不同刺激条件下视听觉整合的年老化研究

研究操纵刺激通道（视觉、听觉、视听觉）与年龄（年轻人、老年人）两个自变量,要求被试对目标刺激完成检测任务,通过3个实验考察不同刺激条件对老年人视听觉整合的影响。结果发现,在静态简单刺激条件下（实验1）,老年人和年轻人的视听觉整合没有显著差异;在动态手持工具（实验2）和动态语音刺激条件下（实验3）,老年人的视听觉整合显著大于年轻人。通过对刺激条件的比较发现,年轻人和老年人在识别动态手持工具时诱发的视听觉整合最大,而且老年人的整合时间窗口会随着不同刺激条件发生改变。结果表明,视听觉整合具有很强的刺激依赖性,老年人的视听觉整合受到刺激条件的调节。     

内源性空间线索有效性对老年人视听觉整合的影响

视听觉整合是将视觉和听觉信息整合成为统一、连贯且稳定的知觉过程。研究采用内源性线索-靶子范式,探讨了不同内源性空间线索有效性对老年人视听觉整合的影响,以及不同线索有效性条件下老年人和青年人视听觉整合的差异。结果表明,(1)无论线索有效性的高低,老年人的视听觉整合均弱于青年人;(2)低线索有效性(50%)条件下,老年人和青年人在有效线索条件下视听觉整合效应均与无效线索条件下没有差异;(3)中线索有效性(70%)条件下,老年人在有效线索条件下视听觉整合效应与无效线索条件下没有差异,青年人在有效线索条件下视听觉整合效应显著高于无效线索条件;(4)高线索有效性(90%)条件下,老年人和青年人在有效线索条件下视听觉整合效应均显著高于无效线索条件。研究结果支持了空间不确定性假说,并且进一步揭示了内源性注意与视听觉整合的交互作用,明确了不同线索有效性条件下内源性空间注意定向收益的不同是导致老年人与青年人视听觉整合差异的原因之一。     

不同SOA下视觉返回抑制对视听觉整合的调节作用

基于外源性线索-靶子范式, 采用2(线索-靶子间隔时间, stimulus onset asynchronies, SOA：400~600 ms、1000~1200 ms) × 3(目标刺激类型：视觉、听觉、视听觉) × 2(线索有效性：有效线索、无效线索)的被试内实验设计, 要求被试对目标刺激完成检测任务, 以考察视觉线索诱发的返回抑制(inhibition of return, IOR)对视听觉整合的调节作用, 从而为感知觉敏感度、空间不确定性及感觉通道间信号强度差异假说提供实验证据。结果发现：(1) 随SOA增长, 视觉IOR效应显著降低, 视听觉整合效应显著增强; (2) 短SOA (400~600 ms)时, 有效线索位置上的视听觉整合效应显著小于无效线索位置, 但长SOA (1000~1200 ms)时, 有效与无效线索位置上的视听觉整合效应并无显著差异。结果表明, 在不同SOA条件下, 视觉IOR对视听觉整合的调节作用产生变化, 当前结果支持感觉通道间信号强度差异假说。     

内源性空间线索有效性对视听觉整合的影响

采用内源性线索-靶子范式, 操纵线索类型(有效线索、无效线索)和靶刺激通道类型(视觉刺激、听觉刺激、视听觉刺激)两个自变量, 通过两个实验, 分别设置50%和80%两种内源性空间线索有效性来考察不同空间线索有效性条件下内源性空间注意对视听觉整合的影响。结果发现, 当线索有效性为50%时(实验1), 有效线索位置和无效线索位置的视听觉整合效应没有显著差异; 当线索有效性为80%时(实验2), 有效线索位置的视听觉整合效应显著大于无效线索位置的视听觉整合效应。结果表明, 线索有效性不同时, 内源性空间注意对视听觉整合产生了不同的影响, 高线索有效性条件下内源性空间注意能够促进视听觉整合效应。     

基于N2pc成分的视觉空间注意功能老化机制

视觉空间注意是人的一种基本认知功能,对老年人的生活有重要影响。N2pc作为一种与注意选择相关的ERP成分,可以反映注意资源在空间上的分配,是研究视觉空间注意的一个良好指标。本文对此前基于N2pc成分的注意功能老化研究进行了综述。前人研究主要采用视觉搜索范式与空间线索范式。采用视觉搜索范式的研究发现,当目标周围有干扰子时,目标诱发的N2pc在老年人中振幅减小,潜伏期延迟,同时在行为上老年人与年轻人相比,正确率更低,反应时更长; 当目标周围无干扰子时,目标诱发的N2pc振幅老年人与年轻人相当或比年轻人更大,老年人的正确率与年轻人无显著差异。采用空间线索范式的研究发现,与目标无相同特征的线索奇异子(singleton cue)不会诱发N2pc,与目标有相同特征的线索奇异子诱发的N2pc未表现出年龄差异,差异体现在一种反映抑制的ERP成分—Pd上(年轻人有Pd而老年人没有),此时老年人在行为上表现出比年轻人更强的空间线索效应。这些研究共同说明,视觉空间注意功能的老化是一个复杂的过程,涉及到搜索目标时注意分配速度的减慢,对干扰子抑制能力的下降以及基于特征的注意捕获能力的良好保持。     

任务难度与老化对大脑激活的影响——以线索记忆编码为例

以汉语名词双字词对为材料,采用了两种性质、三种难度水平的线索回忆任务对12名老年被试和15名年轻被试的项目记忆编码过程进行fMRI扫描,考察在编码阶段大脑激活受任务难度变化和老化的影响。行为研究结果发现:年龄的主效应、难度的主效应以及难度与年龄交互作用均显著,即,随着任务难度的增加,老年人的成绩更加明显地低于年轻人。神经成像研究结果发现:(1)当词对的相关性降低时,大脑激活的增强主要表现为面积的增加,而当词对的频率降低时,主要表现在激活强度的增加上。(2)任务难度和大脑激活面积、强度之间均不存在对应的递增变化关系。(3)仅当词对的相关性降低时,老年人比年轻人调用了更多的额叶脑区。     

多感觉整合中的声音诱发闪光错觉效应

声音诱发闪光错觉效应是典型的视听整合错觉现象, 是指当视觉闪光刺激与间隔100 ms内的听觉声音刺激不等数量呈现时, 被试知觉视觉闪光的数量与听觉声音的数量相等。声音诱发闪光错觉的影响因素既包括自下而上和自上而下的被试内差异因素, 也包括视听刺激依赖程度、视听整合的发展和视听刺激知觉敏感性等被试间差异因素。该效应的产生在时程上主要体现在早期加工阶段, 在脑区上主要涉及多处皮层及皮层下相关脑区。未来研究应进一步考察注意、奖赏和视听整合方式等认知加工对声音诱发闪光错觉的影响, 同时也应该关注声音诱发闪光错觉对记忆和学习的影响以及结合计算模型和神经科学的手段进一步探讨其认知神经机制。     

主观价值计算与整合的神经机制及其影响因素

决策在人类社会发展的历程中扮演着非常重要的作用,而对其神经机制的探讨才不过几十年的时间。基于价值的决策理论,强调人们首先计算和表征事物的价值,随后比较和决策。在人脑中负责主观价值计算的神经基础有腹内侧前额叶皮层、眶额皮层以及其他脑区,而负责价值整合的脑区有腹内侧前额叶皮层、眶额皮层、背外侧前额叶皮层等。其中时间和风险的价值计算有着相同的神经基础,并且人脑可以将不同属性以及成本进行整合形成主观价值,按照曲线交互作用范式进行。通过自我控制、注意和认知调节等方法,同样可以调制人们的主观价值大小。未来需要继续强调模式分析、个体差异、老龄化和基因对价值计算的影响。     

工作记忆中的积极效应：情绪效价与任务相关性的影响

积极效应指相比于年轻人, 老年人更倾向于优先加工积极情绪刺激而非消极情绪刺激。近年来工作记忆的研究发现积极效应会受到情绪效价与任务相关性的影响：情绪效价作为任务相关属性的研究支持工作记忆中存在积极效应, 具体表现为老年人对积极情绪刺激记忆的增强, 以及对消极情绪刺激记忆的减弱; 情绪效价作为工作记忆任务无关属性的研究相对较少, 且未发现一致的积极效应, 提示情绪效价及任务相关性均为影响工作记忆积极效应的关键因素。脑成像的研究初步表明, 工作记忆中情绪加工上的年龄效应与背侧执行系统和腹侧情绪系统的随龄功能变化有关。社会情绪选择理论与双竞争模型对工作记忆中的积极效应具备较大的解释力, 而动态整合理论尚缺乏实证研究支持。未来研究可进一步探究老年人工作记忆不同阶段情绪加工的特点, 澄清不同情绪材料内在编码过程上的差异对积极效应发生机制的潜在影响, 探讨情绪效价及任务相关性影响工作记忆积极效应的关键神经环路, 并揭示情绪工作记忆训练提升老年人认知功能与情绪体验的内在机制及其潜在应用价值。     

言语产生老化中的抑制损伤:来自不同任务的证据

通过3个实验,探讨干扰抑制在言语产生老化中的作用。实验1采用经典Stroop任务,发现老年人在高水平的、自动的语义激活时产生了更大的抑制困难。实验2操纵潜在竞争词的语义激活水平,发现在潜在竞争词处于低水平的语义激活时,老年人的抑制能力与年轻人相当;在潜在竞争词处于高水平的语义激活时,老年人表现出抑制能力的劣势。实验3采用造句任务,发现老年人在抑制角色冲突时存在着较大的困难,老年人在顺序不一致的条件下的造句成绩显著差于年轻人。整个研究表明,老年人在言语产生中的抑制能力差于年轻人,但抑制老化效应受潜在干扰刺激的激活水平影响。     

Attenuated audiovisual integration in middle-aged adults in a discrimination task

Numerous studies have focused on the diversity of audiovisual integration between younger and older adults. However, consecutive trends in audiovisual integration throughout life are still unclear. In the present study, to clarify audiovisual integration characteristics in middle-aged adults, we instructed younger and middle-aged adults to conduct an auditory/visual stimuli discrimination experiment. Randomized streams of unimodal auditory (A), unimodal visual (V) or audiovisual stimuli were presented on the left or right hemispace of the central fixation point, and subjects were instructed to respond to the target stimuli rapidly and accurately. Our results demonstrated that the responses of middle-aged adults to all unimodal and bimodal stimuli were significantly slower than those of younger adults (p < 0.05). Audiovisual integration was markedly delayed (onset time 360 ms) and weaker (peak 3.97%) in middle-aged adults than in younger adults (onset time 260 ms, peak 11.86%). The results suggested that audiovisual integration was attenuated in middle-aged adults and further confirmed age-related decline in information processing.     

视听跨通道信息的整合与冲突控制

多通道信息交互是指来自某个感觉通道的信息与另一感觉通道的信息相互作用、相互影响的一系列加工过程。主要包括两个方面：一是不同感觉通道的输入如何整合;二是跨通道信息的冲突控制。本文综述了视听跨通道信息整合与冲突控制的行为心理机制和神经机制,探讨了注意对视听信息整合与冲突控制的影响。未来需探究视听跨通道信息加工的脑网络机制,考察特殊群体的跨通道整合和冲突控制以帮助揭示其认知和社会功能障碍的机制。     

Compensatory processing during rule-based category learning in older adults

Healthy older adults typically perform worse than younger adults at rule-based category learning, but better than patients with Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s disease. To further investigate aging’s effect on rule-based category learning, we monitored event-related potentials (ERPs) while younger and neuropsychologically typical older adults performed a visual category-learning task with a rule-based category structure and trial-by-trial feedback. Using these procedures, we previously identified ERPs sensitive to categorization strategy and accuracy in young participants. In addition, previous studies have demonstrated the importance of neural processing in the prefrontal cortex and the medial temporal lobe for this task. In this study, older adults showed lower accuracy and longer response times than younger adults, but there were two distinct subgroups of older adults. One subgroup showed near-chance performance throughout the procedure, never categorizing accurately. The other subgroup reached asymptotic accuracy that was equivalent to that in younger adults, although they categorized more slowly. These two subgroups were further distinguished via ERPs. Consistent with the compensation theory of cognitive aging, older adults who successfully learned showed larger frontal ERPs when compared with younger adults. Recruitment of prefrontal resources may have improved performance while slowing response times. Additionally, correlations of feedback-locked P300 amplitudes with category-learning accuracy differentiated successful younger and older adults. Overall, the results suggest that the ability to adapt one’s behavior in response to feedback during learning varies across older individuals, and that the failure of some to adapt their behavior may reflect inadequate engagement of prefrontal cortex.     

发展性阅读障碍视听时间整合缺陷可能的机制：视听时间再校准能力受损

发展性阅读障碍的本质一直是研究者争论的焦点。大量研究发现, 阅读障碍者具有视听时间整合缺陷。然而, 这些研究仅考察了阅读障碍者视听时间整合加工的整体表现, 也就是平均水平的表现, 却对整合加工的变化过程缺乏探讨。视听时间再校准反映了视听时间整合的动态加工过程, 对内部时间表征与感觉输入之间差异的再校准困难则会导致多感觉整合受损, 而阅读障碍者的再校准相关能力存在缺陷。因此, 视听时间再校准能力受损可能是发展性阅读障碍视听时间整合缺陷的根本原因。未来的研究需要进一步考察发展性阅读障碍者视听时间再校准能力的具体表现, 以及这些表现背后的认知神经机制。     

McGurk效应的影响因素与神经基础

McGurk效应(麦格克效应)是典型的视听整合现象, 该效应受到刺激的物理特征、注意分配、个体视听信息依赖程度、视听整合能力、语言文化差异的影响。引发McGurk效应的关键视觉信息主要来自说话者的嘴部区域。产生McGurk效应的认知过程包含早期的视听整合(与颞上皮层有关)以及晚期的视听不一致冲突(与额下皮层有关)。未来研究应关注面孔社会信息对McGurk效应的影响, McGurk效应中单通道信息加工与视听整合的关系, 结合计算模型探讨其认知神经机制等。     

人类路径整合的心理机制与神经基础

路径整合是指巡航者对与自身运动有关的信息进行整合来完成巡航任务的过程。这些与自身运动有关的信息可以是内源性的,如前庭感觉、本体感觉、动作指令的信息;也可以是外源性的,如视觉流。路径整合在许多物种中存在。人类路径整合的行为实验表明,以自我为参照系的空间表征和以环境为参照系的空间表征都有可能支持路径整合。神经科学的研究则表明,海马、内嗅皮层等内侧颞叶区域和以楔前叶等顶叶区域都与人类路径整合密切相关。     

情绪和时间辨别任务中视听整合与预先准备效应

本研究分别在时间和情绪认知维度上考察预先准备效应对情绪视听整合的影响。时间辨别任务(实验1)发现视觉引导显著慢于听觉引导,并且整合效应量为负值。情绪辨别任务(实验2)发现整合效应量为正值;在负性情绪整合中,听觉引导显著大于视觉引导;在正性情绪整合中,视觉引导显著大于听觉引导。研究表明,情绪视听整合基于情绪认知加工,而时间辨别会抑制整合;此外,跨通道预先准备效应和情绪预先准备效应都与引导通道有关。     

Age-related differences in interhemispheric visuomotor integration measured by the redundant target effect

Presentation of bilateral redundant visual stimuli produces faster reaction times (RT) than presentation of a single unilateral stimulus; an effect known as the redundant target effect (RTE; Miller, 1982), and is a means of testing interhemispheric visuomotor integration (Ouimet, 2009). RTEs that exceed expectations, based on Miller's race model of inequality (RMI), are referred to as "enhanced RTEs" and imply neural coactivation. Paradoxically, enhanced RTEs are observed in cases of corpus callosum disruption. The Hemispheric Coactivation Hypothesis accounts for this paradox by positing that bihemispheric processing occurs to both unilateral and bilateral stimuli in the normal brain, but occurs only with bilateral stimuli in the disconnected brain. Neuroimaging has revealed decreases in the microstructural integrity of the corpus callosum with age (Ota et al., 2006), but research investigating the bilateral RTE in healthy older individuals is lacking. The present study investigated the bilateral RTE in healthy younger and healthy older adults using simple RT and choice RT tasks. Our prediction that older individuals would show significantly larger RTEs than younger individuals was found to be true for both tasks. Tests of the RMI produced little evidence for coactivation. The crossed-uncrossed difference, generally used as a means of testing visuomotor interhemispheric transfer, was also investigated, but no age effects were found. The observation of greater RTE in age is congruent with the Hemispheric Coactivation hypothesis (Miller, 2004) in which callosal disconnection is associated with increased RTE.     

Spatial and temporal processing in healthy aging: implications for perceptions of driving skills

Sensitivity to the attributes of a stimulus (form or motion) and accuracy when detecting rapidly presented stimulus information were measured in older (N = 36) and younger (N = 37) groups. Before and after practice, the older group was significantly less sensitive to global motion (but not to form) and less accurate on a rapid sequencing task when detecting the individual elements presented in long but not short sequences. These effect sizes produced power for the different analyses that ranged between 0.5 and 1.00. The reduced sensitivity found among older individuals to temporal but not spatial stimuli, adds support to previous findings of a selective age-related deficit in temporal processing. Older women were significantly less sensitive than older men, younger men and younger women on the global motion task. Gender effects were evident when, in response to global motion stimuli, complex extraction and integration processes needed to be undertaken rapidly. Significant moderate correlations were found between age, global motion sensitivity and reports of perceptions of other vehicles and road signs when driving. These associations suggest that reduced motion sensitivity may produce functional difficulties for the older adults when judging speeds or estimating gaps in traffic while driving.     

Age-related affective modulation of the startle eyeblink response: older adults startle most when viewing positive pictures

Previous studies reveal age by valence interactions in attention and memory, such that older adults focus relatively more on positive and relatively less on negative stimuli than younger adults. In the current study, eyeblink startle response was used to measure differences in emotional reactivity to images that were equally arousing to both age groups. Viewing positive and negative pictures from the International Affective Picture System had opposite effects on startle modulation for older and younger adults. Younger adults showed the typical startle blink pattern, with potentiated startle when viewing negative pictures compared to positive pictures. Older adults, on the other hand, showed the opposite pattern, with potentiated startle when viewing positive pictures compared to viewing negative and neutral pictures. Potential underlying mechanisms for this interaction are evaluated. This pattern suggests that, compared with younger adults, older adults are more likely to spontaneously suppress responses to negative stimuli and process positive stimuli more deeply.