Goal feedback from whom? A physical activity intervention using an N-of-1 RCT

Objective: Adolescents are not meeting the recommended guidelines for physical activity. Social support and self-regulatory skills are two factors known to impact physical activity and sedentary behaviour. The study sought to examine how targeting feedback as part of a self-regulatory process could increase physical activity, and the individual who should be providing the feedback.

Design: The study utilised an aggregated N-of-1 RCT which allows for an iterative process of intervention development, and examines variability within participants to answer the question for whom did the intervention work. Ten adolescents (ages 13–18) set a daily physical activity goal. Adolescents received a SMS text message providing feedback on goal attainment daily from a parent, peer, behavioural health specialist; or no text message (control).

Main Outcome Measures: A bioharness heart rate monitor assessed heart rate as proxy for goal attainment. Adolescents also self-monitored their physical activity in the Calorie Counter and Diet Tracker by MyFitnessPal^TM app (commercially available).

Results: Intervention demonstrated a significant effect for 30% of the sample in increasing MVPA (M_increase = 52 min), with no significant effect on sedentary behaviour.

Conclusion: A single occasion of text messaging from the right person can produce changes, however, careful consideration should be given to who provides the feedback.     

Influencing health decision-making: A study of colour and message framing

Objective: Previous research has provided evidence that colour associations and frame can influence behavioural intentions to engage in vaccination behaviours. In this study, the extension of these effects to sunscreen application behaviours was investigated. Additional colours and the manner in which colour primes were employed were also explored.

Design: Two hundred and eighty-six college students were primed with either short wavelength colours (blue/purple) or long wavelength colours (red/orange) as part of goal framed sunscreen information pamphlets.

Main outcome measures: Self-reported behavioural intentions to apply sunscreen, immediate affective reaction to stimuli material, anticipated affect towards sunscreen use, and perceived efficacy of preventing skin cancer were measured.

Results: Individuals with no prior intention to use sunscreen expressed greater behavioural intentions to do so after reading a positively framed sunscreen pamphlet that was designed using short wavelength colours. The negatively framed messages and those presented in long wavelength colours did not enhance persuasion.

Conclusions: In accordance with the Unification Theory of Framing, a match between the representations of the target behaviour, the colour prime, and the frame resulted in the greatest amount of persuasion. Creating communications with representations that match the target behaviour could be a powerful tool to increase compliance.     

Personality and Integrative Negotiations: A HEXACO Investigation of Actor,Partner, and Actor–Partner Interaction Effects on Objective and Subjective Outcomes

The present study sought to expand the literature on the relations of major dimensions of personality with integrative negotiation outcomes by introducing the HEXACO model, investigating both effects of the negotiators' and their counterparts' personality traits on objective and subjective negotiation outcomes, and investigating two interactions between the negotiators' and counterparts' personalities. One hundred forty‐eight participants completed the HEXACO‐100 measure of personality. Participants then engaged in a dyadic negotiation task that contained a mix of distributive and integrative elements (74 dyads). Measures of subjective experience and objective economic value were obtained, and actor–partner interdependence models were estimated. Personality was generally a better predictor of subjective experience than objective economic value. In particular, partner honesty‐humility, extraversion, and openness predicted more positive negotiation experiences. An actor–partner interaction effect was found for actor‐agreeableness by partner‐honesty‐humility on economic outcomes; agreeable actors achieved worse (better) economic outcomes when negotiating with partners that were low (high) on honesty‐humility. © 2018 European Association of Personality Psychology     

Self-efficacy and resource allocation: support for a nonmonotonic, discontinuous model

Self-regulation theories are paving the way to integrating motivational theories of behavior. However, a review of the motivation literature reveals several possible relationships between self-efficacy and motivation. Past findings were reduced to 4 empirical models, which were compared within a single study using undergraduates playing a computer task. The effects of 2 manipulations of self-efficacy on resource allocation decisions were assessed. Consistent with a multiple goal process conceptualization, self-efficacy was found to relate positively to directing resources toward a goal but negatively to the magnitude of resources allocated for accepted goals. Differences in methods are used to reconcile current and past findings.     

Measuring individual research productivity: A review and development of the integrated research productivity index

The purpose of the present study was to investigate methods of measuring individual research productivity for counseling psychologists. Using the 60 members of the Journal of Counseling Psychology editorial board, the authors computed a comparison of 6 popular indices of productivity, revealing considerable levels of positive skewness, kurtosis, and overlap with each other. Combining the strengths of the 6 indices, the authors developed a new productivity index entitled the Integrated Research Productivity Index (IRPI). The IRPI measures individual productivity by statistically combining an individual's author-weighted publications, average times cited by other publications, and years since first publication into a comprehensive score. Productivity values and IRPI scores for 3 groups of counseling psychologists (Tyler Award recipients, Kuder Award recipients, and Division 17 Presidents) were computed to provide evidence of discriminant validity among the indices. In contrast to the other measures examined, the IRPI accounts for productivity per year and years in the field and assesses mean citation count per article as opposed to total citation count, thus yielding similar scores for Tyler (lifetime) and Kuder (early career) research award recipients. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved).     

Impaired, spared, and enhanced ACh efflux across the hippocampus and striatum in diencephalic amnesia is dependent on task demands

Diencephalic amnesia manifests itself through a host of neurological and memory impairments. A commonly employed animal model of diencephalic amnesia, pyrithiamine-induced thiamine deficiency (PTD), results in brain lesions and impairments similar in nature and distribution to those observed in humans with Wernicke–Korsakoff syndrome (WKS). In the current investigation, 2 separate experiments were conducted in which acetylcholine (ACh) efflux was assessed in the hippocampus and striatum of PTD-treated and pair-fed (PF) control male Sprague–Dawley rats. The goal was to determine under what behavioral conditions and in which brain structures ACh efflux was spared, impaired, or adaptively enhanced. In Experiment 1, rats were assessed on a spontaneous alternation task; in Experiment 2, rats were tested on a T-maze discrimination task that could be learned via a hippocampal- or striatal-based strategy. In Experiment 1, PTD-treated rats were impaired on the spontaneous alternation task and ACh efflux in the hippocampus during testing was significantly reduced, but spared in the striatum. In Experiment 2, PTD- and PF-treated rats did not differ in the number of trials to criterion, but PTD-treated rats demonstrated greater reliance upon egocentric cues to solve the task. Furthermore, ACh efflux in the striatum was greater during maze learning in the PTD-treated animals when compared to the PF animals. These results suggest that there is behavioral and systems level plasticity that can facilitate the use of alternative strategies to solve a task following diencephalic damage and WKS.     

Macromolecular synthesis, distributed synaptic plasticity, and fear conditioning

Recent work from a number of laboratories has provided new and important insights about how gene expression is altered by experience and how these molecular changes may provide a substrate for the long-term storage of new memories. Here, we review a series of recent studies using aversive Pavlovian conditioning in rats as a well characterized model system in which experience-dependent alterations in gene expression can be manipulated and quantified within a specific neural circuit. We highlight some of the issues involved in using broad-spectrum inhibitors of mRNA and protein synthesis to study cellular changes underlying the formation and long-term stability of memory and discuss the idea that these changes occur over widespread, behaviorally-defined, networks of cells. We also discuss the idea that the maintenance of memory and its susceptibly to disruption after retrieval may relate to local protein synthesis in dendrites. Finally, a series of recent experiments from our laboratory studying the role of a specific signaling pathway (mTOR) which regulates translational processes and memory formation in the amygdala and hippocampus during fear conditioning are reviewed.     

Do government brochures affect physical activity cognition? A pilot study of Canada's physical activity guide to healthy active living

Health Canada has published national physical activity (PA) guidelines, which are included in their 26-page Physical Activity Guide to Healthy Active Living (CPAG). To date, the use of CPAG as a motivational instrument for PA promotion has not been evaluated. The purpose of this study was to determine whether reading CPAG 1) increased motivational antecedents to engage in regular PA, and 2) increased regular PA intention and behaviour over 1 month. Participants included 130 randomly sampled Canadian adults (18 years or older) who were randomly mailed pack ages consisting of either 1) a questionnaire and a copy of CPAG, or 2) a questionnaire. Questionnaire items pertained to participants' sociodemographics, previous PA behaviours (Godin Leisure-Time Questionnaire) and PA motivation (theory of planned behaviour). Participants were then sent a follow-up questionnaire pertaining to their PA behaviours throughout the previous month. Results revealed significant interactions between the guide condition and previous activity status on instrumental behavioural beliefs about strength activities and subjective norms about endurance activities (p < 0.05), but all other factors were not significantly different. It was concluded that among previously inactive people, receiving this guide may change some informational/motivational constructs, but key motivational antecedents (affective attitude, perceived behavioural control) and outcomes (intention, behaviour) seem unaffected.     

Hedonia, eudaimonia, and well-being: an introduction

Research on well-being can be thought of as falling into two traditions. In one—the hedonistic tradition—the focus is on happiness, generally defined as the presence of positive affect and the absence of negative affect. In the other—the eudaimonic tradition—the focus is on living life in a full and deeply satisfying way. Recognizing that much recent research on well-being has been more closely aligned with the hedonistic tradition, this special issue presents discussions and research reviews from the eudaimonic tradition, making clear how the concept of eudaimonia adds an important perspective to our understanding of well-being.     

COMPARISON OF DATA‐COLLECTION METHODS IN A BEHAVIORAL INTERVENTION PROGRAM FOR CHILDREN WITH PERVASIVE DEVELOPMENTAL DISORDERS: A REPLICATION

Cummings and Carr (2009) compared two methods of data collection in a behavioral intervention program for children with pervasive developmental disorders: collecting data on all trials versus only the first trial in a session. Results showed that basing a child's progress on first‐trial data resulted in identifying mastery‐level responding slightly sooner, whereas determining mastery based on all trials resulted in slightly better skill maintenance. In the current replication, no such differences in indication of mastery or maintenance were observed when data were collected on all trials or the first trial.