Neuroreport
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Although a common pain response, whether swearing alters individuals' experience of pain has not been investigated. This study investigated whether swearing affects cold-pressor pain tolerance (the ability to withstand immersing the hand in icy water), pain perception and heart rate. In a repeated measures design, pain outcomes were assessed in participants asked to repeat a swear word versus a neutral word. ⋯ Swearing increased pain tolerance, increased heart rate and decreased perceived pain compared with not swearing. However, swearing did not increase pain tolerance in males with a tendency to catastrophise. The observed pain-lessening (hypoalgesic) effect may occur because swearing induces a fight-or-flight response and nullifies the link between fear of pain and pain perception.
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Multiple studies indicate that adenosine released in the basal forebrain during prolonged wakefulness could affect recovery sleep. It is still unclear which of adenosine receptors provide its sleep-modulating effects in the basal forebrain. ⋯ A1 receptor antagonist significantly reduced recovery sleep amount and delta power, whereas A2A receptor antagonist had no effect on recovery sleep. We conclude that adenosine can promote recovery non-REM sleep when acting through A1 receptors in the basal forebrain.
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This study examined the influence of emotion on time perception and its neural correlates by measuring event-related potentials. Participants were asked to discriminate a previously memorized 700 ms 'standard' duration from 490, 700 and 910 ms, which were presented by emotional and neutral faces. ⋯ In addition, under the emotional conditions, the P160 and P240 amplitudes were enhanced and the N230 amplitude was decreased. These findings suggest that temporal processing can be modulated by emotion, even within 200 ms of the stimulus onset, and that the attentional bias for emotion attenuates the cognitive resources for time perception.
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At present, only the corticosteroid, methylprednisolone, is used for acute spinal cord injury to improve function. However, improvements are modest, and are associated with myopathy and immunosuppression so that alternative treatments are needed. ⋯ Oxandrolone increased locomotor recovery concomitant with reduced loss of cord tissue in a standard weight drop model of spinal cord contusion injury indicating oxandrolone as a possible alternative to methylprednisolone. Oxandrolone also increased axonal sprouting within the ventral horns distal to the injury consistent with formation of relay circuits mediating locomotor recovery.
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We tested whether a conditioned emotional stimulus could facilitate visual processing when presented subliminally. Participants received Pavlovian conditioning in which a fearful expression (conditioned stimulus) was paired with electric finger shock (unconditioned stimulus). ⋯ Paralleling the brain activity, reaction times to the conditioned stimulus faces were also facilitated. These results suggest that conditioned threat stimuli can facilitate perceptual processing even when they are processed unconsciously.