Benson Lizbeth, Fleming Allison R, Hakun Jonathan G
Department of Human Development and Family Studies, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA.
Educational Psychology, Counseling, and Special Education, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA.
Cogn Emot. 2023 Sep 18:1-11. doi: 10.1080/02699931.2023.2258579.
The executive hypothesis of self-regulation places cognitive information processing at the center of self-regulatory success/failure. While the hypothesis is well supported by cross-sectional studies, no study has tested its primary prediction, that temporary lapses in executive control underlie moments of self-regulatory failure. Here, we conducted a naturalistic experiment investigating whether short-term variation in executive control is associated with momentary self-regulatory outcomes, indicated by negative affect reactivity to everyday stressors. We assessed working memory capacity (WMC) through ultra-brief, ambulatory assessments on smart phones five times per day in a 7-day ecological momentary assessment (EMA) study involving college-aged adults. We found that participants exhibited more negative affect reactivity to stressor exposures during moments when they exhibited lower than usual WMC. Contrary to previous findings, we found no between-person association between WMC and average stress reactivity. We interpret these findings as reflecting the role of executive control in determining one's capacity to self-regulate.
自我调节的执行假设将认知信息处理置于自我调节成败的核心位置。虽然该假设得到了横断面研究的有力支持，但尚无研究对其主要预测进行检验，即执行控制的暂时失误是自我调节失败时刻的基础。在此，我们进行了一项自然主义实验，调查执行控制的短期变化是否与瞬间自我调节结果相关，该结果通过对日常压力源的消极情绪反应来表明。在一项涉及大学生的为期7天的生态瞬时评估（EMA）研究中，我们每天通过智能手机进行超简短的动态评估，五次来评估工作记忆容量（WMC）。我们发现，参与者在其工作记忆容量低于平常的时刻，对应激源暴露表现出更多的消极情绪反应。与先前的研究结果相反，我们发现工作记忆容量与平均应激反应之间不存在个体间的关联。我们将这些发现解释为反映了执行控制在决定一个人的自我调节能力方面的作用。
