Two masked prime arrows simultaneously affect a response to a target: Revealing of an additive unconscious priming effect.

Since there are many sources of unconscious information in our minds, there is a possibility that multiple channels of unconscious information can affect a response at the same time. However, this question has been largely ignored by researchers. In the present study, we presented two opposite pointing arrows as the masked primes followed by a target arrow.

Can an isolated middle-series item make a "Dent" in the bow-shaped serial-position curve of comparative judgments?

Studies have shown that local (e.g., midseries) items' specific properties, including being isolated from rest of the items, can generate a local distinctiveness effect, enhancing the memory performance for the local items in serial recall or absolute judgments.

Unconscious Integration of Categorical Relationship of Two Subliminal Numbers in Comparison with "5".

Many studies have shown that the brain can process subliminal numerals, i.e., participants can categorize a subliminal number into two categories: greater than 5 or less than 5.

Multiple sources of unconscious-information processing affect a single response: independent unconscious priming effects.

At present there is little knowledge on whether and how multiple pieces of unconscious information can simultaneously affect a single conscious response. In the present study, we manipulated the congruency relation between a masked prime arrow and the target arrow, as well as that between masked flankers and the target arrow. The results demonstrated that the masked prime and flankers produced independent unconscious priming effects on the response to the target.

A memory-interference versus the "dud"-effect account of a DRM false memory result: Fewer related targets at test, higher critical-lure false recognition.

Memory interference theories hold that exposure to more similar information to a target item impairs memory of the target item. The dud effect refers to the finding in eyewitness lineup identification that fillers dissimilar to the suspect cause more false identification of the suspect than similar fillers, contrary to the interference concept. Previous studies on the Deese-Roediger-McDermott false memory typically showed a testing priming effect that a larger number of studied items presented at test leads to a higher level of false recognition of the critical lure (CL).

Can unconscious sequential integration of semantic information occur when the prime Chinese characters are displayed from left to right?

Recent studies have investigated whether conscious awareness is necessary for semantic integration. Although results have varied, simultaneous presentation of words have consistently led to greater semantic integration than sequential presentation in a single location. The current studies were designed to investigate whether the disadvantage of sequential presentation for unconscious semantic integration is specific to unfamiliar word-by-word presentation in one location or extends to the more natural reading conditions of viewing items sequentially from left to right.

The Semantic Integration Between Two Subliminally Perceived Words Simultaneously Presented at Different Locations.

In the present study, we showed evidence of an integration between two unconscious semantic representations. In experiment 1, two masked Chinese words of the same or different categories ("orange apple" or "grape hammer") were simultaneously presented in the prime, followed by two Chinese words also of same or different categories in the target. We examined possible prime/target visual feature priming, semantic category priming and motor response priming effects.

Combining two separate series into a single ordering: Testing the local and global distinctiveness theories with absolute and relative judgments.

This study examined the differential effects of an absolute versus a relative judgment task on the retrieval of the border-position items after the combining of two separate serial lists. Under the absolute judgment condition (Experiment 1), the border-position items showed a local distinctiveness effect (faster judgment on these items than on the neighboring items), consistent with the prediction of the local distinctiveness theory of order memory, but not under the relative judgment condition (Experiment 2). The absence of the local distinctiveness effect under the relative judgment condition was consistent with the prediction of the global distinctiveness theory that a midseries item cannot be remembered better than its neighbors.

Why seemingly more difficult test conditions produce more accurate recognition of semantic prototype words: A recognition memory paradox?

Subjects studied Deese-Roediger-McDermott semantic-associate lists and took a recognition test. The makeup and number of test probes were manipulated. In Experiments 1 and 2A, one of three or all three distractors were semantically related to the list theme.

The role of decision criterion in the Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) false recognition memory: False memory falls and rises as a function of restriction on criterion setting.

How much of the Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) false memory is attributable to decision criterion is so far a controversial issue. Previous studies typically used explicit warnings against accepting the critical lure to investigate this issue. The assumption is that if the false memory results from using a liberally biased criterion, it should be greatly reduced or eliminated by an explicit warning against accepting the critical lure.

Unconscious Processing of Facial Emotional Valence Relation: Behavioral Evidence of Integration between Subliminally Perceived Stimuli.

Although a few studies have investigated the integration between some types of unconscious stimuli, no research has yet explored the integration between unconscious emotional stimuli. This study was designed to provide behavioral evidence for the integration between unconsciously perceived emotional faces (same or different valence relation) using a modified priming paradigm. In two experiments, participants were asked to decide whether two faces in the target, which followed two subliminally presented faces of same or different emotional expressions, were of the same or different emotional valence.

The effects of increasing semantic-associate list length on the Deese-Roediger-McDermott false recognition memory: Dual false-memory process in retrieval from sub- and supraspan lists.

In this study, the number of semantic associates in Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) lists was varied from 4 to 14 in a modified Sternberg paradigm. The false alarm (FA) and correct rejection (CR) reaction time (RT)/memory-set size (MSS) functions of critical lures showed a cross-over interaction at approximately MSS 7, suggesting a reversal of the relative dominance between these two responses to the critical lure at this point and also indicating the location of the boundary between the sub- and supraspan MSS. For the subspan lists, FA to critical lures was slower than CR, suggesting a slow, strategic mechanism driving the false memory.

The effects of weak versus strong relational judgments on response bias in Two-Alternative-Forced-Choice recognition: Is the test criterion-free?

It is widely believed that a Two-Alternative-Forced-Choice (2AFC) in an old/new recognition memory test is made by comparing the two items and choosing the item with the higher strength. For this reason, it is considered to be criterion-free by some researchers. We found evidence that subjects probabilistically compromised the comparison by choosing the left item when they recognized it as old.

Task-switching cost and repetition priming: two overlooked confounds in the first-set procedure of the Sternberg paradigm and how they affect memory set-size effects.

Subjects performed Sternberg-type memory recognition tasks (Sternberg paradigm) in four experiments. Category-instance names were used as learning and testing materials. Sternberg's original experiments demonstrated a linear relation between reaction time (RT) and memory-set size (MSS).

How are false memories distinguishable from true memories in the Deese-Roediger-McDermott paradigm? A review of the findings.

This article reviewed the literature comparing true and false memories. Although false memory experience is typically characterized as compellingly similar to true memory experience, research also indicates many distinctions between these two types of memory. The primary focus of this article was on comparing these two types of memory in the Deese-Roediger-McDermott paradigm on a number of independent and dependent measures.

Can people strategically control the encoding and retrieval of some morphologic and typographic details of words?

This study investigated whether the encoding and retrieval of plurality information and letter-case information of words in recognition memory can be inhibited. Response-deadline experiments (Hintzman & Curran, 1994) using single words have indicted a controlled processing mode, whereas studies using meaningful sentences (e.g.

Neural bases of falsification in conditional proposition testing: evidence from an fMRI study.

The ability of testing the validity of a conditional statement is important in our everyday life. However, the brain mechanisms underlying this process, especially falsification process which is important in daily life, but especially crucial to scientific reasoning and research is not as yet completely clear. Therefore, in the present study, we used event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine the neural bases of the falsification process in testing the validity of a conditional statement as used in Wason's (1966) selection task.

Neural mechanisms of subliminal priming for traumatic episodic memory: an ERP study.

Event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were measured to study the electrophysiological mechanisms of subliminal priming of traumatic episodic memory. Twenty-four Chinese subjects who had experienced the great Sichuan earthquake in 2008 were classified either as normal control or as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) subjects. Results showed that subliminally presented earthquake-related words elicited two significantly more positive ERP deflections (P2 and P300) than did earthquake-unrelated words between 250-300 ms and 340-400 ms post-stimulus periods for the PTSD group, but not for the control group.

Can associative information be strategically separated from item information in word-pair recognition?

Subjects learned word pairs either once or three times but were instructed to ignore the association of the two words in each pair and only to memorize the individual words at study and recognize them at test. The test word pairs included intact pairs, rearranged pairs made up of old words exchanged among the studied pairs, and new pairs consisting of one old and one new word. Subjects were instructed to respond yes to both intact and rearranged pairs and no to new pairs.

Conscious and unconscious discriminations between true and false memories.

When subjects give higher confidence or memory ratings to a test word in a recognition test, do they simply raise their criterion without making better discrimination, or do they raise both criterion and true discrimination between the studied words (SW) and the lures? Given that previous studies found subjects' false alarm responses to lures slower than to SW, and recognition latency inversely correlated with the confidence rating, can the latency difference between the lures and SW be accounted for by confidence or memory ratings? The present results showed that when subjects gave higher confidence or memory ratings, both their bias and sensitivity were raised, indicating that they could consciously distinguish the lures from the SW. However, a latency difference between true and false recognitions persisted after confidence and memory ratings were held constant, suggesting an unconscious source of discrimination between the two types of memory.

Two paradigms of measuring serial-order memory: two different patterns of serial-position functions.

There are two research paradigms in the area of serial-order memory. One typically uses serial recall (accuracy), and the other comparative judgment (reaction time) for measuring serial-order memory. Spontaneous subgrouping is commonly observed in the recall serial-position function in the form of multiple bowings.

The serial position, distance, and congruity effects of reference point setting in comparative judgments.

This study tested the hypothesis that the serial position function in serial order memory derives from a gradient of activation strength, with the end anchor point having the highest strength and accessibility. Subjects memorized an ordered series of names and were tested on their memory of the order with a comparative judgment task. In Experiment 1, a traditional comparative judgment task was used in which they chose the one member in a pair that was either higher or lower in the ranking on the attribute dimension.

The impact of social comparison on the neural substrates of reward processing: an event-related potential study.

Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded to explore the electrophysiological correlates of reward processing in the social comparison context when subjects performed a simple number estimation task that entailed monetary rewards for correct answers. Three social comparison stimulus categories (three relative reward levels/self reward related to the other subject's) were mainly prepared: Self:Other=1:2 (Disadvantageous inequity condition); Self:Other=1:1 (Equity condition); and Self:Other=2:1 (Advantageous inequity condition). Results showed that: both Disadvantageous and Advantageous inequity elicited a more negative ERP deflection (N350-550) than did Equity between 350 and 550 ms, and the generators of N350-550 were localized near the parahippocampal gyrus and the medial frontal/anterior cingulate cortex, which might be related to monitor and control reward prediction error during reward processing.

Neural correlates of the "Aha" experiences: evidence from an fMRI study of insight problem solving.

In the present study, we used learning-testing paradigm to examine brain activation of "Aha" effects with event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during solving Chinese logogriphs. Blood oxygenation level-dependent fMRI contrasts between Aha and No-aha conditions were measured. Increased activities in the precuneus (BA 19/7), the left inferior/middle frontal gyrus (BA 9/6), the inferior occipital gyrus (BA 18), and the cerebellum were specifically associated with the "Aha" effects.