Sociodemographic data were acquired from each patient by a self-constructed questionnaire targeting information on family, cultural background, and chronic diseases (Supplemental information, appendix A1). Anxiety and depression were assessed with several psychological questionnaires covering distinct dimensions of health-related and situational changes of emotional states. For the differential assessment of state and trait anxiety, the State–Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI, [
14]) was applied. The questionnaire allows for separate measures of state anxiety that may vary across time and trait anxiety, which is assumed to represent a rather stable personality trait. Symptoms of depression were assessed with the Beck Depression Inventory-Fast Screen (BDI-FS [
15]). The BDI-FS addresses symptoms of depression during the last two weeks. The questionnaire does not allow for a clinical diagnosis of major depression. Rather, it gives information on current and possibly varying symptoms of depression, including suicidal thoughts. Furthermore, the Hamilton Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS‑D, [
16]) was used for additional combined measures of both anxiety and depression. The questionnaire refers to symptoms of anxiety and depression during the last week. It includes fourteen items, with seven addressing depression and seven addressing anxiety such that separate scores can be calculated for each target emotional state. The HADS‑D does not allow for a clinical diagnosis of either major depression or anxiety disorders. To measure rapid changing situational states of affect, the Visual Analogue Emotion Scales (VAMS, [
17]) were used. The VAMS addresses eight situational affective states (anxiety, discomfort, sadness, anger, drive, tiredness, happiness, strain) and is particularly suitable to assess situational and daily emotions that may change rapidly across time. Target emotions are presented visually by emoticons and verbally by the respective emotional adjective. Patients indicate on a line drawn from neutral to the target emotion how intense they feel each affective state of interest. The VAMS does not allow for a clinical diagnosis of any emotional disorders. The level of general intelligence was measured with the Mehrfachwahl-Wortschatz test (MWT, [
18]). The MWT requires the discrimination between real words and pseudo-words, with ascending difficulty across items. It mainly gives information on the verbal IQ. However, successful accomplishment of the most difficult MWT items also depends on cognitive capacities (e.g., reasoning, monitoring, memory) that are rather independent of verbal abilities.