While previous research has demonstrated a reduction in physical pain sensitivity in response to social exclusion, the manipulations employed have arguably been far removed from typical daily experience. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of relatively ordinary social encounters on the perception of pain. Healthy participants rated the intensity and unpleasantness of painful stimuli before and after engaging in a structured interaction with a confederate who was instructed to either be warm and friendly or indifferent. A control group was asked to perform a similar structured activity, but alone. Consistent with predictions, participants who experienced the mildly negative social exchange reported lower pain intensity and unpleasantness after the encounter relative to baseline, whereas those exposed to the positive social exchange did not evidence any change in pain ratings. These results were not mediated by changes in mood or perceived connectedness. If mildly negative social encounters can provoke an analgesic effect, it is possible that social hypoalgesia may be considerably more commonplace than previously realized. Discussion focuses on the role of stress-induced hypoalgesia, and the implications of the results for clinical assessments of pain.

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Asking a potential romantic partner for a date is a common experience that provides insight into important fundamentals of social perceptions. On the one hand, asking for the date is likely to be motivated by the perceived benefits that a "yes" would bring, such as emotional and physical intimacy. On the other hand, hesitation in asking for the date is likely to be motivated by the perceived harm that would result from a "no," such as a damaged ego or reputation. This example highlights how, in regulating social behavior, people are likely to take into account both the potential rewards that a relationship offers as well as the potential threats that may manifest in pursuing that relationship.In this chapter, we describe the research program being undertaken in our lab, a program that is designed to systematically examine the nature and functional importance of perceptions of social threats and social rewards. We begin by describing our conceptualization of social threats as primarily focused on the fear of rejection and social rewards as primarily focused on feelings of interpersonal connection. We also distinguish social threats and rewards from the related constructs of social avoidance and approach goals. Next, we discuss work validating new measures of social threat and reward

Real-time location systems (RTLS) record locations of individuals over time and are valuable sources of spatiotemporal data that can be used to understand patterns of human behaviour. Location data are used in a wide breadth of applications, from locating individuals to contact tracing or monitoring health markers. To support the use of RTLS in many applications, the varied ways location data can describe patterns of human behaviour should be examined. The objective of this review is to investigate behaviours described using indoor location data, and particularly the types of features extracted from RTLS data to describe behaviours. Four major applications were identified: health status monitoring, consumer behaviours, developmental behaviour, and workplace safety/efficiency. RTLS data features used to analyse behaviours were categorized into four groups: dwell time, activity level, trajectory, and proximity. Passive sensors that provide non-uniform data streams and features with lower complexity were common. Few studies analysed social behaviours between more than one individual at once. Less than half the health status monitoring studies examined clinical validity against gold-standard measures. Overall, spatiotemporal data from RTLS technologies are useful to identify behaviour patterns, provided there is sufficient richness in location data, the behaviour of interest is well-characterized, and a detailed feature analysis is undertaken.

BACKGROUND Barriers to assessing depression in advanced dementia include the presence of informant and patient recall biases. Ecological momentary assessment provides an improved approach for mood assessment by collecting observations in intervals throughout the day, decreasing recall bias, and increasing ecological validity. OBJECTIVE This study aims to evaluate the feasibility, reliability, and validity of the modified 4-item Cornell Scale for Depression in Dementia for Momentary Assessment (mCSDD4-MA) tool to assess depression in patients with advanced dementia. METHODS A intensive longitudinal pilot study design was used. A total of 12 participants with advanced dementia were enrolled from an inpatient psychogeriatric unit. Participants were assessed using clinical depression assessments at admission and discharge. Research staff recorded observations four times a day for 6 weeks on phones with access to the mCSDD4-MA tool. Descriptive data related to feasibility were reported (ie, completion rates). Statistical models were used to examine the interrater reliability and construct and predictive validity of the data. RESULTS Overall, 1923 observations were completed, representing 55.06% (1923/3496) of all rating opportunities with 2 raters and 66.01% (1923/2913) with at least one rater. Moderate interrater reliability was demonstrated for all items, except for <i>lack of interest</i>. Moderate correlations were observed between observers and patient-reported outcomes, where observers reported fewer symptoms relative to participants’ self-reports. Several items were associated with and able to predict depression. CONCLUSIONS The mCSDD4-MA tool was feasible to use, and most items in the tool showed moderate reliability and validity for assessing depression in dementia. Repeated and real-time depression assessment in advanced dementia holds promise for the identification of clinical depression and depressive symptoms.

The critical importance of social connectedness to human health and well-being is well established. There is now accumulating evidence that when a threat to this connectedness (i.e., social injury) occurs, a pain-like experience—social pain—can result. The first part of this chapter presents an up-to-date summary of animal and human brain imaging studies demonstrating an overlap in biological and neural systems mediating both social and physical pain. The second part reviews the literature examining the potential implications of this overlap, including the effect of reducing physical pain on social pain, the impact of social support on physical pain sensitivity, and the effects of socially painful events on physical pain perception. The chapter concludes with an exploration of what we believe are pressing issues and questions to be addressed in future research in the expanding field of social pain.

Background Barriers to assessing depression in advanced dementia include the presence of informant and patient recall biases. Ecological momentary assessment provides an improved approach for mood assessment by collecting observations in intervals throughout the day, decreasing recall bias, and increasing ecological validity. Objective This study aims to evaluate the feasibility, reliability, and validity of the modified 4-item Cornell Scale for Depression in Dementia for Momentary Assessment (mCSDD4-MA) tool to assess depression in patients with advanced dementia. Methods A intensive longitudinal pilot study design was used. A total of 12 participants with advanced dementia were enrolled from an inpatient psychogeriatric unit. Participants were assessed using clinical depression assessments at admission and discharge. Research staff recorded observations four times a day for 6 weeks on phones with access to the mCSDD4-MA tool. Descriptive data related to feasibility were reported (ie, completion rates). Statistical models were used to examine the interrater reliability and construct and predictive validity of the data. Results Overall, 1923 observations were completed, representing 55.06% (1923/3496) of all rating opportunities with 2 raters and 66.01% (1923/2913) with at least one rater. Moderate interrater reliability was demonstrated for all items, except for lack of interest. Moderate correlations were observed between observers and patient-reported outcomes, where observers reported fewer symptoms relative to participants’ self-reports. Several items were associated with and able to predict depression. Conclusions The mCSDD4-MA tool was feasible to use, and most items in the tool showed moderate reliability and validity for assessing depression in dementia. Repeated and real-time depression assessment in advanced dementia holds promise for the identification of clinical depression and depressive symptoms.