This spring, we were incredibly fortunate to host two international scholars who visited our group at Rowan University. Both are long-term collaborators with our team and attended our lab and/or project meetings during their stays. We got to share progress on these collaborative efforts, make additional progress during working meetings, and plan for next steps on multiple fronts. Read on for more about these scholars and team members’ experiences of their visits! (See here for a post on our first visitor, Dr. Jacqueline Mogle.)
Dr. Laura König (The University of Bayreuth; Kulmbach, Germany)
Dr. König is Junior Professor of Public Health Nutrition at the University of Bayreuth, Germany. She earned her Ph.D. in Health Psychology from the University of Konstanz, Germany. Before joining the University of Bayreuth in 2020, she was postdoctoral fellow at the University of Cambridge, U.K. Her research interests include psychological determinants of health behaviors including eating and physical activity, the design of health behavior interventions including digital and choice architecture interventions, research participation effects, and effective science communication. Her work has been funded by the German Research Foundation and the Bavarian Ministry of Health and Care and she is the recipient of the 2022 Early Career Award from the European Health Psychology Society.
Dr. König gave a Dean’s Distinguished Speaker lecture for the College of Science and Mathematics at Rowan on April 11, 2023: Using Mobile Technology to Understand and Improve Eating Behaviors. Watch her talk here.
CHASE Lab Members Reflect on Dr. König’s Talk (and Visit)
This international collaboration started on Twitter! The Humboldt Centre for International Excellence at Dr. König’s institution offers short- and long-term fellowships to bring researchers to Germany, to facilitate collaborative research projects and workshops. She advertised this opportunity on Twitter in 2020 – during the initial height of the COVID-19 pandemic – and I contacted her to express my interest. We discussed our shared interests in digital health tools and potential measurement reactivity; our proposal to examine measurement reactivity effects in studies that measure physical activity behavior with digital tools was selected for funding, and I spent three weeks in Germany in 2021. This time in residence led to two published papers (see here and here), an NIH grant proposal (which was funded), the design of a new study (currently in data collection), and reciprocal mentoring of Ph.D. students. While she was with us in New Jersey, we made progress on three projects about physical activity measurement reactivity, including our funded NIH grant (description here). We also got to spend time in Philadelphia, at the Jersey shore, and at our research space in Camden. It’s been a wonderful, supportive partnership and I’m so glad Dr. König was able to visit us at Rowan.
— Dr. Dani Arigo, CHASE Lab Director
Dr. König’s work is very relevant to what we do in the CHASE Lab, including both our research and clinical work. I was struck by the number of people who begin using dietary tracking tools but do not continue long term, and am so glad that we have scientists focusing on developing more accurate and sustainable methods of tracking using smartphones. Accurate measurement of these behaviors is so important to support scientific research, in terms of quantifying dietary intake, and to help individuals meet their health goals in daily life.
— Kiri Baga, 2nd year student in Rowan University’s Clinical Psychology Ph.D. program
I enjoyed the discussion and visualization of the vast differences in eating behavior and dietary options between the United States and other countries, especially from the perspective of a professional from Germany.
— Kristen Edwards, post-baccalaureate research assistant
Dr. König’s talk inspired a variety of questions. For example, she discussed the multiple assessment options for dietary intake and their respective strengths and limitations. Given that I have been working in an eating-focused clinic providing behavioral weight loss treatment this year, I couldn’t help but think about this in the context of helping patients to track their intake for weight loss or quality of life improvements. It has been my experience thus far that tracking diet to the fullest and most accurate extent is important for weight and health outcomes, but often becomes unsustainable long term; this may lead to weight regain or return to previous eating behaviors. However, this talk also reminded me that ultimately, we still have much to learn about optimal methods for certain populations and under certain circumstances. Whatever the method chosen, it is important to balance accuracy with burden to find something sustainable. I thoroughly enjoyed welcoming Dr. König to our CHASE Lab meetings, and in particular, collaborating with her on a project about perceptions of physical activity self-monitoring. It was really refreshing to hear her perspectives on our recent poster presented at the Society of Behavioral Medicine Conference at the end of April as well as her ideas for upcoming manuscripts!
— Kristen Pasko, 5th year student in Rowan University’s Clinical Psychology Ph.D. program and CHASE lab manager
I found it interesting that current technology is not able to accurately identify different types of food and dishes as well as portion amount.
— Iris Bercovitz, 1st year student in Rowan University’s Clinical Psychology Ph.D. program
It was wonderful to hear how far technology has come in supporting and analyzing eating behaviors, but surprising in how much further it still has to go (e.g., apps using a camera feature mixing up two different foods based on texture/color, not being able to estimate portion). It’s an exciting field and interesting how American and German portions, nutrition information, and food options may vary, yet technology presents an opportunity for research methods to span both cultures. And I won a Rowan College of Science and Math shirt! (Photo above.)
— Laura Travers, 4th year student in Rowan University’s Clinical Psychology Ph.D. program
I found it interesting that AI was being used to detect the types of food people were eating, however it was inaccurate at times and the researchers had to detect the food themselves. I wonder if one day AI will be used for further dietary research.
— Danielle Parthesius, undergraduate research assistant
I loved the way the talk was presented through details, colors, visuals of how technology has further advanced to where cultural differences in food options and nutrition information can be bridged through technology. Hearing about the variations in eating habits and dietary alternatives between the United States and Germany was really interesting to hear from Dr. König.
— Ria Singh, undergraduate research assistant
I enjoyed her use of visuals, diagrams and pictures and how she tied it into the idea of bridging the gap between different cultures and the “digital divide.” It was interesting to also get a different perspective from someone who has done her research in Germany, but has also collaborated with those in the United States.
–– Julia Lowman, undergraduate research assistant
As a coach-interventionist on a behavioral weight loss intervention, Dr. König’s talk was particularly salient. I have been reflecting on participant experiences using digital technology for daily food recording and believe that some of the methods Dr. König discussed (e.g., taking a picture of a plate of food, focusing on the composition of the plate vs. calories) could be great strategies for those who want to make lifestyle changes but find daily dietary tracking to be burdensome. I also learned about the “digital divide” and hope to investigate this more in the future.
— Dr. Gabrielle Salvatore, Postdoctoral Research Fellow
CHASE Lab with Dr. Laura König at her talk on 4/11.
We’ve been fortunate to host two outstanding scholars this semester, and we hope to continue this trend (and have Drs. König and Mogle back very soon). As always, stay tuned for the next steps in our collaborative research with them, including published papers and a presentation at the annual meeting of the European Health Psychology Society (September 2023).
This spring, we were incredibly fortunate to host two international scholars who visited our group at Rowan University. Both are long-term collaborators with our team and attended our lab and/or project meetings during their stays. We got to share progress on these collaborative efforts, make additional progress during working meetings, and plan for next steps on multiple fronts. Read on for more about these scholars and team members’ experiences of their visits!
First, Dr. Jacqueline Mogle (Clemson University, SC; USA)
Dr. Mogle is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at Clemson University. She received her Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology from Syracuse University and worked as an Assistant Research Professor at Penn State University, where she supported a variety of NIH funded projects focused on assessment of daily processes (including stress, cognitive functioning, and health). Dr. Mogle is an expert in the use of momentary assessment approaches, where individuals complete multiple surveys each day for several days to help us understand their real-world experiences of health and well-being. Using sophisticated statistical models, she has examined how daily stress processes relate to longer-term physiological and psychological health conditions. More recently she has focused on the assessment of daily cognitive problems as an early indicator of cognitive decline that is consistent with non-normative, age-related cognitive impairments such as Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias. Her measures of the daily experience of memory and attentional lapses are now incorporated into a dozen intensive assessments studies of cognitive aging, to determine their predictive utility for detecting early signs of cognitive decline before impairments impact independent living. Her work was recently featured by the National Institute on Aging and the Methods Matter dementia podcast.
CHASE Lab Members Reflect on Dr. Mogle’s Talk (and Visit More Broadly)
Dr. Mogle gave a wonderful presentation! One thing that stuck with me is how quickly the assessment technology changed during the course of studies (e.g., starting with Palm Pilots and moving to text messages), and how that advancement continues to shed light on the nuances of individual experiences.
— Laura Travers, 4th year student in Rowan University’s Clinical Psychology Ph.D. program
I really enjoyed learning about the application of ecological momentary assessment (probing participants about their experiences in real time during daily life) for cognitive performance and decline. This is a method we use in the CHASE lab to understand health and social experiences, but it can be exciting to learn about a variety of applications across research topics. Further, this talk spurred questions about the use of technology to support cognitive functioning. I was curious about how social media and technology use may turn into over-reliance on external methods of maintaining cognitive functioning, but Dr. Mogle framed technology use for this purpose as mostly positive and adaptive.
— Kristen Pasko, 5th year student in Rowan University’s Clinical Psychology PhD program and lab manager
It was great to learn about the importance of subjective cognitive experiences for detecting clinical outcomes: asking about subjective experiences may help us intervene earlier (rather than relying on cognitive testing to tell us about someone’s functioning)
— Kiri Baga, 2nd year student in Rowan University’s Clinical Psychology Ph.D. program
Something I found interesting was the differences between self-reported perceived cognitive decline versus results from standard cognitive questions. This made me curious about future implications for research about confounding variables in perceived cognitive decline.
— Kristen Edwards, post-baccalaureate research assistant
I was very interested in the finding that improvement in cognitive functioning lasted three days after a positive social experience that resulted in positive affect. This finding underlines the importance and lasting impact of social interactions for older adults.
— Iris Bercovitz, 1st year student in Rowan University’s Clinical Psychology Ph.D. program
I was intrigued by the thought that ambulatory tests may provide valuable insights into memory lapses. Lapses can occur in as many as 20-40% of days, depending on the sample. This is a significant finding because it shows us that ambulatory examinations can differentiate individuals who may be suffering cognitive issues, and times when they experience difficulties. (And I won a Rowan College of Science and Math hat! –> )
— Ria Singh, undergraduate research assistant
Something I found interesting was the focus on social support surrounding yourself with people in life (trying not to isolate). I did not realize the importance that had on people with cognitive decline. I used to think only medical intervention would help – it’s great to know that there are additional options.
— Julia Lowman, undergraduate research assistant
It was interesting to find out that Aducanumab, the medication that was previously thought to help dementia, was actually not effective at all. It makes me wonder what other medications we use will turn out to be ineffective in the long-run.
— Danielle Parthesius, undergraduate research assistant
Dr. Mogle was a wonderful presenter and it was very invigorating to listen to someone share the work they are passionate about. I paid particular attention to the methodology she was discussing, as ecological momentary assessment methods are often used in the CHASE Lab. I am particularly interested in affective valence, and learned that positive or pleasant experiences, as well as doing something you find to be enjoyable, are ways to improve or maintain cognitive functioning.
— Dr. Gabrielle Salvatore, Postdoctoral Research Fellow
The CHASE Lab with Dr. Mogle after her lecture (3/21)
Dr. Mogle and I have worked together for years, and having her visit was such a boost (for me individually and for the CHASE Lab). She’s an incredibly accomplished scholar who enjoys her work, and her energy is inspiring. In addition to her lecture (which was very well received), we were able to make progress on two distinct lines of work while she was here: our funded measurement reactivity project and a side project that combines both of our primary interests. Since her visit, we have continued to make progress on both, and we look forward to sharing the results with you.
— Dr. Dani Arigo, CHASE Lab Director
Stay tuned for the details of our second visit, from Dr. Laura König!
Clinical Health And Social Experiences Lab 