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10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01789

Frontiers in psychology

Front Psychol

Theory-Based Interventions Combining Mental Simulation and Planning Techniques to Improve Physical Activity: Null Results from Two Randomized Controlled Trials.

Interventions to assist individuals in initiating and maintaining regular participation in physical activity are not always effective. Psychological and behavioral theories advocate the importance of both motivation and volition in interventions to change health behavior. Interventions adopting self-regulation strategies that foster motivational and volitional components may, therefore, have utility in promoting regular physical activity participation. We tested the efficacy of an intervention adopting motivational (mental simulation) and volitional (implementation intentions) components to promote a regular physical activity in two studies. Study 1 adopted a cluster randomized design in which participants ( = 92) were allocated to one of three conditions: mental simulation plus implementation intention, implementation intention only, or control. Study 2 adopted a 2 (mental simulation vs. no mental simulation) × 2 (implementation intention vs. no implementation intention) randomized controlled design in which fitness center attendees ( = 184) were randomly allocated one of four conditions: mental simulation only, implementation intention only, combined, or control. Physical activity behavior was measured by self-report (Study 1) or fitness center attendance (Study 2) at 4- (Studies 1 and 2) and 19- (Study 2 only) week follow-up periods. Findings revealed no statistically significant main or interactive effects of the mental simulation and implementation intention conditions on physical activity outcomes in either study. Findings are in contrast to previous research which has found pervasive effects for both intervention strategies. Findings are discussed in light of study limitations including the relatively small sample sizes, particularly for Study 1, deviations in the operationalization of the intervention components from previous research and the lack of a prompt for a goal intention. Future research should focus on ensuring uniformity in the format of the intervention components, test the effects of each component alone and in combination using standardized measures across multiple samples, and systematically explore effects of candidate moderators.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.1055/s-0042-115180

Fortschritte der Neurologie-Psychiatrie

Fortschr Neurol Psychiatr

[Alienation: Differential Psychopathology of Ego-Disturbances].

Alienation, i. e. disorders of the inner experience of integrity, continuity, and agency, represents a feature of both psychotic and non-psychotic disorders. Thereby, ego disturbances are thought to be specific for schizophrenia. Depersonalisation, in contrast, has been reported in schizophrenia as well as a neurotic, probably distinct syndrome. The differentiation of psychotic vs. non-psychotic alienation is often all but trivial. The present paper provides an overview of the historical roots and the psychopathological conceptualizations of alienation. Clinically relevant features of psychotic alienation are highlighted. Experience of passivity, loss of authenticity and disturbances of striving and volition appear as psychotic characteristics.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.1016/j.cub.2016.08.016

Current biology : CB

Curr Biol

Reversed Procrastination by Focal Disruption of Medial Frontal Cortex.

An enduring puzzle in the neuroscience of voluntary action is the origin of the remarkably wide dispersion of the reaction time distribution, an interval far greater than is explained by synaptic or signal transductive noise [1, 2]. That we are able to change our planned actions-a key criterion of volition [3]-so close to the time of their onset implies decision-making must reach deep into the execution of action itself [4-6]. It has been influentially suggested the reaction time distribution therefore reflects deliberate neural procrastination [7], giving alternative response tendencies sufficient time for fair competition in pursuing a decision threshold that determines which one is behaviorally manifest: a race model, where action selection and execution are closely interrelated [8-11]. Although the medial frontal cortex exhibits a sensitivity to reaction time on functional imaging that is consistent with such a mechanism [12-14], direct evidence from disruptive studies has hitherto been lacking. If movement-generating and movement-delaying neural substrates are closely co-localized here, a large-scale lesion will inevitably mask any acceleration, for the movement itself could be disrupted. Circumventing this problem, here we observed focal intracranial electrical disruption of the medial frontal wall in the context of the pre-surgical evaluation of two patients with epilepsy temporarily reversing such hypothesized procrastination. Effector-specific behavioral acceleration, time-locked to the period of electrical disruption, occurred exclusively at a specific locus at the ventral border of the pre-supplementary motor area. A cardinal prediction of race models of voluntary action is thereby substantiated in the human brain.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.1016/B978-0-12-801772-2.00011-4

Handbook of clinical neurology

Handb Clin Neurol

Voluntary or involuntary? A neurophysiologic approach to functional movement disorders.

Patients with functional movement disorders (FMD) experience movements as involuntary that share fundamental characteristics with voluntary actions. This apparent paradox raises questions regarding the possible sources of a subjective experience of action. In addition, it poses a yet unresolved diagnostic challenge, namely how to describe or even quantify this experience in a scientifically and clinically useful way. Here, we describe recent experimental approaches that have shed light on the phenomenology of action in FMD. We first outline the sources and content of a subjective experience of action in healthy humans and discuss how this experience may be created in the brain. Turning to FMD, we describe implicit, behavioral measures that have revealed specific abnormalities in the awareness of action in FMD. Based on these abnormalities, we propose a potential, new solution to the paradox of volition in FMD.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.1080/13648470.2016.1209635

Anthropology & medicine

Anthropol Med

Creating the next steps to care: Maternal heath, improvisation, and Fulani women in Niamey, Niger.

On paper, Niger's maternal healthcare system is extensively outlined by policies which assure access to certain services and create hierarchical referral chains. In practice it remains intensely improvisational: actors in the system must frequently make up the next steps to giving and receiving care, often outside the existing policies and procedures. Although population health in Niger has improved since the recently enacted gratuité des soins policy (which guarantees free access to certain material and child health services), care on the ground is still dictated by difficult circumstances and scarce resources. Health workers often lack the required medications and supplies; nevertheless, they must find ways to deliver services. Patients seeking maternal health services are frequently dissatisfied with the care they receive and so move forward of their own volition, by negotiating with health workers or by looking for services elsewhere. This research builds on recent scholarly work on improvisation, and asks us to further look at the ways that improvisation can be informed by the identity of the actors. Examining case studies of women from the Fulani ethnic group illustrates how particular cultural differences can inform improvisation. Analysing improvisation can also have policy implications; identifying typical points of departure from the official maternal health care system can reveal points where Niger can bolster its commitment to a universally high quality of care.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.1007/978-3-319-30596-7_5

Nebraska Symposium on Motivation. Nebraska Symposium on Motivation

Nebr Symp Motiv

Avolition, Negative Symptoms, and a Clinical Science Journey and Transition to the Future.

The concepts and investigations reviewed above suggest the following * Schizophrenia is a clinical syndrome that can be deconstructed into meaningful domains of psychopathology. * Individual patients vary substantially on which domains are present as well as severity. * Negative symptoms are common in persons with schizophrenia, but only primary negative symptoms are a manifestation of schizophrenia psychopathology in the "weakening of the wellsprings of volition" sense that Kraepelin described. * The failure to distinguish primary from secondary negative symptoms has profound consequences as viewed in the vast majority of clinical trials that report negative symptom efficacy without regard for causation and without controlling for pseudospecificity. * Schizophrenia is now broadly defined with positive psychotic symptoms, and a subgroup with primary negative symptoms is a candidate disease entity. * Evidence of negative symptoms as a taxon supports the separate classification of persons with primary negative symptoms. * Negative symptoms are an unmet therapeutic need. * Two factors best define the negative symptom construct and these may have different pathophysiological and treatment implications. * The avolitional component may not be based on a diminished capacity to experience pleasure, but difficulty using mental representations of affective value to guide decision-making and goal-directed behavior. Part II in this volume by Strauss et al. will address the range of laboratory-based investigations of negative symptoms, clarify current hypotheses and theories concerning negative symptom pathology, and address future directions for negative symptom research and clinical care.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2016.1976

JAMA psychiatry

JAMA Psychiatry

Phenomenology of Schizophrenia and the Representativeness of Modern Diagnostic Criteria.

This article aims to determine the degree to which modern operationalized diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia reflect the main clinical features of the disorder as described historically by diagnostic experts. Amazon.com, the National Library of Medicine, and Forgottenbooks.com were searched for articles written or translated into English from 1900 to 1960. Clinical descriptions of schizophrenia or dementia praecox appearing in 16 textbooks or review articles published between 1899 and 1956 were reviewed and compared with the criteria for schizophrenia from 6 modern US operationalized diagnostic systems. Twenty prominent symptoms and signs were reported by 5 or more authors. A strong association was seen between the frequency with which the symptoms/signs were reported and the likelihood of their presence in modern diagnostic systems. Of these 20 symptoms/signs, 3 (thought disorder, delusions, and hallucinations) were included in all diagnostic systems and were among the 4 most frequently reported. Three symptoms/signs were added then kept in subsequent criteria: emotional blunting, changes in volition, and changes in social life. Three symptoms/signs were added but then dropped: bizarre delusions, passivity symptoms, and mood incongruity. Eleven symptoms/signs were never included in any diagnostic system. Compared with historical authors, modern criteria favored symptoms over signs. Odd movements and postures, noted by 16 of 18 historical authors, were absent from all modern criteria. DSM-5 criteria contain 6 of the 20 historically noted symptoms/signs. Although modern operationalized criteria for schizophrenia reflect symptoms and signs commonly reported by historical experts, many clinical features emphasized by these experts are absent from modern criteria. This is not necessarily problematic as diagnostic criteria are meant to index rather than thoroughly describe syndromes. However, the lack of correspondence in schizophrenia between historically important symptoms/signs and current diagnostic systems highlights the limitations of clinical evaluations and research studies that restrict the diagnostic assessments to current diagnostic criteria. We should not confuse our DSM diagnostic criteria with the disorders that they were designed to index.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.3389/fnins.2016.00386

Frontiers in neuroscience

Front Neurosci

A Bidirectional Relationship between Executive Function and Health Behavior: Evidence, Implications, and Future Directions.

Physically active lifestyles and other health-enhancing behaviors play an important role in preserving executive function into old age. Conversely, emerging research suggests that executive functions facilitate participation in a broad range of healthy behaviors including physical activity and reduced fatty food, tobacco, and alcohol consumption. They do this by supporting the volition, planning, performance monitoring, and inhibition necessary to enact intentions and override urges to engage in health damaging behavior. Here, we focus firstly on evidence suggesting that health-enhancing behaviors can induce improvements in executive function. We then switch our focus to findings linking executive function to the consistent performance of health-promoting behaviors and the avoidance of health risk behaviors. We suggest that executive function, health behavior, and disease processes are interdependent. In particular, we argue that a positive feedback loop may exist whereby health behavior-induced changes in executive function foster subsequent health-enhancing behaviors, which in turn help sustain efficient executive functions and good health. We conclude by outlining the implications of this reciprocal relationship for intervention strategies, the design of research studies, and the study of healthy aging.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

Translational brain rhythmicity

Transl Brain Rhythm

The 10 Hz Frequency: A Fulcrum For Transitional Brain States.

A 10 Hz rhythm is present in the occipital cortex when the eyes are closed (alpha waves), in the precentral cortex at rest ( rhythm), in the superior and middle temporal lobe ( rhythm), in the inferior olive (projection to cerebellar cortex), and in physiological tremor (underlying all voluntary movement). These are all considered resting rhythms in the waking brain which are "replaced" by higher frequency activity with sensorimotor stimulation. That is, the 10 Hz frequency fulcrum is replaced on the one hand by lower frequencies during sleep, or on the other hand by higher frequencies during volition and cognition. The 10 Hz frequency fulcrum is proposed as the natural frequency of the brain during quiet waking, but is replaced by higher frequencies capable of permitting more complex functions, or by lower frequencies during sleep and inactivity. At the center of the transition shifts to and from the resting rhythm is the reticular activating system, a phylogenetically preserved area of the brain essential for preconscious awareness.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.1055/s-0042-106844

Die Rehabilitation

Rehabilitation (Stuttg)

[Promoting Factors, Barriers and Barrier Management to the Implementation of Health-Promoting Behavior among Rehabilitative Patients with Chronic Low Back Pain - A Qualitative Analysis].

Backgroundand aim: The long-term success of rehabilitation in chronic low back pain is not yet established. The present study examined promoting factors, barriers and barrier management of health-promoting behavior among rehabilitative patients. In total, 35 documents of patients of 4 inpatient behavioral medicine orthopedic rehabilitation clinics were included into the analysis of a written survey based on 3 open questions. The free-worded statements were electronically recorded and then analyzed by content analysis. Promoting factors of patients for the implementation of healthy life style behaviors included the learning of techniques for pain and stress management as well as increased volition and quality of life. Among patients with increased depressive symptoms, insufficient volition, family and professional pressures were identified as barriers. Finally, social support was reported to facilitate implementing health-promoting behavior into daily life. The results suggest that the long-term rehabilitation success can be improved by treating exercises to implement health-promoting behavior into daily life, applying individualized barrier management, and offering post-rehabilitative treatments in all communities.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.17116/jnevro20161167125-28

Zhurnal nevrologii i psikhiatrii imeni S.S. Korsakova

Zh Nevrol Psikhiatr Im S S Korsakova

[Possibilities of treatment optimization in children and adolescents with epilepsy and disturbances of emotion and volition (disphoria)].

To optimize the treatment of dysphoriain children and adolescents in regard to sex and disease severity. Seventy children and adolescents (boys - 45, girls - 25), aged from 6 to 18 years, with different forms of epilepsy and emotion and dysphoric disturbances were studied using CPRS andGCIscales Depending on dysphoria severity, patients were stratified into three groups: mild (n=19 (27.1%), moderate (n=27 (38.6%)) and severe (n=24 (34.3%)). Dysphoric disorders were significantly more prevalent in boys, hostility and aggression were characteristic of boys as well. These facts impactedtreatment options. Neuroleptics were more frequently used in boys (35.5%) compared to girls(16%).Mild dysphoria didn't require additional treatment besides AED in 78,4%. In 75% cases of moderate dysphoria,systemic treatment with neuroleptics for 6 months was necessary. One-time recommendations for neuroleptic treatment were made in all three groups with the prevalence in a groupof children with severe and moderate dysphoria.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01024

Frontiers in psychology

Front Psychol

A Rolling Stone Gathers No Moss-The Long Way from Good Intentions to Physical Activity Mediated by Planning, Social Support, and Self-Regulation.

Although many people know that an active lifestyle contributes to health they fail to translate their intentions into action. This has been explained by deficits in self-management and resources, such as enabling social support, planning, and self-regulation in the face of barriers. The present study examines the role of perceived social support, planning, and self-regulation in facilitating physical activity. In a prospective online study, intention was assessed at baseline (Time 1), planning and social support at 4-week follow-up (Time 2), self-regulation and physical activity at 6-month follow-up (Time 3). A path analysis was conducted to shed light on mediating psychological mechanisms contributing to maintenance of physical activity. Perceived support (Time 2), planning (Time 2), and self-regulation (Time 3) mediated the link from intention (Time 1) to physical activity (Time 3); the specific and total indirect effects were significant. Findings suggest that perceived social support, planning, and self-regulation can bridge the intention-behavior gap. Behavior change interventions should target those mechanisms in vulnerable individuals.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.1111/psyp.12729

Psychophysiology

Psychophysiology

Decomposing mechanisms of abnormal saccade generation in schizophrenia patients: Contributions of volitional initiation, motor preparation, and fixation release.

Clinical and theoretical models suggest deficient volitional initiation of action in schizophrenia patients. Recent research provided an experimental model of testing this assumption using saccade tasks. However, inconsistent findings necessitate a specification of conditions on which the deficit may occur. The present study sought to detect mechanisms that may contribute to poor performance. Sixteen schizophrenia patients and 16 healthy control participants performed visually guided and two types of volitional saccade tasks. All tasks varied as to whether the initial fixation stimulus disappeared (fixation stimulus offset) or continued during saccade initiation, and whether a direction cue allowed motor preparation of the specific saccade. Saccade latencies of the two groups were differentially affected by task type, fixation stimulus offset, and cueing, suggesting abnormal volitional saccade generation, fixation release, and motor preparation in schizophrenia. However, substantial performance deficits may only occur if all affected processes are required in a task.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.1073/pnas.1521223113

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A

Extending experiences of voluntary action by association.

"Sense of agency" refers to the experience that links one's voluntary actions to their external outcomes. It remains unclear whether this ubiquitous experience is hardwired, arising from specific signals within the brain's motor systems, or rather depends on associative learning, through repeated cooccurrence of voluntary movements and their outcomes. To distinguish these two models, we asked participants to trigger a tone by a voluntary keypress action. The voluntary action was always associated with an involuntary movement of the other hand. We then tested whether the combination of the involuntary movement and tone alone might now suffice to produce a sense of agency, even when the voluntary action was omitted. Sense of agency was measured using an implicit marker based on time perception, namely a shift in the perceived time of the outcome toward the action that caused it. Across two experiments, repeatedly pairing an involuntary movement with a voluntary action induced key temporal features of agency, with the outcome now perceived as shifted toward the involuntary movement. This shift required involuntary movements to have been previously associated with voluntary actions. We show that some key aspects of agency may be transferred from voluntary actions to involuntary movements. An internal volitional signal is required for the primary acquisition of agency but, with repeated association, the involuntary movement in itself comes to produce some key temporal features of agency over the subsequent outcome. This finding may explain how humans can develop an enduring sense of agency in nonnatural cases, like brain-machine interfaces.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.1097/WCO.0000000000000356

Current opinion in neurology

Curr Opin Neurol

Tics and Tourette's: update on pathophysiology and tic control.

To describe recent advances in the pathophysiology of tics and Tourette syndrome, and novel insights on tic control. The cortico-basal ganglia-thalamo-cortical loops are implicated in generation of tics. Disruption of GABAergic inhibition lies at the core of tic pathophysiology, but novel animal models also implicate cholinergic and histaminergic neurotransmission. Tourette syndrome patients have altered awareness of volition and enhanced formation of habits. Premonitory urges are not the driving force behind all tics. The intensity of premonitory urges depends on patients' capacity to perceive interoceptive signals. The insular cortex is a key structure in this process. The trait intensity of premonitory urges is not a prerequisite of voluntary tic inhibition, a distinct form of motor control. Voluntary tic inhibition is most efficient in the body parts that tic the least. The prefrontal cortex is associated with the capacity to inhibit tics. The management of tics includes behavioral, pharmacological and surgical interventions. Treatment recommendations differ based on patients' age. The study of Tourette syndrome pathophysiology involves different neural disciplines and provides novel, exciting insights of brain function in health and disease. These in turn provide the basis for innovative treatment approaches of tics and their associations.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.3758/s13414-016-1159-7

Attention, perception & psychophysics

Atten Percept Psychophys

Tracking the will to attend: Cortical activity indexes self-generated, voluntary shifts of attention.

The neural substrates of volition have long tantalized philosophers and scientists. Over the past few decades, researchers have employed increasingly sophisticated technology to investigate this issue, but many studies have been limited considerably by their reliance on intrusive experimental procedures (e.g., abrupt instructional cues), measures of brain activity contaminated by overt behavior, or introspective self-report techniques of questionable validity. Here, we used multivoxel pattern time-course analysis of functional magnetic resonance imaging data to index voluntary, covert perceptual acts-shifts of visuospatial attention-in the absence of instructional cues, overt behavioral indices, and self-report. We found that these self-generated, voluntary attention shifts were time-locked to activity in the medial superior parietal lobule, supporting the hypothesis that this brain region is engaged in voluntary attentional reconfiguration. Self-generated attention shifts were also time-locked to activity in the basal ganglia, a novel finding that motivates further research into the role of the basal ganglia in acts of volition. Remarkably, prior to self-generated shifts of attention, we observed early and selective increases in the activation of medial frontal (dorsal anterior cingulate) and lateral prefrontal (right middle frontal gyrus) cortex-activity that likely reflects processing related to the intention or preparation to reorient attention. These findings, which extend recent evidence on freely chosen motor movements, suggest that dorsal anterior cingulate and lateral prefrontal cortices play key roles in both overt and covert acts of volition, and may constitute core components of a brain network underlying the will to attend.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.1016/j.lpm.2016.03.018

Presse medicale (Paris, France : 1983)

Presse Med

[Comparison of the concept of "responsibility" in neuroscience and in French criminal law: A cross-literature review for the psychiatric forensic practice].

In forensic psychiatry, experts have to determine the level of responsibility of a subject with regard to their acts. Neuroscience and cognitive sciences have been increasingly studying the brain functions that are supposed to underlie individual responsibility. In neuroscience, impairment of responsibility is underlain by disruptions of different types of cognitive processes. This processes are executive functions, theory of mind, agency, volition and empathy. In the juridical conception, the term of responsibility refers to a broader perspective than in the neuroscientific approach.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.1016/j.knee.2016.04.015

The Knee

Knee

Psychological traits regarding competitiveness are related to the incidence of anterior cruciate ligament injury in high school female athletes.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between psychological competitive ability and the incidence of noncontact ACL injuries among high school female athletes. A three-year prospective cohort study was conducted using 300 15-year-old high school female athletes with no previous injuries or symptoms in their lower limbs (106 handball players and 194 basketball players). At baseline, their psychological competitive abilities were assessed using a self-administered questionnaire-the Diagnostic Inventory of Psychological Competitive Ability (DIPCA.3). After the baseline examination was performed at high school entry, all players were prospectively followed for 36months to document any subsequent incidence of ACL injury, according to their coaches. An unpaired t-test with Welch's correction was performed to compare the differences in the psychological competitive abilities between the injured and uninjured players. Of the 300 players, 25 (8.3%) experienced a noncontact ACL injury during the three-year observation period. The injured players had significantly higher total DIPCA.3 scores for psychological competitive ability than the uninjured players (169.9±18.8 vs. 159.2±21.6, P=.036). Additionally, the injured players had significantly higher scores than the uninjured players in the following categories: aggressiveness, volition for self-realization, volition for winning, judgment, and cooperation. However, no significant differences were observed in patience, self-control, ability to relax, concentration, confidence, decision, and predictive ability. High psychological competitive ability was associated with the incidence of noncontact ACL injuries in high school female athletes. Level II (prospective cohort study).

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.1016/j.concog.2016.04.010

Consciousness and cognition

Conscious Cogn

Simulated thought insertion: Influencing the sense of agency using deception and magic.

In order to study the feeling of control over decisions, we told 60 participants that a neuroimaging machine could read and influence their thoughts. While inside a mock brain scanner, participants chose arbitrary numbers in two similar tasks. In the Mind-Reading Task, the scanner appeared to guess the participants' numbers; in the Mind-Influencing Task, it appeared to influence their choice of numbers. We predicted that participants would feel less voluntary control over their decisions when they believed that the scanner was influencing their choices. As predicted, participants felt less control and made slower decisions in the Mind-Influencing Task compared to the Mind-Reading Task. A second study replicated these findings. Participants' experience of the ostensible influence varied, with some reporting an unknown source directing them towards specific numbers. This simulated thought insertion paradigm can therefore influence feelings of voluntary control and may help model symptoms of mental disorders.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.1176/appi.ajp.2016.15121509

The American journal of psychiatry

Am J Psychiatry

The Phenomenology of Major Depression and the Representativeness and Nature of DSM Criteria.

How should DSM criteria relate to the disorders they are designed to assess? To address this question empirically, the author examines how well DSM-5 symptomatic criteria for major depression capture the descriptions of clinical depression in the post-Kraepelin Western psychiatric tradition as described in textbooks published between 1900 and 1960. Eighteen symptoms and signs of depression were described, 10 of which are covered by the DSM criteria for major depression or melancholia. For two symptoms (mood and cognitive content), DSM criteria are considerably narrower than those described in the textbooks. Five symptoms and signs (changes in volition/motivation, slowing of speech, anxiety, other physical symptoms, and depersonalization/derealization) are not present in the DSM criteria. Compared with the DSM criteria, these authors gave greater emphasis to cognitive, physical, and psychomotor changes, and less to neurovegetative symptoms. These results suggest that important features of major depression are not captured by DSM criteria. This is unproblematic as long as DSM criteria are understood to index rather than constitute psychiatric disorders. However, since DSM-III, our field has moved toward a reification of DSM that implicitly assumes that psychiatric disorders are actually just the DSM criteria. That is, we have taken an index of something for the thing itself. For example, good diagnostic criteria should be succinct and require minimal inference, but some critical clinical phenomena are subtle, difficult to assess, and experienced in widely varying ways. This conceptual error has contributed to the impoverishment of psychopathology and has affected our research, clinical work, and teaching in some undesirable ways.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.1016/j.neuroimage.2016.04.036

NeuroImage

Neuroimage

Influences of unconscious priming on voluntary actions: Role of the rostral cingulate zone.

The ability to make voluntary, free choices is fundamental to what it means to be human. A key brain region that is involved in free choices is the rostral cingulate zone (RCZ), which is part of the medial frontal cortex. Previous research has shown that activity in this brain region can be modulated by bottom-up information while making free choices. The current study extends those findings, and shows, for the first time, that activation in the RCZ can also be modulated by subliminal information. We used a subliminal response priming paradigm to bias free and cued choices. We observed more activation in the RCZ when participants made a choice that went against the prime's suggestion, compared to when they chose according to the prime. This shows that the RCZ plays an important role in overcoming externally-triggered conflict between different response options, even when the stimuli triggering this conflict are not consciously perceived. Our results suggest that an important mechanism of endogenous action in the RCZ may therefore involve exerting an internally-generated action choice against conflicting influences, such as external sensory evidence. We further found that subliminal information also modulated activity in the anterior insula and the supramarginal gyrus.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.1038/nature17639

Nature

Nature

Opponent and bidirectional control of movement velocity in the basal ganglia.

For goal-directed behaviour it is critical that we can both select the appropriate action and learn to modify the underlying movements (for example, the pitch of a note or velocity of a reach) to improve outcomes. The basal ganglia are a critical nexus where circuits necessary for the production of behaviour, such as the neocortex and thalamus, are integrated with reward signalling to reinforce successful, purposive actions. The dorsal striatum, a major input structure of basal ganglia, is composed of two opponent pathways, direct and indirect, thought to select actions that elicit positive outcomes and suppress actions that do not, respectively. Activity-dependent plasticity modulated by reward is thought to be sufficient for selecting actions in the striatum. Although perturbations of basal ganglia function produce profound changes in movement, it remains unknown whether activity-dependent plasticity is sufficient to produce learned changes in movement kinematics, such as velocity. Here we use cell-type-specific stimulation in mice delivered in closed loop during movement to demonstrate that activity in either the direct or indirect pathway is sufficient to produce specific and sustained increases or decreases in velocity, without affecting action selection or motivation. These behavioural changes were a form of learning that accumulated over trials, persisted after the cessation of stimulation, and were abolished in the presence of dopamine antagonists. Our results reveal that the direct and indirect pathways can each bidirectionally control movement velocity, demonstrating unprecedented specificity and flexibility in the control of volition by the basal ganglia.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.1016/j.rcp.2015.09.002

Revista colombiana de psiquiatria

Rev Colomb Psiquiatr

[Fratricide and Schizophrenia].

Fratricide is the killing of one's own bother. It's a type of homicide rarely seen on psychiatric practice. This is still a theme which is poorly studied, and not well understood by the scientific literature. To report a case of a men, with paranoid schizophrenia that murdered his own bother and had a psychiatric forensic evaluation to establish his penal responsibility. A psychiatric interview was carried out and the psychiatric diagnosis was established based on the interview and analysis of forensic and medical records, using the DSM-IV-TR criteria. Literature review was held about the theme. The examinee was considered not guilty by reason of insanity, due to the presence of a mental disorder that affected her entire understanding and volition of the practiced act. The study of such cases may illustrate and identify motivating factors related to homicidal behavior in individuals with severe mental disorders.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.1037/cou0000154

Journal of counseling psychology

J Couns Psychol

Prediction of job search intentions and behaviors: Testing the social cognitive model of career self-management.

We present 2 studies testing the recently developed social-cognitive model of career self-management (Lent & Brown, 2013) in the context of the job search process. In the first study, a sample of 243 unemployed job seekers completed measures of job search self-efficacy, outcome expectations, social support, search intentions, conscientiousness, and perceived control (or volition) over the outcomes of the job search. The latter variable was added to the social-cognitive model to examine the possibility, derived from the psychology of working perspective, that perceived volition might moderate the relation of self-efficacy to job search intentions. The second study included 240 graduating college seniors and focused on the utility of the social-cognitive, personality, and perceived outcome control variables in predicting active engagement in the job search process. Path analyses indicated that the model generally fit the data well in both studies. In Study 1, self-efficacy and outcome expectations mediated the relations of the other predictors to job search intentions. In Study 2, job search intentions produced the primary direct path to subsequent job search behaviors; conscientiousness, support, and outcome control related to job search behavior indirectly through self-efficacy and its linkage to intentions. Outcome control moderated self-efficacy/intention relations only in Study 2, and the pattern of moderation was contrary to expectations. Implications for further inquiry and practice with job seekers are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.3233/WOR-162281

Work (Reading, Mass.)

Work

Using the WEIS-SR to evaluate employee perceptions of their college work environment.

Colleges have been experiencing reduced resource allocations, shifting student expectations, and organizational change. These changes increase employee stress at all levels. Ensuring that employee needs are being met and promoting a healthy and productive workforce has never been more important. To investigate employees' current perceptions of their work environments using the Work Environment Impact Scale-Self Rating (WEIS-SR). Full and part time employees on a small college campus in the United States were surveyed using the WEIS-SR through an online survey program to protect their anonymity. Perception of staffing levels, workplace support for a healthy lifestyle, number of supervisors, and personal health ratings contributed to employee perceptions of their work environment. There were also differences between staff, administration, and tenured and non-tenured faculty. From an occupational performance perspective, valuable information on employees' levels of volition, performance capacity and habituation, and perceptions of their physical and social environment in relation to their work environments was obtained. Further support for the use of the WEIS-SR and psychometric properties of the instrument (reliability and validity) was obtained.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.1080/08870446.2016.1174236

Psychology & health

Psychol Health

Social-cognitive antecedents of hand washing: Action control bridges the planning-behaviour gap.

To examine motivational and volitional factors for hand washing in young adults, using the Health Action Process Approach (HAPA) as a theoretical framework. In a longitudinal design with two measurement points, six weeks apart, university students (N = 440) completed paper-based questionnaires. Prior hand washing frequency, self-efficacy, outcome expectancies, intention and action planning were measured at baseline, and coping planning, action control and hand washing frequency were measured at follow-up. A theory-based structural equation model was specified. In line with the HAPA, the motivational factors of self-efficacy and outcome expectancies predicted intention, whereas the volitional factors of planning and action control mediated between intention and changes in hand washing frequency. Action control was confirmed as the most proximal factor on hand washing behaviour, thus representing a bridge of the planning-behaviour gap. Both motivational and volitional processes are important to consider in the improvement of hand hygiene practices. Moreover, the statistically significant effects for planning and action control illustrate the importance of these key self-regulatory factors in the prediction of hand hygiene. The current study highlights the importance of adopting models that account for motivational and volitional factors to better understand hand washing behaviour.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.3390/brainsci6010010

Brain sciences

Brain Sci

Multistable Perception in Older Adults: Constructing a Whole from Fragments.

Visual perception is constructive in nature; that is, a coherent whole is generated from ambiguous fragments that are encountered in dynamic visual scenes. Creating this coherent whole from fragmented sensory inputs requires one to detect, identify, distinguish and organize sensory input. The organization of fragments into a coherent whole is facilitated by the continuous interactions between lower level sensory inputs and higher order processes. However, age-related declines are found in both neural structures and cognitive processes (e.g., attention and inhibition). The impact of these declines on the constructive nature of visual processing was the focus of this study. Here we asked younger adults, young-old (65-79 years), and old-old adults (80+ years) to view a multistable figure (i.e., Necker cube) under four conditions (free, priming, volition, and adaptation) and report, via a button press, when percepts spontaneously changed. The oldest-olds, unlike young-olds and younger adults, were influenced by priming, had less visual stability during volition and showed less ability to adapt to multistable stimuli. These results suggest that the ability to construct a coherent whole from fragments declines with age. More specifically, vision is constructed differently in the old-olds, which might influence environmental interpretations and navigational abilities in this age group.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.1080/08870446.2016.1146719

Psychology & health

Psychol Health

Implementation intention and planning interventions in Health Psychology: Recommendations from the Synergy Expert Group for research and practice.

The current article details a position statement and recommendations for future research and practice on planning and implementation intentions in health contexts endorsed by the Synergy Expert Group. The group comprised world-leading researchers in health and social psychology and behavioural medicine who convened to discuss priority issues in planning interventions in health contexts and develop a set of recommendations for future research and practice. The expert group adopted a nominal groups approach and voting system to elicit and structure priority issues in planning interventions and implementation intentions research. Forty-two priority issues identified in initial discussions were further condensed to 18 key issues, including definitions of planning and implementation intentions and 17 priority research areas. Each issue was subjected to voting for consensus among group members and formed the basis of the position statement and recommendations. Specifically, the expert group endorsed statements and recommendations in the following areas: generic definition of planning and specific definition of implementation intentions, recommendations for better testing of mechanisms, guidance on testing the effects of moderators of planning interventions, recommendations on the social aspects of planning interventions, identification of the preconditions that moderate effectiveness of planning interventions and recommendations for research on how people use plans.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00071

Frontiers in psychology

Front Psychol

Self-Determination and Meaningful Work: Exploring Socioeconomic Constraints.

This study examined a model of meaningful work among a diverse sample of working adults. From the perspectives of Self-Determination Theory and the Psychology of Working Framework, we tested a structural model with social class and work volition predicting SDT motivation variables, which in turn predicted meaningful work. Partially supporting hypotheses, work volition was positively related to internal regulation and negatively related to amotivation, whereas social class was positively related to external regulation and amotivation. In turn, internal regulation was positively related to meaningful work, whereas external regulation and amotivation were negatively related to meaningful work. Indirect effects from work volition to meaningful work via internal regulation and amotivation were significant, and indirect effects from social class to meaningful work via external regulation and amotivation were significant. This study highlights the important relations between SDT motivation variables and meaningful work, especially the large positive relation between internal regulation and meaningful work. However, results also reveal that work volition and social class may play critical roles in predicting internal regulation, external regulation, and amotivation.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.1016/j.neulet.2016.01.051

Neuroscience letters

Neurosci Lett

Rolandic beta-band activity correlates with decision time to move.

Research findings link rolandic beta-band activity to voluntary movements, but a linkage with the decision time to move remains unknown. We found that beta-band (16-28Hz) activity shortly before the movement onset is relevant for the decision time to move: the more pronounced the decrease in beta-band synchronization, the earlier the subjective experience of the decision to move. The linkage was relevant regarding 'decision', but not regarding 'intention' timing that has been often applied in the study of free will. Our findings suggest that oscillatory neural activity in the beta-band is an important neural signature pertaining to the subjective experience of making a decision to move.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.4137/JEN.S32735

Journal of experimental neuroscience

J Exp Neurosci

Progesterone After Estradiol Modulates Shuttle-Cage Escape by Facilitating Volition.

In animal models of depression, depression is defined as performance on a learning task. That task is typically escaping a mild electric shock in a shuttle cage by moving from one side of the cage to the other. Ovarian hormones influence learning in other kinds of tasks, and these hormones are associated with depressive symptoms in humans. The role of these hormones in shuttle-cage escape learning, however, is less clear. This study manipulated estradiol and progesterone in ovariectomized female rats to examine their performance in shuttle-cage escape learning without intentionally inducing a depressive-like state. Progesterone, not estradiol, within four hours of testing affected latencies to escape. The improvement produced by progesterone was in the decision to act, not in the speed of learning or speed of escaping. This parallels depression in humans in that depressed people are slower in volition, in their decisions to take action.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.1093/nc/niv009

Neuroscience of consciousness

Neurosci Conscious

"Free will": are we all equal? A dynamical perspective of the conscious intention to move.

In their seminal (1983) study, Libet and colleagues suggested that awareness of one's intention to act has a postdictive character in that it occurs long after cerebral activity leading to action has been initiated. Crucially, Libet further suggested that the time window (±200 ms) between the conscious experience of the intention to act and the action itself offers people the possibility of "vetoing" the unfolding action. This raises the question of whether there are individual differences in the duration of this "veto window" and which components of the readiness potential (RP) and the lateralized readiness potential (LRP) explain this variability. It has been reported that some psychiatric diseases lead to shorter intervals between conscious intentions and actions. However, it is unclear whether such patients suffer from impairment of the sense of volition, thus experiencing voluntary movements as involuntary, or whether voluntary inhibition of action is actually reduced, since conscious intention occurs later. We had two aims in the present paper. First, we aimed at clarifying the role of consciousness in voluntary actions by examining the relation between the duration of the veto window and impulsivity. Second, we sought to examine different components of the RP and LRP waveforms so as to attempt to explain observed variability in W judgments. Our results indicate (1) that impulsive people exhibit a shorter delay between their intention and the action than non-impulsive people, and (2) that this difference can hardly be attributed to a difference in time perception. Electroencephalography indicated that the rate of growth of the RP is relevant to explain differences in W judgments, since we observed that the RP at the moment of conscious intention is lower for people with late conscious intention than for people with early conscious intention. The onset and the intercept of these waveforms were less interpretable. These results bring new light on the role that consciousness plays in voluntary action.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.1016/j.concog.2015.11.011

Consciousness and cognition

Conscious Cogn

Readiness potentials driven by non-motoric processes.

An increase in brain activity known as the "readiness potential" (RP) can be seen over central scalp locations in the seconds leading up to a volitionally timed movement. This activity precedes awareness of the ensuing movement by as much as two seconds and has been hypothesized to reflect preconscious planning and/or preparation of the movement. Using a novel experimental design, we teased apart the relative contribution of motor-related and non-motor-related processes to the RP. The results of our experiment reveal that robust RPs occured in the absence of movement and that motor-related processes did not significantly modulate the RP. This suggests that the RP measured here is unlikely to reflect preconscious motor planning or preparation of an ensuing movement, and instead may reflect decision-related or anticipatory processes that are non-motoric in nature.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.3389/fnbeh.2015.00323

Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience

Front Behav Neurosci

A Prefrontal-Hippocampal Comparator for Goal-Directed Behavior: The Intentional Self and Episodic Memory.

The hypothesis of this article is that the interactions between the prefrontal cortex and the hippocampus play a critical role in the modulation of goal-directed self-action and the strengthening of episodic memories. We describe various theories that model a comparator function for the hippocampus, and then elaborate the empirical evidence that supports these theories. One theory which describes a prefrontal-hippocampal comparator for voluntary action is emphasized. Action plans are essential for successful goal-directed behavior, and are elaborated by the prefrontal cortex. When an action plan is initiated, the prefrontal cortex transmits an efference copy (or corollary discharge) to the hippocampus where it is stored as a working memory for the action plan (which includes the expected outcomes of the action plan). The hippocampus then serves as a response intention-response outcome working memory comparator. Hippocampal comparator function is enabled by the hippocampal theta rhythm allowing the hippocampus to compare expected action outcomes to actual action outcomes. If the expected and actual outcomes match, the hippocampus transmits a signal to prefrontal cortex which strengthens or consolidates the action plan. If a mismatch occurs, the hippocampus transmits an error signal to the prefrontal cortex which facilitates a reformulation of the action plan, fostering behavioral flexibility and memory updating. The corollary discharge provides the self-referential component to the episodic memory, affording the personal and subjective experience of what behavior was carried out, when it was carried out, and in what context (where) it occurred. Such a perspective can be applied to episodic memory in humans, and episodic-like memory in non-human animal species.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01509

Frontiers in psychology

Front Psychol

Voluntary self-touch increases body ownership.

Experimental manipulations of body ownership have indicated that multisensory integration is central to forming bodily self-representation. Voluntary self-touch is a unique multisensory situation involving corresponding motor, tactile and proprioceptive signals. Yet, even though self-touch is frequent in everyday life, its contribution to the formation of body ownership is not well understood. Here we investigated the role of voluntary self-touch in body ownership using a novel adaptation of the rubber hand illusion (RHI), in which a robotic system and virtual reality allowed participants self-touch of real and virtual hands. In the first experiment, active and passive self-touch were applied in the absence of visual feedback. In the second experiment, we tested the role of visual feedback in this bodily illusion. Finally, in the third experiment, we compared active and passive self-touch to the classical RHI in which the touch is administered by the experimenter. We hypothesized that active self-touch would increase ownership over the virtual hand through the addition of motor signals strengthening the bodily illusion. The results indicated that active self-touch elicited stronger illusory ownership compared to passive self-touch and sensory only stimulation, and show an important role for active self-touch in the formation of bodily self.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.1177/0306624X15617223

International journal of offender therapy and comparative criminology

Int J Offender Ther Comp Criminol

Domestic Violence Against Partners According to Wife-Beaters: Construction of Lifestyle and Life Meaning.

This qualitative study examines the life stories of men who committed violent crimes against their intimate partners, for which they have served prison sentences. For the study, nine men in a rehabilitation hostel in Israel were interviewed. The study aim was to understand the psychological process that had brought the participants to behave violently towards their partners. Narrative analysis of the life stories resulted in two main themes. The first, childhood, was related to how the interviewee during his childhood perceived his personal identity and his parents. The second theme represented the adult interviewee's worldview of violence in general and of intimate partner violence in particular. The findings revealed a subjective feeling of inferiority and lack of worth and volition during childhood, a feeling of chaos, and the absence of existential meaning. To avoid these feelings in adulthood, the participants chose a lifestyle that included the use of force and violence, which provided them with a sense of control and meaning. Discussion of the findings is based on the individual psychology theory of Adler and his followers, as well as on the existentialist orientation. According to these approaches, the study participants, who lacked a sense of positive "existential being," developed a negative lifestyle that enabled them to feel a sense of security, value, and meaning.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.1159/000441617

Case reports in neurology

Case Rep Neurol

Rehabilitation for a Patient with Hemiplegia, Ataxia, and Cognitive Dysfunction Caused by Pontine Hemorrhage.

Patients with pontine hemorrhage usually experience severe disturbances of consciousness, pupillary abnormalities, quadriparesis, and respiratory failure. However, little is known regarding cognitive dysfunction in patients with pontine hemorrhage. We report the case of a rehabilitation patient presenting with hemiplegia, ataxia, and cognitive dysfunction caused by a pontine hemorrhage. A 55-year-old, right-handed male suffered sudden onset of vertigo, dysarthria, and hemiplegia on the right side. He was diagnosed with brain stem hemorrhage, and conservative treatment was administered. The vertigo improved, but dysarthria, ataxia, hemiplegia, and gait disorder persisted. He was disoriented with respect to time and place and showed a poor attention span, impaired executive function, and reduced volition. A computed tomography revealed hematomas across the pons on both sides, but no lesions were obvious in the cerebellum and cerebrum. Single-photon emission tomography showed decreased perfusion in the brain stem, bilateral basal ganglia, and frontal and parietal lobes in the left hemisphere. The patient received exercise therapy and cognitive rehabilitation, and home modifications were performed to allow him to continue living at home under the supervision of his family. His symptoms improved, along with enhanced regional cerebral blood flow to the frontal and temporal lobes. These findings suggest that the pontine hemorrhage caused diaschisis resulting in secondary reduction of activity in the cerebral hemisphere and the occurrence of cortical symptoms. Therefore, rehabilitation is necessary, along with active instructions for the family members of patients with severe neurological deficits.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.1016/j.rehab.2015.10.005

Annals of physical and rehabilitation medicine

Ann Phys Rehabil Med

Volition and low back pain: When patients talk.

Our objective was to explore, describe and understand volition of chronic low back pain (LBP) patients, highlighting barriers and facilitators to practicing regular physical activity in order to develop a questionnaire assessing those volitional competencies. A content analysis of semi-structured interviews with 30 chronic LBP patients was performed. Participants were asked about their pain, motivation, physical abilities, barriers and facilitators to regular exercises and finally strategies implemented to achieve the exercise program. Patients often reported that they were motivated and that exercises had no negative effects on LBP. Many patients recognized having difficulties performing all their exercises regularly. The main barriers were: lack of time, fatigue, lack of visible results, pain and other daily priorities. The main facilitators were: group exercise, help from the therapist, strategic planning, favorable environment, pleasure associated with exercises, fear of pain recurrence and pain itself. Content analysis showed that sharing stories allowed patients to express their experience of LBP in their own words. It provides a solid ground to develop a questionnaire assessing volitional competencies in chronic LBP patients in order to identify patients who will not realize their exercises and help them be (more) active and avoid chronicity.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.1371/journal.pcbi.1004555

PLoS computational biology

PLoS Comput Biol

Neuromechanistic Model of Auditory Bistability.

Sequences of higher frequency A and lower frequency B tones repeating in an ABA- triplet pattern are widely used to study auditory streaming. One may experience either an integrated percept, a single ABA-ABA- stream, or a segregated percept, separate but simultaneous streams A-A-A-A- and -B---B--. During minutes-long presentations, subjects may report irregular alternations between these interpretations. We combine neuromechanistic modeling and psychoacoustic experiments to study these persistent alternations and to characterize the effects of manipulating stimulus parameters. Unlike many phenomenological models with abstract, percept-specific competition and fixed inputs, our network model comprises neuronal units with sensory feature dependent inputs that mimic the pulsatile-like A1 responses to tones in the ABA- triplets. It embodies a neuronal computation for percept competition thought to occur beyond primary auditory cortex (A1). Mutual inhibition, adaptation and noise are implemented. We include slow NDMA recurrent excitation for local temporal memory that enables linkage across sound gaps from one triplet to the next. Percepts in our model are identified in the firing patterns of the neuronal units. We predict with the model that manipulations of the frequency difference between tones A and B should affect the dominance durations of the stronger percept, the one dominant a larger fraction of time, more than those of the weaker percept-a property that has been previously established and generalized across several visual bistable paradigms. We confirm the qualitative prediction with our psychoacoustic experiments and use the behavioral data to further constrain and improve the model, achieving quantitative agreement between experimental and modeling results. Our work and model provide a platform that can be extended to consider other stimulus conditions, including the effects of context and volition.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.1371/journal.pone.0142790

PloS one

PLoS One

Development of a Performance-Based Measure of Executive Functions in Patients with Schizophrenia.

A performance-based measure for assessing executive functions (EF) is useful to understand patients' real life performance of EF. This study aimed to develop a performance-based measure of executive functions (PEF) based on the Lezak model and to examine psychometric properties (i.e., unidimensionality and reliability) of the PEF using Rasch analysis in patients with schizophrenia. We developed the PEF in three phases: (1) designing the preliminary version of PEF; (2) consultation with experts, cognitive interviews with patients, and pilot tests on patients to revise the preliminary PEF; (3) establishment of the final version of the PEF and examination of unidimensionality and Rasch reliability. Two hundred patients were assessed using the revised PEF. After deleting items which did not satisfy the Rasch model's expectations, the final version of the PEF contained 1 practice item and 13 test items for assessing the four domains of EF (i.e., volition, planning, purposive action, and effective performance). For unidimensional and multidimensional Rasch analyses, the 4 domains showed good reliability (i.e., 0.77-0.85 and 0.87-0.90, respectively). Our results showed that the PEF had satisfactory unidimensionality and Rasch reliability. Therefore, clinicians and researchers could use the PEF to assess the four domains of EF in patients with schizophrenia.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.3233/NRE-151268

NeuroRehabilitation

NeuroRehabilitation

How people with cognitive disabilities experience electronic planning devices.

People with cognitive disabilities have difficulties in accomplishing everyday tasks. Electronic planning devices (EPDs) may compensate for the gap between a person's capacity and everyday challenges. However, the devices are not always used as intended. Despite that, cognitive assistive technology has been investigated in several studies, knowledge regarding when and what makes adults decide to use EPDs is incomplete. The aim was to explore the subjective experiences of people with cognitive disabilities in relation to the use of EPDs. A qualitative approach was applied with a qualitative content analysis. Twelve respondents were interviewed with support from a study specific guide. A model representing the respondents' experiences in the use of EPDs, comprising one theme, Possibility to master my daily life, four categories, Degree of fit to my needs, I am aware of my cognitive disability, I get help to structure my everyday life and The EPD improves my volition and ten subcategories, was developed. EPDs allow people with cognitive disabilities the possibility to deal with daily challenges; those who find EPDs beneficial tend to use them. EPDs can help people with cognitive disabilities in organisation, managing time and improve volition.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.2105/AJPH.2015.302903

American journal of public health

Am J Public Health

Implicit Racial/Ethnic Bias Among Health Care Professionals and Its Influence on Health Care Outcomes: A Systematic Review.

In the United States, people of color face disparities in access to health care, the quality of care received, and health outcomes. The attitudes and behaviors of health care providers have been identified as one of many factors that contribute to health disparities. Implicit attitudes are thoughts and feelings that often exist outside of conscious awareness, and thus are difficult to consciously acknowledge and control. These attitudes are often automatically activated and can influence human behavior without conscious volition. We investigated the extent to which implicit racial/ethnic bias exists among health care professionals and examined the relationships between health care professionals' implicit attitudes about racial/ethnic groups and health care outcomes. To identify relevant studies, we searched 10 computerized bibliographic databases and used a reference harvesting technique. We assessed eligibility using double independent screening based on a priori inclusion criteria. We included studies if they sampled existing health care providers or those in training to become health care providers, measured and reported results on implicit racial/ethnic bias, and were written in English. We included a total of 15 studies for review and then subjected them to double independent data extraction. Information extracted included the citation, purpose of the study, use of theory, study design, study site and location, sampling strategy, response rate, sample size and characteristics, measurement of relevant variables, analyses performed, and results and findings. We summarized study design characteristics, and categorized and then synthesized substantive findings. Almost all studies used cross-sectional designs, convenience sampling, US participants, and the Implicit Association Test to assess implicit bias. Low to moderate levels of implicit racial/ethnic bias were found among health care professionals in all but 1 study. These implicit bias scores are similar to those in the general population. Levels of implicit bias against Black, Hispanic/Latino/Latina, and dark-skinned people were relatively similar across these groups. Although some associations between implicit bias and health care outcomes were nonsignificant, results also showed that implicit bias was significantly related to patient-provider interactions, treatment decisions, treatment adherence, and patient health outcomes. Implicit attitudes were more often significantly related to patient-provider interactions and health outcomes than treatment processes. Most health care providers appear to have implicit bias in terms of positive attitudes toward Whites and negative attitudes toward people of color. Future studies need to employ more rigorous methods to examine the relationships between implicit bias and health care outcomes. Interventions targeting implicit attitudes among health care professionals are needed because implicit bias may contribute to health disparities for people of color.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.1146/annurev-psych-122414-033237

Annual review of psychology

Annu Rev Psychol

Vocational Psychology: Agency, Equity, and Well-Being.

The present review organizes the vocational psychology literature published between 2007 and 2014 into three overarching themes: Promoting (a) agency in career development, (b) equity in the work force, and (c) well-being in work and educational settings. Research on career adaptability, self-efficacy beliefs, and work volition is reviewed in the agency section, with the goal of delineating variables that promote or constrain the exercise of personal agency in academic and occupational pursuits. The equity theme covers research on social class and race/ethnicity in career development; entry and retention of women and people of color in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields; and the career service needs of survivors of domestic violence and of criminal offenders. The goal was to explore how greater equity in the work force could be promoted for these groups. In the well-being section, we review research on hedonic (work, educational, and life satisfaction) and eudaimonic (career calling, meaning, engagement, and commitment) variables, with the goal of understanding how well-being might be promoted at school and at work. Future research needs related to each theme are also discussed.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.5468/ogs.2015.58.5.409

Obstetrics & gynecology science

Obstet Gynecol Sci

Successful pregnancy outcome in a Korean patient with symptomatic Wilson's disease.

Wilson's disease is an inherited disease of copper metabolism leading to the toxic accumulation of copper, primarily in the liver and brain. Although the literature shows successful outcomes after proper treatment, pregnant patients with Wilson's disease still need close monitoring and management. Here, we report the case of a successful pregnancy in a Korean woman with Wilson's disease. A 33-year-old primigravid patient with Wilson's disease visited our antenatal clinic. Of her own volition, she had stopped her medication 2 years earlier. Oral zinc oxide therapy was started, and she was closely monitored throughout her pregnancy. She delivered a healthy female infant weighing 3.13 kg through a cesarean section. After delivery, the clinical course of both the mother and the baby were uneventful. We review crucial points in the treatment and the management dilemmas raised by the patient.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.1111/jir.12221

Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDR

J Intellect Disabil Res

Pretreatment for substance-abusing people with intellectual disabilities: intervening on autonomous motivation for treatment entry.

Despite a lack of consensus regarding prevalence rates of substance abuse, people with intellectual disabilities (ID) on average use substances slightly less often than their non-disabled peers. However, their use of substances is more often problematic. Avoidance of treatment is a crucial problem among substance-abusing people with ID. This study tested a motivational intervention to facilitate autonomous motivation (i.e. wanting to change substance abuse because of a sense of free choice and volition) for engaging with a subsequent addiction treatment. A multiple-case experimental design (N = 6) was conducted to measure day-to-day motivation to change substance abuse among individuals with mild ID (N = 3) and borderline level of intellectual functioning (N = 3) in the Netherlands. The participants (five men, one woman) lived in the community (except one, he lived in a residential facility) and abused cannabis, alcohol or hashish. During the intervention phase, the 10-session treatment programme 'Beat the kick' was delivered by an experienced psychologist, based on motivational interviewing techniques adapted for people with mild to borderline ID. Participants completed an adaptive self-reported inventory based on self-determination theory (SDT) two to three times a week during baseline, intervention and 1-month follow-up. The results of five of the six participants (one dropped out) showed that the type of motivation changed from more controlled types of motivation (i.e. external motivation and introjected motivation) at baseline to more autonomous types of motivation after completion of the intervention. In addition, the participants reported a significant increase in overall need satisfaction and autonomy satisfaction and a significant decrease of overall need frustration. The implementation of SDT and motivational interviewing principles in the treatment programme 'Beat the kick' reliably changed the type of motivation. In addition, the experimental effects provide initial proof of the use and applicability of SDT among people with ID.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.1521/bumc.2015.79.3.255

Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic

Bull Menninger Clin

The give and take of freedom: The role of involuntary hospitalization and treatment in recovery from mental illness.

The authors reviewed and synthesized scholarly literature on the topic of involuntary confinement and treatment for severely mentally ill adults. Objectively, all facets of the issue are reported, including recurrent positive outcomes, negative outcomes, and patient experiences in common. Patient experiences are organized into related subthemes of autonomy, patient satisfaction, relationships with staff, perceived coercion, traumatization, and humiliation. The literature suggests that short-term involuntary hospitalization is sometimes necessary in order to prevent the mentally ill from psychiatrically decompensating or harming themselves or others. Understandably, hospitalization is often experienced by the mentally ill as a demoralizing violation of their rights and tends to lead them to disengage further from the professional help they need in order to recover. In turn, disengagement leads to further decompensation and resulting risk for rehospitalization. In order to intervene in this cycle and instill severely mentally ill patients with hope in the recovery process, the use of coercive tactics must be decreased in favor of cooperative engagement measures to the greatest extent possible. Patients must be empowered to make choices within the limits of their illnesses through positive interactions with staff, particularly in potentially negative, autonomy-compromising situations. Cooperative measures may help to minimize the potentially traumatic and humiliating effects of being involuntarily hospitalized and medicated. In turn, trusting patient-provider relationships may develop. Thereafter, the severely mentally ill may become more likely to seek professional help on their own volition in the future.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.1186/s12888-015-0513-y

BMC psychiatry

BMC Psychiatry

A brief intervention to improve exercising in patients with schizophrenia: a controlled pilot study with mental contrasting and implementation intentions (MCII).

Regular exercise can have positive effects on both the physical and mental health of individuals with schizophrenia. However, deficits in cognition, perception, affect, and volition make it especially difficult for people with schizophrenia to plan and follow through with their exercising intentions, as indicated by poor attendance and high drop-out rates in prior studies. Mental Contrasting and Implementation Intentions (MCII) is a well-established strategy to support the enactment of intended actions. This pilot study tests whether MCII helps people with schizophrenia in highly structured or autonomy-focused clinical hospital settings to translate their exercising intentions into action. Thirty-six inpatients (eleven women) with a mean age of 30.89 years (SD = 11.41) diagnosed with schizophrenia spectrum disorders from specialized highly structured or autonomy-focused wards were randomly assigned to two intervention groups. In the equal contact goal intention control condition, patients read an informative text about physical activity; they then set and wrote down the goal to attend jogging sessions. In the MCII experimental condition, patients read the same informative text and then worked through the MCII strategy. We hypothesized that MCII would increase attendance and persistence relative to the control condition over the course of four weeks and this will be especially be the case when applied in an autonomy-focused setting compared to when applied in a highly structured setting. When applied in autonomy-focused settings, MCII increased attendance and persistence in jogging group sessions relative to the control condition. In the highly structured setting, no differences between conditions were found, most likely due to a ceiling effect. These results remained even when adjusting for group differences in the pre-intervention scores for the control variables depression (BDI), physical activity (IPAQ), weight (BMI), age, and education. Whereas commitment and physical activity apart from the jogging sessions remained stable over the course of the treatment, depression and negative symptoms were reduced. There were no differences in pre-post treatment changes between intervention groups. The intervention in the present study provides initial support for the hypothesis that MCII helps patients to translate their exercising intentions into real-life behavior even in autonomously-focused settings without social control. ClinicalTrials.gov ID; URL: NCT01547026 Registered 3 March 2012.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.1016/j.pbiomolbio.2015.07.005

Progress in biophysics and molecular biology

Prog Biophys Mol Biol

Towards a heterarchical approach to biology and cognition.

In this article we challenge the pervasive notion of hierarchy in biological and cognitive systems and delineate the basis for a complementary heterarchical approach starting from the seminal ideas of Warren McCullock and Gregory Bateson. We intend these considerations as a contribution to the different scientific disciplines working towards a multilevel integrative perspective of biological and cognitive processes, such as systems and integrative biology and neuroscience, social and cultural neuroscience, social signal transduction and psychoneuroimmunology, for instance. We argue that structures and substrates are by necessity organized hierarchically, while communication processes - and their embeddedness - are rather organized heterarchically. Before getting into the implications of the heterarchical approach and its congeniality with the semiotic perspective to biology and cognition, we introduce a set of notions and concepts in order to advance a framework that considers the heterarchical embeddedness of different layers of physiological, behavioral, affective, cognitive, technological and socio-cultural levels implicit in networks of interacting minds, considering the dynamic complementarity of bottom-up and top-down causal links. This should contribute to account for the integration, interpretation and response to complex aggregates of information at different levels of organization in a developmental context. We illustrate the dialectical nature of embedded heterarchical processes by addressing the simultaneity and circularity of cognition and volition, and how such dialectics can be present in primitive instances of proto-cognition and proto-volition, giving rise to our claim that subjectivity and semiotic freedom are scalar properties. We collate the framework with recent empirical systemic approaches to biology and integrative neuroscience, and conclude with a reflection on its implications to the understanding of the emergence of pathological conditions in multi-level semiotic systems.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.1017/S1355617715000594

Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society : JINS

J Int Neuropsychol Soc

Connecting Self-Awareness and Error-Awareness in Patients with Traumatic Brain Injury.

Impaired self-awareness after traumatic brain injury (TBI) is often seen in stark contrast to the observations of significant-others, who are acutely aware of the difficulties experienced by patients. Our objective was to investigate the relationship between metacognitive knowledge in daily life and emergent awareness of errors during laboratory tasks, since the breakdown of error detection mechanisms may impose limitations on the recovery of metacognitive knowledge after TBI. We also examined the extent to which these measures of awareness can predict dysexecutive behaviors. A sample of TBI patients (n=62) and their significant-others, provided reports of daily functioning post injury. In addition, patients underwent a neuropsychological assessment and were instructed to signal their errors during go/no-go tests. Interrelationships between metacognitive and emergent levels of awareness were examined, after controlling for the influence of secondary cognitive variables. Significant-other ratings correlated with errors made by the patients on neuropsychological tests but not with their premorbid function. Patients who under-reported daily life difficulties or over-reported their competency, compared to significant-other reports, were less likely to show awareness of laboratory errors. Emergent awareness was also identified as the sole predictor of performance on the modified six-element test, an ecologically valid test of multitasking. The online breakdown of error awareness after brain injury is related to difficulties with metacognitive awareness as reported in daily life, and is also predictive of dysexecutive behaviors. These findings are discussed in the context of multidimensional and neural models of awareness and error monitoring.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.1038/srep11704

Scientific reports

Sci Rep

Free Language Selection in the Bilingual Brain: An Event-Related fMRI Study.

Bilingual speakers may select between two languages either on demand (forced language selection) or on their own volition (free language selection). However, the neural substrates underlying free and forced language selection may differ. While the neural substrates underlying forced language selection have been well-explored with language switching paradigms, those underlying free language selection have remained unclear. Using a modified digit-naming switching paradigm, we addressed the neural substrates underlying free language selection by contrasting free language switching with forced language switching. For a digit-pair trial, Chinese-English bilinguals named each digit in Chinese or English either on demand under forced language selection condition or on their own volition under free language selection condition. The results revealed activation in the frontoparietal regions that mediate volition of language selection. Furthermore, a comparison of free and forced language switching demonstrated differences in the patterns of brain activation. Additionally, free language switching showed reduced switching costs as compared to forced language switching. These findings suggest differences between the mechanism(s) underlying free and forced language switching. As such, the current study suggests interactivity between control of volition and control of language switching in free language selection, providing insights into a model of bilingual language control.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.1177/2055207615595335

Digital health

Digit Health

Theory-based strategies for enhancing the impact and usage of digital health behaviour change interventions: A review.

There is growing evidence that digital interventions can successfully effect meaningful changes in health-related behaviour. However, optimisation of digital intervention delivery is challenged by low usage, high attrition and small effect sizes. Whilst a number of conceptual frameworks and models exist to guide intervention planning and development, insufficient attention has been paid to how existing psychological theory could inform the optimal implementation and delivery of the design features commonly used in digital health behaviour change interventions. This paper provides a critical review of psychological theories and models in order to consider their implications for the design of digital interventions. The theories reviewed include theories of: persuasion and attitude change; motivation; volition and self-regulation; patient preferences for participation in medical decision making; and social support. A set of theory-based guidelines is provided to inform the development of future interventions.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.1016/j.pec.2015.06.006

Patient education and counseling

Patient Educ Couns

Increasing physical activity in patients with mental illness--A randomized controlled trial.

The objective of the study was to evaluate whether a motivational-volitional intervention program offered in addition to an existing sport program during stationary treatment is capable of establishing a post-stationary increase in physical activity in persons with mental illness. N=112 in-patients were initially randomly assigned to the control group (CG; standard rehabilitation) or intervention group (IG; standard rehabilitation plus intervention). Assessments were conducted at four measurement points. At 6 months follow up, the level of exercise in the IG was 95 min/week higher than in the CG (p=.02). The participants of the IG were able to increase their level of goal intention until 6 months follow up (t2: p=.03; t4: p=.005); levels of self-efficacy of the IG increased during intervention (t2: p=.001). Changes in volitional aspects were significant over time (t1-t3), but not specifically for the IG. The intervention was effective at increasing the level of physical activity in patients with mental illness who were initially minimally active. Our results suggest that it could be of great use to place the emphasis of a physical activity-enhancing intervention on its motivational effect since volitional aspects are already taken into sufficient account in standard rehabilitation.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2015.06.032

Neuropsychologia

Neuropsychologia

Voluntary control of a phantom limb.

Voluntary actions are often accompanied by a conscious experience of intention. The content of this experience, and its neural basis, remain controversial. On one view, the mind just retrospectively ascribes intentions to explain the occurrence of actions that lack obvious triggering stimuli. Here, we use EEG frequency analysis of sensorimotor rhythms to investigate brain activity when a participant (CL, co-author of this paper) with congenital absence of the left hand and arm, prepared and made a voluntary action with the right or the phantom "left hand". CL reported the moment she experienced the intention to press a key. This timepoint was then used as a marker for aligning and averaging EEG. In a second condition, CL was asked to prepare the action on all trials, but then, on some trials, to cancel the action at the last moment. For the right hand, we observed a typical reduction in beta-band spectral power prior to movement, followed by beta rebound after movement. When CL prepared but then cancelled a movement, we found a characteristic EEG pattern reported previously, namely a left frontal increase in spectral power close to the time of the perceived intention to move. Interestingly, the same neural signatures of positive and inhibitory volition were also present when CL prepared and inhibited movements with her phantom left hand. These EEG signals were all similar to those reported previously in a group of 14 healthy volunteers. Our results suggest that conscious intention may depend on preparatory brain activity, and not on making, or ever having made, the corresponding physical body movement. Accounts that reduce conscious volition to mere retrospective confabulation cannot easily explain our participant's neurophenomenology of action and inhibition. In contrast, the results are consistent with the view that specific neural events prior to movement may generate conscious experiences of positive and negative volition.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.3389/fnhum.2015.00310

Frontiers in human neuroscience

Front Hum Neurosci

Editorial: Sense of agency: examining awareness of the acting self.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.1002/brb3.336

Brain and behavior

Brain Behav

A P300-based cognitive assessment battery.

It is well established that some patients who are diagnosed as being in a vegetative state or a minimally conscious state show reliable signs of volition that may only be detected by measuring neural responses. A pertinent question is whether these patients are capable of higher cognitive processes. Here, we develop a series of EEG paradigms that probe several core aspects of cognition at the bedside without the need for motor responses and explore the sensitivity of this approach in a group of healthy controls. Using analysis of ERPs alone, this method can determine with high reliability whether individual participants are able to attend a stimulus stream, maintain items in working memory, or solve complex grammatical reasoning problems. We suggest that this approach could form the basis of a brain-based battery for assessing higher cognition in patients with severe motor impairments or disorders of consciousness.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.1177/0963721414563730

Current directions in psychological science

Curr Dir Psychol Sci

Memory avoidance by older adults: When `old dogs' won't perform their `new tricks'.

Learning often involves a transition from responding based on an effortful initial strategy to using a faster and easier memory-based strategy. Older adults shift strategy more slowly compared to younger adults. I describe research establishing that age differences in strategy shift are impacted not only by declines in older adults' learning, but also by a volitional avoidance of memory retrieval. I also discuss the factors that influence older adults' memory avoidance, including age differences in understanding the available strategies' relative efficiency, accuracy, and effort, as well as age differences in the preference for a consistent strategic approach. Last, I consider the implications of memory avoidance for older adults' everyday functioning. This research demonstrates that volition and choice must be taken into account when studying cognitive performance and aging.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.1016/j.brs.2015.04.007

Brain stimulation

Brain Stimul

Stimulation of the Dopaminergic Midbrain as a Behavioral Reward in Instrumentally Conditioned Monkeys.

Since the mesocortical dopaminergic system of rodents has several differences to that found in primate species, including humans, there is the need for more exhaustively studying causative relationships between activation/stimulation of the ventral tegmental area (VTA) and substantia nigra (SN) and behavior in monkeys. To gain causative relationships between VTA/SN stimulation and behavior, we investigated whether monkeys perform audiovisual (AV) tasks using brain stimulation reward (BSR) as the reinforcer, and how reward intensity affects performance during self-stimulation. Monkeys were required to touch a bar freely when self-stimulating or when instructed by an AV stimulus, to receive BSR. We were able to train monkeys to successfully perform the AV task for BSR within three days. Self-stimulation revealed an increase in the bar touch rate when using higher electrical currents, with no ceiling effects observed. During a training session the touch rate decreased, often before the monkeys had received 1000 deliveries of BSR, suggesting satiation. When BSR is applied directly to the VTA/SN, it can motivate monkeys to perform detection tasks, exhibit operant actions, and may be used as a substitute for fluid or food rewards. Monkeys ceased self-stimulation during a training session by their own volition, in contrast to work on rodents. This may be an important safety aspect for consideration in the development of electrical stimulation procedures for patients with dysfunctions of the dopaminergic system; thus, satiation may avert additional compulsions to already existing compulsive behaviors in patients.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.1071/AH15011

Australian health review : a publication of the Australian Hospital Association

Aust Health Rev

The Australian 75+ Health Assessment: could it detect early functional decline better?

The aim of the present study was to identify opportunities to improve the reach and impact of the Australian Medicare 75+ Health Assessment (75+HA) to detect early functional decline (FD). A comparison of two published review articles produced two outputs: (1) assessments identified in the systematic review that underpinned the 75+HA items were ranked for evidence of effectiveness and compared with the volume of research into assessment areas identified by a recent review on indicators of early FD; and (2) items in the 75+HA were compared with those in the recent review. The review underpinning the 75+HA found 19 assessment areas, with strongest evidence of effectiveness for vision/hearing, teeth/oral, balance/gait, cognitive and service use. The more recent review reported on six domains (eight subdomains) of FD assessment: physical and cognitive elements of the performance capacity domain were the least well assessed, whereas the most comprehensively assessed domains were health service use, performance capacity (mental subdomain), participation (motivation/volition subdomain) and demographics. The 75+HA addresses only some items related to early FD as identified by the recent literature. Reassessment of the 75+HA with a view to including current evidence-based assessments for early FD is recommended. Updating the 75+HA items with ways to detect FD earlier may increase its relevance to Australia's ageing population.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.1016/j.concog.2015.05.010

Consciousness and cognition

Conscious Cogn

The neural correlates of movement intentions: A pilot study comparing hypnotic and simulated paralysis.

The distinct feeling of wanting to act and thereby causing our own actions is crucial to our self-perception as free human agents. Disturbances of the link between intention and action occur in several disorders. Little is known, however, about the neural correlates of wanting or intending to act. To investigate these for simple voluntary movements, we used a paradigm involving hypnotic paralysis and functional magnetic resonance imaging. Eight healthy women were instructed to sequentially perform left and right hand movements during a normal condition, as well as during simulated weakness, simulated paralysis and hypnotic paralysis of the right hand. Right frontopolar cortex was selectively hypoactivated for attempted right hand movement during simulated paralysis while it was active in all other conditions. Since simulated paralysis was the only condition lacking an intention to move, the activation in frontopolar cortex might be related to the intention or volition to move.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.1016/j.nbd.2015.05.001

Neurobiology of disease

Neurobiol Dis

Neuroplasticity subserving the operation of brain-machine interfaces.

Neuroplasticity is key to the operation of brain machine interfaces (BMIs)-a direct communication pathway between the brain and a man-made computing device. Whereas exogenous BMIs that associate volitional control of brain activity with neurofeedback have been shown to induce long lasting plasticity, endogenous BMIs that use prolonged activity-dependent stimulation--and thus may curtail the time scale that governs natural sensorimotor integration loops--have been shown to induce short lasting plasticity. Here we summarize recent findings from studies using both categories of BMIs, and discuss the fundamental principles that may underlie their operation and the longevity of the plasticity they induce. We draw comparison to plasticity mechanisms known to mediate natural sensorimotor skill learning and discuss principles of homeostatic regulation that may constrain endogenous BMI effects in the adult mammalian brain. We propose that BMIs could be designed to facilitate structural and functional plasticity for the purpose of re-organization of target brain regions and directed augmentation of sensorimotor maps, and suggest possible avenues for future work to maximize their efficacy and viability in clinical applications.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4894-14.2015

The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience

J Neurosci

Modulating conscious movement intention by noninvasive brain stimulation and the underlying neural mechanisms.

Conscious intention is a fundamental aspect of the human experience. Despite long-standing interest in the basis and implications of intention, its underlying neurobiological mechanisms remain poorly understood. Using high-definition transcranial DC stimulation (tDCS), we observed that enhancing spontaneous neuronal excitability in both the angular gyrus and the primary motor cortex caused the reported time of conscious movement intention to be ∼60-70 ms earlier. Slow brain waves recorded ∼2-3 s before movement onset, as well as hundreds of milliseconds after movement onset, independently correlated with the modulation of conscious intention by brain stimulation. These brain activities together accounted for 81% of interindividual variability in the modulation of movement intention by brain stimulation. A computational model using coupled leaky integrator units with biophysically plausible assumptions about the effect of tDCS captured the effects of stimulation on both neural activity and behavior. These results reveal a temporally extended brain process underlying conscious movement intention that spans seconds around movement commencement.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.1007/s10339-015-0652-6

Cognitive processing

Cogn Process

Interaction between intention and environmental constraints on the fractal dynamics of human performance.

The current study investigated whether the influence of available task constraints on power-law scaling might be moderated by a participant's task intention. Participants performed a simple rhythmic movement task with the intention of controlling either movement period or amplitude, either with or without an experimental stimulus designed to constrain period. In the absence of the stimulus, differences in intention did not produce any changes in power-law scaling. When the stimulus was present, however, a shift toward more random fluctuations occurred in the corresponding task dimension, regardless of participants' intentions. More importantly, participants' intentions interacted with available task constraints to produce an even greater shift toward random variation when the task dimension constrained by the stimulus was also the dimension the participant intended to control. Together, the results suggest that intentions serve to more tightly constrain behavior to existing environmental constraints, evidenced by changes in the fractal scaling of task performance.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.3928/00220124-20150320-13

Journal of continuing education in nursing

J Contin Educ Nurs

Identifying volition-driven leaders.

Professional development educators have access to health care practitioners at the onset of and throughout their employment. The educator-learner relationship presents an opportunity for educators to distinguish highly motivated individuals from those with the attribute known as volition. Motivation and volition are differentiated in this article.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.3389/fpsyt.2015.00034

Frontiers in psychiatry

Front Psychiatry

The functional anatomy of psychomotor disturbances in major depressive disorder.

Psychomotor disturbances (PMD) are a classic feature of depressive disorder that provides rich clinical information. The aim our narrative review was to characterize the functional anatomy of PMD by summarizing findings from neuroimaging studies. We found evidence across several neuroimaging modalities that suggest involvement of fronto-striatal neurocircuitry, and monoaminergic pathways and metabolism. We suggest that PMD in major depressive disorder emerge from an alteration of limbic signals, which influence emotion, volition, higher-order cognitive functions, and movement.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.1111/ijn.12397

International journal of nursing practice

Int J Nurs Pract

Strengths and capabilities of Chinese patients with severe ocular injuries: a qualitative study.

The purpose of this qualitative study is to illustrate health-centred nursing by assessing the capabilities of patients with acute and severe ocular injuries. This study draws upon analyzing 17 nursing encounters with four adult male patients admitted to the ophthalmological ward of a university hospital in a rural Chinese city. The analysis identified that patients demonstrated the following strengths: (i) comprehension; (ii) self-reflection and examination; (iii) cooperation; (iv) patience and self-control; (v) self-efficacy; (vi) proactive acceptance; (vii) independence and a positive attitude towards challenges; (viii) support from family members; (ix) volition; and (x) flexibility. The results of this study highlight the importance of observing patients, assessing their abilities and helping them mobilize these strengths for recovery.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.1016/j.jns.2015.02.031

Journal of the neurological sciences

J Neurol Sci

Fatigue in patients with multiple sclerosis: from movement preparation to motor execution.

The neural mechanisms underlying fatigue in multiple sclerosis (MS) are still poorly understood. Cortico-cortical and cortico-subcortical circuitry abnormalities may play a central role in its pathogenesis. Our previous studies suggest that central fatigue may be related to an impairment of volition drive during movement preparation. We further explored the central mechanisms of fatigue at the premovement level in MS patients during a sustained motor task. In MS patients with (MS-F) and without (MS-NF) fatigue and age-matched healthy controls, we evaluated the motor cortex excitability and the premovement facilitation (PMF) through transcranial magnetic stimulation before and after 5min of sequenced finger-tapping movements at a fixed frequency of 2Hz. In MS-F patients, the number of correct sequences performed and the ability to keep a fixed movement rate during the 5-min motor task were significantly decreased in comparison to the normal controls and MS-NF patients. Also, in MS-F patients, post-exercise PMF was significantly decreased. The PMF abnormalities were highly correlated with the performance decay. PMF may be considered as a kind of servo-mechanism which could play a crucial role during sustained motor task in order to prevent motor performance disruption and to avoid motor exhaustion.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.1016/j.cortex.2014.12.015

Cortex; a journal devoted to the study of the nervous system and behavior

Cortex

Do meditators have higher awareness of their intentions to act?

Intuitively, being aware of one's inner processes to move should be crucial for the control of voluntary movements. However, research findings suggest that we are not always aware of the processes leading to movement execution. The present study investigated induced first-person access to inner processes of movement initiation and the underlying brain activities which contribute to the emergence of voluntary movement. Moreover, we investigated differences in task performance between mindfulness meditators and non-meditators while assuming that meditators are more experienced in attending to their inner processes. Two Libet-type tasks were performed; one in which participants were asked to press a button at a moment of their own decision, and the other one in which participants' attention was directed towards their inner processes of decision making regarding the intended movement which lead them to press the button. Meditators revealed a consistent readiness potential (RP) between the two tasks with correlations between the subjective intention time to act and the slope of the early RP. However, non-meditators did not show this consistency. Instead, elicited introspection of inner processes of movement initiation changed early brain activity that is related to voluntary movement processes. Our findings suggest that compared to non-meditators, meditators are more able to access the emergence of negative deflections of slow cortical potentials (SCPs), which could have fundamental effects on initiating a voluntary movement with awareness.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.3389/fnhum.2015.00013

Frontiers in human neuroscience

Front Hum Neurosci

Personality and intentional binding: an exploratory study using the narcissistic personality inventory.

When an individual estimates the temporal interval between a voluntary action and a consequent effect, their estimates are shorter than the real duration. This perceived shortening has been termed "intentional binding", and is often due to a shift in the perception of a voluntary action forward towards the effect and a shift in the perception of the effect back towards the action. Despite much work on binding, there is virtually no consideration of individual/personality differences and how they affect it. Narcissism is a psychological trait associated with an inflated sense of self, and individuals higher in levels of subclinical narcissism tend to see themselves as highly effective agents. Conversely, lower levels of narcissism may be associated with a reduced sense of agency. In this exploratory study, to assess whether individuals with different scores on a narcissism scale are associated with differences in intentional binding, we compared perceived times of actions and effects (tones) between participants with high, middle, and low scores on the narcissistic personality inventory (NPI). We hypothesized that participants with higher scores would show increased binding compared to participants with lower scores. We found that participants in our middle and high groups showed a similar degree of binding, which was significantly greater than the level of binding shown by participants with the lowest scores. To our knowledge, these results are the first to demonstrate that different scores on a personality scale are associated with changes in the phenomenological experience of action, and therefore underscore the importance of considering individual/personality differences in the study of volition. Our results also reinforce the notion that intentional binding is related to agency experience.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.1111/acer.12636

Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research

Alcohol Clin Exp Res

Development and validation of the craving automated scale for alcohol.

Alcohol consumption has been suggested to be associated with a dysregulation in habit formation and execution in dependent patients. Although there are established craving questionnaires assessing various components of craving, to our knowledge, no questionnaire exists to assess habitual and automated substance intake. In this study, we present and validate the "Craving Automated Scale for Alcohol" (CAS-A), a newly developed questionnaire assessing craving and other components of automated addictive behavior. Forty-three recently detoxified alcohol-dependent patients were examined in an inpatient setting using a cross-sectional design. The CAS-A, a self-report questionnaire, was applied. According to classical test theory, we conducted principal component analyses (PCAs) to identify the components of CAS-A, after which we validated it using established craving questionnaires. Thirty-two healthy participants served as a control group. Our first-order PCA identified a 5-factor solution. A second-order analysis then identified 2 general factors. These factors were partially associated with established craving measures and with the severity of dependence. Our findings suggest that CAS-A assesses additional components of addictive behavior compared to established measures. We interpret the 5 CAS-A factors as "only aware in hindsight," "no deliberate decision," "contrary to intention," "no perception," and "no control." We suggest the 2 general factors be interpreted as "unaware" and "nonvolitional." Our results indicate that the CAS-A indeed assesses some components of automated craving and automated drinking behavior in a more sophisticated way than established questionnaires. The CAS-A as a retrospective questionnaire can be considered to be a trait rather than a state measure.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.1016/j.concog.2015.01.004

Consciousness and cognition

Conscious Cogn

Influencing choice without awareness.

Forcing occurs when a magician influences the audience's decisions without their awareness. To investigate the mechanisms behind this effect, we examined several stimulus and personality predictors. In Study 1, a magician flipped through a deck of playing cards while participants were asked to choose one. Although the magician could influence the choice almost every time (98%), relatively few (9%) noticed this influence. In Study 2, participants observed rapid series of cards on a computer, with one target card shown longer than the rest. We expected people would tend to choose this card without noticing that it was shown longest. Both stimulus and personality factors predicted the choice of card, depending on whether the influence was noticed. These results show that combining real-world and laboratory research can be a powerful way to study magic and can provide new methods to study the feeling of free will.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.1016/j.jpsychires.2015.01.001

Journal of psychiatric research

J Psychiatr Res

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger and weaker: how childhood trauma relates to temperament traits.

Childhood trauma arises from damaging experiences and the absence of a secure and reliable environment for child development. Despite many studies on the risk for developing psychiatric disorders, much less is known on the relationship between traumatic experiences and personality traits. A total of 10,800 participants (mean age 27.7 ± 7.8 years old, 69.8% women) anonymously answered the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) and the Affective and Emotional Composite Temperament Scale (AFECTS) in the Brazilian Internet Study on Temperament and Psychopathology (BRAINSTEP). The results showed that total trauma score was associated with lower levels of positive traits (volition, control, coping, and stability), higher scores of negative traits (sensitivity, anger, anxiety) and a higher frequency of depressive and cyclothymic temperaments. Linear regression analysis showed similar findings for emotional abuse and neglect, whereas physical abuse and neglect were positively associated with more volition and coping as well as less fear, sensitivity and anxiety traits, especially in men. This study has a cross-sectional design and the sole use of self-reporting as the main limitations. In conclusion, dysfunctional temperament profiles were associated mainly with emotional trauma and sexual abuse. Some adaptive traits were associated with physical abuse and neglect, especially in men. These results reinforce the negative impact of emotional trauma and people's resilience to physical trauma, which may even translate into adaptive trait expression in males particularly. We propose that the "context-dependent nature" of stress should be further studied to break down the influence of specific types and contexts of adversity on psychological and psychiatric outcomes.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.1016/j.psychres.2014.12.025

Psychiatry research

Psychiatry Res

Sparse factors for the positive and negative syndrome scale: which symptoms and stage of illness?

The Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) is frequently described with five latent factors, yet published factor models consistently fail to replicate across samples and related disorders. We hypothesize that (1) a subset of the PANSS, instead of the entire PANSS scale, would produce the most replicable five-factor models across samples, and that (2) the PANSS factor structure may be different depending on the treatment phase, influenced by the responsiveness of the positive symptoms to treatment. Using exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and cross validation on baseline and post-treatment observations from 3647 schizophrenia patients, we show that five-factor models fit best across samples when substantial subsets of the PANSS items are removed. The optimal model at baseline (five factors) omits 12 items: Motor Retardation, Grandiosity, Somatic Concern, Lack of Judgment and Insight, Difficulty in Abstract Thinking, Mannerisms and Posturing, Disturbance of Volition, Preoccupation, Disorientation, Excitement, Guilt Feelings and Depression. The PANSS factor models fit differently before and after patients have been treated. Patients with larger treatment response in positive symptoms have larger variations in factor structure across treatment stage than the less responsive patients. Negative symptom scores better predict the positive symptoms scores after treatment than before treatment. We conclude that sparse factor models replicate better on new samples, and the underlying disease structure of Schizophrenia changes upon treatment.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.1016/j.concog.2015.01.002

Consciousness and cognition

Conscious Cogn

Hypnotizing Libet: Readiness potentials with non-conscious volition.

The readiness potential (RP) is one of the most controversial topics in neuroscience and philosophy due to its perceived relevance to the role of conscious willing in action. Libet and colleagues reported that RP onset precedes both volitional movement and conscious awareness of willing that movement, suggesting that the experience of conscious will may not cause volitional movement (Libet, Gleason, Wright, & Pearl, 1983). Rather, they suggested that the RP indexes unconscious processes that may actually cause both volitional movement and the accompanying conscious feeling of will (Libet et al., 1983; pg. 640). Here, we demonstrate that volitional movement can occur without an accompanying feeling of will. We additionally show that the neural processes indexed by RPs are insufficient to cause the experience of conscious willing. Specifically, RPs still occur when subjects make self-timed, endogenously-initiated movements due to a post-hypnotic suggestion, without a conscious feeling of having willed those movements.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.1016/j.braindev.2014.11.005

Brain & development

Brain Dev

Tourette Syndrome: Update.

Tourette Syndrome is a disorder characterized by tics. It typically begins in childhood and often improves in adult life. Tics are best described as voluntary movements made automatically so that volition is not ordinarily appreciated. There is frequently an urge, sometimes in the form of a specific sensory feeling (sensory tic), that precedes the tic. Patients say that they make the tic in order to reduce the urge, although shortly after the tic, the urge recurs. The sensory feeling may arise due to defective sensory habituation. Since tics relieve the urge, this can be considered rewarding, and repetition of this behavior may perpetuate the tic as a habit. Tourette Syndrome affects boys more than girls and is associated with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and obsessive compulsive disorder. Although Tourette Syndrome often appears to be autosomal recessive in inheritance, it has been difficult to find any abnormal genes. There is a loss of inhibition in these patients and recent studies show abnormalities in brain GABA. Certainly there is also an abnormality in dopamine function and dopamine blocking agents are effective therapy. In severe drug-refractory patients, deep brain stimulation can be effective.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.1037/a0038195

Psychological assessment

Psychol Assess

Psychometric validation of the Dysexecutive Questionnaire (DEX).

This study reported on the validation of the psychometric properties, the factorability, validity, and sensitivity of the Dysexecutive Questionnaire (DEX) in 3 clinical and nonclinical samples. A mixed sample of 997 participants--community (n = 663), psychiatric (depressed [n = 92] and anxious [n = 122]), and neurologically impaired (n = 120)--completed self-report questionnaires assessing executive dysfunction, depression, anxiety, stress, general self-efficacy, and satisfaction with life. Before analyses the data were randomly split into 2 subsets (A and B). Exploratory factor analysis performed on Subset A produced a 3-factor model (Factor 1: Inhibition, Factor 2: Volition, and Factor 3: Social Regulation) in which 15 of the original 20 items provided a revised factor structure that was superior to all other structures. A series of confirmatory factor analyses performed on Subset B confirmed that this revised factor structure was valid and reliable. The revised structure, labeled the DEX-R, was found to be a reliable and valid tool for assessing behavioral symptoms of dysexecutive functioning in mixed community, psychiatric, and neurological samples.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.1080/2326263X.2014.912885

Brain computer interfaces (Abingdon, England)

Brain Comput Interfaces (Abingdon)

Affective Brain-Computer Interfaces As Enabling Technology for Responsive Psychiatric Stimulation.

There is a pressing clinical need for responsive neurostimulators, which sense a patient's brain activity and deliver targeted electrical stimulation to suppress unwanted symptoms. This is particularly true in psychiatric illness, where symptoms can fluctuate throughout the day. Affective BCIs, which decode emotional experience from neural activity, are a candidate control signal for responsive stimulators targeting the limbic circuit. Present affective decoders, however, cannot yet distinguish pathologic from healthy emotional extremes. Indiscriminate stimulus delivery would reduce quality of life and may be actively harmful. We argue that the key to overcoming this limitation is to specifically decode volition, in particular the patient's intention to experience emotional regulation. Those emotion-regulation signals already exist in prefrontal cortex (PFC), and could be extracted with relatively simple BCI algorithms. We describe preliminary data from an animal model of PFC-controlled limbic brain stimulation and discuss next steps for pre-clinical testing and possible translation.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.1080/13546805.2014.993463

Cognitive neuropsychiatry

Cogn Neuropsychiatry

Effort discounting and its association with negative symptoms in schizophrenia.

Deficits in the initiation and persistence of goal-directed behaviour are key aspects of schizophrenia. In this study, the association between these motivational deficits and discounting of reward value in function of increasing physical effort costs was investigated. Effort-based decision-making was investigated in 40 patients with a DSM-IV diagnosis of schizophrenia and 30 age- and sex-matched healthy control subjects by means of an effort discounting task. To assess negative symptom severity, we made use of the Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms as well as objective measurements of hedonic response to stimuli and motor activity levels. Patients as well as control subjects discounted the subjective value of rewards significantly with increasing physical effort costs. However, we failed to find a difference in the discounting curves between patients and controls. Furthermore, effort discounting was not associated with any of the negative symptoms measures. Physical effort discounting was not found to be associated with motivational symptoms in schizophrenia if other decision costs are constant. However, recent findings show that more cognitive effort and/or an interaction between effort and other decision costs (e.g. temporal delay or uncertainty) are associated with negative symptoms in schizophrenia. This should be investigated further in future research.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

Nihon Geka Gakkai zasshi

Nihon Geka Gakkai Zasshi

[Informed consent for aortic pathology].

Obtaining informed consent from patients and their families before surgery, particularly for aortic pathology, is a necessary, and very important, step. This is because, although the risk of death from asymptomatic disease is underestimated in many cases, surgery for aortic pathology is generally associated with higher risks of mortality and morbidity than that in other fields. The importance of informed consent is the same in principle even in emergency cases. The surgeon must faithfully provide accurate medical information to the patient and family members, including a summary of the patient's condition, the purposes and necessity of treatment, alternatives, details of the procedure, risks, and possible postoperative complications. Extra consideration should be given to offering explanations at a level appropriate for the individual patient, according to factors such as age-group, philosophy, and comprehension ability, to ensure that patients fully understand and are in a position to make a decision of their own volition. The process of giving information and obtaining informed consent offers a prime opportunity to build a strong surgeon-patient relationship.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.1007/s00429-014-0972-9

Brain structure & function

Brain Struct Funct

Voluntary inhibition of pain avoidance behavior: an fMRI study.

Behavioral inhibition has classically been considered to rely upon a neural network centered at the right inferior frontal cortex [rIFC; Aron et al. (8:170-177, 2004; 18:177-185, 2014)]. However, the vast majority of inhibition studies have entailed exogenous stop signals instructing participants to withhold responding. More recent work has begun to examine the neural underpinnings of endogenous inhibition, revealing a distinct cortical basis in the dorsal fronto-median cortex [dFMC; Brass and Haggard (27:9141-9145, 2007); Kühn et al. (30:2834-3843, 2009)]. Yet, contrary to everyday experiences of voluntary behavioral suppression, the paradigms employed to investigate action inhibition have thus far been somewhat artificial, and involve little persuasive motivation to act. Accordingly, the present fMRI study seeks to compare and contrast intentional with instructed inhibition in a novel pain paradigm that recruits 'hot' incentive response systems. Participants received increasing thermal stimulation to their inner wrists, and were required to occasionally withhold their natural impulse to withdraw from the compelling pain sensation at peak temperature, in both instructed and free-choice conditions. Consistent with previous research, we observed inhibition-related activity in the dFMC and the rIFC. However, these regions displayed equivalent activation levels for both inhibition types. These data extend previous research by demonstrating that under ecologically valid conditions with a strong motivation to act, both stopping networks operate in concert to enable suppression of unwanted behavior.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.3171/2014.10.JNS14762

Journal of neurosurgery

J Neurosurg

Detection of third and sixth cranial nerve palsies with a novel method for eye tracking while watching a short film clip.

Automated eye movement tracking may provide clues to nervous system function at many levels. Spatial calibration of the eye tracking device requires the subject to have relatively intact ocular motility that implies function of cranial nerves (CNs) III (oculomotor), IV (trochlear), and VI (abducent) and their associated nuclei, along with the multiple regions of the brain imparting cognition and volition. The authors have developed a technique for eye tracking that uses temporal rather than spatial calibration, enabling detection of impaired ability to move the pupil relative to normal (neurologically healthy) control volunteers. This work was performed to demonstrate that this technique may detect CN palsies related to brain compression and to provide insight into how the technique may be of value for evaluating neuropathological conditions associated with CN palsy, such as hydrocephalus or acute mass effect. The authors recorded subjects' eye movements by using an Eyelink 1000 eye tracker sampling at 500 Hz over 200 seconds while the subject viewed a music video playing inside an aperture on a computer monitor. The aperture moved in a rectangular pattern over a fixed time period. This technique was used to assess ocular motility in 157 neurologically healthy control subjects and 12 patients with either clinical CN III or VI palsy confirmed by neuro-ophthalmological examination, or surgically treatable pathological conditions potentially impacting these nerves. The authors compared the ratio of vertical to horizontal eye movement (height/width defined as aspect ratio) in normal and test subjects. In 157 normal controls, the aspect ratio (height/width) for the left eye had a mean value ± SD of 1.0117 ± 0.0706. For the right eye, the aspect ratio had a mean of 1.0077 ± 0.0679 in these 157 subjects. There was no difference between sexes or ages. A patient with known CN VI palsy had a significantly increased aspect ratio (1.39), whereas 2 patients with known CN III palsy had significantly decreased ratios of 0.19 and 0.06, respectively. Three patients with surgically treatable pathological conditions impacting CN VI, such as infratentorial mass effect or hydrocephalus, had significantly increased ratios (1.84, 1.44, and 1.34, respectively) relative to normal controls, and 6 patients with supratentorial mass effect had significantly decreased ratios (0.27, 0.53, 0.62, 0.45, 0.49, and 0.41, respectively). These alterations in eye tracking all reverted to normal ranges after surgical treatment of underlying pathological conditions in these 9 neurosurgical cases. This proof of concept series of cases suggests that the use of eye tracking to detect CN palsy while the patient watches television or its equivalent represents a new capacity for this technology. It may provide a new tool for the assessment of multiple CNS functions that can potentially be useful in the assessment of awake patients with elevated intracranial pressure from hydrocephalus or trauma.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.1016/j.cortex.2014.09.016

Cortex; a journal devoted to the study of the nervous system and behavior

Cortex

Volitional action as perceptual detection: predictors of conscious intention in adolescents with tic disorders.

Voluntary actions are accompanied by a distinctive subjective experience, so that they feel quite different from physically similar involuntary movements. However, the nature and origin of this experience of volition remain unclear. Voluntary actions emerge during early childhood, in parallel with reduction of involuntary movements. However, the available markers of the experience of volition, notably Libet's mental chronometry of intention, cannot readily be used in young children. In Gilles de la Tourette syndrome (GTS), however, involuntary tic movements may coexist with voluntary control into adulthood. Therefore, adolescents with GTS could potentially confuse the two classes of movement. We have measured the temporal experience of voluntary action in a well-characterised group of adolescents with GTS, and age-matched controls. We replicated previous reports of a conscious intention occurring a few hundred milliseconds prior to voluntary keypress actions. Multiple regression across 25 patients' results showed that age and trait tic severity did not influence the experience of conscious intention. However, patients with stronger premonitory urges prior to tics showed significantly later conscious intentions, suggesting that the anticipatory experience of one's own volition involves a perceptual discrimination between potentially competing pre-movement signals. Patients who were more able to voluntarily suppress their tics showed significantly earlier conscious intention, suggesting that the perceptual discrimination between different action classes may also contribute to voluntary control of tics. We suggest that the brain learns voluntary control by perceptually discriminating a special class of internal 'intentional' signals, allowing them to emerge from motor noise.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.1016/j.jad.2014.09.053

Journal of affective disorders

J Affect Disord

The Affective and Emotional Composite Temperament Scale (AFECTS): Psychometric properties of the Spanish version in a community sample from Mexico City and comparison between remitted psychiatric patients.

AFECTS is a novel psychometric instrument that provides an integrated framework based on affective temperamental traits and their trait dimensions. It has the potential to be used in clinical and research fields to study psychopathology and mental health. It is now necessary to field-test this instrument with diverse populations and psychopathological entities. The primary aim was to test the construct validity and the internal consistency of the Spanish Version of the AFECTS instrument on Mexican subjects. AFECTS characteristics were then compared between general population and stable psychiatric patients. A cross-sectional design involving 350 subjects from the general population in México City and 91 stable patients with a bipolar disorder (BPD, n=20), major depressive disorder (MDD, n=35), or with a schizophrenia (n=36) diagnosis. A six-factor structure in trait dimensions, explaining 61.4% of the variance, with a Cronbach׳s alpha of 0.93 was found. Euthymic (23%) and hyperthymic (12%) affective temperaments were the most frequent, while dysphoric (3%) and apathetic (3%) were the least. Trait dimension differences were found in Volition, Sensitivity, and the Instability Index between the groups, particularly those with a bipolar disorder. Use of a self report instrument, and a small sample not representative of the Mexican population or patients with psychiatric conditions. The Spanish Version of the AFECTS instrument has adequate psychometric properties. This version of AFECTS will allow the use of this instrument among Spanish speaking populations and contribute to the continued research efforts on integrative models such as AFECT.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.1111/jsm.12776

The journal of sexual medicine

J Sex Med

Qualitative accounts of patients' determinants of vaginal dilator use after pelvic radiotherapy.

Treatment with pelvic external beam radiotherapy with brachytherapy (EBRT/BT) for gynecological cancers may cause sexual dysfunction because of vaginal shortening and tightening. Regular vaginal dilator use is thought to reduce vaginal shortening and/or tightening, but compliance is poor. This study identified determinants of patients' adherence with dilator use after EBRT/BT. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 30 women, aged 32-67 years, treated with EBRT/BT for gynecological cancers at two university medical centers in the past 36 months. Transcriptions were coded and analyzed with N-Vivo software. Determinants of dilator use were clustered based on the Health Action Process Approach, which describes (i) motivation processes that lead to a behavioral intention and (ii) volition processes that lead to the initiation or maintenance of actual behavior. Almost all women attempted to perform long-term regular vaginal dilator use. Intended dilator use was determined by the expectation that it would prevent the development of vaginal adhesions and stenosis. Planning dilator use and making it part of a routine, using it under the shower, using lubricants, a smaller dilator size, or vibrators helped women. Others reported a lack of time or privacy, forgetting, or feeling tired. Women self-regulated dilator use by rotating the dilator and timing dilator use. Influencing factors were negative emotions regarding dilator use or its hard plastic design, (being anxious for) pain or blood loss, and an association with EBRT/BT. Some women mentioned a lack of instrumental support, for example, lubricants. Others received reassurance through informational support or were supported socially. Motivation and volition processes that determined dilator use were identified and used in the development of a sexual rehabilitation intervention. It is important to provide sufficient patient information and support, and enlarge patients' perceived self-efficacy.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.1016/j.nicl.2014.10.004

NeuroImage. Clinical

Neuroimage Clin

Altered functional connectivity links in neuroleptic-naïve and neuroleptic-treated patients with schizophrenia, and their relation to symptoms including volition.

In order to analyze functional connectivity in untreated and treated patients with schizophrenia, resting-state fMRI data were obtained for whole-brain functional connectivity analysis from 22 first-episode neuroleptic-naïve schizophrenia (NNS), 61 first-episode neuroleptic-treated schizophrenia (NTS) patients, and 60 healthy controls (HC). Reductions were found in untreated and treated patients in the functional connectivity between the posterior cingulate gyrus and precuneus, and this was correlated with the reduction in volition from the Positive and Negative Symptoms Scale (PANSS), that is in the willful initiation, sustenance, and control of thoughts, behavior, movements, and speech, and with the general and negative symptoms. In addition in both patient groups interhemispheric functional connectivity was weaker between the orbitofrontal cortex, amygdala and temporal pole. These functional connectivity changes and the related symptoms were not treated by the neuroleptics. Differences between the patient groups were that there were more strong functional connectivity links in the NNS patients (including in hippocampal, frontal, and striatal circuits) than in the NTS patients. These findings with a whole brain analysis in untreated and treated patients with schizophrenia provide evidence on some of the brain regions implicated in the volitional, other general, and negative symptoms, of schizophrenia that are not treated by neuroleptics so have implications for the development of other treatments; and provide evidence on some brain systems in which neuroleptics do alter the functional connectivity.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.3389/fneur.2014.00210

Frontiers in neurology

Front Neurol

Pedunculopontine Nucleus Gamma Band Activity-Preconscious Awareness, Waking, and REM Sleep.

The pedunculopontine nucleus (PPN) is a major component of the reticular activating system (RAS) that regulates waking and REM sleep, states of high-frequency EEG activity. Recently, we described the presence of high threshold, voltage-dependent N- and P/Q-type calcium channels in RAS nuclei that subserve gamma band oscillations in the mesopontine PPN, intralaminar parafascicular nucleus (Pf), and pontine subcoeruleus nucleus dorsalis (SubCD). Cortical gamma band activity participates in sensory perception, problem solving, and memory. Rather than participating in the temporal binding of sensory events as in the cortex, gamma band activity in the RAS may participate in the processes of preconscious awareness, and provide the essential stream of information for the formulation of many of our actions. That is, the RAS may play an early permissive role in volition. Our latest results suggest that (1) the manifestation of gamma band activity during waking may employ a separate intracellular pathway compared to that during REM sleep, (2) neuronal calcium sensor (NCS-1) protein, which is over expressed in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, modulates gamma band oscillations in the PPN in a concentration-dependent manner, (3) leptin, which undergoes resistance in obesity resulting in sleep dysregulation, decreases sodium currents in PPN neurons, accounting for its normal attenuation of waking, and (4) following our discovery of electrical coupling in the RAS, we hypothesize that there are cell clusters within the PPN that may act in concert. These results provide novel information on the mechanisms controlling high-frequency activity related to waking and REM sleep by elements of the RAS.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.2196/jmir.3534

Journal of medical Internet research

J Med Internet Res

Development and preliminary evaluation of an internet-based healthy eating program: randomized controlled trial.

The HealthValues Healthy Eating Programme is a standalone Internet-based intervention that employs a novel strategy for promoting behavior change (analyzing one's reasons for endorsing health values) alongside other psychological principles that have been shown to influence behavior. The program consists of phases targeting motivation (dietary feedback and advice, analyzing reasons for health values, thinking about health-related desires, and concerns), volition (implementation intentions with mental contrasting), and maintenance (reviewing tasks, weekly tips). The aim was to examine the effects of the program on consumption of fruit and vegetables, saturated fat, and added sugar over a 6-month period. A total of 82 females and 18 males were recruited using both online and print advertisements in the local community. They were allocated to an intervention or control group using a stratified block randomization protocol. The program was designed such that participants logged onto a website every week for 24 weeks and completed health-related measures. Those allocated to the intervention group also completed the intervention tasks at these sessions. Additionally, all participants attended laboratory sessions at baseline, 3 months, and 6 months. During these sessions, participants completed a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ, the Block Fat/Sugar/Fruit/Vegetable Screener, adapted for the UK), and researchers (blind to group allocation) measured their body mass index (BMI), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), and heart rate variability (HRV). Data were analyzed using a series of ANOVA models. Per protocol analysis (n=92) showed a significant interaction for fruit and vegetable consumption (P=.048); the intervention group increased their intake between baseline and 6 months (3.7 to 4.1 cups) relative to the control group (3.6 to 3.4 cups). Results also showed overall reductions in saturated fat intake (20.2 to 15.6 g, P<.001) and added sugar intake (44.6 to 33.9 g, P<.001) during this period, but there were no interactions with group. Similarly, there were overall reductions in BMI (27.7 to 27.3 kg/m(2), P=.001) and WHR (0.82 to 0.81, P=.009), but no interactions with group. The intervention did not affect alcohol consumption, physical activity, smoking, or HRV. Data collected during the online sessions suggested that the changes in fruit and vegetable consumption were driven by the motivational and maintenance phases of the program. Results suggest that the program helped individuals to increase their consumption of fruit and vegetables and to sustain this over a 6-month period. The observed reduction in fat and sugar intake suggests that monitoring behaviors over time is effective, although further research is needed to confirm this conclusion. The Web-based nature of the program makes it a potentially cost-effective way of promoting healthy eating.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2014.09.029

Neuropsychologia

Neuropsychologia

The cerebellum is not necessary for visually driven recalibration of hand proprioception.

Decades of research have implicated both cortical and subcortical areas, such as the cerebellum, as playing an important role in motor learning, and even more recently, in predicting the sensory consequences of movement. Still, it is unknown whether the cerebellum also plays a role in recalibrating sensory estimates of hand position following motor learning. To test this, we measured proprioceptive estimates of static hand position in 19 cerebellar patients with local ischemic lesions and 19 healthy controls, both before and after reach training with altered visual feedback of the hand. This altered visual feedback, (30° cursor-rotation) was gradually introduced in order to facilitate reach adaptation in the patient group. We included two different types of training (in separate experiments): the typical visuomotor rotation training where participants had full volition of their hand movements when reaching with the cursor, and sensory exposure training where the direction of participants׳ hand movements were constrained and gradually deviated from the cursor motion (Cressman, E. K., Henriques, D. Y., 2010. Reach adaptation and proprioceptive recalibration following exposure to misaligned sensory input. J. Neurophysiol., vol. 103, pp. 1888-1895). We found that both healthy individuals and patients showed equivalent shifts in their felt hand position following both types of training. Likewise, as expected given that the cursor-rotation was introduced gradually, patients showed comparable reach aftereffects to those of controls in both types of training. The robust change in felt hand position across controls and cerebellar patients suggests that the cerebellum is not involved in proprioceptive recalibration of the hand.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.1016/j.addbeh.2014.09.011

Addictive behaviors

Addict Behav

Uses of self-regulation to facilitate and restrain addictive behavior.

We apply self-regulation theory to understand addictive behavior. Self-regulation and volition depend on a limited resource, and when that resource has been depleted, self-regulation becomes prone to fail. Moving beyond traditional models that have emphasized the relevance of self-regulation to quitting addiction, we propose that self-regulation is used both to facilitate and resist addictive behaviors. Self-regulation is often needed to overcome initial aversion to drugs and alcohol, as well as to maintain addictive usage patterns despite situational obstacles (e.g., illegality, erratic availability, family disapproval). Sustaining addiction also requires preventing use from spiraling out of control and interfering with other aspects of life. More generally, the automaticity and irresistibility of addictive responses may have been overrated, as indicated by how addictive behaviors respond rationally to incentives and other concerns. Self-regulation does facilitate quitting, and relapse may be especially likely when self-regulatory capabilities are depleted.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2014.09.033

Neuropsychologia

Neuropsychologia

The kinematic signature of voluntary actions.

Research in the field of psychology and cognitive neuroscience has begun to explore the functional underpinnings of voluntary actions and how they differ from stimulus-driven actions. From these studies one can conclude that the two action modes differ with respect to their neural and behavioural correlates. So far, however, no study has investigated whether the voluntary and stimulus-driven actions also differ in terms of motor programming. We report two experiments in which participants had to perform either voluntary or stimulus-driven reach-to-grasp actions upon the same stimulus. Using kinematic methods, in Experiment 1 we obtained evidence that voluntary actions and stimulus-driven actions translate into differential movement patterns. Results for Experiments 2 suggest that selecting what to do, when to act, and whether to act are characterized by specific kinematic signatures and affect different aspects of the reach-to-grasp movement in a selective fashion. These findings add to current models of volition suggesting that voluntary action control results from an interplay of dissociable subfunctions related to specific decision components: what action execute, when to execute an action, and whether to execute any action.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.3389/fnhum.2014.00677

Frontiers in human neuroscience

Front Hum Neurosci

Hearing (rivaling) lips and seeing voices: how audiovisual interactions modulate perceptual stabilization in binocular rivalry.

In binocular rivalry (BR), sensory input remains the same yet subjective experience fluctuates irremediably between two mutually exclusive representations. We investigated the perceptual stabilization effect of an additional sound on the BR dynamics using speech stimuli known to involve robust audiovisual (AV) interactions at several cortical levels. Subjects sensitive to the McGurk effect were presented looping videos of rivaling faces uttering /aba/ and /aga/, respectively, while synchronously hearing the voice /aba/. They reported continuously the dominant percept, either observing passively or trying actively to promote one of the faces. The few studies that investigated the influence of information from an external modality on perceptual competition reported results that seem at first sight inconsistent. Since these differences could stem from how well the modalities matched, we addressed this by comparing two levels of AV congruence: real (/aba/ viseme) vs. illusory (/aga/ viseme producing the /ada/ McGurk fusion). First, adding the voice /aba/ stabilized both real and illusory congruent lips percept. Second, real congruence of the added voice improved volitional control whereas illusory congruence did not, suggesting a graded contribution to the top-down sensitivity control of selective attention. In conclusion, a congruent sound enhanced considerably attentional control over the perceptual outcome selection; however, differences between passive stabilization and active control according to AV congruency suggest these are governed by two distinct mechanisms. Based on existing theoretical models of BR, selective attention and AV interaction in speech perception, we provide a general interpretation of our findings.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.1002/cncr.29009

Cancer

Cancer

Dyadic psychosocial intervention for advanced lung cancer patients and their family caregivers: results of a randomized pilot trial.

Advanced lung cancer (LC) patients and their families have reported low self-efficacy for self-care/caregiving and high rates of distress, yet few programs exist to address their supportive care needs during treatment. This pilot study examined the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of a 6-session, telephone-based dyadic psychosocial intervention that was developed for advanced LC patients and their caregivers. The program was grounded in self-determination theory (SDT), which emphasizes the importance of competence (self-efficacy), autonomy (sense of choice/volition), and relatedness (sense of belonging/connection) for psychological functioning. The primary outcomes were patient and caregiver psychological functioning (depression/anxiety) and caregiver burden. The secondary outcomes were the SDT constructs of competence, autonomy, and relatedness. Thirty-nine advanced LC patients who were within 1 month of treatment initiation (baseline) and their caregivers (51% spouses/partners) completed surveys and were randomized to the intervention or usual medical care. Eight weeks after baseline, they completed follow-up surveys. Solid recruitment (60%) and low attrition rates demonstrated feasibility. Strong program evaluations (mean, 8.6/10) and homework completion rates (88%) supported acceptability. Participants receiving the intervention evidenced significant improvements (P < .0001) in depression, anxiety, and caregiver burden in comparison with usual medical care. Large effect sizes (d ≥ 1.2) favoring the intervention were also found for patient and caregiver competence and relatedness and for caregiver autonomous motivation for providing care. These findings support intervention feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy. By empowering families with the skills to coordinate care and meet the challenges of LC together, this intervention holds great promise for improving palliative/supportive care services in cancer.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.1177/1077801214549638

Violence against women

Violence Against Women

Approaching the subject of violence: a response-based approach to working with men who have abused others.

Traditional effects-based approaches to therapeutic work with men who have abused others often attempt to intervene by correcting personal deficits assumed to be causing the violence. This not only creates a hierarchical counseling relationship but also can inadvertently excuse aggressive actions. In this article, we outline a response-based alternative that emphasizes questions of choice, agency, and volition within a collaborative therapeutic relationship. Rather than impose external correction, we pay attention to details of how men describe their violent acts and position themselves as agents of those acts as we work toward supporting them in their own acts of self-correction.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.1016/j.dcn.2014.08.006

Developmental cognitive neuroscience

Dev Cogn Neurosci

Choosing not to act: neural bases of the development of intentional inhibition.

Choosing not to act, or the ability to intentionally inhibit your actions lies at the core of self-control. Even though most research has focused on externally primed inhibition, an important question concerns how intentional inhibition develops. Therefore, in the present study children (aged 10-12) and adults (aged 18-26) performed the marble task, in which they had to choose between acting on and inhibiting a prepotent response, while fMRI data were collected. Intentional inhibition was associated with activation of the fronto-basal ganglia network. Activation in the subthalamic nucleus and dorsal fronto-median cortex, regions which have previously been associated with intentional inhibition, did not differ between intentional inhibition and intentional action. Even though both children and adults intentionally inhibited their actions to a similar extent, children showed more activation in the fronto-basal ganglia network during intentional inhibition, but not in the subthalamic nucleus and dorsal fronto-median cortex. Furthermore, a positive relation between self-reported impulsivity and intentional inhibition was observed. These findings have important implications for our understanding of disorders of impulsivity, such as ADHD, which are associated with poor self-control abilities.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.1017/S0140525X13003555

The Behavioral and brain sciences

Behav Brain Sci

Martyrdom's would-be myth buster.

Lankford overgeneralizes individual psychology from limited, fragmentary and doubtful materials, and underplays strategic, ideological, and group dynamical factors. His speculative claims manifest a form of fundamental attribution error: the tendency - especially evident in popular attachment to moral presumptions of individual responsibility and volition - to overestimate effects of personality and underestimate situational effects in explaining social behavior. The book's appeal may owe more to ideological preference than to interests of science or national security.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.1080/17588928.2014.949649

Cognitive neuroscience

Cogn Neurosci

Hypnotic suggestion: a test for the voluntary action problem.

To study voluntary action a dissociation must be established between the somatic event (e.g, motor action) and what the agent voluntarily does (e.g, handing a tool to a friend). We propose that cognitive neuroscience studies of hypnotic suggestion can accomplish this dissociation between action and will (more specifically, between action and intention, or action and volition). Thus, hypnotic suggestion may afford an empirical testing ground to study voluntary action, distinguishing voluntariness from action.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.1080/17588928.2014.949650

Cognitive neuroscience

Cogn Neurosci

Probabilistic antecedents of voluntary action are essential components of decision processes.

When decision outcomes can be predicted above chance from neural activity before participants indicate the decision is made, some claim this must change our concepts of voluntary decision, while others dismiss such data as reflecting small biases from the legacy of previous trials or the participant's pre-decision thoughts. In an interactive competitive decision framework, the existence of such probabilistic pre-decision biases is not challenging, but taken for granted. But neither are they uninteresting. Their interaction with incoming evidence about response options is what decisions are made of, and thus, studying their nature is an essential component of volition research.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.1016/j.jad.2014.07.034

Journal of affective disorders

J Affect Disord

Dysfunctional traits in obese women and underweight men.

The prevalence of obesity is rapidly increasing worldwide, together with its comorbidities. Our aim was to assess the emotional traits and affective temperaments, according to various Body Mass Index (BMI) groups, in a large sample. Data was collected by a web-survey on psychological and psychiatric measures (BRAINSTEP). The BMI was evaluated by self-reporting and temperament was evaluated by the Affective and Emotional Composite Temperament Scale (AFECTS). The final sample consisted of 10,786 individuals (mean age 27.9 ± 7.8 years, 70% females). About 40% of the sample had a BMI score higher than normal. The overall BMI score was particularly associated with a higher Desire and a lower Control and Volition (p<0.001 for all), especially in women. Obese females also had significantly lower Coping, Stability, and Caution. In males only, underweight individuals were more fearful and sensitive, and they had a lower Coping and Volition character than normal weight subjects, suggesting a more fragile and immature profile. Linear regression with several adjustments confirmed these associations. Regarding affective temperaments, a Depressive type was more prevalent among underweight subjects, an Obsessive type was associated with a normal BMI, and a Hyperthymic type was apparent in overweight individuals of both genders. Underweight males and females were more prone to having an internalized temperament. Only self-reporting measures were used in a cross-sectional design. Obese women and underweight men have a more dysfunctional trait profile. Addressing these traits may be important for prevention strategies and, possibly, for weight reduction in women.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.2190/PM.47.2.f

International journal of psychiatry in medicine

Int J Psychiatry Med

Association of microRNA137 gene polymorphisms with age at onset and positive symptoms of schizophrenia in a Han Chinese population.

MicroRNA137 (miRNA137) regulates several gene expressions involved in brain development, and a recent large genome wide association study (GWAS) revealed a possible association between miRNA137 and schizophrenia. The allelic variants of rs66642155, a variable number tandem repeat polymorphism, and the single nucleotide polymorphism rs1625579 A/C in the miRNA137 host gene fragment were compared between 300 schizophrenic patients and 300 healthy controls from the Han Chinese population. The association of these polymorphisms with clinical characteristics of schizophrenia was also tested. Genotype and allele frequencies of these polymorphisms were not significantly different between patient and control populations. In patients, however, age at onset was much later in wild type rs66642155 carriers than in mutation carriers. Total positive score on the Positive and Negative Symptom Scale (PANSS), total five-factor model positive score, and the delusions symptom score were all significantly higher in wild type rs66642155 carriers with schizophrenia, while the disturbance of volition symptom score was significantly higher in the mutation carriers with schizophrenia. MiRNA137 may not be a significant susceptibility gene for schizophrenia, but in patients, rs66642155 allelic variant of miRNA137 appears to influence age at onset and the severity of positive symptoms.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.3389/fnhum.2014.00450

Frontiers in human neuroscience

Front Hum Neurosci

Beyond the "urge to move": objective measures for the study of agency in the post-Libet era.

The investigation of human volition is a longstanding endeavor from both philosophers and researchers. Yet because of the major challenges associated with capturing voluntary movements in an ecologically relevant state in the research environment, it is only in recent years that human agency has grown as a field of cognitive neuroscience. In particular, the seminal work of Libet et al. (1983) paved the way for a neuroscientific approach to agency. Over the past decade, new objective paradigms have been developed to study agency, drawing upon emerging concepts from cognitive and computational neuroscience. These include the chronometric approach of Libet's study which is embedded in the "intentional binding" paradigm, optimal motor control theory and most recent insights from active inference theory. Here we review these principal methods and their application to the study of agency in health and the insights gained from their application to neurological and psychiatric disorders. We show that the neuropsychological paradigms that are based upon these new approaches have key advantages over traditional experimental designs. We propose that these advantages, coupled with advances in neuroimaging, create a powerful set of tools for understanding human agency and its neurobiological basis.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition

10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2014.06.001

Neuropsychologia

Neuropsychologia

Investigating socio-cognitive processes in deception: a quantitative meta-analysis of neuroimaging studies.

Recent neuroimaging studies have found a broad network of brain regions involved in deception, including the prefrontal cortex, insula, anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and inferior parietal lobule (IPL). Although deception can be conceptualized as the attempt to deliberately cause another person to accept a false belief, research to date has mainly focused on executive control processes when participants are instructed to lie under certain conditions. Recently, more ecologically valid and interactive experimental paradigms have been used in which subjects were also requested to take the perspective of another person, read his or her intentions, and make a self-determined decision to deceive that person and break a moral rule. To investigate the influence of these socio-cognitive processes on the neural network of deception, we performed a quantitative meta-analysis combining the data from 416 participants across 22 fMRI and two PET studies. Based on the description of the experimental paradigm, studies were divided in social interactive and non-interactive deception studies. Increased activation in the dorsal ACC, the right temporo-parietal junction (TPJ)/angular gyrus, and the bilateral temporal pole (TP) was found to be greater in social interactive than in non-interactive deception. These results demonstrate the important role of perspective taking, theory of mind, and moral reasoning processes in deception as well as conflict processing. In addition to the role of executive control processes determined by previous meta-analyses, our findings show the importance of these socio-cognitive processes in deception and give new insight into the function and interpretation of the brain regions involved.

CognitiveConstruct

Volition