Does a visual mask need to be perceptually present to disrupt processing? In the present research, we proposed to explore the link between perceptual and memory mechanisms by demonstrating that a typical sensory phenomenon (visual masking) can be replicated at a memory level. Experiment 1 highlighted an interference effect of a visual mask on the…

It is well established that a task-irrelevant sound (deviant sound) departing from an otherwise repetitive sequence of sounds (standard sounds) elicits an involuntary capture of attention and orienting response toward the deviant stimulus, resulting in the lengthening of response times in an ongoing task. Some have argued that this type of…

Study stimuli presented at the same time as unrelated targets in a detection task are better remembered than stimuli presented with distractors. This attentional boost effect (ABE) has been found with pictorial (Swallow & Jiang, 2010) and more recently verbal materials (Spataro, Mulligan, & Rossi-Arnaud, 2013). The present experiments…

Psychophysical studies are reported examining how the context of recent auditory stimulation may modulate the processing of new sounds. The question posed is how recent tone stimulation may affect ongoing performance in a discrimination task. In the task, two complex sounds occurred in successive intervals. A single target component of one complex…

When presented with alternating low and high tones, listeners are more likely to perceive 2 separate streams of tones ("streaming") than a single coherent stream when the frequency separation ([delta]f) between tones is greater and the number of tone presentations is greater ("buildup"). However, the same large-[delta]f sequence reduces streaming…

Two experiments examined how Dutch listeners deal with the effects of connected-speech processes, specifically those arising from word-final /t/ reduction (e.g., whether Dutch [tas] is "tas," bag, or a reduced-/t/ version of "tast," touch). Eye movements of Dutch participants were tracked as they looked at arrays containing 4…

The aim of this study was to provide evidence that memory and perceptual processing are underpinned by the same mechanisms. Specifically, the authors conducted 3 experiments that emphasized the sensory aspect of memory traces. They examined their predictions with a short-term priming paradigm based on 2 distinct phases: a learning phase consisting…

Harmonic priming studies have shown that a musical context with its tonal center influences target chord processing. In comparison with targets following baseline contexts, which do not establish a specific tonal center, processing is facilitated for a strongly related target functioning as the tonic, but inhibited for unrelated (out-of-key) and…

Representational momentum refers to the phenomenon that observers tend to incorrectly remember an event undergoing real or implied motion as shifted beyond its actual final position. This has been demonstrated in both visual and auditory domains. In 5 pitch discrimination experiments, listeners heard tone sequences that implied either linear,…

A pattern-masked arrow negatively biased the "free choice" between 2 manual responses or between 2 vocal responses. This apparently nonconscious influence occurred only when the free-choice trials were intermixed randomly with other trials that terminated in fully visible arrows, which directed a response of the same modality (manual vs. vocal) as…

Research by Posner and Mitchell (1967) was used to investigate levels of noise processing in testing subjects' ability to "gate out" the processing of irrelevant and unwanted material. Three experiments are reported in which subjects had to judge whether two letters were the "same" or "different". Noise elements were included to test attention…

This study tests the idea that visual presentation leads to higher performance on a delayed recall test than auditory presentation. It is predicted that the normal immediate free recall procedure yields a different pattern of results on a delayed test than a condition having immediate recall of each list. (CLK)

We are delighted to welcome you to the International Psychological Applications Conference and Trends (InPACT) 2016, taking place in Lisbon, Portugal, from 30 of April to 2 of May, 2016. Psychology, nowadays, offers a large range of scientific fields where it can be applied. The goal of understanding individuals and groups (mental functions and…