Enhanced Detection of Emotional Facial Expressions in Borderline Personality Disorder

Background: Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is commonly proposed to be characterized by an enhanced sensitivity for emotional stimuli. In the present study, we investigated whether BPD patients show a superior detection of emotional facial expressions relative to healthy controls. The detection of emotional information in the environment represents an important facet of emotional sensitivity. Sampling and Methods: Twenty patients with BPD were compared with 25 healthy controls. The participants were presented a rapid, continuous stream of neutral and randomly inserted emotional facial expressions and were asked to report the presentation of an emotional facial stimulus after each trial. Availability of cognitive resources was manipulated via two different task demands. Results: The participants with BPD performed significantly better in the detection of positive and negative facial expressions compared to the healthy controls. False alarm rates did not differ significantly between the two groups. Conclusions: The BPD participants showed an enhanced detection of emotional expressions that might be related to the emotional disturbances they experience. In particular, we will discuss the role of this superior emotion detection (in combination with previously reported deficits in the labeling of emotional states) for the understanding of emotional instability in BPD

Gewaltstraftäter mit und ohne Antisoziale Persönlichkeitsstörung: Ein Vergleich

Zusammenfassung: Hintergrund: Die diagnostische Wertigkeit von wiederholten Gesetzesübertretungen im Kontext der Antisozialen Persönlichkeitsstörung (ASPD) wird seit längerem kritisch diskutiert. Um festzustellen, ob sich Probanden mit einer ASPD auch abseits straffälligen Verhaltens von Straftätern unterscheiden, wurden inhaftierte Straftäter mit und ohne diese Diagnose untersucht. Material und Methoden: Sechsunddreißig inhaftierte Gewalttäter mit der Diagnose einer ASPD sowie 29 Gewaltstraftäter ohne ASPD der Justizvollzugsanstalt Straubing nahmen an der Studie teil. Die 28 strafrechtlich unauffälligen Kontrollprobanden wurden aus der deutschen Normalbevölkerung rekrutiert. Alle Probanden wurden hinsichtlich soziodemographischer, kriminologischer und klinischer Eigenschaften mit dem SKID-I und SKID-II, dem GAF, BIS-11, K-FAF und EPI untersucht. Ergebnisse: Gewaltstraftäter mit ASPD unterscheiden sich bezüglich folgender Parameter von Delinquenten ohne diese Diagnose: erhöhte Erregbarkeit, niedriges psychosoziales Funktionsniveau, gehäufte "Broken-home-Merkmale" und antisoziales Verhalten vor dem 11.Lebensjahr ("early starters"). Schlussfolgerung: Es konnten Merkmale identifiziert werden, die zwischen Gewaltstraftätern mit und ohne ASPD unterscheiden. In der Gesamtschau scheint allerdings weniger eine kategoriale als vielmehr eine dimensionale, d.h. am Ausprägungsgrad der Auffälligkeiten ausgerichtete Unterscheidung zwischen Gewaltstraftätern mit und ohne ASPD sinnvoll zu sei

Is sex necessary?

Fungal sexual reproductive modes have markedly high diversity and plasticity, and asexual species have been hypothesized to arise frequently from sexual fungal species. A recent study on the red yeasts provides further support for the notion that sexual ancestors may give rise to shorter-lived asexual species. However, presumed asexual species may also be cryptically sexual, as revealed by other recent studies

Oxytocin attenuates feelings of hostility depending on emotional context and individuals' characteristics

In humans, oxytocin (OT) enhances prosocial behaviour. However, it is still unclear how the prosocial effects of OT are modulated by emotional features and/or individuals' characteristics. In a placebo-controlled design, we tested 20 healthy male volunteers to investigate these behavioural and neurophysiological modulations using magnetoencephalography. As an index of the individuals' characteristics, we used the empathy quotient (EQ), the autism spectrum quotient (AQ), and the systemising quotient (SQ). Only during the perception of another person's angry face was a higher SQ a significant predictor of OT-induced prosocial change, both in the behavioural and neurophysiological indicators. In addition, a lower EQ was only a significant predictor of OT-induced prosocial changes in the neurophysiological indicators during the perception of angry faces. Both on the behavioural and the neurophysiological level, the effects of OT were specific for anger and correlated with a higher SQ

Loneliness, social support and cardiovascular reactivity to laboratory stress

Self-reported or explicit loneliness and social support have been inconsistently associated with cardiovascular reactivity (CVR) to stress. The present study aimed to adapt an implicit measure of loneliness, and use it alongside the measures of explicit loneliness and social support, to investigate their correlations with CVR to laboratory stress. Twenty-five female volunteers aged between 18 and 39 years completed self-reported measures of loneliness and social support, and an Implicit Association Test (IAT) of loneliness. The systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP) and heart rate (HR) reactivity indices were measured in response to psychosocial stress induced in the laboratory. Functional support indices of social support were significantly correlated with CVR reactivity to stress. Interestingly, implicit, but not explicit, loneliness was significantly correlated with DBP reactivity after one of the stressors. No associations were found between structural support and CVR indices. Results are discussed in terms of validity of implicit versus explicit measures and possible factors that affect physiological outcomes