Examining the impact of perceived psychological distances of quitting and continuing tobacco smoking on antismoking intention: a cross-sectional study

To date, little research has been conducted to understand the role of psychological distances on smoking behaviour. Construal Level Theory posits that individuals mentally construe events, objects, or ideas based on their perceived distance in terms of spatial, temporal, social, and hypothetical dimensions, influencing their judgments and decision-making processes. The aim of the current study was (1) to provide a comprehensive exploration of psychological distances of costs and benefits of tobacco smoking and antismoking intention and (2) to examine whether smoking can be attributed to rational behaviour based on the psychological distance weighted balance of perceived costs and benefits of quitting and continuing smoking. Mediation models delineating the relationships among temporal and hypothetical psychological distances, personal relevance and antismoking intention were tested on cross-sectional survey data of 1486 smokers (880 men, Mage = 39.9 years, SD = 13.36). Psychological distances were shown to be important factors in the cognitive evaluation process of smoking behaviour. Perceived temporal distance to smoking continuation/cessation was related to personal importance and hypothetical psychological distances, which were associated with anti-smoking intention. Furthermore, antismoking intention was related to the psychological distance-weighted gain-cost balance of quitting and continuing smoking. The current findings enhance our knowledge of the cognitive evaluation of the outcomes of smoking, indicating that the choice of not quitting smoking may be partially based on a biased rational decision-making process.

Investigating mental representations of psychoactive substance use and other potentially addictive behaviors using a data driven network-based clustering method

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

The aim of the present study was to examine the mental representations of the use of different substances and other potentially addictive behaviors in order to explore meaningful similarities and differences that may contribute to a better understanding of behavioral addictions' representations and diagnostic criteria.

METHODS

The authors mapped the mental and emotional representations of 661 participants (70.5% women; Mage = 35.2 years, SD = 11.7) to the concept "your most disturbing excessive activity" using free-word associations combined with a network-based clustering method.

RESULTS

The network analyses identified four distinct mental representations, three implicating dominantly negative (Guilt/Shame/Relief, Addiction/Health, and Procrastination/Boredom) and one dominantly positive emotion (Stress/Relaxation). The distribution of Addiction/Health and Procrastination/Boredom representations were different across substance use and problem behaviors, indicating meaningful differences in the underlying cognitive evaluation processes. The Addiction/Health representation was more frequent for substances, while for other addictive behaviors, the Procrastination/Boredom representation was more frequent, and its frequency increased with the self-reported intensity of the behavior. Guilt/Shame/Relief was equally common for both substances and behaviors, but importantly, for substances its' likelihood increased with the intensity of use.

CONCLUSION

The common part of representations for substance use and other potentially addictive behaviors supports the scientific viewpoint, that real addictions can exist even in the absence of psychoactive drugs. Based on the results, a novel proposition is posited, that a more appropriate indicator of tolerance for problem behaviors might be the perceived amount of time wasted on the activity rather than the actual time spent.

Investigating the involvement of cognitive control processes in innovative and adaptive creativity and their age-related changes

Introduction

Based on the two-factor model of creativity, two distinct types of creative problem solving can be differentiated: innovative ("do things differently") and adaptive ("do things better"). Flexible cognitive control is a crucial concept in connection with both general and specific styles of creativity: innovative problem-solving benefits from broader attention and flexible mental set shifting; while adaptive creativity relies on focused attention and persistent goal-oriented processes. We applied an informatively cued task-switching paradigm which is suitable for measuring different cognitive control processes and mechanisms like proactive and reactive control. We hypothesized that adaptive creativity is connected to effective proactive control processes, while innovative creativity is based on reactive task-execution. As we have found no previous evidence how age-related changes in cognitive control affects creative cognition; we also examined the effect of healthy aging on different problem-solving styles in an explorative way.

Methods

Our participants, 37 younger (18-30 years) and 37 older (60-75 years) adults, were divided into innovative and adaptive creative groups according to the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking's Figural Subtest (Hungarian version).

Results

Our results showed that among younger adults the adaptively creative group had larger cue-locked CNV component (effective preparatory activity connected to proactive control), while the innovatively creative group had a larger target-locked P3b component (effective target evaluation and categorization in line with reactive control) which supports a functional difference in the two creative styles. By contrast, in older adults innovative problem-solving showed larger mixing costs (less effective maintenance and selection of task sets), and the lack of trial type effect on target-locked N2b (target-induced goal reactivation and less effective conflict resolution); while adaptive problem-solving caused them to make fewer errors (accuracy-oriented behavior).

Discussion

All in all, innovative and adaptive creativity is based on distinct cognitive control mechanisms in both age-groups, but their processing level is affected by age-related changes.

Automatic change detection: Mismatch negativity and the now-classic Rensink, O’Reagan, and Clark (1997) stimuli

Change blindness experiments had demonstrated that detection of significant changes in natural images is extremely difficult when brief blank fields are placed between alternating displays of an original and a modified scene. On the other hand, research on the visual mismatch negativity (vMMN) component of the event-related potentials (ERPs) identified sensitivity to events (deviants) different from the regularity of stimulus sequences (standards), even if the deviant and standard events are non-attended. The present study sought to investigate the apparent controversy between the experience under the change blindness paradigm and the ERP results. To this end, the stimulus of Rensink, O’Reagen, and Clark (1997) was adapted to a passive oddball ERP paradigm to investigate the underlying processing differences between the standard (original) and deviant (altered) stimuli measured in 22 subjects. Posterior negativity within the 280–330 ms latency range emerged as the difference between ERPs elicited by standard and deviant stimuli, identified as visual mismatch negativity (vMMN). These results raise the possibility that change blindness is not based on the lack of detailed visual representations or the deficiency of comparing two representations. However, effective discrimination of the two scene versions requires considerable frequency differences between them.

The Role of Impulsivity and Reward Deficiency in "Liking" and "Wanting" of Potentially Problematic Behaviors and Substance Uses

A few studies have examined the changes in substance- and behavior-related "wanting" and "liking" of human subjects, the key properties of Incentive Sensitization Theory (IST). The aim of this study was to examine the dissociation between "wanting" and "liking" as a function of usage frequency, intensity, and subjective severity in individuals across four substances (alcohol, nicotine, cannabis, and other drugs) and ten behaviors (gambling, overeating, gaming, pornography use, sex, social media use, Internet use, TV-series watching, shopping, and work). Also, the potential roles of impulsivity and reward deficiency were investigated in "wanting," "liking," and wellbeing. The sex differences between "wanting" and "liking" were also examined. Based on our findings using structural equation modeling with 749 participants (503 women, M age = 35.7 years, SD = 11.84), who completed self-report questionnaires, "wanting" increased with the severity, frequency, and intensity of potentially problematic use, while "liking" did not change. Impulsivity positively predicted "wanting," and "wanting" positively predicted problem uses/behaviors. Reward deficiency positively predicted problem uses/behaviors, and both impulsivity and problem uses/behaviors negatively predicted wellbeing. Finally, women showed higher levels of "wanting," compared to men. These findings demonstrate the potential roles of incentive sensitization in both potentially problematic substance uses and behaviors.

Older Adults Encode Task-Irrelevant Stimuli, but Can This Side-Effect be Useful to Them?

We studied whether, due to deteriorating inhibitory functions, older people are more likely to process irrelevant stimuli; and if so, could they later use this information better than young adults. In the study phase of our experiment, a Posner-type gaze-cued version of a Simon task was performed in which we presented task-irrelevant cues, where faces or patches with either left- or right-looking dots for the pupil of the eye preceded the task to press a button congruent or incongruent with the presentation side of the target stimulus. In the follow-up test phase, participants completed an unexpected facial recognition test. In the study phase not only a decreased P1, but also an increased N170 amplitude of the event-related potentials (ERPs) were found in older, compared to younger adults, and also for faces compared to patches. Even though in the test phase both age-groups could recognize the faces better than statistically by chance, neither the older nor the younger participants could discriminate them effectively. The late positive component (LPC)—the ERP correlates of the old/new effect, being the higher amplitude for the earlier presented stimuli when compared with the unseen stimuli during the recognition test—was not evolved in the older group, while a reversed old/new effect was seen in younger participants: higher amplitude was found in New-Right and Old-Wrong conditions (for faces they did not recognize independent of seeing them before) compared to Old-Right and New-Wrong conditions (for faces they thought they recognized from the study phase). In conclusion, although older adults showed enhanced processing of task-irrelevant stimuli compared to younger adults, as indicated by the N170 amplitude, however, they were not able to utilize this information in a later task, as was suggested by the recognition rate and LPC amplitude results.

Efficacy of a complex smartphone application for reducing hazardous alcohol consumption: Study protocol for a randomized controlled trial with analysis of in-app user behavior in relation to outcome

OBJECTIVE

The efficacy of alcohol reduction applications is variable, and the underlying factors are largely unknown. The aim of this study is threefold: evaluate the relationship between user engagement and intervention efficacy, investigate the efficacy of the different functions applied, and investigate the efficacy of the intervention application compared to control groups.

METHODS

A randomized controlled trial will be conducted to determine the efficacy of a newly developed smartphone application compared to the controls in reducing alcohol consumption at a 30, 60, 90, 120, 150, and 180 days follow-up. Hazardous drinkers, aged 18 years or older, will be recruited through web articles and will be randomized (blinded to their allocation), to receive one of the two versions of the application (educational or control application) for 30 days, or will be allocated to a wait-list control group. Function usage times will be recorded on a single-user level to determine the association between application usage and efficacy.

RESULTS

Data collection will be completed by July 2020, and follow-up will be completed by January 2021.

CONCLUSIONS

The evaluation of intervention efficacy as a function of user behavior will hopefully contribute to the science of developing more efficient alcohol intervention applications in the future.

Visual mismatch negativity and stimulus-specific adaptation: the role of stimulus complexity

The present study investigated the function of the brain activity underlying the visual mismatch negativity (vMMN) event-related potential (ERP) component. Snowflake patterns (complex stimuli) were presented as deviants and oblique bar patterns (simple stimuli) as standards, and vice versa in a passive oddball paradigm. Control (equiprobable) sequences of either complex shape patterns or oblique bar patterns with various orientations were also presented. VMMN appeared as the difference between the ERP to the oddball deviant and the ERP to the control (deviant minus control ERP difference). Apart from the shorter latency of the vMMN to the oblique bar pattern as deviant, vMMN to both deviants was similar, i.e., there was no amplitude difference. We attributed the function of the brain processes underlying vMMN to the detection of the infrequent stimulus type (also represented in memory) instead of a call for further processing (a possibility for acquiring more precise representation) of the deviant. An unexpected larger adaptation (control minus standard ERP difference) to the snowflake pattern was also obtained. We suggest that this was due to the acquisition of a more elaborate memory representation of the more complex stimulus.

Visual mismatch negativity to disappearing parts of objects and textures

Visual mismatch negativity (vMMN), an event-related signature of automatic detection of events violating sequential regularities is traditionally investigated at the onset of frequent (standard) and rare (deviant) events. In a previous study we obtained vMMN to vanishing parts of continuously presented objects (diamonds with diagonals), and we concluded that the offset-related vMMN is a model of sensitivity to irregular partial occlusion of objects. In the present study we replicated the previous results, but in order to test the object-related interpretation we applied a new condition with a set of separate visual stimuli: a texture of bars with two orientations. In the texture condition (offset of bars with irregular vs. regular orientation) we obtained vMMN, showing that the continuous presence of objects is unnecessary for offset-related vMMN. However, unlike in the object-related condition, reappearance of the previously vanishing lines also elicited vMMN. In principle reappearance of the stimuli is an event with probability 1.0, and according to our results, the object condition reappearance was an expected event. However, the offset and onset of texture elements seems to be treated separately by the system underlying vMMN. As an advantage of the present method, the whole stimulus set during the inter-stimulus interval saturates the visual structures sensitive to stimulus input. Accordingly, the offset-related vMMN is less sensitive to low-level adaptation that differs between the deviant and standard stimuli.

Automatic detection of violations of statistical regularities in the periphery is affected by the focus of spatial attention: A visual mismatch negativity study

We investigated the effect of spatial attention on an event-related potential signature of automatic detection of violations of statistical regularities, namely, the visual mismatch negativity (vMMN). To vary the task-field and the location of vMMN-related stimulation, in the attentional field the stimuli of a tracking task with a steady and a moving (target) bar were presented. The target stimuli of the task appeared either relatively close or far from a passive (task-irrelevant) oddball or equiprobable sequence at the lower part of the screen. Stimuli of the oddball sequence were shapes tilted either 45° (standard, p = 0.8) or 135° (deviant, p = 0.2), while the equiprobable sequence consisted of additional three shapes with identical number of lines to the oddball stimuli. Deviant stimuli in close proximity to a continuously attended field elicited larger vMMN than similar stimuli farther away from the stimulus field. In the condition with a smaller distance between the field of the tracking task and the vMMN-related field, the deviant stimuli and the vMMN was followed by a posterior positivity. According to these results, spatial attention modulates vMMN and is capable of initiating further processing of the deviant stimuli.

Automatic change detection and spatial attention: a visual mismatch negativity study

Visual mismatch negativity (vMMN) is the electrophysiological correlate of automatic detection of unattended changes in the visual environment. However, vMMNs' relatedness to spatial attention has not been explicitly tested. Thus, the aim of the study was to investigate the effects of spatial attention on the vMMN event-related potential component. To this end, participants were instructed to fixate and attend to task-related stimuli. In an oddball sequence, offset stimuli were applied, i.e., from time-to time, the two sides of permanently presented objects disappeared. Distance between the task-related and unrelated events resulted in the typical finding of spatial attention; the amplitude of the N1 component was larger at the shorter distance between the two kinds of events. VMMN was elicited by the deviant vanishing parts, with no reliable effect of distance between the task-field and vMMN-related stimuli. In terms of the difference potentials, vMMN was followed by a positive posterior component in the 270-330 ms range. This positivity was much larger when the task-field was close to vMMN-related stimuli. The reappearance of the vanishing parts was also investigated. The reappearance of the whole objects after a deviant offset elicited vMMN but only when the task-field was close to the oddball sequence. We concluded that infrequently vanishing parts of objects are detected automatically. However, these deviant events initiate orientation only if the objects are close to the field of task-relevant events. Similarly, automatic registration of the rare but expected events are registered only in the visual field close to the focus of attention.

Information retrieved from a database and the augmentation of personal knowledge

OBJECTIVE

To assess the degree to which information retrieved from a biomedical database can augment personal knowledge in addressing novel problems, and how the ability to retrieve information evolves over time.

DESIGN

This longitudinal study comprised three assessments of two cohorts of medical students. The first assessment occurred just before student course experience in bacteriology, the second occurred just after the course, and the third occurred five months later. At each assessment, the students were initially given a set of bacteriology problems to solve using their personal knowledge only. Each student was then reassigned a sample of problems he or she had answered incorrectly, to work again with assistance from a database containing information about bacteria and bacteriologic concepts. The initial pass through the problems generated a "personal knowledge" score; the second pass generated a "database-assisted" score for each student at each assessment.

RESULTS

Over two cohorts, students' personal knowledge scores were very low (approximately 12%) at the first assessment. They rose substantially at the second assessment (approximately 48%) but decreased six months later (approximately 25%). By contrast, database-assisted scores rose linearly: from approximately 44% at the first assessment to approximately 57% at the second assessment, to approximately 75% at the third assessment.

CONCLUSION

The persistent increase in database-assisted scores, even when personal knowledge had attenuated, was the most remarkable finding of this study. While some of the increase may be attributed to artifacts of the design, the pattern seems to result from the retained ability to recognize problem-relevant information in a database even when it cannot be recalled.

Database access and problem solving in the basic sciences

This study examined the potential contribution that access to a database of biomedical information may offer in support of problem-solving exercises when personal knowledge is inadequate. Thirty-six medical students were assessed over four occasions and three domains in the basic sciences: bacteriology, pharmacology, and toxicology. Each assessment consisted of a two-pass protocol in which students were first assessed for their personal knowledge of a domain with a short-answer problem set. Then, for a sample of problems they had missed, they were asked to use a database, INQUIRER, to respond to questions which they had been unable to address with their personal knowledge. Results indicate that for a domain in which the database is well-integrated in course activities, useful retrieval of information which augmented personal knowledge increased over three assessment occasions, even continuing to increase several months after course exposure and experience with the database. For all domains, even at assessments prior to course exposure, students were able to moderately extend their ability to solve problems through access to the INQUIRER database.