Verbal and cognitive distractors in driving performance while using hands-free phones

This study investigated the effect of different types of distractions related to use of a hands-free phone on driving performance. The study used three types of verbal distractors: casual conversation, simple arithmetic number guessing, and number adding, in the phone conversation. 12 adults were instructed to follow a lead vehicle on a closed-course highway in a fixed-based driving simulator. The results showed that use of a hands-free cellular phone involving verbal and cognitive distractions impaired driving performance and skill. Types of distraction produced significantly different effects on several dependent variables: the driving speed, headway (distance between the lead car and the manipulated car), brake reaction time, and number of collisions with the lead car. In general, the higher the cognitive load involved in the dialogue, the worse the driving performance.     

Large-scale neural network for sentence processing

Our model of sentence comprehension includes at least grammatical processes important for structure-building, and executive resources such as working memory that support these grammatical processes. We hypothesized that a core network of brain regions supports grammatical processes, and that additional brain regions are activated depending on the working memory demands associated with processing a particular grammatical feature. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to test this hypothesis by comparing cortical activation patterns during coherence judgments of sentences with three different syntactic features. We found activation of the ventral portion of left inferior frontal cortex during judgments of violations of each grammatical feature. Increased recruitment of the dorsal portion of left inferior frontal cortex was seen during judgments of violations of specific grammatical features that appear to involve a more prominent working memory component. Left posterolateral temporal cortex and anterior cingulate were also implicated in judging some of the grammatical features. Our observations are consistent with a large-scale neural network for sentence processing that includes a core set of regions for detecting and repairing several different kinds of grammatical features, and additional regions that appear to participate depending on the working memory demands associated with processing a particular grammatical feature.     

Do Investment Risk Tolerance Attitudes Predict Portfolio Risk?

We investigated a new instrument designed to assess investment risk tolerance, the Risk Tolerance Questionnaire (RTQ). RTQ scores were positively correlated with scores on two other investment risk measures, but were not correlated with a measure of sensation-seeking (Zuckerman, 1994), suggesting that investment risk tolerance is not explainable by a general cross-domain appetite for risk. Importantly, RTQ scores were positively correlated with the riskiness of respondents’ actual investment portfolios, meaning that investors with high risk-tolerance score tend to have higher-risk portfolios. Finally, respondents with relatively more investment experience had more risk-tolerant responses and higher-risk portfolios than less experienced investors.

注重"心灵环保"的当代人间佛教--圣严法师人间佛教思想之探析

圣严法师精勘于传统禅修,并因此以台湾法鼓山为弘法基地,常年在美国、台湾等国家与地区举行公开的"禅七"活动.在多年契机的传法过程中,圣严法师针对竞争激烈、动荡不安等各种压力剧增的现代社会,提出了"心灵环保"的人间佛教,即以传统的禅修为安心法门,并融入建设"人间净土"的理念,来对治现代人的焦虑、不安及环境污染等现代社会问题,同时冀此来提升现代人的精神品质与实现现代社会的和谐、安宁与幸福.从总体上看,圣严法师的人间佛教思想主旨是立足于人心困惑、浮躁的现代社会中,以中国禅宗的"平常心是道"的禅法为基础,兼他宗所长,并融入现代化的生活意识,以"心灵环保"为方便说法,引导人们在世间实现净土,同时,也不忘"世间成佛道"的超越.     

华西圣教书会的文字事工及其影响(1899-1919)

华西圣教书会于1899年初成立于重庆,存续40余年,于1941年关闭,是基督教在华西地区最重要的文字机构之一①.本文以清末民初为时限,考察华西圣教书会成立过程及其出版、发行状况,并分析基督教文字事业对华西社会变迁所起到的重大作用.     

The Effects of Collectivistic and Individualistic Values on Conflict and Decision Making: An Experiment in China

In an experiment with 80 participants in China, protagonists with opposing views in organizations that valued collectivism, compared to individualism, were found to develop cooperative goals, were confident that they could work, sought to understand, and demonstrated that they understood the opposing arguments, accepted these arguments as reasonable, and combined positions to create an integrated decision. The inductions comparing participants who valued harmony as a goal or a technique in which they pretended to agree were only partially effective and did not yield significant differences on conflict dynamics and outcomes. Findings challenge traditional theorizing that collectivistic values lead to conflict avoidance, and support recent arguments that strong, cooperative relationships promote the productive discussion of opposing views in decision making.     

Transference occurs across group boundaries

Transference occurs when a perceiver's representation of a significant other is activated and applied to a new target person (Andersen & Chen, 2002). Extending past research, it was hypothesized that transference occurs even when a target person possesses a core feature—namely, group membership status—that is inapplicable to the relevant significant-other representation. Supporting this, transference led perceivers to make representation-consistent memory and evaluation judgments about a target—regardless of whether the target's political (experiment 1) or ethnic (experiment 2) group membership was the same or different from that of the relevant significant other. Moreover, in experiment 2, perceivers undergoing transference involving a positively evaluated significant other behaved more positively toward the target even when the target was from an ethnic out-group. The results represent initial evidence of transference processes occurring across group boundaries. Implications for transference and the reduction of out-group bias are discussed.     

工作倦怠的测量及其干预研究综述

工作倦怠不仅会给组织和家庭带来消极的影响,而且会严重损害个体的身心健康,因而有必要采取措施进行干预。文章首先描述工作倦怠的定义,接着对其测量进行介绍,然后在此基础上分析其相关的影响因素,并指出如何实现有效的干预,最后对研究的热点进行了展望。     

进食障碍影响因素的探讨

神经性厌食症和神经性贪食症是主要的进食障碍症状。进食障碍的影响因素有社会文化因素（例如媒体和同伴的影响）、家庭因素（如困惑和冲突）、消极情绪、低自尊水平和对自身的不满及认知和生物方面的因素等。     

学前儿童的“心理理论”在不同ToM任务中的发展特点

考察了72名3～5岁儿童在三个改造过的经典错误信念任务中的表现,结果显示,大部分4岁儿童能够正确认识自我错误信念;大部分5岁儿童能够正确认识他人错误信念;大部分3～4岁儿童的自我错误信念认识显著好于他人（真人和玩偶）错误信念认识,5岁时这两种认识才没有显著差异;学前儿童对真人与玩偶错误信念的认识没有显著差异;学前儿童对“意外地点”任务和“意外内容”任务中错误信念问题回答的一致性较高,而对“外表—真实”任务的回答与前两种任务的一致性较低。