Purging behaviors and therapeutic prognosis of women with eating disorders treated in a healthcare context / Conductas purgativas y pronóstico terapéutico en mujeres con trastornos alimentarios tratadas en el contexto sanitario

Background/Objective: The evidence on efficacy of cognitive-behavioral interventions in Eating Disorders (ED) still shows inconclusive results with respect to the role of purging behaviors, more so in uncontrolled situations. Evolution of ED patients with and without purging behavior was studied 30 months after start of a multicomponent treatment. Method: 162 women (87 purging, 75 non-purging) treated in outpatient or hospitals+outpatient care units in Spain participated. The evaluation instruments were: BSQ, EAT-40, EDI, STAI, BDI and BITE. Results: At the beginning of the treatment, participants with purging behavior showed higher bulimic symptomatology, more body dissatisfaction, drive for thinness, perfectionism and ineffectiveness, anxiety and depressive symptomatology. After thirty months, intervention produced improvement in ED characteristics, emotional alterations and personal development variables, in both groups, but less in patients with no purging behavior. The effect of intervention was stronger in purging patients and variables with larger effect size: body dissatisfaction, bulimic symptomatology and anxiety. Conclusions: Purging behaviors must be considered in the design of these treatments with a view to prognosis (AU)

La evidencia sobre la eficacia de intervenciones cognitivo-conductuales en los Trastornos de la Conducta Alimentaria (TCA) aún presenta resultados no concluyentes respecto al papel que desempeñan en las conductas purgativas, más aún cuando se realizan en situaciones no controladas. Se pretende conocer la evolución tras un tratamiento multicomponente en pacientes con TCA, con presencia o ausencia de conductas purgativas, después de 30 meses del inicio del tratamiento. Método: Participaron 162 mujeres (87 purgativas y 75 no purgativas), tratadas en régimen ambulatorio o hospitalario+ambulatorio, en España. Los instrumentos de evaluación fueron: BSQ, EAT-40, EDI, STAI, BDI y BITE. Resultados: Al inicio del tratamiento, las participantes con conductas purgativas presentaban mayor sintomatología bulímica, más insatisfacción corporal, obsesión por la delgadez, perfeccionismo e ineficacia, ansiedad y sintomatología depresiva. Tras 30 meses, en ambos grupos, la intervención produjo mejoría en las características de TCA, alteraciones emocionales y variables de desarrollo personal, siendo menor en las pacientes sin conductas purgativas. El efecto de la intervención fue mayor en las participantes purgativas y las variables con mayor tamaño de efecto: insatisfacción corporal, sintomatología bulímica y ansiedad. Conclusiones: Es importante considerar las conductas purgativas en el diseño de estos tratamientos de cara al pronóstico (AU)

Intervención breve basada en ACT y mindfulness: estudio piloto con profesionales de enfermería en UCI y Urgencias / Brief intervention based on ACT and mindfulness: pilot study with nursing staff in intensive care unit and emergency services

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Nurses develop their work in a highly stressful context, where their emotional, attentional and well-being resources are frequently impaired. Because the health care work context is a dynamic and changing context, it is necessary to continue implementing and evaluating the efficacy of brief interventions that consider the organizational needs. The aim of the current paper is showing the result of a pilot study, which implemented and assessed the efficacy of a brief intervention based on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Mindfulness to improve nurses levels of psychological flexibility, mindfulness and well-being. Intervention was conducted in a public and tertiary-level hospital in Madrid, specifically in their Intensive Care Units and Emergency Room. For this pilot study, 50 nurses were randomly selected of a total professional population of 164. They were assigned to two groups: the experimental and the waiting-list group. Between-group comparison showed that the intervention had significant benefits in terms of vitality and purpose of life among participants when compared with controls. Intra-group comparisons also showed significant benefits on nurses’ psychological flexibility and negative affect when both groups received the intervention. The intervention also significantly changed nurses’ vitality at follow-up. These results were discussed in terms of strengths and limitations that a brief intervention of these characteristics could have in the work context (AU)

The formation of equivalence classes in adults without training in negative relations between members of different classes

Research on the formation and properties of equivalence classes has been relevant in the Experimental Analysis of Behaviour for more than thirty years. However, the nature of this phenomenon is still debated. A great amount of investigations analyse the necessary conditions for its appearance and also its development in other species. The most widespread training procedure is 'Match-to-Sample', a type of conditional discrimination task. These tasks require the participant to differentiate between reinforced stimulus relations (type S) and non-reinforced stimulus relations (type R). The approach to the study of these relations has been arguably flawed. The present work aims to develop a procedure that allows for their individual analysis, but still preserves the four term contingency of the operant conditional discrimination. Results suggests that type R relations need not be trained for the formation of equivalence classes as long as the conditionality is kept in the training (AU)

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Attentional perspectives on context-dependence of information retrieval

Attention has been traditionally understood as an important factor on acquiring new information. A review of the literature suggests that attention, specifically attention to the contexts, also plays a relevant role on information retrieval. It also shows that attention to the contexts is modulated by the ambiguity of the situation, and the informative value contexts have. The virtues and limitations of different attentional theories of learning applied to the explanation of the effects of context change on retrieval of the information are discussed. This analysis uncovers the weaknesses of current research on context processing that should be corrected by future research: The need of independent measures of attention to the contexts, the evaluation of the mechanisms of contextual control, and the possibility of taking an evolutionary perspective on the effects of context change (AU)

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Rock influences spatial memory in adult rats, while classical music do not / El rock afecta la memoria espacial en ratas adultas, mientras que la música clásica no

Music can be used as a therapeutic tool and has several effects in cognitive and physiological functions. The aim of this work was to evaluate the effect of different musical pieces in spatial memory in adult male rats. A T maze was used to investigate spatial memory, with 2h and 6h inter trial interval between training and testing phases. Before training, animals were exposed to an active or relaxing musical stimulus corresponding to rock and classical pieces. It was found that in the experiment with 2h interval, animals explore more the novel arm in comparison with the other arm, which indicated that animals still had a good spatial memory. This was not observed in rats that were exposed to the relaxing rock piece, which could indicate that this stimulus diminished memory. With the 6h interval the rats explored both arms equally, except animals that were exposed to the activating rock piece of music which indicated a slightly enhance in memory. Thus, there were found different effects of music corresponding to the time of interval and the stimulus characteristics. This data provides information to use music as a possible treatment to modulate memory (AU)

La música puede ser usada como una herramienta terapéutica y ha demostrado tener múltiples efectos en las funciones cognitivas y fisiológicas. El objetivo de este trabajo fue evaluar el efecto de diferentes piezas musicales en la memoria espacial de ratas adultas macho. Se utilizó un laberinto en forma de T para evaluar la memoria espacial, con 2 y 6 horas de intervalo entre ensayos entre el entrenamiento y fase de testeo. Antes del entrenamiento los animales fueron expuestos a estímulos sonoros activantes o relajantes correspondientes a piezas de rock y música clásica. Se encontró que en el experimento con 2 horas de intervalo los animales exploraron más el brazo novedoso en comparación con el ya conocido, lo cual indica que los sujetos tenían un buen índice de memoria espacial. Esto no se observó en las ratas que fueron expuestas a la pieza de rock relajante, lo que indicaría que este estímulo disminuyó la memoria. Con el intervalo de 6 horas los animales exploraron ambos brazos por igual, excepto los que fueron expuestos a la pieza activante de rock, lo cual indicaría una mejora en la memoria. Con lo cual, se hallaron diferentes efectos de la música en relación al intervalo de tiempo aplicado entre entrenamiento y test, así como al tipo de estímulo empleado. Estos datos proveen información acerca del uso de la música como un posible tratamiento de modulación de la memoria (AU)

The effect of cognitive load and outcome congruency on the learned predictiveness effect in human predictive learning / El efecto de la carga cognitiva y la congruencia de las consecuencias sobre el efecto de la predictibilidad aprendida en el aprendizaje predictivo humano

The learned predictiveness effect or LPE is the finding that when people learn that certain cues are reliable predictors of an outcome in an initial stage of training (phase 1), they exhibit a learning bias in favor of these cues in a subsequent training involving new outcomes (phase 2) despite all cues being equally reliable in phase 2. In Experiment 1, we replicate the basic effect and found that the addition of a secondary memory task during phase 2 had no reliable influence on the LPE. In Experiment 2, we demonstrated that the same secondary task can either facilitate or disrupt the LPE, depending on whether the outcomes of phase 1 were affectively congruent or incongruent with the outcomes of phase 2. These findings are discussed in relationship to associative and inferential accounts of LPE (AU)

El efecto de la predictibilidad aprendida o LPE, es el hallazgo de que cuando las personas aprenden que algunos estímulos son predictores fiables de una consecuencia en una primera etapa del entrenamiento (fase 1), muestran un sesgo de aprendizaje a favor de éstos estímulos en un entrenamiento posterior que implica nuevas consecuencias (fase 2), a pesar de que todos los estímulos son igualmente fiables en la fase 2. En el Experimento 1, replicamos el efecto básico y demostramos que la ejecución de una tarea de memoria secundaria durante la fase 2 no tuvo una influencia significativa sobre la LPE. En el Experimento 2, demostramos que la misma tarea secundaria puede facilitar o interrumpir la LPE, dependiendo de si las consecuencias de la fase 1 fueron congruentes o incongruentes afectivamente con las consecuencias de la fase 2. Estos hallazgos son discutidos en relación a las explicaciones asociativa e inferencial de la LPE (AU)

The role of common physical properties and augmental functions in metaphor effect

Metaphor is a tool frequently used in psychotherapy such as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), a contextual behavioral model of psychological intervention rooted in an approach to human language and cognition known as Relational Frame Theory (RFT). This experimental analogue study aimed to analyze the effect of two variables in the metaphor effect on promoting psychological flexibility according to RFT: (a) the presence of common physical properties between the individual’s experience and the metaphor, and (b) the specification of appetitive augmental functions in the metaphor content. A 2x2 factorial design was implemented where the presence/absence of the above-mentioned variables was manipulated. Eighty-three participants first responded to measures of experiential avoidance, cognitive fusion, and generalized pliance. Subsequently, they were exposed to a cold-pressor task at pretest. Afterwards, participants were randomly assigned to four experimental protocols consisting of a metaphor that included: (a) common physical properties and augmental functions, (b) only common physical properties, (c) only augmental functions, and (d) none of these variables. Then, participants were re-exposed to the cold-pressor task (posttest). The results showed that both variables had a statistically significant effect on the pain tolerance induced by the cold-pressor task (AU)

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Efecto diferencial de la etiqueta diagnóstica autista en la intervención con niños / Differential effect of autistic label in intervention with children

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The aim of this study is to analyze whether the label autistic (considering both the low performance and exceptional performance labels) influences the behavior of nine psychology students when teaching tasks to children with this diagnosis. The presence of various children who had to learn to perform a color discrimination task and a visual-motor task was simulated during the experiment. The participants observed the behavior of the imaginary children and could provide contingencies of reinforcement and response cost to them. Two experimental phases were established in which participants had to teach different children: an autistic child, a child without developmental problems, an autistic child who was exceptionally skilled in the tasks and a child without developmental problems who was unskilled in the tasks. The participants were informed of the characteristics of the children prior to the tasks. Results show significant differences in the participants’ response patterns depending on the experimental conditions and tasks. The influence of the autistic label is discussed in terms of the participants’ behavior (AU)

Efecto del entrenamiento de relaciones negativas entre clases y estructuras de entrenamiento en la formación de relaciones de equivalencia / Effect of negative between-class training and structure training on formation of equivalence relations

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The probability of equivalence class formation was assessed in three matching to sample procedures (standard, semi-standard, and linear series), and three training structures (one-to-many, many-to-one, and altered) in a 3x3 factorial design. The matching to sample procedures trained the same positive relations (sample-S+), but they differed in the kind of negative relations (sample-S-) that they trained. With the standard procedure only negative relations among stimuli of different classes (among-class relations) were trained; with the semi-standard procedure some among-class negative relations and others with stimuli that did not belong to any class (stimuli X) were trained; finally, with altered procedure negative relations only with X stimuli were trained. The baseline positive and negative relations were assessed, with trials with novel stimuli and a blank comparison stimulus. There was not an interaction effect between the matching procedure and the training structure. The standard procedure was superior to the semi-standard procedure, and the latter one was superior to the altered procedure in the formation of equivalence relations. The one-to-many training structure was superior to the linear-serial structure. The results suggest that the probability of equivalence class formation is positively related with the amount of negative among-class established by the training, and this effect is independent from the training structure (AU)

Shame, self-criticism, perfectionistic self-presentation and depression in eating disorders

The complexity of eating disorder (ED) manifestations has increased the interest in understanding the mechanisms underlying the eating psychopathology and it is now widely accepted that there are multiple risk pathways for both the development and maintenance of eating psychopathology. This study examined the association between external shame and depression. We also investigated the possible mediation effect of self-criticism in the relation between shame and depression. Further to that, the current cross-sectional study inspected whether this mediation exists for different conditional values of perfectionistic self-presentation. 121 women diagnosed with eating disorder according to the Eating Disorder Examination (EDE 16.0D) completed a battery of self-report questionnaires to assess external shame, self-criticism, perfectionistic self-presentation and depression. A mediated-moderation analysis was performed. Results showed that the path from external shame to self-criticism depends on the level of perfectionistic self-presentation whereas the effect of self-criticism on depression is constant. Thus, there is an interaction between external shame and perfectionistic self-presentation on self-criticism which, in turn, affects depression. The internalization of an ideal-self sets up a standard that once compared to the actual self, displays negative self-evaluations and feelings that individuals see as reflecting a bad, inferior and flawed self. In this context, a perfectionistic self-presentation is used to create positive images on the minds of others. Although this style of organization is an adaptive way to deal with specific social contexts once it functions as a buffer in the relationship between shame and self-criticism, perfectionistic self-presentation seems to be a useless strategy since it does not prevent them from depression. Implications for future research are discussed (AU)

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Explorando el potencial de aprendizaje de personas con esquizofrenia en distintas condiciones psicopatológicas / Exploring learning potential in schizophrenic inpatients in different psychopathological conditions

En el presente trabajo tratamos de explorar empíricamente el potencial de aprendizaje de personas con esquizofrenia en condiciones opuestas de estabilidad psicopatológica. Con este objetivo se realizó un experimento de equivalencia de estímulos o procedimiento general de aprendizaje de discriminaciones condicionales, estudiando seguidamente la formación de clases de equivalencia. La muestra incluyó 8 adultos en tratamiento en el programa de atención a trastornos mentales severos, con edades comprendidas entre 20 y 53 años. Debido a los abandonos, el procedimiento inicial fue modificado para reducir la duración y el esfuerzo atencional de la tarea. Los resultados mostraron que personas con esquizofrenia pueden adquirir la equivalencia de estímulos tanto en condiciones psicopatológicas de estabilidad como de descompensación en presencia de sintomatología positiva intensa. Este hallazgo es relevante para la terapia, concebida como aprendizaje, así como para el diseño de programas en el contexto de la rehabilitación y recuperación en la esquizofrenia

The aim of this paper is to explore empirically the learning potential of people with schizophrenia in opposite conditions of psychopathological stability. For this purpose, a general procedure of conditional discrimination learning was introduced by conducting a study on the formation of equivalence classes. The sample consisted of 8 inpatient adults included in the program of Severe Mental Disorders, aged between 20 and 53 years. Because of dropouts, the initial procedure was modified in order to reduce the duration and attentional effort of the task. The results showed that people with schizophrenia can acquire stimulus equivalence with standard procedure both in terms of stability and psychopathological decompensation, in the presence of strong positive symptoms. This finding is relevant both for therapy, conceived in terms of learning, and for designing programs in the context of rehabilitation and recovery in schizophrenia

Unpacking insanity defence standards: an experimental study of rationality and control tests in criminal law / Descifrar los criterios de defensa de la vesania: estudio experimental de las pruebas de racionalidad y control en derecho penal

The present study investigated the impact of different legal standards on mock juror decisions concerning whether a defendant was guilty or not guilty by reason of insanity. Undergraduate students (N=477) read a simulated case summary involving a murder case and were asked to make an insanity determination. The cases differed in terms of the condition of the defendant (rationality deficit or control deficit) and the legal standard given to the jurors to make the determination (Model Penal Code, McNaughten or McNaughten plus a separate control determination). The effects of these variables on the insanity determination were investigated. Jurors also completed questionnaires measuring individualism and hierarchy attitudes and perceptions of facts in the case. Results indicate that under current insanity standards jurors do not distinguish between defendants with rationality deficits and defendants with control deficits regardless of whether the legal standard requires them to do so. Even defendants who lacked control were found guilty at equal rates under a legal standard excusing rationality deficits only and a legal standard excluding control and rationality deficits. This was improved by adding a control test as a partial defence, to be determined after a rationality determination. Implications for the insanity defence in the Criminal Justice System are discussed (AU)

Este estudio ha investigado la repercusión de los diversos cánones legales en las decisiones simuladas acerca de si un acusado es culpable o no por motivos de vesania. Una muestra de 477 estudiantes universitarios leyeron el resumen de caso relativo a un asesinato, pidiéndoseles luego que determinasen si había enajenación mental. Los casos diferían en cuanto a la condición del acusado (déficit de racionalidad o de control) y el criterio legal proporcionado a los jurados para que tomaran la determinación (Código penal modelo, McNaughten o McNaughten mas una determinación sobre el control). Se investigó el efecto de estas variables en la determinación de vesania. Los jurados rellenaron también cuestionarios que medían actitudes de individualismo y jerarquía y la percepción de los hechos del caso. Los resultados indican que con los criterios de demencia actuales los jurados no distinguen entre acusados con déficit de racionalidad y aquellos con déficit de control, aunque los criterios legales se lo exijan. Incluso los acusados que carecían de control fueron hallados culpables en la misma proporción con un criterio legal que disculpaba el déficit de racionalidad y con otro que excluía los déficit de control y racionalidad. Consiguió mejorarse añadiendo una prueba de control como defensa parcial a determinar tras la decisión sobre la racionalidad. Se comentan las implicaciones para la defensa de la enajenación mental en el sistema de justicia penal (AU)

Using the Scharff-technique to elicit information: how to effectively establish the «illusion of knowing it all»? / La utilización de la técnica de Scharff para extraer información: cómo crear la «ilusión de saberlo todo» de un modo eficaz?

The Scharff-technique is used for eliciting information from human sources. At the very core of the technique is the «illusion of knowing it all» tactic, which aims to inflate a source's perception of how much knowledge an interviewer holds about the event to be discussed. For the current study, we mapped the effects following two different ways of introducing this particular tactic; a traditional way of implementation where the interviewer explicitly states that s/he already knows most of the important information (the traditional condition), and a new way of implementation where the interviewer just starts to present the information that s/he holds (the just start condition). The two versions were compared in two separate experiments. In Experiment 1 (N=60), we measured the participants’ perceptions of the interviewer's knowledge, and in Experiment 2 (N=60), the participants’ perceptions of the interviewer's knowledge gaps. We found that participants in the just start condition (a) believed the interviewer had more knowledge (Experiment 1), and (b) searched less actively for gaps in the interviewer's knowledge (Experiment 2), compared to the traditional condition. We will discuss the current findings and how sources test and perceive the knowledge his or her interviewer possesses within a framework of social hypothesis testing (AU)

La técnica de Scharff se utiliza para extraer información de fuentes humanas. En el meollo de la técnica está la táctica de la «ilusión de saberlo todo», que apunta a engordar la percepción de una fuente sobre cuánto conocimiento posee un entrevistador sobre el hecho que se aborda. Para realizar este estudio cartografiamos los efectos derivados de la introducción de esta táctica particular, un método tradicional de aplicación, en el que el entrevistador afirma de modo explícito que ya conoce casi toda la información importante (la condición tradicional) y una manera nueva de implementación, en la que el entrevistador empieza a presentar la información que posee (la condición de simplemente iniciar la condición). Se comparó ambas versiones en dos experimentos distintos. En el experimento 1 (N=60) medimos la percepción que tenían los participantes de los conocimientos del entrevistador y en el experimento 2 (N=60) la percepción que tenían los participantes de las lagunas de conocimiento del entrevistador. Se halló que los participantes de la condición de «simplemente iniciar» (a) creían que el entrevistador poseía más conocimientos (experimento 1) y (b) buscaban de un modo menos activo las lagunas de conocimiento del entrevistador (experimento 2), en comparación con la condición «tradicional». Comentaremos estos resultados y cómo perciben y ponen a prueba las fuentes los conocimientos de su entrevistador, en el marco de la prueba de hipótesis social (AU)

Relational frame theory, mathematical and logical skills: a multiple exemplar training intervention to enhance intellectual performance

The current study investigated the effects of Relational Frame Theory (RFT) based training on mathematical and logical skills. A sample of 21 Swedish high school students attending first grade and second grade were assigned to either training (n= 10) or no-training conditions (n= 11). Measures of performance on mathematical tests, Raven’s Standard Progressive Matrices (SPM), and relational responding tasks were taken prior to and after training. For 8-10 weeks, the experimental group trained using SMART, an online multiple exemplar training program for enhancing relational skills. No significant differences between the groups were found on mathematical performance. A significant increase on SPM performance was observed for the experimental group. The findings are in line with previous research on RFT, suggesting that behaviorally based interventions can enhance intellectual performance. Population characteristics, SMART training procedures, strengths and methodological limitations are discussed (AU)

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Verbal reports in the experimental analysis of behavior

This paper provides a review of the role of verbal reports for the study of human verbal behavior from a behavior-analytic perspective. Though typically associated with cognitive research, verbal reports have long been considered an important dependent variable within behavior analysis. Behavior analysts are particularly wary of being lured into equating an individual’s report of the controlling variables in a context with the actual variables at work. Indeed, the complexity of verbal reports requires complex tools and procedures and, in the current manuscript, we describe two such tools (protocol analysis and the silent dog method), and review the current literature of studies using them. In general, these tools have demonstrable utility as tools for the analysis of verbal behavior and results obtained thus far are interesting, but there is a lack of standardization across procedures that hinders cumulative progress. The current review highlights the strengths of these tools in permitting a functional analysis of self-generated rule following and suggests future research to enable the development of standardized approaches to self reports in behavior analysis (AU)

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A review of cognitive inhibition in adults with unipolar depression

Although it is generally accepted that systematic processing biases are associated with depressive episodes, what is less well understood are the mechanisms responsible for such negative cognitive biases. Overall, empirical evidence has suggested that cognitive inhibitory deficits of emotional processing may play a central role in the onset and maintenance of depression. Thus, research has begun to investigate cognitive inhibition, a mechanism proposed to be fundamental to the negative cognitive biases evidenced within depression. These investigations may help to fill these gaps in the literature. The aim of the current paper was to provide a comprehensive review of the literature related to cognitive inhibition and investigate the evidence supporting the role of cognitive inhibition in the development and maintenance of major depressive disorder. Relevant research is reviewed and the current methods for examining cognitive inhibition are discussed. Furthermore, the implications of these results for research examining selective attention within depression are considered (AU)

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The effect on intelligence quotient of training fluency in relational frames of coordination

Relational training protocols based on Relational Frame Theory (RFT) are showing promising results as regards increased intelligence quotient. This study aimed to analyze the effect on intelligence quotient of a fluency and flexibility training protocol based on relations of coordination. Two students from the same school were the study participants. They were randomly assigned the roles of experimental participant (a boy aged 4 years, 1 month) and control participant (a girl aged 3 years, 11 months). The McCarthy´s Aptitudes and Psychomotricity Scale (MSCA) was used to evaluate cognitive and psychomotor development. The 8-hour training protocol was implemented over a 2-month period. The experimental participant showed an increase of more than 1.5 SD in the General Cognitive Index (GCI) of the MSCA (from 106 to 132) whereas the control participant showed a 10-point increase. The experimental participant partly maintained the improvements at the 6-month follow-up. This study provides further empirical evidence of the potential of RFT training for improving cognitive abilities and intelligence

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