Gender differences in the pathway of childhood trauma, impulsivity and adult eating behaviour: a cross-sectional study.

Objective: The current cross-sectional study aimed to examine the association between childhood trauma, impulsivity, binge eating symptoms, and body mass index (BMI) in a sample of males and females. We also aimed to investigate the indirect association of childhood trauma with binge eating through impulsivity while controlling for BMI.Method: Participants were 410 young adults (mean age = 20.9 years, range 18-24; female = 73.9%) who completed online measures of childhood trauma, impulsivity, binge eating symptoms, and self-reported height and weight. Mediation models were tested using multi-group structural equation modelling.Results: Childhood trauma and impulsivity were associated with an increased risk of binge eating symptoms in females but not males, corroborating previous studies. There was a significant difference in the binge eating symptoms index between sexes, but not regarding the index of childhood trauma and impulsivity. Additionally, adverse childhood experiences were associated with impulsivity and the association of childhood trauma with binge eating was mediated by impulsivity in the female sample.Conclusions: Our results suggest sex-dependent patterns and risk factors that may impact binge eating symptoms. The implications of our results suggest that impulsivity might be a vulnerability factor for binge eating, especially for females.

How are overweight and obesity associated with reinforcement learning deficits? A systematic review.

Reinforcement learning (RL) refers to the ability to learn stimulus-response or response-outcome associations relevant to the acquisition of behavioral repertoire and adaptation to the environment. Research data from correlational and case-control studies have shown that obesity is associated with impairments in RL. The aim of the present study was to systematically review how obesity and overweight are associated with RL performance. More specifically, the relationship between high body mass index (BMI) and task performance was explored through the analysis of specific RL processes associated with different physiological, computational, and behavioral manifestations. Our systematic analyses indicate that obesity might be associated with impairments in the use of aversive outcomes to change ongoing behavior, as revealed by results involving instrumental negative reinforcement and extinction/reversal learning, but further research needs to be conducted to confirm this association. Hypotheses regarding how obesity might be associated with altered RL were discussed.

Switching to online: Testing the validity of supervised remote testing for online reinforcement learning experiments.

Online experiments are an alternative for researchers interested in conducting behavioral research outside the laboratory. However, an online assessment might become a challenge when long and complex experiments need to be conducted in a specific order or with supervision from a researcher. The aim of this study was to test the computational validity and the feasibility of a remote and synchronous reinforcement learning (RL) experiment conducted during the social-distancing measures imposed by the pandemic. An additional feature of this study was to describe how a behavioral experiment originally created to be conducted in-person was transformed into an online supervised remote experiment. Open-source software was used to collect data, conduct statistical analysis, and do computational modeling. Python codes were created to replicate computational models that simulate the effect of working memory (WM) load over RL performance. Our behavioral results indicated that we were able to replicate remotely and with a modified behavioral task the effects of working memory (WM) load over RL performance observed in previous studies with in-person assessments. Our computational analyses using Python code also captured the effects of WM load over RL as expected, which suggests that the algorithms and optimization methods were reliable in their ability to reproduce behavior. The behavioral and computational validation shown in this study and the detailed description of the supervised remote testing may be useful for researchers interested in conducting long and complex experiments online.

Conscious and pre-conscious attentional bias to food images in patients subjected to Roux-en-Y gastric bypass.

Attentional bias (AB) to food after bariatric surgery might be a cognitive marker for weight regain. The visual probe task (VPT) is commonly used to capture AB at automatic, pre-conscious, and conscious orientation of attention. The aim of this study was to investigate how the preoperative BMI of patients submitted to Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) impacts AB to food. We assessed patients who had preoperative BMI>50 (n = 28) or preoperative BMI<50 (n = 31) months after the RYGB procedure. Participants underwent clinical, psychological, and VPT evaluations. In VPT, pairs of food and matching non-food images were shown for 100 ms, 500 ms or 2000 ms and AB for food was assessed for each exposure time. A significant AB to food was observed at 2000 ms for all patients in this study, suggesting that the overall sample were consciously orienting their attention toward food cues after surgery, a finding that might be relevant for understanding weight control. When groups with preoperative BMI higher and lower than 50 kg/m2 were compared, a significant difference on AB to food stimuli at 500 ms was observed, controlling for excess weight lost since surgery and postoperative time. Subjects with preoperative BMI>50 had a positive and reliable AB to food while subjects with preoperative BMI<50 had a negative AB. This suggests that food stimuli have a higher incentive salience even after surgery for those with BMI>50, which might explain why subjects with higher preoperative weight have higher risks for weight regain. These results may indicate that RYGB can impact incentive salience for food cues in a differential manner, increasing conscious AB in all patients and decreasing pre-conscious AB only in those with BMI<50 kg/m2.

Parsing the link between reinforcement sensitivity theory and eating behavior: A systematic review.

The Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory (RST) is a widely studied psychobiological model of personality. RST factors seem to influence eating behavior, but how these personality traits are associated with distinct features of eating behavior is still unclear. In the present systematic review, we analyzed the relationship between RST personality factors and eating behavior using a parsing approach in which BMI-related results, self-reported results, and behavioral results were distinguished. Our analysis revealed that reward and punishment sensitivity seem to correlate and influence distinct features of eating behavior. The association between BMI and RST factors was uncertain, but nonlinear associations between reward sensitivity and weight need further testing. Reward sensitivity was linked to most eating behavior phenotypes (e.g., emotional eating and restrained eating), but only punishment sensitivity was primarily correlated with eating pathology. Reward sensitivity was the main factor linked with reactivity to food stimuli on many behavioral measures. The neurobiological personality factors of RST offer parsimonious concepts to understand eating behavior outcomes and the differential relationships observed are useful to translational research.

Statistical process control charts for better analysis of sequential data in psychology: The case of illusion of control experiments.

Illusion of control (IOC) is a bias in the judgment of personal success with implications to learning theories and health policies; some important questions in the investigation of IOC may be related to traditional measures in the field, namely self-assessment using Likert scales about the sense of control. Statistical process control (SPC) and Shewhart charts are methods developed to monitor and control industrial processes, never applied in psychological studies before. The present two studies investigated the use of the technique of Shewhart charts in the analysis of IOC. The purpose was to explore the use of SPC and Shewhart charts in the analysis of data sequences from psychological experiments; the objective was to analyze the results of reaction time (RT) data sequences plotted in SPC charts, in comparison with self-assessment judgments from an IOC task. Participants were 63 undergraduate students (Study 1) and 103 mine workers (Study 2) instructed to try to control a traffic light on a computer by pressing or not the keyboard. Higher probabilities of the successful outcome generated judgments of illusion and shifts (due to cognitive activity) in the charts of RT; lower probabilities resulted in null illusion and RT presented a random and stable profile. Patterns for different groups emerged in Shewhart charts. SPC can contribute to the analysis of the behavior of sequences of data in psychological studies, so that the charts indicate changes and patterns not detected by traditional ANOVA and other linear models.

Teoria da Sensibilidade ao Reforçamento: Pressupostos, Procedimentos e Medidas / Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory: Assumptions, Procedures, and Measures

Resumo A Teoria da Sensibilidade ao Reforçamento (RST) é um modelo psicobiológico de personalidade derivado de estudos experimentais com humanos e não humanos. Na RST, duas dimensões de personalidade influenciam a reatividade ao ambiente: sensibilidade à recompensa (SR) e sensibilidade à punição (SP). O pressuposto central da teoria é de que há uma relação entre personalidade (SR e SP) e aprendizagem por condicionamento. O objetivo deste artigo é apresentar aos pesquisadores brasileiros a história, as hipóteses centrais e os procedimentos experimentais da RST e discutir as medidas utilizadas para testar os pressupostos da teoria. A RST é um modelo promissor para o estudo da personalidade dentro da psicologia experimental, psiquiatria e neurociências.

Abstract The Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory (RST) is a biological model of personality derived from experimental studies with humans and nonhumans. In RST, two personality dimensions influence reactivity to the environment: sensitivity to reward (SR) and sensitivity to punishment (SP). The central assumption of the theory is that there is a relationship between personality (SR and SP) and conditioning learning. This article aims to introduce Brazilian researchers to the history, central hypotheses, and experimental procedures of RST and discuss the measures used to test the theoretical assumptions. RST is a promising model for the study of personality within experimental psychology, psychiatry, and neuroscience.

Eliciting Negative Affects Using Film Clips and Real-Life Methods.

Although audio-visual stimuli are among the most frequently used methods to elicit emotional reactions in experimental conditions, real-life manipulations have increasingly been used in different countries. However, the applicability of such protocols has not yet been tested in Brazilian Portuguese speakers. Thus, we conducted two experiments to investigate the effectiveness of both methods. In the first experiment, we used film clips to induce negative emotions (i.e., anger, fear, or sadness) or an emotionally neutral condition in 321 undergraduate students. After watching one of the online videos, volunteers completed an emotional assessment. As expected, there were significant differences in all groups. Our results corroborate the relatively discrete patterns in emotion elicitation using films. In the second experiment, anger was elicited in 18 male undergraduates through a hostile social interaction with a confederate and measured by the corrugator muscle activity and cortisol responses. Indeed, there was an increase in corrugator activity in the group exposed to anger induction, even after a few minutes from the end of the experimental manipulation. Implications for experiments on the negative emotions are discussed.

It is pleasant and heavy: convergence of visual contents in tobacco, alcohol and food marketing in Brazil.

The tactical use of visuoperceptual content in marketing may encourage impulsive consumption of unhealthy products. In this study, the application of visuoperceptual content was compared in advertisements used by industries of tobacco, alcohol and food. The aim was to ascertain whether similarities exist in the strategies used as variables for the selection of commercial stimuli, such as color, position and size. Scion Image and Corel Draw Graphics Suite software were used to analyze the content of a non-probabilistic sample of advertising images (N = 150). Differences were identified in the use of the colors green (p = 0.04) and red (p = 0.01), but not in the use of the color blue (p = 0.64), suggesting that induction of feelings of pleasantness resulting from the use of the color blue may be associated with the advertising in the alcohol and tobacco industries. Regarding the position of the commercial stimuli, a predominance of the use of quadrants 'C' (p = 0.00) and 'D' (p = 0.01) was found in all three industries, indicating a similar use of areas perceived as being 'heavier'. As to the size, 78% of advertisements placed the commercial stimuli within a range of 0-25% of the total image. The results showed some similarities in the use of visuoperceptual content in advertisements for tobacco, alcohol and food, especially between tobacco and alcohol. The article offers a convergence analysis of these three industries altogether, providing additional subsidies for the formulation of protection policies.

Compras compulsivas: uma revisão sistemática das opções psicoterapêuticas / Compulsive buying: a systematic review of the psychotherapeutic options

Foi realizada uma revisão sistemática da literatura dos últimos 12 anos sobre o comprar compulsivo e as suas opções psicoterapêuticas. A busca foi realizada nas bases de dados MEDLINE, Web of Science e American PsychologicalAssociation (APA) com as palavras-chave psychotherapy (psicoterapia) and (e) compulsivebuying (compras compulsivas). Foram encontrados 86 artigos. Após leitura dos resumos, foram excluídos os artigos escritos em outra língua que não português ou inglês, artigos teóricos ou de revisão, e artigos que não tinham foco na psicoterapia. Apenas sete estudos preencheram esses critérios e foram analisados. Cinco estudos focavam modalidades grupais de terapia, sendo quatro de abordagem cognitivo-comportamental. Com base nesta revisão,pode-se considerar que a TCC em grupo é uma abordagem indicada para o tratamento do comprar compulsivo. Entretanto, há que se ressaltar que ausência de evidência não significa evidência de ausência. Mais estudos são necessários, especialmente comparando dois tratamentos ativos ou as modalidades individual e grupal.(AU)

We conducted a systematic review of literature about psychotherapy for compulsive buying, considering the last 12 years. The search was performed in MEDLINE, Web of Sciences and American Psychological Association (APA) with the keywords "psychotherapy" and "compulsive buying". A total of 86 papers were found. We excluded papers written in other languages than Portuguese and English, theoretical studies and literature reviews, as well as studies that were not focused in psychotherapy. Only seven studies meet criteria and were analyzed. Five studies focused group therapy modalities, four of them with cognitive behavioral approach. Based on this review it can be considered that group CBT is an appropriate approach for compulsive buying treatment. However, it is noteworthy that the absence of evidence does not mean evidence of absence. More studies are needed, especially comparing two active treatments or individual and group modalities.(AU)