Subjects: Psychology >> Developmental Psychology submitted time 2024-04-09
Abstract： Anxiety disorders reach their peak prevalence during adolescence, significantly impacting young individuals’ physical and mental health. Current insights into the pathogenesis, evolution, and treatment of adolescent anxiety predominantly focus on fear processing at a conscious level, overlooking a crucial aspect: the prefrontal cortex and its top-down control functions are not yet fully developed in adolescents. Therefore, applying a top-down mechanism to clinical treatment for adolescents may have limitations. Moreover, exploring automatic fear processing may help to extend the knowledge about the pathogenesis of anxiety in adolescents. This is the first research combined with unconscious perception to explore the occurrence, development, and mechanism of anxiety in adolescents. Recruiting adolescents who are in anxiety or vulnerable to anxiety as subjects and integrating paradigms used for examining unconsciousness, we aim to explore: 1) the occurrence and development of unconscious fear processing, along with its underlying neural mechanisms in adolescents, and the impact of chronic stress hormones; 2) the role of unconscious fear processing in the development of anxiety in adolescents; 3) the noninvasive intervention for unconscious fear in adolescents.This project will provide scientific support for the prevention, recognition, and intervention of anxiety in adolescents and to promote all-round development of adolescents in physical and mental.
Subjects: Psychology >> Developmental Psychology submitted time 2023-03-28 Cooperative journals: 《心理科学进展》
Abstract： Fear generalization is a phenomenon that conditioned fear responses extended to safe stimuli which shares perceptual similarity with threat stimuli. Moderate fear generalization is beneficial for human survival, but excessive fear generalization leads to maladaptation to environment. Rules that underlie fear generalization have been investigated by related researches based on perception, and been widely applied to studies in various domains. This paper reviews the study of the generalization of fear based on perception. Here, we begin with Pavlovian fear conditioning and the gradient of fear generalization, which lays the foundation for theoretical approaches used today. Then we review the research of fear generalization based on perception in multiple sensory channels (i.e., visual, auditory, context). Third, we summarize the neural circuits of fear generalization which involve hippocampus, amygdala, insula, and prefrontal cortex. Last but not least, we briefly clarify the difference between perception-based and concept-based fear generalization which receive increased interests. Further studies should extend this work in many ways, such as combining concepts-based fear generalization, using Just-Noticeable-Difference Threshold to ensure that the generalization stimuli can actually be discriminated, increasing the explicitness and divisity of stimuli, as well as applping hormonesand multi-modal data analysis methods.
Subjects: Psychology >> Developmental Psychology submitted time 2023-03-28 Cooperative journals: 《心理科学进展》
Abstract： The ability of recognizing ambiguous expressions is proposed to be a generally used social skill, which plays a crucial role in human social interaction. Emotion context information as a main factor which affects ambiguous expression recognition, including text description, emotional expression, color background, olfactory signal and personality factors, were reviewed in this paper. We aim to reveal the mechanisms underlying the process of ambiguous expression which was influenced by emotion context information. In the future research, the following topics should be considered: highlighting the dominant research status of ambiguous expression, defining emotional context information clearly, exploring new research paradigms and identifying brain regions that affect the transfer of valance, in order to broaden the research field of ambiguous expression recognition.
Subjects: Psychology >> Social Psychology submitted time 2023-03-28 Cooperative journals: 《心理科学进展》
Abstract： Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) comprises symptoms including social communication deficits and unusual repetitive and restrictive sensory-motor behaviors. Social motivation deficits play a central role in ASD social function impairment, which has been proposed in the social motivation theory. Social motivation may be parsed into four components, including social orienting and social reward (seeking and liking), social reward learning, and social maintenance. Previous studies emphasized the necessity of exploring its components systematically and structurally. However, research on early age children with ASD is rare. Objective hallmarks of the social motivation theory of autism and exploring interventions based on it are limited. To produce robust behavioral hallmarks and uncover its brain mechanisms, in the current study we will explore social motivation theory’s components and the relationship among them and develop effective intervention methods. Study 1 we will apply an experimental design to explore early neural and atypical eye movements brain bio-markers using social reward and orienting paradigms by means of eye-tracking and functional near-infrared spectroscopy tools. Ninety ASD and typically developing children will be recruited. Then, based on valid markers detected in Study 1, we will investigate the effect of a social reward-based learning strategy in Study 2 to determine whether it is helpful to strengthen social rewards and other components’ functions, and to improve the relationships among them. Ninety children with ASD will be recruited for Study 2. Forty-five children will undergo Gaze-Contingent Music Reward Therapy (12 weeks). The other 45 will perform a non-rewarding music listening control task. All participants in Study 2 will be evaluated for valid social rewards and social orienting from Study 1 and an assessment of social maintenance before and after the interventions. Thus, the findings may detect unusual hallmarks based on social motivation theory and identify treatment strategies to enhance social motivational processing.
Subjects: Psychology >> Social Psychology submitted time 2023-03-28 Cooperative journals: 《心理科学进展》
Abstract： Sleep problems may induce fear-related mood disorders such as anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and phobias, among others. Studying the cognitive cognitive and neural mechanisms involved in the relationship between sleep problems and fear learning can help enhance the prediction, diagnosis, and treatment of fear-related mood disorders. Previous studies have shown that sleep deprivation affects fear acquisition mainly by inhibiting the activity of the ventral medial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and blocking its functional connections with the amygdala, resulting in impaired safe learning that fails to inhibit fear of threatening stimuli, thus enhancing fear acquisition. In contrast, sleep deprivation during the fear memory consolidation phase impairs the activity of the amygdala and hippocampus, thereby impairing fear memory. On the other hand, sleep deprivation during the extinction learning phase results in delayed activation of brain regions associated with extinction learning, which in turn impairs fear extinction memory. Further studies have reported that different stages of sleep have distinct effects on brain regions associated with fear learning; in particular, rapid eye movement (REM) sleep deprivation (insufficient) and complete sleep deprivation have similar effects on the cognitive and neural mechanisms of fear learning. Deprivation of REM sleep suppresses vmPFC activity, enhances amygdala activation, and thus enhances fear acquisition. In addition, reduced functional connectivity in the limbic cortex disrupts fear memory consolidation. Deprivation of REM sleep after extinction learning phase increases amygdala, insula, and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) activity and diminishes mPFC, thereby impairing extinction memory. Therefore, after clinical treatment, quality of sleep, particularly REM sleep, should be ensured at night. In addition to reinforcing recently acquired memories, REM sleep is involved in integrating new information into existing knowledge structures, reorganizing these structures, and generalizing recently acquired memories; therefore, improving REM sleep can promote fading retention and generalization. In contrast, the slow-wave sleep (SWS) stage facilitates fear extinction learning through target memory reactivation, which allows the hippocampus to re-code threatening stimuli and accelerate the consolidation of new safety information in the amygdala. During the SWS stage, participants are not conscious and therefore do not have to directly face the threatening stimulus, thus avoiding some of the drawbacks of traditional extinction therapy applied during wakefulness for patients with fear-related mood disorders, such as anxiety disorders and (PTSD). Clinically relevant studies have found that individuals with insomnia also exhibit delayed activation of the fear extinction brain regions, with related activation occurring only during extinction recall. At the same time, individuals with insomnia have stronger learned fear which causes their insomnia and can easily develop into pathological anxiety or PTSD. Furthermore, sleep immediately following exposure therapy can optimize the therapeutic effect and may even promote extinction generalization; therefore, sleep should be used in combination with traditional exposure therapy. Future research should be conducted to further the study of the neural mechanisms by which sleep affects fear generalization and the effect of circadian rhythm disruption on fear extinction, as well as clarifying the problems in the translation of animal sleep studies to human sleep studies.
Subjects: Psychology >> Social Psychology submitted time 2023-03-28 Cooperative journals: 《心理科学进展》
Abstract： Pain and reward are two basic motivational factors that regulate human perception and behavior, and can provide individuals with different behavioral motivations and subjective value experiences. Both pain avoidance sand reward seeking are essential for survival. Pain can be categorized into acute and chronic pain, and reward can be differentiated into a motivational component in the anticipatory phase and a hedonic component in the experiential phase. Acute pain increases the motivational component of reward and increases or decreases the hedonic component of reward, whereas chronic pain decreases the motivational component of reward and, and generally, decreases the hedonic component of reward.The neural mechanisms by which pain affects reward are mainly related to changes in the dopamine and opioid systems and neural activity in the medial prefrontal cortex(mPFC). Acute pain affects reward processing through neural mechanisms related to increased dopamine release, functional changes in the opioid system, and modulation of the mPFC. On the other hand, chronic pain leads to abnormal changes in the dopamine system, opioid system, and functional connectivity of the mPFC -voxel nucleus in the reward circuit, and reduces activation of brain regions associated with reward processing. These changes in neural mechanisms suggest that adaptive changes in reward circuits based on pain experience can predict the chronicity of pain. Further analysis revealed that the different effects of acute and chronic pain on reward processing are due to the following four factors: First, different symptom expressions in acute and chronic pain; second, different activities of the dopamine and opioid systems in acute and chronic pain; third, different mechanisms of neural activity in the neural in acute and chronic pain; and fourth, different mechanisms of reward processing in acute and chronic pain caused. In acute pain conditions, activation of brain regions that overlap with reward circuits is enhanced, thereby enhancing the motivational and hedonic components of reward processing; in chronic pain conditions, activation of these brain regions is abnormal, reducing the motivational and hedonic components of reward processing. Owing to the inconsistencies between current findings and previous studies, many issues should be addressed and resolved in the future: First, the issue of reproducibility of studies and comparability of results must/should be addressed by standardizing the relevant experimental operations and using uniform experimental paradigms and measures. Second, the immediate neural activity changes in the neural corresponding with the effects of acute pain and chronic pain on reward processing can be further explored. Next, the differences between acute pain and chronic pain can be examined, and based on these differences, the question of whether different types of chronic pain have different effects on reward processing and different changes in reward processing circuits can be investigated, the effects of different types of chronic pain on reward processing neural circuits can be measured separately, and the transition from acute pain to chronic pain can be prevented. Finally, the effects of different types of chronic pain on reward processing can be explored based on the co-morbidity of chronic pain and mood disorders, and further, the effects of different types of chronic pain on reward processing can be explored. Based on this, the relationship between different degrees of deficits, different types of chronic pain, and mood disorders should be clarified.
Subjects: Psychology >> Social Psychology submitted time 2023-03-28 Cooperative journals: 《心理科学进展》
Abstract： With the development of data-collection technics and increasing complexity of study designs, nested data widely exists in psychological research. Linear mixed-effects models, unfortunately with an unreasonable hypothesis that the residual variances are homogenous, are generally used in nested data analysis. Meanwhile, Mixed-Effects Location-Scale Models (MELSM) has become more and more popular, because they can handle heterogenous residual variances and are able to add predictors for the two substructures (i.e., mean structure denoted as location model and variance structure denoted as scale model) in different levels. MELSM can avoid estimation bias due to inappropriate assumptions of homogenous variance and explore the relationship among traits and simultaneously investigate the inter- and intra-individual variability, as well as their explanatory variables. This study, aims at developing the methods of model construction and sample size planning for MELSM, using simulated studies and empirical studies. In detail, the main contents of this project are as follows. Study 1 focuses on comparing and selecting candidate models based on Bayesian fit indices to construct MELSM, taking into consideration the estimated method for complicated models. We propose that model selection for location model and scale model can be completed sequentially. Study 2 explores the method of sample size planning for MELSM, according to both power analysis (based on Monte Carlo simulation) and the accuracy in parameter estimation analysis (based on the credible interval of the posterior distribution). Adequate sample size is required for both the power and the accuracy in parameter estimation. Study 3 extends the sample size planning method for MELSM to better frame the considerations of uncertainty. By specifying the prior distribution of effect sizes, repeating sampling and selecting model based on the robust Bayesian fit index suggested by Study 1, three main sources of uncertainty can be well controlled: the uncertainty due to unknown population effect size, sampling variability and model approximation. With the simulated study results, we are able to provide reliable Bayesian fit indices for MELSM construction, and summary the process of sample size planning for MELSM in both determinate and uncertain situations. Moreover, Study 4 illustrates the application of MELSM in two empirical psychological studies and verifies the operability of the conclusions of the simulated studies in practice. The unique contribution of this paper is to further promote the methods of model construction and sample size planning for MELSM, as well as provide methodological foundation for researchers. In addition, we plan to integrate the functions above to develop a user-friendly R package for MELSM and provide a basis for promotion and application of MELSM, which help researchers make sample size planning, model construction and parameter estimation for MELSM easily, according to their specification. If these statistical models are widely implemented, the reproducibility and replicability of psychological studies will be enhanced finally.
Subjects: Psychology >> Social Psychology submitted time 2023-03-27 Cooperative journals: 《心理学报》
Abstract： Previous studies found attention bias towards an infant’s face among parents and non-parents. Ethologist Konrad Lorenz proposed the concept of “baby schema,” indicating that the rapid reaction towards an infant’s information is an innate releasing mechanism. The follow-up research found that the attention bias effect was affected by individual differences, such as gender, characteristics, hormones, etc. However, little is known about an infant’s facial features and the impact of those features on the attention bias. This study investigates the influence of cuteness and familiarity on the attention bias effect towards an infant’s face. A 2 (cuteness：high cuteness, low cuteness) × 2 (familiarity: high familiarity, low familiarity) within subject design was used in this study. Before the formal experiment, according to 31 participants’ rating of cuteness after pictures of infants’ face with high and low cuteness were shown. The familiarity of faces was manipulated by infant face learning. There were 35 participants in our formal experiment and each participant completed 3 parts: infant facial images learning and recognition task, dot probe task, and rating task. This study used eye-movement tracking and subjective ratings to investigate the influence of cuteness and familiarity of infant’s faces on the preference/ attention bias effect towards an infant’s face by comparing the attention bias indexes under four conditions in the dot probe task. The dot-probe task indicated that compared to adult’s faces, participants reacted quicker when the target was presented at the same location with an infant’s face. The reaction time bias under the high-cuteness infant face condition was stronger than the low-cuteness infant face condition. The eye-movement tracking results showed that participants preferred looking at the high-cuteness infant faces, indicating first fixation duration bias and the total gaze duration bias. However, there was no significant difference in the direction of eye movement and first fixation latency bias. These results implied an attention maintenance pattern for high- cuteness infant faces. Furthermore, this pattern only existed under the low-familiarity condition. The attention bias effect between high and low-cuteness infant faces was not significantly different under the high-familiarity condition. For the rating of cuteness, infant faces with high-familiarity were rated as cuter than the low-familiarity infant faces, regardless of their cuteness. In conclusion, our experiment identified that the cuteness of infants’ face influences the effect of attention bias towards an infant’s face under the low-familiarity condition. Regarding the preferences, there may be a dissociative situation between subjective rating and gazing behavior.
Subjects: Psychology >> Social Psychology submitted time 2023-03-27 Cooperative journals: 《心理学报》
Abstract： Self-compassion is the tendency to care for and understand oneself, and cultivating this behavior is considered a promising cognitive treatment for anxiety disorders. However, the underlying mechanism of how self-compassion reduces anxiety remains unknown. Given the central role of fear extinction-based exposure therapy for the treatment of anxiety, studying how self-compassion affects fear extinction may help elucidate the underlying mechanisms. Previous studies have found that writing can be an effective way to promote self-compassion and emotional regulation. Thus, this study aimed to test the impact of self-compassion writing on fear extinction. This study contained 56 healthy effective participants, who were randomly assigned into self-compassion and control writing groups. The experimental process included five phases: pre-conditioning, negative event writing, fear conditioning, self-compassion writing, and fear extinction. All the participants completed the Self-Compassion Scale (SCS), the Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS), and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) before and after the experiment. The PANAS was also assessed immediately after the negative event writing phase to assess the effectiveness of manipulation. Participants were asked to write about an adverse event that made them feel bad about themselves during the negative writing phase. The self-compassion group was guided to respond to three prompts that focus on self-kindness, common humanity, and mindfulness. The control group was asked to write about their daily routines in a factual and unemotional manner. The shock expectancy ratings and skin conductance response (SCR) were recorded as the index of extinction learning. Three-way repeated measure ANOVA was conducted to examine the between-group differences in ratings and SCR across time extinction learning, with writing condition as the between-subject variable (self-compassion, control), and stimuli type (conditioned danger stimuli [CS+], conditioned safe stimuli [CS−]) and extinction phase (early, late) as within-subject variables. The results showed that the writing of negative events successfully reduced the positive affect (PA) of participants. There was no group difference during the fear conditioning phase and all participants successfully acquired fear. After writing intervention, the negative affect (NA) was significantly reduced in both groups. However, compared to the control group, the self-compassion group showed lower shock expectancy ratings in response to danger (CS+) and safety (CS−) cues during both early and late extinction. The SCR results showed that early extinction induced lower response than late extinction in the self-compassion group. Overall, the results demonstrate that self-compassion may promote fear extinction by regulating the response to both danger and safety cues. To our knowledge, this is the first study that uses the fear extinction model to test how self-compassion intervention can influence fear processing. Our results expand our understanding into the psychological and physiological mechanism of how self-compassion can reduce anxiety-related symptoms. These findings have several implications. First, self-compassion writing intervention is independent of control writing as a method to cope with threats. Second, compared to PANAS, shock expectancy ratings might be a sensitive indicator to characterize the effect of self-compassion intervention on anxiety-related symptoms. Finally, self-compassion might could be a reasonable strategy to counter enhanced response to danger cues and inhibited fear response to safety cues.
submitted time 2023-03-25 Cooperative journals: 《心理科学进展》
Abstract： Sleep problems may induce fear-related mood disorders such as anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and phobias, among others. Studying the cognitive cognitive and neural mechanisms involved in the relationship between sleep problems and fear learning can help enhance the prediction, diagnosis, and treatment of fear-related mood disorders. Previous studies have shown that sleep deprivation affects fear acquisition mainly by inhibiting the activity of the ventral medial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and blocking its functional connections with the amygdala, resulting in impaired safe learning that fails to inhibit fear of threatening stimuli, thus enhancing fear acquisition. In contrast, sleep deprivation during the fear memory consolidation phase impairs the activity of the amygdala and hippocampus, thereby impairing fear memory. On the other hand, sleep deprivation during the extinction learning phase results in delayed activation of brain regions associated with extinction learning, which in turn impairs fear extinction memory. Further studies have reported that different stages of sleep have distinct effects on brain regions associated with fear learning; in particular, rapid eye movement (REM) sleep deprivation (insufficient) and complete sleep deprivation have similar effects on the cognitive and neural mechanisms of fear learning. Deprivation of REM sleep suppresses vmPFC activity, enhances amygdala activation, and thus enhances fear acquisition. In addition, reduced functional connectivity in the limbic cortex disrupts fear memory consolidation. Deprivation of REM sleep after extinction learning phase increases amygdala, insula, and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) activity and diminishes mPFC, thereby impairing extinction memory. Therefore, after clinical treatment, quality of sleep, particularly REM sleep, should be ensured at night. In addition to reinforcing recently acquired memories, REM sleep is involved in integrating new information into existing knowledge structures, reorganizing these structures, and generalizing recently acquired memories; therefore, improving REM sleep can promote fading retention and generalization. In contrast, the slow-wave sleep (SWS) stage facilitates fear extinction learning through target memory reactivation, which allows the hippocampus to re-code threatening stimuli and accelerate the consolidation of new safety information in the amygdala. During the SWS stage, participants are not conscious and therefore do not have to directly face the threatening stimulus, thus avoiding some of the drawbacks of traditional extinction therapy applied during wakefulness for patients with fear-related mood disorders, such as anxiety disorders and (PTSD). Clinically relevant studies have found that individuals with insomnia also exhibit delayed activation of the fear extinction brain regions, with related activation occurring only during extinction recall. At the same time, individuals with insomnia have stronger learned fear which causes their insomnia and can easily develop into pathological anxiety or PTSD. Furthermore, sleep immediately following exposure therapy can optimize the therapeutic effect and may even promote extinction generalization; therefore, sleep should be used in combination with traditional exposure therapy. Future research should be conducted to further the study of the neural mechanisms by which sleep affects fear generalization and the effect of circadian rhythm disruption on fear extinction, as well as clarifying the problems in the translation of animal sleep studies to human sleep studies.
submitted time 2023-03-25 Cooperative journals: 《心理科学进展》
Abstract： With the development of data-collection technics and increasing complexity of study designs, nested data widely exists in psychological research. Linear mixed-effects models, unfortunately with an unreasonable hypothesis that the residual variances are homogenous, are generally used in nested data analysis. Meanwhile, Mixed-Effects Location-Scale Models (MELSM) has become more and more popular, because they can handle heterogenous residual variances and are able to add predictors for the two substructures (i.e., mean structure denoted as location model and variance structure denoted as scale model) in different levels. MELSM can avoid estimation bias due to inappropriate assumptions of homogenous variance and explore the relationship among traits and simultaneously investigate the inter- and intra-individual variability, as well as their explanatory variables. This study, aims at developing the methods of model construction and sample size planning for MELSM, using simulated studies and empirical studies. In detail, the main contents of this project are as follows. Study 1 focuses on comparing and selecting candidate models based on Bayesian fit indices to construct MELSM, taking into consideration the estimated method for complicated models. We propose that model selection for location model and scale model can be completed sequentially. Study 2 explores the method of sample size planning for MELSM, according to both power analysis (based on Monte Carlo simulation) and the accuracy in parameter estimation analysis (based on the credible interval of the posterior distribution). Adequate sample size is required for both the power and the accuracy in parameter estimation. Study 3 extends the sample size planning method for MELSM to better frame the considerations of uncertainty. By specifying the prior distribution of effect sizes, repeating sampling and selecting model based on the robust Bayesian fit index suggested by Study 1, three main sources of uncertainty can be well controlled: the uncertainty due to unknown population effect size, sampling variability and model approximation. With the simulated study results, we are able to provide reliable Bayesian fit indices for MELSM construction, and summary the process of sample size planning for MELSM in both determinate and uncertain situations. Moreover, Study 4 illustrates the application of MELSM in two empirical psychological studies and verifies the operability of the conclusions of the simulated studies in practice. The unique contribution of this paper is to further promote the methods of model construction and sample size planning for MELSM, as well as provide methodological foundation for researchers. In addition, we plan to integrate the functions above to develop a user-friendly R package for MELSM and provide a basis for promotion and application of MELSM, which help researchers make sample size planning, model construction and parameter estimation for MELSM easily, according to their specification. If these statistical models are widely implemented, the reproducibility and replicability of psychological studies will be enhanced finally.
submitted time 2023-03-16 Cooperative journals: 《心理学报》
Abstract： Self-compassion is the tendency to care for and understand oneself, and cultivating this behavior is considered a promising cognitive treatment for anxiety disorders. However, the underlying mechanism of how self-compassion reduces anxiety remains unknown. Given the central role of fear extinction-based exposure therapy for the treatment of anxiety, studying how self-compassion affects fear extinction may help elucidate the underlying mechanisms. Previous studies have found that writing can be an effective way to promote self-compassion and emotional regulation. Thus, this study aimed to test the impact of self-compassion writing on fear extinction. This study contained 56 healthy effective participants, who were randomly assigned into self-compassion and control writing groups. The experimental process included five phases: pre-conditioning, negative event writing, fear conditioning, self-compassion writing, and fear extinction. All the participants completed the Self-Compassion Scale (SCS), the Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS), and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) before and after the experiment. The PANAS was also assessed immediately after the negative event writing phase to assess the effectiveness of manipulation. Participants were asked to write about an adverse event that made them feel bad about themselves during the negative writing phase. The self-compassion group was guided to respond to three prompts that focus on self-kindness, common humanity, and mindfulness. The control group was asked to write about their daily routines in a factual and unemotional manner. The shock expectancy ratings and skin conductance response (SCR) were recorded as the index of extinction learning. Three-way repeated measure ANOVA was conducted to examine the between-group differences in ratings and SCR across time extinction learning, with writing condition as the between-subject variable (self-compassion, control), and stimuli type (conditioned danger stimuli [CS+], conditioned safe stimuli [CS−]) and extinction phase (early, late) as within-subject variables. The results showed that the writing of negative events successfully reduced the positive affect (PA) of participants. There was no group difference during the fear conditioning phase and all participants successfully acquired fear. After writing intervention, the negative affect (NA) was significantly reduced in both groups. However, compared to the control group, the self-compassion group showed lower shock expectancy ratings in response to danger (CS+) and safety (CS−) cues during both early and late extinction. The SCR results showed that early extinction induced lower response than late extinction in the self-compassion group. Overall, the results demonstrate that self-compassion may promote fear extinction by regulating the response to both danger and safety cues. To our knowledge, this is the first study that uses the fear extinction model to test how self-compassion intervention can influence fear processing. Our results expand our understanding into the psychological and physiological mechanism of how self-compassion can reduce anxiety-related symptoms. These findings have several implications. First, self-compassion writing intervention is independent of control writing as a method to cope with threats. Second, compared to PANAS, shock expectancy ratings might be a sensitive indicator to characterize the effect of self-compassion intervention on anxiety-related symptoms. Finally, self-compassion might could be a reasonable strategy to counter enhanced response to danger cues and inhibited fear response to safety cues.
Subjects: Psychology >> Statistics in Psychology submitted time 2023-01-31
Abstract： With the advancement of research depth in psychology and the development of data collection technics, interest in Mixed-Effects Location-Scale Models (MELSM) has increased drastically. When residual variances are heterogeneous, these models are able to add predictors in different levels, then help explore the relationship among traits and simultaneously investigate the inter- and intra-individual variability, as well as their explanatory variables. This study includes both simulated studies and empirical studies. In detail, the main contents of this project are: 1) Comparing and selecting candidate models based on Bayesian fit indices to construct MELSM; 2) Planning sample size according to both power analysis and accuracy in parameter estimation analysis for MELSM; 3) Extending the sample size planning method for MELSM to better frame the considerations of uncertainty; 4) Developing an R package for MELSM and illustrating the application of MELSM in empirical psychological studies. Based on the study, we hope these statistical models can be widely implemented. Moreover, the reproducibility and replicability of psychological studies will be enhanced finally.
Peer Review Status:
Awaiting Review
Subjects: Psychology >> Physiological Psychology submitted time 2021-07-27
Abstract： Disgust is an important basic emotion for human beings and animals, and it derives from distasteful oral responses to bitter (toxic) tastants, often accompanied with nausea and vomiting and a strong desire to stay away from the induced stimulus, and it has the function of avoiding potential disease threats. A large number of studies have shown that oxytocin, progesterone, and estrogens can affect perception, generation and expression of core disgust, as well as learning conditioned disgust and recognizing facial expression in varying degrees. These three hormones mainly affect the processing of disgust by modulating neurotransmitter receptors including serotonin, γ-aminobutyric acid, acetylcholine, and glutamic acid receptors, and thus affecting the activities of amygdala, insula, anterior cingulate gyrus, putamen, piriform cortex, and middle frontal gyrus. Future studies should explore the effects of these hormones on disgust in different sensory channels and also consider their moderating roles in different genders by accurately measuring hormone levels and controlling the task difficulties. In addition, researchers can combine neuroimaging technologies with behavioral studies to clarify the neuroendocrine mechanism of these hormones affecting disgust processing.
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