On the role of verbalization during task set selection: Switching or serial order control?

Recent task-switching work in which paper-and-pencil administered single-task lists were compared with task-alternation lists has demonstrated large increases in task-switch costs with concurrent articulatory suppression (AS), implicating a crucial role for verbalization during switching (Baddeley, Chincotta, & Adlam, 2001; Emerson & Miyake, 2003). Experiment 1 replicated this result, using computerized assessment, albeit with much smaller effect sizes than in the original reports. In Experiment 2, AS interference was reduced when a sequential cue (spatial location) that indicated the current position in the sequence of task alternations was given. Finally, in Experiment 3, switch trials and no-switch trials were compared within a block of alternating runs of two tasks. Again, AS interference was obtained mainly when the endogenous sequencing demand was high, and it was comparable for no-switch and switch trials. These results suggest that verbalization may be critical for endogenous maintenance and updating of a sequential plan, rather than exclusively for the actual switching process.     

Intentions determine the effect of invisible metacontrast-masked primes: evidence for top-down contingencies in a peripheral cuing task

In 5 experiments, the authors tested whether the processing of nonconscious spatial stimulus information depends on a prior intention. This test was conducted with the metacontrast dissociation paradigm. Experiment 1 demonstrated that masked primes that could not be discriminated above chance level affected responses to the visible stimuli that masked them. Experiments 2 and 3 showed that this effect was abolished when the task instruction was changed in such a way that the primes ceased to be task relevant. Experiments 4 and 5 demonstrated that a prime's effect depended on whether it was associated with the same response as the target or with an opposite response.     

Conflict, consciousness, and control

To what degree is executive conflict resolution dependent on conflict awareness? A recent study by Dehaene et al. compared neural responses to conflict elicited through either visible or subliminal primes. Despite behavioral conflict effects for both prime types, neural activity in a control network including the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) was present only for visible primes. Along with other recent results, these findings have important implications for theories on the relationship between ACC, consciousness, and cognitive control.     

Peripheral cuing by abrupt-onset cues: the influence of color in S-R corresponding conditions

Research on visuospatial attention indicates that a peripheral abrupt-onset cue at target position (valid condition) facilitates processing of the target, whereas a cue at another position interferes. This validity effect seems to be contingent on a similarity of the cue's color to the set of target colors (cf. J. Exp. Psychol.: Human Percep. Perform. 18 (1992) 1030). In Experiments 1-3, we confirm this contingency with cues that have the potential to activate responses. Thus, attentional capture and response capture are apparently governed by the same principle. In Experiment 2, it is demonstrated that color priming is not responsible for the contingency. In Experiment 3, it is shown that a more efficient reallocation of attention after color-dissimilar cues than after color-similar cues might contribute to the contingency.     

Threshold estimation in two-alternative forced-choice (2AFC) tasks: the Spearman-Kärber method

The Spearman-K?rber method can be used to estimate the threshold value or difference limen in two-alternative forced-choice tasks. This method yields a simple estimator for the difference limen and its standard error, so that both can be calculated with a pocket calculator. In contrast to previous estimators, the present approach does not require any assumptions about the shape of the true underlying psychometric function. The performance of this new nonparametric estimator is compared with the standard technique of probit analysis. The Spearman-K?rber method appears to be a valuable addition to the toolbox of psychophysical methods, because it is most accurate for estimating the mean (i.e., absolute and difference thresholds) and dispersion of the psychometric function, although it is not optimal for estimating percentile-based parameters of this function.     

Effects of redundant visual stimuli on temporal order judgments

Four experiments were conducted in order to compare the effects of stimulus redundancy on temporal order judgments (TOJs) and reaction times (RTs). In Experiments 1 and 2, participants were presented in each trial with a tone and either a single visual stimulus or two redundant visual stimuli. They were asked to judge whether the tone or the visual display was presented first. Judgments of the relative onset times of the visual and the auditory stimuli were virtually unaffected by the presentation of redundant, rather than single, visual stimuli. Experiments 3 and 4 used simple RT tasks with the same stimuli, and responses were much faster to redundant than to single visual stimuli. It appears that the traditional speedup of RT associated with redundant visual stimuli arises after the stimulus detection processes to which TOJs are sensitive.     

Responsivity to two odorants, androstenone and amyl acetate, and the affective impact of odors on interpersonal relationships

Substantial variation exists in the importance of olfaction in influencing individuals' preferences, yet the sources of this variation remain elusive. The authors explored responsivity to 2 odorants as 1 potential source. Participants (N = 258) completed the Affective Impact of Odor Scale and were assessed for responsivity to the putative human pheromone androstenone and amyl acetate. Results showed a significant relationship between odorant responsivity and self-reports of the influence of odors. People able to smell androstenone more commonly reported odors as having a negative effect on interpersonal relationships than did people anosmic to androstenone, whereas responsivity to amyl acetate was associated with positive effects of odors on relationships. Responsivity to certain odorants may be an important factor affecting human social interactions.     

A response-discrimination account of the Simon effect

Simon effects might partly reflect stimulus-triggered response activation. According to the response-discrimination hypothesis, however, stimulus-triggered response activation shows up in Simon effects only when stimulus locations match the top-down selected spatial codes used to discriminate between alternative responses. Five experiments support this hypothesis. In Experiment 1, spatial codes of each response differed by horizontal and vertical axis position, yet one axis discriminated between alternative responses, whereas the other did not. Simon effects resulted for targets on discriminating axes only. In Experiment 2, both spatial axes discriminated between responses, and targets on both axes produced Simon effects. In Experiment 3, Simon effects resulted for a spatial choice-reaction task but not for a go/no-go task. Even in the go/no-go task, a Simon effect was restored when a two-choice reaction task preceded the go/no-go task (Experiment 4) or when participants initiated trials with responses spatially discriminated from the go response (Experiment 5).     

A computer program for Spearman-Kärber and probit analysis of psychometric function data

PMETRIC is a computer program for the analysis of observed psychometric functions. It can estimate the parameters of these functions, using either probit analysis (a parametric technique) or the Spearman-Kärber method (a nonparametric one). For probit analysis, either a maximum likelihood or a minimum χ² criterion may be used for parameter estimation. In addition, standard errors of parameter estimates can be estimated via bootstrapping. The program can be used to analyze data obtained from either yes-no orm-alternative forced-choice tasks. To facilitate the use of PMETRIC in simulation work, an associated program, PMETGEN, is provided for the generation of simulated psychometric function data. Use of PMETRIC is illustrated with data from a duration discrimination task.     

Predicting stuttering from linguistic factors for German speakers in two age groups

Brown's factors [J. Speech Disorders 10 (1945) 181] predict the likely loci of disfluency in English-speaking adults who stutter. A word is more likely to be stuttered for these speakers if it is a content word, starts with a consonant, is positioned at the beginning of a sentence, and if it is a long word. These same factors were examined in native German-speaking children and adults who stutter. Speech data of 15 German adults and 17 children were coded according to Brown's factors. For the adult group, it was predicted that words starting with consonants would not lead to as much of an increase in disfluencies compared with English samples, because of cross-linguistic differences in syllable onset properties. It was predicted that stuttering would be more likely in later sentence positions in German because in German the verb is usually near the end of a sentence. There were no obvious reasons to expect differences on the two remaining factors, content words and word length. With children, it was hypothesised that Brown's factors that specify level of linguistic difficulty would not be such a good predictor of stuttering rate. Specifically, it was predicted that the difference in stuttering rate between function and content words would be lower in children. For the adults both word type (content/function) and word length increased stuttering rate significantly, whereas changes in stuttering rate for the other two factors were non-significant. It was also found that when word difficulty (based on a combined measure of all factors) increased, stuttering rate rose. With children, only the word-length factor was significant, and stuttering rate was not governed to the same extent by overall word difficulty. Conclusions are drawn as to the effect of linguistic and motor influences on stuttering. EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES: The reader will learn about and be able to describe: (1) how linguistic factors affect stuttering rates in German; (2) the different patterns of adults and children who stutter and how language might influence this pattern; and (3) how to interpret these findings in light of a current theory of fluency failure.