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DGPs-Kommission „Studium und Lehre“ der DGPs. Die Lehre von heute ist die Forschung von morgen
No full textDeeds not Words? Dynamics in Word and Action Learning during Early Childhood
Full text linkKinder wachsen in einer komplexen, multimodalen Umgebung auf und müssen
Informationen aus dieser Umgebung extrahieren, um Wissen über die Welt zu erlangen. Wenn Bezugspersonen mit ihren Kindern interagieren, verknüpfen sie oft
Wörter und Handlungen mit Objekten. Dies kann Auswirkungen darauf haben,
wie Kinder die Wörter und Handlungen verarbeiten. In dieser Arbeit untersuchten
wir das Lernen von Kindern in multimodalen Kontexten, in denen sowohl Wörter
als auch Handlungen für Objekte präsentiert wurden, um Interaktionen zwischen
dem Kind und der Umgebung während des Lernens in der frühen Entwicklung zu
verstehen.
In der ersten Studie untersuchten wir die Entwicklung des Wort- und Handlungslernens. Zwölfmonatige lernten, Handlungen, aber keine Wörter, mit Objekten zu assoziieren, 24-monatige lernten weder Wort- noch Handlung-Objekt-
Assoziationen, 36-monatige lernten, Wörter, aber keine Handlungen mit Objekten
zu assoziieren, und Erwachsene lernten, Wörter und Handlungen mit Objekten
zu assoziieren. Kinder scheinen also zunächst Handlung-Objekt- und dann Wort-
Objekt-Assoziationen zu lernen, bevor sie beides lernen. Dabei bleibt jedoch unberücksichtigt, dass die individuellen Präferenzen der Probanden das Lernen von
Wörtern und Handlungen beeinflussen könnten. In der zweiten Studie untersuchten
wir daher, wie die Präferenzen des Lernenden das Erlernen von Wörtern und Handlungen für Objekte beeinflussen können. Wir replizierten die Ergebnisse der ersten Studie, die zeigen, dass 24- bis 36-monatige Kinder Wort-Objekt-, aber keine
Handlung-Objekt-Assoziationen lernten, während Erwachsene beide Assoziationen
lernten. Die Präferenz der Kinder beeinflusste ihr target looking bei Wort-Objektaber
nicht bei Handlung-Objekt-Assoziationen, und die Präferenz der Erwachsenen
beeinflusste deren target looking bei Handlung-Objekt- aber nicht bei Wort-Objekt-
Assoziationen. Die Präferenzen schienen also das Verarbeiten von Informationen zu
beeinflussen, nicht aber das Lernen. Zusätzlich zu den individuellen Präferenzen
kann die Darstellungsweise der beiden Domänen das Lernen beeinflussen. In der
dritten Studie untersuchten wir daher die domänenübergreifenden Einflüsse zwischen
Wörtern und Handlungen beim Erlernen von Wort-Objekt-Assoziationen. Bei
Kindern im Alter zwischen 30 und 42 Monaten unterstützte es das Lernen von
Wort-Objekt-Assoziationen, wenn die gleichzeitig auftredenden Handlungen konsistent
und nicht variabel waren. Erwachsene lernten solche Assoziationen unabhängig
von den begleitenden Handlungen. Die Struktur des Inputs hatte also einen Einfluss
auf das Lernen im Kleinkindalter, aber dieser Einfluss schwindet mit dem Alter.
Zusammenfassend beleuchtet diese Dissertation den Verlauf desWort- und Handlungslernens in der Kindesentwicklung, wie die Präferenzen des Lernenden diesen Verlauf beeinflussen, und wie sich Wörter und Handlungen während des Lernens gegenseitig beeinflussen. In dieser Arbeit werden daher die Interaktionen zwischen der Lernenden, ihren sich ändernden Interessen und Kompetenzen, und der
Form und Komplexität ihrer Umgebung dargestellt, was zusammen die dynamische
Entwicklung des Lernens reflektiert. Als solche liefert diese Arbeit Belege für Theorien,
die Wechselwirkungen zwischen verschiedenen Ebenen eines Organismus und
der Umgebung im Verlaufe der Zeit als die Basis für Entwicklung postulieren.Children grow up in a complex, multimodal environment and need to extract information from this environment to learn about the world. When caregivers interact
with their children, they often use words and actions concurrently, and this might
influence children’s processing of words and actions. In this thesis, we investigated
children’s and adults’ learning of words and actions for objects in multimodal contexts
to understand the interactions between the child and the environment during
learning in early development.
In the first study, we explored the developmental trajectory of word and action
learning. 12-month-olds learned to associate actions but not words with objects,
24-month-olds learned neither word- nor action-object associations, 36-month-olds
learned to associate words but not actions with objects, and adults learned to associate both words and actions with objects. Thus, children developed from learning
action-object to word-object to both associations. A possible reason for this observation could be that the participants’ individual preferences influenced their word
and action learning differently across age groups. In the second study, we therefore
investigated how the learner’s own preferences can influence learning of words
and actions for objects. We replicated the findings from Study 1 showing that
24- to 36-month-olds learned word-object but not action-object associations, while
adults learned both associations. Furthermore, children’s preferences influenced
their target looking in the word-object, but not in the action-object condition, and
adults’ preferences influenced target looking in the action, but not in the word condition. Thus, participants’ preferences influenced their processing of information
but did not influence learning. In addition to the individual preferences, how the
two domains are presented might influence learning. Thus, in the third study, we
investigated the cross-domain influences between words and actions during children’s
word learning. Between 30 and 42 months, consistency in the co-occurrence
of actions in contrast to variability in the co-occurrence supported children’s wordobject
association learning. Adults learned such associations independent of the
actions presented. Accordingly, the structure of the input influenced learning in
toddlerhood but its influence decreased with age.
In summary, this thesis sheds light on the trajectory of word and action learning
in development, how the learner’s preferences influence learning, and how words
and actions influence each other during learning. Therefore, this thesis illustrates
interactions between the learner, her changing interests and competences, and the
environment, and its form and complexity, and thereby reflects the dynamic development of learning. As such, this thesis provides supporting evidence for theories
that postulate interactions between different levels of an organism and the environment
across time as the basis of development
The impact of words and actions in preverbal cognitive learning
No full textIn the realm of early development, words have been considered as unique due to their
ability to facilitate the formation of physical object categories by highlighting common visual
features among them. Nevertheless, infants are frequently exposed to words from an early age,
and as such, they are highly familiar with words which can potentially explain word effects in
category formation. This thesis aimed to reassess the role of words in early cognition by
comparing their effect to that of equally familiar cues from the visual modality, namely actions,
which were matched to the arbitrariness of word-object relations. Prior research has shown that
infants fail to learn word-object associations in the presence of actions despite the synchronous
presentation of these cues in natural interactions with caregivers. To investigate the source of
this discrepancy, I administered a study in which infants were presented with words, actions,
and objects either synchronously or sequentially. The results indicated that only 2-year-olds
exhibited learning of word-object and action-object associations when these cues were
presented synchronously, but not sequentially. Conversely, 1-year-olds did not exhibit learning
for either cue, suggesting that the demands of multisensory processing in laboratory settings
may exceed their processing capacities, thereby disrupting learning of the associations.
Although the first study presented in this thesis demonstrated that words and actions are
associated with objects in a similar way, we found notable differences in the way that they
shape the formation of object categories in the second study. Specifically, we found some
evidence that words, but not actions or a combination of words and actions, led infants to form
an object category at test, as evidenced by visual novelty preference. Words, therefore, seem to
have an advantage in early concept formation, as they allow infants to group physical objects
into a single mental representation, a feat that similarly familiar and arbitrary cues from
different modalities cannot achieve. In summary, this thesis has highlighted the unique role of
words in early development, which contributes to the formation of concepts.2023-08-1
How-to für M.Sc. Psychologie-Studiengänge
No full textAufgrund der Neuregelung der Psychotherapieausbildung dürften derzeit an fast allen Psychologie-Ausbildungsstandorten die Beratungen über zukünftige Masterstudiengänge in vollem Gang sein. Da die Ausgestaltung der Studiengänge für unser Fach von großer Bedeutung ist, haben DGPs und Fakultätentag zahlreiche Empfehlungen gegeben, die dazu beitragen sollen, dass sich das Psychologie-Studium auch zukünftig an geteilten Standards orientiert. Basierend auf Beratungen in der DGPs-Kommission „Studium und Lehre“ stellt der vorliegende Beitrag die zentralen Empfehlungen und Ressourcen in übersichtlicher Form zusammen und liefert so ein How-to für die Konzeption psychologischer Masterstudiengänge. Gleichzeitig werden die wichtigsten Argumente für die Empfehlungen dargelegt
Improvement of cognitive functioning in chronic schizophrenia through recombinant human erythropoietin (rhEPO)
No full textSchizophrenie wird zunehmend als Erkrankung der Gehirnentwicklung mit zusätzlicher degenerativer Komponente anerkannt, die mit einem kognitiven Abbau und Verlust kortikaler grauer Masse einhergeht. Die vorgestellte Hypothese lautet, dass rekombinantes humanes Erythropoietin (rhEPO) als neuroprotektive/neurotrophe Add-On Strategie zusätzlich zu einer stabilen antipsychotischen Medikation kognitive Funktionen verbessern kann. Aus diesem Grund wurde eine doppelblinde, Placebo-kontrollierte, randomisierte multizentrische Proof-of-Principle Studie entwickelt. Männer mit chronischer Schizophrenie (N=39) mit definiertem kognitivem Defizit, stabiler Medikation und stabiler Symptomatik wurden 12 Wochen lang mit wöchentlicher Gabe von entweder 40.000 IU Erythropoietin (N=20) oder Placebo (N=19) behandelt und nach jeweils 2, 4 und 12 Wochen neuropsychologisch getestet. Sowohl die mit Placebo behandelten, als auch die mit Erythropoietin behandelten Patienten verbesserten sich in den neuropsychologischen Verfahren. Diejenigen Patienten, die Erythropoietin erhalten hatten, zeigten im Kognitiven Summenscore und im RBANS Subtest Attention eine signifikant höhere Verbesserung als die Placebebopatienten. Der gezeigte Effekt, dass Erythropoietin einen positiven Einfluss auf einzelne kognitive Funktionen bei Schizophrenie ausübt, ermutigt, weiter im Bereich neuer Behandlungsstrategien zur Verbesserung kognitiver Defizite bei Schizophrenie zu forschen.Schizophrenia is increasingly recognized as a neurodevelopmental disease with an additional degenerative component, comprising cognitive decline and loss of cortical gray matter. We hypothesized that a neuroprotective/neurotrophic add-on strategy, recombinant human erythropoietin (rhEPO) in addition to stable antipsychotic medication, may be able to improve cognitive function. Therefore, we designed a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized, multicenter, proof-of-principle study. Chronic schizophrenic men (N=39) with defined cognitive deficit, stable medication and disease state, were treated for 3 months with a weekly intravenous infusion of 40,000 IU rhEPO (N=20) or placebo (N=19) and neuropsychologically testet at 2 weeks, 4 weeks and 12 weeks of study participation. Both placebo and rhEPO patients improved in all evaluated categories. Patients receiving rhEPO showed a significant improvement over placebo patients in schizophrenia-related cognitive performance (RBANS subtests, Cognitive Sum Score). The fact that rhEPO is the first compound to exert a selective and lasting beneficial effect on cognition should encourage new treatment strategies for schizophrenia
Kinematic boundary cues modulate 12-month-old infants’ segmentation of action sequences
No full textHuman infants can segment action sequences into their constituent actions already during the first year of life. However, work to date has almost exclusively examined the role of infants' conceptual knowledge of actions and their outcomes in driving this segmentation. The present study examined electrophysiological correlates of infants' processing of lower-level perceptual cues that signal a boundary between two actions of an action sequence. Specifically, we tested the effect of kinematic boundary cues (pre-boundary lengthening and pause) on 12-month-old infants' (N = 27) processing of a sequence of three arbitrary actions, performed by an animated figure. Using the Event-Related Potential (ERP) approach, evidence of a positivity following the onset of the boundary cues was found, in line with previous work that has found an ERP positivity (Closure Positive Shift, CPS) related to boundary processing in auditory stimuli and action sequences in adults. Moreover, an ERP negativity (Negative Central, Nc) indicated that infants' encoding of the post-boundary action was modulated by the presence or absence of prior boundary cues. We therefore conclude that 12-month-old infants are sensitive to lower-level perceptual kinematic boundary cues, which can support segmentation of a continuous stream of movement into individual action units
Development of hot and cool executive functions in middle childhood
No full textAlthough middle childhood is an important period for the development of hot and cool executive functions (EFs), longitudinal studies investigating trajectories of childhood EF development are still limited and little is known about predictors for individual developmental trajectories. The current study examined the development of two typical facets of cool and hot EFs over a 3-year period during middle childhood, comparing a younger cohort (6- and 7-year-olds at the first wave [T1]; n = 621) and an older cohort (8- and 9-year olds at T1; n = 975) of children. "Cool" working memory updating (WM) was assessed using a backward digit span task, and "hot" decision making (DM) was assessed using a child variant of the Iowa Gambling Task. Linear latent growth curve analyses revealed evidence for developmental growth as well as interindividual variance in the initial level and rate of change in both EF facets. Initial level of WM was positively associated with age (both between and within cohorts), socioeconomic status, verbal ability, and processing speed, whereas initial levels of DM were, in addition to a (potentially age-related) cohort effect, exclusively predicted by gender, with boys outperforming girls. None of the variables predicted the rate of change, that is, the developmental trajectories. However, younger children, as compared with older children, had slightly steeper WM growth curves over time, hinting at a leveling off in the development of WM during middle childhood. In sum, these data add important evidence to the understanding of hot and cool EF development during middle childhood. (C) 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved
Do as I say - or as I do?!
No full textInfants use behavioral and verbal cues to infer another person’s action intention. However, it is still unclear how infants integrate these often co-occurring cues depending on the cues’ coherence (i.e., the degree to which the cues provide coherent information about another’s intention). This study investigated how 18- and 24-month-olds’ (N = 88 per age group) action selection was influenced by varying the coherence of a model’s verbal and behavioral cues. Using a between-subjects design, infants received six trials with different stimulus objects. In the conditions Congruent, Incongruent, and Failed-attempt, the model uttered a telic verb particle that was followed by a matching or contradicting goal-directed action demonstration, or by a non goal-directed slipping motion, respectively. In the condition Pseudo-word, a nonsense word was combined with a goal-directed action demonstration. Infants’ action selection indicated an adherence to the verbal cue in Congruent, Incongruent, and Failed-attempt, and this was stronger in 24- than 18-month-olds. Additionally, in Incongruent and Failed-attempt, patterns of cue integration across the six trials varied in the two age groups. Regarding the behavioral cue, infants in Congruent and Pseudo-word preferentially followed this cue in both age groups, which also suggested a rather unspecific effect of the verbal cue in Congruent. Relatively longer first action-latencies in Incongruent and Failed-attempt implied that these types of coherence elicited higher cognitive demands than in Congruent and Pseudo-word. Results are discussed in light of infants’ flexibility in using social cues, depending on the cue’s coherence and on age-related social-cognitive differences
Executive function and weight status in children
No full textThere is considerable evidence for an association between obesity and impaired executive function (EF) in adolescents and adults. However, little research has examined EF in overweight or obese children. Furthermore, data on EF in underweight individuals is lacking. In addition, there is no consensus on the directionality of the relationship between Body Mass Index (BMI) and EF, and longitudinal studies are rare. Thus, the present study examined whether children differ in their performance on a battery of EF tasks depending on their weight status (underweight, normal-weight, overweight), and investigated the longitudinal cross-lagged associations between EF and BMI. Hot EF (delay of gratification, affective decision-making), cool EF (attention shifting, inhibition, working memory [WM] updating), and BMI were assessed in 1,657 German elementary-school children at two time points, approximately one year apart. Overweight children exhibited slightly poorer attention shifting, WM updating, and affective decision-making abilities as compared to normal-weight children. Unexpectedly, they did not show any deficits in inhibition or delay of gratification. EF levels of underweight children did not differ significantly from those of normal-weight children. Furthermore, poor attention shifting and enhanced affective decision-making predicted a slightly higher BMI one year later, and a higher BMI also predicted poorer attention shifting and WM updating one year later. The latter association between BMI and subsequent EF scores, however, diminished when controlling for socioeconomic status. Results indicate that hot and cool EF plays a role in the weight development of children, and might be a promising factor to address in preventive interventions
Infants’ goal prediction for simple action events
No full textLooking times and gaze behavior indicate that infants can predict the goal state of an observed simple action event (e.g., object-directed grasping) already in the first year of life. The present paper mainly focuses on infants' predictive gaze-shifts toward the goal of an ongoing action. For this, infants need to generate a forward model of the to-be-obtained goal state and to disengage their gaze from the moving agent at a time when information about the action event is still incomplete. By about 6 months of age, infants show goal-predictive gaze-shifts, but mainly for familiar actions that they can perform themselves (e.g., grasping) and for familiar agents (e.g., a human hand). Therefore, some theoretical models have highlighted close relations between infants' ability for action-goal prediction and their motor development and/or emerging action experience. Recent research indicates that infants can also predict action goals of familiar simple actions performed by non-human agents (e.g., object-directed grasping by a mechanical claw) when these agents display agency cues, such as self-propelled movement, equifinality of goal approach, or production of a salient action effect. This paper provides a review on relevant findings and theoretical models, and proposes that the impacts of action experience and of agency cues can be explained from an action-event perspective. In particular, infants' goal-predictive gaze-shifts are seen as resulting from an interplay between bottom-up processing of perceptual information and top-down influences exerted by event schemata that store information about previously executed or observed actions
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