酒精对前注意加工的影响：失匹配负波的证据

前注意是指在注意之前对事物进行该不该注意分析的心理过程, 它对人适应不断变化的环境具有很重要的作用。近年来一些研究者用失匹配负波(Mismatch Negtivity, MMN)作为前注意加工的ERP指标探讨了酒精对人前注意加工的影响, 结果发现：1)急性摄入超过0.3g/kg的酒精, 人的MMN波幅会显著减小, 波峰潜伏期显著延长; 2)长期慢性摄入酒精, 人的MMN不仅表现为波幅减小和波峰潜伏期延迟, 而且在戒断酒精之后, MMN又会逐渐恢复正常; 3)有酒精成瘾家族史的子代的MMN没发现异常。这些研究结果说明酒精的急性和慢性摄入会损害人的前注意加工, 但尚未发现这种损害会影响到下一代的证据。     

失匹配负波研究的主要争论与动向

失匹配负波(MMN)是小概率刺激ERP减大概率刺激ERP的差异负波,可由Oddball范式和多特征选择范式获得。近年研究发现MMN不仅存在于听觉通道,还存在于其他通道,且其波幅可反映自动加工,潜伏期则可反映控制加工。MMN可能反映与错误负波ERN相同或相似的加工过程,MMN反映社会认知加工的观点还需进一步研究。未来研究需整合高时间和空间精度技术,从行为和认知神经科学多层面来开展复杂社会刺激的研究,以便阐明MMN可能反映社会认知加工的性质,并在此基础上增强对MMN与ERN的比较研究。     

汉语普通话声调感知的老年化效应：来自ERP的证据

研究考察汉语普通话老年人前注意阶段声调感知状况, 探究是否存在领域特殊的老年化。运用事件相关电位技术, 采用被动oddball范式诱发MMN回应, 控制领域一般性因素的影响。结果显示涉及范畴变化的声调和非语音音调诱发MMN强度衰减, 不涉及范畴变化的声调诱发MMN强度未衰退。研究结果表明在前注意阶段, 在特定汉语普通话声调范畴知识加工能力上存在领域特殊的衰退, 而不涉及母语音位知识的声调的感知存在领域特殊的一定程度的保留, 这一保留与时间维度上补偿机制的调用有关。受补偿机制调节, 语言加工呈现出衰退或保留等不同的老年化进程。     

音乐时间加工的影响因素

音乐的时间维度在音乐艺术中具有重要的作用。已有研究表明, 对音乐时间维度的加工受制于许多方面, 一方面, 音乐构成要素的特征影响着人们对音乐时间的加工; 另一方面, 听者的年龄、注意、工作记忆、音乐训练以及对音乐的熟悉性等因素也影响着他们对音乐时间加工的深度和广度。未来的研究应进一步确定音乐时间加工的影响因素及其相对重要性, 并对音乐时间加工中基因与环境的关系以及发展的敏感期等问题进行研究。     

特质焦虑在面部表情前注意加工阶段的影响：来自ERP的证据

为探讨高特质焦虑者在前注意阶段对情绪刺激的加工模式以明确其情绪偏向性特点, 本研究采用偏差-标准反转Oddball范式探讨了特质焦虑对面部表情前注意加工的影响。结果发现: 对于低特质焦虑组, 悲伤面孔所诱发的早期EMMN显著大于快乐面孔, 而对于高特质焦虑组, 快乐和悲伤面孔所诱发的早期EMMN差异不显著。并且, 高特质焦虑组的快乐面孔EMMN波幅显著大于低特质焦虑组。结果表明, 人格特质是影响面部表情前注意加工的重要因素。不同于普通被试, 高特质焦虑者在前注意阶段对快乐和悲伤面孔存在相类似的加工模式, 可能难以有效区分快乐和悲伤情绪面孔。     

音乐训练对执行功能的影响

尽管音乐训练影响许多认知加工,但这种广泛性影响背后的机制迄今仍不清楚。近年来,研究者认为音乐训练的迁移效应可能是通过执行功能起作用。本文将执行功能细分为抑制控制、工作记忆、认知灵活性三个核心成分,考察音乐训练对这三个成分的影响以及执行功能在音乐训练迁移效应中的中介作用。研究结果表明,音乐训练对执行功能不同成分的影响有不同特点。同时,前额叶结构与功能的变化在音乐训练影响执行功能的过程中发挥着重要作用。此外,关于执行功能在音乐训练迁移效应中的中介作用,目前研究还存在不一致的结果,未来研究应采用多种技术手段深入探讨这一问题。     

早期视听整合加工——来自MMN的证据

视听整合是指当呈现的视觉和听觉信号在时间、空间上大致接近时,视觉和听觉系统倾向于整合的加工过程。失匹配负波(Mismatch Negativity,MMN)作为反映大脑早期加工的成分,表征偏差的信息输入与感觉记忆痕迹之间的神经失匹配。以MMN作为探测指标的视听整合加工研究,主要包括MMN在阅读理解中字母和语音、韵律信息、麦格克效应等方面的视听整合加工,以及分析跨通道视听整合相互竞争、相互补充的关系。未来研究需聚焦于其他通道的跨通道整合加工,同时应拓展MMN的诱发范式。     

非注意状态下拓扑性质优先加工的电生理学证据

采用ERP技术并运用跨通路延迟反应范式来探讨拓扑性质知觉理论在非注意状态下是否成立,发现存在视觉MMN且视觉系统在非注意状态下对拓扑性质的加工比颜色加工更早,表明与局部属性(颜色)相比,拓扑性质在无意识中优先得到加工,拓扑性质知觉理论在非注意状态下是成立的。     

高感觉寻求者对危险意义声音的自动加工优势：N1、P2和MMN的证据

Zuckerman关于感觉寻求特质的唤醒理论认为,高感觉寻求者为提高其大脑唤醒,会不惜以冒险方式来寻求高强度、变化、新异和复杂的刺激经验。既往研究已经证实了高感觉寻求者对高强度的、变化的和新奇的刺激材料的认知加工偏向,但尚缺乏来自复杂的和具有危险意义刺激材料的研究证据。我们运用反转Oddball实验范式,以听觉N1、P2和MMN（Mismatch negativity）为ERPs指标,系统比较了高、低感觉寻求者对危险意义声音的自动唤醒、注意偏向和特征探测这三个方面的认知加工差异。结果发现,高感觉寻求者的N1、P2和MMN波幅均显著大于低感觉寻求者。结果表明,高感觉寻求者对危险意义声音产生了更高的唤醒水平、注意偏向和特征探测自动加工优势,这些优势可能是其偏于冒险行为的认知神经机制。     

多目标视觉追踪的现象、规律和认知加工机制

传统注意研究多基于单个注意焦点和采用静态视觉信息。由Pylyshyn(1988)提出的多目标追踪范式则基于动态场景,是研究同时追踪多个目标的容量有限的注意机制比较常用的范式。在多目标追踪基础上发展起来的多身份追踪范式中的对象带有身份信息,涉及到较复杂的认知机制,如注意、视觉工作记忆等。探讨以上两种视觉追踪的认知加工机制对真实或模拟情境中动态信息的认知加工活动有重要的理论价值和实践指导意义。     

音乐能增强我们的免疫力吗——音乐的心理神经免疫学效应研究的新进展

近十年以来,音乐能够给人类带来健康的研究越来越多。其中,音乐对人免疫系统的影响属于较新的范畴。本文以音乐心理神经免疫学的视角,从内分泌反应、免疫反应以及免疫系统三个方面,探讨音乐是怎样增强人体免疫力的。音乐对于人体的生物学影响已经得到了公认,但是音乐的心理神经免疫学还是需要更多的量化证明,关于此方面的进一步的研究可能影响到我们医疗保健的整体模型。     

音乐学习对语言加工的促进作用

音乐学习可以增强个体的艺术素养,同时,音乐学习对其他认知加工过程尤其是语言学习还有正面的促进作用。近年来国内外学者主要围绕着音乐家、音乐学习障碍个体开展了一系列相关工作,同时还进行了相关的追踪研究。值得注意的是,有关音乐学习促进语言加工的实证依据主要来自横断研究,还需要更多的纵向追踪研究来进一步提供因果关系的证据。这方面的工作将最终促进音乐学习与训练在教育与医疗领域的广泛应用。     

The nature of music from a biological perspective

Music, as language, is a universal human trait. Throughout human history and across all cultures, people have produced and enjoyed music. Despite its ubiquity, the musical capacity is rarely studied as a biological function. Music is typically viewed as a cultural invention. In this paper, the evidence bearing on the biological perspective of the musical capacity is reviewed. Related issues, such as domain-specificity, innateness, and brain localization, are addressed in an attempt to offer a unified conceptual basis for the study of music processing. This scheme should facilitate the study of the biological foundations of music by bringing together the fields of genetics, developmental and comparative research, neurosciences, and musicology.     

音乐句法加工的认知机制与音乐结构的影响模式

音乐和语言是人类最重要的两种交流系统。与语言一样, 音符的排列和组织也是建立在一定的句法规则之上。尽管现有研究发现听众具有感知音乐句法的能力, 音乐句法加工的认知机制以及影响因素仍不清楚。基于此, 拟深入探究预期和整合在音乐音高句法加工中的作用, 以及音乐层级结构和时间结构对音高句法加工的影响。以期进一步揭示音乐句法加工的本质, 为音乐和语言的比较以及探索人类更一般的交流机制提供实证依据。     

The MUSOS (MUsic SOftware System) Toolkit: A computer-based,open source application for testing memory for melodies

Despite numerous innovative studies, rates of replication in the field of music psychology are extremely low (Frieler et al., 2013). Two key methodological challenges affecting researchers wishing to administer and reproduce studies in music cognition are the difficulty of measuring musical responses, particularly when conducting free-recall studies, and access to a reliable set of novel stimuli unrestricted by copyright or licensing issues. In this article, we propose a solution for these challenges in computer-based administration. We present a computer-based application for testing memory for melodies. Created using the software Max/MSP (Cycling ’74, 2014a), the MUSOS (Music Software System) Toolkit uses a simple modular framework configurable for testing common paradigms such as recall, old–new recognition, and stem completion. The program is accompanied by a stimulus set of 156 novel, copyright-free melodies, in audio and Max/MSP file formats. Two pilot tests were conducted to establish the properties of the accompanying stimulus set that are relevant to music cognition and general memory research. By using this software, a researcher without specialist musical training may administer and accurately measure responses from common paradigms used in the study of memory for music.     

Practice effects in backward masking

In two experiments we demonstrate that much larger practice effects occur in a backward masking paradigm where patterned masks are used than in similar visual processing paradigms, such as lateral masking and whole report. In additional experiments we examine four possible explanations for the large practice effects: increased familiarity with the paradigm in general, learning about the targets, learning about the masks, and enhanced sensory processing. Because of failure to observe similar practice effects in related paradigms not involving backward masking and because of the sustained nature of the improvement, we reject the first explanation as a source of practice effect. Experiment 3 allowed us to reject target learning as a source of improvement as well; target sets were switched at the end of training, but no decrement in performance was observed. In Experiment 4, mask sets were switched at the end of training, revealing a significant decrement in performance. Learning about the specific masks, then, does contribute to the observed improvement. However, it is responsible for only about one third of the overall improvement in performance. The final experiment provides evidence that the residual improvement is due to enhanced sensory processing. In that experiment, training on backward masking led to a lowered threshold in a two-flash paradigm but not to a significant change in whole-report performance.     

音乐意义传递的神经证据——基于启动范式的发现与思考

使用语义启动(semantic priming)、概念启动(conceptual priming)、情感启动(affective priming)以及和声启动(harmonic priming)四种启动范式及其变式,认知神经科学的研究证实:音乐能够传递不同的意义,其主要的神经证据是两大脑电指标:对应于外在音乐意义(extra-musical meaning)的N400与对应于内在音乐意义(intra-musical meaning)的N5。对4种启动范式的分析发现:1)音乐以"语义"与"非语义"两种形式为媒介传递意义;2)启动范式的核心特征即是对基于"音乐知觉与图式"的"期望匹配与不匹配效应"的操作。与此同时,近期的研究表明N400与N5间的关系并非完全的"彼此独立",而是倾向于共存与共变,甚至是一个成分的两种表达。未来研究在进一步厘清音乐内、外在意义深层关联的同时,有必要将音乐意义传递的神经科学研究纳入到更为宏阔的时代、地域与社会性背景之中。     

Does recall of a past music event invoke a reminiscence bump in young adults?

Many studies of the reminiscence bump (RB) in music invoke memories from different autobiographical times by using stimulus specific prompts (SSPs). This study investigated the utility of a non-SSP paradigm to determine whether the RB would emerge when participants were asked to recall a single memorable musical event from “a time long ago”. The presence of a RB in response to music has not been obtained in such a manner for younger participants. Eighty-eight 20–22 year olds reported music episodes that peaked when their autobiographical age was 13–14 years. Self-selected stimuli included a range of musical styles, including classical and non-Western pop forms, such as J-pop and K-pop, as well as generational pop music, such as the Beatles. However, most participants reported pop/rock music that was contemporaneous with encoding age, providing support for the utility of published SSP paradigms using pop music. Implications for and limitations of SSP paradigms are discussed. Participants were also asked to relate the selected musical piece to current musical tastes. Most participants liked the music that they selected, with many continuing to like the music, but most also reported a general broadening of their taste, consistent with developmental literature on open-earedness.