Luijten, M., Gillan, C.M., de Wit, S., Franken, I.H.A., Robbins, T.W., Ersche, K.D. (2019). Goal-Directed and Habitual Control in Smokers. Nicotine & Tobacco Research.
DOI: doi:10.1093/ntr/ntz001
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Article
Goal-Directed and Habitual Control in Smokers
Harmful behavior such as smoking may reflect a disturbance in the balance of goaldirected and habitual control. Animal models suggest that habitual control develops after prolonged substance use. In this study, we investigated whether smokers differ from controls in the regulation of goal-directed and habitual behavior. The results show that smokers and non-smokers did not differ in the regulation of this behavior.
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Article
Social Media and Depression Symptoms
Passive social media use (PSMU) – e.g., scrolling through social media News Feeds – has been associated with depression symptoms. It is unclear, however, if PSMU causes depression symptoms or vice versa. In this study, we identified complex relations between PSMU and specific depression symptoms that warrant further research into potentially causal relationships.
In this study, 125 students reported PSMU, depression symptoms, and stress seven times daily for 14 days. We used multilevel vector autoregressive time-series models to estimate 1) contemporaneous, 2) temporal, and 3) between-subjects associations among these variables. 1) More time spent on PSMU was associated with higher levels of interest loss, concentration problems, fatigue, and loneliness. 2) Fatigue and loneliness predicted PSMU across time, but PSMU predicted neither depression symptoms nor stress. 3) Mean PSMU levels were positively correlated with several depression symptoms (e.g., depressed mood and feeling inferior), but these associations disappeared when controlling for all other variables.
Aalbers, G., McNally, R., Heeren, A., de Wit, S., & Fried, E.I. (2018). Social Media and Depression Symptoms: A Network Perspective. Journal of Experimental Psychology – General. Retrieved from here.
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Article
Failing to pay heed to health warnings in a food-associated environment
People often fail to adhere to food-related health information. Increasing evidence suggests that environmental stimuli interfere with good intentions by triggering choices relatively automatically. This study concludes that health messages influence food choice behavior, but are no longer effective when food-associated stimuli are present. This provides important insights why health warning effects might be limited in an obesogenic environment.
Using a Pavlovian-instrumental transfer (PIT) task, we examined whether food-associated stimuli reduce health warnings’ effectiveness. We expected that people adhere to health warnings in the absence, but not presence, of food-associated stimuli. In addition, we examined timing effects, i.e., whether health warnings are more effective when they are given prior to associative learning rather than afterwards. In the PIT task, participants learned to press keys for two food rewards (instrumental learning) and associations between stimuli and these rewards (Pavlovian learning) in separated phases. Health warnings about one reward were given after associative learning (Study 1), or before versus afterwards (Study 2). During test phase, participants pressed for food outcomes while occasionally food-related stimuli were presented. In absence of food-related stimuli, participants increased responding for rewards perceived as more healthy. However, when stimuli were present, responding was biased towards the signaled outcome, regardless of health warnings or timing.
Verhoeven A.A.C., Watson, P., & de Wit, S. (2018). Failing to pay heed to health warnings in a food-associated environment. Appetite, 120, 616-626.
DOI (behind paywall): https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2017.10.020