The role of affordances in inhibition of return

Inhibition of return (IOR) is a response delay that occurs when the target is preceded by an irrelevant stimulus (cue) at the same location. IOR can be object based, as well as location based. The aim of the present study was to investigate the role of the pragmatic features of a visually presented object in causing IOR. Two experiments were carried out using different objects as stimuli, for which the graspable part (affordance) was clearly defined. The presentation of a whole object, with the part commonly used to grasp it located below, served as a cue. The presentation of either the graspable or the ungraspable part of the cued or uncued object served as the target Results showed that responses were slower when the graspable part was shown in the cued location than when the ungraspable part was shown in the same location. The effect was apparently linked to the kind of action necessary to grasp an object.     

Dissociating the influence of familiarity and meaningfulness from word frequency in naming and lexical decision performance

Performance in two experiments was compared on a list of words of high and low frequency in which familiarity/meaningfulness (FM) was balanced and on a list of high- and low-frequency words in which FM was confounded with frequency (i.e., high frequency--high familiarity vs. low frequency--low familiarity). Both repetition and task (lexical decision and naming) were investigated. In the lexical decision task of Experiment 1, both frequency and repetition effects were larger in the list with FM confounded than in the list with FM matched. In the naming task, frequency and repetition effects and their interaction were significant, but there was no influence of FM list context. In Experiment 2, in which the repetitions occurred across blocks, as opposed to randomly intermixed within a list, similar results were found; however, there was no interaction between list and repetition. The results suggest that an evaluation of items in terms of their meaning and familiarity explains a large part of the variance, only in lexical decision. These dimensions may be cued both by subjective feelings of familiarity and the extent to which semantic information is available and by episodic traces due to recent encounters with the item.     

Stereo motion transparency processing implements an ecological smoothness constraint

Transparent motion stimuli allow us to investigate how visual motion is processed in the presence of multiple sources of information. We used stereo random-dot kinematograms to determine how motion processing is affected by the difference in direction and depth of two overlapping motion components. Observers judged whether a noise dot display contained one or two directions of motion. For all disparity differences, performance did not change among angles greater than 60 degrees, but the ability to detect transparent motion fell dramatically as the direction difference decreased below 60 degrees. When a disparity difference was added between the two motion components, detection became easier. We compared these results to an ideal-observer model limited by stimulus uncertainty and low-level sources of internal noise. The resulting measure of efficiency--the ratio of human to model performance--reflects changes in how motion stimuli are being processed. A decrease of both the direction and disparity differences had the effect of decreasing efficiency. These results suggest that the mechanism processing transparent motion may implement a smoothness constraint that tends to combine similar motions into a single percept.     

When similarity breeds content: need for closure and the allure of homogeneous and self-resembling groups

Four studies explored the relation between members' need for cognitive closure and their feelings toward groups. It was found that high (vs. low) need for closure individuals liked in-groups and out-groups more as function of the degree to which their membership was perceived as homogeneous (Studies 1-4), provided it was also self-similar (Studies 3 and 4). These results are discussed in terms of the relation between need for closure and homogeneous (vs. heterogeneous) groups' apparent potential as "closure providers."     

Multinational data show that conspiracy beliefs are associated with the perception (and reality) of poor national economic performance

While a great deal is known about the individual difference factors associated with conspiracy beliefs, much less is known about the country-level factors that shape people's willingness to believe conspiracy theories. In the current article we discuss the possibility that willingness to believe conspiracy theories might be shaped by the perception (and reality) of poor economic performance at the national level. To test this notion, we surveyed 6723 participants from 36 countries. In line with predictions, propensity to believe conspiracy theories was negatively associated with perceptions of current and future national economic vitality. Furthermore, countries with higher GDP per capita tended to have lower belief in conspiracy theories. The data suggest that conspiracy beliefs are not just caused by intrapsychic factors but are also shaped by difficult economic circumstances for which distrust might have a rational basis.     

Forgiveness,its factors,and unforgivable acts in romantic relationships: A mixed-methods study

Using a mixed-methods approach, this study investigates forgiveness, the factors of forgiveness, and unforgivable acts, and analyzes relational and gender differences in participants' qualitative answers. Open-ended questions were answered by 649 participants from Slovakia (532 dating, 117 married; 517 women, 132 men). Responses were analyzed qualitatively using the Consensual Qualitative Research-Modified method, then transformed into quantitative data in order to statistically compare the groups. The results showed that dating individuals tended to see forgiveness as working on the relationship, whereas married individuals viewed forgiveness as an emotional process. Married individuals were more likely to report that shared commitments helped them to forgive. Dating partners tended to look at the situational context. Men were more likely to report that forgiveness was key to the relationship. When forgiving their partner, men focused on internal factors, whereas women needed an apology and acts of love. Infidelity was the most common unforgivable transgression. Therapists may benefit from a more nuanced understanding of forgiveness in dating and married individuals.     

Inhibitory and facilitatory effects of cue onset and offset

The response speed to a visual target is modulated by the position of previous events (cues) even if their position is not predictive of the target position. The modulation has been considered biphasic, with an early facilitatory and a later inhibitory component. We conducted three experiments that investigated the importance of the onset and offset features of the cue for the facilitatory and inhibitory effects and estimated their separate and joint effects. The two possible target locations, one in the right and one in the left visual field, were indicated by two empty boxes, and the cue consisted of the onset and/or offset of an arrowhead located just under one of the two boxes. Different time intervals were used between cue and target. Subjects were instructed to ignore the cue and to respond to the target (a cross inside one of the two boxes). The data showed only consistent effects of inhibition (inhibition of return) with the long intervals, but the pattern was different depending on the cue type. The amount of inhibition was much greater when the onset of the cue was followed by its offset. Apparently, inhibition of return depended on the dynamic changes of the cue. Received: 23 October 1996 / Accepted: 3 June 1997     

The relationship between central cues and peripheral cues in covert visual orientation

Four experiments were conducted to compare valid and invalid cue conditions for peripheral and central cues. Experiments 1, 3, and 4 used reaction time (RT) as the dependent variable. Experiment 2 used a threshold measure. Peripheral and central cues were presented on each trial. The peripheral cue was uninformative in all experiments. The central cue was informative in Experiments 1 and 2, where it predicted stimulus side on 70% of the trials. Experiment 3 included 50% and 100% central-cue prediction conditions as well as the 70% treatment. Experiment 4 included 60%, 75%, and 90% central-cue prediction conditions. The effects of the central and peripheral cues were independent and additive in all four experiments, indicating that: (1) both cue types can act simultaneously, and that the relationship between them is additive under the conditions used in these experiments, (2) informativeness is not a necessary condition for attentional effects with peripheral cues, and (3) covert visual orientation influences sensory thresholds and RT in similar ways. The results of Experiments 3 and 4 demonstrated that the facilitation associated with peripheral cues was insensitive to manipulations which demonstrate that subjects use the informational value of the central cue to direct voluntary attention. The results are discussed with reference to two issues; first, the proposition that central and peripheral cues exert their influence on performance in independent information-processing stages, following the additive factor method, and, second, the problems raised for additive factors method when cues elicit both an “explicit” response—regarding the presence or absence of a specified letter—and an “implicit response”—involving the planning and possible execution of eye and hand movements.     

Challenging Discourse Themes Reproducing Gender in Heterosexual Dating: An Analog Study

Societal discourses tied to gender play apowerful role in shaping ideas and views about normalsexual experience. This study investigated whether“male sexual drive” discourse themes inheterosexual dating could be reproduced in a laboratorysetting, and whether these themes could be disrupted bymeans of a laboratory intervention. Young, single,heterosexual adults, most of whom were Caucasian and middle class, role played a series of datingscenarios. In half of the 37 dyads, male participantswere instructed to initiate a first date and then latergreater sexual intimacy, to which their female partners were instructed to say they were notready (the condition designed to reproduce dominantdiscourse themes). In the other half, the instructionsfor the male and female partners were reversed (the condition designed to change or disruptdominant discourse themes). Analysis of the role-playeddialogues indicated that dominant discourse themesassociated with the male sexual drive discourse wereprevalent in both experimental conditions. Ways ofbroadening our understanding of how gender processes arereproduced and disrupted are discussed in the context ofheterosexual dating relationships.