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Visual processes are assumed to be affected by scene-object semantics throughout the stream of processing, from the earliest processes of conscious object detection to the later stages of object identification and memory encoding. However, very few studies have jointly explored these processes in a unified setting. In this study, we build upon a change detection task to assess the influence of semantic congruity between scenes and objects across three processing stages, as indexed through measures of conscious detection, object identification, and delayed recognition. Across four experiments, we show that semantically incongruent targets are easier to detect than their congruent counterparts, but that the latter are better identified and recognized in a surprise memory test. In addition, we used eye-tracking measures, in conjunction with these three behavioral indexes, to further understand the locus of the advantage observed in each case. The results indicate that (i) competition with other congruent objects modulates the effects of congruity on target detection, but it does not affect identification nor recognition memory, (ii) the detection cost of scene-congruent targets is mediated by earlier fixations on incongruent targets, (iii) neither fixation times, dwell times, nor pupil dilatation are related to the effects obtained in identification and recognition; and (iv) even though congruent targets are both better identified and remembered, the recognition benefit does not depend on the identification demands. The transversal approach taken in this study represents a challenging but exciting perspective that holds the potential to build bridges over the seemingly different but related fields of conscious detection, semantic identification, and episodic memory.

We aim to develop a paradigm that allows a continuous measure of prediction error (PE) while including a temporal unfolding of events over time. We will use this continuous measure of PE to explore the relationship between prediction error (PE) and memory formation. This paradigm is structured in three phases: 1) encoding task, 2) distractor task and 3) recognition memory task. We will use eye-tracking to measure participants' gaze behaviour as an implicit index of their predictions. 1) Encoding task: Participants watch a truck that delivers goods across the city. On each trial, the truck appears in different locations and, in the end, the delivered item appears. The final position of the truck and of the corresponding image of the goods is most of the time (60% of trials) roughly constant. The rest of the time (40% of trials) this final position will deviate substantially from the learned one (uniform sampling from the non-learned locations). This setup enables a continuous computation PE as the distance between the expected location and the actual location (in degrees of angle). 2) Distractor tasks: Spot-a-word task; Digit-symbol substitution test. 3) Recognition memory task: Participants are asked to recognize already-seen (i.e., old) objects among not-seen-before (i.e., new) objects, also reporting how confident they are in this decision. In addition, participants are asked to report the location in which the object was shown to them in the encoding task.

This eye tracking study aims at examining the relationship between mnemonic prediction error (PE) and pattern separation (PS) which describes a hippocampal process in which similar experiences are assigned to distinct non-overlapping neural representations. Our main goals in this study are threefold. First, we want to test the hypothesis that incongruent information based on semantic knowledge, i.e., semantic PEs, can have a beneficial effect on initial encoding of that incongruent information. Because previous research has repeatedly shown the robustness of the congruency-effect, we assume that two congruency levels, i.e., comparing memory for congruent versus incongruent information, would not suffice to disclose the proposed memory advantage for incongruent information. Therefore, we suggest that with an appropriate neutral comparison condition the memory advantage for incongruent information can be revealed at retrieval. Second, we want to test the hypothesis that the memory boosting effect of incongruent information is based on an increase in PS during encoding. This increase would lead to more distinct neural representations of the stimulus and its details and eventually allow the successful discrimination of similar instances. Third, we want to test the hypothesis that the pupil dilation is more strongly pronounced in response to semantically incongruent than to semantically congruent or neutral information.

We intend to explore the hypothesis that many congruency effects found between abstract concepts and other concrete dimensions might be due to specific schemas imposed by the structure of the task.

We aim to examine to which extent top-down predictions in early visual cortex (EVC) can be related to episodic and semantic memory. In order to do so, we will use a visual occluder and fMRI to measure brain activity on a region of EVC which receives no external stimulation, while the rest of the visual field contains external information that can trigger memory retrieval. Our main goal is to find differential activity patterns within V1 and V2 in the occluded region (Smith and Muckli, 2010) that can be attributed to feedback information based on episodic and semantic memory from the hippocampus and ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), respectively.

This project uses a modified version of the main PREMUP paradigm to allow for a more fine-grained within participants manipulation of prior strength. This version is identical to the main paradigm other than for the changes outlined below (see here, for the core paradigm details, https://osf.io/wjqkb/). - Pictures from only two object categories (i.e., musical items and household items) and six scene categories (i.e., beach, dessert, mountain, road, seabed and savannah) will be used. - The three levels of prior strength (i.e., strong, weak and flat) are manipulated within participants so that every participant is presented with five trial types. Namely, strong match (.9 contingency), weak match (.7 contingency), flat expectation (.5 contingency), weak mismatch (.3 contingency) and strong mismatch (.1 contingency). - Participants will perform the same task during Phase 1 (i.e., contingency learning) and Phase 2 (i.e., critical encoding). During Phase 1 participants will receive feedback on every trial, while Phase 2 will not include explicit feedback signals to avoid contamination of the memory trace. - Contingencies are established in Phase 1 and carried out to Phase 2 where the critical encoding will take place. Filler objects will be used in Phase 2 to achieve the desired contingency levels while maintaining the number of individual objects within the reasonable limits of what is feasible for a human performing a recognition memory test. - Sleep-based episodic memory consolidation will be manipulated between groups with half of the sample performing the episodic memory test immediately after the encoding phase and with the other half doing so 24h later.

Empirical investigation of episodic memory.

In this subproject of the study we will use two different levels of prior strength (i.e., 80-20 and 50-50) to generate three levels of prediction error (PE) based on the likelihood of appearance of a given object category on a given context. Namely, low PE (.80), intermediate PE (.50, and strong PE (.20). Based on the results from the pilot study (see here), we expect the intermediate condition to render better memory performance on a recognition memory test. For more on this, see https://osf.io/wjqkb/.

The aim of the study is to link mnemonic reinstatement in hippocampus (HC) subfields with feedback signals in occluded regions of the early visual cortex (EVC). We will use functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging data from retrieval task that included partially occluded images. Participants retrieved the occluded portions of the images either episodically or semantically. If the HC informs feedback signals in lower levels of the visual hierarchy, then the extent to which memories are reinstated in its subfields will be related to the degree of reinstatement in EVC. In all our analysis, we will use the subiculum as a control region.

On this project we aim at exploring the involvement of different regions along the right parietal lobe on different processes ranging from object detection to eventual memory. We will use Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) to online disrupt activity in the right Temporo-parietal junction and the right superior parietal lobe to separately affect contextual updating and attentional allocation. Vertex will be used as a control region. This experiment is a follow-up from this previous experiment: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2017.08.035

In this study we aim at investigating age-related differences in feedback signals in the human brain. We will examine to what extent concurrent contextual information and time-distant mnemonic information can be detected in the feedback signals that arrive at non-stimulated areas of the early visual cortex of younger and older adults. We predict that time-distant mnemonic information, in comparison to concurrent information, contributes less to feedback signals in older than in younger adults. This would be due to age-related differences in reinstating differentiated neural representations of episodic information. We will also test to what extent such patterns in feedback signals are related to neural dedifferentiation in feedforward signals, which is a commonly reported finding in the aging literature.

Ranging from the first visual encounter with an object to its eventual retrieval from memory, visual processing can be conceptualised as a continuous stream of partially overlapping processes that jointly contribute to render a continuous experience. Capturing this continuum while using real-world knowledge (i.e., semantics) as a transversal manipulation will be the focus of the current project. We will run a set of objects through a set of standard tasks in the vision domain. These tasks will aim at capturing a range of rather sequential processes from initial detection of the stimulus until eventual remembering. The tasks have been selected based on results from previous using similar stimuli or a similar multi-process approach. The task included in this project aim at tapping into a corresponding set of underlying processes. Namely, detection, identification, maintenance, recall and recognition. More information could be found in the project Wiki. The task scripts can be access from here: https://pavlovia.org/lisco/sasp_label-full The analysis scripts will be made available after publication here: https://github.com/ortiztud/sasp

This study takes a lifespan perspective to evaluate whether episodes depicting actions that match a schema or violate a schema affect the memories of those episodes in the context of a visual narrative paradigm. The structure of the main paradigm is divided into two phases, namely, encoding and retrieval. During the encoding phase, participants will be presented with streams of comic strips (4 panels) depicting two characters engaged in an action i.e., throw and serve. In those actions, one character attempts to give an object to another character. Critically, the last panel of the narratives is manipulated to create three ending conditions with respect to the outcome of the actions: (1) expected ending e.g., a person receives the intended object, (2) unexpected ending e.g., the action is interrupted by a new character that comes to the scene, and (3) unfinished ending e.g., the action is still in progress. To evaluate participants' comprehension of the visual narratives, as well as their attentive state, after the final panel, participants will be asked to report whether the object reaches the intended person or not. During the retrieval phase, memory for the presented comic strips will be measured across four different memory tasks (more below). The results of the study will add to existing literature exploring long-term episodic memory consequences of prediction errors (PEs) and will further explore whether comparable or different mechanisms are at play across the lifespan. In this study, PEs will be generated from confronting participants with unexpected endings derived from the schemas built during the first few panels of the comic strips.

The recent incursion of experimental psychology into the arena of cognitive neuroscience has brought attention back to its conceptual foundations. As we embark on more multidisciplinary enterprises, some authors have called to rethink the taxonomy of psychology and cognitive neuroscience in order to build stronger theories. While some claim that, compared to other disciplines, the ontology of psychology precedes scientific work and has minimally departed from “folksy” terminology, others argue psychology’s explanandum confers a special status to folk insight. Here, we examine which psychological constructs are prevalent in the abstracts of five editions of the SEPEX meeting and compare them with those present in William James’ seminal Principles of Psychology. Additionally, we assess aspects where Spanish’ experimental psychology might fall behind to identify promising, relatively unexplored research avenues. Together, this initial exploration aims at characterizing the current conceptual status of Experimental Psychology in Spain. In a broader sense, we expect to raise awareness on the importance of a robust and up-to-date ontology given the increasingly multidisciplinary field in which our discipline now plays.

Bernstein Conference 2021 abstract. http://bernstein-conference.de

Supplemental material, CollingOpenPracticesDisclosure for Registered Replication Report on Fischer, Castel, Dodd, and Pratt (2003) by Lincoln J. Colling, Dénes Szűcs, Damiano De Marco, Krzysztof Cipora, Rolf Ulrich, Hans-Christoph Nuerk, Mojtaba Soltanlou, Donna Bryce, Sau-Chin Chen, Philipp Alexander Schroeder, Dion T. Henare, Christine K. Chrystall, Paul M. Corballis, Daniel Ansari, Celia Goffin, H. Moriah Sokolowski, Peter J. B. Hancock, Ailsa E. Millen, Stephen R. H. Langton, Kevin J. Holmes, Mark S. Saviano, Tia A. Tummino, Oliver Lindemann, Rolf A. Zwaan, Jiří Lukavský, Adéla Becková, Marek A. Vranka, Simone Cutini, Irene Cristina Mammarella, Claudio Mulatti, Raoul Bell, Axel Buchner, Laura Mieth, Jan Philipp Röer, Elise Klein, Stefan Huber, Korbinian Moeller, Brenda Ocampo, Juan Lupiáñez, Javier Ortiz-Tudela, Juanma de la Fuente, Julio Santiago, Marc Ouellet, Edward M. Hubbard, Elizabeth Y. Toomarian, Remo Job, Barbara Treccani and Blakeley B. McShane in Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science