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Social anxiety enhances recognition of task-irrelevant threat words

Memory biases in high social anxiety were shown to be specific for threat-related distractors rather than general, for all distractors, and emerged only when the to-be-remembered target information was also threatening.

Yeung, R. C., & Fernandes, M. A. (2019). Social anxiety enhances recognition of task-irrelevant threat words. Acta Psychologica, 194, 69–76. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2019.01.015

Altered working memory capacity for social threat words in high versus low social anxiety

Our findings suggest that individuals high in social anxiety may fail to upregulate working memory capacity for social information due to the activation of socially threatening concepts.

Yeung, R. C., & Fernandes, M. A. (2019). Altered working memory capacity for social threat words in high versus low social anxiety. Anxiety, Stress, & Coping, 32(5), 505–521. https://doi.org/10.1080/10615806.2019.1626838

Recurrent involuntary autobiographical memories: Characteristics and links to mental health status

Negative recurrent IAMs were associated with significantly more mental health concerns, including symptoms of depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress.

Yeung, R. C., & Fernandes, M. A. (2020). Recurrent involuntary autobiographical memories: Characteristics and links to mental health status. Memory, 28(6), 753–765. https://doi.org/10.1080/09658211.2020.1777312

The influence of social anxiety-provoking contexts on context reinstatement effects

Results suggest that the benefit to target memory via reinstating a context depends critically on emotional characteristics of the reinstated context, particularly when the context scene was highly anxiety-provoking with embedded faces.

Yeung, R. C., Lee, C. M., & Fernandes, M. A. (2021). The influence of social anxiety-provoking contexts on context reinstatement effects. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 74(7), 1170–1184. https://doi.org/10.1177/1747021821998489

Divided attention at encoding or retrieval interferes with emotionally enhanced memory for words

Findings suggest that divided attention during either encoding or retrieval can interfere with the specific mechanisms by which negative emotion typically improves memory.

Yeung, R. C., & Fernandes, M. A. (2021). Divided attention at encoding or retrieval interferes with emotionally enhanced memory for words. Memory, 29(3), 284–297. https://doi.org/10.1080/09658211.2021.1887896

Recurrent involuntary memories are modulated by age and linked to mental health

Age modulated recurrent IAM valence, despite the involuntary nature of these memories: younger adults’ recurrent IAMs were disproportionately negative, whereas older adults‘ were disproportionately positive. Negative valence predicted worse mental health in both younger and older adults.

Yeung, R. C., & Fernandes, M. A. (2021). Recurrent involuntary memories are modulated by age and linked to mental health. Psychology and Aging, 36(7), 883–890. https://doi.org/10.1037/pag0000630

Machine learning to detect invalid text responses: Validation and comparison to existing detection methods

We propose and implement a supervised machine learning approach that can mimic the accuracy of human coding, but without the need to hand-code entire text datasets. Using autobiographical memory texts, we accurately detected invalid texts with performance near human coding, significantly outperforming existing data quality indicators.

Yeung, R. C., & Fernandes, M. A. (2022). Machine learning to detect invalid text responses: Validation and comparison to existing detection methods. Behavior Research Methods, 1–16. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-022-01801-y

Understanding autobiographical memory content using computational text analysis

Although there is scholarly interest in autobiographical memory (AM) content, past manual approaches are prohibitively time- and labour-intensive. Using structural topic modelling, we identified coherent topics (e.g., “Negative past relationships”, “Conversations”, “Experiences with family members”) within recurrent IAMs and found that topic use significantly differed depending on the valence of these memories. Computational methods allowed us to analyze AM content at an unprecedented scope and scale.

Yeung, R. C., Stastna, M., & Fernandes, M. A. (2022). Understanding autobiographical memory content using computational text analysis. Memory, 30(10), 1267–1287. https://doi.org/10.1080/09658211.2022.2104317

It’s time to bring mental health literacy education into the postsecondary curriculum

Over the last two decades, Canadian higher education has largely addressed students’ mental health concerns through extra-curricular means. To instead embed education into the curriculum, CZ developed and taught an undergraduate course on mental health literacy. We conducted a pre-post study, finding that students made significant gains from T1 to T2, with a large effect size, in terms of attitudes toward seeking mental health services.

Zaza, C., & Yeung, R. C. (2023). It’s time to bring mental health literacy education into the postsecondary curriculum. Canadian Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning., 14(1), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.5206/cjsotlrcacea.2023.1.13663

Specific topics, specific symptoms: Linking the content of recurrent involuntary memories to mental health using computational text analysis

Using a previously validated computational approach (structural topic modeling), we identified coherent topics (e.g., “Conversations”, “Experiences with family members”) in recurrent IAMs. Specific topics (e.g., “Negative past relationships”, “Abuse and trauma”) were uniquely related to symptoms of mental health disorders (e.g., depression, PTSD), above and beyond the self-reported valence of these memories. Importantly, content in recurrent IAMs was distinct across symptom types (e.g., “Communication and miscommunication” was related to social anxiety, but not symptoms of other disorders), suggesting that while negative recurrent IAMs are transdiagnostic, their content remains unique across different types of mental health concerns.

Yeung, R. C., & Fernandes, M. A. (2023). Specific topics, specific symptoms: Linking the content of recurrent involuntary memories to mental health using computational text analysis. npj Mental Health Research, 2(22), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44184-023-00042-x

Disentangling boredom from depression using the phenomenology and content of involuntary autobiographical memories

We examined whether the phenomenology and content of recurrent IAMs could differentiate boredom and depression, both of which are characterized by affective dysregulation and spontaneous thought. Boredom proneness predicted less vivid recurrent IAMs, whereas depressive symptoms predicted more vivid, negative, and emotionally intense ones. Memory content also diverged: topics such as relationship conflicts were positively predicted by depressive symptoms, but negatively predicted by boredom proneness.

Yeung, R. C., Danckert, J., van Tilburg, W. A. P., & Fernandes, M. A. (2024). Disentangling boredom from depression using the phenomenology and content of involuntary autobiographical memories. Scientific Reports, 14, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-52495-5

Recurrent involuntary memories and mind wandering are related but distinct

Both recurrent IAMs and MW are often unintentional or unconstrained, and both predict symptoms of mental health disorders. However, not all MW is unintentional, and not all IAMs are unconstrained. To what extent do recurrent IAMs and MW converge versus diverge? Results suggest that recurrent IAMs are related to MW in that recurrent IAMs are spontaneous. Conversely, recurrent IAMs are distinct from MW in that recurrent IAMs’ associations with disorder symptoms could not be solely explained by trait MW (and vice versa).

Yeung, R. C., & Fernandes, M. A. (2024). Recurrent involuntary memories and mind wandering are related but distinct. Psychological Research, 88, 1483–1498. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-024-01961-w

Evaluating the impacts of an undergraduate mental health literacy course

We conducted three studies to evaluate the impacts of a fully online, for-credit mental health literacy (MHL) course. The pre-post study did not reveal any meaningful changes in knowledge and attitude from Time 1 to Time 2. In contrast, content analyses of the final reflection assignment showed multiple meaningful and positive shifts in knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours related to mental health.

Zaza, C., Yeung, R. C., & Shanbhag, G. (in press). Evaluating the impacts of an undergraduate mental health literacy course. Canadian Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.

The curse of imagery: Trait object and spatial imagery differentially relate to PTSD symptoms

Imagery is integral to autobiographical memory (AM). Past work has highlighted the benefits of high trait imagery on episodic AM, including faster, more detailed, and more vivid retrieval. However, these advantages may come with drawbacks: following potentially traumatic events, strong visual imagery could promote the intrusions characteristic of PTSD. Conversely, spatial imagery could schematize potentially traumatic events, countering vivid recollection and reducing distress. In two independent samples, higher object imagery was associated with more PTSD symptoms. Higher spatial-schematic processing was associated with fewer PTSD symptoms.

Yeung, R. C., Sokolowski, H. M., Fan, C. L., Fernandes, M. A., & Levine, B. (in press). The curse of imagery: Trait object and spatial imagery differentially relate to PTSD symptoms. Clinical Psychological Science. https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/FSRHM

talks

Social anxiety enhances recognition of task-irrelevant threat words

Are highly socially anxious people easily distracted in general, or is this bias specific to socially threatening material? In a simultaneous target-distractor paradigm, we investigated if memory for targets and distractors was affected by threat-relatedness. We found that emory bias is specific to threat-related distractors in high social anxiety. When social anxiety is primed, attention and memory may be specifically heightened for irrelevant, socially threatening information.

Bias in long-term and working memory in individuals with high versus low social anxiety

Do individuals with high social anxiety show altered memory function for social materials? We asked if semantic meaning (i.e., social threat) drives subsequent memory. In two experiments, we find biases in long-term memory as well as working memory that are social threat-specific, which could not be explained by valence, arousal, or semantic similarity.

Altered working memory capacity for social threat words in high versus low social anxiety

Differences in working memory capacity may lead to preferential maintenance of socially threatening material in individuals with high social anxiety. Here we used word span tasks, adapted from the digit span task, to assess working memory capacity for material of varying threat-relatedness, in individuals with high or low social anxiety. Our findings suggest that individuals high in social anxiety may fail to upregulate working memory capacity for social information due to the activation of socially threatening concepts.

From tea cakes to trauma: Bridging gaps between involuntary memory and mental health

Are recurrent memories common in the general population? Can recurrent memories predict symptoms of mental health disorders? Can we better characterize recurrent memories using their autobiographical properties?

From tea cakes to trauma: Bridging gaps between involuntary memory and mental health

We investigated the properties of recurrent IAMs in general populations, and assessed their relation to mental health. We found that recurrent IAMs were experienced by most of our sample (52%), and that these memories were mostly negative in valence. Those reporting a negative IAM as their most frequently recurring also reported significantly more mental health concerns (e.g., posttraumatic stress, social anxiety, depression).

Anxiety-provoking context scenes can reduce the context reinstatement effect

Reinstating the same context from encoding during retrieval has been shown to benefit memory. In two experiments, we investigated whether anxiety-provoking context scenes lessened the context reinstatement (CR) benefit. We found that reinstating anxiety-provoking contexts failed to benefit target memory. Results suggest that the benefit of reinstating a context, on target memory, depends critically on the characteristics of the reinstated context.

University of Waterloo’s undergraduate course on mental health literacy

We describe the design and evaluation of the University of Waterloo's first Mental Health Literacy course for undergraduate credit. We conducted a study measuring indicators of students' mental health literacy (e.g., attitudes toward help-seeking) at the start and end of the course (N = 37). Some significant improvements were found, along with strongly positive student feedback.

Assessing Waterloo’s first undergraduate course on mental health literacy: Did students’ attitudes change over time?

Does completion of a course on MHL have an effect on students' MHL-related attitudes, help-seeking intent, or perceived barriers to care? In a pre-post design, this study suggests that a course dedicated to MHL can have a significant, positive impact of several aspects of MHL in students. Further, our findings support AHS's commitment to offering AHS 105 to all students on campus in future terms.

Assessing impacts of Waterloo’s undergraduate mental health literacy course

In 2020, the Faculty of Health launched the University of Waterloo's first undergraduate course on mental health literacy so that students could earn course credit for learning about mental health self-care and support for others. We conducted three studies that build on early research conducted by two of the presenters, examining students' outcomes following taking this course.

What are recurrent memories about? Understanding their contents and links to mental health using computational text analysis

Researchers debate whether recurrent involuntary autobiographical memories (IAMs; personal memories retrieved unintentionally and repetitively) are pathological or ordinary. We asked if content could distinguish between maladaptive and benign recurrent IAMs. Using structural topic models, a method of unsupervised machine learning, we show that topics in recurrent IAMs - and their links to mental health - are identifiable, distinguishable, and quantifiable.

Recurrent involuntary memories are linked to mental health and modulated by age: Insights from computational text analysis

Recurrent memories are linked to individual differences (e.g., age, symptoms of mental health disorders) in terms of their phenomenology (subjective experience) and content (what people report remembering).

Key takeaways from Waterloo’s undergraduate mental health literacy course

Since Winter 2020, the Faculty of Health has offered an undergraduate Mental Health Literacy course (AHS 105) for all students on campus. We conducted a study on a novel final assessment in which student were asked to reflect on their key learnings as well as their achievement of the course-level learning outcomes.

Voluntary and involuntary autobiographical memories: More similar than different?

In everyday life, memories of one's personal past (autobiographical memories; AMs) are typically retrieved either voluntarily or involuntarily. Here, we examined similarities and differences between voluntary and involuntary AMs (N = 4,801). Results indicated that recurrent IAMs were largely distinguished by higher emotionality/importance and lower vividness than voluntary AMs, though both types of memory overlapped considerably with regard to memory properties. Importantly, the emotionality of recurrent IAMs predicted symptoms of mental health disorders significantly better than voluntary AMs. Our work supports modeling recurrent IAMs as general cognitive phenomena with unique links to mental health.