Metabolic effects on attention, emotion and cognition

我的实验室感兴趣的是压力/能量系统的相互作用，以及这种相互作用对包括注意力、情绪和认知在内的心理变量的影响。人体内有三个主要的代谢系统来调节能量的获得和使用，以响应不同的需求：自主神经系统(ANS)的交感和副交感分支，以及下丘脑-垂体-肾上腺(HPA)轴。通过神经(ANS)和内分泌(HPA&ANS)介质，这些系统调节葡萄糖的产生和释放、细胞对葡萄糖的摄取、血压、心率周期、心率变异性等。以前的研究已经形成了理论框架，描述了这三个系统如何相互作用，并对个体的心理功能做出贡献。例如，应激的生物心理社会模型、适应性校准模型和平衡负荷模型已经对这些系统如何运作和相互作用以及失调可能产生的影响做出了具体预测。然而，到目前为止，关于这种相互作用对正常心理功能的影响的研究尚未被系统地进行，部分原因是缺乏适当的方法学。我们已经开发了挑战测试，允许调查每个系统，以及系统之间的相互作用，以研究由此产生的对注意力、情绪和认知的心理影响。以前的研究通常局限于观察压力/能量系统之一对心理变量的影响。我们最近发现，压力/能量系统是相互作用的，并在一定程度上相互补偿，这需要对这些系统进行联合研究，以了解对心理功能的影响。 在五年的研究计划过程中，我们的目标是使用三种不同的挑战范式来研究200名正常健康受试者，这些范式专门探索ANS的交感或副交感分支，或HPA。这三项任务的结合将有助于更好地理解压力/能量系统的相互作用。然后，在研究和被试之间，我们将使用注意力(视觉探测任务)、情绪(标准化问卷)和认知(识别情绪和中性材料)的测量方法，来研究和理解压力/能量系统的交互作用对这些参数的影响。 通过这项工作，我们希望通过参与这里概述的研究计划，显著提高对能量系统和关键心理参数之间的关联的理解。

My laboratory is interested in the interaction of the stress /energy systems, and the effects of this interaction on psychological variables including attention, emotion and cognition. There are three main metabolic systems in the human body that regulate energy availability and energy use in response to varying demands: the sympathetic and parasympathetic branch of the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS), and the Hypothalamus Pituitary Adrenal (HPA) axis. Through neural (ANS) and endocrine (HPA & ANS) mediators, these systems regulate glucose production and release, glucose uptake into cells, blood pressure, heart period, heart rate variability, among others. Previous research has formulated theoretical frameworks that describe how these three systems interact and contribute to the psychological functioning of the individual. For example, the biopsychosocial model of stress, the adaptive calibration model, and the allostatic load model have made specific predictions as to how these systems function and interact, and what effects dysregulations can have. The study of the effect of the interaction on normal psychological functioning has so far not been pursued systematically, however, in part due to a lack of suitable methodology. We have developed challenge tests which allow to investigate each system, and the interaction across the systems, to study the resulting psychological effects on attention, emotion and cognition. Previous studies typically were restricted in looking at the effects of one of the stress / energy systems on psychological variables. Our recent finding that the stress /energy systems are interacting, and partially compensating for each other, necessitates the combined study of the systems, to understand the effects on psychological functioning. Over the course of the five year research program, we aim to study 200 normal healthy subjects using three different challenge paradigms that specifically probe the sympathetic or the parasympathetic branch of the ANS, or the HPA. The combination of the three tasks will allow an improved understanding of the interaction of the stress / energy systems. Then, across studies and subjects, we will employ measures of attention (visual probe task), emotion (standardized questionnaires), and cognition (recognition of emotional and neutral material), to study and understand the effects of the interaction of the stress / energy systems on these parameters. From this work, we expect to gain a significantly improved understanding of the association among the energy systems and key psychological parameters as a consequence of engaging in the here outlined research program.