Vocabulary growth rate from preschool to school‐age years is reflected in the connectivity of the arcuate fasciculus in 14‐year‐old children

The acquisition of language involves the functional specialization of several cortical regions. Connectivity between these brain regions may also change with the development of language. Various studies have demonstrated that the arcuate fasciculus was essential for language function. Vocabulary learning is one of the most important skills in language acquisition. In the present longitudinal study, we explored the influence of vocabulary development on the anatomical properties of the arcuate fasciculus. Seventy‐nine Chinese children participated in this study. Between age 4 and age 10, they were administered the same vocabulary task repeatedly. Following a previous study, children's vocabulary developmental trajectories were clustered into three subgroups (consistently good, catch‐up, consistently poor). At age 14, diffusion tensor imaging data were collected. Using ROI‐based tractography, the anterior, posterior and direct segments of the bilateral arcuate fasciculus were delineated in each child's native space. Group comparisons showed a significantly reduced fractional anisotropy in the left arcuate fasciculus of children in the consistently poor group, in particular in the posterior and direct segments of the arcuate fasciculus. No group differences were observed in the right hemisphere, nor in the left anterior segment. Further regression analyses showed that the rate of vocabulary development, rather than the initial vocabulary size, was a specific predictor of the left arcuate fasciculus connectivity.     

作为效应的ERP研究

晚正成分能够反映不同效价和不同唤醒度的情绪。作为后悔的一种现象,作为效应是否与晚正成分具有关联是研究关心的问题。采用运气轮博弈的范式,记录与分析被试在“做”与“不做”决策下的ERPs。研究发现,决策结果的正误显著影响了FRN、P300和LPC的波幅大小。作为类别对FRN、P300和LPC波幅的影响受到不同决策结果的影响,在决策正确的条件下,作为类别对FRN、P300和LPC波幅不产生影响,而在决策错误的条件下,作为类别对FRN、P300和LPC波幅产生了显著的影响。结果表明作为效应不仅影响了FRN、P300的波幅,同时也影响了LPC的波幅,将来研究应进一步探明晚正成分与后悔的密切关联。     

社会支持与城市移民子女生活满意度：学校适应的中介作用

该研究以城市移民子女作为研究对象,主要探讨社会支持对城市移民子女生活满意度的影响及预测作用,以及学校适应在社会支持与生活满意度之间的作用机制。研究结果表明：1）社会支持、学校适应与城市移民子女的生活满意度均呈显著相关,社会支持对城市移民子女生活满意度具有显著的正向预测作用。2）学校适应在社会支持影响城市移民子女生活满意度中起部分中介作用,即社会支持可以直接影响生活满意度,也可以通过学校适应间接影响生活满意度。但社会支持对生活满意度的直接影响是最主要的影响路径。．     

Emotional reactions to scandals: When does moral character make a difference?

A scandal can evoke public outrage when it is widely publicized and involves an individual who is perceived to have a high level of cultural representativeness. Two experiments showed that when the scandalous target's moral character was highlighted, emotional responses towards the target were least negative when the scandal was widely circulated and when the target was seen as a representative of his culture. These results suggest that when a cultural symbol is implicated in a widely‐circulated scandal, the negative emotions directed towards the scandalous individual can be alleviated when the public remains confident in his or her commitment to morality.     

方言经验对早期沪语儿童汉语语音意识的影响

已有研究对汉语儿童的英语语音意识进行研究,且取得了很多有价值的研究成果,但对方言儿童的汉语语音意识的研究很少。汉语是一种具有众多方言的独特语言,许多方言和标准语的语言体系有着显著差异。具有方言和普通话早期经验的双语儿童在汉语语音意识上是否存在优势,有两种不同的看法：一是从心理语言学层面上,母语学习中获得的语言能力或普遍语法能促进第二语言的学习;二是从语言学层面上来讲,母语对第二语言的学习存在干扰作用。那么双语儿童在汉语语音意识上比单一普通话儿童是否存在优势呢？本研究将进行调查。实验选取72名4岁、5岁和6岁学前儿童为被试,每个年龄组各24人,其中沪语儿童和单一普通话儿童各12名。采用听觉呈现方法对所选被试进行汉语语音意识水平的测试,包括声调意识、声母意识和韵母意识三部分,并收集儿童的口语资料。结果表明: 虽然沪语儿童声母意识和韵母意识主效应不显著,但沪语儿童语音意识总成绩和声调意识成绩均比单一普通话儿童高;沪语儿童汉语语音意识优势不受年龄的影响。本研究启示是,上海地区学前儿童学习标准语（普通话）之外应鼓励使用沪语。     

消费决策中羊群行为的心理机制

羊群行为是消费市场上的一种典型现象,它是指在不确定情境中,消费者模仿他人进行消费决策的行为。本研究通过模拟消费情境对消费者羊群行为的心理机制进行研究。研究1通过操纵观点的强弱研究消费者的信息加工方式。结果发现,消费者的羊群行为是消费者采用一致性启发式或能力启发式的结果。研究2进一步通过操纵群体内部的一致性程度考察两种启发式的作用条件。结果表明,在群体内部一致性程度高的情况下,消费者倾向于采用一致性启发式,与大众决策保持一致;在群体内部一致性低的情况下,消费者倾向于采用能力启发式,与专家的决策保持一致。     

Attentional spreading in object-based attention: The roles of target–object integration and target presentation time

What is the best account to explain the object-based attentional benefit—that is, the spread of attention within an attended object or prioritization of search across possible target locations within an attended object? Using a task in which the location of the target was known with certainty, in the present study we systematically manipulated the type (letters or bites) and the presentation time (long or short) of the target and flankers in order to test the effects of target–object integration and target presentation time on object-based attention. The results showed that an object-based effect could appear when the target was a bite, no matter whether the target presentation time was long or short; but when the target was a letter, an object-based effect was only observed when the target presentation time was short enough. These findings provide additional evidence supporting the argument of attentional spreading in object-based attention. However, this spreading is moderated jointly by target–object integration and the target presentation time.     

Organization of visual short-term memory

The authors examined the organization of visual short-term memory (VSTM). Using a change-detection task, they reported that VSTM stores relational information between individual items. This relational processing is mediated by the organization of items into spatial configurations. The spatial configuration of visual objects is important for VSTM of spatial locations, colors, and shapes. When color VSTM is compared with location VSTM, spatial configuration plays an integral role because configuration is important for color VSTM, whereas color is not important for location VSTM. The authors also examined the role of attention and found that the formation of configuration is modulated by both top-down and bottom-up attentional factors. In summary, the authors proposed that VSTM stores the relational information of individual visual items on the basis of global spatial configuration.     

Child-Adolescent Suicidal Potential Index (CASPI): a screen for risk for early onset suicidal behavior

This study's purpose was to develop a reliable and valid self-report questionnaire, the Child-Adolescent Suicidal Potential Index (CASPI), to screen for risk for suicidal behavior in children and adolescents. Four hundred twenty-five child and adolescent psychiatric patients and nonpatients completed the CASPI and other research instruments to rate suicidal and assaultive behavior and symptoms of depression, anxiety, and hopelessness. The 30-item CASPI involves 3 factors (anxious-impulsive depression, suicidal ideation or acts, family distress) that contributed to a unidimensional 2nd-order factor accounting for 59% of the total variance. Internal consistency (alpha) for the total score was .90, and test-retest reliability (ICC) for the total score was .76. Total score distinguished between children and adolescents with different severity of psychopathology and different levels of suicidal and assaultive behavior. Each of the 3 factors had different contributions to discriminating between levels of suicidal status. CASPI total score of 11 distinguished suicidal ideation or acts from nonsuicidal behavior, with sensitivity 70% and specificity 65%. CASPI total score positively correlated with symptom severity of depression, anxiety, and hopelessness.