Culture, control, and perception of relationships in the environment

East Asian cognition has been held to be relatively holistic; that is, attention is paid to the field as a whole. Western cognition, in contrast, has been held to be object focused and control oriented. In this study East Asians (mostly Chinese) and Americans were compared on detection of covariation and field dependence. The results showed the following: (a) Chinese participants reported stronger association between events, were more responsive to differences in covariation, and were more confident about their covariation judgments; (b) these cultural differences disappeared when participants believed they had some control over the covariation judgment task; (c) American participants made fewer mistakes on the Rod-and-Frame Test, indicating that they were less field dependent; (d) American performance and confidence, but not that of Asians, increased when participants were given manual control of the test. Possible origins of the perceptual differences are discussed.     

Regional grey matter volume in the posterior cingulate cortex predicts positive risk-taking: A moderation model

Positive risk-taking is a crucial element of individual creativity and social development. However, little is known regarding the relation between individual neural differences and positive risk-taking. In addition, critical thinking (CT) and gender have been proven to be two important individual-specific factors associated with risk-taking behaviour, and different levels of CT and gender may have diverse effects on the relationship between brain structure and positive risk-taking. The present study examined the relationship between positive risk-taking and regional grey matter volume (rGMV) in 292 healthy participants. The results showed that positive risk-taking was significantly positively associated with the rGMV of the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC). In addition, this study investigated individual differences in critical thinking and found that it moderated the relationship between rGMV and positive risk-taking. Individuals with lower CT had a stronger association between rGMV and positive risk-taking. Further analysis showed that for males, a greater rGMV was significantly linked to higher positive risk-taking tendency. These findings suggest that PCC evaluates risk and serves as a behavioural adaptation hub for positive risk-taking. This study thereby contributes to the literature on individual differences in brain structure and risk-taking by elucidating the moderating effects of CT and gender in healthy adults.     

语义的自动加工和选择性注意对Stroop效应的影响

本实验用正常人和聋哑人作被试进行比较,试图探讨语义的自动加工和选择性注意对Stroop效应的影响。将“红”“绿”“黄”“蓝”四个汉字中的每一个都用这四种颜色中的三种写成,然后按着事先排列好的顺序,分组呈现,并且在两种条件下分别要求被试延迟不同的时间进行反应,一种是刺激呈现前就告诉被试对“字”或“色”反应;另一种是刺激呈现后间隔不同的时间再向被试提出对“字”或“色”反应。实验结果发现,聋哑人和正常人在色—字干扰任务作业上没有明显的差异,说明语义的自动加工是一个普遍现象;而选择性注意能在很大的程度上改善被试的作业成绩,但颜色命名仍比字词反应困难;Stroop效应在延迟反应条件下发生变化,这种变化说明Stroop效应与记忆过程有联系。     

从汉字识别看视觉信息检测的整体优先性

本实验以汉字组成的复合汉字为材料研究了不同视角下辨别整体结构和辨别局部特性的反应时差异。实验发现,在正常情况下对整体的辨别反应时要显著低于对局部进行辨别的反应时,并且对象的不同大小对这种差异没有显著影响。这一结果表明整体和局部的“相对大小”不是造成反应时差异的主要原因,提示视觉信息检测是一个从大范围的整体到局部的过程,即存在整体优先性。实验还发现在作为局部的汉字和构成整体的复合字相同时,无论注意对象是局部还是整体,反应时均较不同时为小,这一结果表明整体和局部的作用是双向的。     

表象加工的容量和加工策略研究

本实验研究通过把汉字拆为其有机的组成成分,最少2个最多5个,在各成分顺序排列或随机排列两种条件下呈现给被试,要他们组合出原来汉字的方法对表象操作的容量和策略进行了初步的探讨。实验结果表明表象操作的容量是相当有限的,执行最优加工的容量为2—3个,上限约为4—5个。加工容量随操作复杂程度的高低可略有变化。结果还表明在本实验条件下系统对表象各成分的操作采取的是并行的同时加工,这种并行加工能大大提高表象加工的效率。     

The Marxian conception of the working class and the development of physics

Marx extrapolated the relations of production of the factories of his time into his predictions about the development of the working class. These predictions are among the most important theses of Marxism-Leninism relative to the socialist world-revolution which the working class was to carry out. The physics of Marx' era was not very developed. Marx could have no inkling of the future development of physics and of its application to technology. This is why his predictions had to be in simple and direct proportion to the development of the relations of production of the time. Industry developed — thanks in part to the development of physics — in ways other than Marx had suspected. The use of modern physics, leading to cybernetics and automation, gradually changed the workers from forces of production to supervisory engineers. Were one to undertake today an extrapolation like that which Marx carried out, one would have to see as highly probable the disappearance of the very working class that Marx saw as carrying out the world-revolution.     

仪表显示器的照度、对比度、色饱和度对检察速度的影响

本文通过心理物理实验,从工程心理学角度,提出了仪表显示器的照度水平、对比度、色饱和度是相互关联的。它们是保证监盘工检察速度的重要目视条件。文章最后提供了仪表显示器的最佳照度、对比度、色饱和度等参数,可作为仪表显示器和电厂控制室室内设计的参考标准。     

单眼和双眼特定的McCollough效应及倾斜后效的消退过程

每个被试对互补的联合方位的图形适应后均产生单眼特定和双眼特定的McCollough效应。双眼的起始强度大于单眼的起始强度。单眼和双眼的McCollough效应的消退速度基本相同。在自然视觉条件下McCollough效应消退快,在完全黑暗的条件下没有明显的消退。说明导致McCollough效应恢复平衡的主要因素不是自发的过程,而与网膜刺激有关。倾斜知觉后效的消退在上述两种实验条件下没有明显的差别,因此可推测倾斜知觉后效的消退主要是神经疲劳的一个自发的恢复过程。