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Schreiber F, Schneider S, Newen A, Voigt B. Embodying anticipated affect enhances proactive behavior in 5-year-old children. J Exp Child Psychol 2024; 249:106099. [PMID: 39368238 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2024.106099] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/29/2024] [Revised: 09/10/2024] [Accepted: 09/10/2024] [Indexed: 10/07/2024]
Abstract
Imagining anticipated affects can foster future-oriented behavior in adults. However, children often still have difficulties in vividly imagining how they will feel in a specific episode (affective episodic future thinking [EFT]). We investigated whether enacting anticipated affects helps children to imagine how they will feel and whether this enhances proactive behavior in turn. A total of 90 5-year-old children were randomly assigned to one of three groups. In the embodiment group, children were instructed to imagine and physically enact how positive and negative they would feel in an upcoming performance test. Children in the EFT-only group underwent a similar procedure but did not enact their future affect. In the control group, children were reminded of the upcoming test only without receiving a prompt to imagine the upcoming test. After the manipulation, children had the opportunity to play one of three games. One game was relevant for the test. Children's choice to play the relevant game in advance of the test served as an indicator for proactive behavior. Mechanisms (e.g., detailedness of the envisioned event) and moderators (theory of mind and neuroticism) of the link between embodied EFT and proactive behavior were explored. Children in the embodiment group chose the relevant game above chance level, but they did not choose the relevant game more often than children in the EFT-only group and the control group. Those results were independent of the assumed mediators and moderators.
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Affiliation(s)
- Felix Schreiber
- Mental Health Research and Treatment Center, Department of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, Ruhr Universität Bochum, 44789 Bochum, Germany.
| | - Silvia Schneider
- Mental Health Research and Treatment Center, Department of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, Ruhr Universität Bochum, 44789 Bochum, Germany; German Center for Mental Health (DZPG), Bochum-Marburg partner site, 44787 Bochum, Germany
| | - Albert Newen
- Institute of Philosophy II, Ruhr Universität Bochum, 44789 Bochum, Germany
| | - Babett Voigt
- Mental Health Research and Treatment Center, Department of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, Ruhr Universität Bochum, 44789 Bochum, Germany; German Center for Mental Health (DZPG), Bochum-Marburg partner site, 44787 Bochum, Germany
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Fan C, Sun J, Chen X, Luo W. Brain Stimulation of Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortices Influences Impulsivity in Delay Discounting Choices. J Cogn Neurosci 2024; 36:1864-1878. [PMID: 38739570 DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_02185] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/16/2024]
Abstract
Intertemporal decision-making is pivotal for human interests and health. Recently, studies instructed participants to make intertemporal choices for both themselves and others, but the specific mechanisms are still debated. To address the issue, in the current study, the cost-unneeded conditions (i.e., "Self Immediately - Self Delay" and "Other Immediately - Other Delay" conditions) and the cost-needed conditions (i.e., "Self Immediately - Other Delay" and "Self Delay - Other Immediately" conditions) were set with the identity of OTHER being a stranger. We manipulated the magnitude of reward (Experiment 1) and disrupted the activation of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex with repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS; Experiment 2). We found that both the behavioral and rTMS manipulations increased smaller but sooner choice probability via reducing self-control function. The reduced self-control function elicited by rTMS affected both self- and other-related intertemporal choices via increasing the choice preference for smaller but sooner reward options, which may help people deeply understand the relationship between self- and other-related intertemporal choices in processing mechanism, especially when the OTHER condition is set as a stranger.
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Fernández-García L, Phillips-Silver J, Daza González MT. A Novel Battery to Assess "Cool" and "Hot" Executive Functions: Sensitivity to Age Differences in Middle Childhood. Brain Sci 2024; 14:755. [PMID: 39199450 PMCID: PMC11352394 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci14080755] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/07/2024] [Revised: 07/14/2024] [Accepted: 07/23/2024] [Indexed: 09/01/2024] Open
Abstract
The main goal of the current work was to assess the age sensitivity of a novel battery of cool and hot Executive Function (EF) tasks developed for the middle childhood period: the Executive Brain Battery (EBB). To this end, we carried out a first study in which the EBB was administered to six age groups ranging from 6 to 11. Additionally, in a second study, we compared children at the end of middle childhood (age 11 years) and adult performance in the EBB. Results showed that tasks included in the EBB were suitable for all age groups, with more age-related changes being found in cool than hot EF tasks. Moreover, at the end of middle childhood, children reach an adult-like performance in most of these cool and hot tasks. The present findings extend previous research suggesting that cool and hot EFs exhibit different patterns of age-related growth in middle childhood. Additionally, the EEB could become a useful tool for research on EFs during middle childhood that could be adapted for a wide range of populations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura Fernández-García
- Department of Psychology, University of Almería, 04120 Almería, Spain;
- CIBIS Research Center, University of Almería, 04120 Almería, Spain
| | | | - María Teresa Daza González
- Department of Psychology, University of Almería, 04120 Almería, Spain;
- CIBIS Research Center, University of Almería, 04120 Almería, Spain
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Canning C, McCormack T, Clifford E, Donnelly C, Duffy E, Hickland S, Graham AJ. Episodic future thinking and delay of gratification in children: Is imagining reward pay-off helpful? BRITISH JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY 2024; 42:285-291. [PMID: 38375923 DOI: 10.1111/bjdp.12477] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/09/2023] [Accepted: 02/07/2024] [Indexed: 02/21/2024]
Abstract
Previous studies have failed to show an effect of episodic future thinking (EFT) on children's delay of gratification (DoG), contrasting strikingly with adult findings. Recent findings from a sample of 8-11-year-old children by Canning et al. (J. Exp. Child Psychol., 228, 2023, 105618) indicate that EFT cueing is not effective compared to a no-cue control even when it is reward related. Canning et al. suggest children's DoG performance, unlike that of adults, may be negatively affected by the cognitive load of cueing, but this leaves unexplained why EFT reward-related cueing produced significantly better performance than cueing that did not involve EFT in their study. The current study attempted to further delineate the importance of linking future thinking cues to rewards. A reward-related EFT condition was compared to a reward-unrelated EFT condition and a no-cue control on a delay choice task. No significant differences were observed between the three conditions. This suggests that even reward-related future thinking is ineffective at improving children's delayed gratification. Further research is needed to determine why children struggle to benefit from EFT cues.
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Wilbrecht L, Davidow JY. Goal-directed learning in adolescence: neurocognitive development and contextual influences. Nat Rev Neurosci 2024; 25:176-194. [PMID: 38263216 DOI: 10.1038/s41583-023-00783-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 12/12/2023] [Indexed: 01/25/2024]
Abstract
Adolescence is a time during which we transition to independence, explore new activities and begin pursuit of major life goals. Goal-directed learning, in which we learn to perform actions that enable us to obtain desired outcomes, is central to many of these processes. Currently, our understanding of goal-directed learning in adolescence is itself in a state of transition, with the scientific community grappling with inconsistent results. When we examine metrics of goal-directed learning through the second decade of life, we find that many studies agree there are steady gains in performance in the teenage years, but others report that adolescent goal-directed learning is already adult-like, and some find adolescents can outperform adults. To explain the current variability in results, sophisticated experimental designs are being applied to test learning in different contexts. There is also increasing recognition that individuals of different ages and in different states will draw on different neurocognitive systems to support goal-directed learning. Through adoption of more nuanced approaches, we can be better prepared to recognize and harness adolescent strengths and to decipher the purpose (or goals) of adolescence itself.
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Affiliation(s)
- Linda Wilbrecht
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA.
- Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA.
| | - Juliet Y Davidow
- Department of Psychology, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA.
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Reward-related episodic future thinking and delayed gratification in children. J Exp Child Psychol 2023; 228:105618. [PMID: 36587437 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2022.105618] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/20/2022] [Revised: 12/12/2022] [Accepted: 12/15/2022] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Abstract
Cuing adults to imagine their personal futures enhances prudent choice in delay discounting tasks. However, it has not been established that such cueing also reduces discounting in children. We assessed the effect of episodic future thinking (EFT) on delay of gratification in children using EFT cues specifically related to the rewards on offer. One hundred and thirty-nine 8-12-year-olds were assigned to one of three conditions: (i) EFT (imagine spending money in the future), (ii) Imagine Place (imagine being in a certain place), or (iii) No Cue. They were cued on each trial of two tasks: a delay discounting task with hypothetical monetary rewards and a real delay choice task involving choices between real rewards over real delays (coins that could be swapped for treats). In the delay discounting task, the Imagine Place group showed significantly higher discounting than the other two groups. In the real delay choice task, the Imagine Place group made significantly fewer delayed choices than the EFT group. However, the EFT group did not differ from the No Cue group in either task. The lack of a difference between the EFT and No Cue conditions supports previous findings suggesting children struggle to benefit from EFT cues. Poorer performance of the Imagine Place group suggests that cued imagination is cognitively taxing for children, using up cognitive resources required to delay gratification.
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Tsui ASM, Atance CM. Young Children’s Saving and Their Episodic Future Thinking. JOURNAL OF COGNITION AND DEVELOPMENT 2022. [DOI: 10.1080/15248372.2022.2156516] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
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Klein SD, Collins PF, Luciana M. Developmental trajectories of delay discounting from childhood to young adulthood: longitudinal associations and test-retest reliability. Cogn Psychol 2022; 139:101518. [PMID: 36183669 PMCID: PMC10888509 DOI: 10.1016/j.cogpsych.2022.101518] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/25/2021] [Revised: 09/05/2022] [Accepted: 09/12/2022] [Indexed: 01/27/2023]
Abstract
Delay discounting (DD) indexes an individual's preference for smaller immediate rewards over larger delayed rewards, and is considered a form of cognitive impulsivity. Cross-sectional studies have demonstrated that DD peaks in adolescence; longitudinal studies are needed to validate this putative developmental trend, and to determine whether DD assesses a temporary state, or reflects a more stable behavioral trait. In this study, 140 individuals aged 9-23 completed a delay discounting (DD) task and cognitive battery at baseline and every-two years thereafter, yielding five assessments over approximately 10 years. Models fit with the inverse effect of age best approximated the longitudinal trajectory of two DD measures, hyperbolic discounting (log[k]) and area under the indifference-point curve (AUC). Discounting of future rewards increased rapidly from childhood to adolescence and appeared to plateau in late adolescence for both models of DD. Participants with greater verbal intelligence and working memory displayed reduced DD across the duration of the study, suggesting a functional interrelationship between these domains and DD from early adolescence to adulthood. Furthermore, AUC demonstrated good to excellent reliability across assessment points that was superior to log(k), with both measures demonstrating acceptable stability once participants reached late adolescence. The developmental trajectories of DD we observed from childhood through young adulthood suggest that DD may index cognitive control more than reward sensitivity, and that despite modest developmental changes with maturation, AUC may be conceptualized as a trait variable related to cognitive control vs impulsivity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Samuel D Klein
- Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
| | - Paul F Collins
- Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
| | - Monica Luciana
- Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
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