Using continual flash suppression to investigate cognitive aftereffects

In a naming task with visually presented words, Prioli and Kahan (2015) reported that negatively valenced words were identified more slowly than neutral words in a condition with continual flash suppression (CFS), which involves showing the dominant eye changing Mondrian patterns, delaying awareness for the word shown to the other eye. However, when these same words were shown to both eyes (i.e., no CFS), negatively valenced words were identified more quickly. The authors hypothesized that the negative word deficit with CFS reflects greater habituation (i.e., a cognitive aftereffect) that accrues for negative words before the observer becomes aware of the word. However, aftereffects typically occur in response to a target stimulus that follows an adapting stimulus, rather than in response to a single stimulus that is initially processed without awareness. Thus, it is not immediately obvious that the explanation provided by Prioli and Kahan is adequate. Here I report a simulation using a model that was previously applied to cognitive aftereffects, demonstrating that their account can explain this crossover interaction. These results suggest that CFS may be a useful technique for studying cognitive aftereffects without concern for conscious decision strategies.     

A tool for investigating the differential functions of aggressive behavior in the face-to-face and cyber context: Extending the Cyber-Aggression Typology Questionnaire

Aggressive behavior in the face-to-face and cyber contexts is driven by underlying aggression (i.e., functions of aggressive behavior). Common theories of aggression distinguish between reactive (e.g., rage) and proactive (e.g., seeking to achieve power and affiliation) aggression. However, according to the quadripartite violence typology, this distinction conflates aspects of motivational valence with self-regulatory processes. The Cyber-Aggression Typology Questionnaire (CATQ; Runions et al., 2017, Aggress Behav, 43(1), pp. 74–84) overcomes this weakness by identifying four types of cyber-aggression (impulsive-aversive/rage, controlled-aversive/revenge, controlled-appetitive/reward, and impulsive-appetitive/recreation cyber-aggression). However, the CATQ only considers aggression in cyberspace. We extended the CATQ to the face-to-face context by developing a corresponding Face-to-Face Aggression Typology Questionnaire (FATQ). The aim of this study was to investigate factorial and convergent validity and metric measurement invariance between four-factorial cyber and face-to-face aggression. In total, 587 students from six Austrian universities filled out the CATQ, the FATQ, and additional scales during regular university lectures to examine convergent validity. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the four-factor structure of both questionnaires, after excluding inconclusive items from the impulsive-aversive/rage subscale of the FATQ. These items were also removed from the CATQ to obtain two symmetric questionnaires. Metric measurement invariance between the CATQ and the FATQ was confirmed. Convergent validity was largely observed. Our results support an extended four-factor model of aggression. Having two parallel questionnaires, the FATQ and CATQ, enables future studies to investigate commonalities and differences in underlying drivers of aggressive behavior in the cyber and face-to-face contexts.     

Outcome processing and the sense of agency

People can distinguish outcomes they cause from those they do not; that is, they are quite able to sense self-agency in outcomes. A well-received idea is that the sense of agency is produced by a comparison between a predicted outcome and the actual outcome that occurs. While research has generally focused on understanding predictive representations and the comparison process, less work has been done on the actual outcomes and, in particular, how these are perceived or apprehended. Here, we studied this issue. In two experiments, we found outcomes are continuously, as opposed to partially, sampled throughout their span. Specifically, we found that prediction-inconsistent signals embedded within otherwise prediction-consistent outcomes were able to influence agency ratings, and this was true whether the contrary signals were embedded early or late in the outcome.     

A facilitative effect of negative affective valence on working memory

Gotoh, F., Kikuchi, T. &Olofsson, U. (2010). A facilitative effect of negative affective valence on working memory. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 51, 185–191. Previous studies have shown that negatively valenced information impaired working memory performance due to an attention‐capturing effect. The present study examined whether negative valence could also facilitate working memory. Affective words (negative, neutral, positive) were used as retro‐cues in a working memory task that required participants to remember colors at different spatial locations on a computer screen. Following the cue, a target detection task was used to either shift attention to a different location or keep attention at the same location as the retro‐cue. Finally, participants were required to discriminate the cued color from a set of distractors. It was found that negative cues yielded shorter response times (RTs) in the attention‐shift condition and longer RTs in the attention‐stay condition, compared with neutral and positive cues. The results suggest that negative affective valence may enhance working memory performance (RTs), provided that attention can be disengaged.