Covariation bias for food-related control is associated with eating disorders symptoms in normal adolescents

Negative comments and social media: How cognitive biases relate to body image concerns

Body image concern (BIC) is a prevalent issue thought to be exacerbated by social media. In addition to sociocultural factors, cognitive biases may also contribute to BIC. We explore whether cognitive biases in memory for body image-related words, presented in a mock social-media context, are associated with BIC in young adult women. A sample of 150 University students was presented with a series of body image-related comments aimed at either themselves, a close friend, or a celebrity in a recognisable social media context. Afterwards, a surprise memory task was completed that assessed the participant's memory for body image-related words (item memory), their insight (metamemory), and to whom a specific word was directed (source memory). Self-referential biases were identified for both item memory and source memory. Individuals with greater BIC displayed a greater self-referential bias for correctly and incorrectly sourcing negative words to themselves compared with both friend and celebrity. A greater self-referential effect in metacognitive sensitivity was also associated with higher BIC. We provide novel evidence for a cognitive bias in sourcing negative body image-related information to the self in individuals with higher BIC. The results should inform cognitive remediation programmes aimed at treating individuals with body and eating-related disorders.

Covariation bias in depression - a predictor of treatment response?

Covariation bias, defined as an overestimation of the relationship between fear-relevant stimuli and aversive consequences, is a well-investigated cognitive bias in anxiety disorders. As patients with affective disorders also show biased information processing, the aim of the present study was to investigate whether depressed patients also display a covariation bias between negative stimuli and aversive consequences. Covariation estimates of 62 inpatients with a current severe depressive episode were assessed at admission (n = 31) or after 6 weeks of treatment (n = 31) and were compared in a between-group design with 31 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. All participants showed a covariation bias for the relationship between negative stimuli and aversive consequences. Moreover, covariation bias at admission was significantly associated with various clinician- and self-reported dimensional measures of treatment response assessed 6 weeks later (Global Assessment of Functioning, Clinical Global Impression Scale, and Beck Depression Inventory), i.e., patients with a stronger bias showed greater impairment after 6 weeks of treatment. Categorical analyses revealed that overall, treatment non-responders-but not responders-were characterized by a covariation bias. The naturalistic study design without standardized pharmacological and psychotherapeutic treatments is a central limitation. We conclude that the covariation bias may constitute a possible marker in the field of emotional information processing in the search for effective predictors of therapy outcome.

Cognitive mechanisms of disgust in the development and maintenance of psychopathology: A qualitative review and synthesis

A growing body of research has implicated disgust in various psychopathologies, especially anxiety-related disorders. Although the observed role of disgust in many disorders is robust, the mechanisms that may explain this role are unclear. Cutting-edge research in cognitive science has the potential to elucidate such mechanisms and consequently improve our understanding of how disgust contributes to the etiology and maintenance of psychopathology. In this qualitative review, we systematically assess cognitive bias mechanisms that have been linked to disgust and its disorders. This review suggests that disgust-related biases may be observed in memory, interpretation, judgment of expectancies, and attention, as well as at implicit levels. Of these cognitive domains, the most robust bias appears to be observed at the level of attention. However, reliable moderators of attentional biases for disgust have not yet been identified, and this bias has not been systematically linked to other levels of analysis. Despite these limitations, the available research indicates that attentional avoidance rather than orienting or maintenance may be the most characteristic of disgust. Attentional avoidance of disgust may have important implications for etiological and treatment models of disorders characterized by excessive disgust reactions. The implications for advancing such models are discussed in the context of a combined cognitive bias hypothesis.

Covariation bias in women with a negative body evaluation: How is it expressed and can it be diminished?

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Women with a negative body evaluation display covariation bias: They overestimate the relation between their own body and negative social feedback. This study aimed to develop a more fine-grained understanding of this covariation bias and to determine whether it could be diminished.

METHODS

Seventy women completed a computer task wherein three categories of stimuli--pictures of their own body, a control woman's body, and a neutral object--were followed by (nonverbal) negative social feedback or nothing. Participants' estimates of the relation between each stimulus category and negative social feedback were assessed throughout the task.

RESULTS

Before starting the task, women with a more negative state body evaluation expected their body to be followed by more negative social feedback (demonstrating a priori covariation bias). During the task, when the relation between stimulus category and negative social feedback was random, women with a more negative trait and state body evaluation perceived at the present moment (online covariation bias) and retrospectively (a posteriori covariation bias) that their body was followed by more negative social feedback. When contingencies were manipulated so that women's own body was rarely followed by negative social feedback, covariation bias was temporarily diminished; this coincided with improvements in state body evaluation.

LIMITATIONS

The task did not incorporate neutral or positive social feedback and focused only on undergraduate women.

CONCLUSIONS

Covariation bias exists preexperimentally and occurs when situational information is ambiguous. It is possible to (temporarily) diminish covariation bias. This might be a technique for improving body evaluation.

Eating disorder examination questionnaire: factor structure for adolescent girls and boys

OBJECTIVE

To examine the factor structure of the EDE-Q among a sample of adolescents.

METHOD

A community-based sample of 917 adolescents (522 girls and 395 boys) aged 14-18 years completed the EDE-Q version 6.0 as part of a larger study. Participants were randomly assigned to one of two subsamples to enable separate analyses.

RESULTS

A confirmatory factor analysis on the original four factor model of the EDE-Q produced an inadmissible model with a poor fit. Exploratory factor analysis using principal axis factoring produced an alternative three factor model of the EDE-Q among adolescents. The Shape and Weight Concerns, Restriction and Preoccupation and Eating Concern subscales accounted for 65% of the total variance. Subscale and global scores were significantly higher for girls than for boys. A high proportion of both girls (53.6%) and boys (30.5%) reported participating in at least one key eating disordered behaviour during the previous 28 days.

DISCUSSION

The results of this study present three new subscales (Shape and Weight Concerns, Restriction and Preoccupation and Eating Concern) which are suggested for use in future research which uses the EDE-Q with community samples of adolescents.