The Quantum Lobe Chronicles

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Psychology, neuroscience, philosophy, spirituality, quantum physics, and anything else worth writing about

William Lu
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  • September 17, 2009
  • 12:48 PM
  • 1,264 views

How your emotional state affects how you hear speech

by William Lu in The Quantum Lobe Chronicles

I found an interesting study by Wang et. al investigating how the current emotional state that we find ourselves in modulates the auditory response of speech early in the sensory processing stream at the cortical level. Here's their abstract.In order to understand how emotional state influences the listener's physiological response to speech, subjects looked at emotion-evoking pictures while 32-channel EEG evoked responses (ERPs) to an unchanging auditory stimulus (“danny”) were collected. The pictures were selected from the International Affective Picture System database. They were rated by participants and differed in valence (positive, negative, neutral), but not in dominance and arousal. Effects of viewing negative emotion pictures were seen as early as 20 msec (p = .006). An analysis of the global field power highlighted a time period of interest (30.4–129.0 msec) where the effects of emotion are likely to be the most robust. At the cortical level, the responses differed significantly depending on the valence ratings the subjects provided for the visual stimuli, which divided them into the high valence intensity group and the low valence intensity group. The high valence intensity group exhibited a clear divergent bivalent effect of emotion (ERPs at Cz during viewing neutral pictures subtracted from ERPs during viewing positive or negative pictures) in the time period of interest (rΦ = .534, p Wang J, Nicol T, Skoe E, Sams M, & Kraus N (2009). Emotion modulates early auditory response to speech. Journal of cognitive neuroscience, 21 (11), 2121-8 PMID: 18855553... Read more »

Wang J, Nicol T, Skoe E, Sams M, & Kraus N. (2009) Emotion modulates early auditory response to speech. Journal of cognitive neuroscience, 21(11), 2121-8. PMID: 18855553  

  • August 20, 2009
  • 03:37 PM
  • 926 views

Did sleepwalking once serve as an adaptive function?

by William Lu in The Quantum Lobe Chronicles

I readily admit that I use to sleepwalk as a kid. My dad once found me laid out at the foot of our considerably large staircase completely unscathed! As I reflect back on those sometimes hazardous, but mostly humorous unconscious experiences I can't help but wonder if somnambulism, the formal term for sleepwalking, once served as some kind of adaptive function. Were our ancient ancestors afforded the opportunity to escape the perils of the wild during states of deep sleep?There are countless stories of somnambulists executing complex escape behaviors, performing extraordinary feats, and seriously harming others. In 1987 Kenneth Parks drove 15 miles to his in-law's home, beat his father-in-law until he was unconscious, and stabbed his mother-in-law to death...doing all of this while asleep. He later went to the police station stating, "I think I have killed some people". He was covered in blood with a badly injured hand and had absolutely no recollection of what he had done. A year later he was acquitted of murder. Apparently one can get away with a lot on the basis of automatism; even the heinous crime of rape according to Ebrahim at the London Sleep Centre. So why do people sleepwalk? Researchers like Pilon, Montplaisir, and Zadra have shown that probable causes of somnambulism can be due to a variety of factors such as stress, anxiety, sleep deprivation, or an external disturbance. Parks was unemployed, a gambaholic, and highly stressed. However, this doesn't really answer my original question. Was there an evolutionary purpose to this seemingly useless and bizarre phenomena or is it merely the behavioral manifestation of a sleep disorder? Mahowald and Schenck at the Minnesota Regional Sleep Disorder Center seem to believe that somnambulism is a form of threat simulation gone awry during NREM sleep. What if we were to look toward our primate brethren for the answer? Do apes and chimpanzees experience sleepwalking too? Kantha at Kyoto University conducted a literature review on somnambulism in non-human primates and found absolutely no evidence for this. However, she adds that it may be due to limitations in expertise and methodological resources. For now it seems that somnambulism is found exclusively in humans and may have been a fairly recent phenomena set off by the ill's of modern man. I suppose if you're still curious about this fascinating subject you can conduct your own little personal experiment. The next time you witness a hunger repressed friend or loved one sleepwalking towards the fridge for a late night snack...try wrestling them to the ground and observe what happens.Ebrahim IO (2006). Somnambulistic sexual behaviour (sexsomnia). Journal of clinical forensic medicine, 13 (4), 219-24 PMID: 16564199Kantha SS (2003). Is somnambulism a distinct disorder of humans and not seen in non-human primates? Medical hypotheses, 61 (5-6), 517-8 PMID: 14592779Mahowald MW, Schenck CH, Rosen GM, & Hurwitz TD (1992). The role of a sleep disorder center in evaluating sleep violence. Archives of neurology, 49 (6), 604-7 PMID: 1596195Pilon M, Montplaisir J, & Zadra A (2008). Precipitating factors of somnambulism: impact of sleep deprivation and forced arousals. Neurology, 70 (24), 2284-90 PMID: 18463368... Read more »

Ebrahim IO. (2006) Somnambulistic sexual behaviour (sexsomnia). Journal of clinical forensic medicine, 13(4), 219-24. PMID: 16564199  

Kantha SS. (2003) Is somnambulism a distinct disorder of humans and not seen in non-human primates?. Medical hypotheses, 61(5-6), 517-8. PMID: 14592779  

Mahowald MW, Schenck CH, Rosen GM, & Hurwitz TD. (1992) The role of a sleep disorder center in evaluating sleep violence. Archives of neurology, 49(6), 604-7. PMID: 1596195  

Pilon M, Montplaisir J, & Zadra A. (2008) Precipitating factors of somnambulism: impact of sleep deprivation and forced arousals. Neurology, 70(24), 2284-90. PMID: 18463368  

  • September 30, 2009
  • 02:22 AM
  • 913 views

Bye bye modular, hello cognit!

by William Lu in The Quantum Lobe Chronicles

What is a cognit you ask? It's a basic unit of memory or knowledge defined by pattern of connections between a network of neurons associated by experience.Termed by Fuster in 2006, the construct was created to solve the problematic yet popular view that the human brain is made up of discrete cortical domains dedicated exclusively to visual discrimination, language, spatial attention, face recognition, motor programming, memory retrieval, and working memory.Although the modular modeling of the brain has utterly failed due to a lack of conclusive evidence, many neuroscientists continue to maintain this antiquated view... but why? Put quite simply, there was nothing better. However, thanks to Fuster, a new paradigm is emerging...Introducing the cognit network model. It postulates that memory and knowledge are represented by interactive, distributed, and overlapping networks of neurons in association cortices.The posterior-post-rolandic association cortex contains perceptual cognits and the frontal association cortex contains executive cognits. The prefrontal and posterior association cortices are linked by complex cognits in a hierarchical order. The parasensory and premotor cortex, found at the bottom of the hierarchy, contain relatively simple and small cognits which represent motor acts or simple percepts. At the top of the hierarchy is the temporo–parietal and prefrontal cortex containing larger cognits representing complex and abstract information of perception and executive control. The long reciprocal cortico–cortical connections between the posterior and frontal networks support sequential behavior, speech, and reasoning.What I found most fascinating was that a single neuron can be part of many memory networks and therefore many memories and units of knowledge.Fuster JM (2009). Cortex and memory: emergence of a new paradigm. Journal of cognitive neuroscience, 21 (11), 2047-72 PMID: 19485699FUSTER, J. (2006). The cognit: A network model of cortical representation International Journal of Psychophysiology, 60 (2), 125-132 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2005.12.015... Read more »

Fuster JM. (2009) Cortex and memory: emergence of a new paradigm. Journal of cognitive neuroscience, 21(11), 2047-72. PMID: 19485699  

FUSTER, J. (2006) The cognit: A network model of cortical representation. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 60(2), 125-132. DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2005.12.015  

  • September 20, 2009
  • 06:47 PM
  • 882 views

Observation of tool use activates specific brain area only in humans

by William Lu in The Quantum Lobe Chronicles

The discovery that a species other than human has the ability to use tools has, quite frankly, lost its novelty. Just look at the New Caledonian crow. If trained properly, it can utilize up to three different tools sequentially to reach for a target food reward (Wimpenny et. al, 2009). It does this by first picking up a stick-like tool with its beak. It then uses this tool to retrieve a second tool which is then used to retrieve a third tool. Finally, the third tool is used to retrieve the food. An earlier study conducted by Taylor et. al (2007) demonstrating how the New Caledonian crow utilizes two tools in sequential order to retrieve a food reward:If a mere "bird brain" can manage to use tools in such a complex way what makes us so special? Is the human brain really that much more "evolved" in comparison to the brains of other animals? A study by Peeters and colleagues published in this weeks Journal of Neuroscience may offer further clues to these questions. The researchers had a large cohort of human volunteers, untrained monkeys, and trained monkeys watch videos demonstrating hand actions and actions performed using simple tools. This led to the activation of bilateral occipitotemporal, intraparietal, and ventral premotor cortices in all groups. However, they found that after watching the simple tool use video a rostral sector of the left inferior parietal lobule known as the left anterior supra marginal gyrus (aSMG) was activated in humans ONLY. This is a curious finding because you'd think that the trained monkeys would also show similar activations in this particular area of the brain. So what does this all mean?According to the findings the human aSMG is only activated during the observation of hand grasping and not during static representation of tool images, indicating the aSMG's involvement in cognitive aspect of tool use. The aSMG associates the intended use of the tool with the results obtained by using it. The authors suggest that the rostral part of the IPL is a new brain area exclusive to humans and functions to understand tool actions. They note that this is indeed a "fundamental cognitive leap that greatly enlarged the motor repertoire of humans and, therefore, their capacity to interact with the environment". They go on to state that even though monkeys know how to use tools it doesn't necessarily imply an understanding of the abstract relationship between the tools being used and the goals that can be achieved by using them. Boo-yah! In your face monkeys! We really are special...for now.Here's a video of the fuzzy haired critters using anvils and hammers to break open some delicious snacks.A link to Wired's Clever Critters: 8 Best Non-Human Tool Users Wimpenny JH, Weir AA, Clayton L, Rutz C, & Kacelnik A (2009). Cognitive processes associated with sequential tool use in New Caledonian crows. PloS one, 4 (8) PMID: 19654861 Peeters R, Simone L, Nelissen K, Fabbri-Destro M, Vanduffel W, Rizzolatti G, & Orban GA (2009). The representation of tool use in humans and monkeys: common and uniquely human features. The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 29 (37), 11523-39 PMID: 19759300... Read more »

Wimpenny JH, Weir AA, Clayton L, Rutz C, & Kacelnik A. (2009) Cognitive processes associated with sequential tool use in New Caledonian crows. PloS one, 4(8). PMID: 19654861  

Peeters R, Simone L, Nelissen K, Fabbri-Destro M, Vanduffel W, Rizzolatti G, & Orban GA. (2009) The representation of tool use in humans and monkeys: common and uniquely human features. The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 29(37), 11523-39. PMID: 19759300  

  • October 6, 2009
  • 12:23 AM
  • 768 views

Children recruit higher-order brain mechanisms during a numerical comparison task

by William Lu in The Quantum Lobe Chronicles

I've been endlessly scoring digit-symbol coding protocols (fun...), a subtest of the WAIS-IV measuring working memory, for the past few weeks at my new neuropsych externship so the following article seems particularly relevant. In a recent study by Cantlon and colleagues published in the latest Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, they decided to measure the brain activity of 6-7 year-old children during numerical comparison tasks using fMRI.An example of a numerical comparsion task:...participants were required to compare a single digit Arabic number presented on the center square with the standard, 5. Participants were asked to reach and touch one of three squares on the screen with their index finger while their hand movement trajectories were recorded: the left square for 1–4, the center for 5, and the right for 6–9 (Song & Nakayama, 2007).The authors found that 6- and 7-year-old children recruit the occipito-temporal and parietal cortex in order to solve numerical comparisons across different notation systems, similar to that of adults. However, (here's the kicker) the fMRI showed that children also activate the inferior frontal cortex to a much greater degree than adults during these numerical comparison tasks.This particular area of the brain involves Brodmann area 44 and 45, used for retrieving semantic information when strong stimulus-stimulus associations are absent. Interestingly enough, the inferior frontal cortex has also been shown to play a role in music cognition (Levitin, 2009). Could kindergarten be the optimal time to learn how to play an instrument?The current study provides further evidence that "a core neural system integrates notation-independent numerical representations throughout development but, early in development, higher-order brain mechanisms mediate this process".Song JH, & Nakayama K (2008). Numeric comparison in a visually-guided manual reaching task. Cognition, 106 (2), 994-1003 PMID: 17512516Levitin, D. (2009). The Neural Correlates of Temporal Structure in Music Music and Medicine, 1 (1), 9-13 DOI: 10.1177/1943862109338604Cantlon, J., Libertus, M., Pinel, P., Dehaene, S., Brannon, E., & Pelphrey, K. (2009). The Neural Development of an Abstract Concept of Number Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 21 (11), 2217-2229 DOI: 10.1162/jocn.2008.21159... Read more »

Song JH, & Nakayama K. (2008) Numeric comparison in a visually-guided manual reaching task. Cognition, 106(2), 994-1003. PMID: 17512516  

Levitin, D. (2009) The Neural Correlates of Temporal Structure in Music. Music and Medicine, 1(1), 9-13. DOI: 10.1177/1943862109338604  

Cantlon, J., Libertus, M., Pinel, P., Dehaene, S., Brannon, E., & Pelphrey, K. (2009) The Neural Development of an Abstract Concept of Number. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 21(11), 2217-2229. DOI: 10.1162/jocn.2008.21159  

  • August 10, 2009
  • 01:52 PM
  • 720 views

The negative health effects of perceived discrimination

by William Lu in The Quantum Lobe Chronicles

Discrimination has undoubtedly been the cause of suffering for many throughout human history. There have been countless reviews investigating the effects of discrimination on health, but none that have quite looked at the quantitative nature of this relationship. Pascoe and Richman decided to undertake this task by examining the strength of the evidence for the effect of perceived discrimination on multiple health outcomes through a meta-analysis. They discovered that an increased level of perceived discrimination is associated with more negative mental and physical health. In addition, they found that perceived discrimination was associated with heightened psychological and physical stress responses as well as increased participation in unhealthy behaviors. These relationships remained even when important covariates such as demographics were included. Moderating variables included social support and coping style.So the next time you feel like you're being unfairly discriminated against be sure to have lots of family and friends to back you up, think logically through the problem, and take action!Pascoe EA, & Smart Richman L (2009). Perceived discrimination and health: a meta-analytic review. Psychological bulletin, 135 (4), 531-54 PMID: 19586161... Read more »

Pascoe EA, & Smart Richman L. (2009) Perceived discrimination and health: a meta-analytic review. Psychological bulletin, 135(4), 531-54. PMID: 19586161  

  • August 27, 2009
  • 04:45 PM
  • 709 views

Yet another reason not to consume cannabis

by William Lu in The Quantum Lobe Chronicles

In 1936 an exploitation film directed by Louis Gasnier called Reefer Madness was made in an attempt to teach parents about the dangers of cannabis use. It told of fictional highschool students experimenting with the drug and their tragic and utterly ridiculous demise (e.g. manslaughter, rape, suicide). I'm pretty sure the majority of us now know that smoking marijuana will not cause someone to go on a murderous rampage or off themselves just because they're high. However, recent studies have found that cannabis use does have some negative effects on long-term memory. Puighermanal and her colleagues investigated the possible involvement of the mTOR pathway in the cognitive impairments produced by cannabinoid agonists. mTOR is a type of enzyme that regulates multiple cellular processes such as neural development and long-term modification of synaptic strength. Administering acute amounts of THC (3 or 10 mg per body weight) to mice they found modulation of the mTOR/p70S6K signaling cascade in the hippocampus and measurable deficits in long-term memory on an object and context recognition test. However, lower doses did not produce any significant effects. The authors explain that CB1R activation by exogenous or endogenous cannabinoids can trigger the activation of the mTOR pathway and protein synthesis in the hippocampus through a glutamatergic mechanism which underly the long-term memory impairment. They conclude by pointing out the serious drawbacks of cannabis consumption (i.e. amnesic effects) and believe that their findings would be useful for the development of new therapeutic strategies leading to the prevention of negative side effects of cannabis use. C'mon guys, lets get crackin'!The film ends with the ominous warning "TELL YOUR CHILDREN" in large text. Yes friends, tell your children...that is...if you can remember to. ::cues overly dramatic music::Puighermanal, E., Marsicano, G., Busquets-Garcia, A., Lutz, B., Maldonado, R., & Ozaita, A. (2009). Cannabinoid modulation of hippocampal long-term memory is mediated by mTOR signaling Nature Neuroscience, 12 (9), 1152-1158 DOI: 10.1038/nn.2369... Read more »

Puighermanal, E., Marsicano, G., Busquets-Garcia, A., Lutz, B., Maldonado, R., & Ozaita, A. (2009) Cannabinoid modulation of hippocampal long-term memory is mediated by mTOR signaling. Nature Neuroscience, 12(9), 1152-1158. DOI: 10.1038/nn.2369  

  • November 17, 2009
  • 02:57 AM
  • 685 views

The somniloquy hypothesis: How the immature brain learns facts

by William Lu in The Quantum Lobe Chronicles

A while back I wrote about the possible adaptive function of somnambulism or sleep-walking. Well...I've come up with yet another hypothesis addressing a behavior falling under the category of parasomnias. Somniloquy or sleep-talking happens during stages of NREM sleep, the time declarative memory (i.e. factual knowledge) is consolidated. This seemingly bizarre behavior typically occurs in childhood and is outgrown by puberty. Presentation can vary from rhythmic nonsense words to long coherent speeches. No one really knows where it comes from. The most popular answer seems to be because of stress.We could just leave it at that, but it doesn't really explain why it came about in the first place. I have a hard time simply writing-off weird behaviors that have managed to stick around for long periods of time. In my head I'm thinking "there's just gotta be a functional purpose"!Here's what I think NREM sleep-talking is all about. Somniloquy is just behavioral evidence of the maturing brain consolidating syntactical and semantical aspects of language. It's also important to note that the calm quality of NREM sleep-talk is very different compared to the loud and emotional sleep-talk found during rapid eye movement behavior disorder. This makes a lot of sense. REM sleep is known to process emotional memory so of course you'd see this kind of late night emotionally charged verbal diarrhea. Some have postulated that this irratic unconscious behavior protected the stressed out sleep deprived caveman from hungry predators looking for some easy eats. On the flip side, factual bits of data like "Paris is the capital of France" isn't emotional at all (unless you're strangely disturbed by this bit of info) and that's why you hear the flat affect during NREM somniloquy.So there you go. I've laid out a tentative explanation for NREM somniloquy. I haven't seen anything else around to explain this more pleasant form of sleep-talking. If you spot any let me know. It'd be cool if we could figure out a way to induce somniloquy in different stages of sleep and observe what the brain was doing.In the meantime, I wouldn't fret too much over your kids mumbling something about world domination as they nap. They're probably just learning how to orate more effectively. Gais S, & Born J (2004). Declarative memory consolidation: mechanisms acting during human sleep. Learning & memory (Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.), 11 (6), 679-85 PMID: 15576885... Read more »

Gais S, & Born J. (2004) Declarative memory consolidation: mechanisms acting during human sleep. Learning , 11(6), 679-85. PMID: 15576885  

  • December 24, 2009
  • 02:00 PM
  • 684 views

Can modern day gadgets help combat prejudice?

by William Lu in The Quantum Lobe Chronicles

Prejudice...we've all experienced it at one point or another. Defined as a preconceived belief, opinion, or judgment toward a group or person because of race, social class, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, etc., it also means a priori beliefs that include any unreasonable attitude that is unusually resistant to rational influence. It's been the cause of countless wars and an infinite amount of unnecessary suffering. It must be put to an end once and for all! So how does today's researchers go about investigating prejudice anyway?
... Read more »

Crisp, R., & Turner, R. (2009) Can imagined interactions produce positive perceptions?: Reducing prejudice through simulated social contact. American Psychologist, 64(4), 231-240. DOI: 10.1037/a0014718  

Cunningham, W., Johnson, M., Raye, C., Chris Gatenby, J., Gore, J., & Banaji, M. (2004) Separable Neural Components in the Processing of Black and White Faces. Psychological Science, 15(12), 806-813. DOI: 10.1111/j.0956-7976.2004.00760.x  

Greenwald, A. (2003) Targets of discrimination: Effects of race on responses to weapons holders. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 39(4), 399-405. DOI: 10.1016/S0022-1031(03)00020-9  

Harris, L., & Fiske, S. (2006) Social groups that elicit disgust are differentially processed in mPFC. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 2(1), 45-51. DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsl037  

Olsson, A. (2005) The Role of Social Groups in the Persistence of Learned Fear. Science, 309(5735), 785-787. DOI: 10.1126/science.1113551  

Steckenfinger SA, & Ghazanfar AA. (2009) Monkey visual behavior falls into the uncanny valley. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 106(43), 18362-6. PMID: 19822765  

Wiekens, C., & Stapel, D. (2008) The Mirror and I: When private opinions are in conflict with public norms. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 44(4), 1160-1166. DOI: 10.1016/j.jesp.2008.02.005  

  • August 10, 2009
  • 12:19 AM
  • 677 views

Chronic stress and its effects on brain plasticity

by William Lu in The Quantum Lobe Chronicles

Stress typically indicates a demand to adapt to challenges found in everyday life. However, when the stress is uncontrollable, unpredictable, and chronic it can increase the brain's vulnerability to disease.Dagyte et al. over at the University of Groningen investigated the effects of acute and chronic foot-shock stress on neural plasticity by using hippocampal cell proliferation and neurogenesis data collected from rats. They found that repeated, but not acute exposure to foot-shock stress caused a temporary suppression of Ki-67-positive cell proliferation in the dentate gyrus and a reduction in DCX expression. They suggest that a long-term accumulation of the stressors effects on hippocampal cell proliferation may ultimately compromise hippocampal circuitry.Dagyte G, Van der Zee EA, Postema F, Luiten PG, Den Boer JA, Trentani A, & Meerlo P (2009). Chronic but not acute foot-shock stress leads to temporary suppression of cell proliferation in rat hippocampus. Neuroscience, 162 (4), 904-13 PMID: 19482059... Read more »

Dagyte G, Van der Zee EA, Postema F, Luiten PG, Den Boer JA, Trentani A, & Meerlo P. (2009) Chronic but not acute foot-shock stress leads to temporary suppression of cell proliferation in rat hippocampus. Neuroscience, 162(4), 904-13. PMID: 19482059  

  • September 9, 2009
  • 06:45 PM
  • 674 views

Is inhibition a measure of free will?

by William Lu in The Quantum Lobe Chronicles

Reading Alwyn Scott's "Stairway to the Mind" I came across an interesting tidbit of information pointing out that human's have a greater percentage of inhibitory neurons compared to other animals (human 75% rabbit 31%). For some unknown reason this made me think about the tricky construct of free will and the question of whether free will could be better measured not by what we chose to do, but by what we chose not to do. In other words, could free will be measured by a capacity to inhibit certain thoughts and behaviors. Upon further research I came across Baer, Kaufman, and Baumeister's book "Are We Free? Psychology and Free Will". They also tossed around this question and came to an interesting conclusion. Here is a snippet from their work:We have danced around the issue of whether conscious control is to be equated with free will; in fact, we suspect that at the most basic level, the answer is no...the ability to inhibit responses is powerful and one could reasonable make the argument that without it, free will would not be possible, because we would not be able to stop what some force (external or internal) seemed to impel us to do...If we do assume that free will can be directly observed in inhibition of behavior, then is free will measured by inhibition? The latter question is especially poignant with respect ot those people who show marked inhibition deficits, such as children, the elderly, and certain patient populations. If we agree with Libet (1999) and consider inhibition of an unconsciously determined action to be equivalent to free will, then these populations suffer from impaired free will...we see that this view is already implicitly, if not explicitly, accepted in many fields, as well as (to some degree) enshrined in common wisdom about behavior (Baer, Kaufman, & Baumeister 2008).I reflect on Mischel, Shoda, and Rodriquez's well known 1989 experiment investigating delayed gratification in children and wonder whether those who decided to wait for the larger reward were not only smarter, but had a greater capacity for free will as well. Can we associate intelligence with free will? What do you think? Mischel, W., Shoda, Y., & Rodriguez, M. (1989). Delay of gratification in children Science, 244 (4907), 933-938 DOI: 10.1126/science.2658056Baer, J., Kaufman, J. C., & Baumeister, R. F. (Eds.) (2008). Are we free? Psychology and free will. New York: Oxford University Press.Scott, A. (1995). Stairway to the Mind: The controversial new science of consciousness. New York: Springer-Verlag.... Read more »

Mischel, W., Shoda, Y., & Rodriguez, M. (1989) Delay of gratification in children. Science, 244(4907), 933-938. DOI: 10.1126/science.2658056  

  • September 6, 2009
  • 02:41 AM
  • 660 views

Erasing phobias early in life

by William Lu in The Quantum Lobe Chronicles

The model of fear extinction originated from the Pavlovian classical conditioning paradigm in the early 1900s. Defined as a reduction in a conditioned fear response following a non reinforced exposure to a feared conditioned stimulus, fear extinction is known to involve the amygdala and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). It's also a frequently striven-for goal in cognitive behavioral therapy during the treatment of various phobias including arachibutyrophobia; the fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of the mouth, or barophobia; the fear of gravity. Unfortunately, extinguished fear responses sometimes reappear with the passage of time (spontaneous recovery), through a shift of context (renewal), or by unsignaled presentations of the unconditioned stimulus (reinstatement). However, the likelihood of these events happening after a few intense sessions of fear exposure may differ significantly depending on the age of the patient according to a new study published in this weeks Journal of Neuroscience.Kim, Hamlin, and Richardson investigated the role of the mPFC during fear extinction among postnatal 24 day rats (P24) and postnatal 17 day rats (P17). They found that temporary inactivation of the mPFC during extinction training blocked extinction retention the following day in P24 rats but not in P17 rats. Furthermore, through immunohistochemical analyses they observed that extinction of conditioned fear involved an increased number of phosphorylated MAPK-immunoreactive (pMAPK-IR) neurons in the mPFC and amygdala in P24 rats, but an elevation of these neurons was only seen in the amygdala of P17 rats. The results show that the mPFC has no part in the neural circuitry underlying fear extinction in P17 rats. The authors suggest that fear extinction is essentially the process of unlearning for the younger rats. In other words, they're "erasing" their fear altogether! These important findings may significantly impact the future treatment of phobias; targeting and treating fears earlier rather than later in life. Perhaps one day we can teach little barophobic Johnny why the force of gravity isn't really such a scary thing after all. Kim JH, Hamlin AS, & Richardson R (2009). Fear extinction across development: the involvement of the medial prefrontal cortex as assessed by temporary inactivation and immunohistochemistry. The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 29 (35), 10802-8 PMID: 19726637... Read more »

Kim JH, Hamlin AS, & Richardson R. (2009) Fear extinction across development: the involvement of the medial prefrontal cortex as assessed by temporary inactivation and immunohistochemistry. The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 29(35), 10802-8. PMID: 19726637  

  • September 3, 2009
  • 01:03 AM
  • 649 views

The neural correlates of lucid dreaming

by William Lu in The Quantum Lobe Chronicles

I've always had a deep fascination for lucid dreaming and only a handful of times have I been fortunate enough to experience such a wondrous and relatively rare state of consciousness. In one instance I decided to meditate and that blissful experience has no doubt left an indelible memory. So what's really going on in the brain during a lucid dream? In a recent study Voss and colleagues over in Germany in collaboration with Hobson at Harvard Medical School decided to investigate the electrophysiological correlates of lucid dreaming. They attempted to train 20 undergraduate students in the art of lucid dreaming via pre-sleep autosuggestions over a four month period and were able to successfully train 6. These subjects then spent a few nights at a sleep lab hooked up to an EEG machine. Only half were able to experience lucid dreaming during their stay(now you can see how tough it actually is to induce a lucid dream).You may be wondering at this point how the researchers know subjects are in a lucid dreaming state. Apparently subjects can be trained to make voluntary horizontal eye movements during sleep indicating lucidity.The authors found that during lucid dreaming there was a shift in EEG power, especially in the 40hz range and in the frontal regions of the brain. They suggest that this change in brain physiology is somehow associated with the lucid dreamer's ability to self-reflect and gain volitional control; activities absent in regular REM dreaming. They conclude that lucid dreaming involves features of both REM sleep and waking, categorizing it as a "hybrid state". They hypothesize that "lucidity arises when wake-like frontal lobe activation is associated with REM-like activity in posterior structures".I can't help but wonder what the different factors are that make certain individuals adept at lucid dreaming. And just imagine the endless possibilities if we were only able to figure out a sure-fire way to lucid dream on command. Perhaps an artistic outlet, a method of coping, a form of therapy? Maybe I'm just dreaming.I provide a wikihow link on how to lucid dream. I'm not sure how well it'll work but try it out for yourself and remember...dream big!Voss U, Holzmann R, Tuin I & J A Hobson (in press). Lucid dreaming: a state of consciousness with features of both waking and non-lucid dreaming . Sleep, 32, 1191-1200.Hobson JA (2005). Sleep is of the brain, by the brain and for the brain. Nature, 437 (7063), 1254-6 PMID: 16251949... Read more »

Hobson JA. (2005) Sleep is of the brain, by the brain and for the brain. Nature, 437(7063), 1254-6. PMID: 16251949  

  • August 31, 2009
  • 09:09 PM
  • 629 views

The peripheral attenton deficit of primary psychopaths

by William Lu in The Quantum Lobe Chronicles

Described as cold, heartless, manipulative, selfish, and low anxiety, primary psychopaths frankly scare the bejesus out of most people including myself. Look at the case of John Wayne Gacy Jr., the American serial killer who took the lives of 33 boys and young men between 1972 to 1978; burying most of the bodies in his crawl space beneath his home. During his sentencing he was quoted to have morbidly joked that the only thing he was guilty of was "running a cemetery without a license". How fucked up is that? Even until the day of his execution, Gacy never expressed any remorse for the atrocities he had committed. Interestingly enough, the lethal chemicals contained in the IV tube leading to his arm unexpectedly solidified, prolonging the execution process. I can't help but believe that on that day karma came back and bit him in the ass...hard (I just wanted to make it clear that I'm not saying all psychopaths are serial killers). So what were the reasons that led the truly disturbed Gacy to hone in on performing these heinous acts while ignoring all the circumstances that may have inhibited him from following through. One possible explanation known as the response modulation hypothesis purports that primary psychopaths are relatively insensitive to contextual information, that this neglect undermines their responsiveness to environmental information that normally facilitate self-regulation, and that they have an attentionally mediated deficit reducing processing of inhibitory cues outside the focus of attention (i.e. Gacy couldn't attend to all the peripheral information telling him not to murder his victims). Zeier, Maxwell, and Newman over at the University of Wisconsin-Madison decided to test this hypothesis by having 110 incarcerated men perform on a modified version of the flanker task which tests the role of attention in the moderation of response to inhibitory information. Results showed that primary psychopaths were significantly less affected by peripheral response-incongruent information compared to a control group confirming the response modulation hypothesis. This study demonstrates that attention plays a crucial role in moderating sensitivity to contextual information in primary psychopaths. The authors note that their findings do not necessarily apply to secondary (i.e. high-anxious) psychopathic subtypes and that their experiment did not manipulate motivational and emotional factors. They believe that their findings represent an important next step toward further understanding and treating psychopathy.The results of this study leads me to ponder a few provocative questions. Does it ultimately make Gacy a victim of his own peripheral attentional deficit? Should he have been held 100% accountable for his actions due to seemingly faulty brain wiring? What about other primary psychopaths who've committed less severe crimes? I suppose that's for you to decide.Zeier JD, Maxwell JS, & Newman JP (2009). Attention moderates the processing of inhibitory information in primary psychopathy. Journal of abnormal psychology, 118 (3), 554-63 PMID: 19685952... Read more »

Zeier JD, Maxwell JS, & Newman JP. (2009) Attention moderates the processing of inhibitory information in primary psychopathy. Journal of abnormal psychology, 118(3), 554-63. PMID: 19685952  

  • August 24, 2009
  • 06:16 PM
  • 596 views

Bid farewell to sleep deprivation's adverse effects on memory

by William Lu in The Quantum Lobe Chronicles

Graveyard shifts and all-night cram sessions are probably some of the worst things you can do to your brain and body. I know because sadly I've done both more times than I can count. It is well known in the sleep field that chronic sleep deprivation accelerates the adverse effects of aging (damn these premature wrinkles), causes emotional dysregulation, and significantly impairs memory. However, Chua et al. over at the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School in Singapore seem to have discovered a miracle drug that helps sleep-deprived individuals protect episodic memory; memory consisting of autobiographical events such as times, places, and associated emotions. They found that Donepezil, a cholinesterase inhibitor, reduced episodic memory impairment in 24 hour sleep-deprived healthy young subjects. The authors suggest that Donepezil works by improving attention as well as enhancing memory encoding in sleep-deprived individuals only (subjects received no benefit from the drug when they were well rested). Future studies should further investigate Donepezil and other cholinesterase inhibitors' effects on memory functioning of Alzheimer's disease patients as many of them seem to have comorbid sleep disorders.Remember Adderall, the popular psychostimulant procrastinating college students use to take during all-nighters? Could Donepezil become the new and improved fad? Only time will tell...Chuah LY, Chong DL, Chen AK, Rekshan WR, Jian JC, Zheng H, & Chee MW (2009).Donepezil improves episodic memory in young individuals vulnerable to the effects of sleep deprivation. SLEEP, 32, 999-1010.Chuah LY, & Chee MW (2008). Cholinergic augmentation modulates visual task performance in sleep-deprived young adults. The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 28 (44), 11369-77 PMID: 18971479... Read more »

Chuah LY, & Chee MW. (2008) Cholinergic augmentation modulates visual task performance in sleep-deprived young adults. The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 28(44), 11369-77. PMID: 18971479  

  • August 29, 2009
  • 10:35 AM
  • 575 views

The association between creativity and suicide

by William Lu in The Quantum Lobe Chronicles

Over the years a number of iconic musicians have met tragic deaths from either an overdose or suicide (e.g. Bradley Nowell and Kurt Cobain from two of my favorite bands); the former a possible mode of the latter. In light of DJ AM's recent passing, a prescription drug overdose the most likely culprit, and today's commemoration of Michael Jackson's 51st birthday, I couldn't help but ponder the possible associations between creativity, psychopathology, and suicide. Where is that fine line between creative genius and psychopathology? Does it take a severe mood disturbance to produce a truly creative work of art...to the point of self-destruction? Are musicians more vulnerable to psychopathology and at higher risk for attempting suicide? I provide a few abstracts from past studies addressing this fascinating topic.Virginia Woolf as an example of a mental disorder and artistic creativityThis is an attempt to evaluate the mental disorder that the novelist Virginia Woolf suffered, and to determine the relationship between her creativity and her insanity. What mostly characterizes her illness is the presence of typical phases of severely impairing depression and significant hypomania, culminating in suicide at the age of 59. This is a convincing life history of a bipolar II disorder, although the "broad bipolar spectrum" is less easy to define operational than bipolar disorder I. She was moderately stable as well as exceptionally productive from 1915 until she committed suicide in 1941. Virginia Woolf created little or nothing while she was unwell, and was productive between attacks. A detailed analysis of her own creativity over the years shows that her illnesses were the source of material for her novels.Musical creativity and suicideThe different abilities involved in artistic creativity may be mirrored by differences among mental disorders prevalent in each artistic profession, taking poets, painters, and composers as examples. Using suicide rates as a proxy for the prevalence of mental disorders in groups of artists, we investigated the percentage of deaths by suicide in a sample of 4,564 eminent artists who died in the 19th and 20th centuries. Of the sample, 2,259 were primarily involved in activities of a linguistic nature, e.g., poets and writers; 834 were primarily visual artists, such as painters and sculptors; and 1,471 were musicians (composers and instrumentalists). There were 63 suicides in the sample (1.3% of total deaths). Musicians as a group had lower suicide rates than literary and visual artists. Beyond socioeconomic reasons, which might favour interpretations based on effects of health selection, the lower rate of suicides among musicians may reflect some protective effect arising from music.Suicide among eminent artistsTo evaluate suicide risk by profession among eminent artists data from Garzanti's Encyclopedia, a broad biographical repertory, were used. Six categories in the visual and literary arts were compared: architects, painters, sculptors, writers, poets, and playwrights. Only people whose deaths occurred in the 1800s or 1900s were included since it is likely that underestimation of suicide has been lower in the more recent centuries. A total of 59 suicides were observed in a sample of 3,093 people: this corresponds to a ratio of 1.90%. Suicides were 51 among men (ratio 1.75%) and 8 among women (ratio 4.30%). The comparison by profession indicates that poets and writers exceed the mean suicide ratio of the sample. Painters and architects, conversely, have a clearly lower risk than the mean. Mean age of suicides was 44 yr. (SD = 12), with writers being slightly older (48 yr., SD = 12) than other artists. Artists who died of causes other than suicide reach a mean of 65 yr. (SD = 10). Suicide among artists seems to have a peculiar pattern, clearly different from the pattern of the general population, wherein suicide risk is higher among men and older people. Adverse financial circumstances and the stress attributed to rejection of personal products may contribute to the specific risk of suicide among artists. The link between mental disorders, such as manic-depression, which imply a higher risk of suicide, and creativeness is discussed as a contributing factor.Gender and suicide risk among artists: a multivariate analysisResearch on mental disorders among male artists has suggested that artists are at risk of suicide. However, given that men are higher in suicide risk than women, the presumed suicide risk of artists may be an artifact of sampling bias. A logistic regression analysis of data from 21 states finds that artists have 270% higher risk of suicide than nonartists. However, after controlling for gender and sociodemographic variables, this risk level is reduced to 125%. The findings are related to both psychiatric and work-related stress factors that may place artists at risk of suicide as an occupational group.Creativity, depression and suicideThe relationship between suicide and creativity has long been a subject of considerable concern. The author presents evidence indicating that in fact depression, suicide, and creativity are related. Several hypotheses for the relationship are posited. It is suggested that the same changes in the serotonergic system that are associated with depression in general and with impulsive suicides and homicides in the extreme may also be responsible for an element of risk taking that characterizes creativity and innovation in a person psychodynamically predisposed to being creative.The relation between depression and artThe relationships between depression and art are many and varied. Examples of poets, novelists, and musicians spring to mind who have vividly portrayed depression, usually from personal experience of it. These portrayals often had a psychohygienic significance for the artists concerned--as in the case of Goethe, who, in writing 'The sorrows of young Werther', exorcised his own suicidal impulses and thoughts, thus probably saving his own life. Artists have also depicted the physiognomy of depressives, e.g. Hans Baldung Grien in his picture 'Saturn' showing the pronounced nasolabial folds described by Veraguth as indicative of melancholia. Relationships between depression and art also play a role in certain theories of creativity, such as that of Silverman, who postulates that in the depressive phase new impressions arise which then find their expression in a manic phase. Finally, there are the various creative therapies designed in cases of depression (e.g. by encouraging the patient to paint or draw) to reactivate the nondominant hemisphere of the brain. Particularly in chronic or recurrent depressions this reactivation also serves to open up to the patient new perspectives for the solution of the problems that drive him into depression."Last days...in part, fictional." - Kurt CobainFigueroa C G (2005). [Virginia Woolf as an example of a mental disorder and artistic creativity] Revista medica de Chile, 133 (11), 1381-8 PMID: 16446863Preti A, De Biasi F, & Miotto P (2001). Musical creativity and suicide. Psychological reports, 89 (3), 719-27 PMID: 11824743... Read more »

Figueroa C G. (2005) [Virginia Woolf as an example of a mental disorder and artistic creativity]. Revista medica de Chile, 133(11), 1381-8. PMID: 16446863  

Preti A, De Biasi F, & Miotto P. (2001) Musical creativity and suicide. Psychological reports, 89(3), 719-27. PMID: 11824743  

Preti A, & Miotto P. (1999) Suicide among eminent artists. Psychological reports, 84(1), 291-301. PMID: 10203964  

Stack S. (1996) Gender and suicide risk among artists: a multivariate analysis. Suicide , 26(4), 374-9. PMID: 9014267  

Slaby AE. (1992) Creativity, depression and suicide. Suicide , 22(2), 157-66. PMID: 1626330  

Pöldinger W. (1986) The relation between depression and art. Psychopathology, 263-8. PMID: 3575627  

  • September 25, 2009
  • 09:19 AM
  • 572 views

Why middle-agers shouldn't join the army

by William Lu in The Quantum Lobe Chronicles

Enlisting in the army is a significant life-changing decision, especially for someone who's middle-aged. Apparently there's an age cap of 42 for active duty. The reasoning behind this seemingly arbitrary number is that it allow for a 20-year military career before retirement. However, perhaps they should look toward a younger cutoff point in light of a recent study investigating the effects of sleep deprivation on arousal levels of middle-aged rats. But before we continue with this line of argument, lets define what being middle-aged really means. According to the US Consensus middle-aged ranges anywhere from 35 to 54. During this stage of life one begins to see visible signs of aging, loss of skin elasticity, and graying hair. In addition, physical fitness decreases, body fat accumulates, and a decrease in both aerobic performance and maximal heart rate ensues. You may be asking yourself why any sane middle-aged person would ever want to enlist into the army, especially at such a physically disadvantageous age. Well...there ARE people out there who have their various reasons. One middle-ager, Russell Dilling, decided to follow through with his life-long dream and joined at the ripe age of 42 after divorcing a wife who refused to be in a military marriage. Another middle-aged aspirant of the military life posted, "I really wanted to be a cop or firefighter, but their qualifying standards are too tough. Also, cops and firefighters don't get the great benefits that military people do, like free health care, housing, discounts at the PX, job placement assistance, and various other preferential treatment", to which an incredulous military solider responded, "[I] think you have the Army mixed up with the Welfare system...". Hilarious.In any case, it's no secret that soldiers experience long bouts of sleep deprivation during combat and perhaps even in training. This is why the U.S. military developed its very own sleep-reduction program. It seems as if the development of a drug to help cut down that pesky need for sleep is on the horizon (or already here). In an unclassified report the defense science advisory group known as JASON wrote: [T]he maximum casualty rate depends strongly on the individual's sleep need, τ0. Hence any effort to improve human performance to minimize τ0 for given tasks can lead to a significant decrease in the casualty rate, of [about] 20 percent. … Suppose a human could be engineered who slept for the same amount of time as a giraffe (1.9 hours per night). This would lead to an approximately twofold decrease in the casualty rate. An adversary would need an approximately 40 percent increase in the troop level to compensate for this advantage.So why might it be a bad idea for middle-aged adults to enlist into the army?A recent study by Wigren, Rytkönen, and Porkka-Heiskanen over at the University of Helsinki investigated how aging affected the capacity of the basal forebrain (BF), a crucial area for sustaining cortical arousal, to cope with prolonged waking activity. They found that lactate, a chemical induced by neural activity, increased in sleep deprived young but not middle-aged or old rats. Additionally, they observed an attenuation of increased high-frequency (HF) EEG theta power (7–9 Hz), a marker of cortical arousal and active waking, in middle-aged and old rats. The results suggest that age-related weakening of BF functioning reduces cortical arousal during prolonged waking. In other words, middle-aged and old rat brains just can't hang with that of their younger counterparts when it comes to sustaining wakefulness after a period of sleep deprivation. How is private Dilling going to stay awake during long hours of combat? What's even worse, sleep deprivation may reduce subsequent sleep intensity within this age group and further impair cognitive functioning (also check out how Sleep deprivation might lead to Alzheimer's). Obviously further research on human subjects is needed before any definitive conclusions can be drawn. For now, those of you who are currently experiencing a mid-life crisis and want to prove that you've still got what it takes, I suggest avoiding enlistment and maybe purchasing a Harley motorcycle instead. Just make sure you get enough sleep before taking it out for a long cruise.Wigren HK, Rytkönen KM, & Porkka-Heiskanen T (2009). Basal forebrain lactate release and promotion of cortical arousal during prolonged waking is attenuated in aging. The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 29 (37), 11698-707 PMID: 19759316... Read more »

Wigren HK, Rytkönen KM, & Porkka-Heiskanen T. (2009) Basal forebrain lactate release and promotion of cortical arousal during prolonged waking is attenuated in aging. The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 29(37), 11698-707. PMID: 19759316  

  • September 12, 2009
  • 07:15 PM
  • 570 views

Destabilizing old memories with novel information

by William Lu in The Quantum Lobe Chronicles

What if one day we could disrupt unwanted consolidated memories like those of old traumatic experiences or even unforgettable heartbreaks and replace them with novel and more pleasant ones? Sounds like a tagline from the 2004 Oscar-winning film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind doesn't it? Published in this month's issue of Learning & Memory, a study by Winters, Tucci, and DaCosta-Furtado over at the University of Guelph, Canada have managed to bring us one step closer to making this seeminly far-fetched idea a reality. They had rats explore sample objects and some time later injected them with either an NMDA receptor antagonist known as MK-801 or a control saline solution before reactivating the object memory. The authors found that the reconsolidation of young or weakly encoded memories were disrupted by MK-801 regardless of the reactivation conditions. However, when they increased the amount of sample object exploration or the time between sample phase and reactivation (older and stronger memories) the effect of MK-801 was abolished during reconsolidation unless (now this is the interesting part) salient novel contextual information was present during memory reactivation. Their findings support the hypothesis that the reconsolidation process enables modification of existing memories.Could this be a future treatment option for patients suffering from PTSD? How about for less severe cases like those who just can't get over that one ex. For now it seems like we'll be seeing it "only in theaters".Winters, B., Tucci, M., & DaCosta-Furtado, M. (2009). Older and stronger object memories are selectively destabilized by reactivation in the presence of new information Learning & Memory, 16 (9), 545-553 DOI: 10.1101/lm.1509909... Read more »

Winters, B., Tucci, M., & DaCosta-Furtado, M. (2009) Older and stronger object memories are selectively destabilized by reactivation in the presence of new information. Learning , 16(9), 545-553. DOI: 10.1101/lm.1509909  

  • August 14, 2009
  • 02:22 AM
  • 562 views

Do adults with Asperger syndrome really have ToM?

by William Lu in The Quantum Lobe Chronicles

People with autism are known to lack the ability to automatically attribute mental states to self and others also known as "mindblindness". A result of this impairment is failure on verbally instructed false-belief tasks. However, people with Asperger syndrome, a milder form of autism, seem to pass with flying colors. This presents a problem for the "mindblindness" theory. So do people with Asperger syndrome really have a theory of mind (ToM) contrary to popular theory?Senju, Southgate, White, and Frith decided to take it upon themselves to sort out this confusion. Instead of using verbal instructions, they had adults with Asperger syndrome perform an eye-tracking task that measured the spontaneous ability to mentalize. This entailed subjects to view a scene of an actor first placing a ball into one of two boxes, then having a puppet move the ball to the alternative box unbeknownst to the distracted actor, thus causing a false belief in the actor about the location of the ball. Results showed that the Asperger group showed significantly less looking bias toward the correct window compared to a control group indicating the Asperger group's inability to spontaneously anticipate others' actions in a nonverbal task. It seems that to a certain extent they do lack a ToM. But then how are they able to pass the verbally instructed false-belief task? The authors suggest that compensatory learning is involved.Senju A, Southgate V, White S, & Frith U (2009). Mindblind Eyes: An Absence of Spontaneous Theory of Mind in Asperger Syndrome. Science (New York, N.Y.) PMID: 19608858... Read more »

Senju A, Southgate V, White S, & Frith U. (2009) Mindblind Eyes: An Absence of Spontaneous Theory of Mind in Asperger Syndrome. Science (New York, N.Y.). PMID: 19608858  

  • September 8, 2009
  • 02:04 PM
  • 555 views

Bullying boss disturbing your sleep?

by William Lu in The Quantum Lobe Chronicles

Its not uncommon that we're forced to work/put up with a disgruntled boss at one point or another. Not surprisingly, the relationship between an employee and their boss is the best predictor for job satisfaction according to a 2006 survey conducted by Accountemps, a Menlo Park, California-based specialized staffing service for temporary accounting, finance, and bookkeeping professionals. Moreover, the relationship you have with your boss may not only determine your overall job satisfaction, but also how well you sleep. In a study by Niedhammer et. al publiushed in the latest edition of SLEEP they investigated the association between a bullying boss and experienced sleep disturbance. Here is a snippet of their abstract:Results: Workplace bullying was strongly associated with sleep disturbances. Past exposure to bullying also increased the risk for this outcome. The more frequent the exposure to bullying, the higher the risk of experiencing sleep disturbances. Observing someone else being bullied in the workplace was also associated with the outcome. Adjustment for covariates did not modify the results. Additional adjustment for self-reported health and depressive symptoms diminished the magnitude of the associations that remained significant.Conclusions: The prevalence of workplace bullying (around 10%) was found to be high in this study as well was the impact of this major job-related stressor on sleep disturbances. Although no conclusion about causality could be drawn from this cross-sectional study, the findings suggest that the contribution of workplace bullying to the burden of sleep disturbances may be substantial.This article ties in well with Levin and Nielsen's prior work on emotions and disturbed sleep. In their 2007 Psychological Bulletin paper they proposed that high affect load, the consequence of daily variations in emotional pressure, and high affect distress, the disposition to experience events with distressing, significantly influenced nightmare prevalence, frequency, severity, and psychopathological comorbidity.I suspect the bullied employees who experience sleep disturbances are also experiencing an associated high affect load and high affect distress. Niedhammer I; David S; Degioanni S; Drummond A; Philip P. Workplace bullying and sleep disturbances: findings from a large scale cross-sectional survey in the French working population. SLEEP 2009;32(9):1211-1219.Niedhammer I, Chastang JF, & David S (2008). Importance of psychosocial work factors on general health outcomes in the national French SUMER survey. Occupational medicine (Oxford, England), 58 (1), 15-24 PMID: 17965447Levin, R., & Nielsen, T. (2007). Disturbed dreaming, posttraumatic stress disorder, and affect distress: A review and neurocognitive model. Psychological Bulletin, 133 (3), 482-528 DOI: 10.1037/0033-2909.133.3.482... Read more »

Niedhammer I, Chastang JF, & David S. (2008) Importance of psychosocial work factors on general health outcomes in the national French SUMER survey. Occupational medicine (Oxford, England), 58(1), 15-24. PMID: 17965447  

Levin, R., & Nielsen, T. (2007) Disturbed dreaming, posttraumatic stress disorder, and affect distress: A review and neurocognitive model. Psychological Bulletin, 133(3), 482-528. DOI: 10.1037/0033-2909.133.3.482  

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