RCBB Neuroscience Theme Event – Engagement and Effort

In this RCBB Neuroscience Theme event various internal and external speakers will discuss research on engagement and effort.

Schedule

1pm – Prof Anne-Marie Brouwer (Radboud University)

Attentional engagement reflected by interpersonal physiological synchrony

Continuous and implicit measures of individuals’ attentional engagement would be useful for a range of application. Brain responses can tell us about individuals’ level and focus of attention, but it is not straightforward to retrieve this information in real life scenarios. In this talk, I will discuss research showing that the degree to which EEG signals vary in a similar way over time between individuals is associated with attentional engagement. Our findings that this also holds for other physiological signals (heart rate and skin conductance), under various real-life or life-like circumstances, and that it predicts subsequent behavior, make interpersonal physiological synchrony a promising marker of attention for applied settings as well as ecologically valid research.

1.45pm – Prof Rex A Wright (University of Texas Dell School of Medicine, University of North Texas)

Inhibitory Capacity and Inhibitory Control

I will discuss the role inhibitory capacity should play in determining inhibitory (impulse) control, arguing that capacity should not impact such control directly, but rather should do so indirectly by determining how intensively people resist unwanted impulses. I will argue further that capacity influence on the intensity of resistance should not be unitary, but rather multifaceted, depending on its magnitude, the magnitude of the unwanted urge, and the importance of maintaining control. My analysis implies that diminished capacity should consistently impair control only when it prompts people to follow an impulse that they would resist in a more capable state. In parallel, it implies that enhanced capacity should improve control only when it prompts people to resist an impulse that they would follow in a less capable state. I will present relevant findings from a recent experiment involving fatigue and consider implications for Baumeister’s influential limited resource model of self-control.

2.30pm – Break

2.40pm – Panel Discussion
Prof Anne-Marie Brouwer (Radboud University), Prof Rex A Wright (University of Texas Dell School of Medicine, University of North Texas), Prof Stephen Fairclough (LJMU), Rebecca Kuiper (LJMU), Felix Schröder (LJMU), Dr Michael Richter (LJMU).

If you have any queries, please contact Michael Richter.

Back to the RCBB Research Seminar Series overview.