Time-place learning by pigeons, Columba livia

In each of two experiments, 2 pigeons received discrimination training in which food reinforcement for key pecking was conditional upon both spatial and temporal cues. In Experiment 1, food was available for periods of 30 s at each of three locations (pecking keys) during trials that lasted 90 s. In Experiment 2, food was available for periods of 15 min at each of four locations (pecking keys) during a 60-min trial. In both experiments, pigeons' key pecking was jointly controlled by the spatial and temporal cues. These data, and other recent experiments, suggest that animals learn relationships between temporal and spatial cues that predict stable patterns of food availability.     

词切分的韵律学线索

本文是关于汉语普通话词切分的一个实验报告。用无意文重复句和合成句作语音材料,探讨音节时长分布、基频曲线、音节强度以及共振峰等韵律学线索在词切分中的作用。得到的主要结果是,在排除语义和音段层面信息的条件下,听者能够根据句子的韵律学特征进行句子结构的判断和词的切分;在对切分有效的韵律学线索中,最重要的是音节的时长分布模式,其次是基频曲线,音节的强度和共振峰变化对切分没有贡献。     

IMPROVED CURVEBALL HITTING THROUGH THE ENHANCEMENT OF VISUAL CUES

This study investigated the effectiveness of using visual cues to highlight the seams of baseballs to improve the hitting of curveballs. Five undergraduate varsity baseball team candidates served as subjects. Behavior change was assessed through an alternating treatments design involving unmarked balls and two treatment conditions that included baseballs with 1/4-in. and 1/8-in. orange stripes marking the seams of the baseballs. Results indicated that subjects hit a greater percentage of marked than unmarked balls. These results suggest that the addition of visual cues may be a significant and beneficial technique to enhance hitting performance. Further research is suggested regarding the training procedures, effect of feedback, rate of fading cues, generalization to live pitching, and generalization to other types of pitches.     

Eyewitness testimony and memory distortion

Abstract: Do memories change as we acquire new information? Recent research on memory distortion using implicit tests along with research using confidence is reviewed and new studies are presented. Two new studies asked misinformed subjects to provide reasons for their answers. In each study 15% to 27% of subjects said they remembered seeing items they had only read about. In another study subjects were asked to identify the source of misleading items they had seen in slides or read in misleading questions. Subjects were more likely to say they had seen in slides something they read about in the questions than they were to confuse information from two nearly identical sets of slides. Recent work shows that, not only is it possible to distort memory for events, it is possible to implant an entire memory for something that never happened. The evidence is now clear that we can become mentally tricked into making large as well as small changes in the way we recall the past.     

不同康复时相戒除者对海洛因相关线索的注意偏向

以84名生理脱瘾后处于不同康复时相的海洛因戒除者为被试,采用情绪Stroop范式,以海洛因相关线索为自变量,考察了海洛因戒除者的注意偏向特性及其动态变化。结果发现:(1)海洛因戒除者对相关线索存在着显著的注意偏向;(2)海洛因戒除者对相关线索的注意偏向随康复期的延长无显著改善。该研究支持了Franken关于药物成瘾的注意偏向模型。     

固定位置区域提示下视觉注意范围等级的ERP研究

研究视觉空间注意中注意范围的脑内时程的动态变化。被试为 14名青年人 ,使用固定位置的、3种不同直径的线圈作为注意范围的区域性提示 ,祛除空间定位因素的影响 ,记录反应时和事件相关电位 (ERP)数据。结果显示 :提示范围由小到中等时 ,反应时延长 ,而由中等到大范围时 ,反应时缩短 ;提示物和靶刺激诱发ERP的早成分 (N1、P1)不受提示范围大小的调节 ,而其P2、N2的波幅与潜伏期均明显受到提示范围大小的影响。这些结果说明 :①视觉注意诱发的P1、N1成分 ,主要与空间定位信息的加工相关 ;②提示物诱发的P2、N2成分与注意范围相关 ;③在视觉信息加工过程中 ,空间位置的信息要早于其它信息被加工 ,支持视觉信息串行加工观点     

The effects of mood and retrieval cues on semantic memory and metacognition

We investigated whether the previously established effect of mood on episodic memory generalizes to semantic memory and whether mood affects metacognitive judgments associated with the retrieval of semantic information. Sixty-eight participants were induced into a happy or sad mood by viewing and describing IAPS images. Following mood induction, participants saw a total of 200 general knowledge trivia items (50 open-ended and 50 multiple-choice after each of two mood inductions) and were asked to provide a metacognitive judgment about their knowledge for each item before providing a response. A sample trivia item is: Author – – To kill a mockingbird. Results indicate that mood affects the retrieval of semantic information, but only when the participant believes they possess the requested semantic information; furthermore, this effect depends upon the presence of retrieval cues. In addition, we found that mood does not affect the likelihood of different metacognitive judgments associated with the retrieval of semantic information, but that, in some cases, having retrieval cues increases accuracy of these metacognitive judgments. Our results suggest that semantic retrieval processes are minimally susceptible to the influence of affective state but does not preclude the possibility that affective state may influence encoding of semantic information.     

Consistency between verbal and non-verbal affective cues: a clue to speaker credibility

Listeners are exposed to inconsistencies in communication; for example, when speakers’ words (i.e. verbal) are discrepant with their demonstrated emotions (i.e. non-verbal). Such inconsistencies introduce ambiguity, which may render a speaker to be a less credible source of information. Two experiments examined whether children make credibility discriminations based on the consistency of speakers’ affect cues. In Experiment 1, school-age children (7- to 8-year-olds) preferred to solicit information from consistent speakers (e.g. those who provided a negative statement with negative affect), over novel speakers, to a greater extent than they preferred to solicit information from inconsistent speakers (e.g. those who provided a negative statement with positive affect) over novel speakers. Preschoolers (4- to 5-year-olds) did not demonstrate this preference. Experiment 2 showed that school-age children's ratings of speakers were influenced by speakers’ affect consistency when the attribute being judged was related to information acquisition (speakers’ believability, “weird” speech), but not general characteristics (speakers’ friendliness, likeability). Together, findings suggest that school-age children are sensitive to, and use, the congruency of affect cues to determine whether individuals are credible sources of information.