Effects of control strategy on the activation of unwanted intrusive thoughts

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sicong Liu ◽  
Jonathan Folstein ◽  
Lawrence Gregory Appelbaum ◽  
Gershon Tenenbaum
Keyword(s):  
Control Strategies ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Intrusive Thoughts ◽  
Control Process ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Opposite Pattern ◽  
Thought Control ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
And Performance

Although the unwanted intrusive thoughts (UITs) exist widely in human beings and show similar characteristics between clinical and nonclinical forms, its control process remains unclear. Thoughts of choking under pressure, particularly among high-achieving athletes, represent a meaningful UIT type due to their psychological and performance-related impact. Taking a dynamic view of UIT control process, this study tested the effect of thought-control strategies among sub-elite to elite athletes, applied to individualized choking thoughts. Ninety athletes recollected recent athletic choking experiences prior to being randomized into one of three thought control interventions using strategies of either acceptance, passive monitoring (control), or suppression. To control for individual differences, athletes’ working memory capacity was measured and modeled as a covariate at baseline. The activation of choking thoughts during and after the intervention was gauged through multiple measurement approaches including conscious presence in mind, priming, and event-related potentials (P3b and N400 amplitudes). Results indicated that, relative to the control, suppression led to enhanced priming and reduced conscious presence of choking thoughts, whereas acceptance resulted in an opposite pattern of reduced priming and increased conscious presence of choking thoughts. In addition, thought-related stimuli elicited less negative-going N400 amplitudes and more positive-going P3b amplitudes than control stimuli. These findings advance understandings of the control mechanism underpinning UITs, and generate applied implications regarding UIT control in high-risk populations such as those with athletic expertise.

scholarly journals State anxiety influences P300 and P600 event-related potentials over parietal regions in the hollow-mask illusion experiment

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vasileios Ioakeimidis ◽  
Nareg Khachatoorian ◽  
Corinna Haenschel ◽  
Thomas A. Papathomas ◽  
Attila Farkas ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
State Anxiety ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Memory Representation ◽  
High State ◽  
Opposite Pattern ◽  
Active Representation ◽  
Attentional Resources ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
Memory Representations ◽  
Healthy Participants

Abstract The hollow-mask illusion is an optical illusion where a concave face is perceived as convex. It has been demonstrated that individuals with schizophrenia and anxiety are less susceptible to the illusion than controls. Previous research has shown that the P300 and P600 event-related potentials (ERPs) are affected in individuals with schizophrenia. Here, we examined whether individual differences in neuroticism and anxiety scores, traits that have been suggested to be risk factors for schizophrenia and anxiety disorders, affect ERPs of healthy participants while they view concave faces. Our results confirm that the participants were susceptible to the illusion, misperceiving concave faces as convex. We additionally demonstrate significant interactions of the concave condition with state anxiety in central and parietal electrodes for P300 and parietal areas for P600, but not with neuroticism and trait anxiety. The state anxiety interactions were driven by low-state anxiety participants showing lower amplitudes for concave faces compared to convex. The P300 and P600 amplitudes were smaller when a concave face activated a convex face memory representation, since the stimulus did not match the active representation. The opposite pattern was evident in high-state anxiety participants in regard to state anxiety interaction and the hollow-mask illusion, demonstrating larger P300 and P600 amplitudes to concave faces suggesting impaired late information processing in this group. This could be explained by impaired allocation of attentional resources in high-state anxiety leading to hyperarousal to concave faces that are unexpected mismatches to standard memory representations, as opposed to expected convex faces.

scholarly journals Expectancy of Stress-Reducing Aromatherapy Effect and Performance on a Stress-Sensitive Cognitive Task

2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irina Chamine ◽  
Barry S. Oken
Keyword(s):  
Task Performance ◽  
Stress Reduction ◽  
Cognitive Task ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Specific Effects ◽  
N200 Amplitude ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
And Performance

Objective. Stress-reducing therapies help maintain cognitive performance during stress. Aromatherapy is popular for stress reduction, but its effectiveness and mechanism are unclear. This study examined stress-reducing effects of aromatherapy on cognitive function using the go/no-go (GNG) task performance and event related potentials (ERP) components sensitive to stress. The study also assessed the importance of expectancy in aromatherapy actions.Methods. 81 adults were randomized to 3 aroma groups (active experimental, detectable, and undetectable placebo) and 2 prime subgroups (prime suggesting stress-reducing aroma effects or no-prime). GNG performance, ERPs, subjective expected aroma effects, and stress ratings were assessed at baseline and poststress.Results. No specific aroma effects on stress or cognition were observed. However, regardless of experienced aroma, people receiving a prime displayed faster poststress median reaction times than those receiving no prime. A significant interaction for N200 amplitude indicated divergent ERP patterns between baseline and poststress for go and no-go stimuli depending on the prime subgroup. Furthermore, trends for beneficial prime effects were shown on poststress no-go N200/P300 latencies and N200 amplitude.Conclusion. While there were no aroma-specific effects on stress or cognition, these results highlight the role of expectancy for poststress response inhibition and attention.

scholarly journals Selective remembering: Cue overlap enables pre-retrieval control of recollection

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arianna Moccia ◽  
Alexa M. Morcom
Keyword(s):  
Behavioral Control ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
High Capacity ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Retrieval Cues ◽  
Line Drawings ◽  
Memory Traces ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
Past Experiences

AbstractPeople often want to recall only currently relevant events, but this selective remembering is not always possible. We contrasted two candidate mechanisms: the overlap between retrieval cues and stored memory traces, and the ease of recollection. In two preregistered experiments (Ns = 28) we quantified recollection of targeted over non-targeted information using event-related potentials (ERPs). Participants viewed objects or heard object names, and one of these sources was designated as targets in each memory test. We manipulated cue overlap by probing memory with visual names (Experiment 1) or line drawings (Experiment 2). Results revealed that regardless of which source was targeted, the left parietal ERP effect was selective when test cues overlapped more with targeted than non-targeted information, despite consistently better memory for pictures. The data support the view that selection can act prior to recollection if there is sufficient overlap between retrieval cues and targeted versus competing memory traces.Statement of relevanceThe ability to select relevant over irrelevant information from memory allows us to draw effectively on our past experiences. This ability is critical for behavioral control in a wide range of tasks and may account for reduced control in different populations. For example, people with lower working memory capacity and younger adults remember less selectively than those with high capacity and older adults. External cues like photographs can be strong memory triggers, but relatively little is known about how cues interact with our goals to select what is remembered. One priority is establishing that this selection acts prior to the point of retrieval, rather than post-retrieval. Cognitive control is assumed to act at both stages, but they are difficult to separate using behavioral measures alone. Here, we used electroencephalographic event-related potentials (ERPs) to show that cue overlap enables selection prior to recollection, as predicted by the encoding specificity principle.

scholarly journals Sex-specific relationships between face memory and the N170 component in event-related potentials

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (5) ◽  
pp. 587-597
Author(s):  
Hadiseh Nowparast Rostami ◽  
Andrea Hildebrandt ◽  
Werner Sommer
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Brain Potentials ◽  
Face Memory ◽  
N170 Component ◽  
Statistical Dependency ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
And Performance

Abstract At the group level, women consistently perform better in face memory tasks than men and also show earlier and larger N170 components of event-related brain potentials (ERP), considered to indicate perceptual structural encoding of faces. Here we investigated sex differences in the relationship between the N170 and face memory performance in 152 men and 141 women at group mean and individual differences levels. ERPs and performance were measured in separate tasks, avoiding statistical dependency between the two. We confirmed previous findings about superior face memory in women and a—sex-independent—negative relationship between N170 latency and face memory. However, whereas in men, better face memory was related to larger N170 components, face memory in women was unrelated with the amplitude or latency of the N170. These data provide solid evidence that individual differences in face memory within men are at least partially related to more intense structural face encoding.

P3 Event-Related Potentials and Performance of Young and Old Subjects for Music Perception Tasks

1994 ◽  
Vol 78 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 223-239 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth P. Swartz ◽  
Joseph P. Walton ◽  
Edwin C. Hantz ◽  
Elaine Goldhammer ◽  
Garry C. Crummer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Music Perception ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
And Performance

scholarly journals Optimal Control Techniques on a Mathematical Model for the Dynamics of Tungiasis in a Community

2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 ◽  
pp. 1-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jairos Kahuru ◽  
Livingstone S. Luboobi ◽  
Yaw Nkansah-Gyekye
Keyword(s):  
Mathematical Model ◽  
Optimal Control ◽  
Control Strategy ◽  
Control Strategies ◽  
Control Process ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Optimal Control Strategy ◽  
Control Techniques ◽  
Existence Of Optimal Control

Tungiasis is a permanent penetration of female sand flea“Tunga penetrans”into the epidermis of its host. It affects human beings and domestic and sylvatic animals. In this paper, we apply optimal control techniques to a Tungiasis controlled mathematical model to determine the optimal control strategy in order to minimize the number of infested humans, infested animals, and sand flea populations. In an attempt to reduce Tungiasis infestation in human population, the control strategies based on personal protection, personal treatment, educational campaign, environmental sanitation, and insecticidal treatments on the affected parts as well as on animal fur are considered. We prove the existence of optimal control problem, determine the necessary conditions for optimality, and then perform numerical simulations. The numerical results showed that the control strategy comprises all five control measures and that which involves the three control measures of insecticide control, insecticidal dusting on animal furs, and environmental hygiene has the significant impact on Tungiasis transmission. Therefore, fighting against Tungiasis infestation in endemic settings, multidimensional control process should be employed in order to achieve the maximum benefits.

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