Age and functions of the transient component of ON and OFF responses in visual processes

Detections of appearances and disappearances in briefly interrupted complex patterns were examined in young and old subjects. According to neurophysiological evidence developed by Singer and Phillips (1974), the detection rates for the two types of events, which differ substantially as pattern durations and interstimulus intervals vary, are attributable to inhibitory interactions of ON- and OFF-centre relay cells of the lateral geniculate nucleus. The interactions affect the latency and amplitude of the transient component of the cells' responses. Phillips and Singer (1974) found that the neural model predicted the ability to detect the events. Using the same paradigm, we replicated their findings and found that differences in patterns of detection rates for appearances and disappearances in young and old subjects were consistent with the hypothesis that inhibitory interactions are stronger in older subjects, producing longer latency of OFF-centre relay cells. The neural model and the hypothesized age-related increase in inhibitory interactions are consistent with findings     

How infants process addition and subtraction events

Three experiments are described that assess 5‐month‐old infants’ processing of addition and subtraction events similar to those reported by Wynn (1992a ). In Experiment 1, prior to each test trial, one group of infants was shown an addition event (1 + 1) while another group was shown a subtraction event (2 ? 1). On test trials, all infants were shown outcomes of 0, 1, 2 and 3. The results seemed to require one of two dual‐process models. One such model assumed that the infants could add and subtract but also had a tendency to look longer when more items were on the stage. The other model assumed that infants had a preference for familiarity along with the tendency to look longer when more items were on the stage. Experiments 2 and 3 examined the assumptions made by these two models. In Experiment 2, infants were given only the test trials they had received in Experiment 1. Thus, no addition and subtraction or familiarity was involved. In Experiment 3 infants were familiarized to either one or two items prior to each test trial, but experienced no actual addition or subtraction. The results of these two experiments support the familiarity plus more items to look at model more than the addition and subtraction plus more items to look at model. Taken together, these three experiments shed doubt on Wynn’s (1992a ) assertion that 5‐month‐old infants can add and subtract. Instead they indicate the importance of familiarity preferences and the fact that one should be cautious before assuming that young infants have sophisticated numerical abilities.     

Subtraction by addition

University students’ self-reports indicate that they often solve basic subtraction problems (13?6=?) by reference to the corresponding addition problem (6+7=13; therefore, 13?6=7). In this case, solution latency should be faster with subtraction problems presented in addition format (6+_=13) than in standard subtraction format (13+6=_). In Experiment 1, the addition format resembled the standard layout for addition with the sum on the right (6+_=13), whereas in Experiment 2, the addition format resembled subtraction with the minuend on the left (13=6+_). Both experiments demonstrated a latency advantage for large problems (minuend > 10) in the addition format as compared with the subtraction format (13+6=_), although the effect was larger in Experiment 1 (254 msec) than in Experiment 2 (125 msec). Small subtractions (minuend ≤ 10) in Experiment 1 were solved equally quickly in the subtraction or addition format, but in Experiment 2, performance on small problems was faster in the standard format (5?3=_) than in the addition format (5=3+_). The results indicate that educated adults often use addition reference to solve large simple subtraction problems, but that they rely on direct memory retrieval for small subtractions.     

The influence of imagery ability on color aftereffects produced by physically present and imagined induction stimuli

Two methods of induction were used to produce orientation-contingent color aftereffects for observers assigned to one of three groups (high, medium, and low) on the basis of self-rated imagery ability. In Experiment 1, observers were required to make magnitude estimates of color aftereffects following inspection of stimulus patterns normally used to produce McCollough effects (e.g., red vertical contours, green horizontal contours). Experiment 2 was a partial replication of Experiment 1, with additional induction conditions in which observers were required to imagine the presence of appropriately oriented contours when particular homogeneous color patches were presented. The results indicated that self-rated imagery ability was not a significant factor in differentiating between observers’ performance when orthodox induction procedures were used (Experiment 1). In addition, there were no reliable indications (Experiment 2) that imagined stimulus attributes can be effectively substituted for real stimulus attributes in order to produce orientation-contingent color aftereffects. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for the use of imagery-induced perceptual phenomena as a paradigm for investigating the possibility of common neural mechanisms in perception and imagination; in addition, the general implications of the results for understanding the functional significance of self-reported imagery ability are examined.     

Children’s strategies in complex arithmetic

Strategies used to solve two-digit addition problems (e.g., 27 + 48, Experiment 1) and two-digit subtraction problems (e.g., 73 – 59, Experiment 2) were investigated in adults and in children from Grades 3, 5, and 7. Participants were tested in choice and no-choice conditions. Results showed that (a) participants used the full decomposition strategy more often than the partial decomposition strategy to solve addition problems but used both strategies equally often to solve subtraction problems; (b) strategy use and execution were influenced by participants’ age, problem features, relative strategy performance, and whether the problems were displayed horizontally or vertically; and (c) age-related changes in complex arithmetic concern relative strategy use and execution as well as the relative influences of problem characteristics, strategy characteristics, and problem presentation on strategy choices and strategy performance. Implications of these findings for understanding age-related changes in strategic aspects of complex arithmetic performance are discussed.     

Naming, rehearsal, and interstimulus interval effects in memory processing

Recognition memory was tested for lists of 6 briefly (0.08 s) presented pictures at different interstimulus intervals (ISI) of 0.08, 1, and 4 s. Experiment 1 showed a 16% performance increase (ISI effect) for increasing ISI for travel slide but not kaleidoscope pictures. Experiment 2 showed that learning names for the kaleidoscope pictures then resulted in a substantial (20%) ISI effect, not attributable solely to the added exposure to the pictures. Experiment 3 required names, color evaluations, or blank stares during list-memory presentations. Interviews established that the most effective memory strategy was chaining the names together, followed by repeating the most current name, and in turn followed by reliance upon only the sensory experience. All groups in Experiments 2 and 3, independent of ISI effects, showed U-shaped serial position functions. Rehearsal is shown to be nonessential and cannot be the general cause of the primary effect of the serial position function.     

Mixed signals: The effect of conflicting reward- and goal-driven biases on selective attention

Attentional selection depends on the interaction between exogenous (stimulus-driven), endogenous (goal-driven), and selection history (experience-driven) factors. While endogenous and exogenous biases have been widely investigated, less is known about their interplay with value-driven attention. The present study investigated the interaction between reward-history and goal-driven biases on perceptual sensitivity (d’) and response time (RT) in a modified cueing paradigm presenting two coloured cues, followed by sinusoidal gratings. Participants responded to the orientation of one of these gratings. In Experiment 1, one cue signalled reward availability but was otherwise task irrelevant. In Experiment 2, the same cue signalled reward, and indicated the target’s most likely location at the opposite side of the display. This design introduced a conflict between reward-driven biases attracting attention and goal-driven biases directing it away. Attentional effects were examined comparing trials in which cue and target appeared at the same versus opposite locations. Two interstimulus interval (ISI) levels were used to probe the time course of attentional effects. Experiment 1 showed performance benefits at the location of the reward-signalling cue and costs at the opposite for both ISIs, indicating value-driven capture. Experiment 2 showed performance benefits only for the long ISI when the target was at the opposite to the reward-associated cue. At the short ISI, only performance costs were observed. These results reveal the time course of these biases, indicating that reward-driven effects influence attention early but can be overcome later by goal-driven control. This suggests that reward-driven biases are integrated as attentional priorities, just as exogenous and endogenous factors.     

Moving attention along the mental number line in preschool age: Study of the operational momentum in 3‐ to 5‐year‐old children's non‐symbolic arithmetic

People tend to underestimate subtraction and overestimate addition outcomes and to associate subtraction with the left side and addition with the right side. These two phenomena are collectively labeled 'operational momentum' (OM) and thought to have their origins in the same mechanism of 'moving attention along the mental number line'. OM in arithmetic has never been tested in children at the preschool age, which is critical for numerical development. In this study, 3–5 years old were tested with non‐symbolic addition and subtraction tasks. Their level of understanding of counting principles (CP) was assessed using the give‐a‐number task. When the second operand's cardinality was 5 or 6 (Experiment 1), the child's reaction time was shorter in addition/subtraction tasks after cuing attention appropriately to the right/left. Adding/subtracting one element (Experiment 2) revealed a more complex developmental pattern. Before acquiring CP, the children showed generalized overestimation bias. Underestimation in addition and overestimation in subtraction emerged only after mastering CP. No clear spatial‐directional OM pattern was found, however, the response time to rightward/leftward cues in addition/subtraction again depended on stage of mastering CP. Although the results support the hypothesis about engagement of spatial attention in early numerical processing, they point to at least partial independence of the spatial‐directional and magnitude OM. This undermines the canonical version of the number line‐based hypothesis. Mapping numerical magnitudes to space may be a complex process that undergoes reorganization during the period of acquisition of symbolic representations of numbers. Some hypotheses concerning the role of spatial‐numerical associations in numerical development are proposed.     

Processing of global and local information in memory

The experiments reported in this paper were designed to test how global and local information are processed by the memory system. When subjects are required to match a given letter with either a previously presented large capital letter or the small capital letters comprising it, (1) responses to the global level (i.e. the big letter) are faster than responses to the local level (i.e. the small letters), and (2) responses to the latter level only are affected by the consistency between the large and the small letters (Experiment 2), a pattern similar to that obtained in perception (Experiment 1). Such results obtain when subjects are required to attend to only one level with a short ISI between the first and second stimulus, but not when a longer ISI is used (Experiment 5) or when subjects are required to attend to both levels at the same time (Experiments 3 and 4). The results are discussed in the light of a model that postulates a temporal precedence of the global information over the local one at the perceptual level.     

Segmentation and selection contribute to local processing in hierarchical analysis.

The present study examined the role of segmentation and selection processes when we respond to local elements in hierarchical stimuli. The ease of segmentation and selection of an individual local element from hierarchical patterns was manipulated by making one local element substantially distinct from the others in colour. Experiment 1 showed that, when attention was spread across the global and local levels in a divided attention task, the introduction of the local red element speeded responses to local targets but slowed responses when targets appeared at the global level. Experiment 2 used a selective attention task in which subjects responded only to the local or the global shapes across a block of trials. Under these circumstances, the local red element reduced global-to-local interference in addition to speeding local responses. The results suggest that the efficiency with which local elements are segmented and selected affects responses to local aspects of hierarchical patterns; furthermore, the effect of local pop-out on global processing is contingent on top-down attentional control settings.     

The effects of complexity on the perception of vibrotactile patterns presented to separate fingers

Pairs of vibrotactile patterns were presented to subjects’ left middle and index fingerpads (unilateral presentation) or left and right index fingerpads (bilateral presentation), using two Optacon arrays. A set of simple (one-line) patterns and a set of complex (two-line) patterns were constructed sothat they were equally identifiable when presented individually. In Experiment 1, discrimination performance was lower for two-line patterns than it was for one-line patterns, and it was lower for unilateral presentation than it was for bilateral presentation. Communality, the number of lines that two patterns share in common, was a major factor in reducing discrimination performance for two-line patterns. Subjects’ abilities to identify one member of the pair of patterns were measured in Experiment 2. There were no significant differences in performance between pattern sets or type of presentation when subjects attended to a single pattern. However, when subjects were required to attend to both patterns, identification performance was lower for two-line patterns than it was for one-line patterns, and it was lower for unilateral presentation than it was for bilateral presentation. The results suggest that there are limited attentional resources for processing vibrotactile patterns and that more resources are available bilaterally than are available unilaterally.     

The CS-US interval function in rabbit nictitating membrane response conditioning: Single vs multiple trials per conditioning session

The effect of varying trials per day conditions on the CS-US interval or interstimulus interval (ISI) function in rabbit nictitating membrane response conditioning was studied in two experiments. Experiment 1 showed that a 1250-msec ISI was more effective than a 250-msec ISI when there was 1 trial/day. Experiment 2 showed that as the number of trials per day decreased from 20 to 1, the superiority of the 250-msec ISI group over the 1250-msec ISI group declined, with a reversal at 1 trial/day. Results are interpreted in terms of the role of a hypothesized CS-elicited short-duration orienting response in CR performance.     

Inverse reference in subtraction performance: an analysis from arithmetic word problems

Studies of elementary calculation have shown that adults solve basic subtraction problems faster with problems presented in addition format (e.g., 6 ± =?13) than in standard subtraction format (e.g., 13 - 6?=?). Therefore, it is considered that adults solve subtraction problems by reference to the inverse operation (e.g., for 13 - 6?=?7, "I know that 13 is 6?+?7") because presenting the subtraction problem in addition format does not require the mental rearrangement of the problem elements into the addition format. In two experiments, we examine whether adults' use of addition to solve subtractions is modulated by the arrangement of minuend and subtrahend, regardless of format. To this end, we used arithmetic word problems since single-digit problems in subtraction format would not allow the subtrahend to appear before the minuend. In Experiment 1, subtractions were presented by arranging minuend and subtrahend according to previous research. In Experiment 2, operands were reversed. The overall results showed that participants benefited from word problems where the subtrahend appears before the minuend, including subtractions in standard subtraction format. These findings add to a growing body of literature that emphasizes the role of inverse reference in adults' performance on subtractions.     

Answering yes-no questions about causes: Question acts and question categories

Three experiments examined the cognitive process of answering yes-no questions about causes. Singer’s VAIL model of question answering predicted that readers would take longer to correctly answer “no” than “don’t know” to such questions. In Experiment 1, the antecedent sentences used either the causal conjunction so orbecause. Experiment 2 compared so with an implicit causal link. In all conditions, the main prediction was strongly supported. However, when the questions referred to brief stories in Experiment 3, correct “no” and “don’t know” response latencies did not differ. It was concluded that (1) VAIL identifies the cognitive operations underlying the answering of causal questions; (2) answering yes-no questions about causes resembles answering yes-no questions about case-filling elements; (3) the yes-no versus wh- distinction is orthogonal to the type of relation asked about; and (4) studying question answering about sentences will contribute to the understanding of question answering about text.     

Inverse reference in subtraction performance: An analysis from arithmetic word problems

Studies of elementary calculation have shown that adults solve basic subtraction problems faster with problems presented in addition format (e.g., 6?+?_?=?13) than in standard subtraction format (e.g., 13 – 6?=?_). Therefore, it is considered that adults solve subtraction problems by reference to the inverse operation (e.g., for 13 – 6?=?7, “I know that 13 is 6?+?7”) because presenting the subtraction problem in addition format does not require the mental rearrangement of the problem elements into the addition format. In two experiments, we examine whether adults' use of addition to solve subtractions is modulated by the arrangement of minuend and subtrahend, regardless of format. To this end, we used arithmetic word problems since single-digit problems in subtraction format would not allow the subtrahend to appear before the minuend. In Experiment 1, subtractions were presented by arranging minuend and subtrahend according to previous research. In Experiment 2, operands were reversed. The overall results showed that participants benefited from word problems where the subtrahend appears before the minuend, including subtractions in standard subtraction format. These findings add to a growing body of literature that emphasizes the role of inverse reference in adults' performance on subtractions.     

The impact of anxiety on analogical reasoning

The effect of state anxiety on analogical reasoning was investigated by examining qualitative differences in mapping performance between anxious and non-anxious individuals reasoning about pictorial analogies. The working-memory restriction theory of anxiety, coupled with theories of analogy that link complexity of mapping with working-memory capacity, predicts that high anxiety will impair the ability to find correspondences based on relations between multiple objects relative to correspondences based on overlap of attributes between individual objects. Anxiety was induced in one condition by a stressful speeded subtraction task administered prior to the analogy task. Anxious participants produced fewer relational responses and more attribute responses than did non-anxious participants, both in the absence of explicit instructions to find relational mappings (Experiment 1) and after receiving such instructions (Experiment 2). The findings support the postulated links among anxiety, working memory, and the ability to perform complex analogical mapping.     

What factors underlie children’s susceptibility to semantic and phonological false memories? Investigating the roles of language skills and auditory short-term memory

Two experiments investigated the cognitive skills that underlie children’s susceptibility to semantic and phonological false memories in the Deese/Roediger–McDermott procedure ( and ). In Experiment 1, performance on the Verbal Similarities subtest of the British Ability Scales (BAS) II (Elliott, Smith, & McCulloch, 1997) predicted correct and false recall of semantic lures. In Experiment 2, performance on the Yopp–Singer Test of Phonemic Segmentation (Yopp, 1988) did not predict correct recall, but inversely predicted the false recall of phonological lures. Auditory short-term memory was a negative predictor of false recall in Experiment 1, but not in Experiment 2. The findings are discussed in terms of the formation of gist and verbatim traces as proposed by fuzzy trace theory (Reyna & Brainerd, 1998) and the increasing automaticity of associations as proposed by associative activation theory (Howe, Wimmer, Gagnon, & Plumpton, 2009).     

Internal control beliefs and reference frame concurrently impact early performance monitoring ERPs

This study investigated the impact of criterion-based vs. social reference frames on behavioural and neural correlates of performance monitoring while taking individual differences in control beliefs into account. We conducted two experiments administering a time estimation task in which feedback was either delivered pertaining to participants’ own performance (nonsocial/criterion-based reference) or to the performance of a reference group of previous participants (social reference). In Experiment 1, 34 male volunteers participated. To test generalizability of the observed results to both sexes/genders, we recruited 36 female volunteers for Experiment 2. P2 and P300 amplitudes were generally larger in social than in nonsocial reference trials in the male participants of Experiment 1. ΔFRN amplitudes were larger for social compared to non-social reference trials in Experiment 1. No effects of reference frame were found in the female sample of Experiment 2. Rather, P2 and ΔFRN effects showed opposing patterns for nonsocial versus social reference frames. However, stronger internal control beliefs were accompanied by larger FRN amplitudes of negative social reference trials in both samples, suggesting generalizable effects independent of sex/gender. Enhanced P2 and ΔFRN amplitudes for social versus nonsocial reference trials suggest enhanced attentional capture and higher saliency of socially framed feedback in male participants only. In both sexes/genders, however, the social reference frame possibly challenges internal control beliefs and by this enhances performance monitoring. Our results demonstrate the complex interplay of trait variables and reference frames during performance monitoring influencing our daily lives-reference frames are omnipresent in education and one’s working environment.     

The numbers 1 to 5 in the development of children's number concepts

The structure of preschool children's number concepts was investigated. It was hypothesized that preschoolers have number concepts based on the numbers 1 to 5 rather than on the decade structure. In Experiment 1, children were taught how to solve problems using the number 5 or the number 10. Children given the former solved almost all the problems correctly. In Experiment 2, children were asked to resolve numbers into 5's and x's or to find supplements to 10. It was significantly easier and faster for children to resolve numbers than to find supplements. In Experiment 3, children were given both addition and subtraction problems. Performance in addition and subtraction was comparable. Strategies suggested that children understood numbers to 5 as a privileged anchor. These results are discussed in terms of a new model of a representational system of numbers.     

Appetitive pavlovian-instrumental interactions: Effects of inter-stimulus interval and baseline reinforcement conditions

Experiment I manipulated two variables which appear to influence whether a signal for food enhances or suppresses food-rewarded instrumental performance: interstimulus interval (ISI) during classical conditioning and instrumental reinforcement schedule during testing. In two groups a 10-s conditioned stimulus (CS) and food were paired (10-s and 20- to 100-s ISI), while in a third group they were unpaired. During signalled reinforcement of lever-pressing (S+), the CS suppressed responding in both paired groups. During signalled extinction (S-), responding in the 10-s ISI group was suppressed during the CS and enhanced for 60 s after CS offset; responding in the 20- to 100-s ISI group was enhanced both during the CS and for 120 s after CS offset. Experiment II examined whether the long ISI enhancement effect would occur when the baseline response rate was lowered by satiation rather than extinction. A 20- to 100-s CS and food were paired in one group and unpaired in another. After near-satiation on a CRF schedule, CS presentations caused a reduction in responding in both groups, with no significant difference between the two groups. The results of the two experiments were interpreted in terms of an interaction between the expectancy of food generated by stimuli conditioned at short and long ISIs and the expectancy of food availability controlled by the instrumental schedule.