Salience from multiple feature contrast: Evidence from saccade trajectories

We used eye tracking to quantify the extent to which combinations of salient contrasts (orientation, luminance, and movement) influence a central salience map that guides eye movements. We found that luminance combined additively with orientation and movement, suggesting that the salience system processes luminance somewhat independently of the two other features. On the other hand, orientation and movement together influenced salience underadditively, suggesting that these two features are processed nonindependently. This pattern of results suggests that the visual system does not sum sources of salience linearly, but treats some sources of salience as redundant.

     

Does recall of a past music event invoke a reminiscence bump in young adults?

Many studies of the reminiscence bump (RB) in music invoke memories from different autobiographical times by using stimulus specific prompts (SSPs). This study investigated the utility of a non-SSP paradigm to determine whether the RB would emerge when participants were asked to recall a single memorable musical event from “a time long ago”. The presence of a RB in response to music has not been obtained in such a manner for younger participants. Eighty-eight 20–22 year olds reported music episodes that peaked when their autobiographical age was 13–14 years. Self-selected stimuli included a range of musical styles, including classical and non-Western pop forms, such as J-pop and K-pop, as well as generational pop music, such as the Beatles. However, most participants reported pop/rock music that was contemporaneous with encoding age, providing support for the utility of published SSP paradigms using pop music. Implications for and limitations of SSP paradigms are discussed. Participants were also asked to relate the selected musical piece to current musical tastes. Most participants liked the music that they selected, with many continuing to like the music, but most also reported a general broadening of their taste, consistent with developmental literature on open-earedness.     

Sequential effects on discrimination reversal

In Experiment 1 the sequence of trials to the positive (S+) and negative (S?) discriminanda was varied between groups during acquisition and reversal of a successive brightness discrimination. In Experiments 2 and 3, groups received different reward sequences in Phase 1 within S+. In general, groups given transitions from nonrewarded trials to rewarded trials (N-R transitions) in Phase 1 learned both the original discrimination and its reversal more slowly than groups given schedules devoid of N-R transitions. The results were discussed in relation to previously reported effects of partial reinforcement on acquisition and reversal of a discrimination and the role of sequential variables and internal, reward-produced cues in discrimination learning, reversal learning, and nonreversal shifts.     

Clustering by aphasics in free recall

Aphasic performance was compared to normal and left hemiplegic controls in the use of clustering to aid recall of a list of words in a multitrial free recall experiment. Use of clustering correlated with increased recall scores. Left hemiplegic performance was superior to aphasic and inferior to normal suggesting that the presence of brain damage decreased clustering but that this decrease was greater in the presence of aphasia. A second experiment examined the possibility of remediating aphasic clustering behavior by providing cues as a training device. Cues, which aided normals, did not benefit the majority of aphasics. Results are interpreted in terms of their relationship to cognitive functioning.     

Modeling cognitive load effects of conversation between a passenger and driver

Cognitive load from secondary tasks is a source of distraction causing injuries and fatalities on the roadway. The Detection Response Task (DRT) is an international standard for assessing cognitive load on drivers’ attention that can be performed as a secondary task with little to no measurable effect on the primary driving task. We investigated whether decrements in DRT performance were related to the rate of information processing, levels of response caution, or the non-decision processing of drivers. We had pairs of participants take part in the DRT while performing a simulated driving task, manipulated cognitive load via the conversation between driver and passenger, and observed associated slowing in DRT response time. Fits of the single-bound diffusion model indicated that slowing was mediated by an increase in response caution. We propose the novel hypothesis that, rather than the DRT’s sensitivity to cognitive load being a direct result of a loss of information processing capacity to other tasks, it is an indirect result of a general tendency to be more cautious when making responses in more demanding situations.     

The embodied self: Making a fist enhances men’s power-related self-conceptions

In line with recent theories of embodied cognition, the authors propose that the self-concept may be embodied in sensory-motor representations. To test this notion, two studies investigated the effects of bodily feedback from a gesture associated with power (making a fist) on the self-concept. As expected, making a fist led male participants to perceive themselves as more assertive and esteemed (Study 1) and to display stronger associations between the self-concept and power (Study 2), while these effects were absent among female participants. The gender difference may reflect that men are more prone to use physical force to gain social influence. The results indicate that people’s conceptions of themselves are partly grounded in bodily experiences.