Subjective Ratings Of Arousal Research Articles

In your shoes or mine? Shifting from other to self perspective is vital for emotional empathy.

Emotional empathy-feeling another person's affective states-entails simulating how one would feel in the same circumstance. Prior research has implicated the role of executive controls and shown a link between visuospatial perspective taking and personal disposition of empathy. No study has investigated how executive control processes involved in perspective shifting relate to emotional empathy. Incorporating a spatial perspective-taking task in a set switch paradigm, we investigated whether swiftly switching from the altercentric to the egocentric perspective is associated with heightened emotional empathy but not with accurate classification of low-level perceptual affective cues. Emotional empathy was measured by subjective ratings of arousal and the similarity of affective states with the target person when viewing photos of a person in an emotionally charged context. Cognitive empathy was measured by correct recognition of affective cues. Our results showed that executive controls in perspective shifting related to emotional empathy but not to cognitive empathy. Emotional empathy correlated negatively with the switch cost from the altercentric to the egocentric perspective and not vice versa. Faster switching from the altercentric to the egocentric perspective was associated with heightened emotional empathy. Moreover, the processing strategy did not moderate the association. Flexibility in perspective shifting, especially in regaining one's own perspective after taking another person's perspective, is critical for emotional empathy. To feel another person's affective states, one should regain self-perspective after walking in the other person's shoes. (PsycINFO Database Record

Altered orbitofrontal activity and dorsal striatal connectivity during emotion processing in dependent marijuana users after 28days of abstinence.

Intact cognitive and emotional functioning is vital for the long-term success of addiction treatment strategies. Accumulating evidence suggests an association between chronic marijuana use and lasting alterations in cognitive brain function. Despite initial evidence for altered emotion processing in dependent marijuana users after short abstinence periods, adaptations in the domain of emotion processing after longer abstinence remain to be determined. Using task-based and resting state fMRI, the present study investigated emotion processing in 19 dependent marijuana users and 18 matched non-using controls after an abstinence period of > 28days. Relative to the control subjects, negative emotional stimuli elicited increased medial orbitofrontal cortex (mOFC) activity and stronger mOFC-dorsal striatal and mOFC-amygdala functional coupling in dependent marijuana users (p < 0.022, FWE-corrected). Furthermore, mOFC-dorsal striatal functional connectivity was increased at rest in marijuana users (p < 0.03, FWE-corrected). Yet, processing of positive stimuli and subjective ratings of valence and arousal were comparable in both groups. Together, the present findings provide the first evidence for persisting emotion processing alterations in dependent marijuana users. Alterations might reflect long-term neural adaptations as a consequence of chronic marijuana use or predisposing risk factors for the development of marijuana dependence.

Evolutionary and Modern Image Content Differentially Influence the Processing of Emotional Pictures.

From an evolutionary perspective, environmental threats relevant for survival constantly challenged human beings. Current research suggests the evolution of a fear processing module in the brain to cope with these threats. Recently, humans increasingly encountered modern threats (e.g., guns or car accidents) in addition to evolutionary threats (e.g., snakes or predators) which presumably required an adaptation of perception and behavior. However, the neural processes underlying the perception of these different threats remain to be elucidated. We investigated the effect of image content (i.e., evolutionary vs. modern threats) on the activation of neural networks of emotion processing. During functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) 41 participants watched affective pictures displaying evolutionary-threatening, modern-threatening, evolutionary-neutral and modern-neutral content. Evolutionary-threatening stimuli evoked stronger activations than modern-threatening stimuli in left inferior frontal gyrus and thalamus, right middle frontal gyrus and parietal regions as well as bilaterally in parietal regions, fusiform gyrus and bilateral amygdala. We observed the opposite effect, i.e., higher activity for modern-threatening than for evolutionary-threatening stimuli, bilaterally in the posterior cingulate and the parahippocampal gyrus. We found no differences in subjective arousal ratings between the two threatening conditions. On the valence scale though, subjects rated modern-threatening pictures significantly more negative than evolutionary-threatening pictures, indicating a higher level of perceived threat. The majority of previous studies show a positive relationship between arousal rating and amygdala activity. However, comparing fMRI results with behavioral findings we provide evidence that neural activity in fear processing areas is not only driven by arousal or valence, but presumably also by the evolutionary content of the stimulus. This has also fundamental methodological implications, in the sense to suggest a more elaborate classification of stimulus content to improve the validity of experimental designs.

The influence of frontal alpha-asymmetry on the processing of approach- and withdrawal-related stimuli-A multichannel psychophysiology study.

The approach-withdrawal model of hemispheric activation suggests that left frontal cortical areas mediate approach, while right frontal cortical areas mediate withdrawal motivation. Within this framework, the present study investigates the association of frontal cortical asymmetry with attentional and emotional responses toward approach- and withdrawal-related emotional stimuli. Resting frontal asymmetry was measured from 43 students before they passively viewed negative, neutral, and positive emotional pictures. The startle reflex, skin conductance response, and subjective ratings of valence and arousal were assessed to quantify emotional responding, while attention was assessed with ERPs. We also assessed frontal asymmetry in response to the pictures. Results indicated that relatively stronger right frontal cortical activation was associated with increased N1 amplitudes and more negative subjective emotional evaluation of all stimuli. Furthermore, enhanced right frontal asymmetry (state and trait) was associated with diminished emotional modulation of the late positive potential. In contrast, no association of frontal asymmetry with defensive reflex physiology or activation of sympathetic nervous system activity was found. The current data suggest dissociable influence of resting frontal brain asymmetry on attentional and physiological processing of withdrawal- and approach-related stimuli. That is, asymmetrical frontal cortical brain activation might not modulate approach-/withdrawal-related motor responses and sympathetic arousal directly, but instead enhances allocation of attentional resources to subjectively significant stimuli. The results are discussed in terms of their potential importance for emotion perception in anxiety disorders and their contribution to the understanding of frontal asymmetry.

Arousal amplifies biased competition between high and low priority memories more in women than in men: The role of elevated noradrenergic activity

Recent findings indicate that emotional arousal can enhance memory consolidation of goal-relevant stimuli while impairing it for irrelevant stimuli. According to one recent model, these goal-dependent memory tradeoffs are driven by arousal-induced release of norepinephrine (NE), which amplifies neural gain in target sensory and memory processing brain regions. Past work also shows that ovarian hormones modulate activity in the same regions thought to support NE’s effects on memory, such as the amygdala, suggesting that men and women may be differentially susceptible to arousal’s dual effects on episodic memory. Here, we aimed to determine the neurohormonal mechanisms that mediate arousal-biased competition processes in memory. In a competitive visuo-attention task, participants viewed images of a transparent object overlaid on a background scene and explicitly memorized one of these stimuli while ignoring the other. Participants then heard emotional or neutral audio-clips and provided a subjective arousal rating. Hierarchical generalized linear modeling (HGLM) analyses revealed that greater pre-to-post task increases in salivary alpha-amylase (sAA), a biomarker of noradrenergic activity, was associated with significantly greater arousal-enhanced memory tradeoffs in women than in men. These sex-dependent effects appeared to result from phasic and background noradrenergic activity interacting to suppress task-irrelevant representations in women but enhancing them in men. Additionally, in naturally cycling women, low ovarian hormone levels interacted with increased noradrenergic activity to amplify memory selectivity independently of emotion-induced arousal. Together these findings suggest that increased noradrenergic transmission enhances preferential consolidation of goal-relevant memory traces according to phasic arousal and ovarian hormone levels in women.

Targeted Reactivation during Sleep Differentially Affects Negative Memories in Socially Anxious and Healthy Children and Adolescents.

Cognitive models propose a negative memory bias as one key factor contributing to the emergence and maintenance of social anxiety disorder (SAD). The long-term consolidation of memories relies on memory reactivations during sleep. We investigated in SAD patients and healthy controls the role of memory reactivations during sleep in the long-term consolidation of positive and negative information. Socially anxious and healthy children and adolescents learnt associations between pictures showing ambiguous situations and positive or negative words defining the situations' outcome. Half of the words were re-presented during postlearning sleep (i.e., they were cued). Recall of picture-word associations and subjective ratings of pleasantness and arousal in response to the pictures was tested for cued and uncued stimuli. In the morning after cueing, cueing facilitated retention of positive and negative memories equally well in SAD patients and healthy controls. One week later, cueing led to reduced ratings of pleasantness of negative information in SAD but not in healthy controls. Coincidental to these findings was more pronounced EEG theta activity over frontal, temporal and parietal regions in response to negative stimuli in SAD patients. Our findings suggest that the preferential abstraction of negative emotional information during sleep might represent one factor underlying the negative memory bias in SAD.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT We aim to uncover mechanisms underlying the characteristic negative memory bias in social anxiety disorder (SAD). The formation of long-lasting memories-a process referred to as memory consolidation-depends on the reactivation of newly acquired memories during sleep. We demonstrated that experimentally induced memory reactivation during sleep renders long-term memories of negative experiences more negative in SAD patients but not in healthy controls. We also found in SAD patients that the reactivation of negative experiences coincided with more pronounced oscillatory theta activity. These results provide first evidence that memory reactivation during sleep might contribute to the negative memory bias in SAD.

Berlyne Revisited: Evidence for the Multifaceted Nature of Hedonic Tone in the Appreciation of Paintings and Music.

In his seminal book on esthetics, Berlyne (1971) posited an inverted-U relationship between complexity and hedonic tone in arts appreciation, however, converging evidence for his theory is still missing. The disregard of the multidimensionality of complexity may explain some of the divergent results. Here, we argue that definitions of hedonic tone are manifold and systematically examined whether the nature of the relationship between complexity and hedonic tone is determined by the specific measure of hedonic tone. In Experiment 1, we studied three picture categories with similar affective and semantic contents: 96 affective environmental scenes, which were also converted into 96 cartoons, and 96 representational paintings. Complexity varied along the dimension of elements. In a between-subjects design, each stimulus was presented for 5 s to 206 female participants. Subjective ratings of hedonic tone (either beauty, pleasantness or liking), arousal, complexity and familiarity were collected in three conditions per stimulus set. Complexity and arousal were positively associated in all conditions, with the strongest association observed for paintings. For environmental scenes and cartoons, there was no significant association between complexity and hedonic tone, and the three measures of hedonic tone were highly correlated (all rs > 0.85). As predicted, in paintings the measures of hedonic tone were less strongly correlated (all rs > 0.73), and when controlling for familiarity, the association with complexity was significantly positive for beauty (rs = 0.26), weakly negative for pleasantness (rs = -0.16) and not present for liking. Experiment 2 followed a similar approach and 77 female participants, all non-musicians, rated 92 musical excerpts (15 s) in three conditions of hedonic tone (either beauty, pleasantness or liking). Results indicated a strong relationship between complexity and arousal (all rs > 0.85). When controlling for familiarity effects, the relationship between complexity and beauty followed an inverted-U curve, whereas the relationship between complexity and pleasantness was negative (rs = -0.26) and the one between complexity and liking positive (rs = 0.29). We relate our results to Berlyne’s theory and the latest findings in neuroaesthetics, proposing that future studies need to acknowledge the multifaceted nature of hedonic tone in esthetic experiences of artforms.

How Hearing Loss and Age Affect Emotional Responses to Nonspeech Sounds.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of hearing loss and age on subjective ratings of emotional valence and arousal in response to nonspeech sounds. Three groups of adults participated: 20 younger listeners with normal hearing (M = 24.8 years), 20 older listeners with normal hearing (M = 55.8 years), and 20 older listeners with mild-to-severe acquired hearing loss (M = 65.6 years). Stimuli were presented via headphones at either 35 and 65 dB SPL or 50 and 80 dB SPL on the basis of random assignment within each group. Participants rated the emotional valence and arousal for previously normed nonspeech auditory stimuli. Linear mixed model analyses were conducted separately for ratings of valence and arousal. Results revealed that listeners with hearing loss exhibited a reduced range of emotional ratings. Furthermore, for stimuli presented at 80 dB SPL, valence ratings from listeners with hearing loss were significantly lower than ratings from listeners with normal hearing. Acquired hearing loss, not increased age, affected emotional responses by reducing the range of subjective ratings and by reducing the reported valence of the highest intensity stimuli. These results have potentially important clinical implications for aural rehabilitation.

Neural Representation of Subjective Sexual Arousal in Men and Women

IntroductionStudies investigating brain indices of sexual arousal have begun to elucidate the brain's role in processing subjective arousal; however, most research has focused on men, used discrete ratings of subjective arousal, and used stimuli too short to induce significant arousal in women. AimTo examine brain regions modulated by changes in subjective sexual arousal (SSA) rating intensity in men and women. MethodsTwo groups (20 men, 20 women) viewed movie clips (erotic or humorous) while continuously evaluating changes in their SSA using a Likert-like scale (0 = not aroused, 10 = most aroused) and answering discrete questions about liking the movies and wanting sexual stimulation. Brain activity was measured using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Main Outcome MeasuresBlood oxygen level-dependent responses and continuous and discrete measurements of sexual arousal. ResultsErotic movies induced significant SSA in men and women. No sex difference in mean SSA was found in response to the erotic movies on continuous or discrete measurements. Several brain regions were correlated with changes in SSA. Parametric modulation with rating intensity showed a specific group of regions within the parietal lobe that showed significant differences in activity among low, medium, and high SSA. ConclusionMultiple regions were concordant with changes in SSA; however, a subset of regions in men and women was modulated by SSA intensity, a subset previously linked to attentional processes, monitoring of internal body representation, and processing of sensory information from the genitals. This study highlights that similar brain regions are activated during subjective assessment of sexual arousal in men and women. The data further highlight the fact that SSA is a complex phenomenon made up of multiple interoceptive and attentional processes.

Neural Processing of Emotional Musical and Nonmusical Stimuli in Depression.

BackgroundAnterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and striatum are part of the emotional neural circuitry implicated in major depressive disorder (MDD). Music is often used for emotion regulation, and pleasurable music listening activates the dopaminergic system in the brain, including the ACC. The present study uses functional MRI (fMRI) and an emotional nonmusical and musical stimuli paradigm to examine how neural processing of emotionally provocative auditory stimuli is altered within the ACC and striatum in depression.MethodNineteen MDD and 20 never-depressed (ND) control participants listened to standardized positive and negative emotional musical and nonmusical stimuli during fMRI scanning and gave subjective ratings of valence and arousal following scanning.ResultsND participants exhibited greater activation to positive versus negative stimuli in ventral ACC. When compared with ND participants, MDD participants showed a different pattern of activation in ACC. In the rostral part of the ACC, ND participants showed greater activation for positive information, while MDD participants showed greater activation to negative information. In dorsal ACC, the pattern of activation distinguished between the types of stimuli, with ND participants showing greater activation to music compared to nonmusical stimuli, while MDD participants showed greater activation to nonmusical stimuli, with the greatest response to negative nonmusical stimuli. No group differences were found in striatum.ConclusionsThese results suggest that people with depression may process emotional auditory stimuli differently based on both the type of stimulation and the emotional content of that stimulation. This raises the possibility that music may be useful in retraining ACC function, potentially leading to more effective and targeted treatments.

Amygdala Regulation Following fMRI-Neurofeedback without Instructed Strategies.

Within the field of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) neurofeedback, most studies provide subjects with instructions or suggest strategies to regulate a particular brain area, while other neuro-/biofeedback approaches often do not. This study is the first to investigate the hypothesis that subjects are able to utilize fMRI neurofeedback to learn to differentially modulate the fMRI signal from the bilateral amygdala congruent with the prescribed regulation direction without an instructed or suggested strategy and apply what they learned even when feedback is no longer available. Thirty-two subjects were included in the analysis. Data were collected at 3 Tesla using blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD)-sensitivity optimized multi-echo EPI. Based on the mean contrast between up- and down-regulation in the amygdala in a post-training scan without feedback following three neurofeedback sessions, subjects were able to regulate their amygdala congruent with the prescribed directions with a moderate effect size of Cohen’s d = 0.43 (95% conf. int. 0.23–0.64). This effect size would be reduced, however, through stricter exclusion criteria for subjects that show alterations in respiration. Regulation capacity was positively correlated with subjective arousal ratings and negatively correlated with agreeableness and susceptibility to anger. A learning effect over the training sessions was only observed with end-of-block feedback (EoBF) but not with continuous feedback (trend). The results confirm the above hypothesis. Further studies are needed to compare effect sizes of regulation capacity for approaches with and without instructed strategies.

The Eye is Listening: Music-Induced Arousal and Individual Differences Predict Pupillary Responses.

Pupillary responses are a well-known indicator of emotional arousal but have not yet been systematically investigated in response to music. Here, we measured pupillary dilations evoked by short musical excerpts normalized for intensity and selected for their stylistic uniformity. Thirty participants (15 females) provided subjective ratings of music-induced felt arousal, tension, pleasantness, and familiarity for 80 classical music excerpts. The pupillary responses evoked by these excerpts were measured in another thirty participants (15 females). We probed the role of listener-specific characteristics such as mood, stress reactivity, self-reported role of music in life, liking for the selected excerpts, as well as of subjective responses to music, in pupillary responses. Linear mixed model analyses showed that a greater role of music in life was associated with larger dilations, and that larger dilations were also predicted for excerpts rated as more arousing or tense. However, an interaction between arousal and liking for the excerpts suggested that pupillary responses were modulated less strongly by arousal when the excerpts were particularly liked. An analogous interaction was observed between tension and liking. Additionally, males exhibited larger dilations than females. Overall, these findings suggest a complex interplay between bottom-up and top-down influences on pupillary responses to music.

Emotional attention capture by facial expressions.

Previous studies have shown that emotional facial expressions capture visual attention. However, it has been unclear whether attentional modulation is attributable to their emotional significance or to their visual features. We investigated this issue using a spatial cueing paradigm in which non-predictive cues were peripherally presented before the target was presented in either the same (valid trial) or the opposite (invalid trial) location. The target was an open dot and the cues were photographs of normal emotional facial expressions of anger and happiness, their anti-expressions and neutral expressions. Anti-expressions contained the amount of visual changes equivalent to normal emotional expressions compared with neutral expressions, but they were usually perceived as emotionally neutral. The participants were asked to localize the target as soon as possible. After the cueing task, they evaluated their subjective emotional experiences to the cue stimuli. Compared with anti-expressions, the normal emotional expressions decreased and increased the reaction times (RTs) in the valid and invalid trials, respectively. Shorter RTs in the valid trials and longer RTs in the invalid trials were related to higher subjective arousal ratings. These results suggest that emotional facial expressions accelerate attentional engagement and prolong attentional disengagement due to their emotional significance.

Facilitation of emotion regulation with a single dose of escitalopram: A randomized fMRI study

Acute antidepressant administration modulates neural activity consistent with decreases in negative emotion processing bias. However, studies are yet to examine whether treatment facilitates neural activity during reappraisal, an adaptive emotion regulation strategy associated with behavioral treatment response. Here we examine the impact of acute administration on reappraisal of negative stimuli using pharmaco-fMRI. Thirty-six healthy female participants completed two sessions of fMRI scanning, separated by a one-week washout period. A single dose of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor, escitalopram (20mg) was administered to participants using a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled crossover design. When participants were administered escitalopram (relative to a placebo) and asked to reappraise negative emotional stimuli, left amygdala activation was decreased and right inferior frontal gyrus (R IFG) activation was increased. Also observed was a greater negative left amygdala-R IFG functional connectivity when participants were administered escitalopram relative to placebo, and this change in connectivity was associated with reductions in subjective ratings of valence and arousal of negative stimuli. Further analysis revealed connectivity modulation across multiple frontal regions. Results suggest that the acute effect of a commonly prescribed antidepressant may include facilitating the regulation of negative emotional stimuli, providing new important leads for models of antidepressant action.

Replay of conditioned stimuli during late REM and stage N2 sleep influences affective tone rather than emotional memory strength

Emotional memories are reprocessed during sleep, and it is widely assumed that this reprocessing occurs mainly during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. In support for this notion, vivid emotional dreams occur mainly during REM sleep, and several studies have reported emotional memory enhancement to be associated with REM sleep or REM sleep-related parameters. However, it is still unknown whether reactivation of emotional memories during REM sleep strengthens emotional memories. Here, we tested whether re-presentation of emotionally learned stimuli during REM sleep enhances emotional memory. In a split-night design, participants underwent Pavlovian conditioning after the first half of the night. Neutral sounds served as conditioned stimuli (CS) and were either paired with a negative odor (CS+) or an odorless vehicle (CS−). During sound replay in subsequent late REM or N2 sleep, half of the CS+ and half of the CS− were presented again. In contrast to our hypothesis, replay during sleep did not affect emotional memory as measured by the differentiation between CS+ and CS− in expectancy, arousal and valence ratings. However, replay unspecifically decreased subjective arousal ratings of both emotional and neutral sounds and increased positive valence ratings also for both CS+ and CS− sounds, respectively. These effects were slightly more pronounced for replay during REM sleep. Our results suggest that re-exposure to previously conditioned stimuli during late sleep does not affect emotional memory strength, but rather influences the affective tone of both emotional and neutral memories.

Comparing Subjective Ratings of Sexual Arousal and Desire in Partnered Sexual Activities from Women of Different Sexual Orientations.

Little is known about non-monosexual women's sexual arousal and desire. Typically, bisexual women have been excluded from research on sexual arousal and desire, whereas mostly heterosexual and mostly lesbian women have been placed into monosexual categories. This research (1) compared the subjective sexual arousal and desire of self-identified heterosexual, mostly heterosexual, bisexual, mostly lesbian, and lesbian women in partnered sexual activities with men and with women, and (2) compared within-group differences for subjective sexual arousal and desire with men versus women for the five groups. Participants included 388 women (M age=24.40, SD=6.40, 188 heterosexual, 53 mostly heterosexual, 64 bisexual, 32 mostly lesbian, 51 lesbian) who filled out the Sexual Arousal and Desire Inventory (SADI). Sexual orientation was associated with sexual arousal and desire in sexual activities with both men and with women. Bisexuals reported higher sexual arousal and desire for women than heterosexuals and lesbians, while lesbians reported lower sexual arousal and desire with men than the other groups. Heterosexuals and mostly heterosexuals scored higher on the male than on the female motivational dimension of the SADI, while the reverse was found for lesbians and mostly lesbians. Findings indicate that non-monosexuals have higher sexual arousal and desire in sexual activities with women than monosexuals. Further, bisexual women did not differentiate their sexual arousal with men versus women, while the other sexual orientation groups differentiated in terms of their motivation to engage in sexual activity. These findings may have implications for how female sexual orientation is conceptualized.

Oxytocin increases VTA activation to infant and sexual stimuli in nulliparous and postpartum women

After giving birth, women typically experience decreased sexual desire and increased responsiveness to infant stimuli. These postpartum changes may be viewed as a trade-off in reproductive interests, which could be due to alterations in brain activity including areas associated with reward. The goal of this study was to describe the roles of oxytocin and parity on reward area activation in response to reproductive stimuli, specifically infant and sexual images. Because they have been shown to be associated with reward, the ventral tegmental area (VTA) and nucleus accumbens (NAc) were targeted as areas of expected alterations in activity. Oxytocin was chosen as a potential mediator of reproductive trade-offs because of its relationship to both mother–infant interactions, including breastfeeding and bonding, and sexual responses. We predicted that postpartum women would show higher reward area activation to infant stimuli and nulliparous women would show higher activation to sexual stimuli and that oxytocin would increase activation to infant stimuli in nulliparous women. To test this, we measured VTA and NAc activation using fMRI in response to infant photos, sexual photos, and neutral photos in 29 postpartum and 30 nulliparous women. Participants completed the Sexual Inhibition (SIS) and Sexual Excitation (SES) Scales and the Brief Index of Sexual Function for Women (BISF-W), which includes a sexual desire dimension, and received either oxytocin or placebo nasal spray before viewing crying and smiling infant and sexual images in an fMRI scanner. For both groups of women, intranasal oxytocin administration increased VTA activation to both crying infant and sexual images but not to smiling infant images. We found that postpartum women showed lower SES, higher SIS, and lower sexual desire compared to nulliparous women. Across parity groups, SES scores were correlated with VTA activation and subjective arousal ratings to sexual images. In postpartum women, sexual desire was positively correlated with VTA activation to sexual images and with SES. Our findings show that postpartum decreases in sexual desire may in part be mediated by VTA activation, and oxytocin increased activation of the VTA but not NAc in response to sexual and infant stimuli. Oxytocin may contribute to the altered reproductive priorities in postpartum women by increasing VTA activation to salient infant stimuli.

Emotion Regulation Difficulties in Social Anxiety Disorder and Their Specific Contributions to Anxious Responding

Recent theories emphasize the contribution of emotion regulation (ER) difficulties to psychopathology. The present study sought to identify patterns of ER difficulties in social anxiety disorder (SAD) and to test the predictive value of these difficulties for actual anxious responding during the anticipation of a social evaluative task. Participants diagnosed with SAD (n = 67) and healthy controls (n = 59) completed self-ratings of ER difficulties (DERS) and depressive symptoms. This was followed by the announcement of an impromptu speech. During the anticipation period, subjective ratings of anxiety and arousal were assessed. Compared to healthy controls, SAD participants reported significantly higher levels of ER difficulties. With the exception of "lack of emotional awareness," these differences remained significant when controlling for depression. ER difficulties also contributed to anxious responding during the stress test; but this held true only for nonclinical participants. SAD is characterized by a wide range of ER deficits. However, the associations between ER difficulties and symptoms of anxiety remain poorly understood.

Inter-human and animal-directed empathy: A test for evolutionary biases in empathetic responding

Empathy is facilitated by the perceived similarity between the object and subject. Conversely, nurturance has been suggested to influence empathy, in that humans have an ability to empathise with non-kin in a similar way as with their own offspring when certain characteristics (e.g., childlikeness) are present. To examine the combined effects of similarity and nurturance, participants (n=69) were presented with images of infant and adult human and wild non-human animals (non-human primates, quadruped wild mammals, and wild birds) depicted in negative, victimising situations. Stronger phasic skin conductance responses and subjective ratings of empathy and arousal were observed for phylogenetically similar species. Subjective empathy and arousal ratings were greater for human infants but this did not extend to the non-human infants. Heart rate was lower during infant than adult stimuli presentations, however, the magnitude of change resembled that previously reported for neutral stimuli presentations. Although a similarity effect is widely acknowledged in the literature, the present findings point to the importance of taking into account both the age and the level of similarity with the target to gain a fuller understanding of empathy towards others of our own and different species.

Cybersex addiction in heterosexual female users of internet pornography can be explained by gratification hypothesis.

In the context of Internet addiction, cybersex is considered to be an Internet application in which users are at risk for developing addictive usage behavior. Regarding males, experimental research has shown that indicators of sexual arousal and craving in response to Internet pornographic cues are related to severity of cybersex addiction in Internet pornography users (IPU). Since comparable investigations on females do not exist, the aim of this study is to investigate predictors of cybersex addiction in heterosexual women. We examined 51 female IPU and 51 female non-Internet pornography users (NIPU). Using questionnaires, we assessed the severity of cybersex addiction in general, as well as propensity for sexual excitation, general problematic sexual behavior, and severity of psychological symptoms. Additionally, an experimental paradigm, including a subjective arousal rating of 100 pornographic pictures, as well as indicators of craving, was conducted. Results indicated that IPU rated pornographic pictures as more arousing and reported greater craving due to pornographic picture presentation compared with NIPU. Moreover, craving, sexual arousal rating of pictures, sensitivity to sexual excitation, problematic sexual behavior, and severity of psychological symptoms predicted tendencies toward cybersex addiction in IPU. Being in a relationship, number of sexual contacts, satisfaction with sexual contacts, and use of interactive cybersex were not associated with cybersex addiction. These results are in line with those reported for heterosexual males in previous studies. Findings regarding the reinforcing nature of sexual arousal, the mechanisms of learning, and the role of cue reactivity and craving in the development of cybersex addiction in IPU need to be discussed.