Can there be an empirical science of volitional action?

Conducted 3 studies with 71 undergraduates to assess volitional effects in human behavior. Study 1 dealt with the relative contribution of volition (the decision to eat peanuts on some days and not on other days) and one external determinant factor (peanuts in sight or out of sight) on the amount of peanuts Ss consumed. In Study 2, Ss first decided by coin toss whether they would eat or not eat and also chose whether they would be in an eat or not-eat day. On half the days of the study, a written reminder to follow Ss' self-chosen or coin-determined eat or not-eat instructions was left in each S's room. Results show some degree of relationship among various types of self-control and the measure of volition which was not influenced by the experimenter's command. Study 3 considered the role of volition in the control of 3 factors related to increasing the number of heterosexual and social interactions among Ss who wished to increase such interactions. Results demonstrate that Ss possessed some degree of volitional control over conditions that were related to having a satisfactory amount of heterosexual social interactions. It is concluded that the studies demonstrate the existence of a generative structure or capacity referred to as volition. (55 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Contextual determinants of "volitional action": A reply to Howard and Conway.

Comments on the article by G. S. Howard and C. G. Conway (see record 1987-07162-001) concerning a science of volitional action and suggests that their data does not provide evidence for volition. It is suggested that the effects observed may be explained on the basis of the social context in which the "volitional acts" occurred. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Of course there can be an empirical science of volitional action.

Provides support for the research by G. S. Howard and C. G. Conway (see record 1987-07162-001) on the science of volitional action. W. James's (1890) definition of volition, the intentional behavior of inanimate control systems, and the complementary nature of voluntary and involuntary actions are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The influence of volition on breathing-swallowing coordination in healthy adults.

This research was designed to clarify the role of cortical modulation in the coordination of respiration and swallowing. Time-locked recordings of submental surface electromyography, nasal airflow, and thyroid acoustics were used to evaluate nonnutritive breathing-swallowing coordination (BSC) and swallowing apnea duration (SAD) of 20 healthy adults during 3 conditions. These conditions represented a continuum of volitional through nonvolitional swallowing control on the basis of a decreasing level of cortical activation: voluntarily initiated swallows during wakefulness, nonvolitional awake swallows, and reflexively initiated swallows during sleep. Differing proportions of swallows at the cusps between inspiration and expiration were found between the volitional and nonvolitional conditions, irrespective of the level of arousal. SAD was unaltered by condition. In conclusion, BSC is influenced by degree of volition but not by level of arousal. This implies that cortical influence on BSC is limited to conditions in which swallowing is voluntarily initiated and indirectly implicates the recruitment of the supplementary motor or insular cortices. SAD remained stable across conditions and may therefore be considered relatively impervious to suprabulbar influence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Volitional facilitation of difficult intentions: Joint activation of intention memory and positive affect removes Stroop interference.

Removal of Stroop interference was obtained after exposure to words eliciting positive affect. This effect was predicted by personality systems interactions (PSI) theory, which assumes that (a) an abstract (high-level) representation of a difficult intention is generated in intention memory under certain conditions (e.g., when an action plan contains more than 1 step); (b) positive affect releases the inhibition of the pathway between intention memory and its output system. Interference removal is interpreted in terms of volitional facilitation. This effect posits a challenge to current cognitive models of the Stroop effect. Compared with alternative explanations, PSI theory can explain the data in a broader context: Implications of volitional facilitation and volitional inhibition for the study of prospective memory, alienation, procrastination, and rumination in depression are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relationship between the perceived threat of environmental problems and the formation of action intentions

The results of a study using questionnaires at two measuring points in high schools in North Germany are reported and discussed. This article analyzes the students' reasons and motivation for more or less environmentally friendly behavior. An integrated theoretical concept of motivation for human action formed the theoretical basis. The action genesis process was subdivided into the phases of forming motives, intentions and volition. Following a presentation of this theoretical concept and its definition with regard to competing and compatible theoretical hypotheses, the methodological procedure is described whereby the various motivation structures of the pupils questioned were analyzed. Mixed distribution models were used which allow modelling of complex multivariate relationships (latent class analysis and mixed Rasch models). The results show strong positive relationships among the variables of the motivation, the intention and the volition phases, but with isolated area-specific motivation patterns and moderator effects of certain cognitive variables.     

Covert focussing of the attentional gaze.

Developed and tested a binary mixture model to describe the level of detail of a visual form that is processed most quickly and is influenced both by volitional emphasis and by the level that most recently contained relevant information. The interaction of these 2 factors in controlling covert attentional focus is described in a model in which level emphasis depends on the entries in a Markov-like transition matrix. In a test with 5 undergraduates, the model outlined the major features of attention operating characteristic curves produced in a target discrimination paradigm requiring 2 successive judgments per trial; but it could not handle all of the details of individual Ss' data. In general, volition and previous processing had separate effects on covert attentional focus, but some Ss achieved quicker responding at an emphasized level of detail by relaxing on the nonemphasized level. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Towards a functional neuroanatomy of conscious perception and its modulation by volition: implications of human auditory neuroimaging studies

Conscious sensory perception and its modulation by volition are integral to human mental life. Functional neuroimaging techniques provide a direct means of identifying and characterizing in vivo the systems-level patterns of brain activity associated with such mental functions. In a series of positron emission tomography activation experiments, we and our colleagues have examined a range of normal and abnormal auditory states that, when contrasted, provide dissociations relevant to the question of the neural substrates of sensory awareness. These dissociations include sensory awareness in the presence and absence of external sensory stimuli, the transition from sensory unawareness to awareness (or vice versa) in the presence of sensory stimuli, and sensory awareness with and without volition. The auditory states studied include hallucinations, mental imagery, cortical deafness modulated by attention, and hearing modulated by sedation. The results of these studies highlight the distributed nature of the functional neuroanatomy that is sufficient, if not necessary, for sensory awareness. The probable roles of unimodal association (as compared with primary) cortices, heteromodal cortices, limbic/paralimbic regions and subcortical structures (such as the thalamus) are discussed. In addition, interactions between pre- and post-rolandic regions are examined in the context of top-down, volitional modulation of sensory awareness.     

Experiences of Autonomy and Control Among Chinese Learners: Vitalizing or Immobilizing?

Various cross-cultural researchers state that autonomy is not valued in Eastern cultures and, hence, is unlikely to predict optimal study functioning and well-being. In contrast, self-determination theory (SDT; R. M. Ryan & E. L. Deci, 2000) maintains that autonomous or volitional study motivation is universally important and should predict better learning and higher well-being, even among Chinese students. Two studies were conducted to shed light on this controversial issue. Findings from both studies indicated that autonomous study motivation positively predicts adaptive learning attitudes, academic success, and personal well-being, whereas controlled motivation was associated with higher drop-out rates, maladaptive learning attitudes, and ill-being. In addition, Study 2 revealed that parental autonomy support versus psychological control is related to more adaptive learning strategies and higher well-being and that these effects were mediated by students' relative autonomy for studying. The importance of defining autonomy as an intraindividual, phenomenological experience versus an interpersonal, culturally bounded value is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Motoric and symbolic mediation in observational learning.

The observers' motoric and symbolic representations of a model's behavior are important mediators in observational learning. The observers' spontaneous use of these mediators may be influenced by their familiarity with responses performed by a model and by their intention to learn these responses. Unfamiliar observers do not have symbolic codes available for the model's responses, so they may rely on motor mimicry. Familiar observers have symbolic codes available, so they may employ those codes and, possibly, motor mimicry as mediators. Spontaneous mediation may also depend on whether observers intend to learn these responses. Three experiments with 132 undergraduates revealed that familiar observers used motoric and symbolic mediators, whereas unfamiliar observers primarily used motor mimicry. Symbolic coding facilitated familiar but not unfamiliar observers' learning; unfamiliar observers' learning was related to motor mimicry. Intention to learn increased motor mimicry but not symbolic coding. An interpretation is offered for the observers' pervasive use of motor mimicry. (3 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Planning to lose weight: Randomized controlled trial of an implementation intention prompt to enhance weight reduction among overweight and obese women.

Objective: The trial investigates the effects of augmenting an established weight-reduction intervention with implementation intention prompts. Design: Fifty-five overweight or obese women (ages 18 to 76 years; body mass index from 25.28 to 48.33) enrolled in a commercial weight reduction program were randomly assigned to either an implementation intention prompt or a control condition. Data were collected twice, with a time gap of 2 months. Main Outcome Measures: The primary outcome was participants' change in weight and body mass index from preintervention to follow-up. Results: Repeated measures analysis of variance revealed a significant Time = Condition interaction: On average, implementation intention prompt participants lost 4.2 kg (95% confidence interval = 3.19, 5.07), whereas control participants lost 2.1 kg (95% confidence interval = 1.11, 3.09). The change in frequency of planning mediated the effects of the intervention on weight and body mass index change. Conclusion: Among obese or overweight women participating in a commercial weight loss program, those who learn to form implementation intentions can achieve greater weight reduction. Planning facilitation is a key mechanism explaining enhanced weight loss generated by implementation intention formation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

How useful are the stages of change for targeting interventions? Randomized test of a brief intervention to reduce smoking.

Objective: To see whether the stages of change are useful for targeting a brief intervention to reduce smoking based on implementation intentions. A second objective was to rule out demand characteristics as an alternative explanation for the findings of intervention studies based on the transtheoretical model and implementation intentions. Design: Participants (N = 350) were randomized to a passive control condition (questionnaire only), active control condition (questionnaire plus instruction to plan to quit), or experimental condition (questionnaire, plan to quit, form an implementation intention). Their behavior and psychosocial orientation to quit were measured at baseline and at 2-month follow-up. Main Outcome Measures: Theory of planned behavior variables, nicotine dependence, and quitting. Results: Significantly more people quit smoking in the experimental condition than in the control conditions, and the planning instructions changed intention to quit and perceived control over quitting, but not behavior. Stage of change moderated these effects such that implementation intentions worked best for individuals who were in the preparation stage at baseline. Conclusion: Harnessing both motivational and volitional processes seems to enhance the effectiveness of smoking cessation programs, although further work is required to clarify inconsistencies in the literature using the stages of change. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Independent control of reflex and volitional EMG modulation during sinusoidal pursuit tracking in humans

It is well known that during volitional sinusoidal tracking the long-latency reflex modulates in parallel with the volitional EMG activity. In this study, a series of experiments are reported demonstrating several conditions in which an uncoupling of reflex from volitional activity occurs. The paradigm consists of a visually guided task in which the subject tracked a sinusoid with the wrist. The movement was perturbed by constant torque or controlled velocity perturbations at 45 degrees intervals of the tracking phase. Volitional and reflex-evoked EMG and wrist displacement as functions of the tracking phase were recorded. The relationship of both short-latency (30-60 ms) and longer-latency (60-100 ms) reflex components to the volitional EMG was evaluated. In reflex tracking, the peak reflex amplitude occurs at phases of tracking which correspond to a maximum of wrist joint angular velocity in the direction of homonymous muscle shortening and a minimum of wrist compliance. Uncoupling of the reflex and volitional EMG was observed in three situations. First, during passive movement of the wrist through the sinusoidal tracking cycle perturbation-evoked long-latency stretch reflex peak is modulated as for normal, volitional tracking. However, with passive joint movement the volitional EMG modulation is undetectable. Second, a subset of subjects demonstrate a normally modulated and positioned long-latency reflex with a single peak. However, these subjects have distinct bimodal peaks of volitional EMG. Third, the imposition of an anti-elastic load (positive position feedback) shifts the volitional EMG envelope by as much as 180 degrees along the tracking phase when compared with conventional elastic loading. Yet the long-latency reflex peak remains at its usual phase in the tracking cycle, corresponding to the maximal velocity in the direction of muscle shortening. Furthermore, comparison of the results from elastic and anti-elastic loads reveals a dissociation of short- and long-latency reflex activity, with the short-latency reflex shifting with the volitional EMG envelope. Comparable results were also obtained for controlled velocity perturbations used to control for changes in joint compliance. The uncoupling of the reflex and volitional EMG activity in the present series of experiments points to a flexible relationship between reflex and volitional control systems, altered by peripheral input and external load.     

Efficacy of a brief worksite intervention to reduce smoking: The roles of behavioral and implementation intentions.

The effectiveness of worksite interventions to reduce smoking needs to be enhanced because randomized controlled trials to date have produced mixed findings. The present study tested the ability of social-cognitive variables to mediate the past behavior-future behavior relationship and the effectiveness of implementation intentions to break the past behavior-future behavior relationship in a brief theory-based worksite intervention designed to reduce smoking. Smoking behavior and psychosocial orientation to quit (operationalized by theory of planned behavior variables and temptations) were measured at baseline; participants (N=90) randomized to the experimental condition were also asked to form an implementation intention in their place of work. Identical measures taken 2 months postbaseline revealed that intention was a potent mediator of the past behavior-future behavior relationship. More important, significantly more people quit smoking in the experimental condition than in the control condition. Decomposition of these effects showed that implementation intentions worked best for individuals who were more motivated to quit at baseline and suggest that harnessing both motivational and volitional processes might enhance the effectiveness of worksite smoking cessation programs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive neuroscience: Origins and promise.

Both Freud and Wundt had hoped to base psychology on an understanding of the neural basis of mental events. Their efforts were unsuccessful because the structure and function of the human brain was not available for empirical study at the physiological level. Over the last part of this century, there has been amazing growth and vitality in the field of human brain function. In this paper, we trace critical developments in the fields of cognitive psychology, neuropsychology, and brain imaging related to the development of cognitive neuroscience. Cognitive neuroscience has established that the decomposition of mental events can be united with an understanding of the mental and emotional computations carried out by the human brain. Cognitive neuroscience has the capability of influencing psychology in diverse areas from how children develop to how adults age; from how humans learn to how we imagine; from volitional control to psychopathologies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of generic advance instructions on learning a classification task.

Investigated whether giving students generic advance instructions about how to learn a classification task would be effective in facilitating learning of a specific classification task. The effect of instructions was compared with the effects of adjunct postquestions, simply reading the materials (control group), and both instructions and adjunct postquestions. The experimental task involved learning to classify instances of several different categories. Ss were 72 US Navy enlisted personnel. It was hypothesized that advance instructions to Ss regarding how and what to learn would facilitate learning of classification material. Results show that the instruction group and adjunct questions group did equally well on classifying new and old instances of US Navy call signs. All groups did better than control groups. Results suggest that students can learn a general strategy for processing classification material and that providing students with generic information about how and what to learn is an effective instructional strategy. A text of the instructions used to teach Ss how to learn a classification task is appended. (30 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The other learning process in substance abuse: Comment on Alessi, Roll, Reilly, and Johanson (2002).

The results presented in the article by S. M. Alessi, J. M. Roll, M. P. Reilly, and C.-E. Johanson (see record 2002-12827-002) suggest that the reinforcing impact of diazepam can change as a function of the participant's experience with the drug. The data fit nicely with a long tradition in learning theory that has shown the effects of reinforcers can depend crucially on what the organism has been able to learn about them. Often, that learning reflects an associative process like the one involved in Pavlovian conditioning. The hypothesis that preference for diazepam increased in the Alessi et al. study because the drug was associated with money would benefit from additional experiments that include control conditions isolating the role of the Pavlovian drug-money contingency. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Savings in relearning: II. On the formation of behavior-based trait associations and inferences.

Five experiments based on Carlston and Skowronski's (1994) relearning paradigm suggest that people spontaneously derive trait knowledge about actors from behaviors but that this knowledge may reflect either explicit trait inference processes or implicit actor–trait associations. Experiments 1 and 2 found that inference-instructed and control Ss showed equivalent savings in subsequent efforts to learn actor–trait pairs but not when instructed Ss initially inferred the wrong trait. Experiment 3 showed that savings were equivalent for stimuli from different sources, and Experiment 4 showed that savings effects persisted even when the target was only incidentally associated with a stimulus behavior. Finally, Experiment 5 suggests that after several days, even explicit trait inferences can become inaccessible to intentional retrieval, although the earlier experiments show that they continue to exert an implicit effect on learning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

élaboration et validation d'une échelle d'autorégulation de l'apprentissage relative à l'intégration pédagogique des TIC (AREGA-TIC).

This article presents the results of two studies aiming at the development and the verification of the factorial structure of a new self-regulated learning scale about pedagogical integration of information and communication technology (SRLS-ICT). A sample of 481 preservice teachers from Quebec permits the assessment of its validity. Results of reliability and confirmatory factor analysis confirm its psychometric qualities. The 51 items of the questionnaire are grouped under the 12 dimensions that compose the three cyclical phases of self-regulated learning: forethought, performance/volitional control and self-reflection (Zimmerman, 1998). This questionnaire, with generic questions, could be adapted to measure self-regulated learning in different learning contexts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)