Konstanz, Univ., Diss., 2006.

Zugl.: Berlin, Humboldt-Universiẗat, Diss., 2009.

Zugl.: Paderborn, Universiẗat, Diss., 2006.

Jena, Universiẗat, Diss., 1999.

Everyday life experience tells us that individual differences apparently matter. Although confronted with the same situation, individuals seem to act and react in different ways. On a behavioral and self-report level, individual differences are well documented. Over the past decades, they have been systematically assessed and embedded in complex theories of personality. On the other hand, the influence of personality differences on cognitive processes and their cerebral substrate is far from being entirely understood. Especially the complex interplay of two or more aspects, like individual differences (e.g., in motivational processes), cognitive functions (e.g., intuition), cerebral activation and lateralization, and humoral processes (e.g., cortisol), are seldom aim of psychological research. The Personality Systems Interaction (PSI) theory (Kuhl, 2000, 2001) provides a theoretical framework, which tries to incorporate the above-mentioned aspects. On the background of PSI theory, the aim of the present work was to investigate differences in motivational processing and how they are related to hemispherical asymmetries, cognitive processing, and humoral reactivity. Each of the three research articles presented throughout the present work tackles different aspects of this general research question. For this, a variety of different methodological techniques were used (e.g., questionnaires, implicit measures, electroencephalography, etc.) to approach the aforementioned goal. The first research paper presented in the current work examines the relationship between the implicit affiliation motive and intuition, as a form cognitive processing. Previous research already demonstrated that affiliation-laden primes facilitate intuitive thought (Kuhl & Kazén, 2008). Therefore, it could be expected that trait affiliation motive would also be correlated with intuition. Intuition in turn is thought to be a function of right hemispheric processes. An association between trait affiliation and intuition could therefore indirectly indicate a lateralization to the right side for affiliation. With the first study of the present work, the author tested this association. Thirty-nine students filled in the Operant Motive Test for the assessment of implicit affiliation, a variant of the Thematic Apperception Test. Then, 9 months later, participants engaged in a Remote Associates Test in which they intuitively had to indicate whether three words are semantically related. As expected, the implicit affiliation motive significantly predicted the accuracy of identifying related word triads. No other implicit or explicit measure, nor state or trait positive affect was associated with intuition. With the second research article, the aforementioned indirect association between affiliation and lateralized processing was investigated more directly. Previous research on relationships between personality and EEG resting state frontal asymmetries mainly focused on individual differences with respect to motivational direction (i.e., approach vs. withdrawal). By contrast, the second article investigated frontal asymmetries as a function of individual differences in implicit affiliation motive. The goal was not only to contribute to the validation of PSI theory and to the investigation of the laterality of the affiliation motive, but also to disentangle the contribution of different social motives to frontal EEG asymmetries. The consideration of social motives, such as the affiliation motive, seemed to be necessary, because a recent meta-analysis showed that the association between approach motivation and frontal asymmetries is negligible or that unidentified moderators drive this association. From previous research and the results from the first paper presented in the current work, an association between affiliation motive and right frontal activity was predicted. Additionally, to control for possible associations with motivational direction, trait behavioral inhibition, behavioral activation, and anger were assessed and correlated with frontal asymmetries. Seventy-two right-handed students were tested. As expected and in accordance with the findings from the first paper, the author found that relative right frontal activity (indicated by low alpha frequency power) was associated with the affiliation motive. To explore brain regions responsible for this association at scalp sites, a source localization algorithm was applied. Intracranial distribution of primary current densities for the alpha band spectrum in source space was estimated and correlated with implicit affiliation scores. A significantly correlating area could be identified in the right ventromedial prefrontal cortex (Brodmann Area 10). No other associations at scalp sites or in source space could be found for motivational direction. The third research article presented in the current work highlights motivational differences slightly different from those presented above. It deals with dynamic motivational processes, such as action orientation, and how they moderate the association between cerebral asymmetries and the physiological stress reaction. Hypothalamus pituitary adrenocortical (HPA) system activity and frontal brain asymmetries have both been linked to stress and emotion but their relationship remains unclear, especially when additionally considering individual differences. Therefore, participants were exposed to public speaking stress while salivary cortisol levels (as a marker of HPA activity) and resting frontal EEG alpha asymmetries were assessed before and after stress induction. The results indicate that higher post stressor cortisol levels were associated with higher relative left frontal activity. State oriented participants showed a stronger association between cortisol response and left frontal activity than action oriented participants. The above-mentioned findings are discussed referring to PSI theory and their possible implications. Additionally, shortcomings of the present research and possible remedies will be presented.

From simply ringing a bell to preparing a five-course menu, human behavior commonly causes changes in the environment. Such episodes where an agent acts, thereby causing changes in their environment constitute the sense of agency. In this thesis four series of experi-ments elucidate how the sense of agency is represented in complex action-event sequences, thereby bridging a gap between basic cognitive research and real-life practice. It builds upon extensive research on the sense of agency in unequivocal sequences consisting of single ac-tions and distinct, predominantly auditory, outcomes. Employing implicit as well as explicit measures, the scope is opened up to multi-step sequences. The experiments show that it is worthwhile devoting more research to complex action-event sequences. With a newly introduced auditory measure (Chapter II), common phenomena such as temporal binding and a decrease in agency ratings following distorted feedback were replicated in multi-step sequences. However, diverging results between traditional implicit and explicit measures call for further inspection. Multisensory integration appears to gain more weight when multiple actions have to be performed to attain a goal leading to more accurate representations of the own actions (Chapter III). Additionally, freedom of choice (Chapter III) as well as early spatial ambiguity altered the perceived timing of outcomes, while late spatial ambi-guity (Chapter IV) and the outcome’s self-relevance did not (Chapter V). The data suggests that the cognitive system is capable of representing multi-step action-event sequences implicitly and explicitly. Actions and sensory events show a temporal attraction stemming from a bias in the perception of outcomes. Explicit knowledge about causing an event-sequence facilitates neither feelings of control nor taking authorship. The results corroborate current theorizing on the un-derpinnings of temporal binding and the divergence between traditional implicit and explicit measures of the sense of agency. Promising avenues for further research include structured analyses of how much inferred causality contributes to implicit and explicit measures of agency as well as finding alternative measures to capture conceptual as well as non-conceptual facets of the agency experience with one method. / Vom Läuten einer Klingel bis hin zum Kochen eines Fünf-Gänge Menüs – menschliches Handeln verändert die Umwelt. Situationen, in denen eine Person handelt und so Veränderungen in ihrer Umgebung bewirkt, konstituieren den Sense of Agency. Diese Arbeit präsentiert vier Experimentalreihen, die die Repräsentation des Sense of Agency in komplexen Handlungs-Ereignis-Sequenzen erforschen und so eine Brücke zwischen kognitiver Grundla-genforschung und Alltagspraxis schlagen. Aufbauend auf umfangreicher Forschung zum Sense of Agency in Sequenzen aus einzelnen Handlungen und eindeutigen, vorwiegend auditiven Handlungseffekten wird der Forschungsbereich durch Einsatz impliziter sowie expliziter Maße auf mehrschrittige Sequenzen erweitert. Mittels eines neuen auditiven Maßes (Kapitel II) wurden gängige Phänomene wie Temporal Binding und die Abnahme von Agency Ratings nach verfremdetem Feedback in mehrschrittigen Sequenzen repliziert. Müssen mehrere Handlungen ausgeführt werden, um ein Ziel zu erreichen, scheint multisensorische Integration stärker ins Gewicht zu fallen, was zu genaueren Repräsentationen der eigenen Handlungen führt (Kapitel III). Darüber hinaus veränderten Wahl-freiheit (Kapitel III) und frühe räumliche Ambiguität das wahrgenommene Timing von Hand-lungseffekten, späte räumliche Ambiguität (Kapitel IV) sowie Selbstrelevanz des Handlungsef-fekts taten dies nicht (Kapitel V). Die Daten deuten darauf hin, dass das kognitive System mehrschrittige Handlungs-Ereignis-Sequenzen sowohl implizit als auch explizit repräsentieren kann. Die zeitliche Kompression von Handlungs-Ereignis-Sequenzen ist auf eine Verzerrung der Wahrnehmung von Handlungseffekten zurückzuführen. Explizites Wissen über die Verursa-chung von Ereignis-Folgen fördert weder Kontrollerleben noch das Gefühl eigener Autoren-schaft. Die Ergebnisse bestätigen den derzeitigen Diskurs über die Grundlagen von Temporal Binding und die Divergenz zwischen den traditionellen impliziten und expliziten Maßen des Sense of Agency. Strukturierte Analysen zum Beitrag von Kausalität zu Sense of Agency sowie die Ent-wicklung alternativer Methoden zur Erfassung konzeptueller wie nicht-konzeptueller Facetten des Sense of Agency mit einem Maß würden zur Weiterentwicklung des Forschungsbereichs beitragen.

Abstracts of the 44. Tagung experimentell arbeitender Psychologen TeaP in Chemnitz, March, 25 to 27. / Zusammenfassungen der Beiträge der 44. Tagung experimentell arbeitender Psychologen TeaP 2002 in Chemnitz vom 25. - 27. März 2002.

Classical fear conditioning – including acquisition and extinction – is a model for fear learning and memory in health and disease. Moreover, trauma-related disorders can be viewed as comprising fear acquisition under severe stress. Yet, in humans, we know comparatively little about how acute stress affects fear conditioning. Therefore, the first aim of this thesis was to investigate the effect of stress on fear acquisition or extinction. Stress induces multiple hormonal and neurotransmitter changes dynamically developing over time, including a fast first-wave and a slower second-wave stress response. Models derived from avoidance learning and declarative memory studies suggest that stress effects on memory depend on the temporal proximity between learning and stressor: encoding close to the stressor will be enhanced, but encoding and recall later in time (during the second-wave) will be suppressed (e.g., Schwabe, Joëls, Roozendaal, Wolf, & Oitzl, 2012). So far, these predictions were not related to fear conditioning. Therefore, we investigated if the model-based predictions are also valid in human fear conditioning. We used two stressors to investigate first-wave and second-wave stress effects: the cold pressor test (CPT) inducing a strong first-wave but little second-wave activation and a psychosocial stressor, reliably inducing both, first- and second-wave stress responses. Conditioning was measured via skin conductance responses (SCRs). Investigating the first-wave (Experiment 2), we placed fear acquisition and immediate extinction directly after the CPT (n = 20) or after the control treatment (n = 20). We found no group difference in acquisition performance, but significantly increased extinction resistance in the stressed CPT group. In Experiment 3, CPT (n = 20) or control (n = 20) was placed after acquisition but directly prior to extinction training. Here, we found improved extinction and 24h-delayed extinction recall after CPT. Investigating the second-wave (Experiment 1), we placed fear acquisition and immediate extinction 45 min after the psychosocial stressor (i.e., at the peak of salivary cortisol, n = 12) or after control (n = 12). Here, we found no significant stress effects. Sex and female sex hormones also influence fear conditioning: Women are at a higher risk to develop anxiety and stressor-related disorders than men. Interestingly, patients with these disorders show impaired fear extinction and extinction recall, and low levels of the sex hormone 17β-estradiol (E2) are linked to impaired extinction in both, healthy and patient female samples. So far, there is little data on how acute stress and circulating E2-levels might interact in fear acquisition and especially in fear extinction. Therefore, the second aim of this thesis was to explore this possible interaction in healthy women in different cycle phases compared to men. Thus, in Experiment 4, we included hormone status as a quasi-experimental variable and compared free cycling women in the midcycle phase (high E2, low progesterone, n = 24), women in the early follicular phase of the menstrual cycle (low E2, low progesterone, n = 24), and men (n = 24). We placed fear acquisition and extinction 45 min after the psychosocial stressor (n = 36) or control (n = 36), and tested extinction recall after 24 h. In line with Experiment 1, the second-wave stressor did not affect fear acquisition and immediate extinction. However, we found a stress by hormone status interaction within women at the 24h-delayed extinction recall test: in the stressed group, early follicular women showed impaired extinction recall and a higher return of fear compared to midcycle women, whereas there was no difference between early follicular and midcycle women after control treatment. Collectively our results support a different role for the first- and second-wave stress response in human fear conditioning. Fear acquisition near the first-wave stress response results in enhanced fear memory, which is resistant to extinction. Extinction training near the first-wave enhances extinction learning. In contrast, fear conditioning at the peak of the peripheral second-wave cortisol response had no effect on acquisition or extinction performance. However, second-wave stress interacted with the hormone status of women, where only women in a low E2 state were vulnerable to negative stress effects in extinction recall. The last result will encourage further investigation of the interplay between E2 and stress in fear extinction. Enhancement of extinction by the CPT could – if replicated – be translated into strategies for optimizing exposure therapy.

Psychische Ursachen und Effekte körperlicher Reinigung waren lange Zeit nur ein Randthema psychologischer Forschung. Inspiriert durch die in vielen Religionen und Medien häufig thematisierte metaphorische Verbindung zwischen körperlicher und moralischer Reinheit konnte in den letzten Jahren substantielle empirisch Evidenz für einen tatsächlichen psychologischen Mechanismus gefunden werden. Dabei zeigte sich auch, dass körperliche Reinigung über die Domäne moralischer Selbstbilder und Urteile hinaus bedeutsame Effekte auf psychische Funktionen haben kann. Die vorliegende Arbeit stellt die Entwicklung und den aktuellen Stand dieser Forschungslinie dar. Insbesondere beinhaltet sie fünf empirische Studien, die verschiedene Facetten körperlicher Reinheit mit Blick auf psychische Funktionen untersuchen. In Studie 1 wird erstmalig demonstriert, dass Händewaschen nach einem Misserfolgserlebnis in einer kognitiven Problemlöseaufgabe den Optimismus, zukünftig eine bessere Leistung zeigen zu können, signifikant steigerte, dabei jedoch die tatsächliche spätere Leistung reduzierte. In Studie 2 wird vor dem Hintergrund unterschiedlicher theoretischer Annahmen über die Wirkung von körperlicher Reinigung gezeigt, dass Händewaschen die Tendenz verstärkter stereotyper moralischer Urteile abschwächt und gleichzeitig die Herunterregulierung physiologischer Erregung begünstigt. Dabei wird erstmalig eine Blickbewegungs- und Pupillometrie-Messung im Forschungsfeld durchgeführt, um objektive Indikatoren für Informationsaufnahmeprozesse und physiologische Erregung zu nutzen. In Studie 3 wird demonstriert, wie ausgehend von der Annahme einer modulierten Gewichtung kognitiver Information durch Händewaschen dieses die Gedächtnisleistung für moralische und unmoralische Inhalte zugunsten letzterer verändert. Studie 4 untersucht, wie die aktive Reinigung der Hände sowie die bloße Aktivierung von Reinheitskognitionen die eingeschätzte Wahrscheinlichkeit für zukünftige moralische und unmoralische Handlungen beeinflusst. Schließlich untersucht Studie 5 die potentielle Interaktion zweier haptischer Informationseinflüsse, indem Händereinigen und Gewichtsempfindungen kombiniert werden. Die Ergebnisse der Studien liefern eine Vielzahl neuer Befunde, die einem besseren Verständnis psychologischer Effekte körperlicher Reinheit dienen und insbesondere mit Blick auf das konzeptionelle Rahmenmodell der Embodied Cognition wichtige Erkenntnisse liefern.

The ultimate aim of psychological research is to disentangle everyday human functioning. Achieving this goal has always been limited by the necessity of balancing experimental control and ecological validity. Recent technical advances, however, reduce this trade-off immensely, perhaps even rendering it void: Sophisticated virtual reality (VR) systems provide not only high experimental control but also multidimensional and realistic stimuli, tasks, and experimental setups. Yet prior to applying VR as a standalone experimental method, an empirical foundation for its application needs to be established. To this end, this dissertation aims to shed light on whether and which changes in cognitive-affective standard findings result from increasing the ecological validity by means of VR paradigms. The four empirical studies included in this dissertation focus either on the affective or mnemonic processes and mechanisms occurring under immersive VR conditions compared to conventional laboratory setups. Study 1.1 investigated whether the electrophysiological correlates of the approach/avoidance dimension differ depending on the mode of presentation, i.e., immersive VR footage or a virtual 2D desktop. Study 2 was extended by a behavioral component. Full-body responses were enabled within this paradigm to examine holistic fear responses and to put to the test whether the respective electrophysiological responses translate from keystrokes to natural responses. With respect to the retrieval of such immersive experiences, Study 1.2 aimed to replicate the memory superiority effect found for VR conditions compared to conventional conditions. The generalizability of this effect will be examined using complex, multimodal scenes. Going one step further, Study 3 differentiated the retrieval mechanisms underlying VR-based or conventional laboratory engrams on the electrophysiological level. The well-established theta old/new effect served as a benchmark to check whether cognitive processes obtained under conventional conditions translate to VR conditions. The results of these studies are discussed with respect to whether and how increasing ecological validity alters the standard findings expected on the basis of the previous research background. Special attention will be paid to the differences between conventional laboratory setups and sophisticated VR setups with the aim to identify possible sources of the obtained deviations from standard findings. Such changes in the findings that overlap and exceed all studies beyond their primary focus, whether emotional or mnemonic, are discussed in terms of embodied simulations and the predictive coding hypothesis. A shared mental 3D default space is proposed as a possible source of fundamental differences between conventional and VR-based research outcomes. In particular, it will be demonstrated that conventional research approaches and findings may not only be amplified but fundamentally altered when translated to VR paradigms.