Applied Cognitive Psychology最新文献

Laboratory experiments show that emotional landmarks influence wayfinding and spatial learning. However, the affective properties of real-life landmarks remain understudied. This study examines whether the landmarks that people use daily possess an affective component. Participants completed an online questionnaire and were instructed to identify five landmarks along a familiar route. They then had to rate their affective valence (positive/negative) and arousal (high/low). The study also considered individual characteristics and landmark features. The results obtained indicate that, irrespective of individual characteristics, participants predominantly reported positively valenced, highly arousing landmarks. Depending on their nature and associated emotions, different landmark profiles emerged, with a positive correlation between a landmark's valence and its subjective importance. Overall, these findings confirm the existence of an affective component in the landmarks used by individuals in their everyday life and corroborate the relevance of the recent line of research studying its impact on spatial learning.

Despite extensive research on motivational factors in academic performance, little is known about the role of ongoing conscious thought. Mind-wandering has been linked with poor educational outcomes, yet can also benefit goal-directed behaviour. We reasoned that mind-wandering should benefit exam performance under certain motivational conditions, including mental contrasting (viewing one's goal in terms of both desired outcome and obstacles to achievement). In an online survey followed by an exam, university students described their assessment goal and reported expectations, exam-related mind-wandering (EMW) and other measures. We predicted that (A) convergence between expectations and performance would be tighter, and (B) EMW would positively predict performance, in students exhibiting mental contrasting. Contrary to predictions, we found no moderation of the expectation-performance relationship, and regarding the EMW-performance relationship, mental contrasters achieved especially low grades when mind-wandering frequently about the exam, possibly reflecting a tendency to ‘overthink’ negative aspects. Theoretical and methodological implications are discussed.

This study examines the differences in emotional expressions between face-swap deepfake videos featuring real human subjects and their authentic counterparts and investigates how these discrepancies influence viewers' emotional reactions and perceptions of video credibility. Using a two-step approach, we first applied computer-based facial expression analysis to compare emotional displays between deepfake and authentic videos. Next, guided by emotional contagion and emotion-as-information frameworks, we conducted an audience response analysis to assess how displayed emotions in the two types of videos transfer to viewers' emotional experiences and their subsequent assessments of the videos. Results indicate that deepfakes generally exhibit lower overall and negative emotions compared to authentic counterparts. Notably, audiences' reduced emotional responses to deepfakes were associated with higher perceived credibility. These findings underscore the importance of emotion-based signals for detecting fabricated videos and highlight the relationship between viewers' emotional responses and their perceived trust in AI-generated content.

Recent meta-analyses indicate that learning with ChatGPT improves academic performance but reveals substantial heterogeneity in effect sizes. The present study sheds light on one theoretically plausible moderator of the benefits of learning with ChatGPT: the goal structure of the learning task. For this purpose, in an experiment, university students (N = 104) learned four social psychology concepts using ChatGPT, with the task either embedded in a mastery goal structure, emphasizing the goal of making individual progress, or in a performance goal structure, emphasizing the goal of outshining others. Results showed that the mastery goal structure fostered the acquisition of conceptual knowledge in comparison to the performance goal structure. Furthermore, the performance goal structure increased pressure, anxiety, and the request for non-essential/peripheral details aimed at appearing smart in comparison to others, although these hardly contributed to learning. We conclude that goal structures can moderate the benefits of learning with ChatGPT.

Oeberst et al. (2021) reversed autobiographical false memories using source and false memory sensitization. The present study aimed to replicate and extend their findings by addressing methodological issues. We conducted three suggestive interviews to implement false memories, then applied two countermeasures: source sensitization and false memory sensitization. Thirty-four of 63 participants developed false memories. Based on the memory classification, both reversal techniques reduced false memories without affecting the quality of true memories. The source sensitization equally impacted true and false memories regarding participants' certainty ratings and the proportion of remembered details attributed to their own memory. However, participants were more certain about the sources of their true than their false memories. Since memory classification cut-offs might have led to overestimating the techniques' effectiveness, we discuss the implications for research and derive several recommendations for future studies.

Conspiracy thinking is a multidimensional construct, studied both as a general disposition (conspiracy mindset) and as adherence to specific narratives (conspiracy beliefs). Despite research interest, distinguishing generic conspiracy thinking from related constructs (e.g., paranoid, magical thinking) remains a challenge. The present study aims to develop and validate the composite conspiracy belief (CCB) scale, a new measure of conspiracy thinking that distinguishes itself from similar thinking styles and captures different conspiracy tendencies. Two studies were conducted. Study 1 (N = 380) examined the factorial structure of CCB, hypothesizing a third-order hierarchical model based on semi-specific conspiracy narratives: “source of threat” and “type of threat.” Study 2 (N = 364) evaluated the differentiation of CCB from magical thinking, social persecution, and generalized suspiciousness. The analyses confirmed the construct, convergent, and incremental validity.

Across two studies, we examined the impact of different levels of jargon on the perceived credibility of texts containing reliable or unreliable information. Study 1 found that higher levels of jargon were associated with increased credibility ratings for unreliable texts. Study 2 showed that higher levels of jargon were also associated with lower processing fluency for both reliable and unreliable texts. Additionally, the high level of jargon was associated with higher credibility ratings compared to text containing no jargon, and those high in conspiracy mentality were more influenced by the amount of jargon when making their credibility ratings. Jargon had a direct effect on increasing credibility, but also indirectly decreased credibility through a decrease in processing fluency. Together, these findings suggest that the presence of technical terms enhances the credibility of even unreliable text, and that individuals with conspiracy mentality leanings are more susceptible to this influence of jargon.