Maryanne Martin

On the induction of mood

Abstract Increasing interest in the relation between emotion and cognition has led to the development of a range of laboratory methods for inducing temporary mood states. Sixteen such techniques are reviewed and compared on a range of factors including success rate, the possibility of demand effects, the intensity of the induced mood, and the range of different moods that can be induced. Three different cognitive models (self-schema theory, semantic network theory, and fragmentation theory) which have been successfully used to describe long-term mood states, such as clinical depression, are elaborated to describe the process of temporary mood induction. Finally, the use of mood induction is contrasted with alternative methods (such as the study of patients suffering from depression) for investigating emotion.

Does anxiety lead to selective processing of threat-related information?

Four experiments investigating the detailed nature of the attentional bias in anxiety are reported. Previous research using the Stroop task has shown that, when compared with non-patient controls, anxious patients are relatively slower at colour naming threat-related words than non-threat words. Experiments One and Two investigated whether this apparent attentional bias is a function of anxiety per se and/or is related to patient/non-patient status. Experiment One compared colour-naming times for threat and non-threat words in low, medium and high trait anxiety normal subjects. High anxiety was not associated with slower colour-naming times for threat words. Experiment Two compared generalized anxiety disorder patients with equally anxious non-patients and found that the patients were significantly slower at colour-naming threat words. Read aloud and dwell tasks were also included in these experiments in order to identify the mechanism of Stroop interference. Experiments Three and Four investigated whether anxious patients attentional bias is specific to threat-related material or also extends to certain positive, emotional material. In Experiment Three words used in previous Stroop studies were rated for emotionality. Threat words were more emotional, as well as more threatening, than control words, indicating that previous studies have confounded threat and emotionality. Experiment Four compared colour-naming times for threat words, equally emotional positive words, and neutral words. Consistent with the emotionality hypothesis, generalized anxiety disorder patients were slower than non-anxious controls at colour naming both threat words and positive words. The theoretical, methodological and clinical implications of these results are discussed.

Tests of a Cognitive Theory of Panic

Panic attacks are one of the most distressing of all forms of anxiety. The sudden onset of attacks and the intense bodily sensations which accompany them often lead patients to think they are about to die, go crazy, or suffer some other catastrophe. The fact that some attacks also appear to occur without warning is additionally alarming to patients and was initially interpreted by research workers as an indication that the central disorder in panic is a neurochemical disturbance. This point of view received further support from work on the pharmacological induction and treatment of panic. However, a number of investigators (Barlow, in press; Beck et al. 1985; Clark 1979, 1986; Griez and van den Hout 1984; Margraf et al. 1986; Rapee 1987, Seligman 1988) have recently proposed psychological theories which can also account for the main features of panic. In the present paper we provide a brief overview of one of the these theories — the cognitive theory described by Clark (1986) — and describe a series of experiments testing central predictions derived from this theory. Readers who would like a more detailed exposition of the theory are referred to Clark (1986, 1988) and Salkovskis (1988).

Neuroticism as predisposition toward depression: A cognitive mechanism

Abstract The relations between the personality trait of neuroticism and mechanisms of cognitive processing are reviewed. Major experimental findings in this area are described and used to evaluate a number of different cognitive theories of neuroticism, including spreading-activation, self-schema and fragmentation models. The empirical findings centre on the observation of idiosyncratic patterns of cognitive processing of emotional stimuli as a function of the level of neuroticism. These idiosyncracies are similar to those which have been observed to occur as a function of depressed mood, and it is suggested that they may be of relevance to the development and maintenance of clinical depression and other emotional disorders. Specifically, it is hypothesized that the cognitive processing of negative self-related information is generally facilitated among high N scorers and that, in appropriate circumstances, this tendency can lead to episodes of clinical depression.

Neuroticism and the recall of positive and negative personality information

Abstract Recent investigations have shown that high-N scorers preferentially process negative information about themselves. The present experiment investigated: (1) whether this effect is related to, or independent of, the well-established effects of depressed mood on information processing; (2) whether the effect is specific to self-referent information or extends also to information about others; and (3) the mechanism by which the effect occurs. High-N scorers, compared to low-N scorers, recalled more negative information about themselves but not about others, and this effect was independent of depression. In addition, the positive self-referent, but not other-referent, personality information recalled by high-N scorers was more extremely positive than that recalled by low-N scorers. Detailed examination of the data provided evidence that the idiosyncracy in information processing associated with high neuroticism is one of selective attention. The findings are discussed in relation to cognitive vulnerability to depression, certain cognitive-therapy procedures and the effects that a therapeutically-induced change in neuroticism is likely to have on an individuals memory for past emotional experiences.

Speech recoding in silent reading

Theoretical controversy surrounds the issue of whether or not silent reading involves speech recoding. This was investigated in two experiments by assessing performance on a Stroop color-word task carried out with subjects either silent or articulating irrelevantly (saying “bla” continuously). It was found that the usual decrement in performance resulting from lack of congruency between ink color and color word was attenuated in the articulation condition. The results provide evidence for the presence of speech recoding in silent reading. As a second test of this hypothesis, the Stroop task was also carried out in conjunction with either a graphemic or a phonemic task. The usual decrement in performance was attenuated more by the phonemic than by the graphemic task, therefore providing further support for the hypothesis. The relationship between individual differences in Stroop performance and those in reading speed and in personality (as assessed by the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire) were also examined.

EFFECT OF MOOD ON LEXICAL DECISIONS

This experiment investigated the effects of induced elation and depression on lexical decision times for positive, negative, and neutral words. Contrary to prediction, decision times for mood-congruent words were not faster than decision times for mood-incongruent words. Following the lexical decision task and while still in an induced elated or depressed mood, subjects were given a surprise recall test for the words presented during the lexical decision task. Mood-incongruent words tended to be recalled better than mood-congruent words. Several possible explanations of these unexpected findings are discussed.

Emotional and Cognitive Effects of Examination Proximity in Female and Male Students

ABSTRACT In recent years there has been a tendency for female students at Oxford and Cambridge to be awarded lower degree classifications than male students. One possibility is that the tendency is linked to differences in the extent to which females and males conform to a confident rather than a cautious style of presentation in academic work. The present study focused on levels of anxiety (and other emotions) and imagery among female and male students who were either close to or relatively distant from their next examinations. It was found that both gender and examination proximity were associated with significant effects upon both anxiety and imagery. Significantly higher levels of anxiety were recorded for female than for male students, and analysis of covariance pointed to the importance of anxieties specifically concerning examination and grading. Levels of examination anxiety and general short‐term anxiety were significantly higher when close to an examination for both females and males. Levels of ...

Cognitive failure: Everyday and laboratory performance

The hypothesis that everyday cognitive failures are associated over individuals with levels of focused-attention performance was examined in a series of experiments. Everyday cognitive failure was assessed by the Cognitive Failures Questionnaire, and focused-attention performance was assessed using the Stroop, reverse Stroop, and dichotic-listening paradigms, together with the Embedded Figures Test. No reliable association between the two types of measure was observed. In addition, questionnaire results indicated a significant relation between reported cognitive failure and memory performance (using the Short Inventory of Memory Experiences and the Everyday Memory Questionnaire) but not attentional performance (using the Everyday Attention Questionnaire).

FATIGUE IN THE CHRONIC FATIGUE SYNDROME: A COGNITIVE PHENOMENON?

What is the source of the perception of excessive fatigue in the chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS)? Studies of physiological response to aerobic activity, of muscle pathology and muscle function in CFS, are reviewed, and suggest that the subjective report of fatigue is not due to any peripheral impairment. In addition, current technological methods such as electroencephalography have failed to uncover the nature of any abnormality in the central motor unit. A physiological model which proposes that patients with CFS possess a reduced threshold for sensory fatigue signals is rejected, because it fails to account for recent findings. Instead, it is suggested that the perception of fatigue in CFS is enhanced by idiosyncrasies in cognitive processing. The implications of this view to our understanding of the perpetuation of CFS as a whole are explored.