Biased processing of emotional information in sub-clinical anxiety: Evidence from Simon effects

We tested the idea that in high trait-anxiety, behavioural responses are influenced by spatial correspondence to emotional information. It is suggested that if an emotional stimulus is preferentially processed, it may act as if presented alone and yield a Simon effect: faster responses when stimulus and response spatially correspond than when not. High-trait-anxious undergraduates indeed showed a content-specific Simon effect for social-threat (not physical-threat) words that were presented together with a neutral word for 14 ms; they showed the reverse response pattern for positive words. Low-anxious undergraduates had no bias. When presentation time was lengthened to 500 ms, the response pattern for social-threat and positive words shown by high-anxious undergraduates reversed as compared to the pattern with 14 ms, but there were no significant group differences. These results can be taken to suggest that in high trait-anxiety, the processing of social-threat is specifically prioritized; social-threat and positive information may elicit an immediate response, counteracted by mood-regulation strategies. We argue that the present approach opens up interesting avenues for investigating biased information processing and response tendencies.     

Exploring the When and Why of Schadenfreude

We summarize the empirical work on schadenfreude , or pleasure felt at someone else's misfortune. Although schadenfreude is a socially undesirable emotion, research reveals at least three conditions in which it commonly arises. One condition is when observers gain from the misfortune. We discuss research showing that gains in ingroup outcomes based on the failures of rival outgroups can create schadenfreude , especially for those highly identified with their ingroups. A second condition is when another's misfortune is deserved. We focus on research showing that the misfortunes of hypocrites are perceived as highly deserved and therefore create schadenfreude in observers. A third condition is when a misfortune befalls an envied person. We summarize studies showing that the core ingredients of envy prime the envying person for schadenfreude when the envied person suffers.     

The use of pupillometry in the study of on-line verbal processing: evidence for depths of processing

The effect of context and task demand upon the perception and resolution of lexical ambiguities was investigated in three experiments using pupillary measurements. Sentence type (ambiguous, disambiguous, and control) was tested under three conditions ("recall," "define word," and "choose best meaning"). All types of ambiguous sentences had higher pupillary curves than unambiguous sentences, with a particularly sharp rise in pupil size following the homophone. In addition, differences were observed in total sentence rise among the three task demands, such that the definition task was higher than recall, while the "choice" task exhibited a continuing rise after the sentence, which both other tasks did not have. Results are discussed in relation to putative processing stages of sentences, such as lexical search and sentence integration, and the more general issue of depths of processing.     

Language deficits and the theory of syntax

A new structural account of agrammatism is proposed, which analyzes the deficit in terms of one current theory of syntax. First, the motivation for accounts of this kind is given. Then, a variety of experimental findings from sentence comprehension in agrammatism are examined and accounted for in a unified way. It is shown that a minimal change in the syntactic model (achieved by imposing a special condition on a construct called trace), results in a model which accounts for all the data at hand. A number of possible objections to this proposal is then examined, and reasons are given to dismiss these objections. Also, it is shown that this proposal is preferable to other structural accounts which have been recently proposed. Finally, the empirical consequences of this account are discussed, with a special emphasis on the implications for models of language processing.     

Cerebral blood flow in normal and abnormal sleep and dreaming

Measurements of regional or local cerebral blood flow (CBF) by the xenon-133 inhalation method and stable xenon computerized tomography CBF (CTCBF) method were made during relaxed wakefulness and different stages of REM and non-REM sleep in normal age-matched volunteers, narcoleptics, and sleep apneics. In the awake state, CBF values were reduced in both narcoleptics and sleep apneics in the brainstem and cerebellar regions. During sleep onset, whether REM or stage I-II, CBF values were paradoxically increased in narcoleptics but decreased severely in sleep apneics, while in normal volunteers they became diffusely but more moderately decreased. In REM sleep and dreaming CBF values greatly increased, particularly in right temporo-parietal regions in subjects experiencing both visual and auditory dreaming.     

临床决策的边界

探讨临床决策之边界,以期为临床医生合理决策提供参考。临床决策是日常医疗工作的核心内容,医生是临床决策的制定者和施行者。决策过程中,医生需综合考量多种因素,如病人的临床状况和真正需要解决的临床问题、法律法规、伦理和社会因素、诊疗规范和指南、经验总结、个案和基础研究、团队的技术能力、专业标准和临床预期等,这些因素组成了临床决策的基本边界,同时,这个边界会随着医学、文化、经济、社会的发展而变化。     

Maimonides and Miracles: The Growth of a (Dis)Belief

This study approaches Maimonides' attitude towards miracles as a long-term process. The young Maimonides saw no room nor any need for miracles. Science provided a full and satisfactory explanation for events within a deterministic cosmos. However, as he matured, his doubts concerning the capacity of science to account for all events intensified; he increasingly realized that some features of the cosmos, or events in Jewish history, cannot be accounted for fully by any explanatory system. As his disbelief in the unlimited power of scientific explanation grew, he became more receptive to the possibility of miracles. For miracles are nothing other than events or features that, while not being totally at odds with science, cannot be fully accounted for in any theory. Maimonides' ultimate acceptance of miracles was, therefore, his ultimate acceptance of his own doubts and uncertainties.