Drawing upon the challenge-hindrance framework and activation theory, this study investigated the quadratic relationship of daily time pressure with daily work engagement and daily affect. Moreover, the moderating role of sensation seeking in these relationships was investigated. Over two consecutive work weeks (10 work days), participants answered questionnaires on their time pressure, work engagement, positive affect, and negative affect. Data of 133 workers were analysed using hierarchical linear modelling. Random slopes analyses revealed a linear main effect of time pressure on work engagement after controlling for other variables. A linear main effect was also identified for negative affect. For work engagement and negative affect, cross-level interactions of time pressure and sensation seeking were found. The relationship between time pressure and work engagement was positive for high sensation seekers, whereas no relationship was found for low sensation seekers. Moreover, the results revealed a positive linear relationship between time pressure and negative affect for low sensation seekers and a U-shaped relationship for high sensation seekers. The findings contribute to the ongoing discussion on the challenging and hindering effects of time pressure, highlighting that it may depend on employees' sensation seeking disposition whether time pressure acts as a challenge or a hindrance demand.

Information about heading direction is critical for navigation as it provides the means to orient ourselves in space. However, given that veridical head-direction signals require physical rotation of the head and most human neuroimaging experiments depend upon fixing the head in position, little is known about how the human brain is tuned to such heading signals. Here we adress this by asking 52 healthy participants undergoing simultaneous electroencephalography and motion tracking recordings (split into two experiments) and 10 patients undergoing simultaneous intracranial electroencephalography and motion tracking recordings to complete a series of orientation tasks in which they made physical head rotations to target positions. We then used a series of forward encoding models and linear mixed-effects models to isolate electrophysiological activity that was specifically tuned to heading direction. We identified a robust posterior central signature that predicts changes in veridical head orientation after regressing out confounds including sensory input and muscular activity. Both source localization and intracranial analysis implicated the medial temporal lobe as the origin of this effect. Subsequent analyses disentangled head-direction signatures from signals relating to head rotation and those reflecting location-specific effects. Lastly, when directly comparing head direction and eye-gaze-related tuning, we found that the brain maintains both codes while actively navigating, with stronger tuning to head direction in the medial temporal lobe. Together, these results reveal a taxonomy of population-level head-direction signals within the human brain that is reminiscent of those reported in the single units of rodents. How do we orient ourselves in space? Using electroencephalography and intracranial electroencephalography, Griffiths et al. identify a complex network of brain regions that track head direction in free-moving human participants.

Zusammenfassung: Theoretischer Hintergrund: Das Ziel der vorliegenden Studie war es, eine deutschsprachige Adaptation der Bergen Study Addiction Scale (BStAS), einer Skala zur Erfassung von exzessivem Studierverhalten, zu entwickeln und zu validieren. Methode: Die Daten von 615 Studierenden wurden analysiert. Die Dimensionalität der BStAS wurde mittels konfirmatorischer Faktorenanalyse überprüft. Außerdem wurden Korrelations- und hierarchische Regressionsanalysen durchgeführt, um Zusammenhänge von exzessivem Studierverhalten mit Persönlichkeit und Gesundheit zu untersuchen. Ergebnisse: Der Vergleich mit Dynamic Fit Index Cutoffs deutete auf eine moderate Missspezifikation des einfaktoriellen Modells hin. Wie erwartet war exzessives Studierverhalten positiv mit wöchentlichen Lernstunden, Neurotizismus, wahrgenommenem Stress, psychosomatischen Beschwerden und Schlafproblemen assoziiert und hing negativ mit Lebenszufriedenheit zusammen. Schlussfolgerung: Es ist fraglich, ob alle Items der BStAS Aspekte einer Verhaltenssucht erfassen. Die Ergebnisse legen dennoch nahe, dass die BStAS ein Studierverhalten misst, das in Bezug auf physische und psychische Gesundheit von Relevanz ist.

Background: The present study develops and validates a German adaptation of the Bergen Study Addiction Scale (BStAS), a questionnaire used for assessing excessive studying behavior. Methods: We analyzed data from 615 students. We examined the dimensionality of the BStAS using confirmatory factor analysis. Moreover, we conducted correlation and hierarchical regression analyses to investigate associations of excessive studying behavior with personality and health. Results: The comparison with dynamic fit index cutoffs indicated a moderate misspecification of the single-factor model. As expected, excessive studying behavior was positively associated with weekly learning hours, neuroticism, perceived stress, psychosomatic complaints, and sleep problems, and negatively related to life satisfaction. Conclusions: It is questionable whether all items of the BStAS capture aspects of behavioral addiction. Nevertheless, the results indicate that the BStAS measures a studying behavior relevant to physical and mental health.

Although sensation seeking (SS) may be a highly relevant trait in the occupational context, it is still understudied in the field of work and organizational psychology. Probably, one reason is the lack of an appropriate SS instrument for the work context. We therefore developed a scale that measures work-related SS. Results based on a sample of 304 workers provided evidence for the convergent and discriminant validity of the instrument. In an independent sample of 271 workers, confirmatory factor analyses supported a bifactor structure with a global SS factor and three specific domain factors (tension seeking, adrenaline seeking, and heartbeat increase seeking). Based on bifactor indices, essential unidimensionality of the instrument could be assumed. Work-related SS was positively associated with increasing challenging job demands, and a moderating effect of task variety on the relationship between work-related SS and job satisfaction was found. SS was not associated with the number of past job terminations. Overall, the findings indicate that SS may be relevant with regard to workers' proactive work behaviors and job attitudes. The Need for Sensations at Work Scale (NSWS) now provides a promising measurement instrument to further investigate SS in the work context.