Self regulation through motivated perception and mobilization

肥胖是一种流行病，它带来了巨大的社会和经济代价。 肥胖是由于，除其他因素外，未能自我调节运动行为。 也就是说，肥胖加剧是因为人们难以维持减肥和健康收益所需的运动类型和强度。 艾米丽Balcetis博士（纽约大学）将进行NSF支持的跨学科理论研究，称为动机感知自我调节，有直接影响自我调节失败及其后果的肥胖。动机感知自我调节的理论说明和四个拟议的实验测试顺序过程，有助于自我调节的成功，在光的障碍，威胁目标追求。 这一理论主要集中在一个内部障碍上：由于慢性疲劳、健康状况不佳或暂时的消耗状态而导致的低生理潜力。 该理论认为，有动机的视觉感知有助于通过调动身体采取行动来克服低潜力的障碍。 也就是说，视觉偏差通过暂时增加身体可用于行动的能量来帮助自我调节，该理论将这一过程称为动机动员。例如，拟议中的研究询问超重的人是否认为距离更长，山更陡，并且比身体状况更好的人更大。 或者，如果从事体力活动的动机增加，那些致力于减肥的人即使在体力消耗很大的情况下，也会认为距离很短吗？ 这些感知偏差会暂时改变感知者吗？能量？可能改善或损害参与锻炼能力的变化？作为第二个目标，该提案将测试一种干预措施，旨在通过实验诱导高危人群的感知偏差。 这些研究将测试是否可以使用集中注意力的方式（“眼睛盯着奖品”的操作，奖品通常是终点线）来减少对运动任务的身体难度的感知。 这种干预措施是专门设计来鼓励采取行动，这将有助于促进坚持运动目标的高危人群谁与肥胖作斗争。 通过操纵视觉注意的范围，该研究同时测试了干预措施，并为视觉偏差在监管成功中的作用提供了直接的实验证据。所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的自我调节中的作用的理解。 这种跨学科的研究将各种方法连接起来，以测试自我调节的统一理论，这种方法比其他更狭隘地关注单个微过程的模型提供更大的解释力。所提出的理论的影响可能是深远的，但将开始在行使的重要领域。该模型具有理论上变革的潜力，此外还在肥胖的慢性健康问题的研究中提供转化研究。

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.