Response specific temporal expectancy: Evidence from a variable foreperiod paradigm

When a stimulus-response event is frequently paired with a specific foreperiod, response performance for this event is improved after this foreperiod. This phenomenon is referred to as specific temporal expectancy. In four experiments, we investigated whether stimulus- or response-related processing benefits from specific temporal expectancy. In a speeded choice reaction task, different features of the imperative stimuli were frequently paired with foreperiods in such a way that only in some experiments were the responses also frequently paired with foreperiods. Participants revealed evidence for specific temporal expectancy when responses were frequently paired with foreperiods, but not when only the stimuli were frequently paired with foreperiods. We concluded that specific temporal expectancy affects response-related processing.     

Augmented visual, auditory, haptic, and multimodal feedback in motor learning: A review

It is generally accepted that augmented feedback, provided by a human expert or a technical display, effectively enhances motor learning. However, discussion of the way to most effectively provide augmented feedback has been controversial. Related studies have focused primarily on simple or artificial tasks enhanced by visual feedback. Recently, technical advances have made it possible also to investigate more complex, realistic motor tasks and to implement not only visual, but also auditory, haptic, or multimodal augmented feedback. The aim of this review is to address the potential of augmented unimodal and multimodal feedback in the framework of motor learning theories. The review addresses the reasons for the different impacts of feedback strategies within or between the visual, auditory, and haptic modalities and the challenges that need to be overcome to provide appropriate feedback in these modalities, either in isolation or in combination. Accordingly, the design criteria for successful visual, auditory, haptic, and multimodal feedback are elaborated.     

Working memory interference during processing texts and pictures: Implications for the explanation of the modality effect

Auditory text presentation improves learning with pictures and texts. With sequential text–picture presentation, cognitive models of multimedia learning explain this modality effect in terms of greater visuo‐spatial working memory load with visual as compared to auditory texts. Visual texts are assumed to demand the same working memory subsystem as pictures, while auditory texts make use of an additional cognitive resource. We provide two alternative assumptions that relate to more basic processes: First, acoustic‐sensory information causes a retention advantage for auditory over visual texts which occurs no matter if a picture is presented or not. Second, eye movements during reading hamper visuo‐spatial rehearsal. Two experiments applying elementary procedures provide first evidence for these assumptions. Experiment 1 demonstrates that, regarding text recall, the auditory advantage is independent of visuo‐spatial working memory load. Experiment 2 reveals worse matrix recognition performance after reading text requiring eye movements than after listening or reading without eye movements. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Comparison of social time-out and activity time-out procedures in suppressing ethanol self-administration in alcoholics

The experiments compared the potencies of three different contingent time-out procedures for suppressing drinking in alcoholics, and also compared two different experimental methodologies for conducting such studies. In a residential research ward setting fourteen volunteer chronic alcoholics were given daily access to 17 alcoholic drinks provided that a minimum of 40 min elapsed between receiving successive drinks. Each drink contained 1 oz 95-proof ethanol in orange juice. During the baseline condition subjects were free to drink with no behavioral restrictions. However during the time-out conditions, specific behavioral restrictions were imposed on the subjects for the 40-min period following receipt of each drink. The results showed that Social time-out suppressed drinking to 71 per cent of baseline conditions, while Activity time-out and the combined Social and Activity time-out suppressed intake to 36 and 24 per cent, respectively. The study also demonstrated that similar experimental results were obtained when subjects were continuously exposed to the experimental conditions for a number of consecutive days. or intermittently exposed to different conditions in a mixed order over successive days.     

‘Women are Bad at Math,but I'm Not,am I?’ Fragile Mathematical Self‐concept Predicts Vulnerability to a Stereotype Threat Effect on Mathematical Performance

The present research reports the results of three studies showing that individuals with a fragile self‐concept in the domain of performance are particularly vulnerable to stereotype threat effects. Specifically, women who explicitly described themselves as rather mathematical but whose implicit self‐concepts contradicted these claims were vulnerable to stereotype threat effects on mathematical performance. This effect was robust across three studies, independent of the subtleness or content of the stereotype threat manipulation. Additionally, it was shown that the effect was mediated by anxious worrying (Study 3). Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Episodic autobiographical memory in depression: Specificity, autonoetic consciousness, and self-perspective

Autobiographical memory (AM) and the self are closely linked. AM retrieval in depression is characterized by a lack of specificity, suggesting an impairment of episodic AM. Autonoetic consciousness and self-perspective, which are critical to episodic AM, have never been addressed in depression. Twenty-one depressed inpatients and 21 matched controls were given an episodic AM task designed to assess positive and negative memories regarding specificity, autonoetic consciousness (remember/know procedure), and self-perspective (field/observer procedure). For specificity, "remember", and "field" responses, ANOVAs revealed a main group effect and a group x valence interaction. Between groups, patients showed lower scores than controls for positive memories. Within groups, patients showed greater scores for negative memories, and controls showed greater scores for positive memories. There is a global episodic AM impairment of positive memories in depression regarding specificity, autonoetic consciousness, and self-perspective. Our results suggest new cognitive interventions to improve the self-relevance of positive memories in depression.     

Intelligence and individual differences in becoming neurally efficient

Physiological approaches to human psychometric intelligence have shown a higher neural efficiency (i.e. less cortical activation) during cognitive performance in brighter subjects. The main aim of this study was to explore the relationship between intelligence and cortical activation patterns in the framework of the learning test concept. In 27 participants we assessed the topography and extent of cortical activation by means of event-related desynchronization (ERD) during reasoning tests in a pre-test--training--post-test design and related it to psychometric intelligence (measured by the German Leistungs-Prüf-System, LPS). Significant associations between intelligence and cortical activation patterns were exclusively found at anterior (frontal) recording sites, which corroborates the central role of the frontal lobe for higher-order cognitive functions. The hypothesized negative intelligence-activation correlation was observed only after the training, i.e. in the post-test, but not in the pre-test. More important, the decrease in cortical investment from pre-test to post-test correlated negatively with intelligence, indicating that the higher the subjects' general mental ability the larger the decrease in the amount of cortical activation. These findings suggest intelligence-related individual differences in becoming neurally efficient.     

Stressful work, psychological job strain, and turnover: a 2-year prospective cohort study of truck drivers

Based on a model that combines existing organizational stress theory and job transition theory, this 2-year longitudinal study examined antecedents and consequences of turnover among Dutch truck drivers. For this purpose, self-reported data on stressful work (job demands and control), psychological strain (need for recovery after work and fatigue), and turnover were obtained from 820 drivers in 1998 and 2000. In agreement with the model, the results showed that strain mediates the influence of stressful work on voluntary turnover. Also in conformity with the model, job movement to any job outside the trucking industry (i.e., interoccupational turnover) resulted in a larger strain reduction as compared to job movement within the trucking industry (intraoccupational turnover). Finally, strain was found to stimulate interoccupational turnover more strongly than it stimulated intraoccupational turnover. These findings provide a thorough validation of existing turnover theory and give new insights into the turnover (decision) process.