Social attention with real versus reel stimuli: toward an empirical approach to concerns about ecological validity

Cognitive neuroscientists often study social cognition by using simple but socially relevant stimuli, such as schematic faces or images of other people. Whilst this research is valuable, important aspects of genuine social encounters are absent from these studies, a fact that has recently drawn criticism. In the present review we argue for an empirical approach to the determination of the equivalence of different social stimuli. This approach involves the systematic comparison of different types of social stimuli ranging in their approximation to a real social interaction. In garnering support for this cognitive ethological approach, we focus on recent research in social attention that has involved stimuli ranging from simple schematic faces to real social interactions. We highlight both meaningful similarities and differences in various social attentional phenomena across these different types of social stimuli thus validating the utility of the research initiative. Furthermore, we argue that exploring these similarities and differences will provide new insights into social cognition and social neuroscience

Listen Up! Using Podcasts in STEM Courses to Improve Engagement and Facilitate Review

This workshop focuses on how to integrate podcasts into science-based courses (e.g., chemistry, psychology). To some students, science-based courses can be perceived as ‘dry’ and difficult to engage with at a level that facilitates retention. Given that engrossing, high-quality teaching is cited as inspiring course enjoyment and leading students to further pursue STEM education (e.g., Horowitz, 2009), lecturers are often looking for ways to increase student interest. More than this, it is the hope of many educators that more enjoyable coursework will lead to better retention and understanding of the material (e.g., Kuh et al., 2008). As a news and entertainment vehicle, podcasts have continued to grow in popularity over the past decade or more. However, the efficacy of using podcasts within educational settings has been mixed (e.g., Daniel & Woody, 2010; Lee & Chan, 2007). This workshop will introduce podcasts as a learning medium and describe ways in which they can be used to effectively complement traditional teaching approaches, either as an enhancement to the course, or as a resource for student review. Attendees will be introduced to several ready-made STEM podcast resources and engage in discussions on how to develop new content that is effective, both logistically and pedagogically

If not When, then Where? Ignoring Temporal Information Eliminates Reflexive but not Volitional Spatial Orienting

A tremendous amount of research has been devoted to understanding how attention can be committed to space or time. Until recently, relatively little research has examined how attention to these two domains combine. The present study addressed this issue. We examined how implicitly manipulating whether participants used a cue to orient attention in time impacts reflexive or volitional shifts in spatial attention. Specifically, participants made speeded manual responses to the detection of a peripherally presented target that appeared either 100, 500, or 1000 ms after the onset of a central cue. Cues were either spatially non-predictive arrows (p = 0.50) or spatially-predictive (p = 0.80) letter cues. Whereas arrow cues can reflexively orient spatial attention even when non-predictive of a target’s spatial location, letters only orient spatial attention when they reliably predict a target location, i.e., the shift is volitional. Further, in one task, a target was presented on every trial, thereby encouraging participants to use the temporal information conveyed by the cue to prepare for the appearance of the target. In another task, 25% of trials contained no target, implicitly discouraging participants from using the cue to direct attention in time. Results indicate that when temporal information is reliable and therefore volitionally processed, then spatial cuing effects emerge regardless of whether attention is oriented reflexively or volitionally. However, when temporal information is unreliable, spatial cuing effects only emerge when spatial cue information is reliable, i.e., when spatial attention is volitionally shifted. Reflexive cues do not elicit spatial orienting when their temporal utility is reduced. These results converge on the notion that reflexive shifts of spatial attention are sensitive to implicit changes in a non-spatial domain, whereas explicit volitional shifts in spatial attention are not.Arts, Faculty ofNon UBCPsychology, Department ofReviewedFacult