Unconscious preparation: Effects of prime visibility on semantic generalization of task priming

Studies found that subliminal primes can be associated with specific tasks to facilitate task performance, and such learning is highly adaptive and generalizable. Meanwhile, conditioning studies suggest that aversive/reward learning and generalization actually occur at the semantic level. The current study shows that prime–task associations can also be generalized to novel word/neighbour primes from the same semantic category, and this occurs without contingency awareness. Previous studies have counterintuitively suggested that both the learning of task priming and the semantic priming of word neighbours depend on the lack of visibility. Here, we show that semantic generalization indeed depends on reduced visibility, but cannot occur subliminally. The current study shows for the first time that semantic learning and generalization can occur without any emotional or motivational factors, and that semantic priming can occur for arbitrary-linked stimuli in a context completely devoid of semantics.     

个体依恋特征的二重性：特质性依恋与状态性依恋

传统依恋理论认为个体依恋心理和行为模式具有相对稳定性, 但无论在信息加工还是个体发展过程中, 个体依恋模式均表现出二重性, 即既具有相对稳定性, 又具有情境敏感性。个体在情境中所表现出的依恋模式是个体相对稳定的特质性依恋和情境特征相互作用的结果。依恋启动研究中特质性依恋特征与依恋启动效应之间的交互作用模式为理解依恋二重特征及其关系提供了窗口。依恋系统激活的两阶段模型为整合和解释这些相互作用模式提供了框架。未来研究应优化依恋二重特征关系研究中启动效应的操作检验, 考虑依恋焦虑和回避维度的交互作用, 关注高焦虑群体内的依恋差异, 以理析依恋二重特征之间的相互作用方式, 同时关注依恋策略影响依恋启动效应的时间进程, 探究依恋二重特征相互作用的机制。     

Repetition priming reveals hemispheric differences in compound word processing

The left (LH) and right (RH) hemispheres are thought to implement different mechanisms for visual word recognition; the LH’s parallel encoding strategy is more efficient than the RH’s serial, letter-by-letter analysis. Here we examine differences in hemispheric language processing strategy by investigating repetition priming of compound words (e.g. buttercup) and their constituents (e.g. butter, cup). Eighty-eight right-handed participants (29 M, 59 F) completed a lexical decision experiment in which centrally-presented compounds primed related (whole compound, first constituent, second constituent) and unrelated targets presented laterally to the left or right visual field; participants made button-press word/nonword decisions. Consistent with the LH parallel/RH serial distinction, repetition priming prompted an RH advantage for first constituents, whereas the LH performed equally efficiently in response to both first and second constituents. These data thus highlight differences in the hemispheres’ language processing strategies, offering new evidence supporting a relative parallel/serial distinction in LH/RH visual word recognition.     

Religious versus reflective priming and susceptibility to the conjunction fallacy

The effect of religious priming has been studied in relation to a number of variables, most extensively with prosocial behavior. The effects of priming on cognitive domains, however, are relatively understudied. The present study examined the effects of religious priming, compared with reflective and neutral priming, on the conjunction fallacy. Participants were randomly assigned to 1 of the 3 priming conditions. Priming was presented through the scrambled sentence task in which participants were required to rearrange words of a religious (e.g., pray), reflective (e.g., reason), or neutral (e.g., paper) content. The conjunction fallacy was measured by a task containing 1 problem. Results indicated that those undergoing the religious prime were significantly more likely to commit the conjunction fallacy compared with those in the reflective priming group. Situations in which reasoning is integral may benefit from knowing the immediate effects of religious versus reflective stimuli in the environment.     

The future is now: the impact of present fluency in judgments about the future

Recent research has emphasised the role of episodic memory in both remembering past events and in envisaging future events. On the other hand, it has been repeatedly shown that judgments about past events are affected by the fluency with which retrieval cues are processed. In this paper we investigate whether perceptual fluency also plays a role in judgments about future events. For this purpose we conducted four experiments. The first experiment replicated recent findings showing that stimuli that are processed fluently tend to be wrongly recognised as having been encountered in the past outside the laboratory walls [Brown, A. S., & Marsh, E. J. (2009). Creating illusions of past encounter through brief exposure. Psychological Science, 20, 534–538. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2009.02337.x]. Two follow-up experiments using Brown and Marsh’s [(2009). Creating illusions of past encounter through brief exposure. Psychological Science, 20, 534–538. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2009.02337] task tested the influence of perceptual fluency on future judgments. The fourth and last experiment was designed to rule out a potential confounding factor in the two previous experiments. Across experiments, we found that people rely on fluency when making judgments about events that are yet to come. These results suggest that fluency is an equally valid cue for past and future judgments.     

Excitatory and inhibitory priming by attended and ignored non-recycled words with monolinguals and bilinguals

Experiments examining identity priming from attended and ignored novel words (words that are used only once except when repetition is required due to experimental manipulation) in a lexical decision task are reported. Experiment 1 tested English monolinguals whereas Experiment 2 tested Twi (a native language of Ghana, Africa)-English bilinguals. Participants were presented with sequential pairs of stimuli composed of a prime followed by a probe, with each containing two items. The participants were required to name the target word in the prime display, and to make a lexical decision to the target item in the probe display. On attended repetition (AR) trials the probe target item was identical to the target word on the preceding attentional display. On ignored repetition (IR) trials the probe target item was the same as the distractor word in the preceding attentional display. The experiments produced facilitated (positive) priming in the AR trials and delayed (negative) priming in the IR trials. Significantly, the positive and negative priming effects also replicated across both monolingual and bilingual groups of participants, despite the fact that the bilinguals were responding to the task in their non-dominant language.     

Effects of exposure to alcohol‐related cues on racial discrimination

Prior research has shown that exposure to alcohol‐related images exacerbates expression of implicit racial biases, and that brief exposure to alcohol‐related words increases aggressive responses. However, the potential for alcohol cue exposure to elicit differential aggression against a Black (outgroup) relative to a White (ingroup) target—that is, racial discrimination—has never been investigated. Here, we found that White participants (N = 92) exposed to alcohol‐related words made harsher judgments of a Black experimenter who had frustrated them than participants who were exposed to nonalcohol words. These findings suggest that exposure to alcohol cues increases discriminatory behaviors toward Blacks.     

内隐人格观对他人知觉的影响

以大学生为被试,采用投射测验法分离出两类不同性质的内隐人格观,然后通过效价匹配实验和错觉关联实验,初步探讨了内隐人格观对他人知觉的信息加工模式的影响。研究结果表明:(1)跨性格、能力等不同人格属性有共通一致的内隐观;(2)固存观的反面就是渐变观,它们是同一维度的两极;(3)与渐变观者相比,固存观者更易以一种评价性方式知觉他人信息;同时,渐变观者不像固存观者那样对他人特质作出静态判断,而是集中注意力于理解他人行为发生的动态过程。