High depressive symptomatology reduces emotional reactions to pictures of social interaction.

Individuals with severe depressive symptoms present diminished facial expressions compared to healthy individuals. This reduced facial expression, which occurs in most depressive patients could impair social relationships. The current study sought to investigate whether pictures with social interaction cues could elicit different modulations of facial expressions and mood states in individuals with depressive symptoms compared to healthy individuals. A total of 85 individuals were divided into depressive and non-depressive groups based on their beck depression inventory scores. Participants viewed pictures containing neutral (objects), affiliative (people interacting socially), and control (people not interacting) scenes. Electromyographic signals were collected during the entire period of visualization of the blocks, and emotional questionnaires were evaluated after each block to assess sociability and altruism (prosocial states). In non-depressed individuals, affiliative pictures increased the activity of the zygomatic muscle compared to both neutral and control pictures and reduced fear of rejection compared to neutral pictures. During the visualization of the affiliative block, zygomatic major muscle activation was higher and fear of rejection was lower in the non-depressive individuals than in the depressive. These effects reflected the low expressions of smiling and sociability to affiliative pictures in depressive individuals. These findings highlight the importance of smiling and prosocial states in social interactions, especially in these individuals.

The impact of a violent community on mental health and the benefits of a sport program for social development.

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the impact of a violent environment on mental health and the impact of a sport for social development (SSD) program on quality of life, mental distress symptoms, and heart rate variability (HRV). HRV and psychometric data were measured from 20 men professional athletes assisted by the SSD and 20 men living in the same violent community. The comparison of groups revealed greater sympathetic parameters of HRV, positive affect, and quality of life in the SSD group. Multiple regression analysis showed that the quality of life in the SSD group was positively predicted by positive affect, while in the control group the quality of life was negatively predicted by their history of traumatic events. Both groups reported high levels of exposure to traumatic events and posttraumatic stress symptoms. However, this study demonstrates the benefits of SSD programs in mental health.

Affiliative stimuli as primers to prosocial predispositions

Affiliative stimuli are pleasant and highly biologically relevant. Affiliative cues are thought to elicit a prosocial predisposition. Here affiliative and neutral pictures were exposed prior to a reaction time task which consisted in responding to a visual target. Half the participants responded with finger-flexion, a movement frequently involved in prosocial activities. The other half responded with finger extension, a less prosocially compatible movement. Results showed that under the exposure to affiliative pictures, as compared to neutral ones, participants who used finger flexion were faster, while those using finger extension were slower. Performance benefits to the task, when flexing the finger, together with performance costs, when extending it, indicate the relevance of movement compatibility to the context. These findings put forward a possible link between affiliative primers and motor preparation to facilitate a repertoire of movements related to prosocial predispositions including finger flexion (AU)

Los estímulos afiliativos son agradables y de gran relevancia biológica. Se cree que las señales afiliativas provocan una predisposición pro-social. En este estudio, fotos afiliativas y neutras fueron presentadas antes de una tarea de tiempo de reacción que consistía en responder a un objetivo/target visual. La mitad de los participantes respondieron utilizando dedo-flexión, un movimiento asociado con frecuencia a actividades pro-sociales. La otra mitad respondió con la extensión del dedo, un movimiento prosocialmente menos compatible. Los resultados mostraron que en la exposición a imágenes afiliativas, en comparación con las neutras, los participantes que usaron flexión del dedo eran más rápidos, mientras que aquellos que usaron extensión del dedo eran más lentos. El rendimiento superior en la tarea, en la flexion del dedo, junto con el perjuicio para el rendimiento en la extensión, son indicativos de la relevancia de la compatibilidad del movimiento con el contexto. Estos resultados presentan una posible relación entre primers afiliativos y la preparación motora que facilita un repertorio de movimientos relacionados con la predisposición prosocial, entre ellos, la flexión de los dedos(AU)