34 research outputs found
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Emotional and Behavioral Responses to COVID-19
This review appraises evidence for the role of personality in Covid-19 related emotions and behaviours. Three key models of personality are considered: the Five factor Model, HEXACO model and Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory. In line with personality research more generally, most studies focus on the Five-Factor model. Key findings are that neuroticism is most associated with poor mental health, and extraversion is associated with a reluctance to socially isolate. Conscientiousness predicts compliance with safety guidelines, but also with fewer prosocial behaviours, particularly stockpiling. Research within the HEXACO framework largely confirms these findings, especially for emotionality and mental health. The additional HEXACO Honesty-humility factor is found to be associated with prosocial views and abstention from panic buying. Studies based on the Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory of personality indicate the presence of emotional conflict as people wish to stay safe, whilst also maintaining a sense of normality. Behavioural compliance is driven by activation in the Fight-Flight-Freeze System (FFFS; fear-related) and the Behavioural Inhibition System (BIS; anxiety-related). The Behavioural Approach System (BAS) is implicated in approach-driven behaviours such as avoiding infection. These findings have implications for health communications and post-pandemic support
A cross-cultural study of purposive “traits of action”: measurement invariance of scales based on the action–trait theory of human motivation using exploratory structural equation modeling
The Action–Trait theory of human motivation posits that individual differences in predispositional traits of action may account for variance in contemporary purposeful human behavior. Prior research has supported the theory, psychometric properties of scales designed to assess the motive dimensions of the theory, and the utility of these scales to predict an array of behaviors, but this is the first study to evaluate the cross-linguistical invariance of the 15-factor theoretical model. This study evaluated translations of the English language 60-item Quick AIM in 5 samples – Croatian (N = 614), French (N = 246), German (N = 154), Polish (M = 314), and U.S. English (N = 490) – recruited from 4 countries (Croatia, Poland, Switzerland, and the U.S.). Exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM) supported the theoretical model on which the traits of action are based and scrutinized the measurement invariance (configural, metric, scalar invariance) of the scale across the languages
Direct recordings of grid-like neuronal activity in human spatial navigation
Grid cells in the entorhinal cortex appear to represent spatial location via a triangular coordinate system. Such cells, which have been identified in rats, bats and monkeys, are believed to support a wide range of spatial behaviors. Recording neuronal activity from neurosurgical patients performing a virtual-navigation task, we identified cells exhibiting grid-like spiking patterns in the human brain, suggesting that humans and simpler animals rely on homologous spatial-coding schemes
A multi-country test of brief reappraisal interventions on emotions during the COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic has increased negative emotions and decreased positive emotions globally. Left unchecked, these emotional changes might have a wide array of adverse impacts. To reduce negative emotions and increase positive emotions, we tested the effectiveness of reappraisal, an emotion-regulation strategy that modifies how one thinks about a situation. Participants from 87 countries and regions (n = 21,644) were randomly assigned to one of two brief reappraisal interventions (reconstrual or repurposing) or one of two control conditions (active or passive). Results revealed that both reappraisal interventions (vesus both control conditions) consistently reduced negative emotions and increased positive emotions across different measures. Reconstrual and repurposing interventions had similar effects. Importantly, planned exploratory analyses indicated that reappraisal interventions did not reduce intentions to practice preventive health behaviours. The findings demonstrate the viability of creating scalable, low-cost interventions for use around the world
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Anxiety and threat magnification in subjective and physiological responses of fear of heights induced by virtual reality
Fear of heights (acrophobia) is a common condition, yet it is not well understood. Immersive virtual reality (VR) offers experimental rigour to study it in a safe laboratory setting. This is an example of how VR is a relatively new methodology to explore individual differences in clinically relevant phenotypes, and it shows how the field can be advanced by the adoption of new technology. In this study, we examined threat magnification in subjective level of distress and electrodermal activity (EDA) during fear of heights induced by VR. Also, we compared VR and mindfulness in reducing this subjective distress. With a sample of 128 (63 males) young people (mean age = 22.85, SD = 3.97), results showed that the subjective level of distress increases, and EDA decreases, during induced fear of heights. Mediation analysis confirmed that threat magnification mediated the relationship between anxiety and (a) physiological arousal and (b) subjective distress during induction of fear of heights. Finally, moderated regression analysis showed that the VR and mindfulness techniques were successful in reducing the subjective level of distress in highly aroused individuals after fear induction. This study provides evidence of the usefulness of avoidance based models of personality in human defensive reactions
Learning Enhances Sensory and Multiple Non-sensory Representations in Primary Visual Cortex
We determined how learning modifies neural representations in primary visual cortex (V1) during acquisition of a visually guided behavioral task. We imaged the activity of the same layer 2/3 neuronal populations as mice learned to discriminate two visual patterns while running through a virtual corridor, where one pattern was rewarded. Improvements in behavioral performance were closely associated with increasingly distinguishable population-level representations of task-relevant stimuli, as a result of stabilization of existing and recruitment of new neurons selective for these stimuli. These effects correlated with the appearance of multiple task-dependent signals during learning: those that increased neuronal selectivity across the population when expert animals engaged in the task, and those reflecting anticipation or behavioral choices specifically in neuronal subsets preferring the rewarded stimulus. Therefore, learning engages diverse mechanisms that modify sensory and non-sensory representations in V1 to adjust its processing to task requirements and the behavioral relevance of visual stimuli