Mechanisms for attentional modulation by threatening emotions of fear,anger, and disgust

Appropriately attending to threatening environmental stimuli is evolutionarily adaptive and crucial for survival. This study revealed that nonconscious attentional modulation of disgust has different behavioral and event-related potential (ERP) patterns, as compared to fear and anger. To facilitate its evolutionary purpose of avoidance, disgust first diverts rather than attracts attention. Accordingly, the N1 was smaller in a validly than in an invalidly disgust-cued condition. Furthermore, the frontal P3a for disgust, anger, and fear was found to be larger in the valid than in the invalid condition, which was interpreted as an involuntary switching of attention toward threat-related events to mobilize cognitive resources for action or defense. On the contrary, the parietal P3b only occurred at the conscious level; the enhanced P3b indicated that more cognitive resources were being allocated toward the task-relevant but previously less attended location, to ensure the effective achievement of task goals. In addition, group comparisons between individuals with low and high disgust sensitivity showed that the ERP differences between the disgust and the anger/fear conditions at the unconscious level may be attributed only to individuals with high disgust sensitivity. These findings, together with previous knowledge of the effects of fear and anger on attention, strengthen our confidence in the two-stage scheme of attentional modulation by threats, which consists of an early stage of bottom-up response scaling of sensory processing (reflected by the P1 and N1) and a later stage of top-down integration and regulation of emotion and behavior (reflected by the P3).     

美国华人移民的异文化压力:特点、影响因素和中介效应

从美国NLAAS的调查数据中直接抽取美国华人移民样本473份,探讨美国华人移民异文化压力的特点、影响因素及中介效应。结果显示:美国华人移民体验的异文化压力较大,且与多因素存在显著相关,英语熟练度、移民时的年龄、移居美国的年数和种族歧视对压力具有显著预测性;社会地位作为中介变量可以有效缓冲美国华人移民的异文化压力。     

大学生完美主义、自尊与学业拖延的关系

采用问卷法调查了311名大学生学业拖延与完美主义和自尊的关系,特别考察了自尊在完美主义与学业拖延关系间的中介作用。研究结果表明:(1) 学业拖延与消极完美主义显著正相关,与积极完美主义显著负相关,与自尊显著负相关;自尊与消极完美主义显著负相关,与积极完美主义显著正相关。(2) 消极完美主义显著正向预测学业拖延,积极完美主义和自尊显著负向预测学业拖延。(3) 自尊在积极、消极完美主义与学业拖延关系间起部分中介作用。     

In the Face of Terrorism: Evidence that Belief in Literal Immortality Reduces Prejudice Under Terrorism Threat

Based on terror management theory, previous research has shown that terrorism threat increases prejudice against Muslims and is mediated by death‐related thoughts. Because this effect was found on a correlational level, it remains unclear whether terrorism threat increases prejudice against Muslims because of enhanced death‐related thoughts or the opposite: terrorism threat increases death‐related thoughts because of stronger prejudice against Muslims. To disentangle this shortcoming, we varied death‐related thoughts by systematically manipulating the belief in literal immortality. Using two studies, we found that participants exposed to terrorism pictures (vs. controls) had increased prejudice against both Muslims (Study 1) and immigrants (Study 2) when they were led to believe that literal immortality does not exist but not when they were led to believe that it does exist. Mediation analysis indicated that this effect was mediated by death‐related thoughts. This provides further evidence that terrorism threat increases prejudice because of death‐related thoughts.     

Investigating the Impact of Uncertainty About Item Parameters on Ability Estimation

Asymptotic expansions of the maximum likelihood estimator (MLE) and weighted likelihood estimator (WLE) of an examinee’s ability are derived while item parameter estimators are treated as covariates measured with error. The asymptotic formulae present the amount of bias of the ability estimators due to the uncertainty of item parameter estimators. A numerical example is presented to illustrate how to apply the formulae to evaluate the impact of uncertainty about item parameters on ability estimation and the appropriateness of estimating ability using the regular MLE or WLE method.     

NR3C1基因多态性及单倍型、父母教养方式对青少年焦虑障碍的影响

NR3C1参与HPA轴调节,与应激相关的身心疾病关系密切。以往针对NR3C1与焦虑障碍的研究基本以成人为考察对象,且大多关注负性生活事件等个体层面环境变量。本研究采用病例-对照设计,以238名青少年为被试(焦虑障碍117人,对照121人),旨在考察NR3C1常见位点rs6191、rs6196、rs41423247的多态性、单倍型以及父母不同类型教养方式对焦虑障碍的影响。结果表明rs6191 GG基因型、rs6196 AA基因型、rs41423247 GG基因型与低焦虑障碍风险相关。父母过多的过度保护与冷漠拒绝、父亲过少的温暖关怀可预测较高的焦虑障碍风险。rs41423247多态性与母亲温暖关怀存在交互作用:rs41423247 GG基因型只在母亲温暖关怀较多时能降低焦虑障碍风险,在母亲温暖关怀较少时与焦虑障碍并无显著相关。此外,rs6191-rs6196-rs41423247构成的单倍型GAG与低焦虑障碍风险显著关联,TGC与高焦虑障碍风险显著关联,且二者与母亲温暖关怀、母亲过度保护分别存在交互作用。未来可采用追踪研究,从表观遗传层面探讨教养方式与NR3C1影响焦虑障碍的内在机制。     

“各说各话”的语言经验对景颇族大学生执行功能的影响

在中国云南的景颇族中,相当多的家庭是由不同支系的人组成的,家庭成员交际时存在着"各说各话"的现象。"各说各话"对讲话者的执行功能有无影响?采用抑制控制、注意转换和记忆刷新任务测量各说各话和非各说各话的景颇族大学生的抑制能力、转换能力和刷新能力。结果表明,各说各话与非各说各话的景颇族大学生在色词干扰和数字转换中差异显著,各说各话者的Stroop效应量小,停止信号的反应时短。各说各话与非各说各话的景颇族大学生在数字转换和图形转换中差异显著,各说各话者反应快,转换代价小。各说各话与非各说各话的景颇族大学生在活动记忆刷新与色点位置刷新任务中差异不显著。这表明,各说各话者比非各说各话者在抑制能力与转换能力上具有优势。语言经验对执行功能的影响具有功能特异性。     

Older children's misunderstanding of uncertain belief after passing the false belief test

A four-location belief task was designed to examine children's understanding of another's uncertain belief after passing a false belief (FB) task. In Experiment 1, after passing the FB task, participants were asked what a puppet would do after he failed to find his toy at the falsely believed location. Most 4-year-olds and half of 6-year-olds children who passed the FB test showed difficulty in handling uncertain belief; answering that the puppet would then look for his toy at the current (moved-to) location. Eight-year-old children and adults all recognized that the puppet would look for the toy everywhere, or at random. In Experiment 2, 4- and 6-year-olds were presented two other search tasks; it was shown that preschoolers could use search strategies to solve a similar search problem when FB was not involved. This new aspect of post-FB understanding can be interpreted in terms of limited understanding of uncertainty in a less-knowledgeable individual and of limited ability to infer the consequences of belief-disconfirmation.     

一般流体智力的结构与老化机制--结构方程模型的比较

近年来一般流体智力的认知结构与老化机制已成为认知研究中的一个热点。本研究通过结构方程模型探讨了认知加工速度、工作记忆、注意能力与一般流体智力的联系,结果表明：加工速度、控制性注意是一般流体智力的主要认知成分,工作记忆并非一般流体智力的认知成分,两者之间足共变关系。加入年龄因子的结构方程模型也证实了加工速度和控制性注意是一般流体智力老化的重要中介因子。     

大学生宿舍人际关系与抑郁的关系:宿舍冲突应对方式的中介作用和性别的调节作用

本研究使用宿舍人际关系问卷、抑郁自评量表和宿舍冲突应对方式问卷,采取整群随机抽样的方法,从武汉市三所大学抽取了876名大一至大四的本科生进行调查,旨在考察宿舍冲突应对方式在大学生宿舍人际关系与抑郁之间的中介作用以及性别的调节作用。结果表明：（1）宿舍人际关系与抑郁显著负相关;宿舍冲突应对方式中的竞争、回避与抑郁显著正相关,合作与抑郁显著负相关;（2）竞争与合作在大学生宿舍人际关系与抑郁之间中介效应显著;（3）性别调节了宿舍人际关系通过竞争影响抑郁的中介过程的前半段路径。本研究以宿舍人际关系和宿舍冲突应对方式为切入点考察它们对抑郁的影响机制,这为预防和干预大学生抑郁提供了新的视角。