Tim will present his research into the effects of a digital detox on social media use, habits and wellbeing.

Authors: Tim van Timmeren, Suhaavi Kochhar, Mariek vanden Abeele & Sanne de Wit
Abstract: Many people spend 3 or more hours daily on social media and almost half of users indicate they want to reduce their usage. An increasingly popular intervention to regain control is a period of abstinence or ‘digital detox’. However, evidence for the effectiveness of detox-interventions is limited, and the underlying mechanisms are largely unknown. In this study, we investigated the effects of a digital detox on social media use, mental wellbeing, and experienced automaticity and craving. A total of 120 young adults motivated to reduce usage were randomly assigned to either an experimental or waiting-list condition. After a one-week baseline measurement, participants in the experimental group removed all social media apps for one week (i.e. detox), followed by three weeks of follow-up measurements. Using a combination of ecological momentary assessment, smartphone usage logging data and weekly questionnaires, we found that the detox significantly reduced social media use, automaticity and craving up to three weeks post-detox, while improving mental wellbeing, sleep quality and experienced social media use problems. Our findings suggest that social media is driven by both automatic habits and craving, and that detoxing is an effective way to reduce social media habits for those who want to cut back.

Sanne gave a talk at the (virtual) Society for Neuroscience (SfN) meeting 2021 (8th -11th of Nov ’21), entitled ‘Habits in humans: in search of a better experimental measure’. This was part of a mini-symposium organized by Youna Vandaele ‘Alternative Conceptions of Habits and Their Underlying Neural Circuits’:

The study of habitual behavior and its underlying circuits is impeded by its operationalization as an absence of goal-directed behavior. This minisymposium will focus on new approaches to characterize habit and its neural mechanisms. This transdisciplinary topic will catalyze insightful discussions about the concept of habit that will be addressed under multiple complementary perspectives, from computational and animal modeling to translation in human research on decision making and psychopathologies.

A PsyArXiv Preprint of the following article can be found here:
Investigating habits in human with a symmetrical outcome-revaluation task.
Watson, P., Verhoeven, A.A.C.,  Gladwin, T. & de Wit, S.

In this paper, we present the novel ‘symmetrical outcome-revaluation paradigm’ that can be used to study the balance between goal-directed and habitual control in humans.

A new paper on the effects of mindset (triggers) and food-associated cues on healthy food choices by Sabine-Frank-Podlech and colleagues appeared in Appetite. In this study, we showed that food choices could be influenced by a (hedonic or health) mindset manipulation, but a more reliable effect was that mindset-associated cues biased food choices. Finally, we replicated previous demonstrations that external Pavlovian cues robustly bias food choice towards the signaled (healthy or unhealthy) food, in this case regardless of mindset.

Reference: Frank-Podlech, S., Watson, P., Verhoeven, A.A.C., Stegmaier, S., Preissl, H., de Wit, S. (2021). Competing influences on healthy food choices: Mindsetting versus contextual food cues. Appetite, 166.

Link to paper

On the 29th of October 2021, Tim van Timmeren will give a PsychForum presentation at UvA about his research into the effects of a digital detox, focused on potential data collection tools, including Ethica for EMA, sending emails via Lotus, and using Facebook for recruitment.

A new paper on the fixating effect of habits on creativity – by Paula Ibáñez de Aldecoa, Sanne de Wit and Sabine Tebbich – was published in Frontiers of Psychology.

Reference: Ibáñez de Aldecoa, P.,  de Wit, S., & Tebbich, S. (2021). Can Habits Impede Creativity by Inducing Fixation? Frontiers in Psychology.

Link to paper

After being fully renovated and decorated with life-size artwork by Lennard Kok, ‘De Brug’ was officially reopened on the 12th of October 2021. To celebrate this, Tim was invited to give a 10-minute ‘TED-talk’ on the effects of a digital detox, together with three other FMG-scientists building bridges between other disciplines and to society: Willem Boterman (GPIO), Thijs Bol (Sociology) and Saar Mollen (Cw).

Neuropsycholoog Tim van Timmeren onderzoekt het effect van een digitale detox tegen een social media-overdosis
Dat jongeren veel tijd besteden aan social media, is bekend. Maar hoe erg is dat? Neuropsycholoog Tim van Timmeren onderzoekt hoe mensen de controle over social media gebruik kunnen terug winnen. Is de zogeheten ‘digitale detox’, oftewel tijdelijk geen social media meer gebruiken, een effectieve manier om gebruik te verminderen? En welk effect heeft zo’n detox op welzijn en slaap? Neuropsycholoog Tim van Timmeren doet er onderzoek naar.

Ineens lagen Facebook, Instagram en WhatsApp door een wereldwijde storing urenlang plat. Wat doet cold turkey af- kicken van sociale media met ons gemoed en gedrag? Tim van Timmeren sprak erover met Annemarie de Jong voor het Noordhollands Dagblad.

Tim is on the committee to organize this year’s ABC Networking Event to Reconnect Researchers!

After more than a year of little opportunity to connect with your co-workers and fellow ABC members, please join to meet and connect with other ABC members and other brain and cognition researchers in Amsterdam on the virtual grounds of Gathertown!

Tim gave a talk at the first-year symposium for all ‘Pharmacy’ students at the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen: “Habit or secret addiction? – the brain’s reward system”. Other speakers of the symposium were dr. Dorien Treur (UvA), emeritus prof. Wim van den Brink (Amsterdam UMC – AMC) and Prof. Scheurink (Rijksuniversiteit Groningen). In his talk, Tim presented gambling disorder as a prototypical behavioral addiction, and discussed possible other potential behavioral addictions.

Het raam naar een beter leven staat op een kier:
https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2020/12/30/het-raam-naar-een-beter-leven-staat-op-een-kier-a4025532

Zou je graag meer inzicht en controle willen over je gebruik van social media? Doe dan mee met onze digitale detox! Zo kun je jouw social media gebruik minderen en tegelijkertijd bijdragen aan wetenschappelijk onderzoek.

Meer informatie vind je hier: www.socialmediastop.nl

Hoewel er in het verleden al veel onderzoek is gedaan naar de factoren die kunnen bijdragen aan gezond ouder worden en het versterken van veerkracht, is nog lang niet alles bekend. Vooral als het gaat om het samenspel van verschillende factoren, is nog veel te ontdekken. Deze online studie is dan ook bedoeld om unieke, onverwachte dynamieken bloot te leggen tussen leefstijlgewoontes, demografische, sociale, omgevings-, psychologische, psychosociale en cognitieve factoren die bijdragen aan succesvolle veroudering en veerkracht.

U kunt zich inschrijven (en meer informatie vinden) op deze website: seniorendoenmee.nl/

A preprint of the following article can be found on Open Science Framework:
Smart Distance Lab: A new methodology for assessing social distancing interventions

Authors: Tessa Blanken, Charlotte Tanis, Floor Nauta, Fabian Dablander, Bonne Zijlstra, Rick Bouten, Quinten Oostvogel, Meier Boersma, Maya van der Steenhoven, Frenk van Harreveld, Sanne de Wit, Denny Borsboom

Anderhalve meter afstand houden vinden we steeds moeilijker worden. Vooral jongeren lijken er minder toe bereid. Investeer daarom nationaal in een alternatieve aanpak, betogen vier wetenschappers: nudging, waarmee het gedrag van mensen wordt beïnvloed door aanpassingen in hun omgeving.

Door Sanne de Wit, Nynke van der Laan, Frenk van Harreveld, Bart Engelen
https://www.socialevraagstukken.nl/investeer-in-publieke-ruimte-die-fysieke-afstand-vergemakkelijkt/

Het houden van anderhalve meter afstand ging de afgelopen periode vaak goed, maar soms ook mis, met afgelopen weekend enkele incidenten op stranden en een demonstratie op de Dam als voorbeeld. Waarom vinden we afstand houden toch zo moeilijk, ook al weten we waarom het belangrijk is? Stadszaken.nl vroeg het aan gedragswetenschapper Sanne de Wit:
https://www.stadszaken.nl/ruimte/mensen/2767/waarom-afstand-houden-lastig-is

Tim van Timmeren was awarded the ABC Talent Grant in the April ’20 round of the Amsterdam Brain & Cognition Centre, UvA (PI: Sanne de Wit).  The project is entitled: The promises and perils of a ‘digital detox’: An integrated investigation of the role of craving, habits and corticostriatal pathways.

Many young adults spend 3-5 hours daily on social media and some indicate that they feel ‘addicted’, pointing to an emerging public health problem. The idea of a “digital detox” to regain control over social media use has become increasingly popular. However, the effectiveness of detox-interventions remains controversial. The promise of a detox is that it helps to break the habit, but the peril is that it could ultimately lead to intensified use as a consequence of “incubation of craving”. In this ABC Talent project, we aim to elucidate the effects of a digital detox on social media use, and the underlying mechanisms of habit and craving. During and following a detox intervention, we will apply Ecological Momentary Assessment of self-reported craving and automaticity and relate this to duration and frequency of social media use. Additionally, we will conduct an fMRI investigation of the mechanisms underlying a digital detox.

Hoe houden we het nieuwe ‘normale’ gedrag van afstand houden en handen wassen vol nu de publieke ruimte steeds meer open gaat? De mens is een gewoontedier en dat moeten we niet uit het oog verliezen. Zie het artikel van Sanne op de UvA-FMG site: www.uva.nl

In de NRC editie van 25 maart geeft Martine Kamsma geeft tips voor gezond leven tijdens corona:
https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2020/03/25/hoe-je-thuis-toch-goed-voor-jezelf-kunt-zorgen-a3994877

Sanne obtained a replication grant from NWO to replicate the research by Lally et al. from 2010 into the time it takes for habits to form. The study by Lally et al. has been very influential, in science and in the media. The finding of median 66 days it took to form a new habit is often cited. The study will be replicated in four locations with a team of researchers (Jaap Murre, Lotte Brinkhof, Annette Horstmann, Paul Fletcher, Maik Bieleke, and Julia Schüler), on a larger sample, and the researchers hope to gain insight into how habits are formed.

By funding replication NWO wants to contribute to increasing the transparency of research and the quality of how results are reported. The funding instrument aims at cornerstone research that in the past formed the basis for follow-up research or have assumed an important place in education, policy-making or the public debate.

See: https://www.nwo.nl/en/news-and-events/news/2020/03/replication-studies-third-round-repetition-of-important-research.html

In this research, conducted during his PhD, Tim finds an intact ability to integrate action-outcome associations on specific and general PIT and goal-directed learning in patients with Alcohol Use Disorder.
The full article is available (open-access) at:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-61892-5

Sanne gave a lecture about the science of temptation and sticky habits to secondary school pupils who visited UvA for a day on the 5th of March 2020. The aim of the outreach event is to offer insight into what it is like to do research and study at the faculty of Social and Behavioral Sciences, UvA.

As part of a unique multidisciplinary research team, the Habit Lab is involved with one of the UMH projects, focussing on active and healthy aging. Under supervision of Prof. Richard Ridderinkhof (Dept. of Psychology – Developmental and Brain & Cognition), dr. Harm Krugers (SILS-CNS), Prof. Jaap Murre (Dept. of Psychology – Brain & Cognition) and dr. Sanne de Wit (Dept. Clinical Psychology, Habit Lab), Lotte Brinkhof will dedicate her PhD research to improving our understanding of the factors that affect healthy aging and resilience to stressful perturbations. The central part of this project concerns a network analysis, with the aim to find out which (and how) factors influence healthy aging and resilience to cope with (stressful) disruptions. These insights will then be used to develop and test personalized (preventive) interventions, specifically aimed at improving flexibility of behaviour and habit formation. As previous research has shown that people rely more and more on their habits as they age, it is expected that such interventions will be especially helpful in the elderly to promote the development of automatisms and thereby facilitate the achievement of goals. In addition, we will conduct translational studies (in rodents) to look at the direct influence of stressful perturbations on cognitive flexibility and habit formation during aging. This will help to understand and define the circumstances (and limitations) for optimal application of the interventions to stimulate habit formation. The ultimate goal: promoting healthy aging (in urban settings).

The newly founded Centre for Urban Mental Health  (UMH) aims to unravel the complexities behind mental health in urban environments and develop new intervention strategies. Research is aimed at understanding why some groups or individuals thrive in an urban setting, whereas others are vulnerable, get stuck and develop mental problems.

https://www.uva.nl/en/shared-content/zwaartepunten/en/urban-mental-health/urban-mental-health.html

Sanne gave a minilecture for the education supportive staff at UvA on how to adopt strategic planning strategies to resist tempting, unhealthy snacks.

For a summary of the event, see:
https://medewerker.uva.nl/fmg/content-secured/nieuws/2020/03/minicollege-sanne-de-wit.html

Tim obtained a KNAW Van der Gaag Grant to prof. John O’Doherty’s Human Reward and Decision-Making Lab at Caltech, California, USA. During his visit, he will analyze fMRI data that will be collected in the coming months, investigating the neural mechanisms underlying rapid habit formation using implementation intentions.