Our aim was to determine if deficits in intentional forgetting that are associated with depressio... more Our aim was to determine if deficits in intentional forgetting that are associated with depression and dysphoria (subclinical depression) could be explained, at least in part, by variations in working memory function. Sixty dysphoric and 61 nondysphoric participants completed a modified version of the think/no-think (TNT) task and a measure of complex working memory (the operation span task). The TNT task involved participants learning a series of emotional cue-target word pairs, before being presented with a subset of the cues and asked to either recall the associated target (think) or to prevent it from coming to mind (no think) by thinking about a substitute target word. Participants were subsequently asked to recall the targets to all cues (regardless of previous recall instructions). As expected, after controlling for anxiety, we found that dysphoric individuals exhibited impaired forgetting relative to the non-dysphoric participants. Also as expected, we found that superior working memory function was associated with more successful forgetting. Critically, in the dysphoric group, we found that working memory mediated the effect of depression on intentional forgetting. That is, depression influenced forgetting indirectly via its effect on working memory. However, under conditions of repeated suppression, there was also a direct effect of depression on forgetting. These findings represent an important development in the understanding of impaired forgetting in depression and also suggest that working memory training might be a viable intervention for improving the ability of depressed individuals to prevent unwanted memories from coming to mind.
with vegetables; p < 0.01); intervention vs. post-intervention (64% vs. 67% of meals purchased wi... more with vegetables; p < 0.01); intervention vs. post-intervention (64% vs. 67% of meals purchased with vegetables; p < 0.01); and baseline vs. postintervention (60% vs. 67% of meals purchased with vegetables; p < 0.001). These results provide preliminary evidence that a social norms approach may increase the purchase of vegetables in a workplace setting; however, further research using more rigorous control conditions is needed.
Background: Dietary restraint has been linked to de cits in the ability to recall detailed memori... more Background: Dietary restraint has been linked to de cits in the ability to recall detailed memories of personally experienced events (referred to as autobiographical memory speci city). As priming with healthy foods increases the salience of restraint it would be expected to lead to greater de cits in memory speci city. Objective: To determine if priming word cues with images of healthy or unhealthy foods would in uence the speci city of memory retrieval, and if de cits in memory speci city would be more evident in those reporting higher levels of dietary restraint, or currently dieting. Methods: Sixty female undergraduates self-reported if they were currently dieting and completed measures of mood, restraint, and disinhibition, and a modi ed version of the autobiographical memory task. Participants were presented with positive and negative words (unrelated to eating concerns) and asked to retrieve a speci c memory in response to each cue. A food image was shown prior to each word cue; half of the participants were primed with images of healthy foods and half with images of unhealthy foods. Results: As expected, participants primed with healthy foods retrieved fewer speci c memories than did those primed with unhealthy foods. However, neither restraint nor current dieting behaviour were associated with memory speci city. Conclusions: Differences in memory speci city between the priming conditions cannot be explained in terms of increased salience of restraint. However, it is plausible that unhealthy images led to an increase in positive affect, which in turn improved memory speci city.
Carbohydrate intake during exercise consistently enhances endurance performance, but its effects ... more Carbohydrate intake during exercise consistently enhances endurance performance, but its effects on appetite and subsequent energy intake are unclear. Therefore, this study investigated the effect of ingesting a carbohydrate or placebo drink during aerobic exercise on appetite and energy intake. Twelve healthy, recreationally active men (age 22.6 ± 4.1 y, BMI 24.1 ± 2.9 kg/m 2 , body fat 16.9 ± 4.1%) completed two randomised, counterbalanced trials. Subjects arrived at the laboratory after a standardised breakfast and completed 80 min standardised exercise (5 min warm-up, 5 min stretching, 30 min cycling, 5 min rest, 30 min treadmill running, 5 min cool-down). During exercise, subjects ingested 1L of a carbohydrate (CHO, 60 g/L) or a placebo (PLA) drink. Energy intake was assessed in the laboratory 70 min post-exercise (multi-item buffet) and for the remainder of the day by weighed food record. Blood samples for determination of gut peptides were collected pre-exercise and pre-lunch, whilst expired breath samples and subjective appetite sensations were measured periodically throughout. Ad-libitum energy intake was similar between trials at lunch (CHO 5205 ± 1274 kJ; PLA 5385 ± 1251 kJ; P¼0.474) and for the rest the day (CHO 5169 ± 2208 kJ; PLA 5148 ± 1460 kJ; P¼0.972). Total 24 h energy intake (including breakfast and the drink) was also similar between trials (CHO 13460 ± 2892 kJ; PLA 12616 ± 1551 kJ; P¼0.274). Therefore, this study suggests that ingestion of a carbohydrate drink during exercise does not influence within-day energy intake. However, these results should be treated with caution due to the small sample size.
Background: Alexithymia is an independent predictor of symptoms of eating disorders, but also inf... more Background: Alexithymia is an independent predictor of symptoms of eating disorders, but also influences disordered eating in clinical samples indirectly via negative affect (depression and anxiety). The aim of the current work was to establish if alexithymia predicts disordered eating in a non-clinical sample directly and indirectly (via negative affect). Methods: A sample of healthy females (n = 248) completed measures of depression, anxiety, alexithymia, and disordered eating (drive for thinness, bulimia, and body dissatisfaction). Bias-corrected bootstrapping was used to conduct parallel mediation analyses to determine if negative affect (depression and anxiety) mediated the influence of alexithymia on disordered eating. Results: The relationship between alexithymia (difficulty identifying feelings) and drive for thinness was mediated by depression but not anxiety. The link between difficulty identifying feelings and bulimia was mediated by anxiety but not depression. The correlation between alexithymia (difficulty describing feelings) and body dissatisfaction was mediated by both depression and anxiety. However, after controlling for negative affect, difficulty identifying feelings remained an independent predictor of drive for thinness, and difficulty describing feelings remained an independent predictor of body dissatisfaction. Conclusion: Facets of alexithymia (DIF and DDF) directly predict disordered eating in healthy participants as well as indirectly via depression and anxiety. These findings suggest that targeted interventions to improve the ability of individuals to identify and describe their feelings could be beneficial in reducing disordered eating, particularly in those "at risk" of developing eating disorders.
Data included in PROCESS mediation showing the direct and indirect effects, via negative affect, ... more Data included in PROCESS mediation showing the direct and indirect effects, via negative affect, of alexithymia on symptoms of disordered eating in a non-clinical sample
Data included in PROCESS mediation showing the direct and indirect effects, via negative affect, ... more Data included in PROCESS mediation showing the direct and indirect effects, via negative affect, of alexithymia on symptoms of disordered eating in a non-clinical sample
For human observers' slight differences in the muscular configurations of the smile can communica... more For human observers' slight differences in the muscular configurations of the smile can communicate dominance or affiliation. Despite the significant role played by smiles, our gender modulates their valance. Females tend to smile more than men and are judged more negatively if they smile less than their male counterparts. Given that the smile is associated with effective leadership it remains to be seen whether or not gender moderates such displays during leadership campaigns. To examine this question the non-verbal displays occurring in the 2016 US presidential debate were analysed in a unique video case-study approach. Specifically, it was hypothesised that the female politician (Hillary Clinton) would engender more smiles in general and displays of affiliation specifically. Given the rehearsed, yet unpredictable, nature of such debates it was further hypothesized that the displays would be more intense when each candidate watched the other respond not when they responded directly. Differences in smiles of affiliation and dominance were analysed and results did indeed support the hypothesis that the more intense displays were engendered by candidates when watching their counterpart respond to the moderator. The female politician made more intense smile displays in general and more affiliative smile gestures specifically than the male politician (Donald Trump). These results are discussed in terms of the sociobiological significance that such honest social signals may have in a contemporary political campaign. As is common practice limitations and proposals for future work are discussed.
Averting gaze from another person's face generally improves cognitive performance, yet, little is... more Averting gaze from another person's face generally improves cognitive performance, yet, little is known about how witnesses' gaze direction affects their recall during investigative interviews. Here, participants witnessed a video-recorded incident, and were interviewed via free recall and closed questions following a short delay. In Experiment 1, participants either faced the interviewer or faced away during the interview. In Experiment 2, alongside this manipulation, the interviewer also either faced the witness or faced away. In Experiment 3, witness gaze direction was manipulated alongside rapport-building. In Experiment 4, the effect of facing away was directly compared with that of eye-closure. Mini meta-analysis of all four experiments showed that the effect of witness gaze direction on memory performance was minimal. Furthermore, neither aversion of interviewer's gaze nor rapport-building magnified this effect. Added to the cumulative literature on eyewitness gaze aversion, these findings afford better estimates of the likely size of these effects.
Something akin to motion perception occurs when actual motion is not present but implied. However... more Something akin to motion perception occurs when actual motion is not present but implied. However, it is not known if the experience of implied motion occurs during the perception of static faces nor if the effect would vary for different facial expressions. To examine this, participants were presented with pairs of faces where successive expressions depicted either increasing emotional intensity or its diminution. Participants indicated if the second face in the pair was the same as, or different from, the first face shown. To measure general facial emotion recognition ability the Ekman 60 faces test was administered. As individual differences in depression, anxiety and alexithymia have been shown to influence face processing we measured these factors using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale (HADS) and the Toronto Alexithymia scale (TAS-20). As expected, participants were more likely to endorse the second face as being a match to the first when its expression implied forward motion compared to backwards motion. This effect was larger for happiness and fear and positively related to accuracy on the Ekman 60 faces task. The effect was not related to depression or anxiety but it was negatively related to scores on the difficulty identifying feelings subscale of the TAS-20, suggesting that individuals who have problems identifying their own and others' feelings experienced a reduction in implied motion. Observers process implied motion from some facial expressions of emotion but the experience is modified by the ability to recognise one's own feelings and those of others.
Autobiographical memory specificity (AMS) reduces with increasing age and is associated with depr... more Autobiographical memory specificity (AMS) reduces with increasing age and is associated with depression, social problem-solving and functional limitations. However, ability to switch between general and specific, as well as between positive and negative retrieval, may be more important for the strategic use of autobiographical information in everyday life. Ability to switch between retrieval modes is likely to rely on aspects of executive function. We propose that age-related deficits in cognitive flexibility impair AMS, but the "positivity effect" protects positively valenced memories from impaired specificity. A training programme to improve the ability to flexibly retrieve different types of memories in depressed adults (MemFlex) was examined in non-depressed older adults to determine effects on AMS, valence and the executive functions underlying cognitive flexibility. Thirty-nine participants aged 70+ (MemFlex, n = 20; control, n = 19) took part. AMS and the inhibition aspect of executive function improved in both groups, suggesting these abilities are amenable to change, although not differentially affected by this type of training. Lower baseline inhibition scores correlated with increased negative, but not positive AMS, suggesting that positive AMS is an automatic process in older adults. Changes in AMS correlated with changes in social problem-solving, emphasising the usefulness of AMs in a social environment.
This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service... more This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting galley proof before it is published in its final citable form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain.
The aim was to determine if the memory bias for negative faces that has been demonstrated in depr... more The aim was to determine if the memory bias for negative faces that has been demonstrated in depression and dysphoria generalises from long to short-term memory. 29 dysphoric (DP) and 22 non-dysphoric (ND) participants were presented with a series of 64 faces, each featuring one of four emotional expressions (happiness, sadness, anger or neutral affect), and were asked to identify the emotion portrayed. Following a short delay, an array of four faces (the original plus three distracters) was presented and the participants were asked to identify the target face. Half the arrays featured the same individual with four different expressions (facial expression memory) and half featured four different individuals with the same expression (facial identity memory). At encoding, no group differences were apparent. At memory testing, DP exhibited impaired memory for all types of facial emotion and for facial identity when the faces featured happiness, anger or neutral affect, but not when the faces featured sadness. DP exhibited enhanced memory for faces with sad & angry expressions, and impaired memory for happy faces, relative to neutral. ND exhibited enhanced memory for facial identity when faces were angry, relative to sad or neutral. The implications of these findings are discussed in terms of the literature on MCM biases and social functioning in depression.
The majority of mood-congruent memory research has confirmed the existence of a memory bias for a... more The majority of mood-congruent memory research has confirmed the existence of a memory bias for affectively toned words or phrases. However, the current study investigated a memory bias for emotional facial expressions, in induced and naturally occurring mood states. In experiment 1 twenty-five dysphoric participants and twenty non-dysphoric participants were presented with a set of emotional facial expressions and asked to identify the emotions portrayed by each face. The participants were then tested on recognition memory for these facial expressions. It was found that dysphoric participants correctly identified more happy facial expressions compared with sad and neutral expressions. During the recognition memory phase the dysphoric participants demonstrated superior memory for sad facial expressions and inferior memory for happy expressions relative to nondysphoric participants. In experiment 2 twenty-four healthy undergraduate students underwent a positive mood induction (group 1), and another twenty-four underwent a negative mood induction (group 2). These participants also took part in the same emotion identification trial and recognition memory phase, same as participants in experiment 1. All participants identified happy facial expressions more accurately than neutral or sad facial expressions. In the recognition phase, group 1 recognised more happy facial expressions, and group 2 recognised more sad facial expressions, supporting the recognition hypotheses. Findings were discussed in terms of Bower's
Four patients that had received an anterior cingulotomy (ACING) and five patients that had receiv... more Four patients that had received an anterior cingulotomy (ACING) and five patients that had received both an ACING and an anterior capsulotomy (ACAPS) as an intervention for chronic, treatment refractory depression were presented with a series of dynamic emotional stimuli and invited to identify the emotion portrayed. Their performance was compared with that of a group of non-surgically treated patients with major depression (n=17) and with a group of matched, never-depressed controls (n=22). At the time of testing, 4 of the 9 neurosurgery patients had recovered from their depressive episode, whereas 5 remained depressed. Analysis of emotion recognition accuracy revealed no significant differences between depressed and non-depressed neurosurgically treated patients. Similarly, no significant differences were observed between the patients treated with ACING alone and those treated with both ACING and ACAPS. Comparison of the emotion recognition accuracy of the neurosurgically treated patients and the depressed & healthy control groups revealed that the surgically treated patients exhibited a general impairment in their recognition accuracy compared to healthy controls. Regression analysis revealed that participants' emotion recognition accuracy was predicted by the number of errors they made on the Stroop colour-naming task. It is plausible that the observed deficit in emotion recognition accuracy was a consequence of impaired attentional control, which may have been a result of the surgical lesions to the anterior cingulate cortex.
Our aim was to determine if deficits in intentional forgetting that are associated with depressio... more Our aim was to determine if deficits in intentional forgetting that are associated with depression and dysphoria (subclinical depression) could be explained, at least in part, by variations in working memory function. Sixty dysphoric and 61 nondysphoric participants completed a modified version of the think/no-think (TNT) task and a measure of complex working memory (the operation span task). The TNT task involved participants learning a series of emotional cue-target word pairs, before being presented with a subset of the cues and asked to either recall the associated target (think) or to prevent it from coming to mind (no think) by thinking about a substitute target word. Participants were subsequently asked to recall the targets to all cues (regardless of previous recall instructions). As expected, after controlling for anxiety, we found that dysphoric individuals exhibited impaired forgetting relative to the non-dysphoric participants. Also as expected, we found that superior working memory function was associated with more successful forgetting. Critically, in the dysphoric group, we found that working memory mediated the effect of depression on intentional forgetting. That is, depression influenced forgetting indirectly via its effect on working memory. However, under conditions of repeated suppression, there was also a direct effect of depression on forgetting. These findings represent an important development in the understanding of impaired forgetting in depression and also suggest that working memory training might be a viable intervention for improving the ability of depressed individuals to prevent unwanted memories from coming to mind.
with vegetables; p < 0.01); intervention vs. post-intervention (64% vs. 67% of meals purchased wi... more with vegetables; p < 0.01); intervention vs. post-intervention (64% vs. 67% of meals purchased with vegetables; p < 0.01); and baseline vs. postintervention (60% vs. 67% of meals purchased with vegetables; p < 0.001). These results provide preliminary evidence that a social norms approach may increase the purchase of vegetables in a workplace setting; however, further research using more rigorous control conditions is needed.
Background: Dietary restraint has been linked to de cits in the ability to recall detailed memori... more Background: Dietary restraint has been linked to de cits in the ability to recall detailed memories of personally experienced events (referred to as autobiographical memory speci city). As priming with healthy foods increases the salience of restraint it would be expected to lead to greater de cits in memory speci city. Objective: To determine if priming word cues with images of healthy or unhealthy foods would in uence the speci city of memory retrieval, and if de cits in memory speci city would be more evident in those reporting higher levels of dietary restraint, or currently dieting. Methods: Sixty female undergraduates self-reported if they were currently dieting and completed measures of mood, restraint, and disinhibition, and a modi ed version of the autobiographical memory task. Participants were presented with positive and negative words (unrelated to eating concerns) and asked to retrieve a speci c memory in response to each cue. A food image was shown prior to each word cue; half of the participants were primed with images of healthy foods and half with images of unhealthy foods. Results: As expected, participants primed with healthy foods retrieved fewer speci c memories than did those primed with unhealthy foods. However, neither restraint nor current dieting behaviour were associated with memory speci city. Conclusions: Differences in memory speci city between the priming conditions cannot be explained in terms of increased salience of restraint. However, it is plausible that unhealthy images led to an increase in positive affect, which in turn improved memory speci city.
Carbohydrate intake during exercise consistently enhances endurance performance, but its effects ... more Carbohydrate intake during exercise consistently enhances endurance performance, but its effects on appetite and subsequent energy intake are unclear. Therefore, this study investigated the effect of ingesting a carbohydrate or placebo drink during aerobic exercise on appetite and energy intake. Twelve healthy, recreationally active men (age 22.6 ± 4.1 y, BMI 24.1 ± 2.9 kg/m 2 , body fat 16.9 ± 4.1%) completed two randomised, counterbalanced trials. Subjects arrived at the laboratory after a standardised breakfast and completed 80 min standardised exercise (5 min warm-up, 5 min stretching, 30 min cycling, 5 min rest, 30 min treadmill running, 5 min cool-down). During exercise, subjects ingested 1L of a carbohydrate (CHO, 60 g/L) or a placebo (PLA) drink. Energy intake was assessed in the laboratory 70 min post-exercise (multi-item buffet) and for the remainder of the day by weighed food record. Blood samples for determination of gut peptides were collected pre-exercise and pre-lunch, whilst expired breath samples and subjective appetite sensations were measured periodically throughout. Ad-libitum energy intake was similar between trials at lunch (CHO 5205 ± 1274 kJ; PLA 5385 ± 1251 kJ; P¼0.474) and for the rest the day (CHO 5169 ± 2208 kJ; PLA 5148 ± 1460 kJ; P¼0.972). Total 24 h energy intake (including breakfast and the drink) was also similar between trials (CHO 13460 ± 2892 kJ; PLA 12616 ± 1551 kJ; P¼0.274). Therefore, this study suggests that ingestion of a carbohydrate drink during exercise does not influence within-day energy intake. However, these results should be treated with caution due to the small sample size.
Background: Alexithymia is an independent predictor of symptoms of eating disorders, but also inf... more Background: Alexithymia is an independent predictor of symptoms of eating disorders, but also influences disordered eating in clinical samples indirectly via negative affect (depression and anxiety). The aim of the current work was to establish if alexithymia predicts disordered eating in a non-clinical sample directly and indirectly (via negative affect). Methods: A sample of healthy females (n = 248) completed measures of depression, anxiety, alexithymia, and disordered eating (drive for thinness, bulimia, and body dissatisfaction). Bias-corrected bootstrapping was used to conduct parallel mediation analyses to determine if negative affect (depression and anxiety) mediated the influence of alexithymia on disordered eating. Results: The relationship between alexithymia (difficulty identifying feelings) and drive for thinness was mediated by depression but not anxiety. The link between difficulty identifying feelings and bulimia was mediated by anxiety but not depression. The correlation between alexithymia (difficulty describing feelings) and body dissatisfaction was mediated by both depression and anxiety. However, after controlling for negative affect, difficulty identifying feelings remained an independent predictor of drive for thinness, and difficulty describing feelings remained an independent predictor of body dissatisfaction. Conclusion: Facets of alexithymia (DIF and DDF) directly predict disordered eating in healthy participants as well as indirectly via depression and anxiety. These findings suggest that targeted interventions to improve the ability of individuals to identify and describe their feelings could be beneficial in reducing disordered eating, particularly in those "at risk" of developing eating disorders.
Data included in PROCESS mediation showing the direct and indirect effects, via negative affect, ... more Data included in PROCESS mediation showing the direct and indirect effects, via negative affect, of alexithymia on symptoms of disordered eating in a non-clinical sample
Data included in PROCESS mediation showing the direct and indirect effects, via negative affect, ... more Data included in PROCESS mediation showing the direct and indirect effects, via negative affect, of alexithymia on symptoms of disordered eating in a non-clinical sample
For human observers' slight differences in the muscular configurations of the smile can communica... more For human observers' slight differences in the muscular configurations of the smile can communicate dominance or affiliation. Despite the significant role played by smiles, our gender modulates their valance. Females tend to smile more than men and are judged more negatively if they smile less than their male counterparts. Given that the smile is associated with effective leadership it remains to be seen whether or not gender moderates such displays during leadership campaigns. To examine this question the non-verbal displays occurring in the 2016 US presidential debate were analysed in a unique video case-study approach. Specifically, it was hypothesised that the female politician (Hillary Clinton) would engender more smiles in general and displays of affiliation specifically. Given the rehearsed, yet unpredictable, nature of such debates it was further hypothesized that the displays would be more intense when each candidate watched the other respond not when they responded directly. Differences in smiles of affiliation and dominance were analysed and results did indeed support the hypothesis that the more intense displays were engendered by candidates when watching their counterpart respond to the moderator. The female politician made more intense smile displays in general and more affiliative smile gestures specifically than the male politician (Donald Trump). These results are discussed in terms of the sociobiological significance that such honest social signals may have in a contemporary political campaign. As is common practice limitations and proposals for future work are discussed.
Averting gaze from another person's face generally improves cognitive performance, yet, little is... more Averting gaze from another person's face generally improves cognitive performance, yet, little is known about how witnesses' gaze direction affects their recall during investigative interviews. Here, participants witnessed a video-recorded incident, and were interviewed via free recall and closed questions following a short delay. In Experiment 1, participants either faced the interviewer or faced away during the interview. In Experiment 2, alongside this manipulation, the interviewer also either faced the witness or faced away. In Experiment 3, witness gaze direction was manipulated alongside rapport-building. In Experiment 4, the effect of facing away was directly compared with that of eye-closure. Mini meta-analysis of all four experiments showed that the effect of witness gaze direction on memory performance was minimal. Furthermore, neither aversion of interviewer's gaze nor rapport-building magnified this effect. Added to the cumulative literature on eyewitness gaze aversion, these findings afford better estimates of the likely size of these effects.
Something akin to motion perception occurs when actual motion is not present but implied. However... more Something akin to motion perception occurs when actual motion is not present but implied. However, it is not known if the experience of implied motion occurs during the perception of static faces nor if the effect would vary for different facial expressions. To examine this, participants were presented with pairs of faces where successive expressions depicted either increasing emotional intensity or its diminution. Participants indicated if the second face in the pair was the same as, or different from, the first face shown. To measure general facial emotion recognition ability the Ekman 60 faces test was administered. As individual differences in depression, anxiety and alexithymia have been shown to influence face processing we measured these factors using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale (HADS) and the Toronto Alexithymia scale (TAS-20). As expected, participants were more likely to endorse the second face as being a match to the first when its expression implied forward motion compared to backwards motion. This effect was larger for happiness and fear and positively related to accuracy on the Ekman 60 faces task. The effect was not related to depression or anxiety but it was negatively related to scores on the difficulty identifying feelings subscale of the TAS-20, suggesting that individuals who have problems identifying their own and others' feelings experienced a reduction in implied motion. Observers process implied motion from some facial expressions of emotion but the experience is modified by the ability to recognise one's own feelings and those of others.
Autobiographical memory specificity (AMS) reduces with increasing age and is associated with depr... more Autobiographical memory specificity (AMS) reduces with increasing age and is associated with depression, social problem-solving and functional limitations. However, ability to switch between general and specific, as well as between positive and negative retrieval, may be more important for the strategic use of autobiographical information in everyday life. Ability to switch between retrieval modes is likely to rely on aspects of executive function. We propose that age-related deficits in cognitive flexibility impair AMS, but the "positivity effect" protects positively valenced memories from impaired specificity. A training programme to improve the ability to flexibly retrieve different types of memories in depressed adults (MemFlex) was examined in non-depressed older adults to determine effects on AMS, valence and the executive functions underlying cognitive flexibility. Thirty-nine participants aged 70+ (MemFlex, n = 20; control, n = 19) took part. AMS and the inhibition aspect of executive function improved in both groups, suggesting these abilities are amenable to change, although not differentially affected by this type of training. Lower baseline inhibition scores correlated with increased negative, but not positive AMS, suggesting that positive AMS is an automatic process in older adults. Changes in AMS correlated with changes in social problem-solving, emphasising the usefulness of AMs in a social environment.
This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service... more This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting galley proof before it is published in its final citable form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain.
The aim was to determine if the memory bias for negative faces that has been demonstrated in depr... more The aim was to determine if the memory bias for negative faces that has been demonstrated in depression and dysphoria generalises from long to short-term memory. 29 dysphoric (DP) and 22 non-dysphoric (ND) participants were presented with a series of 64 faces, each featuring one of four emotional expressions (happiness, sadness, anger or neutral affect), and were asked to identify the emotion portrayed. Following a short delay, an array of four faces (the original plus three distracters) was presented and the participants were asked to identify the target face. Half the arrays featured the same individual with four different expressions (facial expression memory) and half featured four different individuals with the same expression (facial identity memory). At encoding, no group differences were apparent. At memory testing, DP exhibited impaired memory for all types of facial emotion and for facial identity when the faces featured happiness, anger or neutral affect, but not when the faces featured sadness. DP exhibited enhanced memory for faces with sad & angry expressions, and impaired memory for happy faces, relative to neutral. ND exhibited enhanced memory for facial identity when faces were angry, relative to sad or neutral. The implications of these findings are discussed in terms of the literature on MCM biases and social functioning in depression.
The majority of mood-congruent memory research has confirmed the existence of a memory bias for a... more The majority of mood-congruent memory research has confirmed the existence of a memory bias for affectively toned words or phrases. However, the current study investigated a memory bias for emotional facial expressions, in induced and naturally occurring mood states. In experiment 1 twenty-five dysphoric participants and twenty non-dysphoric participants were presented with a set of emotional facial expressions and asked to identify the emotions portrayed by each face. The participants were then tested on recognition memory for these facial expressions. It was found that dysphoric participants correctly identified more happy facial expressions compared with sad and neutral expressions. During the recognition memory phase the dysphoric participants demonstrated superior memory for sad facial expressions and inferior memory for happy expressions relative to nondysphoric participants. In experiment 2 twenty-four healthy undergraduate students underwent a positive mood induction (group 1), and another twenty-four underwent a negative mood induction (group 2). These participants also took part in the same emotion identification trial and recognition memory phase, same as participants in experiment 1. All participants identified happy facial expressions more accurately than neutral or sad facial expressions. In the recognition phase, group 1 recognised more happy facial expressions, and group 2 recognised more sad facial expressions, supporting the recognition hypotheses. Findings were discussed in terms of Bower's
Four patients that had received an anterior cingulotomy (ACING) and five patients that had receiv... more Four patients that had received an anterior cingulotomy (ACING) and five patients that had received both an ACING and an anterior capsulotomy (ACAPS) as an intervention for chronic, treatment refractory depression were presented with a series of dynamic emotional stimuli and invited to identify the emotion portrayed. Their performance was compared with that of a group of non-surgically treated patients with major depression (n=17) and with a group of matched, never-depressed controls (n=22). At the time of testing, 4 of the 9 neurosurgery patients had recovered from their depressive episode, whereas 5 remained depressed. Analysis of emotion recognition accuracy revealed no significant differences between depressed and non-depressed neurosurgically treated patients. Similarly, no significant differences were observed between the patients treated with ACING alone and those treated with both ACING and ACAPS. Comparison of the emotion recognition accuracy of the neurosurgically treated patients and the depressed & healthy control groups revealed that the surgically treated patients exhibited a general impairment in their recognition accuracy compared to healthy controls. Regression analysis revealed that participants' emotion recognition accuracy was predicted by the number of errors they made on the Stroop colour-naming task. It is plausible that the observed deficit in emotion recognition accuracy was a consequence of impaired attentional control, which may have been a result of the surgical lesions to the anterior cingulate cortex.
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