Cognitive and affective components of challenge and threat states

We explored the cognitive and affective components of the Theory of Challenge and Threat States in Athletes (TCTSA) using a cross-sectional design. One hundred and seventy-seven collegiate athletes indicated how they typically approached an important competition on measures of self-efficacy, perceived control, achievement goals, emotional states and interpretation of emotional states. Participants also indicated to what extent they typically perceived the important competition as a challenge and/or a threat. The results suggest that a perception of challenge was not predicted by any of the cognitive components. A perception of threat was positively predicted by avoidance goals and negatively predicted by self-efficacy and approach goals. Both challenge and threat had a positive relationship with anxiety. Practical implications of this study are that an avoidance orientation appeared to be related to potentially negative constructs such as anxiety, threat and dejection. The findings may suggest that practitioners and researchers should focus on reducing an avoidance orientation, however the results should be treated with caution in applied settings, as this study did not examine how the combination of constructs exactly influences sport performance. The results provided partial support for the TCTSA with stronger support for proposed relationships with threat rather than challenge states

Hearing voices in the resting brain: A review of intrinsic functional connectivity research on auditory verbal hallucinations

Resting state networks (RSNs) are thought to reflect the intrinsic functional connectivity of brain regions. Alterations to RSNs have been proposed to underpin various kinds of psychopathology, including the occurrence of auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH). This review outlines the main hypotheses linking AVH and the resting state, and assesses the evidence for alterations to intrinsic connectivity provided by studies of resting fMRI in AVH. The influence of hallucinations during data acquisition, medication confounds, and movement are also considered. Despite a large variety of analytic methods and designs being deployed, it is possible to conclude that resting connectivity in the left temporal lobe in general and left superior temporal gyrus in particular are disrupted in AVH. There is also preliminary evidence of atypical connectivity in the default mode network and its interaction with other RSNs. Recommendations for future research include the adoption of a common analysis protocol to allow for more overlapping datasets and replication of intrinsic functional connectivity alterations

What is psychosis? A meta-synthesis of inductive qualitative studies exploring the experience of psychosis

Qualitative studies have played an important role in elucidating the lived experience of psychosis and there has recently been an increase in the number of such studies. There is now an urgent need to draw together the findings of these studies. This paper performed a meta-synthesis of inductive qualitative peer-reviewed research into psychosis. Ninety-eight articles were identified for systematic appraisal. Four themes, ‘Losing’, ‘Identifying a need for, and seeking, help’, ‘Rebuilding and reforging’, and ‘Better than new: gifts from psychosis’, were identified. The important implications these themes for clinicians and future research are examined upon. These findings also highlight that the experience of psychosis is much more than simply just hallucinations and/or delusions

The varieties of inner speech questionnaire – Revised (VISQ-R): Replicating and refining links between inner speech and psychopathology

Inner speech is a common experience for many but hard to measure empirically. The Varieties of Inner Speech Questionnaire (VISQ) has been used to link everyday phenomenology of inner speech – such as inner dialogue – to various psychopathological traits. However, positive and supportive aspects of inner speech have not always been captured. This study presents a revised version of the scale – the VISQ-R – based on factor analyses in two large samples: respondents to a survey on inner speech and reading (N = 1412) and a sample of university students (N = 377). Exploratory factor analysis indicated a five-factor structure including three previous subscales (dialogic, condensed, and other people in inner speech), an evaluative/critical factor, and a new positive/regulatory factor. Confirmatory factor analysis then replicated this structure in sample 2. Hierarchical regression analyses also replicated a number of relations between inner speech, hallucination-proneness, anxiety, depression, self-esteem, and dissociation

The brain’s conversation with itself: neural substrates of dialogic inner speech

Inner speech has been implicated in important aspects of normal and atypical cognition, including the development of auditory hallucinations. Studies to date have focused on covert speech elicited by simple word or sentence repetition, while ignoring richer and arguably more psychologically significant varieties of inner speech. This study compared neural activation for inner speech involving conversations (‘dialogic inner speech’) with single-speaker scenarios (‘monologic inner speech’). Inner speech-related activation differences were then compared with activations relating to Theory-of-Mind (ToM) reasoning and visual perspective-taking in a conjunction design. Generation of dialogic (compared with monologic) scenarios was associated with a widespread bilateral network including left and right superior temporal gyri, precuneus, posterior cingulate and left inferior and medial frontal gyri. Activation associated with dialogic scenarios and ToM reasoning overlapped in areas of right posterior temporal cortex previously linked to mental state representation. Implications for understanding verbal cognition in typical and atypical populations are discussed

Assessing negative cognitive style: Development and validation of a short-form version of the Cognitive Style Questionnaire

The Cognitive Style Questionnaire (CSQ) is a frequently employed measure of negative cognitive style, associated with vulnerability to anxiety and depression. However, the CSQ’s length can limit its utility in research. We describe the development of a Short-Form version of the CSQ. After evaluation and modification of two pilot versions, the 8-item CSQ Short Form (CSQ-SF) was administered to a convenience sample of adults (N = 278). The CSQ-SF was found to have satisfactory internal reliability and test–retest reliability. It also exhibited construct validity by demonstrating predicted correlations with measures of depression and anxiety. Results suggest that the CSQ-SF is suitable for administration via the Internet

Paracingulate sulcus morphology is associated with hallucinations in the human brain

Hallucinations are common in psychiatric disorders, and are also experienced by many individuals who are not mentally ill. Here, in 153 participants, we investigate brain structural markers that predict the occurrence of hallucinations by comparing patients with schizophrenia who have experienced hallucinations against patients who have not, matched on a number of demographic and clinical variables. Using both newly validated visual classification techniques and automated, data-driven methods, hallucinations were associated with specific brain morphology differences in the paracingulate sulcus, a fold in the medial prefrontal cortex, with a 1 cm reduction in sulcal length increasing the likelihood of hallucinations by 19.9%, regardless of the sensory modality in which they were experienced. The findings suggest a specific morphological basis for a pervasive feature of typical and atypical human experience

On the Double Planet System Around HD 83443

The Geneva group has reported two Saturn-mass planets orbiting HD 83443 (K0V) with periods of 2.98 and 29.8 d. The two planets have raised interest in their dynamics because of the possible 10:1 orbital resonance and the strong gravitational interactions. We report precise Doppler measurements of HD 83443 obtained with the Keck/HIRES and the AAT/UCLES spectrometers. These measurements strongly confirm the inner planet with period of 2.985 d, with orbital parameters in very good agreement with those of the Geneva group. However these Doppler measurements show no evidence of the outer planet, at thresholds of 1/4 (3 m/s) of the reported velocity amplitude of 13.8 m/s. Thus, the existence of the outer planet is in question. Indeed, the current Doppler measurements reveal no evidence of any second planet with periods less than a year.Comment: 26 pages incl. 3 tables and 8 figures; uses AASTE

Acute liver effects, disposition and metabolic fate of [14C]-fenclozic acid following oral administration to normal and bile-cannulated male C57BL/6J Mice

The distribution, metabolism, excretion and hepatic effects of the human hepatotoxin fenclozic acid were investigated following single oral doses of 10 mg/kg to normal and bile-duct cannulated male C57BL/6J mice. Whole body autoradiography showed distribution into all tissues except the brain, with radioactivity still detectable in blood, kidney and liver at 72 h post dose. Mice dosed with [14C]-fenclozic acid showed acute centrilobular hepatocellular necrosis but no other regions of the liver were affected. The majority of the [14C]-fenclozic acid-related material recovered was found in the urine/aqueous cage wash, (49%) whilst a smaller portion (13%) was eliminated via the faeces. Metabolic profiles for urine, bile and faecal extracts, obtained using liquid chromatography and a combination of mass spectrometric and radioactivity detection, revealed extensive metabolism of fenclozic acid in mice that involved biotransformations via both oxidation and conjugation. These profiling studies also revealed the presence of glutathione-derived metabolites providing evidence for the production of reactive species by mice administered fenclozic acid. Covalent binding to proteins from liver, kidney and plasma was also demonstrated, although this binding was relatively low (less than 50 pmol eq./mg protein)