Musical interventions reduce anxiety and depression in Gambian mothers

Last month, researchers from the Music, Mind and Brain research group at Goldsmiths partnered with pan-African advocacy groups to host a symposium focusing on maternal mental health across Africa.

Alongside research presentations and testimonials from healthcare workers and women who with lived experience of perinatal mental health issues, the event also saw the formal launch of The Gambian Alliance for Maternal Mental Health. 

We caught up with Professor Lauren Stewart and Dr Katie Rose Sanfilippo to discuss CHIME for Perinatal Mental Health, a collaborative project working to investigate how embedded musical practices might support perinatal mental health in West Africa. 

Funded by the MRC and AHRC, CHIME brings together researchers from the Department of Psychology at Goldsmiths, those from a wide range of disciplines at other international universities, and Gambian partners from the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare and the National Centre for Arts and Culture. 

Sarah Cox: What is CHIME and how did it originate? 

Lauren Stewart:  CHIME stands for Community Health Intervention through Musical Engagement – a novel intervention which aims to reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression in pregnant women. The intervention is culturally embedded and co-designed with so-called Kanyeleng groups – all female fertility societies within the Gambia – who lead participatory music making sessions with pregnant women where they address themes of resilience, social support and ways to deal with some common physical and psychological challenges of pregnancy. 

Backing this work is research which shows that group music-making can elevate mood, help form social bonds and can convey salient information. Early research by Chineze Nwebube, a student from the MSc in Music Mind and Brain, who was supervised by myself and co-supervisor Professor Vivette Glover (Imperial College), demonstrated that daily listening to specially-composed music during pregnancy reduced symptoms of anxiety. This is an important area of research because we know that stress and anxiety in pregnancy not only affects the mother but can also have physical and psychological effects on the developing child. Utilising low cost, stigma-free approaches such as music, are of high importance in mitigating the impact of stress and anxiety across multiple generations.

SC: Why was the Gambia chosen? 

Lauren Stewart: This research had been confined to the UK but took a global turn in response to a joint funding call from the MRC and the AHRC asking for research proposals that would bring interdisciplinary partnerships together to address a significant public health issue in a low or middle income context. Knowing that symptoms of stress and anxiety can be disproportionately high in low income contexts, owing to the exacerbating effects of poverty and stigma, we were motivated to explore the impact of music-based approaches in such a setting. We selected the Gambia because of its particularly rich musical cultural traditions, as well as the presence of Kanyeleng groups, whose expertise around the use of music to support reproductive health, made them natural partners for the research.

The work of our colleague, Dr Bonnie McConnell (Australian National University), had documented the role of the Kanyeleng in Gambian society, and her existing partnership with Mr Buba Darboe at the Ministry of Health provided excellent foundations. We also invited infant mental health specialist Professor Paul Ramchandani and music scholar Professor Ian Cross to join the team, along with historian Hassoum Ceesay (Centre of Arts and Culture, the Gambia) and Dr Victoria Cornelius (Imperial Clinical Trials Unit). After employing local research assistants, Hajara B Huma and Malick Gaye, we began three years of partnership building, which also included detailed qualitative work to inform the measurement, intervention development and evaluation aspects of the work. All this led to the development and evaluation of CHIME, which we trialled with 124 women, split across an intervention (CHIME) and control arm (treatment as usual). 

[Some members of the CHIME research team, including Professor Stuart, seated centre, and Dr Sanfilippo, standing centre]

SC: What were the outcomes of the CHIME feasibility trial, published in the British Medical Journal last year? 

Katie Rose Sanfilippo: The feasibility study looked at whether we could recruit participants, whether the intervention was deliverable, whether all sessions occurred as intended, whether participants attended and found the sessions useful and enjoyable and what, if anything, would need to be changed for a larger scale future version of the trial. We found positive results across the board, showing that a larger scale study would be practically and logistically possible. 

Perhaps the most interesting findings were comments made by participants and those delivering the intervention. One pregnant participant said, “I realise that before I got pregnant, I used to become worried, but after [the intervention], I am not worried. Your programme is good to us. It is beneficial to us”. Another pregnant participant talked about what she had learned, “I learnt a new lesson from the programme. The first new lesson is not to isolate oneself thinking. When you are pregnant for six months you should [also] go to the health centres and take your Malaria medication for your good health.” We were really inspired by how the intervention empowered women to help others in their community. One pregnant participant said: “Right now I am helping someone and I am a teacher on my own.”   

Most promisingly, we found that participants in the intervention group had a greater reduction of anxiety and depression symptoms  compared with those in the control group who didn’t take part in any intervention. This needs to be replicated on a larger scale but our feasibility trial results already show the potential value of the intervention. 

Taken together, we are very encouraged by the potential of the CHIME intervention for scale-up. Not only is it low-cost and suitable for group-based delivery by community members with pre-existing expertise but because these groups exist in each neighbourhood, countrywide, the infrastructure for intervention delivery is highly scaleable. 

SC: How has the formation of The Gambian Alliance for Maternal Mental Health been informed by this work? 

Katie Rose Sanfilippo: To be able to develop CHIME, we created partnerships with the Ministry of Health, health workers, charities and cultural groups across The Gambia. Through these discussions we saw the desire and need for policy initiatives that focused on promoting maternal mental health. The Gambia is a small country and the ability for a grassroots movement to affect policy is remarkable. The members of CHIME felt that the partnership we were building could become more influential if a formal alliance was formed. This alliance will then be able to work together to continue to  advocatee for maternal mental health care initiatives and policies across the country. It will also join the African and Global Alliances for Maternal Mental Health which will help promote their efforts even further. 

 [Some of the participants in CHIME interventions, with their babies]

SC: What is happening now and next for CHIME? 

Lauren Stewart: We have two main priorities to take the work forward. Firstly, we would like to take the CHIME intervention to scale, and evaluate its efficacy and cost-effectiveness. Replicating the promising findings from our published feasibility trial in a full controlled trial would provide compelling evidence for policy makers to consider integrating CHIME into primary care for antenatal mothers.

We are in the process of exploring how CHIME can be adapted to other resource-constrained settings, particularly across Africa, where participatory music is often such an important part of the culture and daily life in the community. We have formed a new collaboration with colleagues in South Africa to scope out the existing musical practices and social and community structures and organizations there, with a view to developing a South African version of the CHIME intervention.  

Find out more about the Music, Mind and Brain research group at Goldsmiths: www.musicmindbrain.com 

Read more about CHIME: www.chimeproject.com

 

Mapping musical moods to help brands find their sound

A new project to create an ‘emotional DNA map’ that can predict the subconscious impact music used in marketing has on consumers will be led by Goldsmiths, University of London researchers and sonic branding testing company SoundOut.

Insights from the project, which will involve analysing data from 500,000 people, could be used by brands and advertising agencies to select music that will trigger the desired subconscious emotional associations and responses from consumers.

It is estimated that over 30% of internet searches in 2020 were voice powered and voice-powered shopping is set to grow to £29bn worldwide by 2022. This change in consumer behaviour means brands have fewer opportunities to make an emotional impact with consumers through logos, video and other traditional advertising media alone. This has led to rapid growth in the demand for sound as a core asset for brands (‘sonic branding’). 

SoundOut and Goldsmiths psychologist Dr Daniel Müllensiefen have been awarded £400,000 in support from Innovate UK’s Smart, an open grant funding programme, to undertake the research. 

The Goldsmiths team will measure people’s subconscious reactions to hundreds of different musical compositions, with SoundOut using advanced data science and machine learning to create a commercial tool that can accurately predict the implicit impact any new piece of music would have with its commercial branding. 

Using data from some 500,000 consumers, a full benchmarking system against 200 personality attributes will be created, enabling brands to measure how closely any given piece of music resonates or matches with some 200 core brand values, such as trust, innovation, or freedom. These benchmarks will be created using Dr Daniel Müllensiefen’s experimental psychology methods which measure emotional associations to different sounds and the memorability of audio assets. 

The project will create a new gold standard for music testing in the context of advertising and sonic branding, ensuring effective and efficient allocation of resources for brands worldwide.

Several other sonic branding agencies from around the world have agreed to collaborate on the project, providing hundreds of original music compositions. 

David Courtier-Dutton, SoundOut Founder and CEO said: “With the rapid growth of voice assistants and voice activated devices, music and voice are increasingly being recognised as a core brand asset that, used correctly, can help to build brand equity.  

“Choosing the correct music for any given brand execution has historically been highly subjective and this project will create an immensely powerful platform to bring rigour and objectivity to the entire sonic branding industry.” 

Professor Daniel Müllensiefen, co-founder of the Music, Mind and Brain research group in the Department of Psychology at Goldsmiths, is the project’s academic lead investigator. He has extensive experience as a music and advertising consultant and considers this project to be a unique chance for the industry. 

Professor Müllensiefen said: “For many years academia has been far ahead of industry in understanding the psychology of music and its impact on consumer behaviour and we are delighted to have secured this very competitive grant from Innovate UK together with SoundOut. 

“The grant represents a unique opportunity to conduct research of a size and breadth that will not only add significantly to academic knowledge on consumer behaviour but will also add meaningful value to brands and agencies worldwide.”

Innovate UK is part of UK Research and Innovation, and funds business and research collaborations to accelerate innovation and drive business investment into research: www.innovateuk.ukri.org

Find out more about the Music, Mind and Brain research group at Goldsmiths: www.musicmindbrain.com

Find out more about SoundOut: www.soundout.com 

 

Sleep scientists debunk myths about ‘lazy’ teenagers

To mark World Sleep Day on Friday 19 March, researchers from Goldsmiths, University of London and the University of Glasgow have come together to bust myths and share tips on teenage sleep.

The pandemic has created many new challenges for teenage sleep, with most families reporting that their children have later bedtimes and subsequent wake times than ever before. 

Professor Daniel Smith is the lead investigator for the Sleep, Circadian Rhythms and Mental Health in Schools (SCRAMS) project at the University of Glasgow, leading a cross-disciplinary community of researchers working on adolescence, mental health and the developing mind. 

Co-investigator Professor Alice Gregory from Goldsmiths is an expert on sleep throughout development and author of Nodding Off: The Science of Sleep from Cradle to Grave (2018) and The Sleepy Pebble and Other Stories: Calming Tales To Read at Bedtime (2019). Her recent studies include research into ‘exploding head syndrome’ and the link between poor sleep and teenage depression. 

Should parents be worried about their teenagers refusing to wake up and sleeping into the afternoon? And should we be trying achieve a ‘perfect’ eight-hour sleep? Professor Gregory and Professor Daniel aim to put minds at rest. 

Myths about teenage sleep 

Myth 1: Teenagers are lazy 

When teenagers struggle to wake up at the crack of dawn, this is not an indication of laziness – it reflects biological changes taking place. A shift in sleep timing during adolescence is found across the world, and is even found in other species such as the marmoset monkey. There might be good evolutionary reasons for this shift, such as encouraging young people to affiliate more with their peers and to move away from the family nest; or to allow societies to thrive (when members work on slightly different schedules someone is always alert to potential dangers). 

Ideally society should support this natural change in sleep timing, such as later school start times for teenagers. 

Myth 2: Biological patterns can’t be changed 

Although the shift in sleep timing during the teenage years is driven by biology, that does not mean nothing can be done. Lots of factors, such as the time we eat and exercise, can help tweak our biological clock to strike in time with the world around us. Light is critical for regulating sleep: healthy exposure to light in the morning (and avoiding light at night) can help to synchronise sleep rhythms. Those of us who already have delayed rhythms (such as almost all teenagers) should avoid light in the late evening.

You may have seen the new trend of orange-tinted (blue blocking) glasses in adverts. Bearing in mind the science, they might be best kept to the end of the day when you want to wind down towards a good night’s sleep, and avoided in the morning when you want to rise and shine. 

Myth 3: Try hard to get your 8 hours per night 

Lots of scientific reports suggest that we should not miss out on sleep if we want to function at our best. It’s important to allow ourselves enough time to sleep but we all differ in the amount of sleep needed. The idea that we all need exactly 8 hours of sleep each night is a myth. The National Sleep Foundation recommends that teenagers typically need about 8-10 hours of sleep each night (a minority will need as few as 7 hours and some as many as 11 hours). 

The idea that we must ‘try hard’ to sleep is also not true. Sleep at its best should be an automatic, natural and effortless process – ‘trying hard’ to sleep makes it particularly hard to nod off. What we should try harder with, however, is to make time for sleep when we feel we need it. 

Myth 4: A weekend lie-in is a bad idea

Sleep experts advise consistency when it comes to our sleep schedules. We should fall asleep and wake up at the same time each day. That is obviously fine if we have no commitments to get in the way. In reality, young people are often required to wake long before they are biologically ready to do so, and they may struggle to fall asleep early, meaning that most will be sleep deprived. So, some extra sleep at the weekend can help many young people to catch up.

But be warned, too much of a lie in can also result in a shift in sleep timing referred to as ‘social jetlag’. This has been associated with poor concentration and feeling low. The weekend lie-in is not necessarily a bad thing so long as it’s taken in moderation. 

This article was originally written for the SCRAMS website and is republished here with thanks to the University of Glasgow.

Visit the new website for the Gold Sleep Lab, directed by Professor Alice Gregory: sites.gold.ac.uk/sleep/

For further information about the SCRAMS Network visit: gla.ac.uk/scrams

 

Revealed: the magical secrets to tricking your free will

Understanding the psychological tools employed by magicians could help protect us from the politicians and marketers trying to manipulate our behaviour, new research from Goldsmiths, University of London shows.

Writing in the journal Trends in Cognitive Science, Alice Pailhès and Dr Gustav Kuhn identify the key forcing techniques most used by magic performers to covertly influence their audience’s decision making. 

The same “nudge behaviour” techniques are used in everyday life to influence everything from what we buy at the supermarket to which policies we vote for. 

Studying the psychological processes that underpin decision making and the ease by which decisions can be manipulated can help answer questions about our sense of freewill and agency over choices, the researchers say. 

Magicians have developed a wide range of psychological tricks to influence people’s choices. The intent is for people to feel like they are making a free choice, when the forcing trick means they are not. 

Forces can be grouped into two broad categories: Decision forces (techniques in which the magician directly manipulates the person’s decisions) and Outcome forces (when the spectator makes a genuinely free decision, but unknown to them this decision has no impact on the outcome of the trick). 

Decision forces include the use of either visual prompts, subtle gestures, words or restrictions which influence a spectator into picking a particular card, for example, or special positioning might be used to force people to pick in a certain way. 

Outcome forces such as ‘the Equivoque’ are powerful tools which give spectators the illusion of choice (picking a key or a wallet from a table, for example) but regardless of a spectator’s choice, the result is always going to be the outcome chosen by the magician. 

Alice Pailhès, Phd researcher in the Department of Psychology, said: “Many of the psychological principles that underpin these forces can be applied outside magic performance. Nudging people’s behaviours has become an increasingly popular way of modifying behaviour. 

“Most forcing principles have been tested in the real world, so they offer powerful tools to influencing people’s choices. They might provide new ways of encouraging better decisions in regards to health and well-being, for example, through the placement of items on a store’s shelf. Forcing techniques in the entertainment industry create a false sense of choice and autonomy, which helps create more engaging and interactive experiences. 

“But covert control and modification of people’s thoughts raises serious ethical issues too. We believe that understanding magicians’ forcing techniques is a valuable tool to raise awareness about the ease by which our choices can be manipulated. Such awareness may help protect people against unwanted influences such as political propaganda, and encourage policy makers to take the issue seriously.”

  

Decision forces include:

Visual Riffle force – a distinctive visual saliency and/or restrictions are used to influence a spectator to mentally choose a particular playing card. Two prior studies have found that between 54 and 98% of participants choose the target card, while feeling completely free for their choice 

Position force – this force relies on the fact that most people tend to act in the same way when presented with a specific situation. If a magician places four cards in a horizontal row on a table and asks the spectator to touch or take one, the majority will choose the third card from their left. This happens because most people are right-handed and tend to choose items that are more reachable. Two scientific papers have found that on average 60% of people choose the target card. 

Mental priming force – a magician uses subtle verbal and nonverbal primes to prime the spectator to name a target object. Created by Derren Brown, this technique relies on using subtle hand gestures and key words to prime people to think of, for example, the three of diamonds. This force has been shown to be effective for 18% of participants, when it would be expected less than 2% by chance. 

Outcome forces include:

The Criss-Cross force –  a magician asks a spectator to cut a pack of cards in half and place the top pile next to the bottom one. The magician takes the bottom pile and places it on the top one to form a cross shape. The magician asks the spectator a question to draw their attention away from the deck, then raises the top pile of the cross and asks the audience member to take the top card of the bottom pile. This technique has been shown to be extremely effective – the vast majority of participants fail to understand that their action of cutting the deck had no impact on their outcome card, and believe that they were in control of it.

The Equivoque or Magician’s force – considered to be one of the most powerful forcing techniques a magician can use. It relies on the failure to recognise ambiguous situations in order to create an illusion of choice. The magician deals two objects on a table, such as a key and a wallet. They then ask the spectator to touch one of them. If the magician wants the person to end up with the key and the spectator touches it, the magician keeps it and discards the wallet. But if the spectator touches the wallet rather than the key, the magician simply discards this choice and keeps the key anyway. Regardless of the spectator’s choice, the sequences result in the same outcome.

Mind Control Tricks: Magicians’ Forcing and Free Will by Alice Pailhès and Gustav Kuhn was published on Thursday 25 February 2021 in Trends in Cognitive Sciences: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2021.02.001 

The Goldsmiths’ MAGIC Lab uses magic to study a wide range of psychological questions around consciousness, attention, perception, magical beliefs, deception and free will. Visit www.magicresearchlab.comto find out more.

 

Grit but not growth mindset linked to flow state in musicians

Grittier musicians are more likely to lose themselves in the ‘flow’ of a performance regardless of whether they believe their intelligence and talent can be improved by effort, new research suggests.

A study published in the journal Music & Science by psychologists at Goldsmiths, University of London explored the non-cognitive traits which could determine whether musicians can reach the fully-absorbed and satisfying feeling of flow (or being “in the zone”) experienced during musical performance. 

Characterised as a state without self-consciousness, doubt or anxiety, flow is a psychological phenomenon which scientists have only recently begun to understand. 

The study, led by Professor Joydeep Bhattacharya, looked at two popular non-cognitive traits, grit and growth mindset, in 162 musicians between the ages of 18 and 57 years. The majority were based in Malaysia. 

Grit is defined as having perseverance and passion for long term goals, and growth mindset is the belief that abilities like intelligence and talent can be improved through effort. 

The researchers found that flow experience – as self-reported by the musicians – is correlated with their grit but not with their growth mindset. The authors suggest this could be the result of cultural beliefs on how much of a person’s talent is natural or the result of training. 

More musically trained individuals exhibited more grit and also experienced more flow. Musicians who practiced the most hours experienced the most flow. 

Grit did not predict flow experiences over and above other factors that have previously been linked to flow in musicians. These include personality traits like conscientiousness and emotional stability, daily practice hours, and music performance anxiety. Grit may be more relevant for experiencing flow by helping a musician get the practice hours in than as a factor in and of itself, the researchers conclude. 

Jasmine Tan, a PhD researcher and first author of the study, said: “Grit is exhibited by successful individuals who keep going even when the going gets tough and rough, and is particularly required for goals that are personally relevant and require a long-term commitment. 

“It is often claimed that grit and a growth mindset go together but our study indicates that musicians might not believe that having a growth mindset is beneficial for their training. In theory, if you have a growth mindset you would redouble efforts when faced with a challenge, but musicians might see this as a waste of time and energy. In fact, having a fixed mindset instead might help them achieve their goals more quickly and effectively.” 

The study also found that musicians with highest flow exhibited least performance anxiety. Music performance anxiety was also negatively correlated with grit, musical training and emotional stability. These findings could indicate that those who practice the most have lower performance anxiety, and so are more likely to reach flow. 

Study lead Professor Bhattacharya said: “Musicians value flow experience enormously because it is so rewarding. Here we investigated how two popular non-cognitive personality traits, grit and growth mindset, are related to flow in musicians. Growth mindset was not correlated with either grit nor flow.

“Our sample of musicians came predominantly from Asia and our results could indicate a cultural difference in the idea of a growth mindset. Prior research has found that, compared to learners in Western countries, natural talent is often perceived to be more influential than hard work. We understand growth mindset could be culture-dependent, and in certain cultures, creativity is considered to be more fixed and less changeable. Future research should explore the links between this idea and growth mindset. 

“Flow and grit were highest in those musicians with the most musical training, offering a tantalising hint as to the effects of non-cognitive factors and flow experience in motivating musicians to undertake long years of training and practice. So, it seems, putting in the hours of daily music practice may hold the key to flow.” 

‘What Does It Take to Flow? Investigating Links between Grit, Growth Mindset and Flow in Musicians’ by Jasmine Tan, Kelly Yap and Joydeep Bhattacharya was published in Music & Science on 19 February 2021: https://doi.org/10.1177/2059204321989529

 

Making virtual Shakespeare a Dream for audiences

Goldsmiths, University of London research into the impact of Covid-19 on audiences has helped shape an innovative new performance piece which could be a model for post-pandemic theatre.

Dream, created by the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), in collaboration with Manchester International Festival (MIF), Marshmallow Laser Feast (MLF) and Philharmonia Orchestra, brings together the latest gaming and theatre technology with an interactive symphonic score that responds to actors’ movement during the show.

While theatres remain closed, audiences can experience a new performance environment on a mobile, desktop or tablet via the www.dream.online website, and are able to directly influence the live performance from wherever they are in the world. 

i2 media research is a Goldsmiths-based group using psychological principles and research methods to understand technology, media and consumers. As a member of the Innovate UK-funded Audience of the Future Performance Demonstrator consortium, they worked closely with NESTA to find out what audiences want and how new audiences can be engaged with live performance. 

Originally starting in January 2019, i2’s programme of research for the project changed drastically with the closure of UK theatres in March 2020 due to the pandemic and the cancellation of the originally planned location-based RSC event. 

i2 developed new in-depth research to guide the project’s pivot to the production of a digital only production addressing the moods, needs and capabilities of audiences at home.  

Key findings from a survey of over 2,000 people conducted by i2 media research via YouGov include:

• 55% of audiences feel more troubled since lockdown
• More than 50% say they feel unhappy and afraid
• 37% say they are feeling more exhausted and 32% are more angry since lockdown
• They have a desire for uplifting events which counter the emotional lows of lockdown life
• Audiences miss live events but feel positive toward digital offerings and are willing to spend money on digital content

Surveys and consultations sought to characterise audiences to find out what they need, want, and are missing, and evaluate audience responses to the developing creative approaches and new technology. Specially developed metrics also looked at the audience’s quality of experience. 

i2’s work expanded to include a focus on post-pandemic sector recovery, exploring how new technology and remote audience engagement can be financially viable for the creative industries. All findings and research will be shared with the wider UK cultural sector after the project is completed this year. 

i2 media research founder, Professor of Psychology and Academic Lead for Knowledge Exchange at Goldsmiths, Jonny Freeman, said: “We’ve loved collaborating so closely with our creative and tech partners, and seeing the audience insights we’ve been gathering influencing so directly the production they have created. 

“This collaboration stands out for us, in being genuinely focused on audience needs. We’re also very mindful of the value of the project’s experience for the sector more widely and are developing plans, with our partners, to share what we have learned.” 

Dream is inspired by Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, with the live performance set in a virtual midsummer forest. Under the shadow of gathering clouds at dusk, lit by the glimmer of fireflies, Puck acts as the guide. Audiences are invited to explore the forest, meet four sprites and take an extraordinary journey into the eye of a cataclysmic storm. Together with Puck they must regrow the forest before the dawn. 

With seven RSC actors in a specially created 7x7m space, motion capture and facial rigging technology will reproduce their movements for virtual avatars, essentially creating real-time live animation made by live performers. 

The 50-minute online event will be a shared experience between remote audience members and the seven actors who play Puck and the sprites. Audiences can choose to buy a £10 ticket to take part and directly influence the world of the actors, or to view the performance for free. 

The Audience of the Future Performance Demonstrator consortium is a multimillion-pound investment into how developing immersive technologies such as virtual reality will bring new performing arts experiences to audiences around the world, funded by Innovate UK. Partners include De Montfort University, Epic Games, i2 media research limited, Intel, Magic Leap, Manchester International Festival, Marshmallow Laser Feast, Nesta, Phi Centre, Philharmonia Orchestra, Punchdrunk, University of Portsmouth, and The Space. 

More information and tickets for Dream are available from the RSC:

www.dream.online

www.rsc.org.uk/dream-coming-soon

Find out more about i2 media research at www.i2mediaresearch.com

 

 

Covid-19 boosts appeal of right-wing authoritarianism

Support for right-wing authoritarianism has increased following the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in Poland, a study led by researchers at Goldsmiths, University of London suggests.

Surveys of nearly 900 individuals found that an increasing desire for national cohesion has led to further rejection of dissenters to traditional norms, such as those regulating gender and sexual relations. 

In a report published in the journal Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity, Dr Agnieszka Golec de Zavala and co-authors explain that their results are in line with prior research which shows that conventional attitudes and preference for authoritarian leaders grow in appeal as a response to threat. 

Their study supports research which shows that death anxiety and the threat of infectious disease increases support for authoritarianism, traditional worldviews, in-group cohesion and sexual restrictiveness. 

In April, an early analysis of survey findings indicated that people in Poland were becoming less susceptible to divisive populist messages as the Covid-19 crisis continued. But the study ultimately found that this desire for national cohesion meant a turn against social and political diversity. 

Nearly 900 people were surveyed three times between 28 February and 1 April 2020, and as the pandemic continued they became more likely to agree with statements such as “What our country needs most is discipline, with everyone following our leaders in unity”, “For the sake of the nation, men should control women”, and “Homosexuality is a threat to Poland.” 

Dr Golec de Zavala, Reader in Psychology at Goldsmiths, said: “In the midst of the pandemic, some authoritarian leaders tried to rally their electorates around prejudice toward non-traditional women and sexual minorities. Four weeks in, Poland’s government brought back propositions to tighten anti-abortion laws, which are already the strictest in Europe. Then in June, attacks on what was described as a ‘lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender ideology’ became a central feature of the presidential campaign of Andrzej Duda, candidate for the ruling ultraconservative populist party.” 

In a second paper based on data collected from the same participants and published in Social Psychological and Personality Science, the research team show how ‘national collective narcissism’ predicted a decrease in solidarity in the face of the pandemic.

Some Polish citizens believe that their national ‘in group’ is exceptional and entitled to privileged treatment but they think that this perceived uniqueness is not sufficiently recognised by others. This ‘national narcissism’ prevents them showing solidarity to people negatively impacted by the pandemic, the study found. 

Polish citizens who feel satisfied and happy being Polish (but do not believe at the same time that they are part of an exceptional in-group whose greatness is not recognised by others) exhibited much greater solidarity with those affected by the pandemic. 

Dr Golec de Zavala said: “Collective narcissism compensates for low self-esteem and reflects a desire for self-importance projected onto an in-group. Collective narcissism is motivated by a shared perception of threat to self-importance, rather than a sense of common fate conducive to social solidarity. This lack of concern for others is a defining feature of narcissism, whether it be at the individual or collective level. 

“Generalised feelings of national pride are associated with greater solidarity, but an exaggerated but fragile view of the national in-group’s worth appears to impede a willingness to unite and work together with others to face a global public-health challenge.”

The COVID-19 Pandemic, Authoritarianism, and Rejection of Sexual Dissenters in Poland by Agnieszka Golec de Zaval, Kinga Bierwiaczonek, Tomasz Baran, Oliver Keenan and Adrian Hase was published as an advance online publication by the journal Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity.

Collective Narcissism, In-Group Satisfaction, and Solidarity in the Face of COVID-19 by Christopher Federico, Agnieszka Golec de Zavala and Tomasz Baran was published in pre-print form on 3 September 2020 in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science and is available online.

Global study links positivity about touch to lower loneliness

Positive attitudes towards touch are linked with greater well-being and lower levels of loneliness, according to a global survey conducted by researchers from Goldsmiths, University of London.

The Touch Test – a collaboration between BBC Radio 4’s All In The Mind and the Wellcome Collection – investigated public attitudes and experiences of touching and being touched. Running from 21 January – 30 March 2020, the majority of the online survey primarily took place before the UK went into lockdown. 

Data collected from 40,000 respondents based in 112 different countries, showed that (pre-pandemic) most people view interpersonal touch positively and nearly half of adults feel that society does not enable us to touch enough.

Some 88% of respondents liked public displays of affection from their partners and 79% said they liked it when a friend touched them. Women said that they like public forms of touch more than men. People who said they do not like touch were more likely to be people who find it difficult to form trusting relationships.

The survey also showed that older people tend to have more positive attitudes towards public forms of touch, but reported less positive experiences of childhood touch than young people. 

One part of the survey explored people’s favourite and least favourite materials to touch. The world’s top three emerged as fur, velvet and silk. The top three materials people dislike are slime, sandpaper and nylon.

The survey was developed and analysed by academics in the Department of Psychology at Goldsmiths, led by Professor Michael Banissy in collaboration with Dr Natalie Bowling, who is now based at the University of Greenwich.  The project also involved collaboration with Aikaterini Vafeiadou and Professor Alice Gregory (both from Goldsmiths) and Professor Aikaterini Fotopoulou (University College London). 

Other results from the study include:

• 72% of people reported a positive attitude towards touch
• 43% of typical adults feel that society does not enable us to touch enough – the most common response across the study
• The only region of the world where the most common response was that society did let us touch enough was South America
• The leading reason people gave for why we did not touch enough was consent
• People who like touch tend to score higher on extraversion, openness to new experiences and agreeableness, especially if it is touch involving non-family members
• The three most common words used to describe touch were: Comforting, Warm, Love
• 63% disliked being touched by a stranger.
• 61% of people said a hug from a partner before sleep had a positive effect on their sleep, whilst only 4% said it had a negative effect

This largescale study provides one of the most detailed sources of insight on contemporary attitudes towards touch, at a time when the coronavirus pandemic has brought the subject of touch into the heart of everyone’s lives. 

Professor Michael Banissy, Head of the School of Professional Services, Science and Technology at Goldsmiths said: 

“It was fantastic to have such a diverse and large group of people take part in The Touch Test – we are really grateful to everyone who completed the study. The data provide one of the most detailed sources of insight that we have on contemporary attitudes and experiences of touch. It indicates the importance of touch in our lives, and shows the crucial role that individual differences play in this. We’re looking forward to sharing and building on the results to further understand the personal and social contexts that influence the impact of touch in our lives.” 

Claudia Hammond, presenter of Radio 4’s All in the Mind and The Touch Test and Visiting Professor of the Public Understanding of Psychology at the University of Sussex said: 

“The response we had to the study shows what a critical topic touch is in society today and of course with social distancing due to the pandemic touch has taken on a new resonance. These results show that our likes and dislikes around touch are nuanced and vary from person to person. Half of the people who took part in the study feel even before the pandemic today’s society does not provide enough opportunities for interpersonal touch. But it’s clear that not everybody wants more touch. This shows we should always take other people’s personal preferences into account.” 

The full results were revealed in The Touch Test: The Results, which broadcast on Tuesday 6 October on BBC Radio 4, presented by Claudia Hammond and a panel of guests.

A week of programming on Radio 4 includes the series Anatomy of Touch, with guest contributors including Professor Banissy. Topics covered include touch hunger, touch and culture, technological substitutes for touch, touch and health and #metoo. Episodes of Inside Health and Inside Science devoted to the topic of touch and a poetry programme about poetry’s long relationship with touch will also be broadcast by BBC Radio 4. 

To accompany the research, Wellcome Collection has commissioned the arts organisations 20 Stories High in Liverpool, and Revoluton Arts and Sudha Bhuchar in Luton, to produce new works for theatre.

 

 

Desire, belief, and predicting with our brains

Our brains build a model of ourselves and our world, but how do these models generate our perceptions, actions and decisions? New research from Goldsmiths, University of London investigates.

Dr Daniel Yon recently co-authored a research paper, Beliefs and desires in the predictive brain published in Nature Communications, that attracted widespread attention on social media, particularly from fellow scientists. 

With his co-authors, Daniel (a cognitive neuroscientist and Lecturer in Psychology) argues there is a flaw in influential Bayesian models of the brain – which claim to have found a hidden principle behind all brain functions. He suggests this idea doesn’t work because it leaves key elements of cognition and behaviour unexplained. 

We asked Daniel to explain why his proposal is different, and what this could mean for studying how the brain works. 

Sarah Cox: Can you explain what Bayesian brain theories are?

Daniel Yon: If you cast your mind back to secondary school maths you might remember studying probability and ‘Bayes Theorem’. This branch of maths gives us a way to make inferences about the world by combining new bits of evidence with our prior background knowledge. If you start to hear the pitter patter of water droplets outside but you know it’s going to be a scorching summer’s day you might infer that it’s more likely your neighbour turned their sprinklers, rather than think it’s the beginning of a rainstorm. 

Bayesian theories in psychology and neuroscience suggest this kind of process – testing predictions against incoming evidence – is a good model of how our brains actually work. When we perceive the world around us we combine the actual evidence arriving at our senses (e.g. our eyes and ears) with beliefs about what should be there based on our prior expectations. Some Bayesian models have become particularly ambitious in recent years, suggesting that everything the brain does can be thought of in predictive terms – perception, cognition and action are all ways to close the gap between our predictions about the world and the way it really is. 

SC: What might this ‘predictive processing’ model mean for cognitive science and the broader natural sciences? 

DY: Some hope that one day science will be ‘unified’ – with one framework explaining all aspects of biology, psychology and the social sciences. The concept of prediction is a real boon for this project, because many living systems besides the brain can be described in the same conceptual language.

For example, a biologist could model a single-celled organism like a bacterium as a simple prediction machine. In this way of thinking, we might say a microbe ‘predicts’ to find itself in certain environments (e.g. not too hot or too cold) and behaves in ways that cause this prediction to come true. In this way, both the brain and bacteria are thought as similar kinds of prediction engine. 

This attempt to unify cognitive science (the study of mind and brain) with the wider life sciences could have some downsides. For example, talking only in the language of ‘predictions’ makes it hard to account for some distinctive mental states that humans and other animals have but microbes probably don’t, like beliefs and desires. 

SC: Some neuroscientists and philosophers argue that “desires emerge as a web of prior beliefs”, why do you think this argument is flawed? 

DY: In everyday language we might think of beliefs and desires as explicit thoughts in our heads (“I think there is milk in the fridge”, “I would like to make a coffee”). But lots of cognitive scientists (like me) think that the beliefs and desires that control our decisions and behaviour could be ‘subpersonal’ – mental states that your brain encodes but which you might not necessarily be aware of. The main issue is that beliefs and desires play opposite roles in our mental life. 

SC: So what is the difference between our beliefs and our desires? 

DY: Whether they’re conscious or not, beliefs and desires are different because they have different ‘directions of fit’. A good belief tells you the way the world is, and you should update your beliefs to match the world. In contrast, a desire tells you how the world ought to be, and a desire is fulfilled when you change the world to get what you want.

SC: You argue that the theory that everything is based on prediction is problematic, and retaining the distinction between belief-like and desire-like states is important. Why?

DY: We think the problem arises because you can’t use a prediction in a belief-like and desire-like way at the same time. In these predictive processing theories, to explain how I make a morning coffee we’d say my brain has a prediction like “I am drinking coffee now”. If this state in my brain is like a desire I would need to start changing the world to make it come true – e.g., opening the fridge to get the milk. But if it is like a belief I would need to start changing the prediction so it matches the world as it is right now e.g. updating the prediction to say I’m not drinking coffee now, I’m just standing bleary eyed in the kitchen.  So these theories can’t yet explain how we can monitor our actions (beliefs) while we pursue our goals (desires).

This distinction might be especially important in explaining pathologies of cognition. In drug addiction or conditions like obsessive compulsive disorder there seems to be a decoupling of beliefs and desires about action. Somebody may believe that taking a drug will be unpleasant, or report knowing that a compulsive behaviour (such as flicking light switches) is pointless, but nonetheless still feel strong urges to perform the action. These dissociations are hard to account for without suggesting the brain compartmentalises what we believe from what we desire. 

SC: The new research paper was shared widely on Twitter. Why do you think people were so interested?

DY: The paper did attract quite a bit of attention. I think this is partly because ideas around predictive processing have been really influential in the cognitive sciences over the past few years – and many think this framework presents a ‘paradigm shift’ in how we should think about the mind.

I also think one reason the paper received positive feedback in some quarters was because it tried to bridge the gap between computational models and psychological theory. My hunch is lots gets lost in translation on both sides of this equation since most scientists expert in one of these topics don’t have much training in the other. Trying to put the two approaches side-by-side hopefully means different kinds of researchers can share and compare their perspectives rather than working away in their own disciplinary silos. 

Reaching across disciplines in this way will be really important to advance our understanding of the mind and brain. One of the things I have really valued about being in the Department of Psychology at Goldsmiths since joining last year has been the opportunity to interact with colleagues with different theoretical perspectives who are also very open minded about how ideas can be combined in new ways. 

Beliefs and desires in the predictive brain by Daniel Yon (Goldsmiths, University of London), Cecilia Heyes (University of Oxford) and Clare Press (Birkbeck, University of London) is available to read online: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-18332-9

 

‘Exploding Head’ study reveals hopes and fears of sufferers

New research into the mysterious phenomenon of Exploding Head Syndrome explores who experiences the condition, why they believe it happens, and how they try to prevent it.

Exploding Head Syndrome (EHS), also called episodic cranial sensory shock, is a sensory disorder characterised by the perception of a loud noise or sense of explosion in the head, usually when transitioning into or out of deep sleep.

Little is known about the exact cause of EHS and, while it is not dangerous, it can lead to fear, anxiety, and interrupted sleep.

A team of psychologists at Goldsmiths, University of London, St Mary’s College of Maryland, the University of Notre Dame and the University of Sussex analysed self-reported data on 6,686 people who answered questions on EHS as part of a survey about sleep and sleep disorders run through BBC Science Focus magazine in 2017. 

The magazine published an article on the findings today (Monday 13 July).

The study, the largest survey of EHS to date, shows that just under half of sufferers reported moderate or high levels of fear during EHS episodes. 

Previous research suggests experiencing EHS is common. The sample of people with EHS taking part in this survey was large, with 3,286 people reporting EHS episodes. Another 446 people initially reported EHS symptoms, but were excluded due to other medical conditions or excessive pain during episodes. 2,954 people surveyed said they had never experienced EHS.

While 161 people said they experienced EHS several times a week, it occurred infrequently in most people. 1,147 people had an episode several times a year, and 1,318 experienced it twice or several times in a lifetime.

44.4% reported clinically significant levels of fear during EHS episodes. 25.5% reported clinically significant levels of distress and 10% impairment as a result of episodes. This risk increased with episode frequency. 

Participants were asked if they attempted to prevent EHS episodes and could list up to four prevention strategies and rate their perceived effectiveness from 0-100%.

The prevention attempts listed first, and their perceived effectiveness were: 

Increasing the use of alcohol (which was given an 81% perceived effectiveness rating by those who listed it) or medication (70%) before sleeping, avoiding sleeping on the back (80%) or sleeping on an unspecified side (64%), going to bed earlier (50%), getting more sleep (52%), using mindfulness (63%) or relaxation (49%) techniques, trying to stay awake (40%), getting up (92%), trying to wake up (81%), and adjusting sleep environment (40%). 

When asked what they think causes EHS, 60% of sufferers said that they believe it is due to “something in the brain”. “Stress” was frequently endorsed (by 1,136 people or nearly 35%), while 235 people (7%) think EHS might be a side effect of their medication. 92 people (3%) theorised it could be “something supernatural” while 75 people (2%) think “electronic equipment” might cause the condition. Participants could endorse multiple causes. 

The average length of sleep for all survey participants was six hours 42 minutes per night. People with EHS reported that their sleep duration was on average about six minutes shorter than those without, and it took 30 minutes longer for them to transition from full wakefulness to sleep.

Study co-author Professor Chris French, Head of the Anomalistic Psychology Research Unit at Goldsmiths, said: “Previous research has suggested that a substantial proportion of the population worldwide will experience EHS at least once in their lives. So although only a small percentage of our sample opted for unconventional explanations such as ‘something supernatural’ or the effects of ‘electronic equipment’, this phenomenon is probably explained in such terms by many millions of people around the world.”

Study co-author Dr Brian Sharpless said: “Although they can be dramatic and scary, EHS episodes are relatively harmless. However, a small percentage of people have them so regularly that normal sleep patterns are disrupted and others worry that EHS episodes may be a sign that something is seriously wrong with their mental or physical health. Our hope is that future studies will help to identify effective treatment options for the minority of people who suffer from severe EHS.” 

Exploding Head Syndrome: largest ever study of mysterious condition was published by BBC Focus on Tuesday 14 July 2020

Exploding Head Syndrome: Clinical Features, Theories about Etiology, and Prevention Strategies in a Large International Sample by Brian Sharpless (St Mary’s College of Maryland), Daniel Denis (University of Notre Dame, Indiana), Rotem Perach (University of Sussex), Christopher French and Alice Gregory (both Goldsmiths, University of London) is published in the journal Sleep Medicine: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sleep.2020.05.043

 

 

Poor sleep significantly linked with teenage depression

Teenagers who experience very poor sleep may be more likely to experience poor mental health in later life, new research suggests.

In a paper published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, researchers analysed self-reported sleep quality and quantity from 5,033 teenagers and found a significant relationship between poor sleep and mental health issues. 

Teenagers with a depressive diagnosis at the age of 15 were found to be sleeping on average a total of three and a half hours less per week than those without anxiety or depression.

The team, based at the University of Reading, Goldsmiths, University of London and Flinders University found that among participants, those who experienced depression reported both poor quality and quantity of sleep. Those with anxiety had poor quality of sleep only, compared to those teenagers who took part who didn’t report anxiety or depression.

Teens were asked to self-report on sleep quality and quantity. The researchers found that those teenagers who did not report anxiety or depression were on average getting around eight hours of sleep a night on school nights and a little over nine and a half hours sleep on weekends. 

Meanwhile, the group who had a depressive diagnosis were getting less than seven and a half hours sleep on week nights and just over nine hours sleep at weekends. 

The researchers note that the numbers of young people who report anxiety and depression are still low overall. They encourage anyone with concerns for their child’s wellbeing to seek support from a doctor, but say that short term negative impact on sleep is not a cause for alarm. 

Dr Faith Orchard, Lecturer in Clinical Psychology at the University of Reading said: “This latest research is another piece of evidence to show that there is a significant link between sleep and mental health for teenagers. This study highlights that those young people who have experienced depression and anxiety had overwhelmingly experienced poor sleep during their teens.

“What’s noticeable is that the difference in average amount of sleep between those who experienced depression, which amounts to going to sleep 30 minutes later each night compared to other participants. Within the data, there were some participants who reported hugely worse quality and quantity of sleep, and the overall picture highlights that we need to take sleep much more into account when considering support for teenager wellbeing.”

Co-author, Professor of Psychology at Goldsmiths Alice Gregory, said: “The National Sleep Foundation recommends that adolescents aged between 14-17 years typically need around 8-10 hours of sleep each night. What is notable here is that those with a diagnosis of depression most clearly fell outside of these recommendations during the week – getting on average 7.25 hours of sleep on each school night.” 

“The Department for Education is aware of the importance of sleep in children and adolescence – and it is really good news that from September 2020 Statutory Guidance will mean that they will be taught about the value of good quality sleep for many aspects of their lives including their mood.” 

Data was derived from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, a birth cohort study of children born in 1991–1992. Data was explored from a subset of participants who took part in a clinical assessment aged 15, with subsequent analysis of anxiety and depression at ages 17, 21 and 24. 

While the team noted that although the data was based on self-reporting of sleep which may differ from objective measures of sleep, the associations reported is still of interest as our subjective sense of sleep is important.

Self‐reported sleep patterns and quality amongst adolescents: cross‐sectional and prospective associations with anxiety and depression by Faith Orchard (University of Reading), Alice Gregory (Goldsmiths, University of London), Michael Gradisar (Flinders University) and Shirley Reynolds (University of Reading) was published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry on Wednesday 17 June 2020: https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.13288

This story is based on an original University of Reading press release 

Music vital for transitioning through the day in lockdown

Music is used as a tool to manage transitions between working, relaxing and socialising from home, new research from Goldsmiths, University of London suggests.

Commissioned by Google Nest, research by Dr Diana Omigie reveals how music is being used to transition through daily activities and mood states during the extended period of home lockdown. 

The study revealed that in over 40% of episodes in which people were listening to music, management of mood and energy levels were given as a reason for listening.

Music listening was most associated with better moods when people were waking up and getting ready for the day and during transitions into activities like socialising, play, and exercise. During the week, using music for aesthetic pleasure and to create the right atmosphere peaked after 5pm when the working day for most was over. 

The results showed that mood peaked between 5 – 8pm during the working day, and between 2 – 5pm at weekends when people were engaged in recreational activities. These time periods coincided with the moments in which people were most likely to have reported listening to music to change their mood and energy levels.

The study found that pop music was the most popular genre listened to across the whole day. However, people’s attention to different musical features hinted at how music was being used differently over the course of the day. Following a tendency to focus on melody first thing in the morning, temporal aspects of the music ‘beat, tempo, rhythm’ were attended to most prominently from noon to early evening. Movie soundtracks and ambient music, which were barely listened to during the day, were the second most popular genre post-8pm. 

Dr Omigie, a cognitive neuroscientist and course leader for the MSc Music, Mind and Brain in the Department of Psychology at Goldsmiths, surveyed more than 200 people over five days at the beginning of May 2020. Participants came from a range of age groups, employment statuses, living situations other demographic backgrounds. 

Participants were questioned four times a day at random intervals about a range of aspects of life in lockdown, covering their mood, activities, sounds they could hear, if music was present and how and where they listened to it. 

The research set out to discover how the use of music and its effects changes over the course of a day as people transition between different activities, exploring how this maps to different areas of the home. 

The results showed that people were exercising more at weekends than during the week, and that exercise was the time they reported the greatest control over what they were listening to. Synchronising our body to music during exercise can help exertion feel a bit more effortless prior research has shown, while music during exercise also increases pain control and raises feelings of empowerment and self-esteem.

Cooking was the time people were most likely to be listening to music. Dr Omigie explains: “We may listen to music during mundane tasks for the company music offers. We have a tendency to engage empathy processes when listening to music and we may conceptualise music as a companion. 

“Cooking and housework are not activities that tend to use up a lot of our cognitive resources so we have some to spare during these activities. Music offers cognitive stimulation because it is information that we are constantly processing and constantly trying to making sense of.”

Accompanying the study was a consumer survey of 2,500 people which gave a wider breadth of insight into the nation’s mood. The Google Nest survey found that 63% of Brits are not feeling relaxed at home and are relying on music to create different atmospheres. 

Google Nest produce smart speakers which can be controlled by voice from different rooms, and play music from online providers.

Nest Sessions – a mood-lifting music experience inspired by psychology takes place online this Bank Holiday (23 – 25 May). For more information on Nest Sessions and how to tune in, please visit the Google Store here. To tune in via your Nest smart speaker, just say ‘Hey Google, talk to Nest Sessions’. 

 

Study explores how anxiety impacts on learning new movements

New research from Goldsmiths, University of London and the University of Birmingham shows how anxiety negatively affects our ability to learn new motor skills.

It is well established that feeling anxious can hinder how well someone performs a task – a phenomenon known as “choking under pressure” – but it remains unclear exactly how this happens. 

Dr Maria Del Carmen Herrojo Ruiz and PhD students Thomas Hein and Sebastian Sporn designed a series of experiments for 60 individuals, who had no musical training. Participants were split into three groups, with each group asked to learn short sequences of notes on a digital piano under different conditions. 

The team measured how the performances of those learning in an anxious state differed from those who were not anxious while learning, and recorded which areas of the brain were activated by anxiety at different times.

First, in the ‘exploration’ phase, all participants had to play a piano sequence using any timing they liked and were encouraged to explore different rhythms. Then, in the ‘learning’ phase, all participants were rewarded with a higher score the closer they got to playing new notes with a certain rhythm, without being told that this was their specific goal. 

The team wanted to test whether trying out more different rhythms during the exploration phase would improve their learning abilities in the next phase, when they had to use the scores to find the target movement. 

To see how anxiety affected performance, one group was told in the initial exploration phase that they would have to give a public talk after they completed the piano task, which reliably made them more anxious. A second group were told about the anxiety-inducing public speaking only during the learning phase. The third group (the controls) were not aware of any public speaking task.

Participants who were made anxious during the exploration phase scored fewer points and were less likely to learn the piano sequence in the learning phase. They also varied their movements less in the first phase.

As a follow-up, the research team repeated the experiment with 26 people but without the initial exploration phase. This time the anxious participants were less able to learn the piano sequence and scored fewer points. This suggests that the initial exploration in the previous experiment had enabled later anxious participants to succeed in the learning phase despite being anxious.

The team interprets these findings as an indication that exploring our movements in a new setting when we are not anxious can be beneficial for later, when we must follow a very specific training scheme to reach a specific goal. 

Electroencephalography (or EEG) imaging technology was used to record brain activity during the study. The researchers observed differences in participants with and without anxiety, particularly when they received their scores at the end of the test. The EEG signals showed that anxiety altered rhythmic patterns of brain activity called “sensorimotor beta oscillations”, which are known to be involved in both movement and learning.

Dr Herrojo Ruiz, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Psychology at Goldsmiths, said: “Our findings support the idea that people learn better if they are able to explore and experiment first.”

“Anxious individuals are known to exhibit an intolerance of uncertainty, which contributes to excessive worry.  Anxiety states also lead to more ritualistic behaviour, characterised by movement redundancy, repetition, and rigidity. This study shows that those features of anxiety can decrease people’s flexibility to adapt to changes in a task structure during learning, by making their adaptations more constrained and conservative – none of which is helpful for learning new movements.”

Alterations in the amplitude and burst rate of beta oscillations impair reward – dependent motor learning in anxiety by Sebastian Sporn, Thomas Hein and Maria Herrojo Ruiz is published in the open access journal eLife on Tuesday 19 May 2020: https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.50654

 

 

How to sleep through a global pandemic

Professor of Psychology Alice Gregory is an expert in sleep and its associated difficulties and a member of the Pediatric Sleep Council.

Ahead of the release of the new paperback edition of her popular-science book Nodding Off: The Science of Sleep from Cradle to Grave we asked Professor Gregory how sleep and sleep research has been impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Sarah Cox: How has two months of lockdown impacted people’s sleep health?

Alice Gregory: Covid-19 is so new that published data are only beginning to emerge about sleep and the pandemic – but there are certainly lots of hypotheses. Social media tells us that many people are reporting many changes to their usual sleep patterns. The situation we find ourselves in at the moment seems to impact almost every aspect of life, including factors affecting sleep such as exposure to bright light, the consistency of our routines, the amount of exercise we are getting and our stress levels.

Some people are reporting waking during the night, which could be because of the anxieties they may have; or perhaps because they are trying to get more sleep than they might need. Others, who struggle to get enough sleep under usual circumstances, perhaps because of long commutes, a demanding work schedule or busy social life, may have new-found opportunity to sleep. 

Some are reporting odd dreams too, and there are many possible explanations for this. For example, we need to wake up in order to remember a dream – so increased night waking or more relaxed starts to the day may help to explain why dreams are being recalled more than usual. 

SC: It’s been a time of huge upheaval for children, with most unable to go to school or see friends. How might this have affected their sleep?

AG: Lockdown has had the potential to impact sleep for better and for worse. As with adults, a reduction in sunlight exposure, an irregular routine, and increased stress levels can all negatively impact sleep in children too. Other factors could have an effect on sleep too – such as an increased use of electronics, which can be particularly problematic when present in the pre-sleep period.

But there are also potential up-sides of this situation for sleep too. As discussed in Nodding Off, for many years there have been campaigns around the world arguing for school to start later in the day for adolescents. This is because we see a change in sleep timing during this stage of life – where sleep timing becomes later. This change appears to be associated with puberty, occurs internationally and is also found in some other mammals. In line with this, adolescents may find it difficult to fall asleep early, which can mean that under normal circumstances the wake time necessary for the school day is problematic. 

This situation can also contribute towards ‘social jetlag’ where sleep timing shifts between week days and weekends and has been linked to multiple problems. The increase in home-learning associated with the pandemic means that some adolescents now have greater flexibility in setting their sleep timing and schedules to be more in line with their own biological rhythms. However, schedules should not shift too late – as this could result in problems when school resumes. 

SC: Can you share some advice for parents, to help their child’s sleep? 

AG: My top tips include establishing a consistent routine (ensuring that the family wakes up at the same time every day, for example) and not letting bedtime become too late. It can also be useful to avoid screen time – particularly before bedtime and to discourage children from working in bed so that space does not become associated with arousal. Getting exposure to bright light during the day and obtaining regular exercise is also helpful. 

There are multiple other tips available to parents and information has been posted about this elsewhere. For example, the Pediatric Sleep Council has produced some tips online. A task force of the European Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I) academy has also issued some tips for dealing with sleep problems during home confinement due to the pandemic. 

SC: Earlier this year The Touch Test was launched to survey public attitudes to touch. You’re now analysing data collected relating to sleep – what do you think you might find?

AG: The Touch Test was launched in January and data collection continued until March 30th. The main aim of the study was to explore people’s attitudes towards the physical experience of touch which is particularly important to establish following movements such as #MeToo. My role in the project was to think about how touch might be related to sleep. 

Of course what none of us could have realised as we designed the study was that there would be such seismic shifts in touch-experiences over the period during which we were collecting data. Certainly, as COVID-19 spread in the UK we were encouraged not to shake hands with others or even touch our own faces – and social distancing and shielding has left many without hugs from loved ones.

Other factors may have shifted over this period too, such as the way we sleep. Given the changes in the number of Covid-19 cases in the UK over the time-period of data collection, we hope to also use the data collected to tell us more about this period in time. For example, will people who provided data at an earlier date report better sleep quality (perhaps reflecting lower anxiety levels and a more standard routine) than those who provided data later in the study? Will sleep length change – perhaps increasing as the study continues, due to a reduction in commuting and fewer social events? We have ideas as to what we might find but have not yet run these analyses so don’t know for sure. 

Find out more about sleep, sleep science and Covid-19 from Professor Alice Gregory via her recent interview with The Telegraph and co-authored editorial in the Journal of Child Psychiatry and Psychology 

Nodding Off: The Science of Sleep from Cradle to Grave is published by Bloomsbury and available to buy in paperback from 21 May 2020 

 

 

‘Peace efforts’ take longer to recognise than threats, study shows

Our brains detect threats ‘automatically’ but the process of understanding conciliatory gestures is far more complex, new research from Goldsmiths, University of London suggests.

Dorottya Lantos and colleagues aimed to gain a better understanding on a neurological level of how people respond to threats and intergroup conflict; for instance, conflict between people of different races or religions. 

Their work helps contribute toward our understanding of what happens in the brain when we are faced with existential threats that challenge our way of survival, be it terrorism or a global pandemic such as Covid-19. 

Evaluating and responding to a reconciliation effort triggers different areas of the brain than a threat does, their study found. It takes more cognitive effort because we have to quickly consider multiple questions and weigh up more information during the process before drawing a conclusion. 

The hope is that this kind of research can help us understand how to prevent stereotypical thinking and negative bias, with that reinforcement often coming from biased media coverage.

Their study, published in the journal Social Neuroscience on Monday 4 May 2020, looked at the parts of the brain which activate when threats are perceived and which parts are triggered into action when observing reconciliation. 

Researchers showed non-Muslim Western Caucasian participants video clips of Muslim men in traditional Middle Eastern dress making a threatening statement, offering reconciliation, or making a neutral statement. 

Using neuroimaging techniques (fMRI), the researchers observed which areas of participants’ brain were activated while watching each of the scenarios. 

Threatening statements led to increased activation in the amygdala, insula, supramarginal gyrus and temporal lobe areas of the brain. The amygdala is associated with responding to high-arousal situations and fear-related stimuli and converting this to threat and distress. The supramarginal gyrus has been associated with increased attention to specific semantic information, suggesting that threats capture the attention of participants more.

When participants watched video clips showing reconciliation efforts, the results of the fMRI showed increased activation in other areas: the prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate gyrus, and caudate. The prefrontal cortex has been associated with forgiveness as well as impulse control, inhibition, and emotion regulation. 

These findings suggest that threat detection is a relatively automatic process, while evaluating and responding to reconciliation offers elicited responses in more cognitive regions (such as the prefrontal lobe).

Continuous exposure to media representations of certain groups as harbouring evil intentions promotes the endorsement of negative stereotypes and hostility, prior research has shown. This can lead to the escalation of intergroup conflict and violence.

Dorottya Lantos, PhD candidate in the Department of Psychology at Goldsmiths, said:

“Attention-grabbing headlines of terrorism threats have become a part of our everyday lives. Data suggests that this threat is overexaggerated by the media, compared to that warranted by the actual number of deaths caused by terrorism. A 2019 study also found that acts of terrorism are over 350% more likely be covered by the US media if the perpetrator is Muslim.

 “To prevent the escalation of intergroup conflict, we must gain a better understanding of the way individuals respond to threats and reconciliation offers from perceived dangerous outgroups.

“The COVID-19 outbreak brought with it instances of blatant hostility and xenophobic attitudes globally between different racial groups. Our research may help shed light on how we can foster intergroup peace while also inform social scientists and policy makers about the neural responses to threat posed by outgroups, and the ways in which targeting reconciliation efforts may be the most beneficial.”

‘The Neural Mechanisms of Threat and Reconciliation Efforts Between Muslims and Non-Muslims’ by Dorottya Lantos (Goldsmiths, University of London), Yong Hui Lau (University of Melbourne), Winnifred Louis (University of Queensland) and Pascal Molenberghs (Institute for Social Neuroscience, Melbourne) is published in Social Neuroscience: https://doi.org/10.1080/17470919.2020.1754287

 

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Populism loses its appeal as pandemic continues

People in Poland are becoming less susceptible to divisive populist messages as the Covid-19 crisis continues, early research from Goldsmiths, University of London suggests.

Dr Agnieszka Golec de Zavala spent six weeks collecting real-time data on the relationships between authoritarianism, national cohesion and sexual prejudice as the coronavirus pandemic spread and the Polish government enforced lockdown measures.

Her survey showed that support for right-wing authoritarianism, national cohesion and the belief that non-traditional women and sexual minorities threaten national survival by not having children, increased during the first four weeks of the pandemic, peaking at week four. 

But by the sixth week authoritarian attitudes and stigmatisation of sexual minorities had started to decrease, indicating disenchantment by the government’s divisive social politics. This decrease was accompanied by a significant drop in trust in the government, while trust towards fellow citizens during the pandemic remained the same between week four and six. This fall in support coincided with the time the government was pushing to ban abortions and sexual education and trying to rally public support for the idea. 

Typically, a crisis which increases perceptions of a threat causes a ‘conservative shift’ in populations. This so-called ‘rally around the flag’ effect can then be exploited by populist leaders. In the case of Covid-19 in Poland, data suggests that while this conservative shift happened in the early weeks of the pandemic, more people are now starting to support socially cohesive values, such as collective responsibility, and are moving toward greater co-operation and compassion.

Dr Agnieszka Golec de Zavala from the Department of Psychology at Goldsmiths suggests that people in many countries – not just Poland – are beginning to realise that populist governments have mishandled and downplayed the pandemic and it has led to increases in loss of life.

Dr Golec de Zavala says: “In Poland it is quite a dramatic change, but this can also be observed here in the UK, where the current government is being criticised more and more.”

Her data also show that as the pandemic continues the number of people who say they would vote in an upcoming presidential election decreased dramatically in week four. This indicates that they may have become disillusioned with current politics, and would not support unconstitutional measures proposed by the government – including bringing forward the election during a pandemic to be held on 10 May.

Writing on the Department of Psychology blog ahead of a formal publication of their study, Dr Golec de Zavala and PhD student Oliver Keenan, who helped with the write-up of the analyses, say that there is now widespread realisation that “despite all their rhetoric, populist leaders do not actually care about the people they claim to represent.” 

Data was collected from a final sample of 829 adults in Poland four times over a six week period, before the first coronavirus case was detected in the country (4 March), then after two, four, and six weeks. 

The first lockdown measures were introduced between 10-12 March and strengthened on the 25th.

The anti-abortion project came back onto the Polish parliament’s agenda on 7 April, to be discussed on 16 April. Governments in Hungary and the US have also aimed to extend or enact policies which attack women and sexual minorities during this time period.

PrejudiceLab, headed by Dr Golec de Zavala, continues to monitor social attitudes in Poland in the unfolding pandemic. Their results are updated every two weeks on the website https://collectivenarcissism.com/pandemic/monitor

Read more on the Department of Psychology blog

Dr Agnieszka Golec de Zavala is a Reader at the Department of Psychology and head of the PrejudiceLab. Her research covers social identity, narcissism and collective narcissism, and the psychological predictors of political conservatism among other subjects. Oliver Keenan holds a BSc (Hons) in Psychology and MSc in Psychology of Social Relations from Goldsmiths and is working toward his PhD in the PrejudiceLab, a unit in the Department of Psychology.

 

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MagicLab’s Gustav Kuhn contributed to a fascinating article on the role of magic in the age of deep fakes and augmented reality. Check it out below!

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2020/apr/26/for-my-next-trick-dynamo-mission-to-bring-back-magic?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

 

 

Life lessons from laughing babies

Dr Caspar Addyman is a developmental psychologist and director of the Goldsmiths InfantLab, a unit set up to study how babies and toddlers perceive the world around them.

Caspar’s first non-fiction book, The Laughing Baby, is published on 16 April by Unbound, bringing together a decade of research into laughter and happiness from birth to childhood. We spoke to him ahead of the launch:

Sarah Cox: What’s The Laughing Baby about?

Caspar Addyman: It’s a popular science book about why babies have so much fun being babies. It’s about all the things they learn in the first two years of life and why they have a great time doing it. Friends and family help babies learn but we’re also a great big mystery in ourselves. Laughter helps babies connect to and cope with the wonderful world they’ve just joined. 

SC: How did the Baby Laughter research project start, and why you think that studying and understanding laughter in a child’s early years is so important?

CA: Back in 2011 I was a baby scientist, my brother was a comedian, and my sister had just had a baby. I suggested my brother make the baby laugh and I would explain why. That jokey suggestion planted a serious idea and so I surveyed parents all over the world to find out more about baby laughter. I watched a lot of laughing baby videos. I ran studies in the lab (with varying success). I learned that laughter and positive emotions play a central role in many aspects of early human development. It turns out it would take a book to list them all.

SC: Your work explores why babies are so happy. How can adults be more like babies? 

CA: That’s a great question. Ultimately, I think babies laugh more than adults because they are happier and there are definitely things we learn from them. Their two big secrets are authentic relationships and constant challenges. Babies are deeply loved by their families but they have a disarming quality that gets the best out of everyone. Babies don’t hold anything back because they don’t know how, and they are genuinely interested in anyone who takes the time to interact with them. We can certainly learn from that. 

Additionally, research on adult happiness has found greater life satisfaction in people who are always learning new skills or making small improvements to their daily routines. These are little victories that add up to a deep sense of wellbeing. Laughing babies bear this out, many of their squeals of delight come as they gain mastery of a new skill. 

My TEDx talk from Bratislava 2017 has more Life Lessons from Laughing Babies.

SC: You took the slightly unconventional route for an academic publishing their first research-focused book by fundraising with Unbound, achieving 215% funding. Why do you think this worked so well?

CA: I wanted to write an accessible rather than academic book but when I took the book to mainstream publishers they didn’t get it. Was this a joke book for babies? Was it a new approach to parenting? I knew from public lectures and meeting many new parents that there was a real interest in the science of early life and who can resist laughing babies? So Unbound’s crowdfunding approach was perfect for me. 

The idea is that if an author can persuade enough readers to buy the book in advance of publication that covers the costs of production and proves there’s a market. It was hard work but I am hugely grateful to all the people who supported the project and then waited patiently for me to finish writing the book. We got to 215% thanks to particularly generous support from Pampers and musician Imogen Heap – both of whom I had collaborated with previously – and from my mother, who always believes in me. 

SC: What are some of the funniest baby laughter reports or moments from your research in lab or in public surveys?

CA: I am grateful to all the families who have shared their laughter with me over the years. On my website, I keep collections of laughing babies videos and some of the memorable laughs they’ve sent me. If you need your spirits lifting I can recommend them. 

SC: What’s up next for your research?

CA: I have two projects underway at the moment. One, inspired by my colleague Dr Guido Orgs, looks at the physical synchrony between parents and babies as they play. The second being run by PhD student, Zehra Karademir, will measure how babies’ dancing changes as they grow to like songs. 

Writing the book was hard work but I’m hoping that part of the payoff will be in interesting new collaborations. In the meantime, I hope people will continue to send me videos and short “field reports” of their laughing babies. 

The Laughing Baby by Dr Caspar Addyman is published in the UK by Unbound on Thursday 16 April and in the US on May 19. It is available to order in hardcover or Kindle via Amazon

Find out more about the Goldsmiths InfantLab

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Magicians exploit your ‘lazy’ brain in pick-a-card tricks

Written by: Sarah Cox

 

When asked to choose between four playing cards on a table, two-thirds of people will choose exactly the same one, research into how magicians manipulate audiences shows.

A new Goldsmiths, University of London study proves what magic professionals have long known: the majority of people will pick the card in front of their hand, simply because it is the easiest one to reach.

Over centuries, magicians have developed powerful cognitive tricks to misdirect audiences or covertly influence spectators’ choice.

In pick-a-card tricks, an audience member might think they have selected a random card, but in reality, the magician has forced the card by positioning it in a specific way, increasing the chance that it will be chosen.

Led by Dr Gustav Kuhn, a research team worked with 60 participants at Tsinghua University.

They found that when four cards are lined up in a row, 66% of people will pick the third card from their left. This is significantly higher than chance, which would be 25% for each of the four cards in a four-card line-up.

However, the third card from the left bias only worked for participants who selected the card with their right hand. Those who used their left hand tended to prefer the card that was immediately in front of this hand instead.

After selecting a card, participants were asked how free they felt about their selection. Almost all participants were completely oblivious to the ‘placement force’ – they had no idea that a magician had led them to make an unconsciously biased choice through strategic physical positioning of the cards.

The research team also found that participants had a ‘moderate’ (5.5/10) sense of wonder when the prediction of the magician matched their choice of card. This was caused by people vastly underestimating the percentage chance the magician would get it right (35% compared to 66%). 

Dr Gustav Kuhn, Reader in Psychology, said: “Prior research has shown that people are more likely to select an object from the middle of a row, and they’re also more likely to select objects that are convenient to reach. Essentially, we’re quite lazy.

“We’ve shown what magicians and those who make decisions about supermarket shelf stacking, have long known: our behaviour and decisions are remarkably predictable, and driven by unconscious mental processes.”

Forcing you to experience wonder: Unconsciously biasing people’s choice through strategic physical positioning by Gustav Kuhn (Goldsmiths), Alice Pailhes (Goldsmiths) and Yuxuan Lan (Tsinghua University, Beijing, China) was published in the journal Consciousness and Cognition on Friday 28 February 2020.

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Artists drive our music download choices

Written by: Sarah Cox

A study led by the same researcher indicates that wheelchair-using Playmobil™ models can help children better imagine friendships with wheelchair-using peers.

Participants will be asked to play with the toys just once, for three minutes.

To confirm the toys’ effectiveness, the children will then be tested on their interaction with the profiles of immigrant children online, and whether they would fairly distribute resources, such as stickers, in a game with them.

Dr Jones’ research over the past few years has suggested that interacting in a Playmobil ™ playground improves friendship intentions towards disabled children. Kids get used to a Playmobil ™ toy figure in a wheelchair and see that model to be as socially important and capable of playing as the other models who do not use wheelchairs.