Psychology, Sociology and Education
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://eresearch.qmu.ac.uk/handle/20.500.12289/14
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Item Navigating the Mind's Eye: Understanding Gaze Shifts in Visuospatial Bootstrapping(SAGE Publications, 2024-09-04) Nikolov, Teodor Y.; Allen, Richard J.; Havelka, Jelena; Darling, Stephen; van de Vegte, Baz; Morey, Candice C.Visuo-spatial bootstrapping refers to the well-replicated phenomena in which serial recall in a purely verbal task is boosted by presenting digits within the familiar spatial layout of a typical telephone keypad. The visuo-spatial bootstrapping phenomena indicates that additional support comes from long-term knowledge of a fixed spatial pattern, and prior experimentation supports the idea that access to this benefit depends on the availability of the visuo-spatial motor system (e.g., Allen et al., 2015). We investigate this by tracking participants’ eye movements during encoding and retention of verbal lists to learn whether gaze patterns support verbal memory differently when verbal information is presented in the familiar visual layout. Participants’ gaze was recorded during attempts to recall lists of seven digits in three formats: centre of the screen, typical telephone keypad, or a spatially identical layout with randomized number placement. Performance was better with the typical than with the novel layout. Our data show that eye movements differ when encoding and retaining verbal information that has a familiar layout compared with the same verbal information presented in a novel layout, suggesting recruitment of different spatial rehearsal strategies. However, no clear link between gaze pattern and recall accuracy was observed, which suggests that gazes play a limited role in retention, at best.Item Unpacking the complexities, challenges, and nuances of museum community engagement practitioners' narratives on knowledge production in Scotland(2024-02-02) Wallen, Linnea; Docherty‐Hughes, John R.; Darling, StephenThis paper explores how community engagement practitioners understand their knowledge production work in facilitating and choreographing dialogical spaces (Freire, 2005) within which “organic intellectuals” (Gramsci, 1971) and “alternative” knowledge emerge. Using a qualitative, phenomenological research strategy, data were generated through semi‐structured interviews with community engagement practitioners in Scotland. Practitioners emphasize the importance of equity in the relationship with project participants in knowledge production. Practitioners' narratives reveal how those relationships are realized and how these inform their own and the museum institutions' practice. We acknowledge that community‐based project participants' expertise is prioritized by practitioners as critical to effective community engagement. We argue for a nuanced conceptualization—and appreciation—of the complexities inherent in museum community engagement practice, which is often absent in museum studies work. This conceptualization is embedded in practitioners' subjective experiences and reflections, as well as structural contexts, which simultaneously enable and constrain meaningful community engagement work.Item Hanging on the telephone: Maintaining visuospatial bootstrapping over time in working memory(Springer, 2023-06-06) Allen, Richard J.; Havelka, Jelena; Morey, Candice C.; Darling, StephenVisuospatial bootstrapping (VSB) refers to the phenomenon in which performance on a verbal working memory task can be enhanced by presenting the verbal material within a familiar visuospatial configuration. This effect is part of a broader literature concerning how working memory is influenced by use of multimodal codes and contributions from long-term memory. The present study aimed to establish whether the VSB effect extends over a brief (5s) delay period, and to explore the possible mechanisms operating during retention. The VSB effect, as indicated by a verbal recall advantage for digit sequences presented within a familiar visuospatial configuration (modelled on the T-9 keypad) relative to a single location display, was observed across four experiments. The presence and size of this effect changed with the type of concurrent task activity applied during the delay. Articulatory suppression (Experiment 1) increased the visuospatial display advantage, while spatial tapping (Experiment 2) and a visuospatial judgment task (Experiment 3) both removed it. Finally, manipulation of the attentional demands placed by a verbal task also reduced (but did not abolish) this effect (Experiment 4). This pattern of findings demonstrates how provision of familiar visuospatial information at encoding can continue to support verbal working memory over time, with varying demands on modality-specific and general processing resources.Item Attachment-related differences in dispositional anger and its experience and expression following an insult-based anger induction(Elsevier, 2022-08-22) Brodie, Zara P.; Goodall, Karen; Darling, Stephen; McVittie, ChrisVariation in how individuals experience and express anger has been linked to their attachment style, particularly in close interpersonal contexts. However, little research has investigated attachment-related differences in anger and aggression in non-attachment-based settings. This multi-method investigation reports two studies. The first investigated associations between anger and adult attachment dimensions in 270 participants. The second describes a lab-based anger provocation task which examined associations between attachment and pre-post-test change in self-reported anger, physiological responses, anger suppression and aggressive responding (N = 77). Results from study 1 indicate that attachment anxiety was a significant independent predictor of trait anger, while attachment avoidance was not. There were no significant interaction effects, suggesting distinct effects of attachment dimensions on anger. In study 2, attachment avoidance was negatively related to anger change scores from baseline to post-provocation and positively to anger suppression. Attachment anxiety was positively associated with aggressive responding. These findings support the high arousal-low control style previously associated with attachment anxiety, evidenced by elevated trait anger and aggressive responding. They also align with previous studies that support an association between attachment avoidance and emotion suppression, suggesting that the attachment framework can be usefully extended to understand anger and aggression in non-attachment-based contexts.Item Augmented reality and visuospatial bootstrapping for second-language vocabulary recall(Taylor & Francis, 2020-08-26) Larchen Costuchen, Alexia; Darling, Stephen; Uytman, ClareThis paper examines second-language vocabulary memorisation using two technology-driven flashcard-based vocabulary learning tools. The use of augmented reality (AR) under visuospatial bootstrapping (VSB), a novel approach developed from work on the cognitive psychology of working memory, was contrasted with an application, Quizlet. Both were implemented using mobile devices. Quizlet has been extensively used in foreign-language teaching and learning practice. The experimental AR-VSB technique offered superior vocabulary learning compared with the Quizlet method in delayed post-tests, although statistical data indicate a somewhat higher forgetting rate after a week in the AR-VSB method. Even so, the experimental technique still offers superior retention compared with the method used in the control group and could be used as an effective initial input method for acquiring vocabulary items in second-language learning. These results imply communication between cognitive systems involved in storing short-term memory for verbal and visual information alongside connections to and from knowledge held in long-term memory when the target information is shown in a familiar array, which are deployed during the AR task and which support enhanced vocabulary learning. The main novel finding in this research has been that the integration of immersive AR experiences into familiar physical space has been seen to improve vocabulary recall test performance among a sample of twenty-first-century university students attempting to learn a second language. The evidence gathered from the experiment can have future practical applications and might contribute to immersive educational technology and innovative material development in second-language instruction.Item Visuospatial bootstrapping: Spatialized displays enhance digit and nonword sequence learning(Wiley, 2020-07-09) Darling, Stephen; Havelka, Jelena; Allen, Richard J.; Bunyan, Elle; Flornes, LiseVisuospatial bootstrapping describes the observation that performance on a verbal memory task is enhanced by presenting the to-be-remembered material in a format with additional embedded spatial information. Thus far it has only been reported in short-term memory tasks. Here we report two experiments assessing the impact of spatial information on the learning of sequences in long term memory. Experiment 1 used digits presented within a familiar numeric keypad as stimuli compared against single digits presented in one location. Experiment 2 used novel nonwords which were either presented in an unchanging arrangement permitting the building-up of location knowledge or in a constantly changing arrangement. Both experiments demonstrated strong evidence that reliable spatial information facilitated sequence learning, particularly in later sequence positions. It is concluded that the incidental availability of spatialized information during study can facilitate learning of sequences of digits and nonwords. Furthermore the spatial information can be learned during the task itself, and does not need to be pre-existent in long-term knowledge.Item Behavioural evidence for separating components within visuo-spatial working memory(Springer, 2007) Darling, Stephen; Della Sala, Sergio; Logie, Robert H.Several different sources of evidence support the idea that visuo-spatial working memory can be segregated into separate cognitive subsystems. However, the nature of these systems remains unclear. Recently we reported data from neurological patients suggesting that information about visual appearance is retained in a different subsystem from information about spatial location. In this paper we report latency data from neurologically intact participants showing an experimental double dissociation between memory for appearance and memory for location. This was achieved by use of a selective dual task interference technique. This pattern provides evidence supporting the segregation of visuo-spatial memory between two systems, one of which supports memory for stimulus appearance and the other which supports memory for spatial location.Item Dissociation between appearance and location within visuo-spatial working memory(2009-03) Darling, Stephen; Sala, Sergio; Logie, Robert H.Previous research has demonstrated separation between systems supporting memory for appearance and memory for location. However, the interpretation of these results is complicated by a confound occurring because of the simultaneous presentation of objects in multiple-item arrays when assessing memory for appearance and the sequential presentation of items when assessing memory for location. This paper reports an experiment in which sequential or simultaneous modes of presentation were factorially manipulated with memory for visual appearance or memory for location. Spatial interference (tapping) or visual interference (dynamic visual noise) were presented during retention. Appearance versus location interacted with the type of interference task, but mode of presentation did not. These results are consistent with the view that different subsystems within visuo-spatial working memory support memory for appearance and memory for location. 2008 The Experimental Psychology Society.Item Adult developmental trajectories of pseudoneglect in the tactile, visual and auditory modalities and the influence of starting position and stimulus length(Elsevier, 2016-02-04) Brooks, Joanna L.; Darling, Stephen; Malvaso, Catia; Della Sala, SergioPseudoneglect is a tendency to pay more attention to the left side of space, typically demonstrated on tasks like visuo-spatial line bisection, tactile rod bisection and the mental representation of numbers. The developmental trajectory of this bias on these three tasks is not fully understood. In the current study younger participants aged between 18 and 40 years of age and older participants aged between 55 and 90 years conducted three spatial tasks: 1) visuospatial line bisection - participants were asked to bisect visually presented lines of different lengths at the perceived midpoint; 2) touch-driven tactile rod bisection in the absence of vision - participants were asked to feel the length of a wooden rod with their index finger and bisect the rod at the perceived centre; and 3) mental number line bisection in the absence of vision - participants were asked to listen to a pair of numbers and respond with the numerical midpoint between the pair. The results showed that both younger and older participants demonstrated pseudoneglect (leftward biases) in the visual, tactile and mental number line tasks and that the magnitude of pseudoneglect for each group was influenced by physical or mentally represented starting side (start left versus start right) and stimulus length. We provide an exploration of pseudoneglect in younger and older adults in different tasks that vary in the degree to which mental representations are accessed and argue that pseudoneglect is a result of a right hemisphere attentional orienting process that is retained throughout adulthood. Our results indicate that, contrary to some current models of cognitive ageing, asymmetrical patterns of hemispheric activity may occur in older age.Item Visuospatial bootstrapping: Long-term memory representations are necessary for implicit binding of verbal and visuospatial working memory(2012-04) Darling, Stephen; Allen, Richard J.; Havelka, Jelena; Campbell, Aileen; Rattray, EmmaIt has recently been shown that presenting additional visuospatial information alongside to-be-remembered numbers in a digit span task enhances participants' memory for those items. However, the mechanisms behind this visuospatial bootstrapping effect have remained unspecified. In this article, we report evidence that this effect involves an integration of information from verbal and visuospatial temporary memory with long-term-memory (LTM) representations and that the existence of a relevant LTM representation is necessary for bootstrapping to occur.