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(2013)Journal ArticleThe aim of the current study was to examine cognitive and psychological factors hypothesized to affect responding to intrusions in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). A group of individuals diagnosed with OCD was compared to a social phobia (SP) group and a nonclinical control group. Participants performed neuropsychological tasks, completed selfreport measures, and engaged in a self-relevant thought suppression task. The OCD group demonstrated worse working memory and response inhibition and had increased intrusions during the suppression task relative to comparison groups. They also reported more distress during the task relative to the nonclinical group, but not the SP group. Regression analyses revealed that beliefs about thought control failures, but not working memory or response inhibition, was associated with increased frequency of intrusions and greater distress during suppression. Findings support cognitive-behavioural models of OCD that emphasize the role of meta-beliefs in explaining the struggle with obsessional thoughts.
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(2013)Journal ArticleBackground and Objectives: Thought-action fusion (TAF), or maladaptive cognitions regarding the relationship between mental events and behaviours, has been implicated in the development and maintenance of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). As some religions promote TAF-like appraisals, it has been proposed that religiosity may play a role in the transformation of normally occurring intrusive thoughts into clinically distressing obsessions. No research, however, has experimentally investigated the mediating role of TAF on the relationship between religiosity and OC symptoms. Methods: 85 Christian, Jewish, and Atheist/Agnostic participants were exposed to an experimental thought-induction protocol and reported on their associated levels of distress, guilt, feelings of responsibility, and urge to suppress target intrusions experienced during a 5-minute monitoring period. Participants also completed measures of obsessive-compulsive symptomatology, TAF beliefs, and general psychopathology. Results: Using PROCESS and bootstrapping analyses, a test of the conditional indirect effects of religiosity on obsessive-compulsive symptoms revealed that Christianity moderated the effects of religiosity on moral TAF beliefs, which in turn mediated the relationship between religiosity and obsessive-compulsive symptoms. Furthermore, in the Christian group, moral TAF beliefs mediated the relationship between religiosity and ratings of guilt and responsibility following the experimental protocol. Limitations: The use of university students with moderate levels of religiosity. Conclusions: Collectively the results suggest that obsessional thinking is not attributable to religion per se, but that teachings underlying certain religious doctrines may fuel TAF beliefs that are implicated in the maintenance of OCD.
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(2010)Journal ArticleStudy 1 evaluated the psychometric properties of the English version of the Thought Control Ability Questionnaire (TCAQ; Luciano, Algarabel, Tomás, & Martínez, 2005), an index of perceived control over intrusive cognitions. Confirmatory factor analysis in a sample of 720 University students revealed a clear uni-dimensional structure (after removal of items 5, 7, 8, 14, and 25) with high internal consistency (α = .87, 95% CI = [.86, .88]) and test-retest reliability after a six month interval (r = .68). Correlational analyses supported an inverse relationship with measures of depression, anxiety, maladaptive cognitive control strategies, and obsessive–compulsive symptomatology. Study 2 tested the ability of the TCAQ to predict successful cognitive control during an experimental suppression protocol. Results demonstrated that weak thought control ability was predictive of the frequency and associated levels of distress of a target thought while under instruction to suppress. Additionally, weak perceived thought control ability was predictive of increased efforts to suppress the target material. Collectively, results suggest that thought control ability is a measurable individual difference variable and that the TCAQ is a reliable index of perceived cognitive control.
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(2007)Journal ArticleDespite substantial evidence of the detrimental effects of ruminative self-focus, paradoxically (as noted and reviewed by Watkins, 2004) there are clear suggestions that under some circumstances self-focused attention can actually promote well-being and confer benefits. We sought to replicate the findings of Watkins (2004) that adopting an abstract/analytical mode of processing following a negative event results in increased spontaneous intrusions of the event; i.e., results in poor emotional processing. In the current study 57 low (BDI-II ≤ 7) and 59 high (BDI-II ≥ 12) dysphoric undergraduate participants viewed a 4 min. emotion-eliciting video, were randomly assigned to an analytical, experiential, or distraction processing condition, then monitored the frequency of video-related intrusions. Results indicated the effectiveness of the video in inducing moderately distressing intrusions, and suggest that the hypothesized effects of ruminative self-focus on intrusion severity may be dependent upon the self-referential nature of the material to be processed. Results did support previous findings (Williams & Moulds, 2007) that intrusion-related distress is not merely a function of intrusion frequency. Directions for future investigations of the cognitive processes that are important in the maintenance of depressive disorders are discussed.
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(2010)Journal ArticleThe current study sought to experimentally assess the differential effects of analytical ruminative processing and distraction on the experience of self-referent naturally occurring intrusive memories in a sample of dysphoric (BDI-II ≥ 12) participants. Seventy seven undergraduate participants completed a memory interview to elicit details about a self-referential intrusion and were randomly assigned to either an analytical rumination or distraction condition. Subsequent to the rumination induction, participants rated their intrusive memory as more negative, more distressing, and more evocative of a negative emotional response compared to participants who were allocated to the distraction induction. Inducing analytical rumination also resulted in participants reporting worse (i.e., more sad) mood relative to those in the distraction condition. The findings align with the suggestion that depressed individuals may get caught up in a ruminative cycle that, due to the documented effects of analytical self-focus, exacerbate the emotional response elicited by intrusions and perpetuate biased attentional focus on them. Directions for future investigations of the cognitive processes that are important in the maintenance of intrusions in depressive disorders are discussed.
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(2008)Journal ArticleThe current study attempted to experimentally manipulate mode of recall (field, observer perspective) in a sample of mildly dysphoric participants (N = 134) who reported a distressing intrusive memory of negative autobiographical event. Specifically, the current study sought to ascertain whether shifting participants into a converse perspective would have differential effects on the reported experience of their memory. Results indicated that shifting participants from a field to an observer perspective resulted in decreased experiential ratings; specifically, reduced distress and vividness. Also, as anticipated, the converse shift in perspective (from observer to field) did not lead to a corresponding increase in experiential ratings, but did result in reduced ratings of observation and a trend was observed for decreased levels of detachment. The findings support the notion that recall perspective has a functional role in the regulation of intrusion-related distress and represents a cognitive avoidance mechanism.
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(2008)Journal ArticleRecent research has demonstrated that intrusive negative autobiographical memories represent a shared phenomenological feature of PTSD and depression. A preliminary investigation (Starr & Moulds, 2006) successfully applied a cognitive appraisal model of PTSD to the maintenance of intrusive memories in depression. The current investigation sought to replicate and extend these findings. Two hundred and fifty first-year undergraduate students were interviewed to assess for the presence of a negative autobiographical memory that had spontaneously intruded in the past week. Participants completed self-report inventories assessing trait and situational employment of cognitive avoidance mechanisms in response to these memories. Consistent with Starr and Moulds (2006), intrusion-related distress correlated with dysphoria, irrespective of intrusion frequency. Assigning negative appraisals to one’s intrusive memory and attempts to control the memory were positively associated with intrusion-related distress, level of depression, and cognitive avoidance mechanisms. Additionally, negative appraisals and control influenced the employment rumination as an avoidant response to a greater degree than the corresponding trait tendency. Finally, negative appraisals and the use of cognitive mechanisms was predictive of depression concurrently. The results support the validity of borrowing from PTSD models to elucidate the cognitive mechanisms that maintain intrusive memories in depressed samples.
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(2002)ThesisThis thesis examines reading performance in Filipino, a language that has received scant psycholinguistic attention, in an attempt to identify which linguistic properties influence sensitivity to particular sublexical units. In so doing, questions are addressed about the transfer of sublexical reading strategies from first language to second language. The presented stimuli were always physically broken up at different boundaries in order to determine sublexical preferences. Few differences were found between the monosyllabic English word processing of native Filipino and native English speakers. Instead, results from lexical decision experiments (LDT) pointed to an effect of onset sonority for both groups regardless of whether the onsets occurred in word or syllable initial position (Experiments 1, 2, 5, 6). This was interpreted as a phonological effect, particularly since it disappeared under concurrent articulation (Experiment 4). When a naming task was used (Experiment 3), results consistent with those of the lexical decision task were found only for nonword items, suggesting that sonority effects emerge at a sublexical level. Subsequent experiments focused on disyllabic word processing and found consistent language group differences. Lexical decision (7, 8, 9, 12, 15) and naming (10, 13) experiments found that a "maximal onset principle" of syllabification was more prominent in the Filipino and English reading strategies of Filipino speakers compared to a "maximal coda principle", though this preference was modulated by syllable stress (Experiments 7-10, 12, 13). Such effects disappeared when concurrent articulation was present (Experiments 11, 14), suggesting a phonological basis. Native English speakers consistently favoured a maximal coda analysis in their processing of English words (Experiments 8, 12, 15). No effects of syllable stress were found in LDT. They did emerge, however, in the naming task (Experiment 13), suggesting that native English speakers exploit phonological syllable units when overt pronunciation is required. Experiments 15, 16, and 17 investigated the sensitivity of Filipino speakers to variations in vowel quality, a feature that is found in English but not Filipino. It was concluded that the extent to which Filipino speakers are sensitive to a phonological property is largely determined by whether it features in their native language.