Article
Psychology, Multidisciplinary
Ryan T. T. Daley, Tony J. J. Cunningham, Elizabeth A. A. Kensinger
Summary: The COVID-19 pandemic provided the opportunity to study age-related differences in moral decision-making, and the findings suggest that older age is associated with more utilitarian moral behaviors, particularly in purchasing difficult-to-find goods.
FRONTIERS IN PSYCHOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Psychology, Multidisciplinary
Anna J. Dreyer, Dale Stephen, Robyn Human, Tarah L. Swanepoel, Leanne Adams, Aimee O'Neill, W. Jake Jacobs, Kevin G. F. Thomas
Summary: Men often make riskier decisions than women in real-life behaviors. This study found that both men and women tend to make riskier decisions in both economic and social spheres when faced with acute psychosocial stress.
FRONTIERS IN PSYCHOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Psychology, Multidisciplinary
Chen Luo, Yifei He, Yimeng Xu, Xiaoya Yang, Hanying Wang
Summary: This study conducted an online experiment to investigate the psychological mechanism of how loss-versus-gain framing affects HPV vaccination intention among Chinese female college students. The results showed that the direct effect of message framing on vaccination intention was not significant. However, hope and cognitive elaboration played sequential mediating roles between framing and vaccination intention.
CURRENT PSYCHOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Psychiatry
Jerome Brunelin, Shirley Fecteau
Summary: Stimulating the DLPFC using bifrontal tDCS may prevent stress-induced acute effects on both biological and behavioral outcomes.
JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRIC RESEARCH
(2021)
Article
Psychology, Social
Daniel O'Leary, Angela Smith, Elaheh Salehi, James J. Gross
Summary: Negative affect is associated with maladaptive eating and food choice. Teaching individuals to use reappraisal to regulate negative affect can lead to healthier food choices.
SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGICAL AND PERSONALITY SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Psychology, Multidisciplinary
Yiqin Hu, Xinbo Lu, Wanjun Zheng, Luting Wang, Ping Yu
Summary: In daily decision-making, the human brain is modulated by the prefrontal cortex (PFC), particularly the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), in risk and ambiguity decision-making. Through the use of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), researchers revealed the causal relationship between the DLPFC and ambiguity decision-making. The study showed that the left DLPFC stimulation had a significant effect on ambiguity to loss, while its effect on ambiguity to gain was insignificant, and the right DLPFC stimulation had an insignificant effect on both ambiguity to gain and ambiguity to loss. Furthermore, participants who received anodal stimulation in the left DLPFC showed a lower degree of attitudes toward ambiguity loss, suggesting a strong aversion to ambiguity loss after the stimulation.
FRONTIERS IN PSYCHOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Psychology, Multidisciplinary
Yue Qi, Yadan Luo, Yanzhe Feng, Ziwei Chen, Qi Li, Feng Du, Xun Liu
Summary: People can judge a stranger's trustworthiness at first glance solely based on facial appearance, and they are more willing to take risks in the gain frame if individuals look more trustworthy based on facial appearance.
Article
Neurosciences
Varsha Singh
Summary: Despite the common high risk-taking behaviors in males, studies have shown that males tend to choose safe long-term rewards over risky short-term rewards in the Iowa gambling task. The role of sex and stress hormones in male decision-making in different phases of the task was examined. Hormone fluctuation had phase-specific effects on decision-making, with testosterone improving decision-making in risk trials and cortisol being detrimental in uncertainty trials.
FRONTIERS IN NEUROSCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Gesa Berretz, Julian Packheiser, Oliver T. Wolf, Sebastian Ocklenburg
Summary: Functional hemispheric asymmetries occur as the left and right hemispheres dominate different aspects of task processing, with stress potentially increasing callosal excitability and facilitating more efficient signal transfer across the corpus callosum. Further studies are needed to explore the detailed cooperation of the hemispheres under stress, potentially using pharmacological intervention.
BEHAVIOURAL BRAIN RESEARCH
(2022)
Review
Neurosciences
Aranzazu Duque, Irene Cano-Lopez, Sara Puig-Perez
Summary: The effect of psychological stress on decision making is inconsistent, and the role of cortisol and other modulating factors is still unclear. Recent studies suggest that psychological stress mainly affects decision making in economic tasks and prosocial decision making.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Criminology & Penology
Myrto Dafni Chatzimike Levidi, Andrew McGrath, Peter Kyriakoulis, Danielle Sulikowski
Summary: The integrative model of criminal choice suggests that cognitive and/or affective appraisals partially mediate the relationship between personality and crime. This study tested the model across three levels of subjective apprehension risk and found that cognitive and affective appraisals mediated the relationship between honesty-humility and criminal choice. The findings also showed that the mediating relationship may be dependent on the level of subjective risk of apprehension.
PSYCHOLOGY CRIME & LAW
(2022)
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Ruri Proto, Gabriel Recchia, Sarah Dryhurst, Alexandra L. J. Freeman
Summary: Risk matrices are commonly used for decision-making on risk mitigation, and the presence of color in these matrices can influence decision-making, particularly for individuals with higher numeracy skills. Designers should consider avoiding color in risk matrices if the goal is unbiased communication.
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Wilson D. Clayton, Shelby M. Brantley, Thomas R. Zentall
Summary: When humans face probabilistic outcomes, their choices are often influenced by whether the choice is framed in terms of losses or gains. Pigeons, on the other hand, show preferences for risky alternatives when outcomes represent losses, indifference when outcomes represent gains, and strong preferences for risky alternatives when outcomes represent neither gains nor losses. These results highlight the relative value of gains and losses given to the alternatives and provide insights into the differences between pigeons and humans in decision-making under uncertainty.
Article
Geriatrics & Gerontology
Yunjiao Chen, Jie Xu, Cai Xing
Summary: This study explored the influence of aging, framing, and social distance on decision making in the medical domain. The results indicated that social distance moderated framing effects in older adults, as they were less inclined to take risky options when making decisions for strangers. These findings highlight a potential way to improve older adults' medical decision-making quality.
JOURNALS OF GERONTOLOGY SERIES B-PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Endocrinology & Metabolism
Sofus C. Larsen, Jake Turicchi, Gitte L. Christensen, Charlotte S. Larsen, Niklas R. Jorgensen, Marie-Louise K. Mikkelsen, Graham Horgan, Ruairi O'Driscoll, Joanna Michalowska, Cristiana Duarte, Sarah E. Scott, Ines Santos, Jorge Encantado, Antonio L. Palmeira, R. James Stubbs, Berit L. Heitmann
Summary: Several cross-sectional studies have shown an association between hair cortisol concentration and adiposity, but the relationship with longitudinal changes in measures of adiposity remains largely unknown. In this study of 786 adults who achieved successful weight loss, increased hair cortisol concentration during a 12-month weight loss maintenance period was associated with slightly higher body weight variability in the subsequent 6 months.
FRONTIERS IN ENDOCRINOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Psychology, Biological
Carina Zoellner, Nicole Klein, Sen Cheng, Ricarda Schubotz, Nikolai Axmacher, Oliver T. Wolf
Summary: Retrieved memories of past events are often inaccurate. The scenario construction model suggests that only the main information of an event is stored in memory and missing details are constructed using semantic information. This study used virtual reality to provide behavioral evidence for semantic construction and introduced new memory tests. The findings support the predictions of the scenario construction model.
QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Eike K. Buabang, Yannick Boddez, Oliver T. Wolf, Agnes Moors
Summary: People are more likely to engage in suboptimal behaviors under stress, such as overeating and short-sighted financial decision-making. Traditional dual-process models suggest that stress impairs goal-directed behavior, leading to reliance on habitual behavior. However, a conceptual replication study found that stressed participants were sensitive to outcome values when the outcomes became aversive, suggesting that suboptimal behavior under stress may not always be habitual.
BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Clinical Neurology
Livia Graumann, An Bin Cho, Eugenia Kulakova, Christian Eric Deuter, Oliver T. Wolf, Stefan Roepke, Julian Hellmann-Regen, Christian Otte, Katja Wingenfeld
Summary: The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of perceived social exclusion without accompanying cortisol increase on empathy in women with BPD and healthy women. The findings showed that women with BPD reported lower emotional empathy for positive emotions, but not for negative emotions. Additionally, emotional empathy in women with BPD seems to be more sensitive to the effects of stress or ambiguous social situations.
EUROPEAN ARCHIVES OF PSYCHIATRY AND CLINICAL NEUROSCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Anatomy & Morphology
Morris Gellisch, Gabriela Morosan-Puopolo, Oliver T. Wolf, Dirk A. Moser, Holm Zaehres, Beate Brand-Saberi
Summary: The aim of this study was to investigate whether students' psychobiological stress responses can be enhanced in the context of anatomical online learning and how increased physiological parameters correlate with characteristics of learning experiences in a digital learning environment. The results showed that compared to passive online learning, students engaged in the interaction-enhanced version of online learning displayed a significantly reduced Heart Rate Variability, along with a strong increase in salivary cortisol and salivary alpha-amylase activity. These findings demonstrate that the physiological arousal of students engaged in online learning can be enhanced via interactive teaching methods and highlight the correlation between higher physiological responses and elementary criteria of learning experience such as engagement and attention.
ANNALS OF ANATOMY-ANATOMISCHER ANZEIGER
(2023)
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Osman Akan, Anne Bierbrauer, Lukas Kunz, Patrick D. Gajewski, Stephan Getzmann, Jan G. Hengstler, Edmund Wascher, Nikolai Axmacher, Oliver T. Wolf
Summary: Repeated exposure to chronic stress can impair cognitive functions such as long-term memory and navigation. It is still unclear whether chronic stress affects path integration, a navigational strategy that relies on the functioning of grid cells in the entorhinal cortex. This study aimed to investigate the association between chronic stress and path integration performance, and the results suggest a potential impairment of path integration due to chronic stress.
BEHAVIOURAL BRAIN RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Endocrinology & Metabolism
Katja Langer, Valerie L. Jentsch, Oliver T. Wolf
Summary: Acute stress can either enhance or impair emotion regulation (ER) performances. Timing of the ER task relative to stress exposure is a moderating factor, with delayed cortisol increases improving ER performances, while rapid sympathetic nervous system (SNS) actions opposing such effects via cognitive impairments.
PSYCHONEUROENDOCRINOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Psychology, Biological
Valerie L. Jentsch, Oliver T. Wolf, Tobias Otto, Christian J. Merz
Summary: Exposure therapy is commonly used for anxiety disorders, but fear responses can reemerge even after successful treatment. This study examined the effect of exercise following fear extinction training on the consolidation of extinction memories. Surprisingly, exercise did not enhance but impaired extinction memory retrieval, possibly consolidating the original fear memory trace instead.
Article
Psychiatry
Tobias Lohaus, Judith Witt, Anne Schuermeyer, Oliver T. Wolf, Patrizia Thoma
Summary: The relationship between fatigue and (socio-)cognitive deficits in neurological diseases has been studied and the findings are inconsistent. This study examined the relationship between fatigue, social cognition, and social activity in stroke patients, multiple sclerosis patients, and a healthy control group. The results showed that high fatigue scores were associated with reduced social activities in both patient groups, but not with general cognition and social cognition.
COGNITIVE NEUROPSYCHIATRY
(2023)
Article
Psychiatry
Annica Kessling, Lasse David Schmidt, Matthias Brand, Elisa Wegmann
Summary: This article summarizes the current research on implicit cognitions in problematic social network use (PSNU). The findings suggest that specific implicit cognitions play an important role in PSNU, similar to other addictive behaviors. However, there is limited empirical evidence on this topic, and further research is needed to explore implicit cognitions in PSNU.
JOURNAL OF BEHAVIORAL ADDICTIONS
(2023)
Article
Psychiatry
Matthias Brand, Marc N. Potenza
Summary: The Journal of Behavioral Addictions featured a debate on behavioral addictions in ICD-11 in 2022. The debate focused on compulsive sexual behavior disorder and emphasized the importance of further research on behavioral addictions. The debate was conducted at a high scientific level and has significant implications for behavioral addiction research and clinical practice.
JOURNAL OF BEHAVIORAL ADDICTIONS
(2023)
Review
Psychiatry
Astrid Mueller, Nora M. Laskowski, Tobias A. Thomas, Stephanie Antons, Nadja Tahmassebi, Sabine Steins-Loeber, Matthias Brand, Ekaterini Georgiadou
Summary: This study aimed to provide a systematic update on treatment studies for compulsive buying-shopping disorder (CBSD), with a particular focus on online CBSD. The results suggest that psychotherapy, especially group cognitive-behavioral therapy, is effective in reducing CBSD symptoms. However, pharmacological studies did not show any superiority of selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors or topiramate over placebo.
JOURNAL OF BEHAVIORAL ADDICTIONS
(2023)
Article
Neurosciences
Dong-ni Pan, Valerie L. Jentsch, Katja Langer, Bianca Hagedorn, Oliver Hoeffken, Oliver Wolf, Christian J. Merz
Summary: The ability to regulate emotions under stress is crucial for psychosocial health, and the dynamic function of stress hormones in cognitive control of emotions through non-genomic and genomic cortisol effects needs further clarification.
NEUROBIOLOGY OF STRESS
(2023)
Article
Neurosciences
Osman Akan, Anne Bierbrauer, Nikolai Axmacher, Oliver T. Wolf
Summary: Acute stress has a significant impact on human spatial navigation, particularly on path integration. This effect is mediated through the impairment of the medial entorhinal cortex, which is responsible for path integration. These findings suggest that acute stress can negatively affect cognitive functions in the brain.
NEUROBIOLOGY OF STRESS
(2023)
Review
Substance Abuse
Silke M. Mueller, Stephanie Antons, Matthias Brand
Summary: This narrative review examines the relationship between impulsivity and gaming disorder. The findings suggest that gaming disorder is associated with attentional impulsivity, while motor impulsivity is more evident in the presence of gaming-related cues. However, decisional impulsivity does not appear to be increased. The association between impulsivity and gaming disorder symptoms can be influenced by factors such as gender differences and comorbid ADHD.
CURRENT ADDICTION REPORTS
(2023)
Review
Anatomy & Morphology
Rebekka Heinen, Anne Bierbrauer, Oliver T. Wolf, Nikolai Axmacher
Summary: Neural representations are internal brain states that model the external world or its features. Memory traces allow the brain to activate representations of past experiences even in the absence of sensory input. This review explores the nature of neural memory representations and how cognitive neuroscience methods, particularly neuroimaging, can assess them. The analysis of neural representations provides insights into their structure and different formats using techniques such as representational similarity analysis (RSA) and deep neural networks (DNNs). Multiple recent studies demonstrate the measurement and investigation of memory representations, revealing format shifts from visual to semantic and the impact of affective evaluations in episodic memories. Ultimately, the analysis of neural representations enhances our understanding of human memory.
BRAIN STRUCTURE & FUNCTION
(2023)