Applied Cognitive Psychology最新文献

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.

Previous work on cognitive offloading has found that young and older adults create and use external memory aids to boost performance on simple memory-based tasks. To date, little work has investigated whether cognitive offloading can benefit performance when the memoranda are complex and naturalistic. In this study, 64 participants (32 young adults aged 18–26 years and 32 older adults aged 60+ years) studied facts about health conditions, then completed free recall and old-new recognition tests under two conditions. In the cognitive offloading choice condition, participants could create notes during study to use on upcoming memory tests. In the internal memory condition, participants had to rely on internal memory alone. Both age groups benefited from using cognitive offloading. Notably, older adults outperformed young adults on the free recall test when given the opportunity to offload. These results suggest that cognitive offloading can help older adults overcome everyday memory challenges.

Previous research demonstrates that exposure to police lethal force through the media impacts individuals' support for police reform, but the mechanism driving this support is underexplored. The current study examines how news media counterfactuals (i.e., creating alternative outcomes for events that have already occurred) influence individuals' processing of police lethal force incidents, and how these perceptions, in turn, impact support for police reform. In a 2 (victim race: Black vs. White) × 3 (counterfactual target: victim, officer, or no counterfactual control) factorial design, 925 participants read a news article summarizing a lethal force incident, assigned blame for both the officer and victim, and reported their endorsement for various police reforms. Results indicated counterfactual target impacted blame attributions, and these blame attributions predicted endorsement of police reform while controlling for Attitudes Towards Police Legitimacy (APLS). These findings illustrate how media counterfactuals can influence blame, and importantly, influence perceptions of various police reforms.

Deceptive and truthful statements draw on a common pool of communication data, and they are typically embedded within false and truthful narratives. How often does embeddedness occur, who communicates embedded deceptions and truths, and what linguistic characteristics reveal embeddedness? In this study, nearly 800 participants deceived or told the truth about their friends and indicated the embedded deceptions (e.g., false statements told within entirely false or truthful messages) and truths (e.g., truthful statements told within entirely false or truthful messages). Embedded deceiving and truth-telling rates were only statistically different among those who were instructed to tell the truth. Therefore, the distribution of embedded deceptions and truths were similar for false statements, but dissimilar for truthful statements. Embedded truths were also more likely to be written by women (vs men), liberals (vs conservatives), and communicated in a formal versus narrative style. Theoretical implications are discussed.

In two preregistered online studies with U.S. adults, we provide evidence of a common psychological profile characterizing belief in prejudicial and non-prejudicial epistemically unwarranted claims. We solicited self-report ratings of beliefs in prejudicial and non-prejudicial pseudoscientific, conspiratorial, and paranormal claims, as well as individual difference measures related to cognitive style, social dominance orientation (SDO), and trust in science. We found moderate to strong positive correlations between endorsing prejudicial and non-prejudicial unwarranted claims, and robustly replicable associations between endorsement of all the assessed varieties of epistemically unwarranted beliefs, SDO, and perceptions of the credibility of science. Our findings suggest that individuals who endorse epistemically unwarranted beliefs are not only characterized by a rejection of epistemic authority (e.g., science), but also by preferences for a rigid, inequitably stratified society. This suggests that successfully challenging epistemically unwarranted beliefs may benefit by incorporating explicit challenges to social dominance motivations.