\u201cThis is the first time we\u2019ve been able to see how the day-to-day changes in our sense of being in control may actually influence the way we think<\/strong>,\u201d says Dr. Shevaun Neupert, an associate professor of psychology at NC State and lead author of a paper on the research.<\/p>\n In a study focusing on older adults, Neupert and her co-author, NC State associate professor of psychology Jason Allaire, tested each participant\u2019s sense of control every 12 hours for 60 days. In the study, participants were asked questions about whether they felt in control of their lives and whether they felt able to achieve goals they set for themselves. Cognitive functioning, such as memory and inductive reasoning, was also measured. Participants ranged in age from 61 to 87, with an average age of 74.<\/p>\n The study found that participants\u2019 sense of control could fluctuate significantly in the course of a single day. That is particularly interesting, given that previous research has largely focused on the presumption that one\u2019s sense of control remains relatively stable.<\/p>\n Researchers also found that participants who normally reported having a low sense of control performed much better on inductive reasoning tests during periods when they reported feeling a higher sense of control<\/strong>. Inductive reasoning is a type of problem solving. For example, being shown a series of letters and being able to determine which letter should come next in the sequence.<\/p>\n Further, the researchers found that people who normally reported feeling a high sense of control scored higher on memory tests when feeling more in control than usual<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Based on modeling, researchers say it appears that the improved cognitive functioning stems from the feeling of improved control, not vice versa. \u201cThis wasn\u2019t part of the experimental design, so we can\u2019t say for sure,\u201d Neupert says. \u201cBut it is a first step toward determining which comes first \u2013 sense of control or improved cognition.\u201d<\/p>\n The paper, \u201c\u201cI Think I Can, I Think I Can: Examining the Within-Person Coupling of Control Beliefs and Cognition in Older Adults,\u201d is published online by the journal Psychology and Aging<\/em>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" From the North Carolina State University press release: Everyone has moments when they feel more in control of their lives than at other times. New research from North Carolina State… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5,4],"tags":[16,18,12],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1372"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1372"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1372\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1374,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1372\/revisions\/1374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"http:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/images\/splash\/canstockphoto0740426.jpg\" "\\"happy")
Everyone has moments when they feel more in control of their lives than at other times<\/strong>. New research from North Carolina State University shows that this sense of control fluctuates more often, and more quickly, than previously thought \u2013 and that this sense of control may actively affect cognitive abilities<\/strong>.<\/p>\n