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We examined individual differences in masked repetition priming by re-analyzing item-level response-time (RT) data from three experiments. Using a linear mixed model (LMM) with subjects and items specified as crossed random factors, the originally reported priming and word-frequency effects were recovered. In the same LMM, we estimated parameters describing the distributions of these effects across subjects. Subjects’ frequency and priming effects correlated positively with each other and negatively with mean RT. These correlation estimates, however, emerged only with a reciprocal transformation of RT (i.e., -1/RT), justified on the basis of distributional analyses. Different correlations, some with opposite sign, were obtained (1) for untransformed or logarithmic RTs or (2) when correlations were computed using within-subject analyses. We discuss the relevance of the new results for accounts of masked priming, implications of applying RT transformations, and the use of LMMs as a tool for the joint analysis of experimental effects and associated individual differences.
Background: Medical training is very demanding and associated with a high prevalence of psychological distress. Compared to the general population, medical students are at a greater risk of developing a psychological disorder. Various attempts of stress management training in medical school have achieved positive results on minimizing psychological distress; however, there are often limitations. Therefore, the use of a rigorous scientific method is needed. The present study protocol describes a randomized controlled trial to examine the effectiveness of a specifically developed mindfulness-based stress prevention training for medical students that includes selected elements of cognitive behavioral strategies (MediMind).
Methods/Design: This study protocol presents a prospective randomized controlled trial, involving four assessment time points: baseline, post-intervention, one-year follow-up and five-year follow-up. The aims include evaluating the effect on stress, coping, psychological morbidity and personality traits with validated measures. Participants are allocated randomly to one of three conditions: MediMind, Autogenic Training or control group. Eligible participants are medical or dental students in the second or eighth semester of a German university. They form a population of approximately 420 students in each academic term. A final total sample size of 126 (at five-year follow-up) is targeted. The trainings (MediMind and Autogenic Training) comprise five weekly sessions lasting 90 minutes each. MediMind will be offered to participants of the control group once the five-year follow-up is completed. The allotment is randomized with a stratified allocation ratio by course of studies, semester, and gender. After descriptive statistics have been evaluated, inferential statistical analysis will be carried out with a repeated measures ANOVA-design with interactions between time and group. Effect sizes will be calculated using partial η-square values.
Discussion: Potential limitations of this study are voluntary participation and the risk of attrition, especially concerning participants that are allocated to the control group. Strengths are the study design, namely random allocation, follow-up assessment, the use of control groups and inclusion of participants at different stages of medical training with the possibility of differential analysis.
This paper presents a new methodology for examining the phenomenon of subitizing. Subjects were presented with a standard numerosity-detection task but for a range of presentation times to allow Task-Accuracy Functions to be computed for individual subjects. The data appear to show a continuous change in processing for numerosities from 2 to 5 when the data are aggregated across subjects. At the level of individual subjects, there appear to be qualitative shifts in enumeration processing after 3 or 4 objects. The approach used in this experiment may be used to test the claim that subitizing is a distinct enumeration process that can be used for small numbers of objects.
Schema modes (ormodes) are a key concept in the theory underlying schema therapy. Modes have rarely been related to established models of personality traits. The present study thus investigates the associations between trait emotional intelligence (TEI) and 14 modes, and tests a global TEI-mode factors-general psychological distress mediation model. The study draws on self-report data from 173 inpatients from a German clinic for psychosomatic medicine. Global TEI correlated positively with both healthy modes (happy child and healthy adult) and negatively with 10 maladaptive modes. When modes were regressed on the four TEI factors, six (emotionality), five (well-being), four (sociability), and four (self-control) significant partial effects on 10 modes emerged. In the parallel mediation model, the mode factors internalization and compulsivity fully mediated the global TEI-general psychological distress link. Implications of the results for the integration of modes with traits in general and with TEI in particular as well as implications of low TEI as a transdiagnostic feature of personality malfunctioning are discussed.
Following up on research suggesting an age-related reduction in the rightward extent of the perceptual span during reading (Rayner, Castelhano, & Yang, 2009), we compared old and young adults in an N+2-boundary paradigm in which a nonword preview of word N+2 or word N+2 itself is replaced by the target word once the eyes cross an invisible boundary located after word N. The intermediate word N+1 was always three letters long. Gaze durations on word N+2 were significantly shorter for identical than nonword N+2 preview both for young and for old adults with no significant difference in this preview benefit. Young adults, however, did modulate their gaze duration on word N more strongly than old adults in response to the difficulty of the parafoveal word N+1. Taken together, the results suggest a dissociation of preview benefit and parafoveal-on-foveal effect. Results are discussed in terms of age-related decline in resilience towards distributed processing while simultaneously preserving the ability to integrate parafoveal information into foveal processing. As such, the present results relate to proposals of regulatory compensation strategies older adults use to secure an overall reading speed very similar to that of young adults.
We investigated the role of training-induced knowledge Schemas and encoding time on adult age differences in recall. High-plausible (schema coherent) words were recalled better than lowplausible (schema discrepant) words in both age groups. This difference was larger for old-adults than for young adults for presentation times ranging from 3 s to 11 s per word. After equating participants in overall recall (i.e., at 50% correct) by dynamic adjustment of presentation time, old adults again showed a stronger plausibility effect than young adults when recall was above criterion. In a second experiment with self-paced encoding, old adults used more time than young adults only for low-plausible pairs, yet they still remembered fewer of them. In a third experiment, both age groups preferred to imagine high- rather than low-plausible words, but this effect was more pronounced in old adults. The results indicate that, compared with young adults, old adults find it particularly difficult to form elaborative mental images of schema-discrepant information under a wide variety of time constraints during encoding. Results are discussed in relation to explanations based on age-related mental slowing.
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.
Criticisms of the integration of psychotherapy-outcome research performed by Smith, Glass, and Miller (1980) are reviewed and answered. An attempt is made to account for the conflicting points of view in this disagreement in terms of certain issues that have engaged philosophers of science in the 20th century. It is hoped that, in passing, something useful is learned about research of many types on psychotherapy.
Interoception is an often neglected but crucial aspect of the human minimal self. In this perspective, we extend the embodiment account of interoceptive inference to explain the development of the minimal self in humans. To do so, we first provide a comparative overview of the central accounts addressing the link between interoception and the minimal self. Grounding our arguments on the embodiment framework, we propose a bidirectional relationship between motor and interoceptive states, which jointly contribute to the development of the minimal self. We present empirical findings on interoception in development and discuss the role of interoception in the development of the minimal self. Moreover, we make theoretical predictions that can be tested in future experiments. Our goal is to provide a comprehensive view on the mechanisms underlying the minimal self by explaining the role of interoception in the development of the minimal self.
Background
Body image distortion is highly prevalent among overweight individuals. Whilst there is evidence that body-dissatisfied women and those suffering from disordered eating show a negative attentional bias towards their own unattractive body parts and others’ attractive body parts, little is known about visual attention patterns in the area of obesity and with respect to males. Since eating disorders and obesity share common features in terms of distorted body image and body dissatisfaction, the aim of this study was to examine whether overweight men and women show a similar attentional bias.
Methods/Design
We analyzed eye movements in 30 overweight individuals (18 females) and 28 normalweight individuals (16 females) with respect to the participants’ own pictures as well as gender-
and BMI-matched control pictures (front and back view). Additionally, we assessed body image and disordered eating using validated questionnaires.
Discussion
The overweight sample rated their own body as less attractive and showed a more disturbed body image. Contrary to our assumptions, they focused significantly longer on attractive
compared to unattractive regions of both their own and the control body. For one’s own body, this was more pronounced for women. A higher weight status and more frequent body checking predicted attentional bias towards attractive body parts. We found that overweight adults exhibit an unexpected and stable pattern of selective attention, with a distinctive focus on their own attractive body regions despite higher levels of body dissatisfaction. This positive attentional bias may either be an indicator of a more pronounced pattern of attentional avoidance or a self-enhancing strategy. Further research is warranted to clarify these results.
Anreizanalyse intensiver Freizeitnutzung von Computern : Hacker, Cracker und zweckorientierte Nutzer
(2006)
Was bringt intensive Computernutzer dazu, ihre Freizeit am Rechner zu verbringen, und gibt es hierbei Unterschiede zwischen verschiedenen Nutzertypen? N = 271 Personen nahmen an einer online Befragung zu Anreizen freizeitlicher Computernutzung teil. Durch ausgewählte Internetverteiler waren gezielt besonders engagierte Computernutzer angesprochen worden (M = 3,9 Freizeitstunden am Rechner pro Tag). Für diese Nutzer fanden sich (in der Reihenfolge ihres Gewichtes) folgende Anreizfaktoren: Zugehörigkeit/Gemeinschaft; Kompetenzerleben; Vielseitigkeit/Nutzen; Langeweilevermeidung; rebellische Illegalitätstendenz. Gruppiert nach ihren bevorzugten Nutzungsweisen fanden sich drei Nutzertypen: Zweckorientierte Nutzer (58%), Hacker (= Eindringen in fremde Systeme ohne Schädigungsabsicht, 22%) und Cracker (Eindringen mit Schädigungsabsicht, 20%). Diese Nutzertypen unterschieden sich deutlich in ihrem Anreizprofil. Hacking und Cracking, nicht aber zweckorientierte Nutzungsweisen waren korreliert mit Flow-Erleben und positiver Aktivierung am Rechner. Die Ergebnisse sind nicht repräsentativ für alle Freizeitnutzer. Sie beziehen sich auf eine gezielt rekrutierte Stichprobe besonders engagierter Computernutzer, die über spezifische Netzwerke (z. B. relevante Fachschaften, Chaos Computer Club) erreichbar sind.
Despite the positive effects of including patients’ preferences into therapy on psychotherapy outcomes, there are still few thoroughly validated assessment tools at hand. We translated the 18-item Cooper-Norcross Inventory of Preferences (C-NIP) into German and aimed at replicating its factor structure. Further, we investigated the reliability of the questionnaire and its convergence with trait measures. A heterogeneous sample of N = 969 participants took part in our online survey. Performing ESEM models, we found acceptable model fit for a four-factor structure similar to the original factor structure. Furthermore, we propose an alternative model following the adjustment of single items. The German C-NIP showed acceptable to good reliability, as well as small correlations with Big-Five personality traits, trait and attachment anxiety, locus of control, and temporal focus. However, we recommend further replication of the factor structure and further validation of the C-NIP.
Previous studies have not considered the potential influence of maturity status on the relationship between mental imagery and change of direction (CoD) speed in youth soccer. Accordingly, this cross-sectional study examined the association between mental imagery and CoD performance in young elite soccer players of different maturity status. Forty young male soccer players, aged 10-17 years, were assigned into two groups according to their predicted age at peak height velocity (PHV) (Pre-PHV; n = 20 and Post-PHV; n = 20). Participants were evaluated on soccer-specific tests of CoD with (CoDBall-15m) and without (CoD-15m) the ball. Participants completed the movement imagery questionnaire (MIQ) with the three- dimensional structure, internal visual imagery (IVI), external visual imagery (EVI), as well as kinesthetic imagery (KI). The Post-PHV players achieved significantly better results than Pre-PHV in EVI (ES = 1.58, large; p < 0.001), CoD-15m (ES = 2.09, very large; p < 0.001) and CoDBall-15m (ES = 1.60, large; p < 0.001). Correlations were significantly different between maturity groups, where, for the pre-PHV group, a negative very large correlation was observed between CoDBall-15m and KI (r = –0.73, p = 0.001). For the post-PHV group, large negative correlations were observed between CoD-15m and IVI (r = –0.55, p = 0.011), EVI (r = –062, p = 0.003), and KI (r = –0.52, p = 0.020). A large negative correlation of CoDBall-15m with EVI (r = –0.55, p = 0.012) and very large correlation with KI (r = –0.79, p = 0.001) were also observed. This study provides evidence of the theoretical and practical use for the CoD tasks stimulus with imagery. We recommend that sport psychology specialists, coaches, and athletes integrated imagery for CoD tasks in pre-pubertal soccer players to further improve CoD related performance.
The link between cognitive scripts for consensual sexual interactions and attitudes towards sexual coercion was studied in 524 Polish high school students. We proposed that risky sexual scripts, containing risk elements linked to sexual aggression, would be associated with attitudes condoning sexual coercion. Pornography use and religiosity were included as predictors of participants’ risky sexual scripts and attitudes towards sexual coercion. Risky sexual scripts were linked to attitudes condoning sexual coercion. Pornography use was indirectly linked to attitudes condoning sexual coercion via risky sexual scripts. Religiosity showed a positive direct link with attitudes towards sexual coercion, but a negative indirect link through risky sexual scripts. The results are discussed regarding the significance of risky sexual scripts, pornography use, and religiosity in understanding attitudes towards sexual coercion as well as their implications for preventing sexually aggressive behaviour.
Inhalt: 1 Selbstwertdienliche Attributionen von Erfolg und Mißerfolg 2 „Selbstbehinderung" zur Vorbeugung gegen Verantwortlichkeit für Mißerfolg 3 Attributionen in der Öffentlichkeit: Identitätsbehauptung durch Selbstdarstellung? 4 Personale Kontrolle und Attribution 5 Geschlechtsrollen-Identität und Attributionen für Erfolg und Mißerfolg 6 Zusammenfassung
Die vorliegende Studie stellt eine konzeptuelle Replikation der Untersuchung von Shirey & Reynolds (1988) dar. In dieser Untersuchung ergab sich unerwarteterweise ein negativer Zusammenhang zwischen Interesse und Aufmerksamkeit, während gleichzeitig ein positiver Zusammenhang zwischen Interesse und Behalten bestand. Unser Ziel war es, zu prüfen, ob sich dieser erwartungswidrige Befund auch mit einer anderen Stichprobe und anderem Lernmaterial replizieren läßt. Darüber hinaus kontrollierten wir die subjektive Wichtigkeit des Lernmaterials und unterschieden zwischen wörtlicher und bedeutungsorientierter Lernleistung. Die Ergebnisse unserer Studie stimmen weitgehend mit denen von Shirey & Reynolds überein. Abschließend diskutieren wir einige Interpretationsmöglichkeiten der Befunde und geben Hinweise für die weitere Forschung.
Der hier berichtete Forschungsansatz kombiniert entwicklungs- und kognitionspsychologische Fragestellungen. Das entwicklungspsychologische Ziel war, Potential und Grenzen latenter kognitiver Leistungsreserven bei jungen und älteren Erwachsenen sichtbar zu machen. Eine systematische Heranführung an Leistungsgrenzen sollte außerdem die unterschiedliche Alterssensitivität kognitiver Prozesse verdeutlichen und zu einer Vergrößerung interindividueller Unterschiede führen. Das kognitionspsychologische Ziel war, die Genese kognitiver Expertise unter Laborbedingungen zu simulieren, wobei vor allem die Transformation von Laien- in Expertenwissen untersucht werden sollte. Diese Überlegungen wurden in einem Trainingsprogramm überprüft, in dessen Verlauf junge und ältere Erwachsene in einer Gedächtniskunst für das Behalten von Zufallszahlen und Wortlisten unterwiesen wurden. Die Brauchbarkeit dieses experimentellen Paradigmas für die Überprüfung der theoretischen Fragen wird durch Ergebnisse aus vier Einzelfallstudien belegt.
A package of five FORTRAN programs that provides for fast user-controlled analyses of reading eye fixations is described. The package requires the data to be in a fixation format and to be rescaled to screen dimensions. OLDEYE identifies six types of fixations and calculates descriptive statistics on each of them, on their associated saccades, and on their average pupil diameter. CONVRT represents the text as a string of words that can be coded according to experimentally relevant variables. PLTFIX prints fixation durations by letter position and sequence of occurrence. MODDAT is an interactive program for marking parts of the text in which the data quality is below acceptable standards. It also allows the correction of systematic errors due to calibration or drift. MATCH combines the outputs from OLDEYE, CONVRT, and MODDAT and calculates 11 dependent measures for every word. The output of MATCH is suitable for input to conventional multivariate statistical programs.
The decision to exercise is not only bound to rational considerations but also automatic affective processes. The affective–reflective theory of physical inactivity and exercise (ART) proposes a theoretical framework for explaining how the automatic affective process (type‑1 process) will influence exercise behavior, i.e., through the automatic activation of exercise-related associations and a subsequent affective valuation of exercise. This study aimed to empirically test this assumption of the ART with data from 69 study participants. A single-measurement study, including within-subject experimental variation, was conducted. Automatic associations with exercise were first measured with a single-target implicit association test. The somato-affective core of the participants’ automatic valuation of exercise-related pictures was then assessed via heart rate variability (HRV) analysis, and the affective valence of the valuation was tested with a facial expression (FE; smile and frown) task. Exercise behavior was assessed via self-report. Multiple regression (path) analysis revealed that automatic associations predicted HRV reactivity (β = −0.24, p = .044); the signs of the correlation between automatic associations and the smile FE score was in the expected direction but remained nonsignificant (β = −0.21, p = .078). HRV reactivity predicted self-reported exercise behavior (β = −0.28, p = .013) (the same pattern of results was achieved for the frown FE score). The HRV-related results illustrate the potential role of automatic negative affective reactions to the thought of exercise as a restraining force in exercise motivation. For better empirical distinction between the two ART type‑1 process components, automatic associations and the affective valuation should perhaps be measured separately in the future. The results support the notion that automatic and affective processes should be regarded as essential aspects of the motivation to exercise.
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.
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.
Increased N400 amplitudes on indefinite articles (a/an) incompatible with expected nouns have been initially taken as strong evidence for probabilistic pre-activation of phonological word forms, and recently been intensely debated because they have been difficult to replicate. Here, these effects are simulated using a neural network model of sentence comprehension that we previously used to simulate a broad range of empirical N400 effects. The model produces the effects when the cue validity of the articles concerning upcoming noun meaning in the learning environment is high, but fails to produce the effects when the cue validity of the articles is low due to adjectives presented between articles and nouns during training. These simulations provide insight into one of the factors potentially contributing to the small size of the effects in empirical studies and generate predictions for cross-linguistic differences in article induced N400 effects based on articles’ cue validity. The model accounts for article induced N400 effects without assuming pre-activation of word forms, and instead simulates these effects as the stimulus-induced change in a probabilistic representation of meaning corresponding to an implicit semantic prediction error.
Changes in free symptom attributions in hypochondriasis after cognitive therapy and exposure therapy
(2016)
Background: Cognitive-behavioural therapy can change dysfunctional symptom attributions in patients with hypochondriasis. Past research has used forced-choice answer formats, such as questionnaires, to assess these misattributions; however, with this approach, idiosyncratic attributions cannot be assessed. Free associations are an important complement to existing approaches that assess symptom attributions. Aims: With this study, we contribute to the current literature by using an open-response instrument to investigate changes in freely associated attributions after exposure therapy (ET) and cognitive therapy (CT) compared with a wait list (WL). Method: The current study is a re-examination of a formerly published randomized controlled trial (Weck, Neng, Richtberg, Jakob and Stangier, 2015) that investigated the effectiveness of CT and ET. Seventy-three patients with hypochondriasis were randomly assigned to CT, ET or a WL, and completed a 12-week treatment (or waiting period). Before and after the treatment or waiting period, patients completed an Attribution task in which they had to spontaneously attribute nine common bodily sensations to possible causes in an open-response format. Results: Compared with the WL, both CT and ET reduced the frequency of somatic attributions regarding severe diseases (CT: Hedges's g = 1.12; ET: Hedges's g = 1.03) and increased the frequency of normalizing attributions (CT: Hedges's g = 1.17; ET: Hedges's g = 1.24). Only CT changed the attributions regarding moderate diseases (Hedges's g = 0.69). Changes in somatic attributions regarding mild diseases and psychological attributions were not observed. Conclusions: Both CT and ET are effective for treating freely associated misattributions in patients with hypochondriasis. This study supplements research that used a forced-choice assessment.
Sexual aggression is a problem among college students worldwide, and a growing body of research has identified variables associated with an increased risk of victimization and perpetration. Among these, sexuality-related cognitions, such as sexual scripts, sexual self-esteem, perceived realism of pornography, and acceptance of sexual coercion, play a major role. The current experimental study aimed to show that these cognitive risk factors of sexual aggression victimization and perpetration are amenable to change, which is a critical condition for evidence-based intervention efforts. College students in Germany (N = 324) were randomly assigned to one of three groups: a treatment group designed to change participants' sexual scripts for consensual sex with regard to the role of alcohol consumption, casual sex, and ambiguous communication of sexual intentions as risk factors for sexual aggression (EG1), a treatment group designed to promote sexual self-esteem, challenge the perceived realism of pornography, and reduce the acceptance of sexual coercion (EG2), and a non-treatment control group (CG). Baseline (T1), post-experimental (T2), and follow-up (T3) measures were taken across an eight-week period. Sexual scripts contained fewer risk factors for sexual aggression in EG1 than in EG2 and CG at T3. Sexual self-esteem was enhanced in EG2 at T2 relative to the other two groups. Acceptance of sexual coercion was lower in EG2 than in EG1 and CG at T2 and T3. No effect was found for perceived realism of pornography. The findings are discussed in terms of targeting cognitive risk factors as a basis for intervention programs.
When playing violent video games, aggressive actions are performed against the background of an originally neutral environment, and associations are formed between cues related to violence and contextual features. This experiment examined the hypothesis that neutral contextual features of a virtual environment become associated with aggressive meaning and acquire the function of primes for aggressive cognitions. Seventy-six participants were assigned to one of two violent video game conditions that varied in context (ship vs. city environment) or a control condition. Afterwards, they completed a Lexical Decision Task to measure the accessibility of aggressive cognitions in which they were primed either with ship-related or city-related words. As predicted, participants who had played the violent game in the ship environment had shorter reaction times for aggressive words following the ship primes than the city primes, whereas participants in the city condition responded faster to the aggressive words following the city primes compared to the ship primes. No parallel effect was observed for the non-aggressive targets. The findings indicate that the associations between violent and neutral cognitions learned during violent game play facilitate the accessibility of aggressive cognitions.
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.
Cognitive research on the plasticity of fluid intelligence has demonstrated that older adults benefit markedly from guided practice in cognitive skills and problem-solving strategies. We examined to what degree older adults are capable by themselves of achieving similar practice gains, focusing on the fluid ability of figural relations. A sample of 72 healthy older adults was assigned randomly to three conditions: control, tutor-guided training, self-guided training. Training time and training materials were held constant for the two training conditions. Posttraining performances were analyzed using a transfer of training paradigm in terms of three indicators: correct responses, accuracy, and level of item difficulty. The training programs were effective and produced a significant but narrow band of within-ability transfer. However, there was no difference between the two training groups. Older adults were shown to be capable of producing gains by themselves that were comparable to those obtained following tutor-guided training in the nature of test-relevant cognitive skills.
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.
Content Social stereotypes and responsibility attributions to victims of rape Atributing responsibillty to rape victims: a German study Rape myth acceptance and responsibility judgments: a British study Police officers' definitions of rape A study on cognitive prototypes of rape Conclusion References
Coupling of attention and saccades when viewing scenes with central and peripheral degradation
(2016)
Degrading real-world scenes in the central or the peripheral visual field yields a characteristic pattern: Mean saccade amplitudes increase with central and decrease with peripheral degradation. Does this pattern reflect corresponding modulations of selective attention? If so, the observed saccade amplitude pattern should reflect more focused attention in the central region with peripheral degradation and an attentional bias toward the periphery with central degradation. To investigate this hypothesis, we measured the detectability of peripheral (Experiment 1) or central targets (Experiment 2) during scene viewing when low or high spatial frequencies were gaze-contingently filtered in the central or the peripheral visual field. Relative to an unfiltered control condition, peripheral filtering induced a decrease of the detection probability for peripheral but not for central targets (tunnel vision). Central filtering decreased the detectability of central but not of peripheral targets. Additional post hoc analyses are compatible with the interpretation that saccade amplitudes and direction are computed in partial independence. Our experimental results indicate that task-induced modulations of saccade amplitudes reflect attentional modulations.
Linguistic and psycholinguistic accounts based on the study of English may prove unreliable as guides to sentence processing in even closely related languages. The present study illustrates this claim in a test of sentence interpretation by German-, Italian-, and English-speaking adults. Subjects were presented with simple transitive sentences in which contrasts of (1) word order, (2) agreement, (3) animacy, and (4) stress were systematically varied. For each sentence, subjects were asked to state which of the two nouns was the actor. The results indicated that Americans relied overwhelming on word order, using a first-noun strategy in NVN and a second-noun strategy in VNN and NNV sentences. Germans relied on both agreement and animacy. Italians showed extreme reliance on agreement cues. In both German and Italian, stress played a role in terms of complex interactions with word order and agreement. The findings were interpreted in terms of the “competition model” of Bates and MacWhinney (in H. Winitz (Ed.), Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences Conference on Native and Foreign Language Acquisition. New York: New York Academy of Sciences, 1982) in which cue validity is considered to be the primary determinant of cue strength. According to this model, cues are said to be high in validity when they are also high in applicability and reliability.
Vier Forschungsansätze im Bereich der Altersintelligenz und des Altersgedächtnisses werden referiert: Untersuchungen (1) Uber unterschiedliche Altersverläufe intellektueller und kognitiver Prozesse, (2) über interindividuelle Variabilität und historischen Wandel, (3) über Plastizität und Reservekapazität und (4) über Leistungsgrenzen. Das Wesen der Altersintelligenz erschöpft sich nicht in einem Prozeß des Leistungsabfalls. Vielmehr treten sowohl Wachstum als auch Abbau und komplexe Wechselwirkungen zwischen beidem auf. Altersbedingter Abbau zeigt sich am ehesten an den Leistungsgrenzen der Grundmechanismen der Intelligenz. Wachstum kann in jenen Bereichen stattfinden, in denen Menschen Wissenssysteme weiterentwickeln und üben (Pragmatik der Intelligenz). Die Methode des Belastungstests (Testing-the-Limits oder Grenztesten) wird als eine Strategie vorgestellt, mit deren Hilfe Mechanismen positiver und negativer Veränderungen beim kognitiven Altern bestimmt werden können. Die Anwendung des kognitiven Belastungstests wird für die neuropsychologische Forschung, beispielsweise für Untersuchungen über die Altersdemenz, empfohlen.
Defensiv-externe Kontrollüberzeugungen bei der Attribution von Leistungs- und Sozialverhalten
(1980)
The traditional dichotomy of internal vs. external locus of control is substituted by the more recent distinction between internals, congruent externals, and defensive externals. While internals and congruent externals are predicted to make causal attributions of other persons' performance in accordance with their locus of control irrespective of the nature of the outcome (success vs. failure in achievement situations, positive vs. negative experience in social contacts), defensive externals are expected to vary their causal attributions as a function of outcome. Personal relevance attached to achievement and social contact is included as an additional variable. The presumed correspondence between locus of control and causal attribution - as derived from the conceptualization of locus of control as a personality variable - is not confirmed by our data. The differences expected between the three groups are demonstrated only for achievement-related items. Personal relevance does not significantly modify the relationship between locus of control and causal attribution.
Inhalt: 1. Zur Konzeptualisierung des bias in der Attributionstheorie 2. Self-serving bias-Hypothese und informationstheoretische Alternativerklärung:Theoretische Kontroverse und empirische Befunde - Selbstwertbezogene Attributionen eigener Handlungsergebnisse - Kausalattributionen von Erfolg und Mißerfolg bei Wettbewerb und Kooperation - Kausalattributionen für Erfolg und Mißerfolg aus der Beobachterperspektive - Kontradefensive Attributionen und Selbstdarstellungsbedürfnisse - Zum Stand der Kognitions-Motivations-Debatte im Lichte der neueren Ergebnisse 3. Ansätze zum Abbau des gegenwärtigen Theoriedefizits der self-serving bias-Forschung
Es wurde der Zusammenhang zwischen allgemeinem Studieninteresse, Interesse an empirischen Forschungsmethoden sowie dem Leistungsmotiv (unabhängige Variablen) und Umfang, Inhalt und Struktur methodischen Wissens im Studienfach Pädagogik (abhängige Variablen) geprüft. Im Mittelpunkt der Analysen standen die Auswirkungen des Methodeninteresses. Auf der Basis eines Fragebogens wurden 20 Pädagogikstudenten zu Beginn eines Methodenseminars für Studienanfänger in zwei Gruppen mit hohem bzw. niedrigem Methodeninteresse geteilt. Die verschiedenen Aspekte methodenspezifischen Wissens wurden acht Wochen später mittels eines Assoziationstests zu neun Stimulusbegriffen erhoben. Die Ergebnisse belegen, daß hohes Interesse zu qualitativen (Inhalt und Struktur), nicht jedoch zu quantitativen Wissensunterschieden (Umfang) führt.
Die vorliegende Arbeit berichtet über die Entwicklung des „Fragebogen zum Studieninteresse" (FSI) und seine testtheoretische Überprüfung. An der Untersuchung nahmen 298 Studenten verschiedener Studiengänge teil. Ausgehend von einer 27 Items umfassenden Version verblieben aufgrund von Faktorenanalyse und Rasch- Skalierung 18 Items, die eine eindimensionale Skala bilden. Die interne Konsistenz (Alpha) des revidierten FSI beträgt .90, die Test-Retest-Reliabilität .67 (Zeitspanne: 2 Jahre). Zur Prüfung der Validität des revidierten FSI wurde eine Reihe weiterer Variablen erhoben (z.B. intrinsische motivationale Orientierung, Tätigkeitszentrierung, Extraversion, Verwendung von Lernstrategien, Studienleistung). Die Ergebnisse zeigen, daß der FSI in ausreichendem Maße konvergente, diskriminante und kriteriumsbezogene Validität besitzt.
The development of phonetic codes in memory of 141 pairs of normal and disabled readers from 7.8 to 16.8 years of age was tested with a task adapted from L. S. Mark, D. Shankweiler, I. Y. Liberman, and C. A. Fowler (Memory & Cognition, 1977, 5, 623–629) that measured false-positive errors in recognition memory for foil words which rhymed with words in the memory list versus foil words that did not rhyme. Our younger subjects replicated Mark et al., showing a larger difference between rhyming and nonrhyming false-positive errors for the normal readers. The older disabled readers' phonetic effect was comparable to that of the younger normal readers, suggesting a developmental lag in their use of phonetic coding in memory. Surprisingly, the normal readers' phonetic effect declined with age in the recognition task, but they maintained a significant advantage across age in the auditory WISC-R digit span recall test, and a test of phonological nonword decoding. The normals' decline with age in rhyming confusion may be due to an increase in the precision of their phonetic codes.
Ausgehend von einer Charakterisierung des Flow-Erlebens als gaenzliches Aufgehen in einem glatt laufenden Taetigkeitsvollzug, den man trotz hoher Beanspruchung noch unter Kontrolle hat, wird auf die Erfassung dieser Motivationskomponente eingegangen. Dargestellt und diskutiert werden Vor- und Nachteile der bisherigen qualitativen (Interviews) und quantitativen Flow-Erfassung (Experience Sampling Method (ESM)) . Ausfuehrlicher wird eine "Flow-Kurzskala" (FKS) beschrieben, die mit zehn Items alle qualitativ verschiedenen Komponenten des Flow-Erlebens oekonomisch und reliabel erfasst. Sie liefert einen Gesamtwert sowie Werte fuer zwei Subskalen (glatter automatisierter Verlauf sowie Absorbiertheit). Daneben erfassen drei zusaetzliche Items die Besorgnis in der aktuellen Situation. Berichtet werden Vergleichskennwerte aus punktuellen Messungen und ESM-Studien. Die hoechsten Werte fuer Flow und Besorgnis wurden bislang bei Graffiti-Sprayern gefunden. Bei einer intellektuell herausfordernden Aufgabe (Postkorbuebung) sind die FKS-Werte mit der Hoffnung-auf-Erfolg-Komponente des Leistungsmotivs korreliert. Furcht-vor-Misserfolg korreliert dagegen mit dem Besorgniswert der FKS. Flow waehrend der Bearbeitung von Uebungsaufgaben fuer Statistik lieferte einen signifikanten Beitrag zur Vorhersage der nachfolgenden Klausurleistung. Dieser Beitrag blieb erhalten, auch wenn Faehigkeitsmasse kontrolliert wurden. (Buch/A.G. - ZPID)
In der vorliegenden Arbeit wird argumentiert, daß das Erleben von „Flow" im Prozeß des Lernens für das Entstehen von intrinsischer Lernmotivation und für die kognitive Entwicklung der Schüler von entscheidender Bedeutung ist. Die FIow-Theorie von M. Csikszentmihalyi wird ausführlich dargestellt und ihre Relevanz für den Lernprozeß erläutert. Es werden zwei empirische Studien berichtet, die die Auswirkungen des Flow-Erlebens auf schulisches Lernen belegen. Schließlich wird der Versuch gemacht, Folgerungen für die pädagogische Praxis abzuleiten.
Die Zuschreibung von Verantwortlichkeit an Vergewaltigungsopfer und -täter in sozialen Urteilsprozessen hat sich im Zuge einer stärkeren Anwendungsorientierung der attributionstheoretischen Forschung zu einem eigenständigen Themenschwerpunkt entwickelt. Vor dem Hintergrund eines zunehmenden öffentlichen Problembewußtseins ist zu fragen, welchen Beitrag die Attributionsforschung aktuell undpotentiell zur Klärung der Bedingungen und Konsequenzen von Verantwortungsurteilen über Opfer und Täter von Vergewaltigungsdelikten leisten kann.
The olfactomotor system is especially investigated by examining the sniffing in reaction to olfactory stimuli. The motor output of respiratory-independent muscles was seldomly considered regarding possible influences of smells. The Adaptive Force (AF) characterizes the capability of the neuromuscular system to adapt to external forces in a holding manner and was suggested to be more vulnerable to possible interfering stimuli due to the underlying complex control processes. The aim of this pilot study was to measure the effects of olfactory inputs on the AF of the hip and elbow flexors, respectively. The AF of 10 subjects was examined manually by experienced testers while smelling at sniffing sticks with neutral, pleasant or disgusting odours. The reaction force and the limb position were recorded by a handheld device. The results show, inter alia, a significantly lower maximal isometric AF and a significantly higher AF at the onset of oscillations by perceiving disgusting odours compared to pleasant or neutral odours (p < 0.001). The adaptive holding capacity seems to reflect the functionality of the neuromuscular control, which can be impaired by disgusting olfactory inputs. An undisturbed functioning neuromuscular system appears to be characterized by a proper length tension control and by an earlier onset of mutual oscillations during an external force increase. This highlights the strong connection of olfaction and motor control also regarding respiratory-independent muscles.
As research on sexual aggression has been growing, methodological issues in assessing prevalence rates have received increased attention. Building on work by Abbey and colleagues about effects of question format, participants in this study (1,253; 621 female; 632 male) were randomly assigned to one of two versions of the Sexual Aggression and Victimization Scale (SAV-S). In Version 1, the coercive tactic (use/threat of physical force, exploitation of the inability to resist, verbal pressure) was presented first, and sexual acts (sexual touch, attempted and completed sexual intercourse, other sexual acts) were presented as subsequent questions. In Version 2, sexual acts were presented first, and coercive tactics as subsequent questions. No version effects emerged for overall perpetration rates reported by men and women. The overall victimization rate across all items was significantly higher in the tactic-first than in the sexual-act-first conditions for women, but not for men. Classifying participants by their most severe experience of sexual victimization showed that fewer women were in the nonvictim category and more men were in the nonconsensual sexual contact category when the coercive tactic was presented first. Sexual experience background did not moderate the findings. The implications for the measurement of self-reported sexual aggression victimization and perpetration are discussed.
Drugs as instruments
(2016)
Neuroenhancement (NE) is the non-medical use of psychoactive substances to produce a subjective enhancement in psychological functioning and experience. So far empirical investigations of individuals' motivation for NE however have been hampered by the lack of theoretical foundation. This study aimed to apply drug instrumentalization theory to user motivation for NE. We argue that NE should be defined and analyzed from a behavioral perspective rather than in terms of the characteristics of substances used for NE. In the empirical study we explored user behavior by analyzing relationships between drug options (use over-the-counter products, prescription drugs, illicit drugs) and postulated drug instrumentalization goals (e.g., improved cognitive performance, counteracting fatigue, improved social interaction). Questionnaire data from 1438 university students were subjected to exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis to address the question of whether analysis of drug instrumentalization should be based on the assumption that users are aiming to achieve a certain goal and choose their drug accordingly or whether NE behavior is more strongly rooted in a decision to try or use a certain drug option. We used factor mixture modeling to explore whether users could be separated into qualitatively different groups defined by a shared "goal X drug option" configuration. Our results indicate, first, that individuals decisions about NE are eventually based on personal attitude to drug options (e.g., willingness to use an over-the-counter product but not to abuse prescription drugs) rather than motivated by desire to achieve a specific goal (e.g., fighting tiredness) for which different drug options might be tried. Second, data analyses suggested two qualitatively different classes of users. Both predominantly used over-the-counter products, but "neuroenhancers" might be characterized by a higher propensity to instrumentalize over-the-counter products for virtually all investigated goals whereas "fatigue-fighters" might be inclined to use over-the-counter products exclusively to fight fatigue. We believe that psychological investigations like these are essential, especially for designing programs to prevent risky behavior.
Dyslexic and normal readers' eye movements were compared while tracking a moving fixation point and in reading. Contrary to previous reports, the dyslexic and normal readers did not differ in their number of saccades, percentage of regressions, or stability of fixations in the tracking task. Thus, defective oculomotor control was not associated with or a causal factor in dyslexia, and the dyslexics' abnormal eye movements in reading must be related to differences in higher cognitive processes. However, individual differences in oculmotor efficiency, independent of reading ability, were found within both the dyslexic and normal groups, and these differences were correlated in reading and tracking tasks.
Infants start learning the prosodic properties of their native language before 12 months, as shown by the emergence of a trochaic bias in English-learning infants between 6 and 9 months (Jusczyk et al., 1993), and in German-learning infants between 4 and 6 months (Huhle et al., 2009, 2014), while French-learning infants do not show a bias at 6 months (Hohle et al., 2009). This language-specific emergence of a trochaic bias is supported by the fact that English and German are languages with trochaic predominance in their lexicons, while French is a language with phrase-final lengthening but lacking lexical stress. We explored the emergence of a trochaic bias in bilingual French/German infants, to study whether the developmental trajectory would be similar to monolingual infants and whether amount of relative exposure to the two languages has an impact on the emergence of the bias. Accordingly, we replicated Hohle et al. (2009) with 24 bilingual 6-month-olds learning French and German simultaneously. All infants had been exposed to both languages for 30 to 70% of the time from birth. Using the Head Preference Procedure, infants were presented with two lists of stimuli, one made up of several occurrences of the pseudoword /GAba/ with word-initial stress (trochaic pattern), the second one made up of several occurrences of the pseudoword /gaBA/ with word-final stress (iambic pattern). The stimuli were recorded by a native German female speaker. Results revealed that these French/German bilingual 6-month olds have a trochaic bias (as evidenced by a preference to listen to the trochaic pattern). Hence, their listening preference is comparable to that of monolingual German-learning 6-month-olds, but differs from that of monolingual French-learning 6-month-olds who did not show any preference (Noble et al., 2009). Moreover, the size of the trochaic bias in the bilingual infants was not correlated with their amount of exposure to German. The present results thus establish that the development of a trochaic bias in simultaneous bilinguals is not delayed compared to monolingual German-learning infants (Hohle et al., 2009) and is rather independent of the amount of exposure to German relative to French.
Elderly adults (N = 116; average age = 73 years) were randomly assigned to one of four treatment groups varying in the amount of training and testing on fluid intelligence tests. They were compared before and after treatment on self-efficacy and utility beliefs for intelligence tests and everyday competence. Although both ability training and extended retest practice resulted in significant gains in objective test performance (Baltes, Kliegl, & Dittmann-Kohli, 1988), only ability training resulted in positive changes in self-efficacy. However, these changes were restricted to testrelated self-efficacy. Training had no impact on perceived utility or on everyday self-efficacy beliefs. Implications of the results are discussed with regard to interventions to increase intellectual self-efficacy in elderly persons.
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.
Postural balance represents a fundamental movement skill for the successful performance of everyday and sport-related activities. There is ample evidence on the effectiveness of balance training on balance performance in athletic and non-athletic population. However, less is known on potential transfer effects of other training types, such as plyometric jump training (PJT) on measures of balance. Given that PJT is a highly dynamic exercise mode with various forms of jump-landing tasks, high levels of postural control are needed to successfully perform PJT exercises. Accordingly, PJT has the potential to not only improve measures of muscle strength and power but also balance. To systematically review and synthetize evidence from randomized and non-randomized controlled trials regarding the effects of PJT on measures of balance in apparently healthy participants. Systematic literature searches were performed in the electronic databases PubMed, Web of Science, and SCOPUS. A PICOS approach was applied to define inclusion criteria, (i) apparently healthy participants, with no restrictions on their fitness level, sex, or age, (ii) a PJT program, (iii) active controls (any sport-related activity) or specific active controls (a specific exercise type such as balance training), (iv) assessment of dynamic, static balance pre- and post-PJT, (v) randomized controlled trials and controlled trials. The methodological quality of studies was assessed using the Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro) scale. This meta-analysis was computed using the inverse variance random-effects model. The significance level was set at p <0.05. The initial search retrieved 8,251 plus 23 records identified through other sources. Forty-two articles met our inclusion criteria for qualitative and 38 for quantitative analysis (1,806 participants [990 males, 816 females], age range 9–63 years). PJT interventions lasted between 4 and 36 weeks. The median PEDro score was 6 and no study had low methodological quality (≤3). The analysis revealed significant small effects of PJT on overall (dynamic and static) balance (ES = 0.46; 95% CI = 0.32–0.61; p < 0.001), dynamic (e.g., Y-balance test) balance (ES = 0.50; 95% CI = 0.30–0.71; p < 0.001), and static (e.g., flamingo balance test) balance (ES = 0.49; 95% CI = 0.31–0.67; p < 0.001). The moderator analyses revealed that sex and/or age did not moderate balance performance outcomes. When PJT was compared to specific active controls (i.e., participants undergoing balance training, whole body vibration training, resistance training), both PJT and alternative training methods showed similar effects on overall (dynamic and static) balance (p = 0.534). Specifically, when PJT was compared to balance training, both training types showed similar effects on overall (dynamic and static) balance (p = 0.514). Conclusion: Compared to active controls, PJT showed small effects on overall balance, dynamic and static balance. Additionally, PJT produced similar balance improvements compared to other training types (i.e., balance training). Although PJT is widely used in athletic and recreational sport settings to improve athletes' physical fitness (e.g., jumping; sprinting), our systematic review with meta-analysis is novel in as much as it indicates that PJT also improves balance performance. The observed PJT-related balance enhancements were irrespective of sex and participants' age. Therefore, PJT appears to be an adequate training regime to improve balance in both, athletic and recreational settings.
Recent research suggests that the P3b may be closely related to the activation of the locus coeruleus-norepinephrine (LC-NE) system. To further study the potential association, we applied a novel technique, the non-invasive transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation (tVNS), which is speculated to increase noradrenaline levels. Using a within-subject cross-over design, 20 healthy participants received continuous tVNS and sham stimulation on two consecutive days (stimulation counterbalanced across participants) while performing a visual oddball task. During stimulation, oval non-targets (standard), normal-head (easy) and rotated-head (difficult) targets, as well as novel stimuli (scenes) were presented. As an indirect marker of noradrenergic activation we also collected salivary alpha-amylase (sAA) before and after stimulation. Results showed larger P3b amplitudes for target, relative to standard stimuli, irrespective of stimulation condition. Exploratory post hoc analyses, however, revealed that, in comparison to standard stimuli, easy (but not difficult) targets produced larger P3b (but not P3a) amplitudes during active tVNS, compared to sham stimulation. For sAA levels, although main analyses did not show differential effects of stimulation, direct testing revealed that tVNS (but not sham stimulation) increased sAA levels after stimulation. Additionally, larger differences between tVNS and sham stimulation in P3b magnitudes for easy targets were associated with larger increase in sAA levels after tVNS, but not after sham stimulation. Despite preliminary evidence for a modulatory influence of tVNS on the P3b, which may be partly mediated by activation of the noradrenergic system, additional research in this field is clearly warranted. Future studies need to clarify whether tVNS also facilitates other processes, such as learning and memory, and whether tVNS can be used as therapeutic tool.
EMAN is an eye-movement analysis program that consists of four modules. The first module rescales eye positions to coordinates of the display. The second and third modules reduce data to a fixation format and identify areas of bad measurement by means of iterative passes over the data. In the fourth module iterative algorithms are employed for the identification of line numbers and for achieving congruence between fixations and display.
Calcularis is a computer-based training program which focuses on basic numerical skills, spatial representation of numbers and arithmetic operations. The program includes a user model allowing flexible adaptation to the child's individual knowledge and learning profile. The study design to evaluate the training comprises three conditions (Calcularis group, waiting control group, spelling training group). One hundred and thirty-eight children from second to fifth grade participated in the study. Training duration comprised a minimum of 24 training sessions of 20 min within a time period of 6-8 weeks. Compared to the group without training (waiting control group) and the group with an alternative training (spelling training group), the children of the Calcularis group demonstrated a higher benefit in subtraction and number line estimation with medium to large effect sizes. Therefore, Calcularis can be used effectively to support children in arithmetic performance and spatial number representation.
Human information processing depends critically on continuous predictions about upcoming events, but the temporal convergence of expectancy-based top-down and input-driven bottom-up streams is poorly understood. We show that, during reading, event-related potentials differ between exposure to highly predictable and unpredictable words no later than 90 ms after visual input. This result suggests an extremely rapid comparison of expected and incoming visual information and gives an upper temporal bound for theories of top-down and bottom-up interactions in object recognition.
Linear mixed models (LMMs) provide a still underused methodological perspective on combining experimental and individual-differences research. Here we illustrate this approach with two-rectangle cueing in visual attention (Egly et al., 1994). We replicated previous experimental cue-validity effects relating to a spatial shift of attention within an object (spatial effect), to attention switch between objects (object effect), and to the attraction of attention toward the display centroid (attraction effect), also taking into account the design-inherent imbalance of valid and other trials. We simultaneously estimated variance/covariance components of subject-related random effects for these spatial, object, and attraction effects in addition to their mean reaction times (RTs). The spatial effect showed a strong positive correlation with mean RT and a strong negative correlation with the attraction effect. The analysis of individual differences suggests that slow subjects engage attention more strongly at the cued location than fast subjects. We compare this joint LMM analysis of experimental effects and associated subject-related variances and correlations with two frequently used alternative statistical procedures
Explaining perceived cross-situational consistency : intuitive psychometrics or semantic mediation?
(1988)
Recent studies at the interface of social cognition and personality theory have stressed lay persons' ability to 'function as intuitive psychometricians' (Epstein and Teraspulsky, 1986). This research argues that lay persons not only show a substantial degree of accuracy in estimating cross-situational generality of behaviour, but also take into account principles of aggregation over time. In contrast, it is argued here that lay persons' perceptions of the degree of relatedness of different behaviours are mediated largely by the decontextualized semantic relationships between behavioural descriptions. This argument finds support in two experimental studies which demonstrate that the main source for subjects' judgments of 'cross-situational consistency' can be found in an abstracted knowledge base which is represented and mediated through language. The implications of the findings are drawn out for personality research. in particular with reference to domain and item selection in questionnaires for research.
Contents: I. Introduction II. Word Coding Processes A. Word Recognition B. Orthographic Coding C. Phonological Coding III. Eye Monitor and Reading Task IV. Group Differences V. Dimensions of Individual Differences A. Regressive Fixation Index and Word Recognition B. Regressive Fixation Index and IQ C. Regressive Fixation Index and Saccade Length D. Regressive Fixation Index and Relative Phonological Skill VI. Multiple Regression Models of Individual Differences A. Disabled Readers in the Aloud Condition B. Disabled Readers in the Silent Condition C. Normal Readers in Silent and Aloud Conditions VII. Conclusions
Motivated by conflicting evidence in the literature, we re-assessed the role of facial feedback when detecting quantitative or qualitative changes in others’ emotional expressions. Fifty-three healthy adults observed self-paced morph sequences where the emotional facial expression either changed quantitatively (i.e., sad-to-neutral, neutral-to-sad, happy-to-neutral, neutral-to-happy) or qualitatively (i.e. from sad to happy, or from happy to sad). Observers held a pen in their own mouth to induce smiling or frowning during the detection task. When morph sequences started or ended with neutral expressions we replicated a congruency effect: Happiness was perceived longer and sooner while smiling; sadness was perceived longer and sooner while frowning. Interestingly, no such congruency effects occurred for transitions between emotional expressions. These results suggest that facial feedback is especially useful when evaluating the intensity of a facial expression, but less so when we have to recognize which emotion our counterpart is expressing.
A study is reported which investigates the fakeability of personality profiles as measured by a standard personality inventory, the Freiburger Persönlichkeitsinventar (FPI). Unlike previous studies investigating laypersons' ability to fake a global good or bad impression, the present study examined individuals' ability to fake a specific personality profile. Four groups of subjects were instructed to fake their FPI scores so as to present themselves as high vs low scorers on the "social orientation" dimension or high vs low scorers on the "achievement orientation" dimension. The results clearly demonstrate that subjects are successful in manipulating their scores on the critical dimensions according to instruction. Moreover, they also fake related scales in a way that corroborates the intended image of a person with a high (or low) achievement (or social) orientation. The overall pattern of results reveals that subjects were able to distort their responses in a way that reflects their intuitive understanding of the dimensional structure of the FPI. The implications of the present findings for the use of personality inventories as valid diagnostic instruments are discussed.
The evolutionary theory of socialization of Belsky, Steinberg, and Draper was investigated on the empirical basis of a longitudinal sample of 26 adolescent girls and boys who were born in Berlin during German reunification, as well as their mothers. Consistent with the theory, pubertal timing of the girls (but not of the boys) was predicted by the quality of parental relations in childhood, and pubertal timing of the girls (but not of the boys) was a significant predictor of the age at first intercourse. The results suggest that there are different developmental pathways for girls and boys with respect to the predictions of the evolutionary theory of socialization of Belsky et al. The findings also support the hypothesis that early onset of reproduction and frequent reproduction may be two different aspects of a quantitative reproductive strategy.
Bei N = 101 Arbeitnehmern verschiedener Berufe wurden mit der Experience Sampling Method (ESM) eine Woche lang Daten zum Flow-Erleben, zu Glück/Zufriedenheit und zur Zielausrichtung laufender Aktivitäten erhoben (N = 4603 Messungen). Die Daten wurden mit GLMM-Analysen ausgewertet. Auch bei der jetzt vollständigen Erfassung aller Flow-Komponenten mit der FKS bestätigte sich das „Paradoxon der Arbeit“, wonach während der Arbeit höhere Flow-Werte, aber niedrigere Werte für Glück/Zufriedenheit auftreten als jeweils in der Freizeit. Während der Arbeit waren Aktivitäten häufiger auf die Erreichung von Zielen ausgerichtet als während der Freizeit. Die Zielausrichtung wirkte auf Flow vs. Glück/Zufriedenheit signifikant verschieden. Während der Arbeit hat die Zielausrichtung auf Flow einen stark positiven Effekt, auf Glück/Zufriedenheit jedoch nicht. Im Freizeitbereich war der Effekt von Zielausrichtung auf Glück/Zufriedenheit sogar negativ. Das „Paradoxon der Arbeit“ lässt sich partiell als Effekt der Zielausrichtung verstehen.
Berichtet wird über eine Möglichkeit, Flow-Erleben unter experimentell kontrollierten Bedingungen systematisch zu variieren. Dabei werden die Tätigkeit (das Computerspiel Roboguard) und die Situationsbedingungen konstant gehalten. Variiert wird lediglich die Schwierigkeitsstufe, auf der gespielt wird. Als abhängiges Maß wurde die Flow-Kurzskala (FKS, Rheinberg, Vollmeyer & Engeser, 2002) verwandt. Es zeigten sich die vorhergesagten kurvilinearen Beziehungen zwischen Anforderungsstufe und Flow mit Effektstärken um 1 und größer. Zusammenhänge zwischen habitueller Zielorientierung (Hayamizu & Weiner, 1991) und Flow zeigten sich nur bei den flow-auslösenden Schwierigkeitsstufen. Es gab keine negative Beziehung zwischen Zielorientierung und Flow, vielmehr korrelierten sowohl die learning- als auch die performance goal orientation positiv mit der Flowkomponente Absorbiertheit. Aus diesem Befund wird eine Arbeitshypothese zur Beziehung von Motivation und Flow hergeleitet, wonach unter optimalen Bedingungen Besonderheiten der Initialmotivation vielleicht dann keine Rolle mehr spielen, wenn die Person erst einmal im Flow-Zustand ist.
Manipulations of presentation time have a long history in research on the development of memory, with a number of paradoxical results deriving from methodological shortcomings as well as from insufficient theoretical specifications. After a look at some of the problems in earlier research, a psychophysics approach to investigate episodic memory functions is presented in which criterion-referenced manipulation of presentation time is used to estimate the effects of experimental manipulations and the effects of individual differences. Criterion'referenced presentation time (CRPT), defined as the time required to score at an a priori specified level of accuracy, is interpreted as a preliminary indicator of internal processing time. CRPTs are shown to be valid predictors of traditional measures of memory accuracy. Moreover, an extension of this psychophysics approach yields estimates of complete condition-specific timeaccuracy functions and of function-specific processing times (plus other parameters) for individual subjects. It is argued that both from a cognitive and a developmental perspective it is often advantageous to trade experimental equivalence in presentation times for functional equivalence in accuracy of performance; this applies not only to episodic memory processes.
Earlier testing-the-limits research on age differences in cognitive plasticity of a memory skill was extended by 18 additional assessment and training sessions to explore whether older adults were able to catch up with additional practice and improved training conditions. The focus was on the method of loci, which requires mental imagination to encode and retrieve lists of words from memory in serial order. Of the original 37 subjects, 35 (16 young, ranging from 20 to 30 years of age, and 19 older adults, ranging from 66 to 80 years of age) participated in the follow-up study. Older adults showed sizable performance deficits when compared with young adults and tested for limits of reserve capacity. The negative age difference was substantial, resistant to extensive practice, and applied to all subjects studied. The primary origin for this negative age difference may be a loss in the production and use of mental imagination for operations of the mind.
In this paper we present an approach to recover the dynamics from recurrences of a system and then generate (multivariate) twin surrogate (TS) trajectories. In contrast to other approaches, such as the linear-like surrogates, this technique produces surrogates which correspond to an independent copy of the underlying system, i. e. they induce a trajectory of the underlying system visiting the attractor in a different way. We show that these surrogates are well suited to test for complex synchronization, which makes it possible to systematically assess the reliability of synchronization analyses. We then apply the TS to study binocular fixational movements and find strong indications that the fixational movements of the left and right eye are phase synchronized. This result indicates that there might be one centre only in the brain that produces the fixational movements in both eyes or a close link between two centres.
Glaubwürdigkeitsbeurteilung bei Vergewaltigungsanzeigen : ein aussagenanalytisches Feldexperiment
(1992)
Die Studie untersucht die Frage, ob sich anhand eines bereits bei kindlichen Zeugenaussagen bewährten Katalogs von Glaubhaftigkeitskriterien zwischen wahren und falschen Vergewaltigungsanzeigen unterscheiden läßt. Das Fallmaterial bestand aus dreißig authentischen Vernehmungsprotokollen, von denen je die Hälfte eingestandene Falschaussagen bzw. anhand von Tätergeständnissen oder Indizien als wahr klassifizierte Aussagen waren. Erfahrene Polizeibeamte aus dem Bereich Sexualstraftaten (N = 30) beurteilten diese Fälle anhand des Kriterienkatalogs von Steiler und Köhnken (1989) und gaben ein abschließendes Urteil über die Glaubwürdigkeit jedes Falles ab. Eine zweite Gruppe von Polizeibeamten (N=22) beurteilte die Fälle ohne Rückgriff auf Realkennzeichen als wahr bzw, falsch. Die diskriminanzanalytische Auswertung der Ergebnisse zeigt, daß der Kriterienkatalog insgesamt gut dazu geeignet ist, zwischen wahren und falschen Vergewaltigungsanzeigen zu differenzieren. Die Ergebnisse der schrittweisen Diskriminanzanalyse zeigen darüber hinaus, welche Glaubhaftigkeitskriterien im einzelnen einen signifikanten Beitrag zur Trennung zwischen Wahr- und Falschaussagen leisten. Der höhere Prozentsatz korrekter Klassifikationen in der Gruppe, die die Realkennzeichen verwendete, erreichte allerdings nur knapp statistische Signifikanz. Insgesamt stützt die vorliegende Studie die Grundannahme der Aussagenanalyse, daß die Analyse der sprachlichen Merkmale einer Aussage einen wesentlichen Beitrag zur Beurteilung des Wahrheitsgehalts einer Anzeige leisten kann.
While children acquire new words and simple sentence structures extremely fast and without much effort, the ability to process complex sentences develops rather late in life. Although the conjoint occurrence between brain-structural and brain-functional changes, the decrease of plasticity, and changes in cognitive abilities suggests a certain causality between these processes, concrete evidence for the relation between brain development, language processing, and language performance is rare. Therefore, the current dissertation investigates the tripartite relationship between behavior (in the form of language performance and cognitive maturation as prerequisite for language processing), brain structure (in the form of gray matter maturation), and brain function (in the form of brain activation evoked by complex sentence processing). Previous developmental studies indicate a missing increase of activation in accordance to sentence complexity (functional selectivity) in language-relevant brain areas in children. To determine the factors contributing to the functional development of language-relevant brain areas, different methodologies and data acquisition techniques were used to investigate the processing of center-embedded sentences in 5- and 6-year-old children, 7- and 8-year-old children, and adults. Behavioral results indicate that children between 5 and 8 years show difficulties in processing double embedded sentences and that their performance for these type of sentences is positively correlated with digit span. In 7- and 8-year-old children, it was found that especially the processing of long-distance relations between the initial phrase and its corresponding verb appears to be associated with the subject’s verbal working memory capacity. In contrast, children’s performance for double embedded sentences in the younger age group positively correlated with their performance in a standardized sentence comprehension test. This finding supports the hypothesis that processing difficulties in this age group may be mainly attributed to difficulties in processing case marking information. These findings are discussed with respect to current accounts of language and working memory development. A second study aimed at investigating the structural maturation of brain areas involved in sentence comprehension. To do this, whole-brain magnetic resonance images from 59 children between 5 and 8 years were collected and children’s gray matter was analyzed by using voxel-based morphometry. Children’s grammatical proficiency was assessed by a standardized sentence comprehension test. A confirmatory factory analysis corroborated a grammar-relevant and a verbal working memory-relevant factor underlying the measured performance. While children’s ability to assign thematic roles is positively correlated with gray matter probability (GMP) in the left inferior temporal gyrus and the left inferior frontal gyrus, verbal working memory-related performance is positively correlated with GMP in the left parietal operculum extending into the posterior superior temporal gyrus. These areas have been previously shown to be differentially engaged in adults’ complex sentence processing. Thus, the findings of the second study suggest a specific correspondence between children’s GMP in language-relevant brain regions and differential cognitive abilities which underlie complex sentence comprehension. In a third study, functional brain activity during the processing of center-embedded sentences was investigated in three different age groups (5–6 years, 7–8 years, and adults). Although all age groups engage a qualitatively comparable network of the left pars opercularis (PO), the left inferior parietal lobe extending into the posterior superior temporal gyrus (IPL/pSTG), the supplementary motor area (SMA) and the cerebellum, functional selectivity of these regions was only observable in adults. However, functional activation of the language-related regions (PO and IPL/pSTG) predicted sentence comprehension performance for all age groups. To solve the question of the complex interplay between different maturational factors, a fourth study analyzed the predictive power of gray matter probability, verbal working memory capacity, and behavioral differences in performance for simple and complex sentence for the functional selectivity of each activated region. These analyses revealed that the establishment of the adult-like functional selectivity for complex sentences is predicted by a reduction of the left PO’s gray matter probability across age groups while that of the IPL/pSTG is additionally predicted by verbal working memory capacity. Taken all findings together, the current thesis provides evidence that both structural brain maturation and verbal working memory expansion provide the basis for the emergence of functional selectivity in language-related brain regions leading to more efficient sentence processing during development.
We question the assumption of serial attention shifts and the assumption that saccade programs are initiated or canceled only after stage one of word identification. Evidence: (1) Fixation durations prior to skipped words are not consistently higher compared to those prior to nonskipped words. (2) Attentional modulation of microsaccade rate might occur after early visual processing. Saccades are probably triggered by attentional selection.
To investigate the relationship between implicit psychological hypotheses and explicit empirical findings, summaries of twenty published studies on attitude-behaviour consistency were presented to a sample of forty-eight psychology undergraduates. Subjects were asked to estimate the percentage of agreement between attitudes and behaviour obtained by each study. Correlations between subjects' covariation judgements and empirically obtained attitude-behaviour consistencies were minimal and nonsignificant. Results are discussed in the light of more recent research on attitudebehaviour relationship.
The main points raised by Borkenau against our challenge of the 'intuitive psychometrics' view of personality judgements are discussed, in particular his example of the link between school grades and intelligence. It is argued that the semantic similarity interpretation advanced in our paper is more adequate and more parsimonious than explanations in terms of psychometric reasoning.
I. Introduction A. Theoretical Framework and Selection of Tests B. Related Studies of Reading Disability Subtypes C. Overview of Specific Questions and Article Outline II. Selection criteria nd performance on standardized measures III. Group differences between disabled and normal readers A. Phonetic Memory B. Picture-Naming Speed and Automatic Responses to Print C. Phonological and Orthographic Skill D. Easy Regular and Exception Word Reading E. Difficult Regular and Exception Words IV. Individual diferences in reading disability A. Phonological Skill, Orthographic Skill, and the Regularity Effect B. Phonological Skill, Orthographic Skill, and Spelling Errors V. Eye movement reading style A. The "Plodder-Explorer" Dimension of Eye Movement Reading Style B. Eye Movements, Coding Skills, and Spelling Ratings C. Verbal Intelligence and the Plodder-Explorer Dimension D. Eye Movements in a Nonreading Task and the "Visual-Spatial" Subtype VI. Distribution and etiology of reading disabilities A. Distribution Issues B. Etiology of Reading Disabilities VII. Summary and new directions in research
Die gegenwärtig diskutierten Verfahren zur Erfassung von Lernstrategien, Lernstilen und Lernorientierungen können in zwei Gruppen unterteilt werden. Die erste Gruppe ist induktiv konstruiert worden und hat auf der Grundlage von Interviewstudien relativ globale Lernermerkmale postuliert. Typisch für diese Verfahren ist auch die Integration motivationaler und kognitiver Komponenten des Lernverhaltens. Die zweite Gruppe zeichnet sich durch ein deduktives Vorgehen aus. Ausgehend von kognitionspsychologischen Modellen des Lernprozesses sowie verschiedenen Motivationstheorien wurden differenzierte Tragebögen zu Lernstrategien undmotivationalen Merkmalen entwickelt. Die kognitiven und motivationalen Komponenten sind dabei strikt getrennt worden. Der vorliegende Artikel stellt beide Gruppen von Verfahren anhand ausgewählter Beispiele dar und diskutiert ihre Vor- und Nachteile.
Looking times and gaze behavior indicate that infants can predict the goal state of an observed simple action event (e.g., object-directed grasping) already in the first year of life. The present paper mainly focuses on infants' predictive gaze-shifts toward the goal of an ongoing action. For this, infants need to generate a forward model of the to-be-obtained goal state and to disengage their gaze from the moving agent at a time when information about the action event is still incomplete. By about 6 months of age, infants show goal-predictive gaze-shifts, but mainly for familiar actions that they can perform themselves (e.g., grasping) and for familiar agents (e.g., a human hand). Therefore, some theoretical models have highlighted close relations between infants' ability for action-goal prediction and their motor development and/or emerging action experience. Recent research indicates that infants can also predict action goals of familiar simple actions performed by non-human agents (e.g., object-directed grasping by a mechanical claw) when these agents display agency cues, such as self-propelled movement, equifinality of goal approach, or production of a salient action effect. This paper provides a review on relevant findings and theoretical models, and proposes that the impacts of action experience and of agency cues can be explained from an action-event perspective. In particular, infants' goal-predictive gaze-shifts are seen as resulting from an interplay between bottom-up processing of perceptual information and top-down influences exerted by event schemata that store information about previously executed or observed actions.
Protanopie, deuteranopic and tritanopic neutral points were computed by determining the wavelength of light that produced the same quantal-catch ratio in the photopigments as that produced by a broad-band light of specified color temperature (range: 2 800—6 600 K). The Vos-Walraven primaries were used as photopigment absorption spectra that were screened by varying densities of ocular (0.5—2.5 at 400 nm) and macular (0.0—1.0 at 460 nm) pigmentation. The computations were carried out in 1 nm steps for the wavelength range of 380 to 720 nm. Most of the empirically determined mean, neutral-point loci in the literature were predicted from these computations to within 1—2nm when average ocular and macular pigment densities were used. The neutral-point range associated with the extreme values of the prereceptoral screening pigments was up to 25 nm for protanopes and deuteranopes and up to 13 nm for tritanopes.
The current study investigates an interaction between numbers and physical size (i.e. size congruity) in visual search. In three experiments, participants had to detect a physically large (or small) target item among physically small (or large) distractors in a search task comprising single-digit numbers. The relative numerical size of the digits was varied, such that the target item was either among the numerically large or small numbers in the search display and the relation between numerical and physical size was either congruent or incongruent. Perceptual differences of the stimuli were controlled by a condition in which participants had to search for a differently coloured target item with the same physical size and by the usage of LCD-style numbers that were matched in visual similarity by shape transformations. The results of all three experiments consistently revealed that detecting a physically large target item is significantly faster when the numerical size of the target item is large as well (congruent), compared to when it is small (incongruent). This novel finding of a size congruity effect in visual search demonstrates an interaction between numerical and physical size in an experimental setting beyond typically used binary comparison tasks, and provides important new evidence for the notion of shared cognitive codes for numbers and sensorimotor magnitudes. Theoretical consequences for recent models on attention, magnitude representation and their interactions are discussed.
Der Artikel diskutiert die Bedeutung positiven emotionalen Erlebens beim Lernen und die Notwendigkeit der Unterscheidung zwischen generellen Lernmotiven und fachspezifischen Interessen. Es wird ausführlich auf Csikszentmihalyis Theorie des optimalen Erlebens und die von ihm mitbegründete "Erlebens-Stichproben-Methode" eingegangen. Des weiteren wird von einer empirischen Studie berichtet, in der der Zusammenhang zwischen Interesse und der Qualität des Erlebens im Unterricht untersucht wurde. Die Stärke des Interesses als Prädiktor des Erlebens wurde dabei verglichen mit der des Leistungsmotivs und eines Indikators schulbezogener kognitiver Fähigkeit. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, daß Interesse in deutlich engerem Zusammenhang mit der Ericbensqualität steht als Leistungsmotiv und Fähigkeit. Insbesondere die Erlebensdimensionen Aktiviertheit, intrinsische Motivation, Selbstwert und Wahrnehmung eigener Fähigkeit wiesen signifikante Zusammenhänge mit der Interessenausprägung auf.
Die Untersuchung beschäftigte sich mit dem Einfluß des thematischen Interesses auf die Ausprägung der nach dem Textverarbeitungsmodell von van Dijk & Kintsch (1983) unterschiedenen Komponenten der Textrepräsentation. Darüber hinaus sollte der Einfluß von Interesse auf motivationale und kognitive Variablen des Leseprozesses (z.B. Elaboration) überprüft werden. Zusätzlich wurde eine Reihe relevanter Einflußgrößen (z.B. Vorwissen) im Sinne von Kontrollvariablen erhoben. 43 Studenten wurden auf der Basis eines Fragebogens in hoch und niedrig thematisch interessierte eingeteilt. Die Vpn bekamen einen Text zum Thema «Kommunikation» zu lesen. Anschließend wurde retrospektiv eine Reihe von Prozeßvariablen erhoben. Es folgte ein Rekognitionstest, der die Ermittlung der unterschiedlichen Stärke der wörtlichen, propositionalen und situativen Textrepräsentation erlaubt. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, daß die wörtliche Textrepräsentation bei den niedrig Interessierten signifikant stärker ausgeprägt ist, während die hoch Interessierten eine stärker ausgeprägte propositionale Abbildung des Textes erkennen lassen. Keine erkennbaren Unterschiede zwischen den beiden Versuchsgruppen zeigten sich hinsichtlich der situativen Repräsentation. Die Berücksichtigung der einbezogenen Kontrollvariablen hatte keine Minderung des Interesseneffekts zur Folge. Interesse hängt darüber hinaus eng mit dem Ausmaß von Aktivierung, Flow-Erleben, elaborativen Prozessen und der Häufigkeit von Notizen zusammen. Es ergaben sich Anhaltspunkte, daß diese Variablen auch eine wichtige Rolle bei der Vermittlung des beobachteten Interesseneffekts spielen.
In insgesamt drei Untersuchungen wurden die folgenden Fragestellungen bzw. Problembereiche bearbeitet: (1) die quantitative Erfassung von Studieninteresse, [ 2 \ der Zusammenhang zwischen Studieninteresse und Leistungsmotiv, (3) die Beziehung zwischen Studieninteresse und kognitiven Variablen. Der von Winteler ii Sierwald(1987) entwickelte "Fragebogen zum Studieninteresse" (FSI) wurde an einer Stichprobe von N=621 Studenten aus verschiedenen Fachbereichen hinsichtlich seiner generellen Anwendbarkeit überprüft (Studie 1). Die Ergebnisse zeigen, daß das Studieninteresse sich nur mit dem Alter verändert, während andere Variablen keinen Einfluß haben. Die zweite Studie (N = 169) ergab, daß zwischen Studieninteresse und dem Leistungsmotiv erwartungsgemäß nur ein geringer Zusammenhang besteht. Darüber hinaus zeigte sich, daß Interesse stärker mit der Studienleistung (Durchschnittsnote) korreliert als das Leistungsmotiv. In Studie 3 (N = 59) wurde der Zusammenhang von Studieninteresse und einem mittels Wortassoziationstest erfaßten Ausschnitt der fachbezogenen Wissensstruktur geprüft. Obwohl keine quantitativen Unterschiede auftraten, ergab eine qualitative Analyse, daß hoch Interessierte fachlich adäquatere Assoziationen produzieren und hinsichtlich ihrer Wissensstruktur einer Gruppe von Experten ähnlicher sind als niedrig Interessierte.
This study investigated the relation between interest in four different subject areas (mathematics, biology, English, history) and the quality of experience in class. The strength of interest as a predictor of experience was contrasted with that of achievement motivation and scholastic ability. A total of208 highly able freshmen and sophomores completed interest ratings, an achievement motivation questionnaire, and the Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test (PSAT). These assessments were followed by one week of experience sampling. In addition, grades were available for the subject areas involved. The results showed that interest was a significant predictor of the experience of potency, intrinsic motivation, self-esteem, and perception of skill. Controlling for ability and achievement motivation did not decrease the strength of these relations. Achievement motivation and ability proved to be considerably weaker predictors of the quality of experience than was interest. In addition, interest contributed significantly to the prediction of grades in mathematics, biology, and history, but not English. The main results and some limitations of the study are discussed, and suggestions for future research are made.
There has been a substantial increase in the percentage for publications with co-authors located in departments from different countries in 12 major journals of psychology. The results are evidence for a remarkable internationalization of psychological research, starting in the mid 1970s and increasing in rate at the beginning of the 1990s. This growth occurs against a constant number of articles with authors from the same country; it is not due to a concomitant increase in the number of co-authors per article. Thus, international collaboration in psychology is obviously on the rise.
Several personality dispositions with common features capturing sensitivities to negative social cues have recently been introduced into psychological research. To date, however, little is known about their interrelations, their conjoint effects on behavior, or their interplay with other risk factors. We asked N = 349 adults from Germany to rate their justice, rejection, moral disgust, and provocation sensitivity, hostile attribution bias, trait anger, and forms and functions of aggression. The sensitivity measures were mostly positively correlated; particularly those with an egoistic focus, such as victim justice, rejection, and provocation sensitivity, hostile attributions and trait anger as well as those with an altruistic focus, such as observer justice, perpetrator justice, and moral disgust sensitivity. The sensitivity measures had independent and differential effects on forms and functions of aggression when considered simultaneously and when controlling for hostile attributions and anger. They could not be integrated into a single factor of interpersonal sensitivity or reduced to other well-known risk factors for aggression. The sensitivity measures, therefore, require consideration in predicting and preventing aggression.
Die vorliegende Arbeit gibt einen Überblick zu Theorien der intrinsischen Lernmotivation (ILM) und berichtet von einer Metaanalyse empirischer Befunde zum Zusammenhang von ILM und Lernen anhand von vier Gruppen von Lernindikatoren: Noten, Leistungstests, spezifische Lernkriterien (z.B. Behalten eines spezifischen Textes) und Verwendung von Lernstrategien. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, daß ILM niedrige aber konsistent positive Korrelationen mit Noten und Tests aufweist, und daß ILM vor allem tiefergehende bzw. konzeptuelle Formen des Lernens begünstigt. Die Ausprägung extrinsischer Lernmotivation (ELM) erwies sich als schwacher und meist nicht signifikanter Prädiktor der Lernleistung. Wenn überhaupt, so scheint ELM oberflächliche Formen des Lernens zu fördern.
Auszug: "Man kann Motivation definieren als die „aktivierende Ausrichtung des momentanen Lebensvollzugs auf einen positiv bewerteten Zielzustand“ (Rheinberg, 2002b, S. 17). Definitionen dieser Art sollen den Kern des interessierenden Gegenstandes möglichst knapp und hoch verdichtet fassen. Besonderheiten bleiben deshalb zunächst unerwähnt und müssen dann zusätzlich erläutert werden. Im jetzigen Fall sind mindestens zwei Zusatzerläuterungen erforderlich. (1) Der „positiv bewertete Zielzustand“ kann gelegentlich in der Vermeidung oder der Abwehr unerwünschter Ereignisse bestehen. Eine solche Meiden-Motivation kann andere Qualitäten haben als eine reine Aufsuchungsmotivation. Dieser Punkt wird uns in diesem Kapitel nicht beschäftigen. Er wird in den Kapiteln xx behandelt. (2) Der zweite Punkt ist diffiziler und ist Gegenstand dieses Kapitels. Wenn man, wie hier, den Zielzustand zum Ausgangspunkt der Motivationsdefinition macht, so könnte man daraus vorschnell eine Aussage über die Lokalisierung von Anreizen ablesen: Der Zielzustand ist das, was Anreiz besitzt und die zielführende Aktivität ist lediglich das Instrument, das diesen Zielzustand herbeiführt. Danach würde eine Aktivität ihre Attraktivität aus dem Anreiz der Ergebnisse beziehen, auf die sie abzielt. Eine solche Auffassung findet sich z. B. bei Heckhausen (1977) oder Vroom (1964).
Kognitive Plastizität und altersbedingte Grenzen am Beispiel des Erwerbs einer Gedächtnistechnik
(1989)
Die Bedeutung kognitiver Entwicklungskapazität (Plastizität) und ihrer altersabhängigen Grenzen für Theorien kognitiven Alters wird thematisiert. Für kognitive Basisprozesse wird erwartet, daß die durch Training umgesetzte Entwicklungskapazität älterer Menschen zwar ausreicht, die Ausgangsleistung junger Erwachsener zu übertreffen, daß aber aufgrund altersbedingter Grenzen der Entwicklungskapazität nur sehr wenige ältere Erwachsene das Leistungsniveau trainierter junger Erwachsener erreichen werden. Am Beispiel eines Gedächtnistrainingsprogrammes zur Erhöhung der Merkfähigkeit für Wortlisten werden zwei Forschungsstrategien vorgestellt: (a) das Training von sehr leistungsfähigen älteren Erwachsenen und (b) Längsschnitt-Einzelfall-Studien. Die experimentellen Befunde bestätigten die theoretischen Erwartungen. Zwar waren die Leistungen der besten älteren Erwachsenen etwa doppelt so hoch wie die untrainierter junger Erwachsener, aber die durch das Training aufgedeckten Altersverluste konnten auch in bis zu 75 weiteren Übungsstunden nicht behoben werden.
Two studies are reported which examine the availability of scientific propositions of personality in lay conceptions of personality. It is argued from a social constructivist perspective that models of personality must derive from and refer to lay conceptions of persons. Eysenck's trait-type model of introversion-extroversion, containing specific propositions about phenotypic and genotypic differences between extraverts and introverts, was utilized as the scientific model of personality and its availability in lay conceptions of personality was examined in two studies. In the first study, subjects were presented with a genotypic characterization of either an introvert or an extravert target person and asked to infer corresponding phenotypic differences. In the second study, the inference process was reversed with subjects being asked to infer genotypic characteristics of introverts versus extraverts on the basis of phenotypic target person descriptions of the two types. Results from both studies show a high degree of accuracy in subjects' inferences, suggesting that laypersons have well-formed conceptions about personality containing 'higher-order' psychogenetic propositions corresponding to Eysenck's trait-type model. The implications of the findings for theory construction are discussed.
While previous research underscores the role of leaders in stimulating employee voice behaviour, comparatively little is known about what affects leaders' support for such constructive but potentially threatening employee behaviours. We introduce leader member exchange quality (LMX) as a central predictor of leaders' support for employees' ideas for constructive change. Apart from a general benefit of high LMX for leaders' idea support, we propose that high LMX is particularly critical to leaders' idea support if the idea voiced by an employee constitutes a power threat to the leader. We investigate leaders' attribution of prosocial and egoistic employee intentions as mediators of these effects. Hypotheses were tested in a quasi-experimental vignette study (N = 160), in which leaders evaluated a simulated employee idea, and a field study (N = 133), in which leaders evaluated an idea that had been voiced to them at work. Results show an indirect effect of LMX on leaders' idea support via attributed prosocial intentions but not via attributed egoistic intentions, and a buffering effect of high LMX on the negative effect of power threat on leaders' idea support. Results differed across studies with regard to the main effect of LMX on idea support.
In einer zweijährigen Längsschnittstudie wurde der Frage nachgegangen, inwiefern Lernaufwand und Elaborationsstrategien den vermuteten Einfluß des Studieninteresses auf die zu einem späteren Zeitpunkt erbrachte Studienleistung vermitteln. An der Studie nahmen 92 Studenten verschiedener Studiengänge teil. Zum ersten Erhebungszeitpunkt wurde mit Hilfe von Fragebogenverfahren das Studieninteresse, der Lernaufwand und die Verwendung von Elaborationsstrategien erfaßt. Zwei Jahre später wurden die Noten der inzwischen absolvierten Diplomvorprüfung erhoben. Die Ergebnisse von Pfadanalysen mit latenten Variablen zeigen, daß der Lernaufwand - im Unterschied zu Elaborationsstrategien - als signifikanter Mediator des Interesseneffekts auf die Studienleistung angesehen werden kann. Elaborationsstrategien erscheinen als ein Nebenprodukt hohen Studieninteresses ohne Auswirkung auf die erreichten Leistungsbeurteilungen.
Gedächtnishöchstleistungen sind auch im Alter möglich. Dies konnte am Beispiel der »Methode der Orte« experimentell bestätigt werden. Hierbei hat sich gezeigt, daß das Gehirn über große kognitive Kapazitätsreserven verfügt. In einer speziellen Testmethode (»testing the limits«) zeigt sich aber im Hochleistungsbereich, trotz der grundsätzlichen Plastizität, ein altersbezogenes Nachlassen der Gedächtnismechanik. Offenbar gibt es biologische Grenzen in der Schnelligkeit der menschlichen Vorstellungskraft. Vielleicht gelingt es auf der Grundlage dieser Erkentnnis, einen zuverlässigen Markierungsindikator für das hirnphysiologische Altern zu finden. Daraus könnten sich auch neue Methoden zur Früherkennung von Demenzen ableiten lassen.
Lernstrategien im Studium : Ergebnisse zur Faktorenstruktur und Reliabilität eines neuen Fragebogens
(1994)
Der vorliegende Beitrag berichtet über die Entwicklung eines Inventars zur Erfassung von Lernstrategien im Studium (LIST). Das Verfahren gliedert sich in drei Teilbereiche: (1) «Kognitive Strategien», (2) «Metakognitive Strategien» und (3) «Ressourcenbezogene Strategien». Jeder Teilbereich wird durch mehrere Einzelskalen abgebildet. Der Fragebogen wurde nach verschiedenen Pilotuntersuchungen an einer Stichprobe von 310 Studenten verschiedener Studiengänge eingesetzt. Die Ergebnisse zeigen eine gut interpretierbare Faktorenstruktur sowie zufriedenstellende Reliabilitätsindizes. Das Verfahren ist in erster Linie zur Anwendung bei Studenten vorgesehen, kann aber auch bei anderen erwachsenen Lernergruppen eingesetzt werden.
Fragestellung: Ziel der Studie war die Überprüfung der Wirksamkeit einer vorschulischen Förderung der phonologischen Bewusstheit und der Buchstaben-Laut-Verknüpfung bei Kindern mit einem Risiko für die Entwicklung einer Lese-Rechtschreibstörung (LRS) unter Bedingungen, die sich am Alltag der Kindertagesstätten orientierten und somit auch bei einem breiten Einsatz des Programms eine relativ ökonomische Variante darstellen. Methodik: Die Risikokinder der Trainingsgruppe (n = 20) wurden über 11 Wochen mit den Programmen Hören, Lauschen, Lernen 1 und 2 (Küspert & Schneider, 2008; Plume & Schneider, 2004) von Erzieherinnen gefördert. Sie wurden einer nicht-geförderten Risiko-Kontrollgruppe (n = 43) hinsichtlich ihrer Lese- und Rechtschreibleistungen sowie der Häufigkeit von LRS von der 1. bis zur 3. Klasse gegenübergestellt. Dabei wurden neben den Daten regulär eingeschulter Kinder auch jene in die Analyse inkludiert, die vom Schulbesuch zurückgestellt wurden. Ergebnisse: Im 1. und 2. Grundschuljahr zeigten die trainierten Risikokinder im Lesen und Rechtschreiben einen mindestens tendenziellen Leistungsvorsprung gegenüber nicht-geförderten Risikokindern. Trainingseffekte zeigten sich ebenfalls in einer Reduktion der Anzahl von Kindern mit LRS bis Klasse 2, tendenziell auch in Klasse 3. Schlussfolgerung: Insgesamt sprechen die Befunde für die Wirksamkeit des Trainings in der primären Prävention von Lese-Rechtschreibschwierigkeiten bei Risikokindern unter alltagsnahen Bedingungen.
Making sense of the world
(2020)
For human infants, the first years after birth are a period of intense exploration-getting to understand their own competencies in interaction with a complex physical and social environment. In contemporary neuroscience, the predictive-processing framework has been proposed as a general working principle of the human brain, the optimization of predictions about the consequences of one's own actions, and sensory inputs from the environment. However, the predictive-processing framework has rarely been applied to infancy research. We argue that a predictive-processing framework may provide a unifying perspective on several phenomena of infant development and learning that may seem unrelated at first sight. These phenomena include statistical learning principles, infants' motor and proprioceptive learning, and infants' basic understanding of their physical and social environment. We discuss how a predictive-processing perspective can advance the understanding of infants' early learning processes in theory, research, and application.
The authors used the frameworks of reciprocal determinism and occupational socialization to study the effects of work characteristics (consisting of control and complexity of work) on personal initiative (PI)--mediated by control orientation (a 2nd-order factor consisting of control aspiration, perceived opportunity for control, and self-efficacy) and the reciprocal effects of PI on changes in work characteristics. They applied structural equation modeling to a longitudinal study with 4 measurement waves (N = 268) in a transitional economy: East Germany. Results confirm the model plus 1 additional, nonhypothesized effect. Work characteristics had a synchronous effect on PI via control orientation (full mediation). There were also effects of control orientation and of PI on later changes in work characteristics: As predicted, PI functioned as partial mediator, changing work characteristics in the long term (reciprocal effect); unexpectedly, there was a 2nd reciprocal effect of an additional lagged partial mediation of control orientation on later work characteristics.
Background: Research concerning child's food intake have considered various influencing factors, for example parental feeding strategies, demographic and weight factors. At this time, however, there are few findings that explore these factors simultaneously. Accordingly, the aim of this study was to test a structural equation model regarding the associations between maternal feeding strategies and child's food intake. Methods: 556 mothers and their children between 1 and 10 years of age participated in this crosssectional study. Besides socio-demographic and weight data, the mothers were asked about their feeding strategies as well as their child's food intake. Results: The well-fitting model explained 73% of the variance in the child's consumption of healthy and 34% of unhealthy food. In addition to the effect of the mother's social status and the child's age, a rewarding and modeling feeding behavior significantly influenced the child's food intake. Conclusion: The results highlight the relevance of maternal feeding behavior on the child's food intake. In terms of preventing eating- or weight-related problems, the findings indicate the usefulness of training parents in explicit modeling behavior and avoiding food as a reward.
The Covid-19 pandemic imposed new constraints on empirical research and forced researchers to transfer from traditional laboratory research to the online environment. This study tested the validity of a web-based episodic memory paradigm by comparing participants’ memory performance for trustworthy and untrustworthy facial stimuli in a supervised laboratory setting and an unsupervised web setting. Consistent with previous results, we observed enhanced episodic memory for untrustworthy compared to trustworthy faces. Most importantly, this memory bias was comparable in the online and the laboratory experiment, suggesting that web-based procedures are a promising tool for memory research.
It has recently been demonstrated that the presentation of a rare target in a visual oddball paradigm induces a prolonged inhibition of microsaccades. In the field of electrophysiology, the amplitude of the P300 component in event-related potentials (ERP) has been shown to be sensitive to the stimulus category (target vs. non target) of the eliciting stimulus, its overall probability, and the preceding stimulus sequence. In the present study we further specify the functional underpinnings of the prolonged microsaccadic inhibition in the visual oddball task, showing that the stimulus category, the frequency of a stimulus and the preceding stimulus sequence influence microsaccade rate. Furthermore, by co-recording ERPs and eye-movements, we were able to demonstrate that, despite being largely sensitive to the same experimental manipulation, the amplitude of P300 and the microsaccadic inhibition predict each other very weakly, and thus constitute two independent measures of the brain’s response to rare targets in the visual oddball paradigm.
Covert shifts of attention are usually reflected in RT differences between responses to valid and invalid cues in the Posner spatial attention task. Such inferences about covert shifts of attention do not control for microsaccades in the cue target interval. We analyzed the effects of microsaccade orientation on RTs in four conditions, crossing peripheral visual and auditory cues with peripheral visual and auditory discrimination targets. Reaction time was generally faster on trials without microsaccades in the cue-target interval. If microsaccades occurred, the target-location congruency of the last microsaccade in the cuetarget interval interacted in a complex way with cue validity. For valid visual cues, irrespective of whether the discrimination target was visual or auditory, target-congruent microsaccades delayed RT. For invalid cues, target-incongruent microsaccades facilitated RTs for visual target discrimination, but delayed RT for auditory target discrimination. No reliable effects on RT were associated with auditory cues or with the first microsaccade in the cue-target interval. We discuss theoretical implications on the relation about spatial attention and oculomotor processes.
This article outlines a research strategy for investigating, in a laboratory setting, the acquisition and the "limits" of a cognitive skill. Expert digit memory is used as an illustration. Two participants with initial average digit- and word-span memory were trained to memorize and reproduce strings of 80 to 90 digits presented at 10- to 1-sec rates. The instruction and training program, based on a theory of skilled memory, focused on three components: (a) acquisition of a mnemonic system (i.e., recoding digits into historical dates or concrete nouns), (b) use of a long-term memory retrieval structure (i.e., instruction in the Method of Loci), and (c) improvement in processing speed. After 86 experimental sessions, one participant recalled 90 random digits presented at a 1-sec rate. The digits were, however, constrained to be compatible with the participant's historical knowledge. The second participant recalled 80 random digits presented at a 5-sec rate after 70 sessions. Speed of encoding and retrieval processing was the only component that required extensive practice for skilled digit-memory acquisition.
A model for correct recall and intrusions in cued recall of word lists is introduced. Intrusions are false responses that were correct in an earlier list. The model assumes 3 exclusive states for memory traces after encoding: with a list tag (i.e., with information about list origin), without list tags, and missing. Across lists, a trace can lose its list tag or its content. For retrieval, an optimal strategy of response selection was assumed. Younger and older laboratory-trained mnemonists participated in 2 experiments in which recall of permutations of a single word list across a single set of cues was held constant with individually adjusted presentation times. With correct recall equated to younger adults, older adults were more susceptible to intrusions. Age differences were restricted to model parameters estimating the probability of generation of list tags. Alternative accounts of age differences in context memory are discussed.