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We hypothesized that recurrent exposure to a temporal discounting task would habitize participants, so that they become insensitive to framing effects. Temporal discounting is a behavioral trend which describes how people discount the value of a reward dependent on the time until receipt. Participants completed a temporal discounting task weekly

We hypothesized that recurrent exposure to a temporal discounting task would habitize participants, so that they become insensitive to framing effects. Temporal discounting is a behavioral trend which describes how people discount the value of a reward dependent on the time until receipt. Participants completed a temporal discounting task weekly for five weeks, to promote formation of a habitual decision strategy. Concomitant with this, we expected that people would shift their decision process from a deliberate, goal-oriented approach that is sensitive to changes in reward outcomes and environmental context, to a simplified, automatic approach that minimizes cognitive effort. We expected that this shift in decision strategy would be evident in a reduced influence of contextual effects on choice outcomes. We tested this hypothesis by leveraging two framing effects \u2014 the date/delay effect and the decimal effect. Consistent with our hypothesis, we find that the date/delay effect is significant on week 1, shows significant changes in week 1 to week 5, and is no longer significant on week 5. The results for the decimal effects were not significant. We discuss these results with respect to the cognitive processes that underlie temporal discounting and self-control.
ContributorsSt Amand, Jesse Dean (Author) / McClure, Samuel (Thesis director) / Sanabria, Federico (Committee member) / School of Molecular Sciences (Contributor) / Department of Physics (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
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Description
Prior expectations can bias evaluative judgments of sensory information. We show that information about a performer's status can bias the evaluation of musical stimuli, reflected by differential activity of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC). Moreover, we demonstrate that decreased susceptibility to this confirmation bias is (a) accompanied by the recruitment

Prior expectations can bias evaluative judgments of sensory information. We show that information about a performer's status can bias the evaluation of musical stimuli, reflected by differential activity of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC). Moreover, we demonstrate that decreased susceptibility to this confirmation bias is (a) accompanied by the recruitment of and (b) correlated with the white-matter structure of the executive control network, particularly related to the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC). By using long-duration musical stimuli, we were able to track the initial biasing, subsequent perception, and ultimate evaluation of the stimuli, examining the full evolution of these biases over time. Our findings confirm the persistence of confirmation bias effects even when ample opportunity exists to gather information about true stimulus quality, and underline the importance of executive control in reducing bias.
ContributorsAydogan, Goekhan (Co-author, Committee member) / Flaig, Nicole (Co-author) / Larg, Edward W. (Co-author) / Margulis, Elizabeth Hellmuth (Co-author) / McClure, Samuel (Co-author, Thesis director) / Nagishetty Ravi, Srekar Krishna (Co-author) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
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Description

Hyper-arousal theory presumes that experiencing trauma can increase one’s sense of fight or flight responses or generalized sense of arousability (Riemann et al., 2010). While this theory has been examined in studies regarding insomnia (e.g. Schwandt et al., 2013) it has yet to be examine with dysregulated drinking outcomes such

Hyper-arousal theory presumes that experiencing trauma can increase one’s sense of fight or flight responses or generalized sense of arousability (Riemann et al., 2010). While this theory has been examined in studies regarding insomnia (e.g. Schwandt et al., 2013) it has yet to be examine with dysregulated drinking outcomes such as impaired control over alcohol use. Impaired control over alcohol use (IC) reflects drinking beyond one’s own self-proscribed limits for one’s own drinking behaviors (Heather et al., 1993). According to multiple review papers on the topic (Leeman et al., 2012; 2014), IC is an understudied topic regarding alcohol use disorders (AUDs). Thus, we sought to explore a pathway from facets of childhood trauma (emotional, physical, & sexual abuse, & neglect) versus a supportive family to arousability to drinking outcomes (i.e. IC, alcohol use, & alcohol-related problems). Method: We fit a multiple-group structural equation model with 835 (368 women/ 467 men) university student volunteers. As our model failed the overall invariance test, χ2Δ (20 df) = 55.788, p < .001, we allowed our hypothesized model to moderate on sex. Results: The direct link from sexual abuse to both IC and alcohol-related-problems was stronger for men than women. Emotional abuse was directly linked to higher levels of arousability among women, whereas an emotionally supportive family was related to lesser degrees of arousability among men. Impaired control mediated the indirect link between higher levels of arousability and alcohol use for both sexes. Impaired control also mediated the indirect link between physical neglect and alcohol-related problems among both sexes. Higher levels of emotional abuse were indirectly linked to both more alcohol use & problems through increased arousability and in turn, more IC among women. Higher levels of sexual abuse were indirectly linked to more alcohol problems through higher degrees of impaired control among men. Conclusions: We found evidence in favor of the Hyper-arousability Theory regarding dysregulated drinking with a direct link between arousability and IC. While physical neglect appears to affect both sexes drinking behaviors, emotional abuse may play a stronger role for women than men, while sexual abuse may play a stronger role among men.

ContributorsOng, Annie (Author) / Patock-Peckham, Julie (Thesis director) / Infurna, Frank (Committee member) / McClure, Samuel (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor)
Created2021-12