Motivated with joy or anxiety: Does approach-avoidance goal framing elicit differential reward-network activation in the brain?

Psychological research on human motivation repeatedly observed that approach goals (i.e., goals to attain success) increase task enjoyment and intrinsic motivation more strongly than avoidance goals (i.e., goals to avoid failure). The present study sought to address how the reward network in the brain-including the striatum and ventromedial prefrontal cortex-is involved when individuals engage in the same task with a focus on approach or avoidance goals. Participants reported stronger positive emotions when they focused on approach goals, but stronger anxiety and disappointment when they focused on avoidance goals. The fMRI analyses revealed that the reward network in the brain showed similar levels of activity to cues predictive of approach and avoidance goals. In contrast, the two goal states were associated with different patterns of activity in the visual cortex, hippocampus, and cerebellum during success and failure outcomes. Representation similarity analysis further revealed shared and different representations within the striatum and vmPFC between the approach and avoidance goal states, suggesting both the similarity and uniqueness of the mechanisms behind the two goal states. In addition, the distinct patterns of activation in the striatum were associated with distinct subjective experiences participants reported between the approach and the avoidance conditions. These results suggest the importance of examining the pattern of striatal activity in understanding the mechanisms behind different motivational states in humans.

A critique of motivation constructs to explain higher-order behavior: We should unpack the black box.

The constructs of motivation (or needs, motives, etc.) to explain higher-order behavior have burgeoned in psychology. In this article, we critically evaluate such high-level motivation constructs that many researchers define as causal determinants of behavior. We identify a fundamental issue with this predominant view of motivation, which we called the black-box problem. Specifically, high-level motivation constructs have been considered as causally instigating a wide range of higher-order behavior, but this does not explain what they actually are or how behavioral tendencies are generated. The black box problem inevitably makes the construct ill-defined and jeopardizes its theoretical status. To address the problem, we discuss the importance of mental computational processes underlying motivated behavior. Critically, from this perspective, motivation is not a unitary construct that causes a wide range of higher-order behavior --- it is an emergent property that people construe through the regularities of subjective experiences and behavior. The proposed perspective opens new avenues for future theoretical development, i.e., the examination of how motivated behavior is realized through mental computational processes.

Developmental trajectories of achievement emotions in mathematics during adolescence.

This study examined how adolescents' emotions in mathematics develop over time. Growth curve modeling was applied to longitudinal data collected annually from 2002 to 2006 (Grades 5-9; N = 3425 German adolescents; Mage = 11.7, 15.6 years at the first and last waves, respectively; 50.0% female). Results indicated that enjoyment and pride decreased over time (Glass's Δs = -.86, -.71). In contrast, negative emotions exhibited more complex patterns: Anger, boredom, and hopelessness increased (Δs = .52, .79, .26), shame decreased (Δ = -.12), and anxiety remained stable (Δ = .00). These change trajectories of emotions were associated with change trajectories of perceived control, intrinsic value, achievement value, and achievement in mathematics. Implications and future directions are discussed.

The aesthetic valve: how aesthetic appreciation may switch emotional states from anxiety to curiosity.

Pursuing new knowledge in the entropic environment is pivotal for survival. However, dealing with uncertainty is a costly challenge for the agent surrounded by the stochastic sensory world, giving rise to different epistemic emotions, such as curiosity and anxiety. We recently proposed that aesthetic appreciation may have the role of associating pleasant feedback with the update of predictive representations. According to this idea, aesthetic appreciation and its associated rewarding feeling could drive people to seek new knowledge over anxiety. However, the relationship between aesthetic appreciation, curiosity, and anxiety has been still under-examined in the literature. Here, we explore the relationship between these epistemic emotions in a series of three experiments. In study 1, we examined whether music-induced aesthetic appreciation would influence curiosity in a gambling task. In studies 2a and 2b, we explore the relationship between music-induced aesthetic appreciation and anxiety state. Overall, aesthetic appreciation promoted curiosity-driven behaviour while it was negatively associated with anxiety. These results were consistent with the idea that aesthetic appreciation could act as a 'valve', prompting the individual to perceive curiosity (i.e. to consider novelty as a valuable opportunity to acquire new knowledge) rather than anxiety (i.e. to consider novelty as a risk to be avoided). This article is part of the theme issue 'Art, aesthetics and predictive processing: theoretical and empirical perspectives'.

Does students' awareness of school-track-related stereotypes exacerbate inequalities in education?

Early ability tracking increases inequalities in education. It has been proposed that the awareness of negative school-track-related stereotypes contributes to educational inequalities, as stereotype awareness interferes with students' abilities to thrive, particularly those in lower, stigmatized tracks. The present study tested this assumption in a sample of 3880 German secondary school students from three tracks, who were assessed four times on stereotype awareness regarding their own school track and academic outcomes (achievement, engagement, self-concept) between Grades 5 and 8. Students in the lowest track reported higher levels of stereotype awareness than higher track students or students attending a combined track. Stereotype awareness increased across time in all tracks. Contrary to our preregistered hypotheses, however, the results from multigroup models revealed that (changes in) stereotype awareness were not more strongly related to (changes in) most outcomes in the lowest track in comparison with the other two tracks.

Metacognition of curiosity: People underestimate the seductive lure of non-instrumental information.

Curiosity - the desire to seek information - is fundamental for learning and performance. Studies on curiosity have shown that people are intrinsically motivated to seek information even if it does not bring an immediate tangible benefit (i.e., non-instrumental information), but little is known as to whether people have the metacognitive capability to accurately monitor their motivation for seeking information. We examined whether people can accurately predict their own non-instrumental information-seeking behavior. Across six experiments (Experiments 1A-1E and 2, total N = 579), participants predicted that they would engage in information-seeking behavior less frequently than they actually did, suggesting that people tend to underestimate the motivational lure of curiosity. Overall, there was no consistent statistical evidence that this underestimation was altered by contextual factors (e.g., the cost to seek information). These results were consistent with the theoretical account that it is difficult for people to make sense of the internally rewarding value of information in advance.

A systematic review and meta-analysis of nonpharmacological interventions for children and adolescents with selective mutism.

Background: Selective mutism (SM) is an anxiety disorder that often starts in early years with serious and lasting consequences. Nonpharmacological interventions are commonly seen as the preferred first treatment. This systematic review identifies outcome measures used and outcomes achieved for nonpharmacological interventions for children and adolescents with SM. Methods: Systematic searches were conducted using 13 electronic databases and hand searches, including peer-reviewed and grey literature since 1992. Results: Twenty-five studies were identified. While specific measures varied, all studies reported an outcome measure for speaking behaviour and 18 used a measure of anxiety. Few studies reported measures of SM remission (k = 6), well-being (k = 6), academic impact (k = 2), or quality of life (k = 1). Within subject outcomes for nonpharmacological interventions were variable for improvements in speaking behaviours (very small to large positive effects) and reduction in anxiety symptoms (very small negative to large positive effects). Only five randomised controlled trials (RCTs) were included in the meta-analysis. Three studies compared a combined systems/behavioural approach with waitlist controls indicating a significant and large effect (Hedges g = 1.06, p < .0001, 95% CI: 0.57-1.56) on improved speaking behaviour. Two of these RCTs showed a large effect for SM remission favouring the intervention (Risk Ratio = 4.25, p = .1774, 95% CI: 0.52-34.84) but this did not reach statistical significance. Non-significant outcomes for two RCTs with active controls (Hedges g = 0.55, p < .2885, 95% CI: -0.47 to 1.57) showed considerable heterogeneity in approach and outcomes, one with large and one with negligible effects. Conclusion: Despite the considerable impairment caused by SM, there has been little systematic evaluation of non-pharmacological interventions. Although combined systems/behavioural interventions are promising, further systematic evaluations are urgently needed to inform treatment approaches. Cross-study measurement harmonisation is required to promote learning from all studies, including wider clinical and economic outcomes. Clinical Trial Registration: Not applicable.

Encouraging willingness to try insect foods with a utility-value intervention.

Despite the benefits of eating insects (entomophagy), Western society is often inclined to reject this practice based on initial reactions of disgust. It is suggested there is potential to overcome this attitude through increasing interest and gaining knowledge of the benefits. One way to accomplish this is through an adapted utility-value intervention, traditionally applied in education research, to increase interest and perceived value in a topic. Across two studies (each with a one-month follow-up) participants researched and wrote an essay designed to increase interest and value in entomophagy or a control essay. Participants then completed a rating task assessing their willingness to try insect and familiar foods, along with other key attributes (e.g., sustainability). The utility-value intervention increased willingness to try insect foods as well as other key attributes compared to a non-insect control essay (Study 1). Unexpectedly, we also found a potentially similar (but smaller) effect of researching an insect-based recipe (Study 2) on willingness to try. The effects found in both studies were consistent at follow-up. These findings indicate the usefulness of utility-value interventions in encouraging entomophagy but also suggest that exposure to information about insect food, although less effective than a utility-value intervention, may also be sufficient.

People underestimate their capability to motivate themselves without performance-based extrinsic incentives.

Research has shown that we are endowed with a remarkable capacity to motivate ourselves in the absence of extrinsic incentives (i.e. intrinsic motivation). However, little research has been conducted to investigate whether we accurately appreciate the power of intrinsic motivation. The current research aimed to examine the metacognitive accuracy of the extent to which people can motivate themselves without performance-based extrinsic incentives. Participants were presented with a relatively long and repetitive task without extrinsic incentives, and before doing the task, they were asked to predict their motivation on completion of the task. Across seven experiments using a variety of tasks with different populations from different countries, participants were consistently engaged in the task more actively than they predicted. When participants were provided with performance-based monetary rewards, however, this bias was diminished. These results indicate that we tend to underappreciate our capability to sustain our motivation without extrinsic incentives. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11031-022-09996-5.

Random item slope regression: An alternative measurement model that accounts for both similarities and differences in association with individual items.

In psychology, researchers often predict a dependent variable (DV) consisting of multiple measurements (e.g., scale items measuring a concept). To analyze the data, researchers typically aggregate (sum/average) scores across items and use this as a DV. Alternatively, they may define the DV as a common factor using structural equation modeling. However, both approaches neglect the possibility that an independent variable (IV) may have different relationships to individual items. This variance in individual item slopes arises because items are randomly sampled from an infinite pool of items reflecting the construct that the scale purports to measure. Here, we offer a mixed-effects model called random item slope regression, which accounts for both similarities and differences of individual item associations. Critically, we argue that random item slope regression poses an alternative measurement model to common factor models prevalent in psychology. Unlike these models, the proposed model supposes no latent constructs and instead assumes that individual items have direct causal relationships with the IV. Such operationalization is especially useful when researchers want to assess a broad construct with heterogeneous items. Using mathematical proof and simulation, we demonstrate that random item slopes cause inflation of Type I error when not accounted for, particularly when the sample size (number of participants) is large. In real-world data (n = 564 participants) using commonly used surveys and two reaction time tasks, we demonstrate that random item slopes are present at problematic levels. We further demonstrate that common statistical indices are not sufficient to diagnose the presence of random item slopes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Uncertainty drives exploration of negative information across younger and older adults.

Although individuals generally avoid negative information, recent research documents that they voluntarily explore negative information to resolve uncertainty. However, it remains unclear (a) whether uncertainty facilitates exploration similarly when exploration is expected to lead to negative, neutral, or positive information, and (b) whether older adults seek negative information to reduce uncertainty like younger adults do. This study addresses the two issues across four experimental studies (N = 407). The results indicate that individuals are more likely to expose themselves to negative information when uncertainty is high. In contrast, when information was expected to be neutral or positive, the uncertainty surrounding it did not significantly alter individuals' exploration behavior. Furthermore, we found that uncertainty increased the exploration of negative information in both older and younger adults. In addition, both younger and older adults chose to explore negative information to reduce uncertainty, even when there were positive or neutral alternatives. In contrast to the age-related similarities in these behavioral measures, older adults demonstrated reduced scores in questionnaires on sensation seeking and curiosity, relative to their counterparts who were younger. These results suggest that information uncertainty has a selective facilitation effect on exploration for negative information and that normal aging does not alter this tendency, despite age-related reductions in self-reported measures of personality traits relevant to information seeking.

Longitudinal Association between Maternal Autonomy Support and Controlling Parenting and Adolescents' Depressive Symptoms.

Most studies on autonomy support and controlling parenting rely on children's perceptions, despite the limitations of this approach. This study investigated congruency between autonomy support and controlling parenting reported by mothers and adolescents and their association with adolescents' depressive symptoms via basic psychological needs satisfaction. Participants included 408 Japanese mother-adolescent (Mage = 13.73, SD = 0.90, 52% female) pairs who completed a questionnaire at two time points four months apart. Results demonstrated low to moderate levels of mother-adolescent agreement. Cross-lagged regression models revealed that mothers' reported autonomy support positively predicted adolescents' basic psychological needs satisfactions, which was negatively associated with depressive symptoms. The independent roles of parenting reported by mothers and adolescents for adolescents' well-being were discussed.

Stimulus-specific random effects inflate false-positive classification accuracy in multivariate-voxel-pattern-analysis: A solution with generalized mixed-effects modelling.

When conducting multivariate-voxel pattern analysis (MVPA), researchers typically compute the average accuracy for each subject and statistically test if the average accuracy is different from the chance level across subjects (by-subject analysis). We argue that this traditional by-subject analysis leads to inflated Type-1 error rates, regardless of the type of machine learning method used (e.g., support vector machine). This is because by-subject analysis does not consider the variance attributed to the idiosyncratic features of the stimuli that have a common influence on all subjects (i.e., the random stimulus effect). As a solution, we proposed the use of generalized linear mixed-effects modelling to evaluate average accuracy. This method only requires post-classification data (i.e., it does not consider the type of classification methods used) and is easily implemented in the analysis pipeline with common statistical software (SPSS, R, Python, etc.). Using both statistical simulation and real fMRI data analysis, we demonstrated that the traditional by-subject method indeed increases Type-1 error rates to a considerable degree, while generalized mixed-effects modelling that incorporates random stimulus effects can indeed maintain the nominal Type-1 error rates.

Motivated for near impossibility: How task type and reward modulate task enjoyment and the striatal activation for extremely difficult task.

Economic and decision-making theories suppose that people would disengage from a task with near zero success probability, because this implicates little normative utility values. However, humans often are motivated for an extremely challenging task, even without any extrinsic incentives. The current study aimed to address the nature of this challenge-based motivation and its neural correlates. We found that, when participants played a skill-based task without extrinsic incentives, their task enjoyment increased as the chance of success decreased, even if the task was almost impossible to achieve. However, such challenge-based motivation was not observed when participants were rewarded for the task or the reward was determined in a probabilistic manner. The activation in the ventral striatum/pallidum tracked the pattern of task enjoyment. These results suggest that people are intrinsically motivated to challenge a nearly impossible task but only when the task requires certain skills and extrinsic rewards are unavailable.

Memory of the U.K.'s 2016 EU referendum: The effects of valence on the long-term measures of a public event.

Emotional public events, relative to nonemotional ones, are typically remembered more accurately, more vividly, and with more confidence. However, the majority of previous studies investigating this have focused on negative public events and less is known about positive ones. The current study examined whether positive and negative public events were remembered in a similar manner by assessing individuals' memory for the time when they learned the results of the United Kingdom's 2016 Referendum on its European Union (EU) membership. Participants included U.K. participants who voted to leave the EU in the referendum and found the event highly positive, U.K. participants who voted to remain in the EU and found the event highly negative, and U.S. participants who did not vote and found the event neutral. Data from a total of 851 participants were assessed at four time points over the course of 16 months. Growth curve modeling showed that differences in memory between participants in the Remain group (who reported the highest levels of negative emotion) and those in the Leave group (who reported the highest levels of positive emotion) emerged over time. Specifically, Remain participants maintained higher levels of memory consistency than Leave participants, whereas Leave participants maintained higher levels of memory confidence than Remain participants. These results indicate that positive and negative public events are remembered differently, such that negative valence enhances memory accuracy, while positive valence results in overconfidence. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Parental perception matters: Reciprocal relations between adolescents' depressive symptoms and parental perceptions.

A large body of research has shown that parents play a vital role in the development of adolescents' depression. However, previous research has overlooked the effects of a potentially critical factor, namely, parental perceptions, and beliefs about adolescents' depression. The present study examined whether parental perceptions of an adolescent's depressive symptoms predict longitudinal changes in adolescents' symptoms (i.e., the parental perception effect). The longitudinal relationship between adolescents' depressive symptoms and parental perceptions of the adolescents' symptoms was analyzed in three independent groups of parent-adolescent pairs (in total N = 1,228). Parental perception and monitoring effects were found in Studies 1B and 2 only in the depressive mood subscale. While a decreased enjoyment subscale showed a perception effect in Study 1A, we obtained null results from other studies. We synthesized the results by applying meta-analytic structural equation modeling to obtain a more robust estimate. The analysis qualified both perception and monitoring effects in both subscales. Our results suggest that when parents believe that their adolescent child is depressed, adolescents are cognitively biased by their parental perceptions over time, resulting in more severe depressive symptoms. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Mastery-approach goals: A large-scale cross-cultural analysis of antecedents and consequences.

Mastery-approach (MAP) goals, focusing on developing competence and acquiring task mastery, are posited to be the most optimal, beneficial type of achievement goal for academic and life outcomes. Although there is meta-analytic evidence supporting this finding, such evidence does not allow us to conclude that the extant MAP goal findings generalize across cultures. Meta-analyses have often suffered from overrepresentation of Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic (WEIRD) samples; reliance on bivariate correlations; and lack the ability to directly control individual-level background variables. To address these limitations, this study used nationally representative data from 77 countries/regions (N = 595,444 adolescents) to examine the relations of MAP goals to four antecedents (workmastery, competitiveness, fear of failure, fixed mindset) and 16 consequences (task-specific motivational, achievement-related, and well-being outcomes), and tested the cross-cultural generalizability of these relations. Results showed that MAP goals were: (a) grounded primarily in positive but not negative achievement motives/beliefs; (b) most strongly predictive of well-being outcomes, followed by adaptive motivation; (c) positively but consistently weakly associated with achievement-related outcomes, particularly for academic performance (ß = .069); (d) negatively and weakly associated with maladaptive outcomes; and (e) uniquely predictive of various consequences, controlling for the antecedents and covariates. Further, the MAP goal predictions were generalizable across countries/regions for 13 of 16 consequences. While directions of effect sizes were slightly mixed for academic performance, perceived reading, and PISA test difficulty, the effect sizes were consistently small for most countries/regions. This generalizability points to quite strong cross-cultural support for the observed patterns. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Counterfactual curiosity: motivated thinking about what might have been.

Counterfactual information, information about what might have been, forms the content of counterfactual thoughts and emotions like regret and relief. Recent research suggests that human adults and children, as well as rhesus monkeys, demonstrate 'counterfactual curiosity': they are motivated to seek out counterfactual information after making decisions. Based on contemporary theories of curiosity and information seeking and a broad range of empirical literature, we suggest multiple heterogeneous psychological processes that contribute to people's motivation for counterfactual information. This includes processes that are identified in the curiosity literature more generally-the potential use of counterfactual information for adaptive decision making (its long-term instrumental value) and the drive to reduce uncertainty. Additionally, we suggest that counterfactual information may be particularly alluring because of its role in causal reasoning; its relationship with prediction and decision making; and its potential to fulfil emotion regulation and self-serving goals. Some future directions have been suggested, including investigating the role of individual differences in counterfactual curiosity on learning and wellbeing. This article is part of the theme issue 'Thinking about possibilities: mechanisms, ontogeny, functions and phylogeny'.

Resting-state functional connectivity does not predict individual differences in the effects of emotion on memory.

Emotion-laden events and objects are typically better remembered than neutral ones. This is usually explained by stronger functional coupling in the brain evoked by emotional content. However, most research on this issue has focused on functional connectivity evoked during or after learning. The effect of an individual's functional connectivity at rest is unknown. Our pre-registered study addresses this issue by analysing a large database, the Cambridge Centre for Ageing and Neuroscience, which includes resting-state data and emotional memory scores from 303 participants aged 18-87 years. We applied regularised regression to select the relevant connections and replicated previous findings that whole-brain resting-state functional connectivity can predict age and intelligence in younger adults. However, whole-brain functional connectivity predicted neither an emotional enhancement effect (i.e., the degree to which emotionally positive or negative events are remembered better than neutral events) nor a positivity bias effect (i.e., the degree to which emotionally positive events are remembered better than negative events), failing to support our pre-registered hypotheses. These results imply a small or no association between individual differences in functional connectivity at rest and emotional memory, and support recent notions that resting-state functional connectivity is not always useful in predicting individual differences in behavioural measures.

Thinking about thinking: People underestimate how enjoyable and engaging just waiting is.

The ability to engage in internal thoughts without external stimulation is a unique characteristic in humans. The current research tested the hypothesis that people metacognitively underestimate their capability to enjoy this process of "just thinking." Participants (university students; total N = 259) were asked to sit and wait in a quiet room without doing anything. Across six experiments, we consistently found that participants' predicted enjoyment and engagement for the waiting task were significantly less than what they actually experienced. This underappreciation of just thinking also led participants to proactively avoid the waiting task in favor of an alternative task (i.e., Internet news checking), despite their experiences not being statistically different. These results suggest an inherent difficulty in accurately appreciating how engaging just thinking can be, and could explain why people prefer keeping themselves busy, rather than taking a moment for reflection and imagination in our daily life. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).