This study examined whether semantic satiation effects for a picture exemplar differ from a word exemplar. If massive repetition of the category name leads to an inhibition of conceptual processing, then semantic satiation effects would be found in both the word and picture exemplar conditions. However, if the repetition leads to an inhibition of lexical processing, then effects would be found for the word exemplar but not the picture exemplar. To examine these hypotheses, 48 college students were asked to judge whether a target pair of exemplars belonged to the same named category. The results showed that semantic satiation effects were found equally in both exemplar conditions. Moreover, the picture-superiority effect was intact regardless of the prime repetitions. The possibility was discussed that word and picture exemplars are integrated into an abstract and amodal conceptual unit; hence category judgment was affected by the satiation effect.

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This study investigated mood congruent encoding effects using an autobiographical elaboration task in naturally occurring mood states. We investigated the importance and vividness of the recalled episodes related to whether the stimuli words influenced mood congruent encoding effects. The result of Experiment 1 showed that mood congruent encoding effects occurred when participants in the positive and negative mood conditions recalled high importance episodes. The result of Experiment 2 showed that mood congruent encoding effects occurred when participants in the positive mood condition recalled high vividness episodes and participants in the negative mood condition recalled middle and high vividness episode. The pattern of mood congruent encoding effects differed with the quality of the recalled episodes. These results indicated that the qualities of recalled episodes influenced mood congruent encoding effect.

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We examined the effect of surrounding information on reading text that was scrolling from right to left inside a fixed window. In Experiment 1, participants adjusted the scrolling rate so that they could comfortably read the text scrolling in the window. Above or below the window, a character was flashed with a random stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA). The results showed that the comfortable scrolling rate increased with the size of the window (i.e, the number of characters simultaneously displayed in the window). Moreover, the comfortable scrolling rate decreased when discrimination of the flashed character was required. In Experiment 2 a character was flashed above or below the right or left end of the window. The results showed that the increase of the comfortable scrolling rate with window size was less effective when the character was flashed above or below the right end of the window. These results are discussed in relation to the role of eye movements when reading scrolling text in the presence of surrounding information.

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The study investigated the functions of self-schema pertaining to independent and interdependent self-construal. Four groups of participants, who had (a) independent schema, (b) interdependent schema, (c) both schemata, or (d) neither schema (aschematic), were compared in cognitive performance on a schema-relevant information processing task. Study I, with college students, found that interdependent schemata were used in the task by the interdependent (b) and the both (c) group, but independent schemata were not used by the independent (a) and the both (c) group. Study II, with aged participants, found that not only the interdependent schemata were used by the interdependent (b) and the both (c) group, but also independent schemata were used by the independent (a) and the both (c) group. These findings provide evidence for Takata's (2004) hypotheses that the interdependent self is internalized in adolescence and the independent self develops after adulthood in Japanese culture.

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Self-esteem is vulnerable when failure occurs in the domain where people base their self worth (Crocker & Wolfe, 2001). We tested whether learning orientations can reduce the vulnerability of self-esteem associated with contingent self worth and encourage persistence following failure. Our past research (Niiya, Crocker, & Bartmess, 2004) indicated that people who base their self-worth on academics maintain their self-esteem following failure when they are primed with an incremental theory of intelligence. Our present study extends these findings by (a) examining whether mastery goals (Elliot & Church, 1997) can also buffer self-esteem from failure, (b) using a different manipulation of success and failure, (c) using a different task, and (d) including a measure of persistence. We found that college students who based their self-esteem on academic competence reported lower self-esteem following failure than following success when they had low mastery goals, but the effect of success and failure was eliminated when students had high mastery goals. Moreover, high mastery students showed greater persistence following failure than low mastery students. The study provided converging evidence that learning orientations buffer self-esteem from failure.

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A recent study proposed that saccade trajectories often curve away from previously fixated locations during visual search because of the inhibitory mechanism which prevents inefficient reexamination of rejected distractors. In the present study, we examined whether visual contexts influence saccade trajectories as is the case with other inhibitory effects in visual search (e. g., inhibition of return). Computer-generated natural scenes were used as search stimuli and participants were required to look for a toy car in the scene. The results showed that the saccade trajectories were affected by at least three previous fixations and the effect decreased exponentially with the number of intervening fixations. These results are consistent with the findings in the previous study using abstract stimuli (the O among Cs search task). The relationships between saccade curvature and other inhibitory effects in visual search are discussed.

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Our study investigated intra- and inter-hemispheric interference in local and global processing. A pair of single letter and a Navon-type hierarchical pattern was presented to a unilateral (Within-Field) or bilateral visual field (Across-Field), where one letter was the target and a Navon-type hierarchical pattern as a distracter. In Experiment 1, where a small letter was the target, the local interference was larger when the distracter was presented to the left hemisphere (LH) than when it was presented to the right hemisphere (RH), for both presentation modes (Within-and Across Field). The size of the global interference was constant irrespective of the side where the distracter was presented, for both presentation modes. In Experiment 2, which used a large-single letter as a target, only a global interference was found and the size of the effect was larger when the distracter was presented to the RH than the LH in the Within-Field condition. These findings suggested that intra- and inter-hemispheric interactions are modulated by global and local processing.

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The effects of reinforcement and punishment on response suppression under variable-ratio reinforcement and variable-interval punishment schedules were investigated. In the baseline period, lever pressing in rats was maintained by a variable-ratio food reinforcement schedule. In the punishment condition, responding was punished by a grid shock under a variable-interval schedule. Baseline and punishment conditions alternated, and were continued until the response stabilized. Three rats were given five or six punishment rates with a fixed reinforcement rate and another three rats were given four or five reinforcement rates with a fixed punishment rate. The results indicated that the responses were either completely suppressed or not suppressed at all. When the punishment rate increased or the reinforcement rate decreased, the response was suppressed completely. Whereas when the punishment rate decreased or the reinforcement rate increased, the responses were not suppressed. These results agree with the predictions of the molar theory.

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