Investigating the role of response in spatial context learning

Recent research has shown that simple motor actions, such as pointing or grasping, can modulate the way we perceive and attend to our visual environment. Here we examine the role of action in spatial context learning. Previous studies using keyboard responses have revealed that people are faster locating a target on repeated visual search displays ("contextual cueing"). However, this learning appears to depend on the task and response requirements. In Experiment 1, participants searched for a T-target among L-distractors and responded either by pressing a key or by touching the screen. Comparable contextual cueing was found in both response modes. Moreover, learning transferred between keyboard and touch screen responses. Experiment 2 showed that learning occurred even for repeated displays that required no response, and this learning was as strong as learning for displays that required a response. Learning on no-response trials cannot be accounted for by oculomotor responses, as learning was observed when eye movements were discouraged (Experiment 3). We suggest that spatial context learning is abstracted from motor actions.     

The use of knowledge of results based on the stability of performance during acquisition of timing skill: a validity study

The goal was to examine the effect of changing knowledge-of-results bandwidth based on a participant's stable performance during acquisition of a timing skill. 36 university students experienced one of three conditions: (1) 100% KR condition during which information on errors was provided after each trial during practice, (2) fluctuation-of-range condition, wherein KR bandwidth was based on standard deviation of five trials, and (3) 10% KR bandwidth condition (10%), wherein the KR bandwidth was 810-990 msec. Variable error in the fluctuation-of-range condition at posttest and retention was significantly smaller than that with the 100% KR. Conditions in which range of KR was allowed to fluctuate were more effective for stabilizing performance.     

The role of the nucleus accumbens in knowing when to respond

While knowing what to expect is important, it is equally important to know when to expect it and to respond accordingly. This is apparent even in simple Pavlovian training situations in which animals learn to respond more strongly closer to reward delivery. Here we report that the nucleus accumbens core, an area well-positioned to represent information about the timing of impending rewards, plays a critical role in this timing function.     

The importance of response type to the relationship between temporal order and numerical magnitude

Time, number, and space may be represented in the brain by a common set of cognitive/neural mechanisms. In support of this conjecture, Schwarz and Eiselt (Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 35, 989-1004, 2009) found that numerically smaller digits were perceived to occur earlier than larger digits, and they concluded that this difference reflected faster processing of smaller numbers. This difference, however, could have been related to a response bias, whereby participants map responses of "which first" onto the "first" number along the mental number line. In Experiment 1, participants made temporal order judgements between digits presented to the left or to the right. The point of subjective simultaneity was shifted so that the 9 had to be presented before the 2 in order for simultaneity to be perceived. This difference could reflect either faster processing of the 2 or a response bias. Experiments 2a and 2b eliminated response biases by using simultaneity judgements, which have no logical stimulus mapping. Both of the latter experiments established that the 2 was not processed faster than the 9. Although the present results relate specifically to numerical magnitude and temporal order associations, they also have broader implications. Other studies have reported associations between dimensions such as size, duration, and number and have attributed these to parietal mechanisms. Such associations, however, may also be an artefact of response biases.     

加蓬的伊斯兰教

虽然有关加蓬伊斯兰教史的文字资料极少,但人们已知道伊斯兰教是在19世纪末传入加蓬的。非洲历史上有两位人物与加蓬的早期伊斯兰教有关。第一位是塞内加尔学者谢赫·阿马多·班巴。     

研究者的一个伦理问题:1960—1980期间对被试者作出解释的情况

自从1953年以来,美国心理学会(APA)就已注意到对人类被试运用解释程序的必要性。前不久,《心理学工作者道德准则》(APA,1979)正式确定了解释程序的重要性。该准则的原则9规定,“当一项研究必须采用隐瞒或说谎的方法时,研究者必须尽可能使参与者确实理解这一做法的原因和采用这种程序的正当理由”。原则9还规定:“资料搜集完毕之后,调查者要使参与者了解该研究的本质,并消除他们已产生的     

艺术心理学的某些问题

艺术心理学的问题属于那些使心理学和美学彼此交叉的和二者相互联系的问题。这些问题很难解决,并且研究得很少。这两种科学之中究竟是哪一种首先对这些交叉问题的现状负责呢?研究这些问题中的主要作用究竟属于哪一种科学——属于心理学还是属于美学呢?那些纯方法论的见解要求承认,这种主要作用属于心理学。诚然,在心理学     

The dynamical hypothesis in cognitive science

According to the dominant computational approach in cognitive science, cognitive agents are digital computers; according to the alternative approach, they are dynamical systems. This target article attempts to articulate and support the dynamical hypothesis. The dynamical hypothesis has two major components: the nature hypothesis (cognitive agents are dynamical systems) and the knowledge hypothesis (cognitive agents can be understood dynamically). A wide range of objections to this hypothesis can be rebutted. The conclusion is that cognitive systems may well be dynamical systems, and only sustained empirical research in cognitive science will determine the extent to which that is true.     

Influence of articulation rate on two memory tasks in young and older adults

This study investigated the relation between phonological loop functioning and age. Phonological loop is a time-based subsystem of the Working Memory Model of Baddeley and Wilson, which uses rehearsal of information as an active process to avoid phonological decay. Performance differences were examined between young and older adults in two speech-based memory tasks, such as the immediate serial recall of words and the Digit Ordering Task. Analysis showed that performance on both tasks was lower for the older group. Articulation rate was also measured to test the hypothesis that the impairment of some cognitive functions in adults can be associated to their slowness or the greater time needed by older adults for the rehearsal process. A significant negative correlation was found for articulation rate with age. When the effect of articulation rate on Serial Recall and Digit Ordering Tasks was partialled out, the difference between the two groups was eliminated.     

What is the impact of the explicit knowledge of sequence regularities on both deterministic and probabilistic serial reaction time task performance?

The aim of this study was to explore the role of prior explicit sequence knowledge by comparing its influence on serial reaction time (SRT) performance with either a deterministic or a probabilistic sequence. The results confirm that, with a deterministic sequence, preliminary explicit learning improves SRT performance. On the other hand, with a probabilistic sequence, the results show no advantage for SRT performance in explicit-learning conditions. In addition, by using the process dissociation procedure (Jacoby, 1991), we show that performance on a subsequent generation task was more sustained by controlled processes for participants in the explicit-learning conditions than for those in the incidental condition. On the whole, these results, showing that the influence of explicit knowledge can be suppressed in certain specific conditions, are consistent with the intervention of both implicit and explicit mechanisms in SRT tasks, and the results also show that their relative influence can be modulated by the particular demands of the task.