Chronotype and emotion processing: a pilot study testing timing of online cognitive bias modification training.

BACKGROUND: Circadian rhythms influence cognitive performance which peaks in the morning for early chronotypes and evening for late chronotypes. It is unknown whether cognitive interventions are susceptible to such synchrony effects and could be optimised at certain times-of-day. OBJECTIVE: A pilot study testing whether the effectiveness of cognitive bias modification (CBM) for facial emotion processing was improved when delivered at a time-of-day that was synchronised to chronotype. METHODS: 173 healthy young adults (aged 18-25) with an early or late chronotype completed one online session of CBM training in either the morning (06:00 hours to 10:00 hours) or evening (18:00 hours to 22:00 hours). FINDINGS: Moderate evidence that participants learnt better (higher post-training balance point) when they completed CBM training in the synchronous (evening for late chronotypes, morning for early chronotypes) compared with asynchronous (morning for late chronotypes, evening for early chronotypes) condition, controlling for pre-training balance point, sleep quality and negative affect. There was also a group×condition interaction where late chronotypes learnt faster and more effectively in synchronous versus asynchronous conditions. CONCLUSIONS: Preliminary evidence that synchrony effects apply to this psychological intervention. Tailoring the delivery timing of CBM training to chronotype may optimise its effectiveness. This may be particularly important for late chronotypes who were less able to adapt to non-optimal times-of-day, possibly because they experience more social jetlag. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: To consider delivery timing of CBM training when administering to early and late chronotypes. This may generalise to other psychological interventions and be relevant for online interventions where the timing can be flexible.

Trial protocol for the Building Resilience through Socio-Emotional Training (ReSET) programme: a cluster randomised controlled trial of a new transdiagnostic preventative intervention for adolescents.

BACKGROUND: Adolescence is a period of heightened vulnerability to developing mental health problems, and rates of mental health disorder in this age group have increased in the last decade. Preventing mental health problems developing before they become entrenched, particularly in adolescents who are at high risk, is an important research and clinical target. Here, we report the protocol for the trial of the 'Building Resilience through Socioemotional Training' (ReSET) intervention. ReSET is a new, preventative intervention that incorporates individual-based emotional training techniques and group-based social and communication skills training. We take a transdiagnostic approach, focusing on emotion processing and social mechanisms implicated in the onset and maintenance of various forms of psychopathology. METHODS: A cluster randomised allocation design is adopted with randomisation at the school year level. Five-hundred and forty adolescents (aged 12-14) will be randomised to either receive the intervention or not (passive control). The intervention is comprised of weekly sessions over an 8-week period, supplemented by two individual sessions. The primary outcomes, psychopathology symptoms and mental wellbeing, will be assessed pre- and post-intervention, and at a 1-year follow-up. Secondary outcomes are task-based assessments of emotion processing, social network data based on peer nominations, and subjective ratings of social relationships. These measures will be taken at baseline, post-intervention and 1-year follow-up. A subgroup of participants and stakeholders will be invited to take part in focus groups to assess the acceptability of the intervention. DISCUSSION: This project adopts a theory-based approach to the development of a new intervention designed to target the close connections between young people's emotions and their interpersonal relationships. By embedding the intervention within a school setting and using a cluster-randomised design, we aim to develop and test a feasible, scalable intervention to prevent the onset of psychopathology in adolescence. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ISRCTN88585916. Trial registration date: 20/04/2023.

Associations between workplace emotional intelligence and micro expression recognition.

We investigated relationships between emotional intelligence, micro expression recognition and professional performance in two pre-registered cross-sectional studies. Study 1 (N = 86) explored the relationship between micro expression recognition, emotional intelligence and self-reported subjective professional performance and interpersonal skills in an online sample. Study 2 (N = 125) also utilized an online study to determine if there are differences in micro expression recognition and emotional intelligence between two employment sectors proposed to involve differing levels of 'emotional labor', namely software development and retail. Results of Study 1 showed a positive association between emotional intelligence and micro expression recognition. There were no associations of micro expression recognition with interpersonal skills or professional performance. Study 2 replicated the association between emotional intelligence and micro expression recognition, but provided no evidence for differences in emotional intelligence between retail and software development workers. Retail workers showed marginally higher scores on micro expression recognition. There was also no association of micro expression recognition with self-estimated professional performance, regardless of the participants' profession. The findings indicate that micro expression recognition may be closely related to emotional intelligence, but that it may also have a separate component, which may differ across different professions.

Assessing the effectiveness of online emotion recognition training in healthy volunteers.

Facial emotion recognition (ER) difficulties are associated with mental health and neurodevelopmental conditions, including autism and poorer social functioning. ER interventions may therefore have clinical potential. We investigated the efficacy of ER training (ERT). We conducted three online studies with healthy volunteers completing one ERT session. Studies 1 and 2 included active and control/sham training groups and tested the efficacy of (i) four-emotion ERT (angry, happy, sad and scared) (n = 101), and (ii) six-emotion ERT (adding disgusted and surprised) (n = 109). Study 3 tested generalizability of ERT to non-trained stimuli with groups trained and tested on the same stimuli, or different stimuli (n = 120). Training effects on total correct hits were estimated using linear mixed effects models. We did not observe clear evidence of improvement in study 1 but note the effect was in the direction of improvement (b = 0.02, 95% confidence interval (CI) = -0.02 to 0.07). Study 2 indicated greater total hits following training (b = 0.07, 95% CI = 0.03-0.12). Study 3 demonstrated similar improvement across groups (b = -0.01, 95% CI = -0.05 to 0.02). Our results indicate improved ER (as measured by our task), which generalizes to different facial stimulus sets. Future studies should further explore generalizability, longer-term effects and ERT in populations with known ER difficulties.

Cognitive functioning in anxiety and depression: results from the ALSPAC cohort.

Anxiety and depression are associated with a range of impairments in cognitive functioning. Understanding the nature of these deficits may identify targets for intervention and prevent functional decline. We used observational and genetic methods to investigate the relationship of anxiety and depression with three cognitive domains: emotion recognition, response inhibition, and working memory, in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC). We examined: (i) cross-sectional associations between anxiety, depression, and cognition at age 24 (n = 2187), (ii) prospective associations between anxiety and depression at age 18 and cognition at age 24 (n = 1855), and (iii) the casual effect of anxiety and depression on cognition using Mendelian randomization (MR). Both disorders were associated with altered emotion recognition; anxiety with decreased happiness recognition (b = -0.27 [-0.54,0.01], p = 0.045), and depression with increased sadness recognition (b = 0.35 [0.07,0.64], p = 0.016). Anxiety was also associated with poorer working memory (b = -0.14 [-0.24,0.04], p = 0.005). There was no evidence for an association with response inhibition. MR provided no clear evidence of causal relationships between mental health and cognition, but these analyses were underpowered. Overall, there was little evidence for impairments in executive functioning, but moderate alterations in emotion recognition. This may inform the development of psychosocial interventions.

Investigating How People Who Self-harm Evaluate Web-Based Lived Experience Stories: Focus Group Study.

BACKGROUND: The positive and negative effects of interacting with web-based content on mental health, and especially self-harm, are well documented. Lived experience stories are one such type of static web-based content, frequently published on health care or third-sector organization websites, as well as social media and blogs, as a form of support for those seeking help via the web. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to increase understanding about how people who self-harm engage with and evaluate web-based lived experience stories. METHODS: Overall, 4 web-based focus groups were conducted with 13 people with recent self-harm experience (aged 16-40 years). In total, 3 example lived experience stories were read aloud to participants, who were then asked to share their reactions to the stories. Participants were also encouraged to reflect on stories previously encountered on the web. Data were analyzed thematically. RESULTS: Overall, 5 themes were generated: stories of recovery from self-harm and their emotional impact, impact on self-help and help-seeking behaviors, identifying with the narrator, authenticity, and language and stereotyping. CONCLUSIONS: Lived experience stories published on the web can provide a valuable form of support for those experiencing self-harm. They can be motivating and empowering for the reader, and they have the potential to distract readers from urges to self-harm. However, these effects may be moderated by age, and narratives of recovery may demoralize older readers. Our findings have implications for organizations publishing lived experience content and for community guidelines and moderators of web-based forums in which users share their stories. These include the need to consider the narrator's age and the relatability and authenticity of their journey and the need to avoid using stigmatizing language.

Emotional bias training as a treatment for anxiety and depression: evidence from experimental medicine studies in healthy and medicated samples.

BACKGROUND: Anxiety and depression are leading causes of disability worldwide, yet individuals are often unable to access appropriate treatment. There is a need to develop effective interventions that can be delivered remotely. Previous research has suggested that emotional processing biases are a potential target for intervention, and these may be altered through brief training programs. METHODS: We report two experimental medicine studies of emotional bias training in two samples: individuals from the general population (n = 522) and individuals currently taking antidepressants to treat anxiety or depression (n = 212). Participants, recruited online, completed four sessions of EBT from their own home. Mental health and cognitive functioning outcomes were assessed at baseline, immediately post-training, and at 2-week follow-up. RESULTS: In both studies, our intervention successfully trained participants to perceive ambiguous social information more positively. This persisted at a 2-week follow-up. There was no clear evidence that this change in emotional processing transferred to improvements in symptoms in the primary analyses. However, in both studies, there was weak evidence for improved quality of life following EBT amongst individuals with more depressive symptoms at baseline. No clear evidence of transfer effects was observed for self-reported daily stress, anhedonia or depressive symptoms. Exploratory analyses suggested that younger participants reported greater treatment gains. CONCLUSIONS: These studies demonstrate the effectiveness of delivering a multi-session online training program to promote lasting cognitive changes. Given the inconsistent evidence for transfer effects, EBT requires further development before it can be considered as a treatment for anxiety and depression.

Objective measures of reward sensitivity and motivation in people with high v. low anhedonia.

BACKGROUND: Anhedonia - a diminished interest or pleasure in activities - is a core self-reported symptom of depression which is poorly understood and often resistant to conventional antidepressants. This symptom may occur due to dysfunction in one or more sub-components of reward processing: motivation, consummatory experience and/or learning. However, the precise impairments remain elusive. Dissociating these components (ideally, using cross-species measures) and relating them to the subjective experience of anhedonia is critical as it may benefit fundamental biology research and novel drug development. METHODS: Using a battery of behavioural tasks based on rodent assays, we examined reward motivation (Joystick-Operated Runway Task, JORT; and Effort-Expenditure for Rewards Task, EEfRT) and reward sensitivity (Sweet Taste Test) in a non-clinical population who scored high (N = 32) or low (N = 34) on an anhedonia questionnaire (Snaith-Hamilton Pleasure Scale). RESULTS: Compared to the low anhedonia group, the high anhedonia group displayed marginal impairments in effort-based decision-making (EEfRT) and reduced reward sensitivity (Sweet Taste Test). However, we found no evidence of a difference between groups in physical effort exerted for reward (JORT). Interestingly, whilst the EEfRT and Sweet Taste Test correlated with anhedonia measures, they did not correlate with each other. This poses the question of whether there are subgroups within anhedonia; however, further work is required to directly test this hypothesis. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that anhedonia is a heterogeneous symptom associated with impairments in reward sensitivity and effort-based decision-making.

Emotional dysregulation in childhood and disordered eating and self-harm in adolescence: prospective associations and mediating pathways.

BACKGROUND: Emotional dysregulation may be a risk factor for disordered eating and self-harm in young people, but few prospective studies have assessed these associations long-term, or considered potential mediators. We examined prospective relationships between childhood emotional dysregulation and disordered eating and self-harm in adolescence; and social cognition, emotional recognition, and being bullied as mediators. METHODS: We analysed Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children data on 3,453 males and 3,481 females. We examined associations between emotional dysregulation at 7 years and any disordered eating and any self-harm at 16 years with probit regression models. We also assessed whether social cognition (7 years), emotional recognition (8 years) and bullying victimisation (11 years) mediated these relationships. RESULTS: Emotional dysregulation at age 7 years was associated with disordered eating [fully adjusted probit B (95% CI) = 0.082 (0.029, 0.134)] and self-harm [fully adjusted probit B (95% CI) = 0.093 (0.036, 0.150)] at age 16 years. There was no evidence of sex interactions or difference in effects between self-harm and disordered eating. Mediation models found social cognition was a key pathway to disordered eating (females 51.2%; males 27.0% of total effect) and self-harm (females 15.7%; males 10.8% of total effect). Bullying victimisation was an important pathway to disordered eating (females 17.1%; males 10.0% of total effect), but only to self-harm in females (15.7% of total effect). Indirect effects were stronger for disordered eating than self-harm. CONCLUSIONS: In males and females, emotional dysregulation in early childhood is associated with disordered eating and self-harm in adolescence and may be a useful target for prevention and treatment. Mediating pathways appeared to differ by sex and outcome, but social cognition was a key mediating pathway for both disordered eating and self-harm.

Associations between emotion recognition and autistic and callous-unemotional traits: differential effects of cueing to the eyes.

BACKGROUND: Although autism and callous-unemotional (CU) traits are distinct conditions, both are associated with difficulties in emotion recognition. However, it is unknown whether the emotion recognition difficulties characteristic of autism and CU traits are driven by comparable underpinning mechanisms. METHODS: We tested whether cueing to the eyes improved emotion recognition in relation to autistic and CU traits in a heterogeneous sample of children enhanced for social, emotional and behavioural difficulties. Participants were 171 (n = 75 male) children aged 10-16 years with and without a diagnosis of autism (n = 99 autistic), who completed assessments of emotion recognition with and without cueing to the eyes. Parents completed the assessment of autistic and CU traits. RESULTS: Associations between autistic and CU traits and emotion recognition accuracy were dependent upon gaze cueing. CU traits were associated with an overall decrease in emotion recognition in the uncued condition, but better fear recognition when cued to the eyes. Conversely, autistic traits were associated with decreased emotion recognition in the cued condition only, and no interactions between autistic traits and emotion were found. CONCLUSIONS: The differential effect of cueing to the eyes in autistic and CU traits suggests different mechanisms underpin emotion recognition abilities. Results suggest interventions designed to promote looking to the eyes may be beneficial for children with CU traits, but not for children with autistic characteristics. Future developmental studies of autism and CU characteristics are required to better understand how different pathways lead to overlapping socio-cognitive profiles.

Associations of negative affective biases and depressive symptoms in a community-based sample.

BACKGROUND: Major depressive disorder (MDD) was previously associated with negative affective biases. Evidence from larger population-based studies, however, is lacking, including whether biases normalise with remission. We investigated associations between affective bias measures and depressive symptom severity across a large community-based sample, followed by examining differences between remitted individuals and controls. METHODS: Participants from Generation Scotland (N = 1109) completed the: (i) Bristol Emotion Recognition Task (BERT), (ii) Face Affective Go/No-go (FAGN), and (iii) Cambridge Gambling Task (CGT). Individuals were classified as MDD-current (n = 43), MDD-remitted (n = 282), or controls (n = 784). Analyses included using affective bias summary measures (primary analyses), followed by detailed emotion/condition analyses of BERT and FAGN (secondary analyses). RESULTS: For summary measures, the only significant finding was an association between greater symptoms and lower risk adjustment for CGT across the sample (individuals with greater symptoms were less likely to bet more, despite increasingly favourable conditions). This was no longer significant when controlling for non-affective cognition. No differences were found for remitted-MDD v. controls. Detailed analysis of BERT and FAGN indicated subtle negative biases across multiple measures of affective cognition with increasing symptom severity, that were independent of non-effective cognition [e.g. greater tendency to rate faces as angry (BERT), and lower accuracy for happy/neutral conditions (FAGN)]. Results for remitted-MDD were inconsistent. CONCLUSIONS: This suggests the presence of subtle negative affective biases at the level of emotion/condition in association with depressive symptoms across the sample, over and above those accounted for by non-affective cognition, with no evidence for affective biases in remitted individuals.

The role of state and trait anxiety in the processing of facial expressions of emotion.

State anxiety appears to influence facial emotion processing (Attwood et al. 2017 R. Soc. Open Sci. 4, 160855). We aimed to (i) replicate these findings and (ii) investigate the role of trait anxiety, in an experiment with healthy UK participants (N = 48, 50% male, 50% high trait anxiety). High and low state anxiety were induced via inhalations of 7.5% carbon dioxide enriched air and medical air, respectively. High state anxiety reduced global emotion recognition accuracy (p = 0.01, η p 2 = 0.14 ), but it did not affect interpretation bias towards perceiving anger in ambiguous angry-happy facial morphs (p = 0.18, η p 2 = 0.04 ). We found no clear evidence of a relationship between trait anxiety and global emotion recognition accuracy (p = 0.60, η p 2 = 0.01 ) or interpretation bias towards perceiving anger (p = 0.83, η p 2 = 0.01 ). However, there was greater interpretation bias towards perceiving anger (i.e. away from happiness) during heightened state anxiety, among individuals with high trait anxiety (p = 0.03, d z = 0.33). State anxiety appears to impair emotion recognition accuracy, and among individuals with high trait anxiety, it appears to increase biases towards perceiving anger (away from happiness). Trait anxiety alone does not appear to be associated with facial emotion processing.

A Randomized Controlled Trial of Computerized Interpretation Bias Training for Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder: A Fast-Fail Study.

OBJECTIVE: To examine targeted, mechanism-based interventions is the next generation of treatment innovation. Biased threat labeling of ambiguous face emotions (interpretation bias) is a potential behavioral treatment target for anger, aggression, and irritability. Changing biases in face-emotion labeling may improve irritability-related outcomes. Here, we report the first randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled targeted trial of interpretation bias training (IBT) in youths with chronic, severe irritability. METHOD: Patients with current disruptive mood dysregulation disorder (DMDD; N = 44) were randomly assigned to complete 4 sessions of active (n = 22) or sham (n = 22) computerized IBT training within a 1-week period. The first and last trainings were completed onsite, and 2 trainings were completed at home. We examined the effects of active IBT on labeling bias, primary outcome measures of irritability, and secondary outcome measures of anxiety, depression, and functional impairment. Follow-up assessments were completed immediately after the intervention as well as 1 and 2 weeks later. RESULTS: We found that active IBT engaged the behavioral target in the active relative to the sham condition, as shown by a significant shift toward labeling ambiguous faces as happy. However, there was no consistent clinical improvement in active IBT relative to the sham condition either immediately after or 2 weeks after training in either the primary or secondary outcome measures. CONCLUSION: Although this randomized controlled trial of IBT in youths with DMDD engaged the proposed behavioral target, there was no statistically significant improvement on clinical outcome. Identifying and changing behavioral targets is a first step in novel treatment development; these results have broader implications for target-based intervention development. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION INFORMATION: Psychological Treatments for Youth With Severe Irritability; https://clinicaltrials.gov/; NCT02531893.

Examining the bidirectional association between emotion recognition and social autistic traits using observational and genetic analyses.

BACKGROUND: There is mixed evidence for an association between autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and emotion recognition deficits. We sought to assess the bidirectionality of this association using phenotypic and genetic data in a large community sample. METHODS: Analyses were conducted in three stages. First, we examined the bidirectional association between social autistic traits at age 8 years and emotion recognition task (ERT) responses at age 24 years (Study 1; N = 3,562); and between Diagnostic Analysis of Non-Verbal Accuracy (DANVA) emotion recognition responses at age 8 years and social autistic traits at age 10 years (Study 2; N = 9,071). Next, we used genetic analyses (Study 3) to examine the association between polygenic risk scores for ASD and outcomes for the ERT and DANVA. The genetic correlation between ASD and ERT responses at age 24 was also estimated. Analyses were conducted in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. RESULTS: Social autistic traits at age 8 years were negatively associated with later total correct responses on ERT in Study 1 (b = -0.18; 95% CI: -0.27 to -0.09). We also found evidence of an association in Study 2 (b = -0.04; 95% CI: -0.05 to -0.03). We found the opposite association, that is positive, between the ASD polygenic risk score and ERT (b = 0.40; 95% CI: 0.10 to 0.70); however, this association varied across different p-value thresholds and would not survive multiple testing, so should be interpreted with caution. We did not find evidence of a genetic correlation between ASD and ERT. CONCLUSION: We found an observational association between poorer emotion recognition and increased social autistic traits. Our genetic analyses may suggest a shared genetic aetiology between these or a potential causal pathway; however, future research would benefit from using better powered GWAS to examine this further. Our results may inform interventions targeting emotion recognition.

Interpretation bias training for bipolar disorder: A randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Bipolar disorder (BD) is associated with emotion interpretation biases that can exacerbate depressed mood. Interpretation bias training (IBT) may help; according to the "virtuous cycle" hypothesis, interpreting others' emotions as positive can lead to interactions that improve mood. Our goals were to determine whether IBT can shift emotion interpretation biases and demonstrate clinical benefits (lower depressed mood, improved social function) in people with BD. METHOD: Young adults with BD were recruited for three sessions of computer-based IBT. Active IBT targets negative emotion bias by training judgments of ambiguous face emotions towards happy judgments. Participants were randomized to active or sham IBT. Participants reported on mood and functioning at baseline, intervention end (week two), and week 10. RESULTS: Fifty participants (average age 22, 72% female) enrolled, 38 completed the week 10 follow-up. IBT shifted emotion interpretations (Hedges g = 1.63). There was a group-by-time effect (B = -13.88, p < .0001) on self-reported depression; the IBT group had a larger decrease in depressed mood. The IBT group also had a larger increase in perceived familial support (B = 3.88, p < .0001). Baseline learning rate (i.e., how quickly emotion judgments were updated) was associated with reduced clinician- (B = -54.70, p < 0.001) and self-reported depression (B = -58.20, p = 0.009). CONCLUSION: Our results converge with prior work demonstrating that IBT may reduce depressed mood. Additionally, our results provide support for role of operant conditioning in the treatment of depression. People with BD spend more time depressed than manic; IBT, an easily disseminated intervention, could augment traditional forms of treatment without significant expense or side effects.

Emotional recognition training modifies neural response to emotional faces but does not improve mood in healthy volunteers with high levels of depressive symptoms.

BACKGROUND: There is demand for new, effective and scalable treatments for depression, and development of new forms of cognitive bias modification (CBM) of negative emotional processing biases has been suggested as possible interventions to meet this need. METHODS: We report two double blind RCTs, in which volunteers with high levels of depressive symptoms (Beck Depression Inventory ii (BDI-ii) > 14) completed a brief course of emotion recognition training (a novel form of CBM using faces) or sham training. In Study 1 (N = 36), participants completed a post-training emotion recognition task whilst undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate neural correlates of CBM. In Study 2 (N = 190), measures of mood were assessed post-training, and at 2-week and 6-week follow-up. RESULTS: In both studies, CBM resulted in an initial change in emotion recognition bias, which (in Study 2) persisted for 6 weeks after the end of training. In Study 1, CBM resulted in increases neural activation to happy faces, with this effect driven by an increase in neural activity in the medial prefrontal cortex and bilateral amygdala. In Study 2, CBM did not lead to a reduction in depressive symptoms on the BDI-ii, or on related measures of mood, motivation and persistence, or depressive interpretation bias at either 2 or 6-week follow-ups. CONCLUSIONS: CBM of emotion recognition has effects on neural activity that are similar in some respects to those induced by Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRI) administration (Study 1), but we find no evidence that this had any later effect on self-reported mood in an analogue sample of non-clinical volunteers with low mood (Study 2).

Effects of state anxiety on gait: a 7.5% carbon dioxide challenge study.

We used the 7.5% carbon dioxide (CO2) model of anxiety induction to investigate the effects of state anxiety on normal gait and gait when navigating an obstacle. Healthy volunteers (n = 22) completed a walking task during inhalations of 7.5% CO2 and medical air (placebo) in a within-subjects design. The order of inhalation was counterbalanced across participants and the gas was administered double-blind. Over a series of trials, participants walked the length of the laboratory, with each trial requiring participants to navigate through an aperture (width adjusted to participant size), with gait parameters measured via a motion capture system. The main findings were that walking speed was slower, but the adjustment in body orientation was greater, during 7.5% CO2 inhalation compared to air. These findings indicate changes in locomotor behaviour during heightened state anxiety that may reflect greater caution when moving in an agitated state. Advances in sensing technology offer the opportunity to monitor locomotor behaviour, and these findings suggest that in doing so, we may be able to infer emotional states from movement in naturalistic settings.

The effects of age at menarche and first sexual intercourse on reproductive and behavioural outcomes: A Mendelian randomization study.

There is substantial variation in the timing of significant reproductive life events such as menarche and first sexual intercourse. Life history theory explains this variation as an adaptive response to an individual's environment and it is important to examine how traits within life history strategies affect each other. Here we applied Mendelian randomization (MR) methods to investigate whether there is a causal effect of variation in age at menarche and age at first sexual intercourse (markers or results of exposure to early life adversity) on outcomes related to reproduction, education and risky behaviour in UK Biobank (N = 114 883-181 255). Our results suggest that earlier age at menarche affects some traits that characterize life history strategies including earlier age at first and last birth, decreased educational attainment, and decreased age at leaving education (for example, we found evidence for a 0.26 year decrease in age at first birth per year decrease in age at menarche, 95% confidence interval: -0.34 to -0.17; p < 0.001). We find no clear evidence of effects of age at menarche on other outcomes, such as risk taking behaviour. Age at first sexual intercourse was also related to many life history outcomes, although there was evidence of horizontal pleiotropy which violates an assumption of MR and we therefore cannot infer causality from this analysis. Taken together, these results highlight how MR can be applied to test predictions of life history theory and to better understand determinants of health and social behaviour.

Does repeatedly viewing overweight versus underweight images change perception of and satisfaction with own body size?

Body dissatisfaction is associated with subsequent eating disorders and weight gain. One-off exposure to bodies of different sizes changes perception of others' bodies, and perception of and satisfaction with own body size. The effect of repeated exposure to bodies of different sizes has not been assessed. We randomized women into three groups, and they spent 5 min twice a day for a week completing a one-back task using images of women modified to appear either under, over, or neither over- nor underweight. We tested the effects on their perception of their own and others' body size, and satisfaction with own size. Measures at follow-up were compared between groups, adjusted for baseline measurements. In 93 women aged 18-30 years, images of other women were perceived as larger following exposure to underweight women (and vice versa) (p < 0.001). There was no evidence for a difference in our primary outcome measure (visual analogue scale own size) or in satisfaction with own size. Avatar-constructed ideal (p = 0.03) and avatar-constructed perceived own body size (p = 0.007) both decreased following exposure to underweight women, possibly due to adaptation affecting how the avatar was perceived. Repeated exposure to different sized bodies changes perception of the size of others' bodies, but we did not find evidence that it changes perceived own size.

Effects of acute alcohol consumption on emotion recognition in high and low trait aggressive drinkers.

BACKGROUND: Research suggests that acute alcohol consumption impairs processing of emotional faces. As emotion processing plays a key role in effective social interaction, these impairments may be one mechanism by which alcohol changes social behaviour. This study investigated the effect of individual differences on this relationship by comparing emotion recognition performance after acute alcohol consumption in individuals with high and low trait aggression. METHODS: Regular non-dependent drinkers, either high or low in trait aggression participated in a double-blind placebo-controlled experiment (N = 88, 50% high trait aggressive). Participants attended two sessions. In one they consumed an alcoholic drink (0.4 g/kg) and in the other they consumed a matched placebo. They then completed two computer-based tasks: one measured global and emotion-specific recognition performance across six primary emotions (anger, sadness, happiness, disgust, fear, surprise), the other measured processing bias of two ambiguously expressive faces (happy-angry/happy-sad). RESULTS: There was evidence of poorer global emotion recognition after alcohol. In addition, there was evidence of poorer sensitivity to sadness and fear after alcohol. There was also evidence for a reduced bias towards happiness following alcohol and weak evidence for an increased bias towards sadness. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that alcohol impairs global emotion recognition. They also highlight a reduced ability to detect sadness and fearful facial expressions. As sadness and fear are cues of submission and distress (i.e. function to curtail aggression), failure to successfully detect these emotions when intoxicated may increase the likelihood of aggressive responding. This coupled with a reduced bias towards seeing happiness may collectively contribute to aggressive behaviour.