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Cai C, Zhang L, Quan Z, Fang X, Cai S, Zhang J. Search flavor labels in beverages: An electrophysiological investigation of color-flavor congruency and association strength in visual search. Neuropsychologia 2024; 203:108985. [PMID: 39216718 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2024.108985] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/29/2024] [Revised: 08/27/2024] [Accepted: 08/28/2024] [Indexed: 09/04/2024]
Abstract
Individuals are apt to link various characteristics of an object or event through different sensory experiences. We conducted two electrophysiological experiments to investigate the effects of color-flavor congruency and association strength on visual search efficiency and the in-depth cognitive mechanisms underlying multisensory processes. Participants were prompted with a flavor label and asked to identify the primed flavor from four beverage bottle images. Experiment 1 focused on color-flavor congruency and noted faster searches for congruent targets than incongruent ones. EEG data exhibited smaller N2, larger P3 and LPC, and increased parietal-occipital midline (POM) alpha power for incongruent targets than congruent ones. Experiment 2 manipulated color-flavor association strength within each flavor. Behavioral findings showed that searches for targets with weak association strength took longer than those with strong association strength. Moreover, time-frequency analysis displayed that the former evoked greater frontal midline (FM) theta power and higher alpha power than the latter. Altogether, our research indicated that (1) color expectations based on prior experience can automatically guide people's attentional selection, (2) the color-flavor congruency and association strength impact the visual search efficiency via distinct pathways, and (3) theta and alpha activities make a pivotal role in unraveling multisensory information processing. These findings shed some light on the intricate cognitive processes involved in crossmodal visual search and the underlying neurocognitive dynamics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chen Cai
- Department of Psychology, Normal College, Qingdao University, Qingdao, 266071, Shandong, China.
| | - Le Zhang
- Department of Psychology, Normal College, Qingdao University, Qingdao, 266071, Shandong, China
| | - Zihan Quan
- Department of Psychology, Normal College, Qingdao University, Qingdao, 266071, Shandong, China
| | - Xin Fang
- Department of Psychology, Normal College, Qingdao University, Qingdao, 266071, Shandong, China
| | - Sisi Cai
- Department of Psychology, Normal College, Qingdao University, Qingdao, 266071, Shandong, China
| | - Jia Zhang
- College of Life Sciences, Yantai University, Yantai, 264005, Shandong, China
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Cai C, Zhang L, Guo Z, Fang X, Quan Z. Effects of color-flavor association on visual search process for reference pictures on beverage packaging: behavioral, electrophysiological, and causal mechanisms. Front Psychol 2024; 15:1433277. [PMID: 39315035 PMCID: PMC11417035 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1433277] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/15/2024] [Accepted: 08/28/2024] [Indexed: 09/25/2024] Open
Abstract
The visual search for product packaging involves intricate cognitive processes that are prominently impacted by learned associations derived from extensive long-term experiences. The present research employed EEG technology and manipulated the color display of reference pictures on beverage bottles to explore the underlying neurocognitive pathways. Specifically, we aimed to investigate the influence of color-flavor association strength on the visual processing of such stimuli as well as the in-depth neural mechanisms. The behavioral results revealed that stimuli with strong association strength triggered the fastest response and the highest accuracy, compared with the stimuli with weak association strength and the achromatic ones. The EEG findings further substantiated that the chromatic stimuli evoked a more pronounced N2 component than achromatic ones, and the stimuli with strong association strength elicited larger P3 and smaller N400 amplitudes than the ones with weak association strength. Additionally, the source localization using sLORETA showed significant activations in the inferior temporal gyrus. In conclusion, our research suggests that (1) color expectations would guide visual search process and trigger faster responses to congruent visual stimuli, (2) both the initial perceptual representation and subsequent semantic representation play pivotal roles in effective visual search for the targets, and (3) the color-flavor association strength potentially exerts an impact on visual processing by modulating memory accessibility.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chen Cai
- Department of Psychology, Normal College, Qingdao University, Qingdao, Shandong, China
| | - Le Zhang
- Department of Psychology, Normal College, Qingdao University, Qingdao, Shandong, China
- School of Psychology, Center for Studies of Psychological Application, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
| | - Zitao Guo
- Department of Psychology, Normal College, Qingdao University, Qingdao, Shandong, China
| | - Xin Fang
- Department of Psychology, Normal College, Qingdao University, Qingdao, Shandong, China
| | - Zihan Quan
- Department of Psychology, Normal College, Qingdao University, Qingdao, Shandong, China
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Gresch D, Boettcher SEP, van Ede F, Nobre AC. Shifting attention between perception and working memory. Cognition 2024; 245:105731. [PMID: 38278040 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2024.105731] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/17/2023] [Revised: 11/02/2023] [Accepted: 01/18/2024] [Indexed: 01/28/2024]
Abstract
Most everyday tasks require shifting the focus of attention between sensory signals in the external environment and internal contents in working memory. To date, shifts of attention have been investigated within each domain, but shifts between the external and internal domain remain poorly understood. We developed a combined perception and working-memory task to investigate and compare the consequences of shifting spatial attention within and between domains in the service of a common orientation-reproduction task. Participants were sequentially cued to attend to items either in working memory or to an upcoming sensory stimulation. Stay trials provided a baseline condition, while shift trials required participants to shift their attention to another item within the same or different domain. Validating our experimental approach, we found evidence that participants shifted attention effectively in either domain (Experiment 1). In addition, we observed greater costs when transitioning attention between as compared to within domains (Experiments 1, 2). Strikingly, these costs persisted even when participants were given more time to complete the attentional shift (Experiment 2). Biases in fixational gaze behaviour tracked attentional orienting in both domains, but revealed no latency or magnitude difference for within- versus between-domain shifts (Experiment 1). Collectively, the results from Experiments 1 and 2 suggest that shifting between attentional domains might be regulated by a unique control function. Our results break new ground for exploring the ubiquitous act of shifting attention between perception and working memory to guide adaptive behaviour in everyday cognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniela Gresch
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK; Oxford Centre for Human Brain Activity, Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
| | - Sage E P Boettcher
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK; Oxford Centre for Human Brain Activity, Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
| | - Freek van Ede
- Institute for Brain and Behavior Amsterdam, Department of Experimental and Applied Psychology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
| | - Anna C Nobre
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK; Oxford Centre for Human Brain Activity, Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK; Wu Tsai Institute, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA; Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA.
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Wu W. We know what attention is! Trends Cogn Sci 2024; 28:304-318. [PMID: 38103983 DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2023.11.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/15/2023] [Revised: 11/20/2023] [Accepted: 11/21/2023] [Indexed: 12/19/2023]
Abstract
Attention is one of the most thoroughly investigated psychological phenomena, yet skepticism about attention is widespread: we do not know what it is, it is too many things, there is no such thing. The deficiencies highlighted are not about experimental work but the adequacy of the scientific theory of attention. Combining common scientific claims about attention into a single theory leads to internal inconsistency. This paper demonstrates that a specific functional conception of attention is incorporated into the tasks used in standard experimental paradigms. In accepting these paradigms as valid probes of attention, we commit to this common conception. The conception unifies work at multiple levels of analysis into a coherent scientific explanation of attention. Thus, we all know what attention is.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wayne Wu
- Italian Academy for Advanced Studies in America, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA; Department of Philosophy and Neuroscience Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
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He H, Chen Y, Zhang X, Liu Q. Working memory capacity predicts focus back effort under different task demands. Conscious Cogn 2023; 116:103589. [PMID: 37856995 DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2023.103589] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/16/2023] [Revised: 10/09/2023] [Accepted: 10/14/2023] [Indexed: 10/21/2023]
Abstract
According to the cognitive flexibility view, individuals with higher cognitive control ability are more flexible in experiencing on task or mind wandering during tasks with different loads. On the other hand, the resource-control theory posits that executive control is essential for allocating attentional resources between mind wandering and tasks. Focus back effort may reflect the adjustment of executive control in the resource-control theory. Here, 121 participants completed two span tasks, as well as high- and low-load tasks, while mind wandering and focus back effort were measured. Our findings indicated that mind wandering was influenced by working memory capacity (WMC) and focus back effort. Additionally, participants demonstrated a higher focus back effort during the higher load task. This effect was particularly pronounced in individuals with lower WMC, which was treated as a continuous variable. These findings integrate the cognitive flexibility view and resource-control theory to describe how individuals modulate mind wandering.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hong He
- Institute of Brain and Psychological Sciences, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu, China
| | - Yunyun Chen
- Beijing Key Lab of Applied Experimental Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Xuemin Zhang
- Beijing Key Lab of Applied Experimental Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China; State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.
| | - Qiang Liu
- Institute of Brain and Psychological Sciences, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu, China.
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Servais A, Préa N, Hurter C, Barbeau EJ. Why and when do you look away when trying to remember? Gaze aversion as a marker of the attentional switch to the internal world during memory retrieval. Acta Psychol (Amst) 2023; 240:104041. [PMID: 37774488 DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2023.104041] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/05/2022] [Revised: 09/15/2023] [Accepted: 09/21/2023] [Indexed: 10/01/2023] Open
Abstract
It is common to look away while trying to remember specific information, for example during autobiographical memory retrieval, a behavior referred to as gaze aversion. Given the competition between internal and external attention, gaze aversion is assumed to play a role in visual decoupling, i.e., suppressing environmental distractors during internal tasks. This suggests a link between gaze aversion and the attentional switch from the outside world to a temporary internal mental space that takes place during the initial stage of memory retrieval, but this assumption has never been verified so far. We designed a protocol where 33 participants answered 48 autobiographical questions while their eye movements were recorded with an eye-tracker and a camcorder. Results indicated that gaze aversion occurred early (median 1.09 s) and predominantly during the access phase of memory retrieval-i.e., the moment when the attentional switch is assumed to take place. In addition, gaze aversion lasted a relatively long time (on average 6 s), and was notably decoupled from concurrent head movements. These results support a role of gaze aversion in perceptual decoupling. Gaze aversion was also related to higher retrieval effort and was rare during memories which came spontaneously to mind. This suggests that gaze aversion might be required only when cognitive effort is required to switch the attention toward the internal world to help retrieving hard-to-access memories. Compared to eye vergence, another visual decoupling strategy, the association with the attentional switch seemed specific to gaze aversion. Our results provide for the first time several arguments supporting the hypothesis that gaze aversion is related to the attentional switch from the outside world to memory.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anaïs Servais
- Centre de recherche Cerveau et Cognition (CerCo), UMR5549 (CNRS-UPS), Pavillon Baudot, 31052 Toulouse, France; National Civil Aviation School (ENAC), 7 avenue Edouard Belin, 31055 Toulouse, France.
| | - Noémie Préa
- Centre de recherche Cerveau et Cognition (CerCo), UMR5549 (CNRS-UPS), Pavillon Baudot, 31052 Toulouse, France
| | - Christophe Hurter
- National Civil Aviation School (ENAC), 7 avenue Edouard Belin, 31055 Toulouse, France.
| | - Emmanuel J Barbeau
- Centre de recherche Cerveau et Cognition (CerCo), UMR5549 (CNRS-UPS), Pavillon Baudot, 31052 Toulouse, France.
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