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Unlabelled: In previous research it was found that patients with diabetes mellitus suffer from multiple physical symptoms even early in their disease course. Such complaints may relate to blood glucose levels or can be understood as a sign of distress in respect to the diagnosis of a chronic disease., Purpose: This study was performed to evaluate in a cross-sectional analysis all the symptoms that patients may complain of and to relate these symptoms to a possible dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system., Method: We assessed the complaints of 66 patients with diabetes mellitus and compared these variables with those of patients with psychological disturbances (n = 794) or somatic disease (n = 162). The symptoms were recorded by means of several questionnaires such as the "Giessener Beschwerdebogen" (GBB), "the Freiburger Persönlichkeitsinventar" (FPI), the German version of the State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and the German version of the State Trait Anger Expression Inventory (STAXI). The autonomic nervous system was assessed using resting and mental stress conditions in a subset of patients with diabetes mellitus (n = 29) and psychological disturbances (n = 44)., Results: Patients suffering from diabetes mellitus and psychological disturbances showed a tendency to higher scores in GBB, STAI and STAXI. As far as psychological disturbances are concerned, the complaints experienced by patients with diabetes mellitus were found to be similar to those with somatic diseases. Both groups, however, rate clearly below those with psychological disturbances. The results of autonomic testing showed a significant disturbance in patients with diabetes mellitus with reduced sensitivity of the baroreceptor indicating autonomic neuropathy., Conclusion: Some of the physical complaints of patients with diabetes mellitus can be understood in connection with autonomic dysfunction. Moreover, an explicitly psychological view of these complaints may not be correct.

Multinomial processing tree (MPT) models are statistical models that allow for the prediction of categorical frequency data by sets of unobservable (cognitive) states. In MPT models, the probability that an event belongs to a certain category is a sum of products of state probabilities. AppleTree is a computer program for Macintosh for testing user-defined MPT models. It can fit model parameters to empirical frequency data, provide confidence intervals for the parameters, generate tree graphs for the models, and perform identifiability checks. In this article, the algorithms used by AppleTree and the handling of the program are described.

The exposure to a traumatic event may result in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which is characterized by a complex symptomatology, clustered into three groups of symptoms, i.e. intrusive memories, avoidance behavior, and hyperarousal. Since PTSD is a stress reaction, alterations of stress-responses of neurobiological systems have been examined in patients suffering from PTSD. The investigation of biological parameters refers to the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA), studies of the noradrenergic and the endogenous opiate system as well as psychophysiological and neuroimaging studies. Besides others, the observed biological dysregulations refer to hypocortisolism with an enhanced negative feedback of the HPA axis, enhanced noradrenergic activity, and neuroanatomical changes. To elucidate the specificity of this findings for PTSD, the dysregulations will be discussed with reference to findings in major depression and somatoform disorders.

The parenting behavior of mothers and interaction within the family were assessed by means of a multi-method procedure consisting of a questionnaire, sculpture test, behavior observation and the data of N = 36 subjects. Analyzed were the data of father, mother and child in six families, each with a boy aged 9 to 12 years who had been diagnosed as hyperactive on the basis of behavior checklists. A second group of six families served as paralleled controls. Mothers of hyperactive children more often report use of punishment as a means of influencing the behavior of their children. Independent observers confirm this, seeing that mothers of hyperactive children more frequently use negative and oppositional behavior and adverse consequences than do mothers of "normal" children. The interaction of father, mother and child in discussing a family conflict was characterized in the clinical group by more use of negative and less use of positive social behavior. Families with a hyperactive child more often attempted to interrupt each other and gave other members of the family less of an opportunity to exert an influence. Different instruments to assess the emotional cohesion and hierarchy within a family revealed significant differences between the two groups.

103 patients from a group of 115 patients with catecholamine secreting tumours were reinvestigated 7.0 +/- 4.9 years following surgery. Throughout the follow-up period 15 patients had died. In four of them death was definitively, in seven subjects possibly associated to the primary endocrine disorder. Following surgery improvement of general well-being was documented in 85% of the patients. Hypertension was corrected in 61 %, but 26% of the patients remained hypertensive and symptoms of hypotension like orthostasis developed in 24%. A significant increase in weight (> 5 kg) was observed in 26% of the subjects throughout the follow-up period, but did not result in a higher prevalence of diabetes mellitus which had to be treated in 16% of the patients before and only 14% following surgery. However, palpitations, increased sweating and headache persisted in 16%, 17% and 12% of the patients, respectively. Symptoms of cardiac insufficiency developed in 32%. Persistent discomfort related to the scar was reported by 55% of the patients following lumbar surgery and by 30% of the subjects that were operated on via a transabdominal approach. Hence we conclude that surgery of catecholamine-secreting tumours results in an improvement of health and well-being in most subjects according to objective criteria as well as to the judgement of the patients themselves.

Recent studies have demonstrated that positive and negative affective reactivity can be predicted by resting electroencephalographic (EEG) asymmetry in frontal brain regions. These studies used different methods to assess asymmetry and affectivity. The goal of the present study was a conceptual replication of these results and to investigate their independence of employed procedures. Resting EEG of 37 subjects was recorded and affective slides were presented to obtain ratings of subjects' emotional reactions. Different procedures were applied to the data to assess the relation between asymmetries and affective reactivity. Depending on the particular analysis procedure, there were associations between anterior asymmetry and affectivity in line with the published findings, opponent to those findings, or no relation between anterior asymmetry and affective reactivity.

Obesity is characterised by an imbalance of caloric intake and energy expenditure. Increased caloric uptake and reduced physical activity are important. No specific psychopathology exists in obesity. Obese people view their body weight and form significantly more negative than lean controls and often experience depression and anxiety. Quality of life is often impaired. Obesity causes many disadvantages in interpersonal and social aspects. 30% of the obese subjects report binge eating. Whether binge eating should be considered as an independent syndrome is currently under discussion. The treatment of obesity is not satisfactory. Pharmacological approaches have so far failed. Behavioral therapy including dieting of different forms is not successful in long terms. 95% of the patients regain body weight within five years. Surgical therapy are very successful but should be only applied in severe obesity.

It is argued that the Stroop color-naming task is especially suited to investigate affective priming effects in the sense of an automatic spreading of activation to other concepts of the same valence, because (a) the Stroop task is not prone to an explanation of affective congruency effects on the basis of reaction priming or reaction interference, and (b) it is possible to detect specific (fast and efficient stimulus processing due to heightened accessibility) as well as nonspecific (cognitive interference, triggering of global action tendencies) effects of an activation of valenced concepts in the Stroop task. Two experiments were conducted to investigate associative and affective priming effects with the Stroop task. In a first experiment (N = 36, SOA = 300 ms) a standard priming procedure was chosen; the primes were presented without any processing instructions. In a second experiment (N = 48, SOA = 500ms) the primes had to be reproduced after naming the color of the target. In both experiments significant association effects were found for the associative material. For the valenced material no affective congruency effects were found in either experiment. The present results are not compatible with the hypothesis of an automatic affective spreading of activation that was given as an explanation of affective congruency effects in previous studies using different tasks.

Patients suffering from persisting sciatic pain 8 weeks following discectomy were compared with patients displaying low complaints and healthy, pain-free volunteers regarding their interleukin-6 (IL-6) levels, morning cortisol levels and degree of psychological distress. Whereas serum concentrations of IL-6 were measured by collecting blood samples between 0945 and 2400 h in intervals of 45 min, morning cortisol levels were obtained by sampling saliva on five ensuing measurements, beginning immediately after awakening. In addition, questionnaires aimed at measuring depressive mood, somatic symptoms, coping and chronic stress were filled out by the subjects. The patients with ongoing pain displayed significantly elevated IL-6 levels and an attenuated elevation of cortisol secretion after awakening compared to the two other groups. Patients with persisting pain were also suffering more frequently from depressive mood and ongoing work-related strains. In addition, maladaptive coping strategies were favoured by these patients. The presented data support the hypothesis that the persistence of pain in many of the concerned patients may significantly be related to dysfunctional reciprocal relations between neural, endocrine and immune function.

The hypothesis is tested that the memory processes involved in recognition judgments in the process dissociation procedure are the same as those involved in standard source-monitoring tasks. It is shown how source-monitoring response categories can be mapped onto process dissociation response categories. On the basis of this abbreviation, an experiment was conducted in which it was possible to compare, using a multinomial modeling approach, the parameters representing memory processes in the process dissociation procedure with those involved in source monitoring. For the two different encoding conditions realized, the results are compatible with the hypothesis that the same processes are involved in source monitoring and in recognition judgments in the process dissociation procedure. Implications for the interpretation of the model's parameters are discussed.

Correlations between endocrine and cardiological findings were investigated in 106 patients with catecholamine-secreting tumours during the florid phase of their illness. Endocrine data showed an elevation of urinary catecholamine or vanillylmandelic acid excretion in all but one subject. Hypertension was found in 78%, symptoms of coronary heart disease in 26% and arrhythmias in 20% of the patients. Twelve per cent of the patients came to the hospital with heart attacks, 7% with acute left heart failure and 6% with myocardial infarction. At admission electrocardiograph (ECG) analysis showed a sinus rhythm in 98%, tachycardia > 100 min-1 in 14% and bradycardia < 60 min-1 in 10%. In 16% of the ECGs cQT was increased, in 17% the ST segment was lowered and in 37% abnormal T waves occurred. Indices of myocardial hypertrophy such as the Sokolow index, the modified Romhilt-Estes score and the Murphy score were raised in 29%, 19% and 38% respectively. In 23 of 51 (45%) patients echocardiography showed left ventricular hypertrophy, in 16% mitral valve insufficiency and in 24% disturbances of contractility. Comparison of cardiac and endocrine parameters confirm in vitro and animal studies indicating that, in particular, the alpha-mimetic noradrenaline (NA) has deleterious effects on the cardiovascular system. Urinary NA, but not adrenaline or dopamine, excretion was significantly higher in constantly hypertensive than in normotensive patients and associated with an elevation of the Sokolow index and the Romhilt-Estes score. Both indices and plasma NA were higher in patients with myocardial hypertrophy and we found a significant correlation between the Romhilt-Estes score and NA excretion.

The present article reports 3 studies that demonstrate the influence of overt behavior on recognition and elucidates the theoretical basis for such an influence. In 2 experiments it was found that participants who were induced to nod while incidentally encoding positive and negative adjectives were more likely to recognize positive adjectives, whereas participants who were induced to shake their heads were more likely to recognize negative words. In a third experiment, with a double-task procedure, it was shown that when encoding was accompanied by head movements that were compatible with words, participants were better at performing the secondary task than when words and head movements were incompatible. These findings suggest that performing incompatible motoric and conceptual tasks concurrently requires more cognitive capacity. Where this capacity is allocated and when it is withdrawn depends on the characteristics of the task. Implications of this mechanism for different phenomena in social psychology (e.g., facial feedback and masking of emotional displays) are discussed.

Traces of vanadium(V) can be determined up to 21 ng/l by adsorptive stripping voltammetry using 2,5-dichloro-1,4-dihydroxy-3,6-benzoquinone (chloranilic acid) as complex forming reagent. The complex is stable in a 0.1 mol/l acetate buffer (pH 4.6) solution and adsorbed at the electrode surface in a potential range between -150 mV and -400 mV. The adsorption process is solved by alternating current (ac) voltammetric measurements. The method is applied to different real samples.

In the present study, Brandtstädter's (1992) distinction between assimilation and accommodation as two fundamental means of coping is applied to the field of chronic pain. Assimilative coping involves active attempts (e.g. instrumental activities, self-corrective actions, compensatory measures) to alter unsatisfactory life circumstances and situational constraints in accordance with personal preferences. Conversely, accommodative coping (e.g. downgrading of aspirations, positive reappraisal, self-enhancing comparisons) is directed towards a revision of self-evaluative and personal goal standards in accordance with perceived deficits and losses. Our research is based on the assumption that chronic pain can be described as a major source of threat or impediment to personal goals. When goals are no longer perceived to be attainable through active-assimilative coping efforts, accommodative coping should become increasingly important in dealing with chronic pain. In a study of 120 chronic pain patients, dispositional differences in assimilative (tenacious goal pursuit) and accommodative coping tendencies (flexible goal adjustment), as well as measures of pain-related coping and adjustment (depression, pain-related disability, pain intensity) were assessed. The results suggest that accommodative coping functions as a protective resource by preventing global losses in the psychological functioning of chronic pain patients and maintaining a positive life perspective. Most important, the ability to flexibly adjust personal goals attenuated the negative impact of the pain experience (pain intensity, pain-related disability) on psychological well-being (depression). Furthermore, pain-related coping strategies led to a reduction of disability only when accompanied by a high degree of flexible goal adjustment. The theoretical and clinical implications of these findings for coping research and the treatment of chronic pain patients are discussed.

The stripping voltammetric behaviour of Ioxynil and 2-methyl-3-nitroaniline has been studied by means of a C(18) modified carbon paste electrode. The analytes are preconcentrated under open-circuit conditions (Ioxynil at pH 3.9; 2-methyl-3-nitroaniline at pH 10). For the determination of Ioxynil and 2-methyl-3-nitroaniline 0.01 mol/l HCl and 1 mol/l KOH, respectively, have been used as supporting electrolyte. Under optimized conditions detection limits up to 0.1 microg/ml Ioxynil and 0.3 microg/ml 2-methyl-3-nitroaniline have been obtained. The methods have been applied to the determination of Ioxynil and 2-methyl-3-nitroaniline in drinking water.

A relatively simple method for quantifying caffeine, theobromine, theophylline and adenine by HPLC with amperometric detection was developed. A C(18)-column and an isocratic elution with phosphate buffer pH 3.5/methanol (90 : 10) were employed for the chromatographic separation of the investigated compounds. The optimal detection potential was +1.4 V. The limits of detection were 0.4 ng for adenine, 1 ng for theophylline and 2.5 ng for caffeine and theobromine. The method was applied to the determination of these purine alkaloids in beverages, tea, coffee and cacao. The determination was carried out directly or after solid-phase extraction.

In this article, we try to clarify some of the issues raised by S.C. Draine, A.G. Greenwald, and M.R. Banaji (1996) concerning our investigation into the gender bias in fame judgments (A. Buchner & W. Wippich, 1996). First, we did not test the general hypothesis and did draw the general conclusion that Drain et al. suggest we did. Second, we did did not reject M.R. Banaji and A.G. Greenwald's (1995) assumptions about the familiarity of male and female names in the fame judgment task, but we showed how one could have come to reject it using a widespread measurement model for the process dissociation procedure. Third, we argue that the processes which Draine et al. suggest should also be included in the measurement model we used are probably negligible, and if they are not, then the validity of the results of a number of fame judgment experiments must be called into question. In general, however, we agree with what seems to be the main message of M.R. Banaji and A.G. Greenwald's (1995) research, namely, that social categories have to be considered whenever priming is investigated within a social domain.

Outpatient behavior therapy has been paid for in the Federal Republic of Germany since 1980 as a service of the health insurance system that covers most of the population. This therapeutic approach is used with children, adolescents and adults, but up to now it has played only a minor role in the treatment of psychological and psychiatric problems in children and adolescents. A content analysis of 221 applications for approval of long-term therapy for children or adolescents provided information on sociodemographic data, symptoms, diagnoses, treatment goals and treatment methods. Data were also obtained on the patients' social situation. The analysis suggests that mainly 7- to 11-year-old boys undergo treatment. The number of girls receiving treatment increases during puberty, and during adolescence more girls are treated than boys. Applications for outpatient behavior therapy are predominantly for developmental disorders, hyperkinetic disorders, emotional disorders, phobias, enuresis, adjustment disorders, conduct disorders and eating disorders. The main treatment goals are the development of new behavioral skills and the maintenance of or strengthening of behavior that is incompatible with the symptoms. Cognitive-behavioral methods are frequently used.

Over a period of 35 month patients with psychic disorders were treated by a psychological consultation-liaison-service during their stay at a general hospital. A follow-up investigation using a questionnaire was carried out in 1990 in patients with somatization. 66.6% of the patients with somatization took part in the investigation. 47.6% of these patients initiated a psychosomatic treatment after discharge from hospital. 62.8% of the patients described their general state of health as improved. The frequency of symptoms and the amount of restrictions in cause of symptoms could be explained by two factors: Patients without an opportunity to continue a psychosomatic treatment and patients who anticipated negative consequences in case of a psychosomatic treatment reported significantly more complaints and a worse health status.

Two experiments explored whether picture puzzles are an adequate instrument to investigate implicit memory for pictorial information. During the testing phase, the subjects had to identify hidden figures in picture puzzles. In a preceding learning phase, the priming conditions were varied systematically. In the first experiment, some subjects had to solve picture puzzles in the learning phase, whereas others made esthetic judgments (global processing) or estimated the number of triangles in the picture puzzles (local processing). In the second experiment, the subjects inspected copies of figures that were hidden at testing, modified versions of these figures, or their names in the learning phase. In the first experiment, the subjects of the different encoding conditions showed comparable priming effects. Picture puzzles that had already been processed or seen during learning were solved more often than new ones. Interview data revealed that subjects in the local or global processing conditions did not identify hidden figures at encoding. Furthermore, these subjects could not discriminate between old and new picture puzzles in a final explicit test of recognition. Thus, nonconscious storage of perceptual information that is not semantically interpreted may be sufficient to evoke priming effects. In the second experiment, the subjects in the different encoding conditions showed reliable priming effects, too. The presentation of the duplicates at encoding produced the greatest amount of priming. Effects of verbal priming, however, indicate that the solution of picture puzzles is not based solely on perceptual information. Depending on the priming conditions at learning, the solution of picture puzzles may be based primarily on data-driven processing or may be guided more heavily by conceptual information. It is concluded that perceptual, lexical, and/or conceptual information can contribute to the solution of picture puzzles.

Previous experiments have shown that the procedure of questioning subjects retrospectively about the input and output status of information (input and output monitoring) is a useful method for assessing the awareness states of subjects during implicit and explicit memory tasks. The main purpose of the present study was to investigate whether the previous findings could be extended to other implicit and explicit memory tasks. We were especially interested in whether differences in input- and output-monitoring performance can be observed when both the implicit and explicit memory tasks are conceptual ones. In a final tet phase, the target items from the study phase and new distractor items were presented. In a recognition-like situation, subjects had to decide whether an item had been presented in the study phase (input status), as well as whether they had produced the item in the memory-test phase (output status). In all three experiments judgments about the input status-but only for those items that had been produced in the implicit or in the explicit memory test--were more precise after explicit than after implicit memory testings. This finding was not influenced by the distinction between perceptual and conceptual-memory tasks (Exp. 1), and was obtained under conditions in which the implicit and the explicit memory tasks were both conceptual and differed only in test instructions (Exps. 2 and 3). These results suggest that not only subjects performing a perceptual test of implicit memory, but also subjects in a conceptual implicit test were less aware of using information from a previous study episode than subjects who received memory instructions. It is concluded that requiring judgments about the input status of information is a good method for assessing subjects' test awareness and is preferable to the use of a questionnaire (Exp. 3). In contrast, in all three experiments no differences were found with the output-monitoring measure between implicit and explicit test conditions.

Three experiments investigated whether hindsight bias--a systematic distortion of the recollections of numerical estimates--is also observed with visuo-spatial material. Subjects estimated the location of 20 German cities on an empty map, received feedback about the true locations, and were then requested to recall their earlier estimates. Additionally, we tested each subject's intelligence, field dependency, and visuo-spatial abilities. In experiment 1, in which experimental and control items (i.e. those with and without feedback) were given to the same subjects, hindsight bias was observed, but only in one out of three dependent measures. The same pattern of results emerged in experiment 2, despite the use of a different mode of data collection. Experiment 3, in which experimental and control items were given to different subjects, found a strong hindsight bias in all three dependent measures. The personality features showed no correlation with the amount of individual hindsight bias. All three experiments provided evidence that hindsight bias occurs with visuo-spatial material.

In the field of criminological comparison, Japan and Germany are very suitable subjects. A nearly identical penal law and a social structure of highly developed industrial societies after a complete destruction at the end of World War War II give a good match. At first sight, Japan's crime rate is less than 1/4 of that in Germany. The impact of organised crime on the reduction of general crime is discussed.

Hormone responses to injection of corticotropin-releasing hormone following bicycle ergometry and psychological stress were studied in ten habitual smokers and ten nonsmokers. Compared to injection of saline, significant increases were found in adrenocorticotropin, prolactin, growth hormone, total serum cortisol, and salivary cortisol under all three stimulations except for salivary cortisol under ergometry. Furthermore, the smokers showed significant elevations of all five hormones investigated following the smoking of two cigarettes of the subject's preferred brand. Comparisons of hormone responses between smokers and nonsmokers revealed a general trend towards stronger responses in nonsmokers. However, due to the small number of subjects investigated and considerable variation in the individual hormone responses these differences reached statistical significance only for growth hormone responses following ergometry and salivary cortisol responses after psychological stress. In addition, the circadian rhythm of salivary cortisol was measured on two occasions between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. in the subject's natural environment. The typical circadian pattern of decreasing cortisol levels was observed, with no significant differences between smokers and nonsmokers. We conclude that chronic nicotine consumption may lead to lower responses of multiple hormones not only to nicotine but to a variety of stimuli, and that these alterations do not necessarily affect unstimulated circadian profiles of free cortisol.

Unlabelled: Clinically-used ketamine is a racemic mixture of two isomers, S-(+)- and R-(-)-ketamine. Previous investigations showed the anaesthetic potency of S(+)-ketamine to be three times higher than that of R-(-)-ketamine. It was the aim of this study to compare the effects of S-(+)-ketamine and racemic ketamine on endocrine and cardiovascular parameters, recovery, and side effects in geriatric patients during total intravenous anaesthesia (TIVA) for orthopaedic surgery., Methods: Forty patients over 60 years of age scheduled for elective hip or knee replacement were investigated in a double-blind, randomised design. For induction of TIVA, patients received 0.1 mg midazolam, 0.5 mg atropine, 1 mg/kg S(+)-ketamine or 2 mg/kg racemic ketamine, respectively, 2 mg vecuronium, and 1.5 mg/kg suxamethonium. After intubation and relaxation with a total dose of 0.1 mg/kg vecuronium, a continuous infusion of 2 mg/kg per hour S-(+)- or 4 mg/kg per hour racemic ketamine was administered throughout surgery. Blood samples were taken through a central venous catheter at seven time-points, before induction as well during and after surgery, until the 1st postoperative morning for analysis of adrenaline, noradrenaline (by high-pressure liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection), anti-diuretic hormone (ADH), adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), cortisol (by radioimmunoassay), glucose, and lactate. In addition, systolic arterial pressure (SAP), heart rate (HR), and arterial oxygen saturation were measured, and the time intervals between the end of ketamine infusion and the return of consciousness and orientation were protocolled. The incidence and assessment of dreams and other side effects were reported by the patients., Results: Biometric data of the groups were comparable, the mean age of both groups being 68 years. Plasma adrenaline, noradrenaline, ADH, ACTH, cortisol, and glucose as well as SAP and HR increased significantly (P < 0.05) during the course of anaesthesia. The influence on lactate levels was not significant. There were no differences between S(+)- and racemic ketamine with respect to these parameters. Three patients in the ketamine-racemate group showed severe arterial hypertension and were withdrawn from the study. Recovery clearly improved after administration of S(+)-ketamine compared to the racemate. Simple orders were followed after 2.0 +/- 3.4 versus 4.9 +/- 6.8 min (P = 0.07), orientation with respect to person returned after 5.7 +/- 4.0 versus 14.6 +/- 10.0 min (P < 0.001) and spatial orientation after 8.2 +/- 5.4 versus 17.4 +/- 9.7 min (P < 0.001). After racemic ketamine, 1 patient remembered a negative dream and 1 patient a positive dream. In the S(+)-group, 1 positive dream was reported. No intraoperative awareness was reported, and all patients would accept the same anaesthesia again., Conclusions: Increases in cardiovascular parameters and insufficient reduction of the stress response with respect to ADH, ACTH, and cortisol seem to require a more potent hypnotic element during TIVA with ketamine. With regard to endocrine and cardiovascular parameters, the pharmacodynamic effects of racemic and S-(+)-ketamine were comparable. Because of the significant improvement in recovery and the reduced quantitative drug load, S-(+)-ketamine offers a clinical advantage compared with currently used racemic ketamine.

The present experiments explore the components (motor and/or sensory) underlying performance in implicit and explicit tests of memory for haptic information. In the first experiment, the encoding tasks and the test conditions were varied. During the encoding phase half of the subjects were blindfolded and explored real objects with their hands in order to answer questions about object properties (like form) as fast as possible (active exploration). The other subjects performed adequate hand movements without any sensory contact with the objects (motor encoding). At testing, for some subjects the active exploration task was repeated with old and with new objects. Other subjects who did not perform any hand movements based their judgments on sensory impressions only (passive touch). The results demonstrate reliable effects of implicit memory for haptic information, as revealed by faster reaction times to old than to new objects. However, priming effects were only obtained in the active touching test condition. This result was observed for both encoding tasks, that is, even for subjects who had only performed symbolic hand movements at encoding. Thus, the repetition of specific motor processes seems to underly the effects of repetition priming in active touch. In the second experiment, a passive touch paradigm was realized both at encoding and at test (sensory encoding). The priming effects observed under these conditions indicate that sensory processes can be relevant, too. Recognition performance was found to be influenced by other variables than measures of implicit memory. The results are discussed with respect to process-oriented and system approaches to implicit memory.

We report two experiments that explore why recent investigations of implicit memory did not find any effects of color information on test performance. The argument that previous failures to find effects of repetition priming were due to an arbitrary association between objects and colors was found to be wanting. To the contrary, both experiments showed no or small effects of repetition for objects paired with their prototypical colors. A second argument according to which subjects attend to the colors at encoding did not fare much better. More importantly, however, we found strong effects of repetition priming with a conceptual implicit memory measure, whereas previous research had relied exclusively on perceptual tests of implicit memory. In both experiments, the subjects were asked to choose a suitable color for each object at testing. No instructions about remembering the objects were given. The results demonstrated strong preferences for the previously seen colors in the color-choice task. Furthermore, this effect was present to the same extent with picture objects and with object names, corroborating the conceptual nature of the implicit memory measure. Finally, we observed many functional dissociations with explicit measures of memory for color information, demonstrating implicit use of memory in the conceptual choice-test for colors.

The legal requirements and research work done until now on rehabilitative cognitive methods will be critically reviewed in terms of possible therapeutic achievements. Cognitive deficits, like attention and concentration disturbances and abstract and differentiation ability, can be improved clearly by these therapy programs; however, a remission cannot be achieved.

This paper describes a protocol for induction of moderate psychological stress in a laboratory setting and evaluates its effects on physiological responses. The 'Trier Social Stress Test' (TSST) mainly consists of an anticipation period (10 min) and a test period (10 min) in which the subjects have to deliver a free speech and perform mental arithmetic in front of an audience. In six independent studies this protocol has been found to induce considerable changes in the concentration of ACTH, cortisol (serum and saliva), GH, prolactin as well as significant increases in heart rate. As for salivary cortisol levels, the TSST reliably led to 2- to 4-fold elevations above baseline with similar peak cortisol concentrations. Studies are summarized in which TSST-induced cortisol increases elucidated some of the multiple variables contributing to the interindividual variation in adrenocortical stress responses. The results suggest that gender, genetics and nicotine consumption can influence the individual's stress responsiveness to psychological stress while personality traits showed no correlation with cortisol responses to TSST stimulation. From these data we conclude that the TSST can serve as a tool for psychobiological research.

Based on a general family model Saile and Schmitz (1991) developed the Pain related inventory of family adaptability and cohesion (SIFAK), which assesses three aspects of family life related to chronic pain: adaptability in dealing with chronic pain, pain related enmeshment and pain related disengagement and alienation. 40 patients with chronic low back pain and their spouses completed a revised version of the SIFAK and measures of pain intensity, pain related disability and marital satisfaction. Patients and spouses agreed more on marital satisfaction than on pain related variables. In multiple regression analyses marital satisfaction and pain related disability--each in the view of patients and spouses--were predicted by pain and family related variables. Implications for future research (other data sources, other measurement methods) and for psychological treatment of chronic pain are discussed.

Two experiments studied the influence of arginine-vasopressin (AVP) on cognitive processes by means of an electrophysiological measure, the late positive complex (LPC) of the event-related potential. The LPC varies systematically with cognitive processes. The classical oddball paradigm and an incidental memory task (structural encoding of emotional adjectives) were used. The two studies differed only in the dose of AVP (study 1: three time nasal application of 10 IU AVP; study 2: 20 IU). In study 1, AVP intake enhanced memory performance. The LPC elicited by oddball stimuli was not influenced by AVP, neither when compared before and after intake nor when compared to placebo treatment. However, specific influences of AVP on the LPC elicited during the structural encoding task were observed. In both studies, AVP intake resulted in a marked change of the scalp distribution of the P3 component, which is a prominent part of the LPC. Furthermore, subjects treated with the lower dose of AVP showed a more positive P3 component on emotional (negative and positive) adjectives, when compared to neutral ones. The results suggest that vasopressin influences the central nervous processing of the emotional content of stimuli.

Effects of learning can show up in a direct, i.e., an explicit, way or they can be expressed indirectly, i.e., in an implicit way. It was investigated whether motor processes underlie effects of repetition priming in haptic information exploration. In the test phase, blindfolded subjects had to handle objects in order to answer questions as fast as possible about their properties (e.g., temperature, texture, weight, or form), exploring the object with their hands. Some of the objects were old ones (presented in a study phase); others were added as new objects to the test phase. In addition, recognition judgements were required. The results demonstrated reliable effects of repetition priming in terms of reaction times to old, in comparison with new, objects for subjects who had been treated the same way in the study phase (active touch). Passive touch at encoding or studying the names or the visible objects themselves did not lead to effects of repetition priming in the test phase. On the other hand, performing adequate hand movements during the study improved recognition memory. The role of motor processes in indirect and direct tests of memory is discussed and related to research on memory of action events.

The State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory (STAXI) developed by Spielberger is a measure for state- and trait-anger and three different forms of anger expression. People differ in the extent to which they express anger overtly and directly (anger out), how often anger feelings are hold in or suppressed (anger in) or in the extent to which they are able to control their angry feelings or their overtly expressed anger (anger control). The scales are developed to determine the relevance of individual dispositions to express anger in the etiology and course of psychosomatic illness like hypertension, coronary heart disease etc. The present report is a summary of the research reports presented by Schwenkmezger and Hodapp (1986, 1989). It describes the development of the German adaptation of the STAXI, including itemmetrical and factor analytic results, detailed research on construct validity, and first experimental analyses.

Anger about frustration or damage was assumed to depend on how much responsibility can be attributed to the perpetrator. This hypothesis was tested experimentally (N = 120). Drawing upon constituents of the action concept (e.g. free will), three everyday situations (e.g. being obstructed while driving) were varied with regard to responsibility. Twenty subjects each were asked to imagine the three situations from one of the six levels of responsibility and to indicate how angry they would feel. In addition to state anger, anger in, anger out, and anger control were assessed. When trait anger was controlled for, state anger as well as anger out increased as a function of the perpetrator's responsibility, whereas anger control decreased. These results were in line with theoretical expectations. They demonstrate that the expression of anger is subject to social norms and depends largely on the situation. This finding complements original assumptions on the trait-like nature of anger in, anger out, and anger control.

The results of two studies are presented, in which the question was investigated, whether the learning process of autogenic training (AT) in short group programs can be improved by the use of a self-control technique (records for the AT-exercises realized without the group at home). Study I refers to 24 university students, who learned AT within their psychology education; Study II refers to 28 adults, who learned AT within a psychosocial community service for adults. Within control-group designs evaluative and follow-up data were gathered before, during, at the end, and 4 months after the AT-treatment. The data refer to psychosomatic complaints (SSP, ATSYM), depression (BDI), relaxation capacity and wellbeing (VFE) as well as subjective valuations of AT and the frequency of AT-exercising. The results of both studies show that the basal AT-exercises can be learned in short group programs (6 meetings within 6 weeks). The self-control technique promotes the learning process at short as well as at longer sight. Implications of the results for the realization of introductions to AT in out- and in-patient group treatment are discussed.

Unstimulated salivary cortisol concentrations were measured in 767 adults aged 35-65 yr over the course of one day. Interindividual differences in early morning cortisol concentrations showed consistent and significant relationships with demographic and psychological variables. Socioeconomic status was positively associated with cortisol levels. Relationships of cortisol levels with age were moderated by gender: for women, a negative regression of cortisol level on age was observed while no significant age effects were obtained for men. In bivariate and multivariate regression analyses, a positive association between cortisol levels and indicators of successful development and personal well-being was observed; these relationships were more pronounced for the male sample. Intradyadic correlations further revealed a slight but significant association of morning cortisol levels within married couples. The findings are discussed with respect to mediating developmental mechanisms and pathophysiological implications.

Crises and critical life transitions activate 2 distinct but complementary modes of coping, (a) transforming developmental circumstances in accordance with personal preferences (assimilative tendency) and (b) adjusting personal preferences to situational constraints (accommodative tendency). Assimilative and accommodative tendencies were measured by a questionnaire comprising 2 independent scales (Tenacious Goal Pursuit and Flexible Goal Adjustment). Both scales predict high life satisfaction and low depression and are positively related to generalized internal control beliefs. The scales evinced an opposite relation to age: Cross-sectional analyses on a sample of 890 Ss in the age range from 34 to 63 years revealed a gradual shift from an assimilative to an accommodative mode of coping. Implications for theories of depression and successful aging are discussed.

Effects of learning can show in a direct, i.e., explicit way, or they can be expressed indirectly, i.e., in an implicit way. It is investigated whether hepatic information shows implicit effect, and whether implicit haptic memory effects are based primarily on motor or on sensory memory components. In the first phase blindfolded subjects had to palpate objects in order to answer questions about the objects' distinct properties as fast as possible. In the following phase this task was repeated with the same objects and additional control items. Additionally, recognition judgements were required. Results demonstrate reliable effects of implicit memory for haptic information in terms of reaction times to old vs. new objects. Subjects who had to wear plastic gloves in the first stage showed comparable effects of repetition priming. Changing the questions--and, thus, hand movements--during the palpitation of objects known from the first stage, however, abolishes implicit memory expression. It is concluded, therefore, that implicit memory for haptic information is based on motor processes. On the other hand, explicit memory is hampered in subjects wearing gloves during the first phase, as revealed in terms of recognition performance while changing the questions about objects' properties has no effect on recognition judgements. Thus, explicit memory for haptic information seems to be based on the sensory processes when touching objects.

This study focuses on testing the interactional approach underlying the anger models of Novaco (1978) and Spielberger (1988). An additional goal was to demonstrate different types of situations that give rise to anger and different dimensions of anger response in two samples of 97 managers and 74 athletes. Results showed that an anger response could be differentiated into a physiological, a cognitive, and two behavioral components. For the latter, it was confirmed that the expression of anger could be categorized into two independent components, anger in and anger out. Classifying anger situations revealed only a limited situation specificity of the tendency toward anger. The results on the validity of the interactional approach depended on the methods of analysis chosen. If the percentage of variance components were interpreted in the direction of an interactional approach, the external validity coefficients in at least one sample could not be interpreted unequivocally in this direction.

In the study phase, subjects had to encode either odors or the names there of by generating autobiographical memories, by judging the quality of the food source of the odors, or by labeling responses to odors. At the testing stage, explicit and implicit olfactory memory performance was assessed. With recognition testing, the provision of odors at study improved performance. Furthermore, recognition depended on elaborative encoding conditions with olfactory stimuli only. Implicit memory was measured by the correctness and speed of labeling responses at the testing stage. Old odors were named more correctly and faster than new ones, but only if subjects had encoded odors in the study phase. These results demonstrate that implicit memory in naming odors depends on olfactory stimulus processing and is not a purely verbal priming effect. As a further measure of implicit memory, the speed of autobiographical memory productions was assessed. We registered shorter reaction times for old versus new odors. But again, this effect of implicit memory was restricted to conditions of odor pre-experiences in the study phase. We conclude that olfactory memory is based on different types of memory traces. Implicit memory measures may prove to be useful in isolating sensory and other attributes of olfaction that seem to be interacting in making explicit memory judgments.

The present experiments explore whether repetition priming in a word-stem completion task is context-dependent. In the first experiment, the environmental context was changed or remained constant at the testing stage. Implicit memory performance did not reveal any effects of environmental context. When tested by free recall, however, the same subjects showed an environmental congruency effect. On the other hand, effects of a change in presentation modality were restricted to implicit memory measures. In the second experiment, self-awareness was manipulated to create congruent or incongruent internal contexts at the testing stage. Performance on the word-stem completion task was seen to be influenced by internal contextual information. This pattern of results corroborates a processing account of implicit memory phenomena. Implicit and explicit expressions of memory utilize episodic information, but in a different way.

After a literature review about 45 studies on control orientations in alcoholism research, which focus literature from 1977 to 1986, the theoretical background of these studies is discussed. In contrast to the earlier findings, which were founded upon onedimensional measures of generalized locus of control, the results of recent studies, which use multidimensional or domain-specific measures of control orientations, show consistently, (1) that alcoholics before and at the beginning of a treatment have low internality, higher powerful others externality, and especially high chance control orientations, (2) that control orientations have a special diagnostic value for alcoholics, (3) that internality increases during inpatient treatments, and (4) that control orientations measured before or at the beginning of a treatment are comparatively good predictors of treatment effects (treatment dropouts, abstinence, relapse). There are too first empirical hints for the indicative value of control orientations for special treatment programs. Besides the hypothesis of loss of control in drinking and the approach of social-cognitive learning theory to alcoholism a developmental, action-theoretical founded model of drug abuse is described, which can not only integrate recent results on control orientations in alcoholism research but also opens perspectives for a more systematic, theory-based research.

It is very unlikely that the errors in crossover experiments with more than two treatments are uncorrelated. The assumption of uncorrelated errors generally leads to underestimation of the variances of estimates. This paper determines bounds for the degree of underestimation for arbitrary covariance matrices, provided the experiment is planned according to a design that has the same numbers of periods and treatments and is balanced for carryover effects.