A Systematic Review of the Effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) for Body Image Dissatisfaction and Weight Self-Stigma in Adults

Body image dissatisfaction (BID) and weight self-stigma are prevalent and associated with physical and psychological ill-health. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is increasingly employed for both, yet little is known about its effectiveness. Searches of 12 databases identified six studies using online, face-to-face or self-help ACT interventions for BID or weight self-stigma, of varying duration and intensity. Their effectiveness and quality were evaluated. Two reported improved BID, three improved weight self-stigma, and one reported no impact on weight self-stigma. Methodological issues (small sample sizes, lack of allocation concealment, attention control and long-term follow up) impacted the validity of findings. Due to the small number of studies and poor study quality, the effectiveness of ACT for BID and weight self-stigma remains unclear. Nonetheless findings suggest psychological flexibility may facilitate reduction in BID and weight self-stigma and indicate that brief online as well as lengthy face-to-face delivery may be useful. Suggestions for further research are made.     

Obstacle Avoidance Increases Asymmetry of Crossing Step in Individuals With Parkinson's Disease and Neurologically Healthy Individuals

The authors' aim was to investigate gait asymmetry of crossing step during obstacle avoidance while walking in people with Parkinson's disease (PD) under and without the effects of dopaminergic medication. Thirteen individuals with PD and 13 neurologically healthy individuals performed 5 trials of unobstructed gait and 10 trials of obstacle crossing during gait (5 trials with each leg) and spatiotemporal parameters were analyzed. Obstacle crossing increased step duration of the crossing step for the most-affected or nondominant limb compared to the crossing step with the least-affected or dominant limb. Individuals with PD without the effects of medication increased step duration for the step with the least-affected limb compared to the step with the most-affected limb during obstacle crossing.     

Switching between goals mediates the attentional blink effect

Humans are fundamentally limited in processing information from the outside world. This is particularly evident in the attentional blink (AB), the impaired ability to identify the second of two targets presented in close succession. We report findings from three experiments showing that the AB is significantly reduced when observers are set to achieve one single goal (reporting combinations of the two targets) instead of separate goals (reporting the two targets). This finding raises questions about the nature of AB, and suggests that processes involved in goal-switching must be taken into account by theories of the AB phenomenon.     

Regulatory mode preferences for autonomy supporting versus controlling instructional styles

Background Three studies carried out in educational settings examined determinants of teacher's instructional styles and students' degree of satisfaction with the learning climates created by such styles. Aims Based upon regulatory mode theory, Studies 1 and 2 tested the hypotheses that teachers' locomotion orientation will be positively related, and their assessment orientation will be negatively related, to autonomy supportive (vs. controlling) instructional styles. Study 3 tested the hypothesis that students' regulatory mode will exhibit a fit effect with the prevalent learning climate in their school. Samples Participants for Study 1 were 378 teachers (278 females); for Study 2 were 96 teachers (65 females); and for Study 3 were 190 students (all males). Method Participants completed questionnaires that included measures of teaching styles (Studies 1 and 2), perceived learning climate and satisfaction (Study 3), and regulatory mode orientations (Studies 1 and 3). In Study 2 regulatory mode orientations were experimentally induced. Results Results confirmed that teachers' autonomy supportive versus controlling styles were positively related to their locomotion orientations and negatively related to their assessment orientation, and that students with a stronger locomotion (vs. assessment) orientation reported a higher level of satisfaction when the learning climate was perceived as autonomy supportive (vs. controlling). Conclusions The present studies show that teachers' preference for adopting an instructional style is influenced by their regulatory mode orientations, and that the effects of a learning climate on students' satisfaction are contingent on a fit between type of learning climate and students' regulatory mode orientations.     

Part-set cuing in option generation

Memory research on the part-set cuing effect has shown that providing some of the to-be-remembered items as cues is not always beneficial and, in some cases, may even hurt retrieval. However, part-set cuing has been sparsely investigated in option generation tasks. Thus, limited empirical evidence for the existence of the effect in option generation is available, and no convincing explanation has been provided yet. In order to fill these gaps, we carried out four experiments. In Experiment 1A, we observed a significant decrease in option generation performance when potential options were presented as cues. Experiment 1B showed that the effect can also be obtained in older adults. Experiments 2A and 2B provided evidence compatible with an inhibition-based explanation of the observed effects.     

Resampling approach to statistical inference: Bootstrapping from event-related potentials data

We propose the use of the bootstrap resampling technique as a tool to assess the within-subject reliability of experimental modulation effects on event-related potentials (ERPs). The assessment of the within-subject reliability is relevant in all those cases when the subject score is obtained by some estimation procedure, such as averaging. In these cases, possible deviations from the assumptions on which the estimation procedure relies may lead to severely biased results and, consequently, to incorrect functional inferences. In this study, we applied bootstrap analysis to data from an experiment aimed at investigating the relationship between ERPs and memory processes. ERPs were recorded from two groups of subjects engaged in a recognition memory task. During the study phase, subjects in Group A were required to make an orthographic judgment on 160 visually presented words, whereas subjects in Group B were only required to pay attention to the words. During the test phase all subjects were presented with the 160 previously studied words along with 160 new words and were required to decide whether the current word was “old” or “new.” To assess the effect of word imagery value, half of the words had a high imagery value and half a low imagery value. Analyses of variance performed on ERPs showed that an imagery-induced modulation of the old/new effect was evident only for subjects who were not engaged in the orthographic task during the study phase. This result supports the hypothesis that this modulation is due to some aspect of the recognition memory process and not to the stimulus encoding operations that occur during the recognition memory task. However, bootstrap analysis on the same data showed that the old/new effect on ERPs was not reliable for all the subjects. This result suggests that only a cautious inference can be made from these data.     

The Demand for Pornography

The market for pornography acquired great economic relevance in the 1970s with diffusion of the videocassette recorder, and went onto gain increasing relevance as from the 1990s, with the ICT revolution. Nonetheless, it has been totally ignored in economic investigation. The present paper focuses on the demand side of this market, with the main aim of proposing a preliminary theoretical assessment of the behaviour of pornography purchasers and its recent evolution in response to the Internet revolution. In this respect, certain contributions on hedonic adaptation have proved particularly useful, whereas addiction models have proved less useful than might have been expected.     

Method effects: the problem with negatively versus positively keyed items

Using confirmatory factor analyses, we examined method effects on Rosenberg's Self-Esteem Scale (RSES; Rosenberg, 1965) in a sample of older European adults. Nine hundred forty nine community-dwelling adults 60 years of age or older from 5 European countries completed the RSES as well as measures of depression and life satisfaction. The 2 models that had an acceptable fit with the data included method effects. The method effects were associated with both positively and negatively worded items. Method effects models were invariant across gender and age, but not across countries. Both depression and life satisfaction predicted method effects. Individuals with higher depression scores and lower life satisfaction scores were more likely to endorse negatively phrased items.     

The role of personality traits,core self‐evaluation,and emotional intelligence in career decision‐making difficulties

This study examines the role of personality traits, core self‐evaluation, and emotional intelligence (EI) in career decision‐making difficulties. Italian university students (N= 232) responded to questions on the Big Five Questionnaire, Core Self‐Evaluation Scale, Bar‐On Emotional Quotient Inventory, and Career Decision‐Making Difficulties Questionnaire. It was found that EI adds significant incremental variance compared with personality traits and core self‐evaluation in predicting career decision‐making difficulties. The results draw attention to the unique role of EI in career decision‐making difficulties, offering new research opportunities and intervention possibilities.     

Gait and risk of falls associated with frontal cognitive functions at different stages of Alzheimer's disease

ABSTRACT The decline in frontal cognitive functions contributes to alterations of gait and increases the risk of falls in patients with dementia, a category which included Alzheimer's disease (AD). The objective of the present study was to compare the gait parameters and the risk of falls among patients at different stages of AD, and to relate these variables with cognitive functions. This is a cross-sectional study with 23 patients with mild and moderate AD. The Clinical Dementia Rating was used to classify the dementia severity. The kinematic parameters of gait (cadence, stride length, and stride speed) were analyzed under two conditions: (a) single task (free gait) and (b) dual task (walking and counting down). The risk of falls was evaluated using the Timed Up-and-Go test. The frontal cognitive functions were evaluated using the Frontal Assessment Battery (FAB), the Clock Drawing Test (CDT) and the Symbol Search Subtest. The patients who were at the moderate stage suffered reduced performance in their stride length and stride speed in the single task and had made more counting errors in the dual task and still had a higher fall risk. Both the mild and the moderate patients exhibited significant decreases in stride length, stride speed and cadence in the dual task. Was detected a significant correlation between CDT, FAB, and stride speed in the dual task condition. We also found a significant correlation between subtest Similarities, FAB and cadence in the dual task condition. The dual task produced changes in the kinematic parameters of gait for the mild and moderate AD patients and the gait alterations are related to frontal cognitive functions, particularly executive functions.