Source memory for unrecognized items: Predictions from multivariate signal detection theory

We report three experiments investigating source memory for words that were called "new" on a recognition test. In each experiment, participants could accurately specify the source of words that they failed to recognize. Results also demonstrated that source memory for unrecognized items varied with the bias to respond "old" in recognition decisions: Participants displayed unrecognized source memory when they were told that 25% of the recognition test words were old (promoting conservative responding) but not when they were told that 75% of the test words were old (promoting liberal responding). Our results were successfully predicted by a multivariate signal detection approach to recognition/source memory.     

Healthy cognition: processes of self-regulatory success in restrained eating

Two studies examined self-regulatory success in dieting. Previous research has indicated that restrained eaters (i.e., chronic dieters) might fail in their attempts at weight control because the perception of attractive food cues triggers hedonic thoughts about food and inhibits their dieting goal. However, recent work suggests that in some dieters, temptation cues activate the relevant goal and thus facilitate self-regulation. The present work extends these findings by showing that self-regulatory success moderates the effect of food cues on restrained eaters such that food cues activate the dieting goal in successful restrained eaters and inhibit the dieting goal in unsuccessful restrained eaters. The specific time course of these effects was examined. Moreover, a correlational study revealed that only successful restrained eaters translate their dieting intentions into action. Results are discussed in the context of nonconscious self-regulation and the role of automatic processes in the link between intention and behavior.     

Habit formation and multiple means to goal attainment: repeated retrieval of target means causes inhibited access to competitors

Three studies examined the cognitive processes underlying the formation of goal-directed habits in a multiple means context. Repeated retrieval of target means upon goal activation was expected to result in inhibition of competing means for the same goal. In all studies, participants studied goal-means combinations and subsequently practiced the retrieval of certain means to attain the goals in a retrieval paradigm. Study 1 tested accessibility of the different means in a goal-means verification task and showed that competing means were not inhibited after a single retrieval but only upon repeated retrieval (three or nine times). Studies 2 and 3 extended these findings in a means-recognition task and demonstrated that inhibition occurred in the absence of explicit intent or instructions to suppress the competitors. These inhibitory effects of competing means are discussed against the background of current social cognition research on the processes underlying goal-means networks and the formation of habits.     

Benefits of Incubation on Divergent Thinking

Studies on whether fixation cues provided in the first episode of divergent thinking tasks influence creative outcomes after incubation, as they do for convergent problem-solving tasks, remain limited. This research examined the beneficial effects of incubation using the delayed- and immediate-incubation paradigms. Participants in Experiment 1 were either provided or not provided fixation cues during the first episode of a new type of divergent-thinking task, similar to creating titles in plot stories. The results indicated that fixation cues moderated people’s creative outcomes after incubation. Going through incubation did not improve the participants’ creativity in the second episode for strong fixation cues. By contrast, an incubation period led to the generation of more divergent items in the second episode compared to the first episode for less strong fixation cues, and this led to the performance matching the condition without fixation cues. The results from Experiment 2 suggested that immediate incubation downsized the influence of fixation cues. Therefore, if people want to promote their creativity through a period of incubation, the outcomes may still depend on the conditions of environments in which the creative works are executed.     

The silence of the library: environment,situational norm,and social behavior

On the basis of the idea that situational norms are mentally represented as associations between environments and normative behavior, it was proposed that an environment can automatically direct normative behavior. More specifically, when situational norms are well-established (e.g., when entering the library, one should be silent), an environment is capable of automatically activating mental representations of normative behavior and the behavior itself. In these experiments, participants were exposed to pictures of environments, and effects on accessibility of representations of normative behavior and on actual behavior were assessed. Results indicated that representations of behavior and actual behavior itself are activated automatically when (a) goals to visit the environment are active and (b) strong associations between environment and normative behavior are established.     

On wildebeests and humans: the preferential detection of negative stimuli

On the basis of a functional perspective, we hypothesized that negative stimuli are detected faster than positive stimuli. In Experiment 1, participants were subliminally presented with positive and negative words or with no words at all. After each presentation, participants were asked whether they had seen a word. They detected negative words more accurately than positive words. In Experiment 2, participants were subliminally presented with negative or positive words. After each presentation, they were asked whether the presented word was positive or negative. Negative words were correctly categorized more often than positive words. Experiment 3 showed that although participants correctly categorized negative words more often than positive words, they could not guess the meaning of the words better than would be expected by chance. The results are discussed against the background of recent findings on basic affective processes.     

Smells like clean spirit. Nonconscious effects of scent on cognition and behavior

Three studies explored whether odor can influence people's cognition and behavior without their being consciously aware of the influence. In two studies, we tested and confirmed that when participants were unobtrusively exposed to citrus-scented all-purpose cleaner, the mental accessibility of the behavior concept of cleaning was enhanced, as was indicated by faster identification of cleaning-related words in a lexical decision task and higher frequency of listing cleaning-related activities when describing expected behavior during the day. Finally, a third study established that the mere exposure to the scent of all-purpose cleaner caused participants to keep their direct environment more clean during an eating task. Awareness checks showed that participants were unaware of this influence. The present studies reveal the nonconscious influence that olfactory cues can have on thinking and doing.