Psychological Research-Psychologische Forschung最新文献

When we perceive language cues, they are processed with a high degree of automaticity and can thus guide the processing of subsequent perceptions. We investigated here how associated and categorically congruent prime words influence responses in a semantic picture categorization task. A hierarchical diffusion model is applied to disentangle the underlying cognitive processes. In the experiment, participants were asked to categorize target pictures as living or non-living. These target pictures were preceded by prime words, for which associations and semantic category match with targets were manipulated. Results indicate robust priming effects of category congruency for both response times (RT) and error rates (ER), whereas associations only show an effect on response times (RT). Diffusion model analysis revealed different cognitive processes for both types of prime-target relations: Specifically, associative priming maps to non-decision times, suggesting a head start in visuo-semantic picture processing, whereas categorical priming was found to affect drift rate, suggesting facilitation of the decision-making process. These results suggest that priming effects in picture classification differ from cognitive processes involved in word-word priming. The implications for theoretical models of priming are discussed.

Cognitive flexibility (CF) allows individuals to adapt their behavior to changing environmental demands. As task complexity increases, CF may substantially impact performance by facilitating a shift towards more efficient information processing strategies. However, its role in tasks with high cognitive demands remains largely unexplored. Furthermore, while CF is associated with inhibitory control and working memory functions, their precise relationship under task demands is not yet fully understood. To address this gap, we investigated how CF and inhibition metrics are associated with different levels of mental attentional demand (Md), as well as СF. Additionally, we explored differences in eye-movement indices associated with high and low CF in tasks with varied levels of Md. Analyzing data from 42 young participants performing CF, inhibition, and mental attention tasks with eye movement recording for the last task, we found that multidimensional switching (i.e., switching between three rules) correlated with mental attentional capacity, whereas two-dimensional switching (i.e., switching between two rules) correlated with inhibitory control. Individuals with low and high switching scores differed in task performance and eye-movement patterns of mental attentional demand (i.e., difficulty). Specifically, those with high efficiency in multidimensional switching exhibited superior performance across all levels of mental attentional demand. Further, high-efficiency performers employed eye-movement patterns characterized by an increased number of fixations, shorter fixation durations, and decreased blink rates, with significant differences observed at higher levels of mental-attention demand. Our findings offer new insights into psychophysiological metrics related to higher-order cognitive processes, discussed in terms of cognitive theory and practical significance.

Episodic memory does not perfectly reproduce past experiences but combines encoded episode-specific information and semantic knowledge in a constructive way. Previous research has shown that semantic category knowledge can bias location memory for individual items, suggesting that similar mechanisms may affect other key dimensions of episodic memory. Here, we investigated whether immediate temporal order memory is influenced by semantic relatedness between encoded items and whether this effect is modulated by semantic structure at encoding, episodic association strength and semantic typicality. Across two experiments, participants completed a temporal order memory task in which they encoded sequences of object images and subsequently judged the relative temporal proximity between items. Results showed that participants who encoded semantically structured sequences performed significantly better on congruent retrieval trials where the correct choice (the temporally closer item) was semantically related to the cue versus on incongruent trials where the incorrect choice was semantically related to the cue. This semantic congruence effect was stronger with shorter temporal distance between the cue and target item at encoding. Participants who did not encode semantically structured sequences did not show the semantic congruence effect. Overall, these findings demonstrate that semantic relatedness between encoded items can bias immediate temporal order memory depending on the presence of semantic structure within encoded item sets. We discuss these results as evidence that semantic knowledge influences temporal order memory through encoding of structured context, highlighting the alignment between semantic and temporal associations as an important modulating factor for this interaction.

This study investigated the influence of cognitive (working memory, inhibitory control) and affective (mood) factors on semantic prediction in second language (L2) learners. While predictive processing was observed in first language (L1) speakers, albeit in later regions. it was largely absent at the group level among L2 learners. However, individual differences played a significant role in modulating prediction in both groups. In L2 learners, predictive effects were stronger among those with higher proficiency and better inhibitory control, whereas negative mood was more detrimental to prediction than positive mood was facilitative. For L1 speakers, inhibitory control, but not working memory, enhanced prediction, particularly in the presence of positive mood. These findings contribute novel insights by integrating affective and cognitive factors in explaining semantic prediction in L1 speakers and L2 learners.

The attentional boost effect (ABE) refers to enhanced memory encoding during dual tasks. This study examined whether colour priming influences passive attentional capture and modulates ABE strength. Participants completed an encoding-recognition task across three priming conditions (red, green, and yellow). Each condition comprised four parts: the priming, encoding, wash-out, and recognition phases. During the priming phase, participants passively viewed a series of images predominantly associated with a specific colour. In the encoding phase, participants engaged in a dual task that required the detection of red target signals (while ignoring green distractor signals) and simultaneous memorisation of background words. Recognition performance was then assessed using an old-new classification task. Results revealed significant differences in ABE strength across the three priming conditions. Red priming (a colour congruent to the target signals) produced the strongest memory enhancement, suggesting that the priming facilitated attentional capture. By contrast, green priming (a colour incongruent to the target signals) reduced the ABE strength in comparison to the red and yellow priming conditions, which was potentially caused by interference associated with an attentional shift towards the distractors. A reversed colour assignment in a control experiment (i.e. green for target signals and red for distractor signals) produced a comparable pattern of effects to those observed in the main experiment, with the green (colour-congruent) priming condition yielding the greatest ABE strength. These findings indicate that colour priming can strengthen passive attentional engagement and enhance memory encoding in tasks involving divided attention, highlighting the importance of feature congruence in modulating ABE.

The Stroop task has long been considered the optimal tool to estimate the efficiency of processes underlying individuals' abilities to suppress a distracting prepotent response, often assuming that performance in this task can be predictive of individuals' behavior in other contexts. The use of the Stroop task as a proxy for assessing individuals' inhibitory (and, more generally, executive) control in both clinical and non-clinical settings has been challenged based on the poor reliability of (individual-level) Stroop task performance measures, particularly the Stroop effect, which is calculated as a difference in performance between two conditions. In addition to these measurement concerns, several other critical issues have not been sufficiently examined, including why self-evaluation measures poorly correlate with the Stroop-task performance, the direction of the (possible) causal relationships between the Stroop-task performance and other behavioral measures, and possible differences between oral and manual versions of the task. To gather clues to these issues, we systematically screened studies (n = 1121) in all the domains in which the Stroop task has been used and reviewed those (n = 108) investigating which individual differences in healthy adults are predicted by performance in this task. Surprisingly, the pattern of results we found was considerably fragmented, with only a few studies employing sufficiently large sample sizes to test their hypotheses (n = 30). Nevertheless, we drew on the most straightforward findings to provide more specific advice for authors interested in using this task to investigate and assess executive functioning and higher-level cognitive processing, language, visual processing, personality and attitudinal traits, or substance use.

The role of interoception, the sensing of internal bodily signals, in shaping our understanding of concepts remains an intriguing and understudied area of research. Here, we investigate the interoceptive foundation of conceptual representation, particularly for abstract concepts compared to concrete ones. Using a novel mouse-tracking paradigm, participants categorized various types of abstract and concrete concepts (i.e., abstract emotional, abstract philosophical, concrete natural and concrete artifact) as interoceptive (i.e., experienced through internal bodily sensations) or exteroceptive (i.e., experienced through the five perceptual senses). Results on the reaction times show that abstract-emotional concepts were more readily classified as interoceptive than abstract-philosophical concepts, emphasizing the importance of the interoceptive dimension for this category. Movement trajectories showed the implicit activation of interoceptive features also during the categorization of concrete natural concepts. To account for individual differences in interoceptive accuracy (i.e., the ability to accurately perceive visceral signals), participants performed a cardiac interoceptive task (i.e., the heartbeat counting task). Higher interoceptive accuracy was associated with faster categorization speeds, particularly for concrete-natural concepts. Taken together, our findings emphasize the multifaceted nature of conceptual knowledge where the interoceptive dimension plays a key role.