Minimizing the influence of recoding in the Implicit Association Test: The Recoding-Free Implicit Association Test (IAT-RF)

Recoding processes can influence the Implicit Association Test (IAT; Greenwald, McGhee, & Schwartz, 1998) in a way that impedes an unequivocal interpretation of the resulting compatibility effects. We present a modified version of the IAT that aims to eliminate recoding, the IAT-RF (short for “IAT–recoding free”). In the IAT-RF, compatible and incompatible assignments of categories to responses switch randomly between trials within a single experimental block. Abandoning an extended sequence of consistent category–response mappings undermines recoding processes in the IAT-RF. Two experiments reveal that the IAT-RF is capable of assessing compatibility effects between the nominally defined categories of the task and effectively prevents recoding. By enforcing a processing of the stimuli in terms of their task-relevant category membership, the IAT-RF eliminates the confounding of compatibility effects with task switch costs and becomes immune against biased selections of stimuli.     

Applying an exemplar model to the artificial-grammar task: Inferring grammaticality from similarity

We present three artificial-grammar experiments. The first used position constraints, and the second used sequential constraints. The third varied both the amount of training and the degree of sequential constraint. Increasing both the amount of training and the redundancy of the grammar benefited participants' ability to infer grammatical status; nevertheless, they were unable to describe the grammar. We applied a multitrace model of memory to the task. The model used a global measure of similarity to assess the grammatical status of the probe and captured performance both in our experiments and in three classic studies from the literature. The model shows that retrieval is sensitive to structure in memory, even when individual exemplars are encoded sparsely. The work ties an understanding of performance in the artificial-grammar task to the principles used to understand performance in episodic-memory tasks.     

Modes of knowledge acquisition and retrieval in artificial grammar learning

The aim of this study was to conceptualize artificial grammar learning (AGL) in terms of two orthogonal dimensions—the mode of knowledge acquisition and the mode of knowledge retrieval—as was done by Perlman and Tzelgov (2006) for sequence learning. Experiment 1 was carried out to validate our experimental task; Experiments 2–4 tested, respectively, performance in the intentional, incidental, and automatic retrieval modes, for each of the three modes of acquisition. Furthermore, signal detection theory (SDT) was used as an analytic tool, consistent with our assumption that the processing of legality-relevant information involves decisions along a continuous dimension of fluency. The results presented support the analysis of AGL in terms of the proposed dimensions. They also indicate that knowledge acquired during training may include many aspects of the presented stimuli (whole strings, relations among elements, etc.). The contribution of the various components to performance depends on both the specific instruction in the acquisition phase and the requirements of the retrieval task.     

Auditory expectations for newly acquired structures

Our study investigated whether newly acquired auditory structure knowledge allows listeners to develop perceptual expectations for future events. For that aim, we introduced a new experimental approach that combines implicit learning and priming paradigms. Participants were first exposed to structured tone sequences without being told about the underlying artificial grammar. They then made speeded judgements on a perceptual feature of target tones in new sequences (i.e., in-tune/out-of-tune judgements). The target tones respected or violated the structure of the artificial grammar and were thus supposed to be expected or unexpected. In this priming task, grammatical tones were processed faster and more accurately than ungrammatical ones. This processing advantage was observed for an experimental group performing a memory task during the exposure phase, but was not observed for a control group, which was lacking the exposure phase (Experiment 1). It persisted when participants realized an in-tune/out-of-tune detection task during exposure (Experiment 2). This finding suggests that the acquisition of new structure knowledge not only influences grammaticality judgements on entire sequences (as previously shown in implicit learning research), but allows developing perceptual expectations that influence single event processing. It further promotes the priming paradigm as an implicit access to acquired artificial structure knowledge.     

Applying an exemplar model to the artificial-grammar task: String completion and performance on individual items

Jamieson and Mewhort (2009a) demonstrated that performance in the artificial-grammar task could be understood using an exemplar model of memory. We reinforce the position by testing the model against data for individual test items both in a standard artificial-grammar experiment and in a string-completion variant of the standard procedure. We argue that retrieval is sensitive to structure in memory. The work ties performance in the artificial-grammar task to principles of explicit memory.     

Association between objects and body parts mediated by function

Recent accounts of conceptual knowledge suggest that the specific gestures/actions that should be performed in order to use an object for its intended function are an integral part of its mental representation. If this is true, then the information regarding which body part needs activating to interact with the object should also be part of such representation. Starting from the assumption that not only artefacts (i.e., tools), but also natural objects (i.e., fruits and vegetables) have a function, the present study investigates the existence of a link between a specific object and the effector involved in its use. The Implicit Association Test (IAT) paradigm was adopted to test for an association between natural objects and mouth, and between artefacts and hand (Experiment 1) or foot (Experiment 2). Results showed selective links between objects and effectors, based on which body part is needed to carry out the object's function.     

Want to block earworms from conscious awareness?B(u)y gum!

In a recent article, Jamieson and Mewhort (2009) proposed a novel account of artificial grammar learning (AGL), which is based on a multitrace model of episodic memory, the Minerva 2 model. According to this account, test performance in AGL is based on an assessment of global similarity of the test strings to the memory traces of the training strings. In this article, simulation studies are presented, showing for three different AGL experiments that the predictions of the Minerva 2 model strikingly deviate from participants' performance. It is argued that participants' test performance is not generally based on general similarity.     

Learning to spell from reading: General knowledge about spelling patterns influences memory for specific words

Adults often learn to spell words during the course of reading for meaning, without intending to do so. We used an incidental learning task in order to study this process. Spellings that contained double n, r and t which are common doublets in French, were learned more readily by French university students than spellings that contained less common but still legal doublets. When recalling or recognizing the latter, the students sometimes made transposition errors, doubling a consonant that often doubles in French rather than the consonant that was originally doubled (e.g., tiddunar recalled as tidunnar). The results, found in three experiments using different nonwords and different types of instructions, show that people use general knowledge about the graphotactic patterns of their writing system together with word-specific knowledge to reconstruct spellings that they learn from reading. These processes contribute to failures and successes in memory for spellings, as in other domains.     

The influence of temporal regularities on the implicit learning of pitch structures

Implicit learning is the acquisition of complex information without the intention to learn. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of temporal regularities on the implicit learning of an artificial pitch grammar. According to the dynamic attending theory (DAT) external regularities can entrain internal oscillators that guide attention over time, inducing temporal expectations that influence perception of future events. In the present study, the presentation of the artificial pitch grammar in the exposure phase was temporally either regular or irregular for one of two participant groups. Based on the DAT, it was hypothesized that the regular temporal presentation would favour implicit learning of tone structures in comparison to the irregular temporal presentation. Results demonstrated learning of the artificial grammar for the group with the regular exposure phase and partial learning for the group with the irregular exposure phase. These findings suggest that the regular presentation helps listeners to develop perceptual expectations about the temporal occurrence of future tones and thus facilitates the learning of the artificial pitch grammar.     

Weighing the past and the future in decision making

Prior irreversible investments of money, time, or effort referred to as sunk costs frequently lead to decisions to continue a chosen course of action despite that this is irrational. With the aim of demonstrating that such escalation of commitment is a special case of a more general phenomenon, two experiments were carried out employing undergraduates as participants. Experiment 1 showed for fictitious personal and business investment scenarios that both prior losses and gains (sunk outcomes) affected choices to continue or discontinue the investment. In Experiment 2 the effect of sunk outcomes was reduced although not eliminated by a monetary bonus that in one condition depended on the future outcomes of the second gamble in two-stage gambles, in another condition on the future returns in personal investment scenarios. In support of a more inclusive theory subsuming escalation of commitment, the decisions were affected by both past and future outcomes and both gains and losses.