Subsequent Information Processing Research Articles

The Effects of Overhearing Peers Discuss an Authority's Fairness Reputation on Reactions to Subsequent Treatment.

Fairness heuristic theory was used to examine how information from one's peers affects an individual's interpretation of, and reactions to, an authority's subsequent behavior. Participants (N=105) overheard their peers discuss an experimenter's reputation (fair, unfair, or absent) before interacting with the experimenter who behaved more versus less fairly. Results showed that the social cues biased participants' subsequent information processing: controlling for the experimenter's behavior, interactional justice mediated the effect of social cues on retaliation. Social cues and the authority's behavior also interacted to predict retaliation. Participants who were treated less fairly retaliated more after being led to expect fair treatment than did participants who heard no prior information about the experimenter.

Sensory gating deficits during the mid-latency phase of information processing in medicated schizophrenia patients

Sensory gating during preattentive phases of information processing has been extensively examined. Sensory gating processes that occur during subsequent phases of information processing have not been fully examined. The relationship between P50 sensory gating and schizophrenia symptoms remains underspecified and the clinical correlates of N100 and P200 gating are yet to be examined. Sensory gating indices derived from the mid-latency auditory evoked responses during preattentive (P50) and attentive (N100, P200) phases of information processing were collected from schizophrenia patients who were stable and mainly being treated with atypical antipsychotic medications (n=23) and age- and gender-matched healthy control subjects (n=23). Schizophrenia patients had demonstrable habituation or sensory gating difficulties throughout the mid-latency range of information processing. Moreover, we found no correlations between P50-derived sensory gating indices and the amplitude or latency of the more attention-related P300 evoked response. A number of N100 and P200 gating measures correlated with P300 variables. Finally, we found no correlations between sensory gating indices and schizophrenia symptoms clusters. These results suggest that sensory gating is a pervasive abnormality in schizophrenia patients that is not limited to the preattentive phase of information processing. Furthermore, the data suggest that N100 and P200 gating indices may influence subsequent information processing.

Sensory gating deficits during the mid-latency phase of information processing in medicated schizophrenia patients

Sensory gating during preattentive phases of information processing has been extensively examined. Sensory gating processes that occur during subsequent phases of information processing have not been fully examined. The relationship between P50 sensory gating and schizophrenia symptoms remains underspecified and the clinical correlates of N100 and P200 gating are yet to be examined. Sensory gating indices derived from the mid-latency auditory evoked responses during preattentive (P50) and attentive (N100, P200) phases of information processing were collected from schizophrenia patients who were stable and mainly being treated with atypical antipsychotic medications ( n=23) and age- and gender-matched healthy control subjects ( n=23). Schizophrenia patients had demonstrable habituation or sensory gating difficulties throughout the mid-latency range of information processing. Moreover, we found no correlations between P50-derived sensory gating indices and the amplitude or latency of the more attention-related P300 evoked response. A number of N100 and P200 gating measures correlated with P300 variables. Finally, we found no correlations between sensory gating indices and schizophrenia symptoms clusters. These results suggest that sensory gating is a pervasive abnormality in schizophrenia patients that is not limited to the preattentive phase of information processing. Furthermore, the data suggest that N100 and P200 gating indices may influence subsequent information processing.

Processing of auditory information in insects.

Insects exhibit an astonishing diversity in the design of their ears and the subsequent processing of information within their auditory pathways. The aim of this review is to summarize and compare the present concepts of auditory processing by relating behavioral performance to known neuronal mechanisms. We focus on three general aspects, that is frequency, directional, and temporal processing. The first part compares the capacity (in some insects high) for frequency analysis in the ear with the rather low specificity of tuning in interneurons by looking at Q10dB values and frequency dependent inhibition of interneurons. Since sharpening of frequency does not seem to be the prime task of a set of differently tuned receptors, alternative hypotheses are discussed. Moreover, the physiological correspondence between tonotopic projections of receptors and dendritic organization of interneurons is not in all cases strong. The second part is concerned with directional hearing and thus with the ability for angular resolution of insects. The present concepts, as derived from behavioral performances, for angular resolution versus lateralization and serial versus parallel processing of directional and pattern information can be traced to the thoracic level of neuronal processing. Contralateral inhibition, a mechanism for enhancing directional tuning, appears to be most effective in parallel pathways, whereas in serial processing it may have detrimental effects on pattern processing. The third part, after some considerations of signal analysis in the temporal domain, demonstrates that closely related species often use different combinations of temporal parameters in their recognition systems. On the thoracic level, analysis of temporal modulation functions and effects of inhibition on spiking patterns reveals relatively simple processing, whereas brain neurons may exhibit more complex properties.

Interaction of prime and target in the subliminal affective priming effect.

It has been found that an emotional stimulus such as a facial expression presented subliminally can affect subsequent information processing and behavior, usually by shifting evaluation of a subsequent stimulus to a valence congruent with the previous stimulus. This phenomenon is called subliminal affective priming. The present study was conducted to replicate and expand previous findings by investigating interaction of primes and targets in the affective priming effect. Two conditions were used. Prime (subliminal presentation 35 msec.) of an angry face of a woman and a No Prime control condition. Just after presentation of the prime, an ambiguous angry face or an emotionally neutral face was presented above the threshold of awareness (500 msec.). 12 female undergraduate women judged categories of facial expressions (Anger, Neutral, or Happiness) for the target faces. Analysis indicated that the Anger primes significantly facilitated judgment of anger for the ambiguous angry faces; however, the priming effect of the Anger primes was not observed for neutral faces. Consequently, the present finding suggested that a subliminal affective priming effect should be more prominent when affective valence of primes and targets is congruent.

The Differential Use of Information by Experienced and Novice Auditors in the Performance of Ill‐Structured Audit Tasks*

AbstractThe experiment reported in this paper tests a theoretical model of experienced and novice auditors' information use. The model, based on social cognition research, posits that when judgements are sequential, the information encountered first affects the processing of subsequent information. Specifically, initial information that is in line with expectations results in more superficial processing of subsequent information than initial information that violates expectations. The judgements of 13 experienced and 26 novice auditors were analyzed to determine whether the model is descriptive of auditors' judgements in an ill‐structured task setting (real estate valuation). Results lend support for the model. The implications of the results and the model's impact on audit effectiveness are discussed.

Privation de contrôle et traitement de l'information : critique de l'approche de la motivation pour le contrôle et propositions alternatives

Summary : Control deprivation and information processing : A critical evaluation of the control motivation hypothesis and propositions for alternative interpretations. Control motivation theory is considered as the dominant explanation for the effects of control deprivation on subsequent social information processing. According to this position, control deprivation heightens a fundamental motivation to restore control that results in a more careful processing of incoming information. In this article, a critical analysis of this position is presented. It is argued that the available experimental data do not clearly support control motivation theory. Moreover, this position cannotfully explain some results found in this research area. Four alternative explanations based on the reactance-learned helplessness integration are proposed. According to these theoretical proposais, the effects of control deprivation on subsequent information processing vary depending on the amount of control deprivation experienced and on the difficulty ofthe task. It is argued that these propositions are consistent both with the results found in control deprivation research and with findings in other areas (such as social power and depressives' social perception) in which control deprivation is hypothesized to be an important factor. Key words : control deprivation, information processing, control motivation.

The role of familiarity in implicit memory effects: the case of exemplar activation

The present study investigates how person-based representations stored in memory can influence subsequent information processing, depending upon subjective states during recollection of those representations. The experiment consisted of two phases. In the first phase, participants incidentally learned the gender category membership of various exemplars. Exemplars were presented in the form of forename–surname associations. In the second phase, the same surnames were used as primes in a name-completion task. Results showed that the influence of the primes differed in relation to the exemplars' status in memory, as assessed by a recognition memory task. Only when the surnames looked familiar, but were not identifiable, an implicit effect of the exemplars' original category membership emerged, selectively influencing gender congruent name-completions. Results are discussed in terms of attribution processes underlying the importance of the feelings of familiarity, and the need to devote more attention to the study of phenomenological factors in human memory. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Serial processing of the somesthetic information revealed by different effects of stimulus rate on the somatosensory-evoked potentials and magnetic fields

In order to evaluate information processing in the somatosensory cortex, the effect of two different stimulus rates was investigated by simultaneously recording somatosensory-evoked potentials (SEPs) and magnetic fields (SEFs) in nine healthy adults. During electric stimulation of the median nerve at the wrist, SEFs were recorded with the helmet-shaped whole-head coverage magnetometer array with 122 first-order planar gradiometers while SEPs were simultaneously recorded from seven scalp positions. Interstimulus intervals (ISIs) of 0.9 s and 4 s were compared. In all subjects, N20 as well as its magnetic counterpart, N20m, was clearly demonstrated over the contralateral somatosensory area. Subsequent deflections around 80–200 ms did not make any clear peak and were smaller than those at 20–60 ms (P30m, P40m, N50m and P60m). After 200 ms, SEFs were negligible, whereas SEPs had larger amplitude than those of shorter latencies, constituting a peak around 250 ms (P250). Both SEF and SEP deflections later than 40 ms were decreased in responses at the shorter ISI; this diminution was most prominent for P250. Therefore, it is concluded that the tangential currents in the somatosensory cortex (area 3b) mainly contribute to responses during the first 200 ms after the stimulus, whereas the radially oriented currents (most likely in the crown of the postcentral gyrus) take over for subsequent information processing.

Calmodulin, calbindin-D28k, calretinin and neurocalcin in rat olfactory bulb during postnatal development

Odorant stimulation of receptor cells results in a calcium influx that activates the transduction pathway. The olfactory neurons extend axons to the olfactory bulb where they synapse onto mitral cells. Ca 2+-acceptors also may participate in subsequent processing of olfactory information. The present study describes the distribution of calmodulin, calretinin, calbindin-D28k and neurocalcin during rat main olfactory bulb development. From postnatal day I (PI) we observed in the olfactory nerve layer a thin external bundle containing calbindin and calretinin whereas calmodulin was present in a large internal bundle. In tufted cells, neurocalcin immunoreactivitiy was detected at P10 and increased until P20. In mitral cells calmodulin was intensively immunoreactive at Pl but decreased during development to disappear at adulthood whereas calretinin was weakly labelled at P1 but raised in intensity until P20. In granule cells calbindin-D28k and calretinin were detected from P1. Giant neurons were positive for both calretinin and calbindin-D28k from postnatal day 20.

Differential distribution of six calcium‐binding proteins in the rat olfactory epithelium during postnatal development and adulthood

Odorant stimulation of receptor cells results in a calcium influx that activates the transduction pathway. Ca2+ acceptors, such as calmodulin, may mediate between the change in intracellular calcium and the conductance mechanism underlying the initial electrical event. Ca2+ acceptors also may participate in subsequent processing of olfactory information. The identification and characterization of these molecules, therefore, should provide important information about the complex signal transduction pathway involving calcium in olfaction as well as other sensory systems. The present study describes the distribution of six calcium-binding proteins in the rat main olfactory epithelium during postnatal development to determine when different Ca2+ acceptors can be detected and whether they segregate into different layers or portions of the epithelium. Calmodulin, calretinin, calbindin-D28k, neurocalcin, and recoverin were detected immunohistochemically in olfactory receptors but not in basal cells. S-100 immunoreactivity was restricted to glial cells primarily around the cribriform plate. During postnatal development (from P1 to P20), calmodulin, calretinin, calbindin-D28k, and neurocalcin formed a gradient of immunoreactivity descending from the central to the lateral areas in the nasal cavity, whereas recoverin was expressed only in sporadic, mature receptors in the proximal region of the mucosa. At P20, the immunoreactivity pattern for each calcium-binding protein was identical to the adult profile, indicating that the olfactory epithelium had reached maturity by this stage. Olfactory nerve fiber bundles displayed a differential staining pattern from P1 until adulthood for calbindin-D28k and calretinin (internal portions of bundles). Differential calmodulin immunoreactivity of olfactory nerves (large external portions of bundles) appeared at P10. The immunoreactivity of the nerve fiber bundles may reflect a further degree of organization relevant to odor discrimination.

Do readers construct spatial representations in naturalistic story comprehension?

This study investigated whether spatial situation models are constructed in naturalistic story comprehension. The experiment featured a relatively complex, naturalistic text. When college students were given a normal reading instruction, they processed spatial information relatively fast and were relatively poor in verifying spatial inferences, compared to subjects given a spatial reading instruction. Additional analyses showed that the possession of a relatively strong spatial representation does not influence the processing and representation of subsequent spatial information under a normal reading instruction. Therefore, during normal reading, readers are not very much engaged in constructing, maintaining, and updating a spatial situation model.

評価に確証的な処理

Two experiments were conducted to examine the proposition that once either positive or negative elements in subjects' schema about a target person become cognitively dominant, subsequent information processing is biased to confirm the evaluation of the dominant elements rather than the descriptive content of the schema. In Experiment 1, subjects read a story involving both positive and negative aspects of a target person, wrote an essay about the target person focusing on either the positive or negative aspects, or on both aspects as a manipulation of dominant elements, and made attributions of target person's behaviors. The results indicated that attributional judgments were biased in the direction of the dominant evaluation; positive behaviors were attributed more dispositionally and negative behaviors were attributed more situationally when the positive elements were dominant than when the negative elements were dominant. Experiment 2, using a similar paradigm, revealed that information seeking was confirmatory to the dominant evaluation; subjects sought information indicating positive traits of the target person when the positive elements were dominant but sought information indicating negative traits when the negative elements were dominant. The implications of the findings for affectdriven information processing were discussed, and factors that may hinder the evaluation-confirmation process were considered.

Motivation and cognition: Control deprivation and the nature of subsequent information processing

This research was designed to investigate the cognitive processes underlying the finding that subjects appear to make more use of available information in forming attributions following a control-deprivation experience. We propose that control deprivation has this effect because it leads subjects to engage in careful and accurate processing of new material so that new situations will be rendered amenable to prediction and control. Experiment 1 demonstrated that control-deprived subjects were better able to recognize and identify the implications of previously presented sentence pairs. In Experiments 2 and 3, control-deprived subjects showed better recognition of both facts and inferences in a text-processing task. The pattern of results in these two studies clearly suggested that these effects were produced at the time of encoding rather than during retrieval. Experiment 3 also showed that this improved initial processing by control-deprived subjects could be reversed by raising self-esteem concerns that in turn led to self-protective effort withdrawal and poorer recognition performance. The implications of these findings for the proposed theoretical explanation, and the possibility that this theoretical view can organize and explain other research on when attributions will be made, are discussed.

The Role of Causal Theories about Memory in Young Children's Memory Strategy Choice

FABRICIUs, WILLIAM V., and CAVALIER, LYNN. The Role of Causal Theories about Memory in Young Children's Memory Strategy Choice. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1989, 60, 298-308. An aspect of children's knowledge about memory strategies that has generally been overlooked in the metamemory literature involves children's notions about how memory strategies work to improve recall. The present study investigated 4-, 5-, and 6-year-olds' causal-explanatory conceptions about how a labeling strategy works. Children showed 2 types of conceptions, both of which increased with age. Perceptual/Behav-ioral conceptions referred to how labeling aided in acquiring information, and Mental conceptions referred to how labeling aided in subsequent processing of the information to keep it active. Of the remaining children, some knew that labeling improved recall, but they had no conception of how it worked, and others were not aware it improved recall. Only children with Mental conceptions adapted their use of a labeling strategy to the demands of a separate memory task given a week later; the other 3 groups did not differ in their use of labeling. Results are discussed in terms of the relation between children's acquisition of a labeling strategy and their developing theories of memory.

Categorizing Strategic Issues: Links to Organizational Action

A general conceptual model and specific hypotheses about how the meanings attached to strategic issues by decision makers are translated into organizational responses are presented. The model integrates an interpretive view of organizational decision making with cognitive categorization theory. The hypotheses focus on how labeling an issue as either a threat or an opportunity affects both subsequent information processing and the motivations of key decision makers. It is argued that decision makers' cognitions and motivations systematically affect the processing of issues and the types of organizational actions taken in response to them. Both theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.

In vitro autoradiography of opiate receptors in rat brain suggests loci of "opiatergic" pathways.

Slide-mounted sections of unfixed frozen rat brain can be labeled in vitro with [3H]naloxone to show the mu-like ligand selectivity characterized in previous studies. We have developed an autoradiographic technique using hot paraformaldehyde vapors to prevent diffusion of ligands with reversible binding. Resolution at the light level is sufficient to detect concordance between receptor patterns and terminal fields of axonal projections marked by tract-tracing techniques. The opiate receptor distribution suggests the existence of widespread intrinsic and several longer multisynaptic "opiatergic pathways within sensory and limbic circuits. One multisynaptic pathway may link olfactory structures with limbic circuits in the amygdala and habenula. Another may lie in limbic cortical structures. Opiate receptors are numerous also in sensory systems, and within primary sensory nuclei (visual, auditory, olfactory, somatic) they are found superficially in laminated structures. Together, the opiate receptors are well placed to control incoming sensory and subsequent limbic information processing.