No abstract

What is the nature of the feelings evoked by music? We investigated how people represent the subjective experiences associated with Western and Chinese music and the form in which these representational processes are preserved across different cultural groups. US (n = 1,591) and Chinese (n = 1,258) participants listened to 2,168 music samples and reported on the specific feelings (e.g., “angry,” “dreamy”) or broad affective features (e.g., valence, arousal) that they made individuals feel. Using large-scale statistical tools, we uncovered 13 distinct types of subjective experience associated with music in both cultures. Specific feelings such as “triumphant” were better preserved across the 2 cultures than levels of valence and arousal, contrasting with theoretical claims that valence and arousal are building blocks of subjective experience. This held true even for music selected on the basis of its valence and arousal levels and for traditional Chinese music. Furthermore, the feelings associated with music were found to occupy continuous gradients, contradicting discrete emotion theories. Our findings, visualized within an interactive map (https://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/∼acowen/music.html) reveal a complex, high-dimensional space of subjective experience associated with music in multiple cultures. These findings can inform inquiries ranging from the etiology of affective disorders to the neurological basis of emotion.

These results clearly demonstrate that gAd and fAd mediate distinct and time-dependent effects on cardiomyocyte energy metabolism via AdipoR1 and AdipoR2.

Norm enforcement may be important for resolving conflicts and promoting cooperation. However, little is known about how preferred responses to norm violations vary across cultures and across domains. In a preregistered study of 57 countries (using convenience samples of 22,863 students and non-students), we measured perceptions of the appropriateness of various responses to a violation of a cooperative norm and to atypical social behaviors. Our findings highlight both cultural universals and cultural variation. We find a universal negative relation between appropriateness ratings of norm violations and appropriateness ratings of responses in the form of confrontation, social ostracism and gossip. Moreover, we find the country variation in the appropriateness of sanctions to be consistent across different norm violations but not across different sanctions. Specifically, in those countries where use of physical confrontation and social ostracism is rated as less appropriate, gossip is rated as more appropriate.

Adiponectin promotes cardioprotection by various mechanisms, and this study used primary cardiomyocytes and the isolated working perfused heart to investigate cardiometabolic effects. We show in adult cardiomyocytes that adiponectin increased CD36 translocation and fatty acid uptake as well as insulin-stimulated glucose transport and Akt phosphorylation. Coimmunoprecipitation showed that adiponectin enhanced association of AdipoR1 with APPL1, subsequent binding of APPL1 with AMPK␣2, which led to phosphorylation and inhibition of ACC and increased fatty acid oxidation. Using siRNA to effectively knockdown APPL1 in neonatal cardiomyocytes, we demonstrated an essential role for APPL1 in mediating increased fatty acid uptake and oxidation by adiponectin. Importantly, enhanced fatty acid oxidation in conjunction with AMPK and ACC phosphorylation was also observed in the isolated working heart. Despite increasing fatty acid oxidation and myocardial oxygen consumption, adiponectin increased hydraulic work and maintained cardiac efficiency. In summary, the present study documents several beneficial metabolic effects mediated by adiponectin in the heart and provides novel insight into the mechanisms behind these effects, in particular the importance of APPL1.AMP-activated protein kinase; fatty acid; metabolism THERE IS CURRENTLY GREAT INTEREST in elucidating the mechanisms by which obesity can influence myocardial remodeling (2). Changes in myocardial energy metabolism are one of the earliest measurable abnormalities in the hearts of obese animals or humans and precedes measurable changes in in vivo cardiac function (1,7,16,31,32,41). Shifts in myocardial substrate utilization in obesity and diabetes are typically characterized by an increase in fatty acids (FA) utilization and a decrease in glucose utilization (34). Multiple mechanisms account for these changes in metabolism and include altered glucose transport (42), increased delivery of FA, and activation of PPAR␣-mediated signaling pathways (2). A well controlled balance of FA uptake and oxidation is essential in maintaining both ATP production and cardiac contractile function and may also prevent potential adverse effects associated with lipotoxicity. For example, elevated FA uptake that is not matched by a proportionate increase in FA oxidation may contribute to the accumulation of intracellular triglycerides and lipotoxic products such as ceramide, diacylglycerol, and fatty acyl-CoA, which have widespread detrimental cellular consequences (38).Obese models such as Zucker rats exhibit a decreased ability to increase FA oxidative capacity in response to increasing FA delivery, and this has been suggested to contribute to accumulation of myocardial triglycerides and lipotoxicity (35,46). Although, ob/ob and db/db mice have increased capacity to oxidize FA in response to increasing delivery of FA substrates, which exceeds that of wild-type hearts, these animals also exhibit evidence of lipid accumulation and lipotoxicity, mitochondrial uncoupling, and decreased cardi...