Automatic vigilance for task-related information: Perseverance after failure and inhibition after success

In three experiments, the influence of failure and success on persistent automatic vigilance task-related information was investigated. Participants first had to work on a series of synonym selection problems for which negative and positive feedback was given independently of their performance. In the second part of the experiments, words from the synonym selection problems were presented as distractors in a dual task with speeded responses. Interference effects of the distractors served as a measure of automatic vigilance for the previous synonym selection problems that was unbiased by strategic processes. Interference effects were stronger for words from failure tasks than for words from success tasks. Comparing the success and failure conditions against a neutral baseline suggested that this difference was due to both a perseverance of automatic vigilance for failure tasks and an inhibition of cognitive accessibility after success.     

The influence of an external symbol system on number parity representation, or What’s odd about 6?

The aim of this study was to investigate whether language-specific properties influence mental number processing. German Sign Language (DGS) numbers differ from those in spoken German not only in terms of modality but also in their basic language structure. A group of 20 congenitally deaf German signers participated in a number parity (odd/even) judgment task with DGS and printed German number words. The results indicated that two-handed DGS number signs are processed in a decomposed way. This language-specific effect also generalized to another linguistic number notation, German number words, but not to Arabic digit notation. These differences are discussed with respect to two possible routes to number parity.     

Memory for fact, fiction, and misinformation: the Iraq War 2003

Media coverage of the 2003 Iraq War frequently contained corrections and retractions of earlier information. For example, claims that Iraqi forces executed coalition prisoners of war after they surrendered were retracted the day after the claims were made. Similarly, tentative initial reports about the discovery of weapons of mass destruction were all later disconfirmed. We investigated the effects of these retractions and disconfirmations on people's memory for and beliefs about war-related events in two coalition countries (Australia and the United States) and one country that opposed the war (Germany). Participants were queried about (a) true events, (b) events initially presented as fact but subsequently retracted, and (c) fictional events. Participants in the United States did not show sensitivity to the correction of misinformation, whereas participants in Australia and Germany discounted corrected misinformation. Our results are consistent with previous findings in that the differences between samples reflect greater suspicion about the motives underlying the war among people in Australia and Germany than among people in the United States.     

Language effects in magnitude comparison: small, but not irrelevant

It is assumed that number magnitude comparison is performed by assessing magnitude representation on a single analog mental number line. However, we have observed a unit-decade-compatibility effect in German which is inconsistent with this assumption (Nuerk, Weger, & Willmes, 2001). Incompatible magnitude comparisons in which decade and unit comparisons lead to different responses (e.g., 37_52 for which 3<5, but 7>2) are slower and less accurately responded to than compatible trials in which decade and unit comparisons lead to the same response (e.g., 42_57, for which 4<5 and 2<7). As overall distance was held constant, a single holistic magnitude representation could not account for this compatibility effect. However, because of the inversion property of the corresponding German two-digit number words ("einundzwanzig" ), the language-generality of the effect is questionable. We have therefore examined the compatibility effect with native English speakers. We were able to replicate the compatibility effect using Arabic notation. Thus, the compatibility effect is not language-specific. However, in cross-linguistic analyses language-specific modulations were observed not only for number words but also for Arabic numbers. The constraints imposed on current models by the verbal mediation of Arabic number comparison are discussed.     

Evidence of separable spatial representations in a virtual navigation task

Three experiments investigated spatial orientation in a virtual navigation task. Subjects had to adjust a homing vector indicating their end position relative to the origin of the path. It was demonstrated that sparse visual flow was sufficient for accurate path integration. Moreover, subjects were found to prefer a distinct egocentric or allocentric reference frame to solve the task. "Turners" reacted as if they had taken on the new orientation during turns of the path by mentally rotating their sagittal axis (egocentric frame). "Nonturners," by contrast, tracked the new orientation without adopting it (allocentric frame). When instructed to use their nonpreferred reference frame, both groups displayed no decline in response accuracy relative to their preferred frame; even when presented with reaction formats based on either ego or allocentric coordinates, with format unpredictable on a trial, both groups responded highly accurately. These findings support the assumption of coexisting spatial representations during navigation.     

Binding and inhibition in working memory: individual and age differences in short-term recognition

Two studies investigated the relationship between working memory capacity (WMC), adult age, and the resolution of conflict between familiarity and recollection in short-term recognition tasks. Experiment 1 showed a specific deficit of young adults with low WMC in rejecting intrusion probes (i.e., highly familiar probes) in a modified Sternberg task, which was similar to the deficit found in old adults in a parallel experiment (K. Oberauer, 2001). Experiment 2 generalized these results to 3 recognition paradigms (modified Sternberg, local recognition, and n back tasks). Old adults showed disproportional performance deficits on intrusion probes only in terms of reaction times, whereas young adults with low WMC showed them only in terms of errors. The generality of the effect across paradigms is more compatible with a deficit in content-context bindings subserving recollection than with a deficit in inhibition of irrelevant information in working memory. Structural equation models showed that WMC is related to the efficiency of recollection but not of familiarity.     

Control of the contents of working memory--a comparison of two paradigms and two age groups

Two experiments investigated whether young and old adults can temporarily remove information from a capacity-limited central component of working memory (WM) into another component, the activated part of long-term memory (LTM). Experiment 1 used a modified Sternberg recognition task (S. Sternberg, 1969); Experiment 2 used an arithmetic memory-updating task. In both paradigms, participants memorized 2 lists, one of which was cued as temporarily irrelevant. Removal of the irrelevant list from capacity-limited WM was indexed by the disappearance of list-length effects of that list on latencies for concurrent processing tasks. Young adults could outsource the irrelevant list within 2-3 s and retrieve it back into the central part of WM later. Old adults showed the same flexibility in the arithmetic updating task but seemed somewhat less able or inclined to temporarily move information into the activated part of LTM in the modified Sternberg task.     

Thou Shalt not Lie! Exploring and testing countermeasures against faking intentions and faking in selection interviews

Many applicants use faking in interviews to present themselves more favorably than they really are. There is widespread concern that this may affect interview validity. As previous research on countermeasures is sparse, we conducted an exploratory study to identify the most promising countermeasures. For technology-mediated interviews, these were warnings referring to a criterion-based content analysis and lie detection algorithms focusing on nonverbal or paraverbal cues. For face-to-face interviews, these were objective questions and a personable interviewer. We then investigated the effects of these countermeasures on faking intentions in two experimental vignette studies and on faking in another simulated interview study. However, none of the countermeasures could reduce faking intentions or faking. Additionally, in the vignette studies, warnings impaired applicant reactions.