Simultaneous maintenance of emotions in affective working memory.

Affective Working Memory (AWM) is the ability to maintain an emotion after the emotion-eliciting stimulus is no longer present. Emotions are dynamic, and emotion-eliciting stimuli are encountered simultaneously and sequentially. Therefore, this research aimed to examine AWM when more than one emotion is being maintained. We aimed to re-examine previous findings, that people are better at maintaining positive than negative emotions in the context of dynamic presentations of multiple stimuli. We introduce a modified maintenance task, and present a novel metric that models the latent maintenance processes to acquire an accurate measure of AWM. Participants (N = 49) were asked to complete the study online. On each trial, participants were presented with a sequence of three images, and were asked to compare the intensity of the emotion elicited by image 1 to image 3, whilst maintaining the emotion elicited by image 2 to rate it at the end of the trial. The results showed that people are successful at simultaneously maintaining two emotions in AWM, and they replicate previous findings concerning the advantage of maintaining positive compared to negative emotions. Overall, the study highlights the complexity of AWM and provides insight into the processes involved in maintaining multiple emotions simultaneously.

Effects of rumination and distraction on inhibition.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Rumination involves fixating on negative content, is associated with biases in inhibitory control, and typically worsens negative mood. In contrast, distraction attempts to engage attentional control and downregulate negative mood. To date studies have not dissociated the detrimental effects of rumination from beneficial effects of distraction on individuals' ability to inhibit irrelevant negative information. Moreover, research has not examined the possible pathways connecting rumination and distraction, negative mood and inhibitory control. METHODS: To bridge these gaps, we report two studies that assess the effect of induced rumination versus distraction on inhibitory control among high ruminators. RESULTS: In Study 1 distraction improved inhibition of negative content, whereas induced rumination impaired inhibition of negative content. Study 2 replicated Study 1 and demonstrated that the effect of distraction on inhibition of negative content was mediated by changes in negative mood. LIMITATIONS: Our studies are limited by small sample sizes and lack of measurement of possible long-term effects. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings provide preliminary evidence for an effect of mood on inhibition and not vice versa, among high ruminators. We discuss theoretical and clinical implications of these findings.

Cognitive bias modification of inferential flexibility.

This research examines the effects of a cognitive bias modification procedure for facilitating inferential flexibility, on inferences, mood, and state rumination. Participants were presented with training scenarios, followed by two consecutive inferences for each scenario. In the training condition, participants repeatedly practiced shifting from a negative inference to a positive one. But in the control condition, the two inferences were of the same valence and no shifting occurred. The training successfully promoted the intended inferential shift on new scenarios (d = 0.72). Moreover, trained participants shifted away more readily from negative inferences for a future negative personal event (d = 1) and generated less negative inferences for this event (d = 0.61). As expected, the trained inferential shift improved mood and reduced state rumination. We discuss the potential to minimize adverse effects of negative inferences by shifting away from them to more positive inferences.

Personalized cognitive training: Protocol for individual-level meta-analysis implementing machine learning methods.

Accumulating evidence suggests that cognitive training may enhance well-being. Yet, mixed findings imply that individual differences and training characteristics may interact to moderate training efficacy. To investigate this possibility, the current paper describes a protocol for a data-driven individual-level meta-analysis study aimed at developing personalized cognitive training. To facilitate comprehensive analysis, this protocol proposes criteria for data search, selection and pre-processing along with the rationale for each decision. Twenty-two cognitive training datasets comprising 1544 participants were collected. The datasets incorporated diverse training methods, all aimed at improving well-being. These training regimes differed in training characteristics such as targeted domain (e.g., working memory, attentional bias, interpretation bias, inhibitory control) and training duration, while participants differed in diagnostic status, age and sex. The planned analyses incorporate machine learning algorithms designed to identify which individuals will be most responsive to cognitive training in general and to discern which methods may be a better fit for certain individuals.

Cognitive bias modification for inferential style.

In this study, we developed a cognitive bias modification procedure that targets inferential style, and tested its effect on hope, mood, and self-esteem. Participants were randomly assigned to training conditions intended to encourage either a negative or a positive inferential style. Participants' inferences for their failure on a cognitive challenge were congruent with their training condition. Moreover, compared to participants in the positive training condition, those in the negative condition reported less hope and exhibited lower mood and self-esteem following the failure. Finally, the training affected mood and self-esteem indirectly via its effect on participants' inferences for their failure. These findings provide support for the causal role of inferential style in depressed affect.

Development and validation of a State-Reappraisal Inventory (SRI).

Reappraisal is a multifaceted construct associated with a wide range of proximal (e.g., affective responses) and distal (e.g., psychopathology) consequences. To date, our understanding of use of reappraisal is based either on self-reports of tendencies to use a specific strategy in general or in the last week or on performance on lab-based tasks. There has been little effort to measure use of reappraisal immediately following an emotionally evocative situation (i.e., state-reappraisal). To close this gap, we developed the State-Reappraisal Inventory (SRI) that ascertains use of reappraisal immediately after an emotional event. In Study 1, exploratory factor analyses yielded two reliable subscales measuring state levels of construal of an emotion-eliciting situating as more positive (Increase Positive) and less negative (Decrease Negative). In two further studies, confirmatory factor analyses using a bifactor model provided a good fit for the data and surpassed three competing models. In a fourth study, the SRI showed sensitivity to experimentally induced state changes in reappraisal. Across studies, the questionnaire demonstrated good convergent and discriminant validity. Thus, the SRI is a new measure of state-reappraisal that can allow researchers and clinicians to examine the extent to which individuals use reappraisal in emotional situations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Confusing acceptance and mere politeness: Depression and sensitivity to Duchenne smiles.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Whereas the association between depression and the perception of emotions has been widely studied, only few studies have examined the association between depression and the ability to discriminate genuine (Duchenne) from fake (non-Duchenne) smiles. The present study examined this by comparing currently depressed, previously depressed, and healthy control individuals. Guided by recent theory, the present study also investigated the effect of depression recurrence on smile identification. METHODS: Participants were 27 healthy controls, 33 with past depression (51% with recurrent depression), and 22 with current depression (77% with recurrent depression). Participants were presented with a series of 20 videos depicting smiling individuals, and were asked to indicate whether each smile was genuine or fake. RESULTS: Having (or having had) a first episode of depression was associated with more mistakes in categorizing smiles as genuine or fake compared to having recurrent depression or to having no history of depression. LIMITATIONS: Cross sectional design and a (relatively) small sample size. CONCLUSIONS: Our results show that an impaired ability to differentiate between markers of affiliation and politeness is specific to first-episode depression, even after the depression has remitted.

Rumination: Cognitive consequences of training to inhibit the negative.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: To explore cognitive factors in ruminative thinking, we assessed the effect of a single-session of inhibition training on subsequent biases in attention and interpretation. METHODS: We randomly assigned participants to either inhibit or attend to negative stimuli. Inhibition was assessed by using assessment trials embedded throughout the training, and interpretation bias was assessed following the training. RESULTS: Trait rumination moderated training effects on both measures. Low ruminators in the inhibition-training condition maintained their level of inhibition of negative stimuli, but those in the attention-training condition showed a non-significant trend for decreased inhibition. Participants also showed a transfer-congruent tendency in interpretation bias, with reduced bias by those trained to inhibit negative stimuli, compared to those trained to attend to negative stimuli. In contrast, high ruminators in the inhibition training condition showed a training-incongruent decrease in inhibition of negative stimuli, but no change in inhibition when trained to attend to negative stimuli. No effects of the training on interpretation bias were observed among high ruminators. Finally, the training did not affect subsequent measures of mood or state rumination, even when trait rumination scores were taken into account. LIMITATIONS: This study used a single session of inhibition training rather than a multi-session training, and this may explain the null effects among high ruminators. CONCLUSIONS: Findings highlight the critical role that trait rumination plays in moderating the effect of inhibition training. Our results suggest that inhibition training may provide an effective technique to change inhibition bias and later interpretation bias.

Brooding moderates the link between reappraisal and inhibition of negative information.

The ability to inhibit negative information is associated with emotion regulation (ER). Reduced inhibition of negative information characterises poor ER, which in turn plays a critical role in psychopathology. People engage in multiple ER strategies; some are harmful and others are helpful. However, the interaction between harmful and helpful ER strategies and its link to inhibition of negative information have not been explored. This study examined the joint association between reappraisal, an adaptive ER strategy, and brooding, a maladaptive ER strategy, with inhibition of negative information. Participant's high (N = 81) and low (N = 47) in brooding completed a measure of habitual reappraisal as well as the negative affective priming task, a measure of inhibition bias. As predicted, reappraisal was positively linked with the ability to inhibit negative content. However, this link was moderated by brooding and was found only among low brooders but not among high brooders. The implications of these findings to theories of ER are discussed.

Examination of the core cognitive components of cognitive behavioral therapy and acceptance and commitment therapy: an analogue investigation.

We aimed to examine the core elements of cognitive behavioral therapy and acceptance and commitment therapy that target distressing negative cognitions, cognitive restructuring (CR) and cognitive defusion (CD), respectively. Participants (N=142) recalled a saddening autobiographical event, identified a distressing thought it triggered, and completed a task that induced rumination on these cognitions. They then completed one of four brief interventions that targeted these emotionally charged cognitions: analogue versions of CR and CD, and two control interventions. The personal negative cognitions were then reactivated to examine the protective effects of these interventions. CR and CD were similarly efficacious in alleviating distress, compared to a control intervention that focused on participants' negative thoughts. Mood improvement was associated with state levels of reappraisal and not with acceptance in CR, whereas the reverse was observed in CD. Improvement was associated with perceived efficacy of the intervention in CR but not in CD. The present findings suggest that although CR and CD effectively promote different types of cognitive strategies, they may share important features that set them both apart from maladaptive forms of coping.

If I only knew why: the relationship between brooding, beliefs about rumination, and perceptions of treatments.

People who tend to engage in brooding, the maladaptive subtype of rumination, are at risk to develop depression. Brooders often endorse metacognitive beliefs that self-focused ruminative thinking is beneficial. In the current study, we examined whether brooding and positive beliefs about rumination are associated with perceptions of and preferences for treatments for depression. Participants (N=118) read descriptions of two different clusters of treatments for depression, Insight-Oriented (IO) treatments and Activation-Oriented (AO) treatments. They then rated treatment efficacy and credibility and completed self-report measures of rumination (including brooding and reflection subscales), beliefs about rumination, and depression. Brooding and metacognitive positive beliefs about rumination were associated with positive perceptions of IO (but not AO) treatments. Positive beliefs about rumination contributed to the prediction of perceptions of IO treatments (but not AO treatments) beyond the effect of brooding. We discuss the implications of these findings for individuals' decision-making processes regarding which type of treatment to seek.

Interpretation bias characterizes trait rumination.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Rumination, a maladaptive cognitive style of responding to negative mood, is thought to be maintained by a variety of cognitive biases. However, it is unknown whether rumination is characterized by interpretation biases. METHODS: Two experiments examined the link between rumination and interpretation biases, revealed in lexical-decision tasks (LDT). A homograph with both benign and ruminative or otherwise negative meaning was presented on each trial and followed by a letter string, to which participants responded by judging whether it was a word or a non-word. Letter strings were non-words or words related or unrelated to one meaning of the homograph. RESULTS: In both experiments, faster latencies to respond to targets related to the ruminative meaning of the homographs were produced by students with higher scores on self-report measures of rumination. Moreover, these biases were associated with both brooding, the maladaptive form of rumination, and reflection, the more adaptive component. No measure of rumination was significantly correlated with general biases toward negative meaning (Experiment 1) or with threatening interpretations of homographs (Experiment 2). LIMITATIONS: The paucity of available rumination-related homographs dictated the use of non-fully randomized stimuli presentation (Experiment 1) or the use of only one set of the meanings associated with the homographs (Experiment 2). CONCLUSIONS: Rumination is associated with a tendency to interpret ambiguous information in a rumination-consistent manner. This tendency may exacerbate ruminative thinking and can possibly be a target for future intervention.

Negating in order to be negative: the relationship between depressive rumination, message content and negation processing.

The current research explored the interaction between brooding, a maladaptive subtype of depressive rumination, and content valence, in a basic cognitive process of negation. Following presentation of positive and negative trait descriptions, phrased affirmatively or negatively (e.g., "Liz is/is not a smart person"), participants' associations were examined for congruency with the schema (e.g., "smart") or with its negation (e.g., "stupid"). We predicted that brooders' processing of negations would enhance the accessibility of negative content. Consistent with our prediction, brooders generated schema-congruent associations for negatively valenced schemas, but negation-congruent associations for positively valenced schemas, thus, maintaining negative content in both cases. In contrast, nonbrooders generated associations congruent with the negation regardless of schema valence. This processing pattern is suggestive of a possible pathway for negative content perseveration in rumination, and it attests to the context and person sensitivity of the negation process.

The Relationships of Personality and Cognitive Styles with Self-Reported Symptoms of Depression and Anxiety.

Many studies have reported concurrent relationships between depressive symptoms and various personality, cognitive, and personality-cognitive vulnerabilities, but the degree of overlap among these vulnerabilities is unclear. Moreover, whereas most investigations of these vulnerabilities have focused on depression, their possible relationships with anxiety have not been adequately examined. The present study included 550 high school juniors and examined the cross-sectional relationships among neuroticism, negative inferential style, dysfunctional attitudes, sociotropy, and autonomy, with a wide range of anxiety and depressive symptoms, as well as the incremental validity of these different putative vulnerabilities when examined simultaneously. Correlational analyses revealed that all five vulnerabilities were significantly related to symptoms of both anxiety and depression. Whereas neuroticism accounted for significant unique variance in all symptom outcomes, individual cognitive and personality-cognitive vulnerabilities accounted for small and only sometimes statistically significant variance across outcomes. Importantly, however, for most outcomes the majority of symptom variance was accounted for by shared aspects of the vulnerabilities rather than unique aspects. Implications of these results for understanding cognitive and personality-cognitive vulnerabilities to depression and anxiety are discussed.

Depression and empathic accuracy in couples: an interpersonal model of gender differences in depression.

We examine the link between depression and empathic accuracy, the ability to infer other people's thoughts and feelings, as a possible mechanism underlying gender differences in the association between depression and interpersonal difficulties within intimate relationships. Fifty-one heterosexual couples completed questionnaires assessing depressive symptoms and participated in both a lab and a daily diary procedure assessing empathic accuracy. In the lab measures, women's (but not men's) higher levels of depressive symptoms were associated with lower empathic accuracy regarding partners' thoughts and feelings. In the daily diary data, women's depressive symptoms were specifically associated with lower levels of empathic accuracy for negative feelings but not for positive feelings, and with lower levels of their partners' empathic accuracy for the women's negative feelings. Men's depressive symptoms were again unrelated to levels of empathic accuracy. Our findings suggest that depressive symptoms may have a stronger impact on interpersonal perception in intimate relationships among women than among men.

Can emotion modulate attention? Evidence for reciprocal links in the attentional network test.

Evolution theory suggests that adaptive behavior depends on our ability to give preferential attention to emotional information when it is necessary for our survival, and to down-regulate irrelevant emotional influence. However, empirical work has shown that the interaction between emotion and attention varies, based on the attentional network in question. The aim of the current research was to examine the influence of stimulus emotionality on attention in three attentional networks: alerting, orienting, and executive functions. In two studies, using negative and neutral cues in a modified version of the Attention Network Test, it was found that negative cues impaired task performance in the absence of executive conflict, but not when executive processes were activated. Moreover, it was found that the influence of negative cues on task performance in a given trial was attenuated following activation of executive processes in the previous trial. These results suggest that when executive resources are required, inhibitory mechanisms are recruited to decrease the disruptive effect of emotional stimuli. More importantly, these findings indicate that the effect of emotional stimuli on attention is down-regulated both during cognitive conflict and after the conflict has already ended.

Rumination and emotion-related biases in refreshing information.

The present research examined rumination-related biases in refreshing, a component process of memory updating that involves briefly thinking back to a just-activated thought or percept. In 2 studies, participants were presented with neutral words and with task-relevant (Study 1) and task-irrelevant (Study 2) emotional words. We predicted that brooding, a maladaptive subtype of rumination would be associated with biased refreshing. Compared with nonbrooders, brooders showed slowed refreshing (of emotional and neutral words) when relevant emotional words were presented. Moreover, whereas among nonbrooders only task-relevant emotional words impaired refreshing of neutral words, among brooders both relevant and irrelevant emotional words led to this impairment. These biases were not accounted for by depression, and they were specific to refreshing words rather than to perceptual processing of the words. These findings are discussed in relation to the magnitude and nature of emotional interference in rumination.

The Northwestern-UCLA youth emotion project: Associations of cognitive vulnerabilities, neuroticism and gender with past diagnoses of emotional disorders in adolescents.

Neuroticism has been hypothesized to be a non-specific risk factor for both anxiety and unipolar mood disorders whereas some cognitive and personality-cognitive vulnerabilities have been hypothesized to be more specific to depression. Using a retrospective design with a sample of 575 high school juniors, we tested three competing models of the associations among these variables. Both neuroticism and the cognitive and personality-cognitive vulnerabilities had significant zero-order associations with rates of past diagnoses of both anxiety and unipolar mood disorders. Neuroticism had significant unique associations with past anxiety disorders and comorbid anxiety and unipolar mood disorders whereas the other vulnerabilities did not. In addition, gender interacted with neuroticism but not with the other vulnerabilities in associating with past diagnoses of mood disorders, showing that neuroticism is more highly associated with past unipolar mood diagnoses in males than in females. Finally, the cognitive and personality-cognitive vulnerabilities overlapped with substantial portions of the variance that neuroticism shared with diagnoses. These results suggest that, at least for retrospective associations with past anxiety and unipolar mood disorders, the cognitive and other personality-cognitive vulnerabilities are non-specific facets of neuroticism.

Cognitive-behavioral therapy for depression.

Major Depressive Disorder is one of the most common and debilitating mental disorders. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for depression has received ample empirical support and is considered one of the most effective modes of treatment for depression. In this article, we review the theoretical underpinnings of this approach, whereby biased cognition and maladaptive behavioral patterns are thought to be core factors contributing to the development and maintenance of depression. We describe cognitive and behavioral strategies and techniques used in the treatment of depression. We conclude with an updated review of outcome research comparing the effectiveness of CBT as a whole and its specific cognitive and behavioral components with a standard treatment of anti-depressant medication.