The dynamics of activation processes in persons with different ability to recognize speech emotional expressions

The frequency-amplitude characteristics of the brain electrical activity were studied in two groups of subjects: (1) with high and (2) with low indexes of "emotional ear" (the ability to successfully recognize emotions in speech). Comparison of EEG power characteristics between the two groups of subjects permitted the authors to make a conclusion that the persons with lower indexes of "emotional ear" had a much higher EEG activation level as compared to the persons with higher "emotional ear" indexes. A different dynamics of the cortical activation was also observed in the process of recognition of emotions by alpha-rhythm amplitude. It was shown that the persons with higher indexes of recognition had higher alpha-rhythm amplitude, whereas the persons who were less successful in recognition of speech emotions had a contrary tendency: the amplitude on the alpha band decreased in the process of the experiment.     

Individual differences in the ability to recognise facial identity are associated with social anxiety

Previous research has been concerned with the relationship between social anxiety and the recognition of face expression but the question of whether there is a relationship between social anxiety and the recognition of face identity has been neglected. Here, we report the first evidence that social anxiety is associated with recognition of face identity, across the population range of individual differences in recognition abilities. Results showed poorer face identity recognition (on the Cambridge Face Memory Test) was correlated with a small but significant increase in social anxiety (Social Interaction Anxiety Scale) but not general anxiety (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory). The correlation was also independent of general visual memory (Cambridge Car Memory Test) and IQ. Theoretically, the correlation could arise because correct identification of people, typically achieved via faces, is important for successful social interactions, extending evidence that individuals with clinical-level deficits in face identity recognition (prosopagnosia) often report social stress due to their inability to recognise others. Equally, the relationship could arise if social anxiety causes reduced exposure or attention to people's faces, and thus to poor development of face recognition mechanisms.     

Perception of emotional intonation of noisy speech signal with different acoustic parameters by adults of different age and gender

The listener-distinctive features of recognition of different emotional intonations (positive, negative and neutral) of male and female speakers in the presence or absence of background noise were studied in 49 adults aged 20-79 years. In all the listeners noise produced the most pronounced decrease in recognition accuracy for positive emotional intonation ("joy") as compared to other intonations, whereas it did not influence the recognition accuracy of "anger" in 65-79-year-old listeners. The higher emotion recognition rates of a noisy signal were observed for speech emotional intonations expressed by female speakers. Acoustic characteristics of noisy and clear speech signals underlying perception of speech emotional prosody were found for adult listeners of different age and gender.     

Clinicians and the coronial system: ability of clinicians to recognise reportable deaths.

OBJECTIVE--To assess the ability of clinicians to recognise deaths which require referral to the coroner. DESIGN--Postal questionnaire consisting of 16 fictitious case histories, 14 of which contained a clear indication for referral to the coroner. SETTING--Large teaching hospital. Coroner''s office. SUBJECTS--200 clinicians from general medical and surgical firms and senior staff of the local coroner''s office (two coroner''s officers and the two deputy coroners). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES--Number of correct assessments on questionnaire. RESULTS--The mean recognition score for the clinicians was 9.11 (range 3-14) with no difference between the clinical grades. All of the coroner''s senior staff recorded maximum recognition scores of 16. CONCLUSIONS--The study highlights several features of the coronial system which are poorly understood by clinicians and provides the basis for an initiative to improve the medicolegal education of all clinicians.     

Psychophysiological characterization of persons with different resistance to stress

On the basis of behavioral characteristics while performing operator activity under the conditions of emotional stress, two types of subjects were identified with different neurophysiological reactions to emoional stress. In high stress resistant subjects, irrespective of the character of errors under stress, a decrease in the spectral power of theta-rhythm and an increase in the power in beta hand was observed. As compared to low stress resistant subjects, they were characterized by the predominance of activity of the right hemisphere. In low stress resistant subjects during the work under stress conditions the spectral power in beta-1 hand decreased. As compared to high stress resistant, they were characterized by the predominance of the left hemisphere.     

Cardiorespiratory response to hypoxia in persons with different levels of creativity

The correlation between the parameters of creativity and tolerance to experimentally induced normobaric hypoxia has been studied in young healthy subjects. The subjects inhaled a low-oxygen gas mixture (10% O₂) until the arterial hemoglobin oxygen saturation (SaO₂) decreased to 80%. In the recovery period, the subjects breathed normoxic air until the SaO₂ returned to its initial value. The parameters of creativity, including the originality and fluency of producing images in Torrance’s subtests of Circles and Incomplete figures, as well as the originality and fluency of sentences composed by using nouns from distant semantic categories, were evaluated before conducting hypoxic tests. Positive relationships were found between the values of figurative originality and tolerance to hypoxia, i.e., by the time of decrease in SaO₂ and the coefficient that reflects the rate of recovery of the respiratory function. Analysis of the reactivity of the cardiovascular system showed negative correlations between the parameters of creativity, namely, the figurative originality and verbal fluency, and the heart rate under the conditions of hypoxia, as well as after the recovery of the functions of the cardiorespiratory system. An increase in the capacity for original figurative thinking also corresponded to smaller differences in the values of the heart rate during the recovery and at rest. These correlations between the characteristics of creative thinking and reactions of the cardiovascular and pulmonary systems to experimentally induced hypoxia indicate that there is a common mechanism of nervous regulation underlying adaptive behavior and maintaining homeostasis.     

Induction of emotional states during oral reading of texts with different emotional valence and EEG power dynamics in frequency bands beta2 and gamma

EEG power in frequency bands beta2 (18.5-29.5 Hz) and low gamma (30-40 Hz) was compared for situations while reading aloud with the technique "self-regulative utterance" texts as follow: a text with neutral emotional-semantic dominant; literary texts with either a positive or a negative emotional-semantic dominant; personal texts--recollections with similar dominants. Two groups of healthy subjects participated--a group of actor students (N=22) and a group of non-actor students (N=23). EEG power values in the states of emotiogenic texts reading are reproducibly differed with statistical significance from those in the state of reading ofa non-emotiogenic text. States of reading emotionally-positive texts are characterized by increases of EEG power in these bands, while those for emotionally negative texts--by decreases if compared with the state of emotionally neutral reading.     

Ubiquitin links to cytoskeletal dynamics, cell adhesion and migration

Post-translational modifications are used by cells to link additional information to proteins. Most modifications are subtle and concern small moieties such as a phosphate group or a lipid. In contrast, protein ubiquitylation entails the covalent attachment of a full-length protein such as ubiquitin. The protein ubiquitylation machinery is remarkably complex, comprising more than 15 Ubls (ubiquitin-like proteins) and several hundreds of ubiquitin-conjugating enzymes. Ubiquitin is best known for its role as a tag that induces protein destruction either by the proteasome or through targeting to lysosomes. However, addition of one or more Ubls also affects vesicular traffic, protein-protein interactions and signal transduction. It is by now well established that ubiquitylation is a component of most, if not all, cellular signalling pathways. Owing to its abundance in controlling cellular functions, ubiquitylation is also of key relevance to human pathologies, including cancer and inflammation. In the present review, we focus on its role in the control of cell adhesion, polarity and directional migration. It will become clear that protein modification by Ubls occurs at every level from the receptors at the plasma membrane down to cytoskeletal components such as actin, with differential consequences for the pathway's final output. Since ubiquitylation is fast as well as reversible, it represents a bona fide signalling event, which is used to fine-tune a cell's responses to receptor agonists.     

Preparation and characterization of monoclonal antibodies which recognise different gibberellin epitopes

The production and characterization of high-affinity monoclonal antibodies (McAb) to gibberellins (GAs) is reported. Hybrid myelomas were derived from immunisations with conjugates in which immunogenic proteins were linked to GA₁ at carbon-3 and to GA₄ and GA₉ at carbon-17. A series of McAb which display specificities allowing recognition of, and the discrimination between GA₁, GA₂₀, GA₄ and GA₉ is described. These McAb can be used in quantitative immunoassays for underivatised GAs.Abbreviations BSA bovine serum albumin - FCS foetal calf serum - GA_n gibberellin A_n - IFA incomplete Freund's adjuvant - KLH keyhole-limpet haemocyanin - McAb monoclonal antibody (bodies) - PBS phosphate-buffered saline     

The mental developmental level of 5- to 7-year-old children and the reflection of their emotional status in speech

In 22 children aged 5-7 during the play "make up a square" negative (1st step) and positive (2nd and 3rd steps) emotions were formed. General behaviour and speech expressions of children were recorded during the play. Before beginning of the play, intellectual development of children was tested, and two groups were singled out: with low (A) and high (B) levels of tasks solution. Changes of verbal values Fot and n(0) in children from two groups were compared during the play. Fot was most sensitive to the appearance of the emotional state. Emotional states were more expressed in children from group A: percentage of significant changes in Fot and n(0) values in comparison with the background was higher in the group A than in the group B. In children of the group A the negative emotion formed at the 1st step of the experiment caused a decrease of level of motivation to fulfillment of the task to make up a "difficult" square. In children of the group B the negative emotion did not cause any distinct decrease of motivation level. Fot reflects the change of motivational attitude to task) and n(0)--of informational (actualization of knowledge, reasoning etc.) components of the emotional reaction connected with the process of task solution.