Too Many Fish in the Sea: A Motivational Examination of the Choice Overload Experience

Evidence supports that being overwhelmed by many choice options predicts negative consequences. However, there is uncertainty regarding the effects of choice overload on two key motivational dimensions: (1) the extent to which people view their decision as subjectively valuable (versus not), and (2) the extent to which people view themselves as capable (versus incapable) of reaching a good decision. While evaluating their options and while deciding, we assessed theory-based cardiovascular responses reflecting these dimensions. A meta-analysis across two experiments found that participants who made a final selection from many options—relative to those who chose from few or rated many—exhibited cardiovascular responses consistent with greater task engagement (i.e., perceiving greater subjective value), as well as greater threat (i.e., perceiving fewer resources to manage situational demands). The current work suggests a novel motivational account of choice overload, providing insight into the nature and timing of this experience as it occurs

When a small self means manageable obstacles: Spontaneous self-distancing predicts divergent effects of awe during a subsequent performance stressor

The emotion of awe occurs when one feels small relative to something vaster than the self; it leads to benefits such as care for others. However, because awe elicits the experience of a “small self,” it is unclear to what extent awe positively versus negatively affects responses to subsequent stressors. If personal obstacles seem trivial in comparison to awe-inspiring stimuli, stressors should seem either manageable or unimportant, but if one's capabilities seem comparatively insignificant, stressors should seem unmanageable. We hypothesized that awe would have a generally positive effect on responses during a subsequent performance stressor, but that this would further depend on whether people tended to spontaneously take on a self-distanced versus self-immersed perspective. In the face of awe, focusing less on the self (self-distanced perspective) should make obstacles in particular seem trivial, whereas focusing more on the self (self-immersed) should lead one's capabilities to seem insignificant. Using the biopsychosocial model of challenge/threat, we found that spontaneous self-distancing significantly moderated awe's effects on responses during a subsequent performance stressor (speech task): For participants who self-distanced, the awe condition led to cardiovascular responses consistent with greater challenge than the neutral control condition (reflecting evaluating the stressor as more manageable); for participants who self-immersed, awe predicted relative threat (less manageable stressor). There was no support for awe making people care less about the stressor (as reflected in cardiovascular responses consistent with task engagement). This offers insight into how awe can have divergent effects on people's experiences during performance stressors

In defense of commitment: The curative power of violated expectations in relationships.

A new model of commitment defense in romantic relationships is proposed. It assumes that relationships afford a central resource for affirming meaning and purpose in the world. Consequently, violating expectations about the world outside the relationship can precipitate commitment defense inside the relationship. A meta-analysis of 5 experiments, 2 follow-up correlational studies, and a longitudinal study of the transition to first parenthood supported the model. Experimentally violating conventional expectations about the world (e.g., “hard work pays off”) motivated less satisfied people to defensively affirm their commitment. Similarly, when becoming a parent naturalistically violated culturally conditioned gendered expectations about the division of household labor, less satisfied new mothers and fathers defensively affirmed their commitment from pre-to-post baby. The findings suggest that violating expected associations in the world outside the relationship motivates vulnerable people to set relationship their relationship right, thereby affirming expected associations in the relationship in the face of an unexpected world

Autosomal recessive cerebellar ataxias

Autosomal recessive cerebellar ataxias (ARCA) are a heterogeneous group of rare neurological disorders involving both central and peripheral nervous system, and in some case other systems and organs, and characterized by degeneration or abnormal development of cerebellum and spinal cord, autosomal recessive inheritance and, in most cases, early onset occurring before the age of 20 years. This group encompasses a large number of rare diseases, the most frequent in Caucasian population being Friedreich ataxia (estimated prevalence 2–4/100,000), ataxia-telangiectasia (1–2.5/100,000) and early onset cerebellar ataxia with retained tendon reflexes (1/100,000). Other forms ARCA are much less common. Based on clinicogenetic criteria, five main types ARCA can be distinguished: congenital ataxias (developmental disorder), ataxias associated with metabolic disorders, ataxias with a DNA repair defect, degenerative ataxias, and ataxia associated with other features. These diseases are due to mutations in specific genes, some of which have been identified, such as frataxin in Friedreich ataxia, α-tocopherol transfer protein in ataxia with vitamin E deficiency (AVED), aprataxin in ataxia with oculomotor apraxia (AOA1), and senataxin in ataxia with oculomotor apraxia (AOA2). Clinical diagnosis is confirmed by ancillary tests such as neuroimaging (magnetic resonance imaging, scanning), electrophysiological examination, and mutation analysis when the causative gene is identified. Correct clinical and genetic diagnosis is important for appropriate genetic counseling and prognosis and, in some instances, pharmacological treatment. Due to autosomal recessive inheritance, previous familial history of affected individuals is unlikely. For most ARCA there is no specific drug treatment except for coenzyme Q10 deficiency and abetalipoproteinemia

Multidrug efflux pumps:structure, function and regulation

Infections arising from multidrug-resistant pathogenic bacteria are spreading rapidly throughout the world and threaten to become untreatable. The origins of resistance are numerous and complex, but one underlying factor is the capacity of bacteria to rapidly export drugs through the intrinsic activity of efflux pumps. In this Review, we describe recent advances that have increased our understanding of the structures and molecular mechanisms of multidrug efflux pumps in bacteria. Clinical and laboratory data indicate that efflux pumps function not only in the drug extrusion process but also in virulence and the adaptive responses that contribute to antimicrobial resistance during infection. The emerging picture of the structure, function and regulation of efflux pumps suggests opportunities for countering their activities

Losing the Wind Beneath Your Wings The Prospective Influence of Romantic Breakup on Goal Progress

Support from romantic partners can have tremendous benefits for people’s personal goal pursuits. However, when relationships end in breakup, this goal support is lost. Thus, breakup may have important consequences for goal progress. A longitudinal study found that breaking up with goal instrumental partners predicted poorer subsequent goal progress. Breaking up with noninstrumental partners did not impair goal progress. In contrast, breakup did not predict changes in goal importance, suggesting that people still valued goals associated with their former partners. These findings are the first to reveal a hidden potential cost of breakup: losing the support people once relied on to achieve their valued personal goals. Thus, finding alternative sources of goal support may be essential to coping successfully with breakup

Protected By Your Self-Control The Influence of Partners’ Self-Control on Actors’ Responses to Interpersonal Risk

Self-control allows people to curb destructive behavior and behave more pro-socially in relationships. Thus, individuals generally trust partners with high dispositional self-control more. However, it is not clear whether partner self-control influences individuals’ responses to acutely risky situations, such as when partners are rejecting. A daily diary study of married and cohabiting couples examined whether actors with high self-control partners behave less self-protectively in risky situations. On days partners were highly rejecting, actors were less likely to retaliate against and more likely to value high self-control partners. On days after partners had been rejecting, actors also reported that high self-control partners behaved more responsively. Actors also trusted partners with high self-control more regardless of risk. Taken together, our findings suggest that partners’ greater self-control may help foster more positive interaction cycles in romantic relationships

Activation of the small GTPase Rac is sufficient to disrupt cadherin-dependent cell-cell adhesion in normal human keratinocytes.

To achieve strong adhesion to their neighbors and sustain stress and tension, epithelial cells develop many different specialized adhesive structures. Breakdown of these structures occurs during tumor progression, with the development of a fibroblastic morphology characteristic of metastatic cells. During Ras transformation, Rac-signaling pathways participate in the disruption of cadherin-dependent adhesion. We show that sustained Rac activation per se is sufficient to disassemble cadherin-mediated contacts in keratinocytes, in a concentration- and time-dependent manner. Cadherin receptors are removed from junctions before integrin receptors, suggesting that pathways activated by Rac can specifically interfere with cadherin function. We mapped an important region for disruption of junctions to the putative second effector domain of the Rac protein. Interestingly, although this region overlaps the domain necessary to induce lamellipodia, we demonstrate that the disassembly of cadherin complexes is a new Rac activity, distinct from Rac-dependent lamellipodia formation. Because Rac activity is also necessary for migration, Rac is a good candidate to coordinately regulate cell-cell and cell-substratum adhesion during tumorigenesis

Preejection period can be calculated using R peak instead of Q

Preejection period (PEP) is a common measure of sympathetic nervous system activation in psychophysiological research, which makes it important to measure reliably for as many participants as possible. PEP is typically calculated as the interval between the onset or peak of the electrocardiogram Q wave and the impedance cardiography B point, but the Q wave can lack clear definition and even its peak is not visible for all participants. We thus investigated the feasibility of using the electrocardiogram R wave peak (Rpeak) instead of Q because it can be consistently identified with ease and precision. Across four samples (total N = 408), young adult participants completed a variety of minimally metabolically demanding laboratory tasks after a resting baseline. Results consistently supported a close relationship between absolute levels of the Rpeak-B interval and PEP (accounting for approximately 90% of the variance at baseline and 89% during task performance, on average), but for reactivity values, Rpeak-B was practically indistinguishable from PEP (accounting for over 98% of the variance, on average). Given that using Rpeak rather than the onset or peak of Q saves time, eliminates potential subjectivity, and can be applied to more participants (i.e., those without a visible Q wave), findings suggest that Rpeak-B likely provides an adequate estimate of PEP when absolute levels are of interest and clearly does so for within-person changes

Not I, but she: The beneficial effects of self-distancing on challenge/threat cardiovascular responses

Self-distancing has been shown to lead to benefits in the face of upcoming stressors, but the process by which this occurs remains unclear. We applied the cardiovascular measures of the biopsychosocial model of challenge/threat to test two plausible explanations: whether manipulating self-distancing (vs. a control condition) (1) makes a subsequent active-performance stressor seem less personally relevant, thereby leading to lower task engagement during task performance, and/or (2) promotes more favorable evaluations of personal resources relative to situational demands, resulting in greater challenge during performance. Participants who self-distanced by using non-first-person (vs. first-person) pronouns and their own name while preparing for a speech showed cardiovascular responses consistent with greater challenge while delivering the speech. Self-distancing did not, however, influence cardiovascular responses reflecting task engagement during the speech. Moreover, the effect of self-distancing persisted in the form of relative challenge during a second speech on an unrelated topic. These findings suggest self-distancing can lead to a positively valenced experience during active-performance stressors, rather than simply muted responses based on decreasing the stressor's self-relevance