@article{WolffSandouqaBrand2016, author = {Wolff, Wanja and Sandouqa, Yaser and Brand, Ralf}, title = {Using, the simple sample count to estimate the frequency of prescription drug neuroenhancement in a sample of Jordan employees}, series = {International journal of drug policy}, volume = {31}, journal = {International journal of drug policy}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Amsterdam}, issn = {0955-3959}, doi = {10.1016/j.drugpo.2015.12.014}, pages = {51 -- 55}, year = {2016}, abstract = {Background: Epidemiological research indicates that the use of prescription drugs to enhance cognitive functioning is prevalent in Western countries, however, research on this phenomenon in Arab countries is lacking. Our study aimed to investigate the frequency of neuroenhancement (NE) using prescription drugs in a sample of employees in Jordan. Methods: A sample of 1186 employees (37.11 +/- 8.37 years old, 495 female), of whom 723 (35.65 +/- 7.53 years old, 396 female) served as teachers, completed a paper-pencil questionnaire. The single sample count technique (SSC) was used in order to secure confidential, self-reporting of prescription drug NE. Results: The 12-month prevalence of NE, estimated with the SSC was 15.43\%. At 26.16\%, the prevalence estimate was markedly higher in the subsample of teachers compared to non-teachers, 0.29\%. Surprisingly, 336 participants did not use the SSC and directly affirmed or denied prescription drug NE. These direct responses yielded a prevalence of 11.57\% for the full sample, 9.73\% for the teachers and 15.60\% for the non-teachers. Conclusion: This is the first study of the frequency of NE in an Arab sample. Results indicate that the use of prescription drug NE is not limited to Western countries and that teachers in Jordan might constitute a high-risk population. Further, participants seem to differ in their use of indirect estimation methods for reporting prescription drug NE. For future research, it might be useful to triangulate standard self reports and indirect estimation methods to assess NE. Possible cultural differences and specific high-risk populations for NE should be investigated further. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.}, language = {en} } @article{WolffSchindlerEnglertetal.2016, author = {Wolff, Wanja and Schindler, Sebastian and Englert, Christoph and Brand, Ralf and Kissler, Johanna}, title = {Uninstructed BIAT faking when ego depleted or in normal state: differential effect on brain and behavior}, series = {BMC neuroscience}, volume = {17}, journal = {BMC neuroscience}, publisher = {BioMed Central}, address = {London}, issn = {1471-2202}, doi = {10.1186/s12868-016-0249-8}, pages = {12}, year = {2016}, abstract = {Background: Deception can distort psychological tests on socially sensitive topics. Understanding the cerebral processes that are involved in such faking can be useful in detection and prevention of deception. Previous research shows that faking a brief implicit association test (BIAT) evokes a characteristic ERP response. It is not yet known whether temporarily available self-control resources moderate this response. We randomly assigned 22 participants (15 females, 24.23 +/- 2.91 years old) to a counterbalanced repeated-measurements design. Participants first completed a Brief-IAT (BIAT) on doping attitudes as a baseline measure and were then instructed to fake a negative doping attitude both when self-control resources were depleted and non-depleted. Cerebral activity during BIAT performance was assessed using high-density EEG. Conclusions: Results indicate that temporarily available self-control resources do not affect overt faking success on a BIAT. However, differences were found on an electrophysiological level. This indicates that while on a phenotypical level self-control resources play a negligible role in deliberate test faking the underlying cerebral processes are markedly different.}, language = {en} } @article{TimmeWolffEnglertetal.2022, author = {Timme, Sinika and Wolff, Wanja and Englert, Chris and Brand, Ralf}, title = {Tracking Self-Control - Task Performance and Pupil Size in a Go/No-Go Inhibition Task}, series = {Frontiers in Psychology}, volume = {13}, journal = {Frontiers in Psychology}, publisher = {Frontiers}, address = {Lausanne, Schweiz}, issn = {1664-1078}, doi = {10.3389/fpsyg.2022.915016}, pages = {11}, year = {2022}, abstract = {There is an ongoing debate about how to test and operationalize self-control. This limited understanding is in large part due to a variety of different tests and measures used to assess self-control, as well as the lack of empirical studies examining the temporal dynamics during the exertion of self-control. In order to track changes that occur over the course of exposure to a self-control task, we investigate and compare behavioral, subjective, and physiological indicators during the exertion of self-control. Participants completed both a task requiring inhibitory control (Go/No-Go task) and a control task (two-choice task). Behavioral performance and pupil size were measured during the tasks. Subjective vitality was measured before and after the tasks. While pupil size and subjective vitality showed similar trajectories in the two tasks, behavioral performance decreased in the inhibitory control-demanding task, but not in the control task. However, behavioral, subjective, and physiological measures were not significantly correlated. These results suggest that there is a disconnect between different measures of self-control with high intra- and interindividual variability. Theoretical and methodological implications for self-control theory and future empirical work are discussed.}, language = {en} } @article{WolffSchindlerBrand2015, author = {Wolff, Wanja and Schindler, Sebastian and Brand, Ralf}, title = {The Effect of Implicitly Incentivized Faking on Explicit and Implicit Measures of Doping Attitude: When Athletes Want to Pretend an Even More Negative Attitude to Doping}, series = {PLoS one}, volume = {10}, journal = {PLoS one}, number = {4}, publisher = {PLoS}, address = {San Fransisco}, issn = {1932-6203}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0118507}, pages = {10}, year = {2015}, abstract = {The Implicit Association Test (IAT) aims to measure participants' automatic evaluation of an attitude object and is useful especially for the measurement of attitudes related to socially sensitive subjects, e.g. doping in sports. Several studies indicate that IAT scores can be faked on instruction. But fully or semi-instructed research scenarios might not properly reflect what happens in more realistic situations, when participants secretly decide to try faking the test. The present study is the first to investigate IAT faking when there is only an implicit incentive to do so. Sixty-five athletes (22.83 years +/- 2.45; 25 women) were randomly assigned to an incentive-to-fake condition or a control condition. Participants in the incentive-to-fake condition were manipulated to believe that athletes with lenient doping attitudes would be referred to a tedious 45-minute anti-doping program. Attitudes were measured with the pictorial doping brief IAT (BIAT) and with the Performance Enhancement Attitude Scale (PEAS). A one-way MANOVA revealed significant differences between conditions after the manipulation in PEAS scores, but not in the doping BIAT. In the light of our hypothesis this suggests that participants successfully faked an exceedingly negative attitude to doping when completing the PEAS, but were unsuccessful in doing so on the reaction time-based test. This study assessed BIAT faking in a setting that aimed to resemble a situation in which participants want to hide their attempts to cheat. The two measures of attitude were differentially affected by the implicit incentive. Our findings provide evidence that the pictorial doping BIAT is relatively robust against spontaneous and naive faking attempts. (B) IATs might be less prone to faking than implied by previous studies.}, language = {en} } @article{WolffBrand2013, author = {Wolff, Wanja and Brand, Ralf}, title = {Subjective stressors in school and their relation to neuroenhancement: a behavioral perspective on students everyday life "doping"}, doi = {10.1186/1747-597X-8-23}, year = {2013}, language = {en} } @article{WolffBrand2013, author = {Wolff, Wanja and Brand, Ralf}, title = {Subjective stressors in school and their relation to neuroenhancement a behavioral perspective on students' everyday life "doping"}, series = {Substance abuse treatment, prevention, and policy}, volume = {8}, journal = {Substance abuse treatment, prevention, and policy}, publisher = {BioMed Central}, address = {London}, issn = {1747-597X}, doi = {10.1186/1747-597X-8-23}, pages = {6}, year = {2013}, abstract = {Background: The use of psychoactive substances to neuroenhance cognitive performance is prevalent. Neuroenhancement (NE) in everyday life and doping in sport might rest on similar attitudinal representations, and both behaviors can be theoretically modeled by comparable means-to-end relations (substance-performance). A behavioral (not substance-based) definition of NE is proposed, with assumed functionality as its core component. It is empirically tested whether different NE variants (lifestyle drug, prescription drug, and illicit substance) can be regressed to school stressors. Findings: Participants were 519 students (25.8 +/- 8.4 years old, 73.1\% female). Logistic regressions indicate that a modified doping attitude scale can predict all three NE variants. Multiple NE substance abuse was frequent. Overwhelming demands in school were associated with lifestyle and prescription drug NE. Conclusions: Researchers should be sensitive for probable structural similarities between enhancement in everyday life and sport and systematically explore where findings from one domain can be adapted for the other. Policy makers should be aware that students might misperceive NE as an acceptable means of coping with stress in school, and help to form societal sensitivity for the topic of NE among our younger ones in general.}, language = {en} } @article{WolffBaumgartenBrand2013, author = {Wolff, Wanja and Baumgarten, Franz and Brand, Ralf}, title = {Reduced self-control leads to disregard of an unfamiliar behavioral option: an experimental approach to the study of neuroenhancement}, doi = {10.1186/1747-597X-8-41}, year = {2013}, language = {en} } @article{WolffBaumgartenBrand2013, author = {Wolff, Wanja and Baumgarten, Franz and Brand, Ralf}, title = {Reduced self-control leads to disregard of an unfamiliar behavioral option - an experimental approach to the study of neuroenhancement}, series = {Substance abuse treatment, prevention, and policy}, volume = {8}, journal = {Substance abuse treatment, prevention, and policy}, number = {23}, publisher = {BioMed Central}, address = {London}, issn = {1747-597X}, doi = {10.1186/1747-597X-8-41}, pages = {6}, year = {2013}, abstract = {Background: Neuroenhancement (NE), the use of psychoactive substances in order to enhance a healthy individual's cognitive functioning from a proficient to an even higher level, is prevalent in student populations. According to the strength model of self-control, people fail to self-regulate and fall back on their dominant behavioral response when finite self-control resources are depleted. An experiment was conducted to test the hypothesis that ego-depletion will prevent students who are unfamiliar with NE from trying it. Findings: 130 undergraduates, who denied having tried NE before (43\% female, mean age = 22.76 +/- 4.15 years old), were randomly assigned to either an ego-depletion or a control condition. The dependent variable was taking an "energy-stick" (a legal nutritional supplement, containing low doses of caffeine, taurine and vitamin B), offered as a potential means of enhancing performance on the bogus concentration task that followed. Logistic regression analysis showed that ego-depleted participants were three times less likely to take the substance, OR = 0.37, p = .01. Conclusion: This experiment found that trying NE for the first time was more likely if an individual's cognitive capacities were not depleted. This means that mental exhaustion is not predictive for NE in students for whom NE is not the dominant response. Trying NE for the first time is therefore more likely to occur as a thoughtful attempt at self-regulation than as an automatic behavioral response in stressful situations. We therefore recommend targeting interventions at this inter-individual difference. Students without previous reinforcing NE experience should be provided with information about the possible negative health outcomes of NE. Reconfiguring structural aspects in the academic environment (e.g. lessening workloads) might help to deter current users.}, language = {en} } @article{BrandWolffHoyer2013, author = {Brand, Ralf and Wolff, Wanja and Hoyer, J{\"u}rgen}, title = {Psychological Symptoms and Chronic Mood in Representative Samples of Elite Student-Athletes, Deselected Student-Athletes and Comparison Students}, series = {School mental health : a multidisciplinary research and practice journal}, volume = {5}, journal = {School mental health : a multidisciplinary research and practice journal}, number = {3}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {New York}, issn = {1866-2625}, doi = {10.1007/s12310-012-9095-8}, pages = {166 -- 174}, year = {2013}, abstract = {Stress-levels experienced by school-aged elite athletes are pronounced, but data on their mental health status are widely lacking. In our study, we examined self-reported psychological symptoms and chronic mood. Data from a representative sample of 866 elite student-athletes (aged 12-15 years), enrolled in high-performance sport programming in German Elite Schools of Sport, were compared with data from 80 student-athletes from the same schools who have just been deselected from elite sport promotion, and from 432 age-and sex-matched non-sport students from regular schools (without such programming). Anxiety symptoms were least prevalent in female elite student-athletes. In male elite student-athletes, only symptoms of posttraumatic stress were less prevalent than in the other groups. Somatoform symptoms were generally more frequent in athletes, a trend that was significantly pronounced in deselected athletes. Deselected athletes showed an increased risk for psychological symptoms compared with both other groups. Regarding chronic mood, again deselected athletes showed less positive scores. While there was a trend toward high-performance sport being associated with better psychological health at least in girls, preventative programs should take into account that deselection from elite sport programming may be associated with specific risks for mental disorders.}, language = {en} } @article{EnglertWolff2015, author = {Englert, Chris and Wolff, Wanja}, title = {Neuroenhancement and the strength model of self-control}, series = {Frontiers in psychology}, volume = {6}, journal = {Frontiers in psychology}, publisher = {Frontiers Research Foundation}, address = {Lausanne}, issn = {1664-1078}, doi = {10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01425}, pages = {4}, year = {2015}, abstract = {Neuroenhancement (NE), the use of substances as a means to enhance performance, has garnered considerable scientific attention of late. While ethical and epidemiological publications on the topic accumulate, there is a lack of theory-driven psychological research that aims at understanding psychological drivers of NE. In this perspective article we argue that self-control strength offers a promising theory-based approach to further understand and investigate NE behavior. Using the strength model of self-control, we derive two theory-driven perspectives on NE-self-control research. First, we propose that individual differences in state/trait self-control strength differentially affect NE behavior based on one's individual experience of NE use. Building upon this, we outline promising research questions that (will) further elucidate our understanding of NE based on the strength model's propositions. Second, we discuss evidence indicating that popular NE substances (like Methylphenidate) may counteract imminent losses of self-control strength. We outline how further research on NE's effects on the ego-depletion effect may further broaden our understanding of the strength model of self-control.}, language = {en} }