Constraints on access in a problem solving context

The effects of previously acquired information on a later problem solving task were explored. Prior research has shown that the acquisition of potentially relevant information is not effective for cuing solutions in a later problem solving task unless subjects are informed of the connection. The present research extends these results and demonstrates that the problem solving failure is not due to subjects’ rejecting the potentially relevant information following retrieval. Rather, the apparent failure to appropriately use previous information is a result of uninformed subjects’ inability to spontaneously access such information. Furthermore, the observed access failure is not reversible by simply informing the subjects of the task connection prior to a second trial. Finally, the results indicate that problem solving failure on a later informed trial is a problem-specific phenomenon that does not generalize to new problems. The implications for contemporary episodic memory paradigms and the role of access in learning theory are discussed.     

认知抑制——问题解决研究的新视角

抑制是一种领域一般(domain-general)的认知过程,它使儿童和成人能够抗拒习惯、自动化、诱惑、分心物或干扰从而适应存在冲突的情境(Diamond,2013)。抑制控制模型认为儿童或成人在问题解决中的失败并非是缺少相关知识与概念,而是抑制控制失败造成的。研究者采用负启动研究范式和脑成像技术在类皮杰任务、数学和科学问题解决中证实了认知抑制的作用。未来研究应把认知抑制与元认知的研究结合起来,探究认知抑制的发展轨迹及二者在问题解决中的相对重要性。同时,针对认知抑制训练的干预研究也值得重视。     

The automatic activation of emotion words measured using the emotional face-word Stroop task in late Chinese–English bilinguals

In the current study, late Chinese–English bilinguals performed a facial expression identification task with emotion words in the task-irrelevant dimension, in either their first language (L1) or second language (L2). The investigation examined the automatic access of the emotional content in words appearing in more than one language. Significant congruency effects were present for both L1 and L2 emotion word processing. Furthermore, the magnitude of emotional face-word Stroop effect in the L1 task was greater as compared to the L2 task, indicating that in L1 participants could access the emotional information in words in a more reliable manner. In summary, these findings provide more support for the automatic access of emotional information in words in the bilinguals’ two languages as well as attenuated emotionality of L2 processing.     

工作记忆对顿悟和分析型问题解决的影响

摘要 采用顿悟-分析自我报告范式,以远距离联想任务为实验材料,从工作记忆容量和工作记忆负荷两个角度考察了工作记忆对顿悟和分析型问题解决的影响。结果表明,高工作记忆容量个体分析型问题解决的表现优于低工作记忆容量者,但在顿悟表现上无显著差异;工作记忆负荷较小时个体分析型问题解决表现更佳,但对顿悟表现没有影响。说明通过分析解决创造性问题的表现依赖于工作记忆的支持,而通过顿悟解决问题的表现与工作记忆无关。     

The influence of open goals on the acquisition of problem-relevant information

There have been a number of recent findings indicating that unsolved problems, or open goals more generally, influence cognition even when the current task has no relation to the task in which the goal was originally set. It was hypothesized that open goals would influence what information entered the problem-solving process. Three studies were conducted to establish the effect of open goals on the acquisition of problem-relevant information. It was found that problem-relevant information, or hints, presented implicitly in a 2nd task in between attempts at solving problems aided problem solving. This effect cannot be attributed to strategic behavior after participants caught on to the manipulation, as most participants were not aware of the relationship. The implications of this research are discussed, including potential contributions to our understanding of insight, incubation, transfer, and creativity.     

Central processing uncertainty as a determinant of choice reaction time

It was demonstrated that central processing uncertainty (Hc) can be derived to provide a single valued statement of the information hypothesis RT=a+b (Hc) across test stimulus sets and across several levels of test stimulus probability in an information reduction task. The derivation procedure assumes successive tests of stimulus hypotheses with Bayesian revision of stimulus probabilities after failure of an initial test. It was shown that the procedure can be generalized to data from single test stimuli in an information conservation task. Stimulus and response repetition effects were estimated for the information reduction task data.     

Metaphors and creative thinking

This study examined how working memory plays different roles in open-ended versus closed-ended creative problem-solving processes, as represented by divergent thinking tests and insight problem-solving tasks. With respect to the analysis of different task demands and the framework of dual-process theories, the hypothesis was that the idea generation in a divergent thinking test relies more on associative, effortless system 1 processing, but insight problem solving requires rule-based, resource-limited system 2 processing, in addition to system 1 processing. Since system 1 was suggested to be more active in resource deprivation conditions, Experiment 1 adopted the dual-task paradigm, which increased participants' working memory load. The results showed that divergent thinking performance was enhanced and insight problem-solving performance was hindered. Experiment 2 using the individual differences approach found that individuals' working memory capacity correlated with insight problem solving but not with divergent thinking performance, indicating a possible involvement of system 2 processing in insight problem solving. These findings suggested that open-ended and closed-ended creative problem solving involve different processes and helped to clarify some past inconsistencies when considering the relationship of factors with creativity.     

Integration of perceptual information in word access

According to experiential theories of language comprehension, perceptual information plays an essential role when word meanings are accessed. We conducted four experiments to investigate how different types of perceptual information such as colour and shape are combined during word access. One possibility is that the colour and shape of a word's referent are activated independently from one another and are combined in an additive manner. Alternatively, words might activate perceptual representations via a multiplicative integration of colour and shape. Experiment 1 established that participants follow a multiplicative similarity rule when they judge the similarity of schematic pictures to actual fruits and vegetables. In Experiments 2 to 4, participants performed a classification task, a lexical decision task, or a word-naming task on names of fruits and vegetables that were superimposed on a background picture. Responses were facilitated only when both colour and shape of the picture matched the word's referents. Response times were associated negatively with mean similarity ratings and the consistency of these ratings obtained in the first experiment. These results suggest a multiplicative integration of different types of perceptual information during word access.     

知识向技能转化的影响因素

将知识向技能的转化过程分为 :陈述性编码阶段、程序性编码阶段 ,并假设存在一些因素影响陈述性编码向程序性编码的转化过程 ,控制好这些关键因素将有利于提高教学质量。为证明此假设 ,设计了四个实验。实验一、二结果表明 ,发现学习和接受学习中原有知识水平、概念地图策略等因素显著影响陈述性编码阶段 ;实验三、四结果表明 ,发现学习和接受学习中变式练习、解题策略指导等因素显著影响程序性编码阶段 ,对以上实验数据的再分析得出这两阶段存在明显的相互制约关系 ,根据以上结论和 E.D.Gagne的信息加工模型 ,构建了一个智慧技能获得的信息加工模型。     

Improving insight and non‐insight problem solving with brief interventions

Developing brief training interventions that benefit different forms of problem solving is challenging. In earlier research, Chrysikou (2006) showed that engaging in a task requiring generation of alternative uses of common objects improved subsequent insight problem solving. These benefits were attributed to a form of implicit transfer of processing involving enhanced construction of impromptu, on‐the‐spot or ‘ad hoc’ goal‐directed categorizations of the problem elements. Following this, it is predicted that the alternative uses exercise should benefit abilities that govern goal‐directed behaviour, such as fluid intelligence and executive functions. Similarly, an indirect intervention – self‐affirmation (SA) – that has been shown to enhance cognitive and executive performance after self‐regulation challenge and when under stereotype threat, may also increase adaptive goal‐directed thinking and likewise should bolster problem‐solving performance. In Experiment 1, brief single‐session interventions, involving either alternative uses generation or SA, significantly enhanced both subsequent insight and visual–spatial fluid reasoning problem solving. In Experiment 2, we replicated the finding of benefits of both alternative uses generation and SA on subsequent insight problem‐solving performance, and demonstrated that the underlying mechanism likely involves improved executive functioning. Even brief cognitive– and social–psychological interventions may substantially bolster different types of problem solving and may exert largely similar facilitatory effects on goal‐directed behaviours.     

Fear conditioning and extinction in anxiety- and depression-prone persons

Anxiety and depression frequently co-occur and may share similar deficits in the processing of emotional stimuli. High anxiety is associated with a failure in the acquisition and extinction of fear conditioning. Despite the supposed common deficits, no research has been conducted on fear acquisition and extinction in depression. The main aim of the present study was to investigate and compare fear acquisition and extinction in anxiety- and depression-prone participants. Non-clinical anxious, depressive, anxious-depressive and control participants performed a fear discrimination task. During acquisition, the CS+ predicted an aversive event (unconditioned stimulus, US) and the CS? safety (no US). During extinction, the CS+ was no longer followed by the US, rendering it (temporarily) into a safety signal. On each CS participants rated their US expectancy; skin conductance responses (SCRs) were measured throughout. The expectancy scores indicated that high anxiety resulted in less safety learning during acquisition and extinction; no effect of depression was observed. SCRs showed that high-anxiety persons displayed less discrimination learning (CS+ minus CS?) during acquisition than low-anxiety persons. During extinction, high-depression persons demonstrated more discriminative SCR than low-depression persons. The observed discrepancies in response patterns of high-anxiety and -depression persons seem to indicate distinctive information processing of emotional stimuli.     

When vaccinating against information reduction works and when it does not work

Practice not only affects how information is processed, but also which information is processed. The Information-Reduction Hypothesis (i.e. Haider & Frensch, 1996) holds that — with practice — irrelevant task information (i.e. information that is not logically needed to correctly perform the task) is discarded from processing. Recently, Gaschler and Frensch (2007) have demonstrated that Information Reduction is not affected by the frequency with which individual task configurations are presented: well-practiced and little-practiced irrelevant task configurations are discarded at the same point in time during practice; Information Reduction is thus an item-general phenomenon. These findings suggest that Information Reduction is at least in part a consequence of top-down, voluntary control. In the present research, we ask how tasks can be constructed such that Information Reduction is avoided. Our results show that item-general Information Reduction is observed even when it leads to severe processing costs (i.e. errors). On the whole, the present results are in line with models of skill acquisition incorporating top-down modulation (e.g. Haider & Frensch, 2002) and are incompatible with purely data-driven accounts of skill acquisition (e.g. Logan, 1988; Nosofski & Palmeri, 1997; Palmeri, 1997; Rickard, 2004).     

Implicit and explicit processing in deep dyslexia: Semantic blocking as a test for failure of inhibition in the phonological output lexicon

The failure of inhibition hypothesis posits a theoretical distinction between implicit and explicit access in deep dyslexia. Specifically, the effects of failure of inhibition are assumed only in conditions that have an explicit selection requirement in the context of production (i.e., aloud reading). In contrast, the failure of inhibition hypothesis proposes that implicit processing and explicit access to semantic information without production demands are intact in deep dyslexia. Evidence for intact implicit and explicit access requires that performance in deep dyslexia parallels that observed in neurologically intact participants on tasks based on implicit and explicit processes. In other words, deep dyslexics should produce normal effects in conditions with implicit task demands (i.e., lexical decision) and on tasks based on explicit access without production (i.e., forced choice semantic decisions) because failure of inhibition does not impact the availability of lexical information, only explicit retrieval in the context of production. This research examined the distinction between implicit and explicit processes in deep dyslexia using semantic blocking in lexical decision and forced choice semantic decisions as a test for the failure of inhibition hypothesis. The results of the semantic blocking paradigm support the distinction between implicit and explicit processing and provide evidence for failure of inhibition as an explanation for semantic errors in deep dyslexia.     

Acquisition of locational information about reference points during locomotion: The role of central information processing

The role of central information processing for the acquisition of information about locations in a large-scale environment was investigated in two experiments. Subjects with and without a concurrent backwards counting task traversed a locomotion path repeatedly attempting to learn the locations of six reference points designated along the path, then estimated direction and distance numerically to these reference points when traversing the same path further times in a subsequent test phase. The main dependent measures were the latencies and the constant and variable errors of the estimates. The results indicated that acquisition of information about the locations was disrupted when central information processing was interfered with. However, central processing seemed to be less critical for long-term storage of information about the locomotion path. The latter type of information could thus be used by the subjects with the concurrent task when estimating the locations. Finally, the results suggested that information about the path was used also by the subjects without any concurrent task when the test phase required them to remain oriented relative to several reference points at the same time.     

Couple Relationship Distress and Observed Expression of Intimacy During Reminiscence About Positive Relationship Events

Satisfied couples report that positive, intimate communication is central to their relationship. We developed the positive reminiscence task, in which couples discuss positive relationship moments to assess communication of positive intimacy. The behavior and heart rate of 28 satisfied and 25 distressed couples were assessed during positive reminiscence and problem solving. As predicted, satisfied couples demonstrated higher rates of positive affect and dyadic intimacy than distressed couples during positive reminiscence, and these positive behaviors occurred at much lower rates during problem solving than positive reminiscence. However, the differences between distressed and satisfied couples were more marked on most assessed behaviors during problem solving rather than positive reminiscence. Two notable exceptions were that dyadic intimacy and sadness differed more between distressed and satisfied couples during positive reminiscence than problem solving. The positive reminiscence task assesses intimate behaviors in a manner likely to be useful in research and practice.     

Age of acquisition affects the retrieval of grammatical category information

This study investigated age of acquisition (AoA) effects on processing grammatical category information of Chinese single-character words. In Experiment 1, nouns and verbs that were acquired at different ages were used as materials in a grammatical category decision task. Results showed that the grammatical category information of earlier acquired nouns and verbs was easier to retrieve. In Experiment 2, AoA and predictability from orthography to grammatical category were manipulated in a grammatical category decision task. Results showed larger AoA effects under lower predictability conditions. In Experiment 3, a semantic category decision task was used with the same materials as those in Experiment 2. Different results were found from Experiment 2, suggesting that the grammatical category decision task is not merely the same as the semantic category decision task, but rather involves additional processing of grammatical category information. Therefore the conclusions of Experiments 1 and 2 were strengthened. In summary, it was found for the first time that AoA affects the retrieval of grammatical category information, thus providing new evidence in support of the arbitrary mapping hypothesis.     

Information processing and human sequential predictive behaviour

Human sequential predictive behaviour is analysed in relation to information theory and information processing theory. The problem consists of the sequential prediction of stochastic-ergodic series of symbols. These sequences are described in terms of information theory (objective structure of the task) and the problem solving process in terms of information processing theory (problem space). The predictions of the behaviour of Ss, deduced from task environment and problem space, are confirmed by statistical analyses of the observed experimental behaviour of Ss. The necessity of further research on this and related problems is emphasized.     

Classifying multidimensional stimuli: stimulus, task, and observer factors

When observers decide how to classify stimuli, they often employ one of two types of information: identity along one particular dimension or overall similarity. The present studies examined interrelations among the factors which determine the use of these types of information. Participants' classifications of certain types of materials (e.g., size and brightness, length and density) revealed strong individual differences, were related to the individual's response tempo and selective processing ability, and were influenced by task demands. Classifications of other materials (e.g., saturation and brightness) did not reveal individual differences, were not affected by response tempo and selective processing ability, and were unaffected by changes in task demands. The former, but not the latter, types of materials have also been found to be influenced by developmental differences. The results are consistent with the idea that differences in response tempo and selective processing ability underlie observer differences (both individual and developmental) and that certain types of stimuli which are not susceptible to such influences set boundary conditions for observer differences. The results are discussed within an integral-to-separable model of processing.     

汉字字谜任务中限制解除的电生理机制

尽管“限制解除”作为一种顿悟问题解决的关键途径早在上世纪90年代就被德国心理学者Knoblich及其同事提出, 但学界对于“限制解除”所包含的信息加工程序、阶段以及相应的脑认知过程却并未有进一步的探讨和细化。本文从“限制解除”的理论角度出发, 以答案提示催化的“诱发式”字谜解决顿悟为例, 首次提出了一个关于“诱发式”限制解除过程的信息加工阶段初步构想。该构想认为：顿悟问题解决中的“诱发式”限制解除过程包含3个不同的信息加工阶段。第一阶段是以早期注意参与为特征的冲突信息的预警或预处理过程; 第二阶段是以新旧思路交替为特征的关键限制解除过程, 鉴于这个过程以基本问题表征空间的拓展为特征, 因此我们推测右脑的活动很有可能在这个过程中占据主导地位; 第三阶段是以自上而下的控制加工为特征的重新整合过程。脑电研究数据部分地支持了本研究的假设, 发现了上述第一阶段在脑电变化上体现为顿悟性限制解除所伴随的N100/P200复合体; 第二阶段体现为P300在300~400 ms的时间窗内的地形图分布及差异波; 而第三阶段则体现为N400在400~800 ms内的变化。脑电结果还证实：在第二阶段也就是限制解除的关键阶段, 右脑的活动明显强于左脑, 提示基本问题空间的拓展可能更多地依赖于右脑, 而在第三阶段也就是信息的重新整合阶段则表现出相反的半球偏侧化倾向。上述发现有可能为进一步认识和理解顿悟中“限制解除”的脑认知机理提供了新的见解。