scholarly journals Limitations in advance task preparation: Switching the relevant stimulus dimension in speeded same—different comparisons

2002 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 540-550 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nachshon Meiran ◽  
Hadas Marciano
Keyword(s):  
Stimulus Dimension ◽  
Relevant Stimulus ◽  
Task Preparation ◽  
Relevant Stimulus Dimension

The Role of Deployment of Attention in the Overlearning Reversal Effect (ORE) with Aggressive and Nonaggressive Stimuli

1993 ◽  
Vol 72 (3_suppl) ◽  
pp. 1195-1201 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Paul Szalai ◽  
Morris Eagle
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Instrumental Response ◽  
Stimulus Dimension ◽  
Neutral Stimulus ◽  
Reversal Shift ◽  
Relevant Stimulus ◽  
Reversal Effect ◽  
Relevant Stimulus Dimension ◽  
Response Errors

The study elucidated the role of deployment of attention in the appearance and magnitude of the overlearning reversal effect (ORE) with simultaneously occurring aggressive and neutral stimulus dimensions in a discrimination reversal-shift paradigm with 60 undergraduate college students. Confirming expectations, significantly larger overlearning reversal effect (ORE) was produced on the number of instrumental response errors and verbalized attentional errors with the less complex and less salient neutral, relevant-stimulus dimension. The findings that greater ORE, as reflected in attentional errors, was observed with the less salient but also less complex neutral stimulus dimension support the attentional explanations of the ORE phenomenon. These results contrast with those observed with traditional geometric stimulus material where greater complexity is associated with greater ORE.

scholarly journals Cue Competition and Incidental Learning: No Blocking or Overshadowing in the Colour-Word Contingency Learning Procedure Without Instructions to Learn

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
James R. Schmidt ◽  
Jan De Houwer
Keyword(s):  
Incidental Learning ◽  
Stimulus Dimension ◽  
Decision Processes ◽  
Cue Competition ◽  
Contingency Learning ◽  
Relevant Stimulus ◽  
Learning Procedure ◽  
Learning Conditions ◽  
Colour Word ◽  
Relevant Stimulus Dimension

Overshadowing and blocking are two important findings that are frequently used to constrain models of associative learning. Overshadowing is the finding that learning about a cue (referred to as X) is reduced when that cue is always accompanied by a second cue (referred to as A) during the learning phase (AX). Blocking is the finding that after learning a stimulus-outcome relation for one stimulus (A), learning about a second stimulus (X) is reduced when the second stimulus is always accompanied by the first stimulus (AX). It remains unclear whether overshadowing and blocking result from explicit decision processes (e.g., “I know that A predicts the outcome, so I am not sure whether X does, too”), or whether cue competition is built directly into low-level association formation processes. In that vein, the present work examined whether overshadowing and/or blocking are present in an incidental learning procedure, where the predictive stimuli (words or shapes) are irrelevant to the cover task and merely correlated with the task-relevant stimulus dimension (colour). In two large online studies, we observed no evidence for overshadowing or blocking in this setup: (a) no evidence for an overshadowing cost was observed with compound (word-shape) cues relative to single cue learning conditions, and (b) contingency learning effects for blocked stimuli did not differ from those for blocking stimuli. However, when participants were given the explicit instructions to learn contingencies, evidence for blocking and overshadowing was observed. Together, these results suggest that contingencies of blocked/overshadowed stimuli are learned incidentally, but are suppressed by explicit decision processes due to knowledge of the contingencies for the blocking/overshadowing stimuli.

When the Others Matter

2011 ◽  
Vol 70 (2) ◽  
pp. 75-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gernot Gerger ◽  
Helmut Leder ◽  
Stella J. Faerber ◽  
Claus-Christian Carbon
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Design ◽  
Product Design ◽  
Stimulus Dimension ◽  
Important Variable ◽  
Relevant Stimulus ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Relevant Stimulus Dimension ◽  
Specific Increase ◽  
Selective Increase

Although innovativeness is an important variable in product design, we know little about its appreciation. We studied how appreciation of innovativeness and its dynamics depends on the heterogeneity of the context in which it appears. We employed a test-retest design in which appreciation of car interior designs was tested before and after repeated evaluations. We tested heterogeneous stimulus sets (highly and lowly innovative designs together; Experiment 1) and homogeneous stimulus sets (highly or lowly innovative designs; Experiment 2). The known effect ( Carbon, Hutzler, & Minge, 2006 ; Carbon & Leder, 2005 ) of a selective increase in attractiveness ratings for highly innovative stimuli after repeated evaluations was only obtained for heterogeneous sets. In homogeneous sets, both highly and lowly innovative interiors were rated similarly and showed similar dynamics. Experiment 3 was a shorter version of Experiment 1, which ruled out differences in experimental design (more ratings and longer duration in Experiment 1) as the cause of the differences. High innovativeness was found to show a specific increase in attractiveness ratings only when innovativeness was made apparent by presenting stimuli in heterogeneous sets. Thus, awareness of variation in innovativeness as a relevant stimulus dimension is a key feature regarding its effect on appreciation.

scholarly journals Spatio-Temporal Pattern of Appraising Social and Emotional Relevance: Evidence from Event-Related Brain Potentials

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annekathrin Schacht ◽  
Pascal Vrtička
Keyword(s):  
Social Information ◽  
Emotional Valence ◽  
Stimulus Dimension ◽  
Stimulus Onset ◽  
Fmri Data ◽  
Brain Potentials ◽  
Social Content ◽  
Social And Emotional ◽  
Relevant Stimulus Dimension ◽  
Spatio Temporal

Social information is highly intrinsically relevant for the human species because of its direct link to guiding physiological responses and behavior. Accordingly, extant functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data suggest that social content may form a unique stimulus dimension. It remains largely unknown, however, how neural activity underlying social (versus nonsocial) information processing temporally unfolds, and how such social information appraisal may interact with the processing of other stimulus characteristics, particularly emotional meaning. Here, we presented complex visual scenes differing in both social (versus nonsocial) and emotional relevance (positive, negative, neutral) intermixed with scrambled versions of these pictures to N= 24 healthy young adults. Event-related brain potentials (ERPs) to intact pictures were examined for gaining insight to the dynamics of appraisal of both dimensions, implemented within the brain. Our main finding is an early interaction between social and emotional relevance due to enhanced amplitudes of early ERP components to emotionally positive pictures of social compared to nonsocial content, presumably reflecting rapid allocation of attention and counteracting an overall negativity bias. Importantly, our ERP data show high similarity with previously observed fMRI data using the same stimuli, and source estimations located the ERP effects in overlapping occipito-temporal brain areas. Our new data suggest that relevance detection may occur already as early as around 100 ms after stimulus onset and may combine relevance checks not only examining intrinsic pleasantness/emotional valence, but also social content as a unique, highly relevant stimulus dimension.

Between-Task Transfer of Learning From Spatial Compatibility to a Color Stroop Task

2011 ◽  
Vol 58 (6) ◽  
pp. 473-479 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maddalena Marini ◽  
Cristina Iani ◽  
Roberto Nicoletti ◽  
Sandro Rubichi
Keyword(s):  
Stroop Task ◽  
Response Selection ◽  
Transfer Task ◽  
Stimulus Dimension ◽  
Selection Strategy ◽  
Spatial Compatibility ◽  
Conflict Task ◽  
Stimulus Response ◽  
Spatial Stimulus ◽  
Relevant Stimulus Dimension

Responses to a relevant stimulus dimension are faster and more accurate when the stimulus and response spatially correspond compared to when they do not, even though stimulus position is irrelevant (Simon effect). It has been demonstrated that practicing with an incompatible spatial stimulus-response (S-R) mapping before performing a Simon task can eliminate this effect. In the present study we assessed whether a learned spatially incompatible S-R mapping can be transferred to a nonspatial conflict task, hence supporting the view that transfer effects are due to acquisition of a general “respond to the opposite stimulus value” rule. To this aim, we ran two experiments in which participants performed a spatial compatibility task with either a compatible or an incompatible mapping and then transferred, after a 5 min delay, to a color Stroop task. In Experiment 1, responses were executed by pressing one of two keys on the keyboard in both practice and transfer tasks. In Experiment 2, responses were manual in the practice task and vocal in the transfer task. The spatially incompatible practice significantly reduced the color Stroop effect only when responses were manual in both tasks. These results suggest that during practice participants develop a response-selection strategy of emitting the alternative spatial response.

The art of planning ahead: when do we prepare for the future and when is it effective? (under review)

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Huijser ◽  
Niels Anne Taatgen ◽  
Marieke K. van Vugt
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Dual Task ◽  
Task Difficulty ◽  
Memory Load ◽  
Working Memory Load ◽  
Task Preparation ◽  
Memory Integration ◽  
The Future ◽  
Dual Task Paradigm ◽  
Consistent Support

Preparing for the future during ongoing activities is an essential skill. Yet, it is currently unclear to what extent we can prepare for the future in parallel with another task. In two experiments, we investigated how characteristics of a present task influenced whether and when participants prepared for the future, as well as its usefulness. We focused on the influence of concurrent working memory load, assuming that working memory would interfere most strongly with preparation. In both experiments, participants performed a novel sequential dual-task paradigm, in which they could voluntary prepare for a second task while performing a first task. We identified task preparation by means of eye tracking, through detecting when participants switched their gaze from the first to the second task. The results showed that participants prepared productively, as evidenced by faster RTs on the second task, with only a small cost to the present task. The probability of preparation and its productiveness decreased with general increases in present task difficulty. In contrast to our prediction, we found some but no consistent support for influence of concurrent working memory load on preparation. Only for concurrent high working memory load (i.e., two items in memory), we observed strong interference with preparation. We conclude that preparation is affected by present task difficulty, potentially due to decreased opportunities for preparation and changes in multitasking strategy. Furthermore, the interference from holding two items may reflect that concurrent preparation is compromised when working memory integration is required by both processes.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document