Adding budesonide irrigation to olfactory training significantly improved olfactory ability compared with olfactory training plus saline irrigation.

Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) was applied to test the role of selected cortical regions in remediating sleep-deprivation-induced deficits in visual working memory (WM) performance. Three rTMS targets were chosen using a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)-identified network associated with sleep-deprivation-induced WM performance impairment: 2 regions from the network (upper left middle occipital gyrus and midline parietal cortex) and 1 nonnetwork region (lower left middle occipital gyrus). Fifteen participants underwent total sleep deprivation for 48 h. rTMS was applied at 5 Hz during a WM task in a within-subject sham-controlled design. The rTMS to the upper-middle occipital site resulted in a reduction of the sleep-induced reaction time deficit without a corresponding decrease in accuracy, whereas stimulation at the other sites did not. Each subject had undergone fMRI scanning while performing the task both pre- and postsleep deprivation, and the degree to which each individual activated the fMRI network was measured. The degree of performance enhancement with upper-middle occipital rTMS correlated with the degree to which each individual failed to sustain network activation. No effects were found in a subset of participants who performed the same rTMS procedure after recovering from sleep deprivation, suggesting that the performance enhancements seen following sleep deprivation were state dependent.

Demands for change in a relationship, particularly when met by behavioral withdrawal, foreshadow declines in relationship satisfaction. Yet demands can give partners opportunities to voice concerns, and withdrawal can serve to de-escalate conflict, stabilizing satisfaction instead (e.g., Overall, Fletcher, Simpson, & Sibley, 2009). We aim to reconcile these competing possibilities by arguing that withdrawal in response to requests for change will be detrimental among couples who possess the social, educational, and economic capital needed to address these requests, whereas withdrawal in response to partner demands will be constructive among couples with fewer resources for making the requested changes. Study 1 (N = 515 couples; 18-month follow-up) replicates the harmful effects of observed demand/withdraw communication on changes in wives’ satisfaction among relatively affluent couples, while documenting benefits of demand/withdraw communication among relatively disadvantaged couples. Using 4 waves of observational data, Study 2 (N = 431 couples; 9-, 18- and 27-month follow-ups) shows that socioeconomic risk moderates the covariation between the demand/withdraw pattern and wives’ relationship satisfaction, with higher levels of withdrawal again proving to be beneficial when socioeconomic risk is high. In both studies, behavioral withdrawal by men appears to be maladaptive when couples have resources and capacities to enact desired changes, but may be adaptive when those resources and capacities are lacking. Efforts to change couple communication without appreciating the larger social and economic contexts of those behaviors may be counterproductive.

Although a number of theoretical perspectives in relationship science argue that variability in couples' relationship satisfaction over time is driven by changes in their communication, tests of this hypothesis have been limited to single assessments of behavior. To address this gap, we examine within-couple, across-time changes in communication, and we argue further that couples' external circumstances might combine with these behavioral changes to generate changes in relationship satisfaction. Using self-reports of satisfaction and in-home observational data collected 4 times at 9-month intervals from 414 newlywed couples, we show that fluctuations in dyadic behavior and spousal stress covary with fluctuations in spousal satisfaction. Tests of the interaction between fluctuations in stress and behavior reveal that husbands who experience upward fluctuations in negativity also experience decreases in relationship satisfaction at the same wave but only if they are concurrently experiencing greater stress than usual. Downward fluctuations in problem-solving effectiveness are associated with lower relationship satisfaction but only among spouses who had chronically high levels of cumulative stress; when chronic stress is low, reduced problem-solving effectiveness is unrelated to satisfaction. Exclusive focus on betweencouple variability in couple communication, without regard for the stressors that couples face, will likely restrict the understanding and prevention of relationship distress.

Although people with a history of child abuse are known to be at elevated risk for later difficulties in relationships, there is debate over whether these effects are enduring and relatively immutable or whether they are moderated by characteristics and behaviors of the partner. To reconcile these competing perspectives, we conducted a longitudinal study of 414 newlywed couples living in low-income neighborhoods, testing whether the association between abuse history and relationship satisfaction is dependent on the partners’ aggression, depression, substance abuse, observed communication, and other demographic risk factors. Spouses who had been abused as children (25% of husbands, 31% of wives) reported more symptoms of depression and substance abuse and, among husbands, displayed more negative communication. Spouses with a history of child abuse were also less satisfied with their marriage, even as newlyweds; abused wives also declined in satisfaction over time compared to those without this history. However, interactions between abuse history and all of the proposed moderators were not significant, indicating that partner and relationship characteristics failed to strengthen or weaken the association between abuse history and relationship satisfaction. Childhood experiences of abuse appear to have lasting and broad effects on individual and relational outcomes, and these effects are neither heightened nor mitigated by the partner’s characteristics or behaviors.

Divorced individuals offer explanations for why their relationship ended, yet little is known about the development of these problems during the relationship. Problems that lead to divorce may exist at the beginning of the marriage (enduring dynamics model) or may develop over time (emergent distress model). We asked 40 divorced individuals about the reasons for their divorce and compared the development of problems that did and did not contribute to their divorce over the first few years of their marriage. Results support an emergent distress model for wives as they saw problems that lead to divorce increasing over time. Results for husbands indicated that they were less attuned to problems overall, suggesting that wives are the bellwether for relationship problems.

This study examined whether brain responses to transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) would be amenable to classical conditioning. Motor cortex in human participants was stimulated with TMS pulses, which elicited a peripheral motor response in the form of a motor evoked potential (MEP). The TMS pulses were paired with audio-visual cues that served as conditioned stimuli. Over the course of training, MEPs following the conditioned stimuli decreased in amplitude. Two experiments demonstrated that the attenuated response only occurred when the TMS was preceded by the conditioned stimulus. Unsignaled TMS and TMS preceded by a cue that was not previously paired did not attenuate the response. The experiments demonstrate that the modulation of the motor response depended on the prior pairings of the conditioned stimuli and TMS and that the effects were stimulus specific. Thus we demonstrate here, for the first time, that TMS can serve as the unconditioned stimulus in Pavlovian conditioning.

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