We argue that stimulus uncertainty induces a cognitive state that can be linked to a concept that has been formerly described as ‘curiosity’ (Berlyne, 1949) – a state that motivates the agent to... Show moreWe argue that stimulus uncertainty induces a cognitive state that can be linked to a concept that has been formerly described as ‘curiosity’ (Berlyne, 1949) – a state that motivates the agent to reduce the uncertainty by exploring it. In two attention filtering tasks we varied response compatibility and stimulus congruency. In addition, we manipulated whether stimulus congruency was predictable or random. In conditions with random presentation the impact of congruency on compatibility was more pronounced suggesting that stimulus congruency was processed more strongly in a random environment. While this makes no sense from a short term strategic perspective in the laboratory, this allocation of attention to uncertain stimulus conditions makes perfect sense outside the laboratory. The impact of uncertainty on attentional control should not be considered a leakage but rather an investment into possible future opportunities. Show less
Cognitive control requires a balance between persistence and flexibility. We studied inter- and intraindividual differences in the metacontrol bias towards persistence or flexibility in cognitive... Show moreCognitive control requires a balance between persistence and flexibility. We studied inter- and intraindividual differences in the metacontrol bias towards persistence or flexibility in cognitive search tasks from various cognitive domains that require continuous switching between persistence and flexibility. For each task, clustering and switching scores were derived to assess persistence and flexibility, respectively, as well as a total performance score to reflect general performance. We compared two, not mutually exclusive accounts according to which the balance between clustering and switching scores is affected by (1) individual, trait-like metacontrol biases towards persistence or flexibility and/or (2) the metacontrol adaptivity to bias states according to changing situational demands. We found that clustering and switching scores failed to generalize across tasks. However, clustering and switching were inversely related and predicted the total performance scores in most of the tasks, which in turn partially generalized across tasks and task domains. We conclude that metacontrol-biases towards persistence or flexibility can be adapted easily to specific task demands and individual resources, possibly overwriting individual metacontrol trait biases. Moreover, we suggest that total performance scores might serve to measure metacontrol adaptivity in future studies if task-restrictions and resources are known and/or well balanced. Show less
Studies on joint task performance have proposed that co-acting individuals co-represent the shared task context, which implies that actors integrate their co-actor’s task components into their own... Show moreStudies on joint task performance have proposed that co-acting individuals co-represent the shared task context, which implies that actors integrate their co-actor’s task components into their own task representation as if they were all their own task. This proposal has been supported by results of joint tasks in which each actor is assigned a single response where selecting a response is equivalent to selecting an actor. The present study used joint task switching, which has previously shown switch costs on trials following the actor’s own trial (intrapersonal switch costs) but not on trials that followed the co-actor’s trial (interpersonal switch costs), suggesting that there is no task co-representation. We examined whether interpersonal switch costs can be obtained when action selection and actor selection are confounded as in previous joint task studies. The present results confirmed this prediction, demonstrating that switch costs can occur within a single actor as well as between co-actors when there is only a single response per actor, but not when there are two responses per actor. These results indicate that task co-representation is not necessarily implied even when effects occur across co-acting individuals and that how the task is divided between co-actors plays an important role in determining whether effects occur between co-actors. Show less
De Kleijn, R.; Van Es, L.; Kachergis, G.; Hommel, B. 2018
With robots playing an increasing role in our daily lives, our emotional responses to them have become an active subject of study. The process of anthropomorphization, ascribing human affordances... Show moreWith robots playing an increasing role in our daily lives, our emotional responses to them have become an active subject of study. The process of anthropomorphization, ascribing human affordances to non-human objects, is thought to play a large role in human-robot interaction. However, earlier studies have relied largely on experimenter’s manipulation of anthropomorphism, and the use of virtual robots. The aim of this study was to investigate peopleâs fairness preference and strategic and altruistic behavior toward different opponents (a human, a semi-humanoid and a spider-like robot, and a laptop) in two economic games. Anthropomorphization questionnaires and mood measures were also administered. Our findings suggest that fairness preference and strategic behavior are not predicted by the opponent’s physical appearance, but instead predicted by individual differences in the tendency to anthropomorphize others. Altruistic behavior, on the other hand, is affected by the opponent’s physical appearance. Show less
The nature of insight has been the interdisciplinary focus of scientific inquiry for over 100 years. Behavioral studies and biographical data suggest that insight, as a form of creative cognition,... Show moreThe nature of insight has been the interdisciplinary focus of scientific inquiry for over 100 years. Behavioral studies and biographical data suggest that insight, as a form of creative cognition, consists of at least four separate but intercorrelated stages as described by Wallas (1926). Yet no quantitative evidence was available for insight- or insight-stage-specific brain mechanisms that generalize across various insight tasks. The present work attempted, for one, to present an integrated and comprehensive description of the neural networks underlying insight and, for another, to identify dynamic brain mechanisms related to the four hypothetical stages of insight. To this end, we performed two quantitative meta-analyses: one for all available studies that used neuroimaging techniques to investigate insight, and the other for the phasic brain activation of insight drawn from task characteristics, using the activation likelihood estimation (ALE) approach. One key finding was evidence of an integrated network of insight-activated regions, including the right medial frontal gyrus, the left inferior frontal gyrus, the left amygdala and the right hippocampus. Importantly, various brain areas were variably recruited during the four stages. Based on the ALE results, the general and stage-specific neural correlates of insight were determined and potential implications are discussed. Show less
Seeing another person’s face while that face and one’s own face are stroked synchronously or controlling a virtual face by moving one’s own induces the illusion that the other face has become a... Show moreSeeing another person’s face while that face and one’s own face are stroked synchronously or controlling a virtual face by moving one’s own induces the illusion that the other face has become a part of oneself—the enfacement effect. Here, we demonstrate that humans can enface even members of another species and that this enfacement promotes “feature migration” in terms of intelligence and emotional attribution from the representation of other to the representation of oneself, and vice versa. We presented participants with a virtual human face moving in or out of sync with their own face, and then morphed it into an ape face. Participants tended to perceive the ape face as their own in the sync condition, as indicated by body-ownership and inclusion-of-others-in-the-self ratings. More interestingly, synchrony also reduced performance in a fluid-intelligence task and increased the willingness to attribute emotions to apes. These observations, which fully replicated in another experiment, fit with the idea that self and other are represented in terms of feature codes, just like non-social events (as implied by the Theory of Event Coding), so that representational self–other overlap invites illusory conjunctions of features from one representation to the other. Show less
This chapter discusses dual-process models of (health) behaviors, regarding both their recent criticisms and implications for health interventions. It agrees with critics that impulsive and... Show moreThis chapter discusses dual-process models of (health) behaviors, regarding both their recent criticisms and implications for health interventions. It agrees with critics that impulsive and reflective processes should not be equated with specific brain processes, but that psychological processes are emergent properties of the dynamic unfolding interplay between different neural systems. It maintains that at a psychological level of description, these models can still be useful to understand challenges to health behaviors and possible interventions. Affective processes can influence impulsive decision-making in health, but also reflective processes, when they concern affectively relevant goals. Cognitive training methods, including cognitive bias modification and training of executive control, have shown some success in changing health behaviors, but a critical variable for long-term success appears to be motivation to change. Show less
The relationship between risk-taking and creativity is critical to understanding social harmony and innovation. Although some studies have assessed the link between risk-taking and divergent... Show moreThe relationship between risk-taking and creativity is critical to understanding social harmony and innovation. Although some studies have assessed the link between risk-taking and divergent thinking, the association between risk-taking and convergent thinking remains unclear. Two studies were conducted to systemically investigate whether risk-taking is linked to convergent thinking. In Study 1, a sample of 127 healthy participants performed a Chinese remote associate test (RAT) and completed a risk-taking questionnaire. As predicted, risk-taking was negatively correlated with RAT performance, implying that risk-taking has a negative association with convergent thinking. Study 2 was an online survey study that replicated Study 1 and extended the measures to include self-rated risk and a measure of divergent thinking (the alternate uses task). The findings were fully replicated, showing that low risk-taking goes with better convergent thinking and risk-taking was not significantly correlated with divergent thinking. Furthermore, the risk-taking/convergent-thinking relationship was best described by a linear regression model in both studies. Taken together, these results suggest that appropriate reductions in risk-taking can boost convergent thinking. Show less
Psychologists have long thought that an inability to suppress irrelevant information hinders our ability to solve problems. However, most studies have investigated analytical rather than creative...
Psychologists have long thought that an inability to suppress irrelevant information hinders our ability to solve problems. However, most studies have investigated analytical rather than creative problem solving. Here, we examine whether the way in which the brain processes task-irrelevant information affects its ability to solve complex and creative problems. Using well-established paradigms from the attentional-perceptual literature (the event-file bindingtask) and problem-solving literature (the RemoteAssociates Test and Raven’s Advanced Progressive Matrices), we found that greater attentional leakage, as manifest by strong perceptual distractor-responsebinding, might be beneficial for solving insight-based creative problems but not necessarily for problems that require pattern finding and logic. These results suggest a specific advantage for spreading attention more equally between relevant and irrelevant information in order to creatively ‘think outside of the box’. This delineates a beautiful mapping between the way our sensory systems interact with the external world and our brain’s formation of internal semantic networks that underlie our creative capacities. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved)
Voluntary action control is accomplished through anticipating that action’s perceptual outcomes. Some evidence suggests that this is only true when responses are intention-based rather than... Show moreVoluntary action control is accomplished through anticipating that action’s perceptual outcomes. Some evidence suggests that this is only true when responses are intention-based rather than stimulus-based and that this difference is evidence of different response modes. More recently, however, it has been shown that response-outcome retrieval effects can occur with stimulus-based responses, and that the retrieval depended on response selection efficiency as decreasing the response selection efficiency increased response-outcome retrieval (Gozli et al., J Exp Psychol: Hum Percept Perform, 2016). We look to extend this finding by manipulating response selection difficulty within (Experiment 1) or between blocks (Experiment 2) and response preparation time (Experiment 1) within an experiment. Individuals completed a task in which they responded to onsets using the spatially corresponding finger. The onset was preceded by precues narrowing down the response possibilities from four to two. The response possibilities were either on the same hand or different hands, such that response selection was easy or hard. We also varied the amount of time between the cues and the targets to manipulate response preparation time. The results indicated that trial-by-trial manipulations of response selection difficulty did not influence response-outcome retrieval, but that the between groups manipulation of response preparation time did. With less time response preparation time, larger response-outcome compatibility effects were found. This study presents further evidence that response selection efficiency can influence response-outcome retrieval and that this difference can be accounted for in terms of how prepared the responses are at the time of target presentation. Show less
The aim of the study was to throw more light on the relationship between rumination and cognitive-control processes. Seventy-eight adults were assessed with respect to rumination tendencies by... Show moreThe aim of the study was to throw more light on the relationship between rumination and cognitive-control processes. Seventy-eight adults were assessed with respect to rumination tendencies by means of the LEIDS-r before performing a Stroop task, an event-file task assessing the automatic retrieval of irrelevant information, an attentional set-shifting task, and the Attentional Network Task, which provided scores for alerting, orienting, and executive control functioning. The size of the Stroop effect and irrelevant retrieval in the event-five task were positively correlated with the tendency to ruminate, while all other scores did not correlate with any rumination scale. Controlling for depressive tendencies eliminated the Stroop-related finding (an observation that may account for previous failures to replicate), but not the event-file finding. Taken altogether, our results suggest that rumination does not affect attention, executive control, or response selection in general, but rather selectively impairs the control of stimulus-induced retrieval of irrelevant information. Show less
Previous rubber/virtual hand illusion studies have established important constraints for the illusion that an artificial effector becomes part of one’s own body (perceived ownership), and that its... Show morePrevious rubber/virtual hand illusion studies have established important constraints for the illusion that an artificial effector becomes part of one’s own body (perceived ownership), and that its actions are being caused by oneself (perceived agency). We can take these observed constraints to establish two of three Wegner’s (Trends Cogn Sci 7:65–69; Wegner, Trends in Cognitive Sciences 7:65–69, 2003) criteria for the perception of personal agency: priority and consistency, but not Wegner’s third criterion—exclusivity. In this study we tested with virtual hand illusion, whether exclusivity (participant is certain who was controlling the virtual effector) can also be established. We manipulated two factors: exclusivity and consistency. Our results show that on both ownership and agency judgments, consistency and exclusivity produced main effects, and the two effects interacted in an underadditive fashion. Taken together, these findings provide support for our suggestion to extend Wegner’s agency theory to explain perceived body ownership, which in turn provides an integrative framework for interpreting constraints on ownership and agency illusions. Show less
The virtual hand illusion (VHI) paradigm demonstrates that people tend to perceive agency and bodily ownership for a virtual hand that moves in synchrony with their own movements. Given that this... Show moreThe virtual hand illusion (VHI) paradigm demonstrates that people tend to perceive agency and bodily ownership for a virtual hand that moves in synchrony with their own movements. Given that this kind of effect can be taken to reflect self–other integration (i.e., the integration of some external, novel event into the representation of oneself), and given that self–other integration has been previously shown to be affected by metacontrol states (biases of information processing towards persistence/selectivity or flexibility/integration), we tested whether the VHI varies in size depending on the metacontrol bias. Persistence and flexibility biases were induced by having participants carry out a convergent thinking (Remote Associates) task or divergent-thinking (Alternate Uses) task, respectively, while experiencing a virtual hand moving synchronously or asynchronously with their real hand. Synchrony-induced agency and ownership effects were more pronounced in the context of divergent thinking than in the context of convergent thinking, suggesting that a metacontrol bias towards flexibility promotes self–other integration. Show less
IntroductionTaking microdoses (a mere fraction of normal doses) of psychedelic substances, such as truffles, recently gained popularity, as it allegedly has multiple beneficial effects including... Show moreIntroductionTaking microdoses (a mere fraction of normal doses) of psychedelic substances, such as truffles, recently gained popularity, as it allegedly has multiple beneficial effects including creativity and problem-solving performance, potentially through targeting serotonergic 5-HT2A receptors and promoting cognitive flexibility, crucial to creative thinking. Nevertheless, enhancing effects of microdosing remain anecdotal, and in the absence of quantitative research on microdosing psychedelics, it is impossible to draw definitive conclusions on that matter. Here, our main aim was to quantitatively explore the cognitive-enhancing potential of microdosing psychedelics in healthy adults.MethodsDuring a microdosing event organized by the Dutch Psychedelic Society, we examined the effects of psychedelic truffles (which were later analyzed to quantify active psychedelic alkaloids) on two creativity-related problem-solving tasks: the Picture Concept Task assessing convergent thinking and the Alternative Uses Task assessing divergent thinking. A short version of the Ravens Progressive Matrices task assessed potential changes in fluid intelligence. We tested once before taking a microdose and once while the effects were expected to be manifested.ResultsWe found that both convergent and divergent thinking performance was improved after a non-blinded microdose, whereas fluid intelligence was unaffected.ConclusionWhile this study provides quantitative support for the cognitive-enhancing properties of microdosing psychedelics, future research has to confirm these preliminary findings in more rigorous placebo-controlled study designs. Based on these preliminary results, we speculate that psychedelics might affect cognitive metacontrol policies by optimizing the balance between cognitive persistence and flexibility. We hope this study will motivate future microdosing studies with more controlled designs to test this hypothesis. Show less
In a joint Simon task, a pair of co-acting individuals divide labors of performing a choice-reaction task in such a way that each actor responds to one type of stimuli and ignores the other type... Show moreIn a joint Simon task, a pair of co-acting individuals divide labors of performing a choice-reaction task in such a way that each actor responds to one type of stimuli and ignores the other type that is assigned to the co-actor. It has been suggested that the actors share the mental representation of the joint task and perform the co-actor’s trials as if they were their own. However, it remains unclear exactly which aspects of co-actor’s task-set the actors share in the joint Simon task. The present study addressed this issue by manipulating the proportions of compatible and incompatible trials for one actor (inducer actor) and observing its influences on the performance of the other actor (diagnostic actor) for whom there were always an equal proportion of compatible and incompatible trials. The design of the present study disentangled the effect of trial proportion from the confounding effect of compatibility on the preceding trial. The results showed that the trial proportions for the inducer actor had strong influences on the inducer actor’s own performance, but it had little influence on the diagnostic actor’s performance. Thus, the diagnostic actor did not represent aspects of the inducer actor’s task-set beyond stimuli and responses of the inducer actor. We propose a new account of the effect of preceding compatibility on the joint Simon effect. Show less
