Recognition of static and dynamic facial expressions: Influences of sex, type and intensity of emotion

Ecological validity of static and intense facial expressions in emotional recognition has been questioned. Recent studies have recommended the use of facial stimuli more compatible to the natural conditions of social interaction, which involves motion and variations in emotional intensity. In this study, we compared the recognition of static and dynamic facial expressions of happiness, fear, anger and sadness, presented in four emotional intensities (25 %, 50 %, 75 % and 100 %). Twenty volunteers (9 women and 11 men), aged between 19 and 31 years, took part in the study. The experiment consisted of two sessions in which participants had to identify the emotion of static (photographs) and dynamic (videos) displays of facial expressions on the computer screen. The mean accuracy was submitted to an Anova for repeated measures of model: 2 sexes x [2 conditions x 4 expressions x 4 intensities]. We observed an advantage for the recognition of dynamic expressions of happiness and fear compared to the static stimuli (p < .05). Analysis of interactions showed that expressions with intensity of 25 % were better recognized in the dynamic condition (p < .05). The addition of motion contributes to improve recognition especially in male participants (p < .05). We concluded that the effect of the motion varies as a function of the type of emotion, intensity of the expression and sex of the participant. These results support the hypothesis that dynamic stimuli have more ecological validity and are more appropriate to the research with emotions.

Reliability of the Brief Neuropsychological Assessment Instrument Neupsilin

This study aimed to evaluate the reliability of Neupsilin Brief Neuropsychological Assessment Instrument, a brief battery developed in Brazil. Hundred two Brazilian man and women participated, from 18 to 40 years of age. It was evaluated the test-retest reliability of the Neupsilin tasks and the reliability of the correction of the constructional praxis task by different evaluators. The data were analyzed by Spearman’s correlation, intraclass correlation and Cronbach’s alpha. Language, memory, praxis and executive functions presented the highest correlations in the test-retest analyses. The agreement in the correction of the constructional praxis task was moderate to high. The results indicate temporal reliability of Neupsilin tasks and inter-rater agreement in the correction of the constructional praxis task. Suggestions to improve the tasks, the validity and reliability of Neupsilin were presented.

Neurobiology of expectancy effects and omission of reinforcement on behavior

The reinforcement omission effects have been traditionally interpreted in terms of: behavioral facilitation after reinforcement omission induced by primary frustration or behavioral suppression after reinforcement delivery induced by postconsummatory states. The studies reviewed here indicate that amygdala is involved in modulation of these effects. However, the fact that amygdala lesions, extensive or selective, can eliminate, reduce and enhance the omission effects makes it difficult to understand how it is the exact nature of their involvement. The amygdala is related to several functions that depend on its connections with other brain systems. Thus, it is necessary to consider the involvement of a more complex neural network in the modulation of the reinforcement omission effects. The connection of amygdala subareas to cortical and subcortical structures may be involved in this modulation since they also are linked to processes related to reward and expectancy.

Impulsivity: A view from the behavioral neuroscience and developmental psychology

Impulsivity has been linked to three main factors: performing without direct involvement of the frontal lobe functions, an increase in the speed of response, and the acquisition of immediate gratification. This behavioral inhibition deficit involves a variety of behaviors including aspects of hyperexcitability, behavioral disinhibition and higher order decision making. Although by tradition, the definition of this executive function has been conceptualized from a psychopathological view, currently, the wide variety of neuropsychological, developmental and animal models assessment techniques encourage us to establish dialogues that integrate the knowledge of these theoretical perspectives for the interpretation and understanding of impulsivity.

Caminos de la neurociencia en América Latina

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Behavioral neurosciences in Latin-American psychology journals

Behavioral neurosciences have evolved from other disciplines such as psychology, psychiatry and neurology, becoming a prominent area within general neuroscience. In mainstream psychology, neurosciences currently have an important role. In this paper we documented articles published in four Latin-American psychology journals and we classified these papers as empirical or theoretical. We analyzed the main topics covered in the behavioral neurosciences. Most of reported research used humans and rats as study subjects, although other species have also been used as models. Data suggest behavioral neurosciences currently play a growing and prominent role in Latin American psychology.

Diferencias en funciones ejecutivas en escolares normales, con trastorno por déficit de atención e hiperactividad, trastorno del cálculo y condición comórbida

El objetivo del presente estudio descriptivo-comparativo fue comparar el desempeño en funciones ejecutivas de escolares entre ocho y trece años con trastorno por déficit de atención e hiperactividad (TDAH), trastorno del cálculo (TC), TDAH+TC y controles normales. Los diagnósticos se confirmaron a través de una entrevista clínica semiestructurada, un cuestionario clínico de déficit atencional y pruebas de cálculo matemático. Se encontraron diferencias estadísticamente significativas entre los grupos en atención visual y auditiva, fluidez verbal fonémica, flexibilidad cognitiva, organización y planeación. Los resultados indican, de manera similar que investigaciones anteriores, que los escolares con TDAH+TC presentan mayores déficits en funciones ejecutivas que los niños normales.

Type 2 diabetes; elderly; cognitive deficit; cognitive flexibility; executive functions Resumen

Through meditation, people become aware of what happens in the body and mind, accepting the present experiences as they are and getting a better understanding of the true nature of things. Meditation practices and its inclusion as an intervention technique, have generated great interest in identifying the brain mechanisms through which these practices operate. Different studies suggest that the practice of meditation is associated with the use of different neural networks as well as changes in brain structure and function, represented in higher concentration of gray matter structures at the hippocampus, the right anterior insula, orbital frontal cortex (OFC) and greater involvement of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). These and other unrelated studies, shows the multiple implications of the regular practice of mindfulness in the structures and functions of the brain and its relation to certain observable and subjective states in people who practice it. Such evidence enabling the inclusion of mindfulness in psychological therapy where multiple applications have been developed to prove its effectiveness in treating affective and emotional problems, crisis management, social skills, verbal creativity, addiction and craving management, family and caregivers stress of dementia patients and others. However, neuropsychological rehabilitation has no formal proposals for intervention from these findings. The aim of this paper is to propose use of Mindfulness in neuropsychological rehabilitation process, taking the positions and theory of A.R. Luria.

Corticosterone plasma concentrations in Carioca High- and Low-Conditioned freezing rats after a fear conditioned task

Our group in the Psychology Department at Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio) developed a rat genetic model of extreme freezing in response to contextual cues in an experimental chamber previously associated with footshock. One of the lines, Carioca High Freezing (CHF), exhibits an enhanced conditioned freezing response, whereas the other line, Carioca Low Freezing (CLF), shows the opposite response. The present study investigated corticosterone concentration between these two lines of animals and a random (RND) line of rats both under basal conditions and test condition after an emotional challenge using a contextual fear conditioning protocol. Comparisons between basal and test plasma corticosterone concentrations suggested differential basal and fear-induced differences between the two lines. The differences between basal conditions is an important and relevant aspect to be considered in behavioral experiments using or assessing stress and could help to understand variability in naïve populations.

Brief neuropsychological assessment of adults post-stroke in the left hemisphere

The neuropsychological assessment investigates cognitive deficits to improve the diagnosis, the prognosis and the rehabilitation of patients. In Brazil, stroke is a major cause of hospitalization and the leading cause of mortality and disability. The stroke in the left hemisphere (LH) is associated with different degrees of loss of language and other cognitive impairments, for example, in the memory. We compared the performance in brief neuropsychological tasks of the left hemisphere poststroke patients, without moderate or severe aphasia, with healthy controls. A list of 135 patients was selected based on inclusion criteria. The study included 15 patients with left stroke, paired by sex, age and education to 30 neurologically healthy adults. The data resulting from application of the Neupsilin Brief Neuropsychological Assessment Instrument were analyzed with the nonparametric Mann-Whitney U. Adults with LH stroke showed a significant reduction in performance when compared to healthy controls on language, working memory and ideomotor praxis, results also found in other studies of patients with left hemisphere stroke

El desarrollo de la atención en estudiantes brasileños de la educación primaria y secundaria

El presente estudio tuvo como objetivo investigar eldesarrollo de la atención en estudiantes de la enseñanzaprimaria y secundaria de la ciudad de Natal (RN),Brasil. Participaron del estudio 561 sujetos, con edadesentre siete y catorce años, que fueron evaluados por elTest de Atención por Cancelación, con el propósito deinvestigar los mecanismos atencionales. En términosde la precisión y la velocidad en las tareas que evalúanla selectividad y alternancia, se constató que la curvade rendimiento de los participantes presentó un patrónascendente en función del nivel de escolaridad. Estavariable fue responsable por los contrastes estadísticamentesignificativos (p < 0.05) con respecto al desempeñode los participantes, lo cual sugiere que el patrónascendente constatado se encuentra apoyado en el nivelde escolaridad y en el desarrollo neurológico. En relacióncon la atención selectiva y alternada, se verificóun aumento significativo en el rendimiento en los tresprimeros grados de la enseñanza primaria. Con respectoa la atención selectiva, se observó estabilización delos resultados en los tres últimos años de la enseñanzasecundaria, lo que apunta al estabelecimiento de unameseta en el desarrollo de este mecanismo atencional.Por otro lado, en relación con la alternancia, no hubouna estabilización en el desempeño, y esto sugiere continuidaddel patrón ascendente, ya que en el grupo deedad en cuestión todavía están por ocurrir importantesprocesos de maduración y de desarrollo neurológico enla atención ejecutiva.

Brain injury: Assessment of hemineglect occurence and of attentional deficit through cancellation tasks

Hemineglect (HN) is a widely studied syndrome after unilateral lesions due to stroke. However, although there are some studies with HN rehabilitation of posttraumatic brain injury (TBI), there seems to be no published data about the prevalence of HN in TBI through cancellation tasks. Thus, the objective of this study was to characterize the occurrence of this syndrome and of attentional deficits in patients with TBI by means of the Bells Test and of a line cancellation task. The sample was comprised of 21 patients with TBI and 21 healthy controls matched by education, age and frequency of written language habits. There was a poorer performance of patients with TBI with a greater number of omissions on the left side and lower speed processing. In addition, suggestive signs of HN were found in 38 % of the sample of TBI patients. More research is needed to characterize clinical syndromes regarding the occurrence of HN after a TBI through the traditionally known cancellation paradigm.

Neuropsychological profile in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy

The temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is the most common type of refractory epilepsy in adults. There is a wide consensus regarding the commitment of memory in temporal lobe epilepsy with hippocampal sclerosis. However, the consensus is not as widespread with respect to the other functions such as attention, executive functions, language and intellectual performance. For this study we analyzed retrospectively a group of 76 patients with refractory epilepsy, 48 patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (23 with right lateralization and 25 with left lateralization) and 28 patients with extratemporal epilepsy. We applied a battery of neuropsychological tests used in the Epilepsy Surgery Program at Hospital de Egas Moniz, Lisbon, Portugal. Our results show that the battery of neuropsychological tests is internally consistent in the evaluation of patients with TLE. We have also found that patients with TLE have standard generalized deficits witch could be indicative of areas of engagement besides the hippocampus. One interesting finding was the fact that interference verbal memory (long term memory) remains adequate, suggesting that this function is not compromised in TLE. In addition to the general pattern of cognitive deficits, we can see the impact of the disease at the socio-demographic level, and we can also establish a relationship with neurobiological findings previously described in the literature

El estudio de la infancia desde la psicología cultural: un encuentro de perspectivas

El estudio cultural de la infancia parte de la premisa de que cultura y mente se relacionan estrechamente, en una relación de constitución mutua. Implica que el infante es un ser activo desde que nace (quizá desde antes) y que en interacción con los otros, sus próximos , es que va constituyéndose su psiquismo. La forma particular que se vaya constituyendo a lo largo del desarrollo devendrá tanto de lo que el infante aporte como de lo que su entorno social le proporcione a través de las costumbres y mentalidades en las que se expresa su entorno social. Así, el estudioso de la infancia debe dar cuenta tanto del entorno como de lo que el niño va aportando. Para hacer esto el investigador necesita observar tanto lo que sucede en las interacciones como lo que consideran los cuidadores sobre esas actividades. En los ejemplos contrastantes que proporciono intento poner en práctica este ejercicio reflexivo así como advierto algunas implicaciones sobre la diversidad humana y la posibilidad de aprender de los otros

Visual processing of concentric sine-wave gratings in adolescents and adults

The aim of this study was to compare the contrast visual processing of concentric sinusoidal gratings stimuli between adolescents and adults. The study included 20 volunteers divided into two groups: 10 adolescents aged 13-19 years (M=16.5, SD=1.65) and 10 adults aged 20-26 years (M=21.8, SD=2.04). In order to measure the contrast sensitivity at spatial frequencies of 0.6, 2.5, 5 and 20 degrees of visual angle (cpd), it was used the psychophysical method of two alternative forced choice (2AFC). A One Way ANOVA performance showed a significant difference in the comparison between groups: F [(4, 237)=3.74, p<.05]. The post-hoc Tukey HSD showed a significant difference between the frequencies of 0.6 (p <.05) and 20 cpd (p<.05). Thus, the results showed that the visual perception behaves differently with regard to the sensory mechanisms that render the contrast towards adolescents and adults. These results are useful to better characterize and comprehend human vision development.