The Effects of Cognitive-Affective Switching With Unpredictable Cues in Adults and Adolescents and Their Relation to “Cool” Executive Functioning and Emotion Regulation

The impact of emotion on executive functioning is gaining interest. It has led to the differentiation of “cool” Executive Functioning (EF) processes, such as cognitive flexibility, and “hot” EF processes, such as affective flexibility. But how does affective flexibility, the ability to switch between cognitive and affective information, vary as a function of age and sex? How does this construct relate to “cool” executive functioning and cognitive-emotion regulation processes? In this study, 266 participants, including 91 adolescents (M = 16.08, SD = 1.42 years old) and 175 adults (M = 25.69, SD = 2.17 years old), completed a cognitive–affective switching task with specific (as opposed to general) unpredictable switches, as well as measures of inhibition, attention, and cognitive-emotion coping strategies. We expected cognitive to affective switching to be more costly than affective to cognitive switching in females versus males, as well as higher switch costs in adolescents. Using linear mixed modelling, we analysed the effect of age, sex, and types of switching on reaction time. Results show that adolescents are slower switchers than adults, and demonstrate that females, although faster switchers than males, are slower when switching from cognitive to affective content than when they are switching from affective to cognitive content. Multiple regression analyses revealed age-specific associations between cognitive-affective switching and inhibition. These results converge with reported developmental and gender specificities in EF and emotion processing, respectively. Additionally, affective flexibility could relate to differences in vigilance and inhibition

Developing Psychosis and Its Risk States Through the Lens of Schizotypy

Starting from the early descriptions of Kraepelin and Bleuler, the construct of schizotypy was developed from observations of aberrations in nonpsychotic family members of schizophrenia patients. In contemporary diagnostic manuals, the positive symptoms of schizotypal personality disorder were included in the ultra high-risk (UHR) criteria 20 years ago, and nowadays are broadly employed in clinical early detection of psychosis. The schizotypy construct, now dissociated from strict familial risk, also informed research on the liability to develop any psychotic disorder, and in particular schizophrenia-spectrum disorders, even outside clinical settings. Against the historical background of schizotypy it is surprising that evidence from longitudinal studies linking schizotypy, UHR, and conversion to psychosis has only recently emerged; and it still remains unclear how schizotypy may be positioned in high-risk research. Following a comprehensive literature search, we review 18 prospective studies on 15 samples examining the evidence for a link between trait schizotypy and conversion to psychosis in 4 different types of samples: general population, clinical risk samples according to UHR and/or basic symptom criteria, genetic (familial) risk, and clinical samples at-risk for a nonpsychotic schizophrenia-spectrum diagnosis. These prospective studies underline the value of schizotypy in high-risk research, but also point to the lack of evidence needed to better define the position of the construct of schizotypy within a developmental psychopathology perspective of emerging psychosis and schizophrenia-spectrum disorder

Strange-Face-in-the-Mirror Illusion and Schizotypy During Adolescence

Patients with schizophrenia can sometimes report strange face illusions when staring at themselves in the mirror; such experiences have been conceptualized as anomalous self-experiences that can be experienced with a varying degree of depersonalization. During adolescence, anomalous self-experiences can also be indicative of increased risk to develop schizophrenia-spectrum disorders. To date however, the Mirror-Gazing test (MGT), an experimentally validated experiment to evaluate the propensity of strange face illusions in nonclinical and clinical adults, has yet to be investigated in an adolescent sample. The first goal of the present study was to examine experimentally induced self-face illusions in a nonclinical sample of adolescents, using the MGT. The second goal was to investigate whether dimensions of adolescent trait schizotypy were differentially related to phenomena arising during the MGT. One hundred and ten community adolescents (59 male) aged from 12 to 19 years (mean age = 16.31, SD age = 1.77) completed the MGT and Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire. The results yielded 4 types of strange face illusions; 2 types of illusions (slight change of light/color [20%] and own face deformation [45.5%]) lacked depersonalization-like phenomena (no identity change), while 2 other types (vision of other identity [27.3%], and vision of non-human identity [7.3%]) contained clear depersonalization-like phenomena. Furthermore, the disorganization dimension of schizotypy associated negatively with time of first illusion (first press), and positively with frequency of illusions during the MGT. Statistically significant differences on positive and disorganized schizotypy were found when comparing groups on the basis of degree of depersonalization-like phenomena (from slight color changes to non-human visions). Similarly to experimentally induced self-face illusions in patients with schizophrenia, such illusions in a group of nonclinical adolescents present significant associations to schizotypy dimension

Brain activity underlying negative self- and other-perception in adolescents: The role of attachment-derived self-representations

One of teenagers' key developmental tasks is to engage in new and meaningful relationships with peers and adults outside the family context. Attachment-derived expectations about the self and others in terms of internal attachment working models have the potential to shape such social reorientation processes critically and thereby influence adolescents' social-emotional development and social integration. Because the neural underpinnings of this developmental task remain largely unknown, we sought to investigate them by functional magnetic resonance imaging. We asked n = 44 adolescents (ages 12.01-18.84 years) to evaluate positive and negative adjectives regarding either themselves or a close other during an adapted version of the well-established self-other trait-evaluation task. As measures of attachment, we obtained scores reflecting participants' positive versus negative attachment-derived self- and other-models by means of the Relationship Questionnaire. We controlled for possible confounding factors by also obtaining scores reflecting internalizing/externalizing problems, schizotypy, and borderline symptomatology. Our results revealed that participants with a more negative attachment-derived self-model showed increased brain activity during positive and negative adjective evaluation regarding the self, but decreased brain activity during negative adjective evaluation regarding a close other, in bilateral amygdala/parahippocampus, bilateral anterior temporal pole/anterior superior temporal gyrus, and left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. These findings suggest that a low positivity of the self-concept characteristic for the attachment anxiety dimension may influence neural information processing, but in opposite directions when it comes to self- versus (close) other-representations. We discuss our results in the framework of attachment theory and regarding their implications especially for adolescent social-emotional development and social integration

Afferent cardiac signals modulate attentional engagement to low spatial frequency fearful faces

Despite the growing consensus that the continuous dynamic cortical representations of internal bodily states shape the subjective experience of emotions, physiological arousal is typically considered only a consequence and rarely a determinant of the emotional experience. Recent experimental approaches study how afferent autonomic signals from the heart modulate the processing of sensory information by focussing on the phasic properties of arterial baroreceptor firing that is active during cardiac systole and quiescent during cardiac diastole. For example, baroreceptor activation has been shown to enhance the processing of threat-signalling stimuli. Here, we investigate the role of cardiac afferent signals in the rapid engagement and disengagement of attention to fear stimuli. In an adapted version of the emotional attentional cueing paradigm, we timed the presentation of cues, either fearful or neutral faces, to coincide with the different phases of the cardiac cycle. Moreover, we presented cues with different spatial frequency ranges to investigate how these interoceptive signals influence the processing of visual information. Results revealed a selective enhancement of attentional engagement to low spatial frequency fearful faces presented during cardiac systole relative to diastole. No cardiac cycle effects were observed to high spatial frequency nor broad spatial frequency cues. These findings expand our mechanistic understanding of how body–brain interactions may impact the visual processing of fearful stimuli and contribute to the increased attentional capture of threat signals

Capacités réflexives et manifestations de personnalité limite chez l'adolescent et le jeune adulte

Ce travail de thèse s'intéresse à l'étude des variables psychologiques qui sous-tendent les manifestations de personnalité limite observées chez l'adolescent et le jeunes adulte, avec un intérêt tout particulier pour les processus réflexifs (ou de mentalisation, c'est-à-dire la capacité à inférer, implicitement ou explicitement, les états mentaux cognitifs et affectifs sous-jacents à ses propres actions et celles d'autrui, à partir d'indices internes et externes). Ce travail a permis notamment de révéler une association entre le niveau de capacités réflexives et un ensemble de manifestations de personnalité limite, exprimées à différentes étapes du continuum : niveau général de traits, comportement d'automutilation et diagnostic de personnalité limite. Par ailleurs, la présente thèse de doctorat illustre une augmentation des capacités de mentalisation dans la transition à l'âge adulte et propose un outil auto-reporté fiable pour leur évaluation dans les adolescents et adultes francophones

DE LA MENTALISATION À LA CONFIANCE ÉPISTÉMIQUE : ÉCHAFAUDER LES SYSTÈMES D’UNE COMMUNICATION THÉRAPEUTIQUE

Quels mécanismes soutiennent les effets bénéfiques d’une psychothérapie? Les développements conceptuels et empiriques récents des thérapies basées sur la mentalisation dégagent des facteurs spécifiques et communs aux effets thérapeutiques en y intégrant la notion de confiance épistémique essentielle à la généralisation de l’effet bénéfique. Cette forme de confiance engendre l’ouverture à apprendre de notre expérience. Ces développements conceptuels entraînent de profondes modifications quant à la manière d’appréhender les mécanismes sous-jacents à l’amélioration thérapeutique. Dans l’article, nous proposons trois systèmes de communications susceptibles de générer l’effet bénéfique de la psychothérapie. Leur présentation forme le coeur du présent article.Which mechanisms underlie a positive outcome in psychotherapy? Recent conceptual and empirical developments of the mentalization-based therapy emphasize the specific and common factors that contribute to the therapeutic outcome, integrating the concept of epistemic trust as critical to the generalization of therapeutic effects. Epistemic trust rekindles one’s capacity to learn from experience, by opening one’s mind to other minds. These conceptual developments bear consequences in the way to apprehend the mechanisms underlying therapeutic benefits. In the current article, we propose to delineate the three systems of therapeutic communication, which may foster positive outcomes in psychotherapy

VERS UN MODÈLE DU DÉVELOPPEMENT DES DIMENSIONS DE LA MENTALISATION A L’ADOLESCENCE

Cet article propose une synthèse des principales données expérimentales à propos des capacités sociocognitives des adolescents, obtenues sur le plan comportemental et cérébral. Il se cible sur un ensemble de concepts voisins de la mentalisation (théorie de l’esprit, empathie, traitement des visages et des aspects liés à soi) qui ont l’avantage de permettre une opérationnalisation de ses différentes dimensions. Il propose que l’adolescent évolue vers une plus grande spécialisation et intégration de certaines dimensions spécifiques de la mentalisation. Des pistes de recherches futures sont discutées.This article summarizes the main experimental data that have examined social cognition capacities in adolescence, from a behavioural and a neuroscientific vantage. It focuses on several mechanisms (i.e. theory of mind, empathy, facial and self-related processes) that have been pointed out as relevant for operationalizing the dimensions of the mentalization construct. We propose that adolescence may be characterized as a relevant period for the specialization and integration of particular mentalization dimensions. We conclude in underlying future research avenue

Broadly defined risk mental states during adolescence: disorganization mediates positive schizotypal expression

While schizotypal features are common during adolescence, they can also signal increased risk for the onset of schizophreniform disorders. Most studies with adolescents find that hallucination and delusion-like symptoms (positive schizotypal features) best predict future psychopathology. Still, the developmental process of positive schizotypy remains elusive, specifically with regards to 1) its relationships to negative and disorganization schizotypal dimensions; 2) its associations to maladaptive functioning during adolescence. This longitudinal study aimed to further characterize these relationships, thereby delineating "early and broadly defined psychosis risk mental states" (Keshavan et al., 2011). The current study presents the 3-year course of schizotypal trait expression in 34 clinical adolescents aged 12 to 18 years consulting for non-psychotic difficulties. Schizotypal expression was assessed twice using the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire, accompanied by an examination of internalizing/externalizing problems using the Achenbach scales. Cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses were conducted to assess the expression and course of schizotypal dimensions; mediation analyses were further employed to highlight the developmental interactions promoting the maintenance of positive schizotypal expression. The results reveal that positive schizotypy, and more specifically unusual perceptual experiences, significantly declined during the study interval. Disorganization features were found to mediate the relationships between the negative and positive dimensions of schizotypy within and across evaluations. Somatic complaints and attentional difficulties further strengthened the expression of positive schizotypy during the study interval. These results suggest that the relationship between disorganization features and positive schizotypy may play a central role in establishing risk for psychosis during adolescence