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De Kleine RA, Hutschemaekers MHM, Hendriks GJ, Kampman M, Papalini S, Van Minnen A, Vervliet B. Impaired action-safety learning and excessive relief during avoidance in patients with anxiety disorders. J Anxiety Disord 2023; 96:102698. [PMID: 37004425 DOI: 10.1016/j.janxdis.2023.102698] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/17/2022] [Revised: 03/03/2023] [Accepted: 03/15/2023] [Indexed: 04/04/2023]
Abstract
Anxiety-related disorders are characterized by high levels of avoidance, but experimental research into avoidance learning in patients is scarce. To fill this gap, we compared healthy controls (HC, n = 47) with patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD, n = 33), panic disorder with agoraphobia (PDA, n = 40), and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD, n = 66) in a computer-based avoidance learning task, in order to examine (1) differences in rates of avoidance responses, (2) differences in action-safety learning during avoidance, and (3) differences in subjective relief following successful avoidance. The task comprised aversive negative pictures (unconditional stimulus, US) that followed pictures of two colored lamps (conditional stimuli, CS+), but not a third colored lamp (safety stimulus, CS-), and could be avoided by pressing a button during one CS+ (CS+ avoidable) but not the other (CS+ unavoidable). Participants rated their US-expectancy and level of relief on a trial-by-trial basis. Compared to the HC group, patient groups displayed higher levels of avoidance to the safety stimulus, and higher levels of US-expectancy and relief following the safety and avoidable danger stimulus. We propose that patients with anxiety disorders have low confidence in the safety consequences of avoidance actions, which induces increased relief during US omissions that reinforce the avoidance action.
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Affiliation(s)
- R A De Kleine
- Department of Clinical Psychology, Leiden University, The Netherlands; Pro Persona Mental Health Care, The Netherlands.
| | - M H M Hutschemaekers
- Pro Persona Mental Health Care, The Netherlands; Behavioral Science Institute, Radboud University, The Netherlands
| | - G J Hendriks
- Pro Persona Mental Health Care, The Netherlands; Behavioral Science Institute, Radboud University, The Netherlands; Department of Psychiatry, Radboud University Medical Centre, The Netherlands
| | - M Kampman
- Pro Persona Mental Health Care, The Netherlands; Behavioral Science Institute, Radboud University, The Netherlands
| | - S Papalini
- Laboratory of Biological Psychology, KU Leuven, Belgium
| | - A Van Minnen
- Behavioral Science Institute, Radboud University, The Netherlands; PSYTREC, The Netherlands
| | - B Vervliet
- Laboratory of Biological Psychology, KU Leuven, Belgium; Leuven Brain Institute, KU Leuven, Belgium
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Papalini S, Beckers T, Claes L, Vervliet B. The drive for thinness: Towards a mechanistic understanding of avoidance behaviors in a non-clinical population. Behav Res Ther 2021; 142:103868. [PMID: 33971547 DOI: 10.1016/j.brat.2021.103868] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/26/2020] [Revised: 04/12/2021] [Accepted: 04/18/2021] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
Fear of weight gain is a cardinal feature of eating disorders, including Anorexia Nervosa (AN). This fear motivates behaviors aimed at avoiding weight gain, such as restricting food intake. Of note, avoidance in AN is not confined to food-related items but extends to intense emotional states. Despite the presence of several forms of excessive avoidance in AN, little is known about the mechanisms underpinning avoidance behavior in AN. In the present exploratory study, we investigated whether university students with an elevated desire to avoid weight gain (as measured through self-reported Drive for Thinness, DT) show deficits in generic avoidance learning. Two-hundred and seventy-five female students filled in the Eating Disorder Inventory-II (EDI-II) and performed a food-unrelated avoidance task. Generalized and linear mixed models (GLMM) revealed that students scoring higher on the DT scale of the EDI-II showed more ineffective avoidance, suggesting a tendency for excessive avoidance in at-risk individuals for AN. Similar results might extend to other eating disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- S Papalini
- Laboratory of Biological Psychology, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, KU Leuven, Belgium; Leuven Brain Institute, KU Leuven, Belgium.
| | - T Beckers
- Leuven Brain Institute, KU Leuven, Belgium; Research Unit Behaviour, Health and Psychopathology, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, KU Leuven, Belgium
| | - L Claes
- Research Unit Behaviour, Health and Psychopathology, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, KU Leuven, Belgium; Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium
| | - B Vervliet
- Laboratory of Biological Psychology, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, KU Leuven, Belgium; Leuven Brain Institute, KU Leuven, Belgium
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Berthold-Losleben M, Papalini S, Habel U, Losleben K, Schneider F, Amunts K, Kohn N. A short-term musical training affects implicit emotion regulation only in behaviour but not in brain activity. BMC Neurosci 2021; 22:30. [PMID: 33902437 PMCID: PMC8074429 DOI: 10.1186/s12868-021-00636-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/01/2020] [Accepted: 04/12/2021] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Background In everyday life, negative emotions can be implicitly regulated by positive stimuli, without any conscious cognitive engagement; however, the effects of such implicit regulation on mood and related neuro-mechanisms, remain poorly investigated in literature. Yet, improving implicit emotional regulation could reduce psychological burden and therefore be clinically relevant for treating psychiatric disorders with strong affective symptomatology. Results Music training reduced the negative emotional state elicited by negative odours. However, such change was not reflected at the brain level. Conclusions In a context of affective rivalry a musical training enhances implicit regulatory processes. Our findings offer a first base for future studies on implicit emotion regulation in clinical populations.
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Affiliation(s)
- M Berthold-Losleben
- Department of Mental Health, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway.,Division of Mental Healthcare, St. Olavs University Hospital, Trondheim, Norway
| | - S Papalini
- Laboratory for Biological Psychology, Brain and Cognition Unit, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - U Habel
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, University Hospital RWTH, Aachen, Germany
| | - K Losleben
- Centre for Women's and Gender Studies, The Arctic University of Norway (UiT), Tromsø, Norway
| | - F Schneider
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, University Hospital RWTH, Aachen, Germany.,University Hospital Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany
| | - K Amunts
- Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine, Jülich Research Centre, Jülich, Germany.,Cécile and Oskar Vogt Institute of Brain Research, Heinrich Heine University, University Hospital Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany
| | - N Kohn
- Department for Cognitiv Neuroscience, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Postbus 9101, 6500 HB, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
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Papalini S, Michels F, Kohn N, Wegman J, van Hemert S, Roelofs K, Arias-Vasquez A, Aarts E. Stress matters: Randomized controlled trial on the effect of probiotics on neurocognition. Neurobiol Stress 2018; 10:100141. [PMID: 30937347 PMCID: PMC6430409 DOI: 10.1016/j.ynstr.2018.100141] [Citation(s) in RCA: 57] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/03/2018] [Revised: 10/06/2018] [Accepted: 12/05/2018] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Probiotics are microorganisms that provide health benefits when consumed. In animals, probiotics reverse gut microbiome-related alterations in depression-like symptoms, in cognition, and in hormonal stress response. However, in humans, a causal understanding of the gut-brain link in emotion and cognition is lacking. Additionally, whether the effects of probiotics on neurocognition are visible only in presence of stress, remains unclear. We investigated the effects of a multispecies probiotic (Ecologic®Barrier) on specific neurocognitive measures of emotion reactivity, emotion regulation, and cognitive control using fMRI. Critically, we also tested whether probiotics can buffer against the detrimental effects of acute stress on working memory. In a double blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, between-subjects intervention study, 58 healthy participants were tested once before and once after a 28-day intervention. Without stress induction, probiotics did not affect brain, behavioral, or related self-report measures. However, relative to placebo, the probiotics group did show a significant stress-related increase in working memory performance after supplementation. This change was associated with intervention-related neural changes in frontal cortex during cognitive control exclusively in the probiotics group. Overall, our results show neurocognitive effects of a multispecies probiotic in healthy women only under challenging situations, buffering against the detrimental effects of stress on cognition. We ran a randomized placebo-controlled fMRI study with a multispecies probiotic. Probiotics did not affect neurocognitive measures of emotion and cognitive control. Probiotics did affect stress-related working memory and neural correlates. Probiotics in healthy individuals can support cognition under stress.
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Affiliation(s)
- S. Papalini
- Radboud University, Donders Institute for Brain Cognition and Behaviour, Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
| | - F. Michels
- Radboud University, Donders Institute for Brain Cognition and Behaviour, Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
| | - N. Kohn
- Radboud University, Donders Institute for Brain Cognition and Behaviour, Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
| | - J. Wegman
- Radboud University, Donders Institute for Brain Cognition and Behaviour, Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
| | | | - K. Roelofs
- Radboud University, Donders Institute for Brain Cognition and Behaviour, Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
| | - A. Arias-Vasquez
- Radboud University Medical Center, Departments of Psychiatry, Human Genetics & Cognitive Neuroscience, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
| | - E. Aarts
- Radboud University, Donders Institute for Brain Cognition and Behaviour, Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
- Corresponding author. Kapittelweg 29, 6525 EN, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
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