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Negative symptoms: the 'pathology' of motivation and goal-directed behaviour.

In many neurological and psychiatric disorders, including Alzheimer's disease and schizophrenia, symptoms are present that appear to reflect an essential absence of normal movement, cognition and emotional states. These negative symptoms might reflect fundamental impairments in basic brain mechanisms that underlie goal-directed behaviour. Knowledge of the pathology and pathophysiology of these diseases, combined with evidence from basic science, offers opportunities for understanding the neurobiological basis of goal-directed behaviour, particularly the interaction between limbic structures and striato-thalamo-cortical circuits. The study of patients with negative symptoms also provides opportunities for testing cognitive models of goal-directed behaviour, and eventually to map such models onto the neurobiology of both normal and abnormal behaviour.

Behavior↗

Reduced-risk drinking as a treatment goal: what clinicians need to know.

Reduced-risk drinking as a treatment goal for clients with alcohol problems has received limited acceptance in the United States. The majority of literature addressing reduced-risk drinking has focused on debates between proponents of traditional abstinence treatment and those supporting nonabstinence treatment. Proportionately little attention has been given to objective consideration of the potential advantages of integrating both abstinence and nonabstinence goals as part of a comprehensive continuum of treatment for clients with alcohol problems. Further, there is a lack of guidelines available to assist clinicians in treating and supporting clients with nonabstinence goals. The purpose of this article is to review the potential advantages of reduced-risk drinking for clients with alcohol problems and to forward strategies designed to assist clinicians in safely treating clients who wish to reduce rather than abstain from drinking alcohol. Current gaps in the literature and implications for future research are identified.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

The application of goal attainment scaling in chronic pain settings.

Although the multidimensional nature of chronic pain has been recognized since the 1960s, pain management continues to reflect a biomedical model for many chronic pain patients. The application of a biopsychosocial approach would be aided by measurement tools that reflect the multidimensional nature of pain, facilitate interdisciplinary care planning, and focus treatment on the consequences of pain that are important to patients. Goal Attainment Scaling (GAS) is an individualized health outcome measure that is suitable for health problems that warrant a multidimensional and individualized approach to treatment planning and outcome measurement. This paper describes the use of GAS as a treatment and research tool in cancer pain, pediatric pain, work-related nonmalignant pain, and geriatric pain. Unlike the typical process where goals are not explicitly stated, GAS allows goals to be stated in a systematic measurable manner that is relevant and meaningful for each patient, and that can guide individual treatment planning. GAS is an appropriate technique for guiding and monitoring the treatment of individual chronic pain patients, and may provide a useful tool for evaluating chronic pain programs.

Adolescent↗

Modeling goal-directed spatial navigation in the rat based on physiological data from the hippocampal formation.

We investigated the importance of hippocampal theta oscillations and the significance of phase differences of theta modulation in the cortical regions that are involved in goal-directed spatial navigation. Our models used representations of entorhinal cortex layer III (ECIII), hippocampus and prefrontal cortex (PFC) to guide movements of a virtual rat in a virtual environment. The model encoded representations of the environment through long-term potentiation of excitatory recurrent connections between sequentially spiking place cells in ECIII and CA3. This encoding required buffering of place cell activity, which was achieved by a short-term memory (STM) in EC that was regulated by theta modulation and allowed synchronized reactivation with encoding phases in ECIII and CA3. Inhibition at a specific theta phase deactivated the oldest item in the buffer when new input was presented to a full STM buffer. A 180 degrees phase difference separated retrieval and encoding in ECIII and CA3, which enabled us to simulate data on theta phase precession of place cells. Retrieval of known paths was elicited in ECIII by input at the retrieval phase from PFC working memory for goal location, requiring strict theta phase relationships with PFC. Known locations adjacent to the virtual rat were retrieved in CA3. Together, input from ECIII and CA3 activated predictive spiking in cells in CA1 for the next desired place on a shortest path to a goal. Consistent with data, place cell activity in CA1 and CA3 showed smaller place fields than in ECIII.

Action Potentials↗

Responsiveness of goal attainment scaling in a randomized controlled trial of comprehensive geriatric assessment.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Frail elderly patients have complex problems that require a multidimensional assessment and a range of treatment goals. Goal Attainment Scaling (GAS) measures multiple, individualized goals, but its responsiveness in comparative clinical trials has not been established. METHODS: We assessed the responsiveness of GAS in a randomized, controlled trial of an interdisciplinary Mobile Geriatric Assessment Team (MGAT) in 265 rural frail older adults. Sensitivity to change was compared with standard measures; clinical meaningfulness was assessed in relation to a patient and a blinded physician global measure. RESULTS: At 3 months follow-up, GAS was the most responsive measure (standardized response mean 1.22, Norman's responsiveness statistic 0.58) compared with the Barthel Index (1.13, 0.46), Physical Self-Maintenance Scale (0.10, 0.16, 0.02), Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (0.23, 0.00), and modified Spitzer Quality of Life Index (-0.04, 0.00). CONCLUSIONS: Only GAS detected clinically important change associated with the MGAT intervention in these frail elderly patients. Clinometric measures can offer a responsive means of evaluating complex interventions.

Aged↗

Use of goal attainment scaling in measuring clinically important change in cognitive rehabilitation patients.

Measuring the effectiveness of cognitive rehabilitation programs poses both conceptual and practical challenges. We compared several standardized outcome measures with goal attainment scaling (GAS) to assess their sensitivity to changes in health status in patients undergoing cognitive rehabilitation. GAS is a measurement approach that accommodates multiple individual patient goals, and has a scoring system which allows for comparisons between patients. Forty-four patients were evaluated. GAS yielded a mean 4.4 goals per patient. The mean gain in the GAS score was compared with the change in the Rappaport Disability Rating Scale, the Kohlman Evaluation of Daily Living Skills, the Milwaukee Evaluation of Daily Living, the Klein-Bell elimination scale and mobility scale, the Instrumental Activities of Daily Living Scale, and the Spitzer Quality of Life Index. Using a relative efficiency statistic, GAS proved more responsive than any other measure. The effect size statistic also demonstrated greater responsiveness to change with GAS compared with standard measures. GAS shows promise as a responsive measure in cognitive rehabilitation. This study replicates a similar study of GAS in frail elderly patients, suggesting that individualized measures may have broad merit in evaluating rehabilitation programs.

Activities of Daily Living↗

Long-term treatment goals: enhancing healthy outcomes.

The long-term management of schizophrenia with a goal of functional rehabilitation remains an enormous challenge to clinicians despite improvements in drug therapy, psychosocial treatments, and family and community interventions. The goals of long-term therapy are to preserve the gains made during acute treatment, prevent symptom exacerbation, enhance psychosocial functioning, and improve quality of life. Schizophrenia is an illness that disrupts broad areas of mental function, including thought, cognition, affect, and motor performance. The new antipsychotics should aid physicians in meeting higher treatment goals for persons with schizophrenia. These agents combine high efficacy with improved tolerability, mainly through a low liability for extrapyramidal symptoms and probably improve cognitive affect. Recent studies have demonstrated efficacy of these new antipsychotics in improving psychopathology and symptoms and in preventing relapse during long-term use. These drugs are likely to provide physicians with an increasingly viable option in the long-term treatment and rehabilitation of patients with schizophrenia.

Antipsychotic Agents↗

Rehabilitation of executive functioning: an experimental-clinical validation of goal management training.

Two studies assessed the effects of a training procedure (Goal Management Training, GMT), derived from Duncan's theory of goal neglect, on disorganized behavior following TBI. In Study 1, patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) were randomly assigned to brief trials of GMT or motor skills training. GMT, but not motor skills training, was associated with significant gains on everyday paper-and-pencil tasks designed to mimic tasks that are problematic for patients with goal neglect. In Study 2, GMT was applied in a postencephalitic patient seeking to improve her meal-preparation abilities. Both naturalistic observation and self-report measures revealed improved meal preparation performance following GMT. These studies provide both experimental and clinical support for the efficacy of GMT toward the treatment of executive functioning deficits that compromise independence in patients with brain damage.

Adult↗

Personality and quality of life: the importance of optimism and goal adjustment.

This article concerns the relations between personality and quality of life. In the first part, we discuss different conceptualizations of personality and quality of life. We argue that personality affects quality of life by influencing how people approach and react to critical life situations. In the second part, we address the beneficial role played by two individual difference variables in promoting quality of life: dispositional optimism and goal adjustment. Literature is reviewed demonstrating that dispositional optimism facilitates subjective well-being and good health, mediated by a person's coping behaviors. In addition, we discuss studies that examine people who confront unattainable goals. The reported evidence supports the conclusion that individual differences in people's abilities to adjust to unattainable goals are associated with a good quality of life.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

Integrating cognitive and motivational factors in depression: initial tests of a goal-orientation approach.

Attempts to predict depression from a strictly cognitive perspective have met with limited success. A goal-orientation model is proposed that integrates motivational and cognitive factors in attempting to explain and predict depression. The model proposes that people differ in their goal orientation, with some people being more validation seeking (VS) and others being more growth seeking (GS). The model predicts that compared with GS persons, VS persons will show greater anxiety in anticipation of a stressful event and greater self-esteem loss, task disengagement, and depression after a negative event. A goal-orientation measure was developed (Study 1), and the predictive validity of the model was tested (Studies 2-5). Findings suggest that the explanatory and predictive power of the cognitive theories can be enhanced, and the arsenal of the cognitive therapist enlarged, by integrating motivational and cognitive approaches to depression.

Cognition↗

Goal reconstruction and depressive symptoms during the transition to motherhood: evidence from two cross-lagged longitudinal studies.

Two cross-lagged longitudinal studies were carried out to investigate the extent to which the adjustment of personal goals to match the particular stage-specific demands of the transition to motherhood has consequences for women's depressive symptoms. In Study 1. 348 women filled out a revised version of Little's (1983) Personal Project Analysis and a revised version of Beck's Depression Inventory (A. T. Beck. C. H. Ward. M. Mendelsohn, L. Mock, & J. Erlaugh. 1961) 4 times: during early pregnancy, 1 month before childbirth, 3 months after childbirth. and 2 years after childbirth. In Study 2. 140 women who reported high levels of fear of childbirth filled out identical measures during early pregnancy, 1 month before childbirth, and 3 months after childbirth. The results showed that an increase in family-related goals during pregnancy and after the birth of the child predicted a decline in women's depressive symptoms. By contrast, an increase in self-focused goals predicted an increase in women's depressive symptoms.

Adolescent↗

Sign tracking versus goal tracking in the sexual conditioning of male Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica).

Pairings of a conditioned (CS) and unconditioned (US) stimulus can result in approach to either the CS (sign tracking) or the US (goal tracking). Increasing the spatial or temporal separation between the CS and a US food has been reported to results in a decline in sign tracking and an increase in goal tracking. In the present experiments, sign tracking was the predominant response of male quail (Coturnix japonica) to a CS that was presented up to 91 cm from the door through which a female was presented as the US (Experiment 1). Contrary to reported results with food reinforcement, goal tracking was not facilitated by increasing the spatial separation between the CS and US (Experiment 2) or by introducing a trace interval between them (Experiment 3). The preponderance of sign tracking may reflect an adaptive specialization of sexual conditioning or may be related to the absence of magazine training and the use of a moving US in the sexual conditioning procedures.

Animals↗

Age differences in adults' control beliefs related to life goals and concerns.

Control beliefs play an important role in how people direct their own development during their life span. However, research into age differences in control beliefs has produced inconsistent results. In this study, 381 subjects (19 to 71 years old) completed a questionnaire in which they were asked to write down their goals and concerns. They were then asked to rate each on a 4-point bipolar rating scale measuring internality-externality. The results showed that subjects' control beliefs became more external with age. However, part of the increase in externality was found to be caused by increasing interest in domains that are generally considered uncontrollable. Subjects' beliefs about health-, self-, offspring-, and property-related goals became more external with age, unlike goals concerning future education, occupation, family, and travel.

Adult↗

A test of the influence of goal orientation on the feedback-seeking process.

A longitudinal field study (N = 44) and a scenario study (N = 239) were conducted to investigate the influence of the individual difference of goal orientation (an orientation toward developing or demonstrating one's ability) on feedback-seeking behavior by the inquiry method. The results of the 2 studies were consistent with the hypotheses of a positive relationship between a learning-goal orientation and feedback seeking and of a negative relationship between a performance-goal orientation and feedback seeking. Also as hypothesized, the perceived cost and perceived value of feedback seeking mediated these relationships. The theoretical and practical implications of the research are discussed.

Adult↗

Goal orientation: effects on backing up behavior, performance, efficacy, and commitment in teams.

The author examined the predictive validity of goal orientation in teams on both team process and outcome variables. Results indicate that when mean goal orientation scores were used as a way of describing team members' inputs, learning orientation was related to backing up behavior, efficacy, and commitment. The relationships between performance orientation and efficacy and commitment, however, were more complex and were clarified when task performance was also taken into account. Performance orientation had a negative effect on efficacy when task performance was low and a positive effect on commitment when task performance was high. The implications of these findings for theory and research on goal orientation in teams and team staffing are discussed.

Adult↗

Contingency management treatments: Reinforcing abstinence versus adherence with goal-related activities.

Contingency management (CM) interventions usually reinforce submission of drug-negative specimens, but they can also reinforce adherence with goal-related activities. This study compared the efficacy of the 2 approaches. Substance-abusing outpatients (N = 131) were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 12-week treatments: standard treatment (ST), ST with CM for submitting negative urine toxicology screens, or ST with CM for completing goal-related activities. CM patients remained in treatment longer and achieved more abstinence than ST patients, but the CM condition that reinforced submission of negative samples resulted in better outcomes than the CM condition that reinforced goal-related activities. Abstinence at 6- and 9-month follow-ups did not differ by group, but longest duration of abstinence achieved during treatment was associated with abstinence posttreatment.

Adult↗

Motivating learning, performance, and persistence: the synergistic effects of intrinsic goal contents and autonomy-supportive contexts.

Three field experiments with high school and college students tested the self-determination theory hypotheses that intrinsic (vs. extrinsic) goals and autonomy-supportive (vs. controlling) learning climates would improve students' learning, performance, and persistence. The learning of text material or physical exercises was framed in terms of intrinsic (community, personal growth, health) versus extrinsic (money, image) goals, which were presented in an autonomy-supportive versus controlling manner. Analyses of variance confirmed that both experimentally manipulated variables yielded main effects on depth of processing, test performance, and persistence (all ps <.001), and an interaction resulted in synergistically high deep processing and test performance (but not persistence) when both intrinsic goals and autonomy support were present. Effects were significantly mediated by autonomous motivation.

Adolescent↗

Goal activation, expectations, and the placebo effect.

Motivational factors receive little attention in current theories of the placebo effect. Reasons for this position are reviewed, and an argument is made for reconsidering the influence of motivation on the placebo effect. The authors hypothesize that nonconscious goals alter reactions to a placebo expectation. Specifically, the authors predict that the placebo effect is most likely to occur when individuals have a goal that can be fulfilled by confirmation of the placebo expectation. The authors tested this notion in 5 experiments. The results demonstrate the role of motivation in the placebo effect across a variety of symptom domains and via 4 different goal activation techniques. Moreover, this moderating effect occurred for both positive and negative placebo expectations, across different placebo effect measures, and in brief laboratory experiments as well as in lengthier studies. It is argued that theories regarding the placebo effect should incorporate motivational factors.

Analysis of Variance↗