Showing papers by "Simone G. Shamay-Tsoory published in 2016"
TL;DR: A theoretical framework is suggested that focuses on the overarching role of oxytocin in regulating the salience of social cues through its interaction with the dopaminergic system and is dependent on baseline individual differences such as gender, personality traits, and degree of psychopathology.
626 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the neuropeptide oxytocin (OT), implicated in social cognition and emotions pivotal to sociality and well-being, is a promising pharmacological target for social and emotional dysfunction.
92 citations
TL;DR: The results of the current double-blind, placebo-controlled, within-subject study suggest that oxytocin plays a complex role in the modulation of human behavior and support the saliency hypothesis of oxytoc in response to provocation.
75 citations
TL;DR: The results suggest that empathy between romantic partners may explain the pain-alleviating effects of social touch and support the idea that pain perception models should be extended, taking into account some psychological characteristics of observers.
56 citations
TL;DR: Results showed that interindividual differences in levels of empathic traits modulated both behavioral and electrophysiological responses to human social touch, such that highly empathic participants evaluatedhuman social touch as inducing more pleasant emotions and exhibited greater mu suppression upon observation of human socialtouch compared to less empathic Participants.
Abstract: One of the ways in which individuals convey feelings and thoughts to one another is through touch. Although the neural responses to felt and observed tactile stimuli between an inanimate object and a part of the human body have been vastly explored, the neural responses to observed human interaction involving touch are not well understood. Considering that the observation of social touch involves vicarious sharing of emotions, we hypothesized that levels of empathic traits modulate the neural responses to observed touch and focused on the attenuation in the mu\alpha rhythm (8-13Hz), a neural marker that has been related to sensorimotor resonance. Fifty-four participants observed photos depicting social touch, nonsocial touch, or no touch while their electroencephalography (EEG) activity was recorded. Results showed that interindividual differences in levels of empathic traits modulated both behavioral and electrophysiological responses to human social touch, such that highly empathic participants evaluated human social touch as inducing more pleasant emotions and exhibited greater mu suppression upon observation of human social touch compared to less empathic participants. Specifically, both the behavioral and the electrophysiological responses to observed social touch were predicted by levels of personal distress, a measure of emotional contagion. These findings indicate that the behavioral and electrophysiological responses to observed social touch are modulated by levels of empathy.
35 citations
TL;DR: The results indicate that patients with PTSD exhibit deficits in compassion and that the numbing cluster emerged as the key predictor of those deficits, and that a single intranasal dose of OT enhances compassion toward women (but not towards men), both in Patients with PTSD and in controls.
32 citations
TL;DR: The hypothesis that oxytocin increases the salience and reinforcing value of social cues, a process that could be useful to manipulate clinically, is proposed.
30 citations
TL;DR: The correlation matrix between ToM-scores and clinical measures showed specific associations depending on the impaired ToM aspect and the psychological domain, which may have clinical implications for the prevention and management of ODD.
Abstract: The goal of the study was to examine the affective-cognitive components of Theory of Mind (ToM), in a community sample of 538 preschoolers, and more specifically in a subsample of 40 children diagnosed with ODD. The relationship between affective and cognitive ToM and some ODD clinical characteristics was examined. Children were assessed with structured diagnostic interviews and dimensional measures of psychopathology, impairment and unemotional traits. A measure based on eye-gaze was used to assess ToM. Mixed analysis of variance compared the mean cognitive versus affective scale scores and the between-subjects factor ODD. The association between ToM-scores and clinical measures was assessed through correlation models. Execution and reaction time to emotional and cognitive components of ToM tasks are different at age 5 in normally developing children. Oppositional Defiant children had slower response time when performing the affective mentalizing condition than children without the disorder. The correlation matrix between ToM-scores and clinical measures showed specific associations depending on the impaired ToM aspect and the psychological domain. Results may have clinical implications for the prevention and management of ODD.
21 citations
TL;DR: A strong negative correlation was found between the initial-level of anxiety and net-change in state-anxiety and a state-dependent effects of Methylphenidate on anxiety were found.
Abstract: Methylphenidate affects state-anxiety in ADHD patients The current study examines the effect of Methylphenidate on state-anxiety in healthy subjects In a cross-over, randomized, controlled, double-blind study, 36 healthy subjects received either Methylphenidate or placebo As a group, no change in state-anxiety was detected with Methylphenidate However, participants reporting higher anxiety levels experienced a significant and specific state-anxiety reduction following Methylphenidate Moreover, a strong negative correlation was found between the initial-level of anxiety and net-change in state-anxiety These changes were unrelated to self-perceived attention levels Our results point to the state-dependent effects of Methylphenidate on anxiety
13 citations
TL;DR: Analysis of empathic skills in a large spectrum of reading abilities, including typical readers and individuals with dyslexia, and their relationship to reading competence indicates a strong association between reading-related skills and empathic abilities and may point to involvement of the TPJ in both empathy and reading.
Abstract: Studies indicate a strong relationship between empathy and language skills, but the relationship between reading and empathy remains elusive, although a shared neural substrate (the temporoparietal junction; TPJ) has been implicated in both reading and empathy. Motivated by these observations, the purpose of the current study was to examine empathic skills in a large spectrum of reading abilities, including typical readers and individuals with dyslexia, and their relationship to reading competence. We administered the Intrapersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) test, which differentiates between two subscales of empathy (cognitive and emotional empathy), to a group of participants with dyslexia and typical readers. Results indicate that the general reading score (average z scores of all reading tests) was significantly positively correlated with empathic scores. In addition, tests of specific reading abilities-decoding, reading fluency, and reading-related measures of phonological awareness-were significantly positively correlated with empathic scores. Finally, participants with dyslexia who showed low reading abilities had significantly lower scores in total empathy and cognitive empathy, as measured by the IRI test, than did typical participants with high reading abilities. Taken together, these results indicate a strong association between reading-related skills and empathic abilities and may point to involvement of the TPJ in both empathy and reading.
13 citations
TL;DR: It is demonstrated that OT can enhance the social meaning of touch between two inanimate objects and advance the understanding of the mechanisms underlying the ability of OT to anthropomorphize environmental cues.
TL;DR: It is suggested that sexual dimorphism in anxiety-related brain activity may explain the differences found in CHEPs and the sex-related association between anxiety and pain.
Abstract: Behavioral studies found greater pain sensitivity in females that vanishes fully or partially when controlling for the emotional state. Furthermore, pain-related brain activation hints at the role of limbic structures in sex differences in pain processing. We aimed to investigate the role of pain-related limbic structures in mediating the relation between subjects' affective state (i.e., anxiety) and pain. Contact heat-evoked potentials (CHEPs) were recorded in 26 healthy subjects (13 males) simultaneously with innocuous (42 °C) baseline and target noxious (52 °C) series of stimuli administered to the left non-dominant volar forearm. The N2 and P2 components were analyzed, and their generators' activity was estimated using standardized low-resolution brain electromagnetic tomography. Thereafter, structural equation modeling (SEM) was applied separately for females and males, examining the mediatory role of the CHEPs' limbic structures generators [posterior midcingulate cortex (pMCC), insula, amygdala, and hippocampus] in the anxiety-pain sensitivity association. Females exhibited greater P2 amplitudes that were highly associated with larger pMCC activity (r = 0.910, p < 0.001). This correlation was also evident in males, though with less strength (r = 0.578, p = 0.039). Moreover, the P2 amplitudes were associated both in females (r = 0.645, p = 0.017) and males (r = 0.608, p = 0.028) with the activity of the amygdala\hippocampus\insula. SEM revealed that the relationship between state anxiety and pain ratings was only in females fully mediated via the effect of the pMCC on the P2 amplitude. These findings suggest that sexual dimorphism in anxiety-related brain activity may explain the differences found in CHEPs and the sex-related association between anxiety and pain.
Columbia University1, Veterans Health Administration2, Yale University3, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai4, Washington University in St. Louis5, University of California, Los Angeles6, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center7, GlaxoSmithKline8, University of Cambridge9, Harvard University10, University of California, Davis11, University of Illinois at Chicago12, University of Toronto13, University of Pittsburgh14, Duke University15, University of Oxford16, Yeshiva University17, Johns Hopkins University18, National Institutes of Health19, University of California, San Francisco20, University of Edinburgh21, Vanderbilt University22, Mitsubishi23, Cardiff University24, King's College London25, McGovern Institute for Brain Research26, Stanford University27, University of Haifa28, University of California, San Diego29, University of Texas at Austin30, University of Michigan31, McGill University32, University of Pennsylvania33, University of Utah34
TL;DR: This commentary pays tribute to two towering mental health advocates and philanthropists who made an enormous and enduring impact through the initiatives that they created and sustained, through their personal contributions, and through their ability to mobilize others.