Checking Behavior Research Articles

Relationships Between Intimate Partner Cyberviolence and Dark Tetrad Traits: A Moderation Effect of Gender

ABSTRACT While previous studies have shown significant effects of dark traits on intimate partner violence, little is known about their effect on intimate partner cyberviolence (IPCV), and findings are rather mixed. The aim of this research was to explore the relationships between the Dark Tetrad traits and forms of IPCV, using a multidimensional approach, as well as examining the moderation effect of gender on these associations. The sample included 293 heterosexual adults from Serbia. The results showed that all Dark Tetrad traits had significant correlations with threatening behaviors as a direct form of IPCV. Furthermore, primary psychopathy explained the use of devices to monitor partners and threatening (or actual) posting of embarrassing photos of a partner, which are combinations of indirect, invasive, and direct forms of IPCV. Secondary psychopathy explained all other forms of IPCV that were more intrusive and excessive. Narcissistic admiration contributed to explaining threatening behaviors, and narcissistic rivalry explained checking behaviors. Moreover, the results showed that sadism and Machiavellianism in men, and sadism and narcissistic rivalry in women, were associated with certain IPCV forms. These results contribute to a better understanding of the complex relationships between dispositional factors of antisocial behaviors (dark traits) and various forms of IPCV.

Inducing inhibition affects propagation of uncertainty and checking behaviors

AbstractDifficulty tolerating uncertainty is a central deficit across psychopathologies, and checking behavior is a common response to uncertainty. Inducing inhibition improves resolution of uncertainty. However, it is unclear whether inducing inhibition improves decision-making under conditions of uncertainty or whether it reduces checking. This study evaluated how inducing inhibition affects resolution of uncertainty and checking separately. Healthy adults (N = 34) completed three experiments combining an inhibition-induction task with a novel visual-matching task, which dissociated resolving uncertainty from checking. In Experiment 1, the visual-matching task included only “certainty” trials with unlimited checking. In Experiment 2, the task featured “certainty” and “uncertainty” trials, without checking. In Experiment 3, the task featured “certainty” trials, without checking. All participants completed self-report assessments of relevant clinical constructs including obsessive-compulsive symptoms and depressive symptoms. Our results indicate that inducing inhibition reduces unnecessary checking in “certainty” trials. Inducing inhibition also improves accuracy in “uncertainty” trials when checking is impossible, by limiting the harmful propagation of uncertainty. The propagation of uncertainty correlated with depressive symptoms and checking correlated with obsessive-compulsive symptoms. Our results offer a novel measure of different uncertainty facets and demonstrate the interactions between inhibition, uncertainty, and checking. We also outline implications for understanding specific uncertainty facets in psychopathologies and suggest that inducing inhibition may play a role in alleviating certain mental health symptoms.

A narrative review of factors affecting memory confidence in the context of compulsive checking: A search for evidence-based potential therapeutic targets to improve memory confidence.

According to current models of compulsive checking, memory confidence greatly contributes to the development and maintenance of checking behaviours. However, how to intervene in memory confidence in an evidence-based manner has not yet been fully understood. Thus, the purpose of the current paper was to identify the factors influencing memory confidence through the review of experimental evidence. PubMed, Google Scholar, OpenGrey and ProQuest databases were searched by combining two sets of keywords related to memory confidence and checking. Our search yielded 24 experiments. Due to the considerable heterogeneity of the studies regarding questionnaires, tasks and paradigms used, data were synthesized using a narrative review approach. Six factors emerged from a thorough review of the literature, including negative memory belief, higher memory standard, inflated sense of responsibility, familiarization with the checked stimuli, number of checks and anxious valence of the checked stimuli. The findings have important implications for the treatment of compulsive checking. We suggested general guidelines to translate these factors into a novel intervention to increase memory confidence in compulsive checkers.

Overlap of obsessive compulsive and psychosis risk symptoms in a specialized clinic.

Psychotic disorders and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) commonly co-occur. Likewise, subthreshold psychosis symptoms (clinical high risk for psychosis; CHR) and obsessive compulsive symptoms (OCS) often overlap and may be difficult to differentiate. This study aimed to replicate research investigating the prevalence of OCD in a CHR clinic sample, validate and investigate factor structure of a self-report OCS measure in a CHR sample, explore how OCS may relate to CHR and co-occurring symptoms, and investigate whether real-world CHR treatment improves OCS and CHR symptoms. This study analysed archival clinical data from baseline and 6-month follow-up assessments collected by a specialist outpatient CHR clinic. Data included assessments of CHR symptoms, OCS, and clinician-rated diagnosis. Exploratory factor analysis examined the OCS measure. Within this CHR clinic sample, 13.5% experienced co-morbid OCD. The self-report OCS measure had two factors: (1) checking and counting behaviours and (2) intrusive thoughts and images of harm/guilt. The checking and counting factor correlated with depression and social anxiety. The intrusive thoughts and images of harm/guilt factor significantly correlated with unusual thought content and social anxiety. Between baseline to 6-month follow-up, clients exhibited CHR symptom improvement regardless of OCD diagnosis. However, OCS did not change. These findings support validity of a self-report OCS measure in a CHR clinic sample and that types of OCS experiences may exhibit different clinical patterns. Additionally, it appears that individuals with comorbid OCD responded similarly to CHR treatment compared to those without OCD.

Error-related brain activity shapes the association between trait neuroticism and internalizing symptomatology in two tasks

The current study examined how individual differences in error-related brain activity might moderate the association between high trait neuroticism and internalizing symptoms. Data were collected from a sample of high-achieving young adults (N = 188) as part of a larger study on risk versus resiliency for psychopathology. Participants completed two behavioral tasks to elicit the error-related negativity (ERN): an arrow Flanker task and a Go/No-Go task. Analyses were constrained to two internalizing symptom dimensions of checking behavior and irritability. Contrary to expectations, ERN amplitude was not related to symptom severity at the bivariate level. However, ERN amplitude moderated the association between trait neuroticism and symptoms of ill temper, such that the neuroticism-irritability association was strongest among individuals with a blunted ERN. In addition, this finding was relatively consistent across tasks and across two complementary methods of scoring the ERN, suggesting an effect of ERN variance that is shared between tasks and that is relatively robust regarding processing differences. In all, the current study represents the first attempt to investigate how the ERN interacts with trait neuroticism to predict transdiagnostic symptom dimensions in adulthood.

Combating Fake News Using Implementation Intentions

AbstractThe rise of misinformation on social media platforms is an extremely worrisome issue and calls for the development of interventions and strategies to combat fake news. This research investigates one potential mechanism that can help mitigate fake news: prompting users to form implementation intentions along with education. Previous research suggests that forming “if – then” plans, otherwise known as implementation intentions, is one of the best ways to facilitate behavior change. To evaluate the effectiveness of such plans, we used MTurk to conduct an experiment where we educated participants on fake news and then asked them to form implementation intentions about performing fact checking before sharing posts on social media. Participants who had received both the implementation intention intervention and the educational intervention significantly engaged more in fact checking behavior than those who did not receive any intervention as well as participants who had received only the educational intervention. This study contributes to the emerging literature on fake news by demonstrating that implementation intentions can be used in interventions to combat fake news.

Obsessive-Compulsive Visual Search: A Reexamination of Presence–Absence Asymmetries

In previous research, obsessive-compulsive tendencies were associated with longer search times in visual-search tasks. These findings, replicated and extended to a clinical sample, were specific to target-absent trials, with no effect on target-present trials. This selectivity was interpreted as checking behavior in response to mild uncertainty. However, an alternative interpretation is that individuals with high obsessive-compulsive (OC+) tendencies have a specific difficulty with inference about absence. In two large-scale, preregistered, online experiments (conceptual replication: N = 1,007; direct replication: N = 226), we sought to replicate the original finding and elucidate its underlying cause: an increased sensitivity to mild uncertainty or a selective deficiency in inference about absence. Both experiments showed no evidence of prolonged search times in target-absent trials for OC+ individuals. Taken together, our results do not support the notion that inducing mild uncertainty in the form of target absence leads to excessive checking among OC+ individuals.

Hypochondriasis: Psychiatric Sequelae of Coronavirus Disease 2019

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has caused devastation in multiple facets globally including psychological repercussions. There is increasing evidence of rise in reports of fears of contracting the virus. Just like in any other pandemic, fears associated with developing COVID infection spread over a spectrum from normal concerns to excessive preoccupations. Delineating fears that can be justified in the present scenario from disease entity such as hypochondriasis is challenging. We present a case with excessive fear of contracting coronavirus with repeated checking behaviors to confirm his COVID-positive status which was not amenable in reassurance. Detailed evaluation and identification of psychiatric illness ensure the implementation of appropriate interventions.

Relationships between parental involvement in homework and learning outcomes among elementary school students: The moderating role of societal collectivism-individualism.

Parents are often involved in their child's homework with the goal of improving their child's academic achievement. However, mixed findings were observed for the role of parental involvement in homework in shaping students' learning outcomes. The present study examined whether and how the effect of parental involvement in homework on students' performance in science and math varies across sociocultural contexts by considering the degrees of societal collectivism-individualism. The present study used a large-scale dataset, consisting of participants from 43 countries/regions, to test whether societal collectivism-individualism would moderate the relationship between three types of parental involvement (asking, helping and checking) in homework and elementary school students' academic performance in math and science. The multi-level analyses revealed diverse effects of different parental involvement behaviours for homework. Helping and checking behaviours were generally negatively associated with elementary school students' academic achievement, but asking behaviours were positively associated with their academic achievement. Importantly, the positive effect of asking behaviours was stronger, while the negative effect of helping behaviours was weaker in collectivistic societies than in individualistic societies. The present study highlights the importance of considering the multifaceted nature of parental homework involvement and the sociocultural contexts that vary in collectivism-individualism when evaluating the role of parents in elementary school students' learning in math and science.

The role of psychosis and clozapine load in excessive checking in treatment-resistant schizophrenia: longitudinal observational study.

A significant proportion of people with clozapine-treated schizophrenia develop 'checking' compulsions, a phenomenon yet to be understood. To use habit formation models developed in cognitive neuroscience to investigate the dynamic interplay between psychosis, clozapine dose and obsessive-compulsive symptoms (OCS). Using the anonymised electronic records of a cohort of clozapine-treated patients, including longitudinal assessments of OCS and psychosis, we performed longitudinal multi-level mediation and multi-level moderation analyses to explore associations of psychosis with obsessiveness and excessive checking. Classic bivariate correlation tests were used to assess clozapine load and checking compulsions. The influence of specific genetic variants was tested in a subsample. A total of 196 clozapine-treated individuals and 459 face-to-face assessments were included. We found significant OCS to be common (37.9%), with checking being the most prevalent symptom. In mediation models, psychosis severity mediated checking behaviour indirectly by inducing obsessions (r = 0.07, 95% CI 0.04-0.09; P < 0.001). No direct effect of psychosis on checking was identified (r = -0.28, 95% CI -0.09 to 0.03; P = 0.340). After psychosis remission (n = 65), checking compulsions correlated with both clozapine plasma levels (r = 0.35; P = 0.004) and dose (r = 0.38; P = 0.002). None of the glutamatergic and serotonergic genetic variants were found to moderate the effect of psychosis on obsession and compulsion (SLC6A4, SLC1A1 and HTR2C) survived the multiple comparisons correction. We elucidated different phases of the complex interplay of psychosis and compulsions, which may inform clinicians' therapeutic decisions.

Maximizing translational value in models of compulsive behavior: A commentary on Pickenhan et al. (2024).

In this issue of Cognitive, Affective, and Behavioral Neuroscience, Pickenhan et al. (2024) discuss the need for translational studies to understand features underlying obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). They highlight the translational value of the observing-response task (ORT) for modeling functional and maladaptive checking behaviors, a common symptom of OCD.

Serial mediation effects of ubiquity and notification on the relationship between habitual social media checking behaviors and self-control failures

This study investigated the correlation between habitual checking behavior and self-control failure during social media use among South Korean university students. The study also examined how the ubiquity of and immediate responses to social media notifications affect this relationship, both independently and serially. An online survey was conducted with 400 undergraduate students at South Korean universities. The findings indicate a significant positive relationship between habitual checking behaviors and self-control failure in South Korean university students’ social media use. Ubiquity mediated habitual checking behaviors and self-control failure; ubiquity and immediate responses to notifications mediated the relationship between habitual checking behavior and self-control failure; and ubiquity and immediate responses to notifications serially mediated the relationship between habitual checking behavior and self-control failure. The results highlight the social media use challenges of university students and the factors that contribute to self-control failure in this context.

Time-based prospective memory in preschoolers - the role of time monitoring behavior.

Time-based prospective memory (TBPM) refers to the ability to remember to perform an intended activity at a specific time in the future or after a specific time interval. This article reviews TBPM memory in preschool children and explores the role of time monitoring behavior in TBPM performance. A total of 242 preschool-aged children (aged 2-6) performed a prospective memory task, wherein prospective memory accuracy, ongoing task performance, and time monitoring activity were assessed. Additionally, the study examined the relationship of various cognitive abilities to TBPM performance through the use of appropriate cognitive tasks. The first signs of TBPM were observed in children as young as 2 years old. No significant age differences were identified; preschoolers can perform a delayed intention on their own initiative at a certain point in the future only to a minimal extent. The majority of variance in TBPM performance could be explained by time checking behavior. The current study indicated that even 2-year-olds can perform TBPM at a basic level when the task is sufficiently understandable. While many cognitive abilities are correlated with TBPM performance, it appears that only time checking behavior plays a significant role in TBPM among preschoolers.

Revocation Speedrun: How the WebPKI Copes with Fraudulent Certificates

The TLS ecosystem depends on certificates to bootstrap secure connections. Certificate Authorities (CAs) are trusted to issue these correctly. However, as a result of security breaches or attacks, certificates may be issued fraudulently and need to be revoked prematurely. Revocation, as a reactive measure, is fundamentally damage control and, as such, time is critical. Therefore, measuring reaction delay is the first step to identifying how well the revocation system functions. In this paper we attempt to characterize the current performance of the WebPKI in dealing with fraudulent certificates. We present measurements of each step in the revocation process: the detection of certificate issuance through Certificate Transparency (CT) monitoring, the administrative revocation process at popular CAs, and the revocation checking behavior of end-user clients, both in a controlled virtualized environment and in the wild. We perform two live measurements, in 2022 and 2023, respectively, to provide a longitudinal comparison. We find that detection and revocation of fraudulent certificates is quick and efficient when leveraging CT and can be completed within 6.5 hours on average. Furthermore, CT is being increasingly enforced by some browsers. However, ∼83% of the clients we observed, across popular browsers, brands and OSes, completely disregard a certificate's status, whileall of the studied browsers still display soft-fail behavior, making them vulnerable to attackers capable of interfering with the network. Of the clients that do check revocation, we find that 35% can be made to accept a revoked certificate through the use of OCSP Stapling. We expect this number to grow with client-side adoption of OCSP Stapling [RFC6961]. Current OCSP expiration times allow a revoked certificate to remain fully valid for up to 7 days for the majority of CAs, exposing clients to attacks.

Body Checking in Anorexia Nervosa: from Inquiry to Habit

AbstractBody checking, characterized by the repeated visual or physical inspection of particular parts of one’s own body (e.g. thighs, waist, or upper arms) is one of the most prominent behaviors associated with eating disorders, particularly Anorexia Nervosa (AN). In this paper, we explore the explanatory potential of the Recalcitrant Fear Model of AN (RFM) in relation to body checking. We argue that RFM, when combined with certain plausible auxiliary hypotheses about the cognitive and epistemic roles of emotions, is able to explain key characteristics of body checking, including how body checking behavior becomes habitual and compulsive.

Factors perpetuating functional cognitive symptoms after mild traumatic brain injury

ABSTRACT Introduction Self-reported memory difficulties (forgetting familiar names, misplacing objects) often persist long after a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), despite normal neuropsychological test performance. This clinical presentation may be a manifestation of a functional cognitive disorder (FCD). Several mechanisms underlying FCD have been proposed, including metacognitive impairment, memory perfectionism, and misdirected attention, as well as depression or anxiety-related explanations. This study aims to explore these candidate perpetuating factors in mTBI, to advance our understanding of why memory symptoms frequently persist following mTBI. Methods A cross-sectional study of 67 adults (n = 39 with mTBI mean = 25 months ago and n = 28 healthy controls). Participants completed standardized questionnaires (including the Functional Memory Disorder Inventory), a metacognitive task (to quantify discrepancies between their trial-by-trial accuracy and confidence), and a brief neuropsychological test battery. We assessed candidate mechanisms in two ways: (1) between-groups, comparing participants with mTBI to healthy controls, and (2) within-group, examining their associations with functional memory symptom severity (FMDI) in the mTBI group. Results Participants with mTBI performed similarly to controls on objective measures of memory ability but reported experiencing much more frequent memory lapses in daily life. Contrary to expectations, metacognitive efficiency did not differentiate the mTBI and control groups and was not associated with functional memory symptoms. Memory perfectionism was strongly associated with greater functional memory symptoms among participants with mTBI but did not differ between groups when accounting for age. Depression and checking behaviors produced consistent results across between-groups and within-group analyses: these factors were greater in the mTBI group compared to the control group and were associated with greater functional memory symptoms within the mTBI group. Conclusions This study highlights promising (e.g., depression, checking behaviors) and unlikely (e.g., metacognitive impairment) mechanisms underlying functional memory symptoms after mTBI, to guide future research and treatment.

“I don’t know what I’m feeling for”: young women’s beliefs about breast cancer risk and experiences of breast awareness

BackgroundYounger women are often diagnosed with advanced breast cancer. Beliefs about risk are instrumental in motivating many health protective behaviours, but there may be confusion around which behaviour is appropriate to detect breast cancer earlier. Breast awareness, defined as an understanding of how the breasts look and feel so changes can be identified early, is widely recommended. In contrast, breast self-examination involves palpation using a specified method. We aimed to investigate young women’s beliefs about their risk and experiences of breast awareness.MethodsThirty-seven women aged 30–39 years residing in a North West region of England with no family or personal history of breast cancer participated in seven focus groups (n = 29) and eight individual interviews. Data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis.ResultsThree themes were generated. “Future me’s problem” describes why women perceive breast cancer as an older woman’s disease. Uncertainty regarding checking behaviours highlights how confusion about self-checking behaviour advice has resulted in women infrequently performing breast checks. Campaigns as a missed opportunity highlights the potential negative effects of current breast cancer fundraising campaigns and the perceived absence of educational campaigning about breast cancer for this demographic.ConclusionsYoung women expressed low perceived susceptibility to developing breast cancer in the near future. Women did not know what breast self-checking behaviours they should be performing and expressed a lack of confidence in how to perform a breast check appropriately due to limited knowledge about what to look and feel for. Consequently, women reported disengagement with breast awareness. Defining and clearly communicating the best strategy for breast awareness and establishing whether it is beneficial or not are essential next steps.

Feasibility study of using mobile phone-based experience sampling to assess drug checking by opioid street drug users

BackgroundTo date, evaluations of take-home fentanyl (and/or benzodiazepine) test strip use — the most common form of drug checking services — and potential effects on overdose risk have relied on retrospective accounts for some preceding time period, usually a week to several months. Such accounts, however, are subject to recall and memory biases. This pilot study assessed the feasibility of using experiential sampling to collect daily information in situ on drug checking and associated overdose risk reduction — the primary outcomes — among a sample of street opioid users and compared the results to retrospective reports.MethodsWe recruited 12 participants from a Chicago-based syringe services program. Participants were 18 years of age or older, reported using opioids purchased on the street 3 + times per week in the past month, and had an available Android mobile phone. A phone-based app was programmed to collect daily drug checking information and provided to each participant along with a supply of fentanyl and benzodiazepine test strips and instructions for use over 21 days. Comparable retrospective data were collected via follow-up in-person surveys at the conclusion of daily report collection.ResultsWe found a reasonably high rate of daily reporting (63.5%) with participants submitting reports on 160 “person-days” out of 252 possible days. Participants submitted daily reports an average of 13 of 21 days. Reports of test strip use frequency varied between the retrospective and daily reports with a relatively higher percentage of days/time using test strips obtained from the daily reports. We also found higher proportions reporting overdose risk reduction behaviors on the daily reports compared with the retrospective reviews.ConclusionsWe believe the results support using daily experience sampling to collect information on drug checking behaviors among street drug users. Although resource intensive in comparison to retrospective reports, daily reporting potentially provides more detailed information on test strip use and its association with overdose risk reduction and, ultimately, fewer overdoses. Needed are larger trials and validation studies of daily experience sampling to identify the optimum protocol for collecting accurate information on drug checking and overdose risk reduction behavior.

Examining the momentary relationships between body checking and eating disorder symptoms in women with anorexia nervosa

Body checking is common among individuals with anorexia nervosa (AN) and increases risk for dietary restriction. However, no study has examined whether body checking increases the immediate risk for engaging in other harmful weight loss behaviors, or whether this relationship is moderated by person-level traits. The current study utilized ecological momentary assessment (EMA) to examine whether (a) body checking predicted rapid use of weight loss behaviors, and (b) whether eating-related obsessionality/compulsivity moderated this relationship. Women with full or subthreshold anorexia nervosa (N = 118) completed a measure of eating-related obsessionality/compulsivity at baseline, followed by a 14-day EMA protocol during which they reported on body checking and weight loss behaviors (i.e., exercise, self-induced vomiting, laxative use, skipping meals, and increasing fluid intake). In a series of generalized linear mixed models, within-person effects indicated that momentary body checking significantly predicted subsequent meal skipping and using fluids to curb appetite. Between-person effects indicated that individuals who engage in more frequent body checking also engage in a higher frequency of self-induced vomiting, meal skipping, and use of fluids to curb appetite. An individual's degree of eating-related obsessionality/compulsivity did not moderate any of these relationships. Findings highlight body checking as an immediate precursor of dangerous weight loss behaviors among individuals with AN, and underscore the need for clinicians to address body checking during treatment.

Us, them, and the others: Testing for discrimination amongst outgroups in a single-piece nesting termite, Zootermopsis angusticollis.

Recognition of group members is an important adaptation in social organisms because it allows help to be directed toward kin or individuals that are likely to reciprocate, and harm to be directed toward members of competing groups. Evidence in a wide range of animals shows that responses to outgroups vary with context, suggesting that cues to group membership also depend on the social or environmental context. In termites, intergroup encounters are frequent and their outcomes highly variable, ranging from destruction of a colony to colony fusion. As well as genetic factors, nestmate recognition in social insects commonly relies on cues that are mediated by environmental factors such as food source. However, single-piece nesting termite colonies share nesting material and food source with rival colonies (their wood substrate serves as both). In principle, the shared environment of single-piece nesting termite colonies could constrain their ability to identify non-nestmates, contributing to some of the variation seen in encounters, but this has not been investigated. In this study, we raised incipient colonies of a single-piece nesting termite, Zootermopsis angusticollis, on two different wood types and conducted behavioral assays to test whether nestmate discrimination can be constrained by common environmental conditions. We found that non-nestmates elicited higher rates of identity checking and defense behavior compared to nestmates, but there was no effect of wood type on the strength of behavioral responses to non-nestmates. We also found that one key cooperative behavior (allogrooming) was performed equally toward both nestmates and non-nestmates. These findings offer no support for the hypothesis that common wood type constrains the nestmate recognition system of single piece nesting termites. We suggest that where groups encounter each other frequently in a common environment, selection will favor discrimination based on genetic and/or higher resolution environmentally mediated cues.