Short-term predictive effects of the looming cognitive style on anxiety disorder symptoms under restrictive methodological conditions

The looming cognitive style (LCS), an overarching cognitive vulnerability for anxiety syndromes, pertains to a tendency to construct dynamic expectations (mental scenarios, images) of negative events as progressively increasing in danger and rapidly escalating in risk. This study tested the hypothesis that the LCS has functions as a cognitive antecedent and moderator for even short-term changes over a brief time interval in anxiety syndromes (worry, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) symptoms, social anxiety, general anxiety) under restrictive methodological conditions. These included: (a) a one-week interval during which very little changes in anxiety were observed, and (b) controlling for participants' depression and intolerance of uncertainty. As hypothesized by our model, the looming cognitive style predicted short-term changes in worry and OCD symptoms over the week interval, and tended to predict changes in social (audience) anxiety. This style also functioned as a moderator and predicted changes in OCD symptoms among participants already high on this anxiety outcome. Intolerance of uncertainty predicted changes in social (audience) anxiety but not changes in OCD symptoms or worry. These findings support the looming vulnerability theory of anxiety, and encourage further attention into the possible role of the LCS as a cognitive antecedent and moderator of changes in a spectrum of anxiety syndromes.     

Negative cognitive style and looming cognitive style synergistically predict stress generation

There is a growing body of evidence that suggests that cognitive vulnerabilities to depression or anxiety may lead individuals to generate negative interpersonal life events. However, there has been no study to date that examines the effects of co-occurring vulnerabilities to depression and anxiety. In a sample of 304 participants, we examined the potential interaction of co-occurring negative cognitive style, a vulnerability to depression and looming cognitive style, vulnerability to anxiety. Results indicate that co-occurring cognitive vulnerabilities synergistically predict higher levels of negative interpersonal life events six weeks later, even when controlling for initial levels of stressful life events and symptoms of depression and anxiety. Thus, co-occurring vulnerabilities may have stronger stress generating effects than would be expected from the additive effects of each vulnerability considered separately. This finding highlights the importance of examining cognitive vulnerabilities as interactive effects rather than as individual vulnerabilities.     

Complex attentional control settings

One way that dis/likes are formed is through evaluative conditioning (EC). In two experiments we investigated the role of cognitive resources in flavour–flavour conditioning. Both experiments employed an EC procedure in which three novel flavoured conditioned stimuli (CSs) were consumed. One was consumed with a pleasant unconditioned stimulus (US; CS+ sugar), one with an aversive US (CS+ saline), and a third with plain water (CS–). Half of participants in each experiment performed a cognitive load task during conditioning. We measured EC using self-reported measures of liking (Experiments 1 and 2) and an indirect measure of liking: drink pick-up latency (Experiment 2). In both experiments, differential EC was observed in the no cognitive load condition but not in the cognitive load condition. This pattern of results was observed in self-reported measures of liking as well as in the drink pick-up latency data. Results from both experiments show that EC occurs only when there are sufficient cognitive resources available. The fact that this was observed using both self-reported and indirect measures suggests that insufficient cognitive resources affect learning itself rather than merely obstructing reporting.     

Limits of control: The effects of uncontrollability experiences on the efficiency of attentional control

Two experiments were conducted to explore the effects of experiencing uncontrollability on the efficiency of attentional control. The experience of uncontrollability was induced either by unsolvable tasks (Experiment 1) or by tasks in which non-contingent feedback was provided (Experiment 2). A version of the Attentional Network Test-Interactions with an additional measure of vigilance (ANTI-V) was used to evaluate the efficiency of the attentional networks (i.e., alerting, orienting, and executive). Results of both experiments revealed a decreased efficiency of executive attention in participants who experienced stable control deprivation but no negative effects in participants who were able to restore their sense of previously deprived control. Additionally, when participants were asked to perform unsolvable tasks and did not receive feedback (Experiment 1), detrimental effects on the orienting network and vigilance were observed. The motivational and cognitive mechanisms underlying the effects of various uncontrollability experiences on conflict resolution and attentional control are discussed.     

Ageing and attentional control

The research examines the structural bottleneck account and the resource account of the substantial dual-task deficits among older adults. Procedures from two common dual-task methodologies—the psychological refractory period and the relative-priority manipulation—were used to encourage maximization of the joint performance. Performance and time-sharing strategies from subjects between the ages of 20 and 70 years were examined. Age-related declines in time-sharing efficiency and in the precision of the executive control process were observed. The age-related effect was larger when two manual responses were required than when one manual and one vocal response were required, but no evidence for obligatory sequential processing was found. Except for the most demanding conditions, comparable practice effects were observed between the younger and older subjects, suggesting considerable cognitive plasticity in the older subjects. Implications for the two attentional accounts were discussed.     

Linking attentional control and PTSD symptom severity: the role of rumination

Although deficits in attentional control have been linked to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the mechanism that may account for this association has not been fully elucidated. The present study examined rumination as a mediator of the relationship between attentional control and PTSD symptoms. Veterans with PTSD and trauma-exposed veterans without PTSD completed measures of attentional control, rumination, and PTSD symptom severity. As predicted, the findings showed that veterans with PTSD reported significantly lower levels of attentional control than veterans without PTSD. Veterans with PTSD also reported significantly higher levels of rumination than veterans without PTSD. Subsequent analysis of the total sample revealed that the relationship between attentional control and PTSD symptom severity was accounted for by excessive rumination. Attentional control may contribute to PTSD symptoms through excessive rumination. Attentional control and rumination may be important targets for PTSD interventions.     

Cognitive biases and alcohol use in adolescence and young adulthood: The moderating role of gender,attentional control and inhibitory control

The present study investigated the cross-sectional associations between cognitive biases (i.e., attentional bias and approach bias) and alcohol use and investigated the moderating role of gender, attentional control and inhibitory control. The sample consisted of 94 adolescents and young adults (52.1% boys) between 15.3 and 20.8 years old (M_age = 18.0, SD = 1.1) who reported drinking alcohol in the past three months. A stronger approach bias was related to higher alcohol use, albeit only among boys. Furthermore, the association between attentional bias and alcohol use was moderated by attentional control; the lowest alcohol use was found in adolescents with low attentional bias and high attentional control, suggesting protective effects of both variables. The present study replicates and extends the results of studies on cognitive biases and addiction in adolescence and young adulthood.     

Context-specific attentional sampling: Intentional control as a pre-requisite for contextual control

Recent work suggests that environmental cues associated with previous attentional control settings can rapidly and involuntarily adjust attentional priorities. The current study tests predictions from adaptive-learning and memory-based theories of contextual control about the role of intentions for setting attentional priorities. To extend the empirical boundaries of contextual control phenomena, and to determine whether theoretical principles of contextual control are generalizable we used a novel bi-dimensional stimulus sampling task. Subjects viewed briefly presented arrays of letters and colors presented above or below fixation, and identified specific stimuli according to a dimensional (letter or color) and positional cue. Location was predictive of the cued dimension, but not the position or identity. In contrast to previous findings, contextual control failed to develop through automatic, adaptive-learning processes. Instead, previous experience with intentionally changing attentional sampling priorities between different contexts was required for contextual control to develop.     

Psychopathy,charisma, and success: A moderation modeling approach to successful psychopathy

Psychopathic traits are associated with negative outcomes; however, they have also been associated with adaptive outcomes (e.g., corporate success, etc.). We tested the Moderated-Expression Model of psychopathy in a sample of community adults (N = 315; 50.8% female; 22–65 years) utilizing a battery of self-report measures (Self-Report Psychopathy Scale; Triarchic Psychopathy Measure; Conger & Kanungo Scale of Charismatic Leadership; General Charisma Inventory; Evading Detection/Punishment; and Occupational Success). The effect of psychopathic traits on evading detection and punishment (not occupational success) was moderated by leadership (and to a lesser extent, general) charisma, net of the effects of pathological narcissism and several other covariates. These results support the Moderated-Expression Model and warrant further research on the associations among psychopathy, charisma, and success.     

Perceiving emotions: Cueing social categorization processes and attentional control through facial expressions

Individuals spontaneously categorise other people on the basis of their gender, ethnicity and age. But what about the emotions they express? In two studies we tested the hypothesis that facial expressions are similar to other social categories in that they can function as contextual cues to control attention. In Experiment 1 we associated expressions of anger and happiness with specific proportions of congruent/incongruent flanker trials. We also created consistent and inconsistent category members within each of these two general contexts. The results demonstrated that participants exhibited a larger congruency effect when presented with faces in the emotional group associated with a high proportion of congruent trials. Notably, this effect transferred to inconsistent members of the group. In Experiment 2 we replicated the effects with faces depicting true and false smiles. Together these findings provide consistent evidence that individuals spontaneously utilise emotions to categorise others and that such categories determine the allocation of attentional control.     

Predicting internalizing symptoms over a two year period by BIS,FFFS and attentional control

Identifying risk factors for the development of internalizing disorders is of major importance. In this context, behavioral inhibition (BIS), the fight-flight-freeze-system (FFFS), and attentional control (AC) have been proposed as being possible risk factors for both anxiety disorders and depression. Even though related cross-sectionally, it is still unclear whether these factors are precursors for internalizing disorders. In this longitudinal study, 1811 participants (aged 12–15) completed questionnaires on BIS/FFFS, AC, and internalizing symptoms at pretest and at two year follow-up. Supporting the alleged importance of BIS/FFFS and AC in the development of internalizing symptoms, BIS/FFFS and AC showed predictive value for anxiety and depression symptoms at two year follow-up. For anxiety symptoms this predictive value was not independent of the level of symptoms at pretest. For depression symptoms, AC showed predictive value over and above pretest level of depression symptoms. In the context of early detection of at risk adolescents, results suggest that screening of current anxiety and depression symptoms is most relevant in addition to a focus on AC for the screening of depression. However, it cannot be ruled out that at a further extended follow-up also BIS/FFFS might show independent predictive value for symptoms of anxiety and/or depression.     

Too much control can hurt: A threaded cognition model of the attentional blink

Explanations for the attentional blink (AB; a deficit in identifying the second of two targets when presented 200-500 ms after the first) have recently shifted from limitations in memory consolidation to disruptions in cognitive control. With a new model based on the threaded cognition theory of multi-tasking we propose a different explanation: the AB is produced by an overexertion of control. This overexertion is produced by a production rule that blocks target detection during memory consolidation. In addition to fitting many known effects in the literature, the model predicts that adding certain secondary tasks will decrease the AB. In Experiment 1, a secondary task is added to the AB task in which participants have to respond to a moving dot. As predicted, AB decreases. Experiment 2 expands this result by controlling for learning, and adds a second variation, rotating the first target. For this variation the model predicts an increase in AB, which is indeed what we found.     

LIFG-based attentional control and the resolution of lexical ambiguities in sentence context

The role of attentional control in lexical ambiguity resolution was examined in two patients with damage to the left inferior frontal gyrus (LIFG) and one control patient with non-LIFG damage. Experiment 1 confirmed that the LIFG patients had attentional control deficits compared to normal controls while the non-LIFG patient was relatively unimpaired. Experiment 2 showed that all three patients did as well as normal controls in using biasing sentence context to resolve lexical ambiguities involving balanced ambiguous words, but only the LIFG patients took an abnormally long time on lexical ambiguities that resolved toward a subordinate meaning of biased ambiguous words. Taken together, the results suggest that attentional control plays an important role in the resolution of certain lexical ambiguities - those that induce strong interference from context-inappropriate meanings (i.e., dominant meanings of biased ambiguous words).     

Dispositional mindfulness and the wandering mind: Implications for attentional control in older adults

Age-related cognitive decline brings decreases in functional status. Dispositional mindfulness, the tendency towards present-moment attention, is hypothesized to correspond with enhanced attention, whereas mind-wandering may be detrimental to cognition. The relationships among mindfulness, task-related and task-unrelated thought, and attentional control performance on Go/No-Go and Continuous Performance tasks were examined in older adults. Dispositional mindfulness was negatively associated with task-unrelated thought and was positively associated with reactive control, but not proactive control or Go/No-Go performance. Although mind-wandering was not directly associated with performance, task-unrelated thought mediated the mindfulness-proactive control relation. Fewer task-unrelated thoughts were associated with lower proactive control. Interestingly, this effect was moderated by working memory such that it was present for those with low-average, but not high, working memory. This study highlights the importance of dispositional mindfulness and mind-wandering propensity in accounting for individual differences in attentional control in older adults, providing important targets for future cognitive remediation interventions.     

Consciousness and cognitive control

The implementation or change of information processing routines, known as cognitive control, is traditionally believed to be closely linked to consciousness. It seems that we exert control over our behavior if we know the reasons for, and consequences of, doing so. Recent research suggests, however, that several behavioral phenomena that have been construed as instances of cognitive control can be prompted by events of which actors are not aware. Here we give a brief review of this research, discuss possible reasons for inconsistencies in the empirical evidence, and suggest some lines of future research. Specifically, we suggest to differentiate cognitive control evoked either because of explicit or because of implicit control cues. While the former type of control seems to work outside of awareness, the latter type of control seems to be restricted to consciously registered events that call for control.     

Bridging attentional control and reinvestment: A test of the interactionist hypothesis in an E-sport context

Attentional control and reinvestment are two competing mechanisms explaining why anxiety-provoking situations may undermine performance. To date, both perspectives have received empirical support, but neither of them perfectly explain how anxiety affects performance. In the present study, we examined a novel, interactionist hypothesis, that worry during task performance (i.e., a product of low attentional control) undermines performance to a greater extent when reinvestment (i.e., attempts to consciously control actions) is high compared to low, in an E-sport context. In a test of 84 experienced players in the Brawlhalla E-sport game, neither worry during the games nor reinvestment propensity on their own predicted ranked match performance, but the interaction between the two did. Specifically, players who were more worried during the ranked games (i.e., lower attentional control) tended to lose more games, of which the effect was evident only when movement-specific reinvestment was high, not low. However, decision-specific reinvestment did not moderate the effect of low attentional control on performance, nor predict performance on its own. Unlike movement-specific reinvestment, decision-specific reinvestment does not appear detrimental to E-sport performance. Overall, the findings provide the first evidence for the interactionist hypothesis of attentional control and reinvestment (especially movement-specific propensity), of which the interaction effect may be underpinned by availability of additional cognitive resources that assure adaptive task processing.     

The role of consciousness in attentional control differences in trait anxiety

Trait anxiety has long been associated with impaired selective attention to task-irrelevant threat stimuli, both when threat is presented consciously and outside of awareness. However recent research has suggested broader deficits in selective attention, with poorer ability to ignore supraliminal non-emotional information in anxiety. Here, we investigated whether anxiety could equally be associated with poorer selective attention for non-emotional stimuli in a subliminal context. Participants performed a simple arrow discrimination task, where prior incompatible or compatible response primes were presented before targets either unmasked (supraliminal) or masked (subliminal). While distractor interference was evident in both conditions, trait anxiety was associated with increased task-irrelevant processing only in the supraliminal condition; group effects were eliminated when primes were masked. Our findings are in line with traditional accounts suggesting that differences in selective attention and cognitive control solely modulate conscious distractor processing.     

自我效能感和认知风格对刻板印象激活效应的影响

通过两个实验考察了自我效能感与认知风格在刻板印象激活效应(个体刻板印象的激活会影响个体随后的行为表现,使之符合所激活的刻板印象)中的作用,初步探讨了刻板印象的激活引发行为改变的内在心理机制。实验1采取单因素被试间实验设计,将被试随机分配到实验组和控制组,接着完成智力测试与自我效能感评价任务。结果发现自我效能感在刻板印象激活效应对于智力测试成绩的影响中起着中介作用。在此基础上,实验2进一步纳入认知风格,首先对被试的握力进行前测,1周后再将被试随机分配到高耐力组和低耐力组进行再测。结果表明:自我效能感在刻板印象激活引发的行为表现中依然起着中介作用。与此同时,虽然场依存的被试更易受刻板印象激活效应的影响,而场独立的被试则不易受到这种情境的影响,但是认知风格未起到中介作用。     

Positive affectivity and attentional control moderate the link between negative affectivity and depressed mood

Research and theory suggest that deficits in trait positive affectivity (PA) and in capacity for executive control of attention (i.e., attentional control or AC) may each intensify risk for depressive symptoms associated with high trait negative affectivity (NA). In contrast, high levels of PA and AC should protect against that risk. However, prospective tests of such predictions are rare. Furthermore, if PA and AC both modulate NA-related risk, it remains to be seen if those effects are independent and complementary or if they operate in an overlapping manner. This study assessed baseline temperament and change in depressed mood across one month in a sample of 125 adolescents. Results supported both PA and AC as modulators of NA’s association with changes in depressed mood. Furthermore, results suggested that these modulating effects are largely non-overlapping and complementary, such that when both PA and AC are low, high NA predicts increases in depressed mood. In contrast, high NA predicts decreases in depressed mood when both PA and AC are high. Limitations of these findings, directions for future research, and implications for prevention are discussed.