Maria Wirth | Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena (original) (raw)

Papers by Maria Wirth

Cognitive conflict has often been investigated by placing automatic processing originating from l... more Cognitive conflict has often been investigated by placing automatic processing originating from learned associations in competition with instructed task demands. Here we explore whether mirror generalization as a congenital mechanism can be employed to create cognitive conflict. Past research suggests that the visual system automatically generates an invariant representation of visual objects and their mirrored counterparts (i.e., mirror generalization), and especially so for lateral reversals (e.g., a cup seen from the left side vs. right side). Prior work suggests that mirror generalization can be reduced or even overcome by learning (i.e., for those visual objects for which it is not appropriate, such as letters d and b). We, therefore, minimized prior practice on resolving conflicts involving mirror generalization by using kanji stimuli as non-verbal and unfamiliar material. In a 1-back task, participants had to check a stream of kanji stimuli for identical repetitions and avoid miss-categorizing mirror reversed stimuli as exact repetitions. Consistent with previous work, lateral reversals led to profound slowing of reaction times and lower accuracy in Experiment 1. Yet, different from previous reports suggesting that lateral reversals lead to stronger conflict, similar slowing for vertical and horizontal mirror transformations was observed in Experiment 2. Taken together, the results suggest that transformations of visual stimuli can be employed to challenge cognitive control in the 1-back task.

Flexibly spotting and applying shortcut options in arithmetic is often a major challenge for chil... more Flexibly spotting and applying shortcut options in arithmetic is often a major challenge for children as well as adults. Recent work has suggests that children benefit in terms of such flexibility from tasks requiring estimation or other operations with quantities that they cannot easily enumerate. Such tasks often require comparison of quantities by fixation and as such necessitate long-range eye movements, e.g. across the whole screen. We tested whether fixation patterns account for transfer from estimation to arithmetic tasks. Conceivably, participants who first solve estimation tasks are more flexible in spotting and applying shortcuts on later arithmetic tasks, because they stick to scanning the screen with long-range eye movements (which were necessary for solving the estimation task). To test this account, we manipulated the location of the marbles in an estimation task so that one group of participants had to make long-range eye movement, whereas another group did not need long-range eye movements to solve the task. Afterwards participants of both groups solved addition problems that contained a shortcut option based on the commutativity principle. We tested whether shortcut usage and fixation patterns in the arithmetic problems were influenced by the variant of the estimation task provided beforehand. The experiment allowed us to explore whether flexibility in spotting and using arithmetic shortcuts can be fostered by applying a prior task that induces flexible looking patterns. The results suggest that estimation tasks can indeed influence fixation patterns in a later arithmetic task. While shortcut search and application is reflected in fixation patterns, we did not obtain evidence for the reverse influence. Changed fixation patterns did not lead to higher shortcut usage. Thus, the results are in line with top-down accounts of strategy change: fixation patterns reflect rather than elicit strategy change.

Although past theoretical work has proposed age-related gains in emotion regulation, the empirica... more Although past theoretical work has proposed age-related gains in emotion regulation, the empirical evidence is not entirely consistent. In two laboratory studies, we investigated age differences in regulating negative emotions through attentional deployment by instructing participants to direct their attention either toward negative (up-regulation) or neutral (downregulation) pictorial content. The regulation process (visual attention) was measured via eyetracking and the regulation outcome (emotional experience) was assessed via self-report. We tested emotional arousal and attentional functioning as factors that may affect age differences in attentional deployment. The main analyses revealed that, first, during down-regulation trials, older adults were less likely to direct their attention toward neutral stimulus content than younger adults, but did not experience greater unpleasantness than younger adults. This indicates that older adults may use attentional deployment more efficiently to decrease negative emotions than younger adults. Second, emotional arousal did not affect age differences in emotion regulation process and outcome. Third, we obtained preliminary evidence that for older but not for younger adults, low cognitive control may impair the implementation of attentional deployment. Additional findings suggested that neither younger nor older adults were able to increase unpleasantness by attending toward negative stimulus content. Together, these findings suggest multidirectional age differences in attentional deployment process and outcome and underline the importance of considering age-related vulnerabilities in predicting changes in emotion regulations across the lifespan.

Prominent lifespan theories of emotion propose that older adults attend less to negative emotiona... more Prominent lifespan theories of emotion propose that older adults attend less to negative emotional information and report less negative emotional reactions to the same information than younger adults do. Although parallel age differences in affective information processing and age differences in emotional reactivity have been proposed, they have rarely been investigated within the same study. In this eye-tracking study, we tested age differences in visual attention and emotional reactivity, using standardized emotionally negative stimuli. Additionally, we investigated age differences in the association between visual attention and emotional reactivity, and whether these are moderated by cognitive reappraisal. Older as compared to younger adults showed fixation patterns away from negative image content, while they reacted with greater negative emotions. The association between visual attention and emotional reactivity differed by age group and positive reappraisal. Younger adults felt better when they attended more to negative content rather than less, but this relationship only held for younger adults who did not attach a positive meaning to the negative situation. For older adults, overall, there was no significant association between visual attention and emotional reactivity. However, for older adults who did not use positive reappraisal, decreases in attention to negative information were associated with less negative emotions. The present findings point to a complex relationship between younger and older adults' visual attention and emotional reactions.

Cognitive conflict has often been investigated by placing automatic processing originating from l... more Cognitive conflict has often been investigated by placing automatic processing originating from learned associations in competition with instructed task demands. Here we explore whether mirror generalization as a congenital mechanism can be employed to create cognitive conflict. Past research suggests that the visual system automatically generates an invariant representation of visual objects and their mirrored counterparts (i.e., mirror generalization), and especially so for lateral reversals (e.g., a cup seen from the left side vs. right side). Prior work suggests that mirror generalization can be reduced or even overcome by learning (i.e., for those visual objects for which it is not appropriate, such as letters d and b). We, therefore, minimized prior practice on resolving conflicts involving mirror generalization by using kanji stimuli as non-verbal and unfamiliar material. In a 1-back task, participants had to check a stream of kanji stimuli for identical repetitions and avoid miss-categorizing mirror reversed stimuli as exact repetitions. Consistent with previous work, lateral reversals led to profound slowing of reaction times and lower accuracy in Experiment 1. Yet, different from previous reports suggesting that lateral reversals lead to stronger conflict, similar slowing for vertical and horizontal mirror transformations was observed in Experiment 2. Taken together, the results suggest that transformations of visual stimuli can be employed to challenge cognitive control in the 1-back task.

Flexibly spotting and applying shortcut options in arithmetic is often a major challenge for chil... more Flexibly spotting and applying shortcut options in arithmetic is often a major challenge for children as well as adults. Recent work has suggests that children benefit in terms of such flexibility from tasks requiring estimation or other operations with quantities that they cannot easily enumerate. Such tasks often require comparison of quantities by fixation and as such necessitate long-range eye movements, e.g. across the whole screen. We tested whether fixation patterns account for transfer from estimation to arithmetic tasks. Conceivably, participants who first solve estimation tasks are more flexible in spotting and applying shortcuts on later arithmetic tasks, because they stick to scanning the screen with long-range eye movements (which were necessary for solving the estimation task). To test this account, we manipulated the location of the marbles in an estimation task so that one group of participants had to make long-range eye movement, whereas another group did not need long-range eye movements to solve the task. Afterwards participants of both groups solved addition problems that contained a shortcut option based on the commutativity principle. We tested whether shortcut usage and fixation patterns in the arithmetic problems were influenced by the variant of the estimation task provided beforehand. The experiment allowed us to explore whether flexibility in spotting and using arithmetic shortcuts can be fostered by applying a prior task that induces flexible looking patterns. The results suggest that estimation tasks can indeed influence fixation patterns in a later arithmetic task. While shortcut search and application is reflected in fixation patterns, we did not obtain evidence for the reverse influence. Changed fixation patterns did not lead to higher shortcut usage. Thus, the results are in line with top-down accounts of strategy change: fixation patterns reflect rather than elicit strategy change.

Although past theoretical work has proposed age-related gains in emotion regulation, the empirica... more Although past theoretical work has proposed age-related gains in emotion regulation, the empirical evidence is not entirely consistent. In two laboratory studies, we investigated age differences in regulating negative emotions through attentional deployment by instructing participants to direct their attention either toward negative (up-regulation) or neutral (downregulation) pictorial content. The regulation process (visual attention) was measured via eyetracking and the regulation outcome (emotional experience) was assessed via self-report. We tested emotional arousal and attentional functioning as factors that may affect age differences in attentional deployment. The main analyses revealed that, first, during down-regulation trials, older adults were less likely to direct their attention toward neutral stimulus content than younger adults, but did not experience greater unpleasantness than younger adults. This indicates that older adults may use attentional deployment more efficiently to decrease negative emotions than younger adults. Second, emotional arousal did not affect age differences in emotion regulation process and outcome. Third, we obtained preliminary evidence that for older but not for younger adults, low cognitive control may impair the implementation of attentional deployment. Additional findings suggested that neither younger nor older adults were able to increase unpleasantness by attending toward negative stimulus content. Together, these findings suggest multidirectional age differences in attentional deployment process and outcome and underline the importance of considering age-related vulnerabilities in predicting changes in emotion regulations across the lifespan.

Prominent lifespan theories of emotion propose that older adults attend less to negative emotiona... more Prominent lifespan theories of emotion propose that older adults attend less to negative emotional information and report less negative emotional reactions to the same information than younger adults do. Although parallel age differences in affective information processing and age differences in emotional reactivity have been proposed, they have rarely been investigated within the same study. In this eye-tracking study, we tested age differences in visual attention and emotional reactivity, using standardized emotionally negative stimuli. Additionally, we investigated age differences in the association between visual attention and emotional reactivity, and whether these are moderated by cognitive reappraisal. Older as compared to younger adults showed fixation patterns away from negative image content, while they reacted with greater negative emotions. The association between visual attention and emotional reactivity differed by age group and positive reappraisal. Younger adults felt better when they attended more to negative content rather than less, but this relationship only held for younger adults who did not attach a positive meaning to the negative situation. For older adults, overall, there was no significant association between visual attention and emotional reactivity. However, for older adults who did not use positive reappraisal, decreases in attention to negative information were associated with less negative emotions. The present findings point to a complex relationship between younger and older adults' visual attention and emotional reactions.