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

Overview

• Persistence is not always effective

• Seeking to develop/refine measures of effective task persistence

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

Predicts Clinical Outcomes

• Abstinence from nicotine and illicit drug use• Gambling• Self injury• Depression• Bipolar Disorder• Antisocial Personality Disorder• Borderline Personality Disorder

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

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?

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

Score

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 101

12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 2011

10

0

Score

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 101

12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 2011

3

0

Score

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 101

12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 2011

5

1

Score

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 101

12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 2011

12

2

• Focus on points earned as primary DV

• Changed the quit button to a pause button

• Added self-report questions

PASAT - Pause Version

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

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

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

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

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

Points Earned

F = 5.43, p < .05, partial η² = .12

Pause Time

F = 7.06, p <.05, partial η² = .14

Task Rating

F = 8.79, p < .01, partial η² = .17

Willingness

F = 4.98, p < .05, partial η² = .11

Discussion

• PASAT-P may assess effective task persistence

• The measure is sensitive to intervention

• Adds to micro-component literature on ACT interventions

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

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