150 Psychologie
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Background:
There is growing evidence that Internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy (ICBT) is as effective as a stand-alone treatment and helps facilitating access to treatment. Given the complexity of the treatment, we argue that the effect of ICBT could be even greater if guided by a therapist, as this could increase treatment adherence. We modified an established and well-evaluated treatment approach and developed a mobile application for treating social anxiety disorder (SAD). In the present study, we compare the efficacy of app use alone (APP) with video-based, therapist-guided app use (TG-APP) and with a wait-list control group (WLC) in terms of symptom reduction, and various secondary outcomes such as increase in quality of life or decrease of general psychological distress.
Methods/design:
A within-between interaction design with randomization to one of three conditions will be used. In the APP condition, patients receive only the app without any additional contact with therapists, while in the TG-APP condition, therapists provide 8 sessions of video-based treatment in addition to using the app. The study will be conducted in two university outpatient treatment centers with reliably diagnosed SAD patients. The primary outcome will be defined as change in SAD symptoms, as measured by the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (expert rating). Furthermore, a wide range of self-reports and clinician ratings for other symptoms (depression, general psychopathology) or quality of life will be used. A simulation-based power analysis for a 3 × 2 interaction effect (group × time) on the primary outcome in a linear mixed model resulted in a total sample size of N = 165.
Discussion:
The present study will be one of the first to examine the additional benefit of therapist-guided video sessions regarding the use of an app treating SAD. Study results are pivotal to future treatment application in SAD.
Introduction: Due to an inhibited tryptophan resorption, patients with fructose malabsorption are expected to experience decreased serotonin synthesis. A deficiency of serotonin may cause internalizing mental disorders like depression and anxiety, and a fructose-oriented eating behavior may affect these symptoms.
Methods: The parents of 24 children and adolescents with a currently diagnosed fructose malabsorption aged 4;00–13;02 years (M = 8.10, SD = 2.05), the parents of 12 patients with a currently confirmed combination of fructose and lactose malabsorption aged 4;00–12;11 years (M = 8.07, SD = 2.11) and the parents of a comparative sample of 19 healthy participants aged 5;00 to 17;07 years (M = 9.06, SD = 3.04) were interviewed. The interviews were conducted using a screening questionnaire of the German “Diagnostic System of Mental Disorders in children and adolescents based on the ICD-10 and DSM-5 DISYPS-III” and a self-developed questionnaire on eating, leisure and sleeping behavior.
Results: On standardized scales parents of children with fructose malabsorption reported higher levels of Depression compared to symptoms of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorders (ADHD) and Oppositional Defiant and Conduct Disorders (ODD/CD). Compared to healthy controls, for patients with fructose malabsorption, higher symptom levels of Depression and Anxiety were reported. With regard to eating behavior, within the group with a combination of fructose and lactose malabsorption, a strong positive association between an increased fruit sugar consumption and higher levels of Anxiety and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders/Tics were found.
Discussion: These results suggest a close association between fructose malabsorption and elevated internalizing psychological symptoms in children and adolescents.
Clinical trial registration: https://drks.de/search/en/trial/DRKS00031047, DRKS-ID [DRKS00031047].
The more difficult it is to access a research field, the more substantial the need to develop creative methodological models. Investigating the psychosocial impact of migration-related carceral spaces constitutes one such research field. To shed light on these spaces and counter the challenges of opacity, harm, and power asymmetries, we propose a psycho-geographical counter-mapping as a mixed methods approach based on grounded theory (MM-GT). Applying it to immigration detention and refugee confinement sites in Mexico and Samos, our analysis proposes a fully integrated and sequential design that can be adapted to a range of carceral spaces and subjectivation in transdisciplinary research.
Social identification is health-beneficial as social groups provide social support (i.e., the social cure effect). We study this social cure effect in diabetes patients by focusing on two relevant sources of social support, namely medical practitioners (MP) and fellow patients. As both groups have diabetes-specific knowledge, we predict that sharing an identity with them provides access to specific support, which, in turn, optimizes individuals’ diabetes management and reduces diabetes-related stress. We further predict that identifying with their MP or fellow patients will be more strongly related to perceived social support among individuals with lower diabetes-specific resilience because they pay more attention to supportive cues. We tested this moderated mediation model in a two-wave study with n = 200 diabetes patients. Identification with the MP related to more support, which, in turn, was related to better diabetes management and less diabetes-specific stress. Identification with fellow patients related to more support; however, social support was unrelated to diabetes management and stress. Resilience only moderated the relationship between MP identification and support, as people with lower resilience levels reported more support from their MP. This study shows the importance of social identification with the MP and other diabetes patients, especially for people with lower resilience levels.
Abstract
In serial dependence, perceptual decisions are biased towards stimuli encountered in the recent past. Here, we investigate whether and how serial dependence is affected by the availability of visual working memory (VWM) resources. In two experiments, participants reproduced the orientation of a series of stimuli. On alternating trials, we included an additional VWM task with randomly varying levels of load. Serial dependence was not only affected by the additional load task but also clearly modulated by the level of load: a high load in the previous trial reduced serial dependence while a high load in the present increased it. These results were independent of the effects of VWM load on the precision of reproduction responses. Our findings provide new insights into the mechanisms that may regulate serial dependence, revealing its intimate link with VWM resources.
Significance statement
Our perception, thoughts, and behavior are continuously influenced by recent events. For instance, the way we process and understand current visual information depends on what we have seen in the preceding seconds, a phenomenon known as serial dependence. The precise mechanisms and factors involved in serial dependence are still unclear. Here, we demonstrated that working memory resources are a crucial component. Specifically, when we are currently experiencing a heavy memory load, the influence of prior stimuli becomes stronger. Conversely, when prior stimuli were shown under a high memory load, their influence was reduced. These findings highlight the importance of working memory resources in shaping our interpretation of the present based on the recent past.
Mexico’s role in the US-Central American migration regime is threefold: not only is it a country of origin, and a transit country, but also increasingly becoming a receiving country for migrants who flee from violence, insecurity and poverty. The Mexican state responds with detention enforcement. Clinical research usually puts emphasise on the negative impact of detention enforcement on the detainees‘ mental health. Yet, it often disregards the spatial configurations of detention centres and their socio-political context. This study aims to fill this gap by analysing how such factors create harmful environments that affect both the detainees‘ mental health and their social life in Mexico’s migration detention centres. The study’s mixed method approach builds on semi-structured interviews with a sample of N = 56 migrants of diverse nationalities and varying socioeconomic status of whom 22 were still detained while 34 had been released. The interviews include the Torturing Environment Scale (TES), a novel instrument for the analysis of detention environments, as well as clinical psychological measures of emotional distress. Additional n = 10 in-depth interviews with human rights advocates to explore the interconnections between the detention environments, their impact on mental health, and Mexican migration politics. Facultative counter-mappings of the detention centres complement the interviews. Without exception, all interviews of detainees underline that the manipulation of detention conditions creates torturing environments that cause harm to basic physiological and psychological needs. A comparison between detained vs. released interviewees revealed lasting feelings of fear and shame. The study emphasises that immigration detention immobilises migrants in a necropolitical limbo, which destroys hope as much as human integrity. It indicates that detention is part of deterrence politics, which perpetuates harm and inequality through detention and deportation. Highlighting structural human rights violations, the findings stress the need to review current migration policies.
The purpose of this study was to investigate which social groups are perceived as a threat target and which are perceived as a threat source during the COVID-19 outbreak. In a German sample (N = 1454) we examined perceptions of social groups ranging from those that are psychologically close and smaller (family, friends, neighbors) to those that are more distal and larger (people living in Germany, humankind). We hypothesized that psychologically closer groups would be perceived as less affected by COVID-19 as well as less threatening than more psychologically distal groups. Based on social identity theorizing, we also hypothesized that stronger identification with humankind would change these patterns. Furthermore, we explored how these threat perceptions relate to adherence to COVID-19 health guidelines. In line with our hypotheses, latent random-slope modelling revealed that psychologically distal and larger groups were perceived as more affected by COVID-19 and as more threatening than psychologically closer and smaller groups. Including identification with humankind as a predictor into the threat target model resulted in a steeper increase in threat target perception patterns, whereas identification with humankind did not predict differences in threat source perceptions. Additionally, an increase in threat source perceptions across social groups was associated with more adherence to health guidelines, whereas an increase in threat target perceptions was not. We fully replicated these findings in a subgroup from the original sample (N = 989) four weeks later. We argue that societal recovery from this and other crises will be supported by an inclusive approach informed by a sense of our common identity as human beings.
Background: The assessment of therapeutic adherence and competence is essential to understand mechanisms that contribute to treatment outcome. Nevertheless, their assessment is often neglected in psychotherapy research.
Aims/Objective: To develop an adherence and a treatment-specific competence rating scale for Dialectical Behaviour Therapy for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (DBT-PTSD), and to examine their psychometric properties. Global cognitive behavioural therapeutic competence and disorder-specific therapeutic competence were assessed using already existing scales to confirm their psychometric properties in our sample of patients with PTSD and emotion regulation difficulties.
Method: Two rating scales were developed using an inductive procedure. 155 videotaped therapy sessions from a multicenter randomised controlled trial were rated by trained raters using these scales, 40 randomly chosen videotapes involving eleven therapists and fourteen patients were doubly rated by two raters.
Results: Both the adherence scale (Patient-level ICC = .98; αs = .65; αp = .75) and the treatment-specific competence scale (Patient-level ICC = .98; αs = .78; αp = .82) for DBT-PTSD showed excellent interrater – and good reliability on the patient level. Content validity, including relevance and appropriateness of all items, was confirmed by experts in DBT-PTSD for the new treatment-specific competence scale.
Conclusion: Our results indicate that both scales are reliable instruments. They will be useful to examine possible effects of adherence and treatment-specific competence on DBT-PTSD treatment outcome.
Growing up in cities is associated with increased risk for developing mental health problems. Stress exposure and altered stress regulation have been proposed as mechanisms linking urbanicity and psychopathology, with most research conducted in adult populations. Here, we focus on early childhood, and investigate urbanicity, behavior problems and the regulation of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, a central circuit of the stress system, in a sample of N = 399 preschoolers aged 45 months. Urbanicity was coded dichotomously distinguishing between residences with more or less than 100,000 inhabitants. Behavior problems were measured using the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) 1½ - 5. Cortisol stress reactivity was assessed using an age-appropriated game-like stress task, and cortisol in the first morning urine was measured to assess nocturnal HPA axis activity. Urbanicity was not associated with behavior problems, urinary cortisol or the cortisol stress response. Neither urinary cortisol nor salivary cortisol response after stress exposure were identified as mediators of the relationship between urbanicity and behavior problems. The findings suggest no strong association of urbanicity with behavior problems and HPA axis regulation in preschool age. To our knowledge, this is the youngest sample to date studying the relationship between urbanicity and behavior problems as well as HPA axis regulation. Future research should examine at which age associations can first be identified and which mechanisms contribute to these relationships.
Cortical tracking of stimulus features (such as the envelope) is a crucial tractable neural mechanism, allowing us to investigate how we process continuous music. We here tested whether cortical and behavioural tracking of beat, typically related to rhythm processing, are modulated by pitch predictability. In two experiments (n=20, n=52), participants’ ability to tap along to the beat of musical sequences was measured for tonal (high pitch predictability) and atonal (low pitch predictability) music. In Experiment 1, we additionally measured participants’ EEG and analysed cortical tracking of the acoustic envelope and of pitch surprisal (using IDyOM). In both experiments, finger-tapping performance was better in the tonal than the atonal condition, indicating a positive effect of pitch predictability on behavioural rhythm processing. Neural data revealed that the acoustic envelope was tracked stronger while listening to atonal than tonal music, potentially reflecting listeners’ violated pitch expectations. Our findings show that cortical envelope tracking, beyond reflecting musical rhythm processing, is modulated by pitch predictability (as well as musical expertise and enjoyment). Stronger cortical surprisal tracking was linked to overall worse envelope tracking, and worse finger-tapping performance for atonal music. Specifically, the low pitch predictability in atonal music seems to draw attentional resources resulting in a reduced ability to follow the rhythm behaviourally. Overall, cortical envelope and surprisal tracking were differentially related to behaviour in tonal and atonal music, likely reflecting differential processing under conditions of high and low predictability. Taken together, our results show diverse effects of pitch predictability on musical rhythm processing.
DNA methylation profiles of aggressive behavior may capture lifetime cumulative effects of genetic, stochastic, and environmental influences associated with aggression. Here, we report the first large meta-analysis of epigenome-wide association studies (EWAS) of aggressive behavior (N = 15,324 participants). In peripheral blood samples of 14,434 participants from 18 cohorts with mean ages ranging from 7 to 68 years, 13 methylation sites were significantly associated with aggression (alpha = 1.2 × 10−7; Bonferroni correction). In cord blood samples of 2425 children from five cohorts with aggression assessed at mean ages ranging from 4 to 7 years, 83% of these sites showed the same direction of association with childhood aggression (r = 0.74, p = 0.006) but no epigenome-wide significant sites were found. Top-sites (48 at a false discovery rate of 5% in the peripheral blood meta-analysis or in a combined meta-analysis of peripheral blood and cord blood) have been associated with chemical exposures, smoking, cognition, metabolic traits, and genetic variation (mQTLs). Three genes whose expression levels were associated with top-sites were previously linked to schizophrenia and general risk tolerance. At six CpGs, DNA methylation variation in blood mirrors variation in the brain. On average 44% (range = 3–82%) of the aggression–methylation association was explained by current and former smoking and BMI. These findings point at loci that are sensitive to chemical exposures with potential implications for neuronal functions. We hope these results to be a starting point for studies leading to applications as peripheral biomarkers and to reveal causal relationships with aggression and related traits.
The compulsive habit of cars
(2014)
The car dependence of people living in contemporary cities is a major concern for policy makers, who often find it difficult to persuade people into more sustainable transport modes. By contrast, recent insights from neuroscience have shown that a broad spectrum of behaviors can become habitual and, thus, resistant to change. Here, we outline the potential of collaboration between neuroscience and human geography aiming at a better understanding of habits that determine everyday commuting routines.
Mnemonic but not contextual feedback signals defy dedifferentiation in the aging early visual cortex
(2024)
Perception is an intricate interplay between feedforward visual input and internally generated feedback signals that comprise concurrent contextual and time-distant mnemonic (episodic and semantic) information. Yet, an unresolved question is how the composition of feedback signals changes across the lifespan and to what extent feedback signals undergo age-related dedifferentiation, that is, a decline in neural specificity. Previous research on this topic has focused on feedforward perceptual representation and episodic memory reinstatement, suggesting reduced fidelity of neural representations at the item and category levels. In this fMRI study, we combined an occlusion paradigm that filters feedforward input to the visual cortex and multivariate analysis techniques to investigate the information content in cortical feedback, focusing on age-related differences in its composition. We further asked to what extent differentiation in feedback signals (in the occluded region) is correlated to differentiation in feedforward signals. Comparing younger (18–30 years) and older female and male adults (65–75 years), we found that contextual but not mnemonic feedback was prone to age-related dedifferentiation. Semantic feedback signals were even better differentiated in older adults, highlighting the growing importance of generalized knowledge across ages. We also found that differentiation in feedforward signals was correlated with differentiation in episodic but not semantic feedback signals. Our results provide evidence for age-related adjustments in the composition of feedback signals and underscore the importance of examining dedifferentiation in aging for both feedforward and feedback processing.
Generating predictions about environmental regularities, relying on these predictions, and updating these predictions when there is a violation from incoming sensory evidence are considered crucial functions of our cognitive system for being adaptive in the future. The violation of a prediction can result in a prediction error (PE) which affects subsequent memory processing. In our preregistered studies, we examined the effects of different levels of PE on episodic memory. Participants were asked to generate predictions about the associations between sequentially presented cue-target pairs, which were violated later with individual items in three PE levels, namely low, medium, and high PE. Hereafter, participants were asked to provide old/new judgments on the items with confidence ratings, and to retrieve the paired cues. Our results indicated a better recognition memory for low PE than medium and high PE levels, suggesting a memory congruency effect. On the other hand, there was no evidence of memory benefit for high PE level. Together, these novel and coherent findings strongly suggest that high PE does not guarantee better memory.
A remarkable part of children’ s development and education happens in educational institutions. Acoustic environments in these institutions are usually highly complex and noisy, hence it is demanding to identify relevant target speakers and to ignore irrelevant sounds. Previous research has analyzed auditory selective attention in adults, both in dichotic and binaural listening environments. Until now, there is little knowledge of auditory selective attention in children. In the present work, the original paradigm was adapted by using a task suited for children which included child-oriented elements. Further, the subject’s anthropometric sizes were considered for an aurally-accurate reproduction of the acoustic scene. Twenty-four adults and twenty-four children participated in an experiment on auditory selective attention. Noise and noise-free conditions and various target-distractor distributions in the room were analyzed among others. The result of this experiment revealed significant differences between adults and children, especially in the way auditory attention was influenced by noise.
Highlights
• Short- and long-delay memory consolidation is less robust in children than in young adults.
• Short-delay brain profile comprised of hippocampal, cerebellar, and neocortical brain regions.
• Long-delay brain profile comprised of neocortical and selected hippocampal brain regions.
• Brain profiles differ between children and young adults.
Abstract
From early to middle childhood, brain regions that underlie memory consolidation undergo profound maturational changes. However, there is little empirical investigation that directly relates age-related differences in brain structural measures to memory consolidation processes. The present study examined memory consolidation of intentionally studied object-location associations after one night of sleep (short delay) and after two weeks (long delay) in normally developing 5-to-7-year-old children (n = 50) and young adults (n = 39). Behavioural differences in memory retention rate were related to structural brain measures. Our results showed that children, in comparison to young adults, retained correctly learnt object-location associations less robustly over short and long delay. Moreover, using partial least squares correlation method, a unique multivariate profile comprised of specific neocortical (prefrontal, parietal, and occipital), cerebellar, and hippocampal head and subfield structures in the body was found to be associated with variation in short-delay memory retention. A different multivariate profile comprised of a reduced set of brain structures, mainly consisting of neocortical (prefrontal, parietal, and occipital), hippocampal head, and selective hippocampal subfield structures (CA1–2 and subiculum) was associated with variation in long-delay memory retention. Taken together, the results suggest that multivariate structural pattern of unique sets of brain regions are related to variations in short- and long-delay memory consolidation across children and young adults.
From early to middle childhood, brain regions that underlie memory consolidation undergo profound maturational changes. However, there is little empirical investigation that directly relates age-related differences in brain structural measures to the memory consolidation processes. The present study examined system-level memory consolidations of intentionally studied object-location associations after one night of sleep (short delay) and after two weeks (long delay) in normally developing 5-to-7-year-old children (n = 50) and young adults (n = 39). Behavioural differences in memory consolidation were related to structural brain measures. Our results showed that children, in comparison to young adults, consolidate correctly learnt object-location associations less robustly over short and long delay. Moreover, using partial least squares correlation method, a unique multivariate profile comprised of specific neocortical (prefrontal, parietal, and occipital), cerebellar, and hippocampal subfield structures was found to be associated with variation in short-delay memory consolidation. A different multivariate profile comprised of a reduced set of brain structures, mainly consisting of neocortical (prefrontal, parietal, and occipital), and selective hippocampal subfield structures (CA1-2 and subiculum) was associated with variation in long-delay memory consolidation. Taken together, the results suggest that multivariate structural pattern of unique sets of brain regions are related to variations in short- and long-delay memory consolidation across children and young adults.
RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS
* Short- and long-delay memory consolidation is less robust in children than in young adults
* Short-delay brain profile comprised of hippocampal, cerebellar, and neocortical brain regions
* Long-delay brain profile comprised of neocortical and selected hippocampal brain regions.
* Brain profiles differ between children and young adults.
From early to middle childhood, brain regions that underlie memory consolidation undergo profound maturational changes. However, there is little empirical investigation that directly relates age-related differences in brain structural measures to the memory consolidation processes. The present study examined system-level memory consolidations of intentionally studied object-location associations after one night of sleep (short delay) and after two weeks (long delay) in normally developing 5-to-7-year-old children (n = 50) and young adults (n = 39). Behavioural differences in memory consolidation were related to structural brain measures. Our results showed that children, in comparison to young adults, consolidate correctly learnt object-location associations less robustly over short and long delay. Moreover, using partial least squares correlation method, a unique multivariate profile comprised of specific neocortical (prefrontal, parietal, and occipital), cerebellar, and hippocampal subfield structures was found to be associated with variation in short-delay memory consolidation. A different multivariate profile comprised of a reduced set of brain structures, mainly consisting of neocortical (prefrontal, parietal, and occipital), and selective hippocampal subfield structures (CA1-2 and subiculum) was associated with variation in long-delay memory consolidation. Taken together, the results suggest that multivariate structural pattern of unique sets of brain regions are related to variations in short- and long-delay memory consolidation across children and young adults.
RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS
Short- and long-delay memory consolidation is less robust in children than in young adults
* Short-delay brain profile comprised of hippocampal, cerebellar, and neocortical brain regions
* Long-delay brain profile comprised of neocortical and selected hippocampal brain regions.
* Brain profiles differ between children and young adults.