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Volume 10 Issue 3 (2014)

Trait anxiety reduces affective fading for both positive and negative autobiographical memories

pp. 81-89
First published on 30 September 2014 | DOI:10.5709/acp-0159-0
W. Richard Walker, Cecile N. Yancu, John J. Skowronski
Corresponding author:
W. Richard Walker, Department of Psychological Sciences, Winston-Salem State University, Winston-Salem, NC 27110, USA.
E-mail: walkerr@wssu.edu
APA
Walker, W. R., Yancu, C. N., & Skowronski, J. J. (2014). Trait anxiety reduces affective fading for both positive and negative autobiographical memories. Advances in cognitive psychology, 10(3), 81-89. https://doi.org/10.5709/acp-0159-0
Abstract

The affect associated with negative events fades faster than the affect associated with positive events (the Fading Affect Bias; the FAB). The research that we report examined the relation between trait anxiety and the FAB. Study 1 assessed anxiety using the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale; Studies 2 and 3 used the Beck Anxiety Inventory. Studies 1 and 2 used retrospective procedures to probe positive event memories and negative event memories while Study 3 used a diary procedure. The results of all 3 studies showed that increased anxiety was associated with both a lowered FAB and lower overall affect fading for both positive events and negative events. These results suggest that for people free of trait anxiety, the FAB reflects the operation of a healthy coping mechanism in autobiographical memory that is disrupted by trait anxiety.

Keywords: trait anxiety, fading affect bias, emotion, autobiographical memory

The effect of spatial organization of targets and distractors on the capacity to selectively memorize objects in visual short-term memory

pp. 90-103
First published on 30 September 2014 | DOI:10.5709/acp-0160-x
Aymen Ben Abbes, Emmanuelle Gavault, Thierry Ripoll
Corresponding author:
Thierry Ripoll, Laboratoire de Psychologie Cognitive, Université d'Aix-Marseille, 3 place Victor Hugo 13331, Cedex 1,
France.
E-mail: Thierry.Ripoll@univ-amu.fr
APA
Abbes, A. B., Gavault, E., & Ripoll, T. (2014). The effect of spatial organization of targets and distractors on the capacity to selectively memorize objects in visual short-term memory. Advances in cognitive psychology, 10(3), 90-103. https://doi.org/10.5709/acp-0160-x
Abstract

We conducted a series of experiments to explore how the spatial configuration of objects influences the selection and the processing of these objects in a visual short-term memory task. We designed a new experiment in which participants had to memorize 4 targets presented among 4 distractors. Targets were cued during the presentation of distractor objects. Their locations varied according to 4 spatial configurations. From the first to the last configuration, the distance between targets’ locations was progressively increased. The results revealed a high capacity to select and memorize targets embedded among distractors even when targets were extremely distant from each other. This capacity is discussed in relation to the unitary conception of attention, models of split attention, and the competitive interaction model. Finally, we propose that the spatial dispersion of objects has different effects on attentional allocation and processing stages. Thus, when targets are extremely distant from each other, attentional allocation becomes more difficult while processing becomes easier. This finding implicates that these 2 aspects of attention need to be more clearly distinguished in future research.

Keywords: visual short-term memory, selective attention, spatial organization, cueing

Discrimination in measures of knowledge monitoring accuracy

pp. 104-112
First published on 30 September 2014 | DOI:10.5709/acp-0161-y
Christopher A. Was
Corresponding author:
Christopher A. Was, Educational Psychology, 405 White Hall, Kent State University, Kent, OH 44240, USA.
E-mail: cwas@kent.edu
APA
Was C. A. (2014). Discrimination in measures of knowledge monitoring accuracy. Advances in cognitive psychology, 10(3), 104-112. https://doi.org/10.5709/acp-0161-y
Abstract

Knowledge monitoring predicts academic outcomes in many contexts. However, measures of knowledge monitoring accuracy are often incomplete. In the current study, a measure of students’ ability to discriminate known from unknown information as a component of knowledge monitoring was considered. Undergraduate students’ knowledge monitoring accuracy was assessed and used to predict final exam scores in a specific course. It was found that gamma, a measure commonly used as the measure of knowledge monitoring accuracy, accounted for a small, but significant amount of variance in academic performance whereas the discrimination and bias indexes combined to account for a greater amount of variance in academic performance.

Keywords: knowledge monitoring, metacognition, measures of knowledge monitoring

Mood Induction in Children: Effect of the Affective Valence of a Text on Phonological Working Memory

pp. 113-118
First published on 30 September 2014 | DOI:10.5709/acp-0162-z
Michaël Fartoukh, Lucile Chanquoy, Annie Piolat
Corresponding author:
Michael Fartoukh, UMR CNRS 7320, Bases, Corpus, Langage, Université Nice Sophia Antipolis, Maison des Sciences de l'Homme et de la Société-Sud Est, 24, Avenue des Diables Bleus, 06357 Nice Cedex 4, France.
E-mail: fartoukh@unice.fr
APA
Fartoukh, M., Chanquoy, L., & Piolat, A. (2014). Mood induction in children: effect of the affective valence of a text on phonological working memory. Advances in cognitive psychology, 10(3), 113-118. https://doi.org/10.5709/acp-0162-z
Abstract

The influence of mood on working memory capacity has been investigated in adults, albeit with conflicting results, but remains relatively unexplored in children. The present study examined the effect of a mood induction procedure on phonological working memory capacity in fourth and fifth graders. An initial working memory span test was followed first by a collective mood induction procedure, then by a second working memory span test. Results showed an effect of mood induction procedure on phonological working memory performances, with decreasing scores in the case of negative mood. These results suggest that, in certain contexts and situations, negative emotion has an impact on children’s cognitive abilities.

Keywords: children, text valence, emotion, mood, phonological working memory

Tasks financed by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education on the basis of the contract no. 801/P-DUN/2018 out of the funds designed for activities promoting science: Preparation and editing of English versions of articles, Financing foreign Editors-in-Chief, Dissemination of publications and increasing their accessibility to a broad range of readers, Creation of the XML conversion platform to improve the access to the articles (2018-2019). Advances in Cognitive Psychology is co-financed by the Ministry of Education and Science (Ministerstwo Edukacji i Nauki) under the program "Rozwój czasopism naukowych," RCN/SN/0494/2021/1.

Zadania finansowane w ramach umowy 801/P-DUN/2018 ze środków Ministra Nauki i Szkolnictwa Wyższego przeznaczonych na działalność upowszechniającą naukę: Finansowanie zagranicznych redaktorów naczelnych; Przygotowanie i edycja anglojęzycznych publikacji; Upowszechnianie publikacji i ułatwianie dostępu do nich szerokiemu gronu odbiorców; Utworzenie nowej platformy do udostępniania artykułów. Advances in Cognitive Psychology jest współfinansowane przez Ministerstwo Edukacji i Nauki w ramach programu "Rozwój czasopism naukowych," RCN/SN/0494/2021/1.