Abteilung Psychologie
BILDa Lab (Bielefeld Intensive Longitudinal Data Lab)
In the BILDa Center, we investigate the dynamic relationships between experiential, behavioural, biophysiological, and situational factors in ecological settings of people's everyday lives. This involves ambulatory assessments using the experience sampling methodology/ecological momentary assessment to administer questionnaires and a variety of sensors to measure physical activity and sleep (accelerometry), cardiac activity (electrocardiography) or ambient light. In our research, we mainly focus on within-individual processes that unfold over time.
Research topics
- Physical Activity, Autonomic Nervous System Regulation, and Mental Health
Physical activity, and exercise in particular, is associated with improved affective wellbeing. We are interested in how physical activity interventions need to be designed in order to be applicable in everyday life and to be as effective as possible for the sustainable improvement of affective well-being and mental health. We are also investigating how the relationship between physical activity and affective wellbeing is linked to autonomic nervous system regulation.
- Sleep Health
Sleep is an essential component for a healthy life, including mental health. Away from the laboratory, we are investigating how mental and lifestyle factors relate to people's sleep in their everyday lives and how sleep health can be improved.
- Self-control and Wellbeing in Real Life
Self-control plays a role in many areas of life - including learning, health behaviours or interpersonal relationships. We investigate how different self-control processes are related to goal attainment and psychological wellbeing in daily life.
- Analysis of Intensive Longitudinal Data
Intensive longitudinal data is typically analysed with multilevel models, network analyses, or multilevel structural equation models with autoregressive effects (e.g., dynamic structural equation modelling). Here, the separation of between- and within-individual effects is particularly important to us. We focus on three main aspects: (1) the investigation of state and trait components using models of the revised latent state-trait theory for intensive longitudinal data, (2) the assessment of statistical properties for such models including the development of novel fit indices, and (3) the analysis of causal effects of (ecological) interventions on state, traits, and variability parameters. We aim to further develop existing methods to create new possibilities in the analysis of intensive longitudinal data.
Services
- Ambulatory Assessment Consultation
- Intensive Longitudinal Data Analysis Consultation
Lab Equipment
- Activinsights GeneActiv accelerometers
- Actigraph wGT3X-BT accelerometers
- Polar H10 heart rate monitors
- Movisens ecgMove4 accelerometers with integrated electrocardiography
- Movisens lightMove4 accelerometers with integrated light sensors
- Lab phones with Android operating system
- Actigraph LEAP accelerometers/photopletysmographs
- LYS light sensors
- FreeStyle Libre Pro IQ for continuous glucose measurement
Publications
Hachenberger, J., Teuber, Z., Li, Y.-M., Abkai, L., Wild, E., & Lemola, S. (2023). Investigating associations between physical activity, stress experience, and affective wellbeing during an examination period using experience sampling and accelerometry. Scientific Reports, 13(1), 8808. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-35987-8
Hachenberger, J., Li, Y.-M., Siniatchkin, M., Hermenau, K., Ludyga, S., & Lemola, S. (2023). Heart Rate Variability’s Association with Positive and Negative Affect in Daily Life: An Experience Sampling Study with Continuous Daytime Electrocardiography over Seven Days. Sensors, 23(2), 966. https://doi.org/10.3390/s23020966
Li, Y.-M., Hachenberger, J., & Lemola, S. (2022). The Role of the Context of Physical Activity for Its Association with Affective Well-Being: An Experience Sampling Study in Young Adults. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(17), 10468. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191710468
Hachenberger, J., Li, Y., & Lemola, S. (2023). Physical activity, sleep and affective wellbeing on the following day: An experience sampling study. Journal of Sleep Research, 32(2), e13723. https://doi.org/10.1111/jsr.13723
Li, Y.-M., Konstabel, K., Mõttus, R., & Lemola, S. (2022). Temporal associations between objectively measured physical activity and depressive symptoms: An experience sampling study. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 13, 920580. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.920580
Hachenberger, J., Baron, S., Schabus, M., & Lemola, S. (2025). The role of objective sleep duration, continuity, and architecture for subjective sleep perception: Findings from an intensive longitudinal study using heart-rate variability to infer objective sleep indicators. Sleep Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sleep.2025.02.040
Hachenberger, J., Mayer, A., Kerkhoff, D., Eyssel, F., Fries, S., Lonsdorf, T. B., ...& Lemola, S. (2025). Within-subject reliability, occasion specificity, and validity of fluctuations of the Stroop and go/no-go tasks in ecological momentary assessment. Behavior Research Methods, 57(1), 1-18. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-024-02567-1
Werner, A., Hachenberger, J., Spiegelhalder, K., Rueth, J. E., Schlarb, A. A., Lohaus, A., & Lemola, S. (2025). Subjective sleep quality, but not objective sleep measures, mediates the relationship between pre‐sleep worrying and affective wellbeing.
Journal of Sleep Research, e14467. https://doi.org/10.1111/jsr.14467