Affects and Neuroimaging

• Welcome to the BOL Forum on Shame and Affect Theory by John Grohol, 2/10/96
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    • Any problem with attention is a problem with affect! by Don Nathanson, 4/16/96
      
      

Fiona,

Tomkins used rapid frame video imaging and maybe also surface temperature to study each of the affects. I am aware of the work with SPECT scans in ADHD, before and after stimulant treatment. What I have not found is any work on what a SPECT scan might show for each affect. I'm still waiting for researchers to do a baseline SPECT on a person, then embarress the heck out of them, and do another. For all I know it might show a decrease in perfusion of the periventricular areas and a relatively greater perfusion in the occiptal cortex.

The energy to attend and process any stimuli is dependent upon amplification provided by affects. It's not that people with ADHD don't exhibit shame, but rather that they often exhibit it in ways that are not recognized by therapists who are stuck in trying to conceptualize the affect Shame/Humiliation as like the adult emotion called embarressment. When a person is chronically not quite picking up on and processing their environmental stimuli, it shouldn't be too difficult to imagine how shame could be staying chronically activated. This would form a negative feedback loop with poor processing triggering shame, which in turn farther interferes with cognitive processing.

I really plead with the researchers that have access to our newer neuroimaging techniques to take a "look" at the affects.

• Mood Neuroimaging Study by Fiona Geiser, 4/23/96