Developing an Acceptance-Based Behavioral Treatment for Binge Eating Disorder: Rationale and Challenges

Binge eating disorder (BED), characterized by recurrent eating episodes in which individuals eat an objectively large amount of food within a short time period accompanied by a sense of loss of control, is the most common eating disorder. While existing treatments, such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), produce remission in a large percentage of individuals with BED, room for improvement in outcomes remains. Two reasons some patients may continue to experience binge eating after a course of treatment are: (a) Difficulty complying with the prescribed behavioral components of CBT due to the discomfort of implementing such strategies; and (b) a lack of focus in current treatments on strategies for coping with high levels of negative affect that often drive binge eating. To optimize treatment outcomes, it is therefore crucial to provide patients with strategies to overcome these issues. A small but growing body of research suggests that acceptance-based treatment approaches may be effective for the treatment of binge eating. The goal of the current paper is to describe the development of an acceptance-based group treatment for BED, discuss the structure of the manual and the rationale and challenges associated with integrating acceptance-based strategies into a CBT protocol, and to discuss clinical strategies for successfully implementing the intervention.     

Investigating the modality specificity of response selection using a temporal flanker task

The neurocognitive architecture for response selection is uncertain. Some theorists suggest that it is mediated by an amodal central mechanism, whereas others propose a set of independent control mechanisms. In a functional neuroimaging experiment, we investigated the nature of response selection by examining how its underlying brain mechanisms are affected by stimulus modality. To do this, we used a modified flanker task, in which the target and flanker (distractor) stimuli differed in time rather than space, making it accessible for both visual and auditory stimuli. As in the traditional flanker task, larger reaction times were observed for incongruent than congruent trials (i.e., a congruency effect) for both modalities. Congruency affected brain activation for both modalities in prefrontal cortex, parietal cortex, and the putamen. Modality-dependent activation was found in additional prefrontal and parietal regions for the visual modality and in left inferior prefrontal cortex for the auditory modality. Modality-dependent activity specifically related to response congruency was also found in sensory cortical regions. These data suggest that modality affects the brain regions throughout the cortex mediating response selection even for conceptually identical stimuli and tasks. They are consistent with the hypothesis that (at least partially) independent brain networks mediate response selection and that input modality may be a powerful factor for organizing neural activity to support task performance.     

Action in perception? Empirical and philosophical arguments against the enactive approach to perception

This paper focuses on the epistemic conditions of visual perception, ie it concentrates on the question of what kind of knowledge is required for us in order to be able to see colours and shapes as spatial properties of things. According to contemporary theories of sensory perception that follow the tradition of George Berkeley, like Alva Noe's so-called enactive approach to perception, this type of visual perception requires a certain kind of implicit practical knowledge, namely implicit sensorimotor knowledge of the way sensory stimulation varies as the perceiver moves. Two objections are presented against this central claim of the enactive approach. First, empirical evidence from psychological research on children's cognitive and motor development suggests that visual content is entirely independent of sensorimotor knowledge. Second, the enactive approach gets involved in the characteristic problems of classical sense--datum theories by introducing the extremely problematic claim that the recognition of appearances is the epistemic starting point for the perception of things and their properties.     

Effect of apomorphine on retention of a brightness discrimination in dopamine supersensitive rats

Apomorphine is known to improve the retention performance of a brightness discrimination task after post-training intrahippocampal application to rats. The present study shows that the retention performance of dopamine supersensitive rats was improved by a low dose of apomorphine which was still ineffective in control animals. Dopamine supersensitivity by itself had no effect on acquisition and retention parameters of brightness discrimination. The result further supports the assumption that dopamine receptors in rat hippocampus can modulate the formation of memory.     

DISSOCIATION OF STORAGE AND REHEARSAL IN VERBAL WORKING MEMORY:

Abstract— Current cognitive models of verbal working memory include two components a phonological store and a rehearsal mechanism that refreshes the contents of this store We present research using positron emission tomography (PET) to provide further evidence for this functional division In Experiment I, subjects performed a variant of Sternberg's (1966) item recognition task Experiment 2 used a continuous memory task with control conditions designed to separate the brain regions underlying storage and rehearsal The results show that independent brain regions mediate storage and rehearsal In Experiment 3, a dual-task procedure supported the assumption that these memory tasks elicited a rehearsal strategy     

The Gods Are Watching: An Experimental Study of Religion and Traditional Belief in Burkina Faso

Traditional beliefs play an important role in many Sub‐Saharan African village societies. These beliefs imply immediate punishment for any breach of the moral code, and the possibility to influence an individual's life by the use of magic. We analyze the economic impact of traditional beliefs on behavior by conducting an experiment with microentrepreneurs in the environs of Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso). The salience of traditional beliefs is randomly varied through semistructured interviews. We find that priming traditional beliefs substantially increases prosocial behavior in the Trust Game. This effect is independent of age, gender, religious affiliation, or wealth.     

Domestic violence shelter residents' substance abuse treatment needs and options

The association between intimate partner aggression and alcohol and other substance use problems is well-established in the literature. However, the nature and scope of alcohol and other substance use problems in women who seek or are likely to seek domestic violence shelter services is difficult to ascertain. The first goal of the current review was to identify and synthesize the findings of studies in which alcohol and other substance use, problem use, or diagnoses in shelter residents was assessed. Despite methodological limitations, this body of studies provides compelling evidence that a substantial number of domestic violence shelter residents (22–72%) have current or past problems with alcohol or other substances and may benefit from treatment. The second goal of the current review was to provide an overview of the availability and limitations of options that are currently available to address domestic violence shelter residents' substance abuse treatment needs. Although substance abuse is a largely under-met need of women seeking domestic violence shelter, promising findings from model integrated treatment programs, as well as the knowledge gained through implementation of these programs provide useful future directions for addressing these co-occurring issues.