Emotionally conditioning the target-speech voice enhances recognition of the target speech under “cocktail-party” listening conditions

Under a noisy “cocktail-party” listening condition with multiple people talking, listeners can use various perceptual/cognitive unmasking cues to improve recognition of the target speech against informational speech-on-speech masking. One potential unmasking cue is the emotion expressed in a speech voice, by means of certain acoustical features. However, it was unclear whether emotionally conditioning a target-speech voice that has none of the typical acoustical features of emotions (i.e., an emotionally neutral voice) can be used by listeners for enhancing target-speech recognition under speech-on-speech masking conditions. In this study we examined the recognition of target speech against a two-talker speech masker both before and after the emotionally neutral target voice was paired with a loud female screaming sound that has a marked negative emotional valence. The results showed that recognition of the target speech (especially the first keyword in a target sentence) was significantly improved by emotionally conditioning the target speaker’s voice. Moreover, the emotional unmasking effect was independent of the unmasking effect of the perceived spatial separation between the target speech and the masker. Also, (skin conductance) electrodermal responses became stronger after emotional learning when the target speech and masker were perceptually co-located, suggesting an increase of listening efforts when the target speech was informationally masked. These results indicate that emotionally conditioning the target speaker’s voice does not change the acoustical parameters of the target-speech stimuli, but the emotionally conditioned vocal features can be used as cues for unmasking target speech.     

特殊信任视野中的公民法治观念——基于两次延续性调查的研究视角

在人类社会的早期,信任问题就已经被人们所关注,无论是中国的先秦还是西方的古希腊,都有关于信任方面的大量论述。但是,人类早期关于信任的认识只是表面的、零星的,并没有深入细致的探讨。20世纪开始,人们才对信任问题进行了专门化、系统化的研究和论述。信任作为一种重要的社会资本,在与人力资本、金融资本等推动经济发展的同时,更显示出了其重要的政治功能。信任是现代民主制度建立的基础,更是维系政治稳定的粘合剂。自古以来民主和法治形影不离,而信任是否也会对与民主政治紧密相连的公民法治观念产生影响呢?本研究以南京市的实证调查为例,通过多元回归分析等统计分析方法,对特殊信任与公民法治观念之间的关联性进行实证层面的剖析,并对如何提高公民的普遍信任度从而培育公民法治观念进行反思和展望。     

道德契约论的“启发” ——从高蒂耶的“约束性最大化”谈起

大卫.高蒂耶认为契约论可以把道德构筑在"审慎理性"的基础之上,这一努力因其核心概念"约束性最大化"所隐含的"道德理性"而归于失败。同一理论框架下的双重理性基础使契约论可以从"效用最大化"的视角为规范优先提供某种合情理的说明。这种说明尽管不是一种严密的"证明",却是一种合情理的"启发"。     

A systematic review of interventions for anxiety in people with HIV

People with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) show elevated anxiety levels compared to the general population. Anxiety can predate HIV infection or be triggered by HIV diagnosis and the many stresses that emerge during the course of HIV disease. Many psychological and pharmacological therapies have been shown to treat anxiety in the general population but a systematic understanding of which interventions have been tested in and are effective with HIV-seropositive individuals is needed. This review examines all published intervention studies on anxiety and HIV from 1980 to 2009 covered by the databases MedLine (1980-2009) and PsycINFO (1980-2009) for a definitive account of effectiveness of interventions and an indication of prevalence of HIV-related anxiety and measurement within studies. Standard systematic research methods were used to gather quality published papers on HIV and anxiety, searching published data bases according to quality inclusion criteria. From the search, 492 papers were generated and hand searched resulting in 39 studies meeting adequacy inclusion criteria for analysis. Of these, 30 (76.9%) were implemented in North America (the USA and Canada), with little representation from developing countries. Thirty-three (84.6%) studies recruited only men or mostly men. A total of 50 interventions were investigated by the 39 studies; 13 targeted HIV, symptoms or associated outcomes/conditions, 20 directly targeted anxiety and another 17 indirectly targeted anxiety. Twenty-four (48%) interventions were effective in reducing anxiety (including 11 indirect interventions), 16 (32%) were ineffective and 10 (20%) had an unknown effect on anxiety. Sixty-five percent of interventions directly targeting anxiety were effective. Psychological interventions (especially cognitive behavioural stress management interventions and cognitive behavioural therapy) were generally more effective than pharmacological interventions. Only three studies provided prevalence rates - these ranged from 13% to 80%. Anxiety was measured using 16 different instruments. Our detailed data suggest that interventions are both effective and available, although further research into enhancing efficacy would be valuable. Also, the vast majority of studies were Western-based, no studies looked at children or adolescents and few looked specifically at women. An international effort to harmonise measurement of anxiety is also missing. There is a need to routinely log anxiety in those with HIV infection during the course of their disease, to provide specific data on women, young people and those in diverse geographic areas and incorporate management into care protocols.     

超越效价和唤醒—— 情绪的动机维度模型述评

情绪的动机维度模型认为, 高动机强度的情绪窄化(narrow)认知加工而低动机强度的情绪扩展(broaden)认知加工。该理论超越了先前对效价和唤醒两大情绪维度的二分法, 证明了情绪的动机维度对注意、记忆等认知加工产生扩展和窄化效应, 深化了积极情绪的扩展-建设理论, 有助于深入理解情绪与认知的交互作用。未来研究应建立动机维度的操作性定义, 并进一步发展出诱发不同动机维度情绪的标准化刺激材料或任务。     

Higher‐Order Thought and the Problem of Radical Confabulation

Currently, one of the most influential theories of consciousness is Rosenthal's version of higher‐order‐thought (HOT). We argue that the HOT theory allows for two distinct interpretations: a one‐component and a two‐component view. We further argue that the two‐component view is more consistent with his effort to promote HOT as an explanatory theory suitable for application to the empirical sciences. Unfortunately, the two‐component view seems incapable of handling a group of counterexamples that we refer to as cases of radical confabulation. We begin by introducing the HOT theory and by indicating why we believe it is open to distinct interpretations. We then proceed to show that it is incapable of handling cases of radical confabulation. Finally, in the course of considering various possible responses to our position, we show that adoption of a disjunctive strategy, one that would countenance both one‐component and two‐component versions, would fail to provide any empirical or explanatory advantage.     

Zero Anaphora: Transfer of Reference Tracking Strategies from Chinese to English

English contains many nominals that would be absent in Chinese because Chinese makes greater use of zero anaphora, which is an empty grammatical slot in a sentence standing for a previously mentioned referent. Native Chinese and native English speakers were compared in comprehending modified English passages from a standardized reading test with nominals deleted that would be absent in Chinese. In three experiments, Chinese speakers showed superior comprehension as measured by objective multiple-choice questions in this case, but not when no words were deleted or when nominals were deleted that would not be absent in Chinese. These results imply that native Chinese speakers develop reference tracking strategies that they transfer to comprehending English.This research was supported in part by United States Army Research Institute Contracts MDA903-93-K-0010, DASW01-96-K-0010, DASW01-99-K-0002, and DASW01-03-K-0002 to the University of Colorado (Alice Healy, Principal Investigator).We thank Lyle Bourne and Barbara Fox for stimulating discussions about this research. We are also grateful to the Institute of Cognitive Science at the University of Colorado for their support of this research.Experiments 1 and 2 were reported at the International Conference on Functional Approaches to Grammar, Albuquerque, NM, July 25, 1995, and at the 37th Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society, Chicago, IL, November 3, 1996, and all three experiments were reported at the 2001 American Association for Applied Linguistics conference, St. Louis, MO, February 24, 2001.     

Nicotinic cholinergic synaptic mechanisms in the ventral tegmental area contribute to nicotine addiction

Tobacco use is a major health problem that is estimated to cause 4 million deaths a year worldwide. Nicotine is the main addictive component of tobacco. It acts as an agonist to activate and desensitize nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs). A component of nicotine's addictive power is attributable to actions on the mesolimbic dopaminergic system, which serves a fundamental role in the acquisition of behaviors that are inappropriately reinforced by addictive drugs. Here we show that nicotine, in the same concentration and time ranges as obtained from tobacco, has three main actions that regulate the activity of midbrain dopamine (DA) neurons. Nicotine first activates and then desensitizes nAChRs on the DA neurons. This process directly excites the DA neurons for a short period of time before the nAChRs desensitize. Nicotine also enhances glutamatergic excitation and decreases GABAergic inhibition onto DA neurons. These events increase the probability for synaptic plasticity, such as long-term potentiation. The short-lived direct excitation of the DA neurons coupled with the enhanced glutamatergic afferent activity provides the presynaptic and postsynaptic coincidence necessary to initiate synaptic potentiation. In total, these synaptic events lead to a relatively long-lasting heightened activity of midbrain DA neurons. Consistent with other summarized studies, this work indicates that the synaptic changes normally associated with learning and memory can be influenced and commandeered during the nicotine addiction process.     

小学生阅读迁移机制的进一步研究--字词表征还是内容表征

探讨阅读文章难易程度与文章字词和内容在小学生篇章阅读迁移中的作用。被试分为阅读水平高、低两组。采用个别方式施测,以阅读时间和阅读准确性为阅读迁移的指标。结果表明,低水平组被试的篇章阅读迁移主要依赖词汇表征;高水平组被试的篇章阅读迁移主要依赖内容表征,换言之,容易文章主要以内容表征进行迁移;困难文章主要以词汇表征进行迁移。