Directed attention prolongs the perceived duration of a brief stimulus

Stelmach, Herdman, and McNeil (1994) suggested recently that the perceived duration for attended stimuli is shorter than that for unattended ones. In contrast, the attenuation hypothesis (Thomas & Weaver, 1975) suggests the reverse relation between directed attention and perceived duration. We conducted six experiments to test the validity of the two contradictory hypotheses. In all the experiments, attention was directed to one of two possible stimulus sources. Experiments 1 and 2 employed stimulus durations from 70 to 270 msec. A stimulus appeared in either the visual or the auditory modality. Stimuli in the attended modality were rated as longer than stimuli in the unattended modality. Experiment 3 replicated this finding using a different psychophysical procedure. Experiments 4-6 showed that the finding applies not only to stimuli from different sensory modalities but also to stimuli appearing at different locations within the visual field. The results of all six experiments support the assumption that directed attention prolongs the perceived duration of a stimulus.     

‘Coordinative definition’ and Reichenbach''s semantic framework: A reassessment

My greatest debt is to Prof. Hilary Putnam, without whose inspiration and encouragement this paper would not have been written. Thanks are also due to Prof. Michael Friedman for detailed and helpful comments on an earlier version, and to two anonymous referees. This paper is based in part on research conducted while supported under a National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship.     

Generative models for visualizing idiosyncratic impressions

In their comprehensive review of research on impressions from faces, Sutherland and Young (this issue) highlight both the remarkable progress and the many challenges facing the field. We focus on two of the challenges: the need for generative, powerful models of impressions and the idiosyncratic nature of complex impressions.     

Towards end-to-end likelihood-free inference with convolutional neural networks

Complex simulator-based models with non-standard sampling distributions require sophisticated design choices for reliable approximate parameter inference. We introduce a fast, end-to-end approach for approximate Bayesian computation (ABC) based on fully convolutional neural networks. The method enables users of ABC to derive simultaneously the posterior mean and variance of multidimensional posterior distributions directly from raw simulated data. Once trained on simulated data, the convolutional neural network is able to map real data samples of variable size to the first two posterior moments of the relevant parameter's distributions. Thus, in contrast to other machine learning approaches to ABC, our approach allows us to generate reusable models that can be applied by different researchers employing the same model. We verify the utility of our method on two common statistical models (i.e., a multivariate normal distribution and a multiple regression scenario), for which the posterior parameter distributions can be derived analytically. We then apply our method to recover the parameters of the leaky competing accumulator (LCA) model and we reference our results to the current state-of-the-art technique, which is the probability density estimation (PDA). Results show that our method exhibits a lower approximation error compared with other machine learning approaches to ABC. It also performs similarly to PDA in recovering the parameters of the LCA model.     

When smiles (and frowns) speak words: Does power impact the correspondence between self-reported affect and facial expressions?

Self-reported experiences are often poor indicators of outward expressions. Here we examine social power as a variable that may impact the relationship between self-reported affect and facial expressions. Earlier studies addressing this issue were limited by focusing on a single facial expression (smiling) and by using different, less sensitive methods that yielded mostly null results. Sampling, for the first time, self-reported affect repeatedly in response to different negative, neutral and positive stimuli, and measuring concurrent facial muscle activation via electromyography, we found that high power (vs. baseline) increased the correspondence between self-reported positive affect and smiling. There was also an indication that high power (vs. baseline) bolstered the association between self-reported negative affect and frowning but the effect did not pass more stringent criteria for significance (p ≤ .005) and was therefore deemed inconclusive. The prediction that low power (vs. baseline) decreases the correspondence between self-reported affect and smiling and frowning facial expressions was not supported. Taken together, it would appear that (high) power can impact the relationship between self-reported affect and facial expressions, but it remains to be seen whether this effect extends beyond smiling facial expressions.     

Ätiologie und Pathogenese der Migräne

Migräne ist eine weltweit sehr häufige Erkrankung, die zu einer erheblichen Beeinträchtigung der Lebensqualität Betroffener führen kann. Bereits zu Beginn der Migräneattacke konnte eine Aktivierung des Hypothalamus gezeigt werden. Ein wesentlicher Aspekt ist dann die nachfolgende Aktivierung des trigeminovaskulären Systems. Hier spielt das Neuropeptid Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide (CGRP) eine tragende Rolle. Durch die Aktivierung nozizeptiver Fasern kommt es zur Reizweiterleitung nach zentral in den Hirnstamm und über periphere und zentrale Sensibilisierung zu den typischen migräneartigen Kopfschmerzen. Durch besseres Verständnis der Pathophysiologie der Migräne ist es zuletzt gelungen, eine medikamentöse Prophylaxe zu entwickeln, die spezifisch in die komplexe Abfolge der Migränekaskade eingreift, indem das CGRP bzw. sein Rezeptor durch spezifische monoklonale Antikörper blockiert werden.     

Selective Social Belief Revision in Young Children

ABSTRACT

Recent research has shown that from early in development, children selectively form new beliefs in response to information supplied by others. However, little is known about the development of selective revision of existing beliefs in response to socially conveyed information. Such selective social belief revision has been extensively studied by social psychologists in the context of advice-taking. Here, we adapted the methods of this research tradition for studying selective advice-taking in young children and adults. Participants solved a perceptual judgment task, received advice, and subsequently made final decisions. The informational access (perceptual quality) of participants and advisor were experimentally manipulated. Adults revised their judgments systematically as a function of both their own and the advisor’s informational access whereas children based their adjustments only on their own informational access. Two follow-up experiments suggest, however, that this pattern of results in children reflected performance rather than competence limitations: In suitably modified tasks, children did proficiently consider both their own informational situation and that of the advisor in their selective social belief revision.     

Effects of suppression and acceptance on emotional responses of individuals with anxiety and mood disorders

The present investigation compared the subjective and physiological effects of emotional suppression and acceptance in a sample of individuals with anxiety and mood disorders. Sixty participants diagnosed with anxiety and mood disorders were randomly assigned to one of two groups. One group listened to a rationale for suppressing emotions, and the other group listened to a rationale for accepting emotions. Participants then watched an emotion-provoking film and applied the instructions. Subjective distress, heart rate, skin conductance level, and respiratory sinus arrhythmia were measured before, during, and after the film. Although both groups reported similar levels of subjective distress during the film, the acceptance group displayed less negative affect during the post-film recovery period. Furthermore, the suppression group showed increased heart rate and the acceptance group decreased heart rate in response to the film. There were no differences between the two groups in skin conductance or respiratory sinus arrhythmia. These findings are discussed in the context of the existing body of research on emotion regulation and current treatment approaches for anxiety and mood disorders.     

Personal names and the human right hemisphere: an illusory link?

Names are thought to be represented in the brain differently from common nouns. Although this idea is supported by both theoretical and empirical arguments, the brain areas that are relevant for the recognition of personal names-and in particular the extent of right hemisphere involvement-remain controversial. We investigated the hypothesis that, unlike common nouns, personal names are represented preferentially by the right hemisphere (D. Van Lancker, 1991; D. Van Lancker et al., 1991; C. Ohnesorge & D. Van Lancker, 1999). Participants performed lexical decisions to common nouns and pseudowords (Experiment 1) or familiarity decisions to personal names (Experiment 2), which were presented briefly to the left or right visual fields. Asymmetries were small or absent for both pseudowords and unfamiliar names. For familiar names, both reaction times and error rates revealed strong advantages for the right visual field/left hemisphere (RVF/LH), which were comparable to the asymmetries for nouns. Familiar personal names may be represented by brain systems that differ from those representing common nouns, but current evidence does not suggest a distinct contribution of the right hemisphere to these brain systems.