Do empirically-derived personality subtypes relate to cognitive inflexibility in anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa?

Background: Accruing evidence suggests that personality-based approaches to eating disorder classification may offer several advantages over current diagnostic models, with prior research consistently identifying three personality-based groups characterized by either (1) high levels of impulsivity and dysregulation (termed the "undercontrolled" group), (2) high levels of rigidity and avoidance (termed the "overcontrolled" group), or (3) relatively normative levels of personality functioning (termed the "low psychopathology" group). Cognitive inflexibility (i.e.

Evaluating the role of binge planning and binge inevitability within affect regulation models of binge eating.

Affect regulation models posit that aversive affective states drive binge-eating behavior, which then regulates negative emotions. However, recent findings among individuals with binge-eating disorder (BED) suggest that food-related anticipatory processes may precede and potentially explain the negative affect thought to drive binge eating. Specifically, studies using ecological momentary assessment (EMA) demonstrate that the negative affective state of "Guilt" (from the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule) most strongly predicts later binge eating in the natural environment, and it has been hypothesized that planning a binge or feeling that a binge-eating episode is inventible may account for the increases in Guilt observed prior to binge episodes.

Examining the bidirectional longitudinal associations between body mass index and episodic memory following bariatric surgery.

Background: The relationship between obesity and episodic memory (i.e., conscious memory for specific events) is hypothesized to be bidirectional.

Behaviourally assessed negative urgency is uniquely associated with binge-eating frequency.

Objective: Binge eating appears to be associated with impulsivity, especially in response to negative affect (i.e., negative urgency).

An examination of state and trait urgency in individuals with binge-eating disorder.

Objective: Negative urgency (i.e., acting rashly when experiencing negative affect; NU), is a theorised maintenance factor in binge-eating type eating disorders.

Changes in evening-shifted loss of control eating severity following treatment for binge-eating disorder.

Background: Loss of control eating is more likely to occur in the evening and is uniquely associated with distress. No studies have examined the effect of treatment on within-day timing of loss of control eating severity. We examined whether time of day differentially predicted loss of control eating severity at baseline (i.

Prospective associations between cognitive flexibility and eating disorder symptoms in anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa.

This study investigated concurrent and prospective associations between measures of reversal learning and attentional set-shifting and eating disorder symptoms at baseline, 3 months, and 6 months among individuals with anorexia nervosa restricting subtype (AN-R, n = 26), AN binge eating/purging subtype (AN-BP, n = 22), bulimia nervosa (BN, n = 35), and healthy controls (n = 27), and explored whether these associations differed by diagnosis. At baseline, participants completed diagnostic interviews, height/weight measurements, and measures of set-shifting (the Intradimensional/Extradimensional shift task) and reversal learning (a probabilistic reversal learning task). At 3- and 6-month follow-up, participants with eating disorders completed assessments of weight and eating disorder symptoms.

Evaluating dietary restriction as a maintaining factor in binge-eating disorder.

Objective: Prominent theories of binge-eating (BE) maintenance highlight dietary restriction as a key precipitant of BE episodes. Consequently, treatment approaches for eating disorders (including binge-eating disorder; BED) seek to reduce dietary restriction in order to improve BE symptoms. The present study tested the hypothesis that dietary restriction promotes BE among 112 individuals with BED.

Back to the future: Progressing memory research in eating disorders.

Objective: Human behaviors, thoughts, and emotions are guided by memories of the past. Thus, there can be little doubt that memory plays a fundamental role in the behaviors (e.g.

Examining the role of craving in affect regulation models of binge eating: Evidence from an ecological momentary assessment study.

Affect regulation models hypothesize that aversive affective states drive binge-eating behavior, which serves to regulate unpleasant emotions. Research using ecological momentary assessment (EMA) demonstrates that increases in guilt most strongly predict subsequent binge-eating episodes, raising the question: why would individuals with binge-eating pathology engage in a binge-eating episode when they feel guilty? Food craving is a robust predictor of binge eating and is commonly associated with subsequent feelings of guilt. The current study used EMA to test the hypothesis that food craving may promote increased feelings of guilt, which then predict an increased risk of binge eating within a sample of 109 individuals with binge-eating disorder.

Time-of-day and day-of-week patterns of binge eating and relevant psychological vulnerabilities in binge-eating disorder.

Objective: The present study sought to characterize the temporal patterns of binge eating and theorized maintenance factors among individuals with binge-eating disorder (BED).

Method: Ecological momentary assessment of 112 individuals and mixed-effects models were used to characterize the within- and between-day temporal patterns of eating behaviors (binge eating, loss of control only eating, and overeating only), positive and negative affect, emotion regulation difficulty, and food craving.

Results: Risk for binge eating and overeating only was highest around 5:30 p.

Reliability and stability of oddball P300 amplitude in older adults: The role of stimulus sequence effects.

The P300 may be an individual difference marker of neuro-cognitive function, which due to age-related cognitive decline may be particularly useful in older adults. Recently, we reported effects of the local stimulus sequence in an oddball task (i.e.

Pre-associative item encoding influences associative memory: Behavioral and ERP evidence.

It is unknown whether the manner with which an item is encoded in isolation, immediately before it is encoded into an inter-inter association, influences associative memory. We therefore presented the items of to-be-encoded associative pairings sequentially and manipulated how each first item of a pair was encoded (before associative encoding could begin). Furthermore, we recorded ERPs during memory encoding to investigate the neurocognitive processes that might relate pre-associative item encoding to subsequent associative memory performance.

Integrating aspects of affect, reward, and cognition to develop more comprehensive models of binge-eating pathology.

Reward-related processes are an increasing focus of eating disorders research. Although evidence suggests that numerous distinct reward processes may contribute to eating pathology (e.g.

The potential application of event-related potentials to enhance research on reward processes in eating disorders.

Objective: Reward-related processes have been posited as key mechanisms underlying the onset and persistence of eating disorders, prompting a growing body of research in this area. Existing studies have primarily utilized self-report, behavioral, and functional magnetic resonance imaging measures to interrogate reward among individuals with eating disorders. However, limitations inherent in each of these methods (e.

On the role of item encoding mechanisms in associative memory in young and older adults: A mass univariate ERP study.

We examined the role of item encoding mechanisms in older adults' disproportionate deficit in memory for associations and individual differences therein. Young and older adults encoded sequentially presented object pairs via interactive imagery while their EEG was recorded. Compared to the young adults, older adults exhibited a reduction in associative, but not in item memory performance.

Stress effects on the oddball P300 and N2 in males and females.

We examined the effect of psychosocial stress on electrophysiological markers of novelty and deviance processing, the N2 and P300, as well as sex differences therein. Participants underwent the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) or a control procedure, followed by an oddball paradigm. A physiological stress response was induced in both sexes in the TSST condition.

Older adults show a higher heartbeat-evoked potential than young adults and a negative association with everyday metacognition.

The ability to monitor internal bodily and cognitive processes is essential for everyday functioning and independence in older adults, because it allows for adjustments when lapses in performance are imminent. In the present study, age-related morphological changes to the heartbeat evoked potential (HEP), an electrophysiological cortical representation of cardiac signals, and its association with self-reported everyday cognition were examined. A community sample of older adults showed an increased HEP amplitude, which could reflect a stronger representation of early stages of cardiac interoception, and a more anterior scalp distribution of the HEP, suggesting a more widespread configuration of the underlying neural generators, compared to a group of young adults.

Adaptive Memory: Independent Effects of Survival Processing and Reward Motivation on Memory.

Humans preferentially remember information processed for their survival relevance, a memorial benefit known as the . Memory is also biased towards information associated with the prospect of reward. Given the adaptiveness of these effects, they may depend on similar mechanisms.

Frontal ERP slow waves during memory encoding are associated with affective attitude formation.

A neutral stimulus can acquire valence by being paired with a valenced stimulus, leading to a new attitude towards the previously neutral stimulus. There is, however, considerable debate about the mechanisms that underlie this process of affective attitude formation. Therefore, in the present study we employed a single-trial, intentional learning procedure that paired neutral with valenced words while recording ERP activity, and measured subsequent memory and subsequent attitudes for the pre-experimentally neutral words immediately following learning.

Survival processing modulates the neurocognitive mechanisms of episodic encoding.

Memories formed in the context of an imagined survival scenario are more easily remembered, but the mechanisms underlying this effect are still under debate. We investigated the neurocognitive processes underlying the survival processing effect by examining event-related potentials (ERPs) during memory encoding. Participants imagined being either stranded in a foreign land and needing to survive, or in an overseas moving (control) scenario, while incidentally encoding a list of words.

On the role of retrieval processes in the survival processing effect: Evidence from ROC and ERP analyses.

Memory is enhanced for words encoded in the context of an imagined survival scenario, an effect modulated by word imageability or concreteness. However, the mechanisms underlying this "survival processing effect" are still controversial. To address this issue, we used receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves and event-related potentials (ERPs) to examine the recognition retrieval processes associated with words previously encoded in either a survival or a control scenario.

Rapidly Progressive Muscle Paralysis and Acute Respiratory Failure Following Endoscopic Botulinum Toxin Injection.

Botulism toxin injection (BTI) is a well-known and relatively safe endoscopic treatment for achalasia. We report a case of a 90-year-old female diagnosed with achalasia who subsequently underwent BTI with symptomatic relief. The therapy was complicated by systemic botulism, however, leading to progressive muscle paralysis with diaphragmatic involvement requiring mechanical ventilation support.

Dopaminergic genes modulate response inhibition in alcohol abusing adults.

Compulsion in alcohol use disorders (AUD) has been attributed to impairment in response inhibition. Because genes that regulate dopamine (DA) have been implicated not only for risk for AUD but also for impulsivity based on behavioral studies, we set out to examine the underlying neural mechanisms associated with these effects. We collected functional magnetic resonance imaging images on 53 heavy drinking but otherwise healthy adults while performing the Go/NoGo task.