Thomas Onraedt

Cognitive control moderates the association between stress and rumination

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES A prospective design was used to examine whether inter-individual differences in cognitive control ability, for non-emotional and emotional material, play a moderating role in the association between the occurrence of a stressful event and the tendency to ruminate. METHODS At baseline, the Internal Switch Task (IST) was administered in an undergraduate sample to measure the ability to switch attention between items held in working memory. Six weeks after baseline, self-report questionnaires were administered at 4 fixed moments during their first examination period at university, measuring stressors, rumination and depressive symptoms. RESULTS Results revealed that impaired cognitive control, reflected in larger switch costs, moderated the association between stress and increased rumination. Interestingly, a larger switch cost when processing emotional material was specifically associated with increased depressive brooding in response to stress. No effects with reflective pondering were observed. CONCLUSIONS Implications for understanding the underlying mechanisms of rumination are discussed.

The predictive value of attentional bias towards pain-related information in chronic pain patients: a diary study.

Summary Attentional bias towards pain‐related information moderates the positive relationship between 1) pain severity and disability and 2) pain severity and distractibility in chronic pain patients. ABSTRACT Theoretical accounts of chronic pain hypothesize that attentional bias towards pain‐related information is a maintaining or exacerbating factor, fuelling further pain, disability, and distress. However, empirical research testing this idea is currently lacking. In the present study, we investigated whether attentional bias towards pain‐related information predicts daily pain‐related outcomes in a sample of chronic pain patients (n = 69; Mage = 49.64 years; 46 females). During an initial laboratory session, attentional bias to pain‐related information was assessed using a modified spatial cueing task. In advance, patients completed a number of self‐report measures assessing current pain intensity, current disability, and pain duration. Subsequently, daily pain outcomes (self‐reported pain severity, disability, avoidance behaviour, and distractibility) were measured for 2 weeks by means of an electronic diary. Results indicated that, although an attentional bias towards pain‐related information was associated with the current level of disability and pain severity, it had no additional value above control variables in predicting daily pain severity, avoidance, distractibility, and disability. Attentional bias towards pain‐related information did, however, moderate the relationship between daily pain severity and both daily disability and distractibility, indicating that, particularly in those patients with a strong attentional bias, increases in pain were associated with increased disability and distractibility. The use of interventions that diminish attentional bias may therefore be helpful to reduce daily disability and the level of distraction from current tasks despite the presence of pain in chronic pain patients.

Training Working Memory to Reduce Rumination

Cognitive symptoms of depression, such as rumination, have shown to be associated with deficits in working memory functioning. More precisely, the capacity to expel irrelevant negative information from working memory seems to be affected. Even though these associations have repeatedly been demonstrated, the nature and causal direction of this association is still unclear. Therefore, within an experimental design, we tried to manipulate working memory functioning of participants with heightened rumination scores in two similar experiments (n = 72 and n = 45) using a six day working memory training compared to active and passive control groups. Subsequently the effects on the processing of non-emotional and emotional information in working memory were monitored. In both experiments, performance during the training task significantly increased, but this performance gain did not transfer to the outcome working memory tasks or rumination and depression measures. Possible explanations for the failure to find transfer effects are discussed.

The inverse relation between psychopathy and faking good: Not response bias but true variance in psychopathic personality

The possibility to assess psychopathy through self-report is debated, amongst others, because psychopathic individuals may deliberately underreport psychopathic features (fake good). Meta-analytic research has shown an inverse relation between faking good and self-reported psychopathy, possibly indicating that faking good lowered psychopathy scores (response bias). Low faking good scores, could, however, also reflect true variance in psychopathic personality to the extent that it reflects a disregard of social conventions. Through a secondary analysis (n = 675), we show that controlling for faking good significantly weakens, rather than strengthens, the associations between psychopathy scores and antisocial behavior (alcohol and drug abuse, indirect aggression, and delinquency). These findings indicate that the inverse relation between faking good and self-reported psychopathy reflects true variance in psychopathy personality (i.e. low social desirability), not a response bias.

Cognitive control interventions for depression: A systematic review of findings from training studies

There is a strong interest in cognitive control training as a new intervention for depression. Given the recent promising meta-analytical findings regarding the effects of cognitive training on cognitive functioning and depressive symptomatology, the current review provides an in-depth discussion of the role of cognitive control in depression. We consider the state-of-the-art research on how manipulation of cognitive control may influence cognitive and depression-related outcomes. Evidence for the effectiveness of cognitive control training procedures are discussed in relation to three stages of depression (at-risk, clinically depressed, remission) as well as the training approach that was deployed, after which the putative theoretical mechanisms are discussed. Finally, we provide ways in which cognitive control training can be utilized in future research.

Adaptive cognitive emotion regulation moderates the relationship between dysfunctional attitudes and depressive symptoms during a stressful life period: A prospective study

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Dysfunctional cognitions are known to emerge in stressful situations and are critical for the onset of depressive symptoms. The goal of this study is to investigate whether adaptive and/or maladaptive emotion regulation strategies moderate the relationship between dysfunctional attitudes and depressive symptoms under stress. METHODS In a longitudinal study, 92 healthy but unselected undergraduates were followed for three months including a stress period (four weeks of examinations). RESULTS Our findings demonstrate that the more adaptive emotion regulation strategies are used in daily life (measured at baseline), the weaker the relationship between dysfunctional attitudes and depressive symptoms during stress. Interestingly, no single strategy demonstrates a unique predictive value, but only the combination of several adaptive strategies moderates the relationship between dysfunctional attitudes and depressive symptoms. Although participants with elevated depressive symptoms use more maladaptive emotion regulation strategies, these latter strategies do not moderate the association between dysfunctional attitudes and depressive symptoms. LIMITATIONS The use of a sample of undergraduates limits the generalizability and the clinical significance of our results. CONCLUSIONS Altogether, although dysfunctional attitudes are activated and accessible in response to certain life stressors, the strategies that healthy individuals use to adaptively regulate these cognitions seem important in determining the likelihood of depressive symptoms.

Unwanted Pursuit Behavior After Breakup: Occurrence, Risk Factors, and Gender Differences

This study investigated unwanted pursuit behavior (UPB) perpetration in 631 adult ex-partners. UPB involves the unwanted pursuit of intimacy, a widespread and usually less severe form of stalking. The occurrence and various risk factors of UPB perpetration were examined, accounting for differences between male and female ex-partners and same- and opposite-gender ex-partners. Ex-partners showed on average five to six UPBs after their separation. Male and female and same- and opposite-gender ex-partners displayed an equal number of UPBs. The number of perpetrated UPBs was explained by breakup characteristics (ex-partner initiation of the breakup and rumination or cognitive preoccupation with the ex-partner), relationship characteristics (anxious attachment in the former relationship), and individual perpetrator characteristics (borderline traits and past delinquent behaviors). Rumination was a stronger predictor in female than male ex-partners. Borderline traits and anxious attachment positively predicted UPB perpetration in opposite-gender but not in same-gender ex-partners. Implications of these findings are discussed.