Perspektivenwechsel bei der Sicherungsverwahrung

The author critically describes the recent measures for extension of preventive detention. He refers to the contrast to the actual development in crime and it would appear that the politics of law no longer react to the real state of the danger of the situation but to that produced by the media. Preventive detention shows signs of changing from a last resort to a standard punishment and therefore comes if nothing else into conflict with the European Convention on Human Rights.     

Learning at any rate: action–effect learning for stimulus-based actions

Recent studies reported converging evidence for action–effect associations if participants adopted an intention-based action control mode in free choice conditions, whereas no evidence for action–effect associations was found when participants adopted a stimulus-based mode in forced choice conditions. However, it is not yet clear whether action control modes moderate acquisition or usage of action–effect associations. In the present experiment, two groups of participants underwent an acquisition phase consisting of either free or forced choice key presses that produced irrelevant, but contingent effect tones. In a subsequent test phase, participants freely chose the key to press after former effect tones were presented. A reliable consistency effect resulted for both the groups, i.e. participants preferred the key that produced the irrelevant tone in the preceding acquisition phase. In combination with prior findings, this consistency effect suggests that usage, but not acquisition of action–effect associations depends on an intention-based action control mode.     

Gender effects in gaming research: a case for regression residuals?

Numerous recent studies have examined the impact of video gaming on various dependent variables, including the players' affective reactions, positive as well as detrimental cognitive effects, and real-world aggression. These target variables are typically analyzed as a function of game characteristics and player attributes-especially gender. However, findings on the uneven distribution of gaming experience between males and females, on the one hand, and the effect of gaming experience on several target variables, on the other hand, point at a possible confound when gaming experiments are analyzed with a standard analysis of variance. This study uses simulated data to exemplify analysis of regression residuals as a potentially beneficial data analysis strategy for such datasets. As the actual impact of gaming experience on each of the various dependent variables differs, the ultimate benefits of analysis of regression residuals entirely depend on the research question, but it offers a powerful statistical approach to video game research whenever gaming experience is a confounding factor.     

Cytoarchitecture and histochemical fluorescence studies of the cingulate cortex in the rat

The cingular cortex of the rat was examined by means of Golgi's rapid impregnation technique, the glyoxylic acid technique for the detection of biogenic amines and a ninhydrin reaction in the octanoic milieu for the detection of GABA. Six interneuron types are described, differing with respects to their dendrite configurations and axon morphology. The noradrenaline innervation shows considerable differences as compared to the dopamine fibre system. GABA-containing neurons of various shapes and sizes are concentrated in the laminae II and III. The findings are discussed in connection with the conception according to the which the Gyrus cinguli as part of the limbic system might play a role in the genesis of psychopathological processes.     

Adaptive control of ideomotor effect anticipations

According to ideomotor theory, voluntary actions are selected and initiated by means of anticipated action effects. Prior experiments yielded evidence for these effect anticipations with response-effect (R-E) compatibility phenomena using blocked R-E relations. Daily actions, however, typically evoke different effects depending on the situational context. In the present study, we accounted for this natural variability and investigated R-E compatibility effects by a trial-by-trial variation of R-E compatibility relations. In line with recent observations regarding ideomotor learning, R-E compatibility influenced responding only when participants responded in free choice trials assuming that participants then adopted an intention-based action control mode. In contrast, R-E compatibility had no impact when participants responded according to imperative stimuli throughout the experiment, thus when participants adopted a stimulus-based action control mode. Interestingly, once an intention-based mode was established because of free choice trials within an experimental block, we observed response compatibility effects in free as well as forced choice trials. These findings extend and refine theoretical assumptions on different action control modes in goal-directed behavior and the specific contribution of ideomotor processes to intention-based action control.