Dopamine neurons in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) are implicated in affective functions. However, it is unclear to what extent dopamine neurons in substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc) play such roles. TH-Cre transgenic mice received adeno-associated viral vectors encoding channelrhodopsin2 (ChR2), halorhodopsin (NpHR), or control vector into the VTA or SNc, resulting in selective expression of these opsins in dopamine neurons. Mice with ChR2 learned instrumental responding to deliver photostimulation into the VTA or SNc and also sought for the compartment where they received photostimulation (i.e., operant place preference). Operant place preference scores were highly correlated with self-stimulation responses. In contrast, mice with NpHR avoided the compartment where they received photostimulation into the VTA, SNc, or dorsal striatum, whereas control mice did not. These observations suggest that the excitation and inhibition of SNc dopamine neurons elicit positive and negative affective effects, respectively, similar to those of VTA dopamine neurons.

Prognostic disclosure by skilled clinician communicators evokes a repertoire of responses from surrogates for the chronically critically ill. Recognition of these response patterns may help all clinicians better communicate their support to patients and families facing chronic critical illness and inform interventions to support surrogate decision-makers in intensive care units. Clinical trial registered with www.clinicaltrials.gov (NCT 01230099).

Objectives-Bipolar disorder is associated with positive emotion disturbance, though it is less clear which specific positive emotions are affected.Methods-The present study examined differences among distinct positive emotions in recovered bipolar disorder (BD) patients (n = 55) and nonclinical controls (NC) (n = 32) and whether they prospectively predicted symptom severity in patients with BD. At baseline, participants completed self-report measures of several distinct trait positive emotions. Structured assessments of diagnosis and current mood symptoms were obtained for BD participants. At a six-month follow-up, a subset of BD participants' (n = 39) symptoms were reassessed.Results-BD participants reported lower joy, compassion, love, awe, and contentment compared to NC participants. BD and NC participants did not differ in pride or amusement. For BD participants, after controlling for baseline symptom severity, joy and amusement predicted increased mania severity, and compassion predicted decreased mania severity at the six-month follow-up. Furthermore, amusement predicted increased depression severity and pride predicted decreased severity of depression. Awe, love, and contentment did not predict symptom severity.Conclusions-These results are consistent with a growing literature highlighting the importance of positive emotion in the course of bipolar disorder.Keywords bipolar disorder; emotion; positive emotion Bipolar disorder (BD) is a chronic psychiatric illness associated with profound functional impairment and morbidity (1). Despite advances in treatments (2), the risk of relapse remains high. Thus, it is important to refine our understanding of mechanisms that may contribute to interepisode dysfunction and predict subsequent relapse.Several lines of evidence converge to suggest the importance of positive emotional disturbance in BD. First, one hallmark feature of BD is an abnormally elevated mood characteristic of periods of mania (3,4). Second, people at risk for BD (as defined by high scores on self-report

A field experiment was conducted in which a single male, a single female, or a male-female couple attempted to hitch rides at four different traffic locations, under conditions in which the hitchhikers either stared at or looked away from oncoming drivers. It was found that staring increased the probability of a driver stopping from .03 to .067 (z = 2.96, p = .003). The female was a more successful hitchhiker than either the male or the couple, ( z = 2.215, p = .026;z = 1 . 8 6 1 ,~ .063, respectively).What is the function of the stare or steady direct gaze in human social interaction? In general, the visual behavior of one participant in a two-person interaction is highly correlated with and dependent upon the visual and other nonverbal behavior of the other participant (e.g., Kendon, 1967). The stare, however, is particularly interesting in that it tends to persist independently of the behavior of the other person. Perhaps because the starer's visual behavior is not responsive to that of the other person, it may have different effects from other forms of human looking behavior-such as mutual eye contact which often appears to be associated with interpersonal intimacy (Mehrabian, 1969).In fact, Ellsworth, Carlsmith, and Henson (1972) have demonstrated, in a series of field experiments, that the stare has negative or threatening properties for people and therefore results in attempts to withdraw or escape from a situation. In each of their experiments, Es stared or did not stare at persons stopped at a traffic light and measured their speed across the intersection when the light changed. Es rode motorscooters or stood on street corners. Ss were pedestrians or automobile drivers. In each experiment, crossing time was significantly shorted in the stare condition. Ellsworth et al. (1972) interpret 'Requests for reprints should bc sent to