Facilitation and inhibition caused by the orienting of attention in propositional reasoning tasks

In an attempt to study the orienting of attention in reasoning, we developed a set of propositional reasoning tasks structurally similar to Posner's (1980) spatial cueing paradigm, widely used to study the orienting of attention in perceptual tasks. We cued the representation in working memory of a reasoning premise, observing whether inferences drawn using that premise or a different, uncued one were facilitated, hindered, or unaffected. The results of Experiments 1a, 1b, 1c, and 1d, using semantically (1a-1c) or statistically (1d) informative cues, showed a robust, long-lasting facilitation for drawing inferences from the cued rule. In Experiment 2, using uninformative cues, inferences from the cued rule were facilitated with a short stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA), whereas they were delayed when the SOA was longer, an effect that is similar to the “inhibition of return” (IOR) in perceptual tasks. Experiment 3 used uninformative cues, three different SOAs, and inferential rules with disjunctive antecedents, replicating the IOR-like effect with the long SOAs and, at the short SOA, finding evidence of a gradient-like behaviour of the facilitation effect. Our findings show qualitative similarities to some effects typically observed in the orienting of visual attention, although the tasks did not involve spatial orienting.     

Facilitation versus inhibition in the masked priming same-different matching task

In the past years, growing attention has been devoted to the masked priming same-different task introduced by Norris and Kinoshita ( 2008 , Journal of Experimental Psychology: General). However, a number of researchers have raised concerns on the nature of the cognitive processes underlying this task-in particular the suspicion that masked priming effects in this task are mostly inhibitory in nature and may be affected by probe-prime contingency. To examine the pattern of facilitative/inhibitory priming effects in this task, we conducted two experiments with an incremental priming paradigm using four stimulus-onset asynchronies (13, 27, 40, and 53?ms). Experiment 1 was conducted under a predictive-contingency scenario (probe-prime-target; i.e., "same" trials: HOUSE-house-HOUSE vs. house-water-HOUSE; "different" trials: field-house-HOUSE vs. field-water-HOUSE), while Experiment 2 employed a zero-contingency scenario (i.e., "same" trials: HOUSE-house-HOUSE vs. house-water-HOUSE; "different" trials: field-field-HOUSE vs. field-water-HOUSE). Results revealed that, for "same" responses, both facilitation and inhibition increased linearly with prime duration in the two scenarios, whereas the pattern of data varied for "different" responses, as predicted by the Bayesian Reader model.     

Facilitation and inhibition caused by the orienting of attention in propositional reasoning tasks

In an attempt to study the orienting of attention in reasoning, we developed a set of propositional reasoning tasks structurally similar to Posner's (1980) spatial cueing paradigm, widely used to study the orienting of attention in perceptual tasks. We cued the representation in working memory of a reasoning premise, observing whether inferences drawn using that premise or a different, uncued one were facilitated, hindered, or unaffected. The results of Experiments 1a, 1b, 1c, and 1d, using semantically (1a–1c) or statistically (1d) informative cues, showed a robust, long-lasting facilitation for drawing inferences from the cued rule. In Experiment 2, using uninformative cues, inferences from the cued rule were facilitated with a short stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA), whereas they were delayed when the SOA was longer, an effect that is similar to the “inhibition of return” (IOR) in perceptual tasks. Experiment 3 used uninformative cues, three different SOAs, and inferential rules with disjunctive antecedents, replicating the IOR-like effect with the long SOAs and, at the short SOA, finding evidence of a gradient-like behaviour of the facilitation effect. Our findings show qualitative similarities to some effects typically observed in the orienting of visual attention, although the tasks did not involve spatial orienting.     

Facilitation of source discrimination in the novelty effect

It has been demonstrated experimentally that recognition of novel items is more accurate than recognition of previously familiarized items. Tulving and Kroll (1995) proposed that this effect is due to novelty detectors in the brain giving processing priority to novel information. Recently, Dobbins et al. (1998) suggested that the effect is due to source discrimination problems. In the present two experiments attempts were made to facilitate source discrimination by having different orienting tasks and materials in the familiarization and in the critical presentations. Degree of familiarization was manipulated by varying number of presentations one, two or three times. The results in Experiment 1 showed that the novelty effect increased linearly as a function of presentations in the familiarization phase. In the second experiment the difference between familiar and novel items was even more pronounced. Enactment at encoding was added as a manipulation during familiarization. The results of Experiment 2 showed that the novelty effect did increase linearly for items with nonenacted encoding (in which the familiarization and the critical phase were more similar) but not for enacted encoding. All subjects reported experiencing source discrimination difficulties in both experiments despite the measures taken to diminish them. It seems safe to conclude that source discrimination difficulties are a part of the novelty effect.     

Inhibition of return in discrimination tasks

Although inhibition of return is known to affect a wide range of detection tasks, it has not been found consistently in discrimination tasks. To examine this issue, 5 experiments were conducted in which participants discriminated between a visual target and a distractor. The responses were not inhibited if, before the onset of stimuli, attention had been overtly oriented (i.e., an eye movement was made) to the future target location and the stimulus at that location was the same symbol as the upcoming target. However, if attention was covertly oriented (i.e., no eye movement was made) to the future location of the target, or if the stimulus at the earlier attended location was a symbol different from the target, responses to the target were inhibited. Overall, the findings provide insights into the relation between movements of attention and discrimination judgments and support the notion that inhibition of return is an attentional phenomenon.     

Spatial and non-spatial visual discrimination learning in zebrafish (Danio rerio)

Zebrafish (Danio rerio) provide an excellent model for assessment of molecular processes of neurodevelopment. To determine the functional importance of molecular events during neurodevelopment, we have developed methods for assessing learning in zebrafish in a three-chambered fish tank. In the first study, simple escape response was assessed. Zebrafish tested with a moving net learned to escape to another chamber more rapidly over the six sessions of training than the fish with the still net which did not learn. Upon reversal of the contingencies, the fish switched to the inactive net rapidly learned to suppress the escape response and fish formerly in the inactive net condition learned to avoid the moving net. In the second study, spatial discrimination learning was assessed. Zebrafish were trained on a right-left position discrimination to avoid the active net. Zebrafish showed significant improvement in escape responses over six sessions of training with three trials per session. In the third study, red-blue non-spatial discrimination learning was assessed. There was a significant improvement over the first six training sessions. With the reversal of contingencies, there was a significant decline of performance. With continued training, the fish again significantly improved avoidance. These studies found an effective motivational stimulus and procedure for studying escape behavior in zebrafish; a procedure whereby zebrafish would learn both spatial and non-spatial discrimination. These methods are being developed to help determine the functional importance of molecular events during zebrafish neurodevelopment. Accepted after revision: 20 August 2001 Electronic Publication     

试次历史对跨通道非空间返回抑制的影响

个体对刺激的反应不仅受刺激本身的影响, 还会受到先前刺激的影响, 表现为对当前试次中刺激的反应会受到前一试次的影响, 即试次历史。本研究采用“线索-中性线索-靶子”范式探讨前一试次有效性对跨通道的非空间返回抑制的影响。实验1通过连续两个试次间的线索有效性考察在跨通道非空间返回抑制中试次历史的影响。为了在跨通道非空间返回抑制中减小试次历史的影响, 实验2通过延长试次间时间间隔考察跨通道非空间返回抑制中试次历史的作用是否减小。结果发现, 前一试次线索无效时, 当前试次中的返回抑制效应量显著小于前一试次有效时, 这种影响会根据试次中线索和靶子通道的不同而不同。并且当延长试次间的时间间隔可以有效地减少前一试次对当前试次的影响。因此本研究表明, 试次历史能够对跨通道非空间返回抑制产生影响, 并且这种影响可以通过增大试次间时间间隔来减小。     

Automatic attention lateral asymmetry in visual discrimination tasks

There is evidence that automatic visual attention favors the right side. This study investigated whether this lateral asymmetry interacts with the right hemisphere dominance for visual location processing and left hemisphere dominance for visual shape processing. Volunteers were tested in a location discrimination task and a shape discrimination task. The target stimuli (S2) could occur in the left or right hemifield. They were preceded by an ipsilateral, contralateral or bilateral prime stimulus (S1). The attentional effect produced by the right S1 was larger than that produced by the left S1. This lateral asymmetry was similar between the two tasks suggesting that the hemispheric asymmetries of visual mechanisms do not contribute to it. The finding that it was basically due to a longer reaction time to the left S2 than to the right S2 for the contralateral S1 condition suggests that the inhibitory component of attention is laterally asymmetric.     

Investigating the time course of tactile reflexive attention using a non-spatial discrimination task

Peripheral cues are thought to facilitate responses to stimuli presented at the same location because they lead to exogenous attention shifts. Facilitation has been observed in numerous studies of visual and auditory attention, but there have been only four demonstrations of tactile facilitation, all in studies with potential confounds. Three studies used a spatial (finger versus thumb) discrimination task, where the cue could have provided a spatial framework that might have assisted the discrimination of subsequent targets presented on the same side as the cue. The final study circumvented this problem by using a non-spatial discrimination; however, the cues were informative and interspersed with visual cues which may have affected the attentional effects observed. In the current study, therefore, we used a non-spatial tactile frequency discrimination task following a non-informative tactile white noise cue. When the target was presented 150 ms after the cue, we observed faster discrimination responses to targets presented on the same side compared to the opposite side as the cue; by 1000 ms, responses were significantly faster to targets presented on the opposite side to the cue. Thus, we demonstrated that tactile attentional facilitation can be observed in a non-spatial discrimination task, under unimodal conditions and with entirely non-predictive cues. Furthermore, we provide the first demonstration of significant tactile facilitation and tactile inhibition of return within a single experiment.     

Memory for to-be-performed tasks versus memory for performed tasks

Memory for subject-performed tasks—that is, for simple actions such as lifting a pen, which subjects perform overtly—is better than memory for verbal tasks—that is, when subjects only listen to the action phrases. Here I investigated whether this effect depends on actual performance or whether it also shows up when there is only an intention to perform the task. Koriat, Ben-Zur, and Nussbaum (1990) found that the intention to perform items at test enhanced free recall more than did verbal tasks. Brooks and Gardiner (1994), however, were not able to replicate this finding. In four experiments, I attempted to reconcile this discrepancy by comparing subject-performed tasks, to-beperformed tasks, and verbal tasks under different conditions. The outcome depended on whether a within-subjects design or a between-subjects design was used. In the between-subjects design, memory for subject-performed tasks was better than memory for to-be-performed tasks, and both of these led to better recall performance than did verbal tasks. In a within-subjects design, in contrast, memory for to-be-performed tasks was no different from memory for verbal tasks. These results were independent of whether the test mode was congruent or incongruent. Thus, the discrepant findings of Koriat et al. and of Brooks and Gardiner seem to be due to the design used, pointing to encoding processes as the critical variable. The present results are interpreted to show that actual performance of actions at study provides more information than does only the intention to perform actions at test.     

Filtering versus parallel processing in RSVP tasks

An experiment of McLean, D. E. Broadbent, and M. H. P. Broadbent (1983) using rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) was replicated. A series of letters in one of 5 colors was presented, and the subject was asked to identify the letter that appeared in a designated color. There were several innovations in our procedure, the most important of which was the use of a response menu. After each trial, the subject was presented with 7 candidate letters from which to choose his/her response. In three experimental conditions, the target, the letter following the target, and all letters other than the target were, respectively, eliminated from the menu. In other conditions, the stimulus list was manipulated by repeating items in the series, repeating the color of successive items, or even eliminating the target color. By means of these manipulations, we were able to determine more precisely the information that subjects had obtained from the presentation of the stimulus series. Although we replicated the results of McLean et al. (1983), the more extensive information that our procedure produced was incompatible with the serial filter model that McLean et al. had used to describe their data. Overall, our results were more compatible with a parallel-processing account. Furthermore, intrusion errors are apparently not only a pereptual phenomenon but a memory problem as well.     

Manipulating perception versus action in recalibration tasks

We conducted six experiments to examine how manipulating perception versus action affects perception–action recalibration in real and imagined blindfolded walking tasks. Participants first performed a distance estimation task (pretest) and then walked through an immersive virtual environment on a treadmill for 10 min. Participants then repeated the distance estimation task (posttest), the results of which were compared with their pretest performance. In Experiments 1a, 2a, and 3a, participants walked at a normal speed during recalibration, but the rate of visual motion was either twice as fast or half as fast as the participants' walking speed. In Experiments 1b, 2b, and 3b, the rate of visual motion was kept constant, but participants walked at either a faster or a slower speed. During pre- and posttest, we used either a blindfolded walking distance estimation task or an imagined walking distance estimation task. Additionally, participants performed the pretest and posttest distance estimation tasks in either the real environment or the virtual environment. With blindfolded walking as the distance estimation task for pre- and posttest, we found a recalibration effect when either the rate of visual motion or the walking speed was manipulated during the recalibration phase. With imagined walking as the distance estimation task, we found a recalibration effect when the rate of visual motion was manipulated, but not when the walking speed was manipulated in both the real environment and the virtual environment. Discussion focuses on how spatial-updating processes operate on perception and action and on representation and action.     

Crossmodal attention switching: Auditory dominance in temporal discrimination tasks

Visual stimuli are often processed more efficiently than accompanying stimuli in another modality. In line with this “visual dominance”, earlier studies on attentional switching showed a clear benefit for visual stimuli in a bimodal visual–auditory modality-switch paradigm that required spatial stimulus localization in the relevant modality. The present study aimed to examine the generality of this visual dominance effect. The modality appropriateness hypothesis proposes that stimuli in different modalities are differentially effectively processed depending on the task dimension, so that processing of visual stimuli is favored in the dimension of space, whereas processing auditory stimuli is favored in the dimension of time. In the present study, we examined this proposition by using a temporal duration judgment in a bimodal visual–auditory switching paradigm. Two experiments demonstrated that crossmodal interference (i.e., temporal stimulus congruence) was larger for visual stimuli than for auditory stimuli, suggesting auditory dominance when performing temporal judgment tasks. However, attention switch costs were larger for the auditory modality than for visual modality, indicating a dissociation of the mechanisms underlying crossmodal competition in stimulus processing and modality-specific biasing of attentional set.     

Endogenous temporal orienting of attention in detection and discrimination tasks

Endogenous temporal-orienting effects were studied using a cuing paradigm in which the cue indicated the time interval during which the target was most likely to appear. Temporal-orienting effects were defined by lower reaction times (RTs) when there was a match between the temporal expectancy for a target (early or late) and the time interval during which the target actually appeared than when they mismatched. Temporal-orienting effects were found for both early and late expectancies with a detection task in Experiment 1. However, catch trials were decisive in whether temporal-orienting effects were observed in the early-expectancy condition. No temporal-orienting effects were found in the discrimination task. In Experiments 2A and 2B, temporal-orienting effects were observed in the discrimination task; however, they were larger when temporal expectancy was manipulated between blocks, rather than within blocks.     

Transfer of directed-forgetting cues across discrimination tasks with pigeons

Directed forgetting is shown as impaired performance on a memory test following an instruction that the presented items will not be tested. Experiments utilizing the delayed matching-to-sample (DMTS) task have demonstrated that this ability to actively control memory is present in animals; however, no study has yet confirmed that cues to forget established in one DMTS discrimination will successfully transfer to other discriminations. Lacking such evidence, it is not clear whether forgetting cues act as “higher level” task instructions or are represented more simply, perhaps as part of a sample-specific sequence of events. The present study revealed good transfer of the forget cue function in pigeons after prior training with the forget cues in a separate discrimination. This finding is discussed in relation to analogous experiments on occasion setting, in which training within more than one discriminative context has been shown to be critical to the transfer of a conditional relation.