Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / Mental disorders have an important socio-economic impact on the world. Among the different types of mental disorders, anxiety ones are among the most prevalent, being that social anxiety disorder (SAD) stands out as one of the most limiting anxiety disorders for individuals and is associated with poor academic performance, which directly impacts university students. In addition, your treatment is still a challenge. Alternative treatments considered effective, such as meditation, are often inaccessible to lots of people, especially for students. An interesting alternative came in the attempt to resolve this issue, the Natural Stress Relief (NSR) meditation, via a simple and self-administered program, in a more accessible way. Therefore, the aims of this study were to evaluate the effect of NSR meditation on anxiety of university students with SAD. For that, we selected university students of both sexes, diagnosed with SAD by SPIN. The volunteers were allocated to one of two groups: NSR (n = 18) or Waiting list (n = 18). NSR group individuals performed two sessions per day of NSR meditation (15 min per session) during four weeks, in which first and last sessions were performed in the Laboratório de Fisiologia do Comportamento. Individuals belonging waiting list group did not practice any technique. All volunteers had their general symptoms of anxiety and social anxiety symptoms assessed by the hospital scale of anxiety and depression (HADS-A) and SPIN, respectively. Levels of state anxiety were also evaluated by the numerical tension scale (NTS), the state-trait anxiety inventory (STAI), and physiological indicators records (electromyographic gastrocnemius muscle activity, heart rate, temperature of extremity and skin conductance); and trait anxiety levels were assessed by the trait subscale of the STAI. In addition, One day after last session, volunteers were individually submitted to a social anxiety induction test. Data were analyzed by means of appropriate statistical tests. The results showed that the practice of NSR meditation reduced trait anxiety levels after four weeks (STAI-T); reduced weekly general anxiety symptoms (HADS-A) and social anxiety symptoms (SPIN); and reduced subjective levels of state anxiety (STAI-S and NTS) after the first and last session, but no changes were observed in the physiological indicators of anxiety. In addition, data analysis revealed that four weeks of meditative practice were not sufficient to prevent changes in levels of state anxiety (STAI-S, NTS and physiological indicators) elicited by a social anxiety induction test. At the end of the fourth week, most of NSR group volunteers were classified as presenting normal anxiety symptoms and were no longer categorized as presenting with SAD. Finally, this study showed the anxiolytic effect of NSR meditation in university students diagnosed with SAD according to SPIN. / Os transtornos mentais causam um importante impacto sócio-econômico no mundo. Dentre os diferentes tipos de transtornos mentais, os de ansiedade estão entre os mais prevalentes, sendo que o transtorno de ansiedade social (TAS) se destaca como um dos transtornos ansiosos mais limitantes para os indivíduos, sendo associado também a um baixo desempenho acadêmico, o qual impacta diretamente os estudantes universitários. Além disso, seu tratamento ainda é um desafio. Tratamentos alternativos considerados eficazes como a meditação são, muitas vezes, de difícil acesso para a população geral, em especial, para os estudantes. Na tentativa de resolver essa questão, surgiu a meditação Natural Stress Relief (NSR) como uma interessante alternativa, pois pode ser aprendida por um método simples, autoexplicativo e de baixo custo. Sendo assim, o objetivo do presente estudo foi avaliar o efeito da meditação NSR na ansiedade de estudantes universitários com TAS. Para tanto, foram selecionados estudantes universitários, de ambos os sexos, diagnosticados com TAS pelo inventário de fobia social (SPIN). Os voluntários foram alocados em um dos dois grupos: NSR (n = 18) ou Espera (n = 18). Os indivíduos do grupo NSR realizaram duas sessões por dia da meditação NSR (15 min por sessão), durante quatro semanas, sendo que a primeira e a última sessões foram realizadas no Laboratório de Fisiologia do Comportamento. Os indivíduos pertencentes ao grupo Espera não praticaram técnica alguma, mas realizaram os mesmos procedimentos que o grupo NSR. Todos os voluntários tiveram seus sintomas gerais de ansiedade e de ansiedade social avaliados a partir da escala hospitalar de ansiedade e depressão (HADS-A) e do SPIN, respectivamente. Também foram avaliados os níveis de ansiedade-estado a partir da escala numérica de tensão (ENT), do inventário de ansiedade traço/estado (IDATE) e de registros de indicadores fisiológicos (atividade eletromiográfica do músculo gastrocnêmio, frequência cardíaca, temperatura de extremidade e condutância da pele); e os níveis de ansiedade-traço a partir da subescala traço do IDATE. Além disso, no dia seguinte à última sessão, os voluntários foram individualmente submetidos a um teste de indução de ansiedade social. Os dados obtidos foram analisados por meio de testes estatísticos apropriados, sendo que os resultados mostraram que a prática da meditação NSR reduziu os níveis de ansiedade-traço após quatro semanas (IDATE-T); reduziu semanalmente os sintomas gerais de ansiedade (HADS-A) e os sintomas de ansiedade social (SPIN); e reduziu os níveis subjetivos de ansiedade-estado (IDATE-E e ENT) após a primeira e última sessão, no entanto, não foram observadas mudanças nos indicadores fisiológicos de ansiedade-estado. Além disso, a análise dos dados revelou que quatro semanas de prática meditativa não foram suficientes para prevenir as alterações nos níveis de ansiedade-estado (IDATE-E, ENT, indicadores fisiológicos) eliciadas por um teste de indução de ansiedade social. E ao final da quarta semana, a maioria dos voluntários do grupo NSR passaram a ser classificados como apresentando sintomas normais de ansiedade e deixaram de ser categorizados como apresentando o TAS. Por fim, este estudo mostrou o efeito ansiolítico da meditação NSR em estudantes universitários com diagnóstico do TAS de acordo com o SPIN.

L’interférence résulte du coût attentionnel provoqué par l’activation simultanée de deux processus cognitifs. Ce phénomène est mesuré par le test de Stroop Couleur qui met en jeu une situation de conflit entre deux dimensions en compétition d’un même stimulus. Les aspects émotionnels de l’interférence sont explorés par le test de Stroop Emotionnel qui évalue le coût attentionnel généré par le traitement de stimuli de valence émotionnelle forte en référence à des stimuli neutres. Une augmentation de l’interférence aux tests de Stroop pourrait être une des caractéristiques des troubles schizophréniques et bipolaires où s’observent un déficit d’inhibition et une dérégulation des émotions, anomalies qui sont particulièrement prononcées au cours des phases aiguës. L’exploration comparative de l’interférence permettrait de mieux différencier ou bien de rapprocher ces pathologies dont la distinction nosographique est discutée. Les objectifs de notre travail étaient : (i) comparer l’interférence dans ses aspects cognitifs et émotionnels dans les troubles schizophréniques et bipolaires, (ii) rechercher les corrélats cliniques de l’interférence aux tests de Stroop et (iii) identifier si l’interférence constitue un facteur de vulnérabilité aux troubles en la mesurant chez des apparentés de premier degré.Méthode : Les performances de patients souffrant de schizophrénie paranoïde (N=30) en phase productive et de manie bipolaire (N=30) ont été comparées à l’aide d’un test de Stroop Couleur et d’un test de Stroop Emotionnel. Les patients souffrant de trouble schizo-affectif étaient exclus. Des apparentés de premier degré non atteints de patients schizophrènes (N=30) et bipolaires (N=30) ont ensuite été comparés à chacun des tests. Des groupes de sujets témoins dépourvus de maladie psychiatrique ont été constitués. Une version carte du test de Stroop Emotionnel en langue française adaptée aux troubles schizophréniques et bipolaires a été spécifiquement élaborée pour inclure des mots paranoïdes (i.e. faisant référence aux idées de persécution), dépressifs, maniaques et neutres, appariés pour la longueur, la familiarité et la fréquence lexicale. Résultats : En phase aiguë, l’interférence cognitive et émotionnelle des patients schizophrènes et maniaques était supérieure à celle des témoins dans toutes les conditions. Au Stroop Couleur, l’effet d’interférence était comparable entre les patients schizophrènes et maniaques et n’était pas corrélé à l’intensité de la symptomatologie. Au Stroop Emotionnel, l’effet d’interférence dans les groupes cliniques était d’autant plus important que la valence émotionnelle faisait référence à la psychopathologie du trouble : les résultats ont montré un biais envers les mots paranoïdes chez les patients schizophrènes et un biais envers les mots maniaques comme dépressifs chez les maniaques. Si, dans le groupe de patients schizophrènes, l’amplitude de l’interférence paranoïde était corrélée à l’intensité des symptômes positifs, aucune corrélation n’a été observée entre les biais émotionnels et la symptomatologie dans le groupe des patients maniaques. Les performances des apparentés de premier degré des patients schizophrènes étaient inférieures à celles des témoins au Stroop Couleur, tandis que les apparentés de premier degré des patients maniaques montraient un biais envers les stimuli dépressifs.Conclusion : L’augmentation de l’interférence au test de Stroop Couleur pourrait être un marqueur de vulnérabilité commun aux troubles schizophréniques et bipolaires dont l’expression varie quantitativement avec l’expression phénotypique et la phase de la maladie. Cette anomalie pourrait se manifester de manière plus prononcée dans les troubles schizophréniques que bipolaires. Aucun corrélat clinique spécifique n’a été identifié. L’exploration des substrats cérébraux de l’effet d’interférence a permis d’identifier dans les deux pathologies un dysfonctionnement du cortex cingulaire antérieur (CCA), structure centrale dans la régulation de l’attention. En outre, une implication plus spécifique du cortex préfrontal v / Entral a été montrée dans le trouble bipolaire, témoignant des troubles de la régulation motivationnelle et affective présents dans cette pathologie. Au test de Stroop Emotionnel, les patients souffrant de schizophrénie et de trouble bipolaire présentent un biais envers les informations relatives à la psychopathologie spécifique de leur trouble. Dans la schizophrénie, le biais envers les informations relatives aux thèmes paranoïdes pourrait être impliqué dans le maintien ou le développement des symptômes productifs ; ce phénomène serait principalement déterminé par des facteurs d’état. Dans le trouble bipolaire, l’interférence émotionnelle pourrait traduire l’impact de l’hyperréactivité émotionnelle sur les processus d’inhibition cognitive ; de nombreux arguments suggèrent que l’interférence émotionnelle constitue un marqueur de vulnérabilité à cette pathologie. / Interference results from the attentional cost caused by the simultaneous activation of two cognitive processes. This phenomenon is measured by the Stroop Colour-Word Test that involves a situation of conflict between two dimensions in competition within the same stimulus. The emotional aspects of interference are explored by the Emotional Stroop Test, which assesses the attentional cost stemming from the processing of emotionally-valenced stimuli in reference to neutral ones. Increased Stroop interference could characterize both schizophrenic and bipolar disorders that share inhibitory deficit and emotional dysregulation, especially during acute phases. The comparative measure of interference would help to better understand the differences between these disorders whose nosographic distinction is discussed. Our objectives were: (i) to compare cognitive and emotional interference between schizophrenic and bipolar disorders, (ii) to seek the clinical correlates of interference and (iii) to identify whether interference is a marker of vulnerability to both disorders by measuring it among unaffected first degree relatives. Methods: Patients suffering from paranoid schizophrenia, acute phase (N=30) and bipolar disorder, manic phase (N=30) were compared while performing a Stroop Colour-Word Test and an Emotional Stroop Test. Patients with schizo-affective disorder were excluded. Unaffected first-degree relatives of schizophrenic (N = 30) and bipolar patients (N = 30) were then compared to each of these tests. Healthy subjects served as controls in both experiment. A French version of the Emotional Stroop Test adapted to schizophrenic and bipolar disorders was previously constructed; it included paranoid (i.e. referring to persecutory delusions), depressive, manic and neutral words matched for length, familiarity and lexical frequency.Results: Schizophrenic and manic patients showed greater cognitive and emotional interference than controls in each condition. There were no significant differences between schizophrenic and manic patients at the Stroop Colour-Word Test and their performances were not correlated with symptoms. At the Emotional Stroop Test, the interference effect in the clinical groups was greater when the emotional valence of the stimuli was related to the specific psychopathology: schizophrenic patients showed a bias towards paranoid words while manic patients showed a bias towards both depressive and manic words. In the schizophrenic group, paranoid interference was correlated with positive symptoms whereas no correlation was found between emotional bias and symptomatology in the manic group. First-degree relatives of schizophrenic patients performed poorly than controls on the Stroop Colour-Word Test while first-degree relatives of bipolar patients showed an emotional bias towards depressive stimuli. Conclusions: Our results suggest that increased Stroop Colour-Word interference is an endophenotype common to schizophrenic and bipolar disorders whose expression quantitatively varies with the phenotypic expression and the clinical phase. No clinical correlate to the interference effect has been identified yet in none of these disorders. However, this abnormality might be more pronounced and associated with schizophrenic disorders. Neuroimaging studies identified cerebral correlates of abnormal interference that were common to schizophrenic and bipolar disorders like the Anterior Cingulate Cortex. A more specific involvement of the ventral prefrontal cortex has been shown in bipolar disorder; this abnormality might be related to the motivational and emotional dysregulation. In schizophrenia, a bias towards paranoid stimuli could be a mechanism involved in the maintenance or the development of the productive symptoms; this phenomenon might be primarily determined by state factors. In bipolar disorder, we suggest that emotional interference represents the impact of emotional hyperreactivity on cognitive inhibition and a marker of vulnerability.

No description available.

Résumé : La psychologie cognitive s'intéresse depuis quelques années à un effet de positivité qui semble apparaître avec l'avancement en âge. Cet effet serait également lié à la diminution, voire la disparition, d'un biais attentionnel négatif, naturellement présent chez les jeunes adultes. Celui-ci consiste en une plus grande perturbation de l'attention sélective en présence de stimuli négatifs. Une tâche cognitive d'attention sélective très utilisée pour étudier ce biais cognitif est le Stroop émotion. Présentant des mots à valence négative, positive et neutre, il permet de vérifier l'effet d'interférence que produisent ces stimuli sur la capacité d'inhibition. Jusqu'à présent, les rares études utilisant le Stroop émotion auprès d'une population âgée sans trouble cognitif ne présentent pas de consensus permettant de statuer clairement sur la modification de ce biais cognitif dans le vieillissement. La présente étude proposait d'utiliser le Stroop émotion pour observer l'effet du vieillissement sur l'attention sélective, en répondant aux principales recommandations méthodologiques tirées des études précédentes. Il était attendu que les âgés ne devaient pas présenter d'effet d'interférence en réponse aux stimuli négatifs, contrairement aux jeunes adultes. Les résultats obtenus ont toutefois révélé la présence d'un biais attentionnel négatif tant chez les âgés que chez les jeunes adultes. L'interprétation de ces performances est discutée en regard des exigences cognitives du Stroop émotion. Il pourrait ainsi être plus facile de mettre en évidence la diminution du biais attentionnel négatif à l'aide d'une présentation différente des stimuli qui permettrait la mise en place de l'effet de positivité chez les âgés.||Abstract : For some years now, cognitive psychology has taken an interest in a positivity effect that appears with increased age. This effect is claimed to be related to the decrease in, or even disappearance of, a negative attentional bias that is naturally present in young adults; this effect consists in a greater disruption of selective attention in the presence of negative stimuli. A cognitive task measuring selective attention that is often used to study this cognitive bias is the emotional Stroop test. This task presents words with negative, positive and neutral valence and tests how these stimuli interfere with inhibition capacity. To date, the few studies that have used the emotional Stroop in an elderly population without cognitive disorders have not produced a consensus that would give us a clear sense of the change in this cognitive bias with aging. This study proposed to use the emotional Stroop to observe the effect of aging on selective attention by following the main methodological recommendations arising from earlier studies. It was expected that elderly people would not present an interference effect in response to negative stimuli, unlike young adults. However, the results revealed a negative attentional bias in both older and younger adults. This finding is interpreted in relation to the cognitive demands of the emotional Stroop. It could therefore be easier to highlight the decrease in negative attentional bias by using a different method of presenting stimuli, which would reveal the positivity effect in elderly people.

The main focus of this investigation was to examine the automaticity of facial expression recognition through valence judgments in a modified photo-word Stroop paradigm. Positive and negative words were superimposed across male and female faces expressing positive (happy) and negative (angry, sad) emotions. Subjects categorized the valence of each stimulus. Gender biases in judgments of expressions (better recognition for male angry and female sad expressions) and the valence hypothesis of hemispheric advantages for emotions (left hemisphere: positive; right hemisphere: negative) were also examined. Four major findings emerged. First, the valence of expressions was processed automatically (robust interference effects). Second, male faces interfered with processing the valence of words. Third, no posers' gender biases were indicated. Finally, the emotionality of facial expressions and words was processed similarly by both hemispheres.

Thesis advisor: Lisa Feldman Barrett / The aim of the present study was to examine whether individual differences in Time Insensitivity are related to subjective experiences of emotion and cognitive performance. Sixty-five undergraduates (52% female) completed self-report measures of cognitive flexibility and provided subjective self-reports of emotions following two time pressured cognitive tasks. As predicted, Time Insensitivity was related to self-reported cognitive flexibility, better cognitive performance during a time pressured task, as well as less negative subjective experience in response to these tasks. The results of the present study suggest that Time Insensitivity may have some beneficial outcomes. Limitations and implications for future directions are discussed. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2004. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Psychology. / Discipline: College Honors Program.

Emotional Stroop task results have been shown to be inconsistent throughout the literature due to a multitude of factors including both stimulus and population factors. There are also several theories to explain the emotional Stroop effects, including the attentional control theory (Eysenck et al., 2007). This theory states that anxiety consumes attentional and memory resources, resulting in impairment in executive functions, and thus cognitive performance is lowered. Recently, Owens et al. (2014) reported that the effects of anxiety on cognitive performance might be moderated by working memory capacity (WMC). The present study explored whether Owens et al.'s (2014) paradigm fit the Stroop data. It also explored the role that WMC had in recognition memory for emotional and neutral words. Processing efficiency during the Stroop task and anxiety was expected to show a positive relationship for High WMC and a negative relationship for Low WMC. Furthermore, memory for emotional words were expected to be better for Low WMC due to longer processing times for emotional words. The results showed that WMC did not improve the model for both the emotional Stroop and the surprise recognition memory task, thereby contradicting Owens et al.'s (2014) proposed paradigm. Furthermore, an increase of anxiety scores showed a decrease in memory for emotional words but only for Low WMC.

Participants are slower to identify the print colour of incongruent colour words (e.g., the word ORANGE printed in green) than of congruent colour words (e.g., ORANGE printed in orange). The difference in time between these two conditions is the Stroop effect. The item-specific proportion congruent (ISPC) effect is the observation that the Stroop effect is larger for words that are presented mostly in congruent colours (e.g., BLUE presented 75% of the time in blue), and smaller for words that are presented mostly in a given incongruent colour (e.g., YELLOW presented 75% of the time in orange). One account of the ISPC effect, the modulation hypothesis, is that participants use the distracting word to modulate attention to the word (i.e., participants allow the word to influence responding when it is presented mostly in its congruent colour). Another account, the contingency hypothesis, is that participants use the word to predict the response that they will need to make (e.g., if the word is YELLOW, then the response is probably orange). Reanalyses of data from Jacoby, Lindsay, and Hessels (2003) along with results from new experiments are inconsistent with the modulation hypothesis, but entirely consistent with the contingency hypothesis. A mechanistic account of how responses are predicted is generated from the contingency hypothesis.

Participants are slower to identify the print colour of incongruent colour words (e.g., the word ORANGE printed in green) than of congruent colour words (e.g., ORANGE printed in orange). The difference in time between these two conditions is the Stroop effect. The item-specific proportion congruent (ISPC) effect is the observation that the Stroop effect is larger for words that are presented mostly in congruent colours (e.g., BLUE presented 75% of the time in blue), and smaller for words that are presented mostly in a given incongruent colour (e.g., YELLOW presented 75% of the time in orange). One account of the ISPC effect, the modulation hypothesis, is that participants use the distracting word to modulate attention to the word (i.e., participants allow the word to influence responding when it is presented mostly in its congruent colour). Another account, the contingency hypothesis, is that participants use the word to predict the response that they will need to make (e.g., if the word is YELLOW, then the response is probably orange). Reanalyses of data from Jacoby, Lindsay, and Hessels (2003) along with results from new experiments are inconsistent with the modulation hypothesis, but entirely consistent with the contingency hypothesis. A mechanistic account of how responses are predicted is generated from the contingency hypothesis.

Can our sense of smell influence our ability to self-regulate? The following thesis examined whether or not olfactory cues could influence a cognitive measure of self-regulation, and whether this effect would be moderated by goals. Further, it was proposed that emotion would mediate the relationship between scents and self-regulation. A total of 127 participants took part in the study. Magazine covers were used to prime either health or indulgence goals and participants were exposed to either an appetitive scent (baking cookies) or a non-appetitive scent (lavender) with the aim of creating emotional conflict. Self-regulation was measured by performance on a Stroop task. Goals were found to interact with scent type in order to yield differing impacts on self-regulation, however, the predicted mediating effects of emotion were unsupported. / None