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Ratings of perceptual experience on a trial-by-trial basis are increasingly used in masked priming studies to assess prime awareness. It is argued that such subjective ratings more adequately capture the content of phenomenal consciousness compared to the standard objective psychophysical measures obtained in a session after the priming experiment. However, the concurrent implementation of the ratings within the priming experiment might alter magnitude and processes underlying semantic priming, because participants try to identify the masked prime. In the present study, we therefore compared masked semantic priming effects assessed within the classical sequential procedure, in which prime identification is psychophysically assessed after the priming experiment, with those obtained in a condition, in which prime awareness is rated within the priming experiment. Two groups of participants performed a lexical decision task (LDT) on targets preceded by masked primes of 20, 40, or 60 ms durations, to induce the variability of prime awareness. One group additionally rated prime visibility trials-wise using the Perceptual Awareness Scale (PAS), whereas the other group only performed the LDT. Analysis of reaction times (RTs) as well as drift diffusion modeling revealed general priming effects on RT and drift rate only in the PAS-absent group. In the PAS-present group, residual priming effects on RT and the non-decisional component t0 were obtained for trials with rated prime awareness. This shows that assessing subjective perceptual experience on a trial-by-trial basis heavily interferes with semantic processes underlying masked priming, presumably due to attentional demands associated with concurrent prime identification.

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The current research examines whether trait anxiety is associated with negative interpretation bias when resolving valence ambiguity of surprised faces. To further isolate the neuro-cognitive mechanism, we presented angry, happy, and surprised faces at broad spatial frequency (BSF), high spatial frequency (HSF), and low spatial frequency (LSF) and asked participants to determine the valence of each face. High trait anxiety was associated with more negative interpretations of BSF (i.e., intact) surprised faces. However, the modulation of trait anxiety on the negative interpretation of surprised faces disappeared at HSF and LSF. The current study provides evidence that trait anxiety modulates negative interpretations of BSF surprised faces. However, the negative interpretation of LSF surprised faces appears to be a robust default response that occurs regardless of individual differences in trait anxiety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In general, it is assumed that misattribution in the Affect Misattribution Procedure (AMP) is restricted to crude affect due to its unbound nature, especially under limited presentation conditions. In two experiments, we investigated whether emotion-specific misattributions occur using a four-category misattribution procedure. Experiment 1 yielded emotion-specific misattribution effects under clearly visible presentation conditions demonstrating that the procedure is principally susceptible for emotion-specific effects. In Experiment 2, we employed masked presentation conditions impeding conscious prime perception. A specific pattern of emotion-specific misattributions effects emerged indicating some emotion-specific processing at initial stages of processing. However, not each emotion was misattributed equally. We discuss the implications of these results for the non-conscious processing of emotional information, for the supposed mechanisms of the AMP and its implicit nature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When asked to judge or react to a facial emotional display of a person, people do not only take the emotion into account, but also other socially important features of the face, such as, for example, ethnicity (Kozlik & Fischer, 2020; Paulus & Wentura, 2014). Importantly, the emotion-related and nonemotion-related features are seemingly not (or not always) processed in a simple, additive manner, but are—in a more functional manner—integrated to provide an "amalgamated signal" on which individuals base their judgment and responses. Whereas Paulus and Wentura (2014) put forward a social-message account of this amalgamated signal, Kozlik and Fischer (2020) recently proposed a processing-conflict explanation. The empirical evidence regarding this issue is, however, mixed. In three experiments, we aimed at replicating and extending Kozlik and Fischer's central experiment to gain further insight into the validity of the social-message versus the processing-conflict account. However, we failed to replicate their findings. The implications of the new evidence for the two accounts are discussed. Public Significance Statement: The study contributes to a debate about how people react to facial expressions based on both emotion and (prejudice-related) ethnicity. One account assumes that both features are processed independently (thereby potentially producing cognitive conflict); the other account assumes that they are integrated (i.e., the ethnicity feature modifies the evaluation of the expression). The study attempted to replicate a previous study that was (at first sight) in favor of the first account but failed to do so. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Masked priming paradigms are frequently used to shine light on the processes of nonconscious cognition. Introducing a new method to this field, Lähteenmäki et al. (2015) claimed that affective priming requires awareness. Specifically, they administered a subjective rating task after the priming task in each trial to directly assess awareness of the prime. Their main result was a lack of priming for subjectively unaware primes. In four experiments, we compared their method with the traditional paradigm, that is, a single-task priming phase followed by a direct test of prime recognition. We used faces with anger versus sadness expressions as primes and targets; emotion categorization was the task. In contrast to Lähteenmäki et al., primes and targets were drawn from different sets, such that priming effects can be unequivocally attributed to the processing of evaluative features. In Experiments 1a, b, we followed their approach of using different prime durations to produce variance in awareness ratings. With a duration of 40 ms, significant priming effects for subjectively unaware primes were found. This duration was also associated with priming effects in the traditional paradigm with near-zero objective prime categorization, suggesting that priming does not require awareness. In Experiment 2a, employing a constant 40-ms duration, we replicated the traditional effect. However, the parallel Experiment 2b with subjective awareness ratings produced a null result at a sharply increased response time level. We conclude that the claim that affective processing requires awareness is not justified. Subjective trial-by-trial visibility ratings can severely alter processing strategies in response priming paradigms. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

The present study investigated the involvement of facial muscle responses in the indirect and direct processing of emotional facial expressions. Five discrete emotion categories were used, and we assessed both facial muscle and behavioral responses on a trial-by-trial basis. Experiment 1 tested facial muscle activation of clearly visible stimuli in an emotion categorization task. We observed emotion-specific facial muscle responses and corresponding behavioral categorization effects, providing evidence for the specificity of facial muscle activation. By contrast, under masked indirect presentation conditions in which emotional facial expressions were presented as primes in an emotion misattribution procedure, a specific pattern of emotion-congruent and cross-category behavioral misattributions was observed (in line with Rohr et al., 2015, 2018). Multilevel analyses in Study 2 suggest that an emotional reaction feeds into the behavioral decision, as indicated by differential activation of the frontalis lateralis in response to angry faces. Thus, the present study provides evidence that facial muscle responses contribute to behavioral decisions under masked indirect processing conditions. The different pattern of effects in both studies suggests that facial muscle responses index different processes, depending on the processing conditions: sensorimotor simulation in direct processing conditions and emotional reactions in masked indirect processing conditions. We discuss the implications for models that aim to account for facial muscle activity in response to emotional facial expressions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Type 1 diabetes mellitus is the most common endocrine disease in children and adolescents below age 15 years. A cure for the autoimmune disease against the insulin-secreting beta cells is still not in sight. Nevertheless, in recent years technical advances in innovation concerning glucose sensor technology, insulin pumps, and new algorithms that regulate insulin delivery have led to a constant improvement of metabolic control achieved in children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes.This review article shows the current care situation of children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes and their parents. The multidisciplinary care in specialized pediatric diabetes teams of pediatric diabetologists, diabetes educators, social workers, and psychotherapists has been established for many years and has set grounds for a very good quality of care for children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes in Germany. The focus is on diabetes education, in particular self-management, psychosocial support and intervention, and the inclusion of children and adolescents with diabetes in school, kindergarten, and daycare centers. We also address new, social developments in the online diabetes community. A current example is the patient-operated ecosystem of the Do-It-Yourself Artificial Pancreas System (DIY APS) movement, which, as a patient-operated, open-source project, has meanwhile also become an innovator for industry. Finally, we highlight related opportunities and shifts in classical doctor-patient roles.