Memory consolidation during sleep: interactive effects of sleep stages and HPA regulation

Sleep is critically involved in the consolidation of previously acquired memory traces. However, nocturnal sleep is not uniform but is subject to distinct changes in electrophysiological and neuroendocrine activity. Specifically, the first half of the night is dominated by slow wave sleep (SWS), whereas rapid eye movement (REM) sleep prevails in the second half. Concomitantly, hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) activity as indicated by cortisol release is suppressed to a minimum during early sleep, while drastically increasing during late sleep. We have shown that the different sleep stages and the concomitant glucocorticoid release are interactively involved in the consolidation of different types of memories. SWS-rich early sleep has been demonstrated to benefit mainly the consolidation of hippocampus-dependent declarative memories (i.e. facts and episodes). In contrast, REM sleep-rich late sleep was shown to improve in particular emotional memories involving amygdalar function, as well as procedural memories (for skills) not depending on hippocampal or amygdalar function. Enhancing plasma glucocorticoid concentrations during SWS-rich early sleep counteracted hippocampus-dependent declarative memory consolidation, but did not affect hippocampus-independent procedural memory. Preventing the increase in cortisol during late REM sleep-rich sleep by administration of metyrapone impaired hippocampus-dependent declarative memory but enhanced amygdala-dependent emotional aspects of memory. The data underscore the importance of pituitary-adrenal inhibition during early SWS-rich sleep for efficient consolidation of declarative memory. The increase in cortisol release during late REM sleep-rich sleep may counteract an overshooting consolidation of emotional memories.     

Effectance and control as determinants of video game enjoyment.

This article explores video game enjoyment originated by games' key characteristic, interactivity. An online experiment (N=500) tested experiences of effectance (perceived influence on the game world) and of being in control as mechanisms that link interactivity to enjoyment. A video game was manipulated to either allow normal play, reduce perceived effectance, or reduce perceived control. Enjoyment ratings suggest that effectance is an important factor in video game enjoyment but that the relationship between control of the game situation and enjoyment is more complex.     

Ethnicity and social mobility: The case of Turks in Germany

This article uses the recent upward mobility processes of parts of the second-generation labour immigrants in Germany as an opportunity to investigate the interrelation of ethnicity and social mobility. Exploring this interrelation is important because migration research has so far either overlooked it or one-sidedly reduced it to the problem of an ethnic elite that cuts itself off from the majority of society. The widespread assumption that the social utility value of ethnicity, automatically declines during the upward mobility process needs to be questioned. Analysing the mobility strategies of educationally successful Turkish climbers shows exemplarity that ethnicity can indeed be a useful social resource in the mobility process. On the basis of first empirical explorations it can even be argued that in Germany a heterogeneous potential of future ethnic elites is currently emerging.     

Parents’ influence on the development of their children’s ethnic intergroup attitudes: a longitudinal analysis from middle childhood to early adolescence

This study investigated to what extent parents’ intergroup attitudes influence the development of their children’s ethnic intergroup attitudes (i.e., ingroup bias), and which socialization factors moderate this influence. We report on a four-year longitudinal study of 213 children (M_age = 7.94) and their parents conducted in Eastern Germany. Findings showed significant interindividual differences in children’s developmental trajectories, which could, in part, be explained by child gender, socio-economic status and parental attitudes. The influence of parents’ intergroup attitudes was moderated by parenting style and parental similarity in attitudes both of which, our findings suggest, can make the transmission of parental attitudes more likely.     

‘Now My Life in Syria Is Finished’: Case Studies on Religious Identity and Sectarianism in Narratives of Syrian Christian Refugees in Austria

Using semi-structured life story interviews with Syrian Christian refugees in Austria, this article investigates the impact on identity of the conflict in Syria and the resulting act of seeking refuge outside Syria. It suggests that the sectarian dynamics of the war affect religious minorities in particular, and the method of using biographical case studies allows an analysis of how the sectarianization discourse is used by interviewees to construct their autobiographical narratives of life as refugees. The results, taken from four case studies, show that in each case, religion is a strong marker, providing a framework for self-interpretation in a period of change and/or disruption. In most cases, post-flight identity as a matter of ‘translocational’ positioning is constructed within the framework of sectarianism. The argument of the article is twofold: first, sectarianism provides a setting for Syrian Christians that is appropriated through diverse biographical patterns. Second, sectarianism as a narrative strategy is modelled by and responds to contexts in the host society. The results of this study aim to offer important suggestions for understanding the particular experience of Christian refugees settling in the European diaspora.