Right Hemisphere Activation during Indirect Semantic Priming: Evidence from Event-Related Potentials

Healthy subjects performed a lexical decision task in a semantic priming paradigm while event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded from 64 channels. Semantic distance between prime and target was varied by including directly, indirectly, and nonrelated word pairs. At centro-parietal electrodes an N400 to nonrelated pairs was elicited bilaterally which was sensitive only to direct, but not to indirect semantic priming. These N400 priming effects were mirrored by the RT data. At inferior fronto-temporal sites directly related words showed ERP priming effects over both hemispheres. However, indirectly related words only elicited ERP priming effects over the right hemisphere. These results support the hypothesis that the right hemisphere semantic system is involved in processing of remote semantic information.     

长时语义记忆对阈下语义启动效应的影响

本文通过检测启动刺激的词频对阈下启动效应的影响,探讨了长时语义记忆在阈下语义启动中的作用。结果表明,对阈下启动刺激的感受性d′上,词频和练习的交互作用显著(p<0.05),高频刺激即使没有练习过的启动刺激也会产生启动效应,而对低频刺激只有练习过的启动刺激才会产生启动效应,说明长时语义记忆是影响阈下启动效应的重要因素之一。     

重复启动条件下语义启动效应减少的机制

采用重复启动范式探讨语义启动效应减少的机制。结果发现,在SOA为短的167ms条件下,重复/相同和重复/相关的启动效应无差异,且重复/相关启动并未导致语义启动效应的减少;而在SOA为长的1200ms条件下,重复/相同和重复/相关的启动效应差异显著,且重复/相关启动导致了语义启动效应的减少,而重复/相同未导致语义启动效应的减少。在抵消了期望和消退的作用后,在SOA为1200ms条件下所得到的重复/相同和重复/相关启动效应的差异,是由于扩散受到了阻碍而导致的。这一结论支持了激活扩散是有一定条件的观点。     

Getting the Right Idea: Semantic Activation in the Right HemisphereMay Help Solve Insight Problems

Two experiments examined hemispheric differences in information processing that may contribute to solving insight problems. We propose that right-hemisphere (RH) coarse semantic coding is more likely than left-hemisphere (LH) fine semantic coding to activate distantly related information or unusual interpretations of words, and thus more likely to activate solution-relevant information for insight problems. In Experiment 1, after trying to solve insight problems, participants read aloud solution or unrelated target words presented to the left visual field (lvf) or right visual field (rvf). Participants showed greater lvf-RH than rvf-LH priming for solutions for solved problems and priming only in the lvf-RH for unsolved problems. In Experiment 2, participants showed an lvf-RH advantage for recognizing solutions to unsolved problems. These results demonstrate that in a problem-solving context, there was greater activation of solution-relevant information in the RH than in the LH. This activation is useful for recognizing, and perhaps producing, solutions to insight problems.     

Broad-Perspective Perceptual Disorder of the Right Hemisphere

Traditional accounts of right-posterior brain injury describe a syndrome of low-level perceptual sequelae producing marked acute dependency and transient safety concerns. The syndrome is also held to spare cognition and to carry a generally favorable long-term prognosis. The present paper reviews publications and anecdotal data that challenge this picture. Recent theoretical expositions and empirical studies stipulate three major cognitive functions of the right posterior association cortex: processing novel input, guiding reactions to emergencies, and anticipating consequences. Appearing benign after acute recovery, the impairment of these processes produces vocational, social and marital dysfunctions that increase as a function of chronicity, ultimately becoming more broadly disabling than focal injuries in other cortical loci. The unique symptom picture and serious implications suggest that the long-term syndrome should be labeled (Broad-Perspective Perceptual Disorder) and incorporated in future clinical taxonomies, underscoring the need for extraordinary long-term assistance and specialized therapeutics. Procedures for assessment and differential diagnosis are outlined.     

阈下启动的心理机制初探

本研究以汉语双字名词为材料、正确率和反应时为指标,进行了阈下启动的实验探索。揭示出（1）当启动词在前面的练习中被归类时,阚下语义启动显著表现出来,在练习中形成的阈下启动联接是词汇和语义范畴之间的;（2）练习中被归类的词在后续的不同按键反应任务中作为阈下启动词均发生作用,阈下启动是启动的无意识归类,而不仅仅是自动化的刺激-反应模式。     

Enhancement of Creativity: Semantic Priming Through Naming Objects Loosens Functional Fixedness within Idea Generation

Functional fixedness is related to excessive focusing on a specific functional property of an object. We assumed that the naming of other objects which possess the same functional property to a lesser extent than a given object can reduce the excessive focusing on this functional property for this object. It can help to loosen functional fixedness and improve individual creative performance. We tested the effectiveness of this method with 302 participants aged between 17 and 22 (256 female and 46 male). The study consisted of two experiments with 110 and 192 participants, respectively. Prior to performing a creative activity (story writing in Experiment 1 and thinking up unusual uses of a given object in Experiment 2), participants from different groups were asked to name objects which possess the main functional property of the given object to the same extent, to a lesser extent, and to a greater extent, respectively. In both phases of the study, we found a significant effect on the extent of the target property possession on originality. Results showed that participants named objects with the lesser manifestation of a target property outperformed their counterparts from other groups.     

Right Hemisphere Semantic Performance and Competence in a Case of Partial Interhemispheric Disconnection

Various forms of right hemisphere (RH)-spontaneous or provoked-performance changes were observed in a partial split-brain patient. Variations in hemispheric activation levels and their interhemispheric balance were retained as the most plausible mechanisms for accounting for these facts. This article presents our attempts to obtain higher RH lexical semantic performance than that observed in a preliminary study where RH performance was at chance level: two forms of the dual-task paradigm were used in order to improve the expression of an assumed RH potential for lexical semantics. Experiment 1 was aimed at activating the RH with a visuo-spatial task as a prior activity before each semantic decision trial. Experiment 2 was intended to overload LH processing systems with a concurrent verbal memory task and induce RH release from LH inhibition. As expected, better RH lexical semantic performance was obtained in these two conditions. Using pictures as stimuli, the aim of Experiment 3 was to observe the spontaneous temporal course of RH implementation in a semantic decision task devoid of written words. These results are discussed along with the issues of performance/competence and the dynamics of neurocognitive function.     

Semantic Capacities of the Right Hemisphere as Seen in Two Cases of Pure Word Blindness

Two patients with pure alexia were studied with tachistoscopically presented stimuli to examine factors influencing their ability to distinguish words from nonwords and to derive semantic information at exposures too brief for explicit letter identification. Both patients had profound right hemianopia and computerized tomography (CT) evidence of splenial destruction. Both patients were successful in making word/nonword decisions for high-frequency, but not low-frequency, words. They could judge semantic class membership reliably for such common categories as animals and vegetables, but not for arbitrarily selected categories, such as office-related items. Judgments about the gender of people's names and place versus person name distinctions were made with high reliability. Results are interpreted as evidence for limited word recognition and semantic-processing capacity in the right hemisphere.     

The Role of Short-Term Memory in Semantic Priming

Two theories of priming were compared: spreading activation theories, in particular ACT* (J. R. Anderson, 1983), and compound-cue theories (R. Ratcliff & G. McKoon, 1988). Whereas ACT* assumes that priming is a result of diffusing activation in long-term memory, compound-cue models suggest that priming results from a formation process of prime and target in short-term memory. Thirty-eight participants took part in a study that combined a digit span task with a double lexical decision task consisting of a prime and a target item. Digit span length (low, medium, and high) and prime type (related or unrelated word or nonword) were both within-subject variables. As expected, results showed significant priming effects. In favor of ACT*, no interaction between digit span length and prime type was found. Additionally, a nonword inhibition effect (unrelated versus nonword prime) was found, which was predicted by compound-cue theories. This finding is discussed in terms of the process interference and response competition hypotheses.     

Alternating Incubation Effects in the Generation of Category Exemplars

Four experiments tested the forgetting fixation hypothesis of incubation effects, comparing continuous vs. alternating generation of exemplars from three different types of categories. In two experiments, participants who listed as many members as possible from two different categories produced more responses, and more novel responses, when they alternated back and forth between the two categories, as compared to continuous uninterrupted listing from each of the two categories. This incubation effect was not found in Experiment 1, when participants were given taxonomic categories (birds and clothing ) for the generation task, but was found in Experiment 2 with sense impression categories (cold things and heavy things ), and in Experiment 3 with ad hoc categories (equipment you take camping and fattening foods ). A similar incubation effect was observed in Experiment 4 when a non‐verbal task was given between category generation tasks, but only for flexibly defined categories. The results suggest that forgetting from one alternating listing period to the next in the form of altering category cue representations was consistent with the observed incubation effects. These alternating incubation effects have implications for understanding cognitive processes that underlie creative cognition.     

目标启动对类比问题解决策略迁移的影响

运用实验法和问卷法对小学2年级和5年级学生的类比问题解决策略的迁移进行了研究。结果表明:无论儿童年龄大小,启动掌握目标都可以有效地促进类比问题解决策略的迁移。能力知觉与回避型表现目标存在交互作用,在回避型表现目标启动条件下,能力知觉低的儿童迁移成绩较差。儿童自身的成就目标取向未对迁移产生影响。     

句子语境中语义联系启动作用的研究

通过对比研究正序和乱序两种句子语境对目标词加工的不同影响,来探讨句子语境中语义联系启动作用及作用点问题。实验一采用词汇命名任务研究发现,句法成分影响命名任务,句法违反对命名任务产生较大的抑制作用。语义违反则对命名任务没有产生显著的抑制作用。实验二利用词汇决定任务发现,词序影响决定任务,乱序对词汇决定产生很大的抑制作用。语义违反对决定任务地产生较大的抑制作用。结果表,中义联系启动是短暂的,它的保持和传递需要句法成分的支持。     

阈下语义启动效应影响因素述评

阈下语义启动效应是指阈下呈现的启动词能够对与之有语义联想关系的目标词的加工产生促进作用.阈下语义启动效应具有不稳定性且容易受到各种因素的影响.影响阈下语义启动效应的因素有外部因素和内部因素两大类,外部因素包括任务类型、实验材料和实验程序等因素,内部因素包括注意、任务设置、目的和期望.本文首先简单回顾阈下语义启动效应的研究历史,并介绍相应的研究范式及觉知状态的测量方法,然后重点对影响因素进行了总结和评述.未来的研究可以从优化研究范式、加强脑机制研究以及发展理论等几个方面进一步拓展.     

创造性的生理研究新进展

创造性的生理基础很复杂。关于创造性生理基础的研究集中在大脑皮质激活与脑半球不对称两个方面。研究发现,大脑皮质激活状态对创造性有影响,低水平的皮质激活,特别是低水平的前额叶激活,较有利于创造性．研究还发现,创造性和左右半球不对称活动有关,处于创造状态时,右半球相对要比左半球激活程度更高。     

象似性和手语学习经验对中国手语-汉语跨模态语义启动效应的影响

采用启动条件下的词汇判断任务,考察熟练手语使用者和无手语经验成年听人的跨模态语义启动效应。结果发现：1)在象似词条件下,两组被试判断汉语语义相关词的反应时均快于语义无关词,说明手语象似词和汉语词之间存在跨模态语义启动效应。2)在非象似词条件下,仅手语熟练被试判断汉语语义相关词的反应时快于语义无关词,无手语经验被试判断汉语语义相关词和无关词的速度没有差异。这是由于前者心理词库中的手语词和口语词共享语义表征,而后者主要依赖手语象似词的视觉模拟性。整个研究表明,中国手语和汉语间存在跨模态语义启动效应,但该效应受到手语词象似性和手语学习经历的调节。     

The Roles of Semantic Sense and Form-Meaning Connection in Translation Priming

The Psychological Record - This study examines semantic sense and form-meaning connection across the bilingual’s languages as factors behind translation priming asymmetry, which refers to...     

The Effects of Zhongyong Thinking Priming on Creative Problem‐Solving

Zhongyong thinking is a common approach adopted by Chinese people to solve problems encountered in life and work. Based on the four modes of zhongyong thinking proposed by Pang (Social Sciences in China, 1, 1980, 75), this study chooses the “neither A nor B” form, which represents the “mean” (中) characteristics of zhongyong thinking, called eclectic thinking, and the “both A and B” form, which reflects the “harmony” (和) feature, called integrated thinking. This study primed eclectic thinking and integrated thinking, respectively, through self‐compiled problem situations, and 150 college students and postgraduates students were the participants. Experiment 1 explored the role of the priming of zhongyong thinking in three classic creative thinking tasks: a divergent thinking test, remote association test, and insight problem‐solving test. Experiment 2 further examined the effect of priming of zhongyong thinking on “market investment problems” with higher ecological validity. The findings show that priming integrated thinking can improve remote associates test performance and promote creative solutions to market investment problems, but there is no significant impact on the scores of divergent thinking test and insight problem‐solving; priming eclectic thinking has no significant impact on any of the subsequent creative tasks. This study shows that integrated thinking primes cognitive processing related to information association and information integration, promoting subsequent creative tasks.     

威胁对创造力的影响：认知与情绪双加工路径

威胁对创造力的影响颇具热点性与争议性, 总体来看, 当前存在威胁对创造力的阻碍、促进以及两者间呈倒U型关系三种观点。但三种观点分歧的原因与内在机制尚不清楚。本文从认知与情绪角度对相关研究进行了梳理, 认为以上分歧来自于威胁等级的不同, 创造力机制的差异及相关的中介/调节变量。未来研究可从认知与情绪干预的角度, 系统验证观点分歧的原因, 深入分析威胁与创造力的认知神经和基因等内在机制。