Journal of Cognition最新文献

Early exposure to books can benefit language acquisition by expanding children's linguistic experience and engaging them in a shared activity (Nation et al. 2022; Dowdall et al., 2020). Video media (including television) could potentially fulfil a similar role by exposing children to new linguistic phenomena in an engaging setting. However, while many studies have examined the impact of screen-time on cognitive development (for a review see Kostyrka-Allchorne et al., 2017), the findings relating specifically to language remain unclear. The aim of this review is to understand how encountering language content in video media might impact a variety of language skills in children aged 3-11. This review maps the methods and findings of 93 studies that met preregistered criteria with the goal of understanding which factors impact learning outcomes following video exposure. Results from observational (N = 31) and experimental (N = 62) studies reveal a divided literature in which video viewing is linked to short-term benefits for learning specific linguistic structures from high-quality video media, as well as having negative or null long-term associations with standardised language measures. Results highlight various methodological difficulties and limitations faced by experimental and observational approaches and reveal the importance of video quality and viewing context for language learning.

Visual working memory (VWM) plays an important role during visual search, with some theories suggesting an equivalence between working memory representations and guidance from attentional templates. However, recent work has shown that participants can also use 'negative templates', the foreknowledge of distractor-features stored in VWM, to guide attention away from distractors during visual search. These negative templates must also be represented in working memory, but the question remains whether the quality of the working memory representations underlying negative and positive templates are similar, in spite of their opposite impacts on attention. In this study, participants (N = 33) engaged in a visual search task for a shape-defined target after receiving a positive cue (target color), negative cue (distractor color) or neutral cue (non-informative). In 20% of the trials, a color-wheel probe was presented instead of a search array to measure the quality of the cue representation stored in VWM. Our results revealed that participants were more likely to guess in response to neutral cues than negative cues. Yet, the comparison between positive and negative cues showed no significant differences. However, we found no difference in memory precision for the three cue types. More interestingly, the more the VWM quality is boosted by the negative cue, the greater the ability to guide attention away from distractors. Such a pattern of results might map to recent evidence of between-individuals differences in utilization of negative cues. These findings highlight the distinction between attentional templates and simple maintenance in working memory.

In the present study, we conducted a Stroop-like task in which the participants were required to decide whether the presented stimulus, which could be either a colored digit or a colored rectangle, consisted of more or less than five colors. Like other Stroop-like tasks, the stimuli could be congruent (the stimulus was a digit that was equal to the presented number of colors), incongruent (the stimulus was a digit that was different than the presented number of colors), or neutral (a colored rectangle). We utilized a two-to-one response setting so that in some incongruent trials the digit and the number of colors would elicit the same response (e.g., the digit 3 containing two colors; both are smaller than 5), while in some incongruent trials, the digit and the number of colors would elicit different responses (e.g., the digit 3 containing 6 colors). This enabled us to measure both conflicts arising from stimulus-stimulus and stimulus-response compatibilities. Our results indicated the existence of stimulus-stimulus compatibility (SSC), stimulus-response compatibility (SRC), and task conflict. Interestingly, these effects were in interaction with the number of colors, so that in small numbers, SSC and SRC were found, and in large numbers, SRC and task conflict were found. Moreover, the results suggest that our task includes two types of task conflict that are raised due to three different tasks: processing the meaning of the digit vs. estimating the number of colors and counting the number of colors vs. estimating the number of colors.

Recently, researchers have expressed challenges in conducting word-learning experiments in adult populations due to limited availability of normed stimulus materials. This constraint often prompts the use of low-frequency or low-prevalence words, introducing the potential influence of prior knowledge or direct translation to familiar words. In response, we developed novel abstract concepts devoid of word referents, providing better control over prior knowledge. These new concepts describe situations encountered in various settings for which there is no existing word in English. The resulting database comprises 42 normed New Abstract Concepts, offering unique materials structured through scenarios, each containing similar and dissimilar exemplars. These materials underwent meticulous norming for relatability and similarity levels across a series of studies. The success of our approach was demonstrated in a word-learning experiment examining the effects of similarity and diversity. The database serves as a valuable resource for selecting stimuli in experiments exploring the learning of abstract semantic concepts, particularly investigating the role of similarity versus diversity in concept learning. The database is available on OSF (https://osf.io/svm2p/).

Our ability to learn the regularities embedded in our environment is a fundamental aspect of our cognitive system. Does such statistical learning depend on attention? Research on this topic is scarce and has yielded mixed findings. In this preregistered study, we examined the role of spatial attention in statistical learning, and specifically in learned distractor-location suppression. This phenomenon refers to the finding that during visual search, participants are better at ignoring a salient distractor at a high-probability location than at low-probability locations - a bias persisting long after the probability imbalance has ceased. Participants searched for a shape-singleton target and a color-singleton distractor was sometimes present. During the learning phase, the color-singleton distractor was more likely to appear in the high-probability location than in the low-probability locations. Crucially, we manipulated spatial attention by having the experimental group focus their attention on the target's location in advance of the search display, using a 100%-informative spatial precue, while the control group was presented with a neutral, uninformative cue. During the subsequent test phase, the color-singleton distractor was equally likely to appear at any location and there were no cues. As expected, the results for the neutral-cue group replicated previous findings. Crucially, for the informative-cue group, interference from the distractor was minimal when attention was diverted from it (during learning) and no statistical learning was observed during test. Intertrial priming accounted for the small statistical-learning effect found during learning. These findings show that statistical learning in visual search requires attention.

Motivationally salient stimuli, such as those associated with reward, can automatically gain attentional prioritisation - even when individuals are motivated to ignore such stimuli. This 'attentional bias for reward' has often been interpreted as evidence for involuntary Pavlovian 'sign tracking' behaviour. The prioritisation of reward-signalling distractors may additionally reflect a drive to gain information about the state of the world, irrespective of the particular reward that is being signalled. In the current study we assessed whether forewarning participants on each trial as to the upcoming features of a distractor would reduce reward-related attentional capture. This manipulation reduces the information provided by the distractor, without affecting the magnitude of the signalled reward. Using eye tracking in Experiment 1, we found that reward-related attentional capture was virtually eliminated when participants were informed of the upcoming distractor colour (relative to the baseline condition when no information was provided). In Experiment 2, using a response-time version of the task, we again found a significant reduction in reward-related attentional capture when participants received information about the colour of an upcoming distractor, or information about the value of the upcoming reward. Finally, in Experiment 3 we assessed whether participants were using the pre-trial information to strategically inhibit attention to the upcoming distractor colour. The results of these experiments are discussed within the context of information-seeking accounts of reward-related attentional capture effects.

Certain stimuli can automatically trigger different behaviors in a stimulus-driven manner. To investigate whether mathematical equations automatically trigger the tendency to engage in arithmetic processing, we asked whether the presentation of multiplication equations in an irrelevant dimension can trigger the automatic task of arithmetic processing and if so, which processes are involved. To that end, we employed a color-naming task in which participants had to name the color of different stimuli, such as: mathematical equations (e.g., 4 × 6 = 24), neutral-symbols (e.g., ####), neutral-words (e.g., building), and same-number strings (e.g., 11111), which appeared as one of four different colors. We found that mathematical equations and regular words in the irrelevant dimension triggered more task conflict (i.e., color naming's reaction time was longer) as compared to same-number strings. In addition, we found evidence for the automatic activation of different numerical processes; such that large-size equations (7 × 9 = 63) triggered more conflict as compared with small-size (2 × 3 = 6) equations and same-parity incorrect equations (3 × 2 = 8) triggered more conflict as compared to different-parity incorrect equations (4 × 2 = 9). We found no evidence indicating a distinction between the correct and incorrect equations. We discussed the relevance of the findings to the automaticity of arithmetic abilities and other domains in numerical cognition.

In skill acquisition, instructing individuals the stimulus-response mappings indicating how to perform and act, yields better performance. Additionally, performance is helped by repeated practice. Whether providing instructions and repeated practice interact to achieve optimal performance remains debated. This paper addresses that question by analyzing the learning curves of individuals learning stimulus-response mappings of varying complexity. We particularly focus on the question whether instructions lead to improved performance in the longer run. Via evidence accumulation modeling, we find no evidence for this assertion. Instructions seem to provide individuals with a head start, leading to better initial performance in the early stages of learning, without long-lasting effects on behavior. We discuss the results in light of related studies that do report long-lasting effects of instructions, and propose that the complexity of a skill determines whether long-lasting benefits of initial instructions exist.