Betula: A Prospective Cohort Study on Memory,Health and Aging

This article describes the Betula Study with respect to objectives, design, participants, and assessment instruments for health and cognition. Three waves of data collection have been completed in 5-year intervals since 1988–1990. A fourth wave started in 2003 and will be completed in 2005. An overview of Betula research is presented under the headings of memory and cognition and cognitive neuroscience. Health-related issues and sex differences as well as comparisons between cross-sectional and longitudinal studies are discussed in the first section. The influence of different genes and of some brain abnormalities for memory functioning in adulthood and old age constitute main topics in the second section. New data are presented on the association between blood pressure and dementia. We demonstrated that a demented group of participants had higher levels of systolic blood pressure and pulse pressure than non-dementia controls 10 years before diagnosis. The new fourth wave of data collection will, in addition to enriching the Betula database, permit revisiting and reanalyzing the existing data from new perspectives.     

Lateralized suckling in domestic horses (Equus caballus)

Brain lateralization enables preferential processing of certain stimuli and more effective utilization of these stimuli in either the left or the right cerebral hemisphere. Horses show both motor and sensory lateralization patterns. Our aim was to determine whether a lateralized response could be detected in foals during the naturally side-biased behaviour, suckling. The foals’ preferred suckling side could be the effect of either visual or motor lateralization. In the case of a visual lateralized response, foals are expected to suck more often from the mother’s right side, so potential danger can be detected by the better adapted right hemisphere (i.e. left eye). Motor lateralization can be identified when a foal will suck predominantly from one side, either left or right. We found no population trend in the preferred suckling side, but we detected significant differences amongst individual foals. One-third (35.4 %) of 79 foals showed a strong, either right or left side preference which increased with age. The mothers did not influence the foals’ suckling side preferences either by side-biased rejection or termination of suckling. According to our findings, a general pattern of sucking with the left eye open for better danger detection and recognition is unlikely in foals up to 7 months old. Foals of this age are probably young or fully focused on suckling and rely on their mothers’ vigilance. Individual side preferences amongst foals are suggested to be based on motor lateralization.     

Intelligence and executive functioning in adult age: Effects of sibship size and birth order

Several studies have demonstrated that social influences from having been brought up in a family with few siblings and early in birth order result in higher scores on intelligence tests in childhood and adolescence as compared to having been brought up in large sibships. The present study examined whether influences of such social factors would have long-lasting effects on intelligence (block design and word comprehension) and executive functions (working memory and verbal fluency) in adulthood and old age, i.e., long after the individuals had moved out of the family structure they were born in. After having controlled for socioeconomic status and a variety of health conditions affecting cognition in adult life, a sibship size effect was demonstrated for executive functions but not for intelligence. The social influences of birth order affected only executive functions and working memory in particular; earlier born individuals performed better than later born individuals in tests assessing executive function but not in tests assessing intelligence. Implications for the relationship between executive functioning and intelligence, and implications for the Confluence and Resource Dilution Models (Blake, 1981; Downey, 1995, 2001; Zajonc, 1976) are discussed.     

Effect of positive emotion on consolidation of memory for faces: The modulation of facial valence and facial gender

Studies have shown that emotion elicited after learning enhances memory consolidation. However, no prior studies have used facial photos as stimuli. This study examined the effect of post-learning positive emotion on consolidation of memory for faces. During the learning participants viewed neutral, positive, or negative faces. Then they were assigned to a condition in which they either watched a 9-minute positive video clip, or a 9-minute neutral video. Then 30 minutes after the learning participants took a surprise memory test, in which they made “remember”, “know”, and “new” judgements. The findings are: (1) Positive emotion enhanced consolidation of recognition for negative male faces, but impaired consolidation of recognition for negative female faces; (2) For males, recognition for negative faces was equivalent to that for positive faces; for females, recognition for negative faces was better than that for positive faces. Our study provides the important evidence that effect of post-learning emotion on memory consolidation can extend to facial stimuli and such an effect can be modulated by facial valence and facial gender. The findings may shed light on establishing models concerning the influence of emotion on memory consolidation.     

冠状动脉造影及介入治疗选择的临床决策

冠心病是当今威胁人类健康的重要疾病之一,其主要病理生理机制是冠状动脉狭窄或闭塞所致的心肌缺血或坏死.目前,冠状动脉造影(CAG)及经皮冠状动脉介入治疗(PCI)已广泛应用于冠心病的确诊和治疗,众多患者为之受益.然而,我们也发现其中部分患者可能不必要接受CAG,或CAG后可能不必要或不宜接受PCI.鉴于此类技术的有创性、风险性、高费用等因素,同时为避免过度诊疗,充分评估已知冠心病介入治疗的选择及未知胸痛或其他情况CAG的选择,正确进行临床决策十分必要.     

老年高血压患者降压治疗中的低血压原因分析及对策

老年高血压患者降压治疗中可能并发低血压,原因为假性高血压、体位性低血压,餐后低血压,季节变化、伴随疾病和不适当用药引起的低血压.低血压可导致心脑肾等重要脏器灌注不足,甚至发生脑卒中、心肌梗死等严重并发症.因此,及时发现老年高血压患者治疗中的低血压,给予相应治疗已显得十分重要.     

中医骨伤科技术特点及文化分析

通过对中医骨伤科技术的历史进行系统研究,发现中医骨伤科诊疗技术丰富,然而大多数技术属于自发的实践经验所得,没有形成自己独特的理论基础,也没有随着时代的演进出现实质性的突破,始终处于经验性、实用性的发展态势,没有走上科学的发展道路.此外,虽然中国传统文化赋予了中医骨伤科技术发展的构架,但是其直观体验思维模式及只重求实不重求知的思想又制约了中医骨伤科技术的发展.可能,只有摆脱中国传统文化带来的思维定势和消极影响,中医骨伤科技术才能走上科学的发展道路.     

当代大学生职业兴趣的结构与测量

该研究考察了我国当代大学生职业兴趣的结构,并编制出相应的测量工具.首先通过开放式问卷调查、文献调研,以及对已有测评工具中条目的整理,构建出职业兴趣描述库,再以此为基础编制自陈式职业兴趣调查表,对大学生的职业兴趣结构进行初步探索,得出九个维度,分别命名为研究型、艺术型、展示型、社会型、冒险型、企业型、常规型、现实型和生态型.其次通过验证性因素分析方法检验测验的构想效度,结果发现各指标拟合良好.此外,实证数据也表明测验具有良好的同质性信度和重测信度.研究结果证明大学生职业兴趣调查表具有较好的心理测量学品质,可应用于实践领域.     

The Problem of Behaviour Change: From Social Norms to an Ingroup Focus

Social norms are of increasing interest to public policy experts and those conducting behaviour change interventions (e.g. safe driving, recycling). While there is agreement that social norms play a central role in explaining behaviour, such consensus is lacking when it comes to explaining the process through which this occurs. Economics, social marketing and political science focus on individual self‐interest and goal satisfaction and social (dis)approval. In contrast social psychology also incorporates collective interests through its analysis of social identity and ingroup processes. To fully understand behaviour change, it is argued that greater engagement is needed with the links between shifts in social identity, and ingroup norms. As definitions of who “we” are shift, so too does what “we” do. Implications for behaviour change interventions are discussed.     

How Emotions Shape Moral Behavior: Some Answers (and Questions) for the Field of Moral Psychology

Within the past decade, the field of moral psychology has begun to disentangle the mechanics behind moral judgments, revealing the vital role that emotions play in driving these processes. However, given the well‐documented dissociation between attitudes and behaviors, we propose that an equally important issue is how emotions inform actual moral behavior – a question that has been relatively ignored up until recently. By providing a review of recent studies that have begun to explore how emotions drive actual moral behavior, we propose that emotions are instrumental in fueling real‐life moral actions. Because research examining the role of emotional processes on moral behavior is currently limited, we push for the use of behavioral measures in the field in the hopes of building a more complete theory of real‐life moral behavior.