Experience Of Negative Affect Research Articles

The unpleasantness of thinking: A meta-analytic review of the association between mental effort and negative affect.

Influential theories in psychology, neuroscience, and economics assume that the exertion of mental effort should feel aversive. Yet, this assumption is usually untested, and it is challenged by casual observations and previous studies. Here, we meta-analyze (a) whether mental effort is generally experienced as aversive and (b) whether the association between mental effort and aversive feelings depends on population and task characteristics. We meta-analyzed a set of 170 studies (from 125 articles published in 2019-2020; 358 different tasks; 4,670 unique subjects). These studies were conducted in a variety of populations (e.g., health care employees, military employees, amateur athletes, college students; data were collected in 29 different countries) and used a variety of tasks (e.g., equipment testing tasks, virtual reality tasks, cognitive performance tasks). Despite this diversity, these studies had one crucial common feature: All used the NASA Task Load Index to examine participants' experiences of effort and negative affect. As expected, we found a strong positive association between mental effort and negative affect. Surprisingly, just one of our 15 moderators had a significant effect (effort felt somewhat less aversive in studies from Asia vs. Europe and North America). Overall, mental effort felt aversive in different types of tasks (e.g., tasks with and without feedback), in different types of populations (e.g., university-educated populations and non-university-educated populations), and on different continents. Supporting theories that conceptualize effort as a cost, we suggest that mental effort is inherently aversive. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

The role of negative affect in shaping populist support: Converging field evidence from across the globe.

Support for populism has grown substantially during the past 2 decades, a development that has coincided with a marked increase in the experience of negative affect around the world. We use a multimodal, multimethod empirical approach, with data from a diverse set of geographical and political contexts, to investigate the extent to which the rising electoral demand for populism can be explained by negative affect. We demonstrate that negative affect-measured via (a) self-reported emotions in surveys as well as (b) automated text analyses of Twitter data-predicts individual-level populist attitudes in two global surveys (Studies 1a and 1b), longitudinal changes in populist party vote shares at general elections in Europe (Study 2), district-level Brexit voting in the 2016 U.K. referendum (Study 3), and county-level vote shares for Donald Trump in the 2016 and 2020 U.S. presidential elections (Studies 4a and 4b). We find that negative emotions-such as fear and anger as well as more often overlooked low-arousal negative emotions like depression and sadness-are predictive of populist beliefs as well as voting and election results at scale. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Monitoring momentary subjective well-being and psychotic experiences during antipsychotic dose reduction: Two single-case time series experience sampling method pilot study.

Personalized dose optimization is desirable to improve subjective well-being and support rehabilitation. Therefore, N = 1 trials investigating tools to self-manage functional outcomes during dose optimization are necessary. The aim of this pilot study was to determine in two N = 1 trials whether an experience sampling method (ESM) smartphone app could be used to monitor and detect changes in subjective well-being and psychotic experiences during and after dose reduction. Two participants with a psychotic disorder in remission underwent gradual dose reduction under a longitudinal self-monitoring paradigm, accompanied by regular clinical monitoring by the attending physician. Subjective well-being was monitored with an (ESM) app through momentary affective experience (positive and negative affect) and physical well-being (tiredness, feeling unwell, and pain). Momentary psychotic experiences were assessed with four items. Time-series linear regression models were used to detect changes in reduction phases compared to baseline. Whereas significant improvements in subjective well-being and psychotic experiences during dose reduction were detected in one participant, the opposite was demonstrated for the other participant, showing worsened subjective well-being and increased psychotic experiences in the reduction phase compared to baseline. Self-monitoring with an ESM smartphone app offers a tool for detecting changes in subjective well-being and psychotic experiences during antipsychotic dose reduction. In this way, ESM may increase an individual's sense of control and empowerment. It may further facilitate dose optimization and shared decision-making at an individual level, which is required considering the high heterogeneity in psychotic disorders. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Rivalry as a Contextual Factor of Gender Inequality in Network Returns

AbstractLinking research on networks, rivalry, and gender, we develop a contextual approach to gender‐based differences in network returns. Our principal contribution is in articulating the role of rivalry – a personalized and relational form of competition – in influencing the cognitive activation and behavioural mobilization of social networks. Three experiments and two field studies provide consistent evidence for a negative impact of rivalry on women's network activation and mobilization. We attribute this effect to the misalignment between the cognitive‐relational schema associated with rivalry, promoting focus, agency, and confrontation, and gender‐based cognitive and behavioural expectations, portraying women as more comprehensive, communal, and cooperative than men. The negative consequences of this misalignment are due to the experience of negative affect, fear of social evaluations, and perception of threat. A key takeaway from our analysis is that efforts at improving women's network returns should better account for the role of contextual factors.

The Role of Positive and Negative Affect in Illicit Substance Use and Alcohol Use: An Ecological Momentary Assessment Study.

Theories suggest that experiences of negative and positive affect are important precursors to alcohol and illicit substance use. Research utilizing ecological momentary assessments (EMA) has generally supported the relation between momentary experiences of positive affect, but not negative affect, and subsequent substance use. Unfortunately, most of these studies have focused on alcohol use and not other substance use. The goal of this paper was to further explore the relation between momentary affect and use of both alcohol and illicit substances within a population of individuals with a history of substance use. Additionally, this study aimed to understand whether the relations between affect and substance use would vary depending on the timing of EMA assessments of affect prior to substance use. Participants with a history of heavy substance use (N = 59) completed EMA's measuring affect and substance use using random prompts 4 times a day for 14 days. We found that positive affect was significantly related to later engagement in drinking, illicit substance use, and marijuana use. Moreover, timing of the affect was important. When affect was assessed in the last hour prior to substance use, relative to 7 hours prior, the relation between positive affect and illicit substance use was stronger. Negative affect was related to a lower likelihood of subsequent marijuana use, but more so when it was measured a few hours versus several hours before the use. This study further supported the relation between positive affect and both alcohol and illicit substance use.

Negative affect instability predicts elevated depressive and generalized anxiety disorder symptoms even when negative affect intensity is controlled for: an ecological momentary assessment study.

Mood and anxiety disorders are characterized by abnormal levels of positive affect (PA), negative affect (NA) and changes in how emotions unfold over time. To better prevent and treat those disorders, it is crucial to determine which kind of indices of emotion dynamics best predict elevated depressive and generalized anxiety symptoms. 221 individuals (60 men; mean age = 46 years, SD = 15 years) completed a 7-day ecological momentary assessment study, where their positive and negative affective experience was assessed 5 times a day. For each participant, the intensity, instability, inertia, and differentiation of PA and NA were calculated. The Estonian Emotional State Questionnaire was used to assess depressive and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) symptoms. We found that NA and PA intensity, and NA instability predicted elevated depressive and GAD symptoms. Models including NA instability alongside PA and NA intensity showed the best fit for both depression and generalized anxiety, as NA instability alongside other variables significantly increased the odds of having elevated depressive and GAD symptoms. Affective inertia, differentiation, and PA instability were not associated with depressive and GAD symptoms. In addition to the mean levels of affect, it is important to study other emotion dynamic indices such as NA instability, as these offer a more nuanced view of underlying emotion dysregulation processes. This could, in the long-term, help tailor more specific prevention and intervention methods for mood and anxiety disorders.

Attachment insecurities, emotion dynamics and stress in intimate relationships during the transition to parenthood

BackgroundIn intimate relationships, which are characterized by emotional interdependence, partners act as attachment figures which serve emotion regulation functions. The experience of emotions as well as the strategies that partners use to regulate them and to respond to relational experiences, especially during stressful periods, differ greatly according to their attachment orientation. An important aspect in emotion dynamics is emotional inertia, which reflects the degree to which a person’s current affective state is resistant to change on a moment-to-moment basis. Inertia has been related to maladaptive emotion regulation strategies, like suppression and rumination, preferentially used by highly anxious and avoidant individuals. The aim of this study is to examine associations between attachment orientations and reports on the experience of positive and negative affect, and their dynamics in daily life across the transition to parenthood.MethodsLongitudinal data from a sample of 152 mixed-gender couples collected across the transition to parenthood was analyzed. We predicted that individuals with a more insecure attachment would report more negative and less positive affect, and that their emotional experience would be more resistant to change over time. We explored effects when participants reported feeling stressed.ResultsThe data suggested that attachment anxiety was associated with less positive and more negative affect and that attachment avoidance was associated with more positive affect. Anxious individuals showed lower emotional inertia and not higher as we expected. Reported stress for anxious and avoidant individuals was significantly associated with more negative but not less positive affect.ConclusionsResults are discussed in the light of their impact on couples during stressful periods. Differences between anxiety and avoidance are found, emphasizing the importance of attachment insecurities on the experience of emotion. Furthermore, our findings on momentary fluctuating affect offer complementary insight into the emotional functioning of individuals with different attachment orientations.

Unpacking affect maintenance and its association with depressive symptoms: integrating positive and negative affects

ABSTRACT Depression is associated with increased maintenance of negative affect (NA) and reduced – blunted and short-lived – maintenance of positive affect (PA). Studies have focused on factors associated with the maintenance of NA, specifically, the emotion regulation strategy of brooding and the capacity to hold negative affective experiences in working memory (WM). Despite its theoretical importance, less attention has been given to factors associated with the maintenance of PA in depression. This study aims to synthesise factors playing a role in the maintenance of both NA and PA. Specifically, we used self-reported assessment of PA and NA regulation and performance-based measures of NA and PA processing in WM to predict depressive symptoms severity. Participants (N = 219) completed the Affective Maintenance Task (AMT, Mikels et al., 2008), which provided performance-based measures of PA and NA maintenance, and filled out questionnaires assessing brooding, positive rumination and depressive severity. Brooding, positive rumination and AMT-based measures of positive (but not negative) affective information processing were independently associated with depressive symptoms. We highlight the unique contributions of PA processing, as well as of self-reported emotion regulation strategies in understanding depression maintenance.

IJCM_194A: Diabetes distress and associated factors among adult patients residing in an urban resettlement colony in Delhi

Background: Diabetes distress “refers to the negative emotional or affective experiences resulting from the challenge of living with the demands of diabetes.” The American Diabetes Association recommends routinely screening for distress. Presently, this does not take place and distress remains undiagnosed. Objectives: This study aimed to determine the prevalence of diabetes distress, its associated factors and the relationship between glycemic control and distress. Methodology: This community-based, cross-sectional study was conducted in a resettlement colony in Delhi. The participants were selected using simple random sampling and included adults diagnosed with DM. The sample size calculated was 433 (prevalence: 42%, absolute precision: 5%, non-response rate: 10%). The questionnaire included Diabetes Distress Scale 17 and Diabetes Self-Management Questionnaire. Fasting blood sugar (FBS) was tested for all the participants. Logistic regression was used to determine the factors associated with distress as well as the association between glycemic control status and the presence of distress. Results: 412 adults were included in the study, of which 35.4% had clinically significant distress. The factors found to be associated with diabetes distress on multivariable logistic regression were: female sex, belonging to the lower socio-economic status, having self-reported comorbidities, being diagnosed with diabetes 10 or more years ago, being on treatment from a private or government hospital as compared to not being on treatment and having an unmet need for social support. There was a positive association between physician contact and distress. Those with poor glycemic control had higher odds of distress, regimen related distress and emotional burden, as compared to those who had adequate glycemic control. Conclusion: In this study, distress was prevalent among 35.4% of adults with diabetes. The factors determined to be associated with distress may provide a targeted approach to address distress, which ought to be screened for in routine clinical settings and be addressed, to help improve disease control.

Social excluder's face reduces gaze-triggered attention orienting.

Social ostracism, a negative affective experience in interpersonal interactions, is thought to modulate the gaze-cueing effect (GCE). However, it is unclear whether the impact of social exclusion on the GCE is related to the identity of the cueing face. Therefore, the present study employed a two-phase paradigm to address this issue. In the first phase, two groups of participants were instructed to complete a Cyberball game with two virtual avatars to establish a binding relationship between a specific face's identity and the emotions of social exclusion or inclusion. In the second phase, these two virtual avatars (exclusion faces/inclusion faces) and two new faces (control faces) were used as cueing faces in the gaze-cueing task. The results found that, for the exclusion group, the magnitudes of the GCEs for the exclusion and exclusion-control faces were similar in the 200 ms stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) condition, while the exclusion face's GCE was significantly smaller than that of the exclusion-control face in the 700 ms SOA condition. In contrast, for the inclusion group, the GCEs for inclusion and inclusion-control faces in both the 200 ms SOA and 700 ms SOA conditions did not significantly differ. This study reveals that the effect of social exclusion on the GCE is related to the identity of the cueing face, with individuals more reluctant to follow the gaze direction of excluder and shift their attention and provides experimental evidence that the perception of higher social relations can exert a top-down impact on the processing of social spatial cues.

Reciprocal effects between negative affect and emotion regulation in daily life

The extended process model of emotion regulation provides a framework for understanding how emotional experiences and emotion regulation (ER) mutually influence each other over time. To investigate this reciprocal relationship, 202 adults completed a ten-day experience-sampling survey capturing levels of negative affect (NA) experience and use of ten ER strategies in daily life. Residual dynamic structural equation models (DSEMs) were used to examine within-person cross-lagged and autoregressive effects of NA and ER (strategy use and between-strategy variability). Results showed that NA predicted lower between-strategy variability, lower subsequent use of acceptance and problem-solving, but higher subsequent use of rumination and worry. Moreover, reappraisal and between-strategy variability predicted lower subsequent NA levels, while expressive suppression and worry predicted higher subsequent NA levels. Stable autoregressive effects were found for NA and for maladaptive ER strategies (e.g., rumination and worry). Exploratory correlation analyses revealed positive associations between NA inertia and maladaptive ER strategies. Together, these findings provide evidence of a dynamic interplay between NA and ER. This work deepens how we understand the challenges of applying ER strategies in daily life. Future clinical and translational research should consider these dynamic perspectives on ER and affect.

The influence of perceived social support on support seeking across individualistic/collectivistic employees

Greater perceived social support may influence an individual’s appraisals of their stressful situation, negative affect, and subsequent support seeking coping. An individual’s identification with the individualism-collectivism dimensions could also influence this process. We conducted structural equation modelling (AMOS) on archival data from two groups of adult workers from five countries, who were categorised by their scores on the individualism-collectivism dimensions: a highly individualistic group ( n = 424), and a highly collectivistic group ( n = 400). The analysis aimed to determine how levels of perceived support influenced appraisals of stress and negative affect experiences leading to the use of social support seeking for both groups. The process models representing the individualistic and collectivistic groups were compared to see whether stronger identification with individualism or collectivism resulted in a similar or different stress process. Although the conceptual models fit both groups similarly overall, there were differences between the groups regarding the indirect paths involved in the model, particularly relating to the influence of perceived support on appraisals of the threat of the stressor. Implications and applications of the findings are discussed.

A breath of toxic air: The relationship between appraised air pollution, abusive supervision, and laissez-faire leadership through the dual-mediating pathways of negative affect and somatic complaints.

Air pollution has become a global public health hazard leading to debilitating effects on physical, mental, and emotional health. Management research has just begun to explore the effects of air pollution on employees' work life. Drawing from the transactional theory of stress (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984) and crossover theory (Westman, 2001), we argue that appraisal of air pollution is an important factor that influences leaders and their behavior with subordinates. Specifically, we propose that when leaders appraise severe air pollution, they are more likely to behave abusively toward their subordinates and engage in laissez-faire leadership. We also propose that this relationship is mediated by leaders' experience of somatic complaints and negative affect. We test our model using an experience sampling study in India of leaders and followers who were located in different cities from each other. Overall, our results highlight how air pollution appraisals can harm not only the leader experiencing the pollution but also subordinates of those leaders. In other words, our counterintuitive finding is that subordinates may be harmed by air pollution to which they are not even directly exposed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Increased Pain Variability in Patients With Chronic Pain: A Role for Pain Catastrophizing

Pain is an inherently negative perceptual and affective experience that acts as a warning system to protect the body from injury and illness. Pain unfolds over time and is influenced by myriad factors, making it highly dynamic. Despite this, statistical measures often treat any intraindividual variability in pain ratings as noise or error. This is consequential, especially for research on chronic pain, because pain variability is associated with greater pain severity and depression. Yet, differences in pain variability between patients with chronic pain and controls in response to acute pain has not been fully examined—and it is unknown if dispositional factors such as pain catastrophizing (negative cognitive-affective response to potential or actual pain in which attention cannot be diverted away from pain) relate to pain variability. In the current study, we recruited chronic-pain patients (N = 30) and pain-free controls (N = 22) to complete a 30-second thermal pain task where they continually rated a painful thermal stimulus. To quantify pain variability and capture potential dynamics, we used both a traditional intraindividual standard deviation (iSD) metric of variability and a novel derivatives approach. For both metrics, patients with chronic pain had higher variability in their pain ratings over time, and pain catastrophizing significantly mediated this relationship. This suggests patients with chronic pain experience pain stimuli differently over time, and pain catastrophizing may account for this differential experience. PerspectiveThe present study demonstrates (using multiple variability metrics) that chronic pain patients show more variability when rating experimental pain stimuli, and that pain catastrophizing helps explain this differential experience. These results provide preliminary evidence that short-term pain variability could have utility as a clinical marker in pain assessment and treatment.

More I-talk in student teachers’ written reflections indicates higher stress during VR teaching

Video-based reflection on one's own teaching represents a crucial tool in teacher education. When student teachers reflect on negative classroom events, it elicits “self-focused attention,” which has been associated with more intense negative emotionality. Self-focused attention can be quantitatively captured using first-person singular pronouns (“I,” “me,” “my”) in written reflections by, for instance, student teachers. What is unclear is whether student teachers' use of these first-person singular pronouns in their written reflections is linked to and predicts their negative affective experiences during teaching. For the present study, a fully immersive virtual reality (VR) classroom was implemented in which student teachers taught a lesson, provided written reflections on their teaching, and then taught a second lesson. We measured N = 59 student teachers' self-reported stress and heartrate responses while teaching in the VR classroom and determined the percentage of first-person singular pronouns in their written reflections. Firstly, our results showed that the use of first-person singular pronouns provides incremental information on manual ratings of student teachers' foci in their written reflections. Secondly, student teachers' heartrates during instruction—a measure of physiological stress—were associated with the use of first-person singular pronouns in subsequent written reflections. Thirdly, the use of first-person singular pronouns predicted the increase in physiological stress from the first to the second round of VR teaching. We discuss implications for automated feedback and for designing reflective tasks.

The ABC of happiness: Validation of the tridimensional model of subjective well-being (affect, cognition, and behavior) using Bifactor Polytomous Multidimensional Item Response Theory

BackgroundHappiness is often conceptualized as subjective well-being, which comprises people's evaluations of emotional experiences (i.e., the affective dimension: positive and negative feelings and emotions) and judgements of a self-imposed ideal (i.e., the cognitive dimension: life satisfaction). Recent research has established these two dimensions as primary parts of a higher order factor. However, theoretical, conceptual, and empirical work suggest that people's evaluations of harmony in their life (i.e., the sense of balance and capacity to behave and adapt with both acceptance and flexibility to inter- and intrapersonal circumstances) constitutes a third dimension (i.e., the behavioral dimension). This tridemensional conceptualization of subjective well-being has recently been verified using Unidimensional Item Response Theory (UIRT) and Classical Test Theory (CTT). Here, we use a recently developed and more robust approach that combines these two methods (i.e., Multidimensional Item Response Theory, MIRT) to simultaneously address the complex interactions and multidimensionality behind how people feel, think, and behave in relation to happiness in their life. MethodA total of 435 participants (197 males and 238 females) with an age mean of 44.84 (sd = 13.36) responded to the Positive Affect Negative Affect Schedule (10 positive affect items, 10 negative affect items), the Satisfaction with Life Scale (five items), and the Harmony in life Scale (five items). We used Bifactor-Graded Response MIRT for the main analyses. ResultAt the general level, each of the 30 items had a strong capacity to discriminate between respondents across all three dimensions of subjective well-being. The investigation of different parameters (e.g., marginal slopes, ECV, IECV) strongly reflected the multidimensionality of subjective well-being at the item, the scale, and the model level. Indeed, subjective well-being could explain 64 % of the common variance in the whole model. Moreover, most of the items measuring positive affect (8/10) and life satisfaction (4/5) and all the items measuring harmony in life (5/5) accounted for a larger amount of variance of subjective well-being compared to that of their respective individual dimensions. The negative affect items, however, measured its own individual concept to a lager extent rather than subjective well-being. Thus, suggesting that the experience of negative affect is a more independent dimension within the whole subjective well-being model. We also found that specific items (e.g., “Alert”, “Distressed”, “Irritable”, “I am satisfied with my life”) were the recurrent exceptions in our results. Last but not the least, experiencing high levels in one dimension seems to compensate for low levels in the others and vice versa. ConclusionAs expected, the three subjective well-being dimensions do not work separately. Interestingly, the order and magnitude of the effect by each dimension on subjective well-being mirror how people define happiness in their life: first as harmony, second as satisfaction, third as positive emotions, and fourth, albeit to a much lesser degree, as negative emotions. Ergo, we argue that subjective well-being functions as a complex biopsychosocial adaptive system mirroring our attitude towards life in these three dimensions (A: affective dimension; B: behavioral dimension; C: cognitive dimension). Ergo, researchers and practitioners need to take in to account all three to fully understand, measure, and promote people's experience of the happy life. Moreover, our results also suggest that negative affect, especially regarding high activation unpleasant emotions, need considerable changes and further analyses if it is going to be included as a construct within the affective dimension of a general subjective well-being factor.

AGE-VARIANT PATTERNS OF WITHIN-PERSON VARIATION IN SELF-REGULATORY CAPACITY REVEALED VIA AMBULATORY ASSESSMENTS

Abstract Stressful experiences often evoke changes in experienced negative affect. Individual differences in the degree of stressor-related reactivity may reflect the action of self-regulatory strategies that evolve over the adult lifespan. The executive hypothesis of self-regulation suggests that our ability to exert control over information processing (i.e. cognitive executive control) plays an important role in determining our effective capacity to regulate our emotions and behavior. We recently found evidence in younger adults that stressor reactivity is greater during moments when working memory capacity is lower than usual. Critically, aging is associated with normative declines in executive control and it remains unknown whether this impacts self-regulation in older adults. We’ll present the results of a recent ambulatory assessment study involving a sample of older adults (N = 80; 65-87 yrs; 79% female) where we sampled ratings of negative affect, exposure to everyday stressors, and working memory capacity up to 6 times per day for a period of 14 days. Results related to frequency of stressor exposures, mean levels of negative affect, and degree of negative affect reactivity to stressor exposures in this sample were largely consistent previous findings. However, when modeling stressor reactivity as a function of momentary variation in performance on ambulatory assessments of working memory capacity, we found evidence suggesting that older adults may react more to everyday stressors during moments with higher than average working memory capacity. We interpret these findings in terms of the limits of the executive hypothesis and other well-established theories of cognitive and psychological aging.

Daily Emotional Experiences in Persons with Parkinson Disease: Relations to Subjective Cognitive Complaints and Quality of Life

Aim This study aims to explore positive and negative emotional experiences during the performance of daily occupations in Persons with Parkinson Disease (PwPD). Methods This cross-sectional study included 32 PwPD and 14 healthy older adults. Participants completed three questionnaires that measured emotional experiences during daily occupations, subjective cognitive complaints, and quality of life. Results PwPD experienced higher rates of negative affect during all occupations. Lower rates of positive affect were found only during personal care tasks. Additionally, experiences of daily negative affect were positively associated with subjective cognitive complaints and negatively associated with quality of life. Conclusion Different rates of positive and negative affect are experienced by PwPD during daily occupations. The experience of daily emotions has implications for understanding emotional processing in neurological populations. Occupational therapy practitioners should consider the role of emotions when providing occupation-based interventions for PwPD.

Neuroplasticity of the extended amygdala in opioid withdrawal and prolonged opioid abstinence.

Opioid use disorder is characterized by excessive use of opioids, inability to control its use, a withdrawal syndrome upon discontinuation of opioids, and long-term likelihood of relapse. The behavioral stages of opioid addiction correspond with affective experiences that characterize the opponent process view of motivation. In this framework, active involvement is accompanied by positive affective experiences which gives rise to "reward craving," whereas the opponent process, abstinence, is associated with the negative affective experiences that produce "relief craving." Relief craving develops along with a hypersensitization to the negatively reinforcing aspects of withdrawal during abstinence from opioids. These negative affective experiences are hypothesized to stem from neuroadaptations to a network of affective processing called the "extended amygdala." This negative valence network includes the three core structures of the central nucleus of the amygdala (CeA), the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST), and the nucleus accumbens shell (NAc shell), in addition to major inputs from the basolateral amygdala (BLA). To better understand the major components of this system, we have reviewed their functions, inputs and outputs, along with the associated neural plasticity in animal models of opioid withdrawal. These models demonstrate the somatic, motivational, affective, and learning related models of opioid withdrawal and abstinence. Neuroadaptations in these stress and motivational systems are accompanied by negative affective and aversive experiences that commonly give rise to relapse. CeA neuroplasticity accounts for many of the aversive and fear-related effects of opioid withdrawal via glutamatergic plasticity and changes to corticotrophin-releasing factor (CRF)-containing neurons. Neuroadaptations in BNST pre-and post-synaptic GABA-containing neurons, as well as their noradrenergic modulation, may be responsible for a variety of aversive affective experiences and maladaptive behaviors. Opioid withdrawal yields a hypodopaminergic and amotivational state and results in neuroadaptive increases in excitability of the NAc shell, both of which are associated with increased vulnerability to relapse. Finally, BLA transmission to hippocampal and cortical regions impacts the perception of conditioned aversive effects of opioid withdrawal by higher executive systems. The prevention or reversal of these varied neuroadaptations in the extended amygdala during opioid withdrawal could lead to promising new interventions for this life-threatening condition.

Experiencing daily negative aging stereotypes and real-life cognitive functioning in older adults: A diary study.

Older adults may be confronted with a variety of negative aging stereotypes (e.g., "forgetful," "physically frail," and "lonely") almost every day. While experimental studies have demonstrated the impact of negative aging stereotypes on older adults' cognitive performance, the relationship between multiple negative aging stereotype experiences and cognitive functioning in older people's daily lives is largely unknown. Using a 1-week daily diary study approach, the present studies examined the association between experiencing daily negative aging stereotypes and real-life cognitive functioning and the mediating role of daily negative affect. We also examined whether these associations differed in response to negative aging stereotype diversity, which refers to the breadth and evenness of negative aging stereotypes that older adults experience in 1 week. In Study 1 (n = 50), we explored the negative aging stereotypes that older adults often experience in their daily lives. These stereotypes can be seen as a measure of daily stereotype experiences. Then in Study 2, 100 older adults reported their everyday experiences of negative aging stereotypes, positive or negative affect, and cognitive failures for 1 week. The results showed that the more negative aging stereotype experiences older adults had in 1 day, the more cognitive failures occurred that day and that daily negative affect mediated this association. Further, the direct and indirect relationships between daily negative aging stereotype experiences and daily cognitive failures were significant in older adults with high negative aging stereotype diversity but not in those with low negative aging stereotype diversity. This study provides new insights for studies on aging stereotypes threat and offers theoretical guidance for future interventions for cognitive health in older adults and, in turn, contributes to promoting healthy aging in older adults. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).