Post-training intra-basolateral amygdala infusions of norepinephrine block sevoflurane-induced impairment of memory consolidation and activity-regulated cytoskeletal protein expression inhibition in rat hippocampus

Considerable evidence indicates that the noradrenergic system of the basolateral amygdala (BLA) participates in the consolidation of various types of emotionally arousing memories. We previously reported that administration of an anesthetic-dose of sevoflurane immediately after continuous multiple-trail inhibition avoidance (CMIA) training impaired memory consolidation. This experiment investigated whether posttraining noradrenergic activation of the BLA is sufficient to reverse the memory impairing effect of sevoflurane. Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats received bilateral injections of norepinephrine (NE 0.3, 1.0, or 3.0 μg/0.5 μl) or normal saline (NS 0.5 μl) immediately after training in a CMIA paradigm. Subsequently, the rats were exposed to sevoflurane (2% inspired) or air for 2h. Norepinephrine produced a dose-dependent enhancement of memory consolidation on a 24-h retention test. The highest dose of NE tested (3.0 μg/0.5 μl) blocked sevoflurane-induced impairment of memory consolidation and reversed the inhibitory effect of sevoflurane on activity-regulated cytoskeletal protein (Arc) expression in the hippocampus 2h after training. These findings provide evidence that the mechanism mediating the memory-impairing effect of sevoflurane involves a network interaction between the BLA noradrenergic system and modulation of Arc protein expression in the hippocampus.     

Perceptions of parent-adolescent communication within families: it is a matter of perspective

This study examined the concordance between parental and youth's perceptions regarding open communication in their families and its association with youth's psychosocial adjustment. The relative importance of parental and adolescents' perceptions of open family communication in relation to youth's psychosocial adjustment was also investigated. Participants were 336 parent-youth dyads from inner-city low-income communities in an eastern city in the United States. Both parental and youth's perceptions of open communication in the family were categorized into "high" and "low" groups using a median split in scores. Four parent-youth concordance groups (i.e. high-high, high-low, low-high and low-low) were derived based on the combination of the levels of parental and youth's perceptions. Parental and youth's perceptions about open communication were modestly correlated (r = 0.129, p < 0.05). The level of concordance differed by youth gender with male adolescents and their parents being more likely to perceive lower levels of open communication (i.e. "low-low") than females and their parents (32% versus 19%, p < 0.05). In general, youth demonstrated poorer psychosocial adjustment if they perceived a lower level of open communication between them and their parents, independent of the level of their parents' perceptions (e.g. "high" or "low"). The findings suggest an important role of adolescents' own perceptions of the openness of the family communication in relation to adolescent psychosocial adjustment. Developmentally and gender appropriate intervention programs are needed to improve the openness of parent-adolescent communication, to help both parents and youth to recognize the significant preventive role of open communication in the family, especially, the socioeconomically disadvantaged families.     

Emotional reactions to scandals: When does moral character make a difference?

A scandal can evoke public outrage when it is widely publicized and involves an individual who is perceived to have a high level of cultural representativeness. Two experiments showed that when the scandalous target's moral character was highlighted, emotional responses towards the target were least negative when the scandal was widely circulated and when the target was seen as a representative of his culture. These results suggest that when a cultural symbol is implicated in a widely‐circulated scandal, the negative emotions directed towards the scandalous individual can be alleviated when the public remains confident in his or her commitment to morality.     

Contextual self-organizing map: software for constructing semantic representations

In this article, we introduce a software package that applies a corpus-based algorithm to derive semantic representations of words. The algorithm relies on analyses of contextual information extracted from a text corpus—specifically, analyses of word co-occurrences in a large-scale electronic database of text. Here, a target word is represented as the combination of the average of all words preceding the target and all words following it in a text corpus. The semantic representation of the target words can be further processed by a self-organizing map (SOM; Kohonen, Self-organizing maps, 2001), an unsupervised neural network model that provides efficient data extraction and representation. Due to its topography-preserving features, the SOM projects the statistical structure of the context onto a 2-D space, such that words with similar meanings cluster together, forming groups that correspond to lexically meaningful categories. Such a representation system has its applications in a variety of contexts, including computational modeling of language acquisition and processing. In this report, we present specific examples from two languages (English and Chinese) to demonstrate how the method is applied to extract the semantic representations of words.     

3-9年级儿童能力观干预比较研究

摘要：Dweck研究提出,通过蕴含特定能力观的故事和表扬可以形成儿童相应的能力和目标取向。作者认为,随着儿童能力的自我意识发展,干预会产生不同的效果。本研究以3-9年级885名学生为被试,采取“天分”、“努力”、“无关”三组故事和“聪明”、“努力”、“潜能”、“不表扬”四种评价方式进行能力观干预,将目标得分变化作为干预效果的指标。实验结果显示了年龄和干预方式的交互作用效应,在一定程度上支持了Dweck的研究结论,验证并丰富了作者关于能力观干预发展性效应的设想。     

从管理伦理看人口计划生育公共服务网络的构建

人口计划生育协会是我国最大的社团组织,它的主要职能是广泛宣传国家人口政策、影响公众生育观念、服务相关人群等,它正在成为构建人口计划生育公共服务网络的主体.本文引入管理伦理的视角,重申了人口计划生育协会的组织目标和管理架构,通过厘清围绕计生协会的主要伦理议题,为人口计划生育公共服务网络建设提供必不可少的管理伦理尺度.     

大学生经济信心和心理健康的关系:生涯自我效能感的中介作用

采用经济信心问卷、生涯自我效能感量表、总体主观幸福感量表、贝克焦虑和抑郁量表,对237名大学生进行调查,考察大学生经济信心对其心理健康的影响,以及生涯自我效能感在两者之间可能的中介作用。结果表明,经济信心与生涯自我效能感和主观幸福感呈显著的正相关,与抑郁显著负相关,生涯自我效能感与主观幸福感显著正相关,与焦虑、抑郁显著负相关。大学生经济信心对其主观幸福感和抑郁具有显著的预测作用。大学生生涯自我效能感在经济信心与主观幸福感之间起到部分中介作用,其在经济信心和抑郁之间起到完全中介作用。此外,大学生生涯自我效能感传递了经济信心对焦虑的间接影响。     

决策权力和社会角色对混合动机冲突决策的影响

以最后报价谈判问题为实验材料,考察了混合动机冲突情境中决策权力和社会角色的影响。结果表明:(1)决策权力对决策者的决定有显著影响。拥有分配权的决策者倾向于采取竞争策略,拥有要求权的决策者倾向于采取平均分配策略,拥有否决权的决策者倾向于采取合作策略。(2)社会角色对决策者的决定有显著影响。与陌生人角色相比,担任好朋友角色的决策者决定得到的点数明显地更低。     

说谎者悖论及其相关悖论的一种解决

依本文之见,说谎者悖论以及某些与之相关的悖论之被导出源于对某些不合理的前提的接受;而这些前提之被接受又源于对＂是真的＂与＂是假的＂这两个词的关键语义特性缺乏认识。本文为决定这些语义特性的基础提供了说明;这一基础包含两个论点,第一,每一语句均有其含义;第二,每一语句陈说的字面内容是一个命题态度的内容,因而具有某种一般形式。借助于这一基础,本文为这两个词构造了一个不同于传统意义上的塔尔斯基式真理理论的意义理论以说明这些特性,并借助于该理论论证说谎者悖论及其某些相关悖论的导出没有根据。     

最后通牒游戏中接收者拒绝行为的情绪义务模型

公平偏好使人们在面对不公平的分配时通常会有所表示,在最后通牒游戏中具体表现为对不公平报价的拒绝,有很多研究把拒绝的原因归结为不公平厌恶和互惠主义等社会偏好,但这并不能解释一些最后通牒变体游戏中的拒绝行为。但这恰恰支持了情绪义务模型。