Maladaptive behavior and affect regulation: A functionalist perspective.

Clinical science has benefited tremendously from taking seriously the proposition that putatively maladaptive behaviors serve psychological functions, prominently among these affect regulation (AR). These functionalist accounts have not only advanced basic clinical science, but also formed the bedrock for the development of effective treatments. Drawing heavily on reinforcement learning theory, we aim to elucidate functional relationships between maladaptive behavior and AR. Specifically, we take the view that maladaptive behaviors are frequently motivated and reinforced by hedonic AR functions (i.e., decreasing negative affect and increasing positive affect) but are also susceptible to becoming stimulus-bound habits. We review empirical evidence related to one such behavior, nonsuicidal self-injury. We close with a brief reflection on future directions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved)

The words of the body: psychophysiological patterns in dissociative narratives

Trauma has severe consequences on both psychological and somatic levels, even affecting the genetic expression and the cell\u2019s DNA repair ability. A key mechanism in the understanding of clinical disorders deriving from trauma is identified in dissociation, as a primitive defense against the fragmentation of the self originated by overwhelming experiences. The dysregulation of the interpersonal patterns due to the traumatic experience and its detrimental effects on the body are supported by influent neuroscientific models such as Damasio\u2019s somatic markers and Porges\u2019 polyvagal theory. On the basis of these premises, and supported by our previous empirical observations on 40 simulated clinical sessions, we will discuss the longitudinal process of a brief psychodynamic psychotherapy (16 sessions, weekly frequency) with a patient who suffered a relational trauma. The research design consists of the collection of self-report and projective tests, pre-post therapy and after each clinical session, in order to assess personality, empathy, clinical alliance and clinical progress, along with the verbatim analysis of the transcripts trough the Psychotherapy Process Q-Set and the Collaborative Interactions Scale. Furthermore, we collected simultaneous psychophysiological measures of the therapeutic dyad: skin conductance and hearth rate. Lastly, we employed a computerized analysis of non-verbal behaviors to assess synchrony in posture and gestures. These automated measures are able to highlight moments of affective concordance and discordance, allowing for a deep understanding of the mutual regulations between the patient and the therapist. Preliminary results showed that psychophysiological changes in dyadic synchrony, observed in body movements, skin conductance and hearth rate, occurred within sessions during the discussion of traumatic experiences, with levels of attunement that changed in both therapist and the patient depending on the quality of the emotional representation of the experience. These results go in the direction of understanding the relational process in trauma therapy, using an integrative language in which both clinical and neurophysiological knowledge may take advantage of each other

Anxiety and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in the Context of Human Brain Evolution:A Role for Theory in DSM-V?

The “hypervigilance, escape, struggle, tonic immobility”\ud evolutionarily hardwired acute peritraumatic response\ud sequence is important for clinicians to understand. Our\ud commentary supplements the useful article on human\ud tonic immobility (TI) by Marx, Forsyth, Gallup, Fusé and Lexington (2008). A hallmark sign of TI is peritraumatic\ud tachycardia, which others have documented as a\ud major risk factor for subsequent posttraumatic stress\ud disorder (PTSD). TI is evolutionarily highly conserved\ud (uniform across species) and underscores the need for\ud DSM-V planners to consider the inclusion of evolution\ud theory in the reconceptualization of anxiety and PTSD.\ud We discuss the relevance of evolution theory to the\ud DSM-V reconceptualization of acute dissociativeconversion\ud symptoms and of epidemic sociogenic disorder(epidemic “hysteria”). Both are especially in need of attention in light of the increasing threat of terrorism\ud against civilians. We provide other pertinent examples.\ud Finally, evolution theory is not ideology driven (and\ud makes testable predictions regarding etiology in “both\ud directions”). For instance, it predicted the unexpected\ud finding that some disorders conceptualized in DSM-IV-TR as innate phobias are conditioned responses and thus better conceptualized as mild forms of PTSD. Evolution\ud theory may offer a conceptual framework in\ud DSM-V both for treatment and for research on psychopathology.\u

Using Noninvasive Brain Measurement to Explore the Psychological Effects of Computer Malfunctions on Users during Human-Computer Interactions

In today’s technologically driven world, there is a need to better understand the ways that common computer malfunctions affect computer users. These malfunctions may have measurable influences on computer user’s cognitive, emotional, and behavioral responses. An experiment was conducted where participants conducted a series of web search tasks while wearing functional nearinfrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) and galvanic skin response sensors. Two computer malfunctions were introduced during the sessions which had the potential to influence correlates of user trust and suspicion. Surveys were given after each session to measure user’s perceived emotional state, cognitive load, and perceived trust. Results suggest that fNIRS can be used to measure the different cognitive and emotional responses associated with computer malfunctions. These cognitive and emotional changes were correlated with users’ self-report levels of suspicion and trust, and they in turn suggest future work that further explores the capability of fNIRS for the measurement of user experience during human-computer interactions

Student engagement in the educational interface: understanding the mechanisms of student success

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Higher Education Research & Development on 2016, available online: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07294360.2017.1344197Publishe

Assessing the Effectiveness of Automated Emotion Recognition in Adults and Children for Clinical Investigation

Recent success stories in automated object or face recognition, partly fuelled by deep learning artificial neural network (ANN) architectures, has led to the advancement of biometric research platforms and, to some extent, the resurrection of Artificial Intelligence (AI). In line with this general trend, inter-disciplinary approaches have taken place to automate the recognition of emotions in adults or children for the benefit of various applications such as identification of children emotions prior to a clinical investigation. Within this context, it turns out that automating emotion recognition is far from being straight forward with several challenges arising for both science(e.g., methodology underpinned by psychology) and technology (e.g., iMotions biometric research platform). In this paper, we present a methodology, experiment and interesting findings, which raise the following research questions for the recognition of emotions and attention in humans: a) adequacy of well-established techniques such as the International Affective Picture System (IAPS), b) adequacy of state-of-the-art biometric research platforms, c) the extent to which emotional responses may be different among children or adults. Our findings and first attempts to answer some of these research questions, are all based on a mixed sample of adults and children, who took part in the experiment resulting into a statistical analysis of numerous variables. These are related with, both automatically and interactively, captured responses of participants to a sample of IAPS pictures

Applying the Verona Coding Definitions of Emotional Sequences (VR-CoDES) in the dental context involving patients with complex communication needs : an exploratory study

This study was conducted as part of a larger collaborative study funded by the EPSRC, between the University of St Andrews and the University of Dundee.Objective The VR-CoDES has been previously applied in the dental context. However, we know little about how dental patients with intellectual disabilities (ID) and complex communication needs express their emotional distress during dental visits. This is the first study explored the applicability of the VR-CoDES to a dental context involving patients with ID. Methods Fourteen dental consultations were video recorded and coded using the VR-CoDES, assisted with the additional guidelines for the VR-CoDES in a dental context. Both inter- and intra-coder reliabilities were checked on the seven consultations where cues were observed. Results Sixteen cues (eight non-verbal) were identified within seven of the 14 consultations. Twenty responses were observed (12 reducing space) with four multiple responses. Cohen's Kappa were 0.76 (inter-coder) and 0.88 (intra-coder). Conclusion With the additional guidelines, cues and responses were reliably identified. Cue expression was exhibited by non-verbal expression of emotion with people with ID in the literature. Further guidance is needed to improve the coding accuracy on multiple providers’ responses and to investigate potential impacts of conflicting responses on patients. Practice implications The findings provided a useful initial step towards an ongoing exploration of how healthcare providers identify and manage emotional distress of patients with ID.PostprintPeer reviewe

Mental Health of Parents and Life Satisfaction of Children: A Within-Family Analysis of Intergenerational Transmission of Well-Being

This paper addresses the extent to which there is an intergenerational transmission of mental health and subjective well-being within families. Specifically it asks whether parents’ own mental distress influences their child’s life satisfaction, and vice versa. Whilst the evidence on daily contagion of stress and strain between members of the same family is substantial, the evidence on the transmission between parental distress and children’s well-being over a longer period of time is sparse. We tested this idea by examining the within-family transmission of mental distress from parent to child’s life satisfaction, and vice versa, using rich longitudinal data on 1,175 British youths. Results show that parental distress at year t-1 is an important determinant of child’s life satisfaction in the current year. This is true for boys and girls, although boys do not appear to be affected by maternal distress levels. The results also indicated that the child’s own life satisfaction is related with their father’s distress levels in the following year, regardless of the gender of the child. Finally, we examined whether the underlying transmission correlation is due to shared social environment, empathic reactions, or transmission via parent-child interaction

Restortive Effects of Meditation Apps

We have investigated two different smartphone meditation apps to determine if they have any effects on stress and check if they are a viable tool that users can engage with to cope with stress during a work break. The dependent variables being measured include affective and cognitive restoration. The control group performed a coloring activity using a mandala figure. The experimental conditions engaged in app guided meditation through either 10% Happier or Calm. Both are health apps that are intended to help users practice a variety of mindfulness meditation exercises and help build healthy habits. This research focused on a specific form of meditation known as mindfulness meditation for gratitude, afterward we analyzed the findings. Previous workplace mindfulness intervention trials have focused on reducing psychological stress, with limited empirical evidence showing that mindfulness training leads to improvements in the other domains, such as affective and cognitive processes. Research on mobile meditation apps may have been limited by ceiling effects given that previous research did not attempt to induce stress and fatigue prior to intervention. The vigilance task has been used to reduce the occurrence of the ceiling effect, it has the purpose of inducing stress and cognitive fatigue prior to intervention. We ran participants through the experiment then measure and analyze their data to see if stress reduction benefits of mindfulness-based meditation for gratitude can effectively restore stress levels once induced. Benefits associated with meditation include an improved capacity to cope with stressful situations and enhanced attention regulation which are key performance indicators across many domains. First participants took the Big Five Personality test. Then completed a baseline affective and cognitive assessment (ACA), which included the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule, the shortened version of the Dundee Stress State Questionnaire, and the N-back test. Next, participants completed the vigilance task, followed by another ACA. Participants were then randomly assigned to complete a coloring activity, 10% Happier, or Calm followed by an ACA. Last, participants in the experimental conditions completed the System Usability Scale. Application: Everyday life involves cognitive demands that can be stressful and decrease performance, especially for workers and college students whose performance is vital within their domains. This research investigates the potential of mindfulness meditation apps\u27 ability to restore cognitive and affective processes once depleted