Divided attention enhances explicit but not implicit conceptual memory: an item-specific account of the attentional boost effect

The Attentional Boost Effect (ABE) refers to the counterintuitive finding that words encoded with to-be-responded targets in a divided-attention condition are remembered better than words encoded with distractors. Previous studies suggested that the ABE-related enhancement of verbal memory depends upon the activation of abstract lexical representations. In the present study, we extend this hypothesis by embedding it in the context of a broader perspective, which proposes that divided attention in the ABE paradigm affects item-specific, but not relational, processing. To this purpose, we examined the ABE in the matched tasks of category-cued recall (CCRT: explicit memory) and category exemplar generation (CEGT: implicit memory). In addition, study time was varied (500, 1500 or 4000?ms), to further determine whether the attentional boost manipulation could influence late-phase elaborative processing. In agreement with the predictions of the item-specific account, the results showed that exemplars encoded with targets were recalled better than exemplars encoded with distractors in the CCRT, but not in the CEGT. Moreover, performance in the CCRT increased with study time, whereas the size of the ABE-related enhancement tended to decrease, further confirming that this effect hinges upon early phase encoding processes.     

The effect of presentation rate on implicit sequence learning in aging

Implicit sequence learning is thought to be preserved in aging when the to-be learned associations are first-order; however, when associations are second-order, older adults (OAs) tend to experience deficits as compared to young adults (YAs). Two experiments were conducted using a first (Experiment 1) and second-order (Experiment 2) serial-reaction time task. Stimuli were presented at a constant rate of either 800 milliseconds (fast) or 1200 milliseconds (slow). Results indicate that both age groups learned first-order dependencies equally in both conditions. OAs and YAs also learned second-order dependencies, but the learning of lag-2 information was significantly impacted by the rate of presentation for both groups. OAs showed significant lag-2 learning in slow condition while YAs showed significant lag-2 learning in the fast condition. The sensitivity of implicit sequence learning to the rate of presentation supports the idea that OAs and YAs different processing speeds impact the ability to build complex associations across time and intervening events.     

The Automaticity of Affect for Political Leaders, Groups, and Issues: An Experimental Test of the Hot Cognition Hypothesis

We report the results of three experimental tests of the "hot cognition" hypothesis, which posits that all sociopolitical concepts that have been evaluated in the past are affectively charged and that this affective charge is automatically activated within milliseconds on mere exposure to the concept, appreciably faster than conscious appraisal of the object.
We find support for the automaticity of affect toward political leaders, groups, and issues; specifically:

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  Most Ss show significantly faster reaction times to affectively congruent political concepts and significantly slower response times to affectively incongruent concepts;

       

Affect and the therapeutic action of psychoanalysis1

In connection with controversial IJP articles by Stern et al. and Fonagy on the interpretation of the repressed and the recovery of past memories, the author maintains that the affect that is inherent in positive transference is at the heart of therapeutic action. Points of view put forward in the controversy (based on neurobiological knowledge) are related to Freudian metapsychology, as well as to their precursors whose scope was necessarily limited by a lack of access to more recent scientific discoveries. The author demonstrates metapsychological elements of therapeutic action inherent in the intersubjective relationship, especially identification, manifested in introjection and empathy. He describes cognitive development as spontaneously blossoming from the affective nucleus, and he explains the neuroscientic bases of this step forward. The classic (interpretative) psychoanalytic method makes up the cognitive superstructure necessary for the organisation of the mind that has sprung from the affective substructure. As a primary factor in psychic change, interpretation is limited in effectiveness to pathologies arising from the verbal phase, related to explicit memories, with no effect in the pre‐verbal phase where implicit memories are to be found. Interpretation the method used to the exclusion of all others for a century is only partial; when used in isolation it does not meet the demands of modern broad‐spectrum psychoanalysis, as the clinical material presented illustrates.     

浅谈内隐社会认知的研究与现状

内隐社会认知是无意识思想、认知理论和社会心理研究日渐整合的结果。作为认知心理学研究的一个组成部分,内隐社会认知的研究从方法论上,得益于内隐记忆研究中逐步完善的间接测量方法;从内容上,尽管内隐社会认知的研究还比较初浅,但却已经涵盖了社会认知、社会态度以及归因评价的多个方面。     

Implicit learning of what comes when and where within a sequence: The time-course of acquiring serial position-item and item-item associations to represent serial order

Much research has been conducted aimed at the representations and mechanisms that enable learning of sequential structures. A central debate concerns the question whether item-item associations (i.e., in the sequence A-B-C-D, B comes after A) or associations of item and serial list position (i.e., B is the second item in the list) are used to represent serial order. Previously, we showed that in a variant of the implicit serial reaction time task, the sequence representation contains associations between serial position and item information (Schuck, Gaschler, Keisler, & Frensch, 2011). Here, we applied models and research methods from working memory research to implicit serial learning to replicate and extend our findings. The experiment involved three sessions of sequence learning. Results support the view that participants acquire knowledge about order structure (item-item associations) and about ordinal structure (serial position-item associations). Analyses suggest that only the simultaneous use of the two types of knowledge acquisition can explain learning-related performance increases. Additionally, our results indicate that serial list position information plays a role very early in learning and that inter-item associations increasingly control behavior in later stages.     

亲子关系对自尊的影响：一项基于贫困大学生的研究

为了探索亲子关系在经济压力影响下的差异以及亲子关系对贫困大学生内隐与外显自尊的影响,本研究抽取67名贫困大学生和65名非贫困大学生进行比较研究。结果发现：（1）贫困大学生对父母持积极的内隐态度和显著的高内隐自尊;（2）非贫困大学生的父母教养方式比贫困大学生的更积极,但贫困大学生比非贫困大学生对父母的内隐态度更积极;（3）贫困大学生父母的积极教养方式对外显、内隐自尊以及自尊的分离有显著的预测作用,非贫困大学生的内隐父母态度对三个因变量预测作用较好。因此,亲子关系中相对薄弱的方面对自尊有重要影响。     

内隐性别刻板印象与自尊的关系研究

为了考察内隐性别刻板印象的存在广度,以及探讨它与自尊的关系,本研究采用内隐联想测验(IAT)和自尊量表(SES)考察65名大学生被试的内隐性别刻板印象和自尊水平,得出以下结论:一、大学生中普遍存在着内隐性别刻板印象,并且不同性别的内隐性别刻板印象不具有显著差异。二、有内隐性别刻板印象的人群中,不同性别的自尊水平差异不显著。三、内隐性别刻板印象与个体自尊水平的相关不显著。     

积极情景线索对内隐攻击性的影响

通过向被试呈现代表积极情景线索的材料(一段含有互助、和谐信息的公益短片),运用内隐联想测验(IAT)范式,从内隐社会认知的角度来研究积极情境线索对个体内隐攻击性的影响,并分析这种影响是否具有性别差异。结果表明:未观看积极情景线索材料的被试表现出显著的内隐攻击性,而观看积极情景线索材料的被试的内隐攻击性不显著;积极情景线索的主效应显著,且这一效应不存在性别差异。这说明,积极情景线索能有效抑制个体的内隐攻击性,并支持自我攻击信念IAT是测量个体内隐攻击性的有效工具。