These findings suggest that postdictive time perception would bemoderately related to parasympathetic nervous system, but othercognitive biases such as the return trip effect could have strongerinfluence on postdictive time perception, and therefore could break therelation between time perception for long intervals and autonomicnervous system. It is concluded that the return trip effect is experiencedonly postdictively and that this effect is not related to autonomicnervous system activity but is induced by cognitive bias. Moreover,parasympathetic nervous activity partly underlies time perception forlong intervals.

doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2014.08.871

Action-based knowledge controls over the stimulus-driven visualprediction: An electrophysiological study

Motohiro Kimura, Yuji TakedaNational Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST),Japan

Previous electrophysiological studies have shown that, even whenobservers passively view a visual stimulus sequence, rule-violating visualevents in the stimulus sequence automatically elicit an event-relatedbrain potential (ERP) component called visual mismatch negativity(MMN). This electrophysiological phenomenon has been regarded asa reflection of stimulus-driven visual prediction that operates inan automatic manner; i.e., the visual system automatically forms aprediction about the forthcoming visual event on the basis of sequentialrules embedded in the stimulus sequence, and when a current visualevent is incongruent with the predicted visual event, visual MMN iselicited. The present study demonstrated that the operation of stimulus-driven visual prediction is not necessarily automatic as has beensuggested in previous studies, by showing that visual MMN in responseto sequential-rule-violating visual events can be affected by the action-based prior knowledge about the occurrence of the sequential-ruleviolation. In the present experiments, the participants were required tomake successive button presses; each button press produced a visualstimulus on a computer display. The participants pressed one (e.g., left)button frequently and another (e.g., right) button infrequently (approx-imately 90% versus 10%). The frequently pressed button usually triggeredthe sequential-rule-conforming event (90%), whereas occasionallytriggered the sequential-rule-violating event (10%). On the other hand,for the infrequently pressed button, the probabilities of the occurrence ofthe sequential-rule-conforming event and the sequential-rule-violatingevent were reversed. Results showed that visual MMN was notelicited by sequential-rule-violating events when they were pre-ceded by the infrequently pressed button (i.e., pressing this buttonhad been associated with the knowledge about the occurrence ofthe sequential-rule violation), whereas visual MMN was clearlyelicited by physically the same sequential-rule-violating eventswhen they were preceded by the frequently pressed button (i.e.,pressing this button had not been associated with the knowledgeabout the occurrence of the sequential-rule violation). The presentfinding leads to the notion that, although the operation of stimulus-driven visual prediction would be basically automatic, it can beflexibly controlled by the action-based knowledge, so that the self-produced rule-violating visual events that carry no new informationare cancelled out and only the externally-produced rule-violatingvisual events that can carry new (potentially significant) informa-tion are effectively detected.

doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2014.08.872

Belief in free will promotes the transition from exploitation toexploration in decision making through sympathetic activity

Takayuki Gotoa, Yuya Ishibashib, Shogo Kajimuraa, Ryunosuke Okaa,Takashi KusumiaaKyoto University, JapanbHyogen Co., Ltd., Japan

Belief in free will is considered to be elicited from a biologicalneed for personal control and to be vital to adapt for survival. It hasbeen shown to be associated with behavioral adjustment after error.We proposed that it may promote flexible adaptation in an unstableenvironment. Thus, we tested the relationship between belief in freewill, exploratory tendency in decision making, and feedback-relatedbodily states. Sixty Japanese participants completed the Free Willand Determinism Scale in Japanese (FAD-J), which measured theintensity of their beliefs in free will. Then, on a different day, theyperformed 4 blocks of a decision making task with 40 trials each. Thistask required participants to choose one of two colored cards whichled to either gain or loss of the monetary reward in each trial. In theinitial two blocks, one colored card was associated with gain ofreward at a probability of 70%, while the other card was associatedwith gain of reward at a probability of 30%. In the following twoblocks, the contingencies of color and reward probabilities werereversed. We calculated the entropy in information theory as thebehavioral index of exploratory tendency in decision making. Duringthe task, participants’ feedback-related bodily states were measuredby finger plethysmography (PPG). We calculated the ratio of thepower spectrum component in low frequency of PPG to that in highfrequency of PPG (LF/HF) as the index of sympathetic activity.Results showed that the LF/HF ratio of PPG in the 3rd block (i.e.,reversed block) was positively correlated with the increase ofentropy from the 2nd block to the 3rd. This is almost consistentwith previous findings showing that sympathetic arousal induced bystochastic change promoted the exploratory tendency of decisionmaking. In addition, belief in free will was positively correlated withthe LF/HF ratio of PPG in the 3rd block, suggesting that people whobelieve in the existence of free will are sensitive for detection ofstochastic change via prediction error. We revealed that belief infree will promote the transition from exploitation to explorationin decision making through sympathetic activity in an unstableenvironment. These findings will help to clarify the psychophysio-logical background of free will.

doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2014.08.873

Facial emotion recognition under different situational contextrevealed by eye tracking

Hikaru Kuramochia, Taichi Hirayamab, Hiroaki Shojic, Hisaki OzakicaGraduate School of Education, Ibaraki University, Mito, Ibaraki, JapanbGraduate School of Science and Engineering, Ibaraki University, Mito,Ibaraki, JapancCollege of Education, Ibaraki University, Mito, Ibaraki, Japan

Facial expressions play an important role to promote smoothcommunication. Previous studies on eye tracking have shown that thefixation points tend to locate on some particular facial regions, i.e., eyes,nose, and mouth. Furthermore, fixation patterns are influenced byemotional contents of the face. In the daily life, however, we refer to notonly the facial expressions but also to situational context to understandemotional situation in others. In this study, we examined whether gazepattern for recognition of facial expression is influenced by differentsituational context.

International Journal of Psychophysiology 94 (2014) 120–261220

15 healthy adults participated in this study (11 females, a meanage of 21.4 years). Prior to facial images with emotional contents,three sequential scenes with positive or negative content werepresented for each 5 s as visual contextual information. After then, afixation cross was presented in one of the quadrants for 0.5 s. Then, ahappy or sad facial image of the male adult was presented for 5 s.The experimental condition was settled as follows, i.e., (1) congruenthappy face: the happy face following to context inducing positivecontent, (2) incongruent happy face: the happy face following tocontext inducing negative content, (3) congruent sad face: the sadface following to context inducing negative content, (4) incongruentsad face: the sad face following to context inducing positive content.After viewing sequential images, participants were asked to explainorally about the story included content. Gaze patterns were recordedby Tobii T120 Eye-tracker during each experimental condition. Threerectangular areas of interest (AOIs) were settled, which covered eyes,nose, and mouth in the emotional face. Total gaze time, fixationcount, and mean fixation duration was evaluated at each AOI.

Results indicated that the total gaze time to the eye region wassignificantly longer than that to the remaining regions at everycondition. Regardless of AOIs, the total gaze time on the happy facewas significantly longer than that on the sad face. Furthermore, the totalgaze time in the incongruent condition was significantly shorter thanthat in the congruent condition. Compared with the congruent happycondition, higher fixation count and shorter fixation duration wasobserved in the incongruent happy condition. There results suggest thatthe eyes were important for identification of facial emotion. Also, it wassuggested that gaze pattern might vary not only by emotional contentof facial expression but also by the situational context.

doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2014.08.874

Cardiovascular responses to cognitive task demands:A systematic review

Maarten A. Immink, Russell W. Chan, Joshua Rosenthal, Kade DavisonMotor Neuroscience Laboratories, School of Health Sciences, Universityof South Australia, Adelaide, Australia

Cardiovascular responses (CV) such as heart rate (HR) and bloodpressure (BP) are accepted as indicators of physiological demand andpsychological stress. However, less is known about how HR and BPrespond to cognitive demands independently from the influences ofphysiological demand and psychological stress. To this end, the presentsystematic review aimed to ascertain the effect of cognitive demand oncardiovascular measures. Articles were searched on the PubMed,CINAHL and Psychinfo database using keyword combinations, "Mentalor Cognitive", and "Demand or Workload”, and "Heart rate or Bloodpressure”. Following a Population, Intervention, Comparison andOutcome (PICO) strategy, the review included articles written inEnglish, involving healthy adult participants, contrasting at least 2levels of cognitive demand, inducing cognitive demand independentlyof threat, anxiety, alertness or physical exercise and assessing HR or BP.The Quality Index (QI), developed byDowns and Black (1998)was usedto critically appraise included studies. Out of a total of 1,181 studiesfound through database search, 5 studies met the inclusion criteria andwhere reviewed. Mean QI for reviewed studies was 18.4, out of 31,ranging between 13 and 21. All studies assessed HR while only 2assessed systolic BP (SBP) and diastolic BP (DBP). Two studiesemployed mental arithmetic tasks to manipulate cognitive demand,while another two involved reaction time tasks and one a Stroop task.All studies reported an observed association between increased CVresponses and increased cognitive demand. However, only tworeported significant increases in HR or DBP due to increased cognitive

demand using a Stroop task and mental arithmetic, respectively. Acrossthe studies reviewed, there was no consensus that increasing cognitivedemand resulted in increased HR and BP responses. Equivocal resultsmight be attributable to the use of differing tasks and task conditions, avariety of experimental designs and dissimilar contrast between levelsof cognitive demands. For example, verbal response versions of mentalarithmetic and Stroop task appeared to result in greater CV responses.Where a repeated measures, cross-over design was utilized, CVresponses where greater in the first exposure regardless of thelevel of cognitive demand. Lastly, contrast of low to high levels ofcognitive demand demonstrated larger increases in CV responsesas opposed to a contrast of high to impossible conditions. Thissuggests that CV responses may increase up to the individual’sprocessing capacity but beyond that, increased cognitive demandwill not influence HR or BP.

doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2014.08.875

The effect of dynamic visual noise on brain hemodynamicresponse during a concrete word production task

Masahiro Takamuraa, Mika Nishimotob, Shunsuke Hayashic, FumieYamamotod, Makoto MiyatanibaDepartment of Psychiatry and Neurosciences, Institute of Biomedicaland Health Sciences, Hiroshima University, JapanbGraduate School of Education, Hiroshima University, JapancDepartment of Psychology, Graduate School of Environmental Studies,Nagoya University, JapandDepartment of Psychology, Yasuda Women's University, Japan

Background: The process of semantic representation in the humanbrain is an important problem in cognitive psychology. In particular, thedifference in processing efficiency between concrete words (e.g., cat)and abstract words (e.g., sensation)¯called the “concreteness effect”¯isan issue of great concern. Several approaches have been used inprevious studies to elucidate the underlying mechanism of theconcreteness effect. Two major types of approaches are dual-taskprocedures and neuroimaging techniques. These approaches haveshown interference on visual imagery processing to be affected solelyfor concrete word comprehension, and different neural systems to beinvolved in concrete and abstract word comprehension. However, itremains unclear whether visual imagery processing is also involved inconcrete word production as it is in concrete word comprehension. Inthe present study, we examined the effects of visual imagery disruptionon a word production task for concrete and abstract words.Methods: Ten adult women participated in the experiment. Theyperformed a modified version of the phonemic verbal fluency task. Inthis task, prior to word generation, a cue stimulus was presented.The cue stimulus (e.g., concrete/“a”) indicated the word condition(concrete or abstract) and the initial letter of words to be generated.Participants were asked to generate as many appropriate words aspossible within the word production period (30 s). They performedthe task under a visual interference condition and a controlcondition. The participants’ brain hemodynamic responses duringthe task were measured by near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). TheNIRS probes were located in the left prefrontal region.Results: The effect of visual interference on hemodynamic responseduring the task was calculated for the two word conditions. In theconcrete word condition, there was a significant interference effectat several time points. In contrast, there was no significantinterference effect in the abstract word condition.Discussion: In the current study, visual imagery disruption changedbrain activity during concrete word production, but did not change itduring abstract word production. These results suggest that the visual

International Journal of Psychophysiology 94 (2014) 120–261 221