Not lost in translation: writing auditorily presented words at study increases correct recognition “at no cost”

Previous studies have reported a translation effect in memory, whereby encoding tasks that involve translating between processing domains produce a memory advantage relative to tasks that involve a single domain. We investigated the effects of translation on true and false memories using the Deese/Roediger-McDermott (DRM) procedure [Deese, J. (1959). On the prediction of occurrence of particular verbal intrusions in immediate recall. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 58, 17–22; Roediger, H. L., III, & McDermott, K. B. (1995). Creating false memories: Remembering words not presented in lists. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition, 21, 803–814]. Translation between modalities enhanced correct recognition but had no effect on false recognition. Results are consistent with previous research showing that correct memory can be enhanced “at no cost” in terms of accuracy. Findings are discussed in terms of understanding the relationship between true and false memories produced by the DRM procedure.     

Semantic effects on sensory-motor modality switching

Language processing always involves a combination of sensory (auditory or visual) and motor modalities (vocal or manual). In line with embodied cognition theories, we additionally assume a semantically implied modality (SIM) due to modality references of the underlying concept. Understanding ear-related words (e.g. “noise”), for example, should activate the auditory SIM. In the present study, we investigated the influence of the SIM on sensory-motor modality switching (e.g. switching between the auditory-vocal and visual-manual combination). During modality switching, participants categorised words with regard to their SIM (e.g. ear- versus eye-related words). Overall performance was improved and switch costs were reduced whenever there was concordance between SIMs and sensory-motor modalities (e.g. an auditory presentation of ear-related words). Thus, the present study provides first evidence for semantic effects during sensory-motor modality switching in terms of facilitation effects whenever the SIM was in concordance with sensory-motor modalities.     

Does the testing effect depend on presentation modality?

We examined whether the testing effect generalizes to an auditory presentation modality. Five lists of unrelated words (Experiment 1) and related words (Experiment 2) were presented to participants, half of whom studied them visually and half studied them auditorily. Participants in the study-only condition performed a short distractor task following lists 1–4, whereas those in the testing condition completed a short distractor task and then attempted to recall each list. Both groups were subsequently tested on List 5 and on all five lists 30 min later. In both experiments, we found a testing effect for both List 5 and for the final cumulative recall test. However, the effect did not interact with study modality, despite the fact that proactive interference was greater following auditory study. These results have important implications for educational practice, suggesting that initial testing is important for materials presented in auditory as well as visual formats.     

The influence of different dialysis modalities on the quality of life of patients with end-stage renal disease: A systematic literature review

Objectives: This study aims to generate evidence regarding the relationships of different dialysis modalities with HR-QOL.

Design: A systematic review was conducted to investigate the HR-QOL of patients treated with different dialysis modalities.

Methods: A literature search was conducted for English language articles in the CINAHL, Medline and PubMed databases published from January 1990 through May 2016. Specifically, we sought articles that would compare the HR-QOL of hemodialysis (HD) and peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients in terms of physiological, psychological and social functioning, as well as disease symptoms. Thirty-four articles met the study inclusion criteria and were included into the analysis.

Results: The research results indicated no significant differences in HR-QOL between HD and PD treatment. However, a higher percentage of patients who received PD had a better HR-QOL in terms of physiological, psychological, social and disease symptoms.

Conclusions: Despite the fact that the results of this study showed no difference in HR-QOL between HD and PD treatment, its review of relevant references can serve as a reference for health professionals. However, patients’ conditions must still be taken into account when making suggestions about which dialysis modality a patient should use.     

Inter-individual differences in how presentation modality affects verbal learning performance in children aged 5 to 16

This study examines inter-individual differences in how presentation modality affects verbal learning performance. Children aged 5 to 16 performed a verbal learning test within one of three presentation modalities: pictorial, auditory, or textual. The results indicated that a beneficial effect of pictures exists over auditory and textual presentation modalities and that this effect increases with age. However, this effect is only found if the information to be learned is presented once (or at most twice) and only in children above the age of 7. The results may be explained in terms of single or dual coding of information in which the phonological loop is involved. Development of the (sub)vocal rehearsal system in the phonological loop is believed to be a gradual process that begins developing around the age of 7. The developmental trajectories are similar for boys and girls. Additionally, auditory information and textual information both seemed to be processed in a similar manner, namely without labeling or recoding, leading to single coding. In contrast, pictures are assumed to be processed by the dual coding of both the visual information and a (verbal) labeling of the pictures.     

The effect of a simulated hearing loss on performance of an auditory memory task in driving

Hearing loss has been shown to exacerbate the effect of auditory distraction on driving performance in older drivers. This study controlled for the potentially confounding factor of age-related cognitive decrements, by applying a simulated hearing loss in young, normally hearing individuals. Participants drove a simulated road whilst completing auditory tasks under simulated hearing loss or normal hearing conditions. Measures of vehicle control, eye movements and auditory task performance were recorded. Results showed that performing the auditory tasks whilst driving resulted in more stable lateral vehicle control and a reduction in gaze dispersion around the road centre. These trends were not exacerbated by simulated hearing loss, suggesting no effect of hearing loss on vehicle control or eye movement patterns during auditory task engagement. However, a small effect of simulated hearing loss on the performance of the most complex auditory task was observed during driving, suggesting that the use of sound-based in-vehicle systems may be problematic for hearing impaired individuals. Further research incorporating a wider variety of driving scenarios and auditory tasks is required in order to confirm the findings of this study.     

Subliminal action priming modulates the perceived intensity of sensory action consequences

The sense of control over the consequences of one’s actions depends on predictions about these consequences. According to an influential computational model, consistency between predicted and observed action consequences attenuates perceived stimulus intensity, which might provide a marker of agentic control. An important assumption of this model is that these predictions are generated within the motor system. However, previous studies of sensory attenuation have typically confounded motor-specific perceptual modulation with perceptual effects of stimulus predictability that are not specific to motor action. As a result, these studies cannot unambiguously attribute sensory attenuation to a motor locus. We present a psychophysical experiment on auditory attenuation that avoids this pitfall. Subliminal masked priming of motor actions with compatible prime–target pairs has previously been shown to modulate both reaction times and the explicit feeling of control over action consequences. Here, we demonstrate reduced perceived loudness of tones caused by compatibly primed actions. Importantly, this modulation results from a manipulation of motor processing and is not confounded by stimulus predictability. We discuss our results with respect to theoretical models of the mechanisms underlying sensory attenuation and subliminal motor priming.     

Human hip–ankle coordination emerging from multisensory feedback control

Human sensorimotor control involves inter-segmental coordination to cope with the complexity of a multi-segment system. The combined activation of hip and ankle muscles during upright stance represents the hip–ankle coordination. This study postulates that the coordination emerges from interactions on the sensory levels in the feedback control. The hypothesis was tested in a model-based approach that compared human experimental data with model simulations. Seven subjects were standing with eyes closed on an anterior–posterior tilting motion platform. Postural responses in terms of angular excursions of trunk and legs with respect to vertical were measured and characterized using spectral analysis. The presented control model consists of separate feedback modules for the hip and ankle joints, which exchange sensory information with each other. The feedback modules utilize sensor-derived disturbance estimates rather than ‘raw’ sensory signals. The comparison of the human data with the simulation data revealed close correspondence, suggesting that the model captures important aspects of the human sensory feedback control. For verification, the model was re-embodied in a humanoid robot that was tested in the human laboratory. The findings show that the hip–ankle coordination can be explained by interactions between the feedback control modules of the hip and ankle joints.     

Does visual experience influence the spatial distribution of auditory attention?

Sighted individuals are less accurate and slower to localize sounds coming from the peripheral space than sounds coming from the frontal space. This specific bias in favour of the frontal auditory space seems reduced in early blind individuals, who are particularly better than sighted individuals at localizing sounds coming from the peripheral space. Currently, it is not clear to what extent this bias in the auditory space is a general phenomenon or if it applies only to spatial processing (i.e. sound localization). In our approach we compared the performance of early blind participants with that of sighted subjects during a frequency discrimination task with sounds originating either from frontal or peripheral locations. Results showed that early blind participants discriminated faster than sighted subjects both peripheral and frontal sounds. In addition, sighted subjects were faster at discriminating frontal sounds than peripheral ones, whereas early blind participants showed equal discrimination speed for frontal and peripheral sounds. We conclude that the spatial bias observed in sighted subjects reflects an unbalance in the spatial distribution of auditory attention resources that is induced by visual experience.     

Parallel processing of shape and texture in haptic search

In a haptic search task, one has to determine the presence of a target among distractors. It has been shown that if the target differs from the distractors in two properties, shape and texture, performance is better than in both single-property conditions (Van Polanen, Bergmann Tiest, & Kappers, 2013). The search for a smooth sphere among rough cubical distractors was faster than both the searches for a rough sphere (shape information only) and for a smooth cube (texture information only). This effect was replicated in this study as a baseline. The main focus here was to further investigate the nature of this integration. It was shown that performance is better when the two properties are combined in a single target (smooth sphere), than when located in two separate targets (rough sphere and smooth cube) that are simultaneously present. A race model that assumes independent parallel processing of the two properties could explain the enhanced performance with two properties, but this could only take place effectively when the two properties were located in a single target.