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Background: Modest inverse associations have been found between dairy intake, particularly yogurt, and type 2 diabetes risk. Investigating associations of dairy intake with early onset of type 2 diabetes offers opportunities for effective prevention of this condition. Objectives: This study aims to investigate the relationships between the intake of different dairy types, prediabetes risk, and continuous glycemic outcomes. Methods: Systematic literature searches across multiple databases were performed of studies published up to September 2023. Included were prospective cohort studies in healthy adults that examined the association between dairy intake and prediabetes risk according to diagnostic criteria, or continuous glycemic markers. A dose-response random-effects meta-analysis was used to derive incremental relative risks (RRs) for associations of total dairy, fermented dairy, milk, yogurt, cheese (all total, high-fat, and low-fat), cream, and ice cream with prediabetes risk adjusted for sociodemographic, health and cardiometabolic risk factors, and dietary characteristics. Results: The meta-analyses encompassed 6653 prediabetes cases among 95,844 individuals (age range 45.5–65.5 y) including 6 articles describing 9 cohorts. A quadratic inverse association was observed for total dairy intake and prediabetes risk, with the lowest risk at 3.4 servings/d (RR: 0.75; 95% confidence interval: 0.60, 0.93; I2 = 18%). Similarly, total, and high-fat cheese exhibited nonlinear inverse associations with prediabetes risk, showing the lowest risk at 2.1 servings/d (0.86; 0.78, 0.94; I2 = 0%, and 0.90; 0.81, 0.99; I2 = 12%), but a higher risk at intakes exceeding 4 servings/d. Ice cream intake was linearly associated with prediabetes risk (0.85; 0.73, 0.99; I2 = 0% at the highest median intake of 0.23 servings/d). Other dairy types showed no statistically significant associations. The systematic review on dairy intake and glycemic outcomes showed considerable variabilities in design and results. Conclusions: The findings suggest an inverse association between moderate dairy and cheese intake in preventing prediabetes. The potential for reverse causation and residual confounding highlights the need for studies with comprehensive repeated measurements. Trial registration number: PROSPERO 2023 CRD42023431251.

Negative outlooks of our future may foster unwanted and intrusive thoughts. To some extent, individuals have control over their ability to suppress intrusions and downregulate their frequency. Acute stress impairs intentional suppression, leading to an increased frequency of intrusions. The aim of this study was to gain insight into the mechanism underlying stress-induced impairments in intentional suppression of intrusions by investigating the combined and independent roles of the two major stress hormones, noradrenaline and cortisol. Healthy participants (N = 181) were administered propranolol (to block the noradrenergic response), metyrapone (to block the cortisol response), or a placebo before being exposed to the Maastricht Acute Stress Test. Intrusive thoughts of autobiographical future fears were then measured via the Imagine/No-Imagine task. Results demonstrated that the stress response was successfully altered because of the drug and stress manipulations. In all groups, repeated suppression of future fears reduced intrusions. Across the sample, an enhanced decrease over time was associated with greater attenuation of anxiety towards the related fears. The groups did not differ in the total frequency of intrusions. Though, trait anxiety increased the total number of intrusions. Our findings show that stress hormones did not influence the ability to suppress intrusions. However, our results do add support to previous research linking anxiety to memory control deficits. When using autobiographical content, future research should focus on the quality and characteristics of the individual memories to explain more of the variation observed in intentional memory control.

Abstract Background About 30% of cancer survivors suffer from chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) ≥6 months after completion of chemotherapy. This condition, for which treatment options are scarce, comes with limitations in daily life functioning and decreased quality of life. The current study examines the effectiveness of an online self-help intervention based on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) in comparison to a waiting list condition (WLC) to deal with CIPN. In addition, it examines which factors moderate effects and to what extent the effects differ between guided and unguided ACT intervention. Methods A two-parallel, non-blinded randomized controlled trial (RCT) will be carried out. Adult cancer survivors who experience painful CIPN for at least 3 months and completed chemotherapy at least 6 months ago will be recruited (n=146). In the intervention condition, participants will follow an 8-week self-management course containing 6 modules regarding psychoeducation and ACT processes, including therapeutic email guidance. By means of text and experiential exercises, supplemented with illustrations, metaphors, and audio files, people will learn to carry out value-oriented activities in their daily life with pain. Participants will learn new ways of coping with pain, including reducing pain avoidance and increasing pain acceptance. Participants in the WLC will be invited to follow the intervention without therapeutic guidance 5 months after start. Pain interference is the primary outcome, while psychological distress, quality of life, CIPN symptom severity, pain intensity, psychological flexibility, mindfulness skills, values-based living, and pain catastrophizing will serve as secondary outcomes. All outcome measures will be evaluated at inclusion and baseline, early-intervention, mid-intervention, post-treatment, and 3- and 6-month post-treatment. Qualitative interviews will be conducted post-treatment regarding experiences, usage, usability, content fit, and satisfaction with the intervention. Discussion This study will provide valuable information on the effectiveness of an online self-help intervention based on ACT versus WLC for chronic painful CIPN patients. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05371158 . Registered on May 12, 2022. Protocol version: version 1, 24-05-2022

Research indicates that fear was an important factor in determining individual responses to COVID-19, predicting relevant behaviors such as compliance to preventive measures (e.g., hand washing) and stress reactions (e.g., poor sleep quality). Given this central role of fear, it is important to understand more about its temporal changes during the COVID-19 pandemic. This article describes a publicly available dataset that contains longitudinal assessment of fear of COVID-19 and other relevant constructs during the first 15 months of the pandemic. Particularly, the dataset contains data from two different samples. The first sample consists predominantly of Dutch respondents (N = 439) who completed a cross-sectional survey in March 2020. The second sample consists of a large-scale longitudinal survey (N = 2000 at T1), including respondents with a broad range of nationalities (though predominantly residing in Europe and North America; 95.6%). The respondents of the second sample completed the survey between April 2020 and August 2020 using the Prolific data collection platform. In addition, one follow-up assessment was completed in June 2021. The measures included in the survey were fear of COVID-19, demographic information (age, gender, country of residence, education level, and working in healthcare), anxious traits (i.e., intolerance of uncertainty, health anxiety, and worrying), media use, self-rated health, perceived ability to prevent infection, and perceived risk for loved ones. Additionally, at the follow-up assessment in June 2021, respondents were asked whether they were vaccinated against COVID-19 or were planning to get vaccinated. The datafiles of this study have been made available through the Open Science Framework and can be freely reused by psychologists, social scientists, and other researchers who wish to investigate the development, correlates, and consequences of fear of COVID-19.

Instrumental learning is controlled by two distinct parallel systems: goal-directed (action-outcome) and habitual (stimulus-response) processes. Seminal research by Schwabe and Wolf (2009, 2010) has demonstrated that stress renders behavior more habitual by decreasing goal-directed control. More recent studies yielded equivocal evidence for a stress-induced shift towards habitual responding, yet these studies used different paradigms to evaluate instrumental learning or used different stressors. Here, we performed exact replications of the original studies by exposing participants to an acute stressor either before (cf. Schwabe and Wolf, 2009) or directly after (cf. Schwabe and Wolf, 2010) an instrumental learning phase in which they had learned that distinct actions led to distinct, rewarding food outcomes (i.e., instrumental learning). Then, following an outcome devaluation phase in which one of the food outcomes was consumed until participants were satiated, action-outcome associations were tested in extinction. Despite successful instrumental learning and outcome devaluation and increased subjective and physiological stress levels following stress exposure, the stress and no-stress groups in both replication studies responded indifferently to valued and devalued outcomes. That is, non-stressed participants failed to demonstrate goal-directed behavioral control, thereby rendering the critical test of a shift from goal-directed to habitual control in the stress group inapt. Several reasons for these replication failures are discussed, including the rather indiscriminate devaluation of outcomes that may have contributed to indifferent responding during extinction, which emphasize the need to further our understanding of the boundary conditions in research aimed at demonstrating a stress-induced shift towards habitual control.

Combining recall of an emotional memory with simultaneous horizontal eye movements (i.e., Recall + EM) reduces memory aversiveness. However, the long-term persistence of this effect is inconsistent across studies. Given that stress may aid in the consolidation of memories, we examined whether acute stress can boost the long-term effects of degraded memories. To test this, participants recalled two negative memories, which were assigned to a Recall + EM or Recall Only condition. Before and after each intervention they rated memory aversiveness (i.e., immediate effects) followed by a stress-induction or control procedure. After a 24h-period, participants rated each memory again (i.e., long-term effects). We found that Recall + EM produces immediate effects but that these effects dissolve over time. Moreover, acute stress did not boost potential long-term effects of Recall + EM. Degraded memories were not retained better by applying stress. We discuss these results and how long-term effectiveness may still be achieved.

Memories of the past can guide humans to avoid harm. The logical consequence of this is if memories are changed, avoidance behavior should be affected. More than 80 years of false memory research has shown that people’s memory can be re-constructed or distorted by receiving suggestive false feedback. The current study examined whether manipulating people’s memories of learned associations would impact fear related behavior. A modified sensory preconditioning paradigm of fear learning was used. Critically, in a memory test after fear learning, participants received verbal false feedback to change their memory associations. After receiving the false feedback, participants’ beliefs and memories ratings for learned associations decreased significantly compared to the no feedback condition. Furthermore, in the false feedback condition, participants no longer showed avoidance to fear conditioned stimuli and relevant subjective fear ratings dropped significantly. Our results suggest that manipulating memory associations might minimize avoidance behavior in fear conditioning. These data also highlight the role of memory in higher order conditioning.

In order to explain trauma resilience, previous research has been investigating possible risk and protective factors, both on an individual and a contextual level. In this experimental study, we examined narrative coherence and social support in relation to trauma resilience. Participants were asked to write about a turning point memory, after which they did the Maastricht Acute Stress Test, our lab analog of a traumatic event. Following, half of the participants received social support, whereas the other half did not. Afterwards, all participants wrote a narrative on the traumatic event. Moment-to-moment fluctuations in psychological and physiological well-being throughout the experiment were investigated with state anxiety questionnaires and cortisol measures. Results showed that narratives of traumatic experiences were less coherent than narratives of turning point memories. However, contrary to our predictions, coherence, and, in particular, thematic coherence, related positively to anxiety levels. Possibly, particular types of thematic coherence are a non-adaptive form of coping, which reflect unfinished attempts at meaning-making and are more similar to continuous rumination than to arriving at a resolution. Furthermore, coherence at baseline could not buffer against the impact of trauma on anxiety levels in this study. Contrary to our hypotheses, social support did not have the intended beneficial effects on coherence, neither on well-being. Multiple explanations as to why our support manipulation remained ineffective are suggested. Remarkably, lower cortisol levels at baseline and after writing about the turning point memory predicted higher coherence in the trauma narratives. This may suggest that the ability to remain calm in difficult situations does relate to the ability to cope adaptively with future difficult experiences. Clinical and social implications of the present findings are discussed, and future research recommendations on the relations between narrative coherence, social support, and trauma resilience are addressed.

Anxiety patients often experience conflicts between approaching (pass barking dog) and avoiding (take detour) feared situations. In most experimental avoidance paradigms, response options are limited or forced, making it difficult to generalize the results to daily life situations. The aim of the present study was twofold: 1) to develop a more ecologically valid avoidance paradigm; 2) to examine the influence of individual characteristics (trait anxiety; distress tolerance) on approach-avoidance behaviour. To encourage free exploration behaviour, a virtual reality (VR) escape room was developed. In this room, participants searched for cues to decipher a code-locked door. Opening a marked vase (conditioned stimulus, CS) was followed by a jump scare, a rat jumping out of the vase (unconditioned stimulus, US). Avoidance was measured via questionnaires and relative manipulation time of CS-marked (EXPgen) or nonmarked (CONT) objects in the room; questionnaires measured trait anxiety and distress tolerance. EXPgen participants reported higher US expectancies and more avoidance of the (marked) vase compared to the CONT participants, yet behavioural data did not support these ratings. Additionally, higher trait anxiety scores coincided with higher US expectancies before the jump scare. The current flexible free-exploratory paradigm provides multiple opportunities to examine avoidance behaviour in different populations and settings.

False memories can result in severe legal consequences including the imprisonment of innocent people. False memory in eyewitnesses is the largest factor contributing to miscarriages of justice in the United States. To date, no study has focused on how false memories might play a role in the Chinese legal system. The purpose of this review is to summarize the latest findings on false memory and eyewitness testimony in the literature, and to shed some light on how the Chinese legal system may incorporate these experiences into practice. Overall, false memories of eyewitnesses are generated either by external misleading information or by internal cognitive processes; false memories may guide police investigations in the wrong direction or cause eyewitnesses to misidentify an innocent person as the perpetrator. We conclude that specially designed interview protocols such as the Cognitive Interview, warnings given to eyewitnesses, and blind lineup administration may prevent or lower the risk of false memory occurrence.

Background: Stress and stress hormones modulate memory formation in various ways that are relevant to our understanding of stress-related psychopathology, such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Particular relevance is attributed to efficient memory formation sustained by the hippocampus and parahippocampus. This process is thought to reduce the occurrence of intrusions and flashbacks following trauma, but may be negatively affected by acute stress. Moreover, recent evidence suggests that the efficiency of visuo-spatial processing and learning based on the hippocampal area is related to PTSD symptoms. Objective: The current study investigated the effect of acute stress on spatial configuration learning using a spatial contextual cueing task (SCCT) known to heavily rely on structures in the parahippocampus. Method: Acute stress was induced by subjecting participants (N = 34) to the Maastricht Acute Stress Test (MAST). Following a counterbalanced within-subject approach, the effects of stress and the ensuing hormonal (i.e., cortisol) activity on subsequent SCCT performance were compared to SCCT performance following a no-stress control condition. Results: Acute stress did not impact SCCT learning overall, but opposing effects emerged for high versus low cortisol responders to the MAST. Learning scores following stress were reduced in low cortisol responders, while high cortisol-responding participants showed improved learning. Conclusions: The effects of stress on spatial configuration learning were moderated by the magnitude of endogenous cortisol secretion. These findings suggest a possible mechanism by which cortisol responses serve an adaptive function during stress and trauma, and this may prove to be a promising route for future research in this area.