Influence of Negative Mood on Emotional Valence of Involuntary Memory: The Number of Involuntary Memories and Mood Repair Effect

Involuntary memories are memories of past events that come to mind with no preceding attempt directed at their retrieval. Previous studies have shown that retrieval of involuntary positive memories during negative mood alleviates the mood. However, it remains unclear whether the involuntary positive memories retrieved during negative mood are less in number than the involuntary negative memories because the influence of emotional valence of the retrieval cue is confounded. Therefore, this study examined the influence of negative mood on the emotional valence of the involuntary memory using the neutral retrieval cue. Twenty-three participants were randomly assigned to positive or negative memory condition. They encoded associated memory of images and sounds and performed the involuntary memory retrieval task. As a result, no significant difference was found between the number of involuntary positive and negative memories. Further, mood repair effect was found only in participants with positive memory. These results suggest that mood before involuntary memory retrieval influence the retrieval cue, not the emotional valence of memory

Social influence on preference in situations with different levels of importance

One’s preferences are influenced by another individual’s preferences. The trustworthiness of those individuals can modulate changes in our preferences. Previous studies have examined this social influence in a single situation (e.g., the preference ratings for a T-shirt). Although it is possible that social influence on preference is affected by the importance of the situation, that remains to be elucidated. In the present study, we examined the influence of other individual’s preferences on individual preferences in various important situations. We tested two hypotheses: 1) situations of low importance are more likely to induce one’s own preference than situations of medium and high importance, 2) the influence of a trustworthy individual is larger than that of an untrustworthy individual in situations of low importance, while no difference is found in situations of medium and high importance. Forty-seven participants conducted a two times preference rating task in six situations (two situations for each of the three levels of importance). Preferences for individual characteristics (trustworthy or untrustworthy person) were also presented in the first preference rating task. The results showed that situations of high importance induced a bigger change in preference than situations of low and medium importance. On the other hand, no significant difference in preference change was found between the influence of trustworthy and untrustworthy individuals in each of the three important situations. These results imply that the influence of another individual's preferences on one’s preferences is different in various life situations.本研究は，科学研究費補助金（18K03177）の助成を受けて実施した

Relationship between mind wandering and autobiographical reasoning

Mind wandering (MW) is the shift in the contents of thought away from an ongoing task to self-generated thoughts which is unrelated to the task. MW is thought to have the role of integrating one’s experiences into a meaningful context through autobiographical reasoning. However, the relationship between MW and autobiographical reasoning is only a theoretical suggestion and no previous studies have directly examined this relationship. In this study, we performed a questionnaire survey to clarify the role of MW that integrates experiences by examining whether there is a relationship between MW and autobiographical reasoning. As a result, a positive correlation was found between the Mind-Wandering Questionnaire and the Thinking About Life Experiences (TALE) scale. There was also a positive correlation between the Daydream Frequency and TALE scales. This result indicates that MW is related to autobiographical reasoning.本研究は，JST，COI，JPMJCE1311の支援を受けたものです

The relationship between involuntarily retrieved positive autobiographical memory and implicit mood

Previous studies have reported that positive autobiographical memories are involuntarily retrieved on a daily basis and often accompany mood changes. Previous studies have used subjective report methods to measure the impact of involuntary retrieval on mood. However, subjective report methods are known to be easily distorted by social desirability and demand characteristics. To avoid this problem, we applied the measurement of implicit mood and examined the impact of involuntary positive memory on mood. Sixty-four participants participated in the experiment and 48 participants were included in the analyses. Participants carried out an easy task in which the retrieval cue was presented, to induce an involuntary positive memory. Participants were also asked to rate the mood of nonsense words in order to measure implicit mood before and after the task. The results demonstrated that the involuntary positive memory retrieval increased positive mood in participants who exhibited lower positive implicit mood before the involuntary memory retrieval. We experimentally demonstrated that involuntarily retrieved positive memories can improve implicit mood

The right temporoparietal junction during a cooperation dilemma: An rTMS study

Cooperation enhances interpersonal communication and nurtures society. However, efforts to socially cooperate may often evoke conflict. Individuals may selfishly pursue a greater reward or success by exploiting the efforts of other individuals or taking unnecessary risk to oneself. Such a cooperation dilemma is highly prevalent in real life; thus, it has been studied in various disciplines. Although published functional magnetic resonance imaging studies have shown the involvement of the right temporoparietal junction (TPJ) in resolving a dilemma through cooperation, a causal relationship between the two has rarely been explored. Hence, we investigated this issue by combining repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation with a priority game task (modified snowdrift game). In this game task, participants and opponent players jointly faced a problem whereby their collaboration was anticipated to defuse the situation. This conflicted with a choice in the participant's self-interest that was more rewarding but risky. We further included conditions with and without explicit social cues using figures describing elderly/pregnant passengers in the game opponent's car, and measured participants' prosocial traits to examine any cue-induced effect as well as the personality-cooperation relationship, respectively. The cooperation ratio was not statistically different in both the no-cue and with-cue conditions between the sham stimulation and inhibitory continuous theta burst stimulation (cTBS). However, after cTBS, in the no-cue condition, the strength of the association between cooperation ratio and empathy traits decreased significantly. These results add to our knowledge about the right TPJ's role in social cognition, which may be extraordinarily complex. This topic is deserving of further examination

Alternative Starting Position for CT Coronary Angiography

We examined whether the superior margin of the left main bronchus is the best landmark for the starting position of computed tomography coronary angiography（CTCA）. We retrospectively evaluated 693 consecutive CTCAs. From the scout scanogram, the superior margin of the left main bronchus was noted. The relationships among and distance between the superior margin of the left main bronchus and the left coronary system were analyzed. The superior margin of the left main bronchus extended caudally to the superior margin of the left coronary system in 13 patients（1.9％）. The addition of 1cm to the superior margin of the left main bronchus kept it caudal to the superior margin of the left coronary system in only one patient（0.1％）. On the scout scanogram, 1cm above the superior margin of the left main bronchus is the most appropriate starting position for CTCA

Association between the examination rate of treatment-resistant schizophrenia and the clozapine prescription rate in a nationwide dissemination and implementation study

Background: The decision to initiate clozapine treatment should be made on an individual basis and may be closely related to the early detection of treatment-resistant schizophrenia (TRS), although there is evidence that the early use of clozapine results in a better response to treatment. Therefore, we investigated the relationship between the examination rate of TRS and the prescription rate of clozapine. Methods: After attending a 1-day educational program on schizophrenia based on the "Guidelines for the Pharmacological Treatment of Schizophrenia," we asked the participating facilities to submit records of whether or not TRS was evaluated for each patient. We calculated the clozapine prescription rate from the schizophrenic patients prescribed clozapine and all of the schizophrenic patients. Forty-nine facilities in 2017 were included in the study. Results: There were dichotomous distributions in the examination rate of TRS and a non-normal distribution in the prescription rate of clozapine. There was a significant correlation between the prescription rate of clozapine and the examination rate of TRS (r s = 0.531, P = 1.032 × 10−4). A significant difference was found in the prescription rate of clozapine between the three groups of facilities according to the examination rate of TRS. Conclusion: As a preliminary problem for the use of clozapine, in Japan, the examination rate of TRS varies, and there are many facilities that typically do not consider the possibility of TRS; this trend leads to a low rate of clozapine use. Clearly, further clinician training is needed for the early detection and appropriate management of TRS that includes an explanation of TRS and how to introduce clozapine therapy to patients and their families

Natural capitals for nature’s contributions to people: the case of Japan

Recently, natural capital has gained the attention of researchers and policymakers to promote sustainability. Previous studies have investigated the value of ecosystem services with respect to specific areas or species. Other studies have investigated the value of various types of ecosystem services and natural capital by integrating a number of findings using meta-analyses at the global level. Although these studies have provided information on either the global value of natural capital or the local value of specific subjects, there is little evidence on the country-specific values of natural capital in Japan, which will provide useful information for national environmental policies. We investigated the perceived values of terrestrial and marine natural capital in Japan using internet surveys and payment card methods. Data on various natural forms of capital were collected in a unified format and comparable manner. We found that some explanatory variables, such as perceived importance and visit frequency, as well as sociodemographic characteristics, are significant drivers of the willingness to pay (WTP), which maintains each aspect of natural capital. In addition, we conducted future predictions of terrestrial and marine natural capital using a scenario developed in a previous study. Our results indicate that Japan should follow a population dispersed scenario for the sustainable management of natural capital up to 2050