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Doping use in recreational sports is an emerging issue that has received limited attention so far in the psychological literature. The present study assessed the lifetime prevalence of controlled performance and appearance enhancing substances ( PAES), and used behavioral reasoning theory to identify the reasons for using and for avoiding using controlled PAES in young exercisers across five European countries, in the context of the "SAFE YOU" Project. Participants were 915 young amateur athletes and exercisers (M = 21.62; SD = 2.62) from Cyprus, Germany, Greece, Italy, and UK who completed an anonymous questionnaire that included measures of self-reported use of controlled PAES, as well as reasons for using and not using controlled PAES. The results of the descriptive analyses demonstrated that almost one out five exercisers in the sample had a previous experience with controlled PAES. Higher prevalence rates were found in Greece and Cyprus and lower in Italy. The most frequently reported reasons for using controlled PAES included achieving the desired results faster; pushing the self to the (physical) limits; and recovering faster after exercise/training. Furthermore, the most frequently reported reasons for not using controlled PAES involved worry about any possible adverse health effects; not feeling the need for using them; and wanting to see what can be achieved naturally without using any controlled PAES. The findings of the present study indicate that the use of controlled PAES is fast becoming a crisis in amateur sports and exercise settings and highlight the need for preventive action and concerted anti-doping education efforts.
Several series of presumed dual thermo-responsive diblock copolymers consisting of one non-ionic and one zwitterionic block were synthesized via consecutive reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization. For all copolymers, poly(N-isopropylmethacrylamide) was chosen as non-ionic block that shows a coil-to-globule collapse transition of the lower critical solution temperature (LCST) type. In contrast, the chemical structure of zwitterionic blocks, which all belonged to the class of poly(sulfobetaine methacrylate)s, was varied broadly, in order to tune their coil-to-globule collapse transition of the upper critical solution temperature (UCST) type. All polymers were labeled with a solvatochromic fluorescent end-group. The dual thermo-responsive behavior and the resulting multifarious temperature-dependent self-assembly in aqueous solution were mapped by temperature resolved turbidimetry, H-1 NMR spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering (DLS), and fluorescence spectroscopy. Depending on the relative positions between the UCST-type and LCST-type transition temperatures, as well as on the width of the window in-between, all the four possible modes of stimulus induced micellization can be realized. This includes classical induced micellization due to a transition from a double hydrophilic, or respectively, from a double hydrophobic to an amphiphilic state, as well as "schizophrenic" behavior, where the core- and shell-forming blocks are inverted. The exchange of the roles of the hydrophilic and hydrophobic block in the amphiphilic states is possible through a homogeneous intermediate state or a heterogeneous one. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
5-Jahres-Verlauf der LRS
(2017)
Fragestellung: Untersucht wird der Verlauf von Kindern mit Lese-Rechtschreibstörungen (LRS) über gut 5 Jahre unter Berücksichtigung des Einflusses des Geschlechts der Betroffenen. Außerdem werden Auswirkungen der LRS auf das spätere Schriftsprachniveau und den Schulerfolg überprüft. Methodik: Eingangs wurden 995 Schüler zwischen 6 und 16 Jahren untersucht. Ein Teil dieser Kinder ist nach 43 sowie 63 Monaten nachuntersucht worden. Eine LRS wurde diagnostiziert, wenn für das Lesen bzw. Rechtschreiben das doppelte Diskrepanzkriterium von 1.5 Standardabweichungen zur nonverbalen Intelligenz und dem Mittelwert der Klassenstufe erfüllt war und gleichzeitig keine Minderbegabung vorlag. Ergebnisse: Die LRS weist über einen Zeitraum von 63 Monaten eine hohe Störungspersistenz von knapp 70 % auf. Der 5-Jahres-Verlauf der mittleren Lese- und Rechtschreibleistungen wurde nicht vom Geschlecht beeinflusst. Trotz durchschnittlicher Intelligenz blieben die LRS-Schüler in der Schriftsprache mindestens eine Standardabweichung hinter durchschnittlich und etwa 0.5 Standardabweichungseinheiten hinter unterdurchschnittlich intelligenten Kindern zurück. Der Schulerfolg der LRS-Schüler glich dem unterdurchschnittlich intelligenter Kinder und fiel deutlich schlechter aus als bei durchschnittlich intelligenten Kontrollkindern. Schlussfolgerungen: Eine LRS stellt ein erhebliches Entwicklungsrisiko dar, was frühzeitige Diagnostik- und Therapiemaßnahmen erfordert. Dafür sind reliable und im Hinblick auf die resultierenden Prävalenzraten sinnvolle, allgemein anerkannte Diagnosekriterien essenziell.
fMRI studies of reward find increased neural activity in ventral striatum and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), whereas other regions, including the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (d1PFC), anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and anterior insula, are activated when anticipating aversive exposure. Although these data suggest differential activation during anticipation of pleasant or of unpleasant exposure, they also arise in the context of different paradigms (e.g., preparation for reward vs. threat of shock) and participants. To determine overlapping and unique regions active during emotional anticipation, we compared neural activity during anticipation of pleasant or unpleasant exposure in the same participants. Cues signalled the upcoming presentation of erotic/romantic, violent, or everyday pictures while BOLD activity during the 9-s anticipatory period was measured using fMRI. Ventral striatum and a ventral mPFC subregion were activated when anticipating pleasant, but not unpleasant or neutral, pictures, whereas activation in other regions was enhanced when anticipating appetitive or aversive scenes.
Recognizing, understanding, and responding to quantities are considerable skills for human beings. We can easily communicate quantities, and we are extremely efficient in adapting our behavior to numerical related tasks. One usual task is to compare quantities. We also use symbols like digits in numerical-related tasks. To solve tasks including digits, we must to rely on our previously learned internal number representations.
This thesis elaborates on the process of number comparison with the use of noisy mental representations of numbers, the interaction of number and size representations and how we use mental number representations strategically. For this, three studies were carried out.
In the first study, participants had to decide which of two presented digits was numerically larger. They had to respond with a saccade in the direction of the anticipated answer. Using only a small set of meaningfully interpretable parameters, a variant of random walk models is described that accounts for response time, error rate, and variance of response time for the full matrix of 72 digit pairs. In addition, the used random walk model predicts a numerical distance effect even for error response times and this effect clearly occurs in the observed data. In relation to corresponding correct answers error responses were systematically faster. However, different from standard assumptions often made in random walk models, this account required that the distributions of step sizes of the induced random walks be asymmetric to account for this asymmetry between correct and incorrect responses.
Furthermore, the presented model provides a well-defined framework to investigate the nature and scale (e.g., linear vs. logarithmic) of the mapping of numerical magnitude onto its internal representation. In comparison of the fits of proposed models with linear and logarithmic mapping, the logarithmic mapping is suggested to be prioritized.
Finally, we discuss how our findings can help interpret complex findings (e.g., conflicting speed vs. accuracy trends) in applied studies that use number comparison as a well-established diagnostic tool. Furthermore, a novel oculomotoric effect is reported, namely the saccadic overschoot effect. The participants responded by saccadic eye movements and the amplitude of these saccadic responses decreases with numerical distance.
For the second study, an experimental design was developed that allows us to apply the signal detection theory to a task where participants had to decide whether a presented digit was physically smaller or larger. A remaining question is, whether the benefit in (numerical magnitude – physical size) congruent conditions is related to a better perception than in incongruent conditions. Alternatively, the number-size congruency effect is mediated by response biases due to numbers magnitude. The signal detection theory is a perfect tool to distinguish between these two alternatives. It describes two parameters, namely sensitivity and response bias. Changes in the sensitivity are related to the actual task performance due to real differences in perception processes whereas changes in the response bias simply reflect strategic implications as a stronger preparation (activation) of an anticipated answer. Our results clearly demonstrate that the number-size congruency effect cannot be reduced to mere response bias effects, and that genuine sensitivity gains for congruent number-size pairings contribute to the number-size congruency effect.
Third, participants had to perform a SNARC task – deciding whether a presented digit was odd or even. Local transition probability of irrelevant attributes (magnitude) was varied while local transition probability of relevant attributes (parity) and global probability occurrence of each stimulus were kept constantly. Participants were quite sensitive in recognizing the underlying local transition probability of irrelevant attributes. A gain in performance was observed for actual repetitions of the irrelevant attribute in relation to changes of the irrelevant attribute in high repetition conditions compared to low repetition conditions. One interpretation of these findings is that information about the irrelevant attribute (magnitude) in the previous trial is used as an informative precue, so that participants can prepare early processing stages in the current trial, with the corresponding benefits and costs typical of standard cueing studies.
Finally, the results reported in this thesis are discussed in relation to recent studies in numerical cognition.
Research in cognitive neuroscience has shown that brain structures serving perceptual, emotional, and motor processes are also recruited during the understanding of language when it refers to emotion, perception, and action. However, the exact linguistic and extralinguistic conditions under which such language-induced activity in modality-specific cortex is triggered are not yet well understood. The purpose of this study is to introduce a simple experimental technique that allows for the online measure of language-induced activity in motor structures of the brain. This technique consists in the use of a grip force sensor that captures subtle grip force variations while participants listen to words and sentences. Since grip force reflects activity in motor brain structures, the continuous monitoring of force fluctuations provides a fine-grained estimation of motor activity across time. In other terms, this method allows for both localization of the source of language-induced activity to motor brain structures and high temporal resolution of the recorded data. To facilitate comparison of the data to be collected with this tool, we present two experiments that describe in detail the technical setup, the nature of the recorded data, and the analyses (including justification about the data filtering and artifact rejection) that we applied. We also discuss how the tool could be used in other domains of behavioral research.
Defensive behaviors in animals and humans vary dynamically with increasing proximity of a threat and depending upon the behavioral repertoire at hand. The current study investigated physiological and behavioral adjustments and associated brain activation when participants were exposed to dynamically approaching threat that was either inevitable or could be avoided by motor action. When the approaching threat was inevitable, attentive freezing was observed as indicated by fear bradycardia, startle potentiation, and a dynamic increase in activation of the anterior insula and the periaqueductal grey. In preparation for active avoidance a switch in defensive behavior was observed characterized by startle inhibition and heart rate acceleration along with potentiated activation of the amygdala and the periaqueductal grey. Importantly, the modulation of defensive behavior according to threat imminence and the behavioral option at hand was associated with activity changes in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex. These findings improve our understanding of brain mechanisms guiding human behavior during approaching threat depending on available resources.
This article introduces a new theory, the Affective-Reflective Theory (ART) of physical inactivity and exercise. ART aims to explain and predict behavior in situations in which people either remain in a state of physical inactivity or initiate action (exercise). It is a dual-process model and assumes that exercise-related stimuli trigger automatic associations and a resulting automatic affective valuation of exercise (type-1 process). The automatic affective valuation forms the basis for the reflective evaluation (type-2 process), which can follow if self-control resources are available. The automatic affective valuation is connected with an action impulse, whereas the reflective evaluation can result in action plans. The two processes, in constant interaction, direct the individual towards or away from changing behavior. The ART of physical inactivity and exercise predicts that, when there is an affective-reflective discrepancy and self-control resources are low, behavior is more likely to be governed by the affective type-1 process. This introductory article explains the underlying concepts and main theoretical roots from which the ART of physical inactivity and exercise was developed (field theory, affective responses to exercise, automatic evaluation, evaluation-behavior link, dual-process theorizing). We also summarize the empirical tests that have been conducted to refine the theory in its present form.
Age-related decline in executive functions and postural control due to degenerative processes in the central nervous system have been related to increased fall-risk in old age. Many studies have shown cognitive-postural dual-task interference in old adults, but research on the role of specific executive functions in this context has just begun. In this study, we addressed the question whether postural control is impaired depending on the coordination of concurrent response-selection processes related to the compatibility of input and output modality mappings as compared to impairments related to working-memory load in the comparison of cognitive dual and single tasks. Specifically, we measured total center of pressure (CoP) displacements in healthy female participants aged 19-30 and 66-84 years while they performed different versions of a spatial one-back working memory task during semi-tandem stance on an unstable surface (i.e., balance pad) while standing on a force plate. The specific working-memory tasks comprised: (i) modality compatible single tasks (i.e., visual-manual or auditory-vocal tasks), (ii) modality compatible dual tasks (i.e., visual-manual and auditory-vocal tasks), (iii) modality incompatible single tasks (i.e., visual-vocal or auditory-manual tasks), and (iv) modality incompatible dual tasks (i.e., visual-vocal and auditory-manual tasks). In addition, participants performed the same tasks while sitting. As expected from previous research, old adults showed generally impaired performance under high working-memory load (i.e., dual vs. single one-back task). In addition, modality compatibility affected one-back performance in dual-task but not in single-task conditions with strikingly pronounced impairments in old adults. Notably, the modality incompatible dual task also resulted in a selective increase in total CoP displacements compared to the modality compatible dual task in the old but not in the young participants. These results suggest that in addition to effects of working-memory load, processes related to simultaneously overcoming special linkages between input-and output modalities interfere with postural control in old but not in young female adults. Our preliminary data provide further evidence for the involvement of cognitive control processes in postural tasks.
For the processing of goal-directed actions, some accounts emphasize the importance of experience with the action or the agent. Other accounts stress the importance of agency cues. We investigated the impact of agency cues on 11-month-olds’ and adults’ goal anticipation for a grasping-action performed by a mechanical claw. With an eyetracker, we measured anticipations in two conditions, where the claw was displayed either with or without agency cues. In two experiments, 11-month-olds were predictive when agency cues were present, but reactive when no agency cues were presented. Adults were predictive in both conditions. Furthermore, 11-month-olds rapidly learned to predict the goal in the agency condition, but not in the mechanical condition. Adults’ predictions did not change across trials in the agency condition, but decelerated in the mechanical condition. Thus, agency cues and own action experience are important for infants’ and adults’ online processing of goal-directed actions by non-human agents.
The all-female Amazon molly (Poecilia formosa) is the result of a hybridization of the Atlantic molly (P. mexicana) and the sailfin molly (P. latipinna) approximately 120,000 years ago. As a gynogenetic species, P. formosa needs to copulate with heterospecific males including males from one of its bisexual ancestral species. However, the sperm only triggers embryo genesis of the diploid eggs. The genetic information of the sperm donor typically will not contribute to the next generation of P. formosa. Hence, P. formosa possesses generally one allele from each of its ancestral species at any genetic locus. This raises the question whether both ancestral alleles are equally expressed in P. formosa. Allele-specific expression (ASE) has been previously assessed in various organisms, e.g., human and fish, and ASE was found to be important in the context of phenotypic variability and disease. In this study, we utilized Real-Time PCR techniques to estimate ASE of the androgen receptor alpha (ara) gene in several distinct tissues of Amazon mollies. We found an allelic bias favoring the maternal ancestor (P. mexicana) allele in ovarian tissue. This allelic bias was not observed in the gill or the brain tissue. Sequencing of the promoter regions of both alleles revealed an association between an Indel in a known CpG island and differential expression. Future studies may reveal whether our observed cis-regulatory divergence is caused by an ovary-specific trans-regulatory element, preferentially activating the allele of the maternal ancestor.
Researchers have made many approaches to study the complexities of the mammalian taste system; however molecular mechanisms of taste processing in the early structures of the central taste pathway remain unclear. More recently the Arc catFISH (cellular compartment analysis of temporal activity by fluorescent in situ hybridisation) method has been used in our lab to study neural activation following taste stimulation in the first central structure in the taste pathway, the nucleus of the solitary tract. This method uses the immediate early gene Arc as a neural activity marker to identify taste-responsive neurons. Arc plays a critical role in memory formation and is necessary for conditioned taste aversion memory formation. In the nucleus of the solitary tract only bitter taste stimulation resulted in increased Arc expression, however this did not occur following stimulation with tastants of any other taste quality. The primary target for gustatory NTS neurons is the parabrachial nucleus (PbN) and, like Arc, the PbN plays an important role in conditioned taste aversion learning.
The aim of this thesis is to investigate Arc expression in the PbN following taste stimulation to elucidate the molecular identity and function of Arc expressing, taste- responsive neurons. Naïve and taste-conditioned mice were stimulated with tastants from each of the five basic taste qualities (sweet, salty, sour, umami, and bitter), with additional bitter compounds included for comparison. The expression patterns of Arc and marker genes were analysed using in situ hybridisation (ISH). The Arc catFISH method was used to observe taste-responsive neurons following each taste stimulation. A double fluorescent in situ hybridisation protocol was then established to investigate possible neuropeptide genes involved in neural responses to taste stimulation.
The results showed that bitter taste stimulation induces increased Arc expression in the PbN in naïve mice. This was not true for other taste qualities. In mice conditioned to find an umami tastant aversive, subsequent umami taste stimulation resulted in an increase in Arc expression similar to that seen in bitter-stimulated mice. Taste-responsive Arc expression was denser in the lateral PbN than the medial PbN. In mice that received two temporally separated taste stimulations, each stimulation time-point showed a distinct population of Arc-expressing neurons, with only a small population (10 – 18 %) of neurons responding to both stimulations. This suggests that either each stimulation event activates a different population of neurons, or that Arc is marking something other than simple cellular activation, such as long-term cellular changes that do not occur twice within a 25 minute time frame. Investigation using the newly established double-FISH protocol revealed that, of the bitter-responsive Arc expressing neuron population: 16 % co-expressed calcitonin RNA; 17 % co-expressed glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor RNA; 17 % co-expressed hypocretin receptor 1 RNA; 9 % co-expressed gastrin-releasing peptide RNA; and 20 % co-expressed neurotensin RNA. This co-expression with multiple different neuropeptides suggests that bitter-activated Arc expression mediates multiple neural responses to the taste event, such as taste aversion learning, suppression of food intake, increased heart rate, and involves multiple brain structures such as the lateral hypothalamus, amygdala, bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, and the thalamus.
The increase in Arc-expression suggests that bitter taste stimulation, and umami taste stimulation in umami-averse animals, may result in an enhanced state of Arc- dependent synaptic plasticity in the PbN, allowing animals to form taste-relevant memories to these aversive compounds more readily. The results investigating neuropeptide RNA co- expression suggest the amygdala, bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, and thalamus as possible targets for bitter-responsive Arc-expressing PbN neurons.
The purpose of the project was to develop the Discounting Inventory (DI), a measure of individual differences in delay, probability, effort, and social discounting, all related to behavioral impulsivity. Over 400 items relating to four types of discounting were generated. Next, a study followed by a series of psychometric analyses of data obtained from a group of 2843 individuals was conducted. Principal Component Analysis yielded a four-factor structure of data, reflecting the four types of discounting. The results of Confirmatory Factor Analysis showed good fit of the four-factor model to data. Through several iterations of retaining and deleting items on the basis of their component loadings, item intercorrelations, and contribution to coefficient alphas, the total number of items was reduced to 48. The final 48-item version of the inventory has satisfactory psychometric characteristics, including Cronbach's alpha and test-retest stability. In addition, significant correlations were observed between the DI and traditional discounting instruments, suggesting that the DI measures a construct similar to the behavioral discounting process. The development of the tool was based on the assumption that discounting is a personality trait. However, the present data suggest that discounting may reflect more a state than trait function.
Battle of plates
(2017)
Objective: Approach-avoidance training (AAT) is a promising approach in obesity treatment. The present study examines whether an AAT is feasible and able to influence approach tendencies in children and adolescents, comparing implicit and explicit training approaches. Design/Setting/Subjects: Fifty-nine overweight children and adolescents (aged 8-16 years; twenty-six boys) participated in an AAT for food cues, learning to reject snack items and approach vegetable items. Reaction times in the AAT and an implicit association rest (IAT) were assessed pre- and post-intervention. Results: A significant increase in the AAT compatibility scores with a large effect (eta(2) = 0.18) was found. No differences between the implicit and explicit training approaches and no change in the IAT scores were observed. Conclusions: Automatic tendencies in children can be trained, too. The implementation of AAT in the treatment of obesity might support the modification of an unhealthy nutrition behaviour pattern. Further data from randomized controlled clinical trials are needed.
Postpartale Depressionen sind häufige und schwerwiegende psychische Erkrankungen mit ungünstigem Einfluss auf die kindliche Entwicklung. Als Haupttransmissionsweg gilt die frühe Mutter-Kind-Interaktion. Über die langfristigen Auswirkungen auf die Kinder im Erwachsenenalter und die Rolle der Interaktion liegen kaum Ergebnisse vor. Im Rahmen der Mannheimer Risikokinderstudie wurden postpartale Depressionen bis zwei Jahre nach der Geburt erfasst. Die kindliche Entwicklung wurde fortlaufend und die Mutter-Kind-Interaktion im Alter von 3 Monaten standardisiert erhoben. 28 Kinder postpartal depressiver und 107 Kinder gesunder Mütter konnten mit 25 Jahren untersucht werden. Beeinträchtigungen der kognitiven und psychischen Entwicklung bei Kindern postpartal depressiver Mütter waren bis ins Erwachsenenalter nachweisbar. Responsives bzw. sensitives mütterliches Verhalten wirkte der negativen Entwicklung entgegen. Dies betont die Bedeutung einer hohen Qualität der Mutter-Kind-Interaktion für die Entwicklung von Risikokindern.
Postpartale Depressionen sind häufige und schwerwiegende psychische Erkrankungen mit ungünstigem Einfluss auf die kindliche Entwicklung. Als Haupttransmissionsweg gilt die frühe Mutter-Kind-Interaktion. Über die langfristigen Auswirkungen auf die Kinder im Erwachsenenalter und die Rolle der Interaktion liegen kaum Ergebnisse vor. Im Rahmen der Mannheimer Risikokinderstudie wurden postpartale Depressionen bis zwei Jahre nach der Geburt erfasst. Die kindliche Entwicklung wurde fortlaufend und die Mutter-Kind-Interaktion im Alter von 3 Monaten standardisiert erhoben. 28 Kinder postpartal depressiver und 107 Kinder gesunder Mütter konnten mit 25 Jahren untersucht werden. Beeinträchtigungen der kognitiven und psychischen Entwicklung bei Kindern postpartal depressiver Mütter waren bis ins Erwachsenenalter nachweisbar. Responsives bzw. sensitives mütterliches Verhalten wirkte der negativen Entwicklung entgegen. Dies betont die Bedeutung einer hohen Qualität der Mutter-Kind-Interaktion für die Entwicklung von Risikokindern.
Academic personal initiative (API) has rarely been studied with regard to literacy development. The purpose of this longitudinal study was therefore to examine the unique effects of API on the development of word comprehension as an indicator of word reading. To this end, the effects of previous word comprehension, intrinsic reading motivation, and basic cognitive ability (i.e., processing speed) were controlled for. A total of 1,515 German students participated in a longitudinal assessment starting in Grades 1 to 3, with a second point of measurement nine months later. Latent change score analyses revealed positive associations between API and gains in word comprehension, both in the total sample and at all grade levels. These relations were robust against the effects of previous word comprehension and intrinsic reading motivation. The findings suggest that children play an active role in their own reading development. (C) 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Research in legal decision making has demonstrated the tendency to blame the victim and exonerate the perpetrator of sexual assault. This study examined the hypothesis of a special leniency bias in rape cases by comparing them to cases of robbery. N = 288 participants received descriptions of rape and robbery of a female victim by a male perpetrator and made ratings of victim and perpetrator blame. Case scenarios varied with respect to the prior relationship (strangers, acquaintances, ex-partners) and coercive strategy (force vs. exploiting victim intoxication). More blame was attributed to the victim and less blame was attributed to the perpetrator for rape than for robbery. Information about a prior relationship between victim and perpetrator increased ratings of victim blame and decreased perceptions of perpetrator blame in the rape cases, but not in the robbery cases. The findings support the notion of a special leniency bias in sexual assault cases.
Child regulative temperament as a mediator of parenting in the development of depressive symptoms
(2017)
Child temperament as well as parenting behaviors have been linked to adolescent depression. Beyond their main effects, the interplay between these factors is of interest. For example, in an interactive model, a differential susceptibility of temperamental variants to parenting has been suggested. However, so far, the differential susceptibility hypothesis has mostly been studied with a focus on externalizing disorders. On the other hand, parenting may shape the child’s temperament and vice versa in a transactional process. In a prospective, longitudinal at-risk sample (163 boys, 176 girls), we assessed emotional (easy–difficult) and regulative (self-control) temperament at ages 4.5, and 8 years, respectively, as well as parenting quality at age 4.5 years using the HOME inventory. Hierarchical linear regression analysis was used to investigate the prediction of depressive symptoms at age 11, measured by the Child Depression Inventory, including interaction terms between the temperament variable and parenting. We additionally tested whether parenting was mediated by child temperament. As previously reported, both self-control and parenting were longitudinally associated with preadolescent depressive symptoms. There were no interactive effects between temperament and parenting. However, the effects of parenting were partly mediated by self-control. Our data do not support a differential susceptibility of temperamental variants in the development of preadolescent depression. However, our results are in line with the assumption that parenting may shape young children’s temperament, with positive parenting in the early childhood fostering the development of regulative temperament.
Childhood adversity plays an important role for development of major depressive disorder (MDD). There are differences in subcortical brain structures between patients with MDD and healthy controls, but the specific impact of childhood adversity on such structures in MDD remains unclear. Thus, aim of the present study was to investigate whether childhood adversity is associated with subcortical volumes and how it interacts with a diagnosis of MDD and sex. Within the ENIGMA-MDD network, nine university partner sites, which assessed childhood adversity and magnetic resonance imaging in patients with MDD and controls, took part in the current joint mega-analysis. In this largest effort world-wide to identify subcortical brain structure differences related to childhood adversity, 3036 participants were analyzed for subcortical brain volumes using FreeSurfer. A significant interaction was evident between childhood adversity, MDD diagnosis, sex, and region. Increased exposure to childhood adversity was associated with smaller caudate volumes in females independent of MDD. All subcategories of childhood adversity were negatively associated with caudate volumes in females - in particular emotional neglect and physical neglect (independently from age, ICV, imaging site and MDD diagnosis). There was no interaction effect between childhood adversity and MDD diagnosis on subcortical brain volumes. Childhood adversity is one of the contributors to brain structural abnormalities. It is associated with subcortical brain abnormalities that are relevant to psychiatric disorders such as depression. (C) 2016 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Background: There is an increasing awareness of the impact of parental risk perception on the weight course of the child and the parent's readiness to engage in preventive efforts, but only less is known about factors related to the parental perception of the right time for the implementation of preventive activities. The aim of this study was to examine parental perceptions of the appropriate time to engage in child weight management strategies, and the factors associated with different weight points at which mothers recognize the need for preventive actions.
Methods: 352 mothers with children aged 2-10 years took part in the study. We assessed mothers' perceptions of the actual and preferred weight status of their child, their ability to identify overweight and knowledge of its associated health risks, as well as perceptions of the right time for action to prevent overweight in their child. A regression analysis was conducted to examine whether demographic and weight related factors as well as the maternal general risk perception were associated with recognizing the need to implement prevention strategies.
Results: Although most of the parents considered a BMI in the 75th to 90th percentile a valid reason to engage in the prevention of overweight, 19% of the mothers were not willing to engage in prevention until their child reached the 97th percentile. Whereas the child's sex and the identification of an elevated BMI were significant predictors for parents' recognition of the 75th percentile as right point to engage in prevention efforts, an inability to recognize physical health risks associated with overweight silhouettes emerged as a significant factor predicting which parents would delay prevention efforts until a child's BMI reached the 97th percentile.
Conclusion: Parental misperceptions of overweight and associated health risks constitute unfavorable conditions for preventive actions. Feedback on the health risks associated with overweight could help increase maternal readiness for change.
Breaking Continuous Flash Suppression (bCFS) has been adopted as an appealing means to study human visual awareness, but the literature is beclouded by inconsistent and contradictory results. Although previous reviews have focused chiefly on design pitfalls and instances of false reasoning, we show in this study that the choice of analysis pathway can have severe effects on the statistical output when applied to bCFS data. Using a representative dataset designed to address a specific controversy in the realm of language processing under bCFS, namely whether psycholinguistic variables affect access to awareness, we present a range of analysis methods based on real instances in the published literature, and indicate how each approach affects the perceived outcome. We provide a summary of published bCFS studies indicating the use of data transformation and trimming, and highlight that more compelling analysis methods are sparsely used in this field. We discuss potential interpretations based on both classical and more complex analyses, to highlight how these differ. We conclude that an adherence to openly available data and analysis pathways could provide a great benefit to this field, so that conclusions can be tested against multiple analyses as standard practices are updated.
This study addressed the role of elementary school teachers' classroom management and mastery-oriented instructional practices as mediators of the effects of teacher motivation on student motivation. The sample comprised 110 teacher-class pairs (1731 students). The results from multilevel regression analyses revealed that teacher educational interest contributed to student reports of teachers' instructional practices. These practices, in turn, were significant predictors of students' subject interest and mastery goals at both the student and the class level. Finally, teacher educational interest showed significant and substantial indirect relations to student motivation that were mediated by teachers’ instructional practices.
Diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer is a very emotionally aversive and stressful life event, which can lead to impaired cognitive functioning and mental health. Breast cancer survivors responding with repressive emotion regulation strategies often show less adaptive coping and adverse outcomes. We investigated cognitive functioning and neural correlates of emotion processing using ERPs. Self-report measures of depression, anxiety, and fatigue, as well as hair cortisol as an index of chronic stress, were assessed. Twenty breast cancer survivors (BCS) and 31 carefully matched healthy controls participated in the study. After neuropsychological testing and subjective assessments, participants viewed 30 neutral, 30 unpleasant, and 30 pleasant pictures, and ERPs were recorded. Recognition memory was tested 1 week later. BCS reported stronger complaints about cognitive impairments and more symptoms of depression, anxiety, and fatigue. Moreover, they showed elevated hair cortisol levels. Except for verbal memory, cognitive functioning was predominantly in the normative range. Recognition memory performance was decreased in cancer survivors, especially for emotional contents. In ERPs, survivors showed smaller late positive potential amplitudes for unpleasant pictures relative to controls in a later time window, which may indicate less elaborative processing of this material. Taken together, we found cognitive impairments in BCS in verbal memory, impaired emotional picture memory accuracy, and reduced neural activity when breast cancer survivors were confronted with unpleasant materials. Further studies and larger sample sizes, however, are needed to evaluate the relationship between altered emotion processing and reduced memory in BCS in order to develop new treatment strategies.
Objective: Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) has been shown to be effective in treating hypochondriasis. However, there are doubts regarding the long-term effectiveness of CBT for hypochondriasis, in particular for follow-up periods longer than 1 year. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the long-term effectiveness of cognitive therapy (CT) and exposure therapy (ET) for the treatment of hypochondriasis. Method: Seventy-five patients with a diagnosis of hypochondriasis who were previously treated with CT or ET were contacted 3 years after treatment. Fifty (67%) patients participated and were interviewed by an independent and blinded diagnostician using standardized interviews. Results: We found further improvements after therapy in primary outcome measures (d = .37), general functioning (d = .38), and reduced doctor visits (d = .30) during the naturalistic follow-up period. At the 3-year follow-up, 72% of the patients no longer fulfilled the diagnosis of hypochondriasis. Based on the main outcome measure, we found response rates of 76% and remission rates of 68%. At follow-up, only 4% of patients were taking antidepressant medication. Additional psychological treatment was utilized by 18% of the patients during the follow-up period (only 8% because of health anxiety). We found no overall differences between CT and ET. Only a trend for a greater deterioration rate in CT (13%) in comparison to ET (0%) was found. Conclusions: Our results suggest that 2/3 of the patients with hypochondriasis were remitted in the long term. Thus, remission rates after CBT were twice as high as in untreated samples.
The aim of our study was to examine the extent to which linguistic approaches to sentence comprehension deficits in aphasia can account for differential impairment patterns in the comprehension of wh-questions in bilingual persons with aphasia (PWA). We investigated the comprehension of subject and object wh-questions in both Turkish, a wh-in-situ language, and German, a wh-fronting language, in two bilingual PWA using a sentence-to-picture matching task. Both PWA showed differential impairment patterns in their two languages. SK, an early bilingual PWA, had particular difficulty comprehending subject which-questions in Turkish but performed normal across all conditions in German. CT, a late bilingual PWA, performed more poorly for object which-questions in German than in all other conditions, whilst in Turkish his accuracy was at chance level across all conditions. We conclude that the observed patterns of selective cross-linguistic impairments cannot solely be attributed either to difficulty with wh-movement or to problems with the integration of discourse-level information. Instead our results suggest that differences between our PWA’s individual bilingualism profiles (e.g. onset of bilingualism, premorbid language dominance) considerably affected the nature and extent of their impairments.
Using two clinical samples of patients, the presented studies examined the construct validity of the recently revised Anxiety Sensitivity Index-3 (ASI-3). Confirmatory factor analyses established a clear three-factor structure that corresponds to the postulated subdivision of the construct into correlated somatic, social, and cognitive components. Participants with different primary clinical diagnoses differed from each other on the ASI-3 subscales in theoretically meaningful ways. Specifically, the ASI-3 successfully discriminated patients with anxiety disorders from patients with nonanxiety disorders. Moreover, patients with panic disorder or agoraphobia manifested more somatic concerns than patients with other anxiety disorders and patients with nonanxiety disorders. Finally, correlations of the ASI-3 scales with other measures of clinical symptoms and negative affect substantiated convergent and discriminant validity. Substantial positive correlations were found between the ASI-3 Somatic Concerns and body vigilance, between Social Concerns and fear of negative evaluation and socially inhibited behavior, and between Cognitive Concerns and depression symptoms, anxiety, fear of negative evaluation, and subjective complaints. Moreover, Social Concerns correlated negatively with dominant and intrusive behavior. Results are discussed with respect to the contribution of the ASI-3 to the assessment of anxiety-related disorders.
The illness-related evaluation of bodily symptoms is considered to be an important maintaining factor in somatoform disorders. However, little is known about context variables that could influence this evaluation process. In the current study, participants completed three versions of the Health Norms Sorting Task (HNST) and evaluated bodily symptoms in different contexts (i.e., different evaluation perspectives and time frames of evaluation). Additionally, the three HNST versions were presented in different orders. Bodily symptoms were evaluated more often as a sign of illness when a specific time frame (i.e., one week) was given. However, this context effect was only large when participants had previously evaluated symptoms existing without a concrete duration. Thus, previously completed symptom evaluations appear to represent an important frame of reference in terms of a cue that makes specific context variables salient. The results further suggested that these cueing effects might be less relevant for participants with elevated somatic symptom reports.
In assessing adolescent behavior difficulties, parents, teachers, and the adolescents themselves are key informants. However, substantial disagreement has been found between informants. Specifically, children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) tend to overestimate their competencies, also known as "positive (illusionary) bias." This study compared parent, teacher, and adolescent ratings of ADHD and other behavioral symptoms in a sample of 114 adolescents with ADHD. Further, the effect of cross-informant disagreement (CID) on treatment outcomes was investigated in a subsample of 54 adolescents who had undergone a training and coaching intervention. Overall, there was moderate agreement among informants. Parent and adolescent ratings were more strongly correlated with each other than with teacher ratings. The strongest discrepancy was found between teacher and adolescent ratings on prosocial behavior. This discrepancy explained 12% of the variance in parent-rated ADHD symptom severity after the intervention. The treatment was less effective in participants with high teacher-adolescent disagreement on prosocial behavior (d = 0.41) than with low disagreement (d = 0.98). These findings suggest that professionals working with adolescents with ADHD should consider multiple sources of information before initiating treatment and pay attention to cross-informant disagreements because these may indicate a risk of diminished treatment effects.
A crucial question facing cognitive science concerns the nature of conceptual representations as well as the constraints on the interactions between them. One specific question we address in this paper is what makes cross-representational interplay possible? We offer two distinct theoretical scenarios: according to the first scenario, co-activated knowledge representations interact with the help of an interface established between them via congruent activation in a mediating third-party general cognitive mechanism, e.g., attention. According to the second scenario, co-activated knowledge representations interact due to an overlap between their features, for example when they share a magnitude component. First, we make a case for cross representational interplay based on grounded and situated theories of cognition. Second, we discuss interface-based interactions between distinct (i.e., non-overlapping) knowledge representations. Third, we discuss how co-activated representations may share their architecture via partial overlap. Finally, we outline constraints regarding the flexibility of these proposed mechanisms.
The goal of this study was to determine the prevalence of depression and its risk factors in patients with late-onset rheumatoid arthritis (RA) treated in German primary care practices. Longitudinal data from general practices (n=1072) throughout Germany were analyzed. Individuals initially diagnosed with RA (2009-2013) were identified, and 7301 patients were included and matched (1:1) to 7301 controls. The primary outcome measure was the initial diagnosis of depression within 5 years after the index date in patients with and without RA. Cox proportional hazards models were used to adjust for confounders. The mean age was 72.2 years (SD: 7.6 years). A total of 34.9 % of patients were men. Depression diagnoses were present in 22.0 % of the RA group and 14.3 % of the control group after a 5-year follow-up period (p < 0.001). In the multivariate regression model, RA was a strong risk factor for the development of depression (HR: 1.55, p < 0.001). There was significant interaction of RA and diagnosed inflammatory polyarthropathies (IP) (RA*IP interaction: p < 0.001). Furthermore, dementia, cancer, osteoporosis, hypertension, and diabetes were associated with a higher risk of developing depression (p values < 0.001). The risk of depression is significantly higher in patients with late-onset RA than in patients without RA for subjects treated in primary care practices in Germany. RA patients should be screened routinely for depression in order to ensure improved treatment and management.
This longitudinal study investigated patterns of developmental problems across depression, aggression, and academic achievement during adolescence, using two measurement points two years apart (N = 1665; age T1: M = 13.14; female = 49.6%). Latent Profile Analyses and Latent Transition Analyses yielded four main findings: A three-type solution provided the best fit to the data: an asymptomatic type (i.e., low problem scores in all three domains), a depressed type (i.e., high scores in depression), an aggressive type (i.e., high scores in aggression). Profile types were invariant over the two data waves but differed between girls and boys, revealing gender specific patterns of comorbidity. Stabilities over time were high for the asymptomatic type and for types that represented problems in one domain, but moderate for comorbid types. Differences in demographic variables (i.e., age, socio-economic status) and individual characteristics (i.e., self-esteem, dysfunctional cognitions, cognitive capabilities) predicted profile type memberships and longitudinal transitions between types.
Die langfristigen Auswirkungen von Frühgeburtlichkeit auf kognitive Entwicklung und Schulerfolg
(2017)
In einer prospektiven Längsschnittstudie wurde der Zusammenhang zwischen früher Responsivität der Mutter und kognitiver Entwicklung ihrer früh- bzw. reifgeborenen Kinder untersucht. Im Alter von drei Monaten wurde dafür die Mutter-Kind-Interaktion mittels Verhaltensbeobachtung erfasst. Bei n=351 der teilnehmenden Kinder (101 frühgeboren) wurde die allgemeine Intelligenz (IQ) im Alter von 11 Jahren und bei n=313 (85 frühgeboren) zusätzlich der höchste erreichte Schulabschluss bis 25 Jahren erhoben. Frühgeborene wiesen mit 11 Jahren einen signifikant niedrigeren IQ als Reifgeborene auf, nachdem für mögliche konfundierende Faktoren kontrolliert worden war. Nur bei Früh-, nicht aber bei Reifgeborenen zeigte sich ein signifikanter positiver Zusammenhang zwischen mütterlicher Responsivität und IQ. Für die Wahrscheinlichkeit einen höheren Schulabschluss (mind. Fachabitur) zu erreichen, fand sich weder ein signifikanter Effekt von Frühgeburtlichkeit noch von mütterlicher Responsivität.
Die Mannheimer Risikokinderstudie untersucht die psychische Entwicklung und ihre Störungen bei Kindern mit unterschiedlich ausgeprägten Risiken mit dem Ziel, Empfehlungen für die Verbesserung der Prävention, Früherkennung und Frühbehandlung von psychischen Störungen bei Kindern abzuleiten. Dazu begleitet sie eine Kohorte von anfangs 384 Kindern in ihrer Entwicklung von der Geburt bis zum Erwachsenenalter. Die Erhebungen fanden in regelmäßigen Abständen statt, beginnend im Alter von 3 Monaten, mit 2 Jahren, 4;6, 8, 11, 15, 19, 22, 23 und 25 Jahren. Geplant ist eine weitere Erhebung mit ca. 30 Jahren.
This two-wave longitudinal study identified configurations of social rejection, affiliation with aggressive peers, and academic failure and examined their predictivity for reactive and proactive aggression in a sample of 1,479 children and adolescents aged between 9 and 19 years. Latent profile analysis yielded three configurations of risk factors, made up of a non-risk group, a risk group scoring high on measures of social rejection (SR), and a risk group scoring high on measures of affiliation with aggressive peers and academic failure (APAF). Latent path analysis revealed that, as predicted, only membership in the SR group at T1 predicted reactive aggression at T2 17 months later. By contrast, only membership in the APAF group at T1 predicted proactive aggression at T2.
DOES AGE INFLUENCE BRAIN POTENTIALS DURING AFFECTIVE PICTURE PROCESSING IN MIDDLE-AGED WOMEN?
(2017)
Dyskalkulie
(2017)
Hintergrund
Ausgeprägte Schwierigkeiten beim Erwerb der grundlegenden arithmetischen Fertigkeiten bei ansonsten durchschnittlichen Schulleistungen werden als Rechenstörung oder Dyskalkulie bezeichnet. Davon betroffen sind etwa 5 % der Grundschülerpopulation. Die Ursachen und die Symptome sind ebenso vielgestaltig wie die Methoden der differenziellen Förderung und Therapie.
Material und Methode
Selektive Literaturrecherche zur Rechenstörung aus verschiedenen mit dem Gegenstand befassten wissenschaftlichen Disziplinen.
Ergebnisse
Der Erwerb von Fähigkeiten zur Zahlenverarbeitung und zum Rechnen wird als ein erfahrungsabhängiger neuroplastischer Reifungsprozess verstanden, der zu einem komplexen, spezialisierten neuronalen Netzwerk führt und verschiedene kognitive Zahlenrepräsentationen hervorbringt. Die Entwicklung dieser domänenspezifischen Fähigkeiten ist abhängig von der Entwicklung domänenübergreifender Fähigkeiten, wie Aufmerksamkeit, Arbeitsgedächtnis, Sprache und visuell-räumlichen Fähigkeiten. Störungen dieser Reifungsprozesse können in verschiedenen Entwicklungsstadien unterschiedliche Komponenten der Entwicklung dieses komplexen kognitiven Systems betreffen und sind daher im klinischen Erscheinungsbild vielgestaltig. Sonderpädagogische, lerntherapeutische und ggf. medizinische Maßnahmen benötigen eine differenzielle Diagnostik und Indikationsstellung. Moderne computerbasierte Lernsoftware kann sowohl die schulische Didaktik als auch lerntherapeutische Vorgehensweisen unterstützen.
Schlussfolgerung
Frühzeitiges Erkennen sowie differenzielle und individualisierte Förderung können die Gefahr des Auftretens sekundärer emotionaler Störungen mindern. Die Diagnostik und die Behandlung der Rechenstörung sollten evidenzbasiert und leitlinienorientiert erfolgen sowie der Komplexität und Vielgestaltigkeit der Symptombildungen Rechnung tragen.
Cognitive or executive control is a critical mental ability, an important marker of mental illness, and among the most heritable of neurocognitive traits. Two candidate genes, catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) and DRD4, which both have a roles in the regulation of cortical dopamine, have been consistently associated with cognitive control. Here, we predicted that individuals with the COMT Met/Met allele would show improved response execution and inhibition as indexed by event-related potentials in a Go/NoGo task, while individuals with the DRD4 7-repeat allele would show impaired brain activity. We used independent component analysis (ICA) to separate brain source processes contributing to high-density EEG scalp signals recorded during the task. As expected, individuals with the DRD4 7-repeat polymorphism had reduced parietal P3 source and scalp responses to response (Go) compared to those without the 7-repeat. Contrary to our expectation, the COMT homozygous Met allele was associated with a smaller frontal P3 source and scalp response to response-inhibition (NoGo) stimuli, suggesting that while more dopamine in frontal cortical areas has advantages in some tasks, it may also compromise response inhibition function. An interaction effect emerged for P3 source responses to Go stimuli. These were reduced in those with both the 7-repeat DRD4 allele and either the COMT Val/Val or the Met/Met homozygous polymorphisms but not in those with the heterozygous Val/Met polymorphism. This epistatic interaction between DRD4 and COMT replicates findings that too little or too much dopamine impairs cognitive control. The anatomic and functional separated maximally independent cortical EEG sources proved more informative than scalp channel measures for genetic studies of brain function and thus better elucidate the complex mechanisms in psychiatric illness.
Background: Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is one of the more commonly occurring mental disorders following potentially traumatizing events soldiers may encounter when deployed abroad. One of the first-line recommended treatment options is eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR). The number of studies assessing the effectiveness of EMDR in German soldiers under routine conditions is currently almost nil. Methods: A retrospective, quasi-experimental effectiveness study on EMDR in an inpatient setting is presented using a prepost design. The study compares symptom reduction in soldiers (N = 78) with a wait-list (N = 18). Effect sizes of EMDR were measured for PTSD, symptoms of depression, and general mental health. Results: Effect size for EMDR treatment of PTSD was d = 0.77; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.51 to 1.36, for symptoms of depression d = 0.99; 95% CI: 0.31 to 1.36, and for general psychiatric symptoms d = 0.53; 95% CI: 0.17 to 1.21. The effects resulting from EMDR treatment were somewhat weaker than those reported in comparable studies in civilians. Conclusion: EMDR therapy is an effective treatment to reduce symptoms of PTSD and depression. However, in the military context it needs to be complemented by treatment options that specifically address further conditions perpetuating the disorders.
Building upon the existing literature on emotional memory, the present review examines emerging evidence from brain imaging investigations regarding four research directions: (1) Social Emotional Memory, (2) The Role of Emotion Regulation in the Impact of Emotion on Memory, (3) The Impact of Emotion on Associative or Relational Memory, and (4) The Role of Individual Differences in Emotional Memory. Across these four domains, available evidence demonstrates that emotion-and memory-related medial temporal lobe brain regions (amygdala and hippocampus, respectively), together with prefrontal cortical regions, play a pivotal role during both encoding and retrieval of emotional episodic memories. This evidence sheds light on the neural mechanisms of emotional memories in healthy functioning, and has important implications for understanding clinical conditions that are associated with negative affective biases in encoding and retrieving emotional memories.
There is considerable evidence for an association between obesity and impaired executive function (EF) in adolescents and adults. However, little research has examined EF in overweight or obese children. Furthermore, data on EF in underweight individuals is lacking. In addition, there is no consensus on the directionality of the relationship between Body Mass Index (BMI) and EF, and longitudinal studies are rare. Thus, the present study examined whether children differ in their performance on a battery of EF tasks depending on their weight status (underweight, normal-weight, overweight), and investigated the longitudinal cross-lagged associations between EF and BMI. Hot EF (delay of gratification, affective decision-making), cool EF (attention shifting, inhibition, working memory [WM] updating), and BMI were assessed in 1,657 German elementary-school children at two time points, approximately one year apart. Overweight children exhibited slightly poorer attention shifting, WM updating, and affective decision-making abilities as compared to normal-weight children. Unexpectedly, they did not show any deficits in inhibition or delay of gratification. EF levels of underweight children did not differ significantly from those of normal-weight children. Furthermore, poor attention shifting and enhanced affective decision-making predicted a slightly higher BMI one year later, and a higher BMI also predicted poorer attention shifting and WM updating one year later. The latter association between BMI and subsequent EF scores, however, diminished when controlling for socioeconomic status. Results indicate that hot and cool EF plays a role in the weight development of children, and might be a promising factor to address in preventive interventions.