无意识情绪研究的新方向

首先介绍关于“无意识情绪”的两种概念。接着介绍可较好地对该两类无意识情绪概念进行整合的无意识情绪信息加工模型--Wiens模型(Wiens & Öhman, 2007), 分析了Wiens模型中“刺激聚焦途径”与“体验聚焦途径”两条途径下的无意识情绪的基本观点、相关实证研究、分别面临的研究难题或受到的质疑, 及不同途径下无意识情绪的本质。在此基础上指出, 传统情绪理论下情绪的意识属性或可与Wiens模型中体验聚焦途径下情绪的无意识属性互为补充, 相辅相成; 无意识情绪研究的新方向是体验聚焦途径。最后, 对未来研究提出了展望。     

Dogs do look at images: eye tracking in canine cognition research

Despite intense research on the visual communication of domestic dogs, their cognitive capacities have not yet been explored by eye tracking. The aim of the current study was to expand knowledge on the visual cognition of dogs using contact-free eye movement tracking under conditions where social cueing and associative learning were ruled out. We examined whether dogs spontaneously look at actual objects within pictures and can differentiate between pictures according to their novelty or categorical information content. Eye movements of six domestic dogs were tracked during presentation of digital color images of human faces, dog faces, toys, and alphabetic characters. We found that dogs focused their attention on the informative regions of the images without any task-specific pre-training and their gazing behavior depended on the image category. Dogs preferred the facial images of conspecifics over other categories and fixated on a familiar image longer than on novel stimuli regardless of the category. Dogs’ attraction to conspecifics over human faces and inanimate objects might reflect their natural interest, but further studies are needed to establish whether dogs possess picture object recognition. Contact-free eye movement tracking is a promising method for the broader exploration of processes underlying special socio-cognitive skills in dogs previously found in behavioral studies.     

Unconscious cognition isn't that smart: modulation of masked repetition priming effect in the word naming task

Masked repetition primes produce greater facilitation in naming in a block containing a high, rather than low proportion of repetition trials. [Bodner, G. E., & Masson, M. E. J. (2004). Beyond binary judgments: Prime-validity modulates masked repetition priming in the naming task. Memory & Cognition, 32, 1-11] suggested this phenomenon reflects a strategic shift in the use of masked prime as a function of its validity. We propose an alternative explanation based on the Adaptation to the statistics of the environment (ASE) framework, which suggests the proportion effect reflects adaptation of response-initiation processes to recent trial difficulty. Consistent with ASE's prediction, (1) stimuli that produce the proportion effect also produced an "asymmetric blocking effect", showing a smaller fall in response latencies of hard items than the rise of easy items when the two item types were intermixed relative to pure blocks comprised of only one item type, and (2) manipulation of prime validity was neither necessary nor sufficient to modulate the size of masked-priming effect.     

Proximal and Distal Defense: A New Perspective on Unconscious Motivation

Death-related thoughts produce different effects on thought and behavior when they are in current focal attention and when they are on the fringes of consciousness. When such thoughts are conscious, people attempt to either remove them from consciousness or push death into the distant future by distorting their beliefs to logically imply that they have many remaining years to live. When such thoughts are highly accessible but outside current focal attention, people increase efforts to view themselves as persons of value living in a meaningful universe. In this way, awareness of the inevitability of death produces diverse effects on human thought and behavior that bear little obvious resemblance to the problem of death.     

Unconscious learning. Conditioning to subliminal visual stimuli

The role of consciousness in Pavlovian conditioning was examined in two experiments in which visually masked neutral words were used as the conditioned stimuli (CS) and an electric shock as the unconditioned stimulus (US). The inter-stimulus interval (ISI) was established individually. A detection threshold was used in Experiment 1 and an identification threshold in Experiment 2. The primary dependent variable was the skin conductance response (SCR). Results showed that the conditioned response (CR) was acquired by 58% of participants who perceived stimuli above the identification threshold, 50% of participants who perceived stimuli below the detection threshold, and 11% of participants who perceived stimuli below the identification threshold, but above the detection threshold. These results suggest that consciousness of the CS-US contingency is not a necessary condition for acquiring a CR of the autonomous nervous system (ANS).     

Unconscious influences revealed. Attention, awareness, and control.

Recent findings of dissociations between direct and indirect tests of memory and perception have renewed enthusiasm for the study of unconscious processing. The authors argue that such findings are heir to the same problems of interpretation as are earlier evidence of unconscious influences--namely, one cannot eliminate the possibility that conscious processes contaminated the measure of unconscious processes. To solve this problem, the authors define unconscious influences in terms of lack of conscious control and then describe a process dissociation procedure that yields separate quantitative estimates of the concurrent contributions of unconscious and consciously controlled processing to task performance. This technique allows one to go beyond demonstrating the existence of unconscious processes to examine factors that determine their magnitude.     

Paleolithic art and cognition.

In this article, I have explored some of the possible relationships between the first appearance of representational art in human history and the early development of human cognition. I argue that most Upper Paleolithic depictions directly represent generalized mental images of their animal subjects rather than percepts or recollected scenes from life and that these images, in turn, are representations of concepts at the basic level of categorization. A common feature of Paleolithic art forms is the salience of parts, and the treatment of parts indicates analytic and synthetic (recombinative) abilities. There are some indications of superordinate categorization. An expansion of conceptual thinking seems to be implied as well as the beginnings of operational thought. The presence and practice of depiction may have had the effect of bringing concepts into consciousness and thus inducing reflection in at least a partially abstract mode.     

Unconscious fantasy in context: The work of Jacob A. Arlow

For Jacob A. Arlow, understanding unconscious fantasies was central to his clinical work. These fantasies are to be found at the core of those eruptions that break without warning into our ordinary lives, whether in the form of hysterical symptoms, daydreams or nightmares. What, however, could an unconscious fantasy be on a theoretical level, beyond a vehicle for discharge? Although partly unconscious, such fantasies are sometimes composed of fixed verbal content with a high degree of internal organisation. Unconscious fantasies therefore pose many challenges to understanding.     

Black-white personality differences: another look.

Investigated the meaning of Black-White differences typically discovered on personality instruments by administering a pool of items derived from both the MMPI and California Psychological Inventory, as well as a group form of the Embedded Figures Test, to a sample of 226 black and white junior college students. A cluster analysis of the unexpectedly large number of inventory items significantly differentiating the two races produced reliable and meaningful configurations. Interpretations of race differences on these clusters and the EFT provide a new perspective on the meaning of Black-White personality differences.     

A fresh look at perverse behaviour.

A review of psychoanalytic thinking on perversions is offered and brought up to date with an outline of Kohut's concept of perversions representing sexualization of narcissistic configurations. An emphasis is made on the sexualization of the affects to underscore the structural defect in perverse behaviour. Broad constructions directed to the disavowal of feelings are considered most meaningful in analytic treatment of individuals suffering from sexual perversions.