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This study addresses three themes that recur in the research on student achievement: (a) developmental modeling ofintraindividual changes in achievement over time; (b) examination of the differences among subgroups within a classroom in the determinants of achievement; (c) description of the interactions among instructional variables in determining achievement differences. Eight classrooms were preselected on the basis of their widely differing slopes obtained in a regression analysis of pre- and posttest achievement scores. Mathematics achievement differences among sixth graders were analyzed in a four-wave design and explained by aptitude and instructional variables in a structural equation framework provided by LISREL. The results demonstrate the local nature of achievement models in that neither their measurement nor structural components proved generalizable across both groups of classrooms. Mention is also made, however, of technical problems and analytical ambiguities in the interpretation of these results.
The scope of the present work encompasses the influence of experience (i.e. expertise) for feature processing in unconscious information processing. In the introduction, I describe the subliminal priming paradigm, a method to examine how stimuli, we are not aware of, nonetheless influence our actions. The activation of semantic response categories, the impact of learned stimulus-response links, and the action triggering through programmed stimulus-response links are the main three hypotheses to explain unconscious response activation. Besides, the congruence of perceptual features can also influence subliminal priming. On the basis of the features location and form, I look at evidence that exists so far for perceptual priming. The second part of the introduction reviews the literature showing perceptual superiority of experts. This is illustrated exemplarily with three domains of expertise – playing action video games, which constitutes a general form of perceptual expertise, radiology, a more natural form of expertise, and expertise in the game of chess, which is seen as the Drosophila of psychology. In the empirical section, I report nine experiments that applied a subliminal check detection task. Experiment 1 shows subliminal response priming for chess experts but not for chess novices. Thus, chess experts are able to judge unconsciously presented chess configurations as checking or nonchecking. The results of Experiment 2 suggest that acquired perceptual chunks, and not the ability to integrate perceptual features unconsciously, was responsible for unconscious check detection, because experts’ priming does not occur for simpler chess configurations which afforded an unfamiliar classification. With a more complex chess detection task, Experiment 3 indicates that chess experts are not able to process perceptual features in parallel or alternatively, that chess experts are not able to form specific expectations which are obviously necessary to elicit priming if many chess displays are applied. The aim of Experiment 4-9 was to further elaborate on unconscious processing of the single features location and form in novices. In Experiment 4 and 5, perceptual priming according the congruence of the single features location and form outperformed semantically-based response priming. Experiment 6 and 7 show that (in contrast to form priming) the observed location priming effect is rather robust and is also evident for an unexpected form or colour. In Experiment 8, location and form priming, which was additionally related to response priming, were directly compared to each other. Location priming was again stronger than form priming. Finally, Experiment 9 demonstrates that with the subliminal check detection task it is possible to induce response priming in novices when the confounding influences of location and form are absent. In the General discussion, I first summarized the findings. Second, I discuss possible underlying mechanisms of different subliminal perception in experts and novices. Third, I focus on subliminal perceptual priming in novices, especially on the impact of the features location and form. And finally, I discuss a framework, the action trigger account that integrates the different results of the present work.
Hintergrund: Die Alzheimer-Erkrankung ist die häufigste neurodegenerative Erkrankung. Da es zurzeit für sie noch keine Heilung gibt, richtet sich das Hauptaugenmerk auf eine möglichst frühe Diagnose und die Behandlung mit krankheitsverzögernden Medikamenten. Vor allem die funktionelle Bildgebung gilt im Bereich der Frühdiagnose als vielversprechend. Neben dem Gedächtnis werden die visuell-räumliche Informationsverarbeitung, exekutive Funktionen und Aufmerksamkeitsprozesse untersucht. Hierbei zeigen sich zentralnervöse Aktivierungsauffälligkeiten in kortikalen Zielregionen etwa im präfrontalen und im parietalen Kortex. Verlaufsuntersuchungen konzentrieren sich vor allem darauf aus der Gehirnaktivierung Vorhersagen über kognitive Veränderungen bei älteren Personen mit und ohne Gedächtnisstörung treffen zu können. Nur wenige Studien erfassen dabei jedoch die Gehirnaktivierung zu mehreren Messzeitpunkten. Gerade für große Stichproben und wiederholte Messungen könnte die funktionelle Nahinfrarotspektroskopie (fNIRS) sich als Alternative zur Magnetresonanztomographie anbieten. Ziel: Ziel der Studie war es, mit fNIRS und ereigniskorrelierten Potentialen funktionelle Unterschiede zwischen Alzheimer-Patienten und gleichaltrigen Kontrollen in mehreren Funktionsbereichen darzustellen und ihre Veränderung über den Zeitraum eines Jahres zu verfolgen. Zum ersten Mal sollte im Rahmen einer prospektiven Untersuchung mit fNIRS geprüft werden ob kortikale Aktivierungen zur Vorhersage von neuropsychologischen Testwerten genutzt werden können. Zusätzlich stellte sich die Frage, ob fNIRS für Verlaufsuntersuchungen an älteren Stichproben geeignet ist. Methoden: Im Rahmen der vorliegenden Arbeit wurden zum ersten Messzeitpunkt (T1) 73 Patienten und 71 Kontrollen mit vier Paradigmen in den drei Funktionsbereichen visuell-räumliche Informationsverarbeitung, exekutive Funktionen und zentralnervöse Filtermechanismen mit fNIRS und ereigniskorrelierten Potentialen gemessen. Die Probanden durchliefen eine Line Orientation Aufgabe, zwei Versionen einer Wortflüssigkeitsaufgabe (phonologisch und semantisch) und das P50-Doppelklickparadigma. Zielparameter waren dabei die aufgabenbezogene Aktivierung im parietalen Kortex, im dorsolateralen Präfrontalkortex (DLPFC) und das sensorische Gating, gemessen durch die P50-Supression nach wiederholter Reizdarbietung. Zusätzlich wurden zwei typische Tests zur Demenzdiagnostik (MMST und DemTect) erhoben. Die zweite Messung (T2) fand nach 12 Monaten statt und lief identisch zur ersten Untersuchung ab. Zu T2 konnten 14 Patienten und 51 Kontrollen erneut rekrutiert werden. Ergebnisse: Zu T1 konnte mit fNIRS ein Aktivierungsdefizit für Patienten im DLPFC während der phonologischen Wortflüssigkeitsaufgabe und im rechten Parietalkortex während der Line Orientation Aufgabe festgestellt werden. Für die semantische Wortflüssigkeitsaufgabe und das sensorische Gating zeigten sich keine zentralnervösen Unterschiede. Über das Jahr hinweg nahm die aufgabenbezogene Aktivierung der Patienten im linken DLPFC für beide Versionen der Wortflüssigkeitsaufgabe deutlich ab, während gleichaltrige Kontrollpersonen keine kortikalen Veränderungen zeigten. Zu T2 war das sensorische Gating der Patienten außerdem deutlich schlechter im Vergleich zu gesunden Kontrollen. Die Veränderungen der Oxygenierung während der Wortflüssigkeitsaufgabe konnten für gesunde Kontrollen Verschlechterungen im MMST und im DemTect vorhersagen. Vor allem ein Verlust der Lateralisierung ging mit einem Abfall in den kognitiven Tests einher. Schlussfolgerung: Spezifische Defizite in der kortikalen Aktivierung konnten bei Alzheimer-Patienten mit fNIRS beobachtet und genauer beschrieben werden. Auch die Veränderung im Verlauf eines Jahres ließ sich mit dieser Methode verfolgen. Für Längsschnittuntersuchungen, die sich mit der kortikalen Aktivierung als Prädiktor für dementielle Entwicklungen beschäftigen, bietet sich fNIRS somit als praktische Alternative zur fMRT an, zumal die gemessenen Veränderungen in der Oxygenierung auch prognostischen Wert für ältere Kontrollpersonen besaßen. Vor allem die funktionelle Lateralisierung in frontalen Kortexbereichen scheint als Prädiktor kognitiver Leistungen im Alter von Bedeutung zu sein.
Humans have the tendency to react with congruent facial expressions when looking at an emotional face. Interestingly, recent studies revealed that several situational moderators can modulate strength and direction of these reactions. In current literature, congruent facial reactions to emotional facial expressions are usually described in terms of “facial mimicry” and interpreted as imitative behavior. Thereby, facial mimicry is understood as a process of pure motor resonance resulting from overlapping representations for the perception and the execution of a certain behavior. Motor mimicry, however, is not the only mechanism by which congruent facial reactions can occur. Numerous studies have shown that facial muscles also indicate valence evaluations. Furthermore, facial reactions are also determined by our current emotional state. These thoughts suggest that the modulation of congruent facial reactions to emotional expressions can be based on both motor and affective processes. However, a separation of motor and affective processes in facial reactions is hard to make. None of the published studies that tried that could show a clear involvement of one or the other process so far. Therefore, the aim of the present line of experiments is to shed light on the involvement of motor and affective processes in the modulation of congruent and incongruent facial reactions. Specifically, the experiments are designed to test the assumptions of a working model on mechanisms underlying the modulation of facial reactions and to examine the neuronal correlates involved in such modulations with a broad range of methods. Experiments 1 and 2 experimentally manipulate motor and affective mechanisms by using specific contexts. In the chose settings, motor process models and affective models of valence evaluations make competing predictions about resulting facial reactions. The results of Experiment 1 did not support the involvement of valence evaluations in the modulation of congruent and incongruent facial reactions to facial expressions. The results of Experiments 2a and 2b suggest that emotional reactions are the predominant determinant of facial reactions. Experiment 3 aimed at identifying the psychological mediators that indicate motor and affective mechanisms. Motor mechanisms are assessed via the psychological mediator empathy. Additionally, as a psychological mediator for clarifying the role of affective mechanisms subjective measures of the participants’ current emotional state in response to the presented facial expressions were taken. Mediational analyses show that the modulation of congruent facial reactions can be explained by a decrease of state cognitive empathy. This suggests that motor processes mediate the effects of the context on congruent facial reactions. However, such a mechanism could not be observed for incongruent reactions. Instead, it was found that affective processes in terms of emotional reactions are involved in incongruent facial reactions. Additionally, the involvement of a third class of processes, namely strategic processes, was observed. Experiment 4 aimed at investigating whether a change in the strength of perception can explain the contextual modulation of facial reactions to facial expressions. According to motor process models the strength of perception is directly related to the strength of the spread of activation from perception to the execution of an action and thereby to the strength of the resulting mimicry behavior. The results suggest that motor mechanisms were involved in the modulation of congruent facial reactions by attitudes. Such an involvement of motor mechanisms could, however, not be observed for the modulation of incongruent reactions. In Experiment 5 the investigation of neuronal correlates shall be extended to the observation of involved brain areas via fMRI. The proposed brain areas depicting motor areas were prominent parts of the mirror neuron system. The regions of interest depicting areas involved in the affective processing were amygdala, insula, striatum. Furthermore, it could be shown that changes in the activity of parts of the MNS are related to the modulation of congruent facial reactions. Further on, results revealed the involvement of affective processes in the modulation of incongruent facial reactions. In sum, these results lead to a revised working model on the mechanisms underlying the modulation of facial reactions to emotional facial expressions. The results of the five experiments provide strong support for the involvement of motor mechanisms in congruent facial reactions. No evidence was found for the involvement of motor mechanisms in the occurrence or modulation of incongruent facial reactions. Furthermore, no evidence was found for the involvement of valence evaluations in the modulation of facial reactions. Instead, emotional reactions were found to be involved in the modulation of mainly incongruent facial reactions.
Hintergrund: Die Panikstörung ist eine die Lebensqualität beeinträchtigende psychische Störung, die unbehandelt einen chronischen Verlauf zeigt, jedoch sowohl durch Psychotherapie als auch Psychopharmakotherapie erfolgreich behandelt werden kann. Die der Panikstörung zugrundeliegenden neuronalen Schaltkreise werden in der von Gorman et al. (1989, 2000) veröffentlichten neuroanatomischen Hypothese beschrieben. In der stark an der Tierforschung angelehnten revidierten Version (2000) wird die Amygdala als Zentrum eines komplexen Furchtnetzwerks angesehen, deren Aktivität durch höhere kortikale Areale im präfrontalen Kortex moduliert wird. Trotz der Popularität der Hypothese sind deren Annahmen bislang kaum explizit überprüft worden. Ziel: Ziel der Untersuchung war es, die neuronale Verarbeitung emotionaler Reize in empirischen Experimenten genauer zu untersuchen, da die Datenlage in diesem Bereich noch gering und inkonsistent ist und Replikationsstudien fehlen. Außerdem sollte ein Überblick über die bereits veröffentlichten empirischen Studien gegeben werden, welche mit bildgebenden Verfahren Aussagen über die Beteiligung bestimmter neuronaler Strukturen bei der Panikstörung erlauben. Methoden: An den Standorten Würzburg und Hamburg wurden Patienten mit Panikstörung (n = 18/20) und gesunde Kontrollen (n = 27/23) mit zwei Paradigmen zur Verarbeitung emotionaler Reize (emotionaler Stroop-Test und Gesichterverarbeitung) mit der funktionellen Magnetresonanztomographie untersucht. Hierbei sollten insbesondere die in der neuroanatomischen Hypothese wichtigen Strukturen Amygdala und präfrontaler Kortex betrachtet werden. Bildgebende Studien, die Patienten mit Panikstörung untersuchten, wurden über eine Literaturrecherche ermittelt, in Untergruppen von Studien eingeteilt und bewertet. Ergebnisse: In beiden untersuchten Stichproben zeigten die Patienten im Vergleich zu den Kontrollen auf Reaktionszeitebene einen signifikanten emotionalen Stroop-Effekt mit verlängerten Antwortlatenzen für panikrelevante Wörter. In den funktionellen Daten zeigten sich keine Unterschiede in der Amygdalaaktivierung, jedoch zeigten die Patienten für den Kontrast ‚panikrelevante vs. neutrale Wörter‘ im Gruppenvergleich eine erhöhte Aktivierung in präfrontalen Arealen. Bei der Verarbeitung emotionaler Gesichter gab es kaum Unterschiede zwischen den Gruppen, ängstliche Gesichter lösten im Vergleich zu neutralen Gesichtern keine erhöhte Amygdalaaktivierung aus. Hinweise auf eine generelle Hypofrontalität ließen sich bei den Patienten – zumindest bei der Verarbeitung emotionaler Reize – in den angewandten Paradigmen nicht finden. Schlussfolgerung: Die Ergebnisse der experimentellen Untersuchung und des Literaturüberblicks zeigen, dass – trotz durchaus mit der neuroanatomischen Hypothese in Einklang stehender Befunde – Inkonsistenzen zu finden sind, die mit der aktuellen Hypothese nicht erklärt werden können. Die Ergebnisse der vorliegenden Untersuchung im emotionalen Stroop-Test konnten bisher gefundene präfrontale Aktivierungsmuster replizieren, für die Amygdala gilt das nicht. Eine Erweiterung der Hypothese durch die Berücksichtigung neuer Aspekte könnte helfen, diese Befunde besser zu erklären und zu einem umfassenderen Bild der neuronalen Grundlagen der Störung beitragen. Modifikationen werden vorgeschlagen, die der Weiterentwicklung der Hypothese dienen könnten und bei der Planung zukünftiger Studien berücksichtigt werden sollten. Die vermutete prominente Rolle der Amygdala bei der Panikstörung ist nach wie vor nicht hinreichend untersucht und der modulierende Einfluss präfrontaler Strukturen sollte zukünftig insbesondere im direkten Zusammenspiel mit der Amygdala, z. B. im Rahmen psychotherapeutischer Interventionen, genauer analysiert werden.
This article gives an overview of possibilities for the assessment offacial behavior. With regard to validity, results from a longitudinal study of 36 depressed patients and nine controls as weil as often schizophrenic patients and their relatives will be referred to. These results are used to illustrate the following principles which have to be taken into account when studying facial behavior: a) communication strongly facilitates facial expression, b) activation of facial behavior follows the "principle of least effort", and c) the principle of individual specificity applies to the association of nonverbal behavior and mood states. Making allowance for these principles has, among others, consequences a) for situations or conditions under which to asses behavior (specifically conditions of communication), b) for data analysis (e.g., dealing with frequent and rare events), and c) for empirical or experimental strategies (e.g., aggregation of single-case longitudinal comparisons). From the results on facial behavior during depression it can be concluded that the nonverbal reaction tendencies of endogenous and neurotic depressed patients differ. Moreover, the differential behavioral pattems observed cast doubt on the assumption of a homogeneity of affects in depression. Taking into account the conditions which govern it, facial behavior has proved to be a valid and, especially, a differential indicator for pathoIogic affective states and their changes. Given the fact that a psychiatric illness generally incorporates emotional problems it is more than surprising that little attention has been paid to the systematic study of emotional behavior. Some of the reasons for this will be clarified in the following.
No abstract available
In order to survive, organisms avoid threats and seek rewards. Classical conditioning is a simple model to explain how animals and humans learn associations between events that allow them to predict threats and rewards efficiently. In the classical conditioning paradigm, a neutral stimulus is paired with a biologically significant event (the unconditioned stimulus – US). In virtue of this association, the neutral stimulus acquires affective motivational properties, and becomes a conditioned stimulus (CS+). Defensive responses emerge for pairings with an aversive US (e.g., pain), and appetitive responses emerge for pairing with an appetitive event (e.g., reward). It has been observed that animals avoid a CS+ when it precedes an aversive US during a training phase (CS+ US; forward conditioning); whereas they approach a CS+ when it follows an aversive US during the training phase (US CS+; backward conditioning). These findings indicate that the CS+ acquires aversive properties after a forward conditioning, whereas acquires appetitive properties after a backward conditioning. It is thus of interest whether event timing also modulates conditioned responses in such an opponent fashion in humans, who are capable of explicit cognition about the associations. For this purpose, four experiments were conducted in which a discriminative conditioning was applied in groups of participants that only differed in the temporal sequence between CS+ onset and US onset (i.e., the interstimulus interval – ISI). During the acquisition phase (conditioning), two simple geometrical shapes were presented as conditioned stimuli. One shape (CS+) was always associated with a mild painful electric shock (i.e., the aversive US) and the other one (CS-) was never associated with the shock. In a between-subjects design, participants underwent either forward or backward conditioning. During the test phase (extinction), emotional responses to CS+ and CS- were tested and the US was never presented. Additionally, a novel neutral shape (NEW) was presented as control stimulus. To assess cognitive components, participants had to rate both the valence (the degree of unpleasantness or pleasantness) and the arousal (the degree of calmness or excitation) associated with the shapes before and after conditioning. In the first study, startle responses, an ancestral defensive reflex consisting of a fast twitch of facial and body muscles evoked by sudden and intense stimuli, was measured as an index of stimulus implicit valence. Startle amplitude was potentiated in the presence of the forward CS+ whilst attenuated in the presence of the backward CS+. Respectively, the former response indicates an implicit negative valence of the CS+ and an activation of the defensive system; the latter indicated an implicit positive valence of the CS+ and an activation of the appetitive system. In the second study, the blood-oxygen level dependent (BOLD) response was measured by means of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate neural responses after event learning. Stronger amygdala activation in response to forward CS+ and stronger striatum activation in response to backward CS+ were found in comparison to CS-. These results support the notion that the defensive motivational system is activated after forward conditioning since the amygdala plays a crucial role in fear acquisition and expression. Whilst the appetitive motivational system is activated after backward conditioning since the striatum plays a crucial role in reward processing. In the third study, attentional processes underlying event learning were observed by means of steady-state visual evoked potentials (ssVEPs). This study showed that both forward and backward CS+ caught attentional resources. More specifically, ssVEP amplitude was higher during the last seconds of forward CS+ that is just before the US, but during the first seconds of backward CS+ that is just after the US. Supposedly, attentional processes were located at the most informative part of CS+ in respect to the US. Participants of all three studies rated both forward and backward CS+ more negative and arousing compared to the CS-. This indicated that event timing did not influence verbal reports similarly as the neural and behavioral responses indicating a dissociation between the explicit and implicit responses. Accordingly, dual process theories propose that human behavior is determined by the output of two systems: (1) an impulsive implicit system that works on associative principles, and (2) a reflective explicit system that functions on the basis of knowledge about facts and values. Most importantly, these two systems can operate in a synergic or antagonistic fashion. Hence, the three studies of this thesis congruently suggest that the impulsive and the reflective systems act after backward association in an antagonistic fashion. In sum, event timing may turn punishment into reward in humans even though they subjectively rate the stimulus associated with aversive events as being aversive. This dissociation might contribute to understand psychiatric disorders, like anxiety disorders or drug addiction.
The thesis deals with the question which motivation direction—approach or avoidance—is connected to the emotion relief—a positive, low-arousal emotion, which is caused by an expected or nonexpected, motive-consistent change for the better, thus caused by the absence of an aversive stimulus. Based on the idea of postulating different levels of approach avoidance motivation, the Reflective-Impulsive Model of Behavior (RIM, Strack & Deutsch, 2004) is applied to relief and approach avoidance. The RIM differentiates between an impulsive and a reflective system of information processing, with both systems working in relative independence from each other. Two central variables moderate the relation between relief and approach avoidance. The first is the psychological system in which approach avoidance is processed and assessed. Two levels of approach avoidance are distinguished: an impulsive distance orientation (distance change in relation to specific stimuli) and a reflective goal orientation (attainment of positive versus avoidance of negative end states). The second is the psychological system in which relief developed: In the impulsive system, relief develops as the affect that is conditioned to the absence of negative states; in the reflective system, relief develops as a result of goal-oriented behaviour of controlling or preventing of negative stimulation. The thesis looks at both moderators (level of approach avoidance and psychological system of development of relief) at once. The central prediction for the impulsive distance orientation is: Relief leads to an approach distance orientation (distance reduction), independent from the system in which relief develops. The central prediction for the reflective goal orientation is: Relief leads to an avoidance goal orientation (control of negative end states). This latter prediction is only made for the case when relief was caused by (develops in) the reflective system, that is by one’s own, goal-directed behaviour; it is further necessary for an avoidance goal orientation that the relief state cannot certainly reached, instead there always has to uncertainty in the control of negative states. The methodology in the thesis is based on studies of aversive conditioning. In most studies, a differentiation paradigm is applied. The impulsive relief is operationalized via a classically conditioned relief (aversive CS-), whereas the reflective relief is operationalized via an active avoidance paradigm which ensures the methodological comparability of “reflective relief” to “impulsive relief”. The predictions are as follows: Prediction A: Relief will elicit positive affective valence and an approach distance orientation. This should be true for both relief that is caused by the impulsive system and for relief that is caused by the reflective system (Experiments 2-3). Prediction B: More positive valence of relief—caused by a larger change of affective states—will elicit a stronger approach distance orientation (Experiment 4). Prediction C: Relief caused by the impulsive system will not elicit a specific goal orientation (Experiment 5). Prediction D: Uncertain self-induced relief—caused by the reflective system—will elicit an avoidance goal orientation (Experiments 6-7). In addition, Experiment 1 validated the conditioning paradigm used for the elicitation of relief. The experiments in the thesis support all predictions made in the theoretical part. The work has implications for the assumptions made in the RIM (Strack & Deutsch, 2004). In the impulsive system, the affective valence determines approach avoidance orientation (e.g., R. Neumann & Strack, 2000), the reflective goal not playing an important role. Relief elicits an approach orientation in the impulsive system. In the reflective system, the active goal is decisive for the approach avoidance orientation. Uncertain self-caused relief elicits an avoidance goal orientation in the reflective system. The studies of the thesis thus support and validate the assumptions made in the RIM (Strack & Deutsch, 2004) in the specific field of motivational direction.