Differential word expression analyses highlight plague dynamics during the second pandemic

Research on the second plague pandemic that swept over Europe from the fourteenth to nineteenth centuries mainly relies on the exegesis of contemporary texts and is prone to interpretive bias. By leveraging certain bioinformatic tools routinely used in biology, we developed a quantitative lexicography of 32 texts describing two major plague outbreaks, using contemporary plague-unrelated texts as negative controls. Nested, network and category analyses of a 207-word pan-lexicome, comprising overrepresented terms in plague-related texts, indicated that ‘buboes' and ‘carbuncles' are words that were significantly associated with the plague and signalled an ectoparasite-borne plague. Moreover, plague-related words were associated with the terms ‘merchandise’, ‘movable’, ‘tatters', ‘bed’ and ‘clothes'. Analysing ancient texts using the method reported in this paper can certify plague-related historical records and indicate the particularities of each plague outbreak, which can inform on the potential sources for the causative Yersinia pestis .

Training the Interpretation of Ambiguity

<p>The interpretation of emotionally ambiguous words, sentences, or scenarios can be biased through training procedures that are collectively called Cognitive Bias Modification for Interpretation (CBM-I). Little CBM-I research has examined the underlying mechanisms responsible for the induction of emotional interpretive biases, or the potential for this line of enquiry to inform psycholinguistic models of meaning activation and selection. In this thesis a novel CBM-I paradigm was developed and then systematically manipulated in order to discriminate between two mechanistic accounts of changes in interpretive bias – the Emotional Priming Account and the Ambiguity Resolution Account. In Experiment 1 participants completed word fragments that were consistently related to either a negative or benign interpretation of an ambiguous sentence. In a subsequent semantic priming task they demonstrated an interpretation bias, in that they were faster to judge the relatedness of targets that were associated with the training-congruent than the training-incongruent meaning of an emotionally ambiguous homograph. In Experiment 2 the time between the presentation of the prime and the target (Stimulus Onset Asynchrony; SOA) at test was shortened. Interpretive biases were not observed at a short SOA suggesting that training did not induce biases at an early lexical activation stage. Interpretive bias was then eliminated when participants simply completed valenced word fragments (Experiment 3) or completed fragments related to emotional but unambiguous sentences (Experiment 4) during training. Only when participants were required to actively resolve emotionally ambiguous sentences during training did changes in interpretation emerge at test. These findings suggest that CBM-I achieves its effects by altering a production rule that aids the selection of a single meaning from alternatives, in line with an Ambiguity Resolution account. Finally, no interpretive biases were observed when the task in the test phase was substituted with a lexical decision task (Experiment 5). Participants only showed biases in the selection of meanings when the test phase encouraged them to interpret the prime. This pattern of results suggests that the alteration of selection patterns in word recognition depend on the strategies employed by participants in the test phase. Overall the findings are discussed with regards to the Ambiguity Resolution and Emotional Priming accounts of modified interpretive biases. Implications for current psycholinguistic models of meaning activation and selection are considered.</p>

Training the Interpretation of Ambiguity

<p>The interpretation of emotionally ambiguous words, sentences, or scenarios can be biased through training procedures that are collectively called Cognitive Bias Modification for Interpretation (CBM-I). Little CBM-I research has examined the underlying mechanisms responsible for the induction of emotional interpretive biases, or the potential for this line of enquiry to inform psycholinguistic models of meaning activation and selection. In this thesis a novel CBM-I paradigm was developed and then systematically manipulated in order to discriminate between two mechanistic accounts of changes in interpretive bias – the Emotional Priming Account and the Ambiguity Resolution Account. In Experiment 1 participants completed word fragments that were consistently related to either a negative or benign interpretation of an ambiguous sentence. In a subsequent semantic priming task they demonstrated an interpretation bias, in that they were faster to judge the relatedness of targets that were associated with the training-congruent than the training-incongruent meaning of an emotionally ambiguous homograph. In Experiment 2 the time between the presentation of the prime and the target (Stimulus Onset Asynchrony; SOA) at test was shortened. Interpretive biases were not observed at a short SOA suggesting that training did not induce biases at an early lexical activation stage. Interpretive bias was then eliminated when participants simply completed valenced word fragments (Experiment 3) or completed fragments related to emotional but unambiguous sentences (Experiment 4) during training. Only when participants were required to actively resolve emotionally ambiguous sentences during training did changes in interpretation emerge at test. These findings suggest that CBM-I achieves its effects by altering a production rule that aids the selection of a single meaning from alternatives, in line with an Ambiguity Resolution account. Finally, no interpretive biases were observed when the task in the test phase was substituted with a lexical decision task (Experiment 5). Participants only showed biases in the selection of meanings when the test phase encouraged them to interpret the prime. This pattern of results suggests that the alteration of selection patterns in word recognition depend on the strategies employed by participants in the test phase. Overall the findings are discussed with regards to the Ambiguity Resolution and Emotional Priming accounts of modified interpretive biases. Implications for current psycholinguistic models of meaning activation and selection are considered.</p>

Modification of Interpretive Bias: Impact on Anxiety Sensitivity, Information Processing and Response to Induced Bodily Sensations

Anxiety Sensitivity (AS) is the fear of normal, arousal-related bodily sensations due to the belief that they have negative consequences. High AS is associated with interpretive biases whereby normal bodily sensations are perceived as threatening. Research shows that interpretive biases can be modified through cognitive training. In the present study, the impact of interpretation training on cognitive processes and behaviour was examined in people with high AS. Thirty-four participants were assigned to either a training condition designed to induce a benign interpretive bias, or a “sham” condition designed to have no effect on existing biases. Participants in the training condition reported significant decreases in overall AS and fear of the physical consequences of anxiety. Interpretive bias measures yielded mixed findings. Both conditions displayed decreased negative interpretations of explanations of physical sensations, but only the training condition displayed decreased interpretations of specific, negative explanations of physical sensations. Theoretical implications are discussed.

Modification of Interpretive Bias: Impact on Anxiety Sensitivity, Information Processing and Response to Induced Bodily Sensations

Anxiety Sensitivity (AS) is the fear of normal, arousal-related bodily sensations due to the belief that they have negative consequences. High AS is associated with interpretive biases whereby normal bodily sensations are perceived as threatening. Research shows that interpretive biases can be modified through cognitive training. In the present study, the impact of interpretation training on cognitive processes and behaviour was examined in people with high AS. Thirty-four participants were assigned to either a training condition designed to induce a benign interpretive bias, or a “sham” condition designed to have no effect on existing biases. Participants in the training condition reported significant decreases in overall AS and fear of the physical consequences of anxiety. Interpretive bias measures yielded mixed findings. Both conditions displayed decreased negative interpretations of explanations of physical sensations, but only the training condition displayed decreased interpretations of specific, negative explanations of physical sensations. Theoretical implications are discussed.

Neuroticism and Interpretive Bias as Risk Factors for Anxiety and Depression

Neuroticism has been associated with depression and anxiety both cross-sectionally and longitudinally. Interpretive bias has been associated with depression and anxiety, primarily in cross-sectional and bias induction studies. The purpose of the current study was to examine the role of interpretive bias as a prospective risk factor and a mediator of the relation between neuroticism and depressive and anxious symptoms in young adults assessed longitudinally. Neuroticism significantly predicted a broad general-distress dimension but not intermediate fears and anhedonia-apprehension dimensions or a narrow social-fears dimension. Neuroticism also significantly predicted negative interpretive bias for social scenarios. Negative interpretive bias for social scenarios did not significantly predict dimension scores, nor did it mediate the relation between neuroticism and general distress or social fears. These results suggest that although neuroticism relates to negative interpretive bias, its risk for symptoms of depression and anxiety is at most weakly conferred through negative interpretive bias.