Size contrast as a function of conceptual similarity between test and inducers

In four experiments, the effect of the semantic relationship between test and inducing stimuli on the magnitude of size contrast in an Ebbinghaus-type illusion was explored. In Experiments 1 and 2, the greatest illusion was found when test and inducing stimuli were identical in shape and differed only in size. Decreased size contrast was found when inducing stimuli were drawn from the same category as the test stimulus, but were not visually identical. Even less size contrast was found when inducing stimuli were from a near conceptual category, with the least effect when they were drawn from a completely different category. In Experiment 3, it was demonstrated that even if test and inducing stimuli are drawn with identical geometric elements, the size contrast illusion is greatly reduced if they represent apparently different conceptual categories (through the manipulation of orientation and perceptual set). In Experiment 4, any geometric or spatial confounds were ruled out. These results suggest that size contrast is strongly influenced by the conceptual similarity between test and inducing stimuli.     

Perceive-decide-act, perceive-decide-act: How abstract is repetition-related decision learning?

Recent encounters with a stimulus often facilitate or “prime” future responses to the same or similar stimuli. However, studies are inconclusive as to whether changing the response that is required attenuates priming only for identical stimuli, or also for categorically related items. In 2 object priming experiments, the authors show that priming was eliminated if the initial decision associated with a stimulus changed on a later trial. This disruption of priming extended to perceptually and conceptually similar object exemplars and was found even when the classification tasks were uncorrelated with one another, many other items had intervened, and after only 1 prior encounter with a given stimulus. These outcomes are consistent with the rapid and automatic binding of a stimulus with a response into an episodic “instance” or “event file” and demonstrate that repetition-related decision learning is not hyperspecific but generalizes to new stimuli. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Distinctiveness and repetition in item recognition.

We scrutinized the hypothesis that the distinctiveness of unrepeated stimuli yields an enhancement of their memorability, when contrasted with repeated stimuli. In three conditions of a variant of von Restorff's (1933) isolation paradigm, unrepeated stimuli were respectively rendered either distinctive, by intermixing them with repeated stimuli from a different category, or nondistinctive, by having both unrepeated and repeated items originate in the same category or categories. The recognition-memory strength difference between unrepeated and repeated stimuli, in terms of a signal-detection measure of sensitivity, was less when the unrepeated stimuli were distinctive than when they were not distinctive. This implies that the relative weakness of unrepeated stimuli may be offset by distinctiveness that accrues from their infrequency. These findings are considered with reference to contemporary theoretical treatments of distinctiveness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Classification of exemplars with single- and multiple-feature manifestations: The effects of relevant dimension variation and category structure.

Most classification research focuses on cases in which each abstract feature has the same surface manifestation whenever it is presented. Previous research finds that people have difficulty learning to classify when each abstract feature has multiple surface manifestations. These studies created multiple manifestations by varying aspects of the stimuli irrelevant to the abstract feature dimension. In this article, multiple manifestations were created by varying aspects of the stimuli relevant to the abstract feature dimension. People given categories with the family resemblance category structure often used in psychology experiments had difficulty learning to classify when multiple manifestations were present, even though the variation was relevant. This effect was reversed when a family resemblance structure with nondiagnostic values was used. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Abstract Stimuli Associated With Threat Through Conditioning Cannot Be Detected Preattentively.

Studies of anxiety suggest that threat stimuli can be identified preattentively, but this conclusion is questionable because of possible low-level perceptual confounds. Two experiments used visual search tasks in which abstract shapes were conditioned to carry neutral or negative valence. Experiment 1 found generally faster responses to threat-associated abstract stimuli but no evidence that they were detected preattentively, irrespective of trait anxiety level. A similar pattern was found in Experiment 2, in which individuals high in snake or spider fear showed no evidence of preattentive detection of abstract stimuli associated with their feared object. In contrast, implicit behavioral measures showed significant effects of conditioning, demonstrating that targets associated with threat were negatively evaluated in these experiments. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Seeing versus imagining movement in depth.

Six undergraduate students participated in 2 experiments to determine whether the same mechanisms are activated during perception of real vs apparent motion. In Exp 1, Ss judged the quality of rigid motion between pairs of 3-dimensional drawings that differed by a rotation in depth. Rated quality of motion decreased with increasing angular disparity between the figures and with decreasing stimulus duration, regardless of whether the figures were vertical or oblique. In Exp 2, Ss participated in a mental rotation task using the same stimuli and angular disparities. Ss took longer to make decisions about obliquely aligned than vertically aligned stimuli. Results imply that perceived vs imagined movement through the same trajectory involves different processes. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A reexamination of the role of imagery in learning and memory.

Five experiments were conducted to examine whether the superior recall of concrete over abstract words might be better accounted for in terms of relative differences in the processing of relational and distinctive information rather than redundant verbal and imaginal memory codes. Concrete and abstract word pairs were presented in the standard paired-associated learning task or under conditions intended to affect the nature and extent of relational processing between pair members. Concreteness effects were attenuated or eliminated when relational processing was prevented at encoding (Experiments 3, 4, and 5) or when the use of encoded relations within pairs was prevented at recall (Experiments 1, 2, and 3). The results indicated the viability of an account of concreteness effects in paired-associate learning based on the joint functions of distinctive and relational information. They also remove theoretical constraints imposed on imagery theories by the incorrect assumption of a uniform presence of concreteness effects in memory for word lists. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of physical and conceptual properties in preserving object continuity.

Six experiments investigated the nature of the object-file representation supporting object continuity. Participants viewed preview displays consisting of 2 stimuli (either line drawings or words) presented within square frames, followed by a target display consisting of a single stimulus (either a word or a picture) presented within 1 of the frames. The relationship between the target and preview stimuli was manipulated. The first 2 experiments found that participants responded more quickly when the target was identical to the preview stimulus in the same frame (object-specific priming). In Experiments 3, 4, 5, and 6, the physical form of the target stimulus (a word or picture in 1 frame) was changed completely from that of either preview stimulus (pictures or words in both frames). Despite this physical change, object-specific priming was observed. It is suggested that object files encode postcategorical information, rather than precise physical information. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Evidence for two types of spatial representations: Hemispheric specialization for categorical and coordinate relations.

Analyses of human object recognition abilities led to the hypothesis that 2 kinds of spatial relation representations are used in human vision. Evidence for the distinction between abstract categorical spatial relation representations and specific coordinate spatial relation representations was provided in 4 experiments. These results indicate that Ss make categorical judgments—on/off, left/right, and above/below—faster when stimuli are initially presented to the left cerebral hemisphere, whereas they make evaluations of distance—in relation to 2 mm, 3 mm, or 1 in. (2.54 cm)—faster when stimuli are initially presented to the right cerebral hemisphere. In addition, there was evidence that categorical representations developed with practice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A mnemonic based on arranging words on visual patterns.

Conducted 3 experiments with 264 undergraduates to demonstrate that arranging word lists on distinctive visual patterns results in better recall performance than does presenting the same word lists on a pattern that is always the same. In Exp I, lists of concrete nouns placed on different visual patterns were recalled better than those lists placed on the same pattern. This was true immediately after learning and 1 wk later. In Exp II, abstract terms taken from an introductory textbook in psychology were arranged on the same or on different drawings. When placed on the different drawings, the words were better learned, and what was learned was better retained in memory for 1 wk. In Exp III, both visual-pattern mnemonic aids and story mnemonic aids were provided to Ss for different lists. The story mnemonic was found to be superior. Possible reasons why the spatial-arrangement mnemonic and story mnemonic are effective are discussed. One important factor seems to be the discriminability among the representations of the word lists in memory. By placing words on distinctive visual patterns, this discriminability can be increased and recall performance can be enhanced. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Phonemic storage of concrete and abstract words with auditory presentation.

Conducted 2 experiments in which Ss' recognition memory for aurally presented concrete and abstract nouns was tested. In Exp I, 56 undergraduates heard study and test lists of 20 concrete and abstract nouns. The test list contained the same 20 nouns plus 20 new nouns which rhymed or did not rhyme with the study stimuli. In Exp II, 56 new undergraduates heard the same lists as in Exp I, but also heard lists in which concrete distractors rhymed with abstract study items and vice versa. Results show that false recognition depends upon the phonemic similarity of distractors to study words, and that the effect is independent of the concreteness of the words or whether the distractor matches the study word in concreteness. While the results may be inconsistent with aspects of the dual process theory of verbal coding, they may indicate that learners use phonemic attributes for recognition when imaginal attributes are insufficient. The appearance of an overall effect of concreteness on false alarms indicates that auditory presentation can produce imagery codes. (French summary) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Objects and events as determinants of parallel processing in dual tasks: Evidence from the backward compatibility effect.

The backward-compatibility effect (BCE) is a major index of parallel processing in dual tasks and is related to the dependency of Task 1 performance on Task 2 response codes (Hommel, 1998). The results of four dual-task experiments showed that a BCE occurs when the stimuli of both tasks are included in the same visual object (Experiments 1 and 2) or belong to the same perceptual event (Experiments 3 and 4). Thus, the BCE may be modulated by factors that influence whether both task stimuli are included in the same perceptual event (objects, as studied in cognitive experiments, being special cases of events). As with objects, drawing attention to a (selected) event results in the processing of its irrelevant features and may interfere with task execution. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parallel memory retrieval in dual-task situations: II. Episodic memory.

Three experiments asked whether subjects could retrieve information from a 2nd stimulus while they retrieved information from a 1st stimulus. Ss performed recognition judgments on each of 2 words that followed each other by 0, 250, and 1,000 msec (Experiment 1) or 0 and 300 msec (Experiments 2 and 3). In each experiment, reaction time to both stimuli was faster when the 2 stimuli were both targets (on the study list) or both lures (not on the study list) than when 1 was a target and the other was a lure. Each experiment found priming from the 2nd stimulus to the lst when both stimuli were targets. Reaction time to the 1st stimulus was faster when the 2 targets came from the same memory structure at study (columns in Experiment l; pairs in Experiment 2; sentences in Experiment 3) than when they came from different structures. This priming is inconsistent with discrete serial retrieval and consistent with parallel retrieval. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Further tests of response–outcome associations in differential-outcome matching-to-sample.

Two transfer-of-control experiments assessed pigeons' sensitivity to response-outcome associations in differential-outcome discriminations. In Experiment 1, pigeons were trained on one-to-many matching-to-sample with food and no-food outcomes that were differential or nondifferential with respect to correct choice. The samples were then replaced by novel stimuli that had differential or nondifferential associations with those same outcomes. Transfer of matching occurred only when the novel samples and their respective choice responses had identical differential-outcome associations. Experiment 2 showed that the outcomes themselves were effective samples if the choices they cued yielded those outcomes in training. These data provide further evidence that the relations between comparison choice and consequent outcomes influences pigeons' matching performances. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Assessing the concreteness of relational representation.

Research has shown that people's ability to transfer abstract relational knowledge across situations can be heavily influenced by the concrete objects that fill relational roles. This article provides evidence that the concreteness of the relations themselves also affects performance. In 3 experiments, participants viewed simple relational patterns of visual objects and then identified these same patterns under a variety of physical transformations. Results show that people have difficulty generalizing to novel concrete forms of abstract relations, even when objects are unchanged. This suggests that stimuli are initially represented as concrete relations by default. In the 2nd and 3rd experiments, the number of distinct concrete relations in the training set was increased to promote more abstract representation. Transfer improved for novel concrete relations but not for other transformations such as object substitution. Results indicate that instead of automatically learning abstract relations, people's relational representations preserve all properties that appear consistently in the learning environment, including concrete objects and concrete relations. (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)     

Imagery and verbal associative latencies as a function of imagery ability.

Examines RTs of Ss high or low in imagery ability under instructions to elicit a verbal associate or arouse an image to concrete and abstract noun stimuli. 16 high and 14 low imagers were selected from a sample of 77 volunteer undergraduates. Latencies were significantly shorter for high than low imagers, for concrete than abstract words, and for verbal than imagery instructions. 1 interaction showed that imagery latencies were shorter to concrete than to abstract stimuli, whereas the latencies of verbal associations did not differ for the 2 types of words; another revealed that the relative superiority of high over low imagers in reaction speed was greater when the stimuli were abstract. Correlational data suggest that verbal associations may be mediated by both verbal and imaginal processes, thus favoring high imagers in both instruction conditions, and that self-reports of imagery ability can reliably predict imaginal behavior. (French summary) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Occlusion, symmetry, and object-based attention: Comment on Behrmann, Zemel, and Mozer (1998).

The validity of M. Behrmann, R. Zemel, and A Mozer's (see record 1998-04674-001) finding that object-based attention can be directed toward occluded objects is examined in 3 experiments. In A Behrmann et al.'s original study, participants made speeded judgments of whether the numbers of bumps attached to 2 arms of an X shape were the same or different. The 2 sets of bumps belonged either to a single object, 2 different objects, or 2 separated parts of an occluded object. Unfortunately, this objecthood manipulation was confounded by the symmetry of the stimuli. Experiment 1 replicated M. Behrmann et al.'s main results using identical stimuli. Experiments 2a and 2b dissociated objecthood from symmetry. The results suggest that the effects of object-based attention found by A Behrmann et al. are largely due to symmetry. The stimuli used in M. Behrmann et al. are not appropriate for examining the relation between object-based attention and occlusion. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceptual interactions in two-word displays: Familiarity and similarity effects.

Previous studies have demonstrated the existence of perceptual interactions in the processing of 2-word displays such as SAND LANE. Four experiments were conducted with 99 undergraduates to study the role of familiarity and similarity of the stimuli on these interactions. Exp I examined whether migration errors, and the effect of surround similarity on these errors depend on the fact that the migrating letters fit together with the surround in which they occur to form familiar higher order units. Exp II replicated the results of Exp I using a slightly different paradigm. Exp III examined the role of lexicality, independent of orthographic regularity, by comparing word stimuli to orthographically regular nonword stimuli, and Exp IV examined the role of physical, as opposed to abstract, similarity of the stimuli. Overall findings indicate that when postcued to report 1 of the 2 words, Ss often made migration errors, in that the report of the specified word included a letter of the other word (e.g., LAND or SANE instead of SAND). Migrations depended on the abstract, structural similarity of the strings, but not on the physical similarity; on whether the strings were words; and on whether the possible migration responses were words. Results reveal that migration errors could not be attributed to a guessing strategy. Findings are interpreted in terms of models in which both strings simultaneously access high-level structural knowledge about what sequences of letters fit together to form familiar wholes. (50 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)