The Effect Of Prolong Control Deprivation On The Working Memory Updating Function

Deprivation of control is a state in which individual behaviors and results are independent of each other,and no gain from hard work.Most studies considered that prolong control deprivation can lead to cognitive deficits,or even learned helplessness.However,the relationship of working memory updating function as an important cognitive function and prolong control deprivation has not directly verified.The working memory updating function is the core component of the central executive system.When faced with a lot of information,the working memory updating function can help people to flexibly deal with information,circulate the information and thereby reduce the load of working memory.At the same time,life is full of various unstable factors,and the individual’s sense of control is in a dynamic cycle of gain and loss,which is also unstable.Although some studies have found that unstable control deprivation can improve some cognitive abilities,they ignore the difference of unstable control deprivation on different cognitive functions.Specifically,cognitive functions with different characteristics may show different development trends when faced the same stimulus.Therefore,this study conducts three experiments to explore the influence of prolong control deprivation on the working memory updating function,and explore the role of instability and diverse contexts between the two.Experiment 1 used the behavioral helpless task to manipulate the sense of control.The control sense scale is used to test the effectiveness of the manipulation,and the 2-back task of the Embedded Chinese Character is used to measure the subjects’ updating ability.The results showed that there was no significant difference between the baseline group and the stable deprivation group in the updating task.It can be seen that prolong and stable control deprivation did not affect the working memory updating function.Experiment 2 continued to explore the effect of prolong and stable control deprivation on working memory updating function,and explored the role of the instability of control deprivation in the relationship between the two.The experiment used the information helpless task that has a stronger sense of manipulation,and the updating task is the same as experiment 1.The results showed that(1)There was no difference in accuracy and sensitivity index d’ between the baseline group and the stable deprivation group.(2)Compared with the baseline group,the unstable group had a lower accuracy on the updating task is reduced.(3)The difficulty perceived by the individual in the sense of the information helpless task played a mediating role between the sense of control and updating task performance.Prolong and stable control deprivation did not affect the working memory updating function,but unstable control deprivation impaired it.Experiment 3 continued to explore whether the effect of unstable control deprivation on the working memory updating function in a diverse situation is consistent with the performance pattern in a single situation.The results showed that(1)In a diversified environment,the updating function of the unstable deprivation group was higher than that of the baseline group,opposite of that of Experiment 2.(2)Further analysis of the combination of experiment two and three found that the performance of updating tasks under diversified situation was lower than that of single situation.(3)In the baseline group,the performance of updating tasks under diversified situations was lower than that of the single situation,while the unstable deprivation group showed cognitive adaptation,therefore,they had no significant difference between the two situations.In summary,this study explored the effect of prolong control deprivation on the working memory updating function,as well as the instability of deprivation of control and the influence of diverse environments on the relationship between the two.It can be seen that the stability of control deprivation was an important factor that affected the relationship between prolong control deprivation and working memory updating function.Specially,only unstable control deprivation can impair working memory updating function and was not affected by situational changes.The effect of prolong control deprivation on the updating function of working memory showed consistency in the single situation and the diversified situation.