When procrastination pays off: Role of knowledge sharing ability, autonomous motivation, and task involvement for employee creativity

The prime objective of this research was to investigate procrastination as a prospectively constructive element of the creative process among employees working at different hierarchical levels in a Chinese organization. Building on self-determination theory, this research postulates a connection between procrastination and creativity through the incubation of knowledge absorption, autonomous motivation and task engagement as boundary conditions. Data was collected from 213 individuals from the workforce and their immediate managers belonging to a Chinese furniture company; then analyzed with Mplus for simple regression analysis, mediated moderated analyses, and coefficient estimates of all the study variables. The outcomes of this investigation showed an inverse relationship between procrastination with creativity, while creativity being strongest in the medium levels of procrastination; however, when autonomous motivation and/or task engagement are strong, procrastination depicts an inverted-U-shaped association; however, in scenarios where both autonomous motivation and the task engagement are low, procrastination has a negative linear relationship. With the results of this research, we have shown that moderate procrastination has a causal effect on the generation of creative ideas. This research demonstrated that as long as employees had strong autonomous drive or high task engagement, their supervisors awarded them better ratings when they procrastinated moderately on their assignments. Limitations and future research directions were also discussed.

Naturalistic viewing conditions can increase task engagement and aesthetic preference but have only minimal impact on EEG quality

Free gaze and moving images are typically avoided in EEG experiments due to the expected generation of artifacts and noise. Yet for a growing number of research questions, loosening these rigorous restrictions would be beneficial. Among these is research on visual aesthetic experiences, which often involve open-ended exploration of highly variable stimuli. Here we systematically compare the effect of conservative vs. more liberal experimental settings on various measures of behavior, brain activity and physiology in an aesthetic rating task. Our primary aim was to assess EEG signal quality. 43 participants either maintained fixation or were allowed to gaze freely, and viewed either static images or dynamic (video) stimuli consisting of dance performances or nature scenes. A passive auditory background task (auditory steady-state response; ASSR) was added as a proxy measure for overall EEG recording quality. We recorded EEG, ECG and eyetracking data, and participants rated their aesthetic preference and state of boredom on each trial. Whereas both behavioral ratings and gaze behavior were affected by task and stimulus manipulations, EEG SNR was barely affected and generally robust across all conditions, despite only minimal preprocessing and no trial rejection. In particular, we show that using video stimuli does not necessarily result in lower EEG quality and can, on the contrary, significantly reduce eye movements while increasing both the participants' aesthetic response and general task engagement. We see these as encouraging results indicating that - at least in the lab - more liberal experimental conditions can be adopted without significant loss of signal quality.

Non-sensory Influences on Auditory Learning and Plasticity

Distinguishing between regular and irregular heartbeats, conversing with speakers of different accents, and tuning a guitar-all rely on some form of auditory learning. What drives these experience-dependent changes? A growing body of evidence suggests an important role for non-sensory influences, including reward, task engagement, and social or linguistic context. This review is a collection of contributions that highlight how these non-sensory factors shape auditory plasticity and learning at the molecular, physiological, and behavioral level. We begin by presenting evidence that reward signals from the dopaminergic midbrain act on cortico-subcortical networks to shape sound-evoked responses of auditory cortical neurons, facilitate auditory category learning, and modulate the long-term storage of new words and their meanings. We then discuss the role of task engagement in auditory perceptual learning and suggest that plasticity in top-down cortical networks mediates learning-related improvements in auditory cortical and perceptual sensitivity. Finally, we present data that illustrates how social experience impacts sound-evoked activity in the auditory midbrain and forebrain and how the linguistic environment rapidly shapes speech perception. These findings, which are derived from both human and animal models, suggest that non-sensory influences are important regulators of auditory learning and plasticity and are often implemented by shared neural substrates. Application of these principles could improve clinical training strategies and inform the development of treatments that enhance auditory learning in individuals with communication disorders.

The Utility of the Test of Memory Malingering Trial 1 in Differentiating Neurocognitive, Emotional, and Behavioral Functioning in a Pediatric Concussion Population

OBJECTIVE

In concussion populations, suboptimal task engagement detected by performance validity tests (PVTs) has been associated with poorer neuropsychological scores and greater post-concussive symptoms (PCS). This study examined if Pass/Fail status on the Test of Memory Malingering-TOMM Trial 1-differentiated the neurocognitive, emotional, and behavioral profile of pediatric patients with concussion.

METHOD

This study utilized archival data from 93 patients (mean age = 14.56 and SD = 2.01) with a history of concussion who were assessed at ~5-6 weeks post-injury (mean days = 40.27 and SD = 35.41). Individuals were divided into "Pass" and "Fail" groups based on TOMM Trial 1 performance. The testing battery included ACT, CPT-II and III, HVLT-R, WJ-III and IV ACH, ImPACT, BASC-2, and BRIEF.

RESULTS

The overall pass rate on Trial 1 was 70% (mean = 46.04 and SD = 4.55). Findings suggested that a passing score on Trial 1 may be associated with adequate performance across the remaining two trials of the TOMM. The Fail group scored significantly lower across attention, memory, and processing speed measures when compared with the Pass group. On rating scales, significantly more concerns were endorsed with the Fail group for attention and executive functioning relative to the Pass group. Parents generally endorsed significantly more concerns for executive functioning when compared with their children's self-reported symptoms. There was a trend for the Fail group to report more PCS; however, they did not significantly differ from the Pass group for depression, anxiety, or somatization.

CONCLUSIONS

This study highlights the importance of utilizing PVTs when evaluating concussion recovery.

Symptoms of convergence and accommodative insufficiency predict engagement and cognitive fatigue during complex task performance with and without automation

Deficits in the accommodative and/or vergence responses have been linked with inattentive behavioral symptoms. While using automated systems (e.g., self-driving cars, autopilot), operators (e.g., drivers, pilots, soldiers) visually monitor displays for critical changes, making deficits in the accommodative and/or vergence responses potentially hazardous for individuals remaining actively engaged in the task at hand. The purpose of this study was to determine if symptoms of accommodative-vergence deficits predict an individual's level of task engagement and cognitive fatigue while performing a flight simulation task with or without automation. Eighty-four participants performed a flight simulation task with or without automation. Prior to task completion, self-report accommodative-convergence deficit symptoms were assessed with the Convergence Insufficiency Symptom Survey (CISS). Before and after the flight simulation task participants rated their task engagement and cognitive fatigue. Electroencephalographic activity (EEG) was recorded concurrently during task performance. Results showed that higher scores on the CISS were related to increased feelings of fatigue and decreased ratings of task engagement. The CISS was also positively related to parietal-occipital fast alpha power during the last 10 min of the task for participants using automation, suggesting increased cortical idling. CISS scores did not predict performance. Results have implications for optimizing operator cognitive states over extended task performance.

Boosting working memory with accelerated clocks

Our perception of time varies with the degree of cognitive engagement in tasks. The perceived passage of time accelerates while working on demanding tasks, whereas time appears to drag during boring situations. Our experiment aimed at investigating whether this relationship is mutual: Can manipulated announcements of elapsed time systematically affect the attentional resources applied to a cognitive task? We measured behavioral performance and the EEG in a whole report working memory paradigm with six items of different colors that each had to be reported after a short delay period. The 32 participants were informed about the current time after each 20 trials, while the clock was running at either 100% (normal), 120% (fast), or 80% (slow) of normal clock speed depending on the experimental block. The mean number of correctly reported colors per trial was significantly increased in the fast as compared to the slow and normal clock conditions. In the EEG, we focused on neural oscillations during working memory encoding and storage. As an electrophysiological correlate of task engagement, frontal theta power during the storage interval was increased in the fast clock condition. Also, the power of frontal theta oscillations predicted the number of correctly reported colors on a single-trial basis. This shows that a covert manipulation of clock speed can lead to an improvement in cognitive performance, presumably mediated by a higher allocation of attentional resources resulting from an adaptation of the subjective passage of time during an experiment.

Sit still and pay attention: Using the Wii Balance-Board to detect lapses in concentration in children during psychophysical testing

During psychophysical testing, a loss of concentration can cause observers to answer incorrectly, even when the stimulus is clearly perceptible. Such lapses limit the accuracy and speed of many psychophysical measurements. This study evaluates an automated technique for detecting lapses based on body movement (postural instability). Thirty-five children (8-11 years of age) and 34 adults performed a typical psychophysical task (orientation discrimination) while seated on a Wii Fit Balance Board: a gaming device that measures center of pressure (CoP). Incorrect responses on suprathreshold catch trials provided the "reference standard" measure of when lapses in concentration occurred. Children exhibited significantly greater variability in CoP on lapse trials, indicating that postural instability provides a feasible, real-time index of concentration. Limitations and potential applications of this method are discussed.

Implicit motivation improves executive functions of older adults

It is widely accepted that while controlled processes (e.g., working memory and executive functions) decline with age, implicit (automatic) processes are not affected by age. In this paper we challenge this view by arguing that high-level automatic processes (e.g., recruiting motivation) decline with age, and that this decline plays an unappreciated role in cognitive aging. Specifically, we hypothesized that due to their decline, automatic motivational processes are less likely to be spontaneously activated in old age; thus, implicit external activation of them should have stronger effects on older (vs. younger) adults. In two experiments we used different methods of implicitly activating motivation, and measured executive functions of younger and older adults using the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test. In both experiments, implicit modulation of motivation resulted in improved executive functioning for older adults. The framework we propose is general and offers a new look at various aspects of cognitive aging.

The Benefits and Challenges of Implementing Motivational Features to Boost Cognitive Training Outcome

In the current literature, there are a number of cognitive training studies that use N-back tasks as their training vehicle; however, the interventions are often bland, and many studies suffer from considerable attrition rates. An increasingly common approach to increase participant engagement has been the implementation of motivational features in training tasks; yet, the effects of such "gamification" on learning have been inconsistent. To shed more light on those issues, here, we report the results of a training study conducted at two Universities in Southern California. A total of 115 participants completed 4 weeks (20 sessions) of N-back training in the laboratory. We varied the amount of "gamification" and the motivational features that might make the training more engaging and, potentially, more effective. Thus, 47 participants trained on a basic color/identity N-back version with no motivational features, whereas 68 participants trained on a gamified version that translated the basic mechanics of the N-back task into an engaging 3D space-themed "collection" game (Deveau et al. Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience, 8, 243, 2015). Both versions used similar adaptive algorithms to increase the difficulty level as participants became more proficient. Participants' self-reports indicated that the group who trained on the gamified version enjoyed the intervention more than the group who trained on the non-gamified version. Furthermore, the participants who trained on the gamified version exerted more effort and also improved more during training. However, despite the differential training effects, there were no significant group differences in any of the outcome measures at post-test, suggesting that the inclusion of motivational features neither substantially benefited nor hurt broader learning. Overall, our findings provide guidelines for task implementation to optimally target participants' interest and engagement to promote learning, which may lead to broader adoption and adherence of cognitive training.

Neuronal activity in primate prefrontal cortex related to goal-directed behavior during auditory working memory tasks

Prefrontal cortex (PFC) has been documented to play critical roles in goal-directed behaviors, like representing goal-relevant events and working memory (WM). However, neurophysiological evidence for such roles of PFC has been obtained mainly with visual tasks but rarely with auditory tasks. In the present study, we tested roles of PFC in auditory goal-directed behaviors by recording local field potentials in the auditory region of left ventrolateral PFC while a monkey performed auditory WM tasks. The tasks consisted of multiple events and required the monkey to change its mental states to achieve the reward. The events were auditory and visual stimuli, as well as specific actions. Mental states were engaging in the tasks and holding task-relevant information in auditory WM. We found that, although based on recordings from one hemisphere in one monkey only, PFC represented multiple events that were important for achieving reward, including auditory and visual stimuli like turning on and off an LED, as well as bar touch. The responses to auditory events depended on the tasks and on the context of the tasks. This provides support for the idea that neuronal representations in PFC are flexible and can be related to the behavioral meaning of stimuli. We also found that engaging in the tasks and holding information in auditory WM were associated with persistent changes of slow potentials, both of which are essential for auditory goal-directed behaviors. Our study, on a single hemisphere in a single monkey, reveals roles of PFC in auditory goal-directed behaviors similar to those in visual goal-directed behaviors, suggesting that functions of PFC in goal-directed behaviors are probably common across the auditory and visual modality. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled SI: Auditory working memory.

The window of my eyes: Task disengagement and mental fatigue covary with pupil dynamics

Although mental fatigue is a complex, multi-facetted state that involves changes in motivation, cognition, and mood, one of its main characteristics is reduced task engagement. Despite its relevance for performance and safety, knowledge about the underlying neurocognitive processes in mental fatigue is still limited. Inspired by the idea that central norepinephrine plays an important role in regulating task engagement, we test a set of predictions that have been derived from recent studies that relate pupil dynamics to the levels of norepinephrine in the brain. Participants worked on a 2-back task for 2h while we used pupil measures to further explore the link between task engagement and the effects of mental fatigue. We hypothesized that baseline pupil diameter and stimulus-evoked pupil dilations decrease with increasing fatigue. Also, because previous studies have shown that the effects of fatigue are reversible by increasing the task rewards, we hypothesized that increasing the task rewards after 2h on the task would restore these pupil measures to pre-fatigue levels. While we did not find a decrease in baseline pupil diameter, we found that increasing mental fatigue coincided with diminished stimulus-evoked pupil dilation. Also, we confirmed that when sufficient rewards were presented to a fatigued individual, the pupil dilations could be restored. This supports the view that motivational factors are important in predicting engagement versus disengagement during fatigue.