Simple Cues Research Articles

Facial basis of stereotypes: Judgements of warmth and competence based on cross-group typicality/distinctiveness of faces.

Human migration is an increasingly common phenomenon and migrants are at risk of disadvantageous treatment. We reasoned that migrants may receive differential treatment by locals based on the closeness of their facial features to the host average. Residents of Türkiye, the country with the largest number of refugees currently, served as participants. Because many of these refugees are of Arabic origin, we created target facial stimuli varying along the axis connecting Turkish and Arabic morphological prototypes (excluding skin colour) computed using geometric morphometrics and available databases. Participants made judgements of two universal dimensions of social perception-warmth and competence-on these faces. We predicted that participants judging faces manipulated towards the Turkish average would provide higher warmth and competence ratings compared to judging the same faces manipulated towards the Arabic average. Bayesian statistical tools were employed to estimate parameter values in multilevel models with intercorrelated varying effects. The findings did not support the prediction and revealed raters (as well as target faces) to be an important source of variation in social judgements. In the absence of simple cues (e.g. skin colour, group labels), the effect of facial morphology on social judgements may be much more complex than previously assumed.

Cortical oscillations and event-related brain potentials during the preparation and execution of deceptive behavior.

Deception often occurs in response to a preceding cue (e.g., a precarious question) alerting us about the need to subsequently lie. Here, we simulate this process by adapting a previously established paradigm of intentionally false responding, now instructing participants about the need for deception (vs. truthful responses) by means of a simple cue occurring before each response-relevant target. We analyzed event-related brain potentials (ERPs) as well as cortical oscillations recorded from the scalp. In an experimental study (N = 44), we show that a cue signaling the need for deception involves increased attentional selection (P2, P3a, P3b). Moreover, in the period following the cue and leading up to the target, ERP and oscillatory signatures of anticipation and preparation (Contingent Negative Variation, alpha suppression) were found to be increased during trials requiring a deceptive as compared to a truthful response. Additionally, we replicated earlier findings that target processing involves enhanced motivated attention toward words requiring a deceptive response (LPC). Moreover, a signature of integration effort and semantic inhibition (N400) was observed to be larger for words to which responses have to be intentionally false as compared to those to which responses must be truthful. Our findings support the view of the involvement of a series of basic cognitive processes (especially attention and cognitive control) when responses are deliberately wrong instead of right. Moreover, preceding cues signaling the subsequent need for lying already elicit attentional and preparatory mechanisms facilitating the cognitive operations necessary for later successful lying.

Semantic structures facilitate threat memory integration throughout the medial temporal lobe and medial prefrontal cortex

Emotional experiences can profoundly impact our conceptual model of the world, modifying how we represent and remember a host of information even indirectly associated with that experienced in the past. Yet, how a new emotional experience infiltrates and spreads across pre-existing semantic knowledge structures (e.g., categories) is unknown. We used a modified aversive sensory preconditioning paradigm in fMRI (n= 35) to investigate whether threat memories integrate with a pre-established category to alter the representation of the entire category. We observed selective but transient changes in the representation of conceptually related items in the amygdala, medial prefrontal cortex, and occipitotemporal cortex following threat conditioning to a simple cue (geometric shape) pre-associated with a different, but related, set of category exemplars. These representational changes persisted beyond 24h in the hippocampus and perirhinal cortex. Reactivation of the semantic category during threat conditioning, combined with activation of the hippocampus or medial prefrontal cortex, was predictive of subsequent amygdala reactivity toward novel category members at test. This provides evidence for online integration of emotional experiences into semantic categories, which then promotes threat generalization. Behaviorally, threat conditioning by proxy selectively and retroactively enhanced recognition memory and increased the perceived typicality of the semantic category indirectly associated with threat. These findings detail a complex route through which new emotional learning generalizes by modifying semantic structures built up over time and stored in memory as conceptual knowledge.

Learning effects in over-ground running gait retraining: A six-month follow-up of a quasi-randomized controlled trial

ABSTRACT This study evaluated learning and recall effects following a feedback-based retraining program. A 6-month follow-up of a quasi-randomized controlled trial was performed with and without recall. Twenty runners were assigned to experimental or control groups and completed a 3-week running program. A body-worn system collected axial tibial acceleration and provided real-time feedback on peak tibial acceleration for six running sessions in an athletic training facility. The experimental group received music-based biofeedback in a faded feedback scheme. The controls received tempo-synchronized music as a placebo for blinding purposes. The peak tibial acceleration and vertical loading rate of the ground reaction force were determined in a lab at baseline and six months following the intervention to assess retention and recall. The impacts of the experimental group substantially decreased at follow-up following a simple verbal recall (i.e., run as at the end of the program): peak tibial acceleration:-32%, p = 0.018; vertical loading rate:-34%, p = 0.006. No statistically significant changes were found regarding the retention of the impact variables. The impact magnitudes did not change over time in the control group. The biofeedback-based intervention did not induce clear learning at follow-up, however, a substantial impact reduction was recallable through simple cueing in the absence of biofeedback.

Developing the Contribution of Information Processing Activities in Forming Persuasion

Research on persuasion or attitude change has been approached through singleprocess models. The focus of this research is to explain more clearly that persuasion only occurs through a process that is directly caused by social influence. However, the use of this approach produced contradictory results. On the one hand, social influence increases persuasion, but other research finds the opposite. This article discusses the possibility of using a dual-process model approach, which is expected to address the inconsistency of social influence on persuasion in single-process models. Dual process models are proposed to be able to provide new explanations regarding the possibility of multiple effects of social influence variables on persuasion by including information processing activity variables. Through the dual process model approach, it is possible to explain that a certain effect can be caused by different processes and that a certain variable can work differently and in different situations. Social influence has different mechanisms for determining persuasion, which can act as a simple cue when the thinking level is low and can have more than one role (multiple roles) when information processing activities are at a high thinking level.
 Keywords: elaboration likelihood models, information processing, persuasion, social influence

Me, myself, and I: Image concerns and honesty in immersive VR

We investigate how image concerns in high-immersive virtual reality (VR) can influence ethical behavior. We set up a VR-based laboratory experiment in which participants can increase their payoff by being dishonest, and implement treatments that are expected to trigger self-image and social-image concerns known from non-VR environments. Our results suggest that these simple cues fail to have similar effects in VR. We lay out several mechanisms rooted in self-discrepancy theory and the concept of avatar identification that can prevent image concerns from unfolding in VR. We discuss how, in high-immersive virtual environments, these mechanisms may intertwine and offset each other. We suggest the practical relevance of our study in light of the anticipated increase in metaverse use.

Perceptual Translucency in 3D Printing Using Surface Texture

We propose a method of reproducing perceptual translucency in three-dimensional printing. In contrast to most conventional methods, which reproduce the physical properties of translucency, we focus on the perceptual aspects of translucency. Humans are known to rely on simple cues to perceive translucency, and we develop a method of reproducing these cues using the gradation of surface textures. Textures are designed to reproduce the intensity distribution of the shading and thus provide a cue for the perception of translucency. In creating textures, we adopt computer graphics to develop an image-based optimization method. We validate the effectiveness of the method through subjective evaluation experiments using three-dimensionally printed objects. The results of the validation suggest that the proposed method using texture may increase perceptual translucency under specific conditions. As a method for translucent 3D printing, our method has the limitation that it depends on the observation conditions; however, it provides knowledge to the field of perception that the human visual system can be cheated by only surface textures.

Chaos in Strength and Conditioning Terminology

The field of strength and conditioning (S&C) has been adulterated with numerous, overlapping terms leading to miscommunication between athletes, sport coaches, strength and conditioning coaches (SCC) and sport scientists. Specifically, the use of various hyphenated terms to describe strength, in combination with contention associated with the proper definition and use of power, warrants the necessity to come to agreement on consistent terminology usage. Considerations should be based on the level of applicability and understanding of those most effected (athlete, sport coach, SCC, sport scientist). Moreover, while the use of kinetic and kinematic variables in describing strength and power related qualities is not incorrect, the population receiving the information must be considered. Athletes and sport coaches may be more influenced by simple cues and descriptors used to create movement intent and overall “buy in” to the S&C plan. Furthermore, SCC may be more concerned with how an exercise or movement will relate to improved sport performance while sport scientists may be more interested with how a specific variable(s) can be measured and quantified. Should the use of ambiguous, overlapping, or complex terminology persist, each of the various populations listed may continue to talk past one another instead of striving to be in agreeance with one another. Additionally, SCC may struggle with exercise selection and muddled programming due to the “paralysis by analysis” phenomenon when attempting to disseminate which exercises and movements to prescribe. Ultimately, the athlete may be most affected due to limited physiological improvement in turn leading to sub-par performance outcomes. Thus, the primary objectives of this article are to advance the field by creating an open discourse between the various individuals involved with the S&C profession while simultaneously shedding light on uncertainty associated with overlapping terms used to describe strength, power and other physical qualities associated with sports performance.

Revisiting the Timing of Insemination at Spontaneous Estrus in Dairy Cattle.

Cows show spontaneous estrus over 8-20 h but become refractory to the bull about 10-12 h before ovulation. This indicates that ovulation occurs 10-12 h after the end of estrus behavior, yet spermatozoa from the bull ejaculate need to undergo maturation and capacitation for 6 to 8 h in the female reproductive tract before they are capable of fertilization. Traditionally, the onset of estrus has been considered the best timing for artificial insemination (AI) in cattle, that is, 6 to 24 h from the first signs of estrus. However, recent findings suggest this interval should be reduced to 16 to 6 h before ovulation, bringing it closer to the end of estrus. In this review, the end of estrus rather than its onset is proposed as the best guide for AI timing in dairy cattle, and physiological indicators of late estrus are discussed such as relaxation of the intravaginal part of the uterus, a lower cervical mucus viscosity and a softer pre-ovulatory follicular consistency as simple cues indicating a cow is ready for service.

Reproduction of Perceptual Translucency by Surface Texture in 3D Printing

We propose a method of reproducing perceptual translucency in three-dimensional printing. In contrast to most conventional methods, which reproduce the physical properties of translucency, we focus on the perceptual aspects of translucency. Humans are known to rely on simple cues to perceive translucency, and we develop a method of reproducing these cues using the gradation of surface textures. Textures are designed to reproduce the intensity distribution of the shading and thus provide a cue for the perception of translucency. In creating textures, we adopt computer graphics to develop an image-based optimization method. We validate the effectiveness of the method through subjective evaluation experiments using three-dimensionally printed objects. The results of the validation show that the proposed method using texture is effective in improving perceptual translucency.

Beyond the BICS Essays: Envisioning a More Rigorous Preregistered Survival Study

Although the preceding exchange in this special subsection of the Journal (Augustine, 2022a, 2022b; Braude et al., 2022) has highlighted the differences between skeptics and proponents of discarnate personal survival, there is much more in common between us that often goes unsaid, such as a common respect for sound reasoning and for investigating matters empirically whenever possible. We also agree that this topic warrants further empirical investigation, and of a quality superior to that found in the extant survival literature. While we could further delineate our similarities and differences, a much more fruitful avenue for research is to collaborate on a design for an ‘ideal’ prospective test of potential survival that, if successful and replicable, would complement and corroborate previous attempts at rigorous experimental survival research.
 Working with Braude et al.’s (2022) team of survival proponents would have been optimal, but given time and logistical constraints, we have alternatively joined forces with the last author who has published several methodological papers in this domain from an agnostic perspective (e.g., Jamieson & Rock, 2014; Rock & Storm, 2015). By developing some of the proponents’ own published proposals, we have agreed on an experimental design that would provide substantiating evidence consistent with an anomalous effect by shielding any attainable replicable positive results, as much as feasible, from normal or conventional explanations. Such explanations run the gamut from simple cueing to researcher degrees of freedom or p-hacking, i.e., researchers inadvertently or deliberately collecting or selecting data or analyses until nonsignificant results are rendered statistically significant (Head et al., 2015).

Preschoolers decide who is knowledgeable, who to inform, and who to trust via a causal understanding of how knowledge relates to action

Preschoolers are discerning learners, preferring to trust people who are accurate, reliable, and appropriately-informed. Do these preferences reflect mental-state reasoning, where children infer what others know from their behavior, or do they reflect a reliance on simple cues? In Experiment 1 we show that four- and five-year-olds can infer knowledge from others' behavior when superficial cues and actions are matched across agents. Experiments 2a and 2b further suggest that children track how agents acquired their knowledge, and may use this to determine what different agents will (and will not) know. Finally, Experiment 3 shows that children independently make these knowledge inferences when deciding whom to trust. Our findings suggest that by age four, children have expectations about how knowledge relates to action, use these expectations to infer what others know from what they do, and rely on these inferences when deciding whom to trust.

Contextualising facial expressions: The effect of temporal context and individual differences on classification.

The influence of context on facial expression classification is most often investigated using simple cues in static faces portraying basic expressions with a fixed emotional intensity. We examined (1) whether a perceptually rich, dynamic audiovisual context, presented in the form of movie clips (to achieve closer resemblance to real life), affected the subsequent classification of dynamic basic (happy) and non-basic (sarcastic) facial expressions and (2) whether people's susceptibility to contextual cues was related to their ability to classify facial expressions viewed in isolation. Participants classified facial expressions-gradually progressing from neutral to happy/sarcastic in increasing intensity-that followed movie clips. Classification was relatively more accurate and faster when the preceding context predicted the upcoming expression, compared with when the context did not. Speeded classifications suggested that predictive contexts reduced the emotional intensity required to be accurately classified. More importantly, we show for the first time that participants' accuracy in classifying expressions without an informative context correlated with the magnitude of the contextual effects experienced by them-poor classifiers of isolated expressions were more susceptible to a predictive context. Our findings support the emerging view that contextual cues and individual differences must be considered when explaining mechanisms underlying facial expression classification.

Errors, Irregularities, and Misdirection: Cue Utilisation and Cognitive Reflection in the Diagnosis of Phishing Emails

The study aimed to examine the role of, and potential interplay between, cue utilisation and cognitive reflection in email users’ ability to accurately (and efficiently) differentiate between phishing and genuine emails. 145 participants completed the Cognitive Reflection Test (CRT), a phishing diagnostic task, and the Expert Intensive Skill Evaluation (EXPERTise 2.0) battery, which provided a gauge of users’ cue utilisation in the domain. The results revealed an interaction between users’ cognitive utilisation and cue reflection, whereby users low in both facets performed significantly worse in diagnosing phishing emails than all other groups. Further, those participants with both higher cue utilisation and cognitive reflection took significantly longer to make their diagnosis. It is concluded that a high level of cognitive reflection was able to compensate for a lower level of cue utilisation, and vice versa. Participants reported using seven types of cue during diagnosis, however, there was no significant relationship between the types of cues used and users’ level of cue utilisation. Taken together, the findings have implications to the design of user-level interventions in relation to the identification of vulnerable users, as well as the need to consider training approaches that extend beyond the use of simple cue inventories.

Generating authenticity in automated work.

In an increasing number of domains, people interact with automated agents (such as algorithms, robots, and computers) instead of humans. Across five studies, we explore the role of authenticity in shaping people's reactions to automated agents' work. In doing so, we examine two basic ways to generate authenticity in autonomous technological work: (a) highlighting the human origins of autonomous technologies and (b) anthropomorphizing autonomous technologies, or presenting them with human-like qualities. We find strong evidence that human origin stories generate authenticity, but much less evidence that simple anthropomorphic cues do so to the same degree (Studies 1-3). Simply prompting people to consider human origins can also generate attributions of authenticity (Study 4), which translates into intended and recommended support for automated work (Study 5). We discuss how managers of organizations can implement automated systems in ways that encourage attributions of authenticity. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Knowledge extraction from the learning of sequences in a long short term memory (LSTM) architecture

Transparency and trust in machine learning algorithms have been deemed to be fundamental and yet, from a practical point of view, they remain difficult to implement. Particularly, explainability and interpretability are certainly among the most difficult capabilities to be addressed and imply to be able to understand a decision in terms of simple cues and rules. In this article, we address this specific problem in the context of sequence learning by recurrent neuronal models (and more specifically Long Short Term Memory model). We introduce a general method to extract knowledge from the latent space based on the clustering of the internal states. From these hidden states, we explain how to build and validate an automaton that corresponds to the underlying (unknown) grammar, and allows to predict if a given sequence is valid or not. Finally, we show that it is possible for such complex recurrent model, to extract the knowledge that is implicitly encoded in the sequences and we report a high rate of recognition of the sequences extracted from the original grammar. This method is illustrated on artificial grammars (Reber grammar variants) as well as on a real use-case in the electrical domain, whose underlying grammar is unknown.

“I Like the Way You Move”: Validating the Use of Point-Light Display Animations in Virtual Reality as a Methodology for Manipulating Levels of Sexualization in the Study of Sexual Objectification

Sexual objectification of others has seen a growing research interest in recent years. While promising, the field lacks standardized stimuli, resulting in a confusion between sexualization and sexual objectification, which limits the interpretability of published results. In this study, we propose to use point-light display (PLD) as a novel methodology for manipulating sexualization levels as a first step toward isolating movement from other visual cues (e.g., clothing or physical appearance) for studying effects of sexual objectification of others. To do so, we first developed 8 virtual reality animations varying on 3 dimensions: 1) nature of movement (dance vs. walk), 2) level of sexualization (low vs. high), and 3) animation speed (slow and fast). Then, we validated these stimuli with perception ratings from 211 participants via an online survey. Using mixed linear regression models, we found evidence that our manipulation was successful: while participants took longer, were less accurate, and less confident in their response when confronted with a dancing, sexualized PLD, they also rated it as significantly more sexualized. This latter effect was stronger for participants perceiving a woman dancing compared to participants who perceived other genders. Overall, participants who reported more frequent sexual objectification behaviors also perceived the animations as more sexualized. Taken together, these results suggest that sexual suggestiveness can be manipulated by rather simple movement cues, thus validating the use of PLD as a stepping stone to systematically study processes of sexual objectification. From there, it is now possible to manipulate other variables more precisely during immersions in virtual reality, whether by adding a skin to the animated skeleton, by situating the PLD into different context, by varying the amplitude and the nature of the movements, or by modifying the context of the virtual environment.

Insects Provide Unique Systems to Investigate How Early-Life Experience Alters the Brain and Behavior

Early-life experiences have strong and long-lasting consequences for behavior in a surprising diversity of animals. Determining which environmental inputs cause behavioral change, how this information becomes neurobiologically encoded, and the functional consequences of these changes remain fundamental puzzles relevant to diverse fields from evolutionary biology to the health sciences. Here we explore how insects provide unique opportunities for comparative study of developmental behavioral plasticity. Insects have sophisticated behavior and cognitive abilities, and they are frequently studied in their natural environments, which provides an ecological and adaptive perspective that is often more limited in lab-based vertebrate models. A range of cues, from relatively simple cues like temperature to complex social information, influence insect behavior. This variety provides experimentally tractable opportunities to study diverse neural plasticity mechanisms. Insects also have a wide range of neurodevelopmental trajectories while sharing many developmental plasticity mechanisms with vertebrates. In addition, some insects retain only subsets of their juvenile neuronal population in adulthood, narrowing the targets for detailed study of cellular plasticity mechanisms. Insects and vertebrates share many of the same knowledge gaps pertaining to developmental behavioral plasticity. Combined with the extensive study of insect behavior under natural conditions and their experimental tractability, insect systems may be uniquely qualified to address some of the biggest unanswered questions in this field.

The Impact of Shape-Based Cue Discriminability on Attentional Performance.

With rapidly developing technology, visual cues became a powerful tool for deliberate guiding of attention and affecting human performance. Using cues to manipulate attention introduces a trade-off between increased performance in cued, and decreased in not cued, locations. For higher efficacy of visual cues designed to purposely direct user’s attention, it is important to know how manipulation of cue properties affects attention. In this verification study, we addressed how varying cue complexity impacts the allocation of spatial endogenous covert attention in space and time. To gradually vary cue complexity, the discriminability of the cue was systematically modulated using a shape-based design. Performance was compared in attended and unattended locations in an orientation-discrimination task. We evaluated additional temporal costs due to processing of a more complex cue by comparing performance at two different inter-stimulus intervals. From preliminary data, attention scaled with cue discriminability, even for supra-threshold cue discriminability. Furthermore, individual cue processing times partly impacted performance for the most complex, but not simpler cues. We conclude that, first, cue complexity expressed by discriminability modulates endogenous covert attention at supra-threshold cue discriminability levels, with increasing benefits and decreasing costs; second, it is important to consider the temporal processing costs of complex visual cues.

Representing uncertainty in the Rescorla-Wagner model: Blocking, the redundancy effect, and outcome base rate

It is generally assumed that the Rescorla and Wagner (1972) model adequately accommodates the full results of simple cue competition experiments in humans (e.g. Dickinson et al., 1984), while the Bush and Mosteller (1951) model cannot. We present simulations that demonstrate this assumption is wrong in at least some circumstances. The Rescorla-Wagner model, as usually applied, fits the full results of a simple forward cue-competition experiment no better than the Bush-Mosteller model. Additionally, we present a novel finding, where letting the associative strength of all cues start at an intermediate value (rather than zero), allows this modified model to provide a better account of the experimental data than the (equivalently modified) Bush-Mosteller model. This modification also allows the Rescorla-Wagner model to account for a redundancy effect experiment (Uengoer et al., 2013); something that the unmodified model is not able to do. Furthermore, the modified Rescorla-Wagner model can accommodate the effect of varying the proportion of trials on which the outcome occurs (i.e. the base rate) on the redundancy effect (Jones et al., 2019). Interestingly, the initial associative strength of cues varies in line with the outcome base rate. We propose that this modification provides a simple way of mathematically representing uncertainty about the causal status of novel cues within the confines of the Rescorla-Wagner model. The theoretical implications of this modification are discussed. We also briefly introduce free and open resources to support formal modelling in associative learning. Keywords: associative learning, prediction error, uncertainty, modelling, blocking, redundancy effect, open science.