Rechnergesteuerter Signalgenerator : der PC als Meßgerät

Der PC als Meßgerät findet weiter zunehmende Verbreitung und wird als ernstzunehmender Bestandteil des Entwicklungslabors von Firmen wie Siemens, HP usw. angeboten. Dieser Beitrag dringt einmal in das Innere eines rechnergesteuerten Signalgenerators vor und zeigt Hard- und Software

Orthorexia nervosa: A behavioral complex or a psychological condition?

Background and aims: Numerous studies have provided evidence for orthorexia nervosa (ON), an eating pattern characterized by an almost manic obsession for and fixation on healthy eating, to be of epidemiological relevance. However, there is scientific debate on whether it is merely a behavioral or lifestyle phenomenon as compared to a mental disorder. Aim of this cross-sectional study was to explore whether ON is of epidemiological and clinical relevance, and whether ON can be distinguished from other mental health disorders and healthy lifestyle features. Methods: An online survey including a measure of orthorexic behaviors [Duesseldorf Orthorexia Scale (DOS)], well-being and distress, eating behaviors, pathological eating, anxiety and depression, addictive behaviors, obsessive–compulsive symptoms, personality, and health behaviors was completed by 713 subjects (79.8% women, 18–75 years, median age: 25 years). Results: Twenty-seven subjects (3.8%, 21 women) showed significant orthorexic eating (DOS ≥ 30). ON cases reported lower well-being, lower satisfaction with life, and higher current stress levels than non-ON cases. The highest percentage of variation in ON was explained by pathological eating (R2 = .380), followed by eating style, Mediterranean diet, compulsive symptoms, and subjective social status. Importantly, ON provided hardly any additional predictive value for well-being when also considering pathological eating. Discussion and conclusions: Our data confirmed the epidemiological and clinical relevance of orthorexic behaviors, but the strong conceptual overlap with other mental health problems and pathological eating raise initial doubts as to whether ON is a distinct mental health disorder category. This co-occurrence, unique symptoms, and underlying processes need further exploration by comparing ON cases with patients with other mental disorders

The influence of expertise on brain activation of the action observation network during anticipation of tennis and volleyball serves

In many daily activities, and especially in sport, it is necessary to predict the effects of others´ actions in order to initiate appropriate responses. Recently, researchers have suggested that the action–observation network (AON) including the cerebellum plays an essential role during such anticipation, particularly in sport expert performers. In the present study, we examined the influence of task-specific expertise on the AON by investigating differences between two expert groups trained in different sports while anticipating action effects. Altogether, 15 tennis and 16 volleyball experts anticipated the direction of observed tennis and volleyball serves while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The expert group in each sport acted as novice controls in the other sport with which they had only little experience. When contrasting anticipation in both expertise conditions with the corresponding untrained sport, a stronger activation of AON areas (SPL, SMA), and particularly of cerebellar structures, was observed. Furthermore, the neural activation within the cerebellum and the SPL was linearly correlated with participant´s anticipation performance, irrespective of the specific expertise. For the SPL, this relationship also holds when an expert performs a domain-specific anticipation task. Notably, the stronger activation of the cerebellum as well as of the SMA and the SPL in the expertise conditions suggests that experts rely on their more fine-tuned perceptual-motor representations that have improved during years of training when anticipating the effects of others´ actions in their preferred sport. The association of activation within the SPL and the cerebellum with the task achievement suggests that these areas are the predominant brain sites involved in fast motor predictions. The SPL reflects the processing of domain-specific contextual information and the cerebellum the usage of a predictive internal model to solve the anticipation task

Aberrant Orbitofrontal Cortex Reactivity to Erotic Cues in Compulsive Sexual Behavior Disorder

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Compulsive Sexual Behavior Disorder (CSBD) is characterized by increased reactivity to erotic reward cues. Cue-encoded reward parameters, such as type (e.g. erotic or monetary) or probability of anticipated reward, shape reward-related motivational processes, increase the attractiveness of cues and therefore might enhance maladaptive behavioral patterns in CSBD. Studies on the neural patterns of cue processing in individuals with CSBD have been limited mainly to ventral striatal responses. Therefore, here we aimed to examine the cue reactivity of multiple key structures in the brains reward system, taking into account not only the type of predicted reward but also its probability. METHODS: Twenty Nine men seeking professional help due to CSBD and 24 healthy volunteers took part in an fMRI study with a modified Incentive Delay Task with erotic and monetary rewards preceded by cues indicating a 25%, 50%, or 75% chance of reward. Analyses of functional patterns of activity related to cue type and probability were conducted on the whole-brain and ROI levels. RESULTS: Increased anticipatory response to cues predictive of erotic rewards was observed among CSBD participants when compared to controls, in the ventral striatum and anterior orbitofrontal cortex (aOFC). The activity in aOFC was modulated by reward probability. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: Type of anticipated reward (erotic vs monetary) affects reward-related behavioral motivation in CSBD more strongly than reward probability. We present evidence of abnormal aOFC function in CSBD by demonstrating the recruitment of additional subsections of this region by erotic reward cues

Tendencies toward Internet-pornography-use disorder: Differences in men and women regarding attentional biases to pornographic stimuli

Background and aims Several authors consider Internet-pornography-use disorder (IPD) as addictive disorder. One of the mechanisms that has been intensively studied in substance- and non-substance-use disorders is an enhanced attentional bias toward addiction-related cues. Attentional biases are described as cognitive processes of individual’s perception affected by the addiction-related cues caused by the conditioned incentive salience of the cue itself. It is assumed in the I-PACE model that in individuals prone to develop IPD symptoms implicit cognitions as well as cue-reactivity and craving arise and increase within the addiction process. Methods To investigate the role of attentional biases in the development of IPD, we investigated a sample of 174 male and female participants. Attentional bias was measured with the Visual Probe Task, in which participants had to react on arrows appearing after pornographic or neutral pictures. In addition, participants had to indicate their sexual arousal induced by pornographic pictures. Furthermore, tendencies toward IPD were measured using the short-Internetsex Addiction Test. Results The results of this study showed a relationship between attentional bias and symptom severity of IPD partially mediated by indicators for cue-reactivity and craving. While men and women generally differ in reaction times due to pornographic pictures, a moderated regression analysis revealed that attentional biases occur independently of sex in the context of IPD symptoms. Discussion The results support theoretical assumptions of the I-PACE model regarding the incentive salience of addiction-related cues and are consistent with studies addressing cue-reactivity and craving in substance-use disorders

Borderline personality disorder is associated with lower confidence in perception of emotional body movements

Much recent research has shown that personality disorders are associated with an altered emotion perception. Whereas most of this research was conducted with stimuli such as faces, the present study examined possible differences in the perception of emotions expressed via body language and body movements. 30 patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD) and 30 non-patients observed video scenes of emotional human interactions conveyed by point–light displays, rated the depicted valence, and judged their confidence in this rating. Patients with BPD showed no altered emotion perception (i.e., no biased perception in either a negative or a positive direction). They did not perceive and evaluate depicted emotions as being more extreme than healthy controls. However, patients with BPD showed less confidence in their perception of depicted emotions, especially when these were difficult to identify. The findings extend insights on altered emotion perception in persons with BPD to include the field of body movements

fMRI BOLD Correlates of EEG Independent Components: Spatial Correspondence With the Default Mode Network

Goal: We aimed to identify electroencephalographic (EEG) signal fluctuations within independent components (ICs) that correlate to spontaneous blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) activity in regions of the default mode network (DMN) during eyes-closed resting state.Methods: We analyzed simultaneously acquired EEG and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) eyes-closed resting state data in a convenience sample of 30 participants. IC analysis (ICA) was used to decompose the EEG time-series and common ICs were identified using data-driven IC clustering across subjects. The IC time courses were filtered into seven frequency bands, convolved with a hemeodynamic response function (HRF) and used to model spontaneous fMRI signal fluctuations across the brain. In parallel, group ICA analysis was used to decompose the fMRI signal into ICs from which the DMN was identified. Frequency and IC cluster associated hemeodynamic correlation maps obtained from the regression analysis were spatially correlated with the DMN. To investigate the reliability of our findings, the analyses were repeated with data collected from the same subjects 1 year later.Results: Our results indicate a relationship between power fluctuations in the delta, theta, beta and gamma frequency range and the DMN in different EEG ICs in our sample as shown by small to moderate spatial correlations at the first measurement (0.234 < |r| < 0.346, p < 0.0001). Furthermore, activity within an EEG component commonly identified as eye movements correlates with BOLD activity within regions of the DMN. In addition, we demonstrate that correlations between EEG ICs and the BOLD signal during rest are in part stable across time.Discussion: We show that ICA source separated EEG signals can be used to investigate electrophysiological correlates of the DMN. The relationship between the eye movement component and the DMN points to a behavioral association between DMN activity and the level of eye movement or the presence of neuronal activity in this component. Previous findings of an association between frontal midline theta activity and the DMN were replicated

Treatments and interventions for compulsive sexual behavior disorder with a focus on problematic pornography use: A preregistered systematic review

Background and aims: Compulsive sexual behavior disorder (CSBD) which includes problematic pornography use (PPU) is a clinically relevant syndrome that has been included in the ICD-11 as impulse control disorder. The number of studies on treatments in CSBD and PPU increased in the last years. The current preregistered systematic review aimed for identifying treatment studies on CSBD and PPU as well as treatment effects on symptom severity and behavior enactment. Methods: The study was preregistered at Prospero International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (CRD42021252329). The literature search done in February 2022 at PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and PsycInfo, included original research published in peer-reviewed journals between 2000 to end 2021. The risk of bias was assessed with the CONSORT criteria. A quantitative synthesis based on effect sizes was done. Results: Overall 24 studies were identified. Four of these studies were randomized controlled trials. Treatment approaches included settings with cognitive behavior therapy components, psychotherapy methods, and psychopharmacological therapy. Receiving treatment seems to improve symptoms of CSBD and PPU. Especially, evidence for the efficacy of cognitive behavior therapy is present. Discussion and conclusions: There is first evidence for the effectiveness of treatment approaches such as cognitive behavior therapy. However, strong conclusions on the specificity of treatments should be drawn with caution. More rigorous and systematic methodological approaches are needed for future studies. Results may be informative for future research and the development of specific treatment programs for CSBD and PPU