Win some, lose some: Hypermnesia for actions reflects increased item-specific processing

Memory for simple action phrases (e.g., “Break a match”) improves when subjects perform the actions at study. The relative contribution of item-specific and relational processing to this enactment effect has been an issue of considerable debate. It was addressed in the present study by examining hypermnesia in a multiple-test free recall paradigm, -based on the assumptions that itemspecific processing increases the probability of intertest gains and relational processing protects against intertest forgetting (e.g., Burns, 1993; Klein, Loftus, Kihlstrom, & Aseron, 1989). It was found that the enactment condition produced both significantly more gains and more losses than did the nonenactment condition, resulting in a net gain (hypermnesia) for the enactment condition. The results suggest that enactment promotes item-specific processing at the expense of relational processing.     

Processing of visual illusions in the frequency and spatial domains

In the results we report here, complex periodic and aperiodic illusions are revealed by filtering with filters containing one or more straight edges. Positive definite filters are used both in the frequency domain and in the space domain to reveal each illusion. Rotating slit and half-plane filters are used in the frequency domain, while processing is done in the spatial domain by convolution with a rotating slit. These two schemes show similar results in revealing the illusory patterns. The implications for human visual processing are discussed.     

Punishment of temporally spaced responding

The responses of pigeons were maintained by a DRL schedule of food reinforcement. With this schedule, responses were reinforced only when a fixed period of time elapsed without an intervening response. Punishment of all responses reduced the frequency of these responses as a direct function of the punishment intensity. As a consequence of the increased temporal spacing of responses, more reinforcements resulted during punishment. Under progressively higher intensities of punishment, the reinforcement frequency increased to a maximum value and then decreased at the highest intensities. The increased frequency of reinforcement which resulted during punishment did not counteract the suppressive effect of punishment, nor did it lead to a low response rate after punishment was removed. Punishment did not reduce the inter-response time distribution uniformly, but rather especially reduced the number of short inter-response times. Even at the low punishment intensities, the number of short inter-response times was considerably reduced. After punishment was discontinued, performance recovered almost completely after a compensatory burst. The number as well as the temporal pattern of responses returned to normal.     

Thinking about the self influences thinking in general: cognitive consequences of salient self-concept

Two studies support our hypothesis that connected and interdependent self-focus evokes a generally context-dependent cognitive mode (focused on object-context relations) and provide some evidence that separate and independent self-focus evokes a generally context-independent cognitive mode (focused on objects, independent of contexts). Consistent with our predictions, experimental manipulation of interdependent self-focus influences cognitive speed/accuracy (Experiment 1) and memory (Experiment 2). When primed self-focus is congruent with the perceptual task at hand, perceptual speed increases (as shown by a significant task by prime interaction effect) and when primed, interdependent self-focus improves memory for incidentally encoded contextual information. Further research to link primed and chronic self-focus effects is called for.