Beyond the switch: Using (voluntary) task switching to investigate psychological questions other than task switching per se

Symposium organized by Kerstin Fröber and Maayan Katzir

In this symposium, we gathered researchers who are using task switching, and the immense knowledge about its effects and indices, as a tool to investigate other psychological phenomena beyond task switching per se; processes such as goal-directed action, control adjustments, affect, motivation, memory, and trust. The first two talks focus on voluntary task switching, and find that flexible behavior can serve persistent goal pursuit (Talk 1), and that conflict in task switching biases decision making away from conflict due to its aversive nature (Talk 2). Talk 3 follows this logic more directly by explicitly investigating the affective nature of task switching and the consequences on effort-based decision making. Talks 4 and 5 use task switching to examine different aspects of performance. Talk 4 examines the conditions under which reward enhances performance, and the role flexibility and rigidity play in this context, and Talk 5 demonstrates that different types of cognitive control demands ‐ switching vs. congruency ‐ differentially influence memory by reducing and enhancing top-down attention, respectively. Finally, relying on indices within task switching paradigms such as the switch cost asymmetry, Talk 6 demonstrates that trust is a more dominant response tendency than mistrust.

Task switching

Session chaired by Viktoria Maydych

Inhibition and interference

Session chaired by Miriam Gade

Indirect assessment of beliefs and attitudes: Conceptual elaboration and incremental validity of the Propositional Evaluation Paradigm (PEP)

Symposium organized by Maria Wirth and M. Clara P. de Paula Couto

The Propositional Evaluation Paradigm (PEP) has been recently introduced as an implicit measure to assess multiple propositional beliefs. First empirical evidence attests to the task's validity. In this symposium, we elaborate on procedural, conceptual, and practical aspects of the PEP. In the presentation by Cummins and colleagues, several research findings will be discussed that relate to the ability of the PEP to capture and reflect propositional beliefs. Best practices, advantages, and barriers of the task will be presented. Jusepeitis and colleagues present evidence for incremental validity of the PEP in predicting self-esteem correlates over and above established explicit self-esteem measures. Huang and colleagues present additional evidence for incremental validity of the PEP in the realm of implicit age stereotypes. Implicit endorsement predicted behavior even after controlling for endorsement of explicit age stereotypes. De Paula Couto and colleagues further investigate explicit and implicit endorsement of prescriptive age stereotypes and their age-specificity among young and older adults. PEP effects and explicitly endorsed stereotypes were found to be independent. Wirth and colleagues show that implicit endorsement of prescriptive age stereotypes measured by the PEP is sensitive to increased accessibility of these stereotypes. A matching effect between primed and endorsed age norm was found.

Perspectives on error processing and error awareness

Symposium organized by Eva Niessen

The symposium highlights recent neuroscientific advances in the field of error processing. Errors are useful sources for individual improvements, and processing errors is essential for action adaptation. The presenting authors investigate error processing with diverse and multi-methodological approaches (e.g., experimental manipulations complemented by innovative analysing techniques). Overall, the symposium conveys recent ideas about the neural mechanisms underlying error awareness and behavioural and neural consequences thereof. We will present different influential factors that induce changes in error detection (Niessen, Porth, Steinhauser). These manipulations will be extended by approaches that identify important sources for the formation of error awareness (Overhoff, Porth). The presented findings can be largely generalized, because the tested samples range from young, healthy participants (Mattes, Niessen, Porth, Steinhauser) over participants across the adult lifespan (Overhoff) to a clinical sample (Balzus). One study elucidates the influence of individual differences on neural mechanisms of error processing and behavioural adaptations by differentiating two dimensions of perfectionism (Mattes). Extreme and clinically relevant perfectionism can result in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), which will be of interest in the clinical study (Balzus). Thus, the presentations nicely complement each other. Most talks include neuroscientific measures in terms of EEG (Balzus, Mattes, Porth, Steinhauser) and inform about the neural mechanisms underlying error processing. Finally, we introduce two experimental approaches as potential ways to assess error awareness with high ecological validity because they reflect error processing in everyday tasks (Niessen,Steinhauser).

Experimental validation of cognitive modeling

Symposium organized by Nele Russwinkel, Jochem Rieger, and Marco Ragni

Cognitive modeling is a core method to explain cognitive function and experimental results. In contrast to statistical analysis, it aims for identifying cognitive processes and their respective interplay and provide a functional explanation of observed data. In that sense cognitive models are executable psychological theories. They are tightly linked to psychological experimentation as they can be derived from and validated by psychological experiments. This symposium aims to focus on (i) real experimental data that can support/reject a model, (ii) features of cognitive models to be predictive, (iii) experimental validation methods and measures for cognitive models and similar aspects. The motivation of the symposium is to bring together experimental psychologists and cognitive modelers. We are open for any type of cognitive models and any form of experimental validation.

Neuroscientific research and methods

Session chaired by Jakob Kaiser

Applied psychology

Session chaired by Robert Schorn

Fundamental processes and applied aspects of effort

Symposium organized by David Framorando

In recent decades, there has been a growing interest in studying the intensity dimension of motivation - effort - through physiological measurements. This research draws on motivational intensity theory (Brehm & Self, 1989), which identifies the conditions under which one should exert more or less effort. Wright (1996) linked Brehm's theory with Obrist's (1981) active coping approach and concluded that effort can be assessed by cardiovascular reactivity. On this basis, recent research in the field of motivational psychology has focused on identifying variables that might influence cardiovascular reactivity. This symposium will present exemplary recent work examining the role of implicit motives, lighting color temperature, objective ability, personal task choice, fatigue and self-control, and posture in the context of effort.

Visual perception

Session chaired by Simon Merz

Working memory II

Session chaired by Niko Busch

“Denkpsychologie” today

Symposium organized by Amory H. Danek

Classical psychology of thinking (“Denkpsychologie”), as for example represented by the Gestalt school, was later largely neglected, because of discontent with the often mere observational, anecdotal approach. Today, new methodological approaches have revived the study of insight problem solving and resulted in a surge of new studies. Hundred years after Köhler’s chimpanzee observations on Tenerife, this has become an exciting area of research, with links to metacognition, memory, creativity and emotion. Research addressing the phenomenology of insight (Aha! experiences) has seen the most interest recently. This symposium brings together researchers from Norway, Belgium, Germany and the USA and represents a selection of contemporary efforts to understand human problem solving, with a focus on measuring feelings of insight. Topics to be discussed are the accuracy effect of insight (Danek), the unconscious nature of insight (Stuyck, Cleeremans, & Van den Bussche), the pleasure inherent in Gestalt detection (Muth), a developmental perspective on Aha! experiences (Haugen, Prenevost, Nilsen, & Reber), a neuronal mechanism for the insight memory effect (Becker), and fixation and mental set (Wiley).

Modelling cognition I: Model development, comparison, validation and application

Symposium organized by Constantin G. Meyer-Grant and Anne Voormann

In recent years, formal models have become increasingly popular among researchers in cognitive psychology thanks to their many advantages over non-formal theories. Compared to the latter, mathematical and statistical models are easier to falsify, force theorists to be precise, allow the deduction of consequences following the model assumptions, make accurate predictions, and often have several practical applications (Bjork, 1973). Utilizing such models for psychological research usually involves several different steps: model development, model comparison, model validation, and model application. In the first part of this symposium, we highlight these different aspects of working with formal models across numerous fields within cognitive psychology. We will start by looking at an instance of model development ‐ namely, a novel evidence accumulation based model for binary choice tasks. This is followed by a talk about model comparison introducing a deep-learning based method for comparing complex Bayesian hierarchical models. Furthermore, we will take a closer look at model validation regarding different recognition memory models of paired stimuli. We will then shift our focus more towards the application of mathematical and statistical models. Hence, we will conclude the first part of the symposium with talks on how to model advice taking in a multilevel framework and on what multinomial processing tree models can tell us about the effect of alcohol consumption on memory.

Modelling cognition II: Understanding memory via modelling

Symposium organized by Anne Voormann and Constantin G. Meyer-Grant

This second part of the symposium addresses one specific area within cognition: Memory. Since long time, various types of mathematical and statistical models help us to grasp and better understand the different aspects of memory. Through their formalization of processes, models provide a deeper understanding about the actual processes involved in memory decisions beyond recognition and recall performance. Additionally, models can be used as a statistic tool to address and solve research questions hard to assess otherwise. Thus, within this symposium, we aim to shed light on different aspects of memory using statistical modelling. However, not the models will be in the focus of this symposium but the memory processes that models help us to understand. Thus, we will start with inspecting the role of semantic associations in working memory and how models can capture binding effects in episodic memory. Next, we will have a closer look to the connection between working memory and long-term memory. Regarding long-term memory, we will subsequently assess certain phenomena that appear within long-term memory and will hear about the processes that must be assumed in order to explain such phenomena. We will close the symposium with a talk about metamemory, the ability to use cues for predictions about the own memory ability.

Bayesian advances in cognitive modeling

Symposium organized by Julia M. Haaf and Frederik Aust

Bayesian modeling has become a popular tool to analyze data in cognitive psychology. One reason for this development are computational advances paired with more accessible software tools for statistical analysis. Despite these innovations, Bayesian modeling still comes with its challenges, and more innovation is needed to address them. Three areas of recent development that are highlighted in this symposium are modeling of hierarchical data, model comparison using Bayes factor, and the implementation of theory in Bayesian models using ordinal constraints. These three areas are highly relevant for experimental psychology where hierarchical data structures are common and studies are often designed to test competing hypotheses. In this symposium, we discuss recent technical and statistical developments relevant to experimental psychology, and highlight several applications including consciousness, recognition memory, cognitive inhibition, and creativity.

Mechanisms of learning and memory: Novel insights from EEG research

Symposium organized by Siri-Maria Kamp

Mechanisms of learning and memory are difficult to study, in part because the different stages of memory processing cannot be easily separated based on behavioral outcomes alone, and because task or population characteristics limit the use of some behavioral analysis techniques. This symposium presents novel research capturing EEG activity during learning and memory tasks, including oscillatory activity and event-related potentials (ERPs), thus tracking neurocognitive activity in real-time and independently of behavior. The first talk reports that theta-oscillations recorded from intracranial EEG in the hippocampus occur during map-based spatial navigation in a spatial learning task. The second talk shows that theta-rhythms are already observed in early childhood and support the integration of newly learned category information into a semantic model of the world. The third talk examines the interleaving effect in inductive learning and shows that the effect is driven by a decrease in attentional processes during massing, reflected by alpha/beta-power during encoding. The fourth talk reports that fear and safety learning are tracked by the late positive potential and the P300 during learning and provides novel insights into this association. The fifth talk reports that familiarity, indexed by the early ERP old/new effect, contributes to associative memory retrieval when schema-supported associative processes are active during encoding. The last talk discusses the effect of stimulus properties on item retrieval mechanisms, indexed by ERPs during a recognition test, and on inter-item associative memory. Together, the results presented in this symposium open fruitful routes for future research promising novel insights into the mechanisms of learning and memory.

Acceptance of artificial intelligence producing natural language

Symposium organized by Kai Sassenberg

In recent years, artificial intelligence (AI) has rapidly entered people's everyday live. More and more written and even spoken natural language is produced by AI-based systems such as conversational AIs (e.g., Siri, Alexa), or bots for instance in consumer interaction. Given their growing prevalence, it is important to understand whether the aversion against algorithmic decision-making that has been found in earlier research generalizes to AIs producing natural language. This symposium features experimental research on three questions related to the acceptance of language produced by AIs. First, Talk 1 by Gunser et al. answers the question whether lay people can differentiate texts that are written by humans from those written by an AI (here in case of poetry). Second, Talks 2 and 3 target the question of whether the same text is more accepted when it has ostensibly been produced by a human being versus an AI. Klein et al. (Talk 2) studied social interaction in a chat, whereas Lermann Henestrosa et al. (Talk 3) examined science communication. The final two talks focus on the question of whether special features of AI-based communication contribute to its acceptance. Gaiser et al. (Talk 4) tested the effect of modality (text vs. spoken language) and Gieselmann et al. (Talk 5) studied the impact of competencies ascribed to conversational AIs on their acceptance. Across presentations, results indicate that lay people are able to differentiate between human- and AI-based texts. When one and the same text is presented as human- vs. AI-generated, the acceptance of the text is not influenced by the information about the source. However, specific features of AI such as modality and (ascribed) competencies influence acceptance.  

Dynamic perception and action in virtual environments

Symposium organized by Meaghan McManus and Immo Schütz

Historically, human perception and action research has been constrained by real world limitations in how stimuli can be presented and manipulated, and performance has typically been measured using button presses or restricted movements. Virtual reality (VR) is a powerful method to present naturalistic but highly controlled environments in a way not possible before. Using VR displays labs are now able to record continuous behavior from active participants. Technologies such as eye tracking or mobile EEG further enable collection of dynamic behavioral measures. This symposium discusses recent work on dynamic behavior that would have been difficult to study before VR. The first set of talks will highlight the importance of gaze in natural locomotion. Bremer will present work on predicting a person's movements through a virtual environment using gaze data and Machine Learning, and Nolte will present a study on face perception and eye movements towards virtual pedestrians while participants explored a virtual city. The second set of talks focus on highly specific environments where VR can help to overcome some of the challenges faced when creating such unusual settings. Kopiske will discuss gaze-gait interactions while participants traversed a simulated slippery road surface, and Bury will present a study on how the perception of self-motion through a virtual hallway was affected during parabolic flight. The last set of talks use VR to manipulate how people interact with objects in their environment. Schuetz will show that free-hand pointing to objects in VR is attracted by an object's center of gravity, and McManus will present a study investigating predictive changes in tactile sensitivity while participants slice dynamic objects with a virtual "sword".

Virtualizing sensory-motor interactions in normal and clinical settings

Symposium organized by Guido Hesselmann and Eckart Zimmermann

Advances in technology often allow for new approaches in their respective field. Due to continuous improvements and increasing affordability, the integration of virtual reality (VR) has established itself as a useful tool in the study of human cognition in the laboratory. VR devices release the visual system from stimuli off the real world and compute a new environment, which the participant is immersed into by creating a sensation of presence in this virtual world. As virtual environments are fully controllable, VR devices allow for innovative manipulations of the sensory input. This symposium provides an overview of state-of-the-art approaches integrating VR into normal and clinical settings, and aims to highlight the scope and limits of virtualizing sensory-motor interactions. First, Lengenhager will present research examining the adaptiveness of the bodily self through VR immersion and synchronous multisensory stimulation. Next, Belger, Wagner, Gaebler and Thöne-Otto will present a new tool for the assessment of visuo-spatial neglect in individuals after stroke via a novel VR street crossing task. Then, Graman will provide an overview of experimental approaches used in the Berlin Mobile Brain/Body Imaging Labs, and discuss the advantages and limits of combining VR with EEG and motion capture. Wiesing and Zimmermann, as well as Kiepe and Hesselmann, will demonstrate innovative approaches to investigate sensory-motor interactions in VR. Last, Keshava, Gottschewsky, Balle, Nezami, Schüler and König will present their research investigating differences in visual attention orienting between low realism- versus high realism virtual environments.

Clinical and health psychology

Session chaired by Alexandra Hoffmann

Social and group decision making

Session chaired by Momme von Sydow

Moral decision making and accountability

Session chaired by Jonas Ludwig

Heuristics and cognitive biases

Session chaired by Julia Groß

Presentations of poster award nominees and discussion with poster jury

Session chaired by Carina G. Giesen and Andreas Eder