Cortical integration of audio–visual speech and non-speech stimuli

Using fMRI we investigated the neural basis of audio–visual processing of speech and non-speech stimuli using physically similar auditory stimuli (speech and sinusoidal tones) and visual stimuli (animated circles and ellipses). Relative to uni-modal stimuli, the different multi-modal stimuli showed increased activation in largely non-overlapping areas. Ellipse-Speech, which most resembles naturalistic audio–visual speech, showed higher activation in the right inferior frontal gyrus, fusiform gyri, left posterior superior temporal sulcus, and lateral occipital cortex. Circle-Tone, an arbitrary audio–visual pairing with no speech association, activated middle temporal gyri and lateral occipital cortex. Circle-Speech showed activation in lateral occipital cortex, and Ellipse-Tone did not show increased activation relative to uni-modal stimuli. Further analysis revealed that middle temporal regions, although identified as multi-modal only in the Circle-Tone condition, were more strongly active to Ellipse-Speech or Circle-Speech, but regions that were identified as multi-modal for Ellipse-Speech were always strongest for Ellipse-Speech. Our results suggest that combinations of auditory and visual stimuli may together be processed by different cortical networks, depending on the extent to which multi-modal speech or non-speech percepts are evoked.     

Influence of auditory and audiovisual stimuli on the right–left prevalence effect

When auditory stimuli are used in two-dimensional spatial compatibility tasks, where the stimulus and response configurations vary along the horizontal and vertical dimensions simultaneously, a right–left prevalence effect occurs in which horizontal compatibility dominates over vertical compatibility. The right–left prevalence effects obtained with auditory stimuli are typically larger than that obtained with visual stimuli even though less attention should be demanded from the horizontal dimension in auditory processing. In the present study, we examined whether auditory or visual dominance occurs when the two-dimensional stimuli are audiovisual, as well as whether there will be cross-modal facilitation of response selection for the horizontal and vertical dimensions. We also examined whether there is an additional benefit of adding a pitch dimension to the auditory stimulus to facilitate vertical coding through use of the spatial-musical association of response codes (SMARC) effect, where pitch is coded in terms of height in space. In Experiment 1, we found a larger right–left prevalence effect for unimodal auditory than visual stimuli. Neutral, non-pitch coded, audiovisual stimuli did not result in cross-modal facilitation, but did show evidence of visual dominance. The right–left prevalence effect was eliminated in the presence of SMARC audiovisual stimuli, but the effect influenced horizontal rather than vertical coding. Experiment 2 showed that the influence of the pitch dimension was not in terms of influencing response selection on a trial-to-trial basis, but in terms of altering the salience of the task environment. Taken together, these findings indicate that in the absence of salient vertical cues, auditory and audiovisual stimuli tend to be coded along the horizontal dimension and vision tends to dominate audition in this two-dimensional spatial stimulus–response task.     

Is there parallel and independent hemispheric processing of intonational and phonetic components of dichotic speech stimuli?

The possibility of hemisphere interaction in the processing of spoken language was studied in two dichotic listening experiments. The stimulus material consisted of six CV syllable triplets each spoken with each one of six intonation contours. In Experiment I, 15 aphasic patients, 8 patients with unilateral right hemisphere lesions, and 10 normal controls were asked to identify the four components of a dichotic item from a multiple-choice (MC) set comprising all possible CV triplets and intonation contours. In Experiment II, 30 normal subjects were required to identify either the right or left ear stimulus alone from an MC set comprising the right and left ear stimulus together with the two wrong combinations of right ear CV triplet with left ear intonation and vice versa. It is concluded from the results that the left hemisphere is capable of processing both phonetic and intonational information and that there is neither the necessity nor the tendency for right hemisphere participation in the perception of spoken language.     

Effector identity and orthogonal stimulus–response compatibility in blindness to response-compatible stimuli

Perceiving a visual stimulus is hampered when the stimulus is compatible with simultaneously prepared or executed action (blindness effect). We explored the roles of the effector identity of the responding hand and of orthogonal compatibility (above-right/below-left correspondence) in the blindness effect. In Experiment 1, participants conducted bimanual key presses with vertically arranged responses while perceiving a brief presentation of rightward or leftward arrowheads. A blindness effect based on the effector identity did emerge, but only with the above-right/below-left key-hand arrangement. An orthogonal blindness effect was not found in Experiment 2 with a horizontal key-press action task and a vertical arrowhead perception task. We concluded that the anatomical identity of the responding hand was not integrated into the action plan with an orthogonally incompatible key-hand arrangement. The findings are discussed in terms of the generality and limits of the blindness effect, and hierarchical response coding.     

Semantic processing of crowded stimuli?

Effects of semantic processing of crowded characters were investigated using numbers as stimuli. In an identification task, typical spacing effects in crowding were replicated. Using the same stimuli in a magnitude comparison task, a smaller effect of spacing was observed as well as an effect of response congruency. These effects were replicated in a second experiment with varying stimulus-onset asynchronies. In addition, decreasing performance with increasing onset-asynchrony (so-called type-B masking) for incongruent flankers indicates semantic processing of target and flankers. The data show that semantic processing takes place even in crowded stimuli. This argues strongly against common accounts of crowding in terms of early stimulus-driven impairments of processing.     

Proof of situational sensitivity of mood states and dynamic traits—ergs and sentiments—to disturbing stimuli

A separation of state and trait factors, and an allocation of modulation values to situations, was attempted by giving the Eight State Battery (8SQ) and the Motivation Analysis Test (MAT) to two groups, each under two situations, one aversive. The difference scores between a pre- and postexposure to the mild and the severe aversive situations were significant on all 8SQ factors but mainly on ergs, not sentiments, in the MAT. The state changes, notably on Anxiety, Regression, Depression and Guilt, were greater on the more shocking stimulus, while Fear rose and Narcism fell significantly on the MAT. Changes were greater on unintegrated than integrated motivational components, confirming hypotheses by others.     

Farsighted and automatic: Affective stimuli facilitate ultimately compatible approach–avoidance tendencies even in the absence of evaluation goals

Research has shown that affective stimuli automatically trigger responses that ultimately cause a compatible distance change (positive-approach, negative-avoidance), even when this requires an initial movement in the opposite and thus incompatible direction (detour). It is unclear, however, which features of automaticity apply to this effect. The present study investigated whether this effect depends on the goal to evaluate stimulus valence. Participants responded with approach and avoidance movements to affective stimuli. Half of the trials required a detour, i.e., participants initially moved in the direction opposite to the position ultimately intended. The goal of stimulus evaluation was manipulated between participants (present vs. absent). Affective stimuli facilitated ultimately compatible approach–avoidance responses even in the absence of evaluation goals, albeit the effect was larger when evaluation goals were present. The present findings suggest that distance regulation towards and away from affective stimuli is farsighted and automatic at the same time .     

The Cost of Caring? Emotional Labour,Wellbeing and the Clergy

Although members of the clergy experience working conditions that have been associated with “emotional labour”, little is known about the impact of this aspect of the job role on wellbeing. This study examined relationships between emotional labour and psychological distress and intrinsic job satisfaction in 188 UK-based clergy. Also investigated were the potential moderating effects of social support and training in counselling skills. Findings revealed significant associations between emotional labour and both psychological distress and job satisfaction. Evidence was found that counselling training and a wider social network may protect clergy from the negative impact of emotional labour, but social network size may also be a risk factor for wellbeing. Further research should examine the impact of emotional labour on clergy, and the factors that might help them manage this more effectively.     

Is deviance distraction immune to the prior sequential learning of stimuli and responses?

Psychonomic Bulletin & Review - Past studies show that novel, task-irrelevant auditory stimuli, presented in the context of an otherwise repeated standard sound, capture participants’...     

Disentangling the facilitating and hindering effects of threat-related stimuli – A visual search study

Although large body of research has demonstrated the attention-grabbing nature of threat-related stimuli, threat could also facilitate attentional processes. Previous studies suggest a linear relationship between the facilitating effect of the arousal level conveyed by threat and performance on visual search tasks. Due to the temporal competition bias favouring stimuli with higher arousal level, this could be more pronounced for shorter onset times. Here, through two experiments we aimed to disentangle the two effects by using a visual search paradigm that allowed us to separate the emotional stimuli and the cognitive task. We manipulated stimulus onset time and threat intensity. Participants saw neutral and threatening pictures as priming stimuli, and then, they had to find numbers in ascending order in a matrix array. We measured the reaction time for finding the first number, and search time for finding all the numbers. Our results showed that when the priming stimulus is presented, longer threatening pictures produced longer reaction times compared to neutral ones, which was reversed with increase in arousal. We did not find any significant effects for the shorter onset time. Further theoretical and methodological implications are discussed.     

Do features of stimuli influence IAT effects?

The Implicit Association Test (Greenwald, McGhee, & Schwartz, 1998) is a categorization task intended to measure the strength of associations between concepts. The present research investigated the influence of individual stimuli on IAT effects. Exploring implicit attitudes of East and West Germans, we systematically manipulated relatedness of target stimuli to the attribute dimension and, simultaneously, relatedness of attribute stimuli to the target dimension. Two experiments demonstrate the influence of stimulus associations as one source that drives IAT effects. Depending on the strength and the direction of these cross-category associations, the result was either stronger IAT effects or a decline of IAT effects. Implications for theoretical models as well as for the interpretation of IAT effects are discussed.     

Beyond the distributional input? A developmental investigation of asymmetry in infants’ categorization of cats and dogs

Two experiments are reported using a visual familiarization categorization procedure. In both experiments, infants were familiarized with sets of stimuli previously shown to contain asymmetric feature distributions that support an asymmetry in young infants' categorization of cats and dogs (i.e. infants' cat category excludes dogs but their dog category includes cats). In Experiment 1, the asymmetry was replicated in 4-month-old infants. In contrast, 10-month-old infants demonstrated exclusive category representations for both cats and dogs. In Experiment 2, an additional group of 10-month-olds demonstrated exclusive representations for both cats and dogs under conditions of very limited within-task category familiarization. Potential mechanisms underlying the shift from an asymmetric to a symmetric pattern of categorization in the first year are discussed.     

Perceived localizations and eye movements with action‐generated and computer‐generated vanishing points of moving stimuli

When observers localize the vanishing point of a moving target, localizations are reliably displaced beyond the final position, in the direction the stimulus was travelling just prior to its offset. We examined modulations of this phenomenon through eye movements and action control over the vanishing point. In Experiment 1 with pursuit eye movements, localization errors were in movement direction, but less pronounced when the vanishing point was self‐determined by a key press of the observer. In contrast, in Experiment 2 with fixation instruction, localization errors were opposite movement direction and independent from action control. This pattern of results points at the role of eye movements, which were gathered in Experiment 3. That experiment showed that the eyes lagged behind the target at the point in time, when it vanished from the screen, but that the eyes continued to drift on the targets' virtual trajectory. It is suggested that the perceived target position resulted from the spatial lag of the eyes and of the persisting retinal image during the drift.     

Political correlates of violent death rates in the U.S., 1900–2010: Longitudinal and cross-sectional analyses

ObjectivesOur goal was to identify if there might be associations between a major public health problem, i.e., violent deaths, and a potential macro-level determinant, i.e., political party in office.MethodsVital statistics, labor statistics, and GDP data were obtained for the years 1900–2010. Independent t tests were used to compare homicide, suicide, and total violent death rates during Republican and Democratic administrations and between states voting for Republican and Democratic presidential candidates. Correlation and hidden Markov modeling were used to assess the relationships among party of the president and changes in unemployment rate, GDP, and violent death.ResultsThe party of the president was significantly associated with annual changes in suicide and homicide rates, unemployment rates, and GDP (p < 0.001 to p < 0.05, depending on the measure and time lag), with higher violent death and unemployment increases being associated with Republican presidencies and higher GDP with Democratic ones. Adjusting for unemployment and GDP reduced but did not eliminate party effect. Suicide and homicide rates were higher in states that voted for the Republican candidate for presidency than in states that voted for the Democratic candidate (p < 0.0001 and p < 0.07).ConclusionsViolent deaths were associated with an increase under Republican presidents and a decrease under Democratic presidents, were higher in states that vote for the Republican than for the Democratic presidential candidates, and increased alongside increasing unemployment and falling national GDP. As with heart disease, obesity and cancer, identified associations with environmental factors can increase understanding of the public health problem and point to ways of reducing it. Future research beyond the boundaries of the United States could help elucidate the relationship between government, socioeconomic policy orientation, and violent death rates.     

Stimulus–response bindings code both abstract and specific representations of stimuli: evidence from a classification priming design that reverses multiple levels of response representation

Repetition priming can be caused by the rapid retrieval of previously encoded stimulus–response (S–R) bindings. S–R bindings have recently been shown to simultaneously code multiple levels of response representation, from specific Motor-actions to more abstract Decisions (“yes”/”no”) and Classifications (e.g., “man-made”/”natural”). Using an experimental design that reverses responses at all of these levels, we assessed whether S–R bindings also code multiple levels of stimulus representation. Across two experiments, we found effects of response reversal on priming when switching between object pictures and object names, consistent with S–R bindings that code stimuli at an abstract level. Nonetheless, the size of this reversal effect was smaller for such across-format (e.g., word–picture) repetition than for within-format (e.g., picture–picture) repetition, suggesting additional coding of format-specific stimulus representations. We conclude that S–R bindings simultaneously represent both stimuli and responses at multiple levels of abstraction.     

The placebo phenomenon and medical ethics: Rethinking the relationship between informed consent and risk–benefit assessment

It has been presumed within bioethics that the benefits and risks of treatments can be assessed independently of information disclosure to patients as part of the informed consent process. Research on placebo and nocebo effects indicates that this is not true for symptomatic treatments. The benefits and risks that patients experience from symptomatic treatments can be shaped powerfully by information about these treatments provided by clinicians. In this paper we discuss the implications of placebo and nocebo research for risk–benefit assessment and informed consent.