Influence of first-person and third-person perspectives on neural mechanisms of professional pride.

Professional pride, including self-reflection and attitude toward one's own occupational group, induces individuals to behave in socially appropriate ways, and uniforms can encourage wearers to have this pride. This study was to elucidate the working pattern of professional pride by exploring neural responses when wearing uniforms and being conscious of a third-person's perspective. Twenty healthy adults who had an occupation requiring uniforms were scanned using functional MRI with a self-evaluation task consisting of 2 [uniform versus casual wear] × 2 [first-person perspective versus third-person perspective] conditions. The neural effects of clothing and perspective were analyzed and post-hoc tests were followed. The interaction effect was displayed in the bilateral dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, where uniform led to higher activity in third-person perspective than in first-person perspective, whereas casual wear led to the opposite pattern, suggesting this region may be involved in the awareness of third-person's perspective to uniform-wearing. The right dorsomedial prefrontal cortex showed functional connectivity with the right posterior superior temporal sulcus in uniform-third-person perspective compared to uniform-first-person perspective, suggesting this connection may work for processing information from third-person perspective in a uniform-wearing state. Professional pride may prioritize social information processing in third-person perspective rather than self-referential processing in first-person perspective.

Evaluating attention deficit hyperactivity disorder symptoms in children and adolescents through tracked head movements in a virtual reality classroom: The effect of social cues with different sensory modalities.

Background: Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is clinically diagnosed; however, quantitative analysis to statistically analyze the symptom severity of children with ADHD via the measurement of head movement is still in progress. Studies focusing on the cues that may influence the attention of children with ADHD in classroom settings, where children spend a considerable amount of time, are relatively scarce. Virtual reality allows real-life simulation of classroom environments and thus provides an opportunity to test a range of theories in a naturalistic and controlled manner. The objective of this study was to investigate the correlation between participants' head movements and their reports of inattention and hyperactivity, and to investigate how their head movements are affected by different social cues of different sensory modalities. Methods: Thirty-seven children and adolescents with (n = 20) and without (n = 17) ADHD were recruited for this study. All participants were assessed for diagnoses, clinical symptoms, and self-reported symptoms. A virtual reality-continuous performance test (VR-CPT) was conducted under four conditions: (1) control, (2) no-cue, (3) visual cue, and (4) visual/audio cue. A quantitativecomparison of the participants' head movements was conducted in three dimensions (pitch [head nods], yaw [head turns], and roll [lateral head inclinations]) using a head-mounted display (HMD) in a VR classroom environment. Task-irrelevant head movements were analyzed separately, considering the dimension of movement needed to perform the VR-CPT. Results: The magnitude of head movement, especially task-irrelevant head movement, significantly correlated with the current standard of clinical assessment in the ADHD group. Regarding the four conditions, head movement showed changes according to the complexity of social cues in both the ADHD and healthy control (HC) groups. Conclusion: Children and adolescents with ADHD showed decreasing task-irrelevant movements in the presence of social stimuli toward the intended orientation. As a proof-of-concept study, this study preliminarily identifies the potential of VR as a tool to understand and investigate the classroom behavior of children with ADHD in a controlled, systematic manner.

The Applicability of Virtual Reality-Based Training for Controlling Anger in Aggressive Individuals.

Because a failure of anger control leads to emotional and social problems, appropriate anger management may be important for social well-being. Virtual reality (VR) may potentially be effectively utilized in anger management, and this study aimed to verify the applicability of the VR-based anger control training program. The data obtained by having 60 young male participants divided into 2 groups, the high aggression group and the low aggression group, based on their Aggression Questionnaire scores to execute this program were analyzed. The program consisted of "Anger Exposure Training" for provoking anger and facilitating anger control and "Mindfulness Training" for providing the meditation experience for controlling anger. The anger scores and comfort scores obtained from these tasks, respectively, were analyzed for differences between the groups and between the experimental conditions. The anger regulation and comfort enhancement rates were analyzed for correlations with psychological variables. In Anger Exposure Training, the anger scores in angry expression were reduced in managed expression of anger in both groups. In Mindfulness Training, meditation increased comfort score as well in both groups, and the comfort enhancement rates were negatively correlated with the levels of self-differentiation and open communication with mother only in the high aggression group. These results indicate that the VR environments can provide an effective means of trainings for managing anger. Therefore, further research on the effectiveness of the VR-based anger control training program is worthy conducting in individuals who express excessive aggression.

Neural Basis of Professional Pride in the Reaction to Uniform Wear.

Professional pride is a positive emotion that includes self-reflection or evaluation and attitude toward one's own occupational group. Uniforms can encourage the wearer to have professional pride. The current study aimed to elucidate the neural basis of professional pride using an experimental task related to the self in uniform and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The person-adjective matching task, in which a participant or other in uniform or casual wear was presented with positive and negative words, was used for scanning fMRI. Imaging data from 21 adults who had an occupation requiring a uniform were analyzed to identify the main and interaction effects of individual (self vs. other), clothes (uniform vs. casual wear), and valence (positive vs. negative). Identified brain activities were correlated with psychological scales including the Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale and Group Environment Questionnaire. Whole brain analyses found that the interaction between individual and clothes was present in multiple regions such as the right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC), left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, left middle and inferior temporal gyri, left posterior superior temporal sulcus, right temporoparietal junction, left lingual gyrus, left calcarine cortex, right insula, left caudate, and right putamen. In particular, activities in the right VLPFC, left calcarine cortex, and right putamen in the self/uniform condition were positively correlated with several psychological scales. These results suggest that professional pride may be represented through multiple brain networks related to empathy, reward, and emotion regulation as well as the theory-of-mind network. The neural basis of professional pride is closely related to positive self-evaluation and group cohesion.

Different neural substrates at first impressions of same-sex and opposite-sex faces in women.

First impressions follow a complex process that is greatly influenced by the facial attributes and the sex of the displayer. This study aimed to evaluate whether the initial impression formed in friendship decisions is processed differently between the same-sex and opposite-sex targets in women. Twenty-four healthy female volunteers participated in a functional magnetic resonance imaging experiment, in which they appraised a given face and decided whether they wanted to befriend the target. Then, a post-scan subjective rating was performed for facial components such as cheerfulness, good-looks, and uniqueness. The data were used to perform univariate whole-brain analysis to identify the neural substrates of sex bias in impression formation, and exploratory parametric modulation analysis to examine the parametric effects of facial components. Results showed that a composite of diverse areas including the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, and posterior superior temporal sulcus were more engaged when viewing male faces than female faces. Parametric analysis revealed that bilateral lingual gyrus activities showed a negative parametric effect with cheerfulness for male faces, whereas left inferior parietal lobule activity showed a positive parametric effect with good-looks for female faces. During the formation of first impressions, diffuse areas related to emotion processing and conflict-monitoring were utilized when a person of the opposite sex was encountered compared to encounters with a person of the same sex. The perceived cheerfulness of a male face also showed a negative relationship with the identification of facial emotion in the male face; the more a female face was considered good-looking, a greater feeling of uneasiness appeared to be elicited. The findings from this study provide further evidence of sex bias in women during friendship encounters.

Relationship between Self-Esteem and Self-Consciousness in Adolescents: An Eye-Tracking Study.

OBJECTIVE: Self-esteem and self-consciousness are important determinants of behaviors. This study aimed to explore the relationship between self-esteem and self-consciousness in adolescents using the eye-tracking measurement. METHODS: Fifty-five adolescents with high self-esteem and 58 adolescents with low self-esteem participated in self-consciousness-related eye-tracking experiments of selecting happy, disgusted, and angry facial emotions while recognizing one's own usual expressions and the others' usual expressions toward oneself. RESULTS: When recognizing one's own, adolescents with high self-esteem showed significantly more selection counts and longer fixation time for 'happy' than adolescents with low self-esteem. When recognizing the others', adolescents with low self-esteem showed significantly more selection counts and longer fixation time for 'disgusted' and 'angry' than adolescents with high self-esteem. CONCLUSION: These suggest higher self-esteem is connected to more positive identification of one's usual expressions and others' usual expressions toward oneself. There is a close relationship among low self-esteem, suppressing positive emotions, decreased psychological adjustment, and increased negative emotions.

Inflexible eye fixation pattern in schizophrenia affecting decision-making on daily life.

Patients with schizophrenia have difficulties in real life due to impairment in ability to make decisions. The purpose of this study was to elucidate the relationship between impaired decision-making processes with real life stimuli and abnormal eye gaze patterns in patients with schizophrenia. Each of 23 patients with schizophrenia and 23 healthy controls performed an apparel purchase decision task including the influencing factors such as preference, fit, and price, during which the eye gaze was traced. Fixation time and fixation time ratio on areas of interest, which were set for participant faces and clothing, were compared between the two groups. Compared with controls, patients made purchase decisions at a higher rate and showed significantly shorter fixation time on clothing in the preference, fit, and price phases and on faces in the purchase phase. Fixation time ratio of face over clothing did not change over purchase decisions in patients, whereas controls showed significantly higher fixation time ratio in not-to-buy decisions than in to-buy decisions. These results suggest that aberrant decision-making behaviors in patients with schizophrenia are closely related to inflexible visual information gathering patterns because they apportion the same amount of attention to objects regardless of purchase intention.

Development of Virtual Reality Continuous Performance Test Utilizing Social Cues for Children and Adolescents with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder.

Virtual reality (VR) neuropsychological assessments have the potential for the ecological measurement of attention. We analyzed the newly developed VR continuous performance test (VR-CPT) for Korean children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and typically developing children (TDC). To identify specific features of a virtual environment that influence the attention performance of children, we investigated whether the presence of a virtual teacher and social cues in the VR environment affects their attention performance. A total of 38 participants (18 TDC and 20 ADHD children and adolescents) were recruited for VR-CPT testing. Bivariate correlational analysis was conducted to examine the associations between the results of the VR-CPT and ADHD questionnaires to determine the capacity of VR-CPT to mirror real-life attention behaviors. Mixed-design analysis of variables was conducted to compare the effects of the social aspects of the VR-CPT on attention performance in groups. There were significant associations between ADHD rating scores and the omission error, commission error, reaction time (RT), reaction time variability (RTV), and total accuracy of the VR-CPT in the ADHD group. In addition, the ADHD group exhibited comparable performance with the TDC group for all measures of the VR-CPT. Also there seemed to be a trend of decreasing RTV when a virtual teacher with social cues was present compared with the equipment control condition in the ADHD group. Performance in the VR-CPT program was associated with behavioral measures of ADHD symptoms. Adding social aspects to a VR environment commonly encountered by children and adolescents has the potential to make a difference in the attention performance of youths with ADHD.

Visual attention during the evaluation of facial attractiveness is influenced by facial angles and smile.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the changes in visual attention influenced by facial angles and smile during the evaluation of facial attractiveness. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty-three young adults were asked to rate the overall facial attractiveness (task 1 and 3) or to select the most attractive face (task 2) by looking at multiple panel stimuli consisting of 0°, 15°, 30°, 45°, 60°, and 90° rotated facial photos with or without a smile for three model face photos and a self-photo (self-face). Eye gaze and fixation time (FT) were monitored by the eye-tracking device during the performance. Participants were asked to fill out a subjective questionnaire asking, "Which face was primarily looked at when evaluating facial attractiveness?" RESULTS: When rating the overall facial attractiveness (task 1) for model faces, FT was highest for the 0° face and lowest for the 90° face regardless of the smile ( P < .01). However, when the most attractive face was to be selected (task 2), the FT of the 0° face decreased, while it significantly increased for the 45° face ( P < .001). When facial attractiveness was evaluated with the simplified panels combined with facial angles and smile (task 3), the FT of the 0° smiling face was the highest ( P < .01). While most participants reported that they looked mainly at the 0° smiling face when rating facial attractiveness, visual attention was broadly distributed within facial angles. CONCLUSIONS: Laterally rotated faces and presence of a smile highly influence visual attention during the evaluation of facial esthetics.

Aversive eye gaze during a speech in virtual environment in patients with social anxiety disorder.

OBJECTIVE: One of the main characteristics of social anxiety disorder is excessive fear of social evaluation. In such situations, anxiety can influence gaze behaviour. Thus, the current study adopted virtual reality to examine eye gaze pattern of social anxiety disorder patients while presenting different types of speeches. METHODS: A total of 79 social anxiety disorder patients and 51 healthy controls presented prepared speeches on general topics and impromptu speeches on self-related topics to a virtual audience while their eye gaze was recorded. Their presentation performance was also evaluated. RESULTS: Overall, social anxiety disorder patients showed less eye gaze towards the audience than healthy controls. Types of speech did not influence social anxiety disorder patients' gaze allocation towards the audience. However, patients with social anxiety disorder showed significant correlations between the amount of eye gaze towards the audience while presenting self-related speeches and social anxiety cognitions. CONCLUSION: The current study confirms that eye gaze behaviour of social anxiety disorder patients is aversive and that their anxiety symptoms are more dependent on the nature of topic.

Usefulness of the Mobile Virtual Reality Self-Training for Overcoming a Fear of Heights.

A mobile virtual reality system, equipped with built-in variables such as heart rate (HR), gaze-down data, and subjective fear rating, can allow individuals with a fear of heights to overcome it by self-training. This study aimed to verify the efficacy and safety of the training program. Forty-eight volunteers completed the four-session self-training program over 2 weeks. They were allocated into either low- or high-fear group by the Acrophobia Questionnaire (AQ)-anxiety scores, and then the changes of the built-in variables and AQ-anxiety scores were analyzed between the groups. The safety was assessed using the Simulator Sickness Questionnaire (SSQ). The AQ-anxiety scores were significantly decreased after self-training in both groups, and the degree of decrease was significantly greater in the high-fear group than in the low-fear group. Gaze-down percentage and subjective fear rating showed a significant group difference, but HR did not. The SSQ scores were within the acceptable level. These results suggest that the training effect was greater in the high-fear group than in the low-fear group. This mobile program may be safely applicable to self-training for individuals with high scores on the fear of heights by repeated exposure to virtual environments with the embedded feedback system.

The Immunohistochemical Patterns of Calcification-related Molecules in the Epidermis and Dermis of the Zebrafish (Danio rerio).

BACKGROUND: The scales of bony fish represent a significant reservoir of calcium and calcification of the elasmoid scale is known to be associated with deposition of mineral crystals from the epidermis to dermis. However, little is known about the exact mechanisms of calcium deposition, mobilization and regeneration occurring in the zebrafish skin. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the expression of calcification-related molecular mediators in both the epidermis and dermis of the zebrafish (Danio rerio), using immunohistochemical study. METHODS: We examined the skin of zebrafish in four populations of different ages (i.e. 20 days post-fertilization (dpf), 35 dpf, 50 dpf, and the adult zebrafish), using several immunohistochemical markers, including bone morphogenetic protein 4 (BMP-4), ß-catenin, osteocalcin, osteopontin and osteonectin. RESULTS: BMP-4, osteopontin and osteonectin were moderately expressed in the epidermis of zebrafish after 35 dpf. Also, some of the cells in the upper dermis showed strong positivity for BMP-4, osteocalcin, osteopontin and osteonetin. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that BMP-4, osteocalcin, osteopontin and osteonectin may play a role in the process of calcification of the elasmoid scale.

A case of myxoid dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans.

Dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans (DFSP) is a slowly growing dermal spindle cell tumor and its myxoid variant, a rare type of DFSP, is characterized by extensive myxoid degeneration. We present the case of a 69-year-old woman with a multinodular reddish plaque on her trunk. Histopathologically, the tumor was located in the dermis and consisted of uniform spindle-shaped cells, showing strongly positive reaction for CD34, and negative for both S-100 and desmin. In addition to the typical storiform pattern, prominent myxoid stromal changes were demonstrated. Herein, we report an interesting case of myxoid DFSP, rarely reported in the dermatology literature.

A case of clear cell eccrine porocarcinoma.

Eccrine porocarcinoma (EP) is a rare malignant tumor arising from the intraepidermal eccrine duct. The tumor cells frequently contain glycogen, but prominent clear cell changes in EP are rarely reported. A 78-year-old woman presented with a slightly pruritic, erythematous, verrucous plaque on her left thigh. Histopathological examination revealed intraepidermal tumor cell nests composed of small basaloid cells and duct-like structures lined by periodic acid-Schiff (PAS)-positive cuticles. Besides the typical findings of EP, clear cell changes were predominantly observed in the tumor cell aggregations. Herein we report a case of the clear cell variant of EP rarely reported in previous literature.