Maintenance of semantic information in capacity-limited item short-term memory

We report a semantic effect in immediate free recall, which is localized at recency and is preserved under articulatory suppression but is highly reduced when recall is delayed after an intervening distractor task. These results are explained by a neurocomputational model based on a limited-capacity short-term memory (STM) store, consisting ofactivated long-term memory representations. The model makes additional predictions about serial position functions in semantically cued recall, indicating capacity limitations caused by a displacement type mechanism, which are confirmed in a second experiment. This suggests that in addition to the phonological component in verbal STM, there is an activation/ item-limited component with semantically sensitive representations.     

A Neural Network Model for Attribute-Based Decision Processes

We propose a neural model of multiattribute-decision processes, based on an attractor neural network with dynamic thresholds. The model may be viewed as a generalization of the elimination by aspects model, whereby simultaneous selection of several aspects is allowed. Depending on the amount of synaptic inhibition, various kinds of scanning strategies may be performed, leading in some cases to vacillations among the alternatives. The model predicts that decisions of a longer time duration exhibit a lower violation of the simple scalability law, as opposed to shorter decisions. Furthermore, the model is suggested as a general attribute-based decision module. Accordingly, various decision strategies are manifested depending on the module's parameters.     

Differential development of selectivity for faces and bodies in the fusiform gyrus

Viewing faces or bodies activates category‐selective areas of visual cortex, including the fusiform face area (FFA), fusiform body area (FBA), and extrastriate body area (EBA). Here, using fMRI, we investigate the development of these areas, focusing on the right FFA and FBA. Despite the overlap of functionally defined FFA and FBA (54%–75% overlap), we found that these regions developed along different trajectories. With age (7–32 years old), the FFA gradually increased in size and selectivity, and was significantly larger and more face‐selective in adults than children. By contrast, the size and selectivity of the FBA did not correlate with age, and were equivalent in children and adults. Whereas in adults the FFA and FBA were comparable in size, in children the FBA was on average 70% larger than the FFA. These findings suggest that, in children, the fusiform gyrus is predominantly selective for bodies, with commensurate face‐selective responses apparent later in development. Moreover, differences in the development of the FFA and FBA indicate that overlapping functional brain areas, supported by the same anatomical structure, can develop along different trajectories.     

Privileged detection of conspecifics: Evidence from inversion effects during continuous flash suppression

The rapid visual detection of other people in our environment is an important first step in social cognition. Here we provide evidence for selective sensitivity of the human visual system to upright depictions of conspecifics. In a series of seven experiments, we assessed the impact of stimulus inversion on the detection of person silhouettes, headless bodies, faces and other objects from a wide range of animate and inanimate control categories. We used continuous flash suppression (CFS), a variant of binocular rivalry, to render stimuli invisible at the beginning of each trial and measured the time upright and inverted stimuli needed to overcome such interocular suppression. Inversion strongly interfered with access to awareness for human faces, headless human bodies, person silhouettes, and even highly variable body postures, while suppression durations for control objects were not (inanimate objects) or only mildly (animal faces and bodies) affected by inversion. Furthermore, inversion effects were eliminated when the normal body configuration was distorted. The absence of strong inversion effects in a binocular control condition not involving interocular suppression suggests that non-conscious mechanisms mediated the effect of inversion on body and face detection during CFS. These results indicate that perceptual mechanisms that govern access to visual awareness are highly sensitive to the presence of conspecifics.     

Self-prioritization and perceptual matching: The effects of temporal construal

Recent research has revealed that self-referential processing enhances perceptual judgments — the so-called self-prioritization effect. The extent and origin of this effect remains unknown, however. Noting the multifaceted nature of the self, here we hypothesized that temporal influences on self-construal (i.e., past/future-self continuity) may serve as an important determinant of stimulus prioritization. Specifically, as representations of the self increase in abstraction as a function of temporal distance (i.e., distance from now), self-prioritization may only emerge when stimuli are associated with the current self. The results of three experiments supported this prediction. Self-relevance only enhanced performance in a standard perceptual-matching task when stimuli (i.e., geometric shapes) were connected with the current self; representations of the self in the future (Expts. 1 & 2) and past (Expt. 3) failed to facilitate decision making. To identify the processes underlying task performance, data were interrogated using a hierarchical drift diffusion model (HDDM) approach. Results of these analyses revealed that self-prioritization was underpinned by a stimulus bias (i.e., rate of information uptake). Collectively, these findings elucidate when and how self-relevance influences decisional processing.     

Better explaining the benefits why AI? Analyzing the impact of explaining the benefits of AI-supported selection on applicant responses

Despite the increasing popularity of AI-supported selection tools, knowledge about the actions that can be taken by organizations to increase AI acceptance is still in its infancy, even though multiple studies point out that applicants react negatively to the implementation of AI-supported selection tools. Therefore, this study investigates ways to alter applicant reactions to AI-supported selection. Using a scenario-based between-subject design with participants from the working population (N = 200), we varied the information provided by the organization about the reasons for using an AI-supported selection process (no additional information vs. written information vs. video information) in comparison to a human selection process. Results show that the use of AI without information and with written information decreased perceived fairness, personableness perception, and increased emotional creepiness. In turn, perceived fairness, personableness perceptions, and emotional creepiness mediated the association between an AI-supported selection process, organizational attractiveness, and the intention to further proceed with the selection process. Moreover, results did not differ for applicants who were provided video explanations of the benefits of AI-supported selection tools and those who participated in an actual human selection process. Important implications for research and practice are discussed.