Feared self and morality in obsessive-compulsive phenomena.

Background: Recent studies have shown that individuals with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) tend to endorse a feared self that they perceive to be immoral, insane and/or dangerous. The current study investigated the relationship between morality-related feared self, self-relevance and OC-related cognitions and behaviours such as moral deliberation, threat interpretation bias, discomfort, urge to act and likelihood of acting in OC-relevant situations in a non-clinical sample.

Method: A total of 78 participants (27 female, M = 29.

Student Medical Education Masterclasses: Diversifying the Academic Pipeline.

Background: There remains a lack of diversity among those pursuing clinical academic careers. Structural inequalities, discrimination and a paucity of relatable role models can disadvantage minoritised students, hindering their educational experiences and career opportunities. Innovative and effective approaches are needed at an undergraduate level to address this problem, ensuring the pipeline is representative, diverse and inclusive.

Context matters: Diagnosing and targeting local barriers to success at school.

We trialed a novel method aimed at reducing educational inequalities in any given school by tailoring an intervention to address the specific local social, cultural, and psychological barriers that contribute to those inequalities. In Study 1 (N = 2070), we validated measures in a student survey of barriers experienced by students ages 11-16 years in two schools in England. We used a pilot version of these measures to identify two barriers that appeared to be contributing in both schools to poorer attendance and behavioral records of Black versus Asian students and of lower socioeconomic status (SES) students versus higher SES students.

A psychological model of predictive factors of distress following long COVID.

Background: Long COVID, described as "the continuation or development of new symptoms 3 months after the initial SARS-CoV-2 infection", is estimated to affect at least 10-20 % of all cases of acute SARS-CoV-2 infection. Because of its novelty, information regarding the experience of Long COVID is still emerging.

Methods: This study examines psychological distress in two long COVID populations, and their experience of fatigue, cognitive failures, experiential avoidance, rumination, and perceived injustice.

Principles Governing the Effects of Sensory Loss on Human Abilities: An Integrative Review.

Blindness or deafness can significantly influence sensory abilities in intact modalities, affecting communication, orientation and navigation. Explanations for why certain abilities are enhanced and others degraded include: crossmodal cortical reorganization enhances abilities by providing additional neural processing resources; and sensory processing is impaired for tasks where calibration from the normally intact sense is required for good performance. However, these explanations are often specific to tasks or modalities, not accounting for why task-dependent enhancement or degradation are observed.

Prevalence of dementia among Indigenous populations of countries with a very high Human Development Index: a systematic review.

Dementia is a health priority for Indigenous peoples. Here, we reviewed studies on the prevalence of dementia or cognitive impairment among Indigenous populations from countries with a very high Human Development Index (≥0·8). Quality was assessed using the Joanna Briggs Institute risk-of-bias tool and CONSolIDated critERia for strengthening the reporting of health research involving Indigenous peoples (CONSIDER), with oversight provided by an Indigenous Advisory Board.

International workshop: what is needed to ensure outcome measures for Rett syndrome are fit-for-purpose for clinical trials? June 7, 2023, Nashville, USA.

Introduction: The clinical, research and advocacy communities for Rett syndrome are striving to achieve clinical trial readiness, including having fit-for-purpose clinical outcome assessments. This study aimed to (1) describe psychometric properties of clinical outcome assessment for Rett syndrome and (2) identify what is needed to ensure that fit-for-purpose clinical outcome assessments are available for clinical trials.

Methods: Clinical outcome assessments for the top 10 priority domains identified in the Voice of the Patient Report for Rett syndrome were compiled and available psychometric data were extracted.

Meta-epidemiology and reporting characteristics of mapping reviews: a scoping review.

Objectives: To investigate the meta-epidemiology and reporting characteristics of mapping reviews.

Study Design And Setting: We conducted a scoping review of a sample of recent mapping reviews (2022-2023) by searching nine electronic databases and eleven institutional websites up to January 2024. A 28-item reporting checklist, developed by our team and based on existing guidance and methodological studies of mapping reviews, was employed to assess reporting characteristics.

Gambling motives and problem gambling: Exploring psychological moderators in the pathways model.

Background: Relationships between gambling motives and problem gambling have been identified in previous research. There is, however, evidence of moderate-to-high heterogeneity in these associations, suggesting that further research is required to elucidate which gamblers are more susceptible to the influence of different types of motives. This study aims to (1) explore the relationship between gambling motives (Gambling Motives Questionnaire-Financial coping, enhancement, social, financial) and problem gambling (Problem Gambling Severity Index); and (2) investigate the degree to which psychological variables implicated by the pathways model (positive reinforcement high-risk situations, negative reinforcement high-risk situations, psychological distress, emotional dysregulation, distress intolerance and impulsivity) moderate these relationships.

An objective and sensitive electrophysiological marker of word semantic categorization impairment in Alzheimer's disease.

Objective: Combining electroencephalographic (EEG) recording and fast periodic visual stimulation (FPVS) to provide an implicit, objective and sensitive electrophysiological measure of semantic word categorization impairment in Alzheimer's Disease (AD).

Methods: Twenty-five AD patients and 25 matched elderly healthy controls were tested with a validated FPVS-EEG paradigm in which different written words of the same semantic category (cities) appear at a fixed frequency of 4 words per second (4 Hz) for 70 seconds. Words from a different semantic category (animal) appear every 4 stimuli (i.

The effects of feedback and task accuracy in serial dependence to orientation.

Assimilative serial dependence in perception occurs where responses about a stimulus (e.g., orientation) are biased towards previously seen perceptual information (e.

Mindfulness interventions in older adults for mental health and well-being: A meta-analysis.

Objectives: Mindfulness interventions are consistently associated with beneficial effects in younger adults. In this meta-analysis, we seek to quantify the effectiveness of mindfulness interventions for the mental health and well-being of older adults.

Method: We include 46 studies that implemented a mindfulness intervention (MBSR = 20; MBCT = 9; ad hoc protocol = 17) with older adults (samples with an average age of 60 or older; healthy adults = 20; adults with underlying symptoms = 26), examining a wide range of outcome measures (e.

Rates and Factors Related to COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake in Racialized and Indigenous Individuals in Canada: The Deleterious Effect of Experience of Racial Discrimination.

Racialized and Indigenous communities have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19 infections and mortality, driven by systemic socioeconomic inequalities. However, how these factors specifically influence COVID-19 vaccine uptake is not documented among racialized individuals in Canada. The present study aims to examine COVID-19 vaccine uptake rates and related factors among racialized and Indigenous communities compared to White people in Canada.

Long-Term High-Intensity Interval Training Intervention Improves Emotional Conflict Control in Association With Right Ventrolateral Prefrontal Activation in Males With Methamphetamine Use Disorder: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Acute high-intensity interval training (HIIT) has cognitive benefits in individuals with methamphetamine use disorder (MUD), yet it remains largely unknown the benefits of long-term HIIT on emotional conflict control and its neural mechanism in individuals with MUD. The current study conducted a 36-week low-volume HIIT intervention to investigate the effects of HIIT on emotional conflict control in males with MUD and their prefrontal cortex (PFC) activation. This study was a sub-study of the Study for Rehabilitation Training Model Construction and Training Effect of High Intensity Compound Exercise Prescription.

Mutual inclusivity improves decision-making by smoothing out choice's competitive edge.

Decisions form a central bottleneck to most tasks, one that people often experience as costly. Previous work proposes mitigating those costs by lowering one's threshold for deciding. Here we test an alternative solution, one that targets the basis of most choice costs: the idea that choosing one option sacrifices others (mutual exclusivity).

Predicting the replicability of social and behavioural science claims in COVID-19 preprints.

Replications are important for assessing the reliability of published findings. However, they are costly, and it is infeasible to replicate everything. Accurate, fast, lower-cost alternatives such as eliciting predictions could accelerate assessment for rapid policy implementation in a crisis and help guide a more efficient allocation of scarce replication resources.

The Worries About Recurrence or Progression Scale in Cancer (WARPS-C): A Valid and Reliable Measure to Screen for Fear of Cancer Recurrence.

Objective: The Worries About Recurrence or Progression Scale (WARPS) was recently validated in four common chronic illnesses other than cancer, after a rigorous development process based on the COSMIN criteria. Available measures of fear of progression or fear of cancer recurrence (FCR) have been criticised for not meeting all COSMIN criteria. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the psychometric properties of the WARPS in a cancer sample to assess its applicability to measure FCR.

Brain Activation Associated With Response to Psychotherapies for Late-Life Depression: A Task-Based fMRI Study.

Background: The course of late-life depression is associated with functioning of multiple brain networks. Understanding the brain mechanisms associated with response to psychotherapy can inform treatment development and a personalized treatment approach. This study examined how activation of key regions of the salience network, default mode network and reward systems is associated with response to psychotherapies for late-life depression.

Metacognition facilitates theory of mind through optimal weighting of trait inferences.

The ability to represent and infer accurately others' mental states, known as Theory of Mind (ToM), has been theorised to be associated with metacognitive ability. Here, we considered the role of metacognition in mental state inference through the lens of a recent theoretical approach to explaining ToM, the 'Mind-space' framework. The Mind-space framework posits that trait inference, representation of the qualities of the mind giving rise to the mental state, is important in forming accurate mental state inferences.

Too beautiful to be fake: Attractive faces are less likely to be judged as artificially generated.

Technological advances render the distinction between artificial (e.g., computer-generated faces) and real stimuli increasingly difficult, yet the factors driving our beliefs regarding the nature of ambiguous stimuli remain largely unknown.

Experience in sports and music influences motor imagery: Insights from implicit and explicit measures.

Background: Motor imagery (MI) can be an effective strategy for learning and enhancing movement or as an alternative training modality when physical practice is compromised. Individual differences in MI ability are widely documented but the role of experience in different activities in influencing MI is not well understood. The present study examined how experience in activities associated with the use of MI influences implicit and explicit MI.

Prototype of an App Designed to Support Self-Management for Health Behaviors and Weight in Women Living With Breast Cancer: Qualitative User Experience Study.

Background: Accessible self-management interventions are required to support people living with breast cancer.

Objective: This was an industry-academic partnership study that aimed to collect qualitative user experience data of a prototype app with built-in peer and coach support designed to support the management of health behaviors and weight in women living with breast cancer.

Methods: Participants were aged ≥18 years, were diagnosed with breast cancer of any stage within the last 5 years, had completed active treatment, and were prescribed oral hormone therapy.