Socioemotional Processes Research Articles

Emotional Intelligence, Unpleasant Emotions, Emotional Exhaustion, and Job Satisfaction in Physical Education Teaching

Purpose:Previous literature has demonstrated the contribution of emotional intelligence to various socioemotional processes including wellbeing, job performance, and leadership effectiveness. Thus,...

Elevated mirror neuron system activity in bipolar mania: Evidence from a transcranial magnetic stimulation study

The role of the "mirror neuron system" (MNS) in the pathophysiology of mood disorders is not well studied. Given its posited role in the often-impaired socio-emotional processes like intention detection, empathy, and imitation, we compared putative MNS-activity in patients with bipolar mania and healthy comparison subjects. We also examined the association between putative MNS-activity and hyper-imitative behaviors in patients. We studied 39 medication-free individuals diagnosed with mania and 45 healthy comparison subjects. TMS-evoked motor cortical reactivity was measured via single- and paired-pulse stimuli (assessing SICI-short and LICI-long interval intracortical inhibition) while subjects viewed a static image and goal-directed actions. Manic symptom severity and imitative behaviors were quantified using the Young's Mania Rating Scale and a modification of the Echolalia Questionnaire. Two-way repeated measures analysis of variance demonstrated a significant group ×time interaction effect indicating greater facilitation of cortical reactivity during action-observation (putative MNS-activity) in the patient group as compared to the healthy group. While LICI-mediated MNS-activity had a significant association with manic symptom severity (r=0.35, P=0.038), SICI-mediated MNS-activity was significantly associated with incidental echolalia scores in a subgroup of 17 patients with incidental echolalia (r=0.75, P<0.001). Our findings demonstrate that putative MNS-activity is heightened in mania, possibly because of disinhibition, and associated with behavioral consequences (incidental echolalia).

From frontal neurobehavioral disorders to executive processes

Following the initial case report on Phineas Gage, research in the first half of the XXth century showed that damage to the frontal cortex can result in a variety of behavioral changes. In the 1960s, the introduction of experimental neuropsychological tasks marked the start of attempts to define the cognitive impairments behind these behavioral changes. From an historical perspective, this talk will focus on major conceptual accounts of frontal behavioral and cognitive disorders. Firstly, the presence of a working memory deficit in cognitive dysexecutive disorders has been evidenced by animal studies in which the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is seen to be involved in the temporary storage of information during delayed-response tasks. Secondly, Luria suggested that the clinical diversity of frontal syndromes masked more specific impairments in situations that require goal setting, action initiation and inhibition, planning, execution of sequences (involving set-shifting and maintenance), and verification. These abilities were grouped together as executive functions by Lezak. These essential contributions enabled executive functions to be defined as central, supramodal functions that control other cognitive and behavioral abilities, and that operate predominantly in non-routine situations or in routine situations in which self-activation is required to optimize efficiency. Although a large number of tests have been initially designed to account for behavioral changes, the underlying mechanisms remain to be determined for multiple changes. Few disorders such as hypoactivity with apathy are partly accounted for by cognitive impairment. However, other dysexecutive behavioral changes are not associated with cold-cognition tests. Further advances are likely to result from the development of tests that target the socioemotional processes underlying overt behavioral changes. In the same vein, a number of laboratory experiments have provided promising paradigms for the assessment of creativity and adaptive behavior. This talk will focus on recent theoretical approaches and advances of neurobehavioral disorders. Better identification of impaired processes is expected to improve their management including remediation strategies and rehabilitation.

Decision making processes and alcohol use among college students

Objective: The neurobiological model of risk-taking and the dual-process model of decision making each provide possible explanations of risky behavior among youth, but their interconnections have rarely been explored, especially among college students, a time of increased alcohol use. Participants: n = 382; Mage = 19.25, SD = 1.33. Method: Participants completed a survey about their deliberative and intuitive decision making style (based on the dual-process model), their socioemotional and cognitive control processes (based on the neurobiological model), and alcohol use. Results: Structural equation modeling showed that dual-process variables and neurobiological variables were positively related. Deliberative decision making and cognitive control were negatively related to alcohol use whereas intuitive decision making was not. Comment: Discussion focuses on the integration of theoretical models with real-world health behaviors and considers implications of the current findings in terms of prevention and intervention to reduce drinking among college students.

SOCIOEMOTIONAL DYNAMICS OF EMOTION REGULATION AND DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS: A PERSON-SPECIFIC NETWORK APPROACH

Socioemotional processes engaged in daily life may afford and/or constrain individuals' emotion regulation in ways that affect psychological health. Recent findings from experience sampling studies suggest that persistence of negative emotions (emotion inertia), the strength of relations among an individual's negative emotions (density of the emotion network), and cycles of negative/aggressive interpersonal transactions are related to psychological health. Using multiple bursts of intensive experience sampling data obtained from 150 persons over one year, person-specific analysis, and impulse response analysis, this study quantifies the complex and interconnected socioemotional processes that surround individuals' daily social interactions and on-going regulation of negative emotion in terms of recovery time. We also examine how this measure of regulatory inefficiency is related to interindividual differences and intraindividual change in level of depressive symptoms. Individuals with longer recovery times had higher overall level of depressive symptoms. As well, during periods where recovery time of sadness was longer than usual, individuals' depressive symptoms were also higher than usual, particularly among individuals who experienced higher overall level of stressful life events. The findings and analysis highlight the utility of a person-specific network approach to study emotion regulation, how regulatory processes change over time, and potentially how planned changes in the configuration of individuals' systems may contribute to psychological health.

Why do we want to talk?

Abstract Cognitive and emotional processes are now known to be intertwined and thus the limbic system that underlies emotions is important for human brain evolution, including the evolution of circuits supporting language. The neural substrates of limbic functions, like motivation, attention, inhibition, evaluation, detection of emotional stimuli and others have changed over time. Even though no new, added structures are present in the human brain compared to nonhuman primates, evolution tweaks existing structural systems with possible functional implications. Empirical comparative neuroanatomical evidence is presented here in support of such changes in the limbic system, including the amygdala and the orbitofrontal cortex. Given their possible functional significance, these alterations may further enable and enhance human interest and motivation to communicate beyond what is seen in other primates living in complex social groups. The argument here is that even though emotion processing is likely needed for increased social complexity independent of language, the reason why humans want to talk may be related in part to the enhancement of socioemotional processes resulting from the reorganization and rewiring of underlying neural systems some of which are interconnected to the language areas. Neurodevelopmental disorders in humans affecting both language and sociability fuel such arguments.

Theory of mind and social competence among school-age Latino children

ABSTRACTThe present study examined relations between Theory of Mind (ToM) understanding and social competence among school-age Latino children. Participants included 62 children ages 6–12 years. Picture vocabulary was assessed via a standardized language survey, and ToM assessed via Happé’s [(1994). An advanced test of theory of mind: Understanding of story characters’ thoughts and feelings by able autistic, mentally handicapped and normal children and adults. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 24, 129–154. doi:10.1007/BF021720931994] advanced ToM tasks. Parents and teachers evaluated the child’s social skills using a 23 item social competence inventory consisting of one positive and two forms of negative behaviours: relational aggression and overt hostility. Results indicated that girls scored significantly higher on positive social behaviour compared to boys. Overall, positive associations were found between children’s ToM ability and positive (but not negative) social behaviour. Results and implications about the socioemotional processes underlying ToM development are discussed.

Applying What is Known About Adolescent Development to Improve School-Based Mental Health Literacy of Depression Interventions: Bridging Research to Practice

Rates of depression are the highest in adolescence in comparison to any other period of the life course. Yet, when depressed, the majority of adolescents do not seek formal help to treat their suffering. School-based mental health literacy of depression interventions aim to improve adolescents’ help-seeking for depression, by enhancing their knowledge about depression, fostering positive attitudes toward depression and help-seeking, and encouraging behavioral self-efficacy in help-seeking. While widespread, the effectiveness of these programs is inconsistent, and when properly evaluated, they only increase depressed adolescents’ help-seeking behavior at modest rates. This review argues that these interventions lack consideration of several important domains of adolescent development, as well as what is known about decision-making in the depressed adolescent mind. Accordingly, the specific cognitive and socio-emotional processes involved in adolescent decision-making are reviewed in order to highlight avenues for improving mental health literacy and help-seeking in depressed young people. Specific recommendations for program delivery are discussed.

Striking a balance: Socio-emotional processes during argumentation in collaborative learning interaction

Striking a balance: Socio-emotional processes during argumentation in collaborative learning interaction

Trajectories of frontal brain activity and socio-emotional development in children.

Asymmetric frontal brain activity is thought to reflect individual differences in approach- and avoidance-oriented motivation and emotional experience. Using a prospective longitudinal design, the authors investigated whether trajectories of frontal electroencephalogram (EEG) asymmetry in children (Mage = 6.39 years at enrollment) predicted subjective, behavioral, and autonomic indices of socioemotional processes. Resting frontal EEG activity was measured across four separate repeated assessments spanning approximately 2 years. Children's EEG asymmetry across assessments was best characterized by two trajectories: a stable right frontal asymmetry class (48.65%), and a stable left frontal asymmetry class (51.35%). At visit 4, children in the stable right frontal asymmetry displayed more avoidance-related tendencies and children in the stable left frontal asymmetry class exhibited more approach-related tendencies across social, emotional, and autonomic measures. These findings suggest that developmental patterns of resting frontal brain activity across the early school years may underlie approach- and avoidance-related motivation and predict socio-emotional processes in some children.

The impact of stress on later literacy achievement via grit and engagement among dual language elementary school students

The goal of this short-term longitudinal study was to identify how stress impacts later literacy achievement via the mediators of grit and emotional engagement. Study design included three time-points with students in 3rd through 5th grades who were low-income, dual language learners in the US ( N = 142; 54% female; 75% Latina/o; M = 9.47 years old). The measures were Time 1 student-reported perceived stress, Time 2 teacher-reported student grit and emotional engagement, and a Time 3 student literacy achievement performance task. Stress had a negative impact on later literacy achievement via the mediator of engagement, but not via the mediator of grit. Implications of how stress and socioemotional processes impact achievement among dual language learners are discussed.

Socioemotional Dynamics of Emotion Regulation and Depressive Symptoms: A Person-Specific Network Approach.

Socioemotional processes engaged in daily life may afford and/or constrain individuals' emotion regulation in ways that affect psychological health. Recent findings from experience sampling studies suggest that persistence of negative emotions (emotion inertia), the strength of relations among an individual's negative emotions (density of the emotion network), and cycles of negative/aggressive interpersonal transactions are related to psychological health. Using multiple bursts of intensive experience sampling data obtained from 150 persons over one year, person-specific analysis, and impulse response analysis, this study quantifies the complex and interconnected socioemotional processes that surround individuals' daily social interactions and on-going regulation of negative emotion in terms of recovery time. We also examine how this measure of regulatory inefficiency is related to interindividual differences and intraindividual change in level of depressive symptoms. Individuals with longer recovery times had higher overall level of depressive symptoms. As well, during periods where recovery time of sadness was longer than usual, individuals' depressive symptoms were also higher than usual, particularly among individuals who experienced higher overall level of stressful life events. The findings and analysis highlight the utility of a person-specific network approach to study emotion regulation, how regulatory processes change over time, and potentially how planned changes in the configuration of individuals' systems may contribute to psychological health.

Differences in Brain Architecture in Remote Mild Traumatic Brain Injury.

Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) is brain trauma from an external impact with a loss of consciousness less than 30 min. Mild TBI results in several biopsychosocial impairments, with pronounced cognitive deficits thought to resolve within 3 months of injury. Previous research suggests that these impairments are due to a temporary inability to appropriately allocate neural resources in response to cognitive demands. Our study questioned this assumption and instead hypothesized that mTBI was associated with long-term neural disruptions and compromised brain structure integrity. By extension, we investigated the likelihood that functional restitution and cognitive resolution following mTBI may be due to some form of neurofunctional reorganization. To this end, we examined abnormalities in resting state functional connectivity and structure (volume, thickness, and fractional anisotropy) in two groups of mTBI-those with 1-10 years time post-injury (mTBI1-10), and those with 20-65 years time post-injury, relative to age-, sex-, and education-matched controls. We observed abnormalities in brain architecture only in the mTBI1-10 group, characterized by functional hypo-activation in the right frontal pole, smaller frontal pole volume, and lesser fractional anisotropy in the genu of the corpus callosum that extended near the right frontal pole. This frontal region is laterally specialized to regulate function specific to socio-emotional processes. Collectively, neural disruptions and structural insult in mTBI may persist up to 10 years following injury, but injury-related pathology may resolve with longer recovery time. Disruption to frontal-dependent function that supports socio-emotional processes also may interfere with cognitive functioning, as in the case of chronic mTBI.

BAPNE Method, Developmental Dyslexia and Inclusive Education: Cognitive, Socio-Emotional and Psychomotor Stimulation in Secondary School. A Practical Resource for Education within a Cross Curriculum

Abstract The strong link between phonological awareness and musical rhythm is widely explored in scientific literature. Interventions based on rhythm are proved to be fundamental for reading and writing skills in dyslexic students. Recent studies highlight the close relation between executive functions and learning circumstances within the school context. Learning is a high cognitive function and involves the socio-emotional processes, the motivational aspects related to reward, self-efficacy, self-esteem, empathy and also the acquisition of values. This study is focused on (1) phonological awareness and musical rhythm in developmental dyslexia; (2) current research on learning environment, executive functions and brain development during adolescence; (3) a practical proposal of inclusive education through body percussion activities – BAPNE Method for cognitive, socio-emotional and psychomotor stimulation within the context of the secondary school classes.

Oxytocin improves the ability of dogs to follow informative pointing: a neuroemotional hypothesis

It has been suggested that dogs’ ability to comprehend human pointing gestures evolved as a by-product of the socio-emotional changes associated with domestication. Given the large role played by the oxytocin system in socio-emotional processes, it is possible to hypothesize a role for oxytocin in modulating dogs’ socio-communicative skills. Indeed, it has been shown that intranasal oxytocin enhances dogs’ ability to use human pointing cues in an object choice task, a classic paradigm used to assess the ability to follow a pointing gesture. We further tested this hypothesis in another sample of dogs and replicated the above findings. We also provided a novel explanation to the above findings, suggesting that oxytocin released during human–dog interactions increases the positive expectations about human behaviour via emotion and reward processes and thus facilitates the interpretation of pointing as leading to positive events. Given the large and deep homology across mammals in the neural mechanisms involved in emotions, oxytocin could be involved in the acquisition of socio-communicative skills during human typical as well as pathological development.

Saving Face in Cyberspace: Transition to On-line Teaching in a Sociology Program

This paper delineates the intellectual and socio-emotional processes of shifting from face-to-face to on-line teaching at the Online BA Program in Sociology at the CUNY School of Professional Studies. Using a sociological lens, I will explore the concept of presence in cyberspace to elucidate the possibilities and limitations for humanizing the sociological classroom without embodiment or the structure of synchronous interaction.

Physician leadership in e-health? A systematic literature review.

Purpose This paper aims to systematically review the literature on roles of physicians in virtual teams (VTs) delivering healthcare for effective "physician e-leadership" (PeL) and implementation of e-health. Design/methodology/approach The analyzed studies were retrieved with explicit keywords and criteria, including snowball sampling. They were synthesized with existing theoretical models on VT research, healthcare team competencies and medical leadership. Findings Six domains for further PeL inquiry are delineated: resources, task processes, socio-emotional processes, leadership in VTs, virtual physician-patient relationship and change management. We show that, to date, PeL studies on socio-technical dynamics and their consequences on e-health are found underrepresented in the health literature; i.e. no single empirical, theoretic or conceptual study with a focus on PeL in virtual healthcare work was identified. Research limitations/implications E-health practices could benefit from organization-behavioral type of research for discerning effective physicians' roles and inter-professional relations and their (so far) seemingly modest but potent impact on e-health developments. Practical implications Although best practices in e-health care have already been identified, this paper shows that physicians' roles in e-health initiatives have not yet received any in-depth study. This raises questions such as are physicians not yet sufficiently involved in e-health? If so, what (dis)advantages may this have for current e-health investments and how can they best become involved in (leading) e-health applications' design and implementation in the field? Originality/value If effective medical leadership is being deployed, e-health effectiveness may be enhanced; this new proposition needs urgent empirical scrutiny.

An in-depth cognitive examination of individuals with superior face recognition skills

Previous work has reported the existence of “super-recognisers” (SRs), or individuals with extraordinary face recognition skills. However, the precise underpinnings of this ability have not yet been investigated. In this paper we examine (a) the face-specificity of super recognition, (b) perception of facial identity in SRs, (c) whether SRs present with enhancements in holistic processing and (d) the consistency of these findings across different SRs. A detailed neuropsychological investigation into six SRs indicated domain-specificity in three participants, with some evidence of enhanced generalised visuo-cognitive or socio-emotional processes in the remaining individuals. While superior face-processing skills were restricted to face memory in three of the SRs, enhancements to facial identity perception were observed in the others. Notably, five of the six participants showed at least some evidence of enhanced holistic processing. These findings indicate cognitive heterogeneity in the presentation of superior face recognition, and have implications for our theoretical understanding of the typical face-processing system and the identification of superior face-processing skills in applied settings.

Does impaired socioemotional functioning account for behavioral dysexecutive disorders? Evidence from a transnosological study

ABSTRACTBehavioral dysexecutive disorders are highly prevalent in patients with neurological diseases but cannot be explained by cognitive dysexecutive impairments. In fact, the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. Given that socioemotional functioning underlies appropriate behavior, socioemotional impairments may contribute to the appearance of behavioral disorders. To investigate this issue, we performed a transnosological study.Seventy-five patients suffering from various neurological diseases (Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Parkinson’s disease (PD), frontotemporal lobar degeneration, and stroke) were included in the study. The patients were comprehensively assessed in terms of cognitive and behavioral dysexecutive disorders and socioemotional processes (facial emotion recognition and theory of mind). As was seen for cognitive and behavioral dysexecutive impairments, the prevalence of socioemotional impairments varied according to the diagnosis. Stepwise logistic regressions showed that (i) only cognitive executive indices predicted hypoactivity with apathy/abulia, (ii) theory of mind impairments predicted hyperactivity–distractibility–impulsivity and stereotyped/perseverative behaviors, and (iii) impaired facial emotion recognition predicted social behavior disorders. Several dysexecutive behavioral disorders are associated with an underlying impairment in socioemotional processes but not with cognitive indices of executive functioning (except for apathy). These results strongly suggest that some dysexecutive behavioral disorders are the outward signs of an underlying impairment in socioemotional processes.

Counterfactual Evaluation of Outcomes in Social Risk Decision-Making Situations: The Cognitive Developmental Paradox Revisited.

We report a study that examined the existence of a cognitive developmental paradox in the counterfactual evaluation of decision-making outcomes. According to this paradox adolescents and young adults could be able to apply counterfactual reasoning and, yet, their counterfactual evaluation of outcomes could be biased in a salient socio-emotional context. To this aim, we analyzed the impact of health and social feedback on the counterfactual evaluation of outcomes in a laboratory decision-making task involving short narratives with the presence of peers. Forty risky (e.g., taking or refusing a drug), forty neutral decisions (e.g., eating a hamburger or a hotdog), and emotions felt following positive or negative outcomes were examined in 256 early, mid- and late adolescents, and young adults, evenly distributed. Results showed that emotional ratings to negative outcomes (regret and disappointment) but not to positive outcomes (relief and elation) were attenuated when feedback was provided. Evidence of development of cognitive decision-making capacities did also exist, as the capacity to perform faster emotional ratings and to differentially allocate more resources to the elaboration of emotional ratings when no feedback information was available increased with age. Overall, we interpret these findings as challenging the traditional cognitive developmental assumption that development necessarily proceeds from lesser to greater capacities, reflecting the impact of socio-emotional processes that could bias the counterfactual evaluation of social decision-making outcomes.