Videogame play and events are related to unhealthy emotion regulation in the form of low fading affect bias in autobiographical memory

Relation between Deese-Roediger-Mcdermott recall measures of false memory and the fading affect bias

The fading affect bias (FAB) is the faster fading of unpleasant affect than pleasant affect for autobiographical event memories, and it is considered a healthy coping mechanism because it is positively related to healthy measures (e.g., self-esteem and positive PANAS), whereas it is negatively related to unhealthy measures (e.g., psychological distress and negative PANAS). Some researchers suggest that Deese-Roediger McDermott (DRM) critical lure false memories for words are conceptually equivalent to false memories for autobiographical event memories, which has not been examined. Based on the finding that false autobiographical event memories negatively predict FAB, the current study tested if false DRM word memories would negatively predict FAB for autobiographical event memories, which would demonstrate support for the conceptual equivalence of DRM memories and autobiographical event memories. We found that three measures of false word recall positively predicted FAB, which is a result that is contrary to prior findings and the contention that DRM false memories for words are conceptually the same as autobiographical event memories.

In-Person and Online Studies Examining the Influence of Problem Solving on the Fading Affect Bias

The fading affect bias (FAB) occurs in autobiographical memory when unpleasant emotions fade faster than pleasant emotions and the phenomenon appears to be a form of emotion regulation. As emotion regulation is positively related to problem solving, the current study examined FAB in the context of problem solving. In-person and online studies asked participants to provide basic demographics, describe their problem-solving abilities, and rate various healthy and unhealthy variables, including emotional intelligence and positive problem-solving attitudes. Participants also completed an autobiographical event memory form for which they recalled and described two pleasant and two unpleasant problem-solving and non-problem-solving events and rated the initial and current affect and rehearsals for those events. We found a robust FAB effect that was larger for problem-solving events than for non-problem-solving events in Study 1 but not in Study 2. We also found that FAB was positively related to healthy variables, such as grit, and negatively related to unhealthy variables, such as depression. Moreover, many of these negative relations were inverted at high levels of positive problem-solving attitudes, and these complex interactions were partially mediated by talking rehearsals and thinking rehearsals.

Reliability Generalization Meta-Analysis of Internet Gaming Disorder Scale

The objective of this study was to carry out a reliability generalization meta-analysis of the Internet Gaming Disorder Scale (IGDS) to find out if it presents adequate values that justify its application in its four versions: original and abbreviated with dichotomous or ordinal response. A systematic review including 26 studies that apply this instrument from 2015 to June 2022 was conducted. For each version, a reliability generalization meta-analysis was performed with the random coefficients (RC) and varying coefficients (VC) model. Results showed reliability levels > 0.80 in the ordinal versions (IGDS9P and IGDS27P) and in the dichotomous 27-item version (IGDS27D), while the dichotomous 9-item version (IGDS9D) produced levels > 0.70. High heterogeneity was found in all versions (I2 > 95%; Rb > 90%). Cronbach’s α means with both models (RC-VC) did not differ significantly except for the IGDS9D version. It is concluded that, considering the dependence of the results on sample size, abbreviated versions do not guarantee that reliability remains acceptable, and dichotomous versions may provide limited but acceptable reliability. Finally, IGDS27P version is recommended in contexts where high precision is required.

Gender Differences in the Impact of COVID-19 Lockdown on Potentially Addictive Behaviors: An Emotion-Mediated Analysis

We study the impact of the spring 2020 lockdown in France on gender-related potentially addictive behaviors and associated negative emotions. We rely on an online survey we administered 1 week after the beginning of the lockdown, with responses collected within 2 weeks after the beginning of the lockdown (N = 1,087). We focus on potential addictions to non-creative activities as food consumption and smartphone usage (female-related), and videogame play (male-related). We find that women were about 1.6 times more likely than men to losing control of their usual diet and about 2.3 times more likely than men to increase smartphone usage, while no significant gender effect is detected as for increased videogame play. This is since the negative emotions driving the increase of female-related non-creative activities (sadness, discouragement, and nervousness) were themselves female-related, while the negative emotions driving the increase of male-related non-creative activities (boredom, emptiness, and stress) were shared by women too. Our study supports the intuition that the same negative emotion induced by COVID-19 side-effects could lead to different potentially addictive behaviors; this difference is explained by the interplay between different gender’s sensitivities to such emotion and different gender’s preferences for specific non-creative activities.

A Fading Affect Bias First: Specific Healthy Coping with Partner-Esteem for Romantic Relationship and Non-Relationship Events

The Fading Affect Bias (FAB) is the faster fading of unpleasant affect than pleasant affect. Research suggests that the FAB is an indicator of general healthy coping, but it has not shown consistent specific healthy coping via differential relations of the FAB to individual differences across event types. Although previous research did not find specific healthy coping for the FAB across romantic relationship events, these researchers did not include non-relationship control events. Therefore, we examined the relation of the FAB to various relationship variables across romantic relationship events and non-relationship control events. We found general healthy coping in the form of robust FAB effects across both event types and expected relations between relationship variables and the FAB. We also found three significant three-way interactions with the FAB showing specific healthy coping for partner-esteem, which is novel for the FAB. Rehearsal ratings mediated all the three-way interactions.

Large-scale network dysfunction in youths with Internet gaming disorder: a meta-analysis of resting-state functional connectivity studies

Internet gaming disorder (IGD) has been defined as a specific behavioral disorder, associated with abnormal interactions among large-scale brain networks. Researchers have sought to identify the network dysfunction in IGD using resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC). However, results across studies have not reached an agreement yet and the mechanism remains unclear. The present research aimed to investigate network dysfunction in IGD through a meta-analysis of rsFC studies. Twenty-two seed-based voxel-wise rsFC studies from 25 publications (594 individuals with IGD and 496 healthy controls) were included. By categorizing seeds into seed-networks based on their location within a prior functional network parcellations, we performed a Multilevel kernel density analysis (MKDA) within each seed-network to identify which brain systems showed abnormal interaction with particular seed-network in individuals with IGD. Compared to healthy control groups, individuals with IGD exhibited significant hypoconnectivity within the default mode network, and enhanced connectivity between the default mode network and insula within the ventral attention network. IGD was also associated with increased connectivity between the ventral attention network and somatomotor regions. Furthermore, the IGD groups showed hyperconnectivity between the limbic network and regions of the frontoparietal network. The results suggest that individuals with IGD show large-scale functional network alteration which underpins their core symptoms including poor emotional competence, cue-reactivity and craving, habitual addictive behaviors and impaired executive control. Whether the compensation mechanism exists in IGD is discussed, and further research is needed. The findings provide a neurocognitive network model of IGD, which may serve as functional biomarkers for IGD and have potentials for development of effective diagnosis and therapeutic interventions.

Towards a better integration of emotional factors in autobiographical memory

While the role of emotion in autobiographical memory (ABM) is acknowledged in some models, its specific effects are blurred by narrow approaches towards emotion that are often limited to a distinction between intensity and valence. After presenting a critical review of the role assigned to emotion for the development of ABM, this paper surveys current perspectives which encourage a broader approach to emotion in the development of ABM. Research on Flashbulb memories provides an important context where the role of emotion has been the most extensively investigated. This paper makes three important recommendations for future research, which are to (1) provide an assessment of emotional responses that includes appraisals, action tendencies, bodily sensations, and emotion intensity; (2) investigate the role of specific emotional states; and (3) adopt systematically a multi-component approach of ABM measurement, which takes accuracy, consistency, vividness, degree of details, and confidence into account.

Rehearsal and Event Age Predict the Fading Affect Bias across Young Adults and Elderly in Self-Defining and Everyday Autobiographical Memories

The faster fading of unpleasant affect than pleasant affect is known as the Fading Affect Bias (FAB). The FAB generalizes across cultures and event types, it is positively related to rehearsals and healthy outcomes, and it is negatively related to unhealthy outcomes. Experiment 1 Objective, Sample/Population, and Method: We examined the importance of different rehearsal types for the FAB across self-defining and everyday events in 58 college age participants using a self-guided questionnaire procedure in Experiment 1. Experiment 1 Results: We found robust FAB effects across event types, FAB increased with both event age and event sharing (number of people), and rehearsals mediated these relations. Moreover, event sharing and talking about the event combined to predict the FAB. Experiment 2 Objective, Sample/Population, and Method: In Experiment 2, we used the self-guided questionnaire procedure from Experiment 1 for 31 college students and 12 elderly participants 68 to 84 years old, as well as an interview procedure with 13 elderly participants 68 to 94 years old. Experiment 2 Results: We combined the elderly data because both groups showed similar FAB patterns. We found robust FAB effects across both event types, the FAB increased with event age and participant age, and it increased with talking rehearsals. Conclusions: The results extend the FAB to self-defining events and the elderly, they emphasize the importance of various rehearsal types, and they are in line with FAB research, age research, and research on several emotion regulation models.