Toward a second-person neuroscience

LS & BT : equal contributions (shared first-authorship)Peer reviewedPreprin

Neural Signals of Video Advertisement Liking:Insights into Psychological Processes and their Temporal Dynamics

What drives the liking of video advertisements? The authors analyzed neural signals during ad exposure from three functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data sets (113 participants from two countries watching 85 video ads) with automated meta-analytic decoding (Neurosynth). These brain-based measures of psychological processes—including perception and language (information processing), executive function and memory (cognitive functions), and social cognition and emotion (social-affective response)—predicted subsequent self-report ad liking, with emotion and memory being the earliest predictorsafter the first three seconds. Over the span of ad exposure, while the predictiveness of emotion peaked early and fell, that of social cognition had a peak-and-stable pattern, followed by a late peak of predictiveness in perception and executive function.At the aggregate level, neural signals—especially those associated with social-affective response—improved the prediction of out-of-sample ad liking compared with traditional anatomically based neuroimaging analysis and self-report liking. Finally, earlyonset social-affective response predicted population ad liking in a behavioral replication. Overall, this study helps delineate the psychological mechanisms underlying ad processing and ad liking and proposes a novel neuroscience-based approach for generating psychological insights and improving out-of-sample predictions

Effects of imagery training on language in expressive writing

Research examining language in written and oral trauma narratives indicates that exposure and cognitive processing are important processes responsible for therapeutic change. Bio-informational theory, which defines emotions as the activation of response, stimulus, and meaning units in memory, provides a meaningful structure for evaluating language in traumatic and neutral essays. This study examined the effects of imagery training procedures designed to prime activation of response or stimulus units on word usage. The effect of writing instructions on activation of meaning units was also investigated. Unscreened undergraduates (n=246) were randomly assigned in a 2 writing condition (traumatic or neutral) x 3 training condition (response-training, stimulus-training, or no-training) design. Word count dictionaries were used to capture the effects of training and instructions on language. Overall, results supported predicted effects of stimulus training and trauma writing, but anticipated effects of response-training were inconsistent. Implications for theory and the use of language to measure emotion are discussed

The effect of self-compassion on negative self-referential processing and its psychophysiological correlates following a social evaluative stress

The current study investigated the effectiveness of a Loving Kindness Meditation (LKM) to attenuate negative emotional processing and promote recovery following social evaluative stress. An experimental design utilising self-report, self-referential, and physiological measures of heart rate variability (HRV), skin conductance level (SCL), and heart rate (HR) was employed to investigate processes that occur during social stress and subsequent stress recovery period. Compared to participants receiving a neutral induction (n = 28), participants receiving a LKM (n = 28) reported increases in state affiliative affect. However, the differences were not significant. Although the LKM and Neutral groups showed reductions in sympathetic activity (SCL and HR) and increases in parasympathetic activity (HRV), there was no difference between the groups. In addition, no group differences were observed in self-referential processing. Moderation analyses revealed that participants in the LKM group with high trait self-criticism reported higher post-induction affiliative affect. By contrast, participants in the LKM group with high trait self-criticism exhibited more post-induction negative self-referential processing. These findings suggest that there may be marked differences between self-reported experience and behavioural experience. The current study highlights the importance of triangulating data and suggests that single induction self-compassion meditations may not promote recovery from social stress

The Artisan Teacher: A Field Guide to Skillful Teaching

A capstone submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education in the College of Education at Morehead State University by Michael A. Rutherford on March 26, 2013

Social prescribing for mental health and well-being: mechanisms of action, active ingredients, and barriers & enablers to effective engagement

Social prescribing involves the referral of individuals to community activities, often to support their mental health and well-being. There is growing evidence on the efficacy of social prescribing to improve mental health, however less is known about how these groups bring about beneficial effects, or about barriers or enablers facing referrers. I addressed three distinct but complementary objectives. In Study 1 I conducted a review of ‘mechanisms of action’ underlying the impact of leisure activities on health, producing a multi-level ‘theory of change’ framework. I found leisure activities act through biological, psychological, social and behavioural mechanisms, to produce mental and physical health benefits. In Study 2, I used ethnographic methods to explore how four social prescribing community groups produced mental health benefits for individuals, often with severe mental health problems. Shared active ingredients included excellent facilitator inter-personal skills, high regularity of activities, creation of a safe space, high affordability/accessibility, and shared lived experience of mental health problems. Shared mechanisms were increased purpose/meaning, experience of pleasure/joy, increased social support, increased structure/routine, formation of friendships and reduced loneliness, and enhanced sense of community and belonging. Study 3 used qualitative interviews to explore barriers and enablers for GPs in engaging with social prescribing for individuals with mental health problems, mapping them onto the Capability, Opportunity, Motivation-Behaviour (COM-B) change model. My findings highlighted the need for increased formal GP training on how to engage with social prescribing effectively, and the benefits of active inter-organisational partnerships and hand-holding opportunities to accompany individuals to initial sessions. My findings support the conceptualisation of social prescribing as a complex intervention. Social prescribing however is not a single, clearly defined intervention and different community groups/activities will involve different mechanisms and active ingredients. In its broadest sense social prescribing reflects a more salutogenic, personalised, biopsychosocial and less individualised approach towards mental health

Response choice, emotion, and psychopathy

Two broad classes of system regulate behavior: those that regulate behaivour in response to affect-neutral task demands (classic executive functions) and those that regulate behaviour according to reinforcement history. As discussed in Chapter One, psychopathy has been suggested to be the developmental consequence of both. In Chapter Two, I explore several manipulations of an executive measure: the parametric Number Stroop paradigm. In Chapter Three, I apply this measure, together with the Object Alternation (OA) and Spatial Alternation (SA) tasks to individuals with psychopathy. Individuals with psychopathy presented with difficulty only on the OA task adding to suggestions that the disorder is associated with difficulties choosing between objects associated with different levels of reward/punishment. This hypothesis is explored further through the use of a novel paradigm, the Differential Reward/ Punishment Learning Task in Chapter Four. Data from this task suggested that individuals with psychopathy face particular difficulty with objects associated with punishment. In Chapter Five, I further explored the processing of stimuli associated with reward/ punishment in individuals with psychopathy through the use of an affective priming paradigm. In Chapter Six, I explore the interaction of systems regulating behavior in response to affect-neutral task demands and those involved in processing emotional stimuli through the use of the Affective Number Stroop paradigm. I demonstrate the effects of emotional stimuli on executive processing as well as the effects of executive processing on emotional processing. In Chapter Seven, I describe potential future directions for this work

When Trauma Disrupts Learning: A Neuroeducation-Informed Professional Learning Experience

This action research study analyzed the creation and implementation of a professional development about trauma, informed by Arwood’s Neuro-semantic Language Learning Theory and Noddings’ ethic of care. The purpose of this study was two-fold. The first was to create a professional learning experience for teachers on trauma to include perspectives from neuroscience, psychology, and language research. The second purpose was to determine if participation in that professional learning experience shifted educators’ beliefs about trauma and learning. I completed two cycles of action research to address each purpose. In the first cycle, I collected qualitative data from five expert panelists’ evaluations on content and process of the professional development presentation. Findings from this cycle indicated that expert panelists from the fields of neuroeducation, trauma, and professional development saw this experience as effective. Using content analysis, I determined changes the expert panelists recommended making to refine the presentation. In the second action research cycle, I refined the professional development and implemented it with 13 participants (6 preservice and 7 inservice educators) over three one-time sessions. Data came from participants’ responses on a needs assessment, case studies, a belief survey, transcribed audio recordings, silent conversations, reflective journals, an evaluation of the experience, and a follow-up survey. Data were analyzed using values, attribute, and magnitude coding to determine categories associated with research questions. Though participants’ beliefs did not change, educators’ attitudes about students with trauma extended to include content information from a neuroeducation lens. Second, at the beginning of the study, most participants had incomplete understandings of the learning process that expanded over the course of the study through the introduction of neuroscience, psychology, and language concepts. Lastly, the participants found the professional development experience met their goals. This study begins to bridge a gap in the burgeoning neuroeducation literature. It also contributes to a new line of work examining professional development as a way to teach educators how to care for students with trauma in the classroom

Inhibition in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a developmental condition estimated to affect approximately 5.9 to 7.1 per cent of children and 5.29 per cent of adults worldwide (Willcutt, 2012). Whilst the aetiology of the disorder is unknown, ADHD is characterised by attention deficits, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. These symptoms often significantly impair an individual’s functioning in the domains of school, employment, home life, and general social settings. In this thesis, I investigated the effect of dysfunctional inhibition in individuals with ADHD. Specifically, bottom-up processes, such as motor inhibition, motor control, and attentional inertia, were investigated to see to what extent these processes are affected by inhibitory dysfunction. This essential process is impaired in individuals with ADHD. This was accomplished by a battery of tasks, including a motor inhibition task, two motor skills tasks, and an attentional inertia task. These tasks were indexed to a Stroop task to investigate the possibility of a general inhibitory dysfunction in both top-down and bottom-up processes. In addition, the motor inhibition and Stroop task were indexed to self-inventories commonly used to identify individuals with ADHD. Across these eight experiments, adolescent ADHD individuals, age-matched controls, and adults undertook various tasks designed to index automatic bottom-up motor inhibition. Results showed that, compared with controls, ADHD individuals did not exhibit usual levels of inhibition. However, higher-level cognitive inhibition, as measured with Stroop, was comparable with controls. Results also revealed a positive association, but not a statistically significant one, between the degree to which a person exhibits ADHD-like behaviour and the degree to which they lack automatic motor inhibition. I will later show that it is due to a specific diagnostic construct of ADHD that does not include motor difficulties. These data suggest that bottom-up inhibitory motor processes are an essential component of ADHD. I will argue that including dysfunctional motor inhibition complements current ADHD models, particularly those developed by Barkley (1997) and Nigg (2001)