Cardiac defense reactivity and cognitive flexibility in high- and low-resilience women.

Resilience is a protective health variable that contributes to successful adaptation to stressful experiences. However, in spite of its relevance, few studies have examined the psychophysiological and neuropsychological mechanisms involved in resilience. The present study analyzes, in a sample of 54 young women, the relationships between high- and low-resilience, measured with the Spanish versions of Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale questionnaire and the Resilience Scale, and two indices of psychophysiological and neuropsychological adaptability, the cardiac defense response (CDR) and cognitive flexibility. The CDR is a specific reaction to an unexpected intense noise characterized by two acceleration-deceleration heart rate components. Cognitive flexibility, defined as the ability to adapt our behavior to changing environmental demands, is measured in this study with the CAMBIOS neuropsychological test. The results showed that the more resilient people, in addition to having better scores on mental health questionnaires, had a larger initial acceleration-deceleration of the CDR-indicative of greater vagal control, obtained better scores in cognitive flexibility, and evaluated the intense noise as less unpleasant than the less resilient people. No group differences were found in the second acceleration-deceleration of the CDR-indicative of sympathetic cardiac control, in the skin conductance response, or in subjective intensity of the noise. The present findings broaden the understanding of how resilient people change their adaptable responses to address environmental demands.

Appetitive drives for ultra-processed food products and the ability of text warnings to counteract consumption predispositions.

OBJECTIVE: The present study aimed to (i) assess the appetitive drives evoked by the visual cues of ultra-processed food and drink products and (ii) investigate whether text warnings reduce appetitive drives and consumers' reported intentions to eat or drink ultra-processed products. DESIGN: In Study I, a well-established psychometric tool was applied to estimate the appetitive drives associated with ultra-processed products using sixty-four image representations. Sixteen product types with four exemplars of a given product were included. Pictures from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS) served as controls. The two exemplars of each product type rated as more appetitive were selected for investigation in the second study. Study II assessed the impact of textual warnings on the appetitive drive towards these thirty-two exemplars. Each participant was exposed to two picture exemplars of the same product type preceded by a text warning or a control text. After viewing each displayed picture, the participants reported their emotional reactions and their intention to consume the product. SETTING: Controlled classroom experiments SUBJECTS: Undergraduate students (Study I: n 215, 135 women; Study II: n 98, 52 women). RESULTS: In Study I, the pictures of ultra-processed products prompted an appetitive motivation associated with the products' nutritional content. In Study II, text warnings were effective in reducing the intention to consume and the appetitive drive evoked by ultra-processed products. CONCLUSIONS: This research provides initial evidence favouring the use of text warnings as a public policy tool to curb the powerful influence of highly appetitive ultra-processed food cues.

Two scales to evaluate cocaine craving.

The cocaine craving questionnaire-brief (CCQ-Brief English) asks cocaine users to report their level of craving now. We constructed two brief scales of cocaine craving in a sample of 107 Spanish-speaking natives in treatment for cocaine abuse or dependence: the CCQ-Brief(Spanish) and the pictographic assessment of desire (PAD), which relies less on language. Principal component analyses yielded a one-component solution for the CCQ-Brief, explaining between 62% and 68% of the sample variability. Cronbach's alpha ranged from .92 to .94. The CCQ-Brief and the PAD were strongly correlated; effect sizes ranged from .42 to .68 in separate trials. Laboratory cue-exposure results showed that in both scales craving was higher upon presentation of cocaine-related rather than neutral pictorial stimuli. The CCQ-Brief and PAD are potentially valuable scales for evaluating cocaine craving.