Inhibition within a reference frame during the interpretation of spatial language

Spatial terms such as right are potentially ambiguous because they can refer to different regions of space when defined by competing reference frames (e.g., my right within a relative reference frame versus an object's right within an intrinsic reference frame). In such situations, previous research has suggested that multiple reference frames are initially activated, followed by inhibition of the reference frame that is not ultimately selected to define the spatial term. Reference frames are complex multi-component representations, raising the question of exactly which components of the non-selected frame are inhibited. It is possible that the whole frame may be inhibited, including all axes and endpoints, or that only select endpoints and axes may be inhibited. Three experiments conducted using a negative priming paradigm revealed that only certain components of the non-selected reference frame were inhibited, consistent with the idea that some axes are privileged. These results also suggest that the components of a reference frame can be independently accessed. Implications for representing and accessing spatial information are discussed.     

Context-specific control and the Stroop negative priming effect

The present study highlights the utility of context-specific learning for different probe types in accounting for the commonly observed dependence of negative priming on probe selection. Using a Stroop priming procedure, Experiments 1a and 1b offered a demonstration that Stroop priming effects can differ qualitatively for selection and no-selection probes when probe selection is manipulated between subjects, but not when it is manipulated randomly from trial to trial within subject (see also Moore, 1994). In Experiments 2 and 3, selection and no-selection probes served as two contexts that varied randomly from trial to trial, but for which proportion repeated was manipulated separately. A context-specific proportion repeated effect was observed in Experiment 2, characterized by modest quantitative shifts in the repetition effects as a function of the context-specific proportion repeated manipulation. However, with a longer intertrial interval in Experiment 3, a context-specific proportion repeated manipulation that focused on the no-selection probes changed the repetition effect qualitatively, from negative priming when the proportion repeated was .25 to positive priming when the proportion repeated was .75. The results are discussed with reference to the role of rapid, context-specific learning processes in the integration of prior experiences with current perception and action.     

Facilitating and inhibiting effects of priming and selection criteria in a sequence of dichotic listening trials

Competing models of attention make different predictions of how priming from recent stimulus processing could interact with intended selection. The present experiment examined the interaction between exogenous attention and endogenous priming across trial sequences. A sound cue directed attention to left, right or both sides before a dichotic syllable pair was presented. Participants were asked to report one syllable from each trial. Results showed that responses were slower on trials where one of the presented syllables had also been presented on the previous trial. Within these trials, the repeated syllable was selected less frequently, and the responses doing so were slower. Examined according to response choice on the preceding trial, syllables that had been ignored on the preceding trial tended to be ignored on the current trial (negative priming), while syllables that had been selected on the preceding trial tended to be selected on the current trial (positive priming). Responses that followed these selection biases were faster than responses that did not. Response selection was also influenced by the attention direction cue for the current trial, but not by the cue presented on the preceding trial. The results support an attentional model where traces from the preceding processing are retained, and current selection is biased to minimize cognitive conflict between recent and current processing. Negative priming appears to be due to after-effects of preceding processing, independently of the intentions behind that processing. The study accounts for positive and negative priming of dichotic listening sequences within an established, computationally viable biased competition framework.     

Functional influences on orienting a reference frame

Spatial relational terms like above are defined with respect to a reference frame. Reference frames are imposed on reference objects and define the space in which to search for a located object. Reference frames have a number of parameters that must be set during spatial term assignment, including origin, scale, and orientation. Previous research has shown that a functional relationship between objects in the scene influences the selection of a reference frame (Carlson-Radvansky & Radvansky, 1996). However, because this work operated at the level of the reference frame, generalizing across various spatial terms, it is unclear how function had its influence. One possibility is that function influences how the parameters of a reference frame are set. Consistent with this idea, Carlson-Radvansky, Covey, and Lattanzi (1999) showed an influence of function on where the origin of a reference frame was imposed. The present paper demonstrates that function also influences how the orientation of the axes of a reference frame is set. The implications for setting multiple parameters of a reference frame are discussed.     

Negative priming depends on ease of selection

Negative priming effects have been offered as evidence that distractor stimuli are identified. We conducted two experiments to determine if such effects occur even when it is easy to discriminate target from distractor stimuli. In Experiment 1, we found the usual negative priming effect when target and distractor positions varied from trial to trial, but not when these positions remained fixed. Experiment 2 extended these results to a situation where the ease of selection varied only in the prime display. These findings argue that irrelevant inputs can be filtered out prior to stimulus identification under certain circumstances and therefore pose problems for strict late selection theories.     

Selection of macroreference frames in spatial memory

Spatial memories are often hierarchically organized with different regions of space represented in unique clusters within the hierarchy. Each cluster is thought to be organized around its own microreference frame selected during learning, whereas relationships between clusters are organized by a macroreference frame. Two experiments were conducted in order to better understand important characteristics of macroreference frames. Participants learned overlapping spatial layouts of objects within a room-sized environment before performing a perspective-taking task from memory. Of critical importance were between-layout judgments thought to reflect the macroreference frame. The results indicate that (1) macroreference frames characterize overlapping spatial layouts, (2) macroreference frames are used even when microreference frames are aligned with one another, and (3) macroreference frame selection depends on an interaction between the global macroaxis (defined by characteristics of the layout of all learned objects), the relational macroaxis (defined by characteristics of the two layouts being related on a perspective-taking trial), and the learning view. These results refine the current understanding of macroreference frames and document their broad role in spatial memory.     

Testing the role of response repetition in spatial priming in visual search

In common “attention” tasks, which require stimulus-identity processing prior to the formation of a speeded key-press response, spatial priming effects depend on response repetition. Typically, the repetition of a stimulus location is advantageous when the prior response repeats, but disadvantageous or inconsequential when the prior response changes. This link between responding and space makes it difficult to draw inferences about attentional bias from two-choice key-press tasks. Instead, the findings are accounted for by episodic retrieval theories, which argue that the response associated with a prior stimulus location is retrieved when a later stimulus occupies its space. This retrieval operation is advantageous if the prior response is needed but not otherwise, which explains typical patterns. This perspective motivated us to evaluate whether spatial priming effects in the visual-search literature depend critically on response repetition. To assess this, we reevaluated a series of experiments recently published by Tower-Richardi, Leber, and Golomb (Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 78(1), 114–132, 2016). Their goal was to determine the reference frame of spatial priming across visual search displays. Reassessment reveals that spatial priming was strongly dependent on response repetition when spatiotopic, retinotopic, and object-centered reference frames were perfectly confounded. However, when eye movements were made to dissociate the spatiotopic and object-centered reference frame from the retinotopic reference frame, spatial priming was positive and unaffected by response repetition. The findings demonstrate that at least two distinct processes factor into spatial priming across visual searches, which occur at different levels of representation.     

What a speaker’s choice of frame reveals: Reference points,frame selection,and framing effects

Framing effects are well established: Listeners’ preferences depend on how outcomes are described to them, or framed. Less well understood is what determines how speakers choose frames. Two experiments revealed that reference points systematically influenced speakers’ choices between logically equivalent frames. For example, speakers tended to describe a 4-ounce cup filled to the 2-ounce line as half full if it was previously empty but described it as half empty if it was previously full. Similar results were found when speakers could describe the outcome of a medical treatment in terms of either mortality or survival (e.g., 25% die vs. 75% survive). Two additional experiments showed that listeners made accurate inferences about speakers’ reference points on the basis of the selected frame (e.g., if a speaker described a cup as half empty, listeners inferred that the cup used to be full). Taken together, the data suggest that frames reliably convey implicit information in addition to their explicit content, which helps explain why framing effects are so robust.     

自我构念启动对空间参照框架的影响

采用圈代词启动法及空间参照框架判断任务,探究自我构念启动能否改变被试对空间参照框架判断的认知加工过程。结果发现:(1)客体中心参照框架判断的整体正确率大于自我中心参照框架判断;(2)仅在独立型自我构念启动的一致条件下,被试的自我中心参照框架判断正确率高于客体中心参照框架的判断正确率;(3)独立型自我构念使男性更少受到自我中心干扰。结果表明,独立型自我构念启动可能对自我中心参照框架判断具有促进效应,但互倚型自我构念启动不能促进客体中心参照框架判断。     

Mechanisms of Reference Frame Selection in Spatial Term Use: Computational and Empirical Studies

Previous studies have shown that multiple reference frames are available and compete for selection during the use of spatial terms such as “above.” However, the mechanisms that underlie the selection process are poorly understood. In the current paper we present two experiments and a comparison of three computational models of selection to shed further light on the nature of reference frame selection. The three models are drawn from different areas of human cognition, and we assess whether they may be applied to a reference frame selection by examining their ability to account for both existing and new empirical data comprising acceptance rates, response times, and response time distributions. These three models are the competitive shunting model (Schultheis, 2009 ), the leaky competing accumulator (LCA) model (Usher & McClelland, 2001 ), and a lexical selection model (Howard, Nickels, Coltheart, & Cole‐Virtue, 2006 ). Model simulations show that only the LCA model satisfactorily accounts for the empirical observations. The key properties of this model that seem to drive its success are its bounded linear activation function, its number and type of processing stages, and its use of decay. Uncovering these critical properties has important implications for our understanding not only of spatial term use, in particular, but also of conflict and selection in human cognition more generally.     

启动刺激含有多个靶子条件下的负启动效应

采用数字命名任务,在通常的负启动范式基础上增加启动刺激靶子数目．进行了两个实验。实验一发现,当启动刺激靶子个数为1个和2个时。出现负启动效应;当启动刺激靶子个数为3个和4个时。则不出现负启动效应。这提示靶子所获注意资源数量的作用。实验二发现．当启动刺激有2个和3个靶子时．如果未被选择来反应的靶子成为探测刺激的靶子,其反应时与控制组无显著差异。即不出现负启动。这表明在启动刺激中未被选择来反应的靶子与干扰项所受到的加工是有差别的。     

Influence of mapping complexity on negative priming for incompatible spatial mappings

For tasks with an incompatible stimulus-response mapping, whether the compatible response must be inhibited paradigm for four-choice tasks with three different incompatible spatial mappings. For a mapping that did not follow a simple rule, reaction time was lengthened when the corresponding response on the preceding trial became the required response on the current trial, as compared with when it did not, showing a negative priming effect. However, for mappings that followed a simple rule, negative priming was not evident. The present study extends this research to a more complex mapping. On the basis of a two-process model adopted from the negative priming literature, we hypothesized that high mapping complexity should also diminish the negative priming effect for incompatible mappings, because the balance of cognitive resources is allocated to identification of the correct response. Two experiments are reported in which mappings of different complexity were used in six-choice spatial tasks. Analyses of reaction times showed that negative priming diminished with increased mapping complexity, apparently due to increased dominance of response identification processes, rather than inhibition of the corresponding response.     

Negative priming and perceptual fluency: More than what meets the eye

In two priming experiments, we manipulated the perceptual quality of the target or the distractor on the prime trial; the stimuli were repeated or novel. Negative priming was found to be contingent on stimulus repetition, because it was obtained with repeated items but not with novel items. Prime trial perceptual degradation modulated negative priming for repeated items but had no effect on priming in ignored repetition conditions using novel stimuli. These patterns were obtained even when the effect of perceptual degradation was (1) greater than the effect of stimulus repetition and (2) greater for novel words than for repeated words. Although stimulus repetition increases perceptual fluency, the activation of perceptual representations by itself is not sufficient to produce negative priming. Instead, we suggest that negative priming is a manifestation of an activation-sensitive inhibitory mechanism that functions to reduce response competition.     

Haptic experiences influence visually acquired memories: Reference frames during multimodal spatial learning

In two experiments, we investigated whether reference frames acquired through touch could influence memories for locations learned through vision. Participants learned two objects through touch, and haptic egocentric (Experiment 1) and environmental (Experiment 2) cues encouraged selection of a specific reference frame. Participants later learned eight new objects through vision. Haptic cues were manipulated, whereas visual learning was held constant in order to observe any potential influence of the haptically experienced reference frame on memories for visually learned locations. When the haptically experienced reference frame was defined primarily by egocentric cues, cue manipulation had no effect on memories for objects learned through vision. Instead, visually learned locations were remembered using a reference frame selected from the visual study perspective. When the haptically experienced reference frame was defined by both egocentric and environmental cues, visually learned objects were remembered in the context of the haptically experienced reference frame. These findings support the common reference frame hypothesis, which proposes that locations learned through different sensory modalities are represented within a common reference frame.     

Negative priming and perceptual fluency: more than what meets the eye

In two priming experiments, we manipulated the perceptual quality of the target or the distractor on the prime trial; the stimuli were repeated or novel. Negative priming was found to be contingent on stimulus repetition, because it was obtained with repeated items but not with novel items. Prime trial perceptual degradation modulated negative priming for repeated items but had no effect on priming in ignored repetition conditions using novel stimuli. These patterns were obtained even when the effect of perceptual degradation was (1) greater than the effect of stimulus repetition and (2) greater for novel words than for repeated words. Although stimulus repetition increases perceptual fluency, the activation of perceptual representations by itself is not sufficient to produce negative priming. Instead, we suggest that negative priming is a manifestation of an activation-sensitive inhibitory mechanism that functions to reduce response competition.     

Cross-dimensional interference and cross-trial inhibition

In two experiments, we examined whether one source of cross-dimensional interference in visual search involves cross-trial position priming. In Experiment 1, we demonstrated cross-dimensional interference in search for an orientation-defined target: Search for a left-tilted target among right-tilted non-targets was disrupted by the presence of a singleton color distractor. In all conditions, search was facilitated when a target was presented at the same position as a target in the previous trial (positive position priming). In addition, there were negative effects of position priming on orientation targets that fell on the same side as singleton distractors on the previous trial. In Experiment 2, to examine the impact of negative position priming on cross-dimensional interference, trials with and without singleton distractors were presented in a single trial block. The chance of a singleton distractor's being present on a preceding trial was then equated across displays when the distractor was and when it was not subsequently present. Cross-dimensional interference was eliminated under this mixed presentation condition, suggesting that the cost of cross-dimensional interference was not determined by the stimulus-driven factors in the current trial, at least when a limited number of target and distractor locations was used. We conclude that top-down selection is possible during visual search, and this leads to inhibition of the location of salient distractors. The cost of this is slowed detection of targets at inhibited locations on subsequent trials.     

The reference frame for encoding and retention of motion depends on stimulus set size

The goal of this study was to investigate the reference frames used in perceptual encoding and storage of visual motion information. In our experiments, observers viewed multiple moving objects and reported the direction of motion of a randomly selected item. Using a vector-decomposition technique, we computed performance during smooth pursuit with respect to a spatiotopic (nonretinotopic) and to a retinotopic component and compared them with performance during fixation, which served as the baseline. For the stimulus encoding stage, which precedes memory, we found that the reference frame depends on the stimulus set size. For a single moving target, the spatiotopic reference frame had the most significant contribution with some additional contribution from the retinotopic reference frame. When the number of items increased (Set Sizes 3 to 7), the spatiotopic reference frame was able to account for the performance. Finally, when the number of items became larger than 7, the distinction between reference frames vanished. We interpret this finding as a switch to a more abstract nonmetric encoding of motion direction. We found that the retinotopic reference frame was not used in memory. Taken together with other studies, our results suggest that, whereas a retinotopic reference frame may be employed for controlling eye movements, perception and memory use primarily nonretinotopic reference frames. Furthermore, the use of nonretinotopic reference frames appears to be capacity limited. In the case of complex stimuli, the visual system may use perceptual grouping in order to simplify the complexity of stimuli or resort to a nonmetric abstract coding of motion information.     

Interference and negative priming from ignored distractors: The role of selection difficulty

The relation between distractor interference and negative priming from identical distractors was examined in two experiments. Subjects responded to a target letter, which was indicated by an adjacent bar marker, and attempted to ignore a distracting letter. Onprime trials, distracting letters were either compatible or incompatible with the target, allowing for a measure of interference. On subsequentprobe trials, previously ignored distractors were sometimes presented as targets, allowing for a measure of negative priming. Reducing the spatial separation between targets and distractors on the prime trial increased the magnitude of interferenceand negative priming, but these effects appeared to be independent of each other (Experiment 1). In Experiment 2, the prime target location was precued on some trials, but not on others. Precuing attenuated the magnitude of interference, but not that of negative priming effects. This pattern indicates that measures of negative priming and measures of distractor interference on the immediately preceding trial are independent. The results are discussed in terms of a selective inhibition model of selective attention.     

Global/local processing and negative priming: the influence of selection difficulty and stimulus exposure

Negative priming is a decrement in performance observed when a previously ignored stimulus is re-presented as a target. The present study examined the relation between selection difficulty and negative priming in five experiments that used hierarchical stimuli (large letters made up by small letters). The results show that negative priming is greater when subjects direct attention to the local level (more difficult selection) than when they direct attention to the global level (less difficult selection). However, that occurs only when exposure of prime and probe is sufficiently long. With shorter presentations, negative priming is still observed but is no longer modulated by selection difficulty. These results suggest that both anticipatory and reactive mechanisms are responsible for the occurrence of negative priming and that instantiation of the reactive mechanism depends on the time available for prime and probe selection. Received: 17 January 2000 / Accepted: 3 July 2000     

Conceptual activation of distractors during selection is not sufficient to produce negative priming

Negative priming (NP) occurs when responses are slower because the targets were distractors on the preceding trial. Word-naming NP occurs only with words that have been presented repeatedly as targets; novel words do not show NP. The activation-inhibition explanation is that representations of repeated-word distractors are activated already and must be inhibited; the inhibition carries over to the next trial. If this explanation is correct, novel-word NP should occur if the word is semantically primed (thus activating its representation) before it occurs as a distractor. In two experiments, there was NP for words from a repeated set, and the magnitude of NP increased when the same word could occur as a target on consecutive trials. There was positive, rather than negative, priming for novel-word targets that had been semantically primed as distractors. Either the activation from semantic priming was not sufficiently strong to require inhibition, or the activation-inhibition hypothesis does not refer to activation of conceptual representations.