The effects of incorrect pain expectations on acquired fear and pain responses

Previous experimental research on the effects of incorrect intensity expectations of aversive events can be criticized because intensity expectations were not manipulated independently from changes in objective intensity. The present study aims at investigating the effects of incorrect intensity expectations on the immediate and later responses to a painful stimulus, and on the acquisition of anticipatory responses, with proper experimental control. Subjects (n = 62) received 20 painful stimuli of varying intensity. In the control group intensities were correctly signalled on all trials by an analogue signal. On 3 trials the signal was too large in the overprediction condition, and too small in the underestimation condition. Underpredicted painful experiences were related to subsequent higher pain responses on the physiological level, but not on the subjective level; and to increased anticipatory responses (increased pain expectations, uncertainty, subjective fear, skin conductance responses). Skin conductance level also indicated increased fear after underpredicted experiences. Overpredicted painful experiences were related to a faster decrease in subjective fear compared to the control group, but did not influence other variables. The findings support the notion that underpredictions contribute to the acquistion of fear and disrupt habituation processes. The asymmetrical processing of the two kinds of incorrectly predicted experiences is discussed.     

Should subjects be forewarned of the possible psychological consequences of filling out a PTSD questionnaire?

In 1993 Albach investigated the long-term consequences of sexual abuse on psychological health. A group of abused women a a control group of nonabused women were asked to fill in a questionnaire assessing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). For ethical reasons, the abused women were warned that filling in the questionnaire might be emotionally stressful. The control group did not receive this warning. The abused women scored higher on the questionnaire than the nonabused women. The warning they received may have influenced their reports. Our experiment investigated this. 101 psychology students were divided into two groups, one who received a warning and a control group who did not. The hypothesis was that people who had been previously warned would score higher on a PTSD questionaire than people who had not. There were, however, no significant differences in mean PTSD scores and no known initial differences between groups.     

Prolonged exposure in patients with chronic PTSD: predictors of treatment outcome and dropout

The present study investigated predictors of treatment outcome and dropout in two samples of PTSD-patients with mixed traumas treated using prolonged imaginal exposure. Possible predictors were analysed in both samples separately, in order to replicate in one sample findings found in the other. The only stable finding across the two groups was that patients who showed more PTSD-symptoms at pre-treatment, showed more PTSD-symptoms at post-treatment and follow-up. Indications were found that benzodiazepine use was related to both treatment outcome and dropout, and alcohol use to dropout. Demographic variables, depression and general anxiety, personality, trauma characteristics, feelings of anger, guilt, and shame and nonspecific variables regarding therapy were not related to either treatment outcome or dropout, disconfirming generally held beliefs about these factors as contra-indications for exposure therapy. It is concluded that it is difficult to use pre-treatment variables as a powerful and reliable tool for predicting treatment outcome or dropout. Clinically seen, it is therefore argued that exclusion of PTSD-patients from prolonged exposure treatment on the basis of pre-treatment characteristics is not justified.     

On the links between self-discrepancies, rumination, metacognitions, and symptoms of depression in undergraduates

The present study aimed to test the central components of Papageorgiou and Wells' (2003) non-clinical metacognitive model of rumination and depression that is grounded on the Self-Regulatory Executive Function (S-REF) model of emotional disorders [Wells, A., & Matthews, G. (1994). Attention and emotion: A clinical perspective. Hove, UK: Lawrence Erlbaum.]. A second aim of this study was to extend the non-clinical model with the concept of self-discrepancy in line with the S-REF model. Data of the current study were collected in a large sample of non-clinical Dutch undergraduates (N=196), who completed a battery of questionnaires including measures of rumination, positive and negative metacognitions, depressive symptoms, and self-discrepancy (i.e., actual-ideal, actual-ought, and actual-feared discrepancies). Hypothesized relationships among these variables were tested by means of structural equation modelling. Following some theoretically consistent modifications, the model was an adequate fit to the data. With respect to the second aim of the study, self-discrepancies were directly linked to symptoms of depression as well as indirectly via the cognitive processes involved in the metacognitive model of rumination and depression. Evidence was found for positive beliefs about rumination to partially mediate the relation between self-discrepancy and rumination. Clinical implications of the findings, including implementation of a metacognitive-focused cognitive therapy of depression, and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

The first direct replication on using verbal credibility assessment for the detection of deceptive intentions

Verbal deception detection has gained momentum as a technique to tell truth‐tellers from liars. At the same time, researchers' degrees of freedom make it hard to assess the robustness of effects. Replication research can help evaluate how reproducible an effect is. We present the first replication in verbal deception research whereby ferry passengers were instructed to tell the truth or lie about their travel plans. The original study found truth‐tellers to include more specific time references in their answers. The replication study that closely mimicked the setting, procedure, materials, coding, and analyses found no lie–truth difference for specific time references. Although the power of our replication study was suboptimal (0.77), Bayesian statistics showed evidence in favor of the null hypothesis. Given the great applied consequences of verbal credibility tests, we hope this first replication attempt ignites much needed preregistered, high‐powered, multilab replication efforts.     

Emotional, cognitive and physiological correlates of abuse-related stress in borderline and antisocial personality disorder

Childhood abuse is an important precursor of borderline personality disorder (BPD) and antisocial personality disorder (ASPD). The current study compared the emotional reactivity to abuse-related stress of these patients on a direct and an indirect level. Changes in self-reported affect and schema modes, psychophysiology and reaction time based cognitive associations were assessed following confrontation with an abuse-related film fragment in patients with BPD (n = 45), ASPD (n = 21), Cluster C personality disorder (n = 46) and non-patient controls (n = 36). Results indicated a hyperresponsivity of BPD-patients on self-reported negative affect and schema modes, on some psychophysiological indices and on implicit cognitive associations. The ASPD-group was comparable to the BPD group on implicit cognitions but did not show self-reported and physiological hyper-reactivity. These findings suggest that BPD and ASPD-patients are alike in their implicit cognitive abuse-related stress reactivity, but can be differentiated in their self-reported and physiological response patterns.     

All we need is a cue to remember: the effect of an extinction cue on renewal

In the present study, it was investigated by employing a human fear conditioning paradigm whether an extinction retrieval cue can attenuate renewal of conditioned responding after an extinction treatment procedure, and if so, what the precise role of such an extinction cue comprises. It was hypothesized that such a cue can attenuate renewal and would function as a safety signal capable of directly inhibiting the expectancy of an aversive outcome and conditioned skin conductance responding to a conditioned stimulus. The results demonstrated that the extinguished expectancy of an aversive outcome was renewed when the CS was presented outside the extinction context and that an extinction cue attenuated this effect. This extinction cue, however, only transferred its inhibitory properties to other, non-extinguished stimuli when there was no contextual switch. This safety signal function was not observed after a switch in context. Possible functions of the extinction cue and its application in extinction-based exposure treatments are discussed.