Promoting the translation of intentions into action by implementation intentions: behavioral effects and physiological correlates

Abstract

The present review addresses the physiological correlates of planning effects on behavior. Although intentions to act qualify as predictors of behavior, accumulated evidence indicates that there is a substantial gap between even strong intentions and subsequent action. One effective strategy to reduce this intention–behavior gap is the formation of implementation intentions that specify when, where, and how to act on a given goal in an if-then format (“If I encounter situation Y, then I will initiate action Z!”). It has been proposed that implementation intentions render the mental representation of the situation highly accessible and establish a strong associative link between the mental representations of the situation and the action. These process assumptions have been examined in behavioral research, and in physiological research, a field that has begun to investigate the temporal dynamics of and brain areas involved in implementation intention effects. In the present review, we first summarize studies on the cognitive processes that are central to the strategic automation of action control by implementation intentions. We then examine studies involving critical samples with impaired self-regulation. Lastly, we review studies that have applied physiological measures such as heart rate, cortisol level, and eye movement, as well as electroencephalography (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies on the neural correlates of implementation intention effects. In support of the assumed processes, implementation intentions increased goal attainment in studies on cognitive processes and in critical samples, modulated brain waves related to perceptual and decision processes, and generated less activity in brain areas associated with effortful action control. In our discussion, we reflect on the status quo of physiological research on implementation intentions, methodological and conceptual issues, related research, and propose future directions.

Improving Prospective Memory in Persons With Parkinson Disease: A Randomized Controlled Trial

“…Thus, whereas event cues were processed as a part of the ongoing activity, time cues required the deployment of strategic attentional resources (i.e, monitoring the virtual time of day, which involves internally driven shifting of attention from the ongoing activity) to be processed. Our results support the notion that specification and repetition of PM intentions during encoding heightens perceptual readiness for and facilitates detection of cues encountered in the environment 26,30 , in this case, the event cues. However, heightened cue accessibility would not facilitate detection of time cues in the absence of strategic monitoring (or shifting) because those cues would not be encountered.…”

“…This aligns with the proposed mechanism of implementation intentions, which is that they promote a shift from controlled to automatic processing. Specifically, they allow intention retrieval to occur in a reflexive, stimulus-driven fashion rather than require self-initiated retrieval processes 26,30 . This notion is supported by an fMRI study showing that implementation intentions shifted brain activity from a region associated with top-down control of PM processing (lateral BA 10) to one associated with bottom-up PM responding (medial BA 10) 51 .…”

“…The strategy involves specifying and stating aloud the circumstances under which one will carry out an intention (“When X, I will do Y”; e.g., “When I eat dinner, I will take my medication”) and visualizing oneself encountering those circumstances and executing the intention. By forcing elaborate and specific encoding, implementation intentions are thought to heighten the accessibility of PM cues and strengthen the association between PM cues and their intended actions, thereby facilitating more automatic cue detection and intention retrieval 26–30 . Of relevance to PD, implementation intentions provide an explicit structure for good associative encoding of intentions that may compensate for the PD-related deficit in internally-generated intention formation strategies.…”

“…Of relevance to PD, implementation intentions provide an explicit structure for good associative encoding of intentions that may compensate for the PD-related deficit in internally-generated intention formation strategies. This then should reduce the need for controlled intention retrieval processes (which are impaired in PD) by fostering reliance on more automatic retrieval processes (which are spared in PD) 10,12,30 .…”

The State of Transfer of Training Research: Moving Toward More Consumer-Centric Inquiry

“…For example, Gollwitzer and colleagues (Gollwitzer, ; Sheeran, Webb, & Gollwitzer, ; Wieber, Thurmer, & Gollwitzer, ) have extensively described the strength and functioning of implementation intentions where individuals specify exactly how and when they will apply new strategies to address an issue. In an initial study in the training domain, Friedman and Ronen () found that sales managers with implementation intentions received higher transfer of training scores than those without such goals.…”