A Content Analysis of Reasons for Disclosing Sexual Fantasies and Partner Responses.

This study aimed to identify some of the reasons held by participants for either disclosing or concealing a sexual fantasy. Participants were asked to describe either how their partner responded to a disclosure or (for those reporting on an undisclosed sexual fantasy) how they anticipated that their partner was likely to respond. A mixed-methods approach was employed. Two hundred and eighty-seven participants were surveyed about their reasons for disclosing/concealing fantasies and either their actual or anticipated disclosure experiences. The majority of participants (69.3%) indicated having disclosed a sexual fantasy at some point in their relationship. Five categories of reasons for disclosing/not disclosing a sexual fantasy were generated through descriptive content analysis. These categories were sexual gratification, relationship-motivated, partner traits or characteristics, communication patterns, and specific fantasy content. Participant descriptions of their partner's response to the disclosure of their sexual fantasy were frequently coded as positive. For those describing how they believed their partner would be likely to respond to the disclosure of reported sexual fantasy, these anticipated responses were often coded as negative. The findings of the current study deepen our understanding of sexual fantasy disclosure and highlight some of the reasons held for either disclosing or concealing sexual fantasies. More widely, these findings may have implications for sex education, furthering our understanding of sexual dysfunction and sex/relationship therapy.

Hereditary Angioedema patient experiences of medication use and emergency care.

BACKGROUND: Hereditary angioedema (HAE) is a rare inherited illness characterised by recurrent swellings. Four percent of HAE attacks are life threatening throat swellings requiring urgent medical intervention. The aim of this study was to gain an in depth understanding of patient experiences of use of treatment and emergency care. METHODS: 65 participants completed an online survey including open ended questions about their experiences and/or completed an in-depth interview. Interview participants were asked to share and talk about up to five images that they felt best represented their life experiences with HAE. Data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. RESULTS: Treatment experiences highlighted the life changing nature of new treatments and benefits for quality of life, but also illustrated common barriers to treatment administration. Emergency care experiences illustrated how throat attacks and fear of their future occurrence could be traumatic. DISCUSSION: Findings indicate that HAE patients need psychological support to process fears and negative experiences. In addition, psychological barriers to treatment administration must be addressed to ensure treatment is used effectively. Education for emergency practitioners is also needed to improve emergency treatment and reduce the psychological burden of delayed emergency care.

Cognitive and mood effects of 8 weeks' supplementation with 400 mg or 1000 mg of the omega-3 essential fatty acid docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) in healthy children aged 10-12 years.

INTRODUCTION: Despite media and public expectation of efficacy, no study to date has investigated the cognitive and mood effects of omega 3 supplementation in healthy children. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: This randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel groups pilot study assessed the cognitive and mood effects of either 400 mg or 1000 mg of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) in 90 healthy children aged 10-12 years. Cognitive performance and mood was assessed prior to, and 8 weeks following, commencement of treatment. RESULTS: There was a significant treatment effect on one cognitive measure (speed of word recognition), with the lower dose speeding, and the higher dose slowing, performance. Overall, the pattern of results strongly suggests that this effect was due to chance fluctuations in performance and that the treatments had no consistent or interpretable effect on performance. CONCLUSIONS: The results here do not suggest that supplementation with these doses of DHA for 8 weeks has any beneficial effect on brain function in cognitively intact children.

Glucose enhancement of memory depends on initial thirst.

This double-blind, placebo-controlled study examined the influence of appetitive state on glucose enhancement of memory. Participants rated their mood, hunger and thirst, then consumed a 25 g glucose drink or a matched placebo 20 min prior to a verbal memory task. There was a double dissociation when the effects of thirst ratings and drink on subsequent memory performance were considered. Those who were initially less thirsty recalled significantly more words following glucose than placebo; those who were more thirsty recalled significantly fewer words after glucose than placebo. Glucose enhancement of memory may therefore critically depend on participants' initial thirst.

Cognitive and mood effects in healthy children during 12 weeks' supplementation with multi-vitamin/minerals.

Adequate levels of vitamins and minerals are essential for optimal neural functioning. A high proportion of individuals, including children, suffer from deficiencies in one or more vitamins or minerals. This study investigated whether daily supplementation with vitamins/minerals could modulate cognitive performance and mood in healthy children. In this randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel groups investigation, eighty-one healthy children aged from 8 to 14 years underwent laboratory assessments of their cognitive performance and mood pre-dose and at 1 and 3 h post-dose on the first and last days of 12 weeks' supplementation with a commercially available vitamins/mineral product (Pharmaton Kiddi). Interim assessments were also completed at home after 4 and 8 weeks at 3 h post-dose. Each assessment comprised completion of a cognitive battery, delivered over the Internet, which included tasks assessing mood and the speed and accuracy of attention and aspects of memory (secondary, semantic and spatial working memory). The vitamin/mineral group performed more accurately on two attention tasks: 'Arrows' choice reaction time task at 4 and 8 weeks; 'Arrow Flankers' choice reaction time task at 4, 8 and 12 weeks. A single task outcome (Picture Recognition errors) evinced significant decrements at 12 weeks. Mood was not modulated in any interpretable manner. Whilst it is possible that the significant improvements following treatment were due to non-significant numerical differences in performance at baseline, these results would seem to suggest that vitamin/mineral supplementation has the potential to improve brain function in healthy children. This proposition requires further investigation.

Cyberfaking: I can, so I will? Intentions to fake in online psychological testing.

The aim of this study was to investigate whether intentions to fake online (cyberfaking) or in pencil-and-paper psychological testing differ. Participants (N=154) completed online questionnaires measuring attitudes toward faking, perceived behavioral control over faking, subjective norms regarding faking, and intentions to fake in future psychological assessment, with online and pencil-and-paper test administration scenarios compared. Participants showed similar intentions toward cyberfaking and faking in pencil-and-paper testing. However, participants held more positive attitudes toward cyberfaking than faking offline, greater perceived behavioral control over cyberfaking than offline faking, and more favorable subjective norms toward cyberfaking compared to offline faking. Analysis via multiple regression revealed that more positive attitudes toward cyberfaking, greater perceived behavioral control over cyberfaking, and more favorable subjective norms regarding cyberfaking were significantly related to the intention to cyberfake. In addition, more positive attitudes toward faking offline and greater perceived behavioral control over faking offline were significantly related to the intention to fake in offline tests. Overall, results indicated a similar pattern of relationship in the prediction of intentions to engage in faking regardless of the test administration modality scenario. Subjective norm, however, was not a significant predictor for faking offline. Future research could aim to include a behavioral faking outcome measure, as well as examine intentions to cyberfake in specific scenarios (for example, faking good or faking bad).

Glucose enhancement of recognition memory: differential effects on effortful processing but not aspects of 'remember-know' responses.

The administration of a glucose drink has been shown to enhance cognitive performance with effect sizes comparable with those from pharmaceutical interventions in human trials. In the memory domain, it is currently debated whether glucose facilitation of performance is due to differential targeting of hippocampal memory or whether task effort is a more important determinant. Using a placebo-controlled, double-blind, crossover 2(Drink: glucose/placebo) × 2(Effort: ± secondary task) design, 20 healthy young adults' recognition memory performance was measured using the 'remember-know' procedure. Two high effort conditions (one for each drink) included secondary hand movements during word presentation. A 25 g glucose or 30 mg saccharine (placebo) drink was consumed 10 min prior to the task. The presence of a secondary task resulted in a global impairment of memory function. There were significant Drink × Effort interactions for overall memory accuracy but no differential effects for 'remember' or 'know' responses. These data suggest that, in some circumstances, task effort may be a more important determinant of the glucose facilitation of memory effect than hippocampal mediation. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled 'Cognitive Enhancers'.

Glucose administration prior to a divided attention task improves tracking performance but not word recognition: evidence against differential memory enhancement?

RATIONALE: The cognition-enhancing effects of glucose administration to humans have been well-documented; however, it remains unclear whether this effect preferentially targets episodic memory or other cognitive domains. OBJECTIVES: The effect of glucose on the allocation of attentional resources during memory encoding was assessed using a sensitive dual-attention paradigm. MATERIALS AND METHODS: One hundred and twenty volunteers (mean age 21.60, SD 4.89, 77 females) took part in this randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel groups study where each consumed a 25-g glucose drink or a placebo. Half of the participants in each drink condition attempted to track a moving on-screen target during auditory word presentation. The distance between the cursor and the tracking target was used as an index of attentional cost during encoding. Effects of drink and tracking on recognition memory and drink on tracking performance were assessed. Self-rated appetite and mood were co-monitored. RESULTS: Co-performing the tracking task significantly impaired memory performance irrespective of drink condition. In the placebo-tracking condition, there was a cost to tracking manifest as greater deviation from target during and immediately following word presentation. Compared with placebo, the glucose drink significantly improved tracking performance during encoding. There were significant time-related changes in thirst and alertness ratings but these were not differentially affected by drink or tracking conditions. CONCLUSION: Tracking but not memory was enhanced by glucose. This finding suggests that, under certain task conditions, glucose administrations does not preferentially enhance memory performance. One mechanism through which glucose acts as a cognition enhancer is through allowing greater allocation of attentional resources.