Self-control Task Research Articles

Pupil dilation predicts individual self-regulation success across domains

Multiple theories have proposed that increasing central arousal through the brain’s locus coeruleus—norepinephrine system may facilitate cognitive control and memory. However, the role of the arousal system in emotion regulation is less well understood. Pupil diameter is a proxy to infer upon the central arousal state. We employed an emotion regulation paradigm with a combination of design features that allowed us to dissociate regulation from emotional arousal in the pupil diameter time course of 34 healthy adults. Pupil diameter increase during regulation predicted individual differences in emotion regulation success beyond task difficulty. Moreover, the extent of this individual regulatory arousal boost predicted performance in another self-control task, dietary health challenges. Participants who harnessed more regulation-associated arousal during emotion regulation were also more successful in choosing healthier foods. These results suggest that a common arousal-based facilitation mechanism may support an individual’s self-control across domains.

The role of task similarity for ego depletion: A registered report

Ego depletion refers to decrements in self-control performance resulting from prior use of self-control. The ego depletion effect has received much research attention, but the more recent literature reports small or null effects. This registered report examined the moderating effect of task similarity on the ego depletion effect. We predicted a crossover interaction between type of primary and secondary task such that engaging in a demanding self-control task should lead to better performance in the secondary task when it is similar to the primary task (facilitation effect) but worse performance when it is dissimilar (ego depletion). In a preregistered pilot study, N = 80 participants first completed either a visual stop-signal task (SST) or a simple lexical categorization task. They proceeded with one of four tasks classified as increasingly dissimilar based on their underlying operations and executive functions: (1) auditory stop-signal task, (2) Stroop task, (3) Eriksen flanker task, and (4) unsolvable anagrams. Both the pilot study and a high-powered registered replication (N = 300) revealed the predicted interaction effect. However, evidence for facilitation from similar tasks was stronger than evidence for depletion from dissimilar tasks. Together, these findings highlight the important role of task similarity for the study of ego depletion and related phenomena.

A within-subjects test of ego depletion and potential moderators

Ego depletion, the finding that initial exertion of self-control hinders performance on subsequent self-control tasks, has become a controversial topic. There have been discrepant results from empirical studies and different conclusions drawn from meta-analyses and multilab studies. We examined ego depletion and three potential moderators in a preregistered experiment using a within-subjects design in order to overcome limitations of the standard between-subjects design. In two sessions separated by 1 week, participants (N = 214) completed an ego depletion or control version of a Stroop task. Each Stroop task was followed by manipulation check questions and an antisaccade task. Participants also completed measures of lay theory of willpower, trait self-control, and action orientation. There was no significant evidence for ego depletion, and Bayes factors strongly favored the null hypotheses that there was no difference in antisaccade performance (accuracy or response time) after ego depletion and control Stroop tasks. Additionally, lay theory willpower, trait self-control, and action orientation were not significantly related to ego depletion effects. Exploratory between-subjects comparisons that omitted participants who responded at lower than chance accuracy levels, however, found significant ego depletion effects. These results provide further evidence that ego depletion effects are elusive.

Testing the Effects of a Preceding Self-Control Task on Decision-Making in Soccer Refereeing.

The present study tested the assumption that the momentary level of self-control strength affects the accuracy rates in a sports-related judgment and decision-making task. A total of N = 27 participants rated the veracity of 28 video-taped statements of soccer players who were interviewed by a non-visible referee after a critical game-related situation. In half of the videos, the players were lying, and in the other half, they were telling the truth. Participants were tested twice: once with temporarily depleted self-control strength and once with temporarily available self-control strength (order counterbalanced; measurements separated by exactly 7 days). Self-control strength was experimentally manipulated with the Stroop task. In line with two-process models of information processing, we hypothesized that under ego depletion, information is processed in a rather heuristic manner, leading to lower accuracy rates. Contrary to our expectations, the level of temporarily available self-control strength did not have an effect on accuracy rates. Limitations and implications for future research endeavors are discussed.

Dopamine multilocus genetic profiles predict sex differences in reactivity of the human reward system.

Sex differences in the neural processing of decision-making are of high interest as they may have pronounced effects on reward- and addiction-related processes. In these, the neurotransmitter dopamine plays a central role by modulating the responsiveness of the reward circuitry. The present functional magnetic resonance imaging study aimed to explore sex and dopamine transmission interactions in decision-making. 172 subjects (111 women) performed a behavioral self-control task assessing reward-related activation during acceptance and rejection of conditioned rewards. Participants were genotyped for six key genetic polymorphisms in the dopamine system that have previously been associated with individual differences in reward sensitivity or dopaminergic transmission in the human striatum, such as rs7118900 (dopamine receptor D2 (DRD2) Taq1A), rs1554929 (DRD2 C957T), rs907094 (DARPP-32), rs12364283 (DRD2), rs6278 (DRD2), and rs107656 (DRD2). The selected polymorphisms were combined in a so-called multilocus genetic composite (MGC) score reflecting the additive effect of different alleles conferring relative increased dopamine transmission in every individual. We successfully demonstrated that reward-related activation in the ventral striatum and ventral tegmental area (VTA) was significantly modulated by biologically informed MGC profiles and sex. When comparing men and women with low MGC profiles that may indicate lower dopamine transmission, only women displayed a reduced down-regulation of activation in the mesolimbic system during reward rejection and additionally, a significant non-linear u-shape relationship between MGC score and VTA activation. Taken together, by integrating neuroimaging and genetics, the present findings contribute to a better understanding of the effects of sex differences on the human brain.

Culture moderates the relationship between self-control ability and free will beliefs in childhood

We investigate individual, developmental, and cultural differences in self-control in relation to children's changing belief in “free will” – the possibility of acting against and inhibiting strong desires. In three studies, 4- to 8-year-olds in the U.S., China, Singapore, and Peru (N = 441) answered questions to gauge their belief in free will and completed a series of self-control and inhibitory control tasks. Children across all four cultures showed predictable age-related improvements in self-control, as well as changes in their free will beliefs. Cultural context played a role in the timing of these emerging free will beliefs: Singaporean and Peruvian children's beliefs changed at later ages than Chinese and U.S. children. Critically, culture moderated the link between self-control abilities and free will beliefs: Individual differences in self-control behaviors were linked to individual differences in free will beliefs in U.S. children, but not in children from China, Singapore or Peru. There was also evidence of a causal influence of self-control performance on free will beliefs in our U.S. sample. In Study 2, a randomly assigned group of U.S. 4- and 5-year-olds who failed at two self-control tasks showed reduced belief in free will, but a group of children who completed free will questions first did not show changes to self-control. Together these results suggest that culturally-acquired causal-explanatory frameworks for action, along with observations of one's own abilities, might influence children's emerging understanding of free will.

Manipulation of the Duration of the Initial Self-Control Task Within the Sequential-Task Paradigm: Effect on Exercise Performance.

Self-control exertion on an initial task has been associated with impaired performance on subsequent physical tasks also requiring self-control; an effect suggested to be mediated by changes in perceptions of pain and motivation. However, the effects of spending longer on the initial self-control task are unknown. This study, therefore, explored the potential for the duration of the initial self-control task to influence subsequent physical performance, perceptions of pain, and perceived motivation; particularly during the early stages of the physical task. In a within-subject design, 29 participants (11 male, 18 female) completed a wall-sit task until volitional exhaustion, on four separate occasions. Prior to each wall-sit, participants completed either a non-self-control task (congruent Stroop task) for 4 min, or a self-control task (incongruent Stroop task) for 4 (short duration), 8 (medium duration), or 16 (long duration) min. Participant’s perceptions of pain and motivation were recorded every 30 s during the wall-sit. Wall-sit performance time was analyzed using one-way ANOVA and perceptions of pain and motivation analyzed using multi-level modeling. Wall-sit performance time was significantly longer on the non-self-control exertion trial compared to all other trials (all p < 0.01), as well as longer on both the short duration and medium duration self-control exertion trials compared to the long duration self-control exertion trial (both p < 0.001). Perceptions of initial (at 30 s) pain and motivation were different between the trials (main effect of trial: pain, p = 0.001; motivation, p < 0.001); whereby longer durations of self-control exertion increased perceptions of pain and decreased motivation. The decrease in motivation during the wall-sit task was greater on the long duration self-control exertion trial compared to all other trials (trial∗time interactions, all p < 0.05). The present study provides novel evidence that spending longer on the initial self-control task led to greater detrimental effects on subsequent wall-sit performance time. Furthermore, longer duration self-control exertion tasks led to increased perceptions of pain and decreased motivation within the first 30 s of the wall-sit task, as well as a greater decrease in motivation across the wall-sit task. These attentional and motivational shifts may explain performance decrements following the exertion of self-control.

How Does Trait Self-Compassion Benefit Self-Control in Daily Life? An Experience Sampling Study

This experience sampling study examined the roles of trait self-compassion in everyday self-control. Specifically, this study examined whether trait self-compassion influences people’s self-efficacy in handling difficult self-control demands, and subsequently, their self-control success. The participants were asked to respond to five random signals per day for seven consecutive days. When responding to each signal, they first indicated if they had exerted self-control over the past 30 min and, if yes, reported their momentary self-control experiences such as perceived difficulty, self-efficacy, and success. Trait self-compassion was measured 1 week before the experience sampling phase. A total of 1725 self-control episodes from 115 college students were analyzed. No main effects of trait self-compassion on self-control difficulty, self-efficacy, and success were observed. Nevertheless, trait self-compassion interacted with perceived difficulty in predicting self-efficacy. Specifically, perceived difficulty was associated with reduced self-efficacy, only among individuals low in trait self-compassion. Self-compassionate people appeared to be better at protecting self-efficacy when dealing with difficult self-control tasks. The findings provide nuanced views on how trait self-compassion may be beneficial to self-control in everyday life.

A Schema-Activation Approach to Failure and Success in Self-Control.

Numerous studies confirm the so-called ego depletion effect (i.e., self-control is impaired after an initial unrelated self-control task). During recent years, the criticism on this limited-resource approach to willpower has increased, and alternative models have been developed. I argue that the existing models cannot explain the variety of results found in the ego depletion literature and introduce the schema model of self-control. Referring to related schema conceptions (i.e., illness schemas and emotion schemas), I posit that the processes that cause ego depletion effects occur around the activation of the fatigue/decreased vitality schema. This schema becomes activated via the registration of behavioral and physiological changes related to exercising self-control. The activation of the schema should instigate the motivation to conserve energy and, therefore, cause reduced effort and decreased performance in a subsequent self-control task. Moderator variables (e.g., energy supply) should influence the (non)activation of the fatigue/decreased vitality schema or its consequences.

Early child development in children who are HIV-exposed uninfected compared to children who are HIV-unexposed: observational sub-study of a cluster-randomized trial in rural Zimbabwe.

IntroductionExposure to maternal HIV may affect early child development (ECD), although previous studies have reported heterogeneous findings. We evaluated ECD among children who were HIV‐exposed uninfected (CHEU) and children who were HIV‐unexposed (CHU) recruited to the SHINE trial in rural Zimbabwe.MethodsSHINE was a community‐based cluster‐randomized trial of improved infant feeding and/or improved water, sanitation and hygiene. Pregnant women were enrolled between 2012 and 2015. We assessed ECD in a sub‐study at 24 months of age, between 2016 and 2017, using the Malawi Developmental Assessment Tool (MDAT; assessing motor, cognitive, language and social development); MacArthur‐Bates Communicative Development Inventory (CDI) (assessing vocabulary and grammar); A‐not‐B test (assessing object permanence); and a self‐control task. Mothers and infants were tested longitudinally for HIV. We used generalized estimating equations to compare ECD scores between CHEU and CHU, accounting for the cluster‐randomized design. Primary results were adjusted for trial‐related factors that could affect measurement reliability of ECD: study nurse, age of child, calendar month of birth, sex and randomized arm.ResultsA total of 205 CHEU and 1175 CHU were evaluated. Mean total MDAT score was 90.6 (SD 8.7) in CHEU compared to 92.4 (9.1) in CHU (adjusted mean difference −1.3, 95% CI: −2.3, −0.3), driven mostly by differences in gross motor (−0.5, 95% CI: −0.9, −0.2) and language scores (−0.6, 95% CI: −1.1, −0.1). There was evidence that fine motor scores were lower in CHEU (adjusted mean difference −0.4, 95% CI: −0.8, 0.0) but no evidence of a difference in social scores (0.1, 95% CI: −0.2, 0.4). Mean MacArthur‐Bates CDI vocabulary score was 57.9 (SD 19.2) in CHEU compared to 61.3 (18.8) in CHU (adjusted mean difference −2.9 words, 95% CI: −5.7, −0.1). Object permanence and self‐control scores were similar between groups.ConclusionsCHEU in rural Zimbabwe had total child development and vocabulary scores that were approximately 0.15 standard deviations lower than CHU at two years of age. More detailed and specific studies are now needed to unravel the reasons for developmental delay in CHEU and the likelihood that these delays persist in the longer term.

Hold your strength! Motivation, attention, and emotion as potential psychological mediators between cognitive and physical self-control.

The process model of self-control posits motivation, emotion, and attention as psychological mediators in the relationship between cognitive and physical self-control. However, this model has never been tested in a sport context. Participants (N=69) completed 2 isometric biceps endurance trials (physical self-control task; T1 and T2), separated by a 6-min cognitive manip-ulation of self-control. Motivation and emotion were assessed before the respective biceps task, and attention was assessed in terms of gaze behavior on task-relevant in comparison with task-irrelevant stimuli during the biceps task (T1 and T2). To test the hypothesis that motivation, emotion, and attention mediated the relationship between cognitive and physical self-control, aparallel multiple mediator model was calculated. The results indicate that motivation, emotion,and attention (relative change between T1 and T2) did not mediate the relationship between cognitive and physical self-control (b=-0.01, 95% bias corrected and accelerated [BCa]confidence interval [-0.06, 0.03]) and that the exertion of cognitive self-control did not necessarily lead to impaired performance. Future studies should investigate the role of task demands and other potential mediators of self-control (e.g., belief about a limited willpower). Keywords:self-regulation, process model, psychological mediators, sports, mediation model

Self-control and interoception: Linking the neural substrates of craving regulation and the prediction of aversive interoceptive states induced by inspiratory breathing restriction

Following the interoceptive inference framework, we set out to replicate our previously reported association of self-control and interoceptive prediction and strived to investigate the neural underpinnings subserving the relationship between self-control and aversive interoceptive predictive models. To this end, we used fMRI and a within-subject design including an inspiratory breathing-load task to examine the prediction of aversive interoceptive perturbation and a craving-regulation for palatable foods task to measure self-control. In this current study, we could successfully replicate previous effects with an independent sample (n ​= ​39) and observed that individuals who ‘over-estimated’ their upcoming interoceptive state with respect to experienced dyspnea (i.e., anticipated versus experienced) were more effective in the down-regulation of craving using negative future-thinking strategies. These individuals, again, obtained higher scores on a measure of trait self-control, i.e. self-regulation to achieve long-term goals. On a neural level, we found evidence that the anterior insula (AI) and the presupplementary motor area (preSMA), which were recruited in both tasks, partly accounted for these effects. Specifically, levels of AI activation during the anticipation of the aversive interoceptive state (breathing restriction) were associated with self-controlled behavior in the craving task, whereas levels of interoceptive prediction during the breathing task were conversely associated with activation in preSMA during the down-regulation of craving, whose anticipatory activity was correlated with self-control success. Moreover, during the self-control task, levels of interoceptive prediction were associated with connectivity in a spatially distributed network including among other areas the insula and regions of cognitive control, while during the interoceptive prediction task, levels of self-control were associated with connectivity in a spatially distributed network including among other regions the insula and preSMA. In sum, these findings consolidate the notion that self-control is directly linked to interoceptive inference and highlight the contribution of AI and preSMA as candidate regions underlying this relationship possibly creating processing advantages in self-control situations referring to the prediction of future internal states.

Effects of improved complementary feeding and improved water, sanitation and hygiene on early child development among HIV-exposed children: substudy of a cluster randomised trial in rural Zimbabwe

IntroductionHIV-exposed uninfected children may be at risk of poor neurodevelopment. We aimed to test the impact of improved infant and young child feeding (IYCF) and improved water, sanitation and hygiene...

The process of early self-control: an observational study in two- and three-year-olds

Early individual differences in self-control are predictive of numerous developmental outcomes, such as physical health and risk-taking behaviours. Therefore, it is important to improve our understanding of how young children manage to exert self-control. This study investigates two- and three-year-old children’s behaviours during two self-control tasks and the association between the occurrence of these behaviours and task success. Furthermore, the study examines relations between timing and occurrence of these behaviours and caregiver-rated self-control. Two- and three-year-olds (N = 62) were given a snack and gift delay of gratification task to measure self-control. The following behaviours were coded second-by-second during the delay: direction of visual attention and the body (directed towards or away from the reward), distracting with the hands (fidgeting), and actively ‘withholding’ the hands (e.g., holding one hand with the other). To assess caregiver-rated self-control, parents and teachers filled out a selected set of items from the Early Childhood Behaviour Questionnaire inhibitory control scale (Putnam et al. 2006). The percentage of time that children looked away and withheld their hands from the reward positively predicted task success, suggesting that these behaviours are strategic at this young age. Average latency of initiating these behaviours was <10 s for successful children. Teacher-rated (but not parent-rated) self-control related to both the timing and co-occurrence of these behaviours, supporting the ecological validity of the observations. These findings call for future studies to examine further how individual and contextual factors shape the fine-grained dynamics of strategy use in self-control early in life.

The Effect of Gradual Self-Control of Task Difficulty and Feedback on Learning Golf Putting

ABSTRACTPurpose: This study aimed to examine the effect of gradual self-control of task difficulty and feedback on accuracy and movement pattern of the golf putting sport skill. Method: Sixty students were quasi-randomly assigned to four groups under a varying combination of the two factors of task difficulty control (self-controlled or yoked) and feedback control (self-controlled or yoked). The participants in the two groups (dual-factor gradual self-control and self-controlled task difficulty group) that granted control over task difficulty in the acquisition phase were told they could choose any of the pre-set distances from the target. All groups were given 100% feedback in the first half of the acquisition phase, but the participants in the two groups (dual-factor gradual self-control group and self-controlled feedback) that could control their feedback were told that in the second half of the acquisition phase they would be able to ask for feedback when needed. The practice schedule of each member of the dual-factor gradual self-control group was used as a basis to plan the practice of predetermined distances and feedback presentation to the corresponding participants in the yoked conditions. Results: ANOVA with repeated measures showed that the practice method involving gradual self-control of two factors had a positive impact on accuracy and movement pattern of golf putting in the retention and transfer tests compared to other methods (ps < .05). Conclusion: The advantages of self-control practice presumably come from better adjustment of challenge points by the learner in the course of the practice.

Task duration and task order do not matter: no effect on self-control performance.

The strength model of self-control proposes that all acts of self-control are energized by one global limited resource that becomes temporarily depleted by a primary self-control task, leading to impaired self-control performance in secondary self-control tasks. However, failed replications have cast doubt on the existence of this so-called ego depletion effect. Here, we investigated between-task (i.e., variation in self-control tasks) and within-task variation (i.e., task duration) as possible explanations for the conflicting literature on ego depletion effects. In a high-powered experiment (N = 709 participants), we used two established self-control tasks (Stroop task, transcription task) to test how variations in the duration of primary and secondary self-control tasks (2, 4, 8, or 16min per task) affect the occurrence of an ego depletion effect (i.e., impaired performance in the secondary task). In line with the ego depletion hypothesis, subjects perceived longer lasting secondary tasks as more self-control demanding. Contrary to the ego depletion hypothesis, however, performance did neither suffer from prior self-control exertion, nor as a function of task duration. If anything, performance tended to improve when the primary self-control task lasted longer. These effects did not differ between the two self-control tasks, suggesting that the observed null findings were independent of task type.

Vitalizing effect of athlete-drafting task in fantasy sports: the role of competitive goal-framing, involvement, and competitiveness trait

ABSTRACT Research questions: Using an experimental design, this study simulated a drafting task to examine whether a user’s involvement with fantasy sports (FS), different types of goal-framing, and competitiveness trait determine his/her amount of energy and performance in the subsequent self-control behavior after completing the drafting task. Research method: Two experiments were employed, and participants (n = 341) completed a Fantasy Sports Draft Task (FSD-T) that was developed for this study to simulate a draft task in fantasy basketball. After completing the FSD-T, participants engaged in a self-control task and completed questionnaires that included questions on game playing experiences, FS involvement, covariates, and demographics. Results and findings: The results of Experiment 1 indicated that lowly involved users gain higher energy levels when a goal is framed as non-competitive compared to competitive, while highly involved users gain similar energy levels regardless of the goal-framing. The results of Experiment 2 further demonstrated that trait competitiveness further moderates the effect of FS involvement and different types of goal-framing on a user’s amount of energy. Implications: This study provides unique theoretical insight on the vitalizing effect of drafting players in the fantasy sport context. Empirical findings provide actionable insights on segmenting participants, based on several conditions, to offer more tailored services and offerings.

Independent and combined effects of improved water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) and improved complementary feeding on early neurodevelopment among children born to HIV-negative mothers in rural Zimbabwe: Substudy of a cluster-randomized trial.

BackgroundGlobally, nearly 250 million children (43% of all children under 5 years of age) are at risk of compromised neurodevelopment due to poverty, stunting, and lack of stimulation. We tested the independent and combined effects of improved water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) and improved infant and young child feeding (IYCF) on early child development (ECD) among children enrolled in the Sanitation Hygiene Infant Nutrition Efficacy (SHINE) trial in rural Zimbabwe.Methods and findingsSHINE was a cluster-randomized community-based 2×2 factorial trial. A total of 5,280 pregnant women were enrolled from 211 clusters (defined as the catchment area of 1–4 village health workers [VHWs] employed by the Zimbabwean Ministry of Health and Child Care). Clusters were randomly allocated to standard of care, IYCF (20 g of small-quantity lipid-based nutrient supplement per day from age 6 to 18 months plus complementary feeding counseling), WASH (ventilated improved pit latrine, handwashing stations, chlorine, liquid soap, and play yard), and WASH + IYCF. Primary outcomes were child length-for-age Z-score and hemoglobin concentration at 18 months of age. Children who completed the 18-month visit and turned 2 years (102–112 weeks) between March 1, 2016, and April 30, 2017, were eligible for the ECD substudy. We prespecified that primary inferences would be drawn from findings of children born to HIV-negative mothers; these results are presented in this paper. A total of 1,655 HIV-unexposed children (64% of those eligible) were recruited into the ECD substudy from 206 clusters and evaluated for ECD at 2 years of age using the Malawi Developmental Assessment Tool (MDAT) to assess gross motor, fine motor, language, and social skills; the MacArthur–Bates Communicative Development Inventories (CDI) to assess vocabulary and grammar; the A-not-B test to assess object permanence; and a self-control task. Outcomes were analyzed in the intention-to-treat population. For all ECD outcomes, there was not a statistical interaction between the IYCF and WASH interventions, so we estimated the effects of the interventions by comparing the 2 IYCF groups with the 2 non-IYCF groups and the 2 WASH groups with the 2 non-WASH groups. The mean (95% CI) total MDAT score was modestly higher in the IYCF groups compared to the non-IYCF groups in unadjusted analysis: 1.35 (0.24, 2.46; p = 0.017); this difference did not persist in adjusted analysis: 0.79 (−0.22, 1.68; p = 0.057). There was no evidence of impact of the IYCF intervention on the CDI, A-not-B, or self-control tests. Among children in the WASH groups compared to those in the non-WASH groups, mean scores were not different for the MDAT, A-not-B, or self-control tests; mean CDI score was not different in unadjusted analysis (0.99 [95% CI −1.18, 3.17]) but was higher in children in the WASH groups in adjusted analysis (1.81 [0.01, 3.61]). The main limitation of the study was the specific time window for substudy recruitment, meaning not all children from the main trial were enrolled.ConclusionsWe found little evidence that the IYCF and WASH interventions implemented in SHINE caused clinically important improvements in child development at 2 years of age. Interventions that directly target neurodevelopment (e.g., early stimulation) or that more comprehensively address the multifactorial nature of neurodevelopment may be required to support healthy development of vulnerable children.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT01824940

Recruitment of cognitive control regions during effortful self-control is associated with altered brain activity in control and reward systems in dieters during subsequent exposure to food commercials.

Engaging in effortful self-control can sometimes impair people’s ability to resist subsequent temptations. Existing research has shown that when chronic dieters’ self-regulatory capacity is challenged by prior exertion of effort, they demonstrate disinhibited eating and altered patterns of brain activity when exposed to food cues. However, the relationship between brain activity during self-control exertion and subsequent food cue exposure remains unclear. In the present study, we investigated whether individual differences in recruitment of cognitive control regions during a difficult response inhibition task are associated with a failure to regulate neural responses to rewarding food cues in a subsequent task in a cohort of 27 female dieters. During self-control exertion, participants recruited regions commonly associated with inhibitory control, including dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). Those dieters with higher DLPFC activity during the initial self-control task showed an altered balance of food cue elicited activity in regions associated with reward and self-control, namely: greater reward-related activity and less recruitment of the frontoparietal control network. These findings suggest that some dieters may be more susceptible to the effects of self-control exertion than others and, whether due to limited capacity or changes in motivation, these dieters subsequently fail to engage control regions that may otherwise modulate activity associated with craving and reward.

The neurocognitive correlates of academic diligence in adolescent girls

ABSTRACTAcademic diligence is the ability to regulate behavior in the service of goals, and a predictor of educational attainment. Here we combined behavioral, structural MRI, functional MRI and connectivity data to investigate the neurocognitive correlates of diligence. We assessed whether individual differences in diligence are related to the interplay between frontal control and striatal reward systems, as predicted by the dual-systems hypothesis of adolescent development. We obtained behavioral measures of diligence from 40 adolescent girls (aged 14-15 years) using the Academic Diligence Task. We collected structural imaging data for each participant, as well as functional imaging data during an emotional go-no-go self-control task. As predicted by the dual-systems hypothesis, we found that inferior frontal activation and gyrification correlated with academic diligence. However, neither striatal activation nor structure, nor fronto-striatal connectivity, showed clear associations with diligence. Instead, we found prominent activation of temporal areas during the go-no-go task. This suggests that academic diligence is associated with an extended network of brain regions.