Children's Understanding of the Instrumental Value of Products and Brands

Gelman and Echelbarger (2019—this issue) provide a valuable discussion about children's understanding of the inferred or nonobvious features of objects, which has implications for how children value products. We further this conversation by examining how children value products and brands as a means for meeting important goals, which we refer to as instrumental valuation. Specifically, we examine developmental trends in instrumental valuation for three goals—self‐concept development, self‐presentation, and happiness. Across these areas, we find that children place greater value on products and brands for meeting these goals as they grow older, particularly during late childhood and early adolescence. We conclude with a discussion of how age differences in instrumental valuation add to the general conversation about how children of different ages value objects.     

Tailoring the Mode of Information Presentation: Effects on Younger and Older Adults' Attention and Recall of Online Information

Previous studies have mainly focused on tailoring message content to match individual characteristics and preferences. This study investigates the effect of a website tailored to individual preferences for the mode of information presentation, compared to 4 nontailored websites on younger and older adults' attention and recall of information, employing a 5 (condition: tailored vs. text, text with illustrations, audiovisual, combination) × 2 (age: younger [25–45] vs. older [≥65] adults) design (N = 559). The mode‐tailored condition (relative to nontailored conditions) improved attention to the website and, consequently, recall in older adults, but not in younger adults. Younger adults recalled more from nontailored information such as text only or text with illustrations, relative to tailored information.     

抑郁的多基因遗传基础

抑郁具有复杂的、非孟德尔式的多基因遗传模式, 但是目前多数抑郁的遗传研究集中于考察单个候选基因, 不能全面揭示遗传因素的作用机制。近年来, 多基因遗传得分研究和基因−基因交互研究分别为抑郁的多基因累加效应和交互效应提供了新的证据。多基因不仅直接影响抑郁, 还通过与环境因素的交互作用影响抑郁的发生发展, 并且这一复杂交互作用存在性别差异。抑郁的内表型研究发现多基因可能通过认知因素、人格、压力荷尔蒙等间接影响个体的抑郁水平。未来研究应更加关注多基因与多种环境因素如何相互作用影响抑郁, 探索多基因遗传机制的性别差异, 考察多基因对抑郁影响随年龄的发展动态变化。     

Associations of Psychosocial Factors with Maternal Confidence Among Japanese and Vietnamese Mothers

We conducted this cross-sectional study among 392 Japanese and 294 Vietnamese mothers who attended routine child health visits in a Japanese city and at a tertiary hospital in Vietnam, in order to investigate the prevalence and associated sociodemographic, parenting, and psychological characteristics of low maternal confidence in child rearing among them. All data were collected from medical files in Japan, and from medical files and self-administered questionnaires in Vietnam. The proportion of mothers without secure feeling of confidence in the present study was 22% in Japan and 66% in Vietnam. Significant factors associated with a lack of confidence were first-time motherhood and unintended pregnancy in the Japanese dataset and younger age in the Vietnamese dataset. In both groups, a higher proportion of mothers who lacked confidence reported negative parenting outcomes than did confident mothers. Among the three psychological measurements (mood, self-efficacy and depression), higher self-efficacy was associated independently with a significantly reduced risk of not having confidence in child rearing. These results suggest the importance of developing parenting support programs to help Japanese and Vietnamese mothers, particularly those who are young, first-time mothers or who became pregnant unexpectedly, improve their self-efficacy.     

Primacy effect or recency effect? A long‐term memory test of Super Bowl commercials

• The serial position effects for television commercials were tested within a naturalistic setting in this study, at both the micro level and the macro level. Television viewers' brand memory (recall and recognition) for the 2006 Super Bowl commercials were analyzed. At the micro level, the serial position of each commercial in a same commercial pod was measured. When the length of a commercial pod was controlled for, an earlier position for a commercial generated better brand recall. When the number of preceding ads was held constant, a commercial in a pod with fewer ads generated better brand recognition. At the macro level, the serial position of each commercial pod within the whole Super Bowl game broadcast was measured. The commercial pods at earlier positions generated better brand memory. Both findings confirmed a strong primacy effect. Managerial implications of the findings were also discussed.

Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

声符和义符在形声字语音、语义提取中的作用

采用眼动技术记录汉语阅读者在形声字的语音、语义提取中对声符和义符的注意规律, 考察形声字部件的位置、功能和正字法意识对汉字认知的影响。结果表明：(1)在汉字的视觉加工中, 阅读者对部件空间位置的注意加工优势受到声旁位置的调节。对左形右声结构的汉字, 被试更多地注意字的右边, 对右形左声结构的汉字, 被试更多地注意字的左边; (2)在汉语阅读者的正字法规则中, 存在着“左侧释义、右侧释音”的部件的位置-功能联结。(3)在通达形声字的语音、语义的过程中, 与义符相比, 声符具有注意资源的优势, 这种优势在语音提取任务中更加明显：声符无需依赖义符的信息便可以相对独立地激活整字的语音, 但声符需要义符的配合才能够提取整字的语义。     

MAOA基因与抑郁的关系

抑郁的发生具有遗传基础。近年来, 随着分子遗传技术的发展, 对抑郁遗传机制的研究已经深入到分子水平。既有研究表明, MAOA基因在抑郁的发生发展中发挥着十分重要的作用。MAOA基因与抑郁间存在紧密的直接关联, 而且MAOA基因与环境及其他基因亦交互作用于抑郁, 然而, 既有相关研究结论尚存分歧。未来研究应更加关注MAOA基因与多种环境因素及其它基因间的复杂交互作用, 考察MAOA基因的年龄效应, 揭示MAOA基因作用于抑郁的脑机制。     

Effects of Ingroup Bias and Gender Role Violations on Acquaintance Rape Attributions

Two studies of ethnically diverse US college students from northern California examined whether ingroup bias and gender norm violations influence acquaintance rape attributions (Study 1, N?=?118; Study 2, N?=?140). Participants read vignettes depicting acquaintance rape and completed questionnaires. Victims were part of participants’ ingroup or outgroup. Study 1 manipulated the victim’s sexual history (chaste or promiscuous). Study 2 manipulated the victim’s alcohol use (sober or intoxicated). Ingroup victims were perceived more positively than outgroup victims if the victims were promiscuous or intoxicated. More guilt was attributed to rapists of ingroup victims than outgroup victims if the victims were promiscuous or intoxicated. Findings are examined in relation to ingroup bias and gender norm violations.     

Coordination of a discrete response with periodic finger tapping: additional experimental aspects for a subtle mechanism

The authors investigated the coordination of periodic right-hand tapping with single stimulus-evoked discrete lefthand taps to check for task interactions and a possible relationship between phase resetting (see tapping literature; e.g., J. Yamanishi, M. Kawato, & R. Suzuki, 1979) and phase entrainment (see tremor literature; e.g., R. J. Elble, C. Higgins, & L. Hughes, 1994). The experimental paradigm employs a dual-task condition as used by K. Yoshino, K. Takagi, T. Nomura, S. Sato, and M. Tonoike (2002), and it includes normal tapping and isometric tapping with the authors recording finger positions and ground contact forces. Four different types of coordination schemes were observed in tapping behavior: marginal tapping interaction (MTI), periodic tap retardation (PTR), periodic tap hastening (PTH), and discrete tap entrainment (DTE); MTI and PTR correspond to the phase-resetting effect for the coordination of periodic tapping with single discrete taps. The novel aspect of the study described in this article includes the impact of the periodic tapping on the discrete tap timing and the hastening of the periodic tapping due to the discrete tap behaviors resulting in a synchronized execution of the two concurrent tapping tasks. All participants showed a dominant tapping behavior, but they all used the other nondominant forms of the four reported coordination schemes in some trials too, which reflects possible constraints of the sensorimotor system in handling two competing tasks.     

Beta-adrenergic receptor activation during distinct patterns of stimulation critically modulates the PKA-dependence of LTP in the mouse hippocampus

Activation of β-adrenergic receptors (β-ARs) enhances hippocampal memory consolidation and long-term potentiation (LTP), a likely mechanism for memory storage. One signaling pathway linked to β-AR activation is the cAMP-PKA pathway. PKA is critical for the consolidation of hippocampal long-term memory and for the expression of some forms of long-lasting hippocampal LTP. How does β-AR activation affect the PKA-dependence, and persistence, of LTP elicited by distinct stimulation frequencies? Here, we use in vitro electrophysiology to show that patterns of stimulation determine the temporal phase of LTP affected by β-AR activation. In addition, only specific patterns of stimulation recruit PKA-dependent LTP following β-AR activation. Impairments of PKA-dependent LTP maintenance generated by pharmacologic or genetic deficiency of PKA activity are also abolished by concurrent activation of β-ARs. Taken together, our data show that, depending on patterns of synaptic stimulation, activation of β-ARs can gate the PKA-dependence and persistence of synaptic plasticity. We suggest that this may allow neuromodulatory receptors to fine-tune neural information processing to meet the demands imposed by numerous synaptic activity profiles. This is a form of “metaplasticity” that could control the efficacy of consolidation of hippocampal long-term memories.The hippocampus importantly contributes to memory function in the mammalian brain (Zola-Morgan et al. 1986; Eichenbaum et al. 1990; Otto and Eichenbaum 1992; Phillips and LeDoux 1992; Remondes and Schuman 2004). It has reciprocal connections with numerous cortical areas, including those responsible for high-level integration of spatial and contextual data from the external environment (Lavenex and Amaral 2000). As such, the hippocampus is well positioned to receive and survey a broad range of information and select behaviorally salient data for long-term storage. Activity-dependent enhancement of hippocampal synaptic strength can store information carried in patterns of afferent neural activity (Bliss and Collingridge 1993; Moser et al. 1998; Nathe and Frank 2003; Whitlock et al. 2006). Substantial evidence suggests that long-term potentiation (LTP) of synaptic strength plays important roles in the formation of long-term memory (LTM) (Doyere and Laroche 1992; Bourtchuladze et al. 1994; Abel and Lattal 2001; Genoux et al. 2002). As such, mechanistic studies of LTP have shed valuable light on how the mammalian brain stores new information.The hippocampus receives dense noradrenergic projections from the locus coeruleus, a brain structure that can influence many vital brain functions, including attention, sleep, arousal, mood regulation, learning, and memory (Berridge and Waterhouse 2003). Both α- and β-adrenergic receptor subtypes are present on hippocampal neurons (Morrison and Foote 1986; Berridge and Waterhouse 2003), and noradrenaline (NA) acts on hippocampal β-adrenergic receptors (β-ARs) to facilitate the retention and recall of memory (Izquierdo et al. 1998; Ji et al. 2003; Murchison et al. 2004). In humans, stimulation of the noradrenergic neuromodulatory system enhances memory for emotional stimuli, and inhibition of β-ARs prevents this memory enhancement (Cahill et al. 1994; van Stegeren et al. 1998; O’Carroll et al. 1999).Consistent with the notion that selective enhancement of LTM may occur following β-AR activation, stimulation of β-ARs can also facilitate the persistence of LTP. In areas CA3 and CA1, β-AR activation facilitates the induction of long-lasting LTP when paired with certain patterns of electrical stimulation (Huang and Kandel 1996; Gelinas and Nguyen 2005). However, the mechanisms by which different patterns of stimulation control synaptic responsiveness to β-AR activation are unclear.β-ARs couple to guanine-nucleotide-binding regulatory Gs proteins to stimulate adenylyl cyclase activity and increase intracellular cAMP (Seeds and Gilman 1971; Maguire et al. 1977). A main target of cAMP signaling is activation of cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA), a kinase that is required for some forms of long-lasting LTP and for consolidation of hippocampal LTM (Frey et al. 1993; Abel et al. 1997; Nguyen and Woo 2003). Interestingly, the PKA-dependence of hippocampal LTP displays plasticity: Specific temporal patterns of synaptic stimulation, such as repeated and temporally spaced 100-Hz stimulation, elicit LTP that requires PKA for its expression (Woo et al. 2003). Also, spatial “enrichment” can increase the PKA-dependence of LTP in mice, and this is correlated with improved hippocampal memory function (Duffy et al. 2001). However, it is unclear whether activation of β-ARs can critically gate the PKA-dependence of LTP. In this study, we examine the effects of β-AR activation on LTP generated by various patterns of afferent stimulation in area CA1 of the hippocampus, and we determine the role of PKA in these β-AR-modulated forms of LTP.