Stimulus intensity and the perception of duration.

This article explores the widely reported finding that the subjective duration of a stimulus is positively related to its magnitude. In Experiments 1 and 2 we show that, for both auditory and visual stimuli, the effect of stimulus magnitude on the perception of duration depends upon the background: Against a high intensity background, weak stimuli are judged to last longer. In Experiment 3 we show that the effect of intensity becomes more pronounced at longer durations, consistent with the idea that stimulus intensity affects the pacemaker component of an internal clock, and that it is the difference of a stimulus from the background, rather than its absolute magnitude, which influences the rate of the pacemaker. These results urge a modification to the oft-repeated claim that more intense stimuli seem to last longer, and provide an important constraint on any model of human timing. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The processing of invariant and variant face cues in the Garner Paradigm.

Faces provide a complex source of information via invariant (e.g., race, sex and age) and variant (e.g., emotional expressions) cues. At present, it is not clear whether these different cues are processed separately or whether they interact. Using the Garner Paradigm, Experiment 1 confirmed that race, sex, and age cues affected the categorization of faces according to emotional expression whereas emotional expression had no effect on the categorization of faces by sex, age, or race. Experiment 2 used inverted faces and replicated this pattern of asymmetrical interference for race and age cues, but not for sex cues for which no interference on emotional expression categorization was observed. Experiment 3 confirmed this finding with a more stringently matched set of facial stimuli. Overall, this study shows that invariant cues interfere with the processing of emotional expressions. It indicates that the processing of invariant cues, but not of emotional expressions, is obligatory and that it precedes that of emotional expressions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relation between event processing and the duration of emotional experience.

An emotional experience can last for only a couple of seconds up to several hours or even longer. In the present study, we examine to which extent covert intrapersonal actions (cognitions both related and unrelated to the emotion-eliciting stimulus) as well as overt interpersonal actions (social sharing) account for this variability in emotion duration. Participants were asked to report the duration of their anger, sadness, joy, and gratitude episodes on a daily basis during five days. Furthermore, information was collected with regard to their cognitions during the episodes and their social sharing behavior. Discrete-time survival analyses revealed that for three of the four emotions under study, stimulus-related cognitions with the same valence as the emotion lead to a prolongation of the episode; in contrast, both stimulus-related and stimulus-unrelated cognitions with a valence opposite to the emotion lead to a shortening. Finally, for the four emotions under study, social sharing was associated with a prolongation. The findings are discussed in terms of a possible process basis underlying the time dynamics of negative as well as positive emotions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Control of prose processing via instructional and typographical cues.

176 undergraduates studied an informative text about an imaginary solar system. Two cuing systems, 1 instructional and 1 typographical, were manipulated to induce a single or double set of cues consistent with 1 or 2 sets of text propositions, respectively, or no cues, a treatment in which target propositions were unspecified. The main findings are that (a) a single set of cues elevated recall of cue-related propositions at the expense of cue-unrelated propositions; (b) the presence of 2 sets of conflicting cues attenuated recall of target information; (c) in the absence of cues, recall was best for propositions that were designated as important by the learners; and (d) recall was enhanced when propositions were located in neighborhoods of topically related information. These findings support the notion that cuing systems guide the construction and implementation of learners' prose-processing decision criteria. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Potency of food deprivation intensity cues as discriminative stimuli.

Rats were trained to use stimuli arising from 0 and 24 hrs without food as discriminative signals for shock. In Exp 1, one group was shocked under 0-hr food deprivation and not shocked under 24-hr food deprivation. Another group received the reverse contingency. The groups received only 3 training trials under each deprivation level. Learning was revealed in a test phase when greater extinction of freezing was observed under the nonshocked than under the shocked deprivation level for both groups. A similar pattern of results was obtained in Exp 2 when auditory cues were also relevant throughout training. Furthermore, prior training with food deprivation cues seemed to reduce learning about auditory cues subsequently trained in compound with deprivation stimuli. The results indicate that food deprivation intensity cues can be potent discriminative stimuli. The idea that deprivation cues function as conditioned modulatory stimuli cues is also discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of work task cues and play task cues on information processing, judgment, and motivation.

Explored how task cues affect cognition, attitudes, and behavior in this laboratory study with 82 MBA students. Linguistic analysis of responses to the same puzzle task, cued as either work or play, revealed that task cues influenced how information was perceived and was used to form judgments and to shape behavioral responses. Ss performing work tasks attended more to information about the quantity of their performance and made more streamlined, goal-directed responses. Ss performing play tasks attended more to information about the quality of their performance; made more elaborated, image-laden responses; and were more intrinsically motivated. Links among task cues, cognitive processes, and performance were explicated through path analysis. Task cues affected performance outcomes indirectly by instantiating associated cognitive orientations: a means orientation in play and an ends orientation in work. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The hippocampus and conditioning to contextual cues.

Two experiments are reported in which behavioral control by contextual cues was assessed in groups of rats with dorsal hippocampal (HC), neocortical (NC), or operated control (OC) lesions. Following Odling-Smee's (1975) procedure, a Pavlovian conditioning paradigm was followed in which conditioned stimuli (CS; tone, light) predicted an unconditioned stimulus (US; footshock) always, never, or half the time. Conditioning trials took place in a small black box. Subsequently, conditioning to background contextual cues was assessed by measuring the amount of time rats spent in the black box in preference to an adjacent white one with neither CS nor US presented. In OC groups and, to a lesser extent, NC groups, conditioning to background cues was inversely related to the probability that CS predicted US. In contrast to graded contextual conditioning in control groups, the HC groups consistently showed abnormally strong conditioning to context that was at or near asymptotic level. The results, which were related to current theories of the relation between contextual stimuli and CS, suggest that the hippocampus may play an important role in stimulus selection during learning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The intensity dimension of thought: Pupillometric indices of sentence processing.

Explored the intensity of processing during sentence comprehension by measuring pupillary response during reading. Two experiments with 76 college students contrasted the processing of simpler vs more complex sentences. The 2 more complex sentence types, object-relative center-embedded sentences and filler-gap sentences, not only took longer to process than their simpler counterparts, but they also produced a larger change in pupil diameter. It is proposed that the pupillary response is an indicator of how intensely the processing system is operating. Results are integrated within a resource-limited computational model of comprehension. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Selective processing of threat cues in posttraumatic stress disorder.

Vietnam combat veterans with (n?=?15) and without (n?=?15) posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) performed a modified Stroop task in which they named the colors of neutral words (e.g., INPUT), positive words (e.g., LOVE), obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) words (e.g., GERMS), and PTSD words (e.g., BODYBAGS). In contrast to normal controls, PTSD patients took significantly longer to color-name PTSD words than to color-name neutral, OCD, and positive words. Because Stroop interference reflects involuntary semantic activation, it may provide a quantitative measure of intrusive cognitive activity, the hallmark symptom of PTSD. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A contradiction resolved: Children's processing of syntactic cues.

Using 6-9 yr old children, an attempt was made to replicate D. McNeill's (1970) investigation, which suggested that although semantic cues aided processing of sentences by 5-8 yr olds, syntactic cues did not. In agreement with other more recent studies, results show that children's ability to process syntactically well-formed sentences increased over the early school years. The difference between McNeill's data and later data sets probably stems from (a) unreliability owing to small samples (5 children) at each age level and (b) unreliability due to the high difficulty of sentences used for the criterion. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Computer signal processing of long duration biotelemetric brain data

The EEG represents brain processing under diverse physiological conditions. A complete system involving acquisition and quantitation of this important information about brain function is described. The time-domain EEG and other biological signals are obtained using a multichannel PAM/FM biotelemeter mounted on the head of the experimental animal. This data is transmitted, demodulated and recorded by electronic recording techniques. A computer-based EEG analysis system is described for acquiring the primary data and transforming it into the frequency domain using Fourier methods. The computing system is developed to semi-automatically signal process about 4 h of eight channel EEG records. Data compression by plotting in a quasi-three-dimensional spectral profile allows visual correlations of pattern features to drug manipulations, etc. The software programs are briefly described for each step in signal processing. The feasibility of the complete system approach is demonstrated using biotelemetry to acquire low voltage EEG signals without behavioral distortions or introduction of artifacts by cables.     

Effects of stimulus duration and intensity on simple reaction time and response force.

Previous research indicates that response force increases with stimulus intensity in simple reaction time (SRT) tasks. This result contradicts the common view that the perceptual system activates the motor system via a punctate go signal of fixed size. An elaborated view assumes that the size of the go signal depends on stimulus intensity so that more intense stimuli yield more forceful responses. In order to examine the latter hypothesis, the present experiments manipulated stimulus duration as well as intensity. Response force increased with duration even beyond a critical value of about 60 ms at which stimulus duration no longer affected SRT. In addition, increasing the duration of a stimulus also increased the duration of force output. These findings argue against models with punctate transmission of activation to the motor system. Certain continuous models and variable output models with prolonged go signals provide acceptable accounts of these effects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A new actigraph for long-term registration of the duration and intensity of tremor and movement

The human ether-a-go-go-related gene (HERG) encodes a K+ channel with biophysical properties nearly identical to the rapid component of the cardiac delayed rectifier K+ current (IKr). HERG/IKr channels are a prime target for the pharmacological management of arrhythmias and are selectively blocked by class III antiarrhythmic methanesulfonanilide drugs, such as dofetilide, E4031, and MK-499, at submicromolar concentrations. By contrast, the closely related bovine ether-a-go-go channel (BEAG) is 100-fold less sensitive to dofetilide. To identify the molecular determinants for dofetilide block, we first engineered chimeras between HERG and BEAG and then used site-directed mutagenesis to localize single amino acid residues responsible for block. Using constructs heterologously expressed in Xenopus oocytes, we found that transplantation of the S5-S6 linker from BEAG into HERG removed high-affinity block by dofetilide. A point mutation in the S5-S6 linker region, HERG S620T, abolished high-affinity block and interfered with C-type inactivation. Thus, our results indicate that important determinants of dofetilide binding are localized to the pore region of HERG. Since the loss of high-affinity drug binding was always correlated with a loss of C-type inactivation, it is possible that the changes observed in drug binding are due to indirect allosteric modifications in the structure of the channel protein and not to the direct interaction of dofetilide with the respective mutated site chains. However, the chimeric approach was not able to identify domains outside the S5-S6 linker region of the HERG channel as putative candidates involved in drug binding. Moreover, the reverse mutation BEAG T432S increased the affinity of BEAG K+ channels for dofetilide, whereas C-type inactivation could not be recovered. Thus, the serine in position HERG 620 may participate directly in dofetilide binding; however, an intact C-type inactivation process seems to be crucial for high-affinity drug binding.     

Learning to read: The redundant cues approach.

Two experiments with 48 undergraduates in each investigated the effects of color coding sounds in Thai syllables on the acquisition of pronunciation responses and on transfer to syllables which were not color coded. The mere presence of color as a redundant cue had no significant effect on acquisition or transfer relative to a control group trained on uncoded syllables. When Ss were informed that color was a relevant cue and given pretraining which emphasized the color code, acquisition was facilitated, but transfer to uncoded syllables was impaired. When Ss were informed that color was a relevant cue and given pretraining which emphasized the shapes of the letters, acquisition was facilitated with no impairment on the transfer task. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Detected, selected, and sometimes neglected: cognitive processing of cues in addiction.

It is proposed that potential drug cues are evaluated preattentively, are prioritized, and subsequently trigger somatovisceral, behavioral, and cognitive responses. Throughout, this information processing is subjected to automatized attentional and interpretative biases. These processes can enhance subjective awareness of physiological arousal, action tendencies, and cognitions, but can also be inhibitory. Accordingly, different components of cue reactivity do not gain equal access to the limited processing resources necessary to generate experience of craving. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Alcoholics' perceptions of cues to intoxication

This study examined whether alcoholic participants perceive cues to self-judgment of intoxication along the internal-external dichotomy used in the research literature on blood alcohol level discrimination. Twenty-eight participants diagnosed as alcohol dependent participated. Participants rated the perceived similarity of pairs of 18 cues to intoxication. Cluster analysis indicated that participants' ratings formed four clusters: disinhibition, relaxation, impairment, and external cues. These clusters provide some support for the internal-external dichotomy used in previous research.     

Individual differences and cues to deception.

In an extension of previous studies on deception and deception detection, the present study investigated the relations among individual differences, behavioral cues displayed when deceiving and telling the truth, and the perceptions of naive observers. 63 undergraduates were measured on the Self-Monitoring Scale, the Affective Communication Test, the Personality Research Form, the Eysenck Personality Inventory, their acting ability, and their overall appearance. They were then videotaped while deceiving and while telling the truth, and their verbal and nonverbal cues were rated and coded. Their success at creating an honest appearance was assessed by showing edited videotapes of their faces or their bodies to naive judges (176 undergraduates), with and without sound. Behavioral cues validly discriminated truthfulness from deception, but these valid cues were not necessarily used or were incorrectly used by the judges. Comparison of the facial and body conditions suggested explanations for the relative inaccuracy of face-viewing judges. Individual differences were related to the overall display of behavioral cues, to variance in the display of cues from deceptive to truthful conditions, to overall perceptions of truthfulness, and to successful deception. (46 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

You must see the point: Automatic processing of cues to the direction of social attention.

Four experiments explored the processing of pointing gestures comprising hand and combined head and gaze cues to direction. The cross-modal interference effect exerted by pointing hand gestures on the processing of spoken directional words, first noted by S. R. H. Langton, C. O'Malley, and V. Bruce (see record 1996-06577-002), was found to be moderated by the orientation of the gesturer's head-gaze (Experiment 1). Hand and head cues also produced bidirectional interference effects in a within-modalities version of the task (Experiment 2). These findings suggest that both head-gaze and hand cues to direction are processed automatically and in parallel up to a stage in processing where a directional decision is computed. In support of this model, head-gaze cues produced no influence on nondirectional decisions to social emblematic gestures in Experiment 3 but exerted significant interference effects on directional responses to arrows in Experiment 4. It is suggested that the automatic analysis of head, gaze, and pointing gestures occurs because these directional signals are processed as cues to the direction of another individual's social attention. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)