Embodiment und Enaktion: Ein neuer Ansatz in den empirischen Humanwissenschaften

In den empirischen Humanwissenschaften erhält zunehmend der Ansatz des Embodiment und des Enaktivismus Gewicht. Diese Perspektive betont die Tatsache, dass Psyche und Sprache stets in einen Körperbezug eingebettet sind, und kognitive Prozesse in ständiger sensomotorischer Wechselwirkung mit der Reizumwelt stehen. Diese paradigmatische Neuorientierung löst derzeit die kognitivistische “Computermetapher” des Geistes ab, wobei die wechselseitigen (reziproken, bidirektionalen) Wirkungen zwischen Kognition, Umwelt und Körper in den Fokus des Interesses rücken. Der Embodiment-Ansatz erbrachte bereits eine grosse Zahl von empirischen Befunden in der Psychologie, Neurowissenschaft und den Sozialwissenschaften. Ergebnisse zur interpersonalen Synchronie und zu emotionalen Ansteckungsphänomenen belegen die Verschränkung von Körper und Psyche im sozialen Austausch, das Embodiment des Individuums drückt sich in der facial-feedback Hypothese aus. Die kognitive Neurowissenschaft hat ebenfalls zum Embodiment-Ansatz beigetragen, etwa in Gestalt der enaktivistischen predictive coding-Theorie und durch die Erforschung des Spiegelneuronensystems. Die zusammenfassende Theorie der “4E Kognition” (Embodied, Enactive, Embedded, Extended) wird eingeführt und diskutiert. Keywords: 4E Cognition, bidirectionality, embodiment, enactivism, facial-feedback hypothesis, predictive coding, synchrony, 4E Kognition, Bidirektionalität, Enaktivismus, Verkörperun

The ‘Social Present’ in Interacting Dyads

AbstractThe therapeutic relationship is an important change factor in psychotherapy, and disordered communication is a core problem in many patients’ everyday functioning. Our research group has worked on measures of nonverbal behavior that can be used to evaluate social interaction. We performed a number of projects on this embodiment background, addressing nonverbal behavior in dyadic interaction processes in psychotherapy (104 therapy sessions of 70 patients) as well as healthy dyads discussing topics of general interest (two projects included 84 and 51 dyads, respectively). Nonverbal synchrony was assessed objectively using an automated video-analysis algorithm (Motion Energy Analysis, MEA) developed in our laboratory. All participants were unaware of the synchrony measure being assessed. In the initial psychotherapy project, we found the quality of interaction was embodied in the degree of nonverbal synchrony between therapist and patient. In healthy dyads, synchrony was related to the type of interaction and predicted the affective pleasantness of the conversations. This suggested that beyond the mere amount of movement, the degree of nonverbal synchrony between people was a pivotal predictor of features of the interaction, as well as an objective and sensitive indicator of the severity of patients’ problems. In general, social synchronization is an important, usually unattended, capacity that regulates social interaction and expresses the satisfaction with social exchange. Its analysis provides valuable insights into embodied social cognition and produces promising targets for psychotherapeutic and other interventions. Here we report on a recent elaboration based on MEA. This concerned our definition of a duration measure of the social present (’nowness’) of a dyad. The social present was defined as the size of the temporal window within which the nonverbal motion streams of interactands are significantly correlated. A pilot study showed that this duration has an extension of around 5 s. We discuss the associations of the social present with trait and state variables of the participants

Complexity Science in Human Change: Research, Models, Clinical Applications

Complexity and entropy prevail in human behavior and social interaction because the systems underlying behavior and interaction are, without a doubt, highly complex [...

Beyond dyadic coupling: The method of multivariate Surrogate Synchrony (mv-SUSY)

Measuring interpersonal synchrony is a promising approach to assess the complexity of social interaction, which however has been mostly limited to dyads. In this study, we introduce multivariate Surrogate Synchrony (mv-SUSY) to extend the current set of computational methods. Methods: mv-SUSY was applied to eight datasets consisting of 10 time series each, all with n = 9600 observations. Datasets 1 to 5 consist of simulated time series with the following characteristics: white noise (dataset 1), non-stationarity with linear time trends (dataset 2), autocorrelation (dataset 3), oscillation (dataset 4), and multivariate correlation (dataset 5). Datasets 6 to 8 comprise empirical multivariate movement data of two individuals (datasets 6 and 7) and between members of a group discussion (dataset 8.) Results: As hypothesized, findings of mv-SUSY revealed absence of synchrony in datasets 1 to 4 and presence of synchrony in dataset 5. In the empirical datasets, mv-SUSY indicated significant movement synchrony. These results were predominantly replicated by two well-established dyadic synchrony approaches, Surrogate Synchrony (SUSY) and Surrogate Concordance (SUCO). Conclusions: The study applied and evaluated a novel synchrony approach, mv-SUSY. We demonstrated the feasibility and validity of estimating multivariate nonverbal synchrony within and between individuals by mv-SUSY

Change Mechanisms of Schema-Centered Group Psychotherapy with Personality Disorder Patients

Background This study addressed the temporal properties of personality disorders and their treatment by schema-centered group psychotherapy. It investigated the change mechanisms of psychotherapy using a novel method by which psychotherapy can be modeled explicitly in the temporal domain. Methodology and Findings 69 patients were assigned to a specific schema-centered behavioral group psychotherapy, 26 to social skills training as a control condition. The largest diagnostic subgroups were narcissistic and borderline personality disorder. Both treatments offered 30 group sessions of 100 min duration each, at a frequency of two sessions per week. Therapy process was described by components resulting from principal component analysis of patients' session-reports that were obtained after each session. These patient-assessed components were Clarification, Bond, Rejection, and Emotional Activation. The statistical approach focused on time-lagged associations of components using time-series panel analysis. This method provided a detailed quantitative representation of therapy process. It was found that Clarification played a core role in schema-centered psychotherapy, reducing rejection and regulating the emotion of patients. This was also a change mechanism linked to therapy outcome. Conclusions/Significance The introduced process-oriented methodology allowed to highlight the mechanisms by which psychotherapeutic treatment became effective. Additionally, process models depicted the actual patterns that differentiated specific diagnostic subgroups. Time-series analysis explores Granger causality, a non-experimental approximation of causality based on temporal sequences. This methodology, resting upon naturalistic data, can explicate mechanisms of action in psychotherapy research and illustrate the temporal patterns underlying personality disorders

Measuring Mindfulness: First Steps Towards the Development of a Comprehensive Mindfulness Scale

The present study describes the development of and results obtained from the first version of a new mindfulness scale: the Comprehensive Inventory of Mindfulness Experiences beta (CHIME-β). The aim of the present analysis was to investigate two relevant open questions in mindfulness assessment: (1) the coverage of aspects of mindfulness and (2) the type of interrelationships among these aspects. A review of the aspects of mindfulness assessed by eight currently available mindfulness questionnaires led to the identification of nine aspects of mindfulness. The CHIME-β was constructed in order to cover each of these aspects in a balanced way. Initially, principal component and confirmatory factor analyses, as well as reliability and validity analyses, were performed in the entire sample (n = 313) of individuals from the general population and mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) groups. The factor structure that emerged from this analysis was further investigated in meditation-trained individuals (n = 144) who had just completed an MBSR intervention. Results suggested a four-factor structure underlying the nine aspects proposed. The relationship between these mindfulness factors appears to be influenced by the degree of meditation experience. In fact, the mindfulness factors showed a greater interconnectedness among mediation-trained participants. Finally, data suggest that a non-avoidant stance plays a central role in mindfulness, while the capacity to put inner experiences into words may be related to mindfulness rather than a component of the construc

Cross-correlation- and entropy-based measures of movement synchrony: Non-convergence of measures leads to different associations with depressive symptoms

Background: Several algorithms have been proposed to quantify synchronization. However, little is known about their convergent and predictive validity. Methods: The sample included 30 persons who completed a manualized interview focusing on psychosomatic symptoms. The intensity of body motions was measured using motion-energy analysis. We computed several measures of movement synchrony based on the time series of the interviewer and participant: mutual information, windowed cross-recurrence analysis, cross-correlation, rMEA, SUSY, SUCO, WCLC–PP and WCLR–PP. Depressive symptoms were assessed with the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ9). Results: According to the explorative factor analyses, all the variants of cross-correlation and all the measures of SUSY, SUCO and rMEA–WCC led to similar synchrony measures and could be assigned to the same factor. All the mutual-information measures, rMEA–WCLC, WCLC–PP–F, WCLC–PP–R2, WCLR–PP–F, and WinCRQA–DET loaded on the second factor. Depressive symptoms correlated negatively with WCLC–PP–F and WCLR–PP–F and positively with rMEA–WCC, SUCO–ES–CO, and MI–Z. Conclusion: More standardization efforts are needed because different synchrony measures have little convergent validity, which can lead to contradictory conclusions concerning associations between depressive symptoms and movement synchrony using the same dataset

Embodiment und Wirkfaktoren in Therapie, Beratung und Coaching

Die Kognitionswissenschaften betonen die Zusammenhänge und Wechselwirkungen zwischen geistigen und körperlichen Prozessen und deren Einbettung in die soziale und physikalische Umwelt („Embodiment“). Dieser An- satz erbringt Implikationen für das Verständnis von sozialer Interaktion, die durch körperliche Synchronie und allgemeine Wirkfaktoren gekennzeichnet ist. Auf Ba- sis der Forschung zeigt sich, dass Psychotherapie, Beratung, Coaching und Lehr- Lern-Prozesse als Tätigkeiten im Bereich des sozialen Lernens in analoger Weise mit der Verkörperung des Geistes und den therapeutischen Wirkfaktoren in Bezie- hung stehen. Die Therapeutenfaktoren von resilienter Abstinenz und Achtsamkeit kennzeichnen auch das lösungsorientierte Coaching

Gait patterns and mood in everyday life: A comparison between depressed patients and non-depressed controls

Background Previous laboratory findings suggest deviant gait characteristics in depressed individuals (i.e., reduced walk- ing speed and vertical up-and-down movements, larger lateral swaying movements, slumped posture). However, since most studies to date assessed gait in the laboratory, it is largely an open question whether this association also holds in more naturalistic, everyday life settings. Thus, within the current study we (1) aimed at replicating these results in an everyday life and (2) investigated whether gait characteristics could predict change in current mood. Methods Werecruitedasampleofpatients(n=35)sufferingfrommajordepressivedisorderandasampleofageandgender matched non-depressed controls (n = 36). During a 2-day assessment we continuously recorded gait patterns, general move- ment intensity and repetitively assessed the participant’s current mood. Results We replicated previous laboratory results and found that patients as compared to non-depressed controls showed reduced walking speed and reduced vertical up-and-down movements, as well as a slumped posture during everyday life episodes of walking. Moreover, independent of clinical diagnoses, higher walking speed, and more vertical up-and-down movements significantly predicted more subsequent positive mood, while changes in mood did not predict subsequent changes in gait patterns. Conclusion In sum, our results support expectations that embodiment (i.e., the relationship between bodily expression of emotion and emotion processing itself) in depression is also observable in naturalistic settings, and that depression is bodily manifested in the way people walk. The data further suggest that motor displays affect mood in everyday life

Growth curves of common factors in psychotherapy: Multilevel growth modelling and outcome analysis.

OBJECTIVE A large body of literature discusses change mechanisms underlying psychotherapy with an emphasis on common factors. The present study examined how different comprehensive common factors change over the course of therapy and whether this change was associated with clinical outcome at discharge. METHOD Three hundred forty-eight adults (mean age = 32.1, SD = 10.6; 64% female) attended a standardized 14-week day-clinic psychotherapy program. They provided longitudinal data on common factors based on weekly assessments. Additionally, pre- and post-assessment questionnaires on clinical outcome were completed. Using multilevel modelling, we predicted common factors by time (week in therapy). Multiple linear regression models tested the association between changes in common factors and clinical outcome. RESULTS The common factor 'Therapeutic Alliance' was best fitted by linear growth models, whereas models for the common factors 'Coping', 'Cognitive Integration' and 'Affective Processing' indicated logarithmic changes over time. 'Coping', that is change in patients' ability to cope with their individual problems, was most closely linked with outcome. CONCLUSIONS The present study provides evidence for the changeability of common factors over the course of therapy as well as their specific contributions to psychotherapeutic progress