The Replication Database:Documenting the Replicability of Psychological Science

In psychological science, replicability—repeating a study with a new sampleachieving consistent results (Parsons et al., 2022)—is critical for affirming the validity of scientific findings. Despite its importance, replication efforts are few and far between in psychological science with many attempts failing to corroborate past findings. This scarcity, compounded by the difficulty in accessing replication data, jeopardizes the efficient allocation of research resources and impedes scientific advancement. Addressing this crucial gap, we present the Replication Database (https://metaanalyses.shinyapps.io/replicationdatabase/), a novel platform hosting 1,239 original findings paired with replication findings. The infrastructure of this database allows researchers to submit, access, and engage with replication findings. The database makes replications visible, easily findable via a graphical user interface, and tracks replication rates across various factors, such as publication year or journal. This will facilitate future efforts to evaluate the robustness of psychological research.</p

The Replication Database:Documenting the Replicability of Psychological Science

In psychological science, replicability—repeating a study with a new sample achieving consistent results (Parsons et al., 2022)—is critical for affirming the validity of scientific findings. Despite its importance, replication efforts are few and far between in psychological science with many attempts failing to corroborate past findings. This scarcity, compounded by the difficulty in accessing replication data, jeopardizes the efficient allocation of research resources and impedes scientific advancement. Addressing this crucial gap, we present the Replication Database (https://forrt-replications.shinyapps.io/fred_explorer), a novel platform hosting 1,239 original findings paired with replication findings. The infrastructure of this database allows researchers to submit, access, and engage with replication findings. The database makes replications visible, easily findable via a graphical user interface, and tracks replication rates across various factors, such as publication year or journal. This will facilitate future efforts to evaluate the robustness of psychological research

LATE-BREAKING UNCOVERING INDIVIDUAL FREEZING-LIKE BEHAVIOR IN RELATION TO THREAT PROXIMITY IN THE CONTEXT OF THREAT AND UNCERTAINTY

Koppold A, Lonsdorf T. LATE-BREAKING UNCOVERING INDIVIDUAL FREEZING-LIKE BEHAVIOR IN RELATION TO THREAT PROXIMITY IN THE CONTEXT OF THREAT AND UNCERTAINTY. Psychophysiology . 2023;60(Suppl. 1):S137

Watching with Argus Eyes: Characterization of emotional and physiological responding in adults exposed to childhood maltreatment and/or recent adversity

Background: Exposure to adverse experiences is a well-established major risk factor for affective psychopathology. The vulnerability of deleterious sequelae is assumed in maladaptive processes of the defensive system, particularly in emotional processing. More specifically, childhood maltreatment has been suggested to be associated with the recruitment of specific and distinct defensive response profiles. To date it remains unclear whether these are specific or generalisable to recent adversity in adulthood. Method: This preregistered study aimed to investigate the impact of exposure to childhood and recent adversity on emotional processing in 685 healthy adults with the “Affective Startle Modulation” Paradigm (ASM). Results: First, we replicated higher trait anxiety and depression levels in individuals exposed to both types of adversity. Second, we observed blunted general skin conductance reactivity in individuals exposed to recent adversity. Third, individuals exposed to childhood maltreatment showed reduced, while individuals exposed to recent adversity showed increased discrimination between pictures of negative and neutral valence, compared to non-exposed individuals in SCR. No association between exposure to adversity and fear potentiated startle was observed. Furthermore, explorative analyses revealed moderate dimensional and categorical agreement between two childhood maltreatment questionnaires and provide insight into potential adversity-type specific effects. Conclusion: Our results support experience-dependent plasticity in sympathetic nervous system reactivity and suggest distinct response profiles in affective modulation in individuals exposed to early versus recent adversity. We emphasise the need to further explore distinct adversity profiles to further our understanding on specific psychophysiological profiles and their potential implication for prevention and intervention

The many faces of early life adversity - Content overlap in validated assessment instruments as well as in fear and reward learning research

The precise assessment of childhood adversity is crucial for understanding the impact of aversive events on mental and physical development. However, the plethora of assessment tools currently used in the literature with unknown overlap in childhood adversity types covered hamper comparability and cumulative knowledge generation. In this study, we conducted two separate item-level content analyses of in total 35 questionnaires aiming to assess childhood adversity. These include 13 questionnaires that were recently recommended based on strong psychometric properties as well as additional 25 questionnaires that were identified through a systematic literature search. The latter provides important insights into the actual use of childhood adversity questionnaires in a specific, exemplary research field (i.e., the association between childhood adversity and threat and reward learning). Of note, only 3 of the recommended questionnaires were employed in this research field. Both item-wise content analysis illustrate substantial heterogeneity in the adversity types assessed across these questionnaires and hence highlight limited overlap in content (i.e., adversity types) covered by different questionnaires. Furthermore, we observed considerable differences in structural properties across all included questionnaires such as the number of items, age ranges assessed as well as the specific response formats (e.g., binary vs. continuous assessments, self vs. caregiver). We discuss implications for the interpretation, comparability and integration of the results from the existing literature and derive specific recommendations for future research. In sum, the substantial heterogeneity in the assessment and operationalization of childhood adversity emphasizes the urgent need for theoretical and methodological solutions to promote comparability, replicability of childhood adversity assessment and foster cumulative knowledge generation in research on the association of childhood adversity and physical as well as psychological health

How adverse childhood experiences get under the skin: A systematic review, integration and methodological discussion on threat and reward learning mechanisms

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are a major risk factor for the development of multiple psychopathological conditions, but the mechanisms underlying this link are poorly understood. Associative learning encompasses key mechanisms through which individuals learn to link important environmental inputs to emotional and behavioral responses. ACEs may impact the normative maturation of associative learning processes, resulting in their enduring maladaptive expression manifesting in psychopathology. In this review, we lay out a systematic and methodological overview and integration of the available evidence of the proposed association between ACEs and threat and reward learning processes. We summarize results from a systematic literature search (following PRISMA guidelines) which yielded a total of 81 articles (threat: n=38, reward: n=43). Across the threat and reward learning fields, behaviorally, we observed a converging pattern of aberrant learning in individuals with a history of ACEs, independent of other sample characteristics, specific ACE types, and outcome measures. Specifically, blunted threat learning was reflected in reduced discrimination between threat and safety cues, primarily driven by diminished responding to conditioned threat cues. Furthermore, attenuated reward learning manifested in reduced accuracy and learning rate in tasks involving acquisition of reward contingencies. Importantly, this pattern emerged despite substantial heterogeneity in ACE assessment and operationalization across both fields. We conclude that blunted threat and reward learning may represent a mechanistic route by which ACEs may become physiologically and neurobiologically embedded and ultimately confer greater risk for psychopathology. In closing, we discuss future directions for the research field, including methodological and ACE assessment considerations

How adverse childhood experiences get under the skin: A systematic review, integration and methodological discussion on threat and reward learning mechanisms.

&lt;p&gt;Abstract:&lt;br&gt;Exposure to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) is a major risk factor for the development of multiple psychopathological conditions, but the mechanisms underlying this link are poorly understood. Associative learning might reflect a key mechanism through which individuals learn to link important environmental inputs to emotional and behavioral responses. ACE exposure may impact the normative maturation of associative learning processes, resulting in their enduring maladaptive expression manifesting in psychopathology. To begin examining this hypothesis, in this review, we lay out a systematic and methodological overview and integration of the impact of ACEs on implicit threat and reward learning processes in experimental paradigms based on systematic literature (following PRISMA guidelines) which resulted in a total of 65 studies (threat: N=36, reward: N=29). Across the threat and reward learning fields, we observed a converging pattern of aberrant learning in individuals exposed to ACEs independent of sample characteristics, ACE subtypes, and outcome measures. Specifically, blunted threat learning was reflected in reduced discrimination between threat and safety cues, primarily driven by blunted responding to threat cues, while attenuated reward learning manifested in reduced accuracy and learning rate. Importantly, this pattern emerged despite substantial heterogeneity in ACE assessment and operationalization. We conclude that blunted threat and reward learning may represent two mechanistic routes by which ACEs may become neurobiologically embedded and ultimately confer greater risk for psychopathology. In closing, we discuss potentially fruitful future directions for the research field, including methodological and assessment considerations.&lt;/p&gt;The zip-folder contains the text, code, code, figures and tables necessary to create the manuscript with the title as indicated above. Please download the zip-folder and follow the instructions of the ReadMe-file to render the manuscript. This work was funded by the German Research foundation (DFG, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft) - GRK 2753/1 - Projektnummer 449640848 and DFG LO1980/4-1

Blind spots on western blots: assessment of common problems in western blot figures with recommendations to improve them

This project contains protocols, data and code for a meta-research project examining the prevalence of image display, data presentation and methodological reporting practices in original research articles in cell biology and neurosciences that include western blots. Papers were identified from the top 25% of journals in each field

Western blot: From gel to publication.

Western blotting is a standard laboratory method that uses antibodies to detect target proteins in a sample. (1) The sample, typically a mixture of proteins, is loaded on the gel. A molecular weight (MW) marker, which contains prelabeled proteins of varied, known molecular weights, is loaded on the gel alongside the protein sample as a size reference. (2) Gel electrophoresis is used to separate proteins based on their molecular weight. (3) The proteins are transferred, or “blotted”, onto a membrane. (4) The membrane is blocked to reduce nonspecific binding and then sequentially probed with a primary antibody that specifically binds to the protein of interest and a secondary antibody. The latter binds the primary antibody and carries an enzyme or a fluorophore that allows subsequent detection. (5) The signal is detected through a chemiluminescent reaction or fluorescence, respectively. (6) An image of the western blot is prepared for publication: Annotations are added and often the blot is cropped. For the unprocessed image, see S1 Fig.</p