Disentangling cognitive processes in externalizing psychopathology using drift diffusion modeling: Antagonism, but not disinhibition, is associated with poor cognitive control

A Diffusion Model Account of Cognitive Variability in Healthy Aging and Mild Cognitive Impairment

Within-person variation in cognitive performance is linked to pathological aging. Cognitive fluctuations have not been analyzed using cognitive process models, such as the diffusion model, to characterize which cognitive processes contribute to variability in cognition. We collected 21 daily assessments of attention and personality in younger adults, healthy older adults, and those with mild cognitive impairment. We employed mixed-effects location scale models to analyze group differences on mean diffusion parameters and daily variability. Discussion focuses on how these methods extend our understanding of how cognitive deficits might appear in aging and disease and the moderating influence of daily personality.

Impulsive adolescents exhibit inefficient processing and a low decision threshold when decoding facial expressions of emotions

BACKGROUND

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a debilitating psychiatric illness whose symptoms frequently emerge during adolescence. Critically, self-injury and suicide attempts in BPD are often precipitated by interpersonal discord. Initial studies in adults suggest that the interpersonal difficulties common in BPD may emerge from disrupted processing of socioemotional stimuli. Less is known about these processes in adolescents with BPD symptoms, despite substantial changes in socioemotional processing during this developmental period.

METHODS

Eighty-six adolescents and young adults with and without BPD symptoms completed an emotional interference task involving the identification of a facial emotion expression in the presence of a conflicting or congruent emotion word. We used hierarchical drift diffusion modeling to index speed of processing and decision boundary. Using Bayesian multilevel regression, we characterized age-related differences in facial emotion processing. We examined whether BPD symptom dimensions were associated with alterations in facial emotion processing. To determine the specificity of our effects, we analyzed behavioral data from a corresponding nonemotional interference task.

RESULTS

Emotion-related impulsivity, but not negative affectivity or interpersonal dysfunction, predicted inefficient processing when presented with conflicting negative emotional stimuli. Across both tasks, emotion-related impulsivity in adolescents, but not young adults, was further associated with a lower decision boundary - resulting in fast but inaccurate decisions.

CONCLUSION

Impulsive adolescents with BPD symptoms are prone to making errors when appraising facial emotion expressions, which may potentiate or worsen interpersonal conflicts. Our findings highlight the role of lower-level social cognitive processes in interpersonal difficulties among vulnerable youth during a sensitive developmental window.

Psychometrics of drift-diffusion model parameters derived from the Eriksen flanker task: Reliability and validity in two independent samples

The flanker task is a widely used measure of cognitive control abilities. Drift-diffusion modeling of flanker task behavior can yield separable parameters of cognitive control-related subprocesses, but the parameters' psychometrics are not well-established. We examined the reliability and validity of four behavioral measures: (1) raw accuracy, (2) reaction time (RT) interference, (3) NIH Toolbox flanker score, and (4) two drift-diffusion model (DDM) parameters-drift rate and boundary separation-capturing evidence accumulation efficiency and speed-accuracy trade-off, respectively. Participants from two independent studies - one cross-sectional (N = 381) and one with three timepoints (N = 83) - completed the flanker task while electroencephalography data were collected. Across both studies, drift rate and boundary separation demonstrated comparable split-half and test-retest reliability to accuracy, RT interference, and NIH Toolbox flanker score, but better incremental convergent validity with psychophysiological measures (i.e., the error-related negativity; ERN) and neuropsychological measures of cognitive control than the other behavioral indices. Greater drift rate (i.e., faster and more accurate responses) to congruent and incongruent stimuli, and smaller boundary separation to incongruent stimuli were related to 1) larger ERN amplitudes (in both studies) and 2) faster and more accurate inhibition and set-shifting over and above raw accuracy, reaction time, and NIH Toolbox flanker scores (in Study 1). Computational models, such as DDM, can parse behavioral performance into subprocesses that exhibit comparable reliability to other scoring approaches, but more meaningful relationships with other measures of cognitive control. The application of these computational models may be applied to existing data and enhance the identification of cognitive control deficits in psychiatric disorders.

Impulsive adolescents exhibit inefficient processing and a low decision threshold when decoding facial expressions of emotions

Background

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a debilitating psychiatric illness whose symptoms frequently emerge during adolescence. Initial studies in adults suggest that the interpersonal difficulties common in BPD may emerge from disrupted processing of social and emotional stimuli. Less is known about these processes in adolescents with BPD symptoms, despite substantial changes in socioemotional processing during this developmental period.

Methods

86 adolescents and young adults with and without BPD symptoms completed an emotional interference task involving the identification of a facial emotion expression in the presence of a conflicting or congruent emotion word. We used hierarchical drift diffusion modeling to index speed of processing and decision boundary. Using Bayesian multilevel regression, we characterized age-related differences in facial emotion processing. We then examined whether BPD symptom dimensions were associated with facial emotion processing on this task. To determine the specificity of our effects, we analyzed behavioral data from a corresponding nonemotional interference task.

Results

Impulsivity, but not negative affectivity or interpersonal dysfunction, predicted inefficient processing when presented with conflicting negative emotional stimuli. Across both tasks, impulsivity in adolescents was further associated with a lower decision boundary. Impulsive adolescents were especially likely to make fast, but inaccurate decisions about another person's emotional state.

Conclusion

Impulsive adolescents with BPD symptoms are prone to making errors when appraising facial expressions of emotions, which may potentiate or worsen interpersonal conflicts. Our findings highlight the role of lower-level social cognitive processes in interpersonal difficulties among vulnerable youth during a sensitive developmental window.

Gazing the dusty mirror: Joint effect of narcissism and sadism on workplace incivility via indirect effect of paranoia, antagonism, and emotional intelligence

Workplace productivity is badly affected by many negative factors such as narcissism, and sadism. In addition, paranoia and antagonism play an important role in increasing workplace incivility. Through emotional intelligence, such negative behaviors could be addressed by managers and their junior colleagues. The current study aims to investigate the parallel mediating role of paranoia, antagonism, and emotional intelligence on the relationship between narcissism, sadism, and workplace incivility. A survey approach was used. Primary data was collected in PLS-SEM. The population of the study was all faculty members in higher education institutions in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (Pakistan) region. A measurement model and structural model were developed. The measurement model demonstrated that convergent and discriminant validities were established. The structural model's findings revealed that narcissism, antagonism, and emotional intelligence were not mediated between narcissism and workplace incivility. Similarly, emotional intelligence did not play any mediating role between sadism and workplace incivility. This implied that emotional intelligence has no role in decreasing or reducing workplace uncivil behavior.

Explanatory personality science in the neuroimaging era: The map is not the territory

The recent rise of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has led to a proliferation of studies that seek to link individual differences in personality directly to their neural correlates. These studies function to describe personality at a lower level of analysis, but they do little to advance the field's understanding of the causal mechanisms that give rise to personality traits. To transition to a more explanatory personality neuroscience, researchers should strive to conduct theory-driven empirical studies that bridge multiple levels of analysis. Effectively doing so will require a continued reliance on rich description, strong theories, large samples, and careful behavioral experimentation. Integrating these components will lead to more robust and informative studies of personality neuroscience that help to move the field closer to explaining the causal sources of individual differences.