Letter search does not affect semantic priming in a probe naming task

The normally robust semantic priming effect observed in lexical decision is usually reduced to the point of being absent, when a letter search has to be performed on the prime. It has been argued that semantic activation is thus not an automatic process but rather cognitively controlled and therefore adaptable to task demands. We examined the effects of letter search priming on pronunciation times and found a reliable semantic priming effect, following letter search that was not affected at all relative to a standard condition, where participants silently read the prime. Thus the nature of the prime task did not seem to affect the processing mode employed, semantic access occurred even though attention was focused on surface properties of the prime.     

The effects of video game playing on attention, memory, and executive control

Expert video game players often outperform non-players on measures of basic attention and performance. Such differences might result from exposure to video games or they might reflect other group differences between those people who do or do not play video games. Recent research has suggested a causal relationship between playing action video games and improvements in a variety of visual and attentional skills (e.g., [Green, C. S., & Bavelier, D. (2003). Action video game modifies visual selective attention. Nature, 423, 534-537]). The current research sought to replicate and extend these results by examining both expert/non-gamer differences and the effects of video game playing on tasks tapping a wider range of cognitive abilities, including attention, memory, and executive control. Non-gamers played 20+ h of an action video game, a puzzle game, or a real-time strategy game. Expert gamers and non-gamers differed on a number of basic cognitive skills: experts could track objects moving at greater speeds, better detected changes to objects stored in visual short-term memory, switched more quickly from one task to another, and mentally rotated objects more efficiently. Strikingly, extensive video game practice did not substantially enhance performance for non-gamers on most cognitive tasks, although they did improve somewhat in mental rotation performance. Our results suggest that at least some differences between video game experts and non-gamers in basic cognitive performance result either from far more extensive video game experience or from pre-existing group differences in abilities that result in a self-selection effect.     

Chinese subject-relative clauses are more difficult to process than the object-relative clauses

This paper presents an experiment that compared high and low working memory span readers' abilities to process Chinese subject-relative and object-relative clause structures in a self-paced reading paradigm. Comprehension performance results indicated that the object-relative structure was easier to understand than the subject-relative structure. Reading time results showed that participants with low working memory span read the subject-relative structures more slowly than the object-relative structures, but there was no reading time difference for the high working memory span participants. The experiment provides further evidence that the Chinese subject-relative clause structure is more difficult to process than the Chinese object-relative clause structure, especially for low working memory span individuals. Furthermore, these results support a syntactic storage account of the observed complexity difference.     

An fMRI investigation on image generation in different sensory modalities: The influence of vividness

In the present fMRI study the issue of the specific cortices activation during imagery generation in different sensory modalities is addressed. In particular, we tested whether the vividness variability of imagery was reflected in the BOLD signal within specific sensory cortices. Subjects were asked to generate a mental image for each auditory presented sentence. Each imagery modality was contrasted with an abstract sentence condition. In addition, subjects were asked to fill the Italian version of the Questionnaire Upon Mental Imagery (QMI) prior to each neuroimaging session. In general, greater involvement of sensory specific cortices in high-vivid versus low-vivid subjects was found for visual (occipital), gustatory (anterior insula), kinaesthetic (pre-motor), and tactile and for somatic (post-central parietal) imagery modalities. These results support the hypothesis that vividness is related to image format: high-vivid subjects would create more analogical representations relying on the same specific neural substrates active during perception with respect to low-vivid subjects. Results are also discussed according to the simulation perspective.     

Implicit and explicit attitude dissociation in spontaneous deceptive behavior

Society considers deception to be an improper act but at the same time, people deceive each other surprisingly often during interpersonal interactions. In our study, this hypocrisy was assumed to be derived from ambivalent attitudes stemming from different sources, which we divided into implicit and explicit. Using a simulated racing task in a virtual environment, we identified participants who chose to be deceptive. Twenty two of the 60 subjects spontaneously decided to cheat in order to gain monetary compensation, while the other 38 subjects chose to be honest. We compared these two groups’ implicit beliefs about deception using the Implicit Association Test (Deception-IAT), as well as their explicit attitudes about deception and their personalities using self-report questionnaires. There was no difference between the two groups in explicit attitude or personality; however, the group who cheated on the racing task showed their implicit preference for deception more than that of the group who acted honestly as measured by the Deception-IAT.     

Binding feature dimensions in visual short-term memory

We explored several possible influences on binding in visual short-term memory (VSTM) performance. The task was to report whether a test object was the same (“old” trials) or different (“new” trials) from any of the sample objects seen a second ago. The objects were composed of two features that varied from continuous to discrete shapes and colors. In “old” trials the test object appeared either in the same or different position. In “new” trials the test object differed along both features, requiring storage of only one feature per object; along one feature, requiring no binding but storage of all features; or it was created by recombining features from the sample, which requires binding. Existing storage hypotheses are unable to explain the similar sensitivity (d′) obtained in the two last conditions when position remained the same and may suggest that links are created between positions and features. Highest sensitivity occurred when the test object remained at the same position, required no binding, and discrete features were used. Object-type × position, and feature combination × position interactions occurred, suggesting different storage modes depending on whether objects change position during retention.     

Effects of luminance change in preview search: Offsets and onsets can be concurrently prioritized but not in isolation

Two experiments are performed to investigate how luminance change contributes to prioritized selection of new over old elements. Experiment 1 demonstrates that observers prioritize items that undergo a luminance change irrespective of the direction of that change. Experiment 2 shows that foreknowledge concerning the direction of luminance change signaling the target does not allow observers to prioritize the selection of luminance onsets over offsets and vice versa. The results suggest that prioritized selection of new over old elements is mediated by a general mechanism that is sensitive to luminance change, irrespective of its direction.     

Visual scanning during pattern recognition in children and adults

Eye movement and fixation responses of 3- to 6-year-old children and adults were recorded during a pattern recognition task. During familiarization, fixations were more repetitive and less extensive for older subjects. The fixation patterns of older children who were consistently able to solve the recognition problems were like those of the adults. Unsuccessful 4- to 6-year-olds spent more time fixating the modified area of the nonstandard pattern presented in paired comparison with the standard, even though their final decision was false. Thus, preschool children were able to locate relevant visual information even when they did not use this information to solve tasks. The results suggest that visual fixations do not always reflect active attention, and that direct fixations of visual information are clearly not sufficient and may not be necessary for problem solving.