Influence of mental imagery on spatial presence and enjoyment assessed in different types of media

Previous research studies on spatial presence point out that the users' imagery abilities are of importance. However, this influence has not yet been tested for different media. This is surprising because theoretical considerations suggest that mental imagery comes into play when a mediated environment lacks vividness. The aim of this study was to clarify the influence mental imagery abilities can have on the sensation of presence and enjoyment in different mediated environments. We presented the participants (n?=?60) a narrative text, a movie sequence, and a computer game. Across all media, no effect of mental imagery abilities on presence and enjoyment was found, but imagery abilities marginally interacted with the mediated environment. Individuals with high imagery abilities experienced more presence and enjoyment in the text condition. The results were different for the film condition: here, individuals with poor imagery abilities reported marginally higher enjoyment ratings, whereas the presence ratings did not differ between the two groups. Imagery abilities had no influence on presence and enjoyment within the computer game condition. The results suggest that good imagery abilities contribute to the sensations of presence and enjoyment when reading a narrative text. The results for this study have an applied impact for media use because their effectiveness can depend on the individual mental imagery abilities.     

Enhancing the mental representations of space used by blind pedestrians, based on an image schemata model

The configuration of mental representation of space plays a major role in successful navigational activities. Therefore, navigational assistance for pedestrians who are blind should help them to better configure their mental representation of the environment. In this paper, we propose and exploit a computational model for the mental representation of urban areas as an aid to orientation and navigation for visually impaired pedestrians. Our model uses image schemata to capture the spatial semantics and configural elements of urban space necessary for this purpose. These image schemata are schematic structures that are continually requested by individuals in their perception, bodily movement and interaction with surrounding objects. Our proposed model also incorporates a hierarchical structure to provide different levels of detail tied to appropriate spatial perspectives at each scale. We presume that such computational model will help us to develop an appropriate structure of spatial data used to assist the target population. At the end of the paper, we illustrate the utility of our configural model by developing a typical scenario for the navigation of a blind pedestrian in an urban area.     

Being present in more than one place at a time? Patterns of mental self-localization

Research in cognitive neuroscience and spatial presence suggests that human mental self-localization is tied to one place at a given point in time. In this study, we examined whether it is possible to feel localized at two distinct places at the same time. Participants (N = 30) were exposed to a virtual rollercoaster and they continuously judged to what extent they felt present in the immediate environment and in the mediated environment, respectively. The results show that participants distributed their self-localization to both environments, and the two values added up to closely 100% over time. In addition, even though the judgments are highly idiosyncratic, they were almost perfectly inversely related. This indicates that individuals can distribute their self over two distinct places. These findings provide important insights about understanding of the human self-localization.     

Räumliches Schließen als Sprachverstehen

dThe other side of mental models: theories of language comprehension” reads the title of a paper of Garnham (1996). At the opposite side is inference (see subtitle of Johnson-Laird, 1983). Inference as well as language comprehension have been extensively examined within the framework of the mental model theory. But investigations in these two areas seem to be pursued largely independently of each other, looking at the coin from only one of both sides. Taking spatial inference as an example, we argue that inferring a conclusion from premises describing a definite spatial layout is reducible to language comprehension, namely the construction of a single mental model; no model variation is performed to evaluate a tentative conclusion. The constitutive process in spatial reasoning is therefore the integration of the information of several premises into one mental model. This process is enlightened by figural effects that refer to principles of model construction that might conflict with one another. We suggest it to be helpful to consider anaphora resolution as part of the integration process.     

压后皮质在空间导航的作用：认知地图与环境的映射

压后皮质在大脑中紧邻胼胝体压部,在空间导航中起到重要作用。但其在空间导航过程中的功能尚未明确,目前存在空间更新、地标领航和参照系转换三种观点。本文通过梳理上述观点,认为它们背后可能存在一致的认知过程,即对认知地图与环境布局进行映射。在基于认知地图的导航过程中,这种映射功能对于解释压后皮质的激活有一定的合理性。未来研究应该注重对压后皮质的功能定位,同时注意空间尺度和熟悉性对任务表现的影响。     

Family support and acceptance, gay male identity formation, and psychological adjustment: a path model.

While heterosexist family undermining has been demonstrated to be a developmental risk factor in the life of persons with same-gender orientation, the issue of protective family factors is both controversial and relatively neglected. In this study of Israeli gay males (N = 114), we focused on the interrelations of family support, family acceptance and family knowledge of gay orientation, and gay male identity formation, and their effects on mental health and self-esteem. A path model was proposed based on the hypotheses that family support, family acceptance, family knowledge, and gay identity formation have an impact on psychological adjustment, and that family support has an effect on gay identity formation that is mediated by family acceptance. The assessment of gay identity formation was based on an established stage model that was streamlined for cross-cultural practice by defining three basic processes of same-gender identity formation: self-definition, self-acceptance, and disclosure (Elizur & Mintzer, 2001). The testing of our conceptual path model demonstrated an excellent fit with the data. An alternative model that hypothesized effects of gay male identity on family acceptance and family knowledge did not fit the data. Interpreting these results, we propose that the main effect of family support/acceptance on gay identity is related to the process of disclosure, and that both general family support and family acceptance of same-gender orientation play a significant role in the psychological adjustment of gay men.     

Remembering the past and imagining the future: a neural model of spatial memory and imagery

The authors model the neural mechanisms underlying spatial cognition, integrating neuronal systems and behavioral data, and address the relationships between long-term memory, short-term memory, and imagery, and between egocentric and allocentric and visual and ideothetic representations. Long-term spatial memory is modeled as attractor dynamics within medial-temporal allocentric representations, and short-term memory is modeled as egocentric parietal representations driven by perception, retrieval, and imagery and modulated by directed attention. Both encoding and retrieval/imagery require translation between egocentric and allocentric representations, which are mediated by posterior parietal and retrosplenial areas and the use of head direction representations in Papez's circuit. Thus, the hippocampus effectively indexes information by real or imagined location, whereas Papez's circuit translates to imagery or from perception according to the direction of view. Modulation of this translation by motor efference allows spatial updating of representations, whereas prefrontal simulated motor efference allows mental exploration. The alternating temporal-parietal flows of information are organized by the theta rhythm. Simulations demonstrate the retrieval and updating of familiar spatial scenes, hemispatial neglect in memory, and the effects on hippocampal place cell firing of lesioned head direction representations and of conflicting visual and ideothetic inputs.     

Spatial Mental Models in Linear Reasoning

There is ample evidence that linear syllogisms are solved by constructing mental models, which semantically represent states in the world (Evans, Newstead, &; Byrne, 1993; Vandierendonck &; De Vooght, 1996 a). Such models are built by combining the information presented in the premises into an integrated representation, which is often thought of as spatial. The present article (a) presents evidence for an integrated spatial representation of premise information and (b) proposes a model construction process based on scanning processes that locate the position where new information is to be integrated into the spatial model.     

团队共享心智模型的影响因素与效果

采用两种测量方法对团队共享心智模型的影响因素与影响效果进行探讨。多元回归和层次回归分析的结果表明,团队成员沟通得越好,就越有利于形成共享心智模型;如果团队中存在搭便车的行为越严重,就越不利于形成共享心智模型;共享心智模型有利于团队有效运作,取得好的绩效;有共享心智模型的团队,成员的满意度比较高,群体效能感较高,并且团队成员之间的密切关系会延续到工作之外;共享心智模型在团队运行过程变量和团队有效性之间起到中介作用。     

Evidence for Mental-model-based Reasoning: A Comparison of Reasoning with Time and Space Concepts

Johnson-Laird (1983) has argued that spatial reasoning is based on the construction and manipulation of mental models in memory. The present article addresses the question of whether reasoning about time relations is constrained by the same factors as reasoning about spatial relations. An experiment is reported that explored the similarities and the differences in the performance of subjects in comparable spatial and temporal reasoning tasks. The results indicated that, in both the temporal and the spatial content domains, the data were in agreement with the view that subjects solved problems by constructing models in memory rather than with a logical rule conceptualisation of reasoning. An analysis of the premise-reading times on the basis of premise-linking order provided support for an on-line process of mental models construction, and offered an explanation for the finding that spatial problems that did require an inference of transitivity were easier than problems that did not. No essential differences in processing and performance were observed across the two content domains, although in the time domain the correctness data were in agreement with both the mental models theory and the logical rules view. The results are discussed with respect to the mental models theory and the structural characteristics of the problems.     

Predicting environmental learning from spatial abilities: An indirect route

Relationships among spatial abilities, as assessed by a battery of psychometric tests and experimental tasks, and environmental learning, as assessed by a series of macrospatial tasks, were examined in two studies using confirmatory factor analysis with directional paths. The initial study indicated the utility of a five-factor model, one (general spatial ability) derived from psychometric tests, two (spatial-sequential memory and spatial perspective-taking latency) from experimental tasks, and two (topological knowledge and Euclidean direction knowledge) from measures of environmental learning. The best fitting path model further indicated that the spatial-sequential memory factor mediated the relationship between general spatial ability and topological knowledge, and that perspective-taking latency mediated the relationship between general spatial ability and Euclidean direction knowledge. The second study confirmed the five-factor path model using a different participant sample and environmental setting. The only failure to replicate involved the path between perspective-taking latency in the lab and Euclidean direction knowledge in the environment. Results indicate that the relationship between basic spatial abilities and environmental learning is significantly mediated by cognitive processes that can be assessed using laboratory tasks.     

顿悟的大脑机制

自从柯勒1917年提出顿悟的概念以来,这个问题一直吸引着心理学家的关注。但有关顿悟过程的精确的大脑机制却始终未被触及。从心理过程上看,顿悟是一个瞬间实现的、问题解决视角的“新旧交替”过程;它包含两个方面,一是新的有效的问题解决思路如何实现,二是旧的无效的思路如何被抛弃（即打破思维定势）。我们以谜语作为材料,利用功能性磁共振成像（fMRI）技术精确记录了人类的大脑在实现顿悟的一瞬间的活动状况。结果显示顿悟过程激活了包括额叶、颞叶、扣带前回、以及海马在内的广泛脑区。根据各方面的综合证据,本文认为：顿悟过程中,新异而有效的联系的形成依赖于海马,问题表征方式的有效转换依赖于一个“非语言的” 视觉空间信息加工网络,而思维定势的打破与转移则依赖于扣带前回与左腹侧额叶。     

Concrete spatial language: see what I mean?

Conveying complex mental scenarios is at the heart of human language. Advances in cognitive linguistics suggest this is mediated by an ability to activate cognitive systems involved in non-linguistic processing of spatial information. In this fMRI-study, we compare sentences with a concrete spatial meaning to sentences with an abstract meaning. Using this contrast, we demonstrate that sentence meaning involving motion in a concrete topographical context, whether linked to animate or inanimate subjects nouns, yield more activation in a bilateral posterior network, including fusiform/parahippocampal, and retrosplenial regions, and the temporal-occipital-parietal junction. These areas have previously been shown to be involved in mental navigation and spatial memory tasks. Sentences with an abstract setting activate an extended largely left-lateralised network in the anterior temporal, and inferior and superior prefrontal cortices, previously found activated by comprehension of complex semantics such as narratives. These findings support a model of language, where the understanding of spatial semantic content emerges from the recruitment of brain regions involved in non-linguistic spatial processing.     

Unintended,but still blameworthy: the roles of awareness,desire, and anger in negligence,restitution, and punishment

Two experiments (Experiment 1 N?=?149, Experiment 2 N?=?141) investigated how two mental states that underlie how perceivers reason about intentional action (awareness of action and desire for an outcome) influence blame and punishment for unintended (i.e., negligent) harms, and the role of anger in this process. Specifically, this research explores how the presence of awareness (of risk in acting, or simply of acting) and/or desire in an acting agent's mental states influences perceptions of negligence, judgements that the acting agent owes restitution to a victim, and the desire to punish the agent, mediated by anger. In both experiments, awareness and desire led to increased anger at the agent and increased perception of negligence. Anger mediated the effect of awareness and desire on negligence rather than negligence mediating the effect of mental states on anger. Anger also mediated punishment, and negligence mediated the effects of anger on restitution. We discuss how perceivers consider mental states such as awareness, desire, and knowledge when reasoning about blame and punishment for unintended harms, and the role of anger in this process.     

基于双因素模型的老年人生命意义感与心理健康：老化态度的中介作用——基于双因素模型的老年人生命意义感与心理健康：老化态度的中介作用

在积极心理学的影响下,心理健康双因素模型包含主观幸福感和精神病理学指标。研究旨在验证心理健康双因素模型在老年人中的适用性,考察老化态度在生命意义感和心理健康间的多重中介作用。采用爱丁堡幸福量表、一般健康问卷、老化态度问卷和人生意义问卷调查了283名广州市社区老年人。结果发现：（1）心理健康双因素模型较单因素模型的拟合度更优。（2）生命意义感通过老化态度的三条路径（对身体变化、心理获得和心理社会丧失的积极态度）促进心理健康,但具体机制不同。增强意义体验、意义追寻通过老化态度的完全中介作用,提高主观幸福感。增强意义体验通过老化态度的完全中介作用,减弱意义追寻通过老化态度的部分中介作用,减少精神病理学症状。研究结果扩大了心理健康双因素模型的适用年龄范围,为提升老年人的心理健康提供实证依据。