177 research outputs found
Hypothetical future orientated positive imagery reduces feelings of social anxiety in a healthy population
Imagery Reduces Feelings of Social Anxiety in a Healthy Population
Abstract Negative mental imagery has been shown to be involved in the onset and maintenance of numerous clinical disorders and as a result there has been growing scientific study of the therapeutic role of positive mental imagery, with studies reporting favourable results. However, with regard to social anxiety (SA) disorder the conventional approach to induce positive mental imagery has been suggested to be too demanding due to impairment in the retrieval of such episodes. Therefore, researchers have called for controlled studies to explore alternative inducement techniques with specific focus upon future orientated methods (a method more suitable for patients with SA). In the current study, we compare the conventional inducement technique (past) to a future orientated inducement technique (future) and a control condition (no imagery) and measure the impact upon selfreported levels of anxiety in a non-clinical population. Seventy-Eight younger students were randomly allocated to one of the two imagery inducement techniques or the control condition (and completed anxiety scales before and after imagery inducement or control task). To capture situational anxiety, phobia and broader short and long term (state versus trait) dysfunction the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory were the chosen measures. Results confirmed that positive mental imagery reduces feelings of anxiety and demonstrated, for the first time, the effectiveness of a hypothetical future orientated technique to induce positive mental imagery. These data will provide the groundwork for intervention development in clinical populations with known difficulties capitalising on past based mental imagery
Glucose regulation and face recognition deficits in older adults: the role of attention
The present study investigated the perceptual, attentional and memory processes underlying face recognition deficits observed in older adults with impaired glucoregulation. Participants were categorised as good glucoregulators or poor glucoregulators on the basis of an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). Using event-related potential (ERP) methodology, 23 participants (18 females, range = 62 to 88 years old, mean age = 73.87 years old, SD = 8.41) performed a 2-stimulus oddball task. Participants were asked to rate and memorise 10 âtargetâ faces, which were then presented amongst 120 unfamiliar foils. Behavioural results indicated that good glucoregulators were significantly more accurate at recognising target faces. ERP markers of early visual perception (the P1 and N170 components) and memory formation (the P3 component) were unaffected by glucoregulatory efficiency. The P2 component, an index of attentional processing, was larger and delayed in the poor glucoregulators. To the best of our knowledge, the present study is the first to suggest that face recognition deficits in poor glucoregulators may be due to impairments in attentional processing
Facial emotion recognition in Williams syndrome and Down syndrome: A matching and developmental study
In this study both the matching and developmental trajectories approaches were used to clarify questions that remain open in the literature on facial emotion recognition in Williams syndrome (WS) and Down syndrome (DS). The matching approach showed that individuals with WS or DS exhibit neither proficiency for the expression of happiness nor specific impairments for negative emotions. Instead, they present the same pattern of emotion recognition as typically developing (TD) individuals. Thus, the better performance on the recognition of positive compared to negative emotions usually reported in WS and DS is not specific of these populations but seems to represent a typical pattern. Prior studies based on the matching approach suggested that the development of facial emotion recognition is delayed in WS and atypical in DS. Nevertheless, and even though performance levels were lower in DS than in WS, the developmental trajectories approach used in this study evidenced that not only individuals with DS but also those with WS present atypical development in facial emotion recognition. Unlike in the TD participants, where developmental changes were observed along with age, in the WS and DS groups, the development of facial emotion recognition was static. Both individuals with WS and those with DS reached an early maximum developmental level due to cognitive constraints
The Interplay Between Anxiety and Social Functioning in Williams Syndrome
The developmental disorder Williams syndrome (WS) has been associated with an atypical social profile of hyper-sociability and heightened social sensitivity across the developmental spectrum. In addition, previous research suggests that both children and adults with WS have a predisposition towards anxiety. The current research aimed to explore the profiles of social behaviour and anxiety across a broad age range of individuals with the disorder (n = 59, ages 6â36 years). We used insights from parental reports on two frequently used measures, the Spence Childrenâs Anxiety Scale (SCAS-P) and the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS). Severity of anxiety was correlated with a greater degree of social dysfunction as measured by the SRS in this group. We split the group according to high or low anxiety as measured by the SCAS-P and explored the profile of social skills for the two groups. Individuals high and low in anxiety differed in their social abilities. The results emphasise the need to address anxiety issues in this disorder and to consider how components of anxiety might relate to other features of the disorder
The impact of social isolation and changes in work patterns on ongoing thought during the first COVID-19 lockdown in the United Kingdom
The COVID-19 pandemic led to lockdowns in countries across the world, changing the lives of billions of people. The United Kingdomâs first national lockdown, for example, restricted peopleâs ability to socialize and work. The current study examined how changes to socializing and working during this lockdown impacted ongoing thought patterns in daily life. We compared the prevalence of thought patterns between two independent real-world, experience-sampling cohorts, collected before and during lockdown. In both samples, young (18 to 35 y) and older (55+ y) participants completed experience-sampling measures five times daily for 7 d. Dimension reduction was applied to these data to identify common âpatterns of thought.â Linear mixed modeling compared the prevalence of each thought pattern 1) before and during lockdown, 2) in different age groups, and 3) across different social and activity contexts. During lockdown, when people were alone, social thinking was reduced, but on the rare occasions when social interactions were possible, we observed a greater increase in social thinking than prelockdown. Furthermore, lockdown was associated with a reduction in future-directed problem solving, but this thought pattern was reinstated when individuals engaged in work. Therefore, our study suggests that the lockdown led to significant changes in ongoing thought patterns in daily life and that these changes were associated with changes to our daily routine that occurred during lockdown
Does culture shape face perception in autism? Cross-cultural evidence of the own-race advantage from the UK and Japan
Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are associated with face perception atypicalities, and atypical experience with faces has been proposed as an underlying explanation. Studying the ownârace advantage (ORA) for face recognition can reveal the effect of experience on face perception in ASD, although the small number of studies in the area present mixed findings. The current study probed the ORA in ASD by comparing two cultural groups simultaneously for the first time. Children with ASD in the UK (N=16) and Japan (N=26) were compared to age and ability matched TD children in the UK (N=16) and Japan (N=26). Participants completed a twoâalternative forcedâchoice task, whereby they had to recognise a justâseen face from a foil which was manipulated in one of four ways (IC: identity change; EE: easy eyes; HE: hard eyes; HM: hard mouth). Face stimuli were Asian and Caucasian, and thus the same stimuli were own and otherârace depending on the cultural group. The ASD groups in the UK and Japan did not show impaired face recognition abilities, or impairments with recognising faces depending on manipulations to the eye region, and importantly they showed an ORA. There was considerable heterogeneity in the presence of the ORA in ASD and TD and also across cultures. Children in Japan had higher accuracy than children in the UK, and TD children in Japan did not show an ORA. The present crossâcultural study challenges the view that atypical experiences with faces lead to a reduced/absent ORA in ASD
Recommended from our members
Reduced preference for social rewards in a novel tablet based task in young children with Autism Spectrum Disorders
Atypical responsivity to social rewards has been observed in young children with or at risk of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). These observations contributed to the hypothesis of reduced social motivation in ASD. In the current study we develop a novel task to test social reward preference using a tablet computer (iPad), where two differently coloured buttons were associated with a social and a nonsocial rewarding image respectively. 63 young children, aged 14â68 months, with and without a diagnosis of ASD took part in the study. The experimental sessions were also recorded on video, using an in-built webcam on the tablet as well as an external camera. Children with ASD were found to show a reduced relative preference for social rewards, indexed by a lower proportion of touches for the button associated with the social reward image. Greater social preference as measured using the tablet-based task was associated with increased use of social communicative behaviour such as eye contact with the experimenter and social smile in response to the social reward image. These results are consistent with earlier findings from eye-tracking studies, and provide novel empirical insights into atypical social reward responsivity in ASD
A clinical and cost effectiveness trial of a parent group intervention to manage challenging restricted and repetitive behaviours in young children with autism spectrum disorder: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial
Background Restricted and repetitive behaviours vary greatly across the autism spectrum, and although not all are problematic some can cause distress and interfere with learning and social opportunities. We have, alongside parents, developed a parent group based intervention for families of young children with autism, which aims to offer support to parents and carers; helping them to recognise, understand and learn how to respond to their childâs challenging restricted repetitive behaviours. Methods The study is a clinical and cost-effectiveness, multi-site randomised controlled trial of the Managing Repetitive Behaviours (MRB) parent group intervention versus a psychoeducation parent group Learning About Autism (LAA) (nâ=â250; 125 intervention/125 psychoeducation; ~â83/site) for parents of young children aged 3â9âyears 11âmonths with a diagnosis of autism. All analyses will be done under intention-to-treat principle. The primary outcome at 24âweeks will use generalised estimating equation (GEE) to compare proportion of children with improved RRB between the MRB group and the LAA group. The GEE model will account for the clustering of children by parent groups using exchangeable working correlation. All secondary outcomes will be analysed in a similar way using appropriate distribution and link function. The economic evaluation will be conducted from the perspective of both NHS costs and family access to local community services. A âwithin trialâ cost-effectiveness analysis with results reported as the incremental cost per additional child achieving at least the target improvement in CGI-I scale at 24âweeks. Discussion This is an efficacy trial to investigate the clinical and cost-effectiveness of a parent group based intervention designed to help parents understand and manage their childâs challenging RRB. If found to be effective, this intervention has the potential to improve the well-being of children and their families, reduce parental stress, greatly enhance community participation and potential for learning, and improve longer-term outcomes. Trial registration Trial ID: ISRCTN15550611 Date registered: 07/08/2018. Sponsor and Monitor: Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust R&D Manager Lyndsey Dixon, Address: St Nicholas Hospital, Jubliee Road, Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne NE3 3XT, [email protected], Tel: 0191 246 722
- âŠ