Avoidance Behavior Can Function as a Negative Occasion Setter.

The authors put forward the hypothesis that avoidance learning can result from the fact that participants learn (a) that a stimulus is followed by an unconditioned stimulus (US) when the avoidance behavior is not emitted and (b) that the stimulus is not followed by the US when the avoidance behavior is emitted. As such, avoidance behavior is assumed to function as a negative occasion setter. The results of a contingency judgment experiment involving 65 students showed that avoidance behavior indeed has the unique functional properties of a negative occasion setter (resistance to counterconditioning and selective transfer of modulation). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Fabrication of microneedles using two photon polymerization for transdermal delivery of nanomaterials

Microneedle devices for transdermal delivery of nanoscale pharmacologic agents were fabricated out of organically-modified ceramic (Ormocer) materials using two photon polymerization. Out-of-plane hollow microneedle arrays with various aspect ratios were fabricated using this rapid prototyping process. Human epidermal keratinocyte (HEK) viability on Ormocer surfaces fabricated using two photon polymerization was similar to that on control surfaces. Nanoindentation studies were performed to determine hardness and Young's modulus values for Ormocer materials. Microneedies were shown to enable more rapid distribution of the PEG-amine quantum dot solution to the deep epidermis and dermis layers of porcine skin than topical administration. Our results suggest that two photon polymerization may be used to create microneedle arrays for transdermal delivery of nanoscale pharmacologic agents.     

Do overweight youngsters like food more than lean peers? Assessing their implicit attitudes with a personalized Implicit Association Task

It has been theorized that overweight and obesity are related with a heightened (unhealthy) food preference. Until now both self-reports and indirect attitude measures offer little support for this hypothesis. Using a personalized version of the Implicit Association Task [IAT; Greenwald, A. G., McGhee, D. E., & Schwartz, J. L. (1998). Measuring individual differences in implicit cognition: The Implicit Association Test. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 1464–1480], this study investigated (1) whether overweight youngsters (n = 40) implicitly prefer palatable food to an attractive non-food category such as hobbies and (2) whether they implicitly prefer unhealthy palatable food to healthy palatable food, compared to a matched group of lean controls (n = 40). Further, it was examined whether these implicit attitudes correlated with self-reported food and hobby attitudes. The results revealed no effect for food versus hobbies. Both groups implicitly preferred healthy to unhealthy food. Positive correlations between implicit and self-reported attitudes were only found for hobbies. Several interpretations of these findings are discussed.     

Does Imminent Threat Capture and Hold Attention?

According to models of attention and emotion, threat captures and holds attention. In behavioral tasks, robust evidence has been found for attentional holding but not for attentional capture by threat. An important explanation for the absence of attentional capture effects is that the visual stimuli used posed no genuine threat. The present study investigated whether visual cues that signal an aversive white noise can elicit attentional capture and holding effects. Cues presented in an attentional task were simultaneously provided with a threat value through an aversive conditioning procedure. Response latencies showed that threatening cues captured and held attention. These results support recent views on attention to threat, proposing that imminent threat captures attention in everyone. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Allocation of spatial attention to emotional stimuli depends upon arousal and not valence.

Attentional allocation to emotional stimuli is often proposed to be driven by valence and in particular by negativity. However, many negative stimuli are also arousing leaving the question whether valence or arousal accounts for this effect. The authors examined whether the valence or the arousal level of emotional stimuli influences the allocation of spatial attention using a modified spatial cueing task. Participants responded to targets that were preceded by cues consisting of emotional pictures varying on arousal and valence. Response latencies showed that disengagement of spatial attention was slower for stimuli high in arousal than for stimuli low in arousal. The effect was independent of the valence of the pictures and not gender-specific. The findings support the idea that arousal affects the allocation of attention. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Exposure to physical movement in low back pain patients: Restricted effects of generalization.

Whether the effects of exposure to 1 movement generalize to another dissimilar movement was investigated in 37 patients with low back pain (15 men, 22 women). Two movements were executed twice: bending forward while standing and lifting 1 leg while lying down. During each trial, baseline pain, expected pain, and experienced pain were recorded. Similar ratings for perceived harm were obtained. Analyses revealed an initial overprediction of pain, but after exposure the overprediction was readily corrected. This exposure effect did not generalize toward another dissimilar movement. These results were only characteristic for patients with catastrophic thinking about pain. Low pain catastrophizers did not overpredict pain. There were no effects of exposure on perceived harm. Exposure may profitably be conceived of as the learning of exceptions to a general rule. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attentional bias to threat: A perceptual accuracy approach.

To investigate attentional bias to threatening information, the authors propose a new version of the spatial cueing paradigm in which the focus is on perceptual accuracy instead of response speed. In two experiments, healthy volunteers made unspeeded discriminations between three visual targets presented left or right. Each target was preceded by a visual cue (colored rectangle) at either the same (valid) or opposite (invalid) location. By means of differential classical conditioning with aversive white noise, a threat cue and a control cue were created. Analyses of error rates showed that cueing effects (lower proportion of errors in valid trials relative to invalid trials) were more pronounced in threat trials than in neutral trials. This threat-related bias was particularly because of threat cues reducing accuracy in invalid trials, indicating difficulty disengaging attention from threatening information. Engagement of attention was not affected by threat, as threat cues did not facilitate the processing of targets in valid trials. The findings are discussed in light of the strengths and limitations of spatial cueing tasks. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Pain demands attention: A cognitive–affective model of the interruptive function of pain.

Pain interrupts and demands attention. The authors review evidence for how and why this interruption of attention is achieved. The interruptive function of pain depends on the relationship between pain-related characteristics (e.g., the threat value of pain) and the characteristics of the environmental demands (e.g., emotional arousal). A model of the interruptive function of pain is developed that holds that pain is selected for action from within complex affective and motivational environments to urge escape. The implications of this model for research and therapy are outlined with an emphasis on the redefinition of chronic pain as chronic interruption. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)