The Tortured Artist

The tortured artists. You know them. The brooding poet, the drug-addicted actress, the painter who cut off his own ear. This archetypal character may be regarded as only a stereotype, but there are plenty of real life examples throughout history of creatively inclined people who fit the description. You might even know one personally. And while not necessarily accurate, stereotypes generally come from somewhere. So is it coincidence? Or is there something substantial behind the idea that creativity and psychopathology are linked?

In an article published a few years back entitled Creativity, Psychopathology, and Emotion Processing: A Liberal Response Bias for Remembering Negative Information is Associated with Higher Creativity, Doctors Marina Drus, Aaron Kozbelt, and Robert R. Hughes sought to examine the extent to which more creative people process emotions and emotional information differently than less creative people. 

117 undergraduate students from the university of Boston participated in the study. They were first tested for creativity via the Creative Achievement Questionnaire (QAC) which measures self-reported lifetime accomplishments in creativity, and by two timed thinking tasks from the Abbreviated Torrance Test for Adults (ATTA). The first task included verbalizing as many problems as they could think of that might arise if people were able to fly or walk on air, and the second task involved making as many pictures as possible out of nine triangles. Participants answers were measured for fluency (number of responses), originality (degree of novelty of responses), flexibility (difference between responses given), and elaboration (amount of detail of responses). All scores were combined to produce a final measure of "divergent thinking performance". Participants were then tested for emotional processing through the Try Meta Mood Scale, a self-report Likert survey designed to asses attention to emotions, clarity of emotions, and emotional repair of negative emotions. Lastly, the participants participated in a word association task in which they were shown 40 words one at a time (10 positive, 10 negative, 20 neutral) for 2 seconds each on a computer and were told to pay attention to them. They were then shown the words again along with 20 new words (5 positive, 5 negative, and 10 neutral) and were given 3 seconds to say whether or not they had previously seen each word. This part of the testing was designed to measure sensitivity to words by the degree of liberalness of the response threshold (a tendency to say yes when in doubt). That is, for example, a more liberal response threshold in association with negative words (more likely to say yes to negative words when uncertain) equates higher vulnerability to negative information. 

The results of the study found that self-reported high creative achievement levels and better performance on divergent thinking tasks (indicators of a creative individual) were associated with greater sensitivity to positive words and a more liberal response bias for negative words (which indicates an even greater sensitivity to negative words). So in conclusion, more creative individuals were shown to be more sensitive to positive information and especially sensitive to negative information in comparison to less creative individuals. These results indicate a potential for comorbidity between creativity and psychopathology... suggesting that the tortured artists persona may be more than a stereotype after all. 

Coming from a family where both creativity and mental illness are greatly prevalent, this article immediately grabbed my attention. How interesting it would be for these two characteristics I see co-occurring in multiple members of my extended family to be psychologically linked. All in all I found the study's methods of examination extremely interesting and highly creative. Through the use of three different tests, tweaked slightly to fit their specific needs, the scientists who conducted this study thoroughly evaluated participants' creativity levels and sensitivities to emotional information, generating fairly quantitative results about aspects of personality that aren't easy to study. 

Source (VT Libraries): http://web.a.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.lib.vt.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=4113eddf-781d-4602-abff-407f9356a481%40sessionmgr4003&vid=22&hid=4101

BPD Depression and Biological Rhythms

Bipolar disorder is characterized by extended periods of (generally) cycling high and low states. The  high state, called mania, is marked by high energy, reckless behavior, racing thoughts, feelings of grandeur or increased self confidence, as well as a reduced need for sleep. The low state, or depression, is characterized by sluggishness, feelings of hopelessness, loss of interest, etc., but also either increased need for sleep or insomnia. For both aspects of bipolar disorder, sleep is a major factor and is majorly affected by the disorder.

In a recent study, a group of scientists investigated the association between depression and  biological rhythms in the functioning of bipolar disorder sufferers. Biological rhythms are the natural patterns of functioning that our bodies follow. For example, ultradian rhythms occur more than once a day, like patters of hunger, and circadian rhythms occur over a period of about 24 hours, such as our daily sleep schedules. In accordance with the symptoms of bipolar disorder, the scientists in this study hypothesized that more severe depression would equate more disruption in biological rhythms. 

In order to test these disruptions, an interview administered questionnaire was used to asses disruptions in sleep, eating patterns, social rhythms, and general activity, under the protocol of the Biological Rhythms Assessment in Neuropsychiatry (BRAIN). Patients were first evaluated for manic and depressive symptoms with the Young Mania Rating Scale, and those afflicted with depression were sorted into three groups based on severity of symptoms: remission, subsyndromal, and depressed. The total of 260 bipolar patients, as well as 191 healthy patients, all from Spain, Canada and Brazil, were then interviewed. Various levels of statistical analysis were performed to confirm significance of results and accurate comparison of the four groups. As predicted, depressed patients had the greatest disturbance in biological rhythms, followed by patients with subsyndromal symptoms, patients in remission, and finally, the healthy control patients. 

Overall, the results of this study were nothing short of expected. The DSM-5 criteria for diagnosing bipolar disorder specifically outlines sleep disturbances as indicators of the disorder. Additionally, the only methods of testing used were interview based, nothing biological. I think it would have been interesting to see the results of testing various hormonal levels in the body that pertain to biological rhythms, and a comparison of the levels or times of day where hormones were present in depressive bipolar disorder patients to those in healthy control patients. As only interviews were given, it makes sense that the patients first diagnosed with bipolar disorder would then self report having the symptoms of bipolar disorder (disrupted sleep, eating patters, activity, etc.). 

This article first grabbed my attention because I have often noticed the disrupted sleep patterns in a close friend of mine who has bipolar disorder. Getting too little sleep for instance makes it more likely that a manic episode will be triggered, and part of his treatment involves maintaining a highly regulated sleep schedule. I was hoping that this article might give me more insight into how bipolar disorder works biologically, but while the study was not uninteresting, it's results were not at all surprising or new in their idea. 

Source (VT Libraries): http://su8bj7jh4j.search.serialssolutions.com.ezproxy.lib.vt.edu/?sid=EBSCO:Academic%20Search%20Complete&genre=article&title=Acta%20Psychiatrica%20Scandinavica&atitle=The%20association%20between%20biological%20rhythms%2C%20depression%2C%20and%20functioning%20in%20bipolar%20disorder%3A%20a%20large%20multi-center%20study.&author=Pinho%2C%20M.&authors=Pinho%2C%20M.%3BSehmbi%2C%20M.%3BCudney%2C%20L.%20E.%3BKauer-Sant%27anna%2C%20M.%3BMagalhães%2C%20P.%20V.%3BReinares%2C%20M.%3BBonn%C3%ADn%2C%20C.%20M.%3BSassi%2C%20R.%20B.%3BKapczinski%2C%20F.%3BColom%2C%20F.%3BVieta%2C%20E.%3BFrey%2C%20B.%20N.%3BRosa%2C%20A.%20R&date=20160201&volume=133&issue=2&spage=102&issn=0001690X

Rejection: It Hurts

Nearly everyone, at least once, has experienced some sort of social rejection, loss, or exclusion - anything from finding out your friends all went out without you last weekend, to breaking up with your significant other, to that pretty woman in the office declining the dinner invitation you've been practicing in your head for weeks. And for those who have experienced such rejections, we know that they can sting. Rejection hurts... literally.

Literally? According to some studies, social pain (the pain we perceive from a social rejection, exclusion, or loss) may travel down some of the same neural pathways as physical pain. So what is pain? Biologically, it's a response to tissue damage. The point of pain is to alert us that something is wrong, so that we can withdraw from the source, and begin recovery. We are familiar with social rejections being described as painful - a "painful" breakup or a "broken" heart - but aren't these just figures of speech? Maybe. But scientists have reason to believe that social pains are just as real as physical ones. 

In a study entitled Does Rejection Hurt? An fMRI Study of Social Exclusion a team of scientists analyzed the brain activity of participants who were playing a virtual ball game in which they were excluded. Pain information comes to a part of the brain call the cingulate cortex. In accordance with previous studies done on physical pain, the scientists performing this study focused on the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) region of the participants' brains. In order to perform this study, the scientist took fMRI scans of the participants' brains while playing the virtual game. During the game, the participants were made to believe they were playing with to other people. These other players (actually just part of the computer program) allowed the participant to play with them for a period of time and then proceeded to exclude the participant by refusing to pass the participant the ball for the remainder of the game. In addition to the fMRI scans, the participants were asked to self report their levels of distress after the game had ended. The results of the study showed significant amounts of increased activity in the ACC during the time that the participants were being rejected, indicating that the ACC (where pain information is integrated) was activated during this time. These findings also aligned with the emotional stress at being ignored that participants self reported at the end of the study. 

Considered from a biological standpoint, it makes sense that emotional hurts might actually cause us pain. Evolutionarily, social interactions were a major key in human survival. Babies and children are highly dependent on parents, and cooperation and mutualism are major aspects of human societies. Even today, passing on ones genes requires some degree of social skills in finding a partner to do so with. Pain of rejection, then, could alert us to situations that could be potentially damaging to us in the social aspect of our survival. 

While there has been much speculation on the subject, this particular study used a biological basis to examine the idea, and produced measurable, significant data. For that reason I thought this article is strong in it's hypothesis and a reputable source of information. Additionally, it goes nicely with our chapter on pain, and I feel that it is highly relatable, as most of us have felt some form of social rejection or another. As a fairly sensitive person and a biology major, it was interesting to see how feelings can be so biologically linked, so close as that neurologically, they may cause the same reactions to somatosensory stimuli.  

Source (VT Libraries): http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.lib.vt.edu/10.1126%2Fscience.1089134

The Diverse Human Mind

It absolutely amazes me how the cultures around the world are so incredibly diverse. The diversity is not only outward, in clothing, food, etc., but also in cultural practices, values, and beliefs. Many different cultures express the same feelings and have similar goals, but their method is different. One example of this can be how all cultures express love, but the way they do it can vary greatly. It can be through word, touch, etc. Different communities develop different speech codes, they develop different ways to analyze similar actions and ideas. I’ve always wondered how these actions stay intact within a culture for hundreds, and even thousands, of years. I was amazed when I discovered an article on cultural neuroscience.

            Cultural neuroscience emerges from the union of two outwardly immiscible fields, neuroscience and cultural psychology. Research explores and exposes possibilities of cultural differences both lower level and higher order processes. Interestingly enough, human brains are biologically prepared to acquire culture. This goes back to early hominids and their developed ability to coordinate thoughts and behaviors within social groups that aided in survival, and thus evolutionarily adapted. Requisite neurobiological capabilities are necessary for culture to function.

            Perception, for example, is something which seems to be shared and the same amongst all cultures. However, it has been found that “perceptual styles” that decode visual scenes differ greatly. Westerners tend to focus on objects in a context free manner, whereas East Asians tend to focus more on contexts, relationships, and backgrounds. Neural investigations, such as through fMRI, supported this conclusion. Similar results were found in other areas such as inferring emotion, view of the self, etc.

            It is incredibly important for us as humans to understand ourselves and each other, both the differences and similarities between us. For, in an increasingly diverse world where cultures and beliefs can clash and cause harm to human lives, science may be able to aid us in understanding and respecting where we all come from in relation to the way we look at the world and how we can work together using our different strengths and weakness for positive efforts.

Source: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com.ezproxy.lib.vt.edu/doi/10.1111/j.1467-839X.2010.01301.x/full

The Makeup of Depression

Depression is a problem that is becoming all too common today. People from all different walks of life and backgrounds experience it everyday, many dealing with it secretly. Estimates say that as many as 19 million adults in the United States are living with major depression. This really interests me as I have done research in labs scientifically and in philosophy/theory classes that explores the areas of human depression and dissatisfaction with life. It really interests me as to why the levels of depression seem to be so high in a country where for most people all basic necessities are met. According to some studies, the countries with the highest depression rates are also some of the most well off countries.

            Depression is a disorder of representation and regulation of one’s mood and emotion. A particular study of depression explored the circuitry underlying this representation and regulation. This study was done through the lens of affective neuroscience, which is a branch of biobehavioral science that explores the underlying neural bases of these moods and emotions. This circuitry is where different kinds of abnormalities are expressed during depression. Thus, it is very important to have a solid understanding of this circuitry under normal conditions and then see how it differs under depression in order to pinpoint points and possible causes of depression.

            The PFC plays a critical role in the representation of goals, thus irregularities in PFC function would result in a compromised goal-instantiation; which would be seen in patients with depression. The ACC, however, is involved in conflict monitoring; particularly when an individual is confronted challenges that involve conflict among multiple response options. When normal levels of ACC activation are present, the signal from ACC would initiate a call to other regions of the brain, particularly the PFC, to resolve the conflict and initiate the proper goal-directed behavior. However, when abnormally low levels of ACC activation are present in a person, the conflict between dispositional mood state and the expectations of context would not be effectively monitored and consequently, further processing would not be initiated.

            The study determined that depression refers to a group of diverse disorders. This proves that it is possible that depression-spectrum disorders can be a result of abnormalities in many different parts of the circuitry. Going back to the original point of interest in why depression is so wide spread, it may be interesting to examine the most common combinations of disorders that result in depression-spectrum disorders. This may illuminate us to some deeper issues in our society, to which major depression is merely a outward symptom.

Motivation and the Brain!

Behavior surrounds us and dictates everything we do, rather it is everything we do. Everything we do requires some sort of motivation, whether it is when or what we decide to eat, or what we decide to do. It really gets me pondering, we go through countless actions and decisions throughout our entire day, many without consciously thinking, our behavior informs these decisions wholly and different motivations are present, but we never sit back to analyze.

While we can speak of behavior as something that is monolithic, behavior really consists of fragments of behaviors that form the whole. In recent time, motivation has come back on the scene as an important topic for behavioral neuroscience because researchers have realized that it is needed to help connect our fragments of knowledge into a greater whole.

            Motivational concepts illuminate what limbic brain systems are chiefly evolved to do, that is to mediate psychological processes that guide real behavior. Pretty much, these systems are evolved to help properly guide your body’s behavior. You see, in order to understand the brain, you need motivational concepts. Brain concepts are needed to understand motivation. The relationship between brain controls motivated behavior and motivational concepts is like a computer and its software. Motivation concepts enable neuroscience to reach its full potential in providing brain-based explanations of motivated behavior in real life. This allows neuroscience to be more nuances and realistic as opposed to being oversimplified fragments that are disconnected from the behavioral reality they are supposed to explain. We must continue evaluating our understanding of these concepts and the pivotal role of motivation in the brain in order to further refine our knowledge of the workings of our mind and behavior.

Source: http://www.sciencedirect.com.ezproxy.lib.vt.edu/science/article/pii/S0031938404000435

Is Single-Sex Education More Beneficial?

Several institutions push for the need to separate boy and girls for the purpose of education. These people use the brain and any respective differences they can find between the two sexes to back up claims that better learning occurs in situations where only a single sex is present. Though some of these claims have a factual basis, most of them cannot translate to major differences that would affect a typical classroom setting.

There are obvious differences that can by typically found between the male and female brain. Some of these include brain size (males’ brains are typically larger), or differences in proportion of white and gray matter. However, these differences have little effect on what happens when learning is occurring. Several studies have been run to asses the differences between boys’ and girls’ brains. These tests centered around the sexes' ability to hear, see, how fast their brain matures, their autonomic nervous systems and even the affect of gonadal hormones. All of these claims have somehow been used to back up the notions that boys and girls learn differently. However, when the literature is accurately reviewed or the tests redone for accuracy, those results do not hold true. Thankfully, there are a plethora of other studies that counteract the claim that boys and girls learn differently. The fact is that, there are no major differences between the two and their performance in the classroom. More differences can be found within the gender itself rather than across and average boy and girl. Belief in this claim can lead to other implications besides its effects on educational standards. One of the biggest things it promotes is gender stereotyping. Single-sex education claims that boys learn better through games used stress balls and relay races, while girls learn better when sheltered from competition and can focus on more “people-orientated” subjects do nothing but promote more gender-stereotyping amongst the masses. It leads towards boys being less expected to engage in reading or conversation, while expecting girls to never find physics or chemistry interesting. Children’s brains are way more malleable than these claims express. Neuroplasticity plays a large role in this malleability, and allows younger children to adapt and engage in many forms of learning. The article ends with the suggestion of instilling children with the faith in their own abilities and efficacy as learners regardless of gender, race, or other characteristics.

I find education very important and essential in an individual’s lifetime; so this article immediately caught my eye. I’ve been hearing the various claims around single-sex education and how beneficial it was, but a part of me never believed it. Just based on the limited knowledge I had on the brain and how people learn, I could see benefits in certain teaching styles, but not in outright separation of the sexes. I began reading this article with some skepticism because I believed it was going to end with the promotion of single-sex education. However, I was pleased with information in presented and the depth in which it delved into the brain to answer various aspects of the question. Reading this article made me want to learn more about how the brain learns and remembers things; so I think it prompted me to engage in my own research and learning of the subject material!

Source: http://link.springer.com.ezproxy.lib.vt.edu/article/10.1007/s11199-011-0037-y/fulltext.html