Forschungsschwerpunkte der Arbeitseinheit "Psychologische Methodenlehre"
Diffusion Models
Diffusion models are a close relative of random walk models. They allow to model processes that underlay binary decisions. A diffusion model data analysis is based on the distributions of both correct and erroneous responses. From these distributions a set of parameters is estimated that allows to draw conclusions about the underlying cognitive processes. A new project is in preparation, in which this form of data analysis will be applied on different priming paradigms. We hope to show that different forms priming (i.e., semantic and affective) are based on different cognitive mechanisms (Cooperation with Prof. Dr. K. Rothermund, Prof. Dr. K.Ch. Klauer, Dr. J. Voss).
More Information can be found on my Diffusion-Model page.Motivated Perception
Another project focuses on motivational influences in the perception of ambiguous stimuli. We assume that a "palliative perception" helps people to cope with aversive situations, if there is no possibility to avoid negative consequences. Therefore, we expect a positivity bias in perception of stimuli that herald uncontrollable negative events, but no such bias in the case of controllable negative events.
Attention and Action Regulation
Another Project (Ro 1272/2-1; project leader: Prof. Dr. K. Rothermund and Prof. Dr. D. Wentura) deals with the connections of attention and action regulation. We analyze the influence of different ?outcome foci? (i.e., prevention vs. promotion) on the attention of valid (i.e., positive ore negative) stimuli. In our experiments we found evidence for an incongruency effect, that is, attention is directed to positive stimuli, if a prevention focus is activated and vice versa.
Implicit Measures of Attitudes and Traits
Implicit Measures of Attitudes play an important role in modern social psychology. In our team, we are interested in the cognitive mechanisms that underly tasks like the IAT or the EAST.
The Construction of External Response-Devices
For experimental psychology, the exact timing of responses is of great importance. We provide a tutorial, how to construct and address simple and reliable, and cheap response pads for the parallel port. Please check the response-pad site for detailled information.
