Mental effort causes vigilance decrease due to resource depletion

The resource view on vigilance performance was tested. First, a low demanding task was compared with a similar low demanding task in which stimulus presentation was less monotonous due to added, irrelevant, stimuli. The resource view, maintaining that vigilance is lowered by hard mental work, predicts that addition of irrelevant stimuli will not affect performance. The classic arousal theory, however, states that arousal drops due to monotonous stimulus presentation and predicts that decreasing monotony will enhance performance. Results showed that performance was unaffected by added stimuli. Second, we tested whether a high-demanding task (with identical stimulus presentation as the low demanding task, but different instruction) would cause a greater decline in performance than the low demanding task. Indeed, in the high-demanding task performance was affected most. In sum, it appears that vigilance decreases due to hard mental work, which requires many resources. Both overall performance and decrement in performance can be explained in terms of resources, and this suggests that vigilance tasks should be resource-demanding tasks, which do not have to be of long duration.     

Locus of control,choice, and satisfaction with an assigned task

P. E. Spector's (1982, Psychological Bulletin, 91, 482–497) hypothesis that under conditions of freedom of choice persons characterized by an internal locus of control will experience greater satisfaction with an undesirable task than persons characterized by an external locus of control is considered in light of distinctions between perceived control and perceived choice. Perceived choice is proposed as an intervening variable implicit in Spector's argument. This reasoning was tested with 46 male and female college student participants in a 2 (Choice) × 2 (Locus of Control) factorial design experiment. An interaction of Choice × Locus of Control on task satisfaction was obtained such that internals tended to be more satisfied when given a choice while externals experienced greater satisfaction when not given a choice. The implications of this result for Spector' hypothesis and for the manner in which undesirable work is assigned are discussed.     

Individual differences in spatial frequency processing in scene perception: the influence of autism-related traits

Previous research suggested that coarse (High Spatial Frequency or HSF) and fine (Low Spatial Frequency or LSF) spatial information are flexibly used at different stages of processing during scene recognition in daily life. We tried to replicate and extend these findings by presenting non-social real-life scenes either as a normal picture, solely defined by LSF or HSF information, or using hybrid images consisting of overlaid LSF and HSF scene information. These were used as (in)congruent prime stimuli, modulating the rapid detection of a normal target picture in a 2-Alternative Forced Choice (2-AFC) categorization task (manmade versus natural). Our results indicated that coarse spatial information was more effective with shorter prime presentation times and fine spatial information required a longer prime presentation to influence participant performance. Interestingly, higher scores on the Autism-Spectrum Quotient questionnaire modified the impact of HSF prime information on target identification and influenced performance when ambiguous hybrid prime information preceded the categorization task.     

Psychophysiology of aggression, psychopathy, and conduct problems: a meta-analysis

A meta-analysis of 95 studies was conducted to investigate the relations of heart rate (HR) and electrodermal activity (EDA) with aggression, psychopathy, and conduct problems. Analyses revealed a complex constellation of interactive effects, with a failure in some cases of autonomic patterns to generalize across antisocial spectrum behavior constructs. Low resting EDA and low task EDA were associated with psychopathy/sociopathy and conduct problems. However, EDA reactivity was positively associated with aggression and negatively associated with psychopathy/sociopathy. Low resting HR and high HR reactivity were associated with aggression and conduct problems. Physiology--behavior relations varied with age and stimulus valence in several cases. Empirical and clinical implications are discussed.     

EFFECTS OF PERCEPTUAL QUALITY AND TASK DIFFERENCE ON THE HEMISPHERIC PROCESSING OF WORD STIMULI

Three experiments were conducted to examine the effects of stimulus exposure duration, retinal eccentricity, visual noise and task differences (physical classification and semantic classification) on the processing of Kana (Japanese phonetic symbol) words presented to the left and right visual fields. The primary findings of the three experiments were as follows. The right visual field advantage was found in the shorter exposure duration but no visual field difference was shown in the longer exposure duration condition (experiment 1). Stimulus presentation to large and small retinal eccentricity conditions revealed similar visual field difference (experiment 2). No significant visual field difference was shown in both clear and blurred stimulus presentation conditions (experiment 3). Semantic classification task revealed a right visual field advantage in all experiments whereas no visual field difference was shown in physical classification task in experiments 2 and 3. These results were discussed in terms of spatial frequency hypothesis and levels of processing hypothesis.     

The Effects of Residential Crowding Experience on Reactivity to Laboratory Crowding and Noise1

Sixty male and 60 female subjects previously classified as high and low on a residential crowding experience scale participated in an experiment involving a 2 × 3 × 2 × 2 (density, noise, crowding experience, gender) factorial design. The research was undertaken primarily to determine the influence of previous residential crowding experience as tapped by the Crowding Experience Scale (CES) on reactivity to the environmental stressors of noise and crowding. The results indicated that exposure to environmental stressors produced a deleterious effect on complex task performance and generated negative affect in the respondents. Interestingly, respondents who had reported high levels of experience with crowding showed relatively more crowding tolerance by performing significantly better on cognitively complex tasks (complex anagrams and story comprehension) and exhibiting more positive affect in conditions of high density as compared to low experience of crowding respondents. Reactions to noise were not influenced by crowding experience. Thus, prior experience of crowding as measured by the CES appears to influence reactivity to density in other settings.     

虚拟学习环境下图形加工的认知负荷研究

基于单探测变化觉察和双任务范式,采用项目数量（3）×呈现时间（2）×文字线索（2）混合实验设计,对沉浸式虚拟学习环境图形加工特征和认知负荷进行探讨,以任务绩效法与主观测量法评定认知负荷。44名大学生的实验结果显示：（1）项目数量对虚拟空间图形识记主任务绩效和主观认知负荷有显著影响,项目数量越多,主任务正确率越低,反应时越长,主观评定认知负荷越高,同时加工刺激数量以4个为宜;（2）呈现时间对虚拟空间图形识记次任务绩效有显著影响,呈现时间越长,次任务正确率越高,呈现时间超过0.5s有利于次任务加工;（3）文字线索对虚拟图形识记认知负荷有显著影响,重复性文字线索会增加认知负荷。结果表明,在沉浸式虚拟环境中,图形加工的认知负荷特点与平面和三维图形基本一致,项目数量多、呈现时间短以及有重复性文字线索时,认知负荷更高;任务绩效和主观测量评定指标在反映认知负荷强度上不完全一致。     

Preparation for Donders' type B and C reaction tasks

Several variants of a precued reaction time experiment were performed to assess preparation for Choice (Donders' type B) or Go/No-Go (type C) reaction tasks. On each trial, the imperative stimulus could necessitate either a keypress with the left forefinger, the right forefinger, or no response. A precue given at lead times of 50-750 ms either informed the subject whether the task was a type B task (left or right forefinger response), a type C task (e.g., left forefinger or No Go), or carried no information (all three possibilities remained open). The noninformative cue produced minor facilitation of reaction time at long lead times only. At lead times of 50-250 ms, the other two precues speeded reactions by about 50 ms. At precue intervals of 400-750 ms, Go/No-Go reactions averaged 25 ms faster than Choice reactions in an experiment which utilized appropriate controls for stimulus and task parameters. The mixed-trial design rules out gross motor (e.g., postural) adjustments as an explanation for the advantage of C over B reactions. An interpretation in terms of a two-stage theory of motor preparation is discussed.     

工作记忆中转换加工的内源性准备 和外源性调节

考察工作记忆中转换加工的控制过程。采用“任务转换”范式,探究预知条件（实验一）和未预知条件（实验二）下的转换加工。结果发现：（1）任务重复与任务转换是两个不同的过程;无论是在预知条件还是未预知条件下都出现任务重复效应显著大于任务转换效应;（2）验证了转换加工包括内源性准备和外源性调节两个不同的加工过程, 内源性准备只是任务设置重建的一部分;（3）对先后呈现的两个任务（任务1—任务2 ：任务重复或任务转换）在预知重复、预知转换和未预知条件下,任务2对任务1的影响不同,存在前瞻性记忆效应。由此推断转换加工的心理过程是：在预知情况下,任务1呈现后即启动内源性准备,直到任务2呈现时,通过外源性调节最终完成任务转换;而在未预知情况下,只能依赖外源性调节来实现     

The time course of attentional capture under dual-task conditions

Several recent studies have shown that attentional capture is not an automatic process. For example, abrupt peripheral onsets do not affect the processing of targets presented subsequently at that location when participants have to concurrently perform a perceptually demanding task elsewhere. This result leaves open the question of whether peripheral onsets lose their effectiveness in capturing attention or whether, instead, the performance of a perceptually demanding task entails a faster disengagement of attention from the cued location. Here, we measured exogenous spatial attentional-orienting effects either while participants performed a concurrent perceptually demanding central-monitoring task (a rapid serial visual presentation of letters for a to-be-detected digit target; Experiments 1 and 2) or in isolation (the baseline condition in Experiment 2). The results showed that peripheral onsets captured participants' attention at both the 80- and 190-ms stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs) in the baseline condition. Crucially, however, during concurrent central monitoring, peripheral onsets were effective in capturing attention only at an 80-ms SOA, while the orienting effect disappeared as soon as a changing letter drew participants' attention back to the central stream (at an SOA of 190 ms). These findings demonstrate that task-irrelevant abrupt onsets cannot be entirely overridden by top-down attentional control, although attentional capture effects are dramatically reduced by an ongoing perceptually demanding task.     

Looking, laughing, and smiling in dyads as a function of intimacy motivation and reciprocity

Eighty college students (40 females and 40 males) were administered the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) and interviewed in either a one-way (interviewer asks questions) or reciprocal (interviewer asks questions and discloses information about him- or herself) condition by a same-sex interviewer. The TATs were scored for intimacy motivation. In this 2 (Female vs. Male) × 2 (High vs. Low Intimacy Motive) × 2 (Reciprocal vs. One-Way Condition) experiment, intimacy motivation was positively associated with greater levels of laughter, smiling, and eye contact for the entire sample, as hypothesized. Furthermore, women showed significantly higher scores than men on laughter, smiling, and eye contact. Contrary to a second hypothesis, high intimacy motivation combined with reciprocal condition did not yield the highest levels of laughter, smiling, and eye contact. The results extend the construct validation literature for intimacy motivation into the domain of nonverbal behaviors considered to be indicative of positive interpersonal regard in cordial human interactions.     

Stimulus discriminability in free-operant and discrete-trial detection procedures.

Six pigeons were trained to discriminate different light intensities in four experimental procedures. Experiment 1 compared stimulus discriminability in a yes-no signal-detection task with discriminability measures obtained from two free-operant procedures. Discriminability estimates were significantly lower in the detection procedure. Experiment 2 showed this lowered discriminability to be a function of the delay between stimulus presentation and the availability of the choice-response keys in the standard detection task. In addition, reinforcement sensitivity was lowest when correct choice responses were intermittently, rather than continuously, reinforced.     

Differential dynamics of spatial and non-spatial stimulus-response compatibility effects: a dual task LRP study

Choice reaction times are shorter when stimulus and response features are compatible rather than incompatible. Recent studies revealed that spatial compatibility effects in Simon tasks are strongly attenuated when there is temporal overlap with a different high-priority task. In contrast, non-spatial variants of the Simon task appear to be unaffected by task overlap. The present study used the lateralized readiness potential (LRP) within a dual task design to elucidate the dynamics underlying these differential effects for a color and a spatial variant of the Simon task. In the color version there was no sign of early response priming by irrelevant stimulus features in the LRP. The color compatibility effect was independent of task overlap and reflected in the LRP onset latency. In contrast, in the spatial version, priming by irrelevant stimulus location showed up and was mirrored by early LRP activation. Response priming and the corresponding Simon effect, however, were present only in case of little temporal overlap with the primary task. The absence of spatial compatibility effects at strong temporal overlap suggests that response conflicts due to stimulus-related priming depend on the availability of processing resources.     

Sexual arousal and interpersonal evaluations

In an attempt to reconcile conflicting results concerning the effects of sexual arousal on interpersonal evaluations, hypotheses based on adaptation level, arousal-need gratification, and labeling of arousal explanations were tested. The variables of sexual arousal, technique of stimulus material presentation, physical attractiveness of the original stimulus female, and physical attractiveness of the final target person being judged were manipulated in a 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 design. A significant three-way interaction (Arousal × Stimulus Attractiveness × Target Attractiveness) obtained on all measures of interpersonal evaluation was interpreted as supporting a labeling of arousal explanation. It is suggested that subjects first interpret their arousal as being caused by their attraction toward the stimulus person. The characteristics of the stimulus person then become a factor used by subjects when they subsequently make judgments of target females. The adaptation-level and arousal-need gratification hypotheses were not supported.     

Choice As A Function Of Reinforcement Ratios In Delayed Matching-to-sample

Pigeons were studied in two experiments using a delayed matching-to-sample task. In Experiment 1, 4 subjects were exposed to a task in which the proportion of reinforcement associated with matching and nonmatching, and the overall proportion of reinforcement associated with selecting each choice, regardless of the sample stimulus, were varied. Choice was sensitive to both proportions. A least squares regression analysis showed that Wixted's (1989) proportions of reinforcement model closely fit the data from Experiment 1; however, the model failed to make accurate qualitative predictions for some test conditions. In Experiment 2, 4 subjects were exposed to a delayed matching-to-sample task in which the retention intervals and the reduction in delay to reinforcement signaled by the onset of the sample stimulus were independently varied. When the retention interval was short and when the delay-reduction value of the sample stimulus was high, the sample exerted greater control over choice; the control by the overall proportion of reinforcements for selecting each choice stimulus was correspondingly low. Conversely, when the retention interval was long and the delay-reduction value of the sample stimulus was low, the sample exerted relatively less control over choice; control by the overall proportion of reinforcements obtained for selecting each choice stimulus was correspondingly high. A signal detection analysis found that sensitivity to reinforcement varied directly with retention interval. Data were also consistent with misallocation models. No evidence was found to suggest that pigeons ignore the rate at which selecting individual choice stimuli is reinforced, as has been reported in studies with human subjects.     

The influence of dimensional overlap on location-related priming in the Simon task

Choice reaction times are shorter when stimulus and response locations are compatible than when they are incompatible as in the Simon effect. Recent studies revealed that Simon effects are strongly attenuated when there is temporal overlap with a different high-priority task, accompanied by a decrease of early location-related response priming as reflected in the lateralized readiness potential (LRP). The latter result was obtained in a study excluding overlap of stimulus location with any other dimension in the tasks. Independent evidence suggests that location-related priming might be present in conditions with dimensional overlap. Here we tested this prediction in a dual-task experiment supplemented with recording LRPs. The secondary task was either a standard Simon task where irrelevant stimulus location overlapped with dimensions of the primary task or a Stroop-like Simon task including additional overlap of irrelevant and relevant stimulus attributes. At high temporal overlap, there was no Simon effect nor was there stimulus-related response priming in either condition. Therefore stimulus-triggered response priming seems to be abolished in conditions of limited capacity even if the likelihood of an S–R compatibility effect is maximized.     

Ecological interface design effectively reduces cognitive workload – The example of HMIs for speed control

This paper aims to demonstrate that ecological interface design reduces the use of cognitive resources. Making the boundaries of acceptable performance visually perceivable should elicit skill-based behavior, thus lowering the cognitive load. To illustrate the psychological mechanisms of ecological interface design and validate its influence on cognitive load, we compared a conventional speedometer to an ecological speedometer. Both interfaces were displayed on the head-up display of a static driving simulator and were tested in a rural highway scenario. In a 2 × 2 × 2 repeated-measure design, the human–machine interface was tested along with the informative intelligent speed assistance system (representing an existing alternative for speed control) and the additional workload induced by a 1-back task (representing cognitively demanding driving situations). To measure cognitive load, we used a tactile version of the detection response task and controlled for all confounding variables. The experiment was conducted with 28 male and 21 female drivers. Our hypotheses and the ecological interface design theory are supported by the finding that the ecological speedometer reduces the use of cognitive resources. Moreover, the specific application of the ecological speedometer enables better driving performance (i.e., longitudinal and lateral control) compared to a conventional speedometer.     

Selective effects of barbiturate and amphetamine on information processing and response execution

In a 3 × 2 × 2 factoral experiment, 12 subjects carried out a choice reaction task with reaction time (RT) and movement time (MT) as response measures.Independent variables were drug treatment (amphetamine, barbiturate, placebo), visual stimulus degradation and S-R compatibility. Visual stimulus degradation and S-R compatibility showed additive effect on the RT, but did not affect the MT. This confirms that stimulus encoding, response selection and response execution represent independent processing stages. The two drugs had selective effects on the RT and the MT. Barbiturate (as compared to placebo) had no effect on the MT, but it lengthened the RT, and this effect was additive with the effects of S-R compatibility but showed an interaction with the effects of stimulus degradation. Amphetamine (as compared to placebo) shortened the MT, but there was no significant main effect of amphetamine on the RT although the interaction with the effect of S— compatibility was significant. These results suggest that barbiturate affects stimulus encoding whereas amphetamine affects response-related processes..     

Rethinking volitional control over task choice in multitask environments: Use of a stimulus set selection strategy in voluntary task switching

Under conditions of volitional control in multitask environments, subjects may engage in a variety of strategies to guide task selection. The current research examines whether subjects may sometimes use a top-down control strategy of selecting a task-irrelevant stimulus dimension, such as location, to guide task selection. We term this approach a stimulus set selection strategy. Using a voluntary task switching procedure, subjects voluntarily switched between categorizing letter and number stimuli that appeared in two, four, or eight possible target locations. Effects of stimulus availability, manipulated by varying the stimulus onset asynchrony between the two target stimuli, and location repetition were analysed to assess the use of a stimulus set selection strategy. Considered across position condition, Experiment 1 showed effects of both stimulus availability and location repetition on task choice suggesting that only in the 2-position condition, where selection based on location always results in a target at the selected location, subjects may have been using a stimulus set selection strategy on some trials. Experiment 2 replicated and extended these findings in a visually more cluttered environment. These results indicate that, contrary to current models of task selection in voluntary task switching, the top-down control of task selection may occur in the absence of the formation of an intention to perform a particular task.     

The effect of stimulus availability on task choice in voluntary task switching

The voluntary task switching paradigm allows subjects to choose which task to perform on each trial in a stimulus environment affording multiple tasks. The present study examined the effect of stimulus availability on task choice. Subjects viewed displays containing a digit and a letter and performed either an even/odd or a consonant/vowel judgment on each trial. The target stimuli appeared with a stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) of 0, 50, 100, or 150 msec. The probability of performing the task associated with Stimulus 1 increased as SOA increased, indicating an effect of external or stimulus-driven factors on task choice. This effect of stimulus availability on task choice was greater when the response-stimulus interval was 400 msec than when it was 2,000 msec. This interaction of preparation interval and stimulus availability is explained within a model of task choice that includes both internal processes and external influences.