Elsevier

Behavior Therapy

Volume 37, Issue 3, September 2006, Pages 237-247
Behavior Therapy

Positive Interpretation Training: Effects of Mental Imagery Versus Verbal Training on Positive Mood

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.beth.2006.02.002Get rights and content

Abstract

Therapists often assume a special association between mental imagery and emotion, though empirical evidence has been lacking. Using an interpretation training paradigm, we previously found that imagery had a greater impact on anxiety than did verbal processing of the same material (Holmes & Mathews, 2005). Although the finding of a differential impact of imagery versus verbal processing of negative material was replicated, findings did not extend to benign material. Results therefore left open the question of whether there may be a special association between imagery and positive emotion. The current experiment examined positive interpretation training. Numerous scenarios were presented with initial ambiguity as to positive outcome or not, with final information then yielding consistently positive resolutions. Participants were asked to either imagine these positive events or to listen to the same descriptions while thinking about their verbal meaning. Those participants in the imagery condition reported greater increases in positive affect and rated new descriptions as being more positive than did those in the verbal condition. Results suggest that positive training can be enhanced through imagery as opposed to verbal processing. This study also provides the first test of a standardized intervention using an “interpretive bias training” paradigm to improve positive mood.

Section snippets

Overview

In positive interpretation training, 100 scenarios were presented that, although initially ambiguous as to their outcome, subsequently yielded consistently positive resolutions. Participants were asked to either imagine these positive events or to listen to the same descriptions while thinking about their verbal meaning. A mixed design was used, in which participants were randomly allocated to either imagery or verbal processing conditions, with both using the same positive interpretation

Results

Our key hypotheses were that practice using imagery, relative to verbal processing, would produce greater increases in positive affect and positive interpretations and reduce anxiety scores. Because these hypotheses were specific and directional, analyses that directly tested them employed one-tailed tests. All other tests, when no directional hypothesis had been stated, used two-tailed tests.

Summary of main results

The current experiment used overtly positive training material to investigate the effects of imagery versus verbal interpretation training, in contrast to the use of benign material in Experiment 2 of Holmes and Mathews (2005). The present experiment also included a measure of positive affect to complement the measure of state anxiety used previously. The current results extended those previous findings and showed that participants in an imagery training condition reported greater increases in

Clinical implications

The current findings, in conjunction with those of Holmes and Mathews (2005) provide an empirical justification for the use of imagery as a device to evoke—and perhaps also to modify—emotional responses in clinical conditions. From a clinical perspective, a key issue for further investigation is whether reductions in negative affect may best be promoted using imagery rather than verbal processing in clinical populations, and what types of imagery techniques could be used. If imagery has a

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Emily Holmes is now at the University of Oxford, Oxford, UK. Andrew Mathews is now at the University of California at Davis.

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