Effects of standard and explicit cognitive bias modification and computer-administered cognitive-behaviour therapy on cognitive biases and social anxiety.

Background And Objectives: This study examines the effects of a single session of Cognitive Bias Modification to induce positive Interpretative bias (CBM-I) using standard or explicit instructions and an analogue of computer-administered CBT (c-CBT) program on modifying cognitive biases and social anxiety.

Methods: A sample of 76 volunteers with social anxiety attended a research site. At both pre- and post-test, participants completed two computer-administered tests of interpretative and attentional biases and a self-report measure of social anxiety.

Haptic signals of texture while eating a food. Multisensory cognition as interacting discriminations from norm.

This study started to characterise the cognitive processes by which physical effects on the senses are transformed into quantitative judgments about conceptualised aspects of a food. Using words provided by assessors, discriminations of a shortbread biscuit's fracturing patterns during eating from each assessor's internal norm were measured for the initial steps of denting, biting and crushing the material. The haptic concept of dentability (lack of crispness) often discriminated cracks in the biscuit that were the lowest in force, but was also sensitive to high-force cracks and frequency of cracks.

Effects of energy density and portion size on development of acquired flavour liking and learned satiety.

The concept of learned satiety (LS) suggests that associations between the sensory quality and post-ingestive effects of foods may lead to acquired control of meal-size. Although a recent study appeared to support LS since participants learned to eat more of a flavoured cereal with lower energy density (ED) after repeated experience, suggesting that they adjusted voluntary intake to ensure adequate energy was consumed, the large serving portion used in training may have lead to over-satiation. To investigate this further, groups of 12 men were assigned to one of four conditions based on the trained serving portion (150 or 300 g) and presence or absence of cues to differentiate high and low ED versions.

Acquired liking for sweet-paired odours is related to the disinhibition but not restraint factor from the Three Factor Eating Questionnaire.

Previous research suggests that women scoring high on dietary restraint may be insensitive to flavour-flavour learning, but no study has yet explored this using the olfactory conditioning paradigm. Accordingly, 56 women who were sweet likers were classified as either high or low on both the Three Factor Eating Questionnaire restraint and disinhibition scales. They evaluated two odours before and after disguised pairings of one odour with 10% sucrose and the other with 0.

Acquired flavor acceptance and intake facilitated by monosodium glutamate in humans.

Monosodium glutamate (MSG) is known to enhance liking for the flavor of savory foods, but whether associations between flavors and effects of MSG lead to changes in subsequent liking and intake for the flavor alone is unclear. To test this, 32 volunteers evaluated and consumed a novel savory soup with no added MSG before and after four training sessions where the same soup was consumed either unchanged (Control) or with added MSG. The addition of MSG during training increased both pleasantness and savory character of the soup and resulted in a larger increase in rated pleasantness of the soup in the MSG-trained relative to control condition when the soup was re-evaluated Post-training without MSG.

Differential hedonic, sensory and behavioral changes associated with flavor-nutrient and flavor-flavor learning.

Flavor-flavor and flavor-nutrient associations can modify liking for a flavor CS, while flavor-flavor associations can also modify the sensory experience of the trained flavor. Less is known about how these associations modify behavioral responses to the trained CS. To test this, 60 participants classified as sweet likers were divided into five training conditions with a novel flavor CS.

Impulsivity is associated with the disinhibition but not restraint factor from the Three Factor Eating Questionnaire.

Recent data implicate impulsivity as a personality trait associated with obesity, binge eating and restrained eating. However, impulsivity is recognised as having multiple dimensions, and it remains unclear which aspects of impulsive behaviour best predict disordered eating. To try and elucidate further the relationship between impulsivity and eating behaviour, 147 women completed a behavioural measure and two self-report measures of impulsivity along with the Three Factor Eating Questionnaire (TFEQ).

Clinical implications of attentional bias in anxiety disorders: An integrative literature review.

Research on information processing biases has been motivated by the hope that it would lead to new and more efficient psychotherapeutic interventions. The literature is abundant with empirical data of attentional biases toward threat stimuli in anxiety disorders. This article aims to review the existing literature on the topic of attentional bias in anxiety disorders and discuss important implications for clinical practice.

Caffeine deprivation state modulates expression of acquired liking for caffeine-paired flavours.

Previous studies found that caffeine consumers acquired a liking for the flavour of novel caffeinated drinks when these drinks were consumed repeatedly in a caffeine-deprived, but not nondeprived, state. Expression of this acquired liking appeared acutely sensitive to current caffeine deprivation state, but the use of between-subjects designs confounded interpretation of those studies. The present study evaluated these findings further using a within-subject design, with one flavour paired with caffeine (CS + ) and the second with the absence of caffeine (CS-).

Additive effects of flavour-caffeine and flavour-flavour pairings on liking for the smell and flavour of a novel drink.

Previous research has established that caffeine consumption can reinforce changes in liking for caffeine-paired flavours, while pairing a novel flavour with a liked or dislike taste can also result in enduring changes in liking for the flavour. The present study examined how these two forms of flavour-learning interact. 72 habitual caffeine consumers who liked sweet tastes rated the odour and flavour of a novel tea drink before and after four training sessions where the flavour was paired with either 100 mg caffeine or placebo in one of three flavour contexts: added sweetness (aspartame), bitterness (quinine) or control.

Hunger alters the expression of acquired hedonic but not sensory qualities of food-paired odors in humans.

To test whether expression of hedonic and sensory odor qualities acquired by association with sweet and bitter tastes depend on hunger state, hungry volunteers experienced odors paired with sucrose, quinine, or water and then were tested under different hunger states manipulated with energy preloads. Acquired liking for sucrose-paired odors was evident following a low-energy or control preload but not a high-energy preload; however, odor sweetness increased in all preload conditions. Acquired dislike and increased bitterness of quinine-paired odors were independent of preloading.

Effects of hunger state on flavour pleasantness conditioning at home: flavour-nutrient learning vs. flavour-flavour learning.

Unlabelled: This study examined acquired liking of flavour preferences through flavour-flavour and flavour-nutrient learning under hungry or sated conditions in a naturalistic setting. Each participant consumed one of three versions of a test drink at home either before lunch or after lunch: minimally sweetened (

Control: 3% sucrose, 40 kcal), artificially sweetened (3% sucrose 40 kcal plus artificial sweeteners ASPARTAME) and sucrose-sweetened (SUCROSE: 9.9% sugar, 132 kcal).

Hedonic and sensory characteristics of odors conditioned by pairing with tastants in humans.

Animals readily acquire positive odor-taste hedonic associations, but evidence for this in humans remains weak and was explored further. Retronasal pairing of odors with sucrose or salty stimuli (Experiment 1) increased the rated sweetness of sucrose-paired odors without altering liking, although changes in odor pleasantness correlated with sucrose liking. Experience of odors with sucrose or quinine by sweet likers (Experiment 2) found increased pleasantness and sweetness for sucrose-paired odors, whereas quinine-paired odors became less liked and more bitter.