Increasing recognition of happiness in ambiguous facial expressions reduces anger and aggressive behavior.

The ability to identify emotion in other people is critical to social functioning. In a series of experiments, we explored the relationship between recognition of emotion in ambiguous facial expressions and aggressive thoughts and behavior, both in healthy adults and in adolescent youth at high risk of criminal offending and delinquency. We show that it is possible to experimentally modify biases in emotion recognition to encourage the perception of happiness over anger in ambiguous expressions.

Lack of association of DRD4 exon 3 VNTR genotype with reactivity to dynamic smoking cues in movies.

Background: The objective of the present study was first to examine whether dynamic smoking cues in movies trigger craving, and second to explore whether the DRD4 48 bp variable number of tandem repeat (VNTR) exon 3 genotype modifies this relationship. Using an experimental design, daily adult smokers were exposed to a movie segment in which either several characters smoked, or the smoking was completely edited out.

Methods: In a human laboratory, that reflected a naturalistic setting, 112 daily smokers (mean age=22.

A translational rodent assay of affective biases in depression and antidepressant therapy.

The subjective measures used to study mood disorders in humans cannot be replicated in animals; however, the increasing application of objective neuropsychological methods provides opportunities to develop translational animal tasks. Here we describe a novel behavioral approach, which has enabled us to investigate similar affective biases in rodents. In our affective bias test (ABT), rats encounter two independent positive experiences--the association between food reward and specific digging substrate--during discrimination learning sessions.

Opiate agonists and antagonists modulate taste perception in opiate-maintained and recently detoxified subjects.

Heroin addicts consume large quantities of refined sugars. This study investigated the effect of opiate use and antagonism on sweet taste in opiate-maintained drug users and detoxified former chronic opiate users, using a within-subject design. Seven opiate users received methadone and seven buprenorphine maintenance.

Lack of association between COMT and working memory in a population-based cohort of healthy young adults.

The Val158Met polymorphism of the catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) gene is an important regulator of dopamine in the prefrontal cortex, an area critical to working memory. Working memory deficits are present in several psychiatric disorders, and there is wide variation in working memory capacity in the normal population. Association studies of COMT and working memory in healthy volunteers have yielded inconsistent results, possibly because of small sample sizes.

Systematic review and meta-analysis of serotonin transporter genotype and discontinuation from antidepressant treatment.

There is evidence that 5-HTTLPR is associated with response following treatment from selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). The short (S) allele has reduced serotonin transporter expression, compared to the long (L) allele, and has been reported to be associated with poorer response in Europeans, with the effect in other populations unclear. However the published literature is inconsistent.

Investigating the psychopharmacology of cognitive affective bias in rats using an affective tone discrimination task.

Rationale: Affective states are known to influence behaviour in humans resulting in cognitive affective biases, which may play an important role in the development and treatment of mood disorders. Similar biases have recently been shown in animals, including the rat, providing an opportunity to investigate these processes in non-human species.

Objective: This study sought to investigate the psychopharmacology of cognitive affective bias in rats using systemic treatments with anxiolytic (diazepam) and antidepressant drugs (reboxetine or fluoxetine).

Measuring hand preference: a comparison among different response formats using a selected sample.

Hand preference (HP) is a major behavioural variable for inferring individual differences in neurological organisation. Yet, despite the extensive use of HP measures for both research and clinical purposes, there is little research on the properties of the structural features of HP questionnaires, the most common method of HP measurement. We study here the effects of different response formats of HP questionnaires on participants' responses.

Using Alzgene-like approaches to investigate susceptibility genes for vascular cognitive impairment.

Vascular cognitive impairment (VCI), including vascular dementia, is the second most common dementia after Alzheimer's disease. Despite its prevalence, the genetic etiology of sporadic VCI is largely unknown. We conducted a systematic review of all published genetic association studies of forms of sporadic VCI prior to 6 July 2012.

The serotonin transporter gene and depression.

Psychiatric disorders such as depression are known to be under a degree of genetic influence, but the specific variants contributing to this heritability remain largely unknown. The serotonin transporter gene has received the most attention in relation to depression, either alone or in conjunction with exposure to stressful life events (i.e.

Reducing harm from tobacco use.

If current trends in smoking prevalence continue, even with the implementation of enhanced tobacco control measures, millions of smokers will continue to fall ill and die as a direct result of their smoking. Many of these will be from the most deprived groups in society - smoking continues to be one of the strongest drivers of health inequalities. The personal costs of this morbidity and mortality, as well as costs to business and the economy, are unequalled and will therefore remain high for several decades to come.

Lack of association of OPRM1 genotype and smoking cessation.

Introduction: Previous studies have reported an association between μ-opioid receptor (OPRM1) genotype and smoking cessation, with some evidence that the strength of this association depends on dose of nicotine replacement therapy (NRT). We examined whether a single-nucleotide polymorphism in the OPRM1 gene is associated with cessation and whether this variant moderates the effects of higher doses of NRT on abstinence.

Methods: Participants were recruited from the practices of primary care physicians in the United Kingdom.

Pharmacogenetic smoking cessation intervention in a health care setting: a pilot feasibility study.

Introduction: There is increasing evidence that response to pharmacological treatment for nicotine dependence may be moderated by genetic polymorphisms. However, the feasibility, acceptability, and impact of genetically tailoring treatment in real-world clinical settings are unknown.

Methods: We conducted a multiphased, mixed-methods feasibility study with current smokers to develop and evaluate a patient-centered, theoretically grounded personalized medicine treatment protocol.

Pathways between childhood victimization and psychosis-like symptoms in the ALSPAC birth cohort.

Background: Several large population-based studies have demonstrated associations between adverse childhood experiences and later development of psychotic symptoms. However, little attention has been paid to the mechanisms involved in this pathway and the few existing studies have relied on cross-sectional assessments.

Methods: Prospective data on 6692 children from the UK Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) were used to address this issue.

Glass shape influences consumption rate for alcoholic beverages.

Background: High levels of alcohol consumption and increases in heavy episodic drinking (binge drinking) are a growing public concern, due to their association with increased risk of personal and societal harm. Alcohol consumption has been shown to be sensitive to factors such as price and availability. The aim of this study was to explore the influence of glass shape on the rate of consumption of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages.

Visual attention to health warnings on plain tobacco packaging in adolescent smokers and non-smokers.

Aims: Previous research with adults indicates that plain packaging increases visual attention to health warnings in adult non-smokers and weekly smokers, but not daily smokers. The present research extends this study to adolescents aged 14-19 years.

Design: Mixed-model experimental design, with smoking status as a between-subjects factor and pack type (branded or plain pack) and eye gaze location (health warning or branding) as within-subjects factors.

Candidate and non-candidate genes in behavior genetics.

In this review we discuss recent developments in psychiatric genetics: on the one hand, studies using whole genome approaches (genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and exome sequencing) are coming close to finding genes and molecular variants that contribute to disease susceptibility; on the other candidate genes, such as the serotonin transporter, continue to dominate in genetic studies of brain imaging phenotypes and in protracted searches for gene by environment interactions. These two areas intersect, in that new information about genetic effects from whole genome approaches, should (but does not always) inform the single locus analyses.

Effects of alcohol on disinhibition towards alcohol-related cues.

Background: We investigated (1) the effects of acute alcohol on inhibition of alcohol-related versus neutral cues, (2) the effects of drinking status on inhibition of alcohol-related versus neutral cues, and (3) the similarity of any effects of alcohol or drinking status across two different cue types (lexical versus pictorial).

Methods: Participants received 0.0 g/kg, 0.

Acutely induced anxiety increases negative interpretations of events in a closed-circuit television monitoring task.

In two experiments we measured the effects of 7.5% CO₂ inhalation on the interpretation of video footage recorded on closed circuit television (CCTV). As predicted, inhalation of 7.

Social inference and social anxiety: evidence of a fear-congruent self-referential learning bias.

Background And Objectives: Fears of negative evaluation characterise social anxiety, and preferential processing of fear-relevant information is implicated in maintaining symptoms. Little is known, however, about the relationship between social anxiety and the process of inferring negative evaluation. The ability to use social information to learn what others think about one, referred to here as self-referential learning, is fundamental for effective social interaction.

Methodological considerations in cognitive bias research: the next steps.

Field and Christiansen (2012) comment on the importance of establishing and understanding the internal reliability of measures of substance-related cognitive bias, and suggest potential reasons for the poor reliability of some task variants. We agree that the impact of using stimuli personalized to the participant on the reliability of cognitive bias tasks is worthy of systematic investigation. However, some tasks may still be inherently less reliable than others.

Understanding emotion: lessons from anxiety.

We agree that conceptualisation is key in understanding the brain basis of emotion. We argue that by conflating facial emotion recognition with subjective emotion experience, Lindquist et al. understate the importance of biological predisposition in emotion.

Electrophysiological indices of biased cognitive processing of substance-related cues: a meta-analysis.

Several studies indicate that individuals with substance use disorders (SUD) exhibit biases in the cognitive processing of substance-related stimuli. These biases facilitate the detection of substance cues and have been argued to play a causal or perpetuating role in addiction. Two electrophysiological indices of cognitive processing, the P300 and Slow Potential (SP) components of the event-related potential (ERP), are associated with the deployment of attentional resources to motivationally relevant stimuli.