Introduction Concurrent cognitive tasks can influence memory processing by interfering with ongoing cognitive operations. Although such effects have been widely studied using subjective measures, their impact on objective indices of extinction learning remains unclear. Methods Eighty-four healthy participants were randomly assigned to perform eye-movements (EMs), the Trail Making Test Part B (TMT-B), or no-task control condition during the initial extinction trials of an eyeblink conditioning (EBC) task. Conditioned responses (CRs), CR onset latency and amplitude, and unconditioned responses (URs) were examined across acquisition and extinction. Results In the first extinction block, the TMT-B group showed higher CR probability and shorter CR onset latency than the EM group. Neither CR probability nor CR onset latency differed significantly between the TMT-B and control groups or between the EM and control groups. Discussion Under the present experimental conditions, brief EMs were not associated with detectable changes relative to control, whereas TMT-B performance was associated with a short-lived alteration in early response dynamics. The results indicate a transient divergence in early extinction-related responding across task conditions, but the differences were confined to the first extinction block and were not consistent across outcome measures or comparisons with the control condition.
Comprehensive Temporary Hospitals (CTHs) integrate medical and psychosocial care, yet their long-term psychological correlates remain unclear. This longitudinal study compared adults discharged from CTHs after laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 (N=213) with uninfected general-population adults (N=247) 3 months post-discharge (T1) and followed the CTH cohort (N=150) at 9 (T2) and 15 months (T3). Post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS), anxiety, depression, resilience and, in the CTH cohort, perceived social support were assessed. At T1, CTH patients had a lower prevalence of probable anxiety (6.67% vs. 20.65%; OR = 0.27, 95% CI 0.13–0.56) and probable depression (11.33% vs. 32.79%; OR = 0.26, 95% CI 0.15–0.46), whereas probable PTSD did not differ significantly (8.00% vs. 12.15%; OR = 0.63, 95% CI 0.31–1.27). Within the CTH cohort, symptom scores decreased significantly from T1 to T2 and remained stable through T3. Negative news exposure (β = .26 to .31) and low social support (β = -.37 to -.28) at T1 predicted long-term distress (p ≤ .001). Because the groups were not matched, no pre-pandemic baseline was available and the comparison group was assessed only once, these findings indicate an association rather than a causal protective effect of the CTH model. This model warrants prospective evaluation.
Patients with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) frequently report distressing palpitations, yet it remains unclear whether this reflects enhanced cardiac perception or interpretive processes. This study compared 40 GAD patients and 38 matched healthy controls on the Heartbeat Tracking Task (HTT) assessing interoceptive accuracy (HPS), and the Cardiovascular Signal Detection Task (CVSDT) measuring perceptual sensitivity (d′) and response bias (β). Self-report questionnaires assessed interoceptive sensibility and anxiety. No significant group differences were found in HPS or d′; Bayesian analyses provided anecdotal-to-moderate evidence favoring the null hypothesis. However, GAD patients reported heightened interoceptive sensibility with greater attention to bodily sensations and lower trust. An exploratory Group × Somatic Anxiety interaction emerged for HPS: in GAD, somatic anxiety correlated positively with HPS and negatively with β, indicating a relatively more liberal response bias; the opposite pattern was observed in controls. Findings suggest GAD is not characterized by enhanced cardiac perception. Rather, palpitation experiences reflect a dissociation between normal accuracy and negative subjective sensibility, with somatic anxiety associated with a shift in response bias, a pattern consistent with predictive coding accounts. Clinically, these preliminary findings suggest that targeting cognitive-interpretive processes rather than perceptual accuracy may be indicated.
Many individuals strive to lose weight and often resort to dieting to achieve this. However, restricting food intake leads to hunger, which can elicit negative emotions. A lack of effective emotion regulation (ER) in response to these hunger-induced negative emotions may contribute to overeating. Our study tested the causal effect of two ER strategies, suppression and reappraisal, on food intake in dieters. Participants completed an online questionnaire regarding hunger and emotions while satiated. They were then instructed to fast for 14h before the lab session. In the lab, hunger and emotions were assessed again. Participants then received suppression ( n = 65), reappraisal ( n = 70) or control ( n = 54) instructions via audiorecording and emotions were assessed a third time. Subsequently, participants were given the opportunity to eat chips and M&M’s. Fasting successfully increased negative emotions and decreased positive emotions. Suppression unexpectedly decreased negative emotions and increased positive emotions, whereas reappraisal decreased negative emotions and did not change positive emotions. We found no difference between the three conditions on eating initiation or food intake. Our study does not provide evidence that ER training could help manage food intake. However, whether suppression of hunger-induced negative emotions could be adaptive should be further investigated.
