Imageability and semantic association in the representation and processing of event verbs

This study examined the relative salience of imageability (the degree to which a word evokes mental imagery) versus semantic association (the density of semantic network in which a word is embedded) in the representation and processing of four types of event verbs: sensory, cognitive, speech, and motor verbs. ERP responses were recorded, while 34 university students performed on a lexical decision task. Analysis focused primarily on amplitude differences across verb conditions within the N400 time window where activities are considered representing meaning activation. Variation in N400 amplitude across four types of verbs was found significantly associated with the level of imageability, but not the level of semantic association. The findings suggest imageability as a more salient factor relative to semantic association in the processing of these verbs. The role of semantic association and the representation of speech verbs are also discussed.     

The role of storytelling in advertising: Consumer emotion,narrative engagement level,and word‐of‐mouth intention

This experimental study with a national online sample (n = 300) tested the effects of storytelling in radio advertisements on participants' positive emotional responses and intentions to share information about the product, depending on audiences' narrative engagement level. Treatments included a commercial for a fictitious brand of luggage using a story told by the founder of the company, another version of the same commercial manipulated so the speaker was a customer of the company, and a control stimulus consisting only of information about the product. Results showed that narrative transportation and narrative preference are positively associated with favorable responses toward ad. Stories elicited more favorable emotional responses and had some effect on participants' intention to share information about the product by word‐of‐mouth. This was especially true among participants hearing the founder's story. Results support previous assumptions about the power of storytelling in advertising, including distinctions regarding the identity of the speaker (founder vs. customer).     

Handedness and footedness in Korean college students

This study was conducted to obtain normative data on foot preference and to compare footedness and handedness in a large sample (N = 866) of college students in Korea, where left-hand use for writing and other public acts is severely restricted (Kang & Harris, 1993). Based on scores from Korean-language versions of the Edinburgh Handedness Inventory (EHI; Oldfield, 1971) and the Waterloo Footedness Questionnaire Revised (WFQ-R; Elias, Bryden, & Bulman-Fleming, 1988), 11% of the subjects were left-footed but only 4.2% as left-handed. A significantly higher percentage of left-handers than right-handers showed crossed lateral preference, that is, for preference of the opposite-side foot. Of the left-handers with crossed preference, the majority were inconsistent left-handers (ILH; Peters & Servos, 1989), whereas most of those with uncrossed preference were consistent left-handers (CLH). Factor analysis of the EHI and WFQ-R revealed 2 handedness factors and 2 footedness factors. The footedness factors for skilled unipedal actions and for balancing-stabilizing varied in direction, strength, and relation to handedness in mixed-footers and left-handers, consistent with the possibility that the division of footedness into these categories might be neuropsychologically meaningful.     

飞行员情境认知的模糊综合评判

借用环境科学中环境质量评价的概念和方法,建立了飞行员情境认知的多级模糊综合评判模型,并用该模型对飞行员的情境认知进行了综合评判。研究表明,用模糊综合评判方法评价飞行员的情境认知可以提供真实、全面的飞行认知信息,为飞行员的训练有效性及安全性提供可靠依据。     

藏传佛教寺院"羌姆"神舞面具艺术探秘

文章对藏传佛教寺院"羌姆"神舞面具的缘起、发展源流、种类型制、表现的内容与象征内涵、审美寄托、艺术风格特色、制作的形式美等作了较全面的探讨.     

The development of generosity and moral cognition across five cultures

Morality is an evolved aspect of human nature, yet is heavily influenced by cultural environment. This developmental study adopted an integrative approach by combining measures of socioeconomic status (SES), executive function, affective sharing, empathic concern, theory of mind, and moral judgment in predicting sharing behavior in children (N = 999) from the age of 5 to 12 in five large‐scale societies: Canada, China, Turkey, South Africa, and the USA. Results demonstrate that age, gender, SES, culture, and social cognitive mechanisms explain over 20% of the variance worldwide in children's resource allocation. These findings are discussed in reference to standard cultural comparisons (individualist/collectivist), as well as the degree of market integration, and highlight continuities and discontinuities in children's generosity across urban contexts.     

Beyond the double-jeopardy hypothesis: Assessing emotion on the faces of multiply-categorizable targets of prejudice

Prior research has shown that race influences perceptions of facial expressions, with hostility detected earlier on young male Black than White faces. This study examined whether the interplay of race and age would moderate perceptions of hostility by having participants evaluate facial expressions of multiply-categorizable targets. Using a facial emotion change-detection task, we assessed evaluations of onset/offset of anger and happiness on faces of young and old Black and White men. Significant age by race interactions were observed: while participants perceived anger as lasting longer and appearing sooner on old compared to young White faces, this relationship was reversed for Black faces, with participants perceiving anger lasting longer and appearing sooner on young compared to old Black faces. Similar results were found for perceived happiness. These results suggest that perception during cross-categorization may be more complex than the simple additive function proposed by the double-jeopardy hypothesis, such that co-activation of other stereotypes may sometimes confer a protective benefit against bias.     

Infant preference for female faces occurs for same‐ but not other‐race faces

There has been a recent surge of interest in the question of how infants respond to the social attributes of race and gender information in faces. This work has demonstrated that by 3 months of age, infants will respond preferentially to same‐race faces and faces depicting the gender of the primary caregiver. In the current study, we investigated emergence of the female face preference for same‐ versus other‐race faces to examine whether the determinants of preference for face gender and race are independent or interactive in young infants. In Expt 1, 3‐month‐old Caucasian infants displayed a preference for female over male faces when the faces were Caucasian, but not when the faces were Asian. In Expt 2, new‐born Caucasian infants did not demonstrate a preference for female over male faces for Caucasian faces. The results are discussed in terms of a face prototype that becomes progressively tuned as it is structured by the interaction of the gender and race of faces that are experienced during early development.     

An inner face advantage in children's recognition of familiar peers

Children’s recognition of familiar own-age peers was investigated. Chinese children (4-, 8-, and 14-year-olds) were asked to identify their classmates from photographs showing the entire face, the internal facial features only, the external facial features only, or the eyes, nose, or mouth only. Participants from all age groups were familiar with the faces used as stimuli for 1 academic year. The results showed that children from all age groups demonstrated an advantage for recognition of the internal facial features relative to their recognition of the external facial features. Thus, previous observations of a shift in reliance from external to internal facial features can be attributed to experience with faces rather than to age-related changes in face processing.     

Can ingroup affirmation relieve outgroup derogation?

Intergroup hostilities are an important social concern in multicultural societies and the global community. Individuals with dispositionally high Personal Need for Structure (PNS) are particularly inclined toward outgroup derogation [Schaller, M., Boyd, C., Yohannes, J., O’Brien, M. (1995). The prejudiced personality revisited: Personal need for structure and formation of erroneous group stereotypes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 68, 544-555]. The present research demonstrates that ingroup affirmation can eliminate high PNS individuals’ tendency toward outgroup derogation. Spontaneous (Study 1) and experimentally manipulated affirmations (Study 2) of consensual, positive ingroups eliminated the high PNS tendency to derogate outgroup targets. Study 3 experimentally manipulated the two key elements that are presumably bolstered by ingroup affirmations—self-certainty and self-worth—independent of the group context. The high PNS tendency to derogate outgroups was relieved only in the combined certainty and worth affirmation condition, just as it had been relieved in Study 2 by the ingroup affirmation. Results suggest a paradoxical strategy for relieving derogation of outgroups by affirming ingroups.