Focused attention improves working memory: implications for flexible-resource and discrete-capacity models

Performance in working memory (WM) tasks depends on the capacity for storing objects and on the allocation of attention to these objects. Here, we explored how capacity models need to be augmented to account for the benefit of focusing attention on the target of recall. Participants encoded six colored disks (Experiment 1) or a set of one to eight colored disks (Experiment 2) and were cued to recall the color of a target on a color wheel. In the no-delay condition, the recall-cue was presented after a 1,000-ms retention interval, and participants could report the retrieved color immediately. In the delay condition, the recall-cue was presented at the same time as in the no-delay condition, but the opportunity to report the color was delayed. During this delay, participants could focus attention exclusively on the target. Responses deviated less from the target’s color in the delay than in the no-delay condition. Mixture modeling assigned this benefit to a reduction in guessing (Experiments 1 and 2) and transposition errors (Experiment 2). We tested several computational models implementing flexible or discrete capacity allocation, aiming to explain both the effect of set size, reflecting the limited capacity of WM, and the effect of delay, reflecting the role of attention to WM representations. Both models fit the data better when a spatially graded source of transposition error is added to its assumptions. The benefits of focusing attention could be explained by allocating to this object a higher proportion of the capacity to represent color.     

Influence of judges' behaviors on perceived procedural justice

The influence of judges' behaviors on procedural justice was analyzed in a field study, observing the judges' behaviors during n = 129 trials and assessing the defendants and the audiences' justice perceptions. The observed judicial behavior was unrelated to the defendants' justice perceptions. However, the more respectful the judge treated the defendants, the fairer the audience perceived the trial. In general, the effect size of the relationship between observational measures and subjective justice ratings was small in comparison to the relationship within defendants' or audiences' ratings. There were striking differences in the justice perception between the two data sources, namely defendants and audience. Thus, the source matters, and to avoid a same‐source bias, should be taken into account when analyzing justice perceptions.     

From intrapsychic to ecological theories in social psychology: Outlines of a functional theory approach

Social psychology is facing a major developmental task, which is not primarily one of achieving larger data samples and stricter significance testing. What is needed, rather, is an improvement in logic of science and powerful theorizing. The starting point of this article is a critical appraisal that the intrapsychic concepts (motives, attitudes, and explicit and implicit goals) that are the major focus of social–psychological theories lack in explanatory power because they are too close to the effects (actions, judgments, and decisions) they are intended to explain. To overcome this apparent weakness (compared with neuroscience or genetics), it is proposed that more powerful theories should relate social cognition and behavior to more distant variables in the environment. A functional analysis reveals that intrapsychic processes are multiply predetermined by extrapsychic, environmental constraints. The theoretical value and fertility of the proposed ecological functionalism are illustrated with reference to three areas of empirical research: sampling approaches to understanding biases in judgment and decision making; strategic influences on priming effects within a functional analysis of adaptive behavior; and the impact of verbal and symbolic communication constraints on the construction of attributions, stereotypes, and culture. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effects and mechanisms of working memory training: a review

Can cognitive abilities such as reasoning be improved through working memory training? This question is still highly controversial, with prior studies providing contradictory findings. The lack of theory-driven, systematic approaches and (occasionally serious) methodological shortcomings complicates this debate even more. This review suggests two general mechanisms mediating transfer effects that are (or are not) observed after working memory training: enhanced working memory capacity, enabling people to hold more items in working memory than before training, or enhanced efficiency using the working memory capacity available (e.g., using chunking strategies to remember more items correctly). We then highlight multiple factors that could influence these mechanisms of transfer and thus the success of training interventions. These factors include (1) the nature of the training regime (i.e., intensity, duration, and adaptivity of the training tasks) and, with it, the magnitude of improvements during training, and (2) individual differences in age, cognitive abilities, biological factors, and motivational and personality factors. Finally, we summarize the findings revealed by existing training studies for each of these factors, and thereby present a roadmap for accumulating further empirical evidence regarding the efficacy of working memory training in a systematic way.     

Establishing the Cross-Situational Convergence of the Ability to Identify Criteria: Consistency and Prediction Across Similar and Dissimilar Assessment Center Exercises

In selection contexts, applicants’ ability to identify criteria (ATIC) refers to individual differences in the accuracy of perceptions with regard to what is required to be successful in evaluative situations. Despite promising findings regarding this construct, the cross-situational consistency necessary to infer that ATIC is a stable characteristic has generally been assessed in situations that have similar demands in terms of the competencies required for success. The purpose of this study was to provide a strong test of the theory underlying the construct by examining convergence in ATIC scores across assessment center (AC) exercises with very different demands. Participants (N?=?173) of a developmental AC completed 6 exercises and made ATIC judgments following the completion of each exercise. These judgments were used to create ATIC scores and to examine the consistency of these scores across exercises with similar and dissimilar demands. Results showed that ATIC scores converged across both similar and dissimilar exercises. Furthermore, participants who shifted their perceptions across dissimilar exercises the most were those who scored high in ATIC, whereas across similar exercises those who scored high in ATIC were those who evaluated the situations more similarly. Overall, ATIC demonstrated strong predictive ability, as it correlated with overall AC performance (r = .40) and predicted performance equally well across pairs of similar and dissimilar exercises.     

An intentional cohesion call in male chimpanzees of Budongo Forest

Animal Cognition - Many social animals travel in cohesive groups but some species, including chimpanzees, form flexible fission–fusion systems where individuals have some control over group...     

The development of a greeting signal in wild chimpanzees

Adult chimpanzees produce a unique vocal signal, the pant-grunt, when encountering higher-ranking group members. The behaviour is typically directed to a specific receiver and has thus been interpreted as a 'greeting' signal. The alpha male obtains a large share of these calls, followed by the other adult males of the group. In this study, we describe the development of pant-grunting behaviour from the first grunt-like calls of newborn babies to the fully developed pant-grunts in adults. Although babies produce grunts from very early on, they are not directed to others until about 2 months of age. Subsequently, socially directed grunting steadily increases in frequency to peak around 7 months of age, but then decreases again to reach a nadir in older infants and juveniles, while the specificity in use increases. During adolescence, grunt production increases again with grunts given most frequently to socially relevant individuals. As young chimpanzees are closely affiliated to their mothers for the first decade of their lives, we also compared the grunting patterns of mothers and their offspring, which revealed some influences in pant-grunt production. In conclusion, the acquisition of pant-grunting behaviour in chimpanzees is a long-lasting process with distinct developmental phases in which social influences by the mother and other group members are likely to play a role.     

Affective dimensions of odor perception: a comparison between Swiss, British, and Singaporean populations

Do affective responses to odors vary as a function of culture? To address this question, we developed two self-report scales in the United Kingdom (Liverpool: LEOS) and in Singapore (city of Singapore: SEOS), following the same procedure as used in the past to develop the Geneva Emotion and Odor Scale (GEOS: Chrea, Grandjean, Delplanque et al., 2009). The final scales were obtained by a three-step reduction of an initial pool of 480 affective terms, retaining only the most relevant terms to describe odor-related subjective affective states and comprised of six (GEOS) or seven affective dimensions (LEOS and SEOS). These included dimensions that were common to the three cultures (Disgust, Happiness Well-being, Sensuality Desire, and Energy), common to the two European samples (Soothing Peacefulness), and dimensions that were culture specific (Sensory Pleasure in Geneva; Nostalgia and Hunger Thirst in Liverpool; Intellectual Stimulation, Spirituality, and Negative Feelings in Singapore). A comparative approach showed that the dimensional organization of odor-related affective terms in a given culture better explained data variability for that culture than data variability for the other cultures, thus highlighting the importance of culture-specific tools in the investigation of odor-related affect.     

Affect bursts: dynamic patterns of facial expression

Affect bursts consist of spontaneous and short emotional expressions in which facial, vocal, and gestural components are highly synchronized. Although the vocal characteristics have been examined in several recent studies, the facial modality remains largely unexplored. This study investigated the facial correlates of affect bursts that expressed five different emotions: anger, fear, sadness, joy, and relief. Detailed analysis of 59 facial actions with the Facial Action Coding System revealed a reasonable degree of emotion differentiation for individual action units (AUs). However, less convergence was shown for specific AU combinations for a limited number of prototypes. Moreover, expression of facial actions peaked in a cumulative-sequential fashion with significant differences in their sequential appearance between emotions. When testing for the classification of facial expressions within a dimensional approach, facial actions differed significantly as a function of the valence and arousal level of the five emotions, thereby allowing further distinction between joy and relief. The findings cast doubt on the existence of fixed patterns of facial responses for each emotion, resulting in unique facial prototypes. Rather, the results suggest that each emotion can be portrayed by several different expressions that share multiple facial actions.