Quantification of Electroencephalography

In Experiment 1, a study by Messer was replicated with use of 18 children aged 40 to 67 months and nonsense words in which the phonemes of the consonant onsets of permissible and impermissible words were equated for frequency of occurrence. The children did not choose significantly more permissible words at any age, indicating that they did not use phonological rules as a basis for choice. In Experiment 2, similar materials were used with 14 children aged 56 to 74 months. By means of an operant conditioning procedure and a learning set paradigm, an experimental group (five children) was reinforced for choosing the permissible member of 10 permissible/impermissible pairs of nonsense words to a criterion of 80 percent correct responses. On transfer to a test task (16 problems given at a rate of 12 trials per problem) the group reached a mean performance level of 76 percent correct responses, which was significantly greater than that attained by either of two control groups (nine children). It was therefore concluded that some evidence for the existence of implicit phonological rules had been obtained, although the conclusion had to be qualified because (a) the mean level of performance of the experimental group during the test task was relatively low, and (b) because only children with high 1Qs performed at a level better than chance.     

Cognitive biases and alcohol use in adolescence and young adulthood: The moderating role of gender,attentional control and inhibitory control

The present study investigated the cross-sectional associations between cognitive biases (i.e., attentional bias and approach bias) and alcohol use and investigated the moderating role of gender, attentional control and inhibitory control. The sample consisted of 94 adolescents and young adults (52.1% boys) between 15.3 and 20.8 years old (M_age = 18.0, SD = 1.1) who reported drinking alcohol in the past three months. A stronger approach bias was related to higher alcohol use, albeit only among boys. Furthermore, the association between attentional bias and alcohol use was moderated by attentional control; the lowest alcohol use was found in adolescents with low attentional bias and high attentional control, suggesting protective effects of both variables. The present study replicates and extends the results of studies on cognitive biases and addiction in adolescence and young adulthood.     

Implicit theories of emotion shape regulation of negative affect

Implicit theories of emotion—assumptions about whether emotions are fixed (entity theory) or malleable (incremental theory)—have previously been shown to influence affective outcomes over time. We examined whether implicit theories of emotion also relate to the immediate regulation of negative affect. Consistent with our hypotheses, we found that the more students endorsed an entity theory of emotion, the more discomfort they reported while watching an aversive movie clip, the more they avoided affective stimuli in this movie clip, the more negative affect they reported after the clip, and the less likely they were to watch the same clip again to learn about its ending. These findings suggest that implicit theories of emotion might produce poor affective outcomes immediately as well as over time. They also offer insight into why some people avoid negative affect while others confront it.     

Psychometric properties of the Coping Strategy Indicator (CSI) in a study of coping behaviour amongst malawian students

Abstract

The Coping Strategy Indicator (CSI; Amirkhan 1990) is an inductively derived measure of responses to adverse circumstances. Although seeking to isolate “a few fundamental strategies with wide applicability” (Amirkhan 1990). the initial validation studies were all based on Californian populations. The present study repork findings from completion of the CSI by 415 Malawian students as part of their enrolment health check up. Factor analysis (principal components analysis with varimax rotation) identified three factors with very similar structure and loadings to those identified by Amirkhan, namely, Support Seeking, Problem Solving and Avoidance. As with the initial validation study, there was some evidence of withdrawal and distraction forming identifiable sub-components of Avoidance. The CSI does appear to provide a measure of core coping strategies which is robust across cultural settings, the theoretical implications of which are considered. The influence of factors such as age and gender on CSI scores is discussed     

Beteendeterapi Vid Angest,Depression Och Smkrta

Davidson, P 0 (Ed) : The Behavioral Management of Anxiety, Depression and Pain. New York: Brunner/Mazel, 1976. 197 sid.     

Experiential Avoidance as an Emotion Regulatory Function: An Empirical Analysis of Experiential Avoidance in Relation to Behavioral Avoidance,Cognitive Reappraisal,and Response Suppression

The purpose of the present study was to empirically test the suggestion that experiential avoidance in an emotion regulation context is best understood as an emotion regulatory function of topographically distinct strategies. To do this we examined whether a measure of experiential avoidance could statistically account for the effects of emotion regulation strategies intervening at different points of the emotion-generative process as conceptualized by Gross' (1998) process model of emotion regulation. The strategies under examination were behavioral avoidance, cognitive reappraisal, and response suppression. The specific hypotheses to be tested were (1) that behavioral avoidance, cognitive reappraisal, and response suppression would statistically mediate the differences in measures of psychological well-being between a clinical and nonclinical sample, but that (2) these indirect effects would be reduced to nonsignificant levels when controlling for differences in experiential avoidance. The results provide clear support for the first hypothesis with regard to all the studied strategies. In contrast to the second hypothesis, the results showed the predicted outcome pattern only for the response-focused strategy “response suppression” and not for cognitive reappraisal or behavioral avoidance. The results are interpreted and discussed in relation to theories on experiential avoidance and emotion regulation.     

伤害回避的脑机制及其生物基础

伤害回避是指个体对厌恶刺激信号做出强烈的反应,并学会被动地回避惩罚的一种倾向,这一倾向使得个体反复思考未来的结局,并谨慎小心地对待不确定情景中的事件,进而更有可能诱发情感障碍。伤害回避涉及的神经网络包括三个子网络,即额顶叶-前扣带皮层的连接、皮层-杏仁核的连接和白质通道的结构性连接,这三个子网络分别与羞怯感-易疲劳性、预期担心以及不确定环境中的害怕情绪有关。而其生物基础则包括单一基因多态性和基因多态间的交互作用。今后的研究应该集中在深化伤害回避神经网络与生物基础间的联合机制、研究三种及以上基因多态间的交互作用、考察其他因素对基因效应的调节作用、注重伤害回避四种亚型相关神经网络之间的连接、探讨5-HT4等其他几种5-羟色胺受体多态性与伤害回避的关系以及分析伤害回避内部机制在抗抑郁治疗中的作用等方面。     

Let it be: expatriate couples' adjustment and the upside of avoiding conflicts

This research examines the moderating effect of conflict avoidance on the relationship between conflict and psychological adjustment among 45 expatriate couples at two points in time. We propose a model based on the actor–partner interdependence model, which assumes both intrapersonal and interpersonal effects, to address simultaneously the effects of one's own and the other's avoidance behavior. We found substantial support for our model, especially for expatriate spouses. As expected, and only for expatriate spouses, avoidance moderated the conflict–adjustment relationship such that both one's own and one's counterpart's avoidance behavior diminished the negative effect of conflicts. Because these effects were observed only at T2 and psychological adjustment decreased from T1 to T2, our research suggests that the impact of expatriation-associated interaction particularly manifests itself in the long run.     

A non-auditory measure of interference predicts distraction by competing speech in older adults

ABSTRACT

In this study, older adults monitored for pre-assigned target sounds in a target talker's speech in a quiet (no noise) condition and in a condition with competing-talker noise. The question was to which extent the impact of the competing-talker noise on performance could be predicted from individual hearing loss and from a cognitive measure of inhibitory abilities, i.e., a measure of Stroop interference. The results showed that the non-auditory measure of Stroop interference predicted the impact of distraction on performance, over and above the effect of hearing loss. This suggests that individual differences in inhibitory abilities among older adults relate to susceptibility to distracting speech.     

Body checking and avoidance in ethnically diverse female college students

Although body checking and avoidance behaviors are common in women with eating disorders, minimal research has examined the nature or correlates of these behaviors in ethnically diverse female college students without eating disorders. Self-identified European American (n = 268), Asian American (n = 163), Latina (n = 146), and African American (n = 73) women completed self-report measures of body checking and avoidance, thin-ideal internalization, eating pathology, and clinical impairment. Results indicated that European and Asian American women reported significantly more body checking and avoidance than African American and Latina women. Generally, correlates of body checking and avoidance were consistent across ethnic groups: Regression analyses indicated that type of ethnicity predicted body checking and avoidance; and ethnicity, body checking, and body avoidance predicted eating pathology and clinical impairment. These associations suggest that body checking and avoidance are not benign behaviors in diverse nonclinical women.