Concessive and semifactual interpretations during reasoning with multiple conditionals

The present research evaluates how people integrate factual ‘if then’ and semifactual ‘even if’ conditional premises in an inference task. The theory of mental models establishes that semifactual statements are represented by two mental models with different epistemic status: ‘A & B’ is conjectured and ‘not-A & B’ is presupposed. However, following the principle of cognitive economy in tasks with a high working memory load such as reasoning with multiple conditionals, people could simplify the deduction process in two ways, by discarding: (a) the presupposed case and/or (b) the epistemic status information. In Experiment 1 and Experiment 2, we evaluated each of these hypotheses. In Experiment 1, participants make inferences from two conditionals: two factual conditionals or one factual and one semifactual, with different representations. In Experiment 2, participants make inferences with a factual conditional followed by two different semifactual conditionals that share the same representations but differ in their epistemic status. Accuracy and latency data suggest that people think of both the conjectured and the presupposed situations, but do not codify the epistemic status of either when the task does not require it. The results are discussed through theoretical predictions about how people make inferences from different connected conditionals.     

教学设计中的成绩表现和心流体验:基于认知负荷视角

教学设计是为优化教学效果而形成的教学实施方案。为提高学习表现,认知负荷理论认为在组织教学设计时需考虑内、外认知负荷两大因素,但少有研究关注学生在学习过程中的体验。本研究通过单词复合性操纵内在负荷,通过呈现方式操纵外在负荷,探究两类负荷对心流体验及表现的影响。结果发现,内在负荷对心流及表现均有影响,外在负荷仅在低水平组表现出对心流及表现的影响,另外内外负荷在低水平组的表现上存在交互作用。结果表明,教学设计中的内在负荷是影响心流及表现的稳定因素,外在负荷不仅受知识水平影响,其对表现的有效性还受内在负荷的调节。     

Extrinsic cognitive load impairs low-level speech perception

Recent research has suggested that the extrinsic cognitive load generated by performing a nonlinguistic visual task while perceiving speech increases listeners’ reliance on lexical knowledge and decreases their capacity to perceive phonetic detail. In the present study, we asked whether this effect is accounted for better at a lexical or a sublexical level. The former would imply that cognitive load directly affects lexical activation but not perceptual sensitivity; the latter would imply that increased lexical reliance under cognitive load is only a secondary consequence of imprecise or incomplete phonetic encoding. Using the phoneme restoration paradigm, we showed that perceptual sensitivity decreases (i.e., phoneme restoration increases) almost linearly with the effort involved in the concurrent visual task. However, cognitive load had only a minimal effect on the contribution of lexical information to phoneme restoration. We concluded that the locus of extrinsic cognitive load on the speech system is perceptual rather than lexical. Mechanisms by which cognitive load increases tolerance to acoustic imprecision and broadens phonemic categories were discussed.     

Automatic effects of deviancy cues on creative cognition

Three experiments test the existence of an automatic deviancy‐creativity link. Using a lexical decision task, in Experiment 1 we found a semantic link between deviancy and creativity words in that decision times for creativity‐related words were enhanced after subliminal deviancy priming. In Experiment 2, participants were led to think about either a punk or an engineer and afterwards were administered creative insight and analytical reasoning problems. According to a pretest, punks and engineers were judged as differing in uniqueness but not in creativity. Participants given ‘punk’ priming solved more creative insight problems and fewer analytical reasoning problems than those given ‘engineer’ priming. In Experiment 3, participants were incidentally exposed to abstract artworks symbolically expressing either the concept of conformity or deviancy and were subsequently asked to solve a creative generation task. Exposure to the artwork representing deviancy led to generation of more creative solutions than exposure to that representing conformity. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

学习材料的背景颜色对认知负荷及学习的影响

本研究采用2×2的多因素混合实验设计,探讨了物理学习环境之一的学习材料背景颜色对认知负荷及学习的影响。结果发现：（1）背景颜色在对认知负荷的影响上与任务类型产生交互作用,在解决创造性问题时,暖色调（如红色）背景下的认知负荷显著高于冷色调（如蓝色）。（2）从学习成绩上看,暖色调（如红色）更有利于记忆测试问题的解决,冷色调（如蓝色）更有利于创造性问题的解决。（3）认知负荷与任务绩效呈一定程度相关。     

Evidence that a transient but cognitively demanding process underlies forward blocking

Blocking is a learning phenomenon in which prior experience inhibits learning about novel cues. Though the phenomenon itself has been well documented, the details of blocking-related processes still remain contentious. Two experiments investigated whether participants were engaged in demanding cognitive processing during different portions of a standard blocking paradigm. Participants in Experiment 1 engaged in a simple secondary task while completing a standard blocking procedure. Results showed that performance on the secondary task was briefly diminished early in the second phase of the blocking paradigm, when the novel cue is first paired with the pretrained cue. Participants in Experiment 2 performed a difficult cognitive load task during either the early or the late portions of the second phase of blocking. The blocking effect was eliminated when learners were under load early in the second phase, but not when learners were under load late in the second phase. These results suggest that blocking relies on a cognitively demanding process with a distinct time course. Computational simulations illustrate how a model that includes top-down (i.e., cognitively demanding) attentional modulation can reproduce the observed behaviour. This suggests that purely associative processes are not sufficient to explain the observed behaviour. Implications for current accounts of blocking are discussed.     

Trait Intellect Predicts Cognitive Engagement: Evidence from a Resource Allocation Perspective

Trait Intellect, one of the two ‘aspects’ of the broader Openness/Intellect ‘domain’, predicts performance on a range of cognitive tasks including tests of intelligence and working memory. This has been explained in terms of the tendency for high‐Intellect individuals to explore, or engage more effortfully with, abstract information. This theoretical perspective can be framed in the language of Resource Allocation Theory, in terms of high‐Intellect individuals allocating more of their available cognitive resources to abstract cognitive tasks. In two experiments (total N = 160), we examined the relation between Intellect and cognitive engagement during a primary word‐search task under conditions of both high and low secondary cognitive load. Both experiments revealed that high‐Intellect individuals were more vulnerable to the impact of the secondary cognitive load on primary task performance. This suggests that, under low secondary load, such individuals were indeed allocating more of their available cognitive resources to the primary task. These results held after controlling for trait Openness, trait Industriousness (an aspect of Conscientiousness) and a measure of working memory capacity (N‐back task). Our findings provide novel support for the cognitive mechanisms proposed to underlie trait Intellect. Copyright © 2016 European Association of Personality Psychology     

Using a Fork as a Hairbrush: Investigating Dual Routes to Release from Functional Fixedness

Functional fixedness involves difficulty with conceptualizing creative object uses. When it obstructs problem‐solving, individuals must reframe their approach. We examined how different training techniques—chunk decomposition (i.e., considering an object’s basic parts and physical properties) and constraint relaxation (i.e., considering an object’s different functions)—might rely upon different routes to creative reframing. Additionally, we investigated how different forms of cognitive load interact with these dual routes. Participants learned one of three techniques. Chunk decomposition participants created object breakdown diagrams; constraint relaxation participants created object functions lists; and free association (control) participants wrote a word that they associated with each of several concrete nouns. After training, participants attempted to solve five functional fixedness problems. E1 investigated how increasing germane cognitive load via either direct or indirect prompting affected training transfer. Experiment 2 investigated how reducing extraneous cognitive load by providing no transfer instructions and using an eye‐closure strategy. Across both experiments, results supported differences in accuracy and response latency by training. However, chunk decomposition and constraint relaxation did not follow the same pattern, suggesting different mechanisms of the effect. We discuss possible applications to increase innovation in real‐world domains such as education, business, and engineering.     

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。     

Twelve-month-olds privilege words over other linguistic sounds in an associative learning task

We examined whether 12-month-old infants privilege words over other linguistic stimuli in an associative learning task. Sixty-four infants were presented with sets of either word–object, communicative sound–object, or consonantal sound–object pairings until they habituated. They were then tested on a ‘switch’ in the sound to determine whether they were able to associate the word and/or sound with the novel objects. Infants associated words, but not communicative sounds or consonantal sounds, with novel objects. The results demonstrate that infants exhibit a preference for words over other linguistic stimuli in an associative word learning task. This suggests that by 12 months of age, infants have developed knowledge about the nature of an appropriate sound form for an object label and will privilege this form as an object label.     

Enhanced semantic priming in synesthetes independent of sensory binding

Synesthesia is the phenomenon in which individuals experience unusual involuntary cross-modal pairings. The evidence to date suggests that synesthetes have access to advantageous item-specific memory cues linked to their synesthetic experience, but whether this emphasis on item-specific memory cues comes at the expense of semantic-level processing has not been unambiguously demonstrated. Here we found that synesthetes produce substantially greater semantic priming magnitudes, unrelated to their specific synesthetic experience. This effect, however, was moderated by whether the synesthetes were projectors (their synesthetic experience occurs in their representation of external space), or associators (their synesthetic experience occurs in their ‘mind’s eye’). That is, the greater a synesthetes’s tendency to project their experience, the weaker their semantic priming when the task did not require them to semantically categorize the stimuli, whereas this trade-off was absent when the task did have that requirement.     

The dialectics of sketching

The generation of architectural form is by definition a creative activity. As a rule, architects engage in intensive, fast, freehand sketching when they first tackle a design task. This study investigated the process of sketching and revealed that by sketching, the designer does not represent images held in the mind, as is often the case in lay sketching, but creates visual displays which help induce images of the entity that is being designed. Sketching partakes in design reasoning and it does so through a special kind of visual imagery. A pattern of pictorial reasoning is revealed which displays regular shifts between two modalities of arguments, pertaining to both figural and nonfigural aspects of candidate forms at the time they are being generated, as part of the design search. The dialectics of sketching is the oscillation of arguments which brings about gradual transformation of images, ending when the designer judges that sufficient coherence has been achieved.     

Scanning memory for multidimensional stimuli with extended practice

Memory load and the similarity between positive and negative sets were varied orthogonally in an information-reduction task which required S to respond either “yes” or “no” to the question of whether or not a visually displayed two-dimensional pattern had been contained in a previously memorized set of patterns. Six Sa were given 8 days of practice. The results showed that throughout practice, there was a significant increase in reaction time with increaaes in the similarity of positive and neptive sets. The memory load differences sipificantly decreaaed to zero with practice, and this drop was independent of the similarity effect.. It was concluded that extended practice influences memory load differences and effects that reflect the complexity of the memory comparison process differentially.     

高低创造性思维水平者定向遗忘效应的差异研究

采用单字法定向遗忘范式,考察远距离联想任务得分高低者在中性和负性词语定向遗忘效应上的差异,来探讨创造性思维水平高低与主动抑制的关系。实验采用2(高/低创造性思维水平)×2(中性/负性词汇)×2(记住/忘记指令)×2(2s/5s时间间隔)混合设计,发现高低创造力组,在材料不同呈现时间下,对不同情绪材料的定向遗忘效应分别不同。低创者在2s和5s以及高创者在5s时间间隔时,均对中性词语表现出定向遗忘效应,而对负性词汇没有表现出明显的定性遗忘效应。高创者在2s时间间隔下,对中性和负性词语均表现出定向遗忘效应。结果表明较短时间内高创者对负性情绪的主动抑制能力优于低创者。     

干扰任务对说谎影响的研究

摘要:本文将干扰任务对记忆的影响同测谎结合起来,试图运用这一方法来对求职者的真实学历和虚假学历进行区分。实验采用模拟面试的方式,对被试在有或无干扰任务条件下进行两次提问,结果发现,四种任务条件对被试真实经历和虚假经历都具有区分度,其中双双条件的区分度是最高的。并且,被试在双双任务条件下虚假经历的得分显著低于其他三种任务条件。     

Generalized rule application in bluestreak cleaner wrasse (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Labroides dimidiatus</Emphasis>): using predator species as social tools to reduce punishment

Generalized rule application promotes flexible behavior by allowing individuals to adjust quickly to environmental changes through generalization of previous learning. Here, we show that bluestreak ‘cleaner’ wrasse (Labroides dimidiatus) uses generalized rule application in their use of predators as social tools against punishing reef fish clients. Punishment occurs as cleaners do not only remove ectoparasites from clients, but prefer to feed on client mucus (constituting cheating). We tested for generalized rule application in a series of experiments, starting by training cleaners to approach one of two fish models in order to evade punishment (by chasing) from a ‘cheated’ client model. Cleaners learned this task only if the safe haven was a predator model. During consecutive exposure to pairs of novel species, including exotic models, cleaners demonstrated generalization of the ‘predators-are-safe-havens’ rule by rapidly satisfying learning criteria. However, cleaners were not able to generalize to a ‘one-of-two-stimuli-presents-a-safe-haven’ rule, as they failed to solve the task when confronted with either two harmless fish models or two predator models. Our results emphasize the importance of ecologically relevant experiments to uncover complex cognitive processes in non-human animals, like generalized rule learning in the context of social tool use in a fish.     

Creativity as a Matter of Choice: Prior Experience and Task Instruction as Boundary Conditions for the Positive Effect of Choice on Creativity

This study investigates the effects of prior experience, task instruction, and choice on creative performance. Although extant research suggests that giving people choice in how they approach a task could enhance creative performance, we propose that this view needs to be circumscribed. Specifically, we argue that when choice is administered during problem solving by varying the number of available resources, the high combinatorial flexibility conferred by a large choice set of resources can be overwhelming. Through two experiments, we found that only individuals with high prior experience in the task domain and given explicit instruction to be creative produced more creative outcomes when given more choice. When either of these two conditions is not met (i.e., low prior experience or given non‐creativity instruction), more choice did not lead to more creative performance. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.     

执行意向影响事件性前瞻记忆的加工机制

本研究旨在探究不同执行意向编码形式对前瞻记忆加工机制的影响是否存在差异。结果显示在低认知负荷下,混合编码效果最好,仅执行意向编码次之,标准编码效果最差,而在高认知负荷下三种编码效果无差异。眼动指标显示在低认知负荷下混合编码的注视点数量最多,总注视时间最长;在混合编码条件下进行中任务和前瞻记忆任务的总注视时间均长于仅执行意向编码和标准编码。结果说明,执行意向编码容易受认知负荷的影响;在低认知负荷下混合编码的被试对任务刺激进行更多的监控和加工,而仅执行意向编码促进前瞻记忆任务的自动化加工。     

情绪影响创造性认知过程的神经机制

先前有关情绪与创造力的研究多以行为实验为主, 且存在研究结果不一致、缺乏可比性等问题。本项目拟借助认知神经科学技术, 以认知加工的初级过程和次级过程为线索, 采用新颖性判断、远距离联想、顿悟字谜任务等改进的实验范式, 通过时空二维脑机制参数, 重点测查创造力相关脑区激活的时间进程与空间模式, 揭示情绪影响创造性认知活动的大脑动态加工过程。