Developing cultural differences in face processing

Perception and eye movements are affected by culture. Adults from Eastern societies (e.g. China) display a disposition to process information holistically, whereas individuals from Western societies (e.g. Britain) process information analytically. Recently, this pattern of cultural differences has been extended to face processing. Adults from Eastern cultures fixate centrally towards the nose when learning and recognizing faces, whereas adults from Western societies spread fixations across the eye and mouth regions. Although light has been shed on how adults can fixate different areas yet achieve comparable recognition accuracy, the reason why such divergent strategies exist is less certain. Although some argue that culture shapes strategies across development, little direct evidence exists to support this claim. Additionally, it has long been claimed that face recognition in early childhood is largely reliant upon external rather than internal face features, yet recent studies have challenged this theory. To address these issues, we tested children aged 7-12 years of age from the UK and China with an old/new face recognition paradigm while simultaneously recording their eye movements. Both populations displayed patterns of fixations that were consistent with adults from their respective cultural groups, which 'strengthened' across development as qualified by a pattern classifier analysis. Altogether, these observations suggest that cultural forces may indeed be responsible for shaping eye movements from early childhood. Furthermore, fixations made by both cultural groups almost exclusively landed on internal face regions, suggesting that these features, and not external features, are universally used to achieve face recognition in childhood.     

合作学习研究的综述

合作学习(cooperative learning)是目前世界上许多国家都普遍采用的一种富有创意和实效的教学理论与策略体系。文章主要阐述了合作学习的概念、类型、方法,及理论。最后,指出我国合作学习研究出现的问题和未来展望。文章认为强化实验研究、探讨与课堂教学相结合的研究,及重视教师在合作学习的作用是今后该领域发展的主要方向。     

道家哲学对现代医学的启示

一、现代医学模式转型自20世纪后半叶以来,由于现代社会和医学实践的长足进展,使人类的疾病谱和死亡谱发生了根本变化。比如中国在20世纪前半叶,居于前四位的疾病是呼吸系统疾病、急性传染病、结核病和消化系统疾病,死亡率最高的也是这四种疾病;20世纪后半叶,居于头四位的疾病则是脑血管病、心脏病、恶性肿瘤和呼吸系统疾病,死亡率最高的也是这四种疾病。由于中国和世界疾病谱和死亡谱的根本变化,使传统的西方生物学医学模式不得不被现代的“生物—心理—社会”医学模式所代替,开始由单一的生物模式向综合性的医学模式转变,这是人类医学健康…     

儿童程序性元记忆的发展

元记忆包括陈述性元记忆和程序性元记忆。程序性元记忆是对记忆过程的监测和控制。本文从发展的角度对程序性元记忆新近的研究进展进行了回顾。(1)几种记忆监测的发展速度和趋势不尽相同。(2)记忆控制发展较晚。(3)对今后的研究趋势进行了预测。     

人脸特征信息反转效应的实验研究

结构信息和特征信息的研究是近年来人脸认知的热点,特征信息是否存在反转效应不同的理论对此有不同的看法。通过对平均人脸特征信息阈限的研究,发现:平均人脸特征信息的阈限具有明显的反转效应;特征信息的识别难度是决定特征信息的识别是否出现反转效应的重要因素。研究支持整体假设,认为成人是将人脸作为一个整体进行认知的。     

人脸单维结构信息变化对人脸认知影响研究

本研究采用熟悉人脸和平均人脸照片作为实验材料对人脸结构信息单维变化对人脸认知影响进行了系统的研究。结果表明:(1)随着人脸结构信息的改变,被试对人脸正确辨认的变化趋势可分为不变区、快速增长区、高原区三个区域。(2)熟悉人脸结构信息单维变化的认知阈限值:眼睛移动为0.19°视角;鼻子移动为0.24°视角;嘴巴移动为0.20°视角。平均人脸分别为:眼睛移动为0.15°视角;鼻子移动为0.16°视角;嘴巴移动为0.16°视角。(3)在人脸单维结构信息变化的各维度上,平均人脸的认知阈限值要小于熟悉人脸的认知阈限值。     

The unbearable lightness of priming

Repetition priming from text to isolated words has been difficult to observe. One explanation for this difficulty is that previous attempts to observe this type of priming have utilised conditions that normally reduce priming. Two experiments were conducted to evaluate this hypothesis. Experiment 1 involved participants being presented with words in isolation and in text passages. The words were then presented again in a lexical decision test. Results indicated that priming occurred as a result of exposure to both isolated words and words in text, although priming was greater in the word-word condition. Experiment 2 investigated whether priming occurred in a lexical decision test on words that had been read prior to the test in Milan Kundera's novel "The Unbearable Lightness of Being." There was some evidence that participants who had read the book recently were faster at lexical decision to words from the book than participants who had not read the book. The two experiments therefore indicate that priming can occur from text to isolated words, although it is smaller in magnitude to that observed from word to word. Reasons for this difference, as suggested by Kirsner and Speelman (J. Exp. Psychol.: Learn. Mem. Cogn. 22 (1996) 563) model of repetition priming, are discussed.     

It's about timing and change: pubertal transition effects on symptoms of major depression among African American youths

Effects of early physical maturation and accelerated pubertal changes on symptoms of major depression were examined in 639 African American children. Three rival hypotheses, early timing, off-time, and stressful change, were tested using 2 waves of data (mean ages = 11 and 13 years). The pubertal effect operates differently according to children's gender and age. For girls, early maturation was consistently associated with elevated levels of depressive symptoms. For boys, early maturers manifested elevated levels of depression only at age 11, but these symptoms subsided by age 13. Boys who experienced accelerated pubertal growth over time displayed elevated symptom levels. Results support the early timing hypothesis for girls and the stressful change hypothesis for boys. Time at assessment is critical when examining boys' pubertal transition.     

4—6岁幼儿空间方位传递性推理能力的发展

该研究旨在探查4、5、6岁幼儿空间上下和前后方位传递性推理能力的发展水平及不同实验条件(一致、模糊、冲突)下儿童的传递性推理能力。为了尽量降低记忆对推理的影响,要求幼儿在前提呈现的条件下按前提方位关系进行传递性推理操作。被试为幼儿园4、5、6岁组儿童各24人,其中男女各半。主要结果表明：4岁幼儿开始萌发空间前后和上下方位的传递性推理能力;从4岁到6岁,“上下”方位传递性推理能力的发展优于“前后”方位;4—6岁幼儿还不能完全摆脱知觉干扰因素的影响,形成稳定的传递性推理能力。     

双重作业的颜色编码方式对作业绩效的影响

研究探讨了不同颜色编码方式对双重任务操作绩效的影响。实验结果证明：若采用同类颜色编码方式,同时操作的两种作业就会产生结构限制,降低双重任务操作绩效;相反,若采用异常颜色编码方式,将有效地减少双重任务操作的结构限制,使双重任务的操作绩效得到提高。