Interpretation Biases in Pain: Validation of Two New Stimulus Sets

Adults with chronic pain interpret ambiguous information in a pain and illness related fashion. However, limitations have been highlighted with traditional experimental paradigms used to measure interpretation biases. Whilst ambiguous scenarios have been developed to measure interpretation biases in adolescents with pain, no scenario sets exist for use with adults. Therefore, the present study: (i) sought to validate a range of ambiguous scenarios suitable for measuring interpretation biases in adults, whilst also allowing for two response formats (forced-choice and free response); and (ii) investigate paradigm efficacy, by assessing the effects of recent pain experiences on task responding. A novel ambiguous scenarios task was administered to adults (N = 241). Participants were presented with 62 ambiguous scenarios comprising 42 that could be interpreted in a pain/pain-illness or non-pain/non-pain illness manner: and 20 control scenarios. Participants generated their own solutions to each scenario (Word Generation Task), then rated how likely they would be to use two researcher-generated solutions to complete each scenario (Likelihood Ratings Task). Participants also rated their subjective experiences of pain in the last 3 months. Tests of reliability, including inter-rater agreement and internal consistency, produced two ambiguous scenario stimulus sets containing 18 and 20 scenarios, respectively. Further analyses revealed adults who reported more recent pain experiences were more likely to endorse the pain/pain-illness solutions in the Likelihood Ratings Task. This study provides two new stimulus sets for use with adults (including control items) in pain research and/or interventions. Results also provide evidence for a negative endorsement bias in adults.

Certain Operations on Picture Fuzzy Graph with Application

Fuzzy graphs (FGs) can play a useful role in natural and human-made structures, including process dynamics in physical, biological, and social systems. Since issues in everyday life are often uncertain due to inconsistent and ambiguous information, it is extremely difficult for an expert to model those difficulties using an FG. Indeterminate and inconsistent information related to real-valued problems can be studied through a picture of the fuzzy graph (PFG), while the FG does not provide mathematically acceptable information. In this regard, we are interested in reducing the limitations of FGs by introducing some new definitions and results for the PFG. This paper aims to describe and explore a few properties of PFGs, including the maximal product (MP), symmetric difference (SD), rejection (RJ), and residue product (RP). Furthermore, we also discuss the degree and total degree of nodes in a PFG. This study also demonstrates the application of a PFG in digital marketing and social networking.

Understanding mechanisms that may underlie the development and maintenance of anxiety in children and adolescents: Cognitive biases and parenting behaviours

<p>Anxiety is one of the most common forms of psychopathology in children and adolescents. Understanding the mechanisms that underlie the development and maintenance of this disorder is therefore critical. A variety of factors that interact with one another are likely to contribute to the risk and perpetuation of anxiety in young people. Moreover, risk and maintaining factors can occur at both an individual and environmental level. Cognitive biases are one such factor occurring at an individual level that are investigated in Study 1 and Study 2 of this thesis. Cognitive biases are also predicted to have associations with particular kinds of parenting behaviours, and Study 3 investigated these parenting behaviours. Study 3, therefore, provides a bridge between individual level cognitive mechanisms and possible environmental contexts that may contribute to the risk and maintenance of anxiety in young people. In Study 1, the relationships amongst anxiety, interpretation bias, and memory bias were investigated in children (M = 10.1 years, SD = 0.8). Children with higher levels of anxiety exhibit interpretation biases; a tendency to interpret ambiguous information in a negative manner. Moreover, interpretation biases are predicted to create negative memories for ambiguous information. In Study 1, 62 children heard ambiguous information about a novel animal and their interpretation and recall for this information was assessed. Interpretation bias was significantly associated with memory bias; children who interpreted the ambiguous information in a negative way also reported a greater number of negative memories for this information. Children with higher levels of anxiety also reported a greater number of negative memories. In Study 2 the relationship between interpretation bias and memory bias was investigated within an experimental paradigm, to understand whether there was evidence for a causal relationship between these cognitive biases. Children (M = 9.7 years, SD = 1.1) heard a series of ambiguous vignettes, and each vignette was followed by either a negative or a benign interpretation. Children were subsequently asked to recall the vignettes and children who had heard negative interpretations reported a greater number of negative memories. Children with higher levels of anxiety also reported a greater number of negative memories in their recall of the ambiguous vignettes. In Study 3, I investigated parental autonomy restriction and support in the context of parent-adolescent (M = 15.3 years, SD = 0.8) conversations, and their associations with anxiety, interpretation biases, and parental attributions. Higher levels of parental autonomy restriction may contribute to the risk and maintenance of anxiety in young people by signalling that the world is dangerous. Sixty-four mother-adolescent dyads were asked to discuss a recent conflict, and from this interaction maternal autonomy restriction and autonomy support were assessed. Adolescents with higher levels of anxiety and adolescents who exhibited interpretation biases to a greater extent, had mothers who demonstrated a greater amount of autonomy restriction within the conversations. Yet maternal variables were not significantly associated with either autonomy restriction or support. The results support predictions that these characteristics of young people may determine the extent of autonomy restriction parents engage in. In turn, autonomy restrictive parenting behaviours potentially play a role in the risk and maintenance of cognitive biases and anxiety. Overall this thesis contributes to an understanding of the complex and multiple relationships amongst factors that may be involved in the aetiology and perpetuation of anxiety in young people.</p>

Understanding mechanisms that may underlie the development and maintenance of anxiety in children and adolescents: Cognitive biases and parenting behaviours

<p>Anxiety is one of the most common forms of psychopathology in children and adolescents. Understanding the mechanisms that underlie the development and maintenance of this disorder is therefore critical. A variety of factors that interact with one another are likely to contribute to the risk and perpetuation of anxiety in young people. Moreover, risk and maintaining factors can occur at both an individual and environmental level. Cognitive biases are one such factor occurring at an individual level that are investigated in Study 1 and Study 2 of this thesis. Cognitive biases are also predicted to have associations with particular kinds of parenting behaviours, and Study 3 investigated these parenting behaviours. Study 3, therefore, provides a bridge between individual level cognitive mechanisms and possible environmental contexts that may contribute to the risk and maintenance of anxiety in young people. In Study 1, the relationships amongst anxiety, interpretation bias, and memory bias were investigated in children (M = 10.1 years, SD = 0.8). Children with higher levels of anxiety exhibit interpretation biases; a tendency to interpret ambiguous information in a negative manner. Moreover, interpretation biases are predicted to create negative memories for ambiguous information. In Study 1, 62 children heard ambiguous information about a novel animal and their interpretation and recall for this information was assessed. Interpretation bias was significantly associated with memory bias; children who interpreted the ambiguous information in a negative way also reported a greater number of negative memories for this information. Children with higher levels of anxiety also reported a greater number of negative memories. In Study 2 the relationship between interpretation bias and memory bias was investigated within an experimental paradigm, to understand whether there was evidence for a causal relationship between these cognitive biases. Children (M = 9.7 years, SD = 1.1) heard a series of ambiguous vignettes, and each vignette was followed by either a negative or a benign interpretation. Children were subsequently asked to recall the vignettes and children who had heard negative interpretations reported a greater number of negative memories. Children with higher levels of anxiety also reported a greater number of negative memories in their recall of the ambiguous vignettes. In Study 3, I investigated parental autonomy restriction and support in the context of parent-adolescent (M = 15.3 years, SD = 0.8) conversations, and their associations with anxiety, interpretation biases, and parental attributions. Higher levels of parental autonomy restriction may contribute to the risk and maintenance of anxiety in young people by signalling that the world is dangerous. Sixty-four mother-adolescent dyads were asked to discuss a recent conflict, and from this interaction maternal autonomy restriction and autonomy support were assessed. Adolescents with higher levels of anxiety and adolescents who exhibited interpretation biases to a greater extent, had mothers who demonstrated a greater amount of autonomy restriction within the conversations. Yet maternal variables were not significantly associated with either autonomy restriction or support. The results support predictions that these characteristics of young people may determine the extent of autonomy restriction parents engage in. In turn, autonomy restrictive parenting behaviours potentially play a role in the risk and maintenance of cognitive biases and anxiety. Overall this thesis contributes to an understanding of the complex and multiple relationships amongst factors that may be involved in the aetiology and perpetuation of anxiety in young people.</p>

“The Cuscus has White Teeth”: The Verbal Information Pathway to Fear in Non-clinically Anxious Children: No Influence of Ambiguous Information or Trait Anxiety

<p>Twenty-nine non-clinically anxious children, aged 7-10 years old, completed the Fear Beliefs Questionnaire (FBQ; Field & Lawson, 2003) before and after the presentation of verbal ambiguous information about an unknown animal, while 32 similar children matched for trait anxiety did the same after hearing threat information. Behavioural avoidance of the animals was subsequently examined with an adaptation of the Nature Reserve Task (NRT; Field & Storksen-Coulson, 2007). Children also completed a Reduced Evidence of Danger interpretation bias task (Muris, Merckelbach & Damsma, 2000c) for ambiguous stories with generalised anxiety and social anxiety content, prior to the FBQ and NRT. Verbal threat information substantially increased FBQ ratings and NRT distance from the tagged animal, whereas ambiguous information had no effect on these measures other than a subset of children showing an avoidance of the tagged animal in the NRT. Contrary to expectations, level of trait anxiety was not related to interpretation biases, or the effect of ambiguous or threat information. In the threat group, but not the ambiguous group, two bias measures for generalised anxiety stories were associated with relative increase in FBQ ratings for the tagged animal, and a third bias measure for social anxiety stories was associated with NRT score. The associations held when controlling for gender, age, and trait anxiety, including trait anxiety used as a moderator variable. These findings support the view that verbal threat information is sufficient to induce fear of animals in children. Results are inconsistent with the current view that the effects of the verbal information pathway increase as a function of trait anxiety and that ambiguous verbal information can lead to increased fear responding. The evidence for bias – verbal threat associations suggests that future studies should examine their role in the verbal information pathway to fear and anxiety, and clarify the influence of various internalising and externalising psychopathologies beyond trait anxiety.</p>

The Time-Course of Induced Interpretive Biases in Healthy Individuals Varying in Depressive Symptoms

<p>Cognitive theories of depression posit that after a negative event or mood state, those vulnerable to the disorder automatically impose negative interpretations on ambiguous information. However, empirical research on depression-linked interpretive biases has yielded mixed results, likely due to flawed experimental paradigms and statistical techniques that do not adequately control for anxiety. Cognitive Bias Modification for Interpretation (CBM-I) is an innovative research paradigm that involves inducing interpretive biases in an experimentally controlled manner. The current study is the first to assess whether cognitive bias modification influences interpretation differently according to vulnerability to depression. Individuals scoring lower and higher on a depression inventory judged the relatedness of either neutrally valenced (e.g. book-read) or negatively valenced (e.g. sick-vomit) word-pairs. They then made judgements about homophone word-pairs, in which the first word could be interpreted as either neutral in meaning (e.g. dye-ink) or negative in meaning (e.g. die-death). At the later stages of processing all individuals, regardless of depression scores, resolved ambiguous word-pairs in a training-congruent manner, consistent with previous CBM-I studies. However, in the early stages of processing, those scoring higher, but not lower in the depression inventory, were uniquely receptive to negative context training, such that they were more likely to interpret ambiguous word-pairs in a negative as opposed to neutral manner. This finding is crucially important, as it helps to clarify theoretical debate in the literature.</p>

The Time-Course of Induced Interpretive Biases in Healthy Individuals Varying in Depressive Symptoms

<p>Cognitive theories of depression posit that after a negative event or mood state, those vulnerable to the disorder automatically impose negative interpretations on ambiguous information. However, empirical research on depression-linked interpretive biases has yielded mixed results, likely due to flawed experimental paradigms and statistical techniques that do not adequately control for anxiety. Cognitive Bias Modification for Interpretation (CBM-I) is an innovative research paradigm that involves inducing interpretive biases in an experimentally controlled manner. The current study is the first to assess whether cognitive bias modification influences interpretation differently according to vulnerability to depression. Individuals scoring lower and higher on a depression inventory judged the relatedness of either neutrally valenced (e.g. book-read) or negatively valenced (e.g. sick-vomit) word-pairs. They then made judgements about homophone word-pairs, in which the first word could be interpreted as either neutral in meaning (e.g. dye-ink) or negative in meaning (e.g. die-death). At the later stages of processing all individuals, regardless of depression scores, resolved ambiguous word-pairs in a training-congruent manner, consistent with previous CBM-I studies. However, in the early stages of processing, those scoring higher, but not lower in the depression inventory, were uniquely receptive to negative context training, such that they were more likely to interpret ambiguous word-pairs in a negative as opposed to neutral manner. This finding is crucially important, as it helps to clarify theoretical debate in the literature.</p>

“The Cuscus has White Teeth”: The Verbal Information Pathway to Fear in Non-clinically Anxious Children: No Influence of Ambiguous Information or Trait Anxiety

<p>Twenty-nine non-clinically anxious children, aged 7-10 years old, completed the Fear Beliefs Questionnaire (FBQ; Field & Lawson, 2003) before and after the presentation of verbal ambiguous information about an unknown animal, while 32 similar children matched for trait anxiety did the same after hearing threat information. Behavioural avoidance of the animals was subsequently examined with an adaptation of the Nature Reserve Task (NRT; Field & Storksen-Coulson, 2007). Children also completed a Reduced Evidence of Danger interpretation bias task (Muris, Merckelbach & Damsma, 2000c) for ambiguous stories with generalised anxiety and social anxiety content, prior to the FBQ and NRT. Verbal threat information substantially increased FBQ ratings and NRT distance from the tagged animal, whereas ambiguous information had no effect on these measures other than a subset of children showing an avoidance of the tagged animal in the NRT. Contrary to expectations, level of trait anxiety was not related to interpretation biases, or the effect of ambiguous or threat information. In the threat group, but not the ambiguous group, two bias measures for generalised anxiety stories were associated with relative increase in FBQ ratings for the tagged animal, and a third bias measure for social anxiety stories was associated with NRT score. The associations held when controlling for gender, age, and trait anxiety, including trait anxiety used as a moderator variable. These findings support the view that verbal threat information is sufficient to induce fear of animals in children. Results are inconsistent with the current view that the effects of the verbal information pathway increase as a function of trait anxiety and that ambiguous verbal information can lead to increased fear responding. The evidence for bias – verbal threat associations suggests that future studies should examine their role in the verbal information pathway to fear and anxiety, and clarify the influence of various internalising and externalising psychopathologies beyond trait anxiety.</p>

How organisms come to know the world: fundamental limits on artificial general intelligence

Artificial intelligence has made tremendous advances since its inception about seventy years ago. Self-driving cars, programs beating experts at complex games, and smart robots capable of assisting people that need care are just some among the successful examples of machine intelligence. This kind of progress might entice us to envision a society populated by autonomous robots capable of performing the same tasks humans do in the near future. This prospect seems limited only by the power and complexity of current computational devices, which is improving fast. However, there are several significant obstacles on this path. General intelligence involves situational reasoning, taking perspectives, choosing goals, and an ability to deal with ambiguous information. We observe that all of these characteristics are connected to the ability of identifying and exploiting new affordances—opportunities (or impediments) on the path of an agent to achieve its goals. A general example of an affordance is the use of an object in the hands of an agent. We show that it is impossible to predefine a list of such uses. Therefore, they cannot be treated algorithmically. This means that “AI agents” and organisms differ in their ability to leverage new affordances. Only organisms can do this. This implies that true AGI is not achievable in the current algorithmic frame of AI research. It also has important consequences for the theory of evolution. We argue that organismic agency is strictly required for truly open-ended evolution through radical emergence. We discuss the diverse ramifications of this argument, not only in AI research and evolution, but also for the philosophy of science.

ANALYZING IMPLICATURES IN TALIWANG DIALECT

This study aims to analyze the types of implicature and flouting maxims and the reasons for doing the flouting in Taliwang Dialect. It applied the descriptive method with a qualitative approach. Data was collected by recording natural conversations among the natives of Taliwang Dialect. It was found two types of implicature, namely, Generalized Conversational Implicature (GCI) and Particularized Conversational Implicatures (PCI). In GCI, the speaker and interlocutor could easily understand the conveyed utterances because they mostly used general statements which are commonly spoken in the Taliwang dialect. In PCI, both speaker and the interlocutor needed a particular knowledge to understand each other because of the flouting maxim. Some speakers or hearers in PCI often break the maxim in a conversation due to some reasons such as accepting untrue or lie information, receiving more information than the needed information, getting irrelevant information and having unclear or ambiguous information.