Applied Cognitive Psychology最新文献

The response time concealed information test can reveal whether a person recognizes a relevant concealed item among others based on slower responses. This method also has a hitherto scarcely researched potential for searching for an unknown probe. We introduce a design for efficiently searching through any number of items. In Study 1 (N = 260), we tested a conventional test design with 10 items. Using these data, we developed a new design with a filtering mechanism that dynamically removes items live during the task as soon as proven unlikely to be the relevant item. The filtering design, assessed in Study 2 (N = 260), took substantially less time (∼17 vs. ∼7 min), while being at least similarly efficient in correctly identifying the probe (30.0% vs. 43.1%). Our filtering design offers a time-efficient, scalable, adaptive tool for identifying unknown concealed information among multiple suspected probes, with broad real-world application.

The present study examined the potential benefit of the Analysis of Competing Hypotheses (ACH) method to reduce confirmation bias in legal proceedings. To this end, 222 law students participated in an online study and assessed an ambiguous homicide investigation. Participants were divided into three groups: control group, single-hypothesis group, and ACH group. To assess the test–retest reliability of the ACH method, a follow-up study with 30 participants was conducted. As no indication of confirmation bias was observed, the possible benefits of the ACH method as a debiasing method in legal proceedings could not be fully assessed. However, participants' confidence in their guilt assessment significantly increased when applying the ACH method. Simultaneously, exclusively examining the guilt-hypothesis led to a focus on significantly more non-diagnostic evidence. No other group differences emerged. Findings regarding the ACH method's temporal stability are mixed, highlighting the method's sensitivity to small changes in the evaluation process.

Prospective memory is the ability to execute delayed intentions at the appropriate moment. Mindfulness meditation serves as a training modality to enhance attentional control and foster a flexible, self-regulated attentional state, which can significantly enhance prospective memory performance through refined attentional control. The study aimed to investigate the effects of mindfulness meditation on prospective memory and its underlying processing mechanisms under different attentional loads. In the present study, a total of 109 participants were enrolled in a 2 (groups: mindfulness meditation group, control group) × 2 (attentional load: low load, high load) between-subjects design. The results indicated that mindfulness meditation enhances prospective memory performance primarily by improving the prospective component. This positive effect manifests significantly under the low attentional load condition. The findings suggest that mindfulness meditation primarily enhances prospective memory in scenarios with lower attentional demands.

Quickly recognizing distress and drowning is an essential skill for lifeguards. Unfortunately, it is unclear to what extent visual behavior contributes to the ability of a lifeguard to detect hazardous aquatic situations. Twenty-four non-lifeguards and twenty-four beach lifeguards watched two 15-min clips filmed from the perspective of a beach lifeguard. Participants were instructed to press the spacebar if they would undertake an action, and call out why they reacted. No difference in the number of reactions or average fixation duration was found between groups. However, lifeguards looked ‘deeper’ in the sea than non-lifeguards, had a higher variation in gaze location in the horizontal plane, and a lower variation in the vertical plane. For both lifeguards and non-lifeguards, average fixation duration in the 5 s prior to a reaction was longer than the overall average fixation duration. Overall, results show experiential differences in visual behavior between lifeguards and non-lifeguards.

Our article ‘Lost in the mall? Interrogating judgements of false memory’ (Andrews and Brewin 2024) was the first to reanalyse transcripts from the false memory implantation paradigm and throw light on the nature of investigator-based judgements of false memory. Commentaries on our report include several misrepresentations of what we did as well as some misconceptions about our methods, results, and conclusions. After addressing these, we discuss persistent concerns about the reliability, validity and generalisability of the paradigm and about the tendency for the results of false memory research to be exaggerated. These exaggerations sometimes later appear in expert witness reports and influence court deliberations.

This study examines whether exploring a novel environment in virtual reality enhances verbal episodic memory as a function of level of processing during encoding. Thirty-four participants completed three sessions. In the first, they familiarized themselves with a virtual environment. In the second and third sessions, they explored either the same (familiar) or a different (novel) environment before completing an episodic memory task. The task required participants to encode words under deep or shallow conditions and then complete free recall and recognition memory tests. Results showed that recall and recognition were better with deep encoding compared to shallow encoding. Recall was better in the second session for deep encoding, regardless of novelty. For shallow encoding, recall was better after exploring the novel environment, but only if it occurred in the third session. Recognition memory was unaffected by novelty. These findings suggest that environmental novelty benefits weak memories, but under specific conditions.