Manual training of mental rotation

The aim of this study was to investigate the timing relations between phonological encoding that is, the generation of an abstract phonological representation of a to-be-produced utterance and the initiation of articulation. Previous research (Meyer &; Schriefers, 1991) using a picture-word paradigm suggested that, in the production of simple one-word naming responses, a speaker completes phonological encoding of the complete word before articulation is initiated. In the present study, this question was investigated for the production of German no-determiner noun phrases (e.g. roter Tisch, “red table”;). The results showed reliable facilitation effects for distractors that are identical to the first syllable of the first word of the noun phrase. For the second syllable of the first word, only weak facilitation effects were obtained. For the second word, no significant facilitation effects were obtained. However, additional analyses showed that two groups of speakers can be distinguished, one showing only facilitation effects for the first syllable of the first word, and the other showing an additional facilitation effect for the second syllable of the first word. Together with related results, our findings lead to two conclusions. First, the (phonological) word is not the lower limit of phonological encoding before articulation can be initiated. Second, speakers can adjust the size of the advance planning unit at the phonological level based on the specific speaking context.     

The exam-specific strategic approach to coping scale and interpersonal resources

We addressed the role of interpersonal resources and coping during an oral examination. Assessing exam-specific coping strategies with a German adaptation of the Strategic Approach to Coping Scale (GSACS-Exam), examinees were given the opportunity to rate their individual as well as communal coping efforts facing an oral examination of personal significance. Interpersonal resources of examiner and examinee such as mutual trust and dyadic coping assistance had an impact on individual and communal coping. Examinees who expressed trust in their examiner 8 weeks prior to an oral examination relied more on prosocial than antisocial coping strategies during their oral examination. Supportive and delegated dyadic coping assistance were determinants of both functional and dysfunctional coping. The implications for educational practice are discussed.     

Repression-sensitization,gender, and discrepancies in psychobiological reactions to examination stress

Psychobiological responses to examination stress in repressors and sensitizers have rarely been investigated with respect to intraindividual response discrepancies. Furthermore, possible sex differences have rarely been taken into consideration. Therefore the present study investigated if repressors and sensitizers differ in their psychobiological responses to stress and if gender plays a modulating role. 30 and 29 students of both sexes selected from a total group of 96 students were classified as repressors or sensitizers each according to the repression-sensitization-coping-inventory (RSCI, Huwe et al.). State anxiety, heart rate, and cortisol in saliva served as indicators of stress. Sensitizers reported higher state anxiety and showed higher physiological stress responses than repressors. On the intraindividual level sensitizers reported high anxiety as compared to their low cortisol responses whereas repressors reported low anxiety as compared to their high cortisol increases. Gender had no modulating influence on stress responses in repressors and sensitizers.     

Additive effects of inhibiting attention to objects and locations in three-dimensional displays

One of the processes thought to underlie visual selection works by biasing attention away from either recently examined locations or objects. The extent of this “inhibition” is greatest when the inhibited object and the inhibited location coincide. In Experiment 1, rectangles are presented stereoscopically at different depths but at similar positions horizontally and vertically. Here, any inhibition should be based solely on a spatial code, as the objects, the rectangles are clearly separate objects. In Experiment 2, the corners of the rectangles are joined to produce a single cuboid that extends in depth space. Now inhibition based on both spatial and object codes should be seen because even when on different depth planes the cue and target are associated with the same object. Consistent with our understanding of the additive effects of inhibition of space and object codes, the extent of inhibition in the second study is almost double that of the first. The results further suggest that space-based inhibition operates within a two-dimensional representation while object-based inhibition utilizes a three-dimensional representation.     

Individual differences in anxiety and executive functioning: A multidimensional view

The relationship between individual differences in anxiety and executive functioning was investigated in a sample of young adults. Verbal and spatial working memory, resistance to interference, negative priming, and task‐switching measures were used to assess three executive functioning dimensions: updating, inhibition, and shifting. An additional index of basic psychomotor speed was added to this cognitive battery. According to the multidimensional interaction model of anxiety proposed by Endler (1997), state (cognitive–worry and autonomic–emotional) and trait (related to social evaluation, physical danger, ambiguous situations, and daily routines) anxiety were assessed in this evaluation context. Results indicated that shifting and inhibition (negative priming) efficiency were negatively related to state (cognitive–worry) and trait (related to social evaluation) anxiety. However, there was a relative advantage of subjects higher in social evaluation apprehensions in their memory updating performance. The results are consistent with several predictions of the attentional control theory (Eysenck, Derakshan, Santos, & Calvo, 2007), and are relevant for research regarding the interaction of situational, personality, and cognitive functioning dimensions.     

Development of Force Adaptation During Childhood

Humans learn to make reaching movements in novel dynamic environments by acquiring an internal motor model of their limb dynamics. Here, the authors investigated how 4- to 11-year-old children (N = 39) and adults (N = 7) adapted to changes in arm dynamics, and they examined whether those data support the view that the human brain acquires inverse dynamics models (IDM) during development. While external damping forces were applied, the children learned to perform goal-directed forearm flexion movements. After changes in damping, all children showed kinematic aftereffects indicative of a neural controller that still attempted to compensate the no longer existing damping force. With increasing age, the number of trials toward complete adaptation decreased. When damping was present, forearm paths were most perturbed and most variable in the youngest children but were improved in the older children. The findings indicate that the neural representations of limb dynamics are less precise in children and less stable in time than those of adults. Such controller instability might be a primary cause of the high kinematic variability observed in many motor tasks during childhood. Finally, the young children were not able to update those models at the same rate as the older children, who, in turn, adapted more slowly than adults. In conclusion, the ability to adapt to unknown forces is a developmental achievement. The present results are consistent with the view that the acquisition and modification of internal models of the limb dynamics form the basis of that adaptive process.     

Rhyme as reason in commercial and social advertising

This study investigated the rhyme‐as‐reason effect on new artificially created advertising slogans. Rhymes and non‐rhymes were in Experiment 1 and 2 compared in a between‐subjects design and in Experiment 3 in a within‐subjects design. The quality of the form and content of the slogans was always evaluated by separate groups. In Experiment 1, we found a strong preference for rhyming slogans as opposed to their non‐rhyming counterparts. Rhymes were rated as more likeable, more original, easier to remember, more suitable for campaigns, more persuasive and more trustworthy. In Experiment 2, social advertising messages were evaluated favorably in both rhyming and non‐rhyming versions. However, when participants directly compared rhymes and non‐rhymes on the same scale (Experiment 3), the difference between commercial and social advertising disappeared and for all slogans rhymes were clearly preferred to non‐rhymes in terms of both form and content. A detailed analysis revealed that the rhymes scoring high on formal aspects were also favored in the questionnaire investigating content aspects.     

Influence of hand position on the near effect in 3-D attention

Voluntary reorienting of attention in real depth situations is characterized by an attentional bias to locations nearer the viewer once attention is deployed to a spatially cued object in depth. Previously, this effect (initially referred to as the near effect) was attributed to access of a 3-D viewer-centered spatial representation for guiding attention in 3-D space. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the near effect could have been associated with the position of the response hand, which was always near the viewer in previous studies that investigated endogenous attentional shifts in real depth. In Experiment 1, the response hand was placed at either the near or far target depth in a depth-cuing task. Placing the response hand at the far target depth abolished the near effect, but failed to bias spatial attention to the far location. Experiment 2 showed that the response hand effect was not modulated by the presence of an additional (passive) hand, whereas Experiment 3 confirmed that attentional prioritization of the passive hand was not masked by the influence of the responding hand on spatial attention in Experiment 2. The pattern of results is most consistent with the idea that response preparation can modulate spatial attention within a 3-D viewer-centered spatial representation.