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Interoceptive sensations, that means, perceptions of the physiological body state, play an important role in the generation and expression of emotion. The focus of the research presented here is on respiratory sensations as specific interoceptive signals. Such respiratory sensations (like the feeling of dyspnea) play an important role in symptom perception in somatic (e.g., asthma) as well as in mental disorders (e.g., anxiety disorders). There are several different ways to manipulate respiratory sensations in an experimental environment, but many of them did not equal sensations in daily life. Here, stimuli (inspiratory resistive loads, caffeine) were used that trigger nearly naturally occurring interoceptive sensations. Taking into account that the elicited interoceptive experience also induces an unpleasant feeling state it is most likely that individuals show defensive physiological responding to such cues and try to avoid them. According to a bidirectional motivational system defensive behaviors are regulated by a defensive motivational system that is activated by threatening cues. From research with exteroceptive stimuli it is known that defensive responding is typically characterized by heightened autonomic arousal, increased respiration, and a potentiated startle eyeblink response. In contrast, only a few studies using interoceptive stimuli have incorporated the measurement of physiological data in their experimental designs. If included, studies show also heightened autonomic responding, whilst a heterogeneous respiratory as well as startle eyeblink responding is observed. Thus, the studies presented here were designed to clarify the factors that mediate defensive responding to interoceptive sensations. Study 1 investigated the influence of anxiety on the subjective, respiratory, and autonomic response to an individually determined inspiratory resistive load, while study 2 focuses on the effect of attentional modulation of the startle eyeblink response to a mild respiratory threat. In study 3 the modulation of subjective, respiratory and autonomic reactions by arousal expectations was examined. Therefore, caffeine, a respiratory stimulant, or a placebo were administered without the participants’ knowledge. The fourth study examined the influence of the process of worrying, a strategy to deal with unpleasant body symptoms, on defensive responding. Depending on the study design subjective, respiratory and autonomic (skin conductance level, heart rate) parameters were assessed as marker for defensive mobilization. In study 2 and 4 the startle eyeblink response was measured as further index of defensive activation. Besides that in study 2 also the P3 component of the event-related potential, as an index for attentional allocation, was recorded. The main findings of the presented dissertation are the following: Study 1 revealed that 1) only high anxiety sensitive individuals reporting also high suffocation fear respond to lower stimulus intensities with stronger defensive responding, and 2) that this group demonstrated a maladaptive compensatory breathing pattern. Additionally, study 2 exhibited that 1) the startle eyeblink response is relatively inhibited during a mild interoceptive threat, and 2) this inhibition corresponds to an attention allocation towards breathing as indicated by a reduced P3 amplitude to the startle noise as well as subjective report. Furthermore, highly anxiety sensitive individuals showed a more pronounced defensive responding if the interoceptive sensations were unexpected (study 3). Recently, study 4 demonstrated that worry led to an increased defensive response mobilization. All studies are discussed in the context of the theoretical background of the defensive response modulation to exteroceptive and interoceptive sensations with respect to mediating factors. Showing exaggerated defensive responding and maladaptive adaptation processes in high anxious individuals the results point towards the important role of interoceptive sensations in the etiology, maintenance and therapy of mental disorders, especially the anxiety disorders.
To a large extent health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is a product of life-course experiences. Therefore, we examined employment, marital, and reproductive life-course typologies as predictors of HRQoL in women and men. To determine life course clusters, sequence and cluster analysis were performed on the annual (waves 1990–2019) employment, marital, and children in household states of the German Socio-Economic Panel data (N = 8,998; age = 53.57, 52.52% female); separately for men and women. Using hierarchical linear regression analyses, and Tukey HSD post-hoc tests, associations between clusters and change in life satisfaction, subjective mental, and physical health were examined. Five life-course clusters were identified in the female and six in the male sample. Life courses differed greatly across gender regarding employment aspects (e.g., men generally work full-time vs. women underwent frequent transitions). The family aspects appeared similar – e.g., ‘starting a family’ or ‘marital separation’ clusters – but still differed in the particulars. Life course typologies were related to distinct patterns of HRQoL. For instance, both for men and women the ‘separated’ clusters, as well as the male ‘entering non-employment’ cluster were associated with a steeper decline in HRQoL. However, change in subjective mental health showed few associations. Distinct types of life courses and differential associations with sociodemographic background and HRQoL emerged for women and men. The analyses reveal a burden on individuals who experienced marital separation, and non-employment and thus present important target groups for health prevention, e.g., for physical health problems.
Background
Self-reported time-use in relation to health-related quality of life (HRQoL) has been widely studied, yet less is known about the directionality of the association and how it compares across genders when controlling for sociodemographic confounders.
Methods
This study focused on the working population of the most recent waves (2013–2018) of the Core-Study of the German Socio-Economic Panel (N = 30,518, 46.70% female, M = 39.24 years). It examined the relationship between three time-use categories (contracted, committed, & leisure time) and HRQoL (self-rated health & life satisfaction) in men and women via multigroup fixed effects cross-lagged panel models. The models controlled for sociodemographic background (age, household income, number of children living in household, employment status, education, & marital status), which was associated with time-use and psychosocial health in previous research.
Results
Contracted time showed consistent positive relationships with HRQoL across genders while associations with the other types of time use differed significantly between men and women and across indicators of HRQoL.
Conclusions
The way we spend our time directly predicts our health perceptions, but in the same vein our health also predicts how we can spend our time. Contracted time in particular was associated with positive HRQoL, across genders, and beyond sociodemographic predictors, highlighting the important role of employment in health, for men and women alike. The impact of commitments beyond contracted time-use—like household chores and childcare—however, continues to affect mainly women, which ultimately reflects in poorer health outcomes.
Body sensations play a crucial role in the etiology and maintenance of diverse anxiety and health problems (e.g., in panic disorder or respiratory diseases) as they may be perceived as threatening and consequently elicit anxious responses. The factors that may affect the perception of bodily sensations as a threat and thus modulate the anxious response to body sensations have so far rarely been studied. Therefore, the present thesis targeted at elucidating the effect of contextual (i.e., the predictability, expectation, and proximity of a threat) and dispositional factors (i.e., tendency to fear arousal sensations or trait fear of suffocation) on the defensive response to body sensations.
In study 1, it was investigated how a personality factor, that is, fear of suffocation, affects the acquisition of fear to body sensations (i.e., mild dyspnea induced by inspiratory resistive loads) and contexts when faced with a predictable and unpredictable respiratory threat (i.e., severe dyspnea). Study 2 aimed at examining the main and interactive effects of the tendency to fear arousal sensations, again a personality trait factor, and current arousal expectations as varied by situational variables on anxious responding to arousal sensations. In this study, expected and unexpected arousal sensations were induced by administering caffeine in coffee or bitter lemon soda, respectively. Moreover, in study 3, it was explored how subjective anxiety, bodily symptoms, and defensive respiratory responses change and might culminate into active defense behavior (i.e., escape/active avoidance) during increasing dyspnea that was evoked by inspiratory resistive loads increasing in intensity. For a detailed analysis of the factors that contribute to the initiation and maintenance of avoidance of or escape from increasing dyspnea, in study 4 changes in subjective, autonomic, somatic reflex and brain responses were analyzed during repeated avoidance of increasing dyspnea.
In study 1, it was demonstrated that only individuals who fear suffocation learned to fear mild dyspnea preceding the onset of severe dyspnea and developed anxiety during a context of unpredictable respiratory threat. Moreover, the data from study 2 indicate that individuals who fear arousal sensations show an increased attention allocation towards unexpected arousal sensations and higher threat appraisal when expecting arousal sensations. Increasing intensity of dyspnea as provoked in study 3 led to increased defensive respiratory responses that were associated with increased symptom reports in individuals with high compared to low fear of suffocation. Moreover, culminating dyspnea elicited repeated avoidance behavior preceded by increases in defensive respiratory mobilization. The analysis of repeated avoidance of increasing dyspnea in study 4 revealed that physiological fear responses might be involved in the initial initiation of this avoidance behavior while no indication of response preparation and physiological arousal was related to persistent avoidance.
Taken together, the present data suggest that the fear of suffocation, as well as the tendency to fear arousal sensations along with the predictability, expectation, or proximity of interoceptive threat, may increase the perceived threat and thus the anxious response to body sensations. Therefore, contextual and dispositional factors may set the stage for the culmination of body sensations into defensive action and might contribute to the development of pathological anxiety and fear of body sensations. The present findings are integrated into the current literature and discussed in relation to the development and maintenance of pathological anxiety and fear of body sensations.
Die vorliegende Arbeit untersuchte persönlichkeitsstrukturelle Änderungen unter spezifischer stationärer Dialektisch-Behavioraler Therapie (DBT). Dabei wurde insbesondere der Frage nachgegangen, welche persönlichkeitsstrukturellen Variablen sich in einem Zeitraum von 24 Monaten ändern können. Zudem wurde nach wichtigen Prädiktoren für diesen Änderungsprozess gesucht. Gemessen wurden Merkmale von Temperament und Charakter nach Cloninger (1993), Impulsivität, Alexithymie und Merkmale der Borderline-Persönlichkeitsstruktur nach Kernberg (1967). In einer „complete-Analyse“ wurden die Ergebnisse einer Stichprobe überwiegend weiblicher PatientInnen mit der Diagnose einer Borderline-Persönlichkeitsstörung nach SKID-II dargestellt, die die DBT-Therapie in drei Modulen a´ 6-8 Wochen Interventionsdauer absolvierten (Three-Step-DBT; N = 14). Weiterhin wurden zum Vergleich die Ergebnisse einer Stichprobe überwiegend weiblicher ProbandInnen mit der Diagnose einer Borderline-Persönlichkeitsstörung nach SKID-II gezeigt, welche Treatment as Usual (TAU; N = 16) erhielten und hinsichtlich der gleichen persönlichkeitsstrukturellen Variablen untersucht wurden. Die Zuordnung zu den verschiedenen Gruppen konnte in einem quasiexperimentellen Design mit den Matching-Variablen Alter, Geschlecht und der Charakterdimension Selbstlenkungsfähigkeit nach Cloninger zu Behandlungsbeginn gestaltet werden. In der insgesamt 17,5 Monate dauernden DBT-Intervention mit 5 Messzeitpunkten und Katamneseerhebung sechs Monate nach Interventionsende zeigten die Skalen Beharrungsvermögen und Selbstlenkungsfähigkeit als Merkmale von Temperament und Charakter, die Skalen motorische und nichtplanende Impulsivität als Merkmale der Impulsivität, die Skala extern orientierter Denkstil als Merkmal von Alexithymie und der Gesamtwert der Alexithymie sowie die Skalen Angst vor Nähe, Entfremdungserleben und Identitätsdiffusion und der Gesamtwert der Borderline-Persönlichkeitsstruktur nach Kernberg (1967) eine signifikante bis hochsignifikante Beeinflussung durch den Messwiederholungsfaktor Interventionsdauer. Alle genannten Skalen wiesen Symptomreduktionen in die erwartete Richtung auf. Höhere Effekte ergaben sich erst im längerfristigen Therapieverlauf. Unter der Bedingung Treatment as Usual (TAU) zeigten in einem Zeitraum von 24 Monaten mit insgesamt drei Messzeitpunkten ausschließlich die Variablen Selbstlenkungsfähigkeit als Charaktermerkmal, nichtplanende Impulsivität als Impulsivitätsmerkmal und Entfremdungserleben und Identitätsdiffusion als Merkmal der Persönlichkeitsstruktur nach Kernberg (1967) eine signifikante bis hochsignifikante Beeinflussung durch den Messwiederholungsfaktor Interventionsdauer in der Varianzanalyse. Dabei ergab sich für die nichtplanende Impulsivität eine signifikante Symptomzunahme über die Zeit unter TAU. Als Prädiktoren für den Therapieerfolg in der spezifischen DBT-Intervention erwiesen sich entgegen der Hypothese das Vorliegen von Suizidversuchen mit stationärer Nachbehandlung in der Vorgeschichte als Prädiktor für die Reduktion von Alexithymie (Gesamt) und erlebte körperliche Gewalt als Prädiktor für die Verbesserung der Selbstlenkungsfähigkeit als Charaktermerkmal. Existenzbedrohende Ereignisse in der Vorgeschichte führten diesbezüglich zu Ressourcenaktivierung unter spezieller DBT-Intervention. Zusammenfassend zeigt die Untersuchung, dass positive Veränderungen persönlichkeitsstruktureller Variablen und damit auch Verbesserungen der Qualität zwischenmenschlicher Beziehungen insbesondere unter spezifischer Three-Step-DBT im längerfristigen Therapieverlauf möglich sind.
Measuring mental workload at the workplace using (psycho-) physiological measurement techniques seems desirable but is difficult to implement. Conventional analysis techniques are designed to cover longer measurement durations, neglecting the demands of modern work places: high worker flexibility and constantly fluctuating mental workload. As an alternative analysis approach, measurement (resp. analysis) duration can be shortened and event-based pattern analysis of various physiological parameters can be performed. The effects of such approaches are demonstrated by experimental examples. Furthermore, an event-timestamp independent framework is presented. Focusing on occasionally occurring peaks and longer lasting plateaus in mental workload trajectories, an automatized analysis of workload during work processes becomes possible.
Practical relevance: With steadily increasing cognitive demands at work the risk of mental fatigue increases too. Mental workload is not directly observable at the workplace and the objective measurement and interpretation is complicated. Improving the overall assessment and analysis strategies for (physiological) mental workload indicators can benefit the quality of risk assessments of workplaces and processes as well as enable the possibility of demand-orientated control of (informational) assistance systems to prevent mental overload and resulting health constraints.
Background
Numerous wearables are used in a research context to record cardiac activity although their validity and usability has not been fully investigated. The objectives of this study is the cross-model comparison of data quality at different realistic use cases (cognitive and physical tasks). The recording quality is expressed by the ability to accurately detect the QRS complex, the amount of noise in the data, and the quality of RR intervals.
Methods
Five ECG devices (eMotion Faros 360°, Hexoskin Hx1, NeXus-10 MKII, Polar RS800 Multi and SOMNOtouch NIBP) were attached and simultaneously tested in 13 participants. Used test conditions included: measurements during rest, treadmill walking/running, and a cognitive 2-back task. Signal quality was assessed by a new local morphological quality parameter morphSQ which is defined as a weighted peak noise-to-signal ratio on percentage scale. The QRS detection performance was evaluated with eplimited on synchronized data by comparison to ground truth annotations. A modification of the Smith-Waterman algorithm has been used to assess the RR interval quality and to classify incorrect beat annotations. Evaluation metrics includes the positive predictive value, false negative rates, and F1 scores for beat detection performance.
Results
All used devices achieved sufficient signal quality in non-movement conditions. Over all experimental phases, insufficient quality expressed by morphSQ values below 10% was only found in 1.22% of the recorded beats using eMotion Faros 360°whereas the rate was 8.67% with Hexoskin Hx1. Nevertheless, QRS detection performed well across all used devices with positive predictive values between 0.985 and 1.000. False negative rates are ranging between 0.003 and 0.017. eMotion Faros 360°achieved the most stable results among the tested devices with only 5 false positive and 19 misplaced beats across all recordings identified by the Smith-Waterman approach.
Conclusion
Data quality was assessed by two new approaches: analyzing the noise-to-signal ratio using morphSQ, and RR interval quality using Smith-Waterman. Both methods deliver comparable results. However the Smith-Waterman approach allows the direct comparison of RR intervals without the need for signal synchronization whereas morphSQ can be computed locally.
Die zunehmende Digitalisierung und Technologisierung sorgt branchenübergreifend für eine Verlagerung der subjektiv erlebten Beanspruchung von physischer hin zu mentaler Beanspruchung. Um Arbeitsabläufe hinsichtlich auftretender Schwankungen mentaler Beanspruchung optimierbar zu machen, muss diese in Echtzeit am Arbeitsplatz erfassbar sein. Die Verwendung physiologischer Messinstrumente wie Elektrokardiogramm, Eye Tracking und Hautleitfähigkeit bieten dabei eine Möglichkeit der objektiven Quantifizierung der auftretenden Schwankungen. Im Rahmen verschiedener Feld- und Laborstudien konnte gezeigt werden, dass, in Abhängigkeit der Analyseeinheit (gesamter Prozess oder einzelne beanspruchungsinduzierende Events), unterschiedliche physiologische Parameter in der Lage sind Veränderungen der mentalen Beanspruchung nachzuweisen. Insgesamt erwiesen sich dabei die Herzfrequenz sowie die Ausdehnung der Pupille als sensitivste Indikatoren. Für eine live Erfassung im Arbeitsprozess bedarf es zukünftig, neben der Weiterentwicklung von tragbarer Messmethodik (Wearables), eine Entwicklung neuer Algorithmen zur Kombination verschiedener Parameter zu einem allgemeinen Indikator für mentale Beanspruchung, sowie der Bearbeitung einiger theoretischer Probleme, wie unter anderem der Definition von Grenzwerten der mentalen Beanspruchung. Um abseits bestehender Probleme Veränderungen der Beanspruchung am konkreten Arbeitsplatz einschätzbar zu machen, wurde eine alternative Auswertungsstrategie basierend auf kurzfristigen Peaks und längerfristigen Plateaus vorgeschlagen.
Trotz nachlassenden Interesses in der wissenschaftlichen Forschung erfreuen sich komplexe Problemlöseszenarien als sozial valider Ersatz für klassische Intelligenztests in der angewandten Eignungsdiagnostik ungebrochener Beliebtheit. Ziel der vorliegenden Arbeit ist die umfassende Validierung des für den Praxiseinsatz neu entwickelten komplexen Problemlöseszenarios AGRIMAN. In einem theoretischen Teil wird das Forschungsfeld und seine Geschichte am Beispiel des bekanntesten Problemlöseszenarios TAILORSHOP erläutert sowie auf den Zusammenhang von komplexer Problemlöseleistung mit Intelligenz, Wissen und beruflicher Leistung eingegangen. Im empirischen Teil wird die Entwicklung und Validierung von AGRIMAN beschrieben. N=185 Probanden aus drei Stichproben bearbeiteten im Rahmen von neun Assessment Centern das neu entwickelte Szenario. Die Ergebnisse bestätigen das Arbeitsmodell, dass Verarbeitungskapazität vermittelt über das erworbene systemspezifische Wissen die Problemlöseleistung beeinflusst. Außerdem ergaben sich mittelhohe Zusammenhänge zwischen Problemlöseleistung und über Assessment Center operationalisierter Berufsleistung.