Affective disposition and cognitive processing in dysphoria: a time-frequency EEG study

To date, affective disposition and cognitive processing of emotional stimuli in individuals with depressive symptoms have not been fully explored within the same framework. Time-frequency analysis of electroencephalographic activity allows to disentangle the brain's parallel processing of information. The present study employed a time-frequency approach to simultaneously examine affective disposition and cognitive processing during the viewing of emotional stimuli in dysphoria. Time-frequency event-related changes were examined during the viewing of pleasant, neutral and unpleasant pictures in 24 individuals with dysphoria and 24 controls. Affective disposition was indexed by delta and alpha power, while theta power was employed as a correlate of cognitive elaboration of the stimuli. Cluster-based statistics revealed a centro-parietal reduction in delta power for pleasant stimuli in individuals with dysphoria than controls. Also, dysphoria was characterized by an early fronto-central increase in theta power for unpleasant stimuli relative to neutral and pleasant. Instead, controls were characterized by a late fronto-central and occipital reduction in theta power for unpleasant stimuli relative to neutral and pleasant. The present study granted novel insights on the interrelated facets of affective elaboration in dysphoria, mainly characterized by an hypoactivation of the approach-related motivational system and a sustained facilitated cognitive processing of unpleasant stimuli.

Рhenomenon of states psychological self-regulation of teacher’s life activities

Based on the structural and system analysis, the article considers the need for self-regulation for teachers, substantiates and provides statistics on the negative psychophysical states of educators, which they acquire as a result of professional activity. One hundred teachers were interviewed in order to define the mastering level of their self-regulation and the need to educate teachers in the theory and practice of these aspects. Based on the data obtained, it is obvious that educators need education on this issue, and the level of assimilation of this information and skills still needs to be better. The necessity of developming the motivational system of self-regulation mastering by teachers through the following components of this motivation is substantiated in the article: it can be made through a condition of psychophysical health; because of the culturological need of educators and because of the need not to expose others, in particular children, according to the negatives of their emotional deviations; due to the need for pedagogical competence, which has the competence of the psychological spectrum, which determines the professional status; because of the need for the teacher to be a proactive person. Since teachers are mostly motivated to learn self-regulation mainly because of health and the effectiveness of such motivation is limited, we conclude that there should be several motivational areas, where each specialist will find what he needs. The article analyzes and systematizes theoretical principles of self-regulation of mental states of the personality in order to bring this information in an adaptive form for teachers. In this context, the periodization is made considering the research on self-regulation by scientists from foreign and national physiological and psychological schools. The meaningful information of theoretical bases of regulation is structured and systematized. The necessity of a regular system of education on the theory and practice of self-regulation is substantiated and in this perspective the article gives the basics of such education. In our publication the authors offer the term, forms of work and its content. Conclusions are made on improving the awareness of educators of the practical acquisition of knowledge, skills and abilities on the problem. Key words: self-regulation of personality mental states; motivation, mastery of self-regulation of mental states by the teacher; systematization of theoretical principles of self-regulation; basics of the teacher education project on self-regulation issues.

Model of the Relationship Between the Motivational System of the Individual and the Organizational Culture

The article examined the model of the relationship between the motivational component of the individual which is reflected in the three-level system of the individual and the organizational culture of the company. The presented model includes the stages of initial analysis and comparison, as well as statistical identification of the relationship. Motivation involves understanding the needs as well as interests, feelings, and personal qualities. The interest of employees in the organization is expressed in their identification with the company; therefore, the cornerstone is common values and goals of the employee and organization. The hypotheses that organizational culture is the foundation of the motivation system can also be confirmed by the presence of correlations between the typology of organizational culture and the identified motivators. In the future, the identified positive correlations can be the foundation of a program for improving motivation and culture systems.

Motivation System of Healthy and Safe Nutrition in Iranian Adolescent Girls: A Qualitative Study

Objective. Motivation determines the possibility of an individual’s intention to accept health-related behaviors. Despite the important role of the motivational system in conducting healthy and safe nutrition behavior, this issue has not been adequately addressed. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explain the healthy and safe nutrition motivation system among Iranian adolescent girls. Method. In this qualitative study, conventional content analysis was used and participants were selected using the purposive sampling method. Semistructured in-depth interviews were conducted with 42 adolescent girls in Shiraz, Iran. The interviews continued until data saturation was obtained. Qualitative data were analyzed using the Graneheim and Lundman qualitative content analysis by MAX-Q-DA (version 10) software. Results. The data analysis resulted in three main categories for the participants’ motivational factors for healthy and safe nutrition: (1) maintaining health and social functions, (2) maintaining the family’s mental and economic health, and (3) achieving goals and success in life. The first category included two subcategories: “desire to have an appropriate look and appearance” and “fear of diseases and their complications.” The second category included two subcategories of “maintaining the family’s mental health” and “maintaining the family’s economic health.” The third category consisted of two subcategories: “desire to form a family and be successful in life” and “achieving the future career goals.” Conclusion. The motivation to maintain health and social functions, to maintain the family’s mental and economic health, and to achieve goals and be successful in life has a powerful impact on the decisions and behaviors of adolescent girls to have safe and healthy nutrition. Therefore, recognizing the motivational system, as a key and determinative factor in developing the adolescents’ intention to adopt health-related behaviors, is an effective step to design and develop successful interventions in promoting nutritional behaviors.

The Effects of a Multicomponent Motivational System Intervention Using Peer-Tutoring for Implementation on the Automation of Single-Digit Addition Tasks of Four Struggling Elementary Students

Derived math fact fluency becomes more imperative across all mathematical content areas during a students’ mathematics development. However, many of them struggle to automate the most basic math facts sufficiently and therefore are not able to deal with more complex mathematical problems. This leads to the fact that many of them are already left behind in the early years of their school careers whether they have diagnosed learning disabilities or not. In this single-case research project, we evaluated a peer-tutoring approach designed to extend the number of automated single-digit addition tasks for four struggling elementary students through a multicomponent motivational system including immediate correction of errors, graphical feedback on performance, positive reinforcement, direct instruction flashcards, and a racetrack game. A multiple-baseline design (ABE) across subjects was applied to assess the effects of the treatment. The results indicate significant and large effects of the intervention on the number of automated math facts for the participants. This substantiates the assumption that the math-fact recall performance of struggling students can be improved through the method of peer tutoring even with the limited resources available in everyday school life.

Motivating Emloyees in Public Administration

The purpose of the publication is to present the specifics of motivating in public administration. There is no doubt that employees should be motivated regardless of the workplace. The publication presents the definition of motivation and its theory. It contains tips on what should be particularly considered in creating an incentive system in public administration. Particular attention was devoted to creating the foundations of a motivational system that has roots in motivation theories. The most common motivational theories and their importance in shaping the incentive system were presented.

Associations between the Sense of Coherence and the Motivation to Start and Stop Smoking among Adolescents: findings from a school-based survey

Background The science of behaviour change has advanced considerably in understanding the psychological dimensions that make up individuals’ motivation to change their smoking behaviour. However, there is a lack of studies on the factors associated with the motivational system that prompts smoking initiation and cessation among adolescents. An important psychosocial factor related with smoking in adolescence, which has not yet been investigated in relation to their motivational system, is the Sense of Coherence (SOC). The present study aimed to estimate the extent to which the SOC is associated with the motivation to start and stop smoking among a population of adolescent students. Methods A cross-sectional school-based survey was carried out in Midwest Brazil. Participants were high-school students aged between 13 and 19 years who completed self-administered questionnaires. Explanatory variable was the SOC score, measured with Antonovsky’s Orientation to Life Questionnaire (13-item version). Motivation to start and stop smoking were measured with questions based on the Prime Theory of Motivation to address desire to smoke, belief on smoking benefit and intention to future smoking. Logistic regression was used in the statistical analysis, and a Directed Acyclic Graph was used to identify potential confounders. Results Participants (n = 2189) were 2073 never-smokers (94.7%) and 116 smokers (5.3%). The mean SOC score was 50.1 (95% CI = 49.6–50.7). About a quarter of the never-smokers were motivated to start smoking, and 14.7% of the smokers were not motivated to quit the habit. For each one-unit increase in the SOC score of never-smokers, the odds of desiring to smoke, believing on smoking benefit, and intending to smoke in the future decreased by 3%, 3% and 5%, respectively. Among smokers, the findings were inconclusive as to whether an association between SOC and motivation to stop smoking was present. Conclusion Increasing SOC was associated with decreasing motivation to start smoking among never-smokers. The findings indicate that SOC may play a protective role in the process of smoking initiation among adolescents, offering a potential adjuvant resource of theory-based interventions to prevent adolescent smoking.

The Interpersonal Neurobiology of Intersubjectivity

In 1975, Colwyn Trevarthen first presented his groundbreaking explorations into the early origins of human intersubjectivity. His influential model dictates that, during intimate and playful spontaneous face-to-face protoconversations, the emotions of both the 2–3-month-old infant and mother are nonverbally communicated, perceived, mutually regulated, and intersubjectively shared. This primordial basic interpersonal interaction is expressed in synchronized rhythmic-turn-taking transactions that promote the intercoordination and awareness of positive brain states in both. In this work, I offer an interpersonal neurobiological model of Trevarthen’s intersubjective protoconversations as rapid, reciprocal, bidirectional visual-facial, auditory-prosodic, and tactile-gestural right brain-to-right brain implicit nonverbal communications between the psychobiologically attuned mother and the developing infant. These co-constructed positive emotional interactions facilitate the experience-dependent maturation of the infant’s right brain, which is in an early critical period of growth. I then address the central role of interpersonal synchrony in intersubjectivity, expressed in a mutual alignment or coupling between the minds and bodies of the mother and infant in face-to-face protoconversations, as well as how these right brain-to-right brain emotional transmissions generate bioenergetic positively charged interbrain synchrony within the dyad. Following this, I offer recent brain laterality research on the essential functions of the right temporoparietal junction, a central node of the social brain, in face-to-face nonverbal communications. In the next section, I describe the ongoing development of the protoconversation over the 1st year and beyond, and the co-creation of a fundamental energy-dependent, growth-promoting social emotional matrix that facilitates the emergence of the highly adaptive human functions of mutual play and mutual love. In the final section, I discuss the clinical applications of this interpersonal neurobiological model of intersubjectivity, which has a long history in the psychotherapy literature. Toward that end, I offer very recent paradigm-shifting hyperscanning research that simultaneously measures both the patient and therapist during a psychotherapeutic interaction. Using the Trevarthen’s two-person intersubjective model, this research demonstrates changes in both brains of the therapeutic dyad and the critical role of nonverbal communications in an emotionally-focused psychotherapy session. These studies specifically document interbrain synchronization between the right temporoparietal junction of the patient and the right temporoparietal junction of the clinician, a right brain-to-right brain nonverbal communication system in the co-constructed therapeutic alliance. Lastly, I discuss the relationship between the affect communicating functions of the intersubjective motivational system and the affect regulating functions of the attachment motivational system.