情节式未来思考的年龄差异及其脑机制

情节式未来思考是将自我投射到未来以预先经历某事件的能力。本文探讨情节式未来思考的年龄差异及其脑机制,重点阐述情节式未来思考的个体发生发展及其现象学特征的年龄差异,探究其年龄差异的脑机制主要涉及颞叶及楔前叶、海马以及额叶等脑区。未来研究应扩大正常人与特殊群体的年龄范围,关注情节式未来思考年龄差异的研究角度及纵向交叉方法,同时需结合内外部影响因素进行研究,这在认知老化中有重要的社会应用价值。     

未来情景思考对目标达成的双刃作用及其机制

未来情景思考指个体想象并预先感受某个可能在未来发生的自我相关情景事件的心理加工,它对目标达成可产生双刃影响:一些思考方式会妨碍目标达成,如想象理想的结果或过程;而另一些思考方式则会促进目标达成,如过程模拟和想象较为消极的目标相关场景。对于未来情景思考是促进还是妨碍目标达成,动机水平的高低和执行意向的清晰程度可能是关键调节因素,相应的干预策略可通过增强这两者而将未来情景思考对目标达成的妨碍作用转化为促进作用。进一步的研究需系统探讨不同方式的未来情景思考影响目标达成的认知神经机制,并对目标特征和人格特点如何调节未来情景思考对目标达成的影响进行探讨。     

从自我到社会认知:默认网络和镜像神经元系统

自我知觉和社会认知是人类生活的基础。自我的概念包括身体自我和心理自我两个方面,社会认知被广泛定义为一系列的社会表征、社会互动和理解过程。默认网络主要表征自我和他人的心理层面特征以及社会认知加工,而镜像神经元系统连接着自我和他人的物理特性表征。默认网络由三个分系统组成,其中内侧前额叶皮层在社会认知中起了关键的作用,默认网络中的子系统也对社会理解起了重要的作用。默认网络和镜像神经元系统功能性地相互连接,动态地表征自我、他人以及支持社会互动。未来的研究将着重探讨默认网络和镜像神经元系统两个系统内外部的功能连接。     

认知控制在发散性思维中的作用

探讨认知控制在发散性思维中的作用是当前创造力研究领域的热点问题。目前一致认为认知控制包括工作记忆、抑制控制和认知灵活性三个核心成分。工作记忆对个体在发散性思维中维持任务目标、提取和操作信息发挥重要作用; 抑制控制, 包括优势反应抑制、分心干扰抑制和对潜在相关信息的低抑制, 分别压制对常规观点的提取、确保对内在注意状态的维持和提供更多观念的组合, 进而促进个体的发散性思维表现。此外, 流体智力作为一种高级认知控制能力, 可通过增强策略使用的灵活性从而利于发散性思维。近来神经科学研究表明, 发散性思维不同阶段需要执行控制网络和默认网络的动态协同加工。未来研究应澄清认知控制各子成分间的关系, 探讨认知控制影响发散性思维是否受到其他因素(如动机和情绪)的调节, 以及探索执行控制网络和默认网络的动态协作是否受到任务要求和个体差异(如人格和智力)的影响。     

想象未来的认知加工成分及其脑网络

合理预期和想象未来事件或场景, 有利于个体做出适应性反应, 促进生存与发展。近年来, 研究者对想象未来的认知加工成分和神经机制进行了深入探讨, 提出了想象未来的相关概念和理论。我们首先概述了想象未来实验常用的思维采样范式和词语-线索范式, 接着介绍了想象未来的自我参照加工、心理场景构建等认知加工成分。此外, 特别介绍了想象未来的默认网络模型以及与之相关的其他大尺度脑网络, 并进一步提出了想象未来的脑网络研究框架。未来的研究可从想象未来的动态脑网络、复杂脑网络以及与疾病的关系等角度入手, 深入探究想象未来的神经机制。     

网络公益平台默认选项设置对个人捐赠意愿的影响及作用机制

本文探讨了在网络公益背景下默认选项金额对个人捐赠意愿的影响及其心理机制。通过4个实验, 本文发现在网络公益平台中将默认选项设置为高金额会显著地减少个人的捐赠意愿, 而感知被操控在该影响过程中起到了中介作用。具体而言, 当公益机构将默认选项的金额设置为高金额(vs. 低金额)时, 人们的被操控感知增强, 进而捐赠意愿降低, 产生了默认效应的反作用。此外, 个体道德认同水平在这一影响中发挥了调节作用。当个体道德认同水平较低时, 高金额默认选项(vs. 低金额默认选项)会降低其捐赠意愿, 而对于道德认同水平较高的个体而言, 他们的捐赠意愿在高/低金额默认选项时不存在显著差异。研究结论推进了默认效应在捐赠决策领域的理论研究, 同时对于当前快速发展的网络公益平台进行捐赠金额的设置具有重要的实践意义。     

目标概念的辨析及其对决策的影响

目标对决策的影响过程包含了明晰目标的决策过程和在目标的动机作用下完成后续决策任务的过程。目标是个体期望实现的多个未来结果相互之间竞争动机作用的结果。依据对未来结果的渴望性和可行性等特征的认知, 个体抉择出某个未来结果作为自己的目标, 使其具有了动机作用。在明晰目标的过程中, 解释水平、自我控制的人格特质和成功经验都会产生重要影响。在明确了目标以后, 目标通过改变个体对有利于目标实现的决策备择方案的态度和选择性注意来影响个体的决策。未来研究可以从目标的意识程度对决策负面结果的影响, 对决策的心理过程进行直接测量等角度来探讨目标对决策的影响。     

反刍思维的脑功能网络机制

反刍思维是指个体在经历了消极生活事件后不由自主地反复思考该事件的产生原因、经过和结果, 表现出负性自我参照加工、消极情绪性以及持续性的特点。采用脑功能网络分析方法, 研究者发现反刍思维的上述三个特点分别与默认网络内部的异常活动模式、突显网络功能连接的改变以及注意相关网络之间的异常耦合有关。未来研究应进一步明确反刍思维与相关脑网络活动之间的因果关系, 探究反刍思维脑功能网络的结构基础, 同时也应关注反刍思维及其脑网络的老龄化特征, 并致力于探索有效干预反刍思维的神经调控技术。     

默认网络的神经机制、功能假设及临床应用

认知神经科学的迅速发展使得研究者对大脑的功能有了深刻的认识。近些年来, 研究者对大脑在进行外在注意任务时产生的负激活有了更多的了解, 默认网络(Default Mode Network)的概念被提出, 并引起了很多神经科学家的关注, 关于默认网络的相关理论也已提出。当前综述对默认网络的研究历史, 概念理论, 个体和种系发展, 及其与疾病的关系以及临床应用等方面进行了概括总结。未来研究可从默认网络的个体发展, 种系差异, 与其他大脑网络(如注意网络, 视觉网络, 执行控制网络)的关系以及与具体疾病的关系等角度入手进行研究, 共同来探讨默认网络的神经机制。     

内侧前额叶皮质—— “自我”的神经基础

自我神经基础的探讨常基于自我相关加工的研究, 涉及皮质中线结构各个脑区甚至全脑协同作用。内侧前额叶皮质及其次成分在自我相关加工中发挥重要作用：腹内侧前额叶皮质较多支持默认模式下的自我加工、自我信息的觉察和“在线”自我加工, 背内侧前额叶皮质主要参与有意识的自我参照加工、自我信息的评价和“主导的”自我加工。在自我-他人表征中, 自我-他人表征的情感性、认知性和文化性因素均调节内侧前额叶皮质及次成分的活动。未来在动态的时间和人际背景中解析自我加工的神经机制是重要的研究方向。     

Wishful information preference: positive fantasies mimic the effects of intentions

When pursuing set goals or intentions, people prefer to acquire information about the pros rather than the cons of their goal pursuit. Little is known about information preferences at earlier stages, when people are not yet serious about pursuing a given future. In the present three studies, positive fantasies that depicted an idealized desired future--compared with fantasies that questioned whether the future would be so ideal--created a preference for pros over cons, just like set goals or intentions have been shown to do. Positive fantasies created a stronger preference for pros versus cons when people were not serious about pursuing an imagined future or had just foregone an opportunity to do so. Results suggest that before people are engaged in serious pursuits, positive fantasies spur the selective acquisition of pro information, which may lead to poor decisions even if the acquired information is carefully deliberated on later.     

Dynamics of multiple-goal pursuit

The authors propose and test a model of multiple-goal pursuit that specifies how individuals allocate effort among multiple goals over time. The model predicts that whether individuals decide to step up effort, coast, abandon the current goal, or switch to pursue another goal is determined jointly by the emotions that flow from prior goal progress and the proximity to future goal attainment, and proximally determined by changes in expectancies about goal attainment. Results from a longitudinal diary study and 2 experiments show that positive and negative goal-related emotions can have diametrically opposing effects on goal-directed behavior, depending on the individual's proximity to goal attainment. The findings resolve contrasting predictions about the influence of positive and negative emotions in volitional behavior, critically amend the goal gradient hypothesis, and provide new insights into the dynamics and determinants of multiple-goal pursuit.     

Affective Responses to Autobiographical Memories and Their Relationship to Long-Term Goals

ABSTRACT It was hypothesized that affective responses to memories could be predicted from a memory's relevance to the attainment or nonattainment of an individual's long-term goals. In Study 1, 30 subjects received 15 goals, based upon Murray's (1938) needs, as cues to retrieve memories. They rated both affective responses to memories and the relevance of the memories to the attainment of the cuing goal. On average, affective responses were significantly correlated with the relevance of the memories to goal attainment. In Study 2, 62 subjects retrieved 20 memories from four different content categories and rated the relevance of each memory to the attainment of all 15 goals. Factor analysis yielded three goal factors—avoidance, self-gratification, and academic accomplishment. Depending upon the memory content (family, friends, school, or activities), memories varied in how much the affect they evoked was related to the attainment of particular goals. Goals played a differentiated role in subjects' current affect about past events.     

Blocked goals, persistent action: Implementation intentions engender tenacious goal striving

Research on goal attainment has demonstrated that people are more likely to reach their goals when they form implementation intentions. Three experiments tested whether implementation intentions lead to tenacious goal striving following blockage of an initial attempt to reach the goal. In all three experiments some participants were instructed to form an implementation intention and other participants were not. Subsequently, the initial goal-directed attempt of all participants was unexpectedly blocked. Experiment 1 found that implementation intentions resulted in more attempts to realize one’s goal. Experiment 2 showed that when participants formed an implementation intention their repeated attempt was acted out as intensely as their first, blocked attempt. Experiment 3 found that implementation intentions still allow people to seize an alternative, more onerous means to realize their intention. These results imply that implementation intention conserve self-regulatory strength. After goal blockage, the remaining strength can be used to continue goal-directed action.     

Getting what you want: Power increases the accessibility of active goals

Power facilitates goal-directed behavior. Two studies, using different types of goals, examined the cognitive mechanisms that underlie this tendency. Participants, primed with power or powerlessness, performed lexical decision tasks that assessed the relative facilitation of goal-relevant constructs during goal striving and after goal attainment. Results showed that during goal striving powerful participants manifested an increased facilitation of goal-relevant constructs compared to other constructs, and this facilitation decreased immediately after goal completion. In contrast, their powerless counterparts showed less facilitation of goal constructs during goal striving and maintained goal accessibility after completion. These results are consistent with the effects of power on goal-directed behavior found in past research.     

Ventromedial prefrontal-subcortical systems and the generation of affective meaning

The ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) comprises a set of interconnected regions that integrate information from affective sensory and social cues, long-term memory, and representations of the 'self'. Alhough the vmPFC is implicated in a variety of seemingly disparate processes, these processes are organized around a common theme. The vmPFC is not necessary for affective responses per se, but is critical when affective responses are shaped by conceptual information about specific outcomes. The vmPFC thus functions as a hub that links concepts with brainstem systems capable of coordinating organism-wide emotional behavior, a process we describe in terms of the generation of affective meaning, and which could explain the common role played by the vmPFC in a range of experimental paradigms.     

Dissociating affective evaluation and social cognitive processes in the ventral medial prefrontal cortex

In recent studies, various regions of the ventral medial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) have been implicated in at least two potentially different mental functions: reasoning about the minds of other people (social cognition) and processing reward related information (affective evaluation). In this study, we test whether the activation in a specific area of the vmPFC, the para-anterior cingulate cortex (PACC), correlates with the reward value of stimuli in general or is specifically associated with social cognition. Participants performed a time estimation task with trial-to-trial feedback in which reward and social context were manipulated separately. Reward was manipulated by giving either positive or negative feedback in the form of small squirts of fluid delivered orally. Social context was manipulated by instructing participants that positive and negative feedback was determined by another person or a computer. The data demonstrate a main effect of feedback, but not social context, in the PACC, suggesting that this area of the vmPFC serves a general function in evaluating and/or representing reward value. In addition, activity in a more anterior subregion of the vmPFC demonstrated reward-related sensitivity only in the social context. Another area that showed a similar interaction was the subgenual cingulate, but this region was only sensitive to negative feedback in the social condition. These findings suggest that, within the vmPFC, the PACC subserves primarily an affective function, whereas in other regions social context can modulate affective responses.     

Linking goal self-concordance and affective reactions to goal conflict

Most people would agree that facing goal conflict is a negative experience. However, many, but not all empirical studies actually show a negative relationship between goal conflicts and well-being: goal conflicts apparently differ in their effects. The aim of the present study was to investigate the role of the level of goal self-concordance (i.e., to what extent goals are pursued with self-determined motivation) for people’s affective reactions to goal conflicts due to resource constraints. Analyses of goal conflicts experienced at work by N = 647 junior scientists shed light onto the role of levels of self-concordance of the conflicting goals on the way the goal conflict is experienced. Results show that goal self-concordance explains variance in affective reaction beyond goal importance and goal attainability. More specifically, conflicts between two goals with high levels of self-concordance are associated to rather positive affect (e.g., excited). In contrast, conflicts between two goals with low levels of self-concordance are associated to rather negative affect (e.g., frustrated). Overall, these results emphasize the need to consider goal properties in future research on goal conflicts.     

Emotion matters: The influence of valence on episodic future thinking in young and older adults

In young adults, valence not only alters the degree to which future events are imagined in rich episodic detail, but also how memorable these events are later on. For older adults, how valence influences episodic detail generation while imagining future events, or recalling these details at another time, remains unclear. We investigated the effect of valence on the specificity and memorability of episodic future thinking (EFT) in young and older adults. Among young and older adults, negative EFT was accompanied by less episodic detail generation relative to positive and neutral EFT. A similar reduction in episodic specificity for negative EFT was found two days later when participants recalled their previously imagined events. Notably, while older adults generated less episodically specific future thoughts relative to young adults, age did not influence the effect of valence on episodic detail generation at imagination or recollection.