TY - JOUR A1 - Käthner, Ivo A1 - Halder, Sebastian A1 - Hintermüller, Christoph A1 - Espinosa, Arnau A1 - Guger, Christoph A1 - Miralles, Felip A1 - Vargiu, Eloisa A1 - Dauwalder, Stefan A1 - Rafael-Palou, Xavier A1 - Solà, Marc A1 - Daly, Jean M. A1 - Armstrong, Elaine A1 - Martin, Suzanne A1 - Kübler, Andrea T1 - A Multifunctional Brain-Computer Interface Intended for Home Use: An Evaluation with Healthy Participants and Potential End Users with Dry and Gel-Based Electrodes JF - Frontiers in Neuroscience N2 - Current brain-computer interface (BCIs) software is often tailored to the needs of scientists and technicians and therefore complex to allow for versatile use. To facilitate home use of BCIs a multifunctional P300 BCI with a graphical user interface intended for non-expert set-up and control was designed and implemented. The system includes applications for spelling, web access, entertainment, artistic expression and environmental control. In addition to new software, it also includes new hardware for the recording of electroencephalogram (EEG) signals. The EEG system consists of a small and wireless amplifier attached to a cap that can be equipped with gel-based or dry contact electrodes. The system was systematically evaluated with a healthy sample, and targeted end users of BCI technology, i.e., people with a varying degree of motor impairment tested the BCI in a series of individual case studies. Usability was assessed in terms of effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction. Feedback of users was gathered with structured questionnaires. Two groups of healthy participants completed an experimental protocol with the gel-based and the dry contact electrodes (N = 10 each). The results demonstrated that all healthy participants gained control over the system and achieved satisfactory to high accuracies with both gel-based and dry electrodes (average error rates of 6 and 13%). Average satisfaction ratings were high, but certain aspects of the system such as the wearing comfort of the dry electrodes and design of the cap, and speed (in both groups) were criticized by some participants. Six potential end users tested the system during supervised sessions. The achieved accuracies varied greatly from no control to high control with accuracies comparable to that of healthy volunteers. Satisfaction ratings of the two end-users that gained control of the system were lower as compared to healthy participants. The advantages and disadvantages of the BCI and its applications are discussed and suggestions are presented for improvements to pave the way for user friendly BCIs intended to be used as assistive technology by persons with severe paralysis. KW - end-user evaluation KW - brain-computer interface KW - EEG KW - practical electrodes KW - assistive technology Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-157925 VL - 11 IS - 286 ER - TY - THES A1 - Beinicke, Andrea T1 - Career Construction Across the Life Span: Career Choice and Career Development T1 - Karrierekonstruktion über die Lebensspanne: Karriereentscheidung und Karriereentwicklung N2 - This dissertation contributes to deepen our understanding of constructs that play a key role in individuals’ vocational career construction. In this regard, many previous studies have focused exclusively on a specific phase of an individual’s career. Yet, modern societies require continuous investments in one’s career to adapt to changing Environments throughout the life span. Consequently, this dissertation takes a broad approach to capture a wide spectrum of career construction processes. According to Super’s (1990) developmental stage framework, individuals have to manage vocational developmental tasks corresponding to each of the developmental life stages in order to be career mature across the life span. As the two stages exploration and maintenance set the stage for individuals’ future career pathways, they are especially important in individuals’ vocational career construction. Therefore, both of them are addressed in this dissertation. By answering open research questions relevant to career choice in early career stages and to career development in later career stages, this dissertation contributes to the overarching goal of shedding more light on constructs relevant to individuals’ vocational career construction processes across the life span. Beyond the results presented within each study’s horizon, this dissertation aimed at offering practical guidance to career counselors, trainees, and training and development (T&D) professionals. Career counselors and T&D professionals are involved in guiding vocational career construction processes of individuals across the life span. Thus, on the one hand, this dissertation supports career counselors’ work so that they can help deliberating individuals make optimal and effective career choices. On the other hand, this dissertation facilitates T&D professionals’ work so that they can effectively design and evaluate e‐learning and classroom trainings in corporate educational settings. Identifying individuals’ vocational interests combined with cognitive abilities through adequate test measures and maximizing success of learning and success of transfer through fostering evidence‐based transfer support actions will help individuals adapt quickly to the changing nature of work environments in the 21st century and to continue to successfully construct careers across the life span. N2 - Diese Promotion trägt dazu bei, unser Verständnis jener Konstrukte zu vertiefen, die eine entscheidende Rolle bei der beruflichen Karriereplanung von Individuen spielen. Viele bisherige Studien haben sich in dieser Hinsicht ausschließlich auf eine spezielle Karrierephase konzentriert. Jedoch verlangt die moderne Gesellschaft, dass Individuen kontinuierlich in ihre Karriere investieren, um sich über die Lebensspanne hinweg an die ständig verändernden Umweltbedingungen anpassen zu können. Demzufolge wählt diese Promotion einen umfassenden Ansatz mit dem Ziel, ein breiteres Spektrum an Prozessen der Karriereplanung zu erfassen. Laut des Entwicklungsstufenkonzepts über die Lebensspanne von Super (1990) müssen Individuen in jeder der Entwicklungsstufen berufliche Entwicklungsaufgaben meistern, um der Karriere ‐ über die Lebensspanne ‐ gewachsen zu sein. Da die beiden Stufen Exploration und Erhaltung zukünftige Karrierewege bahnen, sind diese bei der beruflichen Karriereplanung von Individuen besonders wichtig und stehen deshalb im Fokus dieser Promotion. Durch die Beantwortung offener Forschungsfragen, die sowohl für die Berufswahl in frühen Karrierestufen als auch für die Karriereentwicklung in späteren Karrierestufen relevant sind, trägt diese Promotion zu dem übergeordneten Ziel bei, Konstrukte zu beleuchten, die für den Prozess der individuellen Karriereplanung über die Lebensspanne bedeutsam sind. Neben den Ergebnissen, die im Rahmen der Studien präsentiert wurden, beabsichtigt diese Promotion Karriereberatern, Lernenden und Personalentwicklern praktische Hilfestellungen zu geben. Karriereberater und Personalentwickler sind an der Lenkung von Prozessen der beruflichen Karriereplanung über die Lebensspanne beteiligt. Deshalb versucht diese Promotion einerseits die Arbeit von Karriereberatern zu unterstützen, damit sie unentschlossenen Individuen dabei helfen können, optimale und effektive Karriereentscheidungen zu treffen. Andererseits versucht diese Promotion Personalentwicklern Unterstützung zu bieten, damit sie Umgebungen für E‐Learning und Präsenztrainings im Unternehmen effektiv gestalten und bewerten können. Die Identifikation individueller beruflicher Interessen zusammen mit kognitiven Fähigkeiten mittels adäquater Testverfahren und die Maximierung des Lern‐ und Transfererfolgs mittels Implementierung evidenzbasierter transferförderlicher Maßnahmen sollen dabei helfen, sich schnell an die Veränderungen der Arbeitsumgebungen des 21. Jahrhunderts anzupassen, und eine erfolgreiche Karriere über die Lebensspanne zu durchlaufen. KW - Karriere KW - Beruf KW - career construction KW - vocational interests KW - training evaluation KW - Erwachsener KW - Psychologie KW - career choice KW - career development Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-117447 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Erlbeck, Helena A1 - Mochty, Ursula A1 - Kübler, Andrea A1 - Real, Ruben G. L. T1 - Circadian course of the P300 ERP in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis - implications for brain-computer interfaces (BCI) JF - BMC Neurology N2 - Background: Accidents or neurodegenerative diseases like amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) can lead to progressing, extensive, and complete paralysis leaving patients aware but unable to communicate (locked-in state). Brain-computer interfaces (BCI) based on electroencephalography represent an important approach to establish communication with these patients. The most common BCI for communication rely on the P300, a positive deflection arising in response to rare events. To foster broader application of BCIs for restoring lost function, also for end-users with impaired vision, we explored whether there were specific time windows during the day in which a P300 driven BCI should be preferably applied. Methods: The present study investigated the influence of time of the day and modality (visual vs. auditory) on P300 amplitude and latency. A sample of 14 patients (end-users) with ALS and 14 healthy age matched volunteers participated in the study and P300 event-related potentials (ERP) were recorded at four different times (10, 12 am, 2, & 4 pm) during the day. Results: Results indicated no differences in P300 amplitudes or latencies between groups (ALS patients v. healthy participants) or time of measurement. In the auditory condition, latencies were shorter and amplitudes smaller as compared to the visual condition. Conclusion: Our findings suggest applicability of EEG/BCI sessions in patients with ALS throughout normal waking hours. Future studies using actual BCI systems are needed to generalize these findings with regard to BCI effectiveness/efficiency and other times of day. KW - brain computer interface KW - amyotrophic lateral sclerosis KW - ALS KW - P300 KW - auditory KW - visual KW - BCI Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-157423 VL - 17 IS - 3 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Foerster, Anna A1 - Pfister, Roland A1 - Reuss, Heiko A1 - Kunde, Wilfried T1 - Commentary: Feeling the Conflict: The Crucial Role of Conflict Experience in Adaptation JF - Frontiers in Psychology N2 - 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. KW - conflict adaptation KW - conflict experience KW - conflict strength KW - cognitive conflict KW - cognitive control Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-190032 SN - 1664-1078 VL - 8 IS - 1405 ER - TY - THES A1 - Wirth, Robert T1 - Consequences of bending and breaking the rules T1 - Konsequenzen von Regelbrüchen N2 - Social life is organized around rules and norms. The present experiments investigate the cognitive architecture of rule violations. To do so, a setting with arbitrary rules that had to be followed or broken was developed, and breaking these rules did not have any negative consequences. Removed from any social influences that might further encourage or hinder the rule breaker, results suggest that simply labeling a behavior as a rule violation comes with specific costs: They are more difficult to plan and come with specific behavioral markers during execution. In essence, rule violations resemble rule negations, but they also trigger additional processes. The question of what makes rule violations more difficult than rule inversions is the major focus of the remaining experiments. These experiments revealed negative affective consequences of rule violation and rule inversions alike, while rule violations additionally prime authority-related concepts, thus sensitizing towards authority related stimuli. Next, the question how these burdens of non-conformity can be mitigated was investigated, and the influence of having executed the behavior in question frequently and recently was tested in both negations and rule violations. The burdens of non-conformity can best be reduced by a combination of having violated/negated a rule very frequently and very recently. Transfer from another task, however, could not be identified. To conclude, a model that accounts for the data that is currently presented is proposed. As a variant of a task switching model, it describes the cognitive processes that were investigated and highlights unique processing steps that rule violations seem to require. N2 - Soziales Miteinander ist durch Regeln und Normen organisiert. Die hier beschriebenen Experimente untersuchen die kognitive Architektur von absichtsvollen Regelverstößen. Dazu wurde ein Setting entwickelt, in dem Regeln befolgt oder gebrochen werden mussten, und das Brechen dieser Regeln keine negativen Konsequenzen nach sich zog. Selbst ohne soziale Unterstützung, die das Brechen von Regeln leichter oder schwerer machen könnte, fanden wir, dass allein das Bezeichnen eines Verhaltens als Regelverletzung spezifische Kosten erzeugte: Die Planung dieses Verhaltens ist deutlich erschwert, und die Ausführung zeigt spezifische Verhaltensmuster. Regelverletzungen ähneln hierbei im weitesten Sinne Negationen, aber beinhalten zusätzliche Komponenten. Die Frage wie genau sich die kognitive Kontrolle regelwidriger Verhaltensweisen von der Verarbeitung von Negationen unterscheidet, steht im Zentrum der vorliegenden Arbeit. Die folgenden Experimente zeigen darüber hinaus neben negativen affektiven Konsequenzen, die sowohl Regelbrüche als auch Negationen vorweisen, insbesondere eine direkte Bahnung autoritätsbezogener Konzepte, die eine spezifische Begleiterscheinung absichtsvoller Regelverstöße darstellt. Als nächstes wurde getestet, wie die kognitiven Kosten von Regelverletzungen durch kürzliche oder häufige Ausführung gemindert werden können. Hier zeigte sich, dass die Kombination aus beiden Faktoren die größte Reduktion kognitiver Kosten des Regelverstoßes erbrachte. Ein Transfer von kognitiver Kontrolle von einer anderen Aufgabe konnte jedoch nicht beobachtet werden. Ein Modell, das die hier dargestellten empirischen Ergebnisse vereint, wird abschließend diskutiert. Als Variation eines Modells zum Aufgabenwechsel erklärt es die kognitiven Prozesse, die einer Regelverletzung unterliegen und zeigt Verarbeitungsschritte auf, die für Regelverletzungen spezifisch sind KW - rule violations KW - Soziale Norm KW - Regelverstoß Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-155075 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Pieczykolan, Aleks A1 - Huestegge, Lynn T1 - Cross-modal Action Complexity: Action- and Rule-related Memory Retrieval in Dual-response Control JF - Frontiers in Psychology N2 - Normally, we do not act within a single effector system only, but rather coordinate actions across several output modules (cross-modal action). Such cross-modal action demands can vary substantially with respect to their complexity in terms of the number of task-relevant response combinations and to-be-retrieved stimulus-response (S-R) mapping rules. In the present study, we study the impact of these two types of cross-modal action complexity on dual-response costs (i.e., performance differences between single- and dual-action demands). In Experiment 1, we combined a manual and an oculomotor task, each involving four response alternatives. Crucially, one (unconstrained) condition involved all 16 possible combinations of response alternatives, whereas a constrained condition involved only a subset of possible response combinations. The results revealed that preparing for a larger number of response combinations yielded a significant, but moderate increase in dual-response costs. In Experiment 2, we utilized one common lateralized auditory (e.g., left) stimulus to trigger incompatible response compounds (e.g., left saccade and right key press or vice versa). While one condition only involved one set of task-relevant S-R rules, another condition involved two sets of task-relevant rules (coded by stimulus type: noise/tone), while the number of task-relevant response combinations was the same in both conditions. Here, an increase in the number of to-be-retrieved S-R rules was associated with a substantial increase in dual-response costs that were also modulated on a trial-by-trial basis when switching between rules. Taken together, the results shed further light on the dependency of cross-modal action control on both action- and rule-related memory retrieval processes. KW - task rules KW - cross-modal action KW - dual tasks KW - dual-response costs KW - oculomotor control Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-157794 VL - 8 IS - 529 ER - TY - THES A1 - Will, Sebastian T1 - Development of a presence model for driving simulators based on speed perception in a motorcycle riding simulator T1 - Entwicklung eines Präsenzmodells für Fahrsimulatoren basierend auf der Geschwindigkeitswahrnehmung in einem Motorradfahrsimulator N2 - Driving simulators are powerful research tools. Countless simulator studies have contributed to traffic safety over the last decades. Constant improvements in simulator technology call for a measureable scale to assess driving simulators with regard to their utility in human factors research. A promising psychological construct to do so is presence. It is commonly defined as the feeling of being located in a remote or virtual environment that seems to be real. Another aspect of presence describes the ability to act there successfully. The main aim of this thesis is to develop a presence model dedicated to the application in driving simulators. Established models have been combined and extended in order to gain a comprehensive model of presence that allows understanding its emergence and deriving recommendations on how to design or improve driving simulators. The five studies presented in this thesis investigate specific postulated model components and their interactions. All studies deal with motorcycling or a motorcycle riding simulator as exemplary field of application. The first study used a speed estimation task to investigate the contribution of different sensory cues to presence. While visualization plays a particularly important role, further improvements could be achieved by adding more consistent sensory stimuli to the virtual environment. Auditory, proprioceptive and vestibular cues have been subject to investigation. In the second study, the speed production method was applied. It confirmed the positive contribution of action to presence as predicted by psychocybernetic models. The third study dealt with the effect of training on presence. Hence, no positive effect was observed. The fourth study aimed at replicating previous findings on sensory fidelity and diversity in a more complex riding situation than only longitudinal vehicle control. The riders had to cross an unexpectedly appearing deep pit with the virtual motorcycle. The contribution of more consistent sensory stimulation on presence was successfully shown in this scenario, too. The final study was a real riding experiment that delivered reference values for the speed estimation capabilities of motorcycle riders. Besides higher variations in the simulator data, the general speed estimation performance was on a comparable level. Different measures, such as subjective ratings, behavioral responses, performance, and physiological reactions, have been applied as presence indicators. These studies’ findings deliver evidence for the meaningful application of the proposed presence model in driving simulator settings. The results suggest that presence can be interpreted as a quality measure for perception in virtual environments. In line with psychocybernetic models, taking action, which is seen as controlling perception, enhances this quality even further. Describing the psychological construct of presence in a theoretical framework that takes the diversity of perception and action in driving simulator settings into account closes a gap in traffic psychological research. N2 - Fahrsimulatoren sind leistungsfähige Forschungsinstrumente. Seit einigen Jahrzehnten konnte mit unzähligen Simulatorstudien zur Verkehrssicherheit beigetragen werden. Stetige Weiterentwicklungen der Simulatortechnologie machen einen Maßstab erforderlich, der es erlaubt, Fahrsimulatoren hinsichtlich ihrer Nützlichkeit für verkehrspsychologische Fragestellungen zu bewerten. Ein vielversprechendes in der Psychologie verwendetes Konstrukt ist Präsenz. Für gewöhnlich wird Präsenz als das Gefühl definiert, sich in einer entfernten bzw. virtuellen Umwelt zu befinden, die als real wahrgenommen wird. Ein weiterer Aspekt von Präsenz beschreibt die Fähigkeit in dieser Welt erfolgreich zu handeln. Das Ziel der vorliegenden Arbeit ist es, ein Präsenzmodell für die Anwendung im Fahrsimulatorbereich zu entwickeln. Dafür werden bereits etablierte Präsenzmodelle aufgegriffen, kombiniert und um bestimmte Komponenten erweitert. Dies zielt darauf ab ein umfassendes Präsenzmodell zu etablieren, welches einerseits einen Erklärungsansatz zur Entstehung von Präsenz liefert und andererseits erlaubt, Gestaltungsempfehlungen für Fahrsimulatoren abzuleiten. Die fünf Experimente dieser Arbeit untersuchen spezifische Modellkomponenten und deren Zusammenspiel. Alle Studien befassen sich mit dem Motorradfahren bzw. einem Motorradfahrsimulator als exemplarisches Anwendungsfeld. Die erste Studie verwendete ein Schätzverfahren für Geschwindigkeiten, um den Beitrag verschiedener Sinnesreize zu Präsenz zu untersuchen. Während der Visualisierung eine besondere Rolle zukommt, konnte die Präsenz durch die Hinzunahme weiterer sensorischer Stimuli in der virtuellen Welt noch gesteigert werden. Dabei wurden auditive, propriozeptive und vestibuläre Reize betrachtet. In der zweiten Studie wurde die Geschwindigkeitswahrnehmung mit Hilfe des Herstellungsverfahrens untersucht. Wie durch psychokybernetische Modelle vorhergesagt, hat sich die positive Auswirkung aktiven Handelns in der virtuellen Welt auf Präsenz bestätigt. Die dritte Studie befasste sich mit den Auswirkungen von Training auf Präsenz. Hier konnte jedoch kein positiver Zusammenhang festgestellt werden. Die vierte Studie zielte darauf ab, im Vorfeld gewonnene Erkenntnisse zur Vielfalt sensorischer Reize zu replizieren. Anstelle reiner Fahrzeuglängsregulation galt es, eine komplexere Fahrsituation zu bewältigen. Die Probanden mussten dabei mit ihrem virtuellen Motorrad einen unerwartet auftretenden tiefen Graben durchqueren. Der Beitrag vielfältiger sensorischer Stimulation auf Präsenz konnte auch in diesem Szenario erfolgreich gezeigt werden. Bei der letzten Studie handelte es sich um eine Realfahruntersuchung, die Referenzwerte zur Einordnung der Geschwindigkeitswahrnehmung im Motorradfahrsimulator lieferte. Außer höheren Schwankungen der Schätzwerte im Fahrsimulator bewegte sich die Güte der Schätzungen im Mittel auf einem vergleichbaren Niveau. Zur Messung von Präsenz wurden Befragungsdaten, Verhaltensmaße, Leistung und physiologische Reaktionen als Indikatoren herangezogen. Die Ergebnisse der Studien belegen die sinnvolle Anwendbarkeit des vorgeschlagenen Präsenzmodells in der Fahrsimulation. Darüber hinaus zeigt sich, dass Präsenz als ein Gütemaß für Wahrnehmung in virtuellen Welten interpretiert werden kann. Psychokybernetischen Modellen folgend kann diese Qualität durch Handeln, welches als Kontrolle der Wahrnehmung gesehen wird, noch weiter gesteigert werden. Durch die Integration des psychologischen Präsenzkonstrukts in ein Rahmenmodell, welches der Vielfalt von Wahrnehmung und Handlung in Fahrsimulatoren Rechnung trägt, konnte eine Lücke in der verkehrspsychologischen Forschung geschlossen werden. KW - Fahrsimulator KW - Geschwindigkeitswahrnehmung KW - presence KW - motorcycle simulator KW - driving simulator KW - speed perception KW - Präsenzerleben KW - Immersion KW - Telepräsenz Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-149748 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Shiban, Youssef A1 - Diemer, Julia A1 - Müller, Jana A1 - Brütting-Schick, Johanna A1 - Pauli, Paul A1 - Mühlberger, Andreas T1 - Diaphragmatic breathing during virtual reality exposure therapy for aviophobia: functional coping strategy or avoidance behavior? A pilot study JF - BMC Psychiatry N2 - 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. KW - Virtual reality KW - Exposure therapy KW - Diaphragmatic breathing KW - Aviophobia KW - Experimental study Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-181007 VL - 17 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Lischke, Alexander A1 - Herpertz, Sabine C. A1 - Berger, Christoph A1 - Domes, Gregor A1 - Gamer, Matthias T1 - Divergent effects of oxytocin on (para-)limbic reactivity to emotional and neutral scenes in females with and without borderline personality disorder JF - Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience N2 - 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. KW - psychology KW - oxytocin KW - amygdala KW - insula KW - borderline personality disorder KW - functional magnetic resonance imaging KW - eye tracking Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-173309 VL - 12 IS - 11 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Müller, Bettina A1 - Richter, Tobias A1 - Karageorgos, Panagiotis A1 - Krawietz, Sabine A1 - Ennemoser, Marco T1 - Effects of a syllable-based reading intervention in poor-reading fourth graders JF - Frontiers in Psychology N2 - In transparent orthographies, persistent reading fluency difficulties are a major cause of poor reading skills in primary school. The purpose of the present study was to investigate effects of a syllable-based reading intervention on word reading fluency and reading comprehension among German-speaking poor readers in Grade 4. The 16-session intervention was based on analyzing the syllabic structure of words to strengthen the mental representations of syllables and words that consist of these syllables. The training materials were designed using the 500 most frequent syllables typically read by fourth graders. The 75 poor readers were randomly allocated to the treatment or the control group. Results indicate a significant and strong effect on the fluency of recognizing single words, whereas text-level reading comprehension was not significantly improved by the training. The specific treatment effect provides evidence that a short syllable-based approach works even in older poor readers at the end of primary school. KW - word reading fluency KW - syllable-based intervention KW - older poor readers KW - primary school KW - reading comprehension Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-158841 VL - 8 IS - 1635 ER -