Search results for "Physiological psychology"
showing 10 items of 760 documents
Insights About the Neuroplasticity State on the Effect of Intramuscular Electrical Stimulation in Pain and Disability Associated With Chronic Myofasc…
2018
Background: There is limited evidence concerning the effect of intramuscular electrical stimulation (EIMS) on the neural mechanisms of pain and disability associated with chronic Myofascial Pain Syndrome (MPS). Objectives: To provide new insights into the EIMS long-term effect on pain and disability related to chronic MPS (primary outcomes). To assess if the neuroplasticity state at baseline could predict the long-term impact of EIMS on disability due to MPS we examined the relationship between the serum brain-derived-neurotrophic-factor (BDNF) and by motor evoked potential (MEP). Also, we evaluated if the EIMS could improve the descending pain modulatory system (DPMS) and the cortical exci…
Early life stress is a risk factor for excessive alcohol drinking and impulsivity in adults and is mediated via a CRF/GABAA mechanism
2016
Childhood stress and trauma are associated with substance use disorders in adulthood, but the neurological changes that confer increased vulnerability are largely unknown. In this study, maternal separation (MS) stress, restricted to the pre-weaning period, was used as a model to study mechanisms of protracted effects of childhood stress/traumatic experiences on binge drinking and impulsivity. Using an operant self-administration model of binge drinking and a delay discounting assay to measure impulsive-like behavior, we report that early life stress due to MS facilitated acquisition of binge drinking and impulsivity during adulthood in rats. Previous studies have shown heightened levels of…
A combined therapy for limb apraxia and related anosognosia.
2019
Left hemisphere stroke frequently leads to limb apraxia, a disorder that has been reported to impact independence in daily life and rehabilitation success. Nonetheless, there is a shortcoming in research and availability of applicable trainings. Further, to date, anosognosia for limb apraxia has largely been neglected. Therefore, we developed a Naturalistic Action Therapy that trains object selection and application with an errorless learning approach and which includes supported self-evaluation. The current study presents the results of two stroke patients participating in the training. The procedure entailed two baseline and one post-training sessions including standardized limb apraxia a…
Can there be learning potential in Parkinson’s disease? A comparison with healthy older adults
2017
Patients with Parkinson's disease may show certain cognitive impairments, although it is unclear how these deficits can affect their learning potential. The study aims to use the testing-the-limits technique to compare the potential for cognitive plasticity in a group of Patients with Parkinson's disease (N = 33) and a group of healthy older adults (N = 33). Sixty-six participants performed verbal learning test to analyze the learning potential. Repeated-measures analysis of variance showed significant main effects of time, group, and the interaction. There is a lower learning potential in subjects with Parkinson's disease; however, those still maintain a certain capacity for learning and, …
Recollection in adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder.
2013
Abstract Introduction Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder primarily affecting social interaction and communication. Recently, there has been interest in whether people with ASD also show memory deficits as a result of abnormal brain development. However, at least in adolescents with ASD, the recollection component of episodic memory has rarely been explored. This paper is an evaluation of recollection in three different experiments in adolescents with ASD, using both objective (source discrimination) and subjective methods (Remember–Know judgments). Methods Three experiments were designed to measure different aspects of contextual information: sensory/perceptual …
On the advantages of word-frequency and contextual diversity measures extracted from subtitles: the case of Portuguese
2015
Accepted manuscript. Epub ahead of print, 29 Sep. 2014.
The importance of trait emotional intelligence and feelings in the prediction of perceived and biological stress in adolescents: hierarchical regress…
2017
The purpose of this study is to analyze the combined effects of trait emotional intelligence (EI) and feelings on healthy adolescents' stress. Identifying the extent to which adolescent stress varies with trait emotional differences and the feelings of adolescents is of considerable interest in the development of intervention programs for fostering youth well-being. To attain this goal, self-reported questionnaires (perceived stress, trait EI, and positive/negative feelings) and biological measures of stress (hair cortisol concentrations, HCC) were collected from 170 adolescents (12-14 years old). Two different methodologies were conducted, which included hierarchical regression models and …
Are neuroticism and extraversion related to morning cortisol release in healthy older people?
2016
The cortisol awakening response (CAR) is a discrete component of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA-axis) function that has been widely related to both health and some personality traits. There is evidence that neuroticism and extraversion affect health and well-being and play a damaging or protective role, respectively. In this study, we aimed to explore the relationship between these personality dimensions and morning cortisol concentrations in people aged 55 or older. To do so, morning saliva samples were collected on two consecutive weekdays from a total of 160 older men and women. Neuroticism and extraversion were assessed using the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire-Revised, …
Optimism and pessimism are related to different components of the stress response in healthy older people.
2015
Some personality traits have key importance for health because they can affect the maintenance and evolution of different disorders with a high prevalence in older people, including stress pathologies and diseases. In this study we investigated how two relevant personality traits, optimism and pessimism, affect the psychophysiological response of 72 healthy participants (55 to 76 years old) exposed to either a psychosocial stress task (Trier Social Stress Test, TSST) or a control task; salivary cortisol, heart rate (HR) and situational appraisal were measured. Our results showed that optimism was related to faster cortisol recovery after exposure to stress. Pessimism was not related to the …
Assessing Planning Ability Across the Adult Life Span: Population-Representative and Age-Adjusted Reliability Estimates for the Tower of London (TOL-…
2015
Planning ahead the consequences of future actions is a prototypical executive function. In clinical and experimental neuropsychology, disc-transfer tasks like the Tower of London (TOL) are commonly used for the assessment of planning ability. Previous psychometric evaluations have, however, yielded a poor reliability of measuring planning performance with the TOL. Based on theory-grounded task analyses and a systematic problem selection, the computerized TOL-Freiburg version (TOL-F) was developed to improve the task's psychometric properties for diagnostic applications. Here, we report reliability estimates for the TOL-F from two large samples collected in Mainz, Germany (n = 3,770; 40-80 y…