焦虑情绪与启动情绪两种状态下的记忆信息处理

通过2个实验,研究了焦虑情绪和暂时启动情绪状态下被试的记忆信息的处理。实验一,选取100名大学生,研究高焦虑、中焦虑和低焦虑状态下的记忆操作,结果发现,焦虑情绪的水平与积极词语的记忆呈负相关,与消极和中性词语的相关不显著。实验二,选取86名大学生,随机将他们分成愉快启动组、悲伤启动组和对照组,研究启动情绪状态的记忆操作,结果表明,在启动的愉快和悲伤情绪状态,被试对不同类型的词语的记忆没有显著差异。但是2个实验都表明,人们对积极词语和中性词语的记忆数量都显著大于对消极词语的记忆。     

睡眠学习的ERP研究

夜间用脑电监测被试睡眠状态,并反复播放英语单词和中文对译词,第二天用词汇决定任务检查学习效果,并记录ERP,结果发现：（1）与未学过的英—中词对相比,被试对学过的词对中中文词的反应时明显缩短;（2）学过的词对中中文词引发的N600的波幅比未学过的明显降低。以上结果表明睡眠学习效果在内隐记忆测验中明显。另外发现被试几乎不能在播放学过的英语词时说出中文对译词,与未学过的词对相比没有显著差别,提示睡眠学习效果在外显记忆测验中不明显。以上结果表明,在本实验条件下,间接测验比直接测验更敏感。     

Movement-Based Priming: Clinical Applications and Neural Mechanisms

Priming can be described as behavior change generated by preceding stimuli. Although various types of priming have been long studied in the field of psychology, priming that targets motor cortex is a relatively new topic of research in the fields of motor control and rehabilitation. In reference to a rehabilitation intervention, priming is categorized as a restorative approach. There are a myriad of possible priming approaches including noninvasive brain stimulation, motor imagery, and sensory-based priming, to name a few. The authors report on movement-based priming which, compared to other priming types, is less frequently examined and under reported. Movement-based priming includes, but is not limited to, bilateral motor priming, unilateral priming, and aerobic exercise. Clinical and neural mechanistic aspects of movement-based priming techniques are explored.     

Higher order influences on evaluative priming: Processing styles moderate congruity effects

A growing body of research challenges the automaticity of evaluative priming (EP). The present research adds to this literature by suggesting that EP is sensitive to processing styles. We relied on previous research showing that EP is determined by the extent to which the prime and the target events on a given trial are processed as a unified compound. Here, we further hypothesised that processing styles encouraging the inclusion of the prime to the target episode support congruity effects, whereas processing styles that enhance the exclusion of the prime from the target episode interrupt (or reverse) these effects. In Experiment 1, a preceding similarity search task produced a congruity effect, whereas a dissimilarity search task eliminated and (non-significantly) reversed this effect. In Experiments 2 and 3, we replicated and extended these findings using a global/local processing manipulation. Overall, these findings confirm that EP is flexible, open to top-down influences and strategic regulation.     

The go/no-go priming task: automatic evaluation and categorisation beyond response interference

The response-window version of a go/no-go (GNG) response priming task is introduced using both evaluative (Experiment 1) and animacy decision (Experiment 2). In each trial a cue indicates which target category should lead to a key-press. The target is preceded by either a congruent or incongruent prime. The standard priming task was added as well. Both tasks yielded robust priming effects. However, they differed regarding a signature of response activation paradigms, that is, the Gratton effect (i.e. smaller priming effects following incongruent trials compared to congruent trials), which is present in the standard task but absent in the GNG task. This indicates that effects found with the GNG task are caused by different processes compared to the standard task. Experiment 3 tested an alternative account to explain priming effects in the GNG task. By manipulating response biases, Experiment 3 provides evidence for this account.     

Can Infinitival to Omissions and Provisions Be Primed? An Experimental Investigation Into the Role of Constructional Competition in Infinitival to Omission Errors

An experimental study was conducted on children aged 2;6–3;0 and 3;6–4;0 investigating the priming effect of two WANT‐constructions to establish whether constructional competition contributes to English‐speaking children's infinitival to omission errors (e.g., *I want ___ jump now). In two between‐participant groups, children either just heard or heard and repeated WANT‐to, WANT‐X, and control prime sentences after which to‐infinitival constructions were elicited. We found that both age groups were primed, but in different ways. In the 2;6–3;0 year olds, WANT‐to primes facilitated the provision of to in target utterances relative to the control contexts, but no significant effect was found for WANT‐X primes. In the 3;6–4;0 year olds, both WANT‐to and WANT‐X primes showed a priming effect, namely WANT‐to primes facilitated and WANT‐X primes inhibited provision of to. We argue that these effects reflect developmental differences in the level of proficiency in and preference for the two constructions, and they are broadly consistent with “priming as implicit learning” accounts. The current study shows that (a) children as young as 2;6–3;0 years of age can be primed when they have only heard (not repeated) particular constructions, (b) children are acquiring at least two constructions for the matrix verb WANT, and (c) that these two WANT‐constructions compete for production.     

Does Talker‐Specific Information Influence Lexical Competition? Evidence From Phonological Priming

In this study, we examined whether the lexical competition process embraced by most models of spoken word recognition is sensitive to talker‐specific information. We used a lexical decision task and a long lag priming experiment in which primes and targets sharing all phonemes except the last one (e.g., /bagaR/“fight” vs. /baga?/“luggage”) were presented in two separate blocks of stimuli. In Experiment 1, the competitor prime block was presented only once to listeners, and no modulation of the competitor priming effect as a function of a talker change between the primes and targets was observed. However, attenuation in the competitor priming effect in the case of a talker change between the primes and targets was observed in Experiment 2 in which the competitor prime block was presented five times to listeners. We discuss our findings in reference to hybrid models of spoken word recognition in which repetition of words with the same talker could be a key factor in the formation and access to talker‐dependent representations.     

网络词语与非网络词语的知觉差异:时间知觉、空间距离知觉与知觉范围

根据具身认知理论,人们的认知会受到身体活动的影响。网络环境下人的身体活动受到限制,因而其认知活动与非网络环境存在很大的差异。本研究目的在于考察人们对网络词语与非网络的日常词语的时间知觉,空间距离知觉与知觉范围是否有差异。结果发现被试对网络词语的时间知觉更长;网络词语的空间距离感与日常词语没有显著差异;在启动网络词语之后,被试的知觉范围缩小,对中心刺激的反应显著快于边缘刺激。本研究发现了网络词语加工在时间知觉和知觉范围上的变化。     

Masked emotional priming: A double dissociation between direct and indirect effects reveals non-conscious processing of emotional information beyond valence

We demonstrate non-conscious processing beyond valence by employing the masked emotional priming paradigm (Rohr, Degner, & Wentura, 2012) with a stimulus-onset asynchrony (SOA) variation. Emotional faces were briefly presented and directly masked, followed by the target face, using a SOA of either 43 ms or 143 ms. Targets were categorized as happy, angry, fearful, or sad. With short SOA, we replicated the differentiated priming effect within the negative domain (i.e., angry differentiate from fearful/sad). A direct test of prime awareness indicated that primes could not be discriminated consciously in this condition. With long SOA, however, we did not observe the priming effect whereas the direct test indicated some degree of conscious processing. Thus, indirect effects dissociated from direct effects in our study, an indication for non-conscious processing. Thereby, the present study provides evidence for non-conscious processing of emotional information beyond a simple positive-negative differentiation.