Home About us Contact
|
Home About us Contact | ||
|
|
||
Emotionality
Kinds of Emotionality Selected AbstractsDisinhibitory trait profile and its relation to Cluster B personality disorder features and substance use problemsEUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PERSONALITY, Issue 4 2006Jeanette Taylor Abstract Certain personality and motivational traits may present vulnerability towards disinhibitory psychopathology (e.g. antisocial personality disorder, substance abuse). Cluster analysis was used to separately group 306 women and 274 men on impulsivity, Constraint, Negative Emotionality, behavioural activation system (BAS), and behavioural inhibition system (BIS) scores. As expected, a ,disinhibited' group with low Constraint, high impulsivity, weak BIS, and strong BAS emerged that showed elevated drug use problems, and histrionic and antisocial personality disorder features across gender. A ,high affectivity' group with high Negative Emotionality and strong BIS also showed elevated drug use problems and personality disorder features. Results suggested that two different trait profiles are associated with disinhibitory psychopathology and both may present vulnerability toward the development of such disorders. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] The assessment of behavioural activation,the relationship between positive emotionality and the behavioural activation systemEUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PERSONALITY, Issue 7 2004Lena C. Quilty Much personality research suggests that the variance in personality can be accounted for by a few dimensions, often hypothesized to be connected to neurological circuits. Gray's (1982) behavioural activation system (BAS) and behavioural inhibition system (BIS) in particular propose to explain for a variety of behaviour. This investigation sought to determine whether Positive Emotionality is an appropriate measure of the BAS, and how Tellegen's (1985) constructs are related to BAS activity. Measures of BAS and Positive Emotionality were administered to undergraduates. Confirmatory factor analyses revealed that, while Positive Emotionality can be used as an indicator of BAS activity, it is better conceived of as a distinct, correlated construct. In addition, not all components of Positive Emotionality were related to BAS activity, and BAS was further related to components of Negative Emotionality and Constraint. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Genetic and environmental determinants of temperament: a comparative study based on Polish and German samplesEUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PERSONALITY, Issue 3 2003odzimierz Oniszczenko This study of 1555 adult mono- and dizygotic twins reared together estimates the heritability of temperament traits in a Polish and a German sample. We test whether the etiology of temperament traits differs between the two cultures and between different temperament traits. We assessed temperament traits with the Formal Characteristics of Behaviour,Temperament Inventory (FCB-TI), the Pavlovian Temperament Survey (PTS), the Revised Dimensions of Temperament Survey (DOTS-R), and the Emotionality,Activity,Sociability Temperament Survey (EAS-TS). Taking error of measurement into account, genetic sources of variance explained about 50% of the variance of temperament traits. We found neither reliable cultural differences nor robust differences in the etiology of the traits. However, the four questionnaires differed systematically with respect to the proportion of genetic and environmental influences on their scales. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Talking about others: Emotionality and the dissemination of social informationEUROPEAN JOURNAL OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 2 2009Kim Peters There is evidence that we may be more likely to share stories about other people to the extent that they arouse emotion. If so, this emotional social talk may have important social consequences, providing the basis for many of our social beliefs and mobilising people to engage or disengage with the targets of the talk. Across three studies, we tested the situated communicability of emotional social information by examining if the ability of emotionality to increase communicability would depend on the emotion that was aroused and the identity of the audience. Study 1 showed that participants were more willing to share social anecdotes that aroused interest, surprise, disgust and happiness with an unspecified audience. Study 2 provided a behavioural replication of these findings. Study 3 showed that the communicability of emotional social talk did vary with audience identity (friend or stranger). Together, these findings suggest that emotional social events (particularly those that arouse disgust and happiness) are likely to become part of a society's social beliefs, with important consequences for the structure of social relationships. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Brain dopamine is associated with eating behaviors in humansINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF EATING DISORDERS, Issue 2 2003Nora D. Volkow Abstract Objective Eating behavior in humans is influenced by variables other than just hunger-satiety including cognitive restraint, emotional distress, and sensitivity to food stimuli. We investigate the role of dopamine (DA), a neurotransmitter involved with food motivation, in these variables. Methods We used the Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire (DEBQ) to measure Restraint, Emotionality, and Externality in 10 subjects. We correlated DEBQ scores with brain DA levels. Positron emission tomography and {11C}raclopride uptake were used to measure baseline D2 receptors (neutral stimulation) and to assess changes in extracellular DA to food stimulation (display of food). Results Restraint was correlated with DA changes with food stimulation (higher restraint, greater responsivity), emotionality was negatively correlated with baseline D2 receptors (higher emotionality, lower D2 receptors), whereas externality was not. These correlations were significant in the dorsal but not in the ventral striatum. Discussion These results provide evidence that DA in the dorsal striatum is involved with the restraint and emotionality components regulating eating behavior and that these two dimensions reflect different neurobiologic processes. © 2003 by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.Int J Eat Disord 33: 136,142, 2003. [source] Stability and Change in Personality Traits From Late Adolescence to Early Adulthood: A Longitudinal Twin StudyJOURNAL OF PERSONALITY, Issue 2 2008Daniel M. Blonigen ABSTRACT We conducted a longitudinal-biometric study examining stability and change in personality from ages 17 to 24 in a community sample of male and female twins. Using Tellegen's (in press) Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (MPQ), facets of Negative Emotionality (NEM) declined substantially at the mean and individual levels, whereas facets of Constraint (CON) increased over time. Furthermore, individuals in late adolescence who were lowest on NEM and highest on CON remained the most stable over time, whereas those exhibiting the inverse profile (higher NEM, lower CON) changed the most in a direction towards growth and maturity. Analyses of gender differences yielded greater mean-level increases over time for women as compared to men on facets of CON and greater mean-level increases for men than women on facets of Agentic Positive Emotionality (PEM). Biometric analyses revealed rank-order stability in personality to be largely genetic, with rank-order change mediated by both the nonshared environment (and error) as well as genes. Findings correspond with prior evidence of a normative trend toward growth and maturity in personality during emerging adulthood. [source] Continuity and Change in Personality Traits From Adolescence to Midlife: A 25-Year Longitudinal Study Comparing Representative and Adjudicated MenJOURNAL OF PERSONALITY, Issue 5 2003Julien Morizot The second study examined structural, rank-order, and mean-level continuity. Partial structural continuity was demonstrated through confirmatory factor analysis. Regarding rank-order continuity, the correlations were stronger as age increased, particularly for the adjudicated men. For mean-level continuity, the adjudicated men displayed higher scores from adolescence to midlife for nearly every personality trait related to Disinhibition and Negative Emotionality. Significant decreases were observed in these traits for both samples, supporting the hypothesis of a normative psychological maturation. Although both samples showed this maturation, the adjudicated men displayed a lower rate of change during adolescence and early adulthood. The two samples did not differ in Extraversion and this trait remained more stable, particularly for adjudicated men. [source] Sociability and Positive Emotionality: Genetic and Environmental Contributions to the Covariation Between Different Facets of ExtraversionJOURNAL OF PERSONALITY, Issue 3 2003Michael Eid The relation between sociability and positive affect is one of the most often replicated results of research on personality and subjective well-being. It is shown how behavior genetics can contribute to our understanding of the covariance between sociability and positive emotionality. The results of a multimethod behavior-genetic study with 158 monozygotic and 120 dizygotic twins are reported. In this study, sociability and two components of positive emotionality (positive affect, energy) were assessed by self-report and other report. Additionally, positive state affect was assessed in five situations and aggregated across situations. The results showed that there are strong genetic correlations between all variables. Furthermore, there are substantive correlations between the nonshared environmental components of the different variables. Shared environmental influences, however, seemed to be unimportant for explaining the correlations between sociability and the different components of positive emotionality. The results are discussed with respect to their implications for future research on sociability and positive emotionality. [source] Preparation of parents by teaching of distraction techniques does not reduce child anxiety at anaesthetic induction.PEDIATRIC ANESTHESIA, Issue 9 2002A. Watson Introduction For those children having surgery, induction of anaesthesia is one of the most stressful procedures the child experiences perioperatively. Current work has failed to show a benefit of parental presence at induction of anaesthesia for all children. The reasons for lack of effect may include the high anxiety levels of some parents and also that the role for parents at their child's induction is not delineated. The main aim of this study was to see if parental preparation by teaching of distraction techniques could reduce their child's anxiety during intravenous induction of anaesthesia. Methods After ethics committee approval 40 children aged 2,10 years old, ASA status I or II undergoing daycase surgery under general anaesthesia were enrolled into the study. To avoid possible confounding factors children with a history of previous, surgery, chronic illness or developmental delay were excluded form participation. No children were given sedative premedication. After written informed consent by the parent, each child and parent was randomly assigned to an intervention or control group. Parents in the intervention group received preparation from a play specialist working on the children's surgical ward. It involved preparation for events in the anaesthetic room and instruction on methods of distraction for their child during induction using novel toys, books or blowing bubbles appropriate to the child's age. Preoperative information collected included demographic and baseline data. The temperament of the child was measured using the EASI (Emotionality, Activity, Sociability, Impulsivity) instrument of child temperament(l). In the anaesthetic room all children were planned to have intravenous induction of anaesthesia after prior application of EMLA cream. Anxiety of the child was measured by the modified Yale Preoperative Anxiety Scale (mYPAS)(2) by a blinded independent observer at three time points: entrance to the anaesthetic room, intravenous cannulation and at anaesthesia induction. Cooperation of the child was measured by the Induction Compliance Checklist (ICC) by the same observer (3). Postoperative data collected included parental satisfaction and anxiety scores measured by the Stait Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI)(4) and at one week the behaviour of the child was measured Using the Posthospitalisation Behavioural Questionnaire (PHBQ)(5). Normally distributed data were analysed by a two-sample t-test, categorical data by Pearson's Chi-squared test and non-parametric data by the Wilcoxon rank-sum test. Results One parent withdrew after enrolment. This left 22 children in the control group and 17 in the intervention group. There were no significant differences in demographic and baseline data of the children between the two groups including ethnic origin, number of siblings, birth order of the child, recent stressful events in the child's life, previous hospital admissions and the temperament of the child. Parent demographics were also similar between groups including parent's age, sex, relationship to child and level of education. There were no significant differences in child anxiety or cooperation during induction measured by mYPAS and ICC between the control and intervention groups. More parents in the preparation group distracted their child than those without preparation but this did not reach significance. Parental anxiety immediately postinduction was similar between groups as was the level of parental satisfaction. The incidence of development of new negative postoperative behaviour of the child at one week was not significantly different between groups. Discussion This study shows that giving an active role for parents in the induction room, particularly by instructing them on distracting techniques for their child, does not reduce their child's anxiety compared to conventional parental presence. We conclude resources should not be directed at this type of parental preparation. Further work should examine the usefulness of distraction by nursing staff or play specialists during anaesthetic induction. [source] Brain potentials in perception: Picture complexity and emotional arousalPSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY, Issue 3 2007Margaret M. Bradley Event-related potentials (ERPs) were measured while participants viewed affectively arousing and neutral pictures depicting either simple figure,ground compositions or more complex scenes to assess the timing and topography of perceptual and emotional modulation. Emotional pictures elicited a larger late positive potential than neutral pictures in a 400,700-ms window over centro-parietal sensors both for pictures with simple figure,ground composition and for more complex scenes. Picture composition affected ERPs beginning earlier (around 150 ms), with simple figure,ground compositions eliciting less positivity over posterior sensors and less negativity over frontal sensors. Emotionality had little effect on modulation of these early ERPs. These data suggest that the late centro-parietal positive potential primarily reflects motivational relevance, and that earlier posterior (and anterior) components reflect, at least in part, differences in a picture's perceptual organization. [source] Personality in nonhuman primates: a review and evaluation of past researchAMERICAN JOURNAL OF PRIMATOLOGY, Issue 8 2010Hani D. Freeman Abstract Scientific reports of personality in nonhuman primates are now appearing with increasing frequency across a wide range of disciplines, including psychology, anthropology, endocrinology, and zoo management. To identify general patterns of research and summarize the major findings to date, we present a comprehensive review of the literature, allowing us to pinpoint the major gaps in knowledge and determine what research challenges lay ahead. An exhaustive search of five scientific databases identified 210 relevant research reports. These articles began to appear in the 1930s, but it was not until the 1980s that research on primate personality began to gather pace, with more than 100 articles published in the last decade. Our analyses of the literature indicate that some domains (e.g., sex, age, rearing conditions) are more evenly represented in the literature than are others (e.g., species, research location). Studies examining personality structure (e.g., with factor analysis) have identified personality dimensions that can be divided into 14 broad categories, with Sociability, Confidence/Aggression, and Fearfulness receiving the most research attention. Analyses of the findings pertaining to inter-rater agreement, internal consistency, test,retest reliability, generally support not only the reliability of primate personality ratings scales but also point to the need for more psychometric studies and greater consistency in how the analyses are reported. When measured at the level of broad dimensions, Extraversion and Dominance generally demonstrated the highest levels of inter-rater reliability, with weaker findings for the dimensions of Agreeableness, Emotionality, and Conscientiousness. Few studies provided data with regard to convergent and discriminant validity; Excitability and Dominance demonstrated the strongest validity coefficients when validated against relevant behavioral criterion measures. Overall, the validity data present a somewhat mixed picture, suggesting that high levels of validity are attainable, but by no means guaranteed. Discussion focuses on delineating major theoretical and empirical questions facing research and practice in primate personality. Am. J. Primatol. 72:653,671, 2010. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Child ADHD and personality/temperament traits of reactive and effortful control, resiliency, and emotionalityTHE JOURNAL OF CHILD PSYCHOLOGY AND PSYCHIATRY AND ALLIED DISCIPLINES, Issue 11 2006Michelle M. Martel Background:, Models of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) suggest developmental influences may feed into components of the disorder separately from associated disruptive behavior problems. We investigated this in terms of key personality/temperament traits of Reactive and Effortful Control, Resiliency, and Emotionality. Methods:, A sample of 179 children (age 6,12, 63% boys), of whom 92 had ADHD, 52 were Controls, and 35 were borderline or not otherwise specified cases of ADHD, were examined. Dispositional trait scores were derived from parent-completed California Q-sort and the Early Adolescent Temperament Questionnaire. Child ADHD symptoms were evaluated using maternal structured diagnostic interview and teacher-completed symptom ratings. Results:, Traits were differentially associated with symptoms. Reactive Control was related to hyperactivity-impulsivity as rated by both parents and teachers. Negative Emotionality was related to oppositional-defiance. Resiliency was primarily related to inattention-disorganization as rated by both parents and teachers; Effortful Control was related uniquely to inattention in parent but not teacher data. A moderation effect emerged; the relationship between parent-rated Negative Emotionality and teacher-rated ADHD symptoms was stronger for children with high levels of both Reactive and Effortful Control. Conclusions:, Results are interpreted in relation to a two-pathway model of ADHD; regulation problems contribute to the emergence of symptoms of inattention-disorganization, reactive or motivational control problems to the emergence of hyperactivity-impulsivity, and these are distinct from negative affectivity. Children with regulation deficits and a reactive motivational style are especially at risk for the development of ADHD. [source] Can parents accurately perceive hyperactivity in their child?CHILD: CARE, HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT, Issue 3 2001E Hutchinson Summary In all, 1872 children were recruited as part of a larger study concerning food additives and behaviours in preschool children. This figure represented 70% of the whole population of -year-old children resident on the Isle of Wight, UK. Parents completed an assessment concerning their perceptions of their child's behaviour. The results of this assessment were compared with scores on two validated parental questionnaires, the Weiss Werry Peters (WWP) hyperactivity scale and the Emotionality, Activity and Sociability Temperament Questionnaire (EAS), which were used to assess hyperactivity. The accuracy of parents in perceiving hyperactivity in their children was found to be around 50% if the child was hyperactive, and 89% if the child was not hyperactive. The implications of these findings for services are discussed. Frequencies of potential risk groups for future Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Conduct Disorder were also suggested. [source] Common variations in the pretest environment influence genotypic comparisons in models of anxietyGENES, BRAIN AND BEHAVIOR, Issue 7 2005G. S. Izídio The behavioral characterization of rodent strains in different studies and laboratories can provide unreplicable results even when genotypes are kept constant and environmental control is maximized. In the present study, the influence of common laboratory environmental variables and their interaction with genotype on the results of behavioral tests of anxiety/emotionality were investigated. To this end, the inbred rat strains Lewis (LEW) and spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR), which are known to differ for numerous emotionality-related behaviors, were tested in the open field (OF), elevated plus maze (EPM) and black/white box (BWB), while three environmental factors were systematically controlled and analyzed: (1) the experimenter handling the animal (familiar or unfamiliar); (2) the position of the home cage (top or bottom shelf of the rack) and (3) the behavioral state of the animal immediately before the test (arousal or rest). Experimenter familiarity did not alter the behavior of rats in the OF. Cage position, on the other hand, influenced the behavior in the OF and BWB, with rats housed in top cages appearing less anxious like than those housed in the bottom. In the BWB (but not in the OF), these effects were genotype dependent. Finally, the behavioral state of the animals prior to testing altered the results of the EPM in a strain-dependent manner, with some anxiety-related genotypic differences being found only among rats that were aroused in their home cages. This study showed that common variations in the laboratory environment interact with genotype in behavioral tests of anxiety/emotionality. Recognizing and understanding such variations can help in the design of more effective experiments. [source] Searching for a developmental typology of personality and its relations to antisocial behaviour: a longitudinal study of an adjudicated men sampleCRIMINAL BEHAVIOUR AND MENTAL HEALTH, Issue 4 2003Julien Morizot The search for an empirically based personality typology has regained the interest of researchers. To date, however, empirical inquiries have mainly been cross-sectional. In this study, an empirically based developmental typology of personality was identified using data from a prospective longitudinal study of a sample of men adjudicated during their adolescence and assessed on four occasions until midlife. Cluster analyses were performed on measures of disinhibition, negative emotionality, and extraversion. Four developmental types of personality were identified. The first was characterized by average scores in the three traits in adolescence that decreased linearly until midlife (39%). The second type displayed very high scores in disinhibition and negative emotionality in adolescence that decreased rapidly during early adulthood (24%). The third type was characterized by very high scores in disinhibition and negative emotionality that remained stable until midlife, while extraversion was average during adolescence and then decreased rapidly until midlife (17%). The fourth type was characterized by high scores in disinhibition and negative emotionality in adolescence that was followed by cycles of decreases and increases until midlife (20%). These four developmental types of personality seemed to be related to known antisocial behaviour trajectories. Copyright © 2003 Whurr Publishers Ltd. [source] STRAIN, PERSONALITY TRAITS, AND DELINQUENCY: EXTENDING GENERAL STRAIN THEORYCRIMINOLOGY, Issue 1 2002ROBERT AGNEW Although Agnew's (1992) general strain theory (GST) has secured a fair degree of support since its introduction, researchers have had trouble explaining why some individuals are more likely than others to react to strain with delinquency. This study uses data from the National Survey of Children to address this issue. Drawing on Agnew (1997) and the psychological research on personality traits, it is predicted that juveniles high in negative emotionality and low in constraint will be more likely to react to strain with delinquency. Data support this prediction. [source] Parsing the general and specific components of depression and anxiety with bifactor modeling,DEPRESSION AND ANXIETY, Issue 7 2008Leonard J. Simms Ph.D. Abstract Recent hierarchical models suggest that both general and specific components are needed to fully represent the variation observed among mood and anxiety disorders. However, little is known about the relative size, severity, and psychological meaning of these components. We studied these features through bifactor modeling of the symptoms from the Inventory of Depression and Anxiety Symptoms [IDAS; Watson et al., 2007] in 362 community adults, 353 psychiatric patients, and 673 undergraduates. Results revealed that although all IDAS symptom types loaded prominently both on a general factor as well as specific factors, some symptom groups,such as dysphoria, generalized anxiety, and irritability,were influenced more strongly by the general factor, whereas others,e.g., appetite gain, appetite loss, and low well-being,contained a larger specific component. Second, certain symptom groups,e.g., Suicidality, Panic, Appetite Loss, and Ill Temper,reflected higher severity than other symptom groups. Finally, general factor scores correlated strongly with markers of general distress and negative emotionality. These findings support a hierarchical structure among mood and anxiety symptoms and have important implications for how such disorders are described, assessed, and studied. Depression and Anxiety 0:1,13, 2007. Published 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Brain mechanisms underlying emotional alterations in the peripartum period in ratsDEPRESSION AND ANXIETY, Issue 3 2003Inga D. Neumann Abstract In the period before and after parturition, i.e., in pregnancy and lactation, a variety of neuroendocrine alterations occur that are accompanied by marked behavioral changes, including emotional responsiveness to external challenging situations. On the one hand, activation of neuroendocrine systems (oxytocin, prolactin) ensures reproduction-related physiological processes, but in a synergistic manner also ensures accompanying behaviors necessary for the survival of the offspring. On the other hand, there is a dramatic reduction in the responsiveness of neuroendocrine systems to stimuli not relevant for reproduction, such as the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis responses to physical or emotional stimuli in both pregnant and lactating rats. With CRH being the main regulator of the HPA axis, downregulation of the brain CRH system may result in various behavioral, in particular emotional, adaptations of the maternal organisms, including changes in anxiety-related behavior. In support of this, the lactating rat becomes less emotionally responsive to novel situations, demonstrating reduced anxiety, and shows a higher degree of aggressive behavior in the test for agonistic behavior as well as in the maternal defense test. These changes in emotionality are independent of the innate (pre-lactation) level of anxiety and are seen in both rats bred for high as well as low levels of anxiety. Both brain oxytocin and prolactin, highly activated at this time, play a significant role in these behavioral and possibly also neuroendocrine adaptations in the peripartum period. Depression and Anxiety 17:111,121, 2003. © 2003 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Brain responses to surprising sounds are related to temperament and parent,child dyadic synchrony in young childrenDEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOBIOLOGY, Issue 6 2010Anu-Katriina Pesonen Abstract This study investigated the relationship between temperament characteristics, parent,child dyadic synchrony and auditory event-related potentials (ERP) in 15 two-year-old children. Temperament was assessed with the Early Childhood Behavior Questionnaire, and parent,child dyadic synchrony was analyzed from video-taped play situations. Involuntary switching of attention toward surprising sounds was measured with auditory ERPs by quantifying the P3a response for repeated and nonrepeated novel, naturally varying sounds, presented in a continuous repetitive sound sequence. Lower negative emotionality, higher effortful control and higher dyadic synchrony were associated with larger P3a responses to repeated novel sounds. The results demonstrate that temperament is related to P3a responses in early childhood, and that parent,child synchrony associates with both temperament and P3a responses in a theoretically meaningful way. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Dev Psychobiol 52: 513,523, 2010. [source] Animal models of early life stress: Implications for understanding resilienceDEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOBIOLOGY, Issue 5 2010David M. Lyons Abstract In the mid-1950s, Levine and his colleagues reported that brief intermittent exposure to early life stress diminished indications of subsequent emotionality in rats. Here we review ongoing studies of a similar process in squirrel monkeys. Results from these animal models suggest that brief intermittent exposure to stress promotes the development of arousal regulation and resilience. Implications for programs designed to enhance resilience in human development are discussed. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Dev Psychobiol 52: 402,410, 2010. [source] Artificial rearing alters the response of rats to natural and drug-mediated rewardsDEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOBIOLOGY, Issue 4 2006Anna M. Lomanowska Abstract Artificial rearing (AR) of infant rats permits precise control over key features of the early environment without maternal influence. The present study examined the behavioral response of AR rats towards natural and drug-mediated rewards, as well as their exploratory and affective behaviors. Adolescent AR rats showed increased preference for sucrose consumption relative to chow and demonstrated greater activity in the open field and in the elevated plus-maze compared to maternally reared (MR) rats. With respect to measures of emotionality, AR rats showed enhanced avoidance of the open arms of the plus-maze, indicating increased anxiety, but they did not differ from MR rats in exploring the center of the open field. Adult AR rats displayed a stronger conditioned response to morphine in a place preference test. These findings support the potential of the AR model to contribute to understanding the role of early experience in the development of behavioral motivation. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Dev Psyshobiol 48: 301,314, 2006. [source] Open-field Behaviors and Water-maze Learning in the F Substrain of Ihara Epileptic RatsEPILEPSIA, Issue 1 2006Yoko Okaichi Summary:,Purpose: Genetically epileptic model rats, Ihara epileptic rat (IER/F substrain), have neuropathologic abnormalities and develop generalized convulsive seizures when they reach the age of ,5 months. Because the neuromorphologic abnormalities are centered in the hippocampus, we expected to observe spatial cognitive deficits. The present study aimed to evaluate emotionality and learning ability of the F substrain of IER. Methods: To determine whether deficits are caused by inborn neuropathologic abnormalities or by repeated generalized convulsions, we tested nine 6- to 12-week-old IER/F rats that had not yet experienced seizures (experiment 1) and nine 7- to 9-month-old IER/F rats that had repeatedly experienced seizures (experiment 2) with identical tasks: an open-field test and the Morris water-maze place and cue tasks. Results: Both groups of IER/Fs showed behaviors that were different from those of control rats in the open-field test, and extensive learning impairments were seen in both the place task, which requires spatial cognition, and the cue task, which does not require spatial cognition but requires simple association learning. Their impaired performance of the cue task indicates that their deficiency was not limited to spatial cognition. Conclusions: Because young IER/F rats without seizure experiences also showed severe learning impairments, genetically programmed microdysgenesis in the hippocampus was suspected as a cause of the severe learning deficits of IER/Fs. [source] Caloric restriction for longevity: II,The systematic neglect of behavioural and psychological outcomes in animal researchEUROPEAN EATING DISORDERS REVIEW, Issue 6 2004Kelly M. Vitousek Abstract Research on caloric restriction for longevity (CRL) has generated hundreds of articles on the physiology of food deprivation, yet almost no data on consequences in other domains. The first paper in this series outlined the generally positive physical effects of CRL; the second analyses the meagre and sometimes disturbing record of research on behaviour, cognition and affect. The available evidence suggests that nutrient-dense CRL in animals,just like nutrient-poor semi-starvation in people,is associated with a number of adverse effects. Changes include abnormal food-related behaviour, heightened aggression and diminished sexual activity. Studies of learning and memory in underfed rodents yield inconsistent findings; no information is available on cognitive effects in primates. To date, the CRL field has ignored other variables that are crucial to the human case and known to be disrupted by chronic hunger, including sociability, curiosity and emotionality. Promotion of CRL for people is irresponsible in the absence of more reassuring data on the full range of expected outcomes. Eating disorder specialists should be contributing to scientific and public discussions of this increasingly prominent paradigm. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and Eating Disorders Association. [source] Evaluating theories of alcohol-related aggression using observations of young adults in barsADDICTION, Issue 6 2000Kathryn Graham Aims. The objective of the present study is to evaluate 36 explanations of alcohol-related aggression that have been proposed in the research literature in terms of their relevance to naturally-occurring incidents of aggression involving alcohol. Design. The study involved content analysis of descriptions of 105 incidents of aggression. Setting and participants. Bars frequented by young adults. Measurements. Step-by-step descriptions of incidents of aggression reported by researcher-observers based on 93 nights of observation in bars between midnight and 3 a.m. Findings. Some explanations relating to the effects of alcohol (e.g. focused on the present, reduced anxiety about sanctions or danger, heightened emotionality) and the environment (e.g. generally permissive environment, expectation by patrons that aggression will be tolerated) were found to be relevant to most incidents, while other explanations (e.g. crowding, release of pent-up anger) were directly relevant to only a few or no incidents. Incidents involving male-to-male aggression were more likely than incidents involving both males and females to be attributable to expectations, acceptance of aggression, power concerns, male honor and "macho" values. Principal components analysis identified five groupings of explanations: risk-taking effects of alcohol, cognitive impairment from alcohol, hyperemotional effects of alcohol, "macho" subculture, and permissive environment. Conclusions. The findings are consistent with a model of alcohol-related aggression that involves multiple contributing factors including alcohol effects and situational contexts. The greater relevance of certain explanations and the natural groupings of explanations point to directions for future research. [source] REVIEW: Acute withdrawal, protracted abstinence and negative affect in alcoholism: are they linked?ADDICTION BIOLOGY, Issue 2 2010Markus Heilig ABSTRACT The role of withdrawal-related phenomena in the development and maintenance of alcohol addiction remains under debate. A ,self-medication' framework postulates that emotional changes are induced by a history of alcohol use, persist into abstinence, and are a major factor in maintaining alcoholism. This view initially focused on negative emotional states during early withdrawal: these are pronounced, occur in the vast majority of alcohol-dependent patients, and are characterized by depressed mood and elevated anxiety. This concept lost popularity with the realization that in most patients, these symptoms abate over 3,6 weeks of abstinence, while relapse risk persists long beyond this period. More recently, animal data have established that a prolonged history of alcohol dependence induces more subtle neuroadaptations. These confer altered emotional processing that persists long into protracted abstinence. The resulting behavioral phenotype is characterized by excessive voluntary alcohol intake and increased behavioral sensitivity to stress. Emerging human data support the clinical relevance of negative emotionality for protracted abstinence and relapse. These developments prompt a series of research questions: (1) are processes observed during acute withdrawal, while transient in nature, mechanistically related to those that remain during protracted abstinence?; (2) is susceptibility to negative emotionality in acute withdrawal in part due to heritable factors, similar to what animal models have indicated for susceptibility to physical aspects of withdrawal?; and (3) to what extent is susceptibility to negative affect that persists into protracted abstinence heritable? [source] A cardiac signature of emotionalityEUROPEAN JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE, Issue 11 2007Stefan Koelsch Abstract Human personality has brain correlates that exert manifold influences on biological processes. This study investigates relations between emotional personality and heart activity. Our data demonstrate that emotional personality is related to a specific cardiac amplitude signature in the resting electrocardiogram (ECG). Two experiments using functional magnetic resonance imaging show that this signature correlates with brain activity in the amygdala and the hippocampus during the processing of musical stimuli with emotional valence. Additionally, this cardiac signature correlates with subjective indices of emotionality (as measured by the Revised Toronto Alexithymia Scale), and with both time and frequency domain measures of the heart rate variability. The results demonstrate intricate connections between emotional personality and the heart by showing that ECG amplitude patterns provide considerably more information about an individual's emotionality than previously believed. The finding of a cardiac signature of emotional personality opens new perspectives for the investigation of relations between emotional dysbalance and cardiovascular disease. [source] Mice with astrocyte-directed inactivation of connexin43 exhibit increased exploratory behaviour, impaired motor capacities, and changes in brain acetylcholine levelsEUROPEAN JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE, Issue 8 2003Christian Frisch Abstract Gap junctions mediate communication between many cell types in the brain. Gap junction channels are composed of membrane-spanning connexin (Cx) proteins, allowing the cell-to-cell passage of small ions and metabolites. Cx43 is the main constituent of the brain-spanning astrocytic gap junctional network, controlling activity-related changes in ion and glutamate concentrations as well as metabolic processes. In astrocytes, deletion of Cx43-coding DNA led to attenuated gap junctional coupling and impaired propagation of calcium waves, known to influence neuronal activity. Investigation of the role of Cx43 in behaviour has been impossible so far, due to postnatal lethality of its general deletion. Recently, we have shown that deletion of Cx30, which is also expressed by astrocytes, affects exploration, emotionality, and neurochemistry in the mouse. In the present study, we investigated the effects of the astrocyte-directed inactivation of Cx43 on mouse behaviour and brain neurochemistry. Deletion of Cx43 in astrocytes increased exploratory activity without influencing habituation. In the open field, but not in the elevated plus-maze, an anxiolytic-like effect was observed. Rotarod performance was initially impaired, but reached control level after further training. In the water maze, Cx43 deficient mice showed a steeper learning course, although final performance was similar between groups. Cx43 inactivation in astrocytes increased acetylcholine content in the frontal cortex of water maze-trained animals. Results are discussed in terms of altered communication between astrocytes and neurons, possible compensation processes, and differential effects of Cx30- and astrocyte-specific Cx43 deletion. [source] The assessment of behavioural activation,the relationship between positive emotionality and the behavioural activation systemEUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PERSONALITY, Issue 7 2004Lena C. Quilty Much personality research suggests that the variance in personality can be accounted for by a few dimensions, often hypothesized to be connected to neurological circuits. Gray's (1982) behavioural activation system (BAS) and behavioural inhibition system (BIS) in particular propose to explain for a variety of behaviour. This investigation sought to determine whether Positive Emotionality is an appropriate measure of the BAS, and how Tellegen's (1985) constructs are related to BAS activity. Measures of BAS and Positive Emotionality were administered to undergraduates. Confirmatory factor analyses revealed that, while Positive Emotionality can be used as an indicator of BAS activity, it is better conceived of as a distinct, correlated construct. In addition, not all components of Positive Emotionality were related to BAS activity, and BAS was further related to components of Negative Emotionality and Constraint. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Talking about others: Emotionality and the dissemination of social informationEUROPEAN JOURNAL OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 2 2009Kim Peters There is evidence that we may be more likely to share stories about other people to the extent that they arouse emotion. If so, this emotional social talk may have important social consequences, providing the basis for many of our social beliefs and mobilising people to engage or disengage with the targets of the talk. Across three studies, we tested the situated communicability of emotional social information by examining if the ability of emotionality to increase communicability would depend on the emotion that was aroused and the identity of the audience. Study 1 showed that participants were more willing to share social anecdotes that aroused interest, surprise, disgust and happiness with an unspecified audience. Study 2 provided a behavioural replication of these findings. Study 3 showed that the communicability of emotional social talk did vary with audience identity (friend or stranger). Together, these findings suggest that emotional social events (particularly those that arouse disgust and happiness) are likely to become part of a society's social beliefs, with important consequences for the structure of social relationships. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Neuronal cell adhesion molecule deletion induces a cognitive and behavioral phenotype reflective of impulsivityGENES, BRAIN AND BEHAVIOR, Issue 4 2008L. D. Matzel Cell adhesion molecules, such as neuronal cell adhesion molecule (Nr-CAM), mediate cell,cell interactions in both the developing and mature nervous system. Neuronal cell adhesion molecule is believed to play a critical role in cell adhesion and migration, axonal growth, guidance, target recognition and synapse formation. Here, wild-type, heterozygous and Nr-CAM null mice were assessed on a battery of five learning tasks (Lashley maze, odor discrimination, passive avoidance, spatial water maze and fear conditioning) previously developed to characterize the general learning abilities of laboratory mice. Additionally, all animals were tested on 10 measures of sensory/motor function, emotionality and stress reactivity. We report that the Nr-CAM deletion had no impact on four of the learning tasks (fear conditioning, spatial water maze, Lashley maze and odor discrimination). However, Nr-CAM null mice exhibited impaired performance on a task that required animals to suppress movement (passive avoidance). Although Nr-CAM mutants expressed normal levels of general activity and body weights, they did exhibit an increased propensity to enter stressful areas of novel environments (the center of an open field and the lighted side of a dark/light box), exhibited higher sensitivity to pain (hot plate) and were more sensitive to the aversive effects of foot shock (shock-induced freezing). This behavioral phenotype suggests that Nr-CAM does not play a central role in the regulation of general cognitive abilities but may have a critical function in regulating impulsivity and possibly an animal's susceptibility to drug abuse and addiction. [source] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||