Understanding anhedonia in schizophrenia through lexical analysis of natural speech

Anhedonia is a negative prognostic indicator in schizophrenia. However, the underlying nature of this emotional deficit is unclear. Laboratory studies examining patients’ emotional reactions under controlled circumstances have failed to find evidence for a diminished hedonic response, instead finding that patients’ reactions to laboratory stimuli are characterised by high levels of negative emotion. The present study employed lexical analysis of natural speech in 52 patients and 49 non-patient controls while they discussed separate neutral, pleasant and unpleasant autobiographical memories. Patients with clinically rated anhedonia, versus other patients and controls, showed a dramatic increase in negative emotion expression when discussing pleasurable memories, but they showed no corresponding decrease in positive emotion. These findings provide further evidence that “anhedonia” is more reflective of negative emotional states than the absence of positive ones. These findings also raise questions about how positive and negative emotions can be simultaneously co-activated in patients with schizophrenia.     

Adult attachment and attentional inhibition of interpersonal stimuli

In two studies, we used a negative affective priming task with pictures of angry (Study 1), sad (Study 2), and happy faces (Studies 1 and 2) to measure attentional inhibition of emotional stimuli as a function of attachment style. Results showed that attachment avoidance was associated with a stronger inhibition of both angry and sad faces. This indicates that the regulatory strategies of avoidant individuals involve inhibition of different types of negative, but not positive, stimuli. Attachment anxiety, on the other hand, showed no association with inhibitory responding to negative stimuli, although we did find indications of impaired inhibitory processing of happy faces in Study 1. The results are discussed in relation to current evidence on avoidant affect-regulation strategies.     

Depressive implicit associations and adults' reports of childhood abuse

Theory and research suggest that negative events in childhood (e.g., childhood abuse) may contribute to the development of a cognitive vulnerability to depression. A limitation of past research, however, is that the majority has focused on explicit cognitions (e.g., attributional style) and it remains unclear whether similar relations would be observed for more implicit measures of depressive cognitions. This study investigated the relation between young adults' reports of childhood abuse and their implicit depressive cognitions, as measured by the Implicit Association Test. As hypothesised, young adults reporting a history of childhood abuse exhibited stronger implicit associations for depression-relevant stimuli than did individuals with no abuse history. These results were maintained even after statistically controlling for the influence of current depressive symptom levels.     

Proactive and reactive sequential effects on selective attention

Sequences of events can affect selective attention either through proactive mechanisms, through reactive mechanisms, or through a combination of the two. The current study examined electrophysiological responses to both prime and target stimuli in a primed dichotic listening task. Each trial presented a distractor prime syllable followed by two simultaneous syllables, and participants were asked to report one of the simultaneous syllables. Trials where the participant reported the non-primed syllable showed more negative event-related potentials at prime presentation, which may indicate inhibition of the prime representation. Trials where the participant reported the primed syllable showed more negative event-related potentials at target presentation, which may indicate cognitive conflict and effortful response selection. In context of current theories, the data suggest that the interplay of a proactive inhibition bias and a reactive potential for conflict is involved in causing sequential effects on selective attention mechanisms.     

Spinoza's Concept of Substance and Attribute: A Reading of the Short Treatise

ABSTRACT

In the recent secondary literature on Ockham’s philosophy of mind, it has been debated whether Ockham proposed an externalist or an internalist view of the intentional contents of intuitive cognitions. It has also been debated whether Ockham only attributes intentional content to intuitive cognitions, or rather two different properties, i.e. a likeness and an intentional content. Intuitive cognitions can be roughly understood as perceptions. In this article I propose a different perspective for analysing both debates, that is, the perspective that concerns Ockham’s theory of reflexivity. Ockham defended the idea that one can reflexively cognize two different features of intuitive cognitions; namely, their similarity or likeness, and their intentional content. Ockham proposed different degrees and modes of reflexive cognition regarding these features.     

Development of the Trauma Appraisal Questionnaire

This study describes the development and psychometric properties of the Trauma Appraisal Questionnaire (TAQ). Items were generated based on interviews with 72 ethnically diverse community participants exposed to a range of trauma types. From the interviews, more than 600 items that tapped beliefs, emotions, and behaviors were generated for 9 appraisal categories (e.g., fear, betrayal, shame). Based on expert feedback, 108 items were retained for initial testing in a sample of 714 undergraduate volunteers. Using a factor analytic strategy, we arrived at a 6-scale, 54-item solution. The reliability and validity of the new measure were evaluated in community (N = 119) and undergraduate (Ns = 139 and 79) samples. The measure demonstrated excellent reliability (test–retest and internal consistency) and validity (convergent, discriminant, and concurrent).     

Social-Cognitive Moderators of the Relationship between Peer Victimization and Suicidal Ideation among Psychiatrically Hospitalized Adolescents

Peer victimization among children and adolescents is a major public health concern, given its widespread individual and societal ramifications. Victims of peer aggression often face significant levels of psychological distress and social difficulties, such as depression, suicidal ideation, suicide attempts, and social rejection. The purpose of this study was to examine whether cognitive distortions and perceptions of social support moderate the association between peer victimization and suicidal thoughts among psychiatrically hospitalized adolescents. Participants included 183 psychiatrically hospitalized adolescents (ages 13 to 18). In multiple regression analyses that controlled for gender, social and cognitive factors served as significant resource factors. Cognitive factors also moderated the relationship between peer victimization and suicidal ideation.     

Mind-wandering and negative mood: Does one thing really lead to another?

Mind-wandering is closely connected with negative mood. Whether negative mood is a cause or consequence of mind-wandering remains an important, unresolved, issue. We sought to clarify the direction of this relationship by measuring mood before and after mind-wandering. We also measured the affective content, time-orientation and relevance of mind-wandering to current concerns to explore whether the link between mind-wandering and negative mood might be explained by these characteristics. A novel experience-sampling technique with smartphone application prompted participants to answer questions about mind-wandering and mood across 7 days. While sadness tended to precede mind-wandering, mind-wandering itself was not associated with later mood and only predicted feeling worse if its content was negative. We also found prior sadness predicted retrospective mind-wandering, and prior negative mood predicted mind-wandering to current concerns. Our findings provide new insight into how mood and mind-wandering relate but suggest mind-wandering is not inherently detrimental to well-being.     

Competence and control orientations as predictors of test anxiety in students: Longitudinal results

Abstract

The hypothesis that domain-specific self-related cognitions (self-concept of own competence and control orientations) are predictors of text anxiety in students is tested by longitudinal data. At the beginning and at the end of a school year the following variables were measured twice in a sample of 346 secondary school students (grades six to ten): (1) self-concept of own competence in mathematics, (2) three aspects of locus of control for problem-solving behavior (internality, powerful others control, and chance control), (3) generalized locus of control of reinforcement, (4) test anxiety as well as manifest anxiety. The cross-sequential developmental gradients point toward symmetries in the development of self-related cognitions and test anxiety. The results of cross-lagged correlation analyses show that the null hypothesis (no causal relations exist between the self-related cognitions and test anxiety) can be rejected for the domain-specific aspects of (a low) self-concept of own competence and locus of control (low internality and high chance control), which are confirmed as preceding test anxiety. However, longitudinal results also show that findings of cross-sectional studies tend to overestimate the relations between self-related cognitions and test anxiety in a developmental perspective.     

Consistency of social anxiety in psychiatric patients: Properties of persons,situations, response classes,and types of data

The focus of this study was to investigate the consistency of observed overt behaviors, psychophysiological measures, and reported cognitions in high and low socially anxious psychiatric patients. Forty-seven psychiatric patients (25 high and 22 low socially anxious ones) were exposed to two situations: the initiation of a conversation and the refusal of a request. For both groups of subjects, consistency across situations (Situations) and trait indicators (Reactions) was highest for psychophysiological measures. Observed overt behaviors showed the lowest consistency across Situations and Reactions. Substantial evidence was found for the consistency of Persons x Situations and Persons x Reactions interactions. Moreover, high socially anxious subjects showed a higher consistency than low socially anxious patients with respect to observed overt behaviors and reported cognitions. Using psychophysiological measures, low socially anxious patients showed higher consistency than high socially anxious subjects. The implications for the assessment of social anxiety are discussed.