The tripartite model for assessing symptoms of anxiety and depression: psychometrics of the Dutch version of the mood and anxiety symptoms questionnaire

AIM: The tripartite model conceptualizes symptoms of depression and anxiety in three groups: low positive affect and anhedonia, which is specific to depression, somatic arousal, which is unique to anxiety, and nonspecific general distress. The Mood and Anxiety Symptoms Questionnaire (MASQ) was developed to measure these symptom domains. This study reports on the psychometric properties of the Dutch translation of the MASQ. METHOD: The questionnaire was completed by a population-based sample and by patients with anxiety and/or mood disorders. Scores of these respondent groups were compared to assess the discriminant validity of the MASQ and evaluate the appropriateness of the tripartite model. RESULTS: The psychometric properties of the translated MASQ were highly satisfactory. In accordance with the model, we found the MASQ to comprise three main scales, which discriminate well between subgroups of patients with mood and anxiety disorders. DISCUSSION: Overall, like the English version the Dutch translation of the instrument appears to be a reliable and valid measure of symptoms of depression and anxiety, conceptualized as comprising three groups of symptoms. The Dutch MASQ is better able to distinguish unique aspects of mood and anxiety disorders than other self-report instruments.     

Motor imagery: the relation between age and imagery capacity

The imagination of motor actions forms not only a theoretical challenge for cognitive neuroscience but may also be seen as a novel therapeutic tool in neurological rehabilitation, in that it can be used for relearning motor control after damage to the motor system. However, since the majority of rehabilitation patients consist of older individuals it is relevant to know whether the capacity of mental imaging is compromised by age. Scores on the vividness of movement imagery questionnaire were obtained for 333 participants, divided in three age groups. Results showed that elderly participants were slightly worse in motor imagery capacity than younger participants, particularly in relation to motor imagery from an internal (first person) perspective. Furthermore, a possible relation between the level of physical activities and motor imagery capacity is discussed.     

Explaining Variability: Numerical Representations in 4- to 8-Year-Old Children

The present study aims to examine relations between number representations and various sources of individual differences within early stages of development of number representations. The mental number line has been found to develop from a logarithmic to a more linear representation. Sources under investigation are counting skills and executive functions and are set out against mental number lines from 0 to 10 and 0 to 100 in a sample of 4- to 8-year-old children (N = 80). Findings indicate that counting skills, inhibition, and updating are the most important predictors of the shape of the mental number line over and above age-related developmental differences, with number lines from 0 to 10 being linear to a large extent and number lines from 0 to 100 developing from a random pattern toward logarithmic representations. The shape of the mental number line was found to predict scores on the number comparison task only on the smaller-scale comparison task.     

Utilization of reward-prospect enhances preparatory attention and reduces stimulus conflict

The prospect of gaining money is an incentive widely at play in the real world. Such monetary motivation might have particularly strong influence when the cognitive system is challenged, such as when needing to process conflicting stimulus inputs. Here, we employed manipulations of reward-prospect and attentional-preparation levels in a cued-Stroop stimulus conflict task, along with the high temporal resolution of electrical brain recordings, to provide insight into the mechanisms by which reward-prospect and attention interact and modulate cognitive task performance. In this task, the cue indicated whether or not the participant needed to prepare for an upcoming Stroop stimulus and, if so, whether there was the potential for monetary reward (dependent on performance on that trial). Both cued attention and cued reward-prospect enhanced preparatory neural activity, as reflected by increases in the hallmark attention-related negative-polarity ERP slow wave (contingent negative variation [CNV]) and reductions in oscillatory Alpha activity, which was followed by enhanced processing of the subsequent Stroop stimulus. In addition, similar modulations of preparatory neural activity (larger CNVs and reduced Alpha) predicted shorter versus longer response times (RTs) to the subsequent target stimulus, consistent with such modulations reflecting trial-to-trial variations in attention. Particularly striking were the individual differences in the utilization of reward-prospect information. In particular, the size of the reward effects on the preparatory neural activity correlated across participants with the degree to which reward-prospect both facilitated overall task performance (shorter RTs) and reduced conflict-related behavioral interference. Thus, the prospect of reward appears to recruit attentional preparation circuits to enhance processing of task-relevant target information.     

Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy Targeting Fear of Progression in an Interdisciplinary Care Program: A Case Study in Systemic Sclerosis

People living with chronic illness often report uncertainty about the future, fear of disease progression, fear of becoming physically disabled, and a reduced life expectancy as important sources of stress. However, little is known about psychological interventions targeting these concerns. The aim of this study is to illustrate an intervention to reduce emotional distress and concerns about the future in a patient with systemic sclerosis (SSc), a rare chronic rheumatic disease with serious consequences for most patients, and to present a preliminary report on its effectiveness using a single-case study design. Because of the complexity of symptoms and complaints due to SSc, the psychological intervention was embedded in an interdisciplinary care program also consisting of physical therapy, occupational therapy, and specialized nurse care.