Facial Self Research Articles

Facial Self-Touching and the Propagation of COVID-19: The Role of Gloves in the Dental Practice

Background: Despite facial self–touching being a possible source of transmission of SARS–Co–V–2 its role in dental practice has not been studied. Factors such as anxiety symptoms or threat perception of COVID-19 may increase the possibility of contagion. The objective was to compare the impact of control measures, such as gloves or signs in the reduction in facial self–touching. Methods: An intra–subject design was undertaken with 150 adults. The patients’ movements in the waiting room were monitored with Microsoft Kinect software on three occasions: without any control measures, using plastic gloves or using advisory signs against self–touching. Additionally, the participants completed the sub–scale of STAI (State–Anxiety) and the BIP–Q5 (Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire); their blood pressure and heart rate were recorded. Results: The lowest incidence of facial self–touching occurred in the experimental situation in which gloves were introduced. The subjects with elevated anxiety symptoms realized more facial self–touching regardless of the control measures. However, the threat perception of COVID-19 is associated negatively with facial self–touching. Conclusions: The use of gloves is a useful control measure in the reduction in facial touching. However, people with anxiety symptoms regardless of whether they have greater threat perception for COVID-19 exhibit more facial touching.

Perceptual sensitivity to facial self perception associated with pathological narcissism.

Perceptual sensitivity to facial self perception associated with pathological narcissism.

Prediction-based neural mechanisms for shielding the self from existential threat

The human mind has an automatic tendency to avoid awareness of its mortality. How this protective mechanism is implemented at the neuronal level is unknown. Here we test the hypothesis that prediction-based mechanisms mediate death-denial by shielding the self from existential threat. We provide evidence that self-specific predictive processes are downregulated during the perception of death-related linguistic stimuli and that this mechanism can predict fear-of-death. Using a magnetoencephalography visual mismatch paradigm, we show that the brain’s automatic prediction response to deviancy is eliminated when death words and self-face representations are coupled, but remains present when coupled to other-face or to negative words. We further demonstrate a functional link between how death impacts self-image vs. Other-image, and show that it predicts fear-of-death. Finally, we confirm this effect in a behavioral active inference experiment showing that death-related words bias perceptual judgment on facial self and other morphed video clips. Together these results lay out, for the first time, a plausible neural-based mechanism of death-denial.

The effect of distraction by bubble-making on the procedural anxiety of injection in Thalassemic school- age children in Kerman Thalasemia center

Background and aim: Medical procedures, particularly injection, cause anxiety in children. Coping with invasive medical treatment is an important issue for all children, particularly chronically ill children such as thalassemic children who may have to endure many treatment procedures. This study examined the effect of breathing exersice on the anxiety resulted from the injection procedure in thalassemic school-age children in Kerman thalassemia center Materials and Methods: In this clinical trial, 40 thalassemia children with 6-12 years old, in Kerman thalasemia center were selected through convenience sampling method. Then subjects were randomly allocated in two groups (experimental group and control group). In experimental group, bubble making was used. Data collection tools were: Demographic Information Questionnaire, and the Scale of facial self reported anxiety. The analysis of the data was carried out through SPSS 16. Findings: Average score of anxiety in bubble making group was 2.9+1.5 before and 1.0+1.1 after injection. The average score in control group was 3.1+2.2 before and 2.4 + 2.1after injection. There was no significant difference between two groups of study regarding the average scores of anxiety before the injection (p>0.05) but there was a significant difference between two groups regarding the average scores of anxiety after the injection (p>0.05). Conclusion: The results of this study showed that bubble making is an effective method to decrease anxiety resulted from the injection procedures. Key words: Anxiety, Bubble making, School-age Children, Distraction, Thalassemia

Pourquoi les autres me regardent ainsi ? À propos de la sensibilité au regard des patients insulino-dépendants

The neural representation of self is a fundamental question for brain research. Employing activation likelihood estimation (ALE) meta-analyses, we assessed the commonalities and distinctions between different components of the self by focusing on the ‘physical’ self and the ‘psychological’ self – assessed respectively through face processing and self-referential tasks. We first conducted ALE meta-analyses by computing the convergence of findings on brain activation in self-face recognition and self-referential studies respectively. Contrast and conjunction analyses of these two meta-analytic results were then applied to extract the distinctions and commonalities in self-face and self-reference tasks. Facial self processing was particularly associated with lateral brain regions with a right hemispheric dominance, while processing psychological self predominantly activated cortical midline structures, more specifically the anterior cingulate cortex/superior frontal cortex. In contrast, the conjunction analyses showed that the two aspects of self-processing recruit the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and the left inferior frontal gyrus extending to the insula. A framework including both distinct and common neural representation of selfs is discussed.

Facial resemblance and attractiveness: an experimental study in rural Indonesia

Previous studies suggest that humans use facial characteristics as a cue of kinship in a context-dependent manner: a self-resembling face is preferred as a target of cooperation because cooperating with kin enhances inclusive fitness, but avoided as a mating partner because mating with kin increases the risk of inbreeding. Another line of evidence indicates that children internalize faces of their family members and later use them as a referent with which faces of others are compared. Using digital morphing techniques, we conduct an experiment in a village in Sumba, Indonesia, to investigate effects of facial self- or parent-resemblance on perceived attractiveness of opposite-sex faces in the context of a long-term or short-term relationship. Our results show that females prefer a male face not resembling themselves and males prefer a female face not resembling their mothers, both in the long-term context.

Self-injurious behavior: a review of the behavior and biology of self- mutilation

The authors describe the clinical characteristics of self-injurious behavior, giving special emphasis to self-injurious behavior occurring among individuals with character disorders. They review data suggesting the involvement of serotonergic, dopaminergic, and opiate neurotransmitter systems in the expression of self-injurious behavior. Self-injurious behavior occurs among mentally retarded individuals, psychotic patients, prison populations, and individuals with severe character disorders. Although theoretical psychological models of self-injurious behavior are helpful in understanding the patient's experience of self-injury, no generally useful therapeutic approach has yet evolved from these models. Data derived from animal models and treatment studies suggest the involvement of opiatergic and dopaminergic mechanisms in self-injury among the mentally retarded. Serotonergic influences on self-injurious behavior may be present in varying forms of this behavior. The scientific literature on the benefits of pharmacological agents for mentally retarded individuals is beset with a number of problems. Support is emerging, however, for the use of lithium and carbamazepine with self-injuring mentally retarded patients, and some behavioral interventions appear to be successful for mentally retarded individuals. Self-injuring patients with borderline personality disorder may benefit from milieu treatment. Although no form of treatment has yet been demonstrated to be of general benefit, the literature suggests that therapeutic trials with dopamine antagonists, serotonin reuptake inhibitors, and opiate antagonists may be of value.

Assessment of facial self-image by means of a distorting mirror and its relationship to personality

A flexible distorting mirror was used to give a distorted image of volunteers, who then attempted to alter the mirror to give a true reflection of their faces. Their accuracy in performing this task was correlated with age, sex, extroversion, neuroticism and also with total body and facial self- image as obtained from questionnaires. On average, subjects could not accurately define the size of their faces to within 5 cm, and the higher the body image score on the questionnaire, the less well subjects performed on the flexible mirror.