NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL MECHANISMS OF PROCRASTINATION DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

The article presents the interpretation of procrastination as an integral personal construct consisting of psychosocial and biological substructures. The analysis of scientific literature has shown that the vast majority of scientists focus exclusively on the study of personal properties related to theindividual’s propensity to exhibit dilatory behaviors. At the same time, the authors note that the neuropsychological mechanisms that underlie the biological substructure of this construct remain insufficiently illuminated, and therefore the purpose of the scientific work is to describe them in detail.
The theoretical methods of analysis, synthesis, comparison, and generalization, systematization of scientific literature and results of researches on the problem of neuropsychological bases of procrastination are used in the work.
The biological structure of procrastination, as described in the article, functions at the neurophysiological and psychosomatic levels. The first level indicates the relationship between the manifestation of the parameter under study and the activity of different parts of the brain. First of all, the
tendency to procrastination is associated with changes in functional connections between structures located in the area of the ventromedial and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, as well as between the ventromedial node and the areas of the frontal lobes of the cerebral cortex, including the lower and middle lobes.
The psychosomatic level reflects the relationship between a person’s propensity for procrastination and his or her health. On the one hand, it is claimed that the deterioration of the physical well-being of a person prone to procrastination is mediated by two mechanisms: psycho-physiological
responses caused by stress and behavioral strategies focused on maintaining health. On the other hand, the deterioration of the procrastinator’s well-being may also be due to his tendency to delay lifestyle change when he is aware of bad habits. Theoretical analysis indicates the need for further empirical study of the neuropsychological mechanisms of procrastination in order to deepen understanding of the essence of this phenomenon.