Age-related changes in task-switching components: the role of task uncertainty

The present study examined age differences in executive functioning, using an externally cued task-switching paradigm. Two components of task switching were assessed: the ability to maintain and select among task sets (general switch costs) and the ability to switch between task sets (specific switch costs). In contrast to previous findings, we found large age-related differences in specific switch costs, especially when the number of potentially relevant task sets is increased from two to four. Age-related differences in general switch costs were absent when external task cues subserved executive processing in task switching. Generally, the findings suggest that age-related impairments in task-switching components vary as a function of task uncertainty, such as the presence of environmental prompts to behavior.     

Emotion regulation and biological stress responding: associations with worry,rumination, and reappraisal

ABSTRACT

Individual differences in the habitual use of emotion regulation strategies may play a critical role in understanding psychological and biological stress reactivity and recovery in depression and anxiety. This study investigated the relation between the habitual use of different emotion regulation strategies and cortisol reactivity and recovery in healthy control individuals (CTL; n?=?33) and in individuals diagnosed with social anxiety disorder (SAD; n?=?41). The tendency to worry was associated with increased cortisol reactivity to a stressor across the full sample. Rumination was not associated with cortisol reactivity, despite its oft-reported similarities to worry. Worry and rumination, however, were associated with increased cortisol during recovery from the stressor. The only difference between CTL and SAD participants was observed for reappraisal. In the CTL but not in the SAD group, reappraisal predicted recovery, such that an increased tendency to reappraise was associated with greater cortisol recovery. These results suggest an important role of the habitual use of emotion regulation strategies in understanding biological stress reactivity and recovery.     

Maintaining perceived control with unemployment facilitates future adjustment

Unemployment is a major challenge to individuals' development. An important personal resource to ameliorate the negative impact of unemployment may be perceived control, a general-purpose belief system. Little is known, however, about how perceived control itself changes with the experience of unemployment and what the antecedents, correlates, and consequences of such change in perceived control are in different ages. We use data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (N = 413 who experienced unemployment and N = 413 case-matched controls; time period of data collection: 1994–1996) to examine whether perceived control changes with unemployment, explore the role of socio-demographic, psychosocial and health factors in moderating such change, and investigate whether levels of perceived control prior to unemployment and unemployment-related change in perceived control predict unemployment-related outcomes up to five years following. Results indicated that, on average, perceived control remained relatively stable with unemployment, and that younger and older workers did not differ in this regard. However, there were sizeable individual differences in change in perceived control, with women and those with fewer years of education experiencing greater unemployment-related declines in perceived control. Lower levels of perceived control prior to unemployment and steeper unemployment-related decrements in perceived control were each associated with a higher risk of remaining unemployed in the 12 months immediately following unemployment. Steeper unemployment-related declines in perceived control also predicted lower life satisfaction up to five years following. We discuss possible pathways by which perceived control may facilitate adjustment to unemployment, consider the role of perceived control for better understanding the dynamics of unemployment, and suggest routes for further more process-oriented inquiry.     

Cognitive inhibition in depression

Cognitive inhibition is a key mechanism in the regulation of emotion. There is emerging evidence that depression is characterized by deficits in the inhibition of mood-congruent material. These deficits could result in prolonged processing of negative, goal-irrelevant aspects of presented information thereby hindering recovery from negative mood and leading to the sustained negative affect that characterizes depressive episodes. Indeed, it has been suggested that deficits in cognitive inhibition lie at the heart of memory and attention biases in depression, and set the stage for ruminative responses to negative events and negative mood states. A ruminative response style results in a heightened vulnerability to experience episodes of major depression. Recent research has demonstrated that deficient inhibition of negative material is associated with heightened rumination. In this article, we review the depression literature with a focus on studies that investigate cognitive inhibition in depressed participants and in participants who report a history of major depressive episodes. In addition, we summarize neurobiological findings that indicate a strong relation between depression and deficits in inhibition and we take a closer look at the relation of inhibition, rumination and mood regulation.     

Adaptive adjustment of vocational aspirations among German youths during the transition from school to work

The transition from school to work is a central developmental task with long-term implications for the financial and social status of individuals. We argue that dynamic adjustments of aspirations play a decisive role for a successful outcome of the school to work transition, particularly in the context of the German vocational training system. Latent growth curve analyses conducted on the self-reported occupational aspirations of German adolescents (N = 414) surveyed in a 5-wave longitudinal study during their senior school year support this assumption. Based on expectancy-value-models of achievement, we delineated an adaptive trajectory of aspirations as starting off with relatively high aspirations and subsequently gradually downgrading them until s is attained. Such a trajectory of adjustment should maximize both expectancy (i.e., probability of obtaining an apprenticeship position at all) and value (i.e., training position with promotion potential). Finally, we showed empirically that the trajectory conceptually proposed as most adaptive was characteristic for youth who reported phase-adequate goal engagement strategies as suggested by the life-span theory of control.     

How useful is executive control training? Age differences in near and far transfer of task‐switching training

Although executive functions can be improved by training, little is known about the extent to which these training‐related benefits can be transferred to other tasks, or whether this transfer can be modulated by the type of training. This study investigated lifespan changes in near transfer of task‐switching training to structurally similar tasks and its modulation by verbal self‐instructions and variable training, as well as far transfer to structurally dissimilar ‘executive’ tasks and fluid intelligence. Three age groups (8–10; 18–26; 62–76 years of age) were examined in a pretest‐training‐posttest design. We found near transfer of task‐switching training in all age groups, especially in children and older adults. Near transfer was enhanced in adults and impaired in children when training tasks were variable. We also found substantial far transfer to other executive tasks and fluid intelligence in all age groups, pointing to the transfer of relatively general executive control abilities after training.     

Is it adaptive to disengage from demands of social change? Adjustment to developmental barriers in opportunity-deprived regions

This paper investigates how individuals deal with demands of social and economic change in the domains of work and family when opportunities for their mastery are unfavorable. Theoretical considerations and empirical research suggest that with unattainable goals and unmanageable demands motivational disengagement and self-protective cognitions bring about superior outcomes than continued goal striving. Building on research on developmental deadlines, this paper introduces the concept of developmental barriers to address socioeconomic conditions of severely constrained opportunities in certain geographical regions. Mixed-effects methods were used to model cross-level interactions between individual-level compensatory secondary control and regional-level opportunity structures in terms of social indicators for the economic prosperity and family friendliness. Results showed that disengagement was positively associated with general life satisfaction in regions that were economically devastated and has less than average services for families. In regions that were economically well off and family-friendly, the association was negative. Similar results were found for self-protection concerning domain-specific satisfaction with life. These findings suggest that compensatory secondary control can be an adaptive way of mastering a demand when primary control is not possible.     

Interpretation Bias Training in Depressed Adolescents: Near- and Far-Transfer Effects

Depressed adolescents are characterized by negative interpretation biases. Although investigators have used cognitive bias modification for interpretation (CBM-I) to experimentally manipulate interpretation biases in depressed adults, the near- and far-transfer effects are not well understood in adolescents diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). In this study, we extend previous research by investigating the near- and far-transfer effects of 6 sessions of Positive versus Neutral CBM-I on independent measures of interpretation bias (near-transfer effects) and on attention biases and clinical symptoms (far-transfer effects) in a sample of adolescents with MDD (n = 46). At post-training, adolescents who received Positive CBM-I interpreted ambiguous scenarios more positively than did participants who received Neutral CBM-I, providing evidence of training effectiveness. There was no evidence, however, of near- or far-transfer effects. These findings raise concerns about the malleability of interpretation biases in adolescent depression and suggest that further work is needed to establish the clinical utility of CBM-I for adolescents with MDD.     

College Students’ motivational beliefs and use of goal-oriented control strategies: Integrating two theories of motivated behavior

Motivation and Emotion - In college, students often encounter situations in which they struggle to meet their academic goals in difficult courses. We integrate the Motivational Theory of Life-Span...     

Parenting and Adolescents’ Academic Achievement: The Mediating Role of Goal Engagement and Disengagement

Journal of Child and Family Studies - Prior research has investigated parental behavior and students’ motivation separately as predictors of adolescents’ academic achievement. The...