Future thinking and anticipatory pleasure in adolescents with major depression: Association with depression symptoms and executive functions

OBJECTIVE

Impairments in episodic future thinking and anticipatory pleasure were noted to explain the depressive symptoms in adults however similar studies are not there in adolescents. This study examined whether there are impairments in episodic future thinking and anticipatory pleasure in clinically-depressed adolescents as compared to non-depressed adolescents, and their association with depression when controlled for executive functions and anxiety symptoms among the depressed adolescents.

METHODS

The study included 29 adolescents with major depression and 29 adolescents from local schools through convenient sampling technique. All the participants were assessed with standardized measures of depression and anxiety, episodic future thinking, anticipatory pleasure and executive functioning.

RESULTS

Depressed adolescents significantly differed from the non-depressed adolescents in autobiographical memory specificity, anticipatory pleasure, and specific dimensions of executive functions. The ANCOVAs indicated executive function slightly attenuated group differences on future specificity which were still non-significant (all p's > .05). For memory specificity and for anticipatory pleasure, group differences were still significant at p < .05 level.

CONCLUSION

Adolescents with major depressive episode may display similar, but less pronounced, impairments in future thinking than what is previously reported in adults. Though, autobiographical specificity is prominent. The deficits are attributable to depression than executive functioning deficits.

Mental health literacy on youth depression and suicides for teachers and its impact on knowledge, attitudes and help facilitation: A preliminary study

Background

Depression and suicide are among the most prevalent mental health problems among the adolescents in India. However, help seeking is very poor due to lack of knowledge on mental health among youth and significant individuals in their life. Imparting knowledge to teachers becomes important as youth spend most of their time in the educational set up. The present study aimed at examining the effect of mental health literacy on depression and suicidal behaviours on knowledge, attitudes and help facilitation of teachers.

Materials and Methods

The study adopted a stratified sampling method and a sample (N = 102) of high school teachers (8th-12th standard) from both private and government institutions in Bangalore were included in the study. A pre- and post-assessment, single group design with a follow-up after 3 months was adopted. Data were collected using the socio-demographic data sheet and questionnaire prepared to assess the knowledge, attitudes and help facilitation.

Results

The mean age of the teachers was 41.74 years, with 80% female respondents and 58.8% of the sample with master's degrees and diplomas in teaching. There was a significant increase in knowledge about the symptoms, consequences of depression and attitude toward depression and suicide. About 16% of the sample had taken steps to help students with distress and facilitated help seeking at 3-month follow-up.

Conclusion

Mental health literacy programme has positive impact on the knowledge and helps in improving support and help facilitation behaviours among teachers.

Adaptation and psychometric validation of Hindi version of the Behavioural Emotion Regulation Questionnaire

BACKGROUND

The Behavioural Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (BERQ; Kraaij and Garnefski, 2019) is a recently developed tool which assesses behavioural strategies for emotion regulation.

AIM

The present study aimed at validating the factor structure and psychometric properties of the Hindi version of the BERQ (BERQ-H) in a sample of Indian population.

METHOD

A community sample of n = 358 individuals completed the Hindi version of the Behavioural Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, Patient Health Questionnaire-9, Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale-7, and the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K-10).

RESULTS

Exploratory factor analysis revealed that the original five factor structure of the BERQ was replicable. Confirmatory factor analysis favoured a modified five factor structure of the BERQ-H. The unidimensional and the second order factor models of the BERQ-H were not supported. The internal consistency reliability of the BERQ-H subscales was acceptable. Withdrawal, Actively approaching and Ignoring subscales showed inverse associations with depression, anxiety and psychological distress. Seeking distraction did not correlate significantly, whereas Seeking social support showed atypical associations with depression and psychological distress.

CONCLUSION

The BERQ-H is a reliable and valid measure of behavioural emotion regulation strategies. It is advisable to mainly interpret subscale scores on the BERQ-H instead of the overall score.

Digital resilience mediates healthy use of technology

Excessive use of online technology brings with it the risk of problematic digital behaviour like over-use of social media, online gambling, webinar fatigue, digital burnout, and in extreme cases doom surfing, and doom scrolling. In addition, digital failures can cause significant mental health distress to people, and unhealthy interactions on social media can also lead to deviant behaviour such as cyber bullying and cybercrime. This paper discusses the various vulnerabilities an individual is predisposed to on the internet, and highlights the importance of "Digital Resilience". Digital resilience is a new concept which refers to the learning, recovery, and bouncing back process after having negative or adverse experiences online. A comprehensive and holistic model to introduce Digital Resilience to everyone through a multitier approach that includes Individual, Societal, and Community intervention is formulated and elaborated. The importance of addressing these concerns from both a psychological and legal perspective is also discussed.

Neuropsychological performance in youth with obsessive-compulsive disorder

There is a paucity of literature on neuropsychological functions in youth with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Most studies have small sample sizes and have yielded inconsistent results. A recent meta-analysis failed to identify any significant impairments. We studied neuropsychological functions (attention, verbal fluency, working memory, set-shifting, response inhibition, planning and visuospatial abilities) in a large sample of youth with OCD (n = 97) in comparison with controls who did not have OCD (n = 50). After controlling for the confounding effects (age, sex, severity of depression and anxiety, presence of comorbid attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, any tic disorder, number of comorbidities, and non-verbal intelligence measured by the standard progressive matrices), the youth with OCD significantly underperformed with large effect sizes compared to controls, only on the test of 'behavioral reversal', measured by the Object Alternation Test (trials to reach criterion p < 0.001, Cohen's d = 1.49; perseverative errors p < 0.001, Cohen's d = 1.31). Patients also underperformed on a task of planning, but it was statistically insignificant. Certain comorbid disorders, antipsychotic use and age of onset did not influence neuropsychological performance significantly. Our study demonstrates that youth with OCD may have impaired 'set-shifting' in the form of 'behavioral reversal' and possibly planning, findings broadly consistent with the literature in adults and with the fronto-striatal model of OCD. It is possible that youth may accumulate more neuropsychological impairments over a period, as the illness continues into adulthood.

Effectiveness of an Integrated Intervention Program for Alcoholism: Electrophysiological Findings

BACKGROUND

Neuroelectrophysiological measures such as electroencephalograms (EEGs) in resting state and event-related potentials (ERPs) provide valuable information about the vulnerability and treatment-related changes in persons with alcoholism. This study examined the effectiveness of an Integrated Intervention Program for Alcoholism (IIPA) using electrophysiological measures.

METHODS

Fifty individuals with early onset of alcohol dependence participated. They were grouped randomly into two: the treatment as usual (TAU) group and the treatment group, matched on age (±1 year) and education (±1 year). eyes closed and resting state EEGs and ERPs on cognitive tasks (flanker task, alcohol Go/No-Go task, and single outcome gambling task) were recorded before and after treatment. The TAU group received pharmacotherapy, six days/week yoga sessions, and three sessions/week group therapy on relapse prevention while the treatment group received IIPA along with usual treatment (except yoga) for 18 days.

RESULTS

There was no significant difference between the groups pre-treatment. RM-ANOVA for pre- and post-treatment stages showed a significant difference between the two groups in the absolute power of alpha, beta, theta, and delta, during eye closure, in the resting-state EEGs. The treatment group showed significantly larger N200/N2 amplitude in congruent and incongruent conditions (flanker task), N200/N2 amplitude for alcohol No-Go, P300/P3 amplitude for neutral No-Go on alcohol Go/No-Go task, and outcome-related positivity (ORP) amplitude on single outcome gambling task.

CONCLUSION

This exploratory study suggests that IIPA is effective for enhancing relaxation state and attentiveness, decreasing hyperarousal, and ameliorating neurocognitive dysfunctions of conflict-monitoring, response inhibition, and reward processing.

Effects of an integrated intervention program for alcoholism (IIPA) on learning, memory and quality of life (QOL) in persons with alcohol dependence at the Centre for Addiction Medicine, Bengaluru, India

Purpose

This study aims to examine the effectiveness of an integrated intervention program for alcoholism (IIPA) for improving verbal encoding and memory, visuospatial construction, visual memory and quality of life (QoL) in persons with alcohol dependence.

Design/methodology/approach

The sample comprised treatment-seeking alcohol-dependent persons (n = 50), allotted into two groups: (1) the treatment as usual (TAU) group (n = 25) and (2) the treatment group (n = 25)]. The groups were matched on age (±1 year) and education (±1 year). The TAU group received standard pharmacological treatment, psychotherapeutic sessions on relapse prevention and yoga for 18 days, while the treatment group received IIPA sessions in addition to the usual treatment. Auditory verbal learning test, complex figure test and QoL scale were administered at pre- and post-treatment along with screening measures.

Findings

The two groups were comparable on demographic variables, clinical characteristics and outcome measures at baseline. Pre- to post-treatment changes (gain scores) comparison between the treatment and TAU groups revealed a significant difference in verbal encoding, verbal and visual memory, verbal recognition, visuospatial construction and QoL.

Research limitations/implications

This study suggests that IIPA is effective for improving learning and memory in both modality (verbal and visual) and QoL in persons with alcoholism. The IIPA may help in better treatment recovery.

Practical implications

The IIPA may help in treatment for alcoholism and may enhance treatment efficacy.

Originality/value

IIPA is effective for improving learning and memory in both modalities and QoL in persons with alcohol dependence. The IIPA may help in better treatment recovery.

Peer victimization and its relationship to self-esteem in children with mild intellectual disability and borderline intellectual functioning in regular and special schools: An exploratory study in urban Bengaluru

The Research in the field of mental health and educational needs of children with intellectual disabilities has increased over the years. However, the focus on milder disabilities such as mild intellectual disability and borderline intellectual functioning (MBID; intelligence quotient: 50-85) is still limited. The current study aimed at understanding peer victimization and its relationship to the self-esteem of children with MBID in regular and special schools. The study utilized a cross-sectional research design with a sample of 40 children who met the inclusion criteria. On analysis, the results showed that peer victimization was more common in regular schools (U = 51, p ≤ 0.001), wherein the peer victimization had a significant negative correlation with their self-esteem (r = -0.536, p ≤ 0.001). Overall, the findings implied the need for promotion of inclusive education in regular schools by sensitization against peer victimization of children with disabilities.

Digital failure: An emerging reason of anger expression among adolescents

Network connectivity can often lead to positive as well as negative mood states among regular Internet users. Recently, studies have mainly focused on the impact of Internet abuse/addiction on the various aspects of the individual, in terms of cognitive, emotional, behavioral, and interpersonal domains. However, one of the issues that is not much reported are the issues about what happens to the children who are not able to access the internet due to connectivity issues. Given this, the current article discusses two cases with negative emotional and behavioral manifestations of increased anger and frustration due to reduced Internet connectivity. This can help draw more research and attention to the need for increased cyber-literacy and incorporation of anger management programs into psychological interventions that address Internet Addiction.

Mobile phone use screening test: Development, validation, and implications for screening excessive mobile use

BACKGROUND

Early identification for the addictive use of smartphones would enable timely intervention to minimize suffering from compromised functioning and associated psychological problems. This study is the first such attempt to develop a test for addictive/excessive use of the mobile phone in the Indian context. The present study aims to develop and validate the mobile phone use screening test (MUST) for the Indian subcontinent.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Five hundred individuals aged 18-40 years, residing in the South Indian city of Bangalore participated in the study. The sociodemographic datasheet and the newly developed test were administered on these individuals to gather demographic information and patterns of excessive mobile phone use.

RESULTS

The developed test has 18-items which use a self-report Likert-type scale format. The test-retest reliability was 0.93 and the Cronbach's alpha was found to be 0.86. The scoring criterion for the overall score was: <30 = mild use; 31-49 = moderate use; and 50 and above = excessive/addictive smartphone use. The scale has four components: craving, loss of control, coping, and consequences.

CONCLUSIONS

The MUST can be used for the identification of addictive/excessive use of mobile phone among adolescents and young adult groups.

Integrated intervention program for alcoholism improves impulsiveness and disadvantageous reward processing/risk-taking

BACKGROUND

Impulsivity and aberrant reward processing are the core features of substance use disorders, including alcoholism. The present study examined the effects of an Integrated Intervention Program for Alcoholism (IIPA) on impulsiveness and disadvantageous reward processing/risk-taking in persons with alcoholism.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The study adopted age- and education-matched (±1 year) randomized control design with the pre-post comparison. The sample comprised 50 persons with alcoholism. They were allotted randomly into two groups, the intervention (IIPA) group and treatment as usual (TAU) group (n = 25 in each). Participants were assessed at pre-intervention on impulsivity (Barratt's Impulsiveness Scale) and decision-making task, which reflects reward processing deficits (modified Iowa gambling task [mIGT]). The TAU group received usual treatment for alcoholism (i.e., pharmacotherapy; three sessions in a week group therapy on relapse prevention and six sessions in week yoga) for 18 days. The intervention group received IIPA along with usual treatment (except yoga). Outcome assessment was repeated after 18 days of intervention.

RESULTS

Both groups were comparable at pre-intervention (baseline). However, the intervention (IIPA) group showed a significant reduction in impulsivity and selection from disadvantageous decks on mIGT at post-intervention, while the TAU group had no significant change.

CONCLUSION

The findings suggest that IIPA could improve impulsivity and disadvantageous reward processing/risk-taking in persons with alcoholism. These are core features of substance use disorders and could pose a high chance for relapse after treatment. Further studies may examine improving these characteristics with IIPA and its impact on treatment outcomes such as relapse rate and maintaining sobriety.

The National Mental Health Survey of India (2016): Prevalence, socio-demographic correlates and treatment gap of mental morbidity

BACKGROUND

Recognizing the need for good quality, scientific and reliable information for strengthening mental health policies and programmes, the National Mental Health Survey (NMHS) of India was implemented by National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), Bangalore, in the year 2015-2016.

AIM

To estimate the prevalence, socio-demographic correlates and treatment gap of mental morbidity in a representative population of India.

METHODS

NMHS was conducted across 12 Indian states where trained field investigators completed 34,802 interviews using tablet-assisted personal interviews. Eligible study subjects (18+ years) in households were selected by a multi-stage, stratified, random cluster sampling technique. Mental morbidity was assessed using MINI 6. Three-tier data monitoring system was adopted for quality assurance. Weighted and specific prevalence estimates were derived (current and lifetime) for different mental disorders. Mental morbidity was defined as those disorders as per the International Statistical Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision Diagnostic Criteria for Research (ICD-10 DCR). Multivariate logistic regression was conducted to examine risk for mental morbidity by different socio-demographic factors. Survey was approved by central and state-level institutional ethical committees.

RESULTS

The weighted lifetime prevalence of 'any mental morbidity' was estimated at 13.67% (95% confidence interval (CI) = 13.61, 13.73) and current prevalence was 10.56% (95% CI = 10.51, 10.61). Mental and behavioural problems due to psychoactive substance use (F10-F19; 22.44%), mood disorders (F30-F39; 5.61%) and neurotic and stress-related disorders (F40-F48; 3.70%) were the most commonly prevalent mental morbidity in India. The overall prevalence was estimated to be higher among males, middle-aged individuals, in urban-metros, among less educated and in households with lower income. Treatment gap for overall mental morbidity was 84.5%.

CONCLUSION

NMHS is the largest reported survey of mental morbidity in India. Survey estimated that nearly 150 million individuals suffer from one or the other mental morbidity in India. This information is to be used for planning, delivery and evaluating mental health programming in the country.

Factor structure validation, psychometric evaluation and measurement invariance testing of the Brief Sensation Seeking Scale-Chinese (BSSS-C) in Indian adolescents

BACKGROUND

Self-report measures of sensation seeking though commonly used in research have not undergone factor structure or psychometric validation in Indian adolescents. The Brief Sensation Seeking Scale - Chinese (BSSS-C; Chen et al., 2013) is a less culture specific tool with excellent psychometric properties and presents a suitable option for use with Indian adolescents.

AIM

The present study aims to validate the factor structure, evaluate the psychometric properties, and examine the gender invariance of the BSSS-C in Indian adolescents.

METHODS

A community sample of adolescent, n = 2079, with mean age 17 years (SD = 1.71) completed the BSSS-C, the BIS/BAS, and the Adolescent Risky Behaviour scales.

RESULTS

The four factor structure of the BSSS-C exhibited good to excellent model fit, acceptable internal consistency reliability (α = 0.77) and, adequate construct as well as concurrent validity in Indian adolescents. Invariance testing revealed that the factor configuration and factor loadings of the BSSS-C were equivalent across the gender. Three of the four BSSS-C latent factors were amenable for mean comparisons across the gender.

CONCLUSION

BSSS-C is a reliable measure of the four dimensional model of sensation seeking in Indian adolescents. The gender differences in the BSSS-C factors are attributable to real differences in sensation seeking construct between male and female adolescents.

Effectiveness of an Integrated Intervention Program for Alcoholism (IIPA) for enhancing self-regulation: Preliminary evidence

OBJECTIVE

Alcoholism could be a core problem of self-regulatory failure. Several neurocognitive theories have hypothesized hypo-functioning or dysfunction of reflective (executive) system and heightened functioning of reactive (impulsive) system in self-regulatory failure implicated in drug addiction. Similarly, stress and affect dysregulation may breakdown self-regulation. The present study aimed to develop an Integrated Intervention Program for Alcoholism (IIPA) to enhance self-regulation and to test its effectiveness in the treatment of alcoholism.

METHOD

Individuals with early onset alcoholism (n = 50) were recruited after getting written informed consent. The study used randomized case control design. The participants were matched on age (+/-1 year) and education (+/-1 year). The TAU group received usual treatment for alcoholism which included pharmacotherapy, 6 sessions/week yoga and 3 sessions/week group therapy on relapse prevention. The intervention group received IIPA for 18 days along with usual treatment (except yoga sessions). The IIPA included several cognitive remediation tasks and mind-body exercise (Qigong and Tai Chi Chuan). Both groups were assessed on executive function tests and affect regulation scale at pre and post-intervention. The subjects were also followed up for 6 months to compare the abstinence between groups.

RESULTS

Both groups were comparable at baseline. At post-intervention, the IIPA group showed a significant improvement compared to the TAU group on executive functioning and affect regulation. Follow-up results showed lower relapses in six months in the IIPA group.

CONCLUSION

Preliminary evidence showed that IIPA is effective in facilitating self-regulation. Further study may examine its utility and feasibility in other clinical conditions.

Failure to utilize feedback during explicit decision-making task in alcohol-dependent patients

BACKGROUND

Patients who are diagnosed with alcohol-dependent syndrome (ADS) are shown to have neuropsychological deficits, especially executive function (EF) deficits. Among the EFs, decision-making is one such function which has consistently been shown to be impaired in people who are dependent on alcohol, compared to controls. Decision-making in this population is usually assessed with gambling-type tasks. However, some of these tasks are ambiguous, work on chance factors, rarely match with real-life gambling situations, and/or involve nonconscious mechanisms.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The current study compared 26 male patients with ADS (P-ADS) with equal number of their nonalcohol-dependent male siblings on sensation seeking and explicit gambling task (EGT). EGT is similar to the Iowa gambling task in administration, but varies from it as it involves a single outcome and provides unambiguous, explicit, and continuous feedback for the participants.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSION

The results did not show any significant relationship between decision-making variables and sensation seeking. However, despite unambiguous, explicit, and continuous feedback, patients showed significantly poor decision-making as compared to the siblings of the P-ADS group. This study throws light on why people who are addicted to alcohol have difficulties in decision-making, despite knowing the adverse effects.

Neuropsychological deficits in drug naïve, non-depressed obsessive-compulsive disorder patients

There are several studies that compared neuropsychological performance of OCD patients with healthy controls. However, there are hardly any studies which have used drug-naïve as well as non-depressed OCD subjects in their studies. The present study compared eighteen drug-naïve non-depressed OCD patients with similar number of age, education and sex matched healthy controls on neuropsychological tests. The tests used are block design, object assembly, Visuospatial Working Memory Test, Verbal Working Memory Test, Complex Figure Test, Stroop Test and Wisconsin Card Sorting Test. In addition to usual significance testing, Effect Sizes were calculated. In addition, correlation was done between neuropsychological test variables and clinical variables. The results did not show any significant correlation between any of the clinical variables and neuropsychological test variables. On the other hand, patients showed significant deficits mainly in executive functions and organizational strategy with respect to visuospatial functions. The observed deficits can be attributed to both dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and orbitofrontal cortex involvement.

Neurocognitive deficits in male alcoholics: an ERP/sLORETA analysis of the N2 component in an equal probability Go/NoGo task

In alcoholism research, studies concerning time-locked electrophysiological aspects of response inhibition have concentrated mainly on the P3 component of the event-related potential (ERP). The objective of the present study was to investigate the N2 component of the ERP to elucidate possible brain dysfunction related to the motor response and its inhibition using a Go/NoGo task in alcoholics. The sample consisted of 78 abstinent alcoholic males and 58 healthy male controls. The N2 peak was compared across group and task conditions. Alcoholics showed significantly reduced N2 peak amplitudes compared to normal controls for Go as well as NoGo task conditions. Control subjects showed significantly larger NoGo than Go N2 amplitudes at frontal regions, whereas alcoholics did not show any differences between task conditions at frontal regions. Standardized low resolution electromagnetic tomography analysis (sLORETA) indicated that alcoholics had significantly lower current density at the source than control subjects for the NoGo condition at bilateral anterior prefrontal regions, whereas the differences between groups during the Go trials were not statistically significant. Furthermore, NoGo current density across both groups revealed significantly more activation in bilateral anterior cingulate cortical (ACC) areas, with the maximum activation in the right cingulate regions. However, the magnitude of this difference was much less in alcoholics compared to control subjects. These findings suggest that alcoholics may have deficits in effortful processing during the motor response and its inhibition, suggestive of possible frontal lobe dysfunction.

Topography, power, and current source density of θ oscillations during reward processing as markers for alcohol dependence

Recent studies have linked alcoholism with a dysfunctional neural reward system. Although several electrophysiological studies have explored reward processing in healthy individuals, such studies in alcohol-dependent individuals are quite rare. The present study examines theta oscillations during reward processing in abstinent alcoholics. The electroencephalogram (EEG) was recorded in 38 abstinent alcoholics and 38 healthy controls as they performed a single outcome gambling task, which involved outcomes of either loss or gain of an amount (10 or 50¢) that was bet. Event-related theta band (3.0-7.0 Hz) power following each outcome stimulus was computed using the S-transform method. Theta power at the time window of the outcome-related negativity (ORN) and positivity (ORP) (200-500 ms) was compared across groups and outcome conditions. Additionally, behavioral data of impulsivity and task performance were analyzed. The alcoholic group showed significantly decreased theta power during reward processing compared to controls. Current source density (CSD) maps of alcoholics revealed weaker and diffuse source activity for all conditions and weaker bilateral prefrontal sources during the Loss 50 condition when compared with controls who manifested stronger and focused midline sources. Furthermore, alcoholics exhibited increased impulsivity and risk-taking on the behavioral measures. A strong association between reduced anterior theta power and impulsive task-performance was observed. It is suggested that decreased power and weaker and diffuse CSD in alcoholics may be due to dysfunctional neural reward circuitry. The relationship among alcoholism, theta oscillations, reward processing, and impulsivity could offer clues to understand brain circuitries that mediate reward processing and inhibitory control.

Reduced resource optimization in male alcoholics: N400 in a lexical decision paradigm

BACKGROUND

Event Related Potential (ERP) studies have highlighted some measures, notably P3 amplitude, that are associated with both state and trait deficits in alcoholism, while studies examining N400 amplitude in alcoholism are few. The present study aims to examine differences in the N400 component, an electrophysiological correlate of semantic priming, in event-related potentials from a lexical decision task in 87 alcohol dependent subjects and 57 community controls.

METHODS

 Each subject was presented with 300 stimuli sequentially in a quasi-randomized design, where 150 stimuli were words and 150 were non-words. The subjects made a lexical decision indicating the word/non-word status with a button press. Among the words, 50 words (primed) were always preceded by their antonyms (prime, n=50), whereas the remaining 50 words were unrelated. N400 amplitude and latency measures were compiled from ERPs to the primed and unprimed words. Corresponding reaction time (RT) and response characteristics were also analyzed.

RESULTS

Control subjects revealed a significant attenuation of the N400 response to the primed word when compared to the unprimed word. Significantly less attenuation was observed in alcohol dependent subjects. No significant group differences were seen for latency and behavioral measures. All subjects had slower RT for unprimed words compared to primed words; however significantly less RT savings between the unprimed and primed condition was noted for alcoholics.

CONCLUSIONS

 These results suggest a reduced flexibility in the cognitive networks and a lack of resource optimization in alcoholics. The reduced attenuation of N400 during the primed condition in the alcohol dependent subjects may reflect an inability to engage similar neuronal substrates associated with semantic relatedness as seen in the controls. As diminished N400 attenuation during priming is observed in both alcoholics and high risk subjects, it may be a marker of risk and a good endophenotype for alcoholism.

Priming deficiency in male subjects at risk for alcoholism: the N4 during a lexical decision task

BACKGROUND

While there is extensive literature on the relationship between the P3 component of event-related potentials (ERPs) and risk for alcoholism, there are few published studies regarding other potentially important ERP components. One important candidate is the N4(00) component in the context of semantic processing, as abnormalities in this component have been reported for adult alcoholics.

METHOD

A semantic priming task was administered to nonalcohol dependent male offspring (18 to 25 years) of alcoholic fathers [high risk (HR) n = 23] and nonalcoholic fathers [low risk (LR) n = 28] to study whether the 2 groups differ in terms of the N4 component. Subjects were presented with 150 words and 150 nonwords. Among the words, 50 words (primed) were preceded by their antonyms (prime, n = 50), whereas the remaining 50 words were unprimed. For the analysis, N4 amplitude and latency as well as behavioral measures for the primed and unprimed words were considered.

RESULTS

A significant interaction effect was observed between semantic condition and group, where HR subjects did not show N4 attenuation for primed stimuli.

CONCLUSION

The lack of N4 attenuation to primed stimuli and/or inability to differentiate between primed and unprimed stimuli, without latency and reaction time being affected, suggest deficits in semantic priming, especially in semantic expectancy and/or postlexical semantic processing in HR male offspring. Further, it indicates that it might be an electrophysiological endophenotype that reflects genetic vulnerability to develop alcoholism.

Brain signatures of monetary loss and gain: outcome-related potentials in a single outcome gambling task

This study evaluates the event-related potential (ERP) components in a single outcome gambling task that involved monetary losses and gains. The participants were 50 healthy young volunteers (25 males and 25 females). The gambling task involved valence (loss and gain) and amount (50 cent and 10 cent) as outcomes. The outcome-related negativity (ORN/N2) and outcome-related positivity (ORP/P3) were analyzed and compared across conditions and gender. Monetary gain (compared to loss) and higher amount (50 cent compared to 10 cent) produced higher amplitudes and shorter latencies in both ORN and ORP components. Difference wave plots showed that earlier processing (200-400 ms) is dominated by the valence (loss/gain) while later processing (after 400 ms) is marked by the amount (50 cent/10 cent). Functional mapping using Low Resolution Electromagnetic Tomography (LORETA) indicated that the ORN separated the loss against gain in both genders, while the ORP activity distinguished the 50 cent against 10 cent in males. This study further strengthens the view that separate brain processes/circuitry may mediate loss and gain. Although there were no gender differences in behavioral and impulsivity scores, ORN and ORP measures for different task conditions had significant correlations with behavioral scores. This gambling paradigm may potentially offer valuable indicators to study outcome processing and impulsivity in normals as well as in clinical populations.

Theta oscillations during the processing of monetary loss and gain: a perspective on gender and impulsivity

Event-related oscillations (EROs) have proved to be very useful in the understanding of a variety of neurocognitive processes including reward/outcome processing. In the present study, theta power (4.0-7.0 Hz) following outcome stimuli in the time window of the N2-P3 complex (200-500 ms) was analyzed in healthy normals (20 males and 20 females) while performing a gambling task that involved monetary loss and gain. The main aim was to analyze outcome processing in terms of event-related theta power in the context of valence, amount, gender, and impulsivity. The S-transform was used for the signal processing of the ERO data in terms of time-frequency-power. Results from filtered waveforms showed a partially consistent phase-alignment of the increased theta activity corresponding to N2 and P3 components following the outcome stimuli. Gain conditions produced more theta power than loss conditions. While there was anterior involvement in both gain and loss, posterior activation was stronger during gain conditions than during loss conditions. Females exhibited posterior maxima during gain conditions while males had an anterior maxima during both loss and gain conditions. The current source density of theta activity in females involved larger areas with a bilateral frontal activity while males predominantly had a frontal midline activity. Theta power was significantly higher in females than males across all conditions. Low theta (4.0-5.5 Hz) predominantly contributed to the posterior activity during gain conditions. High theta (5.5-7.0 Hz) was more associated with impulsivity measures than low theta activity. These findings may offer valuable clues to understand outcome processing, impulsivity, and gender differences.