Memory Bias for Faces that are Perceived as Hostile by Crime Victims with Acute Post-traumatic Stress Disorder

The present study tested, and found support for, the hypotheses that crime victims with acute post-traumatic stress disorder have: (i) a general memory impairment for faces; and (ii) a memory bias for faces that they perceive as hostile, even when these faces are not arranged to show any hostile face expressions. It is suggested that crime victims with acute post-traumatic stress disorder perform worse on recognition memory due to impaired concentration, and that they allocate their limited attentional resources to the detection of hostility in others in order to avoid being victimized again. This produces a memory bias for perceived hostility even in relatively innocuous everyday interactions with others, which contributes to maintaining the sense of serious current threat that characterizes post-traumatic stress disorder.     

Beyond Negative Affectivity: A Hierarchical Model of Global and Transdiagnostic Vulnerabilities for Emotional Disorders

Background: Negative affectivity (NA) has been linked to anxiety and depression (DEP). Identifying the common factors between anxiety and DEP is important when explaining their overlap and comorbidity. However, general factors such as NA tend to have differential relationships with different disorders, suggesting the need to identify mediators in order to explicate these relationships. Methods: The current study tests a theoretically and empirically derived hierarchical model of emotional disorders including both a general factor (NA) and transdiagnostic risk factors [anxiety sensitivity (AS) and intolerance of uncertainty (IoU)] using structural equation modeling. AS was tested as a mid-level factor between NA and panic disorder/agoraphobia, while IoU was tested as a mid-level factor between NA and social phobia, generalized anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and DEP. Data from 642 clinical outpatients with a heterogeneous presentation of emotional disorders were available for analysis. Results: The hierarchical model fits the data adequately. Moreover, while a simplified model removing AS and IoU fits the data well, it resulted in a significant loss of information for all latent disorder constructs. Limitations: Data were unavailable to estimate post-traumatic stress disorder or specific phobias. Future work will need to extend to other emotional disorders. Conclusions: This study demonstrates the importance of both general factors that link disorders together and semi-specific transdiagnostic factors partially explaining their heterogeneity. Including these mid-level factors in hierarchical models of psychopathology can help account for additional variance and help to clarify the relationship between disorder constructs and NA.     

空间偏向成因研究:理论解释与前景展望

空间偏向意指人们在注意刺激物时普遍具有方向上的偏好.对其成因,目前主要存在“大脑说”和“文化说”两派观点.前者认为大脑的不对称性是决定因素,而后者则认为阅读和书写习惯等文化因素是主要成因.本文在综述空间偏向研究后指出,以上两派学说在解释力上各有得失,但并非完全对立,将二者结合起来的“大脑-文化说”才能更好地解释空间偏向现象.     

数字线和离散物体任务训练对儿童整数偏向的影响

通过数字线任务和离散物体任务对81名拥有错误整数偏向的儿童进行干预,再进行分数比较任务,以考查不同干预对错误整数偏向的影响以及分数在心理数字线上的表征方式。结果表明：（1）离散物体组儿童在干预任务中表现较好,在分数比较任务中得分也显著高于数字线组儿童,但反应时要慢于数字线组儿童。（2）正确比较分数时,两组均出现正确整数偏向,但错误的整数偏向依然存在,二者在整数系统扩展到有理数系统这个过渡期同时存在。     

乐观偏差的认知神经机制

乐观偏差是指人们趋向于认为好事发生在自己身上, 坏事发生在他人身上的一种心理期望(Weinstein, 1980)。乐观偏差的研究范式主要有社会比较范式、过去未来想象范式以及信息转变任务范式。运用fMRI对乐观偏差研究发现, 乐观偏差的神经机制主要涉及前喙扣带皮质和杏仁核、前额叶、多巴胺等。未来要结合社会比较和信息转变范式对乐观偏差进行测量; 研究乐观偏差认知机制的神经机制, 特别是采用ERP技术研究乐观偏差的认知机制; 同时要进一步揭示不同亚型乐观偏差的神经机制; 最后还要开展乐观偏差影响心理健康的神经机制研究。     

Internalized weight stigma mediates and moderates physical activity outcomes during a healthy living program for women with high body mass index

ObjectivesTo investigate the influence of internalized weight stigma (IWS) on physical activity (PA) outcomes among women with body mass index (BMI) over 30 kg/m².Design and methodData were drawn from an RCT that included 80 primarily inactive women (94% non-Hispanic/Latina white; mean age = 39.6, SD = 4.1, range = 30.0 to 45.0; mean BMI = 38.0 kg/m², SD = 3.9, range = 30.2–44.8 kg/m². Participants completed a 6 month weight-neutral, health-at-every-size or weight-loss-focused group-based healthy living program. PA enjoyment and engagement in moderate-intensity PA (MI-PA) (at least 30 minutes most days of the week) were assessed at baseline and immediately post-intervention. We used intention-to-treat linear mixed-effects modeling to test IWS as a moderator of changes in MI-PA engagement. We also tested a model whereby the positive effects of participating in the program on engagement in MI-PA would be serially mediated by a reduction in IWS and a concomitant increase in MI-PA enjoyment.ResultsThe weight-neutral and weight-loss-focused data were combined for all analyses. The moderation hypothesis was supported with a significant interaction between IWS and time. Participants had significant gains overall in MI-PA engagement from baseline to post-intervention; however, those with high IWS had an attenuated response. The serial mediation model was also supported. The positive effect of the program on engagement in MI-PA occurred through decreased IWS and increased MI-PA enjoyment.ConclusionsSelf-directed stigma and holding negative attitudes about one's weight interferes with positive changes in PA outcomes. Healthy living programs may be less effective for those most vulnerable unless we aim to reduce IWS.     

The factor structure of the Social Axioms Survey II (SASII) in the South African context

The objective of this study was to validate the new Social Axioms Survey II (SASII). The study sample comprised university students (n = 793) as well as their family members and friends (n = 645). Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) following an initial exploratory factor analysis yielded a five-factor model: social cynicism, social complexity, reward for application, religiosity, and fate control. The findings of this study support the use of the new SASII in South Africa for research purposes.     

Relationships among Negative Emotionality,Responsive Parenting and Early Socio‐cognitive Development in Korean Children

The present study examined the interplay among negative emotionality, responsive parenting and socio‐cognitive developmental outcomes (i.e., communication, personal‐social and problem‐solving outcomes) in about 1620 Korean children using three waves of longitudinal data spanning the first 2 years of their life. Results from the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) demonstrated that there were moderate to low degrees of stability in negative emotionality, responsive parenting and socio‐cognitive developmental outcomes from infancy to toddlerhood. Evidence for reciprocity in the parent–child relationship was found; responsive parenting predicted higher levels of subsequent child communication (in infancy and toddlerhood), and infants' higher problem‐solving ability predicted higher responsive parenting in toddlerhood. Overall, the cross‐age associations among the variables were similar between boys and girls, but some different patterns were observed: when controlling for family contextual factors and the within‐time correlations, negative emotionality at an earlier point significantly predicted lower responsive parenting at a later point and vice versa only in girls during infancy, but neither in boys nor in toddlerhood. The implications of these findings are discussed. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Introducing Emotioncy as a Potential Source of Test Bias: A Mixed Rasch Modeling Study

This article attempts to present emotioncy as a potential source of test bias to inform the analysis of test item performance. Emotioncy is defined as a hierarchy, ranging from exvolvement (auditory, visual, and kinesthetic) to involvement (inner and arch), to emphasize the emotions evoked by the senses. This study hypothesizes that when individuals have high levels of emotioncy for specific words, their test performance may systematically change, resulting in test bias. To this end, 355 individuals were asked to take a 40-item vocabulary test along with the emotioncy scale. Mixed Rasch model was employed to flag differential item functioning items. Results illustrated that the test takers with high emotioncy toward specific words outperformed the ones in the low-emotioncy group, characterizing emotioncy as a potential source of test bias.