Are Impulsive Decisions Always Irrational? An Experimental Investigation of Impulsive Decisions in the Domains of Gains and Losses.

Intertemporal choices are very prevalent in daily life, ranging from simple, mundane decisions to highly consequential decisions. In this context, thinking about the future and making sound decisions are crucial to promoting mental and physical health, as well as a financially sustainable lifestyle. In the present study, we set out to investigate some of the possible underlying mechanisms, such as cognitive factors and emotional states, that promote future-oriented decisions. In a cross-sectional experimental study, we used a gain and a loss version of an intertemporal monetary choices task. Our main behavioural result indicated that people are substantially more impulsive over smaller and sooner monetary losses compared to equivalent gains. In addition, for both decisional domains, significant individual difference predictors emerged, indicating that intertemporal choices are sensitive to the affective and cognitive parameters. By focusing on the cognitive and emotional individual factors that influence impulsive decisions, our study could constitute a building block for successful future intervention programs targeted at mental and physical health issues, including gambling behaviour.

Evaluative conditioning of artificial grammars: Evidence that subjectively-unconscious structures bias affective evaluations of novel stimuli.

Evaluative conditioning (EC) refers to the acquisition of emotional valence by an initially neutral stimulus (conditioned stimulus [CS]) after being paired with an emotional stimulus (unconditioned stimulus [US]). An important issue regards whether, when participants are unaware of the CS-US contingency, the affective valence can generalize to new stimuli that share similarities with the CS. Previous studies have shown that generalization of EC effects appears only when participants are aware of the contingencies, but we suggest that this is because (a) the contingencies typically used in these studies are salient and easy to detect consciously, and (b) the performance-based measures of awareness (so-called "objective measures"), typically used in these studies, tend to overestimate the amount of available conscious knowledge. We report a preregistered study in which participants (N = 217) were exposed to letter strings generated from two complex artificial grammars that are difficult to decipher consciously. Stimuli from one grammar were paired with positive USs, whereas those from the other grammar were paired with negative USs. Subsequently, participants evaluated new, previously unseen, stimuli from the positively conditioned grammar more positively than new stimuli from the negatively conditioned grammar. Importantly, this effect appeared even when trial-by-trial subjective measures indicated lack of relevant conscious knowledge. We provide evidence for the generalization of EC effects even without subjective awareness of the structures that enable those generalizations. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Internet-based treatment for panic disorder: A three-arm randomized controlled trial comparing guided (via real-time video sessions) with unguided self-help treatment and a waitlist control. PAXPD study results.

A growing body of evidence suggests that Internet-based cognitive behavioral treatments (ICBT) are effective to treat anxiety disorders. However, the effect of therapist guidance in ICBT is still under debate and guided ICBT offered in a real-time audio-video communication format has not yet been systematically investigated. This three-arm RCT compared the efficacy of guided with unguided ICBT (12 weeks intervention) and a waitlist (WL). A total of 111 individuals meeting the diagnostic criteria for panic disorder (PD) were randomly assigned to one of three conditions. Primary outcomes were the severity of self-report panic symptoms and diagnostic status. Secondary outcomes were symptoms of depression, functional impairment, catastrophic cognitions, fear of sensations and body vigilance. At post-treatment, both active conditions showed superior outcomes regarding PD and associated symptoms (guided ICBT vs. WL: d = 1.04-1.36; unguided ICBT vs. WL: d = 0.70-1.06). At post-treatment, the two active conditions did not differ significantly in self-reported symptom reduction (d = 0.21-0.54, all ps > 0.05), but the guided treatment was superior to the unguided treatment in terms of diagnostic status (χ2 (1) = 13.15, p < 0.01). Treatment gains were maintained at successive follow-ups and the guided treatment became superior to the unguided treatment at 6 months follow-up (d = 0.72-1.05, all ps < 0.05).

'We didn't know anything, it was a mess!' Emergent structures and the effectiveness of a rescue operation multi-team system.

Multi-team systems (MTS) are used to tackle unpredictable events and to respond effectively to fast-changing environmental contingencies. Their effectiveness is influenced by within as well as between team processes (i.e. communication, coordination) and emergent phenomena (i.e. situational awareness). The present case study explores the way in which the emergent structures and the involvement of bystanders intertwine with the dynamics of processes and emergent states both within and between the component teams. Our findings show that inefficient transition process and the ambiguous leadership generated poor coordination and hindered the development of emergent phenomena within the whole system. Emergent structures and bystanders substituted leadership functions and provided a pool of critical resources for the MTS. Their involvement fostered the emergence of situational awareness and facilitated contingency planning processes. However, bystander involvement impaired the emergence of cross-understandings and interfered with coordination processes between the component teams. Practitioner Summary: Based on a real emergency situation, the present research provides important theoretical and practical insights about the role of bystander involvement in the dynamics of multi-team systems composed to tackle complex tasks and respond to fast changing and unpredictable environmental contingencies.

When children forget to remember: Effects of reduced working memory availability on prospective memory performance.

The preparatory attentional and memory processes theory (PAM) of prospective memory (PM) proposes that prospective remembering is influenced by the variation in the availability of WM resources. Consequently, PM should be impaired when WM resources are reduced either by direct WM manipulation or by individual differences associated with restricted WM performance. Our study tested this prediction in school-age children by examining the independent and interactive effects of three factors known to deplete availability of WM resources: increased processing demands of a concurrent arithmetic task, additional WM span requirements, and high trait anxiety. A sample of 10-year-old children (N = 128) performed a PM task, embedded in an ongoing arithmetic task, which progressively imposed greater WM processing demands. Half of these participants also concurrently carried out an embedded WM span task. The results supported the PAM hypothesis, showing that children's PM was compromised by the restriction of WM resources, whether this resulted from increasing the processing demands on the ongoing task, from imposing additional WM span requirements, or from high trait anxiety. However, these WM-depleting factors exerted additive effects rather than an interactive impact, suggesting that they might each deplete different aspects of WM resource availability necessary for prospective remembering. Overall findings imply that children's PM success is not only associated to their WM capacity but it mostly depends upon how many of those WM resources are available to be devoted to the PM requirement.

Reactivity to Social Stress in Subclinical Social Anxiety: Emotional Experience, Cognitive Appraisals, Behavior, and Physiology.

Recent research indicates that subclinical social anxiety is associated with dysfunctions at multiple psychological and biological levels, in a manner that seems reminiscent of social anxiety disorder (SAD). This study aimed to describe multidimensional responses to laboratory-induced social stress in an analog sample selected for social anxiety symptoms. State anxiety, cognitive biases related to negative social evaluation, speech anxiety behaviors, and cortisol reactivity were assessed in the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST). Results showed that social anxiety symptoms were associated with increased state anxiety, biased appraisals related to the probability and cost of negative social evaluations, behavioral changes in facial expression that were consistent with speech anxiety, and lower cortisol reactivity. In addition, multiple interrelations between responses in the TSST were found, with positive associations between subjective experience, cognitive appraisals, and observable behavior, as well as negative associations between each of the former two types of response and cortisol reactivity. These results show that in response to social stressors, subclinical social anxiety is associated with significant changes in emotional experience, cognitive appraisals, behaviors, and physiology that could parallel those previously found in SAD samples.

Internet-based treatment for Romanian adults with panic disorder: protocol of a randomized controlled trial comparing a Skype-guided with an unguided self-help intervention (the PAXPD study).

BACKGROUND: Efficacy of self-help internet-based cognitive behavior therapy (ICBT) for anxiety disorders has been confirmed in several randomized controlled trials. However, the amount and type of therapist guidance needed in ICBT are still under debate. Previous studies have shown divergent results regarding the role of therapist guidance and its impact on treatment outcome. This issue is central to the development of ICBT programs and needs to be addressed directly. The present study aims to compare the benefits of regular therapist guidance via online real-time audio-video communication (i.e. Skype) to no therapist guidance during a 12-week Romanian self-help ICBT program for Panic Disorder. Both treatments are compared to a waiting-list control group. METHODS/DESIGN: A parallel group randomized controlled trial is proposed. The participants, 192 Romanian adults fulfilling diagnostic criteria for panic disorder according to a diagnostic interview, conducted via secured Skype or telephone, are randomly assigned to one of the three conditions: independent use of the internet-based self-help program PAXonline, the same self-help treatment with regular therapist support via secured Skype, and waiting-list control group. The primary outcomes are severity of self-report panic symptoms (PDSS-SR) and diagnostic status (assessors are blind to group assignment), at the end of the intervention (12 weeks) and at follow-up (months 3 and 6). The secondary measures address symptoms of comorbid anxiety disorders, depression, quality of life, adherence and satisfaction with ICBT. Additional measures of socio-demographic characteristics, personality traits, treatment expectancies, catastrophic cognitions, body vigilance and working alliance are considered as potential moderators and/ or mediators of treatment outcome. DISCUSSION: To the best of our knowledge, the present study is the first effort to investigate the efficacy of a self-help internet-based intervention with therapist guidance via real-time video communication. A direct comparison between therapist guided versus unguided self-directed intervention for panic disorder will also be addressed for the first time. Findings from this study will inform researchers and practitioners about the added value of online video-therapy guidance sessions and the type of patients who may benefit the most from guided and unguided ICBT for Panic disorder. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ACTRN12614000547640 (Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry). Registered 22/05/2014.

The "good cop, bad cop" effect in the RT-based concealed information test: exploring the effect of emotional expressions displayed by a virtual investigator.

Concealing the possession of relevant information represents a complex cognitive process, shaped by contextual demands and individual differences in cognitive and socio-emotional functioning. The Reaction Time-based Concealed Information Test (RT-CIT) is used to detect concealed knowledge based on the difference in RTs between denying recognition of critical (probes) and newly encountered (irrelevant) information. Several research questions were addressed in this scenario implemented after a mock crime. First, we were interested whether the introduction of a social stimulus (facial identity) simulating a virtual investigator would facilitate the process of deception detection. Next, we explored whether his emotional displays (friendly, hostile or neutral) would have a differential impact on speed of responses to probe versus irrelevant items. We also compared the impact of introducing similar stimuli in a working memory (WM) updating context without requirements to conceal information. Finally, we explored the association between deceptive behavior and individual differences in WM updating proficiency or in internalizing problems (state / trait anxiety and depression). Results indicated that the mere presence of a neutral virtual investigator slowed down participants' responses, but not the appended lie-specific time (difference between probes and irrelevants). Emotional expression was shown to differentially affect speed of responses to critical items, with positive displays from the virtual examiner enhancing lie-specific time, compared to negative facial expressions, which had an opposite impact. This valence-specific effect was not visible in the WM updating context. Higher levels of trait / state anxiety were related to faster responses to probes in the negative condition (hostile facial expression) of the RT-CIT. These preliminary findings further emphasize the need to take into account motivational and emotional factors when considering the transfer of deception detection techniques from the laboratory to real-life settings.

Child temperamental reactivity and self-regulation effects on attentional biases.

This study examined the effects of individual differences in temperamental reactivity (fear) and self-regulation (attentional control) on attentional biases toward threat in a sample of school-aged children (age range was between 9 years 1 month and 13 years 10 months). Attentional biases were assessed with pictorial Dot-probe task, comparing attention allocation toward angry (threat-related) vs. neutral and happy faces. Children also completed self-report temperamental measures of fear and attentional control. We compared attentional bias scores in 4 groups of children: high/low fear and high/low attentional control. Results indicated that, in the case of children with high fear and low attentional control, attention was significantly biased toward angry faces compared with children who had low fear and low attentional control. Findings are discussed in terms of the moderating role of individual differences in attentional control in the context of threat, anxiety-related attentional biases in children.

Longitudinal and concurrent links between memory span, anxiety symptoms, and subsequent executive functioning in young children.

It has been conjectured that basic individual differences in attentional control influence higher-level executive functioning and subsequent academic performance in children. The current study sets out to complement the limited body of research on early precursors of executive functions (EFs). It provides both a cross-sectional, as well as a longitudinal exploration of the relationship between EF and more basic attentional control mechanisms, assessed via children's performance on memory storage tasks, and influenced by individual differences in anxiety. Multiple measures of verbal and visuospatial short-term memory (STM) were administered to children between 3 and 6 years old, alongside a non-verbal measure of intelligence, and a parental report of anxiety symptoms. After 9 months, children were re-tested on the same STM measures, at which time we also administered multiple measures of executive functioning: verbal and visuospatial working memory (WM), inhibition, and shifting. A cross-sectional view of STM development indicated that between 3 and 6 years the trajectory of visuospatial STM and EF underwent a gradual linear improvement. However, between 5 and 6 years progress in verbal STM performance stagnated. Hierarchical regression models revealed that trait anxiety was negatively associated with WM and shifting, while non-verbal intelligence was positively related to WM span. When age, gender, non-verbal intelligence, and anxiety were controlled for, STM (measured at the first assessment) was a very good predictor of overall executive performance. The models were most successful in predicting WM, followed by shifting, yet poorly predicted inhibition measures. Further longitudinal research is needed to directly address the contribution of attentional control mechanisms to emerging executive functioning and to the development of problematic behavior during early development.

When interference helps: increasing executive load to facilitate deception detection in the concealed information test.

The possibility to enhance the detection efficiency of the Concealed Information Test (CIT) by increasing executive load was investigated, using an interference design. After learning and executing a mock crime scenario, subjects underwent three deception detection tests: an RT-based CIT, an RT-based CIT plus a concurrent memory task (CITMem), and an RT-based CIT plus a concurrent set-shifting task (CITShift). The concealed information effect, consisting in increased RT and lower response accuracy for probe items compared to irrelevant items, was evidenced across all three conditions. The group analyses indicated a larger difference between RTs to probe and irrelevant items in the dual-task conditions, but this difference was not translated in a significantly increased detection efficiency at an individual level. Signal detection parameters based on the comparison with a simulated innocent group showed accurate discrimination for all conditions. Overall response accuracy on the CITMem was highest and the difference between response accuracy to probes and irrelevants was smallest in this condition. Accuracy on the concurrent tasks (Mem and Shift) was high, and responses on these tasks were significantly influenced by CIT stimulus type (probes vs. irrelevants). The findings are interpreted in relation to the cognitive load/dual-task interference literature, generating important insights for research on the involvement of executive functions in deceptive behavior.

Individual differences in anxiety and executive functioning: a multidimensional view.

The relationship between individual differences in anxiety and executive functioning was investigated in a sample of young adults. Verbal and spatial working memory, resistance to interference, negative priming, and task-switching measures were used to assess three executive functioning dimensions: updating, inhibition, and shifting. An additional index of basic psychomotor speed was added to this cognitive battery. According to the multidimensional interaction model of anxiety proposed by Endler (1997), state (cognitive-worry and autonomic-emotional) and trait (related to social evaluation, physical danger, ambiguous situations, and daily routines) anxiety were assessed in this evaluation context. Results indicated that shifting and inhibition (negative priming) efficiency were negatively related to state (cognitive-worry) and trait (related to social evaluation) anxiety. However, there was a relative advantage of subjects higher in social evaluation apprehensions in their memory updating performance. The results are consistent with several predictions of the attentional control theory (Eysenck, Derakshan, Santos, & Calvo, 2007), and are relevant for research regarding the interaction of situational, personality, and cognitive functioning dimensions.

The self regulatory effect of attentional control in modulating the relationship between attentional biases toward threat and anxiety symptoms in children.

The present study examined the associations between attentional biases to threat, attentional control and anxiety in a sample of children aged 9 to 14. It was hypothesised that the association between attentional biases toward threat and anxiety might be stronger when the ability to control attention is reduced. The study employed pictures of neutral, happy and angry facial expressions as they have greater ecological value compared to words. Children completed a dot-probe task measuring attentional biases toward such stimuli. They also completed the Spence child anxiety scale for anxiety symptoms and, for attentional control, the child version of the attention control scale measuring the ability to focus and shift attention. Results of a hierarchical regression analysis showed that attentional control significantly explained anxiety. Furthermore, the interaction between attentional control and attentional biases significantly explained anxiety level. These results indicate that attentional control moderates the relation between attentional biases toward threatening facial expressions and anxiety in children. Additionally, a discussion about a possible protective role of attentional control is provided.

Emotions induced by operatic music: psychophysiological effects of music, plot, and acting: a scientist's tribute to Maria Callas.

Operatic music involves both singing and acting (as well as rich audiovisual background arising from the orchestra and elaborate scenery and costumes) that multiply the mechanisms by which emotions are induced in listeners. The present study investigated the effects of music, plot, and acting performance on emotions induced by opera. There were three experimental conditions: (1) participants listened to a musically complex and dramatically coherent excerpt from Tosca; (2) they read a summary of the plot and listened to the same musical excerpt again; and (3) they re-listened to music while they watched the subtitled film of this acting performance. In addition, a control condition was included, in which an independent sample of participants succesively listened three times to the same musical excerpt. We measured subjective changes using both dimensional, and specific music-induced emotion questionnaires. Cardiovascular, electrodermal, and respiratory responses were also recorded, and the participants kept track of their musical chills. Music listening alone elicited positive emotion and autonomic arousal, seen in faster heart rate, but slower respiration rate and reduced skin conductance. Knowing the (sad) plot while listening to the music a second time reduced positive emotions (peacefulness, joyful activation), and increased negative ones (sadness), while high autonomic arousal was maintained. Watching the acting performance increased emotional arousal and changed its valence again (from less positive/sad to transcendent), in the context of continued high autonomic arousal. The repeated exposure to music did not by itself induce this pattern of modifications. These results indicate that the multiple musical and dramatic means involved in operatic performance specifically contribute to the genesis of music-induced emotions and their physiological correlates.

Frontal EEG activation asymmetry reflects cognitive biases in anxiety: evidence from an emotional face Stroop task.

Electroencephalography (EEG) has been extensively used in studies of the frontal asymmetry of emotion and motivation. This study investigated the midfrontal EEG activation, heart rate and skin conductance during an emotional face analog of the Stroop task, in anxious and non-anxious participants. In this task, the participants were asked to identify the expression of calm, fearful and happy faces that had either a congruent or incongruent emotion name written across them. Anxious participants displayed a cognitive bias characterized by facilitated attentional engagement with fearful faces. Fearful face trials induced greater relative right frontal activation, whereas happy face trials induced greater relative left frontal activation. Moreover, anxiety specifically modulated the magnitude of the right frontal activation to fearful faces, which also correlated with the cognitive bias. Therefore, these results show that frontal EEG activation asymmetry reflects the bias toward facilitated processing of fearful faces in anxiety.

Emotion regulation and decision making under risk and uncertainty.

It is well established that emotion plays a key role in human social and economic decision making. The recent literature on emotion regulation (ER), however, highlights that humans typically make efforts to control emotion experiences. This leaves open the possibility that decision effects previously attributed to acute emotion may be a consequence of acute ER strategies such as cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression. In Study 1, we manipulated ER of laboratory-induced fear and disgust, and found that the cognitive reappraisal of these negative emotions promotes risky decisions (reduces risk aversion) in the Balloon Analogue Risk Task and is associated with increased performance in the prehunch/hunch period of the Iowa Gambling Task. In Study 2, we found that naturally occurring negative emotions also increase risk aversion in Balloon Analogue Risk Task, but the incidental use of cognitive reappraisal of emotions impedes this effect. We offer evidence that the increased effectiveness of cognitive reappraisal in reducing the experience of emotions underlies its beneficial effects on decision making.

Processing efficiency in preschoolers' memory span: individual differences related to age and anxiety.

In self-paced auditory memory span tasks, the microanalysis of response timing measures represents a developmentally sensitive measure, providing insights into the development of distinct processing rates during recall performance. The current study first examined the effects of age and trait anxiety on span accuracy (effectiveness) and response timing (efficiency) measures from word and digit span performance in a preschool sample (N=76, mean age=57 months, SD=11). Children were reassessed 8 months later using the same two tasks plus a test of nonword memory span and a measure of articulation rate. The results at the second time point (T2) confirmed the effects of age on both processing effectiveness and efficiency. Trait anxiety was an additional negative predictor of span effectiveness (especially for digit span) and efficiency (in the case of word and nonword span). The findings are discussed in the context of factors contributing to early short-term memory development and attentional control theory.

Reduced heart rate variability and vagal tone in anxiety: trait versus state, and the effects of autogenic training.

This study investigated heart rate variability (HRV) in healthy volunteers that were selected for extreme scores of trait anxiety (TA), during two opposite psychophysiological conditions of mental stress, and relaxation induced by autogenic training. R-R intervals, HF and LF powers, and LF/HF ratios were derived from short-term electrocardiographic recordings made during mental stress and relaxation by autogenic training, with respiratory rate and skin conductance being controlled for in all the analyses. The main finding was that high TA was associated with reduced R-R intervals and HF power across conditions. In comparison to mental stress, autogenic training increased HRV and facilitated the vagal control of the heart. There were no significant effects of TA or the psychophysiological conditions on LF power, or LF/HF ratio. These results support the view that TA, which is an important risk factor for anxiety disorders and predictor of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, is associated with autonomic dysfunction that seems likely to play a pathogenetic role in the long term.

Anxiety and decision-making: toward a neuroeconomics perspective.

PURPOSE: This chapter focuses on individual differences in anxiety, by reviewing its neurobiology, cognitive effects, with an emphasis on decision-making, and recent developments in neuroeconomics. METHODOLOGY: A review and discussion of anxiety and decision-making research. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: This chapter argues that by making the step from emotional states to individual differences in emotion, neuroeconomics can extend its neurobiological roots and outreach its current clinical relevance. VALUE OF CHAPTER: This chapter contributes to the literature on individual differences in emotion and their effects on decision-making, which is increasingly important in mainstream behavioral economics and neuroeconomics.

Behavioral effects of corpus callosum transection and environmental enrichment in adult rats.

A common assumption about the corpus callosum transection (CCX) is that it only affects behaviors heavily relying on interhemispheric communication. However, cerebral laterality is ubiquitous across motor and perceptual, cognitive and emotional domains, and the corpus callosum is important for its establishment. Several recent studies showed that the partial denervation of the sensorimotor isocortex through CCX derepressed neural growth processes that were sensitive to motor demand (experience-dependent neural plasticity). We investigated whether the facilitatory effects of CCX on cortical neural plasticity, shaped by differential housing, extended beyond the motor domain. Adult rats were housed in enriched (EE), standard (SE) or impoverished environments (IE) for 10 weeks, that is, 2 weeks before they underwent CCX or sham surgery, and, then, 8 weeks throughout the experiments. After they recovered from surgery, the behavioral performance of rats was tested using open-field, spontaneous alternation in the T-maze, paw preference, Morris water maze, and tone fear conditioning. The results indicated that the effects of CCX and housing on open-field behavior were independent, with CCX increasing the time spent in the center of the field at the beginning of the observation (i.e., emotionality), and EE and IE increasing rearing (emotionality) and reducing teeth-chattering (habituation), respectively. CCX reduced the frequency of spontaneous alternation, denoting spatial working memory deficits, while housing did not influence this performance. Neither CCX, nor housing significantly affected paw preference lateralization, although CCX was associated with a leftward bias in paw preference. In the Morris water maze, housing had effects on spatial acquisition, while CCX reduced activity, without interfering with spatial memory. CCX did not influence tone fear conditioning, but context fear conditioning seemed to benefit from EE. We conclude that CCX in adult rats has subtle, but specific behavioral effects pertaining to emotionality, spatial working memory, and, possibly, aversively motivated exploration, and these effects are either independent or only peripherally interact with the effects of housing.