openHSU – Research Showcase

4765
Research outputs
858
People
140
Organizational Units
109
Projects
37
Conferences
19
Journals
Recent Additions
  • Publication
    Metadata only
    Smooth as glass and hard as stone?
    (American Psychological Association, 2023-10) ;
    Wagner, Valentin
    ;
    Following Fechner’s (1876) “aesthetics from below,” this study examines the conceptual structure of the aesthetics of various materials (Werkstoffe)—for instance, leather, metal, and wood. Adopting a technique used by Jacobsen et al. (2004), we asked 1,956 students to write down adjectives that could be used to describe the aesthetics of materials within a given time limit. A second subsample of a broader cross-section of the population (n = 496) replicated the findings obtained with the first subsample. A joint analysis of both subsamples identified the term “smooth” as by far the most relevant term, followed by the other core terms “hard,” “rough,” “soft,” and “glossy.” Furthermore, sensorial qualities (e.g., “warm” and “see-through”) constituted the main elements of the aesthetics of materials, and the great majority of these were haptic qualities (e.g., “cold” and “heavy”). The terms offered were mostly descriptive and of rather neutral valence, according to an additional valence rating study that we conducted with 94 participants. Comparisons between the terms offered for different materials revealed commonalities as well as material specificity of the conceptual structure of the aesthetics. In addition, the word “beautiful,” although by no means representing one of the most relevant terms in this study, still proved its preeminence in aesthetics in general. The results of this study contribute to the corpus of existing studies of the conceptual structure of aesthetics
  • Publication
    Metadata only
    Beauty lies in the eye of the mindful
    (American Psychological Association, 2023-12-14)
    Weigand, Rosalie
    ;
    Aesthetic experiences often go hand-in-hand with demands on working memory because they require maintaining an attentional focus while at the same time integrating context, memory, and sensory qualities. This enhances the processing of aesthetic attributes, leading to higher engagement and pleasure. Conditions that deplete working memory resources have been shown to be associated with a reduced intensity of aesthetic experiences. In turn, dispositional mindfulness as well as mindfulness training have been found to be associated with better working memory capacity (WMC). In this study, we investigated the relationship between dispositional mindfulness and aesthetic experiences and examined whether people with higher levels of dispositional mindfulness had more intense experiences after a brief mindfulness intervention. We also investigated whether the effect would be mediated by WMC. Participants performed self-reports on their dispositional mindfulness and underwent a brief mindfulness intervention. Afterward, they performed an aesthetic judgment task. WMC was assessed at the baseline and after the investigation. The observing facet of dispositional mindfulness was positively related to aesthetic savoring. We found no mediating effect of WMC. However, individuals who improved on the working memory task rated the pictures more beautiful. The results may provide important evidence for helping individuals benefit more from the positive effects of their aesthetic experiences.
  • Publication
    Metadata only
    Body alteration
    (Sage Publications, 2024-03-28) ;
    Mühlenbeck, Cordelia
    ;
    Decorating the body as well as (semi-)permanent bodily modifications are a longstanding human practice, together with spending a great amount of time and effort on such body alterations. The present article reviews the mental functions of body-altering behavior. The primary aim is to identify and elucidate the predominant mental function underpinning these body alterations. Following several guidelines for reviews, we synthesized the literature, including several categories of body-altering entities from different eras. We argue that there are two crucial commonalities for individuals engaging in body-altering behavior that comprise the mental functions for doing so: aesthetics and group affiliation (dynamics), including the latter’s subfunctions of supporting individuality, resistance, personal narrative, physical endurance, and sexual motivation. Incorporating the existing literature, we find that aesthetic motivation takes precedence over group affiliation, thereby establishing aesthetics as the primary mental function of body-altering behavior; factors substantiating this conclusion are explored in detail within the article.
  • Publication
    Metadata only
    Eight weeks of high-intensity interval training versus stretching do not change the psychoneuroendocrine response to a social stress test in emotionally impulsive humans
    (Springer, 2024-05-06)
    Javelle, F.
    ;
    Bloch, W.
    ;
    Borges, U.
    ;
    Burberg, T.
    ;
    Collins, B.
    ;
    Gunasekara, N.
    ;
    ; ;
    Laborde, S.
    ;
    ;
    Schenk, A.
    ;
    Schlagheck, M. L.
    ;
    Schoser, D.
    ;
    Vogel, A.
    ;
    Walzik, D.
    ;
    Zimmer, P.
    Purpose: Research supports physical activity as a method to heighten stress resistance and resilience through positive metabolic alterations mostly affecting the neuroendocrine system. High-intensity interval training (HIIT) has been proposed as a highly effective time-saving method to induce those changes. However, existing literature relies heavily on cross-sectional analyses, with few randomised controlled trials highlighting the necessity for more exercise interventions. Thus, this study aims to investigate the effects of HIIT versus an active control group on the stress response to an acute psychosocial stressor in emotionally impulsive humans (suggested as being strong stress responders). Methods: The study protocol was registered online (DRKS00016589) before data collection. Sedentary, emotionally impulsive adults (30.69 ± 8.20 y) were recruited for a supervised intervention of 8 weeks and randomly allocated to either a HIIT (n = 25) or a stretching group (n = 19, acting as active controls). Participants were submitted to a test battery, including saliva samples, questionnaires (self-efficacy- and perceived stress-related), visual analogue scales (physical exercise- and stress-related), and resting electroencephalography and electrocardiography assessing their reaction to an acute psychological stressor (Trier Social Stress Test) before and after the exercise intervention. Results: HIIT increased aerobic fitness in all participants, whereas stretching did not. Participants from the HIIT group reported perceiving exercising more intensively than those from the active control group (ƞp2 = 0.108, p = 0.038). No further group differences were detected. Both interventions largely increased levels of joy post-TSST (ƞp2 = 0.209, p = 0.003) whilst decreasing tension (ƞp2 = 0.262, p < 0.001) and worries (ƞp2 = 0.113, p = 0.037). Finally, both interventions largely increased perceived levels of general self-efficacy (ƞp2 = 0.120, p = 0.029). Conclusion: This study suggests that 8 weeks of HIIT does not change the psychoneuroendocrine response to an acute psychological stress test compared to an active control group in emotionally impulsive humans. Further replications of supervised exercise studies highly powered with active and passive controls are warranted.
  • Publication
    Metadata only
    Symposium: Experimentelle Aesthetik / Experimental Aesthetics II
    (Pabst Science Publishers, 2018) ;
    Hübner, Ronald
  • Publication
    Metadata only
    The impact of crossmodal predictions on the neural processing of aesthetic stimuli
    (Royal Society, 2023-12-18)
    Tiihonen, Marianne
    ;
    Haumann, Niels Trusbak
    ;
    Shtyrov, Yury
    ;
    Vuust, Peter
    ;
    ;
    Brattico, Elvira
    Neuroaesthetic research has focused on neural predictive processes involved in the encounter with art stimuli or the related evaluative judgements, and it has been mainly conducted unimodally. Here, with electroencephalography, magnetoencephalography and an affective priming protocol, we investigated whether and how the neural responses to non-representational aesthetic stimuli are top-down modulated by affective representational (i.e. semantically meaningful) predictions between audition and vision. Also, the neural chronometry of affect processing of these aesthetic stimuli was investigated. We hypothesized that the early affective components of crossmodal aesthetic responses are dependent on the affective and representational predictions formed in another sensory modality resulting in differentiated brain responses, and that audition and vision indicate different processing latencies for affect. The target stimuli were aesthetic visual patterns and musical chords, and they were preceded by a prime from the opposing sensory modality. We found that early auditory-cortex responses to chords were more affected by valence than the corresponding visual-cortex ones. Furthermore, the assessments of visual targets were more facilitated by affective congruency of crossmodal primes than the acoustic targets. These results indicate, first, that the brain uses early affective information for predictively guiding aesthetic responses; second, that an affective transfer of information takes place crossmodally, mainly from audition to vision, impacting the aesthetic assessment. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Art, aesthetics and predictive processing: theoretical and empirical perspectives’.
  • Publication
    Metadata only
    Preparation and persistence of deploying attention to locations or stimulus structures
    (Elsevier, 2024-05-24) ;
    Wendt, Mike
    ;
    Dühnen, Imke M.
    ;
    ;
    Attention can be directed to the global or local level of a visual stimulus (i.e., Navon figure). Previous studies yielded reliable trial-to-trial level switch costs (i.e., worse performance when responding to the other level than on a previous trial), even though level cueing effects indicated anticipatory deployment of attention to the upcoming target level. To investigate the interplay of attentional preparation and persistence, we applied a probe trial method assumed to ensure a high degree of preparation for the upcoming target level and minimizing stimulus-specific proactive interference. Mirroring previous findings obtained in the domain of spatial attention, we found evidence for anticipatory attentional focusing on global/local target levels but not for persistence of the attentional set adopted on the previous trial. In a second experiment, we prevented preparation for upcoming attentional demands (in both global-local and spatial attention tasks). This resulted in the modulation of performance (in critical probe trials) by the attentional demands of the predecessor trial. Together, our findings demonstrate sensitivity of the probe trial method for attentional persistence and raise the possibility that such persistence can be completely eliminated by sufficiently strong preparation for the attentional demands of the following trial.
  • Publication
    Metadata only
    Experiencing beauty in everyday life
    (Pabst Science Publishers, 2023)
    Knoll, Anna Lena
    ;
    Specker, Eva
    ;
    Barriere, Tristan
    ;
    Leder, Helmut
    ;
    Weigand, Rosalie
    ;