1,721,089 research outputs found
Perceptually Visible but Emotionally Subliminal Stimuli to Improve Exposure Therapies
No full textSubliminal stimuli are gaining growing interest due to their capability to induce desensitization to pathologically feared (e.g., phobic) pictures without inducing exaggerated emotional reactions. However, unresolved methodological issues cast significant doubt on the reliability of these findings and their interpretation. The studies most robustly assessing stimulus detection found that ~30% of the supposed‐to‐be‐subliminal stimuli were, in fact, detected, suggesting that the beneficial effects attributed to subliminal stimuli may result from those actually seen. Nevertheless, a deeper analysis of the data underlying this misinterpretation unveils theoretical and clinical implications. Since the purpose of subliminal stimulation is to reduce the aversiveness of exposure therapies while maintaining their efficacy, researchers should measure the emotional relevance of supposed‐to‐be‐subliminal stimuli that are, in fact, detected. A distinction is needed between perceptually‐ and emotionally‐subliminal stimuli: the former is not consciously detected; the latter just fails to elicit emotional reactions. Emotionally‐subliminal stimuli could represent an intermediate step of exposure in addition to those involving perceptually subliminal or supraliminal stimuli. Importantly, emotionally subliminal stimuli could make patients able to sustain a conscious exposure to feared stimuli without exaggeratedly reacting to them: if confirmed by empirical data, this unexpected disconfirmation of patients’ beliefs could pave the way for successful therapy while increasing their self‐efficacy and compliance to treatment
Awareness of everyday effects of climate change: The climate change perceptual awareness scale (CCPAS)
No full textClimate change is intrinsically complex and demands a certain degree of abstraction. However, different individuals report a wide range and degree of tangible and sensory experiences of climate change. As perceptual and sensory awareness of climate change has important consequences for the promotion of sustainable behaviors, pro-climate policies, and clinical interventions for climate-related disorders such as climate anxiety, new specific tools are required: herein we detail the development of a psychometric measure of perceptual awareness of climate change, as well as provide evidence for its discriminant, convergent, and predictive validity for sustainable behaviors. The administration of this scale on a representative sample of the UK population (Study 1) yielded a 4-factor structure, with items measuring perception of temperature changes and those measuring perception of humidity changes loading on separate factors, and two additional factors identifying the awareness of own feelings and perception of media attention on climate change. A second administration (Study 2) to an independent sample gathered from the Italian population supports the reliability of this factorial structure. As the rising field of climate neuroscience starts to investigate the determinants of perceptions of climate change, this novel scale will allow assessing the perceptual features affecting awareness of climate change
Evolutionary Selection of Socially Sensitive Preferences in Random Matching Environments
No full textIn this paper we study the evolutionary selection of socially sensitive preferences in the context of reference interaction settings such as coordination failure and cooperation. We refer to a specific class of socially sensitive preferences in which players weigh additively their own material payoff against the opponent with either a positive or negative coefficient (λ-players). Preference evolution is guided by replicator dynamics in a context of perfect observability of preferences types and stochastic pairwise matching. We take an indirect evolutionary approach, that is, the selection mechanism operates on the actual material payoffs earned by players, so that any instance of socially sensitive preference can be thought of as instrumentally maintained. We find that the evolutionary viability of socially sensitive preferences basically depends on whether or not they cause a substantial improvement in the achievement of socially efficient outcomes with respect to the case where only self-serving or unconditionally focused preference orientations are observed. Our results suggest that moderate prosocial preference orientations are likely to emerge from social selection even in the absence of an intrinsic motivational drive, whereas extremely pro-social orientations as well as competitive and anti-social ones may need a stronger motivational base
PIAL ARTERIOLAR VASOMOTION CHANGES DURING CORTICAL ACTIVATION IN RATS
No full textThe oscillatory pattern of pial arterioles, i.e. vasomotion, has been described since early 1980s, but the impact of neural activation on such oscillations has never been formally examined. Sciatic nerve stimulation, a well characterized model for studying neurovascular coupling (NVC), leads to a neural activity-related increase of pial arteriolar diameter in the contralateral hindlimb somatosensory cortex. Exploiting such an experimental model, the aim of the present study was to explore vasomotion and its changes during NVC with a novel analytical approach. Indeed, to characterize oscillations, we evaluated the total spectral power in the range 0.02-2.00 Hz and subdivided this frequency interval into seven 50% overlapping frequency bands. Results indicated that only arterioles overlying the stimulated hindlimb cortex showed a significant increase of total power, unlike arterioles overlaying the whisker barrel cortex, used as control for the vascular response specificity. The total power increase was sustained mainly by marked increments in the low frequency range, with two peaks at 0.03 and 0.08 Hz, and by a wide increase in the high frequency range (0.60-2.00 Hz) in the averaged spectrum. These activity-related spectral changes suggest: (i) that it is possible to assess the vascular responses by using total power; (ii) the existence of at least three distinct mechanisms involved in the control of NVC, two with a feedback frequency loop in the low frequency range and another one in the high range; (iii) a potential involvement of vasomotion in NVC. Moreover, these findings highlight the oscillatory nature of the mechanisms controlling NVC
The neurophysiological basis of excessive daytime sleepiness: suggestions of an altered state of consciousness
Full text linkExcessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) is characterized by difficulty staying awake during daytime, though additional features may be present. EDS is a significant problem for clinical and non-clinical populations, being associated with a range of negative outcomes that also represent a burden for society. Extreme EDS is associated with sleep disorders, most notably the central hypersomnias such as narcolepsy, Kleine-Levin syndrome, and idiopathic hypersomnia (IH). Although investigation of these conditions indicates that EDS results from diminished sleep quality, the underlying cause for this impairment remains uncertain. One possibility could be that previous research has been too narrow in scope with insufficient attention paid to non-sleep-related aspects. Here, we offer a broader perspective in which findings concerning the impact of EDS on cortical functioning are interpreted in relation to current understanding about the neural basis of consciousness. Alterations in the spatial distribution of cortical activity, in particular reduced connectivity of frontal cortex, suggest that EDS is associated with an altered state of consciousness
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