Biomedical subjects

Erwin Lemche

Publications and source records attributed to Erwin Lemche.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Human attachment security is mediated by the amygdala: evidence from combined fMRI and psychophysiological measures.

The neural basis of human attachment security remains unexamined. Using event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and simultaneous recordings of skin conductance levels, we measured neural and autonomic responses in healthy adult individuals during a semantic conceptual priming task measuring human attachment security "by proxy". Performance during a stress but not a neutral prime condition was associated with response in bilateral amygdalae. Furthermore, levels of activity within bilateral amygdalae were highly positively correlated with attachment insecurity and autonomic response during the stress prime condition. We thereby demonstrate a key role of the amygdala in mediating autonomic activity associated with human attachment insecurity.

Adult↗

PubMed2003

[Emotion regulatory processes in evoked play narratives].

Evoked play narratives have been demonstrated to provide a novel window towards internal emotion regulation and mental representations. The present study evaluates covariations between emotion themes and mother-child interaction, as well as child behavior problems. An exploratory study in non-referred children in the 3-6 age span utilizing the MacArthur-method was conducted by taking emotional, conflictive and moral themes as indices of emotion-regulatory processes. Emotion themes were linked to external measures of dyadic Emotional Availability, interparental relationship quality, and behavior problems employing the 4/18 version of the Child Behavior Checklist. Mental representations were aggregated using the Person Representation Coding System. Of a principal components analysis with subsequent varimax-rotation for narrative content codes resulted four emotion theme composites: social conflicting, a prosocial aggregate, an antisocial aggregate, and a composite conflict solving/-understanding. The 4-factor solution displayed meaningful correlation patterns with the mental representations of self and parents, as well as with most of the external measures. Although subsequent studies ought to be methodologically improved both in design and sample size, the results of the present investigation give rise to the assumption that future efforts of validating emotion-regulatory processes with more established outside measures are likely to be successful.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMedDate not supplied

[Consensus paper on the terminological differentiation of various aspect of body experience].

In the past, phenomenological research on subjective body experience was characterised by vaguely defined terminology and methodological shortcomings. The term "body image" has been applied heterogeneously in literature in order to describe a variety of bodily phenomena. In this paper, the German terminology applied to the phenomenology of body experiences is described systematically. In developing a systematic terminology the authors refer to scientific evidence as well as recent reviews, and closely adhere to definitions commonly used in English literature. Different perspectives are utilised, particularly anthropological concepts and theories from developmental and self-psychology. Distinct aspects of body experience are described within the context of a network of external determinants and along a continuum between somatic and mental anchor points. Applying the term "body experience" as umbrella term, different aspects are defined: perceptive (body schema/-perceive), affective (body-cathexis), cognitive-evaluative (body-image, body-ego) and body-consciousness. It is emphasized, that the distinct description of functional levels has to be taken as an approximation of the reality of integrated body experience.

Body Image↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Mentalizing language development in a longitudinal attachment sample: implications for alexithymia.

BACKGROUND: The construct of alexithymia implies a deficit in symbolization for emotional, somatic, and mental states. However, the etiologic factors for alexithymia have not yet been fully elucidated. The present study investigated the use of mentalizing language, i.e. the utterance of internal states, from a developmental perspective according to attachment organization and disorganization. METHODS: A longitudinal design across 4 time points was applied to a volunteer sample of 42 children. At 12 months, children were tested with the strange situation procedure, the standard measure of attachment at the optimal age, and attachment classifications were taken of videotapes. At ages 17, 23, 30 and 36 months, mother and child were observed in simplified separation episodes of 30 min duration. Transcripts of the sessions were subject to coding of internal state words. RESULTS: During the investigated span, securely attached children rapidly acquired emotion, physiology, cognition and emotion-regulatory language, whereas insecurely attached and disorganized children either completely lacked internal state language or displayed a considerable time lag in the use of emotion and cognition vocabulary. CONCLUSION: The results raise the possibility that alexithymia might be a consequence of deficits in the development of internal state language in the context of insecure or disorganized childhood attachment relationships.

Affective Symptoms↗