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Executive functioning (EF) problems may serve as vulnerability or maintenance factors for Binge-Eating Disorder (BED). However, it is unclear if EF problems observed in BED are related to overweight status or BED status. The current study extends this literature by examining EF in overweight-BED (n=32), normal-weight BED (n=23), overweight healthy controls (n=48), and normal-weight healthy controls (n=48). Participants were administered an EF battery which utilized tests from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) toolkit and Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System (D-KEFS). After controlling for years of education and minority status, overweight individuals with and without BED performed more poorly than normal-weight individuals with and without BED on a task of cognitive flexibility (p < 0.01) requiring generativity and speed and on psychomotor performance tasks (p < 0.01). Normal-weight and overweight BED performed worse on working memory tasks compared to normal-weight healthy controls (p = 0.04). Unexpectedly, normal-weight BED individuals out-performed all other groups on an inhibitory control task (ps < 0.01). No significant differences were found between the four groups on tasks of planning. Our findings support a link between poorer working memory performance and BED status. Additionally, overweight status is associated with poorer psychomotor performance and cognitive inflexibility. Replication of the finding that normal-weight BED is associated with enhanced inhibitory control is needed. / Psychology

Objective: Parenting behaviors such as parental psychological control and rejection play a role in the development and maintenance of childhood anxiety. The current study examined the potential moderating role of family functioning in the relationship between parenting behavior (i.e., youth-perceived maternal involvement; autonomy granting) and youth anxiety symptoms. The study also examined the moderating role of youth characteristics (age; comorbid symptoms) and maternal symptoms in the relationship between parenting/family factors and youth anxiety. Method: Participants were mothers and 88 youth (ages 6 to 17 years) who met DSM-IV-TR criteria for an anxiety disorder. Parenting/family variables and youth and maternal symptoms were measured using semi-structured diagnostic interviews and parent- and child-reports. Results: Regression analyses indicated that youth perceived maternal autonomy granting, but not parental involvement, was inversely associated with youth self-reported anxiety. Mother-reported family dysfunction was associated with mother-reported youth anxiety. Youth age, depressive symptoms, emotion dysregulation, and maternal anxiety and depressive symptoms were found to be significant moderators of the relationship between parenting behavior and child anxiety. Family dysfunction did not play a significant moderating role in the relationship between parenting behavior and child anxiety. Discussion: Clinical implications of the findings are discussed. / Psychology

Yes / Previous research has suggested that older adults who are more cognitively active in later life show an attenuation in cognitive decline in healthy aging. Furthermore, cognitive intervention studies have indicated that ecologically valid cognitive interventions can promote cognitive functioning but only in taskspecific abilities. Since it has been shown that the art of self‐testing can promote metacognitive awareness in older adults, attempting cryptic crosswords may be used as a cognitive intervention for older adults. In Experiments 1 and 2, a questionnaire technique was used and demonstrated that older adults became more aware of their episodic memory deficits after attempting cryptic crossword clues. Based on this, Experiment 3 used an intervention technique over a six‐week period to investigate whether such awareness enabled older adults to improve cognitive functioning in a number of domains. This experiment used a revolutionary within‐subjects technique to control for potential mediating factors. The results supported previous research in that older adults showed an increase in the monitoring pathway of metacognition but were unable to use this enhanced awareness to change their behaviour when undertaking objective tests of cognitive ability. Post‐hoc analysis highlighted subgroups of older adults who showed improvements in certain cognitive abilities, such as episodic memory functioning and judgement of learning abilities. The standard clinical trial technique might be inappropriate when testing either cognitive interventions or pharmacological tests. The within‐subjects approach could be adapted to investigate follow‐up effects of different types of interventions including ecologically valid cognitive interventions. / Harold Hyman Wingate Foundation