Syntactic priming in Chinese sentence comprehension: Evidence from Event-Related Potentials

Using the event-related potential (ERP) technique, this study examined the nature of syntactic priming effects in Chinese. Participants were required to read prime-target sentence pairs each embedding an ambiguous relative clause (RC) containing either the same verb or a synonymous verb. In Chinese, the word de serves as a relative clause marker. During reading a potential Chinese RC structure (either the prime or the target sentence), Chinese readers initially expect to read an Subject–Verb–Object (SVO) structure but the encounter of a relative clause marker de would make readers abandon the initial strategy and reanalyze the structure as a relative clause. A reduced P600 effect was elicited by the critical word de in the target sentence containing the same initial verb as in the prime sentence. No significant reduction of the P600 was observed in the target sentences in the synonymous condition. The results demonstrated that verb repetition but not similarity in meaning produced a syntactic priming effect in Chinese. The constraint-based lexicalist hypothesis and the argument structure theory were adopted to explain the syntactic priming effect obtained in the current study.     

Synthesis of a La-based bulk metallic glass matrix composite

A bulk metallic glass matrix composite, that is a crystalline phase in an amorphous matrix, has been successfully synthesized by chill casting a La-based quaternary La₆₆Al₁₄Cu₁₀Ni₁₀ alloy. A composite rod as large as 12?mm in diameter was obtained. The reinforcing crystalline phase was identified as α-La, which was uniformly distributed and well developed throughout the sample. The critical cooling rate for the formation of the composite was determined by the Bridgman solidification process to be below 15?K?s^?1. Increased thermal stability was observed for the composite compared with the fully glassy rods, the reason for which remains unclear.     

Importance of chamber gas pressure on processing of Al-based metallic glasses during melt spinning

The effect of chamber gas pressure on the amorphicity of Al₈₅Ni₅Y₁₀ alloy was studied for the melt-spinning process. The amorphicity of as-quenched ribbons was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The chamber atmosphere pressure is crucial to the cooling rate of melt spinning. At high vacuum, at pressure less than 0.001?atm, fully crystalline fragments are obtained. Monolithic amorphous ribbons were only obtained at a gas pressure of 0.1?atm, 0.2?atm or higher. The extended contact length between ribbons and the copper wheel contributes to the high cooling rate of melt spinning in Al-based glass forming alloys; that is supported by images recorded by a high-speed camera. Higher chamber pressure increases contact length between ribbons and the wheel, which is qualitatively elucidated by Bernoulli's equation.     

When happiness makes us selfish, but sadness makes us fair: Affective influences on interpersonal strategies in the dictator game

Does temporary mood influence how fair or selfish we are in interpersonal situations? These three experiments predicted and found that when people have the power to allocate scarce resources between themselves and others in the dictator game, positive mood increased selfishness, and sad mood produced greater fairness. In a public setting (Experiment 1), happy persons kept more raffle tickets to themselves when making allocations, and Experiment 2 confirmed this effect in the laboratory. Experiment 3 showed that mood effects on selfishness were strongest when the external norms for fairness were relaxed. The results are discussed in terms recent affect-cognition theories, suggesting that positive mood recruits more assimilative, internally focused processing, while negative affect promotes more externally oriented, accommodative processing and thus greater concern with social norms. The implications of the findings for everyday interpersonal decisions are considered.     

服务型政府建设:理论范式与实践逻辑

服务型政府作为一种基于公民本位、崇尚服务理念、追求公共利益的现代政府模式,近年来逐渐成为我国政府改革中的热门话语。服务型政府的建设是一个综合性课题,在委托代理理论、新公共管理、新公共服务和公共治理理论的基石上,为了更好地实现公正与平等、效率与竞争、廉洁与透明、民主与参与等公共价值,建设法治政府、有限政府、责任政府、回应型政府和企业型政府成了必然的路径选择,这亦是实现善治的必然逻辑。     

Effect of Film Velocity on Genre Recognition

Abstract

In this study effects of film velocity on genre recognition were tested. “Happy reunion” film scenes were taken from comic, action, drama, and nonfiction genres. Their speed was varied to result in 3 levels: original velocity, acceleration by one third, and deceleration by one third. Fifty participants judged the fittingness of all scenes in each of the 4 genres. Velocity proved to be an effective parameter in the recognition of the comical and dramatic genres but not of the action and nonfiction genres. As predicted, when a scene belonging to any genre was decelerated, participants judged the scene as belonging more to the dramatic genre (p < .01) and less to the comic genre (p < .01). Acceleration of a scene belonging to any genre increased its comical fittingness (p < .05). The role of prototypicality of scenes in the interaction with velocity turned out to be only modest. In a few cases genre crossings (i.e., confusing a scene's genre with another in recognition) resulted from velocity manipulations of nonprototypical but not prototypical scenes.     

The Social Ladder: A Rank-Based Perspective on Social Class

Scholars across the social sciences have studied social class for centuries. In this review, we suggest that social class is a fundamental means by which individuals are ranked on the social ladder of society. A rank-based perspective on social class shines light on several future areas of research: Specifically, understanding how social class ranks individuals vis-à-vis others leads to predictions about how class is signaled in interactions, influences social cognition and health, is shaped by global economic inequality trends, and changes across the life course. Importantly, our theory highlights the potential of experimental manipulations of social class rank for testing the causal role of social class in shaping basic patterns of cognition, emotion, and behavior. Future predictions regarding the channels of social class rank signals, along with how position on the social ladder shapes political attitudes and interacts with cultural values, are considered.     

Can implicit appraisal concepts produce emotion-specific effects? A focus on unfairness and anger

This research examined whether the non-conscious activation of an implicit appraisal concept could affect responses associated with the corresponding emotion as predicted by appraisal theories. Explicit and implicit emotional responses were examined. We focused on implicit unfairness and its effect on anger. The results show that subliminal activation of implicit unfairness affected implicit anger responses (anger facial expression and latency responses to anger words) but not explicit anger feelings (i.e., reported anger). The non-conscious effect of implicit unfairness was specific to anger, as no effect on sadness, fear, and guilt was found.