Repeated usage of a motorway automated driving function: Automation level and behavioural adaption

The user’s perspective on highly automated driving systems is mostly studied during first contact/single usage. However, with repeated usage, acceptance and usage of automated driving systems might change. For advanced driving assistance systems, change with growing system usage is studied as behavioural adaptation. This concept of behavioural adaptation is applied to highly automated driving systems. In a driving simulator study, N = 61 drivers used an automated driving system for motorways during six experimental sessions. The drivers were free to activate / deactivate the function as they liked and to spend driving time on self-chosen side tasks. Automation level was varied as a between-subject factor (L3 vs. L4). Results show a more positive evaluation of the L4 system and behavioural adaptation for both levels over the course of the six sessions. For most aspects, behavioural adaptation is independent of system level (e.g., for system evaluation, distribution of attention). Only for drivers’ reaction to requests to intervene, a strong impact of system level on the occurrence behavioural adaption can be found. The results are discussed with regard to the theory of behavioural adaptation.     

Is Loneliness the Same as Being Alone?

The cognitive discrepancy model predicts that loneliness occurs when individuals perceive a difference between their desired and actual levels of social involvement. Using data from a sample of high school sophomore students, the present investigation was designed to go beyond previous research that has tested this model by examining the predicted nonlinear relationships between desired and actual social contact and feelings of loneliness. Analyses indicated that support for the cognitive discrepancy model of loneliness was found only for measures of close friendships. Specifically, the discrepancy between the students' ideal number and actual number of close friends was found to be related in a nonlinear fashion to feelings of satisfaction with close friendships and loneliness after control for the number of close friends. Implications of these findings for theoretical models of loneliness are discussed.     

Public Reactions to Unusual Names

Abstract

A sample of lower income Blacks, lower income Whites, higher income Blacks, and higher income Whites in the United States were asked about children's first names, the reasons the names were selected, and the identity of the persons who named the children. The most frequent reason for naming children in all four groups was “I/we just liked it.” The Whites were more likely than the Blacks to have named the child after a family member. Shoppers were then asked to rate the unusual names, along with a random sample of usual names, on six attributes: successful, moral, healthy, warm, cheerful, and gender appropriate. The shoppers were divided into eight groups in a two-income levels, two sexes, and two races design. The ratings were higher for usual names for all six attributes for all eight groups of raters. Although the unusual names had negative connotations for a wide variety of people in the community, name choices were usually the result of parents' current nonrational preferences.     

Self–other decision making and loss aversion

In eight studies, we tested the prediction that making choices for others involves less loss aversion than making choices for the self. We found that loss aversion is significantly lessened among people choosing for others in scenarios describing riskless choice (Study 1), gambling (Studies 2 and 3), and social aspects of life, such as likeably and status (Studies 4a–e). Moreover, we found this pattern in relatively realistic conditions where people are rewarded for making desirable (i.e., profitable) choices for others (Study 2), when the other for whom a choice is made is physically present (Study 3), and when real money is at stake (Studies 2 and 3). Finally, we found loss aversion is moderated when factors associated with self–other differences in decision making are taken into account, such as decision makers’ construal level (Study 4a), regulatory focus (Study 4b), degree of information seeking (Study 4c), omission bias (Study 4d), and power (Study 4e).     

Depressive symptoms in outpatients with heart failure: Importance of inflammatory biomarkers,disease severity and personality

Objective: Depressive symptoms are highly prevalent in heart failure (HF) patients, however the underlying etiology of depression in HF patients remains yet unclear. Hence, the goal is to examine the relative importance of inflammation, disease severity and personality as predictors of depression in HF patients. Design: Depressive symptoms (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, depression subscale) were assessed at baseline and one-year follow-up in 268 HF patients (75.6% men; mean age?=?66.7?±?8.7). Markers of inflammation (TNFα, sTNFr1, sTNFr2, IL-6 and IL-10), disease severity (e.g. New York Heart Association (NYHA) classification) and personality (Type D personality, loneliness) were assessed at baseline. Results: At baseline, NYHA class, body mass index, educational level, Type D personality and loneliness were significantly associated with depression. Higher NYHA class (B?=?2.25; SE?=?.83), higher educational level (B?=?1.41; SE?=?.48), Type D personality (B?=?2.56; SE?=?.60) and loneliness (B?=?.19; SE?=?.05) were also independently associated with higher depression levels at one-year follow-up (all p-values?<?.005). Inflammation, brain natriuretic peptide and left ventricular ejection fraction were not related to depression over time. Conclusions: Personality factors, but not inflammation, were independent concomitants of depressive symptoms in patients with HF. Gaining more insight into the etiology of depression in HF patients is important in order to identify potential targets for novel interventions.     

Variation in Coordination of a Discrete Multiarticular Action as a Function of Skill Level

The authors investigated coordination modes that emerged as a function of the interaction between skill level and task constraints in a multiarticular kicking action. Five skilled, 5 intermediate, and 5 novice participants attempted to satisfy specific height and accuracy constraints in kicking a ball over a barrier. Skilled and intermediate groups demonstrated a functional coordination mode involving less joint involvement at the proximal joints and greater joint involvement at distal joints, mimicking a chip-like action in soccer. Conversely, the novice group tended to produce larger ranges of motion throughout the kicking limb in a driving-like kicking action. Key differences were also found for task outcome scores, joint angle-angle relations, and ball-trajectory plots between the skilled and intermediate groups and the novice group. Findings from this study demonstrated that joint involvement during this discrete multiarticular action is a function of skill level and task constraints rather than a consequence of a global freezing-freeing strategy suggested in some previous research. The authors also highlight the merit of using a model of the acquisition of coordination in examining how coordination modes for multiarticular actions differ as a function of skill.     

Chapter 4 Interpretation in Short-Term Therapy

Abstract

There is much theoretical and clinical literature on the role of interpretation in psychoanalysis, psychoanalytic psychotherapy, and brief dynamic psychotherapy, but little supporting research data. Using 112 audiotaped sessions from 38 patients in supportive-expressive time-limited treatment, the present study hypothesized that therapists would modify the object and temporal content and frequency of their interpretations in relation to the level of patient functioning. The results did not support this hypothesis. Therapists were not less active with more interpretations for higher functioning patients, nor were they more active with fewer interpretations for lower functioning patients. Therapists were more active and made more genetic interpretations with married patients, regardless of level of patient functioning. The findings are discussed in terms of their implications for supportive-expressive psychodynamic therapy.     

安全标志词语的风险等级对注意效应的调节作用

安全标志是一种传递潜在风险的方式,在安全管理中有重要地位。安全标志词语在安全标志中应用广泛。本文从新的视角研究安全标志词语的有效性,应用心理学中的线索-靶范式研究安全标志词语的风险等级对目标的注意效应的影响。实验结果发现,词语的风险等级显著调节注意返回抑制（inhibition of return, IOR）效应, 高风险词语相对于中、低风险词语能够减弱IOR效应;但词语的风险等级对IOR的调节作用受到靶子位置的影响,其中,靶子出现在左侧时调节作用显著,而靶子出现在右侧时调节作用不显著,这是由于风险引发的负性情绪刺激处理的偏侧优势产生的。本文为安全标志有效性相关研究提供了新的研究视角和心理学实验证据。