Subjects: Psychology >> Cognitive Psychology submitted time 2023-07-05
Abstract： Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a persistent neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by inattention and/or hyperactivity-impulsivity, which is closely related to the executive function deficits resulting from the dysplastic of prefrontal cortex. Based on the neuro-cognitive-behavioral developmental path, it is proposed that executive function deficits may be the pathogenesis of the core symptoms of ADHD at the cognitive level, among which the "cool" one related with the dorsal prefrontal cortex might be the dominant factor affecting inattention, and the “hot” one linked to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex could play the main role in the manifestation of hyperactivity-impulsivity. On the one hand, deficits in "cool" executive function mainly result in failures in working memory representation, lack of inhibitory control, and difficulties in cognitive flexibility, and further lead to limitations in attention maintenance, selection, and switching. On the other hand, deficits in "hot" executive function bring problems like delay aversion, reward abnormality and motivation disorders, which make one fail to inhibit behavior and more likely to make impulsive decisions, thereby displaying more symptoms of hyperactivity- impulsivity. Future studies are expected to examine and improve theoretical models of “hot” and “cold” executive function deficits affecting the core symptoms of ADHD, and provide more empirical evidence at the cognitive neural level. Meanwhile, future studies need to examine the mechanism mentioned above in ecological backgrounds, and further develop intervention projects with personalization, precision and long-acting to alleviate the core symptoms of ADHD based on executive function.
Subjects: Psychology >> Social Psychology submitted time 2023-03-28 Cooperative journals: 《心理科学进展》
Abstract： Procrastination is defined as a voluntary but irrational delay of an intended course of action despite expecting to be worse off for the delay. The previous studies have indicated that chronic procrastination exists in different cultural backgrounds, which 15% to 20% adults are chronically procrastinators, and more than 70% students admit to academic procrastination, with approximately 16% of them experiencing severe procrastination problem. Procrastination not only impacts people's study, work performance, but also impairs physical and mental health. However, procrastination has complex psychological process, including at least three stages, such as evaluation, decision-making and execution. To date, the cognitive neural mechanism of procrastination behavior was still unclear with a lack of causal evidence. Therefore, based on the time decision model of procrastination and the triple neural structure network model, this project intended to build a cognitive neural model of procrastination, then using cognitive interventions and neural regulation techniques to test it. According to the cognitive neural model of procrastination, this project tried to develop precise intervention plans for procrastination. This project was divided into three parts: (1) From the perspective of recording and association research, cognitive behavioral experiments, multimodal neuroimaging methods, such as task state, resting state, structural state, and cognitive neural computational modeling was used to construct a cognitive neural model of procrastination. In the process of building the model, we systematically investigated the corresponding cognitive components and characteristics of neural circuits in the evaluation, decision and execution stages of procrastination. (2) From the perspective of causal/quasi-causal studies, this project manipulated core competencies including episodic prospection, self-control and emotion regulation, in which to investigated the changes before and after the intervention, such as the functional connectivity of the brain network of episodic prospection, and network efficiency. This part intended to further examine and develop the cognitive neural model of procrastination behavior. (3) From the perspective of clinical application, this project developed a screening-diagnosis system for patients with clinical procrastination behavior disorder according to the psychiatric symptom diagnosis system and the criteria of psychosocial impairment. This system would be applied to distinguish patients with mild, moderate and severe procrastination. Based on this, effective intervention programs with distant migration effect for procrastination behavior disorder patients were developed, including cognitive intervention and neuroregulatory treatment strategies. To sum up, this project has built a cognitive neural model of procrastination from the perspective of the dynamic psychological process of procrastination, and improved it through the causal manipulation of cognitive intervention and neural regulation. This study not only reaped important theoretical contribution to the exploration of the core cognitive neural mechanisms of procrastination, but also obtained practical implications for the effective prevention and precise treatments of procrastination.
Subjects: Psychology >> Social Psychology submitted time 2023-03-28 Cooperative journals: 《心理科学进展》
Abstract： Procrastination, as Steel (2007) reviewed, is the phenomenon that individuals voluntarily delay to start or complete an intended course of action despite expecting to be worse off for the delay. The previous studies have indicated that chronic procrastination exists in different cultural backgrounds, with about 15% ~ 20% of adults troubled. Academically, more than 40% of students admit to academic procrastination, and some may even suffer from chronic tendencies. With the rapid development of modern society, the problem of procrastination is more serious and prominent. Obviously, putting off the task irrationally not only does harm to individuals’ study, work, emotion, but also endangers mental health. However, little is known about procrastination concerning the core mechanism of origin, the critical period of its formation, and its corresponding underlying neural substrates. To fill this gap, the current study investigates the core mechanism of procrastinated decision - making which rely on the Temporal Decision Model (TDM) we outlined, and explores the developmental cognitive neural mechanism of procrastination form a behavior - environment - brain perspective, and also sheds light on how to prevent or intervene the procrastination in these critical periods. First of all, the behavioral development measurement of the study aims to use a cross-sectional design to explore the occurrence and developmental characteristics of procrastination, the critical period (sensitive period) and the relevant influence factors (including various environmental and educational variables) of procrastination formation in children with three age groups (6 ~ 8 years, 10 ~ 12 years, and 12 ~ 15 years). And we also investigates the effects or underlying mechanisms of the cognitive abilities such as self-control, long-term value evaluation, time discounting, and emotion regulation on procrastination at each age stage. Meanwhile, the time decision model of procrastination is tested and refined in the study form a developmental perspective. Secondly, on the basis of neural level, procrastination is related to functional deficits in the frontal lobe, limbic system (e.g., amygdala, hippocampus) and other brain regions. Thus, the brain development measurement of the study aims to examine the development of brain structure and brain function in children aged 6 ~ 15 years using Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) multimodal imaging techniques (including task, resting, voxel-based morphometry (VBM), diffusion tensor imaging (DTI)), and functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) techniques. Based on the correlation analysis among brain structural data, functional data and behavior data, the study systematically investigates the developmental cognitive mechanisms of procrastination that are influenced by relevant influence factors, such as long-term value evaluation, delay discounting, self-control, emotion regulation and episodic future thinking. In addition, the study intends to build a behavioral - environmental - brain multilevel model for predicting the formation of procrastination in children. By integrating multimodal data on behavior, environment, and brain variables, the influence of environmental variables on procrastination through the malleability of brain structure and function is examined using the mediation analysis and structural equation model. What’s more, considering behavioral intervention for procrastination and malleability of the brain development, the study also sheds light on develop a clinical proposal for the prevention and intervention of procrastination at each critical periods according to the developmental characteristics of each age (including childhood, adolescence, and adult), mainly using intervention training methods, such as episodic future thinking, time management, and emotion regulation, and so on. To sum up, on the one hand, the current study can reap enormous scientific contributions to clarify the neurocognitive mechanism and the rules of development of procrastination; on the other hand, the study further obtain the practical significance for the prevention and intervention against procrastination behavior with exploring the effectiveness of intervention from the perspective of brain malleability.
Subjects: Psychology >> Social Psychology submitted time 2023-03-28 Cooperative journals: 《心理科学进展》
Abstract： Fear is a biologically adaptive response to environmental threats, and fear learning plays a key role in adaptive function. However, maladaptive fear learning underlies emotional disorders, such as anxiety and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Together with the development of cognitive neuroscience and the integration of multidisciplinary research, the study on the cognitive neural mechanism of fear has become a hot topic in the field of emotion. Using the classical fear conditioning paradigm, researchers have identified the brain circuits of fear learning and extinction. Specifically, extensive imaging researches have revealed several key regions involved in fear acquisition, including the amygdala, insula, dorsal anterior cingulate (dACC) and thalamus. Moreover, the amygdala, hippocampus and ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) served key roles in fear memory consolidation and reconsolidation, and the amygdala, hippocampus, vmPFC, and dACC are required for fear extinction. Cumulative evidence has suggested that oxytocin plays a crucial role in the process of fear acquisition, fear consolidation and fear extinction. Therefore, firstly, we summarized the paradigms of fear acquisition and fear extinction as well as the cognitive neural mechanisms of fear acquisition and fear extinction based on the fingdings of corresponding meta-analyses. Secondly, we focused on the cognitive neural mechanisms underlying the impact of oxytocin on fear acquisition and fear extinction. Next, we summarized the neurobiological circuits of oxytocin influence on fear emotion processing. Finally, we prospected the future researches on the cognitive neural mechanisms underlying the impact of oxytocin on fear processing. The present study sheds insights into the cognitive neural mechanisms underlying the impact of oxytocin on fear processing. Moreover, the present study provides an potential treatment for the fear-related disorders. Oxytocin has been shown to facilitate fear acquisition as it affects brain activity in several regions including amygdala, prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate gyrus, insula and hippocampus, as well as the functional connectivity between them. Oxytocin also enhances fear extinction by regulating amygdala and medial prefrontal cortex activity, as well as enhancing the functional connectivity between prefrontal cortex and amygdala. Furthermore, oxytocin can regulate the activity of the amygdala, anterior cingulate gyrus, insula, hippocampus, vmPFC and other fear-related brain regions, thus affecting the processes of fear acquisition and extinction. Specifically, cumulative evidence has indicated that intranasal oxytocin attenuates amygdala (hyper)activity and enhances functional coupling of the amygdala with the vmPFC and hippocampus, resulting in increased top-down control over the fear response. In addition, intranasal oxytocin has also been found to attenuate amygdala—brainstem connectivity and to change activity and connectivity in nodes of the salience network (i.e., insula and dACC). Furthermore, oxytocin administration may enhance social behavior through modulating the hypothalamus—pituitary—adrenal (HPA) axis and autonomic nervous system (ANS) function, which may provide a potential treatment for the fear-related disorders. However, it should be noted that the dose, time and location of oxytocin injection might have different effects on the processes of fear acquisition and extinction. Future studies should focus on gender differences, neural network underlying the impact of oxytocin on fear consolidation and reconsolidation and the pathological study examining oxytocin effect on fear emotion processing to better reveal the cognitive neural mechanisms underlying the impact of oxytocin on.
Subjects: Psychology >> Cognitive Psychology submitted time 2022-11-30
Abstract：
Established as a widespread problematic behavioral and a stable individual tendency across time and different contexts, procrastination is harmful to the procrastinator’s psychological, physical. Given that the cognitive neural mechanisms of procrastination are unclear and lack of causal evidences, we have developed studies on the basis of the time decision model of procrastination and the unified triple brain network model, using cognitive interventions and neural regulation technologies to construct and validate the cognitive neural model of procrastination. In addition, we intended to design precise interventions for procrastination as well. Our studies included three aspects: (1) From the perspective of recording and association research, we used multimodal MRI methods to systematically investigate the cognitive neural mechanisms of procrastination; (2) From the perspective of causal/near-causal research, we used cognitive interventions and neuroregulatory techniques to validate and improve the cognitive neural model of procrastination; (3) From the perspective of clinical application, we intended to establish a clinical screening and diagnosis system and precise interventions for procrastination behavior disorder. Thus, this study not only reaped important theoretical contribution to the exploration of the core cognitive neural mechanisms of procrastination, but also obtained practical significance for the effective prevention and precise treatments of procrastination.
Peer Review Status:
Awaiting Review
Subjects: Psychology >> Other Disciplines of Psychology submitted time 2021-10-10
Abstract： " Fear is a basic emotion that plays an important role in human survival and adaptation. The amygdala, dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) and insula play important roles in fear acquisition, and the amygdala, hippocampus and medial prefrontal cortex are required for fear extinction. Oxytocin serves a crucial role in the processes of fear acquisition and extinction. Oxytocin can effect fear acquisition, not only by effecting the amygdala and dACC activity, but also by effecting the functional connectivity between amygdala and dACC and brainstem. Moreover, oxytocin can effect fear extinction through increasing the activity of ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and the functional coupling between amygdala and vmPFC as well as regulating the activity of amygdala. Future studies should focus on gender differences, neural network model and the cognitive neural mechanisms underlying the impact of oxytocin on fear consolidation and reconsolidation to further reveal how oxytocin influences fear processing.
Peer Review Status:Awaiting Review
Subjects: Psychology >> Cognitive Psychology submitted time 2020-12-14
Abstract： Previous research has shown that using adaptive emotion-regulation strategies, particularly cognitive reappraisal, can help reduce procrastination. However, the precise cognitive mechanisms underlying the impact of emotion regulation on procrastination remain unclear. The temporal decision model of procrastination posits that procrastination is primarily influenced by the tradeoff between task aversiveness and outcome utility. When task aversiveness surpasses outcome utility, individuals are more likely to procrastinate, whereas when outcome utility outweighs task aversiveness, immediate action is more probable. Consequently, emotion regulation could reduce procrastination by diminishing task aversiveness or by improving outcome utility.
To investigate this issue, based on Gross’s emotion regulation theory and the temporal decision model of procrastination, this research focuses on individuals exhibiting high levels of procrastination (as measured by the General Procrastination Scale, with scores above 67.5). These participants were divided into two groups: the positive reappraisal group (consisting of 34 individuals) and the ineffective strategy group (also consisting of 34 individuals). Over a period of 7 days, the two groups were longitudinally tracked through empirical sampling, resulting in a total of 14 data collection points.
The results showed that: (1) There was no notable disparity between the two groups in task executive willingness during the pre-test, while the positive reappraisal group demonstrated a significantly higher task executive willingness compared to the ineffective strategy group in the post-test, indicating that positive reappraisal significantly enhanced individuals’ task executive willingness. (2) No significant difference was observed in task aversiveness between the two groups during the pre-test, while the positive reappraisal group exhibited noticeably lower levels of task aversiveness compared to the ineffective strategy group in the post-test. Additionally, initial outcome utility levels did not differ significantly between the two groups, while the positive reappraisal group demonstrated significantly higher outcome utility compared to the ineffective strategy group in the post-test. (3) Mediation analysis indicated that the reduction of task aversiveness mediated the influence of emotion regulation on the degree of improvement in procrastination (that is, the increase in task executive willingness), whereas the increase of outcome utility did not mediate the impact of emotion regulation on the degree of improvement in procrastination ((that is, the increase in task executive willingness).
These findings suggest that emotional regulation mainly enhance individuals’ task executive willingness by diminishing task aversiveness, thereby reducing procrastination behavior. This offers a strong theoretical foundation for interventions targeting procrastination through the lens of emotional regulation.
Subjects: Psychology >> Developmental Psychology submitted time 2020-12-02
Abstract： " Procrastination, as Steel (2007) reviewed, is the phenomenon that individuals voluntarily delay to start or complete an intended course of action despite expecting to be worse off for the delay. The previous studies have indicated that chronic procrastination exists in different cultural backgrounds, with about 15%~20% of adults troubled. Academically, more than 40% of students admit to academic procrastination, and some may even suffer from chronic tendencies. Obviously, putting off the task irrationally not only does harm to individuals’ study, work, emotion, but also endangers mental health. However, little is known about procrastination concerning the core mechanism of origin, the critical period of its formation, and its corresponding underlying neural substrates. To fill this gap, the current study investigates the core mechanism of procrastinated decision-making, especially the cognitive and neural mechanisms of long-term value evaluation, delay discounting and self-control, which rely on the Temporal Decision Model (TDM) we outlined. In addition, on the basis of child development, we further aim to clarify the formation of the critical period and ascertain the relevant factors and corresponding neural mechanisms from a behavior-environment-brain perspective. What’s more, considering intervention for procrastination and malleability of the brain, we would also shed light on how to prevent or intervene the procrastination in these critical periods. Thus, the current project can reap enormous scientific contributions to clarify the neurocognitive mechanism and the rules of development of procrastination, and further obtain the practical significance for the prevention and intervention against procrastination.
Peer Review Status:Awaiting Review
Subjects: Psychology >> Cognitive Psychology submitted time 2018-12-19 Cooperative journals: 《心理学报》
Abstract：正念训练是指个体将注意力集中于当下体验的一种心理干预方法。先前研究表明正念训练可以促进其注意力、执行功能、情绪调节等的发展，而正念训练对幼儿心理发展的作用机制并不清楚。因此，为了考察正念训练对3}4岁幼儿注意力和执行功能的影响。采用前后测设计，对正念组进行每周2次，每次2030分钟，共12次的正念训练;对照组不进行任何训练。结果发现:C1)在注意力方面，正念组与对照组前测差异不显著，训练后正念组幼儿持续性注意力得分显著高于对照组。C2)在执行功能方面，正念组和实验组在抑制控制、认知灵活性以及工作记忆上前测得分差异不显著，训练后正念组幼儿抑制控制和认知灵活性得分显著优于对照组，而两组幼儿工作记忆差异不显著。研究表明，正念训练促进了3}4岁幼儿注意力和执行功能的发展，且在执行功能方面主要表现为对抑制控制和认知灵活性的提升。
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