Browsing by Subject "goal pursuit"
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Item Open Access Chasing Dreams or Avoiding Ruin: Neural Activation to Goal Priming in Low-Income vs. Control Adolescents(2021-04-09) Pandya, UrmiGoals are central to our identities. An important process related to goals is self-regulation: the process of pursuing goals despite internal and external forces that might disrupt it. Adolescents have been shown to struggle with self-regulation, particularly when environmental factors such as poverty interfere with successful goal pursuit. One theory of self-regulation is regulatory focus theory (RFT). RFT consists of promotion and prevention focus. An example of promotion focus is studying to do well on a test because it is an achievement (i.e., an ideal). An example of prevention focus is studying to do well on a test because it is one’s responsibility to do so (i.e., an ought). This exploratory study followed self-regulation as defined by RFT and centered on neural correlates of goal attainment in low-income adolescents. This study compared performance on a subliminal priming fMRI task between low-income and control adolescents. It was found that the low-income adolescents showed greater activation in the mPFC, linked to error-monitoring, for ideal goals that they were close to attaining and less activation in areas associated with self-focus for ideal goals that they were not close to attaining and ought goals that they were close to attaining. These results suggest a potential role of poverty-related stressors in shifting attention away from the self and instead towards vigilant management of external responsibilities. Even during ideal goal pursuit, low-income adolescents may be more focused on correcting errors rather than maximizing positive affect.Item Open Access Intrinsic functional connectivity of motor and heteromodal association cortex predicts individual differences in regulatory focus.(PNAS nexus, 2024-05) Kim, Nayoung; Kim, M Justin; Strauman, Timothy J; Hariri, Ahmad RRegulatory focus theory (RFT) describes two cognitive-motivational systems for goal pursuit-the promotion and prevention systems-important for self-regulation and previously implicated in vulnerability to psychopathology. According to RFT, the promotion system is engaged in attaining ideal goals (e.g. hopes and dreams), whereas the prevention system is associated with accomplishing ought goals (e.g. duties and obligations). Prior task-based functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have mostly explored the mapping of these two systems onto the activity of a priori brain regions supporting motivation and executive control in both healthy and depressed adults. However, complex behavioral processes such as those guided by individual differences in regulatory focus are likely supported by widely distributed patterns of intrinsic functional connectivity. We used data-driven connectome-based predictive modeling to identify patterns of distributed whole-brain intrinsic network connectivity associated with individual differences in promotion and prevention system orientation in 1,307 young university volunteers. Our analyses produced a network model predictive of prevention but not promotion orientation, specifically the subjective experience of successful goal pursuit using prevention strategies. The predictive model of prevention success was highlighted by decreased intrinsic functional connectivity of both heteromodal association cortices in the parietal and limbic networks and the primary motor cortex. We discuss these findings in the context of strategic inaction, which drives individuals with a strong dispositional prevention orientation to inhibit their behavioral tendencies in order to shield the self from potential losses, thus maintaining the safety of the status quo but also leading to trade-offs in goal pursuit success.Item Open Access Licensing in the Eating Domain: Implications for Effective Self-Control Maintenance(2015) Isherwood, Jennifer CamilleThe current study assessed the relationship between licensing and self-control maintenance. Previous research on licensing has found mixed results for the effect of perceived progress on goal pursuit. Some studies find evidence that progress increases commitment and motivation to a goal, making licensing less likely, whereas other studies have found that progress leads to coasting and feelings of earned licensing. Previous work on managing food consumption has demonstrated that using a mental budget in tandem with a salient avoidance goal is an effective means of monitoring and limiting overindulgence. The current study used a mixed event-contingent and fixed-interval experience sampling design to examine the role of licensing in the eating domain and its effect on goal pursuit. Participants in the experimental condition were prompted with personalized commitment devices each day to assess if they promoted goal pursuit and appropriate licensing. We found that licensing occurs infrequently, but when it does occur, goal progress and goal commitment increase. The use of commitment device has little impact on licensing or goal pursuit.