Mind-Wandering Across the Age Gap: Age-Related Differences in Mind-Wandering Are Partially Attributable to Age-Related Differences in Motivation

Objectives A common finding in the mind-wandering literature is that older adults (OAs) tend to mind-wander less frequently than young adults (YAs). Here, we sought to determine whether this age-related difference in mind-wandering is attributable to age-related differences in motivation. Method YAs and OAs completed an attention task during which they responded to thought probes that assessed rates of mind-wandering, and they provided self-reports of task-based motivation before and after completion of the attention task. Results Age-related differences in mind-wandering are partially explained by differences in motivation, and motivating YAs via incentive diminishes mind-wandering differences across these groups. Discussion We consider these results in the context of theories on age-related differences in mind wandering, with a specific focus on their relevance to the recently proposed motivational account of such age-related differences.

Methylphenidate boosts choices of mental labor over leisure depending on baseline striatal dopamine

ABSTRACTThe cognitive enhancing effects of methylphenidate are well established, but the mechanisms remain unclear. We recently demonstrated that methylphenidate boosts cognitive motivation by enhancing the weight on the benefits of a cognitive task in a manner that depended on striatal dopamine. Here we considered the complementary hypothesis that methylphenidate might also act by changing the weight on the opportunity cost of a cognitive task. To this end, fifty healthy participants (25 women) completed a novel cognitive effort discounting task that was sensitive to opportunity cost, and required choices between task and leisure. They were tested on methylphenidate, sulpiride or placebo and also underwent an [18F]DOPA PET scan to quantify baseline dopamine synthesis capacity. Methylphenidate boosted choices of cognitive effort over leisure across the group, and this effect was greatest in participants with more striatal dopamine at baseline. The effects of sulpiride did not reach significance. This study strengthens the motivational account of methylphenidate’s effects on cognition and suggests that methylphenidate reduces the cost of mental labor by increasing striatal dopamine.

Chronic Pain and Interpersonal Processes

This chapter argues that one particular type of a caregiver’s behavioral response to pain cannot, in and of itself, be considered adaptive or maladaptive. It contends that to understand the complexity of the interaction between caregivers and pain sufferers, a goal or need-based framework may be useful. Self-Determination theory (SDT) is presented as a heuristic framework that identifies three basic psychological needs as essential for successful adaption. Whether behavioral responses are supportive and helpful depends upon the extent to which these responses support the need for autonomy, competence, and relatedness of the sufferer. Drawing on an affective-motivational account on interpersonal dynamics in the context of pain, the chapter highlights how observer attunement toward sufferers’ needs may depend upon the regulation of various goals for caregiving, including self-oriented versus other-oriented goals and associated emotions.

Stress and Sensitization in Chronic Pain

Stress and sensitization are central concepts in chronic pain. Both can be a consequence and a contributor to the pain experience. This chapter describes the psychobiology of stress and sensitization within a multilevel perspective, indicating the impact of various forms of stress and sensitization on multiple psychoneurobiological processes (i.e., autonomic, endocrine, immune, and central processes) related to chronic pain. As a result of disordered stress regulation, sensitization may occur as a mechanism that explains how acute pain problems can become chronic and how acute pain problems can extend or generalize to other body parts or modalities. The evidence for stress and sensitization as consequences of or as contributors to chronic pain is reviewed, and possible underlying mechanisms are discussed. Next, strategies to reduce stress and sensitization and foster desensitization processes are described. The chapter concludes by introducing a motivational account of chronic pain informed by the stress and sensitization literature.

A Motivational Perspective on Coping with Pain

Coping is one of the most commonly used concepts in the pain literature. Despite its popularity, it remains a broad and confusing concept that is often vaguely defined and poorly operationalized. This chapter presents a motivational model of coping that starts from the idea that pain’s interference with goal pursuit elicits negative affect, which in turn activates coping responses that may then proceed along 3 possible pathways: goal persistence, problem-solving, or goal adjustment. The chapter describes and illustrates these pathways and asserts that all three could be either adaptive or maladaptive, depending upon the nature of the context. It recasts several traditional concepts regarding pain coping, such as pain catastrophizing, fear-avoidance, endurance, pain-related attention, and acceptance, within this motivational perspective. It discusses the potential implications of adopting the motivational account of pain coping for clinical interventions such as exposure, attention management, and acceptance, as well as commitment therapy.