The levels-of-processing framework posits that cross-modal conflicts demonstrate modality-specific dominance patterns, with visual dominance effect occurring at pre-response stages and auditory dominance effect emerging at response stages. However, little studies systematically examined how the representational modalities of stimuli during cognitive processing modulate these sensory dominance effects. The present study used a 2-1 mapping paradigm to investigate how stimulus similarity influences sensory dominance effects at both the pre-response and response levels. Experiment 1 revealed that visual dominance effect emerged during pre-response cross-modal conflicts, whereas auditory dominance effect manifested at the response level. Moreover, visual similarity significantly reduced visual dominance effect at the pre-response level and auditory dominance effect at the response level. In contrast, auditory similarity markedly enhanced visual dominance effect at the pre-response level. Experiment 2 used transcranial direct current stimulation to modulate neural activity in the left fusiform gyrus (Experiment 2a) and the left inferior parietal lobule (Experiment 2b), thereby causally testing how stimulus similarity influences sensory dominance effects in cross-modal conflict. Experiment 2a indicated that anodal stimulation reduced the visual dominance effect at the pre-response level, whereas Experiment 2b showed that anodal stimulation increased the visual dominance effect at the same processing stage. Overall, the present study demonstrates that stimulus similarity modulates sensory dominance effect in cross-modal conflicts, with visual and auditory similarity differentially modulating sensory dominance effects at the pre-response level. These findings provide novel insights into the mechanisms of cross-modal conflict across distinct cognitive processing stages and advance the understanding of sensory dominance effects in multisensory contexts.

Statistical learning is a core cognitive ability that enables humans to extract regularities from the environment. However, the characteristics and mechanisms underlying its cross-modal transfer remain theoretically contentious. This study systematically investigated the cross-modal transfer mechanisms of statistical learning across the visual and auditory modalities through four experiments. Experiment 1 employed a classic statistical learning paradigm to validate individuals’ visual statistical learning ability using animal pictures as stimuli. In Experiment 2, following unimodal visual learning, participants were tested with either animal pictures or animal sounds. Results revealed no significant difference in statistical learning performance between the two test conditions, thus confirming cross-modal transfer from vision to audition. Experiment 3 presented synchronized audio-visual streams consisting of animal pictures and meaningless syllables; the results indicated that the vision-to-audition transfer effect remained stable irrespective of whether the auditory stream contained statistical regularities. Experiment 4 further presented synchronized audio-visual streams of animal sounds and meaningless shapes, which demonstrated that robust cross-modal transfer also occurs from audition to vision. Collectively, these findings verify that statistical learning exhibits robust bidirectional cross-modal transfer capability, thereby providing empirical support for the theoretical perspective that statistical learning is modality-general. The cognitive underpinnings of this capacity may reside in a hierarchical parallel system for representing statistical structures.

Framing effects, which violate the axioms of rational decision-making, represent a robust psychological phenomenon. This study investigates whether framing effects exist in cross-period temporal choice in the loss domain and explores their implications for debt swap policies. The findings reveal two key insights: (1) For a single debt program with a fixed total amount and maturity date, presentation frames significantly influenced debtors’ acceptance level of the debt repayment program. Specifically, low-frequency frames (e.g., annual payments) yielded a significantly higher acceptance level of the debt repayment program compared to high-frequency frames (e.g., weekly payments); (2) For binary-choice debt programs with constant total amounts but varying maturity dates, framing effects again proved significant. Compared to high-frequency frames/conventional timelines, low-frequency frames/compressed timelines made debtors more inclined to accept the initial debt program with higher interest rates and shorter terms. The observed preferences were consistent with predictions of the Graph-Edited Equate-to-Differentiate Model. This study contributes to a deeper understanding of cross-period temporal choice in the loss domain, enriches the “temporal nudge toolbox” with novel interventions, and provides crucial psychological evidence to inform the evaluation of debt swap policies and the optimization of debt management strategies.

Common ingroup identity refers to assigning a superordinate identity to two originally independent groups, transforming the cognitive representation of group members from two subgroups to one common ingroup, and extending positive feelings from ingroup members toward former outgroup members. Previous research on the factors influencing common ingroup identity has focused on cognitive and behavioral perspectives, such as how intergroup cooperation and perceived similarity can promote common ingroup identity. However, few studies have focused on the impact of awe on common ingroup identity and its boundary conditions.

This study examined the impact of awe on common ingroup identity and its boundary conditions through four experiments. Study 1 utilized a questionnaire to measure the relationships among trait awe, common ingroup identity, and perceived resource scarcity. Study 2 manipulated awe and perceived resource scarcity to explore the role of perceived resource scarcity in the relationship between awe and common ingroup identity. Study 3 adjusted the measurement method of common ingroup identity and investigated the influence of awe and perceived resource scarcity on common ingroup identity. Study 4 employed a modified awe induction paradigm and measured common ingroup identity using Chinese national identity scales, while adopting a multitrait-multimethod approach to enhance the reliability of the findings.

The findings revealed that participants in the awe group exhibited higher common ingroup identity than those in the control group, indicating that awe can promote common ingroup identity. Studies 1-4 identified perceived resource scarcity as a moderating factor between awe and common ingroup identity. Specifically, high perceived resource scarcity weakened the promoting effect of awe on common ingroup identity, compared to low perceived resource scarcity. Moreover, under conditions of high perceived resource scarcity, individuals in the negative awe group showed lower common ingroup identity than those in the positive awe and control groups. These findings not only expand the research perspective on ingroup identity but also help strengthen group cohesion.