Mosuos' awareness of taxonomic relations in word associations, lexicon decisions and semantic categorizations

The development of representations for taxonomic categories is influenced by many factors, such as age, life experiences, and education. It was hypothesized that Mosuos might be aware of taxonomic relations differently than Hans, as indicated by Sha (1996). Three experiments--word associations, lexicon decisions, and semantic categorizations--were conducted on young adults of Mosuos and Hans and consistent results were obtained: the Mosuos were found both similar to and different from the Hans in their experimental performance. They were apparently aware of taxonomic relations less than the Hans among categories of different levels and among categories of basic level, consistent with the conclusion that the uniqueness of a specific culture influences the people's representations for the hierarchically structured taxonomic categories (López, Atran, Coley, Medin & Smith, 1997). The present forms of education did not seem to be as effective as educators expected to help promote Mosuo children's development of knowledge of taxonomic categories. If school education would be available that is compatible with the cultural value of a relatively isolated, small population, such as Mosuos, and is of practical value for the young children to develop a better knowledge of the world, then a study would be of critical value into how educated individuals would be different from uneducated ones in their awareness of taxonomic relations.     

肥胖2型糖尿病的发病机制初探

针对中医在肥胖2型糖尿病现有的病因病机理论体系上的不完善,以及现有理论在临床应用中的局限,笔者初步总结了肥胖2型糖尿病的发病机制,认为其病位主要在肝、脾、小肠.在此基础上提出肥胖2型糖尿病主要治则:疏肝理气、健脾降浊、通腑泻热.望能丰富中医消渴病理论,在辨证施治的同时提高临床疗效.     

Enhanced perceptual priming for neutral stimuli in a traumatic context: A pathway to intrusive memories?

Clinical observations suggest that re-experiencing symptoms are triggered by stimuli that are perceptually similar to those present shortly before the trauma or its worst moments. Two experiments investigated the possible role of perceptual priming in this phenomenon. Volunteers (N = 28, N = 62) watched a series of “traumatic” and neutral picture stories, and completed blurred object identification (priming) and recognition memory tasks. Neutral objects that immediately preceded the “traumatic” stories were more strongly primed, but not better recognised, than objects from neutral stories. Enhanced priming predicted subsequent re-experiencing symptoms. The results support the role of perceptual priming in re-experiencing.     

The usefulness of the story recall test in patients with mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease

ABSTRACT

Background: The story recall test (SRT) is one of the most reliable neuropsychological assessments for evaluating verbal memory function in order to distinguish between individuals with normal aging, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and Alzheimer's disease (AD). The SRT is analogous to the logical memory test in Wechsler Memory Scale-III, which has recently been developed and standardized to apply to older adults in Korea. The purpose of this study was to examine the usefulness of the SRT and its ability to discriminate between normal cognitive aging and patients with MCI or AD. Methods: One hundred and twelve patients with MCI, 97 patients with AD, and 53 healthy elderly adults participated in this study. The SRT was compared with the Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR), Global Deterioration Scale (GDS), Korean version of the Mini Mental State Examination (K-MMSE), and the Korean version of the Hopkins Verbal Learning Test (K-HVLT). Results: The SRT was well-correlated with the dementia rating scales and the K-HVLT. However, the sensitivity and specificity of the SRT was greatly influenced by the level of education of the subjects. Conclusions: The SRT is a sensitive measurement of verbal memory function that can be used in clinical settings to discriminate between normal memory functioning and the very early and moderate stages of AD in a Korean population. Moreover, it is important to recognize that the SRT is more appropriate for subjects with a high level of education rather than a low level of education to differentiate normal cognitive aging from MCI or AD.     

Outcome favorability as a boundary condition to voice effect on people's reactions to public policymaking

Regarding people's reactions to public policymaking, an organizational justice framework has been introduced. Although these studies showed a link between fairness perceptions and attitudes toward public policy and authority, results concerning more behavioral consequences and the moderation of outcome favorability are less clear. The present research explored the voice effect on people's reactions to public policymaking, as well as outcome favorability as a boundary condition to it. Two different settings and use of different designs (a scenario and an experiment) yielded convergent results that people's reactions to public policymaking were more favorable when they had voice than they did not and outcome favorability moderated the voice effect. More precisely, the voice effect was stronger when the outcome was unfavorable than favorable.     

生命意义感获取的心理机制及其影响因素

生命意义感体验对个体身心健康有重要的影响,其相关研究也已开始受到心理学各个领域的广泛关注。生命意义感获得与维持的理论研究主要是包括意义感层次模型、意义感构建模型及意义感维持与流动模型。大五人格、心理模拟、积极/消极情绪和亲社会行为是影响个体生命意义感体验的主要因素。未来研究要进一步探讨生命意义感产生的影响因素,完善相关的理论模型,并要从时间序列的角度探讨意义感的产生过程,并对生命意义感获得及维持的跨文化差异进行探讨。     

我国农民工核心心理健康素质的调查

旨在考察《中国成年人核心心理健康素质总量表》在农民工群体中的心理测量学特征,了解我国农民工心理健康素质的基本情况,并与全国成年人常模进行比较。采用《中国成年人核心心理健康素质总量表》,对来自于全国六大区域的不同性别、年龄段、教育程度和职业类别的855名农民工有效样本进行问卷调查。结果发现:(1)本次调查中《中国成年人核心心理健康素质总量表》各分量表的信效度符合心理测量学要求;(2)农民工样本核心心理健康素质量表总均分处于中等偏上水平;(3)农民工的情绪性素质得分高于全国成年人常模,其他素质和核心心理健康素质总量表得分与全国常模无显著差异;(4)农民工坚韧性素质得分存在显著性别差异,人际健康和情绪性素质得分存在显著年龄差异,自我概念、坚韧性素质和核心心理健康素质总量表得分存在显著的职业差异。结论:《中国成年人核心心理健康素质总量表》适用于农民工群体;农民工情绪性素质优于全国常模,其他所测心理健康素质的负载量与全国常模处于同一水平。     

家庭社会经济地位、父母参与对初中生学业成绩的影响：教师支持的调节作用

以331名初中生为被试,收集学生的家庭社会经济地位、学生感知到的教师支持和父母参与,及学生成绩,以验证父母参与在家庭社会经济地位和学业成绩关系中的中介作用,以及教师支持对父母参与这一中介作用的调节。结果发现:(1)家庭社会经济地位正向预测初中生的学业成绩;(2)在家庭社会经济地位对初中生学业成绩的预测中,父母参与发挥了中介作用;(3)教师情感支持调节了父母参与中介于家庭社会经济地位与初中生学业成绩之间的关系。     

Interrupted: The roles of distributed effort and incubation in preventing fixation and generating problem solutions

Fixation on inappropriate concepts is a key barrier to problem solving. Previous research has shown that continuous work is likely to cause repeated retrieval of those concepts, resulting in increased fixation. Accordingly, distributing effort across problems through multiple, brief, and interlaced sessions (distributed effort) should prevent such fixation and in turn enhance problem solving. This study examined whether distributed effort can provide an advantage for problem solving, particularly for problems that can induce fixation (Experiment 1), and whether and how incubation can be combined with distributed effort to further enhance performance (Experiment 2). Remote Associates Test (RAT) problems were used as the problem-solving tasks. Half of them (i.e., misleading RAT) were more likely to mislead individuals to fixate on incorrect associates than the other half. Experiments revealed a superiority of distributed over massed effort on misleading RAT performance and a differing time course of incubation for the massed and distributed groups. We conclude that distributed effort facilitates problem solving, most likely via overcoming fixation. Cognitive mechanisms other than the commonly posited forgetting of inappropriate ideas may occur during incubation to facilitate problem solving. The experiments in this article offer support for the occurrence of spreading activation during incubation.     

听障儿童外部情绪理解研究

通过自编的外部情绪理解问卷,考察了听障儿童表情识别、情绪情景识别和提示物理解等外部情绪理解三个成分的发展状况。结果表明:(1)听力障碍儿童在外部情绪整体理解、表情识别、情绪情景识别和提示物理解四方面的得分都显著低于普通儿童;(2)不同年级听力障碍儿童的外部情绪理解、表情识别、情绪情景识别和提示物理解四方面得分存在显著差异,不同性别听力障碍儿童外部情绪理解差异不显著;年级和性别的交互作用显著;(3)父母听力状况不同的听障儿童,其外部情绪理解水平差异显著。DD儿童的外部情绪整体理解、表情识别和情绪情景识别得分显著高于DH儿童。