Netherlands

The photo-taking-impairment effect refers to the detrimental impact photo-taking has on one’s memory for the photographed object. We explored the role of two mechanisms that have been said to underlie the effect, namely offloading and attentional disengagement. In this online study 107 undergraduate students were shown 3x5 paintings and were instructed to simply observe them, take a picture that would be available for later usage, or take a picture and delete it. Afterwards, they were presented with a visual details multiple-choice test. It was expected that if attentional disengagement was the mechanism underlying the photo-taking-impairment effect, then the effect would not be present in the current study. This expectation was due to the non-distracting nature of the photo taking task that was used in the study. The results were in line with the expectations and did not indicate the presence of the photo-taking-impairment effect. Consequentially, it supported the hypothesis that attentional disengagement, rather than offloading, is the mechanism underlying this effect.

**Authors:**

Simon Braun: Erasmus University Rotterdam; Marc Croes: Erasmus University Rotterdam; Rugile Vaitkunaite: Erasmus University Rotterdam; Steven Verheyen: Erasmus University Rotterdam

CogSci 2024

Does Taking Photographs Impair Your Memory? The Role of Attentional Disengagement

poster

The 46th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society was an in-person meeting held in Rotterdam, The Netherlands at the Postillion Hotel & Conference Centre.

**ON-DEMAND PROGRAM ACCESS AFTER THE CONFERENCE** 
Recordings of the invited program are now available. You can access them by clicking on the 'Schedule' icon on the left. Select view by week and navigate to the day and time slot of the recording you wish to view. Click on the time slot to access the recording.

Recordings available (click on each recording to view):

**Thursday, July 25** 
0900: [Keynote Speaker Morgan Barense on Enhancing real-world event memory](https://underline.io/events/465/sessions/17997/lecture/99084-dynamics-between-minds-and-the-environment) 
1000: [Gleitman Award Winner Isabelle Dautriche on Language Foundations: Insights from acquisition, communication, cognition, and more](https://underline.io/events/465/sessions/18000/lecture/99085-gleitman-talk) 
1415: [Invited Symposium: Dynamics between minds and the environment](https://underline.io/events/465/sessions?eventSessionId=18016&searchGroup=lecture) 
1700: [Rumelhart Prize Presentation Speaker Alison Gopnik on Exploit, explore, empower: Three ages and three intelligences](https://underline.io/events/465/sessions/18028/lecture/99161-rp1-rumelhart-prize-presentation) 

**Friday, July 26** 
0900: [C.L. de Carvalho-Heineken Prize Keynote Speaker Kia Nobre on Focusing in memory](https://underline.io/events/465/sessions/18035/lecture/99162-hp1-c-l-de-carvalho-heineken-prize-keynote-address) 
1030: [Rumelhart Symposium: Childhood as exploration](https://underline.io/events/465/sessions/18038/lecture/100346-childhood-as-exploration) 
1415: [Elman Prize Symposium](https://underline.io/events/465/sessions?eventSessionId=18053&searchGroup=lecture) 
1600: [Invited Symposium: Dynamics between minds](https://underline.io/events/465/sessions?eventSessionId=18065&searchGroup=lecture) 
1745: [Keynote Speaker Andrea E. Martin on Neural dynamics encode the structure and statistics of language](https://underline.io/events/465/sessions/18077/lecture/99271-neural-dynamics-encode-the-structure-and-statistics-of-language) 

**Saturday, July 27** 
0900: [Keynote Speaker Gregor Schöner on How higher cognition emerges from the dynamics of strongly interacting neural populations](https://underline.io/events/465/sessions/18083/lecture/99273-dynamics-within-the-mind) 
1000: [Glushko Talks](https://underline.io/events/465/sessions?eventSessionId=18086&searchGroup=lecture) 
1500: [Invited Symposium: Dynamics within minds](https://underline.io/events/465/sessions?eventSessionId=18100&searchGroup=lecture) 


#### **CogSci 2024 Program Book**
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#### **Letter from the President**

Welcome to the 2024 Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society in Rotterdam! CogSci 2024 brings together a large community of cognitive scientists who have traveled here from around the world, as well as a smaller group of remote presenters. I would like to extend an especially warm welcome to our first-time CogSci meeting attendees, and hope that 
their experience inspires them to join our future meetings for many years to come.

I want to thank this year’s conference co-chairs, Larissa K Samuelson, Stefan Frank, Mariya Toneva, Allyson Mackey, and Eliot Hazeltine, for putting together an amazing series of invited talks and symposia around the theme of Dynamics of Cognition. The co-chairs also deserve credit for handling a record-breaking number of submissions and producing a truly exciting conference program 

Beyond the invited talks and symposia dedicated to this year’s conference theme, I would like to highlight the presentations and events honoring the 
Rumelhart, Elman, Gleitman and C .L . de Carvalho Heineken prize winners, including the Rumelhart reception on Thursday. As you may know, we are recording all of the invited talks and symposia, and all prize-winners’ talks, and will be making this content available after the conference. 

The Cognitive Science Society relies on the volunteer efforts of our Governing Board members who work on matters related to our membership; conference policies; diversity and inclusion, international, and outreach initiatives; prizes and much more. We welcome interest from Society members who would like to become more involved in what we do. The 
Society is deeply grateful to Rick Dale and Andrea Bender, who serve as editors of the two Society journals, Cognitive Science and Topics in Cognitive Science respectively. We especially acknowledge our editors’ generosity in donating their stipends each year to D&I and outreach efforts. 

This year’s Annual Meeting depends critically on the support of Marischal De Armond and his team at Podium Conference Specialists: Sharon Zwack, Cendrine De Vis, Sarah-Kate Burke, and Rachel Waller worked tirelessly to secure the venue and handled a multitude of logistical and organizational issues, from arranging coffee breaks and receptions to making sure that a huge number of posters fits comfortably into the available space. Finally, and importantly, I would like to acknowledge the Cognitive Science Society Executive Officer, Erica Wojcik, for managing the complex and ever expanding sphere of our Society’s activities.

I hope you enjoy this year’s meeting and the many different opportunities to engage with the vibrant community of cognitive scientists gathered here. I also hope you get a chance to explore the great city of Rotterdam with its many attractions, museums, restaurants and scenic views. If you’d like to talk more about our Society, or simply want to say hello, please stop by!

![](https://assets.underline.io/markdown_image/1/image/3c66d0e21fff30e204df1138ffd15173.jpeg)

**Anna Papafragou** 
President, Cognitive Science 
Society 2023-2024

**CODE OF CONDUCT** 
By attending the CogSci 2024 Conference, you are required to adhere to the society’s [Code of Conduct](https://drive.google.com/file/d/16-6KkptF0Gn3ZYGJDlpqpwTdImw45Ng0/view?usp=drive_link).

**ABOUT THE COGNITIVE SCIENCE SOCIETY** 
The Cognitive Science Society brings together researchers from around the world who hold a common goal: understanding the nature of the human mind. The mission of the Society is to promote Cognitive Science as a discipline, and to foster scientific interchange among researchers in various areas of study, including Artificial Intelligence, Linguistics, Anthropology, Psychology, Neuroscience, Philosophy, and Education.

The Society is a non-profit professional organization and its activities include sponsoring an annual conference and publishing the journals Cognitive Science and TopiCS.

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The 46th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society presents the latest research across cognitive science and highlights the theme of Cognition in Context.

The spatial context of everyday speech to children is remarkably consistent. Words tend to repeatedly occur in the same locations, and these words are learned earlier than those which are more scattered in use. Yet little is known about how spatial contextualization influences this process. Does more constrained spatial context itself lead to better word learning? Or does it simply correlate with other informative cues in the input? Here, we assess how word learning is influenced by different levels of spatial contextualization in naturalistic scenes. We use different teaching methods (other-directed versus self-guided) as a proxy for distinguishing how the need for inductive inference mediates reliance on spatial context. We found that greater spatial contextualization led to better word learning, but only when inductive inference was needed. Fixation patterns during familiarization further showed that learners paid more attention to objects with more contextualized labels when learning was self-guided. Overall, these findings suggest that learners can leverage spatial context to support word learning in the absence of rich linguistic input.

**Authors:**

Sophie Domanski: University of Maryland; Yi Ting Huang: University of Maryland

Using Spatial Context to Facilitate Inductive Inference for Word Learning

Recent research has found that individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have poorer performance and lower eye movement consistency in face recognition, which may be related to less face processing experience due to lack of social interests. Here we showed that this phenomenon was not observed in visual search tasks, as ASD individuals and matched controls had similar hit rate and precision as well as eye movement behavior when searching for either social (human) or non-social (vehicle) stimuli. However, ASD individuals had longer search time and made more and longer fixations, suggesting difficulties in identifying potential targets. This deficit was not limited to social stimuli, supporting a domain-general view of deficits in ASD. Our findings have important implications for understanding the core mechanisms underlying social-cognitive impairment in ASD.

**Authors:**

Alice Yang: University of Hong Kong; Janet Hsiao: Hong Kong University of Science & Technology

Real-World Visual Search in individuals with ASD

A number of studies have investigated whether cross-modal correspondence effect occurs in purely automatic manner or whether top-down processes can be involved in the processing. The current study addresses the disparity in the research conducting two experiments, using a classical audiovisual cross-modal correspondence paradigm and testing possible involvement of the endogenous component in the effect. Experiment 1 replicated previous findings and showed presence of cross-modal correspondence between pitch and spatial position. However, the effect was significant only in upper spatial position. Experiment 2 showed that task-related pitch probability manipulation made the cross-modal correspondence effect to disappear, however revealing an asymmetrical pattern that was highly dependent on pitch probability and spatial position. Overall, the results suggested a non-automaticity of the cross-modal correspondence effect and a possible involvement of endogenous component in the effect.

**Authors:**

Lazarina Ivanova Georgieva: New Bulgarian University; Armina Janyan: New Bulgarian University

Pitch Expectancy Modulates Cross-Modal Correspondence Effect

Individuals make biased and variable probability judgements. Recent models such as the Bayesian Sampler (Zhu, et al., 2020), Probability Theory Plus Noise (Costello & Watts, 2014), and the Quantum Sequential Sampler (Huang et al., 2023) capture a wide range of effects by assuming people are biased towards indifference (i.e., 0.5). However, in some experiments participants instead showed asymmetric bias, defined as a pull toward non-0.5 values. We investigated asymmetric bias in 5 experiments, where participants judged the probabilities of dice rolls. While participants’ judgements were independent of whether they were in a high or low probability environment or the number of alternative options displayed, participants showed a bias toward low (<0.5) estimates. Furthermore, participants showed the highest variability for judgements below 0.5. This latter effect can be captured by an asymmetric prior in the Bayesian Sampler, but not by the biasing mechanisms in the other models.

**Authors:**

Aidan Tee: University of Warwick; Joakim Sundh: Uppsala University; Adam Sanborn: University of Warwick; Nick Chater: University of Warwick

Capturing Asymmetric Bias in Probability Judgements

Judgements about others’ behavior is often made based on the relative rank of that behavior. We investigated this in the new domain of pro-environmental behavior, specifically for the categories of energy and water consumption, food (meat) consumption and transport choice. Using unimodal and bimodal distributions, we experimentally manipulated three fictional individuals’ (common points) rank positions while keeping their absolute frequency of behaviors constant. Consistent with previous literature, participants’ judgements about these people’s pro-environmental behavior differed based on their rank position. Rank effects were not moderated by the perceived importance of others’ behavior, the perceived visibility of the behavior, or the perceived level of control. The results of this experiment are in line with a Decision by Sampling account of judgments of pro-environmental behavior, and set a foundation for future research seeking to conduct behavioral interventions (such as rank-based nudges) within this domain. Prior to this, however, future studies should investigate whether the smaller effect sizes found in this experiment, compared to those seen in previous research, are attributable to methodological differences, or the domain itself.

**Authors:**

Harry D. Coulson: University College London; Adam Harris: University College London

Relative Rank Predicts Judgements About Others’ Pro-Environmental Behavior

This paper explores decision-making with multiple signals in applied contexts, focusing on online shopping with consumer feedback. The richness of crowdsourced information and the growth of e-commerce highlight the importance of understanding how different consumer feedback signals are weighted across product types. Participants allocated 100 points among eight common consumer feedback signals for products differing in emotional, commitment, and monetary values. A pilot study confirmed the product choice validity, assessing a separate group of participants’ inclination to purchase target products for emotional needs and long-term use. Results reveal an increased reliance on crowdsourced information weight heightened decision stakes. While the overall signal importance ranking remains consistent across products, negative information gains significance, and average ratings diminish in importance for high-stakes decisions. The findings carry theoretical and practical implications, shedding light on the nuanced decision dynamics in applied contexts

**Authors:**

Jingqi Yu: University of Toronto

Decision Making in Applied Contexts: The Dynamic Relations Between Signals and Stakes

Which are the psychological mechanisms shaping people’s risky choices? While the behavioral sciences have produced many theories to address this question, attempts to integrate their different assumptions are sparse: Verbal theories may explain real life decisions with high face validity but lack precisely testable predictions. Conversely, formal theories allow for clear mathematical predictions but often focus on artificial lab tasks. We aim to bridge this gap and harness each approach’s respective advantages. To this end, we created a taxonomy of the most important psychological mechanisms involved in risk taking spanning different aspects of cognition, including attentional, affective, motivational, and psycho-social mechanisms proposed in the literature. As such, this taxonomy is the basis for an integrative process model quantifying the psychological mechanisms involved in decisions under risk and uncertainty, and may help researchers to identify similarities and discrepancies between different theories of choice.

**Authors:**

Aaron Benjamin Lob: University of Zurich; Olivia Fischer: University of Zurich; Renato Frey: University of Zurich

Towards an integration of verbal and formal theories of decisions under risk and uncertainty

People apply more frequently when “apply” is the default choice (Apply Default architecture) than when “do not apply” is the default choice (Not-Apply Default architecture). However, Apply Default architecture, which is counterintuitive for people, might let them make choices inconsistent with their preferences. Those trying to apply might mistakenly choose to not apply under Apply Default architecture. In this study, we hypothesized that people’s choices under No-Default architecture (i.e., a choice architecture without a default option) are less consistent with those under Apply Default architecture than those under Not-Apply Default architecture (Hypothesis 1). We also hypothesized that people who spent more time on making decisions would make choices consistent with their preferences because when people spend sufficient time to understand the construction of Apply Default architecture, they can make choices consistent with their preferences (Hypothesis 2). We recruited 997 participants and asked them to make decisions under No-Default and Default architectures (Apply Default or Not-Apply Default architecture). The results supported both Hypothesis 1 and Hypothesis 2. A method to help applicants make choices consistent with their preferences is finally discussed.

**Authors:**

Shuma Iwatani: The University of Tokyo; Hidehito Honda: Otemon Gakuin University; Yurina Otaki: Hitotsubashi University; Kazuhiro Ueda: The University of Tokyo

Do default nudges lead people to make choices inconsistent with their preferences: An experimental investigation

How does experiencing a rare event, like a car accident or a lottery win, influence decision-makers consecutive decisions? Studying these so-called recency effects holds a long tradition in research on experience-based decision-making. Previous work suggests opposite behavioral patterns after experiencing a positive rare event: People have been found to be more likely to either repeat their choice (positive recency) or to avoid it (negative recency). The effect is thought to persevere for multiple choices and decrease over time. In this study, we provide new insights into recency effects by analyzing people’s repeated choices from an extensive database—consisting of 3 million choices by 8,000 participants across 12 different decision-from-experience paradigms collected from 139 studies. We provide a conceptual framework clarifying patterns of positive and negative recency, including how the direction and magnitude of impact change over time.

**Authors:**

Yujia Yang: Max Planck Institute for Human Develpoment; Anna Isabel Thoma: Max-Planck-Institute for Human Development; Ralph Hertwig: Max Planck Institute for Human Development; Dirk U Wulff: Max Planck Institute for Human Development

On the nature of recency after rare events in decisions from experience

Autonomous agents often need to decide between choosing actions that are familiar and have previously yielded positive results (exploitation) and seeking new information that could help uncover more effective actions (exploration). We present an “observe or bet” task that separates “pure exploration” from “pure exploitation”: 61 five-to-seven-year-old children, 60 adults and computational agents have to either observe an outcome without reward, or to bet on an action without immediate feedback at varying probability levels. Their performances were measured against solutions to the partially observable Markov decision process and meta-RL models. Children and adults tended to choose observation more than both algorithm classes would suggest. Children also modulated their betting policy based on the probability structure and amount of evidence, exhibiting “hedging behavior” a strategy not evident in standard bandit tasks. The results provide a benchmark for reasoning about reward and information in humans and neural network models.

**Authors:**

Eunice Yiu: UC Berkeley; Kai J Sandbrink: University of Oxford; Alison Gopnik: University of California at Berkeley

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