Precueing spatial S-R correspondence: is there regulation of expected response conflict?

Four experiments investigated the ability to prepare for the level of forthcoming stimulus-response correspondence in choice-response tasks. In a Simon task, participants responded to the color of spatially variable stimuli with spatially variable responses. Participants were given advance information about whether a forthcoming stimulus-response event would be spatially corresponding, neutral, or spatially noncorresponding. Reliable cues decreased reaction times (RTs) in the corresponding conditions of 2- and 3-choice tasks, decreased RTs in noncorresponding conditions of a 2-choice task but not in a 3-choice task, and left RTs in neutral conditions unaffected. The pattern of results suggests that participants used reliable cues for responding to the nominally irrelevant stimulus location if the correct response could be inferred from location (attention switching). By contrast, the lack of cueing effects on performance in noncorresponding conditions of 3-choice tasks suggests that participants cannot use cues for changing the attentional weights of processing channels for different stimulus dimensions (gating). In summary, gating may be involved in the regulation of experienced response conflict, but the present results suggest that it is not involved in the regulation of expected (i.e., predicted) response conflict.     

The relative importance of task,citizenship and counterproductive performance to job performance ratings: Do rater source and team‐based culture matter?

This study contributes to our understanding of which factors predict raters' policies for combining performance components into an overall job performance rating. We used a work‐roles framework to examine the effects of rater source and team‐based culture. The sample consisted of 612 individuals in three job categories (317 nurses, 168 personnel recruiters and 127 sales representatives). Respondents rated employee performance profiles that were described on task, citizenship and counterproductive performance. Raters' weights differed by (a) organizational culture (low‐ vs. high‐team‐based); (b) rating source (supervisor vs. peer) and (c) job. In a team‐based culture, more weight was given to citizenship performance and less to task performance. Peers attached more importance to citizenship performance and less to task performance. Implications of these findings for performance management are discussed.     

Sequential modulations of valence processing in the emotional Stroop task

This study investigated trial-to-trial modulations of the processing of irrelevant valence information. Participants (N = 126) responded to the frame color of pictures with positive, neutral, or negative affective content--a procedure known as an emotional Stroop task (EST). As is typically found, positive and negative pictures delayed responses as compared to neutral pictures. However, the type and extent of this valence-based interference depended on the irrelevant picture valence in the preceding trial. Whereas preceding exposure to negative valence prompted interference from positive and negative pictures, such interference was removed after neutral trials. Following positive pictures, interference from negative but not from positive pictures was observed. We suggest that these sequential modulations reflect automatic self-regulatory selection processes that help to keep the balance between attending to task-relevant information and task-irrelevant information that signals important changes in the environment.     

Dorsal and ventral processing under dual-task conditions

It is widely acknowledged that visual input is processed along two anatomically and functionally distinct pathways--a ventral pathway for conscious perception and a dorsal pathway for action control. The present study investigated whether the apparent direct and unmediated processing in the dorsal stream is subject to capacity limitations. Specifically, we tested whether a simple dorsal task of grasping an object is affected by the psychological refractory period (PRP), a well-known indication of capacity limitations. Subjects performed an auditory choice reaction task and then, following varying delays, had to judge an object's width (ventral task) or grasp an object across its width (dorsal task). Although these tasks were differentially affected by irrelevant variation of the objects' length, they were subject to comparable dual-task interference. These results show that despite important differences between ventral and dorsal information processing, both modes of processing are constrained by limited capacities.     

Explorations of anticipatory behavioral control (ABC): a report from the cognitive psychology unit of the University of Würzburg

The report comprises recent theoretical considerations, experimental research, and simulations which all aim at a clarification of anticipatory mechanisms of behavioral control.     

Predicting adverse impact and mean criterion performance in multistage selection

The authors present an analytical method to assess the average criterion performance of the selected candidates as well as the adverse impact and the cost of general multistage selection decisions. The method extends previous work on the analytical estimation of multistage selection outcomes to the case in which the applicant pool is a mixture of applicant populations that differ in their average performance on the selection predictors. Next, the method was used to conduct 3 studies of important issues practitioners and researchers have with multistage selection processes. Finally, the authors indicate how the method can be integrated into a broader analytical framework to design multistage selection decisions that achieve intended levels of selection cost, workforce quality, and workforce diversity.     

Sequential modulations of stimulus-response correspondence effects depend on awareness of response conflict

In two experiments, sequential modulations of prime—target correspondence effects were investigated in a metacontrast paradigm. Primes were either unmasked and thus consciously discriminable, or entirely masked and thus indiscriminable. Mirroring similar findings from Eriksen- and Simon-type tasks, the influence of prime—target correspondence was reduced in trials that followed a noncorresponding prime—target pair, which suggests that prime-induced response activation can be temporarily suppressed after an incompatible trial. This sequential modulation was independent of prime discriminability in the current trial, but it occurred only when the prime, and thus a conflict between the primeinduced and the deliberately to-be-selected response, was consciously experienced in the preceding trial. This suggests that the suppression of automatic response priming is not an immediate consequence of response conflict, but an intention-mediated strategy.     

A new learning paradigm elicits fast visual discrimination in pigeons

The authors describe a novel multistimulus, multiple-matching learning paradigm for pigeons, which they believe not only simulates pigeons' natural foraging behavior but also more realistically shows their visual discrimination ability. A touch screen thin film transistor panel shows a stimulus configuration consisting of a 2-dimensional array of bitmap images that changes from trial to trial. The pigeon's task during each trial is to peck at images that are defined as positive by the experimenter. An experiment exploring the ability of pigeons to discriminate between achromatic male and female human faces demonstrated the effectiveness of the procedure. In contrast to 12 pigeons that show little improvement over 60 hr of go/no-go discrimination training, 14 multiple-matching pigeons mastered the problem within a few hours.