Mood-congruent and mood-incongruent learning

We report two experiments that investigate the effect of an induced mood on the incidental learning of emotionally toned words. Subjects were put in a happy or sad mood by means of a suggestion technique and rated the emotional valence of a list of words. Later on, they were asked to recall the words in a neutral mood. For words with a strong emotional valence, mood-congruent learning was observed: strongly unpleasant words were recalled better by sad subjects and strongly pleasant words were recalled better by happy subjects. The reverse was true for slightly toned words: here, mood-incongruent learning was observed. Both effects are predicted by a two component processing model that specifies the effect of the mood on the cognitive processes during learning. Further evidence for the model is given by rating times measured in Experiment 2.     

Individual differences in procedures for knowledge acquisition from maps

This study investigated the procedures subjects use to acquire knowledge from maps. In Experiment 1, three experienced and five novice map users provided verbal protocols while attempting to learn a map. The protocols suggested four categories of processes that subjects invoked during learning: attention, encoding, evaluation, and control. Good learners differed from poor learners primarily in their techniques for and success at encoding spatial information, their ability to accurately evaluate their learning progress, and their ability to focus attention on unlearned information. An analysis of the performance of experienced map users suggested that learning depended on particular procedures and not on familiarity with the task. In Experiment 2, subjects were instructed to use (a) six of the effective learning procedures from Experiment 1, (b) six procedures unrelated to learning success, or (c) their own techniques. The effective procedures set comprised three techniques for learning spatial information, two techniques for using self-generated feedback to guide subsequent study behaviors, and a procedure for partitioning the map into sections. Subjects using these procedures performed better than subjects in the other groups. In addition, subjects' visual memory ability predicted the magnitude of the performance differential.     

Decision making under uncertainty: a comparison of simple scalability, fixed-sample, and sequential-sampling models

The purpose of this article is to investigate the learning and memory processes involved in decision making under uncertainty. In two different experiments, subjects were given a choice between a certain alternative that produced a single known payoff and an uncertain alternative that produced a normal distribution of payoffs. Initially this distribution was unknown, and in the first experiment it was learned through feedback from past decisions, whereas in the second experiment it was learned by observing sample outcomes. In the first experiment, a response deadline was used to limit the amount of time available for making a decision. In the second experiment, an observation cost was used to limit the number of samples that could be purchased. The mean and variance of the uncertain alternative and the value of the certain alternative were factorially manipulated to study their joint effects on choice probability, choice response time (Experiment 1), and number of observations purchased (Experiment 2). Algebraic-deterministic theories developed for decision making with simple gambles fail to explain the present results. Two new models are developed and tested--fixed- and sequential-sampling models--that attempt to describe the learning and memory processes involved in decision making under uncertainty.     

Interaction of cognitive and sensorimotor maps of visual space

Studies of saccadic suppression and induced motion have suggested separate representations of visual space for perception and visually guided behavior. Because these methods required stimulus motion, subjects might have confounded motion and position. We separated cognitive and sensorimotor maps without motion of target, background, or eye, with an “induced Roelofs effect”: a target inside an off-center frame appears biased opposite the direction of the frame. A frame displayed to the left of a subject’s center line, for example, will make a target inside the frame appear farther to the right than its actual position. The effect always influences perception, but in half of our subjects it did not influence pointing. Cognitive and sensorimotor maps interacted when the motor response was delayed; all subjects now showed a Roelofs effect for pointing, suggesting that the motor system was being fed from the biased cognitive map. A second experiment showed similar results when subjects made an open-ended cognitive response instead of a five-alternative forced choice. Experiment 3 showed that the results were not due to shifts in subjects’ perception of the felt straight-ahead position. In Experiment 4, subjects pointed to the target and judged its location on the same trial. Both measures showed a Roelofs effect, indicating that each trial was treated as a single event and that the cognitive representation was accessed to localize this event in both response modes.     

Motor learning by observation: Evidence from a serial reaction time task

This study sought evidence of observational motor learning, a type of learning in which observation of the skilled performance of another person not only facilitates motor skill acquisition but does so by contributing to the formation of effector-specific motor representations. Previous research has indicated that observation of skilled performance engages cognitive processes similar to those occurring during action execution or physical practice, but has not demonstrated that these include processes involved in effector-specific representation. In two experiments, observer subjects watched the experimenter performing a serial reaction time (SRT) task with a six-item unique sequence before sequence knowledge was assessed by response time and/or free generation measures. The results suggest that: (1) subjects can acquire sequence information by watching another person performing the task (Experiments 1-2); (2) observation results in as much sequence learning as task practice when learning is measured by reaction times (RTs) and more than task practice when sequence learning is measured by free generation performance (Experiment 2, Part 1); and (3) sequence knowledge acquired by model observation can be encoded motorically--that is, in an effector-specific fashion (Experiment 2, Part 2).     

Discounting in causality and covariation judgements

In two experiments, humans were asked to judge the strength of a moderate contingency between a cue and an outcome in the presence of a second strong contingency between another cue and the outcome. The first experiment replicated the discounting effect whereby a strong contingency causes subjects to reduce or discount judgements of a moderate contingency. This experiment used a video-game procedure in which subjects camouflaged a tank to make it safe from mines. The second causal cue was the presence or absence of a spotter plane. Experiment 1 also ruled out the possibility that judgements might be determined by the number of co-occurrences of the cue and outcome as opposed to the level of contingency. The second experiment used an abstract scenario in which discounting was demonstrated when subjects were asked to judge the relationship between the occurrence of geometric objects. The instructions were neutral to discourage causal hypotheses. These results support the notion that judgements result from associative or connectionist processes and not from a two-step cognitive retrospective process in which an estimate of covariation is calculated between cue and outcome and then in a second step this information is used in a normative manner when a decision is made.     

Spatial learners display enhanced oculomotor performance

ABSTRACT

Attention is important during navigation processes that rely on a cognitive map, as spatial relationships between environmental landmarks need to be selected, encoded, and learned. Spatial learners navigate using this process of cognitive map formation, which relies on the hippocampus. Conversely, response learners memorise a series of actions to navigate, which relies on the caudate nucleus. The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between spatial learning and oculomotor performance. We tested 23 response learners and 23 spatial learners, as determined by the 4-on-8 virtual maze, on an antisaccade task with a gap and emotional visual stimulus manipulation. Spatial learners displayed decreased saccadic reaction time latencies compared to response learners. Performance cost from the gap manipulation was significantly higher in response learners. These results could represent an attentional practice effect through the use of spatial strategies during navigation or a more global increase in cognitive function amongst spatial learners.     

材料模式与认知负荷对小学生类比学习的影响

探讨学习材料不同模式和学习过程不同的认知负荷对小学生类比推理学习迁移的影响.包括两个分实验.实验1探讨学习材料的不同组织模式对小学生类比推理学习迁移的影响,两组小学生分别学习模式化与非模式化的材料,然后完成迁移程度远近不同的四类测题.结果表明,非模式化条件下完成远迁移题目的成绩显著优于模式化条件下的成绩.实验2探讨小学生在不同认知负荷条件下类比推理学习的迁移效果,两组小学生分别在高认知负荷与低认知负荷情况下学习类比推理的材料,然后完成上述四类测题.结果表明,高认知负荷条件下完成远迁移题目的成绩显著优于低认知负荷条件下的成绩.本实验结果表明,对于小学生类比推理的学习来说,非模式化、高负荷的学习更有利于促进迁移,支持了积极反应理论.     

Simple movement imitation: Are kinematic features sufficient to map perceptions into actions?

The aim of this study was to pinpoint the nature of the visual features used in the automatic mapping of perceived movements into similar executed movements, following the direct matching hypothesis. In Experiment 1 subjects imitated the lifting of one of two fingers, presented with different orientations. As predicted, stimuli which were further rotated away from the posture of the executing hand elicited slower reaction times. In Experiment 2, we verified that this orientation effect was not a purely perceptual effect by presenting the same stimuli but asking subjects to respond verbally. No orientation effect was found using a verbal response. In Experiment 3, we replaced the moving fingers by two arbitrary objects moving with the trajectories of the finger tips of Experiment 1. The same orientation effect as in Experiment 1 was observed. We conclude that in this experiment participants are using purely kinematic features to map perceived into executed movements.     

Control of children's observing responses by information feedback during visual discrimination learning

Four experiments examined the control of observing responses by information feedback during visual discrimination learning. Second-grade children participated in Experiment 1; kindergarten, second-, and fifth-grade children were subjects in Experiments 2 and 3, and grade 5 and adult subjects were tested in Experiment 4. In order to view the stimuli, subjects in Experiments 1, 2, and 3 activated lights in viewing boxes; in Experiment 4, stimulus fixations were measured using a corneal reflection technique. Fifth graders and adults observed the discriminative stimuli for longer times on trials following negative feedback than on trials following positive feedback; in contrast, kindergartener's observing was not affected by type of feedback. Second graders showed smaller and less reliable reactions to type of feedback than did older subjects. These results support the view that visual observing is controlled by cognitive processes associated with hypothesis testing.     

Reaching while calculating: scheduling of cognitive and perceptual-motor processes

To address the neglected question of how cognitive and perceptual-motor processes are coordinated, the authors asked participants to move a cursor from one target to another to reveal operators and operands for a running arithmetic task. In Experiment I performance on this task was compared with performance on tasks requiring only aiming or only arithmetic. Aiming was faster in the aiming-only task than in the combined task. More importantly, times for steps requiring calculation were equivalent in the combined and arithmetic-only tasks. The results from this and a second experiment suggest that participants slowed their aiming to allow calculations to be completed before subsequent targets were entered. As a whole, the results suggest that cognitive and perceptual-motor processes are coordinated through scheduling.     

The testing effect in free recall is associated with enhanced organizational processes

In two experiments with categorized lists, we asked whether the testing effect in free recall is related to enhancements in organizational processing. During a first phase in Experiment 1, subjects studied one list over eight consecutive trials, they studied another list six times while taking two interspersed recall tests, and they learned a third list in four alternating study and test trials. On a test 2 days later, recall was directly related to the number of tests and inversely related to the number of study trials. In addition, increased testing enhanced both the number of categories accessed and the number of items recalled from within those categories. One measure of organization also increased with the number of tests. In a second experiment, different groups of subjects studied a list either once or twice before a final criterial test, or they studied the list once and took an initial recall test before the final test. Prior testing again enhanced recall, relative to studying on the final test a day later, and also improved category clustering. The results suggest that the benefit of testing in free recall learning arises because testing creates retrieval schemas that guide recall.     

Long-term spatial clustering in free recall

We explored the influence of space on the organisation of items in long-term memory. In two experiments, we asked our participants to explore a virtual environment and memorise discrete items presented at specific locations. Memory for those items was later on tested in immediate (T1) and 24 hours delayed (T2) free recall tests, in which subjects were asked to recall as many items as possible in any order. In experiment 2, we further examined the contribution of active and passive navigation in recollection dynamics. Results across experiments revealed a significant tendency for participants to consecutively recall items that were encountered in proximate locations during learning. Moreover, the degree of spatial organisation and the total number of items recalled were positively correlated in the immediate and the delayed tests. Results from experiment 2 indicated that the spatial clustering of items was independent of navigation types. Our results highlight the long-term stability of spatial clustering effects and their correlation with recall performance, complementing previous results collected in immediate or briefly delayed tests.     

Planning paths to multiple targets: memory involvement and planning heuristics in spatial problem solving

For large numbers of targets, path planning is a complex and computationally expensive task. Humans, however, usually solve such tasks quickly and efficiently. We present experiments studying human path planning performance and the cognitive processes and heuristics involved. Twenty-five places were arranged on a regular grid in a large room. Participants were repeatedly asked to solve traveling salesman problems (TSP), i.e., to find the shortest closed loop connecting a start location with multiple target locations. In Experiment 1, we tested whether humans employed the nearest neighbor (NN) strategy when solving the TSP. Results showed that subjects outperform the NN-strategy, suggesting that it is not sufficient to explain human route planning behavior. As a second possible strategy we tested a hierarchical planning heuristic in Experiment 2, demonstrating that participants first plan a coarse route on the region level that is refined during navigation. To test for the relevance of spatial working memory (SWM) and spatial long-term memory (LTM) for planning performance and the planning heuristics applied, we varied the memory demands between conditions in Experiment 2. In one condition the target locations were directly marked, such that no memory was required; a second condition required participants to memorize the target locations during path planning (SWM); in a third condition, additionally, the locations of targets had to retrieved from LTM (SWM and LTM). Results showed that navigation performance decreased with increasing memory demands while the dependence on the hierarchical planning heuristic increased.     

Updating egocentric representations in human navigation

Seven experiments tested whether human navigation depends on enduring representations, or on momentary egocentric representations that are updated as one moves. Human subjects pointed to unseen targets, either while remaining oriented or after they had been disoriented by self-rotation. Disorientation reduced not only the absolute accuracy of pointing to all objects ('heading error') but also the relative accuracy of pointing to different objects ('configuration error'). A single light providing a directional cue reduced both heading and configuration errors if it was present throughout the experiment. If the light was present during learning and test but absent during the disorientation procedure, however, subjects showed low heading errors (indicating that they reoriented by the light) but high configuration errors (indicating that they failed to retrieve an accurate cognitive map of their surroundings). These findings provide evidence that object locations are represented egocentrically. Nevertheless, disorientation had little effect on the coherence of pointing to different room corners, suggesting both (a) that the disorientation effect on representations of object locations is not due to the experimental paradigm and (b) that room geometry is captured by an enduring representation. These findings cast doubt on the view that accurate navigation depends primarily on an enduring, observer-free cognitive map, for humans construct such a representation of extended surfaces but not of objects. Like insects, humans represent the egocentric distances and directions of objects and continuously update these representations as they move. The principal evolutionary advance in animal navigation may concern the number of unseen targets whose egocentric directions and distances can be represented and updated simultaneously, rather than a qualitative shift in navigation toward reliance on an allocentric map.     

Pavlovian to instrumental transfer of control in a human learning task

Pavlovian learning tasks have been widely used as tools to understand basic cognitive and emotional processes in humans. The present studies investigated one particular task, Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer (PIT), with human participants in an effort to examine potential cognitive and emotional effects of Pavlovian cues upon instrumentally trained performance. In two experiments, subjects first learned two separate instrumental response-outcome relationships (i.e., R1-O1 and R2-O2) and then were exposed to various stimulus-outcome relationships (i.e., S1-O1, S2-O2, S3-O3, and S4-) before the effects of the Pavlovian stimuli on instrumental responding were assessed during a non-reinforced test. In Experiment 1, instrumental responding was established using a positive-reinforcement procedure, whereas in Experiment 2, a quasi-avoidance learning task was used. In both cases, the Pavlovian stimuli exerted selective control over instrumental responding, whereby S1 and S2 selectively elevated the instrumental response with which it shared an outcome. In addition, in Experiment 2, S3 exerted a nonselective transfer of control effect, whereby both responses were elevated over baseline levels. These data identify two ways, one specific and one general, in which Pavlovian processes can exert control over instrumental responding in human learning paradigms, suggesting that this method may serve as a useful tool in the study of basic cognitive and emotional processes in human learning.     

Distance estimation from cognitive maps

Four experiments investigated map clutter as a source of distortion in subjects' estimates of distance. In Experiments 1 (incidental learning) and 2 (intentional learning), subjects estimated distances between pairs of points on a memorized map. In both experiments, estimates increased as a linear function of the number of intervening points along the route. In Experiment 3, subjects estimated distances while viewing the map. The effect of clutter was reduced but not eliminated. In Experiment 4, the clutter effect was demonstrated using subjects' preexperimental knowledge of United States geography. Psychophysical power functions relating true to estimated distance provided a good fit to both memory and perception data. These results suggest an analogy between perceptual and memorial processes of distance estimation. A model proposed to account for the data assumes that subjects perceptually scan a route (or image of a route) from start to destination and use scan duration to determine path distance.     

Navigation assistance: a trade-off between wayfinding support and configural learning support

Current GPS-based mobile navigation assistance systems support wayfinding, but they do not support learning about the spatial configuration of an environment. The present study examined effects of visual presentation modes for navigation assistance on wayfinding accuracy, route learning, and configural learning. Participants (high-school students) visited a university campus for the first time and took a predefined assisted tour. In Experiment 1 (n = 84, 42 females), a presentation mode showing wayfinding information from eye-level was contrasted with presentation modes showing wayfinding information included in views that provided comprehensive configural information. In Experiment 2 (n = 48, 24 females), wayfinding information was included in map fragments. A presentation mode which always showed north on top of the device was compared with a mode which rotated according to the orientation of the user. Wayfinding accuracy (deviations from the route), route learning, and configural learning (direction estimates, sketch maps) were assessed. Results indicated a trade-off between wayfinding and configural learning: Presentation modes providing comprehensive configural information supported the acquisition of configural knowledge at the cost of accurate wayfinding. The route presentation mode supported wayfinding at the cost of configural knowledge acquisition. Both presentation modes based on map fragments supported wayfinding. Individual differences in visual-spatial working memory capacity explained a considerable portion of the variance in wayfinding accuracy, route learning, and configural learning. It is concluded that learning about an unknown environment during assisted navigation is based on the integration of spatial information from multiple sources and can be supported by appropriate visualization.     

Peripheral information extraction: A developmental examination of reading processes

Three experiments examining the information extraction processes are presented. In Experiments I and II, adults and children were presented paragraphs to read and search for specified targets, respectively. Two types of typographical (spatial) manipulations were used: case of the letters within the paragraphs was as normally experienced, or in alternating upper and lower case letters. Spacing between words was either as normal, filled with a neutral symbol, or absent. The response measures were reading and search speed in words per minute. Sensitivity to case (word shape) and space (word boundary) increased as a function of experience and was different for reading compared with search. In Experiment III subjects were asked to judge whether briefly presented pairs of letters were the same or different. Retinal (spatial) location was varied from trial to trial; dependent measure was reaction time. Results showed a developmental progression in response time with complex interactions. Theoretical interpretations of these data are discussed in support of the initial stage of Hochberg's peripheral to cognitive search guidance model.