Changes In Internal State Research Articles

Emotional Regulation and Bodily Sensation: Interoceptive Awareness Is Intact in Borderline Personality Disorder

Emotional dysregulation is a core component of borderline personality disorder (BPD). Theoretical models suggest that deficits in labeling physiological sensations of emotion contribute to affective instability in BPD. Interoceptive awareness refers to the ability to perceive changes in internal bodily states, and is linked to the subjective experience and control of emotions. The authors tested whether differences in interoceptive awareness accounted for emotional instability in BPD. Patients diagnosed with BPD (n = 24) were compared to healthy controls (n = 30) on two established measures of interoceptive awareness, a heartbeat perception task and a heartbeat monitoring task. Contrary to their hypothesis, the authors observed no significant differences in objective measures of interoceptive awareness. Their findings provide strong evidence against the notion that difficulties in emotional regulation in BPD are connected to differences in interoceptive awareness.

Will Studies of Macaque Insula Reveal the Neural Mechanisms of Self-Awareness?

The discovery of von Economo neurons within macaque insular cortex by Evrard etal. (2012) described in thisissue of Neuron promises a valuable experimental model to characterize their functional roles. One hypothesis, now open to wider interrogation, is that these intriguing cells mediate self-referential processes underlying or dependent upon consciousness awareness.

Allatostatin-A neurons inhibit feeding behavior in adult Drosophila

How the brain translates changes in internal metabolic state or perceived food quality into alterations in feeding behavior remains poorly understood. Studies in Drosophila larvae have yielded information about neuropeptides and circuits that promote feeding, but a peptidergic neuron subset whose activation inhibits feeding in adult flies, without promoting metabolic changes that mimic the state of satiety, has not been identified. Using genetically based manipulations of neuronal activity, we show that activation of neurons (or neuroendocrine cells) expressing the neuropeptide allatostatin A (AstA) inhibits or limits several starvation-induced changes in feeding behavior in adult Drosophila, including increased food intake and enhanced behavioral responsiveness to sugar. Importantly, these effects on feeding behavior are observed in the absence of any measurable effects on metabolism or energy reserves, suggesting that AstA neuron activation is likely a consequence, not a cause, of metabolic changes that induce the state of satiety. These data suggest that activation of AstA-expressing neurons promotes food aversion and/or exerts an inhibitory influence on the motivation to feed and implicate these neurons and their associated circuitry in the mechanisms that translate the state of satiety into alterations in feeding behavior.

How internal metabolic state changes motor coordination computations in reaching movements

How internal metabolic state changes motor coordination computations in reaching movements

503 皮膚疾患による内部状態変化を考慮した多層構造皮膚ファントムの生成(バイオエンジニアリングI)

503 皮膚疾患による内部状態変化を考慮した多層構造皮膚ファントムの生成(バイオエンジニアリングI)

Think Effectively About Mood Swings (TEAMS): A case series of cognitive–behavioural therapy for bipolar disorders

Background and objectivesAn integrative cognitive model for bipolar disorder proposes that multiple and extreme appraisals of changes in internal state and their reciprocal impact on behaviour, physiology and the environment provide the core mechanism in maintaining and escalating bipolar symptoms (Mansell, Morrison, Reid, Lowens, & Tai, 2007a). MethodsA case series of cognitive–behavioural therapy (CBT) based on this model, known as the TEAMS approach (Think Effectively About Mood Swings), with seven participants was conducted. An A–B direct replication design with multiple baseline and follow-up assessments at one, three and six months was used. Treatment involved 12 sessions of CBT with an emphasis on addressing extreme positive and negative appraisals of internal state change. ResultsImprovements were reported for symptoms, functioning, cognitions and self-critical processes with large effect sizes on a range of measures, especially depression, at end of therapy and one-month follow-up. Five participants also showed clinically significant change in depression at both time-points. ConclusionsThis study provides preliminary evidence for the feasibility, acceptability and efficacy of CBT based on this model which warrants further evaluation.

Self-organization of social hierarchy on interaction networks

In order to examine the effects of interaction network structures on the self-organization ofsocial hierarchy, we introduce the agent-based model: each individual as on a nodeof a network has its own power and its internal state changes by fighting withits neighbors and relaxation. We adopt three different networks: regular lattice,small-world network and scale-free network. For the regular lattice, we find theemergence of classes distinguished by the internal state. The transition points whereeach class emerges are determined analytically, and we show that each class ischaracterized by the local ranking relative to their neighbors. We also find that theantiferromagnetic-like configuration emerges just above the critical point. For theheterogeneous networks, individuals become winners (or losers) in descending order of thenumber of their links. By using mean-field analysis, we reveal that the transitionpoint is determined by the maximum degree and the degree distribution in itsneighbors.

Acquisition of Pavlovian Fear Conditioning Using β-Adrenoceptor Activation of the Dorsal Premammillary Nucleus as an Unconditioned Stimulus to Mimic Live Predator-Threat Exposure

In the present work, we sought to mimic the internal state changes in response to a predator threat by pharmacologically stimulating the brain circuit involved in mediating predator fear responses, and explored whether this stimulation would be a valuable unconditioned stimulus (US) in an olfactory fear conditioning paradigm (OFC). The dorsal premammillary nucleus (PMd) is a key brain structure in the neural processing of anti-predatory defensive behavior and has also been shown to mediate the acquisition and expression of anti-predatory contextual conditioning fear responses. Rats were conditioned by pairing the US, which was an intra-PMd microinjection of isoproterenol (ISO; β-adrenoceptor agonist), with amyl acetate odor-the conditioned stimulus (CS). ISO (10 and 40 nmol) induced the acquisition of the OFC and the second-order association by activation of β-1 receptors in the PMd. Furthermore, similar to what had been found for contextual conditioning to a predator threat, atenolol (β-1 receptor antagonist) in the PMd also impaired the acquisition and expression of OFC promoted by ISO. Considering the strong glutamatergic projections from the PMd to the dorsal periaqueductal gray (dPAG), we tested how the glutamatergic blockade of the dPAG would interfere with the OFC induced by ISO. Accordingly, microinjections of NMDA receptor antagonist (AP5, 6 nmol) into the dPAG were able to block both the acquisition, and partially, the expression of the OFC. In conclusion, we have found that PMd β-1 adrenergic stimulation is a good model to mimic predatory threat-induced internal state changes, and works as a US able to mobilize the same systems involved in the acquisition and expression of predator-related contextual conditioning.

Device and SPICE modeling of RRAM devices

We report the development of physics based models for resistive random-access memory (RRAM) devices. The models are based on a generalized memristive system framework and can explain the dynamic resistive switching phenomena observed in a broad range of devices. Furthermore, by constructing a simple subcircuit, we can incorporate the device models into standard circuit simulators such as SPICE. The SPICE models can accurately capture the dynamic effects of the RRAM devices such as the apparent threshold effect, the voltage dependence of the switching time, and multi-level effects under complex circuit conditions. The device and SPICE models can also be readily expanded to include additional effects related to internal state changes, and will be valuable to help in the design and simulation of memory and logic circuits based on resistive switching devices.

Santa Claus

With the commercial development of multicore processors, the challenges of writing multithreaded programs to take advantage of these new hardware architectures are becoming more and more pertinent. Concurrent programming is necessary to achieve the performance that the hardware offers. Traditional approaches present concurrency as an advanced topic: they have proven difficult to use, reason about with confidence, and scale up to high levels of concurrency. This article reviews process-oriented design , based on Hoare's algebra of Communicating Sequential Processes (CSP), and proposes that this approach to concurrency leads to solutions that are manageable by novice programmers; that is, they are easy to design and maintain, that they are scalable for complexity, obviously correct , and relatively easy to verify using formal reasoning and/or model checkers. These solutions can be developed in conventional programming languages (through CSP libraries) or specialized ones (such as occam-π) in a manner that directly reflects their formal expression. Systems can be developed without needing specialist knowledge of the CSP formalism, since the supporting mathematics is burnt into the tools and languages supporting it. We illustrate these concepts with the Santa Claus problem , which has been used as a challenge for concurrency mechanisms since 1994. We consider this problem as an example control system, producing external signals reporting changes of internal state (that model the external world). We claim our occam-π solution is correct-by-design , but follow this up with formal verification (using the FDR model checker for CSP) that the system is free from deadlock and livelock, that the produced control signals obey crucial ordering constraints, and that the system has key liveness properties.

What roles do tonic inhibition and disinhibition play in the control of motor programs?

Animals show periods of quiescence interspersed with periods of motor activity. In a number of invertebrate and vertebrate systems, quiescence is achieved by active suppression of motor behavior is due to tonic inhibition induced by sensory input or changes in internal state. Removal of this inhibition (disinhibition) has the converse effect tending to increase the level of motor activity. We show that tonic inhibition and disinhibition can have a variety of roles. It can simply switch off specific unwanted motor behaviors, or modulate the occurrence of a motor response, a type of ‘threshold’ controlling function, or be involved in the selection of a particular motor program by inhibiting ‘competing’ motor mechanisms that would otherwise interfere with the carrying out of a desired movement. A suggested general function for tonic inhibition is to prevent unnecessary non-goal directed motor activity that would be energetically expensive. The reason why basic motor programs might be a particular target for tonic inhibition is that many of them involve central pattern generator circuits that are often spontaneously active and need to be actively suppressed for energy saving. Based on this hypothesis, tonic inhibition represents the default state for energy saving and motor programs are switched-on when required by removal of this inhibition.

Neural basis of timing and anticipatory behaviors

The ability to anticipate physiological needs and to predict the availability of desirable resources optimizes the likelihood of survival for an organism. The neural basis of the complex behaviors associated with anticipatory responses is now being delineated. Anticipation likely involves learning and memory, reward and punishment, memory and cognition, arousal and feedback associated with changes in internal and external state, homeostatic processes and timing mechanisms. While anticipation can occur on a variety of timescales (seconds to minutes to hours to days to a year), there have been great strides made towards understanding the neural basis timing of events in the circadian realm. Anticipation of daily events, such as scheduled access to food, may serve as a useful model for a more broadly based understanding the neurobiology of anticipation. In this review we examine the historical, conceptual and experimental approaches to understanding the neural basis of anticipation with a focus on anticipation of scheduled daily meals. We also introduce the key topics represented in the papers in this issue. These papers focused on food anticipation, to explore the state of the art in the studies of the neural basis of timing and anticipatory behaviors.

Principal Components Analysis of the Hypomanic Attitudes and Positive Predictions Inventory and Associations with Measures of Personality, Cognitive Style and Analogue Symptoms in a Student Sample

An integrative cognitive model proposed that ascribing extreme personal appraisals to changes in internal state is key to the development of the symptoms of bipolar disorder. The Hypomanic Attitudes and Positive Predictions Inventory (HAPPI) was developed to measure these appraisals. The aim of the current study was to validate an expanded 61-item version of the HAPPI. In a largely female student sample (N = 134), principal components analysis (PCA) was performed on the HAPPI. Associations between the HAPPI and analogue bipolar symptoms after 3 months were examined. PCA of the HAPPI revealed six categories of belief: Self Activation, Self-and-Other Critical, Catastrophic, Extreme Appraisals of Social Approval, Appraisals of Extreme Agitation, and Loss of Control. The HAPPI predicted all analogue measures of hypomanic symptoms after 3 months when controlling for baseline symptoms. In a more stringent test incorporating other psychological measures, the HAPPI was independently associated only with activation (e.g. thoughts racing) at 3 months. Dependent dysfunctional attitudes predicted greater conflict (e.g. irritability), depression and reduced well-being, hypomanic personality predicted self-reported diagnostic bipolar symptoms, and behavioural dysregulation predicted depression. Extreme beliefs about internal states show a modest independent association with prospective analogue bipolar symptoms, alongside other psychological factors. Further work will be required to improve the factor structure of the HAPPI and study its validity in clinical samples.

Influence of lattice misfit on the internal stress and strain states before and after creep investigated in nickel-base superalloys containing rhenium and ruthenium

The microstructure of nickel-base superalloys changes significantly during creep. The strengthening γ′-precipitates coarsen directionally and dislocation networks develop at the interfaces between γ′-precipitates and γ-matrix. Coherency stresses due to the lattice misfit between γ and γ′ phase act as the driving force for these microstructural changes. The measurement of the lattice constant of the γ-matrix and γ′-phase by X-ray diffraction before and after creep experiments allows the changes of internal stress and strain states during creep to be revealed. In this work, three experimental alloys with systematically varied amounts of lattice misfit were studied. It was found that the separation of X-ray peaks of γ and γ′ after creep is directly dependent on the amount of lattice misfit. Also the distortion of the lattice, visible in the broadening of the respective rocking curves, was measured and found to be dependent on the lattice misfit as long as the γ/γ′-interfaces stay coherent. The lattice misfit is directly influenced by the alloy composition. Rhenium and ruthenium decrease the lattice misfit and modify the coherency stresses between γ- and γ′-phase accordingly.

Brain text processing model: A new approach based on conceptual dependency stories

Event Abstract Back to Event Brain text processing model: A new approach based on conceptual dependency stories Petr Kratochvil1* and Jana Kleckova1 1 University of West Bohemia, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Czechia One of the possibilities how to model text processing by the human brain is to model story processing, whereas these stories include verbal communication. Interesting model of story structure and format was introduced by Roger C. Schank [1]. This model and similar ones are described also in [2]. This problem is connected with "Artificial Intelligence: Conceptual Dependency".The aim of this article is to find and test a new experimental text processing in human brain model. There is a program that allows teaching computer simple stories. These stories consist of sequence of events in virtual world and of text communication. In this virtual world there are intelligent software agents controlled by program and lifeless objects. Events and virtual world are added for better simulation of word semantics. Following problems are partially solved: data model simulating human brain memory, saving stories from scripts to data model, imitation of similar stories and data model and stories visualization.Stories are stored in semantic network. This network is composed of nodes and oriented edges with weights. The type of nodes can be special or standard. Special nodes are predefined at the beginning of the program runtime and represent letters and attributes. Standard nodes are created by story learning and each such node is defined by another nodes. Whole network is divided into a few parts where each part is divided into layouts. Whole network represents neural network of memory in human brain, nodes represent neurons, edges represent synapses and the division of the network represent division of a brain memory.The special feature of this solution is used. The oriented edges only connect nodes and don't carry semantic information as in the Shank's model and as in the many others models. The weight of each edge will be just one scalar value. The meaning of each node is defined only by edges connecting this node to other nodes and by attributes as if a node is one of a sequence or trustworthiness, etc. The meaning is defined by a connection with special nodes. The next special feature is universality. Special nodes can represent letters as well as frequences or a position of pixel in pixel matrix or a position and type of chess figure on chessboard. The program at this time can process events, changes of internal states and also the text communication between agents in the simple virtual world. Later the program will be extended to support fuzzy logic, trustworthiness, language discrimination, etc.Test of the quality of story processing is as follows: at the beginning the agent will be trained with a few stories and in next step we will test on how many stories the agent suggests right finishing of story chopped in the middle. At this time methods for story finishing are in the development state.

What we see is how we are: new paradigms in visual research.

As most sensory modalities, the visual system needs to deal with very fast changes in the environment. Instead of processing all sensory stimuli, the brain is able to construct a perceptual experience by combining selected sensory input with an ongoing internal activity. Thus, the study of visual perception needs to be approached by examining not only the physical properties of stimuli, but also the brain's ongoing dynamical states onto which these perturbations are imposed. At least three different models account for this internal dynamics. One model is based on cardinal cells where the activity of few cells by itself constitutes the neuronal correlate of perception, while a second model is based on a population coding that states that the neuronal correlate of perception requires distributed activity throughout many areas of the brain. A third proposition, known as the temporal correlation hypothesis states that the distributed neuronal populations that correlate with perception, are also defined by synchronization of the activity on a millisecond time scale. This would serve to encode contextual information by defining relations between the features of visual objects. If temporal properties of neural activity are important to establish the neural mechanisms of perception, then the study of appropriate dynamical stimuli should be instrumental to determine how these systems operate. The use of natural stimuli and natural behaviors such as free viewing, which features fast changes of internal brain states as seen by motor markers, is proposed as a new experimental paradigm to study visual perception.

Flow mode transitions in turbulent thermal convection

We report an experimental study of structures and dynamics of the large-scale mean flow in Rayleigh–Bénard convection cells with aspect ratio (Γ)1, 1∕2, and 1∕3. It is found that both a single circulating roll flow structure and one with two vertically stacked counter-rotating rolls exist in the three aspect ratio cells. The average percentages of time that the large-scale mean flow spends in the single-roll mode (SRM) and the double-roll mode (DRM) are 87.1% and 0.8% for Γ=1, 69.5% and 7.9% for Γ=1∕2, and 26.7% and 34.1% for Γ=1∕3. Several routes of transitions among the different flow modes are identified. In addition, different structures for the DRM are found and their relative weights are determined. We also show direct evidence that the SRM is more efficient for heat transfer than the DRM. Although the difference is very small, it shows how changes in internal flow state can manifest in the global transport properties of the system. It is also found that the time interval between successive flow mode transitions has an exponential distribution, suggesting a Poisson process for the underlying dynamics. The duration of the flow mode transition is found to be log-normally distributed.

Chewing gum and context dependent memory: The independent roles of chewing gum and mint flavour

Two experiments independently investigated the basis of the chewing-gum induced context-dependent memory effect (Baker, Bezance, Zellaby, & Aggleton, 2004). At learning and/or recall participants either chewed flavourless gum (Experiment 1) or received mint-flavoured strips (Experiment 2). No context dependent memory effect was found with either flavourless gum or mint-flavoured strips, indicating that independently the contexts were insufficiently salient to induce the effect. This is found despite participants’ subjective ratings indicating a perceived change in internal state following administration of flavourless gum and mint-flavoured strips. Additionally, some preliminary evidence for a non-additive facilitative effect on memory of receiving gum or flavour at either learning and/or recall is reported. The findings raise further concerns regarding the robustness of the previously context-dependent memory effect with chewing gum. Baker, J. B., Bezance, E., Zellaby, & Aggleton, J. P. (2004). Chewing gum can produce context-dependent effects upon memory. Appetite, 43, 207–210.

The Interpretation of, and Responses to, Changes in Internal States: An Integrative Cognitive Model of Mood Swings and Bipolar Disorders

A cognitive approach to understanding mood swings and bipolar disorders is provided, with the interpretation of changes in internal state as a central explanatory factor. The model explains how attempts at affect regulation are disturbed through the multiple and conflicting extreme personal meanings that are given to internal states. They prompt exaggerated efforts to enhance or exert control over internal states, which paradoxically provoke further internal state changes, thereby feeding into a vicious cycle that can maintain or exacerbate symptoms. Counterproductive attempts at control are classified as either ascent behaviours (increasing activation), or descent behaviours (decreasing activation). It is suggested that appraisals of extreme personal meaning are influenced by specific sets of beliefs about affect and its regulation, and about the self and relations with others, leading to an interaction that raises vulnerability to relapse. Pertinent literature is reviewed and found to be compatible with such a model. The clinical implications are discussed and compared to existing interventions.

Symptoms, Affects, and Self-Rated Health

Self-rated health (SRH) is known to predict mortality and other health outcomes better than objective ratings, suggesting that patients have important knowledge that physicians do not. The study assessed whether SRH reflects changes in internal states, specifically symptoms and affects. In an event-sampling study, 54 elders completed a SRH measure, positive and negative affect scale, a symptom checklist, and a pain scale every evening for 8 weeks. Using lagged (time series) hierarchical regression, the authors modeled associations of SRH with previous symptoms, moods, and changes in symptoms and mood. The SRH was highest when symptoms had decreased from the previous day and lowest when symptoms had increased, suggesting that SRH reflects a sense of change. Symptoms and affects contributed independently to SRH. Self-rated health was more sensitive to positive than negative affect and also sensitive to changes of positive but not negative affect. Patients may possess a subjective trajectory of health-an awareness of changes in symptoms and affect. This trajectory may constitute an important component of SRH and help to explain its ability to predict health outcomes.