Order does matter: the combined effects of classical conditioning and verbal suggestions on placebo hypoalgesia and nocebo hyperalgesia.

In most experimental studies in which verbal suggestion and classical conditioning are implemented together to induce placebo effects, the former precedes the latter. In naturally occurring situations, however, the information concerning pain does not always precede but often follows the pain experience. Moreover, this information is not always congruent with experience.

Confidence in action: Differences between perceived accuracy of decision and motor response.

Each of our decisions is associated with a degree of confidence. This confidence can change once we have acted because we might start doubting our choice or even become convinced that we have made a mistake. In this study, we explore the relations between action and our confidence that our decision was correct or erroneous.

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation-Induced Motor Cortex Activity Influences Visual Awareness Judgments.

The influence of non-visual information on visual awareness judgments has recently gained substantial interest. Using single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), we investigate the potential contribution of evidence from the motor system to judgment of visual awareness. We hypothesized that TMS-induced activity in the primary motor cortex (M1) would increase reported visual awareness as compared to the control condition.

Visual awareness judgments are sensitive to accuracy feedback in stimulus discrimination tasks.

In this study we tested the hypothesis that perceptual awareness judgments are sensitive to accuracy feedback about the previous action. We used a perceptual discrimination task in which participants reported their stimulus awareness. We created two conditions: No-feedback and Feedback (discrimination accuracy feedback was provided at the end of each trial).

Confounding in Studies on Metacognition: A Preliminary Causal Analysis Framework.

By definition, metacognitive processes may monitor or regulate various stages of first-order processing. By combining causal analysis with hypotheses expressed by other authors we derive the theoretical and methodological consequences of this special relation between metacognition and the underlying processes. In particular, we prove that because multiple processing stages may be monitored or regulated and because metacognition may form latent feedback loops, (1) without strong additional causal assumptions, typical measures of metacognitive monitoring or regulation are confounded; (2) without strong additional causal assumptions, typical methods of controlling for first-order task performance (i.

The bhsdtr package: a general-purpose method of Bayesian inference for signal detection theory models.

We describe a novel method of Bayesian inference for hierarchical or non-hierarchical equal variance normal signal detection theory models with one or more criteria. The method is implemented as an open-source R package that uses the state-of-the-art Stan platform for sampling from posterior distributions. Our method can accommodate binary responses as well as additional ratings and an arbitrary number of nested or crossed random grouping factors.

The Confidence Database.

Understanding how people rate their confidence is critical for the characterization of a wide range of perceptual, memory, motor and cognitive processes. To enable the continued exploration of these processes, we created a large database of confidence studies spanning a broad set of paradigms, participant populations and fields of study. The data from each study are structured in a common, easy-to-use format that can be easily imported and analysed using multiple software packages.

Motor response influences perceptual awareness judgements.

What is the relation between perceptual awareness and action? In this study we tested the hypothesis that motor response influences perceptual awareness judgements. We used a perceptual discrimination task in which presentation of the stimulus was immediately followed by a cue requiring a motor response that was irrelevant to the task but could be the same, opposite, or neutral to the correct response to the stimulus. After responding to the cue, participants rated their stimulus awareness using the Perceptual Awareness Scale, and then carried out their discrimination response.

In search of the optimal measure of awareness: Discrete or continuous?

Studies of perceptual awareness require sensitive measures reflecting subjective judgments of visibility. Two scales have been proposed for this purpose: the Continuous Scale (CS) and the Perceptual Awareness Scale (PAS). Here we compare the scales in the context of the Gabor patch orientation discrimination task and propose a Continuous Perceptual Awareness Scale (C-PAS) that aims to combine their advantages.

Responses improve the accuracy of confidence judgements in memory tasks.

How do we assess what we remember? Previous work on metacognition suggests that confidence judgments are more accurate when given after than before a response to a perceptual task. Here we present two experiments that investigate the influence of decision and response on metacognitive accuracy in a memory task so as to establish what kind of information people use to assess their memory content. Participants were asked to remember lists of words and then to decide which of two target words had previously been presented.

Post-Decision Wagering Affects Metacognitive Awareness of Emotional Stimuli: An Event Related Potential Study.

The present research investigated metacognitive awareness of emotional stimuli and its psychophysiological correlates. We used a backward masking task presenting participants with fearful or neutral faces. We asked participants for face discrimination and then probed their metacognitive awareness with confidence rating (CR) and post-decision wagering (PDW) scales.

But I Was So Sure! Metacognitive Judgments Are Less Accurate Given Prospectively than Retrospectively.

Prospective and retrospective metacognitive judgments have been studied extensively in the field of memory; however, their accuracy has not been systematically compared. Such a comparison is important for studying how metacognitive judgments are formed. Here, we present the results of an experiment aiming to investigate the relation between performance in an anagram task and the accuracy of prospective and retrospective confidence judgments.

The efficacy of determinants of attention bias training in mental disorders.

This paper focuses on a method of attention bias training, considering in particular its efficacy and usability in several mental disorders. The results of current meta-analyses and selected experiments indicate possible efficacy of training in case of some anxiety disorders (generalised anxiety disorder and social phobia), particularly in young individuals. Its efficacy in other previously tested disorders such as depression and addictions seems questionable.

Does level of processing affect the transition from unconscious to conscious perception?

Recently, Windey, Gevers, and Cleeremans (2013) proposed a level of processing (LoP) hypothesis claiming that the transition from unconscious to conscious perception is influenced by the level of processing imposed by task requirements. Here, we carried out two experiments to test the LoP hypothesis. In both, participants were asked to classify briefly presented pairs of letters as same or different, based either on the letters' physical features (a low-level task), or on a semantic rule (a high-level task).

[Attentional bias training in reducing symptoms of anxiety].

Anxiety is related to attentional bias, i.e. a tendency to pay attention to threatening stimuli.

Different subjective awareness measures demonstrate the influence of visual identification on perceptual awareness ratings.

We compare four subjective awareness measures in the context of a visual identification task and investigate quantitative differences in terms of scale use and correlation with task performance. We also analyse the effect of identification task decisions on subsequent subjective reports. Results show that awareness ratings strongly predict accuracy for all scale types, although the type of awareness measure may influence the reported level of perceptual awareness.

Are attentional bias and memory bias for negative words causally related?

Background And Objectives: In cognitive theories of depression, processing biases are assumed to be partly responsible for the onset and maintenance of mood disorders. Despite a wealth of studies examining the relation between depression and individual biases (at the level of attention, interpretation, and memory), little is known about relationships between different biases. The purpose of the present study was to assess if attentional bias is causally related to memory bias.

Subjective measures of consciousness in artificial grammar learning task.

Consciousness can be measured in various ways, but different measures often yield different conclusions about the extent to which awareness relates to performance. Here, we compare five different subjective measures of awareness in the context of an artificial grammar learning task. Participants (N=217) expressed their subjective awareness of rules using one of five different scales: confidence ratings (CRs), post-decision wagering (PDW), feeling of warmth (FOW), rule awareness (RAS), and continuous scale (SDS).

[Cognitive vulnerability to depression].

This concise review of cognitive vulnerability to depression contains the discussion of several fundamental theoretical, methodological and empirical issues related to this important subject. The main aim was to describe in some detail the construct itself and to critically evaluate the hypotheses concerning the causal relation between specific processes, structures and cognitive contents and the probability of suffering from affective disorders. Some of the most important empirical findings obtained from research on cognitive vulnerability to depression was carefully analysed.