Search results for "behavioral"

Usability issues of clinical and research applications of virtual reality in older people: A systematic review

2020

Aging is a condition that may be characterized by a decline in physical, sensory, and mental capacities, while increased morbidity and multimorbidity may be associated with disability. A wide range of clinical conditions (e.g., frailty, mild cognitive impairment, metabolic syndrome) and age-related diseases (e.g., Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, cancer, sarcopenia, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases) affect older people. Virtual reality (VR) is a novel and promising tool for assessment and rehabilitation in older people. Usability is a crucial factor that must be considered when designing virtual systems for medicine. We conducted a systematic review with Preferred Reporting Items…

Electrophysiological evidence for an inverse benzodiazepine receptor agonist in panic disorder.

1999

Abstract Inverse agonists of the GABA A receptor clearly decrease the amplitudes of the spontaneous EEG in the P-frequency range. Therefore, we tested the hypothesis that panic patients exhibit a reduction of the EEGs spectral power in the P-frequency band. Ten unmedicated patients with panic disorder and agoraphobia according to DSM-III-R criteria and 10 matched controls were investigated under baseline conditions, after hyperventilation and 30 min after hyperventilation. EEG recordings from the position P z and C z were performed under eyes closed conditions. At baseline conditions the patients suffering from panic disorder depicted a reduced P-power reaching statistically significance fo…

Neuronal nicotinic receptors in synaptic functions in humans and rats: physiological and clinical relevance.

2000

The present report describes the participation of nicotinic receptors (nAChRs) in controlling the excitability of local neuronal circuitries in the rat hippocampus and in the human cerebral cortex. The patch-clamp technique was used to record responses triggered by the non-selective agonist ACh and the alpha7-nAChR-selective agonist choline in interneurons of human cerebral cortical and rat hippocampal slices. Evidence is provided that functional alpha7- and alpha4beta2-like nAChRs are present on somatodendritic and/or preterminal/terminal regions of interneurons in the CA1 field of the rat hippocampus and in the human cerebral cortex and that activation of the different nAChR subtypes pres…

Perinatal exposure to 5-methoxytryptamine, behavioural-stress reactivity and functional response of 5-HT1A receptors in the adolescent rat.

2008

Abstract Serotonin is involved in a wide range of physiological and patho-physiological mechanisms. In particular, 5-HT1A receptors are proposed to mediate stress-adaptation. The aim of this research was to investigate in adolescent rats: first, the consequences of perinatal exposure to 5-metoxytryptamine (5MT), a 5-HT1/5-HT2 serotonergic agonist, on behavioural-stress reactivity in elevated plus maze, open field and forced swim tests; secondly, whether the behavioural effects induced by perinatal exposure to 5MT on open field and forced swim tests were affected by the selective 5-HT1A receptor agonist LY 228729, a compound able to elicit a characteristic set of motor behaviours on these ex…

Behavioral effects of different enriched environments in mice treated with the cholinergic agonist PNU-282987.

2013

Abstract Environmental enrichment is an experimental model in which rodents are housed in complex environments that favor lower levels of anxiety-like behavior. PNU-282987 (PNU) is a α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor agonist with beneficial effects on learning though its effects on anxiety are unclear. Our main aim was to carry out a study of its effects in NMRI ( n  = 96) mice reared in different environments: environmental enrichment (EE), Marlau™ cages (MC) and standard environment (SE). After a 4-month period, mice received acute treatment of PNU (2.5, 5 and 10 mg/kg) and were evaluated in the elevated plus-maze (EPM) and hole-board (HB). In the EPM, both EE and MC reared mice showed …

Biochemical evidence that the atypical antipsychotic drugs clozapine and risperidone block 5-HT(2C) receptors in vivo.

2002

Clozapine and risperidone are two atypical antipsychotic drugs which bind, among other receptors, to 5-HT(2C) receptor subtypes. They inhibit the basal inositol phosphate production in mammalian cells expressing rat or human 5-HT(2C) receptors. This biochemical effect is indicative of inverse agonist activity at these receptors. There is evidence that 5-HT(2C) receptors are involved in the control of the activity of central dopaminergic system. Therefore, the effects of clozapine (5 mg/kg ip), risperidone (0.08 mg/kg ip) and of the typical antipsychotic haloperidol (0.1 mg/kg ip) were studied on the extracellular concentration of dopamine (DA) in the nucleus accumbens of chloral hydrate-ane…

Biogenic Amines Modulate Olfactory Receptor Neurons Firing Activity in Mamestra brassicae

2001

The modulatory effects of the biogenic amines octopamine and serotonin on pheromonal receptor neurons of Mamestra brassicae were investigated. The responses to sex pheromone components of two cells types (A and B) in single male long sensilla trichodea were monitored. Cell types A and B do not respond to the same compound. The response of type A to a pulse of the major sex pheromone component increased 5 min after octopamine injection. Responses of type B to other odorants increased after 30 min. In the absence of any pheromone stimulation the background firing activity of type A increased following octopamine injection. This background activity was used to evaluate the kinetics of octopami…

2021

Gambling may range from being a recreational leisure activity to a behavioral addiction. A rising number of gamblers experience adverse consequences from gambling, termed problem gambling, which may become a challenge for the individual and society. With the present research, we aimed to investigate the correlates of problem gambling. We used a large sample of more than 12,500 individuals (46% male, Mage = 48, SDage = 18) from the Household, Income, and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey and analyzed sociodemographic and personality variables (Big Five, locus of control) as well as the extent of problem gambling. Findings showed that male sex and a lower level of education were rel…

The effects of personality, risk and other-regarding attitudes on trust and reciprocity

2022

Abstract This paper reports experimental results on the determinants of trust and reciprocity in the context of a genuinely sequential, binary Trust Game. Apart from behavior in the main experiment, subjects’ risk attitudes and inequality aversion are elicited, as well as the traits of neuroticism and agreeableness, captured through the five-factor model. The findings suggest that trustors’ (first movers) behavior is affected by their loss aversion, while trustees’ (second movers) reciprocal behavior is not explained by any of their other-regarding attitudes, but, rather, by their agreeableness.

Integrating Personality Structure, Personality Process, and Personality Development

2017

In this target article, we argue that personality processes, personality structure, and personality development have to be understood and investigated in integrated ways in order to provide comprehensive responses to the key questions of personality psychology. The psychological processes and mechanisms that explain concrete behaviour in concrete situations should provide explanation for patterns of variation across situations and individuals, for development over time as well as for structures observed in intra–individual and inter–individual differences. Personality structures, defined as patterns of covariation in behaviour, including thoughts and feelings, are results of those processe…