Andreas Schwerdtfeger

Spontaneous emotion regulation during evaluated speaking tasks: Associations with negative affect, anxiety expression, memory, and physiological responding.

In these studies, the correlates of spontaneously using expressive suppression and cognitive reappraisal during stressful speeches were examined. Spontaneous emotion regulation means that there were no instructions of how to regulate emotions during the speech. Instead, participants indicated after the speech to what extent they used self-motivated expressive suppression or reappraisal during the task. The results show that suppression is associated with less anxiety expression, greater physiological responding, and less memory for the speech while having no impact on negative affect. In contrast, reappraisal has no impact on physiology and memory while leading to less expression and affect. Taken together, spontaneous emotion regulation in active coping tasks has similar consequences as experimentally induced emotion regulation in passive tasks.

Temporal Stability of the Implicit Association Test-Anxiety

The Implicit Association Test-Anxiety (IAT-Anxiety; Egloff & Schmukle, 2002) provides an indirect assessment of anxiety by measuring associations of self (vs. other) with anxiety-related (vs. calmness-related) words. In 3 studies (using 3 independent samples), we examined the temporal stability of the IAT-Anxiety. In Study 1, 65 participants responded twice to the IAT-Anxiety with a time lag of 1 week. The test-retest correlation was .58. In Study 2 (N = 39), we extended the time interval between test and retest to 1 month and this yielded a stability coefficient of .62. In Study 3 (N = 36), we examined the long-term stability (time lag: 1 year) of the IAT-Anxiety and this showed a correlation of .47. We discuss implications of these results for the assessment of personality dispositions with the IAT.

Comparing indirect methods of digit ratio (2D:4D) measurement

The ratio of the lengths of the second and fourth finger (2D:4D) has been proposed to index prenatal exposure to androgens. Different methods have been utilized to measure digit ratio, however, their measurement precision and economy have not been systematically compared yet. Using different indirect methods (plastic ruler, caliper, computer software), three independent raters measured finger lengths of 60 participants. Generally, measurement precision (intraclass correlation coefficient, technical error of measurement, and relative technical error of measurement) was acceptable for each method. However, precision estimates were highest for the computer software, indicating excellent measurement precision. Estimates for the caliper method were somewhat lower followed by ruler which had the lowest precision. On the contrary, the software‐based measurements took somewhat longer to complete than the other methods. Nonetheless, we would favor the use of these tools in digit ratio research because of their relative superior reliability which could be crucial when associations with other variables are expected to be low to moderate or sample size is limited. Software offers several promising opportunities that may contribute to an accurate identification of the proximal finger crease (e.g., zooming, adjusting contrast, etc.). Am. J. Hum. Biol., 2009.

Social interaction moderates the relationship between depressive mood and heart rate variability: evidence from an ambulatory monitoring study.

OBJECTIVE There is considerable evidence that depressive mood is related to lower parasympathetic control of the heart, thus increasing cardiovascular risk. However, little is known about social factors (e.g., social affiliation) that might moderate this relationship. DESIGN The authors examined whether cardiac autonomic control in healthy individuals with depressive symptoms could be altered by social interaction. Therefore, the authors conducted a 22-hr ambulatory monitoring study with a sample of 63 adults. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Depression was assessed by questionnaire. Heart rate, heart rate variability (HRV), physical activity, and negative affect were recorded throughout one day via portable monitoring devices. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION Multilevel analyses revealed that depression was related to elevated negative affect and higher heart rate throughout the day. Moreover, there was a tendency toward lower HRV in individuals with higher depression scores. This association, however, was moderated by social context. When depressive participants were alone they evidenced lower HRV and higher negative affect, but not when they were engaged in social interactions with a partner, family members, or friends. These findings suggest that the relation between depression and cardiac autonomic control could be altered by social interaction, thus possibly buffering adverse health effects.

Depressive symptoms and attenuated physiological reactivity to laboratory stressors.

There is evidence that depressive symptoms are associated with attenuated physiological reactivity to active stressors. However, it is not known whether blunted reactivity in depressed individuals is stressor-specific. We examined cardiovascular and electrodermal reactivity in non-clinical participants with varying levels of depressive symptoms to different active and passive stressors. Depressive symptoms were inversely related to both blood pressure and skin conductance reactivity during a public speaking task and the viewing of the speech video. However, no effects were found during a cold pressor task. Together these findings suggest that depressive symptoms are related to attenuated sympathetic nervous system reactivity in response to self-relevant stressors.

Digit ratio (2D:4D) is associated with traffic violations for male frequent car drivers.

Digit ratio (2D:4D) is a putative marker of prenatal hormone exposure. A lower digit ratio has been suggested as an index of higher testosterone relative to estrogen exposure during prenatal development. Digit ratio has been associated with a variety of psychological sex-dimorphic variables, including spatial orientation, aggression, or risk-taking behavior. The present study aimed to relate digit ratio to traffic violations for a male sample (N = 77) of frequent car drivers. Digit ratio was assessed via printout scans of the hand, and traffic offense behavior was assessed via self-reported penalty points as registered by the Central Register of Traffic Offenders in Germany. In addition, social desirability and sensation seeking were recorded. Results showed that digit ratio was inversely related to penalty point entries, suggesting more traffic violations for individuals with higher prenatal testosterone exposure. Sensation seeking was positively associated with traffic violations, but there was no relationship between sensation seeking and digit ratio, proposing additive effects of both variables. The results suggest that prenatal androgen exposure might be related to traffic violations for frequent car drivers.

Self-efficacy as a health-protective resource in teachers? A biopsychological approach.

OBJECTIVE To examine the psychobiological correlates of self-efficacy in teachers. DESIGN Study 1 examined associations between teacher self-efficacy and cardiac activation on a working day and Study 2 assessed the cortisol morning response in teachers with varying levels of teacher self-efficacy. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Teacher self-efficacy was assessed by questionnaire. In Study 1 heart rate, heart rate variability, and locomotor activity were recorded by 22 hours ambulatory monitoring and subjective measures of stress and strain were obtained. Study 2 assessed the cortisol response to awakening to obtain a measure of HPA-axis activation and teachers filled in a questionnaire on physical complaints. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION Study 1 found that self-efficacy proved protective for psychological well-being. Moreover, after controlling for locomotor activity, demographic, and lifestyle variables, self-efficacy was associated with elevated heart rate and attenuated heart rate variability during school and leisure time, respectively, but not during the night, thus questioning the health-implications of self-efficacy. Study 2 found that teachers high in self-efficacy exhibited an attenuated cortisol response to awakening and fewer cardiac complaints. The results of both studies are compatible with the view that teacher self-efficacy might act as a physiological toughening agent with possibly favorable health outcomes.

The time line of threat processing and vagal withdrawal in response to a self-threatening stressor in cognitive avoidant copers: evidence for vigilance-avoidance theory.

Using a spatial cueing paradigm with emotional and neutral facial expressions as cues, we examined early and late patterns of information processing in cognitive avoidant coping (CAV). Participants were required to detect a target that appeared either in the same location as the cue (valid) or in a different location (invalid). Cue-target onset asynchrony (CTOA) was manipulated to be short (250 ms) or long (750 ms). CAV was associated with early facilitation and faster disengagement from angry faces. No effects were found for happy or neutral faces. After completing the spatial cueing task, participants prepared and delivered a public speech and heart rate variability (HRV) was recorded. Disengagement from angry faces was related to a decrease in HRV in response to this task. Together, these data suggest that CAV is related to early engagement followed by disengagement from threat-related cues that might impact physiological stress responses.

Trait anxiety and autonomic indicators of the processing of threatening information: A cued S1–S2 paradigm

The aim of this study was to use autonomic parameters in a cued S1-S2 task to examine associations between the processing of threatening information and trait anxiety in normal individuals. Forty-six student volunteers were designated high- or low-anxious due to pre-defined cutoff scores on the STAI. A cued S1-S2 task was presented in which the type of warning signal (S1) was consistently related to either threatening or non-threatening pictures (S2). Ten threat and 10 non-threat pictures were randomly presented. Heart rate and electrodermal activity were recorded in the time interval between S1 and S2. Results indicated deeper heart rate decelerations on threatening trials in high-anxious as compared to low-anxious individuals. For non-threatening trials, the opposite pattern was found. Moreover, high-anxious participants exhibited higher electrodermal responses to the S1, irrespective of the trials valence as well as stronger responses to the threatening S2. Autonomic responses can, thus, be regarded as sensitive markers of information processing differences in trait anxiety.

Using text messages to bridge the intention-behavior gap? A pilot study on the use of text message reminders to increase objectively assessed physical activity in daily life.

Sedentarism is a serious health concern in industrialized countries throughout the world. We examined whether a text message-based intervention, targeted at increasing daily levels of physical activity, would be more effective than a standard psychoeducational intervention and a control condition. Sixty-three individuals (43 women) with a mean age of 23.7 years participated in the study. They were randomly assigned to a psychoeducational standard intervention; an augmented intervention with additional short text messages sent to the mobile phones to remind participants of their action plans, and a control condition. Objectively assessed physical activity and self-efficacy were assessed pre- and post-intervention. Participants in the control condition showed a significant decline in physical activity from pre-assessment to post-assessment, whereas participants in both intervention arms exhibited a slight increase. Moreover, the augmented intervention resulted in a marginally significant increase in self-efficacy, whereas the standard intervention resulted in a significant decrease. The findings suggest that short text messages reminding individuals of their action plans are not more effective than an intervention without text messages, although there seems to be a beneficial effect on self-efficacy, which might facilitate behavior change in the long-term. Challenging aspects of the research design (e.g., reactivity of the assessment protocol) are discussed and suggestions for future research are highlighted.