Bindings in working memory: The role of object-based attention

Over the past decade, it has been debated whether retaining bindings in working memory (WM) requires more attention than retaining constituent features, focusing on domain-general attention and space-based attention. Recently, we proposed that retaining bindings in WM needs more object-based attention than retaining constituent features (Shen, Huang, & Gao, 2015, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, doi: 10.1037/xhp0000018). However, only unitized visual bindings were examined; to establish the role of object-based attention in retaining bindings in WM, more emperical evidence is required. We tested 4 new bindings that had been suggested requiring no more attention than the constituent features in the WM maintenance phase: The two constituent features of binding were stored in different WM modules (cross-module binding, Experiment 1), from auditory and visual modalities (cross-modal binding, Experiment 2), or temporally (cross-time binding, Experiments 3) or spatially (cross-space binding, Experiments 4–6) separated. In the critical condition, we added a secondary object feature-report task during the delay interval of the change-detection task, such that the secondary task competed for object-based attention with the to-be-memorized stimuli. If more object-based attention is required for retaining bindings than for retaining constituent features, the secondary task should impair the binding performance to a larger degree relative to the performance of constituent features. Indeed, Experiments 1–6 consistently revealed a significantly larger impairment for bindings than for the constituent features, suggesting that object-based attention plays a pivotal role in retaining bindings in WM.     

Interaction between Prenatal Maternal Stress and Autonomic Arousal in Predicting Conduct Problems and Psychopathic Traits in Children

Evidence has suggested that neurobiological deficits combine with psychosocial risk factors to impact on the development of antisocial behavior. The current study concentrated on the interplay of prenatal maternal stress and autonomic arousal in predicting antisocial behavior and psychopathic traits. Prenatal maternal stress was assessed by caregiver’s retrospective report, and resting heart rate and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) were measured in 295 8- to 10-year-old children. Child and caregiver also reported on child’s antisocial behavior and psychopathic traits. Higher prenatal maternal stress was associated with higher caregiver-reported antisocial and psychopathy scores, even after the concurrent measure of social adversity was controlled for. As expected, low heart rate and high RSA were associated with high antisocial and psychopathic traits. More importantly, significant interaction effects were found; prenatal stress was positively associated with multiple dimensions of psychopathic traits only on the conditions of low arousal (e.g., low heart rate or high RSA). Findings provide further support for a biosocial perspective of antisocial and psychopathic traits, and illustrate the importance of integrating biological with psychosocial measures to fully understand the etiology of behavioral problems.     

初中生公正世界信念对其学业成就的影响:感知的教师支持和班级公正的中介作用

公正世界信念作为一种社会认知倾向,对于个体发展具有普遍影响,但是在学校情境中探索公正世界信念与学业成就的关系及影响机制的研究却很有限。本研究以郑州市两个区县的2584名初中一年级学生为被试,考察公正世界信念对其学业成就的影响,从班级生态环境的角度,探索个体对教师支持和班级公正的感知在二者之间的中介作用。结果发现：初中生的公正世界信念可显著预测其学业成就;在控制了性别、年龄后,学生的公正世界信念可分别通过对教师支持和班级公正的感知间接影响其学业成就,公正世界信念还可以通过感知的教师支持影响对班级公正的感知,进而影响学业成就的多重中介路径发挥作用。个体对班级教师支持和班级公正的感知是公正世界信念影响学业成就的重要途径。     

The Mediating Roles of Work–Family Conflict and Facilitation in the Relations Between Leisure Experience and Job/Life Satisfaction Among Employees in Shanghai Banking Industry

In this study, we explore whether the relationship between leisure experience and job/life satisfaction is mediated by work–family conflict and facilitation, and how these effect coefficients varied among different demographic groups of gender, marital status as well as parental status. With the survey data from 1706 employees in the Shanghai banking industry, we found work–family conflict and facilitation acted as mediators between leisure experience and job/life satisfaction. In all demographic groups, work–family conflict was negatively related with leisure experience and job/life satisfaction. Conversely, work–family facilitation was positively related with leisure experience and job/life satisfaction. Moreover, we found (1) compared with the case for males, the negative effect coefficient of work–family conflict on job satisfaction was significantly higher in female samples. (2) The positive effect coefficients of leisure experience on work–family facilitation was higher for married couples than for unmarried employees. (3) For employees who had children, the negative effect coefficient of leisure experience on work–family conflict as well as the positive effect coefficient of leisure experience on work–family facilitation were significantly higher than for employees who had no children. The results of this study suggest that employees in the banking industry would experience a lower level of work–family conflict and better maintain work–family facilitation by engaging in leisure pursuits with their family. The limitations of this study were discussed as well.     

Contrastive analysis of hedges in a sample of Chinese and English molecular biology papers

Hedge is defined as the expression of provisionalness and possibility that makes scientific messages tentative, vague, and imprecise, thereby reducing the force of claims scientists make. Linguistic study of hedges began in the early 1970s in generative semantics. Since then, the focus has shifted from seeking linguistic properties in spoken discourse to analyzing its pragmatic functions in written contextual communication. The purpose of this paper was to analyze hedges in Chinese and English scientific articles from the perspective of contrastive pragmatics. Based on a contextual analysis of 5 Chinese and 5 English scientific articles, selected randomly, from two journals in molecular biology--Science in China and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, there were significant differences between Chinese and English scientific articles in use of hedges.     

国外自我表露研究述评

自我表露是社会心理学、临床咨询和治疗的重要概念之一。主要介绍了自我表露的概念,静态的现象或动态的过程;描述性与评价性自我表露或正向与负向自我表露类型;自我表露的功能;社会渗透理论、压抑理论、沟通隐私管理理论等相关理论及主要测量方法。早期研究主要集中在主题、目标人、性别差异及自我表露与孤独感、亲密友谊的关系等方面,AIDS/HIV表露、儿童性侵犯表露、情绪表露和创伤表露等现实社会问题的表露成为近几年研究的焦点。扩展自我表露的概念,进一步深入研究青少年自我表露以及完善和发展自我表露的研究工具是未来的研究趋向     

条件性恐惧记忆消退返回的性别差异

采用预期判断任务考察男女性对已消退的条件性恐惧记忆是否会出现消退返回的现象。结果表明: (1)在对已习得的条件性恐惧记忆消退后4个小时进行测试, 被试整体会出现明显的消退返回现象; (2)对消退返回现象的性别差异进行比较, 女性比男性的消退返回现象更突出, 并且差异显著; (3)与男性相比, 女性对条件性恐惧记忆具有易习得难消退的趋势, 但是性别差异不显著。研究结果验证了消退返回现象存在的普遍性, 并且有着显著的性别差异, 为以后对创伤后应激障碍患者的治疗应考虑性别因素提供了心理学依据。     

P300和CNV在GKT的延时反应范式中测谎效果的分离

在杀人游戏情境中,设置无反馈和有反馈两个实验组,采用GKT（guilt knowledge test）的延时反应范式,考察P300和CNV两种ERP成分的测谎效果。结果发现：刺激呈现后大约450ms诱发了一个正性ERP成分（P300）,大约800ms诱发了一个负性ERP成分（CNV）。在有、无反馈两种实验范式下,P300和CNV两种测谎指标的变化情况发生了分离——有无反馈不影响P300峰值大小;而在有反馈条件下,“杀手”对于犯罪细节词语（探测刺激）的CNV明显增大。使用Bootstrap波幅差异分析法,分别计算P300和CNV在有、无反馈情况下的检出率,结果发现：两个指标的检出率在有、无反馈两种实验范式下的变化情况也发生了分离。这些结果表明：P300和CNV两个指标具有不同的测谎功能,这可能和它们所反映的不同欺骗心理过程有关。