How self-states help: Observing the embodiment of self-states through nonverbal behavior.

The concept of self-states is a recurring theme in various psychotherapeutic and counseling methodologies. However, the predominantly unconscious nature of these self-states presents two challenges. Firstly, it renders the process of working with them susceptible to biases and therapeutic suggestions. Secondly, there is skepticism regarding the observability and differentiation of self-states beyond subjective experiences. In this study, we demonstrate the feasibility of eliciting self-states from clients and objectively distinguishing these evoked self-states through the lens of neutral observers. The self-state constellation method, utilized as an embodied approach, facilitated the activation of diverse self-states. External observers then assessed the nonverbal manifestations of affect along three primary dimensions: emotional valence, arousal, and dominance. Our findings indicate that external observers could reliably discern and differentiate individual self-states based on the bodily displayed valence and dominance. However, the ability to distinguish states based on displayed arousal was not evident. Importantly, this distinctiveness of various self-states was not limited to specific individuals but extended across the entire recording sample. Therefore, within the framework of the self-state constellation method, it is evident that individual self-states can be intentionally evoked, and these states can be objectively differentiated beyond the subjective experiences of the client.

Temporal dynamics of costly avoidance in naturalistic fears: Evidence for sequential-sampling of fear and reward information.

Excessive avoidance is characteristic for anxiety disorders, even when approach would lead to positive outcomes. The process of how such approach-avoidance conflicts are resolved is not sufficiently understood. We examined the temporal dynamics of approach-avoidance in intense fear of spiders. Highly fearful and non-fearful participants chose repeatedly between a fixed no spider/low reward and a spider/high reward option with varying fear (probability of spider presentation) and reward information (reward magnitude). By sequentially presenting fear and reward information, we distinguished whether decisions are dynamically driven by both information (sequential-sampling) or whether the impact of fear information is inhibited (cognitive control). Mouse movements were recorded to assess temporal decision dynamics (i.e., how strongly which information impacts decision preference at which timepoint). Highly fearful participants showed stronger avoidance despite lower gains (i.e., costly avoidance). Time-continuous multiple regression of their mouse movements yielded a stronger impact of fear compared to reward information. Importantly, presenting either information first (fear or reward) enhanced its impact during the early decision process. These findings support sequential sampling of fear and reward information, but not inhibitory control. Hence, pathological avoidance may be characterized by biased evidence accumulation rather than altered cognitive control.

Ideonamic: An integrative computational dynamic model of ideomotor learning and effect-based action control.

According to ideomotor theory, actions are represented, controlled, and retrieved in terms of the perceptual effects that these actions experientially engender. When agents perform a motor action, they observe its subsequent perceptual effects and establish action-effect associations. When they want to achieve this effect at a later time, they use the action-effect associations to preactivate the action by internally activating the effect representation. Ideomotor theory has received extensive support in recent years. To capture this particular effect-based view on action control and goal-directed behavior, we developed IDEONAMIC, an integrative computational model based on dynamic field theory that represents the specific components of the action control process as dynamic neural fields. We show that IDEONAMIC applies conveniently to different types of experimental ideomotor settings, simulates key findings, generates novel predictions from the dynamics of data, and allows reapproaching the underlying cognitive mechanisms from a computational point of view. We encourage the application of IDEONAMIC to more types of ideomotor settings to gain insights into effect-based action control. The model is available at https://osf.io/hbc6n. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Eleven strategies for making reproducible research and open science training the norm at research institutions.

Reproducible research and open science practices have the potential to accelerate scientific progress by allowing others to reuse research outputs, and by promoting rigorous research that is more likely to yield trustworthy results. However, these practices are uncommon in many fields, so there is a clear need for training that helps and encourages researchers to integrate reproducible research and open science practices into their daily work. Here, we outline eleven strategies for making training in these practices the norm at research institutions. The strategies, which emerged from a virtual brainstorming event organized in collaboration with the German Reproducibility Network, are concentrated in three areas: (i) adapting research assessment criteria and program requirements; (ii) training; (iii) building communities. We provide a brief overview of each strategy, offer tips for implementation, and provide links to resources. We also highlight the importance of allocating resources and monitoring impact. Our goal is to encourage researchers - in their roles as scientists, supervisors, mentors, instructors, and members of curriculum, hiring or evaluation committees - to think creatively about the many ways they can promote reproducible research and open science practices in their institutions.

Mouse-cursor trajectories reveal reduced contextual influence on decision conflict during delay discounting in anorexia nervosa.

OBJECTIVE: The capacity of individuals with anorexia nervosa (AN) to forgo immediate food rewards in their long-term pursuit of thinness is thought to reflect elevated self-control and/or abnormal reward sensitivity. Prior research attempted to capture an increased tendency to delay gratification in AN using delay-discounting tasks that assess how rapidly the subjective value of rewards decreases as a function of time until receipt. However, significant effects were mostly subtle or absent. Here, we tested whether the process leading to such decisions might be altered in AN. METHOD: We recorded mouse-cursor movement trajectories leading to the final choice in a computerized delay-discounting task (238 trials) in 55 acutely underweight females with AN and pairwise age-matched female healthy controls (HC). We tested for group differences in deviations from a direct choice path, a measure of conflict strength in decision making, and whether group moderated the effect of several predictors of conflict strength (e.g., choice difficulty, consistency). We also explored reaction times and changes in trajectory directions (X-flips). RESULTS: No group differences in delay-discounting parameters or movement trajectories were detected. However, the effect of the aforementioned predictors on deviations (and to a lesser extent reaction times) was reduced in AN. DISCUSSION: These findings suggest that while delay discounting and conflict strength in decision making are generally unaltered in AN, conflict strength was more stable across different decisions in the disorder. This might enable individuals with AN to pursue (maladaptive) long-term body-weight goals, because particularly conflicting choices may not be experienced as such. PUBLIC SIGNIFICANCE: The deviations from a direct path of mouse-cursor movements during a computerized delay-discounting task varied less in people with anorexia nervosa. Assuming such deviations measure decision conflict, we speculate that this increased stability might help people with anorexia nervosa achieve their long-term weight goals, as for them the struggle with the decision to eat high-calorie meals when hungry will be milder, so they would be more likely to skip them.

The action dynamics of approach-avoidance conflict during decision-making.

Approach-avoidance conflict is observed in the competing motivations towards the benefits and away from the costs of a decision. The current study investigates the action dynamics of response motion during such conflicts in an attempt to characterise their dynamic resolution. An approach-avoidance conflict was generated by varying the appetitive consequences of a decision (i.e., point rewards and shorter participation time) in the presence of simultaneous aversive consequences (i.e., shock probability). Across two experiments, approach-avoidance conflict differentially affected response trajectories. Approach trajectories were less complex than avoidance trajectories and, as approach and avoidance motivations neared equipotentiality, response trajectories were more deflected from the shortest route to the eventual choice. Consistency in the location of approach and avoidance response options reduced variability in performance enabling more sensitive estimates of dynamic conflict. The time course of competing influences on response trajectories including trial-to-trial effects and conflict between approach and avoidance were estimated using regression analyses. We discuss these findings in terms of a dynamic theory of approach-avoidance that we hope will lead to insights of practical relevance in the field of maladaptive avoidance.

Focusing on Future Consequences Enhances Self-Controlled Dietary Choices.

Self-controlled dietary decisions, i.e., choosing a healthier food over a tastier one, are a major challenge for many people. Despite the potential profound consequences of frequent poor choices, maintaining a healthy diet proves challenging. This raises the question of how to facilitate self-controlled food decisions to promote healthier choices. The present study compared the influence of implicit and explicit information on food choices and their underlying decision processes. Participants watched two video clips as an implicit manipulation to induce different mindsets. Instructions to focus on either the short-term or long-term consequences of choices served as an explicit manipulation. Participants performed a binary food choice task, including foods with different health and taste values. The choice was made using a computer mouse, whose trajectories we used to calculate the influence of the food properties. Instruction to focus on long-term consequences compared to short-term consequences increased the number of healthy choices, reduced response times for healthy decisions, and increased the influence of health aspects during the decision-making process. The effect of video manipulation showed greater variability. While focusing on long-term consequences facilitated healthy food choices and reduced the underlying decision conflict, the current mindset appeared to have a minor influence.

Effects of individual and dyadic decision-making and normative reference on delay discounting decisions.

The tendency to devaluate delayed rewards, a phenomenon referred to as 'discounting behaviour', has been studied by wide-ranging research examining individuals choosing between sooner but smaller or later but larger rewards. Despite the fact that many real-life choices are embedded in a social context, the question of whether or not social collaboration can have an impact on such choices has not been addressed empirically. With this research, we aimed to fill this gap experimentally by implementing a novel choice selection procedure in order to study the interactive dynamics between two participants. This selection procedure allowed us to dissect the sequence of decision-making into its elements, starting from the very first individual preference to the solution of possible conflicting preferences in the dyad. In Experiment 1, we studied group decision-making on classical intertemporal choices to reveal the possible benefit of social collaboration on discounting and identified that the knowledge of the social situation in collective decision-making causes a reduction in discounting. In a pre-registered Experiment 2, we compared classical intertemporal choices with choices in a gamified version of a discounting paradigm in which the participants had a real-time experience trial by trial and for which a normative reference was present. We found that collective decision-making had a substantial impact on intertemporal decision-making, but was shaped by different types of choices. Classical intertemporal choices were rather susceptible to the contextual factors of decision-making, whereas in the gamified version that included a normative reference the decisions were reliably influenced by social collaboration and resulted in a lower discounting. The results in this paradigm replicate our original findings from former research.

From single decisions to sequential choice patterns: Extending the dynamics of value-based decision-making.

Every day, we make many value-based decisions where we weigh the value of options with other properties, e.g. their time of delivery. In the laboratory, such value-based decision-making is usually studied on a trial by trial basis and each decision is assumed to represent an isolated choice process. Real-life decisions however are usually embedded in a rich context of previous choices at different time scales. A fundamental question is therefore how the dynamics of value-based decision processes unfold on a time scale across several decisions. Indeed, findings from perceptual decision making suggest that sequential decisions patterns might also be present for vale-based decision making. Here, we use a neural-inspired attractor model as an instance of dynamic models from perceptual decision making, as such models incorporate inherent activation dynamics across decisions. We use the model to predict sequential patterns, namely oscillatory switching, perseveration and dependence of perseveration on the delay between decisions. Furthermore, we predict RT effects for specific sequences of trials. We validate the predictions in two new studies and a reanalysis of existing data from a novel decision game in which participants have to perform delay discounting decisions. Applying the validated reasoning to a well-established choice questionnaire, we illustrate and discuss that taking sequential choice patterns into account may be necessary to accurately analyse and model value-based decision processes, especially when considering differences between individuals.

Costly avoidance of Pavlovian fear stimuli and the temporal dynamics of its decision process.

Conflicts between avoiding feared stimuli versus approaching them for competing rewards are essential for functional behavior and anxious psychopathology. Yet, little is known about the underlying decision process. We examined approach-avoidance decisions and their temporal dynamics when avoiding Pavlovian fear stimuli conflicted with gaining rewards. First, a formerly neutral stimulus (CS+) was repeatedly paired with an aversive stimulus (US) to establish Pavlovian fear. Another stimulus (CS-) was never paired with the US. A control group received neutral tones instead of aversive USs. Next, in each of 324 trials, participants chose between a CS-/low reward and a CS+/high reward option. For the latter, probability of CS+ presentation (Pavlovian fear information) and reward magnitude (reward information) varied. Computer mouse movements were tracked to capture the decision dynamics. Although no more USs occurred, pronounced and persistent costly avoidance of the Pavlovian fear CS+ was found. Time-continuous multiple regression of movement trajectories revealed a stronger and faster impact of Pavlovian fear compared to reward information during decision-making. The impact of fear information, but not reward information, modestly decreased across trials. These findings suggest a persistently stronger weighting of fear compared to reward information during approach-avoidance decisions, which may facilitate the development of pathological avoidance.

Better together? Social distance affects joint probability discounting.

Deciding together is common in our everyday life. However, the process of this joint decision-making plays out across different levels, for example language, intonation, or non-verbal behaviour. Here we focused on non-verbal interaction dynamics between two participants in probability discounting. We applied a gamified decision-making task in which participants performed a series of choices between a small but safe and a large but risky reward. In two experiments, we found that joint decision-making resulted in lower discounting and higher efficiency. In order to understand the underlying mechanisms in greater detail, we studied through which process this variation occurred and whether this process would be modulated by the social distance between both participants. Our findings suggested that socially close participants managed to reduce their discounting by interactive processes while socially distant participants were influenced by the social context itself. However, a higher level of efficiency was achieved through interactive processes for both groups. In summary, this study served as a fine-grained investigation of collaborative interaction processes and its significant impact on the outcome of choices with probabilistic consequences.

Dissociating sub-processes of aftereffects of completed intentions and costs to the ongoing task in prospective memory: A mouse-tracking approach.

In the present study, we used mouse tracking to investigate two processes underlying prospective memory (PM) retrieval: First, we aimed to explore to what extent spontaneous retrieval of already completed PM intentions is supported by reflexive-associative and discrepancy-plus-search processes. Second, we aimed to disentangle whether costs to an ongoing task during the pursuit of a PM intention are associated with presumably resource-demanding monitoring processes or with a presumably resource-sparing strategic delay of ongoing-task responses. Our third aim was to explore the interaction of processes underlying costs to the ongoing task and processes of spontaneous retrieval. Our analyses replicated response-time patterns from previous studies indicating aftereffects of completed intentions and costs to ongoing-task performance, as well as increased aftereffects while pursuing a PM intention. Notably, based on our mouse-tracking analyses, we argue that aftereffects of completed intentions are best explained by a reflexive initiation of an already completed intention. If the completed intention is not performed in its entirety (i.e., no commission error), the reflexive initiation of the completed intention is followed by a subsequent movement correction that most likely represents a time-consuming response-verification process. Regarding performance costs in the ongoing task, our analyses suggest that actively pursuing a PM intention most likely leads to a strategic delay of ongoing activities. Lastly, we found that pursuing a novel PM task after intention completion exacerbated orienting responses to all deviant stimuli, exacerbated the readiness to initiate the completed intention reflexively, and substantially prolonged the response-verification process following this reflexive intention retrieval.

Mid-frontal Theta during Conflict in a Value-based Decision Task.

Mid-frontal theta is a sensitive marker for cognitive conflict. However, most research focuses on cognitive control paradigms (e.g., the Flanker task). Here, we ask if mid-frontal theta is also sensitive to response conflicts within value-based decision-making. We recorded electroencephalography activity during a value-based binary decision task. In this task, participants collected rewards in a virtual two-dimensional world. In each trial, we presented two reward options that were either quick to collect but were smaller in value, or took longer to collect but were larger in value. The subjective value of each option was driven by the options' value and how quickly it could be reached. We used this task to investigate three types of potential conflicts: choice ambiguity, choice repetitions, and temporal delay. We manipulated choice ambiguity by varying the subjective values of the decision options. For choice repetition, we biased participants toward one option for two trials and then tested how that affected the subsequent decision. We manipulated temporal delay by making one option quick to collect and one longer to collect. The behavioral results showed the expected effects: Decision times were shorter for unambiguous choices, participants showed a tendency to repeat the previous choice and decision times were shorter for repetitions, and decision times were shorter for earlier available choices. Response-locked mid-frontal theta power was increased for choice switches as compared to choice repetitions, and for the later available as compared to the earlier available option, but we found no effect of ambiguity.

Is value-based choice repetition susceptible to medial frontal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS)? A preregistered study.

In value-based decision making, people have to weigh different options based on their subjective value. This process, however, also is influenced by choice biases, such as choice repetition: in a series of choices, people are more likely to repeat their decision than to switch to a different choice. Previously, it was shown that transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) can affect such choice biases. We applied tDCS over the medial prefrontal cortex to investigate whether tDCS can alter choice repetition in value-based decision making. In a preregistered study, we applied anodal, cathodal, and sham tDCS stimulation to 52 participants. While we found robust choice repetition effects, we did not find support for an effect of tDCS stimulation. We discuss these findings within the larger scope of the tDCS literature and highlight the potential roles of interindividual variability and current density strength.

Using mouse cursor tracking to investigate online cognition: Preserving methodological ingenuity while moving toward reproducible science.

Mouse cursor tracking has become a prominent method for characterizing cognitive processes, used in a wide variety of domains of psychological science. Researchers have demonstrated considerable ingenuity in the application of the approach, but the methodology has not undergone systematic analysis to facilitate the development of best practices. Furthermore, recent research has demonstrated effects of experimental design features on a number of mousetracking outcomes. We conducted a systematic review of the mouse-tracking literature to survey the reporting and spread of mouse variables (Cursor speed, Sampling rate, Training), physical characteristics of the experiments (Stimulus position, Response box position) and response requirements (Start procedure, Response procedure, Response deadline). This survey reveals that there is room for improvement in reporting practices, especially of subtler design features that researchers may have assumed would not impact research results (e.g., Cursor speed). We provide recommendations for future best practices in mouse-tracking studies and consider how best to standardize the mouse-tracking literature without excessively constraining the methodological flexibility that is essential to the field.

To stay or not to stay: The stability of choice perseveration in value-based decision making.

In real life, decisions are often naturally embedded in decision sequences. In contrast, in the laboratory, decisions are oftentimes analysed in isolation. Here, we investigated the influence of decision sequences in value-based decision making and whether the stability of such effects can be modulated. In our decision task, participants needed to collect rewards in a virtual two-dimensional world. We presented a series of two reward options that were either quick to collect but were smaller in value or took longer to collect but were larger in value. The subjective value of each option was driven by the options' value and how quickly they could be reached. We manipulated the subjective values of the options so that one option became gradually less valuable over the course of a sequence, which allowed us to measure choice perseveration (i.e., how long participants stick to this option). In two experiments, we further manipulated the time interval between two trials (inter-trial interval), and the time delay between the onsets of both reward options (stimulus onset asynchrony). We predicted how these manipulations would affect choice perseveration using a computational attractor model. Our results indicate that both the inter-trial interval and the stimulus onset asynchrony modulate choice perseveration as predicted by the model. We discuss how our findings extend to research on cognitive stability and flexibility.

The role of inhibitory control and decision-making in the course of Internet gaming disorder.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Internet gaming disorder (IGD) is associated with impaired inhibitory control and more impulsive decision-making. However, it remains unclear whether these associations are cross-sectional or predictive. We aimed to test the hypotheses that lower inhibitory control and more impulsive decision-making correlate with, are predicted by and predict more time spent on gaming and higher IGD severity. METHODS: A stratified convenience sample of 70 male participants (18-21 years) was recruited to achieve broad data variability for hours spent on gaming and IGD severity. In three annual assessments (T1, T2, T3), we measured gaming behaviour and IGD severity using the Video Game Dependency Scale (CSAS-II). Both gaming-related measures were correlates (T1), predictors (T2), or outcomes (T3) of inhibitory control and decision making, which were assessed at T2 using a go/no-go task and an intertemporal-choice task, respectively. RESULTS: Higher IGD severity at T1 predicted more impulsive decision-making at T2 (ß = 0.45, 95% CI = 0.14-0.76). Lower inhibitory control at T2 predicted more hours spent on gaming at T3 (ß = -0.13, 95% CI = -0.25 to -0.02). We found weak or no evidence for the other associations. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: Lower inhibitory control predicts more time spent gaming, possibly due to insufficient top-down regulation of the behaviour. Impulsive decision-making is rather a consequence of IGD than a predictor, which may be due to altered reward learning. One-dimensional etiological assumptions about the relationship between neurocognitive impairments and IGD seem not to be appropriate for the complexity of the disorder.

An approach to social flexibility: Congruency effects during spontaneous word-by-word interaction.

Cognitive flexibility is the ability to switch between different concepts or to adapt goal-directed behavior in a changing environment. Although, cognitive research on this ability has long been focused on the individual mind, it is becoming increasingly clear that cognitive flexibility plays a central role in our social life. This is particularly evident in turn-taking in verbal conversation, where cognitive flexibility of the individual becomes part of social flexibility in the dyadic interaction. In this work, we introduce a model that reveals different parameters that explain how people flexibly handle unexpected events in verbal conversation. In order to study hypotheses derived from the model, we use a novel experimental approach in which thirty pairs of participants engaged in a word-by-word interaction by taking turns in generating sentences word by word. Similar to well established individual cognitive tasks, participants needed to adapt their behavior in order to respond to their co-actor's last utterance. With our experimental approach we could manipulate the interaction between participants: Either both participants had to construct a sentence with a common target word (congruent condition) or with distinct target words (incongruent condition). We further studied the relation between the interactive Word-by-Word task measures and classical individual-centered, cognitive tasks, namely the Number-Letter task, the Stop-Signal task, and the GoNogo task. In the Word-by-Word task, we found that participants had faster response times in congruent compared to incongruent trials, which replicates the primary findings of standard cognitive tasks measuring cognitive flexibility. Further, we found a significant correlation between the performance in the Word-by-Word task and the Stop-Signal task indicating that participants with a high cognitive flexibility in the Word-by-Word task also showed high inhibition control.

Expectancy effects in the EEG during joint and spontaneous word-by-word sentence production in German.

Our aim in the present study is to measure neural correlates during spontaneous interactive sentence production. We present a novel approach using the word-by-word technique from improvisational theatre, in which two speakers jointly produce one sentence. This paradigm allows the assessment of behavioural aspects, such as turn-times, and electrophysiological responses, such as event-related-potentials (ERPs). Twenty-five participants constructed a cued but spontaneous four-word German sentence together with a confederate, taking turns for each word of the sentence. In 30% of the trials, the confederate uttered an unexpected gender-marked article. To complete the sentence in a meaningful way, the participant had to detect the violation and retrieve and utter a new fitting response. We found significant increases in response times after unexpected words and - despite allowing unscripted language production and naturally varying speech material - successfully detected significant N400 and P600 ERP effects for the unexpected word. The N400 EEG activity further significantly predicted the response time of the subsequent turn. Our results show that combining behavioural and neuroscientific measures of verbal interactions while retaining sufficient experimental control is possible, and that this combination provides promising insights into the mechanisms of spontaneous spoken dialogue.