Sighs can become learned behaviors via operant learning

Associations between psychological and respiratory distress in post-deployment Veterans

Since September 11, 2001, over 2.7 million United States service members have deployed to South-West Asia and the Middle East and have been exposed to environmental hazards and psychological trauma. Many of these service members have returned with medical and psychological illnesses, some of which have proved complex and resistant to treatment. One notable constellation of symptoms is post-deployment respiratory illness, which has become a focus of research and policy efforts. The present study sought to examine the impact of post-deployment psychological distress on respiratory symptom severity. Data were obtained from the Veterans Affairs Airborne Hazards and Open Burn Pit Registry (AHOBPR) health surveillance database (N =107,403). Psychological factors were compared against common organic and environmental predictors of post-deployment respiratory distress. Psychological distress following deployment was a stronger predictor of 12-month shortness of breath severity than general respiratory pathology or level of exposure to environmental hazards, controlling for gender, age, race, and tobacco use. Additionally, psychological distress was a better predictor of shortness of breath severity than documented respiratory illnesses including asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and chronic bronchitis. Implications and directions for future research are discussed, as well as potential alterations to existing treatment and health surveillance paradigms.

Listener- Versus Speaker-Oriented Disfluencies in Autistic Adults: Insights From Wearable Eye-Tracking and Skin Conductance Within a Live Face-to-Face Paradigm

PURPOSE

Our study addresses three main questions: (a) Do autistics and neurotypicals produce different patterns of disfluencies, depending on the experimenter's direct versus averted gaze? (b) Are these patterns correlated to gender, skin conductance responses, fixations on the experimenter's face, alexithymia, or social anxiety scores? Lastly, (c) can eye-tracking and electrodermal activity data be used in distinguishing listener- versus speaker-oriented disfluencies?

METHOD

Within a live face-to-face paradigm combining a wearable eye-tracker with electrodermal activity sensors, 80 adults (40 autistics, 40 neurotypicals) defined words in front of an experimenter who was either staring at their eyes (direct gaze condition) or looking elsewhere (averted gaze condition).

RESULTS

Autistics produce less listener-oriented (uh, um) and more speaker-oriented (prolongations, breath) disfluencies than neurotypicals. In both groups, men produce less um than women. Both autistics' and neurotypicals' speech are influenced by whether their interlocutor systematically looks at them in the eyes or not, but their reactions go in opposite directions. Disfluencies seem to primarily be linguistic phenomena as experienced stress, social attention, alexithymia, and social anxiety scores do not influence any of the reported results. Finally, eye-tracking and electrodermal activity data suggest that laughter could be a listener-oriented disfluency.

CONCLUSIONS

This article studies disfluencies in a fine-grained way in autistic and neurotypical adults while controlling for social attention, experienced stress, and experimental condition (direct vs. averted gaze). It adds to current literature by (a) enlightening our knowledge of speech in autism, (b) opening new perspectives on disfluency patterns as important signals in social interaction, (c) addressing theoretical issues on the dichotomy between listener- and speaker-oriented disfluencies, and (d) considering understudied phenomena as potential disfluencies (e.g., laughter, breath).

SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL

https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.23549550.

The psychophysiology of the sigh: II: The sigh from the psychological perspective

A sigh is a distinct respiratory behavior with specific psychophysiological roles. In two accompanying reviews we will discuss the physiological and psychological functions of the sigh. The present review will focus on the psychological functions of the sigh. We discuss the regulatory effects of a sigh, and argue how these effects may become maladaptive when sighs occur excessively. The adaptive role of a sigh is discussed in the context of regulation of psychophysiological states. We propose that sighs facilitate transitions from one psychophysiological state to the next, and this way contribute to psychophysiological flexibility, via a hypothesized resetting mechanism. We discuss how a sigh resets respiration, by controlling mechanical and metabolic properties of respiration associated with respiratory symptoms. Next, we elaborate on a sigh resetting emotional states by facilitating emotional transitions. We attempt to explain the adaptive and maladaptive functions of a sigh in the framework of stochastic resonance, in which we propose occasional, spontaneous sighs to be noise contributing to psychophysiological regulation, while excessive sighs result in psychophysiological dysregulation. In this context, we discuss how sighs can contribute to therapeutic interventions, either by increasing sighs to improve regulation in case of a lack of sighing, or by decreasing sighs to restore regulation in case of excessive sighing. Finally, a research agenda on the psychology of sighs is presented.

Perceived Discrimination and Symptoms of Cognitive Dysfuntion Among Middle-Age and Older Persons Living With HIV in China: A Multicenter Cross-Sectional Study of the Mediating Role of Mental Health Symptoms and Social Isolation

ABSTRACT

Perceived discrimination is associated with symptoms of cognitive dysfunction (SOCD) among middle-age and older persons living with HIV (PLWH). We aimed to explore how the association between perceived discrimination and SOCD was mediated by mental health symptoms and social isolation. The sample included 321 PLWH, ages 45 years and older, for a multicenter cross-sectional study. Structural equation modeling showed an acceptable model fit and a significant total indirect effect between perceived discrimination and SOCD. All three indirect effect pathways were significant, suggesting that perceived discrimination could influence SOCD through mental health symptoms, through social isolation, or through mental health symptoms and then social isolation. Our study demonstrates that perceived discrimination is a concern for the management of cognitive function among middle-age and older PLWH. Both mental health symptoms and social isolation are critical elements in the design and evaluation of interventions for promoting cognitive health.