拖延行为的发展认知机制及神经基础

拖延是指尽管预见到拖延会带来不利后果, 人们仍自愿推迟开始或完成某一计划好的任务。研究表明, 不同文化背景下有15%~20%的成年人存在慢性拖延, 超过70%的学生承认自己存在学业拖延, 部分学生还会形成特质性拖延。严重的拖延不仅影响人们的学业、工作和生活, 甚至还会危害到人们的身心健康。鉴于目前对于拖延产生的核心机制、形成的关键期以及发展认知神经机制还不是很清楚, 本项目拟从拖延的时间决策理论出发, 首先系统探明拖延决策的核心机制, 尤其是远期价值评估、延迟折扣和自我控制能力等在拖延决策过程中的认知加工机制和神经基础; 其次结合行为-环境变量-脑的多模态数据, 从发展角度探究拖延形成的关键期(敏感期)、影响因素以及发展认知神经机制; 最后从行为干预和脑的可塑性角度出发, 试图制定各关键年龄阶段拖延预防与干预的临床方案。本研究的开展对于把握拖延形成的认知机制、神经基础及其发展规律具有重要的科学价值, 对于拖延行为的预防和干预也具有直接的现实意义。     

社会评价影响错误后调整效应

现有研究主要采用结果评价或结果反馈的方式考察评价对错误后调整效应的影响,但是任务前的社会评价怎样影响错误后调整效应尚不清楚。本研究采用社会评价任务,以错误后反应时和错误后正确率为指标,在两个实验中考察正性和负性评价对错误后调整效应的影响。结果发现,实验1和实验2中正性和负性评价条件下错误后减慢效应差异均不显著,说明正性和负性评价对错误后调整的作用是一致的,且不受实验任务的影响。在实验1中通过和无评价条件比较发现,评价条件下的正确后反应显著慢于无评价条件,但是评价条件下的错误后反应与无评价条件无差异,说明社会评价加速了个体错误后调整。而且在实验2中发现高低自我效能组个体错误后调整效应差异不显著,说明当前结果不受个体自我效能感的影响。因此,当前研究说明任务前的社会评价促进了个体错误后行为调整,但是错误后调整效应不受社会评价效价的影响。     

特质自我控制个体在多源干扰任务下的认知神经机制

本研究采用事件相关电位技术(ERPs)结合多源干扰任务(MSIT)范式来探讨特质自我控制个体的认知神经机制。考察了高、低自我控制者各26名在MSIT任务上的差异。结果：高自我控制者的反应时显著长于低自我控制者。在MSIT冲突条件下,高自我控制者的N2和P3(LPC)波幅比无冲突条件更大。结论：高自我控制者较低自我控制者处理冲突干扰更慢,需要的注意资源较多,激活前额叶中部脑区。     

Infant positioning: A brief review

The American Academy of Pediatrics (2016a) has made several recommendations regarding the safe positioning of infants by caregivers, including placing infants in a supine position for sleep and in prone for supervised periods of tummy time. However, caregivers may have difficulty adhering with these recommendations. A small, but growing, number of behavior analytic studies have examined these infant safety recommendations and strategies for increasing adherence. This review describes behavior analytic research on infant positioning and provides suggestions for future research.     

A preliminary evaluation of treatment duration on the resurgence of destructive behavior

Quantitative models of resurgence (e.g., Behavioral Momentum Theory, Resurgence as Choice) suggest that resurgence is partly a function of the duration of extinction exposure, with longer histories of extinction producing less resurgence. This prediction is supported by some laboratory research and has been partially supported by clinical translations that did not isolate the effects of extinction exposure prior to testing for resurgence. The degree to which different histories of extinction impact the likelihood of treatment relapse in therapeutic applications of differential reinforcement is of great interest to the clinical community, including insurance carriers and other financial providers. In the present study, we isolated the effects of extinction history for severe destructive behavior across 6 participants referred for treatment services and examined resurgence of destructive behavior when alternative reinforcement terminated. Our within-subject evaluation showed no difference in the level of resurgence or persistence of destructive behavior following short and long exposures to differential reinforcement with extinction. We discuss our failure to replicate in relation to experimental-design considerations for investigating this and other relapse phenomena in future research with clinical populations.     

Toward the bigger picture: Concrete and abstract thinking about a transgression,and the role of time in interpersonal forgiveness

Rumination is commonly considered detrimental to forgiveness. In contrast, we propose that different forms of post-transgression thinking are differentially effective for forgiveness, depending on their timing. Concrete thinking focuses on event details, whereas abstract thinking abstracts from details and views the event in a broader context. Following construal level theory, we propose that concrete thinking is increasingly ill-matched, and abstract thinking better matched, to the construal abilities and motivation afforded by psychological distance. Hence, over time, concrete thinking would be negatively, and abstract thinking positively, associated with forgiveness. Two correlational recall studies, with time since transgression measured (Study 1) or manipulated (Study 2), demonstrated that with greater temporal distance concrete thinking was more negatively, and abstract thinking more positively, related to forgiveness. Study 3 employed a prospective-longitudinal methodology over five time-points; intra-individual decrease in concrete thinking and increase in abstract thinking over time were related to higher levels of forgiveness.