Category: Cognitive Science/ Cognitive Processes
Malvika Godara, Ph.D.
Max Planck Society
Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Bethany Teachman, Ph.D.
Professor
University of Virginia
Charlottesville, Virginia
Amy Gillespie, Ph.D.
University of Oxford
Oxford, England, United Kingdom
Ivan Blanco, PhD
Assistant Professor
Autonomous University of Madrid
Madrid, Madrid, Spain
Malvika Godara, Ph.D.
Max Planck Society
Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Alvaro Sanchez-Lopez, Ph.D.
Complutense University of Madrid
Madrid, Madrid, Spain
The COVID-19 pandemic has been one of the most challenging global health crises to have impacted the 21st century. The pandemic and the related government-imposed social isolationary lockdowns have served as large-scale stressors that have had a profound impact on psychosocial well-being. An abundance of studies has documented the increased psychological burden posed by the pandemic, and have reported greater symptoms of depression and anxiety, and lower psychological well-being and resilience, compared to pre-pandemic levels. This has also led to a call for concerted efforts in the direction of digital interventions to support psychological well-being under conditions of large-scale stressors.
Prevailing cognitive models of vulnerability posit the role of negative biases, such as preferential attention to negative stimuli or negative interpretation of ambiguous situations, in the onset and maintenance of depressive and anxious states. Considerable previous empirical work has confirmed this catalytic role. In contrast, increasing empirical studies have shown that positive cognitive biases support resilient adaptation under stressors. Moreover, bias modification trainings and other interventions aimed at reducing negative biases and enhancing positive biases show considerable success in alleviating depression and anxiety while augmenting resilience capacities, even under stressful conditions. As such, the role of affective cognitive biases in precipitating vulnerability or promoting resilient psychological adaptation during global stressors and disasters begs to be considered. While plenty of studies have documented changes in mental health and resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic, the cognitive underpinnings of vulnerability and resilience during the pandemic remain poorly understood. Moreover, there is a dearth of empirical work aimed at understanding the efficacy of online training procedures to intervene cognitive biases during collective stressors.
The current symposium presents cutting-edge research examining transdiagnostic function of affective biases in explaining vulnerability and adaptation during the pandemic, and elucidates the efficacy of digital interventions in modulating these biases for appropriate psychological adjustment. First, Amy Gillespie will examine negatively biased affect recognition as a marker of depression vulnerability in the context of loneliness and behavioral activation during the pandemic. Next, Ivan Blanco will present data from a novel ecological task linking positive attention and interpretation biases to psychological adjustment during the pandemic, discussing the mediating role of emotion regulation. Then, Malvika Godara will highlight the efficacy of app-based mindfulness interventions in reducing negative interpretation biases and their influence on mental health. Finally, Alvaro Sanchez-Lopez will discuss a novel app-based attention-interpretation training, discussing the mediating role of changes in attention and interpretation bias on changes in rumination and anxiety. Our discussant, Bethany Teachman, will highlight the significant contributions of each of these talks and will discuss potential future directions.
Presenter: Amy Gillespie, Ph.D. – University of Oxford
Presenter: Ivan Blanco, PhD – Autonomous University of Madrid
Presenter: Malvika Godara, Ph.D. – Max Planck Society
Presenter: Alvaro Sanchez-Lopez, Ph.D. – Complutense University of Madrid
Co-author: Ernst Koster, PhD – Ghent University
Co-author: Rudi De Raedt, Ph.D. – Ghent University
Co-author: Oscar Martin-Garcia, MA – Complutense University of Madrid
Co-author: Ivan Blanco, PhD – Autonomous University of Madrid