Ulrich W Weger

Publications of Ulrich W Weger

• Mindful maths: Reducing the impact of stereotype threat through a mindfulness exercise.

  Authors: Ulrich W Weger, Nic Hooper, Brian P Meier, Tim Hopthrow

  Consciousness and cognition. 11/2011; 21(1):471-5.

  Individuals who experience stereotype threat - the pressure resulting from social comparisons that are perceived as unfavourable - show performance decrements across a wide range of tasks. OneIndividuals who experience stereotype threat - the pressure resulting from social comparisons that are perceived as unfavourable - show performance decrements across a wide range of tasks. One account of this effect is that the cognitive pressure triggered by such threat drains the same cognitive (or working-memory) resources that are implicated in the respective task. The present study investigates whether mindfulness can be used to moderate stereotype threat, as mindfulness has previously been shown to alleviate working-memory load. Our results show that performance decrements that typically occur under stereotype threat can indeed be reversed when the individual engages in a brief (5 min) mindfulness task. The theoretical implications of our findings are discussed.

• Testing whether gaze cues and arrow cues produce reflexive or volitional shifts of attention.

  Authors: Sara A Stevens, Greg L West, Naseem Al-Aidroos, Ulrich W Weger, Jay Pratt

  Psychonomic bulletin & review. 12/2008; 15(6):1148-53.

  It has been suggested that two types of uninformative central cues produce reflexive orienting: gaze and arrow cues. Using the criterion that voluntary shifts of attention facilitate both responseIt has been suggested that two types of uninformative central cues produce reflexive orienting: gaze and arrow cues. Using the criterion that voluntary shifts of attention facilitate both response speed and perceptual accuracy, whereas reflexive shifts of attention facilitate only response speed (Prinzmetal, McCool, & Park, 2005), we tested whether these cues produce reflexive or volitional shifts of attention. A cued letter discrimination task was used with both gaze (Experiments 1A and 1B) and arrow (Experiments 2A and 2B) cues, in which participants responded to the identity of the target letter. In the response time (respond speed) tasks, participants were asked to respond as quickly as possible to the target; in the accuracy (perceptual quality) tasks, participants were asked to respond as accurately as possible. For both cue types, compatible cues were found to facilitate response speed but not perceptual accuracy, indicating that both gaze and arrow cues generate reflexive shifts in attention.

• Time flies like an arrow: space-time compatibility effects suggest the use of a mental timeline.

  Authors: Ulrich W Weger, Jay Pratt

  Psychonomic bulletin & review. 05/2008; 15(2):426-30.

  The concept of time is elusive to direct observation, yet it pervades almost every aspect of our daily lives. How is time represented, given that it cannot be perceived directly? Metaphoric mappingThe concept of time is elusive to direct observation, yet it pervades almost every aspect of our daily lives. How is time represented, given that it cannot be perceived directly? Metaphoric mapping theory assumes that abstract concepts such as time are represented in terms of concrete, readily available dimensions. Consistent with this, many languages employ spatial metaphors to describe temporal relations. Here we investigate whether the time-is-space metaphor also affects visuospatial attention. In a first experiment, subjects categorized the names of actors in a manner compatible or incompatible with the orientation of a timeline. In two further experiments, subjects categorized or detected left- or right-side targets following prospective or retrospective time words. All three experiments show compatibility effects between the dimensions of space (left-right) and time (earlier-later) and indicate that the concept of time does indeed evoke spatial associations that facilitate responses to targets at spatially compatible locations.

• Objects do not aid inhibition of return in crossing the vertical meridian.

  Authors: Ulrich W Weger, Naseem Al-Aidroos, Jay Pratt

  Psychological research. 04/2008; 72(2):176-82.

  Location-based cuing experiments have shown that inhibition of return (IOR) spreads beyond a cued location but appears to be confined to the cued hemifield by the vertical meridian. Previous studiesLocation-based cuing experiments have shown that inhibition of return (IOR) spreads beyond a cued location but appears to be confined to the cued hemifield by the vertical meridian. Previous studies have also shown that IOR can spread across objects and here we investigate whether an object can be used to mediate the spreading of IOR into the opposite hemifield. Two experiments used a rectangular object that surrounded four target locations, two to the left and right of a central fixation point. The spreading of IOR in the presence of the object was determined and compared with a condition where the object-frame was absent. Object-present and object-absent trials were either mixed within a block (Experiment 1) or divided into separate blocks (Experiment 2). Both experiments revealed robust inhibition in the cued but not the uncued hemifield, further demonstrating the hemifield-based spreading of IOR.

• Long-range regressions to previously read words are guided by spatial and verbal memory.

  Authors: Ulrich W Weger, Albrecht W Inhoff

  Memory & cognition. 10/2007; 35(6):1293-306.

  To examine the nature of the information that guides eye movements to previously read text during reading (regressions), we used a relatively novel technique to request a regression to a particularTo examine the nature of the information that guides eye movements to previously read text during reading (regressions), we used a relatively novel technique to request a regression to a particular target word when the eyes reached a predefined location during sentence reading. A regression was to be directed to a close or a distant target when either the first or the second line of a complex two-line sentence was read. In addition, conditions were created that pitted effects of spatial and linguistic distance against each other. Initial regressions were more accurate when the target was spatially near, and effects of spatial distance dominated effects of verbal distance. Initial regressions rarely moved the eyes onto the target, however, and subsequent "corrective" regressions that homed in on the target were subject to general linguistic processing demands, being more accurate during first-line reading than during second-line reading. The results suggest that spatial and verbal memory guide regressions in reading. Initial regressions are primarily guided by fixation-centered spatial memory, and corrective regressions are primarily guided by linguistic knowledge.

• Things are sounding up: affective influences on auditory tone perception.

  Authors: Ulrich W Weger, Brian P Meier, Michael D Robinson, Albrecht W Inhoff

  Psychonomic bulletin & review. 07/2007; 14(3):517-21.

  Recent studies have documented robust and intriguing associations between affect and performance in cognitive tasks. The present two experiments sought to extend this line of work with reference toRecent studies have documented robust and intriguing associations between affect and performance in cognitive tasks. The present two experiments sought to extend this line of work with reference to potential cross-modal effects. Specifically, the present studies examined whether word evaluations would bias subsequent judgments of low- and high-pitch tones. Because affective metaphors and related associations consistently indicate that positive is high and negative is low, we predicted and found that positive evaluations biased tone judgment in the direction of high-pitch tones, whereas the opposite was true of negative evaluations. Effects were found on accuracy rates, response biases, and reaction times. These effects occurred despite the irrelevance of prime evaluations to the tone judgment task. In addition to clarifying the nature of these cross-modal associations, the present results further the idea that affective evaluations exert large effects on perceptual judgments related to verticality.

• The impact of letter detection on eye movement patterns during reading: Reconsidering lexical analysis in connected text as a function of task.

  Authors: Seth N Greenberg, Albrecht W Inhoff, Ulrich W Weger

  Quarterly journal of experimental psychology (2006). 07/2006; 59(6):987-95.

  A comparison was made between reading tasks performed with and without the additional requirement of detecting target letters. At issue was whether eye movement measures are affected by theA comparison was made between reading tasks performed with and without the additional requirement of detecting target letters. At issue was whether eye movement measures are affected by the additional requirement of detection. Global comparisons showed robust effects of task type with longer fixations and fewer word skippings when letter detection was required. Detailed analyses of target words, however, further showed that reading with and without letter detection yielded virtually identical effects of word class and text predictability for word-skipping rate and similar effects for different word viewing duration measures. The overall oculomotor pattern suggested that detection does not substantially shift normal reading movements in response to lexical cues and thereby indicated that detection tasks are informative about word and specifically word class processing in normal reading.

• Attention and eye movements in reading: inhibition of return predicts the size of regressive saccades.

  Authors: Ulrich W Weger, Albrecht W Inhoff

  Psychological science : a journal of the American Psychological Society / APS. 04/2006; 17(3):187-91.

  A spatial cuing task was used to identify two types of readers, those with a relatively fast and those with a relatively slow buildup of inhibition of return (IOR). Backward-directed eye movementsA spatial cuing task was used to identify two types of readers, those with a relatively fast and those with a relatively slow buildup of inhibition of return (IOR). Backward-directed eye movements (regressions) during sentence reading were then examined as a function of the two IOR types. The results revealed that readers with fast IOR executed larger regressions than readers with slow IOR, as they directed the eyes away from the most recently attended area of text. Forward-directed eye movements (saccades), by contrast, were not a function of IOR type. Ease of sentence comprehension influenced the size of regressions, but this effect was also independent of IOR type. Multiple mechanisms of spatial attention, including IOR, bias eye movements toward upcoming words in the text during reading.

• Semantic inhibition of return is the exception rather than the rule.

  Authors: Ulrich W Weger, Albrecht W Inhoff

  Perception & psychophysics. 02/2006; 68(2):244-53.

  Inhibition of return (IOR) has recently been reported for lexical/semantic categories (see, e.g., Fuentes, Vivas, & Humphreys, 1999). The present research examines the impact on semantic IOR of threeInhibition of return (IOR) has recently been reported for lexical/semantic categories (see, e.g., Fuentes, Vivas, & Humphreys, 1999). The present research examines the impact on semantic IOR of three components: item repetition, item heterogeneity, and spatial variability. Experiments 1 and 2 indicate that lexical/semantic IOR occurs only after extensive repetition. Experiment 2 also shows that semantic IOR is independent of spatial variability. Experiments 3 through 5 show facilitatory rather than inhibitory effects when the item pool is heterogeneous. The results support an episodic account of semantic IOR, according to which inhibitory effects accumulate with massive repetition of homogeneous items.

• Memory for word location during reading: eye movements to previously read words are spatially selective but not precise.

  Authors: Albrecht W Inhoff, Ulrich W Weger

  Memory & cognition. 05/2005; 33(3):447-61.

  In two experiments, readers' use of spatial memory was examined by asking them to determine whether an individually shown probe word had appeared in a previously read sentence (Experiment 1) or hadIn two experiments, readers' use of spatial memory was examined by asking them to determine whether an individually shown probe word had appeared in a previously read sentence (Experiment 1) or had occupied a right or left sentence location (Experiment 2). Under these conditions, eye movements during the classification task were generally directed toward the right, irrespective of the location of the relevant target in the previously read sentence. In two additional experiments, readers' knowledge of prior sentence content was examined either without (Experiment 3) or with (Experiment 4) an explicit instruction to move the eyes to a target word in that sentence. Although regressions into the prior sentence were generally directed toward the target, they rarely reached it. In the absence of accurate spatial memories, readers reached previously read target words in two distinct steps--one that moved the eyes in the general vicinity of the target, and one that homed in on it.