Digital images are hard to resist: Teaching viewers about the effects of camera angle does not reduce the camera angle's impact on power judgments.

Digital images on the internet are often designed to manipulate viewers' interpretations. Therefore, it is important to educate viewers regarding potential effects of such techniques. We investigated whether two interventions addressing potential effects of camera angle affect the technique's effect on participants' power-related judgments of depicted persons. In two experiments, participants were assigned to one of two conditions with introductory information that either included information about the effect of camera angle or did not include such information. In Experiment 2, we additionally varied whether participants engaged in a task practicing the detection of camera angles or not. None of the interventions affected how participants rated digital pictures of persons that were shot from different camera angles. However, both experiments demonstrated that the interventions were successful in making viewers aware of the potential effects of camera angles - as evident in the participants' responses to open-ended questions. Potential reasons for the lack of effects on the participants' power-related judgments of the depicted persons are discussed.

[Fatigue at Long COVID]. / Fatigue bei Long COVID.

Persistent or new symptoms after infection with SARS-CoV-2 are common and are referred to as Long COVID. Fatigue is by far the most common symptom. The current article deals with fatigue in the context of Long COVID, attempts a pathogenetic classification and makes suggestions for appropriate treatment.

Believing is achieving - On the role of treatment expectation in neurofeedback applications.

In neurofeedback applications, neural activity is recorded, processed in real-time and fed back to the user in order to facilitate self-regulation of the putative neural mechanisms that underlie cognition and behavior. Numerous studies suggest that neurofeedback interventions are an efficacious treatment particularly for patients with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). In recent years, however, findings of several well-controlled studies raised doubts concerning the proposed mechanism of action behind the behavioral effect of neurofeedback. This study investigated the impact of expectation on the efficacy of a sensorimotor rhythm (SMR) training. In a within-subjects design 30 blinded volunteers with ADHD symptoms received a standard SMR training session after inducing no (no-expectancy condition), positive (placebo condition), and negative (nocebo condition) expectations regarding the effectiveness of neurofeedback (by telling them that they would train a specific frequency band that was previously shown to be either unrelated to attention, should improve attention, or interfere with attentional processes). After each training, participants were presented with a cognitive test and subsequently requested to rate their performance on it. We could show that participants were able to successfully modify their EEG signal during training. Further, we found an effect over trainings on objective attentional performance. Most importantly, we found that the expectancy of positive or negative treatment effects considerably changed participants' perception of neurofeedback's efficacy even in the absence of any objective evidence. This study presents strong first evidence for a substantial effect of self-confirming response expectancies as one factor underlying the efficacy of neurofeedback. Future research has to carefully consider the impact of such psychosocial mechanisms when evaluating the (specific) efficacy of neuromodulatory treatments.