Reinstatement of fear in humans: autonomic and experiential responses in a differential conditioning paradigm

The present study investigated reinstatement of fear in humans using an aversive differential conditioning paradigm. Two neutral human face pictures were presented during habituation, acquisition, extinction, and postreinstatement phases. One picture served as a conditioned stimulus (CS) reinforced by an unconditioned stimulus (US) in the form of electrical stimulation (CS+) and the second picture as a control stimulus that was never reinforced (CS-). The prediction that in a reinstatement manipulation a previously extinguished fear response in humans can be reinstated in a reinstatement group by the mere presentation of three unpredicted electrical stimulations (USs) was tested. Participants in the control group were not exposed to unpredicted USs and no reinstatement effect was expected. Outcome measures included subjective US expectancy ratings and skin conductance responses. Results showed non-selective return of the fear response due to fear recovery associated with both CSs (CS+/CS-) in the reinstatement group. Unexpected fear recovery was observed for both CSs (CS+/CS-) in control participants. Results are discussed with respect to context conditioning, fear generalisation, and anxiety-related cognitive mechanisms underlying fear recovery after extinction.     

Sex differences in face cognition

Although there is abundant evidence for female superiority in Face Cognition (FC), a number of questions regarding sex differences remain to be addressed. Here we report a reanalysis of data on the level of latent factors, modeled on the basis of an extensive test battery applied to three samples of over 800 adults in all. In independent samples the measurement structure of FC was invariant for both sexes, indicating that the measurement of the construct does not depend on the context variable sex, and investigating mean performance differences will not be biased by measurement issues — a neglected aspect in previous studies. We confirmed female superiority for face perception (FP) and face memory (FM). For the first time we could show that these sex differences prevailed after accounting for sex differences in broadly measured general cognitive functioning and in object perception. Across adult age, sex differences in FM increased due to the rapid decline of this ability in men, whereas performance in women remained stable across adult age. Self-reported social involvement and things-oriented activities moderated sex-differences in FM. Results show that sex differences are salient at the level of specific FC constructs and that they can be partially explained by social involvement.     

Reflections on the Theory-Practice Gap in Cognitive Behavior Therapy

The papers in this special series, edited by Pilecki and McKay (2013--this issue), are devoted to examining the theory-practice gap in cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT). A gap between theory and practice can occur at more than one level. First, there exists a substantial and concerning gap between the theories and interventions supported by research and those being offered to patients in the community (i.e., research-practice gap). There is also a growing concern in the field that the techniques and procedures that characterize cognitive-behavioral therapies are becoming increasingly divorced from underlying theories (i.e., theory-procedure gap). In the present commentary we hope to summarize and comment on some of the themes, issues, and future directions raised by our contributors.     

Impervious and intrusive: The impenetrable object in transference and countertransference

The author describes an internal object that he calls the ‘impenetrable object’ which has two characteristics: being impervious to the projections from the patient and being intrusive, i.e. projecting into the patient. It arises out of an early relationship with a mother who may be generally disturbed or traumatized so that she is unable to take in or tolerate the child's projections and may use the child as a receptacle for her own projections. He links the concept of an impenetrable object with other concepts such as Williams's ‘reversal of the container–contained relationship’ and Green's ‘dead mother’. If such an object dominates the patient's internal world, it can lead to severe difficulties in the analytic process. Interpretations may be experienced as violent projections from the analyst which the patient has to ward off and the analyst may enact an impervious or intrusive object in various ways. The author describes a case in which such dynamics played a significant role. He argues that intensive work in the countertransference is required to detect subtle enactments and allow a shift in the analyst, which in turn can enable change in the patient. He gives clinical material that demonstrates such work by the analyst and illustrates the shift from an impenetrable object to a more permeable one in the patient's internal world.     

Optimizing Honor Codes for Online Exam Administration

This study examined self-reported academic dishonesty at a midsize public university. Students (N = 492) rated the likelihood they would cheat after accepting to abide by each of eight honor code pledges before Internet-based assignments and examinations. The statements were derived from honor pledges used by different universities across the United States and varied in length, formality, and the extent to which the statements included consequences for academic dishonesty. Longer, formal honor codes with consequences were associated with a lower likelihood to cheat. Results showed a significant three-way interaction and suggest how to best design honor codes.     

Effects of imagined stress intensity on responses in a stress coping inventory

We investigated whether and how different imagined stress intensities modify responses in a stress coping inventory, the SVF78. In the original non-specific version of the test, subjects just decide for each item how probable the reaction presented corresponds to his or her way of reacting, when he/she is “…disturbed, irritated or upset by something or someone...”. We compared this non-specific version of the SVF78 with three intensity variants containing reformulations of the introductory instruction: “When I am disturbed, irritated, or upset to a low degree/considerable degree/very high degree [italics added] by something or someone...”. Each subject filled in the non-specific version and two of the three intensity variants according to a balanced permutation design. Results showed good internal consistency as well as split-half-reliability for all subtests. The factorial structure was similar for the non-specific and the considerable- and high-intensity versions, but altered for the low-intensity version. The mean values changed monotonically with imagined stress intensity for some, but not all of the subtests of the SVF78, with the non-specific version matching best with the considerable-intensity level. It can be concluded that coping questionnaires like the one used in this study, based on a dispositional approach and asking for the normal way of reacting in stressful situations, are valid for a certain range of stress intensities mostly covering the considerable range of the intensity dimension.     

Slacking Off or Winding Down? An Experience Sampling Study on the Drivers and Consequences of Media Use for Recovery Versus Procrastination

Today's constant availability of media content provides users with various recreational resources. It may also challenge self‐control, however, once media exposure conflicts with other goals and obligations. How media users deal with these self‐regulatory chances and risks in their daily lives is largely unknown. Our study addressed the predictors and consequences of recreational and procrastinatory media use using experience sampling methodology (N = 215; 1,094 media use episodes). Results suggest that trait (self‐control, performance goal orientation) as well as state variables (exhaustion) are significant predictors of media use for recovery versus procrastination. Whereas recreational media use showed a positive effect on entertainment, which in turn enhanced subjective well‐being, negative self‐evaluation elicited by procrastinatory media use negatively affected well‐being.     

What would you have as a last supper? Thoughts about death influence evaluation and consumption of food products

Terror Management Theory posits that after thinking about their own deaths, people take sides with and defend their culture by either increasing their support for worldview-consistent examples, decreasing support for worldview-threatening examples, or both. We tested the hypothesis that mortality salience leads to an increased preference for products from one’s own culture as compared to products from a foreign culture in terms of evaluation and consumption. In a product test, participants sampled local and foreign soft drinks (Study 1) or local and foreign chocolates (Study 2). As expected, relative to a control condition, mortality salience led to more accentuated evaluative preferences for local as compared to foreign products. Furthermore, the preference for the local product in terms of actual consumption was greater under mortality salience. Independent from cultural worldview defense effects mortality salience led to more impulsive behavior as indicated by an increased correspondence between eating behavior and an implicit measure tapping into impulsive processes in Study 2.