Processing references in context: when the polar bear does not meet a polar bear.

Discourse understanding is hampered when missing or conflicting context information is given. In four experiments, we investigated what happens (a) when the definite determiner "the," which presupposes existence and uniqueness, does not find a unique referent in the context or (b) when the appropriate use of the indefinite determiner is violated by the presence of a unique referent (Experiment 1 and Experiment 2). To focus on the time-course of processing the uniqueness presupposition of the definite determiner, we embedded the determiner in different sentence structures and varied the context (Experiment 3 and Experiment 4).

Temporal preparation accelerates spatial selection by facilitating bottom-up processing.

Temporal preparation facilitates spatial selection in visual search. This selection benefit has not only been observed for targets, but also for task-irrelevant, salient distractors. This result suggests that temporal preparation influences bottom-up salience in spatial selection.

Reduction of temporal uncertainty facilitates stimulus-driven processes in spatial selection.

Previous studies have shown that the reduction of temporal uncertainty facilitates target selection in visual search. We investigated whether this beneficial effect is caused by an effect on stimulus-driven processes or on goal-driven processes in spatial selection. To discriminate between these processes, we employed a visual search task in which participants searched for a shape target while ignoring a color singleton distractor.

Illusory size determines the perception of ambiguous apparent motion.

The visual system constructs perceptions based on ambiguous information. For motion perception, the correspondence problem arises, i.e.

Temporal attention boosts perceptual effects of spatial attention and feature-based attention.

Temporal attention, that is, the process of anticipating the occurrence of a stimulus at a given time point, has been shown to improve perceptual processing of visual stimuli. In the present study, we investigated whether and how temporal attention interacts with spatial attention and feature-based attention in visual selection. To monitor the influence of the three different attention dimensions on perceptual processing, we measured event-related potentials (ERPs).

The role of object history in establishing object correspondence.

Our visual system establishes correspondence between objects and thus enables us to perceive an object, like a car on the road, as moving continuously. A central question regarding correspondence is whether our visual system uses relatively unprocessed image-based information or further processed object-based information to establish correspondence. While it has been shown that some object-based attributes, such as perceived lightness, can influence correspondence, manipulating object-based information typically involves at least minimal changes of image-based information as well, making it difficult to clearly distinguish between the two levels.

Discourse management during speech perception: A functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study.

Discourse structures enable us to generate expectations based upon linguistic material that has already been introduced. We investigated how the required cognitive operations such as reference processing, identification of critical items, and eventual handling of violations correlate with neuronal activity within the language network of the brain. To this end, we conducted a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study in which we manipulated spoken discourse coherence by using presuppositions (PSPs) that either correspond or fail to correspond to items in preceding context sentences.

Multidimensional selection by temporal attention and feature-based attention: Evidence from event-related potentials.

Numerous studies have shown that temporal attention plays an important role in selective attention. The present study used the event-related potential (ERP) to investigate how temporal attention modulates effects of feature-based attention in visual selection when both dimensions are task-relevant. We combined a modified temporal cueing paradigm with a feature-based attention task.

How voluntary spatial attention influences feature biases in object correspondence.

Our visual system is able to establish associations between corresponding images across space and time and to maintain the identity of objects, even though the information our retina receives is ambiguous. It has been shown that lower level factors-as, for example, spatiotemporal proximity-can affect this correspondence problem. In addition, higher level factors-as, for example, semantic knowledge-can influence correspondence, suggesting that correspondence might also be solved at a higher object-based level of processing, which could be mediated by attention.

In touch with mental rotation: interactions between mental and tactile rotations and motor responses.

Although several process models have described the cognitive processing stages that are involved in mentally rotating objects, the exact nature of the rotation process itself remains elusive. According to embodied cognition, cognitive functions are deeply grounded in the sensorimotor system. We thus hypothesized that modal rotation perceptions should influence mental rotations.

The influence of object similarity and orientation on object-based cueing.

Responses to targets that appear at a noncued position within the same object (invalid-same) compared to a noncued position at an equidistant different object (invalid-different) tend to be faster and more accurate. These cueing effects have been taken as evidence that visual attention can be object based (Egly, Driver, & Rafal, Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 123, 161-177, 1994). Recent findings, however, have shown that the object-based cueing effect is influenced by object orientation, suggesting that the cueing effect might be due to a more general facilitation of attentional shifts across the horizontal meridian (Al-Janabi & Greenberg, Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 1-17, 2016; Pilz, Roggeveen, Creighton, Bennet, & Sekuler, PLOS ONE, 7, e30693, 2012).

Toward the influence of temporal attention on the selection of targets in a visual search task: An ERP study.

We used ERPs to investigate whether temporal attention interacts with spatial attention and feature-based attention to enhance visual processing. We presented a visual search display containing one singleton stimulus among a set of homogenous distractors. Participants were asked to respond only to target singletons of a particular color and shape that were presented in an attended spatial position.

Context-dependent impact of presuppositions on early magnetic brain responses during speech perception.

Discourse structure enables us to generate expectations based upon linguistic material that has already been introduced. The present magnetoencephalography (MEG) study addresses auditory perception of test sentences in which discourse coherence was manipulated by using presuppositions (PSP) that either correspond or fail to correspond to items in preceding context sentences with respect to uniqueness and existence. Context violations yielded delayed auditory M50 and enhanced auditory M200 cross-correlation responses to syllable onsets within an analysis window of 1.

Does temporal preparation facilitate visual processing in a selective manner? Evidence from attentional capture.

The present study addressed the question of whether temporal preparation influences perceptual stimulus processing in a selective manner. In three visual search experiments, we examined whether temporal preparation aids spatial selection and thus reduces distraction caused by the onset of a task-irrelevant item. In each trial, participants had to detect a target amongst five non-targets and report a basic feature of the target.

Does temporal preparation speed up visual processing? Evidence from the N2pc.

A growing number of studies show that temporal preparation, which denotes processes of anticipation and preparation for an upcoming stimulus, facilitates perceptual processing. Recently, it has been hypothesized that this perceptual benefit arises due to an acceleration of early perceptual processing. Whereas this idea receives some direct support from a recent study showing that temporal preparation reduces the latency of early auditory ERPs, supportive evidence regarding the visual modality lacks so far.

Overt head movements moderate the effect of depressive symptoms on mood regulation.

A dysfunction in the regulation of negative mood states is one of the core symptoms of depression. Research has found that levels of depression are associated with the intensity of the mood-regulation deficit. The present study aimed to explore the role the body plays in mood-regulation processes.

Priming the mental time-line: effects of modality and processing mode.

The notion of a mental time-line (i.e., past corresponds to left and future corresponds to right) supports the conceptual metaphor view assuming that abstract concepts like "time" are grounded in cognitively more accessible concepts like "space.

Effects of sleep loss and circadian rhythm on executive inhibitory control in the Stroop and Simon tasks.

This study assessed the influence of sleep loss and circadian rhythm on executive inhibitory control (i.e., the ability to inhibit conflicting response tendencies due to irrelevant information).

Does temporal preparation increase the rate of sensory information accumulation?

Recent studies showed that temporal preparation, i.e., the ability to prepare for an upcoming stimulus, improves perceptual processing.

Processing two tasks with varying task order: central stage duration influences central processing order.

In a recent study, Sigman and Dehaene (2006, PLoS Biology, 4, 1227-1238) reported that perceptual processing duration influences processing order of two tasks in the psychological refractory period paradigm (PRP). The present study examines whether the duration of central processes also influences processing order. For this purpose, we employed letter tasks with different central processing durations and varied task order in the PRP.

Mental rotation in female fraternal twins: Evidence for intra-uterine hormone transfer?

Men outperform women in mental rotation by about one standard deviation. Prenatal exposure to testosterone has been suggested as one cause. In animals it has been shown that a female fetus located between two male ones is exposed to higher levels of testosterone.

Temporal attention shortens perceptual latency: a temporal prior entry effect.

The prior entry hypothesis of attention holds that attended stimuli are perceived earlier than unattended stimuli. Whereas this speeding of perceptual processing has been repeatedly demonstrated for spatial attention, it has not been reported within the temporal domain. To fill this gap, we tested whether temporal attention accelerates auditory perceptual processing by employing event-related potentials as on-line indicators of perceptual processing.

The effect of 40 hours of constant wakefulness on number comparison performance.

We investigated the effects of sleep loss and circadian rhythm on number comparison performance. Magnitude comparison of single-digits is robustly characterized by a distance effect: Close numbers (e.g.

Temporal preparation decreases perceptual latency: evidence from a clock paradigm.

A clock paradigm was employed to assess whether temporal preparation decreases the time to detect the onset of a stimulus-that is, perceptual latency. In four experiments participants watched a revolving clock hand while listening to soft or loud target tones under high or low temporal preparation. At the end of each trial, participants reported the clock hand position at the onset of the target tone.

Temporal preparation influences the dynamics of information processing: evidence for early onset of information accumulation.

When participants can temporally prepare for a visual target stimulus, responses to this stimulus are faster and more accurate. Recent accounts attribute these effects either to an earlier accumulation of stimulus information or to an increased rate of information sampling. The present study examines whether temporal preparation induces such changes in the dynamics of information processing by investigating speed-accuracy trade-off (SAT) functions.