Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 1 - 7 of 7

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Freesurfer-Initiated Fully-Automated Subcortical Brain Segmentation In Mri Using Large Deformation Diffeomorphic Metric Mapping., Ali R Khan, Lei Wang, Mirza Faisal Beg Jul 2008

Freesurfer-Initiated Fully-Automated Subcortical Brain Segmentation In Mri Using Large Deformation Diffeomorphic Metric Mapping., Ali R Khan, Lei Wang, Mirza Faisal Beg

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

Fully-automated brain segmentation methods have not been widely adopted for clinical use because of issues related to reliability, accuracy, and limitations of delineation protocol. By combining the probabilistic-based FreeSurfer (FS) method with the Large Deformation Diffeomorphic Metric Mapping (LDDMM)-based label-propagation method, we are able to increase reliability and accuracy, and allow for flexibility in template choice. Our method uses the automated FreeSurfer subcortical labeling to provide a coarse-to-fine introduction of information in the LDDMM template-based segmentation resulting in a fully-automated subcortical brain segmentation method (FS+LDDMM). One major advantage of the FS+LDDMM-based approach is that the automatically generated segmentations generated are …


Effects Of Acute Ethyl Alcohol Consumption On A Psychophysical Measure Of Lateral Inhibition In Human Vision., Kevin D Johnston, Brian Timney Jun 2008

Effects Of Acute Ethyl Alcohol Consumption On A Psychophysical Measure Of Lateral Inhibition In Human Vision., Kevin D Johnston, Brian Timney

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

Acute consumption of ethyl alcohol affects a variety of visual functions. However, there have been few systematic attempts to investigate the neural mechanisms underlying these effects. Here, we employed the Westheimer paradigm to investigate the hypothesis that alcohol reduces lateral inhibition within human "perceptive fields", the psychophysical analogue of physiological receptive fields. Westheimer functions obtained under alcohol and no-alcohol conditions at photopic, mesopic, and scotopic levels of adaptation showed changes consistent with an alcohol-induced decrease in lateral inhibition. We conclude that this decrease in lateral inhibition may be responsible for some of the changes in visual perception that result from …


Meta-Analysis Of Alexithymia In Posttraumatic Stress Disorder., Paul A Frewen, David J A Dozois, Richard W J Neufeld, Ruth A Lanius Apr 2008

Meta-Analysis Of Alexithymia In Posttraumatic Stress Disorder., Paul A Frewen, David J A Dozois, Richard W J Neufeld, Ruth A Lanius

Psychology Publications

The authors present a meta-analysis investigating the prevalence of alexithymia in 12 studies encompassing 1,095 individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). A large effect size was found associating PTSD with alexithymia. Effect sizes were higher in studies of male combat PTSD samples in comparison with studies of other PTSD samples. Clinical and research directions are discussed.


Selective Attention To Threat Versus Reward: Meta-Analysis And Neural-Network Modeling Of The Dot-Probe Task., Paul A Frewen, David J A Dozois, Marc F Joanisse, Richard W J Neufeld Feb 2008

Selective Attention To Threat Versus Reward: Meta-Analysis And Neural-Network Modeling Of The Dot-Probe Task., Paul A Frewen, David J A Dozois, Marc F Joanisse, Richard W J Neufeld

Psychology Publications

Two decades of research conducted to date has examined selective visual attention to threat and reward stimuli as a function of individual differences in anxiety using the dot-probe task. The present study tests a connectionist neural-network model of meta-analytic and key individual-study results derived from this literature. Attentional bias for threatening and reward-related stimuli is accounted for by connectionist model implementation of the following clinical psychology and affective neuroscience principles: 1) affective learning and temperament, 2) state and trait anxiety, 3) intensity appraisal, 4) affective chronometry, 5) attentional control, and 6) selective attention training. Theoretical implications for the study of …


Neuroimaging Studies Of Psychological Interventions For Mood And Anxiety Disorders: Empirical And Methodological Review., Paul A Frewen, David J A Dozois, Ruth A Lanius Feb 2008

Neuroimaging Studies Of Psychological Interventions For Mood And Anxiety Disorders: Empirical And Methodological Review., Paul A Frewen, David J A Dozois, Ruth A Lanius

Psychology Publications

This article reviews the methods and results of published neuroimaging studies of the effects of structured psychological interventions for mood and anxiety disorders. The results are consistent with neural models of improved affective- and self-regulation, as evidenced by psychotherapeutic modulation of brain metabolic activity within the dorsolateral, ventrolateral, and medial prefrontal cortices, the anterior cingulate, the posterior cingulate/precuneus, and the insular cortices. Specific recommendations for future studies are outlined, and the clinical and theoretical significance of this research is discussed.


Clinical And Neural Correlates Of Alexithymia In Posttraumatic Stress Disorder., Paul A Frewen, Ruth A Lanius, David J A Dozois, Richard W J Neufeld, Clare Pain, James W Hopper, Maria Densmore, Todd K Stevens Feb 2008

Clinical And Neural Correlates Of Alexithymia In Posttraumatic Stress Disorder., Paul A Frewen, Ruth A Lanius, David J A Dozois, Richard W J Neufeld, Clare Pain, James W Hopper, Maria Densmore, Todd K Stevens

Psychology Publications

Individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) often exhibit deficits in emotional experience and expression, which suggests that certain individuals with PTSD may be alexithymic. In this study, in a sample of 105 individuals with PTSD, clinical correlates of alexithymia included reexperiencing, hyperarousal, numbing, dissociative symptoms, and retrospectively reported experiences of childhood emotional neglect. In a subsample of 26 individuals with PTSD related to a motor vehicle accident, functional neural responses to trauma-script imagery were associated with severity of alexithymia, including increased right posterior-insula and ventral posterior-cingulate activation and decreased bilateral ventral anterior-cingulate, ventromedial prefrontal, anterior-insula, and right inferior frontal cortex …


A Meta-Analysis Of Cbt For Pathological Worry Among Clients With Gad., Roger Covin, Allison J Ouimet, Pamela M Seeds, David J A Dozois Jan 2008

A Meta-Analysis Of Cbt For Pathological Worry Among Clients With Gad., Roger Covin, Allison J Ouimet, Pamela M Seeds, David J A Dozois

Psychology Publications

Previous meta-analyses assessing the effectiveness of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) for Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) used general measures of anxiety to assess symptom severity and improvement (e.g., Hamilton Anxiety Ratings Scale or a composite measure of anxiety). While informative, these studies do not provide sufficient evidence as to whether CBT significantly reduces the cardinal symptom of GAD: pathological worry. The current meta-analysis employed stringent inclusion criteria to evaluate relevant outcome studies, including the use of the Penn State Worry Questionnaire as the main outcome variable. Results showed a large overall effect size (ES) that was moderated by age and modality …