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In recent years, China and Germany have become invaluable partners in business, politics, and science. However, psychological research indicates that the countries’ large-scale affinity does not tr...

Within the extensive literature on the role of educational media in children's learning and the factors influencing that learning, the possible impact of media literacy remains unexamined. The present study examines the influence of media literacy on learning from television and hypermedia environments. In a sample of 150 children with a mean age of 5.33, a computer-based test was used to assess media literacy, and recognition and inference questions were used to measure learning. The influence of intelligence, media usage, and socioeconomic status as independent variables was also assessed. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that media literacy was a significant predictor of learning from media, even when controlling for other relevant factors such as intelligence.

Assessing presence using questionnaires can yield interesting insights into the user experience in virtual environments, but is also limited both in terms of reliability and validity. Breaks in presence (BIPs) are an interesting alternative, given that the researcher can assess them correctly. Prior studies on the psychophysiology of BIPs followed an exploratory approach by not providing a cognitive mechanism for BIPs and lacking in external validity. We argue that BIPs can be considered a special form of orienting responses involving both the real and the virtual world. In the first of the presented studies, we investigated which types of BIPs can be differentiated and to what degree they affect the user experience. In the second study, we modified a commercial video game by introducing the previously identified BIPs and recorded psychophysiological measurements. The results are in line with findings on orienting responses and should provide fertile ground for future research.

In a longitudinal study, 137 children at the age of 4 years were tested for media sign literacy, intelligence, and several precursors of academically relevant skills, such as phonological awareness and preschool quantity-number competencies. The children were tested four times over two years, measuring the development of these skills every six months. The purpose of the study was to explore whether children’s level of media sign literacy helps them acquire academically relevant symbolic skills like reading and mathematical competencies. The results indicate that media sign literacy as well as intelligence predict mathematical and linguistic competencies. Longitudinal findings indicate that children with higher levels of media sign literacy also achieve higher scores in precursors of mathematical and reading and writing skills, and structural equation modeling revealed a rich interconnectedness between media sign literacy and intelligence. Media sign literacy had a direct and significant effect on mathemat...

Creating a convincing self-presentation which exalts one's own capabilities on the surface is often regarded as a crucial soft skill ensuring success in numerous interpersonal domains. Seen from an evolutionary perspective, strategic self-promotion might have evolved as a beneficial psychological mechanism in mating competition. While prior research is almost exclusively focused on different behavioral patterns, the present study examines relations between self-promotion and mating behavior on a trait level. Based on existing findings, we identified three different traits corresponding with determined self-presentation styles: impression management, self-deceptive enhancement, and self-monitoring. Using a sample of 232 heterosexual participants (f = 143; age M = 23.88 years; SD = 3.42 years), we tested to what extent these traits predict sociosexual orientation as well as the total number of intercourse partners in both sexes. Notwithstanding gender, all chosen traits showed a positive prediction towards short-term mating behavior. By taking sex differences into consideration, however, the results indicated that self-deception was a stronger predictor for promiscuous mating behavior in men compared to women, whereas impression management showed minor differences and self-monitoring even revealed an opposite trend. These findings suggest that women may possess more rigorous deception detection mechanisms forcing men to apply subtler self-promotion strategies.

Elektronische Medien spielen im personlichen, schulischen oder beruflichen Umfeld von Kindern, Jugendlichen und Erwachsenen heutzutage eine wichtige Rolle. Sie werden gleichermasen zu Kommunikations-, Informations- und Unterhaltungszwecken verwendet und sind allgegenwartig. Aus dem Umgang mit Medien konnen sowohl positive als auch negative Wirkungen resultieren. Um positive Effekte zu verstarken und negative Folgen zu minimieren, ist es fur Nutzer von zentraler Bedeutung, ein hinreichendes und adaquates Mas an Medienkompetenz zu besitzen. Die Entwicklung von Medienkompetenz beginnt bereits in der fruhen Kindheit in Form von basalen Fahigkeiten. Um eine verantwortungsbewusste, kritische und selbstbestimmte Teilnahme an der Gesellschaft des 21. Jahrhunderts erfolgreich zu ermoglichen, mussen daher bereits vor dem Schuleintritt Fertigkeiten im sinnvollen Umgang mit Medien erlernt und gefordert werden.

Digital games are a modern catalyst for a large set of cognitions and behaviors with firm evolutionary roots. From the pretense play perspective, however, every action in a digital game is a reference to the contra-factual nature of the game environment and is, therefore, more or less unrelated to behavior in the physical world. In combination with their high safety level, digital games—through their biological imperative to elicit a playful mode of thinking—can offer their players an opportunity to exceed the natural limits of pretense play, both in its width, and in its depth. Adaptations more oriented towards action selection, however, are more likely to operate in an organizational mode, as players voluntary take on different roles in digital games as a modern form of pretense play and show atypical actions as a result from a more general pretend mode of thinking.

For more than 40 years, the uncanny valley model has captivated researchers from various fields of expertise. Still, explanations as to why slightly imperfect human-like characters can evoke feelings of eeriness remain the subject of controversy. Many experiments exploring the phenomenon have emphasized specific visual factors in connection to evolutionary psychological theories or an underlying categorization conflict. More recently, studies have also shifted away focus from the appearance of human-like entities, instead exploring their mental capabilities as basis for observers' discomfort. In order to advance this perspective, we introduced 92 participants to a virtual reality (VR) chat program and presented them with two digital characters engaged in an emotional and empathic dialogue. Using the same pre-recorded 3D scene, we manipulated the perceived control type of the depicted characters (human-controlled avatars vs. computer-controlled agents), as well as their alleged level of autonomy (scripted vs. self-directed actions). Statistical analyses revealed that participants experienced significantly stronger eeriness if they perceived the empathic characters to be autonomous artificial intelligences. As human likeness and attractiveness ratings did not result in significant group differences, we present our results as evidence for an “uncanny valley of mind“ that relies on the attribution of emotions and social cognition to non-human entities. A possible relationship to the philosophy of anthropocentrism and its “threat to human distinctiveness” concept is discussed.

Zusammenfassung. Das Montageverständnis von Kindern im Alter von 5, 6, 7 und 8 Jahren wurde anhand ihres Nachspielens gezeigter Filmhandlungen untersucht. Die präsentierten unterschiedlich komplexen Schnittprinzipien wurden in Anlehnung an das Klassifikationssystem von d’Ydewalle und Vanderbeeken (1990) drei Ordnungsstufen zugeteilt. Dieses postuliert einen ansteigenden kognitiven Verarbeitungsaufwand für Schnittprinzipien von der 1. bis zur 3. Ordnung. Ein solcher Anstieg konnte in allen Altersgruppen für den Unterschied zwischen der niedrigsten und den beiden höheren Ebenen bestätigt werden, bei den 8-Jährigen zusätzlich zwischen den beiden höchsten Ebenen. Zudem zeigte sich ein genereller Anstieg des Schnittverständnisses zwischen 5 und 8 Jahren, der von einer allgemeinen symbolbasierten Medienkompetenz und dem Textgedächtnis positiv beeinflusst wurde.

An eye tracker experiment investigated 4-, 6-, and 8-year old children’s cognitive processing of film cuts. Nine short film sequences with or without editing errors were presented to 79 children. Eye movements up to 400 ms after the targeted film cuts were measured and analyzed using a new calculation formula based on Manhattan Metrics. No age effects were found for jump cuts (i.e., small movement discontinuities in a film). However, disturbances resulting from reversed-angle shots (i.e., a switch of the left-right position of actors in successive shots) led to increased reaction times between 6- and 8-year old children, whereas children of all age groups had difficulties coping with narrative discontinuity (i.e., the canonical chronological sequence of film actions is disrupted). Furthermore, 4-year old children showed a greater number of overall eye movements than 6- and 8-year old children. This indicates that some viewing skills are developed between 4 and 6 years of age. The results of the study provide evidence of a crucial time span of knowledge acquisition for television-based media literacy between 4 and 8 years.

Im Rahmen eines interdisziplinaren Forschungsprojekts an der Technischen Universitat Chemnitz wurde das digitale Menschmodell „The Smart Virtual Worker“ (SVW) entwickelt. Mit der Entwicklung werden eine signifikante Reduktion im Simulationsaufwand sowie eine Erweiterung integrierter arbeitswissenschaftlicher Bewertungsmethoden in digitalen Menschmodellen angestrebt. Der Beitrag erklart die dazu im SVW integrierten Module und Methoden sowie deren Zusammenwirken. Im SVW erfolgt die Erstellung des Arbeitsprozesses mittels autonomer Handlungsselektion unter Nutzung von Kunstlichen Intelligenz (KI) – Algorithmen in Kombination mit einer automatischen Bewegungserzeugung. Der Nutzer kann hier entscheiden, ob der Arbeitsprozess nach zeitlichen, ergonomischen oder emotionsbasierten Kriterien optimiert wird. Die ausgewahlten Handlungen werden anschliesend in Bewegungsablaufe ubersetzt. Zur Bewertung des erzeugten Arbeitsprozesses stehen Verfahren zur ergonomischen Bewertung der Arbeitsaufgabe (RULA-/EAWS-Verfahren) und Arbeitsumwelt (Larm-, Klima- und Beleuchtungsbewertung) sowie zur psychologischen Bewertung (Emotionsmodell) zur Verfugung. Im Ergebnis konnte der Erstellungsaufwand fur eine Arbeitsprozesssimulation wesentlich reduziert und eine Erweiterung der arbeitswissenschaftlichen Bewertungsmethoden in DMM vorgenommen werden.

Unterrichten mit Bildern, Videos und e-Learning? Was heißt eigentlich Medienkompetenz und wie wirken Medien? Wie können Medien das Lernen unterstützen? Wie können sie im Unterricht mit Gewinn eingesetzt werden? Und wann verzichtet man besser darauf? Gerhild Nieding und Peter Ohler erläutern Studierenden, Referendaren und Lehrern die Grundlagen medialen Lernens. Eine Einschätzung, wie Medien sinnvoll genutzt werden können und wie die Schüler bestmöglich davon profitieren, ist auf dieser Basis kein Problem mehr.

This paper briefly introduces the principles of evolutionary biology with a main focus on the process of sexual selection. This is followed by an outline of evolutionary psychology. First an introduction to the classical approach to evolutionary psychology is given. This is followed by DONALD's (1991, 2002) model of co-evolution of cognition and culture. The behavior system “play” is reconstructed by referring to our own behavior-diversification proto-cognition theory of play which tries to establish an unified evolutionary theory of play in animals and humans. It is argued that play was crucial for the higher cognitions and consciousness of humans. On the basis of these different models, three evolutionary approaches concerning the evolutionary origins of entertainment are presented. They differ in their perspective on whether entertainment is really an adaptation of our species or only a by-product of other adaptations.

Zusammenfassung: Die Ausgangsfragen von drei Experimenten lauten, ob 6-jährige Kinder beim Verstehen von Geschichten räumliche mentale Modelle aufbauen und welche Elemente der beschriebenen Situation darin repräsentiert sind. Die Probanden erlernten zunächst Raumanordnungen und hörten anschließend durch einen Sprecher im Film Geschichten, worin Protagonisten durch die Anordnung laufen. Die Geschichten wurden unterbrochen, und die Probanden hatten die Aufgabe zu entscheiden, ob zwei dargebotene Objekte, bzw. ein Objekt und ein Protagonist sich im selben Raum oder in verschiedenen Räumen befinden. Die Ergebnisse von Experiment 1 zeigen, dass Kinder mentale Modelle aufbauen, die sich von einer textbasierten Repräsentation unterscheiden. Experiment 2 zeigt, dass Kinder den Aufbau mentaler Modelle an globalen Textinferenzen ausrichten, speziell an Protagonistenzielhierarchien. Unsere Annahme, dass auch Aufenthaltsorte von relevanten Objekten berücksichtigt werden, konnte in Experiment 3 nicht bestätigt werden.

Emotional expressions of virtual agents are widely believed to enhance the interaction with the user by utilizing more natural means of communication. However, as a result of the current technology virtual agents are often only able to produce facial expressions to convey emotional meaning. The presented research investigates the effects of unimodal vs. multimodal expressions of emotions on the users' recognition of the respective emotional state. We found that multimodal expressions of emotions yield the highest recognition rates. Additionally, emotionally neutral cues in one modality, when presented together with emotionally relevant cues in the other modality, impair the recognition of the correct emotion category as well as intense emotional states.