Differential effects of faces and words in cognitive control in older adults with and without major depressive disorder: An emotional Stroop task study

Aging and major depressive disorders have been associated with impaired cognitive control. These deficits are also influenced by the affective valence and by the type of stimulus processed. Using an emotional Stroop task, the current study aims to examine cognitive control deficits and their association with emotion regulation in depression and the influence of the type of stimulus (words and faces) in this association. A total of 26 older patients with a major depressive disorder (MDD) (19 women; age range: 65-84 years) and 26 older healthy controls (18 women; age range: 65-80 years) participated in the study. The results showed that MDD individuals presented greater Stroop effects than their healthy controls and an absence of the conflict adaptation effect defined as a reduction of the influence of irrelevant stimulus dimensions after incongruent trials. Additionally, our results also showed that the processing of emotional words in depressed participants is more automatic than the processing of emotional faces. These findings suggest that older depressed individuals have greater difficulty in recognizing affective facial expressions than older healthy controls, while the over-learned behavior of word reading greatly reduces differences in the performance of the emotional Stroop task between groups (MDD and healthy controls).

Effects of positive personal and non-personal autobiographical stimuli on emotional regulation in older adults

People can regulate negative emotional states using personal episodic information stored in memory. However, amongst older adults, assistance in retrieving personal memories might be needed. As such, positive personal images might better facilitate the retrieval of positive personal memories, relative to generic positive images. The present study induced older adults (N = 40; Mage = 76.28) into a negative mood state using a validated film clip ("Dead Man Walking"; Robbins et al. in Dead Man Walking [Cinta Cinematográfica]. PolyGram Filmed Entertainment, Working Title Films, Estados Unidos, 1995). Participants were then shown positive personal images (album photos) or positive non-personal images from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS) and between-group differences in their mood state and their ability to retrieve positive autobiographical memories were measured. Although participants' moods decreased after the negative mood induction, their mood then recovered after picture cuing regardless of whether images were personal or non-personal. Furthermore, the positive mood evoked by non-personal, but not personal, images was significantly positively associated with self-reported feelings of reliving of the memories evoked by those images. These results suggest that, when pictures from personal life are not available, the selection of images able to generate positive autobiographical memories with a sense of reliving, is a feasible tool for older adult's emotional regulation.

Abstract and experiential thinking differentially account for anomalous perception of reality in people with or without schizophrenia

repetitive thinking is often increased in various psychopathological conditions. However, evidence for its possible contribution to psychotic symptoms relies only on correlational analysis and has not been experimentally tested within the psychotic continuum. This research aims to examine whether repetitive thinking about a negative past experience using concrete versus abstract processing might modify the reporting of anomalous sensory experiences. 89 patients with schizophrenia and 89 matched controls were asked to reflect on their most negative Self-Defining Memory during a thirty-minute period. By means of a written script, half of the participants were instructed to remember thoughts, feelings and sensations associated with the event in an abstract mode, while the other half followed an equivalent script but with concrete questions. After induced concrete-experiential thinking, both controls and patients significantly reduced self-reported anomalous reality perception. However, participants in the induced abstract-analytical thinking condition increased anomalous experience, especially sensory experience from an unexplained source. Multigroup path analyses showed that involvement in abstract-analytical thinking during the task significantly mediated the relationship between pre-test and post-test anomalous perception scores, but only in the patient group. These results suggest that abstract thinking contributes to distorted sensory experiences. In contrast, training in a concrete processing mode of past experiences may be a useful tool to reduce subjective anomalous perceptions.

Measuring elderly people's quality of life through the Beck Hopelessness Scale: a study with a Spanish sample

OBJECTIVES

Hopelessness is a key element of suicidal intent. It can instill a pessimistic outlook on the future, leading an individual to believe that suicide is the only answer to their problems. Hopelessness operates as a modulating variable between depression and suicidal behavior. The aim of this study was to confirm the factor structure of the Beck Hopelessness Scale (BHS) in a non-clinical sample.

METHOD

Three hundred and sixty-two Spanish individuals, aged over 60, free of cognitive impairment and depressive symptoms, completed the BHS scale. Participants were tested using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), using one-, two- and three-factor models.

RESULTS

The one- and two-factor models presented adequate fit indices. Specifically, the indices of the two-factor models were better than those of the one-factor model. The two-factor model, without items 4, 9 and 14, provided the best fit, given that the indices obtained in the CFA and their internal consistency were better than those of the other models.

CONCLUSION

The validation of the BHS for a population of Spanish older adults provides a reliable and valid measure of hopelessness and could be useful in clinical practice and research as an effective tool for the early detection of suicidal behaviors.

Mapping autobiographical memory in schizophrenia: Clinical implications

Increasing evidence suggests that impaired autobiographical memory (AM) mechanisms may be associated with the onset and maintenance of psychopathology. However, there is not yet a comprehensive review of the components of autobiographical memory in schizophrenic patients. The first aim of this review is a synthesis of evidence about the functioning of AM in schizophrenic patients. The main autobiographical elements reviewed in schizophrenic patients include the study of overgeneral memory (form); self-defining memories (contents); consciousness during the process of retrieval (awareness), and the abnormal early reminiscence bump (distribution). AM impairments have been involved in the clinical diagnosis and prognosis of other psychopathologies, especially depression. The second aim is to examine potential parallels between the mechanisms responsible for the onset and maintenance of disturbed AM in other clinical diagnosis and the mechanisms of disturbed autobiographical memory functioning in schizophrenic patients. Cognitive therapies for schizophrenic patients are increasingly demanded. The third aim is the suggestion of key elements for the adaptation of components of autobiographical recall in cognitive therapies for the treatment of symptoms and consequences of schizophrenia.

Rumination and autobiographical memory impairment in patients with schizophrenia

Although patients with schizophrenia exhibit autobiographical memory impairment, which is considered to be a limiting factor in their daily life, the mechanisms underlying such impairment have been rarely studied. In the current study, we investigate whether rumination and, in particular, brooding, which is a form of maladaptive repetitive thinking, may be linked to the difficulty that patients with schizophrenia experience when attempting to access specific autobiographical memories. Our results indicate that patients reported less specific autobiographical memories compared to control participants. Patients also displayed a higher level of brooding and had more depressive symptoms. According to the CaR-FA-X model (Williams et al., 2007), depression and brooding were associated with memory specificity in control participants. In contrast, neither depression nor brooding was correlated with memory specificity in patients. These results suggest that depression and rumination may not be directly related to patients' difficulty to recall specific memories and that other factors, such as metacognitive deficits, must first be considered when seeking interventions aimed to improve autobiographical memory in patients with schizophrenia.

Effects of event-specific memory training on autobiographical memory retrieval and depressive symptoms in schizophrenic patients

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

This report describes the effects of a specific event group-based training programme on autobiographical memory, self-consciousness of memory retrieval, and depression symptoms in a sample of 24 schizophrenic patients (experimental group).

METHODS

Twenty-six matched schizophrenic patients who participated in social skills and occupational therapy group sessions constituted the active control group. Participants in the experimental group were trained to complete a diary with specific daily memories, followed by patients' ratings of the associated emotional arousal of those entries. During training, significant specific events from childhood, adolescence, adulthood and the previous year were also reviewed.

RESULTS

After 10 weeks of group-based sessions, the experimental group demonstrated an increase in their degree of specificity for autobiographical retrievals, had a higher level of consciousness of their memories and showed a decrease in their depression scores. Significant changes in measurements of retrieval specificity and autonoetic awareness were maintained when changes in emotional symptomatology were statistically controlled.

LIMITATIONS

The present study did not assess the impact of autobiographical memory training on the positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia.

CONCLUSIONS

These results suggest that cognitive training strategies based on event-specific autobiographical memory training should be considered for inclusion in intervention programs for schizophrenic patients.

Factor structure and psychometric properties of the center for epidemiologic studies depression scale (CES-D) in older populations with and without cognitive impairment

The CES-D is widely used for the assessment of depressive symptoms in the adult population. However, few studies have been performed to assess the utility of this scale in an older population with cognitive impairment. The factor structure of the Spanish version of the CES-D was examined in an observational, cross sectional study in 623 older adults (M = 72.74 years; SD = 7.7). The validity of the scale was determined in two samples of older adults, one comprising 162 participants with cognitive impairment (M = 76.73 years; SD = 8.1) and one with 58 participants without cognitive impairment (M = 74.64 years; SD = 9.0). The results confirm previous results of a four factor structure. With regard to the validity of the scale, in the group with cognitive impairment the area under the ROC curve is 0.84 (95% CI: 0.77-0.89) and the cut-off point for possible depression is 13, while in the group without cognitive impairment the area is 0.90 (95% CI: 0.79-0.96) and the optimal cut-off point is 28. These results show that the Spanish version of the CES-D is a valid instrument for the identification of depression in older adults with and without cognitive impairment.

Ribosomal DNA second internal transcribed spacer sequence studies of Culicid vectors from an endemic area of Dirofilaria immitis in Spain

Studies were performed in an endemic area of Dirofilaria immitis in Spain to genetically characterize the potential mosquito vector species present by means of DNA sequencing and elucidate which of these species may be involved in the transmission. The rDNA ITS-2 sequences of two Culex pipiens haplotypes, H1 and H2, Aedes (Aedimorphus) vexans, Fredwardsius vittatus, Ochlerotatus (Ochlerotatus) caspius, Anopheles (Anopheles) atroparvus, and Anopheles (Anopheles) plumbeus were obtained. F. vittatus and An. plumbeus were detected for the first time. Results on abundance, presence, and activity suggest that the month of August is the period of higher transmission risk, with C. pipiens, Ae. vexans, and An. atroparvus present simultaneously. Population studies indicate that C. pipiens may be considered the most important potential vector, while Ae. vexans, An. atroparvus, and O. caspius being involved in transmission only sporadically. The absence of larval dirofilarial infection agrees with the very low prevalences known in endemic areas.