Relevance drives attention: Attentional bias for gain- and loss-related stimuli is driven by delayed disengagement

Attentional bias to gain- and loss-related stimuli was investigated in a dot-probe task. We used coloured stimuli that had acquired their valence during the experiment by signalling the chance to either win or lose points in a game task. Replicating previous findings with the additional singleton paradigm, we found attentional bias effects for both gain- and loss-related colours. The effects were due to delayed disengagement from valent stimuli, especially if they were positive, and could not be explained by nonattentional processes like behavioural freezing. Our findings suggest that stimuli signalling opportunities and dangers hold attention, supporting a general motivational relevance principle of the orienting of attention.     

Controlling for Response Bias in Self-Ratings of Personality: A Comparison of Impression Management Scales and the Overclaiming Technique

Self-serving response distortions pose a threat to the validity of personality scales. A common approach to deal with this issue is to rely on impression management (IM) scales. More recently, the overclaiming technique (OCT) has been proposed as an alternative and arguably superior measure of such biases. In this study (N = 162), we tested these approaches in the context of self- and other-ratings using the HEXACO personality inventory. To the extent that the OCT and IM scales can be considered valid measures of response distortions, they are expected to account for inflated self-ratings in particular for those personality dimensions that are prone to socially desirable responding. However, the results show that neither the OCT nor IM account for overly favorable self-ratings. The validity of IM as a measure of response biases was further scrutinized by a substantial correlation with other-rated honesty-humility. As such, this study questions the use of both the OCT and IM to assess self-serving response distortions.     

Matching between oral inward–outward movements of object names and oral movements associated with denoted objects

In eight experiments, we explored matching effects between oral approach–avoidance movements triggered by word articulation and meaning of the objects the words denoted. Participants (total N?=?1264) rated their liking for words that featured consonantal muscle stricture spots either wandering inwards (e.g., BODIKA, resembling ingestion movements) or outwards (e.g., KODIBA, resembling expectoration movements). These words were labelled as names for various objects. For objects the use of which entails ingestive oral actions (lemonade and mouthwash) inward words were preferred over outward words. For objects that trigger expectorative oral actions (toxical chemical, pill, and bubble gum) this preference was attenuated or even reversed (outward words were liked more than inward). Valence of the denoted object did not play a role in these modulations. Thus, the sagittal direction of mouth movements during silent reading meaningfully interacted with direction of oral actions associated with the denoted objects.     

That Could Be Me (or Not): Senseless Violence and the Role of Deservingness,Victim Ethnicity,Person Identification,and Position Identification1

Building on just‐world theory, the current study examined variables contributing to the labeling of violent incidents as senseless. In a 2 × 2 (Blame Opportunities x Victim Ethnicity) design, Dutch participants (N= 78) were provided with a written hypothetical situation depicting a violent incident. Consistent with predictions, the violence was evaluated to be less deserved and more senseless (and the desired penalty for the offender was stronger) when participants had no opportunity to blame the victim than when they did have an opportunity to blame the victim. Likewise, an act of violence committed against a victim belonging to an ethnic minority (allochthonous victim) was perceived to be more deserved and less senseless (and the desired penalty for the offender was smaller) than a similar violent act directed against a native (autochthonous) victim. Findings designate that the just‐world theory offers a promising approach to investigate factors determining the labeling of violent incidents as senseless by outside, uninvolved observers.     

Transient attention degrades perceived apparent motion

Transient spatial attention refers to the automatic selection of a location that is driven by the stimulus rather than a voluntary decision. Apparent motion is an illusory motion created by stationary stimuli that are presented successively at different locations. In this study we explored the effects of transient attention on apparent motion. The motion target presentation was preceded by either valid attentional cues that attract attention to the target location in advance (experiments 1-4), neutral cues that do not indicate a location (experiments 1, 3, and 4), or invalid cues that direct attention to a non-target location (experiment 2). Valid attentional cues usually improve performance in various tasks. Here, however, an attentional impairment was found. Observers' ability to discriminate the direction of motion diminished at the cued location. Analogous results were obtained regardless of cue type: singleton cue (experiment 1), central non-informative cue (experiment 2), or abrupt onset cue (experiment 3). Experiment 4 further demonstrated that reversed apparent motion is less likely with attention. This seemingly counterintuitive attentional degradation of perceived apparent motion is consistent with several recent findings, and together they suggest that transient attention facilitates spatial segregation and temporal integration but impairs spatial integration and temporal segregation.     

Lateral masking in cycling displays: the relative importance of separation, flanker duration, and interstimulus interval for object-mediated updating

A central bar repeatedly presented in alternation with two flanking bars can lead to the disappearance of the central bar. Recently it has been suggested that this masking effect could be explained by object-mediated updating: the information from the central bar is integrated into the representation of the flankers, leading not only to the disappearance of the central bar as a separate object, but also to the perception of the flankers in apparent motion between their real position and the position of the central bar. This account suggests that the visibility of the central bar should depend on the same factors as those that influence the construction and maintenance of object representations. Therefore separation between central bar and flankers should not influence visibility as long as the time interval between them is adequate to make an interpretation of the scene in terms of one object moving from one location to the other possible location. We found that if the time interval between the central bar and the flankers is neither too short nor too long, the central bar becomes invisible even at large separations. These findings are inconsistent with traditional accounts of the cycling lateral masking displays in terms of local inhibitory mechanisms.     

Features,as well as space and time,guide object persistence

What role do surface features (e.g., color) play in the establishment and maintenance of episodic representations of objects (object files)? Mitroff and Alvarez (2007) showed that stimuli that were linked by a continuous spatiotemporal history yielded object-specific preview benefits—a standard index of object files—whereas stimuli linked only by shared surface features did not. Here, it is shown that abruptly changing the features of an object that has been established on the basis of spatiotemporal history can disrupt object-specific preview benefits (Experiments 1 and 2). Moreover, under some conditions, feature match alone can give rise to the preview benefits (Experiment 3). These results indicate that surface features, as well as spatiotemporal factors, play an important role in establishing and maintaining episodic object representations.     

Erlebnisbasierte und verfälschte Erinnerungen im EEG: Eine Pilotstudie

The present study aims to discriminate true and false memory by examining the EEG activity in a setting as applied as possible to the context of credibility assessment. To achieve this, 19 participants saw a short film about a robbery and had to answer 35 yes-no-questions, 25 of them contained misleading information. In order to distort the participants’ memories suggestive techniques were implemented, e. g. repeated questioning. The comparison of event-related potentials (ERP) of true and false memories reveals a parieto-occipital effect between 350 and 500 ms. This effect is consistent with the parietal old/new effect, which is associated with recollection. At the same time, this finding is in agreement with research associating a transient negativity (N400) with processing of semantic incongruent information.     

Dual pathways to engage in ‘Silent Marches’ against violence: moral outrage,moral cleansing and modes of identification

A survey (N = 120) examined variables that contribute to the willingness of people to engage in silent marches against violence in the Netherlands. As argued in Sacred Value Protection Model (SVPM) of Tetlock, Kristel, Elson, Green, and Lerner ( 2000 ) and moral mandate theory of Skitka, Bauman, and Sargis ( 2005 ), moral threats that are triggered by violent incidents, may indeed drive people to protest against such incidents. Our findings indicated dual pathways to such protests, that are all associated with reactive, angry empathic concerns. These concerns involve people's outrageous, punitive reactions towards offenders on behalf of the victims. These concerns are directly or indirectly related to people's participation intentions. That is, they directly influence the participation intention variable, or indirectly, through (re‐)establishing the belief in a just‐world, or through more fearful, self‐directed moral cleansing reactions. These latter reactions aim at reinforcing community‐shared moral standards. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.