Postcards from the Id

The "Get Ready" Mindset

This article reviews research that suggests people, when faced with a difficult future task, actually work harder on current tasks.  The researchers labelled this tendency as the "Get Ready" mindset, believing that the the brain is preparing for the challenge of the future task by gearing itself up via increased effort on current tasks.  From the article:

In a series of five studies, the authors observed that the more difficult a future task was expected to be, the harder consumers worked on a current task. "For example, consumers consulted more information on a web page when they were asked to evaluate a new soft drink when they expected that they would later on have to work on a difficult and demanding task," write the authors. Other participants were better able to come up with weight loss ideas when they believed they would have to work hard on a future job.

The authors titled the phenomenon the "get ready mindset." "People seem to prepare themselves mentally for upcoming tasks, but in doing so, the resources that are freed up for the future task carry over to current tasks," the authors explain. "We found consistent evidence that if the mind gets ready to perform later, it is set to go now."

Basically, people will, in general, work harder overall when a difficult task lies ahead.  I found this to be an interesting observation on motivation and effort, and I recommend the whole article.

Wasn't This Freud's Philosophy As Well?

Okay, so I really strained (no pun intended) to figure out a mental health connection in order to justify posting this, when I should say it's up because I find it hilarious.

Interesting Research on Schizophrenia

This article reviews some new research into the presentation of Schizophrenia from around the world.  While different cultures, income levels, etc. will often impact how certain mental health issues will manifest and present (for example, delusions with technological themes are far more frequent in men than women), this research shows just how similar Schizophrenia tends to appear, regardless of where in the world a person experiences it.  From the article:

"Although there were some regional and country variations, on the whole the study provided a strikingly similar overall pattern when it came to key health, medication and socio-economic factors."

Patients were assessed at baseline and at three, six, 12, 18, 24 and 36 months. All clinicians taking part in the study were free to determine what treatment and medication their patients received and no drugs were provided by the study sponsor.

Here a just a few of the findings:

- 26% of the study participants were taking more than one antipsychotic and about 74% were taking other prescribed drugs at the same time. 10% were taking antipsychotics for the first time.

- The key reasons for changing medication were the same across all the regions surveyed, with two-thirds of the investigators citing lack of effectiveness, followed by intolerance, patient request and incomplete adherence to the medication.

- Just over 34% of patients had been admitted to an inpatient facility because of their schizophrenia in the last six months. With the exception of the Latin American region (40.8%) all the other regions showed very similar rates, ranging from 31.2% to 36.3%.

Schizophrenia is a devestating illness that significantly impacts the lives of many people and their families - the more information we can learn, the better.  I highly recommend the whole article, which shows that Schizophrenia impacts people no matter where they are from.

Quote - Testing Of The Frontal Lobes

"Every clinical assessment of behavior requires a careful review of frontal lobe functions.  Nonetheless, several challenges face behavioral neurologists and neuropsychologists in their clinical attempts to assess the frontal lobes.  Whereas an assessment of sensorimotor systems is guided by a relatively well understood pattern of brain-behavior relationships, the frontal lobes are incredibly complex, and because of their extensive interconnections with other neural structures, they control or influence a broad range of behaviors.  Injury to the frontal lobes can affect initiation of complex motor behavior, attention, executive functioning, working memory, episodic memory, language, emotions, and behavior."

- From the chapter "Bedside Frontal Lobe Testing," pg. 279, of The Human Frontal Lobes