Tracking the mind during reading: The influence of past, present, and future words on fixation durations.

Reading requires the orchestration of visual, attentional, language-related, and oculomotor processing constraints. This study replicates previous effects of frequency, predictability, and length of fixated words on fixation durations in natural reading and demonstrates new effects of these variables related to 144 sentences. Such evidence for distributed processing of words across fixation durations challenges psycholinguistic immediacy-of-processing and eye-mind assumptions. Most of the time the mind processes several words in parallel at different perceptual and cognitive levels. Eye movements can help to unravel these processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Differential effects of cue changes and task changes on task-set selection costs.

A task-switching paradigm with a 2:1 mapping between cues and tasks was used to separate cue-switching processes (indexed through pure cue-switch costs) from actual task-switching processes (indexed through additional costs in case of cue and task changes). A large portion of total switch costs was due to cue changes (Experiments 1 and 2), and cue-switch costs but not task-switch costs were sensitive to effects of practice (Experiment 1) and preparation (Experiment 2). In contrast, task-switch costs were particularly sensitive to response-priming effects (Experiments 1 and 2) and task-set inhibition (Experiment 3). Results suggest two processing stages relevant during task-set selection: cue-driven retrieval of task rules from long-term memory and the automatic application of rules to a particular stimulus situation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Preview benefit and parafoveal-on-foveal effects from word n + 2.

Using the gaze-contingent boundary paradigm with the boundary placed after word n, the experiment manipulated preview of word n + 2 for fixations on word n. There was no preview benefit for 1st-pass reading on word n + 2, replicating the results of K. Rayner, B. J. Juhasz, and S. J. Brown (2007), but there was a preview benefit on the 3-letter word n + 1, that is, after the boundary but before word n + 2. Additionally, both word n + 1 and word n + 2 exhibited parafoveal-on-foveal effects on word n. Thus, during a fixation on word n and given a short word n + 1, some information is extracted from word n + 2, supporting the hypothesis of distributed processing in the perceptual span. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of learning a new algorithm on asymptotic accuracy and execution speed in old age: A reanalysis.

Time-accuracy curves were derived for 16 younger and 19 older persons who participated in a study on training in the method of loci (Baltes & Kliegl, 1992). The effects of instruction were to immediately and permanently boost asymptotic performance and initially slow down the rate of approach to the asymptote. After extensive practice, rate of approach returned to the initial fast level. Age differences were found in both asymptotic performance and rate of approach. The effects of instruction and practice, however, were similar in younger and older adults, but older adults needed 1 session of instruction more than younger adults did before the intervention showed its full effect. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Professional expertise does not eliminate age differences in imagery-based memory performance during adulthood.

Using a testing-the-limits paradigm, the authors investigated the modulation (attenuation) of negative adult age differences in imagery-based memory performance as a function of professional expertise. Six older graphic designers, 6 normal older adults, 6 younger graphic design students, and 6 normal younger students participated in a 19-session program with a cued-recall variant of the Method of Loci. Older graphic designers attained higher levels of mnemonic performance than normal older adults but were not able to reach younger adults' level of performance; a perfect separation of age groups was achieved. Spatial visualization was a good predictor of mnemonic performance. Results suggest that negative adult age differences in imagery-based memory are attenuated but not eliminated by the advantages associated with criterion-relevant ability (talent) and experience. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sequential and coordinative complexity in time–accuracy functions for mental arithmetic.

Time–accuracy functions for tasks involving single-digit mental addition and subtraction were derived in a sample of 18 younger (mean age?=?21.7 years) and 16 older adults (mean age?=?68.8 years). Sequential complexity was manipulated by varying the number of operations (5 vs. 10); coordinative complexity was induced by bracketing. Age differences were apparent in the coordinative conditions, even though no age difference was present in the sequential conditions. This indicates that the age difference under conditions of high coordinative demands could not be attributed solely to a decline in basic speed of processing. The Age?×?Complexity interaction was due to larger onset times and lower asymptotic performance by the older adults in the coordinative conditions but not due to to rate of approach to the asymptote. This implies that coordinative demands do not differentially hurt access from semantic memory in older adults; however, coordinative demands do have disproportionately negative consequences for computation speed and self-monitoring in older adults. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The fast and the slow of skilled bimanual rhythm production: Parallel versus integrated timing.

Professional pianists performed 2 bimanual rhythms at a wide range of different tempos. The polyrhythmic task required the combination of 2 isochronous sequences (3 against 4) between the hands; in the syncopated rhythm task successive keystrokes formed intervals of identical (isochronous) durations. At slower tempos, pianists relied on integrated timing control merging successive intervals between the hands into a common reference frame. A timer–motor model is proposed based on the concepts of rate fluctuation and the distinction between target specification and timekeeper execution processes as a quantitative account of performance at slow tempos. At rapid rates expert pianists used hand-independent, parallel timing control. In alternative to a model based on a single central clock, findings support a model of flexible control structures with multiple timekeepers that can work in parallel to accommodate specific task constraints. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Simultaneous Cognitive Operations in Working Memory After Dual-Task Practice.

The authors tested the hypothesis that with adequate practice, people can execute 2 cognitive operations in working memory simultaneously. In Experiment 1, 6 students practiced updating 2 items in working memory through 2 sequences of operations (1 numerical, 1 spatial). In different blocks, imperative stimuli for the 2 sequences of operations were presented either simultaneously or sequentially. Initially, most participants experienced substantial dual-task costs. After 24 sessions of practice, operation latencies for simultaneous presentation were equal to the maximum of times for the 2 operations in the sequential condition, suggesting perfect timesharing. Experiment 2 showed that a reduction of dual-task costs requires practice on the combination of the 2 updating tasks, not just practice on each individual task. Hence, the reduction of dual-task costs cannot be explained by shortening or automatization of individual operations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Timing, Sequencing, and Executive Control in Repetitive Movement Production.

The authors demonstrate that the timing and sequencing of target durations require low-level timing and executive control. Sixteen young (Mage = 19 years) and 16 older (Mage = 70 years) adults participated in 2 experiments. In Experiment 1, individual mean-variance functions for low-level timing (isochronous tapping) and the sequencing of multiple targets (rhythm production) revealed (a) a dissociation of low-level timing and sequencing in both age groups, (b) negligible age differences for low-level timing, and (c) large age differences for sequencing. Experiment 2 supported the distinction between low-level timing and executive functions: Selection against a dominant rhythm and switching between rhythms impaired performances in both age groups and induced pronounced perseveration of the dominant pattern in older adults. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)