Context Effects on Musical Chord Categorization: Different Forms of Top‐Down Feedback in Speech and Music?

A critical issue in perception is the manner in which top-down expectancies guide lower level perceptual processes. In speech, a common paradigm is to construct continua ranging between two phonetic endpoints and to determine how higher level lexical context influences the perceived boundary. We applied this approach to music, presenting participants with major/minor triad continua after brief musical contexts. Two experiments yielded results that differed from classic results in speech perception. In speech, context generally expands the category of the expected stimuli. We found the opposite in music: The major/minor boundary shifted toward the expected category, contracting it. Together, these experiments support the hypothesis that musical expectancy can feed back to affect lower-level perceptual processes. However, it may do so in a way that differs fundamentally from what has been seen in other domains.     

Detecting objects is easier than categorizing them

Two experiments compared performance in an object detection task, in which participants categorized photographs as objects and nonobject textures, and an object categorization task, in which photographs were categorized into basic-level categories. The basic-level categorization task was either easy (e.g., dogs vs. buses) or difficult (e.g., dogs vs. cats). Participants performed similarly in the detection and the easy-categorization tasks, but response times to the difficult-categorization task were slower. This latter finding is difficult to reconcile with the conclusions of Grill-Spector and Kanwisher (2005) who reported equivalent performance on detection and basic-level categorization tasks and took this as evidence that figure-ground segregation and basic-level categorization are mediated by the same mechanism.     

类别学习和分类运用的神经机制

从类别学习和分类运用(包括非人类对象分类和社会分类)两个方面阐述了分类的神经机制。类别学习主要与新皮层、内侧颞叶、基底神经节、中脑多巴胺能系统有关, 不同类别的学习会激活这些神经系统间不同的连接。对非人类对象分类时, 不同类型、级别、熟悉度及相似度类别分类的神经机制不同, 分类对象的清晰度、类别不确定性会影响分类的神经机制, 在分类进程的不同时段会出现对应的ERP指标。社会分类时个体先注意到外群体再加工内群体, 且对内群体的加工更深, P200和N200是对内、外群体区分的特异性波, 内外群体分类时, 内群体激活梭状回和扣带回后部, 外群体激活杏仁核。文章最后比较了人类和灵长类动物分类神经机制的异同, 并指出社会分类和非人类对象分类神经机制的整合以及人类和灵长类动物分类神经机制的比较是今后研究需要关注的问题。     

类别学习语言标签效应的眼动研究

采用眼动技术,通过两个实验探讨人工语言标签与真实语言标签在类别学习中的作用。实验一对33名大学本科被试施测,探讨了人工语言标签对类别学习的影响。结果发现,在人工语言标签下,个体会基于标签的相似性进行分类。实验二对34名大学本科被试施测,探讨了真实语言标签对类别学习的影响。结果发现,在真实语言标签下,个体会基于标签的类别知识进行分类。类别学习中语言标签效应的熟悉程度影响分类方式,不熟悉的类别语言标签基于相似性分类,熟悉的类别语言标签基于知识分类;基于类别知识分类准确性更高,速度更快。     

Negative incidental affect and mood congruency in crossed categorization

Examined the effects of incidental sadness and anger on affiliative responses to crossed categorization targets. Affect manipulations included an anger-provoking frustration (Study 1), a sad film clip (Study 2), and autobiographical essays about sad or anger-provoking topics (Studies 3 and 4). By comparison with a neutral mood, anger (Study 1) reduced affiliative tendencies toward persons possessing an out-group membership but not toward those possessing only in-group memberships. Study 2 showed a similar pattern for sadness. Studies 3 and 4 replicated these effects in designs including both types of negative mood. Meta-analytic integration showed the pattern of greater rejection of targets with an out-group membership to be stronger under anger than sadness. Study 4 also showed that despite yielding a consistent pattern for affiliation, sadness and anger differentially elicited aggressive tendencies toward the same targets.     

The role of dual categorization and relative ingroup prototypicality in reparations to a minority group: An examination of empathy and collective guilt as mediators

In the current study, we investigate factors that facilitate or otherwise obstruct reparations of a perpetrating group (i.e. Muslims) to a victim group (i.e. Christians). The study (N = 200) reveals that among Muslim participants, the role of dual Abrahamic categorization in positively predicting reparation attitude towards Christians was mediated by the first group's prosocial emotions of empathy and collective guilt towards the latter group. In addition, relative Muslim prototypicality negatively predicted dual Abrahamic categorization and each of the two prosocial emotions. Empathy and collective guilt in turn mediated the role of relative ingroup prototypicality in negatively predicting reparation attitude. Moreover, as hypothesized, we found that the roles of empathy and collective guilt in predicting reparation intention, as manifested in participants' willingness to engage in collective action on behalf of the victim group, were not significant on their own, but were mediated by reparation attitude. These findings shed light on the importance of the relationship between the perpetrating group's shared identity with the victim group, reduced ingroup focus and its support for making reparations to the victim group. Theoretical implications, study limitations and practical strategies highlighting how to decrease relative Muslim prototypicality are discussed.     

知觉适应对种族融合面孔的种族分类和知觉辨别的影响

面孔加工的种族效应(the other-race effects)指人们对面孔做个体辨别任务时辨别本族面孔的绩效优于辨别他族面孔的绩效, 而做种族分类任务时分类他族面孔的绩效优于分类本族面孔的绩效。本研究通过知觉适应操纵被试对种族两歧(高加索和亚洲)融合面孔的种族知觉, 进而比较被试在两种条件下对同一张融合面孔进行种族分类和知觉辨别的绩效的差异。结果发现, 知觉适应能使被试产生将两歧融合面孔知觉为与原始面孔所属种族相反种族的知觉偏向, 并且, 伴随着这种知觉偏向, 两歧融合面孔的加工出现了他族分类优势和本族辨别优势, 提示社会认知因素对面孔加工的种族效应有重要作用。