Rafaela Larsen Ribeiro

Comparison of Brazilian and American norms for the International Affective Picture System (IAPS)

OBJECTIVE The present article compares Brazilian and American norms for the International Affective Picture System (IAPS), a set of normative emotional photographic slides for experimental investigations. METHODS Subjects were 1,062 Brazilian university students (364 men and 698 women) who rated 707 pictures from the IAPS in terms of pleasure, arousal, and dominance following the methodology of the original normative study in the US, enabling direct comparison of data from the two samples through Pearson product moment correlation and Student t test. RESULTS All correlations were highly significant with the highest level for the pleasure dimension, followed by dominance and arousal. However, contrary to the American normative values, our data showed that Brazilian subjects generally assigned higher arousal ratings overall. CONCLUSION Our findings confirm that this set of stimuli can be used in Brazil as an affective rating tool due to the high correlations found across the two populations, despite differences on the arousal dimension, which are discussed in detail.

IAPS includes photographs that elicit low-arousal physiological responses in healthy volunteers.

This article describes pleasant IAPS pictures that elicit low-arousal rather than the high-arousal physiological responses previously reported in the literature. Thirty-two International Affective Picture System (IAPS) photographs were grouped into 4 sets of 8 photographs: highly pleasant-arousing (sexual content and adventures), highly pleasant-relaxing pictures (landscapes, flowers or babies), neutral on both valence/arousal, and highly unpleasant-arousing ones. These stimuli were shown to 24 healthy Brazilian University students (12 males) who had their physiological responses recorded [corrugator and zygomatic facial electromyography activity, skin conductance, heart rate, and peripheral temperature]. Zygomatic EMG differentiated low-arousal pleasant photographs from high-arousal pleasant stimuli of the same valence.

Normas brasileiras para o International Affective Picture System (IAPS): comunicação breve

Este articulo presenta valores normativos brasilenos para el International Affective System (IAPS), un conjunto de estimulos con potencial de poner al descubierto emociones, que es ampliamente utilizado en la investigacion experimental. Ademas, se presentan los resultados de la comparacion entre las respuestas de hombres y mujeres brasilenos. Un total de 1062 universitarios brasilenos (364 hombres y 698 mujeres) han sido incluidos y evaluaron las 707 diapositivas del IAPS en los niveles placer, alerta y dominancia, utilizando el mismo procedimiento del estudio normativo original realizado por Lang et al. en Estados Unidos, en 1999.

Gravidade psicopatológica em mulheres vítimas de violência doméstica

OBJECTIVE: To assess the presence of psychopathological symptoms in women victims of domestic violence who seek help at police units offering womens protective services. METHODS: Women aged between 20 and 50 years who sought help at womens protective services complaining of domestic violence were assessed. During the interview, all participants were submitted to assessment using a Social Indicator Report and filled in the following self-report instruments: Beck Depression Inventory, Beck Anxiety Inventory, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Checklist - Civilian Version, and the Peritraumatic Dissociative Experiences Questionnaire (all in Brazilian Portuguese). Cut-off points were established based on instrument validation studies and were used to identify subjects with a high probability of having major depressive disorder, anxiety disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, or high/low peritraumatic dissociation. RESULTS: Seventeen women with a mean age of 34.7±7.7 years were assessed. Average duration of exposure to domestic violence was 9.1±8.7 years. Of the total sample, 53% were exposed to excessive violence and 84% received death threats from their partners; 71% of the partners were drug abusers. In addition, 53% of the women reported exposure to domestic violence during childhood. From the total sample, 89% presented a high probability of having major depressive disorder, 94% anxiety disorder, 76% post-traumatic stress disorder, and 88% showed high scores of peritraumatic dissociative experiences. CONCLUSION: Victims of violence seeking help at womens protective services showed a high probability of having psychiatric morbidities cognitive dysfunction that prevent these women from interrupting exposure to this specific type of violence.

Um estudo dos relatos afetivos subjetivos a estímulos do International Affective Picture System em uma amostra geriátrica brasileira

INTRODUCTION: The scientific literature points to a possible bias in the form perception and emotional memory are constructed when elderly and young individuals are compared. However, this possibility is underexplored. This paper presents the results obtained from a pilot study based on an elderly emotional subjective report after evaluation using the International Affective Picture System images and Self Assessment Manikin scale scores. METHOD: Forty-eight clinically and cognitively capable elderly volunteer subjects from the Third Age Open University evaluated 71 randomly chosen images of the International Affective Picture System in terms of arousal and affective valence. RESULTS: For the elderly, the greater the arousal, the smaller the pleasure resulting in a strong negative correlation (r = 0.93) observed between arousal and negative valence. A comparison with another similar normative experiment performed in young Brazilian and American individuals showed a possible cultural difference in subjective reports of emotional stimuli. CONCLUSIONS: This investigation indicates that there may be a difference between elderly and young individuals when affective reports of arousal are studied. A normalization of the International Affective Picture System for the elderly in a larger sample, representative of the population, might be useful to address this issue.

Brazilian norms for the International Affective Picture System (IAPS): brief report

Este articulo presenta valores normativos brasilenos para el International Affective System (IAPS), un conjunto de estimulos con potencial de poner al descubierto emociones, que es ampliamente utilizado en la investigacion experimental. Ademas, se presentan los resultados de la comparacion entre las respuestas de hombres y mujeres brasilenos. Un total de 1062 universitarios brasilenos (364 hombres y 698 mujeres) han sido incluidos y evaluaron las 707 diapositivas del IAPS en los niveles placer, alerta y dominancia, utilizando el mismo procedimiento del estudio normativo original realizado por Lang et al. en Estados Unidos, en 1999.

Effects of Sulpiride on True and False Memories of Thematically Related Pictures and Associated Words in Healthy Volunteers

Episodic memory, working memory, emotional memory, and attention are subject to dopaminergic modulation. However, the potential role of dopamine on the generation of false memories is unknown. This study defined the role of the dopamine D2 receptor on true and false recognition memories. Twenty-four young, healthy volunteers ingested a single dose of placebo or 400 mg oral sulpiride, a dopamine D2-receptor antagonist, just before starting the recognition memory task in a randomized, double-blind, and placebo-controlled trial. The sulpiride group presented more false recognitions during visual and verbal processing than the placebo group, although both groups had the same indices of true memory. These findings demonstrate that dopamine D2 receptors blockade in healthy volunteers can specifically increase the rate of false recognitions. The findings fit well the two-process view of causes of false memories, the activation/monitoring failures model.

Long-term follow-up of attentional and executive functions of PTSD patients.

Scientific evidence showed significant correlations between symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and deficits in cognitive processing. Understanding how these deficits correlate with symptoms of PTSD in prospective studies can provide arguments to improve explanatory models of pathological mechanisms of this disorder. Our objective was to prospectively evaluate adult victims of urban violence suffering from PTSD, considering its impact on attention, executive functions, and the factors associated with these changes. We reapplied a battery of neuropsychological tests on a cohort of 43 patients with PTSD due to urban violence. We also reapplied the Clinician Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS) and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-I) scales. We administered a battery of neuropsychological tests: Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS-III) Digit Span, Wechsler’s Memory Scale—Revised (WMS-III), Spatial Span, Stroop, and Wisconsin Card Sort Test (WCST). Patients showed a clinical improvement evidenced by a statistically significant decrease in CAPS and BDI scores at follow-up. Regarding neuropsychological testing, significant differences were found at follow ups such as a reduced number of perseverative errors in WCST (p = .004) and an increase in the span of the backward digit subtest (p = .007). These changes are directly associated with education level (p = .030), and PTSD symptoms (p = .005). Patients on average showed an improvement in PTSD and depression symptoms at reevaluation. The data showed an improvement in cognitive performance of executive functions such as working memory and cognitive flexibility over the years. These enhancements are significant for patients with more years of study, and for those that have recovered clinically, showing fewer symptoms of depression PTSD.

Haloperidol increases false recognition memory of thematically related pictures in healthy volunteers: Haloperidol and false recognition

Dopamine can modulate long‐term episodic memory. Its potential role on the generation of false memories, however, is less well known. In a randomized, double‐blind, placebo‐controlled experiment, 24 young healthy volunteers ingested a 4‐mg oral dose of haloperidol, a dopamine D2‐receptor antagonist, or placebo, before taking part in a recognition memory task. Haloperidol was active during both study and test phases of the experiment. Participants in the haloperidol group produced more false recognition responses than those in the placebo group, despite similar levels of correct recognition. These findings show that dopamine blockade in healthy volunteers can specifically increase false recognition memory.

Neurological and Cognitive Changes Resulting from Chronic Drug Use

For some people, drug use in adolescence is part of the normal process of searching for novel experiences, selfness and maturity that characterize this phase of life. It is also known that most young people who experiment with drugs do not become dependent on them. However, dependence is only one of the risks that young people face when using these substances. There are other extremely serious risks, such as automobile accidents, trauma, drowning, unsafe sexual practices, exposure to sexually transmitted diseases, unwanted pregnancy, and several other risk behaviors, associated with adolescent drug use. Moreover, because transformation and maturation of the central nervous system (CNS) occurs during adolescence, the use of drugs during this period may considerably impair such development, causing damage to the intellectual, emotional and social potential of the youth. This issue must be handled with great care to avoid exaggeration or “demonization” of simple experimentation while at the same time maintaining awareness of the possibility of abuse or dependence. Thus, the family and school are important institutions that should be alert during the development of young people, providing guidance, support and robust emotional and intellectual references. When in doubt or when there is evidence of any behavior that might indicate psychiatric disorders and/or drug use, an evaluation by a psychiatrist becomes necessary.