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Positive affectivity and lifestyle in adulthood: do you do what you feel?

There is much evidence for the adaptive value of positive affect. Empirical work examining different facets of positive affect and their consequences for psychological adaptation remains sparse, however. This study (young, middle-aged, and older adults; N = 293) investigated the links between two dimensions of positive affect (positive involvement and pleasant affect) and two lifestyles (hedonic and growth related), each indicated by general value orientations, self-reported everyday activities, and activity aspirations. Structural equation models showed that pleasant affect and positive involvement constitute distinct dimensions evincing different age trends and relating differentially to hedonic and growth-related lifestyles. Specifically, pleasant affect, but not positive involvement, was related to a hedonic lifestyle, whereas positive involvement, and not pleasant affect, was associated with a growth-related lifestyle. These findings underline the importance of considering two dimensions of positive affect--pleasant feelings and positive involvement--separately when studying the link between affect and lifestyle.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

Association of hypotension with positive and negative affect and depressive symptoms in the elderly.

BACKGROUND: Previous research associating hypotension with depression has produced inconsistent results. A possible reasons is that depressive symptom scales reflect both high negative affect and low positive affect. AIMS: To examine the association of hypotension with depressive symptoms, negative affect and positive affect. METHOD: Community survey of 340 elderly persons aged 77-99 years. RESULTS: Diastolic hypotension had a weak association with depression, no association with negative affect and a strong inverse association with positive affect. Systolic hypertension was associated with positive affect. Use of antihypertensive medication was independently associated with lower positive affect. CONCLUSIONS: Diastolic hypotension shows a specific association with low positive affect. This association may explain the weak and inconsistent results of earlier studies relating hypotension to depression.

Affect↗

Optimism, positive affectivity, and salivary cortisol.

OBJECTIVES: Research on stress and salivary cortisol has focused almost exclusively on the effects of negative psychological conditions or emotional states. Little attention has been drawn to the impact associated with positive psychological conditions, which have been shown recently to have significant influences on neuroendocrine regulation. The aim of this study is to examine the impact of optimism and positive affect on salivary cortisol with the effects of their negative counterparts controlled for. DESIGN: Optimism and pessimism, and positive and negative affectivity were studied in relation to the diurnal rhythm of salivary cortisol in a group of 80 Hong Kong Chinese, who provided six saliva samples over the course of a day on two consecutive days. The separate effects of optimism and positive affect on two dynamic components of cortisol secretion, awakening response, and diurnal decline were examined. METHODS: Optimism and pessimism were measured using the Chinese version of the revised Life Orientation Test while generalized affects and mood states were assessed by the Chinese Affect Scale. An enzyme-linked immunoabsorbent assay kit (EIA) developed for use in saliva was adopted for the biochemical analysis of cortisol. Testing of major group differences associated with positive psychological conditions was carried out using two-way (group by saliva collection time) ANOVAs for repeated measures with negative psychological conditions and mood states as covariates. RESULTS: Participants having higher optimism scores exhibited less cortisol secretion in the awakening period when the effect of pessimism and mood were controlled. This effect was more apparent in men than in women who had higher cortisol levels in the awakening period. Optimism did not have similar effect on cortisol levels during the underlying period of diurnal decline. On the other hand, higher generalized positive affect was associated with lower cortisol levels during the underlying period of diurnal decline after the effects of negative affect and mood states had been controlled. Generalized positive affect did not significantly influence cortisol secretion during the awakening period. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that positive psychological resources including optimism and generalized positive affect had higher impact on cortisol secretion than their negative counterparts, and point to the need for increased attention to the potential contribution of positive mental states to well-being.

Adult↗

Sketch for a metapsychology of affect.

The author argues that analysing affect, a concept lying on the frontier between the mental and the somatic (Freud, 1915a) has to be an embodied pursuit. This line of argument finds support in Freud's second hypothesis in 'An Outline of Psychoanalysis' (1940), where he writes that psychology should look to the somatic processes to see the true essence of what is psychical and in the first instance disregard the quality of consciousness. From this baseline the concepts of feeling, emotion and affect are differentiated and defined. Feelings and emotions are seen as two psychically perceived expressions of affective processes. The concept of affect is then defined as an affective matrix linked to a predisposition of the bodily systems to react in a certain way to internal or external stimuli. The affective matrix can find expression either in psychically perceived affects--feelings and emotions--or in physically perceived 'affect-equivalents'--psychosomatic symptoms and somatic illnesses. It is finally argued that this hypothesis finds support in the evolutionary perspective delineated by Freud in 'Inhibitions, Symptoms and Anxiety' (1926), where he claims that affects are reproductions of very early, perhaps even pre-individual, experiences of vital importance.

Affect↗

An investigation of the color-affect hypothesis in Exner's comprehensive system.

The color-affect hypothesis states that color responses on the Rorschach provide information regarding an individual's emotional life. The present study explored the several color-affect interpretive hypotheses in Exner's popular Comprehensive System by using a theory-relevant measure of affective modulation inferred from 32 undergraduates' behavior in an emotionally salient dyadic interaction. Subjects designated as high affective modulators (n = 6) and low affective modulators (n = 10) according to Exner's theory were not significantly different on a discrepancy score measure of affective modulation. It is suggested that Rorschach color scores may be insensitive to the more subtle forms of affective modulation present in less emotionally disordered individuals. Further research is suggested and caution is advised for clinicians assessing affective modulation styles in less severely disturbed patients based on traditional color-affect interpretive theory.

Adolescent↗

Demorgraphic characteristics in affective disorders.

One hundred and fifty four consecutively evaluated new and return psychiatric outpatients were examined by the same interviewer using a detailed, precoded questionnaire based on the diagnostic criteria for psychiatric research proposed by Feighner et al. Affective disorders were present for 75% of the patients and were associated with older age, divorce and a shorter duration of marital status. Race, sex, education and income levels were not related to the presence of affective disorders. Sixty patients with diagnoses of primary affective disorders and 56 patients with diagnoses of secondary affective disorders were identified and studied. Secondary affective disorders were found to be associated with males, younger age (under 34), unmarried marital status, and lower income levels. Primary affective disorders were associated with higher annual incomes (over +4,000) and fewer individuals with a "some high school only" education. Forty one patients with diagnoses of unipolar primary affective disorders were examined. Sex, race, age, marital status and duration of marital status did not vary for the two groups and were not associated with polarity of affective disorders. Lower education and annual income levels both were demonstrated for patients with bipolar primary affective disorders.

Adolescent↗

Age-related differences and change in positive and negative affect over 23 years.

Positive and negative affect, measured by the Bradburn Affect Balance Scale, were studied in a longitudinal sample spanning from 1971 to 1994. The sample (N = 2,804) represented 4 generations of families. Linear trend analyses compared generations over time for positive and negative affect and also examined the possible influences of neuroticism and extraversion on initial levels of affect and patterns of change in affect. Negative affect decreased with age for all generations, although the rate was attenuated among the oldest adults. Higher neuroticism scores also attenuated the decrease in negative affect across time. For positive affect, the younger and middle-aged adults showed marked stability, but the older group evidenced a small decrease over time. Higher levels of extraversion were related to more stability in positive affect.

Adolescent↗

[Development of the affect system].

The authors show that the development of the affect system commences with affects of an exclusively communicative nature. These regulate the relationship between subject and object. On a different plane they also provide information on the feeling of self deriving from the interaction. Affect is seen throughout as a special kind of information. One section of the article is given over to intensity regulation and early affect defenses. The development of cognitive processes leads to the integration of affect systems and cognitive structures. In the pre-conceptual concretistic phase, fantasies change the object relation in such a way as to make unpleasant affects disappear. Only at a later stage do fantasies acquire the capacity to deal with affects. Ultimately, the affect system is grounded on an invariant relationship feeling. On a variety of different levels it displays the features typical of situation theory and the theory of the representational world, thus making it possible to entertain complex object relations. In this process the various planes of the affect system are retained and practised. Finally, the authors discuss the consequences of their remarks for the understanding of psychic disturbances and the therapies brought to bear on them.

Affect↗

Affective responses of physically active and sedentary individuals during and after moderate aerobic exercise.

BACKGROUND: This study examined the effects of aerobic fitness and exercise history on self-reported affect during and after acute aerobic exercise and quite reading. METHODS: Active and sedentary participants (N = 41) reported their psychological affect during two separate conditions in a counterbalanced design: (1) exercise on a cycle ergometer at 50% predicted VO2 max, and (2) quiet reading in a reclining chair. Affect was assessed prior to, every 3 minutes during, and at 5 and 20 minutes after each 24-minute exercise and reading period. RESULTS: Analysis revealed that active participants were significantly more positive than the sedentary group during exercise and at 5 minutes postexercise. The groups were similar in affect at 20 minutes postexercise. No between-group differences were found during the reading condition. Exercise enhanced affect compared to reading only for the active group. In addition, the affective responses of both groups were influenced by pre-exercise affect, with the greatest increases observed for those reporting the lowest affect before activity. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that affective responses during and after aerobic exercise were influenced by exercise history and aerobic fitness, but moderated by pre-activity scores.

Adult↗

Linkage studies of bipolar disorder: methodologic and analytic issues. Report of MacArthur Foundation Workshop on Linkage and Clinical Features in Affective Disorders.

To review the findings of the linkage studies of affective disorders, a workshop, "Linkage and Clinical Features in Affective Disorders," was organized by the MacArthur Foundation Mental Health Research Network I on the Psychobiology of Depression meeting in Alexandria, Va, April 13 to 15, 1989. The major goals of the workshop for affective disorders were to explore the relationship between genetic and clinical heterogeneity, to identify major impediments to linkage studies, and to develop recommendations for the application of standardized methods of conducting linkage studies. The participants in the conference presented detailed demographic and clinical data from most of the published linkage studies of affective disorders. No systematic correspondence between genetic and clinical subtypes of bipolar disorder pedigrees was evident. The major problems hampering the linkage analyses of psychiatric disorders that were identified follow: (1) the major psychiatric disorders--the affective disorders in particular--constituting complex human disorders; (2) the lack of valid definitions of affective disorders; (3) comorbidity between the affective disorders with other disorders; (4) nonrandom mating; (5) a cohort effect, with younger birth cohorts exhibiting higher rates of affective disorders; and (6) the lack of replication of current linkage studies. The recommendations that were made for linkage study designs that incorporate some of the complexities of the affective disorders are reported.

Bipolar Disorder↗

History of affective disorder and the experience of fatigue in rheumatoid arthritis.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate how a prior affective disorder (major depression or generalized anxiety disorder) affects current fatigue among individuals with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). To determine whether that relationship is mediated by self-efficacy expectations. METHODS: Forty-eight RA patients with a prior affective disorder and 74 without a history of affective disorder completed a mailed questionnaire that included the Multidimensional Assessment of Fatigue and indicators of neuroticism and self efficacy. RESULTS: RA patients with a history of affective disorder reported higher levels of fatigue than those with no previous affective disturbance. Controlling for neuroticism and self efficacy, affective disorder history continued to predict current fatigue. Mediational analyses revealed both direct and indirect effects (via self efficacy) of history of affective disorder on the experience of fatigue in RA. CONCLUSION: History of affective disorder independently predicts higher levels of fatigue in RA patients, and self efficacy plays a mediating role in this relationship.

Aged↗

Proteome-level evidence that tebuconazole, both alone and in interaction with thiacloprid, affects epigenetic events in bumblebee heads.

Tebuconazole, a widely used ergosterol biosynthesis-inhibiting fungicide, can affect nontargets, especially when combined with insecticides. We employed label-free quantitative proteomics to investigate the effects of long-term exposure to sublethal concentrations (100 μg/L) of tebuconazole, either by itself or alongside the neonicotinoid thiacloprid (100 μg/L), on the heads of Bombus terrestris workers. A Bayesian factor power analysis revealed that the experiment produced conclusive proteomic results. Tebuconazole treatment revealed eleven differentially abundant proteins, which increased elevenfold with thiacloprid. The proteins that changed in the same direction in both treatments suggest the occurrence of epigenetic events because they are involved in histone trimethylation (H3K4me3), pre-mRNA processing, and folate (vitamin B9) metabolism. Following co-exposure, the abundance of histone H2A.V and its associated proteins was affected. Two important detoxification-related proteins, CYP6BE1 and CYP6AQ1 (honey bee homologs), were identified, as well as proteins that suggest hormonal and neurotoxic effects. Overall, this study suggests that tebuconazole affects key epigenetic processes in bumblebee heads at the proteome level, though this was not confirmed at the biological level or through orthogonal methods. The tested chemicals were previously found to affect trimethylations, but not H3K4me3. We suggest analyzing the different trimethylations, their interplay, and associated hallmarks, such as folate levels. SIGNIFICANCE: The effects of pesticides and their combinations on organisms can be unexpected until they are examined using modern, complex methods. High-throughput proteomics can provide data on important biochemical processes affected by pesticides, offering a different perspective to that at the expression level. Despite their low acute toxicity, a group of fungicides that inhibit (ergo)sterol biosynthesis (EBI or SBI) are considered dangerous to pollinators, including bumblebees. This is due to the increasing toxicity of insecticides through the inhibition of cytochrome P450 detoxification enzymes. We found that tebuconazole had a similar effect on epigenetic events when used alone or in combination with the insecticide thiacloprid. Key proteins suggest that H3K4 histone trimethylation (H3K4me3) was impacted. To our knowledge, this expands the existing evidence suggesting that tebuconazole/triazole fungicides affect histone trimethylation H3K27me3. Since literature shows that thiacloprid affects H3K9me3, it is possible that thiacloprid and tebuconazole interact in these epigenetic events that affect each other. Overall, our results suggest that tebuconazole affects proteins involved in histone trimethylation, pre-mRNA processing, and folate metabolism. These are all hallmarks of epigenetic processes and were further extended by the co-exposure of tebuconazole and thiacloprid to more differently abundant proteins. Additionally, the results provide data on cytochrome P450s of the CYP6 family, which act as detoxifying proteins, as well as proteins that indicate hormonal and neurotoxic effects in bumblebee heads. Finally, the results of the Bayesian power analysis confirmed the meaningfulness of the proteomic data analyzed in this study. If the new findings obtained at the proteome level are verified by different methods, the full extent of the side effects of tebuconazole can be revealed.

Animals↗

Behavioral and affective changes in children and adolescents with chronic cerebellar lesions.

The aim of the present study was to investigate if clinically relevant affective or behavioral changes as described in adults in the cerebellar affective syndrome by Schmahmann and Sherman [The cerebellar cognitive affective syndrome, Brain 121 (1998) 561-579] are likely to occur as a long-term sequelae of cerebellar vermis lesions in children. Site and extent of the vermal lesion were defined on the basis of individual 3D-MRI scans and lesion data were correlated with behavioral and affective changes. Affect and behavior were assessed in children after cerebellar tumor surgery by means of experimenter ratings based on the description of the cerebellar affective syndrome and free ratings by the patients and their parents. Twelve children and adolescents with a former cerebellar astrocytoma surgery without subsequent radiation or chemotherapy participated. Detailed analysis of individual 3D-MR images revealed that lesions affected the vermis in nine children. Experimenter ratings according to Schmahmann revealed no relevant problems in patients. In five out of nine patients with vermal affection somewhat increased thoughtful, anxious or aggressive behavior was reported by patients and parents. In conclusion, minor behavioral and affective changes were present in a subset of children with chronic vermal lesions.

Adolescent↗

Neural correlates of a reversal learning task with an affectively neutral baseline: an event-related fMRI study.

Reversal learning may conceptually be dissected into acquiring stimulus-reinforcement associations and subsequently altering behavior by switching to new associations as stimulus-reinforcement contingencies reverse (i.e., affective switching). Previous imaging studies have found regions of the ventrolateral and orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) to be involved in both subprocesses. However, these studies did not contain an affectively neutral baseline, which precluded adequate assessment of main effects of reward, punishment, and affective switching. We aimed to determine the neural substrate of these main effects, and of common and dissociable regions for reward and punishment. Furthermore, we aimed to discriminate between stimulus-punishment association and affective switching, i.e., to assess affective switching proper. To this end, we implemented a reversal learning task with an affectively neutral baseline condition that matched the experimental task in visual complexity and motor demands. Interestingly, we found dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and anterior PFC to be engaged in affective switching, a finding that has not been reported before to our knowledge. Enhanced responses in these areas may represent their involvement in cognitive set shifting per se unrelated to the affective context in a reversal learning design. In addition, OFC, insular and medial prefrontal cortex regions were involved in affective switching. Left medial and lateral OFC were shown to be common areas for feedback processing, whereas left ventral striatum and left lateral OFC were specifically activated by reward and punishment, respectively. These results extend our understanding of the neural substrate of reversal learning in humans.

Adult↗

Personality and affect as determinants of medically unexplained symptoms in primary care; A follow-up study.

OBJECTIVE: To examine whether the personality dimensions, neuroticism and alexithymia, and the affective state dimensions measuring negative and positive affect significantly contributed to changes over time in the number of medically unexplained symptoms (MUS) reported. METHODS: A total of 318 patients, presenting to their primary care physician with MUS, participated in the study. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to assess to what extent neuroticism, alexithymia, negative affect and positive affect independently contributed to (1) increase vs. decrease in the number of symptoms reported, and (2) the presence of a consistently high number of MUS over a 6-month follow-up period. RESULTS: Negative affect was the strongest determinant of changes in the number of symptoms reported. In addition, low positive affect significantly contributed to changes in the number of symptoms over time. Next to negative affect, the dimension of alexithymia measuring difficulty in identifying feelings (DIF) was found to be an independent predictor of a consistently high number of MUS. Neither neuroticism nor general alexithymia independently contributed to changes in the number of symptoms over time or to symptom persistence. CONCLUSIONS: Negative affect is an important determinant of MUS, because it contributes both to symptom evolution and symptom persistence. Positive affect has a beneficial effect on somatic symptom evolution, whereas the alexithymia dimension measuring DIF clearly contributes to the prediction of symptom persistence.

Adult↗

Macroscopic brain dynamics during verbal and pictorial processing of affective stimuli.

Emotions can be viewed as action dispositions, preparing an individual to act efficiently and successfully in situations of behavioral relevance. To initiate optimized behavior, it is essential to accurately process the perceptual elements indicative of emotional relevance. The present chapter discusses effects of affective content on neural and behavioral parameters of perception, across different information channels. Electrocortical data are presented from studies examining affective perception with pictures and words in different task contexts. As a main result, these data suggest that sensory facilitation has an important role in affective processing. Affective pictures appear to facilitate perception as a function of emotional arousal at multiple levels of visual analysis. If the discrimination between affectively arousing vs. nonarousing content relies on fine-grained differences, amplification of the cortical representation may occur as early as 60-90 ms after stimulus onset. Affectively arousing information as conveyed via visual verbal channels was not subject to such very early enhancement. However, electrocortical indices of lexical access and/or activation of semantic networks showed that affectively arousing content may enhance the formation of semantic representations during word encoding. It can be concluded that affective arousal is associated with activation of widespread networks, which act to optimize sensory processing. On the basis of prioritized sensory analysis for affectively relevant stimuli, subsequent steps such as working memory, motor preparation, and action may be adjusted to meet the adaptive requirements of the situation perceived.

Acoustic Stimulation↗

Clinical and electroretinographic findings of female carriers and affected males in a progressive X-linked cone-rod dystrophy (COD-1) pedigree.

OBJECTIVE: To study the clinical and electroretinographic findings of affected males and female carriers in a family with X-linked cone-rod dystrophy (COD-1). DESIGN: Observational case series. PARTICIPANTS: Twenty-five members of a five-generation pedigree were examined. METHODS: A history of visual impairment including age at onset, loss of acuity, color vision abnormalities, photophobia, and nyctalopia was obtained. A complete ophthalmologic examination was performed, including kinetic perimetry with a Goldmann perimeter, FM 100-hue testing, and standardized Ganzfeld electroretinography following the ISCEV protocol. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Patients were classified as affected or unaffected on the basis of the clinical examination. All carrier females had affected sons. RESULTS: Nine affected males and seven female carriers were identified. Affected males noted decreased visual acuity and poor color vision within the first two decades of life. Early in the disease, macular retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) changes were found that progressed to an atrophic macular scar by the fifth decade. Evidence of progression from macular pigment mottling to an atrophic macular lesion over a 13-year period was identified in one patient. The photopic, single-flash, b-wave amplitude was low in all affected males and declined with age. The 30-Hz flicker b-wave implicit times were abnormally prolonged in all affected males. Female carriers were asymptomatic although three had slightly abnormal color vision and small paracentral field defects and subtle RPE defects were found in three carriers. Carriers demonstrated prolongation of the 30-Hz flicker b-wave implicit time and interocular asymmetry. Five of seven carriers and two affected males demonstrated reduced oscillatory potentials and an abnormal-appearing flattened photopic a-wave. Five men and two women demonstrated a characteristic tapetal-like retinal sheen. CONCLUSIONS: Affected patients in this pedigree demonstrate early loss of visual acuity and poor cone function with late rod involvement. Female carriers may appear clinically normal or may be identified by subtle color vision defects, fundus abnormalities, prolongation of the 30-Hz flicker implicit time with interocular asymmetry, or an abnormal flattened photopic a-wave. Genetic linkage analysis of this family was recently reported and the disease-causing gene has been mapped to an approximately 1-Mb interval on chromosome Xp11.4.

Adolescent↗

Lifetime comorbidity, lifetime history of psychosis and suicide attempts, and current symptoms of patients with deteriorated affective disorder.

This study extends our prior research by examining the lifetime comorbidity, history of psychosis and suicide attempts, and current symptoms of an unusual group of patients with major affective disorders who have not only been symptomatic for prolonged periods but have also been so functionally impaired that they required years of care in psychiatric facilities or by family members. Twenty-seven of these deteriorated affective patients and 29 patients with deteriorated schizophrenia were recruited from a large state hospital; 27 patients with non-deteriorated affective disorder were recruited from an affiliated outpatient facility. Patients with deteriorated affective disorder, as compared to those with non-deteriorated affective disorder, were far more likely to have a history of psychotic symptoms with suicidal themes and a history of life-threatening suicide attempts and completed suicide. Deteriorated affective patients were also more likely to meet criteria for melancholia and to have attentional deficits, thought disorder and negative symptoms. The deteriorated and non-deteriorated affective groups had similar lifetime rates of psychotic symptoms (bizarre and non-bizarre) and lifetime psychiatric comorbidity. Functional deterioration in schizophrenia, as compared to functional deterioration in affective disorders, was distinguished by a virtual absence of psychotic symptoms with suicidal themes, lower lifetime rates of life-threatening suicide attempts, greater variety and severity of psychotic symptoms, and greater severity of current affective flattening, anhedonia-asociality and disorientation to time. The results of this study extend our previous research by demonstrating that patients with major mood disorders who have experienced extreme functional deterioration evidence a distinct constellation of symptoms that differentiates them from their better outcome peers with mood disorders, and from similarly functionally deteriorated patients with schizophrenia.

Adult↗