A randomized controlled trial to compare the effects of time-restricted eating versus Mediterranean diet on symptoms and quality of life in bipolar disorder.

BACKGROUND: The primary objective of this randomized controlled trial (RCT) is to establish the effectiveness of time-restricted eating (TRE) compared with the Mediterranean diet for people with bipolar disorder (BD) who have symptoms of sleep disorders or circadian rhythm sleep-wake disruption. This work builds on the growing evidence that TRE has benefits for improving circadian rhythms. TRE and Mediterranean diet guidance will be offered remotely using self-help materials and an app, with coaching support. METHODS: This study is an international RCT to compare the effectiveness of TRE and the Mediterranean diet. Three hundred participants will be recruited primarily via social media. Main inclusion criteria are: receiving treatment for a diagnosis of BD I or II (confirmed via DIAMOND structured diagnostic interview), endorsement of sleep or circadian problems, self-reported eating window of ≥ 12 h, and no current mood episode, acute suicidality, eating disorder, psychosis, alcohol or substance use disorder, or other health conditions that would interfere with or limit the safety of following the dietary guidance. Participants will be asked to complete baseline daily food logging for two weeks and then will be randomly allocated to follow TRE or the Mediterranean diet for 8 weeks, during which time, they will continue to complete daily food logging. Intervention content will be delivered via an app. Symptom severity interviews will be conducted at baseline; mid-intervention (4 weeks after the intervention begins); end of intervention; and at 6, 9, and 15 months post-baseline by phone or videoconference. Self-rated symptom severity and quality of life data will be gathered at those timepoints, as well as at 16 weeks post baseline. To provide a more refined index of whether TRE successfully decreases emotional lability and improves sleep, participants will be asked to complete a sleep diary (core CSD) each morning and complete six mood assessments per day for eight days at baseline and again at mid-intervention. DISCUSSION: The planned research will provide novel and important information on whether TRE is more beneficial than the Mediterranean diet for reducing mood symptoms and improving quality of life in individuals with BD who also experience sleep or circadian problems. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov ID NCT06188754.

Urged to feel certain again: The role of emotion-related impulsivity on the relationships between intolerance of uncertainty and OCD symptom severity.

OBJECTIVES: Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a debilitating mental disorder characterized by persistent and intrusive thoughts accompanied by repetitive mental or physical acts. While both intolerance of uncertainty and emotion-related impulsivity have been consistently evidenced as cognitive risk factors of OCD, no studies have considered their joint effects. The current study examined the interaction between intolerance of uncertainty and two forms of emotion-related impulsivity-including both a behavioural and cognitive form-in predicting OCD symptoms. DESIGN: Cross-sectional data were collected online from community-based adult participants. METHODS: Participants (N = 673) completed a battery of self-report measures of OCD symptom severity, intolerance of uncertainty, and emotion-related impulsivity. RESULTS: The behavioural form of emotion-related impulsivity positively moderated the relationship between intolerance of uncertainty and OCD symptoms. Elevated levels of both factors predicted the most severe symptoms, particularly checking, washing, and obsessing. This interaction effect was not found for the cognitive form of emotion-related impulsivity, which still emerged as a unique predictor of OCD symptom severity, specifically obsessing symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: Current findings furthered the understanding of the link between intolerance of uncertainty and OCD symptoms by highlighting the role of emotion-related impulsivity. When uncertainty triggers distress in individuals with high intolerance of uncertainty, the urge to behaviourally alleviate this distress could promote the use of maladaptive obsessions and compulsions, leading to greater OCD symptoms. Results also indicated the potentially differential effects from the behavioural versus cognitive forms of emotion-related impulsivity on different symptom domains, and the mechanistic link here is worthy of further investigation.

Emotion-related impulsivity across transdiagnostic dimensions of psychopathology.

OBJECTIVE: Several dimensions have received attention for their potential role in explaining shared variance in transdiagnostic symptoms of psychopathology. We hypothesized emotion-related impulsivity, the trait-like tendency toward difficulty restraining responses to emotion, would relate to symptoms of psychopathology, with two separable dimensions of emotion-related impulsivity relating distinctly to internalizing and externalizing symptoms. METHOD: Across two studies, we tested hypotheses using structural equation models of emotion-related impulsivity and multiple indicators of internalizing, externalizing, and thought symptoms. RESULTS: In Study 1 (658 undergraduates), emotion-related impulsivity was highly correlated with the general psychopathology (p) factor. In study 2 (421 Mechanical Turk participants), models did not support a general p factor; however, we replicated the hypothesized associations of emotion-related impulsivity dimensions with internalizing and externalizing factors. Across both studies, forms of emotion-related impulsivity uniquely and differentially related to internalizing and externalizing symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: Findings indicate emotion-related impulsivity may help explain transdiagnostic dimensions of psychopathology, such as the p factor.

On the impulsivity path: Examining the unique and conjoint relations between emotion- and non-emotion-related impulsivity, internalizing symptoms, alcohol use, and physical health parameters.

BACKGROUND: Researchers have increasingly differentiated trait-like tendencies toward impulsivity occurring during emotional states (emotion-related impulsivity [ERI]) from impulsivity not tied to emotion (non-ERI). Relative to non-ERI, ERI has shown robust correlations with psychopathology and mild to moderate associations with physical health parameters (e.g., physical activity, poor sleep quality, body mass index [BMI]). Therefore, we first aimed to investigate the unique contributions of ERI and non-ERI to psychopathology symptoms while controlling for neuroticism. Second, we sought to explore the combined associations of physical health parameters with several impulsivity forms. METHODS: German-speaking adults (N = 350, 35.9 ± 14.6 years, 69.1% female, BMI: 24.0 ± 4.8 kg/m2 , mostly students or employees) completed measures of impulsivity, psychopathology symptoms, neuroticism, and physical health. We gathered measures of two ERI forms: Feelings Trigger Action and Pervasive Influence of Feelings. As a control comparison, we gathered a measure of non-ERI, the Lack of Follow-Through scale. We conducted separate path models for Aims 1 and 2. RESULTS: For Aim 1, Pervasive Influence of Feelings showed strong links with internalizing symptoms. Feelings Trigger Action and Lack of Follow-Through showed small links with alcohol use. For Aim 2, poor sleep quality was related to all three impulsivity factors, while physical activity was only related to Pervasive Influence of Feelings and Lack of Follow-Through. BMI showed a curvilinear association with impulsivity. CONCLUSIONS: ERI is more directly relevant than non-ERI for psychopathology symptoms, emphasizing the need to differentiate between the two ERI types. The association of ERI and non-ERI with physical activity and poor sleep quality may serve as potential treatment targets for impulsivity-related problems.

Paternal hypoxia exposure primes offspring for increased hypoxia resistance.

BACKGROUND: In a time of rapid environmental change, understanding how the challenges experienced by one generation can influence the fitness of future generations is critically needed. Using tolerance assays and transcriptomic and methylome approaches, we use zebrafish as a model to investigate cross-generational acclimation to hypoxia. RESULTS: We show that short-term paternal exposure to hypoxia endows offspring with greater tolerance to acute hypoxia. We detected two hemoglobin genes that are significantly upregulated by more than 6-fold in the offspring of hypoxia exposed males. Moreover, the offspring which maintained equilibrium the longest showed greatest upregulation in hemoglobin expression. We did not detect differential methylation at any of the differentially expressed genes, suggesting that other epigenetic mechanisms are responsible for alterations in gene expression. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, our findings suggest that an epigenetic memory of past hypoxia exposure is maintained and that this environmentally induced information is transferred to subsequent generations, pre-acclimating progeny to cope with hypoxic conditions.

Uncontrollability of suicidal ideation adds incremental explanatory power in prediction of later suicidal ideation.

OBJECTIVE: Suicidal ideation and suicidal behaviors are major public health concerns in the United States and are difficult to treat and predict. Risk factors that are incrementally informative are needed to improve prediction and inform prevention of suicidal thoughts and behaviors. Uncontrollability of suicidal ideation, one parameter of suicidal ideation, is one such candidate. METHOD: In the current study, we assessed the predictive power of uncontrollability of suicidal ideation, over and above overall suicidal ideation, for future suicidal ideation in a large sample of active-duty service members. A total of 1044 suicidal military service members completed baseline assessments, of whom 664 (63.6%) completed 3-month follow-up assessments. RESULTS: While baseline overall suicidal ideation itself was the strongest predictor of future suicidal ideation, uncontrollability of suicidal ideation added some incremental explanatory power. CONCLUSION: Further study of uncontrollability of suicidal thought is needed to elucidate its impact on suicidal outcomes.

Emotion-related impulsivity and suicidal ideation: Towards a more specific model.

OBJECTIVES: Suicidal ideation is a pervasive and painful experience that varies considerably in its phenomenology. Here, we consider how one key risk variable might inform our understanding of variation in suicidal ideation: emotion-related impulsivity, the trait-like tendency towards unconstrained speech, behaviour, and cognition in the face of intense emotions. We hypothesized that emotion-related impulsivity would be tied to specific features, including severity, perceived lack of controllability, more rapidly fluctuating course, higher scores on a measure of acute suicidal affective disturbance, and more emotional and cognitive disturbance as antecedents. METHODS: We recruited two samples of adults (Ns = 421, 221) through Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk), with oversampling of those with suicidal ideation. Both samples completed psychometrically sound self-report measures online to assess emotion- and non-emotion-related dimensions of impulsivity and characteristics of suicidal ideation. RESULTS: One form of emotion-related impulsivity related to the severity, uncontrollability, dynamic course, and affective and cognitive precursors of ideation. CONCLUSIONS: Despite limitations of the cross-sectional design and self-report measures, the current findings highlight the importance of specificity in considering key dimensions of impulsivity and suicidal ideation.

Dietary intake of tryptophan tied emotion-related impulsivity in humans.

Emotion-related impulsivity, defined as the tendency to say or do things that one later regret during periods of heightened emotion, has been tied to a broad range of psychopathologies. Previous work has suggested that emotion-related impulsivity is tied to an impaired function of the serotonergic system. Central serotonin synthesis relies on the intake of the essential amino acid, tryptophan and its ability to pass through the blood brain barrier. Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the association between emotion-related impulsivity and tryptophan intake. Methods: Undergraduate participants (N = 25, 16 women, 9 men) completed a self-rated measure of impulsivity (Three Factor Impulsivity Index, TFI) and daily logs of their food intake and exercise. These data were coded using the software NutriNote to evaluate intakes of tryptophan, large neutral amino acids, vitamins B6/B12, and exercise. Results: Correlational analyses indicated that higher tryptophan intake was associated with significantly lower scores on two out of three subscales of the TFI, Pervasive Influence of Feelings scores r = -.502, p < .010, and (lack-of) Follow-Through scores, r = -.407, p < .050. Conclusion: Findings provide further evidence that emotion-related impulsivity is correlated to serotonergic indices, even when considering only food habits. It also suggests the need for more research on whether tryptophan supplements might be beneficial for impulsive persons suffering from a psychological disorder.

Ovarian fluid proteome variation associates with sperm swimming speed in an externally fertilizing fish.

Sperm velocity is a key trait that predicts the outcome of sperm competition. By promoting or impeding sperm velocity, females can control fertilization via postcopulatory cryptic female choice. In Chinook salmon, ovarian fluid (OF), which surrounds the ova, mediates sperm velocity according to male and female identity, biasing the outcome of sperm competition towards males with faster sperm. Past investigations have revealed proteome variation in OF, but the specific components of OF that differentially mediate sperm velocity have yet to be characterized. Here we use quantitative proteomics to investigate whether OF protein composition explains variation in sperm velocity and fertilization success. We found that OF proteomes from six females robustly clustered into two groups and that these groups are distinguished by the abundance of a restricted set of proteins significantly associated with sperm velocity. Exposure of sperm to OF from females in group I had faster sperm compared to sperm exposed to the OF of group II females. Overall, OF proteins that distinguished between these groups were enriched for vitellogenin and calcium ion interactions. Our findings suggest that these proteins may form the functional basis for cryptic female choice via the biochemical and physiological mediation of sperm velocity.

Dunnock social status correlates with sperm speed, but fast sperm does not always equal high fitness.

Sperm competition theory predicts that males should modulate sperm investment according to their social status. Sperm speed, one proxy of sperm quality, also influences the outcome of sperm competition because fast sperm cells may fertilize eggs before slow sperm cells. We evaluated whether the social status of males predicted their sperm speed in a wild population of dunnocks (Prunella modularis). In addition to the traditional analysis of the average speed of sperm cells per sample, we also analysed subsamples of the fastest sperm cells per sample. In other words, we systematically evaluated the effects of including different numbers of the fastest sperm in our analyses, ranging from the 5-fastest sperm cells to the 100-fastest sperm cells in a sample. We further evaluated whether fitness, defined here as the number of chicks sired per male per breeding season, relates to the sperm speed in the same population. We found that males in monogamous pairings (i.e. low levels of sperm competition), produced the slowest sperm cells, whereas subordinate males in polyandrous male-male coalitions (i.e. high levels of sperm competition) produced the fastest sperm cells. This result was consistent regardless of the number of fastest sperm included in our analyses, but statistical support was conditional on the number of sperm cells included in the analysis. Interestingly, we found no significant relationship between fitness and sperm speed, which suggests that it is possible that the differential mating opportunities across social status levelled out any possible difference. Our study also suggests that it is important to identify biologically meaningful subsets of fastest sperm and cut-offs for inclusions for assessing sperm competition via sperm speed.

Identity in bipolar disorder: Self-worth and achievement.

This article considers self and self-concept in bipolar disorder. Bipolar disorder, defined on the basis of manic symptoms, is a highly debilitating psychopathology. It is heavily grounded in biology but symptom course is still very responsive to psychological and social forces in the lives of persons who have the disorder. This review assumes an overall view of the self that is typical of personality psychology: self as traits, self as goals and aspirations, and ongoing efforts to attain those goals. In this review, we will discuss two different facets of self and identity in bipolar disorder. First, we review a body of goal pursuit literature suggesting that persons with bipolar disorder endorse heightened ambitions for attaining goals and recognition from others. Second, we will review multiple findings which suggest that among persons with bipolar disorder, self-worth depends on measurable success in an extreme way. We will consider how the intersection of these two themes may lead to unique identity challenges for people with bipolar disorder, drawing from self-report, behavioral, and neuroscience findings to critically examine this viewpoint.

Looking on the bright side and seeing it vividly: interpretation bias and involuntary mental imagery are related to risk for bipolar disorder.

BACKGROUND: Involuntary mental imagery is elevated among people with bipolar disorder, and has been shown to shape biases in interpretation of ambiguous information. However, it is not clear whether biases in interpretation of ambiguous scenarios can be observed in those at risk for bipolar disorder, or whether involuntary imagery is related to such a bias. AIMS: In the present study, we extended a prominent model of bipolar cognition to an at-risk sample. We specifically tested whether positive interpretation bias and involuntary mental imagery are linked to a greater risk of bipolar disorder. METHOD: Young adults (N = 169) completed measures of risk for bipolar disorder (the Hypomanic Personality Scale [HPS]), interpretation bias, and involuntary mental imagery. RESULTS: Higher scores on the HPS were significantly correlated with more positive interpretations of ambiguous scenarios (ß = 0.29, p <. 01) and more frequent involuntary mental imagery (ß = 0.22, p < .01). There was no evidence of an interaction between interpretation bias and mental imagery in predicting HPS score, ß = .04, p = .62. CONCLUSIONS: Further research is warranted to determine if intrusive imagery or interpretation bias influence the development of bipolar disorder over time in those at risk.

Double trouble: Weekend sleep changes are associated with increased impulsivity among adolescents with bipolar I disorder.

OBJECTIVES: Both sleep disruption and impulsivity are important predictors of the course of bipolar disorder (BD). Although sleep disruption has been shown to intensify impulsivity, little research has considered how these two important domains interact within BD. Adolescence is a critical period for the onset of BD, and is often associated with increases in impulsivity and substantial changes in sleep. We tested the hypothesis that disruptions in sleep would increase impulsivity among adolescents, and that this effect would be more pronounced among those with BD. METHODS: Thirteen- to nineteen-year-olds diagnosed with BD-I (n = 33, age [mean ± standard deviation (SD)] 16.2 ± 1.66 years, 54.5% female) and psychiatrically healthy controls (n = 26, age [mean ± SD] 15.5 ± 1.45 years, 55.6% female) reported their past-week bedtime, rise time, and sleep duration, separately for school days and weekends, and completed a self-report questionnaire on impulsivity. Stepwise regression was used to examine the effects of sleep on impulsivity, and the moderation of this effect by BD status. RESULTS: Adolescents with BD reported significantly higher impulsivity, later and more variable rise time, and more variable time in bed and sleep duration on school days than did controls. Greater change in sleep duration between school days and weekends was associated with significantly more impulsivity among adolescents with BD as compared to controls. CONCLUSIONS: These findings highlight the important effect of sleep on impulsivity among adolescents with BD and add to the growing evidence that establishing sleep routines may be an important therapeutic target for youth with BD.

Time of Day Differences in Neural Reward Functioning in Healthy Young Men.

Reward function appears to be modulated by the circadian system, but little is known about the neural basis of this interaction. Previous research suggests that the neural reward response may be different in the afternoon; however, the direction of this effect is contentious. Reward response may follow the diurnal rhythm in self-reported positive affect, peaking in the early afternoon. An alternative is that daily reward response represents a type of prediction error, with neural reward activation relatively high at times of day when rewards are unexpected (i.e., early and late in the day). The present study measured neural reward activation in the context of a validated reward task at 10.00 h, 14.00 h, and 19.00 h in healthy human males. A region of interest BOLD fMRI protocol was used to investigate the diurnal waveform of activation in reward-related brain regions. Multilevel modeling found, as expected, a highly significant quadratic time-of-day effect focusing on the left putamen (p < 0.001). Consistent with the "prediction error" hypothesis, activation was significantly higher at 10.00 h and 19.00 h compared with 14.00 h. It is provisionally concluded that the putamen may be particularly important in endogenous priming of reward motivation at different times of day, with the pattern of activation consistent with circadian-modulated reward expectancies in neural pathways (i.e., greater activation to reward stimuli at unexpected times of day). This study encourages further research into circadian modulation of reward and underscores the methodological importance of accounting for time of day in fMRI protocols.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT This is one of the first studies to use a repeated-measures imaging procedure to explore the diurnal rhythm of reward activation. Although self-reported reward (most often operationalized as positive affect) peaks in the afternoon, the present findings indicate that neural activation is lowest at this time. We conclude that the diurnal neural activation pattern may reflect a prediction error of the brain, where rewards at unexpected times (10.00 h and 19.00 h) elicit higher activation in reward brain regions than at expected (14.00 h) times. These data also have methodological significance, suggesting that there may be a time of day influence, which should be accounted for in neural reward studies.

Evidence that fertility trades off with early offspring fitness as males age.

Models of ageing predict that sperm function and fertility should decline with age as sperm are exposed to free radical damage and mutation accumulation. However, theory also suggests that mating with older males should be beneficial for females because survival to old age is a demonstration of a male's high genetic and/or phenotypic quality. Consequently, declines in sperm fitness may be offset by indirect fitness benefits exhibited in offspring. While numerous studies have investigated age-based declines in male fertility, none has taken the integrated approach of studying age-based effects on both male fertility and offspring fitness. Here, using a cohort-based longitudinal study of zebrafish (Danio rerio), we report a decline in male mating success and fertility with male age but also compensating indirect benefits. Using in vitro fertilization, we show that offspring from older males exhibit superior early survival compared to those from their youngest counterparts. These findings suggest that the high offspring fitness observed for the subset of males that survive to an old age (approx. 51% in this study) may represent compensating benefits for declining fertility with age, thus challenging widely held views about the fitness costs of mating with older males.

Web-based intervention to improve quality of life in late stage bipolar disorder (ORBIT): randomised controlled trial protocol.

BACKGROUND: The primary objective of this randomised controlled trial (RCT) is to establish the effectiveness of a novel online quality of life (QoL) intervention tailored for people with late stage (≥ 10 episodes) bipolar disorder (BD) compared with psychoeducation. Relative to early stage individuals, this late stage group may not benefit as much from existing psychosocial treatments. The intervention is a guided self-help, mindfulness based intervention (MBI) developed in consultation with consumers, designed specifically for web-based delivery, with email coaching support. METHODS/DESIGN: This international RCT will involve a comparison of the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of two 5-week adjunctive online self-management interventions: Mindfulness for Bipolar 2.0 and an active control (Psychoeducation for Bipolar). A total of 300 participants will be recruited primarily via social media channels. Main inclusion criteria are: a diagnosis of BD (confirmed via a phone-administered structured diagnostic interview), no current mood episode, history of 10 or more mood episodes, no current psychotic features or active suicidality, under the care of a medical practitioner. Block randomisation will be used for allocation to the interventions, and participants will retain access to the program for 6 months. Evaluations will be conducted at pre- and post- treatment, and at 3- and 6- months follow-up. The primary outcome measure will be the Brief Quality of Life in Bipolar Disorder Scale (Brief QoL.BD), collected immediately post-intervention at 5 weeks (T1). Secondary measures include BD-related symptoms (mania, depression, anxiety, stress), time to first relapse, functioning, sleep quality, social rhythm stability and resource use. Measurements will be collected online and via telephone assessments at baseline (T0), 5 weeks (T1), three months (T2) and six months (T3). Candidate moderators (diagnosis, anxiety or substance comorbidities, demographics and current treatments) will be investigated as will putative therapeutic mechanisms including mindfulness, emotion regulation and self-compassion. A cost-effectiveness analysis will be conducted. Acceptability and any unwanted events (including adverse treatment reactions) will be documented and explored. DISCUSSION: This definitive trial will test the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a novel QoL focused, mindfulness based, online guided self-help intervention for late stage BD, and investigate its putative mechanisms of therapeutic action. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov : NCT03197974 . Registered 23 June 2017.

Male-female relatedness at specific SNP-linkage groups influences cryptic female choice in Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha).

In a range of taxa, the relatedness between mates influences both pre- and post-mating processes of sexual selection. However, relatively little is known about the genetic loci facilitating such a bias, with the exception of the major histocompatibility complex. Here, we performed tightly controlled replicated in vitro fertilization trials to explore the impact of relatedness on two possible mechanisms of cryptic female choice (CFC) in Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha). We tested (i) whether relatedness of mates, assessed using 682 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) on 29 SNP-linkage groups (LGs), biases a male's sperm velocity in ovarian fluid (a parameter previously shown to predict male fertilization success), and (ii) whether relatedness of mates governs fertilization success via other mechanisms, probably via sperm-egg interactions. We found that relatedness on three LGs explained the variation in sperm velocity, and relatedness on two LGs explained fertilization success, which might indicate the presence of genes important in sperm-ovarian fluid and sperm-egg interactions in these genomic regions. Mapping of the SNPs on these LGs to the rainbow trout genome revealed two genes that affect fertility in humans and represent candidate genes for further studies. Our results thereby provide a novel contribution to the understanding of the mechanism of CFC.

A path model of different forms of impulsivity with externalizing and internalizing psychopathology: Towards greater specificity.

OBJECTIVES: A growing empirical literature indicates that emotion-related impulsivity (compared to impulsivity that is unrelated to emotion) is particularly relevant for understanding a broad range of psychopathologies. Recent work, however, has differentiated two forms of emotion-related impulsivity: A factor termed Pervasive Influence of Feelings captures tendencies for emotions (mostly negative emotions) to quickly shape thoughts, and a factor termed Feelings Trigger Action captures tendencies for positive and negative emotions to quickly and reflexively shape behaviour and speech. This study used path modelling to consider links from emotion-related and non-emotion-related impulsivity to a broad range of psychopathologies. DESIGN AND METHODS: Undergraduates completed self-report measures of impulsivity, depression, anxiety, aggression, and substance use symptoms. RESULTS: A path model (N = 261) indicated specificity of these forms of impulsivity. Pervasive Influence of Feelings was related to anxiety and depression, whereas Feelings Trigger Action and non-emotion-related impulsivity were related to aggression and substance use. CONCLUSIONS: The findings of this study suggest that emotion-relevant impulsivity could be a potentially important treatment target for a set of psychopathologies. PRACTITIONER POINTS: Recent work has differentiated two forms of emotion-related impulsivity. This study tests a multivariate path model linking emotion-related and non-emotion-related impulsivity with multiple forms of psychopathology. Impulsive thoughts in response to negative emotions were related to anxiety and depression. Impulsive actions in response to emotions were related to aggression and substance use, as did non-emotion-related impulsivity. The study was limited by the reliance on self-report measures of impulsivity and psychopathology. There is a need for longitudinal work on how these forms of impulsivity predict the onset and course of psychopathology.

Attentional bias in euthymic bipolar I disorder.

Little is known about the nature of the relation between information-processing biases and affective traits in bipolar disorder. The present study was designed to investigate whether attentional biases are evident in persons diagnosed with bipolar disorder when they are in a positive mood state, and whether biases are related to indices of emotion regulation and to prior history of mood episodes. Ninety adults diagnosed with bipolar I disorder and 81 controls with no lifetime mood disorder underwent a positive mood induction and then completed an emotion face dot-probe task; participants in the bipolar disorder group also completed a self-report measure of responses to positive affect. Attentional bias was not related to a diagnosis of bipolar disorder or to symptom severity. Consistent with hypotheses, analyses within the bipolar group indicated that greater dampening of positive affect related to significantly less attention paid to the positively valenced faces. Discussion focuses on the potential role of affective traits in shaping attentional bias in bipolar disorder.