As I recall
Gordon Moskowitz, Irmak Olcaysoy Okten & Cynthia Gooch
Psychological Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
Arousal is known to shape time perception, and heightened arousal causes one to perceive that time has slowed (i.e., a given length of time feels longer than it actually is). The current experiments illustrate that among White people who experience arousal when contemplating race (specifically those for whom appearing biased is an ongoing concern), time perception slows when they observe faces of Black men. We asked participants to judge the duration of presentation for faces of White and Black men (shown for periods ranging from 300 to 1,200 ms) relative to a standard duration of 600 ms. Evidence of bias emerged when White participants concerned with bias saw faces of Black men (e.g., durations of less than 600 ms were perceived as being greater than 600 ms). The current findings have implications for intergroup interactions in which timing is essential — for example, length of job interviews, police officers’ perception of the length of an encounter and when force should be initiated, and doctors’ perception of the length of medical encounters. Racially biased time perception is a new form of implicit bias, one exerted at the perceptual level.
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Jessica Black & Jennifer Barnes
Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, forthcoming
Abstract:
Previous research has shown that reading award-winning literary fiction leads to increases in performance on tests of theory of mind (Kidd & Castano, 2013). Here, we extend this research to another medium, exploring the effect of viewing award-winning TV dramas on subsequent performance on a test of theory of mind ability, the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (Baron-Cohen, Wheelwright, Hill, Raste, & Plumb, 2001). In 2 separate studies, participants were randomly assigned to watch either an award-winning TV drama (Mad Men or West Wing for Study 1; The Good Wife or Lost for Study 2) or a TV documentary (Shark Week or How the Universe Works for Study 1; NOVA Colosseum or Through the Wormhole for Study 2). In both studies, participants who viewed a TV drama performed significantly higher on the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test than did those who viewed a documentary. These results suggest that film narratives, as well as written narratives, may facilitate the understanding of others’ minds.
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Increasing placebo responses over time in U.S. clinical trials of neuropathic pain
Alexander Tuttle et al.
Pain, forthcoming
Abstract:
Recent failures of clinical trials of novel analgesics designed to treat neuropathic pain have led to much speculation about the underlying reasons. One oft-discussed possibility is that the placebo response in these trials has increased in recent years, leading to lower separation between the drug and placebo arms. Whether this has indeed occurred has not yet been adequately addressed. Here, we extracted data from published randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of drugs for the treatment of chronic neuropathic pain over the years 1990-2013. We find that placebo responses have increased considerably over this period, but drug responses have remained stable, leading to diminished treatment advantage. This trend has been driven by studies conducted in the U.S.A. Consideration of participant and study characteristics revealed that in the U.S.A. but not elsewhere, RCTs have increased in study size and length. These changes are associated with larger placebo response. Analysis of individual RCT time courses showed different kinetics for the treatment versus placebo responses, with the former evolving more quickly than the latter and plateauing, such that maximum treatment advantage was achieved within 4 weeks.
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Guy Taylor-Covill & Frank Eves
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, forthcoming
Abstract:
The apparent steepness of hills and stairs is overestimated in explicit perception. These overestimations are malleable in that when physiological resources are compromised, apparent steepness is further overestimated. An alternative explanation of these experimental findings attributes them to demand characteristics. This article tests the relationship between estimated steepness and naturally occurring differences in body composition. A quasi-experimental field study revealed more exaggerated reports of staircase steepness in overweight than in healthy-weight participants in a situation where experimental demand would be an implausible explanation for any differences. A longitudinal follow-up study used dual X-ray absorptiometry to objectively measure participants’ body composition at the beginning and end of a weight-loss program (N = 52). At baseline, higher levels of body fat were associated with steeper explicit estimates of staircase steepness. At follow-up, changes in body fat were associated with changes in estimated steepness such that a loss of fat mass co-occurred with shallower estimates. Discussion focuses on the malleability of perceived steepness at an individual level and the implication of these findings for the debate surrounding “embodied” models of perception.
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Temperature effects on polygraph detection of concealed information
Luke MacNeill & M.T. Bradley
Psychophysiology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Thermoregulatory influences on electrodermal and cardiovascular activity may interfere with the detection of concealed information using a polygraph. This possibility was assessed by means of a mock terrorism scenario. Seventy-two participants were assigned to either a guilty or an innocent role. They were given a polygraph test at one of three ambient temperatures: 10°C, 22°C, or 34°C. Among guilty participants, electrodermal and cardiovascular measures were least effective at 10°C. Electrodermal results were optimal at 22°C, whereas cardiovascular results were optimal at 34°C. Among innocent participants, the effectiveness of these same measures was not affected by ambient temperature. Temperature had no significant impact on respiration results within the guilty or the innocent groups. Taken together, these findings have implications for those who use polygraphs in uncontrolled testing environments.
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Jean Brechman et al.
Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, forthcoming
Abstract:
This study considers two news ticker formats — the update ticker and the scrolling ticker — to determine the impact of ticker format on memory for news items in the tickers as well as for news program content presented in the background. Post-viewing responses between two treatment groups were compared, revealing better recognition of both types of news content when tickers updated rather than scrolled. Also, viewers report no differences in perceived clutter or program liking, suggesting there is no downside to using an update format.
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Learned and Remembered But Rejected: Preschoolers’ Reality Judgments and Transfer From Sesame Street
James Alex Bonus & Marie-Louise Mares
Communication Research, forthcoming
Abstract:
Although preschoolers learn from educational TV, they may not use information appropriately due to their developing understanding of video and fantasy-reality distinctions. Seventy 3- to 5-year-olds watched a Sesame Street clip, introduced as either “fun” or “for learning,” that depicted aspects of Hispanic culture (e.g., fiestas). They answered comprehension questions and rated the reality of the educational and fantasy content. Approximately a week later, a seemingly unrelated interviewer asked for help planning a fiesta (transfer task), then reassessed memory and reality judgments. Regardless of condition, children retained most of what they learned, but all ages became increasingly skeptical about the reality of both the educational and fantasy content. Consistent with theorizing about transfer, children’s use of the educational content depended on both memory and reality judgments. Older children remembered the information better than younger children, but memory only predicted transfer if the information was remembered as real.
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A Magnitude Effect in Judgments of Subjective Closeness
Alf Børre Kanten & Karl Halvor Teigen
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, forthcoming
Abstract:
Events can be far away from or near an observer in several respects: They can be distant or close in a spatial, temporal, social, or hypothetical sense. They can also vary in magnitude, physically, or in terms of impact and importance. We examine the existence of a general effect of perceived magnitude on judgments of subjective closeness. Studies 1 to 4 show that proximity judgments, of any type, are affected by the severity of an event so that a highly severe event will be described as closer than a less severe one. Study 5 demonstrates the Magnitude Effect for positive events. Finally, Study 6 shows that the effect can be extended to distances between comparable events, in addition to the distance from an observer to an event. We see the Magnitude Effect as a spillover from the scales used to describe events to the scales used to describe distances.
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Corinne Ines Koller, Olive Emil Wetter & Franziska Hofer
Applied Cognitive Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Our study investigates if people are able to recognize thieves based on their nonverbal behavior prior to committing the crime. We implemented authentic closed-circuit television footage from thefts committed at an international airport into a computer-based test. Five groups of participants (students, police recruits, inexperienced police officers, experienced police officers, and criminal investigators) were studied. The results show that criminals display nonverbal behavior that can be used by observers for early recognition of criminal intentions. In addition, early recognition seems to benefit from knowledge about the criminals' modi operandi (criminal investigators performed best), which renders early recognition teachable and trainable. Further, all participants seem to be biased towards innocence, but this bias was less pronounced in police officers than in students. These findings are discussed in relation to the well-documented truth-bias and investigator-bias in lie detection research as well as taking our measurement method into account.
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Mine in Motion: How Physical Actions Impact the Psychological Sense of Object Ownership
Grace Truong et al.
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, forthcoming
Abstract:
Our attention and memory can be biased toward objects having high self-relevance, such as things we own. Yet in explaining such effects, theorizing has been limited to psychological determinants of self-relevance. Here we examined the contribution physical actions make to this ownership bias. In Experiment 1, participants moved object images on a touch interactive table that either arbitrarily belonged to “self” or “other,” and that were moved into locations closer or farther from their bodies. Subsequent recognition was highest for self-owned objects moved closer to the body, as measured via a subsequent memory recall test. In Experiment 2, when participants moved images via keyboard rather than overt action, the proximity effect of the body on attention was abolished. In Experiment 3, participants pulled or pushed self-owned or other-owned object images to side-by-side locations on a touch interactive table. Self-owned objects that were pulled were recognized the most. Our findings demonstrate that physical actions can have a direct impact on the psychological saliency of owned objects, with the act of bringing objects toward the self leading to greater recall.
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An Exploration of Deception Detection: Are Groups More Effective Than Individuals?
Roger McHaney, Joey George & Manjul Gupta
Communication Research, forthcoming
Abstract:
Deception is a pervasive problem often found in human behavior. This study investigates why past deception studies have found groups perform no better than individuals in detection using time-interaction-performance theory which suggests teams are not immediately effective. Only after establishing relational links is potential reached. Established groups spend less time building relational links and instead focus on task-oriented activities more effectively. We sought to determine whether groups with prior history of interaction outperform individuals in deception detection. First, participants were randomly assigned to an individual or ad hoc group role. Later, additional preexisting work groups were recruited. Participants were instructed to identify deception in online video interviews. The experiment tested theoretical explanations regarding cohesion, interaction, and satisfaction as components of relational links and relationships to deception detection. Results indicated that groups which exhibited higher levels of relational links, that is, established groups, were more accurate in deception detection than ad hoc groups.
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Moving to Learn: How Guiding the Hands Can Set the Stage for Learning
Neon Brooks & Susan Goldin-Meadow
Cognitive Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
Previous work has found that guiding problem-solvers' movements can have an immediate effect on their ability to solve a problem. Here we explore these processes in a learning paradigm. We ask whether guiding a learner's movements can have a delayed effect on learning, setting the stage for change that comes about only after instruction. Children were taught movements that were either relevant or irrelevant to solving mathematical equivalence problems and were told to produce the movements on a series of problems before they received instruction in mathematical equivalence. Children in the relevant movement condition improved after instruction significantly more than children in the irrelevant movement condition, despite the fact that the children showed no improvement in their understanding of mathematical equivalence on a ratings task or on a paper-and-pencil test taken immediately after the movements but before instruction. Movements of the body can thus be used to sow the seeds of conceptual change. But those seeds do not necessarily come to fruition until after the learner has received explicit instruction in the concept, suggesting a “sleeper effect” of gesture on learning.
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Turning I into me: Imagining your future self
Neil Macrae et al.
Consciousness and Cognition, December 2015, Pages 207–213
Abstract:
A widely endorsed belief is that perceivers imagine their present selves using a different representational format than imagining their future selves (i.e., near future = first-person; distant future = third-person). But is this really the case? Responding to the paucity of work on this topic, here we considered how temporal distance influences the extent to which individuals direct their attention outward or inward during a brief imaginary episode. Using a non-verbal measure of visual perspective taking (i.e., letter-drawing task) our results confirmed the hypothesized relation between temporal distance and conceptions of the self. Whereas simulations of an event in the near future were dominated by a first-person representation of the self, this switched to a third-person depiction when the event was located in the distant future. Critically, this switch in vantage point was restricted to self-related simulations. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are considered.