Domain-specific conflict adaptation without feature repetitions

An influential account of how cognitive control deals with conflicting sources of information holds that conflict is monitored by a module that automatically recruits attention to resolve the conflict. This leads to reduced effects of conflict on the subsequent trial, a phenomenon termed conflict adaptation. A prominent question is whether control processes are domain specific—that is, recruited only by the particular type of conflict they resolve. Previous studies that have examined this question used two-choice tasks in which feature repetition effects could be responsible for domain-specific adaptation effects. We report two experiments using four-choice (Experiment 1) and five-choice (Experiment 2) tasks that contain two types of irrelevant sources of potentially conflicting information: stimulus location (Simon conflict) and distractors (flanker conflict). In both experiments, we found within-type conflict adaptation for both types of conflict after eliminating trials on which stimulus features were repeated from one trial to the next. Across-type conflict adaptation, however, was not significant. Thus, conflict adaptation was due to domain-specific recruitment of cognitive control. Our results add converging evidence to the idea that multiple independent control processes are involved in reactive cognitive control, although whether control is always local remains to be determined.     

Visual feature integration and focused attention: Response competition from multiple distractor features

Predictions from Treisman’s feature integration theory of attention were tested in a variant of the response-competition paradigm. Subjects made choice responses to particular color-shape conjunctions (e.g., a purple cross vs. a green circle) while withholding their responses to the opposite conjunctions (i.e., a purple circle vs. a green cross). The results showed that compatibility effects were based on both distractor color and shape. For unattended distractors in preknown irrelevant positions, compatibility effects were equivalent for conjunctive distractors (e.g., a purple cross and a blue triangle) and for disjunctive distractors (e.g., a purple triangle and a blue cross). Manipulation of attention to the distractor positions resulted in larger compatibility effects from conjoined features. These results accord with Treisman’s claim that correct conjunction information is unavailable under conditions of inattention, and they provide new information on response-competition effects from multiple features.     

Hand laterality and cognitive ability: a multiple regression approach

Several different associations between hand laterality and cognitive ability have been proposed. Studies reporting different conclusions vary in their procedures for defining laterality, and several of them rely on measures which are statistically problematic. Previous methods for measuring relative hand skill have not satisfactorily separated the overall level of hand skill, which is a known correlate of cognitive ability, from the asymmetry of its distribution. This paper uses a multiple regression paradigm that separates these two components. Support is found for Leask and Crow's [Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 5 (2001) 513] proposal that average cognitive ability increases monotonically with increasing strength of laterality, regardless of its direction. The small average advantage to dextrals stems from them being more strongly lateralised than sinistrals. The paucity of strong dextrals amongst the very gifted is due to a smaller variance in cognitive ability in this group.     

The Parallel Episodic Processing (PEP) model: Dissociating contingency and conflict adaptation in the item-specific proportion congruent paradigm

The present work introduces a computational model, the Parallel Episodic Processing (PEP) model, which demonstrates that contingency learning achieved via simple storage and retrieval of episodic memories can explain the item-specific proportion congruency effect in the colour-word Stroop paradigm. The current work also presents a new experimental procedure to more directly dissociate contingency biases from conflict adaptation (i.e., proportion congruency). This was done with three different types of incongruent words that allow a comparison of: (a) high versus low contingency while keeping proportion congruency constant, and (b) high versus low proportion congruency while keeping contingency constant. Results demonstrated a significant contingency effect, but no effect of proportion congruence. It was further shown that the proportion congruency associated with the colour does not matter, either. Thus, the results quite directly demonstrate that ISPC effects are not due to conflict adaptation, but instead to contingency learning biases.     

Stimulus conflict predicts conflict adaptation in a numerical flanker task

Conflict monitoring theory states that response conflict triggers conflict adaptation, resulting in reduced congruency effects after response-incongruent trials (Botvinick, Braver, Barch, Carter, & Cohen, 2001). Verbruggen, Notebaert, Liefooghe, and Vandierendonck (2006) observed conflict adaptation after stimulus-incongruent trials without any response conflict. In this study, we further explore the hypothesis that stimulus conflict is an important trigger for conflict adaptation. We propose a measure for stimulus conflict that adequately explains the data of Verbruggen et al. and new data from a numerical flanker task. We conclude that stimulus conflict and response conflict have dissociable effects on behavior Whereas response conflict is a good predictor of response times, stimulus conflict is a better predictor of the adaptation effect.     

Tackling conflict: a beyond opposites approach

The issue of conflict is pervasive to most human undertakings at both individual/intra level and group level. Conflicts are the source of internal and external suffering. It has been argued by many authors that although humans have advanced in the technological sphere tremendously and managed to find solutions to countless scientific and material challenges, their ability to effectively resolve internal and external aspects of conflicts remains elusive. Given the level of pain and suffering that can derive from both psychological and social conflicts, it can be argued that any advances in helping improve the resolution of conflicts can have immense benefits in alleviating human suffering making this issue a very worthwhile area of study. Accordingly this paper aims to describe a developing counselling methodology for addressing conflict. The methodology, which was originally inspired by Fuzzy Logic, adopts a cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) perspective despite awareness of its limitations. The paper traces the origins of the methodology and the areas within counselling it could be applied to. The paper concludes with recommendations regarding the relevance of this approach to an increasingly multicultural environment.     

Perceptuomotor adaptation to a speech feature

Selective adaptation experiments were conducted to test for the presence of a mechanism that mediates an aspect of both speech perception and speech production. Ss were instructed to utter /i/ or /bi/ after listening to repetitions of either of these syllables or to repetitions of the vowel /i/. Analysis of the utterances showed that a timing relation which distinguishes /pi/from /bi/, namely the latency in onset of voicing relative to the release burst of the consonant, varied systematically for the /pi/ utterances but not for the /bi/ utterances as a function of the speech input. The effect for the /pi/ utterances was shown not to be attributable to factors such as compensation for distorted perception of the /pi/ adapting stimulus or voluntary mimicry of this stimulus.     

Salience from multiple feature contrast: Evidence from saccade trajectories

We used eye tracking to quantify the extent to which combinations of salient contrasts (orientation, luminance, and movement) influence a central salience map that guides eye movements. We found that luminance combined additively with orientation and movement, suggesting that the salience system processes luminance somewhat independently of the two other features. On the other hand, orientation and movement together influenced salience underadditively, suggesting that these two features are processed nonindependently. This pattern of results suggests that the visual system does not sum sources of salience linearly, but treats some sources of salience as redundant.

     

Post-conflict slowing: cognitive adaptation after conflict processing

The aftereffects of error and conflict (i.e., stimulus or response incongruency) have been extensively studied in the cognitive control literature. Each has been characterized by its own behavioral signature on the following trial. Conflict leads to a reduced congruency effect (Gratton effect), whereas an error leads to increased response time (post-error slowing). The reason for this dissociation has remained unclear. Here, we show that post-conflict slowing is not typically observed because it is masked by the processing of the irrelevant stimulus dimension. We demonstrate that post-conflict slowing does occur when tested in pure trials where helpful or detrimental impacts from irrelevant stimulus dimensions are removed (i.e., univalent stimuli).     

The dominance analysis approach for comparing predictors in multiple regression

A general method is presented for comparing the relative importance of predictors in multiple regression. Dominance analysis (D. V. Budescu, 1993), a procedure that is based on an examination of the R2 values for all possible subset models, is refined and extended by introducing several quantitative measures of dominance that differ in the strictness of the dominance definition. These are shown to be intuitive, meaningful, and informative measures that can address a variety of research questions pertaining to predictor importance. The bootstrap is used to assess the stability of dominance results across repeated sampling, and it is shown that these methods provide the researcher with more insights into the pattern of importance in a set of predictors than were previously available.     

Sequential congruency effects: disentangling priming and conflict adaptation

Responding to the color of a word is slower and less accurate if the word refers to a different color (incongruent condition) than if it refers to the same color (congruent condition). This phenomenon, known as the Stroop effect, is modulated by sequential effects: it is bigger when the current trial is preceded by a congruent condition than by an incongruent one in the previous trial. Whether this phenomenon is due to priming mechanisms or to cognitive control is still debated. To disentangle the contribution of priming with respect to conflict adaptation mechanisms in determining sequential effects, two experiments were designed here with a four-alternative forced choice (4-AFC) Stroop task: in the first one only trials with complete alternations of features were used, while in the second experiment all possible types of repetitions were presented. Both response times (RTs) and errors were evaluated. Conflict adaptation effects on RTs were limited to congruent trials and were exclusively due to priming: they disappeared in the priming-free experiment and, in the second experiment, they occurred in sequences with feature repetitions but not in complete alternation sequences. Error results, instead, support the presence of conflict adaptation effects in incongruent trials. In priming-free sequences (Experiment 1 and complete alternation sequences of Experiment 2) with incongruent previous trials there was no error Stroop effect, while this effect was significant with congruent previous trials. These results indicate that cognitive control may modulate performance above and beyond priming effects.     

Logic-based XML data integration: a semi-materializing approach

We first describe the approach to XML data integration in the XPathLog/LoPiX project that uses a warehouse strategy. We show that the DOM model and the XML Query Data Model are not suitable for this task since the integrated database is not necessarily a tree, but a set of overlapping (original and integrated) trees. The problem is solved by using a node-labeled graph-based data model, called XTreeGraph, for the internal XML database that represents multiple, overlapping XML trees, or tree views.In the second part, we return to the standard XML data model—by still keeping the overlapping tree idea by “simulating” it: The data is internally represented by XML where the “overlayed” resulting tree is represented by XLink elements that refer to the original sources. By using a logical, transparent data model for XLinks as investigated in [May, in: 11th WWW Conference, 2002], all queries behave as stated against the XTreeGraph. The use of links for partial materialization also turns the approach from a warehouse approach into a mixed approach that combines the advantages of the warehouse approach and of the virtual approach. The approach is again illustrated by using XPathLog as data integration language.     

Questioning conflict adaptation: proportion congruent and Gratton effects reconsidered

Conflict adaptation is one of the most popular ideas in cognitive psychology. It purports to explain a wide range of data, including both brain and behavioral data from the proportion congruent and Gratton paradigms. However, in recent years, many concerns about the viability of this account have been raised. It has been argued that contingency learning, not conflict adaptation, produces the proportion congruent effect. Similarly, the Gratton paradigm has been shown to contain several confounds—most notably, feature repetition biases. Newer work on temporal learning further calls into question the interpretability of the behavioral results of conflict adaptation studies. Brain data linking supposed conflict adaptation to the anterior cingulated cortex has also come into question, since this area seems to be responsive solely to time-on-task, rather than conflict. This review points to the possibility that conflict adaptation may simply be an illusion. However, the extant data remain ambiguous, and there are a lot of open questions that still need to be addressed in future research.     

Test adaptation to other cultures: a practical approach

The aim of this study was to show the practical steps to be followed in the adaptation of instruments for measuring psychological constructs across cultures. For this purpose, the adaptation process of the NEO PI-R from Spanish into Basque is thoroughly described. In order to avoid the sources of error that researchers could encounter during the adaptation process, established guidelines are followed. In the stage which focuses on the empirical validation of the instrument to be used, four studies are described that examine the following aspects: dimensionality, convergent and differential validity, internal consistency of each dimension, and the possible differential item functioning with regard to gender and life stage (youth or adulthood). In the light of the results obtained, we conclude that the Basque version of NEO PI-R guarantees an adequate assessment of personality from the Big Five viewpoint. These studies illustrate how to obtain evidence about the degree of validity of the adapted version of a test, which is the key feature of any adaptation process.     

Recognizing speech under a processing load: Dissociating energetic from informational factors

Effects of perceptual and cognitive loads on spoken-word recognition have so far largely escaped investigation. This study lays the foundations of a psycholinguistic approach to speech recognition in adverse conditions that draws upon the distinction between energetic masking, i.e., listening environments leading to signal degradation, and informational masking, i.e., listening environments leading to depletion of higher-order, domain-general processing resources, independent of signal degradation. We show that severe energetic masking, such as that produced by background speech or noise, curtails reliance on lexical-semantic knowledge and increases relative reliance on salient acoustic detail. In contrast, informational masking, induced by a resource-depleting competing task (divided attention or a memory load), results in the opposite pattern. Based on this clear dissociation, we propose a model of speech recognition that addresses not only the mapping between sensory input and lexical representations, as traditionally advocated, but also the way in which this mapping interfaces with general cognition and non-linguistic processes.     

Identification complexity and conflict: how multiple identifications affect conflict across functional boundaries

We integrate insights from the social identity complexity and dual identification literature to explore the influence of workplace identification on cross-functional conflicts at work. We propose that patterns of identification across multiple identity targets will affect the development of cross-functional conflicts within an organization. We test our hypotheses in a two-wave study of 156 military personnel over a period of 4 months, finding support for our propositions. Specifically, we find that less complex patterns of identification (defined as dominant identification with a single workplace identity) are associated with higher increases in process, task and relationship conflict during cross-functional working, compared to complex patterns of identification (identification with two or three targets) and weak identification. These findings have important implications for cross-functional working, and also provide new insights into the role of identification complexity in shaping workplace outcomes.     

The McCollough effect: Dissociating retinal from spatial coordinates

Three experiments were conducted to dissociate the perceived orientation of a stimulus from its orientation on the retina while inducing the McCollough effect. In the first experiment, the typical contingency between color and retinal orientation was eliminated by having subjects tilt their head 90° for half of the induction trials while the stimuli remained the same. The only relation remaining was that between color and the perceived or spatial orientation, which led to only a small contingent aftereffect. In contrast, when the spatial contingency was eliminated in the second experiment, the aftereffect was as large as when both contingencies were present. Finally, a third experiment determined that part of the small spatial effect obtained in the first experiment could be traced to hidden higher order retinal contingencies. The study suggested that even under optimal conditions the McCollough effect is not concerned with real-world properties of objects or events. Implications for several classes of theories are discussed.     

Multivariate multiple regression analyses: a permutation method for linear models

A multivariate extension of a univariate procedure for the analysis of experimental designs is presented. A Euclidean-distance permutation procedure is used to evaluate multivariate residuals obtained from a regression algorithm, also based on Euclidean distances. Applications include various completely randomized and randomized block experimental designs such as one-way, Latin square, factorial, nested, and split-plot designs, with and without covariates. Unlike parametric procedures, the only required assumption is the randomization of subjects to treatments.