@article{BrychHaendelRiechelmannetal.2021, author = {Brych, Mareike and H{\"a}ndel, Barbara F. and Riechelmann, Eva and Pieczykolan, Aleksandra and Huestegge, Lynn}, title = {Effects of vocal demands on pupil dilation}, series = {Psychophysiology}, volume = {58}, journal = {Psychophysiology}, number = {2}, doi = {10.1111/psyp.13729}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-224425}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Pupil dilation is known to be affected by a variety of factors, including physical (e.g., light) and cognitive sources of influence (e.g., mental load due to working memory demands, stimulus/response competition etc.). In the present experiment, we tested the extent to which vocal demands (speaking) can affect pupil dilation. Based on corresponding preliminary evidence found in a reanalysis of an existing data set from our lab, we setup a new experiment that systematically investigated vocal response-related effects compared to mere jaw/lip movement and button press responses. Conditions changed on a trial-by-trial basis while participants were instructed to keep fixating a central cross on a screen throughout. In line with our prediction (and previous observation), speaking caused the pupils to dilate strongest, followed by nonvocal movements and finally a baseline condition without any vocal or muscular demands. An additional analysis of blink rates showed no difference in blink frequency between vocal and baseline conditions, but different blink dynamics. Finally, simultaneously recorded electromyographic activity showed that muscle activity may contribute to some (but not all) aspects of the observed effects on pupil size. The results are discussed in the context of other recent research indicating effects of perceived (instead of executed) vocal action on pupil dynamics.}, language = {en} } @article{SchindlerRichterMar2021, author = {Schindler, Julia and Richter, Tobias and Mar, Raymond}, title = {Does generation benefit learning for narrative and expository texts? A direct replication attempt}, series = {Applied Cognitive Psychology}, volume = {35}, journal = {Applied Cognitive Psychology}, number = {2}, doi = {10.1002/acp.3781}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-224496}, pages = {559 -- 564}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Generated information is better recognized and recalled than information that is read. This so-called generation effect has been replicated several times for different types of material, including texts. Perhaps the most influential demonstration was by McDaniel et al. (1986, Journal of Memory and Language, 25, 645-656; henceforth MEDC). This group tested whether the generation effect occurs only if the generation task stimulates cognitive processes not already stimulated by the text. Numerous studies, however, report difficulties replicating this text by generation-task interaction, which suggests that the effect might only be found under conditions closer to the original method of MEDC. To test this assumption, we will closely replicate MEDC's Experiment 2 in German and English-speaking samples. Replicating the effect would suggest that it can be reproduced, at least under limited conditions, which will provide the necessary foundation for future investigations into the boundary conditions of this effect, with an eye towards its utility in applied contexts.}, language = {en} } @article{EndlichRichterMarxetal.2020, author = {Endlich, Darius and Richter, Tobias and Marx, Peter and Lenhard, Wolfgang and Moll, Kristina and Witzel, Bj{\"o}rn and Schulte-K{\"o}rne, Gerd}, title = {Spelling Error Detection : A Valid and Economical Task for Assessing Spelling Skills in Elementary-School Children}, series = {Zeitschrift f{\"u}r Entwicklungspsychologie und P{\"a}dagogische Psychologie}, volume = {52}, journal = {Zeitschrift f{\"u}r Entwicklungspsychologie und P{\"a}dagogische Psychologie}, number = {1-2}, issn = {0049-8637}, doi = {10.1026/0049-8637/a000227}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-244665}, pages = {25-40}, year = {2020}, abstract = {The ability to spell words correctly is a key competence for educational and professional achievement. Economical procedures are essential to identifying children with spelling problems as early as possible. Given the strong evidence showing that reading and spelling are based on the same orthographic knowledge, error-detection tasks (EDTs) could be considered such an economical procedure. Although EDTs are widely used in English-speaking countries, the few studies in German-speaking countries investigated only pupils in secondary school. The present study investigated N = 1,513 children in elementary school. We predicted spelling competencies (measured by dictation or gap-fill dictation) based on an EDT via linear regression. Error-detection abilities significantly predicted spelling competencies (R² between .509 and .679), indicating a strong connection. Predictive values in identifying children with poor spelling abilities with an EDT proved to be sufficient. Error detection for the assessment of spelling skills is therefore a valid instrument for transparent languages as well.}, language = {en} } @article{BoecklerRennertRaettig2021, author = {B{\"o}ckler, Anne and Rennert, Annika and Raettig, Tim}, title = {Stranger, Lover, Friend?}, series = {Social Psychology}, volume = {52}, journal = {Social Psychology}, number = {3}, issn = {1864-9335}, doi = {10.1027/1864-9335/a000446}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-238721}, pages = {173-184}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Social exclusion, even from minimal game-based interactions, induces negative consequences. We investigated whether the nature of the relationship with the excluder modulates the effects of ostracism. Participants played a virtual ball-tossing game with a stranger and a friend (friend condition) or a stranger and their romantic partner (partner condition) while being fully included, fully excluded, excluded only by the stranger, or excluded only by their close other. Replicating previous findings, full exclusion impaired participants' basic-need satisfaction and relationship evaluation most severely. While the degree of exclusion mattered, the relationship to the excluder did not: Classic null hypothesis testing and Bayesian statistics showed no modulation of ostracism effects depending on whether participants were excluded by a stranger, a friend, or their partner.}, language = {en} } @article{WittkowskiScheuchenpflug2021, author = {Wittkowski, Joachim and Scheuchenpflug, Rainer}, title = {Evidence on the Conceptual Distinctness of Normal Grief From Depression}, series = {European Journal of Health Psychology}, volume = {28}, journal = {European Journal of Health Psychology}, number = {3}, issn = {2512-8442}, doi = {10.1027/2512-8442/a000077}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-236531}, pages = {101-110}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Background: The distinctness of grief from depression has been the subject of a long scholarly debate, even influencing definitions of diagnostic criteria. Aims: This study aims at clarifying the issue by a multifaceted analysis of data from a large German sample. Method: A community sample of 406 bereaved persons answered the Wuerzburg Grief Inventory (WGI), a multidimensional grief questionnaire designed to measure normal grief in the German language, and the General Depression Scale - Short Version (GDS-S), a self-report depression scale. Data were analyzed by factor analysis to identify structural (dis-)similarities of the constructs, and analysis of variance (ANOVA) to identify the influence of the factors relationship to the deceased, type of death, and time since loss on grief measures and depression scores. Results: Factor analysis clustered items referring to grief-related impairments and depression into one factor, items referring to other dimensions of grief on separate factors, however. Relationship to the deceased influenced the grief measures impairments and nearness to the deceased, but not depression scores if controlled for impairments. Type of death showed specific effects on grief scores, but not on depression scores. Time since loss influenced grief scores, but not depression scores. Limitations: The analysis is based on a self-selected community sample of grieving persons, self-report measures, and in part, on cross-sectional data. Conclusion: Factor analysis and objective data show a clear distinction of dimensions of grief and depression. The human experience of grief contains a sense of nearness to the lost person, feelings of guilt, and positive aspects of the loss experience in addition to components resembling depression.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{RiechelmannverhSteinbacher2021, author = {Riechelmann [verh. Steinbacher], Eva Katharina}, title = {Gaze interaction: Cognitive mechanisms of oculomotor action control}, doi = {10.25972/OPUS-21527}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-215279}, school = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Humans use their eyes not only as visual input devices to perceive the environment, but also as an action tool in order to generate intended effects in their environment. For instance, glances are used to direct someone else's attention to a place of interest, indicating that gaze control is an important part of social communication. Previous research on gaze control in a social context mainly focused on the gaze recipient by asking how humans respond to perceived gaze (gaze cueing). So far, this perspective has hardly considered the actor's point of view by neglecting to investigate what mental processes are involved when actors decide to perform an eye movement to trigger a gaze response in another person. Furthermore, eye movements are also used to affect the non-social environment, for instance when unlocking the smartphone with the help of the eyes. This and other observations demonstrate the necessity to consider gaze control in contexts other than social communication whilst at the same time focusing on commonalities and differences inherent to the nature of a social (vs. non-social) action context. Thus, the present work explores the cognitive mechanisms that control such goal-oriented eye movements in both social and non-social contexts. The experiments presented throughout this work are built on pre-established paradigms from both the oculomotor research domain and from basic cognitive psychology. These paradigms are based on the principle of ideomotor action control, which provides an explanatory framework for understanding how goal-oriented, intentional actions come into being. The ideomotor idea suggests that humans acquire associations between their actions and the resulting effects, which can be accessed in a bi-directional manner: Actions can trigger anticipations of their effects, but the anticipated resulting effects can also trigger the associated actions. According to ideomotor theory, action generation involves the mental anticipation of the intended effect (i.e., the action goal) to activate the associated motor pattern. The present experiments involve situations where participants control the gaze of a virtual face via their eye movements. The triggered gaze responses of the virtual face are consistent to the participant's eye movements, representing visual action effects. Experimental situations are varied with respect to determinants of action-effect learning (e.g., contingency, contiguity, action mode during acquisition) in order to unravel the underlying dynamics of oculomotor control in these situations. In addition to faces, conditions involving changes in non-social objects were included to address the question of whether mechanisms underlying gaze control differ for social versus non-social context situations. The results of the present work can be summarized into three major findings. 1. My data suggest that humans indeed acquire bi-directional associations between their eye movements and the subsequently perceived gaze response of another person, which in turn affect oculomotor action control via the anticipation of the intended effects. The observed results show for the first time that eye movements in a gaze-interaction scenario are represented in terms of their gaze response in others. This observation is in line with the ideomotor theory of action control. 2. The present series of experiments confirms and extends pioneering results of Huestegge and Kreutzfeldt (2012) with respect to the significant influence of action effects in gaze control. I have shown that the results of Huestegge and Kreutzfeldt (2012) can be replicated across different contexts with different stimulus material given that the perceived action effects were sufficiently salient. 3. Furthermore, I could show that mechanisms of gaze control in a social gaze-interaction context do not appear to be qualitatively different from those in a non-social context. All in all, the results support recent theoretical claims emphasizing the role of anticipation-based action control in social interaction. Moreover, my results suggest that anticipation-based gaze control in a social context is based on the same general psychological mechanisms as ideomotor gaze control, and thus should be considered as an integral part rather than as a special form of ideomotor gaze control.}, subject = {Verhaltenskontrolle}, language = {en} } @unpublished{BrychHaendel2020, author = {Brych, Mareike and H{\"a}ndel, Barbara}, title = {Disentangling top-down and bottom-up influences on blinks in the visual and auditory domain}, series = {International Journal of Psychophysiology}, journal = {International Journal of Psychophysiology}, issn = {1872-7697}, doi = {10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2020.11.002}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-246590}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Sensory input as well as cognitive factors can drive the modulation of blinking. Our aim was to dissociate sensory driven bottom-up from cognitive top-down influences on blinking behavior and compare these influences between the auditory and the visual domain. Using an oddball paradigm, we found a significant pre-stimulus decrease in blink probability for visual input compared to auditory input. Sensory input further led to an early post-stimulus blink increase in both modalities if a task demanded attention to the input. Only visual input caused a pronounced early increase without a task. In case of a target or the omission of a stimulus (as compared to standard input), an additional late increase in blink rate was found in the auditory and visual domain. This suggests that blink modulation must be based on the interpretation of the input, but does not need any sensory input at all to occur. Our results show a complex modulation of blinking based on top-down factors such as prediction and attention in addition to sensory-based influences. The magnitude of the modulation is mainly influenced by general attentional demands, while the latency of this modulation allows to dissociate general from specific top-down influences that are independent of the sensory domain.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Seger2021, author = {Seger, Benedikt Thomas}, title = {Children's Comprehension of Illustrated Narrative Text: The Role of Tripartite Representations and Perceptual Simulation}, doi = {10.25972/OPUS-24228}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-242280}, school = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg}, year = {2021}, abstract = {This doctoral thesis is part of a research project on the development of the cognitive compre-hension of film at W{\"u}rzburg University that was funded by the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft) between 2013 and 2019 and awarded to Gerhild Nied-ing. That project examined children's comprehension of narrative text and its development in illustrated versus non-illustrated formats. For this purpose, van Dijk and Kintsch's (1983) tri-partite model was used, according to which text recipients form text surface and textbase rep-resentations and construct a situation model. In particular, predictions referring to the influ-ence of illustrations on these three levels of text representation were derived from the inte-grated model of text and picture comprehension (ITPC; Schnotz, 2014), which holds that text-picture units are processed on both text-based (descriptive) and picture-based (depictive) paths. Accordingly, illustrations support the construction of a situation model. Moreover, in line with the embodied cognition account (e.g., Barsalou, 1999), it was assumed that the situa-tion model is grounded in perception and action; text recipients mentally simulate the situation addressed in the text through their neural systems related to perception (perceptual simulation) and action (motor resonance). Therefore, the thesis also examines whether perceptual simula-tion takes place during story reception, whether it improves the comprehension of illustrated stories, and whether motor resonance is related to the comprehension of text accompanied by dynamic illustrations. Finally, predictions concerning the development of comprehending illus-trated text were made in line with Springer's (2001) hypotheses according to which younger children, compared with older children and adults, focus more on illustrations during text comprehension (perceptual boundedness) and use illustrations for the development of cogni-tive skills (perceptual support). The first research question sought to validate the tripartite model in the context of children's comprehension of narrative text, so Hypothesis 1 predicted that children yield representations of the text surface, the textbase, and the situation model during text reception. The second research question comprised the assumptions regarding the impact of illustrations on text comprehension. Accordingly, it was expected that illustrations improve the situation model (Hypothesis 2a), especially when they are processed before their corresponding text passages (Hypothesis 2b). Both hypotheses were derived from the ITPC and the assumption that per-ceptual simulation supports the situation model. It was further predicted that dynamic illustra-tions evoke more accurate situation models than static ones (Hypothesis 2c); this followed from the assumption that motor resonance supports the situation model. In line with the ITPC, it was assumed that illustrations impair the textbase (Hypothesis 2d), especially when they are presented after their corresponding text passages (Hypothesis 2e). In accordance with earlier results, it was posited that illustrations have a beneficial effect for the text surface (Hypothesis 2f). The third research question addressed the embodied approach to the situation model. Here, it was assumed that perceptual simulation takes place during text reception (Hypothesis 3a) and that it is more pronounced in illustrated than in non-illustrated text (Hypothesis 3b); the latter hypothesis was related to a necessary premise of the assumption that perceptual sim-ulation improves the comprehension of illustrated text. The fourth research question was relat-ed to perceptual boundedness and perceptual support and predicted age-related differences; younger children were expected to benefit more from illustrations regarding the situation model (Hypothesis 4a) and to simulate vertical object movements in a more pronounced fash-ion (Hypothesis 4b) than older children. In addition, Hypothesis 4c held that perceptual simu-lation is more pronounced in younger children particularly when illustrations are present. Three experiments were conducted to investigate these hypotheses. Experiment 1 (Seger, Wannagat, \& Nieding, submitted).compared the tripartite representations of written text without illustrations, with illustrations presented first, and with illustrations presented after their corresponding sentences. Students between 7 and 13 years old (N = 146) took part. Ex-periment 2 (Seger, Wannagat, \& Nieding, 2019) investigated the tripartite representations of auditory text, audiovisual text with static illustrations, and audiovisual text with dynamic il-lustrations among children in the same age range (N = 108). In both experiments, a sentence recognition method similar to that introduced by Schmalhofer and Glavanov (1986) was em-ployed. This method enables the simultaneous measurement of all three text representations. Experiment 3 (Seger, Hauf, \& Nieding, 2020) determined the perceptual simulation of vertical object movements during the reception of auditory and audiovisual narrative text among chil-dren between 5 and 11 years old and among adults (N = 190). For this experiment, a picture verification task based on Stanfield and Zwaan's (2001) paradigm and adapted from Hauf (2016) was used. The first two experiments confirmed Hypothesis 1, indicating that the tripartite model is appli-cable to the comprehension of auditory and written narrative text among children. A benefi-cial effect of illustrations to the situation model was observed when they were presented syn-chronously with auditory text (Hypotheses 2a), but not when presented asynchronously with written text (Hypothesis 2b), so the ITPC is partly supported on this point. Hypothesis 2c was rejected, indicating that motor resonance does not make an additional contribution to the comprehension of narrative text with dynamic illustrations. Regarding the textbase, a general negative effect of illustrations was not observed (Hypothesis 2d), but a specific negative effect of illustrations that follow their corresponding text passages was seen (Hypothesis 2e); the latter result is also in line with the ITPC. The text surface (Hypothesis 2f) appears to benefit from illustrations in auditory but not written text. The results obtained in Experiment 3 sug-gest that children and adults perceptually simulate vertical object movements (Hypothesis 3a), but there appears to be no difference between auditory and audiovisual text (Hypothesis 3b), so there is no support for a functional relationship between perceptual simulation and the situ-ation model in illustrated text. Hypotheses 4a-4c were investigated in all three experiments and did not receive support in any of them, which indicates that representations of illustrated and non-illustrated narrative text remain stable within the age range examined here.}, subject = {Textverstehen}, language = {en} } @article{WeissHeinHewig2021, author = {Weiß, Martin and Hein, Grit and Hewig, Johannes}, title = {Between joy and sympathy: Smiling and sad recipient faces increase prosocial behavior in the dictator game}, series = {International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health}, volume = {18}, journal = {International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health}, number = {11}, doi = {10.3390/ijerph18116172}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-241106}, year = {2021}, abstract = {In human interactions, the facial expression of a bargaining partner may contain relevant information that affects prosocial decisions. We were interested in whether facial expressions of the recipient in the dictator game influence dictators´ ehavior. To test this, we conducted an online study (n = 106) based on a modified version of a dictator game. The dictators allocated money between themselves and another person (recipient), who had no possibility to respond to the dictator. Importantly, before the allocation decision, the dictator was presented with the facial expression of the recipient (angry, disgusted, sad, smiling, or neutral). The results showed that dictators sent more money to recipients with sad or smiling facial expressions and less to recipients with angry or disgusted facial expressions compared with a neutral facial expression. Moreover, based on the sequential analysis of the decision and the interaction partner in the preceding trial, we found that decision-making depends upon previous interactions.}, language = {en} } @article{PfisterKlaffehnKalckertetal.2021, author = {Pfister, Robert and Klaffehn, Annika L. and Kalckert, Andreas and Kunde, Winfried and Dignath, David}, title = {How to lose a hand: Sensory updating drives disembodiment}, series = {Psychonomic Bulletin \& Review}, volume = {28}, journal = {Psychonomic Bulletin \& Review}, issn = {1069-9384}, doi = {10.3758/s13423-020-01854-0}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-235195}, pages = {827-833}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Body representations are readily expanded based on sensorimotor experience. A dynamic view of body representations, however, holds that these representations cannot only be expanded but that they can also be narrowed down by disembodying elements of the body representation that are no longer warranted. Here we induced illusory ownership in terms of a moving rubber hand illusion and studied the maintenance of this illusion across different conditions. We observed ownership experience to decrease gradually unless participants continued to receive confirmatory multisensory input. Moreover, a single instance of multisensory mismatch - a hammer striking the rubber hand but not the real hand - triggered substantial and immediate disembodiment. Together, these findings support and extend previous theoretical efforts to model body representations through basic mechanisms of multisensory integration. They further support an updating model suggesting that embodied entities fade from the body representation if they are not refreshed continuously.}, language = {en} } @article{MuthWirthKunde2021, author = {Muth, Felicitas V. and Wirth, Robert and Kunde, Winfried}, title = {Temporal binding past the Libet clock: testing design factors for an auditory timer}, series = {Behavior Research Methods}, volume = {53}, journal = {Behavior Research Methods}, number = {3}, doi = {10.3758/s13428-020-01474-5}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-234922}, pages = {1322-1341}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Voluntary actions and causally linked sensory stimuli are perceived to be shifted towards each other in time. This so-called temporal binding is commonly assessed in paradigms using the Libet Clock. In such experiments, participants have to estimate the timing of actions performed or ensuing sensory stimuli (usually tones) by means of a rotating clock hand presented on a screen. The aforementioned task setup is however ill-suited for many conceivable setups, especially when they involve visual effects. To address this shortcoming, the line of research presented here establishes an alternative measure for temporal binding by using a sequence of timed sounds. This method uses an auditory timer, a sequence of letters presented during task execution, which serve as anchors for temporal judgments. In four experiments, we manipulated four design factors of this auditory timer, namely interval length, interval filling, sequence predictability, and sequence length, to determine the most effective and economic method for measuring temporal binding with an auditory timer.}, language = {en} } @article{RaynerColemanPurvesetal.2019, author = {Rayner, Christopher and Coleman, Jonathan R. I. and Purves, Kirstin L. and Hodsoll, John and Goldsmith, Kimberley and Alpers, Georg W. and Andersson, Evelyn and Arolt, Volker and Boberg, Julia and B{\"o}gels, Susan and Creswell, Cathy and Cooper, Peter and Curtis, Charles and Deckert, J{\"u}rgen and Domschke, Katharina and El Alaoui, Samir and Fehm, Lydia and Fydrich, Thomas and Gerlach, Alexander L. and Grocholewski, Anja and Hahlweg, Kurt and Hamm, Alfons and Hedman, Erik and Heiervang, Einar R. and Hudson, Jennifer L. and J{\"o}hren, Peter and Keers, Robert and Kircher, Tilo and Lang, Thomas and Lavebratt, Catharina and Lee, Sang-hyuck and Lester, Kathryn J. and Lindefors, Nils and Margraf, J{\"u}rgen and Nauta, Maaike and Pan{\´e}-Farr{\´e}, Christiane A. and Pauli, Paul and Rapee, Ronald M. and Reif, Andreas and Rief, Winfried and Roberts, Susanna and Schalling, Martin and Schneider, Silvia and Silverman, Wendy K. and Str{\"o}hle, Andreas and Teismann, Tobias and Thastum, Mikael and Wannem{\"u}ller, Andre and Weber, Heike and Wittchen, Hans-Ulrich and Wolf, Christiane and R{\"u}ck, Christian and Breen, Gerome and Eley, Thalia C.}, title = {A genome-wide association meta-analysis of prognostic outcomes following cognitive behavioural therapy in individuals with anxiety and depressive disorders}, series = {Translational Psychiatry}, volume = {9}, journal = {Translational Psychiatry}, number = {150}, doi = {10.1038/s41398-019-0481-y}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-225048}, pages = {1-13}, year = {2019}, abstract = {Major depressive disorder and the anxiety disorders are highly prevalent, disabling and moderately heritable. Depression and anxiety are also highly comorbid and have a strong genetic correlation (r(g) approximate to 1). Cognitive behavioural therapy is a leading evidence-based treatment but has variable outcomes. Currently, there are no strong predictors of outcome. Therapygenetics research aims to identify genetic predictors of prognosis following therapy. We performed genome-wide association meta-analyses of symptoms following cognitive behavioural therapy in adults with anxiety disorders (n = 972), adults with major depressive disorder (n = 832) and children with anxiety disorders (n = 920; meta-analysis n = 2724). We (h(SNP)(2)) and polygenic scoring was used to examine genetic associations between therapy outcomes and psychopathology, personality and estimated the variance in therapy outcomes that could be explained by common genetic variants learning. No single nucleotide polymorphisms were strongly associated with treatment outcomes. No significant estimate of h(SNP)(2) could be obtained, suggesting the heritability of therapy outcome is smaller than our analysis was powered to detect. Polygenic scoring failed to detect genetic overlap between therapy outcome and psychopathology, personality or learning. This study is the largest therapygenetics study to date. Results are consistent with previous, similarly powered genome-wide association studies of complex traits.}, language = {en} } @article{RuboGamer2021, author = {Rubo, Marius and Gamer, Matthias}, title = {Stronger reactivity to social gaze in virtual reality compared to a classical laboratory environment}, series = {British Journal of Psychology}, volume = {112}, journal = {British Journal of Psychology}, number = {1}, doi = {10.1111/bjop.12453}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-215972}, pages = {301 -- 314}, year = {2021}, abstract = {People show a robust tendency to gaze at other human beings when viewing images or videos, but were also found to relatively avoid gaze at others in several real-world situations. This discrepancy, along with theoretical considerations, spawned doubts about the appropriateness of classical laboratory-based experimental paradigms in social attention research. Several researchers instead suggested the use of immersive virtual scenarios in eliciting and measuring naturalistic attentional patterns, but the field, struggling with methodological challenges, still needs to establish the advantages of this approach. Here, we show using eye-tracking in a complex social scenario displayed in virtual reality that participants show enhanced attention towards the face of an avatar at near distance and demonstrate an increased reactivity towards her social gaze as compared to participants who viewed the same scene on a computer monitor. The present study suggests that reactive virtual agents observed in immersive virtual reality can elicit natural modes of information processing and can help to conduct ecologically more valid experiments while maintaining high experimental control.}, language = {en} } @article{BreilBoeckler2020, author = {Breil, Christina and B{\"o}ckler, Anne}, title = {The Lens Shapes the View: on Task Dependency in ToM Research}, series = {Current Behavioral Neuroscience Reports}, volume = {7}, journal = {Current Behavioral Neuroscience Reports}, doi = {10.1007/s40473-020-00205-6}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-232646}, pages = {41-50}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Purpose of Review This article provides an overview of current findings on Theory of Mind (ToM) in human children and adults and highlights the relationship between task specifications and their outcome in socio-cognitive research. Recent Findings ToM, the capacity to reason about and infer others' mental states, develops progressively throughout childhood—the exact time course is still a matter of debate. Neuroimaging studies indicate the involvement of a widespread neuronal network during mentalizing, suggesting that ToM is a multifaceted process. Accordingly, the tasks and trainings that currently exist to investigate and enhance ToM are heterogeneous, and the outcomes largely depend on the paradigm that was used. Summary We argue for the implementation of multiple-task batteries in the assessment of socio-cognitive abilities. Decisions for a particular paradigm need to be carefully considered and justified. We want to emphasize the importance of targeted research on the relationship between task specifications and outcomes.}, language = {en} } @article{LeopoldBauerBechdolfetal.2020, author = {Leopold, Karolina and Bauer, Michael and Bechdolf, Andreas and Correll, Christoph U. and Holtmann, Martin and Juckel, Georg and Lambert, Martin and Meyer, Thomas D. and Pfeiffer, Steffi and Kittel-Schneider, Sarah and Reif, Andreas and Stamm, Thomas J. and Rottmann-Wolf, Maren and Mathiebe, Josephine and Kellmann, Eva L. and Ritter, Philipp and Kr{\"u}ger-{\"O}zg{\"u}rdal, Seza and Karow, Anne and Sondergeld, Lene-Marie and Roessner, Veit and Sauer, Cathrin and Pfennig, Andrea}, title = {Efficacy of cognitive-behavioral group therapy in patients at risk for serious mental illness presenting with subthreshold bipolar symptoms: Results from a prespecified interim analysis of a multicenter, randomized, controlled study}, series = {Bipolar Disorders}, volume = {22}, journal = {Bipolar Disorders}, number = {5}, doi = {10.1111/bdi.12894}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-215469}, pages = {517 -- 529}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Objective Most patients with bipolar disorders (BD) exhibit prodromal symptoms before a first (hypo)manic episode. Patients with clinically significant symptoms fulfilling at-risk criteria for serious mental illness (SMI) require effective and safe treatment. Cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy (CBT) has shown promising results in early stages of BD and in patients at high risk for psychosis. We aimed to investigate whether group CBT can improve symptoms and functional deficits in young patients at risk for SMI presenting with subthreshold bipolar symptoms. Method In a multicenter, randomized, controlled trial, patients at clinical risk for SMI presenting with subthreshold bipolar symptoms aged 15-30 years were randomized to 14 weeks of at-risk for BD-specific group CBT or unstructured group meetings. Primary efficacy endpoints were differences in affective symptomatology and psychosocial functioning at 14 weeks. At-risk status was defined as a combination of subthreshold bipolar symptomatology, reduction of psychosocial functioning and a family history for (schizo)affective disorders. A prespecified interim analysis was conducted at 75\% of the targeted sample. Results Of 128 screened participants, 75 were randomized to group CBT (n = 38, completers = 65.8\%) vs unstructured group meetings (n = 37, completers = 78.4\%). Affective symptomatology and psychosocial functioning improved significantly at week 14 (P < .001) and during 6 months (P < .001) in both groups, without significant between-group differences. Findings are limited by the interim character of the analysis, the use of not fully validated early detection interviews, a newly adapted intervention manual, and the substantial drop-outs. Conclusions Results suggest that young patients at-risk for SMI presenting with subthreshold bipolar symptoms benefit from early group sessions. The degree of specificity and psychotherapeutic interaction needed requires clarification.}, language = {en} } @article{WannagatWaizeneggerNiedling2021, author = {Wannagat, Wienke and Waizenegger, Gesine and Niedling, Gerhild}, title = {Coherence formation during narrative text processing: a comparison between auditory and audiovisual text presentation in 9- to 12-year-old children}, series = {Cognitive Processing}, volume = {22}, journal = {Cognitive Processing}, issn = {1612-4782}, doi = {10.1007/s10339-020-01008-z}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-235744}, pages = {299-310}, year = {2021}, abstract = {In an experiment with 114 children aged 9-12 years, we compared the ability to establish local and global coherence of narrative texts between auditory and audiovisual (auditory text and pictures) presentation. The participants listened to a series of short narrative texts, in each of which a protagonist pursued a goal. Following each text, we collected the response time to a query word that was either associated with a near or a distant causal antecedent of the final sentence. Analysis of these response times indicated that audiovisual presentation has advantages over auditory presentation for accessing information relevant for establishing both local and global coherence, but there are indications that this effect may be slightly more pronounced for global coherence.}, language = {en} } @article{WirthFoersterKundeetal.2020, author = {Wirth, Robert and Foerster, Anna and Kunde, Wilfried and Pfister, Roland}, title = {Design choices: Empirical recommendations for designing two-dimensional finger-tracking experiments}, series = {Behavior Research Methods}, volume = {52}, journal = {Behavior Research Methods}, doi = {10.3758/s13428-020-01409-0}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-235569}, pages = {2394-2416}, year = {2020}, abstract = {The continuous tracking of mouse or finger movements has become an increasingly popular research method for investigating cognitive and motivational processes such as decision-making, action-planning, and executive functions. In the present paper, we evaluate and discuss how apparently trivial design choices of researchers may impact participants' behavior and, consequently, a study's results. We first provide a thorough comparison of mouse- and finger-tracking setups on the basis of a Simon task. We then vary a comprehensive set of design factors, including spatial layout, movement extent, time of stimulus onset, size of the target areas, and hit detection in a finger-tracking variant of this task. We explore the impact of these variations on a broad spectrum of movement parameters that are typically used to describe movement trajectories. Based on our findings, we suggest several recommendations for best practice that avoid some of the pitfalls of the methodology. Keeping these recommendations in mind will allow for informed decisions when planning and conducting future tracking experiments.}, language = {en} } @article{LischkeHerpertzBergeretal.2017, author = {Lischke, Alexander and Herpertz, Sabine C. and Berger, Christoph and Domes, Gregor and Gamer, Matthias}, title = {Divergent effects of oxytocin on (para-)limbic reactivity to emotional and neutral scenes in females with and without borderline personality disorder}, series = {Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience}, volume = {12}, journal = {Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience}, number = {11}, doi = {10.1093/scan/nsx107}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-173309}, pages = {1783-1792}, year = {2017}, abstract = {Borderline personality disorder (BPD) patients' hypersensitivity for emotionally relevant stimuli has been suggested be due to abnormal activity and connectivity in (para-)limbic and prefrontal brain regions during stimulus processing. The neuropeptide oxytocin has been shown to modulate activity and functional connectivity in these brain regions, thereby optimizing the processing of emotional and neutral stimuli. To investigate whether oxytocin would be capable of attenuating BPD patients' hypersensitivity for such stimuli, we recorded brain activity and gaze behavior during the processing of complex scenes in 51 females with and 48 without BPD after intranasal application of either oxytocin or placebo. We found divergent effects of oxytocin on BPD and healthy control (HC) participants' (para-)limbic reactivity to emotional and neutral scenes: Oxytocin decreased amygdala and insula reactivity in BPD participants but increased it in HC participants, indicating an oxytocin-induced normalization of amygdala and insula activity during scene processing. In addition, oxytocin normalized the abnormal coupling between amygdala activity and gaze behavior across all scenes in BPD participants. Overall, these findings suggest that oxytocin may be capable of attenuating BPD patients' hypersensitivity for complex scenes, irrespective of their valence.}, language = {en} } @article{ZetzlRennerPittigetal.2021, author = {Zetzl, Teresa and Renner, Agnes and Pittig, Andre and Jentschke, Elisabeth and Roch, Carmen and van Oorschot, Birgitt}, title = {Yoga effectively reduces fatigue and symptoms of depression in patients with different types of cancer}, series = {Supportive Care in Cancer}, volume = {29}, journal = {Supportive Care in Cancer}, issn = {0941-4355}, doi = {10.1007/s00520-020-05794-2}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-235415}, pages = {2973-2982}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Purpose Examine the effects of an 8-week yoga therapy on fatigue in patients with different types of cancer. Methods A total of 173 cancer patients suffering from mild to severe fatigue were randomly allocated to yoga intervention (n = 84) (IG) versus waitlist control group (CG) (n = 88). Yoga therapy consisted of eight weekly sessions with 60 min each. The primary outcome was self-reported fatigue symptoms. Secondary outcomes were symptoms of depression and quality of life (QoL). Data were assessed using questionnaires before (T0) and after yoga therapy for IG versus waiting period for CG (T1). Results A stronger reduction of general fatigue (P = .033), physical fatigue (P = .048), and depression (P < .001) as well as a stronger increase in QoL (P = .002) was found for patients who attended 7 or 8 sessions compared with controls. Within the yoga group, both higher attendance rate and lower T0-fatigue were significant predictors of lower T1-fatigue (P ≤ .001). Exploratory results revealed that women with breast cancer report a higher reduction of fatigue than women with other types of cancer (P = .016) after yoga therapy. Conclusion The findings support the assumption that yoga therapy is useful to reduce cancer-related fatigue, especially for the physical aspects of fatigue. Women with breast cancer seem to benefit most, and higher attendance rate results in greater reduction of fatigue. Trial registration German Clinical Trials Register DRKS00016034}, language = {en} } @article{HoffmannPieczykolanKochetal.2020, author = {Hoffmann, Mareike A. and Pieczykolan, Aleks and Koch, Iring and Huestegge, Lynn}, title = {Two sources of task prioritization: The interplay of effector-based and task order-based capacity allocation in the PRP paradigm}, series = {Attention, Perception, \& Psychophysics}, volume = {82}, journal = {Attention, Perception, \& Psychophysics}, issn = {1943-3921}, doi = {10.3758/s13414-020-02071-6}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-235365}, pages = {3402-3414}, year = {2020}, abstract = {When processing of two tasks overlaps, performance is known to suffer. In the well-established psychological refractory period (PRP) paradigm, tasks are triggered by two stimuli with a short temporal delay (stimulus onset asynchrony; SOA), thereby allowing control of the degree of task overlap. A decrease of the SOA reliably yields longer RTs of the task associated with the second stimulus (Task 2) while performance in the other task (Task 1) remains largely unaffected. This Task 2-specific SOA effect is usually interpreted in terms of central capacity limitations. Particularly, it has been assumed that response selection in Task 2 is delayed due to the allocation of less capacity until this process has been completed in Task 1. Recently, another important factor determining task prioritization has been proposed—namely, the particular effector systems associated with tasks. Here, we study both sources of task prioritization simultaneously by systematically combining three different effector systems (pairwise combinations of oculomotor, vocal, and manual responses) in the PRP paradigm. Specifically, we asked whether task order-based task prioritization (SOA effect) is modulated as a function of Task 2 effector system. The results indicate a modulation of SOA effects when the same (oculomotor) Task 1 is combined with a vocal versus a manual Task 2. This is incompatible with the assumption that SOA effects are solely determined by Task 1 response selection duration. Instead, they support the view that dual-task processing bottlenecks are resolved by establishing a capacity allocation scheme fed by multiple input factors, including attentional weights associated with particular effector systems.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Gromer2021, author = {Gromer, Daniel}, title = {Mechanisms Underlying Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy for Specific Phobias}, doi = {10.25972/OPUS-20733}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-207334}, school = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Virtual reality exposure therapy (VRET) is an effective cognitive-behavioral treatment for anxiety disorders that comprises systematic confrontations to virtual representations of feared stimuli and situations. However, not all patients respond to VRET, and some patients relapse after successful treatment. One explanation for this limitation of VRET is that its underlying mechanisms are not yet fully understood, leaving room for further improvement. On these grounds, the present thesis aimed to investigate two major research questions: first, it explored how virtual stimuli induce fear responses in height-fearful participants, and second, it tested if VRET outcome could be improved by incorporating techniques derived from two different theories of exposure therapy. To this end, five studies in virtual reality (VR) were conducted. Study 1 (N = 99) established a virtual environment for height exposure using a Computer Automatic Virtual Environment (CAVE) and investigated the effects of tactile wind simulation in VR. Height-fearful and non-fearful participants climbed a virtual outlook, and half of the participants received wind simulation. Results revealed that height-fearful participants showed stronger fear responses, on both a subjective and behavioral level, and that wind simulation increased subjective fear. However, adding tactile wind simulation in VR did not affect presence, the user's sense of 'being there' in the virtual environment. Replicating previous studies, fear and presence in VR were correlated, and the correlation was higher in height-fearful compared to non-fearful participants. Study 2 (N = 43) sought to corroborate the findings of the first study, using a different VR system for exposure (a head-mounted display) and measuring physiological fear responses. In addition, the effects of a visual cognitive distractor on fear in VR were investigated. Participants' fear responses were evident on both a subjective and physiological level---although much more pronounced on skin conductance than on heart rate---but the virtual distractor did not affect the strength of fear responses. In Study 3 (N = 50), the effects of trait height-fearfulness and height level on fear responses were investigated in more detail. Self-rated level of acrophobia and five different height levels in VR (1 m--20 m) were used as linear predictors of subjective and physiological indices of fear. Results showed that subjective fear and skin conductance responses were a function of both trait height-fearfulness and height level, whereas no clear effects were visible for heart rate. Study 4 (N = 64 + N = 49) aimed to advance the understanding of the relationship between presence and fear in VR. Previous research indicates a positive correlation between both measures, but possible causal mechanisms have not yet been identified. The study was the first to experimentally manipulate both presence (via the visual and auditive realism of the virtual environment) and fear (by presenting both height and control situations). Results indicated a causal effect of fear on presence, i.e., experiencing fear in a virtual environment led to a stronger sense of `being there' in the virtual environment. However, conversely, presence increased by higher scene realism did not affect fear responses. Nonetheless, presence seemed to have some effects on fear responding via another pathway, as participants whose presence levels were highest in the first safe context were also those who had the strongest fear responses in a later height situation. This finding indicated the importance of immersive user characteristics in the emergence of presence and fear in VR. The findings of the first four studies were integrated into a model of fear in VR, extending previous models and highlighting factors that lead to the emergence of both fear and presence in VR. Results of the studies showed that fear responses towards virtual heights were affected by trait height-fearfulness, phobic elements in the virtual environment, and, at least to some degree, on presence. Presence, on the other hand, was affected by experiencing fear in VR, immersion---the characteristics of the VR system---and immersive user characteristics. Of note, the manipulations of immersion used in the present thesis, visual and auditory realism of the virtual environment and tactile wind simulation, were not particularly effective in manipulating presence. Finally, Study 5 (N = 34) compared two different implementations of VRET for acrophobia to investigate mechanisms underlying its efficacy. The first implementation followed the Emotional Processing Theory, assuming that fear reduction during exposure is crucial for positive treatment outcome. In this condition, patients were asked to focus on their fear responses and on the decline of fear (habituation) during exposures. The second implementation was based on the inhibitory learning model, assuming that expectancy violation is the primary mechanism underlying exposure therapy efficacy. In this condition, patients were asked to focus on the non-occurrence of feared outcomes (e.g., 'I could fall off') during exposure. Based on predictions of the inhibitory learning model, the hypothesis for the study was that expectancy-violation-based exposure would outperform habituation-based exposure. After two treatment sessions in VR, both treatment conditions effectively reduced the patients' fear of heights, but the two conditions did not differ in their efficacy. The study replicated previous studies by showing that VRET is an effective treatment for acrophobia; however, contrary to the assumption, explicitly targeting the violation of threat expectancies did not improve outcome. This finding adds to other studies failing to provide clear evidence for expectancy violation as the primary mechanism underlying exposure therapy. Possible explanations for this finding and clinical implications are discussed, along with suggestions for further research.}, subject = {Virtuelle Realit{\"a}t}, language = {en} } @article{HerbortKrauseKunde2021, author = {Herbort, Oliver and Krause, Lisa-Marie and Kunde, Wilfried}, title = {Perspective determines the production and interpretation of pointing gestures}, series = {Psychonomic Bulletin \& Review}, volume = {28}, journal = {Psychonomic Bulletin \& Review}, issn = {1069-9384}, doi = {10.3758/s13423-020-01823-7}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-235293}, pages = {641-648}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Pointing is a ubiquitous means of communication. Nevertheless, observers systematically misinterpret the location indicated by pointers. We examined whether these misunderstandings result from the typically different viewpoints of pointers and observers. Participants either pointed themselves or interpreted points while assuming the pointer's or a typical observer perspective in a virtual reality environment. The perspective had a strong effect on the relationship between pointing gestures and referents, whereas the task had only a minor influence. This suggests that misunderstandings between pointers and observers primarily result from their typically different viewpoints.}, language = {en} } @article{RiechelmannGamerBoeckleretal.2021, author = {Riechelmann, Eva and Gamer, Matthias and B{\"o}ckler, Anna and Huestegge, Lynn}, title = {How ubiquitous is the direct-gaze advantage? Evidence for an averted-gaze advantage in a gaze-discrimination task}, series = {Attention, Perception, \& Psychophysics}, volume = {83}, journal = {Attention, Perception, \& Psychophysics}, issn = {1943-3921}, doi = {10.3758/s13414-020-02147-3}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-235268}, pages = {215-237}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Human eye gaze conveys an enormous amount of socially relevant information, and the rapid assessment of gaze direction is of particular relevance in order to adapt behavior accordingly. Specifically, previous research demonstrated evidence for an advantage of processing direct (vs. averted) gaze. The present study examined discrimination performance for gaze direction (direct vs. averted) under controlled presentation conditions: Using a backward-masking gaze-discrimination task, photographs of faces with direct and averted gaze were briefly presented, followed by a mask stimulus. Additionally, effects of facial context on gaze discrimination were assessed by either presenting gaze direction in isolation (i.e., by only showing the eye region) or in the context of an upright or inverted face. Across three experiments, we consistently observed a facial context effect with highest discrimination performance for faces presented in upright position, lower performance for inverted faces, and lowest performance for eyes presented in isolation. Additionally, averted gaze was generally responded to faster and with higher accuracy than direct gaze, indicating an averted-gaze advantage. Overall, the results suggest that direct gaze is not generally associated with processing advantages, thereby highlighting the important role of presentation conditions and task demands in gaze perception.}, language = {en} } @article{GesellNiklasSchmiedeleretal.2020, author = {Gesell, Nathalie and Niklas, Frank and Schmiedeler, Sandra and Segerer, Robin}, title = {Mindfulness and romantic relationship outcomes: the mediating role of conflict resolution styles and closeness}, series = {Mindfulness}, volume = {11}, journal = {Mindfulness}, issn = {1868-8527}, doi = {10.1007/s12671-020-01449-9}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-235080}, pages = {2314-2324}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Objectives The association of mindfulness and romantic relationship outcomes such as partnership quality and satisfaction is well-established; however, the mechanisms of action are not yet clear. The current study tested conflict resolution styles and closeness as possible mediating factors. We hypothesized that trait mindfulness would increase the use of constructive conflict resolution styles (positive problem solving), decrease the use of destructive styles (conflict engagement, withdrawal, and compliance), and promote feelings of closeness between partners, which in turn would predict positive relationship outcomes (namely partnership quality, partnership satisfaction, and sexual satisfaction). Methods A total of 209 individuals (86\% German, 76\% female, mean age = 32 years) living in a relationship (31\% married) participated in an online questionnaire. Results Mediation analyses revealed that positive problem solving mediated the association between mindfulness and partnership quality with b = .09 (95\% CI = .03-.17), mindfulness and partnership satisfaction with b = .07 (95\% CI = .02-.13), and mindfulness and sexual satisfaction with b = .04 (95\% CI = .00-.10). Furthermore, a mediating role of withdrawal and closeness was shown for individual relationship outcomes. Conclusions Findings suggest that more positive problem solving, less withdrawal, and more closeness are mechanisms by which mindfulness is associated with positive relationship outcomes. The results of our study thus broaden our understanding of the processes that underlie fulfilling romantic relationships and, in turn, underline the positive effects of mindfulness.}, language = {en} } @article{WertgenRichter2020, author = {Wertgen, Andreas G. and Richter, Tobias}, title = {Source credibility modulates the validation of implausible information}, series = {Memory \& Cognition}, volume = {48}, journal = {Memory \& Cognition}, issn = {0090-502X}, doi = {10.3758/s13421-020-01067-9}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-234825}, pages = {1359-1375}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Validation of text information as a general mechanism for detecting inconsistent or false information is an integral part of text comprehension. This study examined how the credibility of the information source affects validation processes. Two experiments investigated combined effects of source credibility and plausibility of information during validation with explicit (ratings) and implicit (reading times) measurements. Participants read short stories with a high-credible versus low-credible person that stated a consistent or inconsistent assertion with general world knowledge. Ratings of plausibility and ratings of source credibility were lower when a credible source stated a world-knowledge inconsistent assertion compared with a low-credible source. Reading times on target sentences and on spillover sentences were slower when a credible source stated an assertion inconsistent with world knowledge compared with a low-credible source, suggesting that source information modulated the validation of implausible information. These results show that source credibility modulates validation and suggest a bidirectional relationship of perceived plausibility and source credibility in the reading process.}, language = {en} } @article{LiesnerKirschPfisteretal.2020, author = {Liesner, Marvin and Kirsch, Wladimir and Pfister, Roland and Kunde, Wilfried}, title = {Spatial action-effect binding depends on type of action-effect transformation}, series = {Attention, Perception, \& Psychophysics}, volume = {82}, journal = {Attention, Perception, \& Psychophysics}, issn = {1943-3921}, doi = {10.3758/s13414-020-02013-2}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-232781}, pages = {2531-2543}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Spatial action-effect binding denotes the mutual attraction between the perceived position of an effector (e.g., one's own hand) and a distal object that is controlled by this effector. Such spatial binding can be construed as an implicit measure of object ownership, thus the belonging of a controlled object to the own body. The current study investigated how different transformations of hand movements (body-internal action component) into movements of a visual object (body-external action component) affect spatial action-effect binding, and thus implicit object ownership. In brief, participants had to bring a cursor on the computer screen into a predefined target position by moving their occluded hand on a tablet and had to estimate their final hand position. In Experiment 1, we found a significantly lower drift of the proprioceptive position of the hand towards the visual object when hand movements were transformed into laterally inverted cursor movements, rather than cursor movements in the same direction. Experiment 2 showed that this reduction reflected an elimination of spatial action-effect binding in the inverted condition. The results are discussed with respect to the prerequisites for an experience of ownership over artificial, noncorporeal objects. Our results show that predictability of an object movement alone is not a sufficient condition for ownership because, depending on the type of transformation, integration of the effector and a distal object can be fully abolished even under conditions of full controllability.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Stegmann2021, author = {Stegmann, Yannik}, title = {Electrocortical mechanisms of sustained attention during the acquisition and interaction of conditioned fear and anxiety}, doi = {10.25972/OPUS-23770}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-237700}, school = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Adapting defensive behavior to the characteristics of a threatening situation is a fundamental function of the brain. Particularly, threat imminence plays a major role for the organization of defensive responses. Acute threat prompts phasic physiological responses, which are usually associated with an intense feeling of fear. In contrast, diffuse and potentially threatening situations elicit a sustained state of anxious apprehension. Detection of the threatening stimulus defines the key event in this framework, initiating the transition from potential to acute threat. Consequently, attention to threat is crucial for supporting defensive behavior. The functions of attention are finely tuned to the characteristics of a threatening situation. Potential threat is associated with hypervigilance, in order to facilitate threat detection. Once a threatening stimulus has been identified, attention is selectively focused on the source of danger. Even though the concepts of selective attention and hypervigilance to threat are well established, evidence for their neural correlates remain scarce. Therefore, a major goal of this thesis is to elucidate the neural correlates of selective attention to acute threat and hypervigilance during potential threat. A second aim of this thesis is to provide a mechanistic account for the interaction of fear and anxiety. While contemporary models view fear and anxiety as mutually exclusive, recent findings for the neural networks of fear and anxiety suggest potential interactions. In four studies, aversive cue conditioning was used to induce acute threat, while context conditioning served as a laboratory model of potential threat. To quantify neural correlates of selective attention and hypervigilance, steady-state visual evoked potentials (ssVEPs) were measured as an index of visuocortical responding. Study 1 compared visuocortical responses to acute and potential threat for high versus low trait-anxious individuals. All individuals demonstrated enhanced electrocortical responses to the central cue in the acute threat condition, suggesting evidence for the neural correlate of selective attention. However, only low anxious individuals revealed facilitated processing of the contexts in the potential threat condition, reflecting a neural correlate of hypervigilance. High anxious individuals did not discriminate among contexts. These findings contribute to the notion of aberrational processing of potential threat for high anxious individuals. Study 2 and 3 realized orthogonal combinations of cue and context conditioning to investigate potential interactions of fear and anxiety. In contrast to Study 1 and 2, Study 3 used verbal instructions to induce potentially threatening contexts. Besides ssVEPs, threat ratings and skin conductance responses (SCRs) were recorded as efferent indices of defensive responding. None of these studies found further evidence for the neural correlates of hypervigilance and selective attention. However, results for ratings and SCRs revealed additive effects of fear and anxiety, suggesting that fear and anxiety are not mutually exclusive, but interact linearly to organize and facilitate defensive behavior. Study 4 tested ssVEPs to more ecologically valid forms of context conditioning, using flickering video stimuli of virtual offices to establish context representations. Contrary to expectations, results revealed decreased visuocortical responses during sustained presentations of anxiety compared to neutral contexts. A disruption of ssVEP signals eventually suggests interferences by continuously changing video streams which are enhanced as a function of motivational relevance. In summary, this thesis provided evidence for the neural correlates of attention only for isolated forms of fear and anxiety, but not for their interaction. In contrast, an additive interaction model of fear and anxiety for measures of defensive responding offers a new perspective on the topography of defensive behavior.}, subject = {Furcht}, language = {en} } @article{CaoSteinbornKundeetal.2020, author = {Cao, Liyu and Steinborn, Michael and Kunde, Wilfried and Haendel, Barbara}, title = {Action force modulates action binding: evidence for a multisensory information integration explanation}, series = {Experimental Brain Research}, volume = {238}, journal = {Experimental Brain Research}, issn = {0014-4819}, doi = {10.1007/s00221-020-05861-4}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-232534}, pages = {2019-2029}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Action binding refers to the observation that the perceived time of an action (e.g., a keypress) is shifted towards the distal sensory feedback (usually a sound) triggered by that action. Surprisingly, the role of somatosensory feedback for this phe-nomenon has been largely ignored. We fill this gap by showing that the somatosensory feedback, indexed by keypress peak force, is functional in judging keypress time. Specifically, the strength of somatosensory feedback is positively correlated with reported keypress time when the keypress is not associated with an auditory feedback and negatively correlated when the keypress triggers an auditory feedback. The result is consistent with the view that the reported keypress time is shaped by sensory information from different modalities. Moreover, individual differences in action binding can be explained by a sensory information weighting between somatosensory and auditory feedback. At the group level, increasing the strength of somatosensory feedback can decrease action binding to a level not being detected statistically. Therefore, a multisensory information integration account (between somatosensory and auditory inputs) explains action binding at both a group level and an individual level.}, language = {en} } @article{MockeWellerFringsetal.2020, author = {Mocke, Viola and Weller, Lisa and Frings, Christian and Rothermund, Klaus and Kunde, Wilfried}, title = {Task relevance determines binding of effect features in action planning}, series = {Attention, Perception, \& Psychophysics}, volume = {82}, journal = {Attention, Perception, \& Psychophysics}, issn = {1943-3921}, doi = {10.3758/s13414-020-02123-x}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-231906}, pages = {3811-3831}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Action planning can be construed as the temporary binding of features of perceptual action effects. While previous research demonstrated binding for task-relevant, body-related effect features, the role of task-irrelevant or environment-related effect features in action planning is less clear. Here, we studied whether task-relevance or body-relatedness determines feature binding in action planning. Participants planned an action A, but before executing it initiated an intermediate action B. Each action relied on a body-related effect feature (index vs. middle finger movement) and an environment-related effect feature (cursor movement towards vs. away from a reference object). In Experiments 1 and 2, both effects were task-relevant. Performance in action B suffered from partial feature overlap with action A compared to full feature repetition or alternation, which is in line with binding of both features while planning action A. Importantly, this cost disappeared when all features were available but only body-related features were task-relevant (Experiment 3). When only the environment-related effect of action A was known in advance, action B benefitted when it aimed at the same (vs. a different) environment-related effect (Experiment 4). Consequently, the present results support the idea that task relevance determines whether binding of body-related and environment-related effect features takes place while the pre-activation of environment-related features without binding them primes feature-overlapping actions.}, language = {en} } @article{ShibanDiemerMuelleretal.2017, author = {Shiban, Youssef and Diemer, Julia and M{\"u}ller, Jana and Br{\"u}tting-Schick, Johanna and Pauli, Paul and M{\"u}hlberger, Andreas}, title = {Diaphragmatic breathing during virtual reality exposure therapy for aviophobia: functional coping strategy or avoidance behavior? A pilot study}, series = {BMC Psychiatry}, volume = {17}, journal = {BMC Psychiatry}, doi = {10.1186/s12888-016-1181-2}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-181007}, pages = {10}, year = {2017}, abstract = {Background: Although there is solid evidence for the efficacy of in vivo and virtual reality (VR) exposure therapy for a specific phobia, there is a significant debate over whether techniques promoting distraction or relaxation have impairing or enhancing effects on treatment outcome. In the present pilot study, we investigated the effect of diaphragmatic breathing (DB) as a relaxation technique during VR exposure treatment. Method: Twenty-nine patients with aviophobia were randomly assigned to VR exposure treatment either with or without diaphragmatic breathing (six cycles per minute). Subjective fear ratings, heart rate and skin conductance were assessed as indicators of fear during both the exposure and the test session one week later. Results: The group that experienced VR exposure combined with diaphragmatic breathing showed a higher tendency to effectively overcome the fear of flying. Psychophysiological measures of fear decreased and self-efficacy increased in both groups with no significant difference between the groups. Conclusions: Our findings indicate that diaphragmatic breathing during VR exposure does not interfere with the treatment outcome and may even enhance treatment effects of VR exposure therapy for aviophobic patients.}, language = {en} } @article{Ingerslev2020, author = {Ingerslev, Line Ryberg}, title = {Inhibited Intentionality: On Possible Self-Understanding in Cases of Weak Agency}, series = {Frontiers in Psychology}, volume = {11}, journal = {Frontiers in Psychology}, issn = {1664-1078}, doi = {10.3389/fpsyg.2020.558709}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-212950}, year = {2020}, abstract = {The paper addresses the question of how to approach consciousness in unreflective actions. Unreflective actions differ from reflective, conscious actions in that the intentional description under which the agent knows what she is doing is not available or present to the agent at the moment of acting. Yet, unreflective actions belong to the field in which an agent experiences herself as capable of acting. Some unreflective actions, however, narrow this field and can be characterized by intentionality being inhibited. By studying inhibited intentionality in unreflective actions, the aim of the paper is to show how weaker forms of action urge us to expand our overall understanding of action. If we expand the field of actions such that it encompasses also some of the involuntary aspects of action, we are able to understand how unreflective actions can remain actions and do not fall under the scope of automatic behavior. With the notion of weak agency, the paper thus addresses one aspect of unreflective action, namely, "inhibited intentionality" in which an agent feels a diminished sense of authorship in relation to her possibility for self-understanding. The notion of weak agency clarifies how agency itself remains intact but can involve a process of appropriation of one's actions as one's own. With a diachronic account of consciousness in unreflective action, the paper accounts for possible self-understanding in cases where none seems available at the moment of action.}, language = {en} } @article{LiesnerKunde2020, author = {Liesner, Marvin and Kunde, Wilfried}, title = {Suppression of mutually incompatible proprioceptive and visual action effects in tool use}, series = {PLoS One}, volume = {15}, journal = {PLoS One}, number = {11}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0242327}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-231250}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Movements of a tool typically diverge from the movements of the hand manipulating that tool, such as when operating a pivotal lever where tool and hand move in opposite directions. Previous studies suggest that humans are often unaware of the position or movements of their effective body part (mostly the hand) in such situations. It has been suggested that this might be due to a "haptic neglect" of bodily sensations to decrease the interference of representations of body and tool movements. However, in principle this interference could also be decreased by neglecting sensations regarding the tool and focusing instead on body movements. While in most tool use situations the tool-related action effects are task-relevant and thus suppression of body-related rather than tool-related sensations is more beneficial for successful goal achievement, we manipulated this task-relevance in a controlled experiment. The results showed that visual, tool-related effect representations can be suppressed just as proprioceptive, body-related ones in situations where effect representations interfere, given that task-relevance of body-related effects is increased relative to tool-related ones.}, language = {en} } @article{SuchotzkiMayGamer2020, author = {Suchotzki, Kristina and May, Heidi and Gamer, Matthias}, title = {No effect of moderate alcohol intake on the detection of concealed identity information in the laboratory}, series = {Scientific Reports}, volume = {10}, journal = {Scientific Reports}, doi = {10.1038/s41598-020-76811-x}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-231208}, year = {2020}, abstract = {The Concealed Information Test (CIT) enables the detection of certain (e.g., crime-relevant or personal) information, even if participants aim to conceal their knowledge. The current preregistered study investigated whether previously observed impairing effects of alcohol intoxication on participants' performance in a reaction time CIT (RT CIT) field study also translate to a laboratory environment. In contrast to the previous study of Suchotzki and Gamer (Sci Rep 8:7825, 2018) in which alcohol consumption was voluntary and self-administered, the current study used a randomized assignment of participants to either an alcohol group (n=88; receiving a drink with 3 cl alcohol) or a sober control group (n=89; receiving a drink with just some alcohol drops to hide group assignment). After drink administration, participants completed an RT CIT, in which they were instructed to hide knowledge of their own identity. Blood alcohol concentration (BAC) was estimated via breath alcohol ratio. In contrast to the previous field study, results revealed no differences in CIT-performance between intoxicated and sober participants. Aside from questioning the robustness of the result of the previous field study, our results also point to a number of interesting theoretical explanations for the discrepancy between both results, which are elaborated in the discussion.}, language = {en} } @article{SeitzLenhartRuebsam2020, author = {Seitz, Maximilian and Lenhart, Jan and R{\"u}bsam, Nina}, title = {The effects of gendered information in stories on preschool children's development of gender stereotypes}, series = {British Journal of Developmental Psychology}, volume = {38}, journal = {British Journal of Developmental Psychology}, number = {3}, doi = {10.1111/bjdp.12323}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-214622}, pages = {363 -- 390}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Social-cognitive theory posits that children learn gender stereotypes through gendered information. The present study examined whether children learn new gender stereotypes from stories when unknown words are linked to a gendered protagonist or context information. In Experiment 1, 40 3- to 6-year-old preschoolers were read stories with either a gendered protagonist embedded within a non-gendered context, or a non-gendered protagonist embedded within a gendered context. In Experiment 2, the same sample of children were read stories with the protagonist and the context displaying congruent or incongruent gender information. Each story featured an unknown activity linked with the stereotypical content. Both experiments indicate that the children rated the activity according to both the gender of the context and of the protagonist; however, the effect of the latter was stronger. In addition, children showed higher interest in the unknown activity if the protagonist's gender matched their own sex. Thus, gender information in stories influences how children perceive unknown words.}, language = {en} } @article{DuekingTaflerWallmannSperlichetal.2020, author = {D{\"u}king, Peter and Tafler, Marie and Wallmann-Sperlich, Birgit and Sperlich, Billy and Kleih, Sonja}, title = {Behavior Change Techniques in Wrist-Worn Wearables to Promote Physical Activity: Content Analysis}, series = {JMIR Mhealth and Uhealth}, volume = {8}, journal = {JMIR Mhealth and Uhealth}, number = {11}, doi = {10.2196/20820}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-230556}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Background: Decreasing levels of physical activity (PA) increase the incidences of noncommunicable diseases, obesity, and mortality. To counteract these developments, interventions aiming to increase PA are urgently needed. Mobile health (mHealth) solutions such as wearable sensors (wearables) may assist with an improvement in PA. Objective: The aim of this study is to examine which behavior change techniques (BCTs) are incorporated in currently available commercial high-end wearables that target users' PA behavior. Methods: The BCTs incorporated in 5 different high-end wearables (Apple Watch Series 3, Garmin V{\´i}voactive 3, Fitbit Versa, Xiaomi Amazfit Stratos 2, and Polar M600) were assessed by 2 researchers using the BCT Taxonomy version 1 (BCTTv1). Effectiveness of the incorporated BCTs in promoting PA behavior was assessed by a content analysis of the existing literature. Results: The most common BCTs were goal setting (behavior), action planning, review behavior goal(s), discrepancy between current behavior and goal, feedback on behavior, self-monitoring of behavior, and biofeedback. Fitbit Versa, Garmin V{\´i}voactive 3, Apple Watch Series 3, Polar M600, and Xiaomi Amazfit Stratos 2 incorporated 17, 16, 12, 11, and 11 BCTs, respectively, which are proven to effectively promote PA. Conclusions: Wearables employ different numbers and combinations of BCTs, which might impact their effectiveness in improving PA. To promote PA by employing wearables, we encourage researchers to develop a taxonomy specifically designed to assess BCTs incorporated in wearables. We also encourage manufacturers to customize BCTs based on the targeted populations.}, language = {en} } @article{RodriguesLiesnerReutteretal.2020, author = {Rodrigues, Johannes and Liesner, Marvin and Reutter, Mario and Mussel, Patrick and Hewig, Johannes}, title = {It's costly punishment, not altruistic: Low midfrontal theta and state anger predict punishment}, series = {Psychophysiology}, volume = {57}, journal = {Psychophysiology}, number = {8}, doi = {10.1111/psyp.13557}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-214696}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Punishment in economic games has been interpreted as "altruistic." However, it was shown that punishment is related to trait anger instead of trait altruism in a third-party dictator game if compensation is also available. Here, we investigated the influence of state anger on punishment and compensation in the third-party dictator game. Therefore, we used movie sequences for emotional priming, including the target states anger, happy, and neutral. We measured the Feedback-Related Negativity (FRN) and midfrontal theta band activation, to investigate an electro-cortical correlate of the processing of fair and unfair offers. Also, we assessed single-trial FRN and midfrontal theta band activation as a predictor for punishment and compensation. We found that punishment was linked to state anger. Midfrontal theta band activation, which has previously been linked to altruistic acts and cognitive control, predicted less punishment. Additionally, trait anger led to enhanced FRN for unfair offers. This led to the interpretation that the FRN depicts the evaluation of fairness, while midfrontal theta band activation captures an aspect of cognitive control and altruistic motivation. We conclude that we need to redefine "altruistic punishment" into "costly punishment," as no direct link of altruism and punishment is given. Additionally, midfrontal theta band activation complements the FRN and offers additional insights into complex responses and decision processes, especially as a single trial predictor. }, language = {en} } @article{EderMitschkeGollwitzer2020, author = {Eder, Andreas B. and Mitschke, Vanessa and Gollwitzer, Mario}, title = {What stops revenge taking? Effects of observed emotional reactions on revenge seeking}, series = {Aggressive Behavior}, volume = {46}, journal = {Aggressive Behavior}, number = {4}, doi = {10.1002/ab.21890}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-214686}, pages = {305 -- 316}, year = {2020}, abstract = {What reaction stops revenge taking? Four experiments (total N = 191) examined this question where the victim of an interpersonal transgression could observe the offender's reaction (anger, sadness, pain, or calm) to a retributive noise punishment. We compared the punishment intensity selected by the participant before and after seeing the offender's reaction. Seeing the opponent in pain reduced subsequent punishment most strongly, while displays of sadness and verbal indications of suffering had no appeasing effect. Expression of anger about a retributive punishment did not increase revenge seeking relative to a calm reaction, even when the anger response was disambiguated as being angry with the punisher. It is concluded that the expression of pain is the most effective emotional display for the reduction of retaliatory aggression. The findings are discussed in light of recent research on reactive aggression and retributive justice.}, language = {en} } @article{CaoChenHaendel2020, author = {Cao, Liyu and Chen, Xinyu and Haendel, Barbara F.}, title = {Overground Walking Decreases Alpha Activity and Entrains Eye Movements in Humans}, series = {Frontiers in Human Neuroscience}, volume = {14}, journal = {Frontiers in Human Neuroscience}, issn = {1662-5161}, doi = {10.3389/fnhum.2020.561755}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-219872}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Experiments in animal models have shown that running increases neuronal activity in early visual areas in light as well as in darkness. This suggests that visual processing is influenced by locomotion independent of visual input. Combining mobile electroencephalography, motion- and eye-tracking, we investigated the influence of overground free walking on cortical alpha activity (~10 Hz) and eye movements in healthy humans. Alpha activity has been considered a valuable marker of inhibition of sensory processing and shown to negatively correlate with neuronal firing rates. We found that walking led to a decrease in alpha activity over occipital cortex compared to standing. This decrease was present during walking in darkness as well as during light. Importantly, eye movements could not explain the change in alpha activity. Nevertheless, we found that walking and eye related movements were linked. While the blink rate increased with increasing walking speed independent of light or darkness, saccade rate was only significantly linked to walking speed in the light. Pupil size, on the other hand, was larger during darkness than during light, but only showed a modulation by walking in darkness. Analyzing the effect of walking with respect to the stride cycle, we further found that blinks and saccades preferentially occurred during the double support phase of walking. Alpha power, as shown previously, was lower during the swing phase than during the double support phase. We however could exclude the possibility that the alpha modulation was introduced by a walking movement induced change in electrode impedance. Overall, our work indicates that the human visual system is influenced by the current locomotion state of the body. This influence affects eye movement pattern as well as neuronal activity in sensory areas and might form part of an implicit strategy to optimally extract sensory information during locomotion.}, language = {en} } @article{BahnikStrack2016, author = {Bahn{\´i}k, Štěp{\´a}n and Strack, Fritz}, title = {Overlap of accessible information undermines the anchoring effect}, series = {Judgment and Decision Making}, volume = {11}, journal = {Judgment and Decision Making}, number = {1}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-169287}, pages = {92-98}, year = {2016}, abstract = {According to the Selective Accessibility Model of anchoring, the comparison question in the standard anchoring paradigm activates information that is congruent with an anchor. As a consequence, this information will be more likely to become the basis for the absolute judgment which will therefore be assimilated toward the anchor. However, if the activated information overlaps with information that is elicited by the absolute judgment itself, the preceding comparative judgment should not exert an incremental effect and should fail to result in an anchoring effect. The present studies find this result when the comparative judgment refers to a general category and the absolute judgment refers to a subset of the general category that was activated by the anchor value. For example, participants comparing the average annual temperature in New York City to a high 102 °F judged the average winter, but not summer temperature to be higher than participants making no comparison. On the other hand, participants comparing the annual temperature to a low -4 °F judged the average summer, but not winter temperature to be lower than control participants. This pattern of results was shown also in another content domain. It is consistent with the Selective Accessibility Model but difficult to reconcile with other main explanations of the anchoring effect.}, language = {en} } @article{WeissRodriguesPaeleckeetal.2020, author = {Weiß, Martin and Rodrigues, Johannes and Paelecke, Marko and Hewig, Johannes}, title = {We, Them, and It: Dictator Game Offers Depend on Hierarchical Social Status, Artificial Intelligence, and Social Dominance}, series = {Frontiers in Psychology}, volume = {11}, journal = {Frontiers in Psychology}, issn = {1664-1078}, doi = {10.3389/fpsyg.2020.541756}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-218168}, year = {2020}, abstract = {We investigated the influence of social status on behavior in a modified dictator game (DG). Since the DG contains an inherent dominance gradient, we examined the relationship between dictator decisions and recipient status, which was operationalized by three social identities and an artificial intelligence (AI). Additionally, we examined the predictive value of social dominance orientation (SDO) on the behavior of dictators toward the different social and non-social hierarchical recipients. A multilevel model analysis showed that recipients with the same status as the dictator benefited the most and the artificial intelligence the least. Furthermore, SDO, regardless of social status, predicted behavior toward recipients in such a way that higher dominance was associated with lower dictator offers. In summary, participants treated other persons of higher and lower status equally, those of equal status better and, above all, an algorithm worst. The large proportion of female participants and the limited variance of SDO should be taken into account with regard to the results of individual differences in SDO.}, language = {en} } @article{HaspertWieserPaulietal.2020, author = {Haspert, Valentina and Wieser, Matthias J. and Pauli, Paul and Reicherts, Philipp}, title = {Acceptance-Based Emotion Regulation Reduces Subjective and Physiological Pain Responses}, series = {Frontiers in Psychology}, volume = {11}, journal = {Frontiers in Psychology}, issn = {1664-1078}, doi = {10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01514}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-207220}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Acceptance-based regulation of pain, which focuses on the allowing of pain and pain related thoughts and emotions, was found to modulate pain. However, results so far are inconsistent regarding different pain modalities and indices. Moreover, studies so far often lack a suitable control condition, focus on behavioral pain measures rather than physiological correlates, and often use between-subject designs, which potentially impede the evaluation of the effectiveness of the strategies. Therefore, we investigated whether acceptance-based strategies can reduce subjective and physiological markers of acute pain in comparison to a control condition in a within-subject design. To this end, participants (N = 30) completed 24 trials comprising 10 s of heat pain stimulation. Each trial started with a cue instructing participants to welcome and experience pain (acceptance trials) or to react to the pain as it is without employing any regulation strategies (control trials). In addition to pain intensity and unpleasantness ratings, heart rate (HR) and skin conductance (SC) were recorded. Results showed significantly decreased pain intensity and unpleasantness ratings for acceptance compared to control trials. Additionally, HR was significantly lower during acceptance compared to control trials, whereas SC revealed no significant differences. These results demonstrate the effectiveness of acceptance-based strategies in reducing subjective and physiological pain responses relative to a control condition, even after short training. Therefore, the systematic investigation of acceptance in different pain modalities in healthy and chronic pain patients is warranted.}, language = {en} } @article{EidelKuebler2020, author = {Eidel, Matthias and K{\"u}bler, Andrea}, title = {Wheelchair Control in a Virtual Environment by Healthy Participants Using a P300-BCI Based on Tactile Stimulation: Training Effects and Usability}, series = {Frontiers in Human Neuroscience}, volume = {14}, journal = {Frontiers in Human Neuroscience}, issn = {1662-5161}, doi = {10.3389/fnhum.2020.00265}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-207775}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Tactile stimulation is less frequently used than visual for brain-computer interface (BCI) control, partly because of limitations in speed and accuracy. Non-visual BCI paradigms, however, may be required for patients who struggle with vision dependent BCIs because of a loss of gaze control. With the present study, we attempted to replicate earlier results by Herweg et al. (2016), with several minor adjustments and a focus on training effects and usability. We invited 16 healthy participants and trained them with a 4-class tactile P300-based BCI in five sessions. Their main task was to navigate a virtual wheelchair through a 3D apartment using the BCI. We found significant training effects on information transfer rate (ITR), which increased from a mean of 3.10-9.50 bits/min. Further, both online and offline accuracies significantly increased with training from 65\% to 86\% and 70\% to 95\%, respectively. We found only a descriptive increase of P300 amplitudes at Fz and Cz with training. Furthermore, we report subjective data from questionnaires, which indicated a relatively high workload and moderate to high satisfaction. Although our participants have not achieved the same high performance as in the Herweg et al. (2016) study, we provide evidence for training effects on performance with a tactile BCI and confirm the feasibility of the paradigm.}, language = {en} } @article{PoetzschGermanakosHuestegge2020, author = {Poetzsch, Tristan and Germanakos, Panagiotis and Huestegge, Lynn}, title = {Toward a Taxonomy for Adaptive Data Visualization in Analytics Applications}, series = {Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence}, volume = {3}, journal = {Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence}, issn = {2624-8212}, doi = {10.3389/frai.2020.00009}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-202074}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Data analytics as a field is currently at a crucial point in its development, as a commoditization takes place in the context of increasing amounts of data, more user diversity, and automated analysis solutions, the latter potentially eliminating the need for expert analysts. A central hypothesis of the present paper is that data visualizations should be adapted to both the user and the context. This idea was initially addressed in Study 1, which demonstrated substantial interindividual variability among a group of experts when freely choosing an option to visualize data sets. To lay the theoretical groundwork for a systematic, taxonomic approach, a user model combining user traits, states, strategies, and actions was proposed and further evaluated empirically in Studies 2 and 3. The results implied that for adapting to user traits, statistical expertise is a relevant dimension that should be considered. Additionally, for adapting to user states different user intentions such as monitoring and analysis should be accounted for. These results were used to develop a taxonomy which adapts visualization recommendations to these (and other) factors. A preliminary attempt to validate the taxonomy in Study 4 tested its visualization recommendations with a group of experts. While the corresponding results were somewhat ambiguous overall, some aspects nevertheless supported the claim that a user-adaptive data visualization approach based on the principles outlined in the taxonomy can indeed be useful. While the present approach to user adaptivity is still in its infancy and should be extended (e.g., by testing more participants), the general approach appears to be very promising.}, language = {en} } @article{MavratzakisHerbertWalla2016, author = {Mavratzakis, Aimee and Herbert, Cornelia and Walla, Peter}, title = {Emotional facial expressions evoke faster orienting responses, but weaker emotional responses at neural and behavioural levels compared to scenes: a simultaneous EEG and facial EMG study}, series = {NeuroImage}, volume = {124}, journal = {NeuroImage}, number = {Part A}, doi = {10.1016/j.neuroimage.2015.09.065}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-191535}, pages = {931-946}, year = {2016}, abstract = {In the current study, electroencephalography (EEG) was recorded simultaneously with facial electromyography (fEMG) to determine whether emotional faces and emotional scenes are processed differently at the neural level. In addition, it was investigated whether these differences can be observed at the behavioural level via spontaneous facial muscle activity. Emotional content of the stimuli did not affect early P1 activity. Emotional faces elicited enhanced amplitudes of the face-sensitive N170 component, while its counterpart, the scene-related N100, was not sensitive to emotional content of scenes. At 220-280 ms, the early posterior negativity (EPN) was enhanced only slightly for fearful as compared to neutral or happy faces. However, its amplitudes were significantly enhanced during processing of scenes with positive content, particularly over the right hemisphere. Scenes of positive content also elicited enhanced spontaneous zygomatic activity from 500-750 ms onwards, while happy faces elicited no such changes. Contrastingly, both fearful faces and negative scenes elicited enhanced spontaneous corrugator activity at 500-750 ms after stimulus onset. However, relative to baseline EMG changes occurred earlier for faces (250 ms) than for scenes (500 ms) whereas for scenes activity changes were more pronounced over the whole viewing period. Taking into account all effects, the data suggests that emotional facial expressions evoke faster attentional orienting, but weaker affective neural activity and emotional behavioural responses compared to emotional scenes.}, language = {en} } @article{ReichertsGerdesPaulietal.2016, author = {Reicherts, Philipp and Gerdes, Antje B. M. and Pauli, Paul and Wieser, Matthias J.}, title = {Psychological placebo and nocebo effects on pain rely on expectation and previous experience}, series = {Journal of Pain}, volume = {17}, journal = {Journal of Pain}, number = {2}, doi = {10.1016/j.jpain.2015.10.010}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-190962}, pages = {203-214}, year = {2016}, abstract = {Expectation and previous experience are both well established key mediators of placebo and nocebo effects. However, the investigation of their respective contribution to placebo and nocebo responses is rather difficult because most placebo and nocebo manipulations are contaminated by pre-existing treatment expectancies resulting from a learning history of previous medical interventions. To circumvent any resemblance to classical treatments, a purely psychological placebonocebo manipulation was established, namely, the "visual stripe pattern induced modulation of pain." To this end, experience and expectation regarding the effects of different visual cues (stripe patterns) on pain were varied across 3 different groups, with either only placebo instruction (expectation), placebo conditioning (experience), or both (expectation + experience) applied. Only the combined manipulation (expectation + experience) revealed significant behavioral and physiological placebo nocebo effects on pain. Two subsequent experiments, which, in addition to placebo and nocebo cues, included a neutral control condition further showed that especially nocebo responses were more easily induced by this psychological placebo and nocebo manipulation. The results emphasize the great effect of psychological processes on placebo and nocebo effects. Particularly, nocebo effects should be addressed more thoroughly and carefully considered in clinical practice to prevent the accidental induction of side effects.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Schmidts2021, author = {Schmidts, Constantin}, title = {Affective regulation of cognitive conflict}, doi = {10.25972/OPUS-21989}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-219897}, school = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Kognitive Kontrolle beschreibt Prozesse die n{\"o}tig sind um zielgerichtetes Handeln im Angesicht von internen oder externen Widerst{\"a}nden zu erm{\"o}glichen. Wenn wir aus eigenen St{\"u}cken oder inspiriert durch unsere Umwelt Handlungen vorbereiten die unseren aktuellen Zielen entgegen stehen, kommt es zu Konflikten. Solche Konflikte k{\"o}nnen sich auf nachfolgendes Erleben und Verhalten auswirken. Aversive Konsequenzen von Konflikt k{\"o}nnten in einem Konflikt{\"u}berwachungsmodul registriert werden, welches anschließend Aufmerksamkeits{\"a}nderungen und Handlungstendenzen zur Reduzierung dieses negativen Affektes in Gang setzt. Wenn das der Fall w{\"a}re, k{\"o}nnten die vielfach beobachteten Verhaltensanpassungen an kognitiven Konflikt ein Ausdruck von Emotionsregulation sein. Ein theoretischer Eckpfeiler der gegenw{\"a}rtigen Forschung zur Emotionsregulation ist das Prozessmodell der Emotionsregulation, das aus den Regulationsstrategien Situationsauswahl, Situationsmodifikation, Aufmerksamkeitslenkung, kognitiven Ver{\"a}nderungen und Reaktionsmodulation besteht. Unter der Annahme, dass Konfliktanpassung und Affektregulation auf gemeinsamen Mechanismen fußen, habe ich aus dem Prozessmodell der Emotionsregulation Vorhersagen zur kognitiven Kontrolle abgeleitet und diese in elf Experimenten getestet (N = 509). Die Versuchsteilnehmer zeigten Situationsauswahl in Bezug auf Konflikte, allerdings nur dann, wenn sie ausdr{\"u}cklich auf Handlungs- und Ergebniskontingenzen hingewiesen wurden (Experimente 1 bis 3). Ich fand Anzeichen f{\"u}r einen Mechanismus, der der Situationsmodifikation {\"a}hnelt, aber keine Hinweise auf eine Beteiligung von Affekt (Experimente 4 bis 10). Eine {\"A}nderung der Konfliktbewertung hatte keinen Einfluss auf das Ausmaß der Konfliktadaptation (Experiment 11). Insgesamt gab es Hinweise auf eine explizite Aversivit{\"a}t kognitiver Konflikte, jedoch weniger auf implizite Aversivit{\"a}t, was darauf hindeutet, dass Konflikte vor allem dann Affektregulationsprozesse ausl{\"o}sen, wenn Menschen explizit Affektregulationsziele vor Augen haben.}, subject = {Affekt}, language = {en} } @article{KuhnScharfenortSchuemannetal.2016, author = {Kuhn, Manuel and Scharfenort, Robert and Sch{\"u}mann, Dirk and Schiele, Miriam A. and M{\"u}nsterk{\"o}tter, Anna L. and Deckert, J{\"u}rgen and Domschke, Katharina and Haaker, Jan and Kalisch, Raffael and Pauli, Paul and Reif, Andreas and Romanos, Marcel and Zwanzger, Peter and Lonsdorf, Tina B.}, title = {Mismatch or allostatic load? Timing of life adversity differentially shapes gray matter volume and anxious temperament}, series = {Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience}, volume = {11}, journal = {Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience}, number = {4}, doi = {10.1093/scan/nsv137}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-189645}, pages = {537-547}, year = {2016}, abstract = {Traditionally, adversity was defined as the accumulation of environmental events (allostatic load). Recently however, a mismatch between the early and the later (adult) environment (mismatch) has been hypothesized to be critical for disease development, a hypothesis that has not yet been tested explicitly in humans. We explored the impact of timing of life adversity (childhood and past year) on anxiety and depression levels (N = 833) and brain morphology (N = 129). Both remote (childhood) and proximal (recent) adversities were differentially mirrored in morphometric changes in areas critically involved in emotional processing (i.e. amygdala/hippocampus, dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, respectively). The effect of adversity on affect acted in an additive way with no evidence for interactions (mismatch). Structural equation modeling demonstrated a direct effect of adversity on morphometric estimates and anxiety/depression without evidence of brain morphology functioning as a mediator. Our results highlight that adversity manifests as pronounced changes in brain morphometric and affective temperament even though these seem to represent distinct mechanistic pathways. A major goal of future studies should be to define critical time periods for the impact of adversity and strategies for intervening to prevent or reverse the effects of adverse childhood life experiences.}, language = {en} } @article{KirschUllrichKunde2016, author = {Kirsch, Wladimir and Ullrich, Benjamin and Kunde, Wilfried}, title = {Are Effects of Action on Perception Real? Evidence from Transformed Movements}, series = {PLoS ONE}, volume = {11}, journal = {PLoS ONE}, number = {12}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0167993}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-178574}, year = {2016}, abstract = {It has been argued that several reported non-visual influences on perception cannot be truly perceptual. If they were, they should affect the perception of target objects and reference objects used to express perceptual judgments, and thus cancel each other out. This reasoning presumes that non-visual manipulations impact target objects and comparison objects equally. In the present study we show that equalizing a body-related manipulation between target objects and reference objects essentially abolishes the impact of that manipulation so as it should do when that manipulation actually altered perception. Moreover, the manipulation has an impact on judgements when applied to only the target object but not to the reference object, and that impact reverses when only applied to the reference object but not to the target object. A perceptual explanation predicts this reversal, whereas explanations in terms of post-perceptual response biases or demand effects do not. Altogether these results suggest that body-related influences on perception cannot as a whole be attributed to extra-perceptual factors.}, language = {en} } @article{GrevingRichter2018, author = {Greving, Sven and Richter, Tobias}, title = {Examining the testing effect in university teaching: retrievability and question format matter}, series = {Frontiers in Psychology}, volume = {9}, journal = {Frontiers in Psychology}, issn = {1664-1078}, doi = {10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02412}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-190802}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Review of learned material is crucial for the learning process. One approach that promises to increase the effectiveness of reviewing during learning is to answer questions about the learning content rather than restudying the material (testing effect). This effect is well established in lab experiments. However, existing research in educational contexts has often combined testing with additional didactical measures that hampers the interpretation of testing effects. We aimed to examine the testing effect in its pure form by implementing a minimal intervention design in a university lecture (N = 92). The last 10 min of each lecture session were used for reviewing the lecture content by either answering short-answer questions, multiple-choice questions, or reading summarizing statements about core lecture content. Three unannounced criterial tests measured the retention of learning content at different times (1, 12, and 23 weeks after the last lecture). A positive testing effect emerged for short-answer questions that targeted information that participants could retrieve from memory. This effect was independent of the time of test. The results indicated no testing effect for multiple-choice testing. These results suggest that short-answer testing but not multiple-choice testing may benefit learning in higher education contexts.}, language = {en} } @article{PfisterSchwarzJanczyketal.2013, author = {Pfister, Roland and Schwarz, Katharina A. and Janczyk, Markus and Dale, Rick and Freeman, Jonathan B.}, title = {Good things peak in pairs: a note on the bimodality coefficient}, series = {Frontiers in Psychology}, volume = {4}, journal = {Frontiers in Psychology}, issn = {1664-1078}, doi = {10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00700}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-190413}, year = {2013}, abstract = {A commentary on Assessing bimodality to detect the presence of a dual cognitive process by Freeman, J. B., and Dale, R. (2013). Behav. Res. Methods 45, 83-97. doi: 10.3758/s13428-012-0225-x}, language = {en} } @article{FoersterPfisterSchmidtsetal.2013, author = {Foerster, Anna and Pfister, Roland and Schmidts, Constantin and Dignath, David and Kunde, Wilfried}, title = {Honesty saves time (and justifications)}, series = {Frontiers in Psychology}, volume = {4}, journal = {Frontiers in Psychology}, issn = {1664-1078}, doi = {10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00473}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-190451}, year = {2013}, abstract = {A commentary on Honesty requires time (and lack of justifications) by Shalvi, S., Eldar, O., and Bereby-Meyer, Y. (2012). Psychol. Sci. 23, 1264-1270. doi: 10.1177/0956797612443835}, language = {en} } @article{MeuleVoegele2013, author = {Meule, Adrian and V{\"o}gele, Claus}, title = {The psychology of eating}, series = {Frontiers in Psychology}, volume = {4}, journal = {Frontiers in Psychology}, issn = {1664-1078}, doi = {10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00215}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-190460}, year = {2013}, abstract = {No abstract available.}, language = {en} } @article{Meule2013, author = {Meule, Adrian}, title = {Impulsivity and overeating: a closer look at the subscales of the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale}, series = {Frontiers in Psychology}, volume = {4}, journal = {Frontiers in Psychology}, issn = {1664-1078}, doi = {10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00177}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-190497}, year = {2013}, abstract = {No abstract available.}, language = {en} } @article{SchieleReinhardReifetal.2016, author = {Schiele, Miriam A. and Reinhard, Julia and Reif, Andreas and Domschke, Katharina and Romanos, Marcel and Deckert, J{\"u}rgen and Pauli, Paul}, title = {Developmental aspects of fear: Comparing the acquisition and generalization of conditioned fear in children and adults}, series = {Developmental Psychobiology}, volume = {58}, journal = {Developmental Psychobiology}, number = {4}, doi = {10.1002/dev.21393}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-189488}, pages = {471-481}, year = {2016}, abstract = {Most research on human fear conditioning and its generalization has focused on adults whereas only little is known about these processes in children. Direct comparisons between child and adult populations are needed to determine developmental risk markers of fear and anxiety. We compared 267 children and 285 adults in a differential fear conditioning paradigm and generalization test. Skin conductance responses (SCR) and ratings of valence and arousal were obtained to indicate fear learning. Both groups displayed robust and similar differential conditioning on subjective and physiological levels. However, children showed heightened fear generalization compared to adults as indexed by higher arousal ratings and SCR to the generalization stimuli. Results indicate overgeneralization of conditioned fear as a developmental correlate of fear learning. The developmental change from a shallow to a steeper generalization gradient is likely related to the maturation of brain structures that modulate efficient discrimination between danger and (ambiguous) safety cues.}, language = {en} } @article{LuleKueblerLudolph2019, author = {Lul{\´e}, Doroth{\´e}e and K{\"u}bler, Andrea and Ludolph, Albert C.}, title = {Ethical principles in patient-centered medical care to support quality of life in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis}, series = {Frontiers in Neurology}, volume = {10}, journal = {Frontiers in Neurology}, issn = {1664-2295}, doi = {10.3389/fneur.2019.00259}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-196239}, year = {2019}, abstract = {It is one of the primary goals of medical care to secure good quality of life (QoL) while prolonging survival. This is a major challenge in severe medical conditions with a prognosis such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Further, the definition of QoL and the question whether survival in this severe condition is compatible with a good QoL is a matter of subjective and culture-specific debate. Some people without neurodegenerative conditions believe that physical decline is incompatible with satisfactory QoL. Current data provide extensive evidence that psychosocial adaptation in ALS is possible, indicated by a satisfactory QoL. Thus, there is no fatalistic link of loss of QoL when physical health declines. There are intrinsic and extrinsic factors that have been shown to successfully facilitate and secure QoL in ALS which will be reviewed in the following article following the four ethical principles (1) Beneficence, (2) Non-maleficence, (3) Autonomy and (4) Justice, which are regarded as key elements of patient centered medical care according to Beauchamp and Childress. This is a JPND-funded work to summarize findings of the project NEEDSinALS (www.NEEDSinALS.com) which highlights subjective perspectives and preferences in medical decision making in ALS.}, language = {en} } @article{BollBartholomaeusPeteretal.2016, author = {Boll, Sabine and Bartholomaeus, Marie and Peter, Ulrike and Lupke, Ulrike and Gamer, Matthias}, title = {Attentional mechanisms of social perception are biased in social phobia}, series = {Journal of Anxiety Disorders}, volume = {40}, journal = {Journal of Anxiety Disorders}, doi = {10.1016/j.janxdis.2016.04.004}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-189046}, pages = {83-93}, year = {2016}, abstract = {Previous studies of social phobia have reported an increased vigilance to social threat cues but also an avoidance of socially relevant stimuli such as eye gaze. The primary aim of this study was to examine attentional mechanisms relevant for perceiving social cues by means of abnormalities in scanning of facial features in patients with social phobia. In two novel experimental paradigms, patients with social phobia and healthy controls matched on age, gender and education were compared regarding their gazing behavior towards facial cues. The first experiment was an emotion classification paradigm which allowed for differentiating reflexive attentional shifts from sustained attention towards diagnostically relevant facial features. In the second experiment, attentional orienting by gaze direction was assessed in a gaze-cueing paradigm in which non-predictive gaze cues shifted attention towards or away from subsequently presented targets. We found that patients as compared to controls reflexively oriented their attention more frequently towards the eyes of emotional faces in the emotion classification paradigm. This initial hypervigilance for the eye region was observed at very early attentional stages when faces were presented for 150 ms, and persisted when facial stimuli were shown for 3 s. Moreover, a delayed attentional orienting into the direction of eye gaze was observed in individuals with social phobia suggesting a differential time course of eye gaze processing in patients and controls. Our findings suggest that basic mechanisms of early attentional exploration of social cues are biased in social phobia and might contribute to the development and maintenance of the disorder.}, language = {en} } @article{SchererEllgringDieckmannetal.2019, author = {Scherer, Klaus R. and Ellgring, Heiner and Dieckmann, Anja and Unfried, Matthias and Mortillaro, Marcello}, title = {Dynamic Facial Expression of Emotion and Observer Inference}, series = {Frontiers in Psychology}, volume = {10}, journal = {Frontiers in Psychology}, number = {508}, issn = {1664-1078}, doi = {10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00508}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-195853}, year = {2019}, abstract = {Research on facial emotion expression has mostly focused on emotion recognition, assuming that a small number of discrete emotions is elicited and expressed via prototypical facial muscle configurations as captured in still photographs. These are expected to be recognized by observers, presumably via template matching. In contrast, appraisal theories of emotion propose a more dynamic approach, suggesting that specific elements of facial expressions are directly produced by the result of certain appraisals and predicting the facial patterns to be expected for certain appraisal configurations. This approach has recently been extended to emotion perception, claiming that observers first infer individual appraisals and only then make categorical emotion judgments based on the estimated appraisal patterns, using inference rules. Here, we report two related studies to empirically investigate the facial action unit configurations that are used by actors to convey specific emotions in short affect bursts and to examine to what extent observers can infer a person's emotions from the predicted facial expression configurations. The results show that (1) professional actors use many of the predicted facial action unit patterns to enact systematically specified appraisal outcomes in a realistic scenario setting, and (2) na{\"i}ve observers infer the respective emotions based on highly similar facial movement configurations with a degree of accuracy comparable to earlier research findings. Based on estimates of underlying appraisal criteria for the different emotions we conclude that the patterns of facial action units identified in this research correspond largely to prior predictions and encourage further research on appraisal-driven expression and inference.}, language = {en} } @article{GromerMadeiraGastetal.2018, author = {Gromer, Daniel and Madeira, Oct{\´a}via and Gast, Philipp and Nehfischer, Markus and Jost, Michael and M{\"u}ller, Mathias and M{\"u}hlberger, Andreas and Pauli, Paul}, title = {Height Simulation in a Virtual Reality CAVE System: Validity of Fear Responses and Effects of an Immersion Manipulation}, series = {Frontiers in Human Neuroscience}, volume = {12}, journal = {Frontiers in Human Neuroscience}, number = {372}, issn = {1662-5161}, doi = {10.3389/fnhum.2018.00372}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-196113}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Acrophobia is characterized by intense fear in height situations. Virtual reality (VR) can be used to trigger such phobic fear, and VR exposure therapy (VRET) has proven effective for treatment of phobias, although it remains important to further elucidate factors that modulate and mediate the fear responses triggered in VR. The present study assessed verbal and behavioral fear responses triggered by a height simulation in a 5-sided cave automatic virtual environment (CAVE) with visual and acoustic simulation and further investigated how fear responses are modulated by immersion, i.e., an additional wind simulation, and presence, i.e., the feeling to be present in the VE. Results revealed a high validity for the CAVE and VE in provoking height related self-reported fear and avoidance behavior in accordance with a trait measure of acrophobic fear. Increasing immersion significantly increased fear responses in high height anxious (HHA) participants, but did not affect presence. Nevertheless, presence was found to be an important predictor of fear responses. We conclude that a CAVE system can be used to elicit valid fear responses, which might be further enhanced by immersion manipulations independent from presence. These results may help to improve VRET efficacy and its transfer to real situations.}, language = {en} } @article{VenturaBortWirknerGenheimeretal.2018, author = {Ventura-Bort, Carlos and Wirkner, Janine and Genheimer, Hannah and Wendt, Julia and Hamm, Alfons O. and Weymar, Mathias}, title = {Effects of Transcutaneous Vagus Nerve Stimulation (tVNS) on the P300 and Alpha-Amylase Level: A Pilot Study}, series = {Frontiers in Human Neuroscience}, volume = {12}, journal = {Frontiers in Human Neuroscience}, number = {202}, issn = {1662-5161}, doi = {10.3389/fnhum.2018.00202}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-196129}, year = {2018}, abstract = {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.}, language = {en} } @article{GrevingRichter2019, author = {Greving, Carla E. and Richter, Tobias}, title = {Distributed Learning in the Classroom: Effects of Rereading Schedules Depend on Time of Test}, series = {Frontiers in Psychology}, volume = {9}, journal = {Frontiers in Psychology}, number = {2517}, issn = {1664-1078}, doi = {10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02517}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-190783}, year = {2019}, abstract = {Research with adults in laboratory settings has shown that distributed rereading is a beneficial learning strategy but its effects depend on time of test. When learning outcomes are measured immediately after rereading, distributed rereading yields no benefits or even detrimental effects on learning, but the beneficial effects emerge two days later. In a preregistered experiment, the effects of distributed rereading were investigated in a classroom setting with school students. Seventh-graders (N = 191) reread a text either immediately or after 1 week. Learning outcomes were measured after 4 min or 1 week. Participants in the distributed rereading condition reread the text more slowly, predicted their learning success to be lower, and reported a lower on-task focus. At the shorter retention interval, massed rereading outperformed distributed rereading in terms of learning outcomes. Contrary to students in the massed condition, students in the distributed condition showed no forgetting from the short to the long retention interval. As a result, they performed equally well as the students in the massed condition at the longer retention interval. Our results indicate that distributed rereading makes learning more demanding and difficult and leads to higher effort during rereading. Its effects on learning depend on time of test, but no beneficial effects were found, not even at the delayed test.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{LangeneSoehnchen2020, author = {Lange [n{\´e} S{\"o}hnchen], Bastian}, title = {Influence of social anxiety on social attention and corresponding changes in action patterns}, doi = {10.25972/OPUS-18900}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-189001}, school = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg}, year = {2020}, abstract = {People who suffer Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) are under substantial personal distress and endure impaired normal functioning in at least some parts of everyday life. Next, to the personal suffering, there are also the immense public health costs to consider, as SAD is the most common anxiety disorder and thereby one of the major psychiatric disorders in general. Over the last years, fundamental research found cognitive factors as essential components in the development and maintenance of social fears. Following leading cognitive models, avoidance behaviors are thought to be an important factor in maintaining the developed social anxieties. Therefore, this thesis aims to deepen the knowledge of avoidance behaviors exhibited in social anxiety, which allows to get a better understanding of how SAD is maintained. To reach this goal three studies were conducted, each using a different research approach. In the first study cutting-edge Virtual Reality (VR) equipment was used to immerse participants in a virtual environment. In this virtual setting, High Socially Anxious (HSA) individuals and matched controls had to execute a social Approach-Avoidance Task (AAT). In the task, participants had to pass a virtual person displaying neutral or angry facial expressions. By using a highly immersive VR apparatus, the first described study took the initial step in establishing a new VR task for the implicit research on social approach-avoidance behaviors. By moving freely through a VR environment, participants experienced near real-life social situations. By tracking body and head movements, physical and attentional approach-avoidance processes were studied. The second study looked at differences in attention shifts initiated by gaze-cues of neutral or emotional faces. Comparing HSA and controls, enabled a closer look at attention re-allocation with special focus on social stimuli. Further, context conditioning was used to compare task performance in a safe and in a threatening environment. Next to behavioral performance, the study also investigated neural activity using Electroencephalography (EEG) primarily looking at the N2pc component. In the third study, eye movements of HSA and Low Socially Anxious (LSA) were analyzed using an eye-tracking apparatus while participants executed a computer task. The participants' tasks consisted of the detection of either social or non-social stimuli in complex visual settings. The study intended to compare attention shifts towards social components between these two tasks and how high levels of social anxiety influence them. In other words, the measurements of eye movements enabled the investigation to what extent social attention is task-dependent and how it is influenced by social anxiety. With the three described studies, three different approaches were used to get an in-depth understanding of what avoidance behaviors in SAD are and to which extent they are exhibited. Overall, the results showed that HSA individuals exhibited exaggerated physical and attentional avoidance behavior. Furthermore, the results highlighted that the task profoundly influences attention allocation. Finally, all evidence indicates that avoidance behaviors in SAD are exceedingly complex. They are not merely based on the fear of a particular stimulus, but rather involve highly compound cognitive processes, which surpass the simple avoidance of threatening stimuli. To conclude, it is essential that further research is conducted with special focus on SAD, its maintaining factors, and the influence of the chosen research task and method.}, subject = {Sozialangst}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Ahrens2020, author = {Ahrens, Lea Marlen}, title = {The Role of Attentional Control and Fear Acquisition and Generalization in Social Anxiety Disorder}, doi = {10.25972/OPUS-17162}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-171622}, school = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Although Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) is one of the most prevalent mental disorders, still little is known about its development and maintenance. Cognitive models assume that deviations in attentional as well as associative learning processes play a role in the etiology of SAD. Amongst others, deficits in inhibitory attentional control as well as aberrations during fear generalization, which have already been observed in other anxiety disorders, are two candidate mechanisms that might contribute to the onset and retention of SAD. However, a review of the literature shows that there is a lack of research relating to these topics. Thus, the aim of the present thesis was to examine in which way individuals with SAD differ from healthy controls regarding attentional control and generalization of acquired fear during the processing of social stimuli. Study 1 tested whether impairment in the inhibitory control of attention is a feature of SAD, and how it might be influenced by emotional expression and gaze direction of an interactional partner. For this purpose, individuals with SAD and healthy controls (HC) participated in an antisaccade task with faces displaying different emotional expressions (angry, neutral and happy) and gaze directions (direct and averted) serving as target stimuli. While the participants performed either pro- or antisaccades in response to the peripherally presented faces, their gaze behavior was recorded via eye-tracking, and ratings of valence and arousal were obtained. Results revealed that both groups showed prolonged latencies and increased error rates in trials with correct anti- compared to prosaccades. However, there were no differences between groups with regard to response latency or error rates, indicating that SAD patients did not exhibit impairment on inhibitory attentional control in comparison to HC during eye-tracking. Possible explanations for this finding could be that reduced inhibitory attentional control in SAD only occurs under certain circumstances, for example, when these individuals currently run the risk of being negatively evaluated by others and not in the mere presence of phobic stimuli, or when the cognitive load of a task is so high that it cannot be unwound by compensatory strategies, such as putting more effort into a task. As not only deviations in attentional, but also associative learning processes might be pathogenic markers of SAD, these mechanisms were further addressed in the following experiments. Study 2 is the first that attempted to investigate the generalization of conditioned fear in patients with SAD. To this end, patients with SAD and HC were conditioned to two neutral female faces serving as conditioned stimuli (CS+: reinforced; CS-: non-reinforced) and a fearful face paired with a loud scream serving as unconditioned stimulus (US). Fear generalization was tested by presenting morphs of the two faces (GS: generalization stimuli), which varied in their similarity to the original faces. During the whole experiment, self-report ratings, heart rate (HR) and skin conductance responses (SCR) were recorded. Results demonstrated that SAD patients rated all stimuli as less pleasant and more arousing, and overestimated the occurrence of the US compared to HC, indicating a general hyperarousal in individuals with SAD. In addition, ratings and SCR indicated that both groups generalized their acquired fear from the CS+ to intermediate GSs as a function of their similarity to the CS+. However, except for the HR data, which indicated that only SAD patients but not HC displayed a generalization response in this measure, most of the results did not support the hypothesis that SAD is characterized by overgeneralization. A plausible reason for this finding could be that overgeneralization is just a key characteristic of some anxiety disorders and SAD is not one of them. Still, other factors, such as comorbidities in the individuals with SAD, could also have had an influence on the results, which is why overgeneralization was further examined in study 3. The aim of study 3 was to investigate fear generalization on a neuronal level. Hence, high (HSA) and low socially anxious participants (LSA) underwent a conditioning paradigm, which was an adaption of the experimental design used study 2 for EEG. During the experiment, steady-state visually evoked potentials (ssVEPs) and ratings of valence and arousal were recorded. Analyses revealed significant generalization gradients in all ratings with highest fear responses to the CS+ and a progressive decline of these reactions with increasing similarity to the CS-. In contrast, the generalization gradient on a neuronal level showed highest amplitudes for the CS+ and a reduction in amplitude to the most proximal, but not distal GSs in the ssVEP signal, which might be interpreted as lateral inhibition in the visual cortex. The observed dissociation among explicit and implicit measures points to different functions of behavioral and sensory cortical processes during fear generalization: While the ratings might reflect an individual's consciously increased readiness to react to threat, the lateral inhibition pattern in the occipital cortex might serve to maximize the contrast among stimuli with and without affective value and thereby improve adaptive behavior. As no group differences could be observed, the finding of study 2 that overgeneralization does not seem to be a marker of SAD is further consolidated. In sum, the conducted experiments suggest that individuals with SAD are characterized by a general hyperarousal during the exposition to disorder-relevant stimuli as indicated by enhanced arousal and reduced valence ratings of the stimuli compared to HC. However, the hypotheses that reduced inhibitory attentional control and overgeneralization of conditioned fear are markers of SAD were mostly not confirmed. Further research is required to elucidate whether they only occur under certain circumstances, such as high cognitive load (e.g. handling two tasks simultaneously) or social stress (e.g. before giving a speech), or whether they are not characteristics of SAD at all. With the help of these findings, new interventions for the treatment of SAD can be developed, such as attentional bias modification or discrimination learning.}, subject = {Sozialangst}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Foerster2020, author = {F{\"o}rster, Anna}, title = {Searching for truth in dishonesty: The cognitive architecture of lying}, doi = {10.25972/OPUS-20973}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-209730}, school = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Honest actions predominate human behavior. From time to time, this general preference must yield to dishonest actions, which require an effortful process of overcoming initial honest response activation. This thesis presents three experimental series to elucidate this tug-of-war between honest and dishonest response tendencies in overtly committed instances of lies, thereby joining recent efforts to move from a sheer phenomenological perspective on dishonest responding as being more difficult than honest responding to a precise description of the underlying cognitive processes. The consideration of cognitive theories, empirical evidence, and paradigms from different research fields - dishonesty, cognitive control and sensorimotor stage models of information processing - lay the groundwork for the research questions and methodological approach of this thesis. The experiments pinpoint the underlying conflict of dishonest responding in the central, capacity-limited stage of information processing (Experiments 1 to 4), but they also demonstrate that cognitive control processes (Experiments 5 to 7) and the internalization of false alibis (Experiments 8 to 11) can reduce or even completely eliminate this conflict. The data reveals great flexibility at the cognitive basis of dishonest responding: On the one hand, dishonest responding appears to rely heavily on capacity-limited processes of response selection to overcome honest response tendencies alongside up- and downstream consequences of response activation and monitoring. On the other hand, agents have powerful tools to mitigate these effortful processes through control adaptation and false alibis. These results support and expand current theorizing of the cognitive underpinnings of dishonest responding. Furthermore, they are alerting from an applied perspective on the detection of lies, especially when considering the flexibility of even basic cognitive processes in the face of false alibis. A promising way to move forward from here would be a fine-grained discrimination of response activation, passive decay and active inhibition of honest representations in dishonest responding and the assessment of the adaptiveness of these processes.}, subject = {L{\"u}ge}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Weiss2020, author = {Weiß, Martin}, title = {The neural principles of behavior modification using socioemotional facial feedback cues in economic decision-making}, doi = {10.25972/OPUS-20865}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-208654}, school = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg}, year = {2020}, abstract = {The present dissertation aims to shed light on different mechanisms of socio-emotional feedback in social decision-making situations. The objective is to evaluate emotional facial expressions as feedback stimuli, i.e., responses of interaction partners to certain social decisions. In addition to human faces, artificial emojis are also examined due to their relevance for modern digital communication. Previous research on the influence of emotional feedback suggests that a person's behavior can be effectively reinforced by rewarding stimuli. In the context of this dissertation, the differences in the feedback processing of human photographs and emojis, but also the evaluation of socially expected versus socially unexpected feedback were examined in detail in four studies. In addition to behavioral data, we used the electroencephalogram (EEG) in all studies to investigate neural correlates of social decision-making and emotional feedback. As the central paradigm, all studies were based on a modified ultimatum game. The game is structured as follows: there is a so-called proposer who holds a specific amount of money (e.g., 10 cents) and offers the responder a certain amount (e.g., 3 cents). The responder then decides whether to accept or reject the offer. In the version of the ultimatum game presented here, different types of proposers are introduced. After the participants have accepted or rejected in the role of the responder, the different proposers react to the participant's decision with specific emotional facial expressions. Different feedback patterns are used for the individual experiments conducted in the course of this dissertation. In the first study, we investigated the influence of emotional feedback on decision-making in the modified version of the ultimatum game. We were able to show that a proposer who responds to the acceptance of an offer with a smiling face achieves more accepted offers overall than a control proposer who responds to both accepted and rejected offers with a neutral facial expression. Consequently, the smile served as a positive reinforcement. Similarly, a sad expression in response to a rejected offer also resulted in higher acceptance rates as compared to the control identity, which could be considered an expression of compassion for that proposer. On a neuronal level, we could show that there are differences between simply looking at negative emotional stimuli (i.e., sad and angry faces) and their appearance as feedback stimuli after rejected offers in the modified ultimatum game. The so-called feedback-related negativity was reduced (i.e., more positive) when negative emotions appeared as feedback from the proposers. We argued that these findings might show that the participants wanted to punish the proposers by rejecting an offer for its unfairness and therefore the negative feedback met their expectations. The altered processing of negative emotional facial expressions in the ultimatum game could therefore indicate that the punishment is interpreted as successful. This includes the expectation that the interaction partner will change his behavior in the future and eventually make fairer offers. In the second study we wanted to show that smiling and sad emojis as feedback stimuli in the modified ultimatum game can also lead to increased acceptance rates. Contrary to our assumptions, this effect could not be observed. At the neural level as well, the findings did not correspond to our assumptions and differed strongly from those of the first study. One finding, however, was that the neural P3 component showed how the use of emojis as feedback stimuli particularly characterizes certain types of proposers. This is supported by the fact that the P3 is increased for the proposer who rewards an acceptance with a smile as well as for the proposer who reacts to rejection with a sad emoji compared to the neutral control proposer. The third study examined the discrepancy between the findings of the first and second study. Accordingly, both humans and emojis representing the different proposers were presented in the ultimatum game. In addition, emojis were selected that showed a higher similarity to known emojis from common messenger services compared to the second study. We were able to replicate that the proposers in the ultimatum game, who reward an acceptance of the offer with a smile, led to an increased acceptance rate compared to the neutral control proposers. This difference is independent of whether the proposers are represented by emojis or human faces. With regard to the neural correlates, we were able to demonstrate that emojis and human faces differ strongly in their neural processing. Emojis showed stronger activation than human faces in the face-processing N170 component, the feedback-related negativity and the P3 component. We concluded that the results of the N170 and feedback-related negativity could indicate a signal for missing social information of emojis compared to faces. The increased P3 amplitude for emojis might imply that emojis appear unexpectedly as reward stimuli in a social decision task compared to human faces. The last study of this project dealt with socially unexpected feedback. In comparison to the first three studies, new proposer identities were implemented. In particular, the focus was on a proposer who reacted to the rejection of an offer unexpectedly with a smile and to the acceptance with a neutral facial expression. According to the results, participants approach this unexpected smile through increased rejection, although it is accompanied by financial loss. In addition, as reported in studies one and three, we were able to show that proposers who respond to the acceptance of an offer with a smiling face and thus meet the expectations of the participants have higher offer acceptance rates than the control proposer. At the neuronal level, especially the feedback from the socially unexpected proposer led to an increased P3 amplitude, which indicates that smiling after rejection is attributed a special subjective importance. The experiments provide new insights into the social influence through emotional feedback and the processing of relevant social cues. Due to the conceptual similarity of the studies, it was possible to differentiate between stable findings and potentially stimulus-dependent deviations, thus creating a well-founded contribution to the current research. Therefore, the novel paradigm presented here, and the knowledge gained from it could also play an important role in the future for clinical questions dealing with limited social competencies.}, subject = {Entscheidungsverhalten}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Genheimer2020, author = {Genheimer, Hannah}, title = {The acquisition of anxiety and the impact of transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation on extinction learning in virtual contexts}, doi = {10.25972/OPUS-20639}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-206390}, school = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg}, year = {2020}, abstract = {This thesis aims for a better understanding of the mechanisms underlying anxiety as well as trauma- and stressor-related disorders and the development of new therapeutic approaches. I was first interested in the associative learning mechanisms involved in the etiology of anxiety disorders. Second, I explored the therapeutic effects of transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation (tVNS) as a promising new method to accelerate and stabilize extinction learning in humans. For these purposes, I applied differential anxiety conditioning protocols realized by the implementation of virtual reality (VR). Here, a formerly neutral virtual context (anxiety context, CTX+) is presented whereby the participants unpredictably receive mildly aversive electric stimuli (unconditioned stimulus, US). Another virtual context (safety context, CTX-) is never associated with the US. Moreover, extinction of conditioned anxiety can be modeled by presenting the same contexts without US delivery. When unannounced USs were administered after extinction, i.e. reinstatement, the strength of the "returned" conditioned anxiety can provide information on the stability of the extinction memory. In Study 1, I disentangled the role of elemental and conjunctive context representations in the acquisition of conditioned anxiety. Sequential screenshots of two virtual offices were presented like a flip-book so that I elicited the impression of walking through the contexts. Some pictures of CTX+ were paired with an US (threat elements), but not some other screenshots of the same context (non-threat elements), nor the screenshots depicting CTX- (safety elements). Higher contingency ratings for threat compared to non-threat elements revealed elemental representation. Electro-cortical responses showed larger P100 and early posterior negativity amplitudes elicited by screenshots depicting CTX+ compared to CTX- and suggested conjunctive representation. These results support the dual context representation in anxiety acquisition in healthy individuals. Study 2 addressed the effects of tVNS on the stabilization of extinction learning by using a context conditioning paradigm. Potentiated startle responses as well as higher aversive ratings in CTX+ compared to CTX- indicate successful anxiety conditioning. Complete extinction was found in startle responses and valence ratings as no differentiation between CTX+ and CTX- suggested. TVNS did not affect extinction or reinstatement of anxiety which may be related to the inappropriate transferability of successful stimulation parameters from epilepsy patients to healthy participants during anxiety extinction. Therefore, in Study 3 I wanted to replicate the modulatory effects of tVNS on heart rate and pain perception by the previously used parameters. However, no effects of tVNS were observed on subjective pain ratings, on pain tolerance, or on heart rate. This led to the conclusion that the modification of stimulation parameters is necessary for a successful acceleration of anxiety extinction in humans. In Study 4, I prolonged the tVNS and, considering previous tVNS studies, I applied a cue conditioning paradigm in VR. Therefore, during acquisition a cue (CS+) presented in CTX+ predicted the US, but not another cue (CS-). Both cues were presented in a second context (CTX-) and never paired with the US. Afterward, participants received either tVNS or sham stimulation and underwent extinction learning. I found context-dependent cue conditioning only in valence ratings, which was indicated by lower valence for CS+ compared to CS- in CTX+, but no differential ratings in CTX-. Successful extinction was indicated by equal responses to CS+ and CS-. Interestingly, I found reinstatement of conditioned fear in a context-dependent manner, meaning startle response was potentiated for CS+ compared to CS- only in the anxiety context. Importantly, even the prolonged tVNS had no effect, neither on extinction nor on reinstatement of context-dependent cue conditioning. However, I found first evidence for accelerated physiological contextual extinction due to less differentiation between startles in CTX+ compared to CTX- in the tVNS than in the sham stimulated group. In sum, this thesis first confirms the dual representation of a context in an elemental and a conjunctive manner. Second, though anxiety conditioning and context-dependent cue conditioning paradigms worked well, the translation of tVNS accelerated extinction from rats to humans needs to be further developed, especially the stimulation parameters. Nevertheless, tVNS remains a very promising approach of memory enhancement, which can be particularly auspicious in clinical settings.}, subject = {Angst}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Lenhart2020, author = {Lenhart, Jan Niklas Peter}, title = {Learning Words from Stories: How Method of Story Delivery and Questioning Styles Influence Children's Vocabulary Learning}, doi = {10.25972/OPUS-18591}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-185919}, school = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Sharing stories has become increasingly popular as a means to foster young children's vocabulary development and to target early vocabulary gaps between disadvantaged children and their better-equipped peers. Although, in general, the beneficial effects of story interventions have been demonstrated (Marulis \& Neuman, 2010, 2013), many factors possibly moderating those effects - including method of story delivery as well as questioning style - merit further examination (R. L. Walsh \& Hodge, 2018). The aim of the present doctoral thesis was to test predictions from different theories on methods of story delivery and questioning styles regarding their influence on children's vocabulary learning from listening to stories. Method of story delivery refers to the general way of how stories can be conveyed, with reading aloud and free-telling of stories (i.e., the narrator telling stories without reading from text) representing different approaches that are assumed to differ regarding narrator behavior and linguistic complexity. Questioning styles refer to different combinations of questions' cognitive demand level (low vs. high vs. scaffolding-like increasing from low to high) and/or placement (within the story vs. after the story) during story sessions. In the present doctoral thesis, the first two studies (Studies 1 and 2) compared reading aloud and free-telling of stories as different methods of story delivery. Study 1 consisted of two experiments utilizing a within-subjects design with 3- to 6-year-old preschool children (Nexperiment1 = 83; Nexperiment2 = 48) listening to stories once either presented read aloud or freely told. Study 2 extended the first study by examining effects on story comprehension and additionally including audiotape versions of both story-delivery methods as experimental conditions, which allowed separating narrator behavior and linguistic complexity. With the second study being conducted as a between-subjects design, 4- to 6-year-old preschool children (N = 60) heard each of the stories twice, but listened only to one type of story delivery. The results of Study 1 indicated that no differences between methods of story delivery regarding word learning and child engagement were observable when narrator behavior in terms of eye contact and gesticulation was similar. However in Study 2, when free-telling was operationalized in a more naturalistic way, marked by higher rates of eye contact and gesticulation, it resulted in better child engagement, greater vocabulary learning, and better story comprehension than reading aloud. In contrast, as indicated by both studies, differences in linguistic complexity had no short-term impact on learning and comprehension. The studies, however, could not isolate the influence of eye contact versus gesture usage and could not distinguish between different types of gestures. The second set of studies (Studies 3 and 4) contrasted the effects of different types of question demand level (low vs. high vs. scaffolding-like increasing from low to high) and placement (within the story vs. after the story) and examined potential interactions with children's cognitive skills. In one-to-one reading sessions (Study 3; N = 86) or small-group reading sessions (Study 4; N = 91) 4- to 6-year-old preschool children heard stories three times marked by different types of question demand level and placement or simply read-aloud without questions. The adult narrators encouraged the children to reflect on and answer questions (Study 1) and to give feedback on other children's comments (Study 2), but in both studies, to ensure fidelity of the experimental conditions, the adult narrators did not provide corrective feedback or elaborate on the children's answers. Results on measures of different facets of word learning indicated that asking questions resulted in better vocabulary learning than simply reading the stories aloud. However, in contrast to proposed hypotheses and across both studies, different types of question demand level and placement did not exert differential effects and they did not interact with children's general vocabulary knowledge or memory skills. Thus, both studies suggest that those two types of questions features have no impact on children's vocabulary learning, if questions are not followed up by narrator feedback and elaborations. However, whether different types of question placement and demand level produce differential learning gains through adult-child discussion following different questioning styles has still to be determined. Taken together, the four studies of the present doctoral thesis underline the central role that adults play for successful story sessions with young children not only for engaging children in the story but also for extending and for correcting their utterances. Although the presented studies extend existing knowledge about methods of story delivery and questioning styles during story sessions, further research needs to examine the impact of questioning styles on word learning through subsequent adult-child discussion and to gain a better understanding of the role of nonverbal narrator behavior during story delivery.}, subject = {Sprachf{\"o}rderung}, language = {en} } @article{WalzMuehlbergerPauli2016, author = {Walz, Nora and M{\"u}hlberger, Andreas and Pauli, Paul}, title = {A human open field test reveals thigmotaxis related to agoraphobic fear}, series = {Biological Psychiatry}, volume = {80}, journal = {Biological Psychiatry}, number = {5}, doi = {10.1016/j.biopsych.2015.12.016}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-187607}, pages = {390-397}, year = {2016}, abstract = {BACKGROUND: Thigmotaxis refers to a specific behavior of animals (i.e., to stay close to walls when exploring an open space). Such behavior can be assessed with the open field test (OFT), which is a well-established indicator of animal fear. The detection of similar open field behavior in humans may verify the translational validity of this paradigm. Enhanced thigmotaxis related to anxiety may suggest the relevance of such behavior for anxiety disorders, especially agoraphobia. METHODS: A global positioning system was used to analyze the behavior of 16 patients with agoraphobia and 18 healthy individuals with a risk for agoraphobia (i.e., high anxiety sensitivity) during a human OFT and compare it with appropriate control groups (n = 16 and n = 19). We also tracked 17 patients with agoraphobia and 17 control participants during a city walk that involved walking through an open market square. RESULTS: Our human OFT triggered thigmotaxis in participants; patients with agoraphobia and participants with high anxiety sensitivity exhibited enhanced thigmotaxis. This behavior was evident in increased movement lengths along the wall of the natural open field and fewer entries into the center of the field despite normal movement speed and length. Furthermore, participants avoided passing through the market square during the city walk, indicating again that thigmotaxis is related to agoraphobia. CONCLUSIONS: This study is the first to our knowledge to verify the translational validity of the OFT and to reveal that thigmotaxis, an evolutionarily adaptive behavior shown by most species, is related to agoraphobia, a pathologic fear of open spaces, and anxiety sensitivity, a risk factor for agoraphobia.}, language = {en} } @article{WieserReichertsJuravleetal.2016, author = {Wieser, Matthias J. and Reicherts, Philipp and Juravle, Georgiana and von Leupoldt, Andreas}, title = {Attention mechanisms during predictable and unpredictable threat - a steady-state visual evoked potential approach}, series = {NeuroImage}, volume = {139}, journal = {NeuroImage}, doi = {10.1016/j.neuroimage.2016.06.026}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-187365}, pages = {167-175}, year = {2016}, abstract = {Fear is elicited by imminent threat and leads to phasic fear responses with selective attention, whereas anxiety is characterized by a sustained state of heightened vigilance due to uncertain danger. In the present study, we investigated attention mechanisms in fear and anxiety by adapting the NPU-threat test to measure steady-state visual evoked potentials (ssVEPs). We investigated ssVEPs across no aversive events (N), predictable aversive events (P), and unpredictable aversive events (U), signaled by four-object arrays (30 s). In addition, central cues were presented during all conditions but predictably signaled imminent threat only during the P condition. Importantly, cues and context events were flickered at different frequencies (15 Hz vs. 20 Hz) in order to disentangle respective electrocortical responses. The onset of the context elicited larger electrocortical responses for U compared to P context. Conversely, P cues elicited larger electrocortical responses compared to N cues. Interestingly, during the presence of the P cue, visuocortical processing of the concurrent context was also enhanced. The results support the notion of enhanced initial hypervigilance to unpredictable compared to predictable threat contexts, while predictable cues show electrocortical enhancement of the cues themselves but additionally a boost of context processing.}, language = {en} } @article{KaethnerBaderPauli2019, author = {K{\"a}thner, Ivo and Bader, Thomas and Pauli, Paul}, title = {Heat pain modulation with virtual water during a virtual hand illusion}, series = {Scientific Reports}, volume = {9}, journal = {Scientific Reports}, doi = {10.1038/s41598-019-55407-0}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-202221}, pages = {19137}, year = {2019}, abstract = {Immersive virtual reality is a powerful method to modify the environment and thereby influence experience. The present study used a virtual hand illusion and context manipulation in immersive virtual reality to examine top-down modulation of pain. Participants received painful heat stimuli on their forearm and placed an embodied virtual hand (co-located with their real one) under a virtual water tap, which dispensed virtual water under different experimental conditions. We aimed to induce a temperature illusion by a red, blue or white light suggesting warm, cold or no virtual water. In addition, the sense of agency was manipulated by allowing participants to have high or low control over the virtual hand's movements. Most participants experienced a thermal sensation in response to the virtual water and associated the blue and red light with cool/cold or warm/hot temperatures, respectively. Importantly, the blue light condition reduced and the red light condition increased pain intensity and unpleasantness, both compared to the control condition. The control manipulation influenced the sense of agency, but did not influence pain ratings. The large effects revealed in our study suggest that context effects within an embodied setting in an immersive virtual environment should be considered within VR based pain therapy.}, language = {en} } @article{HuesteggeHerbortGoschetal.2019, author = {Huestegge, Lynn and Herbort, Oliver and Gosch, Nora and Kunde, Wilfried and Pieczykolan, Aleks}, title = {Free-choice saccades and their underlying determinants: explorations of high-level voluntary oculomotor control}, series = {Journal of Vision}, volume = {19}, journal = {Journal of Vision}, number = {3}, doi = {10.1167/19.3.14}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-201493}, pages = {14}, year = {2019}, abstract = {Models of eye-movement control distinguish between different control levels, ranging from automatic (bottom-up, stimulus-driven selection) and automatized (based on well-learned routines) to voluntary (top-down, goal-driven selection, e.g., based on instructions). However, one type of voluntary control has yet only been examined in the manual and not in the oculomotor domain, namely free-choice selection among arbitrary targets, that is, targets that are of equal interest from both a bottom-up and top-down processing perspective. Here, we ask which features of targets (identity- or location-related) are used to determine such oculomotor free-choice behavior. In two experiments, participants executed a saccade to one of four peripheral targets in three different choice conditions: unconstrained free choice, constrained free choice based on target identity (color), and constrained free choice based on target location. The analysis of choice frequencies revealed that unconstrained free-choice selection closely resembled constrained choice based on target location. The results suggest that free-choice oculomotor control is mainly guided by spatial (location-based) target characteristics. We explain these results by assuming that participants tend to avoid less parsimonious recoding of target-identity representations into spatial codes, the latter being a necessary prerequisite to configure oculomotor commands.}, language = {en} } @article{KaussnerKuraszkiewiczSchochetal.2020, author = {Kaussner, Y. and Kuraszkiewicz, A. M. and Schoch, S. and Markel, Petra and Hoffmann, S. and Baur-Streubel, R. and Kenntner-Mabiala, R. and Pauli, P.}, title = {Treating patients with driving phobia by virtual reality exposure therapy - a pilot study}, series = {PLoS ONE}, volume = {15}, journal = {PLoS ONE}, number = {1}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0226937}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-201051}, pages = {e0226937}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Objectives Virtual reality exposure therapy (VRET) is a promising treatment for patients with fear of driving. The present pilot study is the first one focusing on behavioral effects of VRET on patients with fear of driving as measured by a post-treatment driving test in real traffic. Methods The therapy followed a standardized manual including psychotherapeutic and medical examination, two preparative psychotherapy sessions, five virtual reality exposure sessions, a final behavioral avoidance test (BAT) in real traffic, a closing session, and two follow-up phone assessments after six and twelve weeks. VRE was conducted in a driving simulator with a fully equipped mockup. The exposure scenarios were individually tailored to the patients' anxiety hierarchy. A total of 14 patients were treated. Parameters on the verbal, behavioral and physiological level were assessed. Results The treatment was helpful to overcome driving fear and avoidance. In the final BAT, all patients mastered driving tasks they had avoided before, 71\% showed an adequate driving behavior as assessed by the driving instructor, and 93\% could maintain their treatment success until the second follow-up phone call. Further analyses suggest that treatment reduces avoidance behavior as well as symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder as measured by standardized questionnaires (Avoidance and Fusion Questionnaire: p < .10, PTSD Symptom Scale-Self Report: p < .05). Conclusions VRET in driving simulation is very promising to treat driving fear. Further research with randomized controlled trials is needed to verify efficacy. Moreover, simulators with lower configuration stages should be tested for a broad availability in psychotherapy.}, language = {en} } @article{PaeleckeHabermannPaeleckeMauthetal.2019, author = {Paelecke-Habermann, Yvonne and Paelecke, Marko and Mauth, Juliane and Tschisgale, Juliane and Lindenmeyer, Johannes and K{\"u}bler, Andrea}, title = {A comparison of implicit and explicit reward learning in low risk alcohol users versus people who binge drink and people with alcohol dependence}, series = {Addictive Behaviors Reports}, volume = {9}, journal = {Addictive Behaviors Reports}, doi = {10.1016/j.abrep.2019.100178}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-201406}, pages = {100178}, year = {2019}, abstract = {Chronic alcohol use leads to specific neurobiological alterations in the dopaminergic brain reward system, which probably are leading to a reward deficiency syndrome in alcohol dependence. The purpose of our study was to examine the effects of such hypothesized neurobiological alterations on the behavioral level, and more precisely on the implicit and explicit reward learning. Alcohol users were classified as dependent drinkers (using the DSM-IV criteria), binge drinkers (using criteria of the USA National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism) or low-risk drinkers (following recommendations of the Scientific board of trustees of the German Health Ministry). The final sample (n = 94) consisted of 36 low-risk alcohol users, 37 binge drinkers and 21 abstinent alcohol dependent patients. Participants were administered a probabilistic implicit reward learning task and an explicit reward- and punishment-based trial-and-error-learning task. Alcohol dependent patients showed a lower performance in implicit and explicit reward learning than low risk drinkers. Binge drinkers learned less than low-risk drinkers in the implicit learning task. The results support the assumption that binge drinking and alcohol dependence are related to a chronic reward deficit. Binge drinking accompanied by implicit reward learning deficits could increase the risk for the development of an alcohol dependence.}, language = {en} } @article{CitronAbugaberHerbert2016, author = {Citron, Francesca M. M. and Abugaber, David and Herbert, Cornelia}, title = {Approach and Withdrawal Tendencies during Written Word Processing: Effects of Task, Emotional Valence, and Emotional Arousal}, series = {frontiers in Psychology}, volume = {6}, journal = {frontiers in Psychology}, number = {1935}, doi = {10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01935}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-165318}, year = {2016}, abstract = {The affective dimensions of emotional valence and emotional arousal affect processing of verbal and pictorial stimuli. Traditional emotional theories assume a linear relationship between these dimensions, with valence determining the direction of a behavior (approach vs. withdrawal) and arousal its intensity or strength. In contrast, according to the valence-arousal conflict theory, both dimensions are interactively related: positive valence and low arousal (PL) are associated with an implicit tendency to approach a stimulus, whereas negative valence and high arousal (NH) are associated with withdrawal. Hence, positive, high-arousal (PH) and negative, low-arousal (NL) stimuli elicit conflicting action tendencies. By extending previous research that used several tasks and methods, the present study investigated whether and how emotional valence and arousal affect subjective approach vs. withdrawal tendencies toward emotional words during two novel tasks. In Study 1, participants had to decide whether they would approach or withdraw from concepts expressed by written words. In Studies 2 and 3 participants had to respond to each word by pressing one of two keys labeled with an arrow pointing upward or downward. Across experiments, positive and negative words, high or low in arousal, were presented. In Study 1 (explicit task), in line with the valence-arousal conflict theory, PH and NL words were responded to more slowly than PL and NH words. In addition, participants decided to approach positive words more often than negative words. In Studies 2 and 3, participants responded faster to positive than negative words, irrespective of their level of arousal. Furthermore, positive words were significantly more often associated with "up" responses than negative words, thus supporting the existence of implicit associations between stimulus valence and response coding (positive is up and negative is down). Hence, in contexts in which participants' spontaneous responses are based on implicit associations between stimulus valence and response, there is no influence of arousal. In line with the valence-arousal conflict theory, arousal seems to affect participants' approach-withdrawal tendencies only when such tendencies are made explicit by the task, and a minimal degree of processing depth is required.}, language = {en} } @article{PeperkornDiemerAlpersetal.2016, author = {Peperkorn, Henrik M. and Diemer, Julia E. and Alpers, Georg W. and M{\"u}hlberger, Andreas}, title = {Representation of Patients' Hand Modulates Fear Reactions of Patients with Spider Phobia in Virtual Reality}, series = {frontiers in Psychology}, volume = {7}, journal = {frontiers in Psychology}, number = {268}, doi = {10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00268}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-165307}, year = {2016}, abstract = {Embodiment (i.e., the involvement of a bodily representation) is thought to be relevant in emotional experiences. Virtual reality (VR) is a capable means of activating phobic fear in patients. The representation of the patient's body (e.g., the right hand) in VR enhances immersion and increases presence, but its effect on phobic fear is still unknown. We analyzed the influence of the presentation of the participant's hand in VR on presence and fear responses in 32 women with spider phobia and 32 matched controls. Participants sat in front of a table with an acrylic glass container within reaching distance. During the experiment this setup was concealed by a head-mounted display (HMD). The VR scenario presented via HMD showed the same setup, i.e., a table with an acrylic glass container. Participants were randomly assigned to one of two experimental groups. In one group, fear responses were triggered by fear-relevant visual input in VR (virtual spider in the virtual acrylic glass container), while information about a real but unseen neutral control animal (living snake in the acrylic glass container) was given. The second group received fear-relevant information of the real but unseen situation (living spider in the acrylic glass container), but visual input was kept neutral VR (virtual snake in the virtual acrylic glass container). Participants were instructed to touch the acrylic glass container with their right hand in 20 consecutive trials. Visibility of the hand was varied randomly in a within-subjects design. We found for all participants that visibility of the participant's hand increased presence independently of the fear trigger. However, in patients, the influence of the virtual hand on fear depended on the fear trigger. When fear was triggered perceptually, i.e., by a virtual spider, the virtual hand increased fear. When fear was triggered by information about a real spider, the virtual hand had no effect on fear. Our results shed light on the significance of different fear triggers (visual, conceptual) in interaction with body representations.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Menne2020, author = {Menne, Isabelle M.}, title = {Facing Social Robots - Emotional Reactions towards Social Robots}, edition = {1. Auflage}, publisher = {W{\"u}rzburg University Press}, address = {W{\"u}rzburg}, isbn = {978-3-95826-120-4}, doi = {10.25972/WUP-978-3-95826-121-1}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-187131}, school = {W{\"u}rzburg University Press}, pages = {XXIV, 201}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Ein Army Colonel empfindet Mitleid mit einem Roboter, der versuchsweise Landminen entsch{\"a}rft und deklariert den Test als inhuman (Garreau, 2007). Roboter bekommen milit{\"a}rische Bef{\"o}rderungen, Beerdigungen und Ehrenmedaillen (Garreau, 2007; Carpenter, 2013). Ein Schildkr{\"o}tenroboter wird entwickelt, um Kindern beizubringen, Roboter gut zu behandeln (Ackermann, 2018). Der humanoide Roboter Sophia wurde erst k{\"u}rzlich Saudi-Arabischer Staatsb{\"u}rger und es gibt bereits Debatten, ob Roboter Rechte bekommen sollen (Delcker, 2018). Diese und {\"a}hnliche Entwicklungen zeigen schon jetzt die Bedeutsamkeit von Robotern und die emotionale Wirkung die diese ausl{\"o}sen. Dennoch scheinen sich diese emotionalen Reaktionen auf einer anderen Ebene abzuspielen, gemessen an Kommentaren in Internetforen. Dort ist oftmals die Rede davon, wieso jemand {\"u}berhaupt emotional auf einen Roboter reagieren kann. Tats{\"a}chlich ist es, rein rational gesehen, schwierig zu erkl{\"a}ren, warum Menschen mit einer leblosen (‚mindless') Maschine mitf{\"u}hlen sollten. Und dennoch zeugen nicht nur oben genannte Berichte, sondern auch erste wissenschaftliche Studien (z.B. Rosenthal- von der P{\"u}tten et al., 2013) von dem emotionalen Einfluss den Roboter auf Menschen haben k{\"o}nnen. Trotz der Bedeutsamkeit der Erforschung emotionaler Reaktionen auf Roboter existieren bislang wenige wissenschaftliche Studien hierzu. Tats{\"a}chlich identifizierten Kappas, Krumhuber und K{\"u}ster (2013) die systematische Analyse und Evaluation sozialer Reaktionen auf Roboter als eine der gr{\"o}ßten Herausforderungen der affektiven Mensch-Roboter Interaktion. Nach Scherer (2001; 2005) bestehen Emotionen aus der Koordination und Synchronisation verschiedener Komponenten, die miteinander verkn{\"u}pft sind. Motorischer Ausdruck (Mimik), subjektives Erleben, Handlungstendenzen, physiologische und kognitive Komponenten geh{\"o}ren hierzu. Um eine Emotion vollst{\"a}ndig zu erfassen, m{\"u}ssten all diese Komponenten gemessen werden, jedoch wurde eine solch umfassende Analyse bisher noch nie durchgef{\"u}hrt (Scherer, 2005). Haupts{\"a}chlich werden Frageb{\"o}gen eingesetzt (vgl. Bethel \& Murphy, 2010), die allerdings meist nur das subjektive Erleben abfragen. Bakeman und Gottman (1997) geben sogar an, dass nur etwa 8\% der psychologischen Forschung auf Verhaltensdaten basiert, obwohl die Psychologie traditionell als das ‚Studium von Psyche und Verhalten' (American Psychological Association, 2018) definiert wird. Die Messung anderer Emotionskomponenten ist selten. Zudem sind Frageb{\"o}gen mit einer Reihe von Nachteilen behaftet (Austin, Deary, Gibson, McGregor, Dent, 1998; Fan et al., 2006; Wilcox, 2011). Bethel und Murphy (2010) als auch Arkin und Moshkina (2015) pl{\"a}dieren f{\"u}r einen Multi-Methodenansatz um ein umfassenderes Verst{\"a}ndnis von affektiven Prozessen in der Mensch-Roboter Interaktion zu erlangen. Das Hauptziel der vorliegenden Dissertation ist es daher, mithilfe eines Multi-Methodenansatzes verschiedene Komponenten von Emotionen (motorischer Ausdruck, subjektive Gef{\"u}hlskomponente, Handlungstendenzen) zu erfassen und so zu einem vollst{\"a}ndigeren und tiefgreifenderem Bild emotionaler Prozesse auf Roboter beizutragen. Um dieses Ziel zu erreichen, wurden drei experimentelle Studien mit insgesamt 491 Teilnehmern durchgef{\"u}hrt. Mit unterschiedlichen Ebenen der „apparent reality" (Frijda, 2007) sowie Macht / Kontrolle {\"u}ber die Situation (vgl. Scherer \& Ellgring, 2007) wurde untersucht, inwiefern sich Intensit{\"a}t und Qualit{\"a}t emotionaler Reaktionen auf Roboter {\"a}ndern und welche weiteren Faktoren (Aussehen des Roboters, emotionale Expressivit{\"a}t des Roboters, Behandlung des Roboters, Autorit{\"a}tsstatus des Roboters) Einfluss aus{\"u}ben. Experiment 1 basierte auf Videos, die verschiedene Arten von Robotern (tier{\"a}hnlich, anthropomorph, maschinenartig), die entweder emotional expressiv waren oder nicht (an / aus) in verschiedenen Situationen (freundliche Behandlung des Roboters vs. Misshandlung) zeigten. Frageb{\"o}gen {\"u}ber selbstberichtete Gef{\"u}hle und die motorisch-expressive Komponente von Emotionen: Mimik (vgl. Scherer, 2005) wurden analysiert. Das Facial Action Coding System (Ekman, Friesen, \& Hager, 2002), die umfassendste und am weitesten verbreitete Methode zur objektiven Untersuchung von Mimik, wurde hierf{\"u}r verwendet. Die Ergebnisse zeigten, dass die Probanden Gesichtsausdr{\"u}cke (Action Unit [AU] 12 und AUs, die mit positiven Emotionen assoziiert sind, sowie AU 4 und AUs, die mit negativen Emotionen assoziiert sind) sowie selbstberichtete Gef{\"u}hle in {\"U}bereinstimmung mit der Valenz der in den Videos gezeigten Behandlung zeigten. Bei emotional expressiven Robotern konnten st{\"a}rkere emotionale Reaktionen beobachtet werden als bei nicht-expressiven Robotern. Der tier{\"a}hnliche Roboter Pleo erfuhr in der Misshandlungs-Bedingung am meisten Mitleid, Empathie, negative Gef{\"u}hle und Traurigkeit, gefolgt vom anthropomorphen Roboter Reeti und am wenigsten f{\"u}r den maschinenartigen Roboter Roomba. Roomba wurde am meisten Antipathie zugeschrieben. Die Ergebnisse kn{\"u}pfen an fr{\"u}here Forschungen an (z.B. Krach et al., 2008; Menne \& Schwab, 2018; Riek et al., 2009; Rosenthal-von der P{\"u}tten et al., 2013) und zeigen das Potenzial der Mimik f{\"u}r eine nat{\"u}rliche Mensch-Roboter Interaktion. Experiment 2 und Experiment 3 {\"u}bertrugen die klassischen Experimente von Milgram (1963; 1974) zum Thema Gehorsam in den Kontext der Mensch-Roboter Interaktion. Die Gehorsamkeitsstudien von Milgram wurden als sehr geeignet erachtet, um das Ausmaß der Empathie gegen{\"u}ber einem Roboter im Verh{\"a}ltnis zum Gehorsam gegen{\"u}ber einem Roboter zu untersuchen. Experiment 2 unterschied sich von Experiment 3 in der Ebene der „apparent reality" (Frijda, 2007): in Anlehnung an Milgram (1963) wurde eine rein text-basierte Studie (Experiment 2) einer live Mensch-Roboter Interaktion (Experiment 3) gegen{\"u}bergestellt. W{\"a}hrend die abh{\"a}ngigen Variablen von Experiment 2 aus den Selbstberichten emotionaler Gef{\"u}hle sowie Einsch{\"a}tzungen des hypothetischen Verhaltens bestand, erfasste Experiment 3 subjektive Gef{\"u}hle sowie reales Verhalten (Reaktionszeit: Dauer des Z{\"o}gerns; Gehorsamkeitsrate; Anzahl der Proteste; Mimik) der Teilnehmer. Beide Experimente untersuchten den Einfluss der Faktoren „Autorit{\"a}tsstatus" (hoch / niedrig) des Roboters, der die Befehle erteilt (Nao) und die emotionale Expressivit{\"a}t (an / aus) des Roboters, der die Strafen erh{\"a}lt (Pleo). Die subjektiven Gef{\"u}hle der Teilnehmer aus Experiment 2 unterschieden sich zwischen den Gruppen nicht. Dar{\"u}ber hinaus gaben nur wenige Teilnehmer (20.2\%) an, dass sie den „Opfer"-Roboter definitiv bestrafen w{\"u}rden. Ein {\"a}hnliches Ergebnis fand auch Milgram (1963). Das reale Verhalten von Versuchsteilnehmern in Milgrams' Labor-Experiment unterschied sich jedoch von Einsch{\"a}tzungen hypothetischen Verhaltens von Teilnehmern, denen Milgram das Experiment nur beschrieben hatte. Ebenso lassen Kommentare von Teilnehmern aus Experiment 2 darauf schließen, dass das beschriebene Szenario m{\"o}glicherweise als fiktiv eingestuft wurde und Einsch{\"a}tzungen von hypothetischem Verhalten daher kein realistisches Bild realen Verhaltens gegen{\"u}ber Roboter in einer live Interaktion zeichnen k{\"o}nnen. Daher wurde ein weiteres Experiment (Experiment 3) mit einer Live Interaktion mit einem Roboter als Autorit{\"a}tsfigur (hoher Autorit{\"a}tsstatus vs. niedriger) und einem weiteren Roboter als „Opfer" (emotional expressiv vs. nicht expressiv) durchgef{\"u}hrt. Es wurden Gruppenunterschiede in Frageb{\"o}gen {\"u}ber emotionale Reaktionen gefunden. Dem emotional expressiven Roboter wurde mehr Empathie entgegengebracht und es wurde mehr Freude und weniger Antipathie berichtet als gegen{\"u}ber einem nicht-expressiven Roboter. Außerdem konnten Gesichtsausdr{\"u}cke beobachtet werden, die mit negativen Emotionen assoziiert sind w{\"a}hrend Probanden Nao's Befehl ausf{\"u}hrten und Pleo bestraften. Obwohl Probanden tendenziell l{\"a}nger z{\"o}gerten, wenn sie einen emotional expressiven Roboter bestrafen sollten und der Befehl von einem Roboter mit niedrigem Autorit{\"a}tsstatus kam, wurde dieser Unterschied nicht signifikant. Zudem waren alle bis auf einen Probanden gehorsam und bestraften Pleo, wie vom Nao Roboter befohlen. Dieses Ergebnis steht in starkem Gegensatz zu dem selbstberichteten hypothetischen Verhalten der Teilnehmer aus Experiment 2 und unterst{\"u}tzt die Annahme, dass die Einsch{\"a}tzungen von hypothetischem Verhalten in einem Mensch-Roboter-Gehorsamkeitsszenario nicht zuverl{\"a}ssig sind f{\"u}r echtes Verhalten in einer live Mensch-Roboter Interaktion. Situative Variablen, wie z.B. der Gehorsam gegen{\"u}ber Autorit{\"a}ten, sogar gegen{\"u}ber einem Roboter, scheinen st{\"a}rker zu sein als Empathie f{\"u}r einen Roboter. Dieser Befund kn{\"u}pft an andere Studien an (z.B. Bartneck \& Hu, 2008; Geiskkovitch et al., 2016; Menne, 2017; Slater et al., 2006), er{\"o}ffnet neue Erkenntnisse zum Einfluss von Robotern, zeigt aber auch auf, dass die Wahl einer Methode um Empathie f{\"u}r einen Roboter zu evozieren eine nicht triviale Angelegenheit ist (vgl. Geiskkovitch et al., 2016; vgl. Milgram, 1965). Insgesamt st{\"u}tzen die Ergebnisse die Annahme, dass die emotionalen Reaktionen auf Roboter tiefgreifend sind und sich sowohl auf der subjektiven Ebene als auch in der motorischen Komponente zeigen. Menschen reagieren emotional auf einen Roboter, der emotional expressiv ist und eher weniger wie eine Maschine aussieht. Sie empfinden Empathie und negative Gef{\"u}hle, wenn ein Roboter misshandelt wird und diese emotionalen Reaktionen spiegeln sich in der Mimik. Dar{\"u}ber hinaus unterscheiden sich die Einsch{\"a}tzungen von Menschen {\"u}ber ihr eigenes hypothetisches Verhalten von ihrem tats{\"a}chlichen Verhalten, weshalb videobasierte oder live Interaktionen zur Analyse realer Verhaltensreaktionen empfohlen wird. Die Ankunft sozialer Roboter in der Gesellschaft f{\"u}hrt zu nie dagewesenen Fragen und diese Dissertation liefert einen ersten Schritt zum Verst{\"a}ndnis dieser neuen Herausforderungen.}, subject = {Roboter}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Hoermann2020, author = {H{\"o}rmann, Markus}, title = {Analyzing and fostering students' self-regulated learning through the use of peripheral data in online learning environments}, doi = {10.25972/OPUS-18009}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-180097}, school = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Learning with digital media has become a substantial part of formal and informal educational processes and is gaining more and more importance. Technological progress has brought overwhelming opportunities for learners, but challenges them at the same time. Learners have to regulate their learning process to a much greater extent than in traditional learning situations in which teachers support them through external regulation. This means that learners must plan their learning process themselves, apply appropriate learning strategies, monitor, control and evaluate it. These requirements are taken into account in various models of self-regulated learning (SRL). Although the roots of research on SRL go back to the 1980s, the measurement and adequate support of SRL in technology-enhanced learning environments is still not solved in a satisfactory way. An important obstacle are the data sources used to operationalize SRL processes. In order to support SRL in adaptive learning systems and to validate theoretical models, instruments are needed which meet the classical quality criteria and also fulfil additional requirements. Suitable data channels must be measurable "online", i.e., they must be available in real time during learning for analyses or the individual adaptation of interventions. Researchers no longer only have an interest in the final results of questionnaires or tasks, but also need to examine process data from interactions between learners and learning environments in order to advance the development of theories and interventions. In addition, data sources should not be obtrusive so that the learning process is not interrupted or disturbed. Measurements of physiological data, for example, require learners to wear measuring devices. Moreover, measurements should not be reactive. This means that other variables such as learning outcomes should not be influenced by the measurement. Different data sources that are already used to study and support SRL processes, such as protocols on thinking aloud, screen recording, eye tracking, log files, video observations or physiological sensors, meet these criteria to varying degrees. One data channel that has received little attention in research on educational psychology, but is non-obtrusive, non-reactive, objective and available online, is the detailed, timely high-resolution data on observable interactions of learners in online learning environments. This data channel is introduced in this thesis as "peripheral data". It records both the content of learning environments as context, and related actions of learners triggered by mouse and keyboard, as well as the reactions of learning environments, such as structural or content changes. Although the above criteria for the use of the data are met, it is unclear whether this data can be interpreted reliably and validly with regard to relevant variables and behavior. Therefore, the aim of this dissertation is to examine this data channel from the perspective of SRL and thus further close the existing research gap. One development project and four research projects were carried out and documented in this thesis.}, subject = {Selbstgesteuertes Lernen}, language = {en} } @article{GressmannJanczyk2016, author = {Gressmann, Marcel and Janczyk, Markus}, title = {The (Un)Clear Effects of Invalid Retro-Cues}, series = {Frontiers in Psychology}, volume = {7}, journal = {Frontiers in Psychology}, number = {244}, doi = {10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00244}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-165296}, year = {2016}, abstract = {Studies with the retro-cue paradigm have shown that validly cueing objects in visual working memory long after encoding can still benefit performance on subsequent change detection tasks. With regard to the effects of invalid cues, the literature is less clear. Some studies reported costs, others did not. We here revisit two recent studies that made interesting suggestions concerning invalid retro-cues: One study suggested that costs only occur for larger set sizes, and another study suggested that inclusion of invalid retro-cues diminishes the retro-cue benefit. New data from one experiment and a reanalysis of published data are provided to address these conclusions. The new data clearly show costs (and benefits) that were independent of set size, and the reanalysis suggests no influence of the inclusion of invalid retro-cues on the retro-cue benefit. Thus, previous interpretations may be taken with some caution at present.}, language = {en} } @article{WunschPfisterHenningetal.2016, author = {Wunsch, Kathrin and Pfister, Roland and Henning, Anne and Aschersleben, Gisa and Weigelt, Matthias}, title = {No Interrelation of Motor Planning and Executive Functions across Young Ages}, series = {Frontiers in Psychology}, volume = {7}, journal = {Frontiers in Psychology}, number = {1031}, doi = {10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01031}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-165281}, year = {2016}, abstract = {The present study examined the developmental trajectories of motor planning and executive functioning in children. To this end, we tested 217 participants with three motor tasks, measuring anticipatory planning abilities (i.e., the bar-transport-task, the sword-rotation-task and the grasp-height-task), and three cognitive tasks, measuring executive functions (i.e., the Tower-of-Hanoi-task, the Mosaic-task, and the D2-attention-endurance-task). Children were aged between 3 and 10 years and were separated into age groups by 1-year bins, resulting in a total of eight groups of children and an additional group of adults. Results suggested (1) a positive developmental trajectory for each of the sub-tests, with better task performance as children get older; (2) that the performance in the separate tasks was not correlated across participants in the different age groups; and (3) that there was no relationship between performance in the motor tasks and in the cognitive tasks used in the present study when controlling for age. These results suggest that both, motor planning and executive functions are rather heterogeneous domains of cognitive functioning with fewer interdependencies than often suggested.}, language = {en} } @article{SchneiderNiklas2017, author = {Schneider, Wolfgang and Niklas, Frank}, title = {Intelligence and verbal short-term memory/working memory: their interrelationships from childhood to young adulthood and their impact on academic achievement}, series = {Journal of Intelligence}, volume = {5}, journal = {Journal of Intelligence}, number = {2}, issn = {2079-3200}, doi = {10.3390/jintelligence5020026}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-198004}, pages = {26}, year = {2017}, abstract = {Although recent developmental studies exploring the predictive power of intelligence and working memory (WM) for educational achievement in children have provided evidence for the importance of both variables, findings concerning the relative impact of IQ and WM on achievement have been inconsistent. Whereas IQ has been identified as the major predictor variable in a few studies, results from several other developmental investigations suggest that WM may be the stronger predictor of academic achievement. In the present study, data from the Munich Longitudinal Study on the Genesis of Individual Competencies (LOGIC) were used to explore this issue further. The secondary data analysis included data from about 200 participants whose IQ and WM was first assessed at the age of six and repeatedly measured until the ages of 18 and 23. Measures of reading, spelling, and math were also repeatedly assessed for this age range. Both regression analyses based on observed variables and latent variable structural equation modeling (SEM) were carried out to explore whether the predictive power of IQ and WM would differ as a function of time point of measurement (i.e., early vs. late assessment). As a main result of various regression analyses, IQ and WM turned out to be reliable predictors of academic achievement, both in early and later developmental stages, when previous domain knowledge was not included as additional predictor. The latter variable accounted for most of the variance in more comprehensive regression models, reducing the impact of both IQ and WM considerably. Findings from SEM analyses basically confirmed this outcome, indicating IQ impacts on educational achievement in the early phase, and illustrating the strong additional impact of previous domain knowledge on achievement at later stages of development.}, language = {en} } @article{KempertGoetzBlatteretal.2016, author = {Kempert, Sebastian and G{\"o}tz, Regina and Blatter, Kristine and Tibken, Catharina and Artelt, Cordula and Schneider, Wolfgang and Stanat, Petra}, title = {Training Early Literacy Related Skills: To Which Degree Does a Musical Training Contribute to Phonological Awareness Development?}, series = {Frontiers in Psychology}, volume = {7}, journal = {Frontiers in Psychology}, number = {1803}, doi = {10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01803}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-165272}, year = {2016}, abstract = {Well-developed phonological awareness skills are a core prerequisite for early literacy development. Although effective phonological awareness training programs exist, children at risk often do not reach similar levels of phonological awareness after the intervention as children with normally developed skills. Based on theoretical considerations and first promising results the present study explores effects of an early musical training in combination with a conventional phonological training in children with weak phonological awareness skills. Using a quasi-experimental pretest-posttest control group design and measurements across a period of 2 years, we tested the effects of two interventions: a consecutive combination of a musical and a phonological training and a phonological training alone. The design made it possible to disentangle effects of the musical training alone as well the effects of its combination with the phonological training. The outcome measures of these groups were compared with the control group with multivariate analyses, controlling for a number of background variables. The sample included N = 424 German-speaking children aged 4-5 years at the beginning of the study. We found a positive relationship between musical abilities and phonological awareness. Yet, whereas the well-established phonological training produced the expected effects, adding a musical training did not contribute significantly to phonological awareness development. Training effects were partly dependent on the initial level of phonological awareness. Possible reasons for the lack of training effects in the musical part of the combination condition as well as practical implications for early literacy education are discussed.}, language = {en} } @article{LangePauli2019, author = {Lange, Bastian and Pauli, Paul}, title = {Social anxiety changes the way we move—A social approach-avoidance task in a virtual reality CAVE system}, series = {PLoS ONE}, volume = {14}, journal = {PLoS ONE}, number = {12}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0226805}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-200528}, pages = {e0226805}, year = {2019}, abstract = {Investigating approach-avoidance behavior regarding affective stimuli is important in broadening the understanding of one of the most common psychiatric disorders, social anxiety disorder. Many studies in this field rely on approach-avoidance tasks, which mainly assess hand movements, or interpersonal distance measures, which return inconsistent results and lack ecological validity. Therefore, the present study introduces a virtual reality task, looking at avoidance parameters (movement time and speed, distance to social stimulus, gaze behavior) during whole-body movements. These complex movements represent the most ecologically valid form of approach and avoidance behavior. These are at the core of complex and natural social behavior. With this newly developed task, the present study examined whether high socially anxious individuals differ in avoidance behavior when bypassing another person, here virtual humans with neutral and angry facial expressions. Results showed that virtual bystanders displaying angry facial expressions were generally avoided by all participants. In addition, high socially anxious participants generally displayed enhanced avoidance behavior towards virtual people, but no specifically exaggerated avoidance behavior towards virtual people with a negative facial expression. The newly developed virtual reality task proved to be an ecological valid tool for research on complex approach-avoidance behavior in social situations. The first results revealed that whole body approach-avoidance behavior relative to passive bystanders is modulated by their emotional facial expressions and that social anxiety generally amplifies such avoidance.}, language = {en} } @article{LenhardLenhardGary2019, author = {Lenhard, Alexandra and Lenhard, Wolfgang and Gary, Sebastian}, title = {Continuous norming of psychometric tests: A simulation study of parametric and semi-parametric approaches}, series = {PLoS ONE}, volume = {14}, journal = {PLoS ONE}, number = {9}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0222279}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-200480}, pages = {e0222279}, year = {2019}, abstract = {Continuous norming methods have seldom been subjected to scientific review. In this simulation study, we compared parametric with semi-parametric continuous norming methods in psychometric tests by constructing a fictitious population model within which a latent ability increases with age across seven age groups. We drew samples of different sizes (n = 50, 75, 100, 150, 250, 500 and 1,000 per age group) and simulated the results of an easy, medium, and difficult test scale based on Item Response Theory (IRT). We subjected the resulting data to different continuous norming methods and compared the data fit under the different test conditions with a representative cross-validation dataset of n = 10,000 per age group. The most significant differences were found in suboptimal (i.e., too easy or too difficult) test scales and in ability levels that were far from the population mean. We discuss the results with regard to the selection of the appropriate modeling techniques in psychometric test construction, the required sample sizes, and the requirement to report appropriate quantitative and qualitative test quality criteria for continuous norming methods in test manuals.}, language = {en} } @article{GromerReinkeChristneretal.2019, author = {Gromer, Daniel and Reinke, Max and Christner, Isabel and Pauli, Paul}, title = {Causal interactive links between presence and fear in virtual reality height exposure}, series = {Frontiers in Psychology}, volume = {10}, journal = {Frontiers in Psychology}, number = {141}, doi = {10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00141}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-201855}, year = {2019}, abstract = {Virtual reality plays an increasingly important role in research and therapy of pathological fear. However, the mechanisms how virtual environments elicit and modify fear responses are not yet fully understood. Presence, a psychological construct referring to the 'sense of being there' in a virtual environment, is widely assumed to crucially influence the strength of the elicited fear responses, however, causality is still under debate. The present study is the first that experimentally manipulated both variables to unravel the causal link between presence and fear responses. Height-fearful participants (N = 49) were immersed into a virtual height situation and a neutral control situation (fear manipulation) with either high versus low sensory realism (presence manipulation). Ratings of presence and verbal and physiological (skin conductance, heart rate) fear responses were recorded. Results revealed an effect of the fear manipulation on presence, i.e., higher presence ratings in the height situation compared to the neutral control situation, but no effect of the presence manipulation on fear responses. However, the presence ratings during the first exposure to the high quality neutral environment were predictive of later fear responses in the height situation. Our findings support the hypothesis that experiencing emotional responses in a virtual environment leads to a stronger feeling of being there, i.e., increase presence. In contrast, the effects of presence on fear seem to be more complex: on the one hand, increased presence due to the quality of the virtual environment did not influence fear; on the other hand, presence variability that likely stemmed from differences in user characteristics did predict later fear responses. These findings underscore the importance of user characteristics in the emergence of presence.}, language = {en} } @article{LugoQuitadamoBianchietal.2016, author = {Lugo, Zulay R. and Quitadamo, Lucia R. and Bianchi, Luigi and Pellas, Fr{\´e}deric and Veser, Sandra and Lesenfants, Damien and Real, Ruben G. L. and Herbert, Cornelia and Guger, Christoph and Kotchoubey, Boris and Mattia, Donatella and K{\"u}bler, Andrea and Laureys, Steven and Noirhomme, Quentin}, title = {Cognitive Processing in Non-Communicative Patients: What Can Event-Related Potentials Tell Us?}, series = {Frontiers in Human Neuroscience}, volume = {10}, journal = {Frontiers in Human Neuroscience}, number = {569}, doi = {10.3389/fnhum.2016.00569}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-165165}, year = {2016}, abstract = {Event-related potentials (ERP) have been proposed to improve the differential diagnosis of non-responsive patients. We investigated the potential of the P300 as a reliable marker of conscious processing in patients with locked-in syndrome (LIS). Eleven chronic LIS patients and 10 healthy subjects (HS) listened to a complex-tone auditory oddball paradigm, first in a passive condition (listen to the sounds) and then in an active condition (counting the deviant tones). Seven out of nine HS displayed a P300 waveform in the passive condition and all in the active condition. HS showed statistically significant changes in peak and area amplitude between conditions. Three out of seven LIS patients showed the P3 waveform in the passive condition and five of seven in the active condition. No changes in peak amplitude and only a significant difference at one electrode in area amplitude were observed in this group between conditions. We conclude that, in spite of keeping full consciousness and intact or nearly intact cortical functions, compared to HS, LIS patients present less reliable results when testing with ERP, specifically in the passive condition. We thus strongly recommend applying ERP paradigms in an active condition when evaluating consciousness in non-responsive patients.}, language = {en} } @article{ZhouAllisonKuebleretal.2016, author = {Zhou, Sijie and Allison, Brendan Z. and K{\"u}bler, Andrea and Cichocki, Andrzej and Wang, Xingyu and Jin, Jing}, title = {Effects of Background Music on Objective and Subjective Performance Measures in an Auditory BCI}, series = {Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience}, volume = {10}, journal = {Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience}, number = {105}, doi = {10.3389/fncom.2016.00105}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-165101}, year = {2016}, abstract = {Several studies have explored brain computer interface (BCI) systems based on auditory stimuli, which could help patients with visual impairments. Usability and user satisfaction are important considerations in any BCI. Although background music can influence emotion and performance in other task environments, and many users may wish to listen to music while using a BCI, auditory, and other BCIs are typically studied without background music. Some work has explored the possibility of using polyphonic music in auditory BCI systems. However, this approach requires users with good musical skills, and has not been explored in online experiments. Our hypothesis was that an auditory BCI with background music would be preferred by subjects over a similar BCI without background music, without any difference in BCI performance. We introduce a simple paradigm (which does not require musical skill) using percussion instrument sound stimuli and background music, and evaluated it in both offline and online experiments. The result showed that subjects preferred the auditory BCI with background music. Different performance measures did not reveal any significant performance effect when comparing background music vs. no background. Since the addition of background music does not impair BCI performance but is preferred by users, auditory (and perhaps other) BCIs should consider including it. Our study also indicates that auditory BCIs can be effective even if the auditory channel is simultaneously otherwise engaged.}, language = {en} } @article{NeuederAndreattaPauli2019, author = {Neueder, Dorothea and Andreatta, Marta and Pauli, Paul}, title = {Contextual fear conditioning and fear generalization in individuals with panic attacks}, series = {Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience}, volume = {13}, journal = {Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience}, doi = {10.3389/fnbeh.2019.00152}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-201318}, pages = {152}, year = {2019}, abstract = {Context conditioning is characterized by unpredictable threat and its generalization may constitute risk factors for panic disorder (PD). Therefore, we examined differences between individuals with panic attacks (PA; N = 21) and healthy controls (HC, N = 22) in contextual learning and context generalization using a virtual reality (VR) paradigm. Successful context conditioning was indicated in both groups by higher arousal, anxiety and contingency ratings, and increased startle responses and skin conductance levels (SCLs) in an anxiety context (CTX+) where an aversive unconditioned stimulus (US) occurred unpredictably vs. a safety context (CTX-). PA compared to HC exhibited increased differential responding to CTX+ vs. CTX- and overgeneralization of contextual anxiety on an evaluative verbal level, but not on a physiological level. We conclude that increased contextual conditioning and contextual generalization may constitute risk factors for PD or agoraphobia contributing to the characteristic avoidance of anxiety contexts and withdrawal to safety contexts and that evaluative cognitive process may play a major role.}, language = {en} } @article{ReichertsPauliMoesleretal.2019, author = {Reicherts, Philipp and Pauli, Paul and M{\"o}sler, Camilla and Wieser, Matthias J.}, title = {Placebo manipulations reverse pain potentiation by unpleasant affective stimuli}, series = {Frontiers in Psychiatry}, volume = {10}, journal = {Frontiers in Psychiatry}, number = {663}, doi = {10.3389/fpsyt.2019.00663}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-201200}, year = {2019}, abstract = {According to the motivational priming hypothesis, unpleasant stimuli activate the motivational defense system, which in turn promotes congruent affective states such as negative emotions and pain. The question arises to what degree this bottom-up impact of emotions on pain is susceptible to a manipulation of top-down-driven expectations. To this end, we investigated whether verbal instructions implying pain potentiation vs. reduction (placebo or nocebo expectations)—later on confirmed by corresponding experiences (placebo or nocebo conditioning)—might alter behavioral and neurophysiological correlates of pain modulation by unpleasant pictures. We compared two groups, which underwent three experimental phases: first, participants were either instructed that watching unpleasant affective pictures would increase pain (nocebo group) or that watching unpleasant pictures would decrease pain (placebo group) relative to neutral pictures. During the following placebo/nocebo-conditioning phase, pictures were presented together with electrical pain stimuli of different intensities, reinforcing the instructions. In the subsequent test phase, all pictures were presented again combined with identical pain stimuli. Electroencephalogram was recorded in order to analyze neurophysiological responses of pain (somatosensory evoked potential) and picture processing [visually evoked late positive potential (LPP)], in addition to pain ratings. In the test phase, ratings of pain stimuli administered while watching unpleasant relative to neutral pictures were significantly higher in the nocebo group, thus confirming the motivational priming effect for pain perception. In the placebo group, this effect was reversed such that unpleasant compared with neutral pictures led to significantly lower pain ratings. Similarly, somatosensory evoked potentials were decreased during unpleasant compared with neutral pictures, in the placebo group only. LPPs of the placebo group failed to discriminate between unpleasant and neutral pictures, while the LPPs of the nocebo group showed a clear differentiation. We conclude that the placebo manipulation already affected the processing of the emotional stimuli and, in consequence, the processing of the pain stimuli. In summary, the study revealed that the modulation of pain by emotions, albeit a reliable and well-established finding, is further tuned by reinforced expectations—known to induce placebo/nocebo effects—which should be addressed in future research and considered in clinical applications.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Hoffmann2020, author = {Hoffmann, Mareike}, title = {Effector System Prioritization in Multitasking}, doi = {10.25972/OPUS-20108}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-201084}, school = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Multitasking, defined as performing more than one task at a time, typically yields performance decrements, for instance, in processing speed and accuracy. These performance costs are often distributed asymmetrically among the involved tasks. Under suitable conditions, this can be interpreted as a marker for prioritization of one task - the one that suffers less - over the other. One source of such task prioritization is based on the use of different effector systems (e.g., oculomotor system, vocal tract, limbs) and their characteristics. The present work explores such effector system-based task prioritization by examining to which extent associated effector systems determine which task is processed with higher priority in multitasking situations. Thus, three different paradigms are used, namely the simultaneous (stimulus) onset paradigm, the psychological refractory period (PRP) paradigm, and the task switching paradigm. These paradigms invoke situations in which two (in the present studies basic spatial decision) tasks are a) initiated at exactly the same time, b) initiated with a short varying temporal distance (but still temporally overlapping), or c) in which tasks alternate randomly (without temporal overlap). The results allow for three major conclusions: 1. The assumption of effector system-based task prioritization according to an ordinal pattern (oculomotor > pedal > vocal > manual, indicating decreasing prioritization) is supported by the observed data in the simultaneous onset paradigm. This data pattern cannot be explained by a rigid "first come, first served" task scheduling principle. 2. The data from the PRP paradigm confirmed the assumption of vocal-over-manual prioritization and showed that classic PRP effects (as a marker for task order-based prioritization) can be modulated by effector system characteristics. 3. The mere cognitive representation of task sets (that must be held active to switch between them) differing in effector systems without an actual temporal overlap in task processing, however, is not sufficient to elicit the same effector system prioritization phenomena observed for overlapping tasks. In summary, the insights obtained by the present work support the assumptions of parallel central task processing and resource sharing among tasks, as opposed to exclusively serial processing of central processing stages. Moreover, they indicate that effector systems are a crucial factor in multitasking and suggest an integration of corresponding weighting parameters in existing dual-task control frameworks.}, subject = {Mehrfacht{\"a}tigkeit}, language = {en} } @article{SchneiderHuestegge2019, author = {Schneider, Norbert and Huestegge, Lynn}, title = {Interaction of oculomotor and manual behavior: evidence from simulated driving in an approach-avoidance steering task}, series = {Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications}, volume = {4}, journal = {Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications}, doi = {10.1186/s41235-019-0170-7}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-200419}, pages = {19}, year = {2019}, abstract = {Background While the coordination of oculomotor and manual behavior is essential for driving a car, surprisingly little is known about this interaction, especially in situations requiring a quick steering reaction. In the present study, we analyzed oculomotor gaze and manual steering behavior in approach and avoidance tasks. Three task blocks were implemented within a dynamic simulated driving environment requiring the driver either to steer away from/toward a visual stimulus or to switch between both tasks. Results Task blocks requiring task switches were associated with higher manual response times and increased error rates. Manual response times did not significantly differ depending on whether drivers had to steer away from vs toward a stimulus, whereas oculomotor response times and gaze pattern variability were increased when drivers had to steer away from a stimulus compared to steering toward a stimulus. Conclusion The increased manual response times and error rates in mixed tasks indicate performance costs associated with cognitive flexibility, while the increased oculomotor response times and gaze pattern variability indicate a parsimonious cross-modal action control strategy (avoiding stimulus fixation prior to steering away from it) for the avoidance scenario. Several discrepancies between these results and typical eye-hand interaction patterns in basic laboratory research suggest that the specific goals and complex perceptual affordances associated with driving a vehicle strongly shape cross-modal control of behavior.}, language = {en} } @article{PfisterFringsMoeller2019, author = {Pfister, Roland and Frings, Christian and Moeller, Birte}, title = {The Role of Congruency for Distractor-Response Binding: A Caveat}, series = {Advances in Cognitive Psychologe}, volume = {15}, journal = {Advances in Cognitive Psychologe}, number = {2}, doi = {10.5709/acp-0262-1}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-200265}, pages = {127-132}, year = {2019}, abstract = {Responding in the presence of stimuli leads to an integration of stimulus features and response features into event fles, which can later be retrieved to assist action control. This integration mechanism is not limited to target stimuli, but can also include distractors (distractor-response binding). A recurring research question is which factors determine whether or not distractors are integrated. One suggested candidate factor is target-distractor congruency: Distractor-response binding effects were reported to be stronger for congruent than for incongruent target-distractor pairs. Here, we discuss a general problem with including the factor of congruency in typical analyses used to study distractor-based binding effects. Integrating this factor leads to a confound that may explain any differences between distractor-response binding effects of congruent and incongruent distractors with a simple congruency effect. Simulation data confrmed this argument. We propose to interpret previous data cautiously and discuss potential avenues to circumvent this problem in the future.}, language = {en} } @article{WallmannSperlichHoffmannSaldittetal.2019, author = {Wallmann-Sperlich, Birgit and Hoffmann, Sophie and Salditt, Anne and Bipp, Tanja and Froboese, Ingo}, title = {Moving to an "active" biophilic designed office workplace: a pilot study about the effects on sitting time and sitting habits of office-based workers}, series = {International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health}, volume = {16}, journal = {International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health}, number = {9}, issn = {1660-4601}, doi = {10.3390/ijerph16091559}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-197371}, pages = {1559}, year = {2019}, abstract = {Promising initial insights show that offices designed to permit physical activity (PA) may reduce workplace sitting time. Biophilic approaches are intended to introduce natural surroundings into the workplace, and preliminary data show positive effects on stress reduction and elevated productivity within the workplace. The primary aim of this pilot study was to analyze changes in workplace sitting time and self-reported habit strength concerning uninterrupted sitting and PA during work, when relocating from a traditional office setting to "active" biophilic-designed surroundings. The secondary aim was to assess possible changes in work-associated factors such as satisfaction with the office environment, work engagement, and work performance, among office staff. In a pre-post designed field study, we collected data through an online survey on health behavior at work. Twelve participants completed the survey before (one-month pre-relocation, T1) and twice after the office relocation (three months (T2) and seven months post-relocation (T3)). Standing time per day during office hours increased from T1 to T3 by about 40 min per day (p < 0.01). Other outcomes remained unaltered. The results suggest that changing office surroundings to an active-permissive biophilic design increased standing time during working hours. Future larger-scale controlled studies are warranted to investigate the influence of office design on sitting time and work-associated factors during working hours in depth.}, language = {en} } @article{EderDignath2019, author = {Eder, Andreas B. and Dignath, David}, title = {Expected value of control and the motivational control of habitual action}, series = {Frontiers in Psychology}, volume = {10}, journal = {Frontiers in Psychology}, number = {1812}, issn = {1664-1078}, doi = {10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01812}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-195703}, year = {2019}, abstract = {A hallmark of habitual actions is that, once they are established, they become insensitive to changes in the values of action outcomes. In this article, we review empirical research that examined effects of posttraining changes in outcome values in outcome-selective Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer (PIT) tasks. This review suggests that cue-instigated action tendencies in these tasks are not affected by weak and/or incomplete revaluation procedures (e.g., selective satiety) and substantially disrupted by a strong and complete devaluation of reinforcers. In a second part, we discuss two alternative models of a motivational control of habitual action: a default-interventionist framework and expected value of control theory. It is argued that the default-interventionist framework cannot solve the problem of an infinite regress (i.e., what controls the controller?). In contrast, expected value of control can explain control of habitual actions with local computations and feedback loops without (implicit) references to control homunculi. It is argued that insensitivity to changes in action outcomes is not an intrinsic design feature of habits but, rather, a function of the cognitive system that controls habitual action tendencies.}, language = {en} } @article{RoeslerRuboGamer2019, author = {R{\"o}sler, Lara and Rubo, Marius and Gamer, Matthias}, title = {Artificial faces predict gaze allocation in complex dynamic scenes}, series = {Frontiers in Psychology}, volume = {10}, journal = {Frontiers in Psychology}, number = {2877}, issn = {1664-1078}, doi = {10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02877}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-193024}, year = {2019}, abstract = {Both low-level physical saliency and social information, as presented by human heads or bodies, are known to drive gaze behavior in free-viewing tasks. Researchers have previously made use of a great variety of face stimuli, ranging from photographs of real humans to schematic faces, frequently without systematically differentiating between the two. In the current study, we used a Generalized Linear Mixed Model (GLMM) approach to investigate to what extent schematic artificial faces can predict gaze when they are presented alone or in competition with real human faces. Relative differences in predictive power became apparent, while GLMMs suggest substantial effects for real and artificial faces in all conditions. Artificial faces were accordingly less predictive than real human faces but still contributed significantly to gaze allocation. These results help to further our understanding of how social information guides gaze in complex naturalistic scenes.}, language = {en} } @misc{RodriguezMartinMeule2015, author = {Rodr{\´i}guez-Mart{\´i}n, Boris C. and Meule, Adrian}, title = {Food craving: new contributions on its assessment, moderators, and consequences}, series = {Frontiers in Psychology}, volume = {6}, journal = {Frontiers in Psychology}, number = {21}, issn = {1664-1078}, doi = {10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00021}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-190299}, year = {2015}, abstract = {No abstract available.}, language = {en} } @article{MatuzBirbaumerHautzingeretal., author = {Matuz, Tamara and Birbaumer, Niels and Hautzinger, Martin and K{\"u}bler, Andrea}, title = {Psychosocial adjustment to ALS: a longitudinal study}, series = {Frontiers in Psychology}, volume = {6}, journal = {Frontiers in Psychology}, number = {1197}, issn = {1664-1078}, doi = {10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01197}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-190208}, abstract = {For the current study the Lazarian stress-coping theory and the appendant model of psychosocial adjustment to chronic illness and disabilities (Pakenham, 1999) has shaped the foundation for identifying determinants of adjustment to ALS. We aimed to investigate the evolution of psychosocial adjustment to ALS and to determine its long-term predictors. A longitudinal study design with four measurement time points was therefore, used to assess patients' quality of life, depression, and stress-coping model related aspects, such as illness characteristics, social support, cognitive appraisals, and coping strategies during a period of 2 years. Regression analyses revealed that 55\% of the variance of severity of depressive symptoms and 47\% of the variance in quality of life at T2 was accounted for by all the T1 predictor variables taken together. On the level of individual contributions, protective buffering, and appraisal of own coping potential accounted for a significant percentage in the variance in severity of depressive symptoms, whereas problem management coping strategies explained variance in quality of life scores. Illness characteristics at T2 did not explain any variance of both adjustment outcomes. Overall, the pattern of the longitudinal results indicated stable depressive symptoms and quality of life indices reflecting a successful adjustment to the disease across four measurement time points during a period of about two years. Empirical evidence is provided for the predictive value of social support, cognitive appraisals, and coping strategies, but not illness parameters such as severity and duration for adaptation to ALS. The current study contributes to a better conceptualization of adjustment, allowing us to provide evidence-based support beyond medical and physical intervention for people with ALS.}, language = {en} } @article{StrackPauliWeyers, author = {Strack, Fritz and Pauli, Paul and Weyers, Peter}, title = {Editorial: Emotion and Behavior}, series = {Frontiers in Psychology}, volume = {7}, journal = {Frontiers in Psychology}, number = {313}, issn = {1664-1078}, doi = {10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00313}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-190177}, abstract = {No abstract available.}, language = {en} } @article{EderRothermundHommel, author = {Eder, Andreas B. and Rothermund, Klaus and Hommel, Bernhard}, title = {Commentary: Contrasting motivational orientation and evaluative coding accounts: on the need to differentiate the effectors of approach/avoidance responses}, series = {Frontiers in Psychology}, volume = {7}, journal = {Frontiers in Psychology}, number = {163}, issn = {1664-1078}, doi = {10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00163}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-190141}, abstract = {A commentary on "Contrasting motivational orientation and evaluative coding accounts: on the need to differentiate the effectors of approach/avoidance responses" by Kozlik, J., Neumann, R., and Lozo, L. (2015). Front. Psychol. 6:563. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00563}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Ghafoor2020, author = {Ghafoor, Hina}, title = {Coping with Psychosocial Stress: Examining the Roles of Emotional Intelligence and Coping Strategies in Germany and Pakistan}, doi = {10.25972/OPUS-19351}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-193519}, school = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Maladaptive coping mechanisms influence health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of individuals facing acute and chronic stress. Trait emotional intelligence (EI) may provide a protective shield against the debilitating effects of maladaptive coping thus contributing to maintained HRQoL. Low trait EI, on the other hand, may predispose individuals to apply maladaptive coping, consequently resulting in lower HRQoL. The current research is comprised of two studies. Study 1 was designed to investigate the protective effects of trait EI and its utility for efficient coping in dealing with the stress caused by chronic heart failure (CHF) in a cross-cultural setting (Pakistan vs Germany). N = 200 CHF patients were recruited at cardiology institutes of Multan, Pakistan and W{\"u}rzburg as well as Brandenburg, Germany. Path analysis confirmed the expected relation between low trait EI and low HRQoL and revealed that this association was mediated by maladaptive metacognitions and negative coping strategies in Pakistani but not German CHF patients. Interestingly, also the specific coping strategies were culture-specific. The Pakistani sample considered religious coping to be highly important, whereas the German sample was focused on adopting a healthy lifestyle such as doing exercise. These findings are in line with cultural characteristics suggesting that German CHF patients have an internal locus of control as compared to an external locus of control in Pakistani CHF patients. Finally, the findings from study 1 corroborate the culture-independent validity of the metacognitive model of generalized anxiety disorder. In addition to low trait EI, high interoception accuracy (IA) may predispose individuals to interpret cardiac symptoms as threatening, thus leading to anxiety. To examine this proposition, Study 2 compared individuals with high vs low IA in dealing with a psychosocial stressor (public speaking) in an experimental lab study. In addition, a novel physiological intervention named transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation (t-VNS) and cognitive reappraisal (CR) were applied during and after the anticipation of the speech in order to facilitate coping with stress. N= 99 healthy volunteers participated in the study. Results showed interesting descriptive results that only reached trend level. They suggested a tendency of high IA individuals to perceive the situation as more threatening as indicated by increased heart rate and reduced heart rate variability in the high-frequency spectrum as well as high subjective anxiety during anticipation of and actual performance of the speech. This suggests a potential vulnerability of high IA individuals for developing anxiety disorders, specifically social anxiety disorder, in case negative self-focused attention and negative evaluation is applied to the (more prominently perceived) increased cardiac responding during anticipation of and the actual presentation of the public speech. The study did not reveal any significant protective effects of t-VNS and CR. In summary, the current research suggested that low trait EI and high IA predicted worse psychological adjustment to chronic and acute distress. Low trait EI facilitated maladaptive metacognitive processes resulting in the use of negative coping strategies in Study 1; however, increased IA regarding cardioceptions predicted high physiological arousal in study 2. Finally, the German vs. the Pakistani culture greatly affected the preference for specific coping strategies. These findings have implications for caregivers to provide culture-specific treatments on the one hand. On the other hand, they highlight high IA as a possible vulnerability to be targeted for the prevention of (social) anxiety.}, subject = {Deutschland}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Kass2019, author = {Kaß, Christina}, title = {Unnecessary Alarms in Driving: The Impact of Discrepancies between Human and Machine Situation Awareness on Drivers' Perception and Behaviour}, doi = {10.25972/OPUS-19252}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-192520}, school = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg}, year = {2019}, abstract = {Forward Collision Alarms (FCA) intend to signal hazardous traffic situations and the need for an immediate corrective driver response. However, data of naturalistic driving studies revealed that approximately the half of all alarms activated by conventional FCA systems represented unnecessary alarms. In these situations, the alarm activation was correct according to the implemented algorithm, whereas the alarms led to no or only minimal driver responses. Psychological research can make an important contribution to understand drivers' needs when interacting with driver assistance systems. The overarching objective of this thesis was to gain a systematic understanding of psychological factors and processes that influence drivers' perceived need for assistance in potential collision situations. To elucidate under which conditions drivers perceive alarms as unnecessary, a theoretical framework of drivers' subjective alarm evaluation was developed. A further goal was to investigate the impact of unnecessary alarms on drivers' responses and acceptance. Four driving simulator studies were carried out to examine the outlined research questions. In line with the hypotheses derived from the theoretical framework, the results suggest that drivers' perceived need for assistance is determined by their retrospective subjective hazard perception. While predictions of conventional FCA systems are exclusively based on physical measurements resulting in a time to collision, human drivers additionally consider their own manoeuvre intentions and those attributed to other road users to anticipate the further course of a potentially critical situation. When drivers anticipate a dissolving outcome of a potential conflict, they perceive the situation as less hazardous than the system. Based on this discrepancy, the system would activate an alarm, while drivers' perceived need for assistance is low. To sum up, the described factors and processes cause drivers to perceive certain alarms as unnecessary. Although drivers accept unnecessary alarms less than useful alarms, unnecessary alarms do not reduce their overall system acceptance. While unnecessary alarms cause moderate driver responses in the short term, the intensity of responses decrease with multiple exposures to unnecessary alarms. However, overall, effects of unnecessary alarms on drivers' alarm responses and acceptance seem to be rather uncritical. This thesis provides insights into human factors that explain when FCAs are perceived as unnecessary. These factors might contribute to design FCA systems tailored to drivers' needs.}, subject = {Fahrerassistenzsystem}, language = {en} } @article{FoersterPfisterReussetal.2017, author = {Foerster, Anna and Pfister, Roland and Reuss, Heiko and Kunde, Wilfried}, title = {Commentary: Feeling the Conflict: The Crucial Role of Conflict Experience in Adaptation}, series = {Frontiers in Psychology}, volume = {8}, journal = {Frontiers in Psychology}, number = {1405}, issn = {1664-1078}, doi = {10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01405}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-190032}, year = {2017}, abstract = {A commentary on: Feeling the Conflict: The Crucial Role of Conflict Experience in Adaptationby Desender, K., Van Opstal, F., and Van den Bussche, E. (2014). Psychol. Sci. 25, 675-683. doi:10.1177/0956797613511468 Conflict adaptation in masked priming has recently been proposed to rely not on successful conflictresolution but rather on conflict experience (Desender et al., 2014). We re-assessed this proposal ina direct replication and also tested a potential confound due toconflict strength. The data supported this alternative view, but also failed to replicate basic conflict adaptation effects of the original studydespite considerable power.}, language = {en} }