Immediate and delayed memory tasks: A computerized behavioral measure of memory, attention, and impulsivity

The Immediate and Delayed Memory Task (IMT/DMT), a variant of the Continuous Performance Test (CPT), is a new software package designed to be a flexible research tool for the study of attention, memory, and impulsivity. This package allows researchers to determine the design to be used during a testing session and to manipulate many of the parameters. It features two components: the IMT and the DMT, both of which present sequential 2- to 7-digit stimuli with variable presentation rates and intertrial intervals. Subjects respond to identically matched stimuli presented consecutively, spanning a brief period of time (IMT), or to stimuli spanning a greater period of time (during which intervening stimuli to be ignored appear; DMT). Task complexity can be adjusted to suit applications for both children and adults. Preliminary studies have demonstrated that these laboratory tasks are sensitive to group differences, produce stable baselines of performance, and are sensitive to drug-induced performance decrements.     

Instance-based learning: integrating sampling and repeated decisions from experience

In decisions from experience, there are 2 experimental paradigms: sampling and repeated-choice. In the sampling paradigm, participants sample between 2 options as many times as they want (i.e., the stopping point is variable), observe the outcome with no real consequences each time, and finally select 1 of the 2 options that cause them to earn or lose money. In the repeated-choice paradigm, participants select 1 of the 2 options for a fixed number of times and receive immediate outcome feedback that affects their earnings. These 2 experimental paradigms have been studied independently, and different cognitive processes have often been assumed to take place in each, as represented in widely diverse computational models. We demonstrate that behavior in these 2 paradigms relies upon common cognitive processes proposed by the instance-based learning theory (IBLT; Gonzalez, Lerch, & Lebiere, 2003) and that the stopping point is the only difference between the 2 paradigms. A single cognitive model based on IBLT (with an added stopping point rule in the sampling paradigm) captures human choices and predicts the sequence of choice selections across both paradigms. We integrate the paradigms through quantitative model comparison, where IBLT outperforms the best models created for each paradigm separately. We discuss the implications for the psychology of decision making.     

The involvement of executive functions in prospective memory performance of adults

The present study examines the relationship between prospective memory performance and executive functioning. The four phases of the prospective memory process—intention formation, intention retention, reinstantiation of the intention, and intention execution—are assumed to require different amounts of executive processing, most of which is demanded in the phases of intention formation and intention execution. At present, though, it is still unclear whether, and to what extent, prefrontal executive systems are involved in different kinds of prospective memory tasks, as some findings suggest that prospective memory might rather rely on nonstrategic processes that are unlikely to depend on prefrontal executive systems. Therefore, this study focuses on the following questions: (1) to what degree does executive functioning predict prospective memory performance in different standard prospective memory tasks and, furthermore, are certain executive measures better predictors than others; (2) are age‐related effects in different prospective memory measures due to individual differences in executive functioning; and (3) do age‐related differences in prospective memory exist that are not explained by individual differences in executive functioning. In a sample of 80 adults (20‐80 years), we applied four instruments to measure prospective memory: a traditional single‐task paradigm, two more complex tasks—one time‐based and one event‐based—and a highly complex multi‐task paradigm. We further assessed a broadly defined construct of executive functioning using several standard neuropsychological tests. Results showed that executive functioning did not predict performance in the simple single‐task paradigm. However, executive functioning, but not age, predicted performance in the two more complex standard tests of prospective remembering, and both executive functioning and age predicted performance in the most complex paradigm. In sum, the obtained data underline the assumption that frontal/ executive functions are related to prospective memory performance across a range of prospective paradigms. It also seems clear that age differences in prospective memory performance partially depend on age‐related individual differences in frontal/executive functions.     

Different cognitive processes in two image-scanning paradigms

Mental image scanning is generally assumed to be a single process that allows people to shift attention across visualized objects. However, this implicit assumption is open to question. We report a set of three experiments based on the tasks originally designed by Kosslyn, Ball, and Reiser (1978) and Finke and Pinker (1982). Participants scanned the identical images of an array of dots in the two tasks. Nevertheless, the participants required more time to shift their focus over the imaged stimulus in the Kosslyn et al. (1978) paradigm. Moreover, correlational analyses revealed no consistent relationship between the slopes of the increases in scanning times with increasing distances in the two paradigms. We conclude that in the Kosslyn et al. (1978) paradigm, the participants draw primarily on transformational processes to scan, whereas in the Finke and Pinker (1982) paradigm, they draw primarily on attentional processes. Both processes, transforming the image and shifting an attention window, produce linear increases in time with increases in distance, but for different reasons.     

Individual differences within and across attentional blink tasks revisited

When the second of two targets (T2) is presented in close temporal proximity (within 200–500 ms) to the first (T1), the accuracy for reporting T2 is reduced relative to when the targets are separated by longer durations; this effect is known as the attentional blink (AB). Two recent studies have shown that individual differences in the magnitudes of the AB are stable both within a single testing session and over time. While one study found a large positive correlation between AB magnitudes when there was an attentional-set/task switch between T1 and T2 and when there was not, the other study found no relationship between the switch and no-switch paradigms. The present study was conducted to clarify this discrepancy by examining the reliability of, and relationships among, individual differences in AB performance on five different versions of the standard dual-target RSVP paradigm, three of which involved an attentional-set/task switch between T1 and T2, and two of which did not. Participants completed all five paradigms, and then returned 7–10 days later to again complete the same paradigms. The performance on all five versions was reliable both within and across testing sessions, demonstrating again that individual differences in AB performance are stable over time. In addition, all five AB versions were significantly intercorrelated, although the strengths of the relationships differed depending on the extent to which the T1 and T2 attentional sets/tasks overlapped. These findings provide evidence that multiple distinct dual-target RSVP tasks do share underlying variability, providing support for the use of different versions of the paradigm in the literature.     

Plan formation, retention, and execution in prospective memory: A new approach and age-related effects

Existing laboratory paradigms of prospective memory instruct subjects to remember to perform a single, isolated act at an appropriate point in the experiment. These paradigms do not completely capture many everyday complex prospective memory situations in which a series or set of delayed actions is planned to be executed in some subsequent period of time. We adapted a laboratory paradigm within which to study these prospective memory processes, and we investigated age-related influences on these prospective memory processes. Age-related declines were found in the planning, initiation, and execution of the set of tasks. In contrast, there were no age differences in plan retention or in the fidelity with which the plan was performed.     

Comparisons of women with high and low trait impulsivity using behavioral models of response-disinhibition and reward-choice

Two types of behavioral models of impulsive behavior, response-disinhibition/attentional and reward-choice response models, were used to compare women grouped by high (Impulse+, n=43) and low (Impulse−, n=43) self-reported impulsive behavior on the Eysenck I₇ Questionnaire. Two of the four different tasks tested were response-disinhibition/attentional models; these included the Immediate and Delayed Memory Task and the GoStop Task. The other two tasks were based on the reward-choice model of impulsivity and included the Single Key Impulsivity Paradigm and the Two-Choice Reward Task. Of particular interest was whether commission errors (response-disinhibition/attentional paradigms) or a preference for smaller–sooner rewards over larger–later rewards (reward-choice) would differ between the groups. Participants completed one session of each task in a single day. The most significant findings were that the Impulse+ group had: (1) elevated commission errors; (2) lower stimulus discriminability (between target and catch stimuli); and (3) poorer response inhibition to a stop signal. Responding on the response-disinhibition/attentional tasks distinguished between the impulsivity groups while the reward-choice tasks did not. These results demonstrate that women who report higher levels of trait impulsivity respond in a manner consistent with previous studies examining impulsive behavior.     

错误记忆研究范式评介

文章概括评介了当前错误记忆研究的几种主要范式及其各自可能的认知机制。联想研究范式(包括集中联想研究范式与类别联想研究范式)和无意识知觉范式描述了人们对单词的错误记忆,而误导信息干扰范式和KK研究范式则描述了人们对持续事件的错误记忆。这两类不同的研究范式证实了可能存在不同类型的错误记忆,且可能具有不同的认知加工机制。它们都从一定层面上揭示了错误记忆现象的本质和特征,并为人们进行更深入的研究提供了有效的方法。     

Learning and retention in 3- and 6-month-old infants: A comparison of different experimental paradigms

Learning and retention effects in 3- and 6-month-old infants were analysed for the habituation, the novelty preference, and the visual expectation paradigm that are assumed to indicate processing speed. A total of 119 infants participated in the study. The tasks related to the different paradigms were presented on three different days within a week and were repeated two weeks later to analyse retention effects. The results showed clear learning effects in all paradigms. The learning effects shown for different tasks were interrelated for 6-month-old infants, thus supporting the assumption of a shared latent dimension like processing speed. Moreover, retention effects over an interval of two weeks could be shown for visual expectation (in both 3- and 6-month-old infants) and for novelty preference (only for 6-month-old infants). The comparably high retention rates especially in the visual expectation paradigm are discussed.     

视觉注意离散性的实验范式

注意离散性是注意间歇性地采集外界信息的特性。文章综述了视觉注意离散性的4种实验范式:(1)车轮错觉范式,刺激强度大、实验条件少、被试任务量小,较早地证实了视觉注意的离散性;(2)视觉探测范式,同时观察了被试的行为表现与电生理信号,确定了视觉注意离散性与神经振荡的关联;(3)线索靶子范式和视觉搜索范式,通过系统地变化SOA大幅提高了行为数据的时间分辨率,直观地探测到注意离散性调制的行为振荡。     

Context influences decision-making in boys with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: A comparison of traditional and novel choice-impulsivity paradigms

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is characterized by an impaired ability to maintain attention and/or hyperactivity/impulsivity. Impulsivity is frequently defined as the preference for small, immediate rewards over larger, delayed rewards, and has been associated with a variety of negative outcomes such as risky behavior and academic difficulty. Extant studies have uniformly utilized the traditional paradigm of presenting two response choices, which limits the generalization of findings to scenarios in which children/adolescents are faced with dichotomous decisions. The current study is the first to examine the effect of manipulating the number of available response options on impulsive decision-making in boys with and without ADHD. A total of 39 boys (ADHD = 16, typically developing [TD] = 23) aged 8–12 years completed a traditional two-choice impulsivity task and a novel five-choice impulsivity task to examine the effect of manipulating the number of choice responses (two vs five) on impulsive decision-making. A five-choice task was utilized as it presents a more continuous array of choice options when compared to the typical two-choice task, and is comparable given its methodological similarity to the two-choice task. Results suggested that boys with ADHD were significantly more impulsive than TD boys during the two-choice task, but not during the five-choice task. Collectively, these findings suggest that ADHD-related impulsivity is not ubiquitous, but rather dependent on variation in demands and/or context. Further, these findings highlight the importance of examining ADHD-related decision-making within the context of alternative paradigms, as the exclusive utilization of two-choice tasks may promote inaccurate conceptualizations of the disorder.     

Testing the redintegration hypothesis by a single probe recognition paradigm

The lexicality effect in verbal short-term memory (STM), in which word lists are better recalled than nonwords lists, is considered to reflect the influence of linguistic long-term memory (LTM) knowledge on verbal STM performance. The locus of this effect remains, however, a matter of debate. The redintegrative account considers that degrading phonological traces of memoranda are reconstructed at recall by selecting lexical LTM representations that match the phonological traces. According to a strong version of this account, redintegrative processes should be strongly reduced in recognition paradigms, leading to reduced LTM effects. We tested this prediction by contrasting word and nonword memoranda in a fast encoding probe recognition paradigm. We observed a very strong lexicality effect, with better and faster recognition performance for words as compared to nonwords. These results do not support a strong version of the redintegrative account of LTM effects in STM which considers that these LTM effects would be the exclusive product of reconstruction mechanisms. If redintegration processes intervene in STM recognition tasks, they must be very fast, which at the same time provides support for models considering direct activation of lexico-semantic knowledge during verbal STM tasks.     

The misinformation effect is unrelated to the DRM effect with and without a DRM warning

The misinformation and Deese–Roediger–McDermott (DRM) paradigms are used to study forms of false memories. Despite the abundance of research using these two paradigms, few studies have examined the relationship between the errors that arise from them. In the present study, 160 participants completed a misinformation task and two DRM tasks, receiving a warning about the effect before the second DRM task. Participants demonstrated misinformation and DRM effects (with and without the warning), but susceptibility to these forms of false memory were not significantly related across individuals. The DRM warning reduced the DRM effect, and signal detection analysis revealed that the DRM warning reduced a liberal response bias in this task. Sensitivity and response bias in both DRM tasks were not significantly related to these measures in the misinformation task. These findings suggest that these two forms of false memories are not interchangeable and they appear to be the result of different cognitive processes.     

Nonsuicidal self-injury: relationship to behavioral and self-rating measures of impulsivity and self-aggression

Previous research using self-report measures has shown an association between nonsuicidal self-injurious behavior (NSSI) and impulsive tendencies. However, self-injurers have not been shown to be different from comparison groups on laboratory tasks putatively assessing impulsive behavior. One explanation for these contradictory findings is that self-report and laboratory measures of impulsive behavior tap into distinct but related constructs. Moreover, performance on laboratory measures of impulsive behavior can be influenced by myriad contextual and affective factors not present during past self-reported NSSI events. Accordingly, a relationship between behavioral tasks of impulsivity and self-injurious behavior could emerge if both are assessed relatively close in time under controlled laboratory conditions. To test this possibility, both self-ratings and laboratory task measures of self-injurious and impulsive behavior were employed in the current study. This multi-modal assessment approach revealed that self-rated impulsivity was associated with both self-report and behavioral measures of self-injurious behavior. Moreover, behavioral measures of impulsivity were associated with self-injurious behavior, but not NSSI history. These results provide support for the notion that a multi-modal approach to assessing self-injurious behavior is important for better understanding the correlates of nonsuicidal self-injury.     

The effect of scene removal on inhibition of return in a cue-target task

Inhibition of return (IOR) is thought to be a phenomenon that biases orienting toward novel stimuli and/or facilitates foraging search. Although IOR has been explored using both the spatial cueing paradigm and the search paradigm, there is significant disagreement among scholars over whether these paradigms are reflecting the same underlying mechanism. We sought to address this disagreement by exploring whether a manipulation known to impact IOR in search - maintenance versus removal of the scene - might have a similar impact in the spatial cuing paradigm. As has been observed in both the cuing and search paradigms, we obtained a robust gradient of IOR around the cued location. Importantly, as in search tasks, scene removal resulted in the abolishment of IOR. This similarity lends support to the view that the spatial cuing and search paradigms are exploring the same IOR phenomenon.     

Adult age differences in inhibitory processes and their predictive validity for fluid intelligence

According to the inhibition-deficit hypothesis age differences in working memory capacity and fluid intelligence have been attributed to a decline in inhibitory efficiency. Conceptualizing inhibition as multifaceted, 88 participants (49 younger and 39 elderly) completed two versions of the negative priming paradigm (identification and localization), and two variants of the directed forgetting paradigm (listwise and itemwise). Two tasks of the Wechsler Intelligence Test with high loadings on general fluid intelligence (Gf) served as validation criteria. Results revealed task-specific and speed-independent inhibitory deficits in the elderly (lower negative priming in both paradigms; more intrusions in the directed forgetting tasks), as well as higher levels of repetition priming. Significant correlations between measures of inhibition and the Wechsler scores were found in both age groups. Results support the view of multiple inhibitory-like capabilities that play a central role in the decline of higher-order cognitive functions in old age.     

Studying visual attention using the multiple object tracking paradigm: A tutorial review

Human observers are capable of tracking multiple objects among identical distractors based only on their spatiotemporal information. Since the first report of this ability in the seminal work of Pylyshyn and Storm (1988, Spatial Vision, 3, 179–197), multiple object tracking has attracted many researchers. A reason for this is that it is commonly argued that the attentional processes studied with the multiple object paradigm apparently match the attentional processing during real-world tasks such as driving or team sports. We argue that multiple object tracking provides a good mean to study the broader topic of continuous and dynamic visual attention. Indeed, several (partially contradicting) theories of attentive tracking have been proposed within the almost 30 years since its first report, and a large body of research has been conducted to test these theories. With regard to the richness and diversity of this literature, the aim of this tutorial review is to provide researchers who are new in the field of multiple object tracking with an overview over the multiple object tracking paradigm, its basic manipulations, as well as links to other paradigms investigating visual attention and working memory. Further, we aim at reviewing current theories of tracking as well as their empirical evidence. Finally, we review the state of the art in the most prominent research fields of multiple object tracking and how this research has helped to understand visual attention in dynamic settings.     

智力与信息加工速度研究中的检测时范式

检测时是信息加工速度的重要指标,也是智力与信息加工速度关系的研究领域内一种重要的实验范式。文章在简要介绍反应时范式的基础上,着重介绍了检测时范式的实验任务、基本原理以及检测时与智商之间的关系。同时,通过与反应时范式的比较,讨论了检测时范式在智力与信息加工速度研究中的优点和局限性,以及其在解决相关研究领域问题上的方法学意义。     

道德困境研究的范式沿革及其理论价值

通过评述道德困境研究范式的发展过程, 系统阐释了经典两难法、加工分离法、CNI模型法和CAN算法的优缺点和理论价值。后来的研究范式均在一定程度上克服了之前研究范式的局限。加工分离法克服了经典两难法的加工纯粹性假设等局限, CNI模型法在加工分离法基础上进一步分离了道德困境决策的多种心理过程, CAN算法则修正了CNI模型法的序列加工的不恰当预设。研究范式的沿革启示研究者综合应用新方法来解决研究争议和重新审视以往道德理论, 合理应用新方法来探索其他具有潜在冲突性的研究议题。总之, 本文为道德困境及相关研究提供了方法学参考。     

Slow and steady? Strategic adjustments in response caution are moderately reliable and correlate across tasks

Speed-accuracy trade-offs are often considered a confound in speeded choice tasks, but individual differences in strategy have been linked to personality and brain structure. We ask whether strategic adjustments in response caution are reliable, and whether they correlate across tasks and with impulsivity traits. In Study 1, participants performed Eriksen flanker and Stroop tasks in two sessions four weeks apart. We manipulated response caution by emphasising speed or accuracy. We fit the diffusion model for conflict tasks and correlated the change in boundary (accuracy – speed) across session and task. We observed moderate test-retest reliability, and medium to large correlations across tasks. We replicated this between-task correlation in Study 2 using flanker and perceptual decision tasks. We found no consistent correlations with impulsivity. Though moderate reliability poses a challenge for researchers interested in stable traits, consistent correlation between tasks indicates there are meaningful individual differences in the speed-accuracy trade-off.