Validation of the Edited Tromsø Infant Faces Database (E-TIF): A study on differences in the processing of children's emotional expressions.

Images of emotional facial expressions are often used in emotion research, which has promoted the development of different databases. However, most of these standardized sets of images do not include images from infants under 2 years of age, which is relevant for psychology research, especially for perinatal psychology. The present study aims to validate the edited version of the Tromsø Infant Faces Database (E-TIF) in a large sample of participants. The original set of 119 pictures was edited. The pictures were cropped to remove nonrelevant information, fitted in an oval window, and converted to grayscale. Four hundred and eighty participants (72.9% women) took part in the study, rating the images on five dimensions: depicted emotion, clarity, intensity, valence, and genuineness. Valence scores were useful for discriminating between positive, negative, and neutral facial expressions. Results revealed that women were more accurate at recognizing emotions in children. Regarding parental status, parents, in comparison with nonparents, rated neutral expressions as more intense and genuine. They also rated sad, angry, disgusted, and fearful faces as less negative, and happy expressions as less positive. The editing and validation of the E-TIF database offers a useful tool for basic and experimental research in psychology.

Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on perinatal mental health in Spain: Positive and negative outcomes.

BACKGROUND: Previous studies have shown that perinatal distress has a negative influence on pregnancy outcome and the physiological development of the baby. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to describe the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on maternal perinatal mental health in Spain. METHODS: Seven hundred and twenty-four women (N=450 pregnancy, N=274 postpartum) were recruited online during the pandemic. The Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale, the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule, and the Satisfaction With Life Scale were administered. Variables related to sociodemographic information, the COVID-19 pandemic, and perinatal care were also assessed. FINDINGS: The results showed that 58% of women reported depressive symptoms. Moreover, 51% of women reported anxiety symptoms. On the other hand, a regression analysis for life satisfaction showed that besides the perception about their own health, marital status or being a health practitioner were also significant predictors during pregnancy. However, perception about baby's health and sleep, perception about their own health, and marital status were significant predictors of life satisfaction during the postpartum stage. DISCUSSION: Women assessed during the COVID-19 pandemic reported high rates of psychological distress. CONCLUSION: These results highlight the need of clinical support during this period. Knowing the routes to both distress and well-being may help maternity services to effectively cope with the pandemic.

Cockroaches are scarier than snakes and spiders: Validation of an affective standardized set of animal images (ASSAI).

Research on emotional processes has been closely related to the use of emotional stimuli, promoting the development of different standardized sets of images. However, some kinds of images that would be relevant in clinical psychology research are not available, especially for small animal phobias. The aim of the present study is to validate a set of animal images that includes images of cockroaches, which are not present in the current sets of images. Two hundred and forty images depicting five types of animals (cockroaches, spiders, snakes, cats, and butterflies) were collected from online public domains. Four hundred and twenty-four participants (72.9% women) took part in the study rating the images in two affective dimensions (i.e., valence and arousal). Cockroach pictures were rated as significantly more unpleasant than pictures of spiders, snakes, butterflies, and cats. Moreover, results revealed that women rated cockroach, spider, and snake pictures as more negative than men did. Also, women in comparison with men rated cockroach images as more arousing. The results highlight the importance of using images of cockroaches, due to their high negative valence, which even exceeds that of snakes and spiders, the unpleasant animals typically used in phobic research. This set of images can be useful in research on small-animal phobias.

CBT and positive psychology interventions for clinical depression promote healthy attentional biases: An eye-tracking study.

BACKGROUND: Although there is a growing interest in the role of attentional biases in depression, there are no studies assessing changes in these biases after psychotherapeutic interventions. METHODS: We used a validated eye-tracking procedure to assess pre-post therapy changes in attentional biases toward emotional information (i.e., happy, sad, and angry faces) when presented with neutral information (i.e., neutral faces). The sample consisted of 75 participants with major depression or dysthymia. Participants were blindly assigned to one of two 10 weekly sessions of group therapy: a cognitive behavior therapy intervention (N = 41) and a positive psychology intervention (N = 34). RESULTS: Both treatments were equally efficacious in improving depressive symptoms (p = .0001, η² = .68). A significant change in attentional performance after therapy was observed irrespective of the intervention modality. Comparison of pre-post attentional measures revealed a significant reduction in the total time of fixations (TTF) looking at negative information (i.e., sad and angry faces) and a significant increase in the TTF looking at positive information (i.e., happy faces)-all p < .02. CONCLUSIONS: Findings reveal for the first time that psychotherapeutic interventions are associated with a significant change in attentional biases as assessed by a direct measure of attention. Furthermore, these changes seem to operate in the same direction typically found in healthy populations (i.e., a bias away from negative information and a parallel bias toward positive information). These findings illustrate the importance of considering attentional biases as clinical markers of depression and suggest the viability of modifying these biases as a potential tool for clinical change.

A failure to show the efficacy of a dot-probe attentional training in dysphoria: Evidence from an eye-tracking study.

OBJECTIVE: This study examines whether a 4-day dot-probe attentional training to orient attention toward positive words could lead participants with dysphoria to change selective attention to emotional faces. It was also explored whether this positive attentional bias training could lead to a decrease in depressive symptoms. METHODS: Participants were randomly assigned to Positive Training Group (PTG) and No Training Group (NTG). PTG was composed of 16 subjects, whereas NTG was composed of 15 subjects. All participants were women with a mean age of 22.87 (SD = 3.21). RESULTS: Results showed that dysphoric participants in the PTG did not show changes in attentional patterns to emotional faces. Furthermore, depressive symptoms did not significantly change after the 4-session training. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that cognitive training procedures based on dot-probe paradigms are probably not adequate to modify attentional patterns in individuals with depressive symptoms. The theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

The four faces of rumination to stressful events: A psychometric analysis.

OBJECTIVE: To increase the knowledge of rumination and its associations with stressful events, we explored the relationships between 4 types of rumination (brooding, reflection, intrusive, and deliberate rumination) in a sample of 750 adult participants who experienced a highly stressful event. We also explored the predictive value of the different types of rumination on posttraumatic stress symptoms and posttraumatic growth 6 months after the highly stressful event occurred. METHOD: Participants completed the Ruminative Response Scale and the Event-Related Rumination Inventory. Brooding and reflection rumination were obtained from the Ruminative Response Scale, whereas deliberate and intrusive rumination were obtained from the Event-Related Rumination Inventory. Confirmatory factorial analyses were conducted using the 4 types of rumination to test 3 different models: (a) 4-factor model (brooding, reflection, intrusive, and deliberate rumination), (b) 2-factor model: adaptive rumination (reflection and deliberate) and maladaptive rumination (brooding and intrusive), and (c) 2-factor model: depressive rumination (brooding and reflection) and posttraumatic rumination (intrusive and deliberate). RESULTS: It was observed that the 4-factor model showed the best fit to the data. Moreover, 6 months later it was observed that the most significant predictor of posttraumatic symptoms was intrusive rumination, whereas deliberate rumination was the most significant predictor of posttraumatic growth. CONCLUSIONS: Results indicate that the 4 types of rumination are differentiated constructs. Ruminative thoughts experienced after a stressful event predicted posttraumatic consequences 6 months later. Implications of these findings are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record

The Modulation of the Startle Reflex as Predictor of Alcohol Use Disorders in a Sample of Heavy Drinkers: A 4-Year Follow-Up Study.

BACKGROUND: Previous studies demonstrated that patients with alcohol use disorders (AUDs) show altered startle reflex responses to alcohol-related stimuli. However, there is little information about the role of these altered responses in the development of AUDs. This study examined the startle reflex response to different visual stimuli and the role of these patterns in the development of AUDs in a 4-year follow-up. METHODS: Two hundred and thirty-nine (nondependent) heavy-drinking participants were selected. In the baseline period, the startle reflex responses to alcohol-related, aversive, appetitive, and neutral pictures were assessed. Startle reflex responses to these pictures were used as predictive variables. Status drinking (alcohol dependence and nondependence) assessed at 4-year follow-up was used as outcome measure. RESULTS: At the 4-year follow-up assessment, 46% of participants fulfilled DSM-IV alcohol abuse or dependence criteria. Alcohol dependence status was predicted by an attenuated startle reflex response to alcohol-related and aversive pictures. CONCLUSIONS: This study revealed that an attenuated modulation of startle reflex response to alcohol-related and aversive stimuli could be used as a clinical marker to predict the development of AUDs in participants with previous alcohol consumption.

Modificación de sesgos cognitivos (MSC) en depresión: una revisión crítica de nuevos procedimientos para el cambio de sesgos cognitivos / Cognitive bias modification (CBM) in depression: a critical review of new procedures to change cognitive biases

Los sesgos cognitivos juegan un papel importante como factores de vulnerabilidad en los trastornos emocionales. Recientemente se han empezado a desarrollar intervenciones para la Modificación de Sesgos Cognitivos (MSC), con el objetivo final de mejorar los síntomas clínicos. Aunque estos procedimientos innovadores se han utilizado más en los problemas de ansiedad, existe una investigación creciente sobre su uso en la depresión. En este trabajo efectuamos una revisión del marco teórico, los procedimientos utilizados y los principales resultados de la MSC en la depresión, en especial en la corrección de sesgos atencionales y de interpretación. Finalmente se analizan las limitaciones conceptuales y metodológicas de estas nuevas intervenciones y se discuten sus implicaciones clínicas, teóricas y aplicadas.

Cognitive biases play an important role as vulnerability factors in emotional disorders. Interventions for Cognitive Bias Modification (CBM) have recently begun to be developed with the ultimate goal of improving clinical symptoms. Although these innovative procedures have been applied mainly in anxiety problems, there is increasing research on the application in depression. This work reviews the theoretical framework, the procedures used, and the main results of CBM in depression, especially in the modification of attention and interpretative bias. Finally the conceptual and methodological limitations of these promising interventions procedures are analyzed as well as the clinical, theoretical and applied implications.

Insight in paranoia: The role of experiential avoidance and internalized stigma.

Evidence suggests that insight in psychosis has been related to treatment adherence, recovery and good prognosis, but also to depression, low self-esteem, and diminished quality of life. Thus, insight might not be advantageous under all circumstances. Internalized-stigma (i.e. self-acceptance of stigmatizing images of illness) and experiential avoidance (i.e. unwillingness to experience negative private events) have been proposed as moderating variables between insight, and psychological health variables and/or distress. We investigated the patterns of association of insight with satisfaction with life, self-esteem, depression, anxiety and psychotic psychopathology as moderated by self-stigmatizing beliefs and experiential avoidance, in a sample of 47 participants with persecutory beliefs and diagnosed with schizophrenia or other psychotic disorder. Moderation analyses confirm the importance of internalized-stigma and experiential avoidance. The presence of insight was associated with more depression when there were high levels of self-stigma. Whereas, the absence of insight was associated with a greater life satisfaction when there were high levels of experiential avoidance. To summarize, our results help understand the complex relationship between insight, psychological health variables and emotional distress, pointing to a differential pattern of moderation for negative and positive outcomes. We discuss the implications of these results for research and treatment of paranoia.

Double attention bias for positive and negative emotional faces in clinical depression: evidence from an eye-tracking study.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: According to cognitive models, attentional biases in depression play key roles in the onset and subsequent maintenance of the disorder. The present study examines the processing of emotional facial expressions (happy, angry, and sad) in depressed and non-depressed adults. METHODS: Sixteen unmedicated patients with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) and 34 never-depressed controls (ND) completed an eye-tracking task to assess different components of visual attention (orienting attention and maintenance of attention) in the processing of emotional faces. RESULTS: Compared to ND, participants with MDD showed a negative attentional bias in attentional maintenance indices (i.e. first fixation duration and total fixation time) for sad faces. This attentional bias was positively associated with the severity of depressive symptoms. Furthermore, the MDD group spent a marginally less amount of time viewing happy faces compared with the ND group. No differences were found between the groups with respect to angry faces and orienting attention indices. LIMITATIONS: The current study is limited by its cross-sectional design. CONCLUSIONS: These results support the notion that attentional biases in depression are specific to depression-related information and that they operate in later stages in the deployment of attention.

Gaze-fixation and pupil dilation in the processing of emotional faces: the role of rumination.

Sustained attentional processing of negative information plays a significant role in the development and maintenance of depression. The present study examines the relationships between rumination, a relevant factor in information processing in depression, and the attentional mechanisms activated in individuals with different levels of depression severity when attending to emotional information (i.e., sad, angry and happy faces). Behavioural and physiological indicators of sustained processing were assessed in 126 participants (39 dysphoric and 87 non-dysphoric) using eye-tracking technology. Pupil dilation and total time attending to negative faces were correlated with a global ruminative style in the total sample once depression severity was controlled. Furthermore, in dysphoric participants the brooding component of rumination was specifically associated with the total time attending to sad faces. Finally, bootstrapping analyses showed that the relationships between global rumination and pupil diameter to emotional faces were accounted by total time attending to emotional faces, specifically for participants reporting lower levels of depression severity. The results support the idea that sustained processing of negative information is associated with a higher ruminative style and indicate differential associations between these factors at different levels of depressive symptomatology.

Satisfaction with life scale in a representative sample of Spanish adults: validation and normative data.

The Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) is a measure widely used to assess life satisfaction. This paper aims to test its psychometric properties, factor structure, and distribution scores across age, gender, education, and employment status. For this purpose, a representative sample of the Spanish population (N = 2,964) was used. Although analyses showed no significant differences across age or gender, participants with higher education level and those who held an occupation were more satisfied with their lives. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed a unifactorial structure with significant correlations between the SWLS, and subjective happiness and social support. The internal consistency of the scale was .88. Thus, our results indicate that the Spanish version of the SWLS is a valid and reliable measure of life satisfaction within the Spanish context.