Learned Helplessness, Depression, and Physiological Responding

The present study was designed to assess whether the physiological correlates of learned helplessness are similar to the physiological response patterns found in naturally occurring depression. One group of subjects was pretreated with a series of inescapable aversive tones, and the degree of impairment measured on a subsequent solvable anagram solution task. These subjects were compared to a group pretreated with escapable aversive tones, and a control group which passively listened to the tones without attempting to escape them. Half of the subjects in each group were depressed as measured on the Beck Depression Inventory; the other half were nondepressed. Results indicated that depressed-control group subjects demonstrated impaired performance at solving anagrams relative to nondepressed-control group subjects. Inescapable noise produced parallel deficits in nondepressed subjects, thus demonstrating a similarity of impairment in naturally occurring depression and laboratory-induced learned helplessness. More importantly, findings indicated that learned helplessness was associated with less phasic skin conductance responding, while depression was associated with greater responding to uncontrollable aversive events. These data suggest that there may be different underlying deficits involved in depression and learned helplessness.     

Sudden Swimming Deaths: Cardiac Function, Experimental Anoxia, and Learned Helplessness

Richter's hypothesized mechanism of sudden swimming deaths—parasympathetic overstimulation mediated by helplessness—is examined in domestic rats. EKG recordings of sudden swimming deaths (SSD) indicated a consistent pattern of cardiac function including severe bradycardias and arrhythmias followed by atrioventricular block leading ultimately to asystole. Rats which survived the swimming stress showed a transient bradycardia followed by a return to baseline HR levels. Swimming behavior and cardiac function were shown to be closely related. Anoxia is suggested as the mechanism of death and data indicating the involvement of the diving reflex in rats are presented. Helplessness induced by pretreatment with inescapable shock did not affect SSD. These data are consistent with a parasympathetic overstimulation hypothesis but disconfirm mediation by helplessness. The implications of these results for the generality of learned helplessness and for the study of psychosocial factors in SSD are discussed.     

Different types of avoidance behavior in rats produce dissociable post-training changes in sleep

Avoidance learning affects post-training sleep, and post-training sleep deprivation impairs performance. However, not all rats learn to make avoidance responses, and some rats fail to escape; a definitive behavior of learned helplessness, a model of depression. This study investigated the changes in sleep associated with different behaviors adopted following avoidance training. Rats (n = 53) were trained for 100 trials over 2 days (50 trials/day), followed by 23-24 h of post-training polysomnography, then re-tested (25 trials). At re-test, rats were categorized into: 1) Active Avoiders (AA; n = 22), 2), Non-learning (NL; n = 21), or 3) Escape Failures (EF; n = 10). AA rats increased avoidances over days, whereas the NL and EF groups did not. EF rats increased escape failures over days, whereas the NL and AA rats did not. EF rats had increased rapid eye movement (REM) sleep in the first 4 h on training day 1. They also had increased non-REM sleep in the first 4 h and last 4 h on both training days. AA rats had increased REM sleep 13-20 h post-training. The type of behavioral strategy adopted throughout training is associated with a unique pattern of changes in post-training sleep. Training-dependent changes in post-acquisition sleep may reflect distinct processes involved in the consolidation of these different memory traces.     

Novelty-evoked activity in open field predicts susceptibility to helpless behavior

Learned helplessness in animals has been used to model disorders such as depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but there is a lack of knowledge concerning which individual behavioral characteristics at baseline can predict helpless behavior after exposure to inescapable stress. The first aim of this study was to determine behavioral predictors of helplessness using the novel and familiar open-field tests, sucrose consumption, and passive harm-avoidance tasks before learned helplessness training and testing. Individual differences in physiologic responses to restraint stress were also assessed. A cluster analysis of escape latencies from helplessness testing supported the division of the sample population of Holtzman rats into approximately 50% helpless and 50% non-helpless. Linear regression analyses further revealed that increased reactivity to the novel environment, but not general activity or habituation, predicted susceptibility to learned helplessness. During restraint stress there were no mean differences in heart rate, heart rate variability, and plasma corticosterone between helpless and non-helpless rats; however, a lower heart rate during stress was associated with higher activity levels during exploration. Our most important finding was that by using an innocuous screening tool such as the novel and familiar open-field tests, it was possible to identify subjects that were susceptible to learned helplessness.     

噪声敏感性量表的修订及信效度

目的:对Weinstein噪声敏感性(WNS)量表进行中文版修订和信效度检验。方法:采用翻译后量表对大学生进行施测,238名大学生完成了初测,267名大学生完成了再测。结果:1探索性因素分析表明,中文版WNS量表具有一个维度,包括15个题项,一个主因素可解释总变异的32.77%;验证性因素表明,单因素模型对数据拟合程度良好,(2/df=1.955,RMSEA=0.065,GFI=0.911,NFI=0.836,CFI=0.911,IFI=0.913,TLI=0.896);中文版WNS量表相容效度良好,WNS总分和噪声烦躁得分之间显著正相关(r=0.499,P<0.01);2中文版WNS量表内部一致性信度为0.866,分半信度为0.871,重测信度为0.743(P<0.01);3噪声敏感性不存在性别差异和年级差异。结论:中文版WNS量表具有良好的信效度,可以作为噪声敏感性测量的工具。     

Effect of Noise on Sleep and Autonomic Activity in Children according to Source

BackgroundNoise has been a major issue in children due to its effect on emotional symptoms and sleep problems. The present study investigated the effect of noise on sleep and autonomic activity in children according to three variables, namely, road traffic noise, aircraft noise, and noise sensitivity (NS).MethodsThe study is epidemiological in nature. A total of 474 subjects of four elementary schools were evaluated in conjunction with the 2014 noise map data gathered from two metropolitan regions, Seoul and Ulsan, in South Korea. Each subject completed the children''s sleep habits questionnaire, and heart rate variability (HRV) was recorded. Analysis of covariance was performed using monthly income as a covariate.ResultsAircraft noise was associated with night waking (P = 0.047), whereas no significant association was observed between sleep and road traffic noise. After stratifying by NS, no significant results were obtained for road traffic noise. However, high levels of aircraft noise in the high-NS group were associated with high degrees of bedtime resistance (P = 0.049). In terms of HRV, no significant difference was observed in the results between groups.ConclusionRoad traffic noise did not significantly alter sleep or autonomic activity in children, whereas aircraft noise exerted a negative effect on sleep. The findings suggest that the impact of noise on sleep in children varies depending on noise sources.     

Exposure to uncontrollable stress and the postimperative negative variation (PINV): prior control matters

The main goal of this study was to assess cortical functioning as indexed by the postimperative negative variation (PINV) induced by uncontrollable stress. Sixty-six persons were randomly assigned to three groups who underwent different sequences of stressor controllability. Within an S1-S2 paradigm, one group had initial control over aversive stimulation followed by loss of control and restitution of control. The other groups initially experienced either uncontrollability or controllability followed by a condition of control. Uncontrollable stress significantly enhanced PINV magnitudes independent of preceding control. However, control over aversive stimulation prior to loss of control normalized PINVs during restitution of control. Persons not experiencing prior control showed enhanced PINVs, longer reaction times, and more errors during restitution of control. We conclude that cortical activation changes are linked to the evaluation of instrumental contingencies. However, the exact determination of brain regions involved in the processing of uncontrollable stress needs further investigation.     

积极心理学在临床实践中的运用

目的 旨在对积极心理学在临床实践中的运用进行概要的介绍与评述.方法 通过对积极心理学文献资料的回顾,分析了积极心理学在幸福的概念构成、测量评估及积极干预方面的主张.结果 幸福是积极心理学的研究主题,积极心理学将幸福的概念划分为快乐、投入、意义3个层次,并且分别都已有实用有效的评估工具可以用于临床.越来越多的证据表明了积极干预在建构快乐、投入与意义方面的功效,积极干预将成为预防和治疗心理疾病有效的补充.结论 积极心理学将有助于拓宽临床心理学的视野,打破仅仅关注于痛苦和如何减轻痛苦的局限.     

Noise reduction in biological step signals: application to saccadic EOG

A weighted filter for noise reduction in nonrecurrent step signals where adaptive filtering cannot be applied is described. An optimal correction of a conventional finite impulse response (FIR) filter is achieved by using a priori knowledge of noise variance and a continuous estimation of the error signal's power. The weighted filter provides an optimal compromise between noise filtering and distortionless tracking. The prior knowledge required is that of the noise power and the lowest frequency in the noise spectrum. Application of the weighted filter to the saccadic electro-oculogram (EOG) results in better estimations of saccade duration and velocity.