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The word frequency effect of fovea and its effect on the preview effect of parafovea in Tibetan reading GAO Xiaolei, LI Xiaowei, SUN Min, BAI Xuejun, GAO Lei 2020, 52 (10):  1143-1155.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2020.01143 Abstract ( 637 )   HTML ( 42 )   PDF (305KB) ( 342 )   In the process of reading, readers mainly obtain information through the foveal region—in particular, the parafovea plays an important role in information acquisition. Readers can obtain certain information from the parafovea through preview processing, thus promoting the improvement of reading efficiency, which is called the “preview effect”. The effect of the processing load of the fovea on the preview effect of parafovea has become a popular research focus in recent years. For example, studies based on alphabetic writing have found that the preview effect of the parafovea is greater for high-frequency and short words than for low-frequency and long words. While Tibetan is an analphabetic language, it also belongs to the Sino-Tibetan language family and has many similarities with Chinese. However, it is still largely unclear how to reflect the above role in the process of Tibetan reading. Will it only show the common characteristics of alphabetic languages or will it show some Chinese characteristics? The present study aimed to provide experimental evidence for these research questions. Two experiments were carried out on 119 Tibetan undergraduate students. More specifically, participants were asked to read Tibetan sentences and their eye movements during reading were recorded using a SR Research EyeLink 1000Plus eye tracker (sampling rate = 1000 Hz). Experiment 1 manipulated the foveal word frequency (i.e., high vs. low frequency) to investigate the word frequency effect and word frequency delay effect of foveal words in Tibetan reading. The results showed a word frequency effect and a word frequency delay effect in Tibetan reading. Experiment 2 manipulated both foveal word frequency and parafoveal preview word types with the aid of boundary paradigm to investigate the preview effect of parafovea and the effect of foveal word frequency on the preview effect of parafovea in Tibetan reading. The results showed a preview effect of parafovea in Tibetan reading and that, when compared with low-frequency foveal words, high-frequency foveal words had a greater promoting effect on the preview effect of parafovea. The primary findings can be summarized as follows: (1) significant word frequency effect exists in Tibetan reading, which is reflected in the whole process of vocabulary processing; (2) there is a significant word frequency delay effect in Tibetan reading, which runs through the whole process of vocabulary processing; (3) there is a significant preview effect of parafovea in Tibetan reading, through which the reader can extract phonology and font information; and (4) in Tibetan reading, foveal word frequency affects the size of the preview effect of parafovea—moreover, word frequency only affects the extraction of font preview information in the early stage of lexical processing; that is, the preview effect of high-frequency words is greater under the condition of font preview. In conclusion, the effect of the processing load of fovea on the preview effect of parafovea shows the common characteristics of alphabetic writing in Tibetan reading. In addition, this study found that reading Tibetan involves the word frequency delay effect and the preview effect of parafovea. These findings support theory of parafovea sequence processing in the E-Z reader model. Figures and Tables | References | Related Articles | Metrics

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Influence of encoding strength on the font size effect ZHAO Wenbo, JIANG Yingjie, WANG Zhiwei, HU Jingyuan 2020, 52 (10):  1156-1167.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2020.01156 Abstract ( 816 )   HTML ( 17 )   PDF (402KB) ( 382 )   Judgments of learning (JOLs) are characterized as metacognitive judgments on the likelihood that studied items can be successfully retrieved in a future memory test. Previous studies found that people employ different types of cues to inform their online JOLs. Some of these cues can guide JOLs to accurately reflect memory status but others cannot (and are even misleading in some situations). A widely studied cue for JOL formation is subjective processing experience (e.g., perceptual fluency) while completing a given task, which often confers metacognitive illusions. It has been found that people give higher JOLs to large than to small words, although font size has minimal influence on retention, a phenomenon termed the font size effect on JOLs. A potential mechanism underlying the effect is perceptual fluency: Large words are perceived more fluently than small ones, and fluent processing experience of large words induces a feeling of knowing, which drives people to offer higher JOLs. The font size effect is important because it spotlights a dissociation between metacognitive judgments and memory itself. The current study aims to explore the influences of encoding strength on the font size effect, and to explore practical techniques to calibrate metacognitive illusions induced by perceptual fluency. Experiment 1 aimed to delineate the role of perceptual fluency in the font size effect. Twenty-six participants first completed a continuous identification (CID) task to measure the difference in perceptual fluency (indexed by response times; RTs) between large (70-pt) and small (9-pt) words, after which they attended a classic learning task. In the learning task, participants studied large and small words one-by-one, for 2 s each, and made item-by-item JOLs. Immediately following the learning task, they completed a distractor task, followed by a free recall test. The results showed that, in the CID task, participants responded much faster to large than to small words, indicating the natural difference in perceptual fluency between large and small words. In addition, perceptual fluency (i.e., RTs in the CID task) significantly correlated with JOLs, reflecting the fluency effect on JOLs. More importantly, perceptual fluency significantly mediated the font size effect on JOLs, supporting the claim that perceptual fluency is responsible for the font size effect. Experiment 2 manipulated study durations to investigate the influence of enhancing encoding strength (through prolonging study duration) on the font size effect. Specifically, three groups of participants studied each word for 2 s, 4 s, and 8 s, respectively, and made item-by-item JOLs. The results demonstrated that prolonging study duration correspondingly decreased the font size effect on JOLs. It is, however, worth highlighting that expanding study time cannot fully eliminate the font size effect because the results still showed a significant font size effect even when the study time was increased to 8 s. Experiment 3 was conducted to further investigate the effectiveness of enhancing encoding strength for calibration of the font size effect. A sentence-making group was instructed to encode each word by generating a sentence to deepen the level of processing (i.e., encoding strength). By contrast, there were no explicit requirements of encoding strategies in the control group (i.e., participants in the control group could use any strategies they liked). In the control group, the classic font size effect on JOLs was successfully replicated; of critical interest, the effect disappeared in the sentence-making group. Such results reflect the power of improving encoding strength to calibrate metacognitive illusions induced by perceptual features. In summary, the current study establishes that perceptual fluency is at least one of the mechanisms underlying the font size effect on JOLs; prolonging study duration reduces but fails to eliminate the font size effect on JOLs; more importantly, directly deepening the level of processing through sentence-making is a valid strategy to calibrate metacognitive illusions induced by perceptual features. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed in the main text. Figures and Tables | References | Related Articles | Metrics

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Analytic thinking reduces impact bias in affective forecast GENG Xiaowei, LIU Dan, NIU Yanhua 2020, 52 (10):  1168-1177.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2020.01168 Abstract ( 1096 )   HTML ( 9 )   PDF (362KB) ( 996 )   People overestimate the intensity and duration of their affective reactions to events in the future. This is called impact bias (Wilson & Gilbert, 2003). Impact bias influences individuals’ satisfaction with their decision making. Few studies have shed light on how to reduce impact bias in affective forecast based on dual-process theories. According to dual-process theories of human thinking, there are two distinct but interacting systems for information processing. System 1 relies on frugal heuristics and produces intuitive responses, while System 2 relies on deliberative analytic processing. System 2 often overrides the input of System 1 when analytic thinking is activated. Thus, we hypothesize that analytic thinking reduces the impact bias in affective forecasting. In experiment 1, a total of 240 undergraduates were assigned to play an ultimatum game as proposers and asked to predict how they would feel when their proposals were accepted or rejected by responders. At random, they were told their proposals were accepted or rejected. As soon as they knew the result, they were asked to report how they felt. Before the ultimatum game began, participants were randomly assigned to view pictures of The Thinker to prime analytic thinking or geometric figures as a control condition. The results showed that analytic thinking reduced impact bias in affective forecasting by reducing the intensity of predicted emotions. In experiment 2, a total of 52 undergraduates took part in a memory test. They were asked to predict how they would feel if their scores on a memory test exceeded 90% or not before the test. As soon as they knew the result that they did not exceed 90%, they were asked to report how they felt. Before taking the memory test, participants were randomly assigned to perform a verbal fluency task with words related to analytic thinking to prime analytic thinking or a task not related to analytic thinking as a control condition. The results showed that analytic thinking reduced impact bias in affective forecasting by reducing the intensity of predicted emotions. In experiment 3, a total of 111 women who had only one child were asked to predict how they would feel if they had a second. Before predicting their feelings, they were randomly assigned to view pictures of The Thinker to prime analytic thinking or geometric figures as a control condition. Results showed that analytic thinking reduced the positive affect of having the second child but not the negative affect of having the second child. In sum, the present research shows that analytic thinking reduces impact bias in affective forecasting by reducing the intensity of predicted emotions. It can help us reduce impact bias in affective forecasting when making decisions and be satisfied with those decisions. Limitations and further research are discussed as well. Figures and Tables | References | Related Articles | Metrics

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The relationship between anticipated communication and creativity: The moderating role of construal level LUAN Mo, WU Shuang, LI Hong 2020, 52 (10):  1178-1188.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2020.01178 Abstract ( 652 )   HTML ( 14 )   PDF (283KB) ( 427 )   Early research on creativity viewed it as intellectual skills and thinking styles, or as a personal trait. In recent decades, however, researchers recognized that creativity can be influenced by social contexts, and therefore can vary within individuals. Among the social factors that significantly increase creativity, communication is a substantial one. Past research proposed that the generation of creative ideas was often a result of communication among different people. However, little research investigated how anticipated communication might affect creativity. This omission is striking because although communication helps to refine an idea, some important original ideas often come up before any communication takes place. In generating these original ideas, would differences in levels of creativity already manifest for creators who expect communication versus those who do not? Without any prior exchange of knowledge, skills, and ideas, would mere anticipation of subsequent communication influence creativity? The current research examines the influence of anticipated communication on creativity and the moderating role of construal levels in this process. Experiment 1 adopted a structured imagination task to explore the main effect of anticipated communication on creativity. In this experiment, each participant performed an alien-drawing task. We hypothesized that the anticipation of communication, as opposed to no such anticipation, facilitated creative generation in drawing aliens. Experiment 2 used a new paradigm - an idea generation task - to measure creativity and examined the moderating role of construal levels required by the task. In this experiment, we devised two creative generation tasks that varied in their construal levels. Both tasks centered around the same topic—greetings. The high construal level task asked about why one should greet others, whereas the low construal level one asked about how one can greet others. We hypothesized that for tasks with a high level of construal, anticipated communication facilitates creative generation, whereas, for tasks with a low level of construal, the anticipated communication group no longer has the edge. The results of Experiment 1 showed the influence of anticipated communication on creativity. When people anticipated communication, compared with when they did not hold this anticipation, the aliens they drew were considered as more creative. Results of Study 2 suggested that when responding to why they greet others, people displayed more novelty and flexibility when they anticipated communication than not. However, when people responded to how they greet others, the effect of anticipated communication was no longer present. Construal levels play a moderating role between the anticipation of communication and creative generation, and the anticipation of communication only enhances creativity when the creative task requires high-level abstract thinking. Taken together, the studies build upon past research on the relationship between communication and creativity, as well as research on the relationship between construal levels and creativity. For abstract creative tasks, expectation about communication is sufficient to bring about an increase in creativity even before any informational exchange happens. Creativity can be promoted before any communication actually takes place, as long as communication is expected. Figures and Tables | References | Related Articles | Metrics

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The influence of unaware errors on post-error adjustment: Evidence from electrophysiological analysis WANG Lijun, SUO Tao, ZHAO Guoxiang 2020, 52 (10):  1189-1198.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2020.01189 Abstract ( 467 )   HTML ( 9 )   PDF (467KB) ( 208 )   Following errors, participants usually recruit more cognitive resources to change error-related behaviors; this phenomenon is termed post-error adjustment. Generally, behavioral adjustments in post-error trials behave as slower subsequent responses and improved accuracy. It is worth noting that we cannot successfully perceive every error we commit in daily life. Several studies found that post-error slowing occurred only after aware errors, suggesting that only aware errors contribute to the phenomenon of post-error adjustment. Moreover, these studies emphasized the role of top-down control in the processing of error awareness. However, a few studies came to the opposite conclusion, finding that post-error adjustment could be modulated by unaware errors in an implicit manner. These studies emphasized the role of bottom-up control in the processing of error awareness. Notably, previous studies have demonstrated that post-error adjustment involves both proactive and reactive cognitive control. Proactive control refers to a goal-driven manner that is actively maintained with sustained attention before the occurrence of cognitively demanding events. Reactive control refers to a bottom-up manner, in which the attentional control is mobilized when the goal-related event is reactivated. Thus, whether different control strategies are adopted by aware and unaware errors remains unclear. To investigate the above issue, we recruited 36 participants to execute an error awareness task based on the go/no-go task. However, data from five participants were removed due to poor EEG records or poor behavioral performance. In the go/no-go error awareness task, participants were instructed to withhold their responses in certain circumstances. The first was when a word was presented on two consecutive trials, and the second was when the font color of the word and its meaning were inconsistent. Additionally, the usage of an error signal button might lead to a response bias toward signaling or not signaling an error. If participants tended to signal errors, they might signal their correct responses as errors, increasing the false alarm rates. If participants did not tend to signal errors, aware errors might be classed as unaware errors. In this case, the measurement of unaware errors might be contaminated by potential conscious error trials. Thus, participants were instructed to respond to indicate their perceived response accuracy in both error and correct cases during the rating screen in the current experiment. Since previous studies have found that neural oscillations reveal the processing of proactive and reactive control, the time-frequency analysis is conducted in this experiment. It has been suggested that the alpha band (8-14 Hz) reflects the trial-by-trial behavioral adjustment. Thus, alpha power is chosen as the neural indicator. As a result, the post-error reaction time indicated two dissociated behavior patterns with speeding up following aware errors and slowing down following unaware errors. However, accuracy in trials following aware and unaware errors was significantly higher than for trials following correct go. At the neural level, alpha (-500 to 500 ms) power was stronger for aware errors than for unaware errors. Moreover, the alpha was activated before the subjective report of error awareness for aware errors, but the alpha was activated after the subjective report of error awareness for unaware errors. Current behavioral results showed that aware and unaware errors both successfully optimized post-error performance, but the two error types adopted different methods to adjust post-error behaviors. The time-frequency analysis revealed that aware errors led to sustained attention control after responses, but unaware errors led to temporary attention control induced by the subjective report of error awareness. Therefore, these findings might suggest that the adjustments following aware errors were based on a strategy such as proactive control, whereas the adjustments following unaware errors were based on a strategy such as reactive control. Figures and Tables | References | Related Articles | Metrics

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Theta band (4-8 Hz) oscillations reflect syllables processing in Chinese spoken word production JIANG Yuchen, CAI Xiao, ZHANG Qingfang 2020, 52 (10):  1199-1211.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2020.01199 Abstract ( 459 )   HTML ( 9 )   PDF (8035KB) ( 153 )   Languages may differ in the proximate units of phonological encoding in spoken word production. It has been demonstrated that syllables are proximate units of phonological encoding in Chinese speech production. Previous studies report that the θ band oscillations have been associated with syllables processing in language comprehension. However, it remains unknown what are the neural oscillations for syllables retrieval in speech production. The present study aims to investigate the neural oscillations of syllables retrieval at the stage of phonological encoding in Chinese spoken word production. We employed a masked priming paradigm and electrophysiological signals were recorded concurrently. In the task, participants were instructed to name pictures with disyllabic words preceded by briefly presented and masked prime words. Prime words were syllabically or phonemically related to the first syllable of targets or were unrelated. The experimental design includes prime type (syllable vs. phoneme), relatedness (related vs. unrelated), and repetition (first vs. second). Behavioral data analysis showed a significant triple interaction among prime type, relatedness, and repetition. In the first repetition, naming latencies were faster in the syllabically related condition than in the unrelated condition, whereas latencies were longer in the phonemically related than in the unrelated condition. Time-frequency analysis also showed a significant interaction between prime type and relatedness in the time window of 300-600 ms after pictures onset. Specifically, theta band power was lower for syllabically related than unrelated while no significant differences between phonemically related and unrelated. Cluster based permutation test showed that, in the first repetition, syllabically related condition elicited lower θ band power than unrelated in the time window of 270-460 ms, while phoneme relatedness produced marginally higher θ band power than phoneme unrelatedness in the 340-390 ms time window. These effects were absent in the second repetition. In sum, we found that the syllable priming effect was reflected by the decrease of θ oscillation in spoken word production in Chinese. Time-frequency analysis also revealed an early syllable priming effect and a late phonemic inhibition effect in Chinese spoken word production, which provides evidence for the proximate units principle. Figures and Tables | References | Related Articles | Metrics

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Training and transfer effects of response inhibition training with online feedback on adolescents and adults’ executive function WANG Yuan, LI Ke, GAI Xiaosong, CAO Yifei 2020, 52 (10):  1212-1223.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2020.01212 Abstract ( 719 )   HTML ( 11 )   PDF (373KB) ( 378 )   The plasticity of executive function (EF) has been discussed as a core topic in the recent cognitive development research. However, inhibition training research remains inadequate. According to dimensional overlap theory, inhibition has two types: interference and response. The neural networks of the brain that respond to conflicts do not mature until early adulthood. By conducting a comparison of the plasticity of response inhibition between adolescents and adults, the applicable age group for response inhibition training is explored. Introducing online feedback as reinforcement improves the training effects and helps individuals to balance further accuracy and speed. Therefore, we added online feedback in the training groups but used the original Stop Signal task in the active control groups to investigate the training and transfer effects of this task with online feedback. This study included 194 participants (134 adults and 60 adolescents) that were divided into five groups: adult training group (N = 47), adult active control group (N = 45), adolescent training group (N = 30), adolescent active control group (N = 30), and passive control group (N = 42). The response inhibition training consisted of nine sessions, and it was held three times a week. In each training session of the adult and adolescent training groups, participants were guided to finish eight blocks (100 trials in each block) of the Stop Signal task with online feedback. In the adult and adolescent active control groups, participants completed the same amount of the Stop Signal task without online feedback. The passive control group received no training. The participants’ inhibition, working memory, and fluid intelligence were measured before and after training through six tasks (e.g., Inhibition: Stop Signal Task, Go/No-go Task, and Stroop Task; Working memory: 2-back Task and 3-back Task; and Fluid intelligence: Raven’s Standard Progressive Matrices). A 9 (all training sessions) × 2 (training group, active control group) × 2 (adult, adolescent) repeated measure ANOVA was used to test the training effects. Both age groups exhibited improved performances with the continuation of the training sessions. However, the adults performed significantly faster and more accurate than the adolescents. Next, four 2 (pretest, posttest) × 5 (all five groups) repeated measure ANOVA were conducted to test the transfer effects. The transfer effect results revealed that (1) on the Go/No-go task, both training groups showed significant improvement; (2) on the Stroop task, only the adolescent training group showed significant improvement; (3) on the 2-back task, both training groups and the adult active control group improved significantly; (4) on the 3-back task, only the adolescent training group gained significant transfer effects; and (5) on the Raven’s Standard Progressive Matrices, no group showed significant improvement. To sum up, the results suggest that the Stop Signal training task with online feedback has produced training effects on both age groups, and the transfer effects are influenced by the age difference of cognitive plasticity and the nature of the task. Thus, adding online feedback to computerized training can effectively improve the training and the transfer effects. Finally, inhibition training has a more formative effect on the pre-adult age. Figures and Tables | References | Related Articles | Metrics

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Early life environmental unpredictability and overeating: Based on life history theory LUO Yijun, NIU Gengfeng, CHEN Hong 2020, 52 (10):  1224-1236.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2020.01224 Abstract ( 1174 )   HTML ( 26 )   PDF (459KB) ( 827 )   According to life history theory, organisms face necessary trade-offs in allocating limited energy and resources between somatic effort and reproductive effort. How an individual allocates resources to cope with survival and reproductive tasks reflects their life history strategies. In unpredictable environments, individuals tend to invest more in reproductive efforts and prioritize immediate payoffs because the future is uncertain, and the delayed benefits may not be available later. Food may be considered an immediate reward and overeating may more likely occur among people living in unpredictable environments. Our research investigated how early life environmental unpredictability affects overeating and the underlying mechanism between the association. Study 1 recruited 91 adolescent participants and utilized the Eating in the Absence of Hunger protocol (EAH). Participants were randomly assigned either to the “hunger” or “absence of hunger” groups. Both groups completed a food portion choice task. Participants were presented with photographs of 36 food types (18 high-calorie and 18 low-calorie), where participants chose their desired food portion on each picture from 0 (none) to 4 (four portions). Results indicated that the hunger state could moderate the effects of early life environmental unpredictability on overeating. Specifically, (a) in hunger state, environmental unpredictability was not associated with selected high-calorie/unhealthy food portion, while in the absence of hunger state, participants living in high environmental unpredictability selected more high-calorie/unhealthy food portion than those living in low environmental unpredictability, i.e., overeating; (b) in hunger state, participants living in high environmental unpredictability selected less low-calorie/healthy food portion than those living in low environmental unpredictability, while in the absence of hunger state, environmental unpredictability was not associated with selected low-calorie/healthy food portion. Hence, our results, on the one hand, supported the initial hypothesis that early life environmental unpredictability could promote overeating in the absence of hunger state. On the other hand, our findings demonstrated that individuals in the hunger state would be more impulsive, selecting less healthy food. Study 2 examined differences in overeating between participants with high and low perceived death threat states. The former group was comprised of 301 community residents from Wuhan City, the epicenter of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak. The latter group was comprised of 179 community residents from the 42 other cities in China. Participants completed questionnaires regarding early life environmental unpredictability, fast life history strategy (Mini-K), overeating, perceived death threat, and social support. Results indicated that early life environmental unpredictability may affect overeating through the mediating role of fast life history strategies. Moreover, perceived death threat and social support may moderate the path between fast life history strategies and overeating. Evidently, for participants with both high and low death threats, fast life history strategies were positively associated with overeating; however, the effect was smaller for the latter group. For individuals with high social support, fast life history strategies were not associated with overeating; while for individuals with low social support, fast life history strategies were positively associated with overeating. Findings indicated that environmental unpredictability in early life was positively associated with overeating through fast life history strategies. Additionally, this effect intensifies when the current environment is life-threatening; while the effect would be buffered for individuals with high social support. Findings provided evidence for the prevention and intervention of healthy eating promotion in the context of COVID-19. Figures and Tables | References | Related Articles | Metrics

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A meta-analysis of the effect of crowding on consumers’ emotional reactions and shopping-related behavioral reactions LIU Wumei, MA Zengguang, WEI Xuhua 2020, 52 (10):  1237-1252.  doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2020.01237 Abstract ( 1271 )   HTML ( 14 )   PDF (650KB) ( 1404 )   In the last few years, marketing scholars have been showing increasing interest in examining how crowding affects consumers’ emotions and behaviors. As a result, empirical literature on crowding has been growing rapidly. However, the crowding literature in Marketing has reported many inconsistent findings which need to be reconciled. The current meta-analysis paper aims to find out the reasons for heterogeneity in the findings of previous studies on crowding. In this meta-analysis, the authors analyzed 149 effect sizes from 38 Eastern and Western empirical studies and 81 samples. Each author independently coded the data and discrepancies were resolved through discussion. Based on the measures of crowding used in each individual empirical paper, the authors coded two types of crowding, namely social crowding and spatial crowding. First, the authors analyzed the effects of social crowding and spatial crowding on consumers’ emotional reactions and shopping reactions. Next, the authors examined the potential moderation effects of several contextual and methodological factors, including types of shopping environment, the reality of research context, and sources of research samples (western countries vs. eastern countries, students vs. non-students). This meta-analysis work obtained many interesting findings. First, this paper documented that social crowding significantly increased consumers’ negative emotions, but dramatically decreased consumers’ dominance. Social crowding was found to be positively correlated with the approach-related shopping responses (ρ = 0.208, N = 28624), and negatively correlated with consumer attitudes and willingness to shop (ρ = -0.135, N = 10094). Second, this paper documented that spatial crowding had a significant negative effect on avoidance-related shopping responses (ρ = -0.409, N = 3223), but had no significant influence on the approach- related shopping responses. Furthermore, moderation analyses showed that some of the aforementioned main effects were significantly moderated by types of shopping environment (utilitarian vs. hedonic), the reality of the context (virtual vs. real), and sources of research samples (western countries vs. eastern countries, students vs. non-students). To summarize, this paper makes several important theoretical advances. First, drawing on several psychological theories on individuals’ reactions to the crowding environment, this paper builds a relatively unified research framework on consumers’ reactions to crowding. More importantly, this paper also tests this framework via meta-analyzing the effects of social crowding and those of spatial crowding on consumers’ emotional reactions and shopping-related behavioral responses, respectively. The results suggest that the overall influence of crowding on individuals’ emotion and behavior is not as large as that reported in previous studies. Second, by examining the moderation effects of several situational and methodology-related factors, this paper is able to explain why prior literature on crowding has reported inconsistent findings. Finally, this meta-analysis work also puts forth several intriguing and testable future research hypothese. In addition to advancing theory, the current paper’s findings also have practical implications. Companies and managers should consider reducing consumers’ spatial crowding perceptions of the shopping environment. However, it is not wise for firms to universally adopt a policy of decreasing consumers’ perceptions of pedestrian volume. Figures and Tables | References | Related Articles | Metrics