Can cognitive control and attentional biases explain much of the variance in depressive symptoms than behavioral processes? A path analysis approach

Background: This study explored the proportion of variance in depressive symptoms explained by processes targeted by BA (activation, behavioral avoidance, anticipatory pleasure and brooding), and processes targeted by cognitive control training (cognitive control, attentional biases and brooding). Methods: Five hundred and twenty adults were recruited. They completed a spatial cueing task as a measure of attentional biases and a cognitive task as a measure of cognitive control and completed self-report measures of activation, behavioral avoidance, anticipatory pleasure, brooding and depressive symptoms. With path analysis models, we explored the relationships between these predictors and depressive symptoms. Results: BA processes were significant predictors of depressive symptoms, and activation partially predicted anticipatory pleasure, which in turn predicted depressive symptoms. However, cognitive control and attentional biases predicted neither brooding nor depressive symptoms. A comprehensive model including all processes fit the data but did not explain more of the variance in brooding or depressive symptoms than a model including only BA processes. Limitations: The spatial cueing task was associated with low reliability and the use of a non-clinical sample limited the generalizability of the conclusions. Conclusion: Activation, behavioral avoidance, brooding and anticipatory pleasure are relevant processes to target in order to reduce depressive symptoms, while cognitive control and attentional biases are not

Positive and Negative Urgency as a single coherent construct: Evidence from a large‐scale network analysis in clinical and non‐clinical samples

Aims: Negative and positive urgency are emotion-related impulsivity traits that are thought to be transdiagnostic factors in psychopathology. However, it has recently been claimed that these two traits are closely related to each other and that considering them separately might have limited conceptual and methodological value. The present study aimed to examine whether positive and negative urgency constructs constitute separate impulsivity traits. Methods: In contrast to previous studies that have used latent variable approaches, this study employed an item-based network analysis conducted in two different samples: a large sample of non-clinical participants (N = 18,568) and a sample of clinical participants with psychiatric disorders (N = 385). Results: The network analysis demonstrated that items denoting both positive and negative urgency cohere as a single cluster of items termed “general urgency” in both clinical and non-clinical samples, thereby suggesting that differentiating positive and negative urgency as separate constructs is not necessary. Conclusion: These findings have important implications for the conceptualization and assessment of urgency and, more broadly, for future research on impulsivity, personality, and psychopathology

L’activation comportementale : un outil simple et efficace dans le traitement de la dépression

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Mental Health Inequalities During COVID-19 Outbreak: The Role of Financial Insecurity and Attentional Control

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The moderating role of socioeconomic status on the relationship between teacher social support and sense of belonging to school

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La santé à l’ère du numérique: Apports du Big data et des nouvelles technologies dans la prévention et le traitement de l’addiction aux jeux d’argent en ligne

International audienceLes technologies de l’information et de la communication ont profondément marqué le champ de la santé. De nouvelles pratiques médicales utilisant ces technologies tentent de promouvoir une meilleure égalité d’accès aux soins, en particulier dans le champ de la santé mentale et des addictions où le recours aux professionnels de santé demeure faible. L’addiction aux jeux de hasard et d’argent en ligne, que nous désignerons sous le terme de jeu problématique, semble représenter un modèle pertinent de mesures de prévention et de soin fondé sur l’exploitation des données numériques issues du Big data et sur l’utilisation des nouvelles technologies. Ens effet, les données issues des comptes des joueurs offrent la possibilité d’une lecture directe de leur comportement de jeu. Parallèlement, le recours à l’internet offre un cadre de soin auquel les joueurs en ligne pourraient être particulièrement sensibles

Theory‐of‐mind during childhood: Investigating syntactic and executive contributions

International audienceBoth syntax and Executive Functions (EF) are involved in Theory-of-Mind (ToM) but their contributory roles have mainly been studied separately. Moreover, researchers have mostly administered False Belief (FB) tasks while they may not be representative of all ToM abilities. Studies of adults give valuable information regarding whether syntax and EF are useful for ToM reasoning (i.e., Reasoning account), however, only the study of children brings direct evidence in favor of ToM emergence (i.e., Emergence account). Also, because the ToM tasks used often entail verbal and executive demands, the links observed could mostly result from such confounds (i.e., Expression account). We evaluated ToM, syntactic and EF abilities in 126 children (3-11 y.o.) using a set of ToM tasks with minimal verbal and executive demands. Our goals were to assess (1) the hierarchical contribution of syntax and EF to ToM, (2) whether results previously obtained for FB tasks are representative of ToM in general, (3) whether the ToM-syntax and ToMEF links are constant (i.e., Reasoning account) or decrease during development (i.e., Emergence accounts). Results of stepwise regression analyses showed a predominant role of syntax over EF to predict ToM abilities. The comparison of results for ToM and FB tasks showed that FB is not always representative of ToM. Finally, there was no moderating effect of ag