The evidential value of research on cognitive training to change food-related biases and unhealthy eating behavior: A systematic review and p-curve analysis

Cognitive bias modification (CBM), which retrains implicit biases towards unhealthy foods, has been proposed as a promising adjunct to improve the efficacy of weight loss interventions. We conducted a systematic review of research on three CBM approaches (i.e., cue-specific inhibitory control, approach bias modification, and attentional bias modification) for reducing unhealthy eating biases and behavior. We performed a p-curve analysis to determine the evidential value of this research; this method is optimally suited to clarify whether published results reflect true effects or false positives due to publication and reporting biases. When considering all CBM approaches, our results suggested that the findings of CBM trials targeting unhealthy eating are unlikely to be false positives. However, only research on attentional bias modification reached acceptable levels of power. These results suggest that CBM interventions may be an effective strategy to enhance the efficacy of weight loss interventions. However, there is room for improvement in the methodological standards of this area of research, especially increasing the statistical power can help to fully clarify the clinical potential of CBM, and determine the role of potential moderatorsConsejería de Educación e Investigación, Grant/Award Numbers: 2016-T1/SOC-1395, 2020-5A/SOC-19723; Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, Grant/Award Numbers: PSI2017-85159-P, Ref. FJC2018-036047-

Computational mechanisms underpinning greater exploratory behaviour in excess weight relative to healthy weight adolescents

Obesity in adolescence is associated with cognitive changes that lead to difficulties in shifting unhealthy habits in favour of alternative healthy behaviours, similar to addictive behaviours. An outstanding question is whether this shift in goal-directed behaviour is driven by over-exploitation or over-exploration of rewarding outcomes. Here, we addressed this question by comparing explore/exploit behaviour on the Iowa Gambling Task in 43 adolescents with excess weight against 38 adolescents with healthy weight. We computationally modelled both exploitation behaviour (e.g., reinforcement sensitivity and inverse decay parameters), and explorative behaviour (e.g., maximum directed exploration value). We found that overall, adolescents with excess weight displayed more behavioural exploration than their healthy-weight counterparts – specifically, demonstrating greater overall switching behaviour. Computational models revealed that this behaviour was driven by a higher maximum directed exploration value in the excess-weight group (U = 520.00, p = .005, BF10 = 5.11). Importantly, however, we found substantial evidence that groups did not differ in reinforcement sensitivity (U = 867.00, p = .641, BF10 = 0.30). Overall, our study demonstrates a preference for exploratory behaviour in adolescents with excess weight, independent of sensitivity to reward. This pattern could potentially underpin an intrinsic desire to explore energy-dense unhealthy foods – an as-yet untapped mechanism that could be targeted in future treatments of obesity in adolescents.Junta de AndaluciaNational Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) of Australia GNT200946

Reconsidering the roots, structure, and implications of gambling motives: An integrative approach

The present study identified Social, Financial, and Fun/thrill-related gambling motives factors, but also a fourth factor in which some positive and negative reinforcement-based motives were grouped into a single and broader Affect regulation factor. This Affect regulation factor shared variance both with BIS and BAS-related measures, and was the only direct predictor of disordered gambling symptoms. The Fun/thrill factor was directly related to frequency of participation in high-arousal, skill-based games, and all factors were related to participation in lower-arousal, chance games (with Social motives negatively predicting both participation in the latter and total severity). In the SEM model, measures of BIS/BAS sensitivity were connected to gambling behavior only through gambling motives. Based on measures of items’ specificity, a shortened Spanish scale (the brief Gambling Motives Inventory, bGMI) is proposed to assess gambling motives in accordance with the observed 4-factor structure.This work is supported by a grant from the Spanish Government (Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Secretaría de Estado de Investigación, Desarrollo e Innovación; Convocatoria 2017 de Proyectos I+D de Excelencia, Spain; co-funded by the Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional, FEDER, European Union), with reference number PSI2017-85488-P

The paradoxical relationship between emotion regulation and gambling-related cognitive biases

The funding agency is public and played no role in planning or executing this work, nor interfered with the collection and interpretation of data.Background Gambling behavior presents substantial individual variability regarding its severity, manifestations, and psychological correlates. Specifically, differences in emotion regulation, impulsivity, and cognitive distortions have been identified as crucial to describe individual profiles with implications for the prevention, prognosis, and treatment of gambling disorder (GD). Aims and method The aim of the present study was to investigate the associations of gambling-related cognitions (measured according to the GRCS model) with impulsivity (UPPS-P model) and emotion regulation (CERQ model), in a sample of 246 gamblers with different levels of gambling involvement, using mixed-effects modelling to isolate theoretically relevant associations while controlling for the potentially confounding effects of sociodemographic and clinical covariates. Results Affective/motivational dimensions of UPPS-P impulsivity positive urgency and sensation seeking, on the one hand, and CERQ emotion regulation strategies reappraisal, rumination and blaming others, on the other, independently and significantly predicted distorted gambling- related cognitions. Conclusions These results (a) reinforce the ones of previous studies stressing the relevance of emotional and motivational processes in the emergence of gambling-related cognitive distortions; and (b) replicate the seemingly paradoxical finding that gamblers use emotion regulation strategies customarily considered as adaptive (i.e. reappraisal) to strengthen and justify their biased beliefs about gambling outcomes and controllability.Supported by a grant from the Spanish Government (Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Secretaría de Estado de Investigación, Desarrollo e Innovación; Convocatoria 2017 de Proyectos I+D de Excelencia, Spain; co-funded by the Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional, FEDER, European Union), with reference number PSI2017-85488-

Neurocognitive components of gambling disorder: Implications for assessment, treatment and policy

Gambling disorder (GD) is now recognized as a behavioral addiction. Evidence has shown that GD and substance use disorders (SUDs) have shared vulnerability factors, similar clinical characteristics, and neurobiological overlaps. However, these similarities have somewhat overshadowed the specificities that account for the differences between GD and SUDs, as well as the considerable heterogeneity of patients with gambling disorder (PGD). In this chapter, we aim to disentangle the key neurocognitive components involved in GD, as well as those underlying heterogeneity among PGD. Core components include the brain mechanisms for gambling reinforcement, and their association with incentive sensitization and craving. With regard to heterogeneity, we will focus on specific gambling-related rewards, and automatic (model-free) versus strategic (model-based) emotion regulation processes. These components are integrated into a psychobiologically-informed, multidimensional model for gamblers’ characterization. In such model, individual differences in sensitivity to gambling reinforcement, basic emotion regulation mechanisms, and strategic emotion regulation are used to explain heterogeneity within the GD population, and serve to re-conceptualize previous attempts to cluster GD phenotypes based on clinical observations and empirical research. The proposed model has a number of implications for policy, prevention, and treatment. First, the consideration of GD as an addiction provides ground for harm-reduction approaches. Second, the transdiagnostic nature of key vulnerability factors justifies profiling of high-risk individuals for secondary prevention of disordered gambling (along with other externalizing problems). Third, understanding individual differences within the population of disordered gamblers yields a practical avenue for health services to incorporate tailored treatment protocols

Types of emotion regulation and their associations with gambling: A cross-sectional study with disordered and non-problem Ecuadorian gamblers.

This a non-peer-reviewed, non-published preprint version of the article.This study was aimed at investigating the role of emotional regulation in regular gambling in a sample of 197 gamblers from Ecuador. With that aim in mind, we explored the associations between gambling cognitions (as measured by the GRCS), cognitive/emotional impulsivity (UPPS-P), emotion regulation (ERQ), and alcohol and drug misuse (Multi-CAGE). For analyses, personality (impulsivity) scores were used as inputs to predict dispositional variables (ERQ and GRCS), and behavioral outputs (MultiCAGE), while controlling for gambling severity. Hypotheses were based on previous works, although the analysis has been improved (using hierarchical linear mixed-effects modelling), and homogenized in covariate control, and decision threshold stringency. Results were as follows: (1) After controlling for relevant covariates, UPPS-P sensation seeking was positively associated with gambling cognitions, whereas positive urgency was positively associated with cognitive biases (interpretative bias, control illusion, and predictive control) but not with other gambling cognitions. (2) Among emotion regulation strategies, reappraisal, but not suppression, was associated with gambling cognitions. (3) Negative urgency was distinctively associated with suppression, but not with reappraisal. And (4), no impulsivity dimensions significantly predicted drug alcohol misuse, although negative urgency fell just below the decision threshold. These results reinforce the importance of emotion regulation processes in the cognitive and behavioral manifestations of gambling. Most importantly, they suggest a dissociation between the role of model-free dysregulation of negative emotions (as measured by UPPS-P negative urgency), as a key contributor to gambling complication and general psychopathology; and the one of strategic emotion regulation, in fueling gambling-related cognitive distortions.MFJR is funded by the scholarship program offered by the University of Guayaquil – Ecuador, 2015 ( Consejo de Educación Superior – CES). JCP and JFN are supported by a grant from the Spanish Government ( Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Secretaría de Estado de Investigación, Desarrollo e Innovación; Convocatoria 2017 de Proyectos I+D de Excelencia , Spain; co - funded by the Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional, FEDER , European Union), with reference number PSI2017 - 85488 - P . JFN has been awarded with an individual research grant ( Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte, Programa FPU , reference number FPU13/00669)

頭部外傷の治療(交通事故による脳障害,第48回千葉医学会学術大会,第17回千葉県医師会学術大会,第10回日医医学講座,連合大会)

BACKGROUND:The negative consequences of energy dense foods are well known, yet people increasingly make unhealthy food choices leading to obesity (i.e., risky decisions). The aims of this study were: [1] to compare performance in decision-making tasks under risk and under ambiguity between individuals with obesity, overweight and normal weight; [2] to examine the associations between body mass index (BMI) and decision-making, and the degree to which these associations are modulated by reward sensitivity. METHODS:Seventy-nine adults were recruited and classified in three groups according to their BMI: obesity, overweight and normal-weight. Groups were similar in terms of age, education and socio-economic status, and were screened for comorbid medical and mental health conditions. Decision-making under risk was measured via the Wheel of Fortune Task (WoFT) and decision-making under ambiguity via the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT). Reward sensitivity was indicated by the Sensitivity to Punishment and Sensitivity to Reward Questionnaire (SPSRQ). RESULTS:Individuals with obesity made riskier choices in the WoFT, specifically in choices with an expected value close to zero and in the propensity to risk index. No differences were found in IGT performance or SPSRQ scores. BMI was associated with risk-taking (WoFT performance), independently of reward sensitivity. CONCLUSIONS:Obesity is linked to a propensity to make risky decisions in experimental conditions analogous to everyday food choices

The Interrelation Between Emotional Impulsivity, Craving, and Symptoms Severity in Behavioral Addictions and Related Conditions: a Theory‑Driven Systematic Review

Purpose of Review Here, we systematically review all available evidence on the triadic relationship between positive and negative urgency, craving, and severity of symptoms of candidate behavioral addictions. Recent Findings Current theoretical models attribute a central importance to craving in the chronification and prognosis of behavioral addictions and other problematic non-substance-related behavioral patterns. Craving, in turn, has been convincingly shown to be an affect-laden state, and its control can be conceptualized as partially resulting from emotion regulation mechanisms. However, some gaps remain: first, there is no consensus on the predominantly appetitive or aversive nature of craving; and, second, although positive and negative urgency have been proposed as proxies to incidental emotion regulation mechanisms, their direct or indirect role in craving regulation and severity of problematic behaviors is still poorly known. Summary According to our results, craving emerges as a central construct, partially resulting from emotion dysregulation as assessed by urgency. The preponderance of positive urgency shown by most studies in this review also reinforces the view of positive emotions as a ‘trojan horse’ in addictive processes. Negative urgency, in turn, seems to be a complication factor that could underlie gambling addiction and other related mental health conditions. Most studies, however, are about gambling behavior, with the few studies in other domains precluding firm conclusions about the differences or similarities between them.Universidad de Granada/ CBUAR&D project (Proyecto I + D + i), funded by the Spanish Research Agency (Agencia Española de Investigación)Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación) (MCIN/AEI/https:// doi. org/ 10. 13039/ 50110 00110 33)PID2020-116535 GB-I00PRE2018-085150, Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades)Individual research grant (PRE2021-100665, Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación)Individual research grant (FPU21/00462, Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación)

Altered decision-making under risk in obesity

Background: The negative consequences of energy dense foods are well known, yet people increasingly make unhealthy food choices leading to obesity (i.e., risky decisions). The aims of this study were: [1] to compare performance in decision-making tasks under risk and under ambiguity between individuals with obesity, overweight and normal weight; [2] to examine the associations between body mass index (BMI) and decision-making, and the degree to which these associations are modulated by reward sensitivity. Methods: Seventy-nine adults were recruited and classified in three groups according to their BMI: obesity, overweight and normal-weight. Groups were similar in terms of age, education and socio-economic status, and were screened for comorbid medical and mental health conditions. Decision-making under risk was measured via the Wheel of Fortune Task (WoFT) and decision-making under ambiguity via the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT). Reward sensitivity was indicated by the Sensitivity to Punishment and Sensitivity to Reward Questionnaire (SPSRQ). Results: Individuals with obesity made riskier choices in the WoFT, specifically in choices with an expected value close to zero and in the propensity to risk index. No differences were found in IGT performance or SPSRQ scores. BMI was associated with risk-taking (WoFT performance), independently of reward sensitivity. Conclusions: Obesity is linked to a propensity to make risky decisions in experimental conditions analogous to everyday food choices

Decontamination of Diesel particles from air by using the Counterfog (R) system

The existence of particles with diameter under 10m in air is strongly correlated with respiratory diseases. These particles are profusely produced by heating systems, traffic, and Diesel engines creating a serious problem to modern cities. Natural mechanisms removing particles from the atmosphere are too slow to deal with the huge amount of particles daily released by human activity. The objective of this work is to measure the effectiveness of a new technology called Counterfog (R) to eliminate airborne particles. The results show that Counterfog (R) is able to wash out PM10, PM5, and PM2.5 Diesel-generated airborne particles quite efficiently.This work has been funded by the FP7-SEC-2012-1 program of the EU Commission under grant number 312804