Evidence from neuroimaging for the role of the menstrual cycle in the interplay of emotion and cognition

Women show increased predisposition for certain psychiatric disorders, such as depression, that are associated with disturbances in the integration of emotion and cognition. While this suggests that sex hormones need to be considered as modulating factors in the regulation of emotion, we still lack a sound understanding of how the menstrual cycle impacts emotional states and cognitive function. Though signals for the influence of the menstrual cycle on the integration of emotion and cognition have appeared as secondary findings in numerous behavioral and neuroimaging studies, this has only very rarely been the primary research goal. This review summarizes evidence: (1) that the menstrual cycle modulates the integration of emotional and cognitive processing on a behavioral level, and (2) that this change in behavior can be associated with functional, molecular and structural changes in the brain during a specific menstrual cycle phase. The growing evidence for menstrual cycle-specific differences suggests a modulating role for sex hormones on the neural networks supporting the integration of emotional and cognitive information. It will further be discussed what methodological aspects need to be considered to capture the role of the menstrual cycle in the emotion-cognition interplay more systematically

Mood Disorders Are Glial Disorders: Evidence from In Vivo Studies

It has recently been suggested that mood disorders can be characterized by glial pathology as indicated by histopathological postmortem findings. Here, we review studies investigating the glial marker S100B in serum of patients with mood disorders. This protein might act as a growth and differentiation factor. It is located in, and may actively be released by, astro- and oligodendrocytes. Studies consistently show that S100B is elevated in mood disorders; more strongly in major depressive than bipolar disorder. Successful antidepressive treatment reduces S100B in major depression whereas there is no evidence of treatment effects in mania. In contrast to the glial marker S100B, the neuronal marker protein neuron-specific enolase is unaltered. By indicating glial alterations without neuronal changes, serum S100B studies confirm specific glial pathology in mood disorders in vivo. S100B can be regarded as a potential diagnostic biomarker for mood disorders and as a biomarker for successful antidepressive treatment

Dynamic, adaptive changes in MAO-A binding after alterations in substrate availability: an in vivo [11C]-harmine positron emission tomography study

Monoamine oxidase A (MAO-A) is an important target in the pathophysiology and therapeutics of major depressive disorder, aggression, and neurodegenerative conditions. We measured the effect of changes in MAO-A substrate on MAO-A binding in regions implicated in affective and neurodegenerative disease with [11C]-harmine positron emission tomography in healthy volunteers. Monoamine oxidase A VT, an index of MAO-A density, was decreased (mean: 14%±9%) following tryptophan depletion in prefrontal cortex (P<0.031), and elevated (mean: 17%±11%) in striatum following carbidopa–levodopa administration (P<0.007). These findings suggest an adaptive role for MAO-A in maintaining monoamine neurotransmitter homeostasis by rapidly compensating fluctuating monoamine levels

Mindreading From the Eyes Declines With Aging - Evidence From 1,603 Subjects.

Social cognition, in particular mindreading, enables the understanding of another individual's feelings, intentions, desires, and mental states. The Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET) captures the ability to identify mental states from gaze. We investigated RMET accuracy in the context of age and cognition across the whole adult age-range (19-79 years) in a very large population-based sample (N = 1,603) with linear regression models accounting for cognitive abilities, neurological diseases, and psychiatric disorders. Higher age predicted lower RMET performance in women and men, suggesting difficulties to infer mental states from gaze at older age. Effects remained stable when taking other cognitive abilities and psychiatric disorders or neurological diseases into account. Our results show that RMET performance as a measure of social cognition declines with increasing age

Automatic emotion processing as a function of trait emotional awareness: an fMRI study

It is unclear whether reflective awareness of emotions is related to extent and intensity of implicit affective reactions. This study is the first to investigate automatic brain reactivity to emotional stimuli as a function of trait emotional awareness. To assess emotional awareness the Levels of Emotional Awareness Scale (LEAS) was administered. During scanning, masked happy, angry, fearful and neutral facial expressions were presented to 46 healthy subjects, who had to rate the fit between artificial and emotional words. The rating procedure allowed assessment of shifts in implicit affectivity due to emotion faces. Trait emotional awareness was associated with increased activation in the primary somatosensory cortex, inferior parietal lobule, anterior cingulate gyrus, middle frontal and cerebellar areas, thalamus, putamen and amygdala in response to masked happy faces. LEAS correlated positively with shifts in implicit affect caused by masked happy faces. According to our findings, people with high emotional awareness show stronger affective reactivity and more activation in brain areas involved in emotion processing and simulation during the perception of masked happy facial expression than people with low emotional awareness. High emotional awareness appears to be characterized by an enhanced positive affective resonance to others at an automatic processing leve

Merkmale nicht-verletzender Kommunikation

Sacher J. Merkmale nicht-verletzender Kommunikation. In: Trautmann M, Sacher J, eds. Unterrichtsentwicklung durch Videofeedback. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck &amp; Ruprecht; 2010: 105-126

"Mir fielen hunderttausend Sachen auf" - Ablauf eines Videofeedbacks am Beispiel der Lehrerin Annette Fink

Sacher J. "Mir fielen hunderttausend Sachen auf" - Ablauf eines Videofeedbacks am Beispiel der Lehrerin Annette Fink. In: Trautmann M, Sacher J, eds. Unterrichtsentwicklung durch Videofeedback. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck &amp; Ruprecht; 2010: 41-54

Videofeedback als Instrument zur Unterrichtsentwicklung - Begründungen, Konzepte, offene Fragen

Trautmann M, Sacher J. Videofeedback als Instrument zur Unterrichtsentwicklung - Begründungen, Konzepte, offene Fragen. In: Trautmann M, Sacher J, eds. Unterrichtsentwicklung durch Videofeedback. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck &amp; Ruprecht; 2010: 11-26