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BACKGROUND: The orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) is implicated in depression. The hypothesis investigated was whether the OFC sensitivity to reward and nonreward is related to the severity of depressive symptoms.
METHODS: Activations in the monetary incentive delay task were measured in the IMAGEN cohort at ages 14 years (n = 1877) and 19 years (n = 1140) with a longitudinal design. Clinically relevant subgroups were compared at ages 19 (high-severity group: n = 116; low-severity group: n = 206) and 14.
RESULTS: The medial OFC exhibited graded activation increases to reward, and the lateral OFC had graded activation increases to nonreward. In this general population, the medial and lateral OFC activations were associated with concurrent depressive symptoms at both ages 14 and 19 years. In a stratified high-severity depressive symptom group versus control group comparison, the lateral OFC showed greater sensitivity for the magnitudes of activations related to nonreward in the high-severity group at age 19 (p = .027), and the medial OFC showed decreased sensitivity to the reward magnitudes in the high-severity group at both ages 14 (p = .002) and 19 (p = .002). In a longitudinal design, there was greater sensitivity to nonreward of the lateral OFC at age 14 for those who exhibited high depressive symptom severity later at age 19 (p = .003).
CONCLUSIONS: Activations in the lateral OFC relate to sensitivity to not winning, were associated with high depressive symptom scores, and at age 14 predicted the depressive symptoms at ages 16 and 19. Activations in the medial OFC were related to sensitivity to winning, and reduced reward sensitivity was associated with concurrent high depressive symptom scores.
Die vorliegende Arbeit setzt sich aus zwei Teilstudien zusammen. In Teilstudie 1 wird die Stabilität eines allgemeinen Modells zu den Zusammenhängen zwischen Über- und Unterforderungsmerkmalen, sozialen Belastungen, Anforderungen und organisationalen Ressourcen einerseits sowie den Fehlbeanspruchungen emotionale Erschöpfung und Klientenaversion bzw. Distanzierungstendenzen andererseits für personenbezogene Dienstleistungstätigkeiten untersucht. Einbezogen wurden Ärztinnen und Ärzte, Pflegende und Mitarbeitende aus dem paramedizinischen Bereich sowie Lehrkräfte. Die deutlichsten positiven Zusammenhänge zeigen sich zwischen den Belastungen und der emotionalen Erschöpfung, wobei für die quantitative Überforderung die stabilsten Ergebnisse resultieren. Die Belastungen weisen über die emotionale Erschöpfung hinaus signifikante Zusammenhänge mit aversiven Gefühlen gegen Klientinnen und Klienten auf. Hinsichtlich der modellimplizierten Annahmen zu den positiven Zusammenhängen zwischen den Belastungen und der Distanzierung können in dieser Untersuchung zwar signifikante Ergebnisse, aber keine über die Stichproben hinweg stabilen Zusammenhänge gefunden werden. Die Annahmen zu einem negativen Zusammenhang zwischen den Anforderungen/Ressourcen und der Distanzierung können nur für die Anforderungsmerkmale bestätigt werden. In Teilstudie 2 erfolgte auf der Basis des in Teilstudie 1 entwickelten Arbeitsmodells eine vertiefte Betrachtung der Lehrkräftetätigkeit. Dabei wurden sowohl verschiedene Schulsystemebenen einbezogen als auch verschiedene Aufgabentypen unterschieden. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass auf organisationaler Ebene Gratifikationskrisen und mangelnde kollektive Selbstwirksamkeitserwartungen fehlbeanspruchungsrelevant sein können. Besonders deutliche Zusammenhänge mit den Fehlbeanspruchungen und der Distanzierung zeigen sich für die primäraufgabenbezogenen Belastungen. Auch die Reziprozitätseinschätzungen in Bezug auf Schülerinnen und Eltern zeigen diesbezüglich ähnliche, wenn auch weniger deutliche, Zusammenhänge. Die Ergebnisse zu den Personmerkmalen lassen darauf schliessen, dass die Rolle der Person bei der Burnoutentwicklung nicht unterschätzt werde sollte. Als praktische Implikationen der Untersuchungsergebnisse werden u.a. Vorschläge für eine Stärkung der unterrichtsbezogenen und der klassenübergreifenden Kooperation, für eine Optimierung der Organisationsstruktur und eine „Professionalisierung“ der Organisation sowie für eine weiterführende Erarbeitung schulhausspezifischer Konzepte und Leitlinien gemacht. Es wird die Frage gestellt, ob die Lehrkräftetätigkeit sinnvollerweise als Lebensberuf verstanden werden sollte. Schliesslich wird auf die Bedeutung der Distanzierungsfähigkeit und der Selbstwirksamkeitserwartungen der Lehrkräfte hingewiesen.
People engage in a multitude of different relationships. Relatives, spouses, and friends are modestly to moderately similar in various characteristics, e.g., personality characteristics, interests, appearance. The role of psychological (e.g., skills, global appraisal) and social (e.g., gender, familial status) similarities in personal relationships and the association with relationship quality (emotional closeness and reciprocity of support) were examined in four independent studies. Young adults (N = 456; M = 27 years) and middle-aged couples from four different family types (N = 171 couples, M = 38 years) gave answer to a computer-aided questionnaire regarding their ego-centered networks. A subsample of 175 middle-aged adults (77 couples and 21 individuals) participated in a one-year follow-up questioning. Two experimental studies (N = 470; N = 802), both including two assessments with an interval of five weeks, were conducted to examine causal relationships among similarity, closeness, and reciprocity expectations. Results underline the role of psychological and social similarities as covariates of emotional closeness and reciprocity of support on the between-relationship level, but indicate a relatively weak effect within established relationships. In specific relationships, such as parent-child relationships and friendships, psychological similarity partly alleviates the effects of missing genetic relatedness. Individual differences moderate these between-relationship effects. In all, results combine evolutionary and social psychological perspectives on similarity in personal relationships and extend previous findings by means of a network approach and an experimental manipulation of existing relationships. The findings further show that psychological and social similarity have different implications for the study of personal relationships depending on the phase in the developmental process of relationships.
Trait emotional intelligence (TEI) is an important individual difference variable that is related to the quality of romantic relationships. The present study investigated the associations between TEI, dyadic coping, and relationship satisfaction. A convenience sample of N = 136 heterosexual couples was recruited online. When the actor-partner interdependence model was applied to the data, TEI showed a positive actor effect and a positive partner effect on relationship satisfaction. The actor effect and partner effect of TEI on relationship satisfaction were partially mediated through positive dyadic coping and common dyadic coping, respectively. A small total indirect actor effect was also found for negative dyadic coping. Controlling for potential content overlap between TEI and relationship satisfaction did not alter the results. However, removing variance from the TEI score that was shared with the Big Five trait factors attenuated TEI's actor and partner effects on relationship satisfaction and rendered all but one actor effect for TEI on dyadic coping and all but one indirect effect nonsignificant. The results underline the importance of TEI for the quality of romantic relationships and they shed light on underlying mechanisms. Implications for theory, research, and applications in counseling contexts will be discussed.
Previous research on the interplay between static manual postures and visual attention revealed enhanced visual selection near the hands (near-hand effect). During active movements there is also superior visual performance when moving toward compared to away from the stimulus (direction effect). The "modulated visual pathways" hypothesis argues that differential involvement of magno- and parvocellular visual processing streams causes the near-hand effect. The key finding supporting this hypothesis is an increase in temporal and a reduction in spatial processing in near-hand space (Gozli et al., 2012). Since this hypothesis has, so far, only been tested with static hand postures, we provide a conceptual replication of Gozli et al.'s (2012) result with moving hands, thus also probing the generality of the direction effect. Participants performed temporal or spatial gap discriminations while their right hand was moving below the display. In contrast to Gozli et al (2012), temporal gap discrimination was superior at intermediate and not near hand proximity. In spatial gap discrimination, a direction effect without hand proximity effect suggests that pragmatic attentional maps overshadowed temporal/spatial processing biases for far/near-hand space.
The optical density of human macular pigment was measured for 50 observers ranging in age from 10 to 90 years. The psychophysical method required adjusting the radiance of a 1°, monochromatic light (400–550 nm) to minimize flicker (15 Hz) when presented in counterphase with a 460 nm standard. This test stimulus was presented superimposed on a broad-band, short-wave background. Macular pigment density was determined by comparing sensitivity under these conditions for the fovea, where macular pigment is maximal, and 5° temporally. This difference spectrum, measured for 12 observers, matched Wyszecki and Stiles's standard density spectrum for macular pigment. To study variation in macular pigment density for a larger group of observers, measurements were made at only selected spectral points (460, 500 and 550 nm). The mean optical density at 460 nm for the complete sample of 50 subjects was 0.39. Substantial individual differences in density were found (ca. 0.10–0.80), but this variation was not systematically related to age.
The spectral efficiency of blackness induction was measured in three normal trichromatic observers and in one deuteranomalous observer. The psychophysical task was to adjust the radiance of a monochromatic 60–120′ annulus until a 45′ central broadband field just turned black and its contour became indiscriminable from a dark surrounding gap that separated it from the annulus. The reciprocal of the radiance required to induce blackness with annulus wavelengths between 420 and 680 nm was used to define a spectral-efficiency function for the blackness component of the achromatic process. For each observer, the shape of this blackness-sensitivity function agreed with the spectral-efficiency function based on heterochromatic flicker photometry when measured with the same 60–120′ annulus. Both of these functions matched the Commission Internationale de l'Eclairage Vλ function except at short wavelengths. Ancillary measurements showed that the latter difference in sensitivity can be ascribed to nonuniformities of preretinal absorption, since the annular field excluded the central 60′ of the fovea. Thus our evidence indicates that, at least to a good first approximation, induced blackness is inversely related to the spectral-luminosity function. These findings are consistent with a model that separates the achromatic and the chromatic pathways.
In einer Laengsschnittstudie wird die Entwicklung von Motivationskomponenten zum Lernen in Mathematik von der fuenften bis zur neunten Klassenstufe untersucht. Motivationskomponenten wurden mit dem "Potsdamer Motivations-Inventar" erfasst, die Bezugsnormorientierung der Lehrer sowie das mathematisch-naturwissenschaftliche Anregungsklimas im Elternhaus mit eigens entwickelten Skalen. Daten wurden an einer Stichprobe von urspruenglich zirka 750 Schuelerinnen und Schuelern erhoben. An der dritten Erhebung nahmen nur noch etwa 600 von ihnen teil. Es zeigte sich, dass sich die Mathematiknote am Ende eines Schuljahres sehr gut durch die zu Schulbeginn erfassten Motivationskomponenten vorhersagen laesst. Waehrend das insgesamt geringe Angsterleben im Mathematikunterricht von der fuenften bis zur neunten Klasse stabil blieb, nahm das Sachinteresse kontinuierlich ab. Bei der Einschaetzung des mathematisch-naturwissenschaftlichen Anregungsklimas im Elternhaus fanden sich ueberraschenderweise grosse Unterschiede zwischen Kindern und Eltern. (U.B. - ZPID)
Interpretation of and reasoning with conditionals : probabilities, mental models, and causality
(2003)
In everyday conversation "if" is one of the most frequently used conjunctions. This dissertation investigates what meaning an everyday conditional transmits and what inferences it licenses. It is suggested that the nature of the relation between the two propositions in a conditional might play a major role for both questions. Thus, in the experiments reported here conditional statements that describe a causal relationship (e.g., "If you touch that wire, you will receive an electric shock") were compared to arbitrary conditional statements in which there is no meaningful relation between the antecedent and the consequent proposition (e.g., "If Napoleon is dead, then Bristol is in England"). Initially, central assumptions from several approaches to the meaning and the reasoning from causal conditionals will be integrated into a common model. In the model the availability of exceptional situations that have the power to generate exceptions to the rule described in the conditional (e.g., the electricity is turned off), reduces the subjective conditional probability of the consequent, given the antecedent (e.g., the probability of receiving an electric shock when touching the wire). This conditional probability determines people's degree of belief in the conditional, which in turn affects their willingness to accept valid inferences (e.g., "Peter touches the wire, therefore he receives an electric shock") in a reasoning task. Additionally to this indirect pathway, the model contains a direct pathway: Cognitive availability of exceptional situations directly reduces the readiness to accept valid conclusions. The first experimental series tested the integrated model for conditional statements embedded in pseudo-natural cover stories that either established a causal relation between the antecedent and the consequent event (causal conditionals) or did not connect the propositions in a meaningful way (arbitrary conditionals). The model was supported for the causal, but not for the arbitrary conditional statements. Furthermore, participants assigned lower degrees of belief to arbitrary than to causal conditionals. Is this effect due to the presence versus absence of a semantic link between antecedent and consequent in the conditionals? This question was one of the starting points for the second experimental series. Here, the credibility of the conditionals was manipulated by adding explicit frequency information about possible combinations of presence or absence of antecedent and consequent events to the problems (i.e., frequencies of cases of 1. true antecedent with true consequent, 2. true antecedent with false consequent, 3. false antecedent with true consequent, 4. false antecedent with false consequent). This paradigm allows testing different approaches to the meaning of conditionals (Experiment 4) as well as theories of conditional reasoning against each other (Experiment 5). The results of Experiment 4 supported mainly the conditional probability approach to the meaning of conditionals (Edgington, 1995) according to which the degree of belief a listener has in a conditional statement equals the conditional probability that the consequent is true given the antecedent (e.g., the probability of receiving an electric shock when touching the wire). Participants again assigned lower degrees of belief to the arbitrary than the causal conditionals, although the conditional probability of the consequent given the antecedent was held constant within every condition of explicit frequency information. This supports the hypothesis that the mere presence of a causal link enhances the believability of a conditional statement. In Experiment 5 participants solved conditional reasoning tasks from problems that contained explicit frequency information about possible relevant cases. The data favored the probabilistic approach to conditional reasoning advanced by Oaksford, Chater, and Larkin (2000). The two experimental series reported in this dissertation provide strong support for recent probabilistic theories: for the conditional probability approach to the meaning of conditionals by Edgington (1995) and the probabilistic approach to conditional reasoning by Oaksford et al. (2000). In the domain of conditional reasoning, there was additionally support for the modified mental model approaches by Markovits and Barrouillet (2002) and Schroyens and Schaeken (2003). Probabilistic and mental model approaches could be reconciled within a dual-process-model as suggested by Verschueren, Schaeken, and d'Ydewalle (2003).
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.