Frontiers in psychology
-
Frontiers in psychology · Jan 2018
Negative Affectivity, Depression, and Resting Heart Rate Variability (HRV) as Possible Moderators of Endogenous Pain Modulation in Functional Somatic Syndromes.
Background: Several studies have shown that patients with functional somatic syndromes (FSS) have, on average, deficient endogenous pain modulation (EPM), as well as elevated levels of negative affectivity (NA) and high comorbidity with depression and reduced resting heart rate variability (HRV) compared to healthy controls (HC). The goals of this study were (1) to replicate these findings and (2) to investigate the moderating role of NA, depression, and resting HRV in EPM efficiency within a patient group with fibromyalgia and/or chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). Resting HRV was quantified as the root mean square of successive differences between inter-beat intervals (RMSSD) in rest, a vagally mediated time domain measure of HRV. ⋯ We did not manage to successfully replicate the counter-irritation effect in HC or FSS patients. Therefore, no valid conclusions on the association between RMSSD, depression, NA and EPM efficiency can be drawn from this study. Possible reasons for the lack of the counter-irritation effect are discussed.
-
Frontiers in psychology · Jan 2018
A Prospective Study of the Impact of Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation on EEG Correlates of Somatosensory Perception.
The (8-12 Hz) neocortical alpha rhythm is associated with shifts in attention across sensory systems, and is thought to represent a sensory gating mechanism for the inhibitory control of cortical processing. The present preliminary study sought to explore whether alpha frequency transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) could modulate endogenous alpha power in the somatosensory system, and whether the hypothesized modulation would causally impact perception of tactile stimuli at perceptual threshold. We combined electroencephalography (EEG) with simultaneous brief and intermittent tACS applied over primary somatosensory cortex at individuals' endogenous alpha frequency during a tactile detection task (n = 12 for EEG, n = 20 for behavior). ⋯ Computational neural modeling designed to simulate macroscale EEG signals supported the hypothesis that the emergence of this peak could reflect synaptic plasticity mechanisms induced by tACS. The primary lesson learned in this study, which commanded a small sample size, was that while our experimental paradigm provided some evidence of an influence of tACS on behavior and circuit dynamics, it was not sufficient to induce observable causal effects of tACS on EEG-measured alpha oscillations. We discuss limitations and suggest improvements that may help further delineate a causal influence of tACS on cortical dynamics and perception in future studies.
-
Frontiers in psychology · Jan 2018
Pain Mirrors: Neural Correlates of Observing Self or Others' Facial Expressions of Pain.
Facial expressions of pain are able to elicit empathy and adaptive behavioral responses in the observer. An influential theory posits that empathy relies on an affective mirror mechanism, according to which emotion recognition relies upon the internal simulation of motor and interoceptive states triggered by emotional stimuli. We tested this hypothesis comparing representations of self or others' expressions of pain in nineteen young healthy female volunteers by means of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). ⋯ ONP)] was found in a pre-defined region of aMCC known to be also active during noxious stimulation. These findings demonstrate that the observation of one's own and others' facial expressions share a largely common neural network, but self-related stimuli induce generally higher activations. In line with our hypothesis, selectively greater activity for self pain-related stimuli was found in aMCC, a medial-wall region critical for pain perception and recognition.
-
Frontiers in psychology · Jan 2018
Impact of Burnout on Organizational Outcomes, the Influence of Legal Demands: The Case of Ecuadorian Physicians.
Interest in burnout has developed extensively worldwide, but there is scarce the literature regarding the consequences that new legal demands have on burnout and on organizational outcomes in physicians. The global context of the medical profession has been characterized in the recent years by changes in the employment patterns, profound intensification of work, and increment of labor flexibility. In this context, the study aims to analyze the influence of burnout on organizational outcomes in physicians, depending on new legal demands perception in Ecuador. ⋯ The results indicated that the group of physicians who believed that the COIP affects them (Sample A) experienced a greater negative influence of cynicism on productivity than Sample B. Moreover, the lack of efficacy dimension had more positive influence on turnover in group that believed that the Criminal Code does not affect their practice. The study is unique because incorporated new legal demands to traditional relation burnout and organizational outcomes in physicians.
-
Frontiers in psychology · Jan 2018
Effects of Facial Expression and Facial Gender on Judgment of Trustworthiness: The Modulating Effect of Cooperative and Competitive Settings.
People often judge trustworthiness based on others' faces (e.g., facial expression and facial gender). However, it is unclear whether social context plays a moderating role in forming trustworthiness judgments. Based on the emotions as social information (EASI) model, differing contexts may impact the effect of facial expression; however, there is no evidence demonstrating that differing contexts will or will not influence the effect of facial gender. ⋯ These results suggest that in the process of judging facial trustworthiness, individuals' judgments are affected by both facial expression and facial gender. Furthermore, the effect of facial gender on facial trustworthiness judgments presents cross-situational stability, and the role of facial expression is influenced by the settings. These findings support and expand the EASI model.