Department of Clinical Psychology, Psychotherapy, or Experimental Psychopathology, Johannes-Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, Germany.
Department of General Psychology and Methodology, Károli Gáspár University of the Reformed Church in Hungary, Budapest, Hungary.
J Psychosom Res. 2024 Jun;181:111634. doi: 10.1016/j.jpsychores.2024.111634. Epub 2024 Mar 1.
Negative affect, alexithymia, and other predisposing traits (such as health anxiety) can influence an individual's symptom perception. In this study, we used the affective picture paradigm (APP, Bogaerts et al., 2010) to induce symptoms using affective picture stimuli. We aimed to cross-sectionally test the effect of high vs low-frequency symptom queries and analyze the time course of the APP, including interactions with health anxiety and somatic symptom distress.
Participants (N = 124) completed a modified APP and filled out various questionnaires. In the APP, participants were randomized to either a highly-frequent-query condition (18 symptom checklists) or a less-frequent-query condition (6 checklists). Data were analyzed using ANOVAs, cross-lagged panel models, moderation models, and multilevel models.
Both groups had comparable symptom baseline values, but people in the highly frequent as opposed to less frequent condition reported significantly higher symptom levels once the experiment started (F (1,120) = 14.319, p < .001, η=.107). Symptom levels stayed stable over the course of the experiment and were best predicted by symptom levels at earlier timepoints in the experiment (β = 0.43 and β = 0.68, both p < .001). Health anxiety levels significantly predicted symptom levels (F(1,121) = 10.054, p = .002, η=.077) and moderated the relation between condition and symptom levels (F(2,121) = 16.253, p < .001, η=.212).
In terms of the predictive processing model (e.g.,[1]), repeated symptom queries following negative affective cues may activate prior beliefs about symptoms, resulting in elevated levels of symptom reports in interaction with health anxiety.
负性情绪、述情障碍和其他易患特质（如健康焦虑）会影响个体的症状感知。本研究采用情感图片范式（APP，Bogaerts 等人，2010），使用情感图片刺激诱发症状。我们旨在通过横断面研究测试高频率与低频率症状查询的效果，并分析 APP 的时间进程，包括与健康焦虑和躯体症状困扰的相互作用。
参与者（N=124）完成了改良的 APP，并填写了各种问卷。在 APP 中，参与者被随机分配到高频查询条件（18 个症状检查表）或低频查询条件（6 个检查表）。使用方差分析、交叉滞后面板模型、调节模型和多层次模型对数据进行分析。
两组的症状基线值相当，但与低频查询条件相比，高频查询条件下的参与者在实验开始后报告的症状水平显著更高（F（1，120）=14.319，p<0.001，η=.107）。在实验过程中，症状水平保持稳定，并且与实验中较早时间点的症状水平预测最佳（β=0.43 和 β=0.68，均 p<0.001）。健康焦虑水平显著预测症状水平（F（1，121）=10.054，p=0.002，η=.077），并调节了条件与症状水平之间的关系（F（2，121）=16.253，p<0.001，η=.212）。
根据预测加工模型（例如，[1]），在负面情绪线索后反复查询症状可能会激活对症状的先验信念，从而与健康焦虑相互作用导致症状报告水平升高。
