Right hemisphere metaphor processing? Characterizing the lateralization of semantic processes

Previous laterality studies have implicated the right hemisphere in the processing of metaphors, however it is not clear if this result is due to metaphoricity per se or another aspect of semantic processing. Three divided visual field experiments varied metaphorical and literal sentence familiarity. We found a right hemisphere advantage for unfamiliar sentences containing distant semantic relationships, and a left hemisphere advantage for familiar sentences containing close semantic relationships, regardless of whether sentences were metaphorical or literal. This pattern of results is consistent with theories postulating predominantly left hemisphere processing of close semantic relationships and predominantly right hemisphere processing of distant semantic relationships.     

See what I mean? An ERP study of the effect of background knowledge on novel object processing

Two event-related potential (ERP) experiments were used to examine the representation of object feature information and background knowledge in semantic memory. Participants were trained on novel object categories with three features and were tested with new exemplars that were complete or were missing one to two features that were essential or nonessential to object function. In both a category membership judgment task (Experiment 1) and a parts detection task (Experiment 2), the N400, a functionally specific measure of semantic access, was graded with feature number but was insensitive to knowledge-based feature importance. A separable ERP effect related to knowledge was seen in Experiment 1 as an enhanced frontocentral negativity (beginning ∼300 msec) to exemplars missing a nonessential versus an essential feature, but this effect did not manifest when background knowledge was less task relevant (Experiment 2). Thus, similarity- and knowledge-based effects are separable, and the locus of knowledge effects varies with task demands but does not seem to arise from facilitated semantic access.     

What aspects of vision facilitate haptic processing?

We investigate how vision affects haptic performance when task-relevant visual cues are reduced or excluded. The task was to remember the spatial location of six landmarks that were explored by touch in a tactile map. Here, we use specially designed spectacles that simulate residual peripheral vision, tunnel vision, diffuse light perception, and total blindness. Results for target locations differed, suggesting additional effects from adjacent touch cues. These are discussed. Touch with full vision was most accurate, as expected. Peripheral and tunnel vision, which reduce visuo-spatial cues, differed in error pattern. Both were less accurate than full vision, and significantly more accurate than touch with diffuse light perception, and touch alone. The important finding was that touch with diffuse light perception, which excludes spatial cues, did not differ from touch without vision in performance accuracy, nor in location error pattern. The contrast between spatially relevant versus spatially irrelevant vision provides new, rather decisive, evidence against the hypothesis that vision affects haptic processing even if it does not add task-relevant information. The results support optimal integration theories, and suggest that spatial and non-spatial aspects of vision need explicit distinction in bimodal studies and theories of spatial integration.     

Does segregation by colour/luminance facilitate the detection of structure-from-motion in noise?

The aim in the experiments was to examine whether the detection of structure-from-motion (SFM) in noise was facilitated when target and noise were segregated by colour and/or luminance polarity. The SFM target was a rotating 'V-shape' structure simulated with limited-lifetime Gaussian micropatterns and embedded in random-motion noise. Threshold levels of V-shape slant were measured for stimuli in which target and noise were segregated or unsegregated by colour/luminance, and under two conditions, with and without static form cues to the SFM target. The presence or absence of static form cues to the SFM target was manipulated by varying the relative numbers of micropatterns in target and noise. In the absence of static form cues, segregation of target and noise by colour and/or luminance polarity did not facilitate target detection, even when subjects knew which micropatterns belonged to the target. On the other hand, when static form cues were present, segregation improved performance. These results imply that SFM processing is 'form-cue invariant' except when the target form is immediately identifiable in the static view of the stimulus. The significance of the results for understanding the role of colour vision in breaking camouflage and in 'grouping' is discussed.     

Is the donut in front of the car? An electrophysiological study examining spatial reference frame processing.

The process of describing an object's location relative to another object results in ambiguity. How do people handle this ambiguity? The present studies examined spatial language processing when use of different reference frames results in ambiguity. We investigated whether electrophysiological (ERP) measures of cognitive processing may elucidate underlying reference frame processing; in particular, we were interested in semantic integration. ERP results showed a larger N400, peaking between 300 and 375 ms, when the intrinsic frame was not used. Behavioural results mirrored this finding, indicating a reduced cognitive processing requirement for the intrinsic reference frame. Previous work has not definitively tied spatial reference frame processing to specific ERP components and their associated cognitive processes. Although the N400 peak seen in this data is early, additional work supports the N400 interpretation, thereby linking spatial frame processing to semantic integration. Results are discussed within the larger context of spatial reference frame processing.     

Does an iPod make you happy? An exploration of the effects of iPod ownership on life satisfaction

The Apple iPod is currently the undisputed leading product in the global MP3 player market. This competitive advantage is due to the design, high functionality, and perhaps most importantly, the ‘cool factor’ which Apple has managed to obtain with its products. This study explores if owning an iPod (as opposed to another brand of MP3 player) makes a difference in the perception of general life satisfaction. Using Diener et al.'s generic satisfaction with life scale (SWLS) to measure the dependent variable life satisfaction, a model with the key concepts usage, benefits, peer influence, design, iPod phenomenon, and iPod bubble has been developed and tested in a variety of ways, including regression analysis. The sample consisted of a multinational sample of 240+ young adults, aged 18–35 years. The demographic profiles of iPod and non‐iPod owners were very similar, but for iPod owners, 23 per cent of the variance in overall life satisfaction is explained by the key concepts used in this research. Key influencing variables for iPod owners are peer influence and design. For non‐iPod owners, the amount of variance explained by the independent variables was negligible. iPod owners also considered their MP3 players to be much ‘cooler’ than did non‐iPod owners. This article considers the managerial implications of these findings for Apple and for competing brands. The social implications of these findings and their significance are also discussed, and several potential areas for further research are highlighted. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Does the character-based dimension of stories impact narrative processing? An event-related potentials (ERPs) study

Cognitive Processing - This event-related potentials (ERPs) study investigated online processes of integration of information relating to characters in narrative comprehension. The final sample...     

When can a lack of structure facilitate strategic processing of information?

Background: Researchers examining the effectiveness of an elaboration strategy (answering ‘why’) for learning new information have been concerned with the familiarity of the materials and how that affects learning. It may be, however, that both how information is organised and familiarity impact on the potency of the strategy. Aims: We examined the influence of presentation structures (i.e., organisation of information) on the effectiveness of an elaboration strategy. Samples: All participants were undergraduates (78 females, 67 males) enrolled in a first‐year psychology course. Fifteen students participated in Experiment One, 42 students in Experiment Two, and 88 students in Experiment Three. Methods: In Experiment One, preference for conceptual organisation was assessed. In Experiments Two and Three, students answered ‘why’ questions when different presentation structures were used. Results: Students' preferred method of organisation did not match the imposed structure found in past research, suggesting that students may have been restricted in their ability to process the information distinctively. Students who were presented with the information in a random order achieved the largest memory scores. Conclusions: When students have to reconstruct as well as encode the information, these added task demands provide an added benefit for learning.     

Is emotional intelligence an advantage? An exploration of the impact of emotional and general intelligence on individual performance

Emotional intelligence is an increasingly popular consulting tool. According to popular opinion and work-place testimonials, emotional intelligence increases performance and productivity; however, there has been a general lack of independent, systematic analysis substantiating that claim. The authors investigated whether emotional intelligence would account for increases in individual cognitive-based performance over and above the level attributable to traditional general intelligence. The authors measured emotional intelligence with the Multifactor Emotional Intelligence Scale (MEIS; J. D. Mayer, P. Salovey, & D. R. Caruso, 1997). As measured by the MEIS, overall emotional intelligence is a composite of the 3 distinct emotional reasoning abilities: perceiving, understanding, and regulating emotions (J. D. Mayer & P. Salovey, 1997). Although further psychometric analysis of the MEIS is warranted, the authors found that overall emotional intelligence, emotional perception, and emotional regulation uniquely explained individual cognitive-based performance over and beyond the level attributable to general intelligence.     

Can seeking happiness make people unhappy? [corrected] Paradoxical effects of valuing happiness

Happiness is a key ingredient of well-being. It is thus reasonable to expect that valuing happiness will have beneficial outcomes. We argue that this may not always be the case. Instead, valuing happiness could be self-defeating, because the more people value happiness, the more likely they will feel disappointed. This should apply particularly in positive situations, in which people have every reason to be happy. Two studies support this hypothesis. In Study 1, female participants who valued happiness more (vs. less) reported lower happiness when under conditions of low, but not high, life stress. In Study 2, compared to a control group, female participants who were experimentally induced to value happiness reacted less positively to a happy, but not a sad, emotion induction. This effect was mediated by participants' disappointment at their own feelings. Paradoxically, therefore, valuing happiness may lead people to be less happy just when happiness is within reach.     

Can linguistics contribute to the study of verbal behavior?

A number of publications during the last decade reveal a growing interest in linguistics and psycholinguistics among some radical behaviorists, who have proposed a direct rapprochement between a formal analysis of language and a functional account. It is argued that whereas function has to do with the circumstances under which verbal behavior is emitted, structure has to do with its "internal organization," the ways in which sentences or parts thereof are presumably interrelated. These are said to be different dimensions of verbal behavior; together they should lead toward a coherent psychology of language. But psychologists bent on incorporating techniques from linguistics should be aware of its underlying assumptions, lest their work be deflected in essentially unproductive directions. The line between rapprochement and subservience is thin indeed, as the extant literature shows. This paper traces the development of mainstream contemporary psycholinguistics and examines the linguist's assumptions about the subject matter in the light of a behavioral analysis. The possibility of an effective reconciliation seems to be a long way off.     

Blue or red? The effects of colour on the emotions of Chinese people

Two experiments were performed to examine the effects of red and blue on the emotional pleasure of Chinese people. Experiment 1 explored the effects of the ‘physical’ colours red and blue on emotion, and the results showed that red induced positive and negative emotion, while blue only induced positive emotion. Experiment 2 further explored the effects of the ‘verbal’ colours red and blue on emotion, and the results showed that red induced only positive emotion, while blue induced neither positive nor negative emotion. The findings indicate that the influence of colour on emotion is rooted in both natural and social associations. For Chinese, the associations between blue and positive emotion, and red and negative emotion, were natural associations; however, the associations between red and positive emotion were social associations. Moreover, physical colour and verbal colour stimuli induced emotions by activating different mechanisms: physical colour induced emotions via both natural and social associations, whereas verbal colour induced emotions via social associations.     

Do you believe happiness can change? An investigation of the relationship between happiness mindsets,well-being,and satisfaction

Three studies (N = 794) examined if beliefs about the malleable nature of happiness (growth mindsets) are associated with well-being and if this well-being had downstream implications for satisfaction with one’s relationships (Studies 1–3), health (Study 3), and job (Study 3). In Study 1 (N = 277), happiness growth mindsets were associated with greater well-being and greater relationship satisfaction. In Study 2 (N = 337), using an experimental paradigm and serial mediation, encouraging growth mindsets led to stronger beliefs in the changeable nature of happiness, which in turn was associated with subjective well-being, and, finally, relationship satisfaction. In Study 3 (N = 180), we replicated the downstream effects of growth mindsets of happiness on well-being and subsequently on relationship satisfaction and extended these serial mediation effects to health and job satisfaction. We discuss the implications of happiness mindsets.     

Does the two-chair dialogue intervention facilitate processing of emotions more efficiently than basic Rogerian conditions?

Processing difficult emotions is assumed to be of importance in therapeutic change. In this study, we examine whether a two-chair dialogue in Emotion-focused Therapy (EFT) is associated with a change in emotional processing, measured as changes in emotional arousal and emotional experiencing. In a multiple baseline design, 20 clients in treatment for depression or anxiety first received five, seven or nine weekly sessions of baseline treatment providing Rogerian conditions and affect attunement. In the second phase, two-chair intervention was added for the five consecutive sessions. All sessions were subdivided into 2 min segments which were rated using the Client Emotional Arousal Scale III and the Experiencing Scale. Analyses indicated a significantly higher number of high-arousal segment in the latter phase. Individual clients’ change trajectories were not significantly steeper in the second phase. Experiencing increased throughout both phases of treatment. However, after introducing the two-chair dialogue the Experiencing change trajectory was not significantly steeper than in the baseline phase. Findings suggest that both the two-chair dialogue and the Rogerian conditions with affect attunement focus are effective in facilitating emotional processing. Results are consistent with previous research, suggesting that the two-chair dialogue is an emotionally evocative intervention. Implications and limitations are discussed.     

Can bad weather improve your memory? An unobtrusive field study of natural mood effects on real-life memory

Can good or bad mood induced by the weather influence people’s ability to correctly remember everyday scenes? In this unobtrusive field study, we predicted and found that weather-induced negative mood improved memory accuracy. Randomly selected shoppers on bright, sunny days (good mood) or on cloudy, rainy days (bad mood) saw 10 unusual objects in the check-out area of a suburban shop, and their recall and recognition memory for these objects was later tested. Shoppers in a negative mood showed better memory and higher discrimination ability. The cognitive mechanisms responsible for everyday mood effects on memory performance are discussed, and the implications of these findings for current affect/cognition theories and applied areas are considered.     

Can survival processing enhance story memory? Testing the generalizability of the adaptive memory framework

Research from the adaptive memory framework shows that thinking about words in terms of their survival value in an incidental learning task enhances their free recall relative to other semantic encoding strategies and intentional learning (Nairne, Pandeirada, & Thompson, 2008). We found similar results. When participants used incidental survival encoding for a list of words (e.g., "Will this object enhance my survival if I were stranded in the grasslands of a foreign land?"), they produced better free recall on a surprise test than did participants who intentionally tried to remember those words (Experiment 1). We also found this survival processing advantage when the words were presented within the context of a survival or neutral story (Experiment 2). However, this advantage did not extent to memory for a story's factual content, regardless of whether the participants were tested by cued recall (Experiment 3) or free recall (Experiments 4-5). Listening to a story for understanding under intentional or incidental learning conditions was just as good as survival processing for remembering story content. The functionalist approach to thinking about memory as an evolutionary adaptation designed to solve reproductive fitness problems provides a different theoretical framework for research, but it is not yet clear if survival processing has general applicability or is effective only for processing discrete stimuli in terms of fitness-relevant scenarios from our past.     

Can clouds dance? Neural correlates of passive conceptual expansion using a metaphor processing task: Implications for creative cognition

Creativity has emerged in the focus of neurocognitive research in the past decade. However, a heterogeneous pattern of brain areas has been implicated as underpinning the neural correlates of creativity. One explanation for these divergent findings lies in the fact that creativity is not usually investigated in terms of its many underlying cognitive processes. The present fMRI study focuses on the neural correlates of conceptual expansion, a central component of all creative processes. The study aims to avoid pitfalls of previous fMRI studies on creativity by employing a novel paradigm. Participants were presented with phrases and made judgments regarding both the unusualness and the appropriateness of the stimuli, corresponding to the two defining criteria of creativity. According to their respective evaluation, three subject-determined experimental conditions were obtained. Phrases judged as both unusual and appropriate were classified as indicating conceptual expansion in participants. The findings reveal the involvement of frontal and temporal regions when engaging in passive conceptual expansion as opposed to the information processing of mere unusualness (novelty) or appropriateness (relevance). Taking this new experimental approach to uncover specific processes involved in creative cognition revealed that frontal and temporal regions known to be involved in semantic cognition and relational reasoning play a role in passive conceptual expansion. Adopting a different vantage point on the investigation of creativity would allow for critical advances in future research on this topic.     

Keep or trade? An experimental study of the exchange paradox

The “exchange paradox”—also referred to in the literature by a variety of other names, notably the “two-envelopes problem”—is notoriously difficult, and experts are not all agreed as to its resolution. Some of the various expressions of the problem are open to more than one interpretation; some are stated in such a way that assumptions are required in order to fill in missing information that is essential to any resolution. In three experiments several versions of the problem were used, in each of which the information given was sufficient to determine an optimal choice strategy when it exists or to justify indifference regarding keeping or trading when such a strategy does not exist. College students who were presented with the various versions of the problem tended to base their choices on simple heuristics and to give little evidence of understanding the probabilistic implications of the differences in the problem statements.