Refine
Year of publication
- 2013 (86) (remove)
Document Type
- Article (63)
- Doctoral Thesis (10)
- Preprint (7)
- Conference Proceeding (3)
- Postprint (2)
- Monograph/Edited Volume (1)
Keywords
- children (6)
- Eye movements (4)
- eye movements (4)
- Kinder (3)
- Reading (3)
- adolescence (3)
- learning (3)
- media violence (3)
- Adipositas (2)
- Adolescence (2)
Institute
- Department Psychologie (86) (remove)
How preview space/time translates into preview cost/benefit for fixation durations during reading
(2013)
Eye-movement control during reading depends on foveal and parafoveal information. If the parafoveal preview of the next word is suppressed, reading is less efficient. A linear mixed model (LMM) reanalysis of McDonald (2006) confirmed his observation that preview benefit may be limited to parafoveal words that have been selected as the saccade target. Going beyond the original analyses, in the same LMM, we examined how the preview effect (i.e., the difference in single-fixation duration, SFD, between random-letter and identical preview) depends on the gaze duration on the pretarget word and on the amplitude of the saccade moving the eye onto the target word. There were two key results: (a) The shorter the saccade amplitude (i.e., the larger preview space), the shorter a subsequent SFD with an identical preview; this association was not observed with a random-letter preview. (b) However, the longer the gaze duration on the pretarget word, the longer the subsequent SFD on the target, with the difference between random-letter string and identical previews increasing with preview time. A third patternincreasing cost of a random-letter string in the parafovea associated with shorter saccade amplitudeswas observed for target gaze durations. Thus, LMMs revealed that preview effects, which are typically summarized under preview benefit, are a complex mixture of preview cost and preview benefit and vary with preview space and preview time. The consequence for reading is that parafoveal preview may not only facilitate, but also interfere with lexical access.
Adipositas ist eine chronische Erkrankung mit erheblichen Komorbiditäten und Folgeschäden, die bereits im Kindes- und Jugendalter weit verbreitet ist. Unterschiedliche Faktoren sind an der Ätiologie dieser Störung beteiligt. Die Ernährung stellt dabei eine der Hauptsäulen dar, auf welche immer wieder Bezug genommen wird. Der Einfluss der Eltern auf die kindliche Ernährung spielt unbestritten eine zentrale Rolle – hinsichtlich genetischer Dispositionen, aber auch als Gestalter der Lebensumwelten und Vorbilder im Ernährungsbereich. Die vorliegende Arbeit hat zum Ziel, Übereinstimmungen elterlicher und kindlicher Ernährung zu untersuchen und dabei zu prüfen, inwiefern Prozesse des Modelllernens für die Zusammenhänge verantwortlich zeichnen. Grundlage ist die sozial-kognitive Theorie Albert Banduras mit dem Fokus auf seinen Ausführungen zum Beobachtungs- oder Modelllernen. Die Zusammenhänge elterlicher und kindlicher Ernährung wurden anhand einer Stichprobe 7 – 13-jähriger adipöser Kinder und ihrer Eltern in Beziehung gesetzt zu den Bedingungen des Modelllernens, die zuvor auch in anderen Studien gefunden worden waren. Eine hohe Ähnlichkeit oder gute Beziehung zwischen Modell (Mutter bzw. Vater) und Lernendem (Kind) sollte demnach moderierend auf die Stärke des Zusammenhangs wirken. Aus Banduras Ausführungen zu den Phasen des Modelllernens ergibt sich zudem ein dritter Aspekt, der in das Untersuchungsmodell einbezogen wurde. Die von Bandura postulierte Aneignungsphase setzt voraus, dass das zu lernende Verhalten auch beobachtet werden kann. Aus diesem Grund sollte die Analyse von Zusammenhängen im Verhalten nicht losgelöst von der Zeit betrachtet werden, die Modell und Beobachter miteinander verbringen bzw. verbracht haben. Zudem wurde die Wahrnehmung eines Elternteils als Vorbild beim Kind erfragt und als Moderator aufgenommen. In die Analysen eingeschlossen wurden vollständige Mutter-Vater-Kind-Triaden. Im Querschnitt der Fragebogenerhebung waren die Daten von 171 Mädchen und 176 Jungen, in einem 7 Monate darauf folgenden Längsschnitt insgesamt 75 Triaden (davon 38 Mädchen) enthalten. Es zeigte sich ein positiver Zusammenhang zwischen der kindlichen und mütterlichen Ernährung ebenso wie zwischen der kindlichen und väterlichen Ernährung. Die Übereinstimmungen zwischen Mutter und Kind waren größer als zwischen Vater und Kind. Überwiegend bestätigt werden konnten der moderierende Einfluss der Beziehungsqualität und der Vorbildwahrnehmung auf die Zusammenhänge elterlicher und kindlicher gesunder Ernährung und der Einfluss gemeinsam verbrachter Zeit vor allem in Bezug auf Vater-Kind-Zusammenhänge problematischer Ernährung. Der väterliche Einfluss, der sowohl in Studien als auch in präventiven oder therapeutischen Angeboten oft noch vernachlässigt wird und in vorliegender Arbeit besondere bzw. gleichberechtigte Beachtung fand, zeigte sich durch den Einbezug moderierender Variablen verstärkt. Eine Ansprache von Müttern und Vätern gleichermaßen ist somit unbedingtes Ziel bei der Prävention und Therapie kindlicher Adipositas. Auch jenseits des Adipositaskontextes sollten Eltern für die Bedeutung elterlicher Vorbildwirkung sensibilisiert werden, um eine gesunde Ernährungsweise ihrer Kinder zu fördern.
Adipositas gilt seit einigen Jahren als eine der häufigsten chronischen Erkrankungen des Kindes- und Jugendalters. Welche Faktoren zu einer erfolgreichen Behandlung der Adipositas im Kindes- und Jugendalter führen, sind jedoch noch immer nicht ausreichend geklärt. Ein wichtiger – bisher jedoch weitgehend unbeachteter – Faktor, welcher möglicherweise wegweisend für den Therapieverlauf sein kann, ist das subjektive Krankheitskonzept der betroffenen Kinder. Das bedeutsamste theoretische Modell, welches den Einfluss der individuellen Krankheitsvorstellungen auf den Regulationsprozess eines Menschen im Umgang mit Erkrankungen beschreibt, ist das Common Sense Model of Illness Representation (CSM) von Howard Leventhal. Ziel der vorliegenden Arbeit war es die subjektiven Krankheitskonzepte adipöser Kinder zu erfassen und ihren Einfluss auf den Regulationsprozess zu analysieren. In einer ersten Untersuchung wurde mittels Daten von 168 adipösen Kindern im Alter von 8 bis 12 Jahren zunächst ein Fragebogen zur Erfassung der subjektiven Krankheitskonzepte entwickelt. Die Ergebnisse weisen darauf hin, dass der Fragebogen als reliabel und valide eingeschätzt werden kann. Mit Hilfe dieses Fragebogens konnte nachgewiesen werden, dass adipöse Kinder Konstrukte über ihre Erkrankung haben, welche in eigenständigen Dimensionen gespeichert werden. Die gefundenen initialen Krankheitskonzepte adipöser Kinder ergeben ein homogenes erwartungskonformes Bild. In einer zweiten Untersuchung wurden anschließend die subjektiven Krankheitskonzepte adipöser Kinder, die Bewältigungsstrategien sowie gesundheits- und krankheitsrelevante Kriteriumsvariablen untersucht. Die Befragungen erfolgten vor Beginn einer stationären Reha (T1), am Ende der Reha (T2) sowie sechs Monate nach Reha-Ende (T3). Von 107 Kindern liegen Daten zu allen drei Messzeitpunkten vor. Es konnte ein Zusammenhang zwischen Krankheitskonzepten, Bewältigungsstrategien und spezifischen Kriteriumsvariablen bei adipösen Kindern nachgewiesen werden. Die Analyse der Wirkzusammenhänge konnte zeigen, dass die kindlichen Krankheitskonzepte – neben den indirekten Einflüssen über die Bewältigungsstrategien – die Kriteriumsvariablen vor allem auch direkt beeinflussen können. Der Einfluss der initialen Krankheitskonzepte adipöser Kinder konnte hierbei sowohl im querschnittlichen als auch im längsschnittlichen Design bestätigt werden. Zudem konnten vielfältige Einflüsse der Veränderung der subjektiven Krankheitskonzepte während der Therapie gefunden werden. Die Veränderungen der Krankheitskonzepte wirken sowohl mittelfristig auf die individuellen Bewältigungsstrategien am Ende der Reha als auch längerfristig auf die adipositasspezifischen Kriteriumsvariablen Gewicht, Ernährung, Bewegung und Lebensqualität. Die Befunde stärken die Relevanz und das Potential der zielgerichteten Modifikation adaptiver bzw. maladaptiver Krankheitskonzepte innerhalb der stationären Therapie der kindlichen Adipositas. Zudem konnte bestätigt werden, dass subjektive Krankheitskonzepte und ihre Veränderung innerhalb der Therapie einen relevanten Beitrag zur Vorhersage des kindlichen Therapieerfolgs über einen längerfristigen Zeitraum leisten können.
Gewichts- und essstörungsrelevante Auffälligkeiten sind bereits im Kindesalter verbreitet. Neben genetischen Faktoren kommt auch die familiale Vermittlung gestörten Essverhaltens als Genesefaktor in Betracht. Ab dem Alter von zehn Jahren gibt es eine breite empirische Basis für die Verknüpfung gestörten Essverhaltens zwischen Müttern und ihren Kindern. Für das Alter unter zehn Jahren existiert bislang wenig gesichertes Wissen. Die Erforschung der spezifischen Wirkung des mütterlichen auf kindliches gestörtes Essverhalten ist jedoch im Hinblick auf Ansätze zur Prävention kindlicher Gewichts- und Essstörungen für dieses Alter von Bedeutung. Im Rahmen der vorliegenden Arbeit wurde gestörtes Essverhalten von Müttern und Kindern im Alter zwischen einem und zehn Jahren sowie die Beziehung gestörten Essverhaltens von Müttern und ihren Kindern in zwei Studien analysiert. Die erste Studie verfolgte das Ziel, gestörtes Essverhalten von Müttern und Kindern sowie deren Beziehung im Kontext mütterlichen Übergewichts zu analysieren. Es wurden 219 Mütter von Kindern im Alter von drei bis sechs Jahren befragt. In der zweiten Studie wurde neben mütterlichem Übergewicht die Rolle mütterlicher Essstörungssymptomatik fokussiert und in den Analysen des gestörten Essverhaltens von Kindern im Alter von einem bis zehn Jahren berücksichtigt. In die Untersuchung ging eine Stichprobe von 506 Müttern und deren Kindern ein. In beiden Studien beantworteten Mütter ein Fragebogenpaket, welches Instrumente zum gestörten Essverhalten der Mütter (emotionales, externales und gezügeltes Essverhalten) und gestörten Essverhalten des Kindes (emotionales und externales Essverhalten sowie Verlangen nach Essen) umfasste. In der zweiten Studie wurden darüber hinaus Primärsymptomatik einer Essstörung der Mutter (Schlankheitsstreben, Körperunzufriedenheit und bulimisches Essverhalten) und pathologisches Essverhalten der Kinder erfragt. Übergewichtige Mütter berichteten nicht nur höhere Ausprägungen emotionalen und externalen Essverhaltens, sondern auch mehr Schlankheitsstreben, Körperunzufriedenheit und bulimisches Essverhalten als normal- und untergewichtige Mütter. Insgesamt 26% der befragten Mütter der zweiten Studie berichteten eine relevante Essstörungssymptomatik, davon waren 62% übergewichtig. Für die Kinder konnten keine Geschlechtsunterschiede hinsichtlich des Essverhaltens nachgewiesen werden. Im Grundschulalter waren emotionales und pathologisches Essverhalten höher ausgeprägt als bei jüngeren Kindern. Kindliches Übergewicht war mit mehr emotionalem und externalem Essverhalten, Verlangen nach Essen sowie pathologischem Essverhalten verbunden. Das Vorliegen mütterlichen Übergewichts sowie einer mütterlichen Essstörungssymptomatik war mit höheren Ausprägungen v.a. emotionalen Essverhaltens des Kindes assoziiert. Die höchsten Ausprägungen emotionalen Essverhaltens zeigten Kinder, deren Mütter Übergewicht und eine komorbide Essstörungssymptomatik berichtet hatten. Darüber hinaus leisteten gestörte Essverhaltensweisen der Mutter über allgemeine und gewichtsspezifische Aspekte hinaus einen relevanten Beitrag zur Varianzaufklärung emotionalen und externalen Essverhaltens des Kindes. Dabei war emotionales und externales Essverhalten von Mutter und Kind spezifisch miteinander verknüpft. In der ersten Studie ließ sich im Rahmen eines Mediatormodells zeigen, dass die Beziehung zwischen mütterlichem BMI und emotionalem Essverhalten des Kindes vollständig durch das emotionale Essverhalten der Mutter vermittelt wurde. In der zweiten Studie moderierte das Alter des Kindes die Beziehung zwischen emotionalem Essverhalten von Müttern und ihren Kindern in Richtung einer signifikanten Assoziation ab dem Alter von 5,4 Jahren des Kindes. Die vorliegende Arbeit liefert deutliche Hinweise auf die Verknüpfung zwischen mütterlichen gewichts- und essstörungsrelevanten Merkmalen und kindlichem gestörtem Essverhalten. Die Befunde legen nahe, dass emotionales Essverhalten als spezifischer Übertragungsweg gewichts- und essbezogener Störungen zwischen Müttern und Kindern in Betracht kommt und in Präventionsansätzen berücksichtigt werden sollte.
Körperliche Attraktivität und gutes Aussehen spielen in der heutigen Gesellschaft eine entscheidende Rolle, was bereits frühzeitig auch Kinder und Jugendliche in ihren Einstellungen und der Wahrnehmung ihres Körpers prägt. Sorgen um den eigenen Körper gelten als normatives Problem unter Jugendlichen und bergen nicht selten das Risiko für gesundheitsgefährdendes Verhalten und psychische Erkrankungen. In der Suche nach den Ursachen gerieten in den letzten Jahren insbesondere soziokulturelle Faktoren, insbesondere der Einfluss von medial vermittelten Schönheitsidealen, in den Fokus der Forschung. Es ist jedoch fraglich, warum nicht alle Jugendlichen in gleicher Weise auf den allgegenwärtigen Mediendruck reagieren. Naheliegend ist, dass die Jugendlichen besonders gefährdet sind, deren unmittelbares soziales Umfeld das geltende Schönheitsideal direkt oder indirekt vermittelt und verstärkt. Das Verständnis der Rolle sozialen Drucks ist jedoch bislang noch durch zahlreiche inhaltliche und methodische Aspekte beschränkt (z.B. Einschränkungen in der Operationalisierung, ungenügende Berücksichtigung geschlechtsspezifischer Mechanismen, fehlende längsschnittliche Belege). Daher widmet sich die vorliegende Arbeit der Bedeutung aussehensbezogenen sozialen Drucks in der Entstehung von Körperunzufriedenheit im Jugendalter in drei aufeinander aufbauenden Untersuchungsschritten. Ausgehend von der Entwicklung eines umfassenden und zuverlässigen Erhebungsinstruments zielt die Arbeit darauf ab, unterschiedliche Aspekte sozialen Drucks gegenüberzustellen und hinsichtlich ihrer Verbreitung und Risikowirkung zu vergleichen. Die Umsetzung des Forschungsvorhabens erfolgte in unterschiedlichen Schülerstichproben der Klassen 7 bis 9 unterschiedlicher Gymnasien und Gesamtschulen (Hauptstichprobe N = 1112, im Mittel = 13.4 ± 0.8 Jahre). Dabei wurden sowohl quer- als auch längsschnittliche Analysen durchgeführt. Zusätzlich wurden zur Erprobung des Fragebogenverfahrens klinische Stichproben mit Ess- und Gewichtsstörungen herangezogen. Zur detaillierten Erfassung unterschiedlicher Formen aussehensbezogenen sozialen Drucks erfolgte im ersten Schritt die Entwicklung des Fragebogen zum aussehensbezogen sozialen Druck (FASD), welcher acht unterschiedliche Formen aussehensbezogene sozialen Drucks ausgehend von Eltern und Gleichaltrigen reliabel und valide erfasst. Dabei erwies sich das Verfahren gleichermaßen für Jungen und Mädchen, wie für Jugendliche mit unterschiedlichem Gewichtsstatus geeignet. Die psychometrische Güte des Verfahrens konnte sowohl für populationsbasierte als auch für klinische Stichproben mit Ess- und Gewichtsstörung belegt werden, wodurch eine breite Einsatzmöglichkeit in Forschung und Praxis denkbar ist. Im zweiten Schritt erfolgte die Untersuchung der Verbreitung aussehensbezogenen sozialen Drucks unter besonderer Berücksichtigung von Geschlechts-, Alters- und Gewichtsgruppenunterschieden. Dabei erwiesen sich Mädchen als stärker von aussehensbezogenem Druck durch Gleichaltrige betroffen als Jungen. Darüberhinaus legen die Ergebnisse nahe, dass Übergewicht ungeachtet des Geschlechts mit verstärkten aussehensbezogenen Abwertungen und Ausgrenzungserfahrungen verbunden ist. Zudem deuten die Alterseffekte der Studie darauf hin, dass der Übergang von früher zu mittlerer Adoleszenz aber auch Schulwechsel besonderes kritische Zeitpunkte für die Etablierung aussehensbezogener Einflüsse darstellen. Abschließend widmete sich die Arbeit der längsschnittlichen Risikowirkung unterschiedlicher Aspekte aussehensbezogenen sozialen Drucks in der Entstehung von Körperunzufriedenheit. Aussehensbezogene Einflüsse von Freunden verstärkten längsschnittlich Körpersorgen sowohl bei Mädchen als auch bei Jungen. Zudem ergab sich das Erleben von Ausgrenzung durch Gleichaltrige als entscheidender Risikofaktor für gewichtsbezogene Körpersorgen unter Jungen. Als bedeutsamster elterlicher Einfluss erwiesen sich Aufforderungen auf die Figur zu achten. Diese Aufforderungen verstärkten gleichermaßen für Mädchen und Jungen gewichtsbezogene Körpersorgen. Die vorliegende Arbeit widmete sich dem Ziel, die Rolle aussehensbezogener sozialer Einflüsse weiter aufzuklären. Das dazu vorgelegte umfassende Instrument ermöglichte eine differenzierte Betrachtung der Verbreitung und Wirkung unterschiedlicher Formen sozialen Drucks. Hierdurch weisen die Ergebnisse nicht nur auf wichtige geschlechtsspezifische Mechanismen hin, sondern leisten ebenso einen Beitrag zum vertieften Verständnis der Risikowirkung sozialen Drucks. Diese Erkenntnisse liefern somit einerseits konkrete Ansatzpunkte für Prävention und Intervention und ermöglichen andererseits auch eine weitere Konkretisierung bereits etablierter soziokultureller Wirkmodelle.
Small eye movements during fixation : the case of postsaccadic fixation and preparatory influences
(2013)
Describing human eye movement behavior as an alternating sequence of saccades and fixations turns out to be an oversimplification because the eyes continue to move during fixation. Small-amplitude saccades (e.g., microsaccades) are typically observed 1-2 times per second during fixation. Research on microsaccades came in two waves. Early studies on microsaccades were dominated by the question whether microsaccades affect visual perception, and by studies on the role of microsaccades in the process of fixation control. The lack of evidence for a unique role of microsaccades led to a very critical view on the importance of microsaccades. Over the last years, microsaccades moved into focus again, revealing many interactions with perception, oculomotor control and cognition, as well as intriguing new insights into the neurophysiological implementation of microsaccades. In contrast to early studies on microsaccades, recent findings on microsaccades were accompanied by the development of models of microsaccade generation. While the exact generating mechanisms vary between the models, they still share the assumption that microsaccades are generated in a topographically organized saccade motor map that includes a representation for small-amplitude saccades in the center of the map (with its neurophysiological implementation in the rostral pole of the superior colliculus). In the present thesis I criticize that models of microsaccade generation are exclusively based on results obtained during prolonged presaccadic fixation. I argue that microsaccades should also be studied in a more natural situation, namely the fixation following large saccadic eye movements. Studying postsaccadic fixation offers a new window to falsify models that aim to account for the generation of small eye movements. I demonstrate that error signals (visual and extra-retinal), as well as non-error signals like target eccentricity influence the characteristics of small-amplitude eye movements. These findings require a modification of a model introduced by Rolfs, Kliegl and Engbert (2008) in order to account for the generation of small-amplitude saccades during postsaccadic fixation. Moreover, I present a promising type of survival analysis that allowed me to examine time-dependent influences on postsaccadic eye movements. In addition, I examined the interplay of postsaccadic eye movements and postsaccadic location judgments, highlighting the need to include postsaccadic eye movements as covariate in the analyses of location judgments in the presented paradigm. In a second goal, I tested model predictions concerning preparatory influences on microsaccade generation during presaccadic fixation. The observation, that the preparatory set significantly influenced microsaccade rate, supports the critical model assumption that increased fixation-related activity results in a larger number of microsaccades. In the present thesis I present important influences on the generation of small-amplitude saccades during fixation. These eye movements constitute a rich oculomotor behavior which still poses many research questions. Certainly, small-amplitude saccades represent an interesting source of information and will continue to influence future studies on perception and cognition.
Several chronometric biases in numerical cognition have informed our understanding of a mental number line (MNL). Complementing this approach, we investigated spatial performance in a magnitude comparison task. Participants located the larger or smaller number of a pair on a horizontal line representing the interval from 0 to 10. Experiments 1 and 2 used only number pairs one unit apart and found that digits were localized farther to the right with "select larger" instructions than with "select smaller" instructions. However, when numerical distance was varied (Experiment 3), digits were localized away from numerically near neighbors. This repulsion effect reveals context-specific distortions in number representation not previously noticed with chronometric measures.
We easily recover the causal properties of visual events, enabling us to understand and predict changes in the physical world. We see a tennis racket hitting a ball and sense that it caused the ball to fly over the net; we may also have an eerie but equally compelling experience of causality if the streetlights turn on just as we slam our car's door. Both perceptual [1] and cognitive [2] processes have been proposed to explain these spontaneous inferences, but without decisive evidence one way or the other, the question remains wide open [3-8]. Here, we address this long-standing debate using visual adaptation-a powerful tool to uncover neural populations that specialize in the analysis of specific visual features [9-12]. After prolonged viewing of causal collision events called "launches" [1], subsequently viewed events were judged more often as noncausal. These negative aftereffects of exposure to collisions are spatially localized in retinotopic coordinates, the reference frame shared by the retina and visual cortex. They are not explained by adaptation to other stimulus features and reveal visual routines in retinotopic cortex that detect and adapt to cause and effect in simple collision stimuli.
The main goal of our target article was to provide concrete recommendations for improving the replicability of research findings. Most of the comments focus on this point. In addition, a few comments were concerned with the distinction between replicability and generalizability and the role of theory in replication. We address all comments within the conceptual structure of the target article and hope to convince readers that replication in psychological science amounts to much more than hitting the lottery twice.
Serial and parallel processes in eye movement control - current controversies and future directions
(2013)
In this editorial for the Special Issue on Serial and Parallel Processing in Reading we explore the background to the current debate concerning whether the word recognition processes in reading are strictly serialsequential or take place in an overlapping parallel fashion. We consider the history of the controversy and some of the underlying assumptions, together with an analysis of the types of evidence and arguments that have been adduced to both sides of the debate, concluding that both accounts necessarily presuppose some weakening of, or elasticity in, the eyemind assumption. We then consider future directions, both for reading research and for scene viewing, and wrap up the editorial with a brief overview of the following articles and their conclusions.
Task demands and individual differences have been linked reliably to word skipping during reading. Such differences in fixation probability may imply a selection effect for multivariate analyses of eye-movement corpora if selection effects correlate with word properties of skipped words. For example, with fewer fixations on short and highly frequent words the power to detect parafoveal-on-foveal effects is reduced. We demonstrate that increasing the fixation probability on function words with a manipulation of the expected difficulty and frequency of questions reduces an age difference in skipping probability (i.e., old adults become comparable to young adults) and helps to uncover significant parafoveal-on-foveal effects in this group of old adults. We discuss implications for the comparison of results of eye-movement research based on multivariate analysis of corpus data with those from display-contingent manipulations of target words.
Although a greater degree of personal obesity is associated with weaker negativity toward overweight people on both explicit (i.e., self-report) and implicit (i.e., indirect behavioral) measures, overweight people still prefer thin people on average. We investigated whether the national and cultural context - particularly the national prevalence of obesity predicts attitudes toward overweight people independent of personal identity and weight status. Data were collected from a total sample of 338,121 citizens from 71 nations in 22 different languages on the Project Implicit website (https://implicit.harvard.edu/) between May 2006 and October 2010. We investigated the relationship of the explicit and implicit weight bias with the obesity both at the individual (i.e., across individuals) and national (i.e., across nations) level. Explicit weight bias was assessed with self-reported preference between overweight and thin people; implicit weight bias was measured with the Implicit Association Test (IAT). The national estimates of explicit and implicit weight bias were obtained by averaging the individual scores for each nation. Obesity at the individual level was defined as Body Mass Index (BMI) scores, whereas obesity at the national level was defined as three national weight indicators (national BMI, national percentage of overweight and underweight people) obtained from publicly available databases. Across individuals, greater degree of obesity was associated with weaker implicit negativity toward overweight people compared to thin people. Across nations, in contrast, a greater degree of national obesity was associated with stronger implicit negativity toward overweight people compared to thin people. This result indicates a different relationship between obesity and implicit weight bias at the individual and national levels.
Evidence for an approximate analog system of numbers has been provided by the finding that the comparison of two numerals takes longer and is more error-prone if the semantic distance between the numbers becomes smaller (so-called numerical distance effect). Recent embodied theories suggest that analog number representations are based on previous sensory experiences and constitute therefore a common magnitude metric shared by multiple domains. Here we demonstrate the existence of a cross-modal semantic distance effect between symbolic and tactile numerosities. Participants received tactile stimulations of different amounts of fingers while reading Arabic digits and indicated verbally whether the amount of stimulated fingers was different from the simultaneously presented digit or not. The larger the semantic distance was between the two numerosities, the faster and more accurate participants made their judgments. This cross-modal numerosity distance effect suggests a direct connection between tactile sensations and the concept of numerical magnitude. A second experiment replicated the interaction between symbolic and tactile numerosities and showed that this effect is not modulated by the participants' finger counting habits. Taken together, our data provide novel evidence for a shared metric for symbolic and tactile numerosities as an instance of an embodied representation of numbers.
Whenever eye movements are measured, a central part of the analysis has to do with where subjects fixate and why they fixated where they fixated. To a first approximation, a set of fixations can be viewed as a set of points in space; this implies that fixations are spatial data and that the analysis of fixation locations can be beneficially thought of as a spatial statistics problem. We argue that thinking of fixation locations as arising from point processes is a very fruitful framework for eye-movement data, helping turn qualitative questions into quantitative ones. We provide a tutorial introduction to some of the main ideas of the field of spatial statistics, focusing especially on spatial Poisson processes. We show how point processes help relate image properties to fixation locations. In particular we show how point processes naturally express the idea that image features' predictability for fixations may vary from one image to another. We review other methods of analysis used in the literature, show how they relate to point process theory, and argue that thinking in terms of point processes substantially extends the range of analyses that can be performed and clarify their interpretation.
Background: Chronic abdominal pain (CAP) in childhood is a commonly occurring condition and shows a high stability. Psychosocial dysfunctioning of children, such as increased stress experience, is a burden for children and parents and complicates clinical management. Additional comorbid disorders may develop. To minimize the onset of such disorders, treatment at an early stage and taking psychosocial aspects into consideration is strongly recommended. Through this approach, the cognitive-behavioral, child-centered group program 'Stop the pain with Happy-Pingu' was developed, applied, and subsequently evaluated. What is the psychosocial situation of the affected children? Can the cognitive-behavioral group program be applied to improve psychosocial limitations? Method: The cognitive-behavioral group program comprises 6 weekly sessions for children and 1 single meeting for parents. In a randomized controlled study, the program was evaluated with 29 children aged between 6 and 12 years. The evaluation was based on a comparison between the intervention group (IG) and the waiting list control group (WLC), measured at 3 measurement points: T1 (pre), T2 (post), and T3 (3-month follow-up). Results: Emotional problems in particular can emerge in children with CAP. The program was well received, with a high level of participation through to completion. The results demonstrate that children participating in the IG experience significant stress reduction and improved psychosocial functioning compared to children participating in the WLC. The effect sizes range from medium to high. Conclusions: Drawing upon the above findings, multimodal cognitive-behavioral techniques appear to be suitable to successfully treat children with CAP. However, further controlled studies are required to identify the specific elements of the training that are most effective in reducing pain.
The study investigates the effects of classroom composition (average ability, achievement, and socio-economic background, proportion of immigrant students) on the development in mathematics achievement, and reading literacy from grade 5 to 6. The study draws on a sample of N=1892 students in vocational track schools (Hauptschule) and intermediate track schools (Realschule) in Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany. After controlling for school type, and between-school differences in student intake characteristics, none of the compositional characteristics showed a statistically significant effect on achievement development. School track was associated with the development of reading literacy even after controlling for individual differences; however, this relationship lost its statistical significance after the composition of the student body was additionally taken into account.
Replicability of findings is at the heart of any empirical science. The aim of this article is to move the current replicability debate in psychology towards concrete recommendations for improvement. We focus on research practices but also offer guidelines for reviewers, editors, journal management, teachers, granting institutions, and university promotion committees, highlighting some of the emerging and existing practical solutions that can facilitate implementation of these recommendations. The challenges for improving replicability in psychological science are systemic. Improvement can occur only if changes are made at many levels of practice, evaluation, and reward.
Parafoveal semantic processing has recently been well documented in reading Chinese sentences, presumably because of language-specific features. However, because of a large variation of fixation landing positions on pretarget words, some preview words actually were located in foveal vision when readers' eyes landed close to the end of the pretarget words. None of the previous studies has completely ruled out a possibility that the semantic preview effects might mainly arise from these foveally processed preview words. This case, whether previously observed positive evidence for parafoveal semantic processing can still hold, has been called into question. Using linear mixed models, we demonstrate in this study that semantic preview benefit from word N+1 decreased if fixation on pretarget word N was close to the preview. We argue that parafoveal semantic processing is not a consequence of foveally processed preview words.
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.
We assessed the automaticity of spatial-numerical and spatial-musical associations by testing their intentionality and load sensitivity in a dual-task paradigm. In separate sessions, 16 healthy adults performed magnitude and pitch comparisons on sung numbers with variable pitch. Stimuli and response alternatives were identical, but the relevant stimulus attribute (pitch or number) differed between tasks. Concomitant tasks required retention of either color or location information. Results show that spatial associations of both magnitude and pitch are load sensitive and that the spatial association for pitch is more powerful than that for magnitude. These findings argue against the automaticity of spatial mappings in either stimulus dimension.
The Eating Disorder Examination adapted for children (ChEDE) is the child version of the semi-structured gold standard eating disorder interview for adults. This study was a comprehensive test statistic evaluation of the German ChEDE in a large sample of children and adolescents with anorexia nervosa, binge eating disorder, loss of control eating, overweight and obesity, as well as non-eating-disordered and chronically ill control probands (n=352). Excellent inter-rater reliability, adequate internal consistency and satisfactory stability of ChEDE indicators were demonstrated. ChEDE indicators discriminated between diverse forms of eating and weight disturbances and normative eating and were significantly correlated with conceptually related measures. Factorial validity was not convincing; a brief eight-item scale showed the best fit. Item statistics were mostly acceptable. Overall, the ChEDE's German translation reliably and validly assesses psychopathology across the eating and weight disorder spectrum and facilitates international comparison of eating disorder research.
Dyslexic children are known to be slower than normal readers in rapid automatized naming (RAN). This suggests that dyslexics encounter local processing difficulties, which presumably induce a narrower perceptual span. Consequently, dyslexics should suffer less than normal readers from removing parafoveal preview. Here we used a gaze-contingent moving window paradigm in a RAN task to experimentally test this prediction. Results indicate that dyslexics extract less parafoveal information than control children. We propose that more attentional resources are recruited to the foveal processing because of dyslexics' less automatized translation of visual symbols into phonological output, thereby causing a reduction of the perceptual span. This in turn leads to less efficient preactivation of parafoveal information and, hence, more difficulty in processing the next foveal item.
We tested the limits of working-memory capacity (WMC) of young adults, old adults, and children with a memory-updating task. The task consisted of mentally shifting spatial positions within a grid according to arrows, their color signaling either only go (control) or go/no-go conditions. The interference model (IM) of Oberauer and Kliegl (2006) was simultaneously fitted to the data of all groups. In addition to the 3 main model parameters (feature overlap, noise, and processing rate), we estimated the time for switching between go and no-go steps as a new model parameter. In this study, we examined the IM parameters across the life span. The IM parameter estimates show that (a) conditions were not different in interference by feature overlap and interference by confusion; (b) switching costs time; (c) young adults and children were less susceptible than old adults to interference due to feature overlap; (d) noise was highest for children, followed by old and young adults; (e) old adults differed from children and young adults in lower processing rate; and (f) children and old adults had a larger switch cost between go steps and no-go steps. Thus, the results of this study indicated that across age, the IM parameters contribute distinctively for explaining the limits of WMC.
Background Chronic abdominal pain (CAP) in childhood is widely prevalent and has adverse effects on mental health and quality of life. Earlier research emphasized the positive effects of psychological intervention on pain symptoms. This study describes the results of a cognitive-behavioral pain management program for children with CAP. The newly developed cognitive-behavioral group program, "Stop the pain with Happy-Pingu," includes six sessions for the children and one meeting for the parents.
Purpose We hypothesized that the training would significantly reduce pain symptoms (frequency, duration, intensity, and pain-related impairment) and increase health-related quality of life compared to wait-list controls, with improvement seen both at the end of treatment and at a 3-month follow-up.
Method In all, 29 children were randomized into two groups: 15 in the intervention group (IG) and 14 as the wait-list controls (WLC). An intent-to-treat analysis was performed using two-factorial multivariate analyses of variance with repeated measures.
Results Children in the IG experienced both a reduction in pain (primary outcome) and an improvement in health-related quality of life (secondary outcome) as compared to the WLC. The effect sizes ranged from medium to high.
Conclusion Cognitive-behavioral methods seem to be appropriate for treating children with CAP.
Two experiments investigated (1) how activation of manual affordances is triggered by visual and linguistic cues to manipulable objects and (2) whether graspable object parts play a special role in this process. Participants pressed a key to categorize manipulable target objects copresented with manipulable distractor objects on a computer screen. Three factors were varied in Experiment 1: (1) the target's and (2) the distractor's handles' orientation congruency with the lateral manual response and (3) the Visual Focus on one of the objects. In Experiment 2, a linguistic cue factor was added to these three factors-participants heard the name of one of the two objects prior to the target display onset. Analysis of participants' motor and oculomotor behaviour confirmed that perceptual and linguistic cues potentiated activation of grasp affordances. Both target- and distractor-related affordance effects were modulated by the presence of visual and linguistic cues. However, a differential visual attention mechanism subserved activation of compatibility effects associated with target and distractor objects. We also registered an independent implicit attention attraction effect from objects' handles, suggesting that graspable parts automatically attract attention during object viewing. This effect was further amplified by visual but not linguistic cues, thus providing initial evidence for a recent hypothesis about differential roles of visual and linguistic information in potentiating stable and variable affordances (Borghi in Language and action in cognitive neuroscience. Psychology Press, London, 2012).
Background Job-anxiety, as distinguished from trait-anxiety, is associated with long-term sickness absence. The prevalence of job-anxiety within a working population is not known. Identifying individuals who would benefit from intervention might be useful.
Aims To investigate job-anxiety in employees not undergoing treatment for mental health illness, firstly by assessing the level of job-anxiety and work-related avoidance tendencies in a working sample, and secondly by testing whether job-anxiety is distinguishable from trait-anxiety.
Methods Cross-sectional survey of a convenience sample obtained through personal contact distribution. Employees from different professional settings completed an anonymous questionnaire and provided information on their employment status. The State-Trait-Anxiety Inventory (STAI-T) was used to measure trait-anxiety and the Job-Anxiety-Scale (JAS) was used to assess job (state) anxiety.
Results There was a 69% response rate (240 responses); 188 responses were available for analysis of whom 62% were women. There were no employees with high trait-anxiety. Ten employees (5%) reported increased job-anxiety and of these nine employees reported high 'tendencies of avoidance and workplace absence'. Avoidance was most often accompanied by the comorbid job-anxieties 'job-related social anxiety', 'fear of changes at work' and 'fears of existence', 'anticipatory' and 'conditioned' job-anxiety and 'panic symptoms'.
Conclusions In this sample, self-reported job-anxiety appeared as a specific type of anxiety as opposed to trait-anxiety. In the workplace job-anxiety can present as job-avoidance and sickness absence and should be distinguished from trait-anxiety. In practice, employers and occupational health practitioners should be aware of those employees prone to sickness absence.
Preschoolers' encoding of rational actions - the role of task features and verbal information
(2013)
In the current study, we first investigated whether preschoolers imitate selectively across three imitation tasks. Second, we examined whether preschoolers' selective imitation is influenced by differences in the modeled actions and/or by the situational context. Finally, we investigated how verbal cues given by the model affect preschoolers' imitation. Participants (3- to 5-year-olds) watched an adult performing an unusual action in three imitation tasks (touch light, house, and obstacle). In two conditions, the model either was or was not restricted by situational constraints. In addition, the model verbalized either the goal that was to be achieved, the movement, or none of the action components. Preschoolers always acted on the objects without constraints. Results revealed differences in preschoolers' selective imitation across the tasks. In the house task, they showed the selective imitation pattern that has been interpreted as rational, imitating the unusual action more often in the no-constraint condition than in the constraint condition. In contrast, in the touch light task, preschoolers imitated the unusual head touch irrespective of the model's constraints or of the verbal cues that had been presented. Finally, in the obstacle task, children mostly emulated the observed goal irrespective of the presence of the constraint, but they increased their imitation of the unusual action when the movement had been emphasized. Overall, our data suggest that preschoolers adjust their imitative behavior to context-specific information about objects, actions, and their interpretations of the model's intention to teach something.
This article investigates gender differences in implicit and explicit measures of the Big Five traits of personality. In a high-powered study (N = 14,348), we replicated previous research showing that women report higher levels of Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion and Neuroticism. For implicit measures, gender differences were much smaller for all, and opposite in sign for Extraversion. Somewhat higher levels of implicit Neuroticism and Agreeableness were observed in women, and somewhat higher levels of implicit Extraversion and Openness were observed in men. There was no gender difference in implicit Conscientiousness. A possible explanation is that explicit self-concepts partly reflect social norms and self-expectations about gender roles, while implicit self-concepts may mostly reflect self-related experiences.
We measured Chinese dyslexic and control children's eye movements during rapid automatized naming (RAN) with alphanumeric (digits) and symbolic (dice surfaces) stimuli. Both types of stimuli required identical oral responses, controlling for effects associated with speech production. Results showed that naming dice was much slower than naming digits for both groups, but group differences in eye-movement measures and in the eye-voice span (i.e. the distance between the currently fixated item and the voiced item) were generally larger in digit-RAN than in dice-RAN. In addition, dyslexics were less efficient in parafoveal processing in these RAN tasks. Since the two RAN tasks required the same phonological output and on the assumption that naming dice is less practiced than naming digits in general, the results suggest that the translation of alphanumeric visual symbols into phonological codes is less efficient in dyslexic children. The dissociation of the print-to-sound conversion and phonological representation suggests that the degree of automaticity in translation from visual symbols to phonological codes in addition to phonological processing per se is also critical to understanding dyslexia.
BackgroundEarly alcohol use is one of the strongest predictors of later alcohol use disorders, with early use usually taking place during puberty. Many researchers have suggested drinking during puberty as a potential biological basis of the age at first drink (AFD) effect. However, the influence of the pubertal phase at alcohol use initiation on subsequent drinking in later life has not been examined so far.
MethodsPubertal stage at first drink (PSFD) was determined in N=283 young adults (131 males, 152 females) from an epidemiological cohort study. At ages 19, 22, and 23years, drinking behavior (number of drinking days, amount of alcohol consumed, hazardous drinking) was assessed using interview and questionnaire methods. Additionally, an animal study examined the effects of pubertal or adult ethanol (EtOH) exposure on voluntary EtOH consumption in later life in 20 male Wistar rats.
ResultsPSFD predicted drinking behavior in humans in early adulthood, indicating that individuals who had their first drink during puberty displayed elevated drinking levels compared to those with postpubertal drinking onset. These findings were corroborated by the animal study, in which rats that received free access to alcohol during the pubertal period were found to consume more alcohol as adults, compared to the control animals that first came into contact with alcohol during adulthood.
ConclusionsThe results point to a significant role of stage of pubertal development at first contact with alcohol for the development of later drinking habits. Possible biological mechanisms and implications for prevention are discussed.
It is well established that fixation durations during reading vary with processing difficulty, but there are different views on how oculomotor control, visual perception, shifts of attention, and lexical (and higher cognitive) processing are coordinated. Evidence for a one-to-one translation of input delay into saccadic latency would provide a much needed constraint for current theoretical proposals. Here, we tested predictions of such a direct-control perspective using the stimulus-onset delay (SOD) paradigm. Words in sentences were initially masked and, on fixation, were individually unmasked with a delay (0-, 33-, 66-, 99-ms SODs). In Experiment 1, SODs were constant for all words in a sentence; in Experiment 2, SODs were manipulated on target words, while nontargets were unmasked without delay. In accordance with predictions of direct control, nonzero SODs entailed equivalent increases in fixation durations in both experiments. Yet, a population of short fixations pointed to rapid saccades as a consequence of low-level information at nonoptimal viewing positions rather than of lexical processing. Implications of these results for theoretical accounts of oculomotor control are discussed.
The current study explored effects of continuous hand motion on the allocation of visual attention. A concurrent paradigm was used to combine visually concealed continuous hand movements with an attentionally demanding letter discrimination task. The letter probe appeared contingent upon the moving right hand passing through one of six positions. Discrimination responses were then collected via a keyboard press with the static left hand. Both the right hand's position and its movement direction systematically contributed to participants' visual sensitivity. Discrimination performance increased substantially when the right hand was distant from, but moving toward the visual probe location (replicating the far-hand effect, Festrnan et al., 2013). However, this effect disappeared when the probe appeared close to the static left hand, supporting the view that static and dynamic features of both hands combine in modulating pragmatic maps of attention.
There is converging evidence suggesting a particular susceptibility to the addictive properties of nicotine among adolescents. The aim of the current study was to prospectively ascertain the relationship between age at first cigarette and initial smoking experiences, and to examine the combined effects of these characteristics of adolescent smoking behavior on adult smoking. It was hypothesized that the association between earlier age at first cigarette and later development of nicotine dependence may, at least in part, be attributable to differences in experiencing pleasurable early smoking sensations. Data were drawn from the participants of the Mannheim Study of Children at Risk, an ongoing epidemiological cohort study from birth to adulthood. Structured interviews at age 15, 19 and 22 years were conducted to assess the age at first cigarette, early smoking experiences and current smoking behavior in 213 young adults. In addition, the participants completed the Fagerstrom Test for Nicotine Dependence. Adolescents who smoked their first cigarette at an earlier age reported more pleasurable sensations from the cigarette, and they were more likely to be regular smokers at age 22. The age at first cigarette also predicted the number of cigarettes smoked and dependence at age 22. Thus, both the age of first cigarette and the pleasure experienced from the cigarette independently predicted aspects of smoking at age 22.
The ability to cognitively regulate emotional responses to aversive events is essential for mental and physical health. One prerequisite of successful emotion regulation is the awareness of emotional states, which in turn is associated with the awareness of bodily signals [interoceptive awareness (IA)]. This study investigated the neural dynamics of reappraisal of emotional responses in 28 participants who differed with respect to IA. Electroencephalography was used to characterize the time course of emotion regulation. We found that reappraisal was accompanied by reduced arousal and significant modulation of late neural responses. What is more, higher IA facilitated downregulation of affect and was associated with more pronounced modulation of underlying neural activity. Therefore, we conclude that IA not only advances the consolidation of somatic markers required for guiding individual behaviour but also creates processing advantages in tasks referring to these bodily markers.
Maternal stimulation in infancy predicts hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis reactivity in young men
(2013)
Evidence from animal research has demonstrated the effect of early maternal care on the offspring's endocrine and behavioral stress response in adulthood. The present prospective study investigates, in humans, the long-term impact of maternal responsiveness and stimulation during early mother-child interaction on adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) and cortisol response to a psychosocial laboratory stressor in adulthood. The data are from an epidemiological cohort study of the long-term outcome of early risk factors assessed at birth. At age 3 months, mothers and infants were videotaped during a 10-min standardized nursing and playing situation and evaluated by trained raters for maternal stimulation and infant and maternal responsiveness. At age 19 years, 270 participants (146 females, 124 males) completed the Trier Social Stress Test. The results indicated that less maternal stimulation during early interaction at age 3 months predicted diminished plasma ACTH and cortisol increase in response to acute psychosocial stress in male, but not female offspring. In contrast, maternal responsiveness was found to be unrelated to hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) reactivity. In accordance with the findings from animal research, the present study provides prospective evidence in humans of a long-term association between early maternal interaction behavior and the offspring's hormonal stress response in young adulthood, suggesting that poor maternal stimulation in early infancy may result in reduced HPA axis reactivity to an acute psychosocial stressor in males.
Recent studies have emphasized an important role for neurotrophins, such as brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), in regulating the plasticity of neural circuits involved in the pathophysiology of stress-related diseases. The aim of the present study was to examine the interplay of the BDNF Val(66)Met and the serotonin transporter promoter (5-HTTLPR) polymorphisms in moderating the impact of early-life adversity on BDNF plasma concentration and depressive symptoms. Participants were taken from an epidemiological cohort study following the long-term outcome of early risk factors from birth into young adulthood. In 259 individuals (119 males, 140 females), genotyped for the BDNF Val(66)Met and the 5-HTTLPR polymorphisms, plasma BDNF was assessed at the age of 19 years. In addition, participants completed the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Early adversity was determined according to a family adversity index assessed at 3 months of age. Results indicated that individuals homozygous for both the BDNF Val and the 5-HTTLPR L allele showed significantly reduced BDNF levels following exposure to high adversity. In contrast, BDNF levels appeared to be unaffected by early psychosocial adversity in carriers of the BDNF Met or the 5-HTTLPR S allele. While the former group appeared to be most susceptible to depressive symptoms, the impact of early adversity was less pronounced in the latter group. This is the first preliminary evidence indicating that early-life adverse experiences may have lasting sequelae for plasma BDNF levels in humans, highlighting that the susceptibility to this effect is moderated by BDNF Val(66)Met and 5-HTTLPR genotype.
This article presents the design and a first pilot evaluation of the computer-based training program Calcularis for children with developmental dyscalculia (DD) or difficulties in learning mathematics. The program has been designed according to insights on the typical and atypical development of mathematical abilities. The learning process is supported through multimodal cues, which encode different properties of numbers. To offer optimal learning conditions, a user model completes the program and allows flexible adaptation to a child's individual learning and knowledge profile. Thirty-two children with difficulties in learning mathematics completed the 6-12-weeks computer training. The children played the game for 20 min per day for 5 days a week. The training effects were evaluated using neuropsychological tests. Generally, children benefited significantly from the training regarding number representation and arithmetic operations. Furthermore, children liked to play with the program and reported that the training improved their mathematical abilities.
Hintergrund: Rehabilitationsmedizin ist nach § 2 und § 26 SGB IX die medizinische Spezialdisziplin zur Vorbeugung, Diagnostik und Behandlung chronischer Erkrankungen. Dies betrifft in besonderem Maße psychische Erkrankungen. Die Behandlung chronischer Erkrankungen erfordert in der Regel eine komplexe und multimodale Langzeitbetreuung, bei der niedergelassenen Ärzten eine zentrale Rolle zukommt. Allerdings gibt es bislang nur wenig ausgearbeitete Konzepte zu den rehabilitationsmedizinischen Aufgaben niedergelassener Ärzte und den ihnen zur Verfügung stehenden diesbezüglichen Behandlungsoptionen.
Methoden: Zur Klärung der Frage, welche Rolle rehamedizinische Aspekte in der Hausarztpraxis haben, wurden im ersten Schritt 40 niedergelassene Ärzte zum geschätzten Anteil chronisch psychisch kranker Patienten in ihrer Praxis befragt.
Im zweiten Schritt wurden 1 451 Patienten im Alter von 18 bis 60 Jahren mittels des WHO-5-Screenings zum psychischen Wohlbefinden, dem IMET-Fragebogen zu Teilhabestörungen, der Burvillskala zur Multimorbidität und Fragen zum psychischen Erkrankungsstatus und Arbeitsstatus untersucht.
Ergebnisse:Im Durchschnitt schätzten die Hausärzte den Anteil ihrer Patienten mit psychischen Erkrankungen auf 41,9% (SD=18,2; Range 15-90%).Von den Patienten gaben 46,5% an, unter psychischen Beschwerden zu leiden. 38,3% der Patienten sagten, dass die Probleme bereits seit 6 Monaten oder länger bestehen (chronisch), und 26,9% erklärten, dass sie die Beschwerden in den letzten 6 Monaten durchgängig erlebt haben (persistierend). Insgesamt litten 29,7% der 18- bis 60-jährigen Hausarztpatienten unter chronischen psychischen Beschwerden mit zusätzlich relevanten Teilhabestörungen.
Schlussfolgerungen: Patienten mit chronischen psychischen Problemen und Teilhabestörungen sind in Praxen niedergelassener Ärzte häufig anzutreffen. Niedergelassene Ärzte und insbesondere Hausärzte sind demnach zu einem wesentlichen Teil ihrer Tätigkeit als Rehabilitationsmediziner anzusehen. In ihren Händen liegt die Diagnostik, Behandlung, Koordinierung und Langzeitführung der chronisch Kranken, wie auch die sozialmedizinische Betreuung, von der Feststellung einer Arbeitsunfähigkeit bis hin zur Einleitung stationärer Rehamaßnahmen. Die Bedeutung der niedergelassenen Ärzte im Rehaprozess verdient organisatorisch wie wissenschaftlich mehr Aufmerksamkeit.
Accumulating research suggests a moderating role for the corticotropin-releasing hormone receptor 1 gene (CRHR1) in the association between childhood adversity and adult depression. The present study aims to replicate recent findings using different genetic variants and measures of early adversity assessed both prospectively and retrospectively. Data were collected in the context of an ongoing epidemiological cohort study following the outcome of early risk factors from birth into adulthood. 300 participants (137 males, 163 females) were genotyped for four CRHR1 SNPs (rs7209436, rs110402, rs242924, and rs17689882) and completed the Beck Depression Inventory at ages 19, 22 and 23 years. Childhood adversity was assessed using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire and by a standardized parent interview yielding an index of family adversity. Our results indicate that CRHR1 and childhood adversity interacted to predict depressive symptoms in young adults. Specifically, we found that the impact of childhood maltreatment on adult depressive symptoms was significantly higher in individuals (i) with two copies of the CRHR1 TAT haplotype, and (ii) homozygous for the G allele of rs17689882. The interaction was demonstrated for exposure to childhood maltreatment as assessed by retrospective self-report, but not to prospectively ascertain objective family adversity. The present study partially replicates recent findings of a CRHR1 by childhood adversity interaction with regard to adult depression highlighting the subjective characteristics of the environmental pathogen that is operative in this interaction.
Additive and interactive effects of word frequency, stimulus quality, and semantic priming have been used to test theoretical claims about the cognitive architecture of word-reading processes. Additive effects among these factors have been taken as evidence for discrete-stage models of word reading. We present evidence from linear mixed-model analyses applied to 2 lexical decision experiments indicating that apparent additive effects can be the product of aggregating over- and underadditive interaction effects that are modulated by recent trial history, particularly the lexical status and stimulus quality of the previous trial's target. Even a simple practice effect expressed as improved response speed across trials was powerfully modulated by the nature of the previous target item. These results suggest that additivity and interaction between factors may reflect trial-to-trial variation in stimulus representations and decision processes rather than fundamental differences in processing architecture.
Prosodic boundaries can be used to guide syntactic parsing in both spoken and written sentence comprehension, but it is unknown whether the processing of prosodic boundaries affects the processing of upcoming lexical information. In 3 eye-tracking experiments, participants read silently sentences that allow for 2 possible syntactic interpretations when there is no comma or other cue specifying which interpretation should be taken. In Experiments 1 and 2, participants heard a low-pass filtered auditory version of the sentence, which provided a prosodic boundary cue prior to each sentence. In Experiment 1, we found that the boundary cue helped syntactic disambiguation after the cue and led to longer fixation durations on regions right before the cue than on identical regions without prosodic boundary information. In Experiments 2 and 3, we used a gaze-contingent display-change paradigm to manipulate the parafoveal visibility of the first constituent character of the target word after the disambiguating position. Results of Experiment 2 showed that previewing the first character significantly reduced the reading time of the target word, but this preview benefit was greatly reduced when the prosodic boundary cue was introduced at this position. In Experiment 3, instead of the acoustic cues, a visually presented comma was inserted at the disambiguating position in each sentence. Results showed that the comma effect on lexical processing was essentially the same as the effect of prosodic boundary cue. These findings demonstrate that processing a prosodic boundary could impair the processing of parafoveal information during sentence reading.
Background.Vocational interests play a central role in the vocational decision-making process and are decisive for the later job satisfaction and vocational success. Based on Ackerman's (1996) notion of trait complexes, specific interest profiles of gifted high-school graduates can be expected. Aims.Vocational interests of gifted and highly achieving adolescents were compared to those of their less intelligent/achieving peers according to Holland's (1997) RIASEC model. Further, the impact of intelligence and achievement on interests were analysed while statistically controlling for potentially influencing variables. Changes in interests over time were investigated. Sample.N= 4,694 German students (age: M= 19.5, SD= .80; 54.6% females) participated in the study (TOSCA; Koller, Watermann, Trautwein, & Ludtke, 2004). Method. Interests were assessed in participants' final year at school and again 2 years later (N= 2,318). Results.Gifted participants reported stronger investigative and realistic interests, but lower social interests than less intelligent participants. Highly achieving participants reported higher investigative and (in wave 2) higher artistic interests. Considerable gender differences were found: gifted girls had a flat interest profile, while gifted boys had pronounced realistic and investigative and low social interests. Multilevel multiple regression analyses predicting interests by intelligence and school achievement revealed stable interest profiles. Beyond a strong gender effect, intelligence and school achievement each contributed substantially to the prediction of vocational interests. Conclusions.At the time around graduation from high school, gifted young adults show stable interest profiles, which strongly differ between gender and intelligence groups. These differences are relevant for programmes for the gifted and for vocational counselling.