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 Lauren Alloy

Lauren B. Alloy is a professor of psychology at Temple University and is

recognized in the area of mood disorders. Her research focuses on cognitive,
interpersonal, and biopsychosocial processes in the onset and maintenance of
depression and bipolar disorder. In the late 1970s, Alloy and her longtime
collaborator Lyn Yvonne Abramson demonstrated that depressed individuals
held a more accurate view than their non-depressed counterparts in a test which
measured illusion of control. This finding held true even when the depression
was manipulated experimentally (see also depressive realism).
 Awards

 1984 - American Psychological Association Young Psychologist Award

 2001 - Temple University's Paul W. Ebberman Faculty Research Award
 2002 - American Psychological Association Master Lecturer Award in Psychopathology (jointly with Lyn Abramson)
 2003 - American Psychological Association Division 12 Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award (jointly with Lyn Abramson)
 2003 - Society for a Science of Clinical Psychology Distinguished Scientist Award.
 2003 - American Psychological Association Division 12 Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award (with Lyn Abramson)
 2004 - Society for a Science of Clinical Psychology Distinguished Scientist Award
 2004 - Joseph Wolpe Distinguished Faculty Fellow in Psychology
 Jeffery Alan Gray

 He was born in the East End of London. His father was a tailor, but died when Jeffrey was only seven. His mother, who ran a
haberdashery, brought him up alone. Following military service (1952–54), he took up a MacKinnon scholarship at Magdalen
College, Oxford, with a place to study Law. In the event he negotiated a switch to Modern Languages, obtaining a first in French
and Spanish. He stayed on to take a second BA, this time in Psychology and Philosophy, which he completed in 1959.

 In 1959–60 he trained as a clinical psychologist at the Institute of Psychiatry in London (now part of King's College London), after
which he stayed on to study for a PhD in the department of psychology, headed by Hans Eysenck. His PhD was awarded in 1964 for
a study of environmental, genetic and hormonal influences on emotional behavior in animals.

 He then took an appointment as a university lecturer in experimental psychology at Oxford. He remained at Oxford until succeeding
Eysenck at the Institute of Psychiatry in 1983. He retired from the chair of psychology in 1999, but continued his experimental
research as an emeritus professor, and spent a productive year at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at
Stanford University, California. He served as the expert on psychology on the Gambling Review Body which produced the
Gambling Review Report (2001).
Gray's biopsychological theory of personality

The biopsychological theory of personality is a model of the general biological processes relevant for human
psychology, behavior, and personality

Gray hypothesized the existence of two brain-based systems for controlling a person's interactions with their
environment: the behavioral inhibition system (BIS) and the behavioral activation system (BAS).

BAS : sensitive to reward and approach motivation

BIS : related to punishment and avoidant motivation
 High BAS : related to extraversion
 High BIS : related to introversion
 Neuroticism is positively correlated with BIS scales and negatively
correlated with BAS scales
INRODUCTION

Bipolar disorder is both puzzling and fascinating because

extreme contrasts in mood and behavior occur within the same
individual. At some times, people with bipolar disorder exhibit
euphoria, supercharged energy, and excessive goal striving, but
on other occasions, they are sad, lethargic, and hopeless. Bipolar
disorders form a spectrum of severity from the
milder cyclothymia to bipolar II to full-blown bipolar I disorder
(at least one manic episode; Goodwin & Jamison, 2007). What
explains the rollercoaster of highs and lows of mood, energy,
interest, and confidence in individuals with bipolar spectrum
disorders?
INRODUCTION

Gray posited that the BAS is mediated by a set of interacting brain

structures in the central nervous system that process and respond to
stimuli associated with reward.
Thus, the BAS is hypothesized to be a psychobiological system that
integrates approach motivation, personality traits, and behavioral
tendencies involved in goal-seeking and reward responsiveness.
A hypersensitive BAS characterizes individuals with bipolar disorder
in bipolar disorder the BAS becomes dysregulated easily and thus is
vulnerable to extreme fluctuations in activation and deactivation. Such
excessive BAS activation and deactivation result in (hypo)manic and
depressive symptoms, respectively
 THE BAS STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION

 The BAS regulates approach motivation and goal-directed behavior to attain

rewards
 BAS activation : positive goal-striving emotions such as happiness
 Association between BAS activation and anger when goal striving is frustrating
 vulnerability to bipolar disorder is reflected in an overly sensitive BAS that is
hyperreactive to relevant cues.
 Such trait BAS hypersensitivity leads individuals to experience variability in
their state levels of BAS activation across situations and over time
The BAS-dysregulation theory is
vulnerability–stress model.
 Are bipolar spectrum disorders associated with
high BAS sensitivity and activation?

BAS trait sensitivity and state activation levels have been assessed in three main ways :
 with self-report questionnaires
 with behavioral tasks involving rewards
 with relative left- versus right-sided activation of the prefrontal cortex, as
measured by electroencephalography (EEG)
 Self-report and behavioral task studies

 individuals with bipolar spectrum disorders or who are prone to

(hypo)manic symptoms : higher self report BAS sensitivity
 In euthymic mood
 Cognitive style studies.

 cognitive styles specific to the themes of high drive and incentive motivation associated with high
BAS sensitivity.
 higher levels of the BAS-related styles of autonomy, perfectionism, goal striving, and self-criticism
o individuals prone to (hypo)mania exhibit overly ambitious goal striving and goal setting as well as
greater cognitive reactivity and positive generalization in response to success experiences
 EEG studies

 depression is associated with increased relative right frontal activity

 mania is associated with increased relative left frontal activity
 Euthymic mood : increased activity of left frontal
Does BAS sensitivity affect the course of bipolar
spectrum disorders?

 BAS sensitivity predicted greater manic symptoms, greater likelihood of relapse with
a hypomanic or manic episode, and a shorter time to onset of a new hypomanic or manic
episode
 BAS-relevant cognitive styles of high achievement striving, autonomy, and self-criticism
 Do BAS-relevant life events trigger bipolar mood episodes?

 Environmental factors play an important role in the timing, frequency

and type of bipolar episodes.
 Negative life events precipitate bipolar depression
 both negative and positive events have triggered (hypo)mania.
 An advantage of the BAS dysregulation
theory is that it predicts the specific types of events
that should trigger bipolar mood episodes
 BAS-activation and BAS-deactivation events
combined with self-reported BAS sensitivity or
BAS relevant cognitive styles
predict increases in hypomanic and depressive symptoms
 What predicts impairment versus success in
bipolar spectrum disorders?

 1. Impulsivity : Both high BAS sensitivity and high impulsivity predicted greater substance abuse problems
over follow-up in individuals with bipolar spectrum disorders
• high in BAS sensitivity but low in impulsivity : higher GPAs
• Than : those with high BAS sensitivity and high impulsivity
• Or those with low BAS sensitivity regardless of impulsivity level
Clinical Implications of the BAS-Dysregulation Theory

treatment and prevention

 development of new medications targeting the functioning of this neural network (limbic system
and frontal cortex involving reward sensitive dopamine)

 a BAS-dysregulation perspective may improve the effectiveness of cognitive behavioral therapy

used as an adjunct to pharmacotherapy for bipolar spectrum disorders.

 a BAS-dysregulation perspective might also enhance the effectiveness of interpersonal and social
rhythm therapy for bipolar disorder.
 FUTURE work

Future work might also address the development of strategies for directly reducing BAS
hyper sensitivity, the proposed vulnerability for bipolar disorder.
Finally, it may be possible to identify youth at risk for bipolar disorders using self-report,
behavioral, cognitive, and neuro physiological measures of BAS hypersensitivity.
One could then intervene early with these at-risk youth to prevent onset or improve the
course of an impending disorder
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