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Terpini M, D'Argembeau A. Uncertainty salience reduces the accessibility of episodic future thoughts. PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2024; 88:1399-1411. [PMID: 38563990 DOI: 10.1007/s00426-024-01962-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/19/2023] [Accepted: 03/22/2024] [Indexed: 04/04/2024]
Abstract
We live in uncertain times and how this pervasive sense of uncertainty affects our ability to think about the future remains largely unexplored. This study aims to investigate the effects of uncertainty salience on episodic future thinking-the ability to mentally represent specific future events. Experiment 1 assessed the impact of uncertainty on the accessibility of episodic future thoughts using an event fluency task. Participants were randomly assigned to either an uncertainty induction or control condition, and then were asked to imagine as many future events as possible that could happen in different time periods. The results showed that participants in the uncertainty condition produced fewer events, suggesting that uncertainty salience reduced the accessibility of episodic future thoughts. Experiment 2 investigated in further detail the mechanisms of production of episodic future thoughts that are affected by uncertainty. The results showed that uncertainty primarily reduced the accessibility of previously formed future thoughts (i.e., memories of the future) rather than affecting the ability to generatively think about the future and construct events. These findings shed new light on the impact of uncertainty on episodic future thinking, paving the way to further investigation into its implications for decision-making and future-oriented behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marianthi Terpini
- Department of Psychology, Psychology and Neuroscience of Cognition Research Unit, University of Liège, Place des Orateurs 1 (B33), Liège, 4000, Belgium
| | - Arnaud D'Argembeau
- Department of Psychology, Psychology and Neuroscience of Cognition Research Unit, University of Liège, Place des Orateurs 1 (B33), Liège, 4000, Belgium.
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Huang S, Faul L, Parikh N, LaBar KS, De Brigard F. Counterfactual thinking induces different neural patterns of memory modification in anxious individuals. Sci Rep 2024; 14:10630. [PMID: 38724623 PMCID: PMC11082200 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-61545-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/16/2023] [Accepted: 05/07/2024] [Indexed: 05/12/2024] Open
Abstract
Episodic counterfactual thinking (eCFT) is the process of mentally simulating alternate versions of experiences, which confers new phenomenological properties to the original memory and may be a useful therapeutic target for trait anxiety. However, it remains unclear how the neural representations of a memory change during eCFT. We hypothesized that eCFT-induced memory modification is associated with changes to the neural pattern of a memory primarily within the default mode network, moderated by dispositional anxiety levels. We tested this proposal by examining the representational dynamics of eCFT for 39 participants varying in trait anxiety. During eCFT, lateral parietal regions showed progressively more distinct activity patterns, whereas medial frontal neural activity patterns became more similar to those of the original memory. Neural pattern similarity in many default mode network regions was moderated by trait anxiety, where highly anxious individuals exhibited more generalized representations for upward eCFT (better counterfactual outcomes), but more distinct representations for downward eCFT (worse counterfactual outcomes). Our findings illustrate the efficacy of examining eCFT-based memory modification via neural pattern similarity, as well as the intricate interplay between trait anxiety and eCFT generation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shenyang Huang
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC, 27708, USA.
- Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC, 27708, USA.
| | - Leonard Faul
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, 02467, USA
| | - Natasha Parikh
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599, USA
| | - Kevin S LaBar
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC, 27708, USA
- Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC, 27708, USA
| | - Felipe De Brigard
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC, 27708, USA.
- Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC, 27708, USA.
- Department of Philosophy, Duke University, Durham, NC, 27708, USA.
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Hallford DJ, Seydavi M, Akbari M. The Perceived Functions and Phenomenological Characteristics of Future Thinking and Clinically Significant Generalized Anxiety Disorder Symptoms. Clin Psychol Psychother 2024; 31:e2978. [PMID: 38706135 DOI: 10.1002/cpp.2978] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/03/2023] [Revised: 02/16/2024] [Accepted: 03/15/2024] [Indexed: 05/07/2024]
Abstract
Current research indicates that anxiety disorders and elevated levels of trait anxiety are associated with biases and impairments when thinking of personally relevant future events, that is, future thinking. However, to date, little research has been conducted into how people with symptoms of clinical anxiety perceive the functions of future thinking. The current study presents a cross-sectional survey comparing individuals with elevated symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and related functional impact (N = 51, 43.1% female, Mage = 33.1, SD = 10.2) matched on age and gender with individuals with no clinically significant symptoms of GAD (N = 51, 43.1% female, Mage = 33.3, SD = 10.1) on self-reported functions of future thinking and a battery of items assessing the phenomenological characteristics. The results indicated various significant differences in the perceived functions of future thinking and its phenomenological characteristics in those with elevated GAD symptoms. Broadly, they indicate more frequent future thinking and more commonly for self-distraction or processing negatively valenced future events, and generally less adaptive mental representations that support current thinking on the psychopathological process of increased worry, anxious arousal and maladaptive cognition in clinical anxiety symptoms.
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Affiliation(s)
- David J Hallford
- School of Psychology, Deakin University, Geelong, Victoria, Australia
| | - Mohammad Seydavi
- Department of Clinical Psychology, Faculty of Psychology and Education, Kharazmi University, Tehran, Iran
| | - Mehdi Akbari
- Department of Clinical Psychology, Faculty of Psychology and Education, Kharazmi University, Tehran, Iran
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Faustmann LL, Altgassen M. A matter of precision? Scene imagery in individuals with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder. Autism Res 2024; 17:529-542. [PMID: 38470059 DOI: 10.1002/aur.3119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/25/2023] [Accepted: 02/18/2024] [Indexed: 03/13/2024]
Abstract
The ability to create mental representations of scenes is essential for remembering, predicting, and imagining. In individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) this ability may be impaired. Considering that autistic characteristics such as weak central coherence or reduced communication abilities may disadvantage autistic participants in traditional imagery tasks, this study attempted to use a novel task design to measure the ability of scene imagery. Thirty high-functioning adults with ASD and 27 non-autistic matched control adults were asked to describe imagined fictitious scenes using two types of scene imagery tasks. In a free imagery task, participants were asked to imagine a scene based on a given keyword. In a guided imagery task, participants had to imagine a scene based on a detailed description of the scene. Additionally, narrative abilities were assessed using the Narrative Scoring Scheme. Statistical analyses revealed no group effects in the free and guided imagery of fictional scenes. Participants with ASD performed worse than control participants in the narrative task. Narrative abilities correlated positively with performance in both imagery tasks in the ASD group only. Hence, individuals with ASD seem to show as good imagery abilities as non-autistic individuals. The results are discussed in the light of the differences between imagery and imagination and possible gender differences.
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Affiliation(s)
- Larissa L Faustmann
- Department of Psychology, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, Germany
| | - Mareike Altgassen
- Department of Psychology, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, Germany
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Tang P, Pavlopoulou G, Kostyrka-Allchorne K, Phillips-Owen J, Sonuga-Barke E. Links between mental health problems and future thinking from the perspective of adolescents with experience of depression and anxiety: a qualitative study. Child Adolesc Psychiatry Ment Health 2023; 17:143. [PMID: 38129889 PMCID: PMC10740287 DOI: 10.1186/s13034-023-00679-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/13/2023] [Accepted: 11/20/2023] [Indexed: 12/23/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Depression and anxiety are common during adolescence and could have detrimental impacts on young people's ability to make and implement plans for their future. However, to the best of our knowledge, no other study has adopted a qualitative approach in investigating these effects from the perspective of adolescents with lived experiences of depression and anxiety. We sought to understand how young people perceive and interpret the impact of mental health conditions on their thinking about the future. METHODS We conducted semi-structured interviews with 19 adolescents aged 16-19 years in the UK (median age = 19, IQR = 1.5), who had a history of protracted periods of clinical or subclinical depression and/or anxiety. They were asked to reflect on how their ability to think about the future and the content of the future-related thinking was impacted during periods of poor mental health, compared with periods of feeling well. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and subjected to thematic content analysis. RESULTS Five domains were identified. First, the impact of mood on future thinking capability focuses on reduced ability and motivation to engage in future thinking. Second, the impact of mood on images, thoughts, and feelings about the future includes the emotional valence of future-related thoughts, their vividness, structure, and the extent to which they intimated subjective feelings of control (i.e., agency). Third, social influences focuses on social factors that might ameliorate or exacerbate future thinking. Fourth, reflections on personal worries and expectations about the future captures personal interpretations of past worries and hopes and how future thinking affected mood. Finally, personal coping refers to how young people cope with the negative emotions that come with future thinking. CONCLUSIONS This study provided a nuanced and granular account of how depression and anxiety impacted young people's future thinking based on their lived experiences. By highlighting the different ways that variations in future thinking were experienced as a function of depression and anxiety, our analysis highlighted new factors that should be considered in studies of adolescent mental health risk, which could inform the development of new therapeutic approaches.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peiyao Tang
- School of Academic Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN), King's College London, 16 De Crespigny Park, London, SE5 8AF, UK.
| | - Georgia Pavlopoulou
- Group for Research in Relationships and Neurodiversity (GRRAND), Clinical, Education & Health Psychology, Division of Psychology & Language Sciences, Faculty of Brain Sciences, University College London, London, UK
- Anna Freud Centre, London, UK
| | - Katarzyna Kostyrka-Allchorne
- Department of Psychology, School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK
| | - Jacqueline Phillips-Owen
- School of Academic Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN), King's College London, 16 De Crespigny Park, London, SE5 8AF, UK
| | - Edmund Sonuga-Barke
- School of Academic Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN), King's College London, 16 De Crespigny Park, London, SE5 8AF, UK
- Department of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
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Barry TJ, Takano K, Hallford DJ, Roberts JE, Salmon K, Raes F. Autobiographical memory and psychopathology: Is memory specificity as important as we make it seem? WILEY INTERDISCIPLINARY REVIEWS. COGNITIVE SCIENCE 2023; 14:e1624. [PMID: 36178082 DOI: 10.1002/wcs.1624] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/28/2022] [Revised: 08/02/2022] [Accepted: 08/26/2022] [Indexed: 05/20/2023]
Abstract
Several decades of research have established reduced autobiographical memory specificity, or overgeneral memory, as an important cognitive factor associated with the risk for and maintenance of a range of psychiatric diagnoses. In measuring this construct, experimenters code autobiographical memories for the presence or absence of a single temporal detail that indicates that the remembered event took place on a single, specific, day (Last Thursday when I rode bikes with my son), or multiple days (When I rode bikes with my son). Studies indicate that the specificity of memories and the amount of other episodic detail that they include (e.g., who, what, and where) are related and may rely on the same neural processes to elicit their retrieval. However, specificity and detailedness are nonetheless separable constructs: imperfectly correlated and differentially associated with current and future depressive symptoms and other associated intrapersonal (e.g., rumination) and interpersonal (e.g., social support) outcomes. The ways in which the details of our memories align with narrative themes (i.e., agency, communion, identity) and the coherence with which these details are presented, are also emerging as important factors associated with psychopathology. The temporal specificity of autobiographical memories may be important, but other memory constructs warrant further attention in research and theory, especially given the associations, and dependencies, between each of these constructs. Researchers in this area must consider carefully whether their research questions necessitate a focus on autobiographical memory specificity or whether a more inclusive analysis of other autobiographical memory features is necessary and more fruitful. This article is categorized under: Psychology > Memory.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tom J Barry
- Faculty of Social Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Pok Fu Lam, Hong Kong
- Department of Psychology, The University of Bath, Bath, UK
| | - Keisuke Takano
- Division of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Munich, Germany
| | | | - John E Roberts
- Department of Psychology, University at Buffalo, the State University of New York, Buffalo, New York, USA
| | - Karen Salmon
- School of Psychology, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand
| | - Filip Raes
- Centre for Learning Psychology and Experimental Psychopathology, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
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Liu M, Deng Y, Wu B, Zhou L, Zhang Y. The serial mediation effect of prospective imagery vividness and anxiety symptoms on the relationship between perceived stress and depressive symptoms among Chinese vocational college students during the COVID-19 pandemic. CURRENT PSYCHOLOGY 2023:1-12. [PMID: 37359666 PMCID: PMC10047480 DOI: 10.1007/s12144-023-04606-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 03/22/2023] [Indexed: 03/30/2023]
Abstract
The mental health of vocational college students has been neglected during the COVID-19 pandemic. Prospective imagery may play a role in the relationships among stress, anxiety and depression. This study aimed to survey the mental health of Chinese vocational college students and explore the mediation effect of prospective imagery vividness and anxiety symptoms on the relationship between perceived stress and depressive symptoms. A total of 2, 381 vocational college students (Mage = 18.38 years, range: 16-21, SD = 0.92) provided self-report data on perceived stress, anxiety and depressive symptoms and prospective imagery vividness. Two potential serial mediation models were postulated regarding the roles of prospective imagery vividness and anxiety symptoms in the relationship between perceived stress and depressive symptoms. The prevalence rates of stress, anxiety and depressive symptoms were 55.7%, 33.2% and 53.5%, respectively, among vocational college students. Perceived stress was associated with decreased vividness of positive prospective imagery and increased vividness of negative prospective imagery and anxiety symptoms, leading to increased depressive symptoms. Additionally, prospective imagery vividness and anxiety symptoms had a serial mediation effect on the relationship between perceived stress and depressive symptoms. The results demonstrated that impoverished vividness of positive prospective imagery is not only a central feature of depression but also associated with anxiety. Interventions targeting prospective imagery vividness may alleviate anxiety and depressive symptoms among Chinese vocational college students and should be implemented as soon as possible during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mingfan Liu
- Department of Psychology, Center of Mental Health Education and Research, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang, Jiangxi China
- Department of Psychology, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang, Jiangxi 330000 People’s Republic of China
| | - Yuanyuan Deng
- Department of Psychology, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang, Jiangxi 330000 People’s Republic of China
- The First Hospital of Nanchang, Nanchang, Jiangxi China
| | - Biyun Wu
- Department of Psychology, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang, Jiangxi 330000 People’s Republic of China
| | - Li Zhou
- Department of Psychology, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang, Jiangxi 330000 People’s Republic of China
| | - Yao Zhang
- Jiangxi Vocational College of Finance and Economics, Nanchang, Jiangxi China
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