Navigating Competitive Transfer Pathways: Transfer Student Experiences in Health and IT Majors

The health care and information technology (IT) fields demand a more diverse set of qualified graduates who can appropriately fulfill the needs of the varied communities they serve. Currently, community colleges serve as stepping stones for diverse student populations and groups. When it comes to pursuing Health- or IT-related fields, community college students are often drawn to those majors with positive career placements and outcomes. Such majors include nursing, business, engineering, and education. However, at many colleges and universities, these majors are considered limited access, meaning that they have strict academic admissions criteria and accept only a limited number of students each year. This study seeks to understand community college student experiences and perceptions related to health or IT transfer pathway careers and success. We specifically examine Health and IT transfer pathways for students studying at a public community college in the Midwest (MidCC) to a large public research institution in the Midwest (MidU) and the faculty and staff working with these populations of students

Manipulating Anger Does Not Affect Risky Decision Making

To date, multiple studies have examined the influence of negative mood on per­formance on behavioral decision-making tasks. Self-reported negative mood was inconsis­tently associated with subsequent decision making, and a similar inconsistent pattern was seen when negative mood was manipulated in the study session. The present study sought to examine how deliberately inducing a particular negative mood, anger, would affect risky decision making. College student participants reported their political beliefs, then were randomly assigned to one of several mood manipulation conditions (political anger, anger, sadness, fear, control) prior to completion of standard behavioral risky decision-making tasks including the Iowa Gambling Task, Game of Dice Task, Balloon Analogue Risk Task, and Columbia Card Task. Results indicated an increase in negative mood in the anger condition following the study manipulation, but only minimal effects of negative mood on risky decision making across tasks. Future assessments of mood and decision making should address multiple negative mood affects in addition to manipulation tech­niques in order to determine if a specific mood and/or manipulation is contributing to an individuals’ risky decision making

Cognitive chicken or the emotional egg? How reconceptualizing decision-making by integrating cognition and emotion can improve task psychometrics and clinical utility

Decision-making is an executive function, tapping into cognitive, emotional, and personality-based components. This complexity, and the varying operational definitions of the construct, is reflected in the rich array of behavioral decision-making tasks available for use in research and clinical settings. In many cases, these tasks are “subfield-specific,” with tasks developed by cognitive psychologists focusing on cognitive aspects of decision-making and tasks developed by clinical psychologists focusing on interactions between emotional and cognitive aspects. Critically, performance across different tasks does not consistently correlate, obfuscating the ability to compare scores between measures and detect changes over time. Differing theories as to what cognitive and/or emotional aspects affect decision-making likely contribute to this lack of consistency across measures. The low criterion-related validity among decision-making tasks and lack of consistent measurement of the construct presents challenges for emotion and decision-making scholars. In this perspective, we provide several recommendations for the field: (a) assess decision-making as a specific cognitive ability versus a taxonomy of cognitive abilities; (b) a renewed focus on convergent validity across tasks; (c) further assessment of test–retest reliability versus practice effects on tasks; and (d) reimagine future decision-making research to consider the research versus clinical implications. We discuss one example of decision-making research applied to clinical settings, acquired brain injury recovery, to demonstrate how some of these concerns and recommendations can affect the ability to track changes in decision-making across time

Psychophysiological and affective correlates of video game play

Recent research has examined how playing video games affects young adults, with some evidence that playing video games can have a positive effect on cognition. Mixed results have been shown with mood. The present study sought to further examine the effect of video game play, gender, and “gamer” status on physiological functioning, mood, and cognition. Participants were 85 undergraduate students (33 females, mean age 19.18 [SD = 2.10]) who played one of five video games (human violence, zombie violence, racing, sporting, non-violent) for 30 minutes. Blood pressure, heart rate, and mood were assessed before, during, and after game play. In addition, sustained attention was assessed after video game play. Results indicated that males responded to video game play more negatively than females, and “gamers” had less physiological reactivity to game play than non-gamers. The type of game played did not affect physiological, affective, or cognitive outcomes. Finally, females and “gamers” had better performance on a measure of sustained attention. The results of this study have implications for the use of video games in treatments for depression and social anxiety

Risky Decision Making in College Students as a Function of Self-Reported Eating Behaviors

Individuals with eating disorder diagnoses may experience difficulties with decision making, in which the focus is placed on immediate gains at the expense of long-term outcomes. Previous research showed decision making deficits in Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa, and Binge Eating Disorder. However, many college-aged individuals engage in disordered eating behaviors (e.g., food restriction and ritualistic caloric consumption) that do not meet criteria for an eating disorder. We examined behavioral decision making in college students self-reporting a range of typical and atypical eating behaviors. Participants (n = 550) completed an online session that assessed eating behaviors. Of these, 110 participants then completed the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) and Game of Dice Task (GDT) as part of a separate, in-lab session. A total of 11.27% of screening session participants scored above the cut-off score of 20 on the Eating Attitudes Test, indicating the presence of possible disordered eating behaviors. Multiple regressions indicated higher scores on the Eating Concern subscale of the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire were associated with decreased risk-taking on the IGT (fewer Deck B selections, p = .006; greater Deck D selections, p = .010). We failed to find significant predictors of GDT performance, ps > .232. The present results suggest that decision making deficits seen in eating disorder samples may not be present in individuals self-reporting disordered eating behaviors. However, this initial examination utilized college student participants, and it is important for replication to occur.Keywords: eating behaviors, disordered eating, decision making, Iowa gambling task, game of dice tas

Seeing the forest through the trees: improving decision making on the Iowa gambling task by shifting focus from short- to long-term outcomes

Introduction: The present study sought to examine two methods by which to improve decision making on the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT): inducing a negative mood and providing additional learning trials. Method: In the first study, 194 undergraduate students (74 male; Mage = 19.44 [SD = 3.69]) were randomly assigned to view a series of pictures to induce a positive, negative, or neutral mood immediately prior to the IGT. In the second study, 276 undergraduate students (111 male; Mage = 19.18 [SD = 2.58]) completed a delay discounting task and back-to-back administrations of the IGT. Results: Participants in an induced negative mood selected more from Deck C during the final trials than those in an induced positive mood. Providing additional learning trials resulted in better decision making: participants shifted their focus from the frequency of immediate gains/losses (i.e., a preference for Decks B and D) to long-term outcomes (i.e., a preference for Deck D). In addition, disadvantageous decision making on the additional learning trials was associated with larger delay discounting (i.e., a preference for more immediate but smaller rewards). Conclusions: The present results indicate that decision making is affected by negative mood state, and that decision making can be improved by increasing the number of learning trials. In addition, the current results provide evidence of a relationship between performance on the IGT and on a separate measure of decision making, the delay discounting task. Moreover, the present results indicate that improved decision making on the IGT can be attributed to shifting focus towards long-term outcomes, as evidenced by increased selections from advantageous decks as well as correlations between the IGT and delay discounting task. Implications for the assessment of decision making using the IGT are discussed

It’s all in how you think about it: Construal level and the Iowa gambling task

Recent research has identified a number of factors that can influence performance on the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) when it is used in clinical or research settings. The current studies examine the effects of construal level theory (CLT) on the IGT. Study 1 suggests that when primed with a high construal mindset (i.e., thinking abstractly versus concretely), individuals learned to avoid Deck A more than those primed with a low construal mindset. Study 2 suggests that when construal level is manipulated through psychological distance (i.e., selecting for a close versus distant friend), individuals in a high construal mindset instead showed a preference for Deck A compared to individuals in a low construal mindset or a control group. Taken together, these studies suggest that IGT performance is impacted by the manner in which one construes the task. Implications for decision making research and use of the IGT as a clinical and research instrument are discussed

Associations Between Original and a Reduced Frontal Systems Behavior Scale (FrSBe), Cognition, and Activities of Daily Living in a Large Neurologic Sample

A recent confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) on the Frontal Systems Behavior Scale (FrSBe) indicated that the basic structure of the FrSBe subscales held after removal of 8 weak items. In a replication of previous studies using the original FrSBe, the present study explored associations between a reduced version of the FrSBe, cognition, and activities of daily living (ADLs) in a large mixed outpatient neurologic sample. Consistent with previous findings with the original FrSBe, significant associations existed between reduced FrSBe scores and the Mattis Dementia Rating Scale-Second Edition. Additionally, after controlling for age, gender, and education, reduced FrSBe Apathy was associated with basic ADLs, and reduced FrSBe Disinhibition was associated with instrumental ADLs. These results offer replication in a larger sample of previous findings and statistical support for a reduced FrSBe beyond CFA results alone