| 1. |
- Ji, Julie L., et al.
(författare)
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Emotional mental imagery generation during spontaneous future thinking : relationship with optimism and negative mood
- 2022
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Ingår i: Psychological Research. - : Springer Berlin/Heidelberg. - 0340-0727 .- 1430-2772. ; 86:2, s. 617-626
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Optimism is known to buffer against negative mood. Thus, understanding the factors that contribute to individual variation in optimism may inform interventions for mood disorders. Preliminary evidence suggests that the generation of mental imagery-based representations of positive relative to negative future scenarios is related to optimism. This study investigated the hypothesis that an elevated tendency to generate positive relative to negative mental imagery during spontaneous future thinking would be associated with reduced negative mood via its relationship to higher optimism. Participants (N = 44) with varied levels of naturally occurring negative mood reported current levels of optimism and the real-time occurrence and characteristics of spontaneous thoughts during a sustained attention computer task. Consistent with hypotheses, higher optimism statistically mediated the relationship between a higher proportional frequency of positive relative to negative mental imagery during spontaneous future thinking and lower negative mood. Further, the relationship between emotional mental imagery and optimism was found for future, but not past, thinking, nor for verbal future or past thinking. Thus, a greater tendency to generate positive rather than negative imagery-based mental representations when spontaneously thinking about the future may influence how optimistic one feels, which in turn may influence one's experience of negative mood.
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| 2. |
- Ji, Julie L., et al.
(författare)
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Spontaneous cognition in dysphoria : reduced positive bias in imagining the future
- 2019
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Ingår i: Psychological Research. - : SPRINGER HEIDELBERG. - 0340-0727 .- 1430-2772. ; 83:4, s. 817-831
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Anomalies in future-oriented cognition are implicated in the maintenance of emotional disturbance within cognitive models of depression. Thinking about the future can involve mental imagery or verbal-linguistic mental representations. Research suggests that future thinking involving imagery representations may disproportionately impact on-going emotional experience in daily life relative to future thinking not involving imagery (verbal-linguistic representation only). However, while higher depression symptoms (dysphoria) are associated with impaired ability to deliberately generate positive relatively to negative imagery representations of the future (when instructed to do so), it is unclear whether dysphoria is associated with impairments in the tendency to do so spontaneously (when not instructed to deliberately generate task unrelated cognition of any kind). The present study investigated dysphoria-linked individual differences in the tendency to experience spontaneous future-oriented cognition as a function of emotional valence and representational format. Individuals varying in dysphoria level reported the occurrence of task unrelated thoughts (TUTs) in real time while completing a sustained attention go/no-go task, during exposure to auditory cues. Results indicate higher levels of dysphoria were associated with lower levels of positive bias in the number of imagery-based future TUTs reported, reflecting higher negative imagery-based future TUT generation (medium to large effect size), and lower positive imagery-based TUT generation (small to medium effect size). Further, this dysphoria-linked bias appeared to be specific in temporal orientation (future, not past) and representational format (imagery, not non-imagery). Reduced tendency to engage in positive relative to negative imagery-based future thinking appears to be implicated in dysphoria.
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| 3. |
- Murphy, Fionnuala C, et al.
(författare)
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Anticipated and imagined futures : prospective cognition and depressed mood following brain injury.
- 2019
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Ingår i: British Journal of Clinical Psychology. - : Wiley. - 0144-6657 .- 2044-8260. ; 58:1, s. 91-109
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- OBJECTIVES: Depression, which is common following acquired brain injury (ABI), has been shown to predict cognitive impairment, rehabilitation outcome, and quality of life. Whilst many studies have examined links between depression and cognitive-affective processing in the non-ABI population, their applicability to this important clinical group, where cognitive difficulties can be marked, remains unknown. Here, we investigated biases in prospective cognition, which is known to be disrupted in (non-ABI) depression yet important for well-being.DESIGN: Cross-sectional design with three groups (depressed ABI, non-depressed ABI, and non-ABI control participants). Continuous data were additionally analysed in correlation analyses.METHODS: Individuals with ABI varying in extent of self-reported depression and matched non-ABI control participants completed assessments of mood and prospective cognition (anticipating and imagining future events), alongside background tests of executive function and fluid intelligence.RESULTS: Relative to non-depressed ABI and control participants, depressed ABI individuals demonstrated a reduced positive bias in prospective cognition: whereas non-depressed ABI and control participants generated more examples of likely or possible positive versus negative future events, there was no evidence for such a positive bias in depressed ABI participants. Non-depressed ABI and control participants also reported more vivid mental imagery for positive versus negative future scenarios, whereas such a pattern was not evident in depressed ABI participants. This pattern emerged despite background impairments in fluid intelligence and executive function associated with ABI.CONCLUSIONS: These findings (1) elucidate depression-linked cognitive-affective processes following ABI, where cognitive difficulties are common, and (2) highlight psychological processes associated with depression that are common to ABI and non-ABI populations.PRACTITIONER POINTS: Clinical implications A relative negative bias in future-directed cognition is associated with depressed mood in individuals with chronic ABI. Such processes may contribute to the onset and maintenance of depression following ABI. These findings suggest it may be important to consider a role for prospective cognition in psychological interventions for depression following ABI. Limitations of the study The extent to which depressed mood following ABI is associated with biases in other cognitive domains remains unclear. Whether similar patterns would be observed in acute patients with more profound cognitive difficulties requires further investigation. Despite large effect sizes, our sample size is modest; these effects thus require replication in larger groups.
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| 4. |
- Murphy, Fionnuala C., et al.
(författare)
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SenseCam, imagery and bias in memory for wellbeing
- 2011
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Ingår i: Memory. - : PSYCHOLOGY PRESS. - 0965-8211 .- 1464-0686. ; 19:7, s. 768-777
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Identifying and modifying the negative interpretation bias that characterises depression is central to successful treatment. While accumulating evidence indicates that mental imagery is particularly effective in the modification of emotional bias, this research typically incorporates static and unrelated ambiguous stimuli. SenseCam technology, and the resulting video-like footage, offers an opportunity to produce training stimuli that are dynamic and self-relevant. Here participants experienced several ambiguous tasks and subsequently viewed SenseCam footage of the same tasks, paired with negative or positive captions. Participants were trained to use mental imagery to inter-relate SenseCam footage and captions. Participants reported increased levels of happy mood, reduced levels of sad mood, and increased task enjoyment following SenseCam review with positive versus negative captions. This shift in emotional bias was also evident at 24-hour follow-up, as participants recollected greater task enjoyment for those tasks previously paired with positive captions. Mental imagery appears to play an important role in this process. These preliminary results indicate that in healthy volunteers, SenseCam can be used within a bias modification paradigm to shift mood and memory for wellbeing associated with performing everyday activities. Further refinements are necessary before similar methods can be applied to individuals suffering from subclinical and clinical depression.
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| 5. |
- Renner, Fritz, et al.
(författare)
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Mental imagery as a "motivational amplifier" to promote activities
- 2019
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Ingår i: Behaviour Research and Therapy. - : Elsevier BV. - 0005-7967 .- 1873-622X. ; 114, s. 51-59
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Facilitating engagement in rewarding activities is a key treatment target in depression. Mental imagery can increase engagement in planned behaviours, potentially due to its special role in representing emotionally salient experiences. The present study tested the hypothesis that mental imagery promotes motivation and engagement when planning pleasant and rewarding activities. Participants were recruited from a community volunteer panel (N = 72). They self-nominated six activities to complete over the following week, and were randomized to either: a) a single-session Motivational Imagery condition (N = 24); b) an Activity Reminder control condition (N = 24); or c) a No-Reminder control condition (N = 24). As predicted, relative to control groups, the Motivational Imagery group reported higher levels of motivation, anticipated pleasure, and anticipated reward for the planned activities. The Motivational Imagery group also completed significantly more activities than the Activity Reminder group, but not more than the No-Reminder group. Relevance of results to behavioural activation approaches for depression are discussed.
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