Emotional perseveration: an update on prefrontal-amygdala interactions in fear extinction.
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Fear extinction refers to the ability to adapt as situations change by learning to suppress a previously learned fear. This process involves a gradual reduction in the capacity of a fear-conditioned stimulus to elicit fear by presenting the conditioned stimulus repeatedly on its own. Fear extinction is context-dependent and is generally considered to involve the establishment of inhibitory control of the prefrontal cortex over amygdala-based fear processes. In this paper, we review research progress on the neural basis of fear extinction with a focus on the role of the amygdala and the prefrontal cortex. We evaluate two competing hypotheses for how the medial prefrontal cortex inhibits amygdala output. In addition, we present new findings showing that lesions of the basal amygdala do not affect fear extinction. Based on this result, we propose an updated model for integrating hippocampal-based contextual information with prefrontal-amygdala circuitry. (+info)
Avoiding evasion: medical ethics education and emotion theory.
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Beginning with an exemplary case study, this paper diagnoses and analyses some important strategies of evasion and factors of hindrance that are met in the teaching of medical ethics to undergraduate medical students. Some of these inhibitions are inherent to ethical theories; others are connected with the nature of medicine or cultural trends. It is argued that in order to avoid an attitude of evasion in medical ethics teaching, a philosophical theory of emotions is needed that is able to clarify on a conceptual level the ethical importance of emotions. An approach is proposed with the help of the emotion theory Martha Nussbaum works out in her book Upheavals of thought. The paper ends with some practical recommendations. (+info)
Single-suture craniosynostosis: a review of neurobehavioral research and theory.
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OBJECTIVE: To review research and theory regarding the neurobehavioral correlates and outcomes of single-suture, or isolated, craniosynostosis in children. METHODS: A critical review of 17 studies of the hypothesized association between isolated craniosynostosis and neurodevelopment. RESULTS: Isolated craniosynostosis is associated with a three- to fivefold increase in risk for cognitive deficits or learning/language disabilities. The causal basis for this association is unclear. No particular calvarial suture (sagittal, metopic, left or right unilateral coronal) has been associated with higher risk of problems. There is little evidence from quasi-experimental studies that cranioplastic surgery prevents or reduces risk of neurobehavioral impairment. CONCLUSIONS: Future studies would benefit from larger samples and larger control groups; measures of specific neuropsychological functions (in addition to global cognition); analyses of neuropsychological status in relation to the severity and cortical impact of synostosis; and an examination of interactions between synostosis and social/family risk factors on neurodevelopment. Routine neurodevelopmental screening of young children with isolated craniosynostosis is recommended. (+info)
Applying the theory of planned behaviour to pharmacists' beliefs and intentions about the treatment of vaginal candidiasis with non-prescription medicines.
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BACKGROUND: It is important to understand health professionals' attitudes and beliefs about practice and the barriers to achieving best practice. The theory of planned behaviour (TPB) has been widely used to understand behaviour. In this study, TPB was used to explore the psychological variables that influence community pharmacists and the supply of non-prescription medicines. OBJECTIVES: The objectives of the study were to: (i) apply the TPB to community pharmacy behaviour; (ii) identify barriers to/facilitators of evidence-based practice; (iii) describe psychological variables and responses to written scenarios of patients presenting in community pharmacies for non-prescription antifungals for the treatment of vulvovaginal candidiasis; and (iv) to examine the relationships between beliefs and behavioural intention. METHODS: A questionnaire survey was constructed using the TPB and disseminated to pharmacies in Grampian, Scotland. The purpose of the study was to explore community pharmacists' attitudes, beliefs and intentions about the supply of non-prescription antifungals for the treatment of vulvovaginal candidiasis. RESULTS: Of the 121 questionnaires disseminated, 76 (63%) were returned. Behavioural intention to sell antifungals to women with vulvovaginal candidiasis symptoms was strong. Attitude towards recommending these medicines was positive. However, only half of the sample responded appropriately to all four patient scenarios (n=42, 54%). Most pharmacists felt that they were able to recommend antifungals if they wished, but did not feel under social pressure to recommend them. Local doctors did not appear to be influential with respect to selling antifungals. If a customer was elderly, pregnant or if the pharmacist was uncertain of the diagnosis of candidiasis, an antifungal was less likely to be recommended. CONCLUSION: TPB provides a valid and useful summary of the key psychological variables influencing practice. There is more to pharmacy practice than the knowledge and attitudes of the pharmacist. (+info)
Childhood externalizing behavior: theory and implications.
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TOPIC: Childhood externalizing behavior PURPOSE: To analyze the construct of externalizing behavior (aggression, delinquency, and hyperactivity), illustrate the biosocial model of childhood externalizing, and draw clinical implications for nursing research and practice. SOURCES: A review of the literature based on psychological, psychiatric, and nursing journals. CONCLUSIONS: A better understanding of childhood externalizing behavior problems and the risk factors underlying them are essential to prevent them. The employment of an integrative biosocial perspective is argued to be important in understanding this behavior. (+info)
Relational operants: processes and implications: a response to Palmer's review of Relational Frame Theory.
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Palmer has recently criticized Relational Frame Theory (RFT) on the grounds that it has developed data in search of a principle. In this reply, we show that he has done so by attacking fundamental concepts within behavior analysis itself, including the functional nature of an operant and contingencies of reinforcement as a behavioral process. His claim that RFT appeals to new behavioral principles to explain the development of relational operants is shown to be incorrect: As with any operant, RFT appeals to a history of contacted consistencies in contingencies across multiple ex-emplars to explain them. New principles only emerge later as a logically necessary extension of such operants if they exist--a view that Palmer failed to address or appreciate. Palmer's desire to see the use of methods other than matching-to-sample is proper but already largely satisfied in the empirical literature on RFT. We show Palmer's defense of Skinner's definition of verbal behavior to be illogical and unresponsive to the empirical challenge behavior analysis faces. Palmer's alternative common sense mediational associationistic account is another in more than a century of such accounts, all of which have failed empirically. At its root, Palmer's criticism is based on a mechanistic philosophy that is hostile to a traditional functional behavior analytic approach. (+info)
Prediction error during retrospective revaluation of causal associations in humans: fMRI evidence in favor of an associative model of learning.
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Associative learning theory assumes that prediction error is a driving force in learning. A competing view, probabilistic contrast (PC) theory, is that learning and prediction error are unrelated. We tested a learning phenomenon that has proved troublesome for associative theory--retrospective revaluation--to evaluate these two models. We previously showed that activation in right lateral prefrontal cortex (PFC) provides a reliable signature for the presence of prediction error. Thus, if the associative view is correct, retrospective revaluation should be accompanied by right lateral PFC activation. PC theory would be supported by the absence of this activation. Right PFC and ventral striatal activation occurred during retrospective revaluation, supporting the associative account. Activations appeared to reflect the degree of revaluation, predicting later brain responses to revalued cues. Our results support a modified associative account of retrospective revaluation and demonstrate the potential of functional neuroimaging as a tool for evaluating competing learning models. (+info)
Protection motivation theory and adolescent drug trafficking: relationship between health motivation and longitudinal risk involvement.
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OBJECTIVE: To assess health protection motivation as explained by the constructs of protection motivation theory (PMT) and its association with drug trafficking over 2 years. METHODS: The sample included 817 African American youth (13-16 years old) participating in an adolescent risk-reduction program. We developed an instrument measuring the level of health protection motivation (LHPM) using factor analysis. Changes in LHPM over time were examined among drug traffickers, abstainers, initiators, and nonrisk youths. RESULTS: In sum, 151 participants reported selling and/or delivering drugs during the study period. The significant inverse correlation between drug-trafficking intention and health protection motivation was consistent with PMT. Changes in LHPM were strongly associated with the dynamics of behavior over 2 years. CONCLUSIONS: Adolescent drug trafficking can be predicted by an overall level of health protection motivation. PMT and related theories should be considered in the design of drug-trafficking prevention intervention. (+info)