2,508 research outputs found
Beyond Brain Mapping: Using Neural Measures to Predict Real-World Outcomes
One goal of social science in general, and of psychology in particular, is to understand and predict human behavior. Psychologists have traditionally used self-report measures and performance on laboratory tasks to achieve this end. However, these measures are limited in their ability to predict behavior in certain contexts. We argue that current neuroscientific knowledge has reached a point where it can complement other existing psychological measures in predicting behavior and other important outcomes. This brain-as-predictor approach integrates traditional neuroimaging methods with measures of behavioral outcomes that extend beyond the immediate experimental session. Previously, most neuroimaging experiments focused on understanding basic psychological processes that could be directly observed in the laboratory. However, recent experiments have demonstrated that brain measures can predict outcomes (e.g., purchasing decisions, clinical outcomes) over longer timescales in ways that go beyond what was previously possible with self-report data alone. This approach can be used to reveal the connections between neural activity in laboratory contexts and longer-term, ecologically valid outcomes. We describe this approach and discuss its potential theoretical implications. We also review recent examples of studies that have used this approach, discuss methodological considerations, and provide specific guidelines for using it in future research
In the Trenches of Real-World Self-Control: Neural Correlates of Breaking the Link Between Craving and Smoking
Successful goal pursuit involves repeatedly engaging self-control against temptations or distractions that arise along the way. Laboratory studies have identified the brain systems recruited during isolated instances of self-control, and ecological studies have linked self-control capacity to goal outcomes. However, no study has identified the neural systems of everyday self-control during long-term goal pursuit. The present study integrated neuroimaging and experience-sampling methods to investigate the brain systems of successful self-control among smokers attempting to quit. A sample of 27 cigarette smokers completed a go/no-go task during functional magnetic resonance imaging before they attempted to quit smoking and then reported everyday self-control using experience sampling eight times daily for 3 weeks while they attempted to quit. Increased activation in right inferior frontal gyrus, pre-supplementary motor area, and basal ganglia regions of interest during response inhibition at baseline was associated with an attenuated association between cravings and subsequent smoking. These findings support the ecological validity of neurocognitive tasks as indices of everyday response inhibition
From Neural Responses to Population Behavior: Neural Focus Group Predicts Population-Level Media Effects
Can neural responses of a small group of individuals predict the behavior of large-scale populations? In this investigation, brain activations were recorded while smokers viewed three different television campaigns promoting the National Cancer Institute’s telephone hotline to help smokers quit (1-800-QUIT-NOW). The smokers also provided self-report predictions of the campaigns’ relative effectiveness. Population measures of the success of each campaign were computed by comparing call volume to 1-800-QUIT-NOW in the month before and the month after the launch of each campaign. This approach allowed us to directly compare the predictive value of self-reports with neural predictors of message effectiveness. Neural activity in a medial prefrontal region of interest, previously associated with individual behavior change, predicted the population response, whereas self-report judgments did not. This finding suggests a novel way of connecting neural signals to population responses that has not been previously demonstrated and provides information that may be difficult to obtain otherwise
Interactive Effects of Three Core Goal Pursuit Processes on Brain Control Systems: Goal Maintenance, Performance Monitoring, and Response Inhibition
Goal attainment relies in part on one’s ability to maintain a cognitive representation of the desired goal (goal maintenance), monitor the current state vis-à -vis the targeted end state and remain vigilant for lapses in progress (performance monitoring), and inhibit counter-goal behaviors (response inhibition). Because neurocognitive studies have typically examined these three processes in isolation from one another, little is known regarding if and how they interact during goal pursuit. However, these processes frequently co-occur during online, real-world goal pursuit. The present study employed a novel task to investigate how goal maintenance, performance monitoring, and response inhibition interact with one another. We identified functional activations distinct to each of the processes that correspond to results of prior investigations. In addition, we report interactive effects between response inhibition and goal maintenance in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and between performance monitoring and goal maintenance in the superior frontal gyrus and supramarginal gyrus. Implications for studying the neural systems of in situ goals include the need for both experimental designs that distinguish between process, but also more complex, realistic tasks to begin to map interactions among these neurocognitive processes and how they are altered by the presence or absence of one another
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The relationship of family environment to writing anxiety in college students.
This study investigated the relationship of family factors to writing anxiety in college students. Starting from the premise that context should be considered in exploring causes of writing apprehension, this study questioned whether correlations could be made between aspects of family environment and the presence of writing anxiety. Participants in this study were drawn from a pool of undergraduates at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. The initial sample included 298 students (244 females and 54 males) and ranged in age from 18 to 40. The initial sample of 298 were given two measures: the Daly-Miller Writing Apprehension Test (WAT) (1975) and the Rudolf Moos Family Environment Survey (FES) (1975). Given the results of the WAT, students were divided into four groups: (1) women with high writing anxiety (n = 20); (2) women with low writing anxiety (n = 20); (3) men with high writing anxiety (n = 12); and (4) men with low writing anxiety (n = 12). These groups were matched for verbal SAT scores. A correlation matrix was constructed using writing anxiety, verbal SAT scores, and the ten subscales of the FES. Factor analysis and stepwise multiple regression were performed. In addition, structured interviews were conducted with four participants. Results of factor analysis yielded three factors labelled as follows: (1) Family Solidarity, which included the variables active-recreational orientation, intellectual- cultural orientation and cohesion; (2) Tolerance of Difference, which included the variables control, independence and expressiveness; and (3) Organization. Through multiple regression it was found that SAT plus three family factors accounted for 16% of variance in the writing apprehension scores. Qualitative findings from the interviews supported the empirical results pointing to the conclusion that the combination of cohesion and allowance for differentiation was an optimum environment for low writing anxiety. Results also supported the importance of combining qualitative and quantitative methods, as information from the interviews amplified empirical findings and helped to define the relationship between cohesion and allowance for differentiation. Directions for future research include more specific exploration of the relationship between allowance for differentiation and writing anxiety. In addition, the finding that context is a factor in writing anxiety indicates the importance of investigating correlations with other contexts as well, such as teaching styles and curricula
Neural Activity During Health Messaging Predicts Reductions in Smoking Above and Beyond Self-Report
Objective: The current study tested whether neural activity in response to messages designed to help smokers quit could predict smoking reduction, above and beyond self-report.
Design: Using neural activity in an a priori region of interest (a subregion of medial prefrontal cortex [MPFC]), in response to ads designed to help smokers quit smoking, we prospectively predicted reductions in smoking in a community sample of smokers (N = 28) who were attempting to quit smoking. Smoking was assessed via expired carbon monoxide (CO; a biological measure of recent smoking) at baseline and 1 month following exposure to professionally developed quitting ads. Results: A positive relationship was observed between activity in the MPFC region of interest and successful quitting (increased activity in MPFC was associated with a greater decrease in expired CO). The addition of neural activity to a model predicting changes in CO from self-reported intentions, self-efficacy, and ability to relate to the messages significantly improved model fit, doubling the variance explained (R²self-report = .15, R²self-report + neural activity = .35, R²change = .20).
Conclusion: Neural activity is a useful complement to existing self-report measures. In this investigation, we extend prior work predicting behavior change based on neural activity in response to persuasive media to an important health domain and discuss potential psychological interpretations of the brain–behavior link. Our results support a novel use of neuroimaging technology for understanding the psychology of behavior change and facilitating health promotion
Using SMS Text Messaging to Assess Moderators of Smoking Reduction: Validating a New Tool for Ecological Measurement of Health Behaviors
Objective: Understanding the psychological processes that contribute to smoking reduction will yield population health benefits. Negative mood may moderate smoking lapse during cessation, but this relationship has been difficult to measure in ongoing daily experience. We used a novel form of ecological momentary assessment to test a self-control model of negative mood and craving leading to smoking lapse.
Design: We validated short message service (SMS) text as a user-friendly and low-cost option for ecologically measuring real-time health behaviors. We sent text messages to cigarette smokers attempting to quit eight times daily for the first 21 days of cessation (N-obs = 3,811).
Main outcome measures: Approximately every two hours, we assessed cigarette count, mood, and cravings, and examined between- and within-day patterns and time-lagged relationships among these variables. Exhaled carbon monoxide was assessed pre- and posttreatment.
Results: Negative mood and craving predicted smoking two hours later, but craving mediated the mood–smoking relationship. Also, this mediation relationship predicted smoking over the next two, but not four, hours.
Conclusion: Results clarify conflicting previous findings on the relation between affect and smoking, validate a new low-cost and user-friendly method for collecting fine-grained health behavior assessments, and emphasize the importance of rapid, real-time measurement of smoking moderators
Predicting Persuasion-Induced Behavior Change From the Brain
Although persuasive messages often alter people\u27s self-reported attitudes and intentions to perform behaviors, these self-reports do not necessarily predict behavior change. We demonstrate that neural responses to persuasive messages can predict variability in behavior change in the subsequent week. Specifically, an a priori region of interest (ROI) in medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) was reliably associated with behavior change (r = 0.49, p \u3c 0.05). Additionally, an iterative cross-validation approach using activity in this MPFC ROI predicted an average 23% of the variance in behavior change beyond the variance predicted by self-reported attitudes and intentions. Thus, neural signals can predict behavioral changes that are not predicted from self-reported attitudes and intentions alone. Additionally, this is the first functional magnetic resonance imaging study to demonstrate that a neural signal can predict complex real world behavior days in advance
Using SMS text messaging to assess moderators of smoking reduction: Validating a new tool for ecological measurement of health behaviors.
The Neural Correlates of Persuasion: A Common Network Across Cultures and Media
Persuasion is at the root of countless social exchanges in which one person or group is motivated to have another share its beliefs, desires, or behavioral intentions. Here, we report the first three functional magnetic resonance imaging studies to investigate the neurocognitive networks associated with feeling persuaded by an argument. In the first two studies, American and Korean participants, respectively, were exposed to a number of text-based persuasive messages. In both Study 1 and Study 2, feeling persuaded was associated with increased activity in posterior superior temporal sulcus bilaterally, temporal pole bilaterally, and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex. The findings suggest a discrete set of underlying mechanisms in the moment that the persuasion process occurs, and are strengthened by the fact that the results replicated across two diverse linguistic and cultural groups. Additionally, a third study using region-of-interest analyses demonstrated that neural activity in this network was also associated with persuasion when a sample of American participants viewed video-based messages. In sum, across three studies, including two different cultural groups and two types of media, persuasion was associated with a consistent network of regions in the brain. Activity in this network has been associated with social cognition and mentalizing and is consistent with models of persuasion that emphasize the importance of social cognitive processing in determining the efficacy of persuasive communication
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