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Bräutigam LC, Leuthold H, Mackenzie IG, Mittelstädt V. Exploring behavioral adjustments of proportion congruency manipulations in an Eriksen flanker task with visual and auditory distractor modalities. Mem Cognit 2024; 52:91-114. [PMID: 37548866 PMCID: PMC10806239 DOI: 10.3758/s13421-023-01447-x] [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] [Accepted: 07/07/2023] [Indexed: 08/08/2023]
Abstract
The present study investigated global behavioral adaptation effects to conflict arising from different distractor modalities. Three experiments were conducted using an Eriksen flanker paradigm with constant visual targets, but randomly varying auditory or visual distractors. In Experiment 1, the proportion of congruent to incongruent trials was varied for both distractor modalities, whereas in Experiments 2A and 2B, this proportion congruency (PC) manipulation was applied to trials with one distractor modality (inducer) to test potential behavioral transfer effects to trials with the other distractor modality (diagnostic). In all experiments, mean proportion congruency effects (PCEs) were present in trials with a PC manipulation, but there was no evidence of transfer to diagnostic trials in Experiments 2A and 2B. Distributional analyses (delta plots) provided further evidence for distractor modality-specific global behavioral adaptations by showing differences in the slope of delta plots with visual but not auditory distractors when increasing the ratio of congruent trials. Thus, it is suggested that distractor modalities constrain global behavioral adaptation effects due to the learning of modality-specific memory traces (e.g., distractor-target associations) and/or the modality-specific cognitive control processes (e.g., suppression of modality-specific distractor-based activation). Moreover, additional analyses revealed partial transfer of the congruency sequence effect across trials with different distractor modalities suggesting that distractor modality may differentially affect local and global behavioral adaptations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Linda C Bräutigam
- Department of Psychology, University of Tübingen, Schleichstrasse 4, 72076, Tübingen, Germany.
| | - Hartmut Leuthold
- Department of Psychology, University of Tübingen, Schleichstrasse 4, 72076, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Ian G Mackenzie
- Department of Psychology, University of Tübingen, Schleichstrasse 4, 72076, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Victor Mittelstädt
- Department of Psychology, University of Tübingen, Schleichstrasse 4, 72076, Tübingen, Germany
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Kim D, Lowder MW, Choi W. Emotionality effects in Korean visual word recognition: Evidence from lab-based and web-based lexical decision tasks. Acta Psychol (Amst) 2023; 237:103944. [PMID: 37229915 DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2023.103944] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/08/2022] [Revised: 03/31/2023] [Accepted: 05/17/2023] [Indexed: 05/27/2023] Open
Abstract
Previous studies have shown that processes of word recognition are influenced by the emotional content of a word. This pattern is most readily explained by the motivated attention and affective states model (Lang, Bradley & Cuthbert, 1997), which states that emotional stimuli are motivationally significant and capture attention. Drawing on this theoretical account, the current study compared lexical decision response times to positive and negative emotion words versus neutral words across two experimental environments - a traditional lab-based environment and a web-based environment. In addition, the experiment was conducted using Korean words presented to native Korean speakers in order to test whether the emotionality effect emerges in a non-English language. The results revealed faster response times to emotion words versus neutral words across both experimental environments with no evidence of a difference between the two environments. These findings provide important evidence that emotion words successfully attract attention and facilitate word processing even in situations where participants might be more easily distracted than they would be in a traditional lab setting. This work also constitutes the first demonstration of an emotionality effect in Korean word recognition, thus providing further evidence that the emotionality effect may be a language-universal phenomenon.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dahyeon Kim
- Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, Republic of Korea
| | | | - Wonil Choi
- Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, Republic of Korea.
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3
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Benau EM. Self-reported interoceptive accuracy and interoceptive attention differentially correspond to measures of visual attention and self-regard. PeerJ 2023; 11:e15348. [PMID: 37475873 PMCID: PMC10355190 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.15348] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/17/2023] [Accepted: 04/13/2023] [Indexed: 07/22/2023] Open
Abstract
Background Interoception, the perception of bodily functions and sensations, is a crucial contributor to cognition, emotion, and well-being. However, the relationship between these three processes is not well understood. Further, it is increasingly clear that dimensions of interoception differentially corresponds to these processes, yet this is only recently being explored. The present study addresses two important questions: Are subjective interoceptive accuracy and interoceptive attention related to self-regard and well-being? And are they related to exteroceptive (visual) attention? Methods Participants (N = 98; 29% women; aged 23-64 years) completed: a battery of questionnaires to assess subjective accuracy (how well one predicts bodily sensations), interoceptive attention (a tendency to notice bodily signals), self-regard (self-esteem, self-image, life satisfaction), state negative affect (depression, anxiety, and stress), a self-esteem Implicit Association Task (a measure of implicit self-esteem), and a flanker task to assess visual selective attention. Subjective interoceptive accuracy and attention served as dependent variables. Correlations and principal component analysis was used to establish correlations among variables and determine how, or whether, these measures are associated with subjective interoceptive accuracy or attention. Results Greater scores on measures of self-regard, implicit self-esteem, cognition and lower negative affect were broadly associated with greater subjective interoceptive accuracy. Conversely, only explicit self-esteem, satisfaction with life, and self-image corresponded to subjective interoceptive attention. An exploratory analysis with a more inclusive scale of interoceptive attention was conducted. Results of this exploratory analysis showed that the broader measure was a stronger correlate to self-regard than subjective interoceptive accuracy, though it, too, did not correlate with visual attention. In short, both subjective interoceptive accuracy and attention corresponded to well-being and mental health, but only accuracy was associated with exteroceptive attention. Conclusion These results add to a growing literature suggesting different dimensions of (subjective) interoception differentially correspond to indices of well-being. The links between exteroceptive and interoceptive attention, and their association with merit further study.
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Affiliation(s)
- Erik M. Benau
- Psychology, State University of New York at Old Westbury, Old Westbury, NY, United States of America
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Lukács G, Gartus A. Precise display time measurement in JavaScript for web-based experiments. Behav Res Methods 2023; 55:1079-1093. [PMID: 35581437 DOI: 10.3758/s13428-022-01835-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 03/14/2022] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Conducting research via the Internet is a formidable and ever-increasingly popular option for behavioral scientists. However, it is widely acknowledged that web-browsers are not optimized for research: In particular, the timing of display changes (e.g., a stimulus appearing on the screen), still leaves room for improvement. So far, the typically recommended best (or least bad) timing method has been a single (RAF) JavaScript function call within which one would give the display command and obtain the time of that display change. In our Study 1, we assessed two alternatives: Calling the RAF twice consecutively, or calling the RAF during a continually ongoing independent loop of recursive RAF calls. While the former has shown little or no improvement as compared to single RAF calls, with the latter we significantly and substantially improved overall precision, and achieved practically faultless precision in most practical cases. Our two basic methods for effecting display changes, plain text change and color filling, proved equally efficient. In Study 2, we reassessed the "RAF loop" timing method with image elements in combination with three different display methods: We found that the precision remained high when using either or changes - while drawing on a element consistently led to comparatively lower precision. We recommend the "RAF loop" display timing method for improved precision in future studies, and or changes when using image stimuli. We publicly share the easy-to-use code for this method, exactly as employed in our studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gáspár Lukács
- Faculty of Psychology, Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
- JSPS International Research Fellow at the Aoyama Gakuin University, 4-4-25 Shibuya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, 150-8366, Japan.
| | - Andreas Gartus
- Faculty of Psychology, Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
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Schmitz F, Krämer RJ. Task Switching: On the Relation of Cognitive Flexibility with Cognitive Capacity. J Intell 2023; 11:jintelligence11040068. [PMID: 37103253 PMCID: PMC10140903 DOI: 10.3390/jintelligence11040068] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/16/2022] [Revised: 03/25/2023] [Accepted: 03/27/2023] [Indexed: 04/03/2023] Open
Abstract
The task-switching paradigm is deemed a measure of cognitive flexibility. Previous research has demonstrated that individual differences in task-switch costs are moderately inversely related to cognitive ability. However, current theories emphasize multiple component processes of task switching, such as task-set preparation and task-set inertia. The relations of task-switching processes with cognitive ability were investigated in the current study. Participants completed a task-switching paradigm with geometric forms and a visuospatial working memory capacity (WMC) task. The task-switch effect was decomposed with the diffusion model. Effects of task-switching and response congruency were estimated as latent differences using structural equation modeling. Their magnitudes and relations with visuospatial WMC were investigated. Effects in the means of parameter estimates replicated previous findings, namely increased non-decision time in task-switch trials. Further, task switches and response incongruency had independent effects on drift rates, reflecting their differential effects on task readiness. Findings obtained with the figural tasks employed in this study revealed that WMC was inversely related to the task-switch effect in non-decision time. Relations with drift rates were inconsistent. Finally, WMC was moderately inversely related to response caution. These findings suggest that more able participants either needed less time for task-set preparation or that they invested less time for task-set preparation.
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A Comparative Study on Line Bisection and Landmark Task Performance Using a Hybrid Online Setting. Symmetry (Basel) 2023. [DOI: 10.3390/sym15030729] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/17/2023] Open
Abstract
Bisection tasks are commonly used to assess biases and asymmetries in visuospatial attention in both patients and neurologically intact individuals. In these tasks, participants are usually asked to identify the midpoint and manually bisect a horizontal line. Typically, healthy individuals tend to show an attention processing advantage for the left visual field, known as “pseudoneglect.” Here, performance at two computerized versions of the task was compared to assess pseudoneglect in neurologically intact individuals. Specifically, we used a hybrid online setting in which subjects (n = 35) performed the online tasks under the video guidance of the experimenter. We measured attentional biases in the line bisection and landmark tasks. We found pseudoneglect in both tasks, although the bias was larger in the line bisection task. Overall, these findings show that hybrid online tasks may provide a valid setting to assess attentional biases and suggest their feasibility in the clinical setting.
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Potential Benefits of Daytime Naps on Consecutive Days for Motor Adaptation Learning. Clocks Sleep 2022; 4:387-401. [PMID: 36134945 PMCID: PMC9497798 DOI: 10.3390/clockssleep4030033] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/05/2022] [Revised: 08/24/2022] [Accepted: 08/26/2022] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Daytime napping offers benefits for motor memory learning and is used as a habitual countermeasure to improve daytime functioning. A single nap has been shown to ameliorate motor memory learning, although the effect of consecutive napping on motor memory consolidation remains unclear. This study aimed to explore the effect of daytime napping over multiple days on motor memory learning. Twenty university students were divided into a napping group and no-nap (awake) group. The napping group performed motor adaption tasks before and after napping for three consecutive days, whereas the no-nap group performed the task on a similar time schedule as the napping group. A subsequent retest was conducted one week after the end of the intervention. Significant differences were observed only for speed at 30 degrees to complete the retention task, which was significantly faster in the napping group than in the awake group. No significant consolidation effects over the three consecutive nap intervention periods were confirmed. Due to the limitations of the different experimental environments of the napping and the control group, the current results warrant further investigation to assess whether consecutive napping may benefit motor memory learning, which is specific to speed.
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Möschl M, Schmidt K, Enge S, Weckesser LJ, Miller R. Chronic stress and executive functioning: A specification-curve analysis. Physiol Behav 2022; 243:113639. [PMID: 34732334 DOI: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2021.113639] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/23/2020] [Revised: 06/30/2021] [Accepted: 10/28/2021] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Abstract
To investigate the association between chronic stress and executive functioning (EF), we assessed 514 young to middle-aged adults in three EF tasks (i.e., Number-Letter, 2-Back, Go/Nogo) that assessed shifting, updating, and inhibition. Chronic stress was assessed by various self-report measures and hair cortisol concentrations as indicators of subjective and objective chronic stress, respectively. In order to test the association between chronic stress and EF, we fit a structural equation model with a latent common EF factor predicted by subjective and objective chronic stress on Kaplan-Meier estimates of response times. Controlling for participants' sex, age household income and the delay between cognitive testing and hair sample collection, neither subjective nor objective chronic stress showed a meaningful association with common EF. Exploratory analyses suggested a moderation effect of income on the association between subjective chronic stress and common EF, with a smaller association for high-income participants. Additionally, we conducted a specification-curve analysis on the association between chronic stress and EF to assess the influence of different analysis choices on results in our dataset. This analysis confirmed the absence of a coherent association between chronic stress and EF by showing that the majority of analytical choices produced null effects and only a small number of analytical choices produced meaningful associations (negative or positive). Taken together, our findings suggest that common EF likely remains preserved under the influence of chronic stress. Our specification-curve analysis, however, also shows that chronic stress may also have either a positive or a negative effect on EF, depending on the choice of covariates and measures of chronic stress and EF. Consequently, more research on the role of these factors for the association between chronic stress and EF is needed to avoid the interpretation of non-replicable stress-EF associations caused by analytical choices or selection bias.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marcus Möschl
- Faculty of Psychology, Technische Universität Dresden, D-01062 Dresden, Germany.
| | - Kornelius Schmidt
- Faculty of Psychology, Technische Universität Dresden, D-01062 Dresden, Germany
| | - Sören Enge
- Faculty of Psychology, Technische Universität Dresden, D-01062 Dresden, Germany; Faculty of Natural Sciences, Department of Psychology, Medical School Berlin, Germany
| | - Lisa J Weckesser
- Faculty of Psychology, Technische Universität Dresden, D-01062 Dresden, Germany
| | - Robert Miller
- Faculty of Psychology, Technische Universität Dresden, D-01062 Dresden, Germany
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Kim D, Lowder MW, Choi W. Effects of Print Exposure on an Online Lexical Decision Task: A Direct Replication Using a Web-Based Experimental Procedure. Front Psychol 2021; 12:710663. [PMID: 34456825 PMCID: PMC8385780 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.710663] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/17/2021] [Accepted: 07/20/2021] [Indexed: 12/04/2022] Open
Abstract
Due to the global pandemic, behavioral sciences including psychology that have traditionally relied on face-to-face data collection methods are facing a crisis. Given these circumstances, the present study was designed as a web-based replication of the findings reported in Lee et al. (2019) on the relationship between print exposure measured by the Korean Author Recognition Test (KART) and online measures of word processing using the lexical decision task and offline measures of language ability. We used the PsychoPy3 and Pavlovia platform in which participants were presented with a series of tasks in an entirely web-based environment. We found that scores on the KART were correlated with scores on a measure of language skills as well as self-reported reading habits. In addition, KART scores modulated the word frequency effect in the lexical decision task such that participants with higher KART scores tended to have smaller frequency effects. These results were highly consistent with previous lab-based studies including Lee et al. indicating that web-based experimental procedures are a viable alternative to lab-based face-to-face experiments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dahyeon Kim
- Department of Life Sciences, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, Gwangju, South Korea
| | - Matthew W Lowder
- Department of Psychology, University of Richmond, Richmond, VA, United States
| | - Wonil Choi
- Division of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, Gwangju, South Korea
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de Jong D, Hortensius R, Hsieh TY, Cross ES. Empathy and Schadenfreude in Human-Robot Teams. J Cogn 2021; 4:35. [PMID: 34430794 PMCID: PMC8344963 DOI: 10.5334/joc.177] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2020] [Accepted: 06/30/2021] [Indexed: 01/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Intergroup dynamics shape the ways in which we interact with other people. We feel more empathy towards ingroup members compared to outgroup members, and can even feel pleasure when an outgroup member experiences misfortune, known as schadenfreude. Here, we test the extent to which these intergroup biases emerge during interactions with robots. We measured trial-by-trial fluctuations in emotional reactivity to the outcome of a competitive reaction time game to assess both empathy and schadenfreude in arbitrary human-human and human-robot teams. Across four experiments (total n = 361), we observed a consistent empathy and schadenfreude bias driven by team membership. People felt more empathy towards ingroup members than outgroup members and more schadenfreude towards outgroup members. The existence of an intergroup bias did not depend on the nature of the agent: the same effects were observed for human-human and human-robot teams. People reported similar levels of empathy and schadenfreude towards a human and robot player. The human likeness of the robot did not consistently influence this intergroup bias. In other words, similar empathy and schadenfreude biases were observed for both humanoid and mechanoid robots. For all teams, this bias was influenced by the level of team identification; individuals who identified more with their team showed stronger intergroup empathy and schadenfreude bias. Together, we show that similar intergroup dynamics that shape our interactions with people can also shape interactions with robots. Our results highlight the importance of taking intergroup biases into account when examining social dynamics of human-robot interactions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dorina de Jong
- Institute of Neuroscience and Psychology, School of Psychology, University of Glasgow, Scotland, UK
- Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Center for Translational Neurophysiology of Speech and Communication, (CTNSC), Ferrara, Italy
- Università di Ferrara, Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche e Chirurgico Specialistiche, Ferrara, Italy
| | - Ruud Hortensius
- Institute of Neuroscience and Psychology, School of Psychology, University of Glasgow, Scotland, UK
- Department of Psychology, Utrecht University, Heidelberglaan 1, 3584 CS, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Te-Yi Hsieh
- Institute of Neuroscience and Psychology, School of Psychology, University of Glasgow, Scotland, UK
| | - Emily S. Cross
- Institute of Neuroscience and Psychology, School of Psychology, University of Glasgow, Scotland, UK
- Department of Cognitive Science, Macquarie University, 16 University Ave, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia
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Luthra S, Saltzman D, Myers EB, Magnuson JS. Listener expectations and the perceptual accommodation of talker variability: A pre-registered replication. Atten Percept Psychophys 2021; 83:2367-2376. [PMID: 33948883 PMCID: PMC8096357 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-021-02317-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 04/06/2021] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Researchers have hypothesized that in order to accommodate variability in how talkers produce their speech sounds, listeners must perform a process of talker normalization. Consistent with this proposal, several studies have shown that spoken word recognition is slowed when speech is produced by multiple talkers compared with when all speech is produced by one talker (a multitalker processing cost). Nusbaum and colleagues have argued that talker normalization is modulated by attention (e.g., Nusbaum & Morin, 1992, Speech Perception, Production and Linguistic Structure, pp. 113-134). Some of the strongest evidence for this claim is from a speeded monitoring study where a group of participants who expected to hear two talkers showed a multitalker processing cost, but a separate group who expected one talker did not (Magnuson & Nusbaum, 2007, Journal of Experimental Psychology, 33[2], 391-409). In that study, however, the sample size was small and the crucial interaction was not significant. In this registered report, we present the results of a well-powered attempt to replicate those findings. In contrast to the previous study, we did not observe multitalker processing costs in either of our groups. To rule out the possibility that the null result was due to task constraints, we conducted a second experiment using a speeded classification task. As in Experiment 1, we found no influence of expectations on talker normalization, with no multitalker processing cost observed in either group. Our data suggest that the previous findings of Magnuson and Nusbaum (2007) be regarded with skepticism and that talker normalization may not be permeable to high-level expectations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sahil Luthra
- Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, 06269-1020, USA.
| | - David Saltzman
- Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, 06269-1020, USA
| | - Emily B Myers
- Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, 06269-1020, USA
- Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA
| | - James S Magnuson
- Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, 06269-1020, USA
- BCBL, Basque Center on Cognition Brain and Language, Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain
- Ikerbasque, Basque Foundation for Science, Bilbao, Spain
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Thornton IM, Tagu J, Zdravković S, Kristjánsson Á. The Predation Game: Does dividing attention affect patterns of human foraging? Cogn Res Princ Implic 2021; 6:35. [PMID: 33956238 PMCID: PMC8100746 DOI: 10.1186/s41235-021-00299-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/19/2020] [Accepted: 04/21/2021] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
Attention is known to play an important role in shaping the behaviour of both human and animal foragers. Here, in three experiments, we built on previous interactive tasks to create an online foraging game for studying divided attention in human participants exposed to the (simulated) risk of predation. Participants used a "sheep" icon to collect items from different target categories randomly distributed across the display. Each trial also contained "wolf" objects, whose movement was inspired by classic studies of multiple object tracking. When participants needed to physically avoid the wolves, foraging patterns changed, with an increased tendency to switch between target categories and a decreased ability to prioritise high reward targets, relative to participants who could safely ignore them. However, when the wolves became dangerous by periodically changing form (briefly having big eyes) instead of by approaching the sheep, foraging patterns were unaffected. Spatial disruption caused by the need to rapidly shift position-rather the cost of reallocating attention-therefore appears to influence foraging in this context. These results thus confirm that participants can efficiently alternate between target selection and tracking moving objects, replicating earlier single-target search findings. Future studies may need to increase the perceived risk or potential costs associated with simulated danger, in order to elicit the extended run behaviour predicted by animal models of foraging, but absent in the current data.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ian M Thornton
- Department of Cognitive Science, Faculty of Media and Knowledge Sciences, University of Malta, Msida, Malta.
| | - Jérôme Tagu
- Faculty of Psychology, School of Health Sciences, University of Iceland, Oddi v. Sturlugötu, 101, Reykjavik, Iceland
- EA 4139 Laboratory of Psychology, University of Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France
| | - Sunčica Zdravković
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Novi Sad, Novi Sad, Serbia
- Laboratory for Experimental Psychology, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia
| | - Árni Kristjánsson
- Faculty of Psychology, School of Health Sciences, University of Iceland, Oddi v. Sturlugötu, 101, Reykjavik, Iceland
- School of Psychology, National Research University, Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russian Federation
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Bridges D, Pitiot A, MacAskill MR, Peirce JW. The timing mega-study: comparing a range of experiment generators, both lab-based and online. PeerJ 2020; 8:e9414. [PMID: 33005482 PMCID: PMC7512138 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.9414] [Citation(s) in RCA: 196] [Impact Index Per Article: 49.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/21/2020] [Accepted: 06/03/2020] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Many researchers in the behavioral sciences depend on research software that presents stimuli, and records response times, with sub-millisecond precision. There are a large number of software packages with which to conduct these behavioral experiments and measure response times and performance of participants. Very little information is available, however, on what timing performance they achieve in practice. Here we report a wide-ranging study looking at the precision and accuracy of visual and auditory stimulus timing and response times, measured with a Black Box Toolkit. We compared a range of popular packages: PsychoPy, E-Prime®, NBS Presentation®, Psychophysics Toolbox, OpenSesame, Expyriment, Gorilla, jsPsych, Lab.js and Testable. Where possible, the packages were tested on Windows, macOS, and Ubuntu, and in a range of browsers for the online studies, to try to identify common patterns in performance. Among the lab-based experiments, Psychtoolbox, PsychoPy, Presentation and E-Prime provided the best timing, all with mean precision under 1 millisecond across the visual, audio and response measures. OpenSesame had slightly less precision across the board, but most notably in audio stimuli and Expyriment had rather poor precision. Across operating systems, the pattern was that precision was generally very slightly better under Ubuntu than Windows, and that macOS was the worst, at least for visual stimuli, for all packages. Online studies did not deliver the same level of precision as lab-based systems, with slightly more variability in all measurements. That said, PsychoPy and Gorilla, broadly the best performers, were achieving very close to millisecond precision on several browser/operating system combinations. For response times (measured using a high-performance button box), most of the packages achieved precision at least under 10 ms in all browsers, with PsychoPy achieving a precision under 3.5 ms in all. There was considerable variability between OS/browser combinations, especially in audio-visual synchrony which is the least precise aspect of the browser-based experiments. Nonetheless, the data indicate that online methods can be suitable for a wide range of studies, with due thought about the sources of variability that result. The results, from over 110,000 trials, highlight the wide range of timing qualities that can occur even in these dedicated software packages for the task. We stress the importance of scientists making their own timing validation measurements for their own stimuli and computer configuration.
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Affiliation(s)
- David Bridges
- School of Psychology, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK
| | - Alain Pitiot
- Laboratory of Image and Data Analysis, Ilixa Ltd., London, UK
| | - Michael R. MacAskill
- Department of Medicine, University of Otago, Christchurch, New Zealand
- New Zealand Brain Research Institute, Christchurch, New Zealand
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Anwyl-Irvine AL, Massonnié J, Flitton A, Kirkham N, Evershed JK. Gorilla in our midst: An online behavioral experiment builder. Behav Res Methods 2020; 52:388-407. [PMID: 31016684 PMCID: PMC7005094 DOI: 10.3758/s13428-019-01237-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 617] [Impact Index Per Article: 154.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/25/2022]
Abstract
Behavioral researchers are increasingly conducting their studies online, to gain access to large and diverse samples that would be difficult to get in a laboratory environment. However, there are technical access barriers to building experiments online, and web browsers can present problems for consistent timing-an important issue with reaction-time-sensitive measures. For example, to ensure accuracy and test-retest reliability in presentation and response recording, experimenters need a working knowledge of programming languages such as JavaScript. We review some of the previous and current tools for online behavioral research, as well as how well they address the issues of usability and timing. We then present the Gorilla Experiment Builder (gorilla.sc), a fully tooled experiment authoring and deployment platform, designed to resolve many timing issues and make reliable online experimentation open and accessible to a wider range of technical abilities. To demonstrate the platform's aptitude for accessible, reliable, and scalable research, we administered a task with a range of participant groups (primary school children and adults), settings (without supervision, at home, and under supervision, in both schools and public engagement events), equipment (participant's own computer, computer supplied by the researcher), and connection types (personal internet connection, mobile phone 3G/4G). We used a simplified flanker task taken from the attentional network task (Rueda, Posner, & Rothbart, 2004). We replicated the "conflict network" effect in all these populations, demonstrating the platform's capability to run reaction-time-sensitive experiments. Unresolved limitations of running experiments online are then discussed, along with potential solutions and some future features of the platform.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexander L Anwyl-Irvine
- MRC Cognition and Brain Science Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
- Cauldron.sc: Cauldron Science, St Johns Innovation Centre, Cambridge, UK
| | - Jessica Massonnié
- Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Birkbeck College, University of London, London, UK
| | - Adam Flitton
- Cauldron.sc: Cauldron Science, St Johns Innovation Centre, Cambridge, UK
- Human Behaviour and Cultural Evolution Group, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK
| | - Natasha Kirkham
- Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Birkbeck College, University of London, London, UK
| | - Jo K Evershed
- Cauldron.sc: Cauldron Science, St Johns Innovation Centre, Cambridge, UK.
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15
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Rezlescu C, Danaila I, Miron A, Amariei C. More time for science: Using Testable to create and share behavioral experiments faster, recruit better participants, and engage students in hands-on research. PROGRESS IN BRAIN RESEARCH 2020; 253:243-262. [DOI: 10.1016/bs.pbr.2020.06.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
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16
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Fleischhauer M, Miller R, Wekenborg MK, Penz M, Kirschbaum C, Enge S. Thinking Against Burnout? An Individual's Tendency to Engage in and Enjoy Thinking as a Potential Resilience Factor of Burnout Symptoms and Burnout-Related Impairment in Executive Functioning. Front Psychol 2019; 10:420. [PMID: 30914990 PMCID: PMC6422970 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00420] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2018] [Accepted: 02/12/2019] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The personality trait need for cognition (NFC) refers to individual differences in the tendency to engage in and enjoy cognitive endeavors. In today's working world, which is characterized by increasing cognitive demands, NFC may contribute to resilience against work-related stress and burnout symptoms. We investigated this question in a large population-wide sample of 4,134 individuals (Study 1) and in a sample of 125 students (Study 2). NFC was consistently negatively related to the burnout facets emotional exhaustion and reduced personal efficacy of the Maslach burnout inventory and explained up to 10% additional variance in burnout symptoms over and above the five-factor model of personality. In the student sample, where stress factors are mainly cognitive in nature, NFC was the most relevant predictor. In this sample, we additionally investigated whether NFC might be a relevant moderator of the inconsistently found associations between burnout and impairments in cognitive functioning. The participants conducted three cognitive tasks (number-letter task, two-back task, and Go/NoGo task) that measure the executive functions switching, updating, and response inhibition, respectively. While burnout was slightly negatively related to working memory performance, NFC did not moderate the relationship between burnout and executive control which could be traced back to the young and healthy sample used to examine this research question. All in all, our results clearly suggest that NFC may be an important individual difference factor contributing to the resilience against burnout, especially if stress factors are cognitive in nature.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Robert Miller
- Department of Psychology, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany
| | | | - Marlene Penz
- Department of Psychology, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany
| | - Clemens Kirschbaum
- Department of Psychology, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany
| | - Sören Enge
- Department of Psychology, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Medical School Berlin, Berlin, Germany
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17
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Rubin M, Telch MJ. Gone in sixty (milli)seconds: Disentangling the effects of location context on attention bias. Scand J Psychol 2018; 59:594-601. [PMID: 30338528 DOI: 10.1111/sjop.12494] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/16/2018] [Accepted: 08/27/2018] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Attention bias is associated with a broad range of emotional disorders. Because of its transportability, attention bias modification (ABM) training can be administered outside of the laboratory; however, some evidence suggests that ABM training may be less effective when conducted in the individual's natural environment. The aim of this study was to examine factors that might account for the attenuated effects of attentional bias (AB) when assessed remotely. One hundred fifty-eight undergraduate psychology students completed the Emotional Stroop Task on two occasions - once in the laboratory and once remotely. To help disentangle the influences of emotional state and location on attention bias, participants were randomized to view either an emotionally provocative clip or an emotionally neutral clip prior to completing the emotional Stroop task. Results showed evidence of an attentional bias only in the laboratory, among participants in the neutral emotion condition (b = -19.67, P = .008, 95% CI [-34.18, -5.15]). Exploratory analyses revealed that emotion provocation was associated with attentional bias among individuals with greater symptoms of depression, but only remotely (b = -15.70, P = 0.046, 95% CI [-31.15, -0.25]). These findings suggest that caution should be used when conducting attention bias research remotely. Limitations and future directions are discussed.
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