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Metacognition plays a pivotal role in human development. The ability to realize that we do not know something, or meta-ignorance, emerges after approximately five years of age. We sought for the brain systems that underlie the developmental emergence of this ability in a preschool sample.
Twenty-four children aged between five and six years answered questions under three conditions. In the critical partial knowledge condition, an experimenter first showed two toys to a child, then announced that she would place one of them in a box, out of sight from the child. The experimenter then asked the child whether she knew which toy was in the box.
Children who gave consistently correct answers to this question (n = 9) showed greater cortical thickness in a cluster within left medial orbitofrontal cortex than children who did not (n = 15). Further, seed-based functional connectivity analyses of the brain during resting state revealed that this region is functionally connected to the medial orbitofrontal gyrus, posterior cingulate gyrus and precuneus, and mid- and inferior temporal gyri.
This finding suggests that the default mode network, critically through its prefrontal regions, supports introspective processing. It leads to the emergence of metacognitive monitoring allowing children to explicitly report their own ignorance.
Context information supports serial dependence of multiple visual objects across memory episodes
(2019)
Visual perception operates in an object-based manner, by integrating associated features via attention. Working memory allows a flexible access to a limited number of currently relevant objects, even when they are occluded or physically no longer present. Recently, it has been shown that we compensate for small changes of an object’s feature over memory episodes, which can support its perceptual stability. This phenomenon was termed ‘serial dependence’ and has mostly been studied in situations that comprised only a single relevant object. However, since we are typically confronted with situations where several objects have to be perceived and held in working memory, the central question of how we selectively create temporal stability of several objects has remained unsolved. As different objects can be distinguished by their accompanying context features, like their color or temporal position, we tested whether serial dependence is supported by the congruence of context features across memory episodes. Specifically, we asked participants to remember the motion directions of two sequentially presented colored dot fields per trial. At the end of a trial one motion direction was cued for continuous report either by its color (Experiment 1) or serial position (Experiment 2). We observed serial dependence, i.e., an attractive bias of currently toward previously memorized objects, between current and past motion directions that was clearly enhanced when items had the same color or serial position across trials. This bias was particularly pronounced for the context feature that was used for cueing and for the target of the previous trial. Together, these findings demonstrate that coding of current object representations depends on previous representations, especially when they share similar content and context features. Apparently the binding of content and context features is not completely erased after a memory episode, but it is carried over to subsequent episodes. As this reflects temporal dependencies in natural settings, the present findings reveal a mechanism that integrates corresponding bundles of content and context features to support stable representations of individualized objects over time.
Successful consolidation of associative memories relies on the coordinated interplay of slow oscillations and sleep spindles during non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep, enabling the transfer of labile information from the hippocampus to permanent memory stores in the neocortex. During senescence, the decline of the structural and functional integrity of the hippocampus and neocortical regions is paralleled by changes of the physiological events that stabilize and enhance associative memories during NREM sleep. However, the currently available evidence is inconclusive if and under which circumstances aging impacts memory consolidation. By tracing the encoding quality of single memories in individual participants, we demonstrate that previous learning determines the extent of age-related impairments in memory consolidation. Specifically, the detrimental effects of aging on memory maintenance were greatest for mnemonic contents of medium encoding quality, whereas memory gain of weakly encoded memories did not differ by age. Using multivariate techniques, we identified profiles of alterations in sleep physiology and brain structure characteristic for increasing age. Importantly, while both ‘aged’ sleep and ‘aged’ brain structure profiles were associated with reduced memory maintenance, inter-individual differences in neither sleep nor structural brain integrity qualified as the driving force behind age differences in sleep-dependent consolidation in the present study.
Neural pattern similarity differentially relates to memory performance in younger and older adults
(2019)
Age-related memory decline is associated with changes in neural functioning, but little is known about how aging affects the quality of information representation in the brain. Whereas a long-standing hypothesis of the aging literature links cognitive impairments to less distinct neural representations in old age (“neural dedifferentiation”), memory studies have shown that overlapping neural representations of different studied items are beneficial for memory performance. In an electroencephalography (EEG) study, we addressed the question whether distinctiveness or similarity between patterns of neural activity supports memory differentially in younger and older adults. We analyzed between-item neural pattern similarity in 50 younger (19–27 years old) and 63 older (63–75 years old) male and female human adults who repeatedly studied and recalled scene–word associations using a mnemonic imagery strategy. We compared the similarity of spatiotemporal EEG frequency patterns during initial encoding in relation to subsequent recall performance. The within-person association between memory success and pattern similarity differed between age groups: For older adults, better memory performance was linked to higher similarity early in the encoding trials, whereas young adults benefited from lower similarity between earlier and later periods during encoding, which might reflect their better success in forming unique memorable mental images of the joint picture–word pairs. Our results advance the understanding of the representational properties that give rise to subsequent memory, as well as how these properties may change in the course of aging.
Age-related memory decline is associated with changes in neural functioning but little is known about how aging affects the quality of information representation in the brain. Whereas a long-standing hypothesis of the aging literature links cognitive impairments to less distinct neural representations in old age, memory studies have shown that high similarity between activity patterns benefits memory performance for the respective stimuli. Here, we addressed this apparent conflict by investigating between-item representational similarity in 50 younger (19–27 years old) and 63 older (63–75 years old) human adults (male and female) who studied scene-word associations using a mnemonic imagery strategy while electroencephalography was recorded. We compared the similarity of spatiotemporal frequency patterns elicited during encoding of items with different subsequent memory fate. Compared to younger adults, older adults’ memory representations were more similar to each other but items that elicited the most similar activity patterns early in the encoding trial were those that were best remembered by older adults. In contrast, young adults’ memory performance benefited from decreased similarity between earlier and later periods in the encoding trials, which might reflect their better success in forming unique memorable mental images of the joint picture–word pair. Our results advance the understanding of the representational properties that give rise to memory quality as well as how these properties change in the course of aging.
We studied oscillatory mechanisms of memory formation in 48 younger and 51 older adults in an intentional associative memory task with cued recall. While older adults showed lower memory performance than young adults, we found subsequent memory effects (SME) in alpha/beta and theta frequency bands in both age groups. Using logistic mixed effect models, we investigated whether interindividual differences in structural integrity of key memory regions could account for interindividual differences in the strength of the SME. Structural integrity of inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and hippocampus was reduced in older adults. SME in the alpha/beta band were modulated by the cortical thickness of IFG, in line with its hypothesized role for deep semantic elaboration. Importantly, this structure–function relationship did not differ by age group. However, older adults were more frequently represented among the participants with low cortical thickness and consequently weaker SME in the alpha band. Thus, our results suggest that differences in the structural integrity of the IFG contribute not only to interindividual, but also to age differences in memory formation.
Mounting evidence suggests that perception depends on a largely-feedforward brain network. However, the discrepancy between (i) the latency of the corresponding feedforward responses (150-200 ms) and (ii) the time it takes human subjects to recognize brief images (often >500 ms) suggests that recurrent neuronal activity is critical to visual processing. Here, we use magneto-encephalography to localize, track and decode the feedforward and recurrent responses elicited by brief presentations of variably-ambiguous letters and digits. We first confirm that these stimuli trigger, within the first 200 ms, a feedforward response in the ventral and dorsal cortical pathways. The subsequent activity is distributed across temporal, parietal and prefrontal cortices and leads to a slow and incremental cascade of representations culminating in action-specific motor signals. We introduce an analytical framework to show that these brain responses are best accounted for by a hierarchy of recurrent neural assemblies. An accumulation of computational delays across specific processing stages explains subjects’ reaction times. Finally, the slow convergence of neural representations towards perceptual categories is quickly followed by all-or-none motor decision signals. Together, these results show how recurrent processes generate, over extended time periods, a cascade of hierarchical decisions that ultimately predicts subjects’ perceptual reports.
BOLD signatures of sleep
(2019)
Sleep can be distinguished from wake by changes in brain electrical activity, typically assessed using electroencephalography (EEG). The hallmark of non-rapid-eye-movement sleep are two major EEG events: slow waves and spindles. Here we sought to identify possible signatures of sleep in brain hemodynamic activity, using simultaneous fMRI-EEG. We found that, during the transition from wake to sleep, blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) activity evolved from a mixed-frequency pattern to one dominated by two distinct oscillations: a low-frequency (~0.05Hz) oscillation prominent in light sleep and a high-frequency (~0.17Hz) oscillation in deep sleep. The two BOLD oscillations correlated with the occurrences of spindles and slow waves, respectively. They were detectable across the whole brain, cortically and subcortically, but had different regional distributions and opposite onset patterns. These spontaneous BOLD oscillations provide fMRI signatures of basic sleep processes, which may be employed to study human sleep at spatial resolution and brain coverage not achievable using EEG.
Afterimages result from a prolonged exposure to still visual stimuli. They are best detectable when viewed against uniform backgrounds and can persist for multiple seconds. Consequently, the dynamics of afterimages appears to be slow by their very nature. To the contrary, we report here that about 50% of an afterimage intensity can be erased rapidly—within less than a second. The prerequisite is that subjects view a rich visual content to erase the afterimage; fast erasure of afterimages does not occur if subjects view a blank screen. Moreover, we find evidence that fast removal of afterimages is a skill learned with practice as our subjects were always more effective in cleaning up afterimages in later parts of the experiment. These results can be explained by a tri-level hierarchy of adaptive mechanisms, as has been proposed by the theory of practopoiesis.
Word familiarity and predictive context facilitate visual word processing, leading to faster recognition times and reduced neuronal responses. Previously, models with and without top-down connections, including lexical-semantic, pre-lexical (e.g., orthographic/ phonological), and visual processing levels were successful in accounting for these facilitation effects. Here we systematically assessed context-based facilitation with a repetition priming task and explicitly dissociated pre-lexical and lexical processing levels using a pseudoword familiarization procedure. Experiment 1 investigated the temporal dynamics of neuronal facilitation effects with magnetoencephalography (MEG; N=38 human participants) while Experiment 2 assessed behavioral facilitation effects (N=24 human participants). Across all stimulus conditions, MEG demonstrated context-based facilitation across multiple time windows starting at 100 ms, in occipital brain areas. This finding indicates context based-facilitation at an early visual processing level. In both experiments, we furthermore found an interaction of context and lexical familiarity, such that stimuli with associated meaning showed the strongest context-dependent facilitation in brain activation and behavior. Using MEG, this facilitation effect could be localized to the left anterior temporal lobe at around 400 ms, indicating within-level (i.e., exclusively lexical-semantic) facilitation but no top-down effects on earlier processing stages. Increased pre-lexical familiarity (in pseudowords familiarized utilizing training) did not enhance or reduce context effects significantly. We conclude that context based-facilitation is achieved within visual and lexical processing levels. Finally, by testing alternative hypotheses derived from mechanistic accounts of repetition suppression, we suggest that the facilitatory context effects found here are implemented using a predictive coding mechanism.
Word familiarity and predictive context facilitate visual word processing, leading to faster recognition times and reduced neuronal responses. Previously, models with and without top-down connections, including lexical-semantic, pre-lexical (e.g., orthographic/phonological), and visual processing levels were successful in accounting for these facilitation effects. Here we systematically assessed context-based facilitation with a repetition priming task and explicitly dissociated pre-lexical and lexical processing levels using a pseudoword (PW) familiarization procedure. Experiment 1 investigated the temporal dynamics of neuronal facilitation effects with magnetoencephalography (MEG; N = 38 human participants), while experiment 2 assessed behavioral facilitation effects (N = 24 human participants). Across all stimulus conditions, MEG demonstrated context-based facilitation across multiple time windows starting at 100 ms, in occipital brain areas. This finding indicates context-based facilitation at an early visual processing level. In both experiments, we furthermore found an interaction of context and lexical familiarity, such that stimuli with associated meaning showed the strongest context-dependent facilitation in brain activation and behavior. Using MEG, this facilitation effect could be localized to the left anterior temporal lobe at around 400 ms, indicating within-level (i.e., exclusively lexical-semantic) facilitation but no top-down effects on earlier processing stages. Increased pre-lexical familiarity (in PWs familiarized utilizing training) did not enhance or reduce context effects significantly. We conclude that context-based facilitation is achieved within visual and lexical processing levels. Finally, by testing alternative hypotheses derived from mechanistic accounts of repetition suppression, we suggest that the facilitatory context effects found here are implemented using a predictive coding mechanism.
How is semantic information stored in the human mind and brain? Some philosophers and cognitive scientists argue for vectorial representations of concepts, where the meaning of a word is represented as its position in a high-dimensional neural state space. At the intersection of natural language processing and artificial intelligence, a class of very successful distributional word vector models has developed that can account for classic EEG findings of language, i.e., the ease vs. difficulty of integrating a word with its sentence context. However, models of semantics have to account not only for context-based word processing, but should also describe how word meaning is represented. Here, we investigate whether distributional vector representations of word meaning can model brain activity induced by words presented without context. Using EEG activity (event-related brain potentials) collected while participants in two experiments (English, German) read isolated words, we encode and decode word vectors taken from the family of prediction-based word2vec algorithms. We find that, first, the position of a word in vector space allows the prediction of the pattern of corresponding neural activity over time, in particular during a time window of 300 to 500 ms after word onset. Second, distributional models perform better than a human-created taxonomic baseline model (WordNet), and this holds for several distinct vector-based models. Third, multiple latent semantic dimensions of word meaning can be decoded from brain activity. Combined, these results suggest that empiricist, prediction-based vectorial representations of meaning are a viable candidate for the representational architecture of human semantic knowledge.
Mental imagery provides an essential simulation tool for remembering the past and planning the future, with its strength affecting both cognition and mental health. Research suggests that neural activity spanning prefrontal, parietal, temporal, and visual areas supports the generation of mental images. Exactly how this network controls the strength of visual imagery remains unknown. Here, brain imaging and transcranial magnetic phosphene data show that lower resting activity and excitability levels in early visual cortex (V1-V3) predict stronger sensory imagery. Electrically decreasing visual cortex excitability using tDCS increases imagery strength, demonstrating a causative role of visual cortex excitability in controlling visual imagery. These data suggest a neurophysiological mechanism of cortical excitability involved in controlling the strength of mental images.
Reducing neuronal size results in less cell membrane and therefore lower input conductance. Smaller neurons are thus more excitable as seen in their voltage responses to current injections in the soma. However, the impact of a neuron’s size and shape on its voltage responses to synaptic activation in dendrites is much less understood. Here we use analytical cable theory to predict voltage responses to distributed synaptic inputs and show that these are entirely independent of dendritic length. For a given synaptic density, a neuron’s response depends only on the average dendritic diameter and its intrinsic conductivity. These results remain true for the entire range of possible dendritic morphologies irrespective of any particular arborisation complexity. Also, spiking models result in morphology invariant numbers of action potentials that encode the percentage of active synapses. Interestingly, in contrast to spike rate, spike times do depend on dendrite morphology. In summary, a neuron’s excitability in response to synaptic inputs is not affected by total dendrite length. It rather provides a homeostatic input-output relation that specialised synapse distributions, local non-linearities in the dendrites and synaptic plasticity can modulate. Our work reveals a new fundamental principle of dendritic constancy that has consequences for the overall computation in neural circuits.
Excess neuronal branching allows for innervation of specific dendritic compartments in cortex
(2019)
The connectivity of cortical microcircuits is a major determinant of brain function; defining how activity propagates between different cell types is key to scaling our understanding of individual neuronal behaviour to encompass functional networks. Furthermore, the integration of synaptic currents within a dendrite depends on the spatial organisation of inputs, both excitatory and inhibitory. We identify a simple equation to estimate the number of potential anatomical contacts between neurons; finding a linear increase in potential connectivity with cable length and maximum spine length, and a decrease with overlapping volume. This enables us to predict the mean number of candidate synapses for reconstructed cells, including those realistically arranged. We identify an excess of putative connections in cortical data, with densities of neurite higher than is necessary to reliably ensure the possible implementation of any given connection. We show that potential contacts allow the particular implementation of connectivity at a subcellular level.
Wir Melancholiker
(2019)
Although researchers and practitioners increasingly focus on health promotion in organizations, research has been mainly fragmented and fails to integrate different organizational levels in terms of their effects on employee health. Drawing on organizational climate and social identity research, we present a cascading model of organizational health climate and demonstrate how and when leaders' perceptions of organizational health climate are linked to employee well-being. We tested our model in two multisource studies (NStudy 1 = 65 leaders and 291 employees; NStudy 2 = 401 leader–employee dyads). Results showed that leaders' perceptions of organizational health climate were positively related to their health mindsets (i.e., their health awareness). These in turn were positively associated with their health-promoting leadership behavior, which ultimately went along with better employee well-being. Additionally, in Study 1, the relationship between perceived organizational health climate and leaders' health mindsets was moderated by their organizational identification. High leader identification strengthened the relationship between perceived organizational health climate and leaders' health mindsets. These findings have important implications for theory and practice as they show how the dynamics of an organizational health climate can unfold in organizations and how it is related to employee well-being via the novel concept of health-promoting leadership.
Individual differences in general cognitive ability (i.e., intelligence) have been linked to individual variations in the modular organization of functional brain networks. However, these analyses have been limited to static (time-averaged) connectivity, and have not yet addressed whether dynamic changes in the configuration of brain networks relate to general intelligence. Here, we used multiband functional MRI resting-state data (N = 281) and estimated subject-specific time-varying functional connectivity networks. Modularity optimization was applied to determine individual time-variant module partitions and to assess fluctuations in modularity across time. We show that higher intelligence, indexed by an established composite measure, the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence (WASI), is associated with higher temporal stability (lower temporal variability) of brain network modularity. Post-hoc analyses reveal that subjects with higher intelligence scores engage in fewer periods of extremely high modularity — which are characterized by greater disconnection of task-positive from task-negative networks. Further, we show that brain regions of the dorsal attention network contribute most to the observed effect. In sum, our study suggests that investigating the temporal dynamics of functional brain network topology contributes to our understanding of the neural bases of general cognitive abilities.
Background: This article reports reliability, validity, and norms for the German version of the multi-informant questionnaire Inventory of Callous–Unemotional Traits (ICU). Method: The ICU was filled in by nonreferred children aged 13 to 18 years old (n = 645), parents of children aged 6 to 18 years old (n = 1,005), and their teachers (n = 955). Results: Confirmatory factor analysis resulted in a two-factor solution giving the best fit. Still none of the models showed an adequate model-fit applying the chi-square exact fit test. The internal consistency of the parent’s, teacher’s, and self-report version were α = .830, α = .877 and α = .769, respectively. Interrater reliability was moderate. Convergent validity with the Youth Psychopathic Traits Inventory, the externalizing scores of the Youth Self-Report/Child Behavior Checklist, and with the German oppositional Defiant Disorder/Conduct Disorder Rating Scale “FBB-SSV” were good. German norms were calculated. Conclusions: The ICU is a reliable and valid dimensional measure to describe callous–unemotional traits.
Der Psychologe Albert Michotte setzte sich in technisch gestützten Experimentalanordnungen mit philosophischen und psychologischen Sehstörungen auseinander, wie der Text von Sigrid Leyssen darstellt. Michotte bemühte sich, Sehstörungen experimentell festzuhalten, um 'reines' Sehen von wissendem, glaubendem und durch jede Art von Erfahrung beeinflusstem Sehen zu unterscheiden. Was Helmholtz gerade für unmöglich gehalten hatte - reines Sehen des sinnlich Gegebenen - war für Michotte dank eines erweiterten Wahrnehmungskonzeptes in der ersten Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts wieder das, was es zu entdecken galt. Die Einflüsse von Erinnerungen sowie durch Wissen oder Glauben entstandenen Vorstellungen verfolgte Michotte mit dem Ziel, verbreitete wissenschaftliche Sehstörungen offenzulegen.
Double blind - psychogene und psychosomatische Sehstörungen nach Sigmund Freud und Georg Groddeck
(2019)
Die Psychoanalyse des frühen 20. Jahrhunderts nahm in ihren Überlegungen Sehstörungen zum Anlass, um das Funktionieren des gesunden Auges, vor allem aber die Funktionsweisen der menschlichen Psyche zu thematisieren. Anne-Kathrin Reulecke zeigt, dass sowohl Sigmund Freud als auch Georg Groddeck davon ausgingen, dass das Sehen keine rein physiologische Fähigkeit, sondern vielmehr eine psychologisch sowie sozial und kulturell präfigurierte Aktivität ist. Sie legt dar, dass Freud eine nichtorganisch bedingte Sehstörung, die sogenannte hysterische Blindheit, als Effekt eines innerpsychischen Triebkonflikts und als dessen gleichsam neurotischen Ausweg deutet. Groddeck hingegen bestimmt das gesunde Auge als Organ eines grundlegenden Nicht-alles-sehen-Könnens. Die Kurzsichtigkeit betrachtet er als sinnvolles Hilfsmittel des Körpers, das dann eingesetzt wird, wenn die normale Tätigkeit des Verdrängens beim Sehen, die Selektion gefährlicher Bilder, nicht ausreichend funktioniert.
We tested 6–7-year-olds, 18–22-year-olds, and 67–74-year-olds on an associative memory task that consisted of knowledge-congruent and knowledge-incongruent object–scene pairs that were highly familiar to all age groups. We compared the three age groups on their memory congruency effect (i.e., better memory for knowledge-congruent associations) and on a schema bias score, which measures the participants’ tendency to commit knowledge-congruent memory errors. We found that prior knowledge similarly benefited memory for items encoded in a congruent context in all age groups. However, for associative memory, older adults and, to a lesser extent, children overrelied on their prior knowledge, as indicated by both an enhanced congruency effect and schema bias. Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) performed during memory encoding revealed an age-independent memory x congruency interaction in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC). Furthermore, the magnitude of vmPFC recruitment correlated positively with the schema bias. These findings suggest that older adults are most prone to rely on their prior knowledge for episodic memory decisions, but that children can also rely heavily on prior knowledge that they are well acquainted with. Furthermore, the fMRI results suggest that the vmPFC plays a key role in the assimilation of new information into existing knowledge structures across the entire lifespan. vmPFC recruitment leads to better memory for knowledge-congruent information but also to a heightened susceptibility to commit knowledge-congruent memory errors, in particular in children and older adults.
An optimized Bayesian hierarchical two-parameter logistic model for small-sample item calibration
(2019)
Accurate item calibration in models of item response theory (IRT) requires rather large samples. For instance, N > 500 respondents are typically recommended for the two-parameter logistic (2PL) model. Hence, this model is considered a large-scale application, and its use in small-sample contexts is limited. Hierarchical Bayesian approaches are frequently proposed to reduce the sample size requirements of the 2PL. This study compared the small-sample performance of an optimized Bayesian hierarchical 2PL (H2PL) model to its standard inverse Wishart specification, its nonhierarchical counterpart, and both unweighted and weighted least squares estimators (ULSMV and WLSMV) in terms of sampling efficiency and accuracy of estimation of the item parameters and their variance components. To alleviate shortcomings of hierarchical models, the optimized H2PL (a) was reparametrized to simplify the sampling process, (b) a strategy was used to separate item parameter covariances and their variance components, and (c) the variance components were given Cauchy and exponential hyperprior distributions. Results show that when combining these elements in the optimized H2PL, accurate item parameter estimates and trait scores are obtained even in sample sizes as small as N = 100. This indicates that the 2PL can also be applied to smaller sample sizes encountered in practice. The results of this study are discussed in the context of a recently proposed multiple imputation method to account for item calibration error in trait estimation.
In view of the aging and dejuvenation of the working population and the expected shortages in employees’ skills in the future, it is of utmost importance to focus on older workers’ employability in order to prolong their working life until, or even beyond, their official retirement age. The primary aim of the current study was to examine the relationship between older workers’ employability (self-)perceptions and their intention to continue working until their official retirement age. In addition, we studied the role of potential antecedents of their perceived employability at three different levels: training and education in current expertise area as well as in an adjacent expertise area (individual level factor), learning value of the job (job level factor), and organizational career management practices (organizational level factor). Data were collected by means of e-questionnaires that were distributed among two groups of Dutch older (45-plus) white collar workers. The samples consisted of 223 employees of an insurance company, and 325 university workers, respectively. Our research model was tested separately in each sample using Structural Equation Modeling. We controlled for effects of respondents’ (self-)perceived health and (self-)perceived financial situation. Similar results were found for both samples. First, the relationship of perceived employability with the intention to continue working until one’s retirement age was positive, whereas the relationship between a perceived good financial situation with the intention to continue working until one’s retirement age was negative. Secondly, as regards the potential antecedents, results showed that the learning value of the job was positively related to perceived employability. In addition, an employee’s perception of good health is a relevant correlate of perceived employability. So, whereas perceived employability contributes to the intention to continue working until one’s retirement age, a good financial situation is a push factor to retire early. In order to promote the labor participation of older workers, this study indicates that organizations should focus on the learning possibilities that are inherent to one’s job rather than on providing additional training or career management. Further research is needed to test the generalizability of our results to other samples.
The information and communication technology (ICT) sector within the Netherlands is a major driver of globalization, the country’s economic growth and innovation. The Dutch ICT sector’s performance is increasingly becoming dependent upon employee driven innovations in order to address the needs of the sectors they service. In other words, the ICT sector within the Netherlands is largely dependent upon the performance and innovative capacity of its employees; both of which are functions of employee engagement. Given the high demand, and low supply of talent within this sector, ICT organizations need to develop innovative ways to enhance the performance capacities of its people. Developing an engaged and highly innovative workforce seems to be an efficient way to activate employees’ performance. As such, the aim of this paper was to investigate the mediating function of employee driven innovative work behaviors in the relationship between work engagement and task performance within the a Dutch ICT consulting firm. A cross-sectional survey-based research design, employing a census-based sampling method, was employed to obtain data from a global ICT consulting firm within the Netherlands (n = 232). The Utrecht Work Engagement Scale, the Innovative Work Behavior Scale and the Task Performance Scale was used to assess the associative subjective experiences of ICT employees. The results showed that work engagement is a significant driver for innovative work behaviors, which in turn affects the task performance of employees. Further, innovative work behaviors are therefore important to translate the engaging energies of employees into performance. This paper discusses the theoretical and practical implications of these findings.
This study investigated whether prompting children to generate predictions about an outcome facilitates activation of prior knowledge and improves belief revision. 51 children aged 9–12 were tested on two experimental tasks in which generating a prediction was compared to closely matched control conditions, as well as on a test of executive functions (EF). In Experiment 1, we showed that children exhibited a pupillary surprise response to events that they had predicted incorrectly, hypothesized to reflect the transient release of noradrenaline in response to cognitive conflict. However, children's surprise response was not associated with better belief revision, in contrast to a previous study involving adults. Experiment 2 revealed that, while generating predictions helped children activate their prior knowledge, only those with better inhibitory control skills learned from incorrectly predicted outcomes. Together, these results suggest that good inhibitory control skills are needed for learning through cognitive conflict. Thus, generating predictions benefits learning – but only among children with sufficient EF capacities to harness surprise for revising their beliefs.
Das Ziel der vorliegenden Arbeit ist die Identifikation von leistungsrelevanten kognitiven Prozessen beim komplexen Problemlösen (KPL). Außerdem soll untersucht werden, ob sich Leistungsunterschiede beim KPL zwischen soziodemografischen Gruppen durch Prozessmaße erklären lassen. Dazu wurden in den drei Einzelarbeiten, auf denen diese Arbeit basiert, verschiedene Prozesse und ihr Zusammenhang mit der Leistung beim KPL untersucht. Darüber hinaus schafft die vorliegende Arbeit einen theoretischen Rahmen, in den sich die drei Einzelarbeiten einordnen lassen. Die Fähigkeit komplexe Probleme lösen zu können, ist eine grundlegende Kompetenz in Bildung und Alltag und ermöglicht eine aktive Teilhabe an der Gesellschaft.
KPL kann daher auch als Schlüsselkompetenz in der Wissensgesellschaft des 21. Jahrhunderts verstanden werden (Binkley et al., 2012; Trilling & Fadel, 2009). Komplexe Probleme begegnen jedem Menschen im beruflichen und privaten Umfeld sowie auf gesellschaftlicher Ebene. Daher ist es wichtig zu verstehen, welche Prozesse für effektives KPL relevant sind. Darüber hinaus wurden wiederholt Leistungsunterschiede beim KPL in Abhängigkeit vom Geschlecht und vom Migrationshintergrund der Personen festgestellt (OECD, 2014a; Sonnleitner, Brunner, Keller & Martin, 2014; Wüstenberg, Greiff, Molnár & Funke, 2014).
In der ersten Arbeit wird der Zusammenhang verschiedener Aspekte von Planung mit der Leistung beim KPL untersucht. Die betrachteten Planungsaspekte sind die Dauer des längsten Planungsintervalls, der Zeitpunkt zu dem Planung erfolgt und die Variation der Dauer von Planungsintervallen im Problemlöseprozess. Zudem wird untersucht, ob die Effekte bei verschiedenen Aufgaben unterschiedlich ausgeprägt sind und ob es Interaktionseffekte der drei Planungsaspekte gibt. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass Planung grundsätzlich zu einem möglichst frühen Zeitpunkt stattfinden sollte. Die beiden anderen Planungsaspekte wiesen hingegen aufgabenabhängige Effekte auf. Außerdem gab es Interaktionseffekte. Insgesamt wurde bei leichten KPL-Aufgaben festgestellt, dass ähnlich wie beim analytischen Problemlösen Planung zu einem frühen Zeitpunkt einen positiven Einfluss auf die Leistung hat (Unterrainer & Owen, 2006). Auch der Einfluss der Variation der Planungsdauer hing mit der Aufgabenschwierigkeit zusammen, wobei bei leichten Aufgaben ein gleichmäßiges und bei schweren Aufgaben ein ungleichmäßigeres Vorgehen vorteilhaft war. Der Effekt der Planungsdauer war ebenfalls aufgabenabhängig, jedoch nur schwach mit der Aufgabenschwierigkeit korreliert. Somit scheinen andere Aufgabeneigenschaften für diesen Zusammenhang ursächlich zu sein.
In der zweiten Arbeit werden Leistungsunterschiede beim KPL in Abhängigkeit vom Geschlecht und vom Migrationshintergrund der Schülerinnen und Schüler untersucht.
Das Ziel dieser Arbeit ist es, Leistungsunterschiede zwischen diesen Gruppen durch Prozessmaße zu erklären. Da es Evidenz für einen Zusammenhang der Häufigkeit von Interaktion beziehungsweise Exploration mit der Leistung beim KPL gibt, werden diese als Prozessmaße verwendet (Bell & Kozlowski, 2008; Dormann & Frese, 1994; Naumann, Goldhammer, Rölke & Stelter, 2014). Erwartungskonform wurden Leistungsunterschiede beim KPL zugunsten von Jungen gegenüber Mädchen und zugunsten von Schülerinnen und Schülern ohne Migrationshintergrund gegenüber Schülerinnen und Schülern mit Migrationshintergrund festgestellt. Außerdem zeigte sich, dass beide Prozessmaße positiv mit der KPL-Leistung korrelierten. Der Leistungsunterschied zwischen Jungen und Mädchen konnte durch die Interaktionshäufigkeit teilweise und durch die Explorationshäufigkeit vollständig aufgeklärt werden. Der Leistungsunterschied in Abhängigkeit des Migrationshintergrundes konnte hingegen durch keines der beiden Maße erklärt werden.
Die dritte Arbeit hat zum einen das Ziel, die Rolle von Explorationsverhalten beim KPL genauer zu klären. Zum anderen werden mit einem explorativen Ansatz komplexe Verhaltensmuster untersucht. Dazu wurde eine weitere Differenzierung von Exploration in lösungsrelevante und lösungsunabhängige Exploration vorgenommen. Es konnte gezeigt werden, dass im Gegensatz zu den Ergebnissen aus der zweiten Arbeit lösungsunabhängige Exploration vermehrt bei erfolgloser Aufgabenbearbeitung auftritt. Lediglich lösungsrelevante Exploration scheint also zu einer höheren KPL-Leistung beizutragen.
Zudem wurden verschiedene Verhaltensmuster identifiziert, die auf konkrete Stärken und Schwächen im komplexen Problemlöseprozess von Schülerinnen und Schülern hinweisen. Die vorliegende Arbeit erweitert die theoretische Basis für KPL, indem sie kognitive Prozesse ordnet und im Sinne einer Intention interpretierbar macht. Weiterhin werden durch die empirischen Arbeiten Erkenntnisse über die Relevanz der untersuchten Prozesse für die Leistung beim KPL und für die Erklärung von Leistungsunterschieden gewonnen. Damit erleichtert diese Arbeit die Erklärung der Rolle kognitiver Prozesse beim KPL, um so das Verständnis dieses Konstruktes zu verbessern. Dies ist wiederum die Basis, um Schülerinnen und Schüler beim Erwerb der Kompetenz zum Lösen komplexer Probleme zu unterstützen und sie so auf die Herausforderungen des 21. Jahrhunderts vorzubereiten.
Members of conflicting groups experience threats to different identity dimensions, resulting in the need to restore the aspect of identity that was threatened. Do these needs translate into specific goals in social interactions? In the present research, we examined the hypotheses that (1) experiencing one’s ingroup as illegitimately disadvantaged or victimized arouses agentic goals (to act and appear assertive and confident) when interacting with the advantaged or victimizing group, while (2) experiencing one’s ingroup as illegitimately advantaged or perpetrating transgressions arouses communal goals (to act and appear warm and trustworthy) when interacting with the disadvantaged or victimized group. Study 1 (N = 391) generally supported both hypotheses across diverse intergroup contexts involving gender, national/ethnic, and consumer identities. Study 2 (N = 122) replicated this pattern in a context of occupational identities. Study 2 further showed that the effect of ingroup role on agentic and communal intergroup goals was not moderated by participants’ general dispositional preferences for agentic and communal goals in interpersonal interactions, thus demonstrating how ingroup role exerts a distinct and robust influence on goals for interactions with other groups. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
Background: A growing number of studies are questioning the validity of current DSM diagnoses, either as "discrete" or distinct mental disorders and/or as phenotypically homogeneous syndromes. In this study, we investigated how symptom domains in patients with a main diagnosis of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), panic disorder (PD) and social anxiety disorder (SAD) coaggregate. We predicted that symptom domains would be unrelated to DSM diagnostic categories and less likely to cluster with each other as severity increases.
Methods: One-hundred eight treatment seeking patients with a main diagnosis of OCD, SAD or PD were assessed with the Dimensional Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (DOCS), the Social Phobia Inventory (SPIN), the Panic and Agoraphobia Scale (PAS), the Anxiety Sensitivity Index-Revised (ASI-R), and the Beck Depression and Anxiety Inventories (BDI and BAI, respectively). Subscores generated by each scale (herein termed "symptom domains") were used to categorize individuals into mild, moderate and severe subgroups through K-means clusterization and subsequently analysed by means of multiple correspondence analysis.
Results: Broadly, we observed that symptom domains of OCD, SAD or PD tend to cluster on the basis of their severities rather than their DSM diagnostic labels. In particular, symptom domains and disorders were grouped into (1) a single mild "neurotic" syndrome characterized by multiple, closely related and co-occurring mild symptom domains; (2) two moderate (complicated and uncomplicated) "neurotic" syndromes (the former associated with panic disorder); and (3) severe but dispersed "neurotic" symptom domains.
Conlusion: Our findings suggest that symptoms domains of treatment seeking patients with OCD and anxiety disorders tend to be better conceptualized in terms of severity rather than rigid diagnostic boundaries.
Attachment theory is commonly used to investigate children’s psychosocial development. To demonstrate cultural variability and to advance the idea of attachment as a collective resource, we assessed children’s attachment networks during middle childhood among the Nseh, a Cameroonian clan with distinct concepts of family and childhood. Using photo elicitation interviews, we used an exploratory approach to investigate the structural and functional composition of these networks and to generate a comprehensive overview. Participants were 11 children (six girls and five boys), aged 6 to 10 years. Children took photos of individuals who were important to them and with whom they felt safe, comfortable, and at ease. Then, in follow-up interviews they were asked to characterize their attachment figures on sociostructural dimensions and to elaborate how those individuals made them feel comfortable and safe. Transcripts of the interviews were coded using ethnographic strategies. Initial descriptive codes were analyzed concerning key terms, semantic relationships, and their context of meaning, before assigning higher level codes to generate distinct main categories of functionality. Children described attachment networks that were structurally adapted to concepts of social ties and interactional norms of the clan. Concerning their functionality, children differentiated between peers, responsible for overt emotional needs, and adults, providing nutritional care. We conclude that this pattern reflects sources of security and concepts of care of the distinct developmental environment. We discuss the importance of context-specific and comprehensive approaches to attachment, moving beyond Eurocentric monotropic concepts, with the goal of developing a complex understanding of childhood across ecocultural settings.
Gegenstand der Untersuchung ist eine umfassende Analyse der zeitgenössischen Medienprominenz, hier deutschsprachige Singer-Songwriter, eingebettet in die Kontexte ‘psychische Störungen‘ (erhoben mit dem SKID-II/M.I.N.I.), ‘Kreativität‘ (TSD-Z) und ‘Perfektionismus hinsichtlich des Aussehens‘ (AAS), mit der Zielsetzung dieses heterogene Phänomen mittels einer ganzheitlichen Perspektive zu erfassen. An der Studie nahmen insgesamt 31 prominente und 31 nicht promiente deutschsprachige Singer-Songwriter teil, wobei 15 der prominenten Singer-Songwriter in Besitz von mindestens einem ‘ECHO‘, 14 in Besitz von mindestens einer ‘Goldenen Schallplatte‘ und 2 mit mehr als 200 Nennungen in der Gruner + Jahr Pressedatenbank verzeichnet sind. Zunächst geht die Arbeit der Fragestellung nach, ob sich die prominenten Singer-Songwriter in den Störungsbildern ‘affektive Störung‘, ‘narzisstische Persönlichkeitsstörung‘, ‘Borderline-Persönlichkeitsstörung‘, ‘Alkoholmissbrauch/-abhängigkeit und ‘Substanzmissbrauch/-abhängigkeit‘ von den nicht prominenten Singer-Songwritern unterscheiden. Die Ergebnisse zeigen auf, dass prominente Singer-Songwriter signifikant häufiger unter einer narzisstischen Persönlichkeitsstörung, Alkoholabhängigkeit und Substanzmissbrauchs leiden als nicht prominente Singer-Songwriter. Außerdem wird ersichtlich, dass die prominenten Singer-Songwriter vermehrt Kokain und die nicht prominenten Singer-Songwriter vermehrt Marihuana konsumieren. Die Werte der prominenten und nicht prominenten Singer-Songwriter in Bezug auf die narzisstische Persönlichkeitsstörung sowie Alkoholmissbrauch/-abhängigkeit übersteigen bei weitem die Prävalenzzahlen der deutschen Allgemeinbevölkerung. Als nächstes wurde geprüft, ob prominente Singer-Songwriter kreativer sind als nicht prominente Singer-Songwriter. Diese Annahme konnte, ebenso wie die darauffolgende Annahme, nämlich dass die Kreativität den Zusammenhang zwischen einer psychischen Störung und der Prominenz erklärt, nicht bestätigt werden. Die Kreativität stellt des Weiteren auch kein Moderatoreffekt dar und wirkt somit nicht, gemeinsam mit einer narzisstischen Persönlichkeitsstörung, verstärkend auf die Prominenz. Wiederum ergab sich hypothesenkonform, dass prominente Singer-Songwriter perfektionistischer hinsichtlich ihres Aussehens eingestellt sind als nicht prominente Singer-Songwriter. Zuletzt zeigen die Ergebnisse, dass die Prominenz den Zusammenhang zwischen einer narzisstischen Persönlichkeitsstörung und der perfektionistischen Einstellung hinsichtlich des Aussehens nicht erklärt, jedoch verstärkt die Prominenz den Einfluss einer Depression auf die soziale Isolation.
Problematisation: In recent years, psychology has been going through a crisis of sorts. Research methods and practices have come under increased scrutiny, with many issues identified as negatively contributing to low replicability and reproducibility of psychological research.
Implications: As a consequence, researchers are increasingly called upon to overhaul and improve their research process. Various stakeholders within the scientific community are arguing for more openness and rigor within industrial and organisational (I-O) psychological research. A lack of transparency and openness further fuels criticisms as to the credibility and trustworthiness of I-O psychology which negatively affects the evidence-based practices which it supports. Furthermore, traditional gate-keepers such as grant agencies, professional societies and journals, are adapting their policies, reflecting an effort to curtail these trends.
Purpose: The purpose of this opinion paper is, therefore, to stimulate an open dialogue with the South African Journal of Industrial Psychology (SAJIP) contributing authors, its editorial board and readership about the challenges associated with the replication crisis in psychology. Furthermore, it attempts to discuss how the identified issues affect I-O psychology and how these could be managed through open science practices and other structural improvements within the SAJIP.
Recommendations: We enumerate several easily implementable open science practices, methodological improvements and editorial policy enhancements to enhance credibility and transparency within the SAJIP. Relying on these, we recommend changes to the current practices that can be taken up by researchers and the SAJIP to improve reproducibility and replicability in I-O psychological science.
Rezension zu: Psychology of Retention:Theory, Research and Practice / Melinde Coetzee, Ingrid L. Potgieter and Nadia Ferreira (Eds.), ISBN:978-3-319-98919-8 Publisher:Springer Nature, 2018, R1600 (Preis SA)
Problematisation: The credibility and transparency of industrial and organisational psychological (IOP) research within South Africa was recently challenged by Efendic and Van Zyl (2019). The authors briefly showed inconsistencies in statistical results reported by authors of the South African Journal of Industrial Psychology (SAJIP), that various studies were insufficiently powered, that best-practice guidelines for the reporting of results were mostly only partially followed and that no transparency exists with regard to the research process. They demonstrated that authors of the SAJIP may knowingly or unknowingly be engaging in questionable research practices, which directly affects the credibility of both the discipline and the journal. Furthermore, they suggested practical guidelines for both authors and the SAJIP on how this could be managed.
Implications: Based on these suggestions, the authors invited prominent members of the IOP scientific community to provide scholarly commentary on their paper in order to aid in the development of ‘a clear strategy on how [the confidence crisis in IOP] could be managed, what the role of SAJIP is in this process and how SAJIP and its contributors could proactively engage to address these issues’. Seven members of the editorial board and two international scholars provided commentaries in an attempt to further the debate about the nature, causes, consequences and management of the credibility crisis within the South African context.
Purpose: The purpose of this final rebuttal article was to summarise and critically reflect on the commentaries of the nine articles to advance the debate on the confidence crisis within the South African IOP discipline.
Recommendations: All SAJIP’s stakeholders (authors, editors, reviewers, the publication house, universities and the journal) can play an active role in enhancing the credibility of the discipline. It is suggested that SAJIP should develop a clear and structured strategy to promote credible, transparent and ethical research practices within South Africa.
Orientation: The purpose of this editorial was to provide an introduction and a general overview of the special issue on Open Science Practices: A Vision for the Future of SAJIP, as hosted in the 45th edition of the South African Journal of Industrial Psychology (SAJIP). Specifically, the aim was to provide a viable, practical and implementable strategy for enhancing the scientific credibility, transparency and international stature of SAJIP.
Problemification: This article identifies the drivers of and solutions to the replicability crisis for psychological science and the South African Journal of Industrial Psychology (SAJIP).
Implications: The article addresses and discusses possible starting points to tackle the recent replicability crisis and convert it into a chance for psychological research and the SAJIP.
Purpose: To combine a discussion about the replicability crisis and how it could improve psychological research standards and journal policies.
Recommendations: The article provides recommendation on how to change SAJIP’s policies to increase international visibility.
Im Zuge der Modernisierung haben die religiösen Erzählungen ihre Einheit stiftende Kraft verloren. An ihre Stelle ist die menschliche Vernunft getreten und mit ihr die Logik eines rationalen, ganz auf Fortschritt ausgerichtetes Handelns, während Beziehungserfahrungen und mit ihr der unverzichtbare Wunsch nach Resonanz immer stärker in den Hintergrund treten. Menschen lassen sich auf Dauer aber nicht allein mit effizienzorientierten Rückmeldungen abspeisen. Sie warten auf Anerkennung, die von außen kommt; sie warten auf Resonanz. Hartmut Rosa hat die Vorstellung von einem Verstummen der Welt, in der der verzweifelte Ruf nach dem Anderen keine Antwort mehr findet, nicht umsonst als die tiefste Angst bezeichnet, der die Menschen heute umtreibt. Die Autorin beschreibt vor diesem Hintergrund die Erfahrung von Resonanz als menschliches Grundbedürfnis und zeigt als erstes an Beispielen aus der Literatur, wie diese sich dort in außergewöhnlichen Naturerlebnissen, in der Selbstentgrenzung von Liebesbeziehungen und in der präreflexiven Erfahrung Gottes, die keiner weiteren Begründung mehr bedarf, erfahrbar wird. Anschließend wendet sie sich Resonanzerfahrungen im Bereich der Psychoanalyse zu. Im letzten Abschnitt ihrer Arbeit befasst sie sich mit Resonanzerfahrungen in der pluralistischen Gesellschaft, in der es unterschiedliche Sinndeutungen gibt, die gleichermaßen legitim sind und nach Anerkennung verlangen.
Der Aufsatz sieht in Freuds Begriff des Unheimlichen einen Schlüssel zu seiner Poetik. Den Ausgangspunkt der Untersuchung bietet allerdings nicht seine bekannte Interpretation des Textes von E.T.A. Hoffmann, sondern die narrativen Elemente des Textes, in denen er auf indirekte Weise Aufschluss über seinen Begriff der Psychoanalyse gibt. Als Theorie und Praxis der Dichtung ist Freuds Aufsatz über Das Unheimliche nicht nur eine Theorie ein wichtiger Bestandteil seiner Poetik.
Despite common notion that the correlation of socioeconomic status with child cognitive performance may be driven by both environmentally- and genetically-mediated transactional pathways, there is a lack of longitudinal and genetically informed research that examines these postulated associations. The present study addresses whether family income predicts associative memory growth and hippocampal development in middle childhood and tests whether these associations persist when controlling for DNA-based polygenic scores of educational attainment. Participants were 142 6-to-7-year-old children, of which 127 returned when they were 8-to-9 years old. Longitudinal analyses indicated that the association of family income with children's memory performance and hippocampal volume remained stable over this age range and did not predict change. On average, children from economically disadvantaged background showed lower memory performance and had a smaller hippocampal volume. There was no evidence to suggest that differences in memory performance were mediated by differences in hippocampal volume. Further exploratory results suggested that the relationship of income with hippocampal volume and memory in middle childhood is not primarily driven by genetic variance captured by polygenic scores of educational attainment, despite the fact that polygenic scores significantly predicted family income.
Rhythmic actions benefit from synchronization with external events. Auditory-paced finger tapping studies indicate the two cerebral hemispheres preferentially control different rhythms. It is unclear whether left-lateralized processing of faster rhythms and right-lateralized processing of slower rhythms bases upon hemispheric timing differences that arise in the motor or sensory system or whether asymmetry results from lateralized sensorimotor interactions. We measured fMRI and MEG during symmetric finger tapping, in which fast tapping was defined as auditory-motor synchronization at 2.5 Hz. Slow tapping corresponded to tapping to every fourth auditory beat (0.625 Hz). We demonstrate that the left auditory cortex preferentially represents the relative fast rhythm in an amplitude modulation of low beta oscillations while the right auditory cortex additionally represents the internally generated slower rhythm. We show coupling of auditory-motor beta oscillations supports building a metric structure. Our findings reveal a strong contribution of sensory cortices to hemispheric specialization in action control.
With every glimpse of our eyes, we sample only a small and incomplete fragment of the visual world, which needs to be contextualized and integrated into a coherent scene representation. Here we show that the visual system achieves this contextualization by exploiting spatial schemata, that is our knowledge about the composition of natural scenes. We measured fMRI and EEG responses to incomplete scene fragments and used representational similarity analysis to reconstruct their cortical representations in space and time. We observed a sorting of representations according to the fragments' place within the scene schema, which occurred during perceptual analysis in the occipital place area and within the first 200 ms of vision. This schema-based coding operates flexibly across visual features (as measured by a deep neural network model) and different types of environments (indoor and outdoor scenes). This flexibility highlights the mechanism's ability to efficiently organize incoming information under dynamic real-world conditions.
Music listening has become a highly individualized activity with smartphones and music streaming services providing listeners with absolute freedom to listen to any kind of music in any situation. Until now, little has been written about the processes underlying the selection of music in daily life. The present study aimed to disentangle some of the complex processes among the listener, situation, and functions of music listening involved in music selection. Utilizing the experience sampling method, data were collected from 119 participants using a smartphone application. For 10 consecutive days, participants received 14 prompts using stratified-random sampling throughout the day and reported on their music-listening behavior. Statistical learning procedures on multilevel regression models and multilevel structural equation modeling were used to determine the most important predictors and analyze mediation processes between person, situation, functions of listening, and music selection. Results revealed that the features of music selected in daily life were predominantly determined by situational characteristics, whereas consistent individual differences were of minor importance. Functions of music listening were found to act as a mediator between characteristics of the situation and music-selection behavior. We further observed several significant random effects, which indicated that individuals differed in how situational variables affected their music selection behavior. Our findings suggest a need to shift the focus of music-listening research from individual differences to situational influences, including potential person-situation interactions.