Schlenker and Leary (1982) and Clark and Wells (1995) each propose two highly influential models of social anxiety disorder with important implications for theory and treatment. In the current study, overlapping and competing cognitive components of these theories were tested with a focus on understanding the socially anxious (SA) individual’s mental representation of self, and its relation to the experience of anxiety in a social situation. Unacquainted pairs of non-socially anxious individuals (n = 61 pairs) and mixed pairs of highly SA and non-socially anxious (NSA) individuals (n = 101 pairs) participated in a “get acquainted” and a structured problem-solving task. All participants rated both their expectations for making specific impressions as well as the importance of making those impressions. All participants also rated how anxious they felt, how anxious they thought they appeared, and how anxious their partners appeared during the interaction. While all participants believed it was important to make a positive impression, SA individuals expected they would make an overall less positive impression than NSA participants. All individuals reported increased anxiety when ratings of impression importance were higher than expectation ratings (test of Schlenker and Leary’s [1982] model). While self-ratings of anxious appearance were similarly influenced by interoceptive information for both SA and NSA individuals (test of Clark and Wells’ [1995] model), for NSA individuals who had a high tendency to attend to publicly observable aspects of their body, the relation between arousal and self-reported appearance was particularly robust in comparison with that for SA individuals. SA individuals as a group were rated by partners as appearing more anxious than NSA participants. Overall, NSA participants’ ratings of a desire for future interaction with SA and NSA partners were comparable. Implications for theory, measurement concerns of key anxiety constructs, treatment implications and need for further investigation are discussed.

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Thesis (Ph. D.) -- University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, 2005. / Vita. Bibliography: 255-274.

L'histamine(HA) et l'orexine(Ox) jouent des rôles distincts/complémentaires dans l'éveil(Ev) associés à la locomotion, l'exploration, la motivation & l'anticipation. La régulation de l'Ev dépend donc des activités comportementales instantanées et de la participation diverse des systèmes d'éveil. Par une approche intégrée, cette thèse se focalise sur le rôle d'HA et Ox dans l'Ev lié à l'attirance sexuelle (Sexual Arousal), une condition sine qua non pour la reproduction.La présence de la souris femelle entraîne une augmentation de l'Ev chez le mâle. Celle-ci n'est pas significative si un autre mâle est présent. Cet effet dépend d'hormones sexuelles car les souris femelles ovariectomisées ou prétraitées par un antagoniste d'œstrogènes n'entrainent pas d'Ev chez les mâles, alors que les mâles prétraités par un antagoniste d'androgènes n'ont plus cette augmentation. L'inhibition de la synthèse d'HA ou du récepteur Ox1 abolit l'augmentation de l'Ev. Celle-ci est préservée chez la souris sans HA ou sans Ox mais absente chez la souris sans les deux. Ainsi, les systèmes à HA & à Ox, pilotés par les hormones sexuelles, jouent un rôle clé dans Sexual Arousal. Un déficit chronique en HA ou Ox serait compensé par des mécanismes adaptatifs, qui deviennent insuffisants lors de la délétion des deux systèmes. J'ai aussi participé à des études sur : 1) le rôle du récepteur H1 dans l'Ev exploratoire; 2) les neurones à HA, cible de l'acide ursodésoxycholique; 3) les connexines & le mode d'action du modafinil.Cette thèse contribue à qualifier le rôle synergique d'HA & Ox dans le contrôle des multiples facettes de l'Ev & soutient l'hypothèse que le contrôle de l'Ev est comportement-dépendant / Our previous work showed that histamine (HA) and orexin (Ox) neurons play distinct, but complementary roles in wakefulness(W) associated with locomotion, exploration, motivation and anticipation, leading to the hypothesis that the regulation of W, a highly heterogeneous brain state, depends on the instantaneous ongoing behavioral activities and diverse participation of various arousal systems. Using an integrative approach, this thesis focused on the role of HA and Ox in sexual arousal, a prerequisite for reproduction.The presence of a female mouse elicited in a male a marked increase in W. This increase was not significant if another male was introduced. Ovariectomized or estrogen receptor antagonist-treated female mice did not elicit sexual arousal in males. Male mice pretreated with an androgen receptor antagonist did not show any increased W facing a female. Acute inhibition of HA synthesis or Ox1-receptor antagonist abolished sexual arousal. Whereas sexual arousal was intact in knockout(KO) mice lacking either HA or Ox, it was totally absent in double KO mice. Thus, both the HA and Ox systems, driven by sex hormones, promote sexual arousal. Chronic HA or Ox loss could be compensated by up-regulated adaptive mechanisms, which became ineffective when both systems were deleted.During my thesis, I was also involved in the studies of 1) role of HA H1-receptor in W associated with exploration; 2) HA neurons as target of ursodeoxycholic acid; 3) astroglial connexins and modafinil mode of action.This thesis contributes to qualify the synergistic role of HA and Ox in controlling the multiple facets of W and supports the hypothesis that the control of W is behavior-dependent

Charles University Prague, Czech Rep. Raculty of Philosophy Department of Psychology Doctoral Theses Comparison of Accuracy and Precision of Sexodiagnostic Methods of Penile Plethysmography and Viewing Time Ondřej Trojan, 2017 Abstract The diagnosis of pedophilia denotes (according to ICL 10) the erotic preference for prepubescent or early pubescent children. Penile plethysmography (PPG) measures the reaction of these men in respon- se to either visual stimuli or to erotic narrative stories including child objects. Penile plethysmography is quite an intrusive assessment method, so viewing time (VT) might be a good alternative if it is shown to be compapratively accurate. Several studies in the past have shown inconsistent data, therefore more research is needed to confirm its validity in distinguishing responses to the preferred age category of pedophilic men. Method: Participants were 30 self-referred admitting paedophiles aged between 18 and 55 in the experimental group and 30 heterosexual gynephile men in the comparison group. A set of photographs depicting naked adults in addition to male and female children across 6 age categories ranging from young infants to adolescents was used; the same set of 38 stimuli were used to measure PPG (first) and VT(after). PPG apparatus was used to measure penile...

Olfaction plays an important role in human mate selection or in ratings of sexual attractiveness of potential mates. Many studies suggest that olfaction is associated with human sexuality and arousal as well, especially in women, for whom the perception of odors is an important aspect not only in mate selection, but also in sexual context. There are steroids called 16-androstenes, which have an unique importance in this issue. These steroids, produced by the apocrine glands, are compounds of human body odor. The aim of the empirical part of this thesis is to research the associations between olfactory abilities and sexual function in women, especially with particular focus on the association of olfactory sensitivity (particularly to androstadienone as well as in general), orgasmicity and arousal, which are two major domains of sexual function. Participants were 90 heterosexual and coupled female students aged 21-30. All participants were tested during the follicular phase of their menstrual cycle. The Sniffin Sticks olfactory test was employed to assess the general olfactory functions. Among others, olfactory sensitivity to androstadienone was measured, as well as the perceived intensity and hedonicity of androstenone, androstenol and andostadienone. Participants filled out set of questionnaires...

In this small-scale qualitative study we examine PowerPoint presentations using cognitive perspectives (such as the Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning, Arousal theory, and Dual Channel processing) to compare teacher experience with a theoretical background. By analyzing collected PowerPoint presentations and interviewing the experienced teachers that created them about their didactic choices, we are able to identify and focus on four aspects of multimedia learning: Pacing, Student Stimuli, Signaling and Redundancy. Although the teachers involved in the study do not reference the cognitive perspective explicitly, we find similarities and differences between the teachers' near-practice experience and the underlying cognitive theories, finding pedagogical value in both their complementary and contradictory natures. From this, we suggest that the principles of cognitive theories from a scientific basis are complemented and tempered by the flexibility of experience.

A map of connections between musical features and musical expression have been much sought-after. Unveiling a system behind the musical expression humans achieve and perceive intuitively could benefit a range of human activities including musical composition, therapy, and computer science. The present study featured an experiment in which 50 participants rated the expression of valence on a 9-point scale after listening to 10 music samples. The only difference between the samples was the pitch of one note (occurring at various times, octaves and instruments). Each condition featured the note as forming a different interval in regard to the tonic (the first scale degree, and the tonal focal point). The intervals were: minor second, major second, minor third, major third, augmented fourth (the tritone), perfect fifth, minor sixth, major sixth, minor seventh and major seventh. Participants also rated their musical sophistication by answering the 40 questions of the Gold-MSI self-report inventory and a resulting index variable ranging from 40 to 120 was obtained. Statistically significant finds were made and a pattern emerged where minor/augmented intervals code for negative valence and major/perfect intervals code for positive valence. The expression of the minor and major sevenths appeared neutral, but results lacked statistical significance. The musical sophistication of participant was associated with the ability to perceive musical expression of affect. Finally, the term intervallic semiosis was proposed as a designation for the explained functionality of valence coding.

Computer graphics field is rapidly growing and is widely used in many industries, especially in cinematics. The visual effects, which is a part of the field, have become more affordable in comparison to special effect. By using more visual effects, safety during the shooting increases and the use of resources decreases. However, the field is still young and there are a lot of flaws to consider when creating such an effect. It is important that CGI in movies are created in such a way that it does not disrupt the viewing experience unless it’s done on purpose. Therefore, CGI in a real-life setting should look real. To create CGI that is closer to reality, this study examines the differences between special effects and visual effects in the aspect of the viewing experience. To investigate this question, we conducted an experiment following a semi-structured interview. 13 students participated in this study where they had to watch video clips representing the special respective visual effect. During the experiment, they did a self- report by filling in a questionnaire. A Valence-Arousal model was used to examine the subject’s emotional reactions. The result suggests that there are no significant differences between the two effects in regard to an emotional reaction. However, it shows that the visual effect had flaws of being too plastic and too perfect which makes it less convincing compared to the special effects. In contrary, the special effects do not have the ability to be exaggerating, which in turn makes it more exciting to watch the visual effects. Although this study does not solve any flaws, it highlights those that need to be fixed for the goals of improving CGI. / Datorgrafik är ett ständigt växande ämne och tekniken kan appliceras så många olika sätt, speciellt inom film. Visuella effekter som är en del av ämnet som har blivit ett mer prisvärt alternativ i jämförelse till specialeffekter. Genom att använda mer visuella effekter, har säkerheten i filmandet ökat och användningen av resurser minskat. Men datagrafiksämnet är fortfarande relativt ny och det finns många brister att tänka på när det gäller att skapa en visuell effekt. Det är viktigt att CGI i filmer är skapad på sådant sätt att den inte stör tittarupplevelsen, såvida det inte är med mening. CGI i en verklighetstrogen miljö bör därför se verklighetstrogen ut. För att skapa CGI som är närmare verkligheten ska denna studien undersöka skillnaden mellan specialeffekter och visuella effekter baserad på tittarupplevelsen. För att undersöka denna fråga har vi utfört ett experiment med följd av en semi-strukturerad intervju. 13 studenter deltog denna studie där de har kollat på videoklipp med specialeffekter respektive visuella effekter. Under experimentet fick de fylla i en enkät där de utvärderar deras reaktion till klippen samt vad de tyckte om respektive klipp. En Valence-Arousal-modell användes för att undersöka deltagarnas emotionella reaktion. Resultatet visar att det inte är någon signifikant skillnad mellan de två effekterna när det gäller den emotionella reaktionen. Däremot indikerar att de visuella effekterna var för konstlad samt för perfekt i jämförelse till specialeffekter. Dessa nackdelar gjorde effekten mindre övertygande. Emellertid kan specialeffekterna inte överdrivas i samma skala som visuella effekter vilket gör den visuella effekten mer spännande. Denna studie löser inte de problem som visuella effekter har idag, men den tar fram problem som behöver fixas för att förbättra tekniken.

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