Basic Behavioral Processes Involved in Procrastination

Procrastination involves an irrational putting off of engaging in a course of action, in spite of expecting to be worse off for the delay. I suggest that to understand the processes underlying procrastination one should examine its relation to several behavioral procedures that have been studied in humans and other animals. For example, in delay discounting, smaller rewards that come sooner are often preferred over larger rewards that come later. In the context of delay discounting, procrastination can be viewed as the preference for an immediate competing activity over the delay to work on a required task. Another process similar to procrastination can be seen in free operant, temporal avoidance (or Sidman avoidance) in which an animal will receive a shock (a deadline not met) if an interval passes without a specified response (task completion). Once animals learn about the interval, they often procrastinate by waiting until the interval has almost passed before responding. Finally, research with animals suggests that the persistence of procrastination may involve a form of negative reinforcement associated with the sudden decline in anxiety or fear (relief) when the task is completed prior to the deadline. Research with animals suggests that the mechanisms responsible for human procrastination may involve systems that derive from several procedures known to produce similar behavior animals.

Opportunity cost determines free-operant action initiation latency and predicts apathy

Background Apathy, a disabling and poorly understood neuropsychiatric symptom, is characterised by impaired self-initiated behaviour. It has been hypothesised that the opportunity cost of time (OCT) may be a key computational variable linking self-initiated behaviour with motivational status. OCT represents the amount of reward which is foregone per second if no action is taken. Using a novel behavioural task and computational modelling, we investigated the relationship between OCT, self-initiation and apathy. We predicted that higher OCT would engender shorter action latencies, and that individuals with greater sensitivity to OCT would have higher behavioural apathy. Methods We modulated the OCT in a novel task called the ‘Fisherman Game’, Participants freely chose when to self-initiate actions to either collect rewards, or on occasion, to complete non-rewarding actions. We measured the relationship between action latencies, OCT and apathy for each participant across two independent non-clinical studies, one under laboratory conditions (n = 21) and one online (n = 90). ‘Average-reward’ reinforcement learning was used to model our data. We replicated our findings across both studies. Results We show that the latency of self-initiation is driven by changes in the OCT. Furthermore, we demonstrate, for the first time, that participants with higher apathy showed greater sensitivity to changes in OCT in younger adults. Our model shows that apathetic individuals experienced greatest change in subjective OCT during our task as a consequence of being more sensitive to rewards. Conclusions Our results suggest that OCT is an important variable for determining free-operant action initiation and understanding apathy.

Opportunity cost determines action initiation latency and predicts apathy

Background: Apathy, a disabling and poorly understood neuropsychiatric symptom, is characterised by impaired self-initiated behaviour. Although the computational mechanisms that determine self-initiation are poorly understood, it has been hypothesised that the opportunity cost of time (OCT) may be a key variable linking self-initiated behaviour with motivational status. Using a novel behavioural task and computational modelling, we investigated the relationship between OCT, self-initiation and apathy. OCT represents the amount of reward which is foregone per second if no action is taken. We predicted that higher OCT would engender shorter action latencies, and that individuals with greater sensitivity to OCT would have higher behavioural apathy.Methods: We modulated the OCT in a novel task called the ‘Fisherman Game’, Participants freely chose when to self-initiate actions to either collect rewards, or on occasion, to complete non-rewarding actions. We measured the relationship between action latencies, OCT and apathy for each participant across two independent non-clinical studies, one under laboratory conditions (n=21) and one online (n=90). ‘Average-reward’ reinforcement learning was used to model our data. We replicated our findings across both studies.Results: We show that the latency of self-initiation is driven by changes in the OCT. Furthermore, we demonstrate, for the first time, higher apathy was showed greater sensitivity to changes in OCT in younger adults. Our model shows that apathetic individuals experienced greatest change in subjective OCT during our task as a consequence of being more sensitive to rewards.Conclusions: Our results suggest that OCT is an important variable for determining free-operant action initiation and understanding apathy.

Evaluation of computer-based training to teach staff to implement free-operant preference assessments

Computer and video technology emerging over the last few years provide more opportunities to deliver quality staff trainings while increasing efficiency and reducing costs associated with trainings. The purpose of this study is to extend previous research by evaluating the effectiveness of computer instruction training to teach entry level staff to conduct a free preference assessment to be used with adults with developmental disabilities. This study focuses on the impact of utilizing computer instruction, without a trainer present, for entry level staff's competency to (a) implement the target steps of a free-operant preference assessment, (b) score and interpret the results of the data, and (c) maintain competency of skills taught after training is complete. Results of this study demonstrate increased performance of staff's implementation of the target steps of the assessment from a baseline average of 53.6% to 96.6% after training provided via computer-based instruction alone. During generalization phase, staff trainee's average accuracy of completing target steps maintained at 96% accuracy, while maintenance accuracy was 100% accuracy across three trainees two weeks after the training. Outcomes of the current study supports the use of computer-based learning alone as being an effective mode to training staff in less than 40 minutes training time.