TY - JOUR A1 - Flechsenhar, Aleya Felicia A1 - Gamer, Matthias T1 - Top-down influence on gaze patterns in the presence of social features JF - PLoS ONE N2 - Visual saliency maps reflecting locations that stand out from the background in terms of their low-level physical features have proven to be very useful for empirical research on attentional exploration and reliably predict gaze behavior. In the present study we tested these predictions for socially relevant stimuli occurring in naturalistic scenes using eye tracking. We hypothesized that social features (i.e. human faces or bodies) would be processed preferentially over non-social features (i.e. objects, animals) regardless of their low-level saliency. To challenge this notion, we included three tasks that deliberately addressed non-social attributes. In agreement with our hypothesis, social information, especially heads, was preferentially attended compared to highly salient image regions across all tasks. Social information was never required to solve a task but was regarded nevertheless. More so, after completing the task requirements, viewing behavior reverted back to that of free-viewing with heavy prioritization of social features. Additionally, initial eye movements reflecting potentially automatic shifts of attention, were predominantly directed towards heads irrespective of top-down task demands. On these grounds, we suggest that social stimuli may provide exclusive access to the priority map, enabling social attention to override reflexive and controlled attentional processes. Furthermore, our results challenge the generalizability of saliency-based attention models. KW - eye movements KW - social features KW - visual saliency KW - gaze KW - face KW - attention Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-170468 VL - 12 IS - 8 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 - Berti, Stefan A1 - Vossel, Gerhard A1 - Gamer, Matthias T1 - The orienting response in healthy aging: Novelty P3 indicates no general decline but reduced efficacy for fast stimulation rates JF - Frontiers in Psychology N2 - Automatic orienting to unexpected changes in the environment is a pre-requisite for adaptive behavior. One prominent mechanism of automatic attentional control is the Orienting Response (OR). Despite the fundamental significance of the OR in everyday life, only little is known about how the OR is affected by healthy aging. We tested this question in two age groups (19–38 and 55–72 years) and measured skin-conductance responses (SCRs) and event-related brain potentials (ERPs) to novels (i.e., short environmental sounds presented only once in the experiment; 10% of the trials) compared to standard sounds (600 Hz sinusoidal tones with 200 ms duration; 90% of the trials). Novel and standard stimuli were presented in four conditions differing in the inter-stimulus interval (ISI) with a mean ISI of either 10, 3, 1, or 0.5 s (blocked presentation). In both age groups, pronounced SCRs were elicited by novels in the 10 s ISI condition, suggesting the elicitation of stable ORs. These effects were accompanied by pronounced N1 and frontal P3 amplitudes in the ERP, suggesting that automatic novelty processing and orientation of attention are effective in both age groups. Furthermore, the SCR and ERP effects declined with decreasing ISI length. In addition, differences between the two groups were observable with the fastest presentation rates (i.e., 1 and 0.5 s ISI length). The most prominent difference was a shift of the peak of the frontal positivity from around 300 to 200 ms in the 19–38 years group while in the 55–72 years group the amplitude of the frontal P3 decreased linearly with decreasing ISI length. Taken together, this pattern of results does not suggest a general decline in processing efficacy with healthy aging. At least with very rare changes (here, the novels in the 10 s ISI condition) the OR is as effective in healthy older adults as in younger adults. With faster presentation rates, however, the efficacy of the OR decreases. This seems to result in a switch from novelty to deviant processing in younger adults, but less so in the group of older adults. KW - psychology KW - attention KW - change detection KW - auditory system KW - novelty processing KW - event-related potential (ERP) KW - P300 KW - skin conductance response (SCR) Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-173651 VL - 8 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 -