Bullshit Ability as an Honest Signal of Intelligence.

Navigating social systems efficiently is critical to our species. Humans appear endowed with a cognitive system that has formed to meet the unique challenges that emerge for highly social species. Bullshitting, communication characterised by an intent to be convincing or impressive without concern for truth, is ubiquitous within human societies. Across two studies (N = 1,017), we assess participants' ability to produce satisfying and seemingly accurate bullshit as an honest signal of their intelligence. We find that bullshit ability is associated with an individual's intelligence and individuals capable of producing more satisfying bullshit are judged by second-hand observers to be more intelligent. We interpret these results as adding evidence for intelligence being geared towards the navigation of social systems. The ability to produce satisfying bullshit may serve to assist individuals in negotiating their social world, both as an energetically efficient strategy for impressing others and as an honest signal of intelligence.

Controlling the narrative: Euphemistic language affects judgments of actions while avoiding perceptions of dishonesty.

The present work (N = 1906 U.S. residents) investigates the extent to which peoples' evaluations of actions can be biased by the strategic use of euphemistic (agreeable) and dysphemistic (disagreeable) terms. We find that participants' evaluations of actions are made more favorable by replacing a disagreeable term (e.g., torture) with a semantically related agreeable term (e.g., enhanced interrogation) in an act's description. Notably, the influence of agreeable and disagreeable terms was reduced (but not eliminated) when making actions less ambiguous by providing participants with a detailed description of each action. Despite their influence, participants judged both agreeable and disagreeable action descriptions as largely truthful and distinct from lies, and judged agents using such descriptions as more trustworthy and moral than liars. Overall, the results of the current study suggest that a strategic speaker can, through the careful use of language, sway the opinions of others in a preferred direction while avoiding many of the reputational costs associated with less subtle forms of linguistic manipulation (e.g., lying). Like the much-studied phenomenon of "fake news," manipulative language can serve as a tool for misleading the public, doing so not with falsehoods but rather the strategic use of language.

The environmental malleability of base-rate neglect.

Across two experiments (N=799) we demonstrate that people's use of quantitative information (e.g., base-rates) when making a judgment varies as the causal link of qualitative information (e.g., stereotypes) changes. That is, when a clear causal link for stereotypes is provided, people make judgments that are far more in line with them. When the causal link is heavily diminished, people readily incorporate non-causal base-rates into their judgments instead. We suggest that people use and integrate all of the information that is provided to them to make judgements, but heavily prioritize information that is causal in nature. Further, people are sensitive to the underlying causal structures in their environment and adapt their decision making as such.

Making time: Estimation of internally versus externally defined durations.

Most research on the topic of duration estimation has examined the mechanisms underlying estimation of durations that are demarcated by experimental stimuli. It is not clear whether the estimation of durations that are instead defined by our own mental processes (e.g., response times) is underlain by the same mechanisms. Across five experiments, we tested whether the pattern of interference between concurrent temporal and nontemporal tasks was similar for the two types of intervals. Duration estimation of externally defined intervals slowed performance on a concurrent equation verification task, regardless of whether participants were required to report their estimate by clicking within an analogue scale or by reproducing the duration. Estimation of internally defined durations did not slow equation verification performance when an analogue scale response was required. The results suggest that estimation of internally defined durations may not depend on the effortful temporal processing that is required to estimate externally defined durations.

Looking and listening: A comparison of intertrial repetition effects in visual and auditory search tasks.

Previous research shows that performance on pop-out search tasks is facilitated when the target and distractors repeat across trials compared to when they switch. This phenomenon has been shown for many different types of visual stimuli. We tested whether the effect would extend beyond visual stimuli to the auditory modality. Using a temporal search task that has previously been shown to elicit priming of pop-out with visual stimuli (Yashar & Lamy, Psychological Science, 21(2), 243-251, 2010), we showed that priming of pop-out does occur with auditory stimuli and has characteristics similar to those of an analogous visual task. These results suggest that either the same or similar mechanisms might underlie priming of pop-out in both modalities.

Visual word recognition: evidence for global and local control over semantic feedback.

Two lexical decision experiments examined the joint effects of stimulus quality, semantic context, and cue-target associative strength when all factors were intermixed in a block of trials. Both experiments found a three-way interaction. Semantic context and stimulus quality interacted when associative strength between cue-target pairs was strong, and the interaction was eliminated when the strength was weak. These results support a role for a local mechanism that relies on trial specific information, in addition to a mechanism that makes use of global information available across a block of trials. The absence of an interaction between the joint effects of semantic context and stimulus quality is attributed to blocking the feedback from the semantic system to the orthographic system, functionally separating the orthographic and semantic modules.

Spatial attention modulates feature crosstalk in visual word processing.

One major idea about spatial attention is that it serves to modulate crosstalk between features during reading. Two reading aloud experiments are reported in which a cue-validity manipulation was combined with manipulations that are thought to increase the likelihood of feature-level crosstalk: interletter spacing and the presence or absence of irrelevant features. Both experiments yielded an interaction between the effects of spatial cuing and each of these factors. These results are taken to support the hypothesis that when spatial attention is focused on the word, it provides protection against crosstalk among features in the context of reading aloud.

The proportion valid effect in covert orienting: strategic control or implicit learning?

It is well known that the difference in performance between valid and invalid trials in the covert orienting paradigm (i.e., the cueing effect) increases as the proportion of valid trials increases. This proportion valid effect is widely assumed to reflect "strategic" control over the distribution of attention. In the present experiments we determine if this effect results from an explicit strategy or implicit learning by probing participant's awareness of the proportion of valid trials. Results support the idea that the proportion valid effect in the covert orienting paradigm reflects implicit learning not an explicit strategy.

On the nature of cognitive control and endogenous orienting: a response to Chica and Bartolomeo (2010).

Chica and Bartolemeo (Unconscious strategies? Commentary on Risko and Stolz (2010): The proportion valid effect in covert orienting: Strategic control or implicit learning? Consciousness and Cognition,19, 443-444.) agree that our results (Risko, E. F., & Stolz, J. A. (2010). The proportion valid effect in covert orienting: Strategic control or implicit learning? Consciousness and Cognition,19, 432-442.) are consistent with an implicit learning account of the proportion valid effect. Nevertheless, they raise two general issues (1) that an explicit strategy might be operative in other contexts and (2) that orienting in response to implicit knowledge is endogenous. In our response, we address each of these issues and further discuss the concepts of endogenous orienting and cognitive control.

On the role of set when reading aloud: a dissociation between prelexical and lexical processing.

Two experiments investigated the role that mental set plays in reading aloud using the task choice procedure developed by Besner and Care [Besner, D., & Care, S. (2003). A paradigm for exploring what the mind does while deciding what it should do. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology, 57, 311-320]. Subjects were presented with a word, and asked to either read it aloud or decide whether it appeared in upper/lower case. Task information, in the form of a brief auditory cue, appeared 750ms before the word, or at the same time as the word. Experiment 1 yielded evidence consistent with the claim that at least some pre-lexical processing can be carried out in parallel with decoding the task cue (the 0 SOA condition yielded a smaller contrast effect than the long SOA condition). Experiment 2 provided evidence that such processing is restricted to pre-lexical levels (the word frequency effect was equivalent at the 0 SOA and the long SOA). These data suggest that a task set is a necessary preliminary to lexical processing when reading aloud.

Not all visual features are created equal: early processing in letter and word recognition.

In four experiments, we investigated the effect of deleting specific features of letters on letter and word recognition in the context of reading aloud. Experiments 1 and 2 assessed the relative importance of vertices versus midsegments in letter recognition. Experiments 3 and 4 tested the relative importance of vertices versus midsegments in word recognition. The results demonstrate that deleting vertices is more detrimental to letter and word identification than is deleting midsegments of letters. These results converge with those of previous research on the role of vertices in object identification. Theoretical implications for early processing in reading are noted.

Covert orienting: a compound-cue account of the proportion cued effect.

An increase in the proportion of spatially cued trials in the context of the covert orienting paradigm increases the magnitude of the cuing effect. This proportion cued effect is widely interpreted to reflect a form of control. Specifically, it is argued that participants strategically allocate attention as a function of the utility of the spatial cue. Here, an alternative explanation of the proportion cued effect is proposed that does not require control. According to this account, the cue-target event forms a compound cue and the proportion cued manipulation produces a relative disparity in the frequency with which particular compound cues occur. Specifically, when the proportion of spatially cued trials is increased, the frequency of spatially cued cue-target events increases and the frequency of spatially miscued cue-target events decreases, thus increasing the magnitude of the cuing effect. The results of two experiments support this account.

Nonstrategic contributions to putatively strategic effects in selective attention tasks.

Proportion compatible manipulations are often used to index strategic processes in selective attention tasks. Here, a subtle confound in proportion compatible manipulations is considered. Specifically, as the proportion of compatible trials increases, the ratio of complete repetitions and complete alternations to partial repetitions increases on compatible trials but decreases on incompatible trials. This confound is demonstrated to lead to an overestimation in the magnitude of the proportion compatible effect in the context of both a Stroop and a Simon task. Implications for previous research and directions for future research using proportion compatible manipulations are discussed.

Calling all codes: interactive effects of semantics, phonology, and orthography produce dissociations in a repetition blindness paradigm.

We used the repetition blindness (RB) paradigm to examine the roles of semantics, phonology, and orthography on report from rapidly presented 5-item word lists. Semantic primes in positions 1 and 3 in the list preceded homographic homophones, homographic heterophones, and heterographic homophones as critical targets in positions 2 and 4. All codes (i.e., semantic, phonologic, and orthographic) were repeated, or meaning changed while only phonology, only orthography, or both were repeated for the critical targets. Using a scoring procedure that considered order of report, we assessed facilitation for report of the first instance of the repeated target (a novel aspect of our procedure) and RB for report of the second instance of the repeated target. Except when accompanied by a change in orthography, a change in meaning reduced RB relative to when all codes were repeated. Facilitation in the report of the first instance of the repeated item occurred only if meaning changed and phonology was repeated (independent of whether orthography changed). Finally, recall was worse for the meaning change nonrepeated control lists (which instantiated 3 unrelated meanings in the list, including the last unrelated item) than for the no-meaning change control lists (which instantiated 2 unrelated meanings). We discuss the relevance of these findings for extant accounts of repetition blindness.

Reading aloud: spelling-sound translation uses central attention.

Contrary to the received view that reading aloud reflects processes that are "automatic," recent evidence suggests that some of these processes require a form of attention. This issue was investigated further by examining the effect of a prior presentation of exception words (words whose spelling-sound translation are atypical, such as pint as compared with mint, hint, or lint) and pseudohomophones (nonwords that sound identical to words, such as brane from brain) on reading aloud in the context of the psychological refractory period paradigm. For exception words, the joint effects of repetition and stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) yielded an underadditive interaction on the time to read aloud, replicating previous work -- a short SOA between Task 1 and Task 2 increased reaction time (RT) and reduced the magnitude of the repetition effect relative to the long SOA. For pseudohomophones, in contrast, the joint effects of repetition and SOA were additive on RT. These results provide converging evidence for the conclusion that (a) processing up to and including the orthographic input lexicon does not require central attention when reading aloud, whereas (b) translating lexical and sublexical spelling to sound requires the use of central attention.

Facial affect and temporal order judgments: emotions turn back the clock.

The influence of facial affect on the perception of temporal order was examined in the context of the temporal order judgment (TOJ) paradigm. Two schematic faces were presented either simultaneously, or separated by varying stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs; -100 ms, -34 ms, -17 ms, 17 ms, 34 ms, 100 ms), and participants had to judge which face appeared first. Each schematic face displayed one of three emotions; happy, neutral, or angry. Facial affect was found to influence judgments of temporal order at short SOAs (-17 ms, 0 ms, and 17 ms) but not at the longest SOAs (-100 ms and 100 ms), consistent with the hypothesis that facial affect influences relative onset judgments when they are difficult to make.

Simon says: reliability and the role of working memory and attentional control in the simon task.

The Simon effect refers to the observation that subjects identify targets (e.g., colors) faster when the irrelevant spatial location of the target corresponds to the location of the response key. Theoretical accounts of the Simon effect typically explain performance in terms of automatic and controlled processes. Furthermore, the relative contributions of automatic and controlled processes are held to change as a function of the proportion of compatible to incompatible trials (compatibility proportion). Data are presented demonstrating that the reliability of the Simon effect, indexed by correlating its magnitude within subjects across blocks of trials, varied substantially as a function of the compatibility proportion. When the compatibility proportion was high, so was reliability. When the compatibility proportion was low, reliability was low as well. The results are discussed in terms of the relative reliability of automatic and controlled processes and the role of working memory and attentional control in goal maintenance.

Dissociative effects of stimulus quality on semantic and morphological contexts in visual word recognition.

Semantic and morphological contexts were manipulated jointly with stimulus quality under conditions where there were few related prime-target pairs (i.e., low relatedness proportion) in a lexical decision experiment. Additive effects of semantic context and stimulus quality on RT were observed, replicating previous work. In contrast, morphological context interacted with stimulus quality. This dissociation is discussed in the context of Besner and colleagues' evolving multistage framework. The essence of the account is that 1) stimulus quality affects feature and letter levels, but not later levels, 2) feedback from semantics to the lexical level is inoperative under low relatedness proportion conditions (hence stimulus quality and semantic context yield additive effects), whereas 3) feedback from the lexical level to the letter level is intact, hence stimulus quality and morphological context produce an interaction by virtue of them affecting a common stage of processing.

Basic processes in reading: is visual word recognition obligatory?

Visual word recognition is commonly argued to be automatic in the sense that it is obligatory and ballistic. The present experiments combined Stroop and visual search paradigms to provide a novel test of this claim. An array of three, five, or seven words including one colored target (a word in Experiments 1 and 2, a bar in Experiment 3) was presented to participants. An irrelevant color word also appeared in the display and was either integrated with or separated from the colored target. The participants classified the color of the single colored item in Experiments 1 and 3 and determined whether a target color was present or absent in Experiment 2. A Stroop effect was observed in Experiment 1 when the color word and the color target were integral, but not when the color word and the color target were separated. No Stroop effect was observed in Experiment 2. Visual word recognition is contingent on both the distribution of spatial attention and task demands.

Interactive activation in visual word recognition: constraints imposed by the joint effects of spatial attention and semantics.

Two lexical-decision experiments investigated the effects of semantic priming and stimulus intensity when target location varied and was cued by an abrupt onset. In Experiment 1, the spatial cue was a good predictor of target location, and in Experiment 2 it was not. The results indicate that word recognition processes were postponed until spatial attention was focused on the target and that whether attention further affected word recognition depended on cue validity. The joint effects of cue validity and priming interacted when cue validity was high but were additive when cue validity was low. The joint effects of stimulus intensity and semantic priming also varied according to cue validity (i.e., interactive when high and additive when low). The results are discussed in terms of their implications for visual word recognition, the distinction between exogenous and endogenous spatial attention, and how attention is affected by visual word recognition processes.