A rational approach to memory search termination

An important component of many, if not all, real-world retrieval tasks is the decision to terminate memory search. Despite its importance, systematic evaluations of the potential rules for terminating search are scarce. Recent work has focused on two variables: the total time spent in memory search before search is terminated and the exit latency (the time between the last retrieved item and the time of search termination). These variables have been shown to limit the number of plausible rules for terminating memory search. Here, we introduce an alternative stopping rule based on a rational moment-to-moment cost–benefit analysis and derive a closed-form expression of the exit latency function using this rational approach. We show the model’s ability to capture critical latency data and make testable predictions about the influence of changing the relative costs and benefits of memory search. Results from an experiment are presented that support the model’s predictions. We conclude that the decision to terminate memory search is based on moment-to-moment changes in subjective utility of retrieved memories.     

Interval and ratio reinforcement of a complex sequential operant in pigeons

Pigeons were required to produce exactly four pecks on each of two keys in any order for reinforcement. Correct response sequences were reinforced on either fixed-interval two-minute or fixed-ratio four schedules, with each correct sequence treated as a single response. Each pigeon developed a particular dominant sequence that accounted for more than 80% of all sequences. Sequence stereotypy was relatively unaffected by the temporal properties of the fixed-interval and fixed-ratio schedules. Response time (time from the first response in each sequence to the last) was also relatively unaffected by the temporal properties of the schedules. In contrast, response latency (time from end of one sequence to the beginning of the next) was markedly affected by the schedules. Latencies were long early in the interreinforcement interval and got shorter as the interreinforcement interval progressed. These data suggest that stereotyped response sequences become functional behavioral units, resistant to disruption or alteration by reinforcement variables that ordinarily influence the temporal spacing of individual responses.     

The Dynamic Interaction of Personal Norms and Environment‐Friendly Buying Behavior: A Panel Study1

A deeper understanding of the attitude–norm–behavior relationship in the environmental field can be obtained by analyzing the dynamic interaction over time between relevant attitudinal variables and specific behaviors of interest. This article is based on a panel survey with a random sample of about 1,500 Danes interviewed up to 3 times in 1998 to 2000, regarding their purchase of organic food products. The panel analysis reveals that the stronger are consumers' personal norms about buying organic food products and the less they perceive organic products as expensive, the greater the likelihood that they change their purchase patterns in favor of organic products. Furthermore, one can observe significant cross‐lagged paths from past behavior to belief and norm variables.     

SENSORY AND PREPARATORY FACTORS IN RESPONSE LATENCY: III. Preknowledge and regularity of stimuli as antecedent variables

T hrane , V. C. Sensory and preparatory factors in response latency. III. Preknowledge and regularity of stimuli as antecedent variables. Scand. J. Psychol ., 1961, 2, 30–44.—Interaction between stimulus and organismic determinants of simple reaction time under weak and strong auditory stimulation was studied with 24 subjects. Results indicate that without specific preknowledge of the stimulus variants presented, there is little or no correlation between sensory and non-sensory determinants of response latency, but that both speed and constancy of response are influenced by preknowledge, and to some extent by regularity of stimuli, in a manner and to a degree which depend on the expected intensity, thus being consistent with the hypothesis of bipolar (positive and negative) compensatory interaction.     

Variable criterion analysis of brightness effects in simple reaction time

Using light onset as the stimulus in simple reaction time (SRT), the effect of stimulus intensity was studied in both between-subjects and within-subjects experimental designs. There was a strong intensity effect in both conditions but no significant interaction between the effect of stimulus intensity and the type of design. This differs from previous results with auditory stimuli where such an interaction has been demonstrated. When the criterion parameters of variable criterion theory were evaluated directly, the only significant effect was greater criterion variability in the between-subjects condition. Theoretical functions describing the growth of sensory strength for each intensity had different starting points and were largely parallel, showing only late temporal divergence. This provides an explanation of the rarity, in the SRT literature, of interactions between visual intensity and criterion variables. Correlations illustrating the relations between reaction time (RT) measures and theoretical criterion parameters are presented. Absence of the predicted relation between intensity and RT variability is evidence against theories relating RT to impulse rate treated as a Poisson process.     

The temporal selectivity of additive factor effects on the reaction process revealed in ERP component latencies

An experiment was conducted to relate individual components of the event-related brain potential to specific stages of information processing in a two-choice reaction time (RT) task in a group of undergraduate students. Specifically, the latency of the P300 component and the lateralized readiness potential (LRP) were studied as a function of variations in stimulus degradation and response complexity. It was hypothesized that degrading the stimulus would delay the P300 and LRP to the same extent as RT, and that increasing response complexity would affect RT but not P300 latency. The extant literature did not permit any hypothesis regarding the effect of response complexity on LRP latency. The two task variables were found to have additive effects on RT. As predicted, variations in stimulus degradation influenced the latencies of both components, whereas alterations in response complexity had no effect on P300 latency. A significant new finding was that the onset latency of the LRP remained unchanged across levels of response complexity. The overall pattern of results supports the notion of temporal selectivity of stage manipulations that is derived from discrete stage models of human information processing. Furthermore, these results refine the functional interpretation of the LRP by indicating that within the conceptual framework of a stage model the processes this component indexes succeed the start of response choice but precede the start of motor programming.     

Temporal preparation decreases perceptual latency: Evidence from a clock paradigm

A clock paradigm was employed to assess whether temporal preparation decreases the time to detect the onset of a stimulus—that is, perceptual latency. In four experiments participants watched a revolving clock hand while listening to soft or loud target tones under high or low temporal preparation. At the end of each trial, participants reported the clock hand position at the onset of the target tone. The deviation of the reported clock hand position from the actual position indexed perceptual latency. As expected, perceptual latency decreased with target tone intensity. Most importantly, however, greater temporal preparation decreased perceptual latency in all four experiments, especially for soft tones, which supports rather directly the idea that temporal preparation diminishes the duration of perceptual processing.     

Behavioral definition of minimal reaction time in monkeys

Two monkeys (Macaca mulatta) were trained to press a key after onset of a tone and to release it after a 1-sec fixed foreperiod terminated by a light. The effects of imposing temporal contingencies on key release reaction times were determined by reinforcing only those releases whose latencies from the light fell within a “payoff band”, two time limits 50 msec apart located at some delay following the light. Over several days this delay was first gradually decreased, shortening the interval between light and payoff band, and then gradually increased again. For each delay, the median reaction time and a measure of variability were obtained from the latency distribution. For both animals, median latency could be decreased to 180 msec with the variability remaining small. Moving the payoff band still closer to the light resulted in further decrease in median latency but an abrupt increase in variability. This is in agreement with a model for simple reaction time derived from human research which suggests that this increased variability results from the inclusion of high-variability foreperiod time estimations in the latency distribution. These results indicate that interpretation of monkey response latencies as “minimal reaction times” requires examination of temporal reinforcement contingencies and variability of latencies.     

Cognitive processes and computerized personality assessment

Several implications of the cognitive viewpoint on personality are tested and the predictive validity of cognitive processing variables is assessed with judgements of parents and friends as a criterion measure. Free recall of items was related to cognitive schemas but reaction time during score recall was not. Ease of faking as well as response latency during faking were not related to cognitive schemas. Intra-individual analysis revealed a consistent non-linear relationship between response latency and item score in all conditions of the experiment. Although some cognitive process variables were correlated with the criterion measures, adding these variables to item scores did not always increase the predictive validity.     

Modeling Temporal Interaction Dynamics in Organizational Settings

Most workplace phenomena take place in dynamic social settings and emerge over time, and scholars have repeatedly called for more research into the temporal dynamics of organizational behavior. One reason for this persistent research gap could be that organizational scholars are not aware of the methodological advances that are available today for modeling temporal interactions and detecting behavioral patterns that emerge over time. To facilitate such awareness, this Methods Corner contribution provides a hands-on tutorial for capturing and quantifying temporal behavioral patterns and for leveraging rich interaction data in organizational settings. We provide an overview of different approaches and methodologies for examining temporal interaction patterns, along with detailed information about the type of data that needs to be gathered in order to apply each method as well as the analytical steps (and available software options) involved in each method. Specifically, we discuss and illustrate lag sequential analysis, pattern analysis, statistical discourse analysis, and visualization methods for identifying temporal patterns in interaction data. We also provide key takeaways for integrating these methods more firmly in the field of organizational research and for moving interaction analytical research forward.     

Further evaluation of latency measures in the assessment and treatment of severe self‐injurious behavior

Recent research has demonstrated the utility of latency measures during the functional analysis of problem behavior; however, few studies have evaluated the utility of latency measures during subsequent treatment analyses. The current study seeks to extend the literature on the use of latency measures during the treatment of severe self‐injurious behavior (SIB). Following a latency‐based functional analysis, a treatment analysis was conducted using a hybrid procedure in which baseline sessions were terminated following the first instance of SIB, and test sessions ended after a fixed length of time. Latency to SIB was compared across conditions, whereas latency and rate measures for both SIB and functional communication responses were compared for the functional communication training condition. Results suggest that latency measures may be too sensitive during treatment analyses and that it is beneficial to use a hybrid procedure that allows for both latency and rate comparisons.     

Speed and accuracy of compensatory responses to limb disturbances

This study examines the speed and accuracy of compensatory responses to flexion-extension perturbations of the wrist in the horizontal plane. In Experiments 1 and 2 the subjects were required to establish an initial flexion or extension force of approximately 15% maximum at a prescribed initial muscle length. The perturbations changed the load force by +/-5% in both simple and choice reaction protocols. The results showed that the latencies to compensate for the perturbation were longer when the direction of disturbance was unknown (i.e., choice effect) and when the perturbation unloaded the muscle (i.e., directional effect). Accuracy constraints on the compensatory response increased movement time and reduced the variability of latency without affecting mean latency. In Experiment 3, a visual stimulus generated a comparable choice effect on latency to that produced by the perturbations, but no directional effect in relation to the preload was apparent. Our behavioral analysis of compensatory responses triggered by wrist perturbations confirms that these responses are susceptible to variables that influence the initiation of voluntary movements. Our analysis also demonstrates a directional preload effect that is stimulus specific.     

Temporal and spatial effects in luminance discrimination

Luminance difference thresholds (ΔI) were obtained by a successive and a simultaneous method of presenting the stimuli Spatial and temporal separation between the fields was the independent variable while other variables as stimulus size, luminance, retinal area of stimulation and duration were kept constant ΔI was less for simultaneously presented stimuli than for successively presented stimuli This was related to spatial and temporal interaction effects such that the greater the spatial interaction between simultaneously presented fields, the greater the discriminability while the greater the temporal interaction between successively presented fields, the less the sensitivity to luminance differences. It was suggested that the basis of the luminance discrimination may be different under conditions of temporal interaction than under conditions of spatial interaction between the fields.     

Modification of the rat's acoustic startle response by antecedent visual stimulation.

Male hooded and albino rats were exposed to a light flash followed at various temporal intervals by a startle-eliciting 117 db. (re 20 muN/m2) burst of white noise. The visual stimulus engendered startle response inhibition (maximally when the lead time was 64-250 msec) as well as startle response latency reduction (maximally when the lead time was 2-8 msec). The temporal functions for the effects of visual stimuli paralleled those previously reported for startle modification by acoustic events. Further study revealed that, given optimal lead times, inhibition is produced reliably by weaker visual stimuli (3 X 10-6 cd-sec/cm2) than latency reduction (3 X 10-4 cd-sec/cm2). This differential sensitivity to visual stimuli is also analogous to previously reported findings for events in the acoustic environment. It reveals that the neural mechanisms that mediate latency reduction and inhibition can be engaged by either acoustic or visual stimulation.     

句法预测对句子理解影响的眼动实验

实验采用眼动技术实时考察了句子阅读理解过程中的句法预测效应和并列句的结构表征特点。眼动数据分析发现：(1)有无句法预测没有明显影响名词短语区域的加工, 不同眼动指标差异不显著; (2)有无句法预测显著影响被试对包含暂时局部歧义的关键区和具有解歧作用的关键后区域的阅读理解, 首次注视时间、第一遍阅读时间、回视路径时间和第一遍回视率明显减少。眼动研究表明, 暂时局部歧义句子阅读理解过程中表现出明显的句法预测效应, 有句法预测降低了局部歧义区域和解歧区域早期和晚期加工的难度; 和英语的短语并列优先法则不同, 汉语并列句子的结构表征出现分离现象, 即短语并列和句子并列。     

Effects of speaker variability and phoneme location on speech perception

The effects of variation in a speaker's voice and temporal phoneme location were assessed through a series of speeded classification experiments. Listeners monitored speech syllables for target consonants or vowels. The results showed that speaker variability and phoneme-location variability had detrimental effects on classification latencies for target sounds. In addition, an interaction between variables showed that the speaker variability effect was obtained only when temporal phoneme location was fixed across trials. A subadditive decrement in latencies produced by the interaction of the two variables was also obtained, suggesting that perceptual loads may not affect perceptual adjustments to a speaker's voice in the same way that memory loads do.     

Modulation of brain activity during phonological familiarization

We measured brain activity in 12 adults for the repetition of auditorily presented words and nonwords, before and after repeated exposure to their phonological form. The nonword phoneme combinations were either of high (HF) or low (LF) phonotactic frequency. After familiarization, we observed, for both word and nonword conditions, decreased activation in the left posterior superior temporal gyrus, in the bilateral temporal pole and middle temporal gyri. At the same time, interaction analysis showed that the magnitude of decrease of activity in bilateral posterior temporal lobe was significantly smaller for LF nonwords, relative to words and HF nonwords. Decrease of activity in this area also correlated with the size of behavioral familiarization effects for LF nonwords. The results show that the posterior superior temporal gyrus plays a fundamental role during phonological learning. Its relationship to sublexical and lexical phonological processing as well as to phonological short-term memory is discussed.     

Visual and semantic factors in recognition from long-term memory

In recognition tests, physical and semantic relationships between targets and distractors have been shown, in separate manipulations, to affect the latency of subject's decision. Recognition was tested for distractors which were visually similar or dissimilar to targets and which belonged to the target categories or to nontarget categories in order to examine the interaction of these dimensions. Rejection latency was longer for target category than for nontarget category distractors. Latency was also longer for visually similar than visually dissimilar distractors, but only when combined with target category probes. This interaction can be explained by the hypothesis that word recognition depends on the analysis of several dimensions of the probe stimulus, and rejection can occur before all such analyses have been completed.     

Evoked potentials and stages of information processing: Methods of analysis

The use of principal components analysis (PCA) for the study of evoked-response data may be complicated by variations from one trial to another in the latency of underlying brain events. Such variation can come from either random intra-and intersubject variability or from the effects of independent variables that are manipulated between conditions. The effect of such variability is investigated by simulation of these latency-varying events and by analysis of evoked responses in a behavioral task, the Sternberg memory search task, which is well known to generate variation in the latency of brain events. The results of PCA of within-subjects differences in these two situations are plausibly related to underlying stages of information processing, and the technique may augment reaction time data by providing information on the time of occurrence as well as the duration of stages of information processing.