The external part of the globus pallidus (GPe) is a core nucleus of the basal ganglia (BG) whose ... more The external part of the globus pallidus (GPe) is a core nucleus of the basal ganglia (BG) whose activity is disrupted under conditions of low dopamine release, as in Parkinson's disease. Current models assume decreased dopamine release in the dorsal striatum results in deactivation of dorsal GPe, which in turn affects motor expression via a regulatory effect on other nuclei of the BG. However, recent studies in healthy and pathological animal models have reported neural dynamics that do not match with this view of the GPe as a relay in the BG circuit. Thus, the computational role of the GPe in the BG is still to be determined. We previously proposed a neural model that revisits the functions of the nuclei of the BG, and this model predicts that GPe encodes values which are amplified under a condition of low striatal dopaminergic drive. To test this prediction, we used an fMRI paradigm involving a within-subject placebo-controlled design, using the dopamine antagonist risperidon...
This paper addresses the formation of infant attachment types within the context of active infere... more This paper addresses the formation of infant attachment types within the context of active inference: a holistic account of action, perception and learning in the brain. We show how the organised forms of attachment (secure, avoidant and ambivalent) might arise in (Bayesian) infants. Specifically, we show that these distinct forms of attachment emerge from a minimisation of free energy-over interoceptive states relating to internal stress levels-when seeking proximity to caregivers who have a varying impact on these interoceptive states. In line with empirical findings in disrupted patterns of affective communication, we then demonstrate how exteroceptive cues (in the form of caregiver-mediated AMBIANCE affective communication errors, ACE) can result in disorganised forms of attachment in infants of caregivers who consistently increase stress when the infant seeks proximity, but can have an organising (towards ambivalence) effect in infants of inconsistent caregivers. In particular,...
Affective stimulation entails changes in brain network patterns at rest, but it is unknown whethe... more Affective stimulation entails changes in brain network patterns at rest, but it is unknown whether exogenous emotional stimulation has a prolonged effect on the temporal dynamics of endogenous cortical arousal. We therefore investigated differences in cortical arousal in the listener following stimulation with different attachment-related narratives. Resting-state EEG was recorded from sixteen healthy subjects for ten minutes each with eyes closed: first at baseline and then after passively listening to three affective narratives from strangers about their early childhood experiences (prototypical for insecure-dismissing, insecure-preoccupied, and secure attachment). Using the VIGALL 2.1 algorithm, low or high vigilance stages in consecutive EEG segments were classified, and their dynamic profile was analyzed. Questionnaires assessed the listeners' emotional response to the content of the narrative. As a general effect of preceding affective stimulation, vigilance following the ...
This study investigated whether partner-related attachment characteristics differentially predict... more This study investigated whether partner-related attachment characteristics differentially predict premature treatment termination as well as posttreatment and 1-year follow-up outcome in patients with social anxiety disorder treated with a manualized cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) or short-term psychodynamic therapy (PDT) in the SOPHO-NET (Social Phobia Psychotherapy Network) trial. Participants were 412 patients with social anxiety disorder (57% female) with a mean age of 35.4 years (SD = 12.1) who were randomized to either CBT or PDT. Partner-related attachment characteristics were measured using the revised Experiences in Close Relationships Questionnaire (ECR-R) at pretreatment. The Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale was administered at pretreatment, posttreatment, and a 1-year follow-up. To address our research questions, linear regression models were applied. Furthermore, we compared CBT versus PDT patients within ECR-R quartiles. Treatment dropout did not differ between CBT a...
Adolescence is a critical period of rapid biological and social development and early signs of ad... more Adolescence is a critical period of rapid biological and social development and early signs of adult mental disorders emerge during this life stage. Previous studies suggest that mentalizing failures, specifically difficulties in reflective functioning (RF) are linked with psychological symptoms. However, relatively little is known about the association between RF and psychological adaptation in typical development. In this study, the relationship between RF, internalizing and externalizing symptoms were investigated in 95 adolescents using the revised Reflective Function Scale-Adolescent version. Results indicate that RF is associated with more self-reported internalizing symptoms. Moreover, the relationship between RF and externalizing symptoms are accounted for by the co-occurrence of internalizing and externalizing symptoms in typically developing adolescents. The implications of these findings are discussed and suggestions for future studies are presented.
The use of emotion regulation strategies can reduce the intensity of negative emotional experienc... more The use of emotion regulation strategies can reduce the intensity of negative emotional experiences. Event related potentials (ERPs), specifically the late positive potential (LPP), are known to be sensitive to this modulation in adults. This is the first study to explore the neural correlates of expressive suppression in adolescents. We sought to replicate previous findings from emotion regulation studies with adult populations, show that the LPP can be modulated by expressive suppression in healthy adolescents, and examine the influence of age on LPP changes. Method: ERPs of 53 healthy adolescents (12 to 17 years old) performing an emotion regulation task (expressive suppression) were recorded. Results: Expressive suppression altered the LPP in adolescents with both increases and decreases noted depending on time window and recording site. The LPP during expressive suppression was decreased with increasing age. Conclusions: The findings suggest that 1) the LPP is an effective tool to study processes associated with emotion regulation in adolescents, and 2) expressive suppression, in terms of its neural indicators, seems to become more effective with age. The nature and utility of expressive suppression as a specific form of emotion regulation in adolescents are discussed.
Administration and policy in mental health, Jan 28, 2017
This study investigated the relationship between two therapist attributes (reflective functioning... more This study investigated the relationship between two therapist attributes (reflective functioning and attachment style) and client outcome. Twenty-five therapists treated a total of 1001 clients. Therapists were assessed for reflective functioning and attachment style using the Adult Attachment Interview and the Experiences in Close Relationships Scale. Clinical outcome was measured using the Outcome Questionnaire (OQ-45). Data were analysed using hierarchical linear modelling. Results indicated that therapist reflective functioning predicted therapist effectiveness, whereas attachment style did not. However, there was evidence of an interaction between therapist attachment style and therapist reflective functioning. Secure attachment compensated somewhat for low reflective functioning and high reflective functioning compensated for insecure attachment. Possible implications for the selection of therapy training candidates and therapist training are discussed.
Soziale Kognitionen erfahren aktuell in der Erforschung der normalen und devianten menschlichen E... more Soziale Kognitionen erfahren aktuell in der Erforschung der normalen und devianten menschlichen Entwicklung eine hohe Aufmerksamkeit. Sie ermöglichen es uns, andere auf der Grundlage von mentalen Befindlichkeiten anzuerkennen und zu verstehen. Das Konstrukt der sozialen Kognition ist heterogen. Deshalb findet in diesem Beitrag eine Auswahl an Konzepten der sozialen Kognition statt, die besonders zum Verständnis externalisierender Verhaltensstörungen beitragen können.
Previous research on childhood obesity has shown that maternal obesity is an important risk facto... more Previous research on childhood obesity has shown that maternal obesity is an important risk factor for this malady. Because biological and environmental factors are able to explain the transgenerational transmission of obesity only in part, psychological risk factors (e.g., emotional eating) have become more important in recent research. As maternal mentalization - which lays the foundation for the child's ability to regulate his/her emotions - has not yet been investigated, we examined the effects of mentalization on maternal and childhood obesity. By investigating groups of obese (n = 30) and normal-weight (n = 30) mothers and their children aged 18 to 55 months, we found, contrary to our expectations, that obese mothers' mentalization (Reflective Functioning Scale) was similar to that of mothers with normal weight and that mentalization showed no direct effect on the child's weight. However, we found hints of an indirect influence of mentalization via emotional eating on mothers' but not on children's weight and via mother-child attachment (Attachment Q-Set) on children's weight. Possible reasons for these inconclusive effects are discussed.
Attachment patterns influence actions, thoughts and feeling through a person's "inner working mod... more Attachment patterns influence actions, thoughts and feeling through a person's "inner working model". Speech charged with attachment-dependent content was proposed to modulate the activation of cognitive-emotional schemata in listeners. We performed a 7 Tesla rest-task-rest functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)experiment, presenting auditory narratives prototypical of dismissing attachment representations to investigate their effect on 23 healthy males. We then examined effects of participants' attachment style and childhood trauma on brain state changes using seed-based functional connectivity (FC) analyses, and finally tested whether subjective differences in responsivity to narratives could be predicted by baseline network states. In comparison to a baseline state, we observed increased FC in a previously described "social aversion network" including dorsal anterior cingulated cortex (dACC) and left anterior middle temporal gyrus (aMTG) specifically after exposure to insecure-dismissing attachment narratives. Increased dACC-seeded FC within the social aversion network was positively related to the participants' avoidant attachment style and presence of a history of childhood trauma. Anxious attachment style on the other hand was positively correlated with FC between the dACC and a region outside of the "social aversion network", namely the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, which suggests decreased network segregation as a function of anxious attachment. Finally, the extent of subjective experience of friendliness towards the dismissing narrative was predicted by low baseline FC-values between hippocampus and inferior parietal lobule (IPL). Taken together, our study demonstrates an activation of networks related to social aversion in terms of increased connectivity after listening to insecure-dismissing attachment narratives. A causal interrelation of brain state changes and subsequent changes in social reactivity was further supported by our observation of direct prediction of neuronal responses by individual attachment and trauma characteristics and reversely prediction of subjective experience by intrinsic functional connections. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience | www.frontiersin.org 1 March 2016 | Volume 10 | Article 77 Krause et al. Dynamic Modulation of Aversion Network
We investigated whether attachment security, measured by the Adult Attachment Prototype Rating (A... more We investigated whether attachment security, measured by the Adult Attachment Prototype Rating (AAPR), was correlated with life satisfaction, independent of sociodemographic characteristics, medical burden, and age-related coping strategies in a sample of 81 patients (69-73 years) recruited from the register of a general primary care practice. Furthermore, we examined whether patients classified as AAPR-secure reported better adjustment to medical burden in terms of higher life satisfaction than did insecure patients. Attachment security was independently related to life satisfaction. Moreover, the association between medical burden and lower life satisfaction was significantly stronger for insecure than for secure participants. Our findings indicate that interventions to improve attachment security or coping processes related to attachment could help older adults retain life satisfaction.
Behavioral research has found evidence supporting reward dominance in adolescence with externaliz... more Behavioral research has found evidence supporting reward dominance in adolescence with externalizing disorders, but findings from neuroimaging studies have been largely heterogeneous. We examined the Feedback-Related Negativity (FRN) and P3b in relation to self-reported externalizing behavior among 78 adolescents (11-18 yrs) during a monetary gambling task with concurrent high-density electroencephalogram. As expected, the P3b and the FRN demonstrated greater evoked activity to reward and punishment, respectively. Further, high externalizing behavior was associated with greater P3b difference and reduced FRN difference in response to reward and punishment, suggesting that externalizing behaviors may be associated with both reward dominance and reduced feedback-monitoring.
Introduction: To understand the interplay between affective social information processing and its... more Introduction: To understand the interplay between affective social information processing and its influence on mental states we investigated changes in functional connectivity (FC) patterns after audio exposure to emotional biographic narratives. Methods: While lying in the 7T MR scanner, 23 male participants listened to narratives of early childhood experiences of three persons, each having either a secure, dismissing, or preoccupied attachment representation. Directly after having listened to each of the prototypical narratives, participants underwent a 10-minute resting-state fMRI scan. To study changes in FC patterns between experimental conditions, three post-task conditions were compared to a baseline condition. Specific local alterations, as well as differences in connectivity patterns between distributed brain regions, were quantified using Network-based statistics (NBS) and graph metrics. Results: Using NBS, a nine-region subnetwork showing reduced FC after having listened to the dismissing narrative was identified. Of this subnetwork, only the left Supplementary Motor Area (SMA) exhibited a decrease in the nodal graph metrics degree and strength exclusively after listening to the dismissing narrative. No other region showed post-task changes in nodal metrics. A post hoc analysis of dynamic characteristics of FC of the left SMA showed a significant decrease in the dismissing condition when compared with the other conditions in the first three minutes of the scan, but faded away in the two subsequent intervals the differences. Conclusions: Nodal metrics and NBS converge on reduced connectivity measures exclusively in left SMA in the dismissing condition, which may specifically reflect ongoing network changes underlying prolonged emotional reactivity to attachment-related processing.
ABSTRACT Social cognition creates the conditions for successful human interaction. Externalizing ... more ABSTRACT Social cognition creates the conditions for successful human interaction. Externalizing disorders are characterized by a failure of adequate social cooperation. Therefore, social cognition seems to be a key factor in understanding externalizing behavior, its etiology and treatment options. The present article combines the clinical theory of mentalization with the state-of-the-art of empirical data on externalizing behavior and of the theory-of-mind research as well as research on social information processing. Empirical evidence suggests that there are distinct deficits in social cognition depending on the type of aggression (proactive or reactive). However, even though it is known from a neurobiological perspective that social cognition is reorganized in adolescence, research on externalizing behavior and social cognition in adolescence is limited. Hence the analysis of two studies is presented which compared reflective functioning between a group of late adolescent violent offenders and a control group. A total of 42 young men participated in the studies and were interviewed with the adult attachment interview. Interviews were coded with the reflective functioning scale. Results showed that violent offenders scored significantly lower on the reflective functioning scale than age and gender matched controls. This result is independent of intelligence. Instrumental proactive aggression and psychopathic tendencies are also strongly associated with lower reflective functioning. The results underline the importance of therapeutic interventions for externalizing adolescents which enhance reflective functioning.
Mentalizing, in particular the successful attribution of complex mental states to others, is cruc... more Mentalizing, in particular the successful attribution of complex mental states to others, is crucial for navigating social interactions. This ability is highly influenced by external factors within one's daily life, such as stress. We investigated the impact of stress on the brain basis of mentalization in adults. Using a novel modification of the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET-R) we compared the differential effects of two personalized stress induction procedures: a general stress induction (GSI) and an attachment-related stress induction (ASI). Participants performed the RMET-R at baseline and after each of the two inductions. Baseline results replicated and extended previous findings regarding the neural correlates of the RMET-R. Additionally, we identified brain regions associated with making complex age judgments from the same stimuli. Results after stress exposure showed that the ASI condition resulted in reduced mentalization-related activation in the left posterior superior temporal sulcus (STS), left inferior frontal gyrus and left temporoparietal junction (TPJ). Moreover, the left middle frontal gyrus and left anterior insula showed greater functional connectivity to the left posterior STS after the ASI. Our findings indicate that attachment-related stress has a unique effect on the neural correlates of mentalization.
Zusammenhang zwischen der Qualität der Beziehung zu den primären Bezugspersonen, unverarbeiteten ... more Zusammenhang zwischen der Qualität der Beziehung zu den primären Bezugspersonen, unverarbeiteten Verlusterfahrungen und der Entwicklung einer Depression. Fragebogenuntersuchungen zu Bindungsstilen belegen, dass unsichere Bindung einen Risikofaktor für die Entstehung einer Depression darstellt. Interviewbasierte Untersuchungen zur Erfassung der Bindungsrepräsentation sind jedoch spärlich, und die wenigen Daten sind inkonsistent. Das Thema chronische Depression wurde im Zusammenhang mit Bindungsrepräsentation in der Literatur bisher kaum berücksichtigt. Ziel der vorliegenden Pilotstudie war die Untersuchung der Bindungsrepräsentation einer sorgfältig diagnostizierten Stichprobe stationär behandelter chronisch-depressiver Patientinnen. Dabei kam erstmals in Ergänzung zur kategorialen Klassifikation eine dimensionale Erfassung der Bindungsrepräsentation zur Anwendung.
Dynamic deconstructive psychotherapy (DDP) is a time-limited manual-based individual treatment fo... more Dynamic deconstructive psychotherapy (DDP) is a time-limited manual-based individual treatment for borderline personality disorder (BPD) that incorporates major psychodynamic principles including affect focus, free association, transference, and countertransference . A twelve-month randomized controlled trial ) and an eighteen-month naturalistic follow-up study (Gregory, DeLucia-Deranja, and Mogle 2010) demonstrated the efficacy of DDP for co-occurring BPD and alcohol use disorders. Five of the six therapists participating in the study were third-year psychiatry residents. Given the success of DDP using psychiatry resident trainees as study therapists, the present analysis attempts to determine whether DDP could be a useful model for meeting residency training program requirements in psychodynamic therapy. To accomplish this task, this study addresses (1) trainee outcomes and treatment adherence as compared with the performance of expert DDP practitioners, and (2) the experience of those residents regarding not only their conduct of this treatment, but also how it influenced their professional development in general.
The external part of the globus pallidus (GPe) is a core nucleus of the basal ganglia (BG) whose ... more The external part of the globus pallidus (GPe) is a core nucleus of the basal ganglia (BG) whose activity is disrupted under conditions of low dopamine release, as in Parkinson's disease. Current models assume decreased dopamine release in the dorsal striatum results in deactivation of dorsal GPe, which in turn affects motor expression via a regulatory effect on other nuclei of the BG. However, recent studies in healthy and pathological animal models have reported neural dynamics that do not match with this view of the GPe as a relay in the BG circuit. Thus, the computational role of the GPe in the BG is still to be determined. We previously proposed a neural model that revisits the functions of the nuclei of the BG, and this model predicts that GPe encodes values which are amplified under a condition of low striatal dopaminergic drive. To test this prediction, we used an fMRI paradigm involving a within-subject placebo-controlled design, using the dopamine antagonist risperidon...
This paper addresses the formation of infant attachment types within the context of active infere... more This paper addresses the formation of infant attachment types within the context of active inference: a holistic account of action, perception and learning in the brain. We show how the organised forms of attachment (secure, avoidant and ambivalent) might arise in (Bayesian) infants. Specifically, we show that these distinct forms of attachment emerge from a minimisation of free energy-over interoceptive states relating to internal stress levels-when seeking proximity to caregivers who have a varying impact on these interoceptive states. In line with empirical findings in disrupted patterns of affective communication, we then demonstrate how exteroceptive cues (in the form of caregiver-mediated AMBIANCE affective communication errors, ACE) can result in disorganised forms of attachment in infants of caregivers who consistently increase stress when the infant seeks proximity, but can have an organising (towards ambivalence) effect in infants of inconsistent caregivers. In particular,...
Affective stimulation entails changes in brain network patterns at rest, but it is unknown whethe... more Affective stimulation entails changes in brain network patterns at rest, but it is unknown whether exogenous emotional stimulation has a prolonged effect on the temporal dynamics of endogenous cortical arousal. We therefore investigated differences in cortical arousal in the listener following stimulation with different attachment-related narratives. Resting-state EEG was recorded from sixteen healthy subjects for ten minutes each with eyes closed: first at baseline and then after passively listening to three affective narratives from strangers about their early childhood experiences (prototypical for insecure-dismissing, insecure-preoccupied, and secure attachment). Using the VIGALL 2.1 algorithm, low or high vigilance stages in consecutive EEG segments were classified, and their dynamic profile was analyzed. Questionnaires assessed the listeners' emotional response to the content of the narrative. As a general effect of preceding affective stimulation, vigilance following the ...
This study investigated whether partner-related attachment characteristics differentially predict... more This study investigated whether partner-related attachment characteristics differentially predict premature treatment termination as well as posttreatment and 1-year follow-up outcome in patients with social anxiety disorder treated with a manualized cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) or short-term psychodynamic therapy (PDT) in the SOPHO-NET (Social Phobia Psychotherapy Network) trial. Participants were 412 patients with social anxiety disorder (57% female) with a mean age of 35.4 years (SD = 12.1) who were randomized to either CBT or PDT. Partner-related attachment characteristics were measured using the revised Experiences in Close Relationships Questionnaire (ECR-R) at pretreatment. The Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale was administered at pretreatment, posttreatment, and a 1-year follow-up. To address our research questions, linear regression models were applied. Furthermore, we compared CBT versus PDT patients within ECR-R quartiles. Treatment dropout did not differ between CBT a...
Adolescence is a critical period of rapid biological and social development and early signs of ad... more Adolescence is a critical period of rapid biological and social development and early signs of adult mental disorders emerge during this life stage. Previous studies suggest that mentalizing failures, specifically difficulties in reflective functioning (RF) are linked with psychological symptoms. However, relatively little is known about the association between RF and psychological adaptation in typical development. In this study, the relationship between RF, internalizing and externalizing symptoms were investigated in 95 adolescents using the revised Reflective Function Scale-Adolescent version. Results indicate that RF is associated with more self-reported internalizing symptoms. Moreover, the relationship between RF and externalizing symptoms are accounted for by the co-occurrence of internalizing and externalizing symptoms in typically developing adolescents. The implications of these findings are discussed and suggestions for future studies are presented.
The use of emotion regulation strategies can reduce the intensity of negative emotional experienc... more The use of emotion regulation strategies can reduce the intensity of negative emotional experiences. Event related potentials (ERPs), specifically the late positive potential (LPP), are known to be sensitive to this modulation in adults. This is the first study to explore the neural correlates of expressive suppression in adolescents. We sought to replicate previous findings from emotion regulation studies with adult populations, show that the LPP can be modulated by expressive suppression in healthy adolescents, and examine the influence of age on LPP changes. Method: ERPs of 53 healthy adolescents (12 to 17 years old) performing an emotion regulation task (expressive suppression) were recorded. Results: Expressive suppression altered the LPP in adolescents with both increases and decreases noted depending on time window and recording site. The LPP during expressive suppression was decreased with increasing age. Conclusions: The findings suggest that 1) the LPP is an effective tool to study processes associated with emotion regulation in adolescents, and 2) expressive suppression, in terms of its neural indicators, seems to become more effective with age. The nature and utility of expressive suppression as a specific form of emotion regulation in adolescents are discussed.
Administration and policy in mental health, Jan 28, 2017
This study investigated the relationship between two therapist attributes (reflective functioning... more This study investigated the relationship between two therapist attributes (reflective functioning and attachment style) and client outcome. Twenty-five therapists treated a total of 1001 clients. Therapists were assessed for reflective functioning and attachment style using the Adult Attachment Interview and the Experiences in Close Relationships Scale. Clinical outcome was measured using the Outcome Questionnaire (OQ-45). Data were analysed using hierarchical linear modelling. Results indicated that therapist reflective functioning predicted therapist effectiveness, whereas attachment style did not. However, there was evidence of an interaction between therapist attachment style and therapist reflective functioning. Secure attachment compensated somewhat for low reflective functioning and high reflective functioning compensated for insecure attachment. Possible implications for the selection of therapy training candidates and therapist training are discussed.
Soziale Kognitionen erfahren aktuell in der Erforschung der normalen und devianten menschlichen E... more Soziale Kognitionen erfahren aktuell in der Erforschung der normalen und devianten menschlichen Entwicklung eine hohe Aufmerksamkeit. Sie ermöglichen es uns, andere auf der Grundlage von mentalen Befindlichkeiten anzuerkennen und zu verstehen. Das Konstrukt der sozialen Kognition ist heterogen. Deshalb findet in diesem Beitrag eine Auswahl an Konzepten der sozialen Kognition statt, die besonders zum Verständnis externalisierender Verhaltensstörungen beitragen können.
Previous research on childhood obesity has shown that maternal obesity is an important risk facto... more Previous research on childhood obesity has shown that maternal obesity is an important risk factor for this malady. Because biological and environmental factors are able to explain the transgenerational transmission of obesity only in part, psychological risk factors (e.g., emotional eating) have become more important in recent research. As maternal mentalization - which lays the foundation for the child's ability to regulate his/her emotions - has not yet been investigated, we examined the effects of mentalization on maternal and childhood obesity. By investigating groups of obese (n = 30) and normal-weight (n = 30) mothers and their children aged 18 to 55 months, we found, contrary to our expectations, that obese mothers' mentalization (Reflective Functioning Scale) was similar to that of mothers with normal weight and that mentalization showed no direct effect on the child's weight. However, we found hints of an indirect influence of mentalization via emotional eating on mothers' but not on children's weight and via mother-child attachment (Attachment Q-Set) on children's weight. Possible reasons for these inconclusive effects are discussed.
Attachment patterns influence actions, thoughts and feeling through a person's "inner working mod... more Attachment patterns influence actions, thoughts and feeling through a person's "inner working model". Speech charged with attachment-dependent content was proposed to modulate the activation of cognitive-emotional schemata in listeners. We performed a 7 Tesla rest-task-rest functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)experiment, presenting auditory narratives prototypical of dismissing attachment representations to investigate their effect on 23 healthy males. We then examined effects of participants' attachment style and childhood trauma on brain state changes using seed-based functional connectivity (FC) analyses, and finally tested whether subjective differences in responsivity to narratives could be predicted by baseline network states. In comparison to a baseline state, we observed increased FC in a previously described "social aversion network" including dorsal anterior cingulated cortex (dACC) and left anterior middle temporal gyrus (aMTG) specifically after exposure to insecure-dismissing attachment narratives. Increased dACC-seeded FC within the social aversion network was positively related to the participants' avoidant attachment style and presence of a history of childhood trauma. Anxious attachment style on the other hand was positively correlated with FC between the dACC and a region outside of the "social aversion network", namely the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, which suggests decreased network segregation as a function of anxious attachment. Finally, the extent of subjective experience of friendliness towards the dismissing narrative was predicted by low baseline FC-values between hippocampus and inferior parietal lobule (IPL). Taken together, our study demonstrates an activation of networks related to social aversion in terms of increased connectivity after listening to insecure-dismissing attachment narratives. A causal interrelation of brain state changes and subsequent changes in social reactivity was further supported by our observation of direct prediction of neuronal responses by individual attachment and trauma characteristics and reversely prediction of subjective experience by intrinsic functional connections. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience | www.frontiersin.org 1 March 2016 | Volume 10 | Article 77 Krause et al. Dynamic Modulation of Aversion Network
We investigated whether attachment security, measured by the Adult Attachment Prototype Rating (A... more We investigated whether attachment security, measured by the Adult Attachment Prototype Rating (AAPR), was correlated with life satisfaction, independent of sociodemographic characteristics, medical burden, and age-related coping strategies in a sample of 81 patients (69-73 years) recruited from the register of a general primary care practice. Furthermore, we examined whether patients classified as AAPR-secure reported better adjustment to medical burden in terms of higher life satisfaction than did insecure patients. Attachment security was independently related to life satisfaction. Moreover, the association between medical burden and lower life satisfaction was significantly stronger for insecure than for secure participants. Our findings indicate that interventions to improve attachment security or coping processes related to attachment could help older adults retain life satisfaction.
Behavioral research has found evidence supporting reward dominance in adolescence with externaliz... more Behavioral research has found evidence supporting reward dominance in adolescence with externalizing disorders, but findings from neuroimaging studies have been largely heterogeneous. We examined the Feedback-Related Negativity (FRN) and P3b in relation to self-reported externalizing behavior among 78 adolescents (11-18 yrs) during a monetary gambling task with concurrent high-density electroencephalogram. As expected, the P3b and the FRN demonstrated greater evoked activity to reward and punishment, respectively. Further, high externalizing behavior was associated with greater P3b difference and reduced FRN difference in response to reward and punishment, suggesting that externalizing behaviors may be associated with both reward dominance and reduced feedback-monitoring.
Introduction: To understand the interplay between affective social information processing and its... more Introduction: To understand the interplay between affective social information processing and its influence on mental states we investigated changes in functional connectivity (FC) patterns after audio exposure to emotional biographic narratives. Methods: While lying in the 7T MR scanner, 23 male participants listened to narratives of early childhood experiences of three persons, each having either a secure, dismissing, or preoccupied attachment representation. Directly after having listened to each of the prototypical narratives, participants underwent a 10-minute resting-state fMRI scan. To study changes in FC patterns between experimental conditions, three post-task conditions were compared to a baseline condition. Specific local alterations, as well as differences in connectivity patterns between distributed brain regions, were quantified using Network-based statistics (NBS) and graph metrics. Results: Using NBS, a nine-region subnetwork showing reduced FC after having listened to the dismissing narrative was identified. Of this subnetwork, only the left Supplementary Motor Area (SMA) exhibited a decrease in the nodal graph metrics degree and strength exclusively after listening to the dismissing narrative. No other region showed post-task changes in nodal metrics. A post hoc analysis of dynamic characteristics of FC of the left SMA showed a significant decrease in the dismissing condition when compared with the other conditions in the first three minutes of the scan, but faded away in the two subsequent intervals the differences. Conclusions: Nodal metrics and NBS converge on reduced connectivity measures exclusively in left SMA in the dismissing condition, which may specifically reflect ongoing network changes underlying prolonged emotional reactivity to attachment-related processing.
ABSTRACT Social cognition creates the conditions for successful human interaction. Externalizing ... more ABSTRACT Social cognition creates the conditions for successful human interaction. Externalizing disorders are characterized by a failure of adequate social cooperation. Therefore, social cognition seems to be a key factor in understanding externalizing behavior, its etiology and treatment options. The present article combines the clinical theory of mentalization with the state-of-the-art of empirical data on externalizing behavior and of the theory-of-mind research as well as research on social information processing. Empirical evidence suggests that there are distinct deficits in social cognition depending on the type of aggression (proactive or reactive). However, even though it is known from a neurobiological perspective that social cognition is reorganized in adolescence, research on externalizing behavior and social cognition in adolescence is limited. Hence the analysis of two studies is presented which compared reflective functioning between a group of late adolescent violent offenders and a control group. A total of 42 young men participated in the studies and were interviewed with the adult attachment interview. Interviews were coded with the reflective functioning scale. Results showed that violent offenders scored significantly lower on the reflective functioning scale than age and gender matched controls. This result is independent of intelligence. Instrumental proactive aggression and psychopathic tendencies are also strongly associated with lower reflective functioning. The results underline the importance of therapeutic interventions for externalizing adolescents which enhance reflective functioning.
Mentalizing, in particular the successful attribution of complex mental states to others, is cruc... more Mentalizing, in particular the successful attribution of complex mental states to others, is crucial for navigating social interactions. This ability is highly influenced by external factors within one's daily life, such as stress. We investigated the impact of stress on the brain basis of mentalization in adults. Using a novel modification of the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET-R) we compared the differential effects of two personalized stress induction procedures: a general stress induction (GSI) and an attachment-related stress induction (ASI). Participants performed the RMET-R at baseline and after each of the two inductions. Baseline results replicated and extended previous findings regarding the neural correlates of the RMET-R. Additionally, we identified brain regions associated with making complex age judgments from the same stimuli. Results after stress exposure showed that the ASI condition resulted in reduced mentalization-related activation in the left posterior superior temporal sulcus (STS), left inferior frontal gyrus and left temporoparietal junction (TPJ). Moreover, the left middle frontal gyrus and left anterior insula showed greater functional connectivity to the left posterior STS after the ASI. Our findings indicate that attachment-related stress has a unique effect on the neural correlates of mentalization.
Zusammenhang zwischen der Qualität der Beziehung zu den primären Bezugspersonen, unverarbeiteten ... more Zusammenhang zwischen der Qualität der Beziehung zu den primären Bezugspersonen, unverarbeiteten Verlusterfahrungen und der Entwicklung einer Depression. Fragebogenuntersuchungen zu Bindungsstilen belegen, dass unsichere Bindung einen Risikofaktor für die Entstehung einer Depression darstellt. Interviewbasierte Untersuchungen zur Erfassung der Bindungsrepräsentation sind jedoch spärlich, und die wenigen Daten sind inkonsistent. Das Thema chronische Depression wurde im Zusammenhang mit Bindungsrepräsentation in der Literatur bisher kaum berücksichtigt. Ziel der vorliegenden Pilotstudie war die Untersuchung der Bindungsrepräsentation einer sorgfältig diagnostizierten Stichprobe stationär behandelter chronisch-depressiver Patientinnen. Dabei kam erstmals in Ergänzung zur kategorialen Klassifikation eine dimensionale Erfassung der Bindungsrepräsentation zur Anwendung.
Dynamic deconstructive psychotherapy (DDP) is a time-limited manual-based individual treatment fo... more Dynamic deconstructive psychotherapy (DDP) is a time-limited manual-based individual treatment for borderline personality disorder (BPD) that incorporates major psychodynamic principles including affect focus, free association, transference, and countertransference . A twelve-month randomized controlled trial ) and an eighteen-month naturalistic follow-up study (Gregory, DeLucia-Deranja, and Mogle 2010) demonstrated the efficacy of DDP for co-occurring BPD and alcohol use disorders. Five of the six therapists participating in the study were third-year psychiatry residents. Given the success of DDP using psychiatry resident trainees as study therapists, the present analysis attempts to determine whether DDP could be a useful model for meeting residency training program requirements in psychodynamic therapy. To accomplish this task, this study addresses (1) trainee outcomes and treatment adherence as compared with the performance of expert DDP practitioners, and (2) the experience of those residents regarding not only their conduct of this treatment, but also how it influenced their professional development in general.
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Papers by Tobias Nolte