The focus of attention in working memory: Evidence from a word updating task

Three experiments examined the cognitive costs of item switching within working memory with a novel word updating task, thereby extending previous research to the field of linguistic stimuli and linguistic-graphemic updating operations. In Experiments 1 and 2 costs for switching between working memory items were evident on the word level, and they increased with an increasing word set size (Experiment 2). In contrast, a surprisingly similar switch effect on the level of letters was not affected by word set size (Experiment 2). Experiment 3 showed that this effect is not simply based on the need for re-orienting visual spatial attention. To account for the overall picture of results, a recursive model of attentional foci is proposed. Moreover, individual working memory span appears to be associated with the accuracy of item switching, but not with its speed.     

A crossed random effects diffusion model for speeded semantic categorization decisions

Choice reaction times (RTs) are often used as a proxy measure of typicality in semantic categorization studies. However, other item properties have been linked to choice RTs as well. We apply a tailored process model of choice RT to a speeded semantic categorization task in order to deconfound different sources of variability in RT. Our model is based on a diffusion model of choice RT, extended to include crossed random effects (of items and participants). This model retains the interesting process interpretation of the diffusion model’s parameters, but it can be applied to choice RTs even in the case where there are few or no repeated measurements of each participant-item combination. Different aspects of the response process are then linked to different types of item properties. A typicality measure turns out to predict the rate of information uptake, while a lexicographic measure predicts the stimulus encoding time. Accessibility measures cannot reliably predict any component of the decision process.     

Patterns of situational appraisal in experiences of worry and anxiety

Abstract

Three studies investigating differences in people's appraisals of worry and anxiety situations are presented. First, data from a study by Reisenzein & Spielhofer (1994) were reanalyzed. Second, two further studies were conducted to replicate the findings of the reanalysis and to explore whether any additional appraisal dimensions were relevant for a differentiation of worry and anxiety situations. In sum, results showed that appraisals associated with situations in which worry and anxiety were experienced differed on eight appraisal dimensions. Compared to experiences of anxiety, experiences of worry were more often associated with positive self-evaluation, positive social-relationship evaluation, feelings of closeness, and sentiments of importance, and less often associated with feelings of inferiority. Moreover, in worry experiences, focus was often not on the self, but on other persons. Finally, with respect to temporal dimensions, worry situations were less often associated with notions of suddenness and momentariness than anxiety situations. Implications of these findings are discussed with respect to models of emotional appraisal and research on worry and generalized anxiety disorder.     

Dissociation of facial attractiveness and distinctiveness processing in congenital prosopagnosia

According to the influential model of Bruce and Young (1986) socially relevant facial information is processed separately from facial information leading to individual face recognition. In recent years functional imaging has identified a network of distinct occipitotemporal cortex areas for the processing of these two kinds of information. Functionally it is not clear at which processing level the “social” and the “recognition” pathways diverge. The study of subjects with a profound face recognition and learning deficit (congenital prosopagnosia—cPA) promises for a better understanding of this issue. We therefore tested the perception of attractiveness (a cue of prime social importance) and distinctiveness (a facial feature related to recognition) in 14 people with cPA. Although attractiveness ratings were highly consistent with controls, cPA subjects' distinctiveness ratings showed random patterns. This dissociation of normal attractiveness processing and impaired distinctiveness processing in cPA helps to specifies the nature of the impairment in this condition while shedding light on the functional architecture of normal face processing.     

Raptus mit amts?rztlicher Einweisung bei Sinusvenenthrombose

Der 51-j?hrige Patient, russischsprachig, mit geringen englischen Sprachkenntnissen, Mitglied einer ukrainischen Reisegruppe, wird in den Morgenstunden an unserer Abteilung vorgestellt. Er kommt mit der Rettung in Begleitung von sechs Polizisten und ebenfalls nur russischsprachigen Angeh?rigen, er ist an H?nden und Fü?en geschlossen.     

The neural correlates of reward-related trial-and-error learning: an fMRI study with a probabilistic learning task

This fMRI study investigated the neural correlates of reward-related trial-and-error learning in association with changing degrees of stimulus-outcome predictabilities. We found that decreasing predictability was associated with increasing activation in a frontoparietal network. Only maximum predictability was associated with signal decreases across the learning process. The receipt of monetary reward revealed activation in the striatum and associated frontoparietal regions. Present data indicate that during reward-related learning, high uncertainty forces areas relevant for cognitive control to remain activated. In contrast, learning on the basis of predictable stimulus-outcome associations enables the brain to reduce resources in association with the processes of prediction.