150 Psychologie
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Visual search in natural scenes is a complex task relying on peripheral vision to detect potential targets and central vision to verify them. The segregation of the visual fields has been particularly established by on-screen experiments. We conducted a gaze-contingent experiment in virtual reality in order to test how the perceived roles of central and peripheral visions translated to more natural settings. The use of everyday scenes in virtual reality allowed us to study visual attention by implementing a fairly ecological protocol that cannot be implemented in the real world. Central or peripheral vision was masked during visual search, with target objects selected according to scene semantic rules. Analyzing the resulting search behavior, we found that target objects that were not spatially constrained to a probable location within the scene impacted search measures negatively. Our results diverge from on-screen studies in that search performances were only slightly affected by central vision loss. In particular, a central mask did not impact verification times when the target was grammatically constrained to an anchor object. Our findings demonstrates that the role of central vision (up to 6 degrees of eccentricities) in identifying objects in natural scenes seems to be minor, while the role of peripheral preprocessing of targets in immersive real-world searches may have been underestimated by on-screen experiments.
Drawing on insights found in both philosophy and psychology, this paper offers an analysis of hate and distinguishes between its main types. I argue that hate is a sentiment, i.e., a form to regard the other as evil which on certain occasions can be acutely felt. On the basis of this definition, I develop a typology which, unlike the main typologies in philosophy and psychology, does not explain hate in terms of patterns of other affective states. By examining the developmental history and intentional structure of hate, I obtain two variables: the replaceability/irreplaceability of the target and the determinacy/indeterminacy of the focus of concern. The combination of these variables generates the four-types model of hate, according to which hate comes in the following kinds: normative, ideological, retributive, and malicious.
Self-compassion has been theorized to have three components, each with a positive pole and a negative pole: self-kindness versus self-judgment, common humanity versus isolation, and mindfulness versus over-identification. Neff (Self Identity 2:85–101, 2003a) proposes that they mutually influence each other, however, this proposition has not been tested yet. We conducted a pilot study to see if improvements from training one component spilled over to the other two—and whether these trainings had an impact on well-being. 80 participants completed 8 weeks of self-compassionate writing exercises to enhance either self-kindness, common humanity, or mindfulness. Trait self-compassion was assessed using the six-factor model of the self-compassion scale. To address issues of alpha-error-inflation, the false discovery rate was fixed at 5%, and critical p values were adjusted accordingly. Participants in the mindfulness condition reported increased total self-compassion (p = .009), which was accompanied by increased self-kindness (p = .027) and lower isolation (p = .045). Participants in the common humanity condition reported improved total self-compassion (p = .018), lower over-identification (p = .045), and higher life-satisfaction (p = .049). The training in self-kindness failed to improve self-kindness or any other factor. These findings provide initial evidence that the components of self-compassion mutually enhance each other. They also emphasize the importance of mindfulness within the conceptualization of self-compassion.
While Freud regularly discusses the Oedipus complex in the context of the Sophoclean tragedy, the founding document of the psychoanalytic theory of narcissism lacks any trace of the mythological substrate. Both Narcissus, who contributed no less than his name to the psychic phenomenon of narcissism, and Ovid, in whose Metamorphoses the most elaborate and effective elaboration of the myth of Narcissus is laid down, form a conspicuous blank space in Freud's 'Introduction to Narcissism'. This article will attempt to explain this lack of tradition and, in addition, discuss the figure of Pygmalion as a productive form of narcissism that can supplement Freud's theory.
This systematic review investigated how successful children/adolescents with poor literacy skills learn a foreign language compared with their peers with typical literacy skills. Moreover, we explored whether specific characteristics related to participants, foreign language instruction, and assessment moderated scores on foreign language tests in this population. Overall, 16 studies with a total of 968 participants (poor reader/spellers: n = 404; control participants: n = 564) met eligibility criteria. Only studies focusing on English as a foreign language were available. Available data allowed for meta-analyses on 10 different measures of foreign language attainment. In addition to standard mean differences (SMDs), we computed natural logarithms of the ratio of coefficients of variation (CVRs) to capture individual variability between participant groups. Significant between-study heterogeneity, which could not be explained by moderator analyses, limited the interpretation of results. Although children/adolescents with poor literacy skills on average showed lower scores on foreign language phonological awareness, letter knowledge, and reading comprehension measures, their performance varied significantly more than that of control participants. Thus, it remains unclear to what extent group differences between the foreign language scores of children/adolescents with poor and typical literacy skills are representative of individual poor readers/spellers. Taken together, our results indicate that foreign language skills in children/adolescents with poor literacy skills are highly variable. We discuss the limitations of past research that can guide future steps toward a better understanding of individual differences in foreign language attainment of children/adolescents with poor literacy skills.
Background: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by impaired social communication and interaction, and stereotyped, repetitive behaviour and sensory interests. To date, there is no effective medication that can improve social communication and interaction in ASD, and effect sizes of behaviour-based psychotherapy remain in the low to medium range. Consequently, there is a clear need for new treatment options. ASD is associated with altered activation and connectivity patterns in brain areas which process social information. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a technique that applies a weak electrical current to the brain in order to modulate neural excitability and alter connectivity. Combined with specific cognitive tasks, it allows to facilitate and consolidate the respective training effects. Therefore, application of tDCS in brain areas relevant to social cognition in combination with a specific cognitive training is a promising treatment approach for ASD. Methods: A phase-IIa pilot randomized, double-blind, sham-controlled, parallel-group clinical study is presented, which aims at investigating if 10 days of 20-min multi-channel tDCS stimulation of the bilateral tempo-parietal junction (TPJ) at 2.0 mA in combination with a computer-based cognitive training on perspective taking, intention and emotion understanding, can improve social cognitive abilities in children and adolescents with ASD. The main objectives are to describe the change in parent-rated social responsiveness from baseline (within 1 week before first stimulation) to post-intervention (within 7 days after last stimulation) and to monitor safety and tolerability of the intervention. Secondary objectives include the evaluation of change in parent-rated social responsiveness at follow-up (4 weeks after end of intervention), change in other ASD core symptoms and psychopathology, social cognitive abilities and neural functioning post-intervention and at follow-up in order to explore underlying neural and cognitive mechanisms. Discussion: If shown, positive results regarding change in parent-rated social cognition and favourable safety and tolerability of the intervention will confirm tDCS as a promising treatment for ASD core-symptoms. This may be a first step in establishing a new and cost-efficient intervention for individuals with ASD.
Previous research has demonstrated the efficacy of psychological interventions to foster resilience. However, little is known about whether the cultural context in which resilience interventions are implemented affects their efficacy on mental health. Studies performed in Western (k = 175) and Eastern countries (k = 46) regarding different aspects of interventions (setting, mode of delivery, target population, underlying theoretical approach, duration, control group design) and their efficacy on resilience, anxiety, depressive symptoms, quality of life, perceived stress, and social support were compared. Interventions in Eastern countries were longer in duration and tended to be more often conducted in group settings with a focus on family caregivers. We found evidence for larger effect sizes of resilience interventions in Eastern countries for improving resilience (standardized mean difference [SMD] = 0.48, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.28 to 0.67; p < 0.0001; 43 studies; 6248 participants; I2 = 97.4%). Intercultural differences should receive more attention in resilience intervention research. Future studies could directly compare interventions in different cultural contexts to explain possible underlying causes for differences in their efficacy on mental health outcomes.
Children often perform worse than adults on tasks that require focused attention. While this is commonly regarded as a sign of incomplete cognitive development, a broader attentional focus could also endow children with the ability to find novel solutions to a given task. To test this idea, we investigated children’s ability to discover and use novel aspects of the environment that allowed them to improve their decision-making strategy. Participants were given a simple choice task in which the possibility of strategy improvement was neither mentioned by instructions nor encouraged by explicit error feedback. Among 47 children (8—10 years of age) who were instructed to perform the choice task across two experiments, 27.5% showed a full strategy change. This closely matched the proportion of adults who had the same insight (28.2% of n = 39). The amount of erroneous choices, working memory capacity and inhibitory control, in contrast, indicated substantial disadvantages of children in task execution and cognitive control. A task difficulty manipulation did not affect the results. The stark contrast between age-differences in different aspects of cognitive performance might offer a unique opportunity for educators in fostering learning in children.
Beneficial acute effects of resistance exercise on cognitive functions may be modified by exercise intensity or by habitual physical activity. Twenty-six participants (9 female and 17 male; 25.5 ± 3.4 years) completed four resistance exercise interventions in a randomized order on separate days (≥48 h washout). The intensities were set at 60%, 75%, and 90% of the one repetition maximum (1RM). Three interventions had matched workloads (equal resistance*nrepetitions). One intervention applied 75% of the 1RM and a 50% reduced workload (resistance*nrepetitions = 50%). Cognitive attention (Trail Making Test A—TMTA), task switching (Trail Making Test B—TMTB), and working memory (Digit Reading Spans Backward) were assessed before and immediately after exercise. Habitual activity was assessed as MET hours per week using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire. TMTB time to completion was significantly shorter after exercise with an intensity of 60% 1RM and 75% 1RM and 100% workload. Friedman test indicated a significant effect of exercise intensity in favor of 60% 1RM. TMTA performance was significantly shorter after exercise with an intensity of 60% 1RM, 90% 1RM, and 75% 1RM (50% workload). Habitual activity with vigorous intensity correlated positively with the baseline TMTB and Digit Span Forward performance but not with pre- to post-intervention changes. Task switching, based on working memory, mental flexibility, and inhibition, was beneficially influenced by acute exercise with moderate intensity whereas attention performance was increased after exercise with moderate and vigorous intensity. The effect of regular activity had no impact on acute exercise effects.
Background: Personal treatment goals (PTG) are important means to tailor psychotherapy to the needs of the patient, leading to increased engagement and greater improvement in relevant outcomes. According to lifespan developmental research, motivational goals in old age differ from goals of younger people, with management of losses rather than growth becoming more prevalent. However, this study is the first to systematically investigate age-specific differences in PTGs. Method: We used routine data from patients with major depression assessed at the beginning of outpatient cognitive behavioural therapy. Initial high-priority PTGs were assessed using the Bern Inventory of Treatment Goals (BIT-C). Older patients (≥60 years, n = 52) were matched to younger patients (<60 years, n = 52) with regard to severity of depression, number of comorbidities, gender and level of education. Results: Using a mixed method approach, high-priority PTGs of both age groups were focused most strongly on reducing depressive symptoms and, subsequently, anxiety. At the same time, older patients focused more strongly on PTGs related to well-being and functioning, while younger patients' emphasis was on personal growth. Furthermore, better coping with the ageing process and physical losses emerged as important PTGs for some older patients. Conclusion: Initial PTG themes are specific to diagnosis, but also seem to differ in regard to age. Thus, it is important to develop age-sensitive measures that allow appropriate and efficient tailoring of psychotherapy to meet older patients' needs and preferences.