Applied Cognitive Psychology最新文献

Audio description (AD) plays a crucial role in making audiovisual media accessible to people with a visual impairment, enhancing their experience and understanding. This study employs an event segmentation task to examine how people without sight perceive and segment narrative events in films with AD, compared to sighted viewers without AD. Two AD versions were utilized, differing in the explicitness of conveyed event boundaries. Results reveal that the participants without sight generally perceived event boundaries similarly to their sighted peers, affirming AD's effectiveness in conveying event structures. However, when key event boundaries were more implicitly expressed, event boundary recognition diminished. Collectively, these findings offer valuable insights into event segmentation processes across sensory modalities. Additionally, they underscore the significance of how AD presents event boundaries, influencing the perception and interpretation of audiovisual media for people with a visual impairment and providing applied insights into event segmentation, multimodal processing, and audiovisual accessibility.

We examined the efficacy of a Model Statement to detect opinion lies. A total of 93 participants discussed their opinion about the recent strikes on two occasions, 1 week apart. In one interview they told the truth and in the other interview they lied. Each interview consisted of two phases. In Phase 1 they discussed their alleged opinion (truth or lie as appropriate). They then either listened to a Model Statement (a detailed account of someone discussing an opinion about a topic unrelated to strike actions) and expressed their opinion again in Phase 2 (Model Statement present condition) or they discussed their opinion again without listening to a Model Statement (Model Statement absent condition). The verbal cues examined were pro-opinion arguments, anti-opinion arguments, plausibility, immediacy, directness, clarity, and predictability. The truthful statements sounded more plausible in Phases 1 and 2 than the deceptive statements, providing further evidence that plausibility is a strong veracity indicator. The truthful statements included more pro-arguments and sounded more immediate and direct than the deceptive statements, but only in Phase 2. The Model Statement had no effect. Reasons for the Model Statement null-effect are discussed.

In the area of security, human cognition remains essential for face recognition despite advancements in technology. Law enforcement agencies (LEAs) are interested in harnessing these abilities, as recognizing people is a fundamental aspect of their work. We conducted two studies to support integrating human face recognition skills into police work. In study 1, we developed the Zurich Face Cognition Test (ZFCT), a self-assessment tool that reliably measures the face cognition abilities of police officers with authentic police material. Our approach is complementary to the identification of super-recognizers. In study 2, we evaluated the Holistic Cognitive Interview (HCI), a method successfully applied in the UK to recognize facial composites better. Our results indicate that the HCI provides an effective strategy for police officers to memorize images of unfamiliar faces more effectively, for example, for better recognition of wanted or missing persons.

Our aim in the current study was to examine how different diary methods might impact the results of involuntary memory studies. We compared three different commonly used diary methods, record all memories experienced per day, record up to two memories per day, or record only the first two per day. Results showed that the record-all group had the most memories, and in all conditions, more memories were recorded during the first week compared to the second week. Additionally, results showed that the record any-two group reported more perceptually cued memories compared to the other two conditions, and the record-all group reported the most memory cued memories. The record-all group reported being the most confident in their involuntary memories. The results may help explain some discrepancies in the literature, and they may assist future researchers by allowing them to tailor their methods according to their research questions.

Hyper-realistic silicone masks provide a viable route to identity fraud. Over the last decade, more than 40 known criminal acts have been committed by perpetrators using this type of disguise. With the increasing availability and bespoke sophistication of these masks, research must now focus on ways to enhance their detection. In this study, we investigate whether super-recognisers (SRs), people who excel at identity recognition, are more likely to detect this type of fraud, in comparison to typical-recogniser controls. Across three tasks, we examined mask detection rates in the absence of a pre-task prompt (covert task), and again after making participants aware of their use in criminal settings (explicit task). Finally, participants were asked to indicate which aspects of the masks could support their detection (regions of interest task). The findings show an SR advantage for the detection of hyper-realistic masks across the covert and explicit mask detection tasks. In addition, the eye, mouth, and nose regions appear to be particularly indicative of the presence of a mask. The lack of natural skin texture, proportional features, expressiveness, and asymmetry are also salient cues. The theoretical and applied implications of these findings are discussed.

The split-attention effect posits that learning outcomes are negatively impacted when interrelated text and graphics are spatially segregated rather than cohesively integrated. This study explored how the instructional material's presentation size influences the manifestation of the split-attention effect. Based on cognitive load theory and perceptual load theory, we hypothesized that elevated information density in a compact presentation format would attenuate the advantage of integrated text and graphics, thereby diminishing the salience of the split-attention effect relative to a more expansive presentation size. University students (n = 146) studied a split-attention format or integrated format in either large or small presentation size. Results on retention and comprehension tests and extraneous cognitive load ratings revealed no effects of instructional format, presentation size or their interaction. The present results call for a more nuanced understanding of the split-attention effect and suggest additional research to explore its cognitive foundations.

Visual system is crucial to autobiographical memory. Research tended to show that blind adults may compensate for the loss of visual information in retrieval of their autobiographical memories. Much less is known about how blind children's autobiographical memory develops in the absence of visual information. Using cue-word methodology, 36 sighted and 33 blind early teenagers were asked to recall memories and subsequently rated phenomenological qualities of their memories. Retrieval latency, the number of prompts provided, episodic and non-episodic details reported for each memory were coded. In terms of memory accessibility, the blind group recalled comparable number of memories with comparable latency to retrieve memories, but they needed more prompting. Blind participants recalled similar number of episodic details; however, they reported more extraneous details, decreasing specificity. Blind early teenagers reported higher auditory imagery, a propensity to remember events from the first-person perspective, and a tendency to remember events as coherent stories.

Effective cognitive learning strategies are beneficial for learning and long-term retention. However, higher education students often rely on surface-level strategies like reading and underlining. Interventions to support effective cognitive strategy use have addressed knowledge, beliefs, planning, and commitment. This latter aspect and its relation with motivation has remained underexposed. Therefore, this study aimed to answer the following research question: What factors contribute to student motivation for effective cognitive strategy use during self-study in higher education? First-year vocational university students participated in focus group discussions (N = 100), and completed a strategy questionnaire (N = 217). Results showed that students used combinations of effective cognitive and surface-level strategies based on successful past experiences. Perceived utility value of strategies for students' performance-oriented goals contributed considerably to motivation, and students reduced perceived costs by combining self-study with non-academic activities. Incorporating these aspects in strategy support could be next steps for future interventions.

Jing Liang, Yu-Hsin Chen, Wen-Jing Yan, Yun-Feng He. Enhanced detection efficiency in reaction time-based concealed information test through response preparation interference. Applied Cognitive Psychology. 2024;38:e4180.

In the “Correspondence” part, the affiliation information about “Yun-Feng He” is “College of Education, Hebei Normal University, Shijiazhuang 050024, China. Email: [email protected]” should be changed as “Yun-Feng He, Liaoning Key Laboratory of Psychological Testing and Behavior Analysis, Liaoning University, 66 Chongshan Road, 110036 Shenyang, China. Email: [email protected].”

We apologize for this error.

Parent-guided reminiscing helps children learn how to interpret and recollect personal experiences. These interpretive abilities are important because many experiences are ambiguous, and a tendency toward negative interpretation is associated with emotional disorders. Here, we explore whether naturally-occurring variations in parent-guided reminiscing are associated with children's interpretation and recall of novel ambiguous events. Mothers and their children (aged 5–6 years) reminisced about three shared negative events. Next, children were read several stories that described ambiguous social situations and were asked to invent endings that involved making an inference about motives of others in the stories. Later, children were asked questions to elicit story recall. Mothers who used more negative terms during reminiscing had children who were more likely to invent negative story endings and distort story recall negatively. Thus, mothers who frame memory-sharing conversations with children negatively might put them at risk for developing negative interpretation and memory biases.