When social comparison works as a demotivator: Stronger peers mitigate effort levels.

The present study tested the effect of social comparison on effort-related cardiovascular responses. Specifically, we investigated how effort levels are influenced when individuals compare themselves to significantly better peers versus similar or slightly better peers. 43 participants played five-minute video games while displaying the scores of peers who were similar, slightly better, or significantly better, in addition to a control condition without peer scores.

Personal choice shields against affective influences on effort in a "do your best" task: Effects on cardiac response.

This experiment (N = 113) tested whether personal choice vs. external assignment of task characteristics moderates the effect of incidental affective stimulation on effort-related cardiovascular response in a "do your best" task context. When participants could choose themselves the color of the stimuli (i.

Personal task choice attenuates implicit happiness effects on effort: A study on cardiovascular response.

Research on the Implicit-Affect-Primes-Effort model (Gendolla, 2012) found that priming happiness or anger in challenging tasks results in stronger sympathetically mediated cardiovascular responses, reflecting effort, than priming sadness or fear. Recent studies on action shielding revealed that personal task choice can attenuate affective influences on action execution (e.g.

The power of personal control: Task choice attenuates the effect of implicit sadness on sympathetically mediated cardiac response.

Implicitly processed pictures of facial expressions of emotions have been found to systematically influence sympathetically mediated cardiovascular reactivity during task performance. According to the Implicit-Affect-Primes-Effort model, this happens because different affect primes activate the concepts of performance ease versus performance difficulty. Grounded in a recent action shielding model, our laboratory experiment (N = 129 university students) tested whether engaging in action by personal choice can immunize against those implicit affective influences on effort.

The effect of social comparison on effort: When similar and slightly better peers increase effort-related cardiovascular responses.

Social comparison theory states that comparison with others should influence an individual's behavior (Festinger, 1954; Munkes & Diehl, 2003). This is primarily due to an upward pressure: the pressure to be better than others, which according to some theories should motivate individuals to increase their level of performance (Munkes & Diehl, 2003; Rijsman, 1974). The effect of upward pressure on individual performance has been tested, but never on effort.

Can personal task choice shield against fear and anger prime effects on effort? A study on cardiac response.

This experiment tested whether personal task choice can shield against implicit affective influences on sympathetically mediated cardiovascular response, reflecting effort. Participants were N = 121 healthy university students who completed a moderately difficult memory task with integrated briefly flashed and masked fear vs. anger primes.

Hierarchical status is rapidly assessed from behaviourally dominant faces.

Recognition of social hierarchy is a key feature that helps us navigate through our complex social environment. Neuroimaging studies have identified brain structures involved in the processing of hierarchical stimuli, but the precise temporal dynamics of brain activity associated with such processing remains largely unknown. In this investigation, we used event-related potentials (ERPs) to examine the effect of social hierarchy on the neural responses elicited by dominant and nondominant faces.

The Link Between Cannabis Use and Violent Behavior in the Early Phase of Psychosis: The Potential Role of Impulsivity.

Introduction: Recently, the literature has shown that Cannabis Use (CU) was a risk factor for Violent Behavior (VB) in patients with psychosis, and those in the early phase of psychosis (EPP). These findings are relevant because of the high prevalence of CU in this EPP, and the potential for prevention during this phase of illness. However, there is still a lack of clear explanations, supported by empirical evidence, about what underlies the link between CU and VB against other.

Evolution of impulsivity levels in relation to early cannabis use in violent patients in the early phase of psychosis.

Background: Prevention of violent behaviors (VB) in the early phase of psychosis (EPP) is a real challenge. Impulsivity was shown to be strongly related to VB, and different evolutions of impulsivity were noticed along treatments. One possible variable involved in the relationship between VB and the evolution of impulsivity is cannabis use (CU).

Online assessment of cognitive functioning across the adult lifespan using the eCOGTEL: a reliable alternative to laboratory testing.

Unlabelled: As the population ages, risks for cognitive decline threaten independence and quality of life of older adults. Classically, psychological assessment tools that evaluate cognitive functioning are administered in face-to-face laboratory sessions, which are time- and resource-consuming. The present study set out to examine whether the eCOGTEL-an online adaptation of the Cognitive Telephone Screening Instrument (COGTEL; Kliegel et al.

The Geneva Space Cruiser: a fully self-administered online tool to assess prospective memory across the adult lifespan.

The current study aimed to examine whether the Geneva Space Cruiser - a new online adaptation of the Cruiser - represents a valid, reliable and useful tool to assess prospective memory (PM) across the adult lifespan via fully self-administered online testing. Therefore, an adult lifespan sample of 252 adults (19-86 years old) performed the Geneva Space Cruiser in the laboratory and online, at home, and also performed a more traditional laboratory PM task. A second sample of 224 young adults (19-35 years old) participated in a test-retest online assessment of the Geneva Space Cruiser.

Effects of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation on effort during a working-memory task.

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) has shown that stimulation of Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex (DLPFC) facilitates task performance in working-memory tasks. However, little is known about its potential effects on effort. This study examined whether tDCS affects effort during a working-memory task.

Rapid processing of fearful faces relies on the right amygdala: evidence from individuals undergoing unilateral temporal lobectomy.

Facial expressions of emotions have been shown to modulate early ERP components, in particular the N170. The underlying anatomical structure producing these early effects are unclear. In this study, we examined the N170 enhancement for fearful expressions in healthy controls as well as epileptic patients after unilateral left or right amygdala resection.

Early onset of cannabis use and violent behavior in psychosis.

Background: Although evidence from psychosis patients demonstrates the adverse effects of cannabis use (CU) at a young age and that the rate of CU is high in subgroups of young violent patients with psychotic disorders, little is known about the possible effect of the age of onset of CU on later violent behaviors (VB). So, we aimed to explore the impact of age at onset of CU on the risk of displaying VB in a cohort of early psychosis patients.

Method: Data were collected prospectively over a 36-month period in the context of an early psychosis cohort study.

Personality Factors and Attachment Styles as Predictors of the Therapeutic Efficacy of a Short-Term Ambulatory Intervention for Depression.

Background: Several studies have shown a significant positive impact of intensive short-term ambulatory psychiatric interventions for depression. However, data on outcomes related to factors that are predictive of the efficacy of these interventions in terms of remission or response to treatment remain scarce. The goal of this naturalistic prospective study was to identify factors, including Big Five Inventory personality traits and attachment style, that are predictive of the efficacy of crisis interventions (CIns) in major depressive disorder.

Learning to trust a face: The time course of brain activation during a money game.

Evidence shows that human faces can rapidly produce impressions of trust or distrust on the basis of their facial features. However, trust is also built through repeated interactions in which an opposite party acts positively towards the subject in a consistent way. The dynamics of cortical activation of this form of interactively-experienced trust is unclear.

It's about effort: Impact of implicit affect on cardiovascular response is context dependent.

Based on the Implicit-Affect-Primes-Effort model, we tested whether the effect of implicitly processed affect primes on cardiovascular responses is limited to settings that call for effort and in which implicit affect can inform about subjective task demand. Participants were presented with letter series and briefly flashed sadness versus happiness primes. Half of the participants were asked to memorize all occurring vowels (achievement context), while the other half merely watched the series (watching context).

Prime warning moderates implicit affect primes' effect on effort-related cardiac response in men.

Based on the Implicit-Affect-Primes-Effort model (Gendolla, 2012, 2015), we tested whether warning individuals about the occurrence of affect primes during a cognitive task moderates the primes' effect on effort-related cardiac response. Participants worked on a challenging mental arithmetic task with integrated masked affect primes-very briefly flashed pictures of facial sadness vs. happiness expressions.

Waist-to-hip ratio affects female body attractiveness and modulates early brain responses.

This investigation examined the electrophysiological response underlying the visual processing of waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) in female bodies, a characteristic known to affect perceived attractiveness. WHRs of female bodies were artificially adjusted to values of 0.6, 0.

Early and late cortical responses to directly gazing faces are task dependent.

Gender categorisation of human faces is facilitated when gaze is directed toward the observer (i.e., a direct gaze), compared with situations where gaze is averted or the eyes are closed (Macrae, Hood, Milne, Rowe, & Mason, Psychological Science, 13(5), 460-464, 2002).

Prime visibility moderates implicit anger and sadness effects on effort-related cardiac response.

Based on the Implicit-Affect-Primes-Effort (IAPE) model (Gendolla, 2012, 2015), an experiment investigated the effect of affect primes' visibility on effort mobilization during cognitive processing. Participants worked on a short-term memory task with integrated sadness vs. anger primes that were presented suboptimally (briefly and masked) vs.

ERP responses greater for faces in the temporal compared to the nasal visual field.

The distribution of retino-tectal projections is dissimilar depending on whether the receptors are situated in the nasal and temporal visual hemiretinas. Indeed, it has been claimed that the superior colliculus receives a greater proportion of its input from the temporal visual hemifield (nasal hemi-retina) relative to the nasal hemifield (temporal hemi-retina). In order to investigate whether these subcortical projections influence face processing, we investigated the early cortical ERP responses to faces and houses presented in the temporal and nasal retinas using monocular viewing.

Naso-Temporal Asymmetries: Suppression of Emotional Faces in the Temporal Visual Hemifield.

An ongoing debate exists regarding the possible existence of a retino-tectal visual pathway projecting to the amygdala, which would rapidly process information involving threatening or behaviorally-relevant stimuli. It has been suggested that this route might be responsible for the involuntary capture of attention by potentially dangerous stimuli. In separate studies, anatomical evidence has suggested that the retino-tectal pathway relies essentially on projections from the nasal hemiretina (temporal visual field).