Task-switch costs subsequent to cue-only trials

There is abundant evidence that there is a performance cost associated with switching between tasks. This “switch cost” has been postulated to be driven by task performance on the preceding trial, but recent research challenges any necessary role of previous task performance in driving the cost. Across three experiments, we investigated whether it is difficult to switch from a task that was prepared but never performed. We replicated the finding of a switch cost following cue-only trials (involving no task performance) whilst controlling for a potential cue-switching confound. This cost was larger than that following completed trials when preparation interval was short (300?ms), and it reduced significantly with a longer preparation interval (1000?ms) on the current trial. We also found that preparing only to attend to a particular visual dimension (colour or shape) was sufficient to drive a significant subsequent switch cost, which appeared to be residual in nature; we speculate that this cost may reflect the persistence of unfulfilled task intentions and/or a strategic slowing when consecutive intentions conflict.     

内隐自尊的特性：来自EAST的证据

采用外部情绪性Simon任务（EAST）对109名大学生对代表自我和他人的刺激词的态度差异进行测量,从而探讨内隐自尊的特性。结果显示：在个体的认知图式中,对自我持有一种内隐的积极的评价或态度,对他人持有一种内隐的相对消极的评价或态度。具体表现在：（1）内隐自尊的特性是将自己与积极的评价和情感相联系,将他人与消极的评价和情感相联系;（2）自我姓名激活的积极的内隐自我态度比一般性自我词更为强烈,而他人姓名激活的消极的内隐态度比一般性非我词更弱。本研究表明,EAST能有效检测出内隐自尊效应,并可以同时获得个体对自我和他人的内隐态度的强度和方向,为内隐自尊研究提供了一种新的有效的方法,但其应用仍需谨慎。     

Clock time vs. event time: Temporal culture or self-regulation?

Cross-cultural research documented two types of temporal culture governing the way individuals schedule tasks over time: clock-time, where individuals let an external clock dictate when tasks begin/end; and event-time, where tasks are planned relative to other tasks and individuals transition between them when they internally sense that the former task is complete. In contrast with this prior literature - that credits culture as the reason for variation in temporal norms - we show in two experiments that individuals choose clock- vs. event-time as a self-regulation strategy to achieve a regulatory goal (efficiency vs. effectiveness). A third experiment shows that this strategy enhances confidence and performance on a task. Participants solved significantly more math problems when their task scheduling (clock- vs. event-time) matched their regulatory state (promotion vs. prevention). Since clock-/event-time may both lead to superior performance, clock-time is not the single best way to organize productive activities in industrial societies—a result that counters a foundational principle of modern economics.     

The role of intelligence and feedback in children’s strategy competence

A test-intervention-test study was conducted investigating the role of intelligence on four parameters of strategy competence in the context of a numerosity judgment task. Moreover, the effectiveness of two feedback types on these four parameters was tested. In the two test sessions, the choice/no-choice method was used to assess the strategy repertoire, frequency, efficiency, and adaptivity of a group of low-, average-, and high-intelligence children. During the intervention, half of the participants from each intelligence group were given outcome feedback (OFB), whereas the other half received strategy feedback (SFB). The pretest data showed large differences among the three intelligence groups on all four strategy parameters. These differences had disappeared at the posttest due to a particularly strong improvement on all strategy parameters in the low-intelligence group. Furthermore, it was found that SFB was more beneficial than OFB for all parameters involving strategy selection. These results indicate that intelligence plays an important role in children’s strategy use and suggest that strategy feedback can be a powerful instructional tool, especially for low-intelligence children.     

Automatic shifts of attention in the Dimensional Change Card Sort task: Subtle changes in task materials lead to flexible switching

Two experiments tested a hypothesis that reducing demands on executive control in a Dimensional Change Card Sort task will lead to improved performance in 3-year-olds. In Experiment 1, the shape dimension was represented by two dissimilar values (stars and flowers), and the color dimension was represented by two similar values (red and pink). This configuration of stimuli rendered shape more salient than color. In Experiment 2, attentional weights of each dimension value were manipulated by using two versus four values to represent the dimensions of shape and color. The results indicated that increasing saliency of the postswitch dimension (Experiment 1) and reducing attentional weights of individual dimension values (Experiment 2) lead to a marked improvement in the postswitch sorting accuracy in 3-year-olds.     

Preference for the outcome that follows a relatively aversive event: Contrast or delay reduction?

Pigeons prefer a positive discriminative (S+) stimulus that follows a less preferred event (a large number of required responses, a longer delay, or the absence of food) over a different S+ with a similar history of reinforcement that follows a more preferred event (a single required response, no delay, or food). We proposed that this phenomenon results from contrast (referred to as within-trial contrast) between the less preferred initial event and the signal for reinforcement. Delay reduction theory (Fantino, 1969) can account for these results by proposing that the less preferred initial event lengthens the duration of the trial, thereby allowing the S+ stimulus to occur later in the trial and thus become a better predictor of reinforcement. In the present experiments, we further explored this effect. In Experiment 1, we controlled for trial duration by using a fixed ratio response (30 pecks) as one initial event and the absence of pecking for the same duration as the other initial event (0 pecks). The pigeons showed a reliable preference for the positive stimulus that followed the least preferred initial event. In Experiment 2, we controlled for trial duration by using 30 pecks as one initial event and 1 peck followed by a delay that matched the duration of the preceding 30-peck trial. (Group Time Same). For Group Time Different, there was no delay following the 1-peck initial event. For Group Time Same, preference for the initial event negatively predicted the pigeons’ preference for the S+ stimulus that followed, supporting the contrast account. A somewhat greater preference for the discriminative stimulus that followed the least preferred initial event was found for Group Time Different suggesting that in addition to contrast, delay reduction also may play a small role. However, the greater initial-event preference found for Group Time Different suggests that contrast can account for the group difference as well.     

The relationship between pitch and space in congenital amusia

Congenital amusia manifests as a lifelong difficulty in making sense of musical sound. The extent to which this disorder is accompanied by deficits in visuo-spatial processing is an important question, bearing on the issue of whether pitch processing draws on supramodal spatial representations. The present study assessed different aspects of visuo-spatial processing with a range of tasks (Shepard-Metzler Mental Rotation, Corsi Blocks Task, Visual Patterns Test) in 14 amusics and matched controls. The absence of a group difference on any of these tasks fails to support a previous claim that the disorder is strongly related to deficits in spatial processing. However, a subgroup of amusics, with significantly elevated thresholds on a pitch direction discrimination task relative to the rest of the group, were slower, but equally accurate, at Mental Rotation. This finding is discussed in relation to the nature of supramodal representations of contour and strategies for dynamic mental transformation.     

An fMRI investigation of a novel analogue to the Trail-Making Test

The Trail-Making Test (TMT) is a widely used neuropsychological measure that assesses visuomotor abilities and cognitive flexibility. For the TMT-A condition participants are required to locate and connect numbers (i.e. 1-2-3…) while in the TMT-B condition participants perform the set-shifting task of locating and connecting numbers and letters (i.e. 1-A-2-B…). The TMT-B condition has shown impairments in many clinical populations, particularly schizophrenia patients, but the neurobiological underpinning of the task can be difficult to discern given pragmatic obstacles in adapting the task for neuroimaging. In a behavioural testing experiment we demonstrated a close correspondence between performance on the standard TMT and a novel, computer programmed adaptation of the TMT (pcTMT). The pcTMT was designed for functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) administration and neuroimaging data for this task were obtained in. A whole brain analysis revealed significantly greater activation during the pcTMT-B relative to the pcTMT-A in right inferior/middle frontal cortices, right precentral gyrus, left angular gyrus/left middle temporal gyrus. These results identify the regions that most likely underlie cognitive flexibility during the TMT and are candidate regions underlying the impairment of groups with poor set-shifting abilities.     

The use of person–organization fit and person–job fit information in making selection decisions

Two policy-capturing studies were conducted to investigate how person–organization (PO) fit and person–job (PJ) fit information are weighted and combined when hiring decision makers evaluate job candidates, and how the process is influenced by the position’s characteristics. Regarding the combining process, we detected a nonlinear, conjunctive rule in which a low level of PJ fit was paid more attention, the levels of PO fit and PJ fit interacted, and candidates with moderate levels of PO fit and PJ fit were preferred over those with high and low levels. Regarding the weighting process, we found that PO fit was weighted more heavily for a permanent position, and PJ fit for a fixed-term and/or a knowledge-intensive position. In addition, the position’s contract duration (permanent vs. fixed-term) and task elements (managerial vs. knowledge-intensive) interacted in influencing the weighting of PO fit and PJ fit.     

Social influence of a coworker: A test of the effect of employee and coworker exchange ideologies on employees’ exchange qualities

Integrating social comparison and social influence perspective within a social exchange theoretical framework, we examine how the exchange ideologies of employees and their coworkers affect the quality of the employees’ social exchanges. Drawing from social exchange theory, we hypothesize that the exchange ideology of a focal employee has a negative relationship with the quality of his/her social exchange with the organization (i.e., felt obligation) and the quality of his/her social exchange with a leader (i.e., leader–member exchange), both of which are related to task performance. Furthermore, we propose that a coworker close to the employee acts as a social referent and provides cues to exert influence on these relationships. Using data collected from 374 (employee–coworker–manager) triads in Hong Kong, we find support for the aforementioned relationships as well as the moderating roles of a coworker’s exchange ideology.