How planning facilitates behaviour change: Additive and interactive effects of a randomized controlled trial

Planning interventions have proven effective to change behaviour. However, less is known about their underlying mechanisms. To better understand the processes by which planning interventions unfold their effects, a combined action planning and coping planning intervention was tested in a field setting, with the focus on mediating and moderating effects of theory‐derived social‐cognitive variables. In a randomized controlled trial, 374 employees of a logistics company were asked to participate in either a combined action planning and coping planning intervention or an active control group. Four weeks later, self‐reported changes in fruit and vegetable intake, action planning, coping planning, intentions and self‐efficacy were measured. Single and simultaneous mediating effects on behaviour were tested with intention‐to‐treat analyses, along with interaction effects between planning processes. Action planning and coping planning mediated intervention effects on fruit and vegetable intake not only separately, but also simultaneously (multiple mediation). Action planning and coping planning had main and interactive effects on behaviour change (moderation). Action planning and coping planning may exert both additive and synergistic effects on health behaviour change. Volitional interventions should include both action planning and coping planning components and stimulate the use of planning in everyday life. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Working memory interference during processing texts and pictures: Implications for the explanation of the modality effect

Auditory text presentation improves learning with pictures and texts. With sequential text–picture presentation, cognitive models of multimedia learning explain this modality effect in terms of greater visuo‐spatial working memory load with visual as compared to auditory texts. Visual texts are assumed to demand the same working memory subsystem as pictures, while auditory texts make use of an additional cognitive resource. We provide two alternative assumptions that relate to more basic processes: First, acoustic‐sensory information causes a retention advantage for auditory over visual texts which occurs no matter if a picture is presented or not. Second, eye movements during reading hamper visuo‐spatial rehearsal. Two experiments applying elementary procedures provide first evidence for these assumptions. Experiment 1 demonstrates that, regarding text recall, the auditory advantage is independent of visuo‐spatial working memory load. Experiment 2 reveals worse matrix recognition performance after reading text requiring eye movements than after listening or reading without eye movements. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Testpsychologische Ansätze der Beschwerdenvalidierung

The presence of cognitive impairment has been documented for a large number of diseases, conditions and mental disorders. Due to their impact on functioning in professional life and in everyday activities, there appears to be an increasing demand of qualified neuropsychological examinations in civil forensic contexts. While neuropsychological testing is the method of choice for determining the presence and the profile of cognitive impairment, it is easy to underperform in such tests. The authenticity of test results has to be thoroughly checked using modern approaches of symptom validity assessment. Without adequate validity checks, forensic psychological examinations are incomplete.     

When do microsaccades follow spatial attention?

Following up on an exchange about the relation between microsaccades and spatial attention (Horowitz, Fencsik, Fine, Yurgenson, & Wolfe, 2007; Horowitz, Fine, Fencsik, Yurgenson, & Wolfe, 2007; Laubrock, Engbert, Rolfs, & Kliegl, 2007), we examine the effects of selection criteria and response modality. We show that for Posner cuing with saccadic responses, microsaccades go with attention in at least 75% of cases (almost 90% if probability matching is assumed) when they are first (or only) microsaccades in the cue—target interval and when they occur between 200 and 400 msec after the cue. The relation between spatial attention and the direction of microsaccades drops to chance level for unselected microsaccades collected during manual-response conditions. Analyses of data from four cross-modal cuing experiments demonstrate an above-chance, intermediate link for visual cues, but no systematic relation for auditory cues. Thus, the link between spatial attention and direction of microsaccades depends on the experimental condition and time of occurrence, but it can be very strong.     

Action planning and coping planning for long‐term lifestyle change: theory and assessment

Planning is regarded as highly valuable in the process of health behaviour change. It bridges the gap between behavioural intentions and health behaviour. To further develop this concept, a distinction is made between action planning and coping planning. The latter refers to the mental simulation of overcoming anticipated barriers to action. Action planning and coping planning for physical exercise were examined in a longitudinal study with 352 cardiac patients. They were approached during rehabilitation treatment and followed up at two and four months after discharge. Both planning cognitions were psychometrically identified, and it was found that they operated differently in the behavioural change process. Action plans were more influential early in the rehabilitation process, whereas coping plans were more instrumental later on. Participants with higher levels of coping planning after discharge were more likely to report higher levels of exercise four months after discharge. It is suggested to include both kinds of planning in interventions at different stages in health behaviour change. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Reciprocal support provision: personality as a moderator?

In some cases, support provision can be predicted by the history of prior social exchange. Receiving may encourage providing. Moreover, personality dispositions may moderate the degree to which persons reciprocate support. Co‐student dyads (N = 43) facing an exam repeatedly reported their levels of received and provided support. Data revealed both direct and moderated reciprocal support provision. Actors' receipt of emotional support predicted the subsequent change in actors' provision of emotional support, indicating reciprocity. Also, more reciprocal emotional support provision was found in introverted and open individuals, whereas more reciprocal instrumental support provision was observed in introverts and less open individuals. Findings were partially validated when partner‐provided support instead of actor‐received support served as the predictor of later support provision. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Talking emotions: vowel selection in fictional names depends on the emotional valence of the to-be-named faces and objects

One prestudy based on a corpus analysis and four experiments in which participants had to invent novel names for persons or objects (N?=?336 participants in total) investigated how the valence of a face or an object affects the phonological characteristics of the respective novel name. Based on the articulatory feedback hypothesis, we predicted that /i:/ is included more frequently in fictional names for faces or objects with a positive valence than for those with a negative valence. For /o:/, the pattern should reverse. An analysis of the Berlin Affective Word List – Reloaded (BAWL-R) yielded a higher number of occurrences of /o:/ in German words with negative valence than in words with positive valence; with /i:/ the situation is less clear. In Experiments 1 and 2, participants named persons showing a positive or a negative facial expression. Names for smiling persons included more /i:/s and fewer /o:/s than names for persons with a negative facial expression. In Experiments 3 and 4, participants heard a Swahili narration and invented pseudo-Swahili names for objects with positive, neutral, or negative valence. Names for positive objects included more /i:/s than names for neutral or negative objects, and names for negative objects included more /o:/s than names for neutral or positive objects. These finding indicate a stable vowel-emotion link.     

Infants prefer motionese to adult‐directed action

In two studies, we investigated infants’ preference for infant‐directed (ID) action or ‘motionese’ ( Brand, Baldwin & Ashburn, 2002 ) relative to adult‐directed (AD) action. In Study 1, full‐featured videos were shown to 32 6‐ to 8‐month‐olds, who demonstrated a strong preference for ID action. In Study 2, infants at 6–8 months (n= 28) and 11–13 months (n= 24) were shown either standard ID and AD clips, or clips in which demonstrators’ faces were blurred to obscure emotional and eye‐gaze information. Across both ages, infants showed evidence of preferring ID to AD action, even when faces were blurred. Infants did not have a preference for still‐frame images of the demonstrators, indicating that the ID preference arose from action characteristics, not demonstrators’ general appearance. These results suggest that motionese enhances infants’ attention to action, possibly supporting infants’ learning.     

Accuracy of effect size estimates from published psychological research

A Monte-Carlo simulation was used to model the biasing of effect sizes in published studies. The findings from the simulation indicate that, when a predominant bias to publish studies with statistically significant results is coupled with inadequate statistical power, there will be an overestimation of effect sizes. The consequences such an effect size overestimation will then have on meta-analyses and power analyses are highlighted and discussed along with measures which can be taken to reduce the problem.