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Background: Depressive symptoms commonly co‐occur with cognitive decline in older adults. However, prospective interrelationships between different cognitive function domains and depressive symptoms are not well understood. This study evaluated prospective interrelationships between depressive symptoms and cognitive functioning components among individuals aged 50 years or older from a perspective of network analysis. Method: Longitudinal data from the English Longitudinal Study of Aging were analyzed. Depressive symptoms were measured with the eight‐item Center for Epidemiologic Studies Short–Depression Scale. Cognitive functions assessed included memory, orientation, and executive function. Contemporaneous network analyses were conducted using mixed graphical model, while a temporal network model was assessed using cross‐lagged panel network model. To identify important predictors and outcomes, centrality indices, including expected influence, out‐expected influence, and in‐expected influence, were calculated. Results: A total of 6,433 older adults were included in the network analysis. Baseline "Not enjoy life" (CESD‐6) was negatively associated with executive function at the follow‐up assessment. Moreover, improvements in "Everything was an effort" (CESD‐2) and "Loneliness" (CESD‐5) were related to less future decline of executive function and memory ability. Furthermore, analyses suggested targeting "Lack of happiness" (CESD‐4) could be useful in reducing the co‐occurrence of depression and cognitive decline among older adults. Conclusions: This network analysis study highlighted dynamic interrelationships between depressive symptoms and cognitive decline in older adults. Findings suggest that interventions targeting specific depressive symptoms may have the potential to alleviate declines in executive function and memory for this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Past cross‐sectional chronic pain studies have revealed aberrant resting‐state brain activity in regions involved in pain processing and affect regulation. However, there is a paucity of longitudinal research examining links of resting‐state activity and pain resilience with changes in chronic pain outcomes over time. In this prospective study, we assessed the status of baseline (T1) resting‐state brain activity as a biomarker of later impairment from chronic pain and a mediator of the relation between pain resilience and impairment at follow‐up. One hundred forty‐two adults with chronic musculoskeletal pain completed a T1 assessment comprising a resting‐state functional magnetic resonance imaging scan based on regional homogeneity (ReHo) and self‐report measures of demographics, pain characteristics, psychological status, pain resilience, pain severity, and pain impairment. Subsequently, pain impairment was reassessed at a 6‐month follow‐up (T2). Hierarchical multiple regression and mediation analyses assessed relations of T1 ReHo and pain resilience scores with changes in pain impairment. Higher T1 ReHo values in the right caudate nucleus were associated with increased pain impairment at T2, after controlling for all other statistically significant self‐report measures. ReHo also partially mediated associations of T1 pain resilience dimensions with T2 pain impairment. T1 right caudate nucleus ReHo emerged as a possible biomarker of later impairment from chronic musculoskeletal pain and a neural mechanism that may help to explain why pain resilience is related to lower levels of later chronic pain impairment. Findings provide empirical foundations for prospective extensions that assess the status of ReHo activity and self‐reported pain resilience as markers for later impairment from chronic pain and targets for interventions to reduce impairment. Practitioner Points: Resting‐state markers of impairment: Higher baseline (T1) regional homogeneity (ReHo) values, localized in the right caudate nucleus, were associated with exacerbations in impairment from chronic musculoskeletal pain at a 6‐month follow‐up, independent of T1 demographics, pain experiences, and psychological factors.Mediating role of ReHo values: ReHo values in the right caudate nucleus also mediated the relationship between baseline pain resilience levels and later pain impairment among participants.Therapeutic implications: Findings provide empirical foundations for research extensions that evaluate (1) the use of resting‐state activity in assessment to identify people at risk for later impairment from pain and (2) changes in resting‐state activity as biomarkers for the efficacy of treatments designed to improve resilience and reduce impairment among those in need. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although researchers have documented behavioral and brain structure correlates of pain resilience, associated physiological responses have received little consideration. In this study, we assessed psychophysiological differences between high (HPR), moderate (MPR), and low (LPR) pain resilience subgroups during anticipation, experiencing, and recovery from laboratory pain. In an initial pain anticipation task, participants (79 women, 32 man) viewed visual cues to signal possible mild or intense shocks prior to receiving these shocks. Subsequently, in a pain recovery task, participants received uncued mild and intense shocks. Subjective appraisals were assessed during each task in tandem with continuous recording of skin conductance level (SCL), heart rate variability (HRV), and corrugator electromyography (cEMG). On physiological indexes, HPR subgroup members displayed significantly lower SCL than MPR and LPR subgroups did during anticipation and experiencing of pain while no resilience group effects were found for HRV or cEMG. During pain recovery, HPR and LPR subgroups displayed weaker SCL than the MPR subgroup did in the immediate aftermath of shock. However, HPR members continued to display lower SCL than other groups did over an extended recovery period. On self‐report measures, the LPR subgroup reported higher levels of anticipatory anxiety and expected pain than HPR and MPR subgroups did during the pain anticipation task. Together, results suggested higher pain resilience is characterized, in part, by comparatively reduced SCL during the course of anticipating, experiencing and recovering from painful shock. This study is the first to evaluate psychophysiological correlates of pain resilience during anticipation, experience, and recovery from painful electrical stimulation. Lower pain resilience was characterized by higher anxiety and expected pain ratings during pain anticipation as well as comparatively elevated skin conductance (SCL) during pain anticipation, while experiencing painful stimulation, and over the extended recovery period following painful stimuli. Conversely, curvilinear resilience‐SCL relations were observed during the immediate aftermath of painful stimulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies have documented behavior differences between more versus less resilient adults with chronic pain (CP), but the presence and nature of underlying neurophysiological differences have received scant attention. In this study, we attempted to identify regions of interest (ROIs) in which resting state (Rs) brain activity discriminated more from less resilient CP subgroups based on multiple kernel learning (MKL). More and less resilient community‐dwellers with chronic musculoskeletal pain (70 women, 39 men) engaged in structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans, wherein MKL assessed Rs activity based on amplitude of low frequency fluctuations (ALFF), fractional amplitudes of low frequency fluctuations (fALFF), and regional homogeneity (ReHo) modalities to identify ROIs most salient for discriminating more versus less resilient subgroups. Compared to classification based on single modalities, multi‐modal classification based on combined fALFF and ReHo features achieved a substantially higher classification accuracy rate (79%). Brain regions with the best discriminative power included those implicated in pain processing, reward, executive function, goal‐directed action, emotion regulation and resilience to mood disorders though variation trends were not consistent between more and less resilient subgroups. Results revealed patterns of Rs activity that serve as possible biomarkers for resilience to chronic musculoskeletal pain. This study is the first to identify regions of interest in which resting state brain activity discriminated more from less resilient chronic pain subgroups based on multiple kernel learning. Brain regions with the best discriminative power included regions implicated in pain processing, reward, executive function, goal‐directed action, emotion regulation and resilience to mood disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. To remedy shortcomings of past research, a resilience questionnaire and behavioral index identified high (HPR), moderate (MPR), and low (LPR) pain resilience subgroups. The LPR subgroup was characterized by more GMV in pain processing regions and less GMV in resilience regions. GMV also had several nonlinear relations with resilience levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Social modelling experiments have illustrated how upward social comparisons (i.e., observing pain tolerant role models) can facilitate tolerance relative to downward social comparison (i.e., observing pain intolerant alternatives). However, because clinical studies suggest that people prefer to make downward social comparisons with less fortunate others when they are threatened or overwhelmed with pain or illness, it seems plausible that upward social comparisons confer fewer benefits when pain is appraised as threatening. To address this issue, we assessed effects of verbally-presented upward and downward social comparison standards on tolerance for cold pressor pain among 124 Australian adults (44 men, 80 women) primed with either more or less threatening orienting information about task-related pain sensations. As predicted, participants exposed to the lower threat orienting prime and upward comparison performance standard were significantly more pain tolerant than peers in all other conditions. Conversely, the average tolerance time for participants presented with the higher threat orienting prime and upward comparison standard did not differ from that of either downward comparison group. The research highlighted powerful situational influences on tolerance for experimental pain and identified conditions under which verbally-presented upward social comparison standards may facilitate and hinder the capacity to bear pain. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: 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. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Emerging evidence indicates that meanings attributed to pain contribute to tolerance and coping among affected individuals. However, links between pain appraisals and coping responses have received little attention within a broader interpersonal context. In this experiment, effects of appraisal on pain tolerance and coping were examined in adult dyads. Eighty-six acquaintance/friend pairs were randomly assigned to the role of Participant in a cold pressor test (CPT) or observer–helper who assisted in coping. Before the task, pairs in the threat condition read about frostbite symptoms and consequences, while those in the reassurance condition read about the safety of the task. In a mixed condition, Participants and Observers read the reassurance and threat passage, respectively. Between-groups analyses revealed threat group participants had lower pain tolerance and reported less cognitive coping than did participants in other appraisal conditions. Threat group observers reported less attention diversion, coping self-statements and ignoring in helping their partner than did reassured observers. Pain language was also most prominent in transactions of threatened dyads. Finally, use of attention diversion by observers contributed to pain tolerance, independent of participant factors (reported pain, appraisal condition, reported coping) and pain language in conversations during immersions. The study highlights how appraisal contributes not only to pain tolerance and coping in the affected individual but also to care-giving efforts of others in their social environment. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

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. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and Eating Disorders Association. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evaluates the extent to which eating-disordered women and nonclinical groups could be differentiated on autonomy, dependency and sociotropy measures. Relation of the increased risk of eating disorders to a mixed presentation of autonomy and sociotropy; Most effective treatment approaches to eating disorders; Interpersonal therapy.