Construal level theory states that future events that are nearer in the future and events that are more likely to happen have lower construal levels, and therefore have less detail, than events that are further away and/or less likely to happen. Consistent with this theory, the number of details in a statement can be a moderately good cue to…

Lifeguard drowning detection in swimming pools and beach settings is influenced by experience. The current experiment explores the cognitive skills that might underlie this experience effect. Lifeguard and non-lifeguard performance in a domain-free multiple object avoidance (MOA) task and a partially domain-free functional field of view (FFOV)…

Conspiracy beliefs have been studied mostly through cross-sectional designs. We conducted a five-wave longitudinal study (N = 376; two waves before and three waves after the 2020 American presidential elections) to examine if the election results influenced specific conspiracy beliefs and conspiracy mentality, and whether effects differ between…

To date, studies exploring the relationship of counterfactual thoughts with episodic memories and episodic future thoughts have focused mainly on voluntary mental time travel. We explore mental time travel in everyday life and find that episodic counterfactual thinking occurs to a much lesser extent than thinking about the past or the future (12%,…

Research suggests exposure to misinformation continues to impact belief and reasoning, even if that misinformation has been corrected (referred to as the Continued Influence Effect, CIE). The present experiment explores two potentially important factors that may impact the effect: (1) learner age; and (2) length of delay between retraction and…

Accurate event sequencing can add critical detail to a child's account. However, our knowledge of sequencing in childhood to date primarily centers on distinct events separated by time. Sequencing a single event's components is also important, perhaps particularly in a forensic context. In two experiments, we explored children's ability to recall…

We investigated whether the phenomenological experience of mental time travel is similar when one travels as oneself versus with another possible self. Participants first described and rated their phenomenological experience for an autobiographical memory, a counterfactual event, and a future event (real-self condition). Then, they imagined…

Memory for the temporal order of past events is a critical capacity; however, relatively little is known about its development and the processes that support it in early to middle childhood. The aim of this study was to examine children's memory for the temporal order of real-world events. Four-five-year-old (n = 36), 6-7-year-old (n = 45) and…

Research suggests exposure to misinformation continues to impact belief and reasoning, even if that misinformation has been corrected (referred to as the "Continued Influence Effect, CIE"). The proposed experiment explores two potentially important factors that may impact the effect: (a) learner age and (b) length of delay between…

Mind-wandering (MW) has a negative impact on tasks requiring sustained and divided attention like driving. During MW, drivers experience perceptual decoupling. As driving is mainly a visual activity, it would seem to be appropriate to evaluate stages of visual information processing impaired during MW, using event-related potential techniques. The…

Lying is assumed to increase cognitive load, and it has been shown to slow response times to simple questions. We employed a dual-task methodology, the detection response task (DRT), to assess cognitive load in telling narrative lies in a live, open-question interview. The DRT requires participants to press a button in response to a tactile…

In the present study, the persistence of personal false memories (FMs) after social feedback that denies their truth was assessed. Participants imitated actions performed by the experimenter ("Session 1") and watched a doctored video with performed and critical "fake" actions ("Session 2"), followed by a memory rating…

Driving is a high-risk and cognitively demanding activity that requires the efficient use of cognitive resources to inhibit responses when necessary to avoid accidents. Cue utilization, via an inherent capacity for pattern recognition, is one strategy that may be applied while driving to reduce cognitive load allowing for the allocation of…

Studies examining the effect of social isolation on cognitive function typically involve older adults and/or specialist groups (e.g., expeditions). We considered the effects of COVID-19-induced social isolation on cognitive function within a representative sample of the general population. We additionally considered how participants 'shielding'…

In the present study, we examined the impact of the interaction of environmental and task-induced attentional focus on time perception, specifically awareness of the time flow. We tested 48 participants in either a natural or urban setting over three 25- to 35-min sessions. We manipulated the within-subjects factor task by means of two tasks--one…