Lower structural integrity of the uncinate fasciculus is associated with a history of child maltreatment and future psychological vulnerability to stress

Abstract The experience of child maltreatment is a significant risk factor for the development of later internalizing disorders such as depression and anxiety. This risk is particularly heightened after exposure to additional, more contemporaneous stress. While behavioral evidence exists for such “stress sensitization,” little is known about the mechanisms mediating such relationships, particularly within the brain. Here we report that the experience of child maltreatment independent of recent life stress, gender, and age is associated with reduced structural integrity of the uncinate fasciculus, a major white matter pathway between the amygdala and ventromedial prefrontal cortex, in young adults. We further demonstrate that individuals with lower uncinate fasciculus integrity at baseline who subsequently experience stressful life events report higher levels of internalizing symptomatology at follow-up. Our findings suggest a novel neurobiological mechanism linking child maltreatment with later internalizing symptoms, specifically altered structural connectivity within the brain's threat-detection and emotion-regulation circuitry

Emotion Regulation and the Experience of Future Negative Mood: The Importance of Assessing Social Support

Emotion regulation refers to the use of various strategies, such as cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression, to help manage our negative experiences, emotions, and thoughts. Although such emotion regulation often occurs within broader social dynamics and interactions, little is known about how social contexts interact with specific regulation strategies to shape the experience of negative emotions. Using data from 544 young adult university students, we provide initial evidence that habitual use of cognitive reappraisal is associated with lower future experience of depression and anxiety primarily through higher perceived social support (PSS). In contrast, expressive suppression is associated with higher future depression and anxiety primarily through lower PSS. These patterns are consistent with the importance of interpersonal influences on emotion regulation and suggest that assessment of social support can help elucidate the mechanisms of successfully regulating negative mood

Thinking and Feeling

Calculating math problems from memory may seem unrelated to everyday processing of emotions, but they have more in common than one might think. Prior research highlights the importance of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) in executive control, intentional emotion regulation, and experience of dysfunctional mood and anxiety. While it has been hypothesized that emotion regulation may be related to 'cold' (ie. not emotion-related) executive control, this assertion has not been tested. We address this gap by providing evidence that greater dlPFC activity during 'cold' executive control is associated with increased use of cognitive reappraisal to regulate emotions in everyday life. We then demonstrate that in the presence of increased life stress, increased dlPFC activity is associated with lower mood and anxiety symptoms and clinical diagnoses. Collectively, our results encourage ongoing efforts to understand prefrontal executive control as a possible intervention target for improving emotion regulation in mood and anxiety disorders

Lower structural integrity of the uncinate fasciculus is associated with a history of child maltreatment and future psychological vulnerability to stress

The experience of child maltreatment is a significant risk factor for the development of later internalizing disorders such as depression and anxiety. This risk is particularly heightened after exposure to additional, more contemporaneous stress. While behavioral evidence exists for such “stress sensitization,” little is known about the mechanisms mediating such relationships, particularly within the brain. Here we report that the experience of child maltreatment independent of recent life stress, gender, and age is associated with reduced structural integrity of the uncinate fasciculus, a major white matter pathway between the amygdala and ventromedial prefrontal cortex, in young adults. We further demonstrate that individuals with lower uncinate fasciculus integrity at baseline who subsequently experience stressful life events report higher levels of internalizing symptomatology at follow-up. Our findings suggest a novel neurobiological mechanism linking child maltreatment with later internalizing symptoms, specifically altered structural connectivity within the brain’s threat-detection and emotion regulation circuitry

[[alternative]]The study on cognitive abilibity of children for movement education by Kinect motion sensing game

碩士[[abstract]]這些年來許多學者投入大量的研究力量，探討如何通過一些訓練的技巧或方式來增進兒童認知能力的發展。這些訓練方式包含了動作教育，反應訓練，邏輯思維訓練等。但是對於通過感知-運動(Sensor-motion)的學習模式是如何增進兒童的認知能力，並沒有得到很確切的結論。課程安排與兒童認知能力的發展是呈現什麼樣的關聯性？感知-運動(Sensor-motion)的課程在學理上又是如何改善腦神經中的工作記憶（Working Memory），執行功能（Execute Function）,反應時間（Processing Speed）? 這些謎團是本研究期待能解開的迷思。 本研究使用準實驗法將研究對象分成兩個群體（一組為感知-運動組，另外一組為對照組）。總數為60人（分屬於兩個班級），其中一個班級為實驗組（30人），另外一個班級為對照組（30人）。實驗組在幼稚園正常的課程外，每天增加10分鐘的體感遊戲課程，其餘的活動內容與對照組相同。研究進行為期90天的實驗課程，期滿后進行後測。 根據實驗數據分析，原本實驗組的四項量表的前測成績均落後于對照組。但是後測的成績，正序數字廣度測驗﹣實驗組優於對照組；逆序數字廣度測驗及數字消去測驗﹣實驗組追平對照組；而STROOP叫色測驗﹣雖然實驗組的後測成績有明顯進步，但是還是劣于對照組。 在低成就組與高成就組的分析中，發現導入體感遊戲對於低成就組有更明顯的提高成效。前測中高低成就組的成績差異顯著性，在後測中差異的顯著性變得不明顯了。換言之，導入體感遊戲課程對於認知能力發展不足的兒童，可以消除與正常兒童的差距。[[abstract]]Results of previous studies have shown that cognitive training by everyday (sport, motion,renfection,logic), can improve cognitive function (executive functions and processing speed) for the chileren. However, it remains unclear whether sensor-motion engenders improvement of cognitive functions ? We investigate the sensor-motion on cognitive functions (executive functions, short-term memory, working memory, attention and processing speed) in Preschool childrens. We use an intervention with two parallel groups (a sensor-motion group and a control group). In the sensor-motion group ,They will be assigned randomly to play sensor-motion game for 3 months.The control group does not participate in the intervention. The primary outcome measure is the Stroop test score: a measure of executive function. Secondary outcome measures are assessments including the following: digit span forward, digit span backward, digit cancellation task,. We assess these outcome measures before and after the intervention. After post-test, we find sensor-motion group grown better than control group. Low-level group grown better than high-level group . So,we make sure the sensor-motion game had good benefit of cognitive function for children.[[tableofcontents]]目次 第一章 緒論 1 第一節 研究背景與動機 1 第二節 研究目的與待答問題 2 第三節 研究範圍與研究限制 3 第四節 研究預期貢獻 4 第五節 名詞釋義 5 第二章 文獻探討 8 第一節 兒童認知能力發展的規律 8 第二節 感覺統合是認知能力的基礎 9 第三節 動作教育與兒童認知能力的密切關係 16 第四節 運動改善學習的相關研究 22 第五節 如何量化學齡前兒童的認知能力 28 第六節 兒童認知能力發展的十項重要能力 34 第七節 體感遊戲課程的類型 37 第三章 研究方法 45 第一節 研究方法的選擇 45 第二節 研究場域與對象 52 第三節 研究工具 52 第四節 研究流程圖 56 第五節 研究資料處理 56 第六節 預試 57 第四章 結果與討論 62 第一節 出勤狀況 62 第二節 實驗數據﹣實驗組與對照組 63 第三節 實驗數據﹣高成就組與低成就組 70 第四節 實驗數據﹣男生組與女生組 77 第五章 結論與建議 84 第一節 結論 84 第二節 建議 86 參考文獻 88 壹、 中文部分 88 貳、 外文部分 88 附錄 97 【附錄一】家長同意書 97 【附錄二】數字廣度測試﹣倒序 98 【附錄三】數字廣度測試﹣正序 99 【附錄四】數字畫消測驗表 100 【附錄五】Stroop叫色測驗 101 【附錄六】實驗組參加體感遊戲課程出勤記錄表 102   表次 表3-1 運動類遊戲課程分析與助益 46 表3-2 平衡類遊戲課程分析與助益 46 表3-3 益智類遊戲課程分析與助益 47 表3-4 兒童能力發展與介入體感遊戲課程 48 表3-5 本研究體感遊戲課程計劃表 50 表3-6 數字順序與逆序廣度涉及認知能力之重要差異點 54 表3-7 四種測驗與認知能力的關係 55 表3-8 低成就組前後測成績的ANOVA分析 57 表3-9 高成就組前後測成績的ANOVA分析 58 表3-10全部幼童前後測成績的ANOVA分析 58 表3-11修正后的運動類遊戲課程分析表 59 表3-12修正后的平衡類遊戲課程分析表 59 表3-13修正后的益智類遊戲課程分析表 60 表3-14修正后的體感遊戲課程計劃表 61 表4-1 體感遊戲課程出勤表 62 表4-2 實驗組與對照組前後測平均值 64 表4-3 前測與後測ANOVA顯著性分析 68 表4-4 對照組與實驗組的前後測變化量顯著性 69 表4-5 前後測變化量的顯著性 70 表4-6 高低成就組前後測成績 71 表4-7 高低成就組﹣前後測的顯著性 74 表4-8 前測與後測﹣高低成就組的顯著性 75 表4-9 高低成就組前後測變化量 76 表4-10前後測變化量﹣高低成就組的顯著性 76 表4-11男女生組﹣前後測成績 77 表4-12男女生組﹣前後測的顯著性 81 表4-13前後測﹣男女生組的顯著性 82 表4-14男女生組前後測變化量 82 表4-15前後測變化﹣男女生組的顯著性 83 表5-1 體感課程心率測定表 86   圖次 圖1-1 常用的腦科學測量儀器 6 圖1-2 KINECT設備 7 圖2-1 訊息加工模型(R.M. Gagne, 1985) 8 圖2-2 感覺統合與兒童發展的關係(高麗芷, 1996) 12 圖2-3 身體意識的形成（Frostig, M. 1970） 17 圖2-4 大腦神經發展模式(Kawashima, 2003) 23 圖2-5 工作記憶模型(Baddeley,1992) 29 圖2-6 Colombo的視覺注意力架構(Colombo, 2001) 31 圖2-7 深海漏水 38 圖2-8 桌球 38 圖2-9 跳繩 39 圖2-10 瑜伽課程 40 圖2-11 擊飛氣球（Balloon Buster） 41 圖2-12 旗正飄飄（Flag frenzy） 41 圖2-13 指揮交通（Traffic Control） 42 圖2-14 打地鼠（Mouse Mayhem） 43 圖2-15 記憶力大考驗（Flip & Find） 43 圖2-16 披薩包裝員（Pizza Catch） 44 圖3-1 MIO的LINK心率手環 49 圖3-2 研究流程圖 56 圖4-1 前測-實驗組對照組對比直方圖 65 圖4-2 後測-實驗組對照組對比直方圖 66 圖4-3 實驗組-前後測對比直方圖 66 圖4-4 對照組-前後測對比直方圖 67 圖4-5 前後測變化-實驗組對照組直方圖 69 圖4-6 低成就組-前後測直方圖 71 圖4-7 高成就組-前後測直方圖 72 圖4-8 前測-高低成就組直方圖 73 圖4-9 後測-高低成就組直方圖 73 圖4-10 男生組-前後測直方圖 78 圖4-11 女生組-前後測直方圖 79 圖4-12 前測-男女生組直方圖 79 圖4-13 後測-男女生組直方圖 80[[note]]學號: 702740324, 學年度: 10

Primary and Secondary Variants of Psychopathy in a Volunteer Sample Are Associated With Different Neurocognitive Mechanisms

BACKGROUND: Recent work has indicated that there at least two distinct subtypes of psychopathy. Primary psychopathy is characterized by low anxiety and thought to result from a genetic predisposition, whereas secondary psychopathy is characterized by high anxiety and thought to develop in response to environmental adversity. Primary psychopathy is robustly associated with reduced neural activation to others' emotions and, in particular, distress. However, it has been proposed that the secondary presentation has different neurocognitive correlates. METHODS: Primary (n = 50), secondary (n = 100), and comparison (n = 82) groups were drawn from a large volunteer sample (N = 1444) using a quartile-split approach across psychopathic trait (affective-interpersonal) and anxiety measures. Participants performed a widely utilized emotional face processing task during functional magnetic resonance imaging. RESULTS: The primary group showed reduced amygdala and insula activity in response to fear. The secondary group did not differ from the comparison group in these regions. Instead, the secondary group showed reduced activity compared with the comparison group in other areas, including the superior temporal sulcus/inferior parietal lobe, thalamus, pallidum, and substantia nigra. Both psychopathy groups also showed reduced activity in response to fear in the anterior cingulate cortex. During anger processing, the secondary group exhibited reduced activity in the anterior cingulate cortex compared with the primary group. CONCLUSIONS: Distinct neural correlates of fear processing characterize individuals with primary and secondary psychopathy. The reduced neural response to fear that characterizes individuals with the primary variant of psychopathic traits is not observed in individuals with the secondary presentation. The neurocognitive mechanisms underpinning secondary psychopathy warrant further systematic investigation