Recognizing the component tones of a major chord.

Listeners judged whether a target tone was contained within a previously or subsequently presented major chord, and targets consisted of either the root, third, fifth, or tritone of the scale based on the root of the chords. Chord position influenced the relative recognition of targets, but listeners exhibited greater recognition of the fifth regardless of chord position (root, first inversion, second inversion). The data were not consistent with notions of root tracking or melody tracking. The data were broadly consistent with the notion that different chord positions may be harmonically equivalent (i.e., that listeners may recognize components of a chord regardless of chord position), with notions of analytic set and the importance of an instantiation of musical context for chord processing, and with the importance of the fifth in harmonic progression.     

Launching, Entraining, and Representational Momentum: Evidence Consistent with an Impetus Heuristic in Perception of Causality

Displacements in the remembered location of stimuli in displays based on Michotte’s (1946/1963) launching effect and entraining effect were examined. A moving object contacted an initially stationary target, and the target began moving. After contacting the target, the mover became stationary (launching trials) or continued moving in the same direction and remained adjacent to the target (entraining trials). In launching trials, forward displacement was smaller for targets than for movers; in entraining trials, forward displacement was smaller for movers than for targets. Also, forward displacement was smaller for targets in launching trials than for targets in entraining trials. Data are consistent with a hypothesis that the launching effect involves an attribution that the mover imparted to the target a dissipating impetus that was responsible for target motion. Introspective experience of a perception of physical causality in the launching effect might result because behavior of movers and targets is consistent with that predicted by an impetus heuristic.     

Representations in working memory yield interference effects found with externally-triggered representations

An act as simple as flicking a switch involves various stages of processing. Each stage is susceptible to interference from competing representations/processes. Interference at different stages of processing (e.g., perceptual stages versus response selection stages) leads to distinct behavioral, neural, and subjective effects. In the flanker task, for instance, one responds to a visual target and disregards flanking ‘distractors.’ Theoretically-predicted interference (increased response times, error rates, and subjective ‘urges to err’) is stronger when distractors and targets are associated with different actions (response interference) than when they look different but are associated with the same action (perceptual interference). Extant versions of the task tax working memory (WM) minimally, but many everyday actions (e.g., searching for keys or holding one's breath) require more WM-based control. To illuminate this uncharted area, we examined the nature of interference in delayed action tasks, which rely on WM. We found that systematic interference arises even when action-related representations are, not triggered solely by external stimuli, but actively held in WM. We discuss these findings with increased emphasis on the under-explored subjective effects of different kinds of interference. The implications of these findings for the study of action production, WM, and conscious processing are entertained.     

Forms of momentum across space: Representational,operational, and attentional

Cognition can exhibit biases consistent with future expectations, and some of these biases result in momentum-like effects and have been linked with the idea of an internalization of the effects of momentum. These momentum-like effects include representational momentum, operational momentum, and attentional momentum. Similarities and differences between these different momentum-like effects are considered. Hubbard’s (2005) review of representational momentum is updated to include studies published since that review appeared, and the first full reviews of operational momentum and attentional momentum are provided. It is suggested that (1) many variables that influence one of these momentum-like effects have a similar influence on another momentum-like effect, (2) representational momentum, operational momentum, and attentional momentum reflect similar or overlapping mechanisms, and operational momentum and attentional momentum are special cases of representational momentum, and (3) representational momentum, operational momentum, and attentional momentum reflect properties of a more general spatial representation in which change or transformation of a stimulus is mapped onto motion in a spatial coordinate system.     

The cross-activation theory at 10

In 2001, Ramachandran and Hubbard introduced the cross-activation model of grapheme-colour synaesthesia. On the occasion of its 10-year anniversary, we review the evidence from experiments that have been conducted to test the model to assess how it has fared. We examine data from behavioural, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), anatomical studies (diffusion tensor imaging and voxel-based morphometry), and electroencephalography (EEG) and magnetoencephalography (MEG) studies of grapheme-colour synaesthesia. Although much of this evidence has supported the basic cross-activation hypothesis, our growing knowledge of the neural basis of synaesthesia, grapheme, and colour processing has necessitated two specific updates and modifications to the basic model: (1) our original model assumed that binding and parietal cortex functions were normal in synaesthesia; we now recognize that parietal cortex plays a key role in synaesthetic binding, as part of a two-stage model. (2) Based on MEG data we have recently collected demonstrating that synaesthetic responses begin within 140 ms of stimulus presentation, and an updated understanding of the neural mechanisms of reading as hierarchical feature extraction, we present a revised and updated version of the cross-activation model, the cascaded cross-tuning model. We then summarize data demonstrating that the cross-activation model may be extended to account for other forms of synaesthesia and discuss open questions about how learning, development, and cortical plasticity interact with genetic factors to lead to the full range of synaesthetic experiences. Finally, we outline a number of future directions needed to further test the cross-activation theory and to compare it with alternative theories.     

Effects of spatial cuing on the onset repulsion effect

Effects of cuing the onset (initial) location of a moving target on memory for the onset location of that target were examined. If a cue presented prior to target onset indicated the location where that target would appear, the onset repulsion effect (in which the judged initial location of the target was displaced in the direction opposite to target motion) was decreased, and the onset repulsion effect was smaller if the cue was valid than if the cue was invalid. If a cue presented during target motion or after the target vanished indicated the location where that target had appeared, the onset repulsion effect was eliminated. The data (1) suggest that positional uncertainty might contribute to the onset repulsion effect, (2) provide the first evidence of an effect of expectancy regarding target trajectory on the onset repulsion effect, and (3) are partially consistent with previous data involving effects of attention and spatial cuing on the Fröhlich effect and on representational momentum.     

Effects of Touch on Gratuities Received in Same‐Gender and Cross‐Gender Dyads1

This study examined whether or not a nonreciprocal brief shoulder touch would increase gratuities received by servers. Data from 400 patrons were collected by 4 servers who enacted the touch manipulation while working in 2 separate eating establishments. The findings revealed that servers who touched their patrons did receive larger gratuities than servers who did not touch their patrons. Further, in one setting, servers received larger tips from patrons who were of the opposite gender than from patrons who were of the same gender. These results support the ubiquitous influence of a fleeting touch on gratuities, and the possibility that, in certain situations, touch may be more advantageous when done by members of the opposite gender.     

Naïve impetus and Michotte's "tool effect": evidence from representational momentum

Displacement in the remembered position of targets in displays based on Michotte's (1951/1991) tool effect paradigm was examined. Targets in tool effect displays exhibited less forward displacement than did otherwise identical targets presented in isolation; the decrease in forward displacement was not dependent upon the motion of a visible intermediary, but was dependent upon a visible intermediary contacting both the launcher and the target. The data were consistent with na?ve impetus theory and the hypothesis that decreases in forward displacement of targets in tool effect displays resulted from the intermediary transferring perceived impetus of the launcher to the target and a dissipation of that impetus with subsequent target motion. Possible connections between displacement, impetus, and the perception of causality are discussed.     

Self-other agreement in personality and affectivity: the role of acquaintanceship, trait visibility, and assumed similarity

Self- and other-ratings on the Big Five and a comprehensive inventory of trait affect were obtained from 74 married couples, 136 dating couples, and 279 friendship dyads. With the exception of Surprise, all scales showed significant self-other agreement in all 3 samples, thereby establishing their convergent validity. Consistent with the trait visibility effect, however, the Big Five consistently yielded higher agreement correlations than did the affectivity scales. Conversely, the affective traits consistently showed stronger evidence of assumed similarity (i.e., the tendency for judges to rate others as similar to themselves) than did the Big Five. Cross-sample comparisons indicated that agreement was significantly higher in the married sample than in the other 2 groups; however, analyses of 3 potential moderators in the dating and friendship samples failed to identify the source of this acquaintanceship effect.