Self-Control in Weight Loss Process

Classical motivation theories assumed that the probability of success in goal striving process (including weight loss) depended on two factors: likelihood of success and attractiveness of the result. However, research referring to obesity showed that motivational factors are not sufficient in effective weight loss. In other words, obese people value anticipated weight loss but still do not succeed in this process. It is implied by the fact that effectiveness and persistence of this process depend also on volitional factor. This factor refers to self-control mechanisms, which mediate between intention to reach the goal and its enactment. The current empirical data suggest that implementation intentions and mental simulations are especially beneficial techniques of self-control enhancement. This chapter will unveil main theories and research concerning self-control mechanisms and influence of various mental simulations and implementation intentions in weight loss process and weight-related behaviors. Moreover, our empirical data concerning individual differences in self-control of weight loss process are presented

Are you confident enough to act? Individual differences in action control are associated with post-decisional metacognitive bias

The art of making good choices and being consistent in executing them is essential for having a successful and fulfilling life. Individual differences in action control are believed to have a crucial impact on how we make choices and whether we put them in action. Action-oriented people are more decisive, flexible and likely to implement their intentions in the face of adversity. In contrast, state-oriented people often struggle to commit to their choices and end up second-guessing themselves. Here, we employ a model-based computational approach to study the underlying cognitive differences between action and state-oriented people in simple binary-choice decision tasks. In Experiment 1 we show that there is little-to-no evidence that the two groups differ in terms of decision-related parameters and strong evidence for differences in metacognitive bias. Action-oriented people exhibit greater confidence in the correctness of their choices as well as slightly elevated judgement sensitivity, although no differences in performance are present. In Experiment 2 we replicate this effect and show that the confidence gap generalizes to value-based decisions, widens as a function of difficulty and is independent of deliberation interval. Furthermore, allowing more time for confidence deliberation indicated that state-oriented people focus more strongly on external features of choice. We propose that a positive confidence bias, coupled with appropriate metacognitive sensitivity, might be crucial for the successful realization of intentions in many real-life situations. More generally, our study provides an example of how modelling latent cognitive processes can bring meaningful insight into the study of individual differences

Context-dependent effect of mood: the regulatory role of personality

This study explored the influence of the context-dependent effect of mood as well as individual differences in neuroticism and action vs. state/volatility orientation on predecisional processing in a multiattribute choice task. One hundred and twenty participants acquired information about choice options after filling out personality questionnaires. Results showed that participants in a positive mood processed the information longer in enjoy than in done-enough context. In turn, participants in a negative mood processed the information more selectively in enjoy than in done-enough context. It also appeared that this effect is reinforced for participants with low neuroticism and volatility orientation, while it is weakened for those with low neuroticism and action orientation. Results were interpreted in accordance with the differential-processual approach

Context-dependent effect of mood: the regulatory role of personality

This study explored the influence of the context-dependent effect of mood as well as individual differences in neuroticism and action vs. state/volatility orientation on predecisional processing in a multiattribute choice task. One hundred and twenty participants acquired information about choice options after filling out personality questionnaires. Results showed that participants in a positive mood processed the information longer in enjoy than in done-enough context. In turn, participants in a negative mood processed the information more selectively in enjoy than in done-enough context. It also appeared that this effect is reinforced for participants with low neuroticism and volatility orientation, while it is weakened for those with low neuroticism and action orientation. Results were interpreted in accordance with the differential-processual approach

Time-Frequency Characterization of Resting Brain in Bipolar Disorder during Euthymia - A Preliminary Study

The goal of this paper is to investigate the baseline brain activity in euthymic bipolar disorder (BD) patients by comparing it to healthy controls (HC) with the use of a variety of resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) analyses, such as amplitude of low frequency fluctuations (ALFF), fractional ALFF (f/ALFF), ALFF-based functional connectivity (FC), and regional homogeneity (ReHo). We hypothesize that above-mentioned techniques will differentiate BD from HC indicating dissimilarities between the groups within different brain structures. Forty-two participants divided into two groups of euthymic BD patients (n = 21) and HC (n = 21) underwent rs-fMRI evaluation. Typical band ALFF, slow-4, slow-5, f/ALFF, as well as ReHo indexes were analyzed. Regions with altered ALFF were chosen as ROI for seed-to-voxel analysis of FC. As opposed to HC, BD patients revealed: increased ALFF in left insula; increased slow-5 in left middle temporal pole; increased f/ALFF in left superior frontal gyrus, left superior temporal gyrus, left middle occipital gyrus, right putamen, and bilateral thalamus. There were no significant differences between BD and HC groups in slow-4 band. Compared to HC, the BD group presented higher ReHo values in the left superior medial frontal gyrus and lower ReHo values in the right supplementary motor area. FC analysis revealed significant hyper-connectivity within the BD group between left insula and bilateral middle frontal gyrus, right superior parietal gyrus, right supramarginal gyrus, left inferior parietal gyrus, left cerebellum, and left supplementary motor area. To our best knowledge, this is the first rs-fMRI study combining ReHo, ALFF, f/ALFF, and subdivided frequency bands (slow-4 and slow-5) in euthymic BD patients. ALFF, f/ALFF, slow-5, as well as REHO analysis revealed significant differences between two studied groups. Although results obtained with the above methods enable to identify group-specific brain structures, no overlap between the brain regions was detected. This indicates that combination of foregoing rs-fMRI methods may complement each other, revealing the bigger picture of the complex resting state abnormalities in BD

Context-dependent effect of mood: the regulatory role of personality

This study explored the influence of the context-dependent effect of mood as well as individual differences in neuroticism and action vs. state/volatility orientation on predecisional processing in a multiattribute choice task. One hundred and twenty participants acquired information about choice options after filling out personality questionnaires. Results showed that participants in a positive mood processed the information longer in enjoy than in done-enough context. In turn, participants in a negative mood processed the information more selectively in enjoy than in done-enough context. It also appeared that this effect is reinforced for participants with low neuroticism and volatility orientation, while it is weakened for those with low neuroticism and action orientation. Results were interpreted in accordance with the differential-processual approach