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Behaviour Research and Therapy May 2023While research has elucidated processes underlying dissociative symptoms in patients with posttraumatic stress disorder, little is known about the circumstances under...
While research has elucidated processes underlying dissociative symptoms in patients with posttraumatic stress disorder, little is known about the circumstances under which trauma-related dissociation initially arises. To experimentally investigate causes and concomitants of peritraumatic dissociation, we subjected sixty-nine healthy women to aversive-audiovisual and painful-electrical stimulation in a 2(aversive/neutral film) x 2(pain/no pain) within-subject design while recording psychophysiological and fMRI-BOLD responses. Afterwards, participants rated negative-affect, pain, and dissociation for each condition. Using Bayesian multilevel regression models, we examined (1) whether aversive-audiovisual and painful-electrical stimulation elicit higher dissociation-levels than control conditions and (2) whether stronger negative-affect and pain responses (operationalized via self-report, psychophysiological, and neural markers) correlate with higher dissociation-levels. Several key findings emerged: Both aversive-audiovisual and painful-electrical stimulation elicited dissociation. Dissociation was linked to higher self-reported negative-affect, but we did not find enough evidence linking it to psychophysiological and neural negative-affect markers. However, dissociation was associated with higher levels of self-reported pain, a skin-conductance-response-based pain marker, and the fMRI-BOLD-based Neurologic-Pain-Signature. Results indicate that both aversive-audiovisual and painful stimuli can independently cause dissociation. Critically, pain responses captured via self-report, psychophysiological, and neural markers were consistently linked to higher dissociation-levels suggesting a specific, evolutionary meaningful, contribution of pain to the rise of dissociation.
Topics: Humans; Female; Bayes Theorem; Pain; Psychophysiology; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic; Affect; Dissociative Disorders
PubMed: 36934622
DOI: 10.1016/j.brat.2023.104289 -
Nutrients Feb 2023(1) Background: A new mental illness is attracting the attention of researchers and mental health professionals. Orthorexia nervosa (ON) is a possible new mental... (Review)
Review
A Systematic Review of Clinical Psychophysiology of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders: Does the Obsession with Diet Also Alter the Autonomic Imbalance of Orthorexic Patients?
(1) Background: A new mental illness is attracting the attention of researchers and mental health professionals. Orthorexia nervosa (ON) is a possible new mental disorder, the main symptom of which is an obsessive and insecure focus on healthy foods and consequent compulsive behaviors. There is a common consensus among researchers that ON is considered partly overlapping with obsessive-compulsive disorders (OCDs). (2) Methods: MEDLINE and Scopus were searched for articles published in the last 10 years regarding the psychophysiological aspects of OCD and ON. Eight studies met the eligibility criteria. The inclusion criteria encompassed adults diagnosed with OCD and/or ON. However, only studies involving OCD patients were found. (3) Results: Some research groups have shown that OCD disorders can be considered among anxiety disorders because they are characterized by anxious hyper activation. Other research, however, has shown profiles characterized by low psychophysiological reactivity to stressful stimuli. Despite this, there seems to be a consensus on the poor inhibition abilities, even when activation is low, and the dissociation between cognitive and psychophysiological activation emerged. (4) Conclusions: However discordant, some points seem to bring the researchers to agreement. In fact, there is consensus on conducting a multidimensional assessment that can measure all of the aspects of suffering (cognition, emotion, and behavior) and highlight the poor body-mind integration. This clinical approach would make it possible to propose interventions aimed at treating some mental illnesses such as food obsession that can paradoxically impair the psychophysical balance. Nevertheless, the applied systematizing approach to existing studies on ON is very much needed for better understanding of the psychophysical nature of this new mental illness and its implications for prevention and treatment.
Topics: Adult; Humans; Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder; Anxiety Disorders; Diet; Psychophysiology; Obsessive Behavior
PubMed: 36771463
DOI: 10.3390/nu15030755 -
Translational Research : the Journal of... Mar 2009The well-accepted biopsychosocial model proposes that the experience of pain and responses to it result from a complex interaction of biological, psychological, and... (Review)
Review
The well-accepted biopsychosocial model proposes that the experience of pain and responses to it result from a complex interaction of biological, psychological, and social factors. However, the separation of these constructs is substantially artificial, and we presume that psychological processes have biological effects, that biological processes affect an individual's psychosocial environment, and so on. Considerable research has demonstrated that pain-coping strategies influence perceived pain intensity and physical functioning, and individual differences in styles of pain coping even shape the persistence of long-term pain complaints in some populations. A good deal of this coping research has focused on catastrophizing, which is a generally maladaptive cognitive and emotional mental set that involves feelings of helplessness when in pain, rumination about pain symptoms, and magnification of pain-related complaints. Collectively, catastrophizing has been consistently associated with heightened experiences of pain across a variety of samples. Although catastrophic thinking regarding pain-related symptoms is often classified under the "psychologic" category within the broader biopsychosocial model, we propose that catastrophizing exerts biologic effects that may account for some of its negative consequences. In general, the cognitive and affective processes captured within the construct of catastrophizing may exert effects on the neuromuscular, cardiovascular, immune, and neuroendocrine systems, and on the activity in the pain neuromatrix within the brain. The interface between pain-related neurobiology and processes such as pain-related catastrophizing represents an important avenue for future pain research.
Topics: Anxiety; Humans; Inflammation; Nervous System Physiological Phenomena; Pain; Psychophysiology; Thinking
PubMed: 19218091
DOI: 10.1016/j.trsl.2008.12.002 -
Physical and Engineering Sciences in... Dec 2023In recent decades, an increasing number of studies on psychophysiology and, in general, on clinical medicine has employed the technique of facial thermal infrared...
In recent decades, an increasing number of studies on psychophysiology and, in general, on clinical medicine has employed the technique of facial thermal infrared imaging (IRI), which allows to obtain information about the emotional and physical states of the subjects in a completely non-invasive and contactless fashion. Several regions of interest (ROIs) have been reported in literature as salient areas for the psychophysiological characterization of a subject (i.e. nose tip and glabella ROIs). There is however a lack of studies focusing on the functional correlation among these ROIs and about the physiological basis of the relation existing between thermal IRI and vital signals, such as the electrodermal activity, i.e. the galvanic skin response (GSR). The present study offers a new methodology able to assess the functional connection between salient seed ROIs of thermal IRI and all the pixel of the face. The same approach was also applied considering as seed signal the GSR and its phasic and tonic components. Seed correlation analysis on 63 healthy volunteers demonstrated the presence of a common pathway regulating the facial thermal functionality and the electrodermal activity. The procedure was also tested on a pathological case study, finding a completely different pattern compared to the healthy cases. The method represents a promising tool in neurology, physiology and applied neurosciences.
Topics: Humans; Psychophysiology; Galvanic Skin Response; Diagnostic Imaging; Forehead; Neurosciences
PubMed: 37644362
DOI: 10.1007/s13246-023-01321-9 -
Beyond single paradigms, pipelines, and outcomes: Embracing multiverse analyses in psychophysiology.International Journal of... Mar 2024Psychophysiological research is an inherently complex undertaking due to the nature of the data, and its analysis is characterized by many decision points that shape the... (Review)
Review
Psychophysiological research is an inherently complex undertaking due to the nature of the data, and its analysis is characterized by many decision points that shape the final dataset and a study's findings. These decisions create a "multiverse" of possible outcomes, and each decision from study conceptualization to statistical analysis can lead to different results and interpretations. This review describes the concept of multiverse analyses, a methodological approach designed to understand the impact of different decisions on the robustness of a study's findings and interpretation. The emphasis is on transparently showcasing different reasonable approaches for constructing a final dataset and on highlighting the influence of various decision points, from experimental design to data processing and outcome selection. For example, the choice of an experimental task can significantly impact event-related brain potential (ERP) scores or skin conductance responses (SCRs), and different tasks might elicit unique variances in each measure. This review underscores the importance of transparently embracing the flexibility inherent in psychophysiological research and the potential consequences of not understanding the fragility or robustness of experimental findings. By navigating the intricate terrain of the psychophysiological multiverse, this review serves as an introduction, helping researchers to make informed decisions, improve the collective understanding of psychophysiological findings, and push the boundaries of the field.
Topics: Humans; Psychophysiology; Evoked Potentials; Brain; Research Design
PubMed: 38296000
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2024.112311 -
PloS One 2021Anxiety influences how individuals experience and regulate emotions in a variety of ways. For example, individuals with lower anxiety tend to cognitively reframe...
Anxiety influences how individuals experience and regulate emotions in a variety of ways. For example, individuals with lower anxiety tend to cognitively reframe (reappraise) negative emotion and those with higher anxiety tend to suppress negative emotion. Research has also investigated these individual differences with psychophysiology. These lines of research assume coherence between how individuals regulate outside the laboratory, typically measured with self-report, and how they regulate during an experiment. Indeed, performance during experiments is interpreted as an indication of future behavior outside the laboratory, yet this relationship is seldom directly explored. To address this gap, we computed psychophysiological profiles of uninstructed (natural) regulation in the laboratory and explored the coherence between these profiles and a) self-reported anxiety and b) self-reported regulation tendency. Participants viewed negative images and were instructed to reappraise, suppress or naturally engage. Electrodermal and facial electromyography signals were recorded to compute a multivariate psychophysiological profile of regulation. Participants with lower anxiety exhibited similar profiles when naturally regulating and following instructions to reappraise, suggesting they naturally reappraised more. Participants with higher anxiety exhibited similar profiles when naturally regulating and following instructions to suppress, suggesting they naturally suppressed more. However, there was no association between self-reported reappraisal or suppression tendency and psychophysiology. These exploratory results indicate that anxiety, but not regulation tendency, predicts how individuals regulate emotion in the laboratory. These findings suggest that how individuals report regulating in the real world does not map on to how they regulate in the laboratory. Taken together, this underscores the importance of developing emotion-regulation interventions and paradigms that more closely align to and predict real-world outcomes.
Topics: Adolescent; Anxiety; Anxiety Disorders; Emotional Regulation; Emotions; Female; Humans; Individuality; Laboratories; Male; Pilot Projects; Psychophysiology; Self Report; Young Adult
PubMed: 33711022
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0247246 -
International Journal of... May 2022Psychophysiological measures of arousal are often considered as potential biomarkers for disruptive behavior disorder (DBD). Nevertheless, the evidence is mixed,...
BACKGROUND
Psychophysiological measures of arousal are often considered as potential biomarkers for disruptive behavior disorder (DBD). Nevertheless, the evidence is mixed, possibly reflecting the heterogeneity of DBD and different subtypes of aggression. Additionally, arousal measures of the central nervous system (e.g. electroencephalogram: EEG) are underrepresented compared to peripheral ones (heart rate: HR; skin conductance: SC).
METHODS
We recorded HR, SC, and EEG (frequency band power at three electrodes Fz, Cz, Pz) in 49 participants with DBD, and 15 typically developing peers during two resting state and an emotional task condition. Group differences were assessed by a repeated measure ANOVA and regression analyses were applied to evaluate subtype-specific patterns.
RESULTS
Our results showed higher mean HR activity in DBD participants, which was however driven by medicated participants and no significant group differences were found for SC. Interestingly, a significant group x frequency band interaction emerged for the EEG. DBD youth showed lower alpha activity. Regression analyses showed that higher theta and lower alpha band activity were related to more general aggression scores and higher delta and lower beta activity predicted proactive aggression.
CONCLUSIONS
The lack of robust and significant differences for peripheral measurements (HR and SC) fits with previous mixed findings for externalizing disorders. Our results suggest that EEG measurements might be more sensitive to detect group differences and higher delta and lower beta activity might represent an index of a proactive subtype of aggression.
Topics: Adolescent; Aggression; Arousal; Attention Deficit and Disruptive Behavior Disorders; Conduct Disorder; Humans; Problem Behavior; Psychophysiology
PubMed: 35192864
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2021.12.010 -
Attention, Perception & Psychophysics Nov 2010Because of the precise temporal resolution of electrophysiological recordings, the event-related potential (ERP) technique has proven particularly valuable for testing... (Review)
Review
Because of the precise temporal resolution of electrophysiological recordings, the event-related potential (ERP) technique has proven particularly valuable for testing theories of perception and attention. Here, I provide a brief tutorial on the ERP technique for consumers of such research and those considering the use of human electrophysiology in their own work. My discussion begins with the basics regarding what brain activity ERPs measure and why they are well suited to reveal critical aspects of perceptual processing, attentional selection, and cognition, which are unobservable with behavioral methods alone. I then review a number of important methodological issues and often-forgotten facts that should be considered when evaluating or planning ERP experiments.
Topics: Attention; Brain; Brain Mapping; Electroencephalography; Evoked Potentials; Humans; Perception; Psychophysiology
PubMed: 21097848
DOI: 10.3758/APP.72.8.2031 -
Current Psychiatry Reports May 2018Neuroactive steroid hormones, such as estradiol and progesterone, likely play a role in the pathophysiology of female-specific psychiatric disorders such as premenstrual... (Review)
Review
PURPOSE OF REVIEW
Neuroactive steroid hormones, such as estradiol and progesterone, likely play a role in the pathophysiology of female-specific psychiatric disorders such as premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) and postpartum depression and may contribute to the marked sex differences observed in the incidence and presentation of affective disorders. However, few tools are available to study the precise contributions of these neuroactive steroids (NSs). In this review, we propose that the acoustic startle response (ASR), an objective measure of an organism's response to an emotional context or stressor, is sensitive to NSs. As such, the ASR represents a unique translational tool that may help to elucidate the contribution of NSs to sex differences in psychiatric disorders.
RECENT FINDINGS
Findings suggest that anxiety-potentiated startle (APS) and prepulse inhibition of startle (PPI) are the most robust ASR paradigms for assessing contribution of NSs to affective disorders, while affective startle response modulation (ASRM) appears less diagnostic of sex or menstrual cycle (MC) effects. However, few studies have appropriately used ASR to test a priori hypotheses about sex or MC differences. We recommend that ASR studies account for sex as a biological variable (SABV) and hormonal status to further knowledge of NS contribution to affective disorders.
Topics: Acoustic Stimulation; Emotions; Female; Humans; Male; Mood Disorders; Neurotransmitter Agents; Psychophysiology; Reflex, Startle; Sex Characteristics; Sex Factors; Steroids
PubMed: 29777410
DOI: 10.1007/s11920-018-0906-y -
British Medical Journal Dec 1970
Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Female; Humans; Leg; Male; Paresthesia; Psychophysiology; Vascular Diseases
PubMed: 5503231
DOI: No ID Found