Self regulation through motivated perception and mobilization

肥胖是一种流行病，会带来巨大的社会和经济代价。除其他因素外，肥胖是未能自我调节锻炼行为的结果。也就是说，肥胖会加剧，因为人们难以维持减肥和健康所需的运动类型和强度。艾米丽·巴尔塞蒂斯博士(纽约大学)将进行一项由NSF支持的跨学科理论研究，该理论被称为动机知觉自我调节理论，它直接影响自我调节失败及其对肥胖的后果。动机感知自我调节理论阐述了在威胁目标追求的障碍下，有助于自我调节成功的连续过程。这一理论主要关注一个内部障碍：慢性疲劳、身体状况不佳或暂时精疲力竭所导致的低生理潜能。该理论认为，有动机的视觉知觉通过动员身体采取行动来帮助克服低潜能的障碍。也就是说，视觉偏见通过暂时增加身体可用于行动的能量来帮助自我调节，这一过程被理论称为动机动员。例如，这项拟议的研究询问，超重的人是否比身体状况较好的人感觉距离更长，山更陡，爬得更高。或者，如果从事体育运动的动机增加，那么致力于减肥的人会不会觉得自己的距离很短，即使他们的身体负担很重？这些知觉偏差会暂时改变感知者吗？能量？？可能提高或削弱锻炼能力的变化？作为第二个目标，这项提议将测试一种旨在通过实验在高危人群中诱导知觉偏差的干预措施。这些研究将测试一种集中注意力的方式(一种“眼睛盯着奖品”的操作方式，奖品通常是终点线)是否可以用来减少人们对锻炼任务的身体难度的看法。这一干预措施专门旨在鼓励采取行动，帮助与肥胖作斗争的高危人群坚持锻炼目标。通过操纵视觉注意的范围，这项研究同时测试了干预措施，并为视觉偏见在调控成功中的作用提供了直接的实验证据。提出的理论模型将改变对心理生物学、社会心理学和认知科学在成功自我调节中作用的理解。这项跨学科的研究连接了各种方法，以测试自我调节的统一理论，其方式比其他更狭隘地关注单一微过程的模型提供了更大的解释能力。拟议的理论的影响可能是深远的，但将从重要的练习领域开始。除了在肥胖的慢性健康问题的研究中提供转化性研究外，该模型在理论上也具有变革的潜力。

Obesity is an epidemic that comes at great social and financial cost. Obesity is the result of, among other factors, failures to self-regulate exercise behaviors. That is, obesity is exacerbated because people experience difficulty sustaining the type and intensity of exercise necessary to experience weight loss and health-gains. Dr. Emily Balcetis (New York University) will conduct NSF-supported research on an interdisciplinary theory referred to as motivated-perception-for-self-regulation that has direct implications for self-regulation failures and their consequences for obesity.The theory of Motivated-Perception-For-Self-Regulation illustrates and four proposed experiments test sequential processes that contribute to self-regulatory success in light of obstacles that threaten goal-pursuit. This theory primarily focuses on one internal obstacle: low physiological potential that results from chronic fatigue, poor fitness, or temporary states of depletion. The theory proposes that motivated visual perception assists in overcoming the obstacle of low potential by mobilizing the body for action. That is, visual biases assist in self-regulation by temporarily increasing energy the body has available for action, a process the theory refers to as motivated mobilization. For instance, the proposed research asks if people who are overweight perceive distances to be longer, hills to be steeper, and ascents to be greater than people in better physical conditions. Alternatively, if motivations to engage in physical activity increase, do people who are committed to losing weight perceive distances to be short even when they are physically taxed? Will these perceptual biases temporarily change perceivers? energy?changes which may improve or impair abilities to engage in the exercise?As a secondary aim, this proposal will test one intervention designed to experimentally induce perceptual bias among at-risk populations. These studies will test whether a focused attentional style (an "eyes on the prize" manipulation, with the prize typically being a finish line) can be used to reduce perceptions of the physical difficulty of an exercise task. This intervention is specifically designed to encourage action that will help promote adherence to exercise goals in at-risk populations who struggle with obesity. By manipulating the scope of visual attention, the research simultaneously tests an intervention and provides direct experimental evidence for the role of visual bias in regulatory success. The proposed theoretical model will transform the understanding of role of psychobiology, social psychology, and cognitive science in successful self-regulation. This interdisciplinary research connects various approaches to test a unifying theory of self-regulation in a way that provides greater explanatory power than other models that more narrowly focus on a single microprocess. The implications of the proposed theory could be far reaching, but will begin within the important domain of exercise. This model has the potential to be transformative theoretically, in addition to providing translational research within the study of the chronic health problem of obesity.