Personality and Fear Conditioning: Effects of Neuroticism

Fear conditioning is an associative learning paradigm that can be used to examine the acquisition and extinction of learned fear in various populations. Unusual patterns in fear conditioning are known to be associated with different types of psychopathology, and anxiety in particular has been studied extensively in relation to fear conditioning. However, far less is known about fear conditioning in nonclinical samples, particularly with regards to personality. The aim of the current study is to examine the acquisition and extinction of conditioned fear as it relates to neuroticism. The study utilized both physiological and subjective measures of learned fear, allowing for comparison across domains of fear expression. Eyeblink startle responses indicated that fear conditioning did not take place, with no significant differences in startle response magnitude in the presence of the conditioned and the unconditioned stimulus. Neuroticism was not found to be associated with greater eyeblink startle to either stimulus type. However, subjective fear ratings revealed an increase in fear of the conditioned stimulus following the acquisition phase, and a decrease in fear of the conditioned stimulus following the extinction phase, indicating that fear conditioning did in fact take place. Neuroticism was positively correlated with fear of the conditioned stimulus in the acquisition phase, indicating that more neurotic individuals may in fact acquire fear more readily than less neurotic individuals. Neuroticism was also associated with greater fear of the conditioned stimulus following extinction, suggesting that neurotic individuals may have difficulty learning when a stimulus no longer predicts threat. These findings indicate that neuroticism does impact both acquisition and extinction of conditioned fear, and there is a need for further replication in order to better understand the discrepancies between physiological and subjective measures in assessing fear conditioning

The Therapeutic Alliance in Integrated Coping Awareness Therapy

The therapeutic alliance (TA) is a crucial component of psychotherapy, but few studies have examined TA in specialized interventions for first-episode psychosis (FEP). This study examined the role of TA (rated by clients, therapists, and independent observers) in the context of a novel FEP intervention. Demographic and clinical variables were examined as potential predictors of TA, and the relationship between TA and treatment outcomes was examined. Client-rated TA was higher than therapist-rated TA, and TA did not differ between treatment conditions. Younger age and lower baseline symptom severity predicted stronger client-rated TA. Lastly, stronger client-rated TA predicted lower post-treatment symptom severity. Results suggest that client-rated TA predicts treatment outcomes in this population more than therapist- or observer-rated TA, and that client-rated TA may also be more sensitive to demographic and clinical predictors. These findings expand our understanding of the role of TA in FEP interventions, enhancing treatment for this population.Master of Art

Pathways to functional outcomes in schizophrenia spectrum disorders: Meta-analysis of social cognitive and neurocognitive predictors

The current meta-analysis explored relationships between functional outcomes in schizophrenia spectrum disorders and different domains of neurocognition and social cognition. Literature searches were conducted in PsycINFO, PubMed, and ProQuest to identify articles reporting correlations between cognition domains and functional outcomes. Of 1361 articles identified, 166 met all inclusion criteria (12,868 participants; 518 correlations). Fifty-three random-effects meta-analyses yielded mean correlation estimates for relationships between neurocognition and social cognition and functional outcomes. Overall, associations between social cognition and neurocognition, and functional outcomes demonstrated significant small-to-medium effect sizes. Social cognition explained more unique variance in functioning than neurocognition (7.3% vs. 4.4%; 9.2% total average variance). Social cognition also mediated the relationship between neurocognition and functional outcomes. A significant proportion of the variance in the relationships between cognition and functional outcomes remained unexplained. These findings suggest that integrated interventions targeting both neurocognition and social cognition may optimally improve functional outcomes. Standardized measurement of cognition and functioning, longitudinal studies, and tests of additional moderators (e.g., first episode samples) in future research were identified as important future directions

The effects of pregnancy nutrition and shearing on lamb birth weight in highly fecund Booroola-merino cross sheep

The effects of ewe nutrition, live-weight change and shearing during pregnancy on lamb birth weight were studied using highly fecund Booroola-Merino cross Coopworth ewes. They were allocated to a high (H) or low (L) early pregnancy (0-49 days) nutrition treatment aimed at offering sufficient feed to increase their average live weight by 3 and 0kg respectively. Each of the 2 ewe groups was subsequently subdivided and allocated to one of 2 mid-pregnancy (50-98 days) nutrition treatments (H,L) in which target body-weight changes were the same as for the early pregnancy period. One hundred and nineteen days after mating, half of the ewes in each of the 4 nutritional subgroups were shorn and fed to the estimated metabolizable energy (ME) requirement of unshorn ewes. Two hundred and twenty-one lambs born to 102 ewes conceiving at a synchronized oestrus and 152 lambs from 58 ewes which conceived at the next oestrus were weighed within 12 hours of birth. The high level of nutrition of ewes in early pregnancy was associated with higher mean birth weight of lambs. Change in lamb birth weight per unit change in ewe live weight during this period was 46gkg-1 (±17) and 76gkg-1 (±34) for early- and late- lambing groups respectively (p0.05). Shearing of ewes at 119 days post-mating increased lamb birth weight (p0.05) in the early-lambing group. It is concluded that in highly fecund sheep, lamb birth weight is affected by ewe nutrition in early pregnancy and that nutrition levels which cause a loss of ewe live weight immediately after mating are detrimental to lamb birth weight

How often do US-based schizophrenia papers published in high-impact psychiatric journals report on race and ethnicity? : A 20-year update of Lewine and Caudle (1999)

Background Racial and ethnic disparities have been clearly documented in schizophrenia studies, but it is unclear how much research attention they receive among US-based studies published in high-impact journals. Aims The current paper updates Lewine and Caudle’s (1999) and Chakraborty and Steinhauer’s (2010) works, which quantified how frequently schizophrenia studies included information on race and ethnicity in their analyses. Method We examined all US-based papers on schizophrenia-spectrum, first-episode psychosis, and clinical high-risk groups, published between 2014 to 2016 in four major psychiatric journals: American Journal of Psychiatry, Journal of the American Medical Association – Psychiatry, Schizophrenia Bulletin, and Schizophrenia Research. Results Of 474 US-based studies, 62% (n = 295) reported analyses by race or ethnicity as compared to 20% in Lewine and Caudle’s (1999) study. The majority of papers (59%) reported sample descriptions, a 42% increase from Lewine and Caudle’s (1999) study. Additionally, 47% matched or compared the racial/ethnic composition of primary study groups and 12% adjusted for race (e.g., as a covariate). However, only 9% directly analyzed racial and/or ethnic identity in relation to the primary topic of the paper. Conclusions While schizophrenia studies report analyses by race and ethnicity more frequently than 20 years ago, there remains a strong need for systematic, nuanced research on this topic. The authors offer recommendations for how to conceptualize and report upon race and ethnicity in schizophrenia research

The representation of authors of color in schizophrenia research articles published in high-impact psychiatric journals

Objective We evaluate how often scholars of color publish papers on schizophrenia in high-impact psychiatric journals, and whether they are more likely than white authors to prioritize race/ethnicity as a primary variable of interest in analyses. Methods Prior work categorized the types of ethnoracial analyses reported in 474 papers about schizophrenia published in high-impact psychiatric journals between 2014 and 2016. In this study, the photographs of the first and last author for each paper were coded as “person of color” (POC) or “white”. Additionally, each author was asked to self-report their race and ethnicity. The percentage of papers published by white versus POC authors was calculated. Chi-square analyses tested the hypotheses that (a) white scholars are more likely than POC scholars to conduct any sort of racial analysis; (b) POC scholars are more likely to conduct primary analyses by race/ethnicity; and (c) white scholars are more likely to analyze race/ethnicity as extraneous variables. Results Eighteen percent of papers were published by POC first authors, and 17% were published by POC last authors. There were minimal differences in the types of analyses conducted by POC and white authors. Self-reported race/ethnicity showed that Asian scholars were the most highly represented within POC authors (9% of respondents), but only 3% of authors identified as Hispanic/Latinx and none identified as Black or Indigenous American. Conclusions People of color are underrepresented as authors in US-based schizophrenia research published in high-impact journals. Culturally-informed mentorship as well as prioritization of race/ethnicity in funding structures are important to increase representation of POC authors

Physical Activity Can Enhance Life (PACE-Life) : Results from a 10-week walking intervention for individuals with schizophrenia spectrum disorders

Premature mortality in individuals with schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSDs) is largely due to high rates of chronic health conditions. Although exercise has been shown to improve health in this population, scalable and accessible interventions are limited. Aim To examine the impact of Physical Activity Can Enhance Life (PACE-Life), a novel walking intervention, on physical activity, and on secondary outcomes of cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF), physical health, autonomous motivation, social support, and quality of life. Method Sixteen individuals with SSDs were enrolled in a 10-week open trial. The intervention included walking groups, home-based walks, Fitbit use, and goal-setting and if-then plans. Within-group effect sizes were calculated to represent changes from baseline to post-test and 1-month follow-up. Results Participants increased self-reported weekly walking minutes and decreased daily hours spent sitting; however, Fitbit-recorded exercise behavior changed only minimally. There were also improvements in secondary outcomes including autonomous motivation and hip circumference. CRF improved only minimally, and findings were relatively unchanged with outliers removed from the full sample. Conclusions This open trial demonstrates modest improvements in key parameters of exercise behavior and physical health from participating in PACE-Life. Future research should assess the efficacy of this intervention in a randomized controlled trial