Hemispheric differences in tactile and visual recognition of braille-like stimulus patterns with static and dynamic modes of inspection

Summary Braille-like patterns were presented unilaterally to both tactual and visual modalities. The subject's task was to identify the location of three dots in a 2 × 3 six-dot pattern. Specifically, tactual versus visual presentation, dynamic versus static presentation of tactual stimuli, learning, and gender were examined in relation to cerebral hemisheric differences. Data were analyzed in terms of both the number of individual stimulus dots and the number of complete three-dot patterns correctly identified with regard to their spatial location. Although no reliable laterality differences were obtained with the tactual-static condition, owing to a significant interaction between learning and side of stimulus presentation, dot positions were reported reliably more accurately when presented in a dynamic fashion, i. e., scanned by the subject, to the right hand. For the visual modality, both correct reports of individual dot positions as well as correct reports of the entire patterns were reliably more accurate for stimulus presentations to the right visual field. Increased familiarity with the task, i. e., learning accross trials, generally increased report accuracy, particularly for static presentations to the left hand. The effect of gender was negligible. The results are dicussed in terms of their theoretical implications for differential cerebral hemispheric specializations in terms of differential processing strategies.The research reported here was supported by a Grant (A8621) from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada to the second author. Offprint requests should be sent to Eugene C. Lechelt, Department of Psychology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2E9     

Tactual learning and cross-modal transfer of an oddity problem in young children

The ability to solve tactual oddity problems, and transfer of oddity learning across the visual and the tactual modalities, was studied in 3- to 8-year-old children (N = 294). Oddity tasks consisting of one odd and two equal objects were made from stimuli that were easily discriminated visually and tactually. The results showed that tactual oddity learning increased gradually with age. The growth in tactual performance begins later than visual, suggesting that children are more adept at encoding visual stimulus invariances or relational properties than tactual ones. Bidirectional cross-modal transfer of oddity learning was found, supporting the suggestion that such transfer occurs when training and transfer oddity tasks share a common vehicle dimension. The cross-modal effect also shows that oddity learning is independent of a specific modality-labeled perceptual context. Our results are consistent with the view that development of oddity learning depends on a single rather than a dual process, and that the oddity relation may be treated as an amodal stimulus feature.     

通道呈现方式与感知学习风格的匹配性对粤-普双言切换代价的影响

选取不同感知学习风格的熟练粤-普双言者被试, 比较在不同通道呈现方式下他们刺激命名任务的表现, 由此考察感知学习风格与通道呈现方式的匹配性对熟练双言者双言切换代价的影响。结果发现, 被试在视觉线索呈现条件下要比在听觉线索条件下的切换代价小; 当感知学习风格与通道呈现方式匹配时, 双言切换代价更低。表明感知学习风格与通道呈现方式的匹配性对于双言切换代价有调节作用。     

Tactual and visual alphanumeric suffix effects

Two experiments tested the effects of suffixes on the recall of tactual and visual sequences of alphabetic characters presented at 19 letters per min. Scoring techniques allowed for the differentiation of losses of item and order information. In Experiment I performance decrements were found for both modalities, which were mainly caused by item loss at the more recent part of the serial position curve in the suffix conditions. In Experiment II, these effects were replicated and a non-alphabetic suffix led to greater decrements for both modalities than an alphabetical suffix. While a suffix effect based on the loss of item information is consistent with a sensory trace interpretation of the suffix effect, the presence of a visual suffix effect with slow stimulus presentation is not. Additionally, the greater effect of the non-alphanumeric suffix challenges attentional interpretations. Some possible explanations are proposed.     

Conditioned suppression, punishment, and aversion

Three experiments were conducted to assess the aversive properties of a visual stimulus in the presence of which one group of birds received response-contingent shock (discriminated punishment) while a yoked group of birds received non-contingent shocks (conditioned suppression). In Experiment 1, presentation of the visual stimulus contingent on key pecking reduced the response rate (conditioned punishment effect) for birds under the conditioned suppression procedure but did not reduce the response rate of birds under the discriminative punishment procedure. Non-contingent shocks also produced greater suppression of responding maintained by positive reinforcement in the presence of a visual stimulus than did response-contingent shocks. In Experiment 2, a greater shock intensity (2 mA) was used. All the differences between the two groups found in Experiment 1 were also found in Experiment 2. Experiment 3 demonstrated that response-contingent shock did not result in a conditioned punishment effect even when positive reinforcers were unavailable during the discriminative punishment schedule. The exteroceptive stimulus that was paired with shock in the conditioned suppression procedure acquired the ability to punish behavior. The exteroceptive stimulus in the discriminative punishment schedule did not acquire this ability.     

How bumblebees first find flowers: Habituation of visual pattern preferences, spontaneous recovery, and dishabituation

Two experiments examined the exploratory behaviour of flower-naïve bumblebees. Bees were tested four times in a 12-arm radial arm maze in which they never received reward. Patterned and unpatterned stimuli were presented at the end of each corridor and the choices of the bees were recorded. We examined the effects of two variables, time and the presentation of a new stimulus, on habituation to a visual pattern. In Experiment 1, once bees had shown an unlearned preference for a pattern, and the preference had habituated, a response decrement was maintained after a confinement in the colony of two hours. After a 24 h confinement, however, the pattern preference was restored, i.e., spontaneous recovery was observed. In Experiment 2, the presentation of a new stimulus triggered renewed responding to the old pattern to which the bees had habituated, i.e., dishabituation was observed. Habituation to visual patterns is modulated by time and by exposure to new stimuli so that exploration in the face of failure to find food persists and unrewarding visual patterns are not eliminated for long as possible sources of food.     

Discrimination of color and pattern novelty in one-month human infants

Visual discrimination of novel colors and patterns by one-month infants was studied in two experiments where visual reinforcers were presented contingent upon infants' rate of nonnutritive, high-amplitude sucking. Discrimination was measured by recovery of sucking to the presentation of novel visual reinforcing stimuli following decrements in sucking to familiar visual stimuli. In Expt 1, following decrement to familiar stimuli, independent groups received either a change in color, pattern, both color and pattern, or no stimulus change. Reliable recovery was demonstrated for the three stimulus novelty groups relative to the no-change control. Experiment 2, employing achromatic visual reinforcers also showed reliable recovery to pattern change relative to no-change controls. These findings with one-month infants indicate discrimination between familiar and novel visual reinforcers on the basis of color and pattern differences and an increase due to novelty in the reinforcing effectiveness of visual stimuli. Individual subject differences in response decrement magnitude during familiarization were positively correlated with amount of response recovery to novelty.     

Characteristics of implicit chaining in cotton-top tamarins (Saguinus oedipus)

In human cognition there has been considerable interest in observing the conditions under which subjects learn material without explicit instructions to learn. In the present experiments, we adapted this issue to nonhumans by asking what subjects learn in the absence of explicit reinforcement for correct responses. Two experiments examined the acquisition of sequence information by cotton-top tamarins (Saguinus oedipus) when such learning was not demanded by the experimental contingencies. An implicit chaining procedure was used in which visual stimuli were presented serially on a touchscreen. Subjects were required to touch one stimulus to advance to the next stimulus. Stimulus presentations followed a pattern, but learning the pattern was not necessary for reinforcement. In Experiment 1 the chain consisted of five different visual stimuli that were presented in the same order on each trial. Each stimulus could occur at any one of six touchscreen positions. In Experiment 2 the same visual element was presented serially in the same five locations on each trial, thereby allowing a behavioral pattern to be correlated with the visual pattern. In this experiment two new tests, a Wild-Card test and a Running-Start test, were used to assess what was learned in this procedure. Results from both experiments indicated that tamarins acquired more information from an implicit chain than was required by the contingencies of reinforcement. These results contribute to the developing literature on nonhuman analogs of implicit learning.     

Investigating Optimal Memory Enhancement Procedures in Foreign Language Learning

We investigated the effects of learning schedule and multi‐modality stimulus presentation on foreign language vocabulary learning. In Experiment 1, participants learned German vocabulary words utilizing three learning methods that were organized either in a blocked or interleaved fashion. We found interleaving with the keyword mnemonic and rote study advantageous over blocking, but retrieval practice was better served in a blocked schedule. It is likely that the excessively delayed feedback for the retrieval practice in the interleaved practice schedule impeded learning while the spacing involved in the interleaved schedule enhanced learning in the keyword mnemonic and rote study. In Experiment 2, we examined whether a multi‐modality stimulus presentation from visual and auditory channels is better suited for aiding learning over a visual presentation condition. We found benefits of multi‐modality presentation only for the keyword mnemonic condition, presumably because the nature of the keyword mnemonic involving sound and visualization was particularly relevant with the multi‐modality presentation. The present study suggests that optimal foreign language learning environments should incorporate learning schedules and multimedia presentations based on specific learning methods and materials. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Visual field x response hand interactions and level priming in the processing of laterally presented hierarchical stimuli

Hemisphere-specific processing of laterally presented global and local stimulus levels was investigated by (a) examining interactions between the visual field of stimulus presentation and the response hand and (b) comparing intra- with inter-hemispheric effects of level priming (i.e. faster and more accurate performance when the target level repeats). Although in Experiment 1, which involved two-choice responses with left and right hands, performance costs occurred when the same hemisphere received the stimulus and controlled the response hand, further analyses suggest that these effects reflect spatial compatibility rather than intra-hemispheric interference. Consistent with the spatial compatibility interpretation, in Experiment 2 a similar visual field x response interaction was obtained with regard to left and right responses given with the same hand. Trial-to-trial level priming occurred in both experiments and was unaffected by the intra-hemispheric sequence of target levels. Implications regarding hemispheric processing mode are discussed.     

Using several modalities to perceive one temporal pattern

In two experiments, subjects identified temporal patterns. The patterns consisted of eight dichotomous (left-right) elements, e.g. LLRRLRLR, continuously repeated until the subject was able to identify the pattern. In Experiment 1, one pattern was presented either separately in the auditory, tactual, or visual modalities or one pattern was presented simultaneously in two modalities (compatible presentation). In Experiment 2, one pattern was simultaneously presented in two modalities, but the pattern was presented in one modality and the complement of the pattern (the complement of LLRRLRLR is RRLLRLRL) was presented in the second modality. Therefore, opposite spatial elements appeared in each modality (incompatible presentation).

The results indicated that the rate of pattern identification was the same for compatible and incompatible presentation. These methods produce better performance than individual modality presentation at fast presentation rates (2 elements/sec. and faster) although individual modality presentation was better at slower rates. This suggests that when a pattern is presented in two modalities, the pattern in each modality is integrated, not the particular spatial elements in each modality. Furthermore, the rate of pattern identification using individual modalities did not predict the difficulty using pairs of modalities. These results demonstrate the Gestalt nature of pattern perception; the pattern is perceptually salient and the performance of pairs of modalities depends on the inherent properties of the individual modalities.     

Conditioned approach and withdrawal behavior in pigeons: Effects of a novel extraneous stimulus during acquisition and extinction

Three experiments examined the effects of complete removal of reinforcement and of the introduction of a novel stimulus on conditioned approach and withdrawal behavior exhibited by pigeons in an autoshaping paradigm. Experiment 1 indicated that complete omission of food from the experimental situation resulted in the gradual disappearance of both approach and withdrawal behavior in subjects that had received either explicitly paired or explicitly unpaired conditioning. Subsequent presentation of a novel visual stimulus reinstated both approach and withdrawal. Experiment 2 replicated these findings in a within-subjects, discriminative paradigm. In Experiment 3, presenting the novel visual stimulus during acquisition when approach and withdrawal behaviors were asymptotic did not produce significant disruption of performance. These data suggest that removal of reinforcement leads to the disappearance of withdrawal as well as approach performance, and that subsequent presentation of a novel stimulys reinstates whatever behavior was dominant prior to extinction—a finding that seems analogous to results of experiments concerning proactive interference.     

Effects of multimodal presentation and stimulus familiarity on auditory and visual processing

Two experiments examined the effects of multimodal presentation and stimulus familiarity on auditory and visual processing. In Experiment 1, 10-month-olds were habituated to either an auditory stimulus, a visual stimulus, or an auditory-visual multimodal stimulus. Processing time was assessed during the habituation phase, and discrimination of auditory and visual stimuli was assessed during a subsequent testing phase. In Experiment 2, the familiarity of the auditory or visual stimulus was systematically manipulated by prefamiliarizing infants to either the auditory or visual stimulus prior to the experiment proper. With the exception of the prefamiliarized auditory condition in Experiment 2, infants in the multimodal conditions failed to increase looking when the visual component changed at test. This finding is noteworthy given that infants discriminated the same visual stimuli when presented unimodally, and there was no evidence that multimodal presentation attenuated auditory processing. Possible factors underlying these effects are discussed.     

Training sequence effects on emergent conditional discriminations: Replication and extension to selection-based training

We examined the replicability and generality of a previously reported training sequence effect on emergent conditional discriminations in the intraverbal naming task. In Experiment 1, a tact–intraverbal (TI) group learned first to vocally label 6 visual patterns and then to intraverbally relate pairs of verbal labels, whereas an intraverbal–tact (IT) group received the same training in the opposite sequence. Emergent conditional discriminations among pattern stimuli were assessed in match-to-sample (MTS) format. Experiment 2 was identical, except vocal tact and intraverbal training were replaced with selection-based training in which the verbal labels were text stimuli. Compared to the IT sequence, the TI sequence resulted in greater mean accuracy at test (Experiment 1), higher yields (Experiment 2), and shorter reaction times (Experiment 2). Experiment 2 data suggested the TI group's performance might be less dependent on intact intraverbal relations relative to the IT group, but related to participants' reports of visualization during intraverbal training. The results suggest the sequence effect is replicable and occurs in experimental preparations commonly used to study derived stimulus relations. They also provide novel support for the hypothesis that participant behavior during training alters sources of stimulus control available at test.     

Concurrent learning of temporal and spatial sequences

In a serial reaction time task, stimulus events simultaneously defined spatial and temporal sequences. Responses were based on the spatial dimension. The temporal sequence was incidental to the task, defined by the response-to-stimulus intervals in Experiment 1 and stimulus onset asynchronies in Experiment 2. The two sequences were either of equal length and correlated or of unequal length. In both experiments, spatial learning occurred regardless of sequence length condition. In contrast, temporal learning occurred only in the correlated condition. These results suggest that timing is an integrated part of action representations and that incidental learning for a temporal pattern does not occur independently from the action. Interestingly, sequence learning was enhanced in the correlated condition, reflecting the integration of spatial-temporal information.     

Laterality effects, levels of processing, and stimulus properties

Two hypotheses of hemispheric specialization are discussed. The first stresses the importance of the kind of processing to which the stimulus is subjected, and the second stresses the importance of the nature of the stimulus. To test these hypotheses, four experiments were carried out. In Experiment 1 verbal material was employed in a same-different classification task, and an overall right visual field superiority was found. Experiment 2, in which verbal stimuli were subjected to visuospatial transformations (i.e. mental rotations), yielded no laterality effect. In Experiment 3 geometrical figures were employed in a classification task similar to that of Experiment 1, and an overall left visual field superiority was found. In Experiment 4 both verbal and geometric stimuli were employed. The results showed a significant interaction between field of presentation and nature of the stimulus and no interaction between field of presentation and level of processing.     

Learning of event sequences is based on response-effect learning: further evidence from a serial reaction task

Four experiments provide converging evidence that serial learning in a serial reaction task is based on response-effect learning, mediated by the learning of the relations between a response and the stimulus that follows it. In Experiment 1, the authors varied the stimulus sequence and the response-stimulus relations while holding the response sequence constant. Learning effects depended on the complexity of the response-stimulus relations but not on the stimulus-stimulus relations. In Experiment 2, transfer of serial learning from 1 stimulus sequence to another was only found when both sequences had identical response-stimulus relations. In Experiment 3, a variation of the stimulus sequence alone had no effect on serial learning, whereas in Experiment 4 learning effects increased when the response-stimulus relations but not the stimulus-stimulus relations were simplified. These findings suggest that serial learning is based on mechanisms of voluntary action control.     

Recognition memory for tactile sequences.

In three experiments participants were required to compare the similarity in item order for two temporally separated sequences of tactile stimuli presented to the fingers of the hand. Between-sequence articulatory suppression but not tactile interference impaired recognition accuracy (Experiment 1), and the null effect of tactile interference was not due to the second tactile sequence overwriting the sensory record of the first sequence (Experiment 2). Experiment 3 showed that compared to a condition where the second sequence was presented in the tactile modality only, recognition was enhanced when the second sequence was seen presented either to the hand or on a diagrammatic representation of a hand. A final experiment showed that the effects of Experiment 1 were replicated when the underside of the forearm was used for stimulus presentation, suggesting that the data are not idiosyncratic to the first method of presentation. The pattern of results suggests memory for a sequence of tactile stimuli involves the deployment of strategies utilising a combination of verbal rehearsal and visuo-spatial recoding rather than relying solely on the retention of sensory traces. This is taken to reflect limitations in both the capacity and duration of tactile sensory memory.     

Habituation of exploratory activity to new stimuli, to the absence of a previously presented stimulus and to new contexts, in rats

Rats trained to run a shuttle-alleyway for food exhibited exploratory behaviour to a novel visual/tactual stimulus presented in a specific place of the alley. Intermittent presentation of the same stimulus in the same place resulted in reduction of the exploratory activity (habituation), both within and between sessions. The animals also directed exploratory activity to the absence of the previously presented stimulus at the place where the stimulus had been presented before; this latter response also habituated. The presentation (1) of the same stimulus to which the animals had already habituated in another place in the alleyway or when the animals were running in an opposite direction to the previous trials of stimulus presentation, or (2) of another stimulus, resulted, again, in the appearance of exploratory activity. These results lead to the conclusion that the animals code external events, store this information, and use it to detect spatial- and directional-contextual changes and to generate predictions about that specific environment.     

Verbal labeling as an assimilation mnemonic for abstract visual stimuli: The sample case of recognition memory for Chinese characters

In four experiments, we examined the effect that presenting a verbal stimulus (viz., an English noun) alongside an abstract visual stimulus (viz., a Chinese character) enhances recognition memory for the abstract visual stimulus. Experiment 1 demonstrated that the character-plus-word combination at both encoding and retrieval results in better recognition than does a character-alone presentation or presenting the combination at encoding only. Experiment 2 demonstrated that presenting the word first and then the character results in better performance than does the opposite order. Experiment 3 showed that the concreteness value of the word, not familiarity, is the critical factor. In Experiment 4, presentation time was varied. More time was needed for liftoff from chance level for the word-character combination than for the character-alone presentation. Together, the results suggest that subjects spontaneously assimilate stimulus and word into a single representation by building asymmetric effortful imagery associations, going from the English word to the Chinese character.