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Background Few studies examining the effect of pain-related threat on eye movements have incorporated a measure of interpretation bias. However, theories suggest that interpretation biases also play an important role in the anticipation of harm in situations where pain could be imminent. The current study investigates the association between interpretation biases and pain-related threat expectancies and their associations with eye movements to pain-related imagery. Methods Healthy adults' (N = 91) fear of pain, emotional functioning and interpretation biases were assessed prior to a threat manipulation where they were given either threatening or reassuring information about an upcoming cold pressor task. Participants were then asked to freely view scene images that were either pain-related or neutral. Results We used a data-driven machine learning method to analyse eye movements. We identified an explorative (i.e. greater dispersal of eye fixations) and a focused eye movement pattern subgroup (i.e. mainly focusing on foreground information) for scene viewing in the sample. Participants with more negative interpretation biases expected that the cold pressor task would be more harmful, and those with higher levels of anticipated harm used a more explorative strategy when viewing injury scene images. Subsequent analysis confirmed an indirect effect of interpretation biases on eye movements through expected bodily harm. No difference in eye movements was found between participants given threatening and reassuring information. Conclusions Interpretation biases may play a prominent role in threat-related attentional processing. By adopting a novel eye movement analysis approach, our results revealed interesting associations among interpretations, threat expectancies and eye movements. Significance Negative interpretation biases may be associated with greater threat expectancies for an upcoming experimental pain task. Anticipation of bodily harm may induce a stimulus non-specific hypervigilant style of scanning of pain-related scenes.

Recent evidence from event-related potentials (ERPs) has identified N2 posterior contralateral (pc) amplitudes as a neural marker of early attention allocation. The N2pc has been used to evaluate attention biases (ABs) in samples with anxiety-based problems, but its utility has yet to be considered among persons with chronic pain, another group theorized to display ABs that perpetuate their difficulties. To address this gap, we assessed N2pc responses of adults with chronic pain (N = 70) and pain-free controls (N = 70) during a dot-probe task comprising painful-neutral and happy-neutral facial expression image pairs. Analyses indicated that (1) larger N2pc amplitudes were elicited by both painful and happy expressions compared to complementary neutral expressions in each sample, (2) the chronic pain sample displayed larger N2pc amplitudes during exposure to both painful and happy expressions than controls did and (3) no group differences were evident for N2pc latencies. Overall N2pc results reflected general biases in early allocation of attention towards affectively valenced expressions rather than pain-specific ABs among chronic pain cohorts. SIGNIFICANCE: Although numerous researchers have examined pain-related attention biases, these data are based exclusively upon behavioural measures of attention such as reaction times and eye movements. Drawing from relevant event-related potentials research, this study is the first to evaluate and identify differences in orienting of attention between adults with chronic pain and pain-free controls based on N2 posterior contralateral (pc) amplitudes which provide a neural index of early attention allocation.

People who are especially afraid of pain may display attention biases that increase their risk for developing chronic pain following an injury. However, specific neurophysiological mechanisms underlying associations between elevated trait fear of pain levels and environmental cues that signal potential pain experiences are not well understood. To address this gap, event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded among 39 high pain-fearful (H-FOP) and 36 low pain-fearful (L-FOP) adults exposed to potentially painful somatosensory stimulation cued by sensory pain words versus non-painful stimulation cued by neutral words. H-FOP group members displayed slower reaction times in judging somatosensory stimulation and rated stimulation to be more intense than L-FOP group members did. H-FOP group members also exhibited comparatively earlier peak latencies of P2 and N2 components during word cue presentations as well as weaker P3 amplitudes in processing non-painful stimulation cued by sensory pain words. These findings suggested that, among the high trait pain-fearful, exposure to word cues signaling potential pain results in the allocation of fewer cognitive resources toward processing somatosensory stimuli that are not actually painful.

BACKGROUND In this eye tracking study, we evaluated pain-related biases in orienting and maintenance of gaze within impending touch versus impending pain tasks and examined features of pain resilience as individual difference influences on potential biases. METHODS Gaze preferences of healthy adults (25 women and 39 men) were assessed during standardized pain-neutral (P-N) image pair presentations (2,000 ms) of an impending touch task versus an impending pain task whereby image pair offsets were followed by potential non-painful touch and potential pain stimulation, respectively. RESULTS Within each task, participants were significantly more likely to fixate first upon pain images in P-N pairs and maintain gaze on these images for longer overall durations during trials. Between task comparisons indicated pain-related biases in orienting and maintenance were significantly stronger when image pairs signalled potential pain rather than impending touch. Finally, within the impending pain task, higher scores on the behaviour perseverance dimension of pain resilience were related to shorter first fixation durations and overall gaze durations towards pain images. CONCLUSIONS Supporting specific threat interpretation model premises, comparatively more threatening external pain cues for impending pain were characterized by gaze biases reflecting pronounced early attentional capture and subsequent prolonged vigilance. However, elevations in self-reported behavioural perseverance in spite of pain corresponded to an increased capacity to disengage from pain images that signalled potential pain. SIGNIFICANCE Gaze biases were assessed within a comparatively benign "impending touch" paradigm versus a higher threat, impending pain task. Early capture and maintenance of gaze towards pain images were more pronounced on the latter task, although pain resilient participants were able to disengage more easily from pain images signalling possible pain.

Numerous investigators have tested contentions that angry faces capture early attention more completely than happy faces do in the context of other faces. However, syntheses of studies on early event-related potentials related to the anger superiority hypothesis have yet to be conducted, particularly in relation to the N200 posterior-contralateral (N2pc) component which provides a reliable electrophysiological index related to orienting of attention suitable for testing this hypothesis. Fifteen samples (N = 534) from 13 studies featuring the assessment of N2pc amplitudes during exposure to angry-neutral and/or happy-neutral facial expression arrays were included for meta-analysis. Moderating effects of study design features and sample characteristics on effect size variability were also assessed. N2pc amplitudes elicited by affectively valenced expressions (angry and happy) were significantly more pronounced than those elicited by neutral expressions. However, the mean effect size difference between angry and happy expressions was ns. N2pc effect sizes were moderated by sample age, number of trials, and nature of facial images used (schematic vs. real) with larger effect sizes observed when samples were comparatively younger, more task trials were presented and schematic face arrays were used. N2pc results did not support anger superiority hypothesis. Instead, attentional resources allocated to angry versus happy facial expressions were similar in early stages of processing. As such, possible adaptive advantages of biases in orienting toward both anger and happy expressions warrant consideration in revisions of related theory.

Resilience refers to the capacity to function well despite adversity and facilitates adaptation to various stressors, including pain. Previous studies have operationalized resilience via questionnaires or task performance behaviors that do not always correlate with one another and tested extreme (lower vs. higher) resilience subgroup differences that do not permit the assessment of nonlinear associations between resilience and brain matter volume. To address these limitations, we identified high (HPR, N = 21), moderate (MPR, N = 20), and low (LPR, N = 16) pain resilience subgroups from a trait resilience questionnaire as well as behavioral performance on a laboratory pain task. Subsequently, resilience subgroup differences in gray matter volume (GMV) and behavior responses to a novel numerical interference task (NIT) were assessed. Behavioral results indicated the LPR subgroup was slower in responding to NIT trials accompanied by pain compared to MPR, and especially, HPR subgroups. Voxel-based morphology analyses indicated the LPR subgroup had more GMV in the left postcentral gyrus than did MPR and HPR subgroups. LPR and MPR subgroups displayed larger GMV in the right inferior temporal gyrus than did the HPR subgroup. Nonlinear relations reflecting less regional GMV in the right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG)/putamen, orbitofrontal cortex and left IFG/insula were also observed for the MPR subgroup compared to LPR and HPR subgroups. In sum, lower pain resilience is characterized, in part, by comparatively greater GMV in pain processing regions and reduced GMV in "resilience" regions, though regional GMV also has several nonlinear associations with resilience.

Background Threat is hypothesized to affect the degree to which pain captures attention but little is known about its impact on dynamic courses of attention towards pain. In this eye-tracking study, we evaluated pain-related visual attention biases during image pair presentations in comparatively lower versus higher threat conditions. Methods Gaze biases of healthy adults (47 women, 35 men) were assessed during image presentation phases standardized across (1) a modified visual dot-probe task featuring painful-neutral (pain) and neutral-neutral contrast (neutral) image pair blocks (lower threat context); and (2) an impending pain task wherein the same image pair blocks, respectively, cued potentially painful postoffset somatosensory stimuli (higher threat context) and its absence. Results Across tasks, participants were more often oriented towards, gazed longer at, and fixated more times on pain images in pain block trials, although trait fear of pain was not related to any gaze biases. Critically, however, participants reported more state fear and displayed significantly fewer initial fixations, longer first and overall gaze durations, and more unique fixations on pain images when image pairs signalled possible postoffset pain stimulation. Conclusions Results underscored stronger overall attention maintenance on visual pain cues in a higher threat (impending pain) context. Significance Through considering gaze parameters during image presentation phases of dot-probe and impending pain tasks, possible effects of lower versus higher threat contexts on attention biases were elucidated. Participants reported more fear and gazed longer at painful than neutral images in the higher threat context whereby image pairs cued possible pain.

In this study, we assessed biases in attention disengagement among average-weight women with binge-eating (n = 33) and non-eating disordered controls (n = 31). Participants engaged in a spatial cueing paradigm task wherein they first observed high-calorie food, low-calorie food, or neutral images and then had to quickly locate targets in either the same or a different location. Within both groups, reaction times (RTs) were longer to valid-cued trials (i.e. target appearing in location of preceding cue) than to invalid-cued trials (i.e. targets appearing in location different from initial location), reflecting a general inhibition of return (IOR) effect. However, RT findings also indicated that women with BE had significantly more difficulty disengaging from high-calorie food images than did controls, even though neither group had disengagement problems related to other image types. Selective attention disengagement difficulties related to high-calorie food images suggested that increased reward sensitivity to such cues is related to binge eating risk. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and Eating Disorders Association.

Although emotion regulation capacities have been linked to adjustment among people with chronic pain, researchers have yet to determine whether these capacities are related to functioning independent of established facets of pain coping. The present study was designed to address this gap. A sample 128 Australian adults with chronic pain (44 men, 84 women) completed self-report measures of adjustment (quality of life, negative affect, and pain-related disability), pain coping, and features of emotion regulation (emotion appraisal, perceived efficacy in emotion regulation, emotion utilization). Hierarchical multiple regression analyses indicated that efficacy in emotion regulation was related to quality of life and reduced negative affect even after statistically controlling for effects of other measures of adjustment, pain coping efficacy, and pain coping. Conversely, features of emotion regulation did not improve the prediction model for pain-related disability. Findings suggest emotion regulation capacities may have a unique role in the prediction of specific facets of adjustment among people with chronic pain.

This experiment investigated the impact of brief training in acceptance versus distraction-based pain management on experimental pain tolerance in conditions of lower and higher potential threats. One hundred fifty-one pain-free Chinese adults (93 women, 58 men) randomly assigned to acceptance, distraction or pain education control conditions engaged in a cold pressor test (CPT) after reading validated orienting information designed to prime either the safety of the CPT (lower threat) or symptoms and damaging effects of exposure to extreme cold (higher threat). A 2 (threat level) × 3 (training strategy) analysis of covariance, controlling for pre-intervention pain tolerance and education, indicated the acceptance group was more pain tolerant than other training groups. This main effect was qualified by an interaction with threat level: in the lower threat condition, acceptance group participants were more pain tolerant than peers in the distraction or pain education groups while no training group differences were found in the higher threat condition. Supplementary analyses identified catastrophizing as a partial mediator of training group differences in pain tolerance. In summary, findings suggested acceptance-based coping is superior to distraction as a means of managing experimental pain, particularly when pain sensations are viewed as comparatively low in potential threat.

In this experiment, sensitivity to female facial attractiveness was examined by comparing event-related potentials (ERPs) in response to attractive and unattractive female faces within a study-test paradigm. Fourteen heterosexual participants (age range 18-24 years, mean age 21.67 years) were required to judge 84 attractive and 84 unattractive face images as either "attractive" or "unattractive." They were then asked whether they had previously viewed each face in a recognition task in which 50% of the images were novel. Analyses indicated that attractive faces elicited more enhanced ERP amplitudes than did unattractive faces in judgment (N300 and P350-550 msec) and recognition (P160 and N250-400 msec and P400-700 msec) tasks on anterior locations. Moreover, longer reaction times and higher accuracy rate were observed in identifying attractive faces than unattractive faces. In sum, this research identified neural and behavioral bases related to cognitive preferences for judging and recognizing attractive female faces. Explanations for the results are that attractive female faces arouse more intense positive emotions in participants than do unattractive faces, and they also represent reproductive fitness and mating value from the evolutionary perspective.

This nine-month prospective study tested the extent to which risk factors implicated in recent accounts of body dissatisfaction predicted changes in body image concerns of adolescent boys and girls in China. A sample of 593 Chinese adolescents (217 boys, 376 girls) completed measures of weight esteem, appearance esteem and physical stature concern in addition to demographics, internalization of attractiveness ideals, negative affect, and appearance pressure, teasing, and comparison at baseline and nine-month follow-up. For girls, initial levels of social comparison, and internalized attractiveness ideals predicted decreases in body esteem over time. Time 1 negative affect contributed to changes in both appearance esteem and weight esteem for boys. Baseline level of stature concerns and reported height were the only predictors of later stature concerns within each sex. In sum, this study suggests specific factors previously implicated in Western accounts also have utility for understanding body image concerns of adolescents in China.

This research assessed the prevalence and sociodemographic correlates of eating disorder symptoms among young people from China. A sample of 1320 females and 783 males between 12 and 22 years of age was recruited from academic settings in various regions of China and completed a back-translated Chinese version of the Eating Disorder Diagnostic Scale, as well as measures of body dissatisfaction and demographics. As expected, reported eating disorder symptoms and body dissatisfaction were significantly higher for females than males. Eating disorder symptoms and body dissatisfaction were also more pronounced for participants from higher income households. Finally, age differences in symptoms and body dissatisfaction were inconsistent. In sum, findings extend past prevalence research and highlight specific sociodemographic correlates of eating pathology and body dissatisfaction among Chinese adolescents and young adults.

This study examined the impact of threatening information on coping and pain tolerance in a healthy adult sample. Prior to engaging in a Cold Pressor Test (CPT), 121 college students were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: a threat condition in which they read an orienting passage warning them about symptoms and consequences of frostbite (pain as a signal for nociception), a reassurance condition in which they read an orienting passage about the safety of the CPT (pain independent of nociception), or a control condition in which no orienting passage was read before the experimental task. Only 15.6% of participants in the threat group completed the CPT to its 4-minute duration, compared with 55.6% in the reassurance group and 45.2% of those in the control group. Even though groups did not differ on level of reported pain, threatened participants catastrophized more about the pain and reported less use of cognitive coping strategies (reinterpreting pain sensations, ignoring pain, diverting attention away from pain to other experiences, and using coping self-statements) than other respondents. A path analysis indicated that the relation between threat and pain tolerance was fully mediated by catastrophizing and cognitive coping. Together, findings suggest that pain appraised as threatening contributes to a specific pattern of coping responses associated with a reduced capacity to bear pain.

The present study evaluated the extent to which eating-disordered and nonclinical comparison samples could be differentiated on self-reported personality measures of autonomy and sociotropy and a projective measure of dependency. Sixty-two women meeting diagnostic criteria for eating disorder and a nonpsychiatric comparison group of 62 women completed the autonomy and sociotropy subscales of the Personal Style Inventory—II and the Rorschach Oral Dependency Scale (ROD). A discriminant classification analysis indicated 85.5% of eating-disordered subjects and 88.7% of control subjects were identified accurately from their scores on autonomy, sociotropy, and ROD. Results suggest that the experience of eating disorders is associated with a mixed clinical presentation characterized by issues related to sociotropy–dependency, and especially, achievement-related vulnerabilities. Potentially fruitful areas for future study include assessing the utility of autonomy and sociotropy as predictors of eating disturbances in prospective research and evaluating their utility in predicting treatment prognosis among patients with eating disorders. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Clin Psychol 56: 699–710, 2000.

Spider density on desert islands in the Gulf of California is a joint function of variable productivity (bottom-up effects) and consumer intensity (top-down effects). Data from 20 islands and five years (1990–1994) show that the cumulative productivity of islands, a sum of the input of marine detritus and terrestrial plant productivity, varies spatially and temporally. Marine inputs are a function of the perimeter/area ratio and are thus relatively greater on smaller islands. Land plant productivity, a function of precipitation, is negligible in most years but can increase greatly (10–160× in plant cover) with heavy rains from El Nino events (e.g., 1992–1993). Consumer intensity is a function of the continual influence of predaceous scorpions and the sporadic occurrence of parasitoid spider wasps (Pompilidae); the importance of these factors varies greatly, both because scorpions are absent on some islands and because parasitoid densities show extreme year-to-year oscillations. El Nino rains produced large changes in the quantity and quality of plant resources and the control of spider populations. Spider densities doubled in 1992 in response to high levels of prey that followed heavy rains but crashed in 1993, despite continued high plant productivity and prey availability. The appearance of copious nectar and pollen, food of adult parasitoid wasps, caused wasp populations to erupt in 1993. Wasps emerged as a major, but previously hidden, trophic influence and greatly suppressed spider populations. Pompilids act as nonequilibrium agents—they are regulated by factors other than prey (spider) availability. In general, smaller spider populations were more variable year to year in the magnitude of their increases and decreases. In spite of the great temporal and spatial variability, consistent changes in plant, prey, spider, and wasp dynamics occurred repeatedly and apparently independently on islands throughout the archipelago. Such patterns of concerted change strongly suggest that general processes related to productivity and consumption are key to understanding the dynamics of this system.

The tremendous increase in precipitation associated with the 1992-1993 El Nino profoundly affected terrestrial communities on arid islands in the Midriff region of the Gulf of California. In 1992, winter precipitation was 5.4 times the historical mean, and winter precipitation over the entire El Nino was the highest two-year amount ever recorded. Increased precipitation led to an explosion of annual plant growth on the previously barren (0-4% cover) islands: plant cover increased 10-160 times over what it had been. With the resumption of arid conditions in 1994, live plant cover returned to the low levels seen before the onset of El Nino. Insect abundance tracked this pulse in plant productivity and approximately doubled in 1992 and 1993 compared to 1991 levels. In 1994, the crash of annual plants caused insect densities to drop to the lowest levels recorded during the 5-yr study. El Nino also affected the composition of the insect assemblage. In the dry years 1990-1991, the assemblage was dominated by insects feeding on products originating in the ocean: detritivores/scavengers on shore drift of marine algae and carcasses, avian parasites, and detritivores of bird products. Herbivores were extremely rare. The heavy plant growth in 1992 stimulated large (40-190 times pre-El Nino levels) increases in herbivores. The great increases in land plant biomass and insect abundance are indicative of an important change in the dynamics of this system. Previously, most material flowing through the food webs of these islands originated directly or indirectly in the ocean. In contrast, during this El Nino, most material originated via productivity by terrestrial plants. Thus, wet El Ninos represent an agent that switches the system from one dependent primarily on allochthonous input to a system driven to a greater extent by in situ productivity. The influence of this pulse of terrestrial productivity extends beyond the El Nino years: the persistence and slow release of plant and detrital biomass reserves may also greatly affect dynamics for years after the El Nino event has passed. We suggest that large-scale climatic events such as El Nino may be long-lasting determinants of community dynamics rather than occasional disturbance events.