− ewes suggest that reactivity might modulate sheep responses to assumed positive stimuli. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emotional expressions provide strong signals in social interactions and can function as emotion inducers in a perceiver. Although speech provides one of the most important channels for human communication, its physiological correlates, such as activations of the autonomous nervous system (ANS) while listening to spoken utterances, have received far less attention than in other domains of emotion processing. Our study aimed at filling this gap by investigating autonomic activation in response to spoken utterances that were embedded into larger semantic contexts. Emotional salience was manipulated by providing information on alleged speaker similarity. We compared these autonomic responses to activations triggered by affective sounds, such as exploding bombs, and applause. These sounds had been rated and validated as being either positive, negative, or neutral. As physiological markers of ANS activity, we recorded skin conductance responses (SCRs) and changes of pupil size while participants classified both prosodic and sound stimuli according to their hedonic valence. As expected, affective sounds elicited increased arousal in the receiver, as reflected in increased SCR and pupil size. In contrast, SCRs to angry and joyful prosodic expressions did not differ from responses to neutral ones. Pupil size, however, was modulated by affective prosodic utterances, with increased dilations for angry and joyful compared to neutral prosody, although the similarity manipulation had no effect. These results indicate that cues provided by emotional prosody in spoken semantically neutral utterances might be too subtle to trigger SCR, although variation in pupil size indicated the salience of stimulus variation. Our findings further demonstrate a functional dissociation between pupil dilation and skin conductance that presumably origins from their differential innervation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Music-listening can be a powerful therapeutic tool for mood rehabilitation, yet quality evidence for its validity as a singular treatment is scarce. Specifically, the relationship between music-induced mood improvement and meaningful physiological change, as well as the influence of music- and person-related covariates on these outcomes are yet to be comprehensively explored. Ninety-four healthy participants completed questionnaires probing demographics, personal information, and musical background. Participants listened to two prescribed musical pieces (one classical, one jazz), an “uplifting” piece of their own choice, and an acoustic control stimulus (white noise) in randomised order. Physiological responses (heart rate, respiration, galvanic skin response) were recorded throughout. After each piece, participants rated their subjective responses on a series of Likert scales. Subjectively, the self-selected pieces induced the most joy, and the classical piece was perceived as most relaxing, consistent with the arousal ratings proposed by a music selection panel. These two stimuli led to the greatest overall improvement in composite emotional state from baseline. Psycho-physiologically, self-selected pieces often elicited a “eustress” response (“positive arousal”), whereas classical music was associated with the highest heart rate variability. Very few person-related covariates appeared to affect responses, and music-related covariates (besides self-selection) appeared arbitrary. These data provide strong evidence that optimal music for therapy varies between individuals. Our findings additionally suggest that the self-selected music was most effective for inducing a joyous state; while low arousal classical music was most likely to shift the participant into a state of relaxation. Therapy should attempt to find the most effective and “heartfelt” music for each listener, according to therapeutic goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective Autonomic nervous system activity is recognized as a major component of emotional responses. Future reward/punishment expectations depend upon the process of decision making in the frontal lobe, which is considered to play an important role in executive function. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between autonomic responses and decision making during reinforcement tasks using sympathetic skin responses (SSR). Methods Nine adult and 9 juvenile (mean age, 10.2 years) volunteers were enrolled in this study. SSRs were measured during the Markov decision task (MDT), which is a reinforcement task. In this task, subjects must endure a small immediate loss to ultimately get a large reward. The subjects had to undergo three sets of tests and their scores in these tests were assessed and evaluated. Results All adults showed gradually increasing scores for the MDT from the first to third set. As the trial progressed from the first to second set in adults, SSR appearance ratios remarkably increased for both punishment and reward expectations. In comparison with adults, children showed decreasing scores from the first to second set. There were no significant inter-target differences in the SSR appearance ratio in the first and second set in children. In the third set, the SSR appearance ratio for reward expectations was higher than that in the neutral condition. Conclusions In reinforcement tasks, such as MDT, autonomic responses play an important role in decision making. We assume that SSRs are elicited during efficient decision making tasks associated with future reward/punishment expectations, which demonstrates the importance of autonomic function. In contrast, in children around the age of 10 years, the autonomic system does not react as an organized response specific to reward/punishment expectations. This suggests the immaturity of the future reward/punishment expectations process in children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Body exposure is a common and effective treatment for body image disturbance in bulimia nervosa (BN). However, little is known about treatment mechanisms. Based on models of emotional processing and neurovisceral integration, we expected to observe a) initial activation and b) habituation of cognitive-affective and autonomic responding within one and between two standardized body exposure sessions. Methods A group of 13 women with BN and 13 healthy controls (HC) were repeatedly exposed to their bodies. Prior to and after treatment with three individualized mirror exposure sessions participants received a session of standardized exposure to videographic recordings of their body. Subjective ratings of body-related emotions and thoughts were assessed repeatedly throughout the standardized exposure sessions and autonomic responses were recorded continuously. Results Subjective and sympathetic responses were activated initially in both groups. Cognitive-affective responses habituated within the standardized sessions in both groups, whereas between the standardized sessions habituation was only found in women with BN. Increasing sympathetic responses were found within the sessions in both groups. Conclusions The results support cognitive-affective habituation during body exposure in BN and to a lesser extent in HC. Autonomic responses however did not show a corresponding pattern and did not distinguish between groups. Implications for body exposure research and practice are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction Despite a plethora of research on sexual functioning during the past decades, the field is still lacking standardized measurements specifically characterizing orgasm. Although several validated tools are available to assess sexual function in healthy and clinical populations, items on orgasm are limited to frequency or dichotomous responses. A neurophysiologic model of orgasm developed from previous research in able-bodied and spinally injured populations offers a promising framework for the construction of a new questionnaire. Aim To develop and validate a brief self-report measurement of orgasm by the assessment of bodily and physiologic sensations perceived during climax by able-bodied individuals. Although the currently available tool focuses on the phenomenological sensations associated with climax, the goal of this questionnaire was to capture the more specific genital and extragenital sensations associated with orgasm. Main Outcome Measures The current Bodily Sensations of Orgasm questionnaire and the Orgasm Rating Scale. Methods Data from previous research conducted on individuals with spinal cord injury and the available empirical literature provided a pool of 45 items organized into four categories, which were reviewed by an expert panel. Upon review, a 28-item questionnaire was created and administered to a community sample of 227 participants, including men and women, 18 to 73 years old. Results Exploratory factor analyses supported the four-factor model, in which orgasm is comprised of extragenital sensations, genital sensations and spasms, nociceptive sensations, and sweating responses. Overall, a high degree of internal consistency was found for the final 22-item questionnaire (Cronbach α = 0.87), with individual reliability coefficients showing moderate to high internal consistency (r = 0.65–0.79) for each dimension. Overall temporal stability of the measurement was acceptable (r = 0.74). Using the Orgasm Rating Scale, satisfying convergent validity was confirmed, thereby indicating that the two measurements are complementary. Conclusion The Bodily Sensations of Orgasm questionnaire allows for a brief evaluation of the physical and physiologic sensations associated with orgasm. Findings also suggest perceptual differences between men and women with regard to climax, with women reporting a larger repertoire of climactic sensations during orgasm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) modulates anxiety-like responses, including conditioned emotional responses. Evidence suggests that glutamatergic neurotransmission in the BNST plays a role in the modulation of defensive responses. However, little is known about the involvement of glutamate NMDA receptor activation within the BNST, and its resultant increase in nitric oxide (NO) levels, in the expression of contextual fear conditioning (CFC). We investigated whether the antagonism of NMDA receptors or the reduction of NO levels in the BNST would attenuate behavioral and autonomic responses (i.e. increase in arterial pressure and heart rate, and decrease in tail cutaneous temperature) of rats submitted to a CFC paradigm. Intra-BNST infusion of AP7, an NMDA receptor antagonist, attenuated both behavioral and autonomic changes induced by CFC. Similar results were observed with NPLA and c-PTIO, an nNOS inhibitor and an NO scavenger, respectively. A positive correlation between BNST NO levels and the time spent in freezing behavior was also observed for animals submitted to the CFC. These findings indicate that the expression of CFC involves a facilitation of BNST NMDA receptor-NO signaling. This article is part of the Special Issue entitled ‘Ionotropic glutamate receptors’. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The cannabinoid receptor type 1 (CB1) is highly expressed in the dorsal portion of hippocampus – a brain region that has been involved in the control of conditioned emotional response (CER) in the contextual fear conditioning (CFC) model. These responses are characterized by increased freezing behavior and autonomic parameters. Moreover, CB1 receptors activation negatively modulate the release of several neurotransmitters, including glutamate and GABA, which also have been related to modulation of CER. Therefore, our aim was to investigate the involvement of CB1 receptors in the dorsal hippocampus on CER expression. Independent groups of male Wistar rats submitted to the contextual fear conditioning received bilateral intra-hippocampal injections (500 nL/side) of the following drugs or vehicle before re-exposure to the aversive context: AM251 (CB1 antagonist; 0.1, 0.3 and 1 nmol); AP7 (NMDA antagonist; 1nmol)+AM251 (0.3 nmol); NPLA (0.01 nmol; nNOS inhibitor)+AM251 (0.3 nmol); Bicuculline (1.3 pmol; GABA A antagonist)+AM251 (0.1 and 1 nmol). In the present paper, AM251 (0.3 nmol) increased CER, while this response was prevented by both AP7 and NPLA pretreatment. After pretreatment with Bicuculline, the lower and higher ineffective doses of AM251 were able to increase the CER, supporting the balance between GABAergic and glutamatergic mechanisms controlling this response. Our results suggest that increased CER evoked by CB1 blockade in the dorsal hippocampus depends on NMDA receptor activation and NO formation. Moreover, a fine-tune control promoted by GABAergic and glutamatergic mechanisms in this brain area modulate the CER after CB1 blockade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Concealed Information Test (CIT) is a psychophysiological technique that allows for detecting crime-related knowledge. Usually, autonomic response measures are used for this purpose, but ocular measures have also been proposed recently. Prior studies reported heterogeneous results for the usage of countermeasures (CM) to corrupt the CIT's validity, depending on the CM technique and the dependent measure. The current study systematically compared the application of physical and mental CM on autonomic and ocular measures during the CIT. Sixty participants committed a mock crime and were assigned to one of three guilty conditions: standard guilty (without CM), physical CM, or mental CM. An additional group of 20 innocents was investigated with the same CIT to calculate validity estimates. Electrodermal responses were more vulnerable for CM usage compared to heart rate and respiration, and physical CM were more effective than mental CM. Independent of CM usage, a combined score of autonomic responses enabled a valid differentiation between guilty and innocent examinees. Fixations and blinks also allowed for detecting crime-related knowledge, but these measures were more affected by CM application than autonomic responses. The current study delivered further evidence that CM differentially impact physiological and ocular responses in the CIT. Whereas individual data channels were strongly affected by CM usage, a combination of different response measures yielded a relatively stable differentiation of guilty and innocent examinees when mental CM were used. These findings are especially relevant for field applications and might inspire future studies to detect or prevent CM usage in CIT examinations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transcranial pulsed current stimulation (tPCS) has been shown to increase inter-hemispheric coherence of brain oscillatory activity, mainly in fronto-temporal regions, leading to enhancement of functional connectivity across neural networks. The question is whether tPCS can modulate behavior significantly. Our aim was to identify the effects of tPCS on paired associative learning task (PALT) and attention switching task (AST), and to further categorize physiological autonomic responses by heart rate variability and electrodermal activity measurements before and after task performance. Thirty healthy volunteers were randomized to receive a single session of sham or active 2 mA tPCS stimulation with a random frequency between 1 and 5 Hz. We show that active tPCS significantly improved response time in the AST compared to sham stimulation, so that subjects who received active tPCS significantly exhibit decreased switching cost between repeat and switch trials. No differences were found in response accuracy on AST and PALT. No significant changes were observed in physiological parameters. Based on our results, we suggest that tPCS has a more pronounced effect on tasks that require the increase of functional connectivity across pre-existent neural circuitry, rather than on tasks that require the development of new learning circuits or the creation of new connections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mother-child bonding influences the development of cognitive and social skills. In this study we investigate how maternal attachment, developed in early childhood, modulates physiological responses to social stimuli later in life. Our results suggest that the autonomic nervous system’s responses to vocal distress are moderated by the quality of participants’ maternal bonding. In particular, participants with optimal maternal bonding showed a greater calming response to distressful stimuli whereas participants with non-optimal maternal bonding showed a heightened distress response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Pain is a common problem in people with dementia, however the exact prevalence of pain in dementia subtypes, e.g. Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), Vascular Dementia (VaD), Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD) and dementia with Lewy Bodies (DLB), is unknown, as is the relation between pain and the different subtypes of dementia. In this study, the prevalence of pain in people with dementia will be investigated per dementia subtype and the relationship between the various subtypes of dementia and the presence of specific types of pain (i.e. musculoskeletal pain, neuropathic pain and orofacial pain) will be examined. Secondly, associations between various types of pain, cognitive functioning, neuropsychiatric symptoms and quality of life in people with dementia will be examined. A third purpose is to study the value of the assessment of autonomic responses in assessing pain in people with dementia. Finally, the effect of feedback to the attending physician on the presence of pain, based on examination by investigators with backgrounds in neuropsychology, geriatric dentistry and elderly care medicine, will be evaluated. Methods/Design: A cross-sectional, partially longitudinal observational study in 400 participants with dementia, aged 60 years and older. Participants will be recruited from an outpatient memory clinic and dementia special care units. All participants will be examined by an elderly care medicine trainee, a dentist with experience in geriatric dentistry, and a neuropsychologist. The primary outcome is presence of pain. Secondary outcomes will include oral health, autonomic responses to pain stimulus, vital sensibility and gnostic sensibility, musculoskeletal examination, cognitive functioning, neuropsychiatric symptoms, and quality of life. Discussion: This study will help to enhance our knowledge regarding the prevalence of different types of pain in different dementia subtypes i.e. AD, VaD, FTD and DLB. This study also aims to contribute to a better understanding of oral health status in people with dementia, the use of autonomic responses in the assessment of pain in people with dementia and the relationships between pain and cognitive symptoms, neuropsychiatric symptoms and quality of life in people with various dementia subtypes and in different stages of the disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Susceptibility of healthy astronauts to orthostatic hypotension and presyncope is exacerbated upon return from spaceflight. Up to 64% of astronauts experience postflight orthostatic intolerance. A promising countermeasure for postflight orthostatic intolerance is fluid loading by giving crew salt tablets and water prior to re-entry. The primary goal of the current study was to determine the optimal time window prior to re-entry when individual crewpersons would initiate fluid loading. METHODS: There were 16 subjects who were given two 6-h exposures, with and without fluid loading (conditions), to head-down tilt (HDT) to simulate the effects of microgravity. Pre- and post-HDT stand tests of orthostatic tolerance were given. Physiological measurements recorded included heart rate, blood pressure, peripheral blood volume, total peripheral resistance, and impedance cardiography. Echocardiography measures of stroke volume and cardiac output were also recorded. RESULTS: Data were analyzed with three-way repeated measures ANOVA (gender x condition X time). Only the condition X time interaction was significant for mean arterial pressure. Post hoc multiple comparison tests revealed significant increases in mean arterial pressure occurred between hours 1 and 3 of HDT after fluid loading (10 mmHg higher than no fluid). DISCUSSION: These findings indicate that the optimal time for crew to begin fluid loading is within 1 to 3 h prior to re-entry. Nonsignificant trends of multiple cardiovascular responses showed similar time profiles. The large amount of individual variability suggests that fluid loading alone may be an inadequate countermeasure for all crewmembers. Further research is needed on possible adjunct methods of tailoring countermeasures for individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dorsal portion of the hippocampus is a limbic structure that is involved in fear conditioning modulation in rats. Moreover, evidence shows that the local dorsal hippocampus glutamatergic system, nitric oxide (NO) and cGMP modulate behavioral responses during aversive situations. Therefore, the present study investigated the involvement of dorsal hippocampus NMDA receptors and the NO/cGMP pathway in contextual fear conditioning expression. Male Wistar rats were submitted to an aversive contextual conditioning session and 48 h later they were re-exposed to the aversive context in which freezing, cardiovascular responses (increase of both arterial pressure and heart rate) and decrease of tail temperature were recorded. The intra-dorsal hippocampus administration of the NMDA receptor antagonist AP7, prior to the re-exposure to the aversive context, attenuated fear-conditioned responses. The re-exposure to the context evoked an increase in NO concentration in the dorsal hippocampus of conditioned animals. Similar to AP7 administration, we observed a reduction of contextual fear conditioning after dorsal hippocampus administration of either the neuronal NO synthase inhibitor N-propyl- l -arginine, the NO scavenger c-PTIO or the guanylate cyclase inhibitor ODQ. Therefore, the present findings suggest the possible existence of a dorsal hippocampus NMDA/NO/cGMP pathway modulating the expression of contextual fear conditioning in rats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dorsolateral periaqueductal grey (dlPAG) plays an essential role in unconditioned fear responses and could also be involved in the expression of contextual fear responses. Activation of glutamate N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors and the nitric oxide (NO) pathway in this region facilitates anxiety-like responses. In the present study we investigated if antagonism of NMDA receptors or inhibition of the NO pathway in the dlPAG would attenuate behavioral and cardiovascular responses of rats submitted to a contextual fear-conditioning paradigm. Male Wistar rats with unilateral cannulae aimed at the dlPAG were re-exposed to a chamber where they had received footshocks 48 h before. Ten min before the test the animals received an intra-dlPAG injection of vehicle, AP7 (NMDA receptor antagonist), N-propyl-L-arginine (neuronal NO synthase inhibitor), carboxy-PTIO (NO scavenger) or 1H-[1,2,4] oxadiazolol [4,3-a]quinoxalin-1-one (ODQ) (guanylate cyclase inhibitor). Freezing and cardiovascular responses were recorded continuously for 10 min. Intra-dlPAG administration of AP7 before re-exposure to the aversively conditioned context attenuated these responses. Similar effects were observed after the NO synthase inhibitor, NO scavenger or guanylate cyclase inhibitor. Our findings suggest that activity of dlPAG NMDA/NO/cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) pathway facilitates the expression of contextual fear responses. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract: This study investigated whether fear expectancy in phobic individuals induces priming of the defensive system, thus generating a “blind” phobic response even to non-phobic stimuli. We employed a paradigm in which two different visual cues signalled the upcoming picture presentation of either a spider or an innocuous animal (congruent condition). Unknown to the participants, the visual cue was incorrectly followed by a picture from the opposite category on two additional trials (incongruent condition). Cardiac and skin conductance responses were recorded from young adults with (n=15) or without (n=14) spider phobia during both the expectation and exposure of these pictures in the congruent and incongruent conditions. In the congruent condition, the autonomic responses during expectation matched the responses during exposure. In particular, non-phobic controls showed an orienting response (bradycardia and moderate skin conductance increase) to both picture categories, while spider phobics showed an orienting response to the innocuous animals and a defence response (tachycardia and marked skin conductance increase) to spiders. In the incongruent condition, the autonomic responses during exposure were driven by the affective content of the pictures, and their amplitude was greater than in the congruent condition, likely due to the signal–stimulus discrepancy. In particular, the response to the innocuous picture of phobic participants expecting a spider did not shift in the direction of the defence response. Thus, spider phobics did not show priming of the defensive system but maintained discrimination between phobic and innocuous stimuli. Finally, the greatly amplified response to the incorrectly signalled spider in phobics suggests a discrepancy–phobia interaction. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

It remains unclear why individuals with autism spectrum disorder ( ASD) tend to respond in an atypical manner in social situations. Investigating autonomic and subjective responses to social vs. nonsocial stimuli may help to reveal underlying mechanisms of these atypical responses. This study examined autonomic responses (skin conductance level and heart rate) and subjective responses to social vs. nonsocial pictures in 37 adolescents with an ASD and 36 typically developing ( TD) adolescents. Thirty-six pictures from the International Affective Picture System were presented, divided into six categories based on social content (social vs. nonsocial) and pleasantness (pleasant, neutral, and unpleasant). Both in adolescents with ASD as well as TD adolescents, pictures with a social content resulted in higher skin conductance responses ( SCRs) for pleasant and unpleasant pictures than for neutral pictures. No differences in SCRs were found for the three nonsocial picture categories. Unpleasant pictures, both with and without a social content, showed more heart rate deceleration than neutral pictures. Self-reported arousal ratings were influenced by the social and affective content of a picture. No differences were found between individuals with ASD and TD individuals in their autonomic and subjective responses to the picture categories. These results suggest that adolescents with ASD do not show atypical autonomic or subjective responses to pictures with and without a social content. These findings make it less likely that impairments in social information processing in individuals with ASD can be explained by atypical autonomic responses to social stimuli. Autism Res 2014, 7: 17-27. © 2013 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]