Nicolas Koranyi

• Dr.
• Clinical Psychologist at Praxis für Psychotherapie Leipzig

Study Objectives Persistent insomnia disorder (pID) is linked to neurocognitive decline and increased risk of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) in later life. However, research in this field often utilizes self-reported sleep quality data - which may be biased by sleep misperception - or uses extensive neurocognitive test batteries - which are often not fea...

The Reaction Time-Based Concealed Information Test (RT-CIT) was designed to detect familiarity with crime-related information. However, RT-CIT results can be manipulated by preparing innocent-looking responses for these probes. We developed a new paradigm allowing us to assess such response preparation processes. In each trial of the task, a crime-...

When individuals suppress secret information, they should keep this omission in mind to not let this information slip out in future situations. Following recent findings about automatic memory retrieval of outright lies, we hypothesized that suppression tendencies are also automatically retrieved from memory when being confronted with a question to...

Research with implicit measures has been criticized for an unclear meaning of the term “implicit”, inadequate psychometric properties, as well as problems regarding internal validity and low predictive validity of implicit measures. To these criticisms, we add an overly restrictive theoretical focus and research agenda that is limited to the narrow...

Background: There is an ongoing discussion about the addictive strength of caffeine. According to the incentive-sensitization theory, the development and the maintenance of drug addiction is the result of a selective sensitization of brain regions that are relevant for wanting without a corresponding increase in liking. Dissociations of wanting and...

We investigated automatic retrieval of the knowledge of having lied or having told the truth to a question, depending on (a) the quality of the statement (true vs. false response) and (b) the overall proportion of (dis-)honest responses. We therefore manipulated the proportion of lies and truths being told in an oral interview. Automatic retrieval...

Trust between couples is a prerequisite for stable and satisfactory romantic relationships. However, there has been no valid research tool to assess partner-specific trust behavior including costly investments in the trustworthiness of the romantic partner. We here present a comprehensive validation of the newly developed Trust Game for Couples (TG...

Two decades ago, the introduction of the Implicit Association Test (IAT) sparked enthusiastic reactions. With implicit measures like the IAT, researchers hoped to finally be able to bridge the gap between self-reported attitudes on one hand and behavior on the other. Twenty years of research and several meta-analyses later, however, we have to conc...

Background and objectives: According to incentive-sensitization theory (IST), addiction is characterized by the decoupling of two subconsciously operating psychological processes 'wanting' (i.e., incentive salience) and 'liking' (i.e., sensory pleasure). The present study set out to test predictions derived from IST in the context of smoking addic...

Whenever individuals reveal personally relevant information to a stranger, they have to remember their self-disclosure for future interactions. Relying on instance-based theories of automaticity, we hypothesized that knowledge about having revealed private information to someone unfamiliar is retrieved automatically whenever this person is encounte...

Previous research has shown that stimulus–response (SR) binding and retrieval processes also occur when responses are only observed in another person (Giesen et al., 2014). Importantly, this effect depends on the two individuals interacting interdependently during the task (e.g., competition or cooperation). Interdependence, however, must not neces...

Previous research has shown that stimulus-response (S-R) binding and retrieval processes also occur when responses are only observed in another person (Giesen, Herrmann, & Rothermund, 2014). Importantly, this effect depends on the two individuals interacting interdependently during the task (e.g., competition or cooperation). Interdependence, howev...

Romantic relationships and offspring are discussed as anxiety buffers in terror management processes. We examined the relationship between these possible buffers and tested whether romantic relationships reduce existential threat due to reproduction opportunities or if they represent a distinct anxiety buffer. Contrary to our initial expectations,...

Ruminating about sleep problems and negatively-valenced thinking play a key role in the maintenance of sleep complaints in patients with insomnia. Based on associative learning principles, we hypothesized that repeated co-occurrence of negative thoughts (unconditioned stimulus) and the bedroom environment (conditioned stimulus) results in automatic...

Reminders of existential threat increase people’s desire for offspring. In line with terror management theory, we explain these effects by the motivation to transcend the self via offspring which complements biological accounts of reproduction motivation under threat. Accordingly, Study 1 shows that mortality salience increases self-transcendence m...

Background and objectives: We examined the implicit affective mechanisms underlying provision of support in intimate dyads. Specifically, we hypothesized that in individuals with high relationship satisfaction, the perception that one’s partner is stressed leads to increased implicit positive attitudes toward communal goals. In turn, this change in...

Models of reciprocity imply that cheater detection is an important prerequisite for successful social exchange. Considering the fundamental role of memory in reciprocal exchange, these theories lead to the prediction that memory for cheaters should be preferentially enhanced. Here, we examine whether information of a partner’s previous behavior in...

Initiating and maintaining an intimate relationship means to live an interdependent life in which conflicts of interest are unavoidable. The occurrence and the impact of those conflicts are minimized to the degree to which individuals are motivated and able to put their own goals aside and accommodate to their partner's needs. In the present resear...

In order not be revealed as a liar, individuals have to remain aware of previously having lied to a question. Using the framework of instance-based theories of automaticity, we hypothesized that knowledge about having lied to a certain question can be retrieved automatically from long-term memory when the critical question is encountered again. In...

Individuals who are motivated to find a romantic partner do not only have to detect desirable mating options, but also have to prevent becoming committed to attractive but unpromising contacts. We thus propose that an acquisition of highly positive evaluations of already romantically committed opposite-sex others is prevented by adaptive self-regul...

In order not be revealed as a liar, individuals have to maintain fabrications over longer periods of time. The present research examined the underlying cognitive mechanisms of successfully maintaining fabrications. Using the framework of instance-based theories of automaticity, we hypothesized that knowledge about having lied to a certain question...

Previous conceptualizations and assessments of coping in intimate relationships focused predominately on intentional and strategic processes (e.g., expressing solidarity). The research presented here examines automatic regulatory mechanisms operating in the service of dyadic coping. Specifically, we tested the hypothesis that stress of one partner...

Individuals who are motivated to find a romantic partner do not only have to detect desirable mating options but also have to prevent becoming committed to attractive but unpromising contacts. We thus propose that an acquisition of highly positive evaluations of already romantically committed opposite-sex others is prevented by self-regulatory proc...

We investigated processes of truth validation during reading. Participants responded to ‘true’ and ‘false’ probes after reading simple true or false sentences. Compatible sentence/probe combinations (true/‘true’, false/‘false’) facilitated responding compared with incompatible combinations (true/‘false’, false/‘true’), indicating truth validation....

Attention is automatically captured by pictures of physically attractive faces. Although helpful for mate detection, a chronic attentional bias towards attractive opposite-sex faces interferes with relationship initiation because it detracts from the current choice. Therefore, we hypothesized that an orienting of attention to attractive opposite-se...

In order to maintain a satisfying committed relationship, individuals have to cope successfully with stressors, especially those that concern both partners (i.e., dyadic stress). The aim of our study is to investigate automatic up-regulation of interpersonal trust as an adaptive response to relationship challenges. In three experiments, we manipula...

The present research analyzed automatic self-regulation during mate searching. Specifically, we tested the hypothesis that in a dating context, individuals who are currently looking for a mate show increased automatic attention allocation (focusing effect) to faces of opposite-sex others who display signs of reciprocal romantic interest. We tested...

Recent research on the effects of personal threat suggests that perceived threat might enhance proenvironmental behavior when pro-environmental norms are in focus. In three experiments we found support for the latter assumption, showing that mortality salience and salience of pro-environmental norms interacted in predicting pro-environmental attitu...

Personal threat might hamper the resolution of intergroup conflicts involving terrorist violence by increasing stereotypic thinking towards outgroups associated with terrorism. This is indicated in research showing that existential personal threat elicits more positive evaluations of stereotype consistent and more negative evaluations of stereotype...

Personal threat might hamper the resolution of intergroup conflicts involving terrorist violence by increasing stereotypic thinking towards outgroups associated with terrorism. This is indicated in research showing that existential personal threat elicits more positive evaluations of stereotype consistent and more negative evaluations of stereotype...

Research on terror management theory (TMT) illustrates that following mortality salience (MS) people defend their cultural worldviews and bolster self-esteem to transcend death. Recently, research additionally showed that MS increased self-reports of the number of children desired in Dutch men but not in Dutch women. We conducted three studies to f...