Hemispheric asymmetries in the activation and monitoring of memory errors

Previous research on the lateralization of memory errors suggests that the right hemisphere's tendency to produce more memory errors than the left hemisphere reflects hemispheric differences in semantic activation. However, all prior research that has examined the lateralization of memory errors has used self-paced recognition judgments. Because activation occurs early in memory retrieval, with more time to make a decision, other memory processes, like strategic monitoring processes, may affect memory errors. By manipulating the time subjects were given to make memory decisions, this study separated the influence of automatic memory processes (activation) from strategic memory processes (monitoring) on the production of false memories. The results indicated that when retrieval was fast, the right hemisphere produced more memory errors than the left hemisphere. However, when retrieval was slow, the left hemisphere's error-proneness increased compared to the fast retrieval condition, while the right hemisphere's error-proneness remained the same. These results suggest that the right hemisphere's errors are largely due to activation, while the left hemisphere's errors are influenced by both activation and monitoring.     

Testing an interactionist perspective on the relationship between personality traits and performance under public pressure

Objectives

The interactionist principle of trait activation [Tett & Gutermann (2000). Situation trait relevance, trait expression, and cross-situational consistency: testing a principle of trait activation. Journal of Research in Personality, 34, 397-423.] explains human behavior through the stimulation of traits by trait-relevant situational cues (i.e., situation-trait relevance). In applied (real-world) high-pressure situations, audiences provide the situational demand of public evaluation. Therefore, traits that are related to public evaluation are appraised as situation-relevant. The purpose of the current study was to test if situation-relevant traits (i.e., narcissism, public self-consciousness) predict performance in applied high-pressure situations, while situation-irrelevant traits (i.e., private self-consciousness) do not contribute to the performance explanation.

Design/Method

Experienced handball players (N = 55) completed personality questionnaires and performed a throwing task in low and high-pressure conditions, whereby the high-pressure condition involved 1500-2000 spectators during halftime breaks of professional handball games.

Results

Findings supported the assumptions about situation-trait relevancies and indicated that narcissism and public self-consciousness were relevant to high-pressure performance (i.e., positively associated), whereas private self-consciousness was found to be irrelevant. No predictors were correlated to low-pressure performance.

Conclusions

Results emphasize that trait activation is a promising explanation for the relevance of personality characteristics to performance under pressure. A systematic consideration of situational demands of high-pressure situations will result in adequate appraisals of situation-trait relevance and help predict performance with trait scores.     

Poly I:C母体免疫刺激诱导的子代精神分裂症神经发育动物模型研究

精神分裂症是一组病因未明的重性精神障碍,其病理生理学机制极其复杂,建立能够确切模拟精神分裂症的动物模型对于其发病机制的研究及抗精神分裂症药物的研发具有十分重要的意义。本文意在介绍产前母体免疫刺激（聚肌胞苷酸聚肌苷酸-聚胞苷酸,poly-I:C）诱导子代出现精神分裂症样的神经发育动物模型,以及该模型对精神分裂症的病因研究、生物学机制及其治疗和药物研发的重要意义。     

发明创造问题解决中的原型位置效应

以科学发明创造问题为实验材料,采用“学习-测试”两阶段实验范式,对发明创造问题解决中的原型位置效应进行探讨,结果发现：（1）原型位置主效应显著,后呈现原型成绩显著优于先呈现原型;（2）原型位置效应受创造性倾向影响,随创造性倾向的提高而显著降低;（3）原型位置效应不受启发量影响,但不同创造性个体受高低启发量影响;（4）发明创造问题解决得分与创造性倾向总分相关显著,二者在原型位置效应上表现相同的效应。     

Timing matters! The neural signature of intuitive judgments differs according to the way information is presented

One can conceive of intuition as the preliminary perception of coherence. Since this requires holistic perception, it is hypothesized that underlying processing strategies are dependent on the possibility to obtain all relevant information at once. The present study used magnetoencephalography (MEG) to investigate neural mechanisms underlying intuitive coherence perception when semantic concepts are presented all together (simultaneously) or one after the other (sequentially). With simultaneous presentation, absolute activation increases in the left OFC when participants recognize coherence. With sequential presentation activation increases in the right OFC when participants conclude that there is no common associate between the words presented. Behavioral performance was similar in the two experiments. These results demonstrate that the way information is revealed over time changes the processing of intuitive coherence perception. We propose that such changes must be taken into account to disentangle the neural and behavioral mechanisms underlying different accounts of intuition and related phenomena.     

Relevance theory,pragmatic inference and cognitive architecture

Relevance Theory (RT) argues that human language comprehension processes tend to maximize “relevance,” and postulates that there is a relevance-based procedure that a hearer follows when trying to understand an utterance. Despite being highly influential, RT has been criticized for its failure to explain how speaker-related information, either the speaker’s abilities or her/his preferences, is incorporated into the hearer’s inferential, pragmatic process. An alternative proposal is that speaker-related information gains prominence due to representation of the speaker within higher level goal-directed schemata. Yet the goal-based account is still unable to explain clearly how cross-domain information, for example linguistic meaning and speaker-related knowledge, is integrated within a modular system. On the basis of RT’s cognitive requirements, together with contemporary cognitive theory, we argue that this integration is realized by utilizing working memory and that there exist conversational constraints with which the constructed utterance interpretation should be consistent. We illustrate our arguments with a computational implementation of the proposed processes within a general cognitive architecture.

Abbreviations: ACT-R Adaptive Control of Thought - RationalCOGENT Cognitive Objects within a Graphical ENvironmenTCS/SS Contention Scheduling/Supervisory SystemRBCP Relevance-Based Comprehension ProcedureRT Relevance Theory     

How does parallel language activation affect switch costs during trilingual language comprehension?

ABSTRACT

Declerck, M., Koch, I., Duñabeitia, J., Grainger, J., & Denise, N. [(2019). What absent switch costs and mixing costs during bilingual language comprehension can tell us about language control? Journal of Experimental Psychology Human Perception & Performance.] assumed that the absence of switch costs in bilingual language comprehension may be due to little degree of parallel language activation while substantial degree of it may lead to switch costs. This study tested this assumption by examining the switch costs during Russian-English-Chinese trilinguals’ performing lexical decision tasks in language pairs of L1–L2 in Experiment 1a, L1–L3 in Experiment 1b and L2–L3 in Experiment 1c. We found switch costs in L2 in Experiment 1a and switch costs in both L1 and L3 in Experiment 1b, but no switch costs in both L2 and L3 in Experiment 1c. These results generally provided evidence for the account.     

Investigating intellect from a trait activation perspective: Identification of situational moderators for the correlation with work-related criteria

We applied trait activation theory to investigate the situational properties that moderate the correlation of intellect, a sub-dimension of the Big Five factor openness to experience, with work-related criteria. We collected data from a sample of 185 employees from diverse organizations and positions. Results from moderated hierarchical regression analyses revealed that perceived situational properties at the task level moderated the correlation between intellect and job performance. Additionally, correlations between intellect and organizational commitment were moderated at task and organizational levels. This study shows how trait activation theory can be utilized to investigate the situational properties moderating the correlation of personality variables with external criteria. Implications for applied purposes are discussed.