Publications with Fulltext
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14288/6
Browse
15 results
Search Results
Publication Open Access Optimal time discrimination(Sage, 2015) Department of Psychology; Çoşkun, Filiz; Sayalı, Zeynep Ceyda; Gürbüz, Emine; Balcı, Fuat; Undergraduate Student; Faculty Member; Department of Psychology; College of Social Sciences and Humanities; N/A; N/A; N/A; 51269In the temporal bisection task, participants categorize experienced stimulus durations as short or long based on their similarity to previously acquired reference durations. Reward maximization in this task requires integrating endogenous timing uncertainty as well as exogenous probabilities of the reference durations into temporal judgements. We tested human participants on the temporal bisection task with different short and long reference duration probabilities (exogenous probability) in two separate test sessions. Incorrect categorizations were not penalized in Experiment 1 but were penalized in Experiment 2, leading to different levels of stringency in the reward functions that participants tried to maximize. We evaluated the judgements within the framework of optimality. Our participants adapted their choice behaviour in a nearly optimal fashion and earned nearly the maximum possible expected gain they could attain given their level of endogenous timing uncertainty and exogenous probabilities in both experiments. These results point to the optimality of human temporal risk assessment in the temporal bisection task. The long categorization response times (RTs) were overall faster than short categorization RTs, and short but not long categorization RTs were modulated by reference duration probability manipulations. These observations suggested an asymmetry between short and long categorizations in the temporal bisection task.Publication Open Access Mice plan decision strategies based on previously learned time intervals, locations, and probabilities(National Academy of Sciences, 2016) Tosun, Tuğçe; Gür, Ezgi; Department of Psychology; Balcı, Fuat; Faculty Member; Department of Psychology; College of Social Sciences and Humanities; 51269Animals can shape their timed behaviors based on experienced probabilistic relations in a nearly optimal fashion. On the other hand, it is not clear if they adopt these timed decisions by making computations based on previously learnt task parameters (time intervals, locations, and probabilities) or if they gradually develop their decisions based on trial and error. To address this question, we tested mice in the timed-switching task, which required them to anticipate when (after a short or long delay) and at which of the two delay locations a reward would be presented. The probability of short trials differed between test groups in two experiments. Critically, we first trained mice on relevant task parameters by signaling the active trial with a discriminative stimulus and delivered the corresponding reward after the associated delay without any response requirement (without inducing switching behavior). During the test phase, both options were presented simultaneously to characterize the emergence and temporal characteristics of the switching behavior. Mice exhibited timed-switching behavior starting from the first few test trials, and their performance remained stable throughout testing in the majority of the conditions. Furthermore, as the probability of the short trial increased, mice waited longer before switching from the short to long location (experiment 1). These behavioral adjustments were in directions predicted by reward maximization. These results suggest that rather than gradually adjusting their time-dependent choice behavior, mice abruptly adopted temporal decision strategies by directly integrating their previous knowledge of task parameters into their timed behavior, supporting the model-based representational account of temporal risk assessment.Publication Open Access Editorial: Representational states in memory: where do we stand?(Frontiers, 2015) Cowan, Nelson; Department of Psychology; Öztekin, İlke; PhD Student; Department of Psychology; College of Social Sciences and HumanitiesThis editorial discusses representational states in memory. For decades researchers have assessed the interactions and dissociations across memory systems and representational states using behavioral investigations, seeking for the key principles that govern them. Recent advances in neuroscience have provided the field with a new set of tools that can be employed to complement and extend previous efforts by means of assessing the corresponding underlying neural mechanisms. In an effort to move toward a more unified perspective, this research topic brought together a collection of empirical, theoretical and review articles that collectively advance our understanding of representational states in memory, as well as bear the potential to reconcile some of the differences across the models. The authors conclude by highlighting several venues for future research. Recent advances in neuroscience now enable powerful approaches that combine behavioral indices along with complementary neuroscience methods that can utilize univariate and multivariate analyses of neuroimaging data on healthy individuals, as well as transcranial magnetic stimulation and lesion studies to test and infer similarities and dissociations across the hypothesized states of memory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved)Publication Open Access Transmission of risk preferences from mothers to daughters(Elsevier, 2017) Alan, Şule; Boneva, Teodora; Crossley, Thomas F.; Department of Psychology; Department of Economics; Baydar, Nazlı; Ertaç, Seda; Faculty Member; Faculty Member; Department of Psychology; Department of Economics; Graduate School of Social Sciences and Humanities; College of Administrative Sciences and Economics; 50769; 107102We study the transmission of risk attitudes in a unique survey of mothers and children in which both participated in an incentivized risk preference elicitation task. We document that risk preferences are correlated between mothers and children when the children are just 7-8 years old. This correlation is only present for daughters. We further show that a measure of maternal involvement is a strong moderator of the association between mothers' and daughters' risk tolerance. This is consistent with a role for socialization and parental investment in the intergenerational transmission of risk preferences.Publication Open Access Interval timing, dopamine, and motivation(Brill, 2014) Department of Psychology; Balcı, Fuat; Faculty Member; Department of Psychology; College of Social Sciences and Humanities; 51269The dopamine clock hypothesis suggests that the dopamine level determines the speed of the hypothetical internal clock. However, dopaminergic function has also been implicated for motivation and thus the effect of dopaminergic manipulations on timing behavior might also be independently mediated by altered motivational state. Studies that investigated the effect of motivational manipulations on peak responding are reviewed in this paper. The majority of these studies show that a higher reward magnitude leads to a leftward shift, whereas reward devaluation leads to a rightward shift in the initiation of timed anticipatory behavior, typically in the absence of an effect on the timing of response termination. Similar behavioral effects are also present in a number of studies that investigated the effect of dopamine agonists and dopamine-related genetic factors on peak responding. These results can be readily accounted for by independent modulation of decision-thresholds for the initiation and termination of timed responding.Publication Open Access The psychological impacts of COVID-19 related stressors on Syrian refugees in Turkey: The role of resource loss, discrimination, and social support(Elsevier, 2021) Javanbakht, A.; Uygun, E.; Karaoğlan Kahıloğulları, A.; Department of Psychology; Acartürk, Ceren; İlkkurşun, Zeynep; Kurt, Gülşah; Faculty Member; Master Student; Teaching Faculty; Department of Psychology; College of Social Sciences and Humanities; Graduate School of Social Sciences and Humanities; 39271; N/A; N/ACOVID-19 does not leave behind refugees. They are disproportionately affected during the current pandemic. The present study aimed to investigate the psychological impacts of COVID-19 related stressors -resource loss and perceived discrimination during the COVID-19 pandemic- on Syrian refugees in Turkey. Further, the buffering role of perceived social support against the detrimental impacts of such stressors was examined. An online cross-sectional study was conducted between September-October 2020. A sample of 345 Syrian refugees in Turkey completed the questions about demographic characteristics, resource loss and perceived discrimination during the pandemic, perceived social support, and depressive and anxiety symptoms. A high level of depressive and anxiety symptoms was reported in our sample. Resource loss and perceived discrimination during the pandemic significantly and positively predicted depressive and anxiety symptoms. Perceived social support acted as a buffer against the detrimental effect of resource loss on mental health. For those with higher perceived social support, resource loss during the pandemic did not significantly predict depressive and anxiety symptoms. The results indicate the detrimental role of COVID-19 related stressors on refugee mental health. Social support is an important protective factor for mental health amidst the pandemic. Our findings highlight the importance of considering the precarious conditions of refugees in all COVID-19 responses and communications.Publication Open Access Number and type of toys affect joint attention of mothers and infants(Elsevier, 2021) Liszkowski, Ulf; Uzundağ, Berna A.; Department of Psychology; Küntay, Aylin C.; Koşkulu, Sümeyye; Faculty Member; Department of Psychology; College of Social Sciences and Humanities; Graduate School of Social Sciences and Humanities; 178879; N/AEstablishing joint attention with a caregiver on a physical object provides an optimal environment for language learning for infants. In the present study, we investigated whether 12-month-olds and their mothers establish higher quality joint attention interactions in the presence of fewer compared to more toys. As a secondary goal, we investigated how different types of toys affect how mother-infant dyads establish joint attention. In a five-minute free play setting, mothers and infants participated in either Five Toy (n = 48) or Twelve Toy (n = 33) groups. They were given organizational (i.e., toys that require arrangement of parts), responsive (i.e., toys that emit sounds via manipulation), and symbolic toys (i.e., toys that elicit pretend play). Results showed that compared to the Twelve Toy group, joint attention interactions in the Five Toy group were less frequent, lasted longer, were more likely to be initiated by maternal following than by maternal directing of infants' attention, and more likely to be coordinated in which infants demonstrated awareness of the mothers' simultaneous attentional focus by looking at their mothers, vocalizing, or turn-taking. We further found longer joint attention durations on organizational compared to symbolic toys, which were preferred to a lesser extent by the dyads. With responsive toys, mothers were more likely to initiate joint attention by following their infants' attention. Joint attention interactions lasted longer and were more likely to be coordinated in the second half compared to the first half of the play session, suggesting that over time it became easier for the mothers and infants to settle on certain toys for more elaborate play. In sum, mothers and infants establish higher-quality joint attention with fewer toys in general and with organizational toys in particular.Publication Open Access Converging modalities ground abstract categories: the case of politics(Public Library of Science, 2013) Farias, Ana Rita; Garrido, Margarida V.; Department of Psychology; Semin, Gün Refik; Researcher; Department of Psychology; College of Social Sciences and Humanities; 58066Three studies are reported examining the grounding of abstract concepts across two modalities (visual and auditory) and their symbolic representation. A comparison of the outcomes across these studies reveals that the symbolic representation of political concepts and their visual and auditory modalities is convergent. In other words, the spatial relationships between specific instances of the political categories are highly overlapping across the symbolic, visual and auditory modalities. These findings suggest that abstract categories display redundancy across modal and amodal representations, and are multimodal.Publication Open Access Forgetting emotional material in working memory(Oxford University Press (OUP), 2018) Singmann, Henrik; Department of Psychology; Mızrak, Eda; Öztekin, İlke; PhD Student; PhD Student; Department of Psychology; Graduate School of Social Sciences and HumanitiesProactive interference (PI) is the tendency for information learned earlier to interfere with more recently learned information. In the present study, we induced PI by presenting items from the same category over several trials. This results in a build-up of PI and reduces the discriminability of the items in each subsequent trial. We introduced emotional (e.g. disgust) and neutral (e.g. furniture) categories and examined how increasing levels of PI affected performance for both stimulus types. Participants were scanned using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) performing a 5-item probe recognition task. We modeled responses and corresponding response times with a hierarchical diffusion model. Results showed that PI effects on latent processes (i.e. reduced drift rate) were similar for both stimulus types, but the effect of PI on drift rate was less pronounced PI for emotional compared to neutral stimuli. The decline in the drift rate was accompanied by an increase in neural activation in parahippocampal regions and this relationship was more strongly observed for neutral stimuli compared to emotional stimuli.Publication Open Access Parental use of spatial language and gestures in early childhood(Wiley, 2019) Department of Psychology; Göksun, Tilbe; Kısa, Yağmur Deniz; Erciyes, Aslı Aktan; Turan, Eylül; Faculty Member; Department of Psychology; College of Social Sciences and Humanities; Graduate School of Social Sciences and Humanities; 47278; N/A; N/A; N/AParents' use of spatial language and gestures is closely linked to children's spatial language development. Little is known about the quantity and quality of early spatial input and how infants' individual characteristics may be related to the spatial input they receive. Here, we examine (1) the amount and type of spatial input 16- to 21-month-old Turkish-learning children (n = 34) received in the context of a spatial activity (puzzle play) and (2) whether parental spatial input in the form of speech and gesture varies based on children's age, sex, and early spatial vocabulary comprehension assessed in an earlier session. Results of the regression analyses showed that parents' use of spatial words was predicted by children's age over and beyond earlier spatial word comprehension and sex. In particular, parents used more spatial speech as their children got older even in this restricted age range. Children's early spatial word comprehension also correlated with parents' spatial word production. Yet, parents' overall gesture use and gestures with spatial words were not predicted by children's age, sex, or early spatial word comprehension. These findings suggest that in the spatial domain, early verbal input, but not gestural input, can change depending on children's age and children's spatial vocabulary comprehension may also be related to parental use of later spatial language. Statement of contribution What is already known on this subject? Parents enhance their children's spatial skills using spatial language and gestures. Parental spatial talk is related to children's later spatial skills. What does this study add? We assess both spatial talk and gesture in early childhood. We examine the children's characteristics (age, sex) in relation to spatial talk and gesture. We present how children's earlier vocabulary competence relates to parental input.