Loneliness and Well-Being During the Covid-19 Pandemic: Associations with Personality and Emotion Regulation.

The present study examined how neuroticism, extraversion, and emotion regulation were related to loneliness and well-being during 6 weeks of major public life restrictions in the Covid-19 pandemic in Switzerland. Cross-sectional results from 466 participants showed that neuroticism and emotion regulation strategies were associated with higher loneliness and lower well-being. However, in contrast to prior research, associations of extraversion with loneliness and well-being were weak and were qualified by interactions with emotion regulation. For introverts, maladaptive cognitive strategies such as rumination or catastrophizing were related to higher levels of loneliness. For extraverts, emotion suppression was related to lower levels of affective well-being. Individuals with low maladaptive regulation reported higher well-being the longer the public life restrictions were in place at the time of study participation. These findings suggest that first, extraversion may lose some of its protective value for loneliness and well-being when opportunities to engage in social activities are limited; second, that loneliness and well-being do not decrease over 6 weeks of public life restrictions; and third, that future studies should further investigate the moderating role of emotion regulation on the link between personality, loneliness, and well-being.

On the role of dominance and nurturance in the confluence model: A person-centered approach to the prediction of sexual aggression.

Malamuth's (1998) confluence model holds that the combination of hostile masculinity, impersonal sexuality, and the constellation of high dominance and low nurturance plays a crucial role in explaining men's sexual aggression against women. Most studies on the confluence model concentrate on hostile masculinity and impersonal sexuality rather than dominance and nurturance. Using a person-centered approach, we investigated whether sexual aggressive men could be better identified in a sample of 692 men when not only hostile masculinity and impersonal sexuality but also dominance and nurturance were used as indicators in a latent profile analysis. Regardless of whether dominance and nurturance were considered or not, latent profile analyses revealed a high-risk group, which showed higher sexual aggression than other groups. In both cases, the sensitivity (i.e., the proportion of sexually aggressive men correctly assigned to the high-risk group) was low (33% and 31%, respectively) but increased substantially for the identification of severe sexual aggression. The positive prediction value, however, increased from 68% to 78% when dominance and nurturance were considered as predictor variables in addition to hostile masculinity and impersonal sexuality, indicating that more men assigned to the high-risk group were indeed sexually aggressive. These results demonstrate the power of the confluence model for identifying sexually aggressive men from a person-centered perspective. They also point to the necessity of expanding this perspective by considering further (e.g., situational) risk factors, which have previously been identified as predicting sexually aggressive behavior in men. Aggr. Behav. 43:251-262, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Elucidating the internal structure of psychophysical timing performance in the sub-second and second range by utilizing confirmatory factor analysis.

The most influential theoretical account in time psychophysics assumes the existence of a unitary internal clock based on neural counting. The distinct timing hypothesis, on the other hand, suggests an automatic timing mechanism for processing of durations in the sub-second range and a cognitively controlled timing mechanism for processing of durations in the range of seconds. Although several psychophysical approaches can be applied for identifying the internal structure of interval timing in the second and sub-second range, the existing data provide a puzzling picture of rather inconsistent results. In the present chapter, we introduce confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to further elucidate the internal structure of interval timing performance in the sub-second and second range. More specifically, we investigated whether CFA would rather support the notion of a unitary timing mechanism or of distinct timing mechanisms underlying interval timing in the sub-second and second range, respectively. The assumption of two distinct timing mechanisms which are completely independent of each other was not supported by our data. The model assuming a unitary timing mechanism underlying interval timing in both the sub-second and second range fitted the empirical data much better. Eventually, we also tested a third model assuming two distinct, but functionally related mechanisms. The correlation between the two latent variables representing the hypothesized timing mechanisms was rather high and comparison of fit indices indicated that the assumption of two associated timing mechanisms described the observed data better than only one latent variable. Models are discussed in the light of the existing psychophysical and neurophysiological data.

Can the resting state peak alpha frequency explain the relationship between temporal resolution power and psychometric intelligence?

The temporal resolution power (TRP) hypothesis states that individuals with higher TRP, as reflected by a higher performance on several psychophysical timing tasks, perform better on intelligence tests due to their ability to process information faster and coordinate their mental operations more effectively. It is proposed that these differences in TRP are related to the rate of a master clock based on neural oscillations. The present study aimed to investigate whether the peak alpha frequency (PAF) measured via electroencephalography (EEG) reflects a psychophysiological measure of this rate and its potential role in explaining the relationship between TRP and psychometric intelligence. A sample of 129 young adults (M = 23.0, SD = 3.1) completed a short version of Raven's Advanced Progressives Matrices and three timing tasks. PAF was measured using EEG before each timing task during two resting states with eyes closed (EC) and eyes open (EO), respectively. From these PAF measurements, four latent PAF variables were extracted, differing in resting state (EC, EO) and electrode cluster (frontal/central, parietal/occipital). The results confirmed a strong association between TRP and psychometric intelligence (r = .56, p < .01), as previously reported in other studies. Additionally, we found a positive association between intelligence and a latent PAF variable extracted from frontal/central electrodes in the EO resting state conditions (r = .27, p < .05). However, there was no association between TRP and PAF. This indicates that PAF does not reflect the underlying psychophysiological mechanism that links TRP to intelligence. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

The relationship between sociosexuality and aspects of body image in men and women: a structural equation modeling approach.

The present study investigated the association between individual differences in sociosexual orientation and four aspects of body image in 156 male and 136 female students. While men were characterized by a less restricted sociosexual orientation, higher self-perceived physical attractiveness, and more pronounced self-rated physical assertiveness, women placed more emphasis on accentuation of body presentation. Structural equation modeling revealed significant positive relationships between sociosexual attitudes and physical attractiveness and accentuation of body presentation as well as between sociosexual behavior and physical attractiveness for the total sample. When introducing sex as a grouping variable, the attitudinal and behavioral components of sociosexuality were reliably related to both physical attractiveness and accentuation of body presentation as two aspects of body image in men, but not in women. Furthermore, our findings suggest that accentuation of body presentation represents a goal-directed behavior in men to increase the likelihood of having uncommitted sex but serves additional functions widely unrelated to unrestrictive sociosexual behavior in women.

Attentional blink and impulsiveness: evidence for higher functional impulsivity in non-blinkers compared to blinkers.

The attentional blink (AB) represents a fundamental limit of information processing. About 5-10 % of all subjects, however, do not show the AB. Because of the low base rate of these so-called non-blinkers, studies on mechanisms underlying non-blinkers' absent AB are extremely scant. The few existent studies found non-blinkers to be faster and more efficient in information processing compared to blinkers. A personality trait that has been linked previously to speed and efficiency of information processing as well as to the magnitude of the AB is impulsivity. Therefore, the present study investigated whether 15 non-blinkers and 15 blinkers differed from each other in functional and/or dysfunctional impulsivity. To obtain a better understanding of the underlying processing mechanisms, the P300 component in the event-related potential was recorded during performance on the AB task. Our results indicated higher functional impulsivity in non-blinkers compared to blinkers but no differences between the two groups in dysfunctional impulsivity. As indicated by shorter P300 latency, non-blinkers processed information faster than blinkers after the AB period but slower during the AB period. These speed effects, however, were not associated with functional impulsivity. Thus, impulsivity and speed of information processing appear to represent two rather independent sources for non-blinkers' absent AB.

How Speededness of a Reasoning Test and the Complexity of Mental Speed Tasks Influence the Relation between Mental Speed and Reasoning Ability.

Although previous research has consistently reported a positive association between mental speed and reasoning ability, it remains unclear whether the magnitude of this association depends on whether the reasoning test is administered with or without a time limit. In addition, it is unknown how mental speed task complexity affects the mental speed-reasoning association when the effects of time limitations in the reasoning test (labeled "speededness") are controlled for. The present study examined these questions in a sample of 200 participants who completed the time-limited Culture Fair Test (CFT) and a Hick task with three levels of complexity to measure mental speed. Results showed that the latent correlation between mental speed and reasoning was slightly lower when the effect of speededness in reasoning was statistically controlled for. However, for both controlled and uncontrolled reasoning, the correlation with mental speed was of medium size and statistically significant. When reasoning was controlled for the effects of speededness, only complexity-related mental speed aspects were correlated with reasoning, whereas basic mental speed aspects were correlated with the speededness factor and unrelated to reasoning. These findings demonstrate that time limitations in reasoning tests and complexity in mental speed tasks affect the magnitude of the mental speed-reasoning association.

On the feeling of being different-an interview study with people who define themselves as highly sensitive.

The construct of "sensory processing sensitivity" has become an extremely popular concept outside the scientific literature under the term "high sensitivity" (HS), reflected in a variety of self-help guides and media reports. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate this phenomenon by examining in-depth individuals who consider the label HS essential to their self-definition. In semi-structured interviews, 38 individuals described their understanding of HS and its perceived manifestations and impact on their lives (among other topics). Subsequently, the data were content-analytically evaluated, i.e., categorized and quantified. One key finding was that HS individuals feel relief following self-attribution or self-diagnosis. Moreover, this self-attribution replaced the feeling of being somehow different from the others, which almost all interviewees mentioned, with positive attributes. The main negative features of HS mentioned were feeling overwhelmed by sensory and emotional stimuli. The results are discussed with regard to the significance of the label HS for this group on the one hand, and with regard to alternative approaches for future research on the other hand.

Evidence for mental ability related individual differences in the attentional blink obtained by an analysis of the P300 component.

Attentional blink (AB) refers to impaired identification of a target (T2) when this target follows a preceding target (T1) after about 150-450 ms within a stream of rapidly presented stimuli. Previous research on a possible relation between AB and mental ability (MA) turned out to be highly ambiguous. The present study investigated MA-related individual differences in consolidation of T2 in working memory during the AB as indicated by the P300 component of the event-related potential. Thirty high (HA) and 30 low MA (LA) female participants performed an AB task while their brain activity was recorded. The AB did not differ between the two groups. HA individuals exhibited a larger P300 amplitude and longer P300 latencies during the AB suggesting higher mental effort. This higher mental effort, however, did not result in better performance presumably because of more competition between target and distractor stimuli in HA than LA individuals.

On sex-related differences in auditory and visual sensory functioning.

The present study was designed to elucidate sex-related differences in two basic auditory and one basic visual aspect of sensory functioning, namely sensory discrimination of pitch, loudness, and brightness. Although these three aspects of sensory functioning are of vital importance in everyday life, little is known about whether men and women differ from each other in these sensory functions. Participants were 100 male and 100 female volunteers ranging in age from 18 to 30 years. Since sensory sensitivity may be positively related to individual levels of intelligence and musical experience, measures of psychometric intelligence and musical background were also obtained. Reliably better performance for men compared to women was found for pitch and loudness, but not for brightness discrimination. Furthermore, performance on loudness discrimination was positively related to psychometric intelligence, while pitch discrimination was positively related to both psychometric intelligence and levels of musical training. Additional regression analyses revealed that each of three predictor variables (sex, psychometric intelligence, and musical training) accounted for a statistically significant portion of unique variance in pitch discrimination. With regard to loudness discrimination, regression analysis yielded a statistically significant portion of unique variance for sex as a predictor variable, whereas psychometric intelligence just failed to reach statistical significance. The potential influence of sex hormones on sex-related differences in sensory functions is discussed.

Auditory and visual temporal sensitivity: evidence for a hierarchical structure of modality-specific and modality-independent levels of temporal information processing.

The present study investigated modality-specific differences in processing of temporal information in the subsecond range. For this purpose, participants performed auditory and visual versions of a rhythm perception and three different duration discrimination tasks to allow for a direct, systematic comparison across both sensory modalities. Our findings clearly indicate higher temporal sensitivity in the auditory than in the visual domain irrespective of type of timing task. To further evaluate whether there is evidence for a common modality-independent timing mechanism or for multiple modality-specific mechanisms, we used structural equation modeling to test three different theoretical models. Neither a single modality-independent timing mechanism, nor two independent modality-specific timing mechanisms fitted the empirical data. Rather, the data are well described by a hierarchical model with modality-specific visual and auditory temporal processing at a first level and a modality-independent processing system at a second level of the hierarchy.

More creative ideas are associated with increased right posterior power and frontal-parietal/occipital coupling in the upper alpha band: A within-subjects study.

The neurophysiological investigation of creative idea generation is a growing research area. EEG studies congruently reported the sensitivity of upper alpha power (10-12 Hz) for the creative ideation process and its outcome. However, the majority of studies were between-subject design studies and research directly comparing the neurophysiological activation pattern when generating more and less creative ideas within a person are rare. Therefore, the present study was specifically focused on investigating brain activation patterns associated with the generation of more vs. less creative ideas. We applied an alternate uses task (AU-task; i.e., finding original uses for everyday objects such as a brick) in a sample of 74 participants and recorded the brain activation during the AU-task and reference period. A portable EEG system with 21 dry electrodes arranged in the international 10-20 system and linked ear as reference was used. We found a higher increase of upper alpha power during creative ideation (relative to reference period, i.e., task-related power, TRP) over right posterior sites when people generated more compared to less creative ideas. This was accompanied by an increase of functional coupling (i.e., task-related coherence increase) between frontal and parietal/occipital sites, which suggests higher internal attention and more control over sensory processes. Taken together, these findings complement the existing creativity research literature and indicate the importance of alpha power for the creative ideation process also within people.

On the interplay of temporal resolution power and spatial suppression in their prediction of psychometric intelligence.

As a measure of the brain's temporal fine-tuning capacity, temporal resolution power (TRP) explained repeatedly a substantial amount of variance in psychometric intelligence. Recently, spatial suppression, referred to as the increasing difficulty in quickly perceiving motion direction as the size of the moving stimulus increases, has attracted particular attention, when it was found to be positively related to psychometric intelligence. Due to the conceptual similarities of TRP and spatial suppression, the present study investigated their mutual interplay in the relation to psychometric intelligence in 273 young adults to better understand the reasons for these relationships. As in previous studies, psychometric intelligence was positively related to a latent variable representing TRP but, in contrast to previous reports, negatively to latent and manifest measures of spatial suppression. In a combined structural equation model, TRP still explained a substantial amount of variance in psychometric intelligence while the negative relation between spatial suppression and intelligence was completely explained by TRP. Thus, our findings confirmed TRP to be a robust predictor of psychometric intelligence but challenged the assumption of spatial suppression as a representation of general information processing efficiency as reflected in psychometric intelligence. Possible reasons for the contradictory findings on the relation between spatial suppression and psychometric intelligence are discussed.

The effect of chronic pain on voluntary and involuntary capture of attention: An event-related potential study.

Although the interrupting effect of chronic pain on voluntary-directed attention is well-documented, research on the impact of chronic pain on involuntary-directed attention remains incomplete. This study aimed to investigate the influence of chronic pain on involuntary as well as voluntary allocation of attention as, respectively, indexed by the P3a and P3b components in the event-related potential derived from the electroencephalogram. Both involuntary and voluntary captures of attention were compared between 33 patients with chronic pain and 33 healthy controls using an auditory three-stimulus oddball task (with standard, target, and unexpected distractor tones). The results revealed a reduced P3a amplitude as well as a reduced P3b amplitude in patients with chronic pain compared to healthy controls, indicating a detrimental effect of chronic pain on involuntary and voluntary attention, respectively. This study extends the picture of the impairing effects of chronic pain on attentional allocation to a current task and attentional allocation to information outside the focus of attention. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

The dual mechanisms of cognitive control and their relation to reasoning and the item-position effect.

Braver's (2012) dual mechanisms of cognitive control differentiate between proactive control (PMC; i.e. early selection and maintenance of goal-relevant information) and reactive control (RMC; i.e. a late mobilization of attention when required). It has been suggested that higher cognitive capacities (as indicated by reasoning ability as a major characteristic of fluid intelligence) facilitate using the more resource-demanding PMC. We propose the following alternative explanation: engagement in PMC during the completion of reasoning tests leads to better test performance because gained knowledge (i.e. rules learned) during completion of early items is better maintained and transferred to later items. This learning of rules during the completion of a reasoning test results in an item-position effect (IPE) as an additional source of individual differences besides reasoning ability. We investigated this idea in a sample of 210 young adults who completed the AX-Continuous Performance Task (AX-CPT) and the Vienna Matrices Test (VMT). Using fixed-links modeling, we separated an IPE from reasoning ability in the VMT. Based on reaction time (RT) patterns across AX-CPT conditions, we identified three different groups by means of latent-profile analysis. RT patterns indicated engagement in PMC for Group A, mixed PMC and RMC for Group B, and RMC for Group C. With the consideration of the IPE, groups did not differ in their reasoning abilities. However, Group A (engaging in PMC) had a more pronounced IPE than Group C (engaging in RMC). Therefore, we conclude that PMC contributes to a stronger IPE, which in turn leads to higher scores in reasoning tests as measures of fluid intelligence.

Do Executive Attentional Processes Uniquely or Commonly Explain Psychometric g and Correlations in the Positive Manifold? A Structural Equation Modeling and Network-Analysis Approach to Investigate the Process Overlap Theory.

One of the best-established findings in intelligence research is the pattern of positive correlations among various intelligence tests. Although this so-called positive manifold became the conceptual foundation of many theoretical accounts of intelligence, the very nature of it has remained unclear. Only recently, Process Overlap Theory (POT) proposed that the positive manifold originated from overlapping domain-general, executive processes. To test this assumption, the functional relationship between different aspects of executive attention and the positive manifold was investigated by re-analyzing an existing dataset (N = 228). Psychometric reasoning, speed, and memory performance were assessed by a short form of the Berlin Intelligence Structure test. Two aspects of executive attention (sustained and selective attention) and speed of decision making were measured by a continuous performance test, a flanker task, and a Hick task, respectively. Traditional structural equation modeling, representing the positive manifold by a g factor, as well as network analyses, investigating the differential effects of the two aspects of executive attention and speed of decision making on the specific correlations of the positive manifold, suggested that selective attention, sustained attention, and speed of decision making explained the common but not the unique portions of the positive manifold. Thus, we failed to provide evidence for POT's assumption that the positive manifold is the result of overlapping domain-general processes. This does not mean that domain-general processes other than those investigated here will not be able to show the pattern of results predicted by POT.

Interval Timing in Pediatric Multiple Sclerosis: Impaired in the Subsecond Range but Unimpaired in the One-Second Range.

Background: For adult multiple sclerosis (MS) patients, impaired temporal processing of simultaneity/successiveness has been frequently reported although interval timing has been investigated in neither adult nor pediatric MS patients. We aim to extend previous research in two ways. First, we focus on interval timing (instead of simultaneity/successiveness) and differentiate between sensory-automatic processing of intervals in the subsecond range and cognitive processing of intervals in the one-second range. Second, we investigate whether impaired temporal information processing would also be observable in pediatric MS patients' interval timing in the subsecond and one-second ranges. Methods: Participants were 22 pediatric MS patients and 22 healthy controls, matched for age, gender, and psychometric intelligence as measured by the Culture Fair Test 20-R. They completed two auditory interval-timing tasks with stimuli in the subsecond and one-second ranges, respectively, as well as a frequency discrimination task. Results: Pediatric MS patients showed impaired interval timing in the subsecond range compared to healthy controls with a mean difference of the difference limen (DL) of 6.3 ms, 95% CI [1.7, 10.9 ms] and an effect size of Cohen's d = 0.830. The two groups did not differ significantly in interval timing in the one-second range (mean difference of the DL = 26.9 ms, 95% CI [-14.2, 67.9 ms], Cohen's d = 0.399) or in frequency discrimination (mean difference of the DL = 0.4 Hz, 95% CI [-1.1, 1.9 Hz], Cohen's d = 0.158). Conclusion: The results indicate that, in particular, the sensory-automatic processing of intervals in the subsecond range but not the cognitive processing of longer intervals is impaired in pediatric MS patients. This differential pattern of results is unlikely to be explained by general deficits of auditory information processing. A tentative explanation, to be tested in future studies, points to subcortical deficits in pediatric MS patients, which might also underlie deficits in speech and visuomotor coordination typically reported in pediatric MS patients.

Scaling the Variance of a Latent Variable While Assuring Constancy of the Model.

This paper investigates how the major outcome of a confirmatory factor investigation is preserved when scaling the variance of a latent variable by the various scaling methods. A constancy framework, based upon the underlying factor analysis formula that enables scaling by modifying components through scalar multiplication, is described; a proof is included to demonstrate the constancy property of the framework. It provides the basis for a scaling method that enables the comparison of the contribution of different latent variables of the same confirmatory factor model to observed scores, as for example, the contributions of trait and method latent variables. Furthermore, it is shown that available scaling methods are in line with this constancy framework and that the criterion number included in some scaling methods enables modifications. The impact of the number of manifest variables on the scaled variance parameter can be modified and the range of possible values. It enables the adaptation of scaling methods to the requirements of the field of application.

On the Relationship between P3 Latency and Mental Ability as a Function of Increasing Demands in a Selective Attention Task.

The mental speed approach to individual differences in mental ability (MA) is based on the assumption of higher speed of information processing in individuals with higher than those with lower MA. Empirical support of this assumption has been inconsistent when speed was measured by means of the P3 latency in the event-related potential (ERP). The present study investigated the association between MA and P3 latency as a function of task demands on selective attention. For this purpose, 20 men and 90 women performed on a standard continuous performance test (CPT1 condition) as well as on two further task conditions with lower (CPT0) and higher demands (CPT2) on selective attention. MA and P3 latency negatively correlated in the standard CPT, and this negative relationship even increased systematically from the CPT1 to the CPT2 condition but was absent in the CPT0 condition. The present results indicate that task demands on selective attention are decisive to observe the expected shorter P3 latency in individuals with higher compared to those with lower MA.

Speed Effect Analysis Using the CFA Framework.

The paper outlines a method for investigating the speed effect due to a time limit in testing. It is assumed that the time limit enables latent processing speed to influence responses by causing omissions in the case of insufficient speed. Because of processing speed as additional latent source, the customary confirmatory factor model is enlarged by a second latent variable representing latent processing speed. For distinguishing this effect from other method effects, the factor loadings are fixed according to the cumulative normal distribution. With the second latent variable added, confirmatory factor analysis of reasoning data (N=518) including omissions because of a time limit yielded good model fit and discriminated the speed effect from other possible effects due to the item difficulty, the homogeneity of an item subset and the item positions. Because of the crucial role of the cumulative normal distribution for fixing the factor loadings a check of the normality assumption is also reported.