This thesis is presented in three parts. Part I is composed of a literature review which considers whether impaired set shifting fulfills the major criteria for an endophenotype in restrictive eating disorders. Based on 22 studies, the review evaluates whether set-shifting is reliably associated with restrictive eating disorders, co-occurs with plausible behaviours and finally shows evidence of heritability and state independence. Throughout features of the study designs and methodological issues are considered. Part II is the empirical paper which reports on a quantitative study. The study investigates the evidence for impaired set-shifting, perfectionism and behavioural rigidity in children and adolescents with restrictive eating disorders compared to age, gender and IQ matched healthy control children. The empirical study included joint data collection with another thesis (see Pooni, 2010). The challenges associated with the measurement of set-shifting and the implications of the findings are discussed. Part III is the critical appraisal which addresses the key conceptual and pragmatic issues I encountered during the study. I provide my personal reflections on the research process with a view to offering essential guidelines for future neuropsychological research in the field ofchild and adolescent eating disorders.

Part 1: The Literature Review explores the association between Trait Emotional Intelligence (TEl) and emotion regulation (ER). Twenty-four studies met the review's inclusion criteria and their contributions to the TEl and ER literature are discussed. The studies suggest that high TEl is linked with a greater sensitivity to emotional information and enhanced ER ability. The review concludes that TEl may be an interesting and important concept for further investigation, especially in populations with ER difficulties. Part 2: The Empirical Paper explores the associations between TEl, ER difficulties, and mindfulness ability in those with and without a diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). TEl, ER difficulty, and mindfulness scores were found to be correlated for the entire sample. Individuals with a diagnosis of BPD reported statistically significantly lower TEl, greater difficulties in ER and reduced mindfulness skills compared to the Non-Clinical sample. The research and clinical implications of the study, along with its limitations, are discussed. Part 3: The Critical Appraisal reflects on the personal motivations for the research. In addition, process issues which arose from the research are discussed. Finally, in reference to the clinical implications of the study, further areas for investigation are considered and recommendations made.

The purpose of this thesis was to develop a model that predicts therapy outcome for children and adolescents who stutter, taking the independent variables of initial stuttering severity, self-esteem, anxiety, the psychosocial impact of stuttering, bullying, motor abilities and language abilities into account. In order to address these issues, three new instruments were developed and validated: (1) the Speech Questionnaire to assess the psychosocial impact of stuttering on the child’s life; (2) the Bullying Questionnaire to obtain information about stuttering related bullying; and (3) the MAMS Orofacial Assessment to assess orofacial abilities. Correlations between therapy outcome and the factors initial stuttering severity, language abilities, and orofacial abilities were found. These factors were used to design a predictive model. Relations of the findings to existing models are outlined. The knowledge obtained about the factors that influence therapy outcome may allow clinicians to tailor therapy programs individually towards the needs of the children. To obtain more information about the daily experiences of children who stutter during an intensive treatment a fourth questionnaire, the Daily Questionnaire was developed and validated. Results of a study with 19 participants during a three-week intensive treatment showed a significant relationship between the impact of other people on the previous day and the experience of general speaking abilities of the subsequent day. Furthermore, a correlation between emotions on the previous day and experience of own speaking abilities on the current day was found. Outcomes of the studies presented in relation to existing models are discussed and a new multi-factor model is presented.

Aims: This review aims to evaluate and synthesise previous research on set shifting in eating disorders in order to determine whether individuals with eating disorders have impaired set shifting. It also aims to determine whether set shifting difficulties are a risk factor for eating disorders or a consequence of starvation. Method: A summary and critique of the 13 papers specifically exploring set shifting in eating disorders is presented and followed by a synthesis of the results. Results: There is evidence for set shifting difficulties in Anorexia Nervosa (AN) and Bulimia Nervosa (BN) however no research has been conducted into Binge Eating Disorder (BED). This review suggests that starvation may have a mediating or maintaining role in neuropsychological impairments, rather than causing them per se. Increased set shifting impairments in recovered AN participants and genetic relatives suggest that set shifting difficulties may be a predisposing trait, increasing vulnerability to eating disorders. However, there are various methodological limitations (such as no power analyses to estimate required sample sizes) which are discussed and should be kept in mind. Conclusions: Although there is evidence for set shifting difficulties in AN and BN, the evidence is still very mixed and there is a need for use of consistent measures and clear reporting of findings with equal importance given to non-significant results.

Odours are first represented in the brain as spatiotemporal maps of activity in the olfactory bulb (OB). Imaging and electrophysiological studies have shown that these maps are both temporally and spatially complex and unique to each odour. Behavioural tasks that probe perceptual differences between odours suggest that odours that evoke similar spatial activity maps in the OB are perceived as similar. However, combination of lesion and behavioural experiments of either the olfactory epithelium or bulb has suggested that rodents can detect and discriminate between odours using minimal stimulus-related input. This has led to a consensus in the field that sensory inputs to the olfactory system contain significant redundant signal and that spatial activity maps are unnecessary for odour coding. The work presented here used a go/no-go behavioural paradigm to investigate the ability of mice not just to detect or discriminate odours after nasal epithelial lesion but also to recognise odours – which enables odour quality perception to be probed. Intrinsic optical imaging was used in the same animals, to observe changes in odour-evoked signals in the OB before and after lesion. The results revealed that even moderatechanges to intrinsic activity maps caused deficits in both odour discrimination and recognition, suggesting that perception of odour quality was significantly altered. Reduction in odour inputs could be equivalent to reducing the intensity of inputs, so alterations to odour quality perception after changes in odour concentration were also examined. Recognition scores were reduced when mice were presented with a familiar odour at an unfamiliar concentration, suggesting odour perception was also significantly altered by reduction of stimulus intensity. In order to determine whether reductions in recognition score caused by lesioning and change in odour concentration had different perceptual origins, mice were trained to generalise across odour concentrations and tested for recognition after lesion. This revealed that impaired recognition after lesion resulted, not from experiencing an altered odour concentration, but from perception of apparent novel odour qualities. Consistent with this, intrinsic imaging data revealed that relative intensity of glomerular activity following lesions was altered compared with maps recorded in shams or by varying odour concentration. Long-standing theories of sensory coding suggest that sensory systems actively match odours in the environment with stored stimulus templates. Odours familiar before lesioning were re-learnt more rapidly after lesioning than novel odours were learnt either before or after lesioning. This suggests that stored templates of familiar odours were compared to moderately altered incoming inputs and, with reinforcement, were rapidly incorporated into those templates. In all, this work suggests that odour quality perception requires comprehensive matching of input patterns to stored representations, suggesting that spatial activity maps are a crucial component of odour coding.

This thesis examines the transmission of traumatic war experiences from parents to their children in present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina. By interdisciplinary welding of psychoanalysis and anthropology, the thesis demonstrates that the experiences of the Bosnian-Herzegovina war (1992-1995) are recalled incoherently and are unsymbolized by the survivor parents. As such they are transmitted to the second generation as ungraspable fragments. The thesis suggests in detail how this transmission operates. It argues that in daily interaction between parents and children, children translate the ungraspable fragments coming in the form of bodily symptoms, acts of speech and artefacts into a comprehensive version of their parents’ biography. Ultimately, children reconstruct their family’s past in order to locate themselves in time and relationships, thus gaining the identity of a descendant of a particular family at a particular moment. The thesis uses data collected through family and individual semi-structured interviews, participant observation and informed interpretation of children’s drawings in 26 families of war survivors from Bosnia and Herzegovina. The overall goal of the thesis is to construct from the broken accounts of the survivor parents (Part I) a narrative of the war. The thesis also seeks to encourage further interdisciplinary examination of the dynamic interplay between the private and the social levels of transmission in order to connect what is transmitted within the family to what comes from outside of it.

Part 1 -A review of literature investigating the impact of individual differences in psychological variables on explicit memory for emotional stimuli. Twenty studies were identified in which at least one psychological variable was related to memory performance in relation to emotionally arousing stimuli. These variables were sexrelated traits, cognitive and emotional regulation strategies, trait anxiety, trait dissociation, Alexithymia, positive schizotypy and anhedonia. Overall, results were equivocal, with no variable being consistently associated with difference in memory of emotional stimuli. It is likely that the inconsistency in findings results from methodological problems. Part 2 -An investigation of the impact of schizotypy (psychosis-proneness) on memory for emotional stimuli. Memory of neutral and emotional information was assessed in 28 high and 39 low positive schizotypes. The emotional memory advantage seen in low schizotypes in free recall was absent in high schizotypes. The results suggest that emotional memory difficulties may identify individuals with a vulnerability to psychosis. This is a joint research project carried out with another trainee (Malcolm Scoales, project title: Facial affect recognition and attentional bias towards threat faces in schizotypy). Part 3 -A critical appraisal of the research process. Practical considerations and clinical implications are reflected on.

This volume contains three parts. Part 1 is a literature review. This systematically reviews evidence for maintenance factors of specific phobias in adults. The maintenance factors are derived from cognitive-behavioural models. The review includes studies which demonstrate that the maintenance factor has a causal influence on phobic symptoms. Part 2 is an empirical paper. This paper describes an exploratory study of intrusive mental imagery in adults with a specific phobia of vomiting. Information about the presence and nature of imagery was derived using quantitative semi-structured interviews. Imagery data was compared against severity of phobia data. The study also includes a single case experiment which investigates the effectiveness of imagery rescripting for phobia of vomiting. Part 3 is a critical appraisal. This paper provides reflections on the research process and an expanded discussion of the findings.

This thesis focuses on care staff responses to aggression, a common form of challenging behaviour, displayed by adults with learning disabilities. Part 1 is a literature review investigating factors influencing staff responses to aggression. Definitions of 'challenging behaviour', its prevalence, associated risk factors and costs are outlined. Search strategies used to identify relevant literature are specified and the results presented in four parts. Firstly, theories that have been used as a framework for understanding staff responses to challenging behaviour are listed. Secondly, studies using attribution theories as a way of making sense of challenging behaviour are discussed. Thirdly, studies on the impact of staff, service user and environmental factors on staff responses to these behaviours are presented. Fourthly, qualitative studies on staff experiences of aggression are outlined. The findings are then summarised and implications considered. Part 2 is an empirical study designed to address gaps raised in the literature review by examining the impact of gender on staff responses towards adults with learning disabilities who display aggressive behaviour. The lack of attention paid to gender in the field of learning disabilities is highlighted and literature stressing the impact of gender on people's perceptions and responses outside the field of learning disabilities is considered. The results are presented and followed by a discussion of the findings including study limitations and implications for future research and service delivery. Part 3 is a critical appraisal outlining the development of the study and difficulties encountered during the study. Measures of staff affective responses, attributions and behavioural intentions are then critically reviewed followed by suggestions regarding the most appropriate measures for future research.

This thesis is divided into three parts. Part one reviews research and theoretical literature exploring the role of shame in social phobia. The results indicate that high shame represents a core feature of social phobia. Whether shame derives from, or generates, social phobia remains unclear. Part two is an empirical paper which explores self-criticism in social phobia using a qualitative methodology. The results of the study identify six distinct categories of self-criticism which maintain social phobic symptoms through the lowering of self-efficacy. Part three provides a critical appraisal of the empirical study. A number of issues arising during the research are discussed including difficulties collecting the data, the implications of the findings in terms of the conceptualisation and treatment of social phobia, and the author's personal reflections upon the process of conducting the research.