The impact of presentation modes on mental rotation processing: a comparative analysis of eye movements and performance.

Mental rotation is the ability to rotate mental representations of objects in space. Shepard and Metzler's shape-matching tasks, frequently used to test mental rotation, involve presenting pictorial representations of 3D objects. This stimulus material has raised questions regarding the ecological validity of the test for mental rotation with actual visual 3D objects. To systematically investigate differences in mental rotation with pictorial and visual stimuli, we compared data of N = 54 university students from a virtual reality experiment. Comparing both conditions within subjects, we found higher accuracy and faster reaction times for 3D visual figures. We expected eye tracking to reveal differences in participants' stimulus processing and mental rotation strategies induced by the visual differences. We statistically compared fixations (locations), saccades (directions), pupil changes, and head movements. Supplementary Shapley values of a Gradient Boosting Decision Tree algorithm were analyzed, which correctly classified the two conditions using eye and head movements. The results indicated that with visual 3D figures, the encoding of spatial information was less demanding, and participants may have used egocentric transformations and perspective changes. Moreover, participants showed eye movements associated with more holistic processing for visual 3D figures and more piecemeal processing for pictorial 2D figures.

Gaze-based attention network analysis in a virtual reality classroom.

This article provides a step-by-step guideline for measuring and analyzing visual attention in 3D virtual reality (VR) environments based on eye-tracking data. We propose a solution to the challenges of obtaining relevant eye-tracking information in a dynamic 3D virtual environment and calculating interpretable indicators of learning and social behavior. With a method called "gaze-ray casting," we simulated 3D-gaze movements to obtain information about the gazed objects. This information was used to create graphical models of visual attention, establishing attention networks. These networks represented participants' gaze transitions between different entities in the VR environment over time. Measures of centrality, distribution, and interconnectedness of the networks were calculated to describe the network structure. The measures, derived from graph theory, allowed for statistical inference testing and the interpretation of participants' visual attention in 3D VR environments. Our method provides useful insights when analyzing students' learning in a VR classroom, as reported in a corresponding evaluation article with N = 274 participants. •Guidelines on implementing gaze-ray casting in VR using the Unreal Engine and the HTC VIVE Pro Eye.•Creating gaze-based attention networks and analyzing their network structure.•Implementation tutorials and the Open Source software code are provided via OSF: https://osf.io/pxjrc/?view_only=1b6da45eb93e4f9eb7a138697b941198.

Investigating social comparison behaviour in an immersive virtual reality classroom based on eye-movement data.

Higher-achieving peers have repeatedly been found to negatively impact students' evaluations of their own academic abilities (i.e., Big-Fish-Little-Pond Effect). Building on social comparison theory, this pattern is assumed to result from students comparing themselves to their classmates; however, based on existing research designs, it remains unclear how exactly students make use of social comparison information in the classroom. To determine the extent to which students (N = 353 sixth graders) actively attend and respond to social comparison information in the form of peers' achievement-related behaviour, we used eye-tracking data from an immersive virtual reality (IVR) classroom. IVR classrooms offer unprecedented opportunities for psychological classroom research as they allow to integrate authentic classroom scenarios with maximum experimental control. In the present study, we experimentally varied virtual classmates' achievement-related behaviour (i.e., their hand-raising in response to the teacher's questions) during instruction, and students' eye and gaze data showed that they actively processed this social comparison information. Students who attended more to social comparison information (as indicated by more frequent and longer gaze durations at peer learners) had less favourable self-evaluations. We discuss implications for the future use of IVR environments to study behaviours in the classroom and beyond.

How state and trait versions of self-esteem and depressive symptoms affect their interplay: A longitudinal experimental investigation.

States and traits are important concepts in psychological research. They can be operationalized (a) by using measures that employ different time frames and (b) by applying statistical models that decompose the variance. However, the effects of using variations in states and traits by applying measurement and modeling approaches have yet to be merged and studied systematically. The present study addressed this topic by revisiting an intensively studied research question, namely: What is the longitudinal relation between self-esteem and depressive symptoms? To do so, we created state and trait versions of questionnaires by systematically changing the time frame ("during the last 2 weeks" vs. "in general") that was used to measure self-esteem and depressive symptoms and in addition, by using state-trait statistical models. We conducted an exploratory study (N = 683) and a confirmatory replication study (N = 1,087) with samples of university students, designed as a 2 × 2 longitudinal experiment with 4 time points spanning 1 semester. Our results indicated that first, consistently across the 2 studies, trait time frames revealed higher proportions of trait variance than state time frames. Second, across the 2 studies, the well-researched vulnerability effect, which postulates that low self-esteem predicts depressive symptoms, only held when trait time frames for self-esteem were applied and traditional cross-lagged models were used. Third, when controlling for stable trait differences, cross-lagged results were least consistent when trait time frames were used, which highlighted the interdependency involved in measuring and modeling states and traits. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

An exploratory study of patients' sudden losses during outpatient CBT and therapists' experience of difficulties.

OBJECTIVE: Patients' sudden deterioration in symptomatology, also called sudden losses, is a rarely explored phenomenon. METHOD: Psychological distress of 1,763 patients treated by 140 therapists was monitored after every therapy session. Patient-reported outcome measures and patients' therapy satisfaction was assessed. Therapists rated their experience of difficulties for every patient repeatedly over the course of therapy. RESULTS: More than one-quarter of patients (26.5%) experienced at least one sudden loss during therapy. Patients with sudden losses did not differ significantly in psychotherapy outcome and therapy satisfaction from patients without sudden shifts. Therapists did not experience professional self-doubt more often when working with sudden loss patients. CONCLUSION: Sudden losses were not necessarily harmful for the outcome of psychotherapy and patients' global therapy satisfaction. The results suggest that sudden losses can be compensated over the course of treatment.

The development of narcissistic admiration and machiavellianism in early adulthood.

We investigated the development of narcissistic admiration (i.e., the assertive or extraverted dimension of narcissism; Back et al., 2013) and Machiavellianism (Mach) in early adulthood. Specifically, we examined (a) mean-level changes in narcissistic admiration and Mach during early adulthood and (b) how studying economics and experiencing any of 30 life events were related to individual differences in changes in narcissistic admiration and Mach. We used longitudinal data from 2 cohorts of young adults in Germany (N1 = 4,962 and N2 = 2,572). The mean levels of narcissistic admiration remained stable over time. Life events analyses indicated that narcissistic admiration increased among people who experienced a positively evaluated change in their eating or sleeping habits, a positively evaluated romantic break-up, or a negatively evaluated failure on an important exam. The mean levels of Mach decreased during early adulthood in both cohorts. Life events analyses showed that Mach decreased for only the 91% of young adults who had started a new job and evaluated it positively, suggesting that mastering occupational roles mitigates Mach in early adulthood. The results will be discussed in the light of previous longitudinal studies on narcissism and the Big Five and cross-sectional studies on how age is related to narcissism and Mach. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

The effects of getting a new teacher on the consistency of personality.

OBJECTIVE: In the present research, we examined the effect of getting a new teacher on consistency in students' personality measures, including trait and social cognitive constructs. METHOD: To test the effect of this kind of situational transition, we analyzed two large longitudinal samples (N = 5,628; N = 2,458) with quasi-experimental study designs. We used two consistency measures (i.e., rank-order clations and changes in variance over time) to compare students who got a new teacher with students who kept the same teacher. RESULTS: Multiple-group latent variable analyses showed no differences in the rank-order correlations for the math-related social cognitive constructs of interest, effort, self-concept, self-regulation, anxiety, and the Big Five personality traits. Significantly lower rank-order correlations were found for some of the German- and English-related social cognitive constructs (i.e., effort measures) for the group of students who got a new teacher. Regarding the changes in variance (over time), we found no systematic differences between groups in both studies. CONCLUSIONS: We found partial support for the idea that social cognitive variables are more susceptible to environmental changes (i.e., getting a new teacher) than the Big Five personality traits are.

School or Work? The Choice May Change Your Personality.

According to the social-investment principle, entering new environments is associated with new social roles that influence people's behaviors. In this study, we examined whether young adults' personality development is differentially related to their choice of either an academic or a vocational pathway (i.e., entering an academic-track school or beginning vocational training). The personality constructs of interest were Big Five personality traits and vocational-interest orientations. We used a longitudinal study design and propensity-score matching to create comparable groups before they entered one of the pathways and then tested the differences between these groups 6 years later. We expected the vocational pathway to reinforce more mature behavior and curtail investigative interest. Results indicated that choosing the vocational compared with the academic pathway was associated with higher conscientiousness and less interest in investigative, social, and enterprising activities.

It's Not Only Who You Are but Who You Are With: High School Composition and Individuals' Attainment Over the Life Course.

We examined life-course effects of attending selective schools using a longitudinal study of U.S. high school students begun in 1960 ( Ns ranging from 1,952 to 377,015). The effects, measured 11 and 50 years after the initial assessment, differed significantly across the two indicators of school selectivity that were used. School average socioeconomic background was positively related to students' educational expectations, educational attainment, income, and occupational prestige at the 11-year follow-up (0.15 ≤ ß ≤ 0.39; all ps < .001). Conversely, schools' average achievement at the 11-year follow-up was negatively related to students' expectations, attainment, income, and occupational prestige (-0.42 ≤ ß ≤ -0.05; all ps < .05) when schools' socioeconomic background was controlled for. All associations were mediated by students' educational expectations. With the exception of income, these effects were consistent 50 years after high school, pointing to the long reach of beneficial learning resources and negative social comparison processes when attending selective schools.

Self-esteem development in the school context: The roles of intrapersonal and interpersonal social predictors.

OBJECTIVE: When considering that social inclusion is a basic human need, it makes sense that self-esteem is fueled by social feedback and the sense of being liked by others. This is particularly true with respect to early adolescence, when peers become increasingly important. In the current article, we tested which components of social inclusion are particularly beneficial for the development of self-esteem by differentiating between intrapersonal components (i.e., self-perceptions of social inclusion) and interpersonal components (i.e., perceiver and target effects of liking). METHOD: Using longitudinal data from 2,281 fifth graders and 1,766 eighth graders (TRAIN; Jonkmann et al., 2013), we tested mean-level self-esteem development and the role of intrapersonal components in this development. Using classroom round-robin data on liking from subsamples of 846 (689) fifth-(eighth-)grade students nested in 46 (39) classes, we tested effects of interpersonal relationship components on self-esteem development in the classroom context. RESULTS: The three major findings demonstrated, first, no consistent trends in mean levels of self-esteem in early to middle adolescence; second, constant positive effects of intrapersonal components between students and within students across time; and third, no stable effects of interpersonal components. CONCLUSIONS: The discussion highlights the role of intrapersonal components and the methodological challenges of our study.

Whose "Storm and Stress" Is It? Parent and Child Reports of Personality Development in the Transition to Early Adolescence.

The present study investigated Big Five personality trait development in the transition to early adolescence (from the fifth to eighth grade). Personality traits were assessed in 2,761 (47% female) students over a 3-year period of time. Youths' self-reports and parent ratings were used to test for cross-informant agreement. Acquiescent responding and measurement invariance were established with latent variable modeling. Growth curve models revealed three main findings: (a) Normative mean-level changes occurred for youths' self-report data and parent ratings with modest effects in both cases. (b) Agreeableness and Openness decreased for self-reports and parent ratings, whereas data source differences were found for Conscientiousness (decreased for self-reports and remained stable for parent ratings), Extraversion (increased for self-reports and decreased for parent ratings), and Neuroticism (remained stable for self-reports and decreased for parent ratings). (c) Girls showed a more mature personality overall (self-reports and parent ratings revealed higher levels of Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Openness) and became more extraverted in the middle of adolescence (self-reports). Personality changes modestly during early adolescence whereby change does not occur in the direction of maturation, and substantial differences exist between parent ratings and self-reports.

Local Anesthetics, Procaine, Lidocaine, and Mepivacaine Show Vasodilatation but No Type 1 Allergy: A Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Study.

BACKGROUND: Therapy with local anesthetics (LAs), also known as neural therapy, is used in integrative medicine because of its anti-inflammatory properties. Ester-linked LAs are often avoided because of their alleged high allergenicity. Little data supports this assumption and hence the importance of our investigation on type-1 allergies against ester- and amide-linked LAs. We performed a prospective, double-blinded, placebo-controlled observational study. METHODS: 177 patients received 340 intracutaneous injections with 1% procaine, 0.5% lidocaine, 1% mepivacaine, or saline solution. Every patient received two different tests on each forearm. Reactions were monitored for 15 minutes. RESULTS: No type-1 allergy was observed. The mean erythema diameter of the wheals after 10 minutes was procaine 8.0 ± 6.4 mm, mepivacaine 7.6 ± 6.3 mm, lidocaine 4.4 ± 4.8 mm, and NaCl 3.7 ± 3.2 mm. The wheal diameter of all substances showed a crescendo-decrescendo phenomenon. The procaine and mepivacaine wheals were significantly larger than those of lidocaine and NaCl. No general signs of hypersensitivity were observed. Diameter and intensity were independent of the injection site, order of injection, age, gender, and body mass index. CONCLUSION: This study shows no higher type-1 allergenicity of the ester-linked LA procaine, compared to the amide-linked LAs lidocaine and mepivacaine, and supports its use in therapy and short-track surgery.

Inter-Rater Reliability of Neck Reflex Points in Women with Chronic Neck Pain.

BACKGROUND: Neck reflex points (NRP) are tender soft tissue areas of the cervical region that display reflectory changes in response to chronic inflammations of correlated regions in the visceral cranium. Six bilateral areas, NRP C0, C1, C2, C3, C4 and C7, are detectable by palpating the lateral neck. We investigated the inter-rater reliability of NRP to assess their potential clinical relevance. METHODS: 32 consecutive patients with chronic neck pain were examined for NRP tenderness by an experienced physician and an inexperienced medical student in a blinded design. A detailed description of the palpation technique is included in this section. Absence of pain was defined as pain index (PI) = 0, slight tenderness = 1, and marked pain = 2. Findings were evaluated either by pair-wise Cohen's kappa (ĸ) or by percentage of agreement (PA). RESULTS: Examiners identified 40% and 41% of positive NRP, respectively (PI > 0, physician: 155, student: 157) with a slight preference for the left side (1.2:1). The number of patients identified with >6 positive NRP by the examiners was similar (13 vs. 12 patients). ĸ values ranged from 0.52 to 0.95. The overall kappa was ĸ = 0.80 for the left and ĸ = 0.74 for the right side. PA varied from 78.1% to 96.9% with strongest agreement at NRP C0, NRP C2, and NRP C7. Inter-rater agreement was independent of patients' age, gender, body mass index and examiner's experience. CONCLUSION: The high reproducibility suggests the clinical relevance of NRP in women.

Injections of Local Anesthetics into the Pharyngeal Region Reduce Trapezius Muscle Tenderness.

BACKGROUND: Neck pain is a frequent reason for seeking medical advice. Neuroanatomical findings suggest a close connection between the pharynx and the trapezius region. Irritation of the pharynx may induce tenderness of this area. Specific tender points, called neck reflex points (NRPs), can be identified here with high reproducibility. We hypothesized that therapeutic local anesthesia (TLA; or neural therapy, NT) in the pharyngeal region can reduce tenderness in patients with therapy-resistant neck pain. PATIENTS AND METHODS: 17 consecutive female patients with chronic cervical pain and positive trapezius NRPs received bilateral injections of 0.5 ml 1% procaine into the palatine velum. The NRPs were assessed using a 3-level pain index (PI = 0, 1, or 2) before and 3-5 min after each injection. RESULTS: We found a significant reduction in tenderness of the NRP of the trapezius region (NRP C7) immediately after TLA/NT. 30 positive NRPs were found before therapy and only 13 after therapy (p < 0.01). The average PI of the NRP C7 was 1.24 ± 0.77 before and 0.35 ± 0.59 after therapy (right side), and 1.34 ± 0.59 before and 0.59 ± 0.69 after therapy (left side). The pre- and post-therapy PI values were significantly different on both the right and left sides of the trapezius region (p < 0.01). No adverse effects were observed. CONCLUSIONS: Pharyngeal irritation may induce and maintain therapy-resistant cervical pain in patients with chronic pharyngeal disease. These patients could benefit from remote TLA/NT injections in the pharyngeal region.

Low self-esteem prospectively predicts depression in the transition to young adulthood: A replication of Orth, Robins, and Roberts (2008).

The present study is a close replication of the work of Orth, Robins, and Roberts (2008). Orth et al. (2008) tested three theoretical models of the relation between self-esteem and depression--the vulnerability model, the scar model, and the common factor model--using longitudinal, cross-lagged panel designs. The authors concluded that depression and self-esteem were not the same construct (contrary to the common-factor model), and furthermore, the results were clearly in line with the vulnerability model and not with the scar model (low self-esteem predicts subsequent levels of depression and not vice versa). In addition, the results held for both men and women. To conduct a very close replication of the work of Orth et al. (2008), we used data from another large longitudinal study (N = 2,512), which is highly similar in study design and that contains the same measures (self-esteem and depression). The present study replicated the results of the Orth et al. (2008) study in a notable manner, in regard to the comparability of the coefficients, and therefore, corroborates the vulnerability model (and not the scar- or the common-factor model).

Feedback on patient progress and clinical support tools for therapists: improved outcome for patients at risk of treatment failure in psychosomatic in-patient therapy under the conditions of routine practice.

OBJECTIVES: Although psychosomatic in-patient treatment is effective, 5-10% of the patients deteriorate. Providing patient progress feedback and clinical support tools to therapists improves the outcome for patients at risk of deterioration in counseling, outpatient psychotherapy, and substance abuse treatment. This study investigated the effects of feedback on psychosomatically treated in-patients at risk of treatment failure. METHODS: At intake, all patients of two psychosomatic clinics were randomized either into the experimental group or the treatment-as-usual control group. Both groups were tracked weekly with the "Outcome Questionnaire" (OQ-45) measuring patient progress and with the clinical support tool "Assessment of Signal Cases" (ASC). Therapists received feedback from both instruments for all their experimental group patients. "Patients at risk" were defined as patients who deviated from expected recovery curves by at least one standard deviation. Of 252 patients, 43 patients were at risk: 23 belonged to the experimental group, 20 to the control group. The feedback effect was analyzed using a level-2-model for discontinuous change, effect size (d), reliable change index (RCI), and odds ratio for reliable deterioration. RESULTS: For patients at risk, the experimental group showed an improved outcome on the OQ-45 total scale compared to the control group (p<0.05, d=0.54). By providing feedback, the rate of reliably deteriorated patients at risk was reduced from 25.0% (control group) to 8.7% (experimental group) - odds ratio=0.29. All reliably improved patients at risk belonged to the experimental group. CONCLUSION: Feedback improves the outcome of patients at risk undergoing psychosomatic in-patient treatment.