阿尔茨海默病主要相关基因研究进展

阿尔茨海默病(Alzheimer's disease,AD)是一种老年性神经退行性疾病,随着人口老龄化和人类寿命的延长,AD逐渐得到人们的普遍关注.综述近5年AD的主要相关基因研究进展,为其诊断、预防和有效治疗提供新的思路.     

Moral disengagement moderates the predicted effect of trait self‐control on self‐reported aggression

An increasing number of studies reveal that self‐control is an important preventative factor for aggression. However, the involvement of potential explanatory variables has received less research attention. Drawing upon the feedback‐loop model of self‐control, the current research assumed that the preventing effect of trait self‐control on aggression may be moderated by moral disengagement. Self‐reported measures of trait self‐control, moral disengagement and aggression were administered to 946 Chinese university students. Results show that trait self‐control had a negative effect on physical aggression, verbal aggression, anger and hostility, whereas moral disengagement positively predicted each of these constructs. Of particular importance was a significant interaction between trait self‐control and moral disengagement for verbal aggression and hostility. Specifically, the preventing effect of trait self‐control on these two types of aggression was more pronounced in individuals with low rather than high moral disengagement. In conclusion, low conditional endorsement of transgressive acts and having high trait self‐control are both important individual‐difference variables that explain reduced aggression.     

The Interface Between Core Affects and the Challenge–Skill Relationship

Different models have been developed to describe human experiences. One of these models is the core affect model, which states that the core of emotional experience is a simple state of feeling good or bad, energized or drowsy. Another model is the experience fluctuation model (EFM), which has been developed to map how emotions and other experiences fluctuate along with the relationship between challenges and skills. In this study, we first mathematically refined the EFM. Second, we tested if fluctuations in core affect could be modeled with a continuous wave-like sine function (Study 1). Third, we applied the sine function to our own experience-sampling data, which we collected via mobile phones from 55 university students, and located each challenge–skill relationship in a two-dimensional core affect space (Study 2). The results were consistent in both studies and showed that fluctuations in core affect dimensions, measured as a function of the relationship between challenges and skills, can be modeled with the sine function. The results also indicated that there is a systematic link between challenge–skill relationships and core affect: High challenge–high skill situations were connected to a very active and pleasant core affect, whereas high challenge–low skill situations were connected to a quite active but unpleasant core affect, low challenge–low skill situations to a very passive and unpleasant core affect, and low challenge–high skill situations to a quite passive and pleasant core affect. Compared to previous studies, this study presents a more fine-grained and comprehensive level of information on the relationship between core affect and challenges and skills.     

Self‐specific Optimism Bias in Belief Updating Is Associated with High Trait Optimism

People learn more from new information when it leads to favorable future outlooks and thus can maintain optimism despite conflicting evidence. In two studies (N = 20 and 26), we investigated whether this optimism bias in belief updating is self‐specific by modifying a recently introduced learning paradigm. In each trial, participants had to estimate the probability of experiencing a negative future event, were then presented with the population base rate of that event, and were subsequently asked for a second, updated estimation. In half of the 88 trials with varying events, estimations were made for oneself, in the other half for a similar other. We tested whether the updates (differences between the first and second estimates) following undesirable base rate were lower than those following desirable base rates, and whether this difference was greater for self relative to other. In both studies, the overall results support the presence of a self‐specific optimism bias in belief updating. However, taking into account trait optimism (TO) as a moderator variable revealed that this was the case only in participants with high TO, whereas those with low TO showed optimistic belief updating for both self and other. In Study 2, we additionally controlled for possible misclassifications of base rate desirability. Taken together, the optimism bias in belief updating was demonstrated by a selective neglect of unfavorable information. A self‐specific influence of this bias in individuals with high TO may ultimately cause the impression of a more positive future outlook relative to others. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

顿悟问题解决不同阶段中工作记忆的作用

该研究探讨了顿悟问题解决不同阶段中工作记忆的作用。在实验1中,以87名大学生为被试,使用多种工作记忆广度任务和言语顿悟任务,探讨了工作记忆对于言语顿悟问题解决不同阶段的影响;在实验2中,以119名大学生为被试,使用多种工作记忆广度任务和空间顿悟任务,探讨了工作记忆对于空间顿悟问题解决不同阶段的影响。研究结果表明,初始搜索阶段与重构阶段是相对独立的两个阶段;工作记忆对于顿悟问题解决的不同阶段有着不同的影响,它主要影响顿悟问题解决的初始搜索阶段,工作记忆能力越强,初始搜索阶段所需时间越少;工作记忆对于顿悟问题解决的重构阶段无显著影响,这一点支持了关于重构内在机制的特殊过程观。     

人际控制感对合作行为的影响:一项囚徒困境的ERPs研究

社会困境中的合作行为是通过抑制个体利益最大化的诱惑从而满足集体利益最大化的过程。研究采用囚徒困境游戏范式考察个体的合作行为,通过设置决策顺序操控人际控制感的高低,利用ERPs技术探讨了人际控制感影响合作行为的神经机制。行为结果发现:高人际控制感条件下个体做出合作行为的频率显著高于低人际控制感。ERPs结果发现:个体在高人际控制感条件下博弈时顶枕区所诱发的P2波幅更小,且右侧额区所诱发的N2波幅也更小。这表明被试在高人际控制感条件下感知到的不确定性更小,冲突控制水平更高,从而更能抑制利己诱惑,表现出更多的合作行为。     

A matter of font type: The effect of serifs on the evaluation of scientific abstracts

Text‐based communication is one of the substantial ways of spreading scientific information. While the content and contextual aspects of written words have been widely researched, the impact of font characteristics on text perception is an almost blank page. The following study deals with the influence of serifs on the evaluation of online‐presented scientific abstracts. Yet there is only evidence for faster reading times when texts are presented in sans‐serif fonts, although the opposite is stated in parts of the literature. The present work examines if the presence or absence of serifs also have an impact on the appraisal of scientific texts when all other important font characteristics do not change. For this purpose, 188 university students participated in an online experiment and rated different aspects of scientific abstracts as well as of the research outlined in the abstracts. The results show that missing serifs led to increased reading speed. However, and in contrast to the perceptual fluency hypothesis, the presence of serifs had a positive effect on all evaluation dimensions. The results of a second study with 187 participants also indicated that reading fluency counteracted the liking of texts. Implications for future studies and media production are discussed.