Pain-CKB, A Pain-Domain-Specific Chemogenomics Knowledgebase for Target Identification and Systems Pharmacology Research

This study compared individuals with pairs in a scientific problem-solving task. Participants interacted with a virtual psychological laboratory called Virtue to reason about a visual search theory. To this end, they created hypotheses, designed experiments, and analyzed and interpreted the results of their experiments in order to discover which of five possible factors affected the visual search process. Before and after their interaction with Virtue, participants took a test measuring theoretical and methodological knowledge. In addition, process data reflecting participants’ experimental activities and verbal data were collected. The results showed a significant but equal increase in knowledge for both groups. We found differences between individuals and pairs in the evaluation of hypotheses in the process data, and in descriptive and explanatory statements in the verbal data. Interacting with Virtue helped all students improve their domain-specific and domain-general psychological knowledge.

Download Full-text

Emotions and health: The impact of emotions, emotions regulation, music, and acculturation on health

Zeitschrift für Gesundheitspsychologie ◽

10.1026/0943-8149.16.3.112 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 16 (3) ◽

pp. 112-115 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Stephan Bongard ◽

Volker Hodapp ◽

Sonja Rohrmann

Keyword(s):

Stress Responses ◽

Physiological Stress ◽

Anger Expression ◽

Domain Specific ◽

Cardiovascular Stress ◽

Expression Behavior ◽

Cardio Vascular ◽

And Coping ◽

Relationship Of ◽

The Impact

Abstract. Our unit investigates the relationship of emotional processes (experience, expression, and coping), their physiological correlates and possible health outcomes. We study domain specific anger expression behavior and associated cardio-vascular loads and found e.g. that particularly an open anger expression at work is associated with greater blood pressure. Furthermore, we demonstrated that women may be predisposed for the development of certain mental disorders because of their higher disgust sensitivity. We also pointed out that the suppression of negative emotions leads to increased physiological stress responses which results in a higher risk for cardiovascular diseases. We could show that relaxation as well as music activity like singing in a choir causes increases in the local immune parameter immunoglobuline A. Finally, we are investigating connections between migrants’ strategy of acculturation and health and found e.g. elevated cardiovascular stress responses in migrants when they where highly adapted to the German culture.

Download Full-text

Measurement Invariance of Divergent Thinking Across Gender, Age, and School Forms

European Journal of Psychological Assessment ◽

10.1027/1015-5759.25.1.1 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 25 (1) ◽

pp. 1-7 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

Jörg-Tobias Kuhn ◽

Heinz Holling

Keyword(s):

Measurement Invariance ◽

Divergent Thinking ◽

Factor Model ◽

Age Groups ◽

Thinking Skills ◽

Specific Model ◽

Confirmatory Factor Analyses ◽

Domain Specific ◽

Gender And Age ◽

Confirmatory Factor

The present study explores the factorial structure and the degree of measurement invariance of 12 divergent thinking tests. In a large sample of German students (N = 1328), a three-factor model representing verbal, figural, and numerical divergent thinking was supported. Multigroup confirmatory factor analyses revealed that partial strong measurement invariance was tenable across gender and age groups as well as school forms. Latent mean comparisons resulted in significantly higher divergent thinking skills for females and students in schools with higher mean IQ. Older students exhibited higher latent means on the verbal and figural factor, but not on the numerical factor. These results suggest that a domain-specific model of divergent thinking may be assumed, although further research is needed to elucidate the sources that negatively affect measurement invariance.

Download Full-text