The triple psychological and neural bases underlying procrastination: Evidence based on a two-year longitudinal study.

The triple brain anatomical network model of procrastination theorized procrastination as the result of psychological and neural dysfunction implicated in self-control, emotion regulation and episodic prospection. However, no studies have provided empirical evidence for such model. To address this issue, we designed a two-wave longitudinal study where participants underwent the resting-state scanning and completed the questionnaires at two time-points that spanned 2-year apart (T1, n = 457; T2, n = 457). Using the cross-lagged panel network modeling (CLPN), we found that triple psychological components at T1, including self-control, emotion regulation (i.e., reappraisal) and episodic prospection, negatively predicted procrastination at T2 in the temporal network. Moreover, the CLPN modeling found that functional connectivity between networks accounting for episodic prospection (EP) and emotion regulation (ER) positively predicted future procrastination in the temporal network. The centrality analyzes further showed that procrastination was greatly affected by other nodes, whilst the psychological component (i.e., episodic prospection), and the functional network connectivity (FNC) of EP- ER exerted strongest impacts on other nodes in the networks, which indicated that treatments targeting episodic prospection might largely help reduce procrastination. Collectively, these findings firstly provide evidence for testifying the triple brain anatomical network model of procrastination, and highlights the contribution of triple psychological and neural components implicated in self-control, emotion regulation and episodic prospection to procrastination that enhances our understanding of causes of procrastination.

The functional connectivity between left insula and left medial superior frontal gyrus underlying the relationship between rumination and procrastination.

Procrastination is regarded as a prevalent problematic behavior that impairs people's physical and mental health. Although previous studies have indicated that trait rumination is robustly positively correlated with procrastination, it remains unknown about the neural substrates underlying the relationship between trait rumination and procrastination. To address this issue, we used voxel-based morphometry (VBM) and resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) approaches to explore the neural basis of the relationship between trait rumination and procrastination. Our behavior results found that trait rumination was significantly positively correlated to procrastination, while the VBM analysis showed that trait rumination was negatively correlated with gray matter volume of the insula. Furthermore, the RSFC results revealed a negative association of the left insula-lmSFG (left medial superior frontal gyrus) functional connectivity with trait rumination. More importantly, the mediation analysis showed that trait rumination could completely mediate the relationship between left insula-lmSFG functional connectivity and procrastination. These results suggest that the left insula-lmSFG functional connectivity involved in emotion regulation modulates the association between trait rumination and procrastination, which provides neural evidence for the relationship between trait rumination and procrastination.

Neural connectome features of procrastination: Current progress and future direction.

Procrastination refers to an irrationally delay for intended courses of action despite of anticipating a negative consequence due to this delay. Previous studies tried to reveal the neural substrates of procrastination in terms of connectome-based biomarkers. Based on this, we proposed a unified triple brain network model for procrastination and pinpointed out what challenges we are facing in understanding neural mechanism of procrastination. Specifically, based on neuroanatomical features, the unified triple brain network model proposed that connectome-based underpinning of procrastination could be ascribed to the abnormalities of self-control network (i.e., dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, DLPFC), emotion-regulation network (i.e., orbital frontal cortex, OFC), and episodic prospection network (i.e., para-hippocampus cortex, PHC). Moreover, based on the brain functional features, procrastination had been attributed to disruptive neural circuits on FPN (frontoparietal network)-SCN (subcortical network) and FPN-SAN (salience network), which led us to hypothesize the crucial roles of interplay between these networks on procrastination in unified triple brain network model. Despite of these findings, poor interpretability and computational model limited further understanding for procrastination from theoretical and neural perspectives. On balance, the current study provided an overview to show current progress on the connectome-based biomarkers for procrastination, and proposed the integrative neurocognitive model of procrastination.

The Functional Connectivity Between Right Middle Temporal Gyrus and Right Superior Frontal Gyrus Impacted Procrastination through Neuroticism.

Procrastination is generally recognized as a problematic behavior and the consequences of which spread to various aspects of an individual's life such as academic performance, social accomplishment, well-being, and health. Previous studies have indicated that neuroticism is positively correlated with procrastination; however, little is known about the neural substrates underlying the link between neuroticism and procrastination. To address this issue, we employed voxel-based morphometry (VBM) and resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) methods to investigate the neural underpinning for their relationship in the present study (N = 153). Consistent with our hypothesis, the behavior results verified a positive correlation between neuroticism and procrastination (r = 0.47). The VBM analysis revealed that the gray matter (GM) volumes in the right middle temporal gyrus (RMTG) were positively correlated with neuroticism. Moreover, results from RSFC analysis suggested that the functional connectivity between RMTG and the right superior frontal gyrus (RSFG) was positively associated with neuroticism. More importantly, a mediation analysis demonstrated that neuroticism played a full mediating role in the impact of RMTG-RSFG functional connectivity on procrastination. Overall, the present study offered new insights into the relation between neuroticism and procrastination from a neural basis perspective, which also suggested the importance of emotional regulation with regard to the link between such an association.

Neural basis underlying the association between expressive suppression and procrastination: The mediation role of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex.

Procrastination can lead to a variety of negative consequences, including poorer health conditions and more financial issues. Previous researches highlight that procrastination is a result of the failure of emotion-regulation. Although substantial studies have shown that emotion regulation plays an essential role in procrastination, little is known about the neural basis of the relationship between expressive suppression and procrastination. To address this question, we employed the voxel-based morphometry (VBM) method to investigate the neural basis underlying how expressive suppression links to procrastination across two independent samples (sample1, N = 98). Expressive suppression was significantly negatively associated with procrastination. Furthermore, VBM results indicated that expressive suppression was positively correlated with gray matter (GM) volumes of the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC). More importantly, the GM volumes in dlPFC mediated the relationship between expressive suppression and procrastination, which was further replicated in an independent sample (sample 2, N = 110). These findings suggest that dlPFC, which plays a crucial role in inhibitory control, may be the key brain region mediating the relation between expressive suppression and procrastination. The current work provides a new perspective to understand how emotion regulation in terms of expressive suppression plays a role in procrastination.

The effect of conscientiousness on procrastination: The interaction between the self-control and motivation neural pathways.

Procrastination is a prevalent and universal problematic behavior, largely impairing individual's health, wealth and well-being. Substantial studies have confirmed that conscientiousness, one of the big five personality, showed markedly inverse relation with procrastination. However, it is hitherto unknown about the neural basis underlying the impact of conscientiousness on procrastination. To address this issue, we employed the voxel-based morphometry (VBM) and resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) methods to explore the neural substrates of conscientiousness responsible for procrastination (N = 330). In line with previous findings, the behavioral results showed a strong negative correlation between conscientiousness and procrastination (r = -.75). The VBM analysis found that conscientiousness was positively correlated with gray matter (GM) volumes in the left dorsal-lateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC), right orbital frontal cortex (OFC) and right putamen, but negatively correlated with that in the left insula. Moreover, the RSFC results revealed that both dlPFC-IPL (inferior parietal lobule) and dlPFC-PCC (posterior cingulate gyrus) functional connectivity were positively associated with conscientiousness, while the functional connectivity of parahippocampal gyrus (PHC)-putamen and insula-IPL were negatively associated with conscientiousness. More importantly, the structural equation modeling (SEM) integrating RSFC results were well fitted for the influence process of conscientiousness on procrastination by both self-control (i.e., dlPFC-IPL, dlPFC-PCC) and motivation pathways (i.e., PHC-putamen, insula-IPL). The current findings suggest that self-control and motivation could be the two neural pathways underlying the impact of conscientiousness on procrastination, which provides a new perspective to understand the relationship between conscientiousness and procrastination.

I could do it now, but I'd rather (forget to) do it later: examining links between procrastination and prospective memory failures.

Prospective memory (PM) represents the ability to remember to perform planned actions after a certain delay. As previous studies suggest that even brief task-delays can negatively affect PM performance, the current study set out to examine whether procrastination (intentionally delaying task execution despite possible negative consequences) may represent a factor contributing to PM failures. Specifically, we assessed procrastination (via a standardized questionnaire as well as an objective behavioral measure) and PM failures (via a naturalistic PM task) in 92 young adults. Results show that participants' self-reports as well as their actual procrastination behavior predicted the number of PM failures, corroborating the impact of procrastination on PM. Subsequent cluster analyses suggest three distinct procrastination profiles (non-procrastinators, conscious procrastinators and unconscious procrastinators), providing new conceptual insights into different mechanisms of how procrastinating may lead to forgetting to perform planned tasks.

The overlapping region in right hippocampus accounting for the link between trait anxiety and procrastination.

Procrastination refers as putting off an intended course of action voluntarily despite expecting to be worse off for the delay, ubiquitously causing troubles across life domains. Prior studies revealed the positive correlation between trait anxiety and procrastination. However, little was known about the neural substrates responsible for the relation between trait anxiety and procrastination. To address this issue, the current study explored the neural basis underlying how trait anxiety linked to procrastination using the voxel-based morphometry (VBM) method across two independent samples. In line with previous studies, the behavioral result confirmed that trait anxiety was positively correlated with procrastination (sample 1). The VBM analyses showed that trait anxiety and procrastination shared the common neural underpinnings in the right hippocampus (sample 1). To verify the reliability of results, the overlapping region in the right hippocampus was defined as a region of interest (ROI) to extract the GM volumes of this area in sample 2. Furthermore, the mediation analysis showed that the GM volumes in the overlapping region played a mediating role in the relationship between trait anxiety and procrastination (sample 2). These results suggested the shared anatomical structure in the right hippocampus, a region implicated in episodic prospection, could be responsible for how trait anxiety related to procrastination. Taken together, present findings yielded insights into the role of episodic prospection accounting for the relationship between trait anxiety and procrastination from a neural basis perspective.

The impact of bedtime procrastination on depression symptoms in Chinese medical students.

PURPOSE: Depression symptoms are closely related to inadequate sleep and are experienced by medical students at an increased rate. Bedtime procrastination is considered a new, important predictor of sleep deficiency. However, whether there is a correlation between bedtime procrastination and depression symptoms remains unclear. This study aimed to examine the impact of bedtime procrastination on depression symptoms among medical students. METHODS: A total of 419 Chinese medical students were invited to participate in this study, and 401 participants (mean age, 19.48 years; range, 17-23 years) were included in the final statistical analysis. Depression symptoms and bedtime procrastination were assessed using the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) and the Bedtime Procrastination Scale (BPS), respectively. RESULTS: The prevalence of depression symptoms in Chinese medical students was 26.9%. The mean BPS scores were significantly higher in the depressed group than in the non-depressed group. Binary logistic regression analysis identified that bedtime procrastination was an independent contributor to the prevalence of depression symptoms. Further correlation and multiple linear regression analyses demonstrated that the BDI scores were significantly and positively associated with the BPS scores in students without depression, while the BDI scores correlated with male students experiencing depression. CONCLUSIONS: Depression symptoms, which become more prevalent among Chinese medical students, are found to independently associate with bedtime procrastination. In particular, the severity of depression symptoms shows a positive correlation with increased bedtime procrastination before developing into depression, and it shows correlation with sex only in a state of depression.

Modeling procrastination: Asymmetric decisions to act between the present and the future.

Although procrastination has troubled people consistently, there is a lack of systematic theories to explain this behavior. The present study aims to propose and validate a temporal decision model to explain procrastination. The temporal decision model predicts that people will procrastinate on a task so long as the aversiveness of a task outweighs the utility of future incentive outcomes that this task can yield. Specifically, people perceive less aversiveness from a task when this task is scheduled in the future than in the present but expect that they can perceive higher utility from the incentive outcome in the future than in the present. Consequently, people are reluctant to do this task in the present but expect that they are willing to do it in the future (i.e., procrastination). We tested these predictions by measuring perceived task aversiveness, outcome utility, and decision for real-life tasks when the same tasks were scheduled with different delays. The results demonstrate that people expect that they would procrastinate a task as long as perceived task aversiveness is stronger than outcome utility and would stop procrastinating when perceived task aversiveness becomes comparable with outcome utility. Furthermore, people perceive less task aversiveness when the task is scheduled further away and expect that outcome utility would be higher when time gets closer to the delivery of outcome in the future. The present study explains procrastination by revealing how perceived aversiveness from a delayed task and expected outcome utility generate asymmetric decisions between the present and the future. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Self-Handicapping Among University Students: The Role of Procrastination, Test Anxiety, Self-Esteem, and Self-Compassion.

The purpose of the present study was to examine the predictor role of procrastination, test anxiety, self-esteem, and self-compassion for the variation in university students' self-handicapping. The sample of the study consisted of 801 undergraduate students (404 females and 397 males). In order to collect data, Self-Handicapping Scale, Tuckman Procrastination Scale, Anxiety Subscale of Academic Emotions Questionnaire, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, and Self-Compassion Scale were used. Stepwise regression analysis was conducted, and results showed that all of the predictor variables significantly contributed in explaining self-handicapping. The model explained the 59% of the variance in self-handicapping, whereas semi-partial variance of procrastination, test anxiety, self-esteem, and self-compassion were 17%, 4%, 2%, and 2%, respectively.

Brain Morphological Dynamics of Procrastination: The Crucial Role of the Self-Control, Emotional, and Episodic Prospection Network.

Globally, about 17% individuals are suffering from the maladaptive procrastination until now, which impacts individual's financial status, mental health, and even public policy. However, the comprehensive understanding of neuroanatomical understructure of procrastination still remains gap. 688 participants including 3 independent samples were recruited for this study. Brain morphological dynamics referred to the idiosyncrasies of both brain size and brain shape. Multilinear regression analysis was utilized to delineate brain morphological dynamics of procrastination in Sample 1. In the Sample 2, cross-validation was yielded. Finally, prediction models of machine learning were conducted in Sample 3. Procrastination had a significantly positive correlation with the gray matter volume (GMV) in the left insula, anterior cingulate gyrus (ACC), and parahippocampal gyrus (PHC) but was negatively correlated with GMV of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) and gray matter density of ACC. Furthermore, procrastination was positively correlated to the cortical thickness and cortical complexity of bilateral orbital frontal cortex (OFC). In Sample 2, all the results were cross-validated highly. Predication analysis demonstrated that these brain morphological dynamic can predict procrastination with high accuracy. This study ascertained the brain morphological dynamics involving in self-control, emotion, and episodic prospection brain network for procrastination, which advanced promising aspects of the biomarkers for it.

Attenuated brain activity during error processing and punishment anticipation in procrastination - a monetary Go/No-go fMRI study.

Procrastination is a self-regulatory failure in which people voluntarily but irrationally delay important tasks. Trait procrastination is estimated to affect 15-20% of the total population and leads to a significant decrease in performance, satisfaction with achievements, and quality of life. Procrastination is related to impulsivity and reduced executive control, especially in the domain of inhibition. Moreover, procrastinatory tendencies seem to increase with negative affect, suggesting impaired emotion regulation. The aim of this study was to investigate the neuronal mechanisms of inhibition, error processing, and behavioral control under pressure of punishment in procrastinators. Non-student subjects recruited to low (LP) and high procrastination (HP) groups performed an fMRI monetary Go/No-go task. HP showed significantly lower error-related activity in ACC than LP. There was also a significant group by condition interaction in the ACC and right DLPFC suggesting increase of control during the punishment condition in LP but not HP group. These results suggest that procrastinators have impaired error processing mechanisms which may add to the persistence of procrastination through difficulties in correction of faulty behaviors. Procrastination also seems to be related to a decreased ability to intensify self-control in more demanding situations and/or impaired coping in the context of negative situations.

The role of personality traits and need for cognition in active procrastination.

Recent research has differentiated between active and passive procrastination, with the former considered to be beneficial for learning and the latter considered to be harmful. Studies have shown that both personality and cognitive factors are important in students' active procrastination. This study examines how interactions between the Big Five personality traits and the need for cognition affect students' active procrastination. The hypotheses were tested empirically using cross-sectional data collected from 307 university students in China. After controlling for age, a hierarchical regression analysis revealed that extraversion was a positive predictor of active procrastination, and that agreeableness and emotional instability were negative predictors of active procrastination. No significant interaction effects were found between personality traits and need for cognition. The implications of the findings are discussed.

Pre-crastination and procrastination effects occur in a reach-to-grasp task.

How do we decide which object to pick up when faced with two alternatives? Imagine one object is near, but needs to be carried a long distance, and the other object is far, but needs to be carried a short distance. You might predict that participants would favour the far object that needs to be carried a short distance. In other words, they would procrastinate and delay picking up an object to minimise physical effort. In actuality, participants prefer to carry the near object a long distance, which is called pre-crastination. Pre-crastination may be preferred to procrastination because picking up the first object hastens completion of the first goal of the task and, subsequently, decreases cognitive load. The goal of the current study was to further investigate the mechanisms of the pre-crastination effect. This was done by converting the primarily walking task used in the first study on pre-crastination to a reach-to-grasp task. This change enabled the measurement of the duration of information processing (i.e., reaction time) when participants decided which object to move. Surprisingly, participants exhibited a range of behaviours: about 40% pre-crastinated, 40% procrastinated, and 20% neither pre-crastinated nor procrastinated. We suggest that scaling the task down from a walking task to a reach-to-grasp task altered the physical effort, cognitive load, and the interaction between these task demands. This enabled some participants to pre-crastinate and others to procrastinate. There was an intriguing relationship between the duration of information processing and the behaviour of participants: participants with the shortest reaction time had the strongest tendency to pre-crastinate, and participants with the longest reaction time had the strongest tendency to procrastinate. These findings fit with the automatic pre-crastination response hypothesis; that the "decision" to pre-crastinate is automatic. This automaticity caused the short durations of information processing for participants who pre-crastinated. Participants who procrastinated had to, first, inhibit the automatic response to pre-crastinate, which caused long durations of information processing.

The Explanations People Give for Going to Bed Late: A Qualitative Study of the Varieties of Bedtime Procrastination.

Background/Objective: Bedtime procrastination is a prevalent cause of sleep deprivation, but little is known about why people delay their bedtimes. In the present research, we conducted a qualitative study with bedtime procrastinators to classify their self-reported reasons for later-than-intended bedtime. Participants: Participants (N = 17) were selected who frequently engaged in bedtime procrastination, but whose sleep was not otherwise affected by diagnosed sleep disorders or shift work. Method: We conducted in-depth, semistructured interviews and used thematic analysis to identify commonly recurring themes in the interviews. Results and conclusions: Three emerging themes were identified: deliberate procrastination, mindless procrastination, and strategic delay. For the form of procrastination we classified as deliberate procrastination, participants typically reported wilfully delaying their bedtime because they felt they deserved some time for themselves. For the category of mindless procrastination, a paradigmatic aspect was that participants lost track of the time due to being immersed in their evening activities. Finally, participants who engaged in strategic delay reported going to bed late because they felt they needed to in order to fall asleep (more quickly), which suggests that despite describing themselves as "procrastinating," their bedtime delay may actually be linked to undiagnosed insomnia. The conceptual distinctions drawn in this paper deepen our understanding of bedtime delay and may be helpful for designing effective interventions.

Insufficient task-outcome association promotes task procrastination through a decrease of hippocampal-striatal interaction.

Theories on procrastination propose that associating tasks with higher valued incentive outcomes results in less task procrastination. However, it remains unknown how representation of incentive outcomes and task-outcome association are mediated by the human brain. Using event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging, we scanned human participants while they were thinking about both tasks and the incentive outcomes each task can yield in an unconstrained way. Results showed that tasks that are more likely to be procrastinated are associated with less value in incentive outcomes. Interestingly, procrastination was more likely if it was more difficult for participants to associate a task with its valued incentives when thinking about the task (i.e., the decreased task-outcome association). On the neural level, higher value of rewarding outcomes was correlated with increased putamen activations, which further negatively predicted task procrastination. On the other hand, when participants were associating tasks with the incentive outcomes, the decreasing task-outcome association corresponded to decreasing activation in putamen, and a decreasing hippocampus-putamen coupling which further mediated the effect of the insufficient task-outcome association on procrastination. In particular, the current findings show that procrastination is more likely when people are less able to associate tasks with highly valued incentives, which is accompanied by reduced hippocampal-striatal interactions during task construction.

The effect of future time perspective on procrastination: the role of parahippocampal gyrus and ventromedial prefrontal cortex.

Procrastination is an almost universal affliction, which occurs across culture and brings serious consequences across multiple fields, such as finance, health and education. Previous research has showed procrastination can be influenced by future time perspective (FTP). However, little is known about the neural basis underlying the impact of FTP on procrastination. To address this question, we used voxel-based morphometry (VBM) based on brain structure. In line with previous findings, the behavioral result indicated that FTP inventory scores were significantly negatively correlated with procrastination inventory scores (r = -0.63, n = 160). The whole-brain VBM results showed that FTP scores were significantly negatively correlated with the grey matter (GM) volumes of the parahippocampal gyrus (paraPHC) and ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) after the multiple comparisons correction. Furthermore, mediation analyses revealed that the effect of GM volumes of the paraPHC and vmPFC on procrastination was mediated by FTP. These results suggested that paraPHC and vmPFC, the critical brain regions about episodic future thinking, could be the neural basis responsible for the impact of FTP on procrastination. The present study extends our knowledge on procrastination, and provides a novel perspective to understand the relationship between FTP and procrastination.

Treating Procrastination Using Cognitive Behavior Therapy: A Pragmatic Randomized Controlled Trial Comparing Treatment Delivered via the Internet or in Groups.

Procrastination is a common problem among university students, with at least half of the population reporting great difficulties initiating or completing tasks and assignments. Procrastination can have a negative impact on course grades and the ability to achieve a university degree, but can also lead to psychological distress. Cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) is believed to reduce procrastination, but few studies have investigated its effectiveness in a regular clinical setting. The current study explored its effects using a pragmatic randomized controlled trial comparing treatment delivered during 8 weeks as self-guided CBT via the Internet (ICBT) or as group CBT. In total, 92 university students with severe procrastination were included in the study (registered as a clinical trial on Clinicaltrials.gov: NCT02112383). Outcome measures on procrastination, depression, anxiety, and well-being were distributed at pre- and posttreatment as well as 6-month follow-up. An outcome measure of procrastination was administered weekly. Linear mixed and fixed effects models were calculated, along with improvement and deterioration rates. The results showed large within-group effect sizes on procrastination, Cohen's d of 1.29 for ICBT, 95% Confidence Interval (CI) [0.81, 1.74], and d of 1.24 for group CBT, 95% CI [0.76, 1.70], and small to moderate benefits for depression, anxiety, and well-being. In total, 33.7% were regarded as improved at posttreatment and 46.7% at follow-up. No differences between conditions were observed after the treatment period, however, participants in group CBT continued or maintained their improvement at follow-up, while participants in self-guided ICBT showed some signs of deterioration. The findings from the current study suggest that CBT might be an effective treatment for those struggling with severe procrastination, but that a group format may be better for some to sustain their benefits over time and that the clinical significance of the results need to be investigated further.

Giving in when feeling less good: Procrastination, action control, and social temptations.

Emotion-regulation perspectives on procrastination highlighting the primacy of short-term mood regulation focus mainly on negative affect. Positive affect, however, has received much less attention and has not been considered with respect to social temptations. To address this issue, we examined how trait procrastination was linked to positive and negative affect in the context of social temptations across two prospective studies. Action Control Theory, Personality Systems Interactions Theory, and a mood regulation theory of procrastination served as guiding conceptual frameworks. In Study 1, moderated mediation analyses revealed that low positive affect explained the link between trait procrastination and time spent procrastinating on academic tasks over a 48-hr period in a student sample (N = 142), and this effect was moderated by the presence of social temptations. Parallel results for goal enjoyment assessed at Time 2 were found in Study 2 with a community sample (N = 94) attempting to make intended health behaviour changes over a 6-month period. Our findings indicate that procrastinators are at risk for disengaging from intended tasks when social temptations are present and positive task-related affect is low.