Anne-Marie D'Aoust

EEG spectral analysis of wakefulness and REM sleep in high functioning autistic spectrum disorders

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to investigate the involvement of temporo-occipital regions in the pathophysiology of autistic spectrum disorders (ASD) by using REM sleep and waking EEG. METHODS The EEG recordings of 9 persons with ASD and 8 control participants were recorded using a 12-electrode montage. Spectral analysis (0.75-19.75 Hz) was performed on EEG activity recorded upon two activated states: REM sleep and wakefulness. RESULTS During REM sleep, persons with ASD showed a selective, significantly lower absolute beta (13.0-19.75 Hz) spectral amplitude over the primary (O(1), O(2)) and associative (T(5), T(6)) cortical visual areas compared to controls. Persons with ASD showed significantly higher absolute theta (4.0-7.75 Hz) spectral amplitude over the left frontal pole region (Fp1) compared to controls during evening wakefulness, but not during morning wakefulness. SIGNIFICANCE The results of waking EEG are consistent with previously reported observations of neuropsychological signs of frontal atypicalities in ASD; results from REM sleep are the first EEG evidence to support the hypothesis of abnormal visuoperceptual functioning in ASD. Altogether, these results point toward atypical thalamo-cortical mechanisms subserving the neural processing of information in ASD.

Dream content in chronically-treated persons with schizophrenia.

Many clinical, laboratory and non-laboratory studies have examined dream content reported by patients with schizophrenia but findings have been variable and inconsistent. Using both questionnaire-based measures and laboratory REM sleep awakenings, we investigated dream content in 14 patients with schizophrenia (mean age=25.5+/-3.2 years) under atypical antipsychotic medication and 15 healthy controls (mean age=22.3+/-4.2 years). The relationship between eye movement density during REM sleep and dream content was also explored. Questionnaire data revealed that when compared to controls, patients with schizophrenia report experiencing a greater number of nightmares but no significant differences were found on other measures including overall dream recall, presence of recurrent dreams, and frequency of specific emotions. 39 dream reports were collected from each group following awakenings from REM sleep. Laboratory dream narratives from the patients were shorter and, after controlling for report length, most significant differences in dream content between the two groups disappeared with the exception of a greater proportion of unknown characters in the participant group. Patients with schizophrenia spontaneously rated their dream reports as being less bizarre than did controls, despite a similar density of bizarre elements as scored by external judges. Finally, both groups had a comparable density of rapid eye movements during REM sleep but a significant positive correlation between eye-movement density and dream content variables was only found in controls. Taken together, the findings suggest that dream content characteristics in schizophrenia may reflect neurocognitive processes, including emotional processing, specific to this disorder.

Ties that Bind? Engaging Emotions, Governmentality and Neoliberalism: Introduction to the Special Issue

This introduction to the special issue on “Emotions, Governmentality and Neoliberalism” situates the theme inside the recent International Relations literature devoted to emotions and affect. This literature misses an engagement with governmentality, notably because Michel Foucaults prime concern with practical rationalities, such as “the conduct of conduct” in the case of governmentality, led to an assumption that these were devoid of emotional dimensions. Paying attention to governmentality allows us to examine how emotions and rationality actually intermingle, notably by putting the body at the centre of analysis in ways that do not make it the locus of a pre-social “affect.” All six contributions to the special issue are then individually discussed around the three key dimensions they all seek to address and emphasise: (1) the ways in which emotions partake in relations of power, sometimes to the point where individuals can become emotionally attached to regimes of power that hurt them; (2) the ways in which neoliberal processes are concomitant with the enclosure and valorisation of certain subjective/emotional dispositions; and, finally (3) the ways in which emotions can challenge or exceed existing relations of power.

Hemispheric lateralization of the EEG during wakefulness and REM sleep in young healthy adults

EEG recordings confirm hemispheric lateralization of brain activity during cognitive tasks. The aim of the present study was to investigate spontaneous EEG lateralization under two conditions, waking and REM sleep. Bilateral monopolar EEG was recorded in eight participants using a 12-electrode montage, before the night (5 min eyes closed) and during REM sleep. Spectral analysis (0.75-19.75 Hz) revealed left prefrontal lateralization on total spectrum amplitude power and right occipital lateralization in Delta activity during waking. In contrast, during REM sleep, right frontal lateralization in Theta and Beta activities and right lateralization in occipital Delta activity was observed. These results suggest that spontaneous EEG activities generated during waking and REM sleep are supported in part by a common thalamo-cortical neural network (right occipital Delta dominance) while additional, possibly neuro-cognitive factors modulate waking left prefrontal dominance and REM sleep right frontal dominance.

Love as Project of (Im)Mobility: Love, Sovereignty and Governmentality in Marriage Migration Management Practices

Marriage migration has recently drawn some attention, notably to the ways in which third-country nationals face increased challenges compared to European citizens when it comes to reunite with their spouse or partner. Foregoing a detailed legal analysis, this article rather seeks to interrogate the following: what connections can be drawn between law, love, mobility and sovereignty? Relying on various instances of management practices in Europe, I examine what marriage migration regulations tell us about their entanglement. On the one hand, I claim that love can and should be accounted for in the governmentality of marriage migration. On the other hand, by being attuned to the ways in which love is connected to different marriage migration management practices, we can see that governmentality cannot fully capture the different forms of power deployed and enacted in specific settings. What we have instead are complex assemblages that highlight a productive tension, as love becomes both a target and object of governmental calculations in projects of immobility, and a movement that participates in projects of mobility. It thus intermeshes with, yet also challenges, attempts at fixity.

A moral economy of suspicion: Love and marriage migration management practices in the United Kingdom:

This article investigates how marriage migration management practices in the United Kingdom (UK) have entered the realm of security policy by relying on a moral political economy of suspicion that notably mobilizes what I call ‘technologies of love.’ The latter refers to conceptions of ‘true love’ and its manifestations that infuse the regulation of belonging through immigration controls. I argue that this economy of suspicion builds on and partakes in a governmental regulation that result in a stratification of rights. After outlining how Western romantic love has a history that cannot be uncoupled from state concerns about race and citizenship, I detail how Didier Fassin’s notion of moral economy of suspicion relates to technologies of love in the governmentality of marriage migration. Finally, I examine recent legislation and policing practices in the UK to illustrate how technologies of love can become part of judgment formation in evaluating possibly suspicious couples, notably European citizens marrying non-European citizens.