State anxiety: construct and measuresThe compelling observation that specific unpleasant emotional conditions, characterized by short-lived feelings of tension or apprehension, are actually prone to fluctuations depending on external contingencies in the environment was first put forward by Cattell (1966;Cattell & Scheirer, 1958& 1963 in the second half of the last century, when he proposed the distinction between state anxiety and a more stable personality trait (referred to as trait anxiety), the latter being related to the tendency to experience feelings of tension and worrisome thoughts. Since this pioneering work, although no consensus has been reached about the true nature of state anxiety as a psychological or physiological construct, this concept has been further elaborated and refined by Spielberger (1966Spielberger ( & 1976 at a theoretical level, and it has been implicated in a myriad of empirical studies that have helped delineate and better characterize the numerous psychological reactions to stressors in humans (e.g., , or the physiological activations of the nervous system triggered by external or internal emotional stimuli (e.g., Swartzman, Edelberg, & Kemman, 1990;de Rooij, Schene, Phillips, & Roseboom, 2010). Levels of trait anxiety are considered crucial for people's successful adaptation to the environment, and have been shown to influence a multitude of core psychological components, including well-being and mental health (e.g., Duncko, Makatsori, Fickova, Selco, & Jezova, 2006;Bruk-Lee, Khoury, Nixon, Goh, & Spector, 2009). Consequently, good instruments for measuring stable inter-individual differences in anxiety proneness, considered as a personality trait, have been developed in the affective sciences literature (e.g., Cattel & Scheirer, 1963;Spielberger, Gorsuch, & Lushene, 1970), with the underlying idea that such trait is long lasting and mostly stable across time and situations. At the same time, a 4 growing number of studies suggested that trait characteristics of anxiety not always accurately predicted psychological responses in specific situations (e.g., , nor did they always show a straightforward relationship with the magnitude of anxiety fluctuations over time in response to external events (see Spielberger, 1983;. In these cases, a less stable measure of anxiety, able to capture these short-lived variations in the state of the individual would be desirable.In order to appropriately meet these theoretical and empirical considerations, several instruments have been developed over the years, providing alternative instruments for measuring state-dependent fluctuations in anxiety, or more broadly, in affect or mood. for the POMS). Moreover, systematically comparing the psychometric properties of each measure seems rather difficult, since they have to be retrieved from various and sometimes scattered sources, such as the manuals and a set of psychometric papers addressing different combinations of instruments, with sometimes a lack of consistency across analysis techniques, sample...

Converging electrophysiological and brain-imaging results show that sensory processing in V1 can be modulated by attention. In this study, we tested the prediction that this early filtering effect depends on the current affective state of the participant. We recorded visual evoked potentials (VEPs) to visual peripheral distractors while participants performed a demanding task at fixation, whose perceptual load was manipulated in a parametric fashion. Crucially, levels of negative affect were either increased or decreased independently of changes in perceptual load.Concurrent psychophysiological measurements and self-report scales confirmed that changes in emotional state were effective. In the control condition, ERP results showed that the C1 component generated in response to the exact same peripheral distractors systematically varied in amplitude with the amount of perceptual load imposed at fixation, being larger when perceptual load decreased. However, this early modulatory effect in V1 was disrupted when participants transiently experienced increased state anxiety, resulting in a decreased C1 amplitude even though task load at fixation remained low. These results suggest that early bottom-up processing in V1 is not only influenced by the amount of attention resources available, but also by the current internal state of the participant.

Recent evidence has suggested that not only stimulus-specific attributes or top-down expectations can modulate attention selection processes, but also the actual mood state of the participant. In this study, we tested the prediction that the induction of positive mood can dynamically influence attention allocation and, in turn, modulate early stimulus sensory processing in primary visual cortex (V1). High-density visual event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded while participants performed a demanding task at fixation and were presented with peripheral irrelevant visual textures, whose position was systematically varied in the upper visual field (close, medium, or far relative to fixation). Either a neutral or a positive mood was reliably induced and maintained throughout the experimental session. The ERP results showed that the earliest retinotopic component following stimulus onset (C1) strongly varied in topography as a function of the position of the peripheral distractor, in agreement with a near-far spatial gradient. However, this effect was altered for participants in a positive relative to a neutral mood. On the contrary, positive mood did not modulate attention allocation for the central (taskrelevant) stimuli, as reflected by the P300 component. We ran a control behavioral experiment confirming that positive emotion selectively impaired attention allocation to the peripheral distractors. These results suggest a mood-dependent tuning of position-specific encoding in V1 rapidly following stimulus onset. We discuss these results against the dominant broaden-and-build theory.

Abstract 2Objective: Although left dorsolateral prefrontal cortical (DLPFC) repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) is used to treat major depression, its underlying neurophysiological working mechanism remains to be determined. Prior research suggested that the clinical effects could be mediated by affecting the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) system, but experimental studies in healthy individuals did not yield clear results. However, in healthy individuals, the influence of HFrTMS on the HPA-system may only be detected when it is challenged.Methods: In 30 rTMS naïve healthy females we evaluated the effect of one sham-controlled high frequency (HF)-rTMS session applied to the left DLPFC on the stress hormone cortisol by collecting salivary cortisol samples. In order to increase stress levels, five minutes after stimulation, all participants performed the Critical Feedback Task (CFT), during which they were criticized on their performance. To take possible mood influences into account, all participants were also assessed with Visual Analogue Scales (VAS).Results: The experimental procedure did not affect mood differently in the real or sham stimulation.Area under the curve (AUCi) analysis showed that one real HF-rTMS session significantly influenced HPA-system sensitivity, as demonstrated by a decrease in cortisol concentrations. The sham procedure yielded no effects.Conclusions: In line with former observations in major depression, one real left DLPFC HF-rTMS session significantly influenced HPA-system sensitivity in experimentally stressed females, resulting in decreases in cortisol levels.

Objective. Feedback-related negativity (FRN) is associated with reinforcement learning and punishment sensitivity. Furthermore, reinforcement learning proficiency can be predicted from pre-task baseline EEG theta/beta ratio. In this study it was examined whether there was a relation between baseline theta/beta ratio in rest and FRN amplitude during a gambling task, and if such a correlation would be related to theta activity or to beta activity.Methods. Baseline EEG and a self-report measure of punishment sensitivity (BIS) were obtained from 52 healthy volunteers. FRN was recorded during a gambling task.Results. FRN amplitude was negatively correlated with theta/beta ratio in high BIS individuals. Furthermore, source localization indicated that baseline theta activity generated in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) accounted for this correlation. For low BIS individuals no correlation was found.Conclusion. An association between high baseline theta/beta ratio with low amplitude FRN and high risk-taking can be found in individuals who are sufficiently sensitive to punishments. This relationship is carried mostly by baseline theta activity, but not by beta activity.Significance: This link between baseline brain activity, self-report measures and feedback processing may contribute to further understanding the biological basis of conditions that are accompanied by abnormal theta/beta ratio and reward processing, such as attention deficit hyper activity disorder (ADHD).Key words: Feedback-Related Negativity, Baseline EEG, theta/beta ratio, Behavioral Inhibition System, risk taking, source localization 3 Highlights:Baseline EEG theta/beta ratio is associated with decreased feedback-related negativity and increased risk-taking during a gambling task.This association is only present in individuals with sufficiently high punishment sensitivity (BIS).Theta activity that is associated with decreased feedback-related negativity and increased risk-taking during a gambling task originates from the anterior cingulate cortex.4

Motivationally relevant stimuli benefit from strengthened sensory processing. It is unclear,

No abstract

BackgroundLack of social skills and/or a reduced ability to determine when to use them are common symptoms of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Here we examine whether an integrated approach based on virtual environments and natural interfaces is effective in teaching safety skills in adults with ASD. We specifically focus on pedestrian skills, namely street crossing with or without traffic lights, and following road signs.MethodsSeven adults with ASD explored a virtual environment (VE) representing a city (buildings, sidewalks, streets, squares), which was continuously displayed on a wide screen. A markerless motion capture device recorded the subjects’ movements, which were translated into control commands for the VE according to a predefined vocabulary of gestures. The treatment protocol consisted of ten 45-minutes sessions (1 session/week). During a familiarization phase, the participants practiced the vocabulary of gestures. In a subsequent training phase, participants had to follow road signs (to either a police station or a pharmacy) and to cross streets with and without traffic lights. We assessed the performance in both street crossing (number and type of errors) and navigation (walking speed, path length and ability to turn without stopping).To assess their understanding of the practiced skill, before and after treatment subjects had to answer a test questionnaire. To assess transfer of the learned skill to real-life situations, another specific questionnaire was separately administered to both parents/legal guardians and the subjects’ personal caregivers.ResultsOne subject did not complete the familiarization phase because of problems with depth perception. The six subjects who completed the protocol easily learned the simple body gestures required to interact with the VE. Over sessions they significantly improved their navigation performance, but did not significantly reduce the errors made in street crossing. In the test questionnaire they exhibited no significant reduction in the number of errors.However, both parents and caregivers reported a significant improvement in the subjects’ street crossing performance. Their answers were also highly consistent, thus pointing at a significant transfer to real-life behaviors.ConclusionsRehabilitation of adults with ASD mainly focuses on educational interventions that have an impact in their quality of life, which includes safety skills. Our results confirm that interaction with VEs may be effective in facilitating the acquisition of these skills.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12984-015-0010-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.