Psychological Research-Psychologische Forschung最新文献

With attentional mechanisms, humans select and de-select information from the environment. But does selective attention modulate implicit learning? We tested whether the implicit acquisition of contingencies between features are modulated by the task-relevance of those features. We implemented the contingencies in a novel variant of the contextual cueing paradigm. In such a visual search task, participants could use non-spatial cues to predict target location, and then had to discriminate target shapes. In Experiment 1, the predictive feature for target location was the shape of the distractors (task-relevant). In Experiment 2, the color feature of distractors (task-irrelevant) cued target location. Results showed that participants learned to predict the target location from both the task-relevant and the task-irrelevant feature. Subsequent testing did not suggest explicit knowledge of the contingencies. For the purpose of further testing the significance of task-relevance in a cue competition situation, in Experiment 3, we provided two redundantly predictive cues, shape (task-relevant) and color (task-irrelevant) simultaneously, and subsequently tested them separately. There were no observed costs of single predictive cues when compared to compound cues. The results were not indicative of overshadowing effects, on the group and individual level, or of reciprocal overshadowing. We conclude that the acquisition of contingencies occurs independently of task-relevance and discuss this finding in the framework of the event coding literature.

Many children are exposed to a heritage language in the home context, and they learn mathematics in the school context in the societal language (Italian in the present study). More evidence is needed on how Heritage Bilinguals (HBs) perform in different subtypes of numeracy and mathematics skills in a longitudinal perspective. This longitudinal study aimed to analyze the mathematical skills of heritage bilingual children. 220 HBs (50.5% female, from different linguistic/ethnic groups, including Indo-Iranian, Arabic, Chinese, Romanian, Albanian and Slavic languages) and 440 monolinguals (46.8% female, mostly Italian) were followed from second to third grade (aged between 7 and 9 years). The following tasks were administered: dictation, symbolic comparison, number line, mental calculation, multiplication tables, approximate calculation, problem-solving and written calculations. The results showed an advantage for HBs in approximate calculation, but they underperformed in problem-solving, multiplication tables, and mental calculations. A profile analysis highlighted the percentages of children at risk for math impairment. The study provides a longitudinal profile of strengths and weaknesses in the mathematics profile of children with HBs, with developmental trajectories that vary according to verbal load. The discussion focuses on the role of verbal load in math tasks in the assessment of HBs, and implications for clinical and educational contexts.

This study explored the effects of music on the perception of outdoor urban environments, both built and natural. The participants (n = 74) evaluated five environments located on one walking route in terms of emotional and spatio-cognitive dimensions while listening to one of two types of music: upbeat and conventional or reflective and complex. We found only a very slight effect of music on the evaluation of the emotional and spatio-cognitive dimensions of the environment. The less complex upbeat and conventional music increased the perceived complexity of environments but only if participants took the route from less complex to more complex environments. The liking music mediated the effect of music in the evaluation of emotional dimensions of the environment. Furthermore, a less-liked environment negatively affected the liking of music heard in that environment. Reflective and complex music was perceived as more congruent with the environment than upbeat and conventional music, which is explained by musical fit theory. The features of the environments that were evaluated had a stronger effect on listeners than the music. Natural environments were perceived as more coherent, mysterious, pleasant, interesting, and energetic than built environments, regardless of the music. Moreover, a contrast effect was observed in which the features of the first environment evaluated influenced the evaluation of subsequent environments. It is suggested that the intensity of music may be an important factor for environmental evaluations, in addition to the specific situations in which the music is heard.

Multisensory integration is essential for learning and sensorimotor coding, facilitating learners' adaptation to environmental changes. Recent findings confirm that introducing unreliability into visual feedback enhances the use of motor coding, probably because proprioceptive cues are given greater weight. The present study was designed to test this hypothesis and, more generally, to explore the impact of visual versus proprioceptive cue reliability on learning processes. Participants performed a 12-target pointing sequence 100 times with different combinations of visual and proprioceptive feedback: reliable versus unreliable. Retention tests and intermanual transfer tests were administered 24 h later. Results showed that learning and sensorimotor coding were both affected by the different combinations of visual and proprioceptive cue reliability. Fully reliable feedback allowed for the best retention, while fully unreliable feedback resulted in the worst retention. Visual reliability alone mediated the level of visuospatial coding performance in visuospatial transfer, regardless of the level of proprioceptive reliability, and conversely, reliable proprioception combined with unreliable vision provided the optimum sensory environment for motor coding in the motor transfer test. Overall, our study highlighted the essential role of both visual cue reliability and proprioceptive cue reliability -and their interactions- in motor learning and its generalization.

What limits the self-generation of new knowledge in the memory integration process? One striking contender is the amount of necessary pieces of information that are dispersed. Specifically, when essential information is scattered across multiple sources/places, it becomes challenging to effectively integrate and generate new knowledge. Most of the studies on memory integration have focused on the study of paired stem facts, but have neglected the exploration of multiple-stem facts. The present study examined college students' performance on memory integration under different conditions of three stem facts. In Experiment 1, participants were exposed to a series of novel, authentic stem facts in which every three relevant ones could be integrated to generate new knowledge. The results of Experiment 1 found that college students could spontaneously generate a new piece of information by integrating two or three separate but related facts. The integration can occur in at least two distinct types due to the different presentation orders of the learning materials: sequential recursive integration and non-recursive integration. College students performed better in sequential recursive integration than in non-sequential recursive integration, and this difference in integration performance is not caused by differences in memory for the stem facts. Based on Experiment 1, Experiment 2 used eye-tracking technology to explore the allocation of internal cognitive resources across different conditions of three stem facts. We found that in non-sequential recursive integration, college students had the longest visual duration and the highest number of fixations on the second stem fact. In sequential recursive integration, there were no other significant differences in the number and duration of visual fixations for the three stem facts. College students paid longer fixations to the second stem fact and the third stem fact in the non-sequential recursive condition than in the sequential recursive condition. Our study suggests that when information is related but cannot be integrated, longer fixation indicates stumbling when dealing with an unresolvable difficulty. When knowledge is presented in a stepwise manner (such as in the sequential recursive integration condition), it results in better semantic memory extension.

Previous work reported that having a strong sense of agency can enhance memory for acted-upon items: Memory enhancement is evident when there is a strong sense of agency, but not when there is only a weak sense of agency. However, because of the way trials are distributed across conditions in typical studies, it is often the case that a strong sense of agency may also be very salient because it is experienced only infrequently within the context of the experiment. In this study, we examined the importance of salience in determining the memory enhancement potential of a sense of agency. We found that a weak sense of agency, provided it is made salient by infrequent occurrence, can also produce an improvement in memory. This finding indicates that salience can play an important role in determining whether an agency-related memory effect is ultimately observed. More generally, this highlights the importance of taking into consideration the salience of an agency experience when discussing its ability to affect cognition.

This study investigates the impact of the reflective-impulsive dimension of cognitive styles on recollection and the accuracy of a criminal events. In a VR-based experimental study, 150 participants were exposed to both criminal and neutral scenarios and subsequently asked to report everything they remembered about them. Cognitive styles were assessed using a computer-administered Matching Familiar Figures Test. The findings highlight that individuals with a reflective cognitive style consistently provided detailed descriptions of the events, irrespective of the context of encoding. In contrast, individuals with an impulsive cognitive style displayed context-specific effects, notably reduced performance when recalling emotionally charged criminal events. Notably, cognitive style did not moderate the accuracy of testimony. Given that the subjects who observed the crime achieved a lower overall accuracy rate than those who observed the neutral video, it appears that accuracy is directly affected by the criminal content.

Extensive research highlights the multifaceted benefits of active musical engagement across all ages, from childhood to the elderly. The practice of a musical instrument activates numerous brain regions, enhancing a range of neurocognitive skills. Despite accumulating evidence from various clinical populations, research on the effects of musical training in individuals with ADHD is scarce, with virtually no studies focusing on adults. This study aims to fill the gap by evaluating the impact of long-term instrumental music training on cognitive abilities in young adults (18-35 years) diagnosed with ADHD. Cognitive abilities were compared across groups of 48 musicians (experienced guitar or piano players) and 46 matched non-musicians, all confirmed to have ADHD. The assessments covered cognitive domains such as sustained attention, visuospatial processing, processing speed, graphomotor speed, working memory, auditory recall, response inhibition, and executive function. Evaluation tools included the Digit-Symbol Coding Test, Digit Span Test, Symbol Search Test, Switching Task, and Continuous Performance Test (CPT). Collectively, the results indicated a notable enhancement in cognitive performance in the musician group compared to the non-musician group, including in functions central to the disorder, such as sustained attention and impulse control. Musicians scored higher on the Digit-Symbol Coding, Digit Span, and Symbol Search tests, showed lower error rates and greater consistency in reaction times in the Switching Task, and had fewer commission errors in the CPT. The findings support the integration of specialized musical training in therapeutic and support programs for ADHD, suggesting benefits that may extend into adulthood.

It is known that fear responses to clearly identified threats can inhibit motion, slowing down gait and inducing postural freezing. Nonetheless, it is less clear how anxiety, which emerges during threat anticipation, affects gait parameters. In the present work, we used a threat-of-scream paradigm to study the effects of anxiety on gait. Twenty-five participants (15 female, aged 23.4 ± 1.8) were instructed to walk on a 5-m walking track, while motion was recorded in 3D, via a VICON system. Four alternating blocks, two "threat" and two "safe" blocks of 10 trials each, were signaled by colored stripes on a screen in front of the walking path. Participants were informed that they could hear a human scream in their headphones at any time during threat blocks, which were in fact always delivered during walking. On the contrary, no screams were delivered in the safe blocks. Results indicated that participants reported higher subjective anxiety during threat vs. safe blocks. Furthermore, increases in self-reported anxiety from safe to threat showed significant moderate correlations with increased stride speed and length, decreased stride time and decreased stance phase duration. Increases in anxiety were also moderately correlated with increased arm/leg swing amplitude, an effect that was fully mediated by increased stride speed. Overall, these results indicate that anxiety invigorates motion in healthy subjects, by increasing speed. These results are discussed in terms of the recent advancements in the understanding of defensive behavior, its neural correlates and on clinical implications relative to pathological anxiety.

The pretesting effect refers to the finding that tests performed before to-be learned material is encountered can enhance later retention of the material, even when no correct answers were provided on the initial pretest. The goal of the present study was to examine whether interspersing pretest questions between the study of multiple segments consisting of prose passages can induce a pretesting effect on a final cumulative recall test on all segments. To this end, participants studied four segments which were either thematically related (Experiment 1) or distinct (Experiment 2) and either received pretest questions about each segment immediately prior to study of the segment (pretest condition) or not (study-only condition). Results of the cumulative final test performed 24 h after study of the segments showed for both experiments that interpolated pretesting enhanced correct recall of the segments. The findings thus suggest that the positive effects of pretesting on memory generalize from the standard single-list design to a multiplelists design when pretests are performed prior to study of each list. Interpolated pretesting thus may play a critical role as a potential learning tool in educational practice.