Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology最新文献

The ability to spontaneously access knowledge of relational concepts acquired in one domain and apply it to a novel domain has traditionally been explored in the analogy literature via the problem-solving paradigm (cf. Gick & Holyoak, 1980, 1983). In the present work, we propose a novel procedure based on categorization as a complementary approach to assess spontaneous analogical transfer-using one category learning task to enhance learning of the same underlying category structures in another domain. In Experiment 1, we demonstrate larger improvements in classification performance across blocks of training in a Target Category Learning task among participants that underwent a Base Category Learning task relative to a separate group of participants learning the Target category structures for the first time; thus providing evidence for spontaneous transfer of the category structures. In Experiment 2, we demonstrate similar evidence of spontaneous transfer for participants that underwent a comparison-based Base Category Learning task under a more rigorous context-shift between the Base and Target Category Learning tasks. Additional exploratory analyses across both experiments showcase ways in which this paradigm can be used to answer questions regarding the analogical transfer of relational category structures and generate promising paths for future work.

Although cochlear implants (CI) successfully replace the sense of hearing, they do not restore natural hearing. Still, CI users adapt to this novel signal, reaching meaningful levels of speech recognition in clinical tests that focus on repetition of words and short sentences. However, many patients who score above average in clinical speech perception tests complain that everyday speech interactions are both difficult and cognitively draining. In part this difficulty may be due to the naturally rapid pace of everyday discourse. We report a study in which 12 CI users aged 23 to 77, recalled multi-sentence discourse presented without interruption, or in the condition of interest, when passages were paused at major linguistic boundaries, with participants given control of when to initiate the next segment. Comprehension of the discourse structure was based on a formalized representational system that organizes discourse elements hierarchically to index the relative importance of different elements to the overall understanding of the discourse. Results showed (a) better recall when CI users were allowed to control the discourse pace, (b) an overall effect of aging, with older CI users recalling discourse less accurately, (c) better recall for passages with higher average inter-word predictability, (d) a "semantic hierarchy effect" reflected by better recall of main ideas versus minor details, (e) an attenuation of the semantic hierarchy effect for low predictability passages. Results underscore the benefits of extra processing time in addressing CI listening challenges and highlight the limited ecological validity of single-word or single-sentence speech recognition tests.

Multi-stage accounts of Stroop effects suggest that Stroop effects result from different conflict and facilitation components. Consistent with these accounts, Augustinova et al. (2019) reported evidence for task, semantic and response components in Stroop effects. They also investigated how vocal and manual responses impacted the magnitude of each of the conflict and facilitation components. However, the role of phonological components in Stroop effects was not investigated in their study. The impact of phonology on Stroop effects has been observed in several studies (Besner & Stolz, 1998; Parris et al., 2019; Spinks et al., 2000). However, these studies did not investigate the role of different conflict/facilitation components in Stroop effects. To investigate the impact of phonological components as well as task, semantic, and response components on Stroop effects, a vocal and manual Stroop task was for the first time conducted with Chinese speakers using a design similar to that of Augustinova et al. (2019). The data revealed only in the vocal Stroop task phonological conflict and facilitation, whereas semantic and response conflicts were found with vocal and manual responses. Implications of the findings for response modality effects and the measures of facilitation/conflict components are discussed.

As trained educational and developmental psychologists who study the role of working memory in educational outcomes, we know the various assumptions made about definitions and measurements of this cognitive ability. Considering the popularity of the Baddeley and Hitch working memory model (1974) in these fields, we raise challenges related to measurement, overlap with executive function, and adopting working memory measurement approaches from adult models. We propose that researchers consider how working memory tasks might tap multiple other abilities. This is problematic in the context of child cognitive development and in understanding which factors explain educational outcomes in children. We recommend giving greater attention to the central executive, acknowledging the overlap between the central executive and executive function in study design, and investigating a developmental model in the context of the broader abilities evoked in measurement. These recommendations may provide a fuller understanding of working memory's mechanistic role in children's learning and development and assist in developing reasonable adjustments for specific aspects of working memory for children who struggle.

The present study addressed the role of motor representations in declarative memory (i.e., semantic and episodic). Based on embodied and grounded theories of cognition, it is often suggested that motor representations contribute to declarative memory. According to the action priming effect, graspable objects are categorized faster when primed by pictures of a congruent hand grip, as motor representations (how to grasp it) and semantic information (what it is) are closely related. Moreover, motor representations may contribute to episodic memory functioning. We immobilized participants' dominant hand for 24 hours to impair their processing of hand-related motor representations. This method is known to elicit rapid updating of cortical hand representations, and a slowdown in cognitive tasks linked to hand-related motor cognition. We expected to observe a decreased action priming effect following short-term hand nonuse. We further predicted that in a subsequent recognition task, objects that had been encoded following congruent action priming would be recognized faster by controls, but not by previously immobilized participants. Results did not show any effect of hand nonuse on action priming, suggesting that motor representations are not a decisive factor for this effect. Nonetheless, prime congruence influenced subsequent recognition. Immobilized participants were slower to recognize objects previously seen with an unrelated hand grip prime compared to a congruent one. This result suggests a contribution of motor representation to declarative memory, in particular when the sensorimotor system has previously been impaired.

Face recognition is a highly developed and specialised human ability, distinct from other cognitive abilities. Previous studies examining individual differences in face recognition have focused on face perception and specialised perceptual mechanisms such as holistic face processing. However, the contribution of specific face memory processes to face recognition ability remains unclear. In 99 neurotypical individuals, we administered validated face perception assessments, three face memory tasks (old/new task, face-scene task, face-name/occupation task), and the Cambridge Face Memory Test (CFMT) to assess face recognition ability. We found that after accounting for face perception ability (which significantly predicted face recognition ability), face-name recall and recollection of faces in the face-scene task predicted unique variance in face recognition ability, with face-name recall being the strongest predictor. This highlights that associative memory mechanisms contribute to face recognition abilities and suggests that the ability to learn and recall proper names is particularly important to face recognition.

Hemispheric asymmetry has been reported for global-local processing in young and older adults, with global processing specialised in the right hemisphere (RH-global specialisation) and local processing specialised in the left hemisphere (LH-local specialisation). Questions persist regarding the extent to which hemispheric asymmetry is influenced by stimulus category (verbal stimuli processed in the left hemisphere; visuospatial stimuli processed in the right hemisphere). Some evidence suggests stimulus category does not influence hemispheric asymmetry (stimulus-independent account) while other evidence suggests it does (stimulus-dependent account). In older adults, there is evidence of a local-processing advantage, believed to result from slower and less accurate performance in right-hemisphere compared to left-hemisphere functioning-the right-hemisphere ageing hypothesis. We examined hemispheric asymmetry for global-local processing in young and older participants with three hierarchical figures (letters, verbalisable objects, and nonverbalisable shapes), in a within-subjects design using a divided-attention paradigm and unilateral presentation. Our findings for letters and verbalisable objects support the stimulus-independent account-young and older participants demonstrated RH-global specialisation and LH-local specialisation regardless of stimulus category. In older participants, we also found a local-processing advantage for all three stimulus categories-an advantage best explained as faster and more accurate performance in local processing regardless of the visual field of stimulus presentation. Overall, we found hemispheric asymmetry for global-local processing in both young and older adults, and differences in global processing between young and older adults. Future investigation is suggested for the hemispheric asymmetry found in global-local processing of nonverbalisable shapes, and the mechanisms underlying age-related changes in global processing.

We provide a broad overview of our original investigation of working memory; how the multicomponent model followed from our use of a dissociative methodology; and our intention that it should be simple, robust, and applicable. We describe how subsequent development of the model has increased its scope, depth, and applications while at the same time retaining its core features. Comparisons with the growing number of alternative models suggest agreement on the basic phenomena to be explained and more similarities than differences. While differences between models attract interest, we caution that they do not necessarily reflect the most important issues for future research, which we suggest relate principally to the nature of executive control. The longevity of the multicomponent model reflects not only the importance of working memory in cognition but also the usefulness of a simple, robust framework for further theoretical development and applications.

It remains unknown how language-production processes decline with age. Using a picture-word interference task, the aim of this study was to investigate the influence of aging on lexical access and the contributions of language-specific and domain-general factors to semantic, phonological, and orthographic effects in Chinese spoken word production. After controlling for years of education, language comprehension, and domain-general cognitive abilities, we found a larger semantic interference effect for older speakers than for younger speakers, while the phonological effect and orthographic effect were comparable for the two age groups, supporting the transmission deficit hypothesis. Furthermore, discourse comprehension and general cognitive abilities were found to contribute to the phonological effect in older adults, but not in younger adults. Our findings indicate that both language-specific factors and domain-general factors contribute to the aging of spoken word production together.

Hearing is multifaceted, and the relative contributions of peripheral and central hearing loss are rarely considered together in the context of dementia. Here, we assessed peripheral (as measured with pure-tone audiometry) and central (as measured with dichotic listening) hearing in 19 patients with typical amnestic Alzheimer's disease (tAD), 10 patients with logopenic variant primary progressive aphasia (lvPPA), 11 patients with nonfluent/agrammatic variant PPA (nfvPPA), 15 patients with semantic variant PPA (svPPA), and 28 healthy age-matched individuals. Participants also underwent neuropsychological assessment and magnetic resonance image scanning, allowing us to use voxel-based morphometry to assess associations between hearing scores and grey matter volume. Dichotic listening was impaired in all patient groups relative to healthy controls. In the combined patient (but not healthy control) cohort, dichotic listening scores were significantly correlated with measures of global cognitive functioning and speech-based neuropsychological tasks. Pure-tone audiometry scores were not significantly elevated in any patient group relative to the healthy control group, and no significant correlations were observed between peripheral hearing and neuropsychological task performance in either the combined patient or healthy control cohorts. Neuroanatomically, dichotic listening performance was associated with grey matter volume in a bilateral fronto-temporoparietal network over the combined patient cohort, but no correlates were identified for pure-tone audiometry. Our findings highlight the importance of speech parsing mechanisms beyond elementary sound detection in driving cognitive test performance, underline the importance of assessing central hearing alongside peripheral hearing in people with dementia, and further delineate the complex auditory profiles of neurodegenerative dementias.