Effect of line orientation on various information-processing tasks

The effects of interstimulus and stimulus-specific factors on central (vs. peripheral) oblique effects were examined using classification, focusing, discrimination, and sequential same-different tasks. Classification results showed that grouping the vertical with the horizontal line and the two diagonal lines with each other facilitated performance. Discrimination results revealed that the two diagonal lines were more confusable with each other than were the members of any other stimulus pair. Focusing results indicated that the vertical and horizontal lines served as better focusing stimuli. A set of sequential same-different tasks, each using only two alternative stimuli, allowed for the examination of stimulus-specific factors in focusing; the effects of similarity relations between all stimuli in the total set were greatly reduced by the constrained context. The two diagonal lines were the most difficult to compare and proved to be the worst foci in these tasks as well. In conclusion, there are two factors operating in the central oblique effect: greater confusability between the two diagonal lines and more favorable stimulus-specific properties of vertical and horizontal lines.     

Evidence against response bias in temporal order tasks with attention manipulation by masked primes

Attending to a location shortens the perceptual latency of stimuli appearing at this location (perceptual latency priming). According to attentional explanations, perceptual latency priming relies on the speeded transfer of attended visual information into an internal model. However, doubts about the attentional origin have repeatedly been raised because efforts to minimize response bias have been insufficient in most studies. Five experiments investigated the contribution of a response bias to perceptual latency priming (judgment bias due to the two-alternative forced-choice method and due to the existence of the prime, criterion effects or second-order bias, sensorimotor priming). If any, only small response biases were found. The results thus support the attentional explanation.     

Planning ability across ranges of intellectual ability: An examination of the Luria-Das information-processing model

According to the Luria-Das information-processing theory, impaired planning ability is the source of more generalized cognitive deficits in mentally retarded populations. Also, the model suggests the possibility of relative independence between unit 2 (planning) and unit 3 (coding) abilities for mentally retarded individuals. Consequently, it was predicted that 26 educable mentally retarded (EMR) children would score significantly less well on relatively pure measures of planning ability than 13 younger average-ability children after the children were matched on cognitive processing ability (Mental Age of the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children). Moreover, it was predicted that teaching an optimal planning strategy to randomly selected individuals of both groups would improve the EMR group's scores relative to the average-ability group. Neither prediction was supported. The results are not inconsistent with the model, but can be explained parsimoniously by neurodevelopmental stage theories also.     

An information-processing approach to attribution of responsibility

The research literature on defensive attribution of responsibility is reviewed within the framework of a nonmotivational information-processing model which proposes that attributed responsibility is a function of the difference between the perceived contingent probability (congruence) of an outcome, given a perpertrator's behavior, and the noncontingent probability (prior expectancy) of that outcome. Results of previous research on effects of the characteristics of outcomes, perpetrator, and victim on responsibility ratings are reinterpreted in terms of the influence these factors have on estimates of congruence and prior expectancy. Secondary analyses of data from a recent study of causal reasoning resulted in a correlation of .78 between attribution of responsibility and a simple additive model of estimated contingent and prior probabilities of an accident.     

Developmental changes in word recognition: An information-processing account

Two experiments examining developmental changes in the use of context in single word reading are reported. The first experiment investigated how effectively children can access conceptual knowledge and use this to help their word recognition. The results indicated that young readers can on demand direct their attention to semantic information, and this allows them to reap a relatively greater benefit from context than older more skilful readers. The second experiment attempted to clarify the way such use of contextual information might help in the specific case when a child attempts to decode a new word for the first time. Skilled and unskilled readers pronounced pseudohomophonic nonwords faster when they were primed by a semantic context, and the context effect was greater for unskilled readers. The nonword's graphemic similarity to a lexical item was also important.

In general, the results were consistent with Stanovich's (1980) interactive-compensatory model of reading, and they suggest that in learning to read, several already existing stores of information (e.g. auditory, visual and conceptual) are integrated in order to achieve a solution to the word recognition problem.     

Eyetracking for two-person tasks with manipulation of a virtual world

Eyetracking facilities are typically restricted to monitoring a single person viewing static images or prerecorded video. In the present article, we describe a system that makes it possible to study visual attention in coordination with other activity during joint action. The software links two eyetracking systems in parallel and provides an on-screen task. By locating eye movements against dynamic screen regions, it permits automatic tracking of moving on-screen objects. Using existing SR technology, the system can also cross-project each participant’s eyetrack and mouse location onto the other’s on-screen work space. Keeping a complete record of eyetrack and on-screen events in the same format as subsequent human coding, the system permits the analysis of multiple modalities. The software offers new approaches to spontaneous multimodal communication: joint action and joint attention. These capacities are demonstrated using an experimental paradigm for cooperative on-screen assembly of a two-dimensional model. The software is available under an open source license.     

Assessing the practical differences between model selection methods in inferences about choice response time tasks

Psychonomic Bulletin & Review - Evidence accumulations models (EAMs) have become the dominant modeling framework within rapid decision-making, using choice response time distributions to make...     

Visual perspective taking in children: further ramifications of an information-processing model

Forty children between ages 6 and 8 were administered a set of spatial perspective tasks. On half of the items, children responded by rotating a duplicate of the target display; on the remainder, children reconstructed the displays to correspond to a perspective view. The displays differed as to whether they contained marked or unmarked objects. On the basis of an information-processing analysis of these tasks, we predicted that the response-type variables and stimulus variables would interact in known ways. Analysis of variance results revealed a good fit with the hypothesized outcomes. Main effects were detected for age, which favored older children, and for display, which favored unmarked objects; the rotation task proved easier. Significant interactions revealed that task demands increasing task difficulty were more problematic in the construction task than in the rotation task, as predicted.     

Movement-based compatibility in simple response tasks

Previous studies reported that movement observation affected movement execution. Using one and the same set of responses (i.e., lifting or tapping the finger), correspondence effects were observed for simple responses when the go-signals were similar to the responses (i.e., movies of finger movements) but not when they were dissimilar (i.e., moving squares). The difference was attributed to a higher degree of ideomotor compatibility with visible limb movements. We tried to provide further evidence for ideomotor theory by manipulating the degree to which different responses matched one and the same set of stimuli (drifting sine-wave gratings). To this end, we measured simple reaction time of dynamic (hand movements) or static (key presses) movements in response to the onset of object motion. Object motion and dynamic responses showed ideomotor compatibility without looking alike; however, both stimulus and response involved continuous displacements. Correspondence effects were observed for dynamic responses, but not for static responses.     

Effects of tasks on BOLD signal responses to sentence contrasts: Review and commentary

Functional neuroimaging studies of syntactic processing have been interpreted as identifying the neural locations of parsing and interpretive operations. However, current behavioral studies of sentence processing indicate that many operations occur simultaneously with parsing and interpretation. In this review, we point to issues that arise in discriminating the effects of these concurrent processes from those of the parser/interpreter in neural measures and to approaches that may help resolve them.     

Neurobiological correlates of cognitions in fear and anxiety: a cognitive-neurobiological information-processing model

We review likely neurobiological substrates of cognitions related to fear and anxiety. Cognitive processes are linked to abnormal early activity reflecting hypervigilance in subcortical networks involving the amygdala, hippocampus, and insular cortex, and later recruitment of cortical regulatory resources, including activation of the anterior cingulate cortex and prefrontal cortex to implement avoidant response strategies. Based on this evidence, we present a cognitive-neurobiological information-processing model of fear and anxiety, linking distinct brain structures to specific stages of information processing of perceived threat.     

Visual and tactile guidance of dexterous manipulation tasks: an fMRI study

Models of motor guidance that dynamically adjust to the availability and quality of sensory information are based on the observation that dexterous tasks are routinely performed using various combinations of visual and tactile inputs. However, a dynamic neural system that acquires and processes relevant visual and tactile information remains relatively uncharacterized in humans. In this study, whole-brain functional magnetic resonance images were acquired during a dexterous manipulation task, compression of the end caps of a slender spring prone to buckling, to investigate the neural systems associated with motor guidance under four visual and tactile guidance conditions: (1) eyes closed (no visual input), smooth end caps, (2) eyes dosed, rough end caps, (3) eyes open and watching hand, smooth end caps, and (4) eyes open and watching hand, rough end caps. Performance of the dexterous task remained constant in all conditions. Variations in the two levels of visual input resulted in modulation of activity in the middle and inferior occipital gyrii and inferior parietal lobule, and variation in the two levels of tactile input during the task resulted in modulation of activity in the precentral (primary motor) gyrus. Although significantly active in all conditions, cingulate gyrus, medial frontal gyrus, postcentral gyrus, and cerebellum activities were not modulated by levels of either visual or somatosensory input, and no interaction effects were observed. Together, these data indicate that a fine-tuned motor task guided by varying visual and tactile information engages a distributed and integrated neural complex consisting of control and executive functions and regions that process dynamic sensory information related to guidance functions.