Can survival processing enhance story memory? Testing the generalizability of the adaptive memory framework

Research from the adaptive memory framework shows that thinking about words in terms of their survival value in an incidental learning task enhances their free recall relative to other semantic encoding strategies and intentional learning (Nairne, Pandeirada, & Thompson, 2008). We found similar results. When participants used incidental survival encoding for a list of words (e.g., "Will this object enhance my survival if I were stranded in the grasslands of a foreign land?"), they produced better free recall on a surprise test than did participants who intentionally tried to remember those words (Experiment 1). We also found this survival processing advantage when the words were presented within the context of a survival or neutral story (Experiment 2). However, this advantage did not extent to memory for a story's factual content, regardless of whether the participants were tested by cued recall (Experiment 3) or free recall (Experiments 4-5). Listening to a story for understanding under intentional or incidental learning conditions was just as good as survival processing for remembering story content. The functionalist approach to thinking about memory as an evolutionary adaptation designed to solve reproductive fitness problems provides a different theoretical framework for research, but it is not yet clear if survival processing has general applicability or is effective only for processing discrete stimuli in terms of fitness-relevant scenarios from our past.     

Goal complexes: Integrating achievement goals as standards and self-attributed motives as reasons underlying goal pursuit

Goal complexes, which are formed by pairing standards of competence strivings with their underlying reasons, are essential to an understanding of achievement goal regulation. This paper examines goal complexes that cross other-approach and other-avoidance goals with the approach-avoidance dimensions of Big Three motives as underlying reasons. 220 undergraduates participated in Study 1 which developed and validated the Self-Attributed Motive Scale to measure hope of success, fear of failure, hope of affiliation, fear of rejection, hope of power, and fear of loss of power. Additionally, 235 undergraduates participated in Study 2 where goal complexes were created by crossing the motive items developed in Study 1 with other-approach and other-avoidance goals. The predictive utility of the resultant goal complexes was examined in relation to positive well-being (positive learning-related emotions and engagement), negative well-being (negative learning-related emotions and burnout), and academic buoyancy. The contributions of the studies to the self-attributed motive and goal complex literatures are discussed.

     

Authoritarianism and Political Impoverishment: Deficits in Knowledge and Civic Disinterest

Past research shows that authoritarian individuals hold strong opinions about a variety of political and social issues, such as race relations and military conflict. What has not been established, though, is the amount of general political knowledge that authoritarians possess. In this study, three groups of college students were administered Altemeyer's Right-Wing Authoritarianism (RWA) scale; most of them also received items assessing general political knowledge and specific knowledge about the 2000 presidential election, as well as items assessing interest in politics. Relative to students with low RWA scores, those with high scores possessed less political knowledge; moreover, they expressed less interest in learning about politics. In general, authoritarianism was unrelated to how individuals got their political information or how credible they found their sources. The implication that authoritarians hold strong attitudinal beliefs with weak political knowledge is discussed.     

儿童社会认知发展的特点

社会认知是个体对社会性客体和社会现象及其关系的感知和理解活动。综合分析国内外已有研究,我们认为儿童社会认知发展具有如下主要特点：(1)儿童社会认知的发展是一个逐步区分认识社会性客体的过程;(2)儿童社会认知发展的核心体现是观点采择能力的发展：(3)儿童社会认知各方面的发展是非同步、不等速的;(4)儿童社会认知的发展具有认知发展的普遍规律．但不完全受认知发展的影响;(5)儿童社会认知的发展与社会交往密切相关。     

儿童早期数学认知能力的结构及其特点

从北京市10所幼儿园中选取234名3、4岁的儿童为被试,采用个别测查的方法对儿童早期数学认知能力的结构及其特点进行了考察。经验证性因素分析发现：(1)儿童早期数学认知能力的结构模型是合理的,可接受的,具有较好的构想效度,具体讲,数、计算、测量、空间／几何和模式认知能力五个维度共同解释着儿童早期的数学认知能力;(2)不同年龄儿童早期数学认知能力的结构具有稳定性,但是结构模型并不完全一致,某些项目的解释率有所不同;(3)男、女儿童早期数学认知能力的结构模型具有一致性。     

Symptom Expression and Somatization Among Elderly Korean Immigrants

In a study of expression of symptoms of somatization, depression, and other biopsychological conditions, 70 elderly Korean immigrants in the greater Washington, D.C., metropolitan area (35 who met the criteria for major depression and 35 who did not meet those criteria) were administered a Korean version of the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI). Subjects who met the criteria for depression had the highest mean score on the BSI somatization dimension compared with other normative samples including a sample of psychiatric inpatients. A factor analysis of data from the BSI showed that for elderly Korean immigrants, a factor of somatization was identified that included the items from the original BSI obsessive-compulsive, somatization, and anxiety dimensions. Items loading on the somatization factor suggest that elderly Korean subjects experience body and mind as a unitary system and tend to communicate the distress associated with old age, cultural adjustment, and family and social changes through somatic symptoms.     

Extraversion modulates functional connectivity hubs of resting‐state brain networks

Personality dimension extraversion describes individual differences in social behaviour and socio‐emotional functioning. The intrinsic functional connectivity patterns of the brain are reportedly associated with extraversion. However, whether or not extraversion is associated with functional hubs warrants clarification. Functional hubs are involved in the rapid integration of neural processing, and their dysfunction contributes to the development of neuropsychiatric disorders. In this study, we employed the functional connectivity density (FCD) method for the first time to distinguish the energy‐efficient hubs associated with extraversion. The resting‐state functional magnetic resonance imaging data of 71 healthy subjects were used in the analysis. Short‐range FCD was positively correlated with extraversion in the left cuneus, revealing a link between the local functional activity of this region and extraversion in risk‐taking. Long‐range FCD was negatively correlated with extraversion in the right superior frontal gyrus and the inferior frontal gyrus. Seed‐based resting‐state functional connectivity (RSFC) analyses revealed that a decreased long‐range FCD in individuals with high extraversion scores showed a low long‐range functional connectivity pattern between the medial and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, middle temporal gyrus, and anterior cingulate cortex. This result suggests that decreased RSFC patterns are responsible for self‐esteem, self‐evaluation, and inhibitory behaviour system that account for the modulation and shaping of extraversion. Overall, our results emphasize specific brain hubs, and reveal long‐range functional connections in relation to extraversion, thereby providing a neurobiological basis of extraversion.     

论《金人铭》的产生时代

《金人铭》产生的时代应该是战国末年至汉代初年,这有以下几个方面的证据:1.《金人铭》的内容与黄老学派关系密切,应该是黄老思想流行后的产物,不可能产生于孔子时代。2.《金人铭》的内容性质与战国以前的青铜器铭文的特征不符。3.《金人铭》把孔子入周观书和孔子入太庙二事混合在一起,露出了破绽。4.《金人铭》称“三缄其口”,而“缄”字在可靠的先秦文献中无“闭口”义。“缄”的本义为捆箱箧的绳索,“缄”有“闭口”义是西汉才有的现象。     

听觉后见之明偏差的实验研究

后见之明偏差是一种人类认知自我中心。后见之明偏差的研究具有重大的理论价值和应用价值,尤其是其应用价值更不容低估。研究1采用回忆型和假定型研究范式考察听觉领域是否存在后见之明偏差;研究2采用回忆型研究范式,从需要角度考察奖励性动机对去除听觉后见之明偏差的作用。研究发现:听觉领域存在后见之明偏差;两种研究范式的后见之明偏差不存在差异;奖励性动机并不能消除听觉后见之明偏差。     

大学生学习拖延研究综述

学习拖延是指有目的地推迟必须完成的学习任务的行为。学习者的个性特质、角色冲突、自我调节能力不足以及学习任务特征,是导致大学生学习拖延的重要因素。当前对大学生学习拖延的测评主要采用自陈式量表,对学习拖延的干预主要采用认知-行为咨询法。强化实验研究、探讨综合性理论框架是该研究领域的重要发展方向。