Aging and the revelation effect.

Previous research by M. W. Prull, L. L. Light, M. E. Collett, and R. F. Kennison (1998) has shown that older adults are not susceptible to a memory illusion referred to as the revelation effect. The authors examined the robustness of Prull et al.'s findings by having participants solve a word fragment (Experiment 1) or an anagram (Experiment 2) prior to the recognition memory decision. In both experiments, younger and older adults showed a reliable revelation effect. These results simultaneously challenge both the conclusion that older adults are not vulnerable to the revelation effect and the conclusion that aging is associated with increasing susceptibility to memory illusions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Is Handedness Recognition Automatic? A Study Using a Simon-Like Paradigm.

The authors used a modified Simon task (J. R. Simon, 1969) to assess the automatic recognition of handedness. Participants responded to the color of a circle in the center of the photograph of a right or a left hand, displayed in the center of the computer screen. A regular Simon effect was found for back views, whereas a reverse Simon effect was found for palm views. This pattern of results was found when the forearm was present (Experiment 2), when 1 finger at a time was rendered invisible (Experiment 3), and when the hands were connected to a body image (Experiment 4). When the hands were cut at the wrist, no effect emerged (Experiment 1). These findings suggest an automatic encoding of the relative position of the hand in relation to the body (imaginary or real) rather than the automatic encoding of handedness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Disengaging attention: On the locus of the cue-duration effect in partial report.

Increasing cue duration impairs performance in bar-probe partial report when cues are presented peripherally, but not centrally (P. Dixon, R. Gordon, A. Leung, & V. Di Lollo, 1997). Three experiments examined whether this cue-duration effect reflects processes of exogenous attention. The effect of cue duration on partial report performance with peripheral, but not central, cues was replicated (Experiment 1). Further experiments manipulated the degree that exogenous versus endogenous modes of selection were favored and found that the cue-duration effect for peripheral cues was reduced (1) when blocks contained a high proportion of central cues (Experiment 2) and (2) when the color of the cue indicated the location of the target (Experiment 3). These findings challenge the view that the cue-duration effect is restricted to exogenous attention and are discussed in terms of the process of disengaging attention from the cue to reallocate attention to the target representation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On the nonautomaticity of visual word processing: Electrophysiological evidence that word processing requires central attention.

The present study used event-related potentials (ERPs) to determine the degree to which people can process words while devoting central attention to another task. Experiments 1-4 measured the N400 effect, which is sensitive to the degree of mismatch between a word and the current semantic context. Experiment 5 measured the P3 difference between low- and high-frequency words. Because these effects can occur only if a word has been identified, both ERP components index word processing. The authors found that the N400 effect (Experiments 1, 3, and 4) and the P3 difference (Experiment 5) were strongly attenuated for Task 2 words presented nearly simultaneously with Task 1. No such attenuation was found when the Task 1 stimulus was presented but required no response (Experiment 2). Strong attenuation was also evident when the Task 2 word was presented before the Task 1 stimulus (Experiment 4), suggesting that central resources are not allocated to stimuli first-come, first-served but rather are strategically locked to Task 1. The authors conclude that visual word processing is not fully automatic but rather requires access to limited central attentional resources. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Locus of Redundant-Targets and Nontargets Effects: Evidence From the Psychological Refractory Period Paradigm.

In target detection tasks, responses are faster when displays have 2 targets (redundant-targets effect; RTE) and slower when they have no targets (nontargets effect; NTE) relative to displays with a single target. The psychological refractory period paradigm was used to localize these effects. In Experiment 1, participants classified tones as high or low and then classified letters as targets or nontargets after a short or long stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA). The magnitudes of the RTE and NTE did not depend on SOA. In Experiment 2, the order of the tasks was reversed, and at short SOAs the RTE and NTE had similar magnitudes for both tone discrimination and target detection responses. These findings suggest that the RTE and NTE arise during response selection. Interactive effects of tone pitch with the number and type of target features were also observed, and these were tentatively interpreted as synesthetic effects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Developmental dissociations of preparation over time: Deconstructing the variable foreperiod phenomena.

In a variable foreperiod (FP) paradigm, reaction times (RTs) decrease as a function of FP on trial n (FP effect) but increase with FP on trial n = 1 (sequential effects). These phenomena have traditionally been ascribed to different strategic preparation processes. According to an alternative explanation, common conditioning laws underlie both effects. The present study aims to disentangle these opposite views using a developmental perspective. In Experiment 1A, 4- to 11-year-old children and a control group of adults performed a simple RT task with variable FPs (1, 3, and 5 s). Furthermore, 12 4- to 5-year-old children were retested after 14 months (Experiment 1B). In Experiment 2, a narrower pool of participants (4, 5, and 6 years old) performed a variable FP paradigm with different FPs (1, 2, and 3 s). The results consistently suggest different ontogenetic time courses for the two effects: The sequential effects are already present in the youngest group (4-5 years old), whereas the FP effect appears gradually some years later. These findings are not fully compatible with previous views. A dual-process account is proposed to explain the data. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Expanding retrieval practice promotes short-term retention, but equally spaced retrieval enhances long-term retention.

Expanding retrieval practice (T. K. Landauer & R. A. Bjork, 1978) is regarded as a superior technique for promoting long-term retention relative to equally spaced retrieval practice. In Experiments 1 and 2, the authors found that expanding retrieval practice of vocabulary word pairs produced short-term benefits 10 min after learning, conceptually replicating Landauer and Bjork's results. However, equally spaced retrieval produced superior retention 2 days later. This pattern occurred both with and without feedback after test trials. In Experiment 3, the 1st test occurred immediately or after a brief delay, and repeated tests were expanding or equally spaced. Delaying the first test improved long-term retention, regardless of how the repeated tests were spaced. The important factor for promoting long-term retention is delaying initial retrieval to make it more difficult, as is done in equally spaced retrieval but not in expanding retrieval. Expanding the interval between repeated tests had little effect on long-term retention in 3 experiments. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Pseudohomophone effects and models of word recognition.

Two experiments examined factors that influence processing of pseudohomophones (nonwords such as brane or joak, which sound like words) and nonpseudohomophones (such as brone or joap, which do not sound like words). In Experiment 1, pseudohomophones yielded faster naming latencies and slower lexical-decision latencies than did nonpseudohomophones, replicating results of R. S. McCann and D. Besner (1987) and R. S. McCann, D. Besner, and E. Davelaar (1988). The magnitude of effect was related to subjects' speed in lexical decision but not naming. In Experiment 2, both immediate and delayed naming conditions were used. There was again a significant pseudohomophone effect that did not change in magnitude across conditions. These results indicate that pseudohomophone effects in the lexical-decision and naming tasks have different bases. In lexical decision, they reflect the pseudohomophone's activation of phonological and semantic information associated with words. In naming, they reflect differences in ease of articulating familiar versus unfamiliar pronunciations. Implications of these results concerning models of word recognition are discussed… (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Irrelevant Sound Phenomenon Revisited: What Role for Working Memory Capacity?

High-span individuals (as measured by the operation span [OSPAN] technique) are less likely than low-span individuals to notice their own names in an unattended auditory stream (A. R. A. Conway, N. Cowan, & M. F. Bunting, 2001). The possibility that OSPAN accounts for individual differences in auditory distraction on an immediate recall test was examined. There was no evidence that high-OSPAN participants were more resistant to the disruption caused by irrelevant speech in serial or in free recall. Low-OSPAN participants did, however, make more semantically related intrusion errors from the irrelevant sound stream in a free recall test (Experiment 4). Results suggest that OSPAN mediates semantic components of auditory distraction dissociable from other aspects of the irrelevant sound effect. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Intentional forgetting is easier after two "shots" than one.

Three experiments evaluated whether the magnitude of the list-method directed forgetting effect is strength dependent. Throughout these studies, items were strengthened via operations thought to increase context strength (spaced presentations) or manipulations thought to increment the item strength without affecting the context strength (processing time and processing depth). The assumptions regarding which operations enhance item and context strength were based on the "one-shot" hypothesis of context storage (K. J. Malmberg & R. M. Shiffrin, 2005). The results revealed greater directed forgetting of strong items compared with weak items, but only when strength was varied via spaced presentations (Experiment 3). Equivalent directed forgetting was observed for strong and weak items when strengthening operations increased item strength without affecting the context strength (Experiments 1 and 2). These results supported the context hypothesis of directed forgetting (L. Sahakyan & C. M. Kelley, 2002). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The feature positive effect in the face of variability: Novelty as a feature.

Past literature has shown, across various methods and species, that feature positive (FP) tasks (AB-/B+) are learned more easily than are feature negative (FN) tasks (AB-/B+), giving rise to what is known as the feature positive effect (FPE). Experiment 1 was intended to assess the role of expected absence in the FPE through manipulation of the context (constant vs. varied common elements) that was paired with the feature. The results indicate that novel contextual elements (varied common elements) may be salient enough to eliminate the FPE, creating a feature negative effect (FNE). Experiment 2 replicated the FNE. The addition of a testing phase confirmed that participants in the FN task judged novel stimuli to be strong positive predictors whereas participants in the FP task did not, thus producing a novelty FPE. These results are problematic for contemporary associative learning models. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Being better by being right: Subjective group dynamics and derogation of in-group deviants when generic norms are undermined.

The authors predicted that derogation of group deviants depends on the extent to which in-group norms or values are validated or undermined in a social context. In Experiment 1 participants were less tolerant and derogated in-group deviants more when other in-group members opposed the norm. In Experiment 2 participants derogated in-group deviants more than out-group deviants and than noncategorized individuals, but only when normative in-group members lacked uniformity. In Experiment 3 participants derogated in-group deviants more when there was uncertainty about in-group superiority. These results are consistent with previous research on the black sheep effect (J. M. Marques, V. Y. Yzerbyt, & J. -P. Leyens, 1998) and with the model of subjective group dynamics (D. Abrams, J. M. Marques, N. J. Bown, & M. Henson, 2000; J. M. Marques, D. Abrams, D. Paez, & C. Martinez-Taboada, 1998). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Overexpectation and trial massing.

Three experiments were conducted to examine the interaction of overexpectation treatment and trial massing using a Pavlovian fear conditioning procedure with rats. In first-order conditioning, Experiment 1 found the overexpectation effect (i.e., decreased conditioned responding to a cue after compound training when the elements were previously reinforced), the trial spacing effect (i.e., decreased responding to a cue when reinforced trials are massed), and a counteraction between overexpectation treatment and trial massing (i.e., an alleviation of the decrement in responding seen with overexpectation treatment or trial massing alone when the two treatments are conjointly administered). Experiment 2 replicated Experiment 1 with the critical treatments embedded within a sensory preconditioning preparation. The overexpectation effect, the trial spacing effect, and the mutual counteraction of overexpectation treatment and trial massing all proved significant. In Experiment 3, either the nontarget conditioned stimulus of overexpectation treatment or the excitatory context resulting from trial massing was extinguished. Results are best explained by the extended comparator hypothesis (J. C. Denniston, H. I. Savastano, & R. R. Miller, 2001). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On inequity aversion in nonhuman primates.

P. G. Roma, A. Silberberg, A. M. Ruggiero, and S. J. Suomi (see record 2006-03207-008) noted that the results S. F. Brosnan and F. B. M. de Waal (see record 2003-08401-002) attributed to inequity aversion could also be explained as a frustration effect. Roma et al. redressed this confound by designing a procedure that could have supported either of these interpretations. Nevertheless, they found that only a frustration effect accounted for both their data and those of Brosnan and de Waal (2003). The criticisms Brosnan and de Waal (2006) offered of Roma et al. ignored the fact that Brosnan and de Waal's (2003) research design was not capable of offering an unequivocal demonstration of inequity aversion. This conclusion holds no matter what the claimed inadequacies of Roma et al.'s procedures might have been. Caution is urged in inferring the existence of inequity aversion in nonhuman primates. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Odor from rats tasting a signal of illness.

Rats running in a runway emit discriminable odors when encountering reward (R) or nonreward (N) goal events, and subsequent rats use these odors as discriminative stimuli to alter their approach speeds. In the present studies, a third goal event, aversively conditioned denatonium saccharide (A), was introduced. In Experiment 1, rats evidently emitted an odor when encountering the A goal event, because in the presence of this A odor subsequent conspecifics slowed their approach to the goal, much like their behavior on N trials. In Experiment 2, when N odor signaled R goal events and A odor signaled A goal events, rats approached quickly to N but slowly to A, indicating that they could discriminate N and A odors at the given concentrations. These studies indicate that rats emit an odor when confronted with a signal of impending illness and that this odor seems readily discriminable from R and N odors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Retrieval-induced facilitation: Initially nontested material can benefit from prior testing of related material.

Classroom exams can assess students' knowledge of only a subset of the material taught in a course. What are the implications of this approach for long-term retention? Three experiments (N = 210) examined how taking an initial test affects later memory for prose materials not initially tested. Experiment 1 shows that testing enhanced recall 24 hr later for the initially nontested material. This facilitation was not seen for participants given additional study opportunities without initial testing. Experiment 2 extends this facilitative effect to a within-subjects design. Experiment 3 demonstrates that this facilitation can be modulated by conscious strategies. These results have implications for educational practice and the theoretical developments of the testing effect, associative memory, and retrieval inhibition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Trial spacing is a determinant of cue interaction.

Four conditioned lick suppression experiments with rats examined the effect of trial spacing on cue interaction. Experiments 1 and 2 found overshadowing to be eliminated with massed compound stimulus- outcome pairings and the usual trial spacing effect to be reversed with compound acquisition trials. Experiment 3 found that whether acquisition compound- outcome pairings were massed or spaced determined the effect of posttraining extinction treatment. Extinction of the overshadowing cue reduced responding following massed training and increased responding following spaced training. Extinction of the context decreased responding following massed training. Experiment 4 found the conditioning and devaluation results to be associative and stimulus specific. These results are in accord with the extended comparator hypothesis (J. C. Denniston, H. I. Savastano, & R. R. Miller, 2001). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Disruption of short-term memory by changing and deviant sounds: Support for a duplex-mechanism account of auditory distraction.

The disruption of short-term memory by to-be-ignored auditory sequences (the changing-state effect) has often been characterized as attentional capture by deviant events (deviation effect). However, the present study demonstrates that changing-state and deviation effects are functionally distinct forms of auditory distraction: The disruption of visual-verbal serial recall by changing-state speech was independent of the effect of a single deviant voice embedded within the speech (Experiment 1); a voice-deviation effect, but not a changing-state effect, was found on a missing-item task (Experiment 2); and a deviant voice repetition within the context of an alternating-voice irrelevant speech sequence disrupted serial recall (Experiment 3). The authors conclude that the changing-state effect is the result of a conflict between 2 seriation processes being applied concurrently to relevant and irrelevant material, whereas the deviation effect reflects a more general attention-capture process. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

D-Cycloserine and the Facilitation of Extinction of Conditioned Fear: Consequences for Reinstatement.

Several recent studies have reported that D-cycloserine (DCS), a partial N-methyl-D-aspartate agonist, facilitates extinction of learned fear in rats. Other studies have shown that representation of the unconditioned stimulus (US) can reinstate learned fear after extinction. This study examined whether this reinstatement effect occurs in Sprague-Dawley rats given DCS at the time of extinction. Results showed that saline-treated rats exhibited the reinstatement effect but DCS-treated rats did not (Experiments 1 and 2). This lack of reinstatement in DCS-treated rats was not due to residual effects of DCS on either US or context processing (Experiment 3). Overall, these results (a) raise questions about the mechanisms underlying DCS facilitation of extinction and (b) suggest that DCS might have substantial practical benefit. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Gender-based prototype formation in face recognition.

The role of gender categories in prototype formation during face recognition was investigated in 2 experiments. The participants were asked to learn individual faces and then to recognize them. During recognition, individual faces were mixed with faces, which were blended faces of same or different genders. The results of the 2 experiments showed that blended faces made with learned individual faces were recognized, even though they had never been seen before. In Experiment 1, this effect was stronger when faces belonged to the same gender category (same-sex blended faces), but it also emerged across gender categories (cross-sex blended faces). Experiment 2 further showed that this prototype effect was not affected by the presentation order for same-sex blended faces: The effect was equally strong when the faces were presented one after the other during learning or alternated with faces of the opposite gender. By contrast, the prototype effect across gender categories was highly sensitive to the temporal proximity of the faces blended into the blended faces and almost disappeared when other faces were intermixed. These results indicate that distinct neural populations code for female and male faces. However, the formation of a facial representation can also be mediated by both neural populations. The implications for face-space properties and face-encoding processes are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)