The Other-Race Effect (ORE), characterized by superior recognition of same-race (SR) faces, remains poorly understood in children despite robust adult evidence. Developmental studies yield conflicting results, reflecting immature social categorization systems and limited cross-race experience. Drawing on the Categorization-Individuation Model, this study integrates behavioral and eye-tracking measures to investigate how social categorization (via country labels) and motivational incentives shape racial face recognition in Chinese children. Using both real and cartoon faces, we demonstrate three key findings: (1) Own-country labels enhance recognition accuracy and attentional engagement (longer fixations, larger pupil diameters) for labeled faces, overriding racial features; (2) Strong motivation eliminates the ORE by increasing configural processing for other-race (OR) faces; (3) Cartoon faces show comparable label and motivation effects, though with reduced magnitude. These results advance the CIM by demonstrating that top-down social cognition-not just bottom-up expertise-scaffolds early face processing. This research provides novel insights into children's racial face processing and has implications for bias mitigation interventions.

Skilled behaviour in real-world contexts often relies on a combination of both declarative and procedural learning. However, precisely how declarative and procedural knowledge interact is not yet fully understood. Previous findings have shown that procedural and declarative learning may interact or compete at the systems level during encoding, consolidation, and retrieval, but beyond this, it is not known whether declarative and procedural representations themselves interact. The goal of the current study is to investigate whether procedural and declarative knowledge can contribute simultaneously to categorization response selection behavior. We designed a stimulus set in which information learned by each system sometimes supports different responses, and created trials in the test phase that are designed to maximize such divergence. Participants were instructed to use a completely diagnostic, verbalizable, shape-based rule to categorize exemplars, receiving feedback after each trial. However, unbeknownst to participants, the categories also differed probabilistically in their color distributions. Participants used both color (learned procedurally) and shape (learned declaratively) to categorize exemplars, responding more quickly when both sources indicated the same category judgement, and more slowly when they conflicted. Debriefing confirmed that most participants were unaware of the color distributions. These results show simultaneous trial-level contributions from both declarative and procedural memory systems. Our findings represent a novel form of interaction between the two systems and have implications for domains beyond the laboratory, such as decision-making and classroom instruction.

Hearing loss is the most common sensory deficit. Deaf adults outperform hearing adults in terms of the visual processing of extrafoveal moving stimuli and fearful facial expressions, probably due to compensatory mechanisms. However, it remains unresolved whether these enhanced visual abilities also apply to happy facial expressions, which are the most universally recognized and prioritized prosocial signals among all the facial expressions. To address this question, we aimed to investigate hearing-impaired adults' processing of happy faces at unconscious (Experiment 1) and conscious (Experiment 2) levels. In Experiment 1, we paired backward-masked faces with supraliminal faces in both visual fields and asked participants to perform a go/no-go task only for the supraliminal faces. Results revealed that the discrimination of visible emotional faces (either happy or neutral) was modulated by the facial expressions of the backward-masked faces in the opposite visual field. The emotionally congruent condition showed higher accuracy than the incongruent condition. However, this effect was observed only for participants whose visual awareness of backward-masked faces was above the chance level in the final awareness check task. Results of Experiment 2 demonstrated that the conscious processing of happy faces remained intact in hearing-impaired adults, as reflected in the happy-face recognition advantage in reaction time. Overall, these findings imply that extrafoveal happy face processing relies on visual awareness in hearing-impaired adults. The present study provides insights into the visual perception ability of facial expressions in the hearing-impaired population.

Task such as hammering or throwing darts involve intentional actions performed with the anticipation of a desired effect that requires precision to achieve success. Visual perception of the goal, defined in an external frame of reference, plays a crucial role in specifying movement parameters in a body-centered frame of reference. Physical interruption of the task decouples the internal and external frames of reference leading to rapid performance decrements. Motor calibration, as noted by the 'Calibration Effect', is the fine-tuning of motor commands following performance-related feedback in the external frame of reference. Here we test the calibration effect with non-skilled populations in both a sport specific and an everyday type of task, darts and hammering. Participants performed 20 rounds of five attempts of hitting a goal with a stable bodily position. Between rounds they moved around to perturb the fine tuning. The first repetition within a round of repeated attempts was less accurate than the subsequent attempts within that same round, even if controlling for gradual learning effects. Thus, the calibration effect, a rapid component of warm-up, is present both in professional athletes and unskilled dart players as well as in everyday activities such as hammering.

In sequential two-choice tasks, performance is typically improved when both the stimulus features and the response are repeated but worsens when only one of them repeats and the other changes (partial repetition costs). The signaling account assumes a bias of response selection towards a repetition or change by applying a heuristic that uses the relation between previous and current stimulus features as a response signal. We investigated whether the signaling heuristic is modulated by contextual information, specifically the comparability of different display set sizes that signal a response with either few or many stimuli. Participants worked through a sequential task while display set sizes were varied within (Exp. 1, N = 45; enabling comparison between displays), or between participants (Exp. 2; N = 130, enabling no comparison between displays). Contrary to findings in typical two-choice tasks, partial repetition costs were not observed with small set sizes and only emerged at larger set sizes in Experiment 1 but were similar in Experiment 2. These results suggest that signaling incorporates context information to adapt the usage of stimulus information for response strategies in accordance with the environment.

People reliably relax cognitive control in response to pre-cues signaling a low likelihood of distraction (e.g., mostly congruent lists). However, there is limited evidence that people heighten control when pre-cued that distraction is likely (e.g., mostly incongruent lists). One possible explanation for this asymmetry pertains to floor effects in mostly incongruent lists, where interference is minimal even without pre-cues. Hence, we examined whether individuals would heighten control in mostly congruent lists-where control is typically relaxed-when given pre-cues and novel instructions emphasizing the difficulty posed by infrequent but disruptive incongruent trials. In Experiments 1a and 1b, participants performed a color-word Stroop task with mostly congruent and mostly incongruent lists and encountered informative or uninformative pre-cues before each list. Instructions highlighted the difficulty of performing well in mostly congruent lists (1a) or mostly incongruent lists (1b). In Experiment 2, we additionally tested whether forming implementation intentions would enhance pre-cue use and facilitate on-demand control. Comparisons across Experiments 1a and 1b provided modest evidence that participants heightened control in response to pre-cues in mostly congruent lists. Experiment 2 found no additional benefit from implementation intentions. These findings suggest that perhaps individuals can heighten control on demand when distraction is infrequent but nonetheless disruptive, which may be critical given the potential to be caught off-guard in such conditions. However, other factors beyond list composition seem to contribute to the limited evidence of an on-demand heightening of control.

Rewarded stimuli are prioritized by the attentional system. Behavioral performance is improved when the task-relevant dimension is tied to a potential reward but is impaired when the irrelevant dimension is reward related. Within the rewarded Stroop task, the facilitation (reward responsiveness) and impairment (modulation of interference of reward association; MIRA) from reward-associated stimuli are thought to be due to different cognitive processes. In four experiments, we explored whether reward responsiveness and MIRA were influenced by reward magnitude and persisted following reward discontinuation. We manipulated how informed participants were of the stimulus-reward contingency based on whether they received stimulus-reward color instructions and whether or not the stimulus-reward contingency was certain (i.e., one color was always tied to one reward outcome). Results suggest that greater reward magnitude increased reward responsiveness, especially when participants were informed about the stimulus-reward contingency. However, greater impairment (MIRA) by a large versus small reward related color word was only observed when participants had little knowledge of the reward contingency (i.e., no instructions and a more uncertain mapping of stimuli to rewards) or during the extinction phase when reward associated colors were less relevant. These findings highlight the distinction between reward responsiveness to maximize gains and the unintentional prioritization of related but irrelevant information and suggest that reward associations that elicit greater reward responsiveness do not necessarily lead to greater impairment of conflict processing.

The aim was to evaluate the use of an internal strategy (i.e., subjective organization) in relation to physical activity (PA) level in older adults. We expected (1) an effect of age on memory performance and subjective organization, in favor of younger adults, and (2) an association between PA and memory performance and between PA and organization index, particularly in older adults. Forty-five younger (M = 27.58 yo) and 45 older adults (M = 71.49 yo) learned a list of 19 semantically unrelated concrete nouns and took three consecutive recalls. An index was calculated from the order in which the words were recalled (pairwise frequency index, PFI). Participants reported their PA over the past year. Three General Linear Models were conducted to examine: (1) the effect of age and PFI on memory, (2) the effect of age and PA on memory, and (3) the effect of age and PA on PFI. Mediation analyses tested whether subjective organization (PFI) mediated the relationship between PA and memory recall. Younger adults recalled more words and used more subjective organization than older adults. In both age groups, those with better memory performance also used more subjective organization. Positive correlations were found between PA and memory performance in both younger and older adults, and between PA and subjective organization only in older adults. The mediation analysis revealed that PA's effect on memory was partially mediated by subjective organization, explaining 39% of the effect. The present study revealed that higher PA level in older adults was associated with increased recall and use of subjective organization strategy, addressing a gap in understanding the benefits of PA on memory during aging. The results are discussed in terms of the possible implication of executive functions, particularly for their role in implementing effective memory strategies during encoding.

PurposeFew studies have adopted external focus strategies to mitigate the negative effects of conscious movement processing in older adults. We investigated whether a single-session intervention (SSI) using an external focus could improve gait stability and visual search behaviors during adaptive locomotion in older adults.MethodsWe randomly allocated 112 older adults to either an external focus (EXT, n = 56) or a control group (CON, n = 56). Participants performed an obstacle circumvention walking task along an 8-m walkway for five trials at pre-intervention (T0), post-intervention (T1), and retention (T2). The training phase consisted of 20 walking trials with obstacle circumvention. EXT focused on digits displayed on monitors at their path destinations during walking, while CON walked naturally without any specific instructions. Gait kinematics (i.e., gait variabilities and body sway) and visual search data were collected at T0, T1, and T2.ResultsOnly EXT reduced body sway and variability of spatial and temporal gait parameters, while increasing gait speed when comparing T1 and T2 to T0. EXT also reduced the number of visual fixation and fixation duration percentage on the ground while increasing fixation duration percentage on the destination when comparing T1 and T2 to T0.ConclusionsThis study is the first to explore SSI with an external focus in older adults, providing evidence of significant improvements in gait stability and visual search behaviors that facilitate feedforward planning. Practicing with an external focus strategy could be recommended as an adjunctive psychomotor approach in clinical settings to enhance visuomotor performance in older adults.

This study aimed to compare the development and sensory channel feedback effects in number line estimation between children in grades 2 and 4 through two experiments, using both bounded number line estimation (BNLE) tasks and unbounded number line estimation (UNLE) tasks, respectively. Both Experiment 1 and Experiment 2 employed a mixed design of 2 (Grade: Grade 2, Grade 4) × 3 (Feedback Channel: visual feedback, auditory feedback, audio-visual feedback) × 2 (Scale: small, 0-100; large, 0-1000). Grade and feedback channel were between-subjects factors, while scale was a within-subjects factor. The results showed that in the BNLE tasks, children in both grades demonstrate the ability to estimate numbers within the linear representation stage, with grade 2 estimating numbers on the range of 0-100, while grade 4 extends this to the range of 0-1000. However, children in grade 2 are still undergoing the transformation from logarithmic-linear representation to the range of 0-1000 in their number estimation. In the UNLE tasks, grade 4 children showed greater linear model explanatory power within the range of 0-10 and no significant difference in the range of 10-30. Grade 2 children lacked significant linear or logarithmic representation characteristics, suggesting a potential transition phase. Auditory feedback enhanced BNLE task performance, while visual feedback improved UNLE task performance. The findings indicate that primary school children tend to shift from logarithmic to linear representation in both tasks, with higher BNLE task accuracy. Feedback proves beneficial in enhancing estimation accuracy in both types of NLE tasks, and distinctive feedback channel effects emerge in BNLE and UNLE tasks due to the varying strategies employed by children in each task.