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Restrictive means to reduce the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic have not only imposed broad challenges on mental health but might also affect cognitive health. Here we asked how restriction-related changes influence cognitive performance and how age, perceived loneliness, depressiveness and affectedness by restrictions contribute to these effects. 51 Germans completed three assessments of an online based study during the first lockdown in Germany (April 2020), a month later, and during the beginning of the second lockdown (November 2020). Participants completed nine online cognitive tasks of the MyBrainTraining and online questionnaires about their perceived strain and impact on lifestyle factors by the situation (affectedness), perceived loneliness, depressiveness as well as subjective cognitive performance. The results suggested a possible negative impact of depressiveness and affectedness on objective cognitive performance within the course of the lockdown. The younger the participants, the more pronounced these effects were. Loneliness and depressiveness moreover contributed to a worse evaluation of subjective cognition. In addition, especially younger individuals reported increased distress. As important educational and social input has partly been scarce during this pandemic and mental health problems have increased, future research should also assess cognitive long-term consequences.

Research has identified nudging as a promising and effective tool to improve healthy eating behavior in a cafeteria setting. However, it remains unclear who is and who is not “nudgeable” (susceptible to nudges). An important influencing factor at the individual level is nudge acceptance. While some progress has been made in determining influences on the acceptance of healthy eating nudges, research on how personal characteristics (such as the perception of social norms) affect nudge acceptance remains scarce. We conducted a survey on 1032 university students to assess the acceptance of nine different types of healthy eating nudges in a cafeteria setting with four influential factors (social norms, health-promoting collaboration, responsibility to promote healthy eating, and procrastination). These factors are likely to play a role within a university and a cafeteria setting. The present study showed that key influential factors of nudge acceptance were the perceived responsibility to promote healthy eating and health-promoting collaboration. We also identified three different student clusters with respect to nudge acceptance, demonstrating that not all nudges were accepted equally. In particular, default, salience, and priming nudges were at least moderately accepted regardless of the degree of nudgeability. Our findings provide useful policy implications for nudge development by university, cafeteria, and public health officials. Recommendations are formulated for strengthening the theoretical background of nudge acceptance and the susceptibility to nudges.

Research has repeatedly demonstrated that the use of interactive media is associated with recovery experiences, suggesting that engaging with media can help people to alleviate stress and restore mental and physical resources. Video games, in particular, have been shown to fulfil various aspects of recovery, not least due to their ability to elicit feelings of mastery and control. However, little is known about the role of cognitive task demand (i.e., the amount of cognitive effort a task requires) in that process. Toward this end, our study aimed to investigate how cognitive task demand during gameplay affects users’ recovery experiences. Results of a laboratory experiment suggest that different dimensions of the recovery experiences seem to respond to different levels of cognitive task demand. While control experiences were highest under low cognitive task demand, there was no difference between groups regarding experiences of mastery and psychological detachment. Nevertheless, both gaming conditions outperformed the control condition regarding experiences of mastery and psychological detachment. Controlling for personal gaming experiences, relaxation was higher in the low cognitive task demand condition compared to the control condition. Findings are discussed in terms of their implications for research on the multilayered recovery effects of interactive media.

Much research on the societal consequences of climate change has focused on inaction, seeking to explain why societies and individuals do not change according to experts’ recommendations. In this qualitative study, we instead consider people who have changed their behaviour for the sake of the climate: They have stopped travelling by air. We first asked them to elaborate their rationales for the behaviour change. Then, using topos theory to find thought structures, we analysed their 673 open-text answers. Several themes emerged, which together can be regarded as a process of change. Increased knowledge, primarily narrated as a process by which latent knowledge was transformed into insight, through experience or emotional distress, was important. Contrary to certain claims in the literature, fear stimulated change of behaviour for many in this group. Climate change was framed as a moral issue, requiring acts of conscience. Children were invoked as educators and moral guides. Role models and a supportive social context played an important part. Alternatives to flying were brought forward as a motive to refrain from flying. Only a few mentioned shame as momentous. Instead, stopping travelling by air invoked a feeling of agency and responsibility, and could also result in a positive sensation.

This article examines a model of family relations, namely the "mother-child" dyad, built on the basis of a study of the lateral profile of normo-typical adolescents and their mothers. Testing the position of postures (comparing the interlacing of the fingers, crossing the arms on the chest, aiming and applauding) revealed a highly significant inverse correlation for the leading eye. This suggests that there is a significant interaction between the structures of the brain of the mother and the child in the thalamus (visual hillocks). The asymmetry of the brain structures of the mother-child dyad indicates their difference in the style of processing sensory information. These differences give rise to the dominance of the pair in the leading hemisphere of the brain (left or right) and, accordingly, in the style of thinking, which does not coincide in this pair. Thus, the state of "reliable" attachment in the mother-child dyad depends on whether the mother is ready to accept a different way of thinking (reading and processing sensory information) in her child. Based on the physiological characteristics of the structure of the brain of the mother and child, we will consider the system of dependent personality behavior, caused by disorders of interaction and attachment.

LOEWE-Projektmittel "Wünschenswerte Erschwernisse beim Lernen"

A purpose-made video game was used to measure response time and moral alignment of in-game moral decisions, which were made by 115 undergraduate students. Overall, moral decisions took between 4–6 seconds and were mostly pro-social. Previous gameplay, in-game, and post-game experiences predicted in-game moral alignment. Real-life moral salience was not related to in-game decision-making. The implications of these results are discussed in the context of the demands of video games and in-game moral decision-making models.

Beyond the many choices and challenges humans face during the pandemic lies a constant cognitive trade-off: Those who excessively absorb news against uncertainty run the risk of impaired cognitive functions.

Over the past 30 years, a large body of research has accrued demonstrating that video games are capable of placing substantial demands on the human cognitive, emotional, physical, and social processing systems. Within the cognitive realm, playing games belonging to one particular genre, known as the action video game genre, has been consistently linked with demands on a host of cognitive abilities including perception, top-down attention, multitasking, and spatial cognition. More recently, a number of new game genres have emerged that, while different in many ways from “traditional” action games, nonetheless seem likely to load upon similar cognitive processes. One such example is the multiplayer online battle arena genre (MOBA), which involves a mix of action and real-time strategy characteristics. Here, a sample of over 500 players of the MOBA game League of Legends completed a large battery of cognitive tasks. Positive associations were observed between League of Legends performance (quantified by participants’ in-game match-making rating) and a number of cognitive abilities consistent with those observed in the existing action video game literature, including speed of processing and attentional abilities. Together, our results document a rich pattern of cognitive abilities associated with high levels of League of Legends performance and suggest similarities between MOBAs and action video games in terms of their cognitive demands.

Agradecemos a Facultad de Ciencias de la Educación de la Universidad de Granada, al Centro de Investigación Mente, Cerebro y Comportamiento (CIMCYC) (Universidad de Granada), y Centro Universitario de João Pessoa – UNIPÊ por darnos apoyo a esta investigación científica. El conocimiento de los métodos de enseñanza musical como herramienta de diseño educativo efectivo se ha ampliado al debatir las prácticas educativas tradicionales frente a prácticas activas como la enseñanza por indagación. Al mismo tiempo la neurociencia revitaliza la enseñanza y el aprendizaje a partir del estudio funcional del cerebro. Compararemos estos métodos siguiendo unas fases. En este artículo presentamos un esbozo de cómo será la primera fase de validación de tareas de creatividad, memoria y aprendizaje musical con músicos y no músicos en la fMRI revitalizando la enseñanza y aprendizaje en un nuevo contexto de cultura avanzada. Knowledge of music teaching methods as an effective educational design tool has been expanded by discussing traditional educational practices versus active practices, such as teaching by inquiry. At the same time, neuroscience revitalizes teaching and learning through the functional study of the brain. We will compare these methods throughout the different phases of the study. In this article, we present an outline of what will be the first phase of validating creativity, memory, and learning tasks with musicians and non-musicians in an fMRI study. This revitalizes teaching and learning in a new context of advanced culture. O conhecimento dos métodos de ensino musical como ferramenta de desenho educativo efetivo se amplia ao debater as práticas educativas tradicionais frente a praticas ativas como o ensino por indagação. Ao mesmo tempo a neurociência revitaliza o ensino e aprendizagem a partir do estudo funcional do cérebro. Compararemos estes métodos seguindo umas fases. Neste artigo apresentamos um esboço de como será a primeira fase de validação de tarefas de criatividade, memoria e aprendizagem musical com músicos e não músicos em fMRI revitalizando o ensino e aprendizagem em um novo contexto de cultura avançada.

Building on recent research into the emergence of human motivation and goal pursuit in the absence of the conscious awareness of the source of this pursuit, the present article aimed to shed light on how states of deprivation (e.g., deprivation of fluid) actually produce the motivation and corresponding behavior that lifts the deprivation. Two studies established that when participants were relatively deprived of fluids, they experienced enhanced motivation to drink and consumed more fluid in an alleged tasting test, and these effects were more pronounced when the concept of drinking was rendered accessible by subliminal priming. These results suggest that specific motivational goal states and corresponding behaviors do not arise directly from deprivation per se, but that accessible goal-related cognitions play a role in this process. Implications for theory and research on deprivation and non-conscious goal pursuit are briefly discussed.

Risk aversion has generally been found to decrease in income or wealth. This may lead one to expect that poor countries will be more risk averse than rich countries. Recent comparative findings with students, however, suggest the opposite, giving rise to a riskincome paradox. We test this paradox by measuring the risk preferences of over 500 household heads spread over the highlands of Ethiopia. We do so using certainty equivalents, which have rarely been used in developing countries, but permit us to relate the findings to a host of evidence from the West. We find high degrees of risk tolerance, in agreement with the student comparisons finding higher risk tolerance in poorer countries. We also find risk tolerance to increase in income proxies, thus completing the paradox. We thereby use income proxies that can be considered as exogenous, allowing us to conclude that at least part of the causality must run from income to risk tolerance. We furthermore provide extensive methodological discussions on measuring and estimating risk preferences in development settings. (author's abstract)

We investigate the possibility that a decision-maker prefers to avoid making a decision and instead delegates it to an external device, e.g., a coin flip. In a series of experiments our participants often choose a stochastically dominated lottery between outcomes, contradicting most theories of choice such as expected utility. A large data set on university applications in Germany shows a choice pattern that is consistent with a preference for randomization, entailing substantial allocative consequences. The findings are consistent with our theory of responsibility aversion. (author's abstract)

This paper attempts to delineate the interaction between trust, emotion, and ethical decision making. The authors first propose that trust can either in cite an individual toward ethical decisions or drag him or her away from ethical decisions, depending on different situations. The authors then postulate that the feeling of guilt is central in understanding how trust affects the ethical decision making process. Several propositions based on these assumptions are introduced and implications for practice discussed.

We introduce the notion of strategic awareness in experimental games which captures the idea that subjects realize they are playing a game and thus have to form beliefs about others' actions. The concept differs from both, rule understanding and rationality. We then turn to experimental evidence from a beauty contest game where we elicit measures of cognitive ability and beliefs about others' cognitive ability. We show that the effect of cognitive ability is highly non-linear. Subjects' behavior below a certain threshold choose numbers in the whole interval and does not correlate with beliefs about others ability. In contrast, choices of subjects who exceed the threshold avoid choices above 50 and react very sensitively to beliefs about others' cognitive ability. (author's abstract) In diesem kurzen Artikel führen wir das Konzept von strategic awareness in Experimenten ein. Dieses neue Konzept beschreibt die Fähigkeit von Experimentteilnehmer, strategische Situationen zu erkennen und daher Erwartungen über das Verhalten von anderen zu bilden. Das Konzept unterscheidet sich sowohl von Rationalität als auch vom bloßen Verstehen von den Regeln eines Experiments. Wir demonstrieren das Konzept empirisch mit Hilfe von Daten eines Beauty Contest Games, in dem wir die kognitiven Fähigkeiten der Teilnehmer und ihre Einschätzungen über die kognitiven Fähigkeiten der anderen Teilnehmer erheben. Die Resultate zeigen, dass kognitive Fähigkeiten einen starken nicht-linearen Effekt auf die Entscheidungen in dem Beauty Contest Game haben. Das Verhalten von Experimentteilnehmer, die unter einer bestimmten Schwelle liegen, kann nicht von zufälligen Entscheidungen unterschieden werden und korreliert auch nicht mit deren Einschätzung über die kognitiven Fähigkeiten der anderen Teilnehmer. Im Gegensatz dazu vermeiden Teilnehmer, die über dieser Schwelle liegen, dominierte Entscheidungen und basieren ihre Entscheidungen auf ihrer Einschätzung über die kognitiven Fähigkeiten der anderen Teilnehmer. (Autorenreferat)

Research on bereavement has traditionally focussed on widowhood as either a social or individual event, but rarely under both perspectives. Furthermore, little is known whether existing research results mirror period or cohort effects. The aim of this article is to investigate constancies and changes in the retrospective perception of the challenges of widowhood of elderly women and men living in different decades in Switzerland. Data stem from three questionnaire studies with 1.197 widowed men and women (aged 65-102 years) carried out in 1979, 1994, and 2011. Results reveal that the subjective interpretations mirror the significant improvement of the economic and social situation of widowed individuals in Switzerland over the last decades, particularly for women. In contrast, no significant time effects can be observed with regard to the psychological challenges of marital loss in old age (redefinition of sense of life, feelings of loneliness). These findings suggest, that even in good socio-economic conditions widowhood remains psychologically a critical life event. Zusammenfassung Bisherige Forschung hat die Verwitwung entweder primär als soziales oder als individuelles Ereignis untersucht, selten jedoch wurden beide Perspektiven verbunden. Zudem ist wenig darüber bekannt, inwiefern bisherige Forschungsergebnisse Perioden- oder Kohorteneffekte wiederspiegeln. In diesem Beitrag wird die persönliche Bilanzierung nach der Verwitwung älterer Schweizer Frauen und Männer im Geschlechterund Zeitvergleich untersucht1. Die Datenbasis beruht auf Befragungen von 1.197 verwitweten Frauen und Männern (Alter: 65-102 Jahre), welche 1979, 1994 und 2011 durchgeführt wurden. Während sich die wirtschaftlichen und sozialen Rahmenbedingungen nach einer Verwitwung –namentlich bei Frauen – im Zeitvergleich verbessert haben, zeigen sich bezüglich psychischer Herausforderungen einer Verwitwung keine periodenspezifischen Veränderungen. Psychisch bleibt der Partnerverlust auch bei günstigen Sozialbedingungen ein kritisches Lebensereignis, das individualisiert bewältigt werden muss., Journal of Family Research, Vol 25 No 3 (2013)

Detecting and processing task-relevant and salient stimuli is an essential mechanism of the human visual system. Task-relevant stimuli, so called targets, are for example irregularities and discontinuities in the environment. The human sensory system is specialized to detect such discontinuities. If the difference between environment and the discontinuity is salient enough, this discontinuity seems to ‘pop-out’ from the surrounding context. That is, the target is detected fast, nearly automatic and during pre-attentive stages of visual processing. However, target detection is not only influenced by target-context differences, but also by target location. Target location means the retinal eccentricity to which the target is projected, i.e. to a foveal or peripheral retinal position. The aim of the following study is to investigate the influence of target location, i.e. target eccentricity, on target detection processes. Target detection processes are measured with Event-Related Potentials (ERPs). That is, electrophysiological brain activity during stimulus processing is analyzed. One ERP indicator of relevance is the P2/N2 complex (Potts & Tucker, 2001). The P2/N2 complex describes a posterior Negativity, the N2 or also known as N2p, accompanied by a frontal Positivity, the P2. Previous studies showed that the N2p is sensitive to perceptual processes and target location, whereas the P2 is sensitive to executive functions and task difficulty. The N2p was also studied in various texture segmentation experiments (Schlaghecken, Meinecke, & Schröger, 2001; Schubö, Meinecke, & Schröger, 2001; Schubö, Schröger, & Meinecke, 2004; Schubö, Wykowska, & Müller, 2007). With the present work, I want to gather more information about eccentricity specific aspects in perceptual and executive processes of target detection. It is also examined whether P2/N2 eccentricity effects deliver evidence for the existence of a peripheral and foveal subsystem operating in the visual system. Das Thema dieser Arbeit ist die Analyse von frühen Prozessen der visuellen Informationsverarbeitung. In einer Reihe elektrophysiologischer Experimente wurden Textursegmentierungsleistungen in Abhängigkeit der retinalen Position bzw. Exzentrizität analysiert. Als Indikator für exzentrizitätsbedingte Unterschiede in Targetdetektionsprozessen wurde der P2/N2 Komplex untersucht (Potts & Tucker, 2001). Der P2/N2 Komplex beschreibt eine frontale Positivierung, die P2, die gleichzeitig mit einer posterioren Negativierung, der N2 oder auch N2p, auftritt. Die P2 zeigt exekutive Funktionen an, während die N2p sensitiv für perzeptuelle Prozesse im Zusammenhang mit Targetdektionsaufgaben ist. Vorherige experimentelle Befunde deuteten darauf hin, dass in Abhängigkeit des retinalen Ortes unterschiedliche Entdeckungsmechanismen wirken (z.B. Meinecke, Kimchi, & Grandegger, 2002). Darauf aufbauend wurde die Arbeitshypothese generiert, dass foveale und periphere Retinaareale möglicherweise auf bestimmte, aber unterschiedliche Entdeckungsleistungen spezialisiert sein könnten. Es wird angenommen, dass an der visuellen Informationsverarbeitung ein foveales und ein peripheres Sehsystem beteiligt sind (siehe auch Velichkovsky, Joos, Helmert, & Pannasch, 2005). Das foveale System ist besonders sensitiv für die Analyse von Unterschieden zwischen Einzelelementen sowie die Analyse von Details und Stimuli mit hohen Ortsfrequenzen bedingt durch kleine rezeptive Felder. Das periphere System hingegen ist besonders sensitiv für die Analyse von globalen Strukturen und niedrigen Ortsfrequenzen. sowie die Integration und Summation von Informationen über größere räumliche Areale bedingt durch die zunehmend größer werdenden rezeptiven Felder mit zunehmender retinaler Exzentrizität. In der vorliegenden Arbeit werden exzentrizitätsbedingte Unterschiede bei Targetdetektionsprozessen mit Hilfe des Paradigmas der Textursegmentierung untersucht. Textursegmentierung bezeichnet die Fähigkeit eine Abweichung, ein so genanntes Target, inmitten einer ansonsten homogenen Fläche, dem so genannten Kontext, zu entdecken. Texturen sind zumeist großflächige Reize bestehend aus einer Vielzahl von einzelnen Elementen, zum Beispiel Linien einer bestimmten Orientierung. Unterscheiden sich Target und Kontext in einem grundlegenden Merkmal und ist dieser Unterschied hinreichend groß, erfolgt die Entdeckung des Targets nahezu automatisch und präattentiv (Treisman & Gelade, 1980). Man spricht in diesem Fall von einem Pop-Out Target. Ein weiterer Einflussfaktor auf die Entdeckungsleistung ist die retinale Exzentrizität des Targets. In Abhängigkeit von den Eigenschaften der Textur, z.B. Ortsfrequenz, und den Eigenschaften des visuellen Systems an einer bestimmten Exzentrizität, z.B. Größe der rezeptiven Felder, erfolgt die Entdeckung des Targets mal besser foveal und mal besser peripher (Kehrer, 1987; Kehrer & Meinecke, 2006; Meinecke & Kehrer, 1994, 2007). Ziel der hier durchgeführten Experimente ist es, herauszufinden, ob der P2/N2 Komplex sensitiv für exzentrizitätsbedingte Unterschiede bei Targetdetektionsaufgaben ist (Experiment 1). Außerdem soll untersucht werden, ob P2/N2 Exzentrizitätseffekte spezifisch für Targetdetektionsprozesse sind oder ob sie auch bei der Verarbeitung von Texturen ohne Target auftreten (Experiment 2). Im Weiteren werden Faktoren untersucht, die Einfluss auf P2/N2 Exzentrizitätseffekte haben können: der Kortikale Vergrößerungsfaktor (Experiment 3 bis 6) und die Entdeckungsleistung für ein Target an einer bestimmten Exzentrizität (Experiment 7 und 8). Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass P2/N2 Exzentrizitätseffekte spezifisch für Targetdetektionsprozesse sind. P2/N2 Exzentrizitätseffekte sind nicht durch den Kortikalen Vergrößerungsfaktor erklärbar. Die P2 ist sensitiv für die Aufgabenschwierigkeit an einer bestimmten Exzentrizität, während die N2p sensitiv für perzeptuelle Prozesse im Zusammenhang mit der retinalen Exzentrizität ist. Außerdem deutet der N2p Exzentrizitätseffekt auf die Existenz zweier Sehsysteme, eines peripheren und eines fovealen Systems, hin.

We present a laboratory experiment on the impact of price framing on consumer decision making. Consumer subjects face a search market where two sellers offer a homogenous good. We examine six different price frames with linear per-unit pricing (that is displayed as such) serving as a benchmark. We find that all frames deviating from the benchmark have some negative impact on consumer decision making. The most striking result concerns drip pricing (where prices are decomposed into three elements and dripped in during the purchasing process). While leaving the actual decision problem unchanged, drip pricing wipes out 25% of consumer surplus. (author's abstract) Anhand eines Laborexperiments überprüfen wir den Einfluss verschiedener "price frames" auf das Entscheidungsverhalten von Konsumenten. Die Konsumenten entscheiden über den Kauf von gleichartigen Gütern, die von zwei Verkäufern auf einem Suchmarkt angeboten werden. Es werden sechs verschiedene Arten, die Preise der Güter zu präsentieren, untersucht, wobei der lineare Stückpreis als Benchmark dient. Es zeigt sich, dass alle Preisrahmungen, die von dem Benchmark abweichen, einen negativen Einfluss auf das Entscheidungsverhalten haben. Das augenfälligste Resultat ist der Effekt des sogenannten drip pricing. Hier ist der Endpreis in drei Bestandteile geteilt, die während des Kaufprozesses nach und nach offenbart werden. Obwohl das eigentliche Entscheidungsproblem unverändert bleibt, sinkt die Konsumentenrente unter "drip pricing" um 25%. (Autorenreferat)

The main purpose of this thesis is to introduce and examine a three-process model on evaluative priming which may account for evaluative priming effects (i.e., faster and more accurate responses to a target following an evaluatively congruent when compared with an incongruent prime) in various task settings. The model was developed with regard to theoretical interpretations of evaluative priming and on the basis of the empirical evidence of the evaluative priming effect. On the one hand, different variants of the evaluative priming paradigm (i.e., the S-R[stimulus-response]-based variant with the evaluative categories being task-relevant and the S-S[stimulus-stimulus]-based variant with the evaluative categories being task-irrelevant) have remarkably different and partly conflicting requirements on the memory representation of evaluative connotations. On the other hand, the empirical evidence of evaluative priming effects beyond the S-R-based variant is highly ambiguous since positive, null, and even negatively signed effects have been published (see Klauer & Musch, 2003, for a review). Das Hauptziel dieser Doktorarbeit stellt die Einführung und Untersuchung eines Drei-Prozess-Modells evaluativen Primings dar, welches evaluative Primingeffekte (d.h., schnellere und korrektere Antworten auf ein Target, welches auf einen evaluativ kongruenten im Vergleich zu einem inkongruenten Prime folgt) in verschiedenen Aufgaben erklären könnte. Das Modell wurde in Bezug auf theoretische Interpretationen evaluativen Primings und auf Basis der empirischen Evidenz des evaluativen Primingeffekts entwickelt. Auf der einen Seite stellen verschiedene Varianten des evaluativen Primingparadigmas (d.h., die S-R[Stimulus-Response]-basierte Variante, bei der die evaluativen Kategorien aufgabenrelevant sind, und die S-S[Stimulus-Stimulus]-basierte Variante, bei der die evaluativen Kategorien aufgabenirrelevant sind) unterschiedliche und teilweise konfligierende Anforderungen an die Gedächtnisrepräsentation evaluativer Konnotationen. Auf der anderen Seite ist die empirische Evidenz evaluativer Primingeffekte mit positiven, Null- und sogar negativ gerichteten Effekten außerhalb der S-R-basierten Variante sehr uneindeutig (siehe Klauer & Musch, 2003, für einen Überblick).

© 2011 Nova Science Publishers, Inc. Permission from publisher Researchers have recognized that interpersonal trust consists of different dimensions. These dimensions suggest that trust can be rational, cognitive, or affective. Affect, which includes moods and emotions, is likely to have a direct impact on the affective dimension. On the other hand, there are also studies showing that affect indirec tly influence cognitive judgments. Nonetheless, in this chapter we argue that the impact of affect on judgment will not be the same on all individuals. In effect, th e impact varies, depending on the individual‟s attention to affect, motivation to use or guard against affect, or regulation of affect. All this may suggest that an individual‟s abilities or tendencies to manage affect will have implication on his or her trust relationships with others.

Die Trajektorie einer sakkadischen Blickbewegung weist im Allgemeinen eine leichte Krümmung auf. Empirische Befunde sprechen dafür, dass eine gekrümmte Trajektorie vor allem dann resultiert, wenn in der visuellen Peripherie mehrere Reize als potentielle Sakkadenziele dargeboten werden, und so um die Selektion als Sakkadenziel konkurrieren (Van der Stigchel, Meeter, & Theeuwes, 2006). Eine Abweichung der Trajektorie in Gegenrichtung zur Position eines konkurrierenden Reizes ist durch die Inhibition des Motorprogramms erklärt worden, das die Sakkade in Richtung des konkurrierenden Reizes repräsentiert (Sheliga, Riggio, & Rizzolatti, 1994; Tipper, Howard, & Houghton, 2000). Ist eine Versuchsperson zum Beispiel instruiert eine Blickbewegung auf einen als Zielreiz definierten Stimulus hin auszuführen, und dabei einen gleichzeitig dargebotenen Distraktorreiz zu ignorieren, so krümmt sich die Sakkade weg von der Distraktorposition (e. g. Doyle & Walker, 2001). Die vorliegende Dissertation untersucht Einflüsse des räumlichen Gedächtnisses und des assoziativen Lernens auf die Krümmung von Sakkadentrajektorien. Die übergeordnete Fragestellung ist, ob der Krümmungseffekt Aufschluss über assoziative Lernprozesse gibt, wenn im Lernexperiment Konkurrenz nicht zwischen sensorischen Reizen sondern zwischen konfligierenden Vorhersagen des Sakkadenziels besteht. Die Dissertation umfasst folgende Manuskripte, die einzelne Arbeitsschritte auf dem Weg zur Beantwortung dieser Frage dokumentieren: Das erste Manuskript dokumentiert die Computersoftware, die im Rahmen der Dissertation zur Parametrisierung der aufgezeichneten Blickbewegungssignale programmiert wurde. Das zweite Manuskript repliziert und erweitert empirische Befunde über den Einfluss des räumlichen Arbeitsgedächtnisses auf die Auslenkung von Trajektorien (Theeuwes, Olivers, & Chizk, 2005). Das dritte Manuskript beschreibt ein neues assoziatives Lernparadigma und demonstriert, wie die Krümmung von Sakkadentrajektorien im Lernverlauf durch die Akquisition und Extinktion von Gedächtnisinterferenz moduliert wird. Die beobachtete Modulation steht im Einklang mit den Vorhersagen der Theorie von Rescorla und Wagner (1972) zur Erklärung von klassischer Konditionierung im Tierbereich., The way the eye travels during a saccade typically does not follow a straight line but rather shows some curvature instead. Converging empirical evidence has demonstrated that curvature results from conflicting saccade goals when multiple stimuli in the visual periphery compete for selection as the saccade target (Van der Stigchel, Meeter, & Theeuwes, 2006). Curvature away from a competing stimulus has been proposed to result from the inhibitory deselection of the motor program representing the saccade towards that stimulus (Sheliga, Riggio, & Rizzolatti, 1994; Tipper, Howard, & Houghton, 2000). For example, if participants are instructed to perform a saccade towards a defined target stimulus and to ignore a simultaneously presented nearby distractor stimulus, a saccade landing on the target typically exhibits curvature away from the distractor (e. g. Doyle & Walker, 2001). The present thesis reports how trajectories of saccadic eye movements are affected by spatial memory and associative learning. The final objective was to explore if the curvature effect can be used to investigate associative learning in an experimental paradigm where competing saccade targets are retrieved from associative memory rather than being sensory events. The thesis incorporates manuscripts on the following working steps to accomplish this objective: The first manuscript presents the computer software that was written in order to derive measure of saccadic curvature from the recorded eye movement traces. The second manuscript replicates and extends prior reports on the effect of (non-associative) spatial working memory on saccade deviations (Theeuwes, Olivers, & Chizk, 2005). The third manuscript uses a novel associative learning task to demonstrate that changes in saccadic curvature during associative learning comply with the acquisition and extinction of competing associations as predicted by the Rescorla-Wagner model (Rescorla & Wagner, 1972), originally put forward to explain classical conditioning in animals.

This article presents an overview of "Performative Social Science," which is defined as the deployment of different forms of artistic performance in the execution of a scientific project. Such forms may include art, theater, poetry, music, dance, photography, fiction writing, and multi-media applications. Performative research practices are in their developmental stage, with most of the major work appearing in the last two decades. Frequently based on a social constructionist metatheory, supporters reject a realist, or mapping view of representation, and explore varieties of expressive forms for constructing worlds relevant to the social sciences. The performative orientation often relies on a dramaturgical approach that encompasses value-laden, emotionally charged topics and presentations. Social scientists invested in social justice issues and political perspectives have been especially drawn to this approach. Performative social science invites productive collaborations among various disciplinary fields and between the sciences and arts. URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs1101119, Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung / Forum: Qualitative Social Research, Vol 12, No 1 (2011): The KWALON Experiment: Discussions on Qualitative Data Analysis Software by Developers and Users

International audience; One issue of interest to practitioners and researchers in science centres concerns what meanings visitors are making from their interactions with exhibits and how they make sense of these experiences. The research reported in this study is an exploratory attempt, therefore, to investigate this process by using video clips and still photographs of schoolchildren's interactions with science centre exhibits. These stimuli were used to facilitate reflection about those interactions in follow-up interviews. The data for this study were 63 small group interviews with UK primary school children (129 students, ages 9-11). Interviews were transcribed and then analysed for common themes. The analysis presented here explores how students explain or interpret particular exhibits and the extent to which they were cognitively engaged by the process of observing their interactions with exhibits. The findings show that digital media enable students to revisit their experience and engage them with the content underlying science centre exhibits. There was, however, little difference between the patterns of response stimulated by video as opposed to photographs. It seems that such 'revisitations' of exhibit interactions could serve as a valuable means of developing further students' scientific concepts and exploiting the value for learning from the experience afforded by informal contexts.

"The physiological and expectancy effects of alcohol consumption on the aggressive behavior of 116 general-population males aged 18–45 years were analyzed separately in a naturalistic field experiment using a 3 × 3 Balanced Placebo Design (BPD). Participants were given a non-alcoholic drink, a drink targeting a Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) of .05%, or a drink targeting a BAC of .1%. Within these three groups, three expectancy levels were induced regarding the quantity of alcohol ingested. Aggressive behavior was measured as retaliation against an aggressive confederate, in the form of amounts of hot sauce and salt administered in a taste test. Expectancies significantly increased aggressive behavior, whereas actual quantity of alcohol ingested was unrelated to aggression. Aggressive dispositions also predicted aggressive behavior." [author's abstract]

This paper explores the effects of a particular form of irrational behaviour by participating bidders in a common value English auction. We allow bidders to update their expected valuation of the good as the current price increases, assuming that their opponents always play the symmetric Nash equilibrium. When only one bidder adopts this type of behaviour, it is ambiguous whether the final auction price is higher or lower than at the symmetric equilibrium. However, when both bidders behave irrationally, the final auction price is never lower than the symmetric equilibrium provided bidders “match” their strategies.

To investigate eye-movement control in reading, the present thesis examined three phenomena related to the eyes’ landing position within words, (1) the optimal viewing position (OVP), (2) the preferred viewing location (PVL), and (3) the Fixation-Duration Inverted-Optimal Viewing Position (IOVP) Effect. Based on a corpus-analytical approach (Exp. 1), the influence of variables word length, launch site distance, and word frequency was systematically explored. In addition, five experimental manipulations were conducted. First, word center was identified as the OVP, that is the position within a word where refixation probability is minimal. With increasing launch site distance, however, the OVP was found to move towards the word beginning. Several possible causes of refixations were discussed. The issue of refixation saccade programming was extensively investigated, suggesting that pre-planned and directly controlled refixation saccades coexist. Second, PVL curves, that is landing position distributions, show that the eyes are systematically deviated from the OVP, due to visuomotor constraints. By far the largest influence on mean and standard deviation of the Gaussian PVL curve was exhibited by launch site distance. Third, it was investigated how fixation durations vary as a function of landing position. The IOVP effect was replicated: Fixations located at word center are longer than those falling near the edges of a word. The effect of word frequency and/or launch site distance on the IOVP function mainly consisted in a vertical displacement of the curve. The Fixation-Duration IOVP effect is intriguing because word center (the OVP) would appear to be the best place to fixate and process a word. A critical part of the current work was devoted to investigate the origin of the effect. It was suggested that the IOVP effect arises as a consequence of mislocated fixations, i.e. fixations on unintended words, which are caused by saccadic errors. An algorithm for estimating the proportion of mislocated fixations from empirical data was developed, based on extrapolations of landing position distributions beyond word boundaries. As a new central theoretical claim it was suggested that a new saccade program is started immediately if the intended target word is missed. On average, this will lead to decreased durations for mislocated fixations. Because mislocated fixations were shown to be most prevalent at the beginning and end of words, the proposed mechanism generated the inverted U-shape for fixation durations when computed as a function of landing position. The proposed mechanism for generating the effect is generally compatible with both oculomotor and cognitive models of eye-movement control in reading. Um Blickbewegungen beim Lesen zu untersuchen, wurden in der vorliegenden Dissertation drei Phänomene in Bezug auf die Landeposition des Auges innerhalb des Wortes betrachtet, (1) die optimale Blickposition (OVP), (2) die präferierte Blickposition (PVL) und (3) der Invertierte Optimale Blickpositionseffekt für Fixationsdauern (IOVP). In einem corpus-analytischen Ansatz (Exp. 1) wurde systematisch untersucht, wie die Variablen Wortlänge, Sakkadenstartdistanz und Wortfrequenz die Parameter der OVP-, PVL-, bzw. IOVP-Funktion beeinflussen. Des weiteren wurden fünf experimentelle Manipulationen durchgeführt. Erstens, die Wortmitte wurde als OVP identifiziert, operationalisiert als die Buchstabenposition innerhalb eines Wort, an der die Refixationswahrscheinlichkeit minimal ist. Mit zunehmender Sakkadenstartdistanz verschob sich die OVP jedoch in Richtung Wortanfang. Verschiedene in Betracht kommende ursächliche Faktoren für Refixationen wurden diskutiert. Des weiteren wurden Fragen zur Programmierung von Refixationen untersucht, wobei die Ergebnisse nahe legen, dass vorgeplante und unmittelbar gesteuerte Refixationssakkaden koexistieren. Zweitens, Landepositionsverteilungen (PVL-Kurven) zeigen, dass die Augen systematisch von der OVP abweichen, was im Wesentlichen auf visuomotorische Faktoren zurückzuführen ist. Mittelwert und Standardverteilung der normalverteilten PVL-Kurven wurden v.a. von der Sakkadenstartdistanz beeinflusst. Als dritter Schwerpunkt wurde untersucht, wie Fixationsdauern als Funktion der Landeposition variieren. Der Invertierte Optimale Blickpositionseffekt wurde repliziert: In der Wortmitte lokalisierte Fixationen sind länger als solche, die sich an den Worträndern befinden. Der Effekt von Wortfrequenz bzw. Sakkadenstartdistanz auf die IOVP-Funktion zeigte sich im Wesentlichen in einer vertikalen Verschiebung der Kurve. Der Befund eines invertierten OVP-Effektes für Fixationsdauern ist kontraintuitiv, denn die Wortmitte (OVP) wird als optimaler Ort betrachtet, um ein Wort zu fixieren und zu verarbeiten. Ein wesentlicher Beitrag der vorliegenden Arbeit bestand darin, ursächliche Faktoren für den IOVP-Effekt zu identifizieren. Es wurde vorgeschlagen, dass der Effekt auf sog. fehlplazierte Fixationen, d.h. Fixationen auf nicht-intendierten Wörtern, zurückzuführen ist. Fehlplazierte Fixationen werden durch okulomotorische Fehler in der Sakkadenprogrammierung verursacht. Es wurde ein Algorithmus entwickelt, um den Anteil fehlplazierter Fixationen aus empirischen Lesedaten abzuschätzen, basierend auf Extrapolationen von Landepositionsverteilungen über die Wortgrenzen hinweg. Als zentrale theoretische Annahme wurde formuliert, dass ein neues potentiell korrigierendes Sakkadenprogramm unverzüglich gestartet wird, wenn das intendierte Zielwort verfehlt wurde. Dadurch verringert sich die mittlere Dauer von fehlplazierten Fixationen. Da fehlplazierte Fixationen am häufigsten am Wortanfang und am Wortende auftreten, generierte der vorgeschlagene Mechanismus die invertierte U-Form für Fixationsdauern als Funktion der Landeposition. Der Mechanismus, der – gemäß der hier entwickelten Argumentation – dem IOVP-Effekt zugrunde liegt, ist prinzipiell sowohl mit okulomotorischen als auch mit kognitiven Theorien der Blicksteuerung beim Lesen vereinbar.

'Von Bowlbys These ausgehend, dass die Eltern-Kind-Bindung als Modell für enge Beziehungen im weiteren Leben dient, ging es in dieser Arbeit um die Frage, inwieweit Zusammenhänge zwischen der Bindung an einen Partner im Erwachsenenalter und Erinnerungen an die Bindung an die Eltern in der Kindheit festzustellen sind. Zwei Studien wurden durchgeführt, in denen Erwachsene mit qualitativen und quantitativen Methoden zu ihrer aktuellen Bindung an einen Partner und zu ihrer früheren Bindung an die Eltern befragt wurden. Es zeigte sich, dass die Bindung an einen Partner mit zwei Dimensionen der Erinnerungen an die Eltern-Kind-Bindung zusammenhing, die Emotionale Akzeptanz seitens der Mutter in der Kindheit und die Offenheit der Befragten beim Ausdruck von Gefühlen. Emotionale Komponenten der Erinnerungen an die Eltern-Kind-Bindung erwiesen sich damit als bedeutsam für die partnerschaftliche Bindung. Keine signifikante Übereinstimmung wurde dagegen gefunden, wenn die partnerschaftliche und die kindheitsbezogene Bindung als sicher, ängstlich-ambivalent oder vermeidend klassifiziert wurden. Die Ergebnisse werden vor dem Hintergrund der These der Kontinuität von Bindung diskutiert.' (Autorenreferat) 'Based on Bowlby's hypothesis that attachment to parents serves as a model for close relationships in adulthood, this study focuses on the extent to which adult attachment to a romantic partner is related to recollections of attachment to one's parents in childhood. Two studies were conducted in which adults were assessed with qualitative and quantitative methods with respect to their view of their current romantic bond and their former bond to parents. Results indicated that romantic attachment was related to two dimensions of memories of attachment to parents: feeling emotionally accepted by the mother in childhood, and the respondents' present openness in expressing feelings. Emotional components of memories of parent-child-attachment were therefore shown to be significantly related to romantic attachment. However, no significant correspondence was found when attachment to romantic partners and to parents was classified as secure, ambivalent, or avoidant. Results are discussed with respect to the continuity hypothesis of attachment.' (author's abstract)

"Elterneinstellungen bezüglich der Eignung ihrer Kinder für die Mathematik wurden bisher nur selten untersucht, und im deutschsprachigen Raum liegt derzeit keine Studie vor, in der diese Aspekte getrennt für Mütter und Väter von jeweils Mädchen und Jungen analysiert werden. In einer empirischen Erhebung zu Beginn des Gymnasiums konnten im Rahmen der vorliegenden Untersuchung unterschiedliche Einschätzungen der Eltern bezüglich der Eignung ihrer Töchter bzw. Söhne für das Fach Mathematik nachgewiesen werden. Mädchen wurden dabei als deutlich weniger begabt und geeignet für die Mathematik eingeschätzt. Dies entsprach auch dem Selbstbild der Kinder, d.h. Mädchen hatten weniger Vertrauen in ihre mathematischen Fähigkeiten als Jungen, geringere Aspirationen und attribuierten ungünstiger. Zwischen Eltern- und Kindvariablen konnten systematische Korrelationen für das Vertrauen in die eigenen Fähigkeiten und das Aspirationsniveau gefunden werden, nicht aber für die Attributionen. Schließlich konnte gezeigt werden, dass der elterliche Glaube an die unterschiedliche Eignung von Mädchen und Jungen für die Mathematik die Selbsteinschätzungen der Kinder beeinflusst. In der Diskussion werden mögliche pädagogisch-psychologische Folgerungen aus den Resultaten thematisiert." (Autorenreferat) "Parental attitudes concerning the how well suited their children are for mathematics have, in the past, only seldom been investigated. There is currently no existing study among German speaking countries in which this aspect was separately analyzed for mothers and fathers, as well as for girls and boys. In an empirical investigation conducted at the start of Gymnasium (college preparatory schools), differing estimations by parents in their child's suitability for mathematics could be confirmed for sons and daughters. Girls were seen as significantly less talented and thereby less suited for mathematics. This was also reflected in the self-perceptions the children had, in that girls had lower levels of confidence in their mathematical abilities than boys, fewer aspirations, and made more unfavorable attributions. Between parental and child variables, systematic correlations for the confidence in ability and aspiration could be found, but not for attributions. Finally, it could be shown that parental belief in the differing suitability of girls and boys for mathematics has an influence on the children's self-perception. In the discussion possible consequences for educational psychology are considered." (author's abstract)

Standardized norm data for three scales of a 19-item self-report measure on environmental spatial strategies are provided. This self-report measure comprises egocentric spatial strategies, an allocentric mental map strategy and knowledge of cardinal directions as three separate scales, “Validation of a 3-factor structure of spatial strategies and relations to possession and usage of navigational aids” (Münzer et al., 2016) [3]. The data are based on a large sample (N>4000) representative for the population in Germany. Standardized norm data for men and women in different age groups are provided through percentile ranks and T-values. Keywords: Environmental spatial strategies, Individual differences, Self-reported spatial ability, Standardized norms