Face adaptation: behavioural and electrophysiological studies on the perception of eye gaze and gender

Whereas the investigation of perceptual aftereffects has a very long tradition in studies on low-level vision, the report and analysis of face-related high-level aftereffects is a very recent line of research. Webster et al. (2004, Nature) first showed a visual aftereffect on the perception of face gender by demonstrating that adaptation to male faces biased the subsequent classification of androgynous faces towards female gender. Similar adaptation effects have also been observed for one of the most important social signals: human eye gaze. Jenkins et al. (2006, Psychological Science) found that adaptation to gaze in one direction virtually eliminated participants’ ability to perceive smaller gaze deviations in the same direction. The present thesis further examined these high-level face aftereffects by determining the temporal characteristics of gaze adaptation and by analysing the neural correlates of eye gaze and gender adaptation. A behavioural study on the temporal decay of gaze adaptation effects shed further light on their basic characteristics: not only was the aftereffect surprisingly long-lasting, but its exponential decay revealed remarkable similarity with the time course of low-level adaptation effects. Further, in a series of event-related potential (ERP) studies it was found that the N170 was only marginally affected by both eye gaze and gender adaptation, whereas pronounced effects of both kinds of adaptation emerged in the P3 component with smaller amplitudes in response to test stimuli similar to the adaptation condition. Finally, gaze adaptation was found to affect ERPs in an earlier time interval ~250-350 ms which appeared to be sensitive to the discrimination between direct vs. averted gaze even when this was only an illusionary percept induced by adaptation. Together, these studies extend previous knowledge of the temporal parameters and the neural correlates of high-level face adaptation

Improving the care of preterm infants: before, during, and after, stabilisation in the delivery room

Introduction Up to 10% of infants require stabilisation during transition to extrauterine life. Enhanced monitoring of cardiorespiratory parameters during this time may improve stabilisation outcomes. In addition, technology may facilitate improved preparation for delivery room stabilisation as well as NICU procedures, through educational techniques. Aim To improve infant care 1) before birth via improved training, 2) during stabilisation via enhanced physiological monitoring and improved practice, and 3) after delivery, in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), via improved procedural care. Methods A multifaceted approach was utilised including; a combination of questionnaire based surveys, mannequin-based investigations, prospective observational investigations, and a randomised controlled trial involving preterm infants less than 32 weeks in the delivery room. Forms of technology utilised included; different types of mannequins including a CO2 producing mannequin, qualitative end tidal CO2 (EtCO2) detectors, a bespoke quantitative EtCO2 detector, and annotated videos of infant stabilisation as well as NICU procedures Results Manual ventilation improved with the use of EtCO2 detection, and was positively assessed by trainees. Quantitative EtCO2 detection in the delivery room is feasible, EtCO2 increased over the first 4 minutes of life in preterm infants, and EtCO2 was higher in preterm infants who were intubated. Current methods of heart rate assessment were found to be unreliable. Electrocardiography (ECG) application warrants further evaluation. Perfusion index (PI) monitoring utilised in the delivery room was feasible. Video recording technology was utilised in several ways. This technology has many potential benefits, including debriefing and coaching in procedural healthcare, and warrants further evaluation. Parents would welcome the introduction of webcams in the NICU. Conclusions I have evaluated new methods of improving infant care before, during, and after stabilisation in the DR. Specifically, I have developed novel educational tools to facilitate training, and evaluated EtCO2, PI, and ECG during infant stabilisation. I have identified barriers in using webcams in the NICU, to now be addressed prior to webcam implementation

Maternal mental health, processing of emotion and maternal sensitivity

Background: Research suggests that postnatal affective disorders such as anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are associated with lower levels of maternal sensitivity. Understanding the mechanisms through which maternal affective disorders influence maternal sensitivity is important as it could lead to more tailored effective interventions to improve outcomes for women and their infants. One mechanism that is yet to be explored is the way in which mothers’ process infant-related information. This thesis therefore developed a cognitive model that aimed to examine this mechanism. Aim: The aim of this thesis was to test this cognitive model of maternal sensitivity using a range of experimental, observational and questionnaire studies. The model proposed that maternal affective symptoms would be associated with maternal processing of infant-related information, which in turn would be associated with maternal sensitivity. Methods & Results: The aims were addressed through a systematic review and a study of women with (n = 23) and without (n = 47) affective symptoms and their infants (aged 2-8 months) after birth. The systematic review found that mothers with perinatal affective disorders are faster to disengage from sad infant faces and are more accurate at identifying sadness in infant faces (Article 1). To assess how mothers process infant-related information, validated pictures of infants’ emotional faces were needed. Therefore, a validated set of infant emotional expressions was created and validated on student midwives and nurses and members of the general public. The images were found to have high criterion validity and good test–retest reliability (Article 2). Mothers processing of infant-related information and its relationship with maternal sensitivity was tested using a series of questionnaires, computerised and observational tasks. Results are reported in Articles 3, 4 and 5. Conclusion: Overall, the cognitive model of maternal sensitivity was only partly supported, in that maternal affective symptoms explained more of the variance of maternal sensitivity than maternal processing of infant-related information. Despite this, the work in this thesis provides a novel contribution to the literature by developing and testing a model based on previous research and by using robust measures such as eye-tracking technology and observational measures of mother-infant interaction. However, interpretation of the data is hindered due to methodological issues such as small sample sizes, homogeneous sample and demand characteristics. Therefore, more research is needed to test this model on a larger, more heterogenous sample

Mind-mindedness: an examination of relational, attentional and psychological correlates, and response to intervention

The studies reported in this thesis examined several questions in relation to mind-mindedness and maternal mental health, intervention, emotion processing, and generalization across relationships. Study 1 compared levels of mind-mindedness in mothers with severe mental illness (SMI) to those of psychologically health controls, and evaluated a newly-designed video feedback intervention to facilitate mind-mindedness in a sample of mothers hospitalised for treatment of SMI. Results showed that, on admission to hospital, mothers showed two patterns of mind-related comments with their infants: in high levels of non-attuned mind-related comments relative to a group of psychologically well mothers, and few appropriate mind-related comments compared with psychologically well mothers. The findings suggest that SMI may impact mothers in one of two ways: they may fail to comment on their infants’ internal states, or they may make frequent misattributions about their infants’ internal states. Results from Study 2 also suggested that the mind-mindedness intervention was successful in reducing high levels of non-attuned comments at admission to levels no different from those of psychologically well mothers at discharge. Study 2 investigated whether participation in the mind-mindedness intervention in hospital had an impact on attachment quality in the second year of life. This study also sought to add to the limited data on attachment security in the context of maternal mental illness, and to attempt to delineate factors that may influence attachment security in this context, such as nature, chronicity, and duration of illness. Results showed that mothers who participated in the mind-mindedness video feedback intervention were significantly more likely to have infants classified as secure and as organised than mothers who received the standard care video feedback intervention. Results also showed a high rate of disorganised attachment and a low rate of secure attachment relative to previously published research with both normative and clinical samples. Attachment security and organisation were unrelated to the nature, chronicity, or duration of mothers’ illnesses, or to the majority of demographic variables for which data were available. Study 3 investigated relations between adults’ mind-minded descriptions of friends and partners and performance on (a) a new task to assess internal state interpretations of the behaviour of unknown mothers and infants (Unknown Mother–Infant Interaction Task; UMIIT), and (b) an attentional emotion processing task. Mind-minded descriptions were unrelated to performance on both tasks. Mind-minded descriptions of partners and friends were also unrelated to internal state interpretations on the UMIIT. Parents and non-parents did not differ in their internal state interpretations during the UMIIT. Parents showed more attentional bias to infant faces than to adult faces, but only before controlling for age. Attentional bias to all faces was negatively related to internal state interpretations during the UMIIT. These results are discussed in relation to the proposal that mind-mindedness is a quality of close relationships, rather than a trait-like construct. Findings are discussed in terms of limitations, and theoretical and clinical implications, and directions for future research are suggested

Everyday Social Functioning in People with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Positive social relationships are important for both our physical and psychological well-being, and depend on the ability to engage appropriately with other people across different situational contexts. Although qualitative and clinical reports indicate that people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) struggle with their everyday interactions, there is a paucity of experimental work examining the nature and severity of their difficulties, especially those of higher-functioning adults. In the present thesis, university students with ASD and matched control participants completed a range of novel or pre-existing scenario-based tasks recreating some of the features and demands of common social situations. Overall, the findings showed that, compared to neurotypical people, individuals with ASD tended to generate less socially skilled strategies in their interactions. Although they often showed relatively intact awareness of many social and normative expectations underpinning everyday situations, their understanding of these appeared to be more limited. The results are interpreted in light of the main social and non-social theoretical models of ASD, and their implications are discussed. In particular, it is hoped that the findings will contribute to the advancement of the current body of evidence, by helping to bridge the gap between theoretical accounts of ASD and performance in the real world, and to guide the development of tailored intervention programmes for higher-functioning adults

Handbook of Well-Being

It is a pleasure to bring to you the eHandbook of Subjective Well-Being, the science of when and why people experience and evaluate their lives in positive ways, including aspects such as positive feelings, life satisfaction, and optimism. There are chapters in this eHandbook on the philosophy and history of well-being, as well as reviews of empirical research on the ways to assess well-being, the circumstances that predict it, the outcomes that it produces, the societal policies that enhance it, and many other social, biological, and cultural processes that help us understand why some people are happy and satisfied with their lives, while others are not. There are also chapters on theories of well-being, such as the baseline or set-point models. We believe that Open publication is the wave of the future (Jhangiani & Biswas-Diener, 2017). Therefore, we are presenting the handbook in an electronic format so that it is widely available to everyone around the world. The handbook is entirely open and free – anyone can read and use it without cost. This is important to us as we desire to lower knowledge barriers for individuals and communities, especially because it provides access to students, educators, and scholars who do not have substantial financial resources. We are not certain if this is the first free and open handbook in the behavioral sciences, but hopefully it will not be the last. In the past the prohibitive price of many handbooks have made them available only to scholars or institutions in wealthy nations, and this is unfortunate. We believe scientific scholarship should be available to all. The field of subjective well-being has grown at rapid pace over the last several decades, and many discoveries have been made. When Ed Diener began his research within the field in 1981 there were about 130 studies published that year on the topic, as shown using a Google Scholar search on “subjective well-being.” Eighteen years later when Shigehiro Oishi earned his Ph.D. in 2000 there were 1,640 publications that year on the topic, and when Louis Tay was awarded a Ph.D. in 2011 there were 10,400 publications about subjective well-being. Finally, in 2016 there were 18,300 publications – in that single year alone! In other words, during the time that Diener has been studying the topic, scholarship on subjective well-being has grown over 100-fold! It is not merely the number of published studies that has grown, but there have been enormous leaps forward in our understanding. In the 1980s, there were questions about the reliability and validity of subjective well-being assessments, and the components that underlie it. One notable advance is our understanding and measurement of well-being. We now know a great deal about the validity of self-report measures, as well as the core evaluative and affective components that make up subjective well-being. Further, scholars have a much greater understanding of the processes by which people report their subjective well-being, and various biases or artifacts that may influence these reports. In 1982 many studies were focused on demographic factors such as income, sex, and age that were correlated with subjective well-being. By 2016 we understood much more about temperament and other internal factors that influence happiness, as well as some of the outcomes in behavior that subjective well-being helps produce (e.g., income, performance, physical health, longevity). In the 1980s, researchers assumed that people adapt to almost any life event, and that different life events only have a short-term effect on subjective well-being. A number of large-scale longitudinal studies later showed that that is not the case. By now we know what kinds of life events affect our subjective well-being, how much, and for roughly how long. In the 1980s researchers believed that economic growth would not increase the happiness of a given nation. Now we know when economic growth tends to increase the happiness of a given nation. Additionally, we know much more about the biology of subjective well-being, and an enormous amount more about culture and well-being, a field that was almost nonexistent in 1982. With the advent of positive psychology, we are also beginning to examine practices and interventions that can raise subjective well-being. Given the broad interest in subjective well-being in multiple fields like psychology, economics, political science, and sociology, there have been important developments made toward understanding how societies differ in well-being. This understanding led to the development of national accounts of well-being – societies using well-being measures to help inform policy deliberations. This advance changes the focus of governments away from a narrow emphasis on economic development to a broader view which sees government policies as designed to raise human well-being. We were fortunate to have so many leading scholars of subjective well-being and related topics contribute to this volume. We might be slightly biased but most of the chapters in this eHandbook are truly superb. Not only do they provide a broad coverage of a large number of areas, but many of the chapters present new ways of thinking about these areas. Below is a brief overview of each of the sections in this volume: In Section 1 we begin the volume with chapters on philosophical, historical, and religious thinking on well-being through the ages. Next, we cover the methods and measures used in the scientific study of well-being. Section 2 is devoted to theories of well-being such as the top-down theory, activity theory, goal theory, self-determination theory, and evolutionary theory. Section 3 covers the personality, genetics, hormones, and neuroscience of well-being. Then, demographic factors such as age, gender, race, religion, and marital status are discussed. Section 4 is devoted to how domains of life – such as work, finance, close relationships, and leisure – are related to overall subjective well-being. Section 5 covers the various outcomes of subjective well-being, ranging from work outcomes, to cognitive outcomes, to health, and finally relationship outcomes. Section 6 covers interventions to increase subjective well-being. Finally, Section 7 is devoted to cultural, geographical, and historical variations in subjective well-being. This eHandbook presents the most up-to-date and comprehensive understanding of subjective well-being – and it is freely available to all! The editors would like to extend their thanks to several individuals who have been critical to the success of the handbook. First, our gratitude is immense toward Chris Wiese, Keya Biswas-Diener, and Danielle Geerling, who organized and kept the entire venture on track. Their hard work and organizational skills were wonderful, and the book would not have been possible without them. Second, we extend our thanks to the Diener Education Fund, a charitable organization devoted to education that in part made this project possible. In particular we express deep gratitude to Mary Alice and Frank Diener. Not only did their help make this eHandbook possible, but their lives stood as shining examples of the way to pursue well-being!https://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/psychfacbooks/1008/thumbnail.jp