Effort-cost decision-making associated with negative symptoms in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

Motivational deficits and reduced goal-directed behavior for external rewards have long been considered an important features of negative symptoms in patients with schizophrenia (SCZ). Negative symptoms have also a high prevalence in bipolar disorder (BP). We used a transdiagnostic approach in order to examine association between negative symptoms and effort allocation for monetary rewards. 41 patients with SCZ and 34 patients with BP were enrolled in the study along with 41 healthy controls (HC). Effort-Expenditure for Rewards Task (EEfRT) was used to measure subjects' effort allocation for monetary rewards. Generalized estimating equation models were used to analyze EEfRT choice behavior. Negative symptoms were assessed using the Brief Negative Symptom Scale (BNSS). SCZ and BP groups expended lower effort to obtain a monetary rewards compared to HC. Severity of negative symptoms was negatively correlated with EEfRT performance in both diagnostic groups. Each diagnostic group showed lower effort allocation for monetary rewards compared to HC suggesting reduced motivation for monetary rewards. In addition, our results suggest that abnormal effort-based decision-making might be a transdiagnostic factor underlying negative symptoms.

Striatal hypoactivation during monetary loss anticipation in individuals with substance use disorders in a heterogenous urban American Indian sample.

Research suggests that disproportionate exposure to risk factors places American Indian (AI) peoples at higher risk for substance use disorders (SUD). Although SUD is linked to striatal prioritization of drug rewards over other appetitive stimuli, there are gaps in the literature related to the investigation of aversive valuation processing, and inclusion of AI samples. To address these gaps, this study compared striatal anticipatory gain and loss processing between AI-identified with SUD (SUD+; n = 52) and without SUD (SUD-; n = 35) groups from the Tulsa 1000 study who completed a monetary incentive delay (MID) task during functional magnetic resonance imaging. Results indicated that striatal activations in the nucleus accumbens (NAcc), caudate, and putamen were greatest for anticipating gains (ps < 0.001) but showed no group differences. In contrast to gains, the SUD+ exhibited lower NAcc (p = .01, d =0.53) and putamen (p = .04, d =0.40) activation to anticipating large losses than the comparison group. Within SUD+ , lower striatal responses during loss anticipations were associated with slower MID reaction times (NAcc: r = -0.43; putamen: r = -0.35) during loss trials. This is among the first imaging studies to examine underlying neural mechanisms associated with SUD within AIs. Attenuated loss processing provides initial evidence of a potential mechanism wherein blunted prediction of aversive consequences may be a defining feature of SUD that can inform future prevention and intervention targets.

A influência do recebimento de recursos financeiros e a participação em eventos para a obtenção de resultados esportivos: o caso brasileiro / The influence of receiving financial resources and participation in events on obtaining sports results: the brazilian case

RESUMO O presente estudo teve por objetivo verificar a influência do recebimento de recursos financeiros por intermédio de políticas esportivas e da participação em eventos relevantes na obtenção de resultados esportivos em competições internacionais. A amostra deste estudo baseou-se em 907 atletas brasileiros que representaram o Brasil nas seguintes competições internacionais: Jogos Pan-Americanos de Lima 2019, Jogos Mundiais Militares (JMM) de Wuhan 2019 e Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de Tóquio 2020 (2021). Por meio da análise, pode-se observar que o fato de ser beneficiário de programas públicos esportivos e o fato de participar de competições internacionais influenciou na obtenção de resultados esportivos em competições internacionais. Pode-se perceber que receber recursos por meio de mais de um programa apresentou influência positiva, do que ser beneficiário de apenas um. Com base nestes achados, ficou exposto que o incentivo ao esporte por meio de bolsas, a participação em eventos esportivos e a quantidade de medalhas obtidas, tiveram correlação positiva com o financiamento concedido.

ABSTRACT The present study aimed to verify the influence of receiving financial resources through sports policies and participation in relevant events in obtaining sports results in international competitions. The sample of this study consisted of 907 Brazilian athletes who represented Brazil in the last international competitions: Pan American Games in Lima 2019, Military World Games (JMM) in Wuhan 2019 and Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo 2020 (2021). Through analysis, it can be observed that both the fact of being a beneficiary of public sports programs and the fact of participating in international competitions influenced the achievement of sports results in international competitions. Furthermore, it can be seen that receiving resources through more than one program had a positive influence, than being a beneficiary of just one. Based on these findings, it was shown that encouraging sports through scholarships, participation in sporting events and the number of medals obtained had a positive correlation with the funding granted.

Who accepts nudges? nudge acceptability from a self-regulation perspective.

BACKGROUND: Public acceptability of nudging is receiving increasingly more attention, but studies remain limited to evaluations of aspects of the nudge itself or (inferred intentions) of the nudger. Yet, it is important to investigate which individuals are likely to accept nudges, as those who are supposed to benefit from the implementation should not oppose it. The main objective of this study was to integrate research on self-regulation and nudging, and to examine acceptability of nudges as a function of self-regulation capacity and motivation. METHOD: Participants (N = 301) filled in questionnaires about several components of self-regulation capacity (self-control, proactive coping competence, self-efficacy, perceived control and perceived difficulty) and motivation (autonomous motivation and controlled motivation). To evaluate nudge acceptability, we used three vignettes describing three types of nudges (default, portion size, and rearrangement) that stimulated either a pro-self behavior (healthy eating) or pro-social behavior (sustainable eating) and asked participants to rate the nudges on (aspects of) acceptability. RESULTS: Results revealed that there were substantial differences in acceptability between the three types of nudges, such that the default nudge was seen as less acceptable and the rearrangement nudge as most acceptable. The behavior that was stimulated did not affect acceptability, even though the nudges that targeted healthy eating were seen as more pro-self than the nudges targeting sustainable eating. From all self-regulation components, autonomous motivation was the only measure that was consistently associated with nudge acceptability across the three nudges. For self-regulatory capacity, only some elements were occasionally related to acceptability for some nudges. CONCLUSION: The current study thus shows that people are more inclined to accept nudges that target behaviors that they are autonomously motivated for, while people do not meaningfully base their judgments of acceptability on self-regulatory capacity.

Searching for meaning is associated with costly prosociality.

The study of meaning in life has largely centered on its relationship with personal well-being, while a focus on how meaning is related to enhancing the well-being of others has received less research attention. Although searching for meaning may imply lower personal well-being, we find that meaning-seekers are more motivated to perform costly prosocial actions for the sake of others' well-being, given the perceived meaningfulness of these behaviors. Studies 1-4 (N = 780) show that meaning-seeking correlates with the motivation to engage in a range of costly prosocial behaviors. Meaning-seeking is further shown to be distinct from pursuing happiness in its relationship with costly prosociality (Study 2 & 3) and to share a stronger association with high-cost than low-cost prosociality (Study 3 & 4). Study 5 (N = 370; pre-registered) further shows that the search for meaning is related to costly prosocial behavior in the recent past. While our studies are cross-sectional, the pattern of findings suggests that seeking meaning (rather than happiness) may play an important role in motivating altruistic tendencies.

Association between Japanese community health workers' willingness to continue service and two categories of motives: Altruistic and self-oriented.

BACKGROUND: As population aging progresses, volunteers in health field are expected to play a key role in health promotion and disease prevention, which may improve community residents' health and well-being and at the same time help slow the growth of healthcare cost. The objective of this study is to examine the effects of self-oriented motives and altruistic motives as explanatory factors for Japanese Community Health Workers (CHWs)' desire to continue their service. Unraveling the relative effects of these two types of motivation on CHW retention may lead to policy and practical implications for recruiting, training, and supporting CHWs in Japan. Haddad (2007) observed that citizens in Japan generally have a sense of governmental and individual responsibility for dealing with social problems. Applying these insights to CHWs, we hypothesize that altruistic motives have more potent influence on volunteers' willingness to continue to serve than self-oriented motives. METHODS: Three cities in Shiga prefecture, Japan agreed to participate in the study. Anonymous, self-administered questionnaire was mailed to all CHWs who work in the three communities. The survey data were collected in March and April, 2013. A total of 417 questionnaires were mailed to CHWs, of which 346 were completed and returned (response rate 83.0%). Nine questionnaires missing response to the question concerning willingness to continue serving were removed from the analysis. The final analysis used 337 questionnaires (effective response rate 80.8%). RESULTS: One hundred ninety-nine (59.1%) of the respondents answered the question about willingness to continue CHW affirmatively, and 138 (40.9%) negatively. Controlling for other relevant factors, those with self-oriented motives in serving as CHWs were more likely to state they are willing to continue to serve (OR:1.54, confidence interval 1.00-2.37) than those without such motives. Those with altruistic motives were also more likely to say they want to continue their service (OR 1.56, confidence interval 1.08-2.27) than those without such motives. Contrary to our hypothesis, the two motives, altruistic and self-oriented, were shown to have nearly equal degree of influence on respondents' willingness to continue serving as CHWs. CONCLUSION: One practical implication of the research is that learning more about the twin motives, self-oriented and altruistic, of volunteers and tailoring the content of CHW training by municipal health professionals to address those motives may be beneficial.

Social reward and support effects on exercise experiences and performance: Evidence from parkrun.

There is growing academic, civic and policy interest in the public health benefits of community-based exercise events. Shifting the emphasis from competitive sport to communal activity, these events have wide appeal. In addition to physical health benefits, regular participation can reduce social isolation and loneliness through opportunities for social connection. Taking a broad evolutionary and social psychological perspective, we suggest that social factors warrant more attention in current approaches to physical (in)activity and exercise behavior. We develop and test the hypothesis that social reward and support in exercise are associated with positive exercise experiences and greater performance outputs. Using a repeated-measures design, we examine the influence of social perceptions and behavior on subjective enjoyment, energy, fatigue, effort, and objective performance (run times) among a UK sample of parkrun participants. Social factors were associated with greater subjective enjoyment and energy. Higher subjective energy, in turn, was associated with faster run times, without any corresponding increase in perceived effort. No significant main effects of social factors on fatigue, performance or effort were detected. The role of social structural factors has long been recognized in public health approaches to physical activity. Our results indicate that there should be greater research attention on how positive and rewarding social behaviors and experiences-particularly subjective enjoyment and energy, and perceptions of community social support and belonging-influence exercise-related behavior, psychology and physiology, and promote health through collective physical activity. The research also supplements traditional emphases on social facilitation and team sport that have dominated sport and exercise psychology and offers new avenues for understanding the deep connections among psychological, social and physical function in everyday health.

The Music of Silence: Part II: Music Listening Induces Imagery Responses.

During music listening, humans routinely acquire the regularities of the acoustic sequences and use them to anticipate and interpret the ongoing melody. Specifically, in line with this predictive framework, it is thought that brain responses during such listening reflect a comparison between the bottom-up sensory responses and top-down prediction signals generated by an internal model that embodies the music exposure and expectations of the listener. To attain a clear view of these predictive responses, previous work has eliminated the sensory inputs by inserting artificial silences (or sound omissions) that leave behind only the corresponding predictions of the thwarted expectations. Here, we demonstrate a new alternate approach in which we decode the predictive electroencephalography (EEG) responses to the silent intervals that are naturally interspersed within the music. We did this as participants (experiment 1, 20 participants, 10 female; experiment 2, 21 participants, 6 female) listened or imagined Bach piano melodies. Prediction signals were quantified and assessed via a computational model of the melodic structure of the music and were shown to exhibit the same response characteristics when measured during listening or imagining. These include an inverted polarity for both silence and imagined responses relative to listening, as well as response magnitude modulations that precisely reflect the expectations of notes and silences in both listening and imagery conditions. These findings therefore provide a unifying view that links results from many previous paradigms, including omission reactions and the expectation modulation of sensory responses, all in the context of naturalistic music listening.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Music perception depends on our ability to learn and detect melodic structures. It has been suggested that our brain does so by actively predicting upcoming music notes, a process inducing instantaneous neural responses as the music confronts these expectations. Here, we studied this prediction process using EEGs recorded while participants listen to and imagine Bach melodies. Specifically, we examined neural signals during the ubiquitous musical pauses (or silent intervals) in a music stream and analyzed them in contrast to the imagery responses. We find that imagined predictive responses are routinely co-opted during ongoing music listening. These conclusions are revealed by a new paradigm using listening and imagery of naturalistic melodies.

The Music of Silence: Part I: Responses to Musical Imagery Encode Melodic Expectations and Acoustics.

Musical imagery is the voluntary internal hearing of music in the mind without the need for physical action or external stimulation. Numerous studies have already revealed brain areas activated during imagery. However, it remains unclear to what extent imagined music responses preserve the detailed temporal dynamics of the acoustic stimulus envelope and, crucially, whether melodic expectations play any role in modulating responses to imagined music, as they prominently do during listening. These modulations are important as they reflect aspects of the human musical experience, such as its acquisition, engagement, and enjoyment. This study explored the nature of these modulations in imagined music based on EEG recordings from 21 professional musicians (6 females and 15 males). Regression analyses were conducted to demonstrate that imagined neural signals can be predicted accurately, similarly to the listening task, and were sufficiently robust to allow for accurate identification of the imagined musical piece from the EEG. In doing so, our results indicate that imagery and listening tasks elicited an overlapping but distinctive topography of neural responses to sound acoustics, which is in line with previous fMRI literature. Melodic expectation, however, evoked very similar frontal spatial activation in both conditions, suggesting that they are supported by the same underlying mechanisms. Finally, neural responses induced by imagery exhibited a specific transformation from the listening condition, which primarily included a relative delay and a polarity inversion of the response. This transformation demonstrates the top-down predictive nature of the expectation mechanisms arising during both listening and imagery.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT It is well known that the human brain is activated during musical imagery: the act of voluntarily hearing music in our mind without external stimulation. It is unclear, however, what the temporal dynamics of this activation are, as well as what musical features are precisely encoded in the neural signals. This study uses an experimental paradigm with high temporal precision to record and analyze the cortical activity during musical imagery. This study reveals that neural signals encode music acoustics and melodic expectations during both listening and imagery. Crucially, it is also found that a simple mapping based on a time-shift and a polarity inversion could robustly describe the relationship between listening and imagery signals.

Public engagement with science-Origins, motives and impact in academic literature and science policy.

'Public engagement with science' has become a 'buzzword' reflecting a concern about the widening gap between science and society and efforts to bridge this gap. This study is a comprehensive analysis of the development of the 'engagement' rhetoric in the pertinent academic literature on science communication and in science policy documents. By way of a content analysis of articles published in three leading science communication journals and a selection of science policy documents from the United Kingdom (UK), the United States of America (USA), the European Union (EU), and South Africa (SA), the variety of motives underlying this rhetoric, as well as the impact it has on science policies, are analyzed. The analysis of the science communication journals reveals an increasingly vague and inclusive definition of 'engagement' as well as of the 'public' being addressed, and a diverse range of motives driving the rhetoric. Similar observations can be made about the science policy documents. This study corroborates an earlier diagnosis that rhetoric is running ahead of practice and suggests that communication and engagement with clearly defined stakeholder groups about specific problems and the pertinent scientific knowledge will be a more successful manner of 'engagement'.

Chronic Augmentation of Endocannabinoid Levels Persistently Increases Dopaminergic Encoding of Reward Cost and Motivation.

Motivational deficits characterized by an unwillingness to overcome effortful costs are a common feature of neuropsychiatric and neurologic disorders that are insufficiently understood and treated. Dopamine (DA) signaling in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) facilitates goal-seeking, but how NAc DA release encodes motivationally salient stimuli to influence effortful investment is not clear. Using fast-scan cyclic voltammetry in male and female mice, we find that NAc DA release diametrically responds to cues signaling increasing cost of reward, while DA release to the reward itself is unaffected by its cost. Because endocannabinoid (eCB) signaling facilitates goal seeking and NAc DA release, we further investigated whether repeated augmentation of the eCB 2-arachidonoylglycerol with a low dose of a monoacylglycerol lipase (MAGL) inhibitor facilitates motivation and DA signaling without the development of tolerance. We find that chronic MAGL treatment stably facilitates goal seeking and DA encoding of prior reward cost, providing critical insight into the neurobiological mechanisms of a viable treatment for motivational deficits.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Decades of work has established a fundamental role for dopamine neurotransmission in motivated behavior and cue-reward learning, but how dopaminergic encoding of cues associates with motivated action has remained unclear. Specifically, how dopamine neurons signal future and prior reward cost, and whether this can be modified to influence motivational set points is not known. The current study provides important insight into how dopamine neurons encode motivationally relevant stimuli to influence goal-directed action and supports cannabinoid-based therapies for treatment of motivational disorders.

Grasping Social Apathy: The Role of Reach-To-Grasp Action Kinematics for the Assessment of Social Apathy in Mild Neurocognitive Disorders.

BACKGROUND: Social apathy, a reduction in initiative in proposing or engaging in social activities or interactions, is common in mild neurocognitive disorders (MND). Current apathy assessment relies on self-reports or clinical scales, but growing attention is devoted to defining more objective, measurable and non-invasive apathy proxies. OBJECTIVE: In the present study we investigated the interest of recording action kinematics in a social reach-to-grasp task for the assessment of social apathy. METHODS: Thirty participants took part in the study: 11 healthy controls (HC; 6 females, mean age = 68.3±10.5 years) and 19 subjects with MND (13 females, mean age = 75.7±6.3 years). Based on the Diagnostic Criteria for Apathy, MND subjects were classified as socially apathetic (A-MND, N = 9) versus non-apathetic (NA-MND, N = 10). SensRing, a ring-shaped wearable sensor, was placed on their index finger, and subjects were asked to reach and grasp a can to place it into a cup (individual condition) and pass it to a partner (social condition). RESULTS: In the reach-to-grasp phase of the action, HC and NA-MND showed different acceleration and velocity profiles in the social versus individual condition. No differences were found for A-MND. CONCLUSION: Previous studies showed the interest of recording patients' level of weekly motor activity for apathy assessment. Here we showed that a 10-min reach-to-grasp task may provide information to differentiate socially apathetic and non-apathetic subjects with MND, thus providing a tool easily usable in the clinical practice. Future studies with a bigger sample are needed to better characterize these findings.

Combinations of Drinking Occasion Characteristics Associated with Units of Alcohol Consumed among British Adults: An Event-Level Decision Tree Modeling Study.

BACKGROUND: Alcohol consumption is influenced by the characteristics of drinking occasions, for example, location, timing, or the composition of the drinking group. However, the relative importance of occasion characteristics is not yet well understood. This study aims to identify which characteristics, and combinations of characteristics, are associated with units consumed within drinking occasions. It also tests whether accounting for occasion characteristics improves the prediction of consumption compared to using demographic information only. METHODS: The data come from a cross-sectional, nationally representative, online market research survey. Our sample includes 18,409 British drinkers aged 18 + who recorded the characteristics of 46,072 drinking occasions using 7-day retrospective drinking diaries in 2018. We used decision tree modeling and nested linear regression to predict units consumed in occasions using information on drinking location/venue, occasion timing, company, occasion type (e.g., a quiet night in), occasion motivation, drink type and packaging, food eaten and entertainment/ other activities during the occasion. We estimated models separately for 6 age-sex groups and controlled for usual drinking frequency, and social grade in nested linear regression models. Open Science Framework preregistration: https://osf.io/42epd. RESULTS: Our 6 final models accounted for between 55% and 71% of the variance in drinking occasion alcohol consumption. Beyond demographic characteristics (1 to 9%) and occasion duration (24 to 60%), further occasion characteristics and combinations of characteristics accounted for 31 to 70% of the total explained variance. The characteristics most strongly associated with heavy alcohol consumption were long occasion duration, drinking spirits as doubles, and drinking wine. Spirits were also consumed in light occasions, but as singles. This suggests that the serving size is an important differentiator of light and heavy occasions. CONCLUSIONS: Combinations of occasion duration and drink type are strongly predictive of alcohol consumption in adults' drinking occasions. Accounting for characteristics of drinking occasions, both individually and in combination, substantially improves the prediction of alcohol consumption.

Social and Physical Context Moderates Older Adults' Affective Responses to Sedentary Behavior: An Ecological Momentary Assessment Study.

OBJECTIVES: Older adults engage in excessive sedentary behaviors which hold significant health implications. Examining affect responses during sedentary behavior is not well understood despite the wealth of evidence linking affect and motivation. Contextual influences (i.e., social and physical) likely influence affective responses during sedentary behavior and therefore warrant further investigation. METHOD: Older adults (n = 103, Mage = 72, range: 60-98) participated in a 10-day study where they received 6 randomly timed, smartphone-based Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) prompts/day. Participants reported their affect, current behavior, and context at each EMA prompt. Participants also wore an activPAL accelerometer to measure their sedentary behavior duration. Separate multilevel models examined the extent to which the context influences affective responses during self-report sedentary (vs nonsedentary) behaviors. RESULTS: The social context moderated the association between sedentary behavior and negative affect. The physical context moderated the association between sedentary behavior and positive affect. DISCUSSION: Interventions should consider the context of behaviors when designing interventions to reduce sedentary behavior as some contextual factors may attenuate, while other contexts may exacerbate, associations between activity-related behaviors and indicators of well-being.

Motivations for and Challenges in the Development of Global Medical Curricula: A Scoping Review.

PURPOSE: The aim of this scoping review is to understand the motivations for the creation of global medical curricula, summarize methods that have been used to create these curricula, and understand the perceived premises for the creation of these curricula. METHOD: In 2018, the authors used a comprehensive search strategy to identify papers on existing efforts to create global medical curricula published from 1998 to March 29, 2018, in the following databases: MEDLINE; MEDLINE Epub Ahead of Print, In-Process, and Other Non-Indexed Citations; Embase; Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials; Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews; PsycINFO; CINAHL; ERIC; Scopus; African Index Medicus; and LILACS. There were no language restrictions. Two independent researchers applied the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Demographic data were abstracted from publications and summarized. The stated purposes, methods used for the development, stated motivations, and reported challenges of curricula were coded. RESULTS: Of the 18,684 publications initially identified, 137 met inclusion criteria. The most common stated purposes for creating curricula were to define speciality-specific standards (50, 30%), to harmonize training standards (38, 23%), and to improve the quality or safety of training (31, 19%). The most common challenges were intercountry variation (including differences in health care systems, the operationalization of medical training, and sociocultural differences; 27, 20%), curricular implementation (20, 15%), and the need for a multistakeholder approach (6, 4%). Most curricula were developed by a social group (e.g., committee; 30, 45%) or Delphi or modified Delphi process (22, 33%). CONCLUSIONS: The challenges of intercountry variation, the need for a multistakeholder approach, and curricular implementation need to be considered if concerns about curricular relevance are to be addressed. These challenges undoubtedly impact the uptake of global medical curricula and can only be addressed by explicit efforts to make curricula applicable to the realities of diverse health care settings.

Sex Differences in Demand for Highly Palatable Foods: Role of the Orexin System.

BACKGROUND: The prevalence of eating disorders, including binge eating disorder, is significantly higher in women. These findings are mirrored by preclinical studies, which indicate that female rats have a higher preference for palatable food and show greater binge-like eating compared with male rats. METHODS: Here, we describe a novel within-session behavioral-economic paradigm that allows for the simultaneous measurement of the intake at null cost (Q0) and normalized demand elasticity (α) of 3 types of palatable food (low fat, high fat, and chocolate sucrose pellets) via demand curve analysis. In light of evidence that the orexin (hypocretin) system is critically involved in reward and feeding behaviors, we also examined the role of orexin function in sex differences of economic demand for palatable foods. RESULTS: The novel within-session behavioral-economic approach revealed that female rats have higher intake (demand) than males for all palatable foods at low cost (normalized to body weight) but no difference in intake at higher prices, indicating sex-dependent differences in the hedonic, but not motivational, aspects of palatable food. Immediately following behavioral-economic testing, we observed more orexin-expressing neurons and Fos expression (measure of recent neural activation) in these neurons in female rats compared with male rats. Moreover, the orexin-1 receptor antagonist SB334867 reduced both low- and high-cost intake for palatable food in both male and female rats. CONCLUSIONS: These findings provide evidence of higher demand at low prices for palatable food in females and indicate that these behavioral differences may be associated with sexual dimorphism in orexin system function.

Beware of Stereotypes: Are Classmates' Stereotypes Associated With Students' Reading Outcomes?

This study examined the associations between classmates' reading-related gender stereotypes and students' reading self-efficacy, self-concept, motivation, and achievement. Our sample consisted of 1,508 fifth-grade students (49% girls; age: 10.89 years); data were collected at two time points. Multilevel analyses yielded two main results: First, there was a relation between students' individual reading-related gender stereotypes and their reading self-concept, self-efficacy, and motivation with boys experiencing negative and girls experiencing positive effects. Second, a contextual effect was found: after controlling for students' individual reading-related gender stereotypes, classmates' gender stereotypes were negatively related to all of the boys' reading outcomes. The results provide evidence for the assumption that classmates are important communicators of gender stereotypes and that they reinforce conforming behaviors.

Medical students' academic motivation: an analysis from the perspective of the Theory of Self-Determination / Motivação acadêmica de estudantes de Medicina: uma análise na perspectiva da Teoria da Autodeterminação

Abstract: Introduction: The principles of the Theory of Self-Determination are relevant to professional education, as the differentiation and expression of the primary types of motivation have implications for the multiple learning outcomes. Objective: To evaluate academic motivation in 4th-year medical students at two teaching institutions and discuss the results from the perspective of the Theory of Self-Determination. Method: The present is a cross-sectional and quantitative study, conducted through a self-answered questionnaire containing 18 sociodemographic questions and the Academic Motivation Scale (AMS). The sample consisted of 147 4th-year medical students from schools with different teaching methodologies: 73 students from Institution A (Problem-based learning - PBL) and 74 students from Institution B (traditional methodology). A univariate analysis was conducted using Student's t test, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), chi-square test and Pearson's correlation, followed by Multiple Linear Regression analysis. Results: There was a moderate profile of intrinsic (IM) and extrinsic (EM) motivation in the sample of students, with a higher IM than EM average. High levels of IM were observed in the domains of motivation for achievement and for knowledge, with the satisfaction of increasing one's knowledge and increasing professional competence being the factors that most positively impacted motivation. In IM, the factor with the lowest score was the university as a place of enjoyment. EM was related to the desire of having a good life in the future, including monetary compensation. It was observed that the variables female gender, age under 23 years, living alone, having attended the entire course at the same institution and school with the PBL methodology had a positive influence on motivation. Conclusion: The students demonstrated higher levels of IM than those of EM, with a lower score attributed to the university as a place of enjoyment. This fact shows an opportunity for future studies, which will be able to verify the factors of the school environment related to the students' motivation to learn. EM was associated with future life expectations. To know the variables that characterize the self-regulation of learning is crucial to support teaching strategies that contribute to the improvement of the teaching-learning process.

Resumo: Introdução: Os princípios da Teoria da Autodeterminação são pertinentes para a educação profissional, na medida em que a diferenciação e expressão dos tipos primários de motivação têm implicações para os múltiplos desfechos da aprendizagem. Objetivo: Este estudo teve como objetivos avaliar a motivação acadêmica em estudantes do quarto ano de Medicina em duas instituições de ensino e discutir os resultados na perspectiva da Teoria da Autodeterminação. Método: Trata-se de estudo transversal e quantitativo conduzido por questionário autorrespondido contendo 18 questões sociodemográficas e a Escala de Motivação Acadêmica (EMA). A amostra foi constituída por 147 estudantes do quarto ano de Medicina de escolas com metodologias de ensino distintas: 73 estudantes da instituição A (aprendizagem baseada em problemas - ABP) e 74 estudantes da instituição B (tradicional). Conduziu-se uma análise univariada em que se utilizaram os testes t de Student, a Análise de Variância (ANOVA), o teste qui-quadrado e a correlação de Pearson. Posteriormente, fez-se uma análise de regressão linear múltipla. Resultados: Observou-se um perfil moderado de motivação intrínseca (MI) e extrínseca (ME) na amostra de estudantes, com médias de MI superiores às da ME. Níveis elevados de MI foram observados nos domínios de motivação para realização e para o saber, sendo o prazer de ampliar conhecimentos e o aumento da competência profissional os fatores que mais impactaram positivamente a motivação. Na MI, o fator com menor pontuação foi a universidade como local de prazer. A ME foi relacionada ao desejo de ter uma boa vida no futuro, incluindo remuneração. Observou-se que as variáveis sexo feminino, idade menor que 23 anos, morar sozinho, ter feito o curso todo na mesma instituição e a escola com metodologia ABP influenciaram de forma positiva na motivação. Conclusão: Os estudantes demonstraram níveis de MI superiores à da ME, com menor pontuação atribuída à universidade como local de prazer. Esse fato apresenta uma oportunidade para estudos futuros, que poderão verificar os fatores do ambiente escolar que se relacionam à motivação em aprender dos estudantes. A ME foi associada às expectativas futuras de vida. Conhecer as variáveis que caracterizam a autorregulação da aprendizagem é fundamental para embasar estratégias de ensino que contribuam para a melhoria do processo de ensino-aprendizagem.

Adding team-based financial incentives to the Carrot Rewards physical activity app increases daily step count on a population scale: a 24-week matched case control study.

BACKGROUND: Mobile health applications (mHealth apps) targeting physical inactivity have increased in popularity yet are usually limited by low engagement. This study examined the impact of adding team-based incentives (Step Together Challenges, STCs) to an existing mHealth app (Carrot Rewards) that rewarded individual physical activity achievements. METHODS: A 24-week quasi-experimental study (retrospective matched pairs design) was conducted in three Canadian provinces (pre-intervention: weeks 1-12; intervention: weeks 13-24). Participants who used Carrot Rewards and STCs (experimental group) were matched with those who used Carrot Rewards only (controls) on age, gender, province and baseline mean daily step count (±500 steps/d). Carrot Rewards users earned individual-level incentives (worth $0.04 CAD) each day they reached a personalized daily step goal. With a single partner, STC users could earn team incentives ($0.40 CAD) for collaboratively reaching individual daily step goals 10 times in seven days (e.g., Partner A completes four goals and Partner B completes six goals in a week). RESULTS: The main analysis included 61,170 users (mean age = 32 yrs.; % female = 64). Controlling for pre-intervention mean daily step count, a significant difference in intervention mean daily step count favoured the experimental group (p < 0.0001; ηp2 = 0.024). The estimated marginal mean group difference was 537 steps per day, or 3759 steps per week (about 40 walking min/wk). Linear regression suggested a dose-response relationship between the number of STCs completed (app engagement) and intervention mean daily step count (adjusted R2 = 0.699) with each new STC corresponding to approximately 200 more steps per day. CONCLUSION: Despite an explosion of physical activity app interest, low engagement leading to small or no effects remains an industry hallmark. In this paper, we found that adding modest team-based incentives to the Carrot Rewards app increased mean daily step count, and importantly, app engagement moderated this effect. Others should consider novel small-teams based approaches to boost engagement and effects.