Momentary Context Research Articles

Context-aware prediction of active and passive user engagement: Evidence from a large online social platform

The success of online social platforms hinges on their ability to predict and understand user behavior at scale. Here, we present data suggesting that context-aware modeling approaches may offer a holistic yet lightweight and potentially privacy-preserving representation of user engagement on online social platforms. Leveraging deep LSTM neural networks to analyze more than 100 million Snapchat sessions from almost 80.000 users, we demonstrate that patterns of active and passive use are predictable from past behavior (R2\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$${R^2}$$\\end{document}=0.345) and that the integration of context features substantially improves predictive performance compared to the behavioral baseline model (R2\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$${R^2}$$\\end{document}=0.522). Features related to smartphone connectivity status, location, temporal context, and weather were found to capture non-redundant variance in user engagement relative to features derived from histories of in-app behaviors. Further, we show that a large proportion of variance can be accounted for with minimal behavioral histories if momentary context is considered (R2\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$${R^2}$$\\end{document}=0.442). These results indicate the potential of context-aware approaches for making models more efficient and privacy-preserving by reducing the need for long data histories. Finally, we employ model explainability techniques to glean preliminary insights into the underlying behavioral mechanisms. Our findings are consistent with the notion of context-contingent, habit-driven patterns of active and passive use, highlighting the value of contextualized representations of user behavior for predicting user engagement on online social platforms.

Flexible Conceptual Representations

AbstractA view that has been gaining prevalence over the past decade is that the human conceptual system is malleable, dynamic, context‐dependent, and task‐dependent, that is, flexible. Within the flexible conceptual representation framework, conceptual representations are constructed ad hoc, forming a different, idiosyncratic instantiation upon each occurrence. In this review, we scrutinize the neurocognitive literature to better understand the nature of this flexibility. First, we identify some key characteristics of these representations. Next, we consider how these flexible representations are constructed by addressing some of the open questions in this framework: We review the age‐old question of how to reconcile flexibility with the apparent need for shareable stable definitions to anchor meaning and come to mutual understanding, as well as some newer questions we find critical, namely, the nature of relations among flexible representations, the role of feature saliency in activation, and the viability of all‐or‐none feature activations. We suggest replacing the debate about the existence of a definitional stable core that is obligatorily activated with a question of the degree and probability of activation of the information constituting a conceptual representation. We rely on published works to suggest that (1) prior featural salience matters, (2) feature activation may be graded, and (3) Bayesian updating of prior information according to current demands offers a viable account of how flexible representations are constructed. This proposal provides a theoretical mechanism for incorporating a changing momentary context into a constructed representation, while still preserving some of the concept's constituent meaning.

Emotion regulation flexibility and momentary affect in two cultures

Recent theoretical models highlight the importance of emotion regulation (ER) flexibility, challenging traditional notions of universally maladaptive versus adaptive strategies. Here we employed ecological momentary assessment to develop proxy ecological measures for ER flexibility components (context sensitivity, repertoire and feedback responsiveness) and examine their associations with momentary affective outcomes in two independent samples from the United States (158 adults and 12,217 observations) and China (144 adults and 11,347 observations, analysis preregistered). Participants completed four daily surveys for 21 days, reporting emotional situations, situation characteristics, ER use and change and momentary distress. Increased momentary context sensitivity and use of repertoire were found associated with reduced distress, while results for feedback responsiveness were less consistent. Maintaining effective strategies was generally adaptive, whereas switching from ineffective strategies was adaptive for momentary depressed, but not anxious, mood. This innovative ecological momentary assessment design demonstrates transcultural similarities in ER flexibility’s benefits and nuanced implications of its components on affective outcomes.

Portions selected to stave off hunger are reduced when food is presented in an ‘unusual’ food-to-mealtime context: An implication for implicit satiety drivers

Research suggests that the role of expected satiety in influencing portion-size selection is reduced when food is presented in unusual food-to-mealtime contexts; however, the underlying mechanism has not been explored. Other research has revealed that different implicit satiety drivers (e.g., to stop momentary hunger or obtain complete fullness) are associated with different perceived levels of stomach fullness, portion-size selections and can change on instruction. The current study explored whether changes in expected satiety and ideal portions in congruous vs incongruous contexts can be explained by changes in implicit satiety drivers. Another aim was to investigate a previous exploratory finding suggesting that portions selected to stave off hunger are reduced when foods are presented in unusual food-to-mealtime contexts. At two trials (breakfast/lunch), participants (n = 40) selected a portion of typical lunch (pasta) and breakfast (porridge) foods via a psychophysical computer-based method 1) to stave off hunger for 5 h, and 2) as an ideal portion. Participants also indicated their perceived level of stomach fullness associated with 1) each portion, and 2) five implicit satiety drivers. Results revealed that a smaller average portion was selected to stave off hunger in incongruous (vs congruous) food-to-mealtime contexts (531 ± 229 vs 575 ± 236 kcal) (p = 0.008). This suggests that expected satiety is influenced by momentary context; foods are perceived to be more satiating when consumed in unusual (vs usual) contexts. Results also showed that implicit satiety drivers are malleable in regard to the portion size associated with a perceived level of stomach fullness and that this can vary contextually. These findings provide initial evidence to explain the psychological mechanism underlying the contextual differences observed in portion-size selections. Future work should explore longer-term impacts of consuming foods in unusual contexts.

Networks of happiness: applying a Network Approach to Well-Being in the General Population

Even though well-being can be seen as a multidimensional construct, made up of a variety of interacting aspects, most studies examine total scores on well-being measures, treating well-being as a latent variable. This so-called common cause perspective assumes that aspects of well-being are mere effects of a common cause, namely well-being itself. The network approach moves away from this approach by suggesting that research should no longer focus only on the mean level of psychological constructs, but on the relations between the different aspects of a construct over time. Instead of a static, common cause approach to well-being, the network perspective views thoughts and feelings not as reflections but as constituents of well-being, treating them as agents in a causal system instead of passive indicators. In this paper, we applied the network approach to investigate how fluctuations in specific symptoms of well-being are associated with fluctuations in other symptoms of well-being. Based on a sample of 151 working adults with on average 32.66 data points collected over a five-day period, we found that in general, the low arousal emotion of feeling satisfied played a central role in the dynamics between various aspects of well-being in the momentary context of daily life. This means that feeling satisfied cannot just be seen as a passive indicator of well-being, but also as an active agent in a causal system that brings about other aspects of well-being. These results provide insight into daily dynamic processes related to the development of well-being over time and contribute to our understanding of well-being and how to improve it.

Momentary Influences on Self-Regulation in Two Populations With Health Risk Behaviors: Adults Who Smoke and Adults Who Are Overweight and Have Binge-Eating Disorder.

IntroductionSelf-regulation has been implicated in health risk behaviors and is a target of many health behavior interventions. Despite most prior research focusing on self-regulation as an individual-level trait, we hypothesize that self-regulation is a time-varying mechanism of health and risk behavior that may be influenced by momentary contexts to a substantial degree. Because most health behaviors (e.g., eating, drinking, smoking) occur in the context of everyday activities, digital technologies may help us better understand and influence these behaviors in real time. Using a momentary self-regulation measure, the current study (which was part of a larger multi-year research project on the science of behavior change) used ecological momentary assessment (EMA) to assess if self-regulation can be engaged and manipulated on a momentary basis in naturalistic, non-laboratory settings.MethodsThis one-arm, open-label exploratory study prospectively collected momentary data for 14 days from 104 participants who smoked regularly and 81 participants who were overweight and had binge-eating disorder. Four times per day, participants were queried about momentary self-regulation, emotional state, and social and environmental context; recent smoking and exposure to smoking cues (smoking sample only); and recent eating, binge eating, and exposure to binge-eating cues (binge-eating sample only). This study used a novel, momentary self-regulation measure comprised of four subscales: momentary perseverance, momentary sensation seeking, momentary self-judgment, and momentary mindfulness. Participants were also instructed to engage with Laddr, a mobile application that provides evidence-based health behavior change tools via an integrated platform. The association between momentary context and momentary self-regulation was explored via mixed-effects models. Exploratory assessments of whether recent Laddr use (defined as use within 12 h of momentary responses) modified the association between momentary context and momentary self-regulation were performed via mixed-effects models.ResultsParticipants (mean age 35.2; 78% female) in the smoking and binge-eating samples contributed a total of 3,233 and 3,481 momentary questionnaires, respectively. Momentary self-regulation subscales were associated with several momentary contexts, in the combined as well as smoking and binge-eating samples. For example, in the combined sample momentary perseverance was associated with location, positively associated with positive affect, and negatively associated with negative affect, stress, and tiredness. In the smoking sample, momentary perseverance was positively associated with momentary difficulty in accessing cigarettes, caffeine intake, and momentary restraint in smoking, and negatively associated with temptation and urge to smoke. In the binge-eating sample, momentary perseverance was positively associated with difficulty in accessing food and restraint in eating, and negatively associated with urge to binge eat. While recent Laddr use was not associated directly with momentary self-regulation subscales, it did modify several of the contextual associations, including challenging contexts.ConclusionsOverall, this study provides preliminary evidence that momentary self-regulation may vary in response to differing momentary contexts in samples from two exemplar populations with risk behaviors. In addition, the Laddr application may modify some of these relationships. These findings demonstrate the possibility of measuring momentary self-regulation in a trans-diagnostic way and assessing the effects of momentary, mobile interventions in context. Health behavior change interventions may consider measuring and targeting momentary self-regulation in addition to trait-level self-regulation to better understand and improve health risk behaviors. This work will be used to inform a later stage of research focused on assessing the transdiagnostic mediating effect of momentary self-regulation on medical regimen adherence and health outcomes.Clinical Trial RegistrationClinicalTrials.gov, Identifier: NCT03352713.

Reading Facundo transnationally, at last

ABSTRACT This essay offers a revisionist interpretation of Facundo: Civilization and Barbarism (1845), a book by the Argentine liberal, Domingo Faustino Sarmiento (1811–88). After a century and a half, scholarly interpretation of Facundo continues to be hindered by its early-onset canonical status in the history of Argentine literature and political thought. In particular, the conventions of reading Facundo within a national framework and for perennial significance therein have closed off (or, at least, heavily stigmatised) the approach to the text as a bundle of speech acts situated in the essentially ephemeral context of the Anglo-French blockade of Buenos Aires during the 1840s. By centring this momentary context and refusing to assume the book’s attributed nature as an artefact of nineteenth century nation-building, this essay reinterprets Facundo as a piece of considered, transnational imagining rooted in the imperial dynamics of the post-independence South Atlantic.

Momentary smoking context as a mediator of the relationship between SES and smoking

There is a well-established socioeconomic gradient in smoking behavior: those with lower socioeconomic status smoke more. However, much less is known about the mechanisms explaining how SES is linked to smoking. This study takes a social-ecological perspective by examining whether socioeconomic status affects smoking behavior by differential exposure to places where smoking is allowed. Exposure to smoking restrictions was assessed in real-time using Ecological Momentary Assessment methods. A sample of 194 daily smokers, who were not attempting to quit, recorded their smoking and information about situational and contextual factors for three weeks using an electronic diary. We tested whether a smoker's momentary context mediated the relationship between socioeconomic status (educational attainment) and cigarettes smoked per day (CPD). Momentary context was operationalized as the proportion of random assessments answered in locations where smoking was allowed versus where smoking was not allowed. Data were analysed using multilevel regression (measurements nested within participants) with a lower level mediation model (2-1-1 mediation). Although no significant direct effect of SES on CPD were observed, there was a significant indirect effect of SES on CPD via the momentary context. Compared to participants with higher education, lower educated participants were more likely to encounter places where smoking was allowed, and this in turn, was associated with a higher number of CPD. These findings suggest that SES is associated with smoking at least partially via differential exposure to smoking-friendly environments, with smokers from lower SES backgrounds accessing more places where smoking is allowed. Implications for current smoke-free legislation are discussed.

Combining ecological momentary assessment with objective, ambulatory measures of behavior and physiology in substance-use research

Whereas substance-use researchers have long combined self-report with objective measures of behavior and physiology inside the laboratory, developments in mobile/wearable electronic technology are increasingly allowing for the collection of both subjective and objective information in participants' daily lives. For self-report, ecological momentary assessment (EMA), as implemented on contemporary smartphones or personal digital assistants, can provide researchers with near-real-time information on participants' behavior and mood in their natural environments. Data from portable/wearable electronic sensors measuring participants' internal and external environments can be combined with EMA (e.g., by timestamps recorded on questionnaires) to provide objective information useful in determining the momentary context of behavior and mood and/or validating participants' self-reports. Here, we review three objective ambulatory monitoring techniques that have been combined with EMA, with a focus on detecting drug use and/or measuring the behavioral or physiological correlates of mental events (i.e., emotions, cognitions): (1) collection and processing of biological samples in the field to measure drug use or participants' physiological activity (e.g., hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activity); (2) global positioning system (GPS) location information to link environmental characteristics (disorder/disadvantage, retail drug outlets) to drug use and affect; (3) ambulatory electronic physiological monitoring (e.g., electrocardiography) to detect drug use and mental events, as advances in machine learning algorithms make it possible to distinguish target changes from confounds (e.g., physical activity). Finally, we consider several other mobile/wearable technologies that hold promise to be combined with EMA, as well as potential challenges faced by researchers working with multiple mobile/wearable technologies simultaneously in the field.

Individual differences in the context of smoking lapse episodes

Research on relapse has often focused either on the momentary context of lapses or on stable traits that predict who will relapse. We examine the relation between the two, analyzing how individual differences relate to characteristics of initial lapses, which were recorded nearly in real time by 105 smokers using hand-held computers. More nicotine-dependent smokers lapsed under more negative affect and more intense urges, but they did not smoke more in the initial lapse. Questionnaire measures of negative affect smoking did not predict negative affect lapses. Smokers who lapsed when drinking were less nicotine dependent, but they had a history of smoking while drinking, as assessed by computer monitoring. Smokers who attempted coping but lapsed nevertheless reported less active coping styles on the Ways of Coping questionnaire. The results demonstrate the interplay between individual traits and contextual influences in smoking relapse, and they particularly highlight the role of nicotine dependence in relation to contextual factors.

Preventive and corrective maintenance of access to knowledge

AbstractAccess to large portions of our knowledge is unstable, so that recall fluctuates depending upon momentary context. Laboratory interventions can stabilize access for a time, either by preventing the loss of precarious access (preventive maintenance) or by re‐establishing lost access (corrective maintenance). This paper describes two methods of measuring the magnitude and duration of such intervention effects. Preventive maintenance effects are measured by the degree and the persistence of asymmetry of up‐ versus down‐fluctuations on successive attempts to recall. The preventive maintenance effect of a single successful recall trial has a half‐life in excess of 1 month. The methods are suitable for comparing the effectiveness of various schedules and types of maintenance interventions for a variety of semantic memory content and for diverse subject populations.

Self-editing deficits in schizophrenia

WHEN manifest, disturbances in language usage are among the most convincing symptoms of a schizophrenic psychosis. These symptoms, however, are not impairments in language, per se; but are, rather, impairments of interpersonal communication. Thus, measures of communicability are much more effective discriminators of schizophrenic from normal (or neurotic) speech than are measures of linguistic structure, style or content.l** In the studies to be considered in this paper, the communicability of an utterance is defined in terms of the accuracy with which listeners use the utterance as a basis for identifying a speaker’s referent. The basic paradigm involves the presentation of an explicit set (display) of stimulus objects to a subject (speaker) who is instructed to provide a verbal response to one of them (the referent) such that a listener, given the response, will be able to pick the referent out of the display. This essential paradigm has been adapted to the study of referent-communication in normal children and normal, as well as pathological, adults.3.8 The purpose of the experiments to be considered here has not been simply to demonstrate that schizophrenic speakers’ utterances are lower in communicability (communication accuracy) than those of normals, but rather to specify what goes wrong in the process through which normal speakers select appropriate responses. I will consider first the source of the schizophrenic speaker deficit; second, theory and data concerning the nature of dysfunctional self-editing in schizophrenia; and third, changes in the speaker’s communication process from early- to later-term schizophrenia. 1. The source of the speaker deficit: deviant repertoires or faulty self-editing? It is possible that a schizophrenic speaker’s associations, meanings, or descriptions of a referent object are idiosyncratic and that communication failures are therefore due to differences between speaker and listener in their referent-response repertoires. Alternatively, the schizophrenic speaker’s referent-response repertoires may be nondeviant but he fails to edit out responses inappropriate to the momentary context before they intrude into overt speech. In an initial study by COHEN and CAMHI,~ schizophrenic and normal subjects were assigned to speaker or listener roles. It was shown that the schizophrenics were poorer than normals in communication accuracy as speakers but not as listeners. These results held regardless of whether the patients were listening (or speaking) to other patients or to normals. Since the