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Buisman RSM, Pittner K, Compier-de Block LHCG, van den Berg LJM, Bakermans-Kranenburg MJ, Alink LRA. The past is present: The role of maltreatment history in perceptual, behavioral and autonomic responses to infant emotional signals. CHILD ABUSE & NEGLECT 2018; 77:23-34. [PMID: 29294414 DOI: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2017.12.020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/18/2017] [Revised: 12/14/2017] [Accepted: 12/20/2017] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
In the current study associations between parents' experiences of childhood maltreatment and their perceptual, behavioral and autonomic responses to infant emotional signals were examined in a sample of 160 parents. Experienced maltreatment (both physical and emotional abuse and neglect) was reported by the participants and, in approximately half of the cases, also by their parents. During a standardized infant vocalization paradigm, participants were asked to squeeze a handgrip dynamometer at maximal and at half strength while listening to infant crying and laughter sounds and to rate their perception of the sounds. In addition, their heart rate (HR), pre-ejection period (PEP), and vagal tone (RSA) were measured as indicators of underlying sympathetic and parasympathetic reactivity. Results indicated that participants did not differ in their perceptions of the infant vocalizations signals according to their maltreatment experiences. However, maltreatment experiences were associated with the modulation of behavioral responses. Experiences of neglect during childhood were related to more handgrip force during infant crying and to less handgrip force during infant laughter. Moreover, a history of neglect was associated with a higher HR and a shorter PEP during the entire infant vocalization paradigm, which may indicate chronic cardiovascular arousal. The findings imply that a history of childhood neglect negatively influences parents' capacities to regulate their emotions and behavior, which would be problematic when reacting to children's emotional expressions.
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O'Nions E, Lima CF, Scott SK, Roberts R, McCrory EJ, Viding E. Reduced Laughter Contagion in Boys at Risk for Psychopathy. Curr Biol 2017; 27:3049-3055.e4. [PMID: 28966092 PMCID: PMC5640510 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2017.08.062] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/28/2017] [Revised: 07/21/2017] [Accepted: 08/24/2017] [Indexed: 01/02/2023]
Abstract
Humans are intrinsically social animals, forming enduring affiliative bonds [1]. However, a striking minority with psychopathic traits, who present with violent and antisocial behaviors, tend to value other people only insofar as they contribute to their own advancement [2, 3]. Extant research has addressed the neurocognitive processes associated with aggression in such individuals, but we know remarkably little about processes underlying their atypical social affiliation. This is surprising, given the importance of affiliation and bonding in promoting social order and reducing aggression [4, 5]. Human laughter engages brain areas that facilitate social reciprocity and emotional resonance, consistent with its established role in promoting affiliation and social cohesion [6, 7, 8]. We show that, compared with typically developing boys, those at risk for antisocial behavior in general (irrespective of their risk of psychopathy) display reduced neural response to laughter in the supplementary motor area, a premotor region thought to facilitate motor readiness to join in during social behavior [9, 10, 11]. Those at highest risk for developing psychopathy additionally show reduced neural responses to laughter in the anterior insula. This region is implicated in auditory-motor processing and in linking action tendencies with emotional experience and subjective feelings [10, 12, 13]. Furthermore, this same group reports reduced desire to join in with the laughter of others—a behavioral profile in part accounted for by the attenuated anterior insula response. These findings suggest that atypical processing of laughter could represent a novel mechanism that impoverishes social relationships and increases risk for psychopathy and antisocial behavior. Psychopathic traits are associated with a lack of enduring affiliative bonds Listening to human laughter engages brain areas that facilitate emotional resonance Boys at risk of psychopathy have reduced neural/behavioral responses to laughter This could reflect a mechanism underpinning reduced social connectedness
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Wood A, Martin J, Niedenthal P. Towards a social functional account of laughter: Acoustic features convey reward, affiliation, and dominance. PLoS One 2017; 12:e0183811. [PMID: 28850589 PMCID: PMC5574543 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0183811] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/09/2017] [Accepted: 08/13/2017] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Recent work has identified the physical features of smiles that accomplish three tasks fundamental to human social living: rewarding behavior, establishing and managing affiliative bonds, and negotiating social status. The current work extends the social functional account to laughter. Participants (N = 762) rated the degree to which reward, affiliation, or dominance (between-subjects) was conveyed by 400 laughter samples acquired from a commercial sound effects website. Inclusion of a fourth rating dimension, spontaneity, allowed us to situate the current approach in the context of existing laughter research, which emphasizes the distinction between spontaneous and volitional laughter. We used 11 acoustic properties extracted from the laugh samples to predict participants’ ratings. Actor sex moderated, and sometimes even reversed, the relation between acoustics and participants’ judgments. Spontaneous laughter appears to serve the reward function in the current framework, as similar acoustic properties guided perceiver judgments of spontaneity and reward: reduced voicing and increased pitch, increased duration for female actors, and increased pitch slope, center of gravity, first formant, and noisiness for male actors. Affiliation ratings diverged from reward in their sex-dependent relationship to intensity and, for females, reduced pitch range and raised second formant. Dominance displayed the most distinct pattern of acoustic predictors, including increased pitch range, reduced second formant in females, and decreased pitch variability in males. We relate the current findings to existing findings on laughter and human and non-human vocalizations, concluding laughter can signal much more that felt or faked amusement.
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Abo MM, Slater MD, Jain P. Using Health Conditions for Laughs and Health Policy Support: The Case of Food Allergies. HEALTH COMMUNICATION 2017; 32:803-811. [PMID: 27436408 DOI: 10.1080/10410236.2016.1172292] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/06/2023]
Abstract
Health conditions are sometimes included in entertainment media comedies as a context for and as a source of humor. Food allergies are a typical case in point: They are potentially life-threatening yet may be used in humorous contexts. We conducted a content analysis of food allergies in entertainment media and tested the effects of humorous portrayals from an exemplar entertainment program. The content analysis confirmed that when food allergies were portrayed in television and the movies, it was most frequently in a humorous context and often contained inaccurate information. A follow-up experiment showed viewing a humorous portrayal of food allergies had an indirect negative effect on related health policy support via decreased perceived seriousness of food allergies. Inclusion of an educational video eliminated this effect on reduced policy support, with cognitive dissonance as a mediator. Findings support the hypothesis that portraying a health condition in a humorous context may reduce perceptions of seriousness and willingness to support public health policies to address risks associated with the condition, supporting and extending prior research findings.
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31
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Beach WA, Prickett E. Laughter, Humor, and Cancer: Delicate Moments and Poignant Interactional Circumstances. HEALTH COMMUNICATION 2017; 32:791-802. [PMID: 27420294 DOI: 10.1080/10410236.2016.1172291] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/06/2023]
Abstract
Conversation analysis is employed to examine transcribed excerpts drawn from a subsample of 75 naturally occurring and video recorded interviews between cancer patients and 30 doctors. Close examination is provided of how cancer patients initiate, and doctors respond, to laughter and humor during oncology interviews. Interactions demonstrate that communication about the disease "cancer" shares qualities similar to other medical areas (e.g., primary care): the tendency for patients to initiate laughter or humor to address troubling and challenging circumstances; and that during moments when patients address personal matters, doctors are not invited and do not reciprocate with shared laughter and humor. Prominent in talk about cancer are various precarious circumstances, awkward and delicate moments mirroring the lived experiences of cancer patients (e.g., when patients attempt to minimize fears, justify that they are well when threatened with sickness, claim normality in the midst of chronic conditions, and take stances that weight loss and gain are not problematic). These examples provide a compelling case that routine cancer care involves many poignant situations managed through laughter and humor. Implications are raised for how quality care might be improved through grounded understandings of laughter, humor, and cancer.
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32
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Bown A. Anxious laughter: Mauron's Renversement and Gogol's Overcoat. Am J Psychoanal 2017; 77:163-176. [PMID: 28473701 DOI: 10.1057/s11231-017-9085-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
Inside and outside of psychoanalysis, laughter has often been thought of as relating to anxiety, with the usual line being that laughter can be a response to anxiety or a way of dealing with it. This article argues that laughter cannot be said to eradicate or 'deal with' anxiety and that laughter is always unsettling precisely because it contains anxiety and indicates its continuing threat. The article discusses Freud and Lacan on anxiety, as well as Charles Mauron, an understudied writer whose Psychocritique du Genre Comique was the only sustained study of psychoanalysis and comedy until very recently. I argue here that Mauron's idea of renversement holds a key to understanding the relationship between laughter and anxiety. Rather than using a collection of isolated examples to illustrate individual points, in the second half of the article I provide a more sustained discussion of these ideas in relation to Nicolai Gogol's short story "The Overcoat."
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33
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[Not Available]. KINDERKRANKENSCHWESTER : ORGAN DER SEKTION KINDERKRANKENPFLEGE 2017; 36:188. [PMID: 30513181] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
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34
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Fernandes F. [Not Available]. KINDERKRANKENSCHWESTER : ORGAN DER SEKTION KINDERKRANKENPFLEGE 2017; 36:160-167. [PMID: 30513174] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
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35
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von Hirschhausen E. [Not Available]. KINDERKRANKENSCHWESTER : ORGAN DER SEKTION KINDERKRANKENPFLEGE 2017; 36:168-171. [PMID: 30513175] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
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36
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Lujan HL, DiCarlo SE. Humor promotes learning! ADVANCES IN PHYSIOLOGY EDUCATION 2016; 40:433-434. [PMID: 27697955 DOI: 10.1152/advan.00123.2016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/02/2016] [Accepted: 08/29/2016] [Indexed: 06/06/2023]
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37
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Day-Calder M. Student life - When laughter is the best medicine - and when it is not. Nurs Stand 2016; 31:35. [PMID: 27682562 DOI: 10.7748/ns.31.5.35.s37] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/06/2023]
Abstract
As you progress through your placements, you will witness the extremes of the human condition.
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38
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Helt MS, Fein DA. Facial Feedback and Social Input: Effects on Laughter and Enjoyment in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders. J Autism Dev Disord 2016; 46:83-94. [PMID: 26254892 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-015-2545-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
Both social input and facial feedback appear to be processed differently by individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We tested the effects of both of these types of input on laughter in children with ASD. Sensitivity to facial feedback was tested in 43 children with ASD, aged 8-14 years, and 43 typically developing children matched for mental age (6-14), in order to examine whether children with ASD use bodily feedback as an implicit source of information. Specifically, children were asked to view cartoons as they normally would (control condition), and while holding a pencil in their mouth forcing their smiling muscles into activation (feedback condition) while rating their enjoyment of the cartoons. The authors also explored the effects of social input in children with ASD by investigating whether the presence of a caregiver or friend (companion condition), or the presence of a laugh track superimposed upon the cartoon (laugh track condition) increased the children's self-rated enjoyment of cartoons or the amount of positive affect they displayed. Results showed that the group with ASD was less affected by all three experimental conditions, but also that group differences seemed to have been driven by one specific symptom of ASD: restricted range of affect. The strong relationship between restricted affect and insensitivity to facial feedback found in this study sheds light on the implications of restricted affect for social development in ASD.
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39
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Nabi RL. Laughing in the Face of Fear (of Disease Detection): Using Humor to Promote Cancer Self-Examination Behavior. HEALTH COMMUNICATION 2016; 31:873-883. [PMID: 26652312 DOI: 10.1080/10410236.2014.1000479] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/05/2023]
Abstract
This research examines the possible benefit of using humor to reduce anxiety associated with performing cancer self-examination behaviors. In Study 1, 187 undergraduates read a humorous public service announcement (PSA) script promoting either breast or testicular self-exams. Results suggest that perception of humor reduced anxiety about self-exams, which, in turn, related to more positive self-exam attitudes. Simultaneously, humor perception associated with greater message processing motivation, which, in turn, associated with more supportive self-exam attitudes. Self-exam attitudes also positively associated with self-exam intentions. These results were largely replicated in Study 2. Further, self-exam intentions predicted self-exam behavior 1 week later. However, consistent with past research, the humorous and serious messages did not generate differences in subsequent self-exam behavior, though the intention-behavior relationship was stronger and significant for those exposed to the humorous versus the serious messages. In light of these findings, and given that humor has the advantage of attracting and holding attention in real message environments, the use of carefully constructed humor appeals may be a viable message strategy to promote health detection behaviors.
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40
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Tener D, Ofir S, Lev-Wiesel R, Franco NL, On A. Seriously clowning: Medical clowning interaction with children undergoing invasive examinations in hospitals. SOCIAL WORK IN HEALTH CARE 2016; 55:296-313. [PMID: 27123686 DOI: 10.1080/00981389.2016.1141826] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/05/2023]
Abstract
This qualitative study examined the subjective experience of children undergoing an invasive examination in the hospital when accompanied by a medical clown. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine such children and nine of their accompanying parents. The children were patients in two outpatient departments (Pediatric Gastroenterology and a Center for the Sexually Abused) in a hospital in Israel. Interviews were coded thematically using an Atlas.ti software program. Analysis of the interviews indicated that the intervention of the clown positively changed the children's perceptions of the hospital, of experiencing the examination, and of their life narrative. Medical clowns thus appear to be a central, meaningful, and therapeutic source for children undergoing invasive examinations in hospital, as well as for their parents. Therefore, it may be advisable to incorporate medical clowns as an integral part of medical teams performing invasive procedures and to include the clowns in all stages of the hospital visit.
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Hügli A. [To laugh]. REVUE MEDICALE SUISSE 2016; 12:107. [PMID: 26946717] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/05/2023]
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42
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Haase CM, Beermann U, Saslow LR, Shiota MN, Saturn SR, Lwi SJ, Casey JJ, Nguyen NK, Whalen PK, Keltner DJ, Levenson RW. Short alleles, bigger smiles? The effect of 5-HTTLPR on positive emotional expressions. Emotion 2015; 15:438-48. [PMID: 26029940 PMCID: PMC4861141 DOI: 10.1037/emo0000074] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
The present research examined the effect of the 5-HTTLPR polymorphism in the serotonin transporter gene on objectively coded positive emotional expressions (i.e., laughing and smiling behavior objectively coded using the Facial Action Coding System). Three studies with independent samples of participants were conducted. Study 1 examined young adults watching still cartoons. Study 2 examined young, middle-aged, and older adults watching a thematically ambiguous yet subtly amusing film clip. Study 3 examined middle-aged and older spouses discussing an area of marital conflict (that typically produces both positive and negative emotion). Aggregating data across studies, results showed that the short allele of 5-HTTLPR predicted heightened positive emotional expressions. Results remained stable when controlling for age, gender, ethnicity, and depressive symptoms. These findings are consistent with the notion that the short allele of 5-HTTLPR functions as an emotion amplifier, which may confer heightened susceptibility to environmental conditions.
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43
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McCartney M. Margaret McCartney: Medicine is a bit of a giggle. BMJ 2015; 350:h3378. [PMID: 26101212 DOI: 10.1136/bmj.h3378] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
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44
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Compier-de Block LHCG, Alink LRA, Reijman S, Werner CD, Maras A, Rijnberk C, van IJzendoorn MH, Bakermans-Kranenburg MJ. Handgrip force of maltreating mothers in reaction to infant signals. CHILD ABUSE & NEGLECT 2015; 40:124-31. [PMID: 24717144 DOI: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2014.03.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/15/2013] [Revised: 02/25/2014] [Accepted: 03/15/2014] [Indexed: 05/26/2023]
Abstract
Handgrip force responses to infant signals were examined in a sample of 43 maltreating and 40 non-maltreating mothers. During a standardized handgrip paradigm, mothers were asked to squeeze a handgrip dynamometer at maximal and at half of their maximal handgrip strength while listening to infant crying and laughter sounds. Maltreating mothers used excessive force more often while listening to infant crying and laughter than non-maltreating mothers. Of the maltreating mothers, only neglectful mothers (n=20) tended to use excessive force more often during crying than non-maltreating mothers. Participants did not rate the sounds differently, indicating that maltreating mothers cannot be differentiated from non-maltreating mothers based on their perception of infant signals, but show different behavioral responses to the signals. Results imply that, in response to infant signals (i.e., crying or laughing), maltreating mothers may be insufficiently able to regulate the exertion of physical force.
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45
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Camenzind M. [Small gifts]. KRANKENPFLEGE. SOINS INFIRMIERS 2015; 108:1. [PMID: 25720216] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/04/2023]
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46
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Camenzind M. [Remedies without risks and side effects]. KRANKENPFLEGE. SOINS INFIRMIERS 2015; 108:8-80. [PMID: 25720217] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/04/2023]
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47
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Craun SW, Bourke ML. Is Laughing at the Expense of Victims and Offenders a Red Flag? Humor and Secondary Traumatic Stress. JOURNAL OF CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE 2015; 24:592-602. [PMID: 26301442 DOI: 10.1080/10538712.2015.1042187] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/04/2023]
Abstract
Those who work with human trauma often use humor to handle job stressors. Research has demonstrated that lighthearted humor is related to lower secondary traumatic stress scores, while gallows humor has the inverse relationship. This work explores how three types of humor relate to secondary traumatic stress: (a) humor at the expense of victims, (b) humor at the expense of offenders, and (c) humor containing sexual innuendo. Internet crimes against children taskforce personnel completed questionnaires about secondary traumatic stress and coping techniques. Humor at the expense of victims was rarely used, but when it was, it was indicative of higher secondary traumatic stress. There were no relationships between secondary traumatic stress and the use of humor at the expense of offenders or humor containing sexual innuendo.
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Gallup GG, Ampel BC, Wedberg N, Pogosjan A. Do orgasms give women feedback about mate choice? EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY 2014; 12:958-78. [PMID: 25376054 PMCID: PMC10429993] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/18/2014] [Accepted: 09/15/2014] [Indexed: 06/04/2023] Open
Abstract
The current study represents a preliminary investigation of the extent to which female orgasm functions to promote good mate choices. Based on a survey of heterosexual female college students in committed relationships, how often women experienced orgasm as a result of sexual intercourse was related to their partner's family income, his self-confidence, and how attractive he was. Orgasm intensity was also related to how attracted they were to their partners, how many times they had sex per week, and ratings of sexual satisfaction. Those with partners who their friends rated as more attractive also tended to have more intense orgasms. Orgasm frequency was highly correlated (r = .82) with orgasm intensity, and orgasm intensity was a marginally better predictor of sexual satisfaction than orgasm frequency. Sexual satisfaction was related to how physically attracted women were to their partner and the breadth of his shoulders. Women who began having sexual intercourse at earlier ages had more sex partners, experienced more orgasms, and were more sexually satisfied with their partners. We also identified an ensemble of partner psychological traits (motivation, intelligence, focus, and determination) that predicted how often women initiated sexual intercourse. Their partner's sense of humor not only predicted his self-confidence and family income, but it also predicted women's propensity to initiate sex, how often they had sex, and it enhanced their orgasm frequency in comparison with other partners.
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Mireault GC, Crockenberg SC, Sparrow JE, Pettinato CA, Woodard KC, Malzac K. Social looking, social referencing and humor perception in 6- and-12-month-old infants. Infant Behav Dev 2014; 37:536-45. [PMID: 25061893 PMCID: PMC4262602 DOI: 10.1016/j.infbeh.2014.06.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/19/2013] [Revised: 04/17/2014] [Accepted: 06/02/2014] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Social referencing refers to infants' use of caregivers as emotional referents in ambiguous situations (Walden, 1993). Studies of social referencing typically require ambulation, thereby over-looking younger, non-ambulatory infants (i.e., ≤8-months) and resulting in a widespread assumption that young infants do not employ this strategy. Using a novel approach that does not require mobility, we found that when parents provided unsolicited affective cues during an ambiguous-absurd (i.e., humorous) event, 6-month-olds employ one component of social referencing, social looking Additionally, 6-month-olds who did not laugh at the event were significantly more likely to look toward parents than their counterparts who found the event funny. Sequential analyses revealed that, following a reference to a smiling parent, 6-month olds were more likely to smile at the parent, but by 12 months were more likely to smile at the event suggesting that older infants are influenced by parental affect in humorous situations. The developmental implications of these findings are discussed, as well as the usefulness of studying humor for understanding important developmental phenomena.
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Kreifelts B, Brück C, Ritter J, Ethofer T, Domin M, Lotze M, Jacob H, Schlipf S, Wildgruber D. They are laughing at me: cerebral mediation of cognitive biases in social anxiety. PLoS One 2014; 9:e99815. [PMID: 24918625 PMCID: PMC4053467 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0099815] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/03/2014] [Accepted: 05/20/2014] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
The fear of embarrassment and humiliation is the central element of social anxiety. This frequent condition is associated with cognitive biases indicating increased sensitivity to signals of social threat, which are assumed to play a causal role in the maintenance of social anxiety. Here, we employed laughter, a potent medium for the expression of acceptance and rejection, as an experimental stimulus in participants selected for varying degrees of social anxiety to identify cerebral mediators of cognitive biases in social anxiety using functional magnetic resonance imaging in combination with mediation analysis. We directly demonstrated that cerebral activation patterns within the dorsal attention network including the left dorsolateral and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex mediate the influence of social anxiety on laughter perception. This mediation proved to be specific for social anxiety after correction for measures of general state and trait anxiety and occurred most prominently under bimodal audiovisual laughter presentation when compared with monomodal auditory or visual laughter cues. Considering the possibility to modulate cognitive biases and cerebral activity by neuropsychological trainings, non-invasive electrophysiological stimulation and psychotherapy, this study represents a starting point for a whole line of translational research projects and identifies promising targets for electrophysiological interventions aiming to alleviate cognitive biases and symptom severity in social anxiety.
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