Activation of premotor vocal areas during musical discrimination

Two same/different discrimination tasks were performed by amateur-musician subjects in this functional magnetic resonance imaging study: Melody Discrimination and Harmony Discrimination. Both tasks led to activations not only in classic working memory areas--such as the cingulate gyrus and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex--but in a series of premotor areas involved in vocal-motor planning and production, namely the somatotopic mouth region of the primary and lateral premotor cortices, Broca's area, the supplementary motor area, and the anterior insula. A perceptual control task involving passive listening alone to monophonic melodies led to activations exclusively in temporal-lobe auditory areas. These results show that, compared to passive listening tasks, discrimination tasks elicit activation in vocal-motor planning areas.     

Using vision and dynamic touch to perceive the affordances of tools

The information that people use to perceive whether a tool is suitable for a certain task depends on what is available at a given time. Visually scanning a tool and wielding it each provide information about the functional attributes of the tool. In experiment 1, we investigated the relative contributions of vision and dynamic touch to perceiving the suitability of various tools for various tasks. The results show that, when both vision and dynamic touch are available, the visual information dominates. When limited to dynamic touch, ratings of suitability are constrained by the inertial properties of the tool, and the inertial properties that are exploited depend on the task. In experiment 2, we asked whether the manner in which a tool is manipulated in exploration depends on the task for which it is being evaluated. The results suggest that tools are manipulated in ways that reflect intentions to perceive particular affordances. Exploratory movements sometimes mimic performatory movements.     

月经周期对女性知觉性侵犯遭遇的影响

女性在排卵期遭遇强奸或其它形式的性侵犯可能会受到较大伤害。进化历史中女性遭遇性侵犯的危险不断重现使现代社会女性在排卵期对男性性侵犯的线索较为敏感。本研究旨在探讨女性被试观看男性试图吸引其它女性的录像后如何评价每位男性性侵犯的可能性。研究发现接近排卵期的女性比不处于排卵期的女性更可能认为男性会进行性侵犯。这些发现显示,女性具有特定的知觉进化机制来警惕性侵犯,这种特定的进化机制可能受到月经变化的调节     

语言——自然选择的一种适应

该文认为人类的语言能力是一种生物学意义上的适应,是自然选择的产物。人类的语言与自然界中其它复杂的生物学适应相类似,也具有特定的机能。语言的特定机能在于编码叙事性信息并与他人分享,这与人类认知活动中因果推理所具有的高度社会性特点相一致。两个新的研究领域,进化博弈理论和分子进化选择理论,都证实了语言是一种受到自然选择的进化适应     

Transtheoretical model and condom use in HIV-positive youths.

The purpose of the study is to test constructs of the Transtheoretical Model for predicting unprotected intercourse in HIV-positive youths (ages 16-25 years). Questionnaires and interviews about sexual behavior, stage of change, self-efficacy, substance use, emotional distress, and social support were obtained from 60 HIV-positive youths. Path analysis, with standard errors determined by methods appropriate to small samples, suggested that self-efficacy completely mediated the relationship between stage of change and unprotected intercourse acts. Social support specific to reducing risk was associated with increased self-efficacy. Emotional distress and low general social support were not associated with decreased condom use. The path between substance use and decreased condom use approached significance. Results highlight the potential of prevention interventions that simultaneously boost self-efficacy and social support specific to practicing safer sex as well as those that reduce substance use.