Publications by category
Journal articles
Monsell S, Lavric A, Strivens A, Paul E (In Press). Can we prepare to attend to. one of two simultaneous voices?.
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and PerformanceAbstract:
Can we prepare to attend to. one of two simultaneous voices?
We can selectively attend to one of two simultaneous voices sharing a source location. Can we endogenously select the voice before speech is heard? Participants heard two digit names, spoken simultaneously by a male and a female voice, following a visual cue indicating which voice’s digit to classify as odd or even. There was a substantial cost in RT and errors when the target voice switched from one trial to the next. In Experiment 1, with a highly familiar pair of voices, the switch cost reduced by nearly half as the cue-stimulus interval increased from 50 to 800 ms, indicating (contrary to previous reports) effective endogenous preparation for a change of voice. No further reduction in switch cost occurred with a longer preparation interval — this “residual” switch cost may be attributable to attentional “inertia”. In Experiment 2, with previously unfamiliar voices, the pattern of switch costs was very similar, though repeated attention to the same target voice over a run of trials improved performance more. Delaying the onset of one voice by 366 ms improved performance but the pattern of preparatory tuning effects was similar. Thus endogenous preparation for a voice is possible; but it is limited in efficacy, as for some other attentional domains.
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Elchlepp H, Monsell S, Lavric A (In Press). How Task Set and Task Switching Modulate Perceptual Processes: is Recognition of Facial Emotion an Exception?. Journal of Cognition
Elchlepp H, Best M, Lavric A, Monsell S (In Press). Shifting attention between visual dimensions as a source of the task switch cost. Psychological Science
Zinn A, Koschate-Reis M, Lavric A (In Press). Social Identity Switching: How Effective is it?. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology
Zinn AK, Koschate M, Naserianhanzaei E, Lavric A (2023). Can we prevent social identity switches? an experimental-computational investigation.
Br J Soc Psychol,
62(3), 1547-1565.
Abstract:
Can we prevent social identity switches? an experimental-computational investigation.
Previous studies suggested that social identity switches are rapid and highly effective, raising the question of whether people can intentionally control such switches. In two studies, we tested if participants could exert top-down control to prevent a social identity switch triggered by the experimental context. In Study 1, participants (N = 198) were given a writing task aimed at prompting a switch from their parent identity to their feminist identity. Before the prompt, half of the participants (the experimental group) were instructed to remain in their parent identity, avoiding an identity switch; the control group was not given such instructions. We found no significant difference between the groups in either self-reported salience or the implicit computational measure of salience based on participants' linguistic style, both measures suggesting a switch in both groups. Study 2 (N = 380) followed the same design but included a monetary incentive to prevent the switch in the experimental group. The groups differed significantly in their self-reported salience but not in the implicit measure, which suggests limited ability to avoid the switch even when participants report being able to do so. These results point to limited intentional control over exogenously triggered identity switches, with important practical implications.
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Graham B, Lavric A (2021). Preparing to switch languages versus preparing to switch tasks: Which is more effective?.
J Exp Psychol Gen,
150(10), 1956-1973.
Abstract:
Preparing to switch languages versus preparing to switch tasks: Which is more effective?
A substantial literature relates task-set control and language selection in bilinguals-with "switching" paradigms serving as a methodological "bridge." We asked a basic question: is preparation for a switch equally effective in the two domains? Bilinguals switched between naming pictures in one language and another, or between the tasks of naming and categorizing pictures. The critical trials used for comparing the two kinds of switching were identical in all respects-task (naming), stimuli, responses-except one: whether the shape cue presented before the picture specified the language or the task. The effect of preparation on the "switch cost" was examined by varying the cue-stimulus interval (CSI; 50/800/1,175 ms). Preparation for a task switch was more effective: Increasing the CSI from 50 to 800 ms reduced the reaction time task switch cost by ∼63% to its minimum, but the language switch cost only by ∼24%, the latter continuing to reduce with further opportunity for preparation (CSI = 1,175 ms). The switch costs in the two domains correlated moderately (r =. 36). We propose that preparation for a language switch is less effective, because (a) it must preemptively counteract greater interference during a language switch than during a task switch, and/or (b) lexical access is less amenable to "top-down" control than (components of) task-set. We also investigated the associations between stimuli and the language (or task) where they were last encountered. Associative history influenced performance-but similarly for switches and repetitions-indicating that stimulus-induced associative retrieval of language (or task-set) did not contribute to switch costs. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).
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Longman CS, Elchlepp H, Monsell S, Lavric A (2021). Serial or parallel proactive control of components of task-set? a task-switching investigation with concurrent EEG and eye-tracking.
Neuropsychologia,
160Abstract:
Serial or parallel proactive control of components of task-set? a task-switching investigation with concurrent EEG and eye-tracking.
Among the issues examined by studies of cognitive control in multitasking is whether processes underlying performance in the different tasks occur serially or in parallel. Here we ask a similar question about processes that pro-actively control task-set. In task-switching experiments, several indices of task-set preparation have been extensively documented, including anticipatory orientation of gaze to the task-relevant location (an unambiguous marker of reorientation of attention), and a positive polarity brain potential over the posterior cortex (whose functional significance is less well understood). We examine whether these markers of preparation occur in parallel or serially, and in what order. On each trial a cue required participants to make a semantic classification of one of three digits presented simultaneously, with the location of each digit consistently associated with one of three classification tasks (e.g. if the task was odd/even, the digit at the top of the display was relevant). The EEG positivity emerged following, and appeared time-locked to, the anticipatory fixation on the task-relevant location, which might suggest serial organisation. However, the fixation-locked positivity was not better defined than the cue-locked positivity; in fact, for the trials with the earliest fixations the positivity was better time-locked to the cue onset. This is more consistent with (re)orientation of spatial attention occurring in parallel with, but slightly before, the reconfiguration of other task-set components indexed by the EEG positivity.
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Koch I, Lavric A (2020). Has "Erasing" Made Things Clearer? Commentary on Schmidt, Liefooghe & De Houwer (): "An Episodic Model of Task Switching Effects: Erasing the Homunculus from Memory".
J Cogn,
3(1).
Abstract:
Has "Erasing" Made Things Clearer? Commentary on Schmidt, Liefooghe & De Houwer (): "An Episodic Model of Task Switching Effects: Erasing the Homunculus from Memory".
Commentary on Schmidt, Liefooghe & De Houwer (2020, JoC): "An episodic model of task switching effects: Erasing the homunculus from memory".
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Civile C, Waguri E, Quaglia S, Wooster B, Curtis A, McLaren R, Lavric A, McLaren I (2020). Testing the effects of transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) on the Face Inversion Effect and the N170 Event-Related Potentials (ERPs) component. Neuropsychologia
Civile C, Cooke A, Liu X, McLaren R, Elchlepp H, Lavric A, Milton F, McLaren I (2020). The effect of tDCS on recognition depends on stimulus generalization: Neuro-stimulation can predictably enhance or reduce the face inversion effect. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Learning and Cognition, 46, 83-98.
Lavric A, Clapp A, East A, Elchlepp H, Monsell S (2018). Is preparing for a language switch like preparing for a task switch? (Article). Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition
Civile C, Elchlepp H, McLaren RP, Galang CM, Lavric A, McLaren IPL (2018). The effect of scrambling upright and inverted faces on the N170. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology
Longman CS, Lavric A, Monsell S (2017). Self-paced preparation for a task switch eliminates attentional inertia but not the performance switch cost.
J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn,
43(6), 862-873.
Abstract:
Self-paced preparation for a task switch eliminates attentional inertia but not the performance switch cost.
The performance overhead associated with changing tasks (the "switch cost") usually diminishes when the task is specified in advance but is rarely eliminated by preparation. A popular account of the "residual" (asymptotic) switch cost is that it reflects "task-set inertia": carry-over of task-set parameters from the preceding trial(s). New evidence for a component of "task-set inertia" comes from eye-tracking, where the location associated with the previously (but no longer) relevant task is fixated preferentially over other irrelevant locations, even when preparation intervals are generous. Might such limits in overcoming task-set inertia in general, and "attentional inertia" in particular, result from suboptimal scheduling of preparation when the time available is outside one's control? in the present study, the stimulus comprised 3 digits located at the points of an invisible triangle, preceded by a central verbal cue specifying which of 3 classification tasks to perform, each consistently applied to just 1 digit location. The digits were presented only when fixation moved away from the cue, thus giving the participant control over preparation time. In contrast to our previous research with experimenter-determined preparation intervals, we found no sign of attentional inertia for the long preparation intervals. Self-paced preparation reduced but did not eliminate the performance switch cost-leaving a clear residual component in both reaction time and error rates. That the scheduling of preparation accounts for some, but not all, components of the residual switch cost, challenges existing accounts of the switch cost, even those which distinguish between preparatory and poststimulus reconfiguration processes. (PsycINFO Database Record
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Elchlepp H, Lavric A, Chambers CD, Verbruggen F (2016). Proactive inhibitory control: a general biasing account. Cognitive Psychology, 86, 27-61.
Longman CS, Lavric A, Monsell S (2016). The coupling between spatial attention and other components of task-set: a task switching investigation.
Quarterly Journal of Experimental PsychologyAbstract:
The coupling between spatial attention and other components of task-set: a task switching investigation.
Is spatial attention reconfigured independently of, or in tandem with, other task-set components when the task changes? We tracked the eyes of participants cued to perform one of three digit-classification tasks, each consistently associated with a distinct location. Previously we observed, on task switch trials, a substantial delay in orientation to the task-relevant location and tendency to fixate the location of the previously relevant task – “attentional inertia”. In the present experiments the cues specified (and instructions emphasised) the relevant location rather than the current task. In Experiment 1, with explicit spatial cues (arrows or spatial adverbs), the previously documented attentional handicaps all but disappeared, whilst the performance “switch cost” increased. Hence, attention can become decoupled from other aspects of task-set, but at a cost to the efficacy of task-set preparation. Experiment 2 used arbitrary single-letter cues with instructions and a training regime that encouraged participants to interpret the cue as indicating the relevant location rather than task. As in our previous experiments, and unlike in Experiment 1, we now observed clear switch-induced attentional delay and inertia, suggesting that the natural tendency is for spatial attention and task-set to be coupled and that only quasi-exogenous location cues decouple their reconfiguration.
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Elchlepp H, Lavric A, Monsell S (2015). A change of task prolongs early processes: evidence from ERPs in lexical tasks.
J Exp Psychol Gen,
144(2), 299-325.
Abstract:
A change of task prolongs early processes: evidence from ERPs in lexical tasks.
Switching tasks costs time. Allowing time to prepare reduces the cost, but usually leaves an irreducible "residual cost." Most accounts of this residual cost locate it within the response-selection stage of processing. To determine which processing stage is affected, we measured event-related potentials (ERPs) as participants performed a reading task or a perceptual judgment task, and examined the effect of a task switch on early markers of lexical processing. A task cue preceding a string of blue and red letters instructed the participant either to read the letter string (for a semantic classification in Experiment 1, and a lexical decision in Experiment 2) or to judge the symmetry of its color pattern. In Experiment 1, having to switch to the reading task delayed the evolution of the effect of word frequency on the reading task ERP by a substantial fraction of the effect on reaction time (RT). In Experiment 2, a task switch delayed the onset of the effect of lexical status on the ERP by about the same extent that it prolonged the RT. These effects indicate an early locus of (most of) the residual switch cost: We propose that this reflects a form of task-related attentional inertia. Other findings have implications for the automaticity of lexical access: Effects of frequency, lexicality, and orthographic familiarity on ERPs in the symmetry task indicated involuntary, but attenuated, orthographic and lexical processing even when attention was focused on a nonlexical property.
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Vine SJ, Uiga L, Lavric A, Moore LJ, Tsaneva-Atanasova K, Wilson MR (2015). Individual reactions to stress predict performance during a critical aviation incident.
Anxiety Stress Coping,
28(4), 467-477.
Abstract:
Individual reactions to stress predict performance during a critical aviation incident.
BACKGROUND: Understanding the influence of stress on human performance is of theoretical and practical importance. An individual's reaction to stress predicts their subsequent performance; with a "challenge" response to stress leading to better performance than a "threat" response. However, this contention has not been tested in truly stressful environments with highly skilled individuals. Furthermore, the effect of challenge and threat responses on attentional control during visuomotor tasks is poorly understood. DESIGN: Thus, this study aimed to examine individual reactions to stress and their influence on attentional control, among a cohort of commercial pilots performing a stressful flight assessment. METHODS: Sixteen pilots performed an "engine failure on take-off" scenario, in a high-fidelity flight simulator. Reactions to stress were indexed via self-report; performance was assessed subjectively (flight instructor assessment) and objectively (simulator metrics); gaze behavior data were captured using a mobile eye tracker, and measures of attentional control were subsequently calculated (search rate, stimulus driven attention, and entropy). RESULTS: Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that a threat response was associated with poorer performance and disrupted attentional control. CONCLUSION: the findings add to previous research showing that individual reactions to stress influence performance and shed light on the processes through which stress influences performance.
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van 't Wout F, Lavric A, Monsell S (2015). Is it harder to switch among a larger set of tasks?.
J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn,
41(2), 363-376.
Abstract:
Is it harder to switch among a larger set of tasks?
When stimuli afford multiple tasks, switching among them involves promoting one of several task-sets in play into a most-active state. This process, often conceptualized as retrieving task parameters and stimulus-response (S-R) rules into procedural working memory, is a likely source of the reaction time (RT) cost of a task-switch, especially when no time is available for task preparation before the stimulus. We report 2 task-cuing experiments that asked whether the time consumed by task-set retrieval increases with the number of task-sets in play, while unconfounding the number of tasks with their frequency and recency of use. Participants were required to switch among 3 or 5 orthogonal classifications of perceptual attributes of an object (Experiment 1) or of phonological/semantic attributes of a word (Experiment 2), with a 100 or 1,300 ms cue-stimulus interval. For 2 tasks for which recency and frequency were matched in the 3- and 5-task conditions, there was no effect of number of tasks on the switch cost. For the other tasks, there was a greater switch cost in the 5-task condition with little time for preparation, attributable to effects of frequency/recency. Thus, retrieval time for active task-sets is not influenced by the number of alternatives per se (unlike several other kinds of memory retrieval) but is influenced by recency or frequency of use.
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Rastle K, Lavric A, Elchlepp H, Crepaldi D (2015). Processing Differences Across Regular and Irregular Inflections Revealed Through ERPs.
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and PerformanceAbstract:
Processing Differences Across Regular and Irregular Inflections Revealed Through ERPs
Research strongly suggests that printed words are recognized in terms of their constituent morphemes, but researchers have tended to consider the recognition of derivations and inflections in separate theoretical debates. Recently, Crepaldi et al. (2010) proposed a theory that claims to account for the recognition of both derivations and inflections. We investigated brain potentials in the context of masked priming to test 2 key predictions of this theory: (a) that regular inflections should prime their stems to a greater degree than irregular inflections should prime their stems and (b) that priming for regular inflections should arise earlier in the recognition process than priming for irregular inflections. Significant masked priming effects were observed for both regular and irregular inflections, though these effects were greater for regular inflections. ERP data further suggested that masked priming effects for regular and irregular inflections had different time courses. Priming for regular but not irregular inflections emerged in a time window reflecting processing up to 250 ms post target onset, and although priming for regular and irregular inflections was observed in a time window reflecting processing 400 to 600 ms post target onset, these effects arose earlier and were of greater magnitude for the regular inflections. These findings support a form-then-meaning characterization of the visual word processing system such as that proposed by Crepaldi et al. (2010) and raise challenges for alternative approaches. (PsycINFO Database Record
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Rastle K, Lavric A, Elchlepp H, Crepaldi D (2015). Processing differences across regular and irregular inflections revealed through ERPs. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 41(3), 747-760.
Wills, AJ, Lavric A, Hemmings, Y, Surrey, E (2014). Attention, predictive learning, and the inverse base-rate effect:
Evidence from event-related potentials.
Neuroimage,
87, 61-71.
Abstract:
Attention, predictive learning, and the inverse base-rate effect:
Evidence from event-related potentials
We report the first electrophysiological investigation of the inverse base-rate effect (IBRE), a robust non-rational
bias in predictive learning. In the IBRE, participants learn that one pair of symptoms (AB) predicts a frequently
occurring disease, whilst an overlapping pair of symptoms (AC) predicts a rarely occurring disease. Participants
subsequently infer that BC predicts the rare disease, a non-rational decision made in opposition to the underlying
base rates of the two diseases. Error-driven attention theories of learning state that the IBRE occurs because C attracts
more attention than B. On the basis of this account we predicted and observed the occurrence of brain potentials
associated with visual attention: a posterior Selection Negativity, and a concurrent anterior Selection
Positivity, for C vs. B in a post-training test phase. Error-driven attention theories further predict no Selection
Negativity, Selection Positivity or IBRE, for control symptoms matched on frequency to B and C, but for which
there was no shared symptom(A) during training. These predictionswere also confirmed, and this confirmation
discounts alternative explanations of the IBRE based on the relative novelty of B and C. Further, we observed
higher response accuracy for B alone than for C alone; this dissociation of response accuracy (B N C) from attentional
allocation (C N B) discounts the possibility that the observed attentional difference was caused by the difference
in response accuracy.
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Longman CS, Lavric A, Munteanu C, Monsell S (2014). Attentional Inertia and Delayed Orienting of Spatial Attention in Task-Switching. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 40(4), 1580-1602.
Stevens T, Brevers D, Chambers CD, Lavric A, McLaren IPL, Mertens M, Noël X, Verbruggen F (2014). How does response inhibition influence decision-making when gambling?.
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied,
in pressAbstract:
How does response inhibition influence decision-making when gambling?
Recent research suggests that response-inhibition training can alter impulsive and compulsive behaviour. When stop signals are introduced in a gambling task, people not only become more cautious when executing their choice responses, they also prefer lower bets when gambling. Here we examined how stopping motor responses influences gambling. Experiment 1 showed that the reduced betting in stop-signal blocks was not caused by changes in information sampling styles or changes in arousal. In Experiments 2a-2b, people preferred lower bets when they occasionally had to stop their response in a secondary decision-making task, but not when they were instructed to respond as accurately as possible. Experiment 3 showed that merely introducing trials on which subjects could not gamble did not influence gambling preferences. Experiment 4 demonstrated that the effect of stopping on gambling generalised to different populations. Furthermore, two combined analyses suggest that the effect of stopping on gambling preferences was reliable but small. Finally, Experiment 5 showed that the effect of stopping on gambling generalised to a different task. Based on our findings and earlier research we propose that the presence of stop signals influences gambling by reducing approach behaviour and altering the motivational value of the gambling outcome.
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Civile C, Zhao D, Ku Y, Elchlepp H, Lavric A, McLaren IPL (2014). Perceptual learning and inversion effects: Recognition of prototype-defined familiar checkerboards.
J Exp Psychol Anim Learn Cogn,
40(2), 144-161.
Abstract:
Perceptual learning and inversion effects: Recognition of prototype-defined familiar checkerboards.
The face inversion effect is a defection in performance in recognizing inverted faces compared with faces presented in their usual upright orientation typically believed to be specific for facial stimuli. McLaren (1997) was able to demonstrate that (a) an inversion effect could be obtained with exemplars drawn from a familiar category, such that upright exemplars were better discriminated than inverted exemplars; and (b) that the inversion effect required that the familiar category be prototype-defined. In this article, we replicate and extend these findings. We show that the inversion effect can be obtained in a standard old/new recognition memory paradigm, demonstrate that it is contingent on familiarization with a prototype-defined category, and establish that the effect is made up of two components. We confirm the advantage for upright exemplars drawn from a familiar, prototype-defined category, and show that there is a disadvantage for inverted exemplars drawn from this category relative to suitable controls. We also provide evidence that there is an N170 event-related potential signature for this effect. These results allow us to integrate a theory of perceptual learning originally proposed by McLaren, Kaye, and Mackintosh (1989) with explanations of the face inversion effect, first reported by Yin.
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Elchlepp H, Rumball F, Lavric A (2013). A brain-potential correlate of task-set conflict.
Psychophysiology,
50(3), 314-323.
Abstract:
A brain-potential correlate of task-set conflict
Brain-potential correlates of response conflict are well documented, but those of task conflict are not. Task-switching studies have suggested a plausible correlate of task conflict-a poststimulus posterior negativity-however, in such paradigms the negativity may also reflect poststimulus task-set reconfiguration postulated in some models. Here, participants alternated between single-task blocks of classifying letters and digits; hence, no within-block task-set reconfiguration was required. Presenting letters alongside digits slowed responses to the digits and elicited an ERP negativity from ∼350ms, relative to task-neutral symbols presented alongside digits, consistent with task conflict. The negativity was also present for congruent digit-letter stimuli; this and the lack of behavioral response congruency effects indicate conflict at the level of task-set rather than response selection. © 2013 Society for Psychophysiological Research.
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van 't Wout F, Lavric A, Monsell S (2013). Are stimulus-response rules represented phonologically for task-set preparation and maintenance?.
J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn,
39(5), 1538-1551.
Abstract:
Are stimulus-response rules represented phonologically for task-set preparation and maintenance?
Accounts of task-set control generally assume that the current task's stimulus-response (S-R) rules must be elevated to a privileged state of activation. How are they represented in this state? in 3 task-cuing experiments, we tested the hypothesis that phonological working memory is used to represent S-R rules for task-set control by getting participants to switch between 2 sets of arbitrary S-R rules and manipulating the articulatory duration (Experiment 1) or phonological similarity (Experiments 2 and 3) of the names of the stimulus terms. The task cue specified which of 2 objects (Experiment 1) or consonants (Experiment 2) in a display to identify with a key press. In Experiment 3, participants switched between identifying an object/consonant and its color/visual texture. After practice, neither the duration nor the similarity of the stimulus terms had detectable effects on overall performance, task-switch cost, or its reduction with preparation. Only in the initial single-task training blocks was phonological similarity a significant handicap. Hence, beyond a very transient role, there is no evidence that (declarative) phonological working memory makes a functional contribution to representing S-R rules for task-set control, arguably because once learned, they are represented in nonlinguistic procedural working memory.
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Longman C, Lavric A, Monsell S (2013). More attention to attention? an eye-tracking investigation of selection of perceptual attributes during a task switch. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 39(4), 1142-1151.
Elchlepp H, Lavric A, Mizon GA, Monsell S (2012). A brain-potential study of preparation for and execution of a task-switch with stimuli that afford only the relevant task.
Hum Brain Mapp,
33(5), 1137-1154.
Abstract:
A brain-potential study of preparation for and execution of a task-switch with stimuli that afford only the relevant task.
Behavioural and neurophysiological studies of task-switching have tended to employ 'bivalent' stimuli (which afford responses in two tasks). Using brain potential recordings, we investigated task-switching with 'univalent' stimuli affording responses in only one of the tasks, and compared the outcomes to those recently obtained with bivalent stimuli (Lavric et al. [2008]: Eur J Neurosci 1-14), in order to examine two phenomena. First, when only univalent stimuli are presented, the processing of task cues becomes optional. Our results showed that in these circumstances linguistic (but not pictorial) cues were still effective in eliciting at least some degree of preparation for a task-switch, as evidenced by the reduction in the error cost of switching at the longer preparation interval and by a posterior switch-induced ERP positivity at about 450-800 ms in the cue-stimulus interval. Second, single affordance stimuli not only reduced behavioural switch costs relative to bivalent stimuli; they also produced a smaller post-stimulus switch-induced negativity, consistent with the latter being a marker of conflict between task-sets. However, using stimuli not associated with responses in the alternative task did not completely eliminate the negativity. We speculate that the residue reflects other sources of conflict: attention to the irrelevant perceptual dimension and/or persistence of task goals.
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Lavric A, Elchlepp H, Rastle K (2012). Tracking hierarchical processing in morphological decomposition with brain potentials.
J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform,
38(4), 811-816.
Abstract:
Tracking hierarchical processing in morphological decomposition with brain potentials.
One important debate in psycholinguistics concerns the nature of morphological decomposition processes in visual word recognition (e.g. darkness = {dark} + {-ness}). One theory claims that these processes arise during orthographic analysis and prior to accessing meaning (Rastle & Davis, 2008), and another argues that these processes arise through greater temporal overlap between the activation of orthographic and semantic information (Feldman, O'Connor, & Moscoso del Prado Martín, 2009). This issue has been the subject of intense debate in studies using masked priming but has yet to be resolved unequivocally. The present study takes another approach to resolving this controversy by examining brain potentials as participants made lexical decisions to unprimed morphological (darkness), pseudomorphological (corner), and nonmorphological (brothel) stimuli. Results revealed a difference from ∼190 ms between the nonmorphological condition and the other 2 conditions (which showed no differentiation), a likely correlate of morphological processing reliant exclusively on orthography. Only 60-70 ms later was there evidence of the activation of semantic information, when the pseudomorphological condition diverged from the other 2 conditions. These results provide unambiguous support for a hierarchical model of morphological processing whereby decomposition is based initially on orthographic analysis and is only later constrained by semantic information. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).
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Lavric A, Bregadze N, Benattayallah A (2011). Detection of experimental ERP effects in combined EEG-fMRI: evaluating the benefits of interleaved acquisition and independent component analysis.
Clin Neurophysiol,
122(2), 267-277.
Abstract:
Detection of experimental ERP effects in combined EEG-fMRI: evaluating the benefits of interleaved acquisition and independent component analysis.
The present study examined the benefit of rapid alternation of EEG and fMRI (a common strategy for avoiding artifact caused by rapid switching of MRI gradients) for detecting experimental modulations of ERPs in combined EEG-fMRI. The study also assessed the advantages of aiding the extraction of specific ERP components by means of signal decomposition using Independent Component Analysis (ICA).
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Lavric A, Rastle K, Clapp A (2011). What do fully-visible primes and brain potentials reveal about morphological decomposition?. Psychophysiology, 48(5), 676-686.
Ashwin P, Lavric A (2010). A low-dimensional model of binocular rivalry using winnerless competition.
Physica D,
239, 529-536.
Abstract:
A low-dimensional model of binocular rivalry using winnerless competition
We discuss a novel minimal model for binocular rivalry (and more generally perceptual dominance) effects. The model has only three state variables, but nonetheless exhibits a wide range of input and noise-dependent switching. The model has two reciprocally inhibiting input variables that represent perceptual processes active during the recognition of one of the two possible states and a third variable that represents the perceived output. Sensory inputs only affect the input variables.
We observe, for rivalry-inducing inputs, the appearance of winnerless competition in the perceptual system. This gives rise to a behaviour that conforms to well-known principles describing binocular rivalry (the Levelt propositions, in particular proposition IV: monotonic response of residence time as a function of image contrast) down to very low levels of stimulus intensity.
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Lavric A, Rastle K, Clapp A (2010). What do fully visible primes and brain potentials reveal about morphological decomposition?.
Psychophysiology,
48(5), 676-686.
Abstract:
What do fully visible primes and brain potentials reveal about morphological decomposition?
AbstractTo examine the role of meaning in morphological decomposition ({re‐}+{play}), researchers have employed the priming paradigm. Perceptually masked primes lead to facilitation both when decomposition is semantically appropriate (hunter‐HUNT) and when it is not (corner‐CORN), whereas with fully visible primes facilitation is observed only in the former case. We investigated the N400 brain potential time‐locked to words preceded by fully visible primes. At ∼300–380 ms, N400 was equally attenuated in the semantically “transparent” condition (hunter‐HUNT) and semantically “opaque” condition (corner‐CORN). In the transparent condition, N400 remained attenuated after 380 ms, whereas in the opaque condition it returned to the level of a nonmorphological form condition (brothel‐BROTH). This pattern of N400 priming is consistent with an orthography‐based, morphological decomposition mechanism, “licensed” at a later stage by semantic information.
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Lavric A, Mizon GA, Monsell S (2008). Neurophysiological signature of effective anticipatory task-set control: a task-switching investigation.
Eur J Neurosci,
28(5), 1016-1029.
Abstract:
Neurophysiological signature of effective anticipatory task-set control: a task-switching investigation.
Changing between cognitive tasks requires a reorganization of cognitive processes. Behavioural evidence suggests this can occur in advance of the stimulus. However, the existence or detectability of an anticipatory task-set reconfiguration process remains controversial, in part because several neuroimaging studies have not detected extra brain activity during preparation for a task switch relative to a task repeat. In contrast, electrophysiological studies have identified potential correlates of preparation for a task switch, but their interpretation is hindered by the scarcity of evidence on their relationship to performance. We aimed to: (i) identify the brain potential(s) reflecting effective preparation for a task-switch in a task-cuing paradigm that shows clear behavioural evidence for advance preparation, and (ii) characterize this activity by means of temporal segmentation and source analysis. Our results show that when advance preparation was effective (as indicated by fast responses), a protracted switch-related component, manifesting itself as widespread posterior positivity and concurrent right anterior negativity, preceded stimulus onset for approximately 300 ms, with sources primarily in the left lateral frontal, right inferior frontal and temporal cortices. When advance preparation was ineffective (as implied by slow responses), or made impossible by a short cue-stimulus interval (CSI), a similar component, with lateral prefrontal generators, peaked approximately 300 ms poststimulus. The protracted prestimulus component (which we show to be distinct from P3 or contingent negative variation, CNV) also correlated over subjects with a behavioural measure of preparation. Furthermore, its differential lateralization for word and picture cues was consistent with a role for verbal self-instruction in preparatory task-set reconfiguration.
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Weber K, Lavric A (2008). Syntactic anomaly elicits a lexico-semantic (N400) ERP effect in the second language but not the first.
Psychophysiology,
45(6), 920-925.
Abstract:
Syntactic anomaly elicits a lexico-semantic (N400) ERP effect in the second language but not the first.
Recent brain potential research into first versus second language (L1 vs. L2) processing revealed striking responses to morphosyntactic features absent in the mother tongue. The aim of the present study was to establish whether the presence of comparable morphosyntactic features in L1 leads to more similar electrophysiological L1 and L2 profiles. ERPs were acquired while German-English bilinguals and native speakers of English read sentences. Some sentences were meaningful and well formed, whereas others contained morphosyntactic or semantic violations in the final word. In addition to the expected P600 component, morphosyntactic violations in L2 but not L1 led to an enhanced N400. This effect may suggest either that resolution of morphosyntactic anomalies in L2 relies on the lexico-semantic system or that the weaker/slower morphological mechanisms in L2 lead to greater sentence wrap-up difficulties known to result in N400 enhancement.
Abstract.
Lavric A, Clapp A, Rastle K (2007). ERP evidence of morphological analysis from orthography: a masked priming study. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 19(5), 866-877.
Wills AJ, Lavric A, Croft GS, Hodgson TL (2007). Predictive learning, prediction errors and attention: Evidence from event-related potentials and eye-tracking. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 19(5), 843-854.
Shackman, A.J. Sarinopoulos, I. Pizzagalli DA, Lavric A, Davidson RJ (2006). Anxiety Selectively Disrupts Visuospatial Working Memory. Emotion, 6(1), 40-61.
Bregadze N, Lavric A (2006). ERP differences with vs. without concurrent fMRI. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 62, 54-59.
Lavric A, Forstmeier S, Pizzagalli D (2004). When go and nogo are equally frequent: ERP components and cortical tomography. European Journal of Neuroscience, 20(9), 2483-2488.
Lavric A, Rippon, G. Gray, J.R. (2003). Threat-evoked anxiety disrupts spatial working memory performance: an attentional account. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 27, 489-504.
Simon F, Lavric A, Pizzagalli D, Rippon G (2001). A double dissociation of regular and irregular English past-tense production revealed by Low-Resolution Electromagnetic Tomography (LORETA).
NEUROIMAGE,
13(6), S603-S603.
Author URL.
Lavric A, Forstmeier S, Pizzagalli D, Rippon G (2001). Mapping dissociations in verb morphology. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 5(7), 301-308.
Lavric A, Pizzagalli, D. Forstmeier, S. Rippon, G (2001). ‘A double-dissociation of. English past-tense production revealed by Event-Related Potentials and Low Resolution Electromagnetic Tomography (LORETA)’. Clinical Neurophysiology, 112(10), 1833-1849.
Lavric A, Forstmeier S, Rippon G (2000). Differences in working memory involvement in analytical and creative tasks: an ERP study.
Neuroreport,
11(8), 1613-1618.
Abstract:
Differences in working memory involvement in analytical and creative tasks: an ERP study.
If, as suggested, creative (insight) problem solving is less systematic and employs less planning than analytical problem solving, the former requires substantially less working memory (WM) than the latter. Subjects simultaneously solved problems and counted auditory stimuli (concurrent WM task), in response to which ERPs were recorded. Counting disrupted analytical, but not creative performance. Peak and time-window average P300 were more frontal during analytical problem solving as compared to insight or counting tones only (control). A PCA extracted two factors in the P3 range, one frontal and one broad left-lateralized, which distinguished analytical from creative problem solving. The findings indicate distinct processing pathways for the two types of tasks with more WM involvement in analytical tasks.
Abstract.
Author URL.
Lavric A, Shackman AJ, Sarinopoulos I, Sarinopoulos AP, Davidson RJ (2000). Effects of threat-of shock on verbal and spatial working memory.
PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY,
37, S62-S62.
Author URL.
Lavric A, Rippon G (1999). Deductive vs. creative problem solving: Revealing differences with brain imaging techniques.
JOURNAL OF PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY,
13(2), 135-136.
Author URL.
Lavric A, Forstmeier S, Rippon G (1998). An ERP study of English past-tense formation.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY,
30(1-2), 151-151.
Author URL.
Lavric A, Rippon G, Forstmeier S (1998). ERP studies of working memory in reasoning tasks.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY,
30(1-2), 145-145.
Author URL.
Chapters
Lavric, A. (1999). Ereigniskorrelierte Potentiale waehrend der regelmaessigen und unregelmaessigen Past-Tense-Bildung im Englischen. Experimentelle Psychologie. Beitraege zur 41. Tagung experimentell arbeitender Psychologen \r
\r. In Schroeger E, Mecklinger A, Widmann A (Eds.) Experimentelle Psychologie. Beitraege zur 41. Tagung experimentell arbeitender Psychologen, Lengerich:.
Conferences
Civile C, Elchlepp H, McLaren RP, Lavric A, McLaren IPL (2012). Face recognition and brain potentials: Disruption of configural information reduces the face inversion effect. Cognitive Science. 1st - 1st Jan 2012.
Benattayallah A, Bregadze N, Lavric A (2010). Effect of EEG Electrodes (32 and 64 Channels) on the fMRI Signal. ESMRM & ISMRM 18th Joint Annual Scientific Meeting. 1st - 7th May 2010.
Abstract:
Effect of EEG Electrodes (32 and 64 Channels) on the fMRI Signal
Abstract.
Lavric S, Lavric A (2005). ERP component differentiates the production of regular from irregular English past-tenses.
Author URL.
Lavric A, Wills A (2005). ERPS support attentional theories of associative learning.
Author URL.
Publications by year
In Press
Monsell S, Lavric A, Strivens A, Paul E (In Press). Can we prepare to attend to. one of two simultaneous voices?.
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and PerformanceAbstract:
Can we prepare to attend to. one of two simultaneous voices?
We can selectively attend to one of two simultaneous voices sharing a source location. Can we endogenously select the voice before speech is heard? Participants heard two digit names, spoken simultaneously by a male and a female voice, following a visual cue indicating which voice’s digit to classify as odd or even. There was a substantial cost in RT and errors when the target voice switched from one trial to the next. In Experiment 1, with a highly familiar pair of voices, the switch cost reduced by nearly half as the cue-stimulus interval increased from 50 to 800 ms, indicating (contrary to previous reports) effective endogenous preparation for a change of voice. No further reduction in switch cost occurred with a longer preparation interval — this “residual” switch cost may be attributable to attentional “inertia”. In Experiment 2, with previously unfamiliar voices, the pattern of switch costs was very similar, though repeated attention to the same target voice over a run of trials improved performance more. Delaying the onset of one voice by 366 ms improved performance but the pattern of preparatory tuning effects was similar. Thus endogenous preparation for a voice is possible; but it is limited in efficacy, as for some other attentional domains.
Abstract.
Elchlepp H, Monsell S, Lavric A (In Press). How Task Set and Task Switching Modulate Perceptual Processes: is Recognition of Facial Emotion an Exception?. Journal of Cognition
Elchlepp H, Best M, Lavric A, Monsell S (In Press). Shifting attention between visual dimensions as a source of the task switch cost. Psychological Science
Zinn A, Koschate-Reis M, Lavric A (In Press). Social Identity Switching: How Effective is it?. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology
2023
Zinn AK, Koschate M, Naserianhanzaei E, Lavric A (2023). Can we prevent social identity switches? an experimental-computational investigation.
Br J Soc Psychol,
62(3), 1547-1565.
Abstract:
Can we prevent social identity switches? an experimental-computational investigation.
Previous studies suggested that social identity switches are rapid and highly effective, raising the question of whether people can intentionally control such switches. In two studies, we tested if participants could exert top-down control to prevent a social identity switch triggered by the experimental context. In Study 1, participants (N = 198) were given a writing task aimed at prompting a switch from their parent identity to their feminist identity. Before the prompt, half of the participants (the experimental group) were instructed to remain in their parent identity, avoiding an identity switch; the control group was not given such instructions. We found no significant difference between the groups in either self-reported salience or the implicit computational measure of salience based on participants' linguistic style, both measures suggesting a switch in both groups. Study 2 (N = 380) followed the same design but included a monetary incentive to prevent the switch in the experimental group. The groups differed significantly in their self-reported salience but not in the implicit measure, which suggests limited ability to avoid the switch even when participants report being able to do so. These results point to limited intentional control over exogenously triggered identity switches, with important practical implications.
Abstract.
Author URL.
2021
Graham B, Lavric A (2021). Preparing to switch languages versus preparing to switch tasks: Which is more effective?.
J Exp Psychol Gen,
150(10), 1956-1973.
Abstract:
Preparing to switch languages versus preparing to switch tasks: Which is more effective?
A substantial literature relates task-set control and language selection in bilinguals-with "switching" paradigms serving as a methodological "bridge." We asked a basic question: is preparation for a switch equally effective in the two domains? Bilinguals switched between naming pictures in one language and another, or between the tasks of naming and categorizing pictures. The critical trials used for comparing the two kinds of switching were identical in all respects-task (naming), stimuli, responses-except one: whether the shape cue presented before the picture specified the language or the task. The effect of preparation on the "switch cost" was examined by varying the cue-stimulus interval (CSI; 50/800/1,175 ms). Preparation for a task switch was more effective: Increasing the CSI from 50 to 800 ms reduced the reaction time task switch cost by ∼63% to its minimum, but the language switch cost only by ∼24%, the latter continuing to reduce with further opportunity for preparation (CSI = 1,175 ms). The switch costs in the two domains correlated moderately (r =. 36). We propose that preparation for a language switch is less effective, because (a) it must preemptively counteract greater interference during a language switch than during a task switch, and/or (b) lexical access is less amenable to "top-down" control than (components of) task-set. We also investigated the associations between stimuli and the language (or task) where they were last encountered. Associative history influenced performance-but similarly for switches and repetitions-indicating that stimulus-induced associative retrieval of language (or task-set) did not contribute to switch costs. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).
Abstract.
Author URL.
Longman CS, Elchlepp H, Monsell S, Lavric A (2021). Serial or parallel proactive control of components of task-set? a task-switching investigation with concurrent EEG and eye-tracking.
Neuropsychologia,
160Abstract:
Serial or parallel proactive control of components of task-set? a task-switching investigation with concurrent EEG and eye-tracking.
Among the issues examined by studies of cognitive control in multitasking is whether processes underlying performance in the different tasks occur serially or in parallel. Here we ask a similar question about processes that pro-actively control task-set. In task-switching experiments, several indices of task-set preparation have been extensively documented, including anticipatory orientation of gaze to the task-relevant location (an unambiguous marker of reorientation of attention), and a positive polarity brain potential over the posterior cortex (whose functional significance is less well understood). We examine whether these markers of preparation occur in parallel or serially, and in what order. On each trial a cue required participants to make a semantic classification of one of three digits presented simultaneously, with the location of each digit consistently associated with one of three classification tasks (e.g. if the task was odd/even, the digit at the top of the display was relevant). The EEG positivity emerged following, and appeared time-locked to, the anticipatory fixation on the task-relevant location, which might suggest serial organisation. However, the fixation-locked positivity was not better defined than the cue-locked positivity; in fact, for the trials with the earliest fixations the positivity was better time-locked to the cue onset. This is more consistent with (re)orientation of spatial attention occurring in parallel with, but slightly before, the reconfiguration of other task-set components indexed by the EEG positivity.
Abstract.
Author URL.
2020
Koch I, Lavric A (2020). Has "Erasing" Made Things Clearer? Commentary on Schmidt, Liefooghe & De Houwer (): "An Episodic Model of Task Switching Effects: Erasing the Homunculus from Memory".
J Cogn,
3(1).
Abstract:
Has "Erasing" Made Things Clearer? Commentary on Schmidt, Liefooghe & De Houwer (): "An Episodic Model of Task Switching Effects: Erasing the Homunculus from Memory".
Commentary on Schmidt, Liefooghe & De Houwer (2020, JoC): "An episodic model of task switching effects: Erasing the homunculus from memory".
Abstract.
Author URL.
Civile C, Waguri E, Quaglia S, Wooster B, Curtis A, McLaren R, Lavric A, McLaren I (2020). Testing the effects of transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) on the Face Inversion Effect and the N170 Event-Related Potentials (ERPs) component. Neuropsychologia
Civile C, Cooke A, Liu X, McLaren R, Elchlepp H, Lavric A, Milton F, McLaren I (2020). The effect of tDCS on recognition depends on stimulus generalization: Neuro-stimulation can predictably enhance or reduce the face inversion effect. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Learning and Cognition, 46, 83-98.
2019
Monsell S, Lavric A, Strivens A, Paul E (2019). Can we prepare to attend to one of two simultaneous voices?.
2018
Lavric A, Clapp A, East A, Elchlepp H, Monsell S (2018). Is preparing for a language switch like preparing for a task switch? (Article). Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition
Lavric A, Clapp A, East A, Elchlepp H, Monsell S (2018). Is preparing for a language switch like preparing for a task switch? (Dataset).
Civile C, Elchlepp H, McLaren RP, Galang CM, Lavric A, McLaren IPL (2018). The effect of scrambling upright and inverted faces on the N170. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology
2017
Longman CS, Lavric A, Monsell S (2017). Self-paced preparation for a task switch eliminates attentional inertia but not the performance switch cost.
J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn,
43(6), 862-873.
Abstract:
Self-paced preparation for a task switch eliminates attentional inertia but not the performance switch cost.
The performance overhead associated with changing tasks (the "switch cost") usually diminishes when the task is specified in advance but is rarely eliminated by preparation. A popular account of the "residual" (asymptotic) switch cost is that it reflects "task-set inertia": carry-over of task-set parameters from the preceding trial(s). New evidence for a component of "task-set inertia" comes from eye-tracking, where the location associated with the previously (but no longer) relevant task is fixated preferentially over other irrelevant locations, even when preparation intervals are generous. Might such limits in overcoming task-set inertia in general, and "attentional inertia" in particular, result from suboptimal scheduling of preparation when the time available is outside one's control? in the present study, the stimulus comprised 3 digits located at the points of an invisible triangle, preceded by a central verbal cue specifying which of 3 classification tasks to perform, each consistently applied to just 1 digit location. The digits were presented only when fixation moved away from the cue, thus giving the participant control over preparation time. In contrast to our previous research with experimenter-determined preparation intervals, we found no sign of attentional inertia for the long preparation intervals. Self-paced preparation reduced but did not eliminate the performance switch cost-leaving a clear residual component in both reaction time and error rates. That the scheduling of preparation accounts for some, but not all, components of the residual switch cost, challenges existing accounts of the switch cost, even those which distinguish between preparatory and poststimulus reconfiguration processes. (PsycINFO Database Record
Abstract.
Author URL.
2016
Elchlepp H, Lavric A, Chambers CD, Verbruggen F (2016). Proactive inhibitory control: a general biasing account. Cognitive Psychology, 86, 27-61.
Longman CS, Lavric A, Monsell S (2016). The coupling between spatial attention and other components of task-set: a task switching investigation.
Quarterly Journal of Experimental PsychologyAbstract:
The coupling between spatial attention and other components of task-set: a task switching investigation.
Is spatial attention reconfigured independently of, or in tandem with, other task-set components when the task changes? We tracked the eyes of participants cued to perform one of three digit-classification tasks, each consistently associated with a distinct location. Previously we observed, on task switch trials, a substantial delay in orientation to the task-relevant location and tendency to fixate the location of the previously relevant task – “attentional inertia”. In the present experiments the cues specified (and instructions emphasised) the relevant location rather than the current task. In Experiment 1, with explicit spatial cues (arrows or spatial adverbs), the previously documented attentional handicaps all but disappeared, whilst the performance “switch cost” increased. Hence, attention can become decoupled from other aspects of task-set, but at a cost to the efficacy of task-set preparation. Experiment 2 used arbitrary single-letter cues with instructions and a training regime that encouraged participants to interpret the cue as indicating the relevant location rather than task. As in our previous experiments, and unlike in Experiment 1, we now observed clear switch-induced attentional delay and inertia, suggesting that the natural tendency is for spatial attention and task-set to be coupled and that only quasi-exogenous location cues decouple their reconfiguration.
Abstract.
2015
Elchlepp H, Lavric A, Monsell S (2015). A change of task prolongs early processes: evidence from ERPs in lexical tasks.
J Exp Psychol Gen,
144(2), 299-325.
Abstract:
A change of task prolongs early processes: evidence from ERPs in lexical tasks.
Switching tasks costs time. Allowing time to prepare reduces the cost, but usually leaves an irreducible "residual cost." Most accounts of this residual cost locate it within the response-selection stage of processing. To determine which processing stage is affected, we measured event-related potentials (ERPs) as participants performed a reading task or a perceptual judgment task, and examined the effect of a task switch on early markers of lexical processing. A task cue preceding a string of blue and red letters instructed the participant either to read the letter string (for a semantic classification in Experiment 1, and a lexical decision in Experiment 2) or to judge the symmetry of its color pattern. In Experiment 1, having to switch to the reading task delayed the evolution of the effect of word frequency on the reading task ERP by a substantial fraction of the effect on reaction time (RT). In Experiment 2, a task switch delayed the onset of the effect of lexical status on the ERP by about the same extent that it prolonged the RT. These effects indicate an early locus of (most of) the residual switch cost: We propose that this reflects a form of task-related attentional inertia. Other findings have implications for the automaticity of lexical access: Effects of frequency, lexicality, and orthographic familiarity on ERPs in the symmetry task indicated involuntary, but attenuated, orthographic and lexical processing even when attention was focused on a nonlexical property.
Abstract.
Author URL.
Vine SJ, Uiga L, Lavric A, Moore LJ, Tsaneva-Atanasova K, Wilson MR (2015). Individual reactions to stress predict performance during a critical aviation incident.
Anxiety Stress Coping,
28(4), 467-477.
Abstract:
Individual reactions to stress predict performance during a critical aviation incident.
BACKGROUND: Understanding the influence of stress on human performance is of theoretical and practical importance. An individual's reaction to stress predicts their subsequent performance; with a "challenge" response to stress leading to better performance than a "threat" response. However, this contention has not been tested in truly stressful environments with highly skilled individuals. Furthermore, the effect of challenge and threat responses on attentional control during visuomotor tasks is poorly understood. DESIGN: Thus, this study aimed to examine individual reactions to stress and their influence on attentional control, among a cohort of commercial pilots performing a stressful flight assessment. METHODS: Sixteen pilots performed an "engine failure on take-off" scenario, in a high-fidelity flight simulator. Reactions to stress were indexed via self-report; performance was assessed subjectively (flight instructor assessment) and objectively (simulator metrics); gaze behavior data were captured using a mobile eye tracker, and measures of attentional control were subsequently calculated (search rate, stimulus driven attention, and entropy). RESULTS: Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that a threat response was associated with poorer performance and disrupted attentional control. CONCLUSION: the findings add to previous research showing that individual reactions to stress influence performance and shed light on the processes through which stress influences performance.
Abstract.
Author URL.
van 't Wout F, Lavric A, Monsell S (2015). Is it harder to switch among a larger set of tasks?.
J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn,
41(2), 363-376.
Abstract:
Is it harder to switch among a larger set of tasks?
When stimuli afford multiple tasks, switching among them involves promoting one of several task-sets in play into a most-active state. This process, often conceptualized as retrieving task parameters and stimulus-response (S-R) rules into procedural working memory, is a likely source of the reaction time (RT) cost of a task-switch, especially when no time is available for task preparation before the stimulus. We report 2 task-cuing experiments that asked whether the time consumed by task-set retrieval increases with the number of task-sets in play, while unconfounding the number of tasks with their frequency and recency of use. Participants were required to switch among 3 or 5 orthogonal classifications of perceptual attributes of an object (Experiment 1) or of phonological/semantic attributes of a word (Experiment 2), with a 100 or 1,300 ms cue-stimulus interval. For 2 tasks for which recency and frequency were matched in the 3- and 5-task conditions, there was no effect of number of tasks on the switch cost. For the other tasks, there was a greater switch cost in the 5-task condition with little time for preparation, attributable to effects of frequency/recency. Thus, retrieval time for active task-sets is not influenced by the number of alternatives per se (unlike several other kinds of memory retrieval) but is influenced by recency or frequency of use.
Abstract.
Author URL.
Rastle K, Lavric A, Elchlepp H, Crepaldi D (2015). Processing Differences Across Regular and Irregular Inflections Revealed Through ERPs.
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and PerformanceAbstract:
Processing Differences Across Regular and Irregular Inflections Revealed Through ERPs
Research strongly suggests that printed words are recognized in terms of their constituent morphemes, but researchers have tended to consider the recognition of derivations and inflections in separate theoretical debates. Recently, Crepaldi et al. (2010) proposed a theory that claims to account for the recognition of both derivations and inflections. We investigated brain potentials in the context of masked priming to test 2 key predictions of this theory: (a) that regular inflections should prime their stems to a greater degree than irregular inflections should prime their stems and (b) that priming for regular inflections should arise earlier in the recognition process than priming for irregular inflections. Significant masked priming effects were observed for both regular and irregular inflections, though these effects were greater for regular inflections. ERP data further suggested that masked priming effects for regular and irregular inflections had different time courses. Priming for regular but not irregular inflections emerged in a time window reflecting processing up to 250 ms post target onset, and although priming for regular and irregular inflections was observed in a time window reflecting processing 400 to 600 ms post target onset, these effects arose earlier and were of greater magnitude for the regular inflections. These findings support a form-then-meaning characterization of the visual word processing system such as that proposed by Crepaldi et al. (2010) and raise challenges for alternative approaches. (PsycINFO Database Record
Abstract.
Rastle K, Lavric A, Elchlepp H, Crepaldi D (2015). Processing differences across regular and irregular inflections revealed through ERPs. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 41(3), 747-760.
2014
Wills, AJ, Lavric A, Hemmings, Y, Surrey, E (2014). Attention, predictive learning, and the inverse base-rate effect:
Evidence from event-related potentials.
Neuroimage,
87, 61-71.
Abstract:
Attention, predictive learning, and the inverse base-rate effect:
Evidence from event-related potentials
We report the first electrophysiological investigation of the inverse base-rate effect (IBRE), a robust non-rational
bias in predictive learning. In the IBRE, participants learn that one pair of symptoms (AB) predicts a frequently
occurring disease, whilst an overlapping pair of symptoms (AC) predicts a rarely occurring disease. Participants
subsequently infer that BC predicts the rare disease, a non-rational decision made in opposition to the underlying
base rates of the two diseases. Error-driven attention theories of learning state that the IBRE occurs because C attracts
more attention than B. On the basis of this account we predicted and observed the occurrence of brain potentials
associated with visual attention: a posterior Selection Negativity, and a concurrent anterior Selection
Positivity, for C vs. B in a post-training test phase. Error-driven attention theories further predict no Selection
Negativity, Selection Positivity or IBRE, for control symptoms matched on frequency to B and C, but for which
there was no shared symptom(A) during training. These predictionswere also confirmed, and this confirmation
discounts alternative explanations of the IBRE based on the relative novelty of B and C. Further, we observed
higher response accuracy for B alone than for C alone; this dissociation of response accuracy (B N C) from attentional
allocation (C N B) discounts the possibility that the observed attentional difference was caused by the difference
in response accuracy.
Abstract.
Longman CS, Lavric A, Munteanu C, Monsell S (2014). Attentional Inertia and Delayed Orienting of Spatial Attention in Task-Switching. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 40(4), 1580-1602.
Stevens T, Brevers D, Chambers CD, Lavric A, McLaren IPL, Mertens M, Noël X, Verbruggen F (2014). How does response inhibition influence decision-making when gambling?.
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied,
in pressAbstract:
How does response inhibition influence decision-making when gambling?
Recent research suggests that response-inhibition training can alter impulsive and compulsive behaviour. When stop signals are introduced in a gambling task, people not only become more cautious when executing their choice responses, they also prefer lower bets when gambling. Here we examined how stopping motor responses influences gambling. Experiment 1 showed that the reduced betting in stop-signal blocks was not caused by changes in information sampling styles or changes in arousal. In Experiments 2a-2b, people preferred lower bets when they occasionally had to stop their response in a secondary decision-making task, but not when they were instructed to respond as accurately as possible. Experiment 3 showed that merely introducing trials on which subjects could not gamble did not influence gambling preferences. Experiment 4 demonstrated that the effect of stopping on gambling generalised to different populations. Furthermore, two combined analyses suggest that the effect of stopping on gambling preferences was reliable but small. Finally, Experiment 5 showed that the effect of stopping on gambling generalised to a different task. Based on our findings and earlier research we propose that the presence of stop signals influences gambling by reducing approach behaviour and altering the motivational value of the gambling outcome.
Abstract.
Civile C, Zhao D, Ku Y, Elchlepp H, Lavric A, McLaren IPL (2014). Perceptual learning and inversion effects: Recognition of prototype-defined familiar checkerboards.
J Exp Psychol Anim Learn Cogn,
40(2), 144-161.
Abstract:
Perceptual learning and inversion effects: Recognition of prototype-defined familiar checkerboards.
The face inversion effect is a defection in performance in recognizing inverted faces compared with faces presented in their usual upright orientation typically believed to be specific for facial stimuli. McLaren (1997) was able to demonstrate that (a) an inversion effect could be obtained with exemplars drawn from a familiar category, such that upright exemplars were better discriminated than inverted exemplars; and (b) that the inversion effect required that the familiar category be prototype-defined. In this article, we replicate and extend these findings. We show that the inversion effect can be obtained in a standard old/new recognition memory paradigm, demonstrate that it is contingent on familiarization with a prototype-defined category, and establish that the effect is made up of two components. We confirm the advantage for upright exemplars drawn from a familiar, prototype-defined category, and show that there is a disadvantage for inverted exemplars drawn from this category relative to suitable controls. We also provide evidence that there is an N170 event-related potential signature for this effect. These results allow us to integrate a theory of perceptual learning originally proposed by McLaren, Kaye, and Mackintosh (1989) with explanations of the face inversion effect, first reported by Yin.
Abstract.
Author URL.
2013
Elchlepp H, Rumball F, Lavric A (2013). A brain-potential correlate of task-set conflict.
Psychophysiology,
50(3), 314-323.
Abstract:
A brain-potential correlate of task-set conflict
Brain-potential correlates of response conflict are well documented, but those of task conflict are not. Task-switching studies have suggested a plausible correlate of task conflict-a poststimulus posterior negativity-however, in such paradigms the negativity may also reflect poststimulus task-set reconfiguration postulated in some models. Here, participants alternated between single-task blocks of classifying letters and digits; hence, no within-block task-set reconfiguration was required. Presenting letters alongside digits slowed responses to the digits and elicited an ERP negativity from ∼350ms, relative to task-neutral symbols presented alongside digits, consistent with task conflict. The negativity was also present for congruent digit-letter stimuli; this and the lack of behavioral response congruency effects indicate conflict at the level of task-set rather than response selection. © 2013 Society for Psychophysiological Research.
Abstract.
van 't Wout F, Lavric A, Monsell S (2013). Are stimulus-response rules represented phonologically for task-set preparation and maintenance?.
J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn,
39(5), 1538-1551.
Abstract:
Are stimulus-response rules represented phonologically for task-set preparation and maintenance?
Accounts of task-set control generally assume that the current task's stimulus-response (S-R) rules must be elevated to a privileged state of activation. How are they represented in this state? in 3 task-cuing experiments, we tested the hypothesis that phonological working memory is used to represent S-R rules for task-set control by getting participants to switch between 2 sets of arbitrary S-R rules and manipulating the articulatory duration (Experiment 1) or phonological similarity (Experiments 2 and 3) of the names of the stimulus terms. The task cue specified which of 2 objects (Experiment 1) or consonants (Experiment 2) in a display to identify with a key press. In Experiment 3, participants switched between identifying an object/consonant and its color/visual texture. After practice, neither the duration nor the similarity of the stimulus terms had detectable effects on overall performance, task-switch cost, or its reduction with preparation. Only in the initial single-task training blocks was phonological similarity a significant handicap. Hence, beyond a very transient role, there is no evidence that (declarative) phonological working memory makes a functional contribution to representing S-R rules for task-set control, arguably because once learned, they are represented in nonlinguistic procedural working memory.
Abstract.
Author URL.
Longman C, Lavric A, Monsell S (2013). More attention to attention? an eye-tracking investigation of selection of perceptual attributes during a task switch. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 39(4), 1142-1151.
2012
Elchlepp H, Lavric A, Mizon GA, Monsell S (2012). A brain-potential study of preparation for and execution of a task-switch with stimuli that afford only the relevant task.
Hum Brain Mapp,
33(5), 1137-1154.
Abstract:
A brain-potential study of preparation for and execution of a task-switch with stimuli that afford only the relevant task.
Behavioural and neurophysiological studies of task-switching have tended to employ 'bivalent' stimuli (which afford responses in two tasks). Using brain potential recordings, we investigated task-switching with 'univalent' stimuli affording responses in only one of the tasks, and compared the outcomes to those recently obtained with bivalent stimuli (Lavric et al. [2008]: Eur J Neurosci 1-14), in order to examine two phenomena. First, when only univalent stimuli are presented, the processing of task cues becomes optional. Our results showed that in these circumstances linguistic (but not pictorial) cues were still effective in eliciting at least some degree of preparation for a task-switch, as evidenced by the reduction in the error cost of switching at the longer preparation interval and by a posterior switch-induced ERP positivity at about 450-800 ms in the cue-stimulus interval. Second, single affordance stimuli not only reduced behavioural switch costs relative to bivalent stimuli; they also produced a smaller post-stimulus switch-induced negativity, consistent with the latter being a marker of conflict between task-sets. However, using stimuli not associated with responses in the alternative task did not completely eliminate the negativity. We speculate that the residue reflects other sources of conflict: attention to the irrelevant perceptual dimension and/or persistence of task goals.
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Author URL.
Civile C, Elchlepp H, McLaren RP, Lavric A, McLaren IPL (2012). Face recognition and brain potentials: Disruption of configural information reduces the face inversion effect. Cognitive Science. 1st - 1st Jan 2012.
Lavric A, Elchlepp H, Rastle K (2012). Tracking hierarchical processing in morphological decomposition with brain potentials.
J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform,
38(4), 811-816.
Abstract:
Tracking hierarchical processing in morphological decomposition with brain potentials.
One important debate in psycholinguistics concerns the nature of morphological decomposition processes in visual word recognition (e.g. darkness = {dark} + {-ness}). One theory claims that these processes arise during orthographic analysis and prior to accessing meaning (Rastle & Davis, 2008), and another argues that these processes arise through greater temporal overlap between the activation of orthographic and semantic information (Feldman, O'Connor, & Moscoso del Prado Martín, 2009). This issue has been the subject of intense debate in studies using masked priming but has yet to be resolved unequivocally. The present study takes another approach to resolving this controversy by examining brain potentials as participants made lexical decisions to unprimed morphological (darkness), pseudomorphological (corner), and nonmorphological (brothel) stimuli. Results revealed a difference from ∼190 ms between the nonmorphological condition and the other 2 conditions (which showed no differentiation), a likely correlate of morphological processing reliant exclusively on orthography. Only 60-70 ms later was there evidence of the activation of semantic information, when the pseudomorphological condition diverged from the other 2 conditions. These results provide unambiguous support for a hierarchical model of morphological processing whereby decomposition is based initially on orthographic analysis and is only later constrained by semantic information. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).
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2011
Lavric A, Bregadze N, Benattayallah A (2011). Detection of experimental ERP effects in combined EEG-fMRI: evaluating the benefits of interleaved acquisition and independent component analysis.
Clin Neurophysiol,
122(2), 267-277.
Abstract:
Detection of experimental ERP effects in combined EEG-fMRI: evaluating the benefits of interleaved acquisition and independent component analysis.
The present study examined the benefit of rapid alternation of EEG and fMRI (a common strategy for avoiding artifact caused by rapid switching of MRI gradients) for detecting experimental modulations of ERPs in combined EEG-fMRI. The study also assessed the advantages of aiding the extraction of specific ERP components by means of signal decomposition using Independent Component Analysis (ICA).
Abstract.
Lavric A, Rastle K, Clapp A (2011). What do fully-visible primes and brain potentials reveal about morphological decomposition?. Psychophysiology, 48(5), 676-686.
2010
Ashwin P, Lavric A (2010). A low-dimensional model of binocular rivalry using winnerless competition.
Physica D,
239, 529-536.
Abstract:
A low-dimensional model of binocular rivalry using winnerless competition
We discuss a novel minimal model for binocular rivalry (and more generally perceptual dominance) effects. The model has only three state variables, but nonetheless exhibits a wide range of input and noise-dependent switching. The model has two reciprocally inhibiting input variables that represent perceptual processes active during the recognition of one of the two possible states and a third variable that represents the perceived output. Sensory inputs only affect the input variables.
We observe, for rivalry-inducing inputs, the appearance of winnerless competition in the perceptual system. This gives rise to a behaviour that conforms to well-known principles describing binocular rivalry (the Levelt propositions, in particular proposition IV: monotonic response of residence time as a function of image contrast) down to very low levels of stimulus intensity.
Abstract.
Benattayallah A, Bregadze N, Lavric A (2010). Effect of EEG Electrodes (32 and 64 Channels) on the fMRI Signal. ESMRM & ISMRM 18th Joint Annual Scientific Meeting. 1st - 7th May 2010.
Abstract:
Effect of EEG Electrodes (32 and 64 Channels) on the fMRI Signal
Abstract.
Lavric A, Rastle K, Clapp A (2010). What do fully visible primes and brain potentials reveal about morphological decomposition?.
Psychophysiology,
48(5), 676-686.
Abstract:
What do fully visible primes and brain potentials reveal about morphological decomposition?
AbstractTo examine the role of meaning in morphological decomposition ({re‐}+{play}), researchers have employed the priming paradigm. Perceptually masked primes lead to facilitation both when decomposition is semantically appropriate (hunter‐HUNT) and when it is not (corner‐CORN), whereas with fully visible primes facilitation is observed only in the former case. We investigated the N400 brain potential time‐locked to words preceded by fully visible primes. At ∼300–380 ms, N400 was equally attenuated in the semantically “transparent” condition (hunter‐HUNT) and semantically “opaque” condition (corner‐CORN). In the transparent condition, N400 remained attenuated after 380 ms, whereas in the opaque condition it returned to the level of a nonmorphological form condition (brothel‐BROTH). This pattern of N400 priming is consistent with an orthography‐based, morphological decomposition mechanism, “licensed” at a later stage by semantic information.
Abstract.
2008
Lavric A, Mizon GA, Monsell S (2008). Neurophysiological signature of effective anticipatory task-set control: a task-switching investigation.
Eur J Neurosci,
28(5), 1016-1029.
Abstract:
Neurophysiological signature of effective anticipatory task-set control: a task-switching investigation.
Changing between cognitive tasks requires a reorganization of cognitive processes. Behavioural evidence suggests this can occur in advance of the stimulus. However, the existence or detectability of an anticipatory task-set reconfiguration process remains controversial, in part because several neuroimaging studies have not detected extra brain activity during preparation for a task switch relative to a task repeat. In contrast, electrophysiological studies have identified potential correlates of preparation for a task switch, but their interpretation is hindered by the scarcity of evidence on their relationship to performance. We aimed to: (i) identify the brain potential(s) reflecting effective preparation for a task-switch in a task-cuing paradigm that shows clear behavioural evidence for advance preparation, and (ii) characterize this activity by means of temporal segmentation and source analysis. Our results show that when advance preparation was effective (as indicated by fast responses), a protracted switch-related component, manifesting itself as widespread posterior positivity and concurrent right anterior negativity, preceded stimulus onset for approximately 300 ms, with sources primarily in the left lateral frontal, right inferior frontal and temporal cortices. When advance preparation was ineffective (as implied by slow responses), or made impossible by a short cue-stimulus interval (CSI), a similar component, with lateral prefrontal generators, peaked approximately 300 ms poststimulus. The protracted prestimulus component (which we show to be distinct from P3 or contingent negative variation, CNV) also correlated over subjects with a behavioural measure of preparation. Furthermore, its differential lateralization for word and picture cues was consistent with a role for verbal self-instruction in preparatory task-set reconfiguration.
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Weber K, Lavric A (2008). Syntactic anomaly elicits a lexico-semantic (N400) ERP effect in the second language but not the first.
Psychophysiology,
45(6), 920-925.
Abstract:
Syntactic anomaly elicits a lexico-semantic (N400) ERP effect in the second language but not the first.
Recent brain potential research into first versus second language (L1 vs. L2) processing revealed striking responses to morphosyntactic features absent in the mother tongue. The aim of the present study was to establish whether the presence of comparable morphosyntactic features in L1 leads to more similar electrophysiological L1 and L2 profiles. ERPs were acquired while German-English bilinguals and native speakers of English read sentences. Some sentences were meaningful and well formed, whereas others contained morphosyntactic or semantic violations in the final word. In addition to the expected P600 component, morphosyntactic violations in L2 but not L1 led to an enhanced N400. This effect may suggest either that resolution of morphosyntactic anomalies in L2 relies on the lexico-semantic system or that the weaker/slower morphological mechanisms in L2 lead to greater sentence wrap-up difficulties known to result in N400 enhancement.
Abstract.
2007
Lavric A, Clapp A, Rastle K (2007). ERP evidence of morphological analysis from orthography: a masked priming study. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 19(5), 866-877.
Wills AJ, Lavric A, Croft GS, Hodgson TL (2007). Predictive learning, prediction errors and attention: Evidence from event-related potentials and eye-tracking. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 19(5), 843-854.
2006
Shackman, A.J. Sarinopoulos, I. Pizzagalli DA, Lavric A, Davidson RJ (2006). Anxiety Selectively Disrupts Visuospatial Working Memory. Emotion, 6(1), 40-61.
Bregadze N, Lavric A (2006). ERP differences with vs. without concurrent fMRI. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 62, 54-59.
2005
Lavric S, Lavric A (2005). ERP component differentiates the production of regular from irregular English past-tenses.
Author URL.
Lavric A, Wills A (2005). ERPS support attentional theories of associative learning.
Author URL.
2004
Lavric A, Forstmeier S, Pizzagalli D (2004). When go and nogo are equally frequent: ERP components and cortical tomography. European Journal of Neuroscience, 20(9), 2483-2488.
2003
Lavric A, Rippon, G. Gray, J.R. (2003). Threat-evoked anxiety disrupts spatial working memory performance: an attentional account. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 27, 489-504.
2001
Simon F, Lavric A, Pizzagalli D, Rippon G (2001). A double dissociation of regular and irregular English past-tense production revealed by Low-Resolution Electromagnetic Tomography (LORETA).
NEUROIMAGE,
13(6), S603-S603.
Author URL.
Lavric A, Forstmeier S, Pizzagalli D, Rippon G (2001). Mapping dissociations in verb morphology. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 5(7), 301-308.
Lavric A, Pizzagalli, D. Forstmeier, S. Rippon, G (2001). ‘A double-dissociation of. English past-tense production revealed by Event-Related Potentials and Low Resolution Electromagnetic Tomography (LORETA)’. Clinical Neurophysiology, 112(10), 1833-1849.
2000
Lavric A, Forstmeier S, Rippon G (2000). Differences in working memory involvement in analytical and creative tasks: an ERP study.
Neuroreport,
11(8), 1613-1618.
Abstract:
Differences in working memory involvement in analytical and creative tasks: an ERP study.
If, as suggested, creative (insight) problem solving is less systematic and employs less planning than analytical problem solving, the former requires substantially less working memory (WM) than the latter. Subjects simultaneously solved problems and counted auditory stimuli (concurrent WM task), in response to which ERPs were recorded. Counting disrupted analytical, but not creative performance. Peak and time-window average P300 were more frontal during analytical problem solving as compared to insight or counting tones only (control). A PCA extracted two factors in the P3 range, one frontal and one broad left-lateralized, which distinguished analytical from creative problem solving. The findings indicate distinct processing pathways for the two types of tasks with more WM involvement in analytical tasks.
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Lavric A, Shackman AJ, Sarinopoulos I, Sarinopoulos AP, Davidson RJ (2000). Effects of threat-of shock on verbal and spatial working memory.
PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY,
37, S62-S62.
Author URL.
1999
Lavric A, Rippon G (1999). Deductive vs. creative problem solving: Revealing differences with brain imaging techniques.
JOURNAL OF PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY,
13(2), 135-136.
Author URL.
Lavric, A. (1999). Ereigniskorrelierte Potentiale waehrend der regelmaessigen und unregelmaessigen Past-Tense-Bildung im Englischen. Experimentelle Psychologie. Beitraege zur 41. Tagung experimentell arbeitender Psychologen \r
\r. In Schroeger E, Mecklinger A, Widmann A (Eds.) Experimentelle Psychologie. Beitraege zur 41. Tagung experimentell arbeitender Psychologen, Lengerich:.
1998
Lavric A, Forstmeier S, Rippon G (1998). An ERP study of English past-tense formation.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY,
30(1-2), 151-151.
Author URL.
Lavric A, Rippon G, Forstmeier S (1998). ERP studies of working memory in reasoning tasks.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY,
30(1-2), 145-145.
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