低收入女性的生活史特质与繁衍策略的关系

本研究探讨了单一性伙伴（n = 222）、两个以上性伙伴（n = 145）与无性伙伴（n = 106）三组低收入女性的长期配偶偏好、人生阅历、生活史特质与个人特征的关系。研究结果显示三组女性的配偶偏好趋于一致,繁衍策略的组别差异与人生阅历和所处环境具有较高相关,三组女性并不偏好特定类型的配偶。路径分析显示首次生育年龄直接预测配偶数量,受教育水平和初次性交时间对配偶数量与首次生育年龄之间的关系具有显著调节作用;女儿与父亲相处的时间可以预测初次性交年龄。研究结果显示父亲投资影响青少年性行为发展的时间表,人类繁衍的长期进化是性行为变化的根源     

Autonomic correlates of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and oppositional defiant disorder in preschool children

Numerous studies have revealed autonomic underarousal in conduct-disordered adolescents and antisocial adults. It is unknown, however, whether similar autonomic markers are present in at-risk preschoolers. In this study, the authors compared autonomic profiles of 4- to 6-year-old children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and oppositional defiant disorder (ODD; n = 18) with those of age-matched controls (n = 20). Children with ADHD and ODD exhibited fewer electrodermal responses and lengthened cardiac preejection periods at baseline and during reward. Although group differences were not found in baseline respiratory sinus arrhythmia, heart rate changes among ADHD and ODD participants were mediated exclusively by parasympathetic withdrawal, with no independent sympathetic contribution. Heart rate changes among controls were mediated by both autonomic branches. These results suggest that at-risk preschoolers are autonomically similar to older externalizing children.     

The influence of spatial context and the role of intentionality in the interpretation of animacy from motion

We present three experiments investigating how spatial context influences the attribution of animacy to a moving target. Each of our displays contained a moving object (the target) that might, depending on the way it moved, convey the impression that it was alive (animate). We investigated the mechanisms underlying this attribution by manipulating the nature of the spatial context surrounding the target. In Experiment 1, the context consisted of a simple static dot (the foil), whose position relative to the target's trajectory was manipulated. With some foil positions--for example, when the foil was lying along the path traveled by the target--animacy judgments were elevated relative to control foil locations, apparently because this context supported the impression that the target was "reacting to" or was in some other way mentally influenced by the foil. In Experiment 2, contexts consisted of a static oriented rectangle (the "paddle"). On some trials, the target collided with the paddle in a way that seemed to physically account for the target's motion pattern (in the sense of having imparted momentum to it); this condition reduced animacy ratings. Experiment 3 was similar, except that the paddles themselves were in motion; again, animacy attribution was suppressed when the target's motion seemed to have been caused by a collision with the paddle. Hence, animacy attributions can be either elevated or suppressed by the nature of the environment and the target's interaction with it. Animacy attribution tracks intentionality attribution; contrary to some earlier proposals, we conclude that attributing animacy involves, and may even require, attributing to the target some minimal mental capacity sufficient to endow the target with intentionality.