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This study examined the validity of students’ evaluations of teaching as an instrument for measuring teaching quality by examining the effects of likability and prior subject interest as potential biasing effects, measured at the beginning of the course and at the time of evaluation. University students (N = 260) evaluated psychology courses in one semester at a German university with a standardized questionnaire, yielding 517 data points. Cross-classified multilevel analyses revealed fixed effects of likability at both times of measurement and fixed effects of prior subject interest measured at the beginning of the course. Likability seems to exert a substantial bias on student evaluations of teaching, albeit one that is overestimated when measured at the time of evaluation. In contrast, prior subject interest seems to introduce a weak bias. Considering that likability bears no conceptual relationship to teaching quality, these findings point to a compromised validity of students’ evaluations of teaching.
Introduction
Self-referential processing is a key component of the emotional self-concept. Previous studies have shown that emotional self-referential processing is related to structure and function of cortical midline areas such as medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), and that it can be altered on a behavioral level by specific mental training practices. However, it remains unknown how behavioral training-related change in emotional self-concept content relates to structural plasticity.
Methods
To address this issue, we examined the relationship between training-induced change in participant's emotional self-concept measured through emotional word use in the Twenty Statement Test and change in cortical thickness in the context of a large-scale longitudinal mental training study called the ReSource Project.
Results
Based on prior behavioral findings showing increased emotional word use particularly after socio-cognitive training targeting perspective-taking capacities, this study extended these results by revealing that individual differences in the degree to which participants changed their emotional self-concept after training was positively related to cortical thickness change in right mPFC extending to dorsolateral PFC (dlPFC). Furthermore, increased self-related negative emotional word use after training was positively associated with cortical thickness change in left pars orbitalis and bilateral dlPFC.
Conclusions
Our findings reveal training-related structural brain change in regions known to be involved in self-referential processing and cognitive control, and could indicate a relationship between restructuring of the emotional self-concept content as well as reappraisal of negative aspects and cortical thickness change. As such, our findings can guide the development of psychological interventions targeted to alter specific facets of the self-concept.
In contrast to classical theories of cognitive control, recent evidence suggests that cognitive control and unconscious automatic processing influence each other. First, masked semantic priming, an index of unconscious automatic processing, depends on attention to semantics induced by a previously executed task. Second, cognitive control operations (e.g., implementation of task sets indicating how to process a particular stimulus) can be activated by masked task cues, presented outside awareness. In this study, we combined both lines of research. We investigated in three experiments whether induction tasks and presentation of visible or masked task cues, which signal subsequent semantic or perceptual tasks but do not require induction task execution, comparably modulate masked semantic priming. In line with previous research, priming was consistently larger following execution of a semantic rather than a perceptual induction task. However, we observed in experiment 1 (masked letter cues) a reversed priming pattern following task cues (larger priming following cues signaling perceptual tasks) compared to induction tasks. Experiment 2 (visible letter cues) and experiment 3 (visible color cues) showed that this reversed priming pattern depended only on apriori associations between task cues and task elements (task set dominance), but neither on awareness nor on the verbal or non-verbal format of the cues. These results indicate that task cues have the power to modulate subsequent masked semantic priming through attentional mechanisms. Task-set dominance conceivably affects the time course of task set activation and inhibition in response to task cues and thus the direction of their modulatory effects on priming.
Punishment feels bad, but relief upon its termination feels good. As a consequence of such timing-dependent valence reversal, memories of opposite valence can result from associating stimulus A with, for example, the occurrence of punishment (A-) versus punishment termination (-A): A- training results in aversive memory, but -A training in appetitive memory (corresponding effects exist for reward occurrence and termination). Whereas learning through the occurrence of punishment is well studied, much less is known about learning through its termination. Current research investigates how dopaminergic system function contributes to these processes in Drosophila, rats and humans. We argue that dopamine-related psychopathology may entail distortions in learning through punishment termination, and that this may contribute, for example, to non-suicidal self-injury or post-traumatic stress disorder.
Positive effects of shared reading for children’s language development are boosted by including instruction of word meanings and by increasing interactivity. The effects of engaging children as storytellers on vocabulary development have been less well studied. We developed an approach termed Interactive Elaborative Storytelling (IES), which employs both word-learning techniques and children’s storytelling in a shared-reading setting. To systematically investigate potential benefits of children as storytellers, we contrasted this approach to two experimental groups, an Elaborative Storytelling group employing word-learning techniques but no storytelling by children and a Read-Aloud group, excluding any additional techniques. The study was a 3 × 2 pre-posttest randomized design with 126 preschoolers spanning 1 week. Measured outcomes were receptive and expressive target vocabulary, story memory, and children’s behavior during story sessions. All three experimental groups made comparable gains on target words from pre- to posttest and there was no difference between groups in story memory. However, in the Elaborative Storytelling group, children were the least restless. Findings are discussed in terms of their contribution to optimizing shared reading as a method of fostering language.
Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs) provide communication channels independent from muscular control. In the current study we used two versions of the P300-BCI: one based on visual the other on auditory stimulation. Up to now, data on the impact of psychological variables on P300-BCI control are scarce. Hence, our goal was to identify new predictors with a comprehensive psychological test-battery. A total of N = 40 healthy BCI novices took part in a visual and an auditory BCI session. Psychological variables were measured with an electronic test-battery including clinical, personality, and performance tests. The personality factor “emotional stability” was negatively correlated (Spearman's rho = −0.416; p < 0.01) and an output variable of the non-verbal learning test (NVLT), which can be interpreted as ability to learn, correlated positively (Spearman's rho = 0.412; p < 0.01) with visual P300-BCI performance. In a linear regression analysis both independent variables explained 24% of the variance. “Emotional stability” was also negatively related to auditory P300-BCI performance (Spearman's rho = −0.377; p < 0.05), but failed significance in the regression analysis. Psychological parameters seem to play a moderate role in visual P300-BCI performance. “Emotional stability” was identified as a new predictor, indicating that BCI users who characterize themselves as calm and rational showed worse BCI performance. The positive relation of the ability to learn and BCI performance corroborates the notion that also for P300 based BCIs learning may constitute an important factor. Further studies are needed to consolidate or reject the presented predictors.
Die Erleichterung von einem körperlichen Schmerzreiz besitzt appetitiven Charakter (Leknes et al., 2008; 2011; Seymour et al., 2005), aktiviert belohnungsassoziierte Hirnstrukturen (Leknes et al., 2011; Leknes & Brock, 2014; Leknes & Tracey, 2008; Navratilova & Porreca, 2014) und fördert durch ihre Konditionierbarkeit als Erleichterungslernen bezeichnete appetitive Lern- und Konditionierungsprozesse (Andreatta et al., 2010, 2012; 2013; 2017; Gerber et al., 2014; Tanimoto et al., 2004; Yarali et al., 2008).
Die vorliegende Arbeit bestätigt das angewandte Versuchsparadigma als valides Modell für Erleichterungslernen im Menschen und zeigt erstmals, dass der appetitive Charakter von Schmerzerleichterung auch in Jugendlichen konditionierbar ist. Erfolgreiches Erleichterungslernen zeigte sich dabei in der untersuchten Stichprobe lediglich auf impliziter, nicht aber auf expliziter, kognitiver Ebene. Dies stützt Thesen und vorherige Forschungsbefunde einer Dualität assoziativen Lernens in ein implizites Lernen, welches vornehmlich subkortikale Strukturen erfordert und ein explizites Lernen, das vorrangig kortikale Strukturen wie den präfrontalen Cortex involviert (Andreatta et al., 2010; Strack & Deutsch, 2004; Williams et al., 2001). Die Beobachtungen einer differenten Furcht- versus Erleichterungs-Extinktion bestärken die Thesen eines diversen neuronalen Hintergrunds dieser beiden Lernformen (Diegelmann et al., 2013; Gerber et al., 2014; Yarali et al., 2009; Yarali & Gerber, 2010). Gleichzeitig werfen die Studienergebnisse die Frage auf, ob und inwiefern im Erleichterungslernen von Jugendlichen Unterschiede zu jenem in Erwachsenen bestehen.
Die Hypothese einer verstärkten Akquisition von Erleichterungslernen bei Jugendlichen mit NSSV im Vergleich zu gesunden Jugendlichen ließ sich in der vorliegenden Studie nicht bestätigen. Somit liefern die Ergebnisse keinen direkten Hinweis darauf, dass ein verstärktes Lernen durch Schmerzerleichterung an der Ätiopathogenese von NSSV beteiligt sein könnte. Die vorliegende Arbeit zeigte vielmehr die Tendenz eines abgeschwächten impliziten Erleichterungslernens bei den Jugendlichen mit NSSV. Die tendenziellen Gruppenunterschiede ließen sich nicht hinreichend durch eine differente aktuelle Stimmungslage oder durch eine unterschiedlich starke Ausprägung aversiver emotionaler Anspannungen oder momentaner Angstaffekte erklären. Innerhalb der Gruppe Jugendlicher mit NSSV zeigte sich auch kein Hinweis darauf, dass der Erfolg von Erleichterungslernen vom Schweregrad des NSSV oder von der aktuellen Einnahme von Antidepressiva abhängig sein könnte. Explorative Analysen ergaben, dass Gruppeneffekte in der vorliegenden Studie womöglich aufgrund einer statistischen Unterschätzung, bedingt durch einen zu geringen Stichprobenumfang, nicht das Signifikanzniveau erreichten und dass Unterschiede im Erleichterungslernen von Jugendlichen mit und ohne NSSV tatsächlich sogar noch stärker ausgeprägt sein könnten. Somit sollte die vorliegende Arbeit als Pilotstudie für zukünftige größer angelegte Studien zu Erleichterungslernen bei NSSV betrachtet werden.
Zukünftige Studien erscheinen insbesondere sinnvoll mit Blick auf die hohe klinische sowie gesellschaftliche Relevanz von NSSV für welches, trotz der hohen Prävalenzen und des deutlich erhöhten Morbiditäts- und Mortalitätsrisikos, zum aktuellen Zeitpunkt noch keine hinreichenden Erklärungsmodelle bestehen. Die Studie bestätigte das Vorliegen eines erhöhten Grades aversiver emotionaler Anspannung in Jugendlichen mit NSSV, welcher zuvor nur an Erwachsenen mit einer BPD untersucht und festgestellt worden war (Niedtfeld et al., 2010; Stiglmayr et al., 2005). Die Abnahme negativer Affekte bei den Jugendlichen mit NSSV im Studienverlauf repliziert die Ergebnisse vorheriger Studien, in denen eine Reduktion selbst-berichteter negativer Affekte durch die Beendigung eines Schmerzreizes beobachtet wurde (Bresin et al., 2010; Bresin & Gordon, 2013). Damit bestärken die Studienergebnisse bestehende Erklärungsmodelle für NSSV, welche eine entscheidende Beteiligung der körperlichen Schmerzen und der Schmerzerleichterung bei der Selbstverletzung an der Affektregulation vermuten. Weiterhin wirft die vorliegende Arbeit die Frage auf, welche Rolle eine veränderte Wahrnehmung von Schmerz und Schmerzerleichterung in der Ätiopathogenese von NSSV einnimmt und wie diese sich auf Lernprozesse auswirkt.
Insgesamt erbrächten weitere Erkenntnisse über den potenziellen Zusammenhang von NSSV und abweichendem Erleichterungslernen ein besseres Verständnis für Mechanismen der Entstehung und Aufrechterhaltung von NSSV und böten zudem möglicherweise Ansätze für neue Therapiemöglichkeiten des Störungsbildes.
Sensory processing and attention allocation are shaped by threat, but the role of trait-anxiety in sensory processing as a function of threat predictability remains incompletely understood. Therefore, we measured steady-state visual evoked potentials (ssVEPs) as an index of sensory processing of predictable and unpredictable threat cues in 29 low (LA) and 29 high (HA) trait-anxious participants during a modified NPU-paradigm followed by an extinction phase. Three different contextual cues indicated safety (N), predictable (P) or unpredictable threat (U), while foreground cues signalled shocks in the P-condition only. All participants allocated increased attentional resources to the central P-threat cue, replicating previous findings. Importantly, LA individuals exhibited larger ssVEP amplitudes to contextual threat (U and P) than to contextual safety cues, while HA individuals did not differentiate among contextual cues in general. Further, HA exhibited higher aversive ratings of all contexts compared to LA. These results suggest that high trait-anxious individuals might be worse at discriminating contextual threat stimuli and accordingly overestimate the probability and aversiveness of unpredictable threat. These findings support the notion of aberrant sensory processing of unpredictable threat in anxiety disorders, as this processing pattern is already evident in individuals at risk of these disorders.
Depending on the point of view, conceptions of greed range from being a desirable and inevitable feature of a well-regulated, well-balanced economy to the root of all evil - radix omnium malorum avaritia (Tim 6.10). Regarding the latter, it has been proposed that greedy individuals strive for obtaining desired goods at all costs. Here, we show that trait greed predicts selfish economic decisions that come at the expense of others in a resource dilemma. This effect was amplified when individuals strived for obtaining real money, as compared to points, and when their revenue was at the expense of another person, as compared to a computer. On the neural level, we show that individuals high, compared to low in trait greed showed a characteristic signature in the EEG, a reduced P3 effect to positive, compared to negative feedback, indicating that they may have a lack of sensitivity to adjust behavior according to positive and negative stimuli from the environment. Brain-behavior relations further confirmed this lack of sensitivity to behavior adjustment as a potential underlying neuro-cognitive mechanism which explains selfish and reckless behavior that may come at the expense of others.
Increased sympathetic noradrenergic signaling is crucially involved in fear and anxiety as defensive states. MicroRNAs regulate dynamic gene expression during synaptic plasticity and genetic variation of microRNAs modulating noradrenaline transporter gene (SLC6A2) expression may thus lead to altered central and peripheral processing of fear and anxiety. In silico prediction of microRNA regulation of SLC6A2 was confirmed by luciferase reporter assays and identified hsa-miR-579-3p as a regulating microRNA. The minor (T)-allele of rs2910931 (MAFcases = 0.431, MAFcontrols = 0.368) upstream of MIR579 was associated with panic disorder in patients (pallelic = 0.004, ncases = 506, ncontrols = 506) and with higher trait anxiety in healthy individuals (pASI = 0.029, pACQ = 0.047, n = 3112). Compared to the major (A)-allele, increased promoter activity was observed in luciferase reporter assays in vitro suggesting more effective MIR579 expression and SLC6A2 repression in vivo (p = 0.041). Healthy individuals carrying at least one (T)-allele showed a brain activation pattern suggesting increased defensive responding and sympathetic noradrenergic activation in midbrain and limbic areas during the extinction of conditioned fear. Panic disorder patients carrying two (T)-alleles showed elevated heart rates in an anxiety-provoking behavioral avoidance test (F(2, 270) = 5.47, p = 0.005). Fine-tuning of noradrenaline homeostasis by a MIR579 genetic variation modulated central and peripheral sympathetic noradrenergic activation during fear processing and anxiety. This study opens new perspectives on the role of microRNAs in the etiopathogenesis of anxiety disorders, particularly their cardiovascular symptoms and comorbidities.