Affective consciousness: Core emotional feelings in animals and humans

Rorschach Human Movement and Psychotherapy: Relationship with the Therapist's Emotional Responses

The emotional responses of psychotherapists to their patients, known as countertransference, can yield valuable insights into the patient's psychological functioning. Albeit from a different perspective, the Rorschach test also provides information about the patient's psychological processes. In particular, the Rorschach human movement response (M) has been shown to be a useful measure of higher-level psychological functioning. In an attempt to bridge these two largely different perspectives, the aim of this study was to explore the association between M responses in the Rorschach protocols of psychotherapy patients and emotional responses exhibited by their therapists. To this end, a convenience sample of 149 outpatients were administered the Rorschach according to the Comprehensive System, and their therapists completed the Therapist Response Questionnaire. Through a series of regression models, controlling for response style, response complexity, and degree of psychopathology, M demonstrated a significant association with the therapists' emotional responses. A lower number of M responses was associated with the therapists' feelings of disengagement, and a higher number of M responses was associated with the therapists' feelings of being more involved with the patient. Taken together, these results suggest a potential relationship between the number of M responses the respondent gives in the Rorschach and the subsequent development of the therapeutic alliance between the respondent and their therapist.

Individual differences in internalizing symptoms in late childhood: A variance decomposition into cortical thickness, genetic and environmental differences

The brain undergoes extensive development during late childhood and early adolescence. Cortical thinning is a prominent feature of this development, and some researchers have suggested that differences in cortical thickness may be related to internalizing symptoms, which typically increase during the same period. However, research has yielded inconclusive results. We utilized a new method that estimates the combined effect of individual differences in vertex-wise cortical thickness on internalizing symptoms. This approach allows for many small effects to be distributed across the cortex and avoids the necessity of correcting for multiple tests. Using a sample of 8763 children aged 8.9 to 11.1 from the ABCD study, we decomposed the total variation in caregiver-reported internalizing symptoms into differences in cortical thickness, additive genetics, and shared family environmental factors and unique environmental factors. Our results indicated that individual differences in cortical thickness accounted for less than 0.5% of the variation in internalizing symptoms. In contrast, the analysis revealed a substantial effect of additive genetics and family environmental factors on the different components of internalizing symptoms, ranging from 06% to 48% and from 0% to 34%, respectively. Overall, while this study found a minimal association between cortical thickness and internalizing symptoms, additive genetics, and familial environmental factors appear to be of importance for describing differences in internalizing symptoms in late childhood. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: We utilized a new method for modelling the total contribution of vertex-wise individual differences in cortical thickness to internalizing symptoms in late childhood. The total contribution of individual differences in cortical thickness accounted for <0.5% of the variance in internalizing symptoms. Additive genetics and shared family environmental variation accounted for 17% and 34% of the variance in internalizing symptoms, respectively. Our results suggest that cortical thickness is not an important indicator for internalizing symptoms in childhood, whereas genetic and environmental differences have a substantial impact.

Emotional sociology applied: predictive influence of affective neuroscience personality traits on Chinese preschool teachers' performance and wellbeing

Background

The interplay between teaching engagement and performance has garnered attention in both theoretical and empirical research, primarily due to its influence on student academic achievement, teacher well-being, and the realization of institutional goals. This is especially pertinent in the realm of preschool education, where the scope of learning extends beyond academic content to encompass the broader socialization of children. Drawing from Affective Neuroscience research, this study investigates the role of affective tendencies as mediators in the relationship between work engagement and job performance.

Objective

The primary aim of this research is to examine a chain mediation model that hypothesizes the predictive role of teacher engagement. This model posits the intermediary influence of four basic emotions-CARING, SEEKING, ANGER, and FEAR-followed by the mediating effect of job satisfaction on teacher job performance.

Method

The study utilized a sample of 842 Chinese preschool teachers. Data were collected through an online questionnaire, employing a time-lagged design. The analysis was conducted using Model 80 of the PROCESS Macros.

Results

The findings reveal that both positive and negative emotions significantly predict teachers' job satisfaction. However, job satisfaction does not influence job performance. The analysis confirmed the direct and total effects of teacher engagement, as well as the indirect effects, particularly through the positive emotion of Caring.

Implications

The results are instrumental in informing and refining interventions designed to enhance teacher engagement and performance, underscoring the importance of emotional factors in the educational environment.

Domestication constrains the ability of dogs to convey emotions via facial expressions in comparison to their wolf ancestors

Dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) are the domestically bred descendant of wolves (Canis lupus). However, selective breeding has profoundly altered facial morphologies of dogs compared to their wolf ancestors. We demonstrate that these morphological differences limit the abilities of dogs to successfully produce the same affective facial expressions as wolves. We decoded facial movements of captive wolves during social interactions involving nine separate affective states. We used linear discriminant analyses to predict affective states based on combinations of facial movements. The resulting confusion matrix demonstrates that specific combinations of facial movements predict nine distinct affective states in wolves; the first assessment of this many affective facial expressions in wolves. However, comparative analyses with kennelled rescue dogs revealed reduced ability to predict affective states. Critically, there was a very low predictive power for specific affective states, with confusion occurring between negative and positive states, such as Friendly and Fear. We show that the varying facial morphologies of dogs (specifically non-wolf-like morphologies) limit their ability to produce the same range of affective facial expressions as wolves. Confusion among positive and negative states could be detrimental to human-dog interactions, although our analyses also suggest dogs likely use vocalisations to compensate for limitations in facial communication.

Mental causation: an evolutionary perspective

The relationship between consciousness and individual agency is examined from a bottom-up evolutionary perspective, an approach somewhat different from other ways of dealing with the issue, but one relevant to the question of animal consciousness. Two ways are identified that would decouple the two, allowing consciousness of a limited kind to exist without agency: (1) reflex pathways that incorporate conscious sensations as an intrinsic component (InCs), and (2) reflexes that are consciously conditioned and dependent on synaptic plasticity but not memory (CCRs). Whether InCs and CCRs exist as more than hypothetical constructs is not clear, and InCs are in any case limited to theories where consciousness depends directly on EM field-based effects. Consciousness with agency, as we experience it, then belongs in a third category that allows for deliberate choice of alternative actions (DCs), where the key difference between this and CCR-level pathways is that DCs require access to explicit memory systems whereas CCRs do not. CCRs are nevertheless useful from a heuristic standpoint as a conceptual model for how conscious inputs could act to refine routine behaviors while allowing evolution to optimize phenomenal experience (i.e., qualia) in the absence of individual agency, a somewhat counterintuitive result. However, so long as CCRs are not a required precondition for the evolution of memory-dependent DC-level processes, the later could have evolved first. If so, the adaptive benefit of consciousness when it first evolved may be linked as much to the role it plays in encoding memories as to any other function. The possibility that CCRs are more than a theoretical construct, and have played a role in the evolution of consciousness, argues against theories of consciousness focussed exclusively on higher-order functions as the appropriate way to deal with consciousness as it first evolved, as it develops in the early postnatal period of life, or with the conscious experiences of animals other than ourselves. An evolutionary perspective also resolves the problem of free will, that it is best treated as a property of a species rather than the individuals belonging to that species whereas, in contrast, agency is an attribute of individuals.

From emotional signals to symbols

The quest for the origins of language is a diverse enterprise, where research from a variety of disciplines brings area-specific ideas and area-specific terminology to bear. This variety often results in misunderstandings and misconceptions about communication in various species. In the present paper, we argue for focus on emotional systems as the primary motivators for social signals in animals in general. This focus can help resolve discrepancies of interpretation among different areas of inquiry and can illuminate distinctions among different social signals as well as their phylogenetic origins in animals and especially in humans. We advocate, following Jaak Panksepp, a view wherein the Seeking System, the endogenous tendency to search and explore, is the most fundamental emotional motivation. The Seeking System forms the basis for flexible, voluntary, and exploratory control of motor systems and makes much of learning possible. The relative lack of vocal learning and expression in nonhuman primates contrasted with extensive vocal learning and expression in humans began, we propose, with the evolution in ancient hominins of a necessary foundation for the many subsequent capabilities required for language. That foundation was, according to the reasoning, naturally selected in the form of neurological connections between the Seeking System and mechanisms of glottal/phonatory control. The new connections allowed ancient hominins to develop flexible, endogenous vocal fitness signals produced at very high rates and including large numbers of discrete syllables, recombinable to form syllable combinations with many prosodic variations. The increasing sociality of hominins supported evolution of massive expansion in the utilization of these flexible vocal forms to allow development of words and sentences.

A primer on the use of computational modelling to investigate affective states, affective disorders and animal welfare in non-human animals

Objective measures of animal emotion-like and mood-like states are essential for preclinical studies of affective disorders and for assessing the welfare of laboratory and other animals. However, the development and validation of measures of these affective states poses a challenge partly because the relationships between affect and its behavioural, physiological and cognitive signatures are complex. Here, we suggest that the crisp characterisations offered by computational modelling of the underlying, but unobservable, processes that mediate these signatures should provide better insights. Although this computational psychiatry approach has been widely used in human research in both health and disease, translational computational psychiatry studies remain few and far between. We explain how building computational models with data from animal studies could play a pivotal role in furthering our understanding of the aetiology of affective disorders, associated affective states and the likely underlying cognitive processes involved. We end by outlining the basic steps involved in a simple computational analysis.

Temporary sensory separation of lamb groups from ewes affects behaviors and serum levels of stress-related indicators of small-tailed Han lambs

Under the current meat sheep breeding system, newborn lambs usually live with their mothers until weaning, and in daily management, they often need to be separated from their ewes for a short period due to dehorning, disease treatment, etc. Such short-term separation was considered to be a high-intensity stress for the lambs. This study aimed to explore the effects of 1 h sensory separations on behaviors and the concentration of stress-related indicators of small-tailed Han lambs. Lambs were assigned to four groups: auditory, visual, and tactile separation (AVT) group; visual and tactile separation (VT) group; tactile separation (T) group; and control (C) group. Then they were separated from their mothers for one hour on postnatal days 14, 21, 28, 35 and 42. Results showed the separated lambs (AVT, VT, and T groups) spent less time lying down relaxing and more time looking around, exploring, vocalizing, and attempting to escape (P < 0.05). Lambs separated by lack of tactile contact only exhibited the most escaping and moving behavior. Twin-born lambs showed less moving, escaping, and vocalizing than single-born lambs (P < 0.05). The separation also led to a rise in serum globulin levels and a decrease in tetraiodothyronine. In conclusion, this study showed that temporary 1 h ewe-lamb separations could affect behaviors and the serum levels of stress indicators of lambs. The behavioral responses were more obvious when lambs were separated by lack of tactile contact only, and in single-born lambs. It can conclude that indicated that when lambs need to be temporarily separated from ewes in daily management production, it would be better to let them stay together with their littermates, and make them avoid hearing or seeing the ewes, such management may partially reduce the separation stress, thereby improving the welfare and breeding efficiency of sheep.

Affective neuroscience: applications for sexual medicine research and clinical practice

INTRODUCTION

Affective neuroscience is the study of the brain substrates of emotional, embodied experiences. Affective neuroscience theory (ANT) is based on experimental evidence that all mammals are hardwired with 7 primary subcortical emotional operating systems, or "core emotions," that have overlapping but distinct circuits buried in the deep, ancient parts of the brain. Imbalances in the 7 core emotions can affect multiple aspects of the individual's psychosocial well-being (eg, depression, anxiety, substance abuse). Here, we propose that core emotions can also influence sexual function and, specifically, that imbalances in core emotions are the bridge connecting psychiatric symptoms (eg, anhedonia) to sexual dysfunction (eg, anorgasmia).

OBJECTIVES

In this targeted review and commentary, we outline potential connections between ANT and sexual medicine research and clinical practice. We summarize ANT by defining the 3-level BrainMind and core emotions; examining how they relate to personality, behavior, and mental health; and determining the implications for sexual health research and clinical practice.

METHODS

A targeted literature review was conducted. Case studies were adapted from client files and clinician interviews and then anonymized.

RESULTS

We propose a novel organizational schema for implementing affective balance therapies for sexual dysfunction, which integrate psychoeducational, somatic, and cognitive therapeutic approaches under the ANT framework. We provide 3 patient case studies (anorgasmia, hypersexuality, spinal cord injury) outlining the implementation of this approach and patient outcomes.

CONCLUSION

ANT has practical translational applications in sexual health research and clinical practice. By integrating our understanding of the role of core emotions in human sexuality, clinicians can better tailor treatments to address sexual dysfunction.

The Human Affectome

Over the last decades, theoretical perspectives in the interdisciplinary field of the affective sciences have proliferated rather than converged due to differing assumptions about what human affective phenomena are and how they work. These metaphysical and mechanistic assumptions, shaped by academic context and values, have dictated affective constructs and operationalizations. However, an assumption about the purpose of affective phenomena can guide us to a common set of metaphysical and mechanistic assumptions. In this capstone paper, we home in on a nested teleological principle for human affective phenomena in order to synthesize metaphysical and mechanistic assumptions. Under this framework, human affective phenomena can collectively be considered algorithms that either adjust based on the human comfort zone (affective concerns) or monitor those adaptive processes (affective features). This teleologically-grounded framework offers a principled agenda and launchpad for both organizing existing perspectives and generating new ones. Ultimately, we hope the Human Affectome brings us a step closer to not only an integrated understanding of human affective phenomena, but an integrated field for affective research.

Unexpected appetitive events promote positive affective state in juvenile European sea bass

Some animal species exhibit considerable physiological and behavioural alterations in response to captivity. It has been hypothesized, but rarely tested, that such changes reflect a negative affective state that is associated to this specific context. In the last years, judgement bias measures have emerged as reliable indicators of animal affective state, under the assumption that individuals in a negative affective state are more likely to evaluate ambiguous stimuli as negative and display therefore pessimistic behaviours. Here, we have developed a judgement bias task for juvenile European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) aiming to measure optimism/pessimism in this marine species, which have previously been reported to show important dysregulations in captive settings. Our results show that juvenile sea bass exhibit a considerable bias towards pessimistic behaviours in laboratory settings. Furthermore, juveniles that received an unexpected positive event during the judgement bias test displayed more optimistic responses toward ambiguous stimuli as compared to control fish, indicating a positive change in their affective state induced by the appetitive experience. These results reveal a direct interaction of the internal affective state with decision-making processing under ambiguity in juvenile European sea bass, highlighting therefore the potential of judgement bias tests as a tool for the advancement and improvement of our understanding of welfare in finfish aquaculture.

The feasibility of artificial consciousness through the lens of neuroscience

Interactions with large language models (LLMs) have led to the suggestion that these models may soon be conscious. From the perspective of neuroscience, this position is difficult to defend. For one, the inputs to LLMs lack the embodied, embedded information content characteristic of our sensory contact with the world around us. Secondly, the architectures of present-day artificial intelligence algorithms are missing key features of the thalamocortical system that have been linked to conscious awareness in mammals. Finally, the evolutionary and developmental trajectories that led to the emergence of living conscious organisms arguably have no parallels in artificial systems as envisioned today. The existence of living organisms depends on their actions and their survival is intricately linked to multi-level cellular, inter-cellular, and organismal processes culminating in agency and consciousness.

Medical AI, inductive risk and the communication of uncertainty: the case of disorders of consciousness

Some patients, following brain injury, do not outwardly respond to spoken commands, yet show patterns of brain activity that indicate responsiveness. This is 'cognitive-motor dissociation' (CMD). Recent research has used machine learning to diagnose CMD from electroencephalogram recordings. These techniques have high false discovery rates, raising a serious problem of inductive risk. It is no solution to communicate the false discovery rates directly to the patient's family, because this information may confuse, alarm and mislead. Instead, we need a procedure for generating case-specific probabilistic assessments that can be communicated clearly. This article constructs a possible procedure with three key elements: (1) A shift from categorical 'responding or not' assessments to degrees of evidence; (2) The use of patient-centred priors to convert degrees of evidence to probabilistic assessments; and (3) The use of standardised probability yardsticks to convey those assessments as clearly as possible.

Basic Emotions or Constructed Emotions: Insights From Taking an Evolutionary Perspective

The ongoing debate between basic emotion theories (BETs) and the theory of constructed emotion (TCE) hampers progress in the field of emotion research. Providing a new perspective, here we aim to bring the theories closer together by dissecting them according to Tinbergen's four questions to clarify a focus on their evolutionary basis. On the basis of our review of the literature, we conclude that whereas BETs focus on the evolution question of Tinbergen, the TCE is more concerned with the causation of emotion. On the survival value of emotions both theories largely agree: to provide the best reaction in specific situations. Evidence is converging on the evolutionary history of emotions but is still limited for both theories-research within both frameworks focuses heavily on the causation. We conclude that BETs and the TCE explain two different phenomena: emotion and feeling. Therefore, they seem irreconcilable but possibly supplementary for explaining and investigating the evolution of emotion-especially considering their similar answer to the question of survival value. Last, this article further highlights the importance of carefully describing what aspect of emotion is being discussed or studied. Only then can evidence be interpreted to converge toward explaining emotion.

The agency domain and behavioral interactions: assessing positive animal welfare using the Five Domains Model

Animal welfare denotes how an animal experiences their life. It represents the overall mental experiences of an animal and is a subjective concept that cannot be directly measured. Instead, welfare indicators are used to cautiously infer mental experiences from resource provisions, management factors, and animal-based measures. The Five Domains Model is a holistic and structured framework for collating these indicators and assessing animal welfare. Contemporary approaches to animal welfare management consider how animals can be given opportunities to have positive experiences. However, the uncertainty surrounding positive mental experiences that can be inferred has resulted in risk-averse animal welfare scientists returning to the relative safety of positivism. This has meant that aspects of positive welfare are often referred to as animal 'wants'. Agency is a concept that straddles the positivist-affective divide and represents a way forward for discussions about positive welfare. Agency is the capacity of individual animals to engage in voluntary, self-generated, and goal-directed behavior that they are motivated to perform. Discrete positive emotions are cautiously inferred from these agentic experiences based on available knowledge about the animal's motivation for engaging in the behavior. Competence-building agency can be used to evaluate the potential for positive welfare and is represented by the Behavioral Interactions domain of the Five Domains Model. In 2020, The Model was updated to, amongst other things, include consideration of human-animal interactions. The most important aspect of this update was the renaming of Domain 4 from "Behavior" to "Behavioral Interactions" and the additional detail added to allow this domain's purpose to be clearly understood to represent an animal's opportunities to exercise agency. We illustrate how the Behavioral Interactions domain of The Model can be used to assess animals' competence-building agency and positive welfare. In this article, we use the examples of sugar gliders housed in captivity and greyhounds that race to illustrate how the agentic qualities of choice, control, and challenge can be used to assess opportunities for animals to exercise agency and experience positive affective engagement.

Attachment and emotional regulation: examining the role of prefrontal cortex functions, executive functions, and mindfulness in their relationship

Attachment is a prominent area of psychological research, with its relevance linked to executive functions, mindfulness, and emotional regulation. The purpose of this study is to examine this relationship among these aforementioned four constructs and propose a model to be tested in the future. Based on the current trends using the Interpersonal Neurobiology approach, which assumes prefrontal cortex functions to include other socioemotional resources such as empathy, morality, insight, behavior, and body regulation. Our study included prefrontal cortical functions alongside executive functions. The assessment instruments used were Attachment-Based Cognitive Representations Scale, Prefrontal Cortex Functions Scale, Webexec, Five Facet Mindfulness Scale, and Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale. We hypothesized that attachment would be the strongest predictor of emotional regulation. The participants in the study were 539 college students (mean = 20.21; sd = 1.57); (68% female and 32%, male). Our a priori research hypothesis was supported, with an additional finding that trait mindfulness was also a significant predictor. The strongest correlations with attachment styles were with trait mindfulness and emotional regulation. We conducted path analyses of two different models for secure and insecure attachment. The path analyses showed that secure attachment scores were negatively related, and insecure attachment scores were positively related to difficulties in emotional regulation scores. Furthermore, trait mindfulness and prefrontal cortex functions also mediated this relationship. However, there was no significant relationship between executive functions and difficulties in emotional regulation scores, even though it was significantly related to attachment. Results and implications are discussed.

A perceptual control theory of emotional action

A theory is proposed that views emotional feelings as pivotal for action control. Feelings of emotions are valued interoceptive signals from the body that become multimodally integrated with perceptual contents from registered and mentally simulated events. During the simulation of a perceptual change from one event to the next, a conative feeling signal is created that codes for the wanting of a specific perceptual change. A wanted perceptual change is weighted more strongly than alternatives, increasing its activation level on the cognitive level and that of associated motor structures that produced this perceptual change in the past. As a consequence, a tendency for action is generated that is directed at the production of the wanted perception.

Towards the use of on-farm slaughterhouse

Slaughter on the farm can address the concerns of farmers by meeting the needs of short distribution channels while better preserving animal welfare and meat quality. It can support conventional slaughter, by compensating for the significant decrease in the number of slaughterhouses in recent decades. The review describes first the different stages of slaughter and their possible impacts on animals' stress, welfare and consequences on their meat quality. The second part takes stock of recent thinking on the subject of slaughter and the regulation and technological advances that have led to the development of mobile slaughter units. A non-exhaustive list of mobile slaughter units currently in use in different countries is presented. Although these units can only absorb a small percentage of the total amounts of animals slaughtered, they are a welcome alternative to current slaughter practices for certain types of production and distribution, provided that the animal welfare and all aspects of meat quality are garanteed.

Romantic love evolved by co-opting mother-infant bonding

For 25 years, the predominant evolutionary theory of romantic love has been Fisher's theory of independent emotion systems. That theory suggests that sex drive, romantic attraction (romantic love), and attachment are associated with distinct neurobiological and endocrinological systems which evolved independently of each other. Psychological and neurobiological evidence, however, suggest that a competing theory requires attention. A theory of co-opting mother-infant bonding sometime in the recent evolutionary history of humans may partially account for the evolution of romantic love. I present a case for this theory and a new approach to the science of romantic love drawing on human psychological, neurobiological, and (neuro)endocrinological studies as well as animal studies. The hope is that this theoretical review, along with other publications, will generate debate in the literature about the merits of the theory of co-opting mother-infant bonding and a new evolutionary approach to the science of romantic love.

Interoceptive and Affective Alterations in Body Integrity Dysphoria: An Online Self-Reporting Study

INTRODUCTION

Body integrity dysphoria (BID) is a rare condition in which individuals experience a long-lasting desire to achieve a specific physical disability. In this study, we tested the hypothesis of interoceptive and affective abnormalities in BID, in line with the evidence of structural and functional alteration of the interoceptive-affective neural system in these individuals.

METHOD

Our study involved 68 participants with BID (mean age: 35.6, SD: 16.4). Among these participants, 47 expressed a desire for amputation, 14 desired paralysis, 3 sought sensory deprivation, and 3 desired a combination of these forms. For comparisons, we recruited a control group of 79 participants (mean age: 35.2, SD: 15.8). We administered assessment measures to investigate alexithymia level (TAS-20), disgust sensitivity (DS-R), interoceptive awareness (MAIA-2), and (affective and cognitive) empathy (QCAE). We also administered the Short Oxford-Liverpool Inventory of Feelings and Experiences (O-LIFE) to identify psychiatric comorbidities. Subgroups with low O-LIFE scores (BID = 31; controls = 43) and subgroups with high O-LIFE scores (BID = 37; controls = 36) were derived through a median-split procedure.

RESULTS

Within the BID low O-LIFE group, we found reduced interoceptive sensibility, reduced disgust sensitivity, and increased difficulty in identifying feelings, which refers to a dimension of the alexithymia trait. Within the BID high O-LIFE group, we observed a reduced disgust sensitivity and interoceptive sensibility, accompanied by a diminished score in cognitive empathy.

CONCLUSION

Our study suggests that BID can be associated with altered interoceptive and affective processing.

Immersive VR for investigating threat avoidance: The VRthreat toolkit for Unity

All animals have to respond to immediate threats in order to survive. In non-human animals, a diversity of sophisticated behaviours has been observed, but research in humans is hampered by ethical considerations. Here, we present a novel immersive VR toolkit for the Unity engine that allows assessing threat-related behaviour in single, semi-interactive, and semi-realistic threat encounters. The toolkit contains a suite of fully modelled naturalistic environments, interactive objects, animated threats, and scripted systems. These are arranged together by the researcher as a means of creating an experimental manipulation, to form a series of independent "episodes" in immersive VR. Several specifically designed tools aid the design of these episodes, including a system to allow for pre-sequencing the movement plans of animal threats. Episodes can be built with the assets included in the toolkit, but also easily extended with custom scripts, threats, and environments if required. During the experiments, the software stores behavioural, movement, and eye tracking data. With this software, we aim to facilitate the use of immersive VR in human threat avoidance research and thus to close a gap in the understanding of human behaviour under threat.

Biocultural psychopathology as a new epistemology for mental disorders

Psychopathology has been criticized for decades for its reliance on a brain-centred and over-reductionist approach which views mental disorders as disease-like natural kinds. While criticisms of brain-centred psychopathologies abound, these criticisms sometimes ignore important advances in the neurosciences which view the brain as embodied, embedded, extended and enactive, and as fundamentally plastic. A new onto-epistemology for mental disorders is proposed, focusing on a biocultural model, in which human brains are understood as embodied and embedded in ecosocial niches, and with which individuals enact particular transactions characterized by circular causality. In this approach, neurobiological bases are inseparable from interpersonal and socio-cultural factors. This approach leads to methodological changes in how mental disorders are studied and dealt with.

Wolf-Dog-Human: Companionship Based on Common Social Tools

Wolves, dogs and humans share extremely social and cooperative minds. These similarities are rooted in phylogenetic homology and in the convergence of neuronal and physiological mechanisms, particularly the brain, in the functioning and communication of basic affects and in the mechanisms of stress and calming. The domesticated wolves called dogs are particularly close companion animals. Both Palaeolithic humans and wolves were hypercursorial hunters, cooperating in complex and prosocial ways within their clans with respect to hunting, raising offspring, and defending against conspecific and heterospecific competitors and predators. These eco-social parallels have shaped the development of similar social mindsets in wolves and humans. Over the millennia of domestication, this social match was fine-tuned, resulting in the socio-cognitive specialists humans and dogs, possessing amazingly similar social brains and minds. Therefore, it can be concluded that the quality of their relationships with their human masters is a major factor in the wellbeing, welfare and even health of dogs, as well as in the wellbeing of their human partners. Based on their strikingly similar social brains and physiologies, it can be further concluded that anthropomorphically applying human empathy to dogs in an educated manner may not be as inappropriate as previously thought.

Primary states of consciousness: A review of historical and contemporary developments

Primary states of consciousness are conceived as phylogenetically older states of consciousness as compared to secondary states governed by sociocultural inhibition. The historical development of the concept in psychiatry and neurobiology is reviewed, along with its relationship to theories of consciousness. We suggest that primary states of consciousness are characterized by a temporary breakdown of self-control accompanied by a merging of action, communication, and emotion (ACE fusion), ordinarily segregated in human adults. We examine the neurobiologic basis of this model, including its relation to the phenomenon of neural dedifferentiation, the loss of modularity during altered states of consciousness, and increased corticostriatal connectivity. By shedding light on the importance of primary states of consciousness, this article provides a novel perspective on the role of consciousness as a mechanism of differentiation and control. We discuss potential differentiators underlying a gradient from primary to secondary state of consciousness, suggesting changes in thalamocortical interactions and arousal function. We also propose a set of testable, neurobiologically plausible working hypotheses to account for their distinct phenomenological and neural signatures.

The German version of the brief affective neuroscience personality scales including a LUST scale (BANPS-GL)

Objectives

This study presents the German version of the Brief Affective Neuroscience Personality Scales (BANPS), which includes an additional subscale for the dimension LUST. The BANPS represents a shortened version of the Affective Neuroscience Personality Scales (ANPS), a self-report instrument to assess individual dispositions toward primary emotional systems as proposed by Jaak Panksepp.

Methods

In a large sample (N = 926), the reliability and various facets of validity of the German translation of the BANPS were examined together with the newly included LUST scale. The BANPS-GL was related to the Big Five Inventory (BFI) and Sexual Sensation Seeking Scale (SSSS) and analyzed via confirmatory factor analysis (CFA).

Results

Overall, the BANPS-GL exhibited reliabilities ranging from McDonald's ω = 0.70 (CARE) to α = 0.86 (SADNESS) and plausible correlations with external criteria. For CFA a correlated 7-factor model demonstrated good fit [TLI = 0.95; RMSEA = 0.04 (90% CI: 0.04, 0.05); SRMR = 0.06]. A similar fit was demonstrated for a 2-higher-factor model [TLI = 0.93; RMSEA = 0.05 (90% CI: 0.05, 0.06); SRMR = 0.07].

Conclusion

In broad agreement with the results of the original English version, the BANPS-GL showed good reliability and acceptable factorial validity, and overall improved the psychometric properties of the original long form. Finally, the inclusion of the dimension LUST allows for a complete coverage of the primary emotion dispositions as originally conceptualized by Panksepp.

How to Understand Them? A Review of Emotional Indicators in Horses

Stabled horses often experience negative emotions due to the inappropriate living conditions imposed by humans. However, identifying what emotions horses experience and what can trigger positive and negative emotions in stabled horses can be challenging. In this article we present a brief history of the study of emotions and models that explain emotions from a scientific point of view and the physiological bases and functions of emotions. We then review and discuss physiological and behavioral indicators and cognitive bias tests developed to assess emotions in horses. Hormone concentrations, body temperature, the position of the ears, facial expressions and behaviors, such as approach and avoidance behaviors, can provide valuable information about emotional states in horses. The cognitive bias paradigm is a recent and robust tool to assess emotions in horses. Knowing how to evaluate the intensity and frequency of an individual's emotions can guide horse owners and caretakers to identify practices and activities that should be stimulated, avoided or even banned from the individual's life, in favor of a life worth living. The development and validation of novel indicators of emotions considering positive and negative contexts can help in these actions.

Quality of Life and the Digital Service Landscape: The Moderating Role of Customer Complaining Effort

The last decade, and more specifically the COVID-19 pandemic, has created a favorable environment for digitalization, which has become a necessary condition in the context of how everyday life is conducted. Even if digital communication and services have become a trend and help brand-customer relationships, brands still have more gaps to close. The purpose of this study was to investigate how consumers' behaviors and digital interactions impact their shopping well-being and quality of life, and how the level of customer complaining effort affects the relationship between digital behavior and quality of life. This research provides practical implications for companies and marketers that offer digital services and technologies, helping them design and deliver more effective and customer-centric digital experiences. Additionally, it contributes to the growing interest in how digital services and technologies can improve consumer experiences and quality of life. This study surveyed 331 respondents in Romania. Results show that digital behavior influences consumers' shopping well-being and comes with insights that strengthen the importance of reducing consumers' cognitive and procedural effort in order to increase their quality of life. The paper discusses the implications for brands that must design easy experiences to gain more loyal customers, the study's implications and novelty for the warranty area.

Associations between psychological resilience and metrics of white matter microstructure in pediatric concussion

This study investigated associations between psychological resilience and characteristics of white matter microstructure in pediatric concussion. This is a case control study and a planned substudy of a larger randomized controlled trial. Children with an acute concussion or orthopedic injury were recruited from the emergency department. Participants completed both the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale 10 and an MRI at 72 h and 4-weeks post-injury. The association between resiliency and fractional anisotropy (FA), mean diffusivity (MD), axial diffusivity (AD), and radial diffusivity (RD) at both timepoints were examined. We examined whether these associations were moderated by group. The association between resiliency captured at 72 h and diffusion tensor imaging metrics at 4 weeks was also investigated. Clusters were extracted using a significance threshold of threshold-free cluster enhancement corrected p < .05. A total of 66 children with concussion (median (IQR) age = 12.88 (IQR: 11.80-14.36); 47% female) and 29 children with orthopedic-injury (median (IQR) age = 12.49 (IQR: 11.18-14.01); 41% female) were included. A negative correlation was identified in the concussion group between 72 h resilience and 72 h FA. Meanwhile, positive correlations were identified in the concussion group with concussion between 72 h resilience and both 72 h MD and 72 h RD. These findings suggest that 72 h resilience is associated with white matter microstructure of the forceps minor, superior longitudinal fasciculus, and anterior thalamic radiation at 72 h post-concussion. Resilience seems to be associated with neural integrity only in the acute phase of concussion and thus may be considered when researching concussion recovery.

Complex of global functional network as the core of consciousness

Finding the neural basis of consciousness is challenging, and the distribution location of the core of consciousness remains inconclusive. Integrated information theory (IIT) argues that the posterior part of the brain is the hot zone of consciousness, especially phenological consciousness. The IIT has proposed a "main complex", a set of elements determined such that the information loss in a hierarchical partition approach is the largest among those of any other supersets and subsets, as the core of consciousness in a dynamic system. This approach may be applicable not only to phenomenal but also to access-consciousness. This study estimated the main complex of brain dynamics using functional magnetic resonance imaging in Human Connectome Project (HCP) and sleep datasets. The complex analyses revealed the common networks across various tasks and rest-state in HCP, composed of executive control, salience, and dorsal/ventral attention networks. The set of networks of the main complex was maintained during sleep. However, compared with the wakefulness stage, the amount of information of these networks and the default mode network, was reduced for the hypnagogic stage. The global interconnected structure composed of major functional networks can comprise the core of consciousness.

Mental Experiences in Wild Animals: Scientifically Validating Measurable Welfare Indicators in Free-Roaming Horses

The mental experiences of animals are what characterises their welfare status. The Five Domains Model for assessing welfare aligns with the understanding that physical and mental states are linked. Following measurement of indicators within each of the four physical/functional Domains (1. Nutrition; 2. Physical environment; 3. Health; and 4. Behavioural interactions), the anticipated negative or positive affective consequences (mental experiences) are cautiously inferred and assigned to Domain 5. Those inferences derive credibility from validated knowledge of the underlying systems of physiology, neurophysiology, neuroethology and affective neuroscience. Any indicators used for assessing welfare need to be scientifically validated. This requires, firstly, evidence of the links between a measurable/observable indicator and the physical/functional impact (in Domains 1 to 4), and secondly, a demonstrable relationship between the physical/functional impact and the mental experience it is inferred the indicators reflect (in Domain five). This review refers to indicators of physical/functional states in Domains 1 to 4, which have been shown to be measurable in free-roaming wild horses, and then evaluates the scientific evidence linking them to inferred mental experiences in Domain 5. This is the first time that the scientific evidence validating a comprehensive range of welfare indicators has been synthesised in this way. Inserting these indicators into the Five Domains Model enables transparently justifiable assessment and grading of welfare status in free-roaming horses.

Somatovisceral influences on emotional development

Frameworks of emotional development have tended to focus on how environmental factors shape children's emotion understanding. However, individual experiences of emotion represent a complex interplay between both external environmental inputs and internal somatovisceral signaling. Here, we discuss the importance of afferent signals and coordination between central and peripheral mechanisms in affective response processing. We propose that incorporating somatovisceral theories of emotions into frameworks of emotional development can inform how children understand emotions in themselves and others. We highlight promising directions for future research on emotional development incorporating this perspective, namely afferent cardiac processing and interoception, immune activation, physiological synchrony, and social touch.

Affective Design Analysis of Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI): A User-Centric Perspective

Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) has successfully solved the black box paradox of Artificial Intelligence (AI). By providing human-level insights on AI, it allowed users to understand its inner workings even with limited knowledge of the machine learning algorithms it uses. As a result, the field grew, and development flourished. However, concerns have been expressed that the techniques are limited in terms of to whom they are applicable and how their effect can be leveraged. Currently, most XAI techniques have been designed by developers. Though needed and valuable, XAI is more critical for an end-user, considering transparency cleaves on trust and adoption. This study aims to understand and conceptualize an end-user-centric XAI to fill in the lack of end-user understanding. Considering recent findings of related studies, this study focuses on design conceptualization and affective analysis. Data from 202 participants were collected from an online survey to identify the vital XAI design components and testbed experimentation to explore the affective and trust change per design configuration. The results show that affective is a viable trust calibration route for XAI. In terms of design, explanation form, communication style, and presence of supplementary information are the components users look for in an effective XAI. Lastly, anxiety about AI, incidental emotion, perceived AI reliability, and experience using the system are significant moderators of the trust calibration process for an end-user.

An everlasting love: The relationship of happiness and meaning

Happiness is of great importance to people. Although happiness constitutes a central theme in psychology, the absence of a unifying theory and inconsistent terminology undermine scientific progress. The present article goes beyond attempting to define “types of happiness” or its contributing factors and addresses the role of happiness (i.e., embodied positive emotional patterns) as a function of a dynamic multisystem (i.e., an individual) and its relationship to meaning (i.e., ongoing bidirectional cognitive processes). As a dynamic multisystem, a person strives for stability as they move in physical space, and during their development, across time (i.e., dynamic balance). A primary requirement for dynamic balance is maintaining consistency by connecting the cognitive system to behavior. In psychological terms, such a connection is facilitated by meaning. The model suggests that happiness serves as a marker of a person’s consistency and meaningful interpretations of their lived experience. The model points to a new research direction.

Positive Wild Animal Welfare

With increasing attention given to wild animal welfare and ethics, it has become common to depict animals in the wild as existing in a state dominated by suffering. This assumption is now taken on board by many and frames much of the current discussion; but needs a more critical assessment, both theoretically and empirically. In this paper, we challenge the primary lines of evidence employed in support of wild animal suffering, to provide an alternative picture in which wild animals may often have lives that are far more positive than is commonly assumed. Nevertheless, while it is useful to have an alternative model to challenge unexamined assumptions, our real emphasis in this paper is the need for the development of effective methods for applying animal welfare science in the wild, including new means of data collection, the ability to determine the extent and scope of welfare challenges and opportunities, and their effects on welfare. Until such methods are developed, discussions of wild animal welfare cannot go beyond trading of intuitions, which as we show here can just as easily go in either direction.

Filling gaps in animal welfare assessment through metabolomics

Sustainability has become a central issue in Italian livestock systems driving food business operators to adopt high standards of production concerning animal husbandry conditions. Meat sector is largely involved in this ecological transition with the introduction of new label claims concerning the defense of animal welfare (AW). These new guarantees referred to AW provision require new tools for the purpose of authenticity and traceability to assure meat supply chain integrity. Over the years, European Union (EU) Regulations, national, and international initiatives proposed provisions and guidelines for assuring AW introducing requirements to be complied with and providing tools based on scoring systems for a proper animal status assessment. However, the comprehensive and objective assessment of the AW status remains challenging. In this regard, phenotypic insights at molecular level may be investigated by metabolomics, one of the most recent high-throughput omics techniques. Recent advances in analytical and bioinformatic technologies have led to the identification of relevant biomarkers involved in complex clinical phenotypes of diverse biological systems suggesting that metabolomics is a key tool for biomarker discovery. In the present review, the Five Domains model has been employed as a vademecum describing AW. Starting from the individual Domains-nutrition (I), environment (II), health (III), behavior (IV), and mental state (V)-applications and advances of metabolomics related to AW setting aimed at investigating phenotypic outcomes on molecular scale and elucidating the biological routes most perturbed from external solicitations, are reviewed. Strengths and weaknesses of the current state-of-art are highlighted, and new frontiers to be explored for AW assessment throughout the metabolomics approach are argued. Moreover, a detailed description of metabolomics workflow is provided to understand dos and don'ts at experimental level to pursue effective results. Combining the demand for new assessment tools and meat market trends, a new cross-strategy is proposed as the promising combo for the future of AW assessment.

Owners' Beliefs regarding the Emotional Capabilities of Their Dogs and Cats

The correct interpretation of an animal's emotional state is crucial for successful human-animal interaction. When studying dog and cat emotional expressions, a key source of information is the pet owner, given the extensive interactions they have had with their pets. In this online survey we asked 438 owners whether their dogs and/or cats could express 22 different primary and secondary emotions, and to indicate the behavioral cues they relied upon to identify those expressed emotions. Overall, more emotions were reported in dogs compared to cats, both from owners that owned just one species and those that owned both. Although owners reported a comparable set of sources of behavioral cues (e.g., body posture, facial expression, and head posture) for dogs and cats in expressing the same emotion, distinct combinations tended to be associated with specific emotions in both cats and dogs. Furthermore, the number of emotions reported by dog owners was positively correlated with their personal experience with dogs but negatively correlated with their professional experience. The number of emotions reported in cats was higher in cat-only households compared to those that also owned dogs. These results provide a fertile ground for further empirical investigation of the emotional expressions of dogs and cats, aimed at validating specific emotions in these species.

A general motivational architecture for human and animal personality

To achieve integration in the study of personality, researchers need to model the motivational processes that give rise to stable individual differences in behavior, cognition, and emotion. The missing link in current approaches is a motivational architecture-a description of the core set of mechanisms that underlie motivation, plus a functional account of their operating logic and inter-relations. This paper presents the initial version of such an architecture, the General Architecture of Motivation (GAM). The GAM offers a common language for individual differences in humans and other animals, and a conceptual toolkit for building species-specific models of personality. The paper describes the main components of the GAM and their interplay, and examines the contribution of these components to the emergence of individual differences. The final section discusses how the GAM can be used to construct explicit functional models of personality, and presents a roadmap for future research.

Bridging the Gap: Human Emotions and Animal Emotions

Our experiences of the conscious mental states that we call emotions drive our interest in whether such states also exist in other animals. Because linguistic report can be used as a gold standard (albeit indirect) indicator of subjective emotional feelings in humans but not other species, how can we investigate animal emotions and what exactly do we mean when we use this term? Linguistic reports of human emotion give rise to emotion concepts (discrete emotions; dimensional models), associated objectively measurable behavioral and bodily emotion indicators, and understanding of the emotion contexts that generate specific states. We argue that many animal studies implicitly translate human emotion concepts, indicators and contexts, but that explicit consideration of the underlying pathways of inference, their theoretical basis, assumptions, and pitfalls, and how they relate to conscious emotional feelings, is needed to provide greater clarity and less confusion in the conceptualization and scientific study of animal emotion.

The brain-body disconnect: A somatic sensory basis for trauma-related disorders

Although the manifestation of trauma in the body is a phenomenon well-endorsed by clinicians and traumatized individuals, the neurobiological underpinnings of this manifestation remain unclear. The notion of somatic sensory processing, which encompasses vestibular and somatosensory processing and relates to the sensory systems concerned with how the physical body exists in and relates to physical space, is introduced as a major contributor to overall regulatory, social-emotional, and self-referential functioning. From a phylogenetically and ontogenetically informed perspective, trauma-related symptomology is conceptualized to be grounded in brainstem-level somatic sensory processing dysfunction and its cascading influences on physiological arousal modulation, affect regulation, and higher-order capacities. Lastly, we introduce a novel hierarchical model bridging somatic sensory processes with limbic and neocortical mechanisms regulating an individual's emotional experience and sense of a relational, agentive self. This model provides a working framework for the neurobiologically informed assessment and treatment of trauma-related conditions from a somatic sensory processing perspective.

Contingent Social Interaction Does Not Prevent Habituation towards Playback of Pro-Social 50-kHz Calls: Behavioral Responses and Brain Activation Patterns

Rats, which are highly social animals, are known to communicate using ultrasonic vocalizations (USV) in different frequency ranges. Calls around 50 kHz are related to positive affective states and promote social interactions. Our previous work has shown that the playback of natural 50-kHz USV leads to a strong social approach response toward the sound source, which is related to activation in the nucleus accumbens. In male Wistar rats, the behavioral response habituates, that is, becomes weaker or is even absent, when such playback is repeated several days later, an outcome found to be memory-dependent. Here, we asked whether such habituation is due to the lack of a contingent social consequence after playback in the initial test and whether activation of the nucleus accumbens, as measured by c-fos immunohistochemistry, can still be observed in a retest. To this end, groups of young male Wistar rats underwent an initial 50-kHz USV playback test, immediately after which they were either (1) kept temporarily alone, (2) exposed to a same-sex juvenile, or (3) to their own housing group. One week later, they underwent a retest with playback; this time not followed by social consequences but by brain removal for c-fos immunohistochemistry. Consistent with previous reports, behavioral changes evoked by the initial exposure to 50-kHz USV playback included a strong approach response. In the retest, no such response was found, irrespective of whether rats had experienced a contingent social consequence after the initial test or not. At the neural level, no substantial c-fos activation was found in the nucleus accumbens, but unexpected strong activation was detected in the anterior cingulate cortex, with some of it in GABAergic cells. The c-fos patterns did not differ between groups but cell numbers were individually correlated with behavior, i.e., rats that still approached in response to playback in the retest showed more activation. Together, these data do not provide substantial evidence that the lack of a contingent social consequence after 50-kHz USV playback accounts for approach habituation in the retest. Additionally, there is apparently no substantial activation of the nucleus accumbens in the retest, whereas the exploratory findings in the anterior cingulate cortex indicate that this brain area might be involved when individual rats still approach 50-kHz USV playback.

Gestational hypoxia in late pregnancy differentially programs subcortical brain maturation in male and female rat offspring

Background

Hypoxia is associated with pregnancy complications, such as preeclampsia, placental abruption, and gestational sleep apnea. Hypoxic insults during gestation can impact the brain maturation of cortical and subcortical pathways, such as the nigrostriatal pathway. However, the long-term effects of in utero hypoxic stress exposure on brain maturation in offspring are unclear, especially exposure during late gestation. The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of gestational hypoxia in late pregnancy on developmental programming of subcortical brain maturation by focusing on the nigrostriatal pathway.

Methods

Timed pregnant Long–Evans rats were exposed to chronic intermittent hypoxia or room air normoxia from gestational day (GD) 15–19 (term 22–23 days). Male and female offspring were assessed during two critical periods: puberty from postnatal day (PND) 40–45 or young adulthood (PND 60–65). Brain maturation was quantified by examining (1) the structural development of the nigrostriatal pathway via analysis of locomotor behaviors and the substantia nigra dopaminergic neuronal cell bodies and (2) the refinement of the nigrostriatal pathway by quantifying ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs).

Results

The major findings of this study are gestational hypoxia has age- and sex-dependent effects on subcortical brain maturation in offspring by adversely impacting the refinement of the nigrostriatal pathway in the absence of any effects on the structural development of the pathway. During puberty, female offspring were impacted more than male offspring, as evidenced by decreased USV call frequency, chirp USV call duration, and simple call frequency. In contrast, male offspring were impacted more than female offspring during young adulthood, as evidenced by increased latency to first USV, decreased simple USV call intensity, and increased harmonic USV call bandwidth. No effects of gestational hypoxia on the structural development of the nigrostriatal pathway were observed.

Conclusions

These novel findings demonstrate hypoxic insults during pregnancy mediate developmental programming of the cortical and subcortical pathways, in which male offspring exhibit long-term adverse effects compared to female offspring. Impairment of cortical and subcortical pathways maturation, such as the nigrostriatal pathway, may increase risk for neuropsychiatric disorders (e.g., mood disorders, cognitive dysfunction, brain connectivity dysfunction).

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13293-022-00463-x.

Brain maturation of the nigrostriatal pathway is sex- and age- dependent. Exposure to hypoxia in late pregnancy impacts brain maturation of the nigrostriatal pathway that can be observed during puberty and young adulthood.

Gestational hypoxia impacted female offspring during puberty more than males, whereas it impacted male offspring during young adulthood more than females.

These novel findings demonstrate that hypoxic insults during pregnancy mediate developmental programming of the cortical and subcortical pathways, in which male offspring exhibit long-term adverse effects compared to female offspring.

Long-term adverse effects of gestational hypoxia in offspring can occur in the absence of pregnancy complications, especially if they occur within critical embryological developmental periods.

Preliminary validation of a novel tool to assess dog welfare: The Animal Welfare Assessment Grid

Animal welfare monitoring is a vital part of veterinary medicine and can be challenging due to a range of factors that contribute to the perception of welfare. Tools can be used, however; there are few validated and objective methods available for veterinary and animal welfare professionals to assess and monitor the welfare of dogs over their lifetime. This study aimed to adapt a framework previously validated for other species, The Animal Welfare Assessment Grid (AWAG), for dogs and to host the tool on an accessible, easy to use online platform. Development of the AWAG for dogs involved using the scientific literature to decide which factors were relevant to score welfare in dogs and to also write the factor descriptors. The primary tool was trialed with veterinary professionals to refine and improve the AWAG. Content validity was assessed by subject matter experts by rating the validity of the factors for assessing dog welfare using the item-level content validity index (I-CVI) and scale-level content validity index based on the average method (S-CVI/Ave). Construct validity was evaluated by users of the tool scoring healthy and sick dogs, as well as healthy dogs undergoing neutering procedures. Mann Whitney tests demonstrate that the tool can differentiate between healthy and sick dogs, and healthy and healthy dogs post elective surgery. Test re-test reliability was tested by users conducting multiple assessments on individual dogs under non-changing conditions. Inter-rater reliability was assessed by two users scoring an individual dog at the same time in veterinary referral practice. Repeated measures ANOVA for test re-test and inter-rater reliability both show no statistical difference between scores and that the scores are highly correlated. This study provides evidence that the AWAG for dogs has good content and construct validity, alongside good test re-test and inter-rater reliability.

The importance of human factors in therapeutic dietary errors of a hospital: A mixed-methods study

An accurate therapeutic diet can help people improve their medical condition. Any discrepancy in this regard could jeopardize a patient’s clinical condition. This study was aimed to determine prevalence of dietary errors among in-patients at an international private hospital’s food department, and to explore causes of error to suggest strategies to reduce such errors in the future. Thus, a sequential explanatory mixed-methods study was carried out. For the quantitative part, secondary data were collected on a daily basis over one-month. For qualitative data, errors arising during the meal flow process were traced to the source on the same day of error followed by qualitative interviews with person responsible. Quantitative data were analyzed in SPSS v.25 as percentages. Qualitative data were analyzed by deductive-inductive thematic analysis. Out of a total of 7041 diets, we found that only 17 had errors. Of these, almost two-thirds were critical. Majority of these errors took place during diet card preparation (52.94%), by dietitians (70.59%), during weekdays (82.35%), breakfasts (47.06%), and in the cardiac care ward (47.06%). The causes identified through interviews were lack of backup or accessory food staff, and employee’s personal and domestic issues. It was concluded that even though the prevalence of dietary errors was low in this study, critical errors formed majority of these errors. Adopting organizational behavior strategies in the hospital may not only reduce dietary errors, but improve patients’ well-being, and employee satisfaction in a long run.

Comparing emotion inferences from dogs (Canis familiaris), panins (Pan troglodytes/Pan paniscus), and humans (Homo sapiens) facial displays

Human beings are highly familiar over-learnt social targets, with similar physical facial morphology between perceiver and target. But does experience with or similarity to a social target determine whether we can accurately infer emotions from their facial displays? Here, we test this question across two studies by having human participants infer emotions from facial displays of: dogs, a highly experienced social target but with relatively dissimilar facial morphology; panins (chimpanzees/bonobos), inexperienced social targets, but close genetic relatives with a more similar facial morphology; and humans. We find that people are more accurate inferring emotions from facial displays of dogs compared to panins, though they are most accurate for human faces. However, we also find an effect of emotion, such that people vary in their ability to infer different emotional states from different species’ facial displays, with anger more accurately inferred than happiness across species, perhaps hinting at an evolutionary bias towards detecting threat. These results not only compare emotion inferences from human and animal faces but provide initial evidence that experience with a non-human animal affects inferring emotion from facial displays.

Integrative Model of Human-Animal Interactions: A One Health-One Welfare Systemic Approach to Studying HAI

The Integrative Model of Human-Animal Interactions (IMHAI) described herewith provides a conceptual framework for the study of interspecies interactions and aims to model the primary emotional processes involved in human-animal interactions. This model was developed from theoretical inputs from three fundamental disciplines for understanding interspecies interactions: neuroscience, psychology and ethology, with the objective of providing a transdisciplinary approach on which field professionals and researchers can build and collaborate. Seminal works in affective neuroscience offer a common basis between humans and animals and, as such, can be applied to the study of interspecies interactions from a One Health-One Welfare perspective. On the one hand, Jaak Panksepp's research revealed that primary/basic emotions originate in the deep subcortical regions of the brain and are shared by all mammals, including humans. On the other hand, several works in the field of neuroscience show that the basic physiological state is largely determined by the perception of safety. Thus, emotional expression reflects the state of an individual's permanent adaptation to ever-changing environmental demands. Based on this evidence and over 5 years of action research using grounded theory, alternating between research and practice, the IMHAI proposes a systemic approach to the study of primary-process emotional affects during interspecies social interactions, through the processes of emotional transfer, embodied communication and interactive emotional regulation. IMHAI aims to generate new hypotheses and predictions on affective behavior and interspecies communication. Application of such a model should promote risk prevention and the establishment of positive links between humans and animals thereby contributing to their respective wellbeing.

Human-Animal Similarity and the Imageability of Mental State Concepts for Mentalizing Animals

The attribution of mental states (MS) to other species typically follows a scala naturae pattern. However, “simple” mental states, including emotions, sensing, and feelings are attributed to a wider range of animals as compared to the so-called “higher” cognitive abilities. We propose that such attributions are based on the perceptual quality (i.e. imageability) of mental representations related to MS concepts. We hypothesized that the attribution of highly imaginable MS is more dependent on the familiarity of participants with animals when compared to the attribution of MS low in imageability. In addition, we also assessed how animal agreeableness, familiarity with animals, and the type of human-animal interaction related to the judged similarity of animals to humans. Sixty-one participants (19 females, 42 males) with a rural (n = 20) and urban (n = 41) background rated twenty-six wild and domestic animals for their perceived similarity with humans and ability to experience a set of MS: (1) Highly imageable MS: joy, anger, and fear, and (2) MS low in imageability: capacity to plan and deceive. Results show that more agreeable and familiar animals were considered more human-like. Primates, followed by carnivores, suines, ungulates, and rodents were rated more human-like than xenarthrans, birds, arthropods, and reptiles. Higher MS ratings were given to more similar animals and more so if the MS attributed were high in imageability. Familiarity with animals was only relevant for the attribution of the MS high in imageability.

Narrative as co-regulation: A review of embodied narrative in infant development

We review evidence of non-verbal, embodied narratives in human infancy to better understand their form and function as generators of common experience, regulation, and learning. We examine their development prior to the onset of language, with a view to improve understanding of narrative as regular motifs or schemas of early experience in both solitary and social engagement. Embodied narratives are composed of regular patterns of interest, arousal, affect, and intention that yield a characteristic four-part structure of (i) introduction, (ii) development, (iii) climax, and (iv) resolution. Made with others these form co-created shared acts of meaning, and are parsed in time with discreet beginnings and endings that allow a regular pattern to frame and give predictive understanding for prospective regulation (especially important within social contexts) that safely returns to baseline again. This characteristic pattern, co-created between infant and adult from the beginning of life, allows the infant to contribute to, and learn, the patterns of its culture. We conclude with a view on commonalities and differences of co-created narrative in non-human primates, and discuss implications of disruption to narrative co-creation for developmental psychopathology.

A voice without a mouth no more: The neurobiology of language and consciousness

Most research on the neurobiology of language ignores consciousness and vice versa. Here, language, with an emphasis on inner speech, is hypothesised to generate and sustain self-awareness, i.e., higher-order consciousness. Converging evidence supporting this hypothesis is reviewed. To account for these findings, a 'HOLISTIC' model of neurobiology of language, inner speech, and consciousness is proposed. It involves a 'core' set of inner speech production regions that initiate the experience of feeling and hearing words. These take on affective qualities, deriving from activation of associated sensory, motor, and emotional representations, involving a largely unconscious dynamic 'periphery', distributed throughout the whole brain. Responding to those words forms the basis for sustained network activity, involving 'default mode' activation and prefrontal and thalamic/brainstem selection of contextually relevant responses. Evidence for the model is reviewed, supporting neuroimaging meta-analyses conducted, and comparisons with other theories of consciousness made. The HOLISTIC model constitutes a more parsimonious and complete account of the 'neural correlates of consciousness' that has implications for a mechanistic account of mental health and wellbeing.