Focal/nonfocal cue effects in prospective memory: Monitoring difficulty or different retrieval processes?

We investigated whether focal/nonfocal effects (e.g., Einstein et al., 2005) in prospective memory (PM) are explained by cue differences in monitoring difficulty. In Experiment 1, we show that syllable cues (used in Einstein et al., 2005) are more difficult to monitor for than are word cues; however, initial-letter cues (in words) are similar in monitoring difficulty to word cues (Experiments 2a and 2b). Accordingly, in Experiments 3 and 4, we designated either an initial letter or a particular word as a PM cue in the context of a lexical decision task, a task that presumably directs attention to focal processing of words but not initial letters. We found that the nonfocal condition was more likely than the focal condition to produce costs to the lexical decision task (task interference). Furthermore, when task interference was minimal or absent, focal PM performance remained relatively high, whereas nonfocal PM performance was near floor (Experiment 4). Collectively, these results suggest that qualitatively different retrieval processes can support prospective remembering for focal versus nonfocal cues. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's working-memory processes: A response-timing analysis.

Recall response durations were used to clarify processing in working-memory tasks. Experiment 1 examined children's performance in reading span, a task in which sentences were processed and the final word of each sentence was retained for subsequent recall. Experiment 2 examined the development of listening-, counting-, and digit-span task performance. Responses were much longer in the reading- and listening-span tasks than in the other span tasks, suggesting that participants in sentence-based span tasks take time to retrieve the semantic or linguistic structure as cues to recall of the sentence-final words. Response durations in working-memory tasks helped to predict academic skills and achievement, largely separate from the contributions of the memory spans themselves. Response durations thus are important in the interpretation of span task performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Electrophysiological responses to coarticulatory and word level miscues.

The influence of coarticulation cues on spoken word recognition is not yet well understood. This acoustic/phonetic variation may be processed early and recognized as sensory noise to be stripped away, or it may influence processing at a later prelexical stage. The present study used event-related potentials (ERPs) in a picture/spoken word matching paradigm to examine the temporal dynamics of stimuli systematically violating expectations at three levels: entire word (lexical), initial phoneme (phonemic), or in coarticulation cues contained in the initial phoneme (subphonemic). We found that both coarticulatory and phonemic mismatches resulted in increased negativity in the N280, interpreted as indexing prelexical processing of subphonemic information. Further analyses revealed that the point of uniqueness differentially modulated subsequent early or late negativity depending on whether the first or second segment matched expectations, respectively. Finally, it was found that word-level but not coarticulatory mismatches modulated the later-going N400 component, indicating that subphonemic information does not influence word-level selection provided no lexical change has occurred. The results indicate that acoustic/phonetic variation resulting from coarticulation is preserved in and influences spoken word recognition as it becomes available, particularly during prelexical processing. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Clever homunculus: Is there an endogenous act of control in the explicit task-cuing procedure?

Does the explicit task-cuing procedure require an endogenous act of control? In 5 experiments, cues indicating which task to perform preceded targets by several stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs). Two models were developed to account for changes in reaction time (RT) with SOA. Model 1 assumed an endogenous act of task switching for cue alternations but not for cue repetitions. Model 2 assumed no such act. In Experiments 1 and 2, the cue was masked or not masked. Masking interacted underadditively with repetition and alternation, consistent with Model 2 but not Model 1. In Experiments 3 and 4, 2 cues were used for each task. RT was slower for task repetition than for cue repetition and about the same as RT for task alternation, consistent with Model 2 but not Model 1. The results suggest that the explicit task-cuing procedure does not require an endogenous act of control. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Competence, achievement orientation, and intrinsic motivation: A process analysis.

Three sources of competence information were manipulated in an experiment in which 120 male 15–18 yr olds worked on a word game, after being given an expectancy for success and an objective standard for average performance, to investigate the process through which competence information affects intrinsic motivation. It was predicted that performance cues that differed in terms of objectivity and timing during task performance would affect task interest differentially and that the effects of competence information would vary according to achievement orientation. Normative feedback was provided after task completion. Results show that the effects of the cues on self-efficacy and task interest were generally consistent with A. Bandura's (1982) self-efficacy model of intrinsic motivation. Objective information provided before the game was optimal in enhancing self-efficacy and interest for all Ss. High achievers responded positively to competence cues, whereas cues providing positive feedback about ability reduced interest for low achievers. Path analytic process analysis indicated that mediational structures also varied according to achievement orientation. Competence information enhanced high achievers' valuation of competence which had a positive causal impact on subsequent intrinsic motivation. In contrast, efficacy expectations mediated increases in intrinsic motivation for low achievers. (55 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Age effects in cued recall: Sources from implicit and explicit memory.

In 2 experiments, young and old adults were compared on cued recall using direct and indirect test instructions. Participants studied words under an incidental orienting task of rating each word for concreteness. Test cues were meaningfully related to the targets, and participants used them either to recall the studied word (direct test) or to generate a related word (indirect test). Target words and test cues varied in the number of associates linked to them prior to the laboratory experience, and effects of the size of the sets of associates were used as indicators of implicit memory search. Age differences were observed in the effects of target and cue set size as well as in the effects of type of test instruction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Learning and limits of use of eye gaze by capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella) in an object-choice task.

The ability of 3 capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella) to use experimenter-given cues to solve an object-choice task was assessed. The monkeys learned to use explicit gestural and postural cues and then progressed to using eye-gaze-only cues to solve the task, that is, to choose the baited 1 of 2 objects and thus obtain a food reward. Increasing cue-stimulus distance and introducing movement of the eyes impeded the establishment of effective eye-gaze reading. One monkey showed positive but imperfect transfer of use of eye gaze when a novel experimenter presented the cue. When head and eye orientation cues were presented simultaneously and in conflict, the monkeys showed greater responsiveness to head orientation cues. The results show that capuchin monkeys can learn to use eye gaze as a discriminative cue, but there was no evidence for any underlying awareness of eye gaze as a cue to direction of attention. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of signaling retention interval length on delayed matching-to-sample in pigeons.

Pigeons were trained initially on a delayed matching task in which colors served as sample and comparison stimuli. During subsequent training, additional stimuli compounded with the sample signaled whether that trial involved a short (1 s) or a long (5 s) delay. In Experiment 1, miscuing reduced accuracy at the short delay markedly and tended to increase accuracy at the long delay slightly. Experiments 2 and 3 revealed a robust effect of cuing when the cues followed sample termination, thereby refuting the view that such cues evoke differential attention to the sample stimulus. Experiment 4 revealed that the cues did not influence rate of forgetting, and Experiment 5 revealed no effect of point of cue placement within the retention interval. It was concluded that cues correlated with retention interval length modulated matching accuracy independently of memory, perhaps by signaling different rates of reinforcement. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Testing the influence of external and internal cues on smoking motivation using a community sample.

Exposing smokers to either external cues (e.g., pictures of cigarettes) or internal cues (e.g., negative affect induction) can induce urge to smoke and other behavioral and physiological responses. However, little is known about whether the two types of cues interact when presented in close proximity, as is likely the case in the real word. Additionally, potential moderators of cue reactivity have rarely been examined. Finally, few cue-reactivity studies have used representative samples of smokers. In a randomized 2 × 2 crossed factorial between-subjects design, the current study tested the effects of a negative affect cue intended to produce anxiety (speech preparation task) and an external smoking cue on urge and behavioral reactivity in a community sample of adult smokers (N = 175), and whether trait impulsivity moderated the effects. Both types of cues produced main effects on urges to smoke, despite the speech task failing to increase anxiety significantly. The speech task increased smoking urge related to anticipation of negative affect relief, whereas the external smoking cues increased urges related to anticipation of pleasure; however, the cues did not interact. Impulsivity measures predicted urge and other smoking-related variables, but did not moderate cue-reactivity. Results suggest independent rather than synergistic effects of these contributors to smoking motivation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Integration of topic and subordinate information during reading.

Four experiments examined how readers integrate subordinate information with relevant context as they read. Ss read texts a sentence at a time with occasional interruptions lasting 30 sec. Following a distractor task, they resumed reading after being reminded of the topic sentence of the last paragraph they read (topic cue condition), being reminded of the last sentence they had read (local cue condition), or receiving no reminder of what they had been reading (no cue condition). Reading times on the 1st sentence following interruption were faster in the topic and local cue conditions than in the no cue condition (1) when the topic and local cues supplied missing referents for the target sentences, (2) when the target sentences were written to be understood as independent statements, and (3) whether the target sentences were embedded in short or long texts. Results are interpreted as demonstrating that readers integrate subordinate information with relevant topics, as well as with the immediate local context. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reading rate, readability, and variations in task-induced processing.

Tested the hypothesis that task variables account for previous findings that reading rate is unaffected by readability. In a study with 68 high school students, variations in a reading task were used to induce different processes during reading. When the S had to inspect a text to remember enough for a subsequent word match, easy texts were read faster than difficult texts. When word matching was attempted as the S read, easy texts were read no faster than difficult texts. Findings suggest that when appropriate reading tasks are chosen, reading rate can be used to infer underlying processes in reading. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dissociating the components of switch cost using two-to-two cue–task mapping.

In the task switch paradigm, a switch of task is typically accompanied by a change in task cue. It has been proposed that the performance deficit usually observed when switching tasks is actually the result of changing cues. To test this possibility, we used a 2:2 cue–task mapping in which each cue indicated 2 different tasks. With advance presentation of a cue, the cost associated with changing cues disappeared, though a substantial task switch cost remained. Without advance cues, the relative contributions of task switch cost and cue change cost differed by transition frequencies. The results suggest that task execution contributes to switch cost independent of cue changes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's first reading lesson: Variables influencing within-lesson emotional behavior and postlesson achievement.

Hypothesized that variables related to reading achievement are also related to emotions during reading instruction. Test variables selected were skill in word analysis and synthesis (WASS) and reading instruction approach (phonics—blending required vs whole word—nonblending). Ss were 20 5-yr-old prereaders, and the reading materials were from the Ball–Stick–Bird system. Ss were also administered the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test. Lessons were videotaped, and the Ss' emotions were rated along the dimensions of hyperactive/distractible, hostile/aggressive, and anxious/fearful. Results show that Ss' WASS was related to hostile/aggressive behaviors, and reading instruction approach was related to hyperactive/distractible behaviors. The interaction of WASS and reading instruction approach reveal that the 2 kinds of reading training are differentially effective for different children. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Autobiographical memory specificity after manipulating retrieval cues in adults reporting childhood sexual abuse.

Traumatized samples have relative difficulty in generating specific autobiographical memories on a cue word task, compared to nonexposed controls. Simultaneously, trauma is associated with highly specific intrusive trauma memories in day-to-day life. Possibly, day-to-day intrusions and memories generated to cue words rely on different retrieval processes, with the former dependent on close associations between retrieval cues and specific memory representations (direct retrieval), and the latter on iterative retrieval cycles through a hierarchical memory system (generative retrieval). This study investigated this distinction using two versions of the cue word task, designed to promote generative and direct retrieval, respectively, in participants with or without a history of child sexual abuse (CSA). The data demonstrated that CSA participants were less specific than nonabused controls to generative retrieval cues, but this difference disappeared with direct retrieval cues. This interaction was stronger in CSA participants with relatively greater posttraumatic stress and remained significant when participants with past or current major depressive disorder were excluded and also when only those participants with corroborated CSA were included. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of small cue–response separation on pattern discrimination in macaques (Macaca fuscata and M. mulatta).

Three studies with 17 macaque and 6 rhesus monkeys examined the effect of small cue–response separations on Ss' pattern discriminations. When training on a pattern discrimination with a cue–response separation was discontinued during performance at the chance level, there was no saving on the rate of learning a 2nd task (with identical cues but a different cue–response separation) relative to the performance of naive control Ss. By contrast, when training was discontinued at a performance level a little better than chance, there was significant saving on learning a 2nd task. After learning the 2nd task, a 3rd task with new pattern cues was learned, with marked saving on the duration of performance at the chance level. Results indicate that during the initial stage of performance at the chance level, monkeys do not attend to cues if there is even a small separation between the cue and the response site. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Separating cue encoding from target processing in the explicit task-cuing procedure: Are there "true" task switch effects?

Six experiments were conducted to separate cue encoding from target processing in explicitly cued task switching to determine whether task switch effects could be separated from cue encoding effects and to determine the nature of the representations produced by cue encoding. Subjects were required to respond to the cue, indicating which cue was presented (Experiments 1, 3a, and 4a) or which task was cued (Experiments 2, 3b, and 4b), before performing the cued task on the target. Cue encoding was successfully separated from target processing when the cue response indicated which task was cued but not when it indicated which cue was presented. Task switch effects were found when this separation was successful, suggesting that there are "true" task switch effects independent of cue encoding. Analysis of the conditions required for successful separation suggested that cue encoding results in a semantic categorical representation of the task to be performed rather than verbal or phonological representations of individual cues. Implications for the authors' past modeling of task-switching performance are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Individual differences in selective attention among prereaders: A key to mirror-image confusions.

Exp I investigated the position that mirror-image confusions reflect an inability to attend to low-salient cues. 84 3–5 yr olds were given 3 problems: mirror-image matching, shape-detail matching, and consistent left–right ordering on a picture-naming task. With nonlearners, performance was reassessed following explicit instructions. This rendered Ss divisible into levels: spontaneous, instructed learners, and nonlearners. As predicted, most 3-yr-olds fell into identical categories across all low-salient problems, either instructed learners or nonlearners. The 4–5 yr olds were spontaneous or instructed learners but did not exhibit concordance across all problems. It is suggested that for these Ss, level differences reflected differences between nonreaders already attending to reading cues and those not yet attending. Exp II, with the 4–5 yr olds from Exp I, identified the nonreaders, who were given a letter-series and letter-writing task. Significant-levels agreement occurred among the prereading tasks involving attention to individual shape details. The ordering problem showed level concordance only with tasks involving left–right scanning. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Setting goals to switch between tasks: Effect of cue transparency on children’s cognitive flexibility.

Three experiments examined the difficulty of translating cues into verbal representations of task goals by varying the degree of cue transparency (auditory transparent cues, visual transparent cues, visual arbitrary cues) in the Advanced Dimensional Change Card Sort, which requires switching between color- and shape-sorting rules on the basis of cues. Experiment 1 showed that 5- and 6-year-old children’s performance improved as a function of cue transparency. Experiment 2 yielded the same pattern of results and showed that cue transparency effects cannot be accounted for by cue format only. Finally, Experiment 3 examined the effect of cue transparency in 7- and 9-year-olds and adults. The effect decreased over age for accuracy performance but not for latencies, suggesting that under some conditions, the difficulty of cue translation can still be observed in individuals whose inner speech is efficient. Overall, these findings showed that goal setting substantially contributes to children’s flexible behaviors and continues to influence adults’ performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Transposed-letter effects in reading: Evidence from eye movements and parafoveal preview.

Three eye movement experiments were conducted to examine the role of letter identity and letter position during reading. Before fixating on a target word within each sentence, readers were provided with a parafoveal preview that differed in the amount of useful letter identity and letter position information it provided. In Experiments 1 and 2, previews fell into 1 of 5 conditions: (a) identical to the target word, (b) a transposition of 2 internal letters, (c) a substitution of 2 internal letters, (d) a transposition of the 2 final letters, or (e) a substitution of the 2 final letters. In Experiment 3, the authors used a further set of conditions to explore the importance of external letter positions. The findings extend previous work and demonstrate that transposed-letter effects exist in silent reading. These experiments also indicate that letter identity information can be extracted from the parafovea outside of absolute letter position from the first 5 letters of the word to the right of fixation. Finally, the results support the notion that exterior letters play important roles in visual word recognition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Comparing word fragment completion and cued recall with letter cues.

Cued recall with word stems as cues and fragment completion rely on different types of letter cues and also differ in the explicit–implicit nature of the retrieval orientation. Despite these differences, variables effective in one task may be effective in the other because both rely on letter cues. Two variables known to affect cued recall were manipulated: Lexical set size (number of words that fit the letter cue) and meaning set size (number of associates generated to the studied words). Across four experiments, subjects in each task were less likely to recover targets from larger lexical sets. However, meaning set size affected cued recall but not fragment completion. These results indicate that fragment completion and letter-cued recall are based on lexical search but that cued recall also involves a semantic search component. Furthermore, type of retrieval cue had a greater effect than type of retrieval orientation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)