Subliminal repetition primes help detection of phonemes in a picture: Evidence for a phonological level of the priming effects

In this research, we combine a cross-form word–picture visual masked priming procedure with an internal phoneme monitoring task to examine repetition priming effects. In this paradigm, participants have to respond to pictures whose names begin with a prespecified target phoneme. This task unambiguously requires retrieving the word-form of the target picture's name and implicitly orients participants' attention towards a phonological level of representation. The experiments were conducted within Spanish, whose highly transparent orthography presumably promotes fast and automatic phonological recoding of subliminal, masked visual word primes. Experiments 1 and 2 show that repetition primes speed up internal phoneme monitoring in the target, compared to primes beginning with a different phoneme from the target, or sharing only their first phoneme with the target. This suggests that repetition primes preactivate the phonological code of the entire target picture's name, hereby speeding up internal monitoring, which is necessarily based on such a code. To further qualify the nature of the phonological code underlying internal phoneme monitoring, a concurrent articulation task was used in Experiment 3. This task did not affect the repetition priming effect. We propose that internal phoneme monitoring is based on an abstract phonological code, prior to its translation into articulation.     

Implementation intentions for physical activity in supportive and unsupportive environmental conditions: An experimental examination of intention–behavior consistency

The primary objective of this investigation was to examine the joint influences of intention strength, executive control resources (ECRs) and implementation intentions on physical activity performance in differentially supportive environmental conditions. In two studies, participants were randomly assigned to implementation intentions or control conditions. Individual differences in ECRs, intention strength and physical activity behavior were measured at baseline in the laboratory; follow-up physical activity was measured via an online questionnaire 7 days after the baseline laboratory session. Study 1 was conducted under activity-supportive environmental conditions (i.e., warm weather, little precipitation), whereas Study 2 was conducted under non-supportive environmental conditions (i.e., cold weather, moderate precipitation). In Study 1, a two-way interaction between ECR and intention strength was observed, such that those with relatively stronger ECR demonstrated stronger intention–behavior relationships than those with relatively weaker ECR; this effect was invariant across experimental conditions. In Study 2, a significant 3-way interaction was observed, such that those with lower ECRs showed greater intention–behavior correspondence in the experimental group compared to the control. Together these findings suggest that the beneficial effects of implementation intentions on intention–behavior correspondence for physical activity may be more potent under challenging environmental conditions, and that they may be of special benefit for those with initially low ECRs.     

Enhanced discrimination between flavor stimuli: roles of salience modulation and inhibition

Rats were given intermixed preexposure to the compound flavors AX and BX and to the compound CX in a separate block of trials (4 presentations of each compound). In Experiment 1, rats showed less generalization of conditioned aversion from AX to BX than from CX to BX, a perceptual learning effect. Experiment 2 showed that the formation of an excitatory association proceeded more readily between A and B than between C and B, suggesting that intermixed preexposure maintains the effective salience of A and B and does not establish inhibition between them, a process that would require prolonged preexposure. According to this analysis, salience modulation and associative inhibition may contribute to perceptual learning at different stages of preexposure.     

Backward Sensory Preconditioning When Reinforcement Is Delayed

In two experiments rats received an initial phase of training in which two neutral stimuli were presented as a serial compound (A-X). In a second phase, Awas established as a signal for a shock reinforcer, the shock being presented immediately after the termination of A (the immediate condition) or after a 5-sec interval (the trace condition). A final test phase showed that not only A but also X was capable of evoking conditioned suppression (a backward sensory preconditioning effect). The degree of suppression evoked by X was not correlated with that evoked by A. In both experiments the A trained with immediate reinforcement was more suppressive than that trained with the trace procedure, but in Experiment 1 the trace and immediate groups did not differ in the response they showed to X, and in Experiment 2 (which allowed a within-subject comparison) the trace procedure resulted in more suppression to X than did immediate conditioning of A. These results disconfirm the suggestion that the backward sensory preconditioning effect depends on the formation of an associative chain: X-A-shock. They are consistent with the proposal that the associatively activated representation of X is able to form a direct association with the reinforcer during A-shock training.     

Taste aversion after ingestion of lithium chloride: An associative analysis

In five experiments with rats we examined the aversion established by consumption of a solution of lithium chloride (LiCl). Experiment 1 showed that consumption of LiCl established an aversion to saline (NaCl). Experiment 2 showed that the size of the aversion was reduced in rats given pre-exposure to saline (a latent inhibition effect). Experiment 3 showed that experience of a sucrose-saline compound prior to consumption of LiCl generated an aversion to sucrose (a sensory preconditioning effect). Experiments 4 and 5 examined the effects produced by consumption of a sucrose-LiCl compound and demonstrated reciprocal overshadowing between the two tastes. These results confirm that consumption of LiCl establishes an aversion to the taste of this substance. Their implications for the use of orally consumed LiCl as a technique for the control of predatory behaviour are discussed.     

Factor Structure and Construct Validity of the Temporal Experience of Pleasure Scales

Feelings of pleasure felt in the moment of goal attainment (consummatory pleasure) are thought to be dissociable from feelings of desire connected with the motivated approach of goals (anticipatory pleasure). The Temporal Experience of Pleasure Scales (TEPS; Gard, Gard, Kring, & John, 2006) was developed to assess individual differences in these distinct processes. Recently, an independent evaluation of the psychometric characteristics of a Chinese-translated TEPS suggested a more complex factor structure (Chan et al., 2012). This study aimed to reexamine the factor structure and convergent and divergent validity of the TEPS in two previously unexamined multiethnic samples. University students in the United Kingdom (N = 294) completed the TEPS and university students in Australia (N = 295) completed the TEPS as well as a battery of conceptually related questionnaires. A confirmatory factor analysis of Gard et al.'s (2006) 2-factor model produced inadequate fit, which model-modification indexes suggested might be due to item cross-loadings. This issue was examined further using an exploratory factor analysis, which revealed a clear 2-factor solution despite cross-loadings among some items. Finally, mixed evidence for convergent–divergent validity was obtained, in terms of relationships between the TEPS and measures of anhedonia, approach-motivation, and positive emotion.     

Learning nonwords: the Hebb repetition effect as a model of word learning

Page and Norris [(2008). Is there a common mechanism underlying word-form learning and the Hebb repetition effect? Experimental data and a modelling framework. In A. Thorn &; M. P. A. Page (Eds.), Interactions between short-term and long-term memory in the verbal domain; (2009). A model linking immediate serial recall, the Hebb repetition effect and the learning of phonological word forms. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 364(1536), 3737–3753. doi:10.1098/rstb.2009.0173] have suggested that the Hebb [(1961). Distinctive features of learning in the higher animal. In J. F. Delafresnaye (Ed.), Brain mechanisms and learning (pp. 37–46). Oxford: Blackwell] repetition paradigm can be considered as a laboratory analogue of word learning. In Hebb learning experiments, the lists of items to be learned are presented as discrete sequences. In contrast, novel words are, by definition, always heard as a single coarticulated whole. Might this undermine the claim that Hebb learning can shed light on word learning? Here we report an experiment comparing learning sequences of isolated syllables with learning the same sequences spoken as a single coarticulated nonword. The pattern of learning was similar in the two cases, suggesting that the Hebb repetition paradigm can indeed provide valuable insights into the way novel word forms are learned.     

共同因素心理治疗整合模式的回顾与评析

共同因素心理治疗整合模式是现代心理治疗整合运动中最早被提出的一种心理治疗整合模式。通过对共同因素整合模式的创建背景、发展历程及基本观点进行了梳理简述,认为其在促进心理治疗各流派融合的同时也人为地造成了“共同因素VS特异因素”新的对立,探讨了唯有建基于人的整合本性的心理治疗整合视野才能促进心理治疗整合运动未来的健康发展。     

旁观者及其与个体的亲密程度对后悔情绪的影响

后悔情绪是反事实思维的产物,对个体决策行为的改善具有积极作用,能够激发个体反思既往选择,优化未来决策。该研究采用经典的连续冒险任务,从人际交互角度切入,考察了有无旁观者以及旁观者与个体的亲密程度对后悔情绪的影响。结果发现:(1)相对于无人在场,旁观者在场时个体更不后悔;(2)旁观者与个体间的亲密度能够在一定程度上影响个体的后悔情绪:在错过所有收益引发后悔的条件下,相对于无人在场,陌生人在场时个体更不后悔,而恋人在场时个体后悔情绪无明显变化。本研究的发现可以更好地帮助人们理解社会背景下后悔情绪的影响因素和发生机制。