The role of regional heterogeneity in age-related differences in functional hemispheric asymmetry: an fMRI study

Neuroimaging literature has documented age-related hemispheric asymmetry reduction in frontal regions during task performances. As most studies employed working memory paradigms, it is therefore less clear if this pattern of neural reorganization is constrained by working memory processes or it would also emerge in other cognitive domains which are predominantly lateralized. Using blocked functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), the present study used a homophone judgment task and a line judgment task to investigate age-related differences in functional hemispheric asymmetry in language and visuospatial processing respectively. Young and older adults achieved similar task accuracy although older adults required a significantly longer time. Age-related functional hemispheric asymmetry reduction was found only in dorsal inferior frontal gyrus and was associated with better performance when the homophone condition was contrasted against fixation, and not line condition. Our data thus highlights the importance of considering regional heterogeneity of aging effects together with general age-related cognitive processes.     

Exaggeration is harder than understatement, but practice makes perfect!

Previous research on the fakeability of the Implicit Association Test (IAT) yielded inconsistent results. The present study simultaneously analyses several relevant factors: faking direction, type of instructions, and practice. Furthermore, it takes baseline individual differences into account. After a baseline assessment in a self-esteem IAT without faking instructions (t0), participants in the faking conditions then (t1) faked high or low scores without being provided with recommended strategies on how to do so (i.e., individual strategies). At t2 and t3, they were asked to fake the IAT after having received information on recommended faking strategies. At t4, faking direction was reversed. Without the recommended strategies, faking high scores was not possible, but faking low scores was. With the recommended strategies, participants needed additional practice to fake high scores. When faking directions were reversed, participants were successful without additional practice, suggesting a transfer in faking skills. In most of the faking attempts, faking success was moderated by individual differences in baseline implicit self-esteem. This suggests that the complex interplay of factors influencing faking success should be taken into account when considering the issue of fakeability of the IAT.     

Colour specificity in episodic and in perceptual object recognition with enhanced colour impact

In three experiments we investigated the perceptual specificity of explicit (old-new object recognition) and implicit memory (word-picture matching) for colour. In order to enhance the impact of colour on processing, we increased the number of colours per object and we impaired shape information. We presented multicoloured pictures (Experiment 1), blurred and partially occluded pictures (Experiment 2) and coloured line drawings in visual noise (Experiment 3). Experiments 1 and 2 had an intentional study phase; the study phase of Experiment 3 was an incidental colour or category naming task. Changing colour from study to test always had negative effects on episodic recognition although colour was irrelevant. In contrast, in the matching task old pictures were generally matched faster than new ones independent of their colour congruence. In Experiment 3, an additional small advantage of congruent colours and of semantic processing occurred. We conclude that two different memory representations contribute to these tasks. Changes of an achromatic, more abstract representation, that is used in normal object recognition, and a representation of the specific exemplar that includes colour. This latter token is used in episodic recognition as well as in unusual perceptual tasks (Experiment 3).     

Episodic autobiographical memory in depression: Specificity, autonoetic consciousness, and self-perspective

Autobiographical memory (AM) and the self are closely linked. AM retrieval in depression is characterized by a lack of specificity, suggesting an impairment of episodic AM. Autonoetic consciousness and self-perspective, which are critical to episodic AM, have never been addressed in depression. Twenty-one depressed inpatients and 21 matched controls were given an episodic AM task designed to assess positive and negative memories regarding specificity, autonoetic consciousness (remember/know procedure), and self-perspective (field/observer procedure). For specificity, "remember", and "field" responses, ANOVAs revealed a main group effect and a group x valence interaction. Between groups, patients showed lower scores than controls for positive memories. Within groups, patients showed greater scores for negative memories, and controls showed greater scores for positive memories. There is a global episodic AM impairment of positive memories in depression regarding specificity, autonoetic consciousness, and self-perspective. Our results suggest new cognitive interventions to improve the self-relevance of positive memories in depression.     

The Ebbinghaus illusion modulates visual search for size-defined targets: evidence for preattentive processing of apparent object size

Five search experiments investigated whether the apparent size of objects is, like their retinal size, coded in preattentive vision. Observers searched for a target circle that was either larger or smaller than distractor circles, with both types of test circles surrounded by context circles modulating apparent size (i.e., the Ebbinghaus illusion). The size ratio between the test and the context circles was manipulated in such a way that the test circles were surrounded by, for example, smaller context circles (making the larger target appear even larger) or by larger context circles (making the smaller distractors appear even smaller). Under optimal conditions, the detection reaction times were independent of the number of test circles in the display, and the Ebbinghaus illusion facilitated the detection of the target even in comparison with control conditions without any context circles. This finding is consistent with preattentive, spatially parallel processing of apparent size.     

Who Are the People Reluctant to Participate in Research? Personality Correlates of Four Different Types of Nonresponse as Inferred from Self‐ and Observer Ratings

This article outlines a typology of nonresponse biases that may occur in research based on voluntary participation and presents empirical evidence on the relationships between nonresponse and personality traits. We describe four different types of nonresponse occurring at the recruitment stage, during data collection, and at the stage of recruitment for further research. Personality correlates of all types of nonresponse were investigated using data from an online survey e-mailed to owners of personal Web sites, and observer ratings on the targets' personality were obtained. After reviewing the target persons' Web sites, observers judged complete nonrespondents as less agreeable and less open to experience than respondents. Furthermore, higher extraversion, higher openness to experience, and higher narcissism differentiated volunteers for follow-up research from nonvolunteers in both self- and observer ratings. We found only weak evidence of personality correlates of careless and selective item nonresponse. Findings show that nonresponse biases may have significant implications for representativeness in surveys and personality test norms.     

Destruktivität in Paarbeziehungen

Quarreling couples caught in destructive patterns of communication often cause difficult situations during couple therapy. Such communication patterns range from pure verbal humiliation and insults up to outbursts of violence. In order to remain capable of therapy, psychotherapists must know the underlying mechanisms that provoke and maintain the destructive viscious circles. Moreover, they must have at their disposal the required explanatory ideas and practical intervention strategies for de-escalation and interruption of these destructive patterns.     

Perceptual representation of visible surfaces

Two experiments are reported in which we examined the ability of observers to identify landmarks on surfaces from different vantage points. In Experiment 1, observers were asked to mark the local maxima and minima of surface depth, whereas in Experiment 2, they were asked to mark the ridges and valleys on a surface. In both experiments, the marked locations were consistent across different observers and remained reliably stable over different viewing directions. These findings indicate that randomly generated smooth surface patches contain perceptually salient landmarks that have a high degree of viewpoint invariance. Implications of these findings are considered for the recognition of smooth surface patches and for the depiction of such surfaces in line drawings.     

Estimating local shape from shading in the presence of global shading

In theory, global shading may help with the estimation of local surface structurefrom shading (e.g., in specifying the illuminant direction). Empirically, we do not know whether human observers combine the information given by the local and global shading to estimate local shape. Observers had to indicate the orientation of a local elongated perturbation with or without global shading information provided by a background surface. Our psychophysical results show the following:

1. Observers do not estimate the orientation of the local perturbation more accuratelywith global shading information than they do in the absence of such information.
2. Responses depend dramatically on the inclination between the illuminant direction and the viewing direction. For an inclination of 20°, observers indicate more or less the orientation of the local ridge; however, for an inclination of 40°, they indicate either the direction of the illuminant or an orientation close to the shadow edge of the perturbation. Most subjects show some combination of these behaviors. This behavior is not altered by global shading information.

We conclude that in our paradigm, global shading information does not aid the estimation of local shape.     

Analysis of haptic perception of materials by multidimensional scaling and physical measurements of roughness and compressibility

In this paper, results of a free sorting task of 124 different material samples are analysed using multidimensional scaling. The relevant number of dimensions for haptic perception of materials is estimated to be 4. In addition, the haptic material space is calibrated by means of physical measurements of compressibility and roughness. The relation between objective and perceived compressibility and that between objective and perceived roughness could be described by an exponential function.