Grounding
When Do Real-World Rejections Motivate People to Seek out Symbolic Social Bonds? Insights From the Risk-Regulation Model
Sandra Murray et al.
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, forthcoming
Abstract:
Lack of belonging can negatively affect mental and physical health, but experiences with social rejection are routine. Two studies examined whether being unable to mitigate the risk of rejection in real-world relationships motivates people to defensively immerse themselves in symbolic social bonds with celebrities and fictional characters. Study 1 (four daily diary samples) and Study 2 (cross-sectional sample) operationalized the ability to mitigate risk (i.e., the ability to self-protect) through the amount of time spent in the physical company of potentially hurtful/rejecting close others. In both studies, unmitigated risk (i.e., spending more time with potentially hurtful/rejecting close others) predicted increased/greater engagement with symbolic social bonds. These studies are the first to reveal specific characteristics of social rejection experiences that motivate escape into symbolic social bonds.
Human psychophysiology is influenced by physical touch with a "breathing" robot
Zachary Witkower et al.
Emotion, forthcoming
Abstract:
People often physically cling to others when afraid and doing so can downregulate negative emotional experiences (e.g., Coan et al., 2006). However, in some situations, physical touch may fail to downregulate emotional experiences -- such as when an individual being touched is physiologically aroused themselves. To test this hypothesis, we built plush robots with motorized plastic ribcages that were manipulated to contract and expand to simulate human breathing patterns. Participants held these robots while we measured their heart rate before, during, and after watching a fear-eliciting stimulus. Consistent with our hypothesis, participants who interacted with robots that exhibited accelerated-breathing patterns experienced a pronounced increase in their own heart rate, compared to participants who held stable-breathing and nonbreathing robots. These results indicate that holding or clinging to others engaged in accelerated breathing may be ineffective or detrimental for downregulating one's own physiological arousal.
Mapping the genetic landscape across 14 psychiatric disorders
Andrew Grotzinger et al.
Nature, forthcoming
Abstract:
Psychiatric disorders display high levels of comorbidity and genetic overlap, challenging current diagnostic boundaries. For disorders for which diagnostic separation has been most debated, such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, genomic methods have revealed that the majority of genetic signal is shared. While over a hundred pleiotropic loci have been identified by recent cross-disorder analyses, the full scope of shared and disorder-specific genetic influences remains poorly defined. Here we addressed this gap by triangulating across a suite of cutting-edge statistical and functional genomic analyses applied to 14 childhood- and adult-onset psychiatric disorders (1,056,201 cases). Using genetic association data from common variants, we identified and characterized five underlying genomic factors that explained the majority of the genetic variance of the individual disorders (around 66% on average) and were associated with 238 pleiotropic loci. The two factors defined by (1) Schizophrenia and bipolar disorders (SB factor); and (2) major depression, PTSD and anxiety (Internalizing factor) showed high levels of polygenic overlap6 and local genetic correlation and very few disorder-specific loci. The genetic signal shared across all 14 disorders was enriched for broad biological processes (for example, transcriptional regulation), while more specific pathways were shared at the level of the individual factors. The shared genetic signal across the SB factor was substantially enriched in genes expressed in excitatory neurons, whereas the Internalizing factor was associated with oligodendrocyte biology. These observations may inform a more neurobiologically valid psychiatric nosology and implicate targets for therapeutic development designed to treat commonly occurring comorbid presentations.
Mental health in recreational and professional dancers: A genetically informed study in Sweden
Julia Christensen et al.
SSM - Population Health, forthcoming
Abstract:
While recreational dancing has been associated with positive health outcomes, professional dancers tend to experience more mental health problems. Here, we studied the relationship between self-reported engagement and achievement in dance (from no involvement to high-level professional dancing) and mental health problems including work-related depressive symptoms, emotional exhaustion, and registry-based psychiatric diagnoses (major depression, anxiety, and stress-related diseases). Utilizing a genetically informative population sample of 6,610 Swedish twins, we estimated heritability for dance achievement and associations between dance achievement and mental health outcomes, and tested whether observed associations are consistent with causal effects by accounting for familial confounding using a co-twin control design. Individual differences in dance achievement were more heritable in females (60%) than in males (29%). Professional dancers had a higher risk for mental health problems than recreational dancers and non-dancers, but these associations became non-significant after adjusting for familial confounding, suggesting that shared familial factors — rather than professional dancing itself — largely explained the elevated risk. In contrast, we found no evidence for a protective effect of recreational dancing on mental health. These findings highlight the importance of considering underlying familial and genetic factors when addressing mental health risks in professional dancers, and they point toward future interventions focusing on early identification and support for vulnerable individuals rather than targeting dance practice itself as a causal factor.
From Forest to Focus: The Interactive Effects of Nature Exposure and Nature Relatedness on Attention, Brain Activity, Heart Rate Variability, and Mood
Cameron Bell et al.
Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, forthcoming
Abstract:
Attention restoration theory suggests that natural environments offer greater restorative benefits compared with urban settings. While previous research has used behavioral and questionnaire measures to demonstrate the effects of nature exposure on cognition, mood, and stress, fewer studies have explored physiological measures. This study used EEG and ECG to investigate the behavioral and psychophysiological markers of nature restoration, along with estimating the moderating influence of individual differences in nature relatedness on restorative effects. Forty participants were randomly assigned to view either natural or urban images in a short virtual exposure after completion of a cognitively fatiguing Stroop task. EEG and ECG were continuously recorded throughout a pre/post design measuring heart rate variability, ERPs, EEG frequency band power, cognitive performance (digit span test, flanker go/no-go task), mood (Positive and Negative Affect Schedule), and state mindfulness (Mindful Attention Awareness Scale). Scores on the Nature Relatedness Scale were utilized as a moderator variable. EEG results showed an increase in alpha power during both nature and urban exposures. A neural index of inhibitory control (N2 ERP amplitude) was decreased for the nature group only, possibly reflecting more efficient inhibitory attentional processing. Nature relatedness moderated environmental effects for alpha and beta power, overall RT, and positive affect, whereby effects were enhanced when exposures aligned with nature relatedness level. In conclusion, this study suggests that nature exposure can influence cortical inhibitory mechanisms involved in suppressing distractions. The influence of nature relatedness indicates that nature restoration is not necessarily universal but contingent on individuals' connection to a given environment.