Institutional Scholarship :: Browsing by Author "Sternberg, Wendy"

Browsing by Author "Sternberg, Wendy"

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A Modality-Specific Deficit of Spatial Attention: A Dual-Case Study of Tactile Extinction
(2002) Olson, Elizabeth; Chatterjee, Anjan; Sternberg, Wendy
A Prototype Analysis of the Concept of Missing
(2003) Adams, Sam; Le, Benjamin; Sternberg, Wendy
Missing a romantic partner is a significant aspect in many peoples' lives; however, there has not been any past research about this experience. The current study is an attempt to define and analyze this concept by using prototype analysis. In Study 1, 77 college students listed features of missing a romantic partner. In Study 2, rankings for centrality and valence of these features were collected from 71 college students. Through the analysis significant differences were discovered between how each gender defines missing. Analysis also revealed a number of relationships, and self-esteem. The study found that differences in the aforementioned sub-tests were correlated with individuals' rating of centrality and valence for the various features. This suggests that understanding how one's partner defines missing may be crucial to relationship stability and satisfaction.
Affiliative Behavior and Empathetic Response: Sex Differences and Neuroendocrine Factors
(2008) Mutso, Amelia; Sternberg, Wendy
This study investigated the ability of mice to distinguish the emotional state of other mice as an indication of empathetic behavior. The ability to distinguish emotional states was examined by using an overt pain stimulus on a mouse and measuring subsequent approach behavior by another mouse to the mouse in pain. This was used as a model for the affiliation and empathy of one mouse for another, presenting a novel paradigm for measuring affiliation and empathetic approach behavior towards another animal. The ability to identify the pain state of another mouse was examined in both female and male mice. It was found that female mice were better able than males to identify the pain state of another mouse, and, therefore spent significantly more time in proximity to the cagemate in pain than with an unaffected cagemate. Approach behavior in males was not affected by the pain state of another mouse. Since the hormone oxytocin has been shown to play a role in affiliation, its role in the ability to identify emotional states was investigated through a pharmacological manipulation in female mice where female mice were injected with oxytocin. The data from the oxytocin manipulation were inconclusive but suggested further work is necessary to investigate the role of this hormone in empathetic behavior in mice. Future research can use this novel paradigm to further investigate sex differences in empathetic behavior and the role of affiliative hormones in empathetic responses.
Alterations in hippocampal neurogenesis and pain behavior in mice
(2009) Nguyen, Mai-Tien Mimi; Sternberg, Wendy
Neurogenesis, after being a target of harsh criticism and controversial overturn, has recently become largely accepted by the scientific community. It is now known that besides being born during embryonic and early postnatal development, new neurons are generated during adult lifetime. New evidence suggests that neurogenesis not only correlates with hippocampal learning and memory but may also be required for learning. It is thought that learning promotes the retention of new neurons. In the case of stress, which decreases adult neurogenesis, learning seems to be impaired. On the contrary, physical exercise enhances the generation of new neurons. Different studies have proposed that the cellular mechanism of neurogenesis is similar to the mechanism involving nerve plasticity in the pain pathway or central sensitization which is changes that occur in the brain after repeated nerve stimulation. The central focus of this study is to examine the effect of neurogenesis on pain behavior, especially, the relationship between neurogenesis and SIA (stress induced analgesia) and late-phase formalin pain behavior. The influences of social and physical environments, sex, stress and exercise have been studied in relation to neurogenesis and pain respectively, extending similar findings from research done by Stranahan, Khalil and Gould (2006): social context and exercise influence endocrine and neural responses, thus rates of neurogenesis. We expect mice runner living in group house to have increase neurogenesis, decreased in formalin pain and decreased stress-induced analgesia; however, final inconsistent findings did not show changes in neurogenesis and are less than conclusive to support this hypothesis.
Alterations in Hippocampal Neurogenesis and Pain Behavior in Mice: An Experimental Study
(2009) Bergman, Emma; Sternberg, Wendy
Factors that alter neurogenesis are increasingly being investigated as possible treatments for human conditions such as chronic pain, depression, and PTSD. In this study we investigated the influence of housing and running condition on pain behavior and stress induced analgesia (SIA), to address possible connections between pain and neurogenesis in the dentate gyrus of the adult mouse hippocampus. Mice were either tested on an acute pain test (hotplate and tailwithdrawal) or a tonic pain test (formalin test). We report here that exercise and group housing had the effect of enhancing pain behavior, while SIA was moderated mostly by sex. Preliminary results from new granule cell counts indicate that neurogenesis was slightly enhanced in socially housed running animals, supporting the results generated by past research (Stranahan et al., 2006). Living environment can have a profound effect on biological and behavioral outcomes, both influencing changes in neural plasticity and neurogenesis, and peripheral changes in pain sensitivity. In order to further establish the connection between pain and neurogenesis, future research must investigate this relationship using a larger sample.
Alterations in Hippocampal Neurogenesis and Pain Behavior in Mice: An Experimental Study
(2009) Gomes, Angelina; Sternberg, Wendy
As living condition has been shown to affect rates of neurogenesis, the current study was designed to examine the relationship between neurogenesis and pain behavior, particularly stress-induced analgesia (SIA) and tonic pain. Mice received daily injection stress and were placed in group or isolated housing conditions, with or without access to a running wheel in order to differentially manipulate neurogenesis. Both males and females were used in this study to investigate sex differences involved. Animals were tested with hotplate and tail withdrawal tests before and after restraint stress to examine SIA (experiment 1), and with a subcutaneous formalin injection to assess changes in tonic pain—particularly in the late phase (experiment 2). Group housed runners were expected to have increased neurogenesis, decreased SIA and increased late phase formalin pain; however, findings did not support this hypothesis. In experiment 1, significant differences in overall acute pain were observed, depending on housing and running. In experiment 2, overall formalin pain behavior was influenced by housing, while running differentially influenced pain behaviors in each phase. Significant changes in neurogenesis were not observed, which--along with a number of confounding variables--may have influenced inconsistent findings.
Alterations in Hippocampal Neurogenesis and Pain Behavior in Mice: An Experimental Study
(2009) Guillen, Jocelyn; Sternberg, Wendy
Previous research has shown that social housing and running activity can influence neurogenesis. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between neurogenesis and pain behavior, specifically through stress-induced analgesia (SIA) and tonic pain. Mice were placed in either group or isolated housing conditions, with or without access to a running wheel, received daily injection stress. Animals were tested with a formalin injection to evaluate changes in tonic pain, and hotplate and tail withdrawal pain tests, before and after a restraint stress, in order to examine stress-induced analgesia. Group-housed runners were expected to have more newly-generated neurons, greater signs of ongoing pain behavior in the formalin pain test-especially in the latephase, and less stress-induced analgesia through shorter response latency to hotplate and tailwithdrawal pain tests. However, the findings did not support this hypothesis. Study 1, revealed that group housed animals exhibited overall greater persistent pain behavior following formalin injection. However, this effect was differentially affected by running. Results from study 2 show significant effects housing, and running on pain behavior. Finally, the relationship between neurogenesis and pain behavior, which was limited by a small sample size, was not significant, but demonstrated interesting patterns. Further research should examine the relationship between pain behavior and neurogenesis using a larger sample size.
An Exploration of Current Pain Curriculums and Physical Therapists’ Knowledge of Pain: Specifically Emphasizing the Psychological Aspects of Pain
(2008) Chu, Jennifer X.; Boltz, Marilyn; Sternberg, Wendy
In the mid-1990’s and 2000’s studies revealed inadequacies in pain curriculums and pain knowledge of both occupational and physical therapists. The current study expands on prior studies by examining the physical therapy field specifically using a literature review and two surveys assessing current educational curriculums and physical therapists’ knowledge of pain, specifically knowledge of psychological aspects. The study suggests that while there have been improvements in pain curriculums and physical therapists’ knowledge, there are still areas that require enhancement. Regarding curriculums, the discussion focuses on course time devoted to pain information, incorporation of the IASP Core Curriculum and coverage of psychological issues. Regarding physical therapists’ knowledge in practice, the discussion focuses on understanding of psychological aspects of pain, satisfaction with entry level education, and changes physical therapists would implement to pain management and curriculums.
An Investigation of Sex Differences in the Effects of Sedentary Competition on Stress-induced Analgesia
(2001) Bobys, Hillary; Sternberg, Wendy
This investigation of stress-induced analgesia used two sedentary competitive tasks to examine possible sex differences in the pain inhibition caused by stress. Subjects came in pairs to the lab on two occasions, once to compete in either word games or in an auto racing simulation video game and once for baseline measures. Pain was measured on both days using the cold pressor test to assess intensity and unpleasantness of the cold stimulus. Subjects also gave subjective mood ratings on both competition and baseline days. We found no differences in pain ratings between competition and baseline measures or between men and women. We did find differences in pain ratings between athletes and non-athletes, which leads to questions concerning disparity in competitive stress concepts between the two groups.
An Investigation of Stress-Induced Analgesia in Cognitive Competitive Task
(2001) Lauber, Katherine; Sternberg, Wendy
Stress-induced analgesia is a phenomenon that has been demonstrated on multiple occasions in humans in laboratory settings (Willer et al., 1981; Jungkunz et al., 1984). Most research on stress-induced analgesia in humans has focused on exercise and athletic-competition produced analgesia. Previous studies in this laboratory have been aimed at discovering what aspects of athletic competition create analgesia. This study is specifically targeted at investigating the cognitive competitive aspects of a sedentary task. This study focuses on the cognitive competitive mindset aspect of competition and questions whether that mindset can create analgesia. Sex-differences in competition are also a large interest of this study. 48 subjects (24 male, 24 female) from the Haverford College community participated in one of two competitive tasks, a video game or word games. The study is a 2x2 mixed factorial design, with sex of subject and day (baseline vs. competition) being the two independent variables. After a baseline session or competing in one of the competitive tasks, subjects completed a cold-pressor test as a pain measure to determine analgesic effects. Pain data, mood scale ratings, physiological data and questionnaire data about the competitive task were then compared to baseline ratings in each subject. The study produced no significant differences in pain rating as a result of competition. However, mood scale (SSR) ratings and physiological data acquired from the subjects demonstrated significant levels of stress in the subjects from baseline to task days. Reasons for why seemingly significant levels of stress and arousal in the subjects failed to produce analgesia are discussed and possible areas of future research are suggested.
Anosognosia of Hemiplegia: An Analysis of Implicit and Explicit Access to the Body Schema and Motor Control Systems during the Genesis of Action
(2006) Revere, Karen; Boltz, Marilyn; Sternberg, Wendy
Anosognosia for hemiplegia (AHP) is characterized by a lack of awareness of hemiplegia following stroke. The purpose of the present study was to investigate two alternative accounts of AHP. The first account is that AHP results from an impaired body representation during the generation of action. Alternatively, the second account is that motor planning systems are intact, but not accessible for explicit report. Patients with right hemisphere lesions and clinical symptoms of AHP (N=3) and normal control subjects (N=18) completed two primary tasks. One involved finger movements and measured explicit body schema access and awareness, while the other involved making right-left hand judgments and measured implicit body schema access and awareness. Additionally, subjects were evaluated for cognitive impairment and neglect. All patients performed poorly relative to normal controls on both the implicit and explicit tasks. This suggests that AHP may be associated with a general disruption of the motor control system. Future research is necessary to establish whether a disruption in the motor system of patients with AHP during the genesis of action occurs during the generation of a motor plan or during the sensory comparison between intended and actual movement.
Aspirin Analgesia in Mice: The Effects of Gonadectomy, Surgery, and Dose Response On the Abdominal Constriction Assay
(2001) Cruz, Richard; Sternberg, Wendy
Studies were conducted to examine the role of gonadal hormones in the effectiveness of aspirin in CD-1 mice. Animal models have shown strong and consistent sex differences in centrally mediated pain behavior and physiology. However, there is a relative lack of research on sex differences in peripherally mediated analgesic mechanisms. This study examined the apparent sex differences in aspirin analgesia found by Mogil and colleagues (2000) in a pilot study that found aspirin to be more effective in males than females in a dose dependent manner. The first study was a gonadectomy study designed to investigate the effects of gonadal hormones on aspirin analgesia. Subjects underwent either gonadectomy or sham surgeries. It was hypothesized that, as with centrally mediated analgesia, female hormones would be the determining factor in producing the sex difference. Data were gathered using the abdominal constriction ("writhing") assay. Contrary to hypotheses, we found a strong main effect of drug (aspirin v. saline), no main effect of sex or surgery, and a 3-way interaction trend between sex, drug, and surgery. A follow-up study attempted to more closely replicate Mogil's study by only using intact subjects under several doses of the drug. There was, again, a strong main effect of drug, but no sex difference. A retrospective comparison of sham subjects with intact animals at the same dose showed a trend of surgery effects that approached significance. These results do not support sex differences at the doses studied but may suggest, at best, a weak influence of gonadal hormone on aspirin analgesia below statistical detection when coupled with surgery.
Can Academic Competition Trigger Stress-Induced Analgesia?
(2005) Fielding, Sarah; Sternberg, Wendy
The stress of athletic competition has been shown to cause decreased pain sensitivity in both sexes, through a process called stress-induced analgesia (SIA). Even sedentary competition on a video game can induce analgesia, but only in males. In order to further clarify competition's role in SIA, and to determine whether sedentary competition is a SIA trigger for both sexes, the present study aimed to investigate whether competition on a gender neutral task, an academic test, could trigger SIA. After testing the pain sensitivity levels of 37 undergraduates, on both a baseline day and while they engaged in an academic competition task, we found no overall pain sensitivity changes across day. Analgesia depended upon gender and athletic status, with females as well as athletes demonstrating a decrease in pain sensitivity (i.e. analgesia) on the academic test day. Thus, we concluded that our contrived competition was not an adequately salient stressor, and that this research should be repeated with a competition that encourages a higher level of engagement from participants.
Characterizing the Interaction among Testosterone, Social Dominance Position and Neurogenesis in Male Mice
(2010) Shanin, Daniel J.; Sternberg, Wendy
Inter-male aggression, and the resultant social dominance hierarchies, is the predominant form of sexual selection in mice. The most dominant males gain preferential access to females and have been found to display a number of physiologic differences from the more submissive males. The adrenal stress hormone, corticosterone is found in higher levels in the more submissive males suggesting that the dominant animals experience less stress than their submissive counterparts. In contrast, the androgen testosterone, which plays a critical role in the maintenance of aggression, is generally found in higher levels in more dominant males. Finally, research has found that dominant animals also display higher levels of hippocampus neurogenesis; the formation of new neuron's within the dentate gyrus. We investigated the relationship of these three factors; testosterone, social stress and neurogenesis by controlling testosterone levels through hormonal manipulation and social stress through the use of individual and group housing conditions. We found that while testosterone does play a role in an animal's position in a social dominance hierarchy there are other factors that also contribute. The animals consistently formed dominance hierarchies as evidenced by both behavioral and hormonal data. However, neither testosterone level nor social dominance position was found to influence hippocampal neurogenesis. These neurogenesis findings differ from previous studies and suggest testosterone and corticosterone may exhibit their effects on neurogenesis through a previously unknown mediating factor.
Cognitive and Emotional Aspects of Error Responsiveness in Depressive College Students
(2006) Vargas, Gray; Sternberg, Wendy; Compton, Rebecca J. (Rebecca Jean)
The purpose of this study was to analyze the error responsiveness of depressive college students and to attempt to determine the contributions of emotional and cognitive processes to this response. This response was analyzed by measuring three event-related electrical signals originating in the Anterior Cingulate Cortex (ACC)—the response Error-Related Negativity (rERN), feedback ERN (fERN), and error Positivity (Pe)—as well as reaction time and accuracy following an error. A high depression group and an anxiety-matched control group were tested on an emotional and cognitive Stroop task. The expected increase in amplitude after errors was seen for the rERN and Pe but not for the fERN. While none of the error signals or behavioral compensation measures differed significantly between groups, there were surprising interactions found for the rERN and Pe suggesting that depression might be related to a larger Pe and a smaller rERN. This study provides many important points of comparison for other ERP and ACC studies in anxiety and other disorders.
Competition vs. Exercise-Induced Analgesia in Male and Female Athletes and Non-Athletes
(2004) Meister, Miriam; Sternberg, Wendy
Pain sensitivity in 52 college male and female athletes and non-athletes was assessed at baseline and then after exercise and competition while workload was held constant. Subjects pedaled on a stationary bike for 20 minutes at 60% maximum capacity in both exercise and competition conditions. Non-exercising, repeated-pain testing controls were tested at the same time intervals. Pain sensitivity was measured by heat pain threshold, thermal scaling and the cold pressor test. Subjects showed a significant decrease in pain sensitivity between baseline and exercise conditions (on thermal scaling) and again between exercise and competition conditions (on thermal scaling and heat pain threshold). Repeated pain testing in non-exercising subjects revealed a significant increase in heat pain threshold of athletes between their first and third testing sessions as well as significantly greater pain ratings of female non-athletes than female athletes on the cold pressor. Possible conclusions are that exercise and competition produce like-strength analgesia regardless of sex and athletic status, and that athletes show a lessened response to pain over time.
Competition, Cooperation, and Pain Sensitivity
(2012) Xiang, William W.; Sternberg, Wendy
Pain is often associated with athletic competition. Studies have shown that competition produced an analgesic effect in male and female athletes. However, analgesic effects in athletes and non-athletes in different levels of competition have not yet been systematically investigated. This experiment evaluated pain sensitivity on several different measures in athletes and non-athletes before and after participating in one of four conditions: completing a puzzle, cycling on a stationary bicycle alone, cooperatively cycling alongside a confederate, or competitively cycling alongside a confederate. The study did not find significant results regarding different levels of competition and analgesia. Although no significant results were found, some interesting patterns were observed with the gender-specific cooperative condition. Women in the cooperative condition demonstrated increase in pain sensitivity, unlike results found in previous studies on exercise and competition. Possible reasons for this increase in pain sensitivity could be due to personality trait differences in cooperation compared to competition or participants empathizing for his or her partner's physical pain while cycling. Our findings suggest that the nature of cooperation causes different analgesic responses from interpersonal competition.
Competition, Cooperation, and Pain Sensitivity
(2012) Ferri, Josie; Sternberg, Wendy
The sharp decrease in pain sensitivity during and immediately following competition experienced by athletes is a quintessential example of stress-induced analgesia. While anecdotal evidence exists regarding this phenomenon, research has yet to methodically investigate responses to painful stimuli during stressful competitive scenarios. The present study aimed to determine the competitive psychological scenario that would induce the greatest stress response and effort exerted, and therefore the greatest analgesic response. The results demonstrate that our scenarios induced a mild analgesic effect in cold pressor and thermal pain testing as well as a physiological change, particularly heart rate, proportional to the level of competition. Our experiment contributes to the current research data identifying the relationship between competition, gender, athletic status, and stress-induced analgesia.
Competition, Cooperation, and Pain Sensitivity
(2012) Selsor, Margaret; Sternberg, Wendy
Prior research has shown how competition and exercise increase pain tolerance. However, the specific effects of cooperation in competition on pain sensitivity have not been thoroughly examined. In our study, we had 80 subjects (40 males, 40 females; 40 athletes, 40 non-athletes) randomly assigned to one of four conditions: a control task, biking in isolation, biking cooperatively with a confederate, and biking competitively against a confederate, and they completed pre- and post-test pain measures (cold pressor test, thermal scaling, and thermal pain threshold). We had three main hypotheses: (I) subjects in the competitive condition will elicit the greatest analgesic response (followed by cooperative, isolated, and control), (2) athletes will have higher pain tolerances, a greater analgesic response to the exercise conditions, and a larger rate of RPE, and (3) females will have a greater analgesic response to the exercise condition, and males would have a greater pain tolerance overall. Although most of our hypotheses were not supported, we discuss the implications and ideas for future research.
Death, Isolation, and Culture: Testing the Validities of Terror Management Theory and Coalitional Psychology
(2006) Ing, Jennifer; Le, Benjamin; Sternberg, Wendy
Two empirical studies attempted 1) to compare the validities of terror management theory and coalitional psychology, 2) to extend past research on cultural influences on cognition, and 3) to examine the effects of mortality and social isolation salience on cognition. Experiment 1 examined the effects of cultural (collectivism or individualism) priming and salience (mortality, social isolation, or neutral) priming on performance on a field-dependence task and a causal attribution task. The results revealed no significant effects for the field-dependence task but a significant cultural priming effect on the attribution task. Experiment 2 examined the effects of cultural priming and salience priming on mortality, social isolation, or fear-thought accessibility as measured through a word completion task. The only significant effect that emerged was one of salience priming in which the neutral salience condition showed a greater accessibility for social isolation words. The implications of these results for both past and future research are discussed.

Browsing by Author "Sternberg, Wendy"

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