The effect of a cross-trial shift of auditory warning signals on the sequential foreperiod effect

When a warning signal (WS) precedes an imperative signal (IS) by a certain amount of time (the foreperiod, FP), responses are speeded. Moreover, this effect is modulated by the FP length in the previous trial. This sequential FP effect has lately been attributed to a trace-conditioning mechanism according to which individuals learn (and re-learn) temporal relationships between the WS and the IS. Recent evidence suggests that sensory WS attributes are critical to trigger time-related response activation. Specifically, when WS modality is shifted in subsequent trials (e.g., from auditory to visual modality), the sequential FP effect becomes attenuated. This study examined whether the sequential FP effect is reduced only by between-modality shifts or whether this attenuation generalizes to cross-trial shifts of WS attributes within modalities. We compared dimensional (low vs. high tone frequency) and qualitative shifts (pure tone vs. noise) of equal-intense auditory WS events. The results of four experiments revealed that shifts of tone frequency did not, whereas shifts of qualitative tone characteristics did attenuate the sequential FP effect. These results support the view that the WS acts as a trigger cue that unintentionally activates responses at previously reinforced critical moments.     

Testing the theory of embodied cognition with subliminal words

In the current study, we tested the embodied cognition theory (ECT). The ECT postulates mandatory sensorimotor processing of words when accessing their meaning. We test that prediction by investigating whether invisible (i.e., subliminal) spatial words activate responses based on their long-term and short-term meaning. Masking of the words is used to prevent word visibility and intentional elaboration of the words’ semantic content. In this way, masking specifically isolates mandatory sensorimotor processing of words as predicted by the ECT. Do spatial subliminal words activate responses nonetheless? In Experiment 1, we demonstrate a spatial congruence effect of the invisible words if they precede visible target words. In Experiment 2, we show that masked words activate responses based on their long-term meaning. In Experiment 3, we demonstrate that masked words are also processed according to their short-term response meaning. We conclude that the ECT is supported by our findings and discuss implications of our results for embodied theories of semantic word processing and masked priming experiments.     

Left–right coding of past and future in language: The mental timeline during sentence processing

The metaphoric mapping theory suggests that abstract concepts, like time, are represented in terms of concrete dimensions such as space. This theory receives support from several lines of research ranging from psychophysics to linguistics and cultural studies; especially strong support comes from recent response time studies. These studies have reported congruency effects between the dimensions of time and space indicating that time evokes spatial representations that may facilitate or impede responses to words with a temporal connotation. The present paper reports the results of three linguistic experiments that examined this congruency effect when participants processed past- and future-related sentences. Response time was shorter when past-related sentences required a left-hand response and future-related sentences a right-hand response than when this mapping of time onto response hand was reversed (Experiment 1). This result suggests that participants can form time–space associations during the processing of sentences and thus this result is consistent with the view that time is mentally represented from left to right. The activation of these time–space associations, however, appears to be non-automatic as shown by the results of Experiments 2 and 3 when participants were asked to perform a non-temporal meaning discrimination task.     

How to study the ‘quality of psychoanalytic treatments’ and their long‐term effects on patients' well‐being: A representative,multi‐perspective follow‐up study3

How can we study the ‘quality of psychoanalytic treatments’? The authors attempt to answer this question by discussing a naturalistic, multi‐perspective and representative follow‐up study of psychoanalyses and long‐term psychoanalytic psychotherapies. We studied a representative sample (n = 401) of all the patients who had terminated their psychoanalytic treatments with members of the German Psychoanalytical Association (DPV) between 1990 and 1993. Between 70 and 80 per cent of the patients achieved (average 6.5 years after the end of treatment) good and stable psychic changes according to the evaluations of the patients themselves, their analysts, independent psychoanalytic and non‐psychoanalytic experts, and questionnaires commonly applied in psychotherapy research. The evaluation of mental health costs showed a cost reduction through fewer days of sick leave during the seven years following the end of long‐term psychoanalytic treatments. The results achieved using non‐psychoanalytical instruments are complemented by the richness of the idiosyncratic findings, gained by the psychoanalytic research instruments.     

When hearing turns into playing: Movement induction by auditory stimuli in pianists

In this study, pianists were tested for learned associations between actions (movements on the piano) and their perceivable sensory effects (piano tones). Actions were examined that required the playing of two-tone sequences (intervals) in a four-choice paradigm. In Experiment 1, the intervals to be played were denoted by visual note stimuli. Concurrently with these imperative stimuli, task-irrelevant auditory distractor intervals were presented (“potential” action effects, congruent or incongruent). In Experiment 2, imperative stimuli were coloured squares, in order to exclude possible influences of spatial relationships of notes, responses, and auditory stimuli. In both experiments responses in the incongruent conditions were slower than those in the congruent conditions. Also, heard intervals actually “induced” false responses. The reaction time effects were more pronounced in Experiment 2. In nonmusicians (Experiment 3), no evidence for interference could be observed. Thus, our results show that in expert pianists potential action effects are able to induce corresponding actions, which demonstrates the existence of acquired action-effect associations in pianists.     

Does Immediate Arousal Enhance Response Force in Simple Reaction Time?

Three experiments assessed the hypothesis that immediate arousal enhances response force in speeded reaction-time tasks. Immediate arousal was manipulated via the physical characteristics of a warning signal that closely preceded the imperative response signal. The first experiment revealed that responses were more forceful and faster for a loud than for a soft warning signal. The second experiment manipulated the duration of an auditory warning signal; more forceful but slower responses were obtained for longer durations of the warning signal. The third experiment employed a visual warning signal, and its intensity was either rather weak or moderately bright; more forceful responses and slightly faster responses were observed for the brighter warning signal. Although the results of Experiment 1 and 2 may agree with an arousal account, the findings of Experiment 3 argue against such an account. A stimulus-response compatibility hypothesis is suggested as one possible alternative account.     

Ant Colony Optimization and Local Weighted Structural Equation Modeling. A Tutorial on Novel Item and Person Sampling Procedures for Personality Research

Measurement in personality development faces many psychometric problems. First, theory‐based measurement models do not fit the empirical data in terms of traditional confirmatory factor analysis. Second, measurement invariance across age, which is necessary for a meaningful interpretation of age‐associated personality differences, is rarely accomplished. Finally, continuous moderator variables, such as age, are often artificially categorized. This categorization leads to bias when interpreting differences in personality across age. In this tutorial, we introduce methods to remedy these problems. We illustrate how Ant Colony Optimization can be used to sample indicators that meet prespecified demands such as model fit. Further, we use Local Structural Equation Modeling to resample and weight subjects to study differences in the measurement model across age as a continuous moderator variable. We also provide a detailed illustration for both tools with the Neuroticism scale of the openly available International Personality Item Pool – NEO inventory using data from the UK sample (N = 15 827). Combined, both tools can remedy persistent problems in research on personality and its development. In addition to a step‐by‐step illustration, we provide commented syntax for both tools. © 2019 European Association of Personality Psychology