Positive emotion modulates cognitive control: An event‐related potentials study

There is substantial evidence to indicate that negative emotion can modulate cognitive control processing. However, only a few studies have investigated this effect with positive emotion. Therefore, the present study explored the electrophysiological correlates of the impact of positive emotional stimuli on cognitive control, using event‐related potentials (ERPs). Sixteen healthy young adults completed a modified Simon task (Simon, 1969). Behavioral data indicated that reaction times were faster for positive emotional stimuli than for neutral emotional stimuli in the incongruent condition, but not in the congruent condition, which suggested that positive emotion expedited conflict resolution. The ERP data showed that two negative ERP components (N300–400 and N450–550) were associated with the positive emotional stimuli in the incongruent minus congruent condition. It is suggested that these components may respectively be related to the conflict monitoring (N300–400) and response selection (N450–550) stages of cognitive control processing. Overall, our results indicated that positive emotion could facilitate cognitive control processing. These results are in line with the neuropsychological theory, according to which, positive emotion could modulate cognitive control mediated by increased dopamine levels in frontal brain areas.     

不同列队呈现方式下反馈对目击证人辨认自信心的影响

采用辨认后反馈范式研究不同队列呈现方式下反馈对目击证人辨认自信心的影响。结果发现：（1）所有辨认者中,反馈组被试自信心显著高于控制组被试的自信心;反馈方式与辨认选择的交互作用显著,辨认选择与列队呈现方式的交互作用显著;（2）积极辨认者中,反馈组被试的自信心显著高于控制组被试的自信心;正确辨认被试的自信心显著高于错误辨认被试的自信心。结果表明：目击辨认中存在辨认后反馈效应;积极辨认者中辨认自信心可以作为辨认准确性的一个参考指标。     

“蚁族”群体的公正世界信念与幸福感研究

以居住在北京小月河地区的304名“蚁族”为被试,采用公正世界信念问卷、积极消极情感问卷和生活满意度问卷,考察了一般公正世界信念、个人公正世界信念以及幸福感之间的关系,结果表明:(1)“蚁族”的生活满意度偏低,但其情绪状态仍然乐观,积极情感体验较高,且具有较高水平的公正世界信念;(2)公正世界信念对幸福感有显著的正向预测作用,公正世界信念水平越高的“蚁族”越幸福;(3)个人公正世界信念在一般公正世界信念和幸福感间起中介作用,即越相信世界是公正的“蚁族”更倾向于相信自己已经或即将受到的对待是公正的,最终提升幸福感。     

表达形式影响自我积极偏向的表现:来自P200的证据

该研究运用事件相关电位技术,采用肯定和否定的表达方式呈现自我参照任务,探讨不同表达方式对自我积极偏向效应的影响。实验一中,行为数据显示,自我积极偏向效应表现的并不完整;ERP数据显示,P200波幅的结果与行为数据结果相一致。实验二中,行为数据显示,自我积极偏向效应表现得完整;ERP数据显示,P200成分上并未产生任何实验效应。综合两个实验结果,证明了不同表达方式对自我积极偏向效应的表现存在影响。导致这种差异的根本原因可能在于两种表达方式造成的注意资源不同。     

Gender Differences in Coping Styles of Chinese Military Officers Undergoing Intensive Training

This study investigated gender differences in anxiety and coping styles under the stress of intense military training. We surveyed Chinese female (n = 470) and male (n = 379) military officers who were surveyed during the third month of a 10-month intensive training program. Results indicated that state and trait anxiety were highly correlated in both women and men. In general, female officers had higher levels of anxiety, greater negative coping tendencies, and less perceived self-efficacy than their male counterparts. When compared with the norm, both women and men had significantly more positive coping strategies. A hierarchical multiple regression analysis showed factors that influenced male and female state anxiety. Avoidance, which was chosen by women more often than men, in general was less useful for female officers. The most common positive coping style for female officers was problem solving, whereas for men it was help seeking. We suggested that even female officers with lower mental health levels than their male counterparts made active cognitive changes to their coping styles when undergoing intense military training.     

Big-five personality and BIS/BAS traits as predictors of career exploration: The mediation role of career adaptability

Based on career construction theory, the current research examined whether career adaptability mediates the relations of the personality traits (Five-Factor Model personality traits and behavioral inhibition and activation systems (BIS/BAS)) to career exploration behavior. Results from a survey in Chinese university students (N = 264) showed that career exploration correlated negatively with neuroticism, and positively with openness to experience, extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness and BAS. Results of regression analyses further showed that openness to experience, agreeableness, conscientiousness and BAS served as the strongest predictors for career exploration. In addition, career adaptability was shown to be a key mediator for the relationships between personality traits and career exploration behavior. Career concern and career curiosity were the more important dimensions in the mediation model. These findings advance current understandings on how different personality traits predict career exploration behavior.     

社会信念的自信判断:自我一致性模型的验证

采用重复测验的自信判断范式,检验自我一致性模型。项目一致性与项目共识性的分析表明:被试从大量共享的信念总体中抽取样本进行正误判断,自信判断则基于各个样本信念的一致性,并反映新样本做相同判断的可能性;建立在代表性样本上的判断有更高的一致性或共识性,信念建构的反应时更短且自信更高;项目一致性与项目共识性存在交互关系:高一致性的判断也是高共识性的判断。结果验证了自我一致性模型在中国文化背景下的存在。     

Male vocal competition is dynamic and strongly affected by social contexts in music frogs

Male–male vocal competition in anuran species is critical for mating success; however, it is also highly time-consuming, energetically demanding and likely to increase predation risks. Thus, we hypothesized that changes in the social context would cause male vocal competition to change in real time in order to minimize the costs and maximize the benefits of competition. To test this hypothesis, we assessed the effect of repeating playbacks of either white noise (WN) or male advertisement calls on male call production in the Emei music frog (Babina daunchina), a species in which males build mud-retuse burrows and call from within these nests. Previous studies have shown that calls produced from inside burrows are highly sexually attractive (HSA) to females while those produced outside nests are of low sexual attractiveness (LSA). Results showed that most subjects called responsively after the end of WN playbacks but before the onset of conspecific call stimuli although call numbers were similar, indicating that while males adjusted competitive patterns according to the biological significance of signals, their competitive motivation did not change. Furthermore, these data indicate that the frogs had evolved the ability of interval timing. Moreover, when the inter-stimulus interval (ISI) between playbacks was varied, the subjects preferentially competed with HSA calls when the ISI was short (<4 s) but responded equally to HSA and LSA calls if the ISI was long (≥4 s), suggesting that males allocate competitive efforts depending on both the perceived sexual attractiveness of rivals and the time available for calling. Notably, approximately two-thirds of male calls occurred in response to HSA calls, a preference rate comparable to that previously found for females in phonotaxis experiments and consistent with the idea that the mechanisms underlying both the male’s competitive responses to rivals and the female’s preferences toward potential mates coevolved under the same selective pressure.     

Regional gray matter volume is associated with rejection sensitivity: A voxel-based morphometry study

Rejection sensitivity (RS) can be defined as the disposition that one tends to anxiously expect, readily perceive, and intensely react to rejection. High-RS individuals are more likely to suffer mental disorders. Previous studies have investigated brain activity during social rejection using different kinds of rejection paradigms and have provided neural evidence of individual differences in response to rejection cues, but the association between individual differences in RS and brain structure has never been investigated. In this study, voxel-based morphometry (VBM) was used to investigate the relationship between gray matter volume (GMV) and RS in a large healthy sample of 150 men and 188 women. The participants completed the RS Questionnaire and underwent an anatomical magnetic resonance imaging scan. Multiple regression was used to analyze the correlation between regional GMV and RS scores, adjusting for age, sex, and total brain GMV. These results showed that GMV in the region of the posterior cingulate cortex/precuneus was negatively associated with RS, and GMV in the region of the inferior temporal gyrus was positively correlated with RS. These findings suggest a relationship between individual differences in RS and GMV in brain regions that are primarily related to social cognition.