Differing Dynamics of Intrapersonal and Interpersonal Coordination: Two-finger and Four-Finger Tapping Experiments

Finger-tapping experiments were conducted to examine whether the dynamics of intrapersonal and interpersonal coordination systems can be described equally by the Haken—Kelso—Bunz model, which describes inter-limb coordination dynamics. This article reports the results of finger-tapping experiments conducted in both systems. Two within-subject factors were investigated: the phase mode and the number of fingers. In the intrapersonal experiment (Experiment 1), the participants were asked to tap, paced by a gradually hastening auditory metronome, looking at their fingers moving, using the index finger in the two finger condition, or the index and middle finger in the four-finger condition. In the interpersonal experiment (Experiment 2), pairs of participants performed the task while each participant used the outside hand, tapping with the index finger in the two finger condition, or the index and middle finger in the four-finger condition. Some results did not agree with the HKB model predictions. First, from Experiment 1, no significant difference was observed in the movement stability between the in-phase and anti-phase modes in the two finger condition. Second, from Experiment 2, no significant difference was found in the movement stability between the in-phase and anti-phase mode in the four-finger condition. From these findings, different coordination dynamics were inferred between intrapersonal and interpersonal coordination systems against prediction from the previous studies. Results were discussed according to differences between intrapersonal and interpersonal coordination systems in the availability of perceptual information and the complexity in the interaction between limbs derived from a nested structure.     

The Cognitive Building Blocks of Emotion Regulation: Ability to Update Working Memory Moderates the Efficacy of Rumination and Reappraisal on Emotion

The ability to regulate emotions is a critical component of healthy emotional functioning. Therefore, it is important to determine factors that contribute to the efficacy of emotion regulation. The present article examined whether the ability to update emotional information in working memory is a predictor of the efficacy of rumination and reappraisal on affective experience both at the trait level (Study 1) and in daily life (Study 2). In both studies, results revealed that the relationship between use of reappraisal and high arousal negative emotions was moderated by updating ability. Specifically, use of reappraisal was associated with decreased high arousal negative emotions for participants with high updating ability, while no significant relationship was found for those with low updating ability. In addition, both studies also revealed that the relationship between rumination and high arousal negative emotions was moderated by updating ability. In general, use of rumination was associated with elevated high arousal negative emotions. However, this relationship was blunted for participants with high updating ability. That is, use of rumination was associated with less elevated high arousal negative emotions for participants with high updating ability. These results identify the ability to update emotional information in working memory as a crucial process modulating the efficacy of emotion regulation efforts.     

Subconscious components of psychophysiological responses in the participants of a 105-day experiment in an isolated environment

Six participants of a 105-day experiment in an isolated environment were studied in order to identify subconscious mechanisms of their psychophysiological changes during the experiment. We used the method of neurocognitive diagnostics based on the analysis of the evoked electrocardiographic (EEG) potentials caused by stimuli that were below the conscious threshold. The technique included separation of evoked responses to each stimulus, cross-correlation and wavelet analyses, estimations using neural network algorithms, and an overall evaluation for all stimuli for each derivation and each period of stimulation. Comparison of the reactions to meaningful and meaningless groups of words elicited the extent of involvement of different brain areas in semantic information processing. Our results give grounds to indicate a number of changes in the psychological state of the subjects due to their participation in the experiment. These are list below:

1. An increase in subconscious tension between some of the crew members, such as representatives of different cultures.
2. An increase in psychological defense stress, primarily caused by basic fears of death and worries about health, as well as private family relations.
3. The appearance of addictive trends manifested in the changes in the subconscious attitude to alcohol and an increase in the role that alcohol plays in the emotional state.

These findings on the changes in the major mechanisms of unconscious responses are useful in defining the strategy for working out the methods of autonomous psychological support for crews and computer-assisted psychological correction.     

Disentangling cognitive processes from neural activation and psychic mechanisms: The example of empathy

Empathy processes can be explored within a three-level model distinguishing neuronal, cognitive and intra-psychic operating levels. Cognitive and intra-psychic processes need not to be collapsed. Neural systems involved in empathy are described through neuroimaging and event-related potential (ERP) studies. On the cognitive level, empathy is threefold: procedural, semantic and biographical. Automatically activated since birth, procedural empathy processes are deeply enrooted in visuo-motor response capacities and responsible for automatic mimicry. These processes might rely on a prior sensori-motor contagion system. Semantic empathy parallels language development and expresses connexion between words, meaning and emotion. Biographical emerges later in life and corresponds to the interweaving of personal experience with feelings and words, together with a capacity to bridge with the others’ experiences. On the intra-psychic level, defence mechanisms as well as identification processes, depicted from a subjective and interpersonal standpoint, are corresponding, without being similar, to empathetic processes described in cognitive neuroscience studies. Studies on semantic empathy need to control for the participants biographical information and concomitant memory activation. The interface between cognitive and intra-psychic processes needs to be further investigated.     

The anxiety of romantic love in Ho Chi Minh City,Vietnam

This article examines the role of anxieties about romantic love in the modernist self‐making projects of Vietnam's growing middle class. Romantic ideals and discourses that emerged from Vietnam's neoliberal reforms emphasize personal compatibility through emotional intimacy and communication. Middle‐class residents of Ho Chi Minh City increasingly privilege the emotions in daily life and define themselves and their relationships in an affective register. This cultivation of emotional self‐reflexivity has, however, become a source of anxiety about the self. An analysis of two case studies traces how individuals draw on their class, gender, and age to negotiate conflicts between various models of love and selfhood and reinvent romantic discourses to claim their own versions of a modern identity. A critical component of both the experience of romantic love and the construction of middle‐class Vietnamese selfhood, love anxiety stems not just from people's changed relations to others but also from a changed perception of the self, which has been rendered unrecognizable to them.     

Psychological selection and optimization of interpersonal relationships in an experiment with 105-days isolation

New approaches to optimization of interpersonal relationships in an isolated small group proposed in this paper can be applied to a manned mission to Mars. Some of these approaches have been tested in the course of preparation and implementation of an experiment with a 105-day isolation (the MARS-105 project) simulating the initial period of a manned mission to Mars. A variety of methods, such as evaluating the efficiency of interpersonal interaction (a Homeostat device), value orientations, self-perception, and interpersonal relationships within the crew (the PSPA test, classic sociometry) have been used. In the middle of the isolation period (the second 35-day cycle), a decrease in cohesion of the crew was observed; in the same time, tension appeared, which enabled the phenomenon of pairing; i.e., the crew split into stable pairs opting for inner communication. Closer relations between some crew members and clashes between the others modulated interpersonal perception. The set of methods provided efficient evaluation of the group behavior, diagnosis of interpersonal problems, and the grounds for improving psychological selection for participation in future manned interplanetary missions.     

Physiological Correlates of the Big 5: Autonomic Responses to Video Presentations

Personality’s link to emotional experience has been demonstrated, but specific biological responses to emotion as a function of personality have not been well-established. Here, the association between personality and physiological responses (heart rate, skin conductance, and respiration) to emotional videos was assessed. One-hundred sixty-nine participants self-reported on their Big 5 personality traits and underwent ambulatory monitoring as they watched four brief video clips from primetime television content showing scenes containing violence, fear, sadness, and tension. Generally, the negatively-toned emotional scenes provoked increases in skin conductance response and declines in heart rate. We found that physiological outcomes depended on the particular emotional scene and on personality, most notably Extraversion and Neuroticism. Extraversion, and to a lesser degree, Neuroticism, were associated with increases in autonomic arousal responses to the scenes. Gender also interacted with personality to predict responses, such that women who scored higher on measures of Extraversion, Neuroticism, and Conscientious tended to show more physiological arousal than men. Overall, the emotional scenes evoked increases in arousal and more controlled attention. The findings are discussed in context of the limited capacity model and shed light on how personality and gender affect physiological reactions to emotional experiences in everyday life.     

Correlates of psychosomatic stress symptoms among farm women: a research note on farm and family functioning

The relationship between self-reported psychosomatic stress symptoms and dimensions of family and farm functioning were examined in a sample of New York State dairy farm wives (N = 126). The farm women completed a questionnaire assessing home and farm task loads, farm complexity, intrapersonal role conflict, interpersonal role conflict, husband support, and marital satisfaction. The psychosomatic stress symptoms included nervousness, restlessness, insomnia, shortness-of-breath, and fainting. In general, stress symptoms showed little relationship to task loads, farm complexity, and intrapersonal role conflict. Much stronger relationships were found for interpersonal role conflict, husband support, and marital satisfaction. Thus, these findings point to the greater importance of family relationships in preventing or buffering stress in comparison with simple role-related task expectations of farm systems.     

Shared secrecy: teasing,attachment, and children's emotional management in rural southern Mongolia

In recent decades, anthropologists have scrutinized psychologists’ claim that humans process information about others by imputing mental states. The debate remains open whether cross-cultural variability in how people conceive of minds and inner states reflects differences in their folk theories only, or whether it engenders deep-grained psychological differences. In this article, I look at the very onset of children's apprenticeship in emotional management to examine its cognitive consequences. In the context of rural Mongolia in the late 2000s, questions about homesickness prompted by adults raised children's awareness of the existence of a private self and by the very same process discouraged verbalization or public display of personal feelings. I start by presenting interactions where children were routinely teased about homesickness, and invited to deny that they missed their family. I contextualize this teasing routine within local conceptions about emotional control and linguistic ideology to unveil how it introduced children to the performative power of words while also making them face moral dilemmas. The irreconcilable tension between behaving according to expectations of self-control and experiencing separation induced children's discovery of the possibility of disconnecting intimate feelings from public self-presentation, thus transforming the experience of separation into an experience of secret connection. I speculate that the secrecy that hallows homesickness contributed to making it all the more poignant. The way adults constantly checked on whether children were missing their home prompted children to actually identify some emotional state or aspect of their experience as ‘missing home’. It gave a name to a personal experience which thus became social and guaranteed that it became a shared feeling, albeit a secret one.     

Removal of the uterus and ovaries and the opinion of women postoperatively]

Forty five women undergoing total hysterectomy were interviewed after surgery. The investigators were interested in their opinion on the outcome of performed surgery. One year later, a questionnaire was mailed to these women which included questions about their physical status, psychologic well-being and everyday activities. Fear against cancer, physical health and psychologic well-being as well as sexual activity persisted for one year or longer following surgery. The number of questioned women reporting worsening of sexual relations with their partners and emotional disturbances increased one year after hysterectomy. Moreover, a significant increase in the number of women who had informed their relatives about surgery was also noted.     

The Invisible Suffering: Sexual Coercion,Interpersonal Violence,and Mental Health - A Cross-Sectional Study among University Students in South-Western Uganda

Background

Despite a history of conflicts and widespread human rights violation in sub-Saharan Africa, little is known about the prevalence of interpersonal violence among the population in this region. Evidence from high-income countries suggests that exposure to violence has mental health consequences and violence also has associations with experiences of sexual coercion.

Aims

This study sought to investigate the prevalence of physical and perceived threats of violence among university students in Uganda and to assess the possible relationship between such violence, sexual coercion, and symptoms of anxiety, depression, and psychoticism, respectively.

Method

In 2005, 980 Ugandan university students responded to a self-administered questionnaire (response rate 80%) that assessed socio-demographic factors, social capital, importance of religion, mental health, experience of violence and sexual coercion, and sexual behaviour factors. Logistic regression analysis was applied as the main analytical tool.

Results

Of those who responded, 28% reported perceived threats/threats of violence and 10% exposure to actual physical violence over the previous 12 months, with no significant gender differences in exposure history. Exposure to violence was significantly associated with the experience of sexual coercion among both males and females. Sexual coercion and threats/threats of violence were both significantly associated with poor mental health in males and females, but only males showed a strong association between exposure to physical violence and poor mental health.

Conclusion

The current study suggests that in terms of general exposure, both males and females in the study population are equally exposed to sexual coercion and interpersonal violence, and both male and female students show generally similar mental health effects of exposure to such violence. The prevalence of interpersonal violence found in our study population may have long-term negative health implications. Our findings may serve as a baseline for interventions and continuing research aimed at preventing interpersonal violence.     

Determining the roles of father absence and age at menarche in female psychosocial acceleration

Paternal investment theory and psychosocial acceleration theory hold that father absence and stressful experiences, respectively, accelerate reproductive development. Accumulating evidence is consistent with these theories yet important questions remain. In this study, we use a two-part structural equation model and data from 342 female undergraduates to address two of these questions: First, what is the role of father absence in female psychosocial acceleration, controlling potentially confounding aspects of environment and family structure? Second, to what extent does age at menarche mediate environmental and family structure effects on sexual debut? Findings indicated that many aspects of environment and family structure could be summarized with two factors—socio-economic status (SES) and fragmented family structure. We found that among those who had experienced sexual debut, exposure to temporary father departure (one year or more) in the context of an intact family hastened menarche, which in turn accelerated sexual debut. However, this type of father absence did not predict experience of sexual debut (or not). Fragmented family structure (which also implies some degree of father absence) appeared to increase the likelihood that participants had experienced sexual debut, but did not predict age at menarche or age at sexual debut among who had debuted. SES was not associated with any aspects of reproductive development, controlling for fragmented family structure and age. We discuss our findings in relation to paternal investment theory, psychosocial acceleration theory, and life history theory. We then lay out future directions for researchers aiming to clarify the role of environment in reproductive trajectories.     

The Semantic Representation of Event Information Depends on the Cue Modality: An Instance of Meaning-Based Retrieval

The semantic content, or the meaning, is the essence of autobiographical memories. In comparison to previous research, which has mainly focused on the phenomenological experience and the age distribution of retrieved events, the present study provides a novel view on the retrieval of event information by quantifying the information as semantic representations. We investigated the semantic representation of sensory cued autobiographical events and studied the modality hierarchy within the multimodal retrieval cues. The experiment comprised a cued recall task, where the participants were presented with visual, auditory, olfactory or multimodal retrieval cues and asked to recall autobiographical events. The results indicated that the three different unimodal retrieval cues generate significantly different semantic representations. Further, the auditory and the visual modalities contributed the most to the semantic representation of the multimodally retrieved events. Finally, the semantic representation of the multimodal condition could be described as a combination of the three unimodal conditions. In conclusion, these results suggest that the meaning of the retrieved event information depends on the modality of the retrieval cues.     

Ethnographic closeness: methodological reflections on the interplay of engagement and detachment in immersive ethnographic research

With the reflexive turn in the social sciences, emotional engagement is an inevitable and crucial part of data-gathering and analysis. However, there is a glaring gap in methodological discussions to this end. Presenting ethnographic research into end of life with people living at home in England with heart failure, we argue for a methodological blend of engagement and detachment that shifts throughout the research process, and that sensory experience is a core part of engagement. We offer ethnographic examples which present and explore some alternatives to emotional engagement and objective detachment: (1) moving with participants to facilitate engagement during fieldwork through shared sensory experience; (2) detachment as a different way of relating when exiting the field and drawing participant relationships to a close; and (3) ethnographic closeness as the interplay of engagement and detachment in participant debriefing and data analysis. Based on well-established anthropological concepts, and taking both engagement and detachment as embodied and relational, we develop a notion of ethnographic closeness in which detachment is a necessary part. Our detailed methodological discussion thus offers theoretically grounded possibilities and alternatives for approaching and managing the core tension of ‘how close is too close?’ in ethnographic practice. Further contributions supporting researchers in navigating ethnographic research are needed.     

Patient Perspectives on the Experience of Being Newly Diagnosed with HIV in the Emergency Department/Urgent Care Clinic of a Public Hospital

We sought to understand patient perceptions of the emergency department/urgent care (ED/UC) HIV diagnosis experience as well as factors that may promote or discourage linkage to HIV care. We conducted in-depth interviews with patients (n=24) whose HIV infection was diagnosed in the ED/UC of a public hospital in San Francisco at least six months prior and who linked to HIV care at the hospital HIV clinic. Key diagnosis experience themes included physical discomfort and limited functionality, presence of comorbid diagnoses, a wide spectrum of HIV risk perception, and feelings of isolation and anxiety. Patients diagnosed with HIV in the ED/UC may not have their desired emotional supports with them, either because they are alone or they are with family members or friends to whom they do not want to immediately disclose. Other patients may have no one they can rely on for immediate support. Nearly all participants described compassionate disclosure of test results by ED/UC providers, although several noted logistical issues that complicated the disclosure experience. Key linkage to care themes included the importance of continuity between the testing site and HIV care, hospital admission as an opportunity for support and HIV education, and thoughtful matching by linkage staff to a primary care provider. ED/UC clinicians and testing programs should be sensitive to the unique roles of sickness, risk perception, and isolation in the ED/UC diagnosis experience, as these things may delay acceptance of HIV diagnosis. The disclosure and linkage to care experience is crucial in forming patient attitudes towards HIV and HIV care, thus staff involved in disclosure and linkage activities should be trained to deliver compassionate, informed, and thoughtful care that bridges HIV testing and treatment sites.     

Identity,activity, and the well-being of adolescents and youths: lessons from young people in a Micronesian society

Comparative studies of the health, well-being, and social functioning of adolescents and youths have, in the past two decades, been focused on young people in developing countries where rapid social, cultural, and economic changes have been associated with dramatic increases in the rates of social problems indicative of poorer mental health. Young people in many Pacific Island societies suffer from some of the highest rates of social problems like suicide and substance abuse in the world. It is generally agreed that the increases in rates of social problems among youths in this region result from increases in psychosocial stress, anger, and frustration surrounding intergenerational conflict within the family. Much less is known about the aspects of everyday experiences of young people in the Pacific that can lead to psychosocial stress and the angry episodes of interpersonal conflict that often precede suicide attempts and binge drinking. This paper examines 40 cases of interpersonal conflict in young men's and women's experiences in the islands of Chuuk of the Federated States of Micronesia to better understand what can lead to elevated levels of psychosocial stress for youths in the Pacific. This study shows that the emotional crises of young people in Chuuk often emerge from the incongruence in their pursuit of valued personal and social identities within the family, the community, and the peer group. Thus youths who experience more incongruity in their engagements across the multiple activity settings of everyday life are at greater risk for stressful experiences.     

Comparing the Rates of Early Childhood Victimization across Sexual Orientations: Heterosexual,Lesbian, Gay,Bisexual, and Mostly Heterosexual

Few studies have examined the rates of childhood victimization among individuals who identify as “mostly heterosexual” (MH) in comparison to other sexual orientation groups. For the present study, we utilized a more comprehensive assessment of adverse childhood experiences to extend prior literature by examining if MH individuals’ experience of victimization more closely mirrors that of sexual minority individuals or heterosexuals. Heterosexual (n = 422) and LGB (n = 561) and MH (n = 120) participants were recruited online. Respondents completed surveys about their adverse childhood experiences, both maltreatment by adults (e.g., childhood physical, emotional, and sexual abuse and childhood household dysfunction) and peer victimization (i.e., verbal and physical bullying). Specifically, MH individuals were 1.47 times more likely than heterosexuals to report childhood victimization experiences perpetrated by adults. These elevated rates were similar to LGB individuals. Results suggest that rates of victimization of MH groups are more similar to the rates found among LGBs, and are significantly higher than heterosexual groups. Our results support prior research that indicates that an MH identity falls within the umbrella of a sexual minority, yet little is known about unique challenges that this group may face in comparison to other sexual minority groups.     

Families on the spot: sexual signals influence parent–offspring interactions

In 1950, Tinbergen described the elicitation of offspring begging by the red spot on the bill of parent gulls, and this became a model system for behavioural studies. Current knowledge on colour traits suggests they can act as sexual signals revealing individual quality. However, sexual signals have never been studied simultaneously in relationship to parent–offspring and sexual conflicts. We manipulated the red-spot size in one member of yellow-legged gull pairs and observed their partners'' feeding efforts in relationship to offspring begging. In the enlarged-spot group, partners doubled their effort compared with the other groups. Furthermore, in the reduced-spot group, partners provided food in relationship to offspring begging, contrasting with the fixed effort of the partners of enlarged-spot gulls. Manipulated gulls, independently of treatment, provided food in relationship to chicks begging only when the partner''s investment was low, and performed a fixed effort when the partner''s contribution was high. Results demonstrate that the red spot in yellow-legged gulls functions as a sexual signal and indicate that parental rules are plastic, depending on the information on offer. Previous evidence and this study indicate that this signal is used by all family members to adjust decision rules. The incorporation of sexual signals in parent–offspring interactions can be crucial in understanding intra-familial conflicts.     

Linking intra‐ and interspecific assortative mating: Consequences for asymmetric sexual isolation

Assortative mating is of interest because of its role in speciation and the maintenance of species boundaries. However, we know little about how within‐species assortment is related to interspecific sexual isolation. Most previous studies of assortative mating have focused on a single trait in males and females, rather than utilizing multivariate trait information. Here, we investigate how intraspecific assortative mating relates to sexual isolation in two sympatric and congeneric damselfly species (genus Calopteryx). We connect intraspecific assortment to interspecific sexual isolation by combining field observations, mate preference experiments, and enforced copulation experiments. Using canonical correlation analysis, we demonstrate multivariate intraspecific assortment for body size and body shape. Males of the smaller species mate more frequently with heterospecific females than males of the larger species, which showed less attraction to small heterospecific females. Field experiments suggest that sexual isolation asymmetry is caused by male preferences for large heterospecific females, rather than by mechanical isolation due to interspecific size differences or female preferences for large males. Male preferences for large females and male–male competition for high quality females can therefore counteract sexual isolation. This sexual isolation asymmetry indicates that sexual selection currently opposes a species boundary.     

Health concerns and health-related behaviours of adolescents.

Health promotion and treatment programs for adolescents must be tailored to the unique concerns and needs of this population. A questionnaire was mailed to 1000 adolescents aged 12 to 20 years in the Ottawa-Carleton region; 729 responded, giving information on their health concerns and habits. The teenagers reported worrying mostly about chronic conditions such as acne, menstrual disorders, emotional problems, dental problems and being overweight. Some of these conditions can be treated if care is sought. The psychosocial problems most important to the adolescents were school and family problems. Girls tended to report health concerns more often than boys, but there was little variation by age or social group. Although the proportions of adolescents who were smoking cigarettes, drinking alcoholic beverages or using "recreational" drugs or who had ever had sexual intercourse were relatively high, the number of respondents who perceived such habits as health problems was low. There was a low level of concern about birth control among the respondents, including those who indicated that they had had sexual intercourse. The fact that significantly more girls than boys reported that they smoked and had engaged in sexual intercourse suggests specific targets for health promotion activities.