Assessment of emotional reactivity to food images in bulimia nervosa

The aim of the study was to assess the influence on reactivity to food images of the following variables: craving-trait, positive or negative mood state, and food restriction. Emotional modulation of the defense startle reflex (RMS) was assessed in 26 women at risk of suffering from bulimia nervosa; they were assigned one of to two groups: high craving-trait and low craving-trait. Before the test, positive or negative mood and restriction vs. non-restriction states were induced in each of the groups. Skin conductance response (SCR) and electromyogram activity from the orbiculari oculi region were recorded after the auditory stimuli; questionnaires such as Food Craving Trait Questionnaire (FCQ-T) and the Self-assessment Manikin (SAM) were used. Results showed that negative affect produced a negative valence of food images, more arousal, and more loss of control, as well as higher SCRs. Subjects with low FCQ-T levels reduced their RMS to food images as a consequence of experiencing positive emotions; when emotions were negative, their RMS increased.     

Enhancing recognition memory in adults through differential outcomes

It has been widely demonstrated that the differential outcomes procedure (DOP) facilitates both the learning of conditional relationships and the memory for the conditional stimuli in animal subjects. For conditional discriminations in humans, the DOP also produces an increase in the speed of acquisition and/or final accuracy. However, the potential facilitative effects of differential outcomes in human memory have not been fully assessed. In the present study, we aimed to test whether this procedure improves performance on a recognition memory task in healthy adults. Participants showed significantly better delayed face recognition when differential outcomes were used. This novel finding is discussed in the light of other studies on the differential outcomes effect (DOE) in both animals and humans, and implications for future research are presented.     

Confidence–Accuracy Calibration with General Knowledge and Eyewitness Memory Cued Recall Questions

Summary: The confidence–accuracy relationship has primarily been studied through recognition tests and correlation analysis. However, cued recall is more ecological from a forensic perspective. Moreover, there may be more informative ways of analysing the confidence–accuracy relationship than correlations. In the present study, participants viewed a video of a bank robbery and were asked cued recall questions covering general knowledge and the video itself. Confidence ratings were collected, and correlations, calibration and discrimination measures were calculated. All measures indicated a strong confidence–accuracy relationship that was better for general knowledge than eyewitness memory questions. However, there were no differences in confidence ratings for correct answers, suggesting that the differences could be limited to the evaluation of incorrect answers. We concluded that confidence may be a good marker for accuracy with cued recall, but that further research using ecological tests and more informative data analysis techniques is needed. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.