Visual similarity in short-term recall for where and when

Two experiments examined the effects of visual similarity on short-term recall for where and when in the visual spatial domain. A series of squares of similar or dissimilar colours were serially presented at various locations on the screen. At recall, all coloured squares were simultaneously presented in a random order at the bottom of the screen, and the locations used for presentation were indicated by white squares. Participants were asked to place the colours at their appropriate location in their presentation order. Performance for location (where) and order (when) was assessed separately. Results revealed that similarity severely hinders both memory for what was where and memory for what was when, under quiet and articulatory suppression conditions. These results provide further evidence that similarity has a major impact on processing relational information in memory.     

Visual similarity in short-term recall for where and when

Two experiments examined the effects of visual similarity on short-term recall for where and when in the visual spatial domain. A series of squares of similar or dissimilar colours were serially presented at various locations on the screen. At recall, all coloured squares were simultaneously presented in a random order at the bottom of the screen, and the locations used for presentation were indicated by white squares. Participants were asked to place the colours at their appropriate location in their presentation order. Performance for location (where) and order (when) was assessed separately. Results revealed that similarity severely hinders both memory for what was where and memory for what was when, under quiet and articulatory suppression conditions. These results provide further evidence that similarity has a major impact on processing relational information in memory.     

The influence of similarity on visual working memory representations

In verbal memory, similarity between items in memory often leads to interference and impaired memory performance. The present study sought to determine whether analogous interference effects would be observed in visual working memory by varying the similarity of the to-be-remembered objects in a colour change detection task. Instead of leading to interference and impaired performance, increased similarity among the items being held in memory led to improved performance. Moreover, when two similar colours were presented along with one dissimilar colour, memory performance was better for the similar colours than for the dissimilar colour. Similarity produced better performance even when the objects were presented sequentially and even when memory for the first item in the sequence was tested. These findings show that similarity does not lead to interference between representations in visual working memory. Instead, similarity may lead to improved task performance, possibly due to increased stability or precision of the memory representations during maintenance.     

Knowing that strawberries are red and seeing red strawberries: the interaction between surface colour and colour knowledge information

This study investigates the interaction between surface and colour knowledge information during object recognition. In two different experiments, participants were instructed to decide whether two presented stimuli belonged to the same object identity. On the non-matching trials, we manipulated the shape and colour knowledge information activated by the two stimuli by creating four different stimulus pairs: (1) similar in shape and colour (e.g. TOMATO–APPLE); (2) similar in shape and dissimilar in colour (e.g. TOMATO–COCONUT); (3) dissimilar in shape and similar in colour (e.g. TOMATO–CHILI PEPPER) and (4) dissimilar in both shape and colour (e.g. TOMATO–PEANUT). The object pictures were presented in typical and atypical colours and also in black-and-white. The interaction between surface and colour knowledge showed to be contingent upon shape information: while colour knowledge is more important for recognising structurally similar shaped objects, surface colour is more prominent for recognising structurally dissimilar shaped objects.     

异性交友决策任务上为不同心理距离他人决策的风险偏好

使用中国文化背景下修订的Beisswanger等人的异性交友决策问卷, 采用2种方法操纵自我-他人心理距离, 考察了男女大学生在后果严重性不同的异性交友决策任务上为不同心理距离他人决策风险偏好的差异。实验1发现, 被试为具体和笼统他人决策时的风险偏好无显著差异, 在后果不严重任务上比后果严重任务上更冒险, 男性比女性更冒险。心理距离与决策者性别的交互作用显著：男性为具体他人决策更冒险, 而女性为笼统他人决策更冒险。实验2发现, 被试为不相似他人比为相似他人决策更冒险, 在后果不严重任务上比在后果严重任务上更冒险, 男性比女性更冒险。后果严重性与决策者性别交互作用显著：男性在后果严重和不严重任务上的风险偏好无显著差异, 而女性在后果不严重任务上比后果严重任务上更冒险。综合两个实验的结果, 可以得出以下结论：相对于具体和笼统他人的区分而言, 相似和不相似他人的区分是一种更加稳定和有效的区分自我-他人心理距离的方法。结合相关研究及理论对结果进行了讨论。     

The transfer of abstract principles governing complex adaptive systems

Four experiments explored participants' understanding of the abstract principles governing computer simulations of complex adaptive systems. Experiments 1, 2, and 3 showed better transfer of abstract principles across simulations that were relatively dissimilar, and that this effect was due to participants who performed relatively poorly on the initial simulation. In Experiment 4, participants showed better abstract understanding of a simulation when it was depicted with concrete rather than idealized graphical elements. However, for poor performers, the idealized version of the simulation transferred better to a new simulation governed by the same abstraction. The results are interpreted in terms of competition between abstract and concrete construals of the simulations. Individuals prone toward concrete construals tend to overlook abstractions when concrete properties or superficial similarities are salient.     

Temporal construal effects on abstract and concrete thinking: consequences for insight and creative cognition

Six studies investigate whether and how distant future time perspective facilitates abstract thinking and impedes concrete thinking by altering the level at which mental representations are construed. In Experiments 1-3, participants who envisioned their lives and imagined themselves engaging in a task 1 year later as opposed to the next day subsequently performed better on a series of insight tasks. In Experiments 4 and 5 a distal perspective was found to improve creative generation of abstract solutions. Moreover, Experiment 5 demonstrated a similar effect with temporal distance manipulated indirectly, by making participants imagine their lives in general a year from now versus tomorrow prior to performance. In Experiment 6, distant time perspective undermined rather than enhanced analytical problem solving.     

Retroactive interference and mental practice effects on motor performance: a pilot study

This study examined the effect of similar versus dissimilar retroactive interference on the mental practice effects for performing a novel motor skill. Research has shown that mental practice of a motor task can interfere with learning and performance of the task; however, little is known about how different retroactive interference activities affect mental practice effects. 90 volunteers ages 18 to 51 years (M=26.8, SD=9.6) completed a pre-test and post-test of 10 sets of five trials of a throwing task with the non-preferred hand. In the practice phase, participants mentally practiced the throwing task and then mentally practiced a task that was similar, dissimilar, or completed an unrelated reading task. Performance for all groups improved from pre- to post-test; however, there were no differences in increases for the three groups. The findings suggest that mental practice of similar and dissimilar tasks produced no significant interference in performance.     

Haptic perception of object distance in a single-strand vibratory web.

Can humans, like other animals, perceive distance by mechanical vibrations transmitted in a solid medium? In seven experiments, subjects perceived the distances from the hand of occluded metal disks attached to a taut nylon strand. Mechanical waves were initiated at the hand by the subject or at the disk by the experimenter. The results of Experiments 1 and 2 showed that perceived distance was linearly dependent on object distance with or without practice. The results of Experiments 3 and 4 revealed an inverse dependency of perceived distance on strand tension. In Experiment 5, a constant difference in perceived distance between vertical and horizontal strand manipulations was found. The results of Experiments 6 and 7 showed that distance was perceptible when the mechanical wave was not initiated by the subject. The informational basis for this haptic spatial ability was sought in the dynamics expressed by the one-dimensional wave equation, specifically, in the constants relating strand forces to strand motions.     

Haptic perception of object distance in a single-strand vibratory web

Can humans, like other animals, perceive distance by mechanical vibrations transmitted in a solid medium? In seven experiments, subjects perceived the distances from the hand of occluded metal disks attached to a taut nylon strand. Mechanical waves were initiated at the hand by the subject or at the disk by the experimenter. The results of Experiments 1 and 2 showed that perceived distance was linearly dependent on object distance with or without practice. The results of Experiments 3 and 4 revealed an inverse dependency of perceived distance on strand tension. In Experiment 5, a constant difference in perceived distance between vertical and horizontal strand manipulations was found. The results of Experiments 6 and 7 showed that distance was perceptible when the mechanical wave was not initiated by the subject. The informational basis for this haptic spatial ability was sought in the dynamics expressed by the one-dimensional wave equation, specifically, in the constants relating strand forces to strand motions.     

Is it relevant? Influence of trial manipulations of prospective memory context on task interference

The effects of blocked versus mixed presentation were tested on visual feature binding, assuming that blocked presentation enhances focused attention, whilst mixed presentation recruits extra attentional resources for intratrial as well as intertrial processing. The contextual interference effect suggests that although performance due to mixed presentation is either similar or worse than blocked presentation when tested immediately, it is better when tested after an interval. We explored whether this robust empirical effect, common in psychomotor performance, would be evident in visual feature binding. Stimuli were conjunctions of shape, colour, and location. Study–test intervals from 0 to 2,500 ms were used with a swap detection task. In Experiments 1A and 1B, participants ignored locations to detect shape–colour bindings. In Experiments 2A and 2B, they ignored shapes to detect colour–location binding. In Experiments 3A and 3B, they ignored colours to detect shape–location bindings. Whilst Experiments 1A, 2A, and 3A used blocked presentation, Experiments 1B, 2B, and 3B used mixed presentation of study–test intervals. The results of these experiments and a replication experiment using a within-subjects design showed that the contextual interference effect appeared when spatial attention was engaged, but not when attention was object based.     

Contingency learning without awareness: evidence for implicit control

The results of four experiments provide evidence for controlled processing in the absence of awareness. Participants identified the colour of a neutral distracter word. Each of four words (e.g., MOVE) was presented in one of the four colours 75% of the time (Experiments 1 and 4) or 50% of the time (Experiments 2 and 3). Colour identification was faster when the words appeared in the colour they were most often presented in relative to when they appeared in another colour, even for participants who were subjectively unaware of any contingencies between the words and the colours. An analysis of sequence effects showed that participants who were unaware of the relation between distracter words and colours nonetheless controlled the impact of the word on performance depending on the nature of the previous trial. A block analysis of contingency-unaware participants revealed that contingencies were learned rapidly in the first block of trials. Experiment 3 showed that the contingency effect does not depend on the level of awareness, thus ruling out explicit strategy accounts. Finally, Experiment 4 showed that the contingency effect results from behavioural control and not from semantic association or stimulus familiarity. These results thus provide evidence for implicit control.     

Dissimilar items benefit from phonological similarity in serial recall

In short-term serial recall, similar sounding items are remembered less well than items that do not sound alike. This phonological similarity effect has been observed with lists composed only of similar items, and also with lists that mix together similar and dissimilar items. An additional consistent finding has been what the authors call dissimilar immunity, the finding that ordered recall of dissimilar items is the same whether these items occur in pure dissimilar or mixed lists. The authors present 3 experiments that disconfirm these previous findings by showing that dissimilar items on mixed lists are recalled better than their counterparts on pure lists if order errors are considered separately from intrusion errors (Experiment 1), or if intrusion errors are experimentally controlled (Experiments 2 and 3). The memory benefit for dissimilar items on mixed lists poses a challenge for current models of short-term serial recall.     

Perceptual learning in face processing: Comparison facilitates face recognition

Theoretical analyses of perceptual learning suggest that comparison between similar stimuli aids subsequent discrimination between them. The current studies examined whether the opportunity to compare a target face to other similar faces during a preexposure phase facilitated performance on a matching task. Performance was better when the target face had been presented in alternation with similar comparator faces than if that target had not been exposed before test. Exposure to the target face without comparators, or exposure alternating with dissimilar faces, improved performance relative to the nonexposed control but performance was not as good as when target exposure was given in alternation to similar comparison faces. The effects were not influenced by image changes between exposure and test. It is suggested that exposure to a face in comparison to similar stimuli focuses the central representation of a face on its unique features. In practical terms these results suggest that reliable identification of an individual from their photograph would be improved by viewing that photograph in comparison with photographs of similar people.     

Dissociation between visual perception of allocentric distance and visually directed walking of its extent

Walking without vision to previously viewed targets was compared with visual perception of allocentric distance in two experiments. Experimental evidence had shown that physically equal distances in a sagittal plane on the ground were perceptually underestimated as compared with those in a frontoparallel plane, even under full-cue conditions. In spite of this perceptual anisotropy of space, Loomis et al (1992 Journal of Experimental Psychology. Human Perception and Performance 18 906-921) found that subjects could match both types of distances in a blind-walking task. In experiment 1 of the present study, subjects were required to reproduce the extent of allocentric distance between two targets by either walking towards the targets, or by walking in a direction incompatible with the locations of the targets. The latter condition required subjects to derive an accurate allocentric distance from information based on the perceived locations of the two targets. The walked distance in the two conditions was almost identical whether the two targets were presented in depth (depth-presentation condition) or in the frontoparallel plane (width-presentation condition). The results of a perceptual-matching task showed that the depth distances had to be much greater than the width distances in order to be judged to be equal in length (depth compression). In experiment 2, subjects were required to reproduce the extent of allocentric distance from the viewing point by blindly walking in a direction other than toward the targets. The walked distance in the depth-presentation condition was shorter than that in the width-presentation condition. This anisotropy in motor responses, however, was mainly caused by apparent overestimation of length oriented in width, not by depth compression. In addition, the walked distances were much better scaled than those in experiment 1. These results suggest that the perceptual and motor systems share a common representation of the location of targets, whereas a dissociation in allocentric distance exists between the two systems in full-cue conditions.     

Comparison Facilitates Children's Learning of Names for Parts

Learning names for parts of objects can be challenging for children, as it requires overcoming their tendency to name whole objects. We test whether comparing items can facilitate learning names for their parts. Applying the structure-mapping theory of comparison leads to two predictions: (a) young children will find it easier to identify a common part between two very similar items than between two dissimilar items (because the similar pair is easier to align); (b) close alignments potentiate far alignments: children will be better able to extend a novel part name to a dissimilar object after having extended it to a similar object. In three studies, 227 preschool children mapped novel part terms to new animals or objects. Both predictions were confirmed. Children more accurately extended novel part terms to objects that were similar to the standard than to objects that were dissimilar (Experiments 1 and 2), and children more accurately extended novel part names to dissimilar objects after having extended them to similar objects (Experiment 3). We conclude that structure-mapping processes can support part learning.     

Recognizing objects seen from novel viewpoints: effects of view similarity and time

View combination refers to a process that allows generalization to novel views of an object by the combination of object views represented in memory. The present experiments examined whether the perceived similarity between views or the temporal separation of views poses constraints on the view combination process. The results indicated that, although similar views are mapped onto the same object more easily than dissimilar views, dissimilar views, when experienced contiguously in time, produce greater generalization after view combination than similar views. These findings suggest that although the mapping of dissimilar views to the same object is difficult, exposure to temporally contiguous dissimilar views produces better generalization than does exposure to similar views, presumably because they provide more structural information about the object. However, view combination appears to be constrained to views experienced contiguously in time.     

Flexibility over automaticity: Separable representations for colours and words

This study demonstrates that associations between colour words and the colours they denote are not mandatory. Experiments 1–3 used a go/no-go task in which participants responded to one print colour and one word and withheld response from another print colour and another word. In Experiment 1, the content of the words denoted noncolour entities. In Experiment 2 the two words denoted two colours that were different from the target print colours. In Experiment 3, the words denoted the same colours as the target print colours but each response set included incompatible print colour and word (e.g., one response to the print colour blue and the word “green” and another response to the print colour green and the word “blue”). Participants performed equally well in all the experiments. Experiment 4a used Arabic digits and words denoting numbers, two formats that are known to have shared representations. Here, participants had difficulties separating their responses to the digits and words. These results suggest that representations of words are distinct from the content that they represent, supporting the existence of distinct verbal and colour modules.     

Social comparison processes in the experience of personal relative deprivation

Drawing on social comparison and equity theories, we investigated the role that perceived similarity of a comparison target plays in how resentful people feel about their relative financial status. In Study 1, participants tended to choose a comparison target who was better off, and they selected a target they perceived to be more similar than dissimilar along dimensions that surrounded their financial outcomes. In Study 1, perceived relative disadvantage was positively associated with resentment regardless of the perceived similarity of the comparison target. The results of Studies 2 to 5b clarified these findings by showing that being both similar and dissimilar to a target can cause resentment depending on the context. Using hypothetical and real social comparisons, we found that people are more dissatisfied with their financial outcomes when their comparative targets have the same background qualifications (i.e., are similar) but are financially better off (Studies 2, 3b, 4, and 5b). However, we also found that when the comparative financial contexts were similar (i.e., equal affluence), participants were more dissatisfied when their target for comparison had lower qualifications (i.e., was dissimilar; Studies 2, 3a, 4, and 5a). In all cases, perceptions of unfairness mediated the effects of social comparison on financial dissatisfaction. Taken together, these studies address some of the ambiguities around what it means to be similar to a target in the context of social comparisons of affluence, and they underscore the importance of perceived unfairness in the link between social comparison and resentment with one's financial status.     

Mood-dependent retrieval in visual long-term memory: dissociable effects on retrieval probability and mnemonic precision

Although memories are more retrievable if observers’ emotional states are consistent between encoding and retrieval, it is unclear whether the consistency of emotional states increases the likelihood of successful memory retrieval, the precision of retrieved memories, or both. The present study tested visual long-term memory for everyday objects while consistent or inconsistent emotional contexts between encoding and retrieval were induced using background grey-scale images from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS). In the study phase, participants remembered colours of sequentially presented objects in a negative (Experiment 1a) or positive (Experiment 2a) context. In the test phase, participants estimated the colours of previously studied objects in either negative versus neutral (Experiment 1a) or positive versus neutral (Experiment 2a) contexts. Note, IAPS images in the test phase were always visually different from those initially paired with the studied objects. We found that reinstating negative context and positive context at retrieval resulted in better mnemonic precision and a higher probability of successful retrieval, respectively. Critically, these effects could not be attributed to a negative or positive context at retrieval alone (Experiments 1b and 2b). Together, these findings demonstrated dissociable effects of emotion on the quantitative and qualitative aspects of visual long-term memory retrieval.