New Research From Psychological Science

Learned Predictiveness Speeds Visual Processing

Jennifer L. O’Brien and Jane E. Raymond

Can learning the predictive value of a cue for a specific outcome affect the visual processing of that cue? Participants were presented with face pairs and were asked to choose one of the two faces. Each face choice was related to a high or a low probability of winning or losing money during the task. Participants were then shown novel faces and faces from the previous task and were asked to indicate whether the face was “old” or “new.” Faces that were highly predictive of monetary wins or losses on the previous task were recognized faster than faces associated with low predictability of wins or losses. This suggests that neural mechanisms that are responsive to probability outcomes can enhance perceptual processing of related stimuli.

Differentiating Between Conceptual Implicit and Explicit Memory: A Crossed Double Dissociation Between Category-Exemplar Production and Category-Cued Recall

Neil W. Mulligan

Can a distinction be made between conceptual implicit and conceptual explicit memory? Undergraduates were presented with a list containing either 1 or 6 words from 12 different categories. After looking at the list, the undergraduates were tested on their conceptual implicit or conceptual explicit memory for the words. Those being tested for implicit memory did better on the task when six category examples were given, while those being tested for explicit memory did better when only one category example was given. These results represent a double disassociation that provides evidence that conceptual implicit and explicit memory utilize information in different ways — providing support for the validity of conceptual implicit memory as an independent construct.

How to Be Proactive About Interference: Lessons From Animal Memory

Anthony A. Wright, Jeffrey S. Katz, and Wei Ji Ma

Proactive interference occurs when previously learned information affects the learning of new information. In this study, proactive interference was tested by having pigeons perform a same/different task where they indicated — by pecking — if a test picture was the same or different from a sample picture they had previously seen. Sample and test pictures were separated by either a 1s or a 10s delay. Greater memory interference was seen with 10s delays — a finding not consistent with delay or limited capacity models of proactive interference. Researchers tested a model based on signal detection theory and found it provided an excellent fit for the data, indicating that time ratios may account for the effect of prior events on memory.

Testosterone Affects Gaze Aversion From Angry Faces Outside of Conscious Awareness

David Terburg, Henk Aarts, and Jack van Honk

There is currently a debate as to whether testosterone affects behavior by influencing consciously perceived motivational states, or whether it affects behavior automatically and unconsciously. In this study, participants received sublingual testosterone or a placebo prior to completing a social-dominance task. During the task, angry, happy, and neutral faces were unconsciously embedded in a grey mask. When the mask changed color, the participant was to divert their gaze to a circle of the same color located below the mask. Those who received testosterone diverted their gaze from the angry faces more slowly than they did from the happy faces. This suggests that testosterone acts unconsciously and automatically — rather than by affecting consciously perceived motivational states — to influence social dominance behavior.