For an inefficient visual search task, where items remains visible across trials but the locations of targets are varied, search times increase cumulatively with increases in the number of task repetitions. This phenomenon suggests that inhibition for old distractors is carried over successive trials. The present study examines whether cumulative inter-trial inhibition effects will be preserved, even when the locations of search items within a display (environmental coordinates) are momentarily changed while the configuration of items remains constant. The results indicate that inter-trial inhibition occurs across trials under such situations (Experiment 1). Furthermore, cumulative inhibition also occurs when search items disappear from the display and reappear from the right to move smoothly towards the center (Experiment 2). These results suggest that cumulative inter-trial inhibition occurs even for large location changes if the configuration of items is preserved across trials.

What kinds of objects elicit aesthetic responses from people? Prior studies suggest that automatic and unconscious conceptual processing, which occur when exposed to stimuli, influence aesthetic evaluations. However, as proposed by the dual-process model of recognition memory, there are two levels of conceptual processing: an automatic and unconscious level and a non-automatic and conscious level. We examine the effects of these two dissociable processes on aesthetic evaluations with the Remember/Know procedure. We hypothesize that remember judgments reflect “recollection” (a non-automatic and conscious level of conceptual process) and know judgments reflect “familiarity” (an automatic and unconscious level of conceptual process). During an incidental learning phase, participants were exposed to 70 images and, during a recognition phase, they made both remember/know judgments and aesthetic evaluations for images (35 old and 35 new). The results indicate that aesthetic evaluations were higher for images judged as remembered compared to those judged as known. These findings suggest that non-automatic and conscious conceptual processing influences aesthetic evaluations.

The cognitive effects of “yohaku”(empty space) have been discussed within the fields of Eastern art history and visual design, but the visual processes underlying yohaku perception have yet to be fully elucidated. The present study examines the spatial properties of yohaku areas through a psychological experiment in which participants report on areas that they perceived to be yohaku within Japanese artistic paintings and patterns of arranged discs. In order to explain the spatial properties (area and location) of such areas, we construct a simple computational model based on visual field theory. Our model assumes that yohaku areas can be specified in terms of thresholds for two-dimensional Gaussian-filtered images of the stimuli. The model is able to well account for yohaku areas within disc patterns but not so well for those within artistic paintings. This difference may be ascribed to the spatial contexts depicted within artistic paintings.

This paper discusses the relations between self-regulated learning, motivational state and academic achievement. Prior studies have demonstrated that self-regulated learning can positively impact on academic achievements. However, while evidence has accumulated for both situational and context-level intervention effects, little research has addressed the relevance of behavior trends for self-regulated learning and academic achievement at pre-intervention stages. This study focuses on behavior trends for self-regulated learning and explores the relationships between them, academic achievement and motivational states. Analysis of a conducted questionnaire survey indicates a relationship between autonomous motivation and academic achievement and behavior trends for self-regulated learning. Moreover, for learners of high academic achievement, while external motivation is likely to be negatively related to behavior trends for self-regulated learning, for learners of low academic achievement, it tends to be positively related. Finally, identification motivation is not necessarily related to behavior trends for self-regulated learning in learners of low academic achievement. After discussing the interaction effects between the two factors of the expectancy-value model, we outline some prospects for further research from the perspective of aptitude treatment interaction.