Emotional word usage in groups at risk for schizophrenia-spectrum disorders: An objective investigation of attention to emotion.

Both extreme levels of social anhedonia (SocAnh) and extreme levels of perceptual aberration/magical ideation (PerMag) indicate increased risk for schizophrenia-spectrum disorders and are associated with emotional deficits. For SocAnh, there is evidence of self-reported decreased trait positive affect and abnormalities in emotional attention. For PerMag, there is evidence of increased trait negative affect and increased attention to negative emotion. Yet, the nature of more objective emotional abnormalities in these groups is unclear. The goal of this study was to assess attention to emotions more objectively in a SocAnh, PerMag, and control group by using a positive (vs. neutral) mood induction procedure followed by a free writing period. Linguistic analyses revealed that the SocAnh group used fewer positive emotion words than the control group, with the PerMag group falling in between the others. In addition, both at-risk groups used more negative emotion words than the control group. Also, for the control group only, those in the positive mood induction used more positive emotion words, suggesting their emotions influenced their linguistic expression. Overall, SocAnh is associated with decreased positive emotional expression and at-risk groups are associated with increased negative emotional expression and a decreased influence of emotions on linguistic expression.

Polyphenol-rich cranberry juice has a neutral effect on endothelial function but decreases the fraction of osteocalcin-expressing endothelial progenitor cells.

PURPOSE: Cranberry juice (CJ) contains a remarkably high concentration of polyphenols, considered to be beneficial for cardiovascular and bone health. The current double-blind, randomized study was designed to test whether daily consumption of double-strength Ocean Spray light CJ (2 × 230 ml) over 4 months has beneficial effects on vascular function and on endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) carrying the osteoblastic marker osteocalcin in particular. METHODS: A total of 84 participants (49.5 ± 16.2 years) with peripheral endothelial dysfunction and cardiovascular risk factors were enrolled in this double-blind, randomized, controlled trial (69 completed the 4-month protocol-32 in the CJ group and 37 in the placebo group, respectively). Vascular responses to reactive hyperemia were measured non-invasively by peripheral arterial tonometry (EndoPAT). Peripheral blood mononuclear cells were stained for EPC markers, as well as osteocalcin, and counted by flow cytometry. RESULTS: Baseline characteristics were similar in both groups. The effect of CJ on peripheral endothelial function and on circulating EPC counts (CD34(+)/CD133(+)/KDR(+)) did not change during the study. A high percentage of EPCs expressed osteocalcin (59.4 ± 35.7%). CJ, as compared to placebo, induced a decrease in the fraction of EPCs expressing osteocalcin (-8.64 ± 48.98 and 19.13 ± 46.11%, respectively, p = 0.019). Systemic levels of the adhesion marker ICAM correlated significantly with the number of EPCs expressing osteocalcin. CONCLUSIONS: The study demonstrated that long-term supplementation of polyphenol-rich CJ did not improve peripheral endothelial function. However, the decrease in the fraction of osteocalcin+ EPCs suggests a potential beneficial effect of polyphenol-rich CJ.

Differential associations between schizotypy facets and emotion traits.

Although emotional deficits in schizotypy have been reported, the exact nature of these deficits is not well understood. The goal of the current research was to further differentiate possible emotion deficits in schizotypy. In the current study, individuals with elevated social anhedonia (SocAnh; n=54) and elevated perceptual aberration/magical ideation (PerMag; n=27) were compared to control participants (n=304) on measures of attention to either positive or negative affect, level of anticipatory versus consummatory pleasure, and on the influence of negative mood on judgment of future risk. SocAnh was associated with decreased attention to positive emotions. At the same time, SocAnh was associated with both decreased anticipatory and decreased consummatory pleasure. In addition, in contrast to the other groups, there was no association in the SocAnh group between current negative mood and performance on a judgment task. In contrast to SocAnh, PerMag was associated with increased attention to negative emotions. Overall, these results suggest that SocAnh is associated with decreased attention to and experience of positive emotions and that PerMag is associated with increased attention to negative emotions.

Social and physical anhedonia and valence and arousal aspects of emotional experience.

Two studies examined whether self-reported anhedonia is associated with 2 facets of emotional experience, valence and arousal. In Study 1, in multiple assessments of emotional experience (e.g., naturalistic and lab contexts and social and nonsocial situations), people with elevated social anhedonia (n = 40) reported less intensity of positive affect than both controls (n = 30) and people with elevated perceptual aberration-magical ideation (n = 29). Social anhedonia was also associated with providing less emotional content when describing what it is like to experience positive situations. In contrast, both social anhedonia and perceptual aberration-magical ideation were associated with increased frequency of negative affect for their daily experiences. Moreover, social anhedonia was not associated with a decrease specifically in high-arousal emotions. In Study 2 (n = 339), social and physical anhedonia (but not perceptual aberration-magical ideation) were again associated with decreased self-reported positive affect to lab stimuli. In these studies, results were not statistically accounted for by personality, current mood, or current distress. Overall, results suggest anhedonia may be associated with a general decrease in self-reported positive affect intensity.