This study employs a word-definition judgment task to examine whether unbalanced bilinguals inhibit first language (L1) semantic processing when second language (L2) semantic processing is required. Two Chinese-Japanese bilingual groups (high-proficiency and low-proficiency) and a group of Japanese monolinguals were asked to judge whether visually presented pairings of a word (interlingual homograph) and a phrase (definition) were Japanese. The pairs were categorized into three types based on whether they appear in Japanese and/or Chinese dictionaries: Shared, Japanese-specific, and Chinese-specific. In the shared and the Japanese-specific conditions, no differences were observed among the three groups in terms of correct response rates. In the Chinese-specific condition, low-proficient bilinguals had a higher error rate than the Japanese monolinguals, while the high-proficient bilinguals had a marginally higher error rate than the Japanese monolinguals. These results suggest that when L2 semantic processing is required, high-proficient bilinguals can mostly inhibit L1 semantic processing, although low-proficient bilinguals cannot. The results support the notion that semantic processing shifts from non-selective to language selective as proficiency increases in unbalanced bilinguals.

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In the change detection task employing visual stimuli with foreground-background segmentation, background changes are often missed while foreground changes are easily detected. Thus, it is believed that attention preferentially allocates to the foreground. The present study investigates the role of top-down attention due to different change probabilities for the foregrounds and the backgrounds and the instructions given. The participants performed change detection tasks that manipulated the instructions (no instruction; divided attention) and the ratios of foreground and background changes (1 : 1; 1 : 5). The results indicate that when the change probability for the background is high and relatively low for the background, or when participants consciously divide their attention to both the foreground and the background, attentional allocation is adjusted between the foreground and the background. The present results suggested that top-down attention influences the properties of attention for foregrounds and backgrounds.

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The aim of this study is to examine whether high-dissociative individuals are unable to suppress specific memories using a modified Think/No-Think task. First, thirteen high-dissociative participants and seventeen low-dissociative participants, as classified with the Dissociative Experience Scale, memorized unrelated word pairs. Next, they were repeatedly asked to avoid thinking about (No-Think condition) or recall (Think condition) the word corresponding to each cue (0, 4, or 12 times for each condition). Finally, the participants were asked to recall the word corresponding to the cue word. Irrespective of dissociative level, the cued-recall rates of participants in the 12 repeated No-Think condition of the thought substitution strategy were lower compared to the baseline condition. Moreover, as dissociative scores increased, the frequency of utilizing the thought substitution strategy declined, although high-dissociative individuals emptied their minds in the No-Think condition. These findings suggest that, even though many high-dissociative individuals could not use the strategy, they can forget specific memories by thinking the something in order not to thinking about the words—employing the thought substitution strategy—during No-Think trails.

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Two experiments were conducted to examine the effects of orientation specificity in spatial memory and body orientation on directional judgments. In Experiment 1, 27 undergraduates were asked to make judgments concerning relative directions on their campus. They were asked to imagine being at one campus location, facing in a particular direction, and to judge the direction of an unseen target with respect to the imagined position. In Experiment 2, 28 undergraduates were asked to make judgments concerning a path within room. The results indicate that judgments were fastest when the imagined directions were aligned with both preterred orientation of long-term spatial memory and body orientation and were slower when any of these directions were out of alignment.

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Using unfamiliar, real-world knowledge as to-be-learned material, this study examines the effectiveness of three learning strategies: Replacing a subsequent study opportunity with a test, explicitly making a metamemory judgment at study, and temporally spacing study opportunities. Spacing was manipulated within the other two learning strategies. In Experiments 1a and 1b, compared to a standard study--study condition, no positive effects were obtained for replacing the second study opportunity with a test or having the participants make explicit metamemory judgments at both study opportunities. However, leaving a longer interval between the two study opportunities was consistently shown to be more effective than leaving a shorter interval. It was also found in Experiment 2 that the spacing effect was not significantly affected by the type and difficulty of the tasks interpolated between the study opportunities. Given the robustness and ecological validity of the spacing effect demonstrated in the present study, it is suggested that distributed practice can effectively be incorporated with other learning strategies, because it can be expected to provide an additional incremental effect.

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Presenting some information in memory as retrieval cues impairs recall for the remaining information. This phenomenon is called the part-list cuing effect. This study examines whether the part-list cuing effect is mediated by retrieval inhibition. To that aim, the experiment manipulated the encoding strategy employed during the study phase. The study list consisted of five categories, each with six items with two items from each category being presented successively. The participants made either difference or similarity judgments for the two successively presented items. Then, some participants (cue group) were presented with one of the successively presented items as a retrieval cue. The other participants (control group) read aloud four-digits numbers. The results indicated that difference judgments during study impaired recall for the non-cued items in the cue group, relative to the control group, but similarity judgments did not impair recall. These results are consistent with the view that the detrimental effect of part-list cuing is mediated by retrieval inhibition.

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This study investigates the effects of action-sentence comprehension on the spatial judgment task. In the experiment, participants were asked to comprehend the meanings of action sentences involving upward, downward, or horizontal images and they were asked to identify a figure appearing either above or below a fixation cross presented at the center of the screen. Two types of the action sentences were examined: concrete action sentences (e.g., the athlete lifted the barbell) and abstract action sentences (the student respected his teacher). The results for concrete action sentences indicated an action-sentence compatibility effect. That is, concrete action sentence facilitated participant identification of the visually-presented figures when their location matched the direction connoted by the sentence (e.g., when a sentence connoted an upward direction and the figure appeared above the fixation point). However, no effect was observed for the abstract action sentences. These results are discussed in terms of the embodied understanding of linguistic expressions.

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This study explores the relationship between Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ) and working memory (WM) capacity. It has been hypothesized that autism and Asperger Syndrome lie on a continuum of social-communication disabilities. According to the hypothesis, Asperger Syndrome is intermediate between autism and normality. The problem with WM capacity in autism is not in phonological WM, but rather in visuo-spatial WM. A similar pattern of WM capacity can also be observed in normally developing adults with high-AQ scores. Accordingly, this study examines the relationships between AQ in normally developing adults and WM capacities in terms of the phonological loop, the visuo-spatial sketchpad, and the central executive. The results show that a high-AQ group had less capacity for visuo-spatial WM than a low-AQ group. Among all participants, a negative correlation was found between AQ and visuo-spatial WM capacity. However, no differences were observed in the capacities of the phonological loop and the central executive between the high- and low-AQ groups. These results suggest that high-AQ individuals among normally developing adults exhibit a pattern that is a cognitive characteristic of autism.

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