神经成像数据的元分析

随着高空间分辨率神经成像技术如fMRI和PET的普及, 神经成像研究报告的数量增长迅猛。文献的积累为研究者提供了大量的数据, 研究者可以通过对文献的分析来验证研究结论以及提出新的假设。由于神经成像研究的主要目的之一在于寻求认知过程与脑区的空间位置对应关系, 基于坐标的元分析方法满足了这种需求, 成为神经成像数据元分析中主导的方法。其中, 激活可能性估计法(Activation Likelihood Estimation, ALE)由于方法上的合理性和使用上的便利, 成为当前使用最广泛的基于坐标的元分析方法。本文首先介绍了ALE方法的基本原理, 并在此基础上讨论了神经成像数据元分析的两种主要思路：寻找多个研究的一致性以及寻找脑区激活的调节变量。此外, 文章还介绍了新近流行的脑连通性元分析模型(MACM), 即使用元分析方法进行功能连通性分析。最后, 文章讨论了当前神经成像数据元分析的发展趋势。     

Judging the health and attractiveness of female faces: is the most attractive level of facial adiposity also considered the healthiest?

Perceived facial adiposity plays an important role in perceptions of both facial attractiveness and health, but people might differentiate between the level of adiposity they find most attractive and healthy. The aim of this study was therefore to test whether or not similar levels of adiposity in faces were preferred for judgments of health and attractiveness. Fifty-three Caucasian university students were asked to make three-dimensional female faces appear as healthy and attractive as possible by changing faces along a continuum that portrays the facial adiposity change associated with a change in body mass index. Results showed that women preferred a significantly lower level of facial adiposity when judging attractiveness than when judging health, while men did not differentiate between the 'most attractive' and 'most healthy' looking level of facial adiposity. These findings are discussed in terms of the sociocultural portrayal of female body ideals and the preference for healthy individuals.     

Manipulation of colour and shape information and its consequence upon recognition and best-likeness judgments

Previous forays into the study of recognition have revealed an advantage for line-drawn and photographic shape caricatures of faces in reaction-time paradigms. When a presentation-time technique was used, photographs with enhanced colour intensity and saturation were also found to provide superior recognition accuracy to veridical images. This has provided strong evidence that distinctive information can produce a recognition advantage for famous faces in both colour and shape domains. Such a presentation-time paradigm allows the display of stimuli over a range of brief display periods. Using this paradigm, subjects recognised photorealistic target faces caricatured in shape with greater accuracy than veridical images, consistent with previous findings when reaction time was used as a measure. Subjects were also asked to identify the best likeness for individuals using photorealistic stimuli and an interactive paradigm with shape caricature, colour caricature, and contrast control varied by the user in real-time. The best likeness with shape manipulation was a slight anticaricature, while with colour-caricature and contrast-control images a mildly exaggerated image was selected as the best likeness. Thus, although images caricatured substantially in colour or shape (+40%) induce superior recognition compared to veridical images, such substantial exaggerations are not necessarily seen as best likenesses under prolonged exposure.     

Misperceptions of opposite-sex preferences for thinness and muscularity

Thin and muscular have been characterized as ideals for women and men, respectively. Little research has investigated whether men and women have accurate perceptions of opposite-sex preferences of thinness and muscularity. Further, no study has explored whether opposite-sex perceptions of thinness and muscularity preferences differ for short-term and long-term relationships. The present study set out to address these questions. We used interactive 3D human models to represent bodies varying in size (body mass index/BMI weight scaled by height) and body composition. University-aged (18–31) White European heterosexual men and women were asked to choose their own and ideal body shape, the ideal body shape for a short- and a long-term partner, and the body shape they thought the opposite-sex would most like for short- and long-term partners. Women overestimated the thinness that men prefer in a partner and men overestimated the heaviness and muscularity that women prefer in a partner. These misperceptions were more exaggerated for short-term relationships than for long-term relationships. The results illustrate the importance of investigating misperceptions of opposite-sex preferences and raise the possibility that correcting misperceptions might have utility in reducing body dissatisfaction or eating disorders.     

Degrading situations and antisocial behaviour: an experimental approach to delinquency

What are the social psychological processes likely to lead individuals to commit antisocial behaviour? Two experiments are presented showing that students experiencing a publicly degrading situation (a failure on a fictitious test) agreed more often than non-degraded students to participate in a theft to the detriment of a fellow student or even to the detriment of a teacher. We were able to exclude an interpretation in terms of imitation or revenge and suggest that a publicly degrading situation places subjects in a kind of social dependency state which is expressed by a vulnerability to influence. These results are discussed with due regard to the criminological and social psychological literature.     

Men's strategic preferences for femininity in female faces

Several evolutionarily relevant sources of individual differences in face preference have been documented for women. Here, we examine three such sources of individual variation in men's preference for female facial femininity: term of relationship, partnership status and self‐perceived attractiveness. We show that men prefer more feminine female faces when rating for a short‐term relationship and when they have a partner (Study 1). These variables were found to interact in a follow‐up study (Study 2). Men who thought themselves attractive also preferred more feminized female faces for short‐term relationships than men who thought themselves less attractive (Study 1 and Study 2). In women, similar findings for masculine preferences in male faces have been interpreted as adaptive. In men, such preferences potentially reflect that attractive males are able to compete for high‐quality female partners in short‐term contexts. When a man has secured a mate, the potential cost of being discovered may increase his choosiness regarding short‐term partners relative to unpartnered men, who can better increase their short‐term mating success by relaxing their standards. Such potentially strategic preferences imply that men also face trade‐offs when choosing relatively masculine or feminine faced partners. In line with a trade‐off, women with feminine faces were seen as more likely to be unfaithful and more likely to pursue short‐term relationships (Study 3), suggesting that risk of cuckoldry is one factor that may limit men's preferences for femininity in women and could additionally lead to preferences for femininity in short‐term mates.     

“THESE ANXIETIES ARE NOT MINE”: ADOLESCENCE,THE OEDIPAL CONFIGURATION,AND TRANSGENERATIONAL FACTORS

Part 1 of this paper draws on the film Back to the Future (1985) to highlight various aspects of adolescence, the oedipal situation, and transgenerational factors. The authors then discuss the Oedipus myth and its themes of adolescence, narcissism, identity, acting out, repetition, aggression, and the parent–child relationship, among others. Comments drawn from Winnicott's writing on oedipal issues are discussed as well. As an illustration of some of these issues, in Part 2, the authors present the clinical case of Osvaldo, age sixteen. Transference‐countertransference issues in this treatment are explored in depth.