TY  - JOUR
A1  - Reis, Moritz
A1  - Pfister, Roland
T1  - Being Observed Does Not Boost Rule Retrieval
JF  - Advances in Cognitive Psychology
N2  - Previous research, mainly focusing on the situational preconditions of rule violations, indicates that feelings of being watched by other agents promote rule compliance. However, the cognitive underpinnings of this effect and of rule violations in general have only attracted little scientific attention yet. In this study, we investigated whether cues of being observed not only reduce the likelihood of violating rules but also affect the underlying cognitive processes of such behavior when still putting a rule violation into action. Therefore, we applied a motion-tracking paradigm in which participants could violate a simple stimulus-response mapping rule while being faced with pictures of either open or closed eyes. In line with prior research, temporal and spatial measures of the participants' movements indicated that violating this rule induced substantial cognitive conflict. However, conflict during rulebreaking was not moderated by the eye stimuli. This outcome suggests that rule retrieval constitutes an automatic process which is not or is only barely influenced by situational parameters. Moreover, our results imply that the effect of perceived observation on rule conformity is driven by normative influences on decision-making instead of social facilitation of dominant action tendencies.
KW  - rule retrieval
KW  - motion tracking
KW  - cognitive conflict
KW  - observation
Y1  - 2022
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-301089
VL  - 18
IS  - 3
SP  - 173
EP  - 178
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Kirsch, Wladimir
A1  - Kunde, Wilfried
T1  - Perceptual changes after learning of an arbitrary mapping between vision and hand movements
JF  - Scientific Reports
N2  - The present study examined the perceptual consequences of learning arbitrary mappings between visual stimuli and hand movements. Participants moved a small cursor with their unseen hand twice to a large visual target object and then judged either the relative distance of the hand movements (Exp.1), or the relative number of dots that appeared in the two consecutive target objects (Exp.2) using a two-alternative forced choice method. During a learning phase, the numbers of dots that appeared in the target object were correlated with the hand movement distance. In Exp.1, we observed that after the participants were trained to expect many dots with larger hand movements, they judged movements made to targets with many dots as being longer than the same movements made to targets with few dots. In Exp.2, another group of participants who received the same training judged the same number of dots as smaller when larger rather than smaller hand movements were executed. When many dots were paired with smaller hand movements during the learning phase of both experiments, no significant changes in the perception of movements and of visual stimuli were observed. These results suggest that changes in the perception of body states and of external objects can arise when certain body characteristics co-occur with certain characteristics of the environment. They also indicate that the (dis)integration of multimodal perceptual signals depends not only on the physical or statistical relation between these signals, but on which signal is currently attended.
KW  - vision
KW  - hand movements
KW  - learning arbitrary mappings
Y1  - 2022
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-301074
VL  - 12
IS  - 1
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Gram, Maximilian
A1  - Albertova, P.
A1  - Schirmer, V.
A1  - Blaimer, M.
A1  - Gamer, M.
A1  - Herrmann, M. J.
A1  - Nordbeck, P.
A1  - Jakob, P. M.
T1  - Towards robust in vivo quantification of oscillating biomagnetic fields using Rotary Excitation based MRI
JF  - Scientific Reports
N2  - Spin-lock based functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has the potential for direct spatially-resolved detection of neuronal activity and thus may represent an important step for basic research in neuroscience. In this work, the corresponding fundamental effect of Rotary EXcitation (REX) is investigated both in simulations as well as in phantom and in vivo experiments. An empirical law for predicting optimal spin-lock pulse durations for maximum magnetic field sensitivity was found. Experimental conditions were established that allow robust detection of ultra-weak magnetic field oscillations with simultaneous compensation of static field inhomogeneities. Furthermore, this work presents a novel concept for the emulation of brain activity utilizing the built-in MRI gradient system, which allows REX sequences to be validated in vivo under controlled and reproducible conditions. Via transmission of Rotary EXcitation (tREX), we successfully detected magnetic field oscillations in the lower nano-Tesla range in brain tissue. Moreover, tREX paves the way for the quantification of biomagnetic fields.
KW  - functional magnetic resonance imaging
KW  - Rotary EXcitation (REX)
KW  - oscillating biomagnetic fields
Y1  - 2022
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-300862
VL  - 12
IS  - 1
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Eidel, M.
A1  - Kübler, A.
T1  - Identifying potential training factors in a vibrotactile P300-BCI
JF  - Scientific Reports
N2  - Brain–computer interfaces (BCI) often rely on visual stimulation and feedback. Potential end-users with impaired vision, however, cannot use these BCIs efficiently and require a non-visual alternative. Both auditory and tactile paradigms have been developed but are often not sufficiently fast or accurate. Thus, it is particularly relevant to investigate if and how users can train and improve performance. We report data from 29 healthy participants who trained with a 4-choice tactile P300-BCI during five sessions. To identify potential training factors, we pre-post assessed the robustness of the BCI performance against increased workload in a dual task condition and determined the participants’ somatosensory sensitivity thresholds with a forced-choice intensity discrimination task. Accuracy (M = 79.2% to 92.0%) and tactually evoked P300 amplitudes increased significantly, confirming successful training. Pre-post somatosensory sensitivity increased, and workload decreased significantly, but results of the dual task condition remained inconclusive. The present study confirmed the previously reported feasibility and trainability of our tactile BCI paradigm within a multi-session design. Importantly, we provide first evidence of improvement in the somatosensory system as a potential mediator for the observed training effects.
KW  - Brain–computer interfaces (BCI)
KW  - training
KW  - non-visual
Y1  - 2022
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-301064
VL  - 12
IS  - 1
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Eder, Andreas B.
A1  - Maas, Franzisca
A1  - Schubmann, Alexander
A1  - Krishna, Anand
A1  - Erle, Thorsten M.
T1  - Motivations underlying self-infliction of pain during thinking for pleasure
JF  - Scientific Reports
N2  - Previous research suggested that people prefer to administer unpleasant electric shocks to themselves rather than being left alone with their thoughts because engagement in thinking is an unpleasant activity. The present research examined this negative reinforcement hypothesis by giving participants a choice of distracting themselves with the generation of electric shock causing no to intense pain. Four experiments (N = 254) replicated the result that a large proportion of participants opted to administer painful shocks to themselves during the thinking period. However, they administered strong electric shocks to themselves even when an innocuous response option generating no or a mild shock was available. Furthermore, participants inflicted pain to themselves when they were assisted in the generation of pleasant thoughts during the waiting period, with no difference between pleasant versus unpleasant thought conditions. Overall, these results question that the primary motivation for the self-administration of painful shocks is avoidance of thinking. Instead, it seems that the self-infliction of pain was attractive for many participants, because they were curious about the shocks, their intensities, and the effects they would have on them.
KW  - pain
KW  - self-infliction
KW  - thinking
Y1  - 2022
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-301059
VL  - 12
IS  - 1
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Boschet, Juliane M.
A1  - Scherbaum, Stefan
A1  - Pittig, Andre
T1  - Costly avoidance of Pavlovian fear stimuli and the temporal dynamics of its decision process
JF  - Scientific Reports
N2  - Conflicts between avoiding feared stimuli versus approaching them for competing rewards are essential for functional behavior and anxious psychopathology. Yet, little is known about the underlying decision process. We examined approach-avoidance decisions and their temporal dynamics when avoiding Pavlovian fear stimuli conflicted with gaining rewards. First, a formerly neutral stimulus (CS+) was repeatedly paired with an aversive stimulus (US) to establish Pavlovian fear. Another stimulus (CS−) was never paired with the US. A control group received neutral tones instead of aversive USs. Next, in each of 324 trials, participants chose between a CS−/low reward and a CS+/high reward option. For the latter, probability of CS+ presentation (Pavlovian fear information) and reward magnitude (reward information) varied. Computer mouse movements were tracked to capture the decision dynamics. Although no more USs occurred, pronounced and persistent costly avoidance of the Pavlovian fear CS+ was found. Time-continuous multiple regression of movement trajectories revealed a stronger and faster impact of Pavlovian fear compared to reward information during decision-making. The impact of fear information, but not reward information, modestly decreased across trials. These findings suggest a persistently stronger weighting of fear compared to reward information during approach-avoidance decisions, which may facilitate the development of pathological avoidance.
KW  - decision process
KW  - fear stimuli
KW  - approach-avoidance decisions
Y1  - 2022
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-301041
VL  - 12
IS  - 1
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Abendroth, Johanna
A1  - Nauroth, Peter
A1  - Richter, Tobias
A1  - Gollwitzer, Mario
T1  - Non-strategic detection of identity-threatening information: Epistemic validation and identity defense may share a common cognitive basis
JF  - PLoS ONE
N2  - Readers use prior knowledge to evaluate the validity of statements and detect false information without effort and strategic control. The present study expands this research by exploring whether people also non-strategically detect information that threatens their social identity. Participants (N = 77) completed a task in which they had to respond to a “True” or “False” probe after reading true, false, identity-threatening, or non-threatening sentences. Replicating previous studies, participants reacted more slowly to a positive probe (“True”) after reading false (vs. true) sentences. Notably, participants also reacted more slowly to a positive probe after reading identity-threatening (vs. non-threatening) sentences. These results provide first evidence that identity-threatening information, just as false information, is detected at a very early stage of information processing and lends support to the notion of a routine, non-strategic identity-defense mechanism.
KW  - social identity
KW  - cognitive basis
KW  - identity defense
Y1  - 2022
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-301019
VL  - 17
IS  - 1
ER  - 
TY  - THES
A1  - Fleischmann, Lorena
T1  - Talent Development in Academic Domains: A Follow-Up of Former Junior Students at Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg
T1  - Talententwicklung in akademischen Domänen: Eine Nachbefragung ehemaliger Frühstudierender an der Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg
N2  - The field of giftedness and gifted education has long been characterized by internal fragmentation and inconsistent definitions of core concepts (e.g., Ambrose et al., 2010; Coleman, 2006; McBee et al., 2012). It was only in recent years that increased efforts have been made to organize available research findings and thereby bring back greater uniformity to the field of giftedness and gifted education. For example, Preckel et al.’s (2020) Talent Development in Achievement Domains (TAD) framework integrates theoretical perspectives and empirical knowledge from different parts of the field. It is general in concept and can be applied to a wide range of achievement domains. By specifically focusing on measurable psychological constructs as well as their relevance at different stages of the talent development process, Preckel et al.’s (2020) TAD framework is well suited as a starting point for generating more domain-specific talent development models.
The present thesis represents one of the first attempts to empirically test the validity of Preckel et al.’s (2020) TAD framework in academic domains using longitudinal data. The longitudinal data came from a sample of former junior students at Julius-Maximilians-Universität (JMU) Würzburg who showed high academic achievement potential.
There were two related research issues: Research Issue 1 first aimed to document in detail how the educational trajectories of former junior students unfold in the years following their Abitur. To this end, a follow-up was conducted among 208 young adults who had participated in the junior study program at JMU Würzburg between the winter semester of 2004/2005 and the summer semester of 2011. The design of the follow-up questionnaire was based on a series of research questions that had emerged from the relevant literature on junior study programs in Germany. The follow-up ran from October 2019 to February 2020. The data were analyzed descriptively and documented as a detailed report. The results of Research Issue 1 revealed that the former junior students continued to be academically (and later professionally) successful long after their school years. For example, at the time of the follow-up, almost all former junior students had earned a bachelor’s and a master’s degree, most often with notable academic successes (e.g., scholarships, awards/prizes). In addition, more than half of those who responded had begun or already completed a doctoral degree, also recording special academic accomplishments (e.g., scientific publications, scholarships). A significant proportion of the former junior students had already entered the workforce at the time of their response. A look at their current professional situation revealed an above-average expression of success indicators (e.g., income, professional status). The clear majority of the former junior students reported that, even in retrospect, they would choose to take part in the junior study program at JMU Würzburg again.
Research Issue 2 aimed to determine the extent to which the structure of Preckel et al.’s (2020) TAD framework could be empirically validated in academic domains. The educational trajectories of 84 former junior students at JMU Würzburg who had chosen a subject from the same subject field in their regular studies as in their junior studies served as the data basis. The educational trajectories were compiled from the former junior students’ follow-up data and from their data on the selection process for the junior study program at JMU Würzburg. Combining the structural assumptions of Preckel et al.’s (2020) TAD framework with relevant insights from individual academic disciplines made it possible to derive hypotheses regarding potential predictors and indicators of the talent development stages aptitude, competence, and expertise in academic domains. Structural equation models were used for data analysis. The results of Research Issue 2 suggested that the talent development stages aptitude, competence, and expertise, while being predictive of each other in their chronological order, could be satisfactorily modeled using framework-compliant indicators in academic domains. In comparison, the talent development stage transformational achievement could not (yet) be modeled based on the longitudinal data. Among the hypothesized predictors, former junior students’ investigative interests and their metacognitive abilities reliably determined the talent development stages competence and expertise, whereas the remaining predictors did not make significant contributions.
Taken together, the results of the present thesis suggest that the validity of Preckel et al.’s (2020) TAD framework can only be partially confirmed in academic domains. Unlike the postulated indicators, the predictors in Preckel et al.’s (2020) TAD framework do not seem to be easily generalizable to academic domains but to be highly specific with regard to the talent domain under consideration. Therefore, a natural progression of the present thesis would be to examine the structure of Preckel et al.’s (2020) TAD framework at the subordinate level of subject fields or even at the level of individual academic disciplines, for example.
N2  - Der Bereich der (Hoch-)Begabung und Begabtenförderung galt aufgrund inkonsistenter Definitionen von Kernkonzepten lange Zeit als intern zersplittert (z.B., Ambrose et al., 2010; Coleman, 2006; McBee et al., 2012). Erst in den letzten Jahren sind vermehrt Bemühungen entstanden, bestehende Forschungsbefunde zu ordnen und dem Bereich der (Hoch-)Begabung und Begabtenförderung wieder zu mehr Einheitlichkeit zu verhelfen. Das Integrative Talententwicklungsmodell von Preckel et al. (2020) vereint beispielsweise theoretische Perspektiven und empirisches Wissen aus verschiedenen Teilen des Forschungsbereichs. Es ist allgemein konzipiert und kann auf eine Vielzahl von Leistungsdomänen angewendet werden. Durch eine gezielte Konzentration auf messbare psychologische Konstrukte sowie deren Relevanz auf unterschiedlichen Stufen der Talententwicklung ist das Integrative Talententwicklungsmodell von Preckel et al. (2020) gut als Ausgangspunkt für die Generierung domänenspezifischer Talententwicklungsmodelle geeignet.
Die vorliegende Arbeit stellt einen der ersten Versuche dar, die Gültigkeit des Integrativen Talententwicklungsmodells von Preckel et al. (2020) in akademischen Domänen anhand längsschnittlicher Daten empirisch zu überprüfen. Die längsschnittlichen Daten stammten dabei aus einer Stichprobe ehemaliger Frühstudierender der Julius-Maximilians-Universität (JMU) Würzburg, die nachweislich über eine hohe akademische Leistungsfähigkeit verfügten.
Es wurden zwei zusammenhängende Forschungsfragen betrachtet: Forschungsfrage 1 verfolgte zunächst das Ziel, die Bildungsverläufe ehemaliger Frühstudierender in den Jahren nach ihrem Abitur ausführlich zu dokumentieren. Dazu wurde eine Nachbefragung unter 208 jungen Erwachsenen durchgeführt, die im Zeitraum von Wintersemester 2004/2005 bis Sommersemester 2011 am Frühstudium der JMU Würzburg teilgenommen hatten. Die Gestaltung des Fragebogens für die Nachbefragung orientierte sich an einer Reihe von Fragestellungen, die sich aus der einschlägigen Literatur zum Frühstudium in Deutschland ergeben hatte. Der Erhebungszeitraum der Nachbefragung erstreckte sich von Oktober 2019 bis Februar 2020. Die Daten wurden in erster Linie deskriptiv ausgewertet und in Berichtsform dargestellt. Die Ergebnisse von Forschungsfrage 1 zeigten, dass die ehemaligen Frühstudierenden weit über ihre Schulzeit hinaus herausragende (akademische und berufliche) Leistungen erbrachten. So hatten zum Zeitpunkt der Nachbefragung beinahe alle Ehemaligen einen Bachelor- und Masterabschluss, meist mit beachtlichen akademischen Erfolgen (z.B. Stipendium, Auszeichnungen/Preise), erworben. Mehr als die Hälfte der ehemaligen Frühstudierenden hatte darüber hinaus eine Promotion begonnen oder bereits abgeschlossen und dabei ebenfalls außerordentliche akademische Erfolge (z.B. Publikationen, Stipendien) erzielt. Ein wesentlicher Teil der ehemaligen Frühstudierenden war zum Befragungszeitpunkt bereits ins Berufsleben eingetreten. Ein Blick auf ihre aktuelle berufliche Situation zeigte eine überdurchschnittliche Ausprägung von Erfolgsindikatoren (z.B. Einkommen, beruflicher Status). Die deutliche Mehrheit der ehemaligen Frühstudierenden gab an, dass sie sich auch rückblickend wieder für eine Teilnahme am Frühstudium der JMU Würzburg entscheiden würde. 
Forschungsfrage 2 untersuchte schließlich, inwieweit sich die Struktur des Integrativen Talententwicklungsmodells von Preckel et al. (2020) für akademische Domänen empirisch validieren lässt. Als Datengrundlage dienten die Bildungsverläufe von 84 ehemaligen Frühstudierenden der JMU Würzburg, die im Regelstudium ein Fach aus derselben Fächergruppe wie im Frühstudium belegt hatten. Die Bildungsverläufe wurden aus den Daten der Nachbefragung und aus den Daten des Auswahlverfahrens für das Frühstudium an der JMU Würzburg gewonnen. Eine Kombination der strukturellen Annahmen des Integrativen Talententwicklungsmodells von Preckel et al. (2020) mit relevanten Erkenntnissen aus der Talentforschung zu einzelnen Studienfächern machte es möglich, Hypothesen über potenzielle Prädiktoren und Indikatoren der Talententwicklungsstufen Begabung, Kompetenz und Expertise für akademische Domänen aufzustellen. Zur Datenanalyse wurden Strukturgleichungsmodelle herangezogen. Die Ergebnisse von Forschungsfrage 2 ließen darauf schließen, dass die Talententwicklungsstufen Begabung, Kompetenz und Expertise anhand modellkonformer Indikatoren in akademischen Domänen zufriedenstellend abgebildet werden können und sich in ihrer chronologischen Reihenfolge gegenseitig vorhersagen. Die Talententwicklungsstufe transformatorische Leistung konnte dagegen auf Basis der Daten (noch) nicht modelliert werden. Unter den potenziellen Prädiktoren sagten das forschungsbezogene Interesse sowie die metakognitiven Fähigkeiten der ehemaligen Frühstudierenden die Talententwicklungsstufen Kompetenz und Expertise verlässlich vorher. Die restlichen Prädiktoren leisteten keinen signifikanten Beitrag.
Insgesamt weisen die Ergebnisse der vorliegenden Arbeit darauf hin, dass sich die Gültigkeit des Integrativen Talententwicklungsmodells von Preckel et al. (2020) in akademischen Domänen nur zum Teil bestätigen lässt. Im Gegensatz zu den postulierten Indikatoren scheinen die Prädiktoren des Integrativen Talententwicklungsmodells von Preckel et al. (2020) nicht einfach auf akademische Domänen übertragbar zu sein, sondern unter Umständen eine hohe Spezifität in Bezug auf die betrachtete Domäne der Talententwicklung aufzuweisen. Eine sinnvolle Fortsetzung der vorliegenden Arbeit würde somit darin bestehen, die Struktur des Integrativen Talententwicklungsmodells von Preckel et al. (2020) beispielsweise auf der untergeordneten Ebene von Fächergruppen oder sogar auf der Ebene einzelner Studienfächer zu untersuchen.
KW  - Hochbegabung
KW  - Talententwicklung
KW  - talent development
KW  - Begabtenförderung
KW  - Leistungsentwicklung
KW  - akademische Domänen
KW  - Frühstudium
KW  - Nachbefragung
KW  - academic domains
KW  - junior studies
KW  - follow-up
Y1  - 2023
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-302814
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Breil, Christina
A1  - Kanske, Philipp
A1  - Pittig, Roxana
A1  - Böckler, Anne
T1  - A revised instrument for the assessment of empathy and Theory of Mind in adolescents: Introducing the EmpaToM-Y
JF  - Behavior Research Methods
N2  - Empathy and Theory of Mind (ToM) are two core components of social understanding. The EmpaToM is a validated social video task that allows for independent manipulation and assessment of the two capacities. First applications revealed that empathy and ToM are dissociable constructs on a neuronal as well as on a behavioral level. As the EmpaToM has been designed for the assessment of social understanding in adults, it has a high degree of complexity and comprises topics that are inadequate for minors. For this reason, we designed a new version of the EmpaToM that is especially suited to measure empathy and ToM in youths. In experiment 1, we successfully validated the EmpaToM-Y on the original EmpaToM in an adult sample (N = 61), revealing a similar pattern of results across tasks and strong correlations of all constructs. As intended, the performance measure for ToM and the control condition of the EmpaToM-Y showed reduced difficulty. In experiment 2, we tested the feasibility of the EmpaToM-Y in a group of teenagers (N = 36). Results indicate a reliable empathy induction and higher demands of ToM questions for adolescents. We provide a promising task for future research targeting inter-individual variability of socio-cognitive and socio-affective capacities as well as their precursors and outcomes in healthy minors and clinical populations.
KW  - empathy
KW  - Theory of Mind
KW  - social cognition
KW  - social understanding
KW  - mentalizing
KW  - asolescence
KW  - development
Y1  - 2021
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-302877
VL  - 53
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Rubo, Marius
A1  - Gamer, Matthias
T1  - Social content and emotional valence modulate gaze fixations in dynamic scenes
JF  - Scientific Reports
N2  - Previous research has shown that low-level visual features (i.e., low-level visual saliency) as well as socially relevant information predict gaze allocation in free viewing conditions. However, these studies mainly used static and highly controlled stimulus material, thus revealing little about the robustness of attentional processes across diverging situations. Secondly, the influence of affective stimulus characteristics on visual exploration patterns remains poorly understood. Participants in the present study freely viewed a set of naturalistic, contextually rich video clips from a variety of settings that were capable of eliciting different moods. Using recordings of eye movements, we quantified to what degree social information, emotional valence and low-level visual features influenced gaze allocation using generalized linear mixed models. We found substantial and similarly large regression weights for low-level saliency and social information, affirming the importance of both predictor classes under ecologically more valid dynamic stimulation conditions. Differences in predictor strength between individuals were large and highly stable across videos. Additionally, low-level saliency was less important for fixation selection in videos containing persons than in videos not containing persons, and less important for videos perceived as negative. We discuss the generalizability of these findings and the feasibility of applying this research paradigm to patient groups.
KW  - Human behaviour
KW  - Motion detection
KW  - Social neuroscience
Y1  - 2018
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-227106
VL  - 8
ER  - 
TY  - THES
A1  - Mitschke, Vanessa
T1  - Facing Enemies. Modulation of Revenge Interactions based on Opponent State Indicators of Suffering
T1  - Im Angesicht des Feindes. Die Modulation von Racheinteraktionen basierend auf der Wahrnehmung von Leid Indikatoren innerhalb des Gegners
N2  - Research on revenge often treats vengeful acts as singular one-way experiences, an approach which fails to account for the social nature and functions of revenge. This dissertation aims to integrate emotional punishment reactions into dynamic revenge sequences to investigate the affective and cognitive consequences of revenge within a social interaction. 
Exacting revenge can evoke intense affective consequences, from feelings of guilt to the genuine enjoyment of the suffering of others. In Chapter 2, affective responses towards suffering opponents and the regulation of aggression based on the appraisal of distinct suffering indicators were investigated. Results indicate that the observation of opponent pain evokes positive affect (measured via facial muscle contractions during the observation), which is followed by a downregulation of subsequent punishment. Both, positive affective reactions and the downregulation of punishment, were only observed following pain and not sadness expressions. Empathic distress, indexed by negative affective reactions, was only present following the observation of pain in non-provoking opponents. Showcasing the modulation of empathy related processes due to provocation and competition. 
In Chapter 3, a significant escalation of punishment, when being confronted with Schadenfreude, was observed. Results are interpreted as supporting the assumption that opponent monitoring processes inform subsequent action selection. The observation of opponent smiles led to imitation behavior (facial mimicry), which was partially attenuated due to previous provocation. The different functions of smile mimicry in the context of the aggressive competitive setting are discussed as containing simulation aspects (to aid in opponent understanding) and as a potential mirroring of dominance gestures, to avoid submission. 
In an additional series of studies, which are presented in Chapter 4, changes in memory of opponent faces following vengeful encounters were measured. Based on provocation, and punishment outcomes (pain & anger), face memory was distorted, resulting in more positive representations of opponents that expressed pain. These results are discussed as evidence of the impact of outcome appraisals in the formation of opponent representations and are theorized to aid empathy avoidance in future interactions. 
The comparison of desired and observed opponent states, is theorized to result in appraisals of the punishment outcomes, which evoke affective states, inform the action selection of subsequent punishments, and are integrated into the representation of the opponent in memory. 
Overall, the results indicate that suffering cues that are congruent with the chosen punishment action are appraised as positive, evoking an increase in positive affect. The emergence of positive affect during the observation of successful aggressive actions supports recent theories about the chronification of aggressive behavior based on reinforcement learning. To allow positive affect to emerge, affective empathic responses, such as distress, are theorized to be suppressed to facilitate the goal attainment process. The suffering of the opponent constitutes the proximate goal during revenge taking, which highlights the importance of a theoretical differentiation of proximate and ultimate goals in revenge to allow for a deeper understanding of the underlying motives of complex revenge behavior.
N2  - Die bisherige Forschung zu den Mechanismen von Racheverhalten behandelt die Ausübung von Rache häufig als eine singuläre und unilaterale Erfahrung. Diese Herangehensweise berücksichtigt den sozialen Kontext und die Funktion von Rache nur unzureichend. Die vorliegende Dissertation zielt darauf ab, mittels empirischer Befunde emotionale Reaktionen in dynamische Rachesequenzen zu integrieren.
Die Ausübung von Rache kann intensive affektive Zustände wie Schuldgefühle bis hin zu dem Empfinden von Freude über das Leid Anderer (Schadenfreude) auslösen. In Kapitel 2 werden Ergebnisse geschildert, welche die unterschiedlichen affektiven Reaktionen des Aggressors in Abhängigkeit zu Indikatoren des Leides des Gegners untersuchen. Im Rahmen der durchgeführten Studien wurde eine positive Reaktion (gemessen anhand von fazialen Muskelaktivierungen) während der Beobachtung von Schmerzausdrücken des Gegners beobachtet. Die positive affektive Reaktion geht mit einer Reduktion der darauffolgenden Strafe einher. Sowohl der positive Affekt als auch die Reduktion von Strafe wurden nur in Folge von Schmerzindikatoren und nicht nach Ausdrücken von Trauer beobachtet. Empathischer Stress nach ausgeführten Rachehandlungen, indiziert durch negative affektive Reaktionen, wurde nur gezeigt, nachdem nicht-provokative Gegner Schmerzreaktionen zeigten. Dies zeigt die Modulation von empathischen Prozessen in Abhängigkeit von Provokation und Konkurrenz.
Kapitel 3 beschreibt die signifikante Eskalation von aggressiven Interaktionen durch eine Konfrontation mit Schadenfreude des Gegners während der Bestrafung. Dies lässt darauf schließen, dass die Beobachtung des Gegnerzustandes während der gesamten Interaktion die Wahl von Handlungen beeinflusst. Die Beobachtung des Lächelns beim Gegenüber führt zu Nachahmungsverhalten (faziale Mimikry), welches durch vorherige Provokation graduell abgeschwächt wird. Die verschiedenen Funktionen der Mimikry des Lächelns im Kontext einer aggressiv kompetitiven Situation enthalten Elemente von Simulation, zum besseren Verständnis der Gegnerreaktion, und dienen dazu als potenzielle Reaktion auf Dominanzverhalten Submission zu vermeiden.
In einer weiteren Experimentalreihe, beschrieben in Kapitel 4, wird die Integration von erlebter Provokation und daraus resultierenden empfundenen Ärger in die Erinnerung an den Gegner demonstriert. Ergebnisse dieser Studienreine legen nahe, dass die Repräsentation des Gesichtes des Gegners in der Erinnerung basierend auf vorheriger Provokation und distinkten emotionalen gegnerischen Reaktionen auf Strafe (Schmerz & Ärger) systematisch variiert. Gegner, welche Schmerzreaktionen zeigten, wurden mit positiveren Gesichtskonfigurationen repräsentiert, im Gegensatz zu Gegnern, welche Ärger zeigten. Diese Ergebnisse werden als Belege für den Einfluss von Ergebnisbewertungen auf die Formation von Gegnerrepräsentationen und ihren potenziellen Nutzen für die Vermeidung von Empathie in zukünftigen Auseinandersetzungen diskutiert. 
Aus dem Abgleich zwischen dem gewünschten und beobachteten gegnerischen Reaktionen resultiert eine Bewertung des Erfolgs der Strafe. Dieser Bewertungsvorgang kann positive Affekte auslösen, die als Information in die Wahl der nächsten Handlung einfließen und die Repräsentation des Gegners in der Erinnerung verändern. 
Die Ergebnisse der hier dargestellten Studien deuten darauf hin, dass Signale des Leidens, die unmittelbar kongruent zu den zuvor gewählten Strafhandlungen sind, als positiv bewertet werden und somit zu einem unmittelbar erlebten positiven Affekt führen. Das Vorhandensein von positivem Affekt während der Beobachtung des leidenden Gegners nach erfolgreicher Bestrafung stimmt mit neueren Forschungsansätzen überein, die Verstärkungslernen als zentralen Prozess bei der Chronifizierung von aggressivem Verhalten postulieren. Das Auftreten von positivem Affekt wird durch die Herabsetzung von affektiv empathischen Prozessen gegenüber dem Gegner ermöglicht. Die Unterdrückung von affektiver Empathie erleichtert hierbei den Prozess der Zielerreichung. Das Leid des Gegners wird als proximales Ziel der Rachehandlung diskutiert. Eine Unterscheidung zwischen proximalen und distalen Zielen bei der Ausübung von Rache ermöglicht ein tieferes Verständnis für die zugrundeliegende Motive komplexen Racheverhaltens.
KW  - Aggression
KW  - Revenge
KW  - Emotion
KW  - punishment
KW  - suffering
Y1  - 2023
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-299389
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Neszmélyi, Bence
A1  - Weller, Lisa
A1  - Kunde, Wilfried
A1  - Pfister, Roland
T1  - Social action effects: representing predicted partner responses in social interactions
JF  - Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
N2  - The sociomotor framework outlines a possible role of social action effects on human action control, suggesting that anticipated partner reactions are a major cue to represent, select, and initiate own body movements. Here, we review studies that elucidate the actual content of social action representations and that explore factors that can distinguish action control processes involving social and inanimate action effects. Specifically, we address two hypotheses on how the social context can influence effect-based action control: first, by providing unique social features such as body-related, anatomical codes, and second, by orienting attention towards any relevant feature dimensions of the action effects. The reviewed empirical work presents a surprisingly mixed picture: while there is indirect evidence for both accounts, previous studies that directly addressed the anatomical account showed no signs of the involvement of genuinely social features in sociomotor action control. Furthermore, several studies show evidence against the differentiation of social and non-social action effect processing, portraying sociomotor action representations as remarkably non-social. A focus on enhancing the social experience in future studies should, therefore, complement the current database to establish whether such settings give rise to the hypothesized influence of social context.
KW  - motor control
KW  - action effects
KW  - action representation
KW  - sociomotor control
KW  - ideomotor theory
Y1  - 2022
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-276609
SN  - 1662-5161
VL  - 16
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Gründahl, Marthe
A1  - Weiß, Martin
A1  - Maier, Lisa
A1  - Hewig, Johannes
A1  - Deckert, Jürgen
A1  - Hein, Grit
T1  - Construction and validation of a scale to measure loneliness and isolation during social distancing and its effect on mental health
JF  - Frontiers in Psychiatry
N2  - A variety of factors contribute to the degree to which a person feels lonely and socially isolated. These factors may be particularly relevant in contexts requiring social distancing, e.g., during the COVID-19 pandemic or in states of immunodeficiency. We present the Loneliness and Isolation during Social Distancing (LISD) Scale. Extending existing measures, the LISD scale measures both state and trait aspects of loneliness and isolation, including indicators of social connectedness and support. In addition, it reliably predicts individual differences in anxiety and depression. Data were collected online from two independent samples in a social distancing context (the COVID-19 pandemic). Factorial validation was based on exploratory factor analysis (EFA; Sample 1, N = 244) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA; Sample 2, N = 304). Multiple regression analyses were used to assess how the LISD scale predicts state anxiety and depression. The LISD scale showed satisfactory fit in both samples. Its two state factors indicate being lonely and isolated as well as connected and supported, while its three trait factors reflect general loneliness and isolation, sociability and sense of belonging, and social closeness and support. Our results imply strong predictive power of the LISD scale for state anxiety and depression, explaining 33 and 51% of variance, respectively. Anxiety and depression scores were particularly predicted by low dispositional sociability and sense of belonging and by currently being more lonely and isolated. In turn, being lonely and isolated was related to being less connected and supported (state) as well as having lower social closeness and support in general (trait). We provide a novel scale which distinguishes between acute and general dimensions of loneliness and social isolation while also predicting mental health. The LISD scale could be a valuable and economic addition to the assessment of mental health factors impacted by social distancing.
KW  - loneliness
KW  - social isolation
KW  - social distancing
KW  - depression
KW  - anxiety
Y1  - 2022
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-269446
SN  - 1664-0640
VL  - 13
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Schiele, Miriam A.
A1  - Ziegler, Christiane
A1  - Kollert, Leonie
A1  - Katzorke, Andrea
A1  - Schartner, Christoph
A1  - Busch, Yasmin
A1  - Gromer, Daniel
A1  - Reif, Andreas
A1  - Pauli, Paul
A1  - Deckert, Jürgen
A1  - Herrmann, Martin J.
A1  - Domschke, Katharina
T1  - Plasticity of Functional MAOA Gene Methylation in Acrophobia
JF  - International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology
N2  - Epigenetic mechanisms have been proposed to mediate fear extinction in animal models. Here, MAOA methylation was analyzed via direct sequencing of sodium bisulfite-treated DNA extracted from blood cells before and after a 2-week exposure therapy in a sample of n = 28 female patients with acrophobia as well as in n = 28 matched healthy female controls. Clinical response was measured using the Acrophobia Questionnaire and the Attitude Towards Heights Questionnaire. The functional relevance of altered MAOA methylation was investigated by luciferase-based reporter gene assays. MAOA methylation was found to be significantly decreased in patients with acrophobia compared with healthy controls. Furthermore, MAOA methylation levels were shown to significantly increase after treatment and correlate with treatment response as reflected by decreasing Acrophobia Questionnaire/Attitude Towards Heights Questionnaire scores. Functional analyses revealed decreased reporter gene activity in presence of methylated compared with unmethylated pCpGfree_MAOA reporter gene vector constructs. The present proof-of-concept psychotherapy-epigenetic study for the first time suggests functional MAOA methylation changes as a potential epigenetic correlate of treatment response in acrophobia and fosters further investigation into the notion of epigenetic mechanisms underlying fear extinction.
KW  - monoamine oxidase A
KW  - anxiety
KW  - extinction
KW  - epigenetics
KW  - DNA methylation
Y1  - 2018
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-228571
VL  - 21
IS  - 9
ER  - 
TY  - THES
A1  - Haspert, Valentina
T1  - Improving acute pain management with emotion regulation strategies: A comparison of acceptance, distraction, and reappraisal
T1  - Besserer Umgang mit akutem Schmerz mithilfe von Emotionsregulationsstrategien: Ein Vergleich von Akzeptanz, Ablenkung und Reappraisal
N2  - Pain conditions and chronic pain disorders are among the leading reasons for seeking medical help and immensely burden patients and the healthcare system. Therefore, research on the underlying mechanisms of pain processing and modulation is necessary and warranted. One crucial part of this pain research includes identifying resilience factors that protect from chronic pain development and enhance its treatment. The ability to use emotion regulation strategies has been suggested to serve as a resilience factor, facilitating pain regulation and management. Acceptance has been discussed as a promising pain regulation strategy, but results in this domain have been mixed so far. Moreover, the allocation of acceptance in Gross’s (1998) process model of emotion regulation has been under debate. Thus, comparing acceptance with the already established strategies of distraction and reappraisal could provide insights into underlying mechanisms. This dissertation project consisted of three successive experimental studies which aimed to investigate these strategies by applying different modalities of individually adjusted pain stimuli of varying durations. In the first study (N = 29), we introduced a within-subjects design where participants were asked to either accept (acceptance condition) or react to the short heat pain stimuli (10 s) without using any pain regulation strategies (control condition). In the second study (N = 36), we extended the design of study 1 by additionally applying brief, electrical pain stimuli (20 ms) and including the new experimental condition distraction, where participants should distract themselves from the pain experience by imagining a neutral situation. In the third study (N = 121), all three strategies, acceptance, distraction, and reappraisal were compared with each other and additionally with a neutral control condition in a mixed design. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three strategy groups, including a control condition and a strategy condition. All participants received short heat pain stimuli of 10 s, alternating with tonic heat pain stimuli of 3 minutes. In the reappraisal condition, participants were instructed to imagine the pain having a positive outcome or valence. The self-reported pain intensity, unpleasantness, and regulation ratings were measured in all studies. We further recorded the autonomic measures heart rate and skin conductance continuously and assessed the habitual emotion regulation styles and pain-related trait factors via questionnaires. Results revealed that the strategies acceptance, distraction, and reappraisal significantly reduced the self-reported electrical and heat pain stimulation with both durations compared to a neutral control condition. Additionally, regulatory efforts with acceptance in study 2 and with all strategies in study 3 were reflected by a decreased skin conductance level compared to the control condition. However, there were no significant differences between the strategies for any of the assessed variables. These findings implicate similar mechanisms underlying all three strategies, which led to the proposition of an extended process model of emotion regulation. We identified another sequence in the emotion-generative process and suggest that acceptance can flexibly affect at least four sequences in the process. Correlation analyses further indicated that the emotion regulation style did not affect regulatory success, suggesting that pain regulation strategies can be learned effectively irrespective of habitual tendencies. Moreover, we found indications that trait factors such as optimism and resilience facilitated pain regulation, especially with acceptance. Conclusively, we propose that acceptance could be flexibly used by adapting to different circumstances. The habitual use of acceptance could therefore be considered a resilience factor. Thus, acceptance appears to be a promising and versatile strategy to prevent the development of and improve the treatment of various chronic pain disorders. Future studies should further examine factors and circumstances that support effective pain regulation with acceptance.
N2  - Schmerzen und chronische Schmerzstörungen, welche eine enorme Belastung für Betroffene und das Gesundheitssystem darstellen, zählen zu den häufigsten Gründen für eine medizinische Behandlung. Die Erforschung von Mechanismen der Schmerzverarbeitung und -modulation ist daher hochgradig relevant. Ein Teil dieser Schmerzforschung befasst sich mit der Ermittlung von Resilienzfaktoren, die der Chronifizierung von Schmerzen vorbeugen und deren Behandlungen erleichtern sollen. Emotionsregulationsstrategien können als solche Resilienzfaktoren fungieren und die Behandlung von Schmerzen unterstützen. Studien zur Strategie Akzeptanz zeigten bereits Hinweise auf eine effektive Schmerzregulation, jedoch ist die Befundlage hinsichtlich der Effektivität noch uneindeutig. Eine weitere Unklarheit besteht bei der Einordnung von Akzeptanz als eine antezedent- oder reaktionsfokussierte Strategie in Gross Prozessmodel der Emotionsregulation (1998). Ein direkter Vergleich zwischen Akzeptanz und den bereits intensiv beforschten Strategien Ablenkung und Neubewertung könnte dabei Klarheit über die zugrunde liegenden Mechanismen und deren Einordnung schaffen. Das Ziel des aktuellen Dissertationsprojekts bestand daher darin, diese drei Strategien einander experimentell in einem akuten Schmerzkontext gegenüberzustellen. Zu diesem Zweck wurden drei aufeinanderfolgende Studien mit gesunden Probanden durchgeführt, die jeweils individuell eingestellte Schmerzreize erhielten. In der ersten Studie (N = 29) im Within-Design wurden den Probanden kurze Hitzeschmerzreize von 10 s verabreicht, welche sie akzeptieren (Akzeptanzbedingung) oder auf welche sie reagieren sollten, ohne eine Strategie anzuwenden (Kontrollbedingung). In der zweiten Studie (N = 36) wurde Studie 1 um zwei Bedingungen erweitert, indem phasische, elektrische Schmerzreize von 20 ms zum Within-Design hinzugefügt wurden. Darüber hinaus sollten sich die Versuchspersonen zusätzlich mithilfe neutraler Vorstellungen von den Schmerzreizen ablenken (Ablenkungsbedingung). In der dritten Studie (N = 121) wurden alle drei Strategien – Akzeptanz, Ablenkung und Neubewertung – einander sowie einer neutralen Kontrollbedingung in einem gemischten Within-Between-Design gegenübergestellt. Die Teilnehmenden wurden zufällig einer der drei Strategiegruppen zugewiesen, welche jeweils die Kontrollbedingung und eine der drei Strategiebedingungen enthielt. Die Probanden erhielten in allen Gruppen sowohl kurze, 10-sekündige als auch lange, 3-minütige Hitzeschmerzreize. Bei der Strategie Neubewertung sollten sich die Probanden vorstellen, dass der Hitzereiz eine positive Wirkung hätte. In allen Studien gaben die Probanden nach jedem Durchgang an, wie schmerzhaft und unangenehm sie die Schmerzreize erlebt hatten und wie gut es ihnen gelungen war, mit der jeweiligen Strategie zu regulieren. Außerdem wurden die peripherphysiologischen Messverfahren Herzrate und Hautleitfähigkeit als Schmerzkorrelate kontinuierlich aufgezeichnet. Zuletzt wurden die Emotionsregulationsstile und schmerzrelevante Persönlichkeitsfaktoren anhand von Fragebögen erfasst. Über alle Studien zeigte sich, dass die drei Strategien Akzeptanz, Ablenkung und Neubewertung die selbstberichtete Wahrnehmung der kurzen und langen Hitzeschmerzreize sowie der phasischen elektrischen Reize im Vergleich zur Kontrollbedingung signifikant verringerten. Des Weiteren deutete eine signifikant verminderte Hautleitfähigkeit in der Akzeptanzbedingung in Studie 2 und in allen Strategiebedingungen in Studie 3 – verglichen mit der Kontrollbedingung – auf peripherphysiologisch erkennbare Regulationsprozesse hin. Zwischen den Strategien ließen sich jedoch bei keiner der Messvariablen signifikante Unterschiede finden. Dieses Ergebnis könnte auf ähnliche, den Strategien zugrunde liegende Mechanismen hindeuten, sodass im Rahmen des Dissertationsprojekts ein erweitertes Prozessmodell der Emotionsregulation aufgestellt wurde. Dabei wurde der emotionsgenerierende Prozess um einen Schritt erweitert und es wurden mindestens vier Positionen vorgeschlagen, an welchen Akzeptanz flexibel ansetzen könnte. Korrelationsanalysen ergaben außerdem, dass der Emotionsregulationsstil keinen Einfluss auf den Regulationserfolg hatte, was darauf hindeutet, dass Schmerzregulationsstrategien unabhängig von gewohnheitsmäßigen Tendenzen effektiv erlernt werden können. Darüber hinaus gab es Hinweise darauf, dass höhere Ausprägungen von Persönlichkeitsfaktoren wie Optimismus und Resilienz zu einer effektiveren Schmerzregulation insbesondere mit Akzeptanz führen können. Insgesamt scheint Akzeptanz flexibel einsetzbar und anpassungsfähig zu sein, was sie zu einem Resilienzfaktor im alltäglichen Gebrauch sowie zu einer vielversprechenden Strategie in der Prävention und Behandlung chronischer Schmerzerkrankungen macht. Zukünftige Forschung sollte daher die Faktoren und Umstände untersuchen, die zu einer wirksamen Schmerzregulation mit Akzeptanz beitragen können.
KW  - Schmerzforschung
KW  - Akzeptanz
KW  - Akzeptanz- und Commitment Therapie
KW  - Emotionsregulation
KW  - pain regulation
KW  - acceptance-based strategies
Y1  - 2023
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-298666
ER  - 
TY  - THES
A1  - Greving, Carla Elisabeth
T1  - Improving Learning from Texts: Distributed Practice and Distributed Learning as Desirable Difficulty in Reading Single and Multiple Texts
T1  - Verbesserung des Lernens mit Texten: Verteiltes Üben und Verteiltes Lernen als wünschenswerte Erschwernis beim Lesen von einzelnen und multiplen Texten
N2  - Distributed practice is a well-known learning strategy whose beneficial effects on long-term learning are well proven by various experiments. In learning from texts, the benefits of distribution might even go beyond distributed practice, i.e. distribution of repeated materials. In realistic learning scenarios as for example school or university learning, the reader might read multiple texts that not repeat but complement each other. Therefore, distribution might also be implemented between multiple texts and benefit long-term learning in analogy to distributed practice. The assumption of beneficial effects of this distributed learning can be deduced from theories about text comprehension as the landscape model of reading (van den Broek et al., 1996) in combination with theories of desirable difficulties in general (R. A. Bjork & Bjork, 1992) and distributed practice in particular (Benjamin & Tullis, 2010). This dissertation aims to investigate (1) whether distributed learning benefits learning; (2) whether the amount of domain-specific prior knowledge moderates the effects of distribution, (3) whether distributed learning affects the learner’s meta-cognitive judgments in analogy to distributed practice and (4) whether distributed practice is beneficial for seventh graders in learning from single text. 
In Experiment 1, seventh graders read two complementary texts either massed or distributed by a lag of one week between the texts. Learning outcomes were measured immediately after reading the second text and one week later. Judgements of learning were assessed immediately after each text. Experiment 2 replicated the paradigm of Experiment 1 while shortening the lag between the texts in the distributed condition to 15 min. In both experiments, an interaction effect between learning condition (distributed vs. massed) and retention interval (immediate vs. delayed) was found. In the distributed condition, the participants showed no decrease in performance between the two tests, whereas participants in the massed condition did. However, no beneficial effects were found in the delayed test for the distributed condition but even detrimental effects for the distributed condition in the immediate test. In Experiment 1, participants in the distributed condition perceived learning as less difficult but predicted lower success than the participants in the massed condition. 
Experiment 3 replicated the paradigm of Experiment 1 with university students in the laboratory. In the preregistered Experiment 4, an additional retention interval of two weeks was realized. In both experiments, the same interaction between learning condition and retention interval was found. In Experiment 3, the participants in the distributed condition again showed no decrease in performance between the two tests, whereas participants in the massed condition did. However, even at the longer retention interval in Experiment 4, no beneficial effects were found for the distributed condition. Domain-specific prior knowledge was positively associated with test performance in both experiments. In Experiment 4, the participants with low prior knowledge seemed to be impaired by distributed learning, whereas no difference was found for participants with medium or high prior knowledge.
In the preregistered Experiment 5, seventh graders read a single text twice. The rereading took place either massed or distributed with one week. Immediately after rereading, judgements of learning were assessed. Learning outcomes were assessed four min after second reading or one week later. Participants in the distributed condition predicted lower learning success than participants in the massed condition. An interaction effect between learning condition and retention interval was found, but no advantage for the distributed condition. Participants with low domain-specific prior knowledge showed lower performance in short-answer questions in the distributed condition than in the massed condition. 
Overall, the results seem less encouraging regarding the effectiveness of distribution on learning from single and multiple texts. However, the experiments reported here can be perceived as first step in the realistic investigation of distribution in learning from texts.
N2  - Verteiltes Üben ist eine bekannte Lernstrategie, deren positiver Effekt auf die langfristigen Behaltensleistung in vielen Experimenten gezeigt wurde. Beim Lernen mit Texten können die Vorteile der Verteilung von Lerninhalten sogar über verteiltes Üben, also die Verteilung von sich wiederholenden Materialien, hinausgehen. In realistischen Lernszenarien, wie zum Beispiel Lernen in der Schule oder Universität, werden multiple Texte gelesen, die einander nicht wiederholen, sondern ergänzen. Verteilung im Sinne des verteilten Übens könnte demensprechend auch zwischen diesen multiplen Texten eingesetzt werden und analog zum verteilten Üben langfristiges Behalten fördern. Annahmen über eine Wirksamkeit dieses sogenannten verteilten Lernens können von Theorien zum Textverständnis wie zum Beispiel dem Landscape Model of Reading (van den Broek et al., 1996) in Kombination mit Theorien zu wünschenswerten Erschwernissen im Allgemeinen (R. A. Bjork & Bjork, 1992) und verteiltem Üben im Besonderen (Benjamin & Tullis, 2010) abgeleitet werden. 
In dieser Dissertation soll untersucht werden, (1) ob verteiltes Lernen Behalten fördert, (2) ob die Ausprägung des domänenspezifischen Vorwissens die Effekte des verteilten Lernens moderiert, (3) ob verteiltes Lernen die meta-kognitive Beurteilung des Lernprozesses des Lernenden beeinflusst und (4) ob verteiltes Üben für 7. Klässler*innen beim Lernen mit einzelnen Texten vorteilhaft ist.
Im ersten Experiment lasen 7. Klässler*innen zwei komplementäre Texte entweder massiert oder verteilt mit einem Abstand (lag) von einer Woche. Die Behaltensleistung wurde unmittelbar nach dem Lesen des zweiten Textes und eine Woche später erfasst. Die Beurteilung des Lernprozesses wurde direkt nach dem Lesen eines Textes erhoben. Experiment 2 replizierte das Paradigma von Experiment 1, wobei der Abstand zwischen den Texten in der verteilten Bedingung auf 15 Min reduziert wurde. In beiden Experimenten wurde eine Interaktion zwischen der Lernbedingung (massiert vs. verteilt) und dem Behaltensintervall (unmittelbar vs. später) gefunden. In der verteilten Bedingung zeigten die Teilnehmenden keine Verringerung in der Leistung zwischen den beiden Tests, die Teilnehmenden in der massierten Bedingung jedoch schon. Trotzdem wurden keine Vorteile des verteilten Lernens beim späteren Test gefunden. Stattdessen zeigten sich unmittelbar nach dem Lernen Nachteile des verteilten Lernens. In Experiment 1 nahmen die Teilnehmenden der verteilten Bedingung das Lernen als weniger schwierig wahr, erwarteten jedoch geringeren Lernerfolg als Teilnehmende der massierten Bedingung. 
Experiment 3 replizierte das Paradigma von Experiment 1 mit Studierenden in einem Laborsetting. In dem präregistrierten Experiment 4 wurde ein Behaltensintervall von zwei Wochen ergänzt. In beiden Experimenten fand sich eine ähnliche Interaktion zwischen Lernbedingung und Behaltensintervall. In Experiment 3 zeigten die Teilnehmenden in der verteilten Bedingung erneut keine Verringerung in der Leistung zwischen den zwei Tests, in der massierten Bedingung jedoch schon. Es fanden sich jedoch keine Vorteile des verteilten Lernens, auch nicht nach dem längeren Behaltensintervall in Experiment 4. Domänenspezifisches Vorwissen stand in beiden Experimenten in einem positiven Zusammenhang mit der Behaltensleistung. In Experiment 4 zeigten die Teilnehmenden mit geringem Vorwissen geringere Behaltensleistungen, wenn sie verteilt lernten, während keine derartigen Unterschiede für Teilnehmende mit mittlerem oder hohem Vorwissen gefunden wurden.
Im präregistrierten Experiment 5 lasen 7. Klässler*innen einen einzelnen Text zweimal. Das zweite Lesen erfolgte hier entweder unmittelbar (massiert) oder nach einer Woche (verteilt). Unmittelbar nach dem zweiten Lesen wurden die Beurteilung des Lernprozesses erhoben. Die Behaltensleistung wurde 4 Minuten oder eine Woche nach dem zweiten Lesen erfasst. Teilnehmende in der verteilten Bedingung erwarteten geringeren Lernerfolg als Teilnehmende in der massierten Bedingung. Es wurde ein Interaktionseffekt zwischen der Lernbedingung und dem Behaltensintervall gefunden, aber kein Vorteil für die verteilte Bedingung. In der verteilten Bedingung zeigten Teilnehmende mit geringem Vorwissen geringere Leistung bei Fragen im Kurzantwortformat als vergleichbare Teilnehmende in der massierten Bedingung. 
Zusammenfassend wirken diese Ergebnisse wenig vielversprechend bezüglich der Wirksamkeit des verteilten Lernens und Übens mit einzelnen und multiplen Texten. Trotzdem sind die hier berichteten Experimente als ein erster Schritt zur Untersuchung des Verteilungseffektes beim Lernen mit Texten in realistischen Lernszenarien zu betrachten.
KW  - Textverstehen
KW  - Distributed Learning
KW  - Distributed Practice
KW  - Spacing Effect
KW  - Distributed Reading
KW  - Text Comprehension
Y1  - 2022
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-296859
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Rodrigues, Johannes
A1  - Marzban, Dorna
A1  - Hewig, Johannes
T1  - The influence of mental imagery expertise of pen and paper players versus computer gamers upon performance and electrocortical correlates in a difficult mental rotation task
JF  - Symmetry
N2  - We investigated the influence of mental imagery expertise in 15 pen and paper role-players as an expert group compared to the gender-matched control group of computer role-players in the difficult Vandenberg and Kuse mental rotation task. In this task, the participants have to decide which two of four rotated figures match the target figure. The dependent measures were performance speed and accuracy. In our exploratory investigation, we further examined midline frontal theta band activation, parietal alpha band activation, and parietal alpha band asymmetry in EEG as indicator for the chosen rotation strategy. Additionally, we explored the gender influence on performance and EEG activation, although a very small female sample section was given. The expected gender difference concerning performance accuracy was negated by expertise in pen and paper role-playing women, while the gender-specific difference in performance speed was preserved. Moreover, gender differences concerning electro-cortical measures revealed differences in rotation strategy, with women using top-down strategies compared to men, who were using top-down strategies and active inhibition of associative cortical areas. These strategy uses were further moderated by expertise, with higher expertise leading to more pronounced activation patters, especially during successful performance. However, due to the very limited sample size, the findings of this explorative study have to be interpreted cautiously.
KW  - mental rotation
KW  - expertise in visual imagery
KW  - pen and paper vs. computer role-players
KW  - midline frontal theta band frequency activation
KW  - parietal alpha band frequency activation
KW  - gender influence
KW  - EEG
Y1  - 2021
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-252253
SN  - 2073-8994
VL  - 13
IS  - 12
ER  - 
TY  - THES
A1  - Karageorgos, Panagiotis
T1  - Investigating Reading Fluency in German Primary School Children: Interplay of Word Reading Accuracy, Speed, and Prosody
T1  - Untersuchung der Leseflüssigkeit bei deutschen Grundschulkindern: Zusammenspiel von Wortlesegenauigkeit, -geschwindigkeit und Prosodie
N2  - Reading skills are among the most important basic skills in society. However, not all readers are able to adequately understand texts or decode individual words. Findings from the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS; German: IGLU) show that about one fifth of fourth graders can only establish coherence at the local level, and in some cases they only have a rudimentary understanding of the text they read (Bremerich-Vos et al., 2017). In addition, these reading deficits persist and have a negative impact on academic and professional success (Jimerson, 1999). Therefore, identifying the causes of these deficits and creating opportunities for interventions at an early stage is an important research objective.
The aim of this dissertation was to examine the relationship between the aspects of reading fluency and their influence on reading comprehension. Despite the increasing scientific interest in reading fluency in recent years, a research gap still exists in the relationship between word recognition accuracy and both speed and the relevance of prosodic patterns for reading comprehension.
Study 1 investigated whether German fourth graders (N = 826) were required to reach a certain word-recognition accuracy threshold before their word-recognition speed improved. In addition, a sub-sample (n = 170) with a pre-/posttest design was examined to assess the extent that the existing word-recognition accuracy can influence the effects of a syllable-based reading intervention on word-recognition accuracy and word-recognition speed. Results showed that word-recognition speed improved after children achieved a word-recognition accuracy of 71%. A positive intervention effect was also found on word-recognition accuracy for children who were below the 71% threshold before the intervention, whereas the intervention effect on word-recognition speed was positive for all children. However, a positive effect on reading comprehension was only found for children who were above the 71% threshold before the intervention.
Study 2 investigated the relationship between word-recognition accuracy threshold and word-recognition speed shown in the first study in a longitudinal design with German students (N = 1,095). Word-recognition accuracy and speed were assessed from the end of Grade 1 to 4, whereas reading comprehension was assessed from the end of Grade 2 to 4. The results showed that the developmental trajectories of word recognition speed and reading comprehension were steeper in children who reached the word-recognition accuracy threshold by the end of the first grade than in children who later reached or had not reached this threshold.
In Study 3, recurrence analysis (RQA) was used to extract prosodic patterns from reading recordings of struggling and skilled readers in the second (n = 67) and fourth grade (n = 69) and was used for the classification into struggling and skilled readers. In addition, the classification based on the prosodic patterns from the recurrence quantification analysis was compared with the classification of prosodic features from the manual transcription of the reading recordings. The results showed that second-grade struggling readers have lengthier pauses within or between words and take more time between pauses on average, whereas fourth-grade struggling readers spend more time between recurring stresses and have multiple diverse patterns in pitch and more recurring accents. Although the recurrence analysis had a good goodness of fit and provided additional information about the relationship of prosody with reading comprehension, the model using prosodic features from transcription had a better fit.
In summary, the three studies in this dissertation provide four important insights into reading fluency in German. First, a threshold in word-recognition accuracy must be achieved before word-recognition speed improves. Second, the earlier this accuracy level is reached, the greater the gain in word-recognition speed and reading comprehension. Third, the intervention effects of a primary school reading intervention are influenced by the accuracy level. Fourth, although incorrect pauses within or between words play an important role in identifying and describing struggling readers in second grade, the importance of prosodic patterns increases in fourth grade.
N2  - Lesefähigkeiten zählen zu den wichtigsten Grundfertigkeiten in der heutigen Gesellschaft. Jedoch gelingt es nicht allen Lesern und Leserinnen Texte angemessen zu verstehen oder einzelne Wörter zu dekodieren. Erkenntnisse der Internationale Grundschul-Lese-Untersuchung (PIRLS; Deutsch: IGLU) belegen, dass etwa ein Fünftel der Viertklässler und Viertklässlerinnen Kohärenz nur auf lokaler Ebene herstellen können und in manchen Fällen nur über ein rudimentäres Verständnis des gelesenen Textes verfügen (Bremerich-Vos et al., 2017). Außerdem bleiben diese Lesedefizite bestehen und haben einen negativen Einfluss auf den schulischen und beruflichen Erfolg (Jimerson, 1999). Deshalb ist es wichtig die Ursachen dieser Defizite zu identifizieren und frühzeitig Möglichkeiten für Interventionen zu schaffen. 
Ziel der vorliegenden Dissertation war es, den Zusammenhang zwischen den Teilaspekten der Leseflüssigkeit und deren Einfluss auf das Leseverständnis näher zu untersuchen. Trotz der zunehmenden wissenschaftlichen Beschäftigung mit der Leseflüssigkeit in den letzten Jahren, besteht hier eine Forschungslücke sowohl bezüglich des Zusammenhangs zwischen Worterkennungsgenauigkeit und -geschwindigkeit als auch bezüglich der Relevanz prosodischer Muster für das Leseverständnis.
In Studie 1 wurde untersucht, ob deutsche Viertklässler und Viertklässlerinnen (N = 826) eine bestimmte Worterkennungsgenauigkeitsschwelle erreichen müssen, bevor sich ihre Worterkennungsgeschwindigkeit verbessert. Darüber hinaus wurde in einer Teilstichprobe (n = 170) mit einem Prä-/Posttest Design untersucht, inwiefern die bestehende Worterkennungsgenauigkeit die Effekte einer silbenbasierten Leseintervention auf die Worterkennungsgenauigkeit und Worterkennungsgeschwindigkeit beeinflussen kann. Die Ergebnisse zeigten, dass die Worterkennungsgeschwindigkeit sich verbesserte, nachdem die Kinder eine Worterkennungsgenauigkeit von 71% erreichten. Zudem zeigten sich ein positiver Interventionseffekt auf die Worterkennungsgenauigkeit für die Kinder, die vor der Intervention unter der 71% Schwelle lagen. Auf die Worterkennungsgeschwindigkeit ergab sich für alle Kinder ein positiver Interventionseffekt. Auf das Leseverständnis hingegen zeigte sich nur für die Kinder, die vor der Intervention über der 71% Schwelle lagen, ein positiver Effekt. 
Studie 2 untersuchte den in der ersten Studie aufgezeigten Zusammenhang zwischen Worterkennungsgenauigkeitsschwelle und Worterkennungsgeschwindigkeit in einem längsschnittlichen Design mit deutschen Schülerinnen und Schüler (N = 1,095). Die Worterkennungsgenauigkeit und -geschwindigkeit wurden von Ende der Jahrgangsstufe 1 bis Jahrgangsstufe 4 erfasst, während das Leseverständnis von Ende der Jahrgangsstufe 2 bis Jahrgangsstufe 4 erfasst wurde. Die Ergebnisse zeigten, dass die Entwicklungsverläufe der Worterkennungsgeschwindigkeit und des Leseverständnisses bei Kindern, die die Worterkennungsgenauigkeitsschwelle bis Ende der Jahrgangsstufe 1 erreichten, steiler waren als bei Kindern, die diese Schwelle erst später oder gar nicht erreichten. 
In Studie 3 wurden mit Hilfe der Rekurrenzanalyse (RQA) prosodische Muster aus der Leseaufnahmen leseschwacher und -starker Kinder der Jahrgangsstufe 2 (n = 67) und der Jahrgangsstufe 4 (n = 69) extrahiert und für die Klassifikation in leseschwach und lesestark verwendet. Darüber hinaus wurde die Klassifikation anhand der prosodischen Muster aus der Rekurrenzanalyse mit der Klassifikation prosodischer Merkmale aus der manuellen Transkription der Leseaufnahmen verglichen. Die Ergebnisse zeigten, dass leseschwache Kinder der Jahrgangsstufe 2 längere Pausen innerhalb oder zwischen einzelnen Wörtern machen und im Durchschnitt mehr Zeit zwischen Pausen verstreichen lassen, während leseschwache Kinder der Jahrgangsstufe 4 mehr Zeit zwischen wiederkehrende Betonungen verstreichen lassen, viele Muster bei der Tonhöhe aufweisen und häufiger wiederkehrende Betonungen zeigen. Obwohl die Rekurrenzanalyse eine gute Anpassungsgüte hatte und zusätzliche Informationen zu dem Zusammenhang der Prosodie mit dem Leseverständnis lieferte, ergab sich für das Model mit den prosodischen Merkmalen aus der Transkription eine bessere Anpassungsgüte. 
Zusammenfassend liefern die drei Studien der vorliegenden Dissertation vier bedeutsame Erkenntnisse bezüglich der Leseflüssigkeit im Deutschen. Erstens: Es gibt eine gewisse Schwelle bei der Worterkennungsgenauigkeit, die erreicht werden muss, bevor sich die Worterkennungsgeschwindigkeit verbessert. Zweitens: Je früher diese Genauigkeitsschwelle erreicht wird, desto stärker ist der Zuwachs in der Worterkennungsgeschwindigkeit und im Leseverständnis. Drittens: Die Interventionseffekte einer Leseintervention in die Grundschule werden von der Genauigkeitsschwelle beeinflusst. Viertens: Während inkorrekte Pausen innerhalb oder zwischen einzelnen Wörtern eine wichtige Rolle für die Identifikation und Beschreibung von leseschwachen Kindern in die Jahrgangsstufe 2 spielen, nimmt die Bedeutung der prosodischen Muster in der Jahrgangsstufe 4 zu.
KW  - Worterkennung
KW  - Textverstehen
KW  - Prosodie
KW  - word-reading accuracy
KW  - word-reading speed
KW  - prosody
KW  - primary school children
Y1  - 2022
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-292612
ER  - 
TY  - THES
A1  - Greving, Sven
T1  - Desirable Difficulties in Applied Learning Settings: Mechanisms and Effects
T1  - Wünschenswerte Erschwernisse in angewandten Lernumgebungen: Mechanismen und Effekte
N2  - Improving retention of learned content by means of a practice test is a learning strategy that has been researched since a century and has been consistently found to be more effective than comparable learning strategies such as restudy (i.e., the testing effect). Most importantly, practicing test questions has been found to outperform restudy even when no additional information about the correct answers was provided to practice test takers, rendering practice tests effective and efficient in fostering retention of learning content. Since 15 years, additional scientific attention is devoted to this memory phenomenon and additional research investigated to what extend practicing test questions is relevant in real-world educational settings. This dissertation first presents the evidence for testing effects in applied educational settings by presenting key publications and presenting findings from a methodological review conducted for this purpose. Within this dissertation, theories are presented why practicing test questions should benefit learning in real-world educational settings even without the provision of additional information and key variables for the effectiveness of practicing test questions are presented. Four studies presented in this dissertation aimed at exploring these assumptions in actual university classrooms while also trying to implement new methods of practicing learning content and thus augment course procedures. Findings from these studies—although not often consistent—will be incorporated and interpreted in the light of the theoretical accounts on the testing effect. The main conclusion that can be drawn from this dissertation is that, given the right circumstances, practicing test questions can elicit beneficial effects on the retention of learning content that are independent of additional information and thus taking a practice test per se, can foster retention of real-world learning content.
N2  - Seit einem Jahrhundert wird die positive Wirkung von Abrufübungen auf das Behalten gelernter Inhalte untersucht. Diese Untersuchungen belegen durchgängig, dass Abrufübungen für das Behalten förderlicher sind als vergleichbare Lernaktivitäten wie beispielsweise nochmaliges Lesen (Der Testungseffekt). Der Testungseffekt ist besonders bedeutsam wenn er in Settings untersucht wird in denen keine Informationen über die Richtigkeit des abgelegten Tests an die Lernenden gegeben werden und somit belegen, dass Abrufübungen nicht nur effektive sondern auch effiziente Methoden der Behaltensförderung darstellen. Seit 15 Jahren intensiviert sich das wissenschaftliche Interesse am Testungseffekt und immer mehr Forschung untersucht auch das Ausmaß der Übertragbarkeit auf reale Lernumgebungen. Diese Dissertation stellt zuerst Befunde aus Untersuchungen des Testungseffekts in angewandten Lernsettings dar, wobei zentrale Studien besprochen werden und hier ein eigens zu diesem Zweck angestelltes methodisches Review vorgestellt wird. Innerhalb der Dissertationen werden Theorien erläutert, warum Abrufübungen in realen Lernsettings das Behalten auch ohne zusätzliche Darbietung der korrekten Antwort fördern sollten und welche Variablen dafür essentiell sind. In dieser Dissertation warden zudem vier Studien präsentiert, die diese Variablen in universitären Lernumgebungen untersuchten, teilweise mit dem Ziel, Abrufübungen noch effektiver zu machen. Die gewonnenen Erkenntnisse aus diesen vier Studien—obwohl sie nicht immer konsistent sind—werden abschließend diskutiert und in Bezug zu den vorgestellten Theorien gesetzt. Eine zetrale Schlussfolgerung aus den vorgestellten Studien ist die Erkenntnis, dass unter den richtigen Bedingungen Abrufübungen den Testungseffekt hervorrufen können, die unabhängig von zusätlicher Information sind und dass es demnach die Abrufübung per se ist, die zum Behalten gelernter Information beiträgt.
KW  - Unterrichtspsychologie
KW  - Testing Effect
KW  - Feedback
KW  - University Teaching
Y1  - 2022
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-288848
ER  - 
TY  - THES
A1  - Wertgen, Andreas Gabriel
T1  - The Role of Source Credibility in the Validation of Text Information
T1  - Die Rolle der Quellenglaubwürdigkeit bei der Validierung von Textinformationen
N2  - Numerous experiments have shown that an evaluative and passive process, known as validation, accompanies activation and integration, which are fundamental processes of text comprehension. During the construction of a mental model, validation implicitly assesses the plausibility of incoming information by checking its consistency with world knowledge, prior beliefs, and contextual information (e.g., the broader discourse context). However, research on potential influences that shape validation processes has just started. One branch of research is investigating how world knowledge and contextual information contribute to integration and validation. World knowledge usually influences validation more strongly because information plausibility is the primary criterion for validation, but strong contextual information can yield influences as well. 
Contextual information that may be specifically relevant for routine validation is the credibility of a source providing text information. Source credibility bears a strong conceptual relationship to the validity of information. However, a dearth of research has investigated joint effects of plausibility and source credibility for routine validation. To fill this research gap, the aim of the present dissertation was to examine the role of source credibility in routine validation processes of text information. This dissertation argues that both source credibility and plausibility are considered in these processes. In particular, information plausibility is proposed as the primary criterion, but source credibility may modulate validation as an additional criterion. To this end, three studies with five self-paced reading experiments were conducted in which reading times served as an implicit indicator of validation and plausibility judgments as an explicit indicator, and the convergence or divergence between the two indicators was interpreted.
The first study examined the interplay of plausibility and source credibility for the validation of world-knowledge consistent versus inconsistent text information embedded in short narratives. This highly plausible or highly implausible information was provided by a high- or low-expertise source. In Study 1, plausibility dominated validation as suggested by faster reading times and higher plausibility judgments for world-knowledge consistent information. Importantly, source credibility modulated the validation of highly implausible information but seemed to not matter for plausible information. High-credible sources increased the implausibility of highly implausible information to a greater extent compared with low-credible sources as indicated by longer reading times and lower plausibility judgments. These results diverged from recent findings from Foy et al. (2017). 
The second study investigated whether the modulating role of source credibility depends on the degree of implausibility of an information. Thus, Study 2 extended Study 1 by an intermediate, somewhat implausible level of plausibility (comparable to the implausible claims in Foy et al., 2017). Similar to Study 1, plausibility dominated validation as indicated by lower reading times and plausibility judgments with higher world-knowledge inconsistency. Again, source credibility had no effect on the routine validation of plausible information. However, high-credible sources mitigated the implausibility of somewhat implausible information as indicated by faster reading times and higher plausibility judgments but exacerbated the implausibility of highly implausible information as indicated by slower reading times and lower plausibility judgments. 
In short, Study 2 findings not only integrates the seemingly divergent results of Study 1 and Foy et al. (2017) but also provides strong support for the assumption that the degree of implausibility determines the modulating role of source credibility for validation. 
The third study examined the relationship of source credibility and plausibility in an ecologically valid social media setting with short Twitter messages varying in world-knowledge and text-belief consistency by trustworthy and untrustworthy sources. In sum, plausibility and to a lesser extent source credibility mattered for routine validation and explicit evaluation of text information as indicated by reading times and plausibility judgments. However, the pattern partly diverged from Study 1 and 2, possibly because the source information was more salient.
In sum, the present dissertation yielded three insights. First, the findings further extends evidence for routine validation based on world-knowledge and prior beliefs. Second, the studies suggest that source credibility can modulate validation. Readers used source credibility cues for routine validation and the explicit evaluation of text information in all studies. Third, the impact of source credibility seems to depend on the degree of implausibility of information. 
The present findings have theoretical implications for theories of validation and text comprehension as well as practical implications for targeting threats associated with the prevalence of inaccurate information, for example, on the World Wide Web. Future research using eye-tracking methodology could further disentangle the routine and strategic underlying processes of the relationship between source credibility and plausibility.
N2  - Zahlreiche empirische Untersuchungen konnten zeigen, dass ein passiver und evaluativer Prozess – genannt Validierung – die Aktivierung und Integration von Textinformationen mit leserseitigem Vorwissen und Überzeugungen als grundlegende Prozesse des Textverstehens begleitet. Während der Konstruktion des Situationsmodells erfassen Validierungsprozesse fortlaufend und implizit die Plausibilität einer eingehenden Information, indem sie die Konsistenz mit leserseitigem Vorwissen und Überzeugungen sowie mit Kontextinformationen (z. B. vorherige Textinformationen) überprüfen. Die Erforschung weiterer Einflussgrößen für die Validierung hat jedoch gerade erst begonnen. Ein Forschungszweig beschäftigt sich mit der Frage, wie sich Kontextinformationen und Vorwissen in ihrem Beitrag zu Integrations- und Validierungsprozessen unterscheiden. Ein Befund dabei ist, dass das Vorwissen häufig einen stärkeren Einfluss auf die Validierungsprozesse hat und folglich die Informationsplausibilität das primäre Kriterium für die Validierung von Textinformationen ist. Starke Kontextinformationen können jedoch ebenfalls für die Bewertung von eingehenden Informationen herangezogen werden. 
Eine spezifische Kontextinformation, die eine konzeptuelle Verbindung zu der Validität einer Information hat und daher eine besondere Relevanz für die Validierung von Textinformationen besitzt, ist die Glaubwürdigkeit der Quelle, die eine Textinformation liefert. Es gibt jedoch nur vereinzelte Studien, die das interaktive Zusammenspiel der Informationsplausibilität und Quellenglaubwürdigkeit für die Validierung von Textinformationen untersucht haben. Die vorliegende Dissertation setzt an dieser Lücke an und untersucht die Rolle der Quellenglaubwürdigkeit für die routinierte Validierung von Textinformationen. Dabei wird angenommen, dass sowohl die Plausibilität als auch die Quellenglaubwürdigkeit in diesen Prozessen berücksichtigt werden. Die Plausibilität einer Information sollte hierbei das primäre Kriterium sein, das zur Validierung herangezogen wird, aber die Quellenglaubwürdigkeit sollte als zusätzliches Kriterium genutzt werden und die Prozesse potentiell zu modulieren. Zur Überprüfung dieser Annahmen wurden drei Lesezeitstudien mit insgesamt fünf Experimenten durchgeführt. 
Ob implizite und explizite Maße konvergieren oder divergieren ist aufschlussreich für die Untersuchung der Prozesse des Textverstehens. Daher dienten die Lesezeit als implizites Maß für Validierungsprozesse und die Beurteilung der Plausibilität einer Textinformation als explizites Maß in allen Studien. 
Die erste Studie untersuchte die Beziehung von Plausibilität und Quellenglaubwürdigkeit bei der Validierung von Textinformationen, die konsistent (plausibel) oder inkonsistent (stark unplausibel) mit dem Vorwissen waren. Diese Textinformationen waren eingebettet in kurzen Geschichten und wurden von einer Quelle mit viel bzw. wenig Expertise hinsichtlich des angesprochenen Wissensbereichs geäußert. 
In Studie 1 führten plausible Textinformationen zu kürzeren Lesezeiten und höheren Plausibilitätsurteilen als stark unplausible Textinformationen. Für plausible Informationen schien die Quellenglaubwürdigkeit keine Rolle zu spielen, jedoch führten glaubwürdige Quellen zu höheren Lesezeiten und niedrigeren Plausibilitätsurteilen bei stark unplausiblen Informationen. Studie 1 legt nahe, dass die Konsistenz mit dem Vorwissen das Hauptkriterium für die Validierung war und die Quellenglaubwürdigkeit als zusätzliches Kriterium die Validierung unplausibler Informationen modulieren kann, jedoch in der Wirkrichtung scheinbar abweichend zu aktuellen Befunden  ist (Foy et al., 2017).
Die zweite Studie untersuchte, ob die in Studie 1 gefundene, modulierende Rolle der Quellenglaubwürdigkeit für Validierungsprozesse vom Grad der Unplausibilität einer Information abhängt. Hierzu wurden die Konzeption und die Materialien der ersten Studie um eine mittlere Plausibilitätsstufe, die als „etwas unplausibel“ bezeichnet werden kann, erweitert; sonst waren die Studien sehr ähnlich. 
In Studie 2 zeigte sich ein dreigestufter Plausibilitätseffekt abhängig von der Konsistenz mit dem Vorwissen. Plausible Textinformationen wurden schneller gelesen und als plausibler beurteilt als etwas unplausible Informationen. Diese wiederum wurden schneller gelesen und als plausibler eingeschätzt als stark unplausible Informationen. Erneut wurde die Quellenglaubwürdigkeit während des Lesens plausibler Informationen nicht berücksichtigt, modulierte aber die Validierung unplausibler Informationen. Glaubwürdige Quellen verglichen mit unglaubwürdigen Quellen führten zu kürzeren Lesezeiten und einer höher eingeschätzten Plausibilität für etwas unplausible Informationen, aber verlängerten die Lesezeiten und verringerten die Plausibilitätsurteile stark unplausibler Informationen – letzteres war identisch mit dem Ergebnis von Studie 1. 
Studie 2 zeigt, dass die Plausibilität einer Information das Hauptkriterium für wissensbasierte Validierungsprozesse war. Wenn Informationen einen gewissen Grad an Unplausibilität erreichen, können glaubwürdige Quellen die Plausibilität eigentlich unplausibler Informationen erhöhen oder sogar weiter verringern. Die Ergebnisse von Studie 2 belegen die Annahme, dass der Grad der Unplausibilität einer Information die modulierende Rolle der Glaubwürdigkeit einer Quelle bestimmt und darüber hinaus werden die Befunde von Studie 1 und Foy et al. (2017) integriert. 
Die dritte Studie untersuchte die Beziehung von Plausibilität und Quellenglaubwürdigkeit eingebettet in einem sozialen Medium mit kurzen Twitter-Nachrichten als ein ökologisch valider Kontext. Die Nachrichten unterschieden sich in der vom Text vermittelten Überzeugung und der Vorwissenskonsistenz. Diese Nachrichten wurden präsentiert von stark und wenig vertrauenswürdigen Quellen. Zusammenfassend zeigen Lesezeiten und Plausibilitätsurteile, dass die Informationsplausibilität und in einem geringeren Maße die Quellenglaubwürdigkeit für die routinierte Validierung und explizite Bewertung der Textinformationen von Bedeutung waren, aber mit einem teilweise abweichenden Muster zu Studie 1 und 2. Eine mögliche Erklärung könnte in den stark salienten Quelleninformationen in Studie 3 liegen. 
Zusammengefasst hat die vorliegende Dissertation drei Erkenntnisse erbracht. Erstens, die Befundlage für routinierte Validierungsprozesse basierend auf der Plausibilität einer Information wurde erweitert. Zweitens, die Studien legen nahe, dass die Glaubwürdigkeit einer Quelle dabei auch eine Rolle spielt: in allen Studien nutzten die Leserinnen und Leser die Quellenglaubwürdigkeit als zusätzlichen Hinweis zur Validierung und zur expliziten Plausibilitätsbewertung von Textinformationen. Drittens, die Stärke und die Richtung des Einflusses der Quellenglaubwürdigkeit für die wissensbasierte Validierung von Textinformationen scheint vom Grad der Unplausibilität einer Information abzuhängen. 
Diese Ergebnisse erlauben Schlussfolgerungen für Theorien der Validierung und des Textverstehens sowie praktische Implikationen für die Bekämpfung von möglichen Folgen, die mit der Verbreitung von Falschinformationen verbunden sind. Zukünftige Experimente basierend auf Blickbewegungen könnten helfen die routinierten und strategischen Prozesse genauer zu trennen, die die Beziehung von Quellenglaubwürdigkeit und Plausibilität für die Validierung bestimmen.
KW  - Textverstehen
KW  - Plausibilität
KW  - Trustworthiness
KW  - Credibility
KW  - Validation
KW  - Source Credibility
KW  - Text Comprehension
KW  - Plausibility
KW  - Sourcing
Y1  - 2022
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-288619
ER  - 
TY  - THES
A1  - Liesner, Marvin Paul
T1  - I control it, but does it mean it is part of me? How the relationship between body movements and controlled object movements influences the sense of agency and the sense of ownership
T1  - Ich kontrolliere es, aber ist es deshalb ein Teil von mir? Wie die Umsetzung von Körperbewegungen in Bewegungen von kontrollierten Objekten Sense of agency und Sense of ownership beeinflusst
N2  - The “active self” approach suggests that any object we manipulate voluntarily and foreseeably becomes part of our “self” in the sense that we feel control over this object (sense of agency) and experience it as belonging to our own body (sense of ownership). While there is considerable evidence that we can indeed experience both a sense of agency and a sense of ownership over a broad variety of objects when we control these through our actions, the approach has also been criticized for exaggerating the flexibility of the human self. In this thesis, I investigate the influence that the relationship between the body movements controlling an object and the movements of the object itself has on the process of integrating an object into the self. I demonstrate that fully controlling an object is not sufficient for it to be integrated into the self since both explicit and implicit measures of the sense of agency and the sense of ownership indicate less or no integration when body movements are transformed into inverted object movements. Furthermore, I show that such inversions lead to the downregulation of sensory signals either from the body or from the controlled object in order to deal with the conflicting multisensory information when performing such actions. I argue that this downregulation is the underlying factor behind the diminished or eliminated integration of inverted body and object movements and I discuss further pathways for possible future studies building up on these findings.
N2  - Der “Active Self”-Ansatz sagt aus, dass jedes Objekt, welches wir willentlich und vorhersehbar manipulieren, Teil unseres „Selbst“ wird in dem Sinne, dass wir Kontrolle über dieses Objekt empfinden (Sense of agency) und es als zu unserem eigenen Körper zugehörig erleben (Sense of ownership). Während es eine beträchtliche Menge an Evidenz dafür gibt, dass wir tatsächlich sowohl Sense of agency als auch Sense of ownership für eine breite Vielfalt an Objekten empfinden können, wenn wir diese durch unsere Handlungen kontrollieren, wurde der Ansatz auch dafür kritisiert die Flexibilität des menschlichen Selbst über zu strapazieren. In dieser Arbeit untersuche ich den Einfluss, den die Beziehung zwischen den Körperbewegungen, welche ein Objekt kontrollieren, und den Bewegungen des Objekts selbst auf den Integrationsprozess eines Objekts in das Selbst hat. Ich demonstriere, dass ein Objekt vollständig zu kontrollieren nicht ausreichend ist, damit es in das Selbst integriert wird, da sowohl explizite als auch implizite Maße für Sense of agency und Sense of ownership weniger oder keine Integration zeigen, wenn Körperbewegungen in invertierte Objektbewegungen transformiert werden. Darüber hinaus zeige ich, dass solche Invertierungen zur Herunterregulierung sensorischer Signale entweder vom Körper oder vom kontrollierten Objekt führen, um mit der konfligierenden multisensorischen Information umzugehen, wenn solche Handlungen ausgeführt werden. Ich argumentiere, dass diese Herunterregulierung der zugrundeliegende Faktor ist für die verringerte oder eliminierte Integration invertierter Körper- und Objektbewegungen und ich diskutiere weitere Richtungen für mögliche zukünftige Studien, die auf diesen Befunden aufbauen.
KW  - Experimentelle Psychologie
KW  - Kognitive Psychologie
KW  - Ideomotorik
KW  - Sense of agency
KW  - Sense of ownership
KW  - Ideomotor
KW  - Active self
KW  - Multisensory integration
KW  - Tactile suppression
KW  - Tactile gating
Y1  - 2022
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-287030
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Franz, David J.
T1  - Is Applied Ethics Morally Problematic?
JF  - Journal of Academic Ethics
N2  - This paper argues that applied ethics can itself be morally problematic. As illustrated by the case of Peter Singer’s criticism of social practice, morally loaded communication by applied ethicists can lead to protests, backlashes, and aggression. By reviewing the psychological literature on self-image, collective identity, and motivated reasoning three categories of morally problematic consequences of ethical criticism by applied ethicists are identified: serious psychological discomfort, moral backfiring, and hostile conflict. The most worrisome is moral backfiring: psychological research suggests that ethical criticism of people’s central moral convictions can reinforce exactly those attitudes. Therefore, applied ethicists unintentionally can contribute to a consolidation of precisely those social circumstances that they condemn to be unethical. Furthermore, I argue that the normative concerns raised in this paper are not dependent on the commitment to one specific paradigm in moral philosophy. Utilitarianism, Aristotelian virtue ethics, and Rawlsian contractarianism all provide sound reasons to take morally problematic consequences of ethical criticism seriously. Only the case of deontological ethics is less clear-cut. Finally, I point out that the issues raised in this paper provide an excellent opportunity for further interdisciplinary collaboration between applied ethics and social sciences. I also propose strategies for communicating ethics effectively.
KW  - consequences of ethical criticism
KW  - applied ethics
KW  - motivated reasoning
KW  - Peter Singer
KW  - interdisciplinary moral philosophy
KW  - moral reasoning
Y1  - 2022
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-269095
SN  - 1572-8544
VL  - 20
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Zetzl, Teresa
A1  - Pittig, Andre
A1  - Renner, Agnes
A1  - van Oorschott, Birgitt
A1  - Jentschke, Elisabeth
T1  - Yoga therapy to reduce fatigue in cancer: effects of reminder e-mails and long-term efficacy
JF  - Supportive Care in Cancer
N2  - Objective
To examine the efficacy of reminder e-mails to continue yoga therapy on practice frequency and fatigue in cancer patients and long-term effects of yoga on fatigue, depression, and quality of life.
Methology
One hundred two cancer patients who completed an 8-week yoga therapy were randomly allocated to two groups: reminder (N = 51) vs. no-reminder group (N = 51). After completing yoga therapy, the reminder group received weekly e-mails for 24 weeks, which reminded them of practicing yoga, whereas the no-reminder group did not. Primary outcomes were fatigue and practice frequency, and long-term outcomes were fatigue, depression, and quality of life. Data were assessed using questionnaires after yoga therapy (T1) and 6 months after completing yoga therapy (T2).
Result
A significantly stronger reduction of general (p = 0.038, d = 0.42) and emotional fatigue (p = 0.004, d = 0.59) and a higher increase of practice frequency (p = 0.015, d = 0.52) between T1 and T2 were found for the reminder group compared to the no-reminder group. In the mediation model, practice frequency as a mediator partially explained the changes in emotional fatigue (indirect effect B =  - 0.10). Long-term effects of yoga therapy regarding fatigue, depression, and quality of life were found (F > 7.46, p < 0.001, d > 0.54).
Conclusion
Weekly reminder e-mails after yoga therapy can positively affect general and emotional fatigue and help cancer patients with fatigue establish a regular yoga practice at home. However, higher practice frequency did not lead to higher physical or cognitive fatigue improvement, suggesting other factors that mediate efficacy on physical or cognitive fatigue, such as mindfulness or side effects of therapy.
KW  - reminder e-mails
KW  - mind–body intervention
KW  - complementary alternative medicine
KW  - long-term effects
KW  - Yoga
KW  - fatigue
Y1  - 2021
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-268415
SN  - 1433-7339
VL  - 29
IS  - 12
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Murali, Supriya
A1  - Händel, Barbara
T1  - Motor restrictions impair divergent thinking during walking and during sitting
JF  - Psychological Research
N2  - Creativity, specifically divergent thinking, has been shown to benefit from unrestrained walking. Despite these findings, it is not clear if it is the lack of restriction that leads to the improvement. Our goal was to explore the effects of motor restrictions on divergent thinking for different movement states. In addition, we assessed whether spontaneous eye blinks, which are linked to motor execution, also predict performance. In experiment 1, we compared the performance in Guilford's alternate uses task (AUT) during walking vs. sitting, and analysed eye blink rates during both conditions. We found that AUT scores were higher during walking than sitting. Albeit eye blinks differed significantly between movement conditions (walking vs. sitting) and task phase (baseline vs. thinking vs. responding), they did not correlate with task performance. In experiment 2 and 3, participants either walked freely or in a restricted path, or sat freely or fixated on a screen. When the factor restriction was explicitly modulated, the effect of walking was reduced, while restriction showed a significant influence on the fluency scores. Importantly, we found a significant correlation between the rate of eye blinks and creativity scores between subjects, depending on the restriction condition. Our study shows a movement state-independent effect of restriction on divergent thinking. In other words, similar to unrestrained walking, unrestrained sitting also improves divergent thinking. Importantly, we discuss a mechanistic explanation of the effect of restriction on divergent thinking based on the increased size of the focus of attention and the consequent bias towards flexibility.
KW  - creativity
KW  - humans
KW  - sitting
KW  - walking
KW  - thinking
Y1  - 2022
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-267722
SN  - 1430-2772
VL  - 86
IS  - 7
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Käthner, Ivo
A1  - Eidel, Matthias
A1  - Häge, Anne-Sophie
A1  - Gram, Annika
A1  - Pauli, Paul
T1  - Observing physicians acting with different levels of empathy modulates later assessed pain tolerance
JF  - British Journal of Health Psychology
N2  - Objectives

The patient–physician relationship is essential for treatment success. Previous studies demonstrated that physicians who behave empathic in their interaction with patients have a positive effect on health outcomes. In this study, we investigated if the mere perception of physicians as empathic/not empathic modulates pain despite an emotionally neutral interaction with the patients.

Methods

N = 60 women took part in an experimental study that simulated a clinical interaction. In the paradigm, each participant watched two immersive 360° videos via a head-mounted display from a patient’s perspective. The physicians in the videos behaved either empathic or not empathic towards a third person. Importantly, these physicians remained emotionally neutral in the subsequent virtual interaction with the participants. Finally, participants received a controlled, painful pressure stimulus within the narratives of the videos.

Results

The physicians in the high compared with the low empathy videos were rated as more empathic and more likable, indicating successful experimental manipulation. In spite of later neutral behaviour of physicians, this short observation of physicians’ behaviour towards a third person was sufficient to modulate pain tolerance of the participants.

Conclusions

The finding of this study that the mere observation of physicians’ behaviour towards a third person modulates pain, despite a neutral direct interaction with the participants, has important clinical implications. Further, the proposed paradigm enables investigating aspects of patient–physician communication that are difficult to examine in a clinical setting.
KW  - patient–physician relationship
KW  - empathy
KW  - psychology
KW  - pain
KW  - 360° videos
Y1  - 2022
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-258368
VL  - 27
IS  - 2
ER  - 
TY  - THES
A1  - Madeira, Octavia
T1  - The Human-Experimental Virtual Elevated Plus-Maze as an Anxiety Model
T1  - Das human-experimentelle virtuelle Elevated Plus-Maze als Angstmodell
N2  - Anxiety research is one of the major psychological research domains and looks back on decades of research activity. Traditionally, novel theories and approaches are tested utilizing animal models. One way to study inherent anxiety in rodents is the elevated plus-maze (EPM). The EPM is a plus-shaped platform with two closed, i.e., walled, arms and two open unwalled arms. If given the opportunity to freely explore the apparatus, rodents instinctively avoid the open arms to protect themselves from predators. Hence, they spent less time on open and more time on closed arms, which is behaviorally associated with general anxiety. In the course of the pharmacological validation, it was found that this exploratory pattern can be reversed by anxiolytic substances, e.g., benzodiazepines, or potentiated by anxiogenics. One of the significant advantages of the EPM is that no prior training session is required in contrast to conditioning studies, thus allowing to observe natural behavior. Therefore, together with the economic and uncomplicated setup, the EPM has become a standard preclinical rodent anxiety test over the decades. In order to validate these rodent anxiety tests, there have recently been attempts to retranslate them to humans. A paramount of cross-species validation is not only the simple transferability of these animal tests but also the observation of anxiety behaviors that are evolutionarily conserved across species. Accordingly, it could be possible to conclude various factors associated with the etiology and maintenance of anxiety disorders in humans. So far, convincing translations of the EPM to humans are still lacking. For that reason, the primary aim of this dissertation is to retranslate the EPM throughout three studies and to evaluate cross-species validity critically. Secondly, the undertaken studies are set out to observe ambulatory activity equivalent to rodent EPM behavior, i.e., open arm avoidance. Thirdly, the undertaken studies aimed to assess the extent to which trait anxiety influences human exploratory activity on the platform to associate it with the assumption that rodent EPM-behavior is a reflection of general anxiety. Finally, virtual reality (VR) was the method of choice to maintain the economic advantage and adjust the EPM size to humans. Study 1 (N = 30) was set up to directly transfer the rodent EPM regarding test design and experimental procedure using a Computer Automatic Virtual Environment (CAVE). The results revealed that humans unlike rodents display a general open arms approach during free exploration. However, open arm avoidance was associated with high trait anxiety and acrophobia (fear of height), which was initially assessed as a control variable due to the virtual platform height. Regression analyses and subjective anxiety ratings hinted at a more significant influence of acrophobia on open arm avoidance. In addition, it was assumed that the open arms approach might have resulted from claustrophobic tendencies experienced in the closed arms due to the high walls. Study 2 (N = 61) sought to differentiate the influence of trait anxiety and acrophobia and adapt the virtual EPM to humans. Therefore, parts of the platform held a semi-transparent grid-floor texture, and the wall height on the closed arms was reduced to standard handrail level. Moreover, participants were priorly screened to exclude clinically significant levels of acrophobia, claustrophobia, and agoraphobia. The data on general exploratory activity showed no arm preference. Regression analyses confirmed that acrophobia is related to open arm avoidance, corroborating the finding of Study 1. Surprisingly, for trait anxiety, the result of Study 1 could not be replicated. Instead, for trait anxiety, no significant effect was found indicating that predominantly fear of heights shapes human EPM behavior even on a subclinical stage. In Study 3 (N = 57), the EPM was embedded into a city setting to 1) create a more natural human environment and 2) eliminate height. Furthermore, a head-mounted display was utilized for VR presentation, and arousal ratings were introduced. Participants were screened for high and low levels of trait anxiety and agoraphobia, and claustrophobia. Replicating the findings of Study 2, no difference in open and closed arm activity was observed, and no effect was found in relationship with trait anxiety. The data on anxiety ratings and claustrophobia suggest a positive correlation indicating that in this city EPM, claustrophobic tendencies might play a role in closed arm avoidance. In summary, this thesis added valuable insights into the retranslation of a well-established standard anxiety test used in rodents. However, it also majorly challenges current findings on the cross-species validity of the EPM. Various explanatory models for the results are critically discussed and associated with clinical implications concerning future research.
N2  - Die Angstforschung ist eines der wichtigsten psychologischen Forschungsgebiete und blickt auf eine jahrzehntelange Forschungstätigkeit zurück. Traditionell werden neue Theorien und Ansätze anhand von Tiermodellen getestet. Eine Möglichkeit, inhärente Angst bei Nagetieren zu untersuchen, ist das Elevated Plus-Maze (EPM). Das EPM ist eine plusförmige Plattform mit zwei geschlossenen, d. h. mit Wänden versehenen, Armen und zwei offenen, nicht mit Wänden umschlossenen, Armen. Wenn Nagetiere die Möglichkeit haben, die Plattform frei zu erkunden, meiden sie instinktiv die offenen Arme, um sich vor Fressfeinden zu schützen, d.h. sie verbringen weniger Zeit in den offenen und mehr Zeit in den geschlossenen Armen, was verhaltensmäßig mit Ängstlichkeit assoziiert wird. Im Rahmen der pharmakologischen Validierung wurde festgestellt, dass dieses Explorationsmuster durch anxiolytische Substanzen, z. B. Benzodiazepine, umgekehrt oder durch anxiogene Substanzen verstärkt werden kann. Einer der wesentlichen Vorteile des EPM ist, dass im Gegensatz zu Konditionierungsstudien kein vorheriges Training erforderlich ist und somit natürliches Verhalten beobachtet werden kann. Zusammen mit dem ökonomischen und unkomplizierten Versuchsaufbau hat sich das EPM daher im Laufe der Jahrzehnte zu einem Standardtest für präklinische Angstforschung bei Nagern entwickelt. Um diese Angsttests von Nagern zu validieren, wurde kürzlich versucht, diese auf den Menschen zu übertragen. Eine wichtige Voraussetzung für die artenübergreifende Validierung ist nicht nur die einfache Translation dieser Tiertests, sondern auch die Beobachtung von Angstverhalten, das evolutionär über alle Arten hinweg konserviert ist. Darauf aufbauend könnte es möglich sein, auf verschiedene Faktoren zu schließen, die mit der Entstehung und Aufrechterhaltung von Angststörungen beim Menschen in Verbindung stehen. Bislang fehlt es noch an einer überzeugenden Übertragung des EPM auf den Menschen. Aus diesem Grund besteht das primäre Ziel dieser Dissertation darin, das EPM in drei Studien neu zu übersetzen und die speziesübergreifende Validität kritisch zu bewerten. Zweitens sollen die durchgeführten Studien eine dem EPM-Verhalten von Nagetieren äquivalente Bewegungsaktivität beobachten, d.h. die Vermeidung offener Arme. Drittens zielten die durchgeführten Studien darauf ab, das Ausmaß zu bewerten, in dem Angstmerkmale das Explorationsverhalten des Menschen auf der Plattform beeinflussen, um sie mit der Annahme in Verbindung zu bringen, dass das EPM-Verhalten von Nagetieren Ängstlichkeit repräsentiert. Schließlich war die virtuelle Realität (VR) die Methode der Wahl, um die ökonomische Validität zu erhalten und das EPM in seiner Größe an den Menschen anpassen zu können. In Studie 1 (N = 30) wurde das Tier-EPM hinsichtlich des Testdesigns und des Versuchsablaufs unter Verwendung einer computergesteuerten virtuellen Umgebung (CAVE) direkt auf den Menschen übertragen. Die Ergebnisse zeigten, dass Menschen im Gegensatz zu Nagern während der freien Exploration generell eine Annäherung zu den offenen Armen zeigen. Die Vermeidung offener Arme war jedoch mit hoher Traitängstlichkeit und Akrophobie (Höhenangst) verbunden, die aufgrund der Höhe der virtuellen Plattform zunächst als Kontrollvariable erhoben wurde. Regressionsanalysen und subjektive Angstbewertungen deuteten auf einen stärkeren Einfluss der Akrophobie auf die Vermeidung der offenen Arme hin. Darüber hinaus wurde angenommen, dass die Vermeidung der offenen Arme aus klaustrophobischen Tendenzen resultieren könnte, die in den geschlossenen Armen aufgrund der hohen Wände auftreten. In Studie 2 (N = 61) wurde versucht, den Einfluss von Traitängstlichkeit und Akrophobie zu differenzieren und das virtuelle EPM an den Menschen anzupassen. Daher waren Teile der Plattform mit einer halbtransparenten Gitterbodenstruktur versehen, und die Wandhöhe in den geschlossenen Armen wurde auf die Höhe eines Standardgeländers reduziert. Darüber hinaus wurden die Versuchsteilnehmer vorselektiert um klinisch signifikante Werte von Akrophobie, Klaustrophobie und Agoraphobie auszuschließen. Die Daten zu generellem Explorationsverhalten zeigten, dass keine Armpräferenz besteht. Die durchgeführte Regressionsanalyse demonstrierte, dass die Vermeidung der offenen Arme mit Akrophobie zusammenhängt, was die Ergebnisse von Studie 1 bestätigt. Überraschenderweise konnte das Ergebnis von Studie 1 in Bezug auf Traitängstlichkeit nicht repliziert werden. Stattdessen wurde für Ängstlichkeit kein signifikanter Effekt gefunden, was darauf hindeutet, dass hauptsächlich Höhenangst das menschliche EPM-Verhalten sogar in einem subklinischen Stadium prägt. In Studie 3 (N = 57) wurde das EPM in eine städtische Umgebung eingebettet, um 1) eine für den Menschen natürlichere Umgebung zu schaffen und 2) den Faktor Höhe zu eliminieren. Darüber hinaus wurde für die VR-Präsentation eine Virtual-Reality-Brille verwendet, und Arousalratings eingeführt. Die Teilnehmer wurden auf hohe und niedrige Werte von Traitängstlichkeit und Agoraphobie sowie Klaustrophobie untersucht. Wie in Studie 2 konnte kein Unterschied zwischen der Explorationstendenzen der offenen und der geschlossenen Arme beobachtet werden, und es wurde kein Effekt in Bezug auf die erhobenen Angstmerkmale festgestellt. Die Daten zu Angstbewertungen und Klaustrophobie deuten auf eine positive Korrelation hin, was darauf bedeutet, dass bei diesem Stadt-EPM klaustrophobische Tendenzen eine Rolle bei der Vermeidung des geschlossenen Arms spielen könnten. Zusammenfassend lässt sich sagen, dass diese Arbeit wertvolle Einblicke in die Retranslation eines gut etablierten Standard-Angsttests für Nager liefert. Sie stellt jedoch auch die derzeitigen Erkenntnisse über die artenübergreifende Validität des EPM in Frage. Verschiedene Erklärungsmodelle für die Ergebnisse werden kritisch diskutiert und mit klinischen Implikationen für die zukünftige Forschung verbunden.
KW  - Virtuelle Realität
KW  - Angststörung
KW  - Elevated Plus-Maze
KW  - Explorationsverhalten
Y1  - 2022
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-281478
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Pfister, Roland
A1  - Foerster, Anna
T1  - How to measure post-error slowing: The case of pre-error speeding
JF  - Behavior Research Methods
N2  - Post-error slowing is one of the most widely employed measures to study cognitive and behavioral consequences of error commission. Several methods have been proposed to quantify the post-error slowing effect, and we discuss two main methods: The traditional method of comparing response times in correct post-error trials to response times of correct trials that follow another correct trial, and a more recent proposal of comparing response times in correct post-error trials to the corresponding correct pre-error trials. Based on thorough re-analyses of two datasets, we argue that the latter method provides an inflated estimate by also capturing the (partially) independent effect of pre-error speeding. We propose two solutions for improving the assessment of human error processing, both of which highlight the importance of distinguishing between initial pre-error speeding and later post-error slowing.
KW  - response-time analysis
KW  - post-error slowing
KW  - pre-error speeding
KW  - performance monitoring
Y1  - 2022
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-273244
SN  - 1554-3528
VL  - 54
IS  - 1
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Kirsch, Wladimir
A1  - Kunde, Wilfried
A1  - Herbort, Oliver
T1  - Impact of proprioception on the perceived size and distance of external objects in a virtual action task
JF  - Psychonomic Bulletin & Review
N2  - Previous research has revealed changes in the perception of objects due to changes of object-oriented actions. In present study, we varied the arm and finger postures in the context of a virtual reaching and grasping task and tested whether this manipulation can simultaneously affect the perceived size and distance of external objects. Participants manually controlled visual cursors, aiming at reaching and enclosing a distant target object, and judged the size and distance of this object. We observed that a visual-proprioceptive discrepancy introduced during the reaching part of the action simultaneously affected the judgments of target distance and of target size (Experiment 1). A related variation applied to the grasping part of the action affected the judgments of size, but not of distance of the target (Experiment 2). These results indicate that perceptual effects observed in the context of actions can directly arise through sensory integration of multimodal redundant signals and indirectly through perceptual constancy mechanisms.
KW  - visual perception
KW  - motor control
KW  - object-oriented actions
Y1  - 2021
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-273235
SN  - 1531-5320
VL  - 28
IS  - 4
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Breil, Christina
A1  - Huestegge, Lynn
A1  - Böckler, Anne
T1  - From eye to arrow: Attention capture by direct gaze requires more than just the eyes
JF  - Attention, Perception & Psychophysics
N2  - Human attention is strongly attracted by direct gaze and sudden onset motion. The sudden direct-gaze effect refers to the processing advantage for targets appearing on peripheral faces that suddenly establish eye contact. Here, we investigate the necessity of social information for attention capture by (sudden onset) ostensive cues. Six experiments involving 204 participants applied (1) naturalistic faces, (2) arrows, (3) schematic eyes, (4) naturalistic eyes, or schematic facial configurations (5) without or (6) with head turn to an attention-capture paradigm. Trials started with two stimuli oriented towards the observer and two stimuli pointing into the periphery. Simultaneous to target presentation, one direct stimulus changed to averted and one averted stimulus changed to direct, yielding a 2 × 2 factorial design with direction and motion cues being absent or present. We replicated the (sudden) direct-gaze effect for photographic faces, but found no corresponding effects in Experiments 2-6. Hence, a holistic and socially meaningful facial context seems vital for attention capture by direct gaze. STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE: The present study highlights the significance of context information for social attention. Our findings demonstrate that the direct-gaze effect, that is, the prioritization of direct gaze over averted gaze, critically relies on the presentation of a meaningful holistic and naturalistic facial context. This pattern of results is evidence in favor of early effects of surrounding social information on attention capture by direct gaze.
KW  - social interaction
KW  - social cognition
KW  - attention capture
KW  - direct gaze
KW  - social cues
KW  - face perception
Y1  - 2022
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-273206
SN  - 1943-393X
VL  - 84
IS  - 1
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Klaffehn, Annika L.
A1  - Sellmann, Florian B.
A1  - Kirsch, Wladimir
A1  - Kunde, Wilfried
A1  - Pfister, Roland
T1  - Temporal binding as multisensory integration: Manipulating perceptual certainty of actions and their effects
JF  - Attention, Perception & Psychophysics
N2  - It has been proposed that statistical integration of multisensory cues may be a suitable framework to explain temporal binding, that is, the finding that causally related events such as an action and its effect are perceived to be shifted towards each other in time. A multisensory approach to temporal binding construes actions and effects as individual sensory signals, which are each perceived with a specific temporal precision. When they are integrated into one multimodal event, like an action-effect chain, the extent to which they affect this event's perception depends on their relative reliability. We test whether this assumption holds true in a temporal binding task by manipulating certainty of actions and effects. Two experiments suggest that a relatively uncertain sensory signal in such action-effect sequences is shifted more towards its counterpart than a relatively certain one. This was especially pronounced for temporal binding of the action towards its effect but could also be shown for effect binding. Other conceptual approaches to temporal binding cannot easily explain these results, and the study therefore adds to the growing body of evidence endorsing a multisensory approach to temporal binding.
KW  - temporal processing
KW  - perception and action
KW  - multisensory processing
Y1  - 2021
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-273195
SN  - 1943-393X
VL  - 83
IS  - 8
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Kirsch, Wladimir
T1  - On the relevance of task instructions for the influence of action on perception
JF  - Attention, Perception & Psychophysics
N2  - The present study explored how task instructions mediate the impact of action on perception. Participants saw a target object while performing finger movements. Then either the size of the target or the size of the adopted finger postures was judged. The target judgment was attracted by the adopted finger posture indicating sensory integration of body-related and visual signals. The magnitude of integration, however, depended on how the task was initially described. It was substantially larger when the experimental instructions indicated that finger movements and the target object relate to the same event than when they suggested that they are unrelated. This outcome highlights the role of causal inference processes in the emergence of action specific influences in perception.
KW  - perception and action
KW  - multisensory processing
KW  - finger movements
Y1  - 2021
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-273185
SN  - 1943-393X
VL  - 83
IS  - 6
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Kirsch, Wladimir
A1  - Kitzmann, Tim
A1  - Kunde, Wilfried
T1  - Action affects perception through modulation of attention
JF  - Attention, Perception & Psychophysics
N2  - The present study explored the origin of perceptual changes repeatedly observed in the context of actions. In Experiment 1, participants tried to hit a circular target with a stylus movement under restricted feedback conditions. We measured the perception of target size during action planning and observed larger estimates for larger movement distances. In Experiment 2, we then tested the hypothesis that this action specific influence on perception is due to changes in the allocation of spatial attention. For this purpose, we replaced the hitting task by conditions of focused and distributed attention and measured the perception of the former target stimulus. The results revealed changes in the perceived stimulus size very similar to those observed in Experiment 1. These results indicate that action's effects on perception root in changes of spatial attention.
KW  - perception
KW  - action
KW  - attention
Y1  - 2021
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-273176
SN  - 1943-393X
VL  - 83
IS  - 5
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Seger, Benedikt T.
A1  - Wannagat, Wienke
A1  - Nieding, Gerhild
T1  - Children’s surface, textbase, and situation model representations of written and illustrated written narrative text
JF  - Reading and Writing
N2  - According to the tripartite model of text representation (van Dijk & Kintsch, 1983), readers form representations of the text surface and textbase, and construct a situation model. In this study, an experiment was conducted to investigate whether these levels of representation would be affected by adding illustrations to narrative text and whether the order of text and illustrations would make a difference. Students aged between 7 and 13 years (N = 146) read 12 narrative texts, 4 of them with illustrations presented before their corresponding sentences, 4 with illustrations presented after, and 4 without any illustration. A sentence recognition task was used to assess the accuracy for text surface, textbase, and situation model. For the text surface and situation model, neither the presence of illustrations nor the order of text and illustrations influenced accuracy. However, the textbase was negatively affected by illustrations when they followed their corresponding sentences. We suggest that illustrations can initiate model inspection after situation model construction (Schnotz, 2014), a process that can make substantial changes to the textbase representation.
KW  - piicture comprehension
KW  - text comprehension
KW  - narrative text
KW  - children
Y1  - 2021
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-269813
SN  - 1573-0905
VL  - 34
IS  - 6
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Wiemer, Julian
A1  - Rauner, Milena M.
A1  - Stegmann, Yannik
A1  - Pauli, Paul
T1  - Reappraising fear: is up-regulation more efficient than down-regulation?
JF  - Motivation and Emotion
N2  - Catastrophizing thoughts may contribute to the development of anxiety, but functional emotion regulation may help to improve treatment. No study so far directly compared up- and down-regulation of fear by cognitive reappraisal. Here, healthy individuals took part in a cued fear experiment, in which multiple pictures of faces were paired twice with an unpleasant scream or presented as safety stimuli. Participants (N = 47) were asked (within-subjects) to down-regulate, to up-regulate and to maintain their natural emotional response. Valence and arousal ratings indicated successful up- and down-regulation of the emotional experience, while heart rate and pupil dilation increased during up-regulation, but showed no reduction in down-regulation. State and trait anxiety correlated with evaluations of safety but not threat stimuli, which supports the role of deficient safety learning in anxiety. Reappraisal did not modulate this effect. In conclusion, this study reveals evidence for up-regulation effects in fear, which might be even more efficient than down-regulation on a physiological level and highlights the importance of catastrophizing thoughts for the maintenance of fear and anxiety.
KW  - anxiety
KW  - fear conditioning
KW  - cognitive reappraisal
KW  - pupil diameter
KW  - heart rate
Y1  - 2021
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-269187
SN  - 1573-6644
VL  - 45
IS  - 2
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Wong, Alex H. K.
A1  - Pittig, Andre
T1  - A dimensional measure of safety behavior: A non-dichotomous assessment of costly avoidance in human fear conditioning
JF  - Psychological Research
N2  - Safety behavior prevents the occurrence of threat, thus it is typically considered adaptive. However, safety behavior in anxiety-related disorders is often costly, and persists even the situation does not entail realistic threat. Individuals can engage in safety behavior to varying extents, however, these behaviors are typically measured dichotomously (i.e., to execute or not). To better understand the nuances of safety behavior, this study developed a dimensional measure of safety behavior that had a negative linear relationship with the admission of an aversive outcome. In two experiments, a Reward group receiving fixed or individually calibrated incentives competing with safety behavior showed reduced safety behavior than a Control group receiving no incentives. This allowed extinction learning to a previously learnt warning signal in the Reward group (i.e., updating the belief that this stimulus no longer signals threat). Despite the Reward group exhibited extinction learning, both groups showed a similar increase in fear to the warning signal once safety behavior was no longer available. This null group difference was due to some participants in the Reward group not incentivized enough to disengage from safety behavior. Dimensional assessment revealed a dissociation between low fear but substantial safety behavior to a safety signal in the Control group. This suggests that low-cost safety behavior does not accurately reflect the fear-driven processes, but also other non-fear-driven processes, such as cost (i.e., engage in safety behavior merely because it bears little to no cost). Pinpointing both processes is important for furthering the understanding of safety behavior.
KW  - safety behavior
KW  - anxiety
KW  - threat
Y1  - 2022
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-267688
SN  - 1430-2772
VL  - 86
IS  - 1
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Liesner, Marvin
A1  - Kunde, Wilfried
T1  - Environment-Related and Body-Related Components of the Minimal Self
JF  - Frontiers in Psychology
N2  - Perceptual changes that an agent produces by efferent activity can become part of the agent’s minimal self. Yet, in human agents, efferent activities produce perceptual changes in various sensory modalities and in various temporal and spatial proximities. Some of these changes occur at the “biological” body, and they are to some extent conveyed by “private” sensory signals, whereas other changes occur in the environment of that biological body and are conveyed by “public” sensory signals. We discuss commonalties and differences of these signals for generating selfhood. We argue that despite considerable functional overlap of these sensory signals in generating self-experience, there are reasons to tell them apart in theorizing and empirical research about development of the self.
KW  - active self
KW  - exteroception
KW  - ideomotor theory
KW  - interoception
KW  - minimal self
KW  - self-construction
KW  - sense of agency
KW  - sense of ownership
Y1  - 2021
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-250007
SN  - 1664-1078
VL  - 12
ER  - 
TY  - THES
A1  - Brych, Mareike Kimberly
T1  - How movements and cognition interact: An investigation of spontaneous blinks
T1  - Wie Bewegung und Kognition interagieren: Eine Untersuchung spontaner Lidschläge
N2  - During natural behavior, cognitive processes constantly coincide with body movements such as head or eye movements or blinks. However, during experimental investigations of cognitive processes, movements are often highly restricted which is rather unnatural. In order to improve our understanding of natural behavior, this thesis investigates the interaction between cognition and movements by focusing on spontaneous blinks, which naturally interact with other body movements.
Spontaneous blinks are inevitably connected to vision as they shut out incoming visual information. Both sensory-based and cognitive factors, for example, stimulus occurrence and evaluation, were reported to influence blink behavior. Our first study investigated if such influences are comparable for visual and non-visual input. The chosen experimental design allowed dissociating sensory-driven and cognitive influences, which then could be compared between the visual and auditory domain. Our results show that blinks are more strongly modulated during passive observation of visual input compared to auditory input. This modulation is however enhanced for both input modalities by an increased attentional demand. In addition, the cognitively defined meaning of a stimulus changes blink latency independent of the sensory domain. Overall, our findings show that spontaneous blinks and cognitive processes are linked beyond vision. Moreover, the underlying cognitive processes that influence blinks are largely the same across different sensory input indicating that blinks are profoundly integrated into our system. 
When investigating natural behavior, it is important to consider that movements rarely occur in isolation, but are executed side by side. As these movements interact and have a link to cognitive processes, the complexity of our system increases. In order to take this complexity into account, the second part of the experimental research focused on movement interactions, more specifically on the interactions between blinks, pupil size and speaking. Our results reveal that speech-related motor activity increases blink rate and pupil size as well as modulates blink timing. This is in line with previous research that described a relation between different body and eye movements. Importantly, each bodily-induced change in eye movements affects visual information intake. Therefore, different movements can be tightly linked to perceptual processes through complex interactions.
Altogether, the work of this thesis provides rich evidence that movements and cognitive processes are deeply intertwined. Therefore, movements should be seen as an integral part of our system. Taking the relevance of movements and their interactions into account during experimental investigations is necessary in order to reveal a more realistic and complete picture of human natural behavior.
N2  - Während unseres natürlichen Verhaltens werden kognitive Prozesse und Körperbewegungen wie Kopf- oder Augenbewegungen oder Lidschläge parallel ausgeführt. Allerdings werden Bewegungen in experimentellen Untersuchungen zu kognitiven Prozessen meist stark eingeschränkt, was unnatürlich ist. Um natürliches Verhalten besser zu verstehen, wird in dieser Dissertation die Interaktion zwischen Kognition und Bewegung untersucht. Der Fokus liegt auf spontanen Lidschlägen, die auch mit anderen Körperbewegungen auf natürliche Weise interagieren.
Das Blinzeln ist unweigerlich mit dem Sehen verbunden, da bei jedem Lidschluss die Informationsaufnahme unterbrochen wird. Frühere Forschungsergebnisse zeigten, dass sowohl sensorische als auch kognitive Faktoren, wie beispielsweise Reizpräsentation und -evaluation, das Blinzeln beeinflussen können. Die erste Studie dieser Dissertation untersuchte, ob dieselben Einflüsse auf das Blinzeln wirken, wenn auch nicht-visuelle Informationen präsentiert werden. Das gewählte Versuchsdesign erlaubte rein sensorische von kognitiven Einflüssen auf das Blinzeln zu trennen. Diese Einflüsse konnten wiederum zwischen visuellem und auditivem Input verglichen werden. Unsere Ergebnisse zeigen, dass das Blinzeln stärker bei visuellem als bei auditivem Input angepasst wird, wenn dieser nur passiv verfolgt wird. Sobald allerdings Aufmerksamkeit auf den Input gerichtet wird, wird diese Anpassung an den sensorischen Input in beiden Modalitäten auf ähnliche Weise verstärkt. Zusätzlich wird der Zeitpunkt des Blinzelns durch die kognitive Bewertung der Reize verzögert - unabhängig davon, ob ein Reiz visuell oder auditiv präsentiert wird. Insgesamt legen unsere Experimente dar, dass das spontane Blinzeln und kognitive Prozesse über das Sehen hinaus miteinander verknüpft sind. Die zu Grunde liegenden kognitiven Prozesse, die das Blinzeln beeinflussen, sind sogar weitgehend dieselben bei unterschiedlichem sensorischen Input. Das Blinzeln scheint demnach tiefgreifend in unser System integriert zu sein. 
Ein weiterer wichtiger Aspekt natürlichen Verhaltens ist die gleichzeitige Ausübung mehrerer Bewegungen. Da diese Bewegungen miteinander interagieren und eine Verbindung zu kognitiven Prozessen besteht, erhöht sich die Komplexität unseres Systems. Im zweiten Teil der experimentellen Untersuchungen wurden daher Bewegungsinteraktionen in den Vordergrund gestellt. Die präsentierten Studien haben insbesondere den Einfluss verschiedener Bewegungsaspekte des Sprechens auf unser spontanes Blinzeln bzw. auf die Pupillengröße untersucht. Unsere Ergebnisse zeigen, dass sprechbezogene Bewegungen sowohl die Anzahl der Lidschlüsse als auch die Pupillengröße erhöhen, sowie den Zeitpunkt der Lidschlüsse beeinflussen. Auch andere Forscher fanden solche Zusammenhänge zwischen verschiedenen Körper- und Augenbewegungen. Da jede vom Körper verursachte Veränderung der Augenbewegung zudem unsere visuelle Reizaufnahme verändert, kann man schlussfolgern, dass verschiedene Bewegungen und deren komplexe Interaktionen eng mit unserer Wahrnehmung verbunden sind.
Alles in allem liefert diese Arbeit weitreichende Beweise, wie stark Bewegungen und kognitive Prozesse miteinander verwoben sind. Daher sollten Bewegungen als wesentlicher Teil unseres Systems angesehen werden. Wir müssen daher die Bedeutung von Bewegungen und deren Interaktionen in experimentelle Forschung einbeziehen, um ein realistischeres und kompletteres Bild unseres natürlichen Verhaltens zu enthüllen.
KW  - Kognition
KW  - Lidschlag
KW  - Augenbewegung
KW  - spontaneous blinks
KW  - movement interaction
KW  - Wahrnehmung
KW  - Aufmerksamkeit
Y1  - 2022
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-267376
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Hein, Grit
A1  - Gamer, Matthias
A1  - Gall, Dominik
A1  - Gründahl, Marthe
A1  - Domschke, Katharina
A1  - Andreatta, Marta
A1  - Wieser, Matthias J.
A1  - Pauli, Paul
T1  - Social cognitive factors outweigh negative emotionality in predicting COVID-19 related safety behaviors
JF  - Preventive Medicine Reports
N2  - Emotion-motivation models propose that behaviors, including health behaviors, should be predicted by the same variables that also predict negative affect since emotional reactions should induce a motivation to avoid threatening situations. In contrast, social cognitive models propose that safety behaviors are predicted by a different set of variables that mainly reflect cognitive and socio-structural aspects. Here, we directly tested these opposing hypotheses in young adults (N = 4134) in the context of COVID-19-related safety behaviors to prevent infections. In each participant, we collected measures of negative affect as well as cognitive and socio-structural variables during the lockdown in the first infection wave in Germany. We found a negative effect of the pandemic on emotional responses. However, this was not the main predictor for young adults’ willingness to comply with COVID-19-related safety measures. Instead, individual differences in compliance were mainly predicted by cognitive and socio-structural variables. These results were confirmed in an independent data set. This study shows that individuals scoring high on negative affect during the pandemic are not necessarily more likely to comply with safety regulations. Instead, political measures should focus on cognitive interventions and the societal relevance of the health issue. These findings provide important insights into the basis of health-related concerns and feelings as well as behavioral adaptations.
KW  - social cognitive
KW  - negative affect
KW  - safety behavior
KW  - survey
KW  - COVID-19
Y1  - 2021
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-265008
VL  - 24
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Krishna, Anand
A1  - Rodrigues, Johannes
A1  - Mitschke, Vanessa
A1  - Eder, Andreas B.
T1  - Self-reported mask-related worrying reduces relative avoidance bias toward unmasked faces in individuals with low Covid19 anxiety syndrome
JF  - Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications
N2  - Facial masks have become and may remain ubiquitous. Though important for preventing infection, they may also serve as a reminder of the risks of disease. Thus, they may either act as cues for threat, priming avoidance-related behavior, or as cues for a safe interaction, priming social approach. To distinguish between these possibilities, we assessed implicit and explicit evaluations of masked individuals as well as avoidance bias toward relatively unsafe interactions with unmasked individuals in an approach-avoidance task in an online study. We further assessed Covid19 anxiety and specific attitudes toward mask-wearing, including mask effectiveness and desirability, hindrance of communication from masks, aesthetic appeal of masks, and mask-related worrying. Across one sample of younger (18–35 years, N = 147) and one of older adults (60+ years, N = 150), we found neither an average approach nor avoidance bias toward mask-wearing compared to unmasked individuals in the indirect behavior measurement task. However, across the combined sample, self-reported mask-related worrying correlated with reduced avoidance tendencies toward unmasked individuals when Covid19 anxiety was low, but not when it was high. This relationship was specific to avoidance tendencies and was not observed in respect to explicit or implicit preference for mask-wearing individuals. We conclude that unsafe interaction styles may be reduced by targeting mask-related worrying with public interventions, in particular for populations that otherwise have low generalized Covid19 anxiety.
KW  - approach-avoidance
KW  - Covid19
KW  - masks
KW  - anxiety
Y1  - 2021
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-265720
VL  - 6
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Cao, Liyu
A1  - Steinborn, Michael B.
A1  - Haendel, Barbara F.
T1  - Delusional thinking and action binding in healthy individuals
JF  - Scientific Reports
N2  - Action binding is the effect that the perceived time of an action is shifted towards the action related feedback. A much larger action binding effect in schizophrenia compared to normal controls has been shown, which might be due to positive symptoms like delusions. Here we investigated the relationship between delusional thinking and action binding in healthy individuals, predicting a positive correlation between them. The action binding effect was evaluated by comparing the perceived time of a keypress between an operant (keypress triggering a sound) and a baseline condition (keypress alone), with a novel testing method that massively improved the precision of the subjective timing measurement. A positive correlation was found between the tendency of delusional thinking (measured by the 21-item Peters et al. delusions inventory) and action binding across participants after controlling for the effect of testing order between operant and baseline conditions. The results indicate that delusional thinking in particular influences action time perception and support the notion of a continuous distribution of schizotypal traits with normal controls at one end and clinical patients at the other end.
KW  - cognitive neuroscience
KW  - psychology
Y1  - 2021
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-264707
VL  - 11
IS  - 1
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Krishna, Anand
A1  - Ried, Sophia
A1  - Meixner, Marie
T1  - State-trait interactions in regulatory focus determine impulse buying behavior
JF  - PLoS One
N2  - Little research has focused on motivational state-trait interactions to explain impulse buying. Although the trait chronic regulatory focus has been linked to impulse buying, no evidence yet exists for an effect of situational regulatory focus and no research has examined whether the fit of chronic and situational regulatory focus can influence impulse buying with actual consumptive consequences rather than purchase intentions. Two laboratory experiments (total N = 250) manipulated situational regulatory focus before providing opportunities for impulse buying. In addition, cognitive constraint was manipulated as a potential boundary condition for regulatory focus effects. Situational promotion focus increased impulse buying relative to situational prevention focus in participants with strong chronic promotion, consistent with regulatory fit theory and independently of cognitive constraint. Surprisingly, situational promotion focus also increased impulse buying in participants with strong chronic prevention, but only under low cognitive constraint. These results may be explained by diverging mediating cognitive processes for promotion vs. prevention focus' effect on impulse buying. Future research must focus more on combining relevant states and traits in predicting consumer behavior. Marketing implications are discussed.
KW  - behavior
KW  - cognition
KW  - cognitive psychology
KW  - motivation
KW  - open science
KW  - emotions
KW  - marketing
KW  - owls
Y1  - 2021
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-261206
VL  - 16
IS  - 7
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Tibken, Catharina
A1  - Richter, Tobias
A1  - Linden, Nicole von der
A1  - Schmiedeler, Sandra
A1  - Schneider, Wolfgang
T1  - The role of metacognitive competences in the development of school achievement among gifted adolescents
JF  - Child Development
N2  - Gifted underachievers perform worse in school than would be expected based on their high intelligence. Possible causes for underachievement are low motivational dispositions (need for cognition) and metacognitive competences. This study tested the interplay of these variables longitudinally with gifted and non-gifted students from Germany (N = 341, 137 females) in Grades 6 (M = 12.02 years at t1) and 8 (M = 14.07 years). Declarative and procedural metacognitive competences were assessed in the domain of reading comprehension. Path analyses showed incremental effects of procedural metacognition over and above intelligence on the development of school achievement in gifted students (β = .139). Moreover, declarative metacognition and need for cognition interactively predicted procedural metacognition (β = .169), which mediated their effect on school achievement.
KW  - metacognitive competences
KW  - high intelligence
KW  - school
Y1  - 2022
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-258376
VL  - 93
IS  - 1
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Kirschmann, Nicole
A1  - Lenhard, Wolfgang
A1  - Suggate, Sebastian
T1  - Influences from working memory, word and sentence reading on passage comprehension and teacher ratings
JF  - Journal of Research in Reading
N2  - Reading fluency is a major determinant of reading comprehension but depends on moderating factors such as auditory working memory (AWM), word recognition and sentence reading skills. We investigated how word and sentence reading skills relate to reading comprehension differentially across the first 6 years of schooling and tested which reading variable best predicted teacher judgements. We conducted our research in a rather transparent language, namely, German, drawing on two different data sets. The first was derived from the normative sample of a reading comprehension test (ELFE-II), including 2056 first to sixth graders with readings tests at the word, sentence and text level. The second sample included 114 students from second to fourth grade. The latter completed a series of tests that measured word and sentence reading fluency, pseudoword reading, AWM, reading comprehension, self-concept and teacher ratings. We analysed the data via hierarchical regression analyses to predict reading comprehension and teacher judgements. The impact of reading fluency was strongest in second and third grade, afterwards superseded by sentence comprehension. AWM significantly contributed to reading comprehension independently of reading fluency, whereas basic decoding skills disappeared after considering fluency. Students' AWM and reading comprehension predicted teacher judgements on reading fluency. Reading comprehension judgements depended both on the students' self-concept and reading comprehension. Our results underline that the role of word reading accuracy for reading comprehension quickly diminishes during elementary school and that teachers base their assessments mainly on the current reading comprehension skill.
KW  - word recognition
KW  - reading skills
KW  - reading comprehension
KW  - teacher assessments
KW  - passage comprehension
Y1  - 2021
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-258043
VL  - 44
IS  - 4
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Stegmann, Yannik
A1  - Andreatta, Marta
A1  - Pauli, Paul
A1  - Wieser, Matthias J.
T1  - Associative learning shapes visual discrimination in a web-based classical conditioning task
JF  - Scientific Reports
N2  - Threat detection plays a vital role in adapting behavior to changing environments. A fundamental function to improve threat detection is learning to differentiate between stimuli predicting danger and safety. Accordingly, aversive learning should lead to enhanced sensory discrimination of danger and safety cues. However, studies investigating the psychophysics of visual and auditory perception after aversive learning show divergent findings, and both enhanced and impaired discrimination after aversive learning have been reported. Therefore, the aim of this web-based study is to examine the impact of aversive learning on a continuous measure of visual discrimination. To this end, 205 participants underwent a differential fear conditioning paradigm before and after completing a visual discrimination task using differently oriented grating stimuli. Participants saw either unpleasant or neutral pictures as unconditioned stimuli (US). Results demonstrated sharpened visual discrimination for the US-associated stimulus (CS+), but not for the unpaired conditioned stimuli (CS-). Importantly, this finding was irrespective of the US's valence. These findings suggest that associative learning results in increased stimulus salience, which facilitates perceptual discrimination in order to prioritize attentional deployment.
KW  - classical conditioning
KW  - fear conditioning
KW  - psychology
KW  - sensory processing
KW  - visual system
Y1  - 2021
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-260480
VL  - 11
IS  - 1
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Mitschke, Vanessa
A1  - Eder, Andreas B.
T1  - Facing the enemy: Spontaneous facial reactions towards suffering opponents
JF  - Psychophysiology
N2  - The suffering of an opponent is an important social affective cue that modulates how aggressive interactions progress. To investigate the affective consequences of opponent suffering on a revenge seeking individual, two experiments (total N = 82) recorded facial muscle activity while participants observed the reaction of a provoking opponent to a (retaliatory) sound punishment in a laboratory aggression task. Opponents reacted via prerecorded videos either with facial displays of pain, sadness, or neutrality. Results indicate that participants enjoyed seeing the provocateur suffer: indexed by a coordinated muscle response featuring an increase in zygomaticus major (and orbicularis oculi muscle) activation accompanied by a decrease in corrugator supercilii activation. This positive facial reaction was only shown while a provoking opponent expressed pain. Expressions of sadness, and administration of sound blasts to nonprovoking opponents, did not modulate facial activity. Overall, the results suggest that revenge-seeking individuals enjoy observing the offender suffer, which could represent schadenfreude or satisfaction of having succeeded in the retaliation goal.
KW  - suffering
KW  - facial electromyography
KW  - facial expression
KW  - reactive aggression
KW  - revenge
Y1  - 2021
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-259672
VL  - 58
IS  - 8
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Kleih-Dahms, Sonja Christina
A1  - Botrel, Loic
A1  - Kübler, Andrea
T1  - The influence of motivation and emotion on sensorimotor rhythm-based brain-computer interface performance
JF  - Psychophysiology
N2  - While decades of research have investigated and technically improved brain–computer interface (BCI)-controlled applications, relatively little is known about the psychological aspects of brain–computer interfacing. In 35 healthy students, we investigated whether extrinsic motivation manipulated via monetary reward and emotional state manipulated via video and music would influence behavioral and psychophysiological measures of performance with a sensorimotor rhythm (SMR)-based BCI. We found increased task-related brain activity in extrinsically motivated (rewarded) as compared with nonmotivated participants but no clear effect of emotional state manipulation. Our experiment investigated the short-term effect of motivation and emotion manipulation in a group of young healthy subjects, and thus, the significance for patients in the locked-in state, who may be in need of a BCI, remains to be investigated.
KW  - brain-computer interface
KW  - sensorimotor rhythm
KW  - psychological variables
KW  - motivation
KW  - emotional state
KW  - electroencephalogram
Y1  - 2021
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-259664
VL  - 58
IS  - 8
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Gromer, Daniel
A1  - Kiser, Dominik P.
A1  - Pauli, Paul
T1  - Thigmotaxis in a virtual human open field test
JF  - Scientific Reports
N2  - Animal models are used to study neurobiological mechanisms in mental disorders. Although there has been significant progress in the understanding of neurobiological underpinnings of threat-related behaviors and anxiety, little progress was made with regard to new or improved treatments for mental disorders. A possible reason for this lack of success is the unknown predictive and cross-species translational validity of animal models used in preclinical studies. Re-translational approaches, therefore, seek to establish cross-species translational validity by identifying behavioral operations shared across species. To this end, we implemented a human open field test in virtual reality and measured behavioral indices derived from animal studies in three experiments (N=31, N=30, and N=80). In addition, we investigated the associations between anxious traits and such behaviors. Results indicated a strong similarity in behavior across species, i.e., participants in our study-like rodents in animal studies-preferred to stay in the outer region of the open field, as indexed by multiple behavioral parameters. However, correlational analyses did not clearly indicate that these behaviors were a function of anxious traits of participants. We conclude that the realized virtual open field test is able to elicit thigmotaxis and thus demonstrates cross-species validity of this aspect of the test. Modulatory effects of anxiety on human open field behavior should be examined further by incorporating possible threats in the virtual scenario and/or by examining participants with higher anxiety levels or anxiety disorder patients.
KW  - anxiety
KW  - human behavior
KW  - anciety-like behavior
KW  - approach-avoidance conflict
KW  - elevated plus-maze
KW  - spatial navigation
KW  - mental disorders
KW  - fear
KW  - threat
KW  - circuits
KW  - reality
KW  - metaanalysis
Y1  - 2021
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-259850
VL  - 11
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  - Großekathöfer, Jonas David
T1  - Virtually Valid? On the Importance of Ecological Validity and Virtual Reality for Social Attention Research
T1  - Praktischerweise Valide? Über die Bedeutung von ökologischer Validität und virtueller Realität in der sozialen Aufmerksamkeitsforschung
N2  - Gazes are of central relevance for people. They are crucial for navigating the world and communicating with others. Nevertheless, research in recent years shows that many findings from experimental research on gaze behavior cannot be transferred from the laboratory to everyday behavior. For example, the frequency with which conspecifics are looked at is considerably higher in experimental contexts than what can be observed in daily behavior. In short: findings from laboratories cannot be generalized into general statements. This thesis is dedicated to this matter. The dissertation describes and documents the current state of research on social attention through a literature review, including a meta-analysis on the /gaze cueing/ paradigm and an empirical study on the robustness of gaze following behavior. In addition, virtual reality was used in one of the first studies in this research field. Virtual reality has the potential to significantly improve the transferability of experimental laboratory studies to everyday behavior. This is because the technology enables a high degree of experimental control in naturalistic research designs. As such, it has the potential to transform empirical research in the same way that the introduction of computers to psychological research did some 50 years ago. The general literature review on social attention is extended to the classic /gaze cueing/ paradigm through a systematic review of publications and a meta-analytic evaluation (Study 1). The cumulative evidence supported the findings of primary studies: Covert spatial attention is directed by faces. However, the experimental factors included do not explain the surprisingly large variance in the published results. Thus, there seem to be further, not well-understood variables influencing these social processes. Moreover, classic /gaze cueing/ studies have limited ecological validity. This is discussed as a central reason for the lack of generalisability. Ecological validity describes the correspondence between experimental factors and realistic situations. A stimulus or an experimental design can have high and low ecological validity on different dimensions and have different influences on behavior. Empirical research on gaze following behavior showed that the /gaze cueing/ effect also occurs with contextually embedded stimuli (Study 2). The contextual integration of the directional cue contrasted classical /gaze cueing/ studies, which usually show heads in isolation. The research results can thus be transferred /within/ laboratory studies to higher ecologically valid research paradigms. However, research shows that the lack of ecological validity in experimental designs significantly limits the transferability of experimental findings to complex situations /outside/ the laboratory. This seems to be particularly the case when social interactions and norms are investigated. However, ecological validity is also often limited in these studies for other factors, such as contextual embedding /of participants/, free exploration behavior (and, thus, attentional control), or multimodality. In a first study, such high ecological validity was achieved for these factors with virtual reality, which could not be achieved in the laboratory so far (Study 3). Notably, the observed fixation patterns showed differences even under /most similar/ conditions in the laboratory and natural environments. Interestingly, these were similar to findings also derived from comparisons of eye movement in the laboratory and field investigations. These findings, which previously came from hardly comparable groups, were thus confirmed by the present Study 3 (which did not have this limitation). Overall, /virtual reality/ is a new technical approach to contemporary social attention research that pushes the boundaries of previous experimental research. The traditional trade-off between ecological validity and experimental control thus becomes obsolete, and laboratory studies can closely inherit an excellent approximation of reality. Finally, the present work describes and discusses the possibilities of this technology and its practical implementation. Within this context, the extent to which this development can still guarantee a constructive classification of different laboratory tests in the future is examined.
N2  - Blicke sind für Menschen von zentraler Relevanz. Sie sind entscheidend für die Navigation in der Welt und für die Kommunikation mit Mitmenschen. Dennoch zeigt die Forschung der letzten Jahre, dass sich Erkenntnisse aus der experimentellen Forschung zu Blickverhalten vom Labor nicht in alltägliches Verhalten übertragen lassen. So ist beispielsweise die Häufigkeit, mit der Mitmenschen angeschaut werden, erheblich höher in experimentellen Kontexten als das beobachtbare alltägliche Verhalten. Kurz: Erkenntnisse aus Laboren lassen sich nicht zu allgemeinen Aussagen generalisieren. Diesem Spannungsfeld ist die hier vorliegende Arbeit gewidmet. Diese Doktorarbeit beschreibt und dokumentiert den aktuellen Forschungsstand zur sozialen Aufmerksamkeit anhand einer Literaturübersicht inklusive einer Metaanalyse zum /gaze cueing/ Paradigma sowie einer empirischen Untersuchung zur Robustheit des Blickfolgeverhaltens. Zudem wird in einer der ersten Studien in diesem Forschungsfeld virtuelle Realität eingesetzt. Virtuelle Realität hat das Potenzial, die Übertragbarkeit zwischen experimentellen Laboruntersuchungen auf alltägliches Verhalten deutlich zu verbessern. Denn die Technologie ermöglicht eine hohe experimentelle Kontrolle in naturalistischen Forschungdesigns. Damit kann sie die empirische Forschung ebenso stark verändern wie die Einführung des Computers für psychologische Forschung vor rund 50 Jahren. Die Literaturübersicht über soziale Aufmerksamkeit wurde durch eine systematische Begutachtung der Publikationen und einer meta-analystische Auswertung zum klassischen /gaze cueing/ Paradigma erweitert (Studie 1). Die kumulierte Evidenz unterstützt die Befunde primärer Studien: Verdeckte räumliche Aufmerksamkeit wird durch Gesichter gelenkt. Allerdings zeigte sich eine überraschend große Varianz in den publizierten Ergebnissen, die durch die untersuchten experimentellen Faktoren nicht erklärt werden konnte. Es scheint also noch Weitere, nicht gut verstandene Einflussgrößen auf diesen sozial-kognitiven Prozess zugeben. Klassische /gaze cueing/ Studien besitzen zudem eine eingeschränkte ökologische Validität. Diese wird als ein zentraler Grund für die fehlende Generalisierbarkeit diskutiert. Ökologische Validität beschreibt die Übereinstimmung von experimentellen Faktoren mit realistischen Situationen. Ein Stimulus oder ein experimentelles Design kann auf verschiedenen Dimensionen hohe und niedrige ökologische Validität aufweisen. Dies kann auf verschiedene Verhaltensbereiche unterschiedlichen Einfluss haben. Die empirischen Untersuchungen zum Blickfolgeverhalten zeigten, dass der /gaze cueing/ Effekt auch bei kontextuell eingebundenen Stimuli auftritt (Studie 2). Die kontextuelle Einbindung des Richtungscues stellte dabei einen Kontrast zu klassichen /gaze cueing/ Studien dar, die in der Regel Köpfe in Isolation zeigen. Die Forschungsergebnisse lassen sich also /innerhalb/ von kontrollierten Laboruntersuchungen auch auf ökologisch validere Forschungsparadigmen übertragen. Forschungsarbeiten zeigen allerdings, dass die mangelnde ökologische Validität in experimentellen Designs die Übertragbarkeit von experimentellen Befunden auf komplexe Situationen /außerhalb/ des Labors erheblich einschränken. Dies scheint insbesondere der Fall zu sein, wenn soziale Interaktionen und Normen untersucht werden. Die ökologische Validität ist in diesen Studien aber auch für weitere Faktoren häufig eingeschränkt, wie beispielsweise die kontextuelle Einbettung /von Versuchspersonen/, freies Explorationsverhalten (und damit Aufmerksamkeitssteuerung) oder Multimodalität. In einer ersten Arbeit in diesem Forschungsfeld wurde für diese Faktoren mit virtueller Realität eine hohe ökologische Validität erreicht, die so bisher nicht im Labor zu erreichen war (Studie 3). Spannenderweise zeigten sich selbst unter /ähnlichsten/ Bedingungen im Labor und in der natürlichen Umgebung Unterschiede in den beobachteten Fixationsmustern. Interessanterweise sind diese ähnlich zu Befunden, die ebenfalls aus Vergleichen von Augenbewegung im Labor und Felduntersuchung stammten. Diese Befunde, die bisher auf wenig vergleichbare Untersuchungsgruppen beruhen, wurden durch die vorliegende Studie 3 (die diese Einschränkung nicht besitzt) bestätigt. Insgesamt steht der heutigen sozialen Aufmerksamkeitsforschung mit /virtueller Realität/ ein neuer technischer Ansatz zur Verfügung, der die Grenzen bisheriger experimenteller Forschung verschiebt. Die traditionelle Abwägung zwischen ökologische Validität und experimenteller Kontrolle wird damit hinfällig und in Laboruntersuchungen kann die Realität extrem nah nachgebildet werden. Abschließend werden in dieser Arbeit die Möglichkeiten und die praktische Umsetzung dieser Technologie beschrieben und diskutiert. Dabei wird auch kritisch beleuchtet, inwiefern mit dieser Entwicklung auch in Zukunft noch eine konstruktive Einordnung von verschiedenen Laboruntersuchungen gewährleistet werden kann.
KW  - Aufmerksamkeit
KW  - Validität
KW  - Virtuelle Realität
KW  - social attention
KW  - ecological validity
KW  - virtual reality
KW  - eye tracking
Y1  - 2022
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-260417
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Pittig, Andre
A1  - Heinig, Ingmar
A1  - Goerigk, Stephan
A1  - Thiel, Freya
A1  - Hummel, Katrin
A1  - Scholl, Lucie
A1  - Deckert, Jürgen
A1  - Pauli, Paul
A1  - Domschke, Katharina
A1  - Lueken, Ulrike
A1  - Fydrich, Thomas
A1  - Fehm, Lydia
A1  - Plag, Jens
A1  - Ströhle, Andreas
A1  - Kircher, Tilo
A1  - Straube, Benjamin
A1  - Rief, Winfried
A1  - Koelkebeck, Katja
A1  - Arolt, Volker
A1  - Dannlowski, Udo
A1  - Margraf, Jürgen
A1  - Totzeck, Christina
A1  - Schneider, Silvia
A1  - Neudeck, Peter
A1  - Craske, Michelle G.
A1  - Hollandt, Maike
A1  - Richter, Jan
A1  - Hamm, Alfons
A1  - Wittchen, Hans-Ulrich
T1  - Efficacy of temporally intensified exposure for anxiety disorders: A multicenter randomized clinical trial
JF  - Depression and Anxiety
N2  - Background

The need to optimize exposure treatments for anxiety disorders may be addressed by temporally intensified exposure sessions. Effects on symptom reduction and public health benefits should be examined across different anxiety disorders with comorbid conditions.

Methods

This multicenter randomized controlled trial compared two variants of prediction error-based exposure therapy (PeEx) in various anxiety disorders (both 12 sessions + 2 booster sessions, 100 min/session): temporally intensified exposure (PeEx-I) with exposure sessions condensed to 2 weeks (n = 358) and standard nonintensified exposure (PeEx-S) with weekly exposure sessions (n = 368). Primary outcomes were anxiety symptoms (pre, post, and 6-months follow-up). Secondary outcomes were global severity (across sessions), quality of life, disability days, and comorbid depression.

Results

Both treatments resulted in substantial improvements at post (PeEx-I: d\(_{within}\) = 1.50, PeEx-S: d\(_{within}\) = 1.78) and follow-up (PeEx-I: d\(_{within}\) = 2.34; PeEx-S: d\(_{within}\) = 2.03). Both groups showed formally equivalent symptom reduction at post and follow-up. However, time until response during treatment was 32% shorter in PeEx-I (median = 68 days) than PeEx-S (108 days; TR\(_{PeEx-I}\)-I = 0.68). Interestingly, drop-out rates were lower during intensified exposure. PeEx-I was also superior in reducing disability days and improving quality of life at follow-up without increasing relapse.

Conclusions

Both treatment variants focusing on the transdiagnostic exposure-based violation of threat beliefs were effective in reducing symptom severity and disability in severe anxiety disorders. Temporally intensified exposure resulted in faster treatment response with substantial public health benefits and lower drop-out during the exposure phase, without higher relapse. Clinicians can expect better or at least comparable outcomes when delivering exposure in a temporally intensified manner.
KW  - randomized controlled trial
KW  - anxiety disorders
KW  - exposure therapy
KW  - intensified treatment
KW  - public health
Y1  - 2021
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-257331
VL  - 38
IS  - 11
ER  -