384 research outputs found
Can executive control be influenced by performance feedback? Two experimental studies with younger and older adults
Executive control describes a wide range of cognitive processes which are critical for the goal-directed regulation of stimulus processing and action regulation. Previous studies have shown that executive control performance declines with age but yet, it is still not clear whether different internal and external factors—as performance feedback and age—influence these cognitive processes and how they might interact with each other. Therefore, we investigated feedback effects in the flanker task in young as well as in older adults in two experiments. Performance feedback significantly improved executive performance in younger adults at the expense of errors. In older adults, feedback also led to higher error rates, but had no significant effect on executive performance which might be due to stronger interference. Results indicate that executive functions can be positively influenced by performance feedback in younger adults, but not necessarily in older adults
Influence of Cue Exposure on Inhibitory Control and Brain Activation in Patients with Alcohol Dependence
Alcohol dependence is a serious condition characterized by persistent desires to drink and unsuccessful efforts to control alcohol consumption despite the knowledge of dysfunction through the usage. The study at hand examined the influence of an alcohol exposure on inhibitory processes. Research provides evidence that trying to resist the temptation to drink exerts self-control, a limited resource which is used during all acts of inhibition. In line with this, studies demonstrate an impaired ability to regulate an already initiated response in alcohol-dependent and healthy subjects when confronted with alcohol-related stimuli. The related neuronal correlates in alcohol-dependent patients remain to be elucidated. The inhibition performance of 11 male alcohol-dependent patients during an alcohol exposure was compared with the task performance during a control condition. Behavioral data and neural brain activation during task performance were acquired by means of functional magnetic resonance imaging. The alcohol cue exposure led to subjectively stronger urges to drink which was accompanied by differential neural activation in amygdala and hippocampus. Moreover, the results revealed typical neural activation during inhibition performance across both conditions. Anyhow, we could not detect any behavioral deficits and only subtle neural differences between induction conditions during the performance of the inhibition task within the inferior frontal cortex. The results suggest that although the sample reports a subjectively stronger urge to drink after the alcohol cue exposure this effect was not strong enough to significantly impair task performance. Coherently, we discover only subtle differential brain activation between conditions during the inhibition task. In opposition to findings in literature our data do not reveal that an exposure to alcohol-related cues and thereby elicited cue reactivity results in impaired inhibition abilities
International Student Mobility: An Identity Development Task?
Based on the review of literature on internationalization of education and on identity formation pro
cesses in
young adults, this cross
-
sectional study aims to investigate to which extent self
-
perceived dimensions of identity
are associated to the main moti
vations to study abroad.
The
participants in this study were 429
international
university students of different nationalities. Findings revealed that the motivation to study abroa
d for personal
growth is strongly associated to the commitment and in
-
depth e
xploration
identity
processes, whereas
the
motivation to study abroad with the aim
of changing
life style and enlarging
job opportunities is positively
associated with reconsideration of commitment and in
-
depth exploration. Furthermore,
identity achieved s
tudents
showed the highest motivation to s
tudy abroad for personal growth,
while
the motivation to study abroad to
positively change
life
-
styles and work conditions
is strongly associated with the positive facet of identity crisis,
which is otherwise calle
d searching
-
moratorium status.
Based on these results, the present
survey provides useful
questions and hypothesis for future researc
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