Empathy and Schizotypy: A Network Comparison of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index in High and Low Schizotypy Groups.

Empathy is a multifaceted concept that is vital to effective social functioning; yet, it is impaired in high schizotypy groups. Furthermore, empathy has been found to be a mediator in the relationship between schizotypy and social functioning, highlighting the importance of empathy as a driver in social outcomes. Despite this, the four-factor structure of a widely-used measure of empathy-the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI)-has been found to be psychometrically weak in high schizotypy samples. As such, this study aimed to assess differences in the item-level network of the IRI between high (n = 427) and low schizotypy groups (n = 470). The results reveal that there are significant differences in the structure of these networks, though they evidence similar strengths. Within the high schizotypy group, the network structure was consistent with the four-factor structure of the IRI subscales; items from each subscale clustered together and were distinct from those in the other subscales. By contrast, the low schizotypy group evidenced six clusters that did not mirror the IRI subscales. These results suggest that the item-level structure of the IRI is dependent upon the level of schizotypy of the sample, with the high schizotypy group's network functioning similarly to what would be expected from the original four-factor structure.

Taxonomic and functional restoration of tallgrass prairie soil microbial communities in comparison to remnant and agricultural soils.

Restoring ecosystems requires the re-establishment of diverse soil microbial communities that drive critical ecosystem functions. In grasslands, restoration and management require the application of disturbances like fire and grazing. Disturbances can shape microbial taxonomic composition and potentially functional composition as well. We characterized taxonomic and functional gene composition of soil communities using whole genome shotgun metagenomic sequencing to determine how restored soil communities differed from pre-restoration agricultural soils and original remnant soils, how management affects soil microbes, and whether restoration and management affect the number of microbial genes associated with carbohydrate degradation. We found distinct differences in both taxonomic and functional diversity and composition among restored, remnant, and agricultural soils. Remnant soils had low taxonomic and functional richness and diversity, as well as distinct composition, indicating that restoration of agricultural soils does not re-create soil microbial communities that match remnants. Prescribed fire management increased functional diversity, which also was higher in more recently planted restorations. Finally, restored and post-fire soils included high abundances of genes encoding cellulose-degrading enzymes, so restorations and their ongoing management can potentially support functions important in carbon cycling.

Impaired emotional awareness is associated with childhood maltreatment exposure and positive symptoms in schizophrenia.

Objectives: Evidence suggests that emotional awareness-the ability to identify and label emotions-may be impaired in schizophrenia and related to positive symptom severity. Exposure to childhood maltreatment is a risk factor for both low emotional awareness and positive symptoms. Methods: The current investigation examines associations between a performance-based measure of emotional awareness, positive symptom severity, and childhood maltreatment exposure in 44 individuals with a schizophrenia-spectrum disorder and 48 healthy comparison participants using the electronic Levels of Emotional Awareness Scale (eLEAS), Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) and Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ). Results: Patients demonstrated significant deficits in emotional awareness overall, which was true for both self and others. In patients, lower emotional awareness was significantly associated with more severe positive symptoms. Emotional awareness was significantly impaired in patients with schizophrenia with self-reported maltreatment exposure, relative to other groups. Severity of maltreatment was not significantly associated with emotional awareness or positive symptoms when looking continuously, and there was no significant indirect effect. Conclusion: These data suggest that emotional awareness impairments observed in schizophrenia may be exacerbated by exposure to childhood maltreatment, possibly putting individuals at greater risk for experiencing positive symptoms of psychosis.

Empathy, Emotion Recognition, and Paranoia in the General Population.

Background: Paranoia is associated with a multitude of social cognitive deficits, observed in both clinical and subclinical populations. Empathy is significantly and broadly impaired in schizophrenia, yet its relationship with subclinical paranoia is poorly understood. Furthermore, deficits in emotion recognition - a very early component of empathic processing - are present in both clinical and subclinical paranoia. Deficits in emotion recognition may therefore underlie relationships between paranoia and empathic processing. The current investigation aims to add to the literature on social cognition and paranoia by: (1) characterizing the relationship between paranoia and empathy, and (2) testing whether there is an indirect effect of emotion recognition on the relationship between empathy and paranoia. Methods: Paranoia, empathy, and emotion recognition were assessed in a non-clinical sample of adults (n = 226) from the Nathan Kline Institute-Rockland (NKI-Rockland) dataset. Paranoia was measured using the Peters Delusions Inventory-21 (PDI-21). Empathy was measured using the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI), a self-report instrument designed to assess empathy using four subscales: Personal Distress, Empathic Concern, Perspective Taking, and Fantasy. Emotion recognition was assessed using the Penn Emotion Recognition Test (ER-40). Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to estimate relationships between paranoia, the four measures of empathy and emotion recognition. Results: Paranoia was associated with the Fantasy subscale of the IRI, such that higher Fantasy was associated with more severe paranoia (p < 0.001). No other empathy subscales were associated with paranoia. Fantasy was also associated with the emotion recognition of fear, such that higher Fantasy was correlated with better recognition of fear (p = 0.008). Paranoia and emotion recognition were not significantly associated. The Empathic Concern subscale was negatively associated with emotion recognition, with higher empathic concern related to worse overall emotion recognition (p = 0.002). All indirect paths through emotion recognition were non-significant. Discussion: These results suggest that imaginative perspective-taking contributes to paranoia in the general population. These data do not, however, point to robust global relationships between empathy and paranoia or to emotion recognition as an underlying mechanism. Deficits in empathy and emotion recognition observed in schizophrenia may be associated with the broader pathology of schizophrenia, and therefore not detectable with subclinical populations.

Strong hearts, open minds: Cardiovascular challenge predicts non-defensive responses to ingroup-perpetrated violence.

Reminders of ingroup-perpetrated violence represent a psychological stressor that some people respond to defensively (e.g., justifying the violence), while others react non-defensively (e.g., accepting collective responsibility). To explain these divergent responses, we applied the biopsychosocial model of challenge and threat to the context of intergroup conflict. Participants (N = 130) read about either an ingroup (American) or outgroup (Australian) soldier torturing an Iranian captive. We recorded cardiovascular responses while participants video-recorded introductions to an Iranian confederate who they believed they would meet. In the ingroup (but not the outgroup) condition, cardiovascular responses of challenge (relative to threat) were associated with less psychological defensiveness of ingroup-perpetrated violence and greater support for diplomacy towards its victims. Self-reported challenge/threat appraisals demonstrated no such relationships. These findings suggest that motivational states of challenge and threat can differentiate defensive and non-defensive responses, and that these motivational states may be better captured with physiological rather than self-report measures.

Intraspecific trait variation across elevation predicts a widespread tree species' climate niche and range limits.

Global change is widely altering environmental conditions which makes accurately predicting species range limits across natural landscapes critical for conservation and management decisions. If climate pressures along elevation gradients influence the distribution of phenotypic and genetic variation of plant functional traits, then such trait variation may be informative of the selective mechanisms and adaptations that help define climatic niche limits. Using extensive field surveys along 16 elevation transects and a large common garden experiment, we tested whether functional trait variation could predict the climatic niche of a widespread tree species (Populus angustifolia) with a double quantile regression approach. We show that intraspecific variation in plant size, growth, and leaf morphology corresponds with the species' total climate range and certain climatic limits related to temperature and moisture extremes. Moreover, we find evidence of genetic clines and phenotypic plasticity at environmental boundaries, which we use to create geographic predictions of trait variation and maximum values due to climatic constraints across the western US. Overall, our findings show the utility of double quantile regressions for connecting species distributions and climate gradients through trait-based mechanisms. We highlight how new approaches like ours that incorporate genetic variation in functional traits and their response to climate gradients will lead to a better understanding of plant distributions as well as identifying populations anticipated to be maladapted to future environments.

Emotionally evocative patients in the emergency department: a mixed methods investigation of providers' reported emotions and implications for patient safety.

BACKGROUND: Emergency department (ED) physicians and nurses frequently interact with emotionally evocative patients, which can impact clinical decision-making and behaviour. This study introduces well-established methods from social psychology to investigate ED providers' reported emotional experiences and engagement in their own recent patient encounters, as well as perceived effects of emotion on patient care. METHODS: Ninety-four experienced ED providers (50 physicians and 44 nurses) vividly recalled and wrote about three recent patient encounters (qualitative data): one that elicited anger/frustration/irritation (angry encounter), one that elicited happiness/satisfaction/appreciation (positive encounter), and one with a patient with a mental health condition (mental health encounter). Providers rated their emotions and engagement in each encounter (quantitative data), and reported their perception of whether and how their emotions impacted their clinical decision-making and behaviour (qualitative data). RESULTS: Providers generated 282 encounter descriptions. Emotions reported in angry and mental health encounters were remarkably similar, highly negative, and associated with reports of low provider engagement compared with positive encounters. Providers reported their emotions influenced their clinical decision-making and behaviour most frequently in angry encounters, followed by mental health and then positive encounters. Emotions in angry and mental health encounters were associated with increased perceptions of patient safety risks; emotions in positive encounters were associated with perceptions of higher quality care. CONCLUSIONS: Positive and negative emotions can influence clinical decision-making and impact patient safety. Findings underscore the need for (1) education and training initiatives to promote awareness of emotional influences and to consider strategies for managing these influences, and (2) a comprehensive research agenda to facilitate discovery of evidence-based interventions to mitigate emotion-induced patient safety risks. The current work lays the foundation for testing novel interventions.