Atomic imaging of the interface between M23C6-type carbide and matrix in a long-term ageing polycrystalline Ni-based superalloy

Besides the well-known cube-on-cube orientation relationship (OR) between M₂₃C₆ carbide and matrix, we have determined a new OR named as the twin-related OR in a long-term ageing Ni-based superalloy on the basis of the extensive and detailed electron diffraction analyses. Furthermore, by means of atomic-resolution high angle annular dark-field imaging technique which is implemented in the aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscope, we elucidated the interfacial characteristics between M₂₃C₆ and matrix for above two types of ORs. Taking into account of the interfacial characteristics, we propose that the twin-related OR possesses a higher total interfacial energy. Thus, its frequency of occurrence is lower than that of the cube-on-cube OR though both ORs are usually seen in the long-term ageing samples.     

Individuation training with other‐race faces reduces preschoolers’ implicit racial bias: a link between perceptual and social representation of faces in children

The present study examined whether perceptual individuation training with other‐race faces could reduce preschool children's implicit racial bias. We used an ‘angry = outgroup’ paradigm to measure Chinese children's implicit racial bias against African individuals before and after training. In Experiment 1, children between 4 and 6 years were presented with angry or happy racially ambiguous faces that were morphed between Chinese and African faces. Initially, Chinese children demonstrated implicit racial bias: they categorized happy racially ambiguous faces as own‐race (Chinese) and angry racially ambiguous faces as other‐race (African). Then, the children participated in a training session where they learned to individuate African faces. Children's implicit racial bias was significantly reduced after training relative to that before training. Experiment 2 used the same procedure as Experiment 1, except that Chinese children were trained with own‐race Chinese faces. These children did not display a significant reduction in implicit racial bias. Our results demonstrate that early implicit racial bias can be reduced by presenting children with other‐race face individuation training, and support a linkage between perceptual and social representations of face information in children.     

Origin of lattice strain in nanocrystalline materials

A striking feature of nanocrystalline (NC) materials prepared by different techniques is the variation of lattice strain present in the crystallites. A simple model is proposed to account for this phenomenon, which allows the establishment of a quantitative relationship describing the dependence of the crystal lattice strain on the grain size. Good agreement between theoretical and experimental data indicates that the stress field, induced by the excess volume in grain boundaries, is the dominant source of the lattice strain.     

Creative Scientific Problem Finding and Its Developmental Trend

This is a study of the development trend of creative scientific problem finding (CSPF) ability of a sample of 1,367 elementary, middle, and high school students in two Chinese cities. Students were instructed to generate science related questions in both open and closed conditions with responses scored for Fluency, Flexibility, and Originality. Results suggest that CSPF ability has a developmental trend characterized by a significant leap in the 5th grade, followed by a steady advance until it peaked in the 8th grade, and then declined and stabilized in the high school years (9th–11th grades). No difference between male and female students was found. The type of instruction showed significant differential influence on CSPF and its development.     

Seeing Where the Stone Is Thrown by Observing a Point-Light Thrower: Perceiving the Effect of Action Is Enabled by Information,Not Motor Experience

People are very adept at perceiving biological motion (e.g., Johansson, 1973 Johansson, G. (1973). Visual perception of biological motion and a model for its analysis. Perception & Psychophysics, 14(2), 201–211.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). This ability has been an essential life skill to members of this social species. The human niche during the ice age was socially coordinated hunting for big game. Being able to judge the location targeted by the throw of a conspecific would be a valuable perceptual ability that we now study to investigate 2 competing theories of biological motion perception: Common Coding (CC; Prinz, 1997 Prinz, W. (1997). Perception and action planning. European Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 9(2), 129–154.[Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) and Kinematic Specification of Dynamics (KSD; Runeson & Frykholm, 1983 Runeson, S., & Frykholm, G. (1983). Kinematic specification of dynamics as an informational bias for person-and-action perception: Expectation, gender recognition, and deceptive intent. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 112, 585–615.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). The 2 theories diverge in attributing perceptual ability to either motor or visual experience, respectively. To test predictions of the CC theory, we performed 3 experiments to manipulate observers' specific motor experience while they judged the targeted location of throwing by watching point-light displays. In Experiment 1, we tested whether the identity of the thrower in the display mattered. In Experiment 2, we tested whether the motor expertise of the observer mattered. In Experiment 3, we tested whether the gender/style of throwing demonstrated by the point-light thrower mattered. The combined results failed to support CC theory, suggesting that motor experience is not required for the perception of action. Because all participants judged the target location of throwing quite well, KSD theory suggests that the kinematic information available in the displays may have enabled the perception. We performed Experiment 4 to analyze the information. We found that the judgment pattern exhibited by the observers in both Experiments 1 and 2 was well predicted by the KSD theory. Thus, we concluded that the perception of biological motion is enabled by visual information and improved by visual experience.     

Intuitive Conceptions of Dead Persons' Mentality: A Cross-Cultural Replication and More

Jesse Bering (2002) investigated how American university students in an interview task conceived of dead persons' mentality immediately after death. He found that different categories of mental states or capacities were conceived differently: psychobiological and perceptual states ceased, whereas emotional, desire, and epistemic states continued. Our Study 1 was a replication of Bering's experiment in a different cultural setting, in which the subjects were Chinese undergraduate students. A similar pattern of results was found. In Study 2, instead of being asked about a dead person's various mental states immediately following the death, participants were asked to judge a dead person's mental states after the person had been dead for 2 days. The overall pattern of participants' responses was not affected by this manipulation, but they did show an increase in attributions of certain mental states to dead agnostics. In addition, a more refined breakdown of responses revealed that individuals tended to judge that, upon death, visual and auditory perception continued, whereas olfactory and gustatory sensation ceased.     

The development of social value orientation across different contexts

This study aimed to explore Chinese children's social value orientation across different ages and contexts. Revised decomposed games were used to measure the social value orientation of 9‐, 11‐, and 14‐year‐old children and college students as an adult group. About half of them were assigned to the hypothetical context of “equal payment group,” providing equal compensation for participation in the study, and the others to the “real payment group,” who got payment according to their own choices in the games. Results showed that 9‐ and 11‐year‐old children's choices differed between the two contexts: They made more prosocial choices in the hypothetical context, and more competitive choices in the “real payment” context. The 14‐year‐olds’ and adults’ choices were not significantly different in the two contexts. These results may imply that by 14 years of age, children have stable social value orientation, and their behavior reflects this value.     

Differentiation of stages in joke comprehension: Evidence from an ERP study

This study aimed to investigate the mechanisms underlying joke comprehension using event‐related potentials (ERPs). Fourteen healthy college students were presented with the context of a story without its joke or nonjoke ending, and then, when the story ending was presented, they were asked to make a funny/unfunny judgment about these endings. The behavioral results showed that there was no significant difference between funny and unfunny items, which meant that subjects could understand funny items as easily as unfunny ones. However, the ERP results showed that funny items initially elicited a more negative ERP deflection (N350–450) over frontocentral scalp regions. Dipole analysis localized the generators in the left temporal gyrus and the left medial frontal gyrus; it is suggested that these areas might be involved in detecting the incongruent element in joke comprehension. Between 600 and 800 ms, funny items subsequently elicited a more negative ERP deflection (N600–800) over frontocentral scalp regions and a more positive ERP deflection (P600–800) over posterior scalp regions. Dipole analysis localized the generator in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), an area involved in the breaking of mental set/expectation and the forming of novel associations. Finally, funny items elicited a more positive ERP deflection (P1250–1400) over anterior and posterior scalp regions. Dipole analysis localized the generators in the middle frontal gyrus and the fusiform gyrus, areas that might be related to the affective appreciation stage in joke process. Unlike that of Coulson and Kutas (2001), the present study might support the hypothesis of a three stage model of humor processing (humor detection, resolution of incongruity and humor appreciation).     

Exposure to violence reduces empathetic responses to other’s pain

Past researches showed that empathy for pain not only triggers a resonance mechanism between other and self, but also is modulated by contextual factors. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, the present study demonstrated that short-term media violence exposure reduced both pain ratings and also the activation of anterior insula and anterior mid-cingulate cortex to other’s pain. Thus, violence exposure modulated empathic responses to other’s pain based on a physiological desensitization.     

环境雌激素双酚A对成年小鼠学习记忆和突触结构的影响*

双酚A (bisphenol, BPA)是一种广泛存在的环境内分泌干扰物,它可与雌激素受体结合干扰内源性雌激素对中枢神经系统的调控作用。本研究通过将10周龄小鼠灌胃染毒BPA (0.4、4、40 mg/kg/day)3个月,研究长期BPA暴露对成年小鼠记忆行为和突触可塑性的影响。开场行为测试结果表明, BPA (0.4、4、40 mg/kg/day)增加雄性的站立次数和理毛频率, BPA (4 mg/kg/day)却显著减少雌鼠的站立次数。水迷宫和被动回避行为模型检测显示, BPA主要损伤雄鼠的空间学习记忆和被动回避记忆。通过制备海马CA1区超薄切片后,电镜观测发现, BPA (0.4、40 mg/kg/day)暴露降低雄鼠海马CA1区突触数密度,缩短雄鼠突触前活性带长度,减小雄鼠突触后致密体(PSD)厚度,增加雄鼠突触间隙宽度。进一步用Western blot方法检测突触前、后的标志性蛋白Synapsin I和PSD95以及兴奋性氨基酸NMDA受体NR1亚基和AMPA受体GluR1亚基蛋白的表达,发现BPA暴露致雄鼠Synapsin I、PSD95、NR1蛋白表达水平下调。而BPA对雌鼠的记忆行为、突触形态、突触蛋白和受体蛋白均没有明显作用。以上结果提示长期B PA暴露性别特异性地影响成年小鼠的活动性和探究行为,损伤雄鼠的学习记忆,这些作用可能通过下调突触蛋白和NMDA受体的表达而负性影响突触结构可塑性,最终影响雄鼠的学习记忆功能。