Publications by category
Journal articles
van 't Wout F, Jarrold C (2020). The role of language in novel task learning. Cognition, 194, 104036-104036.
van 't Wout F, O’Donnell M, Jarrold C (2019). An investigation of children’s working memory capacity for task rules. Cognitive Development, 51, 14-31.
van ‘t Wout F (2017). The contribution of stimulus frequency and recency to set-size effects. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 25(3), 1123-1128.
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.
Full text.
Verbruggen F, Adams RC, van 't Wout F, Stevens T, McLaren IPL, Chambers CD (2013). Are the effects of response inhibition on gambling long-lasting?.
PLoS One,
8(7).
Abstract:
Are the effects of response inhibition on gambling long-lasting?
A recent study has shown that short-term training in response inhibition can make people more cautious for up to two hours when making decisions. However, the longevity of such training effects is unclear. In this study we tested whether training in the stop-signal paradigm reduces risky gambling when the training and gambling task are separated by 24 hours. Two independent experiments revealed that the aftereffects of stop-signal training are negligible after 24 hours. This was supported by Bayes factors that provided strong support for the null hypothesis. These findings indicate the need to better optimise the parameters of inhibition training to achieve clinical efficacy, potentially by strengthening automatic associations between specific stimuli and stopping.
Abstract.
Author URL.
Full text.
Publications by year
2020
van 't Wout F, Jarrold C (2020). The role of language in novel task learning. Cognition, 194, 104036-104036.
2019
van 't Wout F, O’Donnell M, Jarrold C (2019). An investigation of children’s working memory capacity for task rules. Cognitive Development, 51, 14-31.
2017
van ‘t Wout F (2017). The contribution of stimulus frequency and recency to set-size effects. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 25(3), 1123-1128.
2015
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.
Full text.
2013
Verbruggen F, Adams RC, van 't Wout F, Stevens T, McLaren IPL, Chambers CD (2013). Are the effects of response inhibition on gambling long-lasting?.
PLoS One,
8(7).
Abstract:
Are the effects of response inhibition on gambling long-lasting?
A recent study has shown that short-term training in response inhibition can make people more cautious for up to two hours when making decisions. However, the longevity of such training effects is unclear. In this study we tested whether training in the stop-signal paradigm reduces risky gambling when the training and gambling task are separated by 24 hours. Two independent experiments revealed that the aftereffects of stop-signal training are negligible after 24 hours. This was supported by Bayes factors that provided strong support for the null hypothesis. These findings indicate the need to better optimise the parameters of inhibition training to achieve clinical efficacy, potentially by strengthening automatic associations between specific stimuli and stopping.
Abstract.
Author URL.
Full text.
