Changes in social cognition, encompassing all cognitive processes that underlie social interaction, have been noted in various types of dementia. Theory of Mind (ToM) is a key aspect of social...Show moreChanges in social cognition, encompassing all cognitive processes that underlie social interaction, have been noted in various types of dementia. Theory of Mind (ToM) is a key aspect of social cognition, defined as the ability to understand the mental state of another person, including their emotions, intentions and beliefs. Cartoon tests aim to adopt humour using cartoon jokes to assess ToM. In this study, a new Dutch cartoon test aimed to be applicable in clinical assessment of dementia was developed and validated. The test includes 12 cartoons (6 requiring ToM to understand the joke and 6 that do not), which were collected through an extensive search and were rated by experts (n = 17) on content and funniness. Normative data for the selected cartoons was obtained by control participants (n = 39), through annotation of these, scoring categories were formed. The test was then validated in a clinical sample, including patients referred to a memory clinic for cognitive complaints and suspected dementia (n = 9), in an observational cross-sectional study with a case-control type selection of participants. Patients were expected to score lower on the cartoon test than controls. An ANCOVA with demographic variables as covariates was performed: no significant differences between patients (n = 9) and control participants (n = 9) were found (p > .05). Further, the internal validity (Cronbach’s α of .864 for the total cartoon test) and convergent validity of test was good. Divergent validity was found to be questionable. Regarding demographics: females were expected to score higher than males; older participants were expected to score higher than younger participants; and higher educated participants were expected to score higher than lower educated participants on the cartoon test. A Mann-Whitney U analysis showed no gender differences (p > .05); assessment of Spearman-rank order correlation coefficients showed age was significant in its negative relation to cartoon test performance (p < .05); and education level significant in its positive relation to test performance (p < .05). Future investigation with a larger patient sample including differential dementia diagnoses is recommended to substantiate the results and make the test clinically applicable.Show less
Itch is a somatosensory stimulus and could potentially alter performance of daily activities. Since itch stimuli will signal potential danger, one might want to protect oneself from potential harm...Show moreItch is a somatosensory stimulus and could potentially alter performance of daily activities. Since itch stimuli will signal potential danger, one might want to protect oneself from potential harm by adapting ones behaviour. Pleading itch stimuli demands ones attention, which can be called the attentional bias (AB). Adapting ones behaviour might influence the effectiveness of treatment, due to not paying attention to the treatment. So far, an AB has been found in healthy individuals, but evidence is mixed. In addition, it is unclear if an AB is present in patients who experience chronic itch. Therefore, this study investigated attentional bias towards itch related visual stimuli in participants who suffer from chronic itch (N=34) compared to healthy controls (N=36). Attentional bias was measured in an online study with two attention tasks, the dot-probe paradigm and the spatial-cuing paradigm using itch-related pictures. During the dot-probe task, patients with chronic itch showed the presence of an AB. Yet, the results acquired from the spatial-cuing task showed the presence of an AB in every participant in disregard of the group they were in. This is not in line with previous research. However, previous research only investigated healthy individuals. Furthermore, all participants reacted faster on invalid trials once an itch cue was presented. One might interpret this as having an attentional avoidance of threat. Yet, also healthy participants seemed to react faster, which perhaps indicates that the itch cue is an overall negative cue regardless of having a past with itch. The discrepancy between the two attention tasks is remarkable, and could perhaps be ascribed to the different processing skills the two tasks ask from the participant. Therefore, future research should focus on the different components of attentional processing. This could eventually optimize current treatment/intervention options.Show less
Earlier research suggests that some exercise intensities are more beneficial to enhance creativity than others. However, if and why specific exercise intensities are related to better creativity is...Show moreEarlier research suggests that some exercise intensities are more beneficial to enhance creativity than others. However, if and why specific exercise intensities are related to better creativity is not exactly clear yet. This study aimed to gain insight into which exercise intensity is best for improving creativity and to explore the possible role of physical fitness in the relationship between exercise intensity and creativity. This is the first study in which participants were given a more objective individually-tailored instruction with regard to exercise intensity and in which four conditions (low intensity exercise, moderate-intensity exercise, high-intensity exercise and a control condition) were compared with respect to the enhancement of divergent creativity (including fluency and originality). First, it was expected that moderate-intensity is best to enhance creativity compared to low intensity exercise, highintensity exercise and no exercise. Second, it was expected that creativity is enhanced more after someone exercises at an intensity level that matches his/her level of physical fitness compared to someone exercising at an intensity level that does not match his/her physical fitness. A total of N = 73 students were studied. A between-subjects design was used in which participants were randomly assigned to one of the four conditions. The participants had to visit the lab of Leiden University twice. First they had to perform a physical fitness test and then they were randomly assigned to one of the four conditions and they had to do a task that measured divergent creativity. For the first hypothesis, the Two-Way ANOVA indicated that neither the fluency (η² = .009, p = .88) nor the originality scores (η² = .006, p = .94) differed between conditions. For the second hypothesis, the Two-Way ANOVA indicated that neither the fluency (η² = .024, p = .19) nor the originality scores (η² = .008, p = .45) differed between participants who had a match or non-match between their physical fitness level and the assigned exercise intensity. The results suggest that changing exercise intensity and matching exercise intensity to physical fitness level do not make a difference in the improvement of creativity.Show less
Job Burnout (JB) is a demanding syndrome that leaves employees exhausted and dealing with cognitive and emotional problems, with symptoms lasting up to 10 years. To understand why JB symptoms...Show moreJob Burnout (JB) is a demanding syndrome that leaves employees exhausted and dealing with cognitive and emotional problems, with symptoms lasting up to 10 years. To understand why JB symptoms pertain for so long, different resource theories were integrated to investigate the impact of JB on an individual gain process between job resources, personal resources, and recovery gained through physical exercise. It was predicted that skill discretion (SD), a common job resource, increases the personal resource self-efficacy (SE) which, in turn, enhances the recovery gained from physical exercise. This gain process was proposed to be dampened by JB, leaving employees with higher JB symptoms in a less advantageous position for resource gain as compared to those with lower symptoms. Using longitudinal data across three workweeks, self-report questionnaires were administered among full-time employees (N = 163). Although correlations revealed that the proposed relationships were found at specific weeks, hierarchical regression analyses revealed no across-time relationships, meaning no weekly gain process could be identified between SD, SE, and recovery gained through exercise. In addition, against expectations, no negative impact of JB on the gain process was found. Thus, the exact relationships between job resources, personal resources, recovery gained through exercise, and JB remain unclear. Future research is needed to further investigate these relationships preferably by using a different time lag than one week and by applying different roles of personal resources within the Job Demands-Resources framework.Show less
Objective. To determine the effectiveness of a rehabilitation program including physical exercise, in improving cognition, participation, and coping in patients with a subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH)...Show moreObjective. To determine the effectiveness of a rehabilitation program including physical exercise, in improving cognition, participation, and coping in patients with a subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). Secondary, it was aimed to identify the role of clinical characteristics in the effectiveness of the rehabilitation program. Methods. A longitudinal pilot intervention study was performed, with measurements before the start (T0), after three months (T1), and after six months (T2). Cognition was measured with the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, participation with the Impact on Participation and Autonomy questionnaire, and coping with the Utrecht Proactive Coping Competence Scale. Generalized Estimating Equation analyses were performed. Results. A total of 19 patients with SAH participated; 13 in the intervention group and 6 in the control group. For the intervention group, cognition improved between T0 and T2 and between T1 and T2. Participation declined between T0 and T1, but improved between T1 and T2. Proactive coping declined between T0 and T2 and between T1 and T2. Cognition of the control group did not change, but participation improved between T0 and T1 and proactive coping declined between T0 and T1. There was no significant difference between the control and intervention groups in improvements in cognition between T0 and T1 (p = 0.090). However, there was a significant difference between the control and intervention groups in changes in participation between T0 and T1 (p = 0.001) and in changes in coping between T0 and T1 (p < 0.001). The location of SAH played a role in the differences in participation, but not in cognition and coping. For treatment type and time since SAH, no significant effects were found. Conclusion. There was no effect of the rehabilitation program on cognition. The control group had a better participation level after three months and the intervention group worsened. The intervention group had a stable coping style after three months, whereas the control group declined in the use of proactive coping. Only the characteristic location of the aneurysm played a role in the participation level after three months, but not in cognition or coping. The other characteristics did not play a role in the changes. This study indicates that some long-term complaints can improve after the rehabilitation program, but more research is needed.Show less
It has been demonstrated that exploring a new environment promotes memory in young adults. Animal studies propose that the enhancement of memory in novel settings is linked to hippocampal dopamine....Show moreIt has been demonstrated that exploring a new environment promotes memory in young adults. Animal studies propose that the enhancement of memory in novel settings is linked to hippocampal dopamine. While the dopaminergic system undergoes changes across the lifespan, little is known about the effects of novelty on memory throughout different life stages. This research contributes to the understanding of the effects of novelty in older adults. The participants (n=14) explored both novel and previously familiarised virtual environments to assess the influence of spatial novelty on declarative memory. Subsequently, participants were presented with a word list to memorise, and their memory performance was evaluated through both immediate and delayed recall. Our results indicate superior immediate recall compared to delayed recall, with no evidence for an effect of novelty. We found no difference in spontaneous eye blinking rate following exposure to a novel or familiar environment. Furthermore, a negative correlation was found between spontaneous eye blinking rate and memory recall. Finally, this sample showed that participants had a slightly better performance on day two compared to day three, especially when they had lower expectations. This suggests that there is an extra novelty effect that is noticeable on the second day, which is suggestive of a decreasing novelty effect over the course of subsequent days. Our findings could potentially be explained by the fact that the advantageous effects of novelty decrease as individuals age, likely due to deterioration in the neural pathways associated with novelty processing. In today's society, where the active contribution of older adults is increasingly valued, it is crucial to address age-related cognitive decline. In order to develop intervention for age-related memory decline, further research is necessary for the specific role of novelty-induced memory in older adults.Show less
This study aimed to research the impact of timing in negotiations by manipulating the moment optional issues are introduced and the use of extra negotiation time. In contrary to what was expected,...Show moreThis study aimed to research the impact of timing in negotiations by manipulating the moment optional issues are introduced and the use of extra negotiation time. In contrary to what was expected, the results did not strongly support the hypothesis that introducing optional issues in the middle of negotiations leads to more integrative outcomes in comparison to beginning and ending. However, a minimal pattern was identified. Additionally, using extra time in negotiation did not significantly increase collective points earned. A slight trend appeared in the opposite direction. Factors like experimenter bias, sample size and asymmetrical pay-off sheets have possibly influenced the results. Suggestions for future research include replicating the study with small adjustments to minimize biases and exploring the role of perceived time pressure in negotiation outcomes. Furthermore, how people relate to each other might be of influence of favorability in negotiation. Despite the non-significant findings, this study contributes to our understanding of integrative negotiation dynamics and highlights the need for further research to identify effective strategies for achieving more integrative outcomes together.Show less
The present research investigates the effects of gain-framed messages on psychological detachment from work among self-employed workers in the UK with gain-framed messaging. The research also aims...Show moreThe present research investigates the effects of gain-framed messages on psychological detachment from work among self-employed workers in the UK with gain-framed messaging. The research also aims to investigate the moderating role of financial stress as well as explore the role of earlier psychological detachment in the effect of gain-framed messages. With Prolific Academic, the research team collected data from 226 individuals using a two-wave after the exclusion of some participants, between-subjects design. Three groups of participants were formed: a control group, those who received a message about health benefits, and those who received a message about performance enhancement. This research partially fills a gap in the literature by focusing on the difficulties encountered by the self-employed (as opposed to employees), thus encouraging research and publication of articles on this subject. Additionally, the results show that financial stress did not significantly moderate the effect of performance- gain messages (vs. health-gain messages) on psychological detachment. As a results, the effectiveness of performance-gain messages (vs. health-gain messages) in increasing detachment does not depend on self-employed workers’ levels of financial stress. This study implies that psychological detachment isn't distinctively influenced by the kind of communication (health or performance-related), regardless of the degree of financial stress. The aforementioned findings underscore the significance of customized messaging strategies in fostering well-being among independent contractors, stressing the crucial interaction between content uniqueness and personal financial situations. Furthermore, the exploratory analysis examined whether the initial detachment from work had an impact on how gain messages influenced later detachment. While other factors explained later detachment, initial detachment from work itself did not make the messages any more or less effective.Show less
Individuals diagnosed with a personality disorder (PD) are often confronted with a low quality of life (QoL) and high health costs, both important outcome variables among cost-effectiveness studies...Show moreIndividuals diagnosed with a personality disorder (PD) are often confronted with a low quality of life (QoL) and high health costs, both important outcome variables among cost-effectiveness studies. Several factors have been identified that are associated with a low QoL and high health costs in individuals diagnosed with a PD. The influence of trauma is unknown. It has been found that PDs are associated with both past trauma experiences and symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in their daily life. While several studies suggested that individuals with a Borderline PD (BPD) and comorbid PTSD suffer from a more impaired QoL compared to individuals with a single disorder, less is known about the effect of PTSD on PDs other than BPD and the relation between trauma severity and health costs. The current study investigates the effect of both childhood trauma and current PTSD symptoms on QoL and health costs in individuals diagnosed with a PD and the possible mediating role of QoL on the relationship between trauma and health costs. The sample consisted of 65 individuals, with a mean age of 38 (SD = 12.3), diagnosed with one or more PDs. Data was collected with several questionnaires (Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-Short Form, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist for DSM-5, Treatment Inventory of Costs in Patients with psychiatric disorders, and the Mental Health Quality of Life questionnaire). The results show that severity of current PTSD symptoms (t(58) = -4.19, p < .001) but not childhood trauma was related to a decreased QoL in individuals diagnosed with a PD. Both current PTSD symptoms and childhood trauma were not significantly related to health costs. QoL did not perform a mediating role on the relationship between trauma and health costs. To conclude, severe PTSD symptoms represent an additional deprivation for QoL among personality-disordered individuals in this sample. This conclusion is based on a relatively small sample, thus should be further investigated with a larger sample.Show less
Research on suicidal ideation indicates the significant role of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and early parental attachment but fails to investigate risk potential in student populations....Show moreResearch on suicidal ideation indicates the significant role of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and early parental attachment but fails to investigate risk potential in student populations. This study aimed to research how adverse childhood experiences in a population of university students who report mood and stress problems are related to suicidal ideation and whether the relationship between adverse childhood experiences and suicidal ideation is moderated by attachment style. To target students at risk for suicidal ideation, purposive sampling was employed. An independent samples t-test with consecutive multiple regression (n= 234) showed that adverse childhood experiences, measured with the ACE questionnaire, predicted the presence and severity of suicidal ideation, measured by the BSSI. Consecutive ANCOVA showed that disorganized attachment to the mother and father, measured with the PBI, were found to predict suicidal ideation. Secure attachment was negatively associated with suicidal ideation, whereas for avoidant and anxious attachment there was no association found. A logistic regression analysis showed no moderation effect of insecure attachment styles in the relation between adverse childhood experiences and suicidal ideation. Gender, academic pressure, and nationality were controlled. Findings may be limited due to methodological and performance flaws. The results highlight the importance of early identification of adverse childhood experiences and disorganized attachment for intervention and prevention of later suicidal ideation amongst students.Show less
Background. Psychosocial consequences of psoriasis have been studied extensively. Feelings of stigmatization, worrying, and psychological distress are common consequences for patients with...Show moreBackground. Psychosocial consequences of psoriasis have been studied extensively. Feelings of stigmatization, worrying, and psychological distress are common consequences for patients with psoriasis. However, research on the prospective influence of psychosocial factors on psoriasis symptom severity is scarce. Thus, in this study, it is researched if feelings of stigmatization, worrying, and psychological distress are related to the exacerbation of psoriasis symptoms six and twelve months later. Method. This prospective study examined through four multiple regression analyses if the predictors stigmatization, worrying, and psychological distress influenced clinician-assessed and self-administered psoriasis severity after six and twelve months. The type of dermatological treatment and baseline disease severity were included as control variables. Data was collected among 49 psoriasis outpatients using an extensive questionnaire containing multiple self-report questionnaires and through clinician-assessed psoriasis severity. This was conducted at three time points: baseline, at six months, and twelve months. Results. Solely for one predictor a significant effect was found, indicating that higher feelings of stigmatization during baseline measurement predicted lower self-administered psoriasis severity after 6 months (ß = -.38, t = -2.25, p = .03) No other significant effects were found for any predictor, regardless of the clinician-assessed or self-administered severity or the time point (all p ≥ .06). There were predominantly no to small effect sizes found (-.36 ≤ r ≤ .30). Conclusion and discussion. The results of this study cannot substantiate the effect of perceived stigmatization, worrying, and psychological distress on psoriasis severity later. However, a lack of power, the extended interval between measurements, and low mean baseline scores can partly explain the lack of results. Future research should enhance their research design by considering more control variables such as treatment adherence, alcohol consumption, visibility of the lesions, and coping strategies. Besides, a broader range of disease severity should be included. As psoriasis has a serious psychological impact, it is worthwhile to continue the research on the effect of psychosocial factors on psoriasis severity. Previous research suggests the existence of an effect, and establishing this could enhance and increase the use of tailored psychological interventions in the treatment of patients diagnosed with psoriasis. This subsequently can contribute to alleviating their disease burden.Show less
Financial stress among young adults is a growing problem that could significantly affect their well-being. This study examines the help-seeking behaviors of young adults under financial stress,...Show moreFinancial stress among young adults is a growing problem that could significantly affect their well-being. This study examines the help-seeking behaviors of young adults under financial stress, focusing on the preference of source and type of help. Here, a distinction was made between professional help and help from the social network and between financial advice and emotional support. Four flyers were developed, each representing one type of help, to encourage young adults to seek help. An experimental design with 197 participants from the United Kingdom was used to test their willingness to seek help. Contrary to expectations, the results showed no significant preference for a specific source or type of help and no strong correlation was found between self-efficacy and willingness to seek help. These findings suggest that young adults may not have a specific preference when seeking help for financial stress and that self-efficacy does not play a determining role, highlighting the need for further studies on the various factors influencing and stimulating help-seeking behavior.Show less
