Nicotinic cholinergic synaptic mechanisms in the ventral tegmental area contribute to nicotine addiction

Tobacco use is a major health problem that is estimated to cause 4 million deaths a year worldwide. Nicotine is the main addictive component of tobacco. It acts as an agonist to activate and desensitize nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs). A component of nicotine's addictive power is attributable to actions on the mesolimbic dopaminergic system, which serves a fundamental role in the acquisition of behaviors that are inappropriately reinforced by addictive drugs. Here we show that nicotine, in the same concentration and time ranges as obtained from tobacco, has three main actions that regulate the activity of midbrain dopamine (DA) neurons. Nicotine first activates and then desensitizes nAChRs on the DA neurons. This process directly excites the DA neurons for a short period of time before the nAChRs desensitize. Nicotine also enhances glutamatergic excitation and decreases GABAergic inhibition onto DA neurons. These events increase the probability for synaptic plasticity, such as long-term potentiation. The short-lived direct excitation of the DA neurons coupled with the enhanced glutamatergic afferent activity provides the presynaptic and postsynaptic coincidence necessary to initiate synaptic potentiation. In total, these synaptic events lead to a relatively long-lasting heightened activity of midbrain DA neurons. Consistent with other summarized studies, this work indicates that the synaptic changes normally associated with learning and memory can be influenced and commandeered during the nicotine addiction process.     

Sex,hypermasculinity, and hyperfemininity in perception of social cues in neutral interactions

Sexual coercion is a prevalent problem on U.S. college campuses. One potential avenue by which it may occur is the misinterpretation of social cues, and such misperception may be mediated by extreme sex role adherence, i.e., hypermasculinity and hyperfemininity. 62 undergraduate students viewed a film of a neutral interaction between a college-aged man and woman. Subsequently, participants indicated which behaviors they remembered the opposite-sex actor performing, offered a prediction as to the outcome of the scenario and what they would do had they been in a similar situation, and then completed either the Hypermasculinity Inventory or the Hyperfemininity Scale. Scores on the former correlated negatively with recall accuracy, and men indicated that they were more likely to date and have sex with the actress than women reported being likely to date or have sex with the actor. Women reported a high perceived likelihood of dating the actor coupled with the expectation that he would have sex with the actress. Likewise, women expected to be sexually coerced by the actor had they been in a similar situation. Social implications of these findings and possible research are discussed.     

Additive similarity trees

Similarity data can be represented by additive trees. In this model, objects are represented by the external nodes of a tree, and the dissimilarity between objects is the length of the path joining them. The additive tree is less restrictive than the ultrametric tree, commonly known as the hierarchical clustering scheme. The two representations are characterized and compared. A computer program, ADDTREE, for the construction of additive trees is described and applied to several sets of data. A comparison of these results to the results of multidimensional scaling illustrates some empirical and theoretical advantages of tree representations over spatial representations of proximity data.We thank Nancy Henley and Vered Kraus for providing us with data, and Jan deLeeuw for calling our attention to relevant literature. The work of the first author was supported in part by the Psychology Unit of the Israel Defense Forces.     

Emotional labour strategies and job burnout: A meta-analysis of Chinese employees

Emotional labour strategies have a significant impact on job burnout. However, current research results are controversial and unclear. A meta-analysis was conducted to explore the relationship between emotional labour strategies (surface acting and deep acting) and job burnout. A total of 84 empirical studies that included 28,242 participants were selected. The meta-analysis of the relationships between job burnout and surface acting and deep acting included 84 and 75 independent samples respectively. The results show that surface acting had a positive association (r = 0.25) with job burnout, whereas deep acting (r = −0.27) had a negative association with job burnout. Occupational types and measures of emotional labour strategies moderated the relationship between emotional labour strategies and job burnout, but this relationship was not moderated by measures of job burnout.     

时间透视的自我整合:I.心理结构方式的投射测验

用画圆测验和完成句子测验,配合时间标定作业,对２０１名大学生被试的时间透视特点作了探讨,结果发现,在时间透视的广度、方向及关联性等方面,高自我认同组被试有着更大的现有广度,更积极而远景开放的未来取向,以及更强的时间整合;低自我认同组则是过去广度更大,其时间分裂及未来中断的现象理易发生。这些结果初步揭示了建立在时间体验与自我概念的整合基础上的时间透视的心理结构方式。     

时间透视的自我整合:Ⅱ.心理功能机制的实验研究

以２４个人格形容词为材料,对１１１名大学生被试进行了“过去的我”、“现在的我”和“将来的我”三择一式的迫选反应实验,再配合时间标定作业。结果不仅验证了前文的研究结论,即不同同一性状态的被试在时间透视的广度、方向及关联性等心理结构特征上存在差异,而已表明了整合自我信息的不同的功能机制。不过,这种差异主要体现在积极词上,在消极词上差异不显著。     

Development of a social interaction questionnaire for the trainers and mothers of children with disabilities participating in Dousa-hou (Japanese psycho-rehabilitation) camps

A 12-item Social Interaction Questionnaire was developed to measure the social interactions among trainers and mothers of children with disabilities in Dousa-hou camps. Dousa-hou is a Japanese psychological rehabilitation method which is widely used for children with mental retardation, cerebral palsy, and autism in Japan and other Asian countries. The primary focus of the rehabilitation method is to improve bodily movements, posture, and social support to patients and their first-degree relatives as well as promoting social interaction among participants. Two factors of interaction, (1) educational and daily life matters and (2) health and care matters, emerged through factor analysis. Cronbach coefficient alpha of the questionnaire was .91. The back-translated version of the Social Interaction Questionnaire also yielded two factors and Cronbach coefficient alpha of .87. It was found that mothers or first degree relatives (N=138; M = 43.5 yr., SD = 12.3) of the patients reported more social interaction than trainers when interacting with their child's trainer, supervisor, other trainers, and other mothers during six-day Dousa-hou camps.     

论元认知和智力的相互关系

元认知水平与智力活动之间关系密切。元认知由三部分组成：元认知知识、元认知体验和元认知技能,它与智力中的元成分、操作成分和知识获得成分密切相关。人知在人类智力因素中占有重要作用,是智力活动中的核心因素之一。智力也会影响元认知活动。它们之间相互影响、相互作用。     

面孔加工特异性的事件相关电位研究

采用事件相关电位方法,以面孔、汽车、鸟和椅子为刺激,在汽车搜索作业及分类判断作业两种条件下考察了N170面孔特异性效应。结果发现,面孔在两种条件下均引起明显不同于其余三类物体的N170。实验任务对汽车刺激有明显的影响,具体表现为：在搜索作业下,汽车N170有接近面孔N170的趋势,其波幅显著大于鸟、椅子N170的波幅;在分类作业中,则没有这种显著的差异。从而为证明存在面孔识别的特异性神经机制提供了证据。     

叙事语篇中时间表征的评定差异研究

为了探讨时间表征在多大程度上影响人们对叙事属性的判断,让66名博士生被试对12篇删除了明显时间概念词的叙事语篇（创造性与非创造性叙事各6篇）进行时间表征方面的评定,从而检验了“过去”、“现在”、“将来”等时间概念在叙事语篇中的时间表征意义,以及存在的性别、年龄等差异。