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Garibbo M, Aylward J, Robinson OJ. The impact of threat of shock-induced anxiety on the neural substrates of memory encoding and retrieval. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2020; 14:1087-1096. [PMID: 31680142 PMCID: PMC6970151 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsz080] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/19/2018] [Revised: 07/23/2019] [Accepted: 09/09/2019] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Dysfunctional memory processes are widely reported in anxiety disorders, but the underlying neurocognitive mechanisms are unclear. Recent work shows that the impact of anxiety on memory depends on the context and memory modality. For instance, threat of shock, a translational within-subject anxiety induction, has been shown to impair the encoding of facial stimuli, while improving spatial working memory (WM) accuracy. The present study aimed to delineate the neural circuitry regulating these opposing behavioural effects. Thirty-three healthy volunteers performed the previously assessed facial recognition and a spatial WM tasks inside an fMRI scanner, under alternating within-subject conditions of threat or safe from shock across encoding and retrieval. Facial recognition impairments were replicated when threat was selectively induced at encoding. Neuroimaging results suggest that this effect was driven by increased competition for attentional resources within the anterior cingulate cortex, in which activation correlated positively with stress levels. The impact of threat on spatial WM performance did not, however, replicate in the fMRI environment. Nevertheless, state-dependent hippocampal activation was observed in both tasks. These findings suggest a neurocognitive mechanism by which anxiety impairs facial recognition as well as a state-dependent hippocampal activation pattern, which may putatively underline retrieval of negative experiences in anxiety.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michele Garibbo
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, WC1N 3AZ, London, United Kingdom
| | - Jessica Aylward
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, WC1N 3AZ, London, United Kingdom
| | - Oliver J Robinson
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, WC1N 3AZ, London, United Kingdom
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2
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Giannou K, Taylor JR, Lander K. Exploring the relationship between mindfulness, compassion and unfamiliar face identification. JOURNAL OF COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY 2020. [DOI: 10.1080/20445911.2020.1739693] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/10/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Kyriaki Giannou
- Faculty of Biology Medicine and Health, Division of Neuroscience and Experimental Psychology, The University of Manchester, Manchester United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
| | - Jason R. Taylor
- Faculty of Biology Medicine and Health, Division of Neuroscience and Experimental Psychology, The University of Manchester, Manchester United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
| | - Karen Lander
- Faculty of Biology Medicine and Health, Division of Neuroscience and Experimental Psychology, The University of Manchester, Manchester United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
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3
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Hopkins RF, Lyle KB. Image‐size disparity reduces difference detection in face matching. APPLIED COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY 2019. [DOI: 10.1002/acp.3586] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Robin F. Hopkins
- Department of Psychological and Brain SciencesUniversity of Louisville Louisville KY USA
| | - Keith B. Lyle
- Department of Psychological and Brain SciencesUniversity of Louisville Louisville KY USA
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4
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Abstract
We used the 7.5% carbon dioxide model of anxiety induction to investigate the effects of state anxiety on simple information processing. In both high- and low-anxious states, participants (n = 36) completed an auditory–visual matching task and a visual binary categorization task. The stimuli were either degraded or clear, so as to investigate whether the effects of anxiety are greater when signal clarity is compromised. Accuracy in the matching task was lower during CO2 inhalation and for degraded stimuli. In the categorization task, response times and indecision (measured using mouse trajectories) were greater during CO2 inhalation and for degraded stimuli. For most measures, we found no evidence of Gas × Clarity interactions. These data indicate that state anxiety negatively impacts simple information processing and do not support claims that anxiety may benefit performance in low-cognitively-demanding tasks. These findings have important implications for understanding the impact of state anxiety in real-world situations.
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5
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Jackson MC, Counter P, Tree JJ. Face working memory deficits in developmental prosopagnosia: Tests of encoding limits and updating processes. Neuropsychologia 2017; 106:60-70. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2017.09.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/14/2017] [Revised: 07/25/2017] [Accepted: 09/02/2017] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
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6
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White D, Rivolta D, Burton AM, Al-Janabi S, Palermo R. Face Matching Impairment in Developmental Prosopagnosia. Q J Exp Psychol (Hove) 2017; 70:287-297. [DOI: 10.1080/17470218.2016.1173076] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
Abstract
Developmental prosopagnosia (DP) is commonly referred to as ‘face blindness’, a term that implies a perceptual basis to the condition. However, DP presents as a deficit in face recognition and is diagnosed using memory-based tasks. Here, we test face identification ability in six people with DP, who are severely impaired on face memory tasks, using tasks that do not rely on memory. First, we compared DP to control participants on a standardized test of unfamiliar face matching using facial images taken on the same day and under standardized studio conditions ( Glasgow Face Matching Test; GFMT). Scores for DP participants did not differ from normative accuracy scores on the GFMT. Second, we tested face matching performance on a test created using images that were sourced from the Internet and so varied substantially due to changes in viewing conditions and in a person's appearance ( Local Heroes Test; LHT). DP participants showed significantly poorer matching accuracy on the LHT than control participants, for both unfamiliar and familiar face matching. Interestingly, this deficit is specific to ‘match’ trials, suggesting that people with DP may have particular difficulty in matching images of the same person that contain natural day-to-day variations in appearance. We discuss these results in the broader context of individual differences in face matching ability.
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Affiliation(s)
- David White
- School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Davide Rivolta
- School of Psychology, University of East London, London, UK
| | | | - Shahd Al-Janabi
- Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI, USA
| | - Romina Palermo
- ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, and School of Psychology, University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia
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Button KS, Karwatowska L, Kounali D, Munafò MR, Attwood AS. Acute anxiety and social inference: An experimental manipulation with 7.5% carbon dioxide inhalation. J Psychopharmacol 2016; 30:1036-46. [PMID: 27380750 PMCID: PMC5036074 DOI: 10.1177/0269881116653105] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/28/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Positive self-bias is thought to be protective for mental health. We previously found that the degree of positive bias when learning self-referential social evaluation decreases with increasing social anxiety. It is unclear whether this reduction is driven by differences in state or trait anxiety, as both are elevated in social anxiety; therefore, we examined the effects on the state of anxiety induced by the 7.5% carbon dioxide (CO2) inhalation model of generalised anxiety disorder (GAD) on social evaluation learning. METHODS For our study, 48 (24 of female gender) healthy volunteers took two inhalations (medical air and 7.5% CO2, counterbalanced) whilst learning social rules (self-like, self-dislike, other-like and other-dislike) in an instrumental social evaluation learning task. We analysed the outcomes (number of positive responses and errors to criterion) using the random effects Poisson regression. RESULTS Participants made fewer and more positive responses when breathing 7.5% CO2 in the other-like and other-dislike rules, respectively (gas × condition × rule interaction p = 0.03). Individuals made fewer errors learning self-like than self-dislike, and this positive self-bias was unaffected by CO2. Breathing 7.5% CO2 increased errors, but only in the other-referential rules (gas × condition × rule interaction p = 0.003). CONCLUSIONS Positive self-bias (i.e. fewer errors learning self-like than self-dislike) seemed robust to changes in state anxiety. In contrast, learning other-referential evaluation was impaired as state anxiety increased. This suggested that the previously observed variations in self-bias arise due to trait, rather than state, characteristics.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Lucy Karwatowska
- UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies, School of Experimental Psychology, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | - Daphne Kounali
- School of Social and Community Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | - Marcus R Munafò
- UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies, School of Experimental Psychology, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK,Integrative Epidemiology Unit, Medical Research Council, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | - Angela S Attwood
- UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies, School of Experimental Psychology, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK,Integrative Epidemiology Unit, Medical Research Council, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
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8
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Beattie L, Walsh D, McLaren J, Biello SM, White D. Perceptual impairment in face identification with poor sleep. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2016; 3:160321. [PMID: 27853547 PMCID: PMC5098972 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.160321] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/11/2016] [Accepted: 09/02/2016] [Indexed: 06/06/2023]
Abstract
Previous studies have shown impaired memory for faces following restricted sleep. However, it is not known whether lack of sleep impairs performance on face identification tasks that do not rely on recognition memory, despite these tasks being more prevalent in security and forensic professions-for example, in photo-ID checks at national borders. Here we tested whether poor sleep affects accuracy on a standard test of face-matching ability that does not place demands on memory: the Glasgow Face-Matching Task (GFMT). In Experiment 1, participants who reported sleep disturbance consistent with insomnia disorder show impaired accuracy on the GFMT when compared with participants reporting normal sleep behaviour. In Experiment 2, we then used a sleep diary method to compare GFMT accuracy in a control group to participants reporting poor sleep on three consecutive nights-and again found lower accuracy scores in the short sleep group. In both experiments, reduced face-matching accuracy in those with poorer sleep was not associated with lower confidence in their decisions, carrying implications for occupational settings where identification errors made with high confidence can have serious outcomes. These results suggest that sleep-related impairments in face memory reflect difficulties in perceptual encoding of identity, and point towards metacognitive impairment in face matching following poor sleep.
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Affiliation(s)
- Louise Beattie
- School of Psychology, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK
| | - Darragh Walsh
- School of Psychology, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK
| | | | | | - David White
- School of Psychology, UNSW Australia, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
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9
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Itz ML, Golle J, Luttmann S, Schweinberger SR, Kaufmann JM. Dominance of texture over shape in facial identity processing is modulated by individual abilities. Br J Psychol 2016; 108:369-396. [DOI: 10.1111/bjop.12199] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/22/2015] [Revised: 03/25/2016] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Marlena L. Itz
- Department of General Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience; Friedrich Schiller University of Jena; Germany
| | - Jessika Golle
- Hector Research Institute of Education Sciences and Psychology; Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen; Germany
| | - Stefanie Luttmann
- Department of General Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience; Friedrich Schiller University of Jena; Germany
| | - Stefan R. Schweinberger
- Department of General Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience; Friedrich Schiller University of Jena; Germany
- DFG Research Unit Person Perception; Friedrich Schiller University of Jena; Germany
| | - Jürgen M. Kaufmann
- Department of General Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience; Friedrich Schiller University of Jena; Germany
- DFG Research Unit Person Perception; Friedrich Schiller University of Jena; Germany
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10
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Fluharty ME, Attwood AS, Munafò MR. Anxiety sensitivity and trait anxiety are associated with response to 7.5% carbon dioxide challenge. J Psychopharmacol 2016; 30:182-7. [PMID: 26561530 PMCID: PMC4724859 DOI: 10.1177/0269881115615105] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
The 7.5% carbon dioxide (CO2) inhalation model is used to provoke acute anxiety, for example to investigate the effects of anxiety on cognitive processes, or the efficacy of novel anxiolytic agents. However, little is known about the relationship of baseline anxiety sensitivity or trait anxiety (i.e., anxiety proneness), with an individual's response to the 7.5% CO2 challenge. We examined data from a number of 7.5% CO2 challenge studies to determine whether anxiety proneness was related to subjective or physiological response. Our findings indicate anxiety proneness is associated with greater subjective and physiological responses. However, anxiety-prone individuals also have a greater subjective response to the placebo (medical air) condition. This suggests that anxiety-prone individuals not only respond more strongly to the 7.5% CO2 challenge, but also to medical air. Implications for the design and conduct of 7.5% CO2 challenge studies are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Meg E Fluharty
- MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit (IEU) at the University of Bristol, Bristol, UK UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies, School of Experimental Psychology, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | - Angela S Attwood
- MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit (IEU) at the University of Bristol, Bristol, UK,UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies, School of Experimental Psychology, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | - Marcus R Munafò
- MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit (IEU) at the University of Bristol, Bristol, UK,UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies, School of Experimental Psychology, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
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11
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Alenezi HM, Bindemann M, Fysh MC, Johnston RA. Face matching in a long task: enforced rest and desk-switching cannot maintain identification accuracy. PeerJ 2015; 3:e1184. [PMID: 26312179 PMCID: PMC4548491 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.1184] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/04/2014] [Accepted: 07/23/2015] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
In face matching, observers have to decide whether two photographs depict the same person or different people. This task is not only remarkably difficult but accuracy declines further during prolonged testing. The current study investigated whether this decline in long tasks can be eliminated with regular rest-breaks (Experiment 1) or room-switching (Experiment 2). Both experiments replicated the accuracy decline for long face-matching tasks and showed that this could not be eliminated with rest or room-switching. These findings suggest that person identification in applied settings, such as passport control, might be particularly error-prone due to the long and repetitive nature of the task. The experiments also show that it is difficult to counteract these problems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hamood M Alenezi
- School of Psychology, University of Kent , UK ; Department of Education and Psychology, Northern Borders University , KSA
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12
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Curtis GJ, Russ A, Ackland C. More Inaccurate But Not More Biased: Anxiety During Encoding Impairs Face Recognition Accuracy But Does Not Moderate the Own-Ethnicity Bias. APPLIED COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY 2015. [DOI: 10.1002/acp.3138] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
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13
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Attwood AS, Catling JC, Kwong ASF, Munafò MR. Effects of 7.5% carbon dioxide (CO2) inhalation and ethnicity on face memory. Physiol Behav 2015; 147:97-101. [PMID: 25890273 PMCID: PMC4465959 DOI: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2015.04.027] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/29/2014] [Revised: 04/10/2015] [Accepted: 04/13/2015] [Indexed: 12/03/2022]
Abstract
The ability to accurately verify facial identity has important forensic implications, but this ability is fallible. Research suggests that anxiety at the time of encoding can impair subsequent recall, but no studies have investigated the effects of anxiety at the time of recall in an experimental paradigm. This study addresses this gap using the carbon dioxide (CO2) model of anxiety induction. Thirty participants completed two inhalations: one of 7.5% CO2-enriched air and one of medical air (i.e., placebo). Prior to each inhalation, participants were presented with 16 facial images (50% own-ethnicity, 50% other-ethnicity). During the inhalation they were required to identify which faces had been seen before from a set of 32 images (16 seen-before and 16 novel images). Identification accuracy was lower during CO2 inhalation compared to air (F[1,29] = 5.5, p = .026, ηp2 = .16), and false alarm rate was higher for other-ethnicity faces compared to own-ethnicity faces (F[1,29] = 11.3, p = .002, ηp2 = .28). There was no evidence of gas by ethnicity interactions for accuracy or false alarms (ps > .34). Ratings of decision confidence did not differ by gas condition, suggesting that participants were unaware of differences in performance. These findings suggest that anxiety, at the point of recognition, impairs facial identification accuracy. This has substantial implications for eyewitness memory situations, and suggests that efforts should be made to attenuate the anxiety in these situations in order to improve the validity of identification. Use of carbon dioxide challenge to investigate acute anxiety effects on face memory Investigation of the “own-ethnicity” effect and its interaction with acute anxiety Results show decreased accuracy for face memory during acutely anxious states. Results show increased false identifications when viewing other ethnicity faces. Efforts should be made to attenuate anxiety in eye witness situations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Angela S Attwood
- MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit (IEU) at the University of Bristol, United Kingdom; UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies, University of Bristol, United Kingdom; School of Experimental Psychology, University of Bristol, United Kingdom.
| | - Jon C Catling
- School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, United Kingdom
| | - Alex S F Kwong
- MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit (IEU) at the University of Bristol, United Kingdom; UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies, University of Bristol, United Kingdom; School of Experimental Psychology, University of Bristol, United Kingdom
| | - Marcus R Munafò
- MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit (IEU) at the University of Bristol, United Kingdom; UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies, University of Bristol, United Kingdom; School of Experimental Psychology, University of Bristol, United Kingdom
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14
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Gittins CB, Paterson HM, Sharpe L. How does immediate recall of a stressful event affect psychological response to it? J Behav Ther Exp Psychiatry 2015; 46:19-26. [PMID: 25173079 DOI: 10.1016/j.jbtep.2014.07.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/15/2012] [Revised: 07/18/2014] [Accepted: 07/21/2014] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES In forensic settings, individuals who experience a traumatic event are often encouraged to recall it soon afterwards to preserve their memory for it. Some theories of the development of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) suggest that this may increase psychopathology. The primary aim of the study was to examine the effect of immediate recall of a trauma analogue video on psychopathology. METHOD Eighty-five undergraduate students were randomised to view a video of a car accident, described as either a real event (high stress) or training event (low stress). They then completed either the Self-Administered Interview (SAI©, Gabbert, Hope, & Fisher, 2009) or a filler task. All participants returned one week later to provide an account of the event. RESULTS As predicted, participants in the SAI early recall task condition remembered the video content better one week after seeing the video, shown both by their greater recall of correct details and greater rejection of misinformation. However, completing the SAI resulted in higher anxiety immediately afterwards, and more severe PTSD-like symptoms one week later, compared to control condition. PTSD intrusion-like symptoms also predicted more accurate recall, while avoidance predicted poorer memory. LIMITATIONS While the trauma analogue video used in this study has been previously used, and did effectively trigger post-traumatic-like symptoms, it is unclear how well these results generalise to actual trauma situations. CONCLUSIONS These results suggest the relationship between PTSD symptoms and memory might be more complex than previously recognised, with intrusive phenomena possibly promoting memory and avoidance symptoms compromising memory.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Helen M Paterson
- School of Psychology, The University of Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia.
| | - Louise Sharpe
- School of Psychology, The University of Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia.
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15
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Nakashima SF, Morimoto Y, Takano Y, Yoshikawa S, Hugenberg K. Faces in the dark: interactive effects of darkness and anxiety on the memory for threatening faces. Front Psychol 2014; 5:1091. [PMID: 25324803 PMCID: PMC4183089 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01091] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/26/2014] [Accepted: 09/09/2014] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
In the current research, we extend past work on the effects of ambient darkness and threat to the domain of memory for expressive faces. In one study, we examined the effects of ambient darkness and individual differences in state anxiety on memory of unfamiliar expressive faces. Here, participants were seated in either a dark or light room and encoded a set of unfamiliar faces with angry, happy, and neutral facial expressions. A subsequent recognition task revealed an interactive effect of ambient darkness, anxiety, and target expression. Highly anxious participants in ambient darkness had worse memory for angry faces than did low-anxiety participants. On the other hand, the recognition performance for happy faces was affected neither by the darkness nor state anxiety. The results suggest not only that ambient darkness has its strongest effect on anxious perceivers, but also that person × situation effects should be considered in face recognition research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Satoshi F Nakashima
- Human Information Science Laboratory, NTT Communication Science Laboratories Atsugi, Japan ; CREST, Japan Science and Technology Agency Atsugi, Japan
| | - Yuko Morimoto
- Department of Evolutionary Studies of Biosystems, School of Advanced Sciences, The Graduate University for Advanced Studies Hayama, Japan
| | - Yuji Takano
- Human Information Science Laboratory, NTT Communication Science Laboratories Atsugi, Japan ; CREST, Japan Science and Technology Agency Atsugi, Japan
| | | | - Kurt Hugenberg
- Department of Psychology, Miami University Oxford, OH, USA
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16
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Meconi F, Luria R, Sessa P. Individual differences in anxiety predict neural measures of visual working memory for untrustworthy faces. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2014; 9:1872-9. [PMID: 24493843 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nst189] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
When facing strangers, one of the first evaluations people perform is to implicitly assess their trustworthiness. However, the underlying processes supporting trustworthiness appraisal are poorly understood. We hypothesized that visual working memory (VWM) maintains online face representations that are sensitive to physical cues of trustworthiness, and that differences among individuals in representing untrustworthy faces are associated with individual differences in anxiety. Participants performed a change detection task that required encoding and maintaining for a short interval the identity of one face parametrically manipulated to be either trustworthy or untrustworthy. The sustained posterior contralateral negativity (SPCN), an event-related component (ERP) time-locked to the onset of the face, was used to index the resolution of face representations in VWM. Results revealed greater SPCN amplitudes for trustworthy faces when compared with untrustworthy faces, indicating that VWM is sensitive to physical cues of trustworthiness, even in the absence of explicit trustworthiness appraisal. In addition, differences in SPCN amplitude between trustworthy and untrustworthy faces correlated with participants' anxiety, indicating that healthy college students with sub-clinical high anxiety levels represented untrustworthy faces in greater detail compared with students with sub-clinical low anxiety levels. This pattern of findings is discussed in terms of the high flexibility of aversive/avoidance and appetitive/approach motivational systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Federica Meconi
- Department of Developmental and Social Psychology, University of Padova, 35131 Padova, Italy, and Psychology Department, Tel Aviv University, 69978 Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - Roy Luria
- Department of Developmental and Social Psychology, University of Padova, 35131 Padova, Italy, and Psychology Department, Tel Aviv University, 69978 Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - Paola Sessa
- Department of Developmental and Social Psychology, University of Padova, 35131 Padova, Italy, and Psychology Department, Tel Aviv University, 69978 Tel Aviv, Israel
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17
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McIntyre AH, Hancock PJB, Kittler J, Langton SRH. Improving Discrimination and Face Matching with Caricature. APPLIED COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY 2013. [DOI: 10.1002/acp.2966] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Alex H. McIntyre
- Psychology, School of Natural Science; University of Stirling; Stirling UK
| | | | - Josef Kittler
- Centre for Vision, Speech and Signal Processing, Faculty of Engineering & Physical Sciences; University of Surrey; Surrey UK
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