About This Project

Situations that require flexible thinking are frequently encountered throughout our lives. Inflexibility in the goals we pursue and the ways we make decisions is associated with psychiatric problems, unfavorable life outcomes, and life dissatisfaction. However, very little is known regarding whether superior cognitive flexibility has a positive influence on happiness and life satisfaction. We propose to investigate the relationship between flexible decision making and life satisfaction.

Ask the Scientists

What is the context of this research?

Our study will use the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST). The WCST is a neuropsychological test, validated by clinicians, for the measurement of cognitive flexibility that relies on the participant flexibly shifting between rule sets throughout the test. This test is used to assess the function of the prefrontal cortex, a brain region important for many cognitive functions, including cognitive flexibility. We will use the power of Amazon Mechanical Turk (AMT) to administer our test to a large and diverse population. We will also use AMT to administer a survey documenting each participant’s happiness, satisfaction, and quality of life. We will use sophisticated statistical models to evaluate the relationships between WCST performance and these factors.

What is the significance of this project?

Cognitive flexibility and the prefrontal cortex have been associated with executive control, inhibition of negative choices and behaviors, impulse control, and direction of behavior towards positive goals. The WCST is a task designed to measure prefrontal cortex activity and cognitive flexibility. This test has been an integral factor in the diagnosis of psychiatric and neurological diseases since its inception; however, it has not been used on the general population to determine whether better life outcomes are associated with greater cognitive flexibility. In addition to establishing a relationship between cognitive flexibility and quality of life, our statistical models will allow us to determine how much influence cognitive flexibility has on different aspects of quality of life.

What are the goals of the project?

Our first goal is to test whether excellent performance on the WCST in the general population is a predictor of quality of life. Our second goal is to use statistical modeling to determine the relative influence cognitive flexibility has on different aspects of quality of life. Our third goal is to use the findings of this initial study to optimally design new experiments to determine whether quality of life can be improved. If it can, we will investigate which interventions are the most beneficial towards improving cognitive flexibility.