Pilar Carrera

A fast comet assay variant for solid tissue cells. The assessment of DNA damage in higher plants

The single-cell gel electrophoresis or comet assay, under high alkaline conditions, detects low levels of DNA damage. In it, broken DNA migrates from the nucleus to the anode providing images similar to comets. To adapt this assay to solid tissue cells, nuclei were directly obtained from Allium cepa L. roots. The surface of each single fresh sharply cut meristem was exposed to a small drop of 50 mM Sörensen buffer at pH 6.8, placed on a regular agarose-coated slide. By immediately adding low melting point agarose at 30 degrees C, nuclei resulted embedded in agarose. A final layer of this agarose ended the preparative steps. Conventionaly prepared leukocytes were used as a control. The treatment with detergent (lysis step of the conventional assay) proved to be unnecessary for the nude nuclei. A 20 min-long electrophoresis (at 0.65 V. cm-1, 230 mA and 10 degrees C) was more sensitive than a 10 min-long one for detecting the differential response of plant nuclei to 2 and 4 Gy of gamma-irradiation. A short fixation in methanol transformed the preparations into semi-permanent ones, without altering their later DNA staining by ethidium bromide. The use of instantaneously isolated nuclei simplifies and expands the use of this technique to any eukaryotic cell from solid tissues.

Drawing mixed emotions: Sequential or simultaneous experiences?

With a view to measuring subjective experience of mixed emotions, we designed an Analogical Emotional Scale (AES). This scale permits the analysis of how, at the subjective level, the emotions evolve from the beginning to the end of the experience, allowing discrimination between simultaneous mixed emotional experiences (i.e., two emotions taking place at the same time) and sequential mixed emotional experiences (i.e., two emotions switching rapidly back and forth). In Study 1 we asked participants to recall a naturally occurring situation, in Study 2 we induced simple vs. mixed emotions in a controlled situation, and in Study 3 we manipulated the structure of emotional stimuli, sequential versus simultaneous. The results showed that the combined use of rating scales and the AES permits us to obtain a more accurate estimation of the actual presence of simultaneous mixed emotional experiences.

Are Spontaneous Expressions and Emotions Linked? an Experimental Test of Coherence

We measured facial behaviors shown by participants in a laboratory study in which a film was used to elicit intense emotions. Participants provided subjective reports of their emotions and their faces were recorded by a concealed camera. We did not find the coherence claimed by other authors (e.g., Rosenberg & Ekman, 1994) between the displayed facial expressions and subjective reports of emotion. We thus concluded that certain emotions are not a necessary or sufficient precondition of certain spontaneous expressions.

False recognition of facial expressions of emotion: causes and implications.

This article examines the importance of semantic processes in the recognition of emotional expressions, through a series of three studies on false recognition. The first study found a high frequency of false recognition of prototypical expressions of emotion when participants viewed slides and video clips of nonprototypical fearful and happy expressions. The second study tested whether semantic processes caused false recognition. The authors found that participants made significantly higher error rates when asked to detect expressions that corresponded to semantic labels than when asked to detect visual stimuli. Finally, given that previous research reported that false memories are less prevalent in younger children, the third study tested whether false recognition of prototypical expressions increased with age. The authors found that 67% of eight- to nine-year-old children reported nonpresent prototypical expressions of fear in a fearful context, but only 40% of 6- to 7-year-old children did so. Taken together, these three studies demonstrate the importance of semantic processes in the detection and categorization of prototypical emotional expressions.

Mixed Emotional Appeals in Emotional and Danger Control Processes

Negative emotional appeals do not always help to reduce risk behaviors. We report two studies about a new strategy based on the presentation of appeals with mixed sequential emotions (e.g., sadness/fear–joy/relief). Study 1 shows that a mixed message generates lower post-message discomfort than an exclusively negative message; moreover, in this first study, reported probability of performing the risk behavior, binge drinking, in the future is also lower in the mixed condition. Study 2 replicates these results and relates them to the extended parallel process model (EPPM) (Witte, 1992). Here, the mixed emotional message again generates lower post-message discomfort than the negative one, and participants are motivated to control the danger (response efficacy is evaluated more positively in the mixed condition).

Beyond a Single Pattern of Mixed Emotional Experience

The Analogical Emotional Scale (AES) permits respondents to represent the changes that occur in the course of two different emotions over the time in which they are experienced (Carrera & Oceja, 2007). We tested whether the use of the AES allows us to go beyond the distinction between sequential and simultaneous emotional experiences. Specifically, the AES permits us to detect and discriminate at least four different patterns of mixed emotional experience: sequential, prevalence, inverse, and highly simultaneous. We carried out four studies in which different stimuli were used for inducing emotion: personal memories, verbal accounts, videos, and photographs. The results supported our expectation that these four patterns are associated with different levels of emotional ambivalence and tension along a continuum from lesser to greater: sequential, prevalence, inverse, and highly simultaneous.

Comparing the Effects of Negative and Mixed Emotional Messages on Predicted Occasional Excessive Drinking

Nicotine, the addictive component of cigarette smoke has profound effects on the brain. Activation of its receptors by nicotine has complex consequences for network activity throughout the brain, potentially contributing to the addictive property of the drug. Nicotinic receptors have been implicated in psychiatric illnesses like schizophrenia and are also neuroprotective, potentially beneficial for neurodegenerative diseases. These effects of nicotine serve to emphasize the multifarious roles the drug, acting through multiple nicotinic acetylcholine receptor subtypes. The findings also remind us of the complexity of signaling mechanisms and stress the risks of unintended consequences of drugs designed to combat nicotine addiction.

Future‐oriented emotions in the prediction of binge‐drinking intention and expectation: the role of anticipated and anticipatory emotions

The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) offers a parsimonious explanation of purposive behavior, but in the study of healthy and risk behaviors its sufficiency may be questioned. Working with binge-drinking, a very common risk behavior in Spanish undergraduate students, we used two strategies for improving predictions from TPB: using behavioral intention (BI) and behavioral expectation (BE) as proximal antecedents of behaviors and adding as new predictors two future-oriented emotions (anticipated and anticipatory). Hierarchical regression analyses show that while anticipated emotions improved TPB explanations of BI, anticipatory emotions improved the explanations of BE. The present results show the influence of future emotions in the prediction of behavioral intention and behavioral expectation.The version posted must contain the text: This is the accepted version of the following article: Carrera, P., Caballero, A. & Munoz, D. (2012). Future-oriented emotions in the prediction of binge-drinking intention and expectation: the role of anticipated and anticipatory emotions. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology 53, 273–279, which has been published in final form at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-9450.2012.00948.x/epdf

Implicit Theories About Interrelations of Anger Components in 25 Countries

We were interested in the cross-cultural comparison of implicit theories of the interrelations of eight anger components (antecedents, body sensations, cognitive reactions, verbal expressions, nonverbal expressions, interpersonal responses, and primary and secondary self-control). Self-report scales of each of these components were administered to a total of 5,006 college students in 25 countries. Equivalence of the scales was supported in that scales showed acceptable congruence coefficients in almost all comparisons. A multigroup confirmatory factor model with three latent variables (labeled internal processes, behavioral outcomes, and self-control mechanisms) could well account for the interrelations of the eight observed variables; measurement and structural weights were invariant. Behavioral outcomes and self-control mechanisms were only associated through their common dependence on internal processes. Verbal expressions and cognitive reactions showed the largest cross-cultural differences in means, whereas self-control mechanisms scales showed the smallest differences. Yet, cultural differences between the countries were small. It is concluded that anger, as measured by these scales, shows more pronounced cross-cultural similarities than differences in terms of both interrelations and mean score levels.

Cultural differences in attitudes toward action and inaction: The role of dialecticism.

The current research examined whether nations differ in their attitudes toward action and inaction. It was anticipated that members of dialectical East Asian societies would show a positive association in their attitudes toward action/inaction. However, members of non-dialectical European-American societies were expected to show a negative association in their attitudes toward action/inaction. Young adults in 19 nations completed measures of dialectical thinking and attitudes toward action/inaction. Results from multi-level modeling showed, as predicted, that people from high dialecticism nations reported a more positive association in their attitudes toward action and inaction than people from low dialecticism nations. Furthermore, these findings remained after controlling for cultural differences in individualism-collectivism, neuroticism, gross-domestic product, and response style. Discussion highlights the implications of these findings for action/inaction goals, dialecticism, and culture.