Zeitschrift fur experimentelle Psychologie : Organ der Deutschen Gesellschaft fur Psychologie最新文献

The study reported here was conducted as a test of the so-called "weak Freudian hypothesis", which claims that unconscious thoughts are relevant for the generation of speech errors. Spoonerisms were induced experimentally using the so-called SLIP technique. Motley and Baars (1976) demonstrated an increase in speech error rates when spoonerisms were primed semantically. The extensively discussed problems of "unawareness" of briefly presented stimuli were circumvented by using a modified version of Jacoby's process dissociation technique which allows a model-based estimation of conscious and unconscious processes within a task. The two reported experiments combined a wordstem completion task for estimating probabilities of perceptual processes and a SLIP task under identical perceptual conditions. A joint multinomial model was constructed for data analysis. The SLIP technique was successfully applied using German stimuli, adequate experimental variations raised the error rate from 7% in experiment 1 to 19% in experiment 2. Neither the replication of Motley and Baars' results nor unconscious priming of speech errors were statistically confirmed. Despite this negative result, the descriptive pattern of parameter estimates is psychologically meaningful: primes that remained unconscious resulted in a higher speech error probability than primes that were perceived consciously. Conscious perception might trigger control processes that act in opposition of speech errors. Statistical problems of the particular multinomial model and possible solutions in future research are discussed.

The aim of this investigation was to analyze dual-task interference in the so called Psychological Refractory Period (PRP) paradigm. In this paradigm subjects have to carry out two choice reaction tasks that overlap in time. A well known result is that reaction time on task 2 (Rt2) increases with decreasing overlap of the two tasks. Thereby reaction time on task 1 is described to be independent of the size of overlap (Rt 1). Usually, this result is explained by the assumption of a PRP which arises in processing of task 2, when serial processing is ongoing in both tasks. It was asked, 1.) whether the PRP is located before or after response selection in the first task and 2.) how the second task influences first task processing. In the experiment subjects had to carry out two choice reaction tasks together. In different conditions the difficulty of response selection in task 2 was systematically increased by varying the number of response alternatives (0, 1, 2, 3). Difficulty of response selection in task 1 was held constant. Overlap between both tasks was varied. This experimental design allows different hypotheses about the sources of interference in both tasks to be examined by use of Schweickert's Critical Path Technique (Schweickert, 1983). Contrary to the results of Karlin and Kestenbaum (1968) the effects of number of response alternatives and size of overlap on Rt2 indicate a localization of the PRP before response selection. The results support models which assume a serial processing in response selection (Welford, 1952). They are contrary to models of parallel processing in this stage (Keele, 1973). The influence of the number of alternatives in task 2 on Rt 1 can be explained by a mechanism of grouping both motor responses.

The main purpose of this study was to examine the cardiovascular effects of active coping behavior during mental and social challenge. Furthermore, the additional effects of monetary incentives were explored. A total of 80 normotensive male students of the ages 19 to 30 years served as subjects. Statistical analyses revealed strong task-specific effects on systolic (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) as well as heart rate (HR). Compared to Mental Arithmetic and Preparing a Discussion Task, social challenges during Discussion lead to exaggerated increases in SBP (37.6 mmHg) and HR (26.1 bpm) coupled with intermediate elevations in DBP (18.0 mmHg). Monetary incentives were associated with enhanced HR reactivity. The intra-task correlation pattern showed a remarkable across-task stability of correlations between SBP and HR reactivity scores, with an apparent lack of significant correlations between SBP and DBP reactivity scores. Results of inter-task correlations supported the hypothesis of specific cardiovascular response patterns that might be indicative of different aspects of active coping with mental and social stress.

The DIN color chart was developed in the 1950s by Manfred Richter using of classical psychophysical scaling techniques. It is based upon the idea that colors are ordered along three subjective dimensions, i.e. hue, saturation, and brightness. Furthermore, it is assumed that the colors of the DIN color chart fulfill the principle of specific equidistancy. The main aim of this study was to investigate this claim empirically. More specifically, it was tested whether colors of the same hue and brightness are equally spaced along the dimension of subjective saturation. The data were collected in three paired comparisons experiments and were analyzed using multidimensional scaling. According to the results, the psychological properties of the DIN color system can be replicated approximately. In addition to a confirmation of the postulate of equidistancy this research contributes to the understanding of the convergence of different scaling methods.

The present study investigated the influence of induced mood (happy vs. sad) and the affiliation motive (hope of affiliation vs. fear of rejection) on cognitions and physiological reactions during the presentation of a social scenario. This scenario depicted the temporal approach to and finally the unexpected termination of a social interaction. Happy and sad moods were induced successfully, as indicated by self-report measures and physiological variables. Participants high in fear of rejection were more anxious and tensed immediately before the desired social interaction. In addition, they showed a higher level of physiological arousal. The unexpected termination of the social interaction at the end of the scenario had a strong negative effect on participants high in fear of rejection if they were in a happy mood. Thus, in this case an incongruence between the dominant motive and the actual emotional state led to emotional impairment. The results are discussed on the basis of motivational conflict theory and of learned helplessness.

Working memory has been proposed to contribute to the processing of time, rhythm and music; the question which component of working memory is involved is under discussion. The present study tests the hypothesis that the phonological loop component (Baddeley, 1986) is involved in the processing of auditorily presented time intervals of a few seconds' duration. Typical effects well known with short-term retention of verbal material could be replicated with short-term retention of temporal intervals: The immediate reproduction of time intervals was impaired under conditions of background music and articulatory suppression. Neither the accuracy nor the speed of responses in a (non-phonological) mental rotation task were diminished under these conditions. Processing of auditorily presented time intervals seems to be constrained by the capacity of the phonological loop: The immediate serial recall of sequences of time intervals was shown to be related to the immediate serial recall of words (memory span). The results confirm the notion that working memory resources, and especially the phonological loop component, underlie the processing of auditorily presented temporal information with a duration of a few seconds.

Two logical relations, conjunction (AND) and exclusive disjunction (XOR) differ in formal complexity as well as in observable difficulties. AND results in less errors, fewer trials to criterion, and shorter processing time per trial than XOR. Two paradigms of differential classical conditioning are based on these rules. Negative patterning (A+, B+, AB-) equals XOR, and positive patterning (A-, B-, AB+) equals AND. We studied experimentally whether or not differences in processing time per trial are reflected in different optimal interstimulus intervals in human eyelid conditioning. Results of four groups (AND/XOR x 400/1200 ms; each group n = 10) suggest that differential conditioning could be observed in positive patterning (800-1000 ms) earlier than in negative patterning (1000-1200 ms).

Two studies tested whether preverbal children distinguish global categories (animal and furniture) on a conceptual basis. A total of 59 eleven-month-olds solved an object examination task. During habituation, infants freely explored different natural-looking toy models from the same category. In Study 1, the same series of four different examplars was presented twice. In Study 2, ten different exemplares were presented. In both cases, a significant habituation effect could be observed. When a perceptually new object of the same category was presented on the first test trial after habituation, a significant increase in examination time from the last habituation trial to the first test trial could be observed in Study 1. When a new object of the contrasting category was presented on the second test trial, examination times increased significantly from the first to the second test trial in both studies. These results support earlier findings suggesting that preverbal infants are able to distinguish global categories on a conceptual basis.

Empirical and theoretical evidence for the concept of working memory is considered. We argue that the major weakness of this concept is its loose connection with the knowledge about background perceptive and cognitive processes. Results of two relevant experiments are provided. The first study demonstrated the classical chunking effect in a speeded visual search and comparison task, the proper domain of a large-capacity very short term sensory store. Our second study was a kind of extended levels-of-processing experiment. We attempted to manipulate visual, phonological, and (different) executive components of long-term memory in the hope of finding some systematic relationships between these forms of processing. Indeed, the results demonstrated a high degree of systematicity without any apparent need for a concept such as working memory for the explanation. Accordingly, the place for working memory is at all the interfaces where our metacognitive strategies interfere with mostly domain-specific cognitive mechanisms. Working memory is simply our work with memory.

In two experimental studies with older subjects, the differential accessibility of palliative interpretations of negative situations was investigated using a scenario paradigm. Short episodes (formulated in a self-referent manner) were presented on a CRT-screen. Each story contained a palliative and distressing interpretation of a negative life situation. In a recognition test, the reaction time and the error variable were used as an index of accessibility of those aspects. In a pilot study (N = 62; age of subjects 49-79 years), it was found that the dispositional tendency to reinterpret negative life situations flexibly correlates positively with the accessibility of palliative information. Using a priming approach in the main study, it was shown that this result is based on a differential moderated association of the negative life-event and the type of information (i.e., palliative or distressing) (N = 120; age of subjects: 56-80 years). Especially with respect to scenarios which are centered on age-related declines, results were more pronounced with increasing age. The results are discussed in terms of a theory which contrasts active-instrumental efforts of coping with accommodative mechanisms of adjustment and reinterpretation.