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Background Despite successful functional neurosurgery, patients suffering from epilepsy or Parkinson’s disease may experience postoperative psychological distress and social maladjustments. Difficulties in coping with postoperative changes, even positive ones, have shown to be related to patients’ presurgery cognitive representations (i.e., expectations, hope). The aim of this study was to develop an instrument assessing various key features of surgery outcomes’ representations, namely the Preoperative Hope and Expectations Questionnaire (PHEQ). Methods Participants were patients (n = 50) diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease (n = 25) or epilepsy (n = 25), candidates for functional neurosurgery (i.e., Deep brain stimulation, anterior temporal lobectomy). Two to three weeks before the planned surgery, they were administrated items assessing their actual state, preoperative expectations, and hope regarding surgery outcomes. They also completed measures assessing optimism, quality of life and mood. Results Exploratory analysis resulted in a 14-item version of the PHEQ composed of two factors (abstract representations, including psychological well-being and concrete representations, such as direct surgery outcomes). The PHEQ demonstrated high internal consistency and good convergent validity. Patients were more prone to express postoperative improvements in terms of hope rather than expectations. They generally focused on concrete rather than abstract features, although patients with Parkinson’s disease had higher abstract future-oriented representations. Conclusions The PHEQ presents satisfactory psychometric properties and may be considered as a reliable instrument for research and clinical practice.

Consistent with the action identification theory proposal that some people identify their actions at a low-level (action processing regarding motor parameters) while others generally identify actions at a high-level (regarding goal features), and that a low-level of action identification leads to behavioral dysregulation (repetition, doubts about completion), checking proneness was found to be related to low-level action identification. Nevertheless, checking can be motivated by several factors (dysfunctional beliefs, incompleteness feelings). In the present research, we reexamine the level at which actions are identified by distinct subtypes of checking-prone participants. In Study 1, cluster analysis leads to the identification of four checking subtypes based on two dysfunctional beliefs domains (responsibility and perfectionism); our main results suggest that a low-level of action identification may characterize a checking subtype that is not motivated by responsibility related dysfunctional beliefs. Study 2 further reveals that anxiety features may characterize the checking subtype related to a low-level action identification.

The present article reviews the phenomenology of obsessive-compulsive checking, examining how action processing can be differentially affected across distinct checking subtypes. Checking is a normal phenomenon which ensures that an intended goal has been actually completed. Checking symptoms have consistently been connected to impairments in processing information related to self-performances. Theoretical and empirical work has explained compulsive checking as a result of various cognitive deficits related to action processing (e.g., low confidence in cognitive abilities, impaired memory for actions, abnormal reality monitoring, overactive action monitoring, defective goal processing). Such apparent inconsistencies are, however, in agreement with clinical and empirical observations highlighting substantial variability in the subjective experience preceding/accompanying checking. Many factors can in fact prevent the cognitive system from determining whether or not an intended goal has actually been achieved. We argue that several action processing mechanisms are likely affected in checking; the related subjective experience may vary accordingly.

This article examines individual variability in sexual desire and sexual satisfaction by exploring the relation between these sexual aspects and sexual attitudes (implicit and explicit) and by taking gender into account, as this has been shown to be an influential factor. A total of 28 men and 33 women living in heterosexual relationships completed questionnaires assessing sexual desire (dyadic, solitary), sexual satisfaction, and explicit sexual attitudes. An adapted version of the Affect Misattribution Procedure was used to assess implicit sexual attitudes. Results showed higher levels of dyadic and solitary sexual desire in men than in women. No gender differences were found regarding sexual satisfaction or sexual attitudes. High dyadic sexual desire was associated with positive implicit and explicit sexual attitudes, regardless of gender. However, solitary sexual desire was significantly higher in men than women and was associated, in women only, with positive implicit sexual attitudes, suggesting that solitary sexual desire may fulfill different functions in men and women. Finally, sexual satisfaction depended on the combination of explicit and implicit sexual attitudes in both men and women. This study highlights the importance of considering both implicit and explicit sexual attitudes to better understand the mechanisms underlying individual variability in sexual desire and satisfaction.

Perception results from a combination of actual data and interpretive schemata based on preexisting knowledge. Thus, ensuing subjective experience depends on the dynamic interplay between data-driven and conceptually driven processing. A chronic imbalance between these two sources of stimulus encoding is likely to be maladaptive and could underlie cognitive and behavioral disturbances similar to those observed in schizotypy, especially if the balance is tipped too far toward conceptually driven processing (i.e., Internal encoding style). This study aimed to examine the relationships between encoding style and various dimensions of schizotypy by using a questionnaire that evaluates the extent to which preexisting schemata (versus cues from the outside world) affect encoding processes. Consistent with previous findings, the authors' results revealed that both Cognitive-Perceptual and Disorganization dimensions were related to an internal mode of encoding, suggesting that individuals with these features may be characterized by a disposition to biases at early stages of encoding.

Although many neuroimaging studies have considered verbal and visual short-term memory (STM) as relying on neurally segregated short-term buffer systems, the present study explored the existence of shared neural correlates supporting verbal and visual STM. We hypothesized that networks involved in attentional and executive processes, as well as networks involved in serial order processing, underlie STM for both verbal and visual list information, with neural specificity restricted to sensory areas involved in processing the specific items to be retained. Participants were presented sequences of nonwords or unfamiliar faces, and were instructed to maintain and recognize order or item information. For encoding and retrieval phases, null conjunction analysis revealed an identical fronto-parieto-cerebellar network comprising the left intraparietal sulcus, bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, and the bilateral cerebellum, irrespective of information type and modality. A network centered around the right intraparietal sulcus supported STM for order information, in both verbal and visual modalities. Modality-specific effects were observed in left superior temporal and mid-fusiform areas associated with phonological and orthographic processing during the verbal STM tasks, and in right hippocampal and fusiform face processing areas during the visual STM tasks, wherein these modality effects were most pronounced when storing item information. The present results suggest that STM emerges from the deployment of modality-independent attentional and serial ordering processes toward sensory networks underlying the processing and storage of modality-specific item information.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is, as its name implies, characterized by obsessions (i.e., recurrent thoughts or images, particularly ones that cause distress) as well as compulsions (i.e., urges to perform mental or physical acts repeatedly), both of which significantly impair everyday functioning [1]. Obsessions are considered to be recurrent distressing impressions that something is wrong with an action or with a situation, such as an error or an imminent danger [2, 3, 4]. Compulsions are generally conceptualized as aiming to prevent feared harmful events and are thus associated with an increased sense of responsibility [5, 6]. However, they may also be motivated by particular sensory experiences concerning actions, such as feelings of incompleteness, that trigger the need to adjust them, rather than the avoidance of potential harm [7].

IntroductionThis study examined the relation between schizotypy and the encoding style in a sub-clinical sample. We evaluated, first, the level of schizotypy with the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQB) (Raine and al, 1995). Three factors are evaluated a)cognitive-perceptual factor,b)b) interpersonal factor and disorganisation. For the encoding style, we use the Encoding Style Questionnaire (ESQ) (Lewicki, 2005). Two type of encoding process exist, the “hasty” (or internal, based on internal encoding schemata) versus conservative (or external, base on data from external stimuli) (Lewicki, 2005). Internal encoding style may contribute to the development of different psychopathological symptoms, like Paranoia, Anxiety disorders and Depression (Hill, Lewiski and Neubauer, 1991), because of the self-perpetuation of dysfunctional schemata.Participants and procedureA total of 184 students (113 women and 71 men) participated at this study. The mean age of the sample was 22,58 years (SD = 1,96). They were test using a French version of the ESQ, the brief SPQB, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), The Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CES-D) Scale.ResultsThe results demonstrated that we have a positive correlation between internal encoding style, schizotypy, depression and anxiety. Secondly, a high level of internal encoding style means a high level of congnitivo-perceptual and for interpersonal factors with an impact of depression and anxiety.ConclusionAn internal encoding style is link with a high score in schizotypy.