Non-clinical Undergraduate Students Research Articles

Performance on the CVLT-2 during induced pain

Objective: Chronic pain patients frequently report cognitive problems including learning and memory. However, recent research involving induced pain has demonstrated an absence of reliably detectable decrements on several standard cognitive measures, suggesting that factors other than pain likely explain perceived cognitive deficits in chronic pain patients. This study examined potential effects of induced pain on verbal learning and memory as measured by the California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT-2). Potential effects of self-reported pain intensity were also evaluated. Method: Participants (111 non-clinical undergraduate students in the Southwestern United States) completed one version (Standard or Alternate) of the CVLT-2 under normal conditions, and then were administered the other version (Alternate or Standard) either while experiencing cold pressor-induced pain (Pain condition) or non-painful warm water immersion (Control condition). Results: For the Pain condition decrements in performance across most CVLT-2 variables were observed, including a mean T-score decrease of 10.98 (SD = 10.99) for Trials 1-5, whereas the comparable decrease in the Control condition was an average of 1.5 words (SD = 8.27). Self-reported pain intensity was significantly correlated with the degree of Time 1 to Time 2 performance decrement for Short-Delay Free Recall (r = −.51, p < .050), but not for Trials 1-5 (r = −.37, p = .160). Conclusion: Induced pain produces detectable decrements in performance on a standard clinical measure of verbal learning and memory performance, suggesting that pain in clinical populations may contribute to learning and memory deficits apart from potential neurological conditions.

Discriminating malingered attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder from genuine symptom reporting using novel Personality Assessment Inventory validity measures

It is now widely understood that ADHD can be feigned easily and convincingly. Despite this, almost no methods exist to assist clinicians in identifying when such behavior occurs. Recently, new validity indicators specific to feigned ADHD were reported for the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI). Derived from a logistic regression, these algorithms are said to have excellent specificity and good sensitivity in identifying feigned ADHD. However, these authors compared those with genuine ADHD only to nonclinical undergraduate students (asked to respond honestly or asked to simulate ADHD); no criterion group of definite malingerers was included. We therefore investigated these new validity indicators with 331 postsecondary students who underwent assessment for possible ADHD and compared scores of those who were eventually diagnosed with ADHD (n = 111) to those who were not [Clinical controls (66), Definite malingerers (36); No diagnosis (117)]. The two proposed PAI algorithms were found to have poor positive predictive value (.19 and .17). Self-report validity measures from the Connors’ Adult Attention Rating Scale, and the Negative Impression Management scale on the PAI returned more positive results. Overall, more research is needed to better identify noncredible ADHD presentation, as the PAI-based methods proposed by Aita et al. appear inadequate as symptom validity measures.

Behavioral inhibition/approach systems constitute risk/protective pathways from ADHD symptoms to depression and anxiety in undergraduate students

Despite the strong positive association between attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and depression or anxiety, little is known about the underlying mechanism that links ADHD symptoms to internalizing problems. We aimed to examine the contribution of behavioral inhibition/approach systems (BIS/BAS) in explaining ADHD symptoms, depression, anxiety, and their relationships. A sample of Japanese non-clinical undergraduate students (N = 419) completed the BIS/BAS Scales, Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale, Patient Health Questionnaire-9, and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 Scale. Spearman's partial rank correlation coefficients were calculated to describe the direct association between each of the measured variables. Mann-Whitney's U tests were conducted to compare ADHD symptoms and internalizing problems according to BIS and BAS activation. The results indicated that, although the simple correlation between inattention and anxiety was positive, it turned negative when the BIS was controlled for. Hyperactivity/impulsivity showed a simple positive correlation with all three BAS components: reward responsiveness (RR), drive, and fun seeking (FS). The RR showed negative partial correlation with anxiety. Furthermore, Mann-Whitney's U tests in the high-BIS group indicated that the high-BAS RR group exhibited less depressive symptoms compared with the low-BAS RR group. Further research focusing on interaction of environmental-social factors and neuro-biological factors are required.

Detection strategies for feigned psychopathology: test development and effects of criminal charge simulation design on response styles

ABSTRACTFeigned psychopathology detection strategy is needed for forensic settings in Thailand. This initial Thai version of the symptoms validity test (SVT-Th) was developed based on two global detection strategies including unlikely and amplified detection strategies proposed by Rogers. The participants were collected from populations of nonclinical undergraduate students and clinical psychiatric patients. Results of Study 1, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were used to determine the factor structures of the SVT-Th. The results of CFA supported 2-factorial model as proposed by Rogers. The SVT-Th was found to possess a high degree of internal consistency. Using a simulation designed in Study 2, the experimental group was asked to feign psychopathology to avoid criminal prosecution of homicide charges (simulator undergraduate students). The findings were compared with two control groups who were asked to reply to the questions honestly (honest undergraduate students and honest psychiatric patients). The results indicated that the SVT-Th were significantly distinguishable in the experimental group (classified as feigned response style) from the control groups (classified as honest response style). The area under the ROC curve showed high accuracy classification. The ROC curve determined the optimal cutoff score, sensitivity and specificity for the SVT-Th.

How Autistic Traits, Inattention and Hyperactivity-Impulsivity Symptoms Influence Depression in Nonclinical Undergraduate Students? Mediating Role of Depressive Rumination

A few studies have indicated that adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) are more inclined to ruminate than adults in the general population. The present study examined whether subclinical ASD symptoms including difficulties in social interaction and attention to detail and ADHD symptoms that were composed of inattention and hyperactivity-impulsivity were related to depressive rumination in undergraduate students. This study also examined whether rumination is a mediating factor in the relationship of ASD and ADHD symptoms with depression. Non-clinical undergraduate students (N = 294) in Japan completed the Autism-Spectrum Quotient, Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale, interpersonal conflict subscale of the Interpersonal Stress Event Scale, Ruminative Responses Scale, and Beck Depression Inventory-Second Edition. Structural equation modeling indicated that hyperactivity-impulsivity was positively associated with rumination both directly and indirectly via interpersonal conflict, and that attention to detail and inattention were directly and positively related to rumination. The significant relationship between difficulties in social interaction and rumination disappeared after controlling for the influence of depression. These findings indicated that one pathway through which hyperactivity-impulsivity symptoms prolong rumination might be through the increase in interpersonal conflict. In addition, it is possible that cognitive inflexibility, academic difficulties, and adverse driving outcomes caused by attention to detail, inattention as well as hyperactivity-impulsivity may lead to rumination. Moreover, attention to detail, inattention, and hyperactivity-impulsivity indirectly increased depression via rumination, indicating that rumination is an important mediator in the relationship of subclinical ASD and ADHD symptoms with depression.

Depression and interpersonal stress: The mediating role of emotion regulation

Maladaptive emotion regulation is a risk factor for depression when an individual is experiencing stressful interpersonal events. Although emotion regulation has several different dimensions, little is known about which of these mediate the relationship between interpersonal stress and depressive symptoms. The current study examined self-ratings of emotion regulation, interpersonal stress, and depression in a sample of non-clinical undergraduate students (N = 152). Our results indicated that two facets of emotion regulation (i.e., lack of emotional clarity and limited access to emotion regulation strategies) fully mediate the relationship between interpersonal stress and depression. Hence, to minimize depressive symptoms when experiencing interpersonal stress, our findings suggest that it is important for individuals to be clear about their feelings and to attempt to transition from negative feelings to alternative feelings.

Unique affective and cognitive processes in contamination appraisals: Implications for contamination fear

A large body of evidence suggests an important role of disgust in contamination fear (CF). A separate line of research implicates various cognitive mechanisms in contamination fear, including obsessive beliefs, memory biases, and delayed attentional disengagement from threat. This study is an initial attempt to integrate these two lines of research and examines whether disgust and delayed attention disengagement from threat explain unique or overlapping processes within CF. Non-clinical undergraduate students ( N = 108) completed a spatial cueing task, which provided measures of delayed disengagement from frightening and disgusting cues, and a self-report measure of disgust propensity (DP). Participants also completed a chain of contagion task, in which they provided contamination appraisals of an object as a function of degrees of removal from an initial contaminant. Results demonstrated that DP predicted greater initial contamination appraisals, but a sharper decline in estimations across further degrees of removal from the contaminant. Delayed disengagement from disgust cues uniquely predicted sustained elevations in contamination estimations across further degrees of removal from the contaminant. These results suggest that DP and delayed disengagement from disgust cues explain unique and complimentary processes in contamination appraisals, which suggests the utility of incorporating the disparate affective and cognitive lines of research on CF.

Defining distinct negative beliefs about uncertainty: Validating the factor structure of the Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale.

This study examined the factor structure of the English version of the Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale (IUS; French version: M. H. Freeston, J. Rhéaume, H. Letarte, M. J. Dugas, & R. Ladouceur, 1994; English version: K. Buhr & M. J. Dugas, 2002) using a substantially larger sample than has been used in previous studies. Nonclinical undergraduate students and adults from the community (M age = 23.74 years, SD = 6.36; 73.0% female and 27.0% male) who participated in 16 studies in the Anxiety Disorders Laboratory at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada were randomly assigned to 2 datasets. Exploratory factor analysis with the 1st sample (n = 1,230) identified 2 factors: the beliefs that "uncertainty has negative behavioral and self-referent implications" and that "uncertainty is unfair and spoils everything." This 2-factor structure provided a good fit to the data (Bentler-Bonett normed fit index = .96, comparative fit index = .97, standardized root-mean residual = .05, root-mean-square error of approximation = .07) upon confirmatory factor analysis with the 2nd sample (n = 1,221). Both factors showed similarly high correlations with pathological worry, and Factor 1 showed stronger correlations with generalized anxiety disorder analogue status, trait anxiety, somatic anxiety, and depressive symptomatology.

Learning effects in the block design task: A stimulus parameter-based approach.

Learning effects were assessed for the block design (BD) task, on the basis of variation in 2 stimulus parameters: perceptual cohesiveness (PC) and set size uncertainty (U). Thirty-one nonclinical undergraduate students (19 female) each completed 3 designs for each of 4 varied sets of the stimulus parameters (high-PC/high-U, high-PC/low-U, low-PC/high-U, and low-PC/low-U), ordered randomly within a larger set of designs with mixed stimulus characteristics. Regression analyses revealed significant, although modest, learning effects in all conditions. Negative-logarithmic learning slopes (growth factors) were greatest for high-U/high-PC designs and smallest for low-U/low-PC designs. Comparison of these slopes with known Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (3rd ed.; D. Wechsler, 1997; and 4th ed.; D. Wechsler, 2008) BD subtest gain scores demonstrated that presenting novel test items matched on stimulus parameters in multiple administrations reduced learning effects compared with the repeated use of the same test items. The results suggest that repeated administration of novel test items of the BD subtest, matched for PC and U, would result in more accurate assessments of changes in examinees' abilities over time than would the use of the same items. Difficulties inherent in implementing this method are also discussed.

An investigation of self-ambivalence in obsessive-compulsive disorder

Individuals vulnerable to obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) are hypothesized to have ambivalence about their self-worth, morality and lovability [Guidano, V., & Liotti, G. (1983). Cognitive processes and emotional disorders. New York: Guildford Press]. The purpose of this study was to examine whether self-ambivalence was associated with OCD phenomena and beliefs relevant to OCD. It also examined whether patients with OCD had higher levels of self-ambivalence compared to non-clinical controls and patients with other anxiety disorders. Participants were 73 OCD patients, 50 patients with another anxiety disorder, 225 non-clinical undergraduate students and 43 non-clinical community controls. They completed measures of self-ambivalence, OCD phenomena, OCD-relevant beliefs, depression, anxiety and self-esteem. Self-ambivalence was significantly associated with OCD phenomena and OCD-relevant beliefs, after controlling for self-esteem, depression and anxiety. Further, OCD participants were significantly more ambivalent than the non-clinical groups, but did not differ from anxious controls. It was argued that these results provide a basis for extending the cognitive-behavioural model of OCD to include ambivalent self-perceptions as a component of the cognitive mechanisms relevant to the disorder.

Loneliness, social relationships, and a broader autism phenotype in college students

Impaired social functioning is a hallmark of autism spectrum conditions. The purpose of this study was to investigate possible relationship between social functioning and a broader autism phenotype. With a sample of non-clinical undergraduate students from a large, urban university ( N = 97; mean age = 19.4 ± 2 years), characteristics associated with autism were measured as well as self-reported dating and friendship history, feelings of loneliness, and social motivation. Results indicate that those individuals with a stronger autism phenotype (e.g., rigidity, preference for sameness, high attention to detail) report significantly more loneliness ( r = .52, p < 0.01) and fewer and shorter duration friendships. Also, for participants in romantic relationships, a stronger phenotype was moderately and positively correlated with length of relationship ( r = .34, p < 0.05). Findings support the view that individuals with characteristics of autism and related conditions do not necessarily prefer aloneness, as once assumed, but rather experience increased levels of loneliness related to lack of social skill and understanding. Significance and limitations of these findings are discussed and future directions for research and possibilities for social skills training in this population are explored.

A comparison of autogenous/reactive obsessions and worry in a nonclinical population: a test of the continuum hypothesis

Employing the autogenous–reactive model of obsessions (Behaviour Research and Therapy 41 (2003) 11–29), this study sought to test a hypothesized continuum where reactive obsessions fall in between autogenous obsessions and worry with respect to several thought characteristics concerning content appraisal, perceived form, and thought triggers. Nonclinical undergraduate students ( n = 435 ) were administered an online packet of questionnaires designed to examine the three different types of thoughts. Main data analyses included only those displaying moderate levels of obsessions or worries ( n = 252 ). According to the most distressing thought, three different groups were formed and compared: autogenous obsession ( n = 34 ), reactive obsession ( n = 76 ), and worry ( n = 142 ). Results revealed that (a) relative to worry, autogenous obsessions were perceived as more bizarre, more unacceptable, more unrealistic, and less likely to occur; (b) autogenous obsessions were more likely to take the form of impulses, urges, or images, whereas worry was more likely to take the form of doubts, apprehensions, or thoughts; and (c) worry was more characterized by awareness and identifiability of thought triggers, with reactive obsessions through these comparisons falling in between. Moreover, reactive obsessions, relative to autogenous obsessions, were more strongly associated with both severity of worry and use of worrying as a thought control strategy. Our data suggest that the reactive subtype represents more worry-like obsessions compared to the autogenous subtype.

Thought–action fusion and its relationship to schizotypy and OCD symptoms

Thought–action fusion (TAF) is a cognitive bias that has been linked to obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Preliminary evidence suggests schizotypal traits may be associated with some types of OCD obsessions but not others. We examined the relationship between each of the two major types of TAF (i.e., likelihood and moral), schizotypal traits, and OCD symptoms in 969 nonclinical undergraduate students. We hypothesized that likelihood TAF would be associated with schizotypal traits; whereas moral TAF would not. Consistent with prediction, schizotypal–magical thinking was significantly associated with likelihood TAF even after controlling for the effects of OCD symptoms, general anxiety, and depression. Moreover, the relationship between likelihood TAF and OCD symptoms was significantly attenuated after controlling for schizotypal traits. In contrast, moral TAF demonstrated negligible association with OCD symptoms, depression, or schizotypal traits. These findings provide preliminary support for the linkage between likelihood TAF and schizotypal traits.