1,720,995 research outputs found
The effect of positive mental imagery versus positive verbal thoughts on anhedonia
No full textAbstract Anhedonia, the loss of interest in and pleasure from previously enjoyable activities is a core symptom of depression and presents a major challenge to treatments. Interventions involving positive mental imagery generation have been suggested to reduce anhedonia. However, it is not clear whether the imagery component of such interventions is crucial for these effects. The current study aimed to test this by contrasting repeated generation of positive mental imagery versus positive verbal thoughts. Over a one‐week period, 53 mildly anhedonic adults completed five sessions of a computerized training program involving the generation of either positive images or positive sentences. Compared to participants who generated sentences, participants who generated imagery showed greater improvements from pre‐ to post‐training on an individualized multi‐facetted measure of anhedonia (the Dimensional Anhedonia Rating Scale), but not on standardized measures of anticipated pleasure (the Snaith‐Hamilton Pleasure Scale), depression symptoms, or positive affect. The present study supports the proposal that positive imagery could provide a route to improve anhedonia, with generation of imagery in particular (as opposed to positive thoughts in general) as an important driving mechanism for these effects. This has theoretical and clinical implications for understanding the role of imagery in anhedonia and its treatment
The influence of verbalization versus imagery on trauma memory
No full texthttp://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100006254 Ruhr University Bochumhttp://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100001659 Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaf
Average treatment effects on binary outcomes with stochastic covariates
No full textAbstract When evaluating the effect of psychological treatments on a dichotomous outcome variable in a randomized controlled trial (RCT), covariate adjustment using logistic regression models is often applied. In the presence of covariates, average marginal effects (AMEs) are often preferred over odds ratios, as AMEs yield a clearer substantive and causal interpretation. However, standard error computation of AMEs neglects sampling‐based uncertainty (i.e., covariate values are assumed to be fixed over repeated sampling), which leads to underestimation of AME standard errors in other generalized linear models (e.g., Poisson regression). In this paper, we present and compare approaches allowing for stochastic (i.e., randomly sampled) covariates in models for binary outcomes. In a simulation study, we investigated the quality of the AME and stochastic‐covariate approaches focusing on statistical inference in finite samples. Our results indicate that the fixed‐covariate approach provides reliable results only if there is no heterogeneity in interindividual treatment effects (i.e., presence of treatment–covariate interactions), while the stochastic‐covariate approaches are preferable in all other simulated conditions. We provide an illustrative example from clinical psychology investigating the effect of a cognitive bias modification training on post‐traumatic stress disorder while accounting for patients' anxiety using an RCT
The relationship between vividness of positive future-oriented mental imagery, anhedonia, and positive affect
No full textThe vividness with which people can imagine positive events happening in their future has been linked to a number of different aspects of psychopathology and wellbeing. These relationships are hypothesised to arise from the role of mental imagery in thinking about the future and its close links to emotion. The current research investigated the associations between the vividness of positive future-oriented imagery, anhedonia, and positive affect via two cross-sectional studies. In a first study, a predominantly healthy young student sample (N = 79) completed measures of imagery, anhedonia, positive affect, and both questionnaire and lab-based measures of a range of aspects of psychopathology and wellbeing. A second study used baseline data from a clinical trial that recruited a transdiagnostic sample (N = 58) from two inpatient clinics. Results indicated a strong positive relationship between positive future-oriented imagery vividness and the experience of positive affect in both samples, whereas relationships between positive imagery vividness and anhedonia were also present but weaker. These results can inform further research to understand the role of mental imagery in both psychopathology and healthy functioning, and how it can be harnessed in interventions to reduce symptoms of psychopathology and increase wellbeing
The relationship between the perception of major life events and depression: A systematic scoping review and meta-analysis
No full texthttp://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100001659 Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschafthttp://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100004350 Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volke
Reliability and validity of four cognitive interpretation bias measures in the context of social anxiety
No full textAbstract People with social anxiety disorder tend to interpret ambiguous social information in a negative rather than positive manner. Such interpretation biases may cause and maintain anxiety symptoms. However, there is considerable variability in the observed effects across studies, with some not finding a relationship between interpretation biases and social anxiety. Poor psychometric properties of interpretation bias measures may explain such inconsistent findings. We evaluated the internal consistency, test–retest reliability, convergent validity, and concurrent validity of four interpretation bias measures, ranging from more implicit and automatic to more explicit and reflective: the probe scenario task, the recognition task, the scrambled sentences task, and the interpretation and judgmental bias questionnaire. Young adults ( N = 94) completed interpretation bias measures in two sessions separated by one week. Psychometric properties were poor for the probe scenario and not acceptable for the recognition task. The reliability of the scrambled sentences task and the interpretation and judgmental bias questionnaire was good, and they correlated highly with social anxiety and each other, supporting their concurrent and convergent validity. However, there are methodological challenges that should be considered when measuring interpretation biases, even if psychometric indices suggest high measurement validity. We also discuss likely reasons for poor psychometric properties of some tasks and suggest potential solutions to improve the assessment of implicit and automatic biases in social anxiety in future research.Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100003246Japan Society for the Promotion of Science http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/50110000169
Reduced Belief Updating in the Context of Depressive Symptoms: An Investigation of the Associations with Interpretation Biases and Self-Evaluation
No full textAbstract
Background
Depressive symptoms are associated with negative expectations and reduced belief updating by positive information. Cognitive immunization, the devaluation of positive information, has been argued to be central in this relationship and predictive processing models suggest that more positive information is associated with greater cognitive immunization.
Methods
In an online experiment,
N
= 347 healthy participants took part in a performance task with standardized feedback of varying levels of positivity (mild, moderate, extreme). Effects of feedback positivity on cognitive immunization were investigated. Further, depressive symptoms, interpretation bias and participant’s self-evaluation were examined as potential correlates of belief updating.
Results
As expected, participants receiving mildly positive feedback reported a greater amount of cognitive immunization than those receiving moderately positive feedback. However, neither group differed from those receiving extremely positive feedback. Although depressive symptoms did not show the hypothesized association with cognitive immunization, they were associated with a weaker increase in positive expectations following feedback. Exploratory analyses showed associations between self-evaluation and belief updating.
Conclusions
The results suggest that healthy participants engaged in cognitive immunization when feedback was less positive than expected. Depressive symptoms were associated with reduced belief updating, but not with cognitive immunization. Self-evaluation may be a promising factor for future research.Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100004350Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100001659Ruhr-Universität Bochum 50110000625
Investigating the Role of Imagery Vividness in the Experience of Involuntary Memories of Previously-Imagined Positive Scenarios
No full textAbstract Background Involuntary memories are common in daily life and thought to play important functional roles, for example in prompting behaviour. People can experience involuntary memories not only of events they have actually experienced, but also of scenarios they have only imagined. However, this latter phenomenon, and the factors influencing its occurrence, are relatively unexplored. The current study aimed to investigate whether the vividness of an imagined scenario affects the likelihood of involuntary recall. Methods University students ( N = 80) listened to descriptions of positive scenarios and imagined them, with half the sample randomly allocated to hearing extended versions of the scenarios hypothesised to induce more vivid imagery. Participants then recorded involuntary memories of the imagined scenarios in a three-day diary before returning to the lab. Results There was no effect of the experimental manipulation on vividness of the imagined scenarios or on the number of involuntary memories. However, participants who generated more vivid imagery of the scenarios recorded more involuntary memories. Exploratory analyses revealed further predictors of the quantity of involuntary memories experienced. Conclusions The results further our understanding of factors that may affect the likelihood of involuntary retrieval of previously-generated positive imagery, with both theoretical and potential clinical implications
Nicotine-related interpretation biases in cigarette smoking individuals
No full textAbstract Addictive behaviors are characterized by information processing biases, including substance-related interpretation biases. In the field of cigarette smoking, such biases have not been investigated yet. The present study thus adopted an open-ended scenario approach to measure smoking-related interpretation biases. Individuals who smoke, those who ceased smoking, and those without a smoking history (total sample N = 177) were instructed to generate spontaneous continuations for ambiguous, open-ended scenarios that described either a smoking-related or neutral context. Overall, people who smoke generated more smoking-related continuations in response to smoking-relevant situations than non-smoking individuals or people who had stopped smoking, providing evidence for a smoking-related interpretation bias. When differentiating for situation type within smoking-relevant scenarios, smoking individuals produced more smoking-related continuations for positive/social and habit/addictive situations compared to negative/affective ones. Additionally, the tendency to interpret habit/addictive situations in a smoking-related manner was positively associated with cigarette consumption and levels of nicotine dependence. Exploratory analyses indicated that other substance-related continuations were correlated with their respective behavioral counterparts (e.g., the level of self-reported alcohol or caffeine consumption). The present study is the first to demonstrate smoking-related interpretation biases in relation to current cigarette smoking. Future studies should investigate the causal role of such biases in the initiation and/or maintainance of nicotine addiction and the merit of Interpretation-Bias-Modification training to support smoking cessation
Fear conditioning biases in anxiety disorders : a matter of interpretation?
No full textBiases in fear conditioning and interpretation biases have both been linked to the onset, maintenance, and treatment of anxiety. This chapter starts with summarizing empirical evidence on the link between fear conditioning biases and pathological anxiety. We discuss how biased interpretational processing might mediate biased behavior in fear conditioning tasks. In particular, stimuli might become ambiguous as a result of fear conditioning procedures (e.g., generalization and extinction). A tendency to interpret these ambiguous stimuli as threatening might result in increased fear responding in anxiety-prone individuals. We make a distinction between biases as observable behaviors (e.g., in experimental tasks) and biases as underlying (latent) cognitive processes or deficits. A mediation model is proposed that explains how a combination of genetic factors and learning experiences can give rise to observable biases and how this association can be (partially) driven by biases as a latent cognitive process (including interpretation biases). Finally, we discuss the role of (fear conditioning) biases in interventions for anxiety. Remediating biases might enhance the efficacy of cognitive-behavioral treatment and exposure interventions. However, it is predicted that biased individuals might be less sensitive to corrective experiences (e.g., due to a stagnated error reduction process)
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