Planning Beyond the Next Trial in Adaptive Experiments: A Dynamic Programming Approach

Experimentation is at the heart of scientific inquiry. In the behavioral and neural sciences, where only a limited number of observations can often be made, it is ideal to design an experiment that leads to the rapid accumulation of information about the phenomenon under study. Adaptive experimentation has the potential to accelerate scientific progress by maximizing inferential gain in such research settings. To date, most adaptive experiments have relied on myopic, one‐step‐ahead strategies in which the stimulus on each trial is selected to maximize inference on the next trial only. A lingering question in the field has been how much additional benefit would be gained by optimizing beyond the next trial. A range of technical challenges has prevented this important question from being addressed adequately. This study applies dynamic programming (DP), a technique applicable for such full‐horizon, “global” optimization, to model‐based perceptual threshold estimation, a domain that has been a major beneficiary of adaptive methods. The results provide insight into conditions that will benefit from optimizing beyond the next trial. Implications for the use of adaptive methods in cognitive science are discussed.     

Perceptual and positional saliencies influence children’s sequence learning differently with age and instructions at test

There is growing evidence that, faced with a complex environment, participants subdivide the incoming information into small perceptual units, called chunks. Although statistical properties have been identified as playing a key role in chunking, we wanted to determine whether perceptual (repetitions) and positional (initial units) features might provide immediate guidance for the parsing of information into chunks. Children aged 5 and 8 years were exposed to sequences of 3, 4, or 5 colours. Sequence learning was assessed either through an explicit generation test (Experiment 1) or through a recognition test (Experiment 2). Experiment 1 showed that perceptual and positional saliencies benefited learning and that sensitivity to repetitions was age dependent and permitted the formation of longer chunks (trigrams) in the oldest children. Experiment 2 suggested that children became sensitive to perceptual and positional saliencies regardless of age and that the both types of saliencies supported the formation of longer chunks in the oldest children. The discussion focuses on the multiple factors intervening in sequence learning and their differential effects as a function of the instructions used at test to assess sequence learning.     

特征注意的全局性调制作用——增强还是抑制?

特征注意(feature-based attention)是个体根据特定的特征维度或特征值分配视觉注意资源的能力。在注意焦点内, 特征注意会增强对注意特征具有反应选择性的神经元活动, 并抑制对干扰特征具有反应选择性的神经元活动。大量研究表明, 特征注意的调制作用可以扩散到注意焦点以外, 具有全局性的特点, 但这种全局性调制作用是增强机制还是抑制机制仍然存在争议。这可能是由于两种机制在时间进程等属性上存在差异, 在视觉信息加工中可能扮演着不同角色。相对而言, 全局性抑制作用可能更易受实验设计和实验参数的影响。后续研究应该探究全局性抑制机制在什么条件下发挥作用, 以及进一步对全局性的增强机制和抑制机制进行分离。     

Effects of cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression on daily work-related outcomes: Comparison between younger and older Chinese workers

The existing models of emotion regulation (ER) do not make any specific prediction about the differential effects of the same ER strategy among individuals of different ages. However, such assumption may not be necessarily true, given that older adults emphasise emotional goals greater than their younger counterparts. Using a daily diary approach, this study investigated whether the effects of cognitive reappraisal (CR) and expressive suppression (ES) on daily work-related outcomes would vary by age when individuals were experiencing negative events at work. A total of 141 Chinese managerial employees (M_age = 42.40, SD = 9.16) completed the diary report for 15 consecutive workdays by recording their daily work experiences. The results of the multilevel analyses showed that age moderated the effects of ES on daily negative emotions, perceived work stress, and job satisfaction. More beneficial effects were observed among older workers than among younger workers. By contrast, the use of CR significantly lowered the levels of negative emotions and perceived work stress for both younger and older workers. These findings revealed the importance of considering the role of age in evaluating the effects of ES on work-related outcomes, which provides important implications for future research and training programs in ER.     

When more is less: feedback effects in perceptual category learning

Rule-based and information-integration category learning were compared under minimal and full feedback conditions. Rule-based category structures are those for which the optimal rule is verbalizable. Information-integration category structures are those for which the optimal rule is not verbalizable. With minimal feedback subjects are told whether their response was correct or incorrect, but are not informed of the correct category assignment. With full feedback subjects are informed of the correctness of their response and are also informed of the correct category assignment. An examination of the distinct neural circuits that subserve rule-based and information-integration category learning leads to the counterintuitive prediction that full feedback should facilitate rule-based learning but should also hinder information-integration learning. This prediction was supported in the experiment reported below. The implications of these results for theories of learning are discussed.     

Evaluating the role of contingency in differentially reinforced tic suppression

The current study evaluated the effects of tokens delivered on differential reinforcement of zero-rate behavior (DRO) schedules or noncontingently on tic suppression in 4 children with tics. Tic frequency was lower in 3 of 4 children when tokens were delivered contingent on the absence of tics than when tokens were delivered noncontingently.     

Interpreting ambiguous stimuli: Separating perceptual and judgmental biases

Interpreting ambiguous situations is not a purely data-driven process but can be biased towards positive interpretations by top-down influences. The present study tries to identify the underlying processes of these top-down influences. There are two separable types of processes that can be influenced by motivational biases: A perceptual bias affects information uptake whereas a judgmental bias affects acceptance criteria for positive and negative outcomes. In the present study, motivated influences on perception and judgment were investigated with a simple color discrimination task in which ambiguous stimuli had to be classified according to their dominating color. One of two colors indicated a financial gain or a loss, whereas a third color was neutral. To separate perceptual and judgmental biases, Ratcliff’s [Ratcliff, R. (1978). A theory of memory retrieval. Psychological Review, 85, 59–108] diffusion model was employed. Results revealed motivational influences on perception and judgment.     

When experienced regret refuses to fade: Regrets of action and attempting to forget open life regrets

The emotional experience of regret often persists rather then fading over time. The present experiment with 101 student participants investigated whether recollecting life regrets of action, construing life regrets as psychologically open, or attempting to forget versus remember regret-related thoughts interfered with the fading of affect over a two-week interval. Results showed that regrets of action failed to show a fading affect pattern. In addition, disappointment failed to fade for regrets of inaction construed as open. Experienced regret failed to fade for regrets construed as open followed by attempts to forget regret-related thoughts. Intrusive and avoidant thoughts co-occurred with the latter disruptions in fading affect. Discussion concerns the causal relationship of memory and fading affect, and the different processes underlying fading of affect for discrete emotions.     

Is implicit learning perceptually inflexible? New evidence using a simple cued reaction-time task

Considerable research has been devoted to investigating learning without awareness. Burke and Roodenrys [Burke, D., & Roodenrys, S. (2000). Implicit learning in a simple cued reaction-time task. Learning and Motivation 31, 364–380] developed a simple learning task in which a cue shape predicts the arrival of a target shape (to which subjects respond) in a sequence of rapidly presented shapes, and found that all subjects responded faster to cued targets than to uncued targets, even those classified as unaware of the cue–target relationship. Two experiments were conducted to examine the perceptual flexibility of implicit (and explicit) learning using the paradigm developed by Burke and Roodenrys (2000). Perceptual flexibility was examined by altering the perceptual features of the cue shape. The results of the first experiment indicated the implicit, but not explicit, learning that occurs in this paradigm is perceptually inflexible. However, the second experiment indicated that perceptually flexible implicit learning can be encouraged by varying the nature of the experimental stimuli. These experiments therefore provide support for processing accounts of transfer.     

Investigation of the indulgence cycles hypothesis of suppression on experimentally induced visual intrusions in dysphoria

Within the thought control literature, Wegner [(1989). White bears and other unwanted thoughts: Suppression, obsession, and the psychology of mental control. New York, NY, USA: Penguin Press.] referred to the combined initial suppression and expression phases of thought control as an indulgence cycle which results in the rebound effect typically observed in suppression studies. According to Ironic Process Theory [Wegner, (1994). Ironic processes of mental control. Psychological Review, 101, 34-52.], this rebound leads to further attempts to suppress that are difficult due to the target thought's hyperaccessibility, resulting in a secondary rebound effect owing to a positive feedback system of indulgence cycles. The current study investigated (i) the effects of repeated suppression and opportunities for expression by using a method to index the frequency, duration, and associated levels of distress of an experimentally induced visual intrusion, and (ii) whether any observed effects were differentially linked to depressive symptomatology in an analogue sample of low and high dysphoric participants. Results supported a secondary rebound effect in those participants most successful at suppressing target intrusions. The findings offer an important extension to the emerging literature on the management of intrusive memories in depression.