参照系冲突对表象更新的影响

以三维场景图片为学习材料,通过系统操纵参照系之间的冲突,在四个实验中考察了两种不同表象更新任务的参照系冲突效应。结果发现：（1）参照系冲突对以自我为中心的表象更新有显著影响,但对以场景为中心的表象更新影响相对较小,从而导致以自我为中心表象更新相对于以场景为中心的表象更新的优势效应减小直至消失。（2）旋转者身体倾斜与场景倾斜引发的参照系冲突效应具有不对等性：由于整个场景倾斜引发的参照系冲突效应大于由于旋转者身体倾斜引发的参照系冲突效应。（3）与场景同时倾斜的局部空间参照系降低了以场景为中心表象更新任务的参照系冲突效应,但对以自我为中心表象更新任务的参照系冲突效应没有影响。这些结果表明两种表象更新任务具有不同的认知加工机制,并进一步扩展了Presson等提出的空间更新参照系冲突模型     

视觉表象扫描加工中的认知控制

通过建构一个反向扫描任务而形成任务冲突,在3个实验中考察了视觉表象扫描中认知控制与冲突解决机制。结果发现:(1)视觉表象扫描中出现了任务冲突效应;(2)外源性认知控制增强降低了任务冲突效应,但不影响扫描效率;(3)内源性认知控制增强既降低了任务冲突效应,也提高了反向扫描任务扫描效率。这些结果证实视觉表象扫描中存在一个认知控制机制,并发展了现有冲突解决理论。     

信息加工阶段与情绪刺激加工

情绪刺激的特定加工路径使其能够有效捕获注意并获得加工资源,在一定程度上反映了其加工优势。然而,由于信息加工资源的有限性,由情绪信息引发的、不受自上而下认知因素影响的加工优势并非一直存在。本文根据情绪刺激在信息加工过程不同阶段的加工特点,阐述了情绪注意效应与自上而下注意效应在知觉阶段的注意选择过程中的交互影响,以及在执行控制阶段,情绪刺激加工与执行控制功能间的相互作用。     

基于Flanker、Stroop和Simon多重冲突驱动的认知控制机制

认知控制是维持和调整多任务目标导向的加工策略,而基于多任务冲突的认知控制是一般领域上还是特定领域上,即一种冲突是否会影响另一种冲突的解决,已有研究并没有得到统一的结论。本研究运用事件相关电位（ERP）方法考察了同一任务中不同类型冲突（Stroop、Simon和Flanker冲突）驱动认知控制调节的脑机制。数据显示：各冲突都出现了一致性效应和冲突适应性效应;实验中每种冲突的上一个trial只与该类冲突的当前trial的交互效应显著,而与其他类型冲突的当前trial的交互效应不显著;几乎所有冲突都发现了P300、N450、SP成分一致性效应。结果表明：在不同类型冲突驱动条件下,人脑能够同时监控并解决不同类型的冲突;冲突驱动的认知控制系统以局部的控制方式工作;人脑是基于多冲突驱动的认知控制系统的灵活性和某类型冲突所特有的控制机制来解决冲突,且冲突解决机制是相互独立、互不干扰的。     

任务设置影响负相容效应的机制——自上而下认知控制对阈下启动信息加工的影响

结合掩蔽启动范式和Go-Nogo范式,考察了任务设置影响负相容效应的机制。实验中以指向左或右的双箭头为掩蔽启动项,在两个Block中的Go试次中分别以箭头和汉字为目标项,要求被试对箭头或汉字做辨别反应,Nogo试次中不呈现目标项,被试无需反应。结果发现:Go试次中,只有在箭头任务设置下才出现负相容效应,脑电结果表现为一致条件下P3潜伏期显著长于不一致条件;Nogo试次中,箭头任务设置下的P3波幅显著大于汉字任务设置下的P3波幅。说明负相容效应受到任务设置这种自上而下认知控制过程的影响,且这种影响发生在阈下启动信息加工阶段。支持注意敏化模型,提示可以在更普遍的角度上理解负相容效应。     

视觉表象扫描加工可塑性水平的研究

本研究通过两个实验分别检测20名飞行员和10名老年被试及其相应控制组的表象扫描加工水平,旨在探讨表象扫描这一典型视觉空间认知加工所表现出的可塑性水平。研究结果表明,表象扫描加工水平既没有因外界系统的训练而发生功能增强的练习效应,也未出现随年老化过程所表现出的功能显著下降的年龄效应。研究提示,由于受大脑神经细胞活动特性改变的影响,表象扫描加工能力更多地表现出了其认知加工的相对稳定性或可塑性较低的认知特性。     

从动作模仿到社会认知：自我-他人控制的作用

在社会互动中, 人们具有自动模仿他人动作的倾向。尽管这种自动模仿有利于个体理解他人动作的感受, 但有时也会与自身的动作意图产生冲突。因此我们需要将自身动作意图与他人动作进行区分并调控二者之间的冲突。这种能力被称为自我-他人控制(self-other control, SOC)。与动作模仿控制相同, 心理理论、观点采择和共情等更高级的社会认知同样涉及对自我和他人信息的加工。很多证据表明, SOC可能是一种领域普遍的(domain-general)加工机制, 即在动作模仿控制和其他社会认知中, 大脑对自我和他人双方信息的区分和冲突调控共用同一套SOC系统。最近一些研究发现, 相比于抑制自身优势反应的抑制控制(inhibitory control), SOC是社会认知中一个更为关键的影响因素, 抑制控制对社会认知的作用受到SOC的调节。此外, SOC的领域普遍性提示我们, 未来可以通过简单的动作模仿控制训练, 来为社会认知受损个体(如孤独症和述情障碍者)进行康复训练。     

知觉负载、注意定势与选择性注意

本研究采用Eriksen Flanker（侧抑制）范式,将当前任务区分为高、低知觉负载两种条件．并系统操纵边缘视野干扰项与中央靶子的不同加工层次关系,从而考察注意选择的知觉负载理论。实验一发现,高知觉负载情况下没有任何flanker冲突效应,而低知觉负载情况下既有知觉层次和反应层次的冲突效应,也有一致条件下的促进效应。实验二增加了一致条件试次的比例,从而操纵自上而下的注意定势,发现高、低知觉负载情况下都存在知觉冲突效应和一致条件下的促进效应。这些发现表明,对任务无关信息的加工既受到任务相关信息的知觉负载和剩余加工资源的分配的影响,也受到自上而下注意定势的影响;自下而上和自上而下过程相互作用,共同决定加工资源的分配和注意选择的认知阶段。     

靶子-靶子任务中认知控制对返回抑制的反转

使用冲突色词作为外源性线索,通过3(任务类型)×2(线索有效性)×2(色词一致性)混合设计考察认知控制对返回抑制(IOR)的影响。结果:(1)线索-靶子任务(CT)和靶子-靶子任务(TT)均产生正值IOR,CT的IOR效应量(32ms)显著大于TT(12ms)。(2)线索有效性和任务类型交互作用显著。按键反应组IOR效应量(11.85ms)显著大于颜色反应组(-18.5ms)和词意反应组(-25.65ms)。证实冲突色词在CT任务中做为线索可产生IOR,这种范式上的新尝试同样适用于TT任务。在TT任务中对认知冲突的觉察和控制导致IOR效应反转,支持注意的非盲性机制。研究为主动操纵被试对线索的认知控制程度,考察复杂任务下实施认知控制对注意定向的影响提供了一条可行途径。     

知觉冲突信息对他人印象控制策略的影响:以直接信息与间接信息为例

个体根据知觉选择、反应偏向以及实时更新的情境信息调节自身状态,以适应性地促进对当前知觉信息的灵活编码,这一过程即为印象形成的认知控制。采用词语判断任务操控直接信息与间接信息,通过侧抑制任务的变式对知觉对象进行高、低负载两种水平的加工,考察了不同类型的冲突信息及其知觉负载对他人印象控制策略的影响。结果发现:知觉负载对印象控制策略的调节作用会依据知觉信息的类型(冲突vs.相容)而变化。具体而言,当知觉信息相容时,个体的印象控制策略仅受知觉负载的调节而产生效应,即高知觉负载的个体易采取主动性控制策略而进行自上而下的线索驱动性加工,低知觉负载的个体则易采取反应性控制策略而进行自下而上的探测驱动性加工; 当知觉信息冲突时,个体的知觉负载效应消失,即对冲突信息的印象控制策略受到知觉信息的类型(冲突vs.相容)与知觉负载双重调节:高知觉负载的个体易采取反应性控制策略而激活反刻板印象,从而在印象加工中出现冲突适应偏向; 低知觉负载的个体则易采取主动性控制策略而激活刻板印象,从而在印象加工中出现冲突抑制偏向。这些结果表明,仅当他人信息不存在冲突时,知觉负载对印象控制策略的调节才发挥单一效应。     

Selective visual attention and perceptual coherence

Conscious perception of the visual world depends on neural activity at all levels of the visual system from the retina to regions of parietal and frontal cortex. Neurons in early visual areas have small spatial receptive fields (RFs) and code basic image features; neurons in later areas have large RFs and code abstract features such as behavioral relevance. This hierarchical organization presents challenges to perception: objects compete when they are presented in a single RF, and component object features are coded by anatomically distributed neuronal activity. Recent research has shown that selective attention coordinates the activity of neurons to resolve competition and link distributed object representations. We refer to this ensemble activity as a "coherence field", and propose that voluntary shifts of attention are initiated by a transient control signal that "nudges" the visual system from one coherent state to another.     

Executive control of married and cohabiting couples

Attention mechanisms of 125 couples were assessed to determine whether married and cohabiting couples differ in their levels of executive control. Executive control is the attention network that is responsible for resolving cognitive conflicts among competing responses. Of the 125 couples, 85 were married (48 after premarital cohabitation) and 40 were in cohabiting unions. Executive control was assessed with a cognitive task, the Attentional Network Task. The participants’ task was to identify the direction of a central arrow that was surrounded by flanker arrows. As predicted, cohabiting couples exhibited stronger deficits in executive control than married ones, after controlling for demographic confounders. Moreover, similar differences in executive control were observed between the subsample of married couples who cohabited with their spouses prior to marriage and currently cohabiting couples. Taken together, our results reveal that cohabiting couples have more trouble responding to some stimuli while ignoring extraneous stimuli.     

Efficiency and interactions of alerting,orienting and executive networks: The impact of imperative stimulus type

The Attention Network Test (ANT) generates measures of three attention networks: alerting, orienting and executive control. Arrows have been generally used as imperative stimuli in the different versions of this paradigm. However, it is unknown whether the directional nature of these stimuli can modulate the efficiency of the executive control and its interaction with alerting and orienting. We developed three ANT variants to examine attentional effects in response to directional and non-directional stimuli. Arrows (ANTI-A), colored fruits (ANTI-F) and black geometrical-shape (ANTI-G) were used as imperative stimuli (i.e., flanker stimuli). Data collected from fifty-two university students, in two experiments, showed that arrows stimuli produced a greater interference effect and a greater orienting effect as compared to the other stimuli. Moreover, only arrows modulated the interaction between executive control and orienting: a reduced flanker effect in spatially cued trials was only observed in ANTI-A. These results suggest that the directional value of the stimuli increases the conflict and modulates the efficiency of executive control and its interaction with orienting network.     

Sequence effects of the involuntary and the voluntary components of symbolic cueing

The orienting of attention has been found to be influenced by the previous cueing status in a spatial-cueing paradigm. The explanation for this sequence effect remains uncertain. This study separated the involuntary and the voluntary components of arrow cueing by manipulating the predicted target locations. For example, a left arrow cue may have indicated that the target was more likely to appear at the up location. Therefore, three trial types were repeated or switched between trials: cued (targets appeared along the direction of the arrows), predicted (targets appeared at the locations predicted by the arrows), and unrelated (targets appeared at the other two locations, neither cued nor predicted). RTs of cued trials were found to be significantly facilitated after a previous cued trial; however, the same effect was not observed for predicted trials. The results suggest that significant sequence effects are induced only in the involuntary component of arrow cueing. The findings support the feature-integration hypothesis for the sequence effect of symbolic cueing.

     

Eye gaze versus arrows as spatial cues: two qualitatively different modes of attentional selection

This study aimed to evaluate the type of attentional selection (location- and/or object-based) triggered by two different types of central noninformative cues: eye gaze and arrows. Two rectangular objects were presented in the visual field, and subjects' attention was directed to the end of a rectangle via the observation of noninformative directional arrows or eye gaze. Similar experiments with peripheral cues have shown an object-based effect: faster target identification when the target is presented on the cued object as compared to the uncued object, even when the distance between target and cue was the same. The three reported experiments aimed to compare the location- and object-based attentional orienting observed with arrows and eye gaze, in order to dissociate the orienting mechanisms underlying the two types of orienting cues. Results showed similar cueing effects on the cued versus oppositely cued locations for the two cue types, replicating several studies with nonpredictive gaze and arrow cues. However, a pure object-based effect occurred only when an arrow cue was presented, whereas a pure location-based effect was only found for eye-gaze cues. It is suggested that attention is nonspecifically directed to nearby objects when a noninformative arrow is used as cue, whereas it is selectively directed to a specific cued location when noninformative eye gaze is used. This may be mediated by theory of mind mechanisms.     

Look Here! The Development of Attentional Orienting to Symbolic Cues

Although much research has examined the development of orienting to social directional cues (e.g., eye gaze), little is known about the development of orienting to nonsocial directional cues, such as arrows. Arrow cues have been used in numerous studies as a means to study attentional orienting, but the development of children's understanding of such cues has not previously been examined. It remains unclear to what extent the social nature of a cue is important for directing attention; further, it is unknown whether symbolic understanding is necessary for young children to be cued by symbols such as arrows. The present investigation explored when and how arrows cue children's attention. Our results suggest that children younger than 5 years of age orient their attention using the perceptual properties of arrows, and it is not until sometime after 5 years of age that children use the conceptual meaning of arrows to orient their attention. Understanding of the directional meaning of arrows may develop through both exogenous and endogenous orienting; we discuss possible contributions of the compression-based and selection-based learning systems.     

Going the distance: Extra-symbolic contributions to the symbolic control of spatial attention

Over the past 30 years, researchers have used symbolic cues such as spatial words and arrows to direct observers' attention to the location of target objects that appear at a single, fixed distance in simple visual environments; however, they have done so by using symbolic cues that provide only partial—directional—information about the spatial location of target objects. Thus, it remains unclear whether observers can only shift their attention broadly in the cued direction in response to these cues or whether they can shift their attention to the specific location of the target by combining an expectation about direction (derived from apprehension of the directional cue) with an expectation about distance (derived from some extra-symbolic cue). The results of two experiments showed that observers do shift their attention to relatively coarse spatial locations by combining expectancies about direction and distance, and that the extent to which observers do so is modulated by the presence of visible markers and the expected distance of the target. These findings are important because they provide the first evidence that extra-symbolic information about distance contributes to the symbolic control of spatial attention.     

Object-based attentional effects in response to eye-gaze and arrow cues

Recent studies have demonstrated that central cues, such as eyes and arrows, reflexively trigger attentional shifts. However, it is not clear whether the attention induced by these two cues can be attached to objects within the visual scene. In the current study, subjects' attention was directed to one of two objects (square outlines) via the observation of uninformative directional arrows or eye gaze. Then, the objects rotated 90° clockwise or counter-clockwise to a new location and the target stimulus was presented within one of these two objects. Results showed that independent of the cue type participants responded faster to targets in the cued object than to those in the uncued object. This suggests that in dynamic displays, both gaze and arrow cues are able to trigger reflexive shifts of attention to objects moving within the visual scene.     

Caffeine modulates attention network function

The present work investigated the effects of caffeine (0 mg, 100 mg, 200 mg, 400 mg) on a flanker task designed to test Posner’s three visual attention network functions: alerting, orienting, and executive control [Posner, M. I. (2004). Cognitive neuroscience of attention. New York, NY: Guilford Press]. In a placebo-controlled, double-blind study using a repeated-measures design, we found that the effects of caffeine on visual attention vary as a function of dose and the attention network under examination. Caffeine improved alerting and executive control function in a dose–response manner, asymptoting at 200 mg; this effect is congruent with caffeine’s adenosine-mediated effects on dopamine-rich areas of brain, and the involvement of these areas in alerting and the executive control of visual attention. Higher doses of caffeine also led to a marginally less efficient allocation of visual attention towards cued regions during task performance (i.e., orienting). Taken together, results of this study demonstrate that caffeine has differential effects on visual attention networks as a function of dose, and such effects have implications for hypothesized interactions of caffeine, adenosine and dopamine in brain areas mediating visual attention.     

Reflexive orienting by central arrows: Evidence from the inattentional blindness task

It was demonstrated that central arrows produce orienting of attention even when they are nonpredictive as to the target location. This finding was suggested to indicate reflexive orienting of attention by central arrows. However, it is not clear whether central arrows can produce an attentional effect without awareness. In two experiments, using a variation of the inattentional blindness task, we examine whether orienting of attention by a central arrow can be demonstrated without conscious perception of the arrow. We found that attention could be directed to the cued location even when the arrow was not consciously perceived.