Speed is associated with polarization during subjective evaluation: no tradeoff, but an effect of the ease of processing.

In human perceptual decision-making, the speed-accuracy tradeoff establishes a causal link between urgency and reduced accuracy. Less is known about how speed relates to the subjective evaluation of visual images. Here, we conducted a set of four experiments to tease apart two alternative hypotheses for the relation between speed and subjective evaluation.

Toward a common interpretation of the 3Rs principles in animal research.

Many scientific breakthroughs have depended on animal research, yet the ethical concerns surrounding the use of animals in experimentation have long prompted discussions about humane treatment and responsible scientific practice. First articulated by Russell and Burch, the 3Rs Principles of Replacement, Reduction, and Refinement have gained widespread recognition as basic guidelines for animal research. Over time, the 3Rs have transcended the research community, influencing policy decisions, animal welfare advocacy and public perception of animal experimentation.

Predictive cues elicit a liminal confirmation bias in the moral evaluation of real-world images.

Previous research suggested that predictive cues enhance the preference and reduce the response time for congruent targets during bivalent food evaluation, indicating a confirmation bias. Less is known about how prior processing affects subjective moral evaluation. Here, we used three different types of predictive cues to elicit directional vs.

The framing of choice nudges prolonged processing in the evaluation of food images.

Previous research suggests that the type of choice framing for evaluation tasks can influence the relationship between response time and preference-based decision-making. Two separable factors may modulate the preference-based decision-making: The set of choice options (with or without an option to defer) and the constraint of choice (with high or low maximum for inclusion). To clarify how these factors influence the process of preference-based decision-making, we designed a virtual-shopping paradigm with a series of food images presented consecutively, while varying the set of choice options and the constraint of choice.

The Role of Temperature in Moral Decision-Making: Limited Reproducibility.

Temperature is one of the major environmental factors that people are exposed to on a daily basis, often in conditions that do not afford control. It is known that heat and cold can influence a person's productivity and performance in simple tasks. With respect to social cognition, it has also been suggested that temperature impacts on relatively high-level forms of decision-making.

Setting the space for deliberation in decision-making.

Decision-making models in the behavioral, cognitive, and neural sciences typically consist of forced-choice paradigms with two alternatives. While theoretically it is feasible to translate any decision situation to a sequence of binary choices, real-life decision-making is typically more complex and nonlinear, involving choices among multiple items, graded judgments, and deferments of decision-making. Here, we discuss how the complexity of real-life decision-making can be addressed using conventional decision-making models by focusing on the interactive dynamics between criteria settings and the collection of evidence.

Tracking the Influence of Predictive Cues on the Evaluation of Food Images: Volatility Enables Nudging.

In previous research on the evaluation of food images, we found that appetitive food images were rated higher following a positive prediction than following a negative prediction, and vice versa for aversive food images. The findings suggested an active confirmation bias. Here, we examine whether this influence from prediction depends on the evaluative polarization of the food images.

Urgency Promotes Affective Disengagement: Effects From Bivalent Cues on Preference Formation for Abstract Images.

Although previous research has characterized the important role for spatial and affective pre-cues in the control of visual attention, less is known about the impact of pre-cues on preference formation. In preference formation, the gaze cascade phenomenon suggests that the gaze serves both to enhance and express "liking" during value-based decision-making. This phenomenon has been interpreted as a type of Pavlovian approach toward preferred objects.

An acute increase in water temperature can increase free amino acid concentrations in the blood, brain, liver, and muscle in goldfish (Carassius auratus).

Water temperature directly affects the body temperature in fish, so increasing water temperatures in oceans and rivers will lead to increases in fish body temperatures. Whilst a range of responses of fish to increases in water temperature have been measured, amino acid metabolism in a fish under high water temperature (HT) conditions has not been investigated. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of an acute increase in water temperature on oxygen consumption, plasma cortisol concentrations, and free amino acid concentrations in plasma and several tissues in goldfish (Carassius auratus).

Evaluative Processing of Food Images: Longer Viewing for Indecisive Preference Formation.

The well-known gaze cascade hypothesis proposes that as people look longer at an item, they tend to show an increased preference for it. However, using single food images as stimuli, we recently obtained results that clearly deviated from the general proposal that the gaze both expresses and influences preference formation. Instead, the pattern of data depended on the self-determination of exposure duration as well as the type of evaluation task.

Active Confirmation Bias in the Evaluative Processing of Food Images.

Predictive processing is fundamental to many aspects of the human mind, including perception and decision-making. It remains to be elucidated, however, in which way predictive information impacts on evaluative processing, particularly in tasks that employ bivalent stimulus sets. Various accounts, including framing, proactive interference, and cognitive control, appear to imply contradictory proposals on the relation between prediction and preference formation.

Evaluative Processing of Food Images: A Conditional Role for Viewing in Preference Formation.

Previous research suggested a role of gaze in preference formation, not merely as an expression of preference, but also as a causal influence. According to the gaze cascade hypothesis, the longer subjects look at an item, the more likely they are to develop a preference for it. However, to date the connection between viewing and liking has been investigated predominately with self-paced viewing conditions in which the subjects were required to select certain items from simultaneously presented stimuli on the basis of perceived visual attractiveness.

A gaze bias with coarse spatial indexing during a gambling task.

Researchers have used eye-tracking methods to infer cognitive processes during decision making in choice tasks involving visual materials. Gaze likelihood analysis has shown a cascading effect, suggestive of a causal role for the gaze in preference formation during evaluative decision making. According to the gaze bias hypothesis, the gaze serves to build commitment gradually towards a choice.

Influence of multiple action-outcome associations on the transition dynamics toward an optimal choice in rats.

When faced with familiar versus novel options, animals may exploit the acquired action-outcome associations or attempt to form new associations. Little is known about which factors determine the strategy of choice behavior in partially comprehended environments. Here we examine the influence of multiple action-outcome associations on choice behavior in the context of rewarding outcomes (food) and aversive outcomes (electric foot-shock).

Within-session dynamics of theta-gamma coupling and high-frequency oscillations during spatial alternation in rat hippocampal area CA1.

Theta-gamma coupling in the hippocampus is thought to be involved in cognitive processes. A large body of research establishes that the hippocampus plays a crucial role in the organization and maintenance of episodic memory, and that sharp-wave ripples (SWR) contribute to memory consolidation processes. Here, we investigated how the local field potentials in the hippocampal CA1 area adapted along with rats' behavioral changes within a session during a spatial alternation task that included a 1-s fixation and a 1.

Theta phase shift in spike timing and modulation of gamma oscillation: a dynamic code for spatial alternation during fixation in rat hippocampal area CA1.

Although hippocampus is thought to perform various memory-related functions, little is known about the underlying dynamics of neural activity during a preparatory stage before a spatial choice. Here we focus on neural activity that reflects a memory-based code for spatial alternation, independent of current sensory and motor parameters. We recorded multiple single units and local field potentials in the stratum pyramidale of dorsal hippocampal area CA1 while rats performed a delayed spatial-alternation task.

Fear conditioning induces guinea pig auditory cortex activation by foot shock alone.

The present study used an optical imaging paradigm to investigate plastic changes in the auditory cortex induced by fear conditioning, in which a sound (conditioned stimulus, CS) was paired with an electric foot-shock (unconditioned stimulus, US). We report that, after conditioning, auditory information could be retrieved on the basis of an electric foot-shock alone. Before conditioning, the auditory cortex showed no response to a foot-shock presented in the absence of sound.

Context and the renewal of conditioned taste aversion: the role of rat dorsal hippocampus examined by electrolytic lesion.

An extinguished conditioned response can sometimes be restored. Previous research has shown that this renewal effect depends on the context in which conditioning versus extinction takes place. Here we provide evidence that the dorsal hippocampus is critically involved in the representation of context that underscores the renewal effect.

Dissociation of category versus item priming in face processing: an event-related potential study.

The underlying specificity of visual object categorization and discrimination can be elucidated by studying different types of repetition priming. Here we focused on this issue in face processing. We investigated category priming (i.

Optical imaging of plastic changes induced by fear conditioning in the auditory cortex.

The plastic changes in the auditory cortex induced by a fear conditioning, through pairing a sound (CS) with an electric foot-shock (US), were investigated using an optical recording method with voltage sensitive dye, RH795. In order to investigate the effects of association learning, optical signals in the auditory cortex in response to CS (12 kHz pure tone) and non-CS (4, 8, 16 kHz pure tone) were recorded before and after normal and sham conditioning. As a result, the response area to CS enlarged only in the conditioning group after the conditioning.

The role of eye movements in decision making and the prospect of exposure effects.

The aim of the current study was to follow on from previous findings that eye movements can have a causal influence on preference formation. Shimojo et al. (2003) previously found that faces that were presented for a longer duration in a two alternative forced choice task were more likely to be judged as more attractive.

A short-lived face alert during inhibition of return.

In the present study, we explored the role of faces in oculomotor inhibition of return (IOR) using a tightly controlled spatial cuing paradigm. We measured saccadic response latency to targets following peripheral cues that were either faces or objects of lesser sociobiological salience. A recurring influence from cue content was observed across numerous methodological variations.

The effect of semantic information on saccade trajectory deviations.

In recent years, many studies have explored the conditions in which irrelevant visual distractors affect saccades trajectories. These previous studies mainly focused on the low-level stimulus characteristics and how they affect the magnitude of curvature. The present study explored the possible effect of high level semantic information on saccade curvature.

Attentional capture and hold: the oculomotor correlates of the change detection advantage for faces.

The present study investigated the influence of semantic information on overt attention. Semantic influence on attentional capture and hold mechanisms was explored by measuring oculomotor correlates of the reaction time (RT) and accuracy advantage for faces in the change detection task. We also examined whether the face advantage was due to mandatory processing of faces or an idiosyncratic strategy by participants, by manipulating preknowledge of the object category in which to expect a change.

Semantic influences from a brief peripheral cue depend on task set.

Previous research has shown semantic influence from irrelevant peripheral cues on the spatial allocation of covert visual attention. The present study explored whether the task set determines the extent of such semantic influence. A spatial cueing paradigm with strict eye movement control was used, where cues were either first names (male or female) or emotionally charged words (positive or negative) followed by a face target.