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Given the growing interest of corporate stakeholders in Metaverse applications, there is a need to understand accessibility of these technologies for marginalized populations such as people living with dementia to ensure inclusive design of Metaverse applications. We assessed the accessibility of extended reality technology for people living with mild cognitive impairment and dementia to develop accessibility guidelines for these technologies. We used four strategies to synthesize evidence for barriers and facilitators of accessibility: (1) Findings from a non-systematic literature review, (2) guidelines from well-researched technology, (3) exploration of selected mixed reality technologies, and (4) observations from four sessions and video data of people living with dementia using mixed reality technologies. We utilized template analysis to develop codes and themes towards accessibility guidelines. Future work can validate our preliminary findings by applying them on video recordings or testing them in experiments.
Social robots are becoming increasingly prevalent in everyday life and sex robots are a sub-category of especially high public interest and controversy. Starting from the concept of the otaku, a term from Japanese youth culture that describes secluded persons with a high affinity for fictional manga characters, we examine individual differences behind sex robot appeal (anime and manga fandom, interest in Japanese culture, preference for indoor activities, shyness). In an online-experiment, 261 participants read one out of three randomly assigned descriptions of future technologies (sex robot, nursing robot, genetically modified organism) and reported on their overall evaluation, eeriness, and contact/purchase intentions. Higher anime and manga fandom was associated with higher appeal for all three future technologies. For our male subsample, sex robots and GMOs stood out as shyness yielded a particularly strong relationship to contact/purchase intentions for these new technologies.
With the rise of immersive media, advertisers have started to use 360° commercials to engage and persuade consumers. Two experiments were conducted to address research gaps and to validate the positive impact of 360° commercials in realistic settings. The first study (N = 62) compared the effects of 360° commercials using either a mobile cardboard head-mounted display (HMD) or a laptop. This experiment was conducted in the participants’ living rooms and incorporated individual feelings of cybersickness as a moderator. The participants who experienced the 360° commercial with the HMD reported higher spatial presence and product evaluation, but their purchase intentions were only increased when their reported cybersickness was low. The second experiment (N = 197) was conducted online and analyzed the impact of 360° commercials that were experienced with mobile (smartphone/tablet) or static (laptop/desktop) devices instead of HMDs. The positive effects of omnidirectional videos were stronger when participants used mobile devices.
Spatial presence is a state in which media users temporarily overlook the mediated nature of their experience.
This study discusses stimulus-dependent structure in spontaneous eye-blink behavior as analternative to presence selfreport measures. To this end, theories and empirical evidence on presence, spontaneous eye-blink behavior, and existing approaches for presence assessment are used to link antecedent processes of presence, especially attention, to presence and structure in blinking behavior.
Three experiments in different media environments relate three different methods for quantification of stimulus-dependent structure to an established presence scale. The results are not conclusive, but raise questions on presence and its measurement, and advance the understanding of stimulus-dependent structure in spontaneous eye-blink behavior.
Due to the complexityof research objects, theoretical concepts, and stimuli in media research, researchers in psychology and communications presumably need sophisticated measures beyond self-report scales to answer research questions on media use processes. The present study evaluates stimulus-dependent structure in spontaneous eye-blink behavior as an objective, corroborative measure for the media use phenomenon of spatial presence. To this end, a mixed methods approach is used in an experimental setting to collect, combine, analyze, and interpret data from standardized participant self-report, observation of participant behavior, and content analysis of the media stimulus. T-pattern detection is used to analyze stimulus-dependent blinking behavior, and this structural data is then contrasted with self-report data. The combined results show that behavioral indicators yield the predicted results, while self-report data shows unpredicted results that are not predicted by the underlying theory. The use of a mixed methods approach offered insights that support further theory development and theory testing beyond a traditional, mono-method experimental approach.
Introduction
Modern digital devices, such as conversational agents, simulate human–human interactions to an increasing extent. However, their outward appearance remains distinctly technological. While research revealed that mental representations of technology shape users' expectations and experiences, research on technology sending ambiguous cues is rare.
Methods
To bridge this gap, this study analyzes drawings of the outward appearance participants associate with voice assistants (Amazon Echo or Google Home).
Results
Human beings and (humanoid) robots were the most frequent associations, which were rated to be rather trustworthy, conscientious, agreeable, and intelligent. Drawings of the Amazon Echos and Google Homes differed marginally, but “human,” “robotic,” and “other” associations differed with respect to the ascribed humanness, consciousness, intellect, affinity to technology, and innovation ability.
Discussion
This study aims to further elaborate on the rather unconscious cognitive and emotional processes elicited by technology and discusses the implications of this perspective for developers, users, and researchers.
Conversational agents and smart speakers have grown in popularity offering a variety of options for use, which are available through intuitive speech operation. In contrast to the standard dyad of a single user and a device, voice-controlled operations can be observed by further attendees resulting in new, more social usage scenarios. Referring to the concept of ‘media equation’ and to research on the idea of ‘computers as social actors,’ which describes the potential of technology to trigger emotional reactions in users, this paper asks for the capacity of smart speakers to elicit empathy in observers of interactions. In a 2 × 2 online experiment, 140 participants watched a video of a man talking to an Amazon Echo either rudely or neutrally (factor 1), addressing it as ‘Alexa’ or ‘Computer’ (factor 2). Controlling for participants’ trait empathy, the rude treatment results in participants’ significantly higher ratings of empathy with the device, compared to the neutral treatment. The form of address had no significant effect. Results were independent of the participants’ gender and usage experience indicating a rather universal effect, which confirms the basic idea of the media equation. Implications for users, developers and researchers were discussed in the light of (future) omnipresent voice-based technology interaction scenarios.
Manifestations of aggressive driving, such as tailgating, speeding, or swearing, are not trivial offenses but are serious problems with hazardous consequences—for the offender as well as the target of aggression. Aggression on the road erases the joy of driving, affects heart health, causes traffic jams, and increases the risk of traffic accidents. This work is aimed at developing a technology-driven solution to mitigate aggressive driving according to the principles of Persuasive Technology. Persuasive Technology is a scientific field dealing with computerized software or information systems that are designed to reinforce, change, or shape attitudes, behaviors, or both without using coercion or deception.
Against this background, the Driving Feedback Avatar (DFA) was developed through this work. The system is a visual in-car interface that provides the driver with feedback on aggressive driving. The main element is an abstract avatar displayed in the vehicle. The feedback is transmitted through the emotional state of this avatar, i.e., if the driver behaves aggressively, the avatar becomes increasingly angry (negative feedback). If no aggressive action occurs, the avatar is more relaxed (positive feedback). In addition, directly after an aggressive action is recognized by the system, the display is flashing briefly to give the driver an instant feedback on his action.
Five empirical studies were carried out as part of the human-centered design process of the DFA. They were aimed at understanding the user and the use context of the future system, ideating system ideas, and evaluating a system prototype. The initial research question was about the triggers of aggressive driving. In a driver study on a public road, 34 participants reported their emotions and their triggers while they were driving (study 1). The second research question asked for interventions to cope with aggression in everyday life. For this purpose, 15 experts dealing with the treatment of aggressive individuals were interviewed (study 2). In total, 75 triggers of aggressive driving and 34 anti-aggression interventions were identified. Inspired by these findings, 108 participants generated more than 100 ideas of how to mitigate aggressive driving using technology in a series of ideation workshops (study 3). Based on these ideas, the concept of the DFA was elaborated on. In an online survey, the concept was evaluated by 1,047 German respondents to get a first assessment of its perception (study 4). Later on, the DFA was implemented into a prototype and evaluated in an experimental driving study with 32 participants, focusing on the system’s effectiveness (study 5). The DFA had only weak and, in part, unexpected effects on aggressive driving that require a deeper discussion.
With the DFA, this work has shown that there is room to change aggressive driving through Persuasive Technology. However, this is a very sensitive issue with special requirements regarding the design of avatar-based feedback systems in the context of aggressive driving. Moreover, this work makes a significant contribution through the number of empirical insights gained on the problem of aggressive driving and wants to encourage future research and design activities in this regard.
Mindfulness is considered an important factor of an individual's subjective well-being. Consequently, Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) has investigated approaches that strengthen mindfulness, i.e., by inventing multimedia technologies to support mindfulness meditation. These approaches often use smartphones, tablets, or consumer-grade desktop systems to allow everyday usage in users' private lives or in the scope of organized therapies. Virtual, Augmented, and Mixed Reality (VR, AR, MR; in short: XR) significantly extend the design space for such approaches. XR covers a wide range of potential sensory stimulation, perceptive and cognitive manipulations, content presentation, interaction, and agency. These facilities are linked to typical XR-specific perceptions that are conceptually closely related to mindfulness research, such as (virtual) presence and (virtual) embodiment. However, a successful exploitation of XR that strengthens mindfulness requires a systematic analysis of the potential interrelation and influencing mechanisms between XR technology, its properties, factors, and phenomena and existing models and theories of the construct of mindfulness. This article reports such a systematic analysis of XR-related research from HCI and life sciences to determine the extent to which existing research frameworks on HCI and mindfulness can be applied to XR technologies, the potential of XR technologies to support mindfulness, and open research gaps. Fifty papers of ACM Digital Library and National Institutes of Health's National Library of Medicine (PubMed) with and without empirical efficacy evaluation were included in our analysis. The results reveal that at the current time, empirical research on XR-based mindfulness support mainly focuses on therapy and therapeutic outcomes. Furthermore, most of the currently investigated XR-supported mindfulness interactions are limited to vocally guided meditations within nature-inspired virtual environments. While an analysis of empirical research on those systems did not reveal differences in mindfulness compared to non-mediated mindfulness practices, various design proposals illustrate that XR has the potential to provide interactive and body-based innovations for mindfulness practice. We propose a structured approach for future work to specify and further explore the potential of XR as mindfulness-support. The resulting framework provides design guidelines for XR-based mindfulness support based on the elements and psychological mechanisms of XR interactions.
Obesity is a serious disease that can affect both physical and psychological well-being. Due to weight stigmatization, many affected individuals suffer from body image disturbances whereby they perceive their body in a distorted way, evaluate it negatively, or neglect it. Beyond established interventions such as mirror exposure, recent advancements aim to complement body image treatments by the embodiment of visually altered virtual bodies in virtual reality (VR). We present a high-fidelity prototype of an advanced VR system that allows users to embody a rapidly generated personalized, photorealistic avatar and to realistically modulate its body weight in real-time within a carefully designed virtual environment. In a formative multi-method approach, a total of 12 participants rated the general user experience (UX) of our system during body scan and VR experience using semi-structured qualitative interviews and multiple quantitative UX measures. Using body weight modification tasks, we further compared three different interaction methods for real-time body weight modification and measured our system’s impact on the body image relevant measures body awareness and body weight perception. From the feedback received, demonstrating an already solid UX of our overall system and providing constructive input for further improvement, we derived a set of design guidelines to guide future development and evaluation processes of systems supporting body image interventions.
Previous research suggested that people prefer to administer unpleasant electric shocks to themselves rather than being left alone with their thoughts because engagement in thinking is an unpleasant activity. The present research examined this negative reinforcement hypothesis by giving participants a choice of distracting themselves with the generation of electric shock causing no to intense pain. Four experiments (N = 254) replicated the result that a large proportion of participants opted to administer painful shocks to themselves during the thinking period. However, they administered strong electric shocks to themselves even when an innocuous response option generating no or a mild shock was available. Furthermore, participants inflicted pain to themselves when they were assisted in the generation of pleasant thoughts during the waiting period, with no difference between pleasant versus unpleasant thought conditions. Overall, these results question that the primary motivation for the self-administration of painful shocks is avoidance of thinking. Instead, it seems that the self-infliction of pain was attractive for many participants, because they were curious about the shocks, their intensities, and the effects they would have on them.
The combination of globalization and digitalization emphasizes the importance of media-related and intercultural competencies of teacher educators and preservice teachers. This article reports on the initial prototypical implementation of a pedagogical concept to foster such competencies of preservice teachers. The proposed pedagogical concept utilizes a social virtual reality (VR) framework since related work on the characteristics of VR has indicated that this medium is particularly well suited for intercultural professional development processes. The development is integrated into a larger design-based research approach that develops a theory-guided and empirically grounded professional development concept for teacher educators with a special focus on teacher educator technology competencies (TETC8). TETCs provide a suitable competence framework capable of aligning requirements for both media-related and intercultural competencies. In an exploratory study with student teachers, we designed, implemented, and evaluated a pedagogical concept. Reflection reports were qualitatively analyzed to gain insights into factors that facilitate or hinder the implementation of the immersive learning scenario as well as into the participants’ evaluation of their learning experience. The results show that our proposed pedagogical concept is particularly suitable for promoting the experience of social presence, agency, and empathy in the group.
In this paper, we present a virtual audience simulation system for Virtual Reality (VR). The system implements an audience perception model controlling the nonverbal behaviors of virtual spectators, such as facial expressions or postures. Groups of virtual spectators are animated by a set of nonverbal behavior rules representing a particular audience attitude (e.g., indifferent or enthusiastic). Each rule specifies a nonverbal behavior category: posture, head movement, facial expression and gaze direction as well as three parameters: type, frequency and proportion. In a first user-study, we asked participants to pretend to be a speaker in VR and then create sets of nonverbal behaviour parameters to simulate different attitudes. Participants manipulated the nonverbal behaviours of single virtual spectator to match a specific levels of engagement and opinion toward them. In a second user-study, we used these parameters to design different types of virtual audiences with our nonverbal behavior rules and evaluated their perceptions. Our results demonstrate our system’s ability to create virtual audiences with three types of different perceived attitudes: indifferent, critical, enthusiastic. The analysis of the results also lead to a set of recommendations and guidelines regarding attitudes and expressions for future design of audiences for VR therapy and training applications.
Background
Precise and complete documentation of in-hospital cardiopulmonary resuscitations is important but data quality can be poor. In the present study, we investigated the effect of a tablet-based application for real-time resuscitation documentation used by the emergency team leader on documentation quality and clinical performance of the emergency team.
Methods
Senior anaesthesiologists either used the tablet-based application during the simulated resuscitation for documentation and also used the application for the final documentation or conducted the full documentation at the end of the scenario using the local hospital information system. The latter procedure represents the current local documentation method. All scenarios were video recorded. To assess the documentation, we compared the precision of intervention delivery times, documentation completeness, and final documentation time. To assess clinical performance, we compared adherence to guidelines for defibrillation and adrenaline administration, the no-flow fraction, and the time to first defibrillation.
Results
The results showed significant benefits for the tablet-based application compared to the hospital information system for precision of the intervention delivery times, the final documentation time, and the no-flow fraction. We observed no differences between the groups for documentation completeness, adherence to guidelines for defibrillation and adrenaline administration, and the time to first defibrillation.
Discussion
In the presented study, we observed that a tablet-based application can improve documentation data quality. Furthermore, we demonstrated that a well-designed application can be used in real-time by a member of the emergency team with possible beneficial effects on clinical performance.
Conclusion
The present evaluation confirms the advantage of tablet-based documentation tools and also shows that the application can be used by an active member of an emergency team without compromising clinical performance.
In the context of medical device training, e-Learning can address problems like unstandardized content and different learning paces. However, staff and students value hands-on activities during medical device training. In a blended learning approach, we examined whether using a syringe pump while conducting an e-Learning program improves the procedural skills needed to operate the pump compared to using the e-Learning program only. In two experiments, the e-Learning only group learned using only the e-Learning program. The e-Learning + hands-on group was instructed to use a syringe pump during the e-Learning to repeat the presented content (section “Experiment 1”) or to alternate between learning on the e-Learning program and applying the learned content using the pump (section “Experiment 2”). We conducted a skills test, a knowledge test, and assessed confidence in using the pump immediately after learning and two weeks later. Simply repeating the content (section “Experiment 1”) did not improve performance of e-Learning + hands-on compared with e-Learning only. The instructed learning process (section “Experiment 1”) resulted in significantly better skills test performance for e-Learning + hands-on compared to the e-Learning only. Only a structured learning process based on multi-media learning principles and memory research improved procedural skills in relation to operating a medical device.
With the continuous development of artificial intelligence, there is an effort to let the expressed mind of robots resemble more and more human-like minds. However, just as the human-like appearance of robots can lead to feelings of aversion to such robots, recent research has shown that the apparent mind expressed by machines can also be responsible for their negative evaluations. This work strives to explore facets of aversion evoked by machines with human-like mind (uncanny valley of mind) within three empirical projects from a psychological point of view in different contexts, including the resulting consequences.
In Manuscript #1, the perspective of previous work in the research area is reversed and thus shows that humans feel eeriness in response to robots that can read human minds, a capability unknown from human-human interaction. In Manuscript #2, it is explored whether empathy for a robot being harmed by a human is a way to alleviate the uncanny valley of mind. A result of this work worth highlighting is that aversion in this study did not arise from the manipulation of the robot’s mental capabilities but from its attributed incompetence and failure. The results of Manuscript #3 highlight that status threat is revealed if humans perform worse than machines in a work-relevant task requiring human-like mental capabilities, while higher status threat is linked with a higher willingness to interact, due to the machine’s perceived usefulness.
In sum, if explanatory variables and concrete scenarios are considered, people will react fairly positively to machines with human-like mental capabilities. As long as the machine’s usefulness is palpable to people, but machines are not fully autonomous, people seem willing to interact with them, accepting aversion in favor of the expected benefits.
Im Rahmen der vorliegenden Arbeit wurden vier Experimente zur Eignung von Marginalien als Lernhilfen im Hypertext durchgeführt. Die grundlegende Annahme lautet dabei, dass Marginalien als Kommentar zum Text aufgefasst werden und somit im Vergleich zu intratextuellen Lernhilfen wie Überschriften oder absatzeinleitenden Makropropositionen zu einer interaktiven und tieferen Verarbeitung der Lerninhalte führen. Als Lernmedium wurden eine hierarchische Hypertextumgebung zum Thema Fragebogenkonstruktion und eine netzförmige Hypertextumgebung zur Bedeutung des Buchdrucks in der Medientheorie eingesetzt.
Experiment 1 (N= 41) verglich mittels between-Design die Lernleistung bei Marginalien mit einer Präsentation derselben Makropropositionen als absatzeinleitende Topic-Sätze und einer Platzierung der Makropropositionen am Absatzende. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass absatzweise Marginalien im Vergleich zu absatzeinleitenden Makropropositionen und der Kontrollgruppe zu einem besseren Abschneiden bei geschlossenen Inferenzfragen führen. Hinsichtlich geschlossener Fragen zur Textbasis konnten jedoch die absatzeinleitenden Makropropositionen im Vergleich mit den beiden anderen Bedingungen die besten Ergebnisse erzielen.
Experiment 2 (N= 105) verglich den Einfluss von Marginalien mit Überschriften und einer Kontrollgruppe ohne absatzweise Explikation der Makrostruktur auf das Schreiben einer Zusammenfassung des Lerntextes. Zusätzlich wurden erneut geschlossene Inferenzfragen präsentiert. Ergänzend wurde das Rezeptionsverhalten mittels Blickbewegungsmessung ermittelt. Dabei zeigten sich signifikante Unterschiede zwischen Überschriften und Marginalien. Marginalien wurden in der hierarchischen Hypertextumgebung allgemein seltener gelesen als Überschriften und zeigten auch hinsichtlich der Anzahl der strategischen Rezeptionen und der absatzeinleitenden Rezeption geringere Werte. Einzig nach der Rezeption des zugehörigen Absatzes wurden Marginalien häufiger konsultiert als Überschriften. Diese Unterschiede gingen einher mit signifikanten Einbußen der Lernleistung der Marginalienbedingung im Vergleich zur Überschriftenbedingung. So erinnerten Lerner mit Marginalien weniger explizite Makropropositionen des Lerntextes, weniger Fakteninformationen, sowie weniger Inhalte verschiedener Hypertextknoten und bildeten außerdem weniger eigene Makropropositionen. Hinsichtlich der letzten beiden Variablen war die Marginalienbedingung sogar der Kontrollbedingung unterlegen.
Experiment 3 (N = 54) verwendete im Gegensatz zu den Experimenten 1 und 2 einen netzförmig organisierten Hypertext mit embedded Links anstelle eines Navigationsmenüs. Die untersuchten Versuchsbedingungen sowie die Messung der Lernleistung waren jedoch analog zu Experiment 1. Auch hier konnte ein Effekt von Marginalien auf die Inferenzleistung nachgewiesen werden. Allerdings schnitten Marginalien nur besser als die absatzeinleitenden Makropropositionen ab, wohin-gegen kein Unterschied zur Kontrollbedingung festgestellt werden konnten. Hinsichtlich der Leistung bei geschlossenen Faktenfragen konnte die Überlegenheit absatzeinleitender Makropropositionen gegenüber den anderen beiden Präsentationsformen der Makrostruktur erneut bestätigt werden.
Experiment 4 (N= 75) verglich analog zu Experiment 2 unter Verwendung der netzförmigen Lernumgebung aus Experiment 3 erneut den Einfluss von Marginalien, Überschriften und einer Kontrollbedingung ohne explizite absatzweise Makropropositionen auf das Schreiben einer Zusammenfassung sowie die Beantwortung geschlossener Inferenzfragen. Auch die Blickbewegungsmessung kam wieder zum Einsatz. Die Ergebnisse von Experiment 2 konnten jedoch nicht bestätigt werden. Es fanden sich keine signifikanten Unterschiede hinsichtlich der Lernleistung zwischen den drei Versuchsbedingungen und auch hinsichtlich des Rezeptionsverhaltens konnte eine Angleichung von Marginalien und Überschriften festgestellt werden. Hinsichtlich der Lernleistung wird angenommen, dass die embedded Links in Kombination mit der Instruktion, eine Zusammenfassung zu schreiben mit den Überschriften und den Marginalien, die jedoch im Vergleich zu Experiment 2 fast vollständig wie Überschriften genutzt wurden, interferiert haben und somit eine Hemmung dieser Lernhilfen stattgefunden hat.
Anhand der vier durchgeführten Experimente wird gefolgert, dass Marginalien als Explikation der lokalen Makrostruktur sowohl bei hierarchisch strukturiertem Hypertext als auch bei netzförmig organisiertem Hypertext unter der Instruktion eines verstehenden Lernens eine Verbesserung der Inferenzleistung bewirken können. Lautet die Instruktion jedoch, eine Zusammenfassung der In-halte zu schreiben, sind Marginalien speziell bei hierarchisch strukturiertem Hypertext wenig geeignet, die Lernleistung zu fördern.
Visual stimuli are frequently used to improve memory, language learning or perception, and understanding of metacognitive processes. However, in virtual reality (VR), there are few systematically and empirically derived databases. This paper proposes the first collection of virtual objects based on empirical evaluation for inter-and transcultural encounters between English- and German-speaking learners. We used explicit and implicit measurement methods to identify cultural associations and the degree of stereotypical perception for each virtual stimuli (n = 293) through two online studies, including native German and English-speaking participants. The analysis resulted in a final well-describable database of 128 objects (called InteractionSuitcase). In future applications, the objects can be used as a great interaction or conversation asset and behavioral measurement tool in social VR applications, especially in the field of foreign language education. For example, encounters can use the objects to describe their culture, or teachers can intuitively assess stereotyped attitudes of the encounters.
This study provides a systematic literature review of research (2001–2020) in the field of teaching and learning a foreign language and intercultural learning using immersive technologies. Based on 2507 sources, 54 articles were selected according to a predefined selection criteria. The review is aimed at providing information about which immersive interventions are being used for foreign language learning and teaching and where potential research gaps exist. The papers were analyzed and coded according to the following categories: (1) investigation form and education level, (2) degree of immersion, and technology used, (3) predictors, and (4) criterions. The review identified key research findings relating the use of immersive technologies for learning and teaching a foreign language and intercultural learning at cognitive, affective, and conative levels. The findings revealed research gaps in the area of teachers as a target group, and virtual reality (VR) as a fully immersive intervention form. Furthermore, the studies reviewed rarely examined behavior, and implicit measurements related to inter- and trans-cultural learning and teaching. Inter- and transcultural learning and teaching especially is an underrepresented investigation subject. Finally, concrete suggestions for future research are given. The systematic review contributes to the challenge of interdisciplinary cooperation between pedagogy, foreign language didactics, and Human-Computer Interaction to achieve innovative teaching-learning formats and a successful digital transformation.
Costly signaling with mobile devices: An evolutionary psychological perspective on smartphones
(2016)
In the last decade, mobile device ownership has largely increased. In particular, smartphone ownership is constantly rising (A. Smith, 2015; Statista, 2016a), and there is a real hype for luxury brand smartphones (Griffin, 2015). These observations raise the question of which functions smartphones serve in addition to their original purposes of making and receiving calls, searching for information, and organizing. Beyond these obvious functions, studies suggest that smartphones express fashion, lifestyle, and one’s economic status (e.g., Bødker et al., 2009; Statista, 2016b; Vanden Abeele, Antheunis, & Schouten, 2014). Specifically, individuals seem to purchase and use conspicuous luxury brand smartphones to display and enhance status (D. Kim et al., 2014; Müller-Lietzkow et al., 2014; Suki, 2013). But how does owning a conspicuous, high-status smartphone contribute to status, and which benefits may these status boosts provide to their owners? From an evolutionary perspective, status carries a lot of advantages, particularly for males; high status grants them priority access to resources and correlates with their mating success (van Vugt & Tybur, 2016). In this sense, research suggests that men conspicuously display their cell phones to attract mates and to distinguish themselves from rivals (Lycett & Dunbar, 2000). In a similar vein, evolutionarily informed studies on conspicuous consumption indicate that the purchase and display of conspicuous luxuries (including mobile phones and smartphones) relate to a man’s interest in uncommitted sexual relationships and enhance his desirability as a short-term mate (Hennighausen & Schwab, 2014; Saad, 2013; Sundie et al., 2011). Drawing on these findings, this doctoral dissertation investigated how a man is perceived given that he is an owner of a high-status (vs. nonconspicuous, low-status) smartphone as a romantic partner and male rival. This was done in three experiments. In addition, it was examined how male conspicuous consumption of smartphones interacted with further traits that signal a man’s mate quality, namely facial attractiveness (Studies 1 and 2) and social dominance (Study 3). Study 1 revealed that men and women perceived a male owner of a conspicuous smartphone as a less desirable long-term mate and as more inclined toward short-term mating. Study 2 replicated these results and showed that men and women assigned traits that are associated with short-term mating (e.g., low loyalty, interest in flirts, availability of tangible resources) to a male owner of a conspicuous smartphone and perceived him as a stronger male rival and mate poacher, and less as a friend. The results of Study 2 further suggested that specifically more attractive men might benefit from owning a conspicuous smartphone in a short-term mating context and might be hence considered as stronger male rivals. Study 3 partially replicated the findings of Studies 1 and 2 pertaining to the effects of owning a conspicuous smartphone. Study 3 did not show different effects of conspicuous consumption of smartphones on perceptions of a man dependent on the level of his social dominance.
To conclude, the findings of this doctoral dissertation suggest that owning a conspicuous, high-status smartphone might not only serve proximate functions (e.g., making and receiving calls, organization) but also ultimate functions, which relate to mating and reproduction. The results indicate that owning a conspicuous smartphone might yield benefits for men in a short-term rather than in a long-term mating context. Furthermore, more attractive men appear to benefit more from owning a conspicuous smartphone than less attractive men. These findings provide further insights into the motivations that underlie men’s purchases and displays of conspicuous, high-status smartphones from luxury brands that reach beyond the proximate causes frequently described in media and consumer psychological research. By applying an evolutionary perspective, this doctoral dissertation demonstrates the power and utility of this research paradigm for media psychological research and shows how combining a proximate and ultimate perspective adds to a more profound understanding of smartphone phenomena.
Previous research found that men conspicuously consume luxury products to attract a mate and to signal their mate value. However, these studies have yet neglected to investigate the function of male conspicuous consumption in same-sex competition. Given that intersexual selection and intrasexual selection are closely related processes, it stands to reason that a further function of male conspicuous consumption could be to impress and deter same-sex rivals. An 2 (intrasexual competition context vs. control) × 2 (conspicuous luxury vs. inconspicuous nonluxury) between-subjects experimental study conducted with an Amazon Mechanical Turk sample (N = 160) revealed that men reported both higher liking of and an intent to purchase a conspicuous luxury car compared to an inconspicuous nonluxury car due to increased feelings of social status. This effect was stronger in the intrasexual competition than in the control context. An additional perception study using a single-factor between-subjects design (conspicuous luxury vs. inconspicuous nonluxury car) among German men (N = 405) indicated that male participants rated a man who displayed a conspicuous luxury car more as a rival and mate poacher and less as a friend. They further perceived him to be superior on various mate value characteristics (i.e., attractiveness, intelligence, ambition, and status) and rated him as more oriented toward short-term mating. In sum, our findings add to previous research in the field of evolutionary consumer psychology by suggesting that male conspicuous consumption of luxuries may also serve a function in male–male competition.
Hintergrundmusik wird in verschiedenen audiovisuellen Medienformaten häufig und meist mit einer ganz bestimmten Intention eingesetzt. Ziel dieser Dissertation war es, durch eine umfangreiche Aufarbeitung bisheriger Forschung Faktoren zu ermitteln und empirisch zu testen, die beeinflussen, dass Hintergrundmusik in audiovisuellen Medienformaten prognostizierbar die ihr zugesprochenen Funktionen erfüllt. Als interdisziplinärer Forschungsgegenstand bedarf Hintergrundmusik eines möglichst ausgewogenen Blickwinkels, der Musik- und Medienkontext-Spezifika (und deren potentielle Interaktionen) gleichermaßen berücksichtigt. Um Hintergrundmusik als komplexem audiovisuellen Stimulus in empirischer Forschung gerecht zu werden, spielen zudem auch praktische Implikationen eine große Rolle. Diese Herausforderungen berücksichtigend wurde die Wirksamkeit von Hintergrundmusik in fünf Studien im Kontext von drei verschiedenen Medienformaten untersucht. Da Werbung, Film und informationsvermittelnde Medienformate (wie Dokumentationen und TV-Magazine) die drei Kernfunktionen von Medien – Persuasion, Unterhaltung und Information – repräsentieren, sollte auf Grundlage dieses Dreiklangs die Bandbreite potenzieller Wirkungen von effektiv eingesetzter Musik und von Faktoren, die ihre Wirkung beeinflussen, möglichst umfassend (wenn auch sicher nicht vollständig) abgebildet werden. Über alle Medienformate hinweg kann als wichtiger, die Wirksamkeit von Hintergrundmusik verstärkender Einflussfaktor eine Kongruenz, d.h. eine intuitiv wahrgenommene Passung von Musik und Medienkontext ausgemacht werden, die durch eine sorgfältige Abstimmung der Spezifika von Musik und Medienformat auf emotionaler, auf assoziativer und auf struktureller Ebene erreicht werden kann. Findet diese Anwendung, kann Musik systematisch die Wirksamkeit von Werbespots steigern (Studie 1 und 2), gezielt Bedeutung vermitteln und dadurch die Wahrnehmung und Interpretation von (deutungsoffenen) Filmszenen prägen (Studie 3 und 4) oder unter bestimmten Bedingungen das persuasive Potenzial eines informationsvermittelnden Medienformats steigern und so die Meinungsbildung der Rezipierenden (zumindest kurzfristig) beeinflussen (Studie 5). Die Arbeit verdeutlicht, wie mittels interdisziplinärer Perspektivierung und der Beachtung praktischer Implikationen bereits etabliertes Wissen verstetigt und neue Erkenntnisse zur Verwendung und Wirkung von Hintergrundmusik für Wissenschaft und Medienpraxis abgeleitet werden können – inklusive eines Ausblicks auf daraus resultierende Potenziale für zukünftige Forschung.
Companies increasingly seek to use gay protagonists in audio-visual commercials to attract a new affluent target group. There is also growing demand for the diversity present in society to be reflected in media formats such as advertising. Studies have shown, however, that heterosexual consumers (especially men), who may be part of the company's loyal consumer base, tend to react negatively to gay-themed advertising campaigns. Searching for an instrument to mitigate this unwanted effect, the present study investigated whether carefully selected background music can shape the perceived gender of gay male advertising protagonists. In a 2 × 2 between-subjects online experiment (musical connotation × gender of the participant), 218 heterosexual participants watched a commercial promoting engagement rings that featured gay male protagonists, scored with feminine- or masculine-connoted background music. As expected, women generally reacted more positively than men to the advertising. Men exposed to the masculine-connoted background music rated the promoted brand more positively, and masculine music also enhanced (at least in the short term) these men's acceptance of gay men in general (low and medium effect sizes) more than was the case for feminine background music. Carefully selected background music affecting the perceived gender of gay male advertising protagonists may prevent negative reactions from heterosexual audiences and, therefore, motivate companies to use gay protagonists in television commercials on a more regular basis.
The relevance of user experience in safety–critical domains has been questioned and lacks empirical investigation. Based on previous studies examining user experience in consumer technology, we conducted an online survey on positive experiences with interactive technology in acute care. The participants of the study consisted of anaesthesiologists, nurses, and paramedics (N = 55) from three German cities. We report qualitative and quantitative data examining (1) the relevance and notion of user experience, (2) motivational orientations and psychological need satisfaction, and (3) potential correlates of hedonic, eudaimonic, and extrinsic motivations such as affect or meaning. Our findings reveal that eudaimonia was the most salient aspect in these experiences and that the relevance of psychological needs is differently ranked than in experiences with interactive consumer technology. We conclude that user experience should be considered in safety–critical domains, but research needs to develop further tools and methods to address the domain-specific requirements.
Learning about informal fallacies and the detection of fake news: an experimental intervention
(2023)
The philosophical concept of informal fallacies–arguments that fail to provide sufficient support for a claim–is introduced and connected to the topic of fake news detection. We assumed that the ability to identify informal fallacies can be trained and that this ability enables individuals to better distinguish between fake news and real news. We tested these assumptions in a two-group between-participants experiment (N = 116). The two groups participated in a 30-minute-long text-based learning intervention: either about informal fallacies or about fake news. Learning about informal fallacies enhanced participants’ ability to identify fallacious arguments one week later. Furthermore, the ability to identify fallacious arguments was associated with a better discernment between real news and fake news. Participants in the informal fallacy intervention group and the fake news intervention group performed equally well on the news discernment task. The contribution of (identifying) informal fallacies for research and practice is discussed.
For formative evaluations of user experience (UX) a variety of methods have been developed over the years. However, most techniques require the users to interact with the study as a secondary task. This active involvement in the evaluation is not inclusive of all users and potentially biases the experience currently being studied. Yet there is a lack of methods for situations in which the user has no spare cognitive resources. This condition occurs when 1) users' cognitive abilities are impaired (e.g., people with dementia) or 2) users are confronted with very demanding tasks (e.g., air traffic controllers). In this work we focus on emotions as a key component of UX and propose the new structured observation method Proxemo for formative UX evaluations. Proxemo allows qualified observers to document users' emotions by proxy in real time and then directly link them to triggers. Technically this is achieved by synchronising the timestamps of emotions documented by observers with a video recording of the interaction.
In order to facilitate the documentation of observed emotions in highly diverse contexts we conceptualise and implement two separate versions of a documentation aid named Proxemo App. For formative UX evaluations of technology-supported reminiscence sessions with people with dementia, we create a smartwatch app to discreetly document emotions from the categories anger, general alertness, pleasure, wistfulness and pride. For formative UX evaluations of prototypical user interfaces with air traffic controllers we create a smartphone app to efficiently document emotions from the categories anger, boredom, surprise, stress and pride. Descriptive case studies in both application domains indicate the feasibility and utility of the method Proxemo and the appropriateness of the respectively adapted design of the Proxemo App.
The third part of this work is a series of meta-evaluation studies to determine quality criteria of Proxemo. We evaluate Proxemo regarding its reliability, validity, thoroughness and effectiveness, and compare Proxemo's efficiency and the observers' experience to documentation with pen and paper. Proxemo is reliable, as well as more efficient, thorough and effective than handwritten notes and provides a better UX to observers. Proxemo compares well with existing methods where benchmarks are available.
With Proxemo we contribute a validated structured observation method that has shown to meet requirements formative UX evaluations in the extreme contexts of users with cognitive impairments or high task demands. Proxemo is agnostic regarding researchers' theoretical approaches and unites reductionist and holistic perspectives within one method.
Future work should explore the applicability of Proxemo for further domains and extend the list of audited quality criteria to include, for instance, downstream utility. With respect to basic research we strive to better understand the sources leading observers to empathic judgments and propose reminisce and older adults as model environment for investigating mixed emotions.
Two studies are reported that investigate how readily accessible and applicable ten force-dynamic categories are to novices in describing short episodes of human-technology interaction (Study 1) and that establish a measure of inter-coder reliability when re-classifying these episodes into force-dynamic categories (Study 2). The results of the first study show that people can easily and confidently relate their experiences with technology to the definitions of force-dynamic events (e.g. “The driver released the handbrake” as an example of restraint removal). The results of the second study show moderate agreement between four expert coders across all ten force-dynamic categories (Cohen’s kappa = .59) when re-classifying these episodes. Agreement values for single force-dynamic categories ranged between ‘fair’ and ‘almost perfect’, i.e. between kappa = .30 and .95. Agreement with the originally intended classifications of study 1 was higher than the pure inter-coder reliabilities. Single coders achieved an average kappa of .71, indicating substantial agreement. Using more than one coder increased kappas to almost perfect: up to .87 for four coders. A qualitative analysis of the predicted versus the observed number of category confusions revealed that about half of the category disagreement could be predicted from strong overlaps in the definitions of force-dynamic categories. From the quantitative and qualitative results, guidelines are derived to aid the better training of coders in order to increase inter-coder reliability.
Pictures in a rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) stream are better remembered when they are simultaneously presented with targets of an unrelated detection task than when they are presented with distractors. However, it is unclear whether this so-called “attentional boost effect” depends on the intentionality of encoding. While there are studies suggesting that the attentional boost effect even occurs when encoding is incidental, there are several methodological issues with these studies, which may have undermined the incidental encoding instructions. The present study (N = 141) investigated the role of the intentionality of encoding with an improved experimental design. Specifically, to prevent a spill-over of intentional resources to the pictures in the RSVP stream, the speed of the stream was increased (to four pictures per second) and each picture was presented only once during the course of the experiment. An attentional boost effect was only found when encoding was intentional but not when encoding was incidental. Interestingly, memory performance for incidentally encoded pictures was nevertheless substantially above chance, independently of whether images were presented with search-relevant targets or distractors. These results suggest that the attentional boost effect is a memory advantage that occurs only under intentional encoding conditions, and that perceptual long-term memory representations are formed as a natural product of perception, independently of the presence of behaviorally relevant events.
The current condition of (Western) academic psychology can be criticized for various reasons. In the past years, many debates have been centered around the so-called “replication crisis” and the “WEIRD people problem”. However, one aspect which has received relatively little attention is the fact that psychological research is typically limited to currently living individuals, while the psychology of the past remains unexplored. We find that more research in the field of historical psychology is required to capture both the similarities and differences between psychological mechanisms both then and now. We begin by outlining the potential benefits of understanding psychology also as a historical science and explore these benefits using the example of stress. Finally, we consider methodological, ideological, and practical pitfalls, which could endanger the attempt to direct more attention toward cross-temporal variation. Nevertheless, we suggest that historical psychology would contribute to making academic psychology a truly universal endeavor that explores the psychology of all humans.
Earliest autobiographical memories mark a potential beginning of our life story. However, their meaning has hardly been investigated. Against this background, participants (N = 182) were asked to think about two kinds of meaning: the meaning that the remembered event might have had in the moment of experience and the meaning that the memory of the event has for their present life situation. With respect to the meaning in the moment of experience, participants most frequently referred to situational characteristics. The meaning for the present life situation was most frequently related to aspects of the memory that told something about the person beyond the immediate context of the remembered event. Moreover, these meanings were more frequently associated with continuity than with a contrast between then and now. Apart from these overarching commonalities, our data also show that the earliest autobiographical memories of different people can tell very different stories.
Humans have long used external memory aids to support remembering. However, modern digital technologies could facilitate recording and remembering personal information in an unprecedented manner. The present research sought to understand the potential impact of these technologies on autobiographical memory based on interviews with users of smart journaling apps. In Study 1 (N = 12), participants who had no prior experience with smart journaling apps tested the app Day One for 2 weeks and were interviewed about their subjective perceptions afterwards. In order to cross-validate the obtained findings, Study 2 (N = 4) was based on in-depth interviews with long-time users of different smart journaling apps. Taken together, the two studies provide insights into the way autobiographical remembering may change in the digital age – but also into the opportunities and risks potentially associated with the use of technologies that allow creating a detailed and multimedia-based record of one's life.
In today’s social online world there is a variety of interaction and participatory possibilities which enable web users to actively produce content themselves.
This user-generated content is omnipresent in the web and there is growing evidence that it is used to select or evaluate professionally created online information.
The present study investigated how this surrounding content affects online advertising by drawing from social influence theory. Specifically, it was assumed that
web users sharing an interpersonal relationship (interpersonal influence) and/or a group membership (collective influence) with authors of user-generated content
which appears next to advertising on the web page are more strongly influenced in their response to the advertising than unrelated users. These assumptions were
tested in a 2 × 2 between-subject experiment with 118 students who were exposed to four different Facebook profiles that differed in terms of interpersonal
connection to the source (existent/non-existent) and collective connection to the source (existent/non-existent). The results show a significant impact in the case
of collective influence, but not in the case of interpersonal influence. The underlying mechanisms of this effect and implications of the results for online advertising
are discussed.
The impact of stories in their ability to shape our view on the world has long been a central topic in communication science and media psychology. While reading a book or watching a movie, we are transported into story worlds and we identify with depicted protagonists. Several studies showed that high levels of transportation lead to greater story-consistent beliefs. Similar effects were found for identification. However, much less is known how and in which direction stories could affect the self. Five experimental studies were conducted and summarized in three manuscripts. Manuscript #1 explored the moderating role of transportation that could shift one’s self-perception towards traits of a depicted story character (assimilation) or away from him/her (contrast). Manuscript #2 focused on downward social comparisons with a protagonist and possible contrast effects on participants’ self-perception in relation to others, their motives and behavior. Thereby, the mediating role of transportation and identification were investigated. Finally, upward social comparison with a protagonist and related emotions (e.g., envy) that mediate possible effects on one’s self perception and behavioral intentions were investigated in manuscript #3.
This dissertation project contributes to the literature on stories and the self. Consistent with previous work, assimilation effects were found for highly transported recipients. However, stories might also elicit contrast effects on recipients’ selves and behavioral intentions that are opposite to a depicted character. Extending prior research, there were evidence that transportation and envy are important process variables explaining assimilation vs. contrast effects.
Stories are a powerful means to change recipients’ views on themselves by being transported into the story world and by identifying with story characters. Previous studies showed that recipients temporarily change in line with a story and its characters (assimilation). Conversely, assimilation might be less likely when recipients are less identified with story protagonists or less transported into a story by comparing themselves with a story character. This may lead to changes, which are opposite to a story and its characters (contrast). In two experiments, we manipulated transportation and experience taking via two written reviews (Experiment 1; N = 164) and by varying the perspective of the story’s narrator (Experiment 2; N = 79) of a short story about a negligent student. Recipients’ self-ratings in comparison to others, motives, and problem-solving behavior served as dependent variables. However, neither the review nor the perspective manipulation affected transportation or experience taking while reading the story. Against our expectations, highly transported recipients (in Study 1) and recipients with high experience taking (in Study 2) showed more persistency working on an anagram-solving task, even when controlling for trait conscientiousness. Our findings are critically discussed in light of previous research.
The name is the game: nicknames as predictors of personality and mating strategy in online dating
(2019)
Objective: We investigated the communicative function of online dating nicknames. Our aim was to assess if it is possible to correctly guess personality traits of a user simply by reading his/her nickname.
Method: We had 69 nickname users (average age: 33.59 years, 36 female) complete questionnaires assessing their personality (Big 5 + narcissism) and mating strategy (short- vs. long-term). We then checked (using a total of 638 participants, average age: 26.83 years, 355 female), whether personality and mating strategy of the nickname users could be assessed correctly based only on the nickname. We also captured the motivation to contact the user behind a nickname and looked at linguistic features of the nicknames.
Results: We found that personality and mating strategy could be inferred from a nickname. Furthermore, going by trends, women were better at intersexual personality judgments, whereas men were better in intrasexual judgements. We also found several correlates of the motivation to contact the person behind the nickname. Among other factors, long nicknames seemed to deter people from contacting the nickname user.
Conclusions: Findings display that humans are capable of making accurate personality judgements in computer-mediated communication by means of even small cues like nicknames.
We investigated the accuracy of gender stereotypes regarding digital game genre preferences. In Study 1, 484 female and male participants rated their preference for 17 game genres (gender differences). In Study 2, another sample of 226 participants rated the extent to which the same genres were presumably preferred by women or men (gender stereotypes). We then compared the results of both studies in order to determine the accuracy of the gender stereotypes. Study 1 revealed actual gender differences for most genres—mostly of moderate size. Study 2 revealed substantial gender stereotypes about genre preferences. When comparing the results from both studies, we found that gender stereotypes were accurate in direction for most genres. However, they were, to some degree, inaccurate in size: For most genres, gender stereotypes overestimated the actual gender difference with a moderate mean effect size.
Presence is often considered the most important quale describing the subjective feeling of being in a computer-generated and/or computer-mediated virtual environment. The identification and separation of orthogonal presence components, i.e., the place illusion and the plausibility illusion, has been an accepted theoretical model describing Virtual Reality (VR) experiences for some time. This perspective article challenges this presence-oriented VR theory. First, we argue that a place illusion cannot be the major construct to describe the much wider scope of virtual, augmented, and mixed reality (VR, AR, MR: or XR for short). Second, we argue that there is no plausibility illusion but merely plausibility, and we derive the place illusion caused by the congruent and plausible generation of spatial cues and similarly for all the current model’s so-defined illusions. Finally, we propose congruence and plausibility to become the central essential conditions in a novel theoretical model describing XR experiences and effects.
Using color in user interface design is both art and science. Often, designers focus on aesthetic properties of color, but neglect that it also carries meaning and entails profound psychological consequences. Color psychology, filling this gap, is in its infancy, and lacks a theoretical approach that predicts and explains color-meaning associations shared by a large group of people in a large variety of contexts.
To amend this situation, this work develops Conceptual Metaphor Theory of Color (CMToC), which predicts and explains cross-cultural and experience-based semantic color associations. The theory is based on the idea from cognitive linguistics that the study of metaphorical language provides valuable insights into our mental models involving color. A discussion of three types of metaphors that cover associations with physical and abstract concepts in light of existing empirical evidence provides the basis for deriving empirical research questions.
The first research question addresses the use of color for conveying physical information like weight in user interfaces. The results of four online surveys involving a total of 295 German and Japanese participants show the relative impact of hue, saturation and brightness for associations with 16 physical properties. Two thirds of these color associations were correctly predicted by CMToC. Participants frequently matched physical properties to colors based on sensorimotor correspondences and participants of both cultures did not considerably vary in their performance.
The second research question addresses the use of color for conveying abstract information like importance in user interfaces. In one experimental study, a total of 75 German and Japanese participants validated color-to-abstract mappings in form of color population stereotypes like important is dark. The majority of these color associations (86%) were correctly predicted by CMToC. Again, participants of both cultures did not considerably vary in their performance.
The third research question addresses whether predicted color associations with physical and abstract information are processed automatically as a precondition for intuitive use. The results of three studies involving a total of 85 German and Japanese participants show on the example of temperature that color automatically influences the identification speed of related physical properties, but not vice versa. Color and abstract information were not automatically associated.
As a result of these studies it can be concluded that predictions of CMToC are cross-culturally valid for user interface design. Derived implicit associations with physical properties and explicit associations with abstract concepts can inform design decisions in both hard- and software user interface design.
The rising use of new media has given rise to public discussions about their possible negative consequences. The social sciences have answered these concerns, providing many studies investigating different media types (e.g., social media, video games) and different related variables (e.g., psychological well-being, academic achievement). Within this big body of research, some research results have confirmed negative associations with frequent media use; other studies have found no or even positive relationships. With heterogeneous results, it is difficult to obtain a clear picture of the relationships and causalities of new media. The method of meta-analysis allows a synthesis of all existing data, providing an overall effect size as well as moderator and mediator analyses which might explain the heterogeneity. Three manuscripts present meta-analytic evidence related to a) the relationship between social media use and academic achievement, b) the relationship between video gaming and overweight, and c) the relationship between social media and psychological correlates. Manuscript #1 found small relationships which depend on the usage pattern of social media. The relationship is positive, as long as social media use is related to school. Manuscript #2 showed that children’s and adolescents’ video gaming is independent from their body mass, while adults who play more have a higher body mass. Manuscript #3 summarized existing meta-analytic evidence that links social media with psychological wellbeing, academic achievement, and narcissism with small to moderate effect sizes. All three manuscripts underscore the potential of meta-analyses to synthesize previous research and to identify moderators. Although meta-analyses are not necessarily superior to other approaches because of their limitations (e.g. limited information or quality of primary studies) they are very promising for media psychology. Meta-analyses can reduce complexity and might be helpful for the communication of research results to the general public.
In der vorliegenden experimentellen Studie wurde die visuelle Aufmerksamkeit von Anästhesisten während der Einleitung einer Allgemeinanästhesie in Abhängigkeit von ihrer Erfahrung mithilfe eines mobilen Eye-Tracking-Gerätes untersucht. 12 Assistenten mit durchschnittlich 1,3 Jahren klinischer Erfahrung und ebenfalls 12 Fachärzte mit durchschnittlich circa 10 Jahren klinischer Erfahrung nahmen an der Studie teil. Ebenso wurde der simulierte Fall mit der Anästhesieeinleitung am Patienten verglichen. Beide Anästhesisten-Gruppen führten mit der Eye-Tracking-Brille jeweils eine Einleitung so-wohl an einem Simulator im Simulationsraum als auch am Patienten im Einleitungsraum vor dem OP-Saal durch. Diese Brille zeichnete dabei Daten zu Fixationspunkten und Blickbewegungen der Probanden auf. Angelehnt an Schulz et al.21 wurden 24 Areas of Interest definiert und diese den Gruppen „manuelle Tätigkeiten“, „Überwachung“ und „weitere Beobachtungspunkte“ zugeordnet. Als abhängige Variable für die statistische Auswertung wurde die relative Verweildauer in Prozent genutzt und eine multivariate ANOVA gerechnet.
Es ergab sich im Wesentlichen kein signifikanter Effekt des Faktors Erfahrung. Die Assistenten verteilten ihre visuelle Aufmerksamkeit nicht signifikant anders als die erfahreneren Anästhesisten und verhielten sich folglich in Bezug darauf weitgehend gleich. Der Erwerb dieses Verhaltens findet demnach anscheinend schon sehr früh statt, sodass mit 1,3 Jahren Erfahrung in dieser Hinsicht kein Unterschied zu deutlich mehr Erfahrung auftritt. Ein halbstandardisiertes Interview stützt diese Annahme. Der Faktor Umgebung beeinflusste aber signifikant das Verhalten der Anästhesisten. In der Simula-tion widmeten beide Gruppen sowohl der „Überwachung“ insgesamt als auch „manu-ellen Tätigkeiten“ während der Vorbereitungsphase mehr visuelle Aufmerksamkeit als in der Narkoseeinleitung am Patienten. Das ist einerseits mit den Einschränkungen der Simulationspuppe zu erklären und liegt andererseits wahrscheinlich an der ungewohn-ten Umgebung und der unbekannten Pflegekraft, sodass die Anästhesisten das Material länger kontrollierten. Folglich schauten beide Gruppen während der Narkoseeinleitung am Patienten häufiger auf „weitere Beobachtungspunkte“, was auch durch die höhere Komplexität und Störanfälligkeit dieser Situation schlüssig wirkt.
Optimierungsmöglichkeiten der Bedingungen im Simulationsraum werden angespro-chen, Anschlussstudien vorgeschlagen. Es konnte gezeigt werden, dass der Einsatz eines Eye-Tracking-Gerätes auch während der hochsensiblen Einleitung einer Allgemein-anästhesie am Patienten problemlos möglich ist. Darüber hinaus liefert die Studie nun eine stark standardisierte Versuchsmethode, welche für weitere Forschungsfragen sehr empfohlen werden kann.
Affective states in the context of learning and achievement can influence the learning process essentially. The impact of affective states can be both directly on the learning performance and indirectly mediated via, for example, motivational processes. Positive activating affect is often associated with increased memory skills as well as advantages in creative problem solving. Negative activating affect on the other hand is regarded to impair learning outcomes because of promoting task-irrelevant thinking. While these relationships were found to be relatively stable in correlation studies, causal relationships have been examined rarely so far. This dissertation aims to investigate the effects of positive and negative affective states in multimedia learning settings and to identify potential moderating factors. Therefore, three experimental empirical studies on university students were conducted. In Experiment 1, N = 57 university students were randomly allocated to either a positive or negative affect induction group. Affects were elicited using short film clips. After a 20-minute learning phase in a hypertext-based multimedia learning environment on “functional neuroanatomy” the learners’ knowledge as well as transfer performance were measured. It was assumed that inducing positive activating affect should enhance learning performance. Eliciting negative activating affect on the other hand should impair learning performance. However, it was found that the induction of negative activating affect prior to the learning phase resulted in slight deteriorations in knowledge. Contrary to the assumptions, inducing positive activating affect before the learning phase did not improve learning performance. Experiment 2 induced positive activating affect directly during learning. To induce affective states during the entire duration of the learning phase, Experiment 2 used an emotional design paradigm. Therefore, N = 111 university students were randomly assigned to learn either in an affect inducing multimedia learning environment (use of warm colours and round shapes) or an affectively neutral counterpart (using shades of grey and angular shapes) on the same topic as in Experiment 1. Again, knowledge as well as transfer performance were measured after learning for 20 minutes. In addition, positive and negative affective states were measured before and after learning. Complex interaction patterns between the treatment and initial affective states were found. Specifically, learners with high levels of positive affect before learning showed better transfer performance when they learned in the affect inducing learning environment. Regarding knowledge, those participants who reported high levels of negative activating affect prior to the learning period performed worse. However, the effect on knowledge did not occur for those students learning in the affect inducing learning environment. For knowledge, the treatment therefore protected against poorer performance due to high levels of negative affective states. Results of Experiment 2 showed that the induction of positive activating affect influenced learning performance positively when taking into account affective states prior to the learning phase. In order to confirm these interaction effects, a conceptual replication of the previous experiment was conducted in Experiment 3. Experiment 3 largely retained the former study design, but changed the learning materials and tests used. Analogous to Experiment 2, N = 145 university students learning for 20 minutes in either an affect inducing or an affectively neutral multimedia learning environment on “eukaryotic cell”. To strengthen the treatment, Experiment 3 also used anthropomorphic design elements to induce affective states next to warm colours and round shapes. Moreover, in order to assess the change in affective states more exactly, an additional measurement of positive and negative affective states after half of the learning time was inserted. Knowledge and transfer were assessed again to measure learning performance. The learners’ memory skills were used as an additional learning outcome. To control the influence of potential confounding variables, the participants’ general and current achievement motivation as well as interest, and emotion regulation skills were measured. Contrary to the assumptions, Experiment 3 could not confirm the interaction effects of Experiment 2. Instead, there was a significant impact of positive activating affect prior to the learning phase on transfer, irrespective of the learners’ group affiliation. This effect was further independent of the control variables that were measured. Nevertheless, the results of Experiment 3 fit into the picture of findings regarding “emotional design” in hypermedia learning settings. To date, the few publications that have used this approach propose heterogeneous results, even when using identical materials and procedures.
The aim of the present study was to examine whether fostering positive activating affect during multimedia learning enhances learning outcome. University students were randomly assigned to either a multimedia learning environment designed to induce positive activating affect through the use of “warm” colours and rounded shapes () or an affectively neutral environment that used achromatic colours and sharp edges (). Participants learned about the topic of functional neuroanatomy for 20 minutes and had to answer several questions for comprehension and transfer afterwards. Affective states as well as achievement goal orientations were investigated before and after the learning phase using questionnaires. The results show that participants in the affectively positive environment were superior in comprehension as well as transfer when initial affect was strong. Preexperimental positive affect was therefore a predictor of comprehension and a moderator for transfer. Goal orientations did not influence these effects. The findings support the idea that positive affect, induced through the design of the particular multimedia learning environment, can facilitate performance if initial affective states are taken into account.
In this article we offer initial insights into the fairly new interdisciplinary and international domain of robotics in Christian religious practice. We are a group of scholars in media ethics, practical theology/religious education, and human computer interaction, who have been engaged in this discourse since 2017.
A natural starting point is our study of BlessU2, a “blessing robot,” a device which received considerable recognition from the global public at the Wittenberg 500th reformation anniversary in 2017. We thus begin with the results of this study. Secondly, we will briefly address the relevant theses from Gabriele Trovato et al., as presented in their 2019 article on so-called theomorphic robots – followed by our interdisciplinary discussion of their approach. Finally, we draw conclusions for further work on the field of “religious robots.”
Somewhat more carefully: Section 1 offers starting points within the perspectives of Christian religious practice: here, the blessing robot is both cause and occasion for doing religion and theologizing in the context of existential questions (1.1). We continue with perceptions in the field of religion regarding “Discursive Design Theory” (1.2). The interaction of humans with computers as posing questions for theological standardization of religious practice is focused upon in 1.3. Section 2 reconstructs the HRI/HCI-initiative to develop theomorphic robots in a twofold manner, i.e., the idea of developing theomorphic robots (2.1) and the concept of theomorphic robots: Questions and objections (2.2). In this part of the article we raise discussion points concerning the relationship between technology and religion and the need for sharpening the understanding of religion within the research field. Section 3 closes with propositions and alternatives.
Computer games are highly immersive, engaging, and motivating learning environments. By providing a tutorial at the start of a new game, players learn the basics of the game's underlying principles as well as practice how to successfully play the game. During the actual gameplay, players repetitively apply this knowledge, thus improving it due to repetition. Computer games also challenge players with a constant stream of new challenges which increase in difficulty over time. As a result, computer games even require players to transfer their knowledge to master these new challenges. A computer game consists of several game mechanics. Game mechanics are the rules of a computer game and encode the game's underlying principles. They create the virtual environments, generate a game's challenges and allow players to interact with the game. Game mechanics also can encode real world knowledge. This knowledge may be acquired by players via gameplay. However, the actual process of knowledge encoding and knowledge learning using game mechanics has not been thoroughly defined, yet. This thesis therefore proposes a theoretical model to define the knowledge learning using game mechanics: the Gamified Knowledge Encoding. The model is applied to design a serious game for affine transformations, i.e., GEtiT, and to predict the learning outcome of playing a computer game that encodes orbital mechanics in its game mechanics, i.e., Kerbal Space Program. To assess the effects of different visualization technologies on the overall learning outcome, GEtiT visualizes the gameplay in desktop-3D and immersive virtual reality. The model's applicability for effective game design as well as GEtiT's overall design are evaluated in a usability study. The learning outcome of playing GEtiT and Kerbal Space Program is assessed in four additional user studies. The studies' results validate the use of the Gamified Knowledge Encoding for the purpose of developing effective serious games and to predict the learning outcome of existing serious games. GEtiT and Kerbal Space Program yield a similar training effect but a higher motivation to tackle the assignments in comparison to a traditional learning method. In conclusion, this thesis expands the understanding of using game mechanics for an effective learning of knowledge. The presented results are of high importance for researches, educators, and developers as they also provide guidelines for the development of effective serious games.
Objective: Gait adaptation to environmental challenges is fundamental for independent and safe community ambulation. The possibility of precisely studying gait modulation using standardized protocols of gait analysis closely resembling everyday life scenarios is still an unmet need.
Methods: We have developed a fully-immersive virtual reality (VR) environment where subjects have to adjust their walking pattern to avoid collision with a virtual agent (VA) crossing their gait trajectory. We collected kinematic data of 12 healthy young subjects walking in real world (RW) and in the VR environment, both with (VR/A+) and without (VR/A-) the VA perturbation. The VR environment closely resembled the RW scenario of the gait laboratory. To ensure standardization of the obstacle presentation the starting time speed and trajectory of the VA were defined using the kinematics of the participant as detected online during each walking trial.
Results: We did not observe kinematic differences between walking in RW and VR/A-, suggesting that our VR environment per se might not induce significant changes in the locomotor pattern. When facing the VA all subjects consistently reduced stride length and velocity while increasing stride duration. Trunk inclination and mediolateral trajectory deviation also facilitated avoidance of the obstacle.
Conclusions: This proof-of-concept study shows that our VR/A+ paradigm effectively induced a timely gait modulation in a standardized immersive and realistic scenario. This protocol could be a powerful research tool to study gait modulation and its derangements in relation to aging and clinical conditions.
In this thesis, metacognition research is connected with fluency research. Thereby, the focus lies on how disfluency can be used to improve metacognitive monitoring (i.e., students` judgments during the learning process). Improving metacognitive monitoring is important in educational contexts in order to foster performance. Theories about metacognition and self-regulated learning suppose that monitoring affects control and performance. Accurate monitoring is necessary to initiate adequate control and better performance. However, previous research shows that students are often not able to accurately monitor their learning with meaningful text material. Inaccurate monitoring can result in inadequate control and low performance.
One reason for inaccurate monitoring is that students use cues for their judgments that are not valid predictors of their performance. Because fluency might be such a cue, the first aim of this thesis is to investigate under which conditions fluency is used as a cue for judgments during the learning process. A fluent text is easy to process and, hence, it should be judged as easy to learn and as easy to remember. Inversely, a disfluent text is difficult to process, for example because of a disfluent font type (e.g., Mistral) or because of deleted letters (e.g., l_tt_rs). Hence, a disfluent text should be judged as difficult to learn and as difficult to remember. This assumption is confirmed when students learn with both fluent and disfluent material. When fluency is manipulated between persons, fluency seems to be less obvious as a cue for judgments. However, there are only a few studies that investigated the effects of fluency on judgments when fluency is manipulated between persons. Results from Experiment 1 (using deleted letters for disfluent text) and from Experiment 4 (using Mistral for disfluent text) in this thesis support the assumption that fluency is used as a cue for judgments in between-person designs. Thereby, however, the interplay with the type of judgment and the learning stage seems to matter.
Another condition when fluency affects judgments was investigated in Experiment 2 and 3. The aim of these experiments was to investigate if disfluency leads to analytic monitoring and if analytic monitoring sustains for succeeding fluent material. If disfluency activates analytic monitoring that remains for succeeding fluent material, fluency should no longer be used as a cue for judgments. Results widely support this assumption for deleted letters (Experiment 2) as well as for the font type Mistral (Experiment 3). Thereby, again the interplay between the type of judgment and the learning stage matters.
Besides the investigation of conditions when fluency is used as a cue for different types of judgments during the learning process, another aim of this thesis is to investigate if disfluency leads to accurate monitoring. Results from Experiment 3 and 4 support the assumption that Mistral can reduce overconfidence. This is the case when fluency is manipulated between persons or when students first learn with a fluent and then with a disfluent text. Dependent from the type of judgment and the learning stage, disfluency can lead even to underconfidence or to improved relative monitoring accuracy (Experiment 4).
Improving monitoring accuracy is only useful when monitoring is implemented into better control and better performance. The effect of monitoring accuracy on control and performance was in the focus of Experiment 4. Results show that accurate monitoring does not result in improved control and performance. Thus, further research is required to develop interventions that do not only improve monitoring accuracy but that also help students to implement accurate monitoring into better control and performance.
Summing up, the aim of this thesis is to investigate under which conditions fluency is used as a cue for judgments during the learning process, how disfluency can be used to improve monitoring accuracy, and if improved monitoring accuracy leads to improved performance. By connecting metacognition research and fluency research, further theories about metacognition and theories about fluency are specified. Results show that not only the type of fluency and the design, but also the type of judgment, the type of monitoring accuracy, and the learning stage should be taken into account. Understanding conditions that affect the interplay between metacognitive processes and performance as well as understanding the underlying mechanisms is necessary to enable systematic research and to apply findings into educational settings.
Disfluency as a Desirable Difficulty — The Effects of Letter Deletion on Monitoring and Performance
(2018)
Desirable difficulties initiate learning processes that foster performance. Such a desirable difficulty is generation, e.g., filling in deleted letters in a deleted letter text. Likewise, letter deletion is a manipulation of processing fluency: A deleted letter text is more difficult to process than an intact text. Disfluency theory also supposes that disfluency initiates analytic processes and thus, improves performance. However, performance is often not affected but, rather, monitoring is affected. The aim of this study is to propose a specification of the effects of disfluency as a desirable difficulty: We suppose that mentally filling in deleted letters activates analytic monitoring but not necessarily analytic cognitive processing and improved performance. Moreover, once activated, analytic monitoring should remain for succeeding fluent text. To test our assumptions, half of the students (n = 32) first learned with a disfluent (deleted letter) text and then with a fluent (intact) text. Results show no differences in monitoring between the disfluent and the fluent text. This supports our assumption that disfluency activates analytic monitoring that remains for succeeding fluent text. When the other half of the students (n = 33) first learned with a fluent and then with a disfluent text, differences in monitoring between the disfluent and the fluent text were found. Performance was significantly affected by fluency but in favor of the fluent texts, and hence, disfluency did not activate analytic cognitive processing. Thus, difficulties can foster analytic monitoring that remains for succeeding fluent text, but they do not necessarily improve performance. Further research is required to investigate how analytic monitoring can lead to improved cognitive processing and performance.
Over the past years, scholars have explored eudaimonic video game experiences—profound entertainment responses that include meaningfulness, reflection, and others. In a comparatively short time, a plethora of explanations for the formation of such eudaimonic gaming experiences has been developed across multiple disciplines, making it difficult to keep track of the state of theory development. Hence, we present a theoretical overview of these explanations. We first provide a working definition of eudaimonic gaming experiences (i.e., experiences that reflect human virtues and encourage players to develop their potential as human beings fully) and outline four layers of video games—agency, narrative, sociality, and aesthetics—that form the basis for theorizing. Subsequently, we provide an overview of the theoretical approaches, categorizing them based on which of the four game layers their explanation mainly rests upon. Finally, we suggest the contingency of the different theoretical approaches for explaining eudaimonic experiences by describing how their usefulness varies as a function of interactivity. As different types of games offer players various levels of interactivity, our overview suggests which theories and which game layers should be considered when examining eudaimonic experiences for specific game types.