Cognitive-affective Neuroscience Research Articles

Philosophy of psychiatry: theoretical advances and clinical implications.

Work at the intersection of philosophy and psychiatry has an extensive and influential history, and has received increased attention recently, with the emergence of professional associations and a growing literature. In this paper, we review key advances in work on philosophy and psychiatry, and their related clinical implications. First, in understanding and categorizing mental disorder, both naturalist and normativist considerations are now viewed as important - psychiatric constructs necessitate a consideration of both facts and values. At a conceptual level, this integrative view encourages moving away from strict scientism to soft naturalism, while in clinical practice this facilitates both evidence-based and values-based mental health care. Second, in considering the nature of psychiatric science, there is now increasing emphasis on a pluralist approach, including ontological, explanatory and value pluralism. Conceptually, a pluralist approach acknowledges the multi-level causal interactions that give rise to psychopathology, while clinically it emphasizes the importance of a broad range of "difference-makers", as well as a consideration of "lived experience" in both research and practice. Third, in considering a range of questions about the brain-mind, and how both somatic and psychic factors contribute to the development and maintenance of mental disorders, conceptual and empirical work on embodied cognition provides an increasingly valuable approach. Viewing the brain-mind as embodied, embedded and enactive offers a conceptual approach to the mind-body problem that facilitates the clinical integration of advances in both cognitive-affective neuroscience and phenomenological psychopathology.

A new science of emotion: implications for functional neurological disorder.

Functional neurological disorder reflects impairments in brain networks leading to distressing motor, sensory and/or cognitive symptoms that demonstrate positive clinical signs on examination incongruent with other conditions. A central issue in historical and contemporary formulations of functional neurological disorder has been the mechanistic and aetiological role of emotions. However, the debate has mostly omitted fundamental questions about the nature of emotions in the first place. In this perspective article, we first outline a set of relevant working principles of the brain (e.g. allostasis, predictive processing, interoception and affect), followed by a focused review of the theory of constructed emotion to introduce a new understanding of what emotions are. Building on this theoretical framework, we formulate how altered emotion category construction can be an integral component of the pathophysiology of functional neurological disorder and related functional somatic symptoms. In doing so, we address several themes for the functional neurological disorder field including: (i) how energy regulation and the process of emotion category construction relate to symptom generation, including revisiting alexithymia, 'panic attack without panic', dissociation, insecure attachment and the influential role of life experiences; (ii) re-interpret select neurobiological research findings in functional neurological disorder cohorts through the lens of the theory of constructed emotion to illustrate its potential mechanistic relevance; and (iii) discuss therapeutic implications. While we continue to support that functional neurological disorder is mechanistically and aetiologically heterogenous, consideration of how the theory of constructed emotion relates to the generation and maintenance of functional neurological and functional somatic symptoms offers an integrated viewpoint that cuts across neurology, psychiatry, psychology and cognitive-affective neuroscience.

Within and beyond an integrated framework of attentional capture: A perspective from cognitive-affective neuroscience

ABSTRACT The integrative framework proposed by Luck and colleagues [Luck, S. J., Gaspelin, N., Folk, C. L., Remington, R. W., & Theeuwes, J. (2021). Progress toward resolving the attentional capture debate. Visual Cognition, 29(1), 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/13506285.2020.1848949] represents major progress in the field of attention research, and remaining areas of disagreement provide an opportunity to test hypotheses by drawing on other research traditions. From the perspective of research in cognitive-affective neuroscience, we first suggest ways in which recent analytic innovations in human neuroimaging can be used to test hypotheses proposed by Folk and Remington about how biases within distinct brain systems may be integrated within a control state. We then shift focus and extend recent critiques of the generalizability of vision-centred frameworks of emotional guidance of attention to the integrative framework, citing evidence that vision-based frameworks of attentional capture do not necessarily extend to other sensory modalities.

Controlled emotional tactile stimulation during functional magnetic resonance imaging and electroencephalography

BackgroundTactile stimulation used to induce emotional responses is often not well-controlled. Replicating the same tactile stimulations across studies is difficult, compared to replicating visual and auditory modalities, which have standardized stimulus sets. Standardizing a stimulation method by replicating stimuli across studies is necessary to further elucidate emotional responses in neuroscience research using tactile stimulation. The new methodWe developed a tactile stimulation device. The device's ultrasonic motor and optical force sensor have the following criteria: (1) controls the physical property of stimuli, pressure, and stroking speed; (2) measures actual touch timing; (3) is safe to use in a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner; and (4) produces low noise in electroencephalography (EEG) and MRI. ResultsThe noise level of the device's drive was sufficiently low. For the EEG experiment, we successfully used signal processing to diminish the commercial power supply noise. For functional MRI (fMRI) scans, we found <5% signal loss occurred during device rotation. Comparison with existing method(s)We found no previous report about the noise level of a tactile stimulation device used to induce emotional responses during EEG and fMRI recordings. The signal loss rate was comparable with that of other robotic devices used in MRI scanners. Emotional feelings induced by this stimulation method were comparable with those elicited in other sensory modalities. ConclusionsThe developed device could be used for cognitive-affective neuroscience research when conducting EEG and fMRI scans. The device should aid in standardizing affective tactile stimulation for research in psychology and cognitive neuroscience.

Event-related potentials to threat of predictable and unpredictable shock.

Cognitive affective neuroscience tasks that are straightforward to administer, measure key constructs of interest, and can be used in different lab settings and with multiple psychophysiological methods can lead to a more complete understanding of experimental effects. The no-threat, predictable threat, unpredictable threat (NPU-threat) task assesses constructs of interest to both clinical and basic affective science literatures, is relatively brief to administer, and has been used across labs with a number of different measurements (e.g., startle eyeblink, fMRI, corrugator response, subjective ratings). ERPs provide another means of assessing neurobiological reactivity during the NPU-threat task, but to date such measures have been underutilized. That is, no study has yet evaluated cue-elicited ERPs in the NPU-threat task. Here, cue-elicited ERPs were assessed in 78 participants who completed a version of the NPU-threat task previously shown to reliably moderate startle eyeblink amplitudes. Results showed larger P2 amplitudes for unpredictable versus predictable trials, increased P3s and late positive potentials for threatening versus no-threat trials, as well as larger stimulus preceding negativities for threatening versus no-threat trials (driven primarily by predictable threat cues). In line with prior work, we observed enhanced startle eyeblink for threatening versus no-threat trials and for unpredictable compared to predictable threat interstimulus intervals. In addition, the probe-elicited P3 was suppressed for predictable and unpredictable compared to no-threat trials. Therefore, cue-elicited ERPs, which can be recorded alongside other measures in the NPU-threat task (e.g., startle), may provide useful indices of temporally distinct stages of predictable and unpredictable threat processing.

A systematic review of the neural bases of psychotherapy for anxiety and related disorders

Brain imaging studies over two decades have delineated the neural circuitry of anxiety and related disorders, particularly regions involved in fear processing and in obsessive-compulsive symptoms. The neural circuitry of fear processing involves the amygdala, anterior cingulate, and insular cortex, while cortico-striatal-thalamic circuitry plays a key role in obsessive-compulsive disorder. More recently, neuroimaging studies have examined how psychotherapy for anxiety and related disorders impacts on these neural circuits. Here we conduct a systematic review of the findings of such work, which yielded 19 functional magnetic resonance imaging studies examining the neural bases of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) in 509 patients with anxiety and related disorders. We conclude that, although each of these related disorders is mediated by somewhat different neural circuitry, CBT may act in a similar way to increase prefrontal control of subcortical structures. These findings are consistent with an emphasis in cognitive-affective neuroscience on the potential therapeutic value of enhancing emotional regulation in various psychiatric conditions.

The relevance of translational neuroscience in psychiatry residency training: Commentary on "Torous et al. A proposed solution to integrating cognitive-affective neuroscience and neuropsychiatry in psychiatry residency training: The time is now".

In psychiatry, the critical influence of residency training in shaping one’s outlook toward the specialty cannot be overstated. It determines, to a large extent, conceptualization of mental phenomena/related disorders as well as formulation of specific treatment approaches. The psychiatry–neurology dualism that pervades most residency programs across the world has had an adverse impact on psychiatry training. This distinction between specialties largely stemmed from the fact that the pathophysiological processes that led to psychiatric symptoms were unknown at that point in time making them ‘‘functional’’. However, passage of time and lack of concerted attempts toward updating this understanding has resulted in the hitherto unknown being misunderstood as eternally unknowable or non-existent. This has led to cementing of psychiatric disorders as disorders of the ‘‘mind’’, clearly distinct from disorders of the ‘‘brain’’; so much so that several decades of dedicated and fruitful research into the biological basis of symptoms has largely failed to change this

Bringing neuroscience to teaching rounds: Refreshing our clinical pidgin.

Torous et al. offer a compelling proposal to ‘‘encourage all psychiatrists and psychiatry residents to engage in discussions around localizing suspected abnormally functioning brain circuits.’’ This timely paper offers a practical approach and echoes concerns (Bullmore et al., 2009; Kontos et al., 2006) about the pedagogical fallout of the current state of psychiatric practice. To put it more bluntly – are current workplaces inadequate learning environments for future psychiatrists? Will they transmit a style of practice that excludes emerging knowledge about the neurobiology of mental illness? Torous et al. offer several clinical examples, and are speaking as physicians, educators and scientists who are engaged in the real world of practice. The proposal thus evokes a familiar and central scene at the clinical coalface: the trainee and supervisor leaning in to their interaction with the patient. This is a triad in which the rubber of all our curricular aspirations meets the proverbial road of the clinical encounter where, for better and worse, habits of practice (and learning) are acquired. As with many practical initiatives, the authors acknowledge that there is much work to be done, e.g. to develop curricular resources, train faculty and address the limits of our knowledge. The effort itself, however, fits well within a long-standing pluralist tradition in medicine. Psychiatry has been a leading exemplar of such pluralism and can indeed welcome and integrate ‘Cognitive-Affective Neuroscience’ and ‘Neuropsychiatry’. Swales provided an illuminating and entertaining history of three old, and often battling, ‘cultures’ in medicine (Swales, 2000). While cutting-edge physiological theory (e.g. bleeding to target inflammation from excessive blood volume) had to sometimes yield to empirical evidence (patients with typhoid did not fare

A transdiagnostic minority stress treatment approach for gay and bisexual men's syndemic health conditions.

Developing and deploying separate treatments for separate conditions seems ill-suited to intervening upon the co-occurring, and possibly functionally similar, psychosocial conditions facing gay and bisexual men. This article argues for the need to create transdiagnostic interventions that reduce multiple syndemic conditions facing gay and bisexual men at the level of their shared source in minority stress pathways. This article first reviews psychosocial syndemic conditions affecting gay and bisexual men, then suggests pathways that might link minority stress to psychosocial syndemics based on recent advancements in emotion science, psychiatric nosology, and cognitive-affective neuroscience, and finally suggests cross-cutting psychosocial treatment principles to reduce minority stress-syndemic pathways among gay and bisexual men. Because minority stress serves as a common basis of all psychosocial syndemic conditions reviewed here, locating the pathways through which minority stress generates psychosocial syndemics and employing overarching treatment principles capable of simultaneously alleviating these pathways will ultimately create a transdiagnostic approach to improving gay and bisexual men's health. Clinical research and training approaches are suggested to further validate the pathways suggested here, establish the efficacy of treatment approaches tied to those pathways, and generate effective methods for disseminating a transdiagnostic minority stress treatment approach for gay and bisexual men's psychosocial syndemic health.

A proposed solution to integrating cognitive-affective neuroscience and neuropsychiatry in psychiatry residency training: The time is now.

Despite increasing recognition of the importance of a strong neuroscience and neuropsychiatry education in the training of psychiatry residents, achieving this competency has proven challenging. In this perspective article, we selectively discuss the current state of these educational efforts and outline how using brain-symptom relationships from a systems-level neural circuit approach in clinical formulations may help residents value, understand, and apply cognitive-affective neuroscience based principles towards the care of psychiatric patients. To demonstrate the utility of this model, we present a case of major depressive disorder and discuss suspected abnormal neural circuits and therapeutic implications. A clinical neural systems-level, symptom-based approach to conceptualize mental illness can complement and expand residents' existing psychiatric knowledge.

An Affective Cognitive Neuroscience-Based Approach to PTSD Psychotherapy: The TARGET Model.

Adaptations or alternative versions of cognitive psychotherapy for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are needed because even the most efficacious cognitive or cognitive-behavioral psychotherapies for PTSD do not retain or achieve sustained clinically significant benefits for a majority of recipients. Cognitive affective neuroscience research is reviewed which suggests that it is not just memory (or memories) of traumatic events and related core beliefs about self, the world, and relationships that are altered in PTSD but also memory (and affective information) processing A cognitive psychotherapy is described that was designed to systematically make explicit these otherwise implicit trauma-related alterations in cognitive emotion regulation and its application to the treatment of complex variants of PTSD-Trauma Affect Regulation: Guide for Education and Therapy (TARGET). TARGET provides therapists and clients with (a) a neurobiologically informed strengths-based meta-model of stress-related cognitive processing in the brain and how this is altered by PTSD and (b) a practical algorithm for restoring the executive functions that are necessary to make implicit trauma-related cognitions explicit (i.e., experiential awareness) and modifiable (i.e., planful refocusing). Results of randomized clinical trial studies and quasi-experimental effectiveness evaluations of TARGET with adolescents and adults are reviewed.

How cognitive neuroscience could be more biological-and what it might learn from clinical neuropsychology.

Three widespread assumptions of Cognitive-affective Neuroscience are discussed: first, mental functions are assumed to be localized in circumscribed brain areas which can be exactly determined, at least in principle (localizationism). Second, this assumption is associated with the more general claim that these functions (and dysfunctions, such as in neurological or mental diseases) are somehow generated inside the brain (internalism). Third, these functions are seen to be “biological” in the sense that they can be decomposed and finally explained on the basis of elementary biological causes (i.e., genetic, molecular, neurophysiological etc.), causes that can be identified by experimental methods as the gold standard (isolationism). Clinical neuropsychology is widely assumed to support these tenets. However, by making reference to the ideas of Kurt Goldstein (1878–1965), one of its most important founders, I argue that none of these assumptions is sufficiently supported. From the perspective of a clinical-neuropsychological practitioner, assessing and treating brain damage sequelae reveals a quite different picture of the brain as well as of us “brain carriers”, making the organism (or person) in its specific environment the crucial reference point. This conclusion can be further elaborated: all experimental and clinical research on humans presupposes the notion of a situated, reflecting, and interacting subject, which precedes all kinds of scientific decomposition, however useful. These implications support the core assumptions of the embodiment approach to brain and mind, and, as I argue, Goldstein and his clinical-neuropsychological observations are part of its very origin, for both theoretical and historical reasons.

Automatic goals and conscious regulation in social cognitive affective neuroscience

The Selfish Goal model challenges traditional agentic models that place conscious systems at the helm of motivation. We highlight the need for ongoing supervision and intervention of automatic goals by higher-order conscious systems with examples from social cognitive affective neuroscience. We contend that interplay between automatic and supervisory systems is required for adaptive human behavior.

Aging and risk taking: toward an integration of cognitive, emotional, and neurobiological perspectives

Aging and risk taking: toward an integration of cognitive, emotional, and neurobiological perspectives Robin Shao,1,2 Tatia MC Lee1&ndash;31Laboratory of Neuropsychology, 2Laboratory of Social Cognitive Affective Neuroscience, 3The State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Hong KongAbstract: In this article, we characterize the relationship between natural aging and risky decision making through an integration of cognitive, emotional, and neurobiological theories on the effects of natural aging. Based on the existing evidence, we propose that the positivity emotional bias in elderly adults steers them away from taking high risks and toward more conservative approaches during decision making as part of their positive emotional regulatory strategies. However, aging is also associated with marked declines in cognitive functioning, such as attention and working memory, as well as impaired reinforcement-based associative learning, which arises from anatomical and functional declines in the dopaminergic transmission systems and in distinct brain regions such as the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and hippocampus. In consequence, elderly adults may deviate from their usual conservative stance and toward more risk-taking tendencies, as observed in a subset of studies, if the demands of the risk-taking task exceed their cognitive and learning capacities. More empirical investigations are needed to determine the key factors that influence elderly individuals&#39; decision making and behavior in risky situations. Research in this field is likely to have important practical implications for the financial and medical decision making of elderly adults, as well as promoting designated help targeting the elderly population in making important life decisions.Keywords: risky decision making, aging, insula, cognition, dopaminergic system

Cognition and Emotional Processing in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

Event Abstract Back to Event Cognition and Emotional Processing in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Tom Burke1, 2*, Marwa Elamin2, Orla Hardiman2, 3 and Niall Pender1, 2, 4 1 Beaumont Hospital, Department of Psychology, Ireland 2 Trinity College Dublin, Academic Unit of Neurology, School of Medicine, Ireland 3 Beaumont Hospital, Department of Neurology, Ireland 4 Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI), Ireland Background: Executive dysfunction is known to occur in early stages of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). Social cognitive processes are considered by some to be subsumed by executive functions and brain atrophy is known to occur in cortical and subcortical regions involving cognitive functions in ALS, congruent with the neuroanatomical basis for social cognitive processes. Objectives The aims of this research were to investigate social-cognitive decline, relative to auxiliary cognitive decline. Methodology Participants were recruited as part of an ongoing population based study investigating cognitive heterogeneity in ALS. After removing patients whom were C9orf72 positive, participants were grouped based on whether patients had bulbar (n=20) or spinal onset (n=39) ALS. Gender, age, IQ and education matched healthy controls were used to generate culturally specific comparative data for within-patient analyses (N=59). Results On affective ToM, there was a significant difference between bulbar and spinal onset patients on this task (p= .001). Comparing bulbar and spinal patients standardized scores of executive function yielded no significant differences. Discussion and Conclusions Results indicate the presence of social-affective deficits within ALS, prior to characteristic executive and language dysfunction, for bulbar onset patients without comorbid deficits. These findings shall be discussed in relation to current research and cognitive theory, as well as ongoing population based ALS research. Acknowledgements Acknowledgements: The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement no (259867);the JPND SOPHIA project; Irish Health Research Board CSA2012/11 and the Irish Institute of Clinical Neuroscience (12549. 201616). The authors would like to kindly thank and acknowledge the participants of this research. Keywords: Social Cognitive Affective Neuroscience, Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Ireland, neuropsychological assessment, Executive Function Conference: Neuroscience Ireland Young Neuroscientists Symposium 2014 , Dublin, Ireland, 20 Sep - 20 Sep, 2014. Presentation Type: Oral Presentation Topic: Early Career Neuroscience Citation: Burke T, Elamin M, Hardiman O and Pender N (2014). Cognition and Emotional Processing in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. Front. Neurosci. Conference Abstract: Neuroscience Ireland Young Neuroscientists Symposium 2014 . doi: 10.3389/conf.fnins.2014.87.00005 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 04 Sep 2014; Published Online: 05 Sep 2014. * Correspondence: Mr. Tom Burke, Beaumont Hospital, Department of Psychology, Dublin 9, Ireland, tom.m.burke@ucd.ie Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Tom Burke Marwa Elamin Orla Hardiman Niall Pender Google Tom Burke Marwa Elamin Orla Hardiman Niall Pender Google Scholar Tom Burke Marwa Elamin Orla Hardiman Niall Pender PubMed Tom Burke Marwa Elamin Orla Hardiman Niall Pender Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.

Improving Older People’s Emotion Perception Using High-Freqeuncy Random Noise Stimulation (tRNS)

Event Abstract Back to Event Improving Older People’s Emotion Perception Using High-Freqeuncy Random Noise Stimulation (tRNS) Tao Yang1* and Michael Banissy1 1 Goldsmiths University, United Kingdom Extensive behavioral evidence have shown older people have declined ability in facial emotion recognition. Evidence from neuroimaging suggests that the inferior frontal gyri (IFG) degrades rapidly with aging, and plays a role in facial expression perception. The aim is to investigate whether high frequency transcranial random noise stimulation (high-frequency tRNS) applied to the IFG would improve emotion perception in older adults. Healthy older participants (60+ years) were recruited for this study. Fifteen participants was assigned to receive high-frequency tRNS and sixteen participants were assigned for sham condition. Age, gender, handedness were matched between two groups. Stimulation group received 20-minutes hightRNS (1mA, 15s fade in/out) over the stimulated regions F7 and F8. The results showed that there was a significant improvement for ‘anger’ perception following high-frequency tRNS. In contrast, the same tRNS stimulation did not significantly change the performance on other two face perception tasks.This finding is in line with previous findings from affective studies showing inferior frontal gyrus is more involved in processing negative emotions (anger) rather than positive (happiness) emotions. The findings also highlight tRNS as a potential tool to aid facial emotion perception in typical aging. References Baicy, K. (2008). Dissociation between neural processing and negative emotion in methamphetamine dependance. Google book. Duchaine, B., Yovel, G., & Nakayama, K. (2007). No global processing deficit in the Navon task in 14 developmental prosopagnosics. Social Cognitive Affective Neuroscience, 2: 104-113. Fusar-Poli, P., Placentino, A., & Carletti, F., Landi, P. (2009). Functional atlas of emotional faces processing: a voxel-based meta-analysis of 105 functional magnetic resonance imaging studies. J Psychiatry Neurosci, 34, 6, 418–432. Ruffmana, T., Henryb, J.D., Livingstonec, V. & Phillipsd, L.H. (2008). A metaanalytic review of emotion recognition and aging: Implications for neuropsychological models of aging. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 32, 863–881. Turkeys, J. W. (1977). Exploratory Data Analysis. Reading, MA: Addison- Wesley. Keywords: Brain Stimulation, emotion recognition, transcranial random noise stimulation (tRNS), normal aging, inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) Conference: Belgian Brain Council 2014 MODULATING THE BRAIN: FACTS, FICTION, FUTURE, Ghent, Belgium, 4 Oct - 4 Oct, 2014. Presentation Type: Poster Presentation Topic: Basic Neuroscience Citation: Yang T and Banissy M (2014). Improving Older People’s Emotion Perception Using High-Freqeuncy Random Noise Stimulation (tRNS). Conference Abstract: Belgian Brain Council 2014 MODULATING THE BRAIN: FACTS, FICTION, FUTURE. doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2014.214.00006 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 02 May 2014; Published Online: 24 Jun 2014. * Correspondence: Ms. Tao Yang, Goldsmiths University, London, United Kingdom, ytlele18@gmail.com Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Tao Yang Michael Banissy Google Tao Yang Michael Banissy Google Scholar Tao Yang Michael Banissy PubMed Tao Yang Michael Banissy Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.

Somatoform pain: a developmental theory and translational research review.

Somatoform pain is a highly prevalent, debilitating condition and a tremendous public health problem. Effective treatments for somatoform pain are urgently needed. The etiology of this condition is, however, still unknown. On the basis of a review of recent basic and clinical research, we propose one potential mechanism of symptom formation in somatoform pain and a developmental theory of its pathogenesis. Emerging evidence from animal and human studies in developmental neurobiology, cognitive-affective neuroscience, psychoneuroimmunology, genetics, and epigenetics, as well as that from clinical and treatment studies on somatoform pain, points to the existence of a shared neural system that underlies physical and social pain. Research findings also show that nonoptimal early experiences interact with genetic predispositions to influence the development of this shared system and the ability to regulate it effectively. Interpersonal affect regulation between infant and caregiver is crucial for the optimal development of these brain circuits. The aberrant development of this shared neural system during infancy, childhood, and adolescence may therefore ultimately lead to an increased sensitivity to physical and social pain and to problems with their regulation in adulthood. The authors critically review translational research findings that support this theory and discuss its clinical and research implications. Specifically, the proposed theory and research review suggest that psychotherapeutic and/or pharmacological interventions that foster the development of affect regulation capacities in an interpersonal context will also serve to more effectively modulate aberrantly activated neural pain circuits and thus be of particular benefit for the treatment of somatoform pain.

Mood dysregulation and stabilization: perspectives from emotional cognitive neuroscience

Mood is conceptualized as a long-lasting emotional state, which can have profound implications for mental and physical health. The development of neuroimaging methods has enabled significant advances towards elucidating the mechanisms underlying regulation of mood and emotion; however, our understanding of mood and emotion dysregulation in stress-related psychiatric disorders is still largely lacking. From the cognitive-affective neuroscience perspective, achieving deeper, more mechanistic understanding of mood disorders necessitates detailed understanding of specific components of neural systems involved in mood dysregulation and stabilization. In this review, we provide an overview of neural systems implicated in the development of a long-term negative mood state, as well as those related to emotion and emotion regulation, and discuss their proposed involvement in mood and anxiety disorders.

Threat detection, precautionary responses, and anxiety disorders

Study of the anxiety disorders may be a particularly useful vehicle for demonstrating how foundational sciences (e.g. cognitive–affective neuroscience, evolutionary psychology) can advance psychiatric theory and research. Here we consider important potential advances and remaining future challenges when basic research on threat detection and precautionary responses is used to address the anxiety disorders. We emphasize the potential value of a model of threat detection and precautionary responses that integrates cognitive–affective neuroscience and evolutionary approaches for understanding the anxiety disorders. However, we also suggest that substantial additional work is needed in order to link systematically the psychobiological mechanisms posited by basic work on threat detection and precautionary responses to the complex phenomena seen in the clinic.

Coupling of performance on tasks subserved by the orbitofrontal region

Event Abstract Back to Event Coupling of performance on tasks subserved by the orbitofrontal region C. C. Chan1, B. K. Chau2, 3*, T. M. Lee2, 3, 4 and K. F. So4, 5 1 The Hong Kong Polytechnic University , Applied Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, China 2 The University of Hong Kong, Laboratory of Neuropsychology, China 3 The University of Hong Kong, Laboratory of Cognitive Affective Neuroscience, China 4 The University of Hong Kong, The State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, China 5 The University of Hong Kong, Department of Anatomy, China The frontal lobe is important for a large variety of cognitive and perceptual processes. Whether frontal functions sharing common neural substrates could affect the performance of each other is largely unknown. This study investigated the relatedness of performances in decision making and odor identification (OI) which are commonly subserved by the orbitofrontal cortex. Forty-four Chinese females aged 23 to 55 years were assessed by the Sniffin’ sticks for their OI and were divided into high OI group and low OI group by a mean split of their OI scores. The Risky-Gains Task (RGT; Paulus et al., 2003) was employed to assess for their risk-taking decision making. Our findings showed that participants with higher OI significantly took more risky choices compared to their counterparts with lower OI (p = .033). While showing no significant difference in risk-taking after claiming for safe choices (p > .05) or after receiving risky rewards (p > .05), the high OI group took more risky choices than the low OI group in trials preceded with punishment (p = .013). These findings suggest that frontal functions sharing similar neural substrates could relate with each other by positive coupling of their performances. Conference: The 20th Annual Rotman Research Institute Conference, The frontal lobes, Toronto, Canada, 22 Mar - 26 Mar, 2010. Presentation Type: Poster Presentation Topic: Neuropsychology Citation: Chan CC, Chau BK, Lee TM and So KF (2010). Coupling of performance on tasks subserved by the orbitofrontal region. Conference Abstract: The 20th Annual Rotman Research Institute Conference, The frontal lobes. doi: 10.3389/conf.fnins.2010.14.00166 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 01 Jul 2010; Published Online: 01 Jul 2010. * Correspondence: B. K Chau, The University of Hong Kong, Laboratory of Neuropsychology, Hong Kong, China, bolton@hkusua.hku.hk Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers C. C Chan B. K Chau T. M Lee K. F So Google C. C Chan B. K Chau T. M Lee K. F So Google Scholar C. C Chan B. K Chau T. M Lee K. F So PubMed C. C Chan B. K Chau T. M Lee K. F So Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.