Touch communicates distinct emotions.

The study of emotional signaling has focused almost exclusively on the face and voice. In 2 studies, the authors investigated whether people can identify emotions from the experience of being touched by a stranger on the arm (without seeing the touch). In the 3rd study, they investigated whether observers can identify emotions from watching someone being touched on the arm. Two kinds of evidence suggest that humans can communicate numerous emotions with touch. First, participants in the United States (Study 1) and Spain (Study 2) could decode anger, fear, disgust, love, gratitude, and sympathy via touch at much-better-than-chance levels. Second, fine-grained coding documented specific touch behaviors associated with different emotions. In Study 3, the authors provide evidence that participants can accurately decode distinct emotions by merely watching others communicate via touch. The findings are discussed in terms of their contributions to affective science and the evolution of altruism and cooperation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Actual versus assumed differences in construal: "Naive realism" in intergroup perception and conflict.

We compared partisan group members' construals and beliefs regarding contentious issues, contrasting actual differences in construal with their assumptions about those differences. Study 1 dealt with the abortion debate and Study 2 with the racially charged Howard Beach incident. Although many significant examples of construal differences were found, over estimation of such differences was far more common than under estimation. Misperception about the extremity and consistency of conservatives was particularly pronounced. Partisans in both studies felt that their own views were less driven by political ideology than those of the other side or their own side. In Study 2, nonpartisans similarly overestimated liberal–conservative differences (again, especially for conservatives). This finding suggests the phenomenon is best characterized as a bias not in partisan perceptions but in the way partisans, and partisanship, are perceived. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The regulatory function of self-conscious emotion: Insights from patients with orbitofrontal damage.

Although once considered disruptive, self-conscious emotions are now theorized to be fundamentally involved in the regulation of social behavior. The present study examined the social regulation function of self-conscious emotions by comparing healthy participants with a neuropsychological population--patients with orbitofrontal lesions--characterized by selective regulatory deficits. Orbitofrontal patients and healthy controls participated in a series of tasks designed to assess their social regulation and self-conscious emotions. Another task assessed the ability to infer others' emotional states, an appraisal process involved in self-conscious emotion. Consistent with the theory that self-conscious emotions are important for regulating social behavior, the findings show that deficient behavioral regulation is associated with inappropriate self-conscious emotions that reinforce maladaptive behavior. Additionally, deficient behavioral regulation is associated with impairments in interpreting the self-conscious emotions of others. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Tactile communication, cooperation, and performance: An ethological study of the NBA.

Tactile communication, or physical touch, promotes cooperation between people, communicates distinct emotions, soothes in times of stress, and is used to make inferences of warmth and trust. Based on this conceptual analysis, we predicted that in group competition, physical touch would predict increases in both individual and group performance. In an ethological study, we coded the touch behavior of players from the National Basketball Association (NBA) during the 2008–2009 regular season. Consistent with hypotheses, early season touch predicted greater performance for individuals as well as teams later in the season. Additional analyses confirmed that touch predicted improved performance even after accounting for player status, preseason expectations, and early season performance. Moreover, coded cooperative behaviors between teammates explained the association between touch and team performance. Discussion focused on the contributions touch makes to cooperative groups and the potential implications for other group settings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

New displays and new emotions: A commentary on Rozin and Cohen (2003).

In this article, the authors elaborate on 3 ideas advanced in P. Rozin and A. B. Cohen's (200302341-009) innovative study of facial expression. Taking a cue from their discovery of new expressive behaviors (e.g., the narrowed eyebrows), the authors review recent studies showing that emotions are conveyed in more channels than usually studied, including posture, gaze patterns, voice, and touch. Building on their claim that confusion has a distinct display, the authors review evidence showing distinct displays for 3 self-conscious emotions (embarrassment, shame, and pride), 5 positive emotions (amusement, desire, happiness, love, interest), and sympathy and compassion. Finally, the authors offer a functional definition of emotion to integrate these findings on "new" displays and emotions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Regional brain variations of cytochrome oxidase staining during olfactory learning in the honeybee (Apis mellifera).

Regional brain variations of cytochrome oxidase (CO) staining were analyzed in the honeybee (Apis mellifera) after olfactory conditioning of the proboscis extension reflex. Identification of brain sites where stimuli converge was done by precise image analysis performed in antennal lobes (AL) and mushroom bodies (MB). In Experiment 1, bees received 5 odorant stimulations that induced a transient decrease of CO activity in the lateral part of the AL. In Experiment 2, bees were trained with 5-trial olfactory conditioning. CO activity transiently increased in the lips of the MB calyces. There was also a delayed increase in the lateral part of the AL. An olfactory stimulus presented alone and an odor paired to a sucrose stimulation are treated by different pathways, including both AL and MB. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

When the face reveals what words do not: Facial expressions of emotion, smiling, and the willingness to disclose childhood sexual abuse.

For survivors of childhood sexual abuse (CSA), verbal disclosure is often complex and painful. The authors examined the voluntary disclosure-nondisclosure of CSA in relation to nonverbal expressions of emotion in the face. Consistent with hypotheses derived from recent theorizing about the moral nature of emotion, CSA survivors who did not voluntarily disclose CSA showed greater facial expressions of shame, whereas CSA survivors who voluntarily disclosed CSA expressed greater disgust. Expressions of disgust also signaled sexual abuse accompanied by violence. Consistent with recent theorizing about smiling behavior, CSA nondisclosers made more polite smiles, whereas nonabused participants expressed greater genuine positive emotion. Discussion addressed the implications of these findings for the study of disclosure of traumatic events, facial expression, and the links between morality and emotion. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Resting respiratory sinus arrhythmia is associated with tonic positive emotionality.

Resting respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSAREST) indexes important aspects of individual differences in emotionality. In the present investigation, the authors address whether RSAREST is associated with tonic positive or negative emotionality, and whether RSAREST relates to phasic emotional responding to discrete positive emotion-eliciting stimuli. Across an 8-month, multiassessment study of first-year university students (n = 80), individual differences in RSAREST were associated with positive but not negative tonic emotionality, assessed at the level of personality traits, long-term moods, the disposition toward optimism, and baseline reports of current emotional states. RSAREST was not related to increased positive emotion, or stimulus-specific emotion, in response to compassion-, awe-, or pride-inducing stimuli. These findings suggest that resting RSA indexes aspects of a person's tonic positive emotionality. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sedation with oral hydroxyzine and rectal chloral hydrate in pediatric MRI and CT

AIM: To assess the efficacy and risks of oral hydroxyzine and rectal chloral hydrate to sedate children undergoing CT or MRI. PATIENTS AND METHODS: 110 children underwent 117 studies. Medical history, treatments, doses per kg of sedative drugs, study quality, sedation time and side effects were prospectively recorded. RESULTS: 25 minutes was the mean time necessary to put children to sleep, 59 minutes was the mean time of sedation 96% of studies were interpretable. 2 children showed transient side effects. CONCLUSION: This sedation regimen appeared efficient. However, its limitations and risks have to be known by radiologists. Sedation-related problems also have to be considered by hospital managers when a new CT or MR equipment is being acquired.