材料情绪性对条件推理影响的眼动研究

以大学生为被试,采用不同情绪效价的条件命题作为实验材料,运用眼动仪器记录被试进行条件推理的过程和结果,探讨了材料情绪性对条件推理的影响状况.实验采用3(材料情绪性:正性情绪、负性情绪、中性情绪)×4(推理形式:MP、DA、AC、MT)的重复测量实验设计.研究结果发现,正性和负性情绪材料的条件推理成绩显著地低于中性情绪材料,结果支持抑制假说.     

Active coping with stress suppresses glucose metabolism in the rat hypothalamus

We used 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose small-animal positron-emission tomography to determine whether different styles of coping with stress are associated with different patterns of neuronal activity in the hypothalamus. Adult rats were subjected to immobilization (IMO)-stress or to a non-immobilized condition for 30 min, in random order on separate days, each of which was followed by brain-scanning. Some rats in the immobilized condition were allowed to actively cope with the stress by chewing a wooden stick during IMO, while the other immobilized rats were given nothing to chew on. Voxel-based statistical analysis of the brain imaging data shows that chewing counteracted the stress-induced increased glucose uptake in the hypothalamus to the level of the non-immobilized condition. Region-of-interest analysis of the glucose uptake values further showed that chewing significantly suppressed stress-induced increased glucose uptake in the paraventricular hypothalamic nucleus and the anterior hypothalamic area but not in the lateral hypothalamus. Together with the finding that the mean plasma corticosterone concentration at the termination of the IMO was also significantly suppressed when rats had an opportunity to chew a wooden stick, our results showed that active coping by chewing inhibited the activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis to reduce the endocrine stress response.     

Bioethics committee in the university teaching hospital in Bordeaux

Set up in 2011, the ethics committee at the teaching hospital in Bordeaux, although it is now obsolete in its organisation because of the "standardisation" in early 2012 of regional ethics groups, was nevertheless an original structure which deserves to be analysed for several reasons. First of all, why have a hospital ethics committee? Then, to do what? Finally, it is interesting to give a few indications about the working of this committee.     

Confucian dynamism work values and team performance: A multiple‐level analysis

In this study we clarified the multiple‐level effects of Confucian‐related work values, including self‐discipline and interpersonal ethics, on the performance of individuals and the team. Empirical data of 70 work teams with 472 team members from Taiwanese enterprises were collected to test our hypotheses. Results showed that, at the group level, shared team values of interpersonal ethics were positively related to team performance through the partial mediation of team cooperation. For cross‐level effect, shared team values of interpersonal ethics and individual member's self‐discipline values were both positively related to individual performance. The implications of Confucian dynamism work values on contemporary organizational management and indigenous Chinese team theories were provided.     

The nature and consequences of topic avoidance in Chinese and Taiwanese close relationships

Two studies examined topic avoidance in Chinese and Taiwanese opposite‐sex friendships and romantic relationships. Five areas of topic avoidance emerged through analytic induction and cluster analysis: negative appraisal, relational issues, sexual issues, politics, and personal experience. Partner protection, negative relational impact, and self inefficacy emerged as the most common reasons for avoidance. Results revealed that friends, relative to romantic partners, engaged in higher levels of topic avoidance. Taiwanese participants, moreover, avoided discussing politics to a greater extent than did mainland Chinese participants. Lacking closeness was the main reason behind avoidance of political discussion. Topic avoidance was also linked to relationship quality, as relational satisfaction negatively predicted relational issue avoidance and topic avoidance breadth (i.e. the number of topics regularly avoided in the relationship). The authors explain these and other findings based on Chinese cultural codes and historically‐embedded concepts that shape interpersonal interaction.     

Visual assessment of camouflaged targets with different background similarities

The study investigated the effectiveness of different camouflage designs using a computational image quality index. Camouflaged human targets were presented on a natural landscape and the targets were designed to be similar to the landscape background with different levels of background similarity as estimated by the image index. The targets were presented in front of the observer (central 0 degrees) or at different angles in the left (-7 degrees, -14 degrees, -21 degrees) or right (+7 degrees, +14 degrees, +21 degrees) visual fields. The observer had to detect the target using peripheral vision if the target appeared in the left and right visual fields. The camouflage effectiveness was assessed by detection hit rates, detection times, and subjective ratings on detection confidence and task difficulty. The study showed that the psychophysical measures correlated well with the image similarity index, suggesting a potentially more efficient camouflage effectiveness assessment tool if the relationship between the psychophysical results and the index can be quantified in the future.     

The reciprocal cycle of self‐concealment and trust in romantic relationships

We propose that perceived partner concealment, self‐concealment from one's partner (i.e., keeping secrets from one's partner), and trust in one's partner form a reciprocal cycle in romantic relationships. In Study 1, participants in a romantic relationship (N = 94) completed a two‐time point survey within a span of 8 to 10 weeks. Results revealed that perceived partner concealment was associated with a loss of trust in partner, and low trust in partner was associated with an increase in self‐concealment from one's partner. Furthermore, the association between perceived partner concealment and self‐concealment from one's partner was mediated by trust. In Study 2, couples (N = 50) completed daily records for 14 consecutive days. Multilevel analyses indicated that on the days the individuals reported more self‐concealment, their partners reported lower trust in them. Moreover, on the days the partners reported lower trust, the partners also reported higher self‐concealment. These findings suggest that self‐concealment in romantic relationships can create a reciprocal cycle that involves loss of trust and more self‐concealment between partners, which would slowly deteriorate the relationship well‐being. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.