What does metaphoric language say about aggression? The relationships between metaphoric language, impulsivity, and aggression.

Aggressive behavior among adolescents has been identified as a serious worldwide problem, especially when combined with trait impulsivity. This study investigates the impact of an overlooked aspect of language, namely, metaphor comprehension, on impulsivity and aggression in adolescents. A total of 204 adolescents completed self-reported questionnaires assessing impulsivity and aggression and underwent tests assessing familiar and less familiar metaphor comprehension. The findings reveal inverse relationships between metaphor comprehension and both impulsivity and aggression. Regarding aggression, notable distinctions were observed in the correlations between familiar and less familiar metaphors with specific aggression types. Additionally, impulsivity was found to mediate the relationship between the comprehension of familiar metaphors and aggression. These results are elucidated in the context of cognitive and executive functions, emphasizing the significance of considering metaphor comprehension as a cognitive process capable of modulating aggressive behavior.

PARP14 inhibition restores PD-1 immune checkpoint inhibitor response following IFNγ-driven acquired resistance in preclinical cancer models.

Resistance mechanisms to immune checkpoint blockade therapy (ICBT) limit its response duration and magnitude. Paradoxically, Interferon γ (IFNγ), a key cytokine for cellular immunity, can promote ICBT resistance. Using syngeneic mouse tumour models, we confirm that chronic IFNγ exposure confers resistance to immunotherapy targeting PD-1 (α-PD-1) in immunocompetent female mice. We observe upregulation of poly-ADP ribosyl polymerase 14 (PARP14) in chronic IFNγ-treated cancer cell models, in patient melanoma with elevated IFNG expression, and in melanoma cell cultures from ICBT-progressing lesions characterised by elevated IFNγ signalling. Effector T cell infiltration is enhanced in tumours derived from cells pre-treated with IFNγ in immunocompetent female mice when PARP14 is pharmacologically inhibited or knocked down, while the presence of regulatory T cells is decreased, leading to restoration of α-PD-1 sensitivity. Finally, we determine that tumours which spontaneously relapse in immunocompetent female mice following α-PD-1 therapy upregulate IFNγ signalling and can also be re-sensitised upon receiving PARP14 inhibitor treatment, establishing PARP14 as an actionable target to reverse IFNγ-driven ICBT resistance.

Personality traits and environment: The effects of observing visual art on verbal creativity.

Figurative language is one of the most prevalent expressions of verbal creativity, and use of novel metaphors is the most significant source of verbal innovation. As environmental and personality trait factors can impact creativity, the current study aimed to examine whether exposure to an environment rich in visual stimuli (artwork) and verbal stimuli (novel metaphors) contributes to verbal creativity, taking into account the personality trait of "openness to experience." Study participants (132) were divided into three groups: (1) a group exposed to a creative verbal environment (reading novel metaphors), (2) a group exposed to a visually creative environment (observing abstract and figurative artwork), and (3) a group not exposed to any creative environment. Participants completed personality questionnaire and a metaphor generation questionnaire that asked participants to describe 10 emotions using novel metaphors. Results showed the type of creative environment exposure had a graded effect on creativity (i.e., generation of novel metaphors): the non-exposed control group generated fewer novel than conventional metaphors, the group exposed to novel verbal metaphors produced a similar number of novel and conventional metaphors, and the group exposed to artwork produced more novel than conventional metaphors. This may imply that environments containing visually creative stimuli provide opportunities for silent contemplation which in turn evoke neuropsychological mechanisms related to creative processes. Furthermore, the finding that the trait of "openness to experience" and exposure to a visually creative environment contributed to greater generation of novel metaphors suggests that creativity may be dependent on both individual and environmental factors.

Tackling the Electro-Topography of the Selves Through the Sphere Model of Consciousness.

In the current hypothesis paper, we propose a novel examination of consciousness and self-awareness through the neuro-phenomenological theoretical model known as the Sphere Model of Consciousness (SMC). Our aim is to create a practical instrument to address several methodological issues in consciousness research. We present a preliminary attempt to validate the SMC via a simplified electrophysiological topographic map of the Self. This map depicts the gradual shift from faster to slower frequency bands that appears to mirror the dynamic between the various SMC states of Self. In order to explore our hypothesis that the SMC's different states of Self correspond to specific frequency bands, we present a mini-review of studies examining the electrophysiological activity that occurs within the different states of Self and in the context of specific meditation types. The theoretical argument presented here is that the SMC's hierarchical organization of three states of the Self mirrors the hierarchical organization of Focused Attention, Open Monitoring, and Non-Dual meditation types. This is followed by testable predictions and potential applications of the SMC and the hypotheses derived from it. To our knowledge, this is the first integrated electrophysiological account that combines types of Self and meditation practices. We suggest this electro-topographic framework of the Selves enables easier, clearer conceptualization of the connections between meditation types as well as increased understanding of wakefulness states and altered states of consciousness.

Processing of Spoken Emotions in Schizophrenia: Forensic and Non-forensic Patients Differ in Emotional Identification and Integration but Not in Selective Attention.

Patients with schizophrenia (PwS) typically demonstrate deficits in visual processing of emotions. Less is known about auditory processing of spoken-emotions, as conveyed by the prosodic (tone) and semantics (words) channels. In a previous study, forensic PwS (who committed violent offenses) identified spoken-emotions and integrated the emotional information from both channels similarly to controls. However, their performance indicated larger failures of selective-attention, and lower discrimination between spoken-emotions, than controls. Given that forensic schizophrenia represents a special subgroup, the current study compared forensic and non-forensic PwS. Forty-five PwS listened to sentences conveying four basic emotions presented in semantic or prosodic channels, in different combinations. They were asked to rate how much they agreed that the sentences conveyed a predefined emotion, focusing on one channel or on the sentence as a whole. Their performance was compared to that of 21 forensic PwS (previous study). The two groups did not differ in selective-attention. However, better emotional identification and discrimination, as well as better channel integration were found for the forensic PwS. Results have several clinical implications: difficulties in spoken-emotions processing might not necessarily relate to schizophrenia; attentional deficits might not be a risk factor for aggression in schizophrenia; and forensic schizophrenia might have unique characteristics as related to spoken-emotions processing (motivation, stimulation).

Trait impulsivity and callous-unemotional traits as predictors of inhibitory control and risky choices among high-risk adolescents.

Trait impulsivity and callous-unemotional traits are associated with behavioural problems among high-risk adolescents. While both are known to influence behaviour, the nature of their expression in high-risk behaviours, particularly those related to inhibitory control, is not well understood. In the current, preliminary study, we examined whether and how these traits predicted deficits in behaviour driven by bottom-up, automatic versus deliberate, top-down inhibitory processes among high-risk adolescents. Two go/no-go task variants, emotional and non-emotional, were used to assess reactive response inhibition, and the Balloon Analogue Risk Task was used to assess the ability to resist deliberate risky choices. The results showed that the two types of self-reported trait measures were differentially associated with performance on the two types of behavioural inhibition tasks. Trait impulsivity predicted non-emotional inhibitory control whereas callous-unemotional traits predicted risky choices. The results also showed that the emotions task elicited slower reaction times and higher false alarm rates than did the letters task, and that participants had greater difficulty inhibiting responses to negatively than to positively valenced no-go stimuli. While preliminary, the results suggest that the interplay between trait impulsivity and callous-unemotional traits is an important determinant of inhibitory behaviour in this high-risk adolescents.

Processing of Emotions in Speech in Forensic Patients With Schizophrenia: Impairments in Identification, Selective Attention, and Integration of Speech Channels.

Individuals with schizophrenia show deficits in recognition of emotions which may increase the risk of violence. This study explored how forensic patients with schizophrenia process spoken emotion by: (a) identifying emotions expressed in prosodic and semantic content separately, (b) selectively attending to one speech channel while ignoring the other, and (c) integrating the prosodic and the semantic channels, compared to non-clinical controls. Twenty-one forensic patients with schizophrenia and 21 matched controls listened to sentences conveying four emotions (anger, happiness, sadness, and neutrality) presented in semantic or prosodic channels, in different combinations. They were asked to rate how much they agreed that the sentences conveyed a predefined emotion, focusing on one channel or on the sentence as a whole. Forensic patients with schizophrenia performed with intact identification and integration of spoken emotions, but their ratings indicated reduced discrimination, larger failures of selective attention, and under-ratings of negative emotions, compared to controls. This finding doesn't support previous reports of an inclination to interpret social situations in a negative way among individuals with schizophrenia. Finally, current results may guide rehabilitation approaches matched to the pattern of auditory emotional processing presented by forensic patients with schizophrenia, improving social interactions and quality of life.

The Implications of Motor and Cognitive Inhibition for Hot and Cool Executive Functions: The Case of Quadrato Motor Training.

Enabling the ceasing of ongoing or prepotent responses and the controlling of interference, motor inhibition facilitates the development of executive functions (EFs) such as thought before action, decision-making, self-regulation of affect, motivation, and arousal. In the current paper, a characterization is offered of the relationship between motor inhibition and the executive functioning system, in the context of a proposed division into predominantly affective (hot) and cognitive (cool) components corresponding to neural trajectories originating in the prefrontal cortex. This division is central to understanding the effects of a specifically-structured sensorimotor movement training practice, known as Quadrato Motor Training (QMT), on hot and cool EFs. QMT's effects on crucial mechanisms of integrating different EF components are discussed.

Elucidating the role of selective attention, divergent thinking, language abilities, and executive functions in metaphor generation.

Metaphoric language is one of the most common expressions of creative cognition in everyday life. However, the cognitive mechanisms underlying metaphor generation remain largely unexplained. In this study, we aimed to investigate the relationship between various cognitive functions and both novel and conventional metaphor generation. Ninety-five undergraduate students were administered a metaphor generation task that assesses novel and conventional metaphor generation, along with a battery of different cognitive measures: vocabulary; divergent thinking (Tel Aviv Creativity Test), working memory (WM) via digit span tests, executive functions (EFs) using the Behavioral Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF) questionnaire, and selective attention (lateralized global-local digit task). Results of a path analysis indicated that - whereas only selective attention contributed to conventional metaphor generation - selective attention, divergent thinking, and EFs contributed to novel metaphor generation beyond vocabulary and WM. Thus, the results indicate that although both novel and conventional metaphor generation are linked to attentional resources and inhibitory control, the greater creativity inherent in novel metaphor generation appears to reflect a more complex set of cognitive processes than conventional metaphor generation.

Creating an Internal Environment of Cognitive and Psycho-Emotional Well-Being through an External Movement-Based Environment: An Overview of Quadrato Motor Training.

In this overview, we discuss the internal and external environmental factors associated with cognitive and psycho-emotional well-being in the context of physical activity and Mindful Movement. Our key argument is that improved cognitive and emotional functions associated with mental well-being can be achieved by an external, Mindful Movement-based environment training called Quadrato Motor Training (QMT). QMT is a structured sensorimotor training program aimed at improving coordination, attention, and emotional well-being through behavioral, electrophysiological, neuroanatomical, and molecular changes. In accordance with this argument, we first describe the general neurobiological mechanisms underpinning emotional states and emotion regulation. Next, we review the relationships between QMT, positive emotional state, and increased emotion regulation, and discuss the neurobiological mechanisms underlying these relationships. We consider the relationships between motion, emotion, and cognition, and highlight the need for integrated training paradigms involving these three trajectories. Such training paradigms provide cognitively engaging exercises to improve emotion regulation, which in turn affects adaptive behaviors. Finally, we address the broader implications of improving cognitive and emotional functioning through Mindful Movement training for environmental research and public health.

Does emotion matter? The role of alexithymia in violent recidivism: A systematic literature review.

BACKGROUND: Several variables have been evidenced for their association with violent reoffending. Resultant interventions have been suggested, yet the rate of recidivism remains high. Alexithymia, characterised by deficits in emotion processing and verbal expression, might interact with these other risk factors to affect outcomes. AIM: Our goal was to examine the role of alexithymia as a possible moderator of risk factors for violent offender recidivism. Our hypothesis was that, albeit with other risk factors, alexithymia increases the risk of violent reoffending. METHOD: We conducted a systematic literature review, using terms for alexithymia and violent offending and their intersection. RESULTS: (a) No study that directly tests the role of alexithymia in conjunction with other potential risk factors for recidivism and actual violent recidivism was uncovered. (b) Primarily alexithymia researchers and primarily researchers into violence have separately found several clinical features in common between aspects of alexithymia and violence, such as impulsivity (total n = 24 studies). (c) Other researchers have established a relationship between alexithymia and both dynamic and static risk factors for violent recidivism (n = 16 studies). CONCLUSION: Alexithymia may be a possible moderator of risk of violent offence recidivism. Supplementing offenders' rehabilitation efforts with assessments of alexithymia may assist in designing individually tailored interventions to promote desistance among violent offenders.

Using Dual Process Models to Examine Impulsivity Throughout Neural Maturation.

The multivariate construct of impulsivity is examined through neural systems and connections that comprise the executive functioning system. It is proposed that cognitive and behavioral components of impulsivity can be divided into two distinct groups, mediated by (1) the cognitive control system: deficits in top-down cognitive control processes referred to as action/cognitive impulsivity and (2) the socioemotional system: related to bottom-up affective/motivational processes referred to as affective impulsivity. Examination of impulsivity from a developmental viewpoint can guide future research, potentially enabling the selection of more effective interventions for impulsive individuals, based on the cognitive components requiring improvement.

Relationships between trait impulsivity and cognitive control: the effect of attention switching on response inhibition and conflict resolution.

This study examined the relationship between trait impulsivity and cognitive control, as measured by the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS) and a focused attention dichotic listening to words task, respectively. In the task, attention was manipulated in two attention conditions differing in their cognitive control demands: one in which attention was directed to one ear at a time for a whole block of trials (blocked condition) and another in which attention was switched pseudo-randomly between the two ears from trial to trial (mixed condition). Results showed that high impulsivity participants exhibited more false alarm and intrusion errors as well as a lesser ability to distinguish between stimuli in the mixed condition, as compared to low impulsivity participants. In the blocked condition, the performance levels of the two groups were comparable with respect to these measures. In addition, total BIS scores were correlated with intrusions and laterality index in the mixed but not the blocked condition. The findings suggest that high impulsivity individuals may be less prone to attentional difficulties when cognitive load is relatively low. In contrast, when attention switching is involved, high impulsivity is associated with greater difficulty in inhibiting responses and resolving cognitive conflict than is low impulsivity, as reflected in error-prone information processing. The conclusion is that trait impulsivity in a non-clinical population is manifested more strongly when attention switching is required than during maintained attention. This may have important implications for the conceptualization and treatment of impulsivity in both non-clinical and clinical populations.

The effects of sad prosody on hemispheric specialization for words processing.

This study examined the effect of sad prosody on hemispheric specialization for word processing using behavioral and electrophysiological measures. A dichotic listening task combining focused attention and signal-detection methods was conducted to evaluate the detection of a word spoken in neutral or sad prosody. An overall right ear advantage together with leftward lateralization in early (150-170 ms) and late (240-260 ms) processing stages was found for word detection, regardless of prosody. Furthermore, the early stage was most pronounced for words spoken in neutral prosody, showing greater negative activation over the left than the right hemisphere. In contrast, the later stage was most pronounced for words spoken with sad prosody, showing greater positive activation over the left than the right hemisphere. The findings suggest that sad prosody alone was not sufficient to modulate hemispheric asymmetry in word-level processing. We posit that lateralized effects of sad prosody on word processing are largely dependent on the psychoacoustic features of the stimuli as well as on task demands.

A critical look at the relationship between impulsivity and decision-making in adolescents: are they related or separate factors?

This study examined the relations between impulsivity and decision-making as assessed by the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT). A total of 73 nonclinical adolescents were administered self-report measures for trait impulsivity and the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) to assess cognitive impulsivity. We found significant correlations between trait impulsivity and WCST performance among adolescents exhibiting poor performance on the IGT, and no such correlations for those adolescents performing well on the IGT. We recommend that researchers should assess performance on the IGT at the individual level in terms of learning.

The effect of nondialyzable material (NDM) cranberry extract on formation of contact lens biofilm by Staphylococcus epidermidis.

PURPOSE: To assess the effects of NDM from cranberries on Staphylococcus epidermidis biofilm formed on soft contact lenses. METHODS: Soft contact lenses were incubated in Tryptic Soy Broth (TSB) together with S. epidermidis (ATCC35984/RP62A) and various concentrations of NDM, and inspected by scanning electron and confocal microscopy. The TSB was collected after sonification and monitored turbidometrically. RESULTS: NDM at ≥500 µg/mL concentration caused a significant (P < 0.01) reduction of biofilm. Scanning electron microscopy of biofilm in the presence of 500 to 1000 µg/mL NDM confirmed these results. In control lenses, multilayered mushroom-shaped biofilm and complete coverage of the lens surface were seen, whereas after incubation with 500 µg NDM per mL TSB, the biofilm was thinner with smaller protuberances, and exposed lens surface was partially seen. In samples incubated with 1000 µg NDM per mL TSB, the lens surface was clearly seen between sporadic microcolonies. CONCLUSIONS: NDM reduces formation of biofilm on soft contact lenses. This has important implications for the prevention of contact lens-related corneal infections caused by S. epidermidis.

Impulsive decision-making: learning to gamble wisely?

A decade ago, Bechara et al. [Bechara, A., Damasio, A. R., Damasio, H., & Anderson, S. W. (1994). Insensitivity to future consequences following damage to human prefrontal cortex. Cognition, 50, 7-15] published a paper in Cognition, introducing a Gambling Task which was designed to mimic everyday decision-making. Since then, the task has been computerized, its decision-making components have been scrutinized, and it has been employed in various patient groups, such as pathological gamblers, substance abusers, and so forth. Time and again it has been shown that while normal controls perform well on the task, it is the various target populations under scrutiny who exhibit poor performance. Yet, as we show in this paper, a total of 46% of normal individuals exhibited poor performance on the task, indicating a lack of learning. We argue that while so much importance has been placed on contrasting patients with controls, perhaps the real emphasis should lie in distinguishing among different individual profiles of performance on the task, irrespective of clinical classification. Our basic recommendation is to look at the individual data, pool when you can, and only then to contrast groups.