Eye—response lags during a continuous monitoring task

We measured the temporal relationship between eye movements and manual responses while experts and novices watched a videotaped football match. Observers used a joystick to continuously indicate the likelihood of an imminent goal. We measured correlations between manual responses and between-subjects variability in eye position. To identify the lag magnitude, we repeated these correlations over a range of possible delays between these two measures and searched for the most negative correlation coefficient. We found lags in the order of 2 sec and an effect of expertise on lag magnitude, suggesting that expertise has its effect by directing eye movements to task-relevant areas of a scene more quickly, facilitating a longer processing duration before behavioral decisions are made. This is a powerful new method for examining the eye movement behavior of multiple observers across complex moving images.     

When is schematic knowledge used in source monitoring?

Source monitoring involves judgments regarding the origin of information (M. K. Johnson, S. Hashtroudi, & D. S. Lindsay, 1993). When participants cannot remember the source in a source-monitoring task, they may guess according to their prior schematic knowledge (U. J. Bayen, G. V. Nakamura, S. E. Dupuis, & C.-L. Yang, 2000). The present study aimed at specifying conditions under which schematic knowledge is used in source monitoring. The authors examined the time course of schema-based guesses with a response-signal technique (A. V. Reed, 1973), and multinomial models that separate memory and guessing bias. Use of schematic knowledge was observed only when asymptotic old-new recognition was low. The time course of schematic-knowledge retrieval followed an exponential growth function. Implications for theories of source monitoring are discussed.     

Victim-centric diversion? The electronic monitoring of domestic violence cases

This article discusses the electronic monitoring of domestic violence cases as a form of diversion. The data derive from a two and a half year study of two "bilateral" electronic monitoring programs geared towards domestic violence offenders, mostly defendants, and their former or current intimate partners. Analysis consists of an examination of how the programs under study manifest the aims and tensions of diversion, and highlights how a victim-centered approach to diversion can amplify the tensions of diversion.     

The influence of linguistic labels on source‐monitoring decisions

Three studies explored the extent to which people use various object features, including linguistic label, shape, and category membership, to make decisions about the source of their memories. To isolate the influence of each feature, we used items that were related in the following four ways: as synonyms, as similar in shape and category membership, as homographs, or as unrelated. Participants read sentences and either saw or imagined a picture of the critical word's referent. Experiment 1 showed that participants committed more source errors for synonyms (e.g., rabbit and bunny) than for objects that were conceptually and perceptually similar (e.g., doughnut and bagel), which produced more errors than unrelated items. However, there was no effect of label, as people did not have more errors for homographs (e.g., baseball bat and flying bat) than unrelated items. In Experiment 2, presenting the critical word at study was not sufficient to lead people to use an item's label to make source decisions. However, Experiment 3 showed more source errors for homographs than unrelated pairs when semantic context was minimised at study, suggesting that people can use linguistic labels to make source decisions when other information is unavailable.     

Memory monitoring: How useful is self-knowledge about memory?

Abstract

The article reports two experiments in which we investigated the value of memory monitoring. Although the act of monitoring may not in itself be a basis for improved memory, it is reasonable to expea that the act of monitoring will provide useful information to the subject. For example, if monitoring identifies items that are inadequately encoded, then the inadequacy can be redressed if the items are repeated. We expected that repeating an item immediately after the subject had evaluated whether the item would succeed or fail later would be more valuable than merely repeating the item without any interpolated monitoring. But it wasn't. Nor did items people expected to forget benefit more from repetition than ones they expected to remember. Because the findings were unexpected, we recast the issues, and discovered that we should not have been surprised. On the whole, we would be better advised to teach subjects effective ways to study than to teach them techniques that accurately idenm inadequately encoded items; knowing an item is inadequate is of Little value in the absence of skills that will remediate the inadequacy.     

Is continuous visual monitoring necessary in visually guided locomotion?

Subjects were asked to walk to targets that were up to 21 m away, either with vision excluded during walking or under normal visual control. Over the entire range, subjects were accurate whether or not vision was available as long as no more than approximately 8 sec elapsed between closing the eyes and reaching the target. If more than 8 sec elapsed, (a) this had no influence on distances up to 5 m, but (b) distances between 6-21 m were severely impaired. The results are interpreted to mean that two mechanisms are involved in guidance. Up to 5 m, motor programs of relatively long duration can be formulated and used to control activity. Over greater distances, subjects internalized information about the environment in a more general form, independently of any particular set of motor instructions, and used this to control activity and formulate new motor programs. Experiments in support of this interpretation are presented.     

Conflict monitoring and the affective-signaling hypothesis—An integrative review

Psychonomic Bulletin & Review - Conflict-monitoring theory proposes that conflict between incompatible responses is registered by a dedicated monitoring system, and that this conflict signal...     

Memory monitoring and memory performance: Linked closely or loosely?

Summary An experimental test of the metamemory hypothesis claiming a substantive positive relationship between memory monitoring and memory performance is provided. Forty-eight university students learned a set of abstract nouns. They were either instructed to make use of monitoring activities (experimental group), simply to learn the words (control-1) or to use non-metacognitive learning strategies (control-2). Prior to recall, the subjects had to predict the number of items they expected to remember. The experimental predictions were derived on two levels. First, prediction accuracy should be best for the experimental group. This is a necessary prerequisite for a valid test of the second prediction, namely that memory performance, too, should be best for the experimental group. Whereas the first prediction was confirmed, the second, vital for the metamemory hypothesis, was not. Thus, this hypothesis did not stand up to an experimental test, but would have been confirmed if tested by the correlation between prediction accuracy and memory performance.     

Do individual differences in intolerance of uncertainty affect health monitoring?

Researchers have postulated that individual differences in intolerance of uncertainty (IU) may affect people's health behaviours. Study 1 (N?=?147 university students) supports this proposition showing that higher IU is associated with higher monitoring (seeking threat-relevant information). Study 2 (N?=?117 university students) experimentally manipulated IU to ensure that the association is not due to other related constructs such as anxiety or worry. Results show that inducing high IU led to increased monitoring as reflected by higher scores on an index of monitoring measures. Wanting information about the health threat in order to reduce their uncertainty was an independent predictor of monitoring and did not mediate the relationship between IU and monitoring. Findings suggest that high IU induces people to increase their monitoring; an adaptive strategy when the health threat can be reduced through this behaviour.     

Whose idea was that? Source monitoring for idea ownership following elaboration

Unconscious plagiarism (UP) occurs when an individual claims a previously experienced idea as their own. Previous studies have explored the cognitive precursors of such errors by manipulating the ways that ideas are thought about between initial idea exposure and later test. While imagining other's ideas does not increase rates of UP relative to control on either a recall-own or generate-new task, improving others’ ideas substantially increases such errors in the recall-own task. This study explored the effects of elaboration on rates of UP when a source-monitoring test replaced the recall-own test. Plagiarism was again observed following idea improvement but not idea imagery even though participants engaged explicit source evaluation. Thus the probability of plagiarising another's idea appears linked to the generative nature of the idea processing performed.     

Whose idea was that? Source monitoring for idea ownership following elaboration

Unconscious plagiarism (UP) occurs when an individual claims a previously experienced idea as their own. Previous studies have explored the cognitive precursors of such errors by manipulating the ways that ideas are thought about between initial idea exposure and later test. While imagining other's ideas does not increase rates of UP relative to control on either a recall-own or generate-new task, improving others' ideas substantially increases such errors in the recall-own task. This study explored the effects of elaboration on rates of UP when a source-monitoring test replaced the recall-own test. Plagiarism was again observed following idea improvement but not idea imagery even though participants engaged explicit source evaluation. Thus the probability of plagiarising another's idea appears linked to the generative nature of the idea processing performed.     

Long‐term Self‐monitoring of Weight: A Case Study

The aim of this study was to examine the self‐monitoring of weight on a daily basis over a long period of time in order to understand the process of weight regain. An obese female client measured her weight every morning over a period of 10 years. The subject made a total of 2081 weight measurements. Thus, her weight was measured on 67% of all possible days. After the initial weight loss a pattern of gradual weight gain was observed. The subject gained weight during August and September, and at the end of December, in particular. Furthermore, her weight increased slightly at the weekends. This case study highlights the advantage of self‐monitoring of weight on a daily basis. Individual patterns of weight change possibly associated with season and weekly variation may be crucial when obese subjects try to maintain their weight after weight loss. However, it may take several months or even years to detect the weekly and yearly rhythms or other patterns in the data. Thus, self‐control of weight is problematic, since patterns in the weight regain process are difficult to detect. This may be one reason why self‐control of weight is so difficult.     

Anxiety and error monitoring: Increased error sensitivity or altered expectations?

This study tested the prediction that the error-related negativity (ERN), a physiological measure of error monitoring, would be enhanced in anxious individuals, particularly in conditions with threatening cues. Participants made gender judgments about faces whose expressions were either happy, angry, or neutral. Replicating prior studies, midline scalp negativities were greater following errors than following correct responses. In addition, state anxiety interacted with facial expression to predict ERN amplitudes. Counter to predictions, participants high in state anxiety displayed smaller ERNs for angry-face blocks and larger ERNs for happy-face blocks, compared to less anxious participants. These results are inconsistent with the simple notion that anxiety enhances error sensitivity globally. Rather, we interpret the findings within an expectancy violation framework, in which anxious participants have altered expectations for success and failure in the context of happy and angry facial cues, with greater ERN amplitudes when expectations are violated.     

Did I turn off the gas? Reality monitoring of everyday actions

Failing to remember whether we performed, or merely imagined performing, an everyday action can occasionally be inconvenient, but in some circumstances it can have potentially dangerous consequences. In this fMRI study, we investigated the brain activity patterns, and objective and subjective behavioral measures, associated with recollecting such everyday actions. We used an ecologically valid “reality-monitoring” paradigm in which participants performed, or imagined performing, specified actions with real objects drawn from one of two boxes. Lateral brain areas, including prefrontal cortex, were active when participants recollected both the actions that had been associated with objects and the locations from which they had been drawn, consistent with a general role in source recollection. By contrast, medial prefrontal and motor regions made more specific contributions, with supplementary motor cortex activity being associated with recollection decisions about actions but not locations, and medial prefrontal cortex exhibiting greater activity when remembering performed rather than imagined actions. These results support a theoretical interpretation of reality monitoring that entails the fine-grained discrimination between multiple forms of internally and externally generated information.     

Metacognitive monitoring during criterion learning: When and why are judgments accurate?

Research on metacognitive judgment accuracy during retrieval practice has increased in recent years. However, prior work had not systematically evaluated item-level judgment accuracy and the underlying bases of judgment accuracy in a criterion-learning paradigm (in which items are practiced until correctly recalled during encoding). Understanding these relationships during criterion learning has important theoretical implications for self-regulated learning frameworks, and also has applied implications for student learning: If the factors that influence metacognitive judgments are not predictive of subsequent test performance, students may make poor decisions during self-regulated learning. In the present experiments, participants engaged in test–restudy practice until items were recalled correctly. Once a given item reached criterion, participants made an immediate or delayed judgment of learning (JOL) for the item. A final cued-recall test occurred 30 min later. We examined judgment accuracy (the relationship between JOLs and test performance) and the underlying bases of judgment accuracy by evaluating cue utilization (the relationship between cues and JOLs) and cue diagnosticity (the relationship between cues and test performance). Immediate JOLs were only modestly related to subsequent test performance, and further analyses revealed that the cues related to JOLs were only weakly predictive of test accuracy. However, delaying JOLs improved both the accuracy of the JOLs and the diagnosticity of the cues that influenced judgments.     

Performance monitoring in obsessive–compulsive disorder: A temporo-spatial principal component analysis

Hyperactive performance monitoring is a robust finding in obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD). Patients show increased amplitudes of the error-related negativity (ERN) and correct-related negativity (CRN). Recently, two temporo-spatial factors were shown to contribute to both ERPs in healthy individuals. In the present study, it was investigated whether the factor structure underlying ERN and CRN is similar in OCD and which factors differ between groups. A principal component analysis (PCA) was employed to investigate the temporo-spatial factor structure of ERN and CRN. Twenty-six OCD patients and 26 healthy controls conducted a flanker task. EEG data were analyzed as conventional ERP components and as factor scores derived from temporo-spatial PCA. ERP results showed expected increases in ERN and CRN amplitudes in OCD patients. For both groups, the PCA confirmed the assumed factor structure of a central and a fronto-parietal factor contributing to ERN and CRN. Factor scores of both factors were differently affected by response correctness in OCD. Alterations in factor scores indicate increased activity in both an outcome-independent monitoring process and an error-sensitive process, contributing to overactive performance monitoring in OCD.     

Dysfunctional thinking in major depressive disorder: a deficit in metacognitive monitoring?

Speed of response to attitudinal statements has predictive behavioral significance and reflects the relative contributions of "automatic" access to precomputed schematic representations and slower "controlled" on-line processing. Latencies to Dysfunctional Attitude Scale (A. N. Weissman & A. T. Beck, 1978) and neutral statements were measured in 30 depressed patients and 30 nondepressed controls. For controls, responses incompatible with functional schemas were markedly slowed. This pattern of latencies is consistent with the operation of metacognitive monitoring of potential dysfunctional responses, dependent on limited controlled processing resources. For patients, there was no evidence of selective slowing for these or any other form of response. Results suggest that depressed patients have a deficit of metacognitive monitoring of dysfunctional cognitive products.     

The effects of emotion on younger and older adults’ monitoring of learning

Age-related differences in memory monitoring appear when people learn emotional words. Namely, younger adults’ judgments of learning (JOLs) are higher for positive than neutral words, whereas older adults’ JOLs do not discriminate between positive versus neutral words. In two experiments, we evaluated whether this age-related difference extends to learning positive versus neutral pictures. We also evaluated the contribution of two dimensions of emotion that may impact younger and older adults’ JOLs: valence and arousal. Younger and older adults studied pictures that were positive or neutral and either high or low in arousal. Participants made immediate JOLs and completed memory tests. In both experiments, the magnitude of older adults’ JOLs was influenced by emotion, and both younger and older adults demonstrated an emotional salience effect on JOLs. As important, the magnitude of participants’ JOLs was influenced by valence, and not arousal. Emotional salience effects were also evident on participants’ free recall, and older adults recalled as many pictures as did younger adults. Taken together, these data suggest that older adults do not have a monitoring deficit when learning positive (vs. neutral) pictures and that emotional salience effects on younger and older adults’ JOLs are produced more by valence than by arousal.     

Entraînement au monitoring métacognitif et performances à l’université

In French universities, only one out of two students is successful in his/her first year. The change of the working rhythm and the importance of self-regulated learning (relying on metacognition) can to a large extent explain these dramatic rates. Techniques have been developed to help students improve monitoring their activities. In this study, we adapted a method tested in previous research, and noticed positive effects on students’ performance. This intervention would be easy to implement in university classes, and would benefit students even more if generalized and complemented by techniques focused on more global aspects of metacognition and self-regulated learning.     

Choice-supportive source monitoring: do our decisions seem better to us as we age?

Participants were given several 2-option choices and then asked to review how they felt about their decisions, to review the details of their decisions, or to do an unrelated task. When later asked to attribute features to the previous options, in each condition older adults (64-83 years) attributed significantly more positive and fewer negative features to their chosen options than to foregone options. Younger adults' (18-22 years) attributions were as choice-supportive as those of older adults in the affective review condition but were less so in the other conditions. The age difference was present even when older and younger adults were equated for source identification and recognition accuracy. This study suggests that as people age, their tendency to distort memory in favor of the options they chose increases. In addition, it suggests that affectively reviewing choices increases younger adults' tendency toward choice-supportive memory.