Maintenance of parasympathetic inhibition following emotional induction in patients with restrictive type anorexia nervosa

This study aimed to explore changes in heart rate variability (HRV), a proxy for parasympathetic activity characterizing emotion regulation processes before, during and after negative emotional induction in patients suffering from restrictive type anorexia nervosa (AN-RT). We compared two methods of HRV analysis, the Fast Fourier Transform high frequency (FFT-HF) and a specific HRV high frequency analysis technique, namely, the wavelet transform HRV (WT-HRV). A sample of 16 inpatients with AN-RT was compared to 24 control participants. Heart rate (HR) was continuously recorded for 5 min before the beginning of the video until 5 min after the video. The participants answered questionnaires concerning their eating behaviors, mood disorders and difficulties in emotion regulation. During the entire procedure, the FFT-HF in patients was lower than that in controls. Using the WT-HRV, the patients did not differ from the controls at baseline, and only the controls showed a decrease during emotional induction. After the video, the WT-HRV in patients began to decrease during the first 2 min of emotional recovery although the WT-HRV in controls was already increased. These results highlighted the disturbances in the physiological dynamics of emotion regulation processes in patients with AN-RT

Sex differences in Korsakoff's syndrome for inhibition but not for episodic memory or flexibility

Background and Objectives: While sex differences in cognitive abilities have been extensively studied in healthy populations, little is known about these differences in patients with Korsakoff syndrome (KS). Methods: We investigated sex differences in verbal episodic memory, inhibition, and flexibility in 25 patients with KS and 25 control participants. Results: The analysis demonstrated no significant differences between women with KS and men with KS on episodic memory and flexibility, but higher inhibition was observed in women with KS compared with men with KS. Regarding control participants, no significant differences were observed between women and men on inhibition or flexibility, but higher verbal episodic memory was observed in women compared with men. Verbal episodic memory and flexibility seem to be equally affected in women and men with KS, whereas inhibition seems to be more affected in men than in women with KS. Conclusions and Scientific Significance: Our findings highlight cognitive sex differences in KS in executive function. Critically, our findings are the first quantitative data about episodic performances (and cognitive performances in general) of women and men with KS

Chunking to improve verbal forward spans in Korsakoff's syndrome

Chunking is a mnemonic strategy that involves organizing information into appropriate units. Our article examined the use of this strategy on forward and backward span performance in Korsakoff's syndrome. Fifteen patients with Korsakoff's syndrome and 17 age-and-education matched healthy controls participated to the study. Digit span performance (both forward and backward) was tested before and after chunking training. Results demonstrated an increased performance on the forward spans after chunking training in the patients with Korsakoff's syndrome, but no beneficial effect was observed on the backward spans in these participants. Controls demonstrated a chunking effect on both forward and backward span performance. Our findings suggest that a simple training in chunking may be useful as part of a cognitive strategy training for improving working memory performance in patients with Korsakoff's syndrome

High emotional experience during autobiographical retrieval in women with Korsakoff syndrome

Introduction: In this exploratory study, we investigated gender differences regarding autobiographical memory in KS. Method: We invited 33 patients with KS and 35 matched control participants to retrieve autobiographical memories and, afterward, to rate mental time travel during retrieval, emotional value and importance of memories. Results: Analysis demonstrated lower specificity (i.e., lower ability to retrieve memories situated in a specific time and space), mental time travel, and importance in patients with KS compared to control participants. Analysis also demonstrated no significant difference between patients with KS and control participants regarding emotion. Critically, analysis demonstrated no significant differences neither women and men with KS, nor between women and men in the control group, regarding autobiographical specificity, mental time travel, or importance. However, women with KS attributed higher emotional value for memories compared to men with KS, and the same results were observed in the control group. Discussion: These findings demonstrate that the higher emotional experience during autobiographical retrieval, as observed in the general population, can also be observed in KS

Retrospective time perception in Korsakoff's syndrome

Item does not contain fulltextThe authors investigated retrospective timing in participants with Korsakoff's syndrome. Patients were assessed on four retrospective tasks on which they were instructed to read three-digit numbers aloud (15 seconds), fill connected squares (30 seconds), decide whether words were abstract or concrete (45 seconds), or read aloud a text about mushroom picking (60 seconds). Participants were not aware of the task's timing until the end of the tasks, when they were asked to estimate the elapsed time. Results revealed an underestimation of the elapsed time in Korsakoff participants, suggesting that time is perceived to pass quickly for these participants.7 p

Not all drugs are created equal: impaired future thinking in opiate, but not alcohol, users

Episodic future thinking refers to the ability to travel forward in time to pre-experience an event. Although future thinking has been intimately linked with self and identity, to our knowledge, no prior research has compared episodic future thinking in populations with different substance use disorders. This study investigates whether there are differences in episodic future thinking between these alcohol and opiate users. The study recruited participants who were on the opiate substitution program (n = 31) and individuals who had been diagnosed with alcohol dependence (n = 21) from the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital Drug and Health Services. Healthy controls (n = 23) were recruited via Royal Prince Alfred Hospital databases and the general community. Past and future thinking was measured using four cue words. After each cue word, participants rated their phenomenological experience (e.g. emotion, reliving experience). Results indicated that alcohol-dependent individuals performed significantly higher in episodic future thinking compared to opiate users. These findings indicate that not all substance use disorder groups share similar episodic thinking capabilities. Our results suggest that the self-projection component of rehabilitation programs may have to be tailored to the different episodic construction abilities found in substance use disorder groups.Scopu

Schadenfreude, malicious and benign envy are associated with low body mass index in restrictive-type anorexia nervosa.

According to the Cognitive-Interpersonal Maintenance Model of anorexia nervosa, social factors are involved in the maintenance and development of this disorder. Therefore, this study aimed to test whether patients with restrictive-type anorexia nervosa (AN-R) experience malicious envy (negative emotions associated with the wish that others lack their superior quality), benign envy (negative emotions associated with the desire to reach and obtain the others' superior quality) and Schadenfreude (pleasure at the misfortunes of others) with a higher intensity than healthy controls (HC). METHODS: 26 AN-R patients and 32 HC completed scenarios that aimed to induce envy and Schadenfreude and completed questionnaires measuring envy, self-esteem and social comparison. RESULTS: AN-R patients reported more benign envy than HC. Interestingly, higher body mass index (BMI) was associated with less Schadenfreude, malicious and benign envy in AN-R only. CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that AN-R patients present higher motivation to evolve when facing others' superior quality (i.e., benign envy). It also underlines the importance of considering social factors in the maintenance of AN-R and the role of BMI when examining emotions related to others' fortune. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level III, case-control analytic study