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The outbreak of COVID-19 has caused a major impact on productivity and life functioning, and also led to adverse emotional reactions. In the face of this public health event, increased anxiety is one of the most common emotional reactions. Previous studies have shown that anxiety sensitivity, rumination and anxiety are closely related. Various dimensions of anxiety sensitivity have different effects on anxiety. Also, rumination can be divided into brooding and reflection. To explore the relationships among anxiety sensitivity's cognitive concerns, anxiety and different types of rumination, we conducted an online survey during the outbreak of coronavirus (February 17-25, 2020), using the Anxiety Sensitivity Scale-3 (ASI-3), Ruminative Responses Scale (RSS), and Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21). The results showed significant positive correlations among anxiety sensitivity's cognitive concerns, anxiety, brooding and reflection. Furthermore, brooding and reflection had a chain mediation effect between cognitive concerns and anxiety, and the mediation effect of reflection was even stronger. Results suggest that anxiety sensitivity's cognitive concerns may not only affect anxiety directly, but also affect anxiety through rumination, especially reflection., Author(s): Haibo Yang [sup.1] [sup.2] , Xiaoyu Zhao [sup.3] , Jianwen Fang [sup.3] , Jon D. Elhai [sup.4] [sup.5] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.412735.6, 0000 0001 0193 3951, Academy of Psychology [...]

Humans might have a 'tool-related bias' consisting of using tools, even when they do not provide benefits compared with natural abilities. Here, we report evidence for this tool-related bias with a cognitive tool (i.e., a calculator). The task was to make series of six additions. Some series were faster to complete by mental calculation and others with the calculator. In five experiments, participants had to actually perform these additions by mental calculation or with the calculator, to estimate the time spent to perform the series with each option, and to choose which option was faster to compute the series. Our main finding is that people overestimate the time benefits provided by the calculator, confirming the existence of a tool-related bias for cognitive tools. This finding opens a promising avenue for understanding the cognitive bases of this bias. KEYWORDS: cognitive tool, judgment and decision making, mental arithmetic, perceived time, Since the origins of our species, we have not stopped making tools, providing us an incontestable advantage in adaptive terms. An unexpected consequence is that this has profoundly modified our [...]

Research on physiological measures of precognitive anticipation or presentiment is transitioning from exploratory to confirmatory methodology. Appropriate confirmatory practices include (a) using the physiological measures to predict the outcomes of random events with the prediction criteria developed from previous data, (b) prospectively developing and validating the programming for processing the physiological data, (c) using only data prior to the random stimulus on a trial and no data from subsequent trials when developing parameters for adjustments or artifact rejections, and (d) multiple experimenter designs that make misconduct by one experimenter difficult. The physiological measures in precognitive anticipation experiments can be expected to violate the assumption of independence between trials when used as the dependent variable and may produce counterintuitive, false positive biases with standard statistical methods. The most convincing research strategy is to develop prediction criteria using an initial set of data and then apply the criteria to predict the random events on new trials. Other research strategies can be expected to be controversial. In addition, when the physiological values used for analysis are derived after trials with feedback have been completed, data processing must be handled very carefully to avoid bias from retrospective selection of data processing parameters. Keywords: presentiment, precognitive anticipation, dependent variable dependence, expectation bias, retrospective selection, ESP Spanish La investigacion sobre las medidas fisiologicas de anticipacion precognitiva o presentimiento esta pasando de ser una metodologia exploratoria a una confirmatoria. Las practicas confirmatorias apropiadas incluyen (a) el uso de medidas fisiologicas para predecir los resultados de eventos aleatorios con criterios de prediccion desarrollados a partir de datos anteriores, (b) desarrollo y validacion de forma prospectiva de la programacion para el procesamiento de los datos fisiologicos, (c) usar solamente los datos previos al estimulo aleatorio de una prueba y no datos de pruebas posteriores durante desarrollo de parametros para los ajustes o rechazos de artefactos, y (d) disenos con varios experimentadores para hacer que la mala conducta de un experimentador resulte dificil. Se puede esperar que las medidas fisiologicas en experimentos de precognicion anticipatoria violen el supuesto de independencia entre las pruebas cuando se usen como variable dependiente y pueden producir sesgos contra-intuitivos positivos falsos con el uso de metodos estadisticos estandar. La estrategia de investigacion mas convincente es el desarrollo de criterios de prediccion utilizando un conjunto inicial de datos y luego aplicar los criterios para predecir los acontecimientos aleatorios en nuevas pruebas. Se puede esperar que otras estrategias de investigacion sean controversiales, ademas, cuando los valores fisiologicos usados para el analisis se derivan despues de que se ha dado feedback despues del experimento, el procesamiento de datos debe ser manejado con mucho cuidado para evitar el sesgo de la seleccion retrospectiva de los parametros de procesamiento de datos. French Les recherches sur les mesures physiologiques d'anticipation precognitive ou de pressentiment sont en train de passer d'une methodologie exploratoire a confirmatoire. Les pratiques confirmatoires appropriees incluent (a) l'utilisation de mesures physiologiques pour predire les resultats des evenements aleatoires avec les criteres de prediction developpes a partir des donnees anterieures ; (b) le developpement prospectif et la validation du programme de traitement des donnees physiologiques ; (c) l'utilisation uniquement des donnees avant le stimulus aleatoire sur un essai et non des donnees des essais subsequents lors du developpement des parametres pour l'ajustement ou le rejet d'artefacts ; et (d) des dispositifs avec de multiples experimentateurs qui rendent difficile d'expliquer les resultats par la mauvaise conduite d'un seul experimentateur. On s'attend a ce que les mesures physiologiques des experimentations d'anticipation precognitive puissent violer l'hypothese de l'independance entre essais lorsqu'elle est utilisee comme variable dependante, ce qui peut produire des biais contre-intuitifs de faux-positifs avec les methodes statistiques standards. La strategie de recherche la plus convaincante est de developper des criteres de prediction en utilisant un ensemble initial de donnees et d'appliquer ensuite ces criteres pour predire les evenements aleatoires sur les nouveaux essais. D'autres strategies de recherche seront necessairement controversees. De plus, lorsque les valeurs physiologiques utilisees pour l'analyse sont derivees apres que des essais avec feedback aient ete effectues, le traitement des donnees doit etre realise de facon tres prudente pour eviter les biais de selection retrospective des parametres de traitement des donnees. German Die Forschung zur physiologischen Messung der prakognitiven Antizipation oder Presentiment befindet sich im Ubergang von der explorativen zur Bestatigungsmethodologie. Angemessene Techniken zur Bestatigung umfassen (a) die Verwendung physiologischer Messungen zur Vorhersage von Zufallsereignissen, wobei die Vorhersagekriterien aufgrund fruherer Daten formuliert wurden, (b) die prospektive Entwicklung und Validierung von Programmen zur Verarbeitung der physiologischen Daten, (c) die Verwendung nur solcher Daten, die dem zufalligen Stimulus bei einem Trial vorhergehen und keiner Daten darauffolgender Trials, wenn es um die Entwicklung von Parametern zur Anpassung oder zum Ausschluss von Artefakten geht, und (d) Versuchsplane mit mehreren Experimentatoren, wodurch Fehlverhalten eines Experimentators erschwert wird. Es steht zu erwarten, dass die physiologischen Messungen bei Experimenten zur physiologischen Antizipation die Annahme der Unabhangigkeit der Trials untereinander verletzen werden, wenn sie als abhangige Variable verwendet werden und bei den statistischen Standardmethoden zu contra-intuitiven falsch-positiven Biases fuhren werden. Die uberzeugendste Forschungsstrategie besteht in der Entwicklung von Vorhersagekriterien unter Verwendung eines ursprunglichen Datensatzes, um dann diese Kriterien zur Vorhersage von Zufallsereignissen bei neuen Trials heranzuziehen. Andere Forschungsstrategien durften sich als kontrovers erweisen. Sobald die in die Analyse eingehenden physiologischen Werte, die von Trials mit Feedback gewonnen wurden, endgultig vorliegen, muss die Auswertung der Daten ausserst sorgfaltig geschehen, um einen Bias aufgrund der retrospektiven Selektion der Parameter der Datenauswertung zu vermeiden., Most studies of physiological measures of precognitive anticipation have been exploratory, and the time has come to apply methods for convincing confirmatory research. Mossbridge, Tressoldi, and Utts (2012) recently pointed [...]

If judiciously applied, cognitive terminology can encourage further examination of phenomena in useful ways that may not otherwise be studied. I give examples of 3 phenomena, the study of which have benefitted from a cognitive perspective. For the first, transitive inference behavior, it appears that non-cognitive accounts cannot satisfactorily account for the effects that have been found. For the second, functional equivalence, positing the development of common representations has identified the possible nature of those representations. For the third, cognitive dissonance (or justification of effort), producing it in the laboratory with nonhuman animals suggests that a simpler mechanism, such as positive contrast, may be involved. If one approaches cognitive terminology with an open mind and conducts well-designed experiments that juxtapose cognitive accounts against simpler accounts, cognitive terminology can be the impetus for experiments that explore phenomena in novel, exciting, and useful ways and that ultimately have considerable heuristic value. Key words: transitive inference, functional equivalence, cognitive dissonance, heuristic value, The past 50 years have seen the rapid spread of various cognitive approaches to the explanation of behavior. Although for many years behavioral accounts of human learning dominated the psychological [...]

It is well-established that superior cognitive control abilities are associated with lower levels of anger and aggression. However, the precise emotion regulation operations underlying this relationship have been underspecified and underexplored in previous research. Drawing on neuropsychological models of cognitive control, the authors propose that limited capacity resources can be recruited within a hostile situation to promote a process of forgiveness. The results of 2 studies supported this proposal. Across studies, individual differences in hostility-primed cognitive control were assessed implicitly. In Study 1, hostility-primed cognitive control predicted less aggressive behavior in response to a laboratory provocation. Moreover, forgiveness mediated these effects. In Study 2, hostility-primed cognitive control predicted forgiveness of provocations in participants' daily lives and subsequent reductions in anger. In sum, the results contribute to a systematic understanding of how cognitive control leads to lower levels of anger and aggression. Keywords: anger, aggression, cognitive control, forgiveness, emotion regulation DOI: 10.1037/a0018962

The basal ganglia play a central role in cognition and are involved in such general functions as action selection and reinforcement learning. Here, we present a model exploring the hypothesis that the basal ganglia implement a conditional information-routing system. The system directs the transmission of cortical signals between pairs of regions by manipulating separately the selection of sources and destinations of information transfers. We suggest that such a mechanism provides an account for several cognitive functions of the basal ganglia. The model also incorporates a possible mechanism by which subsequent transfers of information control the release of dopamine. This signal is used to produce novel stimulus-response associations by internalizing transferred cortical representations in the striatum. We discuss how the model is related to production systems and cognitive architectures. A series of simulations is presented to illustrate how the model can perform simple stimulus-response tasks, develop automatic behaviors, and provide an account of impairments in Parkinson's and Huntington's diseases. Keywords: basal ganglia, neural networks, computational modeling, procedural learning DOI: 10.1037/a0019077

The empirical literature on auditory imagery is reviewed. Data on (a) imagery for auditory features (pitch, timbre, loudness), (b) imagery for complex nonverbal auditory stimuli (musical contour, melody, harmony, tempo, notational audiation, environmental sounds), (c) imagery for verbal stimuli (speech, text, in dreams, interior monologue), (d) auditory imagery's relationship to perception and memory (detection, encoding, recall, mnemonic properties, phonological loop), and (e) individual differences in auditory imagery (in vividness, musical ability and experience, synesthesia, musical hallucinosis, schizophrenia, amusia) are considered. It is concluded that auditory imagery (a) preserves many structural and temporal properties of auditory stimuli, (b) can facilitate auditory discrimination but interfere with auditory detection, (c) involves many of the same brain areas as auditory perception, (d) is often but not necessarily influenced by subvocalization, (e) involves semantically interpreted information and expectancies, (f) involves depictive components and descriptive components, (g) can function as a mnemonic but is distinct from rehearsal, and (h) is related to musical ability and experience (although the mechanisms of that relationship are not clear). Keywords: imagery, audition, language, music, cognition DOI: 10.1037/a0018436

This article develops a theoretical model that suggests that differential levels of uncertainty, knowledge relatedness, and richness of information will have a substantial impact on the decision to engage in [...]

Several measures of cognitive style have been shown to be elevated among persons diagnosed with bipolar disorder and those at risk for bipolar disorder. Several of these scales capture responses to positive affect, success, and hypomanic symptoms. We had two goals: (a) to use factor analyses to assess whether the constructs within these scales were statistically independent and (b) to examine whether the factors identified uniquely related to mania risk. A cross-national sample of 638 participants completed measures of cognitive style, including the Responses to Positive Affect scale, the Positive Overgeneralization Scale, and the Hypomanic Interpretations Questionnaire. To assess whether these measures might simply reflect more impulsive reactions to positive mood states, participants also completed the Barratt Impulsivity Scale. To measure risk of mania, participants completed the Hypomanic Personality Scale (HPS). Factor analyses suggested seven factors of cognitive style and impulsivity. Four factors uniquely correlated with HPS. That is, risk for mania related to higher scores on separable factors of acting before thinking, being overly positive in interpreting manic symptoms, being overly confident in response to success, and tendencies to dampen positive affect. Current findings suggest the need to consider multifaceted aspects of cognition in refining psychological treatments of bipolar disorder. Keywords: bipolar disorder; mania; cognition; confidence; attributions

Is human thought fully embedded in language, or do some forms of thought operate independently? To directly address this issue, we focus on inference-making, a central feature of human cognition. In a 3T fMRI study we compare logical inferences relying on sentential connectives (e.g., not, or, if ... then) to linguistic inferences based on syntactic transformation of sentences involving ditransitive verbs (e.g., give, say, take). When contrasted with matched grammaticality judgments, logic inference alone recruited 'core' regions of deduction [Brodmann area (BA) 10p and 8m], whereas linguistic inference alone recruited perisylvian regions of linguistic competence, among others (BA 21, 22, 37, 39, 44, and 45 and caudate). In addition, the two inferences commonly recruited a set of general 'support' areas in frontoparietal cortex (BA 6, 7, 8, 40, and 47). The results indicate that logical inference is not embedded in natural language and confirm the relative modularity of linguistic processes. fMRI | logic | reasoning | semantics | syntax

A fundamental question in the study of cognition is whether memory strength varies continuously or whether memories sometimes fall below a threshold and fail completely. Previous studies examining this question have relied exclusively on 1 method--receiver operating characteristics--so in the current study, we addressed this issue by using a completely different approach. We tested memory for single items and for arbitrary associations (e.g., memory for random word pairs) by using a 4-alternative forced-choice test in which subjects either made a single choice or a first and a second choice. In item recognition, single- and second-choice scores were directly related, as expected if a continuous strength signal supported performance. In contrast, in associative recognition, single- and second-choice scores were found to be unrelated, as predicted by high-threshold theories. However, when the word pairs were encoded as single compound words rather than arbitrary associations, associative recognition appeared to rely more on a continuous strength process. The results support memory models that include both a continuous familiarity process and a threshold recollection process. recollection | signal detection model | threshold model | dual process model | associative recognition

Purpose: The Scales of Cognitive and Communicative Ability for Neurorehabilitation (SCCAN; L. Milman & A. Holland, 2007) was developed in the hospital setting to address changes in assessment practice. The [...]

Two studies examined the relationships among trait negative affectivity, dispositional thought suppression, and intrusions in non-clinical samples. In Study 1 (N = 87), participants were presented with a series of emotionally evocative images and intrusions were examined 48 h after presentation via self-report. In Study 2 (N = 118), intrusions were examined using a behavioral Key-press and self-report at two time points (5 and 20 min) following exposure to a series of emotionally evocative images. In each study, participants were assessed for trait negative affectivity and the tendency to engage in thought suppression in response to unpleasant cognitions. Results from both studies support a model in which chronic thought suppression fully mediates the relationship between negative affectivity and the frequency of intrusions. Keywords: Thought suppression; Negative affectivity; Intrusions; Experiential avoidance

In recent studies, researchers have examined animals' use of absolute or relational distances in finding a hidden goal. When trained with an array of landmarks, most animals use the default strategy of searching at an absolute distance from 1 or more landmarks. In contrast, when trained in enclosures, animals often use the relationship among walls. In the present study, pigeons were trained to find the center of an array of landmarks or a set of short walls that did not block external cues. Expansion tests showed that both groups of pigeons primarily used an absolute distance strategy. However, on rotational tests, pigeons continued to search in the center of the array, suggesting that direction was learned in relation to array. Keywords: spatial cognition, absolute distance, relational direction, landmark configurations

Those higher in neuroticism are often more variable in their behavior and experience. On the basis of this observation, the authors hypothesized that the trait of neuroticism might be correlated with the variability of performance pertaining to relatively basic cognitive operations. Three studies involving 242 college undergraduates supported this prediction in that neuroticism correlated positively with the variability of performance across trials of reaction time tasks. These results link neuroticism to cognitive noise that intervenes between stimulus and response. Such noise has been associated with executive dysfunctions (e.g., frontal lobe injury) in previous research. The present findings are potentially useful for understanding why neuroticism often correlates with variations in the functionality of cognition and behavior. Keywords: neuroticism, cognition, variability, reaction time

A technique for studying the relationship between brain and language, which involves correlating scores on two continuous variables, signal intensity across the entire brains of brain-damaged patients and behavioral priming scores, was used to investigate a central issue in cognitive neuroscience: Are the components of the neural language system organized as a single undifferentiated process, or do they respond differentially to different types of linguistic structure? Differences in lexical structure, in the form of the regular and irregular past tense, have proven to be critical in this debate by contrasting a highly predictable rule-like process (e.g., jump-jumped) with an unpredictable idiosyncratic process typified by the irregulars (e.g., think-thought). The key issue raised by these contrasts is whether processing regular and irregular past tense forms differentially engages different aspects of the neural language system or whether they are processed within a single system that distinguishes between them purely on the basis of phonological and semantic differences. The correlational analyses provide clear evidence for a functional differentiation between different brain regions associated with the processing of lexical form, meaning, and morphological structure. morphology | neuroscience

This study examined the role of stimulus characteristics in a visuospatial order reconstruction task in which participants were required to recall the order of sequences of spatial locations. The complexity of the to-be-remembered sequences, as measured by path crossing, path length, and angles, was found to affect serial memory, in terms of both recall accuracy and response times. The results demonstrate that not all sequences are remembered equally and that spatial characteristics of the sequences constitute an important variable in the understanding of visuospatial serial memory. More important, the data suggest that spatial path represents transitional information and that, as is the case in verbal serial memory, transitional information is of critical importance in serial memory.

Learning remains an elusive topic, despite the endless research lavished on it. And what we mean by it, of course, is shaped by how we choose to study it. Concentrate [...]

We present a model of the cognitive architecture of basic numerical skills in adult Chinese-English bilinguals. The model is based on data reported by Campbell, Kanz, and Xue (1999) and combines Dehaene and Cohen's triple-code theory with Campbell and Clark's encoding-complex approach to modeling number processing Participants were required to name add or multiply Arabic or Mandarin numerals and to respond in English or Chinese. They also performed magnitude comparisons on pairs of Arabic or Mandarin numerals. The proposed model of their performance on this set of tasks assumes 1) that number processing is modular with respect to representational code (e.g., visual, visuo-spatial, verbal) rather than with respect to numerical function, 2) task-specific communication between representational codes is interactive rather than additive, and 3) memory for arithmetic facts is at least partially language-based and our Chinese-English bilinguals possessed both Chinese and English-language number-fact representations. We provide new analyses of the arithmetic data and a review of research on the role of language in simple arithmetic to substantiate our claims about linguistic codes for number-fact memory.

A computerized version of the Tower of London task was used to investigate cognitive skill learning. Thirty-six healthy volunteers were assigned to either a random condition (nonrecurring problems), or to a sequence condition in which, unbeknownst to the subjects, a repeating sequence of three problems was presented. Indices of execution, planning, and total time, as well as number of moves performed, were used to measure behavioural change. Subjects' performance improved in both conditions across blocks of practice. A distinct Darning effect related to the repeating sequence was also observed. This suggests that a specific skill that reflects procedural learning of the strategies, rules, and procedures pertaining to repeating problems can develop over and above a more general skill at solving cognitive planning problems with practice.

The extent to which participants hold similar notions of an idealized group member was expected to moderate the effect of information quantity on individual rates of participation. Participants responded privately in writing to the psychological profile and ideal group member tasks, then participated in discussion in groups of three. Individual responses to the psychological profile task were coded for information quantity, whereas data from the group member task was assessed for similarity within groups. Analysis revealed that similarity of the ideal group member moderated the effect of one's information resources on substantive (i.e., task relevant) and nonsubstantive participation. Discussion focuses on the conditions under which individuals are likely to participate actively in group interaction. Keywords: participation; information processing; prototype; decision making; multilevel analysis

Abstract: While we are using Alexander's work as a beginning point for this analysis of corrective emotional experience in the therapeutic process, we extend the concept beyond the level of [...]

For the past 35 years, learning theorists have been providing models that depend on mental representations, even in their most simple, deterministic, and mechanistic approaches. Hence, cognitive involvement (typically thought of as expectancy) is assumed for most instances of classical and operant conditioning, with current theoretical differences concerning the level of cognition that is involved (e.g., simple association vs. rule learning), rather than its presence. Nevertheless, many psychologists not in the mainstream of learning theory continue to think of cognitive and conditioning theories as rival families of hypotheses. In this article, the data pertaining to the role of higher-order cognition in conditioning is reviewed, and a theoretical synthesis is proposed that provides a role for both automatic and cognitively mediated processes. Keywords: classical conditioning; operant conditioning

It has been demonstrated that when people free classify stimuli presented simultaneously in an array, they have a preference to categorize by a single dimension. However, when people are encouraged to categorize items sequentially, they sort by 'family resemblance,' grouping by overall similarity. The present studies extended this research, producing 3 main findings. First, the sequential procedure introduced by G. Regehr and L. R. Brooks (1995) does not always produce a preference for family resemblance sorts. Second, sort strategy in a sequential procedure is sensitive to subtle variations in stimulus properties. Third, spatially separable stimuli evoked more family resemblance sorts than stimuli of greater spatial integration. It is suggested that the family resemblance sorting observed is due to an analytic strategy.

Patients with category-specific deficits have motivated a range of hypotheses about the structure of the conceptual system. One class of models claims that apparent category dissociations emerge from the internal structure of concepts rather than fractionation of the system into separate substores. This account claims that distinctive properties of concepts in the living domain are vulnerable because of their weak correlation with other features. Given the assumption that mutual activation among correlated properties produces faster activation in the normal system, the authors predicted a disadvantage for the distinctive features of living things for unimpaired adults. Results of a speeded feature verification study supported this prediction, as did a computational simulation in which networks mapped from orthography to semantics.

In contrast to exemplar and decision-bound categorization models, the memory and contrast models described here do not assume that long-term representations of stimulus magnitudes are available. Instead, stimuli are assumed to be categorized using only their differences from a few recent stimuli. To test this alternative, the authors examined sequential effects in a binary categorization of 10 tones varying in frequency. Stimuli up to 2 trials back in the sequence had a significant effect on the response to the current stimulus. The effects of previous stimuli interacted with one another. A memory and contrast model, according to which only ordinal information about the differences between the current stimulus and recent preceding stimuli is used, best accounted for these data.

A fundamental problem that organisms face in a changing environment is how to regulate dynamically the balance between stable maintenance and flexible switching of goals and cognitive sets. The authors show that positive affect plays an important role in the regulation of this stability--flexibility balance. In a cognitive set-switching paradigm, the induction of mild increases in positive affect, as compared with neutral or negative affect, promoted cognitive flexibility and reduced perseveration, but also incurred a cost in terms of increased distractibility. Rather than influencing set switching in an unspecific way, positive affect thus exerted opposite effects on perseveration and distractibility. Results are consistent with neuropsychological models according to which effects of positive affect on cognitive control are mediated by increased dopamine levels in frontal brain areas.

Judgments of frequency for targets (old items) and foils (similar; dissimilar) steadily increase as the number of times a target is studied increases, but discrimination of targets from similar foils does not steadily improve, a phenomenon termed registration without learning (D. L. Hintzman & T. Curran, 1995; D. L. Hintzman, T. Curran, & B. Oppy, 1992). The present experiment explores this phenomenon with words of differing normative word frequency. The retrieving-effectively-from-memory model (REM; R. M. Shiffrin & M. Steyvers, 1997, 1998) predicts that low-frequency words will be better recognized than high-frequency words because low-frequency words have more distinctive memory representations. A corollary of this assumption predicts that the typical recognition word-frequency effect will be disrupted when similar foils are tested. These predictions were confirmed, but to fit both the recognition and the judgment-of-frequency data, the authors used a 'dual-process' extension of the REM model.

Four routes of cognitive evolution are distinguished: phylogenetic construction, in which natural selection produces qualitative change to the way a cognitive mechanism operates (language); phylogenetic inflection, in which natural selection biases the input to a cognitive mechanism (imprinting and spatial memory); ontogenetic construction, in which developmental selection alters the way a cognitive mechanism operates (face recognition and theory of mind); and ontogenetic inflection, in which developmental selection changes the input to a cognitive mechanism (imitation). This framework integrates findings from evolutionary psychology (i.e., all research on the evolution of mentality and behavior). In contrast with human nativist evolutionary psychology, it recognizes the adaptive significance of developmental processes, conserves the distinction between cognitive and noncognitive mechanisms, and encompasses research on human and nonhuman animals.

Self-enhancement is variously portrayed as a positive illusion that can foster health and longevity or as defensive neuroticism that can have physiological-neuroendocdne costs. In a laboratory stress-challenge paradigm, the authors found that high self-enhancers had lower cardiovascular responses to stress, more rapid cardiovascular recovery, and lower baseline cortisol levels, consistent with the positive illusions predictions and counter to the predictions of the defensive neuroticism position. A second set of analyses, replicating the 'illusory mental health paradigm' (J. Shedler, M. Mayman, & M. Manis, 1993), also did not support the defensive neuroticism hypothesis. The association between self-enhancement and cortisol was mediated by psychological resources; analyses of the cardiovascular results provided no definitive mediational pathway. Discussion centers on the potential stress-buffering effects of self-enhancing beliefs.

When easy and difficult items are mixed together, their reading aloud latencies become more homogeneous relative to their presentation in unmixed ('pure') conditions (Lupker, Brown, & Colombo, 1997). We report two experiments designed to investigate the nature of the mechanism that underlies this list composition, or blocking, effect. In Experiment 1, we replicated Lupker et al.'s (1997) blocking effect in the reading aloud task and extended these findings to the visual lexical decision task. In Experiment 2, we found that blocking effects generalized across tasks: The characteristics of stimuli in a visual lexical decision task influenced reading aloud latencies, and vice versa, when visual lexical decision and reading aloud trials were presented alternately in the same experiment. We discuss implications of these results within time-criterion (Lupker et al., 1997) and strength-of-processing (Kello & Plaut, 2000, 2003) theories of strategic processing in reading.

Recent research in vision science, infant cognition, and word learning suggests a special role for the processing of discrete objects. But what counts as an object? Answers to this question often depend on contrasting object-based processing with the processing of spatial areas or unbound visual features. In infant cognition and word learning, though, another salient contrast has been between rigid cohesive objects and nonsolid substances. Whereas objects may move from one location to another, a nonsolid substance must pour from one location to another. In the study reported here, we explored whether attentive tracking processes are sensitive to dynamic information of this type. Using a multiple-object tracking task, we found that subjects could easily track four items in a display of eight identical unpredictably moving entities that moved as discrete objects from one location to another, but could not track similar entities that noncohesively 'poured' from one location to another--even when the items in both conditions followed the same trajectories at the same speeds. Other conditions revealed that this inability to track multiple 'substances' stemmed not from violations of rigidity or cohesiveness per se, because subjects were able to track multiple noncohesive collections and multiple nonrigid deforming objects. Rather, the impairment was due to the dynamic extension and contraction during the substancelike motion, which rendered the location of the entity ambiguous. These results demonstrate a convergence between processes of midlevel adult vision and infant cognition, and in general help to clarify what can count as a persisting dynamic object of attention.

We investigated effects of emotional states on the ability to make intuitive judgments about the semantic coherence of word triads. Participants were presented word triads, consisting of three clue words that either were weakly associated with a common fourth concept (coherent triads) or had no common associate (incoherent triads). In Experiment 1, participants in a neutral mood discriminated coherent and incoherent triads reliably better than chance level even if they did not consciously retrieve the solution word. In Experiment 2, the induction of a positive mood reliably improved intuitive coherence judgments, whereas participants in a negative mood performed at chance level. We conclude that positive mood potentiates spread of activation to weak or remote associates in memory, thereby improving intuitive coherence judgments. By contrast, negative mood appears to restrict spread of activation to close associates and dominant word meanings, thus impairing intuitive coherence judgments.

In three experiments involving over 1,500 university students (n = 1,557) and two different probabilistic choice tasks, we found that the utility-maximizing strategy of choosing the most probable alternative was not the majority response. In a story problem version of a probabilistic choice task in which participants chose from among five different strategies, the maximizing response and the probability-matching response were each selected by a similar number of students (roughly 35% of the sample selected each). In a more continuous, or trial-by-trial, task, the utility-maximizing response was chosen by only one half as many students as the probability-matching response. More important, in both versions of the task, the participants preferring the utility-maximizing response were significantly higher in cognitive ability than were the participants showing a probability-matching tendency. Critiques of the traditional interpretation of probability matching as nonoptimal may well help explain why some humans are drawn to the nonmaximizing behavior of probability matching, but the traditional heuristics and biases interpretation can most easily accommodate the finding that participants high in computational ability are more likely to carry out the rule-based cognitive procedures that lead to maximizing behavior.

Recently there has been growing interest among psychologists in human performance on the Euclidean traveling salesperson problem (E-TSP). A debate has been initiated on what strategy people use in solving visually presented E-TSP instances. The most prominent hypothesis is the convex-hull hypothesis, originally proposed by MacGregor and Ormerod (1996). We argue that, in the literature so far, there is no evidence for this hypothesis. Alternatively we propose and motivate the hypothesis that people aim at avoiding crossings.