Early Attention: A Study of the Underlying Mechanisms

La première partie de cet article a pour but de présenter l’impact des différents facteurs de l’activation précoce de l’attention. La réaction d’orientation (R.O.), décrite comme un mécanisme qui active l’attention, est présentée comme résultant, non seulement de la nouveauté du stimulus mais aussi de sa significativité et de son intensité ainsi que de son caractère inattendu. La seconde partie de l’article introduit une interprétation de ce qui maintient l’attention, en faisant référence au processus physiologique de sensibilisation. Cette interprétation est proposée comme une alternative au modèle de Cohen (1973).The first part of this paper aims at discussing on the impact of different factors in early activation of attention. The orienting response (O.R.), presented as a mechanism that activates attention results, not only from the novelty factor but also from the stimulus significance and intensity, and from its unexpected nature. The second part of the paper introduces an interpretation of what maintains attention refering to a physiological process called sensitization. This interpretation is proposed as an alternative to Cohen’model, (1973)

Early Attention: A Study of the Underlying Mechanisms

La première partie de cet article a pour but de présenter l’impact des différents facteurs de l’activation précoce de l’attention. La réaction d’orientation (R.O.), décrite comme un mécanisme qui active l’attention, est présentée comme résultant, non seulement de la nouveauté du stimulus mais aussi de sa significativité et de son intensité ainsi que de son caractère inattendu. La seconde partie de l’article introduit une interprétation de ce qui maintient l’attention, en faisant référence au processus physiologique de sensibilisation. Cette interprétation est proposée comme une alternative au modèle de Cohen (1973).The first part of this paper aims at discussing on the impact of different factors in early activation of attention. The orienting response (O.R.), presented as a mechanism that activates attention results, not only from the novelty factor but also from the stimulus significance and intensity, and from its unexpected nature. The second part of the paper introduces an interpretation of what maintains attention refering to a physiological process called sensitization. This interpretation is proposed as an alternative to Cohen’model, (1973)

Perception du temps dans une tâche d’évitement signalé : superposition de l’inhibition de délai

Time perception in human conditioned avoidance : Superposition of the inhibition of delay This present study used a video game to replicate the superposition effect of the inhibition of delay in the conditioned avoidance paradigm. Three stimulus durations were used : 3, 6, and 9 seconds (two signals of each, one reinforced and the other non-reinforced). Results showed that the avoidance response reached a maximum at the stimulus offset, when the stimulus predicted an aversive outcome. This effect is called the inhibition of delay. In recording the performance on every third of the signal, the inhibitions of delay found with the 3 signal durations superposed. The model of the scalar timing predicted the superposition effect (Gibbon, 1977).La présente étude montre la superposition de l’inhibition de délai dans un jeu vidéo reposant sur une procédure d’évitement signalé. Trois stimulus de 3, 6 et 9 sec annoncent un événement aversif et trois autres de 3, 6 et 9 sec n’annoncent pas d’événement aversif. La réponse d’évitement atteint son maximum à la fin de la durée de présentation des stimulus de 3, 6 et 9-sec qui annoncent un événement aversif. C’est l’effet de l’inhibition de délai. En enregistrant la performance à chaque tiers de la durée de présentation des stimulus, les patterns de l’inhibition de délai trouvés pour les 3 durées se superposent. Cette superposition est un résultat prédit par le modèle du temps scalaire de Gibbon (1977).Molet Mikaël, Rosas Juan M. Perception du temps dans une tâche d’évitement signalé : superposition de l’inhibition de délai. In: L'année psychologique. 2007 vol. 107, n°1. pp. 3-14

Temps, saillance et contexte (une approche cognitive de l'apprentissage)

Six articles sur les effets du temps, de la saillance et du contexte composent la présente thèse. Quatre des modèles les plus populaires en psychologie cognitive de l'apprentissage sont convoqués. Le modèle du temps scalaire de Gibbon (1977) est utilisé pour l'étude du facteur "temps". Trois articles expérimentaux sont consacrés à l'étude de l'inhibition de délai et au résultat de superposition dans une tâche d'évitement signalé. Les modèles de Rescorla-Wagner (1972) et Mackintosch (1975) sont utilisés pour l'étude du facteur "saillance". Une note théorique est consacrée au modèle de Rescorla-Wagner (1972) et un long article expérimental est ensuite consacré à l'étude de l'effet de la saillance des stimulus dans une tâche de jugement prédictif. Le modèle de Bouton (1993) est enfin utilisé pour l'étude du facteur "contexte". Une seconde note théorique est finalement consacrée à l'effet du contexte sur l'extinction du jugement causal/prédictifSix articles on time, salience and context are presented in this present work. The four of the most popular models in cognitive behaviourism are used. The scalar expectancy theory (Gibbon, 1977) accounted for time effect. Three experimental articles explored the inhibition of delay and superposition result in human conditioned avoidance. Rescorla-Wagner (1972) and Makintosch (1975) learning models accounted for salience effect. A critical paper reviewed the powerful heuristic of the Rescorla-Wagner model. Additionally, an experimental paper explored the salience effect in human predictive learning. The theory of Bouton (1993) accounted for context effect. A second critical paper reviewed the literature in causal/predictive learning on context effect of extinctionLILLE3-BU (590092101) / SudocSudocFranceF

Preference for a segmented schedule using a brief S+ stimulus correlated with a great delay reduction in humans

PMID: 20558259International audiencePast studies using the concurrent-chain procedure showed that pigeons and humans generally prefer an unsegmented schedule to a segmented schedule. This finding is ostensibly inconsistent with theories of conditioned reinforcement such as delay-reduction theory. In the present study with humans, two changes in the basic segmented schedule were implemented to resolve this inconsistency. The first change was that in the segmented schedule the terminal-link stimulus (S+ stimulus) changed late in the terminal-link, close to reinforcement presentation. The second change was that the presentation of the segmenting stimulus, S+, was brief allowing a reinstatement of the early terminal-link stimulus, which is contiguous with reinforcement. Our data constitute the first demonstration of preference for the segmented schedule when a brief S+ is correlated with a greater reduction in delay to reinforcement

Subjective time: cognitive and physical secondary tasks affect timing differently

PMID: 21416457International audienceHumans were trained on a temporal discrimination to make one response when the stimulus duration was short (2 s) and a different response when the stimulus duration was long (8 s). They were then tested with stimulus durations in between to determine the bisection point. In Experiment 1, we examined the effect of a secondary cognitive task (counting backwards by threes) on the bisection point when participants were trained without a cognitive load and were tested with a cognitive load or the reverse (relative to appropriate controls). When the cognitive load increased from training, the psychophysical function plotting long responses against the increase in stimulus duration shifted to the right (as if the internal clock slowed down), and when the cognitive load decreased from training the psychophysical function shifted to the left (as if the internal clock speeded up). In Experiment 2, when the secondary task consisted of exerting continuous force on a transducer (a physically effortful task), it had the opposite effect. When the required force increased from training, the psychophysical function shifted to the left (as if the internal clock speeded up), and when the required force decreased from training, the psychophysical function shifted to the right (as if the internal clock slowed down). The results support an attentional view of the subjective passage of time. A cognitive secondary task appears to decrease attention to temporal cues, resulting in the underestimation of the passage of time, whereas a force requirement appears to increase attention to temporal cues, resulting in the overestimation of the passage of time

Guilt by association and honor by association: The role of acquired equivalence

Guilt by association and honor by association are two types of judgments that suggest that a negative or positive quality of a person or object can transfer to another person or object, merely by co-occurrence. Most examples have been demonstrated under conditions of direct associations. Here, we provide experimental evidence of guilt by association and honor by association via indirect associations. We show that participants may treat two individuals alike if they have been separately paired with a common event using an acquired-equivalence paradigm. Our findings suggest that association fallacies can be examined using a paradigm originally developed for research with nonhuman animals and based on a representation mediation account.status: publishe