TY - JOUR A1 - Schwarz, Wolfgang A1 - Eiselt, Anne-Kathrin T1 - The perception of temporal order along the mental number line N2 - R. Sekuler, P. Tynan, and E. Levinson (1973) found that when 2 characters are presented side-by-side with a short onset asynchrony, subjectively, they often appear in a "first-left, then-right" order. The authors of this article conducted 6 experiments in which observers judged the temporal order (TOJs) in which 2 digits were presented. They found a consistent TOJ benefit (larger d') when the numerically smaller digit was presented first, even though this semantic information was irrelevant to the task and unrelated to the correct response. They concluded that digits located to the left of the mental number line are transmitted faster to a central comparison stage, which represents an "internal counterpart" to the Sekuler et al. (1973) finding regarding external locations. A corresponding benefit is found for letters pairs (e.g., A-Z) and also for mixed digit-letter pairs (e.g., I-Z). Y1 - 2009 UR - http://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/xhp/index.aspx U6 - https://doi.org/10.1037/A0013703 SN - 0096-1523 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schmidt, Martin H. A1 - Esser, Günter A1 - Ihle, Wolfgang A1 - Lay, Barbara T1 - Die Bedeutung psychischer und familiärer Faktoren für die Delinquenzentwicklung bis ins Erwachsenenalter N2 - Es werden Befunde aus einer prospektiven Laengsschnittstudie praesentiert, in der 321 Probanden im Alter von 8, 13, 18 und 25 Jahren untersucht werden konnten; ihre Dunkelfelddelinquenz wurde mit 18 und 25 Jahren erfasst. Wir suchten nach Assoziationen zur Delinquenzentwicklung und erwarteten Unterschiede zwischen auf das Jugendalter beschraenkter gegenueber ins fruehe Erwachsenenalter fortgesetzter sowie spaet, d.h. nach dem Alter von 18 Jahren, beginnender Delinquenz. Wir fanden gemeinsame Risikofaktoren und fuer die drei Verlaufstypen spezifische Risikokonstellationen, die eher im Jugendalter als in der Kindheit identifiziert wurden. Widrige familiaere Bedingungen, Entwicklungsverzoegerungen und psychische Stoerungen scheinen mit Delinquenz als eher persistentem Verhalten assoziiert. Y1 - 2009 SN - 0026-9301 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Rolfs, Martin T1 - Microsaccades : small steps on a long way N2 - Contrary to common wisdom, fixations are a dynamically rich behavior, composed of continual, miniature eye movements, of which microsaccades are the most salient component. Over the last few years, interest in these small movements has risen dramatically, driven by both neurophysiological and psychophysical results and by advances in techniques, analysis, and modeling of eye movements. The field has a long history but a significant portion of the earlier work has gone missing in the current literature, in part, as a result of the collapse of the field in the 1980s that followed a series of discouraging results. The present review compiles 60 years of work demonstrating the unique contribution of microsaccades to visual and oculomotor function. Specifically, the review covers the contribution of microsaccades to (1) the control of fixation position, (2) the reduction of perceptual fading and the continuity of perception, (3) the generation of synchronized visual transients, (4) visual acuity, (5) scanning of small spatial regions, (6) shifts of spatial attention, (7) resolving perceptual ambiguities in the face of multistable perception, as well as several other functions. The accumulated evidence demonstrates that microsaccades serve both perceptual and oculomotor goals and although in some cases their contribution is neither necessary nor unique, microsaccades are a malleable tool conveniently employed by the visual system. Y1 - 2009 UR - http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00426989 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.visres.2009.08.010 SN - 0042-6989 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Romano, Maria Carmen A1 - Thiel, Marco A1 - Kurths, Jürgen A1 - Mergenthaler, Konstantin A1 - Engbert, Ralf T1 - Hypothesis test for synchronization : twin surrogates revisited N2 - The method of twin surrogates has been introduced to test for phase synchronization of complex systems in the case of passive experiments. In this paper we derive new analytical expressions for the number of twins depending on the size of the neighborhood, as well as on the length of the trajectory. This allows us to determine the optimal parameters for the generation of twin surrogates. Furthermore, we determine the quality of the twin surrogates with respect to several linear and nonlinear statistics depending on the parameters of the method. In the second part of the paper we perform a hypothesis test for phase synchronization in the case of experimental data from fixational eye movements. These miniature eye movements have been shown to play a central role in neural information processing underlying the perception of static visual scenes. The high number of data sets (21 subjects and 30 trials per person) allows us to compare the generated twin surrogates with the "natural" surrogates that correspond to the different trials. We show that the generated twin surrogates reproduce very well all linear and nonlinear characteristics of the underlying experimental system. The synchronization analysis of fixational eye movements by means of twin surrogates reveals that the synchronization between the left and right eye is significant, indicating that either the centers in the brain stem generating fixational eye movements are closely linked, or, alternatively that there is only one center controlling both eyes. Y1 - 2009 UR - http://ojps.aip.org/chaos/ U6 - https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3072784 SN - 1054-1500 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Pitzer, Martina A1 - Esser, Günter A1 - Schmidt, Martin H. A1 - Laucht, Manfred T1 - Temperamental predictors of externalizing problems among boys and girls : a longitudinal study in a high-risk sample from ages 3 months to 15 years N2 - In a high-risk community sample, we examined the role of regulative temperament and emotionality as well as the extent of gender specificity in the development of externalizing problems. 151 boys and 157 girls born at differing degrees of obstetric and psychosocial risk were followed from birth into adolescence. In infancy and childhood, NYLS- derived temperamental characteristics were assessed by a highly structured parent interview and standardized behavioral observations. At age 15 years, externalizing problems were measured by the Child Behavior Checklist. As revealed by multiple linear regression and logistic regression, low regulative abilities predicted adolescent behavioral and attentional problems over and above obstetric and psychosocial risks. Gender specificity was found in the strength of the association rather than in the kind with a stronger long-term prediction from infant and toddler temperament in girls. Compared to regulative abilities, temperament factors describing aspects of mood and fear/withdrawal versus approach tendencies played a minor role in the development of externalizing problems. Findings are discussed in terms of gender-specific risk factors and possible differential developmental trajectories to subtypes of disruptive behavior. Y1 - 2009 UR - http://www.springerlink.com/content/101492 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00406-009-0009-1 SN - 0940-1334 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schmid, Brigitte A1 - Blomeyer, Dorothea A1 - Becker, Katja A1 - Treutlein, Jens A1 - Zimmermann, Ulrich S. A1 - Buchmann, Arlette F. A1 - Schmidt, Martin H. A1 - Esser, Günter A1 - Banaschewski, Tobias A1 - Rietschel, Marcella A1 - Laucht, Manfred T1 - The interaction between the dopamine transporter gene and age at onset in relation to tobacco and alcohol use among 19-year-olds N2 - Recent evidence suggests that heterogeneity in the age at onset could explain the inconsistent findings of association studies relating the dopamine transporter (DAT1) gene with alcohol and nicotine consumption. The aim of this study was to examine interactions between two DAT1 polymorphisms and different initiation ages with regard to alcohol and tobacco consumption levels and dependence. Two hundred and ninety-one young adults (135 males, 156 females) participating in the Mannheim Study of Children at Risk were genotyped for the 40-bp variable number of tandem repeats (VNTR) and rs27072 polymorphisms of DAT1. Age at initiation was assessed at age 15 and 19 years. Information about current alcohol and tobacco consumption was obtained at age 19 years using self-report measures and structured interviews. Results suggest that age at onset of intensive consumption moderated the association of the DAT1 gene with early adult substance use and dependence, revealing a DAT1 effect only among individuals homozygous for the 10r allele of the 40-bp VNTR who had started daily smoking or being intoxicated early in life. Equally, carriers of the T allele of the rs27072 polymorphism reporting an early age at first intoxication showed higher current alcohol consumption at age 19 years. In contrast, no interaction between rs27072 and the age at first cigarette with regard to later smoking was observed. These findings provide evidence that the DAT1 gene interacts with an early heavy or regular drug exposure of the maturing adolescent brain to predict substance (ab)use in young adulthood. Further studies are required to confirm these findings. Y1 - 2009 UR - http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/issn?DESCRIPTOR=PRINTISSN&VALUE=1355-6215 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1369-1600.2009.00171.x SN - 1355-6215 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Besson, Stefanie A1 - Ihle, Wolfgang T1 - Depressive Störungen Y1 - 2009 SN - 978-3-8017-2257-9 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schultheiss, Oliver C. A1 - Yankova, Diana A1 - Dirlikov, Benjamin A1 - Schad, Daniel T1 - Are implicit and explicit motive measures statistically independent? : A fair and balanced test using the picture story exercise and a cue- and response-matched questionnaire measure N2 - Previous studies that have examined the relationship between implicit and explicit motive measures have consistently found little variance overlap between both types of measures regardless of thematic content domain (i.e., power, achievement, affiliation). However, this independence may be artifactual because the primary means of measuring implicit motivescontent-coding stories people write about picture cuesare incommensurable with the primary means of measuring explicit motives: having individuals fill out self-report scales. To provide a better test of the presumed independence between both types of measures, we measured implicit motives with a Picture Story Exercise (PSE; McClelland, Koestner, Weinberger, 1989) and explicit motives with a cue- and response-matched questionnaire version of the PSE (PSE-Q) and a traditional measure of explicit motives, the Personality Research Form (PRF; Jackson, 1984) in 190 research participants. Correlations between the PSE and the PSE-Q were small and mostly nonsignificant, whereas the PSE- Q showed significant variance overlap with the PRF within and across thematic domains. We conclude that the independence postulate holds even when more commensurable measures of implicit and explicit motives are used. Y1 - 2009 UR - http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~content=t775653663 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1080/00223890802484456 SN - 0022-3891 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wyschkon, Anne A1 - Kohn, Juliane A1 - Ballaschk, Katja A1 - Esser, Günter T1 - Sind Rechenstörungen genau so häufig wie Lese-Rechtschreibstörungen? N2 - Is a specific disorder of arithmetic skills as common as reading/spelling disorder?Background: Referring to the prevalence rates of learning disorders in the research literature, the numbers of mathematics disorder and reading/ spelling disorder are often reported to be identical. However, the correlation between intelligence level and reading/ spelling skills is much weaker than between intelligence and arithmetic skills. If the same definition criterion is applied to both disorders, a lower prevalence rate for mathematics disorder should be expected. Objective: Are there differences in the prevalence estimates for learning disorders depending on the definition criterion? Method: A large representative sample of German students (N = 1970) was used to review the hypothesis. Results: Depending on the definition criterion, we could show a prevalence range of mathematics disorder between 0.1% and 8.1% in the same sample. Using the same definition criterion for both learning disorders, there are two to three times as many students with reading/spelling disorder than those with mathematics disorder. Discussion: Whenever children with reading/spelling disorder are compared to children with mathematics disorder, the same definition criterion has to be applied. Y1 - 2009 UR - http://psycontent.metapress.com/content/1422-4917 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1024/1422-4917.37.6.499 SN - 1422-4917 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Straub, Hans-Beatus A1 - Haensch, Sylvana A1 - Ballaschk, Katja A1 - Esser, Günter T1 - The Brandenburg questionnaire for quality of life in epilepsy patients : a new, short and valid instrument Y1 - 2009 UR - http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/issn?DESCRIPTOR=PRINTISSN&VALUE=0013-9580 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1528-1167.2009.02156.x SN - 0013-9580 ER -