Processing time predictions of current models of perception in the classic additive factors paradigm

This article explores the consequences for factorial additivity in a Sternberg [(1969). The discovery of processing stages: Extensions of donders method In: W.G. Koster (Ed.), Attention and performance II, Acta Psychologica, 30, 276-315] additive-factors paradigm of the assumptions adopted by models of perception that relate the representation of a stimulus to decision time. Three example models, signal detection theory with the latency-distance hypothesis, stochastic general recognition theory, and a random walk model of exemplar classification, are interrogated to determine what type of interaction they predict factors will yield in a hypothetical factorial (choice) reaction time experiment in which the ‘empirical’ factors’ effects are manifest as parameter changes. All frameworks make the critical assumption that decision time depends on the perceptual representation of the stimulus as well as the architecture. As a consequence, nonadditivity of factors thought to affect different “stages” in the classical approach emerges within the current modeling approach. The nature of this influence is revealed through analytic investigations and simulation. Earlier empirical findings of failures of selective influence that have defied adequate explanation are reinterpreted in light of the present findings.     

Effects of time pressure on strategy selection and strategy execution in forced choice tests

We examined the effects of cognitive load on the strategy selection in the forced choice test (FCT) when used to detect hidden crime knowledge. Examinees (N = 120) with and without concealed knowledge from a mock crime were subjected to an FCT either under standard circumstances or cognitive load. Cognitive load was implemented through time pressure. The FCT distinguished examinees with concealed knowledge from those without better than chance in both conditions, but the counterstrategies did not differ between conditions. Further investigation revealed that time pressure did affect examinees' ability to follow their intended counterstrategy to produce randomized test patterns, which constitutes an effective counterstrategy in the FCT. Hence, time pressure lowered the success rate of effective counterstrategies, but not their incident rates. Further disambiguation of various cognitive load manipulations and their effects on strategy selection and execution is needed.     

Three‐factor structure and psychometric properties of Witte's Risk Behaviour Diagnosis Scale: A French version adapted to diabetes

The aim of this study was to verify the psychometric properties and the factorial structure of Witte's Risk Behaviour Diagnosis (RBD). This article shows the results of a French version of the RBD adapted to diabetes screening. An exploratory factor analysis was carried out in order to understand the number of underlying factors, a confirmatory factor analysis was performed and the four‐factor model proposed by the author and alternative models were compared. The concurrent validity was tested by a correlational analysis with the Perceived Fear Emotions Scale. The results confirmed a stable factor structure for the 12‐item version, with three factors reflecting total efficacy, severity of and susceptibility to threat. The value of having a psychometrically valid instrument to assess the impact of fear appeal‐based campaigns is linked to the current lack of a comprehensive assessment tool and the importance of preventing health risk behaviours.     

Personal values and immigrant group appraisal as predictors of voluntary contact with immigrants among majority students in Israel

What predicts whether young people will establish contacts with immigrants? Students are at a pivotal point in which the campus environment can enable substantial contact with immigrants, and where world views and behavioural patterns are formed which can follow through their adult lives. Through a value‐attitude‐behavior paradigm we examine a conceptual model in which appraisal of an immigrant group as a threat and/or benefit to the host society mediates the relationship between personal values and contact. Findings among 252 students in Israel showed that (1) threat/benefit appraisal of immigrants predicted voluntary contact; (2) personal values of self‐direction and hedonism directly predicted voluntary contact; and (3) Threat/benefit appraisal mediated the relationship between self‐direction and power and contact. Results suggest that increasing awareness of benefits of immigrants can promote positive inter‐group relations.     

Guilt Signals a Crisis of Rejection: Two Types of Individual Differences Related to Social Rejection Have Dissimilar Effects on Guilt and Compensatory Behavior

We investigated whether feelings of guilt, which signal crises in interpersonal relationships (Baumeister, Stillwell, & Heatherton, 1994), are differently evoked by two types of individual differences in social rejection: rejection detection capability (Kawamoto, Nittono, & Ura, 2015) and rejection sensitivity (Downey & Feldman, 1996). Using the hypothetical scenario method, we found that in situations with a potential risk of being rejected as a consequence of causing another person harm (i.e., harm‐present condition), participants with higher rejection detection capability felt more guilt and engaged in more compensatory behavior towards the victims. In addition, guilt mediated the relationship between rejection detection capability and compensatory behavior. Conversely, in situations with no potential risk of being rejected (i.e., harm‐absent condition), participants with higher rejection sensitivity felt more guilt but did not engage in much compensatory behavior. These results suggest that individual differences in social rejection foster different responses to specific threats.     

Behavioral skills training in scent detection research: Interactions between trainer and animal behavior

Animal trainers working in scent detection programs are responsible for arranging training contingencies as well as for observing and recording animal behavior. We provided behavioral skills training (BST) to animal trainers working with scent detection rats to improve the treatment integrity of scent‐detection research sessions. We evaluated the trainers' behavior at baseline and during the sequential introduction of each component of BST (instructions, modeling, and feedback). We observed incremental improvements in treatment integrity with the introduction of each BST component. Posttraining probes revealed that these improvements were sustained at least 3 weeks post‐BST. As the trainers' behavior was modified during BST, we observed decrements in measures of rat performance. We discuss the nature of these interactions and their implications for the use of BST in scent detection research and in situations in which intervention with one party produces concomitant effects on the behavior of another.     

Memory for dangers past: threat contexts produce more consistent learning than do non-threatening contexts

In earlier work we showed that individuals learn the spatial regularities within contexts and use this knowledge to guide detection of threatening targets embedded in these contexts. While it is highly adaptive for humans to use contextual learning to detect threats, it is equally adaptive for individuals to flexibly readjust behaviour when contexts once associated with threatening stimuli begin to be associated with benign stimuli, and vice versa. Here, we presented face targets varying in salience (threatening or non-threatening) in new or old spatial configurations (contexts) and changed the target salience (threatening to non-threatening and vice versa) halfway through the experiment to examine if contextual learning changes with the change in target salience. Detection of threatening targets was faster in old than new configurations and this learning persisted even after the target changed to non-threatening. However, the same pattern was not seen when the targets changed from non-threatening to threatening. Overall, our findings show that threat detection is driven not only by stimulus properties as theorised traditionally but also by the learning of contexts in which threatening stimuli appear, highlighting the importance of top-down factors in threat detection. Further, learning of contexts associated with threatening targets is robust and speeds detection of non-threatening targets subsequently presented in the same context.     

测谎者的无意识加工对谎言识别的影响

在谎言识别研究中, 最重要的发现之一就是人们在意识层面上识别谎言的正确率仅仅略高于随机水平。于是, 大量的研究转而考察无意识加工对谎言识别的影响。本文从测谎者的角度出发, 考察测谎者的无意识加工是否可以提高其谎言识别的正确率。本文梳理了关于无意识谎言识别的理论建构, 总结了无意识谎言识别的实证研究, 从无意识的信息接收、信息接收后的无意识思维以及无意识判断决策三个方面详细介绍了近年来的重要的成果和主要的争议。针对目前研究的困境, 本文提出未来的研究应该重点关注理论建构、交互式谎言情境、线索加工匹配效应、测试生理和脑激活指标以及无意识谎言识别的应用等五个方面。     

Mortality salience reduces attentional bias for fear-relevant animals

This research investigated the influence of reminders of mortality on biased attention for fear-relevant animals across 2 studies. In each study, participants completed a baseline dot-probe test of attention to fear-relevant animals (snakes and spiders). After random assignment, participants completed a mortality salience or control writing task (about watching television in Study 1 and about writing an important exam in Study 2). Finally, participants completed the dot-probe measure a second time. In both studies, those in the mortality salience condition showed a significant reduction in bias for fear-relevant animals from baseline to post-manipulation, whereas no change was found for those in the control conditions. These data suggest that the previously demonstrated lack of emotional response to mortality salience may, in part, result from the avoidance of fear-relevant stimuli.

错误相关负电位（ERN）及其理论解释

错误动作发生后,在个体额叶中部可观察到一个明显的负相电位偏移,这称为“错误相关负电位”（error related negativity,ERN）。有研究者提出了“强化学习理论”,认为ERN反映了当前行为结果与预期之间的差异。与此不同的是“冲突监控理论”,认为ERN与反应冲突有关。还有研究者提出了“失匹配理论”,强调实际反应的神经表征（错误反应）与当前任务所要求的反应表征的差异产生了ERN。在阐述ERN的理论解释基础上,对三者之间的关系进行了分析与整合。