Associative learning improves visual working memory performance

The ability to remember visual stimuli over a short delay period is limited by the small capacity of visual working memory (VWM). Here the authors investigate the role of learning in enhancing VWM. Participants saw 2 spatial arrays separated by a 1-s interval. The 2 arrays were identical except for 1 location. Participants had to detect the difference. Unknown to the participants, some spatial arrays would repeat once every dozen trials or so for up to 32 repetitions. Spatial VWM performance increased significantly when the same location changed across display repetitions, but not at all when different locations changed from one display repetition to another. The authors suggest that a major role of learning in VWM is to mediate which information gets retained, rather than to directly increase VWM capacity.     

达米特论意义和真

达米特的反实在论意义理论在当代语言哲学中占据重要地位.本文主要分析了他对"意义"和"真"这两个概念的解释,指出他的意义理论完全是一种形式说明,或者说,是对意义理论本身的形式构造.同时,达米特反对用真值条件来解释意义,主要是根据他对"真"这个概念有着不同的理解:他把"真"看作我们在具体场合说出的句子的属性.达米特的思想受到了各方面的批评,他也在这种批评和反批评过程中不断完善自己的思想.     

What kind of memory supports visual marking?

In visual search tasks, if a set of items is presented for 1 s before another set of new items (containing the target) is added, search can be restricted to the new set. The process that eliminates old items from search is visual marking. This study investigates the kind of memory that distinguishes the old items from the new items during search. Using an accuracy paradigm in which perfect marking results in 100% accuracy and lack of marking results in near chance performance, the authors show that search can be restricted to new items not by visual short-term memory (VSTM) of old locations but by a limited capacity and slow-decaying VSTM of new locations and a high capacity and fast-decaying memory for asynchrony.     

Top-Down Attentional Guidance Based On Implicit Learning of Visual Covariation

The visual environment is extremely rich and complex, producing information overload for the visual system. But the environment also embodies structure in the form of redundancies and regularities that may serve to reduce complexity. How do perceivers internalize this complex informational structure? We present new evidence of visual learning that illustrates how observers learn how objects and events covary in the visual world. This information serves to guide visual processes such as object recognition and search. Our first experiment demonstrates that search and object recognition are facilitated by learned associations (covariation) between novel visual shapes. Our second experiment shows that regularities in dynamic visual environments can also be learned to guide search behavior. In both experiments, learning occurred incidentally and the memory representations were implicit. These experiments show how top-down visual knowledge, acquired through implicit learning, constrains what to expect and guides where to attend and look.     

卫生资源优化配置的伦理要求

卫生资源是稀缺资源,卫生资源只有优化配置,才能达到我们的医学目的。卫生资源的优化配置的以公平为优先,坚持公平和效率相结合的原则。就目前所存在的和我们的医学目的不相适应的卫生资源配置方式的现状和主要问题进行分析,并提出了相应的改进方法。     

A differing bidirectional impact on the recognition accuracy of facial expression

This study explored a bidirectional impact on the recognition accuracy of various facial expressions deriving from both the observer and sender in a sample of Chinese participants. A facial manipulation task was used to examine the ability of an observer's facial feedback to modulate the recognition of various facial expressions. Furthermore, the effect of a sender's facial expression with an open or closed mouth on recognition accuracy was investigated. The results showed that only recognition accuracy of a sad facial expression was influenced simultaneously by bidirectional sources from a sender and observer. Moreover, the impact of the unidirectional cue of a sender's facial feature (i.e., mouth openness) on happy and neutral faces was found to influence the recognition accuracy of these faces, but not the observer's bodily state. These findings indicate that the bidirectional impact derived from an observer and sender on facial expression recognition accuracy differs for emotional and neutral expressions.     

Childhood abuse in Chinese patients with borderline personality disorder

This study examined (1) the relative prevalence of childhood abuse and other pathological childhood experiences in China reported by outpatients with borderline personality disorder (BPD), with other personality disorders, and without personality disorders; and, (2) whether the primary predictors of BPD in North America are associated with the development of BPD in China. The childhood experiences of 203 outpatients with BPD, 109 outpatients with other personality disorders, and 70 outpatients without Axis II diagnoses were assessed with the Chinese version of the Childhood Experience of Care and Abuse Questionnaire (CECA.Q). Patients with BPD reported significantly more physical, emotional, and sexual abuse than either comparison group. Four types of childhood experiences were significant predictors of BPD: maternal neglect, paternal antipathy, sexual abuse, and maternal physical abuse. The findings suggest that maternal physical abuse is as strong a predictor of BPD in China as sexual abuse, a finding not replicated in North America.     

论维特根斯坦的“哲学语法”概念

<正>近些年来,国内外哲学界在维特根斯坦思想研究中,逐渐关注到维特根斯坦的"哲学语法",特别是试图从当代哲学的视角解读他的语法概念的思想内容。(Forster;陈嘉映;韩林合,第11章)我在阅读过程中发现,维特根斯坦对"语法"概念的使用完全不像我们想象的那样严格,而如何理解其"哲学语法"概念,实际上意味着如何理解维特根斯坦哲学。     

The effect of food toppings on calorie estimation and consumption

In this research we examine the effect of adding a food topping to the base food on consumers' calorie estimation and consumption of the augmented food (base food plus topping). We show that consumers underestimate the calorie content of augmented food with an unhealthy base, especially when the topping is healthy. However, consumers are less likely to underestimate the calorie content of augmented food with a healthy base, regardless of whether the topping is healthy or unhealthy. Further, we show that adding a healthy topping to an unhealthy base makes consumers not only underestimate the calorie content but also eat more of the augmented food.     

Psychological Capital Among University Students: Relationships with Study Engagement and Intrinsic Motivation

This paper reports two studies: Study 1 aimed to evaluate respective modified versions of existing scales of psychological capital (PsyCap) and study engagement (SE), and to test the reciprocal relationship between PsyCap and SE; Study 2 aimed to test intrinsic motivation as a mediator between PsyCap and SE. A two-wave cross-lagged design was adopted in Study 1 with a matched sample of 103 students, with 4 months apart. With confirmatory factor analyses, the results supported the construct validity of a higher-order model of PsyCap (PsyCap overall) and of study engagement comprising dedication, absorption and vigor. Further, the reciprocal relationship between PsyCap and SE was demonstrated. Results of Study 2 among 100 university students showed that intrinsic motivation measured at time 2 was a significant mediator between time 1 PsyCap and time 2 SE.