Reception of Morse code through motional, vibrotactile, and auditory stimulation

The potential for communication through the kinesthetic aspect of the tactual sense was examined in a series of experiments employing Morse code signals. Experienced and inexperienced Morse code operators were trained to identify Morse code signals that were delivered as sequences of motional stimulation through up-down displacements (roughly 10 mm) of the fingertip. Performance on this task was compared with that obtained for both vibrotactile and acoustic presentation of Morse code using a 200-Hz tone delivered either to the fingertip through a minishaker or diotically to the two ears under headphones. For all three modalities, the ability to receive Morse code was examined as a function of presentation rate for tasks including identification of single letters, random three-letter sequences, common words, and sentences. Equivalent word-rate measures (i.e., product of percent correct scores and stimulus presentation rate) were nearly twice as high for auditory presentation as for vibrotactile stimulation, which in turn was about 1.3 times that for motional stimulation. The experienced subjects outperformed the inexperienced subjects by amounts that increased with task complexity. For example, the former were able to receive sentences at 18 words/min with motional stimulation, whereas the latter, following 75 h of training, were unable to perform this task. The present results and those of other research with tactual communication systems are compared, particularly regarding estimates of information-transfer rates.     

社区卫生服务——体现效率与公正特征的改革之路

社区卫生服务比较全面地体现了公正与效率的原则,是卫生改革的一项重大举措。它公正有效地突破了固有的卫生体制;公正有效地实现了“人人享有初级卫生保健”的目的;公正有效地推进了医学模式的转移;公正有效地抓住了纠风的症结;公正有效地解决了医疗费居高不下的顽症。     

Foreign Language Effect and Psychological Distance

Does using a foreign language result in forming different moral decisions than using our mother tongue? Two studies were conducted to investigate whether there is a relationship between foreign language effects (differences between native vs. foreign language conditions) and psychological distance. Study 1 tested four moral dilemmas adapted from Greene et al. (Cognition 107: 1144–1155, 2008). Non-fluent Korean–English bilingual participants (N = 161) indicated decisions regarding four moral dilemmas in either Korean or English languages. The study found that for personal moral conflict situations, in which emotion and automatic intuition were more important than deliberation, there were significant differences in ratios of utilitarian decisions between the native language (L1) and the foreign language (L2) conditions. The participants tended to make more utilitarian decisions in L2 than in L1, which implies reduced emotionality in L2. Study 2 examined whether the psychological distance increased using the foreign language (English) utilizing an automatic self-test. Nonproficient Korean–English bilinguals (N = 26) formed associations between three kinds of geometric shapes (ellipses, rectangles and triangles) and three kinds of labels (‘me’, ‘friends’ and ‘others’). The results of the study found the self-bias effect decreased when labels were presented in the foreign language (in English). This implies that the foreign language effect resulted from the reduced emotional response, and deliberation in decision making which may result from increased psychological distance.     

因果关系及典型性程度对类别特征推理的影响

采用学习―测试二阶段实验范式,探讨了因果关系及典型性程度对类别特征推理的影响。研究结果表明:(1)因果关系影响类别特征推理任务;(2)典型性程度影响类别特征推理任务;(3)类别特征间存在因果关系的前提下,原因特征维度值与典型性程度间存在交互作用。典型性程度对不含原因特征的项目的特征推理影响是有限的。     

幼儿语言发展中的形状偏好现象及其认知机制

形状偏好是指儿童语言发展过程中倾向于认为相同形状的物体拥有相同名称的现象。已有研究采用词汇拓展、分类和归纳推理等任务发现, 2~3岁甚至更早的幼儿就已经表现出形状偏好, 且表现受刺激物的属性、创造者的意图和功能及因果/比较关系等因素影响。然而, 形状偏好现象存在着联结观和概念观两种不同的解释。未来的研究应该采用认知神经科学的方法, 并结合发展中的其它问题, 从特殊被试和跨文化的角度来探讨这一现象的神经机制。     

风险取向类型与爱荷华赌博任务成绩的影响

神经科学领域的研究者们设计了测量情感决策的经典爱荷华赌博任务并提出了体细胞标记假说来解释其研究结果,但迄今为止这一假说还没有得到一致认可。许多研究提出了可能影响爱荷华赌博任务成绩的其他因素。本研究试图在前人研究的基础上采用实验法探讨风险取向类型这一人格因素是否影响正常个体的爱荷华赌博任务成绩。实验结果显示,不同风险取向类型的个体在爱荷华赌博任务中的成绩和表现截然不同。典型风险趋向型个体在爱荷华赌博任务中的表现类似于某些神经系统患者,倾向于更多地选择不利纸牌,其任务成绩显著差于典型风险回避型个体。这一研究结果表明：风险取向类型是影响正常个体爱荷华赌博任务成绩的重要因素之一。     

中学生与大学生地震亲历者对威胁性刺激记忆偏向的比较研究

运用事件相关电位(ERPs)技术,采用学习-再认实验任务,考察了不同年龄阶段的地震亲历者(13个大学生、13个中学生)对威胁性刺激(地震相关图片)再认时记忆偏向的差异。结果表明:(1)在额叶-中央区,中学生经历组在旧的地震图片上P300成分的潜伏期显著短于大学生经历组;在顶叶-枕叶,中学生经历组在旧的地震图片上的P300峰值和LPC波幅显著大于大学生经历组。(2)对于经历组,地震图片均比中性图片对经历组诱发了更大的P300和LPC波幅。表明地震图片对中学生经历组的效应比对大学生经历组更大,地震经历组对地震相关图片有记忆偏向。     

熟悉主题说明文阅读推理加工的认知神经机制

采用功能磁共振成像(Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging, fMRI)技术对熟悉主题说明文阅读过程因果推理加工进行研究, 探讨说明文阅读过程中读者是否能够自发进行因果推理加工, 以及阅读焦点的存在是否会对说明文阅读过程中的因果推理加工产生影响。结果表明, 读者在熟悉主题说明文阅读过程中能够自动进行推理加工, 负责推理加工的主要脑区为额叶(尤其是额下回)、顶叶下部及双侧楔前叶等区域。在熟悉主题说明文阅读过程中, 阅读焦点的存在一定程度上使读者的认知加工资源集中在对与焦点相关的推理关系的加工上。