Verbal instruction abolishes fear conditioned to racial out-group faces

Previous research has shown resistance to extinction of fear conditioned to racial out-group faces, suggesting that these stimuli may be subject to prepared fear learning. The current study replicated and extended previous research by using a different racial out-group, and testing the prediction that prepared fear learning is unaffected by verbal instructions. Four groups of Caucasian participants were trained with male in-group (Caucasian) or out-group (Chinese) faces as conditional stimuli; one paired with an electro-tactile shock (CS+) and one presented alone (CS−). Before extinction, half the participants were instructed that no more shocks would be presented. Fear conditioning, indexed by larger electrodermal responses to, and blink startle modulation during the CS+, occurred during acquisition in all groups. Resistance to extinction of fear learning was found only in the racial out-group, no instruction condition. Fear conditioned to a racial out-group face was reduced following verbal instructions, contrary to predictions for the nature of prepared fear learning.     

The effects of instruction and environmental demand on state anxiety,driving performance and autonomic activity: Are ego-threatening manipulations effective?

A small yet emerging body of research on the relationship between anxiety and driving suggests that higher levels of state anxiety may lead to more dangerous driving behaviours. The aim of the current research was to investigate the effects of increased state anxiety on driving behaviours within a simulated environment using instructional sets to manipulate anxiety levels. In Study One, whilst a set of safety-related instructions were able to increase state anxiety, this did not result in changes to driving behaviours. In Study Two, ego-threatening instructions were not able to successfully increase state anxiety. This has implications regarding instructional sets in research, including their task relevance and the necessity for a motivational incentive. However, when changes in anxiety were considered regardless of instruction group, Study Two found changes in SDLP and skin conductance levels related to state anxiety increases. As these effects were context specific, it is argued that some of these changes may be due to poorer processing efficiency, leading to suggestions about the types of behaviours that may need to be trained in potential therapies for those who show high state anxiety levels whilst driving.     

Self-regulation and tailgating behaviours among young drivers

Young drivers aged 17 to 25 years are overrepresented in road crash fatalities globally. In Queensland, Australia, tailgating is an illegal behaviour that has been attributed to at least 8,000 rear-end crashes per year. Notably, it has been found that young drivers tailgate more frequently than older drivers. This study utilised self-determination theory to understand self-regulation behind tailgating among young drivers. This theory has yet to be applied to understand tailgating but has been successful in understanding other risky driving behaviours, suggesting self-determination theory may have predictive utility in explaining tailgating. Participants (n = 609) aged 17 to 25 years (M_age = 20.61 years) completed an anonymous online survey measuring engagement in tailgating, external and internal regulation, trait self-regulation, and aggressive driving. Results indicated that young drivers less influenced by legal and non-legal sanctions are likely to engage in tailgating more frequently (lower external regulation). Young drivers influenced by safe driving values were less likely to engage in tailgating (greater internal regulation). Poorer trait self-regulation and higher measures of aggressive driving were predictors of more frequent tailgating in young drivers. The results support the development of informative campaigns centred on the self-determination theory with the aim of educating young drivers on the implications of tailgating and safe following distances.     

The perceived criticality of different time headways is depending on velocity

Time headway (THW) presumably represents a velocity-independent measure of safe following distances during car-following. However, studies using on-road data show that drivers decrease their THWs as velocity increases (e.g., Brackstone, Waterson, & McDonald, 2009). This contradicts recent findings of simulator-based studies suggesting independence of velocity and chosen THW (Siebert, Oehl, & Pfister, 2014; Siebert, Oehl, Bersch, & Pfister, 2017). This study aimed at investigating the relationship between velocity and subjective risk of different THWs using an experimental setup with a motion-based driving simulator. N = 29 participants followed a preceding vehicle with five different velocities ranging from 30 km/h to 140 km/h in urban, rural and highway environments. At each velocity level, drivers were instructed to follow with three different THWs (0.7 s, 1.1 s and 1.5 s). Subjective criticality ratings were analysed for the different combinations of these independent variables (IV1: velocity, IV2: THW). Drivers rated situations with short THWs as more critical when following with slower velocities compared to higher velocities. These results show that the criticality of theoretically velocity-independent THWs is indeed depending on velocity. These findings have both theoretical implications, such as a better understanding of drivers’ car following behavior and risk acceptance, and practical implications as they may be used in the design of automated driving functions.     

Automatic effects of instructions do not require the intention to execute these instructions

Prior research established that newly instructed stimulus-response mappings, which have never been executed overtly before, can lead to automatic response-congruency effects. Such instruction-based congruency effects have been taken as evidence for the hypothesis that the intention to execute stimulus-response mappings results into functional associations that serve future execution. The present study challenges this hypothesis by demonstrating in a series of four experiments that maintaining instructed stimulus-response mappings for future recognition, rather than for future execution, can also lead to an instruction-based congruency effect. These findings indicate that the instruction-based congruency effect emerges even when it is very unlikely that participants form the intention to execute instructions. Alternative interpretations of the instruction-based congruency effect are discussed.     

The Effects of Type and Amount of Pretraining on Transfer in Concept Formation

Two experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of 2 types of directed attention pretraining, a form of stimulus predifferentiation, on immediate- and delayed-transfer tasks in concept identification. In both experiments, the participants received either the “seeing-and-discriminating” or “seeing” technique of pretraining, except for those assigned to the control group. The participants received different amounts of pretraining. In the first experiment, participants were required to learn new concepts from the same category for the delayed-transfer task, whereas in the second experiment, the delayed-transfer task involved concepts from a different category. Among the major findings in both experiments are that the pretraining methods resulted in positive transfer on all transfer tasks. In general, the seeing-and-discriminating method yielded a more positive transfer than the seeing technique. Maximal positive transfer effects were found with a small number of trials. The implications of the findings for understanding the effectiveness of various training methods used for problem solving are discussed.     

An infant chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) follows human gaze

The ability of non-human primates to follow the gaze of other individuals has recently received much attention in comparative cognition. The aim of the present study was to investigate the emergence of this ability in a chimpanzee infant. The infant was trained to look at one of two objects, which an experimenter indicated by one of four different cue conditions: (1) tapping on the target object with a finger; (2) pointing to the target object with a finger; (3) gazing at the target object with head orientation; or (4) glancing at the target object without head orientation. The subject was given food rewards independently of its responses under the first three conditions, so that its responses to the objects were not influenced by the rewards. The glancing condition was tested occasionally, without any reinforcement. By the age of 13 months, the subject showed reliable following responses to the object that was indicated by the various cues, including glancing alone. Furthermore, additional tests clearly showed that the subject's performance was controlled by the "social" properties of the experimenter-given cues but not by the non-social, local-enhancing peripheral properties. Electronic Publication