Effect of arousal increase in predictable and random task switching: evidence for the involvement of the anterior attentional network in random but not in predictable task switching

Switch cost does not disappear as more preparation time for the next task is allowed. Tornay and Milán showed that the residual cost is smaller when tasks switch randomly than when they alternate in predictable sequences. They proposed that the difference was due to control mechanisms (anterior attentional network) being activated in the random condition because of its overall difficulty. Besides, it has been shown that increasing arousal levels inhibits the anterior attentional network. Therefore, Tornay and Milán's account predicts that high arousal should result in switch cost for the random condition increasing to the levels of predictable switching. In this work, this prediction was tested by assessing the interaction between increased arousal and switch cost with both predictable and random-task switching. The results may help to solve the ongoing controversy about the causes of switch cost.     

Attention to speed and guide traffic signs with eye movements

The goal of this research is to describe the visual search patterns for diverse traffic signs. Twelve drivers of both genders and different driving experience levels took part in real driving research with an instrumented car provided with an eye-tracking system. Looking at signs has a weak relation with speed reduction in cases where actual driving speed was higher. Nevertheless, among the people who looked at the sign, the percentage of those who reduce the speed below the limit is greater than of those who do not look at the sign. Guide traffic signs, particularly those mounted over the road, are more frequently glanced at than speed limit signs, with a glance duration of more than one second, in sequences of more than two consecutive fixations. Implications for driving and the possibilities and limitations of eye movement analysis for traffic sign research are discussed.     

Perception of personal identity at home

This study aims to discover whether observers with the same cultural background as the inhabitant of a bedroom perceive common characteristics among the inhabitants. The study was carried out with 107 females who were asked to assess the inhabitants of eight bedrooms. Several slides of each bedroom were shown to participants and they had to choose from a list of seventy-six characteristics those that defined the resident of each bedroom. Results revealed that socio-demographic variables thus attributed coincided with the profiles of the inhabitants. A correspondence analysis brought to light a dimension linked to affective aspects, which was more prominent among women; whereas among men the characteristics thus attributed were more linked to practical aspects and to difficulties for social interaction. A second study was conducted to determine whether gender stereotype had any influence on the result of the previous study. The outcomes showed that this stereotype did not have any effect on the participants' judgments.     

Influence of the sex and gender in the sexual behavior of adolescents

The aim of this study is to evaluate the relation between gender and sex with the sexual behavior of adolescents. The sample comprised 815 teenagers (M=15.65, Sd.=1.42). The assessment instruments were the BEM Sex Role Inventory, the Sexual Opinion Survey, the Questionnaire of Risk Perception of Bayés and a questionnaire designed for the study. The results revealed that the majority of adolescents do not match the traditional gender stereotypes, defining themselves as adrogynes (34.4%). The teenagers who are defined as adrogynes or masculine carry out more sexual behaviors, and who display more erotophilia. The need to include the variable "gender" as a category of analysis in research on sexual behavior is indicated.     

Increased saccadic rate during smooth pursuit eye movements in patients at Ultra High Risk for developing a psychosis

Abnormalities in eye tracking are consistently observed in schizophrenia patients and their relatives and have been proposed as an endophenotype of the disease. The aim of this study was to investigate the performance of patients at Ultra High Risk (UHR) for developing psychosis on a task of smooth pursuit eye movement (SPEM). Forty-six UHR patients and twenty-eight age and education matched controls were assessed with a task of SPEM and psychiatric questionnaires. Our results showed that both the corrective and non-corrective saccadic rates during pursuit were higher in the UHR group. There were however no differences in smooth pursuit gain between the two groups. The saccadic rate was related to positive UHR symptoms. Our findings indicate that abnormalities in SPEM are already present in UHR patients, prior to a first psychotic episode. These abnormalities occur only in the saccadic system.     

关于实验心理学中推理的现代心理测量方法(英文)

推理测验与推理实验不同。推理测验用来衡量智商;而推理实验则用来研究推理的心理过程。测验旨在找出能力的个体差异;而实验则意在突出所有个体的一般性心理过程。近年来,心理学中的推理已经发生了变化,我们在理论进化方面简要地总结了如下这些变化:关注点从推理任务中的反应过程变为个体对不同任务做反应时的差异和其中稳定的反应模式,开始考虑不同推理者的组织差异和数量差异(犹如不同游泳运动员的游泳动作和肌肉数量)。然而,这些理论创新必须有精确的建模技术的支持。我们将以条件推理材料为例,展示了现代心理测量方法可以帮我们解决理论创新中产生的三类主要的研究问题。     

Facilitation by Variation: Right-to-Left Learning of English Yes/No Questions

This study advances the hypothesis that optional structural variation in language facilitates syntactic learning (facilitation‐by‐variation). Support for this is provided by a right‐to‐left‐elaboration acquisition model for English yes/no questions (YNQs). Previous studies have focused on the acquisition of ‘‘inverted’’ YNQs, a cornerstone of nativist theories of language development. Data from five American children (1;3 to 5;1) and their parents show that children hear a range of adult questions (Coming?You coming?Are you coming?), not all inverted. These variants are ordered from structurally least complex noncanonical forms to complex canonical inverted forms. I use state‐of‐the‐art econometric techniques to estimate breakpoints in YNQ time series and show that noncanonical questions emerge early in children’s speech and facilitate acquisition of canonical ones. This incremental structure‐building process relies on an adjunction strategy that augments noncanonical questions with initial auxiliaries and subjects. Development proceeds incrementally from right to left to derive auxiliary‐initial structures.     

Electrophysiological correlates of the composite face illusion: Disentangling perceptual and decisional components of holistic face processing in the human brain

When the bottom halves of two faces differ, people’s behavioral judgment of the identical top halves of those faces is impaired: they report that the top halves are different, and/or take more time than usual to provide a response. This behavioral measure is known as the composite face effect (CFE) and has traditionally been taken as evidence that faces are perceived holistically. Recently, however, it has been claimed that this effect is driven almost entirely by decisional, rather than perceptual, factors ( Richler, Gauthier, Wenger, & Palmeri, 2008). To disentangle the contribution of perceptual and decisional brain processes, we aimed to obtain an event-related potential (ERP) measure of the CFE at a stage of face encoding ( Jacques & Rossion, 2009) in the absence of a behavioral CFE effect. Sixteen participants performed a go/no-go task in an oddball paradigm, lifting a finger of their right or left hand when the top half of a face changed identity. This change of identity of the top of the face was associated with an increased ERP signal on occipito-temporal electrode sites at the N170 face-sensitive component (∼160 ms), the later decisional P3b component, and the lateralized readiness potential (LRP) starting at ∼350 ms. The N170 effect was observed equally early when only the unattended bottom part of the face changed, indicating that an identity change was perceived across the whole face in this condition. Importantly, there was no behavioral response bias for the bottom change trials, and no evidence of decisional biases from electrophysiological data (no P3b and LRP deflection in no-go trials). These data show that an early CFE can be measured in ERPs in the absence of any decisional response bias, indicating that the CFE reflects primarily the visual perception of the whole face.     

Predictive Validity of the Suicide Probability Scale in a Male Inmate Population

This paper describes the predictive power of the Suicide Probability Scale (SPS) within a male inmate population. The SPS scores of 1,047 inmates from 1995 to 1996 were compared against their suicidal behaviors in the following 10 years. The SPS probability score and the scores on its four subscales were found to be significantly higher in the group that engaged in at least one of three types of suicidal behavior: suicide, non-lethal self-harm and serious suicidal intentions. However, the SPS did not discriminate the inmates who went on to commit suicide. The SPS’s capacity to predict suicidal behavior proved limited in terms of sensitivity. In this regard, the SPS’s low and high risk levels correctly identified 36% of inmates who later engaged in suicidal behavior. The specificity was 0.85. These results confirm the SPS’s predictive power with male prisoners. These findings are the first to demonstrate the predictive validity of the SPS.     

Education and interactivism: Levels of interaction influencing learning processes

The aim of this paper is to explore some consequences of interactivism within learning situations. Since the original interactivist point of view focused on the Subject/Object relationship, much research has stressed the importance of the non-individualistic aspects of learning, and we have found it revealing to point out the mediation processes occurring inside and outside the S/O relationship (e.g. mediation involving cultural context or artifacts). We have combined different learning theory frameworks, chosen for their complementary conceptions of learning, with a view toward describing the system of interactions involved in teaching/learning processes.The cultural-historical approach to learning insists on the fundamental role of socially constructed tools in human development and education (Vygotsky). Clot and Engeström consider educational institutions as working communities that constrain Subject/Object interaction by rules and habits. Chevallard describes the implications of various categories of actors in the definition of curricula. Within the classroom, besides the obvious mutual influences of individual participants, problems to be solved, as organized by the teacher, influence the attitude of the learner towards the knowledge to be acquired (Brousseau). Furthermore, these situations contain multiple artifacts aimed at facilitating the acquisition of the skills necessary in order to use artifacts outside of the educational context (Rabardel & Bourmaud). Finally, Vergnaud suggests that it is more fruitful to consider the relationship between scheme and situation rather than that between subject and object.We will consider how these various levels of mediation shape the Subject/Object relationship and the learning process.