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Schriftenreihe
- culturae ; 19 (1)
No abstract available
Frühere Untersuchungen zum Entscheidungsverhalten von Kindern lassen zwei Interpretationen sogenannter lagebedingter Wahlen zu. Entscheidungen von 8- bis 14jährigen Schülern zeigten, daß sich lagebedingte Wahlen als orientiert am Erwartungsmaximum bezeichnen lassen. Die Beziehung zwischen Orientierung am Erwartungsmaximum und den Variablen Alter, Schulzugehörigkeit und Vorerfahrung erwies sich als positiv. Weiterhin konnte die Abhängigkeit der Wahlhäufigkeit des Erwartungsmaximums von der Hervorgehobenheit des Erwartungsmaximums nachgewiesen werden. Die Gültigkeit des objektiven Erwartungsmaximierungsmodells mußte aber wegen verschiedener Befunde eingeschränkt werden.
No abstract available
No abstract available
Der Schwerpunkt empirisch-psychologischer Auseinandersetzung mit der Problematik von Schulzensuren lag bei der Prüfung ihrer Testgütekriterien. Diese Arbeit befaßt sich dagegcn mit dem subjektiven Wert von Schulnoten. Vorrangige Aufgabe war bislang die Erstellung eines Meßverfahrens für den subjektiven Wert der Schulnoten. Allgemeines Kennzeichen des hier benutzten Verfahrens ist seine entsehcidungstheoretische Grundlegung und die Zielsetzung, die Ab'stände der Zensurenwerte zu definieren. Untcr Verwendung dieser Methode liegen Arbeiten von BECKER und SIEGEL [1J, SCHMIDT [6J und SCHl\'IIDT u. a. [7J vor. Den Untersuchungen ist gemeinsam, daß als Ypn mindestens 17 Jahre alte Schüler oder Studenten mitwirkten. Auch in der methodisch anders ansetzenden Arbeit von MÜLLERFOHRBRODT und DANN [5J zu diesem Problembereich stammten die Vpn aus der umschriehenen Altcrsgruppe. Übergeordnetes Ziel dieser Arbeit ist deswegen die Prüfung der Durchführbarkeit einer entscheidungstheoretischen Skalierungsmethode hei Schülern jüngeren Alters.
Ein Verfahren zur Klassifikation von Pbn aufgrund individueller Abweichung von der Annahme wiederholter multinornialer Zufallsereignisse und aufgrund individueller maximaler Likelihood der Zugehörigkeit zu einer bestimmten Gruppe wird nebst Modelltest dargelegt. Als Anwendungsbeispiel wird über die Ergebnisse bei zwei denkbaren Klassifikationen in verschiedenen Therapiemotivationsgruppen berichtet
No abstract available
A substantial literature exists on the coordination of speaking and looking behaviour and their significance as indicators for the production and reception of social information. Within this framework, the temporal organisation of such behaviour has been 'shown to reflect both the coordination within the individual and between participants in a situation. In this paper, it is proposed that observed behavioural sequences may be formally described by rules of syntax, thus implying the likelihood of structural organisation as opposed to, for example, linear time dependence between behavioural states. This being the case, differing sets of rules and grammars respectively can be expected for various social situations. Clinical interviews and discu~sions between couples on a topic of marital conflict were analysed, the on-off patterns of speech and gaze being taken as data. The resulting behavioural repertoire was regarded, in the sense of a formal grammar, as the terminal vocabulary. A set of rewriting rules was determined and their associated probabilities inferred. The situational conditions were found to be reflectedin the syntactic features of the grammatical model - the terminal vocabulary, the production rules and the production probabilities.
Internal characteristics such as depressed mood, anxiety and general negative emotions are accompanied, particularly during depressive illness, by changes in observable behaviour. Accordingly, the following questions may be examined: are intra-individual changes in speech and gaze behaviour related to changes in the internal psychopathological state? Further, do these changes occur synchronously to changes in the state of subjective well-being? A longitudinal study was made on depressed patients. Their behaviour was observed during standardised interviews and diagnostic-therapeutic discussions held at regu~ lar intervals. Various speech and gaze parameters were examined with respect to their coordination and their relationship to the subjective state of well-being. Considerable variation was found in the temporal relationship amongst these variables. The results are discussed with respect to the relevance of speech parameters and the coordination of verbal and nonverbal behaviour as indicators of the psychopathological condition.
The psychological and physiological effects of a socially oriented sensitivity training were evaluated. It is shown that decreased physical distance as well as increased intimacy yields high activation, both in psychological measures (experienced stress) and in pulse frequences. One result (highly significant and replicated in other experiments) was paradoxical: when Ss had to caress the face of a heterosexual vis-a-vis, they reported high experienced stress, but pulse frequences dropped rapidely below the resting pulse. Some suggestions are made to explain these findings. The question arises whether an autonomic somatic process, induced by social Stimulation, but independent of the cognitive coping is responsible for these results.
Es wird argumentiert, daß bei der Prüfung der Homgenität von Zentren in mehrfaktoriellen Multicenter-Studien vor allem entscheidend ist, daß sich die Zentren in den faktoriellen Variablen nicht unterscheiden, deren Effekte in der späteren Auswertung interpretiert werden sollen. Dazu wird folgendes Procedere vorgeschlagen: (1) überprüfe, ob in allen Zentren die Randomisierungsbedingungen eingehalten wurden, (2) überprüfe, ob die Zentren homogen bezogen auf die eingebrachten Schichtvariablen (z.B. Geschlecht, Indikation) sind und (3) überprüfe, ob die Zentren homogen sind bezogen auf die Wechselwirkungen zwischen den eingebrachten faktoriellen Variablen. Es wird gezeigt, daß vor allem Forderung (3) für die Interpretationsfähigkeit der Ergebnisse von entscheidender Bedeutung ist. Möglichkeiten der statistischen Prüfung dieser Voraussetzungen werden an einem Beispiel aus der klinischen Prüfung eines Psychopharmakons vorgestellt.
Theoretische Analysen zum Problem des Recht-Schreibens weisen darauf hin, daß weniger Intelligenzmerkmale als vielmehr Gedächtnis'eistungen bei dem Erwerb der Schriftsprache von Bedeutung sind. Daraus folgt, daß für die Prüfwörter in normierten Rechtschreibtests zumindest hinreichende Vorkommensfrequenz gewährleistet sein sollte. Diese Frage wird in der vorliegenden Untersuchung am Beispiel des Allgemeinen Schulleistungstests überprüft: für die ausgewählten Klassenstufen kann gezeigt INerden, daß die Vorkommenshäufigkeit der PrüfWÖfter nicht ausreicht und damit wenig geeignet ist, um die tatsächliche Rechtschreibfertigkeit zu erfassen. Der Vergleich mit mehreren eng am Curriculum orientierten Diktatproben kann gleichzeitig die Schwierigkeiten verdeutlichen, die dann entstehen, wenn zuverlässige Bestimmungen der individuellen Rechtschreibkompetenz vorgenommen werden sollen.
No abstract available
Vorgestellt wird ein Versuch, die in der einschlägigen literatur postulierte multifaktorielle Bedingtheit von Rechtschreibleistungen in der Grundschule über ein angemessenes methodisches Design zu prüfen. Zentral ist dabei die Frage, ob sich identische Kausalstrukturen für beginnende und geübte Rechtschreiber (Schüler der zweiten w. vierten Klasse) nachweisen lassen. Konventioneffe Verfahren der Kausafanafysa hatten sich in der Primärstudie (Schneider 1980) als unökonomisch und wenig aussagekräftig erwiesen, 10 daß in der Sekundäranalvse auf eine flexiblere Prozedur zurückgegriffen wird. Mit diesem Verfahren zur AnaIVse von Strukturgleichungssysteman (LiSREL) ist es möglich, für die Gruppe der Zweitund Viertkläßler Modelle zu entwickeln und zu überprüfen, die mit den Ausgangsdaten kompatibel sind. Als wesentliches Ergebnis zeigt sich, daß die theoretisch postulierte Bedingungsstruktur nur für die Viertkläßler (eingeschränkt) bestätigt werden kann, während für die Schüler der zweiten Klassenstufe ein grundlegend verschiedenes Muster resultiert.
No abstract available
Grundzüge des rechtswissenschaftlichen Gedankenguts zur Schadenswiedergutmachung werden psychologischen Ansätzen dazu gegenübergestellt. Das Ergebnis ist die Feststellung, daß die stimulusbezogene Urteilsrelevanz der Schadenswiedergutmachung nicht in der psychologischen Forschung berücksichtigt wurde. Ein diesbezüglicher Untersuchungsansatz sollte sechs Merkmale besitzen: multifaktoriell, multivariat, Stimulus-Response-vergleichend, quantitativ, ontogenetisch und individual-diagnostisch. Er bildet den Prototyp eines die Moral positiver und negativer Akte umfassenden Ansatzes zur moralischen Urteilsbildung, des ses erste Ergebnisse beschrieben werden.
Nonverbal communicative behaviours are associated with affective states in a way specific to the individual. This result emerged from longitudinal studies on depressed patients. From the analysis of various nonverbal behaviours it can be concluded that the depressed state is indicated by nonverbal elements in a logical "or-" rather than "and-connection" or in a hierarchical way. It is maintained that the relationship of psychological relevant states (mood) and nonverbal behaviour needs to be studied by intra-individual comparisons to reveal the specifically close relationships effective in everyday communication. With regard to the pragmatic aspect of communication, elements in the nonverbal signalling system seem to possess different levels of generality. However, from decoding studies it can be shown that even very subtle behavioural differences can be detected by an observer. Thus specific signals can become effective in interaction given a familiarity with the idiosyncratic usage.
Computer-aided video
(1983)
The recent developments in microprocessor electronics and time-code equipment have vastly improved the efficiency of working with video material so that through the combination of data processing and video recording equipment a substantial rationalization of both data acquisition procedures and functional control of the recording machines may be achieved. Such a system, in which video editing and time-code control equipment is interfaced to a process computer, has been developed for the analysis of human communicative behaviour. The system provides exact indexing of the recorded material, automatic search and edit routines for the videotape machines and synchronicity of registered data. In summary, it can be maintained that given a sound theoretical basis, modern video and computer technologies can substantially increase the efficiency and accuracy of behavioural observation and analysis.
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.
No abstract available
Nine hierarchical and four nonhierarchical clustering algorithms were compared on their ability to resolve 200 multivariate normal mixtures. The effects of coverage, similarity measures, and cluster overlap were studied by including different levels of coverage for the hierarchical algorithms, Euclidean distances and Pearson correlation coefficients, and truncated multivariate normal mixtures in the analysis. The results confirmed the findings of previous Monte Carlo studies on clustering procedures in that accuracy was inversely related to coverage, and that algorithms using correlation as the similarity measure were significantly more accurate than those using Euclidean distances. No evidence was found for the assumption that the positive effects of the use of correlation coefficients are confined to unconstrained mixture models.
An rechtsbezogenen empirischen Arbeiten zur Schadenswiedergutmachung kann die echte Wechselseitigkeit im Verhältnis von Recht und Psychologie im Einklang mit Hommers (1981) weiter belegt werden. Da die Psychologie somit nicht nur Hilfsfunktion für die Rechtspflege, sondern die rechtlichen Gedankengänge auch umgekehrt in gewissen Bereichen Hilfsfunktion für die psychologische Theorienbildung besitzen, wird eine hinreichende Gegenstandsdefinition der Rechtspsychologie erreicht, in der eine eigenständige Rechtspsychologie i.e.S. gegenpartnerisch neben der Vereinigung der hi7fswissenschaftlichen Kriminal- und Forensischen Psychologie existiert.
Thirty-two 4-year-olds and thirty-two 6-year-olds were tested for free and cued recall following either play-and-remember or sort-and-remember instructions and assessed for their metamemory of the efficacy of conceptual and perceptual sorting strategies. The younger children recalled significantly more items under sort-and-remember than under play-and-remember instructions, whereas no significant recall differences between instructional conditions were found for the older children. However, 6-year-olds showed higher levels of recall than 4-year-olds in both instructional conditions. Category cues were much more effective than color cues, regardless of age. In addition, clustering scores indicated that conceptual organization at both encoding and retrieval increased with age and with instruction. These results show that from 4 to 6 years of age children are learning to spontaneously employ memory strategies. In addition, they highlight the increasing importance of conceptual organization to retention of young children. Finally, the metamemory data suggest that there may be a lag between children’s articulated declarative knowledge about the usefulness of conceptual organization and their procedural use of it.
The present study investigated the relationshtp between developmental shifts in the organization of materials and developmental changes in deliberate strategy use. Second and fourth grade children were presented with clusterable sort/recall lists representing the factorial combinations of high and low interitem association, and high and low category relatedness. Strategy use in the task was rated by the experimenter and also assessed via self reports. General and task-related strategy knowledge tmetamemoryt was also examined. Second graders displayed more category clustering during recall for highly associated items than for weakly associated items. whereas older children’s recall organization (but not recall) was unaffected by this organizational dimension. Correlations among measures of metamemory and organizational behavior indicated that second graders in general were unaware of the importance of categorization strategies for facilitation of recall. On the other hand. sorting during study and task-related metamemory were the most important predictors of fourth graders’ recall performance, thus indicating that most fourth graders used categorization strategies deliberately.
Nonverbale Kommunikation
(1986)
No abstract available
Ausdrucksforschung
(1987)
No abstract available
Ausdruck
(1987)
No abstract available
Nichtverbale Kommunikation
(1987)
No abstract available
According to more recent studies on memory development in young children, preschoolers and kindergarteners are able to demonstrate surprisingly good memory skills in natural as weH as in laboratory-type settings. This finding is not consistent with the results of a study by Istomina (1975), conducted in 1948, leading to the concJusion that (a) preschoolers do not use voluntary remembering, and (b) children generally recall better in play situations than in typical experimental settings. In this study, two experiments were conducted to replicate Istomina's research. In the first, it was shown that Istomina's findings were replicable when methodological problems in the procedure were ignored. Experiment 2 improved methodologically upon Istomina's experimental methods and did not produce results to support her concJusions. Four- and 6-year-olds showed voluntary memory in play activities as weH as in laboratory-type settings, and remembered equally weB in both contexts. The results did not support the assumption that memory performance in young children can be substantially facilitated by motivating contexts.
This project had two goals: (1) to examine the impact of strategy training on memory performance in German and American children, and (2) to search for environmental correlates of individual differences in cognitive processes. Following pretesting, 437 children were divided into training and control groups, with the former receiving training in clustering strategies. Trained children showed sizable strategy maintenance and transfer effects two weeks and six months later. Parents and teachers completed questionnaires about the teaching of strategies and their attributional beliefs about children's academic successes and failures. The differences in strategie behavior and attributions of German and American children were due, in part, to differences in strategy-enriched environments.
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.
This study explored the differential effects of strategy training on German and American elementaryschool children and assessed the role of parents in the development of their children's strategic behavior and metacognition. 184 German and 161 American children were pretested on memory and metamemory tasks. Children were then assigned to either an organizational strategy training condition or a control condition. All children were tested on the maintenance and far-transfer of the strategy and task-related metamemory 1 week following training. Parents completed questionnaires about strategy instruction in the home. Strategy maintenance and metacognition were reassessed 6 months following training. German children were more strategic than American children. Instructed children performed better than control children. German parents reported more instruction of strategies in the home. These data suggest that formal education is responsible for aspects of cognitive development that have sometimes been viewed as a function of age.
Domain-Specific Knowledge and Memory Performance: A Comparison of High- and Low-Aptitude Children
(1989)
Two studies compared memory performance and text comprehension of groups that were equivalent on domain-specific knowledge but differed in overall aptitude, to investigate whether prior knowledge about a particular domain or overall aptitude level was more important when the task was to acquire and use new information in the domain of interest. Both studies dealt with third-, fifth-, and seventh-grade soccer experts' and novices' memory and comprehension of a story dealing with a soccer game. Several measures of memory performance, memory monitoring, and text comprehension were used. Levels of soccer knowledge and of overall aptitude were varied in a factorial design. Neither study detected significant differences between high-aptitude and low-aptitude experts, regardless of their ages. Low aptitude experts outperformed high-aptitude novices on all memory and comprehension measures. The results indicate that domain-specific knowledge can compensate for low overall aptitude on domain-related cognitive tasks.
In a short-term longitudinal study, we investigated how domain-specific knowledge in soccer influences the amount of text recall and comprehension in elementary school and junior high school children of high and low overall aptitudes. Both level of soccer knowledge and overall aptitude were varied in a factorial design. Third, fifth, and seventh grade children were given several measures of text recall and comprehension and were retested on these measures about 1 year later. Performance was more a function of soccer knowledge than of aptitude level.
A MODEL of good information processing is sketched, describing how metacognitive knowledge influences strategy selection and use. Three factors pose particular problems for learning disabled students as they attempt to acquire metacognitive knowledge and to use study strategies productively: neurological impairments; deficiencies in general world knowledge; and negative beliefs, attitudes, and styles that limit self-efficacy. Creating an educational atmosphere that explicitly builds conceptual (domain-specific) knowledge and teaches positive beliefs about learning potential is essential in promoting metacognitively-oriented instruction.
Bei 46 Typ-I-Diabetikern im Alter zwischen 15 und 44 Jahren wurden die Auswirkungen der viszeralen Deafferentierung bei autonomer Diabetesneuropathie auf körperliche Befindlichkeit und Emotionalität untersucht. Die Erfassung des Ausprägungsgrad der autonomen Neuropathie erfolgte mit vegetativen Funktionstest. Diabetiker ohne Neuropathie (N = 14), mit leichter Neuropathie (N = 23) und mit schwerer Neuropathie (N = 9) wurden miteinander verglichen. Gering ausgeprägte autonome Neuropathie führt zu vegetativen Funktionsstörungen, ist aber gleichzeitig mit einer verminderten Wahrnehmung körperlicher Beschwerden - erfaßt mit der Freiburger Beschwerdenliste - verbunden. Im Streß- und Copingverhalten (SCOPE) und in bestimmten Persönlichkeitsdimensionen (FPI) finden sich dabei Hinweise auf eine verminderte emotionale Reaktivität. Patienten mit fortgeschrittener autonomer Neuropathie haben zumeist ausgeprägte diabetische Folgekrankheiten (diabetische Retinopathie, Makro- und Mikroangiopathie etc.), scheinen aber die damit verbundenen körperlichen Beeinträchtigungen und emotionalen Belastungen nicht stärker als Diabetiker ohne Neuropathie wahrzunehmen. Die autonome Deafferentierung bei Diabetikern scheint somit sowohl zu einer gestörten Wahrnehmung körperlicher Beschwerden wie auch zu einer beeinträchtigten emotionalen Reaktionsfähigkeit zu führen.
Previous research has shown German children to be more strategic on sort-recall memory tasks than their American age-mates, and to show fewer effort-related attributions. We conducted this study to determine if those differences are due to systematic differences in the strategy instruction and attributional beliefs of German and U.S. teachers, and to explore metacognitive instructional practices in the two countries. Teachers responded to a questionnaire that inquired about their use of strategy instructions, fostering of reflective thinking in pupils, sources of children’s learning problems, and modeling of metacognitive skills such as monitoring. The second part of the questionnaire asked about the reasons underlying children’s academic successes and failures. German teachers reported more instruction of task-specific strategies, while American teachers showed more effort-related attributions. The types of strategies instructed and types of learning problems most frequently described varied across the two countries, and also according to how many years the teachers had taught. Results were discussed regarding their implications for metacognitive developmental theory, particularly regarding culture and other environmental influences on the development of controlled processing.
The nature of good information processing is outlined as determined by intact neurology, information stored in long-term memory, and general cognitive tendencies, attitudes, and styles. Educators can promote the development of good information processing by promoting what is in long-term memory. This can be accomplished by teaching important literary, scientific, and cultural knowledge; teaching strategies; motivating the acquisition and use of important conceptual knowledge and strategies; and encouraging the general tendencies supporting good information processing. Good information processing can be produced by years of appropriate educational input. Good information processors cannot be produced by short-term interventions.
4-6-year-old children's understanding of cognitive cuing was studied in 2 experiments using a strategic interaction paradigm. Ghildren could fool a competitor by hiding targets in locations that were labeled with semantically weakly associated cues and help a cooperative partner by hiding them in semantically highly associated locations. Very few 4-year-olds, half the 5-year-olds, and almost all 6-year-olds appropriately chose semantically highly vs. weakly associated hiding places to make the targets easy vs. difficult to find. The second experiment showed that 4-year-olds did not strategically manipulate cues as sources of information, although they themselves proficiently used them as such in a search task. These findings are discussed with regard to research on children's developing understanding of origins of knowledge and belief and with regard to recent claims that young preschoolers possess a metacognitive understanding of cognitive cuing.
Verhaltensmedizin
(1990)
No abstract available
The goal of the present study was to determine whether 4- and 5-year-old kindergarten children could be trained to maintain an organizational strategy over 2- and 8 week periods through an elaborate training program. A second goal was to assess the effects of the training program on strategy awareness. Twenty-eight kindergarten children were pretested on two sort-recall tasks and their awareness of the use of the clustering strategy was assessed through a protocol type procedure. Half the children received seven half-hour sessions of individual training in the clustering strategy and half the children participated in a control group. Both groups were post-tested on two sort-recall tasks 2 weeks following training and again 8 weeks following training. Strategy awareness, as measured by verbal protocol, was assessed at both post-test points. The elaborate strategy training program was successful in inducing short- and long-term strategy maintenance of the clustering strategy. Trained children’s clustering during sorting and clustering during recall was consistently related to the amount of items correctly recalled. No differences in strategy awareness were found. These findings demonstrate that the elaborate training procedure used in this study can be a very effective memory technique for young kindergarten children.
No abstract available
A comparative study of diabetics with autonomic neuropathy (N = 13) as against nonneuropathic diabetics (N = 16) and healthy control persons (N = 20) was carried out with respect 10 heart rate both at rest and under stress, frequency of cardiac arrhythmias in a 24-h ECG and accuracy of heartbeat and arrhythmia perception. In the subjects with diabetic autonomic neuropathy, the spontaneaus variability and stress-induced reactivity of the heart rate as weil as the number of tachycardic episodes were reduced, whereas the frequency of ventricular extrasystoles was somewhat increased. Impaired heartbeat perception and a complete Ioss of perception of arrhythmias as a consequence of neuropathic deafferentation could be demonstrated. Cardiac perception disordersalso playavital roJe in other clinical problems, e.g. silent myocardial infarction and Iack of awareness of hypoglycaemia in diabetes mellitus.
In panic disorder bodily sensations appear to play an important role as a trigger for anxiety. In our psychophysiological model of panic attacks we postulate the following vicious circle: individuals with panic attacks perceive even quite small increases in heart rate and interpret these changes as being catastrophic. This elicits anxiety and a further increase in heart rate. To evaluate this model we conducted a field study of 28 subjects with panic attacks and 20 healthy controls. A 24 hr ambulatory ECG was recorded and the subjects were instructed to report any cardiac perceptions during this period and to rate the anxiety elicited by these perceptions. The incidence of cardiac perceptions was about the same in both groups, but only subjects with panic attacks reported anxiety associated with such perceptions. Analysis of the ECGs revealed that in both groups heart rate accelerations preceded cardiac perceptions. Following cardiac perceptions, the healthy controls showed a heart rate deceleration, whereas the subjects with panic attacks had a further acceleration. This heart rate increase after cardiac perceptions was positively related to the level of anxiety elicited by the perceptions. These results provide clear evidence in support of the vicious circle model of panic attacks.
No abstract available
In a study intended to replicate and extend the findings from a recent experiment by Schneider and Bjorklund (1992), the expert/novice paradigm was used with second- and fourth-grade children in a sort/recall task. Children were classified as experts or novices for their knowledge of baseball, then given two sort/recall tasks, with a list consisting of either baseball or nonbaseball terms. Experts recalled more than novices on the baseball list only. While both groups used organizational strategies at sorting on the nonbaseball list, experts were marginally more strategic than novices on the baseball list, and no differences were found between the groups on either list for clustering. Baseball experts used more adultlike categories, suggesting that their enhanced levels of recall were attributed in part to strategy use, although there was also evidence that most of the substantial recall difference between the groups was attributed to item-specific effects associated with a more elaborated knowledge base. A second experiment using fifth-grade children on a multitrial sort/recall task using the baseball list also found increased recall by experts, and also found evidence of strategic behavior at the sort phase for trials 3 and 4.
Second- and fourth-grade children were classified according to their knowledge of soccer (experts vs. novices) and IQ (high vs. low), and given 2 sort-recall tasks. One task included items related to the game of soccer and the other included items from familiar natural language categories. Previous research has shown that expertise in a snbject can compensate for low levels of performance on text comprehension tasks. Our results, the flrst examing the effects of both expertise and intelligence on a strategic memory task, were that soccer expert children recalled more items on the soccer list bnt not on the nonsoccer list than soccer novice children. However, soccer expertise did not modify a significant effect of IQ level, with high-IQ children recalling more than low-IQ children for all contrasts. Interest in soccer was found to be related to expertise but did not contribute to differences in memory performance. The results demonstrate that the knowledge base plays an important role in children's memory, but that domain knowledge cannot fully eliminate the effects of IQ on sort-recall tasks using domain-related materials. That is, although rich domain knowledge seemed to compensate for low aptitude, in that low-aptitude experts performed at the level of high-aptitude novices, its effects were not strong enough to eliminate performance differences between highand low-aptitude soccer experts.
High- and low-IQ children in the first, third, and fifth grades performed two free-recall tasks: a sort-recall task with sets of categorically related pictures, and a class-recall task, with children recalling the current members of their school class. All children were deemed to be experts concerning the composition of their school class, but, unlike experts in other domains, had no special motivation associated with their expertise. Recall and clustering on both tasks were high. The high-IQ children performed better than low-IQ children only on the sort-recall task. IQ was significantly correlated with measures of performance on the sort-recall task but not on the class-recall task. The results reflect the fact that the memory benefits associated with being an expert (here, elimination of IQ effects) are related to the greater knowledge the expert possesses and not to factors of motivation.
Da organische Ursachen für die Non-Ulcer Dyspepsia nicht nachweisbar sind und außerdem bekannt ist, daß die Psyche einen wichtigen Einfluß auf die Magenfu nktion hat. werden häufig psychologische Faktoren als Ursache der NUD angesehen. Bisher liegen empirische Arbeiten über die Psychopathologie und Persönlichkeitsstruktur der NUD-Patienten. deren Krankheitsverhalten sowie über den Zusammenhang zwischen Streß und Magenbeschwerden vor. Eine kritische Sichtung dieser Arbeiten ergab, daß umer den psychologischen Variablen die Angst und das Krankheitsverhalten der NUD-Patienten eine besondere Rolle zu spielen scheinen. In zukünftigen Studien sollte außerdem mehr als bisher auf die Abgrenzung gegenüber anderen funktionellen Störungsbildern und auf eine bessere Differenzierung (u. a. hinsichtlich physiologischer Funktionsveränderungen) innerhalb der heterogenen Gruppe der NUD-Patienten geachtet werden. Lohnenswert erscheint es auch, die bisher noch gar nicht untersuchten Personen mit Magenbeschwerden, aber ohne Arztkomakt. genauer psychologisch zu untersuchen.
In accordance with various other studies. the present longitudinal study gave no clues for specific personality variables or traits 01' drug addicts. Personality factors did not allow a valid prediction of the kind 01' th~apy termination. nor were there clear deviations from the norm. Analyzed as a group. the addicts showed only minor changes that appeared over the course of treatment. These results correspond to data reported on alcohol dependency (cf. Wanke 1987). A more differentiated picture is gained when stable and changeable components of personality and analyzed separately. Changeable components are of special relevance for treatment. From the current study these were characteristics of action regulation, that is, activation and impulse control, social interaction, and somatic reactions (sleep disorders, bodily reactions to drug deprivation). For relapse prevention, attention should be given to stable, persistent, problematic components. Persistent suicidal ideas turned out to be one such aspect. Like the differentiation between state and trait anxiety, stable and variable components could also be separated for other domains of personality when they are used to describe the course of treatment. How can personality concepts and instruments for assessment be utilized for treatment? The claim of therapists to predict the outcome of a treatment may be realized for only a delimited period of time. Especially at such critical points as shortly before relapse, a firm prediction might be possible only rarely (Wanke 1987). Lack of predictability could be a warning which, however, can be verified only afterward. According to the current results, one benefit of personality concepts could be to specify targets of change on an individual basis and thus clarify effects of therapeutic interventions. Personality concepts can help patients to better understand their problems and to recognize changes as weil as persistent areas of vulnerability.
Wolfgang Schneider fasst den Stand der Forschung zum Konzept des Metagedächtnisses zusammen. Zunächst illustriert er Probleme der Definition und der Konzeptualisierung von Metagedächtnis und lässt eine knappe Charakterisierung der wichtigsten- Erfassungsmethoden folgen. Abschliessend werden die wichtigsten Befunde zur Entwicklung des Metagedächtnisses im Kindesalter und ihre Beziehung zur Anwendung von Gedächtnisstrategien und zur Entwicklung von Gedächtnisleistungen dargestellt.
ln two experiments, male rats were observed in pairs under different environmental stimulations in an open field. ln Experiment 1, white noise of 85 dB(A) reduced social activities and increased defecation compared to 75 dB(A) and 65 dß(A). ln Experiment 2, the illumination of the open field was varied in addition to a variation of the noise intensity. Again, 85 dB(A) as compared to 50 dB(A) reduced social activities and increased defecation, but also led to changes in non-social behaviours such as sniffing, grooming, and rearing. ln contrast, 400 lx did not differ substantially in its effects from 40 lx in any of the observed behavioural categories. Altogether, the behaviour pattern under 85 dß(A) white noise cannot satisfactorily be explained only by increased anxiety or fear. Alternative explanations are discussed.
Im vorliegenden Beitrag wird der Versuch gemacht, neuere Befunde der kognitiven Psychologie, insbesondere der Expertiseforschung, zur Entwicklung außergewöhnlicher Fertigkeiten und Kenntnisse auf den Bereich des Sports zu übertragen und damit deren Generalisierungsmöglichkeiten zu prüfen. In einem ersten Schritt werden dabei die Grundannahmen der traditionellen fähigkeitsorientierten Leistungsprognose mit denen der neueren Expertiseforschung verglichen und im Hinblick auf ihre empirische Bewährung untersucht. Der zweite Schritt besteht darin, daß mögliche Parallelen zwischen der Entwicklung kognitiver und sportlicher Expertise aufgezeigt und an Fallbeispielen demonstriert werden. Dies leitet zum Schwerpunkt des vorliegenden Beitrags über, der in einer Reanalyse von Daten besteht, die im Rahmen einer fünfjährigen Längsschnittstudie an jugendlichen deutschen Tennistalenten gewonnen wurden (vgl. Rieder, Krahl, Sommer, Weicker & Weiss, 1983). Da in dieser Untersuchung sowohl Daten zur Entwicklung allgemeiner motorischer Basisfähigkeiten wie auch zur Entwicklung sportartspezifischer Fertigkeiten erhoben worden waren, ließ sich die Bedeutsamkeit dieser beiden Komponenten für den sportlichen Erfolg relativ genau bestimmen. Weiterhin waren Informationen zu Hintergrundmerkmalen wie z.B. der elterlichen Unterstützung, der Trainingsintensität sowie Merkmalen der Motivation und Konzentration verfügbar, von denen anzunehmen war, daß sie zusätzlich dazu geeignet sein sollten, individuelle Unterschiede in den beobachteten Entwicklungsverläufen zu erklären.
143 9- and 10-year-oId children were classified into high- and Jow-IQ groups and given 4 different sort/recall lists (baseline, training, near [immediate] extension, far [l-week] extension) to assess training and extension of an organizational memory strategy. All children received categorized items of moderate typicality for Phases 1, 3, and 4. For Phase 2, children were assigned to either a training or control group, with half of the children in each group receiving category typical items and the others category atypical items. Levels of recall, sorting, and clustering were greater in Phase 2 for high-IQ children, for the typical lists, and for trained children. Both the high- and low-IQ children trained with typical items continued to show high levels of recall on the near extension phase. No group of subjects maintained high levels of recall after 1 week, although levels of sorting and/or clustering on the extension trials remained high for all groups of subjects except the low-IQ control children. This latter pattern (elevated sorting/clustering with low levels of recall) is an indication of a utilization deficiency, a phase in strategy development when children use a strategy but gain little or no benefit n performance. The results provide evidence for IQ, training, and material effects in the demonstration of a utilization deficiency.
In einer retrospektiven Untersuchung erinnerten 16 von 80 Müttern von chronisch Schizophrenen eine schwere Infektionserkrankung in der Schwangerschaft. Im zweiten Trimenon waren gehäuft Infektionen aufgetreten. Zehn von 80 Müttern von Kontrollpersonen erinnerten ebenfalls eine Infektion. Im Vergleich zu den Kontrollen halfen Mütter Schizophrener im 5. Schwangerschaftsmonat häufiger Infektionen als in den anderen Gestationsmonaten (p < 0,05). Bei "familiären" und "sporadischen" Schizophrenen gemäß DSM III-R kamen im Vergleich zu Kontrollen Infektionen in gleicher Häufigkeit vor. Wurden hingegen in der Diagnostik schizophrener Psychosen die Definitionen von Leonhard zugrunde gelegt, ergaben sich signifikante Unterschiede! Bei den systematischen Schizophrenen (denen nach Leonhard keine erbliche Disposition zugrunde liegt) waren Infektionen gehäuft im 2. Schwangerschaftsdrittel aufgetreten, sowohl im Vergleich zu Kontrollen (p < 0,01) als auch im Vergleich zu den unsystematischen Schizophrenen, die hauptsächlich genetisch bedingt zu sein scheinen (p < 0,001). Infektionserkrankungen im 5. Schwangerschaftsmonat waren ausschließlich bei den Müttern von systematischen Schizophrenen vorgekommen. Bei diesen Krankheitsformen scheinen Infektionen im 2. Schwangerschaftstrimenon und insbesondere im 5. Schwangerschaftsmonat wichtige ätiologische Faktoren zu sein und könnten mitursächlich sein für die beschriebenen zytoarchitektonischen Aberrationen im Zentralnervensystem von chronisch Schizophrenen.
No abstract available.
No abstract available
The present research examined whether children's awareness of phonological similarities between words with respect to rhyme and consonantal word onset is of the same importance for learning to read German as it was found to be for learning to read English. In two longitudinal studies differences in phonological sensitivity among children before learning to read (at age 6 to 7) were tested with versions of Bradley & Bryant's (1985) oddity detection task. Children's reading and spelling achievements were tested about one year later at the end of grade one, and again at around the age of 10. The main finding was a developmental change in the predictive relationship of rhyme and word-onset awareness. Rhyme awareness was only minimally predictive for reading and spelling achievement at the end of grade one, but gained substantially in predictive importance for reading and spelling achievement in grades three and four. No such predictive improvement was observed for word-onset awareness. It is proposed that rhyme awareness is initially of little importance, because in the first phase of learning to read German children rely heavily on indirect word recognition via grapheme--phoneme translation and blending. The gain in the predictive importance of rhyme awareness is explained by its helpful effect on the establishment of mental representations of written words. Such mental representations allow fast, direct word recognition and orthographically correct spellings. A wareness of larger phonological units is helpful for the efficient establishment of such representations, by allowing connections of recurring grapheme clusters in written words with phonology.
No abstract available
Brain potentials during mental arithmetic: effects of extensive practice and problem difficulty
(1994)
Recent behavioral investigations indicate that the processes underlying mental arithmetic change systematically with practice from deliberate, conscious calculation to automatic, direct retrieval of answers from memory [Bourne, L.E.Jr. and Rickard, T.C., Mental calculation: The development of a cognitive skill, Paper presented at the Interamerican Congress of Psychology, San Jose, Costa Rica, 1991; Psychol. Rev., 95 (1988) 492-527]. Results reviewed by Moscovitch and Winocur [In: The handbook of aging and cognition, Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NJ, 1992, pp. 315-372] suggest that consciously controlled processes are more dependent on frontal lobe function than are automatic processes. It is appropriate, therefore to determine whether transitions in the locus of primary brain activity occur with practice on mental calculation. In this experiment, we examine the relationship between characteristics of event-related brain potentials (ERPs) and mental arithmetic. Single-digit mental multiplication problems varying in difficulty (problem size) were used, and subjects were trained on these problems for four sessions. Problem-size and practice effects were reliably found in behavioral measures (RT). The ERP was characterized by a pronounced late positivity after task presentation followed by a slow wave, and a negativity during response indication. These components responded differentially to the practice and problem-size manipulations. Practice mainly affected topography of the amplitude of positivity and offset latency of slow wave, and problem-size mainly offset latency of slow wave and pre-response negativity. Fronto-central positivity diminished from session to session, and the focus of positivity centered finally at centro-parietal regions. This finding suggests that frontal lobe processing is necessary as long as task performance is not automatized, while automatized arithmetic processing requires parietal brain activity only. The pre-response negativity observed in the first session and during more difficult tasks is assumed to reflect excitatory preparatory processes, which could be associated with activation of calculation strategies.
No abstract available
This article describes a 2-systems model that explains social behavior as a joint function of reflective and impulsive processes. In particular, it is assumed that social behavior is controlled by 2 interacting systems that follow different operating principles. The reflective system generates behavioral decisions that are based on knowledge about facts and values, whereas the impulsive system elicits behavior through associative links and motivational orientations. The proposed model describes how the 2 systems interact at various stages of processing, and how their outputs may determine behavior in a synergistic or antagonistic fashion. It extends previous models by integrating motivational components that allow more precise predictions of behavior. The implications of this reflective–impulsive model are applied to various phenomena from social psychology and beyond. Extending previous dual-process accounts, this model is not limited to specific domains of mental functioning and attempts to integrate cognitive, motivational, and behavioral mechanisms.
Die vorliegende Arbeit hatte sich die Aufgabe gestellt, die Aktualität des "Handbuchs der Psychischen Anthropologie" von Jakob Friedrich Fries, in erster Auflage im Jahre 1818 erschienen, für die Wissenschaften der Gegenwart aufzuzeigen: Psychologie, Psychiatrie, Psychosomatik und (einzelne Randbereiche der) Neurophysiologie. Zu diesem Zwecke stand am Anfang eine immanente Darstellung dieses heute fast völlig unbekannten, weil vergessenen Werkes. Wie jede Neu-Aufnahme der Gedanken vergangener Zeiten war dies sowohl Hervorhebung als auch der Versuch einer "Übersetzung". Um die Adressaten zum Studium des Friesschen Handbuches aufzufordern, mußte sich der Übersetzer selbst von der Quelle entfernen. Dem Leser des ausgehenden Zwanzigsten Jahrhunderts sollte der Zugang zu Fries bei möglichst geringem Verlust an Authentizität erleichtert werden. Fries gegenübergestellt wurden die Auffassungen namhafter Fachvertreter der Gegenwart aus den o. g. Wissenschaften. 1. Fries' Werk bietet eine Schichtentheorie des Psychischen an, als deren einheitssicherndes Moment die menschliche Vernunft herausgestellt wird. Diese Theorie ist Emanation der Friesschen Philosophie, d. h., Philosophie und Psychologie stehen bei ihm in einem wechselseitigen Abhängigkeitsverhältnis. Sein Wissenschaftssystem ist gleichwohl eines der ersten philosophiegeschichtlichen Beispiele einer Unterscheidung von Theorie und Metatheorie. 2. Fries' Ansatz zu einer (Wieder-) Herstellung der Einheit der Psychologie ist methodogisch begründet. Introspektion ist die (eigentliche) Methode der Psychologie. Nur introspektiv lassen sich ( per definitionem ) Fragen über die Psyche des Menschen beantworten. Fries' phänomenologische ( oder phänomenalistische ) Position hätte ihn zum Vorbild lange nach ihm entworfener Konzeptionen werden lassen können. Andere Methoden öffnen den Zugang zu anderen Gegenstandsbereichen: Neuro-(physio-)logie als Teil der somatischen Anthropologie und Neuropsychologie oder Leistungs- ( Test- ) Psychologie als Teile der Vergleichenden Anthropologie beschreiten andere Forschungsrichtungen. 3. Fries' Stellung zur Frage der Meßbarkeit psychischer Variablen weist viele Parallelen zu Überlegungen der Repräsenationstheorie auf. Für das Psychische kann nicht von einer transitiven Relation aller Variablen ausgegangen werden, was der Mathematisierbarkeit des Wissens vom Psychischen engere Grenzen setzt. 4. Fries unterscheidet innere und äußere Kausalität. Für den Bereich von Physik und Physiologie nimmt er die Geltung eines Kausalgesetzes an, für die Psychologie hingegen setzt er nur ein Kausalprinzip voraus. Unausweichlich ist für ihn deshalb der Rückgriff auf den Begriff psychischer Vermögen, den die Psychologie der Gegenwart durchweg ablehnt, ihn vielfach aber ebenfalls nicht umgehen kann. 5. Fries weist auch in manchen Einzelfragen der Wissenschaft Wege zur Psychologie des Zwanzigsten Jahrhunderts: u. a. sucht er nach einer Antwort zu den Problemen von Kontinuität und Einheit der Wahrnehmung, von Dimension und Einteilung der Gefühle und vom Zusammenhang von Trieb und Wille. 6. Freis versucht die Richtlinien einer Theorie der Psychosomatik vorzuzeichnen: Psychisches hat Ausdrucksmöglichkeiten im Somatischen. Sowohl Bewußtes als auch Nicht-Bewußtes kann krankheitsverursachend wirken. Das Bindeglied zwischen Psyche und Soma stellen bei Fries die Emotionen dar. 7. Fries' Psychopathologie hält sich an die Terminologie seiner Normal-Psychologie. Sie steht im Zentrum seiner Psychiatrie. 8. Fries' psychiatrisches System folgt einem methodischen Dualismus ( "Parallelismus" ): Der phänomenologische Mittelpunkt der Psychopathologie wird von seiner somatisch-medizinischen Krankheitsauffassung getragen. 9. Fries' Konzept zeigt unübersehbare Ansatzpunkte zu Kurt Schneiders triadischem System der klinischen Psychopathologie. Er unterscheidet bereits persönlichkeits-bedingte ( angelegte ) und reaktive psychische Störungen. Innerhalb seines Systems gibt Fries auch eine frappierend zutreffende Bestimmung dessen, was die Psychiatrie der Gegenwart als "endogene" Geisteskrankheiten bezeichnet. 10. Fries' Lehre vom menschlichen Geist basiert auf der Frage nach der Methode des Zugangs. Methodologie gibt Perpektiven vor, sie konstituiert jedoch keine unvereinbaren Entitäten. Sein System verlieh Fries die Sicherheit, seine Lehren auf überindividuelle Gemeinschaften, wie die Völkerpsychologie auszudehnen. Auch wenn er von psychischen Entartungen oder Degenerationen spricht, betritt er dabei Bereiche, die gegenwärtig brach liegen. 11. Der konsequent dualistische ( parallelistische ) Ansatz Fries' weist den Weg zu einer bis heute nur punktuell umgesetzten biaxialen Diagnostik in der Psychiatrie. Damit wird dem bereits von Fries verfochtenen Relativismus zwischen den Bereichen Symptomatologie und Ätiologie ( Psychopathologie und Physiologie ) ebenso Rechnung getragen wie der Tatsache, daß deren Zusammenhang ( Wechselwirkung ) bis dato weitestgehend ungeklärt geblieben ist.
Several studies have investigated the neural responses triggered by emotional pictures, but the specificity of the involved structures such as the amygdala or the ventral striatum is still under debate. Furthermore, only few studies examined the association of stimuli’s valence and arousal and the underlying brain responses. Therefore, we investigated brain responses with functional magnetic resonance imaging of 17 healthy participants to pleasant and unpleasant affective pictures and afterwards assessed ratings of valence and arousal. As expected, unpleasant pictures strongly activated the right and left amygdala, the right hippocampus, and the medial occipital lobe, whereas pleasant pictures elicited significant activations in left occipital regions, and in parts of the medial temporal lobe. The direct comparison of unpleasant and pleasant pictures, which were comparable in arousal clearly indicated stronger amygdala activation in response to the unpleasant pictures. Most important, correlational analyses revealed on the one hand that the arousal of unpleasant pictures was significantly associated with activations in the right amygdala and the left caudate body. On the other hand, valence of pleasant pictures was significantly correlated with activations in the right caudate head, extending to the nucleus accumbens (NAcc) and the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. These findings support the notion that the amygdala is primarily involved in processing of unpleasant stimuli, particularly to more arousing unpleasant stimuli. Reward-related structures like the caudate and NAcc primarily respond to pleasant stimuli, the stronger the more positive the valence of these stimuli is.
Brain–computer interfaces (BCIs) enable paralyzed patients to communicate; however, up to date, no creative expression was possible. The current study investigated the accuracy and user-friendliness of P300-Brain Painting, a new BCI application developed to paint pictures using brain activity only. Two different versions of the P300-Brain Painting application were tested: A colored matrix tested by a group of ALS-patients (n = 3) and healthy participants (n = 10), and a black and white matrix tested by healthy participants (n = 10). The three ALS-patients achieved high accuracies; two of them reaching above 89% accuracy. In healthy subjects, a comparison between the P300-Brain Painting application (colored matrix) and the P300-Spelling application revealed significantly lower accuracy and P300 amplitudes for the P300-Brain Painting application. This drop in accuracy and P300 amplitudes was not found when comparing the P300-Spelling application to an adapted, black and white matrix of the P300-Brain Painting application. By employing a black and white matrix, the accuracy of the P300-Brain Painting application was significantly enhanced and reached the accuracy of the P300-Spelling application. ALS-patients greatly enjoyed P300-Brain Painting and were able to use the application with the same accuracy as healthy subjects. P300-Brain Painting enables paralyzed patients to express themselves creatively and to participate in the prolific society through exhibitions.
The wardrobe malfunction—an unanticipated exposure of bodily parts in the public—has become a prevailing issue in concerts, shows and other celebrity events that is reliably reported by the media. The internet as the fastest source for celebrity gossip allows measuring the impact of such wardrobe malfunctions on the public in-terest in a celebrity. This measurement in turn allows conclusions about intention, motivation, and internet be-haviour of a wide variety of internet users. The present study exemplifies the use of an innovative non-reactive measure of active interest—the Search Volume Index—to assess the impact of a variety of internet-related phe-nomena, including wardrobe malfunctions. Results indicate that interest in a celebrity increases immediately af-ter such an event and stays at a high level for about three weeks (the wardrobe plateau). This special form of ce-lebrity gossip thus meets a constant interest of a substantial proportion of internet users.
The present study investigated event-related brain potentials elicited by true and false negated statements to evaluate if discrimination of the truth value of negated information relies on conscious processing and requires higher-order cognitive processing in healthy subjects across different levels of stimulus complexity. The stimulus material consisted of true and false negated sentences (sentence level) and prime-target expressions (word level). Stimuli were presented acoustically and no overt behavioral response of the participants was required. Event-related brain potentials to target words preceded by true and false negated expressions were analyzed both within group and at the single subject level. Across the different processing conditions (word pairs and sentences), target words elicited a frontal negativity and a late positivity in the time window from 600–1000 msec post target word onset. Amplitudes of both brain potentials varied as a function of the truth value of the negated expressions. Results were confirmed at the single-subject level. In sum, our results support recent suggestions according to which evaluation of the truth value of a negated expression is a time- and cognitively demanding process that cannot be solved automatically, and thus requires conscious processing. Our paradigm provides insight into higher-order processing related to language comprehension and reasoning in healthy subjects. Future studies are needed to evaluate if our paradigm also proves sensitive for the detection of consciousness in non-responsive patients.
We examined whether movement costs as defined by movement magnitude have an impact on distance perception in near space. In Experiment 1, participants were given a numerical cue regarding the amplitude of a hand movement to be carried out. Before the movement execution, the length of a visual distance had to be judged. These visual distances were judged to be larger, the larger the amplitude of the concurrently prepared hand movement was. In Experiment 2, in which numerical cues were merely memorized without concurrent movement planning, this general increase of distance with cue size was not observed. The results of these experiments indicate that visual perception of near space is specifically affected by the costs of planned hand movements.
Previous research using neuroimaging methods proposed a link between mechanisms controlling motor response inhibition and suppression of unwanted memories.The present study investigated this hypothesis behaviorally by combining the think/no-think paradigm (TNT) with a go/no-go motor inhibition task. Participants first learned unpleasant cue-target pairs. Cue words were then presented as go or no-go items in the TNT. Participants’ task was to respond to the cues and think of the target word aloud or to inhibit their response to the cue and the target word from coming to mind. Cued recall assessed immediately after the TNT revealed reduced recall performance for no-go targets compared to go targets or baseline cues not presented in the TNT. The results demonstrate that doing the no-think and no-go task concurrently leads to memory suppression of unpleasant items during later recall. Results are discussed in line with recent empirical research and theoretical positions.