Retrospective and Anticipated Regret for Self and Other: Implications for Health Behavior Decision-Making

All individuals hold a degree of uncertainty or doubt in their decisionmaking process. As theorized through the notion of counterfactual thinking, we frequently reflect on the alternatives or unrealized possibilities of our decisions (Rafetseder & Perner, 2012). This is often associated with sentiment such as guilt, shame, and regret. Regret is defined as an unpleasant emotion that is felt after a realization that a current situation would have been better had a different decision been made (Breugelmans, Zeelenberg, Gilovich, Huang, & Shani, 2014). Regret is unique because of its direct association with decision-making. However, in the domain of health behavior decisions, the examination of regret has generally focused on anticipated regret (i.e., regret based on future decisions). The present study expands on previous research by exploring retrospective regret (i.e., regret based on past decisions) and comparing the two forms. Furthermore, this research examines whether the effects of regret are differentially influenced by the involvement of others in an experience of regret. This exploratory study has several specific aims. First, we aim to disentangle the differences between regret focused on the past versus regret focused on the future. Second, we aim to determine how regret relates to social quality. Specifically, is regret for self experienced differently than regret for an other (i.e., family member, close friend, or individuals present), or for self and an other combined? Third, the study aims to determine whether there is an interaction between regret form and social quality. The fourth aim is to investigate potential moderating factors, such as personality. The completion of this study relied on the voluntary participation of 286 undergraduate psychology students from a large Midwestern university. Students completed the study using the online survey software Qualtrics, in which they were asked to describe a personal regret experience. Participants were randomly assigned to a writing prompt involving one level of each independent variable: regret form (anticipated or retrospective) and social quality of regret (self, other, or self and other). Following the prompt, students were asked several questions regarding their described experience. Multiple variables were assessed including negative affect, selfresponsibility, self-blame, others responsible for the outcome, adaptive value, outcome severity, and the participant’s desire to change behavior. A series of 2 (Regret Form: Anticipated vs. Retrospective) x 3 (Social Quality: Self, Other, Self and Other) analyses of variance (ANOVAs) were conducted to examine effects. Significant main effects of regret form were observed across numerous variables. Findings demonstrated that relative to retrospective regret, anticipated regret was associated with higher negative affect, self-responsibility, self-blame, outcome severity, and desire to change behavior. Analyses revealed no significant effect of social quality, and no significant interactions. This study provides several noteworthy pieces of information. First and foremost, it made no difference whether an individual described an event relating to only themselves, a close other, or both. This would imply that regret is a very personal experience. This research also suggests that anticipated regret is more aversive than retrospective regret. Decision justification and the presence of impact bias are explored as explanations for this difference between regret form. Finally, this study serves as empirical evidence which supports anticipated regret as an effective intervention for health behavior, and direction is provided for future regret research. *This scholar and faculty mentor have requested that only an abstract be published

Synchronization and entrainment of coupled circadian oscillators

Circadian rhythms in mammals are controlled by the neurons located in the suprachiasmatic nucleus of the hypothalamus. In physiological conditions, the system of neurons is very efficiently entrained by the 24-hour light-dark cycle. Most of the studies carried out so far emphasize the crucial role of the periodicity imposed by the light dark cycle in neuronal synchronization. Nevertheless, heterogeneity as a natural and permanent ingredient of these cellular interactions is seemingly to play a major role in these biochemical processes. In this paper we use a model that considers the neurons of the suprachiasmatic nucleus as chemically-coupled modified Goodwin oscillators, and introduce non-negligible heterogeneity in the periods of all neurons in the form of quenched noise. The system response to the light-dark cycle periodicity is studied as a function of the interneuronal coupling strength, external forcing amplitude and neuronal heterogeneity. Our results indicate that the right amount of heterogeneity helps the extended system to respond globally in a more coherent way to the external forcing. Our proposed mechanism for neuronal synchronization under external periodic forcing is based on heterogeneity-induced oscillators death, damped oscillators being more entrainable by the external forcing than the self-oscillating neurons with different periods.Comment: 17 pages, 7 figure

Continuities and Reminders, or Writing in the Afterlife of Slavery

Impromptu conference presentation delivered a few weeks after the 2016 presidential election, at the request of a former professor and now cherished colleague

Diversity mdir receiver for space-time dispersive channels

A particular property of the cellebrated MDIR receiver is introduced in this communication, namely, the fact that full exploitation of the diversity is obtained with multiple beamformers when the channel is spatially and timely dispersive. Therefore a new structure is developped which provides better performance. The hardware need for this new receiver may be obtained through reconfigurability of the RAKE architectures available at the base station. It will be tested in the FDD mode of UTRA.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Culture as a means of urban transformation. The Picasso Museum in Barcelona

El presente artículo tiene como objetivo analizar la forma en que la cultura es utilizada en los procesos de trasformación urbana. Se estudia el caso del barrio del Casc Antic en Barcelona, en el cual la instalación del Museo Picasso se dispuso como elemento de cambio social con la finalidad de revertir el proceso de deterioro social y estructural en el que se encontraba. Desde narrativas propias del revanchismo urbano se justificó la utilización de la cultura y el patrimonio en la puesta en valor de esta parte de la ciudad, que resultó fundamental en la proyección internacional de Barcelona. La instalación del museo ha implicado la reconversión de su área de influencia a través de la instalación de otros recintos culturales, galerías y bares, además que ha atraído una importante cantidad de artistas conformándolo como un barrio artístico