PowerPoint Poster Template

1
Mania Vulnerability and Chronic Positive
Emotional Responding June L. Gruber1, Sheri
Johnson,2 Dacher Keltner,1 Christopher
Oveis1 1University of California, Berkeley,
2University of Miami

• INTRODUCTION
• A Disorder of Emotion Bipolar Disorder (BPD) is
  a disorder defined by episodes of mania whose
  core symptoms involve abnormally and
  persistently elevated or expansive mood or
  irritability (APA, 2002).
• Two Models of Positive Emotion Disturbance
  Individual differences in emotional responding
  can be differences in the magnitude of reactions
  to affect-relevant events (i.e., an
  affective-reactivity view Tellegen, 1985) or a
  result of differences in baseline levels of
  distinct emotions (i.e., a tonic-level view).
  Applying this to mania, high levels of positive
  affect could be a result of either (1) increased
  response to a positive stimulus specifically
  (affective-reactivity view) or as (2) chronically
  increased levels of positive affect observable
  regardless of whether positive, negative, or
  neutral stimuli are present.
• Empirical Evidence Limited It is unclear which
  of the two models best fits mania. Support for
  the affective-reactive view suggests that people
  with, or vulnerable, to BPD exhibit increased
  confidence after success (Ruggero Johnson, in
  press Stern Berrenberg, 1979), increased
  physiological reactivity (Sutton Johnson,
  2002), neural activity in regions implicated in
  emotion processing (Yurgelun-Todd et al., 2002
  Lawrence et al., 2004) to positive stimuli.
  Support for the tonic-view stems from
  experience-sampling studies suggesting higher
  levels of trait positive mood (Lovejoy
  Steuerwald, 1995).

EMOTIONAL STIMULI FILM CLIPS
Which Positive Emotions are Chronically Elevated?






HAPPY
DISGUST
PRIDE
SAD
NEUTRAL

Measures of Emotional Responding



PHYSIOLOGICAL RECORDING
SELF-REPORTED EMOTION
FACIAL BEHAVIOR
To what extent did you experience each of the
following emotions while you were watching the
clip? 1 (not at all) ? 5 (very much)
Used EMFACS (Ekman Friesen,1978) to code
presence and intensity of emotion prototype
displays.
Approach, self-focused and not other-oriented
prosocial emotions elevated in high risk group.

• Model of Chronic (tonic) Positive Responding
  Supported The study of emotional irregularities
  in clinical disorder informs our knowledge as to
  both basic emotional processes and mechanisms
  involved in clinical disorders (e.g., Keltner
  Kring, 1998). Data provides support for a
  tonic-level view (e.g., Gross, Sutton,
  Ketelaar, 1998) of positive valence responding
  across experiential and physiological channels.
  This is in contrast with previous studies
  suggesting specific reactivity to success or
  reward (Ruggero Johnson, in press Stern
  Berrenberg, 1979).
• Positive Emotion Specificity Specific positive
  emotions involved, however, are those that appear
  tied to self-focused pleasurable states
  associated with pursuit of reward , consistent
  with research suggesting that goal striving
  behaviors are linked to and predict the onset of
  manic symptoms (Lozano Johnson, 2001). This is
  also consistent with models of mania suggesting
  an overactive behavioral activation system (Depue
  et al., 1985).
• Vagal Tone and Positive Emotion Association The
  current study is one of the first studies to
  associate elevated parasympathetic activity
  (i.e., vagal tone) with positive emotionality,
  supporting a growing body of literature
  implicating the association between elevated
  vagal tone and dispositional positive emotional
  experience (Oveis et al., 2005), resiliency to
  stress (Fabes Eisenberg, 1997 Porges, 1995),
  and environmental engagement.
• Considerations Our findings should be
  interpreted with the following considerations
  (1) We utilized an analog sample of students at
  risk but not diagnosed with bipolar disorder,
  which may limit the magnitude of findings. (2)
  Film clips are a passive means of inducing
  emotion, thus paradigms that involve tasks that
  engage a person in the pursuit of a goal or
  incentive, may produce stronger effects
  (Dickerson Kemeny, 2004).

DISCUSSION

• TESTING TWO COMPETING MODELS
• Chronic Positive Responding (Tonic-Level View)
  The premise that mania is reflected by
  chronically elevated levels of positive affect
  (e.g., Lovejoy Steuerwald, 1995) would predict
  that the high risk group would exhibit greater
  reactivity to positive emotion film stimuli to
  positive, negative, and neutral stimuli across
  measures of experiential, behavioral, and
  autonomic functioning. in response to the happy
  and pride film stimuli
• Enhanced Positive Reactivity (Affective-Reactivity
  View) Based on the premise that mania is
  associated with increased reactivity to positive
  or rewarding stimuli (e.g., Meyer et al., 2001
  Stern Berrenberg, 1979 Sutton Johnson,
  2002), this would suggest that the high risk
  group would exhibit greater emotional reactivity
  to positive stimuli, across measures of
  experiential, behavioral, and autonomic
  functioning, but not to neutral or negative
  stimuli.

BASIC
NEGATIVE EXPRESSIONS Sadness Fear Disgust Distres
s
POSITIVE EXPRESSIONS Happy Amusement Pride

• Cardiac Vagal Tone ( RSA)
• Skin Conductance (SCL)
• Heart Rate (HRA)

SOCIAL/ SELF- CONSICOUS
NEG EMO COMPOSITE
POS EMO COMPOSITE
Intra-Class Correlation Coefficients (Shrout
Fleiss, 1979) ranged from 0.82 to 0.95.
RESULTS Support for Chronic Positive Responding
Results

PARTICIPANTS Students Vulnerable to Mania

We conducted a series of 2 (high or low risk) x 5
(neutral, happy, pride, sad, or disgust film)
repeated-measures MANOVA for self-report,
behavior, and physiology.
HYPOMANIC PERSONALITY SCALE USED STANDARDIZED
CUTOFFS (Eckblad Chapman, 1986 Kwapil et al.,
2000)
HIGHER LEVELS OF SELF-REPORTED POSITIVE EMOTION
ACROSS ALL FILM CLIPS
HIGHER LEVELS OF CARDIAC VAGAL TONE ACROSS ALL
FILM CLIPS
RECRUITED INTO 2 GROUPS
No Significant Interactions or Main Effects for
Positive or Negative Emotional Behavior.
Figure 1 Reported Positive Emotion Across All
Film Clips
HIGH RISK (n 35)
LOW RISK (n 86)
Figure 2 Cardiac Vagal Tone Across All Film Clips
Groups did not differ in age, sex, or ethnic
composition

PROCEDURE

References

• American Psychiatric Association (2002).
  Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
  Disorders, Fourth Edition, Quick Reference Text
  Revision. Washington, DC American Psychiatric
  Association.
• Eckblad, M., Chapman, L. J. (1986). Development
  and validation of a scale for hypomanic
  personality. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 95,
  214-222.
• Gross, J., Sutton, S.K. Keteelar, T. (1998).
  Relations between affect and personality Support
  for the affect-level and affective reactivity
  views. Personality and Social Psychology
  Bulletin, 24(3), 279-288.
• Ruggero, C., and Johnson, S. L. (In press).
  Reactivity to a laboratory stressor among
  individuals with bipolar I disorder In full or
  partial remission. Journal of Abnormal
  Psychology.
• Lozano, B. L. Johnson, S. L. (2001). Can
  personality traits predict increases in manic and
  depressive symptoms? Journal of Affective
  Disorders, 63, 103-111
• Porges, S.W. (1995). Orienting in a defensive
  world Mammalian modifications of our
  evolutionary heritage A Polyvagal Theory.
  Psychophysiology, 32, 301-318.

SELF-REPORT
All results remain significant even after
controlling for current symptoms.
WATCH 5 FILMS
RECRUIT
FACIAL BEHAVIOR
Group Main Effect for Positive Emotion F(1,
117) 8.75, p lt .01, ?p2 .07 No significant
differences for self-reported negative emotion.
Group Main Effect for Vagal Tone F(1, 114)
4.85, p .03, ?p2 .04 No significant
differences in SCL or Heart Rate.
PHYSIOLOGY
We measured current symptoms of mania (ASRM
Altman et al., 1997) and depression (BDI Beck
Steer, 1993) to ensure any claims we made about
emotional responding were independent of current
symptoms.