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THE EMOTION-PARADOX 1 Abstract The emotion-paradox in schizophrenia describes a dissociation between the grossly impaired perception of emotion and relatively preserved experience thereof. Most posit that the emotion-paradox arises from a generalized emotion perception impairment. Others counter that it represents an artefact of methodological restrictions or a separate dissociation between explicit and implicit emotion. This thesis aimed to explain the emotion-paradox in schizophrenia and resolve the competing interpretations of its root. Two studies were conducted to this end. The studies drew from the same sample, including 45 persons with schizophrenia of various symptomatology, and 45 controls with no psychiatric anamnesis or familial history of schizophrenia. The groups did not differ in age, gender, education or music education. In Study 1, the participants listened to musical stimuli and rated their perception and experience of the valence and arousal that these stimuli relayed. In Study 2, the participants completed a newly developed emotional Stroop task, in which they identified the colour of a series of neutral and negative descriptors of positive, negative, or no symptoms of schizophrenia. Findings of Study 1 indicated: a) that persons with schizophrenia recognize musical emotions as accurately...

60 (44 in the final sample) full-time or part-time employed or full-time student participants at the University of Central Florida were recruited to see whether a break in virtual nature will help improve upon executive functioning (EF) processing speed; especially in an EF impaired population. The main interest is that if virtual nature breaks aid with mental performance, then the application of virtual nature break can prove beneficial to both normal and, most importantly, the cognitively impaired. The lack of methodological consistency and the limited research on the subject yields mixed results in previous literature. The present study tries to address some of these gaps. Participants had to fill out a demographics survey, perform a cognitive load (Mental Rotation Task) and processing speed task (Stroop Color-Word Task), and then engage in a simulated 15-minute break in nature (video & sounds). Afterwards, they performed the processing speed task again to measure for change. The results failed to demonstrate that a moderately short break consisting of a nature video helps boost EF performance in the normal group. Those who demonstrated impairment in EF in the treatment group had to small of a sample size to be tested on. Numerous limitations and weak statistical power, especially in the impaired group, calls into question the validity of the study. As a result, the study findings are inconclusive.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Aging is associated with several changes in human body functions and structures. Neuromuscular, mechanical and cognitive deficits may increase difficulties in locomotion, especially under challenging situations as the gait over obstacles. Such effects can be enforced during situations of dual-task. Limitations for mobility, strength asymmetries and decreased ability of response for changes in the context can affect the gait and increase risks for falling in the elderly. Although physical exercise benefits general health condition, its influence on performance of perturbed gait has been briefly addressed. While the usual gait can be benefited by regular physical exercise, questions still open on how regular exercise contributes to the performance of perturbed gait combined or not with a dual-task, which bring additional cognitive loading to the elderly. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the biomechanics of gait crossing a obstacle while performing or not a dual-task in sedentary and physically active elderly. Elderly aged 60 years old or more participated in the study. They were classified as sedentary or physically active. A brief interview was performed, followed by examination of cognitive status, leg preference and gait kinematics under three conditions: during the usual overground gait, overground gait crossing an obstacle and during overground gait crossing an obstacle while performing a dual-task. Results suggest that some kinematic variables of aged gait are improved in the physical active elderly, even with the execution of a dual-task. Physically active elderly seemed to adopt a more secure pattern of locomotion while crossing over an obstacle, despite of gait asymmetries observed for both the groups. / O envelhecimento acarreta modificações em diversas estruturas e funções corporais. Déficits na capacidade neuromuscular, mecânica e cognitiva podem levar a uma redução na capacidade de locomoção e dificultar a marcha em condições desafiadoras, como na presença de obstáculos. Tais efeitos podem ser aplicados em situações de dupla tarefa. Limitações na mobilidade, assimetrias na força de membros inferiores e menor capacidade de resposta a mudanças no contexto da tarefa podem afetar a marcha e aumentar o risco de quedas em idosos. Embora o exercício físico apresente uma série de benefícios para a qualidade de vida em idosos, sua influência sobre o desempenho na marcha com perturbações tem sido pouco investigada. Enquanto a marcha usual pode ser aprimorada pelo exercício regular, não se sabe como o exercício regular contribui para o desempenho na marcha em diferentes condições de perturbação onde cargas cognitivas adicionais também estão envolvidas. O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar a biomecânica da marcha com obstáculo e dupla tarefa em idosas sedentárias e fisicamente ativas. Participaram do estudo mulheres com idade de 60 anos ou mais, que foram classificadas como fisicamente ativas ou sedentárias. Após a realização de uma anamnese, as idosas foram avaliadas quanto ao estado mental, preferência lateral e cinemática da marcha em três situações: durante a marcha normal, livre de obstáculo; durante a transposição de um obstáculo; e durante a transposição de um obstáculo concomitante à realização de uma tarefa cognitiva secundária. Os principais resultados sugerem que algumas variáveis da marcha com obstáculo são beneficiadas pela prática do exercício regular, mesmo com a realização de uma dupla tarefa. Idosas fisicamente ativas parecem assumir padrões mais seguros de marcha para cruzar um obstáculo, ainda que assimetrias ocorram para ambos os grupos.

Exekutive Funktionen (EF) sind eine Gruppe von Top-Down-Prozessen, die in neuartigen Situationen eingesetzt werden, um neue Trigger-Response-Assoziationen herzustellen oder vorhandene Handlungsoptionen an neue Situationen anzupassen. Obwohl EF erschöpfend untersucht wurden, bleiben wichtige Fragen offen. Beispiele dafür sind (a) Sind Exekutivfunktionen vollständig trennbar oder beruhen sie auf einem gemeinsamen neurokognitiven System? (b) Was messen verschiedene Versionen der Stroop-Aufgabe, einer der meist-verwendeten Aufgaben zur Prüfung der Inhibitionsfunktion? (c) Muss Inhibition immer Ressourcen-fordernd sein, oder gibt es eine Form der Inhibition, die mühelos implementiert werden kann? Zur Beantwortung dieser Fragen, habe ich neurokognitive Korrelate von EF und ihrer Verbesserung mithilfe posthypnotischer Suggestionen (PHS) und Ereigniskorrelierter Hirnpotentiale (EKP) untersucht. Zusammenfassend ergaben sich folgende Antworten: (a) Psychometrische und EKP-Daten aus den Studien zur Gedächtnisaktualisierung und Inhibition sowie deren Verbesserung anhand PHS zeigten sowohl funktionsspezifische als auch gemeinsame neurokognitive Prozesse der Inhibition und Aktualisierung. (b) Obwohl sowohl die vokale als auch die manuelle Version der Stroop-Aufgabe Inhibitionsfunktionen erfordern, ist die vokale Version Ressourcen-fordernder, da sie mindestens einen zusätzlichen Lokus der Interferenz im Antwort-Produktionsprozess aufweist, der nicht mit PHS beeinflussbar ist und der in der manuellen Version fehlt. (c) Unter Verwendung PHS zur Erhöhung der Präferenzen für kalorienarme Lebensmittel untersuchte ich die Auflösung von Konflikten. Die EKP-Ergebnisse zeigten, dass auch Konflikt-Auflösung, ähnlich wie Inhibition, Ressourcen konsumiert. Insgesamt zeigt dieses Projekt, dass die Verwendung Aufgaben-bezogener PHS in Kombination mit Neuroimaging-Techniken einen fruchtbaren Ansatz für die Untersuchung ungeklärter Fragen über Exekutivfunktionen darstellt. / Executive functions (EF) are a group of top-down processes used in novel situations to develop or adapt existing responses to the task at hand. Even though EFs are studied exhaustively, several important questions remain unanswered: (a) Are EFs entirely separated, or do they rely on a common system? (b) What do different versions of the Stroop task measure? (c) Does inhibition always need to be effortful? To address these questions, I investigated neurocognitive correlates of EFs and their enhancements by means of posthypnotic suggestions (PHS) and event-related potentials (ERP). However, before one can use PHSs, it must be elucidated whether and how they affect EFs. Although PHSs are used repeatedly for improving inhibition, it is unclear whether their effects are mediated by bottom-up or top-down processes. By using an updating task, I showed that effects of PHSs can be attributed to top-down processes. Accordingly, a new theory of hypnosis was proposed and empirically tested by modeling hypnotizability scores with structural equation modeling. In short, the simulation-adaption theory suggests that several top-down processes are employed for responding to suggestions. After elucidating the driving mechanism of PHSs is mentally practicing a novel strategy, PHSs were used for addressing the questions regarding EFs. Summarizing (a) the psychometric and ERP results from several studies indicated that different EFs rely on both function-specific and shared neurocognitive processes. (b) Even though different versions of the Stroop task are tapping into inhibition, the vocal compared to the manual version has at least an extra response-production-related locus of interference. (c) Using PHSs for increasing preferences for low-calorie food items, it is shown that resolve is effortful to implement, as indicated by increased P300 amplitudes. Together, this project shows how PHSs, along with neuroimaging techniques, can provide a novel approach for investigating EFs.

Prevalence rates of many types of psychopathology are lower for men than they are for women, but the causes of these discrepancies are not known. This paper focuses on two such psychopathology groups – eating disorders and depressive disorders – and examines gender differences within a transactional theory of stress that takes into account levels of cognitive processing (an expanded transactional theory of stress). Both studies found that men are more physiologically reactive to disorder-relevant, stressful stimuli and stressful events. The study on depression also found that different cognitive processes may be depressogenic for men and women: deployment of attentional resources toward negative stimuli was associated with depression in men, while deployment of attentional resources away from positive stimuli was associated with depression in women. These findings have significant implications for choosing appropriate treatment options for men and women.

Prevalence rates of many types of psychopathology are lower for men than they are for women, but the causes of these discrepancies are not known. This paper focuses on two such psychopathology groups – eating disorders and depressive disorders – and examines gender differences within a transactional theory of stress that takes into account levels of cognitive processing (an expanded transactional theory of stress). Both studies found that men are more physiologically reactive to disorder-relevant, stressful stimuli and stressful events. The study on depression also found that different cognitive processes may be depressogenic for men and women: deployment of attentional resources toward negative stimuli was associated with depression in men, while deployment of attentional resources away from positive stimuli was associated with depression in women. These findings have significant implications for choosing appropriate treatment options for men and women.

L'objectif de la présente thèse de doctorat était d'étudier la relation entre le bilinguisme et le contrôle exécutif général. Les recherches sur le bilinguisme en psycholinguistique ont montré que la co-activation permanente des langues ainsi que la nécessité de s'adapter à l'environnement linguistique peuvent produire un renforcement des capacités de contrôle chez les bilingues. Toutefois, la nature des processus de contrôle impliqués reste controversée. Trois études ont examiné cette question au niveau neuronal chez des bilingues tardifs français-allemand. Différentes tâches expérimentales mettant en jeu un conflit cognitif ont été utilisées, les unes impliquant une composante linguistique (Stroop et amorçage négatif), et une autre impliquant une composante motrice (antisaccades). Les principaux résultats sont les suivants : (1) Renforcement des processus de gestion de conflits et d'inhibition chez les bilingues, (2) Interaction entre le cortex cingulaire antérieur et le cortex préfrontal dans le contrôle cognitif plus efficace chez les bilingues que chez les monolingues et (3) Modulation du contrôle exécutif par divers facteurs linguistiques individuels inhérents au bilinguisme. Prises dans leur ensemble, ces observations corroborent l'hypothèse d'une implication de processus de contrôle général dans le bilinguisme et révèlent des capacités d'adaptation neuroplastique en fonction des contraintes linguistiques. / The present doctoral thesis aimed to study the relation between bilingualism and domain-general executive control. Psycholinguistic research on bilingualism has shown that the sustained co-activation of languages and the need to adapt to the linguistic environment lead to a reinforcement of control abilities in bilinguals. However, the nature of domain-general executive control involvement in multiple language use is a matter of debate. Three studies were conducted in order to investigate this issue at the neuronal level in French-German late bilinguals. Different experimental tasks involving a cognitive conflict were used, certain of them involving a linguistic component (Stroop and negative priming) and the other one involving a motoric component (antisaccade). The main findings collected in the present doctoral thesis showed (1) the behavioral and neurophysiological evidence of enhanced conflict monitoring and inhibition in bilinguals, (2) the more efficient dynamic interplay between the anterior cingulate cortex and the prefrontal cortex in executive control in bilinguals in comparison with monolinguals, and (3) a modulation of executive control by the individual linguistic factors inherent to bilingualism. Taken together, the present findings support psycholinguistic theories postulating domain-general control involvement in bilingualism and reveal the capacity of neuroplastic adaptation as a function of linguistic constraints.

A significant subset of women plagued with breast cancer continue to experience chronic neuropathic pain (CNP) long after undergoing cancer treatment. Medical interventions such as pharmacotherapy and/or surgery have been most widely used to abate painful symptoms with limited efficacy. Other alternatives are required given a heavy reliance on pharmaceuticals can lead to tolerance, dependence and severe side effects. Possibilities include cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), physical therapy, and mindfulness interventions to supplement pharmacotherapies. Mindfulness practice in particular has been offered to a variety of chronic pain groups including breast cancer patients, however evidence is lacking to support its effectiveness in CNP for breast cancer survivors (BCS). The purpose of the present study was to explore the benefits a mindfulness-based stress reduction program (MBSR) may have on altering the underlying neuronal correlates linked with pain-related symptoms associated with CNP in BCS. The primary objective was to investigate how mindfulness training might possibly mediate the brain’s capacity for emotional reactivity, white matter integrity, and activation of the default mode network (DMN) and how these changes may correlate with levels of pain severity and pain interference, improving overall quality of life. To achieve these results, several brain imaging techniques were used in order to observe the correlation between the subjective experience of pain and the objective manifestation of brain changes that may be potentiated by MBSR training. A total of 23 participants were placed in either an 8 week MBSR intervention group (n=13) or a waitlist control group (n =10). All women were scanned with MRI before and after the 8 week intervention regardless of group allotment. The following neuroimaging modalities were used for each scanning session: resting state fMRI (rsfMRI) to monitor changes to functional connectivity in the default mode network (DMN); Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) to assess the structural integrity of white matter tracts; and the Emotional Stroop Task (EST) to examine emotional reactivity in response to pain related stimuli. Exploratory results from this pilot study indicate that improvements to functional connectivity were apparent in the MBSR group relative to control, indicative of more efficient communication in areas related to attention, self-awareness, emotion regulation and pain. Improvements were also noted as increased cerebral white matter health and reduced emotional reactivity to pain related stimuli in the group of MBSR trained participants relative to control. Additionally, these functional and structural changes correlated with the self-reported pain measures in the MBSR group, suggesting that the MBSR group demonstrated improvements to ratings of pain severity and pain interference whereas the opposite occurred with the control group. The results have been interpreted as improvements to patients’ perception of pain and quality of life post MBSR training, however, were not limited to the subjective experience of pain. The inclusion of neuroimaging modalities provides objective and empirical support for MBSR training as it highlights the underlying brain mechanisms that were altered as part of MBSR treatment. Ultimately, the evidence suggests that MBSR could be incorporated as part of the treatment protocol for women experiencing CNP post breast cancer treatment.

People have always been fascinated by the extent to which belief or will may influence<p>behavior. Proverbs, like “we tend to get what we expect,” and concepts, such as optimistic<p>thinking or self-fulfilling prophecy, reflect this intuition of an important link between one’s<p>dispositions and subsequent behavior. In other words, one’s predictions directly or<p>indirectly cause them to become true. In a similar manner, every culture, country or<p>religion has their own words for ‘expectation,’ ‘belief,’ ‘disappointment,’ ‘surprise,’ and<p>generally all have the same meaning: under uncertainty, what one expects or believes is the<p>most likely to happen. This relation between what caused a reaction in the past will<p>probably cause it again in the future might not be realistic. If the expected outcome is not<p>confirmed, it may result in a personal ‘disappointment’, and if the outcome fits no<p>expectations, it will be a ‘surprise’. Our brain is hardwired with this heuristic capacity of<p>learning the cause-effect relationship and to project its probability as the basis for much of<p>our behavior, as well as cognitions. This experience-based expectation is a form of<p>learning that helps the brain to bypass an exhaustive search in finding a satisfactory<p>solution. Expectations may thus be considered an innate theory of causality; that is, a set of<p>factors (causes) generating a given phenomenon (effects) influence the way we treat<p>incoming information but also the way we retrieve the stored information. These<p>expectancy templates may well represent one of the basic rules of how the brain processes<p>information, affecting the way we perceive the world, direct our attention and deal with<p>conflicting information. In fact, expectations have been shown to influence our judgments<p>and social interactions, along with our volition to individually decide and commit to a<p>particular course of action. However, people’s expectations may elicit the anticipation of<p>their own automatic reactions to various situations and behaviors cues, and can explain that<p>expecting to feel an increase in alertness after coffee consumption leads to experiencing<p>the consequent physiologic and behavioral states. We call this behavior-response<p>expectancy. This non-volitional form of expectation has been shown to influence<p>cognitions such as memory, pain, visual awareness, implicit learning and attention, through<p>the mediation of phenomena like placebo effects and hypnotic behaviors. Importantly,when talking about expectations, placebo and hypnosis, it is important to note that we are<p>also talking about suggestion and its modulating capability. In other words, suggestion has<p>the power to create response expectancies that activate automatic responses, which will, in<p>turn, influence cognition and behavior so as to shape them congruently with the expected<p>outcome. Accordingly, hypnotic inductions are a systematic manipulation of expectancy,<p>similar to placebo, and therefore they both work in a similar way. Considering such<p>assumptions, the major question we address in this PhD thesis is to know if these<p>expectancy-based mechanisms are capable of modulating more high-level information<p>processing such as cognitive conflict resolution, as is present in the well-known Stroop<p>task. In fact, in a recent series of studies, reduction or elimination of Stroop congruency<p>effects was obtained through suggestion and hypnotic induction. In this PhD thesis, it is<p>asked whether a suggestion reinforced by placebos, operating through response-expectancy<p>mechanisms, is able to induce a top-down cognitive modulation to overcome cognitive<p>conflict in the Stroop task, similar to those results found using suggestion and hypnosis<p>manipulation. / Doctorat en Sciences Psychologiques et de l'éducation / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished