Effects of visual attentional load on low-level auditory scene analysis

The sharing of processing resources between the senses was investigated by examining the effects of visual task load on auditory event-related brain potentials (ERPs). In Experiment 1, participants completed both a zero-back and a one-back visual task while a tone pattern or a harmonic series was presented. N1 and P2 waves were modulated by visual task difficulty, but neither mismatch negativity (MMN) elicited by deviant stimuli from the tone pattern nor object-related negativity (ORN) elicited by mistuning from the harmonic series was affected. In Experiment 2, participants responded to identity (what) or location (where) in vision, while ignoring sounds alternating in either pitch (what) or location (where). Auditory ERP modulations were consistent with task difficulty, rather than with task specificity. In Experiment 3, we investigated auditory ERP generation under conditions of no visual task. The results are discussed with respect to a distinction between process-general (N1 and P2) and processspecific (MMN and ORN) auditory ERPs.     

Catastrophe theory and its critics

Catastrophe theory has been sharply criticized because it does not seem to have practical applications nor does it seem to allow us to increase our power over Nature. I want to rehabilitate the theory by foregoing the controversy raised by scientists about its practical efficiency. After a short exposition of the theory's mathematical formalism and a detailed analysis of the main objections that have been raised against it, I argue that theory is not only to be judged on its practical results, which are in fact limited, but also on its epistemological and philosophical implications. Catastrophe theory indeed represents a real revolution in science: it announces the coming of a more theoretical, less practical, science, having more to do with understanding reality than with acting on it, and, from that point of view, it may be considered as the modern philosophy of Nature.     

Positive and negative instructions in symbolic paired comparisons with the months of the year

Summary We investigated the semantic interpretation of positive (MORE THAN) and negative (LESS THAN) instructions in a symbolic paired comparison task with an overlearned and finite series of stimuli. French-speaking subjects were asked to indicate which member of month pairs occurred PLUS TOT (earlier), PLUS TARD (later), MOINS TOT (less early), or MOINS TARD (less late) in the year. In Experiment 1, the sign of the comparative instruction (MORE vs. LESS) was kept constant, while its attribute (EARLY vs. LATE) varied. In Experiment 2, the attribute of the instruction was kept constant, while its sign varied. The main results indicate that (1) negative instructions (with adverb LESS) yielded longer response latencies than positive ones (with adverb MORE); this difference was particularly salient on the first experimental session but, on subsequent sessions, it was reduced in Experiment 1 and neutralized in Experiment 2; (2) a symbolic-distance effect was observed on response latency and response accuracy with the four forms of the comparative instruction; (3) violations of monotonicity were noted in the symbolic-distance effect when June was used as a reference month in the analysis; (4) the serial-position effect had the form of a double-bowed curve with three stable anchor points around January, June, and December; and (5) the pattern of semantic-congruity effect with negative instructions was the exact reversal of that obtained with positive instructions; that is, if the month pairs occurred early in the year, response latencies were shorter with the instruction less late than with less early, whereas if the month pairs occurred late in the year response latencies were shorter with instruction "less early than with less late. The theoretical implications of these results for Banks' Semantic-coding model and Holyoak's Reference-point model are discussed.     

Présentation

Sans résumé     

Intergroup contact buffers against the intergenerational transmission of authoritarianism and racial prejudice

The present study focused on the buffering role of positive intergroup contact in the intergenerational transmission of authoritarianism and racial prejudice in a sample of adolescents and one of their parents. In accordance with our expectations, adolescents’ intergroup contact experiences moderated the mediated relationships between parental authoritarianism and adolescents’ prejudice, both via adolescents’ authoritarianism and via parental prejudice. These relationships were stronger among adolescents with lower, rather than higher, levels of intergroup contact. We conclude that intergroup contact buffers the indirect relationship between parents’ authoritarianism and adolescents’ racial prejudice and therefore constitutes a promising means of reducing the intergenerational transmission of prejudice.     

Longitudinal intergroup contact effects on prejudice using self- and observer-reports

Longitudinal effects of intergroup contact on prejudice were investigated in a sample of 65 young adults (Sample 1) and a sample of their close friends (Sample 2, N= 172), adopting a full cross-lagged panel design. We first validated the self-report measure of intergroup contact from Sample 1 with observer ratings from Sample 2 by demonstrating that self-reports and observer ratings of contact were highly correlated. Moreover, we obtained significant cross-lagged effects of intergroup contact on prejudice with both contact measures, thereby providing a second validation for the use of self-reports of intergroup contact. Finally, by the use of latent change modelling, we demonstrated that, although no overall significant change in contact and prejudice over time was found, there was meaningful variation in absolute change in the individual levels of intergroup contact and prejudice. In particular, some individuals showed increases while others showed decreases in contact or prejudice across time. Moreover, higher levels of intergroup contact at Time 1 were followed by larger subsequent decreases in prejudice between Time 1 and Time 2, and changes in contact were significantly and negatively related to changes in prejudice. Methodological implications of the findings are discussed.     

Judgement of discrete and continuous quantity in adults: number counts!

Three experiments involving a Stroop-like paradigm were conducted. In Experiment 1, adults received a number comparison task in which large sets of dots, orthogonally varying along a discrete dimension (number of dots) and a continuous dimension (cumulative area), were presented. Incongruent trials were processed more slowly and with less accuracy than congruent trials, suggesting that continuous dimensions such as cumulative area are automatically processed and integrated during a discrete quantity judgement task. Experiment 2, in which adults were asked to perform area comparison on the same stimuli, revealed the reciprocal interference from number on the continuous quantity judgements. Experiment 3, in which participants received both the number and area comparison tasks, confirmed the results of Experiments 1 and 2. Contrasting with earlier statements, the results support the view that number acts as a more salient cue than continuous dimensions in adults. Furthermore, the individual predisposition to automatically access approximate number representations was found to correlate significantly with adults' exact arithmetical skills.     

Musicians experience less age-related decline in central auditory processing

Age-related decline in auditory perception reflects changes in the peripheral and central auditory systems. These age-related changes include a reduced ability to detect minute spectral and temporal details in an auditory signal, which contributes to a decreased ability to understand speech in noisy environments. Given that musical training in young adults has been shown to improve these auditory abilities, we investigated the possibility that musicians experience less age-related decline in auditory perception. To test this hypothesis we measured auditory processing abilities in lifelong musicians (N = 74) and nonmusicians (N = 89), aged between 18 and 91. Musicians demonstrated less age-related decline in some auditory tasks (i.e., gap detection and speech in noise), and had a lifelong advantage in others (i.e., mistuned harmonic detection). Importantly, the rate of age-related decline in hearing sensitivity, as measured by pure-tone thresholds, was similar between both groups, demonstrating that musicians experience less age-related decline in central auditory processing.     

Is Sexism a Gender Issue? A Motivated Social Cognition Perspective on Men's and Women's Sexist Attitudes Toward Own and Other Gender

The present research investigated the antecedents of ambivalent sexism (i.e., hostile and benevolent forms) in both men and women toward own and other gender. In two heterogeneous adult samples (Study 1: N = 179 and Study 2: N = 222), it was revealed that gender itself was only a minor predictor of sexist attitudes compared with the substantial impact of individual differences in general motivated cognition (i.e., need for closure). Analyses further showed that the relationship between need for closure and sexism was mediated by social attitudes (i.e., right‐wing authoritarianism and social dominance orientation), which were differently related to benevolent and hostile forms of sexism. In the discussion, it is argued that sexism primarily stems from individual differences in motivated cognitive style, which relates to peoples' perspective on the social world, rather than from group differences between men and women. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.