Sublexical and lexical representations in speech production: effects of phonotactic probability and onset density

Phonotactic probability, neighborhood density, and onset density were manipulated in 4 picture-naming tasks. Experiment 1 showed that pictures of words with high phonotactic probability were named more quickly than pictures of words with low phonotactic probability. This effect was consistent over multiple presentations of the pictures (Experiment 2). Manipulations of phonotactic probability and neighborhood density showed only an influence of phonotactic probability (Experiment 3). In Experiment 4, pictures of words with sparse onsets were named more quickly than pictures of words with dense onsets. The results of these experiments provide additional constraints on the architecture and processes involved in models of speech production, as well as constraints on the connections between the recognition and production systems.     

It’s All About the Relationship: The Role of Attachment in Child-Parent Psychotherapy

Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology -     

工作记忆表征精度加工需求对注意引导的影响

采用注意捕获范式, 通过行为和事件相关脑电位(ERP)实验, 探讨工作记忆表征精度加工需求对注意引导的影响, 行为结果发现, 在低精度加工需求条件下, 只有一个工作记忆表征引导注意, 且处于高激活状态的工作记忆表征产生的注意捕获大于低激活状态; 而在高精度加工需求条件下, 有两个工作记忆表征引导注意, 且处于高、低激活状态的工作记忆表征产生的注意捕获没有差异。ERP结果显示, 高精度加工需求条件下诱发的NSW和LPC大于低精度加工需求条件; 在高精度加工需求条件下, 干扰项与记忆项匹配比不匹配时, 诱发更大的N2和更小的N2pc, 而在低精度加工需求条件下, 干扰项与记忆项匹配和不匹配时诱发的N2、N2pc没有差异。研究表明, 工作记忆表征精度加工需求影响注意引导的机制可能是高精度加工需求下, 工作记忆表征消耗的认知资源增加, 搜索目标获得的资源减少, 干扰项捕获的注意增加。     

视觉工作记忆的同类别存储优势

概念规律如记忆项间的类别关系如何影响视觉工作记忆容量是一个有争议的问题。针对该问题, 学界存在两种预测截然不同的假说：(1)混合类别优势假说, (2)同类别优势假说。综述文献发现, 该类研究均采用带有细节特征的真实客体作为实验材料, 因此前人研究中发现的混合类别优势效应或同类别优势效应中必然混有低水平知觉特征的影响。故本研究采用去除细节信息的动物剪影作为记忆材料来排除上述因素的影响, 旨在厘清上述两种假设, 并采用对侧延迟活动作为神经指标, 来进一步探讨概念规律影响工作记忆容量的内在机制。两个行为实验发现, 不论记忆项同时呈现还是序列呈现, 均存在同类别记忆优势效应。脑电实验结果发现相比记忆不同类别客体, 记忆同等数量的同类别客体诱发的对侧延迟活动的幅值更小。上述结果一致表明, 视觉工作记忆可借助概念的方式将同类别客体加以组织, 从而有效扩大视觉工作记忆容量, 支持了同类别优势假说。     

The Age and Gender Effect on Four Forms of Peer Victimization among Chinese Children and Adolescents

Applied Research in Quality of Life - This study is the first to examine the effects of age and gender on different forms of peer victimization among local Chinese schoolchildren in Hong Kong. The...     

The Significance of Family Structure in Internalizing (Anxious/Depressed) and Externalizing (Aggressive/Delinquent) Problems among Chinese Adolescents

The present pioneering study investigated the differences across various types of family structure among Chinese adolescents with proactive and reactive aggression. It aimed at providing frontline social workers and family therapists with inspirations for designing suitable interventions for adolescents with specific subtypes of aggressive behavior from different family structure backgrounds. After completing an online survey including the Reactive and Proactive Aggression Questionnaire (RPQ) and the subscales of the Child Behavior Checklist – Youth Self-report (CBCL-YSR) on aggressive behavior, delinquent behavior, and anxious/depressed symptom, 520 out of 13,338 Chinese adolescents aged 11 to 18 were randomly selected and stratified based on the types of family structure (intact family, single father family, single mother family, stepfather family, and stepmother family). Expectedly, boys elicited more proactive aggression, delinquent behaviors, and aggressive behaviors than girls. Besides, significant cross-structural differences were found between children from stepmother family, who showed more proactive aggression, anxious/depressed symptoms, aggressive behaviors, and delinquent behaviors, and those from intact family regardless of gender. The interaction effects between gender and family structure were significant for reactive aggression, anxious/depressed behavior, and aggressive behavior. An interaction effect showed boys from stepmother families were more reactively aggressive than those from intact families. In addition, more anxious/depressed symptoms were found in boys from stepmother family than those from intact and single mother families. In conclusion, the impacts of family structure on proactive aggression and delinquent behavior are not gender specific, but the impacts on reactive aggression and anxious/depressed behavior are only specific to boys.

     

Fleeing or not: Responsivity of a chased target influences the cognitive representation of the chasing action

The chasing action, in which an actor chases a target, is a fundamental activity for the evolutionary shaping of social abilities. Where previous research has emphasized the chaser’s role, the current study explored whether the fleeing responsivity of a chased target influences the cognitive representation of the chasing action. We investigated this with a change-detection task, in which a set of chasing actions, either exhibiting or not exhibiting fleeing behavior, were memorized in sequence, and it was tested whether a memorized action reappeared after altering an object’s appearance. The results suggest that the target’s fleeing responsivity influenced the detection of representation-related changes in the appearance of the involved agents, especially when the appearance of one target was replaced with another (i.e., a new pair, but with the same functional role), showing impaired sensitivity to change for the chasing action (Experiment 1). This effect disappeared, however, when the perceived chasing from presented movements was impaired, while displaying largely the same low-level differences as those present in earlier trials through the use of mirrored chasing (Experiment 2) and setting the faced direction opposite of the moving direction (Experiment 3). These findings suggest that the fleeing responsivity of the chased target can influence the stored representation of the action. This differentiation may be attributed to the stronger construction of social interaction structure for chasing action with fleeing than without, since the fleeing behavior can be deemed a contingency cue for social interaction interpretation.     

Attaching meaning to the number words: contributions of the object tracking and approximate number systems

Children's understanding of the quantities represented by number words (i.e., cardinality) is a surprisingly protracted but foundational step in their learning of formal mathematics. The development of cardinal knowledge is related to one or two core, inherent systems – the approximate number system (ANS) and the object tracking system (OTS) – but whether these systems act alone, in concert, or antagonistically is debated. Longitudinal assessments of 198 preschool children on OTS, ANS, and cardinality tasks enabled testing of two single‐mechanism (ANS‐only and OTS‐only) and two dual‐mechanism models, controlling for intelligence, executive functions, preliteracy skills, and demographic factors. Measures of both OTS and ANS predicted cardinal knowledge in concert early in the school year, inconsistent with single‐mechanism models. The ANS but not the OTS predicted cardinal knowledge later in the school year as well the acquisition of the cardinal principle, a critical shift in cardinal understanding. The results support a Merge model, whereby both systems initially contribute to children's early mapping of number words to cardinal value, but the role of the OTS diminishes over time while that of the ANS continues to support cardinal knowledge as children come to understand the counting principles.     

Mindfulness facets,trait emotional intelligence,emotional distress,and multiple health behaviors: A serial two‐mediator model

In the present study, we tested a serial mindfulness facets‐trait emotional intelligence (TEI)‐emotional distress‐multiple health behaviors mediation model in a sample of N = 427 German‐speaking occupational therapists. The mindfulness facets‐TEI‐emotional distress section of the mediation model revealed partial mediation for the mindfulness facets Act with awareness (Act/Aware) and Accept without judgment (Accept); inconsistent mediation was found for the Describe facet. The serial two‐mediator model included three mediational pathways that may link each of the four mindfulness facets with multiple health behaviors. Eight out of 12 indirect effects reached significance and fully mediated the links between Act/Aware and Describe to multiple health behaviors; partial mediation was found for Accept. The mindfulness facet Observe was most relevant for multiple health behaviors, but its relation was not amenable to mediation. Implications of the findings will be discussed.