Browsing by Author "Fernandes, Alexandre Constâncio"
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- 10 anos de publicações da revista Laboratório de Psicologia: Sumário estatísticoPublication . Fernandes, Alexandre ConstâncioInexistente
- Ilusões temporais: Paradigma experimentalPublication . Fernandes, Alexandre Constâncio; Garcia-Marques, TeresaNeste artigo apresentamos o paradigma base subjacente ao estudo das ilusões temporais (i.e., sobrestimativas ou subestimativas da duração de estímulos ou eventos) promovidas por características não-temporais. É aqui descrito em detalhe o procedimento experimental para induzir este tipo de efeitos, sendo também descritas variações relevantes no paradigma, variáveis moderadoras identificadas na literatura e as teorias com poder explicativo mais abrangente para a maioria das ilusões temporais referidas.
- Se correr o bicho pega : Normas de avaliação de imagens de animais negativosPublication . Prada, Marília; Fonseca, Ricardo Jorge Rodrigues Moita da; Garcia-Marques, Teresa; Fernandes, Alexandre ConstâncioNeste trabalho apresentamos as normas de valência, familiaridade, medo, nojo e perigosidade de um conjunto de 50 imagens de animais avaliadas por uma amostra total de 78 estudantes universitários. As 10 categorias de animais foram seleccionadas com base no pressuposto de serem percebidas negativamente e associadas a emoções como medo ou nojo e representavam animais passíveis de serem encontrados num contexto doméstico (i.e., abelha, osga, centopeia, rato e barata) ou não doméstico (i.e., cobra, escorpião, lagarto, morcego e tarântula). Cada imagem foi avaliada por um mínimo de 38 participantes. Globalmente, os resultados relativos às 10 categorias sugerem que: (a) todas podem ser classificadas como negativas; (b) sete são percebidas como familiares, associadas a elevado medo e/ou a elevado nojo, e (c) quatro são percebidas como perigosas. Os resultados das avaliações das diferentes categorias (e exemplares) são sumariados como normas de suporte a futuras investigações que requeiram estímulos negativos associados a medo ou nojo.
- Seeing the big picture : Size perception is more context sensitive in the presence of othersPublication . Garcia-Marques, Teresa; Fernandes, Alexandre Constâncio; Prada, Marília; Fonseca, Ricardo Jorge Rodrigues Moita da; Hagá, SaraThis paper tests the hypothesis that social presence influences size perception by increasing context sensitivity. Consistent with Allport's prediction, we expected to find greater context sensitivity in participants who perform a visual task in the presence of other people (i.e., in co-action) than in participants who perform the task in isolation. Supporting this hypothesis, participants performing an Ebbinghaus illusion-based task in co-action showed greater size illusions than those performing the task in isolation. Specifically, participants in a social context had greater difficulty perceiving the correct size of a target circle and ignoring its surroundings. Analyses of delta plot functions suggest a mechanism of interference monitoring, since that when individuals take longer to respond, they are better able to ignore the surrounding circles. However, this type of monitoring interference was not moderated by social presence. We discuss how this lack of moderation might be the reason why the impact of social presence on context sensitivity is able to be detected in tasks such as the Ebbinghaus illusion.
- Social presence and the composite face effectPublication . Garcia-Marques, Teresa; Fernandes, Alexandre Constâncio; Fonseca, Ricardo Jorge Rodrigues Moita da; Prada, MaríliaA robust finding in social psychology research is that performance is modulated by the social nature of a given context, promoting social inhibition or facilitation effects. In the present experiment, we examined if and how social presence impacts holistic face perception processes by asking participants, in the presence of others and alone, to perform the composite face task. Results suggest that completing the task in the presence of others (i.e., mere co-action) is associated with better performance in face recognition (less bias and higher discrimination between presented and non-presented targets) and with a reduction in the composite face effect. These results make clear that social presence impact on the composite face effect does not occur because presence increases reliance on holistic processing as a “dominant” well-learned response, but instead, because it increases monitoring of the interference produced by automatic response.
- Testosterone response to competition in males is unrelated to opponent familiarity or threat appraisalPublication . Oliveira, Gonçalo A.; Uceda, Sara; Oliveira, Tânia Sofia Ferreira de; Fernandes, Alexandre Constâncio; Garcia-Marques, Teresa; Oliveira, Rui FilipeIt has been proposed in the literature that the testosterone (T) response to competition in humans may be modulated by cognitive variables. In a previous experiment with a female sample we have reported that opponent familiarity and threat appraisal moderated the T response to competition in women. With this experiment we aim to investigate if these variables have the same impact on males T response to competition, extending the previous findings in our lab. Forty male participants (20 dyads) were recruited to engage in a same sex, face to face competition using the Number Tracking Test as a competitive task. Levels of T, cortisol (C) and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) were measured before and 20 min after the competition. Results show that losers report higher levels of threat than winners and increased their T levels after the competition, however this T change was not predicted by opponent familiarity or threat appraisal. No variation was detected for C and DHEA levels. These findings suggest that there could be sex differences for the moderators/mediators of the T response to competition in humans.
- The perception of time is dynamically interlocked with the facial muscle activityPublication . Fernandes, Alexandre Constâncio; Garcia-Marques, TeresaTime perception relies on the motor system. Involves core brain regions of this system, including those associated with feelings generated from sensorimotor states. Perceptual timing is also distorted when movement occurs during timing tasks, possibly by interfering with sensorimotor afferent feedback. However, it is unknown if the perception of time is an active process associated with specific patterns of muscle activity. We explored this idea based on the phenomenon of electromyographic gradients, which consists of the dynamic increase of muscle activity during cognitive tasks that require sustained attention, a critical function in perceptual timing. We aimed to determine whether facial muscle dynamic activity indexes the subjective representation of time. We asked participants to judge stimuli durations (varying in familiarity) while we monitored the time course of the activity of the zygomaticus-major and corrugator-supercilii muscles, both associated with cognitive and affective feelings. The dynamic electromyographic activity in corrugator-supercilii over time reflected objective time and this relationship predicted subjective judgments of duration. Furthermore, the zygomaticus-major muscle signaled the bias that familiarity introduces in duration judgments. This suggests that subjective duration could be an embodiment process based in motor information changing over time and their associated feelings.
- Threat perception and familiarity moderate the androgen response to competition in womenPublication . Oliveira, Gonçalo A.; Uceda, Sara; Oliveira, Tânia Sofia Ferreira de; Fernandes, Alexandre Constâncio; Garcia-Marques, Teresa; Oliveira, Rui FilipeSocial interactions elicit androgen responses whose function has been posited to be the adjustment of androgen-dependent behaviors to social context. The activation of this androgen response is known to be mediated and moderated by psychological factors. In this study we tested the hypothesis that the testosterone (T) changes after a competition are not simply related to its outcome, but rather to the way the subject evaluates the event. In particular we tested two evaluative dimensions of a social interaction: familiarity with the opponent and the subjective evaluation of the outcome as threat or challenge. Challenge/threat occurs in goal relevant situations and represent different motivational states arising from the individuals' subjective evaluation of the interplay between the task demands and coping resources possessed. For challenge the coping resources exceed the task demands, while threat represents a state where coping resources are insufficient to meet the task demands. In this experiment women competed in pairs, against a same sex opponent using the number tracking test as a competitive task. Losers appraised the competition outcome as more threatening than winners, and displayed higher post-competition T levels than winners. No differences were found either for cortisol (C) or for dehydroepiandrosterone. Threat, familiarity with the opponent and T response were associated only in the loser condition. Moderation analysis suggests that for the women that lost the competition the effect of threat on T is moderated by familiarity with the opponent.