Tag, you're it: Tagging as an alternative to yes/no recognition in item method directed forgetting

The current study contrasted a standard yes/no recognition task with a tagging recognition task in the context of an item-method directed forgetting paradigm. During the study phase, a series of words was presented one at a time, each followed by an instruction to remember (R) or forget (F). The retention of R and F study words was tested using either a typical yes/no recognition task or a tagging recognition task in which participants labeled each word as “R”, “F” or “New”. The directed forgetting effect observed in each task was equivalent in magnitude. However, the tagging recognition task afforded an additional analysis of the errors of misattribution that was not possible with the more typical yes/no recognition task. Interestingly, when falsely recognizing a Foil word, participants were more likely to assign an “F” tag than an “R” tag. These errors of misattribution are consistent with existing accounts of directed forgetting that suggest R words are better encoded than F words. We argue for the utility of the tagging procedure, given it does not alter the directed forgetting effect normally seen with yes/no recognition but provides additional information about errors of misattribution.     

The dual role of vision in sequential aiming movements

Previous research has demonstrated that movement times to the first target in sequential aiming movements are influenced by the properties of subsequent segments. Based on this finding, it has been proposed that individual segments are not controlled independently. The purpose of the current study was to investigate the role of visual feedback in the interaction between movement segments. In contrast to past research in which participants were instructed to minimize movement time, participants were set a criterion movement time and the resulting errors and limb trajectory kinematics were examined under vision and no vision conditions. Similar to single target movements, the results indicated that vision was used within each movement segment to correct errors in the limb trajectory. In mediating the transition between segments, visual feedback from the first movement segment was used to adjust the parameters of the second segment. Hence, increases in variability that occurred from the first to the second target in the no vision condition were curtailed when visual feedback was available. These results are discussed along the lines of the movement constraint and movement integration hypotheses.     

Mind-wandering: phenomenology and function as assessed with a novel experience sampling method

Mind-wandering refers to the occurrence of thoughts whose content is both decoupled from stimuli present in the current environment and unrelated to the task being carried out at the moment of their occurrence. The core of this phenomenon is therefore stimulus-independent and task-unrelated thoughts (SITUTs). In the present study, we designed a novel experience sampling method which permitted to isolate SITUTs from other kinds of distractions (i.e., irrelevant interoceptive/exteroceptive sensory perceptions and interfering thoughts related to the appraisal of the current task). In Experiment 1, we examined the impact of SITUTs on the performance of the Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART; a Go/No-Go task). Analyses demonstrated that SITUTs impair SART performance to the same extent as irrelevant sensory perceptions. In Experiment 2, we further examined SITUTs in order to assess the possible functions of mind-wandering. We observed that the content of most of reported SITUTs refers to the anticipation and planning of future events. Furthermore, this “prospective bias” was increased when participants' attention had been oriented toward their personal goals before performing the SART. These data support the view that an important function of mind-wandering relates to the anticipation and planning of the future.     

The influence of motor simulations on language comprehension

This study investigates the influence of activating specific motor codes on the comprehension of passages that describe the use of an object requiring similar motor manipulations. In three experiments, participants either imagined or pantomimed performing an action involving a common object. Participants then held the action in memory while reading a brief story, which described another object that required similar or different motor behaviors. Reading times were collected on the complementary actions. Finally, participants acted out the original action. In Exp. 1 and 2, reading slowed to the verbs. Exp. 2 revealed the slowing to be true interference, which disappeared in Exp. 3 when the action did not need to be recalled. The results suggest that readers activate motor codes when reading story actions, which supports an embodied view. The results also indicate that activated codes bound to an action will, at least briefly, impair reading about a complementary action requiring the same codes, consistent with Hommel's (2009) theory of event coding.     

Intra-individual stability of neuromotor tasks from 6 to 18 years: a longitudinal study

This study investigates the intra-individual stability of the speed of several motor tasks and the intensity of associated movements in 256 children (131 girls, 125 boys) from the Zurich generational study using the Zurich neuromotor assessment battery (ZNA) over a 12-year period from the age of 6 to 18 years. The stability was assessed by correlograms of standard deviation scores calculated from age- and gender-adjusted normative values and compared with standing height and full scale intelligence quotient (IQ). While motor tasks of hand, finger and foot (HFT) and contralateral associated movements (CAM) exhibited a moderate stability (summary measure as correlation coefficients between two measurements made 4 years apart: .61 and .60), other tasks (dynamic balance, static balance and pegboard) were only weakly stable (.46, .47 and .49). IQ and height were more stable than neuromotor components (.72 and .86). We conclude that the moderately stable HFT and CAM may reflect “motor traits”, while the stability of the pegboard and balance tasks is weaker because these skills are more experience related and state-dependent.     

Working memory and mental arithmetic: A case for dual central executive resources

The current study was designed to examine the possible existence of two limited-capacity pools of central executive resources: one each for verbal and visuospatial processing. Ninety-one college students (M age = 19.0, SD = 2.2) were administered a verbal working memory task that involved updating numbers in 2-, 3-, and 4-load conditions. The task was administered in both single task (no-interference condition) and dual-task (verbal interference and visuospatial interference conditions) formats. Findings indicated main effects for both memory load and type of interference, as well as, a load × interference interaction. Verbal interference led to a steeper increase in errors on the primary verbal working memory task; whereas, there was a smaller increase in errors across load in both the non-verbal and no-interference conditions. The effect of verbal interference and the lack of a spatial interference effect on a primary task that utilized verbal working memory resources, suggests that the processing of verbal and spatial stimuli in a dual-task paradigm requires separate central executive resources.     

山东东周鼎簋制度初论——以中原地区为参照

鼎簋制度作为社会存在的一种反映,是一个动态的概念,把用鼎规格普遍、有序的提升归结为僭越有形而上学之嫌。春秋中期至战国中期,中原高级墓葬一般随葬数套列鼎,是鼎簋制度的套鼎时期,也是鼎簋制度的高峰期。以往多认为战国中晚期是鼎簋制度的瓦解、崩溃时期,实际上,这一时期随葬列鼎的现象仍然普遍存在,鼎簋制度并没有瓦解,其瓦解期应在秦汉。由于历史、地理等原因,山东地区的鼎簋制度与中原地区存在较大差异:一是山东多数地区没有严格推行鼎簋制度;二是山东地区鼎簋制度的基础较为薄弱,瓦解现象出现较早,瓦解速度也较快;三是春秋中晚期至战国早、中期普遍流行于中原的套鼎现象,山东地区基本没有发现。     

Language access and language selection in professional translators

Two experiments were conducted measuring self-paced reading to study language access and language selection in professional translators and bilinguals when they understood sentences randomly presented in their first language (L1, Spanish) and second language (L2, English). These sentences contained a critical cognate word or a control matched word. The effect of cognate words was considered an index of between-language activation while the inhibition of the non-target language was examined with the asymmetrical switching cost. In Experiment 1, participants read and repeated sentences while in Experiment 2 participants read sentences without repeating them after reading. The results indicated that lexical processing depended on the experience of participants in professional translation and the demands imposed by the understanding task (reading and repeating or only reading).     

从楚与中原各国关系看屈原的爱国问题

对屈原的爱国问题的审视,研究者有不同的角度.本文试图从楚国与中原的关系这一角度看待屈原的爱国问题.楚国虽然具有相对的独立性,但在东周时代却还不具有一个独立国家的性质,而且受到周代礼乐文化的深厚浸染,屈原的思想也不会超越时代的局限,现代爱国主义的范畴并不适合屈原,热爱宗国是他所处时代的较为准确的表述,从宗庙社稷立场上看待屈原的爱国问题,屈原的＂存君兴国＂就更容易理解.     

The Metaphysics of Causal Models

This paper presents an attempt to integrate theories of causal processes—of the kind developed by Wesley Salmon and Phil Dowe—into a theory of causal models using Bayesian networks. We suggest that arcs in causal models must correspond to possible causal processes. Moreover, we suggest that when processes are rendered physically impossible by what occurs on distinct paths, the original model must be restricted by removing the relevant arc. These two techniques suffice to explain cases of late pre?mption and other cases that have proved problematic for causal models.