Search

This paper introduces the Ghent Semi-spontaneous Speech Paradigm (GSSP), a new method for acquiring unscripted speech data for affective-behavioral research in both experimental and real-world settings through the description of peer-rated pictures with a consistent affective load. The GSSP was designed to meet five criteria; (1) allowing flexible speech acquisition durations, (2) providing a straightforward and non-interfering task, (3) allow for experimental control, (4) favoring semi-spontaneous speech for its prosodic richness, and (5) require minimal human interference to enable scalability. The validity of the GSSP was evaluated through an online task, in which this paradigm was implemented alongside a fixed-text read-aloud task. The results indicate that participants were able to describe images with an adequate duration, and acoustic analysis demonstrated a trend for most features in line with the targeted speech styles (i.e, unscripted spontaneous speech versus scripted read-aloud speech). A speech style classification model using acoustic features achieved a balanced accuracy of 83% on within-dataset validation, indicating separability between the GSSP and read-aloud speech task. Furthermore, when validating this model on an external dataset that contains interview and read-aloud speech, a balanced accuracy score of 70% is obtained, indicating an acoustic correspondence between the GSSP speech and spontaneous interviewee speech. The GSSP is of special interest for behavioral and speech researchers looking to capture spontaneous speech, both in longitudinal ambulatory behavioral studies and laboratory studies. To facilitate future research on speech styles, acoustics, and affective states, the task implementation code, the collected dataset, and analysis notebooks are available.

Heterogeneity in speech under stress has been a recurring issue in stress research, potentially due to varied stress induction paradigms. This study investigated speech features in semi-guided speech following two distinct psychosocial stress paradigms (Cyberball and MIST) and their respective control conditions. Only negative affect increased during Cyberball, while self-reported stress, skin conductance response rate, and negative affect increased during MIST. Fundamental frequency (F0), speech rate, and jitter significantly changed during MIST, but not Cyberball; HNR and shimmer showed no expected changes. The results indicate that observed speech features are robust in semi-guided speech and sensitive to stressors eliciting additional physiological stress responses, not solely decreases in negative affect. These differences between stressors may explain literature heterogeneity. Our findings support the potential of speech as a stress level biomarker, especially when stress elicits physiological reactions, similar to other biomarkers. This highlights its promise as a tool for measuring stress in everyday settings, considering its affordability, non-intrusiveness, and ease of collection. Future research should test these results' robustness and specificity in naturalistic settings, such as freely spoken speech and noisy environments while exploring and validating a broader range of informative speech features in the context of stress.

The usage of EEG to uncover the influence of psychosocial stressors (PSSs) on neural activity has gained significant attention throughout recent years, but the results are often troubled by confounding stressor types. To investigate the effect of PSSs alone on neural activity, we employed a paradigm where participants are exposed to negative peer comparison as PSS, while other possible stressors are kept constant, and compared this with a condition where participants received neutral feedback. We analyzed commonly used sensor level EEG indices (frontal theta, alpha, and beta power) and further investigated whether source level power and functional connectivity measures, which have to our knowledge not yet been used, are more sensitive to PSSs than sensor level-derived EEG measures. Our results show that on sensor level, no significant frontal power changes are present (all p’s > 0.16), indicating that frontal power measures are not sensitive enough to be affected by only PSSs. On source level, we find increased alpha power in the left- and right precuneus and right posterior cingulate cortex (all p’s p

Non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) techniques have been increasingly used over the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) to enhance working memory (WM) performance. Not-withstanding, NIBS protocols have shown either small or inconclusive cognitive effects on healthy and neuropsychiatric samples. Therefore, we assessed working memory performance and safety of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), intermittent theta-burst stimulation (iTBS), and both therapies combined vs placebo over the neuronavigated left DLPFC of healthy participants. Twenty-four subjects were included to randomly undergo four sessions of NIBS, once a week: tDCS alone, iTBS alone, combined protocol and placebo. The 2-back task and an adverse effect scale were applied after each NIBS session. Results revealed a significantly faster response for iTBS (b=-21.49, p= 0.04), but not for tDCS and for the interaction tDCS vs. iTBS (b= 13.67, p= 0.26 and b= 40.5, p= 0.20, respectively). No changes were observed for accuracy and no serious adverse effects were found among protocols. Although tolerable, an absence of syner-gistic effects for the combined protocol was seen. Nonetheless, future trials accessing different outcomes for the combined protocols, as well as studies investigating iTBS over the left DLPFC for cognition and exploring sources of variability for tDCS are encouraged. (c) 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC -ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

The tendency to ruminate (i.e., repetitive, self-referential, negative thoughts) is a maladaptive form of emotional regulation and represents a transdiagnostic vulnerability factor for stress-related psychopathology. Vagally-mediated heart rate variability (HRV), reflecting parasympathetic nervous system activity, is commonly used as a physiological marker of stress regulation. Past research has suggested a link between trait rumination and resting HRV at baseline; however, inconsistent results exist in healthy individuals. In this study, we investigated the association between the tendency to ruminate and resting HRV measured at baseline in a healthy population using a large cross-sectional dataset (N = 1189, 88% women; mean age = 21.55, ranging from 17 to 48 years old), which was obtained by combining samples of healthy individuals from different studies from our laboratory. The results showed no cross-sectional correlation between resting baseline HRV and trait rumination (confirmed by Bayesian analyses), even after controlling for important confounders such as gender, age, and depressive symptoms. Also, a nonlinear relationship was rejected. In summary, based on our results in a large sample of healthy individuals, baseline resting HRV is not a trait marker of the tendency to ruminate.

Background Major depressive episode (MDE) is worldwide one of the most prevalent and disabling mental health conditions. In cases of persistent non-response to treatment, electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a safe and effective treatment strategy with high response rates. Unfortunately, longitudinal data show low sustained response rates with 6-month relapse rates as high as 50% using existing relapse prevention strategies. Cognitive side effects of ECT, even though transient, might trigger mechanisms that increase relapse in patients who initially responded to ECT. Among these side effects, reduced cognitive control is an important neurobiological driven vulnerability factor for depression. As such, cognitive control training (CCT) holds promise as a non-pharmacological strategy to improve long-term effects of ECT (i.e., increase remission, and reduce depression relapse). Method/design Eighty-eight patients aged between 18 and 70 years with MDE who start CCT will be included in this randomized controlled trial (RCT). Following (partial) response to ECT treatment (at least a 25% reduction of clinical symptoms), patients will be randomly assigned to a computer based CCT or active placebo control. A first aim of this RCT is to assess the effects of CCT compared to an active placebo condition on depression symptomatology, cognitive complaints, and quality of life. Secondly, we will monitor patients every 2 weeks for a period of 6 months following CCT/active placebo, allowing the detection of potential relapse of depression. Thirdly, we will assess patient evaluation of the addition of cognitive remediation to ECT using qualitative interview methods (satisfaction, acceptability and appropriateness). Finally, in order to further advance our understanding of the mechanisms underlying effects of CCT, exploratory analyses will be conducted using video footage collected during the CCT/active control phase of the study. Discussion Cognitive remediation will be performed following response to ECT, and an extensive follow-up period will be employed. Positive findings would not only benefit patients by decreasing relapse, but also by increasing acceptability of ECT, reducing the burden of cognitive side-effects. Trial registration The study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov. Study ID: NCT04383509 Trial registration date: 12.05.2020.

Since the inclusion of Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD) as a mood disorder in the DSM-5, Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS) symptoms have received more attention from researchers and clinicians. In this large-scale study, we investigated core psychological concepts relevant to mood disorder vulnerability between people with 1) no to mild, 2) moderate to severe, and 3) PMDD levels of PMS symptoms. Several trait measures related to mood disorders including depressive symptoms, feelings of stress and anxiety, and ruminative thinking were measured (single measurement, N = 380) along with state (momentary) reports of stress and stress-related perseverative thinking (measured twice, once in the follicular and once in the premenstrual/luteal phase, N = 237). We consistently observed that participants with higher severity of PMS symptoms also scored higher on depression, anxiety, stress, and rumination (trait measures). We also found consistent increases in momentary stress and stress-related perseverative ruminative thinking with increased PMS symptoms at each of our two test moments (in the middle of the follicular and premenstrual/luteal phase respectively). Interestingly, we did not find significant differences between our two test moments for any group, despite PMS being characterized by specific systems in the premenstrual/luteal phase. However, this could be due to noise surrounding the testing moments due to the temporal resolution of the questionnaires and the menstrual cycle estimation method. Nevertheless, these results suggest that stress and rumination are important psychological mechanisms to consider in PMS. Future PMS research studying stress and rumination on a day-to-day basis in combination with hormonal measures is warranted.

Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is thought to partly exert its antidepressant action through the serotonergic system. Accelerated rTMS may have the potential to result in similar but faster onset of clinical improvement compared to the classical daily rTMS protocols, but given that delayed clinical responses have been reported, the neurobiological effects of accelerated paradigms remain to be elucidated including on this neurotransmitter system. This sham-controlled study aimed to evaluate the effects of accelerated high frequency rTMS (aHF-rTMS) over the left frontal cortex on the serotonin transporter (SERT) in healthy beagle dogs. A total of twenty-two dogs were randomly divided into three unequal groups: five active stimulation sessions (five sessions in one day

Recently, the possibilities of detecting psychosocial stress from speech have been discussed. Yet, there are mixed effects and a current lack of clarity in relations and directions for parameters derived from stressed speech. The aim of the current study is – in a controlled psychosocial stress induction experiment – to apply network modeling to (1) look into the unique associations between specific speech parameters, comparing speech networks containing fundamental frequency (F0), jitter, mean voiced segment length, and Harmonics-to-Noise Ratio (HNR) pre- and post-stress induction, and (2) examine how changes pre- versus post-stress induction (i.e., change network) in each of the parameters are related to changes in self-reported negative affect. Results show that the network of speech parameters is similar after versus before the stress induction, with a central role of HNR, which shows that the complex interplay and unique associations between each of the used speech parameters is not impacted by psychosocial stress (aim 1). Moreover, we found a change network (consisting of pre-post stress difference values) with changes in jitter being positively related to changes in self-reported negative affect (aim 2). These findings illustrate – for the first time in a well-controlled but ecologically valid setting – the complex relations between different speech parameters in the context of psychosocial stress. Longitudinal and experimental studies are required to further investigate these relationships and to test whether the identified paths in the networks are indicative of causal relationships.

Humans have a unique ability to engage in different modes of thinking. Intuitive thinking (coined System 1, see Kahneman, 2011) is fast, automatic, and effortless whereas analytical thinking (coined System 2) is slow, contemplative, and effortful. We extend seminal pupillometry research examining these modes of thinking by using electroencephalography (EEG) to decipher their respective underlying neural mechanisms. We demonstrate that System 1 thinking is characterized by an increase in parietal alpha EEG power reflecting autonomic access to long-term memory and a release of attentional resources whereas System 2 thinking is characterized by an increase in frontal theta EEG power indicative of the engagement of cognitive control and working memory processes. Consider our results in terms of an example - a child may need cognitive control and working memory when contemplating a mathematics problem yet an adult can drive a car with little to no attention by drawing on easily accessed memories. Importantly, the unravelling of intuitive and analytical thinking mechanisms and their neural signatures will provide insight as to how different modes of thinking drive our everyday lives.