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Why Individuals with High Trait Anxiety Procrastinate More: Evidence from Multiple Studies

Poster No:

597 

Submission Type:

Abstract Submission 

Authors:

Rong Zhang1, Shunmin Zhang2, Xi Zhang1, Menghui Xiong1, Shuyin Xu1, Ye Liu1, Jie Xiang1, Jiajia Yang1, Tingyong Feng1

Institutions:

1Southwest University, Chongqing, China, 2Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China

First Author:

Rong Zhang  
Southwest University
Chongqing, China

Co-Author(s):

Shunmin Zhang  
Zhejiang University
Hangzhou, China
Xi Zhang  
Southwest University
Chongqing, China
Menghui Xiong  
Southwest University
Chongqing, China
Shuyin Xu  
Southwest University
Chongqing, China
Ye Liu  
Southwest University
Chongqing, China
Jie Xiang  
Southwest University
Chongqing, China
Jiajia Yang, Ph.D.  
Southwest University
Chongqing, China
Tingyong Feng  
Southwest University
Chongqing, China

Introduction:

Trait anxiety, analogy of anxiety disorders, is tied to procrastination. Drawing on temporal decision model (TDM) of procrastination, we suggest that high trait anxiety (HTA) individuals tend to procrastinate more, and this effect may be owing to altered processing toward emotion and motivation for gaining positive outcome.

Methods:

To this end, we firstly investigated association between trait anxiety and procrastination systematically in a longitudinal study (Study 1), and further tested the proposed framework across 4 studies using cross-sectional design, and free construction paradigm, intensive longitudinal design, and resting-state fMRI task.

Results:

Across five studies, high trait anxiety (HTA) intensified greater procrastination. Besides, there was a vicious trait anxiety-procrastination loop, in which procrastination was positively predicted by past trait anxiety, and simultaneously predicted future trait anxiety (Study 1). Moreover, people with HTA showed altered emotional and motivational processing, including (1) disposition to perceive more negative emotion but hold low motivation(Study 2); (2) tendency to generate more thoughts toward negative emotion on task process (i.e., task aversiveness), but less of that toward positive emotion on task process, and less of that toward motivation for approaching positive outcome in both lab (Study 3) and real-life settings (Study 4 ); (3) abnormal brain activation in brain regions supporting emotion (e.g., cerebellum) and motivation (e.g., caudate) from both static and dynamic views (Study 5).

Conclusions:

Furthermore, Study 2-5 converged on similar findings, and indicated that the abnormal emotion and motivation processing accounted for effect of trait anxiety on procrastination (Study 2-5).Taken together, these findings greatly enhance our understanding for the relationship between trait anxiety and procrastination, and help identify the potential causes underlying such effect that have practical implications for developing interventions in the future.

Emotion, Motivation and Social Neuroscience:

Emotion and Motivation Other 1

Higher Cognitive Functions:

Decision Making

Modeling and Analysis Methods:

fMRI Connectivity and Network Modeling 2

Novel Imaging Acquisition Methods:

BOLD fMRI

Keywords:

Anxiety
Cerebellum
FUNCTIONAL MRI
Other - procrastination, motivation

1|2Indicates the priority used for review
Supporting Image: Study4-causalmediation.jpg
   ·Figure 1. Study 3 showed that altered emotion and motivation mediated relation between trait anxiety and procrastination.
Supporting Image: Study5-Braincircuits.jpg
   ·Figure 2. Study 5 indicated the brain circuits related to trait anxiety.
 

Abstract Information

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Was this research conducted in the United States?

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Were any human subjects research approved by the relevant Institutional Review Board or ethics panel? NOTE: Any human subjects studies without IRB approval will be automatically rejected.

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Please indicate which methods were used in your research:

Functional MRI

For human MRI, what field strength scanner do you use?

3.0T

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SPM
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Provide references using APA citation style.

Rong Zhang, Shunmin Zhang, Xi Zhang, Shuyin Xu, Ye Liu, Jiajia Yang & Tingyong Feng* (2024). Why Individuals with High Trait Anxiety Procrastinate More: Evidence from Multiple Studies.

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