Functional Neural Plasticity and Associated Changes in Positive Affect After Compassion Training

Although empathy is crucial for successful social interactions, excessive sharing of others' negative emotions may be maladaptive and constitute a source of burnout. To investigate functional neural plasticity underlying the augmentation of empathy and to test the counteracting potential of compassion, one group of participants was first trained in empathic resonance and subsequently in compassion. In response to videos depicting human suffering, empathy training, but not memory training (control group), increased negative affect and brain activations in anterior insula and anterior midcingulate cortex-brain regions previously associated with empathy for pain. In contrast, subsequent compassion training could reverse the increase in negative effect and, in contrast, augment self-reports of positive affect. In addition, compassion training increased activations in a non-overlapping brain network spanning ventral striatum, pregenual anterior cingulate cortex and medial orbitofrontal cortex. We conclude that training compassion may reflect a new coping strategy to overcome empathic distress and strengthen resilience.

Effects of cigarette abstinence on negative and positive affect by depression symptom levels: A lab study

Functional Anatomy of Humor: Positive Affect and Chronic Mental Illness

BackgroundPostoperative and ongoing treatment of breast cancer is traumatic to women with breast cancer and may lead to positive and negative psychological diseases, which can affect the prognosis of patients with breast cancer. Positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA) significantly impact the prognosis of postoperative breast cancer patients. However, the effects of specific emotions on patient prognosis and the relationships between them are still unclear.MethodsA case–control study was conducted to investigate the characteristics of PA and NA and their effects on Quality of Life (QoL) in breast cancer patients. 442 postoperative breast cancer patients and 444 healthy women were recruited from November to December 2021. For the observation group, participants were eligible if they (1) were aged between 16 and 80 years and (2) had a confirmed pathological diagnosis of breast cancer and (3) possessed the ability to read text, voluntarily agreed to participate, provided informed consent, and cooperated with the study procedures. The control group consisted of individuals without breast cancer who met all other criteria, as stated above. Patients were excluded from the study if they (1) had severe comorbid conditions causing functional impairment or life-threatening risks or (2) suffered from mental disorders or were unconscious at the time of the study. For the control group, individuals with a pathological diagnosis of breast cancer were also excluded. All other exclusion criteria were consistent with those for the observation group. The demographic information and clinicopathological information of the participants were collected. The Positive Affect and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS) is a scale containing 20 emotional scores related to emotion and is used to assess the level of positive and negative affect. The Quality of Life Questionnaire Core 30 (QLQ-C30) was used to assess the quality of life of cancer patients in 15 domains. SPSS 24.0 was used to analyze and process the data. Independent-sample t-tests, one-way ANOVA and Pearson correlation analysis, were used to analyze PA and NA in different treatment phases. Polynomial regression and response surface analysis were conducted to assess the relationships among PA, NA, and QoL. The results were considered statistically significant at P < 0.05.ResultsCompared with healthy women, breast cancer patients had lower scores on "alert" and "distressed" but higher scores on "inspired," "scared," and "afraid." There were no significant differences in the relationships between PA and NA between patients and healthy women (P > 0.05). During the initial treatment phase, the highest proportion of patients had an NA greater than the PA (PA < NA). In the rehabilitation phase, the highest proportion of patients had PA greater than or equal to the NA (PA ≥ NA). The relationship between PA and QoL was an inverted U-shaped curve (P < 0.05), whereas the relationship between NA and QoL was a positive U-shaped curve (P < 0.05). There was an interaction effect between PA and NA (P < 0.001). The relationships among PA, NA, and QoL varied across treatment phases. In the initial treatment phase, the presence of both positive and negative affect improved QoL. In the endocrine therapy phase, excessive positive effects decrease QoL. During the rehabilitation phase, QoL improved as positive affect increased relative to negative affect.ConclusionThere are significant differences in the distributions of positive and negative effects in breast cancer patients at different treatment phases. The impact of PA and NA on QoL varies by treatment phase. Our findings have important implications for tailoring emotional interventions for breast cancer patients at different stages of treatment.

Background: Pain is considered one of the most important sign of osteoarthritis. It has directly been linked to mental problems such as anxiety, depression, and mood swings globally. This present study examined the relationship of pain severity and coping strategies with vulnerable perception of osteoarthritis, pain anxiety, depression, positive and negative affect in osteoarthritis patients. Further, this study investigated moderating and mediating role of pain severity and coping strategies among vulnerable perception of osteoarthritis, pain anxiety, depression, positive and negative affect. Methods: Purposive sampling technique was used bases on cross-sectional study design. 250 diagnosed knee osteoarthritis patients (Female, n= 105; Male, n = 145) with age ranged between 30 to 60 years (M= 55.09, SD = 10.60) were included from different hospitals of Rawalpindi and Islamabad, Pakistan. Six psychological instruments, Back depression inventory (Beck, 1961), Pain perception scale (Wong & Baker, 2009), Knee injury and osteoarthritis outcome score (Roos, 1995) Pain anxiety symptom scale (Cracken, 1992), Positive and negative affect schedule (Hussein & Vostanis, 2008), and coping strategies scale (Carver,1997) were used to assess coping defense mechanism, pain severity, pain anxiety, depression and positive and negative affect in patients with osteoarthritis. Results: The results of correlation analysis revealed pain severity was statistically negatively associated with depression but it was statistically positively related to religious coping strategy and positive affect. Moderation and mediational analyses demonstrated perception of osteoarthritis was associated to stimulate pain severity, depression, positive and negative affect that was triggered and reduced using different coping defense mechanism including religious, problem focused, and positive coping strategies in osteoarthritis patients. In additionally, these results recommended that pain severity was partial mediator between perception of osteoarthritis and depression. Conclusions: These results suggested that pain severity and pain anxiety were more detrimental to psychological problems in patients with osteoarthritis.

Background: The affect regulation theory of binge eating suggests that binge eating is triggered by negative affect and functions to reduce negative affect. While binge eating frequently follows negative affect, available evidence suggests that negative affect increases immediately following a binge episode. However, it remains unclear whether short-term decreases in negative affect occur during the binge episode itself. In addition, the role of positive affect in binge eating is not well understood. Objectives: (1) To examine trajectories of positive and negative affect before and after binge eating episodes among women with bulimia nervosa (BN); and (2) to compare positive and negative affect during binge episodes to affect before binge episodes. Exploratory aims were (3) to compare trajectories of positive and negative affect before and after binge eating episodes that are anticipated vs. unanticipated; and (4) to compare trajectories of positive and negative affect before and after objective vs. subjective binge eating episodes. Method: Thirty-five women with BN were asked to answer questions about binge eating and affect several times daily over a 14-day period using an ecological momentary assessment (EMA) procedure. Affect during binge episodes was assessed retrospectively during the EMA rating following each binge episode. Results: Positive affect decreased in the hours before binge episodes and increased in the hours following binge episodes, while negative affect increased in the hours before binge episodes and decreased in the hours following binge episodes. Negative affect was rated as higher and positive affect was rated as lower during binge episodes relative to before binge episodes. Trajectories of positive and negative affect did not differ based on anticipation of the binge episode or based on the size of the binge episode (objective vs. subjective). Discussion: The present findings replicate prior research on trajectories of positive and negative affect before and after binge episodes, and suggest that these trajectories are consistent regardless of whether the binge was anticipated in advance and regardless of the size of the binge episode. Comparisons of positive and negative affect before vs. during binge episodes did not support the affect regulation hypothesis of binge eating, as affect was found to worsen during binge episodes. Results may be more consistent with theories suggesting reduced inhibitory control over eating during negative emotional states, but do not suggest that binge eating produces improvements in positive and negative affect in comparison to pre-binge affective states. Further research is needed to better understand factors that maintain binge eating.

Positive and negative parental affect influence developing parent-child attachment relationships, especially during infancy as well as children's social-emotional, academic, and behavioral functioning later in life. Increasingly, because both mothers and fathers can play central caregiving roles, the parenting qualities of both parents demand consideration. Therefore, this study investigated whether parental gender and caregiving role were associated with mothers' and fathers' positive affect and negative affect during interactions with their 4-month-old firstborn infant, while determining whether parenting stress, infant temperament, having a singleton/twin, and living in the Netherlands, France, or the United Kingdom were related to parental positive affect and negative affect. In all, 135 different-sex, same-sex male, and same-sex female couples (113 fathers and 157 mothers, comprising 147 primary, and 123 secondary caregivers) who conceived through artificial reproductive techniques were studied. The couples were videorecorded at home while in feeding, cleaning, and playing contexts to assess the levels of positive and negative parental affect. In addition, the couples completed questionnaires about their caregiving role, parenting stress, and the infants' temperament. Mixed linear models indicated that the levels of positive and negative parental affect toward the infant in all contexts were not related to parental gender, caregiving role, the interaction between parental gender and caregiving role, parenting stress, infant temperament, or singleton/twin status. However, the target parental behaviors were related to the country of origin, suggesting differences among Dutch, French, and British parents. Overall, we found no evidence that gender or caregiving roles were associated with the levels of positive and negative affect shown by the parents.

Daily intra-individual variability of positive but not negative affect impacts moderate to vigorous physical activity

Altered affect and cognitive dysfunction are transdiagnostic, burdensome, and pervasive features of many psychiatric conditions which remain poorly understood and have few efficacious treatments. Research on the genetic architecture of these phenotypes and causal relationships between them may provide insight into their aetiology and comorbidity. Using data from the Lifelines Cohort Study, we conducted genome-wide association studies (GWAS) on positive and negative affect and four cognitive domains (working memory, reaction time, visual learning and memory, executive function). Using publicly available large GWAS on related - albeit distinct-phenotypes (depression, anxiety, wellbeing, general cognitive ability [GCA]) we conducted genetic correlation and Mendelian randomization (MR) analyses to examine genetic overlap and causal relationships. We identified one genome-wide hit (p<5×10-8) for reaction time, and many loci with suggestive associations (p<5×10-6; N range= 11-20 independent hits) for other phenotypes. For most phenotypes, gene mapping and tissue expression analysis of suggestive hits from the GWAS showed increased gene expression in brain tissue compared to other tissues. As predicted, negative affect is genetically correlated with mental health phenotypes (depression r g=0.51; anxiety r g=0.70; wellbeing r g = -0.71) and cognitive domains are genetically correlated with GCA and brain volume (r g ≤ 0.66). Genetic correlations between negative and positive affect suggest that they are dissociable constructs (r g = -0.18) with negative affect having higher genetic overlap with GCA than positive affect (r g =-0.19 vs -0.06). This could indicate that negative affect has a higher shared neural basis with GCA than positive affect and/or GCA and negative affect may exhibit causal relationships. MR analyses suggest potential causal effects of higher GCA on reduced negative affect, reduced risk of depression and anxiety, and higher wellbeing, but little impact on positive affect. We also report evidence for potential causal effects of depression and lower wellbeing on reduced GCA. Taken together, these results suggests that GCA may be a valid target for negative affect (but not positive affect) and depression and wellbeing may be valid targets for GCA.

Altered affect and cognitive dysfunction are burdensome features of many neuropsychiatric conditions that are highly comorbid, remain poorly understood, and have few efficacious treatments. Exploring their genetic architecture and causal relationships may provide insight into their aetiology and comorbidity. Compared to related but distinct traits (depression, wellbeing, neuroticism), findings from genome-wide association studies(GWAS) of positive and negative affect may be informative due to these phenotypes being less heterogenous (compared to broader phenotypes of wellbeing and depression), whilst still retaining important clinical relevance as potential targets for indirect intervention (compared to neuroticism which may be less modifiable). Using data from the Lifelines Cohort Study, we conducted the first GWAS of positive and negative affect using a validated measure (N = 57,946), and four cognitive domains: working memory, reaction time, learning and memory, and executive function (N ≥ 35,729). We then assessed genetic overlap and potential causal relationships using genetic correlation and bidirectional Mendelian randomization (MR)analyses, incorporating large GWAS on related-albeit distinct-phenotypes (depression, anxiety, wellbeing, general cognitive ability [GCA]). We identified one SNP that reached genome-wide significance (p < 5 × 10-8) for reaction time, and many independent SNPs with suggestive associations for other phenotypes (N = 11-20). For most phenotypes, exploratory gene mapping indicated that SNPs with suggestive associations have higher gene expression in brain tissue compared to other tissues; however, this only met Bonferroni-corrected p-value threshold criteria for positive affect and visual learning and memory. Genetic correlations between negative and positive affect suggest that they are dissociable constructs (rg = - 0.18). GCA has higher genetic overlap with negative affect than with positive affect (rg = - 0.19 vs - 0.06), which could indicate that negative affect and GCA have a higher shared neural basis and/or they exhibit causal relationships. Supporting the latter, MR analyses indicated that higher GCA may reduce negative affect, depression, and anxiety, and increase wellbeing, with little impact on positive affect. Conversely, MR analyses indicated that higher risk of depression and lower wellbeing may causally reduce GCA. Together, these findings suggest that interventions that indirectly influence GCA may be valid targets to prevent negative affect, while interventions that indirectly influence depression/wellbeing may be valid targets for GCA.

Objectives Compromised regulation of negative and positive emotions is a common feature of psychopathology. Healthy aging relates to changes in affective processing, but older adults’ regulation of positive affect is less well understood than regulation of negative affect. We examined the cognitive reappraisal of positive and negative affect in healthy younger and older adults, and the neural correlates of reappraisal among older adults. Method Participants viewed negative, positive, and neutral IAPS images and were instructed to attend or reappraise their affective response. Younger and older adults (N = 31) in the behavioral pilot were asked to report on their affect after each image. Another group of older adults (N = 19) completed the same task while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging. Results Behaviorally, older adults were less effective than young adults at downregulating negative and positive affect. Older adults showed engagement of cognitive control regions when regulating negative affect, but not positive affect. Older adults showed increased, rather than decreased, activation in emotion appraisal regions when reappraising negative affect. Discussion These results may suggest that older adults are less engaged with negative stimuli ; however, future work is needed to address several limitations such as a limited sample size. In addition, we recommend future researchers expand on this work examining regulation of both positive and negative affect among older adults.

In a cross-sectional study, associations of global affect with two ways of listening to music – attentive-analytical listening (AL) and emotional listening (EL) – were examined. Based on a two-dimensional model of general affect, we focused on the degrees to which AL and EL are differentially correlated with positive and negative affect. In addition to bivariate relationships, the interactions between different states of general affect were tested. In Study 1, a sample of 1,291 individuals responded to questionnaires on listening to music, positive affect (PA), and negative affect (NA). We used the PANAS, which measures PA and NA as high arousal dimensions. AL was positively correlated with PA, EL with NA. Moderation analyses showed stronger associations between PA and AL when NA was low. Study 2 (N = 499 participants) differentiated between three facets of affect and focused, in addition to PA and NA, on the role of relaxation. Similar to the findings of Study 1, AL was correlated with PA, EL with NA and PA. Moderation analyses indicated that the degree to which PA was associated with an individual´s tendency to listen to music attentively depended on their degree of relaxation. In addition, the correlation between PA and EL was stronger for individuals who were more relaxed; for individuals who were less relaxed, the correlation between NA and EL was stronger. In sum, the results demonstrate not only simple bivariate correlations, but also that the expected associations vary, depending on the different affective states. We argue that the results reflect a dual function of listening to music, which includes emotional regulation and information processing.

Background:Studies on affective wellbeing have shown the beneficial role of positive emotions on cognitive processing and the harmful role of negative emotions on coping, stress and health status. Studies have shown that yoga practices reduce anxiety and depression and improve wellbeing.Objective:The aims of the study were to, (i) examine the safety and feasibility of conducting a weeklong free yoga camp, and (ii) assess its impact on the negative and positive affect in normal healthy volunteers.Materials and Methods:In this open-arm study450 participants were taught integrated yoga module. It included asanas, pranayama, relaxation, notional correction and devotional sessions. Assessment was carried out on the first and last day of the camp, using a modified version of Positive Affect Negative Affect Scale (PANAS). It has ten questions each to measure positive (PA) and negative affect (NA). Nine questions have been added which are referred as other positive affect (OPA) and other negative affect (ONA) domains.Results:Three hundred and twelve sets of pre–post data were analyzed. There was an increase in PA of PANAS by 13% (P<0.001, Wilcoxon’s signed rank test) and OPA by 17% (P<0.001). The NA reduced by 47% (P<0.001) and ONA by 48% (P<0.001).Conclusion:It is feasible and safe to conduct a weeklong yoga camp in an urban setting, and integrated yoga practices can reduce the negative affect and increase the positive affect within one week.

Based on analysis of self-ratings of mood, positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA) have been proposed as basic, orthogonal mood dimensions (Watson & Tellegen, 1985). The present study asked subjects (N = 61) to not only provide self-ratings of PA and NA terms but also to retrieve personal memories associated with those terms. Self-rated PA was associated with latency to retrieve PA- but not NA-related memories; self-rated NA was associated with latency to retrieve NA- but not PA-related memories. Self-ratings of PA and NA were not significantly correlated, nor were retrieval latencies for PA and NA memories. Individual item correlations also revealed a strong direct relationship between self-ratings and retrieval latency. The dissociations involving a non-self report measure strengthen the distinction between PA and NA, and the individual item correlations are interpreted as showing that self-ratings of affect are based upon the ease of retrieval of personal memories.

Associations of DHEA(S) with negative and positive affect in people who smoke daily with elevated and low depression symptoms: A pilot laboratory study