Decision making in children and adolescents: impaired Iowa Gambling Task performance in early adolescence

Disadvantageous decision making is cited as one of the premier problems in childhood development, underlying risky behavior and causing adolescents to make poor choices that could prove detrimental later in life. However, there are relatively few studies looking at the development of decision making in children and adolescents, and fewer still comparing it with the performance trajectories of more typically developing cognitive functions. In the current study, we measured the affective decision-making abilities of children and adolescents 8- to 17-years-old using the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT; Bechara, 2007) in conjunction with a battery of established cognitive neuropsychological assessments. In contrast to the typical linear development of executive functions, affective decision-making abilities progressed in a J-shaped curve. Younger, more developmentally naive children performed better on the IGT than older, early-adolescent individuals, with performance becoming advantageous again toward the end of the teenage years. This trajectory is thought to coincide with asymmetric neural development in early adolescents, with relatively overactive striatal regions creating impulsive reward-driven responses that may go unchecked by the slower developing inhibitive frontal cortex. This trajectory is in stark contrast with the linear development of memory, speed of processing, and other cognitive abilities over the ages.     

Sports spectator behavior: a test of the theory of planned behavior

The theory of planned behavior has been applied to sports and exercise behaviors. According to this theory, human intention to take action in a specific context is guided by three antecedents: attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control. Behavioral intention mediates the relationships between these three considerations and its ultimate performance. However, this theory has seldom been applied to the behaviors of spectators of sporting events. A sample of 269 volleyball spectators in Taiwan was studied to examine whether people's intention mediated their attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control toward a given behavior, watching the 2010 Fédération Internationale de Volleyball World Grand Prix in Taipei. Regression analyses did not support behavioral intention as a mediator. This result is discussed in the context of planned behavior.     

Encoding specific associative memory: evidence from behavioral and neural manipulations

Within-subjects procedures with rats assessed the associative structures acquired during conditioning trials in which the interval between the stimuli and food was either short or long (i.e., A-10 s→food and B-40 s→food). In Experiments 1 and 2, after these conditioning trials, A and B served as second-order reinforcers for 2 further stimuli (i.e., X→A and Y→B); whereas Experiment 3 used a sensory preconditioning procedure in which X→A and Y→B trials occurred before the conditioning trials, and rats were finally tested with X and Y. In each experiment, Y elicited greater responding at test than did X. This finding supports the contention that the long-lived trace of B (associated with food on B-40 s→food trials) is more similar to the memory of B that was associatively provoked by Y, than is the short-lived trace of A (associated with food on A-10 s→food trials) to the memory of A that was associatively provoked by X. These conclusions were reinforced by the effects of a neural manipulation that disrupted discrimination learning involving the short traces of stimuli but not the long traces of the same stimuli.     

When the “Charm of Three” Fades: Mental Imagery Moderates the Impact of the Number of Ad Claims on Persuasion

Given the prevalence of imagery appeals in today’s marketplace, the current research studies the role of mental imagery in how consumers process and react to advertisements with different numbers of ad claims. Past research has proposed “three” as the magical number of ad claims that maximizes persuasion, with more than three ad claims increasing skepticism and reducing evaluation. In the current research, we replicate this so-called “charm of three” effect, but only when consumers do not engage in mental imagery; when they do, however, we find that the effect is moderated, in that more ad claims beyond three produces more favorable product evaluation. Additionally, we provide evidence that the moderating effect of mental imagery is driven by transportation and skepticism toward the ad claims, with mental imagery increasing transportation and decreasing skepticism when there are more than three ad claims. Our research contributes to a better understanding of the “charm of three” effect, its boundary conditions, and underlying mechanism.     

能力社会比较与归因反馈对不诚实行为的影响

社会比较作为认识自我的一种方式,对个体心理与行为的诸多方面产生影响,但对于社会比较如何影响不诚实行为以及归因反馈在其中的作用,目前尚不清楚。在3项实验中操纵了不同方向的能力社会比较,探讨其对不诚实行为的影响(研究1)以及归因反馈在其中的调节作用(研究2)。结果发现:(1)相比于向下比较和无比较,向上比较会增加个体的不诚实行为;(2)归因反馈调节上述影响:向上比较后,相比于给予能力反馈,给予努力反馈可以减少个体的不诚实行为。本研究拓展了社会比较后效研究,对如何减少社会比较引起的不诚实行为具有重要启示。     

道德外语效应及其调节变量：来自元分析的证据

同一个道德决策情景使用外语(相比母语)呈现时, 个体会表现出更强的功利性倾向, 即道德外语效应。随着研究的深入, 结论并不一致。本研究运用元分析方法首次探讨了语言类型(母语vs. 外语)对道德判断中功利性倾向的影响, 并分析了相关的调节变量。通过文献检索及梳理, 共有19篇文献46个独立样本97个效应量符合元分析标准(N = 9672)。结果显示存在较小但稳定的道德外语效应(g = 0.23); 调节效应分析表明, 道德外语效应受故事类型的影响, 在个人道德两难故事中存在较小但稳定的外语效应(g = 0.32), 但在非个人道德两难故事(g = 0.11)与日常道德评价故事中(g = 0.12)不存在外语效应; 非个人道德两难故事中的外语效应受记分方式的影响, 多点记分在该故事类型下存在效应(g = 0.27), 二点记分不存在效应(g = 0.05); 性别和语系类型没有显著的调节效应。这些结果表明语言类型对个体面对道德困境时的选择倾向有一定程度的影响, 道德故事类型和记分方式在未来的研究中需要加以考虑。     

Examining Family Living Arrangements,Economic Development,Education Expenditure and Children’s Weight from the Welfare Mix in China

Applied Research in Quality of Life - There is increased social concern regarding children’s weight in China, but there is a relative lack of research concerning its social determinants....     

Embarrassment and empathy before helping: How internal working models come into play

Prior research has described embarrassment and empathy as predictors of social helping and as self-conscious emotions involving reasoning about the self and others. It remains unclear how cognitive representations of the self and others relate to the two emotions as precursors of social helping. We examined 136 participants’ self-report measures of internal working models as well as dispositional embarrassability, empathic concern, personal distress, and perspective taking. Controlling all the other variables, embarrassability was primarily associated with the model of self and personal distress, whereas empathic concern was primarily associated with the model of others and perspective taking. Moreover, the association between personal distress and embarrassability was moderated by the interaction between models of others and perspective taking. The general proneness to distress arousal was also predicted by the interaction between models of self and others. The findings extended prior research linking internal working models and socio-cognitive emotions associated with helping.     

隆乳术的演变与进步

隆乳术不仅可以重塑女性的形体美,而且可以增强女性的自信心,在当前具有广阔的市场。纵观隆乳术的发展演变史,从最初的注射隆乳术到自体组织隆乳术,再到当前的假体隆乳术和自体脂肪移植隆乳术,经历了“实践、认识、再实践、再认识”的多次反复。各种隆乳方式各具特色,其间既有成功的经验,又有失败的教训。针对隆乳术安全性的改进推动了隆乳术的不断向前发展。寻找一种安全有效的隆乳方式和理想的隆乳材料成为当前隆乳术发展的关键和整形外科医师关注的重点。     

难治性丙型肝炎研究新进展

随着聚乙二醇化干扰素(IFN)的普及应用和慢性丙型肝炎规范化治疗的开展,其治愈率不断提高.但疗效不佳的慢性丙型肝炎患者不断积累,难治性慢性丙型肝炎患者成为临床医生必须面对的挑战.难治性丙型肝炎患者应当分为两类,第一类为“难治疗”性慢性丙型肝炎患者,该类患者由于宿主条件限制,不能耐受IFN联合利巴韦林(RBV)的标准治疗,如儿童和老年人、慢性肾功能衰竭患者等.第二类为“难治愈”性慢性丙型肝炎患者,该类患者可以耐受标准治疗方案,但按照应答指导的治疗原则(RGT)治疗后,效果仍然不佳或复发.本文就近年关于难治性丙型肝炎的研究进展,从难治性丙型肝炎的定义、机制、治疗诸方面作一综述.