Emotional responses to art have long been subject of debate, but only recently have they started ... more Emotional responses to art have long been subject of debate, but only recently have they started to be investigated in affective science. The aim of this study was to compare perceptions regarding frequency of aesthetic emotions, contributing factors, and motivation which characterize the experiences of looking at painting and listening to music. Parallel surveys were filled in online by participants (N = 971) interested in music and painting. By comparing self-reported characteristics of these experiences, this study found that compared to listening to music, looking at painting was associated with increased frequency of wonder and decreased frequencies of joyful activation and power. In addition to increased vitality, as reflected by the latter two emotions, listening to music was also more frequently associated with emotions such as tenderness, nostalgia, peacefulness, and sadness. Compared to painting-related emotions, music-related emotions were perceived as more similar to emotions in other everyday life situations. Participants reported that stimulus features and previous knowledge made more important contributions to emotional responses to painting, whereas prior mood, physical context and the presence of other people were considered more important in relation to emotional responses to music. Self-education motivation was more frequently associated with looking at painting, whereas mood repair and keeping company motivations were reported more frequently in relation to listening to music. Participants with visual arts education reported increased vitality-related emotions in their experience of looking at painting. In contrast, no relation was found between music education and emotional responses to music. These findings offer a more general perspective on aesthetic emotions and encourage integrative research linking different types of aesthetic experience.
Recent research indicates that subclinical social anxiety is associated with dysfunctions at mult... more Recent research indicates that subclinical social anxiety is associated with dysfunctions at multiple psychological and biological levels, in a manner that seems reminiscent of social anxiety disorder (SAD). This study aimed to describe multidimensional responses to laboratory-induced social stress in an analog sample selected for social anxiety symptoms. State anxiety, cognitive biases related to negative social evaluation, speech anxiety behaviors, and cortisol reactivity were assessed in the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST). Results showed that social anxiety symptoms were associated with increased state anxiety, biased appraisals related to the probability and cost of negative social evaluations, behavioral changes in facial expression that were consistent with speech anxiety, and lower cortisol reactivity. In addition, multiple interrelations between responses in the TSST were found, with positive associations between subjective experience, cognitive appraisals, and observable behavior, as well as negative associations between each of the former two types of response and cortisol reactivity. These results show that in response to social stressors, subclinical social anxiety is associated with significant changes in emotional experience, cognitive appraisals, behaviors, and physiology that could parallel those previously found in SAD samples.
This study investigated genetic and environmental factors that may influence emotion and decision... more This study investigated genetic and environmental factors that may influence emotion and decisions in moral dilemmas. Main findings indicated that the intensity of early traumatic events was associated with abstract moral judgment only in carriers of the low-expressing Met allele of BDNF Val66Met. No such effects were found for personal moral choice. Other genetic polymorphisms (5-HTTLPR, COMT Val158Met) were not associated with either abstract moral judgment or personal moral choice.
This study investigated the influence of child abuse and its interactions with several motion-lin... more This study investigated the influence of child abuse and its interactions with several motion-linked genetic polymorphisms on reappraisal ability. The results indicated that reappraisal ability decreased with increasing levels of child abuse only in carriers of the low-expressing allele of a polymorphism (Val66Met) in the brain-derived neurotrophic factor gene.
Rooted in people's preoccupation ... more Rooted in people's preoccupation with how they are perceived and evaluated, shame and guilt are self-conscious emotions that play adaptive roles in social behavior, but can also contribute to psychopathology when dysregulated. Shame and guilt-proneness develop during childhood and adolescence, and are influenced by genetic and environmental factors that are little known to date. This study investigated the effects of early traumatic events and functional polymorphisms in the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) gene and the serotonin transporter gene promoter (5-HTTLPR) on shame and guilt in adolescents. A sample of N = 271 healthy adolescents between 14 and 17 years of age filled in measures of early traumatic events and proneness to shame and guilt, and were genotyped for the BDNF Val66Met and 5-HTTLPR polymorphisms. Results of moderator analyses indicated that trauma intensity was positively associated with guilt-proneness only in carriers of the low-expressing Met allele of BDNF Val66Met. This is the first study that identifies a gene-environment interaction that significantly contributes to guilt proneness in adolescents, with potential implications for developmental psychopathology.
Despite the circumstantial and sometimes equivocal support, the hypothetic involvement of aluminu... more Despite the circumstantial and sometimes equivocal support, the hypothetic involvement of aluminum (Al) in the etiology and pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) has subsisted in neuroscience. There are very few other examples of scientific hypotheses on the pathogenesis of a disease that have been revisited so many times, once a new method that would allow a test of Al's accumulations in the brain of AD patients or a comparison between Al-induced and AD neuropathological signs has become available. Although objects of methodological controversies for scientists and oversimplification for lay spectators, several lines of evidence have strongly supported the involvement of Al as a secondary aggravating factor or risk factor in the pathogenesis of AD. We review evidence on the similarities and dissimilarities between Al-induced neurofibrillary degeneration and paired helical filaments from AD, the accumulation of Al in neurofibrillary tangles and senile plaques from AD, the...
The persistence of neuroscientists in exploring aluminium's (Al) possible contribution to the... more The persistence of neuroscientists in exploring aluminium's (Al) possible contribution to the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) has resulted in a wealth of researches detailing the biological toxicity of this metal. However, to date, there have been few accounts of the interference of Al with aging and its relevance to the pathogenesis of AD. We investigated the behavioral and the ultrastructural signatures of Al in the hippocampus on young and aging rats which were exposed for three months to aluminium gluconate. The aging animals displayed decreased scores of activity and emotionality, and the Al-exposed aging males had altered emotional reactivity behaviors. The electron-microscopic analysis indicated that Al promoted in the aging hippocampus a variety of cellular and ultrastructural degenerative signs, such as granulo-vacuolar degenerations, deposition of lipofuscin and amyloid in the cytoplasm of neurons and astrocytes, and in extracellular compartments, Hirano b...
Emotional responses to art have long been subject of debate, but only recently have they started ... more Emotional responses to art have long been subject of debate, but only recently have they started to be investigated in affective science. The aim of this study was to compare perceptions regarding frequency of aesthetic emotions, contributing factors, and motivation which characterize the experiences of looking at painting and listening to music. Parallel surveys were filled in online by participants (N = 971) interested in music and painting. By comparing self-reported characteristics of these experiences, this study found that compared to listening to music, looking at painting was associated with increased frequency of wonder and decreased frequencies of joyful activation and power. In addition to increased vitality, as reflected by the latter two emotions, listening to music was also more frequently associated with emotions such as tenderness, nostalgia, peacefulness, and sadness. Compared to painting-related emotions, music-related emotions were perceived as more similar to emotions in other everyday life situations. Participants reported that stimulus features and previous knowledge made more important contributions to emotional responses to painting, whereas prior mood, physical context and the presence of other people were considered more important in relation to emotional responses to music. Self-education motivation was more frequently associated with looking at painting, whereas mood repair and keeping company motivations were reported more frequently in relation to listening to music. Participants with visual arts education reported increased vitality-related emotions in their experience of looking at painting. In contrast, no relation was found between music education and emotional responses to music. These findings offer a more general perspective on aesthetic emotions and encourage integrative research linking different types of aesthetic experience.
Recent research indicates that subclinical social anxiety is associated with dysfunctions at mult... more Recent research indicates that subclinical social anxiety is associated with dysfunctions at multiple psychological and biological levels, in a manner that seems reminiscent of social anxiety disorder (SAD). This study aimed to describe multidimensional responses to laboratory-induced social stress in an analog sample selected for social anxiety symptoms. State anxiety, cognitive biases related to negative social evaluation, speech anxiety behaviors, and cortisol reactivity were assessed in the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST). Results showed that social anxiety symptoms were associated with increased state anxiety, biased appraisals related to the probability and cost of negative social evaluations, behavioral changes in facial expression that were consistent with speech anxiety, and lower cortisol reactivity. In addition, multiple interrelations between responses in the TSST were found, with positive associations between subjective experience, cognitive appraisals, and observable behavior, as well as negative associations between each of the former two types of response and cortisol reactivity. These results show that in response to social stressors, subclinical social anxiety is associated with significant changes in emotional experience, cognitive appraisals, behaviors, and physiology that could parallel those previously found in SAD samples.
This study investigated genetic and environmental factors that may influence emotion and decision... more This study investigated genetic and environmental factors that may influence emotion and decisions in moral dilemmas. Main findings indicated that the intensity of early traumatic events was associated with abstract moral judgment only in carriers of the low-expressing Met allele of BDNF Val66Met. No such effects were found for personal moral choice. Other genetic polymorphisms (5-HTTLPR, COMT Val158Met) were not associated with either abstract moral judgment or personal moral choice.
This study investigated the influence of child abuse and its interactions with several motion-lin... more This study investigated the influence of child abuse and its interactions with several motion-linked genetic polymorphisms on reappraisal ability. The results indicated that reappraisal ability decreased with increasing levels of child abuse only in carriers of the low-expressing allele of a polymorphism (Val66Met) in the brain-derived neurotrophic factor gene.
Rooted in people's preoccupation ... more Rooted in people's preoccupation with how they are perceived and evaluated, shame and guilt are self-conscious emotions that play adaptive roles in social behavior, but can also contribute to psychopathology when dysregulated. Shame and guilt-proneness develop during childhood and adolescence, and are influenced by genetic and environmental factors that are little known to date. This study investigated the effects of early traumatic events and functional polymorphisms in the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) gene and the serotonin transporter gene promoter (5-HTTLPR) on shame and guilt in adolescents. A sample of N = 271 healthy adolescents between 14 and 17 years of age filled in measures of early traumatic events and proneness to shame and guilt, and were genotyped for the BDNF Val66Met and 5-HTTLPR polymorphisms. Results of moderator analyses indicated that trauma intensity was positively associated with guilt-proneness only in carriers of the low-expressing Met allele of BDNF Val66Met. This is the first study that identifies a gene-environment interaction that significantly contributes to guilt proneness in adolescents, with potential implications for developmental psychopathology.
Despite the circumstantial and sometimes equivocal support, the hypothetic involvement of aluminu... more Despite the circumstantial and sometimes equivocal support, the hypothetic involvement of aluminum (Al) in the etiology and pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) has subsisted in neuroscience. There are very few other examples of scientific hypotheses on the pathogenesis of a disease that have been revisited so many times, once a new method that would allow a test of Al's accumulations in the brain of AD patients or a comparison between Al-induced and AD neuropathological signs has become available. Although objects of methodological controversies for scientists and oversimplification for lay spectators, several lines of evidence have strongly supported the involvement of Al as a secondary aggravating factor or risk factor in the pathogenesis of AD. We review evidence on the similarities and dissimilarities between Al-induced neurofibrillary degeneration and paired helical filaments from AD, the accumulation of Al in neurofibrillary tangles and senile plaques from AD, the...
The persistence of neuroscientists in exploring aluminium's (Al) possible contribution to the... more The persistence of neuroscientists in exploring aluminium's (Al) possible contribution to the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) has resulted in a wealth of researches detailing the biological toxicity of this metal. However, to date, there have been few accounts of the interference of Al with aging and its relevance to the pathogenesis of AD. We investigated the behavioral and the ultrastructural signatures of Al in the hippocampus on young and aging rats which were exposed for three months to aluminium gluconate. The aging animals displayed decreased scores of activity and emotionality, and the Al-exposed aging males had altered emotional reactivity behaviors. The electron-microscopic analysis indicated that Al promoted in the aging hippocampus a variety of cellular and ultrastructural degenerative signs, such as granulo-vacuolar degenerations, deposition of lipofuscin and amyloid in the cytoplasm of neurons and astrocytes, and in extracellular compartments, Hirano b...
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