The Emergence of Self-Control: Comparative Beh. and Neurobiological Assessments

比较视角为理解自我控制的基本机制提供了一个极好的方法。 与人类研究相比，动物研究提供了对环境方面更高水平的控制，如 作为满足感和动力，并允许随着时间的推移有更多的反复测试的机会。此外，动物 研究允许进行不同于其他普遍的认知和社会能力的自我控制评估 在人类身上(例如，语言和文化的影响)。尽管我们最初的任务是证明非人类 动物可以调节它们的冲动倾向，我们的最终目标是决定这是如何发生的。什么 生物体是否能够维护自我控制？注意力是如何引导的？行为策略是什么？ 在支持自我控制方面的效率？其他动物的行为在自我控制中起什么作用？ 社会环境的变化会提高自制力吗？自我控制能力是有限的资源吗(就像 记忆力或甚至肌肉消耗)？在这些动物中，大脑的哪些区域支持抑制过程，以及 它们与在人类身上发现的匹配吗？[最后，发展如何与这些问题相互作用？] 这些研究的意义在于更好地理解自我控制失败的原因，以及这些失败之间的联系 对环境和生物的影响，以及可以使用什么策略来提高自控力 冲动是有机体可能做出的反应的情况。自我控制失败的后果 怎么夸大都不为过。暴饮暴食，吸毒，危险的性行为，强迫性赌博和身体上的 攻击性都是因为缺乏行为约束而发生的，它们对健康有直接的负面影响， 幸福和社会。所有这些行为都是由于在评估结果时的短视造成的，这是一个核心问题 冲动的特征。关于延迟贴现的成熟文献清楚地表明，动物 (包括人类)通常在时间上更接近事物的价值，而在未来进一步贬值那些事物(例如，Estle et 等人，2007年；格林等人，2004年；卡格尔等人，1986年；洛格，1988年；奥德姆和雷努阿德，2003年)。当然，在某些情况下 考虑到未来的不确定性，短期利益应该得到溢价估值。绝不可能 知道什么时候下一次会遇到丰富的食物来源或交配的机会意味着活动 在这里和现在都是非常有价值的。然而，随着面向未来的进程的发展，如 随着计划，以及对过去被抓住和避免的机会的准确记忆的出现，有机体 能够预测未来获得更好回报的可能性，以及接受或避免当前回报的成本。

A comparative perspective offers an excellent means for understanding the basic mechanisms of self-control. In comparison to human studies, animal studies offer higher levels of control over environmental aspects such as satiation and motivation and allow greater opportunity for repeated testing over time. In addition, animal studies allow for self-control assessments distinct from other cognitive and social capacities that are universal in humans (e.g., language and cultural influences). Although our initial task is to demonstrate that nonhuman animals can regulate their impulsive tendencies, our ultimate goal is to determine how that happens. What does the organism do to assert self-control? How is attention directed, and what behavioral strategies are efficient in supporting self-control? What role does the behavior of other animals play in self-control and can changes in social situations improve self-control? Are self-control capacities a limited resource (like aspects of memory or even muscle exertion)? What brain regions support inhibitory processes in these animals, and do they match those found in humans? [Finally, how does development interact with each of these questions?] The significance of these studies is a better understanding of why self-control fails, how such failures are linked to environmental and biological influences, and what strategies might be used to improve self-control in situations in which impulsivity is the likely response of the organism. The consequences of self-control failures cannot be overstated. Overeating, drug use, risky sexual behavior, compulsive gambling, and physical aggression all occur because of a lack of behavioral restraint, and they have direct negative effects on health, wellbeing, and society. All of these behaviors result from short-sightedness in evaluating outcomes, a central feature of impulsivity. The well-established literature on delay discounting indicates clearly that animals (including humans) typically value things nearer in time while devaluing those further in the future (e.g., Estle et al., 2007; Green et al., 2004; Kagel et al., 1986; Logue, 1988; Odum & Rainuad, 2003). Of course, in some instances short-term interests should be valued at a premium given uncertainty about the future. Never knowing when one would next encounter a plentiful food source or an opportunity to mate meant that activities available here and now were highly valued. However, with the development of future-oriented processes such as planning, and the emergence of accurate memories of past opportunities taken and avoided, organisms could anticipate the likelihood of better future rewards and the cost of taking or avoiding current rewards.