How do mothers signal shared feeling-states to their infants? An investigation of affect attunement and imitation during the first year of life.

The present study examined how mothers signal shared feeling-states to their infants. Affect attunement and imitation were investigated cross-culturally in 39 mother-infant dyads from Sweden (N = 22) and the former Yugoslavia (N = 17) during the first year of life. Video-recordings of playful interaction between mothers and their infants were analysed using the Affect Attunement Protocol. A significant negative association between imitation and age was found, while there was a significant positive association between affect attunement and age. Single occurrences of affect attunement appeared already at two or three months of age, and by 6 months of age episodes of affect attunement were more common than imitation. Frequencies of imitation and affect attunement were similar cross-culturally and in terms of gender, although there was a significant interaction between age and gender. The results suggest that the signalling of shared feeling-states is not a static process. Mothers do not signal shared feeling-states in the same manner at different ages. Imitation is the most important process during the earliest months, but is superseded by affect attunement earlier than previously thought. The functional implications of this developmental variation are discussed.

The relationships between personality traits and plasma gastrin, cholecystokinin, somatostatin, insulin, and oxytocin levels in healthy women.

In earlier studies performed on a group of women with gastrointestinal symptoms, significant positive correlations between the gastrointestinal hormone gastrin and anxiety, and a negative correlation with socialization were obtained. These and other relationships were tested on 33 healthy women. A comprehensive and concise statistical model was used for the analysis of correlations between, on one hand, the levels of oxytocin and the gastrointestinal hormones gastrin, cholecystokinin, somatostatin and insulin, and, on the other hand, personality traits. Almost all explained variance of the hormone levels could be referred to three personality trait factors, Anxiety, Aggressive non-conformity, and Detachment. The statistical explanation of the gastrin level variance was most successful, the three personality trait factors explaining 48% of this variance. Gastrin "increased" Anxiety while reducing Aggressive non-conformity and Detachment. A similar pattern for insulin was also reliable. Considering general trends, the negative correlations between all hormones and Detachment are interesting. Present data suggest that there is a psychoendocrinological antithesis to the fight-flight individual, characterized by high activity in the sympathoadrenal system: these contrasting persons, with high levels of the gastrointestinal hormones gastrin and insulin, tend to be warm and caring and non-aggressive--but often not free from anxiety. We do not think that the demonstrated associations between hormone levels and personality traits implicate a direct causal relationship. They rather may mirror the activity of centrally acting or hypothalamic control systems which influence both behavioural and endocrine profiles.

Favourite objects of autistic children.

Favourite objects (FOs) of autistic children were compared with the FOs of healthy preschool and school children as well as mentally handicapped children. Three clusters of objects were obtained for normal children (comprising primary transitional objects and their forerunners, secondary transitional objects, and non-cuddly toys). When autistic children and mentally handicapped children were included, a fourth cluster of deviant objects was found. Frequency distributions of the two handicapped groups in the clusters were similar. Similarities between the two handicapped groups were also found within each cluster. The occurrence of secondary transitional objects was rare in the handicapped groups. The characteristics of "autistic" FOs reported in earlier case studies (e.g. being hard, often having an exciting effect, not being used in their adequate functions) were typical only of objects in the fourth cluster.

Personality traits in a group of individuals with functional disorders of the gastrointestinal tract and their correlation with gastrin, somatostatin and oxytocin levels.

The Karolinska Scales of Personality (KSP) and some dimensions of the Bergman scale reflecting social dependency and self-confidence were used in 24 individuals with functional disorders of the gastrointestinal tract. Patients showed higher scores of somatic anxiety, indirect aggression and irritability and lower scores in socialization when compared with a reference group. The levels of gastrointestinal symptoms as well as the levels of some hormones related to vagal nerve activity in this patient group have been reported in a previous publication. When the scores obtained in personality inventories were related to symptom levels, we found significant correlations with intestinal but not abdominal symptoms. Gastrin levels correlated inversely with socialization. Somatostatin levels on the other hand, correlated negatively with social dependency and positively with self-confidence in the Bergman scale. Interestingly, oxytocin levels correlated positively with social dependency and in addition with indirect aggression and verbal aggression. The correlation between hormone levels and scores of personality dimensions will be interpreted and discussed within a physiological context.

Gastrin, somatostatin and oxytocin levels in patients with functional disorders of the gastrointestinal tract and their response to feeding and interaction.

Twenty-four individuals with functional disorders of the gastrointestinal tract participated in the study. Symptoms from the upper and lower gastrointestinal tract were recorded by means of a self-administered questionnaire before, 3 months and 3 yr after participation in group therapy. Blood was sampled from the patients while they were subjected to three different provocations (a friendly greeting, a food stimulus and a stress stimulus). Ten subjects without gastrointestinal symptoms participated in an identical experiment. Gastrin, somatostatin and oxytocin levels were measured with radioimmunoassay. Both gastrin and somatostatin levels were influenced by the provocations and by the greeting and the stress stimulus in particular. In principle, the controls tended to react with a parasympathetic response pattern following the interactive stimuli, whereas the individuals with functional disorders of the gastrointestinal tract reacted with an activation of the sympathetic nervous system. Somatostatin levels were significantly higher and oxytocin levels lower in patients than in controls and gastrin levels tended to be higher in patients than in controls. Most individuals reported both gastric as well as intestinal symptoms. Gastrin levels correlated positively with total symptom level and somatostatin levels with intestinal symptoms scores reported by the patients.

Effects of atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) on jejunal net fluid absorption in the rat.

The role of atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) on jejunal net fluid transport was studied in intact rats as well as in rats subjected to a perivascular denervation of the intestinal segment. In rats with intact nerves, an acute volume expansion with 5% albumin (10% of estimated blood volume) decreased jejunal net fluid absorption by approximately 70% compared to control animals not subjected to volume expansion. After a perivascular denervation of the intestinal segment, the acute volume expansion reversed net fluid absorption into a net fluid secretion. In order to reduce the volume expansion-induced endogenous release of ANP, one group of rats was subjected to a right atrial appendectomy 7 days prior to the experiments. In these animals, the intestinal response to the same 10% volume load was blunted compared to controls. Administration of rat alpha-ANP (99-126; 5 micrograms kg-1 i.v.) induced effects similar to those of volume expansion both in rats with intact perivascular nerves as well as in denervated animals. Volume expansion increased mean arterial pressure (MAP) as well as central venous pressure and decreased heart rate (HR) in all groups. When exogenous ANP was administered, a fall in MAP was seen, while HR remained unchanged. In conclusion, these data strongly indicate a physiological role for ANP in jejunal fluid transfer in response to acute volume expansion.

Psychodrama group therapy for patients with functional gastrointestinal disorders--a controlled long-term follow-up study.

Patients with gastric dyspepsia and irritable bowel syndrome at a primary health care centre were offered a special form of group psychotherapy once a week during a 3-month period. The therapy included psychodrama and relaxation training. Results were evaluated by means of self-administered questionnaires on symptoms and anxiety, comparing pretherapy levels with levels 6 months after the start of the therapy as well as 3 years later. In the studied treatment group--as well as in a control group selected in the same way but not undergoing the special treatment--the symptom levels decreased 3 months after therapy. In both groups, however, they tended to increase again after 3 years. Anxiety, on the other hand, decreased 6 months after the start of therapy in the specially treated group and no similar tendency was observed in the control group. In the treatment group subjects who reported immediately after treatment that they had learned 'a new behaviour' were more likely to report fewer symptoms of the irritable bowel syndrome 3 years later than other subjects.

Psychological aspects of breast reconstruction following mastectomy.

In order to analyse the experiences of women after breast reconstruction and to find variables influencing these experiences, 45 women were studied with quantitative methods and 14 with deep interviews, one to four years after breast reconstruction. By factor analysis, five dimensions of experiences were identified. With a more or less common background of variables evaluating the satisfaction with and the subjective importance of the reconstruction, these dimensions emphasized experiences of restoration, freedom from depression, changes in public body image, freedom from tenderness of the reconstruction site, and changes in life patterns, respectively. The dimensions were basically not correlated with each other. The "influence" of other variables on these dimensions was studied using multiple regression methods. Social and physical variables (the consistency of the reconstruction included), the incidence of significant life events, and the availability of social support could not be shown to influence the adjustment factors. Some personality traits were of importance, suggesting that the psychological coping style of the patients is influential. The saliency of personality variables is seen against the background that the technical results of the reconstructions on the whole are satisfactory and their variance restricted. In the deep interview, similar patterns of experiences as those identified by the quantitative methods, were found. The relative satisfaction with the reconstruction was for all interviewed patients the result of a process of adjustment that took varying lengths of time.

Abnormalities in the orienting response in senile dementia.

Forty-five female patients with the diagnosis of senile dementia and subdivided according to degree of mental deterioration were paged over a loudspeaker placed directly to the right or to the left of the patient. In the most demented subgroup, motor and/or verbal orienting responses often failed to appear. A turn towards the loudspeaker used was more often evoked in the least deteriorated subgroups. Turning in inadequate directions is tentatively explained in terms of dysfunctions within the auditory system and with reference to the disorientation of the patients. Twenty of the senile dementia patients were also compared with 20 healthy aged persons concerning habituation of orienting responses when exposed to 15 stimulations with intermittent light. The demented patients did not habituate significantly whereas control subjects did. The defective habituation of the patients is tentatively explained in terms of their memory disturbances and low capacity to interpret sensory data.

Exploratory behavior in patients suffering from senile dementia: a comparison with children.

Thirty-seven patients with the diagnosis of senile dementia and 70 children aged 6 months to 4 years were observed in three tasks that stimulated exploratory behavior. The subjects were rated according to the frequencies of certain forms of behavior in 52 variables. It was assumed that certain behavior would be more frequent among children in specific age periods and for that reason a factor analysis of the children's behavior would generate factors characterizing clusters of behavior typical for certain periods. The factor analyses of the children's behavior yielded three factors, which were interpreted as an oral factor, a factor characterizing interest in three-dimensional relationships, and a factor regarding goal-directed manipulation. Indices of the three factors demonstrated that the oral factor had a very high frequency in the infants 6-11 months old; after that age it decreased steeply and disappeared at about 2 years of age. Activities involving three-dimensional relationships and goal-directed manipulation were scarcely displayed in the youngest infants but appeared at about 12 months. Both modes of exploratory behavior tended to disappear before the age of 4. Analyses were carried out to see if the behavior of the patients yielded similar factors, and to see if the distributions of the factor indices for the group of patients, when broken down according to the degree of mental deterioration, had forms similar to the distributions for the children in the different age groups. Similar factors were obtained for the patients, but the structures were less clear and less meaningful than those obtained for the children. The forms of the distributions of factor indices over the degree of mental deterioration were similar to the distributions over the age groups for the children. Motor activity was reduced among more deteriorated patients. When explaining the childlike strategies in the exploratory behavior of the demented patients, it was hypothesized that, due to deficient memory, the patients had to manipulate the objects to find their qualities. This exploratory behavior was more or less advanced and flexible depending on the degree of mental deterioration. However, possible negative effects of high anxiety and high social inhibition were also touched upon.