2018.9.18About KUT / Academics / Research / Students Life

Professor Shinomori awarded the Japanese Psychological Association Best Paper Award

A research team led by Professor Keizo Shinomori (School of Information, Research Institute, Vision and Affective Science Integrated Research Laboratory) has received the Japanese Psychological Association Best Paper Award.

The Japanese Psychological Association gives awards for academic papers and publications. The 2018 paper review committee selected four best papers from among the papers published in Japanese Psychological Research in 2017 for their significant contributions to the association.

Title:
Spatial Correspondence Learning is Critical for the Sequence Effects of Symbolic Cueing

Authors:
Dr. Qian QIAN: Kunming University of Science and Technology, Associate Professor
Dr. Feng WANG:Kunming University of Science and Technology, Professor
Dr. Miao SONG: Shanghai Maritime University, Lecturer
Dr. Yong FENG:Kunming University of Science and Technology, Associate Professor
Dr. Keizo Shimonori: Kochi University of Technology, Vision and Affective Science Integrated Research Laboratory, Professor

Journal:
Japanese Psychological Research Vol.59, No.3, pp. 209-220, 2017.

This paper identifies the importance of determining the identity of spatial arrangements against order effects in symbolic cueing tasks.

Subjects were presented with a spatial cue such as an arrow pointing to the left or right, and were asked to find the target stimulus (asterisk), which appeared on either to the left or right, as soon as possible and push the button (one button response). When the target stimulus appeared on the same side as the spatial cue indicated, response was quick, while on the opposite side response was slower. This is called as cueing effect. Also, arrow direction and stimulus location from the previous round affected the speed of the response in the subsequent round. This is called sequential effect. However, the reason why sequential effect occurred was not clear: perhaps it was because the subject understood that the probability of the arrow direction indicated the position of the target stimulus correctly, and paid more attention to more expected direction; or perhaps because response was faster with the use of previous memory when the stimulus appeared on the same side (or the other side) as in the previous round (the arrow and the stimulus were arranged so that the arrow pointed either to (cued) or away from the stimulus (uncued)). The results of this study confirm that sequential effect occurs when we unconsciously learn the identity of the spatial arrangement, regardless of whether the indication of the cue stimulation and the position of the targeted stimulus (left or right) concur or not. It was also revealed that sequential effect occurs not only with simple cue stimuli but also with Chinese characters for right and left, which the subject had been using for many years. This result is expected to have application in the design of screens that promptly convey instructions and emergency warnings.

Dr. Qian Qian, the first author, and Dr. Song Miao, the third author, are former members of Prof. Shinomori's lab. After receiving their doctorates, they remained at KUT to continue conducting research with Prof. Shinomori. Dr. Song been working as a research associate (postdoctoral researcher) and Dr. Qian has been conducting research as a 2016 JASSO Follow-up Research Fellow. Joint international research with researchers at Kunming University of Science and Technology, Dr. Qian's affiliation, also contributed to the award.

The award ceremony will be held at the 82nd Conference of the Japan Psychology Association Pre-Convention Academic Exchange Meeting in Sendai on September 24, 2018.

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