Else-Marie Elmholdt Jegindø

Perceptual Inference and Autistic Traits.

Autistic people are better at perceiving details. Major theories explain this in terms of bottom-up sensory mechanisms or in terms of top-down cognitive biases. Recently, it has become possible to link these theories within a common framework. This framework assumes that perception is implicit neural inference, combining sensory evidence with prior perceptual knowledge. Within this framework, perceptual differences may occur because of enhanced precision in how sensory evidence is represented or because sensory evidence is weighted much higher than prior perceptual knowledge. In this preliminary study, we compared these models using groups with high and low autistic trait scores (Autism-Spectrum Quotient). We found evidence supporting the cognitive bias model and no evidence for the enhanced sensory precision model.

Autobiographical Memory in a Fire-Walking Ritual

Anthropological theories have discussed the efffects of participation in high-arousal rituals in the formation of autobiographical memory; however, precise measurements for such efffects are lacking. In this study, we examined episodic recall among participants in a highly arousing firewalking ritual. To assess arousal, we used heart rate measurements. To assess the dynamics of episodic memories, we obtained reports immediately after the event and two months later. We evaluated memory accuracy from video footage. Immediately after the event, participants’ reports revealed limited recall, low confijidence and high accuracy. Two months later we found more inaccurate memories and higher confijidence. Whereas cognitive theories of ritual have predicted flashbulb memories for highly arousing rituals, we found that memories were strongly suppressed immediately after the event and only later evolved confijidence and detail. Physiological measurements revealed a spectacular discrepancy between actual heart rates and self-reported arousal. This dissociation between subjective reports and objective measurements of arousal is consistent with a cognitive resource depletion model. We argue that expressive suppression may provide a link between individual memories and cultural understandings of high-arousal rituals.

Neurocognitive evidence for mental imagery-driven hypoalgesic and hyperalgesic pain regulation

Mental imagery has the potential to influence perception by directly altering sensory, cognitive, and affective brain activity associated with imagined content. While it is well established that mental imagery can both exacerbate and alleviate acute and chronic pain, it is currently unknown how imagery mechanisms regulate pain perception. For example, studies to date have been unable to determine whether imagery effects depend upon a general redirection of attention away from pain or focused attentional mechanisms. To address these issues, we recorded subjective, behavioral and ERP responses using 64-channel EEG while healthy human participants applied a mental imagery strategy to decrease or increase pain sensations. When imagining a glove covering the forearm, participants reported decreased perceived intensity and unpleasantness, classified fewer high-intensity stimuli as painful, and showed a more conservative response bias. In contrast, when imagining a lesion on the forearm, participants reported increased pain intensity and unpleasantness, classified more low-intensity stimuli as painful, and displayed a more liberal response bias. Using a mass-univariate approach, we further showed differential modulation of the N2 potentials across conditions, with inhibition and facilitation respectively increasing and decreasing N2 amplitudes between 122 and 180 ms. Within this time window, source localization associated inhibiting vs. facilitating pain with neural activity in cortical regions involved in cognitive inhibitory control and in the retrieval of semantic information (i.e., right inferior frontal and temporal regions). In contrast, the main sources of neural activity associated with facilitating vs. inhibiting pain were identified in cortical regions typically implicated in salience processing and emotion regulation (i.e., left insular, inferior-middle frontal, supplementary motor and precentral regions). Overall, these findings suggest that the content of a mental image directly alters pain-related decision and evaluative processing to flexibly produce hypoalgesic and hyperalgesic outcomes.

Using complexity metrics with R-R intervals and BPM heart rate measures

Lately, growing attention in the health sciences has been paid to the dynamics of heart rate as indicator of impending failures and for prognoses. Likewise, in social and cognitive sciences, heart rate is increasingly employed as a measure of arousal, emotional engagement and as a marker of interpersonal coordination. However, there is no consensus about which measurements and analytical tools are most appropriate in mapping the temporal dynamics of heart rate and quite different metrics are reported in the literature. As complexity metrics of heart rate variability depend critically on variability of the data, different choices regarding the kind of measures can have a substantial impact on the results. In this article we compare linear and non-linear statistics on two prominent types of heart beat data, beat-to-beat intervals (R-R interval) and beats-per-min (BPM). As a proof-of-concept, we employ a simple rest-exercise-rest task and show that non-linear statistics—fractal (DFA) and recurrence (RQA) analyses—reveal information about heart beat activity above and beyond the simple level of heart rate. Non-linear statistics unveil sustained post-exercise effects on heart rate dynamics, but their power to do so critically depends on the type data that is employed: While R-R intervals are very susceptible to non-linear analyses, the success of non-linear methods for BPM data critically depends on their construction. Generally, “oversampled” BPM time-series can be recommended as they retain most of the information about non-linear aspects of heart beat dynamics.

Music training and empathy positively impact adults' sensitivity to infant distress.

Crying is the most powerful auditory signal of infant need. Adults’ ability to perceive and respond to crying is important for infant survival and in the provision of care. This study investigated a number of listener variables that might impact on adults’ perception of infant cry distress, namely parental status, musical training, and empathy. Sensitivity to infant distress was tested using a previously validated task, which experimentally manipulated distress by varying the pitch of infant cries. This task required that participants discriminate between pitch differences and interpret these as differences in infant distress. Parents with musical training showed a significant advantage on this task when compared with parents without. The extent of the advantage was correlated with the amount of self-reported musical training. For non-parents, individual differences in empathy were associated with task performance, with higher empathy scores corresponding to greater sensitivity to infant distress. We suggest that sensitivity to infant distress can be impacted by a number of listener variables, and may be amenable to training.

Pain and Sacrifice: Experience and Modulation of Pain in a Religious Piercing Ritual

Fascinating pain-related rituals have been observed throughout the world, but so far no systematic evidence exists to support previous ethnographic reports of analgesic states and dissociative symptoms during these events. To address this issue, we combined quantitative and qualitative measures with the aim of investigating pain experience and modulation of pain during the Thaipusam Kavadi ritual in Mauritius. In Study 1, results indicated low levels of pain intensity during the ritual, and regression analyses showed that expectations of pain were significantly predictive of actual pain intensity ratings. In Study 2, the meanings surrounding the ritual were found to generate expectations of low pain and a positive outcome, and intense prayer was reported as the main coping strategy. In addition, most participants expressed symptoms of dissociation (including amnesia, absorption, and depersonalisation) during Thaipusam, and a high prevalence of these symptoms was associated with low levels of pain.

Teaching Individuals in Chronic Pain

Chronic pain is the fate of many people, and accepting adversity is necessary because there is no sufficient treatment. Teaching mindfulness to chronic pain patients entails being with them. The most important role you can have as a teacher is to really be present. You cannot remove pain, neither can your patients, but you can be there with them. Through wise effort and practice you can work on exercises known to target fundamental issues of living with and managing pain. Practice is essential. However, knowledge and our experience working with chronic pain patients may be helpful too. We describe pain from scientific, educational, and clinical perspectives. [Ed: For contributor bios: Else-Marie Elmholdt Jegindo is a neuroscientist with a PhD in cognitive pain modulation. Lone Fjorback, MD, holds a PhD in mindfulness and bodily distress, and she is also a yoga and MBSR teacher. Papers, film, and workbook on their work are available for free at www.mindfulness.au.dk].