Coherence between subjective experience and physiology in emotion: Individual differences and implications for well-being.

Emotion theorists have characterized emotions as involving coherent responding across various emotion response systems (e.g., covariation of subjective experience and physiology). Greater response system coherence has been theorized to promote well-being, yet very little research has tested this assumption. The current study examined whether individuals with greater coherence between physiology and subjective experience of emotion report greater well-being. We also examined factors that may predict the magnitude of coherence, such as emotion intensity, cognitive reappraisal, and expressive suppression. Participants (N = 63) completed self-report measures of well-being, expressive suppression, and cognitive reappraisal. They then watched a series of emotionally evocative film clips designed to elicit positive and negative emotion. During the films, participants continuously rated their emotional experience using a rating dial, and their autonomic physiological responses were recorded. Time-lagged cross-correlations were used to calculate within-participant coherence between intensity of emotional experience (ranging from neutral to very negative or very positive) and physiology (composite of cardiac interbeat interval, skin conductance, ear pulse transit time, finger pulse transit time and amplitude, systolic and diastolic blood pressure). Results indicated that individuals with greater coherence reported greater well-being. Coherence was highest during the most emotionally intense film and among individuals who reported lower expressive suppression. However, coherence was not associated with reappraisal. These findings provide support for the idea that greater emotion coherence promotes well-being and also shed light on factors that are associated with the magnitude of coherence. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved)

Executive Summary of the Second International Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Management of Pediatric Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (PALICC-2)

OBJECTIVES: We sought to update our 2015 work in the Second Pediatric Acute Lung Injury Consensus Conference (PALICC-2) guidelines for the diagnosis and management of pediatric acute respiratory distress syndrome (PARDS), considering new evidence and topic areas that were not previously addressed. DESIGN: International consensus conference series involving 52 multidisciplinary international content experts in PARDS and four methodology experts from 15 countries, using consensus conference methodology, and implementation science. SETTING: Not applicable. PATIENTS: Patients with or at risk for PARDS. INTERVENTIONS: None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Eleven subgroups conducted systematic or scoping reviews addressing 11 topic areas: 1) definition, incidence, and epidemiology; 2) pathobiology, severity, and risk stratification; 3) ventilatory support; 4) pulmonary-specific ancillary treatment; 5) nonpulmonary treatment; 6) monitoring; 7) noninvasive respiratory support; 8) extracorporeal support; 9) morbidity and long-term outcomes; 10) clinical informatics and data science; and 11) resource-limited settings. The search included MEDLINE, EMBASE, and CINAHL Complete (EBSCOhost) and was updated in March 2022. Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation methodology was used to summarize evidence and develop the recommendations, which were discussed and voted on by all PALICC-2 experts. There were 146 recommendations and statements, including: 34 recommendations for clinical practice; 112 consensus-based statements with 18 on PARDS definition, 55 on good practice, seven on policy, and 32 on research. All recommendations and statements had agreement greater than 80%. CONCLUSIONS: PALICC-2 recommendations and consensus-based statements should facilitate the implementation and adherence to the best clinical practice in patients with PARDS. These results will also inform the development of future programs of research that are crucially needed to provide stronger evidence to guide the pediatric critical care teams managing these patients.</p

General Public’s knowledge, awareness, and perception of Cardiometabolic diseases: data from a Singapore study population

BackgroundHealth literacy and illness perception play crucial roles in tackling the cardiometabolic disease epidemic. We aim to compare the attitudes, knowledge, self-perceived risks and actions taken, between individuals with and without metabolic risk factors (MFs).MethodsFrom 5 June to 5 October 2022, participants of the general public were invited to complete a self-administered questionnaire. MF status was defined as the presence of hypertension, hyperlipidemia, diabetes mellitus and/or current/previous smoking. Participants were assessed based on four categories (knowledge-based, attitude-based, perceived risk, and action-based) of questions pertaining to four cardiometabolic diseases – diabetes mellitus, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.ResultsA total of 345 participants were enrolled, of whom 34.5% had at least one MF. Compared to those without MFs, participants with MFs had lower knowledge scores, but higher perceived risk scores across all cardiometabolic diseases. The largest knowledge gap pertained to hypertension-related questions. After adjustment, linear regression demonstrated that the presence of MFs (β:2.752, 95%CI: 0.772–4.733, p = 0.007) and higher knowledge scores (β:0.418, 95%CI: 0.236–0.600, p &lt; 0.001) were associated with higher perceived risk. Despite increased perceived risk in those with MFs, this translated to only few increased self-reported preventive actions, when compared to those without MFs, namely the reduction in red meat/processed food consumption (p = 0.045) and increase in fruits/vegetables consumption (p = 0.009).ConclusionThis study identified a vulnerable subpopulation living with MFs, with high perceived risks, and discordant levels of knowledge and preventive actions taken. Nationwide efforts should be channeled into addressing the knowledge-to-action gap

Understanding the Emotions of Others: Loss or Gain in Aging?

Using a cross-sectional sample of young (20-30 years old), middle-aged (40-50 years old), and older adults (60-80 years old), the present study examined age differences in cognitive empathy (i.e., the capacity to know what another is feeling or thinking). Cognitive empathy was measured in terms of: (a) facial emotion recognition using static stimuli; (b) the Eyes test using age-matched and non-age-matched static stimuli; and (c) emotional tracking using age-matched and non-age-matched dynamic interpersonal stimuli. While past studies on cognitive empathy and aging have focused almost exclusively on the former two measures and have found evidence of age-related decline for both, other research suggests that older adults may be able to compensate for such losses with information from other sources, even surpassing the performance of young adults under conditions that mimic real-world social contexts. Consistent with this idea, results revealed an age by task interaction such that older adults performed worse than young adults on facial emotion recognition and aspects of the Eyes test (with middle-aged adults performing in between), but better on emotional tracking of social interactions (with middle-aged adults performing in between). Additionally, I found no evidence for an age-matched advantage on the Eyes test or in emotional tracking. Implications of these findings are discussed in terms of the nature of cognitive empathy and neuropsychological and motivational models of the aging mind

A diverging story: neurodivergent histories of Singapore

Singapore’s post-independence narrative is one that emphasizes survival, and the use of manpower in building the nation and its economy. It is a narrative that has focused on industry, but overlooks disability. Disabled Singaporeans are conspicuously missing from the Singaporean success story. Efforts have been made to emphasize the activities of disabled individuals in self-advocacy, but one subset, neurodivergence, is notably missing. There is a lack of academic work on the neurodivergent perspective, which this thesis will address. This thesis locates neurodivergent Singaporean perspectives and examine its trajectory within Singapore’s history. In so doing this thesis constructs a narrative that reads the Singapore story and Singaporean society through a neurodivergent lens. This project examines the contemporary history of neurodivergent perspectives and advocacy in Singapore over the last 40 years, tracing the neurodivergent experience in relation to state policy, voluntary organizations, and the rising neurodivergent self-advocacy movement. Oral history methods are used to involve neurodivergent individuals in the research process and to better represent their perspective. From these lived experiences, there emerges an experience of ‘conditional inclusion’ which bases representation of neurodivergence on neoliberal ideas of productivity. However, there also emerges efforts to overturn such biases through neurodivergent visibility and advocacy.Bachelor of Arts in Histor

Buddhist-inspired meditation increases the value of calm

Most studies of meditation have focused on actual affect (how people actually feel). We predict that meditation may even more significantly alter ideal affect (how people ideally want to feel). As predicted, meditators ideally wanted to feel calm more and excited less than nonmeditators, but the groups did not differ in their actual experience of calm or excited states (Study 1). We ruled out self-selection and nonspecific effects by randomly assigning participants to meditation classes, an improvisational theater class, or a no class control (Study 2). After eight weeks, meditators valued calm more but did not differ in their actual experience of calm compared with the other groups. There were no differences in ideal or actual excitement, suggesting that meditation selectively increases the value placed on calm. These findings were not due to expectancy effects (Study 3). We discuss the implications of these findings for understanding how meditation alters affective life

Follow your breath: respiratory interoceptive accuracy in experienced meditators.

Attention to internal bodily sensations is a core feature of mindfulness meditation. Previous studies have not detected differences in interoceptive accuracy between meditators and nonmeditators on heartbeat detection and perception tasks. We compared differences in respiratory interoceptive accuracy between meditators and nonmeditators in the ability to detect and discriminate respiratory resistive loads and sustain accurate perception of respiratory tidal volume during nondistracted and distracted conditions. Groups did not differ in overall performance on the detection and discrimination tasks; however, meditators were more accurate in discriminating the resistive load with the lowest ceiling effect. Meditators were also more accurate during the nondistracted tracking task at a lag time of 1 s following the breath. Results provide initial support for the notion that meditators have greater respiratory interoceptive accuracy compared to nonmeditators

Compassion meditation increases optimism towards a transgressor

Past research reveals important connections between meditative practices and compassion. Most studies, however, focus on the effects of one type of meditation (vs. a no-intervention control) on a single expression of compassion (e.g. offering a seat) towards a relatable target (e.g. a person on crutches), without exploring possible mechanisms. Hence, few studies include different types of meditation, active controls, multiple ways to express compassion, unrelatable targets, and potential mediators. To this end, the present study compared the effects of mindfulness meditation with those of compassion meditation on different expressions of compassion towards a convicted murderer. Seventy-four participants were randomly assigned to a mindfulness meditation, compassion meditation, or active control class, or a no-class control. After an 8-week programme, we assessed compassion by giving participants the option of fulfilling a murderer’s request that they write him and then coding those letters for empathy, sympathy, forgiveness, and optimism. Participants in the compassion meditation class wrote more optimistic letters compared to participants in the other three conditions, in part because they valued positivity more. No statistically significant differences emerged for the other expressions of compassion. We discuss the implications of these findings for our understanding of how meditation increases compassion towards unrelatable targets