The semantic red effect: Processing the word red undermines intellectual performance

Recent research has shown that a two second glimpse of color can have an important influence on affect, cognition, and behavior. The present research examined whether perceiving color is necessary to produce an effect on psychological functioning or whether the mere act of processing a color word might be sufficient. Specifically, four experiments tested the hypothesis that processing the word red undermines intellectual performance, much like actually perceiving the color red. Supportive data were obtained with three different types of subtle manipulation, with three different types of control words, and on two different types of IQ test performance. Worry, but not mood or general arousal, was shown to mediate the semantic red effect, which appears to take place outside of individuals’ awareness. The theoretical and practical implications of the results are discussed.     

Multitimescale dynamical interactions between speech rhythm and gesture

Temporal patterns in human movement, and in speech in particular, occur on multiple timescales. Regularities in such patterns have been observed between speech gestures, which are relatively quick movements of articulators (e.g., tongue fronting and lip protrusion), and also between rhythmic units (e.g., syllables and metrical feet), which occur more slowly. Previous work has shown that patterns in both domains can be usefully modeled with oscillatory dynamical systems. To investigate how rhythmic and gestural domains interact, an experiment was conducted in which speakers performed a phrase repetition task, and gestural kinematics were recorded using electromagnetic articulometry. Variance in relative timing of gestural movements was correlated with variance in rhythmic timing, indicating that gestural and rhythmic systems interact in the process of planning and producing speech. A model of rhythmic and gestural planning oscillators with multifrequency coupling is presented, which can simulate the observed covariability between rhythmic and gestural timing.     

Similar Processes Despite Divergent Behavior in Two Commonly Used Measures of Risky Decision Making

Performance on complex decision-making tasks may depend on a multitude of processes. Two such tasks, the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) and Balloon Analog Risk Task (BART), are of particular interest because they are associated with real world risky behavior, including illegal drug use. We used cognitive models to disentangle underlying processes in both tasks. Whereas behavioral measures from the IGT and BART were uncorrelated, cognitive models revealed two reliable cross-task associations. Results suggest that the tasks similarly measure loss aversion and decision-consistency processes, but not necessarily the same learning process. Additionally, substance-using individuals (and especially stimulant users) performed worse on the IGT than healthy controls did, and this pattern could be explained by reduced decision consistency.     

中国人人际情感的差序格局关系:来自EAST的证据

本研究采用外部情感西蒙任务(EAST),以36名大学生为被试对自我词及亲人、熟人、陌生人三种人际关系词与积极情感和消极情感的关系进行探究,从而检验个体对自我和不同人际关系对象的情感是否存在差序格局的表现形式。结果显示,在EAST中,对自我词和亲人词作积极反应比作消极反应时间更短;对陌生人词作消极反应比作积极反应时间更短;对熟人词作积极反应和消极反应的时间差异不明显。并且,自我词的EAST效应值最大,接着依次是亲人词和熟人词;陌生人词的EAST效应值为负值。表明了在个体的认知图式中,对自我、亲人持有积极的情感,而对陌生人持有消极的情感,对熟人情感偏向不明显;且不同人际关系在情感的联结强度上表现出差序格局的形式。     

Cognitive reference points in judgments of symbolic magnitude

Research on speeded symbolic magnitude comparisons indicates that decisions are made more quickly when the magnitudes of the stimuli being compared are relatively close to an explicit or implicit reference point. Alternative explanations of this phenomenon are tested by seeking similar effects in nonspeeded rating tasks. In accord with the predictions of discriminability models, rated magnitude differences between stimuli in the vicinity of a reference point are expanded relative to differences between stimuli far from it. The inferred locations of cities along a west-east axis varies systematically depending on which coast, Pacific or Atlantic, is specified as the reference point. Scales derived from the rating data are correlated with the pattern of reaction times obtained in a comparable speeded comparison task. In addition, the distance between the cities nearest the locale of our subjects is subjectively stretched. Reference point effects are also observed when the form of the comparative specifies an implicit reference point at either end of a continuum of subjective size; however, these effects are very small and do not clearly support a discriminability interpretation. Stronger evidence for discriminability effects is obtained when an explicit reference point is established at an arbitrary size value. An implicit scaling model, related to range-frequency theory, is proposed to account for the influence of reference points on relative discriminability of stimulus magnitudes. The implicit scaling model is used to develop an account of how symbolic magnitudes may be learned and of how habitual reference points can produce asymmetries in distance judgments.     

Schema induction and analogical transfer

An analysis of the process of analogical thinking predicts that analogies will be noticed on the basis of semantic retrieval cues and that the induction of a general schema from concrete analogs will facilitate analogical transfer. These predictions were tested in experiments in which subjects first read one or more stories illustrating problems and their solutions and then attempted to solve a disparate but analogous transfer problem. The studies in Part I attempted to foster the abstraction of a problem schema from a single story analog by means of summarization instructions, a verbal statement of the underlying principle, or a diagrammatic representation of it. None of these devices achieved a notable degree of sucess. In contrast, the experiments in Part II demonstrated that if two prior analogs were given, subjects often derived a problem schema as an incidental product of describing the similarities of the analogs. The quality of the induced schema was highly predictive of subsequent transfer performance. Furthermore, the verbal statements and diagrams that had failed to facilitate transfer from one analog proved highly beneficial when paired with two. The function of examples in learning was discussed in light of the present study.     

Development of Sustained Attention Assessed Using the Continuous Performance Test among Children 6–15 Years of Age

The Continuous Performance Test (CPT) is a widely used measure of sustained attention, which may rely on the efficiency of cognitive inhibition. We examined the relationships of age and sex with CPT performance among 341 randomly selected school children 6–15 years of age. Multiple regression analyses revealed that the hit rate, false alarm rate, and sensitivity of both the undegraded and the degraded CPT were associated with age by a quadratic relationship. The age–development curves for the hit rate and sensitivity were convex, whereas that for the false alarm rate was concave. Sex was associated with the hit rate and sensitivity on the degraded CPT only. Our findings are consistent with the hypothesis that sustained attention develops during the primary school ages. The data reported are essential for identifying children with conditions associated with sustained attention deficit, such as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, as well as those at an increased risk for developing schizophrenia.     

Decomposing the reaction time distribution: Pure insertion and selective influence revisited

This paper investigates the consequences of extending the assumptions of pure insertion and selective influence (popular in RT theorizing) to the level of the distribution. In the case of pure insertion and under the additional assumption that the additive random variable is exponentially distributed, a solution is obtained which not only allows estimation of the exponential-rate parameter but also provides a test of the assumptions. The result is shown to be applicable not only when processing is serial but also for certain parallel models. In addition, discrimination between self-terminating and exhaustive search strategies is provided, and in the case of either, both parameter estimation and tests of the model are possible. Extensions to nonexponential models are investigated and a general method of moments solution is outlined. In the case of selective influence a general nonparametric alternative to Sternberg's additive factor method is developed. The problem of empirical estimation and application is then considered. Simulations which place bounds on the type I and II error are reported. Finally the first theorem is provided an illustrative application with data from a memory scanning experiment. The results provide some support for the double assumption of pure insertion and that the additive random variable is distributed exponentially.     

Twin study of laboratory-induced aggression

The aim of this study was to explore genetic and environmental contributions to laboratory-induced aggressive behavior. On a sample of 478 adult twins (316 monozygotic), the Competitive Reaction Time Task was used for aggression induction. The results showed that the initial, basic level of aggression could be explained by both shared (45%) and nonshared environmental factors (55%), while only nonshared environmental factors (100%) had a significant influence on changes in aggression as provocation increased. Genetic factors had no influence on laboratory-induced aggression. The results highlight the importance of environmental factors in shaping situation-specific aggressive responses to provocation.     

Why did Tiger Woods shoot 82? A commentary on

In a recent article, Toner and Moran (2015) argued that athletes need to pay conscious attention to body movements, and that an external focus of attention would not be effective for continued improvement at the elite level. Their arguments appear to be based on misunderstandings of the attentional focus literature. In this commentary, I clarify that adopting an external focus does not imply that performers are not aware of their body movements. Rather, an external focus (i.e., focusing attention of the intended movement effect) refers to the preparation of movement execution. I maintain that an external focus is necessary to optimize performance and learning at any level of performance.