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Biomedical subjects

R Jouvent

Publications and source records attributed to R Jouvent.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Directed forgetting in PTSD: a comparative study versus normal controls.

The most characteristic feature of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is the reexperiencing syndrome. The patient's memory seems to be fixed on the traumatic event, which may be due to disturbance of the autobiographic memory. To retrieve memories, others have to be inhibited. These inhibition mechanisms have been studied using the Directed Forgetting Paradigm, which measures the capacity to forget recently processed information and to retain the relevant information. Our hypothesis is that during PTSD, the memory is saturated with traumatic memories, so that the patients are no longer able to use the inhibitory processes. Therefore, during a Directed Forgetting Task (DFT) in which words "to remember" and words "to forget" are given, PTSD patients cannot inhibit the words "to forget", and so recall more words than the controls. We studied 30 patients with PTSD and compared them with 30 healthy controls, using DFT. The results show that the patients remembered significantly fewer words overall, and fewer of the words "to remember" than the controls, both for immediate and final recall. Our results are in favor of a reduction in directed forgetting in patients suffering from PTSD, resulting in difficulty in inhibiting irrelevant information from the overall information. There seems to be a deficit in the inhibitory processes in the memory in PTSD.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

[Episodic autobiographical memory in depression: a review].

INTRODUCTION: Autobiographical memory and personal identity (self) are linked by a reciprocal relationship. Autobiographical memory is critical for both grounding and changing the self. Individuals' current self-views, beliefs, and goals influence their recollections of the past. According to Tulving, episodic memory is characterized by autonoetic consciousness, which is associated with a sense of the self in the past (emotions and goals) and mental reliving of an experience. Its close relationship with self and emotion strongly involves episodic autobiographical memory in the psychopathology of depression. However, due to methodological and conceptual issues, little attention has been paid to episodic autobiographical memory in depression. Since the seminal work of Williams et al. 15 years ago, there is now growing interest around this issue. LITERATURE FINDINGS: We reviewed the evidence for three major features of autobiographical memory functioning in depression: an increase in general memory retrieval (overgenerality), a mood-congruent memory effect and the high occurrence of intrusive memories of stressful events. Although it was first observed among suicidal patients, overgenerality is actually associated with both depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. Overgenerality is not associated with anxious disorders other than post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, or borderline personality disorder. Most of controlled studies carried out on autobiographical memory in depression rely on the Williams' Autobiographical Memory Test (AMT). When presented with positive and negative cue words and asked to retrieve specific personal events, depressed patients (unlike matched controls) are less specific in their memories. They tend to recall repeated events (categorical overgeneral memories) rather than single episodes (specific memories). Overgenerality in depression is: 1) more evident with positive than with negative events (mood-congruent memory effect); 2) related to avoidance of intrusive memories; 3) quite stable over time, ie, remaining after remission; and 4) related to short-term prognosis in depression. Although it is not clear whether overgenerality is a cause or an effect of depression, there is some evidence to suggest that overgenerality is a trait marker indicating vulnerability to persistent depression. Mood-congruent effect, a well-known effect in depression, has been addressed in both autobio-graphical and non-autobiographical memory. Depressed patients spontaneously recall more negative than positive memories. With the AMT, depressed patients take longer to respond to positive than to negative cues, whereas controls do the opposite. Depression is also associated with a high occurrence of spontaneous intrusive memories of stressful life events. Studies found intrusions and related avoidance, as measured by the Impact of Event Scale, to be positively correlated with overgenerality, whereas there was no direct link between performance on the Autobiographical Memory Test and stressful life events per se. Both Williams' mnemonic interlock model and Conway's self-memory system are useful models to address the complexity of findings regarding autobiographical memory and depression. DISCUSSION: According to Williams, repeated avoidance of stressful memories leads depressed patients to have an autobiographical memory functioning characterized by iterative retrievals of categorical overgeneral memories, producing an enduring overgeneral retrieval style. According to Conway, the recollection of autobiographical memories requires a retrieval process that provides access to sensory/perceptual event-specific knowledge (ie perceptions and feelings) via a personal semantic knowledge base (ie lifetime periods and generic events). This retrieval process (generative retrieval mode) relies on both executive functioning and current self-view, namely the working-self. Spontaneous memories, usually vivid, result from a direct retrieval mode in which event-specific knowledge is directly triggered. In line with this model, episodic autobiographical memory impairment in state depression may arise from the working self rather than from autobiographical knowledge. The mood-congruent effect may be explained by the current (depressed) self. The high occurrence of intrusive memories may be explained by lack of executive control during direct retrieval. Overgenerality may rely on the interaction of both executive dysfunction and current (depressed) self, within the working-self, during generative retrieval. Our review suggests that further evidence is needed to address the relationship between executive functioning, self and autobiographical memory in depression.

Attention↗
PubMed2005

The Temperament and Character Inventory-Revised (TCI-R): psychometric characteristics of the French version.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the psychometric characteristics of a modified version of the Cloninger's personality questionnaire, the Temperament and Character Inventory-Revised (TCI-R). METHOD: A 482-subject sample, including clinical and non-clinical subjects, completed the TCI-R. We performed principal component analyses and explored the factorial structure of the questionnaire, and the internal consistency of each dimension. RESULTS: The factorial structure of the TCI-R was well defined as expected and similar to those shown with the TCI. Robust factors were obtained for Reward Dependence and Persistence in the TCI-R, even more clearly than in the original TCI. All dimensions obtained higher alpha Cronbach coefficients with the TCI-R than with the TCI. We obtained highly satisfying reliability coefficients in test-retest and TCI/TCI-R comparisons. CONCLUSION: The TCI-R seems to have similar psychometric and feasibility characteristics as those of the initial version, but with significant improvements in terms of factorial structure and internal consistency of most dimensions.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

Lack of startle modulation by smoking cues in smokers.

RATIONALE: The startle reflex methodology has been used to study the effects of nicotine in humans and the motivational effects of smoking cues in smokers. However, no other studies investigate startle modulation by smoking cues in smokers compared to non-smokers. In the other studies, smoking deprivation was manipulated in smokers or smokers were not compared directly to non-smokers. OBJECTIVE: The goal of this study was to examine the temporal course of information processing following the presentation of a smoking-related cue using the startle probe methodology in smokers compared to non-smokers. METHODS: Thirty-four smokers were selected on the basis of nicotinic dependence according to the DSM-IV, and compared to 34 non-smokers. During testing, subjects viewed neutral pictures and smoking related pictures displayed on a computer screen. Acoustic startle stimuli were delivered at various times after picture onset (60, 120 or 5000 ms) to examine inhibition by lead stimulus and the affective modulation of startle. RESULTS: The magnitude of startle reflex inhibition increased in smokers compared to non-smokers, at 60 and 120 ms. In all, there was no PicturexGroup interaction effect. CONCLUSION: We showed that smoking cues have no impact on the startle reflex of either group, even if, in line with previous results, prepulse inhibition was higher in smokers than non-smokers. These results suggest that smoking cues have no effect on the positive reinforcement of nicotine consumption, and that cognitive factors play a primary role in the development and maintenance of tobacco dependence.

Adult↗
PubMed2002

Cross-cultural assessment of childhood temperament. A confirmatory factor analysis of the French Emotionality Activity and Sociability (EAS) questionnaire.

The Emotionality Activity Sociability (EAS) questionnaire focuses on heritable individual differences in reactivity and behavior which are often referred to in developmental temperament research. Psychometric properties of the French version of EAS were examined in a sample of 197 school-children aged six to 12 years. Parents, teachers and children aged nine years and more completed parallel forms of the EAS questionnaire. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to examine the fit between the original factors and the data. Internal consistency of each subscale, inter-rater and external validity were also examined. Children-rated EAS showed the best indices of fit between the four hypothesized factors and the data, but internal consistency was generally lower than in adult-rated questionnaires. Shyness and sociability showed significant overlap in both parent and teacher-rated EAS. The low concordance between child and adult-ratings indicates that temperament evaluation and interpretation of items may be influenced by subjective and/or developmental factors. Results are discussed in the perspective of validity versus cross-cultural comparability of temperament measurement. The theoretical four-factor structure was not completely replicable in our sample.

Child↗
PubMed2002

Early emotional disturbances during nicotine patch therapy in subjects with and without a history of depression.

BACKGROUND: The goal of this study was to compare development of emotional symptomatology during smoking cessation with transdermal nicotine patches in subjects with and without a history of depression. METHODS: Twenty-five subjects, 14 with a history of depression and 11 without such a history, were evaluated before beginning of cessation, on day 8, day 30, day 90 and day 120. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: On day 120, ten subjects have maintained abstinence: 71.4% of subjects with and 45.5% of subjects without a history of depression relapsed. Both groups presented variable emotional symptomatology and there was no significant differences between subjects with and without a past depression. On the other hand, none of the symptoms which emerged during cessation predicted the issue of cessation. However, some symptoms appearing before beginning of cessation were related to subsequent relapse: lack of pleasure seeking and tiredness. Subsequent relapsers also tended to be more tense on baseline. These early symptoms can not be considered as withdrawal symptoms, they may reflect less confidence in success. It is also suggested that development of anhedonia represents an adaptative strategy to prepare for the withdrawal suffering.

Administration, Cutaneous↗
PubMed2002

Multisensory integration for spatial orientation in trait anxiety subjects: absence of visual dependence.

Studies suggest a greater reliance on visual information for maintaining balance in anxious subjects. Nevertheless, links between this supposed preferred visual processing and spatial orientation have not yet been evaluated. Two groups of subjects differing in their level of trait anxiety were formed. Equipped with a head-mounted visual display, they learned a virtual corridor using passive translation but active rotation, both with normal and with two different conflicting sensory conditions. After two visual navigation trials in the corridor, they were blindfolded and asked to reproduce the same trajectory from memory. In addition, subjects drew a map of the remembered corridor. Anxious subjects were comparable to non-anxious subjects when asked to reproduce the trajectory from memory, but exhibited a deficit when drawing a map of the corridor they were in. The results do not support the hypothesis that anxious subjects use preferentially one type of sensory cue over another for spatial orientation, but instead manifest difficulties in constructing more global representations of space.

Adult↗
PubMed2002

Modulation of visual event-related potentials by emotional olfactory stimuli.

The objective of the present study was to determine whether an olfactory prime could modulate behavior and visual event-related potentials (ERPs) obtained in response to a visual stimulation representing female faces. More specifically, we tested the hypothesis that a pleasant odor could have effects on face perception: behavioral effects on subjective emotional estimation of faces, and on associated response times, and electrophysiological effects on the N400 and late positive complex or LPC. Experiments were performed in which subjects had to decide whether the presented face was pleasant or not, while visual ERPs were recorded. Faces were always primed with either a pleasant odor or a neutral olfactory stimulus (pure air). In order to test the effect of subject's awareness, participants were not informed that an odor would be presented in the experimental sessions. Responses were significantly shorter for unpleasant faces. However, no behavioral effects of the pleasant odor on response time or on evaluation of face pleasantness were observed. Late ERPs evoked by faces were modulated by the presence of a pleasant odor, even when subjects were neither warned nor aware of the presence of the odor: in a frontal site and after the diffusion of the odor, the LPC (appearing 550 ms after the presentation of the visual stimulus) evoked by unpleasant faces was significantly more positive than the LPC evoked by pleasant faces. This effect could reflect an enhanced alert reaction to unpleasant faces are preceded by an (incongrous) pleasant odor.

Adult↗
PubMed2002

Transfer of learning across durations and ears in auditory frequency discrimination.

Frequency-discrimination thresholds (FDTs) for 1-kHz tone pips with durations of 40, 100, and 200 msec were measured in the left and right ears of 10 normal-hearing listeners, before and after six 2-h frequency-discrimination training sessions involving, exclusively, the 200-msec duration and the right ear. In the trained ear, highly significant improvements in FDTs were observed at all durations. Further inspection of the data suggested complete generalization between 200 and 100 msec, but not at 40 msec. Posttraining FDTs were not found to differ between the two ears for the two untrained durations, but proved significantly smaller in the right (trained) than in the left (untrained) ear at the trained (200-msec) duration only. A control experiment involving 10 additional subjects allowed us to establish the absence of intrinsic differences in pretraining FDTs between the right and left ears. Overall, these findings indicate that frequency-discrimination learning generalizes widely across stimulus durations and across ears, but that part of the improvement is specific to the range of durations and to the ear used in training.

Adult↗
PubMed2001

Balance control and posture in anxious mice improved by SSRI treatment.

A task requiring dynamic postural stabilisation during locomotion in a conflicting visual vestibular environment (rotating beam), has been devised to assess anxiety-related balance impairments and postural changes in mice. The model, already validated with acutely administered diazepam, was used to assess the action of two chronically administered selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), fluoxetine and paroxetine. On three behavioural measures (imbalance, elevation of trunk and angle of tail), observed in anxious BALB/cByJ mice, both compounds had the same diazepam-like effects: reduction in number of imbalances, higher elevation of trunk and increase in tail angle. These data suggest, for the first time, that SSRIs should be useful in the treatment of anxiety-induced balance impairments.

Animals↗
PubMed2001

Clinical and neurochemical effect of acute tryptophan depletion in unaffected relatives of patients with bipolar affective disorder.

BACKGROUND: The lowering of mood induced by an acute tryptophan depletion (ATD) has been proposed as a candidate endophenotype for the vulnerability to manic-depressive illness. This study tests this hypothesis in relatives of probands from well-characterized multiplex families affected with bipolar affective disorder (BAD). METHODS: In a double-blind, crossover design, 20 unaffected relatives (URs) and 19 control subjects received either a 100-g amino acid (AA) drink devoid of tryptophan or a placebo, respectively. Clinical and biochemical effects of ATD were compared between unaffected relatives of BAD probands and age- and sex-matched control subjects. RESULTS: At 5 hours after AA drink ingestion, relative to the placebo, ATD resulted in 74% and 84% decreases in total plasma tryptophan concentrations in control subjects and relatives of patients with BAD, respectively. Unlike control subjects unaffected relatives experienced a lowering of mood during ATD but not with the placebo. Furthermore, URs tended to show increased impulsivity in the ATD condition. Measurements obtained before ingestion of the AA drink indicated that, relative to control subjects URs exhibited lower serotonin platelet concentrations, lower affinity, and fewer binding sites of the serotonin transporter for imipramine; these differences were unaffected by ATD. CONCLUSION: These results replicate and extend previous findings suggesting that URs of patients with BAD are more susceptible to low tryptophan availability. This finding may bear significance in the purported role of serotonergic mechanisms in the vulnerability to depressive syndrome and/or illness.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed2001

A study of posttraumatic disorders in children who experienced an industrial disaster in the Briey region.

OBJECTIVES: To study posttraumatic disorders in children who were directly and indirectly involved in an industrial disaster; to assess the respective impact of traumatism exposure, parental disorders and sociodemographic variables on the posttraumatic disorders of the children. METHODS: The children were assessed with self-administered questionnaires (STAIC, CDI, IES) and questionnaires filled in by parents (CPRS, CBCL). Parents were assessed with the GHQ-28. Forty-three exposed children were compared with 44 children who were exposed to the same risk (indirectly exposed group) and with a control group of 50 unexposed children. RESULTS: The exposed group obtained significantly higher anxiety and trauma-related scores than the control group and the threatened group, as well as higher scores of behavioural symptoms and of parental disorders. Indirectly exposed children did not have higher rates of symptoms than control children. The younger exposed children exhibited the highest psychopathological scores. Low sociodemographic status was associated with more disorders. There were no differences on questionnaire scores between girls and boys. Children's disorders correlated with disorders in both parents; but this only accounted for part of the variance, a finding which supports the hypothesis of a direct impact of the trauma on the child, irrespective of parental clinical status, SES of the family, children's age and gender. CONCLUSIONS: Children's and parent's disorders interact in a complex fashion which needs further study.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2001

Gender and activation level in smokers.

Studies on the enhancing effects of nicotine on performance are usually pharmacological challenges using deprived male smokers. However, gender may be a factor that influences nicotine/smoking effects upon information processing. We investigated gender differences in contingent negative variation (CNV) amplitude in non-deprived dependent smokers performing a go-no go reaction time paradigm. Female smokers did not differ from female non-smokers in both early and late CNV, whereas male smokers presented greater early and late CNV compared to male non-smokers and an alteration in inhibiting processes responsible for CNV development in the no go condition. Consistent with the evidence of gender differences in nicotine/smoking sensitivity, these preliminary results emphasize the need for taking into account gender in psychophysiological research of nicotine/smoking effects.

Arousal↗
PubMed2001

Decreased presynaptic dopamine function in the left caudate of depressed patients with affective flattening and psychomotor retardation.

OBJECTIVE: The study assessed striatal presynaptic dopamine function in patients with different subtypes of depression. METHOD: Magnetic resonance imaging and positron emission tomography with [(18)F]fluorodopa ([(18)F]DOPA) were used to compare six depressed patients with marked affective flattening and psychomotor retardation, six depressed patients with marked impulsivity and anxiety, and 10 healthy comparison subjects. Depressed patient groups were matched for severity of depression. RESULTS: [(18)F]DOPA uptake K(i) values in the left caudate were significantly lower in patients with psychomotor retardation than in patients with high impulsivity and in comparison subjects. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that left caudate dopamine function differs between depressed patients with psychomotor retardation and those with impulsivity and provide direct evidence of a link between dopamine hypofunction and psychomotor retardation in depression.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

Relationships between the emotional and cognitive components of alexithymia and dependency in alcoholics.

Several authors have shown that alexithymia, emotional and perceptual dependency characterize patients suffering from substance abuse. The aim of the study is to test the hypothesis that the emotional and cognitive components of alexithymia are associated with dependency in alcoholics. Three groups were investigated: 60 inpatients meeting the DSM-IV criteria for alcohol dependence, 57 healthy subjects, 144 university students. All subjects completed the following rating scales: The 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), the Interpersonal Dependency Inventory (IDI), the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and the Embedded Figures Test (EFT). Partial correlations, using the BDI score as constant, were calculated. In normal subjects, the 'Emotion' subscale of the TAS-20 correlated with the 'Lack of social self-confidence' subscale of the IDI and the 'Cognitive' subscale of the TAS-20 did not correlate with the EFT score. In alcoholics, the 'Cognitive' subscale of the TAS-20 correlated with the 'Lack of social self-confidence' subscale, with the EFT score and with the 'Affirmation of autonomy' subscale. A particular cognitive style characterized by externally oriented thinking, affirmation of autonomy as denial of emotional dependency and field dependence could characterize alcoholics.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2000

Eye deviation during rotation in darkness in trait anxiety: an early expression of perceptual avoidance?

BACKGROUND: Patients with dizziness and patients with panic disorder and agoraphobia share a common symptomatology. Numerous studies have investigated a potential link between anxiety and the vestibular system, but few of them have addressed the specific topic of spatial representation. METHODS: Passive whole-body rotations in the horizontal plane were imposed on two groups of subjects who differed in their level of trait anxiety. Subjects were seated on a mobile robot in darkness. After each passive rotation, subjects were asked to reproduce the stimulus by driving the robot with a joystick and to perform a rotation of the same magnitude. Eye movements were recorded and analyzed. RESULTS: No difference in either perception (accuracy in the reproduction task) or in VOR gain was found between the two groups of subjects. Mean eye deviation, caused by fast phases of the nystagmus, differed in the two groups. It was typically in the anticompensatory direction in the non-anxious group, and in the compensatory direction the anxious group. Such compensatory movement may be explained by an egocentric orientation strategy, that may in turn indicate a lack of interest toward the visual surroundings. CONCLUSIONS: An egocentric strategy for self-orientation exhibited at a level below the threshold of awareness could reveal the existence of a physiological mode of processing leading to agoraphobic avoidance.

Adult↗