Addition of cue exposure to cognitive-behaviour therapy for alcohol misuse: a randomized trial with dysphoric drinkers

Aim To test whether addition of moderation-orientated cue exposure (CE) or CE after dysphoric mood induction ( emotional CE, ECE) improved outcomes above those from cognitive-behaviour therapy alone (CBT) in people who drank when dysphoric. Design Multi-site randomized controlled trial comparing CBT with CBT + CE and CBT + ECE. Setting Out-patient rooms in academic treatment units in Brisbane and Sydney, Australia. Participants People with alcohol misuse and problems controlling consumption when dysphoric (n = 163). Those with current major depressive episode were excluded. Intervention Eight weekly 75-minute sessions of individual treatment for alcohol problems were given to all participants, with CBT elements held constant across conditions. From session 2, CBT + CE participants resisted drinking while exposed to alcohol cues, with two priming doses of their preferred beverage being given in some sessions. After an initial CE session, CBT + ECE participants recalled negative experiences before undertaking CE, to provide exposure to emotional cues of personal relevance. Measurements Alcohol consumption, related problems, alcohol expectancies, self-efficacy and depression. Results Average improvements were highly significant across conditions, with acceptable maintenance of effects over 12 months. Both treatment retention and effects on alcohol consumption were progressively weaker in CBT + CE and CBT + ECE than in CBT alone. Changes in alcohol dependence and depression did not differ across conditions. Conclusions These data do not indicate that addition of clinic-based CE to standard CBT improves outcomes. A different approach to the management of craving may be required.

Examination of emotional priming among children and young adolescents: Developmental issues and its association with anxiety

An affective priming task was used to examine bias in the processing of threat-related material in 25 clinically anxious compared to 25 matched, non-anxious control children and young adolescents. No significant differences were found between anxious and non-anxious children in terms of priming effects. However, age-related differences were found depending upon the valence of the target, independent of anxiety status. Both younger (7-10 years) and older (11-14 years) children showed faster response times to pleasant targets when they were preceded by a congruent compared to incongruent stimulus, consistent with a traditional priming effect. For threat target stimuli, older children showed no difference in response latency according to the congruency of the prime-target valence. Younger children, in contrast, showed a reverse priming effect for threat target stimuli, with slower response times for threat-congruent trials than for threat targets preceded by a pleasant prime. Possible explanations for developmental differences in the processing of threat-related material are discussed.

Evaluation of universal, indicated, and combined cognitive-behavioral approaches to the prevention of depression among adolescents

A cluster, stratified randomized design was used to evaluate the impact of universal, indicated, and combined universal plus indicated cognitive-behavioral approaches to the prevention of depression among 13- to 15-year-olds initially reporting elevated symptoms of depression. None of the intervention approaches differed significantly from a no-intervention condition or from each other on changes in depressive symptoms, anxiety, externalizing problems, coping skills, and social adjustment. All high-symptom students, irrespective of condition, showed a significant decline in depressive symptoms and improvement in emotional well-being over time although they still demonstrated elevated levels of psychopathology compared with the general population of peers at 12-month follow-up. There were also no significant intervention effects for the universal intervention in comparison with no intervention for the total sample of students in those conditions.

Predictors of emotional well-being following a 'false positive' breast cancer screening result

Using a short-term longitudinal design, and consistent with a stress and coping perspective, this study examined the main and stress-buffering effects of social support and coping on emotional well-being following a 'false positive' breast cancer screening result. Immediately prior to obtaining results of follow-up assessment, 178 women completed measures of emotional well-being, stress appraisal, coping strategies and social support. Six weeks later, 85 women found to be cancer free completed a measure of well-being. Hierarchical regression analyses were used to examine the effects of social support and coping on well-being after controlling for initial well-being and stress appraisal. Consistent with predictions, avoidant coping was associated with higher levels of emotional well-being and social support was found to have a stress buffering effect on well-being. Active-cognitive coping strategies had a stress-buffering effect on well-being. Findings suggest that social support and coping do influence emotional well-being following recall for follow-up assessment of a 'false positive' breast cancer screening result.

The social cognitive neuroscience of organisations

Social cognitive neuroscience is an emerging branch of cognitive neuroscience that bridges together social psychology and neuroscience. At its core is an understanding of the relationship between the brain and social interaction. The social cognitive neuroscientist places empirical endeavor within a three–stage framework, and questions falling under the SCN rubric undergo interrogation at each of these three levels. Firstly, we seek to understand a neuroscience of social interactions at the social level. Here we need to understand the motivational and other social factors that drive our behavior and experience in the real world. It goes without saying that any study of the cognitive neuroscience of socially interactive behavior must first be informed by social psychological theory to maintain ecological validity. Second, the social cognitive neuroscientist must be an adroit cognitive psychologist and be able to examine interactive behavior from the cognitive level. It is here that information–processing models and theories are applied to the understanding of our social behavior. Finally, studies at the neural level seek to inform us about the cortical structures, as well as the way they interact with other, in the mediation of the previous cognitive level. This volume brings together contributions from leading thinkers in both the social cognitive neurosciences and business to provide a comprehensive introduction and overview of a social cognitive neuroscience of the business brain. NOTE: Annals volumes are available for sale as individual books or as a journal. For information on institutional journal subscriptions, please visit www.blackwellpublishing.com/nyas. ACADEMY MEMBERS: Please contact the New York Academy of Sciences directly to place your order (www.nyas.org). Members of the New York Academy of Science receive full–text access to the Annals online and discounts on print volumes. Please visit http://www.nyas.org/MemberCenter/Join.aspx for more information about becoming a member

Three-factor models versus time series models:quantifying time-dependencies of interactions between stimuli in cell biology and psychobiology for short longitudinal data

Signal integration determines cell fate on the cellular level, affects cognitive processes and affective responses on the behavioural level, and is likely to be involved in psychoneurobiological processes underlying mood disorders. Interactions between stimuli may subjected to time effects. Time-dependencies of interactions between stimuli typically lead to complex cell responses and complex responses on the behavioural level. We show that both three-factor models and time series models can be used to uncover such time-dependencies. However, we argue that for short longitudinal data the three factor modelling approach is more suitable. In order to illustrate both approaches, we re-analysed previously published short longitudinal data sets. We found that in human embryonic kidney 293 cells cells the interaction effect in the regulation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) 1 signalling activation by insulin and epidermal growth factor is subjected to a time effect and dramatically decays at peak values of ERK activation. In contrast, we found that the interaction effect induced by hypoxia and tumour necrosis factor-alpha for the transcriptional activity of the human cyclo-oxygenase-2 promoter in HEK293 cells is time invariant at least in the first 12-h time window after stimulation. Furthermore, we applied the three-factor model to previously reported animal studies. In these studies, memory storage was found to be subjected to an interaction effect of the beta-adrenoceptor agonist clenbuterol and certain antagonists acting on the alpha-1-adrenoceptor / glucocorticoid-receptor system. Our model-based analysis suggests that only if the antagonist drug is administer in a critical time window, then the interaction effect is relevant.

Neuroimaging and psychophysiological measurement in organizational research:an agenda for research in organizational cognitive neuroscience

Although organizational research has made tremendous strides in the last century, recent advances in neuroscience and the imaging of functional brain activity remain underused. In fact, even the use of well-established psychophysiological measurement tools is comparatively rare. Following the lead of social cognitive neuroscience, in this review, we conceptualize organizational cognitive neuroscience as a field dedicated to exploring the processes within the brain that underlie or influence human decisions, behaviors, and interactions either (a) within organizations or (b) in response to organizational manifestations or institutions. We discuss organizational cognitive neuroscience, bringing together work that may previously have been characterized rather atomistically, and provide a brief overview of individual methods that may be of use. Subsequently, we discuss the possible convergence and integration of the different neuroimaging and psychophysiological measurement modalities. A brief review of prior work in the field shows a significant need for a more coherent and theory-driven approach to organizational cognitive neuroscience. In response, we discuss a recent example of such work, along with three hypothetical case studies that exemplify the link between organizational and psychological theory and neuroscientific methods.

The lateral and ventromedial prefrontal cortex work as a dynamic integrated system:evidence from FMRI connectivity analysis

Recent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) investigations of the interaction between cognition and reward processing have found that the lateral prefrontal cortex (PFC) areas are preferentially activated to both increasing cognitive demand and reward level. Conversely, ventromedial PFC (VMPFC) areas show decreased activation to the same conditions, indicating a possible reciprocal relationship between cognitive and emotional processing regions. We report an fMRI study of a rewarded working memory task, in which we further explore how the relationship between reward and cognitive processing is mediated. We not only assess the integrity of reciprocal neural connections between the lateral PFC and VMPFC brain regions in different experimental contexts but also test whether additional cortical and subcortical regions influence this relationship. Psychophysiological interaction analyses were used as a measure of functional connectivity in order to characterize the influence of both cognitive and motivational variables on connectivity between the lateral PFC and the VMPFC. Psychophysiological interactions revealed negative functional connectivity between the lateral PFC and the VMPFC in the context of high memory load, and high memory load in tandem with a highly motivating context, but not in the context of reward alone. Physiophysiological interactions further indicated that the dorsal anterior cingulate and the caudate nucleus modulate this pathway. These findings provide evidence for a dynamic interplay between lateral PFC and VMPFC regions and are consistent with an emotional gating role for the VMPFC during cognitively demanding tasks. Our findings also support neuropsychological theories of mood disorders, which have long emphasized a dysfunctional relationship between emotion/motivational and cognitive processes in depression.

Individual differences in cognitive style and their effects on task and social orientations of self-managed work teams

When assembling self-managing work teams, the personalities of team members are often overlooked. One personality variable known to be critical for effective decision making in teams is cognitive style. This study sought to examine how differences and similarities in analytic/intuitive cognitive styles affected the behavior of team members on the task/emotionally expressive dimension identified by Bales. As hypothesized, intuitive individuals and homogeneous intuitive teams were found to initiate more social-emotional acts. Contrary to expectations, intuitive rather than analytic individuals and homogeneous intuitive rather than analytic teams engaged in more task-oriented behaviors. Teams also tended to select intuitive individuals as leaders. The possibility that different combinations of styles may be important for overall team effectiveness was subsequently discussed, and it was suggested that this may depend on whether the nature of the work environment is relatively well structured and mechanistic or relatively unstructured and organic.

Memory bias for emotional facial expressions in major depression

Sixteen clinically depressed patients and sixteen healthy controls were presented with a set of emotional facial expressions and were asked to identify the emotion portrayed by each face. They, were subsequently given a recognition memory test for these faces. There was no difference between the groups in terms of their ability to identify emotion between from faces. All participants identified emotional expressions more accurately than neutral expressions, with happy expressions being identified most accurately. During the recognition memory phase the depressed patients demonstrated superior memory for sad expressions, and inferior memory for happy expressions, relative to neutral expressions. Conversely, the controls demonstrated superior memory for happy expressions, and inferior memory for sad expressions, relative to neutral expressions. These results are discussed in terms of the cognitive model of depression proposed by Williams, Watts, MacLeod, and Mathews (1997).

A Cognitive Science Reasoning in Recognition of Emotions in Audio-Visual Speech

In this report we summarize the state-of-the-art of speech emotion recognition from the signal processing point of view. On the bases of multi-corporal experiments with machine-learning classifiers, the observation is made that existing approaches for supervised machine learning lead to database dependent classifiers which can not be applied for multi-language speech emotion recognition without additional training because they discriminate the emotion classes following the used training language. As there are experimental results showing that Humans can perform language independent categorisation, we made a parallel between machine recognition and the cognitive process and tried to discover the sources of these divergent results. The analysis suggests that the main difference is that the speech perception allows extraction of language independent features although language dependent features are incorporated in all levels of the speech signal and play as a strong discriminative function in human perception. Based on several results in related domains, we have suggested that in addition, the cognitive process of emotion-recognition is based on categorisation, assisted by some hierarchical structure of the emotional categories, existing in the cognitive space of all humans. We propose a strategy for developing language independent machine emotion recognition, related to the identification of language independent speech features and the use of additional information from visual (expression) features.