Pub Date : 2023-07-01DOI: 10.1177/20438087231199497
David J. Eberle, A. Maercker
In the ICD-11, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), adjustment disorder (AjD), and prolonged grief disorder (PGD) belong together to the new grouping of disorders specifically associated with stress, which are all characterized by intrusive core symptoms. As previous studies suggest that intrusive symptoms are associated with attentional biases, it is plausible that PTSD, AjD, and PGD are characterized by the same attentional biases as a transdiagnostic feature. The present study investigated 90 participants with symptoms of PTSD, AjD, or PGD. Individuals with a subclinical symptom presentation were also able to participate, resulting in an analogue sample with the group labels aPTSD, aAjD, and aPGD. All participants completed a symptom induction task to provoke symptoms related to attentional biases. Subsequently, a visual search task (VST) was implemented. This test assessed reaction times to trials that include stress-related, neutral, and generally negative stimuli. The VST featured an interference and facilitation condition to investigate different types of attentional biases. Findings showed that all groups were characterized by particularly fast reaction times to trials which included stress-related stimuli in the interference condition, which indicates a reversed attentional interference bias. This bias has not been reported before and is perhaps related to an avoidance behavior.
{"title":"Attentional biases in PTSD, adjustment disorder, and prolonged grief disorder: Attentional interference as a potential transdiagnostic feature","authors":"David J. Eberle, A. Maercker","doi":"10.1177/20438087231199497","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20438087231199497","url":null,"abstract":"In the ICD-11, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), adjustment disorder (AjD), and prolonged grief disorder (PGD) belong together to the new grouping of disorders specifically associated with stress, which are all characterized by intrusive core symptoms. As previous studies suggest that intrusive symptoms are associated with attentional biases, it is plausible that PTSD, AjD, and PGD are characterized by the same attentional biases as a transdiagnostic feature. The present study investigated 90 participants with symptoms of PTSD, AjD, or PGD. Individuals with a subclinical symptom presentation were also able to participate, resulting in an analogue sample with the group labels aPTSD, aAjD, and aPGD. All participants completed a symptom induction task to provoke symptoms related to attentional biases. Subsequently, a visual search task (VST) was implemented. This test assessed reaction times to trials that include stress-related, neutral, and generally negative stimuli. The VST featured an interference and facilitation condition to investigate different types of attentional biases. Findings showed that all groups were characterized by particularly fast reaction times to trials which included stress-related stimuli in the interference condition, which indicates a reversed attentional interference bias. This bias has not been reported before and is perhaps related to an avoidance behavior.","PeriodicalId":48663,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experimental Psychopathology","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2023-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42787221","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-07-01DOI: 10.1177/20438087231184753
B. Platt, A. Sfärlea, Johanna Löchner, E. Salemink, G. Schulte-Körne
Cognitive models propose that negative cognitive biases in attention (AB) and interpretation (IB) contribute to the onset of depression. This is the first prospective study to test this hypothesis in a sample of youth with no mental disorder. Participants were 61 youth aged 9–14 years with no mental disorder. At baseline (T1) we measured AB (passive-viewing task), IB (scrambled sentences task) and self-report depressive symptoms. Thirty months later (T2) we measured onset of mental disorder, depressive symptoms and life events (parent- and child-report). The sample included children of parents with ( n = 31) and without ( n = 30) parental depression. Symptoms of depression at T2 were predicted by IB ( ß = .35, p = .01) but not AB ( ß = .05, p = .72) at T1. This effect was strongest for children who experienced multiple negative life events (F2,48 = 6.0, p = .018, ΔR2 = .08). IB did not predict depressive symptoms at T2 over-and-above the effect of depressive symptoms at T1 ( ß = .21, p = .13). These findings suggest that IB (but not AB) plays an important role in the aetiology of depression. Modifying IB may have a preventive effect on youth depression, particularly for youth who experience negative life events. This prospective study provides important foundations for future experimental studies.
{"title":"The role of cognitive biases and negative life events in predicting later depressive symptoms in children and adolescents","authors":"B. Platt, A. Sfärlea, Johanna Löchner, E. Salemink, G. Schulte-Körne","doi":"10.1177/20438087231184753","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20438087231184753","url":null,"abstract":"Cognitive models propose that negative cognitive biases in attention (AB) and interpretation (IB) contribute to the onset of depression. This is the first prospective study to test this hypothesis in a sample of youth with no mental disorder. Participants were 61 youth aged 9–14 years with no mental disorder. At baseline (T1) we measured AB (passive-viewing task), IB (scrambled sentences task) and self-report depressive symptoms. Thirty months later (T2) we measured onset of mental disorder, depressive symptoms and life events (parent- and child-report). The sample included children of parents with ( n = 31) and without ( n = 30) parental depression. Symptoms of depression at T2 were predicted by IB ( ß = .35, p = .01) but not AB ( ß = .05, p = .72) at T1. This effect was strongest for children who experienced multiple negative life events (F2,48 = 6.0, p = .018, ΔR2 = .08). IB did not predict depressive symptoms at T2 over-and-above the effect of depressive symptoms at T1 ( ß = .21, p = .13). These findings suggest that IB (but not AB) plays an important role in the aetiology of depression. Modifying IB may have a preventive effect on youth depression, particularly for youth who experience negative life events. This prospective study provides important foundations for future experimental studies.","PeriodicalId":48663,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experimental Psychopathology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2023-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48099187","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-07-01DOI: 10.1177/20438087231183777
Nina K. Vollbehr, H. J. Rogier Hoenders, Agna A. Bartels-Velthuis, Peter J. de Jong, Brian D. Ostafin
Objectives This study was designed to test whether a brief mindful yoga intervention can prevent depression-related responses to dysphoric events. Methods One-hundred-75 undergraduate participants were assigned to one of four conditions in a single-session study. Three conditions received a dysphoric affect induction. Before the induction, participants completed a 20-minute intervention consisting of (a) mindful yoga, (b) stretching, or (c) relaxation control. The fourth condition consisted of a neutral affect induction to examine the validity of the dysphoric affect induction. We hypothesized that compared to relaxation control and stretching, mindful yoga participants would show less: (H1) state depressed affect; (H2) rumination; and (H3) attentional bias toward depression-related words. Results Validity checks indicated that the dysphoric affect induction led to greater state depressed affect and rumination, but not attentional bias. Compared to relaxation control, mindful yoga did not show less state depression, rumination, or attentional bias. The stretching group showed less depression and rumination. Conclusions The results do not provide support for mindful yoga in preventing depression-related reactivity. It may be that when given in a brief, one-time dose, stretching is the better choice for preventing negative outcomes from a subsequent dysphoric experience.
{"title":"Brief mindful yoga intervention fails to prevent depression-related outcomes after a dysphoric affect induction","authors":"Nina K. Vollbehr, H. J. Rogier Hoenders, Agna A. Bartels-Velthuis, Peter J. de Jong, Brian D. Ostafin","doi":"10.1177/20438087231183777","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20438087231183777","url":null,"abstract":"Objectives This study was designed to test whether a brief mindful yoga intervention can prevent depression-related responses to dysphoric events. Methods One-hundred-75 undergraduate participants were assigned to one of four conditions in a single-session study. Three conditions received a dysphoric affect induction. Before the induction, participants completed a 20-minute intervention consisting of (a) mindful yoga, (b) stretching, or (c) relaxation control. The fourth condition consisted of a neutral affect induction to examine the validity of the dysphoric affect induction. We hypothesized that compared to relaxation control and stretching, mindful yoga participants would show less: (H1) state depressed affect; (H2) rumination; and (H3) attentional bias toward depression-related words. Results Validity checks indicated that the dysphoric affect induction led to greater state depressed affect and rumination, but not attentional bias. Compared to relaxation control, mindful yoga did not show less state depression, rumination, or attentional bias. The stretching group showed less depression and rumination. Conclusions The results do not provide support for mindful yoga in preventing depression-related reactivity. It may be that when given in a brief, one-time dose, stretching is the better choice for preventing negative outcomes from a subsequent dysphoric experience.","PeriodicalId":48663,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experimental Psychopathology","volume":"54 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135806871","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-07-01DOI: 10.1177/20438087231190121
Cassandra C. H. See, V. S. Tan, Jia Min Tan, Oliver Sündermann
Background and Objectives: Emotion regulation (ER) deficits are increasingly implicated in obsessive-compulsive symptoms (OCS). The ER difficulty of ‘non-acceptance of emotions’ has been most consistently found to correlate with OCS – albeit not uniformly with all OCS dimensions. This study examined the causal relationships between the acceptance of emotions and four OCS dimensions: contamination, responsibility of harm, unacceptable thoughts and symmetry. Methods: Participants in this online study rated their baseline emotional distress and compulsive urges to OC scenarios corresponding to each OCS dimension. After completing questionnaires on ER, OCS, anxiety and depressive symptoms, participants were randomly assigned to two conditions and instructed to observe and accept their emotions (acceptance condition; n = 180) or observe their emotions (control condition; n = 185) as they re-read the scenarios. Participants then rated their post-manipulation emotional distress and compulsive urges to each scenario. Results: The instructions to accept emotions resulted in lower compulsive urges to the responsibility of harm scenario, for participants with lower baseline compulsive urges. There were no other group differences on post-manipulation measures. Conclusions: The current findings suggest that even brief instructions to accept one’s emotions reduced compulsive urges, pointing to the potential clinical utility of enhancing the acceptance of emotions.
{"title":"The effects of brief emotional acceptance instructions on emotional distress and compulsive urges of various obsessive-compulsive symptoms dimensions","authors":"Cassandra C. H. See, V. S. Tan, Jia Min Tan, Oliver Sündermann","doi":"10.1177/20438087231190121","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20438087231190121","url":null,"abstract":"Background and Objectives: Emotion regulation (ER) deficits are increasingly implicated in obsessive-compulsive symptoms (OCS). The ER difficulty of ‘non-acceptance of emotions’ has been most consistently found to correlate with OCS – albeit not uniformly with all OCS dimensions. This study examined the causal relationships between the acceptance of emotions and four OCS dimensions: contamination, responsibility of harm, unacceptable thoughts and symmetry. Methods: Participants in this online study rated their baseline emotional distress and compulsive urges to OC scenarios corresponding to each OCS dimension. After completing questionnaires on ER, OCS, anxiety and depressive symptoms, participants were randomly assigned to two conditions and instructed to observe and accept their emotions (acceptance condition; n = 180) or observe their emotions (control condition; n = 185) as they re-read the scenarios. Participants then rated their post-manipulation emotional distress and compulsive urges to each scenario. Results: The instructions to accept emotions resulted in lower compulsive urges to the responsibility of harm scenario, for participants with lower baseline compulsive urges. There were no other group differences on post-manipulation measures. Conclusions: The current findings suggest that even brief instructions to accept one’s emotions reduced compulsive urges, pointing to the potential clinical utility of enhancing the acceptance of emotions.","PeriodicalId":48663,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experimental Psychopathology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2023-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42885511","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-04-01DOI: 10.1177/20438087231183564
Josh W. Faulkner, Rebecca E. Grattan, L. Darroch
The objective of this study is to test the dysregulation of goal/activity identification hypothesis and the role of psychological flexibility within it. A nonclinical sample of 247 adults completed the Personalized Psychological Flexibility Index (PPFI) and DASS-21. Participants' goal on the PPFI were categorized into abstract or concrete. The moderating effect of psychological flexibility on the relationship between goal abstraction and stress, depression and anxiety were examined. These relationships were explored using specific dimensions of psychological flexibility: harnessing, avoidance and acceptance. A significant interaction was found between psychological flexibility and goal abstraction on stress. Individuals who stipulated an abstract goal and had lower levels of psychological flexibility had significantly higher levels of stress. This relationship was not evident for concrete goals. These findings did not emerge when examining specific dimensions of psychological flexibility suggesting that multiple facets of psychological flexibility contribute to these findings. Harnessing was, however, unique. Individuals with a concrete goal and higher levels of harnessing had significantly higher stress. This study provides preliminary findings regarding the influence of psychological flexibility within the dysregulation of goal/action identification hypothesis. Future research, particularly in clinical samples is needed to confirm these associations and their combined role as a transdiagnostic process.
{"title":"Testing the dysregulation of goal and activity identification hypothesis on mental health outcomes: The moderating effect of psychological flexibility","authors":"Josh W. Faulkner, Rebecca E. Grattan, L. Darroch","doi":"10.1177/20438087231183564","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20438087231183564","url":null,"abstract":"The objective of this study is to test the dysregulation of goal/activity identification hypothesis and the role of psychological flexibility within it. A nonclinical sample of 247 adults completed the Personalized Psychological Flexibility Index (PPFI) and DASS-21. Participants' goal on the PPFI were categorized into abstract or concrete. The moderating effect of psychological flexibility on the relationship between goal abstraction and stress, depression and anxiety were examined. These relationships were explored using specific dimensions of psychological flexibility: harnessing, avoidance and acceptance. A significant interaction was found between psychological flexibility and goal abstraction on stress. Individuals who stipulated an abstract goal and had lower levels of psychological flexibility had significantly higher levels of stress. This relationship was not evident for concrete goals. These findings did not emerge when examining specific dimensions of psychological flexibility suggesting that multiple facets of psychological flexibility contribute to these findings. Harnessing was, however, unique. Individuals with a concrete goal and higher levels of harnessing had significantly higher stress. This study provides preliminary findings regarding the influence of psychological flexibility within the dysregulation of goal/action identification hypothesis. Future research, particularly in clinical samples is needed to confirm these associations and their combined role as a transdiagnostic process.","PeriodicalId":48663,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experimental Psychopathology","volume":"14 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2023-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41452538","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-04-01DOI: 10.1177/20438087231178123
Alessandra C. Mansueto, Ting Pan, Pieter Van Dessel, R. Wiers
Adding cognitive bias modification (CBM) to treatment as usual for alcohol use disorders has been found to reduce relapse rates. However, CBM has not yielded effects as a stand-alone intervention. One possible reason may be that this is due to CBM effects being underpinned by inferential rather than associative mental mechanisms. This change in perspective has led to a proposed improved version of CBM: Inference-based ABC training. In ABC training, participants learn to relate the antecedents (A) of their addiction behavior to alternative behaviors (B) and to their expected consequences (C) in relation to their long-term goals. Mechanisms triggering and maintaining addiction, such as those targeted during ABC training, can differ between people. Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) and derived personalized statistics, including models depicting relationships between variables (i.e., personalized networks), are therefore promising tools to help to optimally personalize this training. In this paper, we (1) explain the theoretical background and first implementations of ABC training; (2) present novel approaches to personalize treatment based on EMA; (3) propose ways forward to integrate improved CBM approaches and EMA to potentially advance addiction treatment; and (4) discuss promises and challenges of these proposed new approaches.
{"title":"Ecological Momentary Assessment and Personalized Networks in Cognitive Bias Modification Studies on Addiction: Advances and Challenges","authors":"Alessandra C. Mansueto, Ting Pan, Pieter Van Dessel, R. Wiers","doi":"10.1177/20438087231178123","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20438087231178123","url":null,"abstract":"Adding cognitive bias modification (CBM) to treatment as usual for alcohol use disorders has been found to reduce relapse rates. However, CBM has not yielded effects as a stand-alone intervention. One possible reason may be that this is due to CBM effects being underpinned by inferential rather than associative mental mechanisms. This change in perspective has led to a proposed improved version of CBM: Inference-based ABC training. In ABC training, participants learn to relate the antecedents (A) of their addiction behavior to alternative behaviors (B) and to their expected consequences (C) in relation to their long-term goals. Mechanisms triggering and maintaining addiction, such as those targeted during ABC training, can differ between people. Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) and derived personalized statistics, including models depicting relationships between variables (i.e., personalized networks), are therefore promising tools to help to optimally personalize this training. In this paper, we (1) explain the theoretical background and first implementations of ABC training; (2) present novel approaches to personalize treatment based on EMA; (3) propose ways forward to integrate improved CBM approaches and EMA to potentially advance addiction treatment; and (4) discuss promises and challenges of these proposed new approaches.","PeriodicalId":48663,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experimental Psychopathology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2023-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41962038","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-04-01DOI: 10.1177/20438087231162756
Patricia Kulla, Tina Braun, Tim Reichenberger, Joachim Kruse
Shame and dissociation play pivotal roles in the pathogenesis and treatment of (complex) post-traumatic stress disorder. However, the causal relationship between these two symptoms remains unclear. We tested the association between state shame and state dissociation in 249 participants (Mage = 27.55; SDage = 8.74; 60.24% female; 84.7% no mental illness). After completing questionnaires (trait shame and dissociation, trauma history), participants were randomly allocated to an imaginative shame or dissociation induction group, and changes in state shame and dissociation were measured. The data were analyzed using latent change score modeling. We found significant changes in both state shame and dissociation, with an isolated change of state shame in the shame induction group but changes in both shame and dissociation in the dissociation induction group. Thus, state shame and dissociation correlated only with the induction of dissociation. We found an effect of trait variables only on state dissociation and no effect of trauma history on state variables. The interaction between shame and dissociation remains complex and is only partially understood. Our study adds to research supporting the assumption that dissociation leads to shame. In addition, in experimental psychopathology approaches, imaginative procedures seem more suitable for studying shame than for studying dissociative symptoms.
{"title":"Researching Shame, Dissociation, and Their Relationship Using Latent Change Modeling","authors":"Patricia Kulla, Tina Braun, Tim Reichenberger, Joachim Kruse","doi":"10.1177/20438087231162756","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20438087231162756","url":null,"abstract":"Shame and dissociation play pivotal roles in the pathogenesis and treatment of (complex) post-traumatic stress disorder. However, the causal relationship between these two symptoms remains unclear. We tested the association between state shame and state dissociation in 249 participants (Mage = 27.55; SDage = 8.74; 60.24% female; 84.7% no mental illness). After completing questionnaires (trait shame and dissociation, trauma history), participants were randomly allocated to an imaginative shame or dissociation induction group, and changes in state shame and dissociation were measured. The data were analyzed using latent change score modeling. We found significant changes in both state shame and dissociation, with an isolated change of state shame in the shame induction group but changes in both shame and dissociation in the dissociation induction group. Thus, state shame and dissociation correlated only with the induction of dissociation. We found an effect of trait variables only on state dissociation and no effect of trauma history on state variables. The interaction between shame and dissociation remains complex and is only partially understood. Our study adds to research supporting the assumption that dissociation leads to shame. In addition, in experimental psychopathology approaches, imaginative procedures seem more suitable for studying shame than for studying dissociative symptoms.","PeriodicalId":48663,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experimental Psychopathology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2023-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43932591","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-04-01DOI: 10.1177/20438087231169897
Ryan J. Ferguson, Allison J. Ouimet
Introduction Despite decades of research on how people with social anxiety evaluate themselves and others, it remains unclear whether people who evaluate themselves negatively also evaluate others negatively. Findings from other-evaluation research are equivocal, perhaps attributable to methodology differences and inconsistent operationalization. Social-cognitive and cognitive-behavioural models suggest that negative self-evaluations may cause participants to subsequently evaluate a visibly anxious person negatively. We tested this hypothesis experimentally, using a video-recorded social interaction and novel false-feedback manipulation. Methods: 169 unselected participants completed baseline questionnaires and a 10-min impromptu conversation task with a confederate. We randomly assigned participants to receive positive, ambiguous, or negative false-feedback about their performance. Next, they evaluated their own performance and watched a recorded conversation between an anxious and confident speaker. Finally, they evaluated the anxious person’s performance. Results: Our manipulation was effective; participants in the negative-feedback condition rated themselves more negatively. However, no differences emerged between conditions on most cognitive and emotional outcomes. Discussion: Evaluating oneself negatively, on its own, may not lead people to evaluate a visibly anxious person in a recorded social interaction negatively in a single-session experiment within an unselected sample. Future studies should examine this relationship with a clinical sample across time and contexts.
{"title":"Does evaluating oneself cause evaluations of others while observing a social interaction? An experimental investigation of the cognitive and emotional consequences following a false-feedback task","authors":"Ryan J. Ferguson, Allison J. Ouimet","doi":"10.1177/20438087231169897","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20438087231169897","url":null,"abstract":"Introduction Despite decades of research on how people with social anxiety evaluate themselves and others, it remains unclear whether people who evaluate themselves negatively also evaluate others negatively. Findings from other-evaluation research are equivocal, perhaps attributable to methodology differences and inconsistent operationalization. Social-cognitive and cognitive-behavioural models suggest that negative self-evaluations may cause participants to subsequently evaluate a visibly anxious person negatively. We tested this hypothesis experimentally, using a video-recorded social interaction and novel false-feedback manipulation. Methods: 169 unselected participants completed baseline questionnaires and a 10-min impromptu conversation task with a confederate. We randomly assigned participants to receive positive, ambiguous, or negative false-feedback about their performance. Next, they evaluated their own performance and watched a recorded conversation between an anxious and confident speaker. Finally, they evaluated the anxious person’s performance. Results: Our manipulation was effective; participants in the negative-feedback condition rated themselves more negatively. However, no differences emerged between conditions on most cognitive and emotional outcomes. Discussion: Evaluating oneself negatively, on its own, may not lead people to evaluate a visibly anxious person in a recorded social interaction negatively in a single-session experiment within an unselected sample. Future studies should examine this relationship with a clinical sample across time and contexts.","PeriodicalId":48663,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experimental Psychopathology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2023-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48125192","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-04-01DOI: 10.1177/20438087231161176
Andreas Bär, Hannah E Bär, Max Schneider, F. Renner
Episodic imagery has been shown to amplify emotion more than abstract verbal representations. This may prove useful for clinical interventions aiming to motivate adaptive behaviours. However, most findings rely on self-report measures and verbal control conditions not designed to actively prevent automatic engagement in episodic imagery. We thus investigated the difference in emotionality between Episodic Imagery (EI) and Verbal Visualisation (VV) using pupil dilation as a physiological measure of emotional arousal. A sample of 75 participants listened to audio recordings describing activities in a positive manner. Subjects were randomly assigned to the EI or VV condition. Participants in the EI condition imagined performing the described activity, while participants in the VV condition visualised the words constituting the descriptions. As predicted, EI led to greater pupil dilation than VV, independent of mental effort. Self-reported anticipatory reward assessed throughout the task was also greater for EI than VV, yet no difference was found for arousal, anticipated reward or motivation. Our findings extend previous work demonstrating the property of episodic imagery to amplify emotion to a physiological level using pupillometry. However, we did not find a transfer to motivation, which is in line with previous studies using verbal control conditions for episodic imagery.
{"title":"The pupil as a window to the mind’s eye: Greater emotionality of episodic imagery than verbal visualisation of rewarding activities","authors":"Andreas Bär, Hannah E Bär, Max Schneider, F. Renner","doi":"10.1177/20438087231161176","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20438087231161176","url":null,"abstract":"Episodic imagery has been shown to amplify emotion more than abstract verbal representations. This may prove useful for clinical interventions aiming to motivate adaptive behaviours. However, most findings rely on self-report measures and verbal control conditions not designed to actively prevent automatic engagement in episodic imagery. We thus investigated the difference in emotionality between Episodic Imagery (EI) and Verbal Visualisation (VV) using pupil dilation as a physiological measure of emotional arousal. A sample of 75 participants listened to audio recordings describing activities in a positive manner. Subjects were randomly assigned to the EI or VV condition. Participants in the EI condition imagined performing the described activity, while participants in the VV condition visualised the words constituting the descriptions. As predicted, EI led to greater pupil dilation than VV, independent of mental effort. Self-reported anticipatory reward assessed throughout the task was also greater for EI than VV, yet no difference was found for arousal, anticipated reward or motivation. Our findings extend previous work demonstrating the property of episodic imagery to amplify emotion to a physiological level using pupillometry. However, we did not find a transfer to motivation, which is in line with previous studies using verbal control conditions for episodic imagery.","PeriodicalId":48663,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experimental Psychopathology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2023-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43058866","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-04-01DOI: 10.1177/20438087231175147
Alex H. K. Wong, A. Pittig
In the interplay of fear and avoidance, not only imminent threat signals that directly predict potential threat evoke avoidance, but also distal threat signals that predict these imminent threat signals. Avoidance of learnt fear refers to avoidance to a distal threat signal that prevents the occurrence of an imminent threat signal. In clinical anxiety, it is often pathological given its persistence in the absence of threat and the impairments it inflicts. The current study examined whether fear extinction to an imminent threat signal would effectively reduce avoidance of learnt fear in a sensory preconditioning procedure. Three neutral preconditioning stimuli (PSs), serving as distal threat or safety signals, were paired with three neutral to-be conditioned stimuli (CSs), serving as imminent threat or safety signals. After assessing baseline levels of costly avoidance to the PSs, two CSs were paired with threat. One of these CSs then ceased to predict threat during extinction training. In test, participants showed limited avoidance to the PS that signaled the extinguished CS, however, the level of avoidance was still stronger compared to a PS that signaled a safety CS. Results suggest that exposure to an imminent threat signal partly reduces avoidance to a distal threat.
{"title":"Reducing avoidance of learnt fear: Extinction of an imminent threat signal partly decreases costly avoidance to a distal threat signal","authors":"Alex H. K. Wong, A. Pittig","doi":"10.1177/20438087231175147","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20438087231175147","url":null,"abstract":"In the interplay of fear and avoidance, not only imminent threat signals that directly predict potential threat evoke avoidance, but also distal threat signals that predict these imminent threat signals. Avoidance of learnt fear refers to avoidance to a distal threat signal that prevents the occurrence of an imminent threat signal. In clinical anxiety, it is often pathological given its persistence in the absence of threat and the impairments it inflicts. The current study examined whether fear extinction to an imminent threat signal would effectively reduce avoidance of learnt fear in a sensory preconditioning procedure. Three neutral preconditioning stimuli (PSs), serving as distal threat or safety signals, were paired with three neutral to-be conditioned stimuli (CSs), serving as imminent threat or safety signals. After assessing baseline levels of costly avoidance to the PSs, two CSs were paired with threat. One of these CSs then ceased to predict threat during extinction training. In test, participants showed limited avoidance to the PS that signaled the extinguished CS, however, the level of avoidance was still stronger compared to a PS that signaled a safety CS. Results suggest that exposure to an imminent threat signal partly reduces avoidance to a distal threat.","PeriodicalId":48663,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experimental Psychopathology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2023-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48786463","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}