Unconsciously learning task-irrelevant perceptual sequences

We demonstrated unconscious learning of task-irrelevant perceptual regularities in a Serial Reaction Time (SRT) task in both visual and auditory domains. Participants were required to respond to different letters (‘F’ or ‘J’, experiment 1) or syllables (‘can’ or ‘you’, experiment 2) which occurred in random order. Unbeknownst to participants, the color (red, green, blue or yellow) of the two letters or the tone (1–4) of the syllables varied according to certain rules. Reaction times indicated that people indeed learnt both the color and tonal regularities indicating that task-irrelevant sequence structure can be learned perceptually. In a subsequent prediction test of knowledge of the color or tonal cues using subjective measures, we showed that people could acquire task irrelevant knowledge unconsciously.     

The nature of the memory buffer in implicit learning: Learning Chinese tonal symmetries

Previous research has established that people can implicitly learn chunks, which (in terms of formal language theory) do not require a memory buffer to process. The present study explores the implicit learning of nonlocal dependencies generated by higher than finite-state grammars, specifically, Chinese tonal retrogrades (i.e. centre embeddings generated from a context-free grammar) and inversions (i.e. cross-serial dependencies generated from a mildly context-sensitive grammar), which do require buffers (for example, last in-first out and first in-first out, respectively). People were asked to listen to and memorize artificial poetry instantiating one of the two grammars; after this training phase, people were informed of the existence of rules and asked to classify new poems, while providing attributions of the basis of their judgments. People acquired unconscious structural knowledge of both tonal retrogrades and inversions. Moreover, inversions were implicitly learnt more easily than retrogrades constraining the nature of the memory buffer in computational models of implicit learning.     

Binding actions and scenes in visual long-term memory

How does visual long-term memory store representations of different entities (e.g., objects, actions, and scenes) that are present in the same visual event? Are the different entities stored as an integrated representation in memory, or are they stored separately? To address this question, we asked observers to view a large number of events; in each event, an action was performed within a scene. Afterward, the participants were shown pairs of action–scene sets and indicated which of the two they had seen. When the task required recognizing the individual actions and scenes, performance was high (80 %). Conversely, when the task required remembering which actions had occurred within which scenes, performance was significantly lower (59 %). We observed this dissociation between memory for individual entities and memory for entity bindings across multiple testing conditions and presentation durations. These experiments indicate that visual long-term memory stores information about actions and information about scenes separately from one another, even when an action and scene were observed together in the same visual event. These findings also highlight an important limitation of human memory: Situations that require remembering actions and scenes as integrated events (e.g., eyewitness testimony) may be particularly vulnerable to memory errors.     

少数民族已婚妇女性生活现状调查研究

已婚少数民族妇女的性生活和谐程度和夫妻交流性感受程度较高.民族、年龄、职业、家庭年收入、小孩数目、因避孕不适的治疗、身体健康状况、参加生殖健康培训以及与配偶讨论性是少数民族已婚妇女性生活是否和谐的影响因素.少数民族地区的生殖健康干预措施要结合各民族文化习俗,才能保证其有效实施.     

人格测量：从累积式模型到展开式模型

当前大多数人格测量都采用的是累积式反应模型方法,该模型假设被试在测验上的得分随其能力或特质提高而增加,但是随着人格测量技术的不断发展,这一模型的实施效果遭到了质疑,研究者们开始关注展开式模型,该模型认为被试的反应取决于被试能力和项目阈值的匹配程度,当被试能力与项目阈值完全匹配时,被试做出肯定回答的概率达到最高点,称之为“理想点”,展开式模型的目的就是找到被试的理想点,从而寻找其真正的态度强度或人格特质水平。GGUM作为一种比较成熟的展开式模型,已经开始应用于人格测量的各个领域,但仍需要进行大规模的试测,在评估和预测效度方面积累经验,建立业界认可的心理测量学标准,不断探讨和开发相应的心理测量理论和简便易行的统计程序。     

天命观对中国人格心理的构建与影响

中国文化传统强调天与命对人的控制,天命是人格神对人的主宰。这种思想深远的影响着中国人对人格的建构,形成了中国人典型的人格特征,并影响和渗透到现代人生活的各个方面,影响着现代社会中人对人与人、人与社会、人与自然关系的建构。     

Working memory task decreases the survival of newly born neurons in hippocampus

Throughout life new neurons are generated in dentate gyrus of hippocampus. Previous studies have found that spatial tasks can rescue newly born neurons from death. However, it is still unknown whether new neurons are similarly affected by all types of hippocampal-dependent tasks. Here we investigated the possible effects of working memory task (WMT) on immature neurons. Mice were trained in reference memory task and WMT respectively. The reference memory task used the classical hidden platform (HP) water maze task, while WMT used a delayed matching-to-place (DMTP) water maze task. Bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) was administrated during the early or late phase of training, or 1week prior to training, in order to label dividing proliferating cells. After water maze training, the number of BrdU-labeled cells in dentate gyrus of hippocampus was compared. In addition, hippocampal brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and Notch 1 receptor were characterized using Western blot. Serum corticosterone levels were also measured using enzyme immunoassay. Results showed that HP task and DMTP task did not change the number of BrdU-labeled cells produced during the early or late phase of training. As expected, the HP task increased the number of BrdU-labeled cells produced 1 week prior to training. However, DMTP task decreased the number of BrdU-labeled cells produced 1 week prior to training. Both tasks lead to a significant increase in serum corticosterone levels and did not change the expression of BDNF and Notch 1 receptor in hippocampus. Taken together, these results demonstrate that WMT has different effects on survival of immature neurons, and therefore suggests immature neurons may have more than one role depending on the demands of the tasks.     

采用词表法变式研究指向遗忘现象

在组内设计的词表法变式任务中,词表一的项目按语义或知觉特征分为遗忘项和记住项,中间指导语要求被试遗忘词表一某类项目的同时记住另一类项目,指向遗忘效应以词表一记住项与遗忘项的差异来反映。实验一中,词表一项目按语义性质分为记住项和遗忘项,结果显示:与控制组比较,标准词表法实验组词表一记忆受损显著,出现传统意义上的指向遗忘效应;变式实验组词表一记忆部分受损,与控制组差异接近.05显著水平;标准词表法实验组以及变式实验组词表二都没有表现出记忆获益;另外,变式实验组词表一记住项与遗忘项之间差异显著,反映出遗忘指导语效应。实验二发现:在变式任务中,指定被试遗忘词表一某种语义性质的项目,结果出现遗忘指导语效应;但是,在指定被试遗忘某种颜色项目时,结果没有出现遗忘指导语效应。变式任务结果比较好地支持提取抑制理论;同时也反映出,词表一记住项与遗忘项之间的区分度是影响变式情境下指向遗忘效应的重要因素。