ISSN : 1226-9654
We studied the effect of attention on the adaptation to radially moving pattern with use of motion aftereffect(MAE). In the first experiment, we investigate the effect of attentional distraction on adaptation to radial motion by measuring MAEs with and without the detection task for intermittently changing digits. We measured signal-to-noise ratio of a real motion signal in a random dot pattern, where nullify the directional bias induced by MAE. MAE was found to reduce when observers participated in an additional task during the adaptation. In the second experiment, we asked the observers to selectively attend to one of the two moving patterns consisting of expanding and contracting random dot patterns. Although the adapting stimulus was exactly the same in both conditions, the direction of MAEs was found to be different depending on which pattern the observer attend to. The results suggest that attention can modulate the activity of the mechanism responsible for radially moving pattern.
Two hierarchical stimuli, one white and one black, were presented and the effect of flanker's shape on local target processing was examined. The results of three experiments showed that RTs to the local target shape were slower when the global shape of the flanker was compatible with the local target shape, compared to when it was neutral or incompatible (Negative Compatibility Effect, Briand; NCE, 1994). The NCE was always observed regardless of whether or not the flanker's local shape was compatible with the local target. In contrast, positive compatibility effect (PCE) was observed when the local shape of the flanker was compatible with the local target and its global shape was neutral. The PCE was disappeared when the flanker's global shape was not neutral. These results suggest that flanker's global and local shape do not exert independent influences on the processing of local target shape, but rather interact with each other. The effect of flanker's global shape appeared to dominate the effect of flanker's local shape, which is consistent with the global precedence.
Three experiments were conducted to explore the processing characteristics of causal connectives in 2-sentence discourses. In Experiment I, either causal or additive discourses with or without causal/ additive connectives were presented to subjects, and the reading time for the second sentence of each pair was measured. With additive discourses, the presence or absence of an additive connective produced no significant difference in reading time, while the presence of a causal connective in a causal discourse entailed a faster reading time. In Experiment 2, it was found that the presence or absence of connectives made no difference on the reading time for the last word in the first sentence, while it caused a longer reading time for the last word in the second sentence. The former indicates the absence of the integrative processing during reading the first sentence, while the latter reflects a facilitation of integration of sentence pair initiated by the causal connective. In Experiment 3, a recognition test for the verb of the precedent sentence was given either at the beginning or at the end position of the second sentence, and it was found that under the connective-absent condition the recognition time was faster at the beginning position while it was faster at the end position under the connective-present condition, suggesting that the presence or absence of causal connectives entails different integrative processing. The general implications of the results of three experiments were discussed further in relation to the formation of coherent representation of discourses.
This study was conducted to investigate the individual differences(reading span differences) in instrument inference by using two different tasks. Lexical decision task was used in Experiment 1 whereas picture naming task was used in Experiment 2. The results of Experiment 1 indicated that high span readers generated instrument inference on-line while low span readers did not. However, the results of Experiment 2 indicated that both low and high span readers generated instrument inference on-line. It is suggested that picture naming task is so sensitive to the perceptual inferential processing that the generation of instrument inference of low span readers could be detected, whereas lexical decision task is sensitive only to the verbal inference. It is also discussed that reading span may reflect the processing efficiency in the phonological loop system of working memory.
The present study examined the effects of working memory capacity on incubation and creativity which are related to problem solving. The purpose of Study 1 was to see the effect of working memory capacity on incubation. Study 2 investigated the relationship between working memory and creativity. The results of Study 1 showed that incubation period facilitated the performance on the problem solving in high span group whereas no difference in performance was found in low span group. Study 2 showed working memory capacity is related to only elaboration score among creativity scores. It was found that high span group showed higher elaboration scores than low span group. These findings suggest that individual differences in cognitive functions have been attributed to working memory capacity. It is also implicated that individual differences in working memory may be related to not only direct analytical processes but also complex thought processes such as incubation and creativity.
To address the universality of the sentence processing strategies across different languages, various experimental results of Korean sentences were reviewed and examined. The predictions from such parsing strategies as the minimal attachment and the minimal chain were compatible with the word-by-word reading times of Korean ambiguous sentences such as embedded structures and dative noun phrases. The late closure strategy itself might not be appropriate for Korean, however, we argued that more inclusive parsing principle like locality could handle the ambiguity of Korean relative clause attachment. We confirmed that Korean parsing operations were performed incrementally, and argument information of verbs might be used in making expectation for a forthcoming structure. We showed that reparsing processes of Korean seem more compatible with diagnostic model, Suggestions for further studies were made.