An integrative framework of conflict and control.

People regularly encounter various types of conflict. Here, we ask if, and, if so, how, different types of conflict, from lab-based Stroop conflicts to everyday-life self-control or moral conflicts, are related to one other. We present a framework that assumes that action-goal representations are hierarchically organized, ranging from concrete actions to abstract goals.

The unpleasantness of thinking: A meta-analytic review of the association between mental effort and negative affect.

Influential theories in psychology, neuroscience, and economics assume that the exertion of mental effort should feel aversive. Yet, this assumption is usually untested, and it is challenged by casual observations and previous studies. Here, we meta-analyze (a) whether mental effort is generally experienced as aversive and (b) whether the association between mental effort and aversive feelings depends on population and task characteristics.

The ebb and flow of cognitive fatigue.

If you are currently feeling tired, you are not alone: feelings of fatigue are incredibly common. In a recent study, Matthews et al. investigated moment-to-moment fluctuations in fatigue using behavioral experiments and computational modeling.

Revisiting the link between the sustained attention to response task (SART) and daily-life cognitive failures.

In this study, we examined the relationship betweenerrors of commissionon theSustained Attention to Response Task(SART)andscores on the Cognitive Failures Questionnaire (CFQ). The goal was to assess theecological validity of the SARTin a sample of people scoring high on fatigue complaints.SART errors of commission were positively associated with CFQ scores and this finding remained after controlling for fatigue level, age, and SART reaction times.

Why do people sit? A framework for targeted behavior change.

To improve health and wellbeing, it is crucial that people regularly interrupt their sitting. In this paper, we propose a framework for examining and changing sitting behavior that addresses two key steps in the process towards developing effective interventions. First, we suggest that research should move away from its current focus on sitting time, which is an outcome of behavior.

Sitting patterns in cardiovascular disease patients compared with healthy controls and impact of cardiac rehabilitation.

Purpose: To identify how and when to intervene in cardiovascular disease (CVD) patients' sedentary behavior, we moved beyond studying total volume of sitting and examined sitting patterns. By analyzing the timing of stand-to-sit and sit-to-stand transitions, we compared sitting patterns (a) between CVD patients and healthy controls, and (b) before and after cardiac rehabilitation (CR).

Methods: One hundered twenty nine CVD patients and 117 age-matched healthy controls continuously wore a tri-axial thigh-worn accelerometer for 8 days (>120 000 posture transitions).

Correction: Protocol of the Healthy Brain Study: An accessible resource for understanding the human brain and how it dynamically and individually operates in its bio-social context.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.

Personality in anaesthesiologists, a systematic review of the literature.

Background: As a central part of their job, anaesthesiologists often have to perform demanding tasks under high-stakes conditions. Yet, some anaesthesiologists seem better able to deal with the demands of the profession than others.

Objectives: This review aims to answer the following questions.

From work stress to disease: A computational model.

In modern society, work stress is highly prevalent. Problematically, work stress can cause disease. To help understand the causal relationship between work stress and disease, we present a computational model of this relationship.

Protocol of the Healthy Brain Study: An accessible resource for understanding the human brain and how it dynamically and individually operates in its bio-social context.

The endeavor to understand the human brain has seen more progress in the last few decades than in the previous two millennia. Still, our understanding of how the human brain relates to behavior in the real world and how this link is modulated by biological, social, and environmental factors is limited. To address this, we designed the Healthy Brain Study (HBS), an interdisciplinary, longitudinal, cohort study based on multidimensional, dynamic assessments in both the laboratory and the real world.

The effect of opportunity costs on mental fatigue in labor/leisure trade-offs.

Most people experience the feeling of mental fatigue on a daily basis. Previous research shows that mental fatigue impacts information processing and decision making. However, the proximal causes of mental fatigue are not yet well understood.

Fatigue, boredom and objectively measured smartphone use at work.

Nowadays, many people take short breaks with their smartphone at work. The decision whether to continue working or to take a smartphone break is a so-called labour versus leisure decision. Motivational models predict that people are more likely to switch from labour (work) to leisure (smartphone) the more fatigue or boredom they experience.

Mind wandering increases linearly with text difficulty.

Although mind wandering during reading is known to be affected by text difficulty, the nature of this relationship is not yet fully understood. To examine this issue, we conducted an experiment in which participants read non-fiction texts that varied along five levels of difficulty under naturalistic conditions. Difficulty levels were determined based on Flesch-Kincaid Grade Levels and verified with Coh-Metrix indices.

Chronic stress indicated by hair cortisol concentration in anaesthesiologists and its relationship to work experience and emotional intelligence: A cross-sectional biomarker and survey study.

Background: Anaesthesia is a stressful medical specialty. The reaction to stress is constituted by behavioural, psychological and physiological components. Chronic physiological stress can have negative consequences for health.

Labor/leisure decisions in their natural context: The case of the smartphone.

In this research, we attempt to understand a common real-life labor/leisure decision, i.e., to perform cognitive work or to interact with one's smartphone.

Reward-driven distraction: A meta-analysis.

People have a strong tendency to attend to reward cues, even if these cues are irrelevant to their current goal or their current task. When reward cues are goal-irrelevant, their presence may impair cognitive performance. In this meta-analysis, we quantitatively examined the rapidly growing literature on the impact of reward-related distractors on cognitive performance.

Temporal dynamics of sitting behavior at work.

Sitting for prolonged periods of time impairs people's health. Prior research has mainly investigated sitting behavior on an aggregate level, for example, by analyzing total sitting time per day. By contrast, taking a dynamic approach, here we conceptualize sitting behavior as a continuous chain of sit-to-stand and stand-to-sit transitions.

Explore or reset? Pupil diameter transiently increases in self-chosen switches between cognitive labor and leisure in either direction.

When people invest effort in cognitive work, they often keep an eye open for rewarding alternative activities. Previous research suggests that the norepinephrine (NE) system regulates such trade-offs between exploitation of the current task and exploration of alternative possibilities. We examined the possibility that the NE system is involved in another trade-off, i.

The feeling of effort during mental activity.

The feeling of effort is familiar to most, if not all, humans. Prior research shows that the feeling of effort shapes judgments (e.g.

Exposure to bright light biases effort-based decisions.

Secreted in the evening and the night, melatonin suppresses activity of the mesolimbic dopamine pathway, a brain pathway involved in reward processing. However, exposure to bright light diminishes-or even prevents-melatonin secretion. Thus, we hypothesized that reward processing, in the evening, is more pronounced in bright light (vs.

The implicit power motive predicts decisions in line with perceived instrumentality.

Past research suggests that the implicit power motive (i.e., an unconsciously held motivational disposition to derive pleasure from having impact on others) predicts a preference to interact with individuals having submissive-looking faces.

Prenatal exposure to testosterone (2D:4D) and social hierarchy together predict voice behavior in bankers.

Prohibitive voice behaviors are employees' expressions of concern about practices, incidents, or behaviors that may potentially harm the organization. In this study, we examined a potential biological correlate of prohibitive voice: prenatal exposure to testosterone. In a sample of bankers, we used 2D:4D (i.

Spontaneous eye blink rate (EBR) predicts poor performance in high-stakes situations.

Although the existence of 'choking under pressure' is well-supported by research, its biological underpinnings are less clear. In this research, we examined two individual difference variables that may predict whether people are likely to perform poorly in high-incentive conditions: baseline eye blink rate (EBR; reflecting dopamine system functioning) and baseline anterior hemispheric asymmetry (an indicator of goal-directed vs. stimulus driven processing).