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Modifying cognitive errors promotes cognitive well being: a new approach to bias modification.
Kathryn J Lester1, Andrew Mathews, Phil S Davison
1Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, UK. kathryn.lester@kcl.ac.uk
Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry
|March 1, 2011
Summary
Cognitive Error Modification (CEM) trains individuals to challenge negative thinking, reducing emotional vulnerability and improving self-perception. This new approach to Cognitive Bias Modification (CBM) promotes positive inferences and stress resilience.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Cognitive Science
- Clinical Psychology
Background:
- Cognitive Bias Modification (CBM) influences interpretation of ambiguous information, impacting emotional vulnerability.
- Negative cognitive biases are linked to emotional vulnerability.
Purpose of the Study:
- Develop and validate a new CBM technique targeting cognitive errors in depression and anxiety.
- Modify biased cognitions identified by Beck's cognitive error categories.
Main Methods:
- Developed a novel Cognitive Error Modification (CEM) procedure.
- Applied CEM to modify cognitive errors characteristic of depression and anxiety.
- Tested the effects of CEM on spontaneous inferences and stressor vulnerability.
Main Results:
- Participants generated positive alternatives, perceiving events non-distortedly.
- CEM reduced vulnerability to emotional stressors.
- Improved self-perception of performance without altering actual performance.
Conclusions:
- Cognitive Error Modification promotes positive inferences.
- CEM reduces vulnerability to stress.
- CEM enhances self-perceptions of performance.
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