High working memory load leads to more Ebbinghaus illusion

The evidence that distractor processing increases with greater load on working memory has come mainly from Stroop-type interference tasks, making it difficult to establish whether cognitive load affects distractor processing at the perceptual level or during response selection. We measured the Ebbinghaus illusion under varying levels of working memory load to test whether cognitive control is also relevant for preventing processing of distractors that do not produce any response conflict, and instead affect target processing at the perceptual level. The Ebbinghaus illusion was greater under high working memory load, suggesting that availability of cognitive control functions is critical to reduce distractor processing even for distractors that are not associated with a response. We conclude that the effect of loading working memory during selective attention leads to greater distractor perception.     

Dissociating electrophysiological correlates of subjective,objective, and correct memory in investigating the emotion-induced recognition bias

Performance on tasks requiring discrimination of at least two stimuli can be viewed either from an objective perspective (referring to actual stimulus differences), or from a subjective perspective (corresponding to participant’s responses). Using event-related potentials recorded during an old/new recognition memory test involving emotionally laden and neutral words studied either blockwise or randomly intermixed, we show here how the objective perspective (old versus new items) yields late effects of blockwise emotional item presentation at parietal sites that the subjective perspective fails to find, whereas the subjective perspective (“old” versus “new” responses) is more sensitive to early effects of emotion at anterior sites than the objective perspective. Our results demonstrate the potential advantage of dissociating the subjective and the objective perspective onto task performance (in addition to analyzing trials with correct responses), especially for investigations of illusions and information processing biases, in behavioral and cognitive neuroscience studies.     

Visual enhancement of touch and the bodily self

We experience our own body through both touch and vision. We further see that others’ bodies are similar to our own body, but we have no direct experience of touch on others’ bodies. Therefore, relations between vision and touch are important for the sense of self and for mental representation of one’s own body. For example, seeing the hand improves tactile acuity on the hand, compared to seeing a non-hand object. While several studies have demonstrated this visual enhancement of touch (VET) effect, its relation to the ‘bodily self’, or mental representation of one’s own body remains unclear. We examined whether VET is an effect of seeing a hand, or of seeing my hand, using the rubber hand illusion. In this illusion, a prosthetic hand which is brushed synchronously—but not asynchronously—with one’s own hand is felt to actually be one’s hand. Thus, we manipulated whether or not participants felt like they were looking directly at their hand, while holding the actual stimulus they viewed constant. Tactile acuity was measured by having participants judge the orientation of square-wave gratings. Two characteristic effects of VET were observed: (1) cross-modal enhancement from seeing the hand was inversely related to overall tactile acuity, and (2) participants near sensory threshold showed significant improvement following synchronous stroking, compared to asynchronous stroking or no stroking at all. These results demonstrate a clear functional relation between the bodily self and basic tactile perception.     

双加工发展理论新探——兼及中国一古老推理错觉的跨年级特征

为了检验双加工发展理论及了解中国一古老推理错觉问题的发展特征,从小学五年级至大学二年级各个阶段选取被试385名,对该古老推理错觉及其改良版问题的发展特征进行了调查。结果发现：（1）该古老推理错觉问题及其改良版问题的趋势对比有力的支持了双加工发展理论; （2）从小学五年级始,财会关系推理错觉即存在,表现出跨年级的发展特征。     

十文钱问题再探

本研究设计了三个实验,探讨了被试在经典的十文钱问题以及与其异质同构的组团旅游问题中的推理情况。实验1通过调查法发现,被试在十文钱异质同构问题中表现出了与十文钱问题同样高的错误率,属于推理错觉问题。在此基础上,实验二、三就其推理错误的可能原因进行了实证探究,结果发现：（1）题目表面特征的弱化能显著提高被试的推理成绩。（2）批判性思维意识与批判性思维技巧的线索提示能显著提高被试的推理成绩。     

Ponzo错觉解释的合理性：倾斜恒常性理论的局限

倾斜恒常性理论是一种新的解释Ponzo错觉的理论,但是似乎存在一些局限。本研究采用调节法通过两个实验考察了四种Ponzo错觉版本在各种条件(视角和水平线段间距)下的错觉量情况,以此来检验倾斜恒常性理论。实验一中,对称Ponzo错觉变异版本在50mm时的错觉量情况和Prinzmetal(2001)的结果相似,但是在85mm和120mm时得到了较多的错觉量,这和倾斜恒常性理论的理论预期不符。实验二对不对称Ponzo错觉的考察得到了和实验一类似的结果,只有50mm时的情形符合倾斜恒常性理论预期。通过以上实验得到水平线间距和视角因素都是产生Ponzo错觉的重要因素,而倾斜恒常性理论过分强调了背景线的倾斜诱导效应,忽略了其他结构因素对Ponzo错觉的影响,所以倾斜恒常性理论具有一定的局限性,不能有效地解释Ponzo错觉的产生机制。     

The rubber hand illusion in a mirror

In the rubber hand illusion (RHI) one’s hand is hidden, and a fake hand is visible. We explored the situation in which visual information was available indirectly in a mirror. In the mirror condition, compared to the standard condition (fake hand visible directly), we found no reduction of the RHI following synchronised stimulation, as measured by crossmanual pointing and by a questionnaire. We replicated the finding with a smaller mirror that prevented visibility of the face. The RHI was eliminated when a wooden block replaced the fake hand, or when the hand belonged to another person or mannequin. We conclude that awareness of the reflection is the critical variable, despite the distant visual localisation of the hand in a mirror and the third-person perspective. Stimuli seen in a mirror activate the same response as stimuli seen in peripersonal space, through knowledge that they are near one’s body.     

学习困难与一般初中生过度自信特点的比较

采用比较研究的实验范式,从偏离校准、优于常人、控制错觉和过分乐观三个效应上比较学习困难初中生和一般初中生的过度自信特点。结果显示:(1)在"偏离校准"效应上,学习困难初中生在困难任务中和学习一般初中生同样存在过度自信的认知偏差,但在简单任务中则存在不自信。(2)在"优于常人"效应上,学习困难初中生和学习一般初中生都存在过度自信的认知偏差。简单任务中,他们认为自己"优于常人",而困难任务中,他们认为自己"差于常人"。(3)在"控制错觉和过分乐观"效应上,学习困难初中生和学习一般初中生都存在过度自信的认知偏差。男生比女生的过度自信程度更大。     

Detection of visual-tactile contingency in the first year after birth

It is well documented that in the first year after birth, infants are able to identify self-performed actions. This ability has been regarded as the basis of conscious self-perception. However, it is not yet known whether infants are also sensitive to aspects of the self when they cannot control the sensory feedback by means of self-performed actions. Therefore, we investigated the contribution of visual–tactile contingency to self-perception in infants. In Experiment 1, 7- and 10-month-olds were presented with two video displays of lifelike baby doll legs. The infant’s left leg was stroked contingently with only one of the video displays. The results showed that 7- and 10-month-olds looked significantly longer at the contingent display than at the non-contingent display. Experiment 2 was conducted to investigate the role of morphological characteristics in contingency detection. Ten-month-olds were presented with video displays of two neutral objects (i.e., oblong wooden blocks of approximately the same size as the doll legs) being stroked in the same way as in Experiment 1. No preference was found for either the contingent or the non-contingent display but our results confirm a significant decrease in looking time to the contingent display compared to Experiment 1. These results indicate that detection of visual–tactile contingency as one important aspect of self-perception is present very early in ontogeny. Furthermore, this ability appears to be limited to the perception of objects that strongly resemble the infant’s body, suggesting an early sensitivity to the morphology of one’s own body.     

Role of stiffness in weight perception

Abstract:  Here, we focused on a load-on task to clarify the judgment mechanism for weight perception. We measured hand trajectory and surface electromyography to estimate time-varying stiffness and torque patterns in joints. Our results showed that the goal of learning motor skills under load-on tasks is to maintain the hand position, and that humans produce force with cocontraction and increasing stiffness levels according to the weight of an object. Finally, we examined whether stiffness is an effective parameter as an efferent signal for weight perception and found that stiffness plays an important role in weight perception.