Retrieval of Incidental Stimulus-Response Associations as a Source of Negative Priming.

Priming effects of ignored distractor words were investigated in a task-switching situation that allowed an orthogonal variation of priming and response compatibility between prime and probe. Across 3 experiments, the authors obtained a disordinal interaction of priming and response relation. Responding was delayed in the ignored repetition condition if different responses were required for identical stimuli in the prime and probe (negative priming). Repeating the prime distractor in the probe facilitated responding if the same response was required in the prime and in the probe (positive priming). The same pattern of results was replicated in a letter-matching task without task switching (Experiment 4). Findings lend support to a new model that explains negative priming in terms of an automatic retrieval of incidental stimulus-response associations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Correction to Rothermund et al. (2005).

Reports an error in the article "Retrieval of Incidental Stimulus-Response Associations as a Source of Negative Priming" by Rothermund et al. (Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, Vol 31(3) May 2005, 482-495). Table 1 (p. 484) was incorrectly typeset. The correct layout is provided. (The following abstract of this article originally appeared in record 2005-05101-007.) Priming effects of ignored distractor words were investigated in a task-switching situation that allowed an orthogonal variation of priming and response compatibility between prime and probe. Across 3 experiments, the authors obtained a disordinal interaction of priming and response relation. Responding was delayed in the ignored repetition condition if different responses were required for identical stimuli in the prime and probe (negative priming). Repeating the prime distractor in the probe facilitated responding if the same response was required in the prime and in the probe (positive priming). The same pattern of results was replicated in a letter-matching task without task switching (Experiment 4). Findings lend support to a new model that explains negative priming in terms of an automatic retrieval of incidental stimulus-response associations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Probability effects on stimulus evaluation and response processes.

Investigated the effects of probability information on response preparation and stimulus evaluation. Eight Ss responded with 1 hand to the target letter H and with the other to the target letter S. The target letter was surrounded by noise letters that were either the same as or different from the target letter. In 2 conditions, the targets were preceded by a warning stimulus unrelated to the target letter. In 2 other conditions, a warning letter predicted that the same letter or the opposite letter would appear as the imperative stimulus with .80 probability. Correct reactions times (RTs) were faster and error rates were lower when imperative stimuli confirmed the predictions of the warning stimulus. Probability information affected (1) the preparation of motor responses during the foreperiod, (2) the development of expectancies for a particular target letter, and (3) a process sensitive to the identities of letter stimuli but not to their locations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

L'avantage même-main: effet de la préparation motrice ou de la compatibilité indices-réponses?

Studied the goodness-of-fit of 2 explanations of the same-hand advantage (SHA), i.e., faster reaction time (RT) if responses cued before stimulus presentation are from the same hand as opposed to different hands. Ss were 82 university students (aged 20–40 yrs). Exp 1 consisted of a computerized 4-choice reaction task involving variations in (1) the placement of the fingers on the keyboard, (2) duration of the preparation period, and (3) same-hand vs different-hand preparation. RTs under these experimental variations were compared. Exp 2 involved a greater number of trials than Exp 1 and cued responses either visually or by vibration of the appropriate response keys. Duration of the preparation period and same-hand vs different-hand preparation also were varied. RTs under the different experimental conditions were compared. (English abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Naming and locating the tops of rotated pictures.

Investigated whether and how pictures are mentally rotated to upright before they can be named. Four experiments were conducted with 12 college students in each, who were given the tasks of naming pictures of common objects with various orientations and locating their tops. In the naming task, Ss required more time the farther the picture was from upright, but the rotation effect was reduced after Ss had named each picture once, indicating that rotation may be required only for unfamiliar stimuli. The top locating task was faster with upright figures, but otherwise-oriented pictures required the same time regardless of orientation. Top-locating was faster than naming, indicating that "topness" may be guessed even in unfamiliar figures, while naming also involves searching one's semantic memory for a name. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An inhibition-based fan effect: Evidence for an active suppression mechanism in selective attention.

Tested an inhibition-based fan effect hypothesis, using a negative priming paradigm in Exps 1 and 2 and a short-term memory scanning paradigm in Exp 3. In Exp 1 (24 undergraduates) and Exp 2 (48 undergraduates), the time to name a letter (surrounded by 1–3 distractor letters) was longer when it had been a distractor on the previous display than in a control condition where the target letter had not been one of the distractors in the previous display. This negative priming effect attenuated as the number of distractors in the previous display increased. The juxtaposition of an irrelevancy with a relevancy heuristic supports the possible existence of a spreading inhibition counterpart of spreading activation. Several predictions based on this framework were confirmed among 3 undergraduates in a modified short-term memory scanning task in Exp 3. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Familiarity effects in visual comparison tasks and their implications for studying human intelligence.

Two experiments were carried out to study the effect of prior knowledge on cognitive processes related to human intelligence by examining its role in defining task novelty. In Exp 1, Ss performed a letter-matching task involving same–different judgments based on 4 rules of sameness; physical identity, form, system, and name. When the stimuli were unfamiliar, performance on the name classification task was correlated with measures of fluid abilities, whereas when the stimuli were familiar, performance on this task was not correlated with measures of fluid abilities. In Exp 2, Ss performed 3 different forms of a mental rotation task. When the stimuli were unfamiliar, the slope of the rotation function was correlated with a test of fluid ability, whereas when the stimuli were familiar, the slope of the rotation function was not correlated with a test of fluid ability. These results are discussed in terms of their implications for understanding the nature of task complexity and the way knowledge and processing interact in the development of skilled performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Online response preparation in a rapid serial visual search task.

Online response preparation was assessed in a visual search task using rapid serial visual presentation. In each trial, a series of letters was presented sequentially, and participants were instructed to make a target-present response if a prespecified target letter was presented or a target-absent response if it was not. Measurements of response preparation using both probe reaction time and the lateralized readiness potential indicated that preparation of the target-absent response increased near the end of the sequence. Most of the increase appeared to be due to direct priming of the target-absent response by nontarget letters, but part was due to the increased conditional probability of this response near the end of the sequence. These results extend previous studies of response preparation by showing online response preparation during a temporally extended reaction time task. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attention to orientation, size, luminance, and color: Attentional failure within the form domain.

Whether Ss can attend to physical dimensions of objects without access to semantic information about them was examined. Ss decided which of 2 laterally presented pictures, a target and a distractor, had the same orientation (Exp 1), size (Exp 2), luminance (Exp 3), or color (Exp 4) as a reference picture. In each experiment, the matching stimuli were either physically identical, semantically related, or semantically unrelated. The reference stimulus and the distractor were either semantically related or unrelated. When matching was based on orientation or on size, performance was facilitated when the matching stimuli were semantically related, and it was disrupted when the distractor was semantically related to the reference stimulus. Semantic effects were eliminated when matching was based on luminance or color. The results are discussed in terms of physiological data, form and surface information, and global and local processing. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Taking a bright view of negative priming in the light of dim stimuli: Further evidence for memory confusion during episodic retrieval.

A same–different letter-matching task was used to examine the effects of stimulus intensity on negative priming, which is poorer performance when target letters have been presented as distractor letters on the immediately preceding trial. In Exp 1, with 68 college students, stimulus intensity was manipulated between-participants, whereas in Exp 2, with 32 college students, it varied randomly from trial-to-trial within-participants. In Exp 1, negative priming was equivalent for both stimulus intensities. In Exp 2, negative priming effects were larger for repeated intensity stimuli than for nonrepeated intensity stimuli, when stimulus intensity was dim. Furthermore, for repeated intensity stimuli, negative priming effects were enhanced when the overt response required to the stimulus was repeated from prime to probe trial. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that negative priming may be due to memory confusion, rather than to inhibition of the distractor stimuli. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mechanisms of attentional priority.

When a single abrupt onset occurs in a multielement visual display, it captures attention, possibly by generating an attentional interrupt that designates onsets as being of high priority. In 3 experiments, the mechanisms subserving attentional priority setting were investigated. A total of 56 Ss searched for a prespecified target letter among multiple distractor letters, half of which had abrupt onsets and half of which did not. The target, when present, was equally often an onset element and a no-onset element. Several models for attentional priority, differing in how many onset elements have priority over no-onset elements, were assessed. The data support a model in which approximately 4 onset stimuli are processed before any no-onset stimuli are processed. Two attentional priority mechanisms are proposed: (1) queuing of a limited number of high-priority elements and (2) temporally modulated decay of attentional priority tags. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Temporary suppression of visual processing in an RSVP task: An attentional blink?

Through rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP), the authors asked Ss to identify a partially specified letter (target) and then to detect the presence or absence of a fully specified letter (probe). Whereas targets are accurately identified, probes are poorly detected when they are presented during a 270-msec interval beginning 180 msec after the target. Probes presented immediately after the target or later in the RSVP stream are accurately detected. This temporary reduction in probe detection was not found in conditions in which a brief blank interval followed the target or Ss were not required to identify the target. The data suggest that the presentation of stimuli after the target but before target-identification processes are complete produces interference at a letter-recognition stage. This interference may cause the temporary suppression of visual attention mechanisms observed in the present study. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On the temporal relations between memory scanning and response preparation

Three experiments were conducted to investigate whether response processes can start before memory scanning has finished when both are required in the same task. In Experiment 1 the color of a stimulus letter determined which hand might respond, and the letter's memory set membership determined whether that response should be made or withheld. Electrophysiological data suggested that lateralized response preparation was not initiated until memory scanning finished. Experiment 2 replicated these results with a consistent stimulus-response mapping to make the scanning process easier. Experiment 3 tested for earlier response priming with a probe reaction time paradigm, and the results suggested that color information can be used to activate a response before memory scanning is finished. The results of Experiments 1-3 suggest that interference between memory scanning and response preparation precludes the concurrent operation of these processes.     

Influence of short-term memory codes on visual image processing: Evidence from image transformation tasks.

Three experiments showed that phonological recoding of visual stimuli in short-term memory affects coding in long-term memory (LTM) and therefore performance on tasks involving generation and manipulation of visual images of the stimuli. An image transformation task was devised. It consists of mentally subtracting a part of an image to discover in the remainder another object. In Exp 1, Ss were required to learn a set of easily nameable visual stimuli and then perform the subtraction task on images retrieved from LTM. Performance was significantly better when initial learning was accompanied by articulatory suppression (AS). Exp 2 confirmed that AS had no effect when the task was performed on an image of a just-presented stimulus. In Exp 3, the nameability of the stimuli was manipulated. The results replicated the effect of AS for items that were easy to name but showed no effect of AS for stimuli that were difficult to name. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Negative priming without overt prime selection.

Investigated whether negative priming occurs in the absence of overt prime selection in 3 Exps using 16 college students with normal or corrected-to-normal vision as Ss. In Exp 1, Ss responded to a target item in the probe display only, instead of the usual procedure that requires Ss to also respond to 1 of the items in the prime display. In Exp 2, Ss were asked to choose the less bright of 2 probes displayed in the same color. The same procedure was used for Exp 3 except the distractor was removed from the probe display. The authors conclude that overt selection against a prime distractor in favor of a probe target is not necessary to observe negative priming. This result demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding concerning the procedure required to measure negative priming and presents an experimental procedure that is of considerable utility in evaluating theoretical accounts of negative priming. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Color-object paired associates in deaf and hearing children with and without response competition.

Deaf and hearing Ss, aged 6 and 10, were compared in 2 nonverbally presented paired-associates tasks. One condition used neutral color stimuli unrelated to toy response objects and another condition had colors systematically related to the same objects to provide interfering response competition. Age differences were observed, while task interacted with deafness such that hearing but not deaf Ss were impeded by the interference condition relative to the neutral condition. It was concluded that deaf Ss showed no perceptual rigidity and that covert verbalizations of hearing Ss or experiential poverty in deaf Ss produced the differential task effects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Shifting attention between global features and small details: an event-related potential study

In two experiments, large letters H or Z composed of small letters (also H or Z) were presented. Subjects had to make a two-choice motor response (e.g. H--left key, Z--right key). A cue presented 500 ms before the letter indicated which level (global or local) was relevant. In Experiment I, a third letter (T) sometimes appeared either at the cued or the non-cued level; in the former case, subjects had to shift their attention and to respond to stimulus features located at the non-cued level. The interference effect (RT delay in response to incongruent stimuli as compared to congruent ones) was larger when the local, rather than global, level was cued. A slow anterior negativity preceding globally-cued stimuli and shorter N1 and P2 ERP component latencies to these stimuli indicated better preparation for processing of global, as compared to local, stimulus features. The shift from local to global focus yielded a larger increase of RT, error rate, and of the P600 latency than the global-to-local shift. The P600 latency changes were parallel to those of RT. In Experiment II, the attentional shift was provoked by stimulus color red-colored letters meant that the cue was invalid, and thus, subjects had to respond to the non-cued level. Neither the interference nor the attentional shift demonstrated any asymmetry between the global and local levels. ERPs also did not differ substantially after local and global cues. In the condition demanding a shift of focus (invalid cue, incongruent letter), a positive deflection of the lateralized readiness potential indicated the activation of the wrong response channel. The large RT increment in this condition was not accompanied by an increase of the P600 latency. Two possible mechanisms of attentional shift may be proposed, the first related to perceptual processes (e.g. an additional visual search), and the second, to the competition between two response intentions.     

The roles of stimulus-response compatibility and mental rotation in mirror-image and left-right decisions.

Examined the relative roles of mental rotation and stimulus-response (SR) compatibility in mirror-image and left-right decisions. 15 Ss, aged 19–43 yrs, were shown rotated letters and asked to indicate whether the letters were normal or backward (mirror-image task). Ss were then asked whether a dot would be located to the left or right of each letter if the letter was upright (viewer-centered left-right task) or if the letter was both upright and normal (letter-centered left-right task). The functions relating reaction time (RT) to angular orientation were parallel across the 3 tasks, suggesting that SR compatibility played no role, and that the Ss mentally rotated the letters to the upright in each case. A marked increase in RT to backward letters in the letter-centered task suggested a 2nd rotation in depth to restore the letters to normal. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interference effects in the Stroop and Simon paradigms.

The possibility that Stroop and Simon effects reflect the same cognitive processes was tested in 3 experiments with 62 adult Ss. The words LEFT and RIGHT were shown left and right of screen center. Similar levels of interference were found for a Simon task (keypress to meaning of word) and a spatial Stroop task (name its location). A reverse Simon task (keypress to word location) showed minimal interference from the irrelevant word, but in a reverse spatial Stroop task (read the word aloud) interference from the irrelevant location was sizeable. This poses difficulty for translational accounts of Stroop interference. Presenting LEFT and RIGHT laterally balanced by a color-name foil yielded a Simon effect inconsistent with an orienting response hypothesis. With bilateral stimuli in a reverse Simon task, interference was marked, supporting an integrative account of Stroop and Simon effects in terms of cognitive activation and the salience of irrelevant stimuli. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Failures to ignore entirely irrelevant distractors: The role of load.

In daily life (e.g., in the work environment) people are often distracted by stimuli that are clearly irrelevant to the current task and should be ignored. In contrast, much applied distraction research has focused on task interruptions by information that requires a response and therefore cannot be ignored. Moreover, the most commonly used laboratory measures of distractibility (e.g., in the response-competition and attentional-capture paradigms), typically involve distractors that are task relevant (e.g., through response associations or location). A series of experiments assessed interference effects from stimuli that are entirely unrelated to the current task, comparing the effects of perceptual load on task-irrelevant and task-relevant (response competing) distractors. The results showed that an entirely irrelevant distractor can interfere with task performance to the same extent as a response-competing distractor and that, as with other types of distractors, the interfering effects of the irrelevant distractors can be eliminated with high perceptual load in the relevant task. These findings establish a new laboratory measure of a form of distractibility common to everyday life and highlight load as an important determinant of such distractibility. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)