Empathy, perspective taking and how the brain handles other minds.
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Qurʾān
القرآن6 shownVerses named for this subject by hand come first. The rest are found by the subject’s own Arabic and English senses and are shown as lexical matches, not as anchors anyone has confirmed.
Qur'ān 49:12Arabic sense: الظن, تجسسوا
يَٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ ٱجۡتَنِبُواْ كَثِيرࣰ ا مِّنَ ٱلظَّنِّ إِنَّ بَعۡضَ ٱلظَّنِّ إِثۡمࣱۖ وَلَا تَجَسَّسُواْ وَلَا يَغۡتَب بَّعۡضُكُم بَعۡضًاۚ أَيُحِبُّ أَحَدُكُمۡ أَن يَأۡكُلَ لَحۡمَ أَخِيهِ مَيۡتࣰ ا فَكَرِهۡتُمُوهُۚ وَٱتَّقُواْ ٱللَّهَۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ تَوَّابࣱ رَّحِيمࣱ
Believers, avoid making too many assumptions- some assumptions are sinful- and do not spy on one another or speak ill of people behind their backs: would any of you like to eat the flesh of your dead brother? No, you would hate it. So be mindful of God: God is ever relenting, most merciful
Qur'ān 2:235Arabic sense: يعلم ما في انفسكم
وَلَا جُنَاحَ عَلَيۡكُمۡ فِيمَا عَرَّضۡتُم بِهِۦ مِنۡ خِطۡبَةِ ٱلنِّسَآءِ أَوۡ أَكۡنَنتُمۡ فِيٓ أَنفُسِكُمۡۚ عَلِمَ ٱللَّهُ أَنَّكُمۡ سَتَذۡكُرُونَهُنَّ وَلَٰكِن لَّا تُوَاعِدُوهُنَّ سِرًّا إِلَّآ أَن تَقُولُواْ قَوۡلࣰ ا مَّعۡرُوفࣰ اۚ وَلَا تَعۡزِمُواْ عُقۡدَةَ ٱلنِّكَاحِ حَتَّىٰ يَبۡلُغَ ٱلۡكِتَٰبُ أَجَلَهُۥۚ وَٱعۡلَمُوٓاْ أَنَّ ٱللَّهَ يَعۡلَمُ مَا فِيٓ أَنفُسِكُمۡ فَٱحۡذَرُوهُۚ وَٱعۡلَمُوٓاْ أَنَّ ٱللَّهَ غَفُورٌ حَلِيمࣱ
You will not be blamed whether you give a hint that you wish to marry these women, or keep it to yourselves- God knows that you intend to propose to them. Do not make a secret arrangement with them; speak to them honourably and do not confirm the marriage tie until the prescribed period reaches its end. Remember that God knows what is in your souls, so be mindful of Him. Remember that God is most forgiving and forbearing
Qur'ān 3:119Arabic sense: بذات الصدور
هَٰٓأَنتُمۡ أُوْلَآءِ تُحِبُّونَهُمۡ وَلَا يُحِبُّونَكُمۡ وَتُؤۡمِنُونَ بِٱلۡكِتَٰبِ كُلِّهِۦ وَإِذَا لَقُوكُمۡ قَالُوٓاْ ءَامَنَّا وَإِذَا خَلَوۡاْ عَضُّواْ عَلَيۡكُمُ ٱلۡأَنَامِلَ مِنَ ٱلۡغَيۡظِۚ قُلۡ مُوتُواْ بِغَيۡظِكُمۡۗ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ عَلِيمُۢ بِذَاتِ ٱلصُّدُورِ
This is how it is: here you are, you love them, but they do not love you; you believe in all the Scriptures and when they meet you, they say, ‘We believe,’ but when they are alone, they bite their fingertips in rage at you. [Prophet], say, ‘Die of rage [if you wish]!’ God knows exactly what is in everyone’s hearts
Qur'ān 3:154Arabic sense: بذات الصدور
ثُمَّ أَنزَلَ عَلَيۡكُم مِّنۢ بَعۡدِ ٱلۡغَمِّ أَمَنَةࣰ نُّعَاسࣰ ا يَغۡشَىٰ طَآئِفَةࣰ مِّنكُمۡۖ وَطَآئِفَةࣱ قَدۡ أَهَمَّتۡهُمۡ أَنفُسُهُمۡ يَظُنُّونَ بِٱللَّهِ غَيۡرَ ٱلۡحَقِّ ظَنَّ ٱلۡجَٰهِلِيَّةِۖ يَقُولُونَ هَل لَّنَا مِنَ ٱلۡأَمۡرِ مِن شَيۡءࣲۗ قُلۡ إِنَّ ٱلۡأَمۡرَ كُلَّهُۥ لِلَّهِۗ يُخۡفُونَ فِيٓ أَنفُسِهِم مَّا لَا يُبۡدُونَ لَكَۖ يَقُولُونَ لَوۡ كَانَ لَنَا مِنَ ٱلۡأَمۡرِ شَيۡءࣱ مَّا قُتِلۡنَا هَٰهُنَاۗ قُل لَّوۡ كُنتُمۡ فِي بُيُوتِكُمۡ لَبَرَزَ ٱلَّذِينَ كُتِبَ عَلَيۡهِمُ ٱلۡقَتۡلُ إِلَىٰ مَضَاجِعِهِمۡۖ وَلِيَبۡتَلِيَ ٱللَّهُ مَا فِي صُدُورِكُمۡ وَلِيُمَحِّصَ مَا فِي قُلُوبِكُمۡۚ وَٱللَّهُ عَلِيمُۢ بِذَاتِ ٱلصُّدُورِ
After sorrow, He caused calm to descend upon you, a sleep that overtook some of you. Another group, caring only for themselves, entertained false thoughts about God, thoughts more appropriate to pagan ignorance, and said, ‘Do we get a say in any of this?’ [Prophet], tell them, ‘Everything to do with this affair is in God’s hands.’ They conceal in their hearts things they will not reveal to you. They say, ‘If we had had our say in this, none of us would have been killed here.’ Tell them, ‘Even if you had resolved to stay at home, those who were destined to be killed would still have gone out to meet their deaths.’ God did this in order to test everything within you and in order to prove what is in your hearts. God knows your innermost thoughts very well
Qur'ān 5:7Arabic sense: بذات الصدور
وَٱذۡكُرُواْ نِعۡمَةَ ٱللَّهِ عَلَيۡكُمۡ وَمِيثَٰقَهُ ٱلَّذِي وَاثَقَكُم بِهِۦٓ إِذۡ قُلۡتُمۡ سَمِعۡنَا وَأَطَعۡنَاۖ وَٱتَّقُواْ ٱللَّهَۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ عَلِيمُۢ بِذَاتِ ٱلصُّدُورِ
Remember God’s blessing on you and the pledge with which you were bound when you said, ‘We hear and we obey.’ Be mindful of God: God has full knowledge of the secrets of the heart
Qur'ān 8:43Arabic sense: بذات الصدور
إِذۡ يُرِيكَهُمُ ٱللَّهُ فِي مَنَامِكَ قَلِيلࣰ اۖ وَلَوۡ أَرَىٰكَهُمۡ كَثِيرࣰ ا لَّفَشِلۡتُمۡ وَلَتَنَٰزَعۡتُمۡ فِي ٱلۡأَمۡرِ وَلَٰكِنَّ ٱللَّهَ سَلَّمَۚ إِنَّهُۥ عَلِيمُۢ بِذَاتِ ٱلصُّدُورِ
[Prophet], remember when God made you see them in your sleep as few: if He had shown them to you [believers] as many, you would certainly have lost heart and argued about it, but God saved you. He knows the secrets of the heart
Tafsīr
التفسير6 shownCommentary on the verses above, at most two editions per verse.
en-al-jalalayn on 49:12en-al-jalalayncommentary on an ayah this subject surfaced
O you who believe shun much suspicion. Indeed some suspicions are sins that is to say it causes one to fall into sin. This suspicion may have many forms such as thinking ill of the good folk from among the believers — and such good folk are many — in contrast to the immoral individuals among them in whose case there is no sin so long as it the suspicion is in accordance with their outward behaviour. And do not spy tajassasū one of the two tā’ letters of tatajassasū has been omitted do not pursue the imperfections and faults of Muslims by searching them out; nor backbite one another do not speak of him by mentioning something which he is averse to having mentioned of himself even if it be true. Would any of you love to eat the flesh of his brother dead? read maytan or mayyitan. That is to say it would not be right for him to do so. You would abhor it. Thus to backbite him in life would be
en-tafisr-ibn-kathir on 49:12en-tafisr-ibn-kathircommentary on an ayah this subject surfaced
O you who believe! Avoid much suspicion; indeed some suspicion is sin. And spy not, neither backbite one another. Would one of you like to eat the flesh of his dead brother? You would hate it. And have Taqwa of Allah. Verily, Allah is the One Who forgives and accepts repentance, Most Merciful (12)
The Prohibition of Unfounded Suspicion
Allah the Exalted forbids His faithful servants from being suspicious, which includes having doubts and suspicions about the conduct of one's family, relatives and other people in general. Therefore, Muslims are to avoid suspicion without foundation. The Leader of the faithful 'Umar bin Al-Khattab said, "Never think ill of the word that comes out of your believing brother's mouth, as long as you can find a good excuse for it."
Malik recorded that Abu Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him, said that Allah's Messenger ﷺ said,
إِيَّاكُمْ وَالظَّنَّ فَإِ
en-asbab-al-nuzul-by-al-wahidi on 3:119en-asbab-al-nuzul-by-al-wahidicommentary on an ayah this subject surfaced
Ha! There you are: You love them, but they do not love you. The faithful had limpid hearts and generous natures, and they did not keep tenderness and mercy back from the estranged. They wanted good for them and attached their hearts to their submission. They wanted their salvation and did not hold back God's mercy from them-whether they were acquaintances or strangers. This kept on crossing their minds: Bring the sweetmeat, for it is the heart's beloved, suited for both the elect and the common. This is the same tenderness that MuḤammad showed to the estranged. He said, “O God, guide my people, for they do not know.” As for the unbelievers, those who had no limpidness in their hearts or loyalty in their natures, they never wanted good for the people of faith, nor did they love them. They grieved at the good that reached them and became happy at the bad. God says, “If something beautiful
en-al-jalalayn on 2:235en-al-jalalayncommentary on an ayah this subject surfaced
You would not be at fault regarding the proposal with the intention of marriage you present offer or hide in your hearts during the waiting period to women whose spouses have died such as men saying ‘How beautiful you are!’ or ‘Who could find one like you?’ or ‘How many a man must desire you!’. God knows that you will be mindful of them in proposing to them impatiently and so He has permitted you to make such offers; but do not make arrangements of marriage with them secretly unless you speak honourable words such as are acknowledged by the Law in other words such as proposals that which is permitted to you. And do not resolve on the knot the consummation of marriage until that which is written the period prescribed has reached its term and has been completed; and know that God knows what is in your souls of resolve or otherwise; so be fearful of Him that He should chastise you if you ha
en-tafisr-ibn-kathir on 2:235en-tafisr-ibn-kathircommentary on an ayah this subject surfaced
And there is no sin on you if you make a hint of betrothal or conceal it in yourself, Allah knows that you will remember them, but do not make a promise (of contract) with them in secret except that you speak an honorable saying. And do not be determined on the marriage bond until the term prescribed is fulfilled. And know that Allah knows what is in your minds, so fear Him. And know that Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Forbearing (235)
Mentioning Marriage indirectly during the 'Iddah
Allah said:
وَلَا جُنَاحَ عَلَيْكُمْ
(And there is no sin on you) meaning, to indirectly mention marriage to the widow during the term of 'Iddah for her deceased husband. Ath-Thawri, Shu'bah and Jarir stated that Ibn 'Abbas said:
وَلَا جُنَاحَ عَلَيْكُمْ فِيمَا عَرَّضْتُم بِهِ مِنْ خِطْبَةِ النِّسَاءِ
(And there is no sin on you if you make a hint of betrothal) "means saying, 'I want to marry and I am lo
en-al-jalalayn on 3:119en-al-jalalayncommentary on an ayah this subject surfaced
Lo hā ‘lo!’ is for calling attention to something there you are O believers you love them on account of their kinship and their pretence of friendship towards you but they love you not since they oppose you in religion; you believe in the Book all of it that is to say in the Books all of them but they do not believe in your Book and when they meet you they say ‘We believe’ but when they are alone they bite at you their fingertips in rage in extreme fury at what they see of your mutual affection the biting of the fingertips is used to figuratively express the severity of rage even if there be no biting involved. Say ‘Perish in your rage that is be this way until the end of your lives for you shall not see what will please you; God knows what is in the breasts’ what is in the hearts including that which these conceal.
Research library, full list
1826 to 1850 of 2,381Chronic cocaine exposure during pregnancy increases postpartum neuroendocrine stress responses.
The cycle of chronic cocaine (CC) use and withdrawal results in increased anxiety, depression and disrupted stress-responsiveness. Oxytocin and corticosterone (CORT) interact to mediate hormonal stress responses and can be altered by cocaine use. These neuroendocrine signals play important regulatory roles in a variety of social behaviours, specifically during the postpartum period, and are sensitive to disruption by CC exposure in both clinical settings and preclinical models. To determine whether CC exposure during pregnancy affected behavioural and hormonal stress response in the early postpartum period in a rodent model, Sprague-Dawley rats were administered cocaine daily (30 mg/kg) throughout gestation (days 1-20). Open field test (OFT) and forced swim test (FST) behaviours were measured on postpartum day 5. Plasma CORT concentrations were measured before and after testing throughou…
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The role of oxytocin and oxytocin receptor gene variants in childhood-onset aggression.
Aggressive antisocial behaviours are the most common reasons why adolescents are referred to mental health clinics. Antisocial behaviours are costly in social and financial terms. The aetiology of aggressive behaviours is unknown but growing evidence suggests it is heritable, and certain genetic variants have been implicated as contributing factors. The purpose of this study was to determine whether genes regulating the hormone oxytocin (OXT) were associated with aggressive antisocial behaviour. The case-control study sample consisted of 160 cases of children displaying extreme, persistent and pervasive aggressive behaviour. This case sample was compared with 160 adult controls. We used polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to determine the genotype for three oxytocin gene (OXT) single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs): rs3761248, rs4813625 and rs877172; and five oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR) SN…
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Oxytocin gene polymorphisms influence human dopaminergic function in a sex-dependent manner.
Background: Oxytocin, classically involved in social and reproductive activities, is increasingly recognized as an antinociceptive and anxiolytic agent, effects which may be mediated via oxytocin's interactions with the dopamine system. Thus, genetic variation within the oxytocin gene (OXT) is likely to explain variability in dopamine-related stress responses. As such, we examined how OXT variation is associated with stress-induced dopaminergic neurotransmission in a healthy human sample.
Methods: Fifty-five young healthy volunteers were scanned using [¹¹C]raclopride positron emission tomography while they underwent a standardized physical and emotional stressor that consisted of moderate levels of experimental sustained deep muscle pain, and a baseline, control state. Four haplotype tagging single nucleotide polymorphisms located in regions near OXT were genotyped. Measures of pain, aff…
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Donges US, Kugel H, Stuhrmann A, Grotegerd D, Redlich R, Lichev V, Rosenberg N, Ihme K, Suslow T, Dannlowski U (2012)MEDLINE-indexed journal, not yet read by usNeuroscience32 citations Adult attachment anxiety is associated with enhanced automatic neural response to positive facial expression.
According to social psychology models of adult attachment, a fundamental dimension of attachment is anxiety. Individuals who are high in attachment anxiety are motivated to achieve intimacy in relationships, but are mistrustful of others and their availability. Behavioral research has shown that anxiously attached persons are vigilant for emotional facial expression, but the neural substrates underlying this perceptual sensitivity remain largely unknown. In the present study functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to examine automatic brain reactivity to approach-related facial emotions as a function of attachment anxiety in a sample of 109 healthy adults. Pictures of sad and happy faces were presented masked by neutral faces. The Relationship Scales Questionnaire (RSQ) was used to assess attachment style. Attachment anxiety was correlated with depressivity, trait anxiety, and att…
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Deconstruction of a neural circuit for hunger.
Hunger is a complex behavioural state that elicits intense food seeking and consumption. These behaviours are rapidly recapitulated by activation of starvation-sensitive AGRP neurons, which present an entry point for reverse-engineering neural circuits for hunger. Here we mapped synaptic interactions of AGRP neurons with multiple cell populations in mice and probed the contribution of these distinct circuits to feeding behaviour using optogenetic and pharmacogenetic techniques. An inhibitory circuit with paraventricular hypothalamus (PVH) neurons substantially accounted for acute AGRP neuron-evoked eating, whereas two other prominent circuits were insufficient. Within the PVH, we found that AGRP neurons target and inhibit oxytocin neurons, a small population that is selectively lost in Prader-Willi syndrome, a condition involving insatiable hunger. By developing strategies for evaluating…
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Hypervigilance for fear after basolateral amygdala damage in humans.
Recent rodent research has shown that the basolateral amygdala (BLA) inhibits unconditioned, or innate, fear. It is, however, unknown whether the BLA acts in similar ways in humans. In a group of five subjects with a rare genetic syndrome, that is, Urbach-Wiethe disease (UWD), we used a combination of structural and functional neuroimaging, and established focal, bilateral BLA damage, while other amygdala sub-regions are functionally intact. We tested the translational hypothesis that these BLA-damaged UWD-subjects are hypervigilant to facial expressions of fear, which are prototypical innate threat cues in humans. Our data indeed repeatedly confirm fear hypervigilance in these UWD subjects. They show hypervigilant responses to unconsciously presented fearful faces in a modified Stroop task. They attend longer to the eyes of dynamically displayed fearful faces in an eye-tracked emotion r…
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Facial emotional processing in HIV infection: relation to neurocognitive and neuropsychiatric status.
Objective: To examine facial emotional processing in HIV+ individuals and its relation to neurocognitive performance, neuropsychiatric symptomatology and immune status.
Method: Participants included 85 HIV+ individuals (83 males, 2 females) and 25 age-comparable HIV- individuals (22 males, 3 females). Participants underwent The University of Pennsylvania computerized neuropsychological facial emotion test battery, standardized neuropsychological testing, neurobehavioral questionnaires, a semistructured psychiatric interview, and an assessment of independence in activities of daily living.
Results: Relative to HIV- controls, HIV+ individuals showed a mild difference for recognition of sadness (p = .02, d = 0.43), discrimination of happiness (p = .02, d = 0.52), and speed of recognition for fear (p = .04, d = 0.37). HIV+ individuals with HIV-associated neurocognitive disorder (HAND; 20%) h…
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Amygdala lesions disrupt modulation of functional MRI activity evoked by facial expression in the monkey inferior temporal cortex.
We previously showed that facial expressions modulate functional MRI activity in the face-processing regions of the macaque monkey’s amygdala and inferior temporal (IT) cortex. Specifically, we showed that faces expressing emotion yield greater activation than neutral faces; we term this difference the “valence effect.” We hypothesized that amygdala lesions would disrupt the valence effect by eliminating the modulatory feedback from the amygdala to the IT cortex. We compared the valence effects within the IT cortex in monkeys with excitotoxic amygdala lesions (n = 3) with those in intact control animals (n = 3) using contrast agent-based functional MRI at 3 T. Images of four distinct monkey facial expressions--neutral, aggressive (open mouth threat), fearful (fear grin), and appeasing (lip smack)--were presented to the subjects in a blocked design. Our results showed that in monkeys with…
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Low CSF oxytocin reflects high intent in suicide attempters.
Data from animal studies suggest that oxytocin is an important modulating neuropeptide in regulation of social interaction. One human study has reported a negative correlation between CSF oxytocin levels, life history of aggression and suicidal behaviour. We hypothesized that CSF oxytocin levels would be related to suicidal behaviour, suicide intent, lifetime interpersonal violence and suicide risk. 28 medication free suicide attempters and 19 healthy volunteers participated in this cross sectional and longitudinal study. CSF and plasma morning basal levels of oxytocin were assessed with specific radio-immunoassays. The Beck Suicide Intent Scale (SIS), the Freeman scale and the Karolinska Interpersonal Violence Scale (KIVS) were used to assess suicide intent and lifetime violent behaviour. All patients were followed up for cause of death. The mean follow-up was 21 years. Suicide attempte…
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Cognitive control moderates the association between stress and rumination.
Background and objectives: A prospective design was used to examine whether inter-individual differences in cognitive control ability, for non-emotional and emotional material, play a moderating role in the association between the occurrence of a stressful event and the tendency to ruminate.
Methods: At baseline, the Internal Switch Task (IST) was administered in an undergraduate sample to measure the ability to switch attention between items held in working memory. Six weeks after baseline, self-report questionnaires were administered at 4 fixed moments during their first examination period at university, measuring stressors, rumination and depressive symptoms.
Results: Results revealed that impaired cognitive control, reflected in larger switch costs, moderated the association between stress and increased rumination. Interestingly, a larger switch cost when processing emotional materia…
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Experience of stress in childhood negatively correlates with plasma oxytocin concentration in adult men.
Early life experience is known to affect responses to stress in adulthood. Adverse experience in childhood and/or adolescence sensitises to life events that precipitate depression in later life. Published evidence suggests a relationship between depression and oxytocin (OT), but the extent to which early life experience influences OT disposition in adulthood deserves further exploration. This study hypothesised that early life stress (ELS) has a long-term negative effect on OT system activity. The study was performed on 90 male volunteers (18-56 years; mean ± standard deviation = 27.7 ± 7.09 years). Several questionnaires were used to assess: health, early life stressful experiences in childhood (ELS-C, up to 12 years) and early life stressful adolescence (13-18 years), recent stressful life events, depressive symptoms, state-trait anxiety and social desirability. Plasma OT concentration…
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Reproductive experience affects parental retrieval behaviour associated with increased plasma oxytocin levels in wild-type and CD38-knockout mice.
The transition to motherhood results in a number of hormonal, neurological and behavioural changes necessary to ensure offspring growth. Once motherhood is established, further neurological and behavioural changes may result in long-term memory in mothering. Recent research has shown that postpartum motherhood enhances both nurturing behaviour and oxytocin activities. The transmembrane glycoprotein, CD38, is expressed on many neuronal cells and has been shown to play a role in social behaviours through stimulating the release of oxytocin in the hypothalamus. The present study was performed to investigate the effects of reproductive experience (primi- and multiparity, dams and sires) on the degree of parental behaviour, such as retrieval. Comparisons were performed between wild-type (Cd38 (+/+) ) and Cd38 knockout (Cd38 (-/-) ) mice of the ICR strain. Multiparous Cd38 (-/-) dams retrieved…
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Similarities and differences in perceiving threat from dynamic faces and bodies. An fMRI study.
Neuroscientific research on the perception of emotional signals has mainly focused on how the brain processes threat signals from photographs of facial expressions. Much less is known about body postures or about the processing of dynamic images. We undertook a systematic comparison of the neurofunctional network dedicated to processing facial and bodily expressions. Two functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiments investigated whether areas involved in processing social signals are activated differently by threatening signals (fear and anger) from facial or bodily expressions. The amygdala (AMG) was more active for facial than for bodily expressions. Body stimuli triggered higher activation than face stimuli in a number of areas. These were the cuneus, fusiform gyrus (FG), extrastriate body area (EBA), temporoparietal junction (TPJ), superior parietal lobule (SPL), primary s…
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Common abnormalities and disorder-specific compensation during implicit regulation of emotional processing in generalized anxiety and major depressive disorders.
Objective: Anxiety and depressive disorders are both associated with abnormalities in the processing and regulation of emotion. However, little is known about the similarities and differences between anxiety and depression at the neural level. The authors examined emotional conflict processing using a salient stimulus associated with observable and interpretable behavioral outcomes and with activation in limbic and prefrontal regions implicated in anxiety and depression.
Method: Thirty-two healthy comparison subjects, 18 patients with generalized anxiety disorder only, 14 patients with major depression only, and 25 patients with comorbid generalized anxiety disorder and major depression were studied using functional MRI while they performed an emotional conflict task that involved categorizing facial affect while ignoring overlaid affect label words. The authors used behavioral and neura…
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The effects of postnatal maternal depression and anxiety on the processing of infant faces.
Background: Postnatally depressed mothers have difficulties responding appropriately to their infants. The quality of the mother-child relationship depends on a mother's ability to respond to her infant's cues, which are largely non-verbal. Therefore, it is likely that difficulties in a mother's appraisal of her infants' facial expressions will affect the quality of mother-infant interaction. This study aimed to investigate the effects of postnatal depression and anxiety on the processing of infants' facial expressions.
Method: A total of 89 mothers, 34 with Generalised Anxiety Disorder, 21 with Major Depressive Disorder, and 34 controls, completed a 'morphed infants' faces task when their children were between 10 and 18 months.
Results: Overall, mothers were more likely to identify happy faces accurately and at lower intensity than sad faces. Depressed compared to control participants, …
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Changes in the intensity of maternal aggression and central oxytocin and vasopressin V1a receptors across the peripartum period in the rat.
Maternal aggressive behaviour, which protects the offspring from harm, is one component of maternal behaviour. Not only maternal aggression, but also maternal care and social behaviour in general, is regulated by the brain oxytocin (OXT) and vasopressin (AVP) systems. In the present study, we quantified the intensity of maternal aggression using the maternal defence test at key time points throughout pregnancy, parturition and lactation. Furthermore, we quantified changes in central OXT and arginine AVP V1a receptor (V1a-R) binding in brain regions known to be important in regulating maternal aggression, aiming to investigate whether central changes coincide with the intensity of this behaviour. The intensity of aggression was found to dramatically change over the peripartum period, with its first appearance on the day before parturition. Aggression intensity fell immediately after partu…
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Evidence for a general face salience signal in human amygdala.
In the social neuroscience of face processing, multiple roles are attributed to amygdala: signalling of fear/threat-stimuli, of emotional expression, and general salience. The current study aimed at a direct comparison of amygdala activation attributable to these conditions by contrasting amygdala responses to matched emotional (threatening and non-threatening) and of non-emotional salient faces in a visual search paradigm using cartoon faces. Participants (21 healthy volunteers) had to detect a target face (angry, happy, blue, red, differing in the exact same features) in an array of closely matched non-target faces. Behavioural results revealed a pop-out effect for all targets compared to non-targets, indicating that they were all salient, independently of being emotional or non-emotional. While significant amygdala activation was obtained for all trials with salient faces (compared to…
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Components of interference control predict depressive symptoms and rumination cross-sectionally and at six months follow-up.
Recent research has shown that depression is characterized by difficulties inhibiting irrelevant emotional material and that these difficulties are linked to rumination. The present study examined the relation among tasks that assess different aspects of interference control, depressive symptoms, and rumination, cross-sectionally and in a 6-months follow-up. 111 participants completed an emotional flanker task to assess individual differences in resolving interference from simultaneously presented irrelevant stimuli. In addition, participants completed two negative affective priming tasks using word and face stimuli to assess difficulty controlling interference from internal representations of previously rejected material. Six months after the initial session, depressive symptoms and rumination were re-assessed. Depressive symptoms at time 1 were related to individual differences in nega…
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CD 38 expression, attachment style and habituation of arousal in relation to trust-related oxytocin release.
Oxytocin plays an important role in human attachment, trust, social perception, memory, and fear regulation. Evidence suggests that CD38, a regulator of oxytocin release, may also be critical in these processes. The purpose of this study was to investigate the predictors of plasma oxytocin level measured after a task requiring intimate trust (secret sharing), modeling psychotherapeutic processes, and a neutral social interaction. Results revealed that peripheral CD38 expression positively predicted both trust-related and trust-unrelated oxytocin levels. In addition, habituation of arousal, as measured by skin conductance response, and attachment anxiety also emerged as predictors of oxytocin level in the trust-related condition. These results suggest that CD38 plays a general role in oxytocin secretion, whereas habituation of arousal and attachment anxiety are specifically related to sit…
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Oxytocin increases autonomic cardiac control: moderation by loneliness.
The current study examined the role of perceived social isolation in moderating the effects of oxytocin on cardiac autonomic control in humans. Intranasal administration of 20 IU oxytocin resulted in a significant increase in autonomic (parasympathetic and sympathetic) cardiac control. Specifically, oxytocin increased high frequency heart rate variability, a relatively pure measure of parasympathetic cardiac control, and decreased pre-ejection period, a well-validated marker of enhanced sympathetic cardiac control. Derived metrics of autonomic co-activity and reciprocity revealed that oxytocin significantly increased overall autonomic cardiac control. Furthermore, the effects of oxytocin on cardiac autonomic control were significantly associated with loneliness ratings. Higher levels of loneliness were associated with diminished parasympathetic cardiac reactivity to intranasal oxytocin. …
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El Khoury-Malhame M, Reynaud E, Soriano A, Michael K, Salgado-Pineda P, Zendjidjian X, Gellato C, Eric F, Lefebvre MN, Rouby F, Samuelian JC, Anton JL, Blin O, Khalfa S (2011)MEDLINE-indexed journal, not yet read by usNeuropsychologia65 citations Amygdala activity correlates with attentional bias in PTSD.
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is an anxiety disorder arising in the aftermath of a traumatic event. The most prevalent hypothesis is that of an increased amygdala activity to threat cues. The amygdala has also shown an implication in orienting attention toward threat. The aim of the study was to explore the correlations between amygdala activity, symptom severity and attentional bias in PTSD. Patients and healthy controls were assayed on an fMRI emotional face matching task and an attentional detection of target (DOT) task. The amygdala showed enhanced activity in PTSD (vs. controls). It positively correlated with anxiety scores and PTSD symptomatology. It also positively correlated with the disengagement index. Mostly, these results provide preliminary support for an implication of the amygdala in attention orientation to threat in PTSD. These results are further discussed in li…
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Experimental peripheral administration of oxytocin elevates a suite of cooperative behaviours in a wild social mammal.
The evolution and expression of different forms of cooperative behaviour (e.g. feeding, guarding, sentinel duties, etc.) are usually studied independently, with few studies considering them as a single syndrome. However, studies investigating individuals' investment across a suite of different behaviours reveal that they are correlated, suggesting a single mechanism determining the evolution and expression of cooperative behaviours. A hormonal mechanism could achieve this, and one possibility is oxytocin (OT), which affects several prosocial or alloparental behaviours independently. We show, using a double-blind experiment, that peripheral administration of OT to social, free-living meerkats Suricata suricatta elevates a suite of cooperative behaviours. Treated individuals increase their contributions to communal, cooperative activities (digging, guarding, pup-feeding and associating wit…
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Cognitive reappraisal and acceptance: an experimental comparison of two emotion regulation strategies.
The purpose of the present study was to compare the effect of cognitive reappraisal and acceptance on subjective distress, physiological reactions and behavioral avoidance in relation to aversive emotional states elicited by film-clips. Ninety-four participants were randomized to one of three groups. The Reappraisal group was instructed to think about what they saw in a way that minimized negative emotional reactions, the Acceptance group was told to let their feelings come and go without trying to control or avoid them, while the Watch (control) group was told just to watch the film-clips. Compared to the control condition, both reappraisal and acceptance led to significant reductions of subjective distress, physiological reactions associated with aversive emotions and behavioral avoidance. On the three types of measures there were few significant differences between the Reappraisal and…
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Actively paranoid patients with schizophrenia over attribute anger to neutral faces.
Previous investigations of the influence of paranoia on facial affect recognition in schizophrenia have been inconclusive as some studies demonstrate better performance for paranoid relative to non-paranoid patients and others show that paranoid patients display greater impairments. These studies have been limited by small sample sizes and inconsistencies in the criteria used to define groups. Here, we utilized an established emotion recognition task and a large sample to examine differential performance in emotion recognition ability between patients who were actively paranoid (AP) and those who were not actively paranoid (NAP). Accuracy and error patterns on the Penn Emotion Recognition test (ER40) were examined in 132 patients (64 NAP and 68 AP). Groups were defined based on the presence of paranoid ideation at the time of testing rather than diagnostic subtype. AP and NAP patients di…
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Chronic icv oxytocin attenuates the pathological high anxiety state of selectively bred Wistar rats.
Central oxytocin (OXT) has been shown to promote numerous social behaviours, to attenuate hormonal stress responsiveness of the HPA axis and to decrease anxiety. Wistar rats selectively bred for high (HAB) and low (LAB) anxiety-related behaviour, respectively, have been shown to represent a suitable animal model to study the underlying aetiology of psychopathologies like anxiety- and depression-related disorders. The goal of the present studies was to assess the effects of central OXT on anxiety- and depression-related behaviour in male and female HAB and LAB rats. Acute icv OXT (1 microg) or OXT receptor antagonist (OXT-A; 0.75 microg) administration did not affect anxiety-related behaviour in male or female HAB and LAB rats as assessed in the light-dark box. In contrast, chronic icv OXT infusion (10 ng/h; 6 d) attenuated the high level of anxiety-related behaviour in female, but not ma…
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