Common senses
Acts of Emptying Promote Self-Focus: A Perceived Resource Deficiency Perspective
Liat Levontin, Danit Ein-Gar & Angela Lee
Journal of Consumer Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
No one likes feeling empty. When people feel empty they seek replenishment, which usually takes the form of increased self-focused behaviors that provide value to the self and decreased other-focused behaviors that provide value to others. This research demonstrates how exposure to the concept of emptiness by simply performing or observing acts of emptying (vs. filling or control) of a glass vase, coat pockets, a glass jar, or a duffle bag triggers the cognitive metaphor of resource deficiency. The resource deficiency metaphor in turn leads people to engage in self-focused behaviors such as eating candy or planning a dream vacation and to disengage from other-focused behaviors such as donating to charities or helping others.
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How Words Transcend and Pictures Immerse: On the Association Between Medium and Level of Construal
SoYon Rim et al.
Social Psychological and Personality Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
Drawing from construal level theory, we test the hypothesis that words promote thinking of events in terms of their abstract and central features (i.e., high-level construal), whereas pictures promote thinking in terms of more concrete and idiosyncratic features (i.e., low-level construal). In Experiments 1a and 1b, we found that verbal (vs. pictorial) presentation of objects led to broader, more inclusive categorization of those objects. In Experiment 2, we found that word (vs. picture) priming led to greater global (vs. local) processing of subsequent perceptual information. Finally, in Experiments 3 and 4, we tested the opposite direction of causality. Thinking about high-level “why” versus relatively low-level “how” (Experiment 3) and thinking about high-level categories versus relatively low-level exemplars (Experiment 4) led to more verbal versus pictorial thought. These findings provide converging evidence that medium (word, picture) is associated with level of construal.
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Targeted enhancement of cortical-hippocampal brain networks and associative memory
Jane Wang et al.
Science, 29 August 2014, Pages 1054-1057
Abstract:
The influential notion that the hippocampus supports associative memory by interacting with functionally distinct and distributed brain regions has not been directly tested in humans. We therefore used targeted noninvasive electromagnetic stimulation to modulate human cortical-hippocampal networks and tested effects of this manipulation on memory. Multiple-session stimulation increased functional connectivity among distributed cortical-hippocampal network regions and concomitantly improved associative memory performance. These alterations involved localized long-term plasticity because increases were highly selective to the targeted brain regions, and enhancements of connectivity and associative memory persisted for ~24 hours after stimulation. Targeted cortical-hippocampal networks can thus be enhanced noninvasively, demonstrating their role in associative memory.
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Social Connection Modulates Perceptions of Animacy
Katherine Powers et al.
Psychological Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
Human survival depends on identifying targets potentially capable of engaging in meaningful social connection. Using sets of morphed images created from animate (human) and inanimate (doll) faces, we found converging evidence across two studies showing that the motivation to connect with other people systematically alters the interpretation of the physical features that signal that a face is alive. Specifically, in their efforts to find and connect with other social agents, individuals who feel socially disconnected actually decrease their thresholds for what it means to be alive, consistently observing animacy when fewer definitively human cues are present. From an evolutionary perspective, overattributing animacy may be an adaptive strategy that allows people to cast a wide net when identifying possible sources of social connection and maximize their opportunities to renew social relationships.
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Prefrontal transcranial direct current stimulation improves fundamental vehicle control abilities
Hiroyuki Sakai et al.
Behavioural Brain Research, 15 October 2014, Pages 57–62
Abstract:
Noninvasive brain stimulation techniques have increasingly attracted the attention of neuroscientists because they enable the identification of the causal role of a targeted brain region. However, few studies have applied such techniques to everyday life situations. Here, we investigate the causal role of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) in fundamental vehicle control abilities. Thirteen participants underwent a simulated driving task under prefrontal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on three separate testing days. Each testing day was randomly assigned to either anodal over the right with cathodal over the left DLPFC, cathodal over the right with anodal over the left DLPFC, or sham stimulation. The driving task required the participants to maintain an inter-vehicle distance to a leading car traveling a winding road with a constant speed. Driving performance was quantified using two metrics: the root-mean-square error of inter-vehicle distance as car-following performance, and the standard deviation of lateral position as lane-keeping performance. Results showed that both car-following and lane-keeping performances were significantly greater for right anodal/left cathodal compared with right cathodal/left cathodal and sham stimulation. These results suggest not only the causal involvement of the DLPFC in driving, but also right hemisphere dominance for vehicle control. The findings of this study indicate that tDCS can be a useful tool to examine the causal role of a specific brain region in ecologically valid environments, and also might be a help to drivers with difficulties in vehicle control.
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Nicholas Kelley & Brandon Schmeichel
Frontiers in Psychology, August 2014
Abstract:
Emotions and sensory perceptions are closely intertwined. Of the five senses, sight has been by far the most extensively studied sense in emotion research. Relatively less is known about how emotions influence the other four senses. Touch is essential for nonverbal communication in both humans and other animals. The current investigation tested competing hypotheses about the effect of fear on tactile perception. One hypothesis based on evolutionary considerations predicts that fear enhances sensory perception, including tactile sensitivity. A competing hypothesis based on research on peripheral psychophysiology predicts that fear should decrease tactile sensitivity. Two experiments that induced negative emotional states and measured two-point discrimination ability at the fingertip found that fear reduces tactile sensitivity relative to anger or a neutral control condition (Studies 1 and 2). These findings did not appear to be driven by participants’ naïve beliefs about the influence of emotions on touch (Study 3). The results represent the first evidence of the causal impact of emotional states on tactile sensitivity, are consistent with prior evidence for the peripheral physiological effects of fear, and offer novel empirical grounds for developing and advancing theories of emotional influences on sensory perception.
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The Relative Benefits of Green Versus Lean Office Space: Three Field Experiments
Marlon Nieuwenhuis et al.
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, September 2014, Pages 199-214
Abstract:
Principles of lean office management increasingly call for space to be stripped of extraneous decorations so that it can flexibly accommodate changing numbers of people and different office functions within the same area. Yet this practice is at odds with evidence that office workers’ quality of life can be enriched by office landscaping that involves the use of plants that have no formal work-related function. To examine the impact of these competing approaches, 3 field experiments were conducted in large commercial offices in The Netherlands and the U.K. These examined the impact of lean and “green” offices on subjective perceptions of air quality, concentration, and workplace satisfaction as well as objective measures of productivity. Two studies were longitudinal, examining effects of interventions over subsequent weeks and months. In all 3 experiments enhanced outcomes were observed when offices were enriched by plants. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.
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Quiet Eye Training Improves Small Arms Maritime Marksmanship
Lee Moore et al.
Military Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Quiet eye training — teaching task-specific gaze control — has been consistently shown to optimize the acquisition of motor skills. The present study aimed to examine the potential benefits of a quiet eye training intervention in a simulated maritime marksmanship task that involved shooting fast approaching moving targets with a decommissioned general-purpose machine gun. Twenty participants were randomly assigned to a quiet eye trained (QET) or technical trained (TT) group and completed 2 baseline, 20 training, and 2 retention trials on the moving-target task. Compared to their TT counterparts, the QET group displayed more effective gaze control (longer quiet eye durations and greater target locking) and more accurate performance (smaller radial error of both the initial shot and average of all shots) at retention. These findings highlight the potential for quiet eye training to be used to support the training of marksmanship skills in military settings.
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Expressing Gambling-Related Cognitive Biases in Motor Behaviour: Rolling Dice to Win Prizes
Matthew Lim, Henrietta Bowden-Jones & Robert Rogers
Journal of Gambling Studies, September 2014, Pages 625-637
Abstract:
Cognitive perspectives on gambling propose that biased thinking plays a significant role in sustaining gambling participation and, in vulnerable individuals, gambling problems. One prominent set of cognitive biases include illusions of control involving beliefs that it is possible to influence random gaming events. Sociologists have reported that (some) gamblers believe that it is possible to throw dice in different ways to achieve gaming outcomes (e.g., ‘dice-setting’ in craps). However, experimental demonstrations of these phenomena are lacking. Here, we asked regular gamblers to roll a computer-simulated, but fair, 6 sided die for monetary prizes. Gamblers allowed the die to roll for longer when attempting to win higher value bets, and when attempting to hit high winning numbers. This behaviour was exaggerated in gamblers motivated to keep gambling following the experience of almost-winning in gambling games. These results suggest that gambling cognitive biases find expression in the motor behaviour of rolling dice for monetary prizes, possibly reflecting embodied substrates.
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Sex differences in the inference and perception of causal relations within a video game
Michael Young
Frontiers in Psychology, August 2014
Abstract:
The learning of immediate causation within a dynamic environment was examined. Participants encountered seven decision points in which they needed to choose, which of three possible candidates was the cause of explosions in the environment. Each candidate was firing a weapon at random every few seconds, but only one of them produced an immediate effect. Some participants showed little learning, but most demonstrated increases in accuracy across time. On average, men showed higher accuracy and shorter latencies that were not explained by differences in self-reported prior video game experience. This result suggests that prior reports of sex differences in causal choice in the game are not specific to situations involving delayed or probabilistic causal relations.
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Moving Time: The Influence of Action on Duration Perception
Clare Press et al.
Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, forthcoming
Abstract:
Perceiving the sensory consequences of action accurately is essential for appropriate interaction with our physical and social environments. Prediction mechanisms are considered necessary for fine-tuned sensory control of action, yet paradoxically may distort perception. Here, we examine this paradox by addressing how movement influences the perceived duration of sensory outcomes congruent with action. Experiment 1 required participants to make judgments about the duration of vibrations applied to a moving or stationary finger. In Experiments 2 and 3, participants judged observed finger movements that were congruent or incongruent with their own actions. In all experiments, target events were perceived to be longer when congruent with movement. Interestingly, this temporal dilation did not differ as a function of stimulus perspective (1st or 3rd person) or spatial location. We propose that this bias may reflect the operation of an adaptive mechanism for sensorimotor selection and control that preactivates anticipated outcomes of action. The bias itself may have surprising implications for both action control and perception of others: we may be in contact with grasped objects for less time than we realize, and others’ reactions to us may be briefer than we believe.