Daren C. Jackson

Suppression and enhancement of emotional responses to unpleasant pictures

Despite the prominence of emotional dysfunction in psychopathology, relatively few experiments have explicitly studied emotion regulation in adults. The present study examined one type of emotion regulation: voluntary regulation of short-term emotional responses to unpleasant visual stimuli. In a sample of 48 college students, both eyeblink startle magnitude and corrugator activity were sensitive to experimental manipulation. Instructions to suppress negative emotion led to both smaller startle eyeblinks and decreased corrugator activity. Instructions to enhance negative emotion led to larger startle eyeblinks and increased corrugator activity. Several advantages of this experimental manipulation are discussed, including the use of both a suppress and an enhance emotion condition, independent measurement of initial emotion elicitation and subsequent regulation of that emotion, the use of a completely within-subjects design, and the use of naturalistic emotion regulation strategies.

Making a Life Worth Living Neural Correlates of Well-Being

Despite the vast literature that has implicated asymmetric activation of the prefrontal cortex in approach-withdrawal motivation and emotion, no published reports have directly explored the neural correlates of well-being. Eighty-four right-handed adults (ages 57–60) completed self-report measures of eudaimonic well-being, hedonic well-being, and positive affect prior to resting electroencephalography. As hypothesized, greater left than right superior frontal activation was associated with higher levels of both forms of well-being. Hemisphere-specific analyses documented the importance of goal-directed approach tendencies beyond those captured by approach-related positive affect for eudaimonic but not for hedonic well-being. Appropriately engaging sources of appetitive motivation, characteristic of higher left than right baseline levels of prefrontal activation, may encourage the experience of well-being.

Now You Feel It, Now You Don't Frontal Brain Electrical Asymmetry and Individual Differences in Emotion Regulation

Recent theoretical accounts of emotion regulation assign an important role in this process to the prefrontal cortex, yet there is little relevant data available to support this hypothesis. The current study assessed the relation between individual differences in asymmetric prefrontal activation and an objective measure of uninstructed emotion regulation. Forty-seven participants 57 to 60 years old viewed emotionally arousing and neutral visual stimuli while eye-blink startle data were collected. Startle probes were also presented after picture presentation to capture the persistence or attenuation of affect following the offset of an emotional stimulus. Subjects with greater relative left-sided anterior activation in scalp-recorded brain electrical signals displayed attenuated startle magnitude after the offset of negative stimuli. This relation between resting frontal activation and recovery following an aversive event supports the idea of a frontally mediated mechanism involved in one form of automatic emotion regulation.

Affective style and in vivo immune response: neurobehavioral mechanisms.

Considerable evidence exists to support an association between psychological states and immune function. However, the mechanisms by which such states are instantiated in the brain and influence the immune system are poorly understood. The present study investigated relations among physiological measures of affective style, psychological well being, and immune function. Negative and positive affect were elicited by using an autobiographical writing task. Electroencephalography and affect-modulated eye-blink startle were used to measure trait and state negative affect. Participants were vaccinated for influenza, and antibody titers after the vaccine were assayed to provide an in vivo measure of immune function. Higher levels of right-prefrontal electroencephalographic activation and greater magnitude of the startle reflex reliably predicted poorer immune response. These data support the hypothesis that individuals characterized by a more negative affective style mount a weaker immune response and therefore may be at greater risk for illness than those with a more positive affective style.

Relations between PET-derived measures of thalamic glucose metabolism and EEG alpha power

Electroencephalogram (EEG) alpha power has been demonstrated to be inversely related to mental activity and has subsequently been used as an indirect measure of brain activation. The thalamus has been proposed as an important site for modulation of rhythmic alpha activity. Studies in animals have suggested that cortical alpha rhythms are correlated with alpha rhythms in the thalamus. However, little empirical evidence exists for this relation in humans. In the current study, resting EEG and a fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography scan were measured during the same experimental session. Over a 30-min period, average EEG alpha power across 28 electrodes from 27 participants was robustly inversely correlated with glucose metabolic activity in the thalamus. These data provide the first evidence for a relation between alpha EEG power and thalamic activity in humans.

The Neuropsychological and Academic Substrate of New/Recent-Onset Epilepsies

OBJECTIVE To characterize neuropsychological and academic status in children, ages 8-18 years, with new-/recent-onset idiopathic generalized epilepsy (IGE) and idiopathic localization-related epilepsy (ILRE) compared with healthy controls. STUDY DESIGN Participants underwent neuropsychological assessment, and parents were interviewed regarding their childs academic history. Cognitive scores for children with epilepsy were age- and sex-adjusted and compared with controls across both broad-band (IGE n = 41 and ILRE n = 53) and narrow-band (childhood/juvenile absence, juvenile myoclonic, benign epilepsy with centro-temporal spikes, and focal [temporal/frontal/not otherwise specified]) syndromes. Academic histories were examined, including problems antecedent to epilepsy onset and diagnosis. RESULTS Children with new/recent-onset epilepsies exhibit considerable cognitive abnormality at baseline, including patterns of shared abnormalities across syndromes (eg, psychomotor slowing) as well as unique syndrome-specific cognitive effects (eg, executive function in IGE and language/verbal memory in ILRE) that are observed and sometimes exacerbated in specific IGE and ILRE syndromes. Academic difficulties are evident in approximately 50% of the children with epilepsy, affecting all syndrome groups to an equal degree. DISCUSSION Patterns of shared and syndrome-specific cognitive abnormalities and academic problems are present early in the course of virtually all epilepsy syndromes examined here, including syndromes classically viewed as benign. This is the base upon which the effects of recurrent seizures, treatment, and psychosocial effects will be added over time.

Frontal Brain Asymmetry in Restrained Eaters

It is well known that the eating patterns that restrain chronic dieters (restrained eaters) can be disinhibited by anxiety, which in turn has been associated with relative right frontal brain activity in independent electroencephalographic (EEG) studies. Combining these two lines of evidence, the authors tested the hypothesis that chronic restrained eating is associated with relative right frontal asymmetry. Resting anterior brain asymmetry and self-reported measures of anxiety and depression were collected in 23 restrained and 32 unrestrained eaters. As hypothesized, groups differed in tonic frontal activity, with restrained eaters showing more relative right frontal activity. Furthermore, relative right frontal activity was associated with greater self-reported restraint. Right-sided prefrontal asymmetry may thus represent a diathesis associated with increased vulnerability toward restrained eating.

Computer-assisted cognitive behavioral therapy for children with epilepsy and anxiety: a pilot study

Anxiety disorders are prevalent in children with epilepsy. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy, adaptability, and feasibility of a manual-based, computer-assisted cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) intervention for anxiety disorders in children with epilepsy. Fifteen anxious youth (aged 8-13 years) with epilepsy completed 12 weeks of manualized computer-assisted CBT. The children and parents completed a semi-structured interview at baseline, and questionnaires assessing symptoms of anxiety, depression, and behavior problems were completed prior to treatment, at treatment midpoint, after treatment completion, and at three months posttreatment. There were significant reductions in the symptoms of anxiety and depression reported by the children at completion of the intervention and at the three-month follow-up. Similarly, the parents reported fewer symptoms of anxiety and a reduction in behavior problems. No adverse events were reported. This CBT intervention for children with epilepsy and anxiety disorders appears to be safe, effective, and feasible and should be incorporated into future intervention studies.

Test-retest reliability of voluntary emotion regulation.

Despite growing interest in emotion regulation, the degree to which psychophysiological measures of emotion regulation are stable over time remains unknown. We examined four-week test-retest reliability of corrugator electromyographic and eyeblink startle measures of negative emotion and its regulation. Both measures demonstrated similar sensitivity to the emotion manipulation, but only individual differences in corrugator modulation and regulation showed adequate reliability. Startle demonstrated diminished sensitivity to the regulation instructions across assessments and poor reliability. This suggests that corrugator represents a trait-like measure of voluntary emotion regulation, whereas startle should be used with caution for assessing individual differences. The data also suggest that corrugator and startle might index partially dissociable constructs and underscore the need to collect multiple measures of emotion.

Starting at the beginning: the neuropsychological status of children with new-onset epilepsies

This review examines the neurodevelopmental contribution to the cognitive and behavioural complications of epilepsy. Following a brief review of the lifespan complications of childhood epilepsies, attention turns to cognitive, psychiatric and social correlates of childhood epilepsies reported in population-based and tertiary care studies. The focus then becomes the neurobehavioural status of children with new-onset epilepsy; a point in time not confounded by the effects of years of recurrent seizures, medications, and social reactions to epilepsy. Recent research shows that abnormalities in cognition, brain structure and behaviour are present at or near the time of diagnosis. Further, careful history taking indicates that neurobehavioural problems may be present in advance of the first seizure suggesting the potential influence of epileptogenesis, antecedent neurodevelopmental abnormalities, genetic and environmental susceptibilities, and other risk factors. This becomes the substrate upon which to characterise the effects of epilepsy and its treatment on subsequent neurodevelopment. The review concludes with suggestions for future clinical care and research.