Dataset Information

Spontaneous cognition in dysphoria: reduced positive bias in imagining the future.

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.

SUBMITTER: Ji JL

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6529377 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Spontaneous cognition in dysphoria: reduced positive bias in imagining the future.

Ji Julie L JL Holmes Emily A EA MacLeod Colin C Murphy Fionnuala C FC

Psychological research 20180810 4

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 depre ...[more]

PMID: 30097711

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Project description:IntroductionThe factors that contribute to the maintenance of anorexia nervosa (AN) are not fully understood, although it is generally accepted that depression is a core feature and contributes to poor prognosis. Individuals with depression tend to have difficulties in producing specific details of autobiographical memories and future episodes. Our aim was to investigate autobiographical memory and episodic future thinking (EFT) in individuals with AN (n = 46), people recovered from AN (recAN; n = 40), and non-affected controls (n = 35).MethodUsing a remotely administered computerised version of the autobiographical memory test and episodic future thinking task, we measured six aspects of memory retrieval and EFT generation: specificity, detailedness, difficulty in remembering/imagining, positivity, vividness and realism. Memory and EFT cue valence was manipulated; cues were either positive, neutral, or disorder-related/negative. As the production of EFTs is theoretically linked to the ability to retrieve autobiographical memories, the relationship between autobiographical memory specificity and EFT specificity was explored. To investigate whether autobiographical memory and EFT performance were independent of performance on other forms of cognition, working memory, verbal fluency and cognitive flexibility were measured.ResultsPeople with AN had difficulties retrieving specific details of autobiographical memories and rated autobiographical memories as less positive overall, and less vivid when primed by positive cues. People with a lifetime diagnosis (currently ill or recovered) reported greater difficulty in retrieving memories. The AN group generated less positive EFTs, particularly to positive and neutral cues. Comorbid depressive symptoms had some contribution to the observed findings. Lastly, in all groups autobiographical memory specificity predicted EFT specificity.DiscussionProblems with retrieving specific details of autobiographical memories and simulating positive EFTs may be a state feature of AN. Treatments targeted at alleviating depressive symptoms, as well those targeted towards facilitating memory retrieval or reconsolidation, and the construction of positive EFTs, may contribute to hope for recovery and strengthen the sense of self beyond the disorder.

Project description:An essential part of entrepreneurial activity is the drafting and narrating of an entrepreneurial vision. This study is premised on the observation that entrepreneurial groups form an interaction arena for the practice of imagining the future and asks how the content of entrepreneurial visions is shaped by the conditions of the group. Taking an entrepreneurship-as-practice lens, which we enrich with sociological theory on the future (Beckert) and small groups (Fine), we engage in an in-depth case study of 12 entrepreneurial groups. We show how the content of entrepreneurial visions is configured by four elements (i.e., fictional expectation for the business or the group; future orientation that is continuing or divergent) and name two group conditions (i.e., role confidence and hierarchical congruence) that direct their configuration. We propose that lacking role confidence can impede thinking about the future of a business and that narrative hierarchies that challenge structural hierarchies can open a window for divergent future orientation. This study contributes to a novel theoretical understanding of where entrepreneurial visions come from by emphasizing politics of expectations within groups and calling to consider group conditions as a relevant context for entrepreneurial visions. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11187-021-00566-6. Plain English Summary Entrepreneurs make futures! To do so, they have to be confident in their role within an entrepreneurial group or they will be caught up in thinking about how the group should work together rather than drafting a future for the business. This is a key finding of the study put forward by Stamm and Gutzeit on the practice of imagining the future. Family members, friends, or former colleagues who jointly engage in an entrepreneurial venture form such a group, with its own history, structure, and culture. The authors’ qualitative study, based on group interviews, reveals that these group conditions influence the content of entrepreneurial visions. For entrepreneurship research, this study implies that an entrepreneurial vision is a product of group political processes rather than individual mental images. This study further implies that entrepreneurial groups and their advisors should reflect on group conditions before engaging in the drafting of an entrepreneurial vision. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11187-021-00566-6.

Dataset Information

Spontaneous cognition in dysphoria: reduced positive bias in imagining the future.

Publications

Spontaneous cognition in dysphoria: reduced positive bias in imagining the future.

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