Seeing the big picture: Broadening attention relieves sadness and depressed mood

We examined whether the broadened attentional scope would affect people's sad or depressed mood with two experiments, enlightened by the meaning of “seeing the big picture” and the broaden‐and‐build model. Experiment 1 (n = 164) is a laboratory‐based experiment, in which we manipulated the attentional scope by showing participants zoomed‐out or zoomed‐in scenes. In Experiment 2 (n = 44), we studied how depressed mood and positive and negative emotions were affected when participants watched distant versus proximal scenes for eight weeks in real life. Healthy participants in Experiment 1, who were induced to feel sad, could return to the baseline mood after having the broadened attention task but not after having the narrowed attention task, which indicated that immediate attention broadening manipulation could function as antidotes for the lingering effects of induced negative emotions. Participants with depressed mood in Experiment 2 showed reduced depressed mood, increased positive affect, and decreased negative affect after receiving attention broadening training compared to those receiving attention narrowing training. Our findings suggest a robust role of broadened attentional scope in relieving negative emotions and even mildly depressed mood in the long run.     

The effect of spatial frequency information and visual similarity in threat detection

In the current research, we sought to examine the role of spatial frequency on the detection of threat using a speeded visual search paradigm. Participants searched for threat-relevant (snakes or spiders) or non-threat-relevant (frogs or cockroaches) targets in an array of neutral (flowers or mushrooms) distracters, and we measured search performance with images filtered to contain different levels (high and low) of spatial frequency information. The results replicate previous work demonstrating more rapid detection of threatening versus non-threatening stimuli [e.g. LoBue, V. & DeLoache, J. S. (2008). Detecting the snake in the grass: Attention to fear-relevant stimuli by adults and young children. Psychological Science, 19, 284–289. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2008.02081.x]. Most importantly, the results suggest that low spatial frequency or relatively coarse levels of visual information is sufficient for the rapid and accurate detection of threatening stimuli. Furthermore, the results also suggest that visual similarity between the stimuli used in the search tasks plays a significant role in speeded detection. The results are discussed in terms of the theoretical implications for the rapid detection of threat and methodological implications for properly accounting for similarity between the stimuli in visual search studies.     

Detection of Threats under Inattentional Blindness and Perceptual Load

Inattentional blindness refers to the failure to detect the salient unexpected stimuli in one’s visual field when performing an attention-demanding task. The present study examined the detection of threats in a static inattentional blindness paradigm. And the detection rates of evolutionary and ontogenetic threats were compared. Participants counted the number of color words from among three (low load) or six (high load) items presented in a circular array. On the last of six trials, an unexpected threatening/neutral illustration was presented in the center of the array along with the task stimuli. Participants detection of the illustration were thus measured and analyzed. The results suggested that: (1) the threatening stimuli, both evolutionary and ontogenetic, were detected more frequently than non-threatening stimuli; (2) the unexpected illustrations were identified more frequently under low-load condition than under high-load condition; (3) even under high-load situation, the threatening illustrations were more frequently identified than neutral ones. Threats are more likely to be detected under inattentional blindness and perceptual load.     

预期想象对拖延的影响:想象过程和想象结果的效应分离

摘要 为了考察预期想象对不同拖延水平个体拖延行为的影响,本研究采用一般拖延量表(General Procrastination Scale)选取高拖延被试和低拖延被试,要求被试在进行模拟现实的拖延任务之前分别对任务过程和任务结果进行预期想象,比较不同拖延水平的被试在预期想象作用下拖延行为的变化。结果表明：(1)在两组被试中,相比于无想象条件下的拖延行为,对任务过程的预期想象增强拖延行为,对任务结果的预期想象削弱拖延行为;(2)对任务不同成分的预期想象所引发的情绪与拖延行为的变化相关显著。这说明情绪和预期想象是影响拖延的重要因素,合理地操纵对任务不同成分的预期想象可以有效干预拖延行为。     

人类胚胎干细胞研究伦理问题的调查和讨论

此次对各级医生进行关于人类胚胎干细胞研究伦理认知的调查研究,其目的是为制订相关的伦理准则提供认知依据,调查是在我国东西部二个城市的8家三级医院进行,采用随机抽样、自愿无记名填写信息表方法调查.调查结果表明,50%以上医生认为早期胚胎不是道德意义的人,70%以上医生对胚胎干细胞的研究表示支持.海峡两岸的医生由于有相同的文化根源,在对待胚胎干细胞研究的伦理观点及态度上极其接近.     

认知主义与联结主义之比较

认知主义的研究定向和联结主义的研究定向是广义的现代认知心理学的两种主要研究范式。这两种研究范式都各有自己的研究内容和方法论,也取得了各自不同的成就,同时也存在各自不同的问题。通过对两种研究范式的比较,我们可以清楚地认识到二者的相互沟通和融合才是认知心理学未来发展的必然趋势。     

社会游戏情境在幼儿遮挡绘画中的作用

该研究以90名4—5岁幼儿为被试,考察了遮挡方式、社会性游戏情境以及年龄对幼儿遮挡绘画的影响,结果表明：(1)幼儿遮挡绘画表征策略的发展不是以“全”或“无”的方式进行的,而是多种策略并存;(2)部分遮挡、完全遮挡这两种遮挡方式的难易程度有很大的差异;(3)设置社会性游戏情境提高了幼儿遮挡绘画的表征策略水平;(4)与年龄相关的成熟水平是影响儿童遮挡绘画表征水平的重要因素。     

中国消费者价格容忍度的特点

运用多维线性模型,对我国消费者对不同产品价格涨落的容忍态度进行了研究。研究对象为26384名购买过各类产品的消费者。结果表明：（1）消费者对不同产品的价格容忍度不同,对日用消费品的价格容忍度较高,对耐用消费品的价格容忍度相对较低;（2）消费者的年龄和受教育程度对价格容忍度有负向的影响,消费者的年龄和受教育程度越高,对产品的价格容忍度越低;（3）男性消费者的价格容忍度高于女性消费者,女性消费者对价格较为敏感。     

“思”与思维着的“我”——笛卡尔和康德自我观的异同

现代哲学的逻辑起点不是独断的外在实体,而是无需前提设定而直接自明给予的自我意识。自我主体问题成为连接笛卡尔和康德的一个核心问题。笛卡尔哲学的起点是我思故我在,康德哲学的核心是先验主体的知性为自然立法。康德通过对笛卡尔自我实体性的批判而把自我逻辑功能化,     

判断杠是断定力的符号吗?——借助胡塞尔的“信念变异”学说澄清弗雷格逻辑学中的一个问题

弗雷格认为,句子的断定力真正展现了逻辑学所关心的"真"。并且与语词"真"的冗余论一致,他认为日常语言中缺少与断定力相应的符号。然而,弗雷格却似乎在他所发明的概念文字中为断定力指派了一个特殊的符号:判断杠。本文试图论证,尽管弗雷格直至学术生涯的最后阶段仍然坚持将判断杠保留在其逻辑语言系统之中,但概念文字中的这一设计并不符合他关于逻辑与真之关系的模糊洞见。在论证的关键一步中,我们将借助于胡塞尔关于"信念变异"的学说来澄清"判断"与"断定"之间被弗雷格所忽视的区别。在此基础上,我们最后将简要地提示出对弗雷格关于逻辑与真之关系的模糊洞见进行解读的方向。