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  • About
  • The Global ETD Search service is a free service for researchers to find electronic theses and dissertations. This service is provided by the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations.
    Our metadata is collected from universities around the world. If you manage a university/consortium/country archive and want to be added, details can be found on the NDLTD website.
261

Practical reason and motivation.

January 2006 (has links)
Li King Wai. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 165-167). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Chapter 1. --- Introduction / "Desire, reason, and motivation" / Chapter I. --- The Issue --- p.1 / Chapter II. --- Desires and Motives --- p.2 / Chapter III. --- "Reason,Reasoning, and Practical Reason" --- p.7 / Chapter IV. --- The Question of the Gap --- p.8 / Chapter V. --- The Motivational Problem --- p.11 / Chapter VI. --- The Motivational Problem: A factual inquiry or a normative inquiry? --- p.16 / Chapter VII. --- Motivational Priority: Reason or desire? --- p.19 / Chapter VIII. --- An Overview of the Following Chapters --- p.21 / Chapter 2. --- Cognitivist Motivational Internalism / Kosgaard's attempt / Chapter I. --- Introduction --- p.27 / Chapter II. --- Internalism Requirement (IR) --- p.30 / Chapter III. --- Condition of being Practically Rational (CPR) --- p.31 / Chapter IV. --- What IR Implies and Doesn't Imply --- p.36 / Chapter V. --- Motivational Skepticism Assumes Content Skepticism --- p.41 / Chapter VI. --- A Humean Conception of Practical Reason --- p.47 / Chapter VII. --- Kosgaard vs. Williams on the Proper Interpretation of IR --- p.52 / Chapter 3. --- Varieties of Humeanism / "Arguments for the principle of desire-in, desire-out" / Chapter I. --- Introduction --- p.57 / Chapter II. --- Comprehensive Humeanism: An overview --- p.61 / Chapter III. --- Bald Instrumentalism --- p.64 / Chapter IV. --- Argument from Direction of Fit --- p.68 / Chapter V. --- Partial Humeanism (PH) --- p.86 / Chapter VI. --- Looking Backward and Looking Forward --- p.91 / Chapter 4. --- Quasi-Humeanism / Backgrounding PDIO / Chapter I. --- Introduction --- p.93 / Chapter II. --- Strict Background View of Desire --- p.94 / Chapter III. --- Background Desire as an Enabling Condition --- p.119 / Chapter IV. --- Concluding Remarks --- p.123 / Chapter 5. --- Fusionist Alternative / Dissolving the reason/ desire dichotomy / Chapter I. --- Introduction --- p.125 / Chapter II. --- Setting the Stage: The status of the debate without the fusionist alternative --- p.126 / Chapter III. --- Challenges to Humeanism: Motivation for a fusionist alternative --- p.129 / Chapter IV. --- The Fusionist Alternative --- p.133 / Chapter V. --- Three Merits of the Fusionist Account --- p.144 / Chapter VI. --- Conclusion --- p.151 / Chapter 6. --- Conclusion / Chapter I. --- Introduction --- p.154 / Chapter II. --- Seeing the Point of a Rational Consideration and Being Motivated --- p.155 / Chapter III. --- The Inadequacies of CMI? --- p.159 / Chapter IV. --- The Dilemma of a Humean Conception of Desire --- p.160 / Chapter V. --- PDIO: Is it exclusively reserved for Humeanism? --- p.162 / Chapter VI. --- Conclusion: Groping in the dark --- p.163 / Bibliography --- p.165
262

Who is motivating me to learn and how?: the effects of autonomy support and autonomy orientation on the protégé's learning in the organization.

January 2006 (has links)
Liu Dong. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 90-100). / Abstracts and questionnaires in English and Chinese. / ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS --- p.i / ABSTRACT --- p.iii / 中文摘要 --- p.v / Chapter CHAPTER 1: --- INTRODUCTION --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- Theoretical Background of This Study --- p.1 / Chapter 1.2 --- Research Questions (RQ) --- p.3 / Chapter 1.3 --- Structure of the Thesis --- p.4 / Chapter CHAPTER 2: --- LITERATURE REVIEW --- p.6 / Chapter 2.1 --- Cognitive Evaluation Theory --- p.7 / Chapter 2.2 --- Organismic Integration Theory --- p.8 / Chapter 2.3 --- Causality Orientation Theory --- p.12 / Chapter 2.4 --- Basic Needs Theory --- p.14 / Chapter 2.5 --- Summary of SDT´ةs Sub-theories and Overall Structure --- p.16 / Chapter 2.6 --- Applying SDT in Organizational Research --- p.19 / Chapter CHAPTER 3: --- LINKING SDT TO MENTORING RESEARCH --- p.22 / Chapter 3.1 --- Previous Studies Regarding Motivation and Mentoring --- p.22 / Chapter 3.2 --- Development of Hypotheses --- p.25 / Chapter 3.2.1 --- "Autonomy Support, Autonomy Orientation, and Proteges' Personal Learning (Hypotheses 1, 2, and 3)" --- p.25 / Chapter 3.2.2 --- Comparing the Effects of Autonomy Support and Autonomy Orientation on Proteges' Personal Learning (Hypothesis 4) --- p.31 / Chapter 3.2.3 --- Moderating Effects of Autonomy Support of Team climate (Hypotheses 5a & 5b) --- p.33 / Chapter 3.2.4 --- Proteges' Personal Learning and Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB) (Hypothesis 6) --- p.35 / Chapter 3.2.5 --- Proteges' Personal Learning and Job Involvement (Hypothesis 7) --- p.37 / Chapter 3.2.6 --- Proteges' Personal Learning as a Mediating Variable (Hypotheses 8a & 8b) --- p.39 / Chapter CHAPTER 4: --- METHODS --- p.47 / Chapter 4.1 --- Procedure and Respondents --- p.47 / Chapter 4.2 --- Measures --- p.49 / Chapter 4.3 --- Analytic Techniques --- p.53 / Chapter CHAPTER 5: --- RESULTS --- p.58 / Chapter 5.1 --- CFA Analyses --- p.58 / Chapter 5.2 --- Aggregation Analyses of Autonomy Support of Team climate --- p.59 / Chapter 5.3 --- Hypothesis Testing: Hierarchical Linear Modelling Analyses --- p.60 / Chapter 5.3.1 --- "Testing the Main Effects of Autonomy Support and Autonomy Orientation (Hypotheses 1, 2,& 3)" --- p.62 / Chapter 5.3.2 --- Comparing the Predictive Power of the Three Motivational Factors (Hypothesis 4). --- p.65 / Chapter 5.3.3 --- Testing the Moderating Effects of Team climate (Hypotheses 5a & 5b) --- p.66 / Chapter 5.3.4 --- "Testing the Main and Mediating Effects of Proteges' Personal Learning (Hypotheses 6, 7,8a, & 8b)" --- p.69 / Chapter CHAPTER 6: --- DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION --- p.75 / Chapter 6.1 --- Discussion on findings --- p.75 / Chapter 6.1.1 --- The Motivational Determinants of Proteges' Personal Learning --- p.76 / Chapter 6.1.2 --- The Predicting and Mediating Roles of Proteges' Personal Learning --- p.79 / Chapter 6.2 --- Implications --- p.81 / Chapter 6.3 --- Limitations and Directions for Future Research --- p.84 / Chapter 6.4 --- Conclusion --- p.89 / REFERENCE --- p.90 / APPENDIX: SURVEY INSTRUMENTS --- p.101
263

Att finna motivation i en hopplös situation

Isaksen, Sanna, Rudengård, Kajsa January 2019 (has links)
Att ge upp ett personligt viktigt mål är en situation alla kan ställas inför. Vad är det som avgör beslutet att ge upp eller att försöka igen? Syftet var att ta reda på vad det är som gör att en individ lyckas fortsätta framåt och försöka igen trots att denne gett upp målet. Erfarenheterna från 44 respondenter där de kämpat för att nå ett viktigt mål undersöktes angående skillnaden mellan att ge upp eller att försöka igen. Data analyserades genom tematisk innehållsanalys och belyste avgörande faktorer som avgjort om en individ lyckats ompröva sitt beslut att ge upp, vilket resulterade i yttre och inre orsaker, vilka sammanfattades i fyra åtgärder som kan motivera en individ i hopplösa situationer: tid, miljö, självinsikt/driv och struktur. Framtida forskning föreslår att använda denna studie som underlag i forskning kring motivationsskapande för individer som gett upp.Keywords: failure, give up, motivation, personal goals, try again
264

Understanding the impact of food-associated stimuli on intake in humans

Ridley-Siegert, Thomas January 2016 (has links)
Environmental food-associated stimuli potentiate feeding in non-human animals and humans. However, there has been no investigation of this phenomena in human adults using novel stimuli which are then selectively associated with food through different learning processes. The aims of this thesis were twofold; firstly, to investigate whether Pavlovian cues (those that signal what and when an outcome will occur) and discriminative stimuli (those that signal whether an outcome will occur) which are associated with food will increase subsequent intake. Secondly, to investigate neural activity in response to these stimuli. The first set of studies examined Pavlovian cue-food associations. Study one utilised a new methodology to associate stimuli with specific tastes and demonstrated evidence for cue-potentiated feeding: people ate more in the presence of cues associated with a sweet taste (CS+). This potentiation was greater for foods which were sweet and so constonant with the trained taste. Study two utilised the same methodology but now contrasted sweet likers and sweet-dislikers. However, the cue-potentiation finding failed to replicate. The second set of studies examined cues associated with the chance to obtain food-rewards, interpreted as discriminative stimuli (DS). Study three trained participants to associate stimuli with obtaining food-rewards if the correct response was produced. The findings displayed a suppression of intake in the presence of a stimulus associated with not obtaining rewards compared to a stimulus associated with obtaining chocolate rewards. Study four extended Study three however sated half the participants prior to the intake test. However the previous cue-suppression finding did not replicate. Study five examined how these two different cue-food associations are encoded in the brain using fMRI. Analysis revealed that the stimuli modified activity in neural regions associated with reward, although whereas the DS enhanced striatal activation, the CS+ deactivated the striatum. The evidence for the lack of contingency awareness to affect behaviour throughout the thesis is discussed.
265

Testing a goal-driven account of involuntary attentional capture by motivationally salient stimuli

Brown, Christopher January 2018 (has links)
Traditionally, mainstream models of attention have neglected the role of motivationally meaningful stimuli (e.g. threat/reward). These stimuli can cause the rapid and involuntary attraction of attention (attentional capture), and can hence be said to have motivational salience. It is sometimes considered that this capture occurs in a stimulus-driven manner (versus goal-driven). I, however, suggest that attentional capture by motivational salience could be caused by a goal-driven mechanism. To test this we asked three overarching questions: 1) Is detecting motivationally salient stimuli considered important? By using a novel concurrent forced choice task, which isolates the priority of an individual's explicit search goals, we found that individuals believed that it was advantageous to detect and search for motivationally salient stimuli. 2) Can voluntary search goals induce attentional capture? In Chapter 2 we revealed that task-irrelevant threatening stimuli only captured attention, versus neutral distractors, when participants were searching for that category of threatening stimuli. This goal-driven capture effect was robust yet highly specific, affecting only the single specific semantic category, rather than generalising across all related stimuli (Chapter 3). We found an identical pattern of results for reward associated stimuli (alcohol in social drinkers) in Chapter 4, with capture only occurring in the goal-driven condition. The same was true for smoking related images in Chapter 5, and this occurred independently of current nicotine dependence. Additionally, self-selected search goals were capable of inducing attentional capture, not just instructed goals (Chapter 7). 3) How are top-down search goals initially selected? Chapter 6 revealed that search goal priority was positively predicted by stimulus importance and expectancy. This task also revealed a contextual cueing effect on search goal priority, whereby threat was prioritised more in a threatening context (versus safe). On the basis of my findings we propose a novel Importance-Expectancy model of attentional goal selection.
266

La motivación en la satisfacción laboral en los trabajadores del área de servicio al cliente de una tienda por departamentos en Lima Metropolitana

Esteban Jimenez, Mario Diego January 2017 (has links)
El objetivo ha sido establecer la relación entre la motivación y la Satisfacción Laboral en los trabajadores del área de servicio al cliente de una Tienda por Departamentos en Lima Metropolitana. La hipótesis general ha comprobado la existencia de una relación directa y significativa entre la motivación y satisfacción laboral; obteniéndose un coeficiente de correlación Rho de Spearman donde el diseño de investigación ha sido de tipo descriptivo – correlacional, de tipo cuantitativo. The objective has been to establish the relationship between motivation and Labor Satisfaction in the workers of the customer service area of a Shop by Departments in Metropolitan Lima. The general hypothesis has proven the existence of a direct and significant relationship between motivation and job satisfaction; obtaining a Spearman Rho correlation coefficient where the research design has been descriptive - correlational, of a quantitative type.
267

The application of goal-setting in the individualized classroom

Gilpin, William H January 2011 (has links)
Typescript. / Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries
268

Student Engagement in LDS Seminaries

Aardema, Thomas P 01 May 2013 (has links)
This qualitative study examined student engagement in seminaries of The Churchcof Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS). This study sought to answer the following question: "What are seminary teachers, who have been identified by content experts as having high levels of student engagement, doing to generate high levels of student engagement in their classrooms?" Ten LDS Seminary teachers were selected as participants for this study. The findings from this study were organized around the concepts of: competence, school membership, clarity of purpose, fairness, personal support, caring, authentic work, extrinsic reward, intrinsic interests, sense of ownership, connection to real-world application, and fun. The findings from this study suggest that there are 48 strategies that the 10 participants used to generate student engagement in their classrooms.
269

Taking your chances: risk behavior and its relation to arousal, framing and motivation / Die eigenen Chancen ergreifen: Risikoverhalten und dessen Beziehung zu Arousal, Framing und Motivation

Schmidt, Barbara January 2014 (has links) (PDF)
Human risk behavior is the subject of growing research in the field of psychology as well as economics. One central topic is the influence of psychological variables on risk behavior. Studies contained in this work investigated the impact of arousal, framing and motivation on risk behavior. Arousal can on the one hand be a temporarily stable trait and on the other hand a situation-dependent variable. We showed that low trait arousal, measured via resting heart rate, predicted risky behavior. After physical exercise, state arousal was heightened in the experiment. Participants tended to act less risky after physical exercise. Taken together, the results suggest an inverse relation of arousal and risk behavior. Most studies investigating risk behavior employ a payment method that we call pay-one method: although the gambles that are used consist of many trials, only one trial is paid out. We investigated the effect of the payment method on risk behavior by employing both the pay-one and a pay-all method, which pays out all trials, in a within-subjects design. We found that participants acted about 10% less risky in the pay-one condition compared to the pay-all condition. This result suggests that risk-aversion is over-estimated in common risk paradigms that use the pay-one method. When we worked on a hard task before, we like to engage in a more likable task afterwards. That observation led to the general classification of tasks in want-to and have-to tasks. Our body system strives towards a balance between those two task types in the sense of a homeostasis. We assessed event-related potentials (ERPs) in a risk game that we treated as a want-to task. When participants worked on a difficult have-to task before, amplitudes of the ERP-components in the risk game were raised compared to a condition where participants worked on an easy task before. We conclude that the motivation shift towards a want-to task after a have-to task can be assessed via ERP amplitudes. In conclusion, it was shown that arousal, framing and motivation are important psychological variables that influence risk behavior. The specific mechanisms of these influences have been investigated and discussed. / Menschliches Risikoverhalten ist zunehmend Gegenstand psychologischer und ökonomischer Forschung. Eine zentrale Rolle spielt dabei der Einfluss psychologischer Variablen auf Risikoverhalten. Die in dieser Arbeit vorgestellten Studien untersuchen den Einfluss von physiologischer Erregung, Framing und Motivation auf Risikoverhalten. Physiologische Erregung kann einerseits als zeitlich stabile Eigenschaft, andererseits als situationsabhängige Variable gesehen werden. Wir konnten zeigen, dass niedrige zeitlich stabile physiologische Erregung, die über die Ruhe-Herzrate gemessen wurde, riskantes Verhalten vorhersagte. Nach körperlichem Training war die physiologische Erregung der Versuchspersonen im Experiment kurzzeitig erhöht. Die Versuchspersonen tendierten dazu, nach diesem Training weniger riskant zu handeln. Zusammengenommen legen die Ergebnisse nahe, dass eine inverse Relation zwischen physiologischer Erregung und Risikoverhalten vorliegt. Die meisten Studien, die sich mit Risikoverhalten befassen, verwenden die sogenannte pay-one Auszahlungsmethode: In Risikospielen, die aus vielen Durchgängen bestehen, wird nur ein Durchgang des gesamten Risikospiels ausbezahlt. Wir untersuchten den Effekt der Auszahlungsmethode auf das Risikoverhalten, indem wir sowohl die pay-one Methode als auch die pay-all Methode, bei der die Gewinne aller Durchgänge ausbezahlt werden, in einem Zwischensubjekt-Design verwendeten. Wir fanden heraus, dass die Versuchspersonen in der pay-one Bedingung etwa 10% weniger riskant handelten, verglichen mit der pay-all Bedingung. Dieses Ergebnis legt nahe, dass die Risiko-Aversion in Paradigmen, die die pay-one Methode verwenden, überschätzt wird. Nachdem wir an einer schwierigen Aufgabe gearbeitet haben, sehnen wir uns nach einer angenehmeren Aufgabe. Diese Beobachtung führte zu einer generellen Unterscheidung von want-to und have-to Aufgaben. Unser Körper strebt nach einem Gleichgewicht zwischen diesen beiden Aufgabentypen im Sinne einer Homöostase. Wir erfassten ereigniskorrelierte Potentiale (ERPs) durch das Elektroencephalogramm in einem Risikospiel, das wir als want-to Aufgabe verwendeten. Wenn Versuchspersonen vorher eine schwere Aufgabe bearbeitet hatten, waren die Amplituden der ERP- Komponenten im Risikospiel erhöht im Vergleich zu einer Bedingung, in der die Versuchspersonen vorher eine einfache Aufgabe bearbeitet hatten. Wir schlussfolgern, dass die Motivationsänderung nach einer have-to Aufgabe in Richtung einer want-to Aufgabe mit Hilfe von ERP Amplituden erfasst werden kann. Zusammenfassend wurde gezeigt, dass physiologische Erregung, Framing und Motivation wichtige psychologische Variablen sind, die Risikoverhalten beeinflussen. Die spezifischen Wirkungsweisen dieser Einflüsse wurden untersucht und diskutiert.
270

Let me change your mind… Frontal brain activity in a virtual T-maze / Let me change your mind… Frontale Hirnaktivierung in einem virtuellen T-Labyrinth

Rodrigues, Johannes January 2016 (has links) (PDF)
Frontal asymmetry, a construct invented by Richard Davidson, linking positive and negative valence as well as approach and withdrawal motivation to lateralized frontal brain activation has been investigated for over thirty years. The frontal activation patterns described as relevant were measured via alpha-band frequency activity (8-13 Hz) as a measurement of deactivation in electroencephalography (EEG) for homologous electrode pairs, especially for the electrode position F4/ F3 to account for the frontal relative lateralized brain activation. Three different theories about frontal activation patterns linked to motivational states were investigated in two studies. The valence theory of Davidson (1984; 1998a; 1998b) and its extension to the motivational direction theory by Harmon-Jones and Allen (1998) refers to the approach motivation with relative left frontal brain activity (indicated by relative right frontal alpha activity) and to withdrawal motivation with relative right frontal brain activation (indicated by relative left frontal alpha activity). The second theory proposed by Hewig and colleagues (2004; 2005; 2006) integrates the findings of Davidson and Harmon – Jones and Allen with the reinforcement sensitivity theory of Jeffrey A. Gray (1982, 1991). Hewig sees the lateralized frontal approach system and withdrawal system proposed by Davidson as subsystems of the behavioral activation system proposed by Gray and bilateral frontal activation as a biological marker for the behavioral activation system. The third theory investigated in the present studies is the theory from Wacker and colleagues (2003; 2008; 2010) where the frontal asymmetrical brain activation patterns are linked to the revised reinforcement sensitivity theory of Gray and McNaughton (2000). Here, right frontal brain activity (indicated by lower relative right frontal alpha activity) accounts for conflict, behavioral inhibition and activity of the revised behavioral inhibition system, while left frontal brain activation (indicated by lower relative left frontal alpha activity) stands for active behavior and the activity of the revised behavioral activation system as well as the activation of the revised flight fight freezing system. In order to investigate these three theories, a virtual reality T-maze paradigm was introduced to evoke motivational states in the participants, offering the opportunity to measure frontal brain activation patterns via EEG and behavior simultaneously in the first study. In the second study the virtual reality paradigm was additionally compared to mental imagery and a movie paradigm, two well-known state inducing paradigms in the research field of frontal asymmetry. In the two studies, there was confirming evidence for the theory of Hewig and colleages (2004; 2005; 2006), showing higher bilateral frontal activation for active behavior and lateralized frontal activation patterns for approach (left frontal brain activation) and avoidance (right frontal brain activation) behavior. Additionally a limitation for the capability model of anterior brain asymmetry proposed by Coan and colleagues (2006), where the frontal asymmetry should be dependent on the relevant traits driving the frontal asymmetry pattern if a relevant situation occurs, could be found. As the very intense virtual reality paradigm did not lead to a difference of frontal brain activation patterns compared to the mental imagery paradigm or the movie paradigm for the traits of the participants, the trait dependency of the frontal asymmetry in a relevant situation might not be given, if the intensity of the situation exceeds a certain level. Nevertheless there was an influence of the traits in the virtual reality T-maze paradigm, because the shown behavior in the maze was trait-dependent. The implications of the findings are multifarious, leading from possible objective personality testing via diversification of the virtual reality paradigm to even clinical implications for depression treatments based on changes in the lateralized frontal brain activation patterns for changes in the motivational aspects, but also for changes in bilateral frontal brain activation when it comes to the drive and preparedness for action in patients. Finally, with the limitation of the capability model, additional variance in the different findings about frontal asymmetry can be explained by taking the intensity of a state manipulation into account. / Frontal Asymmetrie, ein Konstrukt, erfunden von Richard Davidson, das positive und negative Valenz sowie Annäherungsmotivation und Vermeidungsmotivation mit lateralisierter Frontalhirnaktivierung verbindet, wird seit mehr als dreißig Jahren untersucht. Die frontalen Aktivierungsmuster, die als relevant beschrieben wurden, wurden über Alpha-Frequenzband Aktivität (8-13 Hz) im Elektroenzephalogramm (EEG) als Maß für die Deaktivierung für die homologe Elektrodenpaare, insbesondere an der Elektrodenposition F4 / F3 gemessen, um die relative frontale lateralisierte Hirnaktivierung zu messen. In der vorliegenden Arbeit wurden drei verschiedene Theorien über frontale Aktivierungsmuster, die mit motivationalen Zuständen verbunden sind, in zwei Studien untersucht. Die „valence theory“ von Davidson (1984; 1998a; 1998b) und ihre Erweiterung zur „motivational direction theory“ von Harmon Jones und Allen (1998) verbindet Annäherungsmotivation mit relativer linksseitiger frontalen Hirnaktivität (durch relative rechtsfrontale Alpha-Aktivität angezeigt) und Rückzugsmotivation mit relativer rechtsfrontaler Hirnaktivierung (durch relative linksfrontale Alpha-Aktivität angezeigt). Die zweite Theorie von Hewig und Kollegen (2004; 2005; 2006) integriert die Ergebnisse von Davidson und Harmon - Jones und Allen mit der „reinforcement sensitvity theory“ von Jeffrey A. Gray (1982, 1991). Hewig sieht das lateralisierte frontale „approach system“ (Annäherungsverhalten, links frontal), und das „withdrawal system“ (Rückzugsverhalten, rechts frontal) von Davidson als Subsysteme des „behavioral activation system“ von Gray und bilaterale frontale Aktivierung als biologische Marker für das „behavioral activation system“ und aktives Verhalten. Die dritte Theorie, die in den vorliegenden Studien untersucht wird, ist die Theorie von Wacker und Kollegen (2003; 2008; 2010), bei der die frontalen asymmetrischen Gehirnaktivierungsmuster der „revidierten reinforcement sensitvity theory“ von Gray und McNaughton (2000) zugeordnet werden. Hier steht die rechte frontale Hirnaktivität (ermittelt durch geringere relative rechten frontalen Alpha-Aktivität) für Konflikte, Verhaltenshemmung und die Aktivität des „revised behavioral inhibition system“, während links frontale Hirnaktivierung (ermittelt durch niedrigere relative links frontal Alpha-Aktivität) für aktives Verhalten und die Aktivität des „revised behavioral activation system“ sowie die Aktivierung des „revised fight flight freezing system“ steht. Um diese drei Theorien zu untersuchen, wurde eine virtuelles T-Labyrinth Paradigma in der ersten Studie eingeführt, um motivationale Zustände bei den Teilnehmern zu induzieren und die Möglichkeit zu erhalten, frontale Hirnaktivierungsmuster im EEG und Verhalten gleichzeitig zu messen. In der zweiten Studie wurde das virtuelle Realität Paradigma zusätzlich im Vergleich zu einem mentalen Vorstellungsparadigma und einem Film-Paradigma, zwei bekannten Paradigmen für die Induktion von motivationalen Zuständen im Bereich der Forschung der frontalen Asymmetrie, eingesetzt. In den beiden Studien konnte die Theorie von Hewig und colleages (2004; 2005; 2006) belegt werden, da höhere bilaterale frontale Aktivierung für aktives Verhalten und lateralisierte frontale Aktivierungsmuster für Annäherung (linksfrontale Hirnaktivierung) und Vermeidung (rechtsfrontale Hirnaktivierung) gefunden wurde. Zusätzlich wurde eine Limitation des „capability models of anterior frontal asymmetry“ von Coan und Kollegen (2006), nach der die frontale Asymmetrie von relevanten Persönlichkeitsmerkmalen in den entsprechend der Eigenschaft relevanten Situationen beeinflusst werden sollte, gefunden. Da das sehr intensive virtuelle Realität Paradigma im Gegensatz zu den mentalen Vorstellungen und dem Film Paradigma keine Abhängigkeit der frontalen Gehirnaktivierungsmustern in den entsprechenden Situationen von den Persönlichkeitseigenschaften zeigte, kann diese Abhängigkeit der frontalen Asymmetrie von der Persönlichkeit nicht gefunden werden, wenn die Intensität der Situation einen bestimmten Wert überschreitet. Dennoch gab es einen Einfluss der Persönlichkeitseigenschaften in dem virtuellen T-Labyrinth, denn das beobachtbare Verhalten im Labyrinth war persönlichkeitsabhängig. Die praktische Bedeutung dieser Erkenntnisse sind vielfältig und reichen von möglichen objektiven Persönlichkeitstests durch eine Erweiterung des virtuellen Realität Paradigmas bis hin zu klinischen Implikationen für die Behandlung depressiver Patienten, basierend auf der Veränderungen der lateralisierten Frontalhirnaktivierungsmustern um motivationale Aspekte zu verändern, oder aber der für Änderungen bilateraler frontale Gehirnaktivierung, um den Antrieb und die Handlungsbereitschaft bei Patienten zu verändern. Schließlich kann mittels der Limitierung des „capability models“ zusätzliche Variation in den verschiedenen Befunden zur frontalen Asymmetrie erklärt werden, indem man die Intensität der Zustandsmanipulation berücksichtigt.

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