Single landmark learning in rats: Sex differences in a navigation task

In Experiments 1 and 2, rats were trained in a Morris pool to find a hidden platform located some distance away from a single landmark. Males learned to swim to the platform faster than females, but on test trials without the platform, males, unlike females, spent less time in the platform quadrant of the pool in the second half of each test trial than in the first. They also showed greater persistence in searching in the platform quadrant over a series of extinction trials. In Experiments 3a and 3b, the problem was made easier by locating the platform closer to the solitary landmark. Now males and females learned to swim to the platform equally rapidly, and both stopped searching in the platform quadrant in the second half of each test trial. Experiment 4 ruled out the possibility that males´ shorter latencies to find the platform in Experiment 2 were due to their swimming faster than females.     

Comments on “Getting scarred and winning lotteries: Effects of exemplar cuing and statistical format on imagining low‐probability events,” By Newell,Mitchell, and Hayes (2008)

Newell, Mitchell, and Hayes (NMH) conduct three experiments designed to test whether exemplar cuing (EC) theory or a statistical format theory provides a more accurate account for how people make judgments about low‐probability events. They report finding support for the statistical format theory and little or no support for EC. However, NMH misstate the requirements for the production of exemplars in EC theory. As a result, they confuse non‐exemplar conditions with exemplar conditions in their experiments, and find results that are virtually irrelevant to EC theory. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

媒体多任务经验对不同注意模式下内隐记忆的影响

本研究采用经典背景线索范式,在分布式注意（限制眼动）和集中式注意（自由观看）两种模式下考察不同媒体多任务经验者的内隐记忆表现。实验1要求被试在学习阶段自由观看场景并搜索目标,在测试阶段限制眼动并使用外周视野搜索目标。实验2将学习、测试阶段的注意模式反转。结果发现,高媒体多任务经验者在两种注意模式下均表现出背景线索效应;低媒体多任务经验者仅在集中式注意模式下表现出背景线索效应。结果表明,高媒体多任务经验者在分布式注意模式下存在一定的内隐记忆优势。     

Memory retrieval as a self-propagating process

Retrieval of a subset of studied items and the presentation of those items as retrieval cues typically impair retrieval of the other items. Previous research on this self-limiting property of memory retrieval has relied heavily on short retention intervals and similar context between encoding and test. Here, we examined retrieval dynamics also after a prolonged retention interval with different spatial and social context between encoding and test, conditions that mimic people’s remembering in many situations of daily life. For both unrelated word lists and more integrated prose material, we found retrieval and cuing to impair recall of other studied items after a short retention interval, but to improve recall in the prolonged retention interval condition. The results demonstrate that retrieval dynamics depend critically on situation, indicating that quite often in daily life, retrieval may be a self-propagating, rather than a self-limiting process.     

部分线索效应的认知抑制过程:情绪Stroop任务证据

采用部分线索效应经典范式与情绪Stroop任务相结合的范式,采取更为敏感的指标,对部分线索效应的认知抑制进程进行了考察,同时为提取抑制假说提供证据。结果发现,部分线索呈现后进行情绪Stroop任务,部分线索组反应时显著短于自由回忆组,提取结束后进行情绪Stroop任务,部分线索组和自由回忆组反应时差异不显著,提取未完成时,部分线索组反应时显著短于自由回忆组。结果提示,在以情绪词为实验材料的部分线索效应中,抑制在部分线索呈现之后即发生,提取未完成时,抑制持续存在,研究结果支持提取抑制假说,同时也对提取抑制假说做了一定补充,即抑制的持续时间受随后是否有提取任务调节。     

Part-List Cuing of Associative Chains: Tests of Strategy Disruption

Three experiments assess the veracity of the strategy disruption explanation of part-list cuing impairment. Experiment 1 demonstrated no mnemonic detriment in recall as a result of significant disruption of the participants' self-selected forward associative seriation retrieval strategy. Experiment 2 replicated Experiment 1 while reducing overall performance levels in an attempt to reveal any possible detrimental effects. Experiment 3 ruled out 2 possible alternative explanations by demonstrating the typical part-list cuing impairment within this experimental context. It is concluded that the results challenge a strict version of the strategy disruption hypothesis.     

任务难度与部分线索效应

部分线索效应是指在学习一个词表后,呈现已学项目中的一部分作为回忆线索去回忆其他项目时,回忆效果反而不如没有线索组的效果好。研究通过三个实验探讨了不同任务难度的部分线索效应。结果表明：（1）在中文词表记忆中存在部分线索效应;（2）随着学习材料难度的提高由部分线索造成的提取成绩的削减量降低。这一研究结果支持了部分线索效应的策略破坏假说。     

Subliminal spatial cues capture attention and strengthen between-object link

According to the spreading hypothesis of object-based attention, a subliminal cue that can successfully capture attention to a location within an object should also cause attention to spread throughout the whole cued object and lead to the same-object advantage. Instead, we propose that a subliminal cue favors shifts of attention between objects and strengthens the between-object link, which is coded primarily within the dorsal pathway that governs the visual guidance of action. By adopting the two-rectangle method and using an effective subliminal cue to compare with the classic suprathreshold cue, we found a different result pattern with suprathreshold cues than with subliminal cues. The suprathreshold cue replicated the conventional location and object effects, whereas a subliminal cue led to a different-object advantage with a facilitatory location effect and a same-object advantage with an inhibitory location effect. These results support our consciousness-dependent shifting hypothesis but not the spreading hypothesis.     

基于气味的自传体记忆提取时间分析

为检验普鲁斯特效应提取是否存在气味辨别确定的决策阶段,在实验一和实验二中分别以气味、气味词和不同辨认度的气味为线索,设置干扰任务,考察自传体记忆基于气味线索回忆的提取时间差异。实验一发现,语词标签和气味不一致条件,自传体记忆提取时间出现干扰效应,而气味一致条件未出现。实验二发现,难、易辨认度气味均有干扰效应。表明普鲁斯特效应提取存在气味辨别确定的决策阶段,它是气味本身和气味辨别确定所激活的气味语义表征促进了自传体记忆提取的“双加工”机制。     

工作记忆中的部分线索效应:任务呈现方式的影响

以往研究主要在长时记忆中考察部分线索效应,很少关注工作记忆中的部分线索效应及其作用机制。本研究采用项目再认任务,考察了工作记忆中提供部分学习项目作为提取线索,对存储在工作记忆中的已有表征的影响。结果发现：有、无部分线索试次分组呈现时,相较于无部分线索条件,有部分线索条件下再认正确率和d'降低,β升高,反应时间延长;有、无部分线索试次随机混合呈现时,有部分线索条件下再认正确率降低,β升高,但反应时间并无显著延长。结果表明：工作记忆中部分线索的提供降低了目标项目的表征强度;研究结果可用提取抑制假说解释,但工作记忆中部分线索的作用可能受注意资源有限性制约。