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Biomedical subjects

Jochen Brandtstädter

Publications and source records attributed to Jochen Brandtstädter.

6 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2004

Perception of danger signals: the role of control.

How does the perceptual system process stimuli that signal aversive outcomes or dangers? Considering the functional links between perception, attention, and action regulation, we posit that when people can avoid the aversive consequences, sensitivity of the perceptual system to danger signals should be enhanced, whereas it should be reduced when there is no such option. To test this prediction, we used a search task in which tachistoscopically presented conjunctions of features had to be detected. Parameters of sensitivity and response bias were analyzed drawing on procedures from signal detection theory. Although the experimental procedure rewarded correct responses, the predicted asymmetry emerged. For stimuli that were linked to a negative consequence (loss of points in the experimental game), perceptual sensitivity was enhanced when participants had the opportunity to neutralize the loss in a second task; an opposite pattern emerged when they had no such opportunity.

Attention↗
PubMed2003

Age stereotypes in younger and older women: analyses of accommodative shifts with a sentence-priming task.

A sentence-priming technique was used to examine whether older women (N = 39) share a more positive view of aging than younger women (N = 35). Situationally specified statements about older and younger persons were presented, followed either by a semantically related word, an unrelated word of the same valence, or a nonword. The accessibility of target words was measured by reaction times in a lexical decision task. Whereas a semantic priming effect for negatively connoted materials emerged for both groups, a priming effect for positively connoted materials was found for older women only. Furthermore, an affective priming effect was found for the older group, i.e., older women tended to respond relatively faster (slower) to semantically unrelated positive (negative) words following a sentence about an older person. The results are discussed within a coping-theoretical framework.

Adult↗
PubMed2003

Depression in later life: cross-sequential patterns and possible determinants.

Research on the relationship between age and depression has not yielded a consistent picture. Approaches emphasizing resilience compete with assumptions of an increased incidence of depressive problems in later life. This study investigated these issues within a research format combining cross-sectional and 8-year longitudinal assessments of depressive tendencies (690 participants, aged 54-77 years). The developmental patterns suggest 2 phases: Relative stability extending to about 70 years and a subsequent increase of depressive tendencies. Antecedent and mediating factors were explored within a broader context of variables (health status, social and economic resources, coping competences, and future perspectives). Differences in time perspective and a disposition of accommodative flexibility predicted subsequent changes in depression and mediated age effects in depressive tendencies.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed2003

Coping with deficits and losses in later life: from compensatory action to accommodation.

Processes of coping with performance deficits in different domains of functioning were investigated in a 4-year longitudinal study involving a core sample of 762 participants (initial age range: 58-81 years). Compensatory efforts to counteract functional impairments were found to increase up to the age of 70 years. Above that age, a decrease in compensatory efforts was observed that was linked to a decrease in the availability and efficiency of action resources. Contentment with actual performance levels remained stable across the entire age range of the study. Stability of self-evaluations was found to depend on adjustment of personal standards: Scarce action resources were accompanied by a lowering of personal comparison standards and by a downgrading of the importance of the respective domains. Accepting more lenient standards of comparison was found to buffer negative effects of performance deficits on contentment with performance among the older participants.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed2002

Nociceptive sensitivity and control: hypo- and hyperalgesia under two different modes of coping.

Effects of perceived control on nociceptive sensitivity were investigated in an experimental arrangement with N = 40 healthy volunteers in which the duration of painful pressure stimuli was made contingent on success in a tracking task. Perceived control over the pain duration was manipulated through varying the frequency of success in the tracking task. The amount of painful stimulation applied in the high and low control conditions was balanced by a yoked-control design. Pain sensitivity was measured before and after the tracking task by means of a thermal sensory analyzer. Pain sensitivity was found to decrease in the low control condition (hypoalgesia), and to increase slightly in the high control condition (hyperalgesia). These effects are explained with reference to a dual process model of coping.

Adaptation, Psychological↗