Occupational depression in a Spanish-speaking sample: associations with cognitive performance and work-life characteristics / Depresión ocupacional en una muestra hispanohablante: asociaciones con el rendimiento cognitivo y características de la vida laboral

This 386-participant study investigated the structural and psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the Occupational Depression Inventory (ODI). Exploratory structural equation modeling bifactor analysis revealed that the ODI meets the requirements for essential unidimensionality. Measurement invariance held across our sample and the English- and French-speaking samples used in the ODI's initial validation study. Mokken scale analysis indicated that (a) the scalability of the instrument was strong, (b) no violations of monotonicity or local independence were present, and (c) invariant item ordering was sufficiently accurate. The ODI's reliability was optimal. The ODI exhibited both convergent validity and discriminant validity vis-à-vis a job-unrelated measure of depression. Furthermore, occupational depression correlated substantially, and in the expected direction, with objective cognitive performance and 10 widely studied work-life characteristics. This study suggests that the ODI's Spanish version has excellent structural and psychometric properties and can be confidently employed by occupational health specialists.(AU)

El presente estudio, realizado con 386 participantes, ha indagado en las propiedades estructurales y psicométricas de la versión española del Inventario de Depresión Ocupacional (ODI, según sus siglas en inglés). Un análisis bifactorial de un modelo exploratorio de ecuaciones estructurales mostró que el ODI reúne los requisitos de unidimensionalidad esencial. La invarianza de la medida se mantuvo en nuestra muestra y en las muestras anglo y francoparlantes utilizadas en el estudio de validación inicial. Un análisis Mokken de la escala indica que: a) el instrumento tenía un fuerte carácter escalar, b) no hubo violación de la monotonicidad o independencia local y c) el orden invariante de los ítems fue lo suficientemente preciso. La fiabilidad ha sido óptima. El ODI presentó tanto validez convergente como discriminante en relación con una medida de depresión no relacionada con el trabajo. Además, la depresión laboral correlacionó en gran medida, en la dirección esperada, con el desempeño cognitivo objetivo y 10 características muy estudiadas de la vida laboral. El estudio destaca que la versión española del ODI tiene unas propiedades estructurales y psicométricas excelentes, por lo que puede utilizarse con toda confianza por los especialistas en salud ocupacional.(AU)

Trading mental effort for confidence in the metacognitive control of value-based decision-making.

Why do we sometimes opt for actions or items that we do not value the most? Under current neurocomputational theories, such preference reversals are typically interpreted in terms of errors that arise from the unreliable signaling of value to brain decision systems. But, an alternative explanation is that people may change their mind because they are reassessing the value of alternative options while pondering the decision. So, why do we carefully ponder some decisions, but not others? In this work, we derive a computational model of the metacognitive control of decisions or MCD. In brief, we assume that fast and automatic processes first provide initial (and largely uncertain) representations of options' values, yielding prior estimates of decision difficulty. These uncertain value representations are then refined by deploying cognitive (e.g., attentional, mnesic) resources, the allocation of which is controlled by an effort-confidence tradeoff. Importantly, the anticipated benefit of allocating resources varies in a decision-by-decision manner according to the prior estimate of decision difficulty. The ensuing MCD model predicts response time, subjective feeling of effort, choice confidence, changes of mind, as well as choice-induced preference change and certainty gain. We test these predictions in a systematic manner, using a dedicated behavioral paradigm. Our results provide a quantitative link between mental effort, choice confidence, and preference reversals, which could inform interpretations of related neuroimaging findings.

Expected Value of Control and the Motivational Control of Habitual Action.

A hallmark of habitual actions is that, once they are established, they become insensitive to changes in the values of action outcomes. In this article, we review empirical research that examined effects of posttraining changes in outcome values in outcome-selective Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer (PIT) tasks. This review suggests that cue-instigated action tendencies in these tasks are not affected by weak and/or incomplete revaluation procedures (e.g., selective satiety) and substantially disrupted by a strong and complete devaluation of reinforcers. In a second part, we discuss two alternative models of a motivational control of habitual action: a default-interventionist framework and expected value of control theory. It is argued that the default-interventionist framework cannot solve the problem of an infinite regress (i.e., what controls the controller?). In contrast, expected value of control can explain control of habitual actions with local computations and feedback loops without (implicit) references to control homunculi. It is argued that insensitivity to changes in action outcomes is not an intrinsic design feature of habits but, rather, a function of the cognitive system that controls habitual action tendencies.

Role of the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex in obsessive-compulsive disorder: converging evidence from cognitive neuroscience and psychiatric neurosurgery.

OBJECTIVE Advances in understanding the neurobiological basis of psychiatric disorders will improve the ability to refine neuromodulatory procedures for treatment-refractory patients. One of the core dysfunctions in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a deficit in cognitive control, especially involving the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC). The authors' aim was to derive a neurobiological understanding of the successful treatment of refractory OCD with psychiatric neurosurgical procedures targeting the dACC. METHODS First, the authors systematically conducted a review of the literature on the role of the dACC in OCD by using the search terms "obsessive compulsive disorder" and "anterior cingulate." The neuroscience literature on cognitive control mechanisms in the dACC was then combined with the literature on psychiatric neurosurgical procedures targeting the dACC for the treatment of refractory OCD. RESULTS The authors reviewed 89 studies covering topics that included structural and functional neuroimaging and electrophysiology. The majority of resting-state functional neuroimaging studies demonstrated dACC hyperactivity in patients with OCD relative to that in controls, while task-based studies were more variable. Electrophysiological studies showed altered dACC-related biomarkers of cognitive control, such as error-related negativity in OCD patients. These studies were combined with the cognitive control neurophysiology literature, including the recently elaborated expected value of control theory of dACC function. The authors suggest that a central feature of OCD pathophysiology involves the generation of mis-specified cognitive control signals by the dACC, and they elaborate on this theory and provide suggestions for further study. CONCLUSIONS Although abnormalities in brain structure and function in OCD are distributed across a wide network, the dACC plays a central role. The authors propose a theory of cognitive control dysfunction in OCD that attempts to explain the therapeutic efficacy of dACC neuromodulation. This theoretical framework should help to guide further research into targeted treatments of OCD and other disorders of cognitive control.