Abstract

Background and objectives
Cognitive theories of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) suggest that dysfunctional beliefs influence symptoms. However, well-established belief domains do not fully explain OCD symptomatology, suggesting other cognitive mechanisms may be involved. An additional belief domain which may play a role in OCD is beliefs about losing control. Indeed, these beliefs have been found to be associated with OCD symptoms. However, the relationships between beliefs about losing control and other OCD phenomena, including other relevant dysfunctional beliefs, is unclear. The aim of this study was to examine the relationships between beliefs about losing control and appraisals hypothesized to be relevant to OCD.

Methods
A total of 163 participants completed the experimental protocol, wherein they received false (positive or negative) feedback regarding the likelihood they may lose control and completed a vignette task asking them to read hypothetical scenarios relevant to OCD concerns (checking, and aggressive thoughts). Vignettes were followed by questions and prompts used to measure OCD-relevant appraisals.

Results
Based on MANOVAs, beliefs about losing control had a significant impact on appraisals in the checking, F (151) = 5.55, p = .001, and aggressive thoughts, F (151) = 2.898, p = .037, vignettes. However, planned comparison indicated that in the aggressive thoughts vignettes, this effect was in the opposite direction than was hypothesized.

Limitations
The losing control induction may have inadvertently influenced participants’ beliefs about the utility of thought control.

Conclusions
Findings provide preliminary evidence for an association between beliefs about losing control and OCD-relevant appraisals.

Introduction

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a debilitating disorder with an estimated prevalence of approximately 2% (Ruscio et al., 2010). OCD is comprised of obsessions and/or compulsions that are time-consuming, and that cause significant distress and/or impairment for affected individuals (APA, 2013). Obsessions are unwanted repetitive intrusive thoughts, images, or impulses that cause discomfort or distress (APA, 2013; Rachman, 1997). Compulsions are repetitive overt or covert behaviour, performed to alleviate the distress associated with intrusive thoughts, and/or to prevent negative events from occurring (APA, 2013; Rachman & Hodgson, 1980). OCD is often chronic and associated with a variety of unfavourable outcomes including social difficulties, and occupational impairment (Abramowitz & Jacoby, 2015; Eisen et al., 2006, 2010).

Cognitive theories (Rachman, 1997, 1998; Salkovskis, 1985) suggest that OCD develops due to misinterpretations of common intrusive thoughts as overly significant which leads individuals to engage in compulsive behaviours in an attempt to prevent negative outcomes. The likelihood that intrusive thoughts are misinterpreted as personally significant is proposed to be increased by specific dysfunctional beliefs (e.g., Frost & Steketee, 2002). Early research on the influence of maladaptive beliefs in OCD focused largely on beliefs pertaining to inflated responsibility, with findings indicating that greater perceived responsibility was associated with greater obsessive compulsive symptoms (e.g., Ladouceur et al., 1995; Ladouceur et al., 1996; Leonhart & Radomsky, 2019; Lopatka & Rachman, 1995; Salkovskis, 1985). The Obsessive Compulsive Cognitions Working Group (OCCWG) later identified six beliefs which clustered into three domains: 1) responsibility and threat overestimation, 2) perfectionism and intolerance of uncertainty, and 3) importance of and control over thoughts (ICT), proposed to be relevant to OCD (OCCWG, 1997, 2001, 2003, 2005; Frost & Steketee, 2002). However, not all individuals with OCD endorse high levels of these dysfunctional beliefs suggesting that additional cognitive mechanisms may be involved in the development and maintenance of this disorder (Taylor et al., 2006).

Results

3.1. Data screening

Neither univariate nor multivariate analysis indicated any outliers, and as such, all data were retained. Variables of interest were normally distributed (i.e., kurtosis < |10|, skewness < |3|; Kline, 2016), and other assumptions of MANOVA (i.e., homogeneity of variance and multicollinearity) were also met. Eight participants were excluded from subsequent analyses because they did not believe the feedback provided after the bogus cognitive task. There were no baseline differences on demographic characteristics or on the questionnaires of interest (see Table 2). The mean scores on the questionnaires were comparable to previous studies which have used undergraduate samples (e.g., Kia-Keating et al., 2018; Kelly-Turner & Radomsky, 2020; OCCWG, 2005; Osman et al., 2012; Thordarson et al., 2004).

Abstract

     In the last decades, the art and science of multi-attribute decision-making (MADM) have witnessed significant developments and have found applications in many active areas. A lot of research has demonstrated the ability of cognitive techniques in dealing with complex and uncertain decision information. The purpose of representing human cognition in the decision-making process encourages the integration of cognitive psychology and multi-attribute decision-making theory. Due to the emergence of research on cognitively inspired MADM methods, we make a comprehensive overview of published papers in this field and their applications. This paper has been grouped into five parts: we first conduct some statistical analyses of academic papers from two angles: the development trends and the distribution of related publications. To illustrate the basic process of cognitively inspired MADM methods, we present some underlying ideas and the systematic structure of this kind of method. Then, we make a review of cognitively inspired MADM methods from different perspectives. Applications of these methods are further reviewed. Finally, some challenges and future trends are summarized. This paper highlights the benefits of the synergistic approach that is developed based on cognitive techniques and MADM methods and identifies the frontiers in this field.

Introduction

     Real-world decision-making problems are often too complex to be considered through a single criterion. In order to solve problems with multiple attributes, multi-attribute decision-making (MADM) methods are developed, which signifcantly enhance the ability of decision-making methods. As a cognitive process, MADM refers to selecting the optimal solution by evaluating alternatives in the presence of multiple attributes. The number of alternatives for MADM problems is predetermined and limited. Basically, MADM methods can be roughly grouped into two categories [1]: (1) Outranking techniques. The outranking methods are based on pairwise comparison of alternatives, like ELECTRE (Elimination et Choix Traduisant la Realité in French, Elimination and Choice Expressing the Reality) [2] and PROMETHEE (Preference Ranking Organization Method for Enrichment Evaluations) [3]. (2) Multi-attribute utility and value theories. This kind of method usually assigns a utility to each alternative and includes UTA (utility additives) [5], AHP (analytic hierarchy process) [6], ANP (analytic network process) [7], MACBETH (Measuring Attractiveness by a Categorical Based Evaluation Technique) [8], etc. There is a growing body of literature that recognizes the importance of MADM methods in many fields of human life, such as healthcare [9, 10], transportation [11–14], manufacturing [15–18], and business [20, 21].

Conclusions

     The emergence of cognitively inspired MADM methods enriches the theoretical framework in MADM and greatly promotes the development of intelligent decision-making. It presents excellent modeling ability in processing complex information, which makes it of signifcant importance to MADM both from theoretical and practical points of view.

     In this paper, we have gone through the recent contributions about cognitively inspired MADM methods and attempted to provide a comprehensive review in this feld. Firstly, some statistical analyses of published papers regarding cognitively inspired MADM have been unfolded from two aspects: the development trend and the distribution of related publications. We have seen a steady increase in the number of academic papers in this feld. As to this fact, more investors have their sights on the cognitively inspired MADM methods in recent years. After that, the system architecture of cognitively inspired MADM has been illustrated. Then, a comprehensive overview of diferent types of cognitively inspired MADM approaches has been provided, which concludes the contributions of these methods to modern decisionmaking. After analyzing the theoretical knowledge, practical applications have also been summarized, which concludes that cognitively inspired MADM methods make great efects on practical applications. We have ended by discussing some challenges and future trends in this feld.

Abstract

     Two studies examined how individual differences relate to prejudiced attitudes toward asylum seekers. Results consistently showed that prejudiced people had relatively low scores on Honesty-Humility and relatively high scores on the Dark Tetrad (narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and everyday sadism) and ideological beliefs (social dominance orientation, patriotism, and nationalism). More importantly, multiple regression analyses revealed that the Dark Tetrad (in particular, Machiavellianism) provided incremental validity beyond Honesty–Humility in predicting explicit prejudice, but both the Dark Tetrad and Honesty-Humility were outpredicted by ideological beliefs. These findings suggest that the narrower Dark Tetrad personality traits provide additional useful information for explaining intergroup attitudes beyond the broader Honesty-Humility personality trait. However, the Dark Tetrad traits (and Honesty-Humility) are only distal determinants of explicit prejudice, while ideological beliefs are the proximal determinant. Study 2 also included a measure of implicit prejudice toward asylum seekers. Overall, Honesty-Humility, the Dark Tetrad, and ideological beliefs were much less predictive of implicit (compared to explicit) prejudiced attitudes.

Introduction

     Although explicitly negative views of out-groups and their individual members have diminished over time (Charlesworth & Banaji, 2019), members of marginalized groups are still perceived less favorably than members of non-marginalized groups (Esses, 2021). For example, in recent years, a large number of people were forcibly evicted from their homes, which has led to negative attitudes toward migrants in many Western countries (Walter, 2021). It should be noted, however, that self-reported intergroup attitudes tend to be positive (Charlesworth & Banaji, 2019) and only a relatively small minority treat members of marginalized groups more negatively than members of non-marginalized groups (Campbell & Brauer, 2021). Likewise, many people do not have negative attitudes toward asylum seekers (Hartley & Pedersen, 2015). Overall, it appears that negative attitudes toward out-group members compared to in-group members are due to a numerical minority of individuals scoring relatively high on explicit bias, rather than most individuals being mildly biased (cf. Campbell & Brauer, 2021). Who is this numerical minority expressing negative views of out-group members in general and asylum seekers in particular?

General discussion

     The present research had two main aims, namely whether dark personality traits are associated with explicit prejudice beyond basic personality and whether ideological beliefs outpredict basic and dark personality traits. With regard to the first, both studies provided consistent evidence that the relationship between the Dark Tetrad and explicit prejudice remains significant when controlling for the impact of Honesty-Humility. This finding contributes to the debate about whether the Dark Tetrad subscales are fully represented by the Honesty-Humility dimension of the HEXACO model (Book et al., 2016; Hodson et al., 2018). The Dark Tetrad subscales were indeed strongly negatively correlated with Honesty-Humility, indicating that Honesty-Humility accounts for variance in the Dark Tetrad. However, although there was overlap between the Dark Tetrad and Honesty-Humility, the Dark Tetrad traits explained unique variance in explicit prejudice beyond Honesty-Humility, suggesting that the Dark Tetrad traits are not just the opposite pole of the Honesty-Humility factor. Regarding the bandwidth-fidelity dilemma, it appears that the more narrow Dark Tetrad personality traits provide additional useful information in explaining intergroup attitudes beyond the broad Honesty–Humility personality trait.

Abstract

Keywords

1. Introduction

2. Methods

3. Results

4. Discussion

CRediT authorship contribution statement

Declaration of competing interest

Acknowledgements

References

Abstract

Background
Previous research has reported that patients with schizophrenia would regard false memories with higher confidence, and this meta-memory deficit was suggested as a neurocognitive marker of schizophrenia. However, how schizophrenia patients determine their memory decision confidence has received scant consideration. This study, therefore, aimed to characterize the extent to which meta-memory evaluation strategy differs between schizophrenia patients and healthy individuals, and how such difference contributes to the patients’ meta-memory performance.

Methods
27 schizophrenia patients and 28 matched healthy controls performed a temporal-order judgement (TOJ) task, in which they judged which movie frame occurred earlier in an encoded video, and then made retrospective confidence rating. Mixed effect regression models were performed to assess the between-group metacognitive evaluation strategy difference and its relationship to clinical symptoms.

Results
Compared to the control group, the patients’ confidence ratings were correlated more with the recent confidence history and less with the TOJ-related evidence. The degree of dependence on recent history of confidence was negatively correlated with the severity of positive symptoms. Furthermore, by controlling for the first-order TOJ performance, we observed that the patients discriminated correct memory decisions from the incorrect ones as accurately as the controls.

Conclusion
The present investigation revealed that schizophrenia patients tend to use more heuristics in making meta-memory evaluations, and such atypical strategy is related to their clinical symptoms. This study provides new insights into how schizophrenia patients perform meta-memory processes. Future research could consider examining such metacognitive deficits in light of other cognitive domains in psychosis.

Abstract

Objective
To propose a three-factor framework for conceptualising and measuring mindfulness during worship, and to develop and validate a new scale using existing scales of mindfulness and spirituality.

Methods
A shortlist of scale items was developed and administered online to 521 Christians from the United Kingdom in three independent studies.

Results
The studies confirmed a three-factor structure of the new 15-item Mindfulness during Worship Scale (MWS) with an overall internal reliability range of α = 0.81–0.87: a) concentration during worship, which contains reverse-scored items capturing the tendency for attention to slip towards unrelated activities during worship, b) presence during worship, which includes items relating to an increased awareness to thoughts and feelings as they relate to the engagement of worship, and c) absorption during worship, which includes items relating to an increased feeling of awareness and absorption in worship. Concurrent validity was confirmed, as the total MWS and subscale scores were positively associated with existing measures of mindfulness (FFMQ-15 and MAAS) and spirituality (ISS). Moreover, worship frequency predicted higher scores on all three MWS subscales, higher Scripture reading frequency predicted greater focus on religious thoughts during worship, and regular meditation practice was associated with a greater absorption during worship. The frequency of performing communal religious activities was not associated with mindfulness during worship.

Conclusions
The MWS is the first scale that measures mindfulness specifically within the context of worship and prayer, and can be used within any religious community that engages in prayers.

Introduction

     As our understanding of the role that mindfulness can play in our performance of daily activities is deepening, we are increasingly appreciating the range of benefits of high states of mindfulness for psychological health and well-being (Tomlinson, Yousaf, Vittersø, & Jones, 2018). This popularity of mindfulness research and its therapeutic application has also entered the field of religion and spirituality, where it has been argued to be either a useful supplement to religious or spiritual practices or an existing feature, albeit in a slightly different form to the popular Buddhist version, of Abrahamic religions, of which Christianity is the most widely studied in the psychological literature (e.g., Cortois, Aupers, & Houtman, 2018). The most commonly used definition of mindfulness within the psychological research literature is “paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally” which Kabat-Zinn (1994) developed for use in clinical research settings after studying Buddhist meditation for several years.

Results

     The results showed that initially, the 15-item three-factor model was significantly different from the data (X2 = 265.45, Df = 87, p < .001). However, given the total sample was relatively large, chi square was expected to be significant (Schumacker & Lomax, 2004), and therefore, the alternative fit indices were examined. Based on these indices, the raw model demonstrated to be a questionable fit to the data (GFI = 0.889, TLI, = 0.853, CFI = 0.878, RMSEA = 0.083, SRMR = 0.062). However, to adjust for the covariance within the subscales, modification indices were examined, and with respect to the theoretical similarities between the indicated items, several covariance restraints were placed on variable errors within the concurring latent constructs. Specifically, error correlations with modification values over 3.84 were considered, as this value corresponds with a significant change in the model fit at the 0.05 level. These included covariance between items (of the revised MWS): 1 and 4, 4 and 7, 7 and 13, 2 and 14, 5 and 14, 6 and 12, and 6 and 15. The analyses was then re-run and the revised model (Fig. 1) with covariances showed that the model was a good fit to the data (X2 = 161.92, Df = 80, p < .001, GFI = 0.932, TLI, = 0.945, CFI = 0.944, RMSEA = 0.059, SRMR = 0.053). Factor loadings of the final model were also acceptable, ranging from 0.53 to 0.76 for MWS-CW, 0.45 to 0.79 MWS-PW, and 0.61 to 0.77 for MWS-AW. Fig. 1 illustrates the model structure, standardised estimates and correlated errors of the CFA.

Abstract

     Dark personality traits describe amoral and antisocial behavioral dispositions and are often described by psychopathy (i.e., interpersonal, affective, lifestyle, and antisocial characteristics), narcissism, Machiavellianism, and sadism. These traits are related to various socially detrimental behavioral outcomes, including criminal behavior and delinquency. Furthermore, psychopathy is frequently related to homicide, both in scientific and in popular literature; however, the empirical data on the link between psychopathy and other dark traits with homicide is still scarce. We examined self-reported psychopathy, Machiavellianism, sadism, and the indicators of criminal recidivism (number of offences, number of lawful sentences and penal recidivism) in a sample of male homicide offenders (N = 46), other violent offenders (N = 82), and non-violent offenders (N = 119). The results showed that homicide offenders have less pronounced psychopathy, sadism, and criminal recidivism compared to the other two groups – the differences were particularly evident in comparison to the group of non-homicide violent offenders. There were no statistically significant differences in Machiavellianism. Our data cast a doubt on the widely acknowledged link between psychopathy and murder. The findings can be explained largely by the fact that homicide is a heterogeneous criminal offence; while it is possible that psychopathy and other dark traits may be linked to some types of homicide, this link cannot be established for homicide in general.

Introduction

     In recent decades, there has been a growing interest in personality dispositions toward amoral and antisocial behavior. A comprehensive model of these traits is labeled as the Dark Tetrad (Međedović & Petrović, 2015; Paulhus, 2014) and encompasses traits like narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy and sadism. Narcissism depicts entitlement, superiority and an inflated view of self (Raskin & Terry, 1988); Machiavellianism represents an attitude which rationalizes and justifies the use of other people for one’s self interest (Christie & Geis, 1970), while sadism is based on the aberration in emotional processes where one feels positive emotions (enjoyment) when hurting others or watching others in distress (O’Meara et al., 2011). The trait that has the longest history of scientific inquiry is psychopathy – it represents a behavioral syndrome itself that consists of several narrow traits. There are various models of psychopathy, one of the most prominent is proposed by Hare and collaborators and it defines psychopathy as a syndrome of interpersonal (egoistic and manipulative) behavior, affective characteristics (lack of emotional empathy, fear, and guilt), lifestyle characteristics (impulsiveness, lack of long-term plans, sensation seeking) and antisocial behavior (Hare & Neumann, 2008). The dark personality traits are related to various socially undesirable outcomes like cheating (Esteves et al., 2021), bullying (van Geel et al., 2017), violence (Pailing et al., 2014), and others.

Results

3.1. Preliminary analyses: descriptive statistics, reliabilities, and the correlations between examined variables

     First, we showed the descriptive statistics (means and standard deviations), Cronbach’s α coefficients of internal consistency as the reliability estimate, and the correlations between the analyzed measures. These data are shown in Table 1. All scales had adequate reliabilities, but sadism scale showed somewhat lower coefficient of internal consistency compared to other measures. As we can see, there were high positive correlations between the dark traits – the highest effect sizes were obtained for the correlations between the psychopathy facets. Furthermore, there were positive associations between the dark traits and recidivism indicators: Lifestyle and Antisocial psychopathy traits, together with sadism showed systemic positive correlations with criminal relapse; this stand particularly for the Lifestyle and Antisocial psychopathic traits which were associated with all recidivism indicators while sadism was positively correlated with number of convictions and penal recidivism. Interpersonal psychopathy traits were associated only with the number of lawful sentences.

Abstract

Keywords

1. Introduction

2. Methods

3. Results

4. Discussion

Declaration of Competing Interest

Acknowledgments

Appendix A. Supplementary data

References

ABSTRACT

Previous research has shown that eye contact, in human-human interaction, elicits increased affective and attention related psychophysiological responses. In the present study, we investigated whether eye contact with a humanoid robot would elicit these responses. Participants were facing a humanoid robot (NAO) or a human partner, both physically present and looking at or away from the participant. The results showed that both in human-robot and human-human condition, eye contact versus averted gaze elicited greater skin conductance responses indexing autonomic arousal, greater facial zygomatic muscle responses (and smaller corrugator responses) associated with positive affect, and greater heart deceleration responses indexing attention allocation. With regard to the skin conductance and zygomatic responses, the human model’s gaze direction had a greater effect on the responses as compared to the robot’s gaze direction. In conclusion, eye contact elicits automatic affective and attentional reactions both when shared with a humanoid robot and with another human.

Introduction

With the rapid progress in robotics over the past decade, so-called social robots are becoming a part of people’s lives. These robots are increasingly being designed to interact with people and to assist in various humane environments, such as schools, hospitals, and even homes. To ensure robots’ smooth integration to human society, we need to understand how people react to robots and interact with them (Breazeal et al., 2016). Studies investigating human-robot interaction (HRI) could also be used to advance the design of social robots.

Background People with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) have limited access to long term psychological therapies. Briefer interventions have been developed but trial evidence to support their use has not been reviewed.

Aims To examine whether psychological interventions for adults with BPD of six months duration or less improve symptoms, mood, self-harm, suicidal behaviour, and service use.

Methods The protocol was prospectively registered (PROSPERO CRD42017063777). Database searches were conducted up to April 2020. Inclusion, data extraction and risk of bias were assessed in duplicate. We identified 27 randomised controlled trials. We conducted random-effects meta-analyses sub-grouping data into delivery method, additional support, and comparison type.

Results High levels of bias were found for attrition and reporting. Heterogeneity was high in some pooled data. Borderline symptom reductions were greatest for interventions including additional support (SMD. -1.23, 95% C.I. -2.13, −0.33). Planned generic support may be as effective as specialist interventions for borderline symptoms (SMD = −0.11, 95% C.I. -0.51, 0.29) and social functioning (SMD = −0.16., 95% C.I. -0.65, 0.33). Follow-up was limited and direct comparison with post-intervention results was unreliable.

Conclusions Short-term interventions may be effective. Access to additional support has an impact on outcomes. It is unclear if symptomatic change is sustained.

Introduction

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a severe mental health condition that affects 1-2% of the population (Coid, Yang, & Tyrer, 2006) and is characterised by significant difficulties in emotion regulation, the ability to develop and sustain relationships, and the ability to regulate impulsive behaviour, including self-harm and suicidal behaviour (American Psychological Association, 2013). A range of long-term psychological therapies have been developed that have been shown to improve the mental health of people with borderline personality disorder (Omar, Tejerina-Arreal, & Crawford, 2014; Stoffers-Winterling, Völlm, Rücker, Timmer, & Lieb, 2012), and are included in recommendations and guidelines for the treatment of people with BPD (American Psychiatric Association, 2001; National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, 2009; National Health and Medical Research Council, 2012; Simonsen et al., 2019). Long term psychological therapies have limited availability (Paris, 2013) and many people with severe borderline personality disorder are unable to engage or drop out of treatment before it is completed (Crawford et al., 2009; McMurran, Huband, & Overton, 2010). There has been a reluctance to deliver brief psychological therapies due to concerns that they may be unhelpful or even harmful for people who can find it difficult to form trusting relationships and cope when relationships end (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, 2009). However, in response to increased recognition of the needs of people with BPD and increased demand for treatment, efforts have been made to develop and test the effectiveness of shorter-term interventions. Stoffers et al. (2012) identified 12 studies of interventions of 6 months duration or less. Subsequent reviews have mainly identified small-scale feasibility studies of shorter-term interventions with inconclusive results (Cristea et al., 2017).

Humans are better at recognising faces from their own vs. another ethnic background. Socio-cognitive theories of this own-race bias (ORB) propose that reduced recognition of other-race faces results from less motivation to attend to individuating information during encoding. Accordingly, individuation instructions that explain the phenomenon and instruct participants to attend to other-race faces during learning attenuate or eliminate the ORB. However, it is still unclear how exactly such instructions affect other-race face processing. We addressed this question by investigating encoding-related event-related brain potentials, contrasting neural activity of subsequently remembered and forgotten items (Dm effects). In line with socio-cognitive accounts, individuation instructions reduced the ORB. Critically, instructions increased Dm effects for other-race faces, suggesting that more processing resources were allocated to these faces during encoding. Thus, compensating for reduced experience with other-race faces is possible to some extent, but additional resources are needed to decrease difficulties resulting from a lack of perceptual expertise.

1. Introduction

Face recognition is crucial to our social interactions, and we are remarkably good at it. However, not all faces are recognised equally well. One of the most widely researched phenomena in the face memory literature is the so-called own-race bias (ORB, or other-race effect)1 , the well-documented finding that people more accurately remember faces of their own ethnic group compared to faces of another ethnicity (for a review, see Meissner & Brigham, 2001). Although these difficulties with other-race face recognition can pose substantial challenges for applied contexts, such as passport control and eyewitness testimony, the exact mechanisms underlying the ORB remain an issue of debate. Particularly relevant for the present study, it has been suggested that the ORB results from a lack of motivation to individuate other-race faces and from a failure to attend to individuating information in these faces (Hugenberg, Young, Bernstein, & Sacco, 2010). Accordingly, an explicit instruction to individuate other-race faces has been reported to reduce or even eliminate the effect (e.g., Hugenberg, Miller, & Claypool, 2007). In the present study, we examined the extent to which individuation instructions modulate neural correlates of the ORB. Importantly, previous purely behavioural work has focused exclusively on the effect of giving individuation instructions during learning on memory performance at test, thus providing only indirect evidence of an encoding-based mechanism underlying the effect. Here, we directly investigated whether individuation instructions modulate encoding-related neural processes, and whether they do so selectively for other-race faces.

The present study examined the differences in frontal EEG asymmetry during emotion regulation between participants who had different levels of trait mindfulness. EEG recordings were taken from 23 high mindfulness adolescents (Mage = 12.34) and 22 low mindfulness adolescents (Mage = 12.53) during the Reactivity and Regulation-Image Task. The results showed that (1) high mindfulness adolescents had greater left (relative to right) asymmetry than low mindfulness adolescents in down-regulation and up-regulation conditions; however, there was no significant difference in the non-regulation condition; (2) In the up-regulating condition, adolescents showed greater right (relative to left) asymmetry for negative stimuli compared to neutral stimuli; however, there was no significant difference in down-regulation and non-regulation conditions. The results provide neurological evidence that trait mindfulness was highly related to the regulation of emotions and affects how emotions are processed.

1. Introduction

Mindfulness affects emotion regulation practices such as decreased negative emotions (Goldin & Gross, 2010) and improvement in physical and mental health (Erisman & Roemer, 2010; Tan & Martin, 2015), etc. As a biomarker of emotion regulation and mindfulness, the electroencephalogram (EEG) asymmetry indicated that the frontal region played an important and essential role (Atzaba-Poria, Deater-Deckard, & Bell, 2017). Previous findings suggest that higher levels of trait mindfulness are associated with a higher quality of life, lower levels of physical pain, and negative affect in adolescents (Petter, Chambers, McGrath, & Dick, 2013). An understanding of the relationship between mindfulness and the frontal EEG asymmetry during emotion regulation in this important period might improve our understanding of socio-emotional development and create a possible assessment marker for the influence of mindfulness on emotion regulation in adolescence. Thus, the current study aimed to understand socio-emotional development, and create a possible assessment marker for mindfulness and emotion regulation for adolescents.