The role of cross-modal associations in statistical learning

Our environment is richly structured, with objects producing correlated information within and across sensory modalities. A prominent challenge faced by our perceptual system is to learn such regularities. Here, we examined statistical learning and addressed learners’ ability to track transitional probabilities between elements in the auditory and visual modalities. Specifically, we investigated whether cross-modal information affects statistical learning within a single modality. Participants were familiarized with a statistically structured modality (e.g., either audition or vision) accompanied by different types of cues in a second modality (e.g., vision or audition). The results revealed that statistical learning within either modality is affected by cross-modal information, with learning being enhanced or reduced according to the type of cue provided in the second modality.     

Flexibility over automaticity: Separable representations for colours and words

This study demonstrates that associations between colour words and the colours they denote are not mandatory. Experiments 1–3 used a go/no-go task in which participants responded to one print colour and one word and withheld response from another print colour and another word. In Experiment 1, the content of the words denoted noncolour entities. In Experiment 2 the two words denoted two colours that were different from the target print colours. In Experiment 3, the words denoted the same colours as the target print colours but each response set included incompatible print colour and word (e.g., one response to the print colour blue and the word “green” and another response to the print colour green and the word “blue”). Participants performed equally well in all the experiments. Experiment 4a used Arabic digits and words denoting numbers, two formats that are known to have shared representations. Here, participants had difficulties separating their responses to the digits and words. These results suggest that representations of words are distinct from the content that they represent, supporting the existence of distinct verbal and colour modules.     

Plasticity during childhood and adolescence: innovative approaches to investigating neurocognitive development

Adolescence is a period of profound change, which holds substantial developmental milestones, but also unique challenges to the individual. In this opinion paper, we highlight the potential of combining two recently developed behavioural and neural training techniques (cognitive bias modification and functional magnetic neuroimaging‐based neurofeedback) into a research approach that could help make the most of increased levels of plasticity during childhood and adolescence. We discuss how this powerful combination could be used to explore changing brain–behaviour relationships throughout development in the context of emotion processing, a cognitive domain that exhibits continuous development throughout the second decade of life. By targeting both behaviour and brain response, we would also be in an excellent position to define sensible time windows for enhancing plasticity, thereby allowing for targeted intervention approaches that can help improve emotion processing in both typically and atypically developing populations.     

Feature importance in feature generation and typicality rating

Many theoretical models of cognition are based on the assumption that cognitive processes and representations are hierarchically structured. The issue of whether these hierarchies are mere constructs or conceptual tools, or whether they have psychological and neurological reality, is addressed. Theories across a range of cognitive domains are reviewed and four kinds of evidence are considered: behavioural, neuropsychological, ontogenetic, and logical. Logical constraints are identified in relation to operating principles of control, access, economy and analogy. The general characteristics of hierarchical structures and their advantages and disadvantages are discussed.     

Chronic psychological stress and the regulation of pro-inflammatory cytokines: a glucocorticoid-resistance model.

This study examined whether chronic stress impairs the immune system's capacity to respond to hormonal signals that terminate inflammation. Fifty healthy adults were studied; half were parents of cancer patients, and half were parents of healthy children. Parents of cancer patients reported more psychological distress than parents of healthy children. They also had flatter diurnal slopes of cortisol secretion, primarily because of reduced output during the morning hours. There was also evidence that chronic stress impaired the immune system's response to anti-inflammatory signals: The capacity of a synthetic glucocorticoid hormone to suppress in vitro production of the pro-inflammatory cytokine interleukin-6 was diminished among parents of cancer patients. Findings suggest a novel pathway by which chronic stress might alter the course of inflammatory disease.     

Implicit theories of relationships: Implications for relationship satisfaction and longevity

The role of implicit theories in romantic relationships was investigated in two studies. People holding a soulmate theory, who believed that finding the right person is most important for a satisfying relationship, were compared to people holding a work–it–out theory, who believed that effort is most important for building a successful relationship. In Study 1, college students (N = 527) completed a set of questionnaires, including measures of relationship theories and functioning within romantic relationships. Approximately 8 months later, a subset of these students (N = 176) completed a second set of questionnaires for Study 1. The implicit theories were highly stable over time (r = .74). For soulmate theorists, feelings that one’s specific partner is ideal predicted relationship satisfaction and relationship longevity to a greater extent than for work–it–out theorists. Whereas Study 1 investigated people’s theories of relationships as ends of a bipolar continuum, a separate study explored people’s theories of relationships as two unipolar dimensions. Findings from Study 2 (N = 266) supported a representation of the theories as two negatively correlated factors, and supported findings from Study 1 highlighting the role of the interaction between the relationship theories and partner fit in predicting relationship satisfaction.     

Conclusion: “Opening”

Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences -