Effortful control is associated with executive attention: A computational study

Introduction Effortful control (EC) is the self‐regulatory aspect of temperament that is thought to reflect the efficiency of executive attention (EA). Findings on relationship between EC and performance on EA tasks among adults are still contradictory. This study used a computational approach to cl...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of personality 2021-08, Vol.89 (4), p.774-785
Main Authors: Ossola, Paolo, Antonucci, Camilla, Meehan, Kevin B., Cain, Nicole M., Ferrari, Martina, Soliani, Antonio, Marchesi, Carlo, Clarkin, John F., Sambataro, Fabio, De Panfilis, Chiara
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adults
Attention
Conflict resolution
drift diffusion model
effortful control
executive attention
Executive control
Self regulation
Task performance
Temperament
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Introduction Effortful control (EC) is the self‐regulatory aspect of temperament that is thought to reflect the efficiency of executive attention (EA). Findings on relationship between EC and performance on EA tasks among adults are still contradictory. This study used a computational approach to clarify whether greater self‐reported EC reflects better EA. Methods Four hundred twenty‐seven healthy subjects completed the Adult Temperament Questionnaires and the Attention Network Task‐revised, a conflict resolution task that gauges EA as the flanker effect (FE), that is, the difference in performances between incongruent and congruent trials. Here we also employed a drift‐diffusion model in which parameters reflecting the actual decisional process (drift rate) and the extra‐decisional time are extracted for congruent and incongruent trials. Results EC was not correlated with the FE computed with the classic approach, but correlated positively with drift rate for the incongruent trials, even when controlling for the drift rate in the congruent condition and the extra‐decisional time in the incongruent condition. Conclusion This study demonstrates an association between self‐reported EC and EA among adults. Specifically, EC is not associated with overall response facilitation but specifically with a greater ability to make goal‐oriented decisions when facing conflicting information.
ISSN:0022-3506
1467-6494
DOI:10.1111/jopy.12614