Consistent left gaze bias in processing different facial cues

While viewing faces, humans often demonstrate a natural gaze bias towards the left visual field, that is, the right side of the viewee’s face is often inspected first and for longer periods. Previous studies have suggested that this gaze asymmetry is a part of the gaze pattern associated with face exploration, but its relation with perceptual processing of facial cues is unclear. In this study we recorded participants’ saccadic eye movements while exploring face images under different task instructions (free viewing, judging familiarity and judging facial expression). We observed a consistent left gaze bias in face viewing irrespective of task demands. The probability of the first fixation and the proportion of overall fixations directed at the left hemiface were indistinguishable across different task instructions or across different facial expressions. It seems that the left gaze bias is an automatic reflection of hemispheric lateralisation in face processing, and is not necessarily correlated with the perceptual processing of a specific type of facial information.     

学习环境、成就目标定向对学业情绪和学业成就的影响:基于物理学科的研究

以733名中学生为被试,采用结构方程模型对物理环境目标结构、成就目标定向、物理学业情绪及物理学业成就的关系建构模型.结果发现:(1)物理环境掌握目标结构对积极高唤醒、积极低唤醒和消极高唤醒学业情绪皆有显著积极预测作用,而物理环境表现目标结构则只对消极高唤醒和消极低唤醒物理学业情绪有显著积极预测作用;(2)通过成就目标定向中介对物理学业情绪的影响效果,物理学业情绪在成就目标和物理学业成就之间起中介作用,但影响模式不同;(3)研究结果支持学业情绪控制-价值扩展模型.     

重新发现屈尔佩:二重心理学思想的演进轨迹与启示

屈尔佩二重心理学思想旨在调和冯特的内容心理学与布伦塔诺的意动心理学,是心理学史上第一次整合心理学自然科学取向与人文科学取向的尝试。文章基于对屈尔佩二重心理学思想演进轨迹的具体分析,尝试厘清其与内容心理学体系之间的继承关系与改良缘由,探究其走近意动心理学的理论动因。最后,从主要贡献和局限两方面来重新发现屈尔佩二重心理学思想的意义与启示。     

Larval zebrafish display dynamic learning of aversive stimuli in a constant visual surrounding

Balancing exploration and anti-predation are fundamental to the fitness and survival of all animal species from early life stages. How these basic survival instincts drive learning remains poorly understood. Here, using a light/dark preference paradigm with well-controlled luminance history and constant visual surrounding in larval zebrafish, we analyzed intra- and intertrial dynamics for two behavioral components, dark avoidance and center avoidance. We uncover that larval zebrafish display short-term learning of dark avoidance with initial sensitization followed by habituation; they also exhibit long-term learning that is sensitive to trial interval length. We further show that such stereotyped learning patterns is stimulus-specific, as they are not observed for center avoidance. Finally, we demonstrate at individual levels that long-term learning is under homeostatic control. Together, our work has established a novel paradigm to understand learning, uncovered sequential sensitization and habituation, and demonstrated stimulus specificity, individuality, as well as dynamicity in learning.

Learning while being exposed to a stimulus (i.e., nonassociative learning) is of great importance in that it triggers intrinsic constructs for subsequent recognition of that stimulus and provides a foundation for associative learning (e.g., learning about relations between stimuli in Pavlovian conditioning and stimuli responses-outcomes in instrumental conditioning). Nonassociative learning precedes associative learning in the evolutionary sequence and involves a broad range of behavioral phenomena including habituation, sensitization, perceptual learning, priming, and recognition memory (Pereira and van der Kooy 2013; Ioannou and Anastassiou-Hadjicharalambous 2018).As the simplest learning form, habituation is defined as the progressively reduced ability of a stimulus to elicit a behavioral response over time (Glanzman 2009; Rankin et al. 2009; Thompson 2009). Such a response reduction is distinguished from sensory adaptation and motor fatigue and is often considered adaptive in that it helps animals to filter out harmless and irrelevant stimuli (Rankin et al. 2009). Since an early study of EEG arousal in cats (Sharpless and Jasper 1956), the habituation phenomenon has been widely documented in invertebrates such as C. elegans (Rankin and Broster 1992; Rose and Rankin 2001; Giles and Rankin 2009; Ardiel et al. 2016) and Aplysia (Glanzman 2009) as well as in vertebrates such as rodents (Bolivar 2009; Salomons et al. 2010; Arbuckle et al. 2015), zebrafish (Best et al. 2008; Wolman et al. 2011; Roberts et al. 2016; Randlett et al. 2019; Pantoja et al. 2020) and humans (Bornstein et al. 1988; Coppola et al. 2013).Accompanying habituation is a process termed sensitization, which in contrast enhances responses to a stimulus over time (Kalivas and Stewart 1991; McSweeney and Murphy 2009; Robinson and Becker 1986). This counterpart of habituation may also be adaptive if it helps animals avoid potentially risky or costly situations (Blumstein 2016; King et al. 2007). Like habituation, sensitization has also been documented in a phylogenetically diverse set of organisms (Cai et al. 2012; Kirshenbaum et al. 2019; Tran and Gerlai 2014; Watkins et al. 2010), suggesting an evolutionarily conserved biological underpinning for both processes. Furthermore, these simple learning forms are observed in various functional outputs of nervous systems ranging from simple reflexes (Blanch et al. 2014; Pantoja et al. 2020; Pinsker et al. 1970; Randlett et al. 2019) to complex cognitive phenotypes (Bolivar 2009; Leussis and Bolivar 2006; Thompson and Spencer 1966) and may represent deeper neurobiological constructs associated with anxiety-memory interplay (Morgan and LeDoux 1995; Ruehle et al. 2012; Sullivan and Gratton 2002). Therefore, understanding basic building blocks of habituation and sensitization is essential to fully understand complex behaviors.Habituation and sensitization have been reported with short-term (intrasession) and long-term (intersession) mechanisms in a number of systems (Rankin et al. 2009; Thompson 2009). Short-term mechanisms sensitize or habituate a response within a session (Meincke et al. 2004; Leussis and Bolivar 2006; Rahn et al. 2013; Byrne and Hawkins 2015). In contrast, long-term mechanisms retain memory formed in previous session and use it to modify behavioral responses in a subsequent session (Rankin et al. 2009).Although both short- and long-term learning and memory have been demonstrated in young larval zebrafish (Wolman et al. 2011; O''Neale et al. 2014; Roberts et al. 2016; Randlett et al. 2019), so far, most paradigms use unnatural stimuli and are designed without integrating sensitization and habituation in the same paradigm. The latter limitation is crucial as the influential dual-process theory, proposed by Groves and Thompson (1970), suggests that the two learning forms interact to yield final behavioral outcomes and therefore assessment of only one process might be confounded by alteration in the other process (Meincke et al. 2004).In this study, we examined stimulus learning in a large population of larval zebrafish using a light/dark preference paradigm over four trials across 2 d. Light/dark preference as a motivated behavior is observed across the animal kingdom (Serra et al. 1999; Bourin and Hascoët 2003; Gong et al. 2010; Lau et al. 2011). Larval zebrafish display distinct motor behaviors that are sensitive to the intensity of both preadapted and current photic stimuli (Burgess and Granato 2007; Burgess et al. 2010; Facciol et al. 2019). In our paradigm with well-controlled luminance history and constant visual surrounding, larval zebrafish generally display dark avoidance and center avoidance (also known as thigmotaxis) with heritable individual variability and are considered fear- or anxiety-related (Steenbergen et al. 2011; Schnörr et al. 2012; Bai et al. 2016; Wagle et al. 2017; Dahlén et al. 2019). From an ethological perspective, the extent of avoidance is likely a readout of the circuitry that balances anti-predation (i.e., avoid the dark and the center) and free exploration (i.e., approach the dark and the center). As described below, we have uncovered stimulus-specific temporal dynamicity of learning (both short term and long term), as well as individual differences in learning that are under homeostatic control.     

Psychological Comparison Processes and Self-Concept in Relation to Five Distinct Frame-of-Reference Effects: Pan-Human Cross-Cultural Generalizability over 68 Countries

The concept of self is central to personhood, but personality research has largely ignored the relevance of recent advances in self-concept theory: multidimensionality of self-concept (focusing instead on self-esteem, an implicit unidimensional approach), domain specificity (generalizability of trait manifestations over different domains), and multilevel perspectives in which social-cognitive processes and contextual effects drive self-perceptions at different levels (individual, group/institution, and country) aligned to Bronfenbrenner's ecological model. Here, we provide theoretical and empirical support for psychological comparison processes that influence self-perceptions and their relation to distal outcomes. Our meta-theoretical integration of social and dimensional comparison theories synthesizes five seemingly paradoxical frame-of-reference and contextual effects in self-concept formation that occur at different levels. The effects were tested with a sample of 485,490 fifteen-year-old students (68 countries/regions, 18,292 schools). Consistent with the dimensional comparison theory, the effects on math self-concept were positive for math achievement but negative for verbal achievement. Consistent with the social comparison theory, the effects on math self-concept were negative for school-average math achievement (big-fish-little-pond effect), country-average achievement (paradoxical cross-cultural effect), and being young relative to year in school but positive for school-average verbal achievement (big-fish-little-pond effect—compensatory effect). We demonstrate cross-cultural generalizability/universality of support for predictions and discuss implications for personality research. © 2020 European Association of Personality Psychology     

张居正的马基雅弗利主义人格解析

张居正是明朝伟大的政治家,同时也是成功的马基雅弗利主义者,堪称＂东方马基雅弗利＂。＂附保逐拱＂、＂王大臣案＂、＂刘台案＂和＂夺情本谋＂均是张居正马基雅弗利主义人格的例证,从中可以剖析出＂外儒内法＂和两面性的特点。张居正的马基雅弗利主义人格是专制皇权对人性的扭曲,而马基雅弗利主义人格也直接导致了张居正的悲剧结局。