Goal striving strategies and effort mobilization: When implementation intentions reduce effort-related cardiac activity during task performance

The Effectiveness of a Yoga Program on Psychological and Cardiovascular Outcomes of Undergraduate Nursing Students

Psychological problems among nursing students are well documented. Unfortunately, only a minority of these populations seek help related to their psychological distress. Yoga exercises improve individuals' psychological distress and cardiovascular outcomes. Therefore, we conducted this study to test the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of our health promotion theme-based yoga program to reduce the participants' stress levels and anxiety symptoms and improve their blood pressure and heart rate. This study has a pre/posttest quasi-experimental design. A convenience sampling method was used to recruit the participants who were 18 years or older and could speak and read English. Individuals with any contraindication to participate in yoga or receiving any medications for their mental health or cardiovascular health were excluded from the study. The Perceived Stress Scale and the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21 were used to measure the participants' stress levels and anxiety symptoms, respectively. Their blood pressure and heart rate were measured by using a standard blood pressure measuring machine. Participants received 50 minutes of weekly yoga sessions in groups and also performed individual yoga sessions 3 times a week for 8 weeks. Descriptive statistics were used to answer our research questions. Our recruitment rate of 47% (n = 19) was lower than our anticipated rate of 80%; however, we had a retention rate of 90%. There was a reduction in participants' stress levels and anxiety symptoms from the preintervention phase to the postintervention phase. A larger study and a randomized controlled trial are warranted to draw conclusions.

Commentary: Engage or disengage? Interpretations from a resource conservation perspective

In this commentary, I discuss the eight empirical contributions to the Motivation and Emotion special issue on goal disengagement from a resource conservation perspective. This process was not in the focus of the reported studies, but is central for understanding both engaging and disengaging. I will outline that many of the new findings on disengagement reported in this special issue are highly compatible with the predictions of and research on motivational intensity theory. Examples are the roles of commitment, subjective goal value, affective experiences, autonomy, self-awareness, and action planning. These variables have been found to be central for both engagement and disengagement and their consideration in a resource mobilization perspective should contribute to a more complete understanding of “letting go”.

Getting trapped in a dead end? Trait self-control and boredom are linked to goal adjustment

Disengaging from unattainable goals and reengaging in alternative goals is essential for effective goal pursuit; yet, surprisingly little is known about associated personality factors. Here, we focused on individual differences in self-control (domain-general self-control, if–then planning) and boredom (boredom proneness, boredom avoidance and escape tendencies). Concerning goal adjustment in everyday life (Study 1; N = 323 crowdworkers), if–then planning was associated with worse disengagement and better reengagement. While boredom proneness was associated with poorer reengagement, boredom avoidance and escape tendencies were associated with better reengagement. When goal striving was thwarted during the COVID-19 pandemic (Study 2; N = 97 students), similar associations emerged along with links to anxiety and depression. However, disengagement was no longer associated with if–then planning but instead with better self-control and higher boredom proneness. These results show differential relationships of goal disengagement and reengagement with self-control and boredom, paving the way to a better understanding of who struggles or shines when effective goal adjustment is required.

Acceptability of constraint induced movement therapy: influence of perceived difficulty and expected treatment outcome

BACKGROUND

Constraint-Induced Movement (CI) Therapy has evidence of efficaciously rehabilitating upper-extremity hemiparesis after stroke. Yet, it is not widely used in the United States. One barrier appears to be the perception of its difficulty among stroke care consumers, as reported by two published studies in which the participants had little or no apparent direct exposure to CI Therapy.

OBJECTIVES

Assess the perception of difficulty of CI Therapy by individuals with chronic stroke who have actually undergone CI Therapy.

METHODS

A secondary analysis was conducted of data from two randomized controlled trials of CI Therapy. Participants had chronic, mild-to-moderate upper-extremity hemiparesis after stroke. The Motor Activity Log and Wolf Motor Function Test were used to measure motor function of the more-affected arm. A Patient Opinion Survey assessed participants' perception of difficulty and satisfaction with treatment.

RESULTS

The participants (N = 40) showed large improvements in motor function of their more-affected arm after treatment, p's <001. CI Therapy was perceived to be of only moderate difficulty by participants before treatment (mean = 4.4 out of 7). Perception of its difficulty decreased afterward (mean = 3.7, p = .002). Moreover, participants were highly satisfied with their outcomes (mean = 6.3 out of 7). Satisfaction was positively related to the improvements in more-affected arm use in everyday life, ΔR² = .3, p < .001.

CONCLUSIONS

Chronic stroke survivors who have actually had CI Therapy perceive it to be of only moderate difficulty and are highly satisfied. Negative views about its acceptability warrant reconsideration.

If-then planning, self-control, and boredom as predictors of adherence to social distancing guidelines: Evidence from a two-wave longitudinal study with a behavioral intervention

In the wake of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), social distancing is instrumental for containing the pandemic. To maximize its effectiveness, it is paramount to investigate psychological factors that predict adherence to social distancing guidelines and examine corresponding interventions. We focused on individual differences in if-then planning, self-control, and boredom, and tested an intervention based on if-then planning. We conducted a two-wave longitudinal study combining observational and experimental methods. Participants (N = 574, 35.7% female, age: M = 37.5 years, SD = 10.8) reported their adherence to social distancing guidelines and the perceived difficulty of adherence at T1, along with trait measures of if-then planning, self-control, and boredom. Afterwards, they were randomly assigned to an if-then planning intervention to increase adherence, or to a control intervention. One week later at T2, participants again reported their adherence and the perceived difficulty of adhering. Multiple regression and structural equation modeling were used to establish whether trait if-then planning, self-control, and boredom predicted adherence, and to examine the effects of the if-then planning intervention. Trait if-then planning, self-control, and boredom were associated with T1 adherence, while only if-then planning and boredom predicted T2 adherence. No overall treatment effect of the if-then planning intervention emerged; however, participants who complied with the intervention (75.6%) maintained higher levels of adherence over time than control participants. In sum, individual differences in if-then planning, self-control, and boredom predicted adherence to social distancing guidelines. If-then planning interventions are promising but require further steps to ascertain compliance.

The influence of 'deliberate' implementation intention on medical students' risk decision task outcomes

Implementation intention is a kind of behaviour choice strategy in which individuals adopt specific and definite behaviour patterns to achieve behavioural goals. The standard form is 'if something happens, then I will do something'. Previous studies have shown that implementation intention strategy is a fast and effective mental skill with notable advantages. However, adding the requirement of 'deliberate' to the implementation plan will increase the probability of decision adjustment to a certain extent. In this study, the classic Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART) was selected as the evaluation index of risk decision-making, and the 'deliberate' implementation intention was adopted to explore the impact of this behavioural strategy on risk selection. The recruited medical students were divided into two groups: the implementation intention group (n = 37) and the control group (n = 34). The baseline assessment for the BART was performed by all participants, and the intensive training of 'deliberate' implementation intention to 'make as much money as possible' was conducted before the post-test decision-making after one week. The adjusted BART (adj BART) value and AvgIncome were significantly higher than those at baseline in the implementation intention group(adj BART value: baseline 12.63 ± 2.90, post-test: 14.78 ± 2.66, F = 15.978, p < 0.001, η ² = 0.307; AvgIncome: baseline 12.43 ± 2.56, post-test 15.00 ± 2.57, F = 20.953, p < 0.001, η ² = 0.368). The mixed-model ANOVAs showed that there was a significant interaction between test time and group (adj BART value: F = 4.859, p = 0.031, η ² = 0.066; AvgIncome: F = 4.261, p = 0.043, η ² = 0.058). Conclusion: The implementation of 'deliberate' intention can help medical students make more rational judgements in risk decision-making tasks, avoid over conservative behaviour and obtain more benefits.

Affect and cognitive control: Insights from research on effort mobilization

We present theory and research on effort mobilization that is relevant for understanding the role of affect in cognitive control. We posit that cognitive control and effort are closely related and introduce motivational intensity theory and supporting empirical evidence mainly based on cardiovascular measures of effort. Most important, we discuss the role of affect in the context of effort mobilization and cognitive control from different perspectives. We first present theories predicting affective influences on effort, namely the mood-behavior-model and the implicit-affect-primes-effort model, and supporting empirical evidence. Second, we discuss further implications of the resource conservation principle highlighting the aversive aspect of effort and review evidence for the impact of value and its affective component on effort and cognitive control. Finally, we present a recent integration of the neural mechanisms underlying both effort and cognitive control. We conclude that affective processes are necessary and instrumental for both effort mobilization and cognitive control.

That Escalated Quickly-Planning to Ignore RPE Can Backfire

Ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) are routinely assessed in exercise science and RPE is substantially associated with physiological criterion measures. According to the psychobiological model of endurance, RPE is a central limiting factor in performance. While RPE is known to be affected by psychological manipulations, it remains to be examined whether RPE can be self-regulated during static muscular endurance exercises to enhance performance. In this experiment, we investigate the effectiveness of the widely used and recommended self-regulation strategy of if-then planning (i.e., implementation intentions) in down-regulating RPE and improving performance in a static muscular endurance task. 62 female students (age: M = 23.7 years, SD = 4.0) were randomly assigned to an implementation intention or a control condition and performed a static muscular endurance task. They held two intertwined rings as long as possible while avoiding contacts between the rings. In the implementation intention condition, participants had an if-then plan: "If the task becomes too strenuous for me, then I ignore the strain and tell myself: Keep going!" Every 25 ± 10 s participants reported their RPE along with their perceived pain. Endurance performance was measured as time to failure, along with contact errors as a measure of performance quality. No differences emerged between implementation intention and control participants regarding time to failure and performance quality. However, mixed-effects model analyses revealed a significant Time-to-Failure × Condition interaction for RPE. Compared to the control condition, participants in the implementation intention condition reported substantially greater increases in RPE during the second half of the task and reached higher total values of RPE before task termination. A similar but weaker pattern evinced for perceived pain. Our results demonstrate that RPE during an endurance task can be self-regulated with if-then plans. This finding is particularly important given how frequently RPE is used in exercise science as a correlate of physiological processes that ultimately limit performance. Unexpectedly, participants with implementation intentions reported higher RPE than control participants. This suggests that strategies to self-regulate RPE might have ironic effects that hamper performance, maybe by increasing attention to RPE. This implication is important for exercise physiologists, athletes and coaches.

Understanding Mixed Emotions: Paradigms and Measures

In this review, we examine the paradigms and measures available for experimentally studying mixed emotions in the laboratory. For eliciting mixed emotions, we describe a mixed emotions film library that allows for the repeated elicitation of a specific homogeneous mixed emotional state and appropriately matched pure positive, pure negative, and neutral emotional states. For assessing mixed emotions, we consider subjective and objective measures that fall into univariate, bivariate, and multivariate measurement categories. As paradigms and measures for objectively studying mixed emotions are still in their early stages, we conclude by outlining future directions that focus on the reliability, temporal dynamics, and response coherence of mixed emotions paradigms and measures. This research will build a strong foundation for future studies and significantly advance our understanding of mixed emotions.