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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Nov 9, 2025

Exploring the Neural Correlates of Cognitive Reappraisal in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Using Task-based Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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Exploring the Neural Correlates of Cognitive Reappraisal in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Using Task-based Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging

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Outcome Value and Task Aversiveness Impact Task Procrastination through Separate Neural Pathways.

Shunmin Zhang1,2, Tom Verguts3, Chenyan Zhang4

  • 1School of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China.

Cerebral Cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991)
|April 11, 2021
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Procrastination involves separate brain pathways for outcome value and task aversion. The hippocampus-caudate pathway influences value, while the amygdala-insula pathway affects aversion, guiding decisions to procrastinate.

Keywords:
amygdale–insula couplingdual-process theoryhippocampus-striatum couplingprocrastinationtask valuation

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Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Decision Science

Background:

  • Procrastination is linked to outcome value and task aversiveness.
  • Separate neural pathways may underlie these distinct influences on procrastination.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the neural mechanisms differentiating the effects of outcome value and task aversiveness on procrastination.
  • To identify distinct brain pathways involved in processing these two factors.

Main Methods:

  • Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to scan participants viewing tasks and future outcomes.
  • No specific experimental instructions were imposed during the scanning session.

Main Results:

  • Outcome value activated the caudate nucleus, suppressing procrastination via a hippocampus-caudate pathway.
  • Task aversiveness activated the anterior insula, increasing procrastination through an amygdala-insula pathway.

Conclusions:

  • The brain utilizes distinct neural pathways to process outcome value and task aversiveness in procrastination decisions.
  • This research elucidates the neural basis of how individuals weigh competing factors in task valuation and temporal decision-making.