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Testing the Impact of a Brief Acceptance, Mindfulness and Values Intervention on
Multiple Features of Task Persistence
Michael Levin, Colin Stromberg, Jennifer Villatte, Tom Waltz & Steven Hayes
University of Nevada, Reno
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Overview
• Persistence is not always effective
• Seeking to develop/refine measures of effective task persistence
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Task Persistence
• Tendency to persist in pursuit of one’s goals despite distress
• Behavioral measures of task persistence• Latency to discontinue difficult task• Cold pressor, math task, breath holding, mirror
tracing
• Analogue to clinically-relevant behavior
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Predicts Clinical Outcomes
• Abstinence from nicotine and illicit drug use• Gambling• Self injury• Depression• Bipolar Disorder• Antisocial Personality Disorder• Borderline Personality Disorder
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Role of Task Persistence in ACT Research
• Captures some features of psychological flexibility– Acceptance, defusion, committed action
• Useful measure for micro-component studies– Acceptance, mindfulness and values impact task
persistence in combination/isolation
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Persistence is Not Always Effective
• Problematic persistence– Rigid, inflexible, passive, insensitive to
contingencies
• Effective persistence– Flexible, active, sensitive to contingencies
• Where does latency to discontinue a task fit in?
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Towards a Measure of Effective Persistence
• Need a measure that assesses active, flexible, and engaged persistence in a goal-direct activity
• Modified Paced Auditory Serial Addition Task– Difficult math task used to assess task persistence
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Score
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 101
12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 2011
10
0
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Score
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 101
12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 2011
3
0
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Score
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 101
12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 2011
5
1
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Score
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 101
12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 2011
12
2
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• Focus on points earned as primary DV
• Changed the quit button to a pause button
• Added self-report questions
PASAT - Pause Version
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Purpose of Study
• Examine the potential utility of the PASAT-P in capturing effective persistence
• Test the impact of a combined acceptance, mindfulness, and values intervention
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Method
Baseline• Distress Tolerance Scale; Persistence,
Perseveration, & Perfectionism• Breath Holding & PASAT-P
Randomly Assigned
• Acceptance, Mindfulness,& Values (N = 21)
• Control condition - Reading a book (N = 24)
Post• Breath Holding• PASAT-P
45 Psychology Students
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ACT Intervention
• Connecting persistence to personal values• Control is the problem and acceptance– Polygraph & Chinese Finger Trap metaphors
• Defusion from cognitive barriers to persistence– How minds work & I can’t walk exercise
• Present moment awareness– Breathing meditation
• Swamp metaphor
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Baseline CorrelationsPearson r correlations
DTS PPPQ - Persistence
PPPQ - Perseveration
Breath holding
.12 .21 .00
Pause time -.09 .06 -.09
Time to pause .05 .06 -.02
Number of points
.33* .31* .13
Errors -.16 .04 .00
Omits .09 -.26+ -.05
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ANCOVA Results• Significant difference between conditions on– Number of points earned– Pause time– Willingness– Task rating
• Trend with breath holding and time to pause• No significant difference on– Emotional Distress– Errors– Omits
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Points Earned
F = 5.43, p < .05, partial η² = .12
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Pause Time
F = 7.06, p <.05, partial η² = .14
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Task Rating
F = 8.79, p < .01, partial η² = .17
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Willingness
F = 4.98, p < .05, partial η² = .11
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Discussion
• PASAT-P may assess effective task persistence
• The measure is sensitive to intervention
• Adds to micro-component literature on ACT interventions
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Limitations
• Relatively weak control condition– Demand characteristics, discussing the task, mood
induction
• Problems with using score as a primary DV
• Tested a combined ACT intervention
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Future Directions
• What are we assessing with this measure?
• Exploring how to organize and identify forms of persistence
• More refined component tests
• Continuing to pursue ways to refine task persistence measures