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Search for solutions, learning, simulation, and choice processes in suicidal behavior

Suicide may be viewed as an unfortunate outcome of failures in decision processes. Such failures occur when the demands of a crisis exceed a person's capacity to (i) search for options, (ii) learn and simulate possible futures, and (iii) make advantageous value‐based choices. Can individual‐lev...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Dombrovski, Alexandre Y., Hallquist, Michael N.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9285563/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34008338
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/wcs.1561
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author Dombrovski, Alexandre Y.
Hallquist, Michael N.
author_facet Dombrovski, Alexandre Y.
Hallquist, Michael N.
author_sort Dombrovski, Alexandre Y.
collection PubMed
description Suicide may be viewed as an unfortunate outcome of failures in decision processes. Such failures occur when the demands of a crisis exceed a person's capacity to (i) search for options, (ii) learn and simulate possible futures, and (iii) make advantageous value‐based choices. Can individual‐level decision deficits and biases drive the progression of the suicidal crisis? Our overview of the evidence on this question is informed by clinical theory and grounded in reinforcement learning and behavioral economics. Cohort and case–control studies provide strong evidence that limited cognitive capacity and particularly impaired cognitive control are associated with suicidal behavior, imposing cognitive constraints on decision‐making. We conceptualize suicidal ideation as an element of impoverished consideration sets resulting from a search for solutions under cognitive constraints and mood‐congruent Pavlovian influences, a view supported by mostly indirect evidence. More compelling is the evidence of impaired learning in people with a history of suicidal behavior. We speculate that an inability to simulate alternative futures using one's model of the world may undermine alternative solutions in a suicidal crisis. The hypothesis supported by the strongest evidence is that the selection of suicide over alternatives is facilitated by a choice process undermined by randomness. Case–control studies using gambling tasks, armed bandits, and delay discounting support this claim. Future experimental studies will need to uncover real‐time dynamics of choice processes in suicidal people. In summary, the decision process framework sheds light on neurocognitive mechanisms that facilitate the progression of the suicidal crisis. This article is categorized under: Economics > Individual Decision‐Making. Psychology > Emotion and Motivation. Psychology > Learning. Neuroscience > Behavior.
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spelling pubmed-92855632022-07-18 Search for solutions, learning, simulation, and choice processes in suicidal behavior Dombrovski, Alexandre Y. Hallquist, Michael N. Wiley Interdiscip Rev Cogn Sci Overviews Suicide may be viewed as an unfortunate outcome of failures in decision processes. Such failures occur when the demands of a crisis exceed a person's capacity to (i) search for options, (ii) learn and simulate possible futures, and (iii) make advantageous value‐based choices. Can individual‐level decision deficits and biases drive the progression of the suicidal crisis? Our overview of the evidence on this question is informed by clinical theory and grounded in reinforcement learning and behavioral economics. Cohort and case–control studies provide strong evidence that limited cognitive capacity and particularly impaired cognitive control are associated with suicidal behavior, imposing cognitive constraints on decision‐making. We conceptualize suicidal ideation as an element of impoverished consideration sets resulting from a search for solutions under cognitive constraints and mood‐congruent Pavlovian influences, a view supported by mostly indirect evidence. More compelling is the evidence of impaired learning in people with a history of suicidal behavior. We speculate that an inability to simulate alternative futures using one's model of the world may undermine alternative solutions in a suicidal crisis. The hypothesis supported by the strongest evidence is that the selection of suicide over alternatives is facilitated by a choice process undermined by randomness. Case–control studies using gambling tasks, armed bandits, and delay discounting support this claim. Future experimental studies will need to uncover real‐time dynamics of choice processes in suicidal people. In summary, the decision process framework sheds light on neurocognitive mechanisms that facilitate the progression of the suicidal crisis. This article is categorized under: Economics > Individual Decision‐Making. Psychology > Emotion and Motivation. Psychology > Learning. Neuroscience > Behavior. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2021-05-18 2022 /pmc/articles/PMC9285563/ /pubmed/34008338 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/wcs.1561 Text en © 2021 The Authors. WIREs Cognitive Science published by Wiley Periodicals LLC. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/This is an open access article under the terms of the http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.
spellingShingle Overviews
Dombrovski, Alexandre Y.
Hallquist, Michael N.
Search for solutions, learning, simulation, and choice processes in suicidal behavior
title Search for solutions, learning, simulation, and choice processes in suicidal behavior
title_full Search for solutions, learning, simulation, and choice processes in suicidal behavior
title_fullStr Search for solutions, learning, simulation, and choice processes in suicidal behavior
title_full_unstemmed Search for solutions, learning, simulation, and choice processes in suicidal behavior
title_short Search for solutions, learning, simulation, and choice processes in suicidal behavior
title_sort search for solutions, learning, simulation, and choice processes in suicidal behavior
topic Overviews
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9285563/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34008338
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/wcs.1561
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