Depression is one of the most common mental health problems in childhood and adolescence. Althoug... more Depression is one of the most common mental health problems in childhood and adolescence. Although data consistently show it is associated with self-reported negative cognitive styles, less is known about the mechanisms underlying this relationship. Cognitive biases in attention, interpretation and memory represent plausible mechanisms and are known to characterise adult depression. We provide the first structured review of studies investigating the nature and causal role of cognitive biases in youth depression. Key questions are (i) do cognitive biases characterise youth depression? (ii) are cognitive biases a vulnerability factor for youth depression? and (iii) do cognitive biases play a causal role in youth depression? We find consistent evidence for positive associations between attention and interpretation biases and youth depression. Stronger biases in youth with an elevated risk of depression support cognitive-vulnerability models. Preliminary evidence from cognitive bias modification paradigms supports a causal role of attention and interpretation biases in youth depression but these paradigms require testing in clinical samples before they can be considered treatment tools. Studies of memory biases in youth samples have produced mixed findings and none have investigated the causal role of memory bias. We identify numerous areas for future research in this emerging field.
Journal of behavior therapy and experimental psychiatry, 2016
Avoidance behavior is central to several anxiety disorders. The current study tested whether avoi... more Avoidance behavior is central to several anxiety disorders. The current study tested whether avoidance behavior for spiders depends on a dynamic interplay between implicit and explicit processes, moderated by the availability to exert control through working memory capacity (WMC). A total of 63 participants completed an approach-avoidance task, an implicit association test, a spider fear questionnaire and a behavioral avoidance test that included an assessment of approach distance as well as approach speed. WMC was measured by a complex operation span task. It was hypothesized that in individuals with low WMC, implicit avoidance tendencies and implicit negative associations predict avoidance behavior for a spider better than the explicit measure, whereas in high WMC individuals, the explicit measure should better predict avoidance behavior than the implicit measures. Results revealed that WMC moderated the influence of implicit negative associations, but not implicit avoidance tende...
Although attentional bias modification (ABM) can change anxiety, recent studies failed to replica... more Although attentional bias modification (ABM) can change anxiety, recent studies failed to replicate such effects, possibly because the visual probe ABM failed to induce changes in attentional bias (AB). We investigated whether visual probe ABM generalised to different measures of AB besides the visual probe task (VPT), and thus whether ABM genuinely changes attentional processing. We trained participants (N = 60) to either attend towards or away from angry facial expressions, and we examined training effects on the dot probe task, the exogenous cueing task, and the visual search task. We found a small change in AB in the VPT, but this effect did not transfer to the exogenous cueing task or the visual search task. Our study shows that ABM does not necessarily lead to generalised effects on AB. This finding can be explained by the poor psychometric properties of the AB measures.
Journal of behavior therapy and experimental psychiatry, Jan 16, 2015
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for children and adolescents with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD... more Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for children and adolescents with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is effective. However, since almost half of patients remain symptomatic after treatment, there remains room for improvement. Cognitive Bias Modification training of Interpretations (CBM-I) is a promising new intervention, as it targets misinterpretation of intrusions, which is seen as an important characteristic in OCD. To date, there have been no published studies of CBM-I in adolescents with OCD. The aim of the current pilot study was to examine the added value of online CBM-I training as an adjunctive treatment to the Treatment As Usual (TAU; that included CBT and pharmacotherapy) in adolescents with OCD. Patients receiving TAU were randomly assigned to either an additional CBM-I training (n = 9), or to an additional placebo variant of this procedure (n = 7). Immediate, on-line interpretations changed in response to the CBM-I training, while no such effects were observed on slower r...
ABSTRACT Volgens cognitieve theorieën spelen negatieve interpretaties een belangrijke rol bij het... more ABSTRACT Volgens cognitieve theorieën spelen negatieve interpretaties een belangrijke rol bij het ontstaan en instandhouding van pathologische angst. De eerste onderzoeksresultaten wijzen erop dat computergestuurde training deze interpretaties kan beïnvloeden en zo angst kan verminderen.
Most individuals start drinking during adolescence, a period in which automatically activated or ... more Most individuals start drinking during adolescence, a period in which automatically activated or implicit cognitive processes play an important role in drinking behavior. The aim of this study was to examine personality-related antecedents of implicit associations between alcohol and positive or negative reinforcement motives in adolescents. It was hypothesized that frequent alcohol consumption in combination with specific personality traits (neuroticism for negative reinforcement and extraversion for positive reinforcement) could predict specific implicit alcohol-relaxation and arousal associations. Participants completed a brief Big Five Questionnaire and alcohol use questions at T1. Approximately eight months later (T2), two Brief Implicit Association Tests were completed to assess alcohol-relaxation (negative reinforcement, n=222) and alcohol-arousal (positive reinforcement, n=248) associations. Results indicated that frequently drinking adolescents who scored high on neuroticis...
This study examined the influence of distraction on genital and subjective sexual responses of wo... more This study examined the influence of distraction on genital and subjective sexual responses of women with (N=20) and without (N=21) sexual problems. Female-produced erotic film fragments were presented to induce sexual response and a vaginal photoplethysmograph was used to measure genital sexual responding. Subjective sexual arousal was assessed in real time using a rotating button and, retrospectively, with visual analogue scales. Distraction load was manipulated through different verbal instructions on how to deal with pairs of digits. The results revealed an equally strong impeding effect of distraction on genital sexual responses and on subjective sexual responses when these were measured retrospectively in women with and without sexual problems. However, distraction did not affect subjective sexual responses when these were measured in real time. The implications of the finding that distraction equally affects women with and without sexual problems are discussed.
Depression is one of the most common mental health problems in childhood and adolescence. Althoug... more Depression is one of the most common mental health problems in childhood and adolescence. Although data consistently show it is associated with self-reported negative cognitive styles, less is known about the mechanisms underlying this relationship. Cognitive biases in attention, interpretation and memory represent plausible mechanisms and are known to characterise adult depression. We provide the first structured review of studies investigating the nature and causal role of cognitive biases in youth depression. Key questions are (i) do cognitive biases characterise youth depression? (ii) are cognitive biases a vulnerability factor for youth depression? and (iii) do cognitive biases play a causal role in youth depression? We find consistent evidence for positive associations between attention and interpretation biases and youth depression. Stronger biases in youth with an elevated risk of depression support cognitive-vulnerability models. Preliminary evidence from cognitive bias modification paradigms supports a causal role of attention and interpretation biases in youth depression but these paradigms require testing in clinical samples before they can be considered treatment tools. Studies of memory biases in youth samples have produced mixed findings and none have investigated the causal role of memory bias. We identify numerous areas for future research in this emerging field.
Journal of behavior therapy and experimental psychiatry, 2016
Avoidance behavior is central to several anxiety disorders. The current study tested whether avoi... more Avoidance behavior is central to several anxiety disorders. The current study tested whether avoidance behavior for spiders depends on a dynamic interplay between implicit and explicit processes, moderated by the availability to exert control through working memory capacity (WMC). A total of 63 participants completed an approach-avoidance task, an implicit association test, a spider fear questionnaire and a behavioral avoidance test that included an assessment of approach distance as well as approach speed. WMC was measured by a complex operation span task. It was hypothesized that in individuals with low WMC, implicit avoidance tendencies and implicit negative associations predict avoidance behavior for a spider better than the explicit measure, whereas in high WMC individuals, the explicit measure should better predict avoidance behavior than the implicit measures. Results revealed that WMC moderated the influence of implicit negative associations, but not implicit avoidance tende...
Although attentional bias modification (ABM) can change anxiety, recent studies failed to replica... more Although attentional bias modification (ABM) can change anxiety, recent studies failed to replicate such effects, possibly because the visual probe ABM failed to induce changes in attentional bias (AB). We investigated whether visual probe ABM generalised to different measures of AB besides the visual probe task (VPT), and thus whether ABM genuinely changes attentional processing. We trained participants (N = 60) to either attend towards or away from angry facial expressions, and we examined training effects on the dot probe task, the exogenous cueing task, and the visual search task. We found a small change in AB in the VPT, but this effect did not transfer to the exogenous cueing task or the visual search task. Our study shows that ABM does not necessarily lead to generalised effects on AB. This finding can be explained by the poor psychometric properties of the AB measures.
Journal of behavior therapy and experimental psychiatry, Jan 16, 2015
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for children and adolescents with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD... more Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for children and adolescents with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is effective. However, since almost half of patients remain symptomatic after treatment, there remains room for improvement. Cognitive Bias Modification training of Interpretations (CBM-I) is a promising new intervention, as it targets misinterpretation of intrusions, which is seen as an important characteristic in OCD. To date, there have been no published studies of CBM-I in adolescents with OCD. The aim of the current pilot study was to examine the added value of online CBM-I training as an adjunctive treatment to the Treatment As Usual (TAU; that included CBT and pharmacotherapy) in adolescents with OCD. Patients receiving TAU were randomly assigned to either an additional CBM-I training (n = 9), or to an additional placebo variant of this procedure (n = 7). Immediate, on-line interpretations changed in response to the CBM-I training, while no such effects were observed on slower r...
ABSTRACT Volgens cognitieve theorieën spelen negatieve interpretaties een belangrijke rol bij het... more ABSTRACT Volgens cognitieve theorieën spelen negatieve interpretaties een belangrijke rol bij het ontstaan en instandhouding van pathologische angst. De eerste onderzoeksresultaten wijzen erop dat computergestuurde training deze interpretaties kan beïnvloeden en zo angst kan verminderen.
Most individuals start drinking during adolescence, a period in which automatically activated or ... more Most individuals start drinking during adolescence, a period in which automatically activated or implicit cognitive processes play an important role in drinking behavior. The aim of this study was to examine personality-related antecedents of implicit associations between alcohol and positive or negative reinforcement motives in adolescents. It was hypothesized that frequent alcohol consumption in combination with specific personality traits (neuroticism for negative reinforcement and extraversion for positive reinforcement) could predict specific implicit alcohol-relaxation and arousal associations. Participants completed a brief Big Five Questionnaire and alcohol use questions at T1. Approximately eight months later (T2), two Brief Implicit Association Tests were completed to assess alcohol-relaxation (negative reinforcement, n=222) and alcohol-arousal (positive reinforcement, n=248) associations. Results indicated that frequently drinking adolescents who scored high on neuroticis...
This study examined the influence of distraction on genital and subjective sexual responses of wo... more This study examined the influence of distraction on genital and subjective sexual responses of women with (N=20) and without (N=21) sexual problems. Female-produced erotic film fragments were presented to induce sexual response and a vaginal photoplethysmograph was used to measure genital sexual responding. Subjective sexual arousal was assessed in real time using a rotating button and, retrospectively, with visual analogue scales. Distraction load was manipulated through different verbal instructions on how to deal with pairs of digits. The results revealed an equally strong impeding effect of distraction on genital sexual responses and on subjective sexual responses when these were measured retrospectively in women with and without sexual problems. However, distraction did not affect subjective sexual responses when these were measured in real time. The implications of the finding that distraction equally affects women with and without sexual problems are discussed.
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