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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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Numerous studies have shown that humans automatically react with congruent facial reactions, i.e., facial mimicry, when seeing a vis-á-vis’ facial expressions. The current experiment is the first investigating the neuronal structures responsible for differences in the occurrence of such facial mimicry reactions by simultaneously measuring BOLD and facial EMG in an MRI scanner. Therefore, 20 female students viewed emotional facial expressions (happy, sad, and angry) of male and female avatar characters. During picture presentation, the BOLD signal as well as M. zygomaticus major and M. corrugator supercilii activity were recorded simultaneously. Results show prototypical patterns of facial mimicry after correction for MR-related artifacts: enhanced M. zygomaticus major activity in response to happy and enhanced M. corrugator supercilii activity in response to sad and angry expressions. Regression analyses show that these congruent facial reactions correlate significantly with activations in the IFG, SMA, and cerebellum. Stronger zygomaticus reactions to happy faces were further associated to increased activities in the caudate, MTG, and PCC. Corrugator reactions to angry expressions were further correlated with the hippocampus, insula, and STS. Results are discussed in relation to core and extended models of the mirror neuron system (MNS).
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.
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.
Flexible behavior is only possible if contingencies between own actions and following environmental effects are acquired as quickly as possible; and recent findings indeed point toward an immediate formation of action-effect bindings already after a single coupling of an action and its effect. The present study explored whether these short-term bindings occur for both, stimulus- and goal-driven actions (“forced-choice actions” vs. “free-choice actions”). Two experiments confirmed that immediate action-effect bindings are formed for both types of actions and affect upcoming behavior. These findings support the view that action-effect binding is a ubiquitous phenomenon which occurs for any type of action.
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
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
In recent years, Ideomotor Theory has regained widespread attention and sparked the development of a number of theories on goal-directed behavior and learning. However, there are two issues with previous studies’ use of Ideomotor Theory. Although Ideomotor Theory is seen as very general, it is often studied in settings that are considerably more simplistic than most natural situations. Moreover, Ideomotor Theory’s claim that effect anticipations directly trigger actions and that action-effect learning is based on the formation of direct action-effect associations is hard to address empirically. We address these points from a computational perspective. A simple computational model of Ideomotor Theory was tested in tasks with different degrees of complexity.The model evaluation showed that Ideomotor Theory is a computationally feasible approach for understanding efficient action-effect learning for goal-directed behavior if the following preconditions are met: (1) The range of potential actions and effects has to be restricted. (2) Effects have to follow actions within a short time window. (3) Actions have to be simple and may not require sequencing. The first two preconditions also limit human performance and thus support Ideomotor Theory. The last precondition can be circumvented by extending the model with more complex, indirect action generation processes. In conclusion, we suggest that IdeomotorTheory offers a comprehensive framework to understand action-effect learning. However, we also suggest that additional processes may mediate the conversion of effect anticipations into actions in many situations.
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.
Body image disturbances are core symptoms of eating disorders (EDs). Recent evidence suggests that changes in body image may occur prior to ED onset and are not restricted to in-vivo exposure (e.g. mirror image), but also evident during presentation of abstract cues such as body shape and weight-related words. In the present study startle modulation, heart rate and subjective evaluations were examined during reading of body words and neutral words in 41 student female volunteers screened for risk of EDs. The aim was to determine if responses to body words are attributable to a general negativity bias regardless of ED risk or if activated, ED relevant negative body schemas facilitate priming of defensive responses. Heart rate and word ratings differed between body words and neutral words in the whole female sample, supporting a general processing bias for body weight and shape-related concepts in young women regardless of ED risk. Startle modulation was specifically related to eating disorder symptoms, as was indicated by significant positive correlations with self-reported body dissatisfaction. These results emphasize the relevance of examining body schema representations as a function of ED risk across different levels of responding. Peripheral-physiological measures such as the startle reflex could possibly be used as predictors of females’ risk for developing EDs in the future.