Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology

Gilmore, Camilla

doi: 10.1177/17470218231175325pmid: 37129432

Mathematics skills are associated with future employment, well-being, and quality of life. However, many adults and children fail to learn the mathematics skills they require. To improve this situation, we need to have a better understanding of the processes of learning and performing mathematics. Over the past two decades, there has been a substantial growth in psychological research focusing on mathematics. However, to make further progress, we need to pay greater attention to the nature of, and multiple elements involved in, mathematical cognition. Mathematics is not a single construct; rather, overall mathematics achievement is comprised of proficiency with specific components of mathematics (e.g., number fact knowledge, algebraic thinking), which in turn recruit basic mathematical processes (e.g., magnitude comparison, pattern recognition). General cognitive skills and different learning experiences influence the development of each component of mathematics as well as the links between them. Here, I propose and provide evidence for a framework that structures how these components of mathematics fit together. This framework allows us to make sense of the proliferation of empirical findings concerning influences on mathematical cognition and can guide the questions we ask, identifying where we are missing both research evidence and models of specific mechanisms.

Yüvrük, Elif; Starns, Jeffrey; Kapucu, Aycan

doi: 10.1177/17470218221137347pmid: 36305086

Previous evidence has shown that, in a recognition memory task, emotion leads participants to make more false alarms and decreases response times (RTs) for false alarm responses. This pattern could arise because participants adopt more liberal responding for emotional stimuli and/or because emotional lures are more likely than neutral lures to produce misleading memory retrieval. Recently, Starns et al. designed a new recognition memory paradigm and found that the speed of memory errors shows the influence of misleading information resulting in unavoidable memory errors. This study investigates the basis of false alarms to emotional lures by testing predictions of the diffusion model for a recognition paradigm similar to that by Starns et al. Participants studied lists of emotional words and then completed an old–new recognition memory test. After each old–new decision, participants were asked to make a forced-choice recognition decision that provided a chance to correct possible errors on the preceding old–new decision. Under the assumption that emotion promotes misremembering, the diffusion model predicts that forced-choice accuracy should be lower for pairs with emotional versus neutral lures and that faster old–new errors should be associated with lower forced-choice accuracy. This study tested these predictions, providing theoretical insights into how emotion affects memory retrieval and further developing a new methodology for measuring recognition performance.

Brownsett, Sonia LE; Mascelloni, Matteo; Gowlett, Georgia; McMahon, Katie L; de Zubicaray, Greig I

doi: 10.1177/17470218221137007pmid: 36301012

Semantic context effects are well established using both words and pictures as stimuli. One such effect, semantic interference, is observed in naming latencies when a categorically related distractor word or picture is presented together with a target picture (e.g., dog-LION). Recently, this effect has also been shown to occur when an environmental sound (e.g., a dog barking) is presented as an auditory distractor during picture naming and when a distractor picture is presented with a target sound for naming. The purpose of the current study was twofold: (1) to replicate the semantic interference effect in the picture–sound interference (PSI) paradigm and (2) determine whether a semantic interference effect is also observable when distractor words are presented with environmental sounds as target auditory objects for naming, using a novel sound–word interference (SWI) paradigm. We replicated the semantic interference effect in Experiment 1 with environmental sound distractors. Experiment 2 demonstrated significant semantic interference during an SWI paradigm for the first time. We discuss the implications of these results for our understanding of the origin and locus of the semantic interference effect according to current theories of lexical selection.

Jakubowski, Kelly; Francini, Emma

doi: 10.1177/17470218221129793pmid: 36121341

Features of visual cues, such as their familiarity and emotionality, influence the quantity and qualities of the autobiographical memories they evoke. Despite increasing use in autobiographical memory research, comparatively little is known about how such features of musical cues influence memory properties. In a repeated-measures design, we presented 24 musical cues selected to vary on their familiarity (high/low), emotional valence (positive/negative), and emotional arousal (high/low) to 100 young adults, who recorded details of any autobiographical memories that were evoked. Familiarity of the music primarily impacted memory accessibility, with high-familiarity music evoking more memories that were retrieved more quickly. More familiar music also elicited more positive and arousing memories; however, these differences were found to be attributed to greater liking of the high-familiarity music. The emotional expression of the music impacted the emotionality and evaluation of the memories, with negative valence/low-arousal (e.g., “sad”) music evoking the most negative memories, high-arousal and positively valenced music evoking more arousing memories, and low-arousal music evoking memories rated as more important. These results provide important insights for developing effective paradigms for triggering (particular types of) autobiographical memories via music and highlight the need to critically consider potential differences in cue familiarity and emotionality in studies comparing musical with non-musical cues. Future research should extend this approach to other cue types (e.g., visual, olfactory, other auditory cues), to probe how familiarity and emotional qualities of cues conjunctively or interactively constrain autobiographical memory recall across different domains.

Grainger, Sarah A; Henry, Julie D

doi: 10.1177/17470218221141644pmid: 36376992

Age differences in emotion perception are now well documented. However, a key limitation of many studies in this literature is the reliance on highly artificial tasks that lack context and consequently have poor ecological validity. This study reports two separate experiments that investigated age differences in emotion perception abilities using a highly contextualised film-based assessment along with a traditional emotion perception task. Experiment 2 additionally included a middle-aged sample and an assessment of eye-gaze patterns to the emotional films. The inclusion of eye-tracking in Experiment 2 was motivated by the fact that older adults consistently show visual biases to static emotion stimuli, yet it remains unclear whether biases also emerge in response to dynamic contextualised emotion stimuli. Experiment 1 identified age effects recognising displays of anger in the traditional emotion perception task but no age differences emerged on the film-based task. This finding was replicated in Experiment 2 with significant group differences on the traditional emotion perception task but no age differences on the film-based task. Experiment 2 also showed that there were no age differences in gaze patterns to these stimuli, showing for the first time that age-related visual biases to emotion stimuli may be task dependent. These findings highlight the fact that task-related features play a key role in the evaluation of age effects in emotion perception.

Lima, Marcos Felipe Rodrigues de; Buratto, Luciano Grüdtner

doi: 10.1177/17470218221141586pmid: 36382879

Retrieving information from memory, compared with different control conditions, improves subsequent retention of that information. Given the ubiquitous demonstration of this retrieval practice effect, researchers have asked whether such benefit is moderated by individual-difference variables. An implicit assumption in individual-difference research is that the retrieval practice effect at the participant level is reliable across participants. In this study, we tested this reliability assumption. In two sessions, 54 participants studied foreign–native word pairs, repeatedly restudied half of the word pairs, repeatedly retrieval-practised the other half, and, finally, took a final test for all pairs. Different word pairs were used in each session. We replicated the retrieval practice effect at the group level in Sessions 1 (d = 0.54, 95% confidence interval [CI] = [0.27, 0.80]) and 2 (d = 0.79 [0.53, 1.05]). In addition, we found that the retrieval practice effect at the participant level was reliable over a 1-week span both for absolute agreement, intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) = .33 [.12, .51], and for consistency estimates, ICC = .35 [.14, .53]. The result bridges a gap in the literature of individual differences on the retrieval practice effect. We suggest that future studies identify whether, and under which experimental conditions, the retrieval practice effect at the participant level may show even greater reliability estimates than the ones reported here. The finding may also pave the way for studies assessing whether the magnitude of the retrieval practice effect is domain-general or paradigm-specific.

Spanton, Rory W; Berry, Christopher J

doi: 10.1177/17470218221136498pmid: 36274514

The unequal variance signal detection (UVSD) model of recognition memory assumes that the variance of old item memory strength (σo) is typically greater than that of new items. It has been suggested that this old item variance effect can be explained by the encoding variability hypothesis. However, Spanton and Berry (2020) failed to find evidence for this account, suggesting that σo may simply scale with mean memory strength (d) in the UVSD model. Experiments 1 and 2 examined the effects of encoding variability and strength scaling on old item variance by creating conditions in which mean memory strength and variability in item characteristics was either low or high in 2 × 2 factorial designs. In Experiment 1, overall strength determined estimates of σo, with no effect of item characteristic variability. The same effect of overall strength was found in Experiment 2; there was also a significant effect of item characteristic variability, although this manipulation also had some effect on d and was therefore partially confounded. Experiment 3 similarly found a simultaneous increase in old item variance and memory strength in a design using mixed item characteristic variability conditions in a single-study/test block. We conclude that old item variance increases with mean memory strength in the UVSD model, with uncertainty about the effects of encoding variability, and that future explanations of the old item variance effect should bear this in mind.

Gogan, Taylor; Beaudry, Jennifer; Oldmeadow, Julian

doi: 10.1177/17470218221136118pmid: 36259873

Faces vary from image to image, eliciting different judgements of traits and often different judgements of identity. Knowledge that two face images belong to the same person facilitates the processing of identity information across images, but it is unclear if this also applies to trait judgements. In this preregistered study, participants (N = 100) rated the same 340 face images on perceived trustworthiness, dominance, or attractiveness presented in randomised order and again later presented in sets consisting of the same identity. We also explored the role of implicit person theory beliefs in the variability of social judgements across images. We found that judgements of trustworthiness varied less when images were presented in sets consisting of the same identity than in randomised order and were more consistent for images presented later in a set than those presented earlier. However, knowledge of identity had little effect on perceptions of dominance and attractiveness. Finally, implicit person theory beliefs were not associated with variability in social judgements and did not account for effects of knowledge of identity. Our findings suggest that knowledge of identity and perceptual familiarity stabilises judgements of trustworthiness, but not perceptions of dominance and attractiveness.

Schonard, Carolin; Ulrich, Rolf; Janczyk, Markus

doi: 10.1177/17470218221135603pmid: 36255305

A common explanation for processing limitations in dual-tasking is the existence of a bottleneck during response selection, meaning that the selection of responses can only occur serially for different tasks. However, a large body of data shows that features of a (secondary) Task 2 can already influence the processing of a (primary) Task 1. Such effects are referred to as backward crosstalk effects (BCEs). In the present study, two types of such BCEs were investigated: the compatibility-based BCE, which depends on the dimensional (often spatial) overlap between task features, and a BCE based on a go/no-go task in Task 2 (no-go BCE). Joining a line of research that suggests different mechanisms for these two types of BCEs, we investigated them using a mouse-tracking setup. Time continuous analyses revealed that the compatibility-based BCE triggered a spatial activation of the Task 2 response early during Task 1 processing, whereas the no-go BCE triggered an inhibitory effect in the case of a no-go Task 2, which spills over to Task 1 execution. This occurred, however, earlier in the time course than expected. The results are discussed with regard to recent models of dual-task processing.

Hon, Nicholas

doi: 10.1177/17470218221132762pmid: 36214087

An interesting finding that has emerged in studies of the sense of agency is that of a perceived compression of the temporal interval between actions and the outcomes they produce. This is generally referred to as temporal binding. Although temporal binding has been studied using various paradigms, possibly the most popular of these is the Libet Clock task. The Libet task is also interesting because it suggests that temporal binding can be decomposed into two components, one purportedly relating to actions and the other relating to outcomes. These are termed action binding and outcome binding, respectively. In this article, I focus specifically on temporal binding revealed using the Libet Clock task and propose the idea that attention underpins the action binding effect, while outcome binding, on the other hand, is driven by the effects of expectation.