Paired associate learning: Data on pair difficulty and variables that influence difficulty

Two hundred pairs of five-letter words were produced randomly from all five-letter words in Thorndike and Lorge (1944). The difficulty of each pair was established for paired associate learning by having 50 subjects learn lists of 20 pairs. The difficulty of a pair was found to be highly reliable and was not influenced by the particular list in which it was learned. Frequency of response terms was positively related to learning, but the frequency of the stimulus terms was not. Two-syllable five-letter words were learned more rapidly than one-syllable five-letter words. Two 20-pair lists were constructed, one consisting of homogeneous pairs of average difficulty and the other of 10 very easy pairs and 10 very difficult pairs. As anticipated, performance on the latter list was initially better than that on the former, with the performance on the two lists converging over trials. The difficulty of the pairs as determined by paired associate learning was unrelated to misses on a recognition test, but the false alarms decreased as difficulty decreased.     

Implicit and explicit memory for new associations in normal and amnesic subjects

Two experiments examined whether repetition priming effects on a word completion task are influenced by new associations between unrelated word pairs that were established during a single study trial. On the word completion task, subjects were presented with the initial three letters of the response words from the study list pairs and they completed these fragments with the first words that came to mind. The fragments were shown either with the paired words from the study list (same context) or with other words (different context). Both experiments showed a larger priming effect in the same-context condition than in the different-context condition, but only with a study task that required elaborative processing of the word pairs. This effect was observed with college students and amnesic patients, suggesting that word completion performance is mediated by implicit memory for new associations that is independent of explicit recollection.     

Chronometric analysis of speech perception

The relationship between the phonological properties of speech sounds and the corresponding semantic entries was studied in two experiments using response time measures. Monosyllabic words and nonsense words were used in both experiments. In Experiment I. Ss were each presented with individual items and were required, in three different conditions, to respond positively if (1) the item contained a particular final consonant, (2) the item was a real word, (3) the item contained either a particular consonant or was a real word. Latencies indicated that separate retrieval of phonological and lexical information took about the same time. but that their combined retrieval was longer, indicating a serial or overlapping process. In Experiment II, Ss were presented with pairs of items, and they responded positively if (1) the two items were physically identical, (2) the two items were lexically identical (both real words or both nonsense words). Response latencies were longer for lexical than for physical matches. Lexical matches were’ significantly slower than physical matches even on the same pair of items. The results imply differential accessibility to separate loci of phonological and semantic features.     

The influence of retrieval on retention

Four experiments tested the hypothesis that successful retrieval of an item from memory affects retention only because the retrieval provides an additional presentation of the target item. Two methods of learning paired associates were compared. In the pure study trial (pure ST condition) method, both items of a pair were presented simultaneously for study. In the test trial/study trial (TTST condition) method, subjects attempted to retrieve the response term during a period in which only the stimulus term was present (and the response term of the pair was presented after a 5-sec delay). Final retention of target items was tested with cued-recall tests. In Experiment 1, there was a reliable advantage in final testing for nonsense-syllable/number pairs in the TTST condition over pairs in the pure ST condition. In Experiment 2, the same result was obtained with Eskimo/English word pairs. This benefit of the TTST condition was not apparently different for final retrieval after 5 min or after 24 h. Experiments 3 and 4 ruled out two artifactual explanations of the TTST advantage observed in the first two experiments. Because performing a memory retrieval (TTST condition) led to better performance than pure study (pure ST condition), the results reject the hypothesis that a successful retrieval is beneficial only to the extent that it provides another study experience.     

Cortical evoked responses to synonyms and antonyms

The brain’s processing of synonymity and antonymy was explored by examining the cortical evoked responses to correct judgments that a test word was a synonym or an antonym of a standard word presented 1 sec previously. Each of five subjects judged 256 pairs of words in each of two sessions. The evoked response to the second word was averaged separately for synonym and antonym pairs. Presentation of each test word as a synonym or an antonym, the order of presentation of each pair, and the side of the “synonym” response key were counter-balanced within subjects. The difference between the averaged response to antonym test words and that to synonym test words differed biphasically over the interval 250-650 msec after the stimulus. The demonstration of an evoked response difference between synonyms and antnyms extends the applicability of evoked potentials from attributes of individual word meaning to the semantic relationships between words.     

Brain potentials as indices of orthographic and phonological interaction during word matching

The interaction between orthographic and phonological codes in a same-different judgment task was studied by requiring subjects to decide if two visually presented words either looked alike or rhymed. Word pairs were selected from four different lists. Words rhymed and looked alike, rhymed but did not look alike, looked alike but did not rhyme, or neither looked alike nor rhymed. Reaction time and percent error increased whenever there was a conflict between the orthography and phonology of the words. The N200 component of the event-related brain potential (ERP) indicated that subjects were capable of detecting phonological differences between words within 260 ms from the presentation of a word pair. The amplitude of the N200s also varied with the degree of mismatch between words. N200s were largest when both the orthography and phonology mismatched, of intermediate amplitude when either orthography or phonology mismatched, and smallest when both orthography and phonology matched. P300 latency was consistent with reaction time, increasing whenever there was a conflict between the two codes. Taken together, behavioral measures and the ERP data suggest that the extraction of the orthographic and phonological aspects of words occurs early in the information processing sequence.     

The effect of an extraneous added memory set on item recognition: A test of parallel-dependent vs. serial-comparison models

The linear increase in response time (RT) in item recognition as a function of memory set size may be attributed either to increased memory search, as in Sternberg’s serial-comparison model, or to increased interference and competition for a limited processing capacity, as in a parallel-dependent model. An additional memory load was imposed on the normal item recognition task. If the normal task involved letters, the additional task involved digits, or vice versa. The added set was presented before and tested after the normal core set was presented and tested. Across the four trial blocks, the subjects did come to dissociate the two memory sets, but this could be due as much to directed rehearsal as to directed search when other results, including the subjects’ postsession reports, are considered. Other findings, such as the higher error rate and shorter RT for positive than negative trials, seem to reflect differences in effective trace strength, and thus are consistent with the parallel-dependent model.     

Negative priming and stimulus-response compatibility

The subjects in this study made incongruent naming responses to words and pictures that were presented on alternate trials (e.g., say “car” toBIKE). Their response time was longer if the correct response for the current trial was the name of the stimulus presented on the preceding trial, as compared with a control condition. These results suggest that the tendency to produce the (congruent) name of the stimulus is automatically activated and then inhibited. The “negative priming” effects appeared stronger for words where pictures were primes than for pictures where words were primes. The implications of these results for negative priming and stimulus-response compatibility are discussed.     

Reaction time in relation to display size and correctness of response in forced-choice visual signal detection

Response times were recorded in a two-alternative, forced choice visual detection situation. Stimulus displays, presented tachistoscopically, were randomly selected consonant letters distributed in random subsets of cells of a matrix. Display sizes in Experiment I were 8, 12, and 16 letters; in Experiment 2–1, 4, and 8 letters; on each trial S operated a key to indicate which member of a predesignated pair of letters (signal elements) was present in a given display. Correct response times, on the average, increased uniformly with display size. Incorrect response times were uniformly greater than correct response times and, except for a reduction in the case of one element displays, were constant over display size. These relationships appear to require a modification of one assumption in the earlier proposed serial processing model for tachistoscopic perception.     

Reaction time in relation to display size and correctness of response in forced-choice visual signal detection

Response times were recorded in a two-alternative, forced choice visual detection situation. Stimulus displays, presented tachistoscopically, were randomly selected consonant letters distributed in random subsets of cells of a matrix. Display sizes in Experiment 1 were 8, 12, and 16 letters; in Experiment 2—1, 4, and 8 letters; on each trial S operated a key to indicate which member of a predesignated pair of letters (signal elements) was present in a given display. Correct response times, on the average, increased uniformly with display size. Incorrect response times were uniformly greater than correct response times and, except for a reduction in the case of one element displays, were constant over display size. These relationships appear to require a modification of one assumption in the earlier proposed serial processing model for tachistoscopic perception.     

情绪状态对学习判断的影响及其机制

两个实验用于研究情绪对学习判断的影响及其机制,结果表明：（1）首轮回忆测验成绩可以通过影响个体的情绪状态来影响后继的学习判断以及回忆测验和学习判断的绝对准确性。（2）情绪可以影响学习判断和个体对学习内容的加工深度,加工深度的提高有利于个体的回忆成绩,学习判断和回忆成绩共同影响着学习判断的准确性。     

Conditioned and unconditioned caloric compensation: Evidence for self-regulation of food intake in young children

The purpose of these two experiments was to determine (a) whether young children can be responsive to caloric density cues in regulating their food intake, (b) whether such cues can be associatively conditioned to organoleptic cues in foods, and (c) to obtain evidence regarding which of the many cues available are involved as conditioned stimuli. In Experiment 1 participants were eighteen 3- to 5-year-old children, who were seen for a series of pairs of conditioning trials, followed by extinction test trials. Each trial consisted of a two-part snack: approximately 100 ml of a pudding preload (chocolate or vanilla; high or low caloric density) followed after a delay by ad-lib consumption of snack foods (cookies and crackers). In extinction trials, flavors previously paired with high- or low-caloric density preloads during conditioning were presented in isocaloric intermediate density preloads. Results indicated that 14 of 18 children showed unconditioned caloric compensation on the first pair of conditioning trials; 16 of 18 children showed compensation following the second pair of trials, and 12 of these 16 subjects continued to show this consumption pattern during extinction. Consumption was significantly greater following the low calorie paired flavor than following the high calorie paired flavor during extinction. Experiment 2 (N = 10) replicated these findings, and uncorrelating preload and snack food flavors indicated that flavor cues in the preloads can serve as conditioned stimuli. Children showed both initial responsiveness to caloric density and evidence for associative conditioning of food cues to the physiological consequences of eating. These results provide initial evidence for a mechanism allowing the child to learn to anticipate the caloric consequences of familiar foods and regulate food intake accordingly.     

Hemispheric processing differences revealed by differential conditioning and reaction time performance.

Two different experimental procedures were used to examine (a) information-processing differences between two groups of subjects (Cs versus Vs) identified by the form of their conditioned eyeblinks; (b) information-processing differences between the right and left cerebral hemispheres; and (c) parallels between hypothesized C-V differences and right-left hemisphere differences. In the first experiment, the evocative command words BLINK and DON'T BLINK served as positive and negative conditioned stimuli. It was found that Vs gave more conditioned eyeblinks than Cs and that differential eyelid conditioning of Vs more than Cs was influenced by the semantic content of the stimuli. More importantly, the conditioning performance of Cs was more influenced by the semantic attributes of the stimuli when they were presented directly to the right visual field (left hemisphere) than when they were presented directly to the left visual field (right hemisphere). In contrast, the conditioning performance of Vs was equally influenced by the semantic attributes regardless of which hemisphere received direct stimulation. A second experiment was designed to determine whether such hemisphere-of-presentation differences for Cs versus Vs could also be obtained in a very different task. Subjects classified as Cs or Vs during a differential eyelid conditioning task then performed two same-different reaction time (RT) tasks that required discrimination of complex polygons in one case and the names of letters in another. On each RT trial both stimuli of a pair appeared briefly either in the center, left, or right visual field. For both Cs and Vs RTs to complex polygon pairs averaged 20 msec faster on left visual field trials than on right visual field trials, consistent with current hypotheses about right-hemisphere specialization for visuospatial processing. In contrast, the results for letter pairs generally confirmed the C-V differences found in Experiment 1. That is, the right visual field (left-hemisphere) advantage for these verbal stimuli was once again larger for Cs than for Vs. The present results suggest that the two groups of subjects (Cs versus Vs) differ qualitatively in the modes of information processing that they typically employ. The results also suggest that these different modes of processing are related to aspects of cerebral hemisphere organization and that even right-handed individuals may differ from each other in the extent to which each cerebral hemisphere is mobilized for a given experimental task. Such individual differences must be incorporated into both models of classical eyelid conditioning and models of cerebral hemisphere specialization.     

Visual detection in relation to display size and redundancy of critical elements I

Visual detection was studied in relation to displays of discrete elements, randomly selected consonant letters, distributed in random subsets of cells of a matrix, the S being required on each trial to indicate only which member of a predesignated pair of critical elements was present in a given display. Experimental variables were number of elements per display and number of redundant critical elements per display. Estimates of the number of elements effectively processed by a S during a 50 ms. exposure increased with display size, but not in the manner that would be expected if the S sampled a fixed proportion of the elements present in a display of given area. Test-retest data indicated substantial correlations over long intervals of time in the particular elements sampled by a S from a particular display. Efficiencies of detection with redundant critical elements were very close to those expected on the hypothesis of constant sample size over trials for any given display size and were relatively invariant with respect to distance between critical elements.     

网络成瘾者不同情绪状态下的认知加工特征

取在校大学生454人,通过《青少年病理性互联网使用量表》（Adolescent Pathological Internet Use Scale, APIUS),筛查出网络成瘾者31名为实验组,随机抽取样本中其他非成瘾大学生31人为对照组。使用词首－词尾对应三重意义组合图片60个为实验材料,用人物图片为情绪启动刺激,研究被试在不同情绪状态下的认知选择,记录被试选择词组性质和反应时间。研究发现,所有被试对积极词语的选择最多,对消极词语的选择最少,表现出“趋乐避苦”的认知选择倾向;成瘾组被试对积极词语的选择比对照组少,但是对消极词语选择比对照组多。悲伤启动情况下,成瘾组被试对积极词语的选择比对照组少,但是对消极词语的选择则比对照组多。成瘾组被试对积极信息的选择速度比对照组慢,但是对中性信息和消极信息的选择速度则比对照组快。愉快情绪启动下,成瘾组被试的反应时间比对照组短,在悲伤情绪启动下,成瘾组被试的反应时间比对照组长。悲伤情绪启动下,成瘾组被试对积极词语的反应时间比对照组慢,但是对消极词语的反应时间比对照组快。这些研究结果对网络成瘾的治疗有重要的参考价值。     

Negative priming is not task bound: A consistent pattern across naming and categorization tasks

When a word that was a to-be-ignored flanker on an initial prime trial becomes the target on the subsequent probe trial, responding to that word on the probe trial is slowed, a phenomenon callednegative priming. Virtually all prior studies have required subjects to perform the same task on both the prime and the probe trials. Thus, the extent to which negative priming is task bound is uncertain. We manipulated task factorially on the prime and probe trials, resulting in four groups: name-name, name-categorize, categorize-name, and categorize-categorize. The results showed equivalent negative priming of about 22 msec both within and between tasks for identical words, but no negative priming for semantically related words from the same category. These findings suggest (1) that negative priming for identical words can readily cross task types; and (2) that semantic negative priming does not occur for words, at least when categorical relatedness alone determines the semantic relation.     

Comparative judgments of animal intelligence and pleasantness

Symbolic comparisons of animal intelligence and pleasantness were investigated in five experiments using words and pictures as stimuli. Symbolic distance effects occurred in all experiments. Picture-word effects depended on the experimental design. Mean intelligence comparison reaction time (RT) did not differ for pictures and words when the pairs were presented to independent groups. With repeated measures, mean RT was faster for pictures than for words, but only on the second block of trials. This involved an asymmetrical transfer effect, so that word comparisons on the first trial block greatly facilitated picture comparisons on the second block, whereas picture comparisons did not facilitate subsequent word comparisons. Pleasantness comparisons showed a similar asymmetrical transfer pattern but differed from intelligence comparisons in that the mean RTs were faster with pictures than with words, even with an infinite item set and without prior exposure to the other class of material. The results are discussed in terms of dual coding and other models of symbolic comparisons.     

Hemisphere differences in an auditory Stroop test

In an auditory Stroop test, right-handed subjects were required to judge the pitch of the following stimuli: two pure tones, one at a high frequency and one at a low frequency; two congruent words, “high,” sung at the high frequency, and “low,” sung at the low frequency; and two noncongruent words, “high” at low frequency and “low” at high frequency. A sequence of these stimuli was presented monaurally first to one ear, and then to the other. The Stroop effect (the difference between mean RT to congruent words, and mean RT to noncongruent words) was larger for right ear (left hemisphere) presentation. The same experiment was repeated dichotically with a competing message presented to the opposite ear. Again, the Stroop effect was larger for the right ear, and the ear differences were slightly more marked. The result is interpreted as reflecting hemispheric specialization for linguistic and nonlinguistic processing and a model of Stroop conflict in which response competition varies with the relative availability of the conflicting response.

     

Processes underlying dimensional interactions: Correspondences between linguistic and nonlinguistic dimensions

In six experiments, we examined speeded classification when one dimension was linguistic and the other was nonlinguistic. In five of these, attributes on the dimensions corresponded meaningfully, having in common the concepts "high" and "low." For example, in Experiment 1, the visually presented words HI and LO were paired with high- or low-pitched tones; in Experiment 2, the dimensions were visual words and vertical position, in Experiment 3, they were spoken words and position, and in Experiments 4 and 5, spoken words and pitch. For each dimension in each pair, subjects suffered Garner interference when dimensions were varied orthogonally. Garner interference remained constant across 15 blocks of trials (Experiment 5). Subjects also showed significant congruity effects in all experiments, with attributes from congruent stimuli (e.g., HI/high pitch) classified faster than attributes from incongruent stimuli (e.g., HI/low pitch). These results differ from those obtained previously with noncorresponding pairs of linguistic-nonlinguistic dimensions. The results also differ from those obtained with traditional Stroop dimensions (colors and color words; Experiment 6), which showed minimal Garner interference and diminishing congruity effects across blocks of trials. We conclude that the interactions found here represent cross-talk between channels within a semantic level of processing. We contrast our view with current models of dimensional interaction.     

抑郁症患者识别情绪词时执行功能实验研究

为了研究抑郁症患者识别汉语情绪词时的执行功能特征,采用神经扫描仪STIM刺激反应系统记录16名抑郁症患者和18名正常对照组执行四类Go／No go汉语情绪词识别作业时的反应时和正确率,抑郁自评量表(SDS)评价抑郁严重程度,自动思维问卷(ATQ)评价负性认知偏差程度。结果发现,识别正／负性词时抑郁症组反应时均明显延长,正确率明显降低。组内方差分析显示,随着情绪词识别作业难度增加,正常对照组正／负性词反应时缩短,正确率逐渐提高,且不受双重作业任务的影响。抑郁症组则表现为反应时延长,正确率变化不明显。重复测量多因素方差分析显示。词性、作业、组别间因素对反应时的主效应均有显著性意义;组别间因素对正确率的主效应均有显著性意义。抑郁症患者SDS、ATQ分与反应时、正确率相关无显著性。提示抑郁症患者区分正负性汉语情绪词时存在执行功能障碍。