Prioritization to visual objects: Roles of sensory uncertainty

Two hypotheses, attentional prioritization and attentional spreading, have been proposed to account for object-based attention. The attentional-prioritization hypothesis posits that the positional uncertainty of targets is sufficient to resolve the controversy raised by the competing attentional-spreading hypothesis. Here we challenge the sufficiency of this explanation by showing that object-based attention is a function of sensory uncertainty in a task with consistent high positional uncertainty of the targets. In Experiment 1, object-based attention was modulated by sensory uncertainty induced by the noise from backward masking, showing an object-based effect under high as compared to low sensory uncertainty. This finding was replicated in Experiment 2 with increased task difficulty, to exclude that as a confounding factor, and in Experiment 3 with a psychophysical method, to obtain converging evidence using perceptual threshold measurement. Additionally, such a finding was not observed when sensory uncertainty was eliminated by replacing the backward-masking stimuli with perceptually dissimilar ones in Experiment 4. These results reveal that object-based attention is influenced by sensory uncertainty, even under high positional uncertainty of the targets. Our findings contradict the proposition of attentional spreading, proposing instead an automatic form of object-based attention due to enhancement of the perceptual representation. More importantly, the attentional-prioritization hypothesis based solely on positional uncertainty cannot sufficiently account for object-based attention, but needs to be developed by expanding the concept of uncertainty to include at least sensory uncertainty.     

论寿命学：2．梦想与现实

以人类最大寿命的相对有限性为基础,论述现阶段延长人类寿命面临的问题以及人类最大寿限演化的远景并着重指出依靠现行医疗模式延寿潜力的有限性以及改变医疗保健观念与运行体系的必要性。     

群际情境下向上社会比较信息对自我评价的影响

以大学生为被试作了两个实验,研究群际情境下向上社会比较信息对自我评价的影响。实验1的结果表明,对于多数派群体的成员来说,来自内群体的向上社会比较信息会提高其自我评价,即产生同化效应,而来自外群体的向上社会比较信息会降低其自我评价,即产生对比效应;对于少数派群体的成员来说,无论向上社会比较信息来自内群体还是外群体,都对其自我评价几乎不产生影响。实验2表明,多数派群体成员在自我评价上的内群体同化效应依赖于群际对比。     

父母温暖与青少年情绪表达能力的关系:害羞和自尊的中介作用

采用父母教养方式问卷、情感交流能力测验(ACT)、Rosenberg自尊量表和害羞量表测量449名高中生。探讨害羞和自尊在父母温暖与青少年情绪表达能力之间的中介作用。结果表明:父母温暖与自尊和情绪表达能力均呈显著正相关、与害羞呈显著负相关;自尊与情绪表达能力呈显著正相关,而害羞与情绪表达能力呈显著负相关;自尊和害羞在父母温暖与情绪表达能力之间起部分中介作用。因此,父母温暖不仅可以直接影响青少年的情绪表达能力,也可以通过提高自尊或减少害羞进而有助于青少年情绪表达能力的发展。     

An item response theory analysis of the Impulsive Behaviors Checklist for Adolescents

This study used item response theory (IRT) to examine the Impulsive Behaviors Checklist for Adolescents (IBCL-A) among 6,276 (67.7% girls) Chinese secondary school students. The IBCL-A included 15 maladaptive impulsive behaviors adapted from the Revised Diagnostic Interview for Borderlines. The authors obtained the severity and discrimination parameters for each item in the IBCL-A, examined differential item functioning across gender and age groups, and tested reliability and concurrent validity of the IBCL-A IRT-scaled score. Most items in the IBCL-A were the most accurate in assessing moderate to high levels of impulsivity and discriminated well among adolescents with varied levels of impulsivity. Differential item functioning emerged in several items across gender. The IRT-scaled score showed good construct validity and incremental predictive validity. Findings demonstrate the sound psychometric properties of the IBCL-A and support the clinical utility of this scale.     

Quantity discrimination in fish species: fish use non-numerical continuous quantity traits to select shoals

Fish typically prefer to live in big shoals due to the associated ecological benefits. Shoaling is a behavior that depends on the ability to quantitatively discriminate. The fundamental mechanism involved in quantity discrimination determines whether fish can discriminate a shoal using numerical discrete cues (e.g., number of shoal members), non-numerical continuous traits (e.g., total body surface area) or both; however, the mechanism is currently a controversial topic. In the present study, we used a spontaneous choice experiment to test whether guppy (Poecilia reticulata), zebrafish (Danio rerio), Chinese crucian carp (Carassius auratus) and qingbo (Spinibarbus sinensis) rely on continuous (i.e., body surface area) or discrete (i.e., number of shoal members) information for shoal selection by altering the body surface area (cumulative body surface area ratio of 3:2 or 1:1) between two stimulus shoals with a different number of members (2 individuals vs 3 individuals). All four fish species preferred to shoal with the stimulus shoal with the larger cumulative surface area even if the shoal had fewer members; however, fish showed no shoal preference when the cumulative surface body areas of both stimulus shoals were equal. Furthermore, qingbo did not numerically discriminate between a shoal with 1 individual and a shoal with 3 individuals when the cumulative surface areas of both stimulus shoals were equal; however, qingbo showed a preference for the shoal with the larger cumulative surface area when the two stimulus shoals each had 3 individuals. In conclusion, the present study demonstrated that all four fish species relied only on non-numerical continuous quantity information for shoal selection, at least under a difficult task (i.e., 2 vs 3).     

传统民间游戏“葫芦问”促进儿童社会性发展的质性研究

从心理学视角对闽南民间游戏葫芦问进行探究。结果表明:(1)随着游戏次数的增加,儿童情绪调控、自我监控的能力有所提高;(2)游戏领导者与非领导者的助人行为存在明显差异;(3)在葫芦问游戏中,已有知识经验是增加游戏领导者影响力的一大重要因素;(4)游戏促使儿童学会对他人的理解,进而促进了同伴关系的发展。传统民间游戏葫芦问不仅有利于历史文化故事的传播,同时对儿童社会性发展具有促进作用。     

A dynamic context model of interactive behavior

A dynamic context model of interactive behavior was developed to explain results from two experiments that tested the effects of interaction costs on encoding strategies, cognitive representations, and response selection processes in a decision-making and a judgment task. The model assumes that the dynamic context defined by the mixes of internal and external representations and processes are sensitive to the interaction cost imposed by the task environment. The model predicts that changes in the dynamic context may lead to systematic biases in cognitive representations and processes that eventually influence decision-making and judgment outcomes. Consistent with the predictions by the model, results from the experiments showed that as interaction costs increased, encoding strategies and cognitive representations shifted from perception-based to memory-based. Memory-based comparisons of the stimuli enhanced the similarity and dominance effects, and led to stronger systematic biases in response outcomes in a choice task. However, in a judgment task, memory-based representations enhanced only the dominance effects. Results suggested that systematic response biases in the dominance context were caused by biases in the cognitive representations of the stimuli, but response biases in the similarity context were caused by biases in the comparison process induced by the choice task. Results suggest that changes in interaction costs not only change whether information was assessed from the external world or from memory but also introduce systematic biases in the cognitive representation of the information, which act as biased inputs to the subsequent decision-making and judgment processes. Results are consistent with the idea of interactive cognition, which proposes that representations and processes are contingent on the dynamic context defined by the information flow between the external task environment and internal cognition.     

全球化、菲利普斯曲线平坦化及其政策含义——中国数据的实证分析

金融危机爆发以来,对通胀机理的深入思考,对现有货币政策理论框架的深刻反思,愈发热烈。本文全面回顾了国际经济学界在这一领域的相关文献,并以中国作为研究对象,讨论全球化对中国菲利普斯曲线的影响。实证结果认为,开放程度的加深,使得中国菲利普斯曲线变得更加平坦,物价对国内产出缺口的敏感度在下降,而一旦高通胀确立,又需要加大政策收缩力度和由此带来更多的产出牺牲。政策制定者应该充分考虑到这一情况的变化,在宏观调控过程中进行合理的政策调整。