The association between ruminative thinking and negative interpretation bias in social anxiety.

Cognitive models propose that both, negative interpretations of ambiguous social situations and ruminative thoughts about social events contribute to the maintenance of social anxiety disorder. It has further been postulated that ruminative thoughts fuel biased negative interpretations, however, evidence is rare. The present study used a multi-method approach to assess ruminative processing following a social interaction (post-event processing by self-report questionnaire and social rumination by experience sampling method) and negative interpretation bias (via two separate tasks) in a student sample (n = 51) screened for high (HSA) and low social anxiety (LSA). Results support the hypothesis that group differences in negative interpretations of ambiguous social situations in HSAs vs. LSAs are mediated by higher levels of post-event processing assessed in the questionnaire. Exploratory analyses highlight the potential role of comorbid depressive symptoms. The current findings help to advance the understanding of the association between two cognitive processes involved in social anxiety and stress the importance of ruminative post-event processing.

Cognitive deficits are a matter of emotional context: inflexible strategy use mediates context-specific learning impairments in OCD.

The present study examines the interplay between cognitive deficits and emotional context in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and social phobia (SP). Specifically, this study examines whether the inflexible use of efficient learning strategies in an emotional context underlies impairments in probabilistic classification learning (PCL) in OCD, and whether PCL impairments are specific to OCD. Twenty-three participants with OCD, 30 participants with SP and 30 healthy controls completed a neutral and an OCD-specific PCL task. OCD participants failed to adopt efficient learning strategies and showed fewer beneficial strategy switches than controls only in an OCD-specific context, but not in a neutral context. Additionally, OCD participants did not show any explicit memory impairments. Number of beneficial strategy switches in the OCD-specific task mediated the difference in PCL performance between OCD and control participants. Individuals with SP were impaired in both PCL tasks. In contrast to neuropsychological models postulating general cognitive impairments in OCD, the present findings suggest that it is the interaction between cognition and emotion that is impaired in OCD. Specifically, activated disorder-specific fears may impair the flexible adoption of efficient learning strategies and compromise otherwise unimpaired PCL. Impairments in PCL are not specific to OCD.

Computerized cognitive control training to reduce rumination in major depression: A randomized controlled trial.

OBJECTIVE: Rumination is a major risk factor for the onset and recurrence of depressive episodes and has been associated with deficits in updating working memory content. This randomized controlled trial examines whether training updating-specific cognitive control processes reduces daily ruminative thoughts in clinically depressed individuals. METHODS: Sixty-five individuals with a current major depressive episode were randomized to 10 sessions of either cognitive control training (N = 31) or placebo training (N = 34). The frequency and negativity of individuals' daily ruminative thoughts were assessed for seven days before training, after training, and at a 3-month follow-up using experience sampling methodology. Secondary outcomes were depressive symptoms, depressed mood, and level of disability. RESULTS: Cognitive control training led to stronger improvements in the trained task than placebo training. However, cognitive control training did not lead to greater reductions in the frequency or negativity of daily ruminative thoughts than placebo training. There were no training-specific effects on participants' depressive symptoms or level of disability. CONCLUSIONS: The robustness of the present null-findings, combined with the methodological strengths of the study, suggest that training currently depressed individuals to update emotional content in working memory does not affect the frequency or negativity of their daily ruminative thoughts.

Regional gray matter changes in obsessive-compulsive disorder: relationship to clinical characteristics.

Regional brain volumes were compared between 23 participants with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and 36 healthy controls using magnetic resonance imaging with voxel-based morphometry. A volumetric decrease in OCD was found in the right mediofrontal cortex. An increase was found in the left temporoparietal cortex. Volume alterations were related to symptom severity and age of onset.

Depression and rumination: relation to components of inhibition.

BACKGROUND: Recent research has demonstrated that depressed individuals show impairments in inhibiting irrelevant emotional material, and that these impairments are linked to rumination. Cognitive inhibition, however, is not a unitary construct but consists of several components which operate at different stages of information processing. The present study was designed to assess two components of inhibition and examine their relation to depression and rumination in a sample of clinically depressed and healthy control participants. METHODS: Twenty-two individuals diagnosed with a current depressive episode and 27 never-disordered control participants completed an Emotional Flanker Task to assess individual differences in interference control and a modification of the Working Memory Selection Task to assess individual differences in the ability to discard no longer relevant emotional material from working memory. Participants completed self-report measures to assess depressive symptoms and rumination. RESULTS: Clinically depressed compared to control participants showed significantly reduced interference control of irrelevant negative information. The groups, however, did not differ in their ability to discard no longer relevant negative information from working memory. In contrast, rumination was associated with difficulty removing no longer relevant negative material from working memory but not with deficits in interference control. CONCLUSIONS: Results highlight the importance of differentiating among components of inhibition to gain a better understanding of cognitive mechanisms underlying depression and rumination.

Future expectations in clinical depression: Biased or realistic?

Negative expectations have been highlighted as a key mechanism in the maintenance and recurrence of depression. Nonetheless, no study has investigated currently depressed individuals' expectations about their future mood so far. This is surprising given that experiences of sustained negative mood and lack of positive mood are the hallmark symptoms of depression. The present study thus assessed depressed individuals' expectations about their future mood and examined whether these expectations are accurate or negatively biased. The study used experience sampling methodology (ESM) to contrast participants' expectations with their actually experienced sad and happy mood within a 4-day period. At the end of this period, participants recalled their past mood. All variables were assessed in 30 clinically depressed individuals and 37 matched healthy controls, as well as in 56 undergraduate students with a wide range in depressive symptoms. Results revealed that clinically depressed individuals held negatively biased expectations about their future mood: they expected more sad and less happy mood than they actually experienced. In contrast, healthy individuals showed realistic expectations about their future mood. Depressed individuals also demonstrated a negative mood recall bias. Finally, individuals' expectations and memories were more closely linked to depression status than their actually experienced mood. Although negative mood is the hallmark symptom of depression, the expectations and memories of negative mood may be even more central for the understanding of depression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Shedding light on the association between repetitive negative thinking and deficits in cognitive control - A meta-analysis.

Individuals who experience recurrent negative thoughts are at elevated risk for mood and anxiety disorders. It is thus essential to understand why some individuals get stuck in recurrent negative thinking (RNT), whereas others are able to disengage eventually. Theoretical models propose that individuals high in recurrent negative thinking suffer from deficits in controlling the contents of working memory. Empirical findings, however, are inconclusive. In this meta-analysis, we synthesize findings from 94 studies to examine the proposed association between RNT and deficits in cognitive control. We included numerous effect sizes not reported in the primary publications. Moderator analyses tested the influence of variables, such as stimuli valence, cognitive control function (e.g., shifting, discarding), or type of RNT (i.e., rumination or worry). Results demonstrated an association between repetitive negative thinking and deficits in only one specific cognitive control function, namely difficulty discarding no longer relevant material from working memory (r = -0.20). This association remained significant after controlling for level of psychopathology. There was no substantial association between RNT and deficits in any other cognitive control function. All other moderators were not significant. We discuss limitations (e.g., primary sample sizes, reliability of paradigms) and highlight implications for future research and clinical interventions.

The Neural Correlates of Probabilistic Classification Learning in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: A Pilot Study.

Individuals suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) have been found to show deficits in implicitly learning probabilistic associations between events. Neuroimaging studies have associated these implicit learning deficits in OCD individuals with aberrant activation of the striatal system. Recent behavioral studies have highlighted that probabilistic classification learning (PCL) deficits in OCD individuals only occur in a disorder-specific context, while PCL remains intact in a neutral context. The neural correlates of implicit learning in an OCD-specific context, however, have not yet been investigated. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging during a neutral (prediction of weather) and an OCD-specific variant (prediction of a virus epidemic) of a PCL paradigm, we assessed brain activity associated with implicit learning processes in 10 participants with OCD and 10 matched healthy controls. Regions of interest (ROIs) were the striatum and the medial temporal lobe. ROI analyses revealed a significantly higher activity in the bilateral putamen and the left hippocampus of OCD participants as compared to healthy controls during both PCL tasks. The group differences could partly be subsumed under a group × task interaction effect with OCD participants showing a significantly higher activity than healthy controls in the left putamen and the left hippocampus in the OCD-specific task variant only. These results suggest a compensation of aberrant striatal activity by an augmented engagement of the explicit memory system particularly in a disorder-relevant context in OCD participants.

Cognitive control and daily affect regulation in major depression and borderline personality disorder: protocol for an experimental ambulatory assessment study in Berlin, Germany.

INTRODUCTION: Affective disturbances and difficulty in affect regulation are core features of major depressive disorder (MDD) as well as borderline personality disorder (BPD). Whereas depressed individuals are characterised by affective inertia, individuals with BPD are characterised by affective instability. Both groups have been found to use more maladaptive affect regulation strategies than healthy controls. Surprisingly, however, there have been hardly any studies directly comparing these two disorders to disentangle shared and disorder-specific deficits in affective dynamics and affect regulation.Furthermore, theoretical models link deficits in affect regulation to deficits in cognitive control functions. Given that individuals with MDD or BPD are both characterised by impairments in cognitive control, the present study will further examine the link between individual differences in cognitive control and disturbances in affect dynamics and regulation in the daily life of individuals with MDD or BPD. METHODS AND ANALYSES: We will use a smartphone application to assess negative and positive affect as well as affect regulation strategies at eight times a day for 7 days. We will further employ four computerised tasks to assess two cognitive control functions, namely interference control and discarding irrelevant information from working memory. Our hypotheses will be tested using a multimethod approach. Power analyses determined a sample size of 159 (53 MDD, 53 BPD, 53 controls) to detect medium effect sizes. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Ethics approval has been obtained from the Freie Universität Berlin. Data collection started in January 2017 and will last until the end of 2018. Results will be disseminated to relevant psychotherapeutic and patient communities in peer-reviewed journals, and at scientific conferences.

Individuals With OCD Lack Unrealistic Optimism Bias in Threat Estimation.

Overestimating the occurrence of threatening events has been highlighted as a central cognitive factor in the maintenance of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The present study examined the different facets of this cognitive bias, its underlying mechanisms, and its specificity to OCD. For this purpose, threat estimation, probabilistic classification learning (PCL) and psychopathological measures were assessed in 23 participants with OCD, 30 participants with social phobia, and 31 healthy controls. Whereas healthy participants showed an optimistic expectation bias regarding positive and negative future events, OCD participants lacked such a bias. This lack of an optimistic expectation bias was not specific to OCD. Compared to healthy controls, OCD participants overestimated their personal risk for experiencing negative events, but did not differ from controls in their risk estimation regarding other people. Finally, OCD participants' biases in the prediction of checking-related events were associated with their impairments in learning probabilistic cue-outcome associations in a disorder-relevant context. In sum, the present results add to a growing body of research demonstrating that cognitive biases in OCD are context-dependent.

Imminent danger? Probabilistic classification learning of threat-related information in obsessive-compulsive disorder.

A tendency to overestimate threat has been shown in individuals with OCD. We tested the hypothesis that this bias in judgment is related to difficulties in learning probabilistic associations between events. Thirty participants with OCD and 30 matched healthy controls completed a learning experiment involving 2 variants of a probabilistic classification learning task. In the neutral weather-prediction task, rainy and sunny weather had to be predicted. In the emotional task danger of an epidemic from virus infection had to be predicted (epidemic-prediction task). Participants with OCD were as able as controls to improve their prediction of neutral events across learning trials but scored significantly below healthy controls on the epidemic-prediction task. Lower performance on the emotional task variant was significantly related to a heightened tendency to overestimate threat. Biased information processing in OCD might thus hamper corrective experiences regarding the probability of threatening events.

Components of interference control predict depressive symptoms and rumination cross-sectionally and at six months follow-up.

Recent research has shown that depression is characterized by difficulties inhibiting irrelevant emotional material and that these difficulties are linked to rumination. The present study examined the relation among tasks that assess different aspects of interference control, depressive symptoms, and rumination, cross-sectionally and in a 6-months follow-up. 111 participants completed an emotional flanker task to assess individual differences in resolving interference from simultaneously presented irrelevant stimuli. In addition, participants completed two negative affective priming tasks using word and face stimuli to assess difficulty controlling interference from internal representations of previously rejected material. Six months after the initial session, depressive symptoms and rumination were re-assessed. Depressive symptoms at time 1 were related to individual differences in negative priming for verbal as well as pictorial material, but not to individual differences in interference resolution from simultaneously presented external stimuli in the flanker task. Individual differences in negative priming at time 1 further predicted depressive symptoms and rumination at time 2. These results suggest that depressive symptoms are related to impaired interference control for verbal and pictorial information and provide first evidence that individual differences in interference control predict the maintenance of depressive symptoms and rumination over a period of six months.

The Perseverative Thinking Questionnaire (PTQ): validation of a content-independent measure of repetitive negative thinking.

Repetitive negative thinking (RNT) has been found to be involved in the maintenance of several types of emotional problems and has therefore been suggested to be a transdiagnostic process. However, existing measures of RNT typically focus on a particular disorder-specific content. In this article, the preliminary validation of a content-independent self-report questionnaire of RNT is presented. The 15-item Perseverative Thinking Questionnaire was evaluated in two studies (total N = 1832), comprising non-clinical as well as clinical participants. Results of confirmatory factor analyses across samples supported a second-order model with one higher-order factor representing RNT in general and three lower-order factors representing (1) the core characteristics of RNT (repetitiveness, intrusiveness, difficulties with disengagement), (2) perceived unproductiveness of RNT and (3) RNT capturing mental capacity. High internal consistencies and high re-test reliability were found for the total scale and all three subscales. The validity of the Perseverative Thinking Questionnaire was supported by substantial correlations with existing measures of RNT and associations with symptom levels and clinical diagnoses of depression and anxiety. Results suggest the usefulness of the new measure for research into RNT as a transdiagnostic process.

The effects of rumination on mood and intrusive memories after exposure to traumatic material: An experimental study.

Correlational studies have shown that trauma-related rumination predicts chronic post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This study aimed to experimentally test the hypothesis that rumination is causally involved in the development and maintenance of PTSD symptoms. A video depicting the aftermath of serious road traffic accidents was used as an analogue stressor. After having watched the video, N=101 healthy participants were randomly assigned to a guided thinking task designed to induce (a) rumination, (b) memory integration and (c) distraction. In line with the hypotheses, rumination led to less recovery from sad mood triggered by the video than the other two conditions. In addition, self-reported state levels of rumination during the guided thinking task predicted subsequent intrusive memories in the session. However, no significant main effect of the experimental manipulation on intrusive memories of the video was found. Results of exploratory analyses suggested possible sex differences in the way the processing manipulations were effective. Taken together, the results partially support the hypothesis that rumination is involved in the maintenance of negative mood and post-traumatic stress symptoms.