Depressed Adolescents' Pupillary Response to Peer Acceptance and Rejection: The Role of Rumination

Hooked on a thought: Associations between rumination and neural responses to social rejection in adolescent girls

Rumination is a significant risk factor for psychopathology in adolescent girls and is associated with heightened and prolonged physiological arousal following social rejection. However, no study has examined how rumination relates to neural responses to social rejection in adolescent girls; thus, the current study aimed to address this gap. Adolescent girls (N = 116; ages 16.95-19.09) self-reported on their rumination tendency and completed a social evaluation fMRI task where they received fictitious feedback (acceptance, rejection) from peers they liked or disliked. Rejection-related neural activity and subgenual anterior cingulate cortex (sgACC) connectivity were regressed on rumination, controlling for rejection sensitivity and depressive symptoms. Rumination was associated with distinctive neural responses following rejection from liked peers including increased neural activity in the precuneus, inferior parietal gyrus, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, and supplementary motor area (SMA) and reduced sgACC connectivity with multiple regions including medial prefrontal cortex, precuneus and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex. Greater precuneus and SMA activity mediated the effect of rumination on slower response time to report emotional state after receiving rejection from liked peers. These findings provide clues for distinctive cognitive processes (e.g., mentalizing, conflict processing, memory encoding) following the receipt of rejection in girls with high levels of rumination.

Nonverbal behavioral patterns predict social rejection elicited aggression

Aggression elicited by social rejection is costly, prevalent, and often lethal. Attempts to predict rejection-elicited aggression using trait-based data have had little success. This may be because in-the-moment aggression is a complex process influenced by current states of attention, arousal, and affect which are poorly predicted by trait-level characteristics. In a study of young adults (N = 89; 18-25 years), machine learning tested the extent to which nonverbal behavioral indices of attention (eye gaze), arousal (pupillary reactivity), and affect (facial expressions) during a novel social interaction paradigm predicted subsequent aggression towards rejecting and accepting peers. Eye gaze and pupillary reactivity predicted aggressive behavior; predictions were more successful than measures of trait-based aggression and harsh parenting. These preliminary results suggest that nonverbal behavior may elucidate underlying mechanisms of in-the-moment aggression.

Data-Driven Pupil Response Profiles as Transdiagnostic Readouts for the Detection of Neurocognitive Functioning in Affective and Anxiety Disorders

BACKGROUND

Neurocognitive functioning is a relevant transdiagnostic dimension in psychiatry. As pupil size dynamics track cognitive load during a working memory task, we aimed to explore if this parameter allows identification of psychophysiological subtypes in healthy participants and patients with affective and anxiety disorders.

METHODS

Our sample consisted of 226 participants who completed the n-back task during simultaneous functional magnetic resonance imaging and pupillometry measurements. We used latent class growth modeling to identify clusters based on pupil size in response to cognitive load. In a second step, these clusters were compared on affective and anxiety symptom levels, performance in neurocognitive tests, and functional magnetic resonance imaging activity.

RESULTS

The clustering analysis resulted in two distinct pupil response profiles: one with a stepwise increasing pupil size with increasing cognitive load (reactive group) and one with a constant pupil size across conditions (nonreactive group). A larger increase in pupil size was significantly associated with better performance in neurocognitive tests in executive functioning and sustained attention. Statistical maps of parametric modulation of pupil size during the n-back task showed the frontoparietal network in the positive contrast and the default mode network in the negative contrast. The pupil response profile of the reactive group was associated with more thalamic activity, likely reflecting better arousal upregulation and less deactivation of the limbic system.

CONCLUSIONS

Pupil measurements have the potential to serve as a highly sensitive psychophysiological readout for detection of neurocognitive deficits in the core domain of executive functioning, adding to the development of valid transdiagnostic constructs in psychiatry.

Pupillary motility responses to affectively salient stimuli in individuals with depression or elevated risk of depression: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Elaborative affective processing is observed in depression, and pupillary reactivity, a continuous, sensitive, and reliable indicator of physiological arousal and neurocognitive processing, is increasingly utilized in studies of depression-related characteristics. As a first attempt to quantitively summarize existing evidence on depression-related pupillary reactivity alterations, this review and meta-analysis evaluated the direction, magnitude, and specificity of pupillary indices of affective processing towards positively, negatively, and neutrally-valenced stimuli among individuals diagnosed with depression or with elevated risk of depression. Studies on pupillary responses to affective stimuli in the target groups were identified in PsycINFO and PubMed databases. Twenty-two articles met inclusion criteria for the qualitative review and 16 for the quantitative review. Three-level frequentist and Bayesian models were applied to summarize pooled effects from baseline-controlled stimuli-induced average changes in pupillary responses. In general, compared to non-depressed individuals, individuals with depression or elevated risk of depression exhibited higher pupillary reactivity (d =0.15) towards negatively-valenced stimuli during affective processing. Pupillary motility towards negatively-valenced stimuli may be a promising trait-like marker for depression vulnerability.

Effects of daily peer problems on sleep and the severity of pediatric asthma symptoms

OBJECTIVE

Although psychosocial stressors in the home environment place children at risk for physical health problems, less is known about whether or how peer stressors contribute to health problems in youth. The current study investigated associations between daily peer problems and asthma symptoms among adolescents with asthma. The possible mediating role of nightly sleep disturbance and the moderating role of adolescent mental health were also examined.

METHOD

Adolescents (N = 297) with asthma reported on peer problems, nighttime awakenings, sleep quality, and asthma symptoms over 4 days. Youth also self-administered daily peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR) assessments, and parents reported on their children's anxious-depressive symptoms.

RESULTS

Adolescents encountering more daily peer problems experienced more severe asthma symptoms, but not lower PEFR. Mediation analyses demonstrated that associations between daily peer problems and subjective asthma symptoms were partially explained by more nighttime awakenings and lower sleep quality, even after accounting for potentially confounding demographic factors and adolescents' daily experiences of familial stress. However, these indirect pathways did not vary depending on youth anxious-depressive symptoms.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings provide novel evidence for everyday peer stress as a developmentally relevant health risk factor among adolescents with asthma. Insofar as daily peer problems were associated with elevated asthma symptoms via impaired sleep, psychosocial interventions focusing on the peer context may help mitigate maladaptive health behaviors and asthma morbidity. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Stressed in afterthought: Neuroendocrine effects of social self-threat during physical effort are counteracted by performance feedback after stress exposure

Social self-threat during physical stress, such as exposure to the cold pressor test and isometric handgrip test, has been shown to induce activation of the HPA axis, in addition to autonomic responses. However, previous research has suggested that dysfunctional post-event processing may play a major role in neuroendocrine reactivity at initial as well as subsequent social stress exposure. In the present study, we investigated how the interplay of context (i.e. performance feedback) with state (i.e., self-esteem) as well as trait-like factors (i.e., ruminative tendencies) affects stress responses to repeated, short bouts of physical activity. On two sessions, 1 week apart, 53 participants (27 women) performed an isometric handgrip task for 3 min, during which they were exposed to social-evaluative threat. In addition, participants received fake feedback on their performance immediately after the task, labeling it as either 'above' (positive) or 'below average' (negative). In addition to neuroendocrine (cortisol), cardiovascular (heart rate, blood pressure) and subjective stress reactivity, performance-related and social dimensions of state self-esteem were assessed before and after stress induction. Substantial increases in cardiovascular parameters were found on both days, regardless of feedback condition. However, positive feedback led to significantly diminished neuroendocrine responses on day 1, whereas baseline cortisol on session 2 was significantly higher in the negative feedback group. Conversely, social self-esteem decreased after stress induction on both days only for participants who had received negative feedback. Changes in self-esteem reported on day 1 were associated with increased baseline cortisol at the second session, while interindividual differences in self-reported (trait) rumination were associated with cortisol reactivity at session 1. Taken together, the results suggest that effects of social evaluation during short periods of physical stress rely on post-event processing and might be counteracted by positive appraisal directly after stress exposure. Post-hoc framing (in terms of success vs. failure) may predict subsequent stress-related hormonal effects better than task demands per se, which should be considered as a potential moderator in future acute stress research, but might also be relevant to many practical applications in fields ranging from sports/performance to health psychology.

Residence in High-Crime Neighborhoods Moderates the Association between Interleukin-6 and Social and Non-Social Reward Brain Responses

Background

Residence in high-crime neighborhoods, especially in childhood, is linked to mental health issues later. Detecting distinct neurobiological processes underlying the effects of this environmental stressor may be critical to identifying prevention and intervention targets. This study examined the relationships of levels of a circulating inflammatory protein with social and monetary reward–related brain function among adolescents who lived in high- versus low-crime neighborhoods during childhood.

Methods

A total of 70 participants (mean age = 16.3 years; 57% female) completed measures of inflammatory markers, depression history, and health and 2 functional magnetic resonance imaging tasks assessing responsivity to monetary and social rewards. Multivariate linear regression tested whether individuals with higher interleukin 6, an inflammatory cytokine, who also lived in neighborhoods with higher crime had distinct orbitofrontal cortex and nucleus accumbens activation to monetary reward and social acceptance.

Results

For adolescents who lived in neighborhoods with more crime, higher interleukin 6 was associated with higher nucleus accumbens responses to social acceptance. We did not detect significant moderating effects of neighborhood crime rates on the associations of interleukin 6 with orbitofrontal cortex responses to social acceptance or orbitofrontal cortex/nucleus accumbens activation during monetary reward anticipation or outcome. These results were obtained before and after adjusting for neighborhood income and other covariates. We did not detect significant moderating effects of neighborhood income.

Conclusions

High-threat residence environment and specific demands of the social context in childhood may have shaped the effect of peripheral immune activation on reward-related neural function in adolescence. The prevailing view that inflammation-associated behaviors are characterized by blunted responsiveness to reward may be oversimplistic.

Stuck on the Train of Ruminative Thoughts: The Effect of Aggressive Fantasy on Subjective Well-Being

Previous studies have focused almost exclusively on identifying the antecedents of aggression and violence; as such, there are virtually no experimental data about the psychological consequences of fantasizing aggressive and violent actions. The present experiment aimed to fill this significant informational void in the literature by testing whether aggressive fantasy would influence people's rumination tendency and subjective well-being. We hypothesized that aggressive fantasy would make people more likely to ruminate, which would thereby lower their subjective well-being. To test this prediction, we recruited a sample of participants, who were adults in the United States (overall valid N = 113; 39 men; mean age = 36.27, SD = 11.27), and they were randomly assigned to either the aggressive fantasy condition or the control condition. At the beginning of the experiment, participants were asked to think of a person they despised and describe the characteristics of the despised person. Next, participants in the aggressive fantasy condition fantasized aggressive and violent actions toward the despised target, while participants in the control condition fantasized a control experience. Finally, their state rumination and subjective well-being were assessed. The results showed that, relative to participants who did not fantasize aggression, those who engaged in aggressive fantasy reported higher levels of rumination and lower levels of subjective well-being. Further analysis showed that enhanced rumination significantly mediated the effect of aggressive fantasy on subjective well-being. The present findings contribute to the literature by providing new insights into the psychological consequences of aggressive and violent responses and the underlying mechanism.

Adolescent girls' physiological reactivity to real-world peer feedback: A pilot study to validate a Peer Expressed Emotion task

Peer feedback becomes highly salient during adolescence, especially for girls. The way in which adolescents react to social feedback is associated with psychosocial adjustment and mental health. Consequently, researchers are increasingly interested in understanding the physiological and neural underpinnings of adolescent response to feedback by simulating the experience of rejection and acceptance using computer-based paradigms. However, these paradigms typically use nonfamiliar peers and the facade of internet chatrooms or games to present artificial peer feedback. The current study piloted the use of a novel and potentially more ecologically valid peer expressed emotion paradigm in which participants listen to prerecorded clips of ostensible personalized feedback made by their close friend. Physiological data measuring autonomic nervous system response were collected as an index of emotional reactivity/arousal and cognitive-affective processing. Results show promising preliminary evidence validating the task for future use. Participants (N = 18 girls, aged 11-17 years) reported feeling more positive following praise, relative to critical and neutral feedback, and reported feeling more upset following criticism, relative to praise and neutral feedback. Girls exhibited greater pupillary dilation, skin conductance levels (N = 17), and/or heart rate (N = 17) while listening to affectively charged, peer feedback compared with neutral yet personally relevant statements. Girls also exhibited variable physiological response when listening to praising versus critical feedback. Findings from this pilot study validate the use of this novel Peer Expressed Emotion task for the investigation of adolescents' emotional and physiological reactivity in response to real-world peer evaluation. However, it is important to recognize that this study provides only preliminary findings and that future research is needed to replicate the results in larger samples.

Nonverbal Behavioral Patterns Predict Social Rejection Elicited Aggression

Peer-based aggression following social rejection is a costly and prevalent problem for which existing treatments have had little success. This may be because aggression is a complex process influenced by current states of attention and arousal, which are difficult to measure on a moment to moment basis via self report. It is therefore crucial to identify nonverbal behavioral indices of attention and arousal that predict subsequent aggression. We used Support Vector Machines (SVMs) and eye gaze duration and pupillary response features, measured during positive and negative peer-based social interactions, to predict subsequent aggressive behavior towards those same peers. We found that eye gaze and pupillary reactivity not only predicted aggressive behavior, but performed better than models that included information about the participant's exposure to harsh parenting or trait aggression. Eye gaze and pupillary reactivity models also performed equally as well as those that included information about peer reputation (e.g. whether the peer was rejecting or accepting). This is the first study to decode nonverbal eye behavior during social interaction to predict social rejection-elicited aggression.

Evaluating the Indirect Effects of Trait Mindfulness Facets on State Tripartite Components Through State Rumination and State Experiential Avoidance

The present study investigated whether specific trait mindfulness facets indirectly influenced state negative affect (NA), positive affect (PA), and physiological hyperarousal (PH) through state rumination and state experiential avoidance. Participants (n = 360, 68% female) rated trait mindfulness facets, then completed an interview task about life experiences intended to elicit state NA, PA, and PH. After the interview task, participants completed measures of state NA, PA, and PH, and state measures of rumination and experiential avoidance. Indirect effect results indicated that the relationships between Nonjudge, Nonreact, and Describe, and each of the state tripartite components indirectly flowed through state rumination. Further, there was a significant indirect effect of Nonjudge and Actaware on each of the three state tripartite components through experiential avoidance. Overall, strengthening the mindfulness skills of Nonjudge, Nonreact, Describe, and Actaware may have positive downstream effects via reducing reliance on maladaptive emotion regulation strategies, such as rumination or experiential avoidance.

Pupil response to social-emotional material is associated with rumination and depressive symptoms in adults with autism spectrum disorder

Background

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is marked by repetitive thinking and high rates of depression. Understanding the extent to which repetitive negative thinking in ASD reflects autistic stereotypy versus general depressive thinking patterns (e.g., rumination) could help guide treatment research to improve emotional health in ASD. We compared associations between rumination, depressive symptoms, and pupil response to social-emotional material in adults with ASD and typically developing (TD) adults with and without depression.

Methods

N = 53 verbally fluent young adults were recruited to three cohorts: ASD, n = 21; TD-depressed, n = 13; never-depressed TD-controls, n = 19. Participants completed Ruminative Response Scale and Beck Depression Inventory self-reports and a passive-viewing task employing emotionally-expressive faces, during which pupillary motility was assessed to quantify cognitive-affective load. Main and interactive effects of cohort, emotion condition, and time on pupil amplitude were tested via a linear mixed effects analysis of variance using restricted maximum likelihood estimation. Similar procedures were used to test for effects of rumination and depressive symptoms on pupil amplitude over time within ASD.

Results

Responsive pupil dilation in the ASD cohort tended to be significantly lower than TD-depressed initially but increased to comparable levels by trial end. When viewing sad faces, individuals with ASD who had higher depression scores resembled TD-depressed participants’ faster, larger, and sustained pupil response. Within ASD, depressive symptoms uniquely predicted early pupil response to sad faces, while rumination and depression scores each independently predicted sustained pupil response.

Conclusions

People with elevated depressive symptoms appear to have faster and greater increases in pupil-indexed neural activation following sad stimuli, regardless of ASD status, suggesting the utility of conceptualizing rumination as depression-like in treatment. Ruminative processes may increase more slowly in ASD, suggesting the potential utility of interventions that decrease reactions before they are uncontrollable. Findings also reinforce the importance of testing for effects of internalizing variables in broader ASD research.

The role of rumination in illness trajectories in youth: linking trans-diagnostic processes with clinical staging models

Research in developmental psychopathology and clinical staging models has increasingly sought to identify trans-diagnostic biomarkers or neurocognitive deficits that may play a role in the onset and trajectory of mental disorders and could represent modifiable treatment targets. Less attention has been directed at the potential role of cognitive-emotional regulation processes such as ruminative response style. Maladaptive rumination (toxic brooding) is a known mediator of the association between gender and internalizing disorders in adolescents and is increased in individuals with a history of early adversity. Furthermore, rumination shows moderate levels of genetic heritability and is linked to abnormalities in neural networks associated with emotional regulation and executive functioning. This review explores the potential role of rumination in exacerbating the symptoms of alcohol and substance misuse, and bipolar and psychotic disorders during the peak age range for illness onset. Evidence shows that rumination not only amplifies levels of distress and suicidal ideation, but also extends physiological responses to stress, which may partly explain the high prevalence of physical and mental co-morbidity in youth presenting to mental health services. In summary, the normative developmental trajectory of rumination and its role in the evolution of mental disorders and physical illness demonstrates that rumination presents a detectable, modifiable trans-diagnostic risk factor in youth.