Working memory deficits, increased anxiety-like traits, and seizure susceptibility in BDNF overexpressing mice

BDNF regulates components of cognitive processes and has been implicated in psychiatric disorders. Here we report that genetic overexpression of the BDNF mature isoform (BDNF-tg) in female mice impaired working memory functions while sparing components of fear conditioning. BDNF-tg mice also displayed reduced breeding efficiency, higher anxiety-like scores, high self-grooming, impaired prepulse inhibition, and higher susceptibility to seizures when placed in a new empty cage, as compared with wild-type (WT) littermate controls. Control measures of general health, locomotor activity, motor coordination, depression-related behaviors, and sociability did not differ between genotypes. The present findings, indicating detrimental effects of life-long increased BDNF in mice, may inform human studies evaluating the role of BDNF functional genetic variations on cognitive abilities and vulnerability to psychiatric disorders.     

Attentional bias to emotional stimuli is altered during moderate- but not high-intensity exercise

Little is known regarding how attention to emotional stimuli is affected during simultaneously performed exercise. Attentional biases to emotional face stimuli were assessed in 34 college students (17 women) using the dot-probe task during counterbalanced conditions of moderate- (heart rate at 45% peak oxygen consumption) and high-intensity exercise (heart rate at 80% peak oxygen consumption) compared with seated rest. The dot-probe task consisted of 1 emotional face (pleasant or unpleasant) paired with a neutral face for 1,000 ms; 256 trials (128 trials for each valence) were presented during each condition. Each condition lasted approximately 10 min. Participants were instructed to perform each trial of the dot-probe task as quickly and accurately as possible during the exercise and rest conditions. During moderate-intensity exercise, participants exhibited significantly greater attentional bias scores to pleasant compared with unpleasant faces (p < .01), whereas attentional bias scores to emotional faces did not differ at rest or during high-intensity exercise (p > .05). In addition, the attentional bias to unpleasant faces was significantly reduced during moderate-intensity exercise compared with that during rest (p < .05). These results provide behavioral evidence that during exercise at a moderate intensity, there is a shift in attention allocation toward pleasant emotional stimuli and away from unpleasant emotional stimuli. Future work is needed to determine whether acute exercise may be an effective treatment approach to reduce negative bias or enhance positive bias in individuals diagnosed with mood or anxiety disorders, or whether attentional bias during exercise predicts adherence to exercise.     

眼跳任务中的偏心距效应

采用完全被试内设计,控制了眼跳任务类型(朝向眼跳、反向眼跳)和目标偏心距水平,考察了大学生在两种眼跳任务中的偏心距效应,即目标刺激相对于屏幕中心的距离对于眼跳过程的影响.研究结果发现:(1)反向眼跳任务中的首次眼跳方向错误率显著高于朝向眼跳,眼跳潜伏期也显著较长.(2)在朝向和反向眼跳过程中,都出现了目标的偏心距效应,即随着目标偏心距的增大,眼跳潜伏期缩短,眼跳落点视角增大.     

学校组织气氛对教师工作倦怠的影响

问卷调查了410名北京市中学教师,探讨了学校组织气氛对教师工作倦怠的影响。结果发现:教师的工作倦怠没有性别、是否班主任、年龄、任课班级数量、学生人数、周任课时数上的差别。在职称和婚姻因素上有明显的差别,玩世不恭维度上,高级职称的教师工作倦怠明显高于中教一级和中教二级教师,中教一级和中教二级教师之间的工作倦怠没有显著差异,单身教师的情绪衰竭和成就感低落比己婚教师明显偏高。在控制了人口统计学变量之后,分层回归和优势分析发现:支持行为和限制行为能显著预测情绪衰竭,限制行为的贡献更大;支持行为、监督行为、限制行为和同事行为能显著预测玩世不恭,支持行为的贡献更大;支持行为、同事行为和疏远行为能显著预测成就感低落,同事行为的贡献更大;亲密行为对情绪衰竭、玩世不恭和成就感低落没有预测作用。     

自尊能缓冲死亡焦虑吗?--自尊对死亡提醒条件下大学生死亡焦虑的影响

采用2×4两因素组间设计,以168名大学生为被试,考察了自尊对死亡提醒条件下死亡焦虑的影响.结果发现(1)死亡提醒操作确实唤醒了大学生的死亡焦虑,焦虑平均值为2.28±0.49;(2)支持了西方文化背景下提出的自尊缓冲死亡焦虑的假设,即死亡提醒条件下,自尊越高,死亡焦虑越低,说明自尊对死亡焦虑的缓冲作用是一种普遍心理现象.     

传统价值取向对心理咨询与治疗中儿童权利的冲击

在儿童心理咨询与治疗中,儿童享有获得治疗权、同意治疗权、拥有隐私权和个人名誉权等权利。在心理咨询与治疗中,对于来访者权利的保护已经得到了公认,但作为特殊的群体,儿童在心理咨询与治疗中的权利常被忽视。就中国文化而言,中国传统的价值取向是造成这一现象的原因之一。研究者认为中国人在日常生活中的适应方式是偏向社会取向的,这种社会取向有4个内涵,分别是家族取向、关系取向、权威取向和他人取向。因此,当以西方理论为主要指导的儿童心理咨询运用到中国社会时,必然会受到中国传统价值取向的影响,这些传统价值取向通过对儿童父母或民众观念的影响,进而冲击心理咨询与治疗中儿童权利的保护。     

身份的重构:儒生天主教徒对"十诫"的诠释

本文以明清之际儒生天主教徒论及"十诫"的著述为基础,探讨他们对"十诫"不同于耶稣会士的的诠释.文本诠释活动是建构身份的重要手段之一,本文关注儒生天主教徒如何通过对"十诫"的诠释而建构他们的身份,从而呈现本土文化对基督教在中国的文化植根所作的回应与贡献.     

基于示例学习的认知技能获得的研究

本文简要介绍了基于示例学习的认知技能获得的研究,涉及的问题包括示例学习的过程、影响认知技能获得的因素、认知技能获得中的练习和迁移等、在文章的最后,对这一领域的研究趋势进行了展望。