Journal of Experimental Psychology-Human Perception and Performance最新文献

People process stimuli that have been arbitrarily associated with the self versus with a stranger preferentially, but congruence effects can modulate self-prioritization, as when the self is paired with, for example, symmetrical versus asymmetrical stimuli. In two experiments, we examined the interaction of self-prioritization with number magnitude when participants associated the self or a stranger with specific number symbols such as "2" presented as natural, negative, and ordinal number types (Experiment 1), or abstract numeric concepts, such as "larger than 5" (Experiment 2). Empathy and personal distance were also assessed. While self-prioritization emerged in both experiments, number type (natural, ordinal, and negative) had no effect on performance. Furthermore, correlations with empathy and personal distance did not emerge consistently. An interaction between number magnitude and self-assignment was observed for the magnitude comparison matching task (e.g., > 5) (Experiment 2), but not in the specific number (e.g., "8") matching task (Experiment 1). The null interaction may reflect the fact that encoding symbol identity, but not number magnitude, was sufficient for the symbol-matching task. The order of numbers and self-associations also had an effect. In sum, this study is the first to show that self-prioritization emerges for symbolic numbers and can even occur with abstract categories, such as a range of numbers (e.g., > 5). Furthermore, congruence effects between number concepts and labels (e.g., for the stranger, less is better) may also affect performance. However, this would appear to depend on the task context, such as whether numeric magnitude was needed to complete the task. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Moment-to-moment variations in hearing and speech perception have long been observed. Depending on the researcher's theoretical position, the observed fluctuations have been attributed to measurement error or to internal, nonsensory factors such as fluctuations in attention. While cognitive performance has been shown to fluctuate from day to day over longer time, such fluctuations have not been quantified for speech perception, despite being well-recognized by clinical audiologists and hearing-impaired patients. In three studies, we aimed to explore and quantify the magnitude of daily variability in speech perception and to investigate whether such variability goes beyond test unreliability. We also asked whether intraindividual variability depends on overall speech perception performance as observed in different groups of individuals. Older adults with objective hearing impairment and mostly hearing aids (N₁ = 45), with subjective hearing problems but no hearing aids (N₂ = 113), and younger adults without hearing problems (N₃ = 20) participated in three ecological momentary assessment studies. They performed a digit-in-noise test two to three times a day for several weeks. Variance heterogeneous linear mixed-effects models indicated reliable intraindividual variability in speech perception and substantial individual differences in daily variability. A protective factor against daily fluctuations is a higher average speech perception. These studies show that day-to-day variations in speech perception cannot simply be attributed to test unreliability and pave the way for investigating how psychological states that do not vary from moment-to-moment, but rather from day to day, predict variations in speech perception. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

When asked to judge or react to a facial emotional display of a person, people do not only take the emotion into account, but also other socially important features of the face, such as, for example, ethnicity (Kozlik & Fischer, 2020; Paulus & Wentura, 2014). Importantly, the emotion-related and nonemotion-related features are seemingly not (or not always) processed in a simple, additive manner, but are-in a more functional manner-integrated to provide an "amalgamated signal" on which individuals base their judgment and responses. Whereas Paulus and Wentura (2014) put forward a social-message account of this amalgamated signal, Kozlik and Fischer (2020) recently proposed a processing-conflict explanation. The empirical evidence regarding this issue is, however, mixed. In three experiments, we aimed at replicating and extending Kozlik and Fischer's central experiment to gain further insight into the validity of the social-message versus the processing-conflict account. However, we failed to replicate their findings. The implications of the new evidence for the two accounts are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Dating back to the seminal studies of Sherif (1935), there is robust evidence that social norm learning is able to shape perceptual decision making in a persistent manner. But what mechanisms underlie this effect? Here, we propose the new attentional alignment hypothesis. According to this hypothesis, norm learning alters feature-based visual attention. In particular, we hypothesize that norm learning increases visual attention toward norm-congruent relative to norm-incongruent stimulus features. Using steady-state visual evoked potentials, our results show for the first time that norm learning can persistently alter early attentional processes in the visual cortex. As predicted by the attentional alignment hypothesis, individuals' feature-based attention was tuned toward norm-congruent and away from norm-incongruent features. This bias persisted even when norm information was no longer available. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Depersonalization is a common and distressing experience characterized by a feeling of estrangement from one's self, body, and the world. In order to examine the relationship between depersonalization and selfhood we conducted an experimental study comparing processing of three types of self-related information between nonclinical groups of people experiencing high and low levels of depersonalization. Using a sequential matching task, we compared three types of biases for processing of self-related information: prioritization of one's name, of self-associated abstract stimuli (geometrical shapes), and of self-associated bodily stimuli (avatar faces). We found that both groups demonstrated the standard pattern of results for self-prioritization of one's name and geometrical shapes, but they differed with regard to avatar faces. While people with low depersonalization showed the standard prioritization of avatar faces, people with high depersonalization showed overall better response accuracy with avatar faces, and faster response times for stranger-associated avatar faces. These results were complemented by the additional finding that people with high depersonalization reported being more likely to use avatars of a different gender to their own outside of the experimental context. Finally, in this large sample (N = 180) we investigated the relationships between different measures of self-related processing and self-identification, finding no correlation between explicit reports of self-identification with self-associated avatar faces and geometrical shapes, self-prioritization of these stimuli, and prioritization of one's name. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

The perception of magnitude, crucial for a mental representation of the physical world, is often subject to significant biases. Many of these biases are similar across sensory modalities, implying a generalized perception of magnitude. At the same time, some physical magnitudes might have a dedicated modality-specific calibration mechanism to enhance perceptual sensitivity. We examined this question of generalized versus modality-specific processes testing between- and within-modalities' contextual effects on the perception of magnitude. In a constant stimuli procedure, a central standard was embedded in shorter and longer contextual standards. These contextual standards were sampled in either a relatively wider or narrower range of durations. Participants were asked to determine which of the two consecutive durations was longer. Better perceptual sensitivity was found for narrower contexts, with stronger effects in trials in which the standard was presented first. Interestingly, narrower context enhanced sensitivity for standards within the same modality but had no effect on standards of another modality. A unidirectional transfer of contextual effects was observed under certain conditions from auditory, the dominant modality in performing temporal judgments, to vision. These results suggest that the perceptual system appears to develop modality-specific calibration mechanisms, most likely, to enhance perceptual sensitivity and maintain sensory specialization. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

The spatial-size association of response codes (SSARC) effect refers to the finding of better performance with the left hand to small stimuli and with the right hand to large stimuli, as compared to the reverse mapping. In the present study, we investigated which response coding is responsible for the emergence of the SSARC effect. We observed a SSARC effect only with response selection between hands but not between fingers of one hand, indicating that the responses are coded relative to the body midline. Furthermore, we observed a SSARC effect with parallel arms but not with crossed arms, suggesting that both the anatomical side of the effector and its external spatial position contribute to the response code. However, using a reaching task as compared to keypresses, the SSARC effect followed the arms, suggesting that the crucial spatial response code refers more strongly to the anatomical side of the effector rather than to the external spatial response position. These findings document a strong influence of anatomically- or body-based coding on the SSARC effect, are at odds with the proposition of a generalized magnitude system that utilizes a common, external spatial metric, and point toward a categorical nature of response codes underlying the SSARC effect. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Object-based attention and flexible adjustments of cognitive control based on contextual cues signaling the likelihood of distraction are well documented. However, no prior research has conclusively demonstrated that people flexibly adjust cognitive control to minimize distraction based on learned associations between task-irrelevant objects and distraction likelihood (i.e., object-based cognitive control). To fill this gap, we developed a novel paradigm during which participants responded to flanker stimuli appearing in one of multiple locations on two simultaneously presented objects. One object predicted a low likelihood of encountering an incongruent flanker stimulus and the other a high likelihood. After each response, the objects rotated clockwise such that all locations on average were 50% congruent, thereby eliminating confounds between location and likelihood of incongruence. Object-based cognitive control was evidenced by reduced flanker compatibility effects in the high compared to low conflict object. Across four experiments, we demonstrated that object-based cognitive control was dependent on a strong manipulation of the likelihood of conflict between objects and movement of the objects between trials. The novel evidence for object-based cognitive control is important in showing that people exploit not only location as a cue to guide control, but additionally objects, mirroring evidence on object and location-based attention. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Previous research has shown that retrospective gaze cues direct attention to internally maintained representations in visual working memory (vWM). Here, we aimed to differentiate the dual nature of gaze and accordingly proposed two hypotheses regarding the gaze-induced prioritization in vWM. The directional cueing hypothesis claims a constant attentional shifting to the gazed-at direction. By contrast, the referential cueing hypothesis proposes that gaze cues selectively orient attention toward their referents. To test these hypotheses, we employed an adapted change-detection task wherein gaze cues were presented during the retention interval. Critically, the cue character was positioned between two barriers, which could be either opaque (the blocked condition) or transparent (the unblocked condition). Polygons previously presented at the gazed-at (vs. gazed-away) location were better memorized, but not when the visual perspective of the character was obstructed (i.e., the blocked condition, Experiment 1). Subsequent experiments demonstrated that physical motion cues (Experiment 2) and inverted face cues (Experiment 3), which disrupted the extraction of referential signals, were immune to barrier settings. In Experiment 4, we generalize this selective cueing effect to faces with fearful expressions. These consistent findings support the referential cueing hypothesis and emphasize the distinctiveness of social attention. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).