Tachistoscopically presented bilateral stimulus pairs not parallel to the meridian produced significantly longer RTs on a task requiring discrimination of shapes (Go/no-Go) than pairs emplaced symmetrically on each side of the meridian in Desjardins and Braun [Desjardins, S., & Braun, C. M. J. (2006). Homotopy and heterotopy and the bilateral…

In the wake of a major disaster, damage assessment can be particularly challenging for organizations with dozens or even hundreds of affected properties. Those with well-documented information about predisaster facility conditions can more readily pinpoint those facilities that are at the greatest risk of damage and to determine how to prioritize…

Inhibition of return (IOR) refers to a delay in response time (RT) to targets appearing at a previously cued location. The prevailing view is that IOR reflects visual-motor inhibition. The "attentional momentum" account rejects this idea, and instead proposes that IOR reflects an automatic shift of attention away from the cued location…

Understanding time-dependent responses, such as transients, is important in electric circuit theory and other branches of engineering. However, transient response is considered difficult to learn since familiarity with advanced mathematical tools such as Laplace transforms is required. Here, we analyse and describe a novel learning environment…

The acquisition of volitional control depends, in part, on developing the ability to countermand a planned action. Many tasks have been used to tap the efficiency of this process, but few studies have investigated how it may be modulated by participants' motivation. Multiple mechanisms may be involved in the deliberate exercise of caution when…

The purpose of the study was to investigate speed of processing in college students with a history of problems with language. Affected individuals (n = 16) were identified through a self-reported history of language and/or reading difficulties, and compared to a group of 16 unaffected individuals. Measures of language ability and a battery of…

Objective: To address the issue of response time (RT) profiles in hyperactive-impulsive (ADHD-HI), inattentive (ADHD-IA), and combined (ADHD-C) subtypes of ADHD. We hypothesized that children with ADHD-HI should respond more rapidly than children without ADHD and children with ADHD-IA and ADHD-C should respond more slowly than children without…

Purpose: This work is aimed at addressing a seeming contradiction related to the use of noise-reduction (NR) algorithms in hearing aids. The problem is that although some listeners claim a subjective improvement from NR, it has not been shown to improve speech intelligibility, often even making it worse. Method: To address this, the hypothesis…

We investigated the influence of the level of cognitive functioning on sequence-specific learning in Parkinson's disease (PD). This was done by examining the relationship between the scales for outcomes in Parkinson's disease-cognition [SCOPA-COG, Marinus, J., Visser, M., Verwey, N. A., Verhey, F. R. J., Middelkoop, H. A. M.,Stiggelbout, A., et…

Background: The aims of this small exploratory study were to determine (1) whether adults with intellectual disability who had a recent history of falling had slower motor responses to postural perturbations than a sample of adults without disability when measured with the Motor Control Test (MCT) and (2) to identify any learning effects…

The relationship between educational age and chronological age and measures of information processing and intelligence was studied in a group of children of 7 to 14 years of age (N=268) in a rural area in the Ntcheu district (Malawi). There was a relatively weak relationship between chronological and educational age in this area, and the impact of…

Two experiments examined child and adult processing of hierarchical stimuli composed of geometric forms. Adults (ages 18-23 years) and children (ages 7-10 years) performed a forced-choice task gauging similarity between visual stimuli consisting of large geometric objects (global level) composed of small geometric objects (local level). The…

Between-task crosstalk has been discussed as an important source for dual-task costs. In this study, the authors examine concurrently performed saccades and manual responses as a means of studying the role of response-code conflict between 2 tasks. In Experiment 1, participants responded to an imperative auditory stimulus with a left or a right…

Traditionally, dual-task interference has been attributed to the consequences of task load exceeding capacity limitations. However, the current study demonstrates that in addition to task load, the mutual compatibility of the concurrent processes modulates whether 2 tasks can be performed in parallel. In 2 psychological refractory period…

Performance of reaction time (RT) tasks was investigated in young children and adults to test the hypothesis that age-related differences in processing speed supersede a "global" mechanism and are a function of specific differences in task demands and processing requirements. The sample consisted of 54 4-year-olds, 53 5-year-olds, 59…