Mediating effect of coping dispositions on the association between trauma and gastrointestinal symptoms.

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) are two gastrointestinal (GI) conditions known to be exacerbated by traumatic life experiences. One way in which these experiences might influence individuals' susceptibility to GI pathology, is by reducing their ability to deal with adversities effectively and predisposing them to passive coping styles that leave them vulnerable to the somatic effects of trauma. To validate this hypothesis, the present cross-sectional study assessed the mediating effect of coping dispositions on the association between trauma and GI disease activity in an adult sample of 189 bowel patients (94 IBD, 95 IBS) and 92 controls.

Itsy bitsy spider: Fear and avoidance (generalization) in a free-exploratory virtual reality paradigm.

Most experimental avoidance paradigms lack either control over the experimental situation or simplify real-life avoidance behavior to a great extent, making it difficult to generalize the results to the complex approach-avoidance situations that anxious individuals face in daily life. The current study aimed to examine the usability of our recently developed free-exploratory avoidance paradigm in Virtual Reality (VR) that allows for the assessment of subjective as well as behavioral avoidance in participants with varying levels of spider fear. In a VR escape room, participants searched for cues to decipher a code-locked door.

Food rejection and the relation with category-based induction and memory in young children.

Background: Childhood rejection of fruits and vegetables (F/V) has been associated with an immature food categorization system, characterized by difficulties in accurately categorizing and making inductions about foods. This may result in variations in the kind of category-based induction children use, such as relying on the color of a fruit/vegetable. Research indicates that children who reject food frequently tend to prioritize perceptual features like color and shape over abstract features, such as the type of food (e.

The Impact of Psychotrauma and Emotional Stress Vulnerability on Physical and Mental Functioning of Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease.

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic health condition thought to be influenced by personal life experiences and emotional stress sensitivity (neuroticism). In the present study, we examined the impact of cumulative trauma experiences and trait neuroticism (as a measure for emotional stress vulnerability) on physical and mental functioning of = 211 patients diagnosed with IBD (112 Crohn's disease, 99 ulcerative colitis). All patients were assessed for self-reported trauma histories, emotional stress vulnerability, clinical disease activity, functional gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms, and quality of life.

Choice-induced tasting. Evaluating the effect of choice on children's acceptance of an unfamiliar vegetable.

Children's vegetable intake is in general below recommendations. It is known that self-selection of vegetables out of multiple options can increase intake in children. However, it is not clear if this effect is driven by a pre-existing preference for the selected food, or purely by having a choice.

Should cognitive restructuring precede imagery rescripting? An experimental pilot study.

Background And Objectives: Imagery rescripting (ImRs) is a promising therapeutic technique used in treatment for a variety of psychiatric disorders. During an ImRs session, an aversive disorder-related memory, is activated in imagination and rescripted to a more positive outcome. It has been shown to successfully weaken the negative cognitive meaning, so-called encapsulated beliefs of the targeted aversive memory.

Filthy fruit! Confirmation bias and novel food.

Fruit and vegetable consumption is worldwide too low, resulting in poor diet quality and health-related problems. A cognitive factor that might contribute to this low consumption is confirmation bias. Confirmation bias has been established in anxiety research and comprises the tendency to search for reinforcing negative information, while ignoring counter attitudinal information.

Overgeneralization of fear, but not avoidance, following acute stress.

Research has demonstrated the spreading of fear from threat-related stimuli to perceptually similar, but innocuous, stimuli. Less is known, however, about the generalization of avoidance behavior. Given that stress is known to affect learning and memory, we were interested in the effect of acute stress on (over)generalization of fear and avoidance responses.

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on inflammatory bowel disease: The role of emotional stress and social isolation.

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic health condition exacerbated by negative emotional stress experiences. In the current study, we examined whether the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic coincided with an increase in stress experiences and accordingly an aggravation of disease activity in IBD patients. Sixty-three IBD patients (30 Crohn's disease or CD, 33 ulcerative colitis) completed an online survey during the COVID-19-related lockdown, assessing clinical disease activity, disease-related quality of life, presence of functional gastrointestinal symptoms, social isolation and stress experiences.

Examining the effect of stress on the flexible updating of avoidance responses.

Acute stress has been found to impair the flexible updating of stimulus - outcome associations. However, there is a lack of studies investigating the effect of acute stress on the flexible updating of stimulus-response associations, like active avoidance responses. The current study used an avoidance reversal learning paradigm to address this question.

Renewal of conditioned fear responses using a film clip as the aversive unconditioned stimulus.

Background And Objectives: Pavlovian fear conditioning paradigms are valuable to investigate fear learning and the return of extinguished fear in the lab. However, their validity is limited, because the aversive stimuli (e.g.

A novel virtual reality paradigm: Predictors for stress-related intrusions and avoidance behavior.

Background And Objectives: Most people are exposed to a violent or life-threatening situation during their lives, but only a minority develops a stress-related disorder. To examine risk factors for the development of stress-related symptoms, such as intrusions and avoidance, analogue trauma studies are necessary. The often-used trauma film paradigm has proven to be valuable to examine intrusions, but inherently to its technique is less suitable for assessing behavioral avoidance, a core symptom of stress-related disorders.

Turning negative memories around: Contingency versus devaluation techniques.

Background And Objectives: It is assumed that fear responses can be altered by changing the contingency between a conditioned stimulus (CS) and an unconditioned stimulus (US), or by devaluing the present mental representation of the US. The aim of the present study was to compare the efficacy of contingency- and devaluation-based intervention techniques on the diminishment in - and return of fear. We hypothesized that extinction (EXT, contingency-based) would outperform devaluation-based techniques regarding contingency measures, but that devaluation-based techniques would be most effective in reducing the mental representation of the US.

On the Link between Perceived Parental Rearing Behaviors and Self-conscious Emotions in Adolescents.

This study examined relationships between the self-conscious emotions of guilt and shame in both clinical ( = 104) and non-clinical ( = 477) (young) adolescents aged 11-18 years, who completed a questionnaire to assess perceived parental rearing behaviors (EMBU-C) and a scenario-based instrument to measure proneness to guilt and shame (SCEMAS). Results indicated that parental rearing dimensions were positively related to self-conscious emotions. Regarding the non-clinical sample, both favourable (emotional warmth) and unfavourable (rejection) paternal and maternal rearing dimensions were significant correlates of guilt- and shame-proneness.

The Influence of State Anxiety on Fear Discrimination and Extinction in Females.

Formal theories have linked pathological anxiety to a failure in fear response inhibition. Previously, we showed that aberrant response inhibition is not restricted to anxiety patients, but can also be observed in anxiety-prone adults. However, less is known about the influence of currently experienced levels of anxiety on inhibitory learning.

The influence of stimulus valence on confirmation bias in children.

Background And Objectives: The aim of the present study was to replicate our previous study and to further examine the relation between fear and positive and negative confirmation bias in children.

Methods: Fifty-three non-clinical children (9-13 years) were shown pictures of a kindly-perceived (quokka) and a dangerous-looking (aye aye) animal. For each animal, levels of fear and information seeking patterns were obtained.

Cognitive Bias as a Mediator in the Relation Between Fear-Enhancing Parental Behaviors and Anxiety Symptoms in Children: A Cross-Sectional Study.

The present cross-sectional study explored the relations between fear-enhancing parenting behaviors (modeling and threat information transmission) and children's cognitive biases and anxiety symptoms. Participants were 258 children aged 7-12 years (132 boys and 126 girls), and their mothers (n = 199) and/or fathers (n = 117). Children and parents completed the Parental Enhancement of Anxious Cognitions questionnaire, which measures parental modeling and threat information transmission, while children also filled in a scale for assessing anxiety symptoms.

Imagery rescripting: Is incorporation of the most aversive scenes necessary?

During imagery rescripting (ImRs) an aversive memory is relived and transformed to have a more positive outcome. ImRs is frequently applied in psychological treatment and is known to reduce intrusions and distress of the memory. However, little is known about the necessity to incorporate the central aversive parts of the memory in ImRs.

Virtual reality, real emotions: a novel analogue for the assessment of risk factors of post-traumatic stress disorder.

Most people are exposed to a violent or life-threatening situation during their lives, but only a minority develops post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Experimental studies are necessary to assess risk factors, such as imagery ability, for the development of PTSD. Up to now the trauma film paradigm (TFP) has functioned as an analogue for PTSD.

Fear-related confirmation bias in children: a comparison between neutral- and dangerous-looking animals.

The purpose of this study was to examine confirmation bias in children without explicitly inducing fear. Eighty non-clinical children (7-13 years) were shown pictures of a neutral animal (quokka) and two dangerous-looking animals (aye aye and possum). For each animal, levels of perceived fear, threat and request for additional threatening or non-threatening information were obtained.

Fear conditioning and extinction in anxiety- and depression-prone persons.

Anxiety and depression frequently co-occur and may share similar deficits in the processing of emotional stimuli. High anxiety is associated with a failure in the acquisition and extinction of fear conditioning. Despite the supposed common deficits, no research has been conducted on fear acquisition and extinction in depression.

The effect of a retrieval cue on the return of spider fear.

Background And Objectives: Exposure therapy is often used as treatment for anxiety disorders. However, a change in context after exposure can result in fear renewal. This renewal can be attenuated by using retrieval cues stemming from the exposure context.

Adding imagery rescripting during extinction leads to less ABA renewal.

Objective: Although extinction is highly effective in reducing a conditioned fear response, return of the fear response (renewal) outside the extinction context often occurs. The present study investigated whether US devaluation, through imagery rescripting during extinction, resulted in less renewal than mere extinction.

Method: Seventy psychology students were subjected to a fear conditioning paradigm.

Differential brain activation patterns in adult attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) associated with task switching.

Objective: The main aim of the study was to examine blood oxygen level-dependent response during task switching in adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Method: Fifteen male adults with ADHD and 14 controls participated and performed a task-switching paradigm.

Results: Behaviorally, no specific executive control problems were observed in the ADHD participants, although they did display more errors in general.