Event‐related potential differences in children supplemented with long‐chain polyunsaturated fatty acids during infancy

Long‐chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LCPUFA) have been shown to be necessary for early retinal and brain development, but long‐term cognitive benefits of LCPUFA in infancy have not been definitively established. The present study sought to determine whether LCPUFA supplementation during the first year of life would result in group differences in behavior and event‐related potentials (ERPs) while performing a task requiring response inhibition (Go/No‐Go) at 5.5 years of age. As newborns, 69 children were randomly assigned to infant formulas containing either no LCPUFA (control) or formula with 0.64% of total fatty acids as arachidonic acid (ARA; 20:4n6) and various concentrations of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA; 22:6n3) (0.32%, 0.64% or 0.96%) for the first 12 months of life. At 5.5 years of age, a task designed to test the ability to inhibit a prepotent response (Go/No‐Go) was administered, yielding both event‐related potentials (ERPs) and behavioral data. Behavioral measures did not differ between groups, although reaction times of supplemented children were marginally faster. Unsupplemented children had lower P2 amplitude than supplemented children to both Go and No‐Go conditions. N2 amplitude was significantly higher on No‐Go trials than Go trials, but only for supplemented children, resulting in a significant Group × Condition interaction. Topographical analysis of the ERPs revealed that the LCPUFA‐supplemented group developed a novel period of synchronous activation (microstate) involving wider anterior brain activation around 200 ms; this microstate was not present in controls. These findings suggest that LCPUFA supplementation during the first 12 months of life exerts a developmental programming effect that is manifest in brain electrophysiology. A video abstract of this article can be viewed at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oM2leg4sevs .     

Effects of a brief video intervention on White university students' racial attitudes

The authors investigated the effects of a brief video intervention on the racial attitudes of White university students. One hundred thirty-eight self-identified White students were randomly assigned to either an experimental condition in which they viewed a video documenting the pervasiveness of institutional racism and White privilege in the United States or a neutral control condition. Findings offer preliminary support that participants in the experimental, but not the control, condition showed significant increases in racial awareness (i.e., decrease in racial color-blindness), White empathy, and White guilt, at posttest. However, no significant differences in racial prejudice or White fear of racial minorities were observed at posttest. Implications for multicultural counseling training, diversity programming, and future research are discussed.     

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.     

和谐社会构建中的心理和谐问题探析

心理和谐是构建社会主义和谐社会的基础和实质,是和谐社会的题中应有之义。心理和谐是人的一种积极向上、健康的人生态度和生存状态,对内协调和对外适应是心理和谐的集中体现。心理和谐主要涉及自我和谐,人际和谐,人与自然和谐以及人与社会和谐四个层面,四个层面相互影响、相互制约。心理和谐是一个持续变化的动态过程,是一种相对的理想状态,心理和谐是心理健康的本质特征;主观幸福感是心理和谐的重要心理指标。     

文本阅读理解中精加工推理及错误记忆探讨

以说明文为阅读文本,通过使用累计窗口技术、自定步调的阅读时间法和句子核证法,结合一般世界知识的激活考察了文本阅读理解中精加工推理和错误记忆现象。实验1结果表明,被试在文本阅读理解中产生了精加工推理,内涵推理成绩显著高于外延推理;与文本信息密切相关的一般世界知识容易被激活。实验2结果表明,文本阅读中存在错误记忆现象;错误记忆随着一般世界知识与原文关联程度增强而增加。结论文本阅读理解中存在精加工推理和错误记忆现象,二者均与一般世界知识的激活有关;文本阅读中的错误记忆与DRM范式（Deese-Roediger-McDermott paradigm）中的错误记忆一样具有顽固性。     

自我认知类型引导认知方式的实验研究

对自我的认知引导认知和行为。本研究用与自我有关的语义内容启动场独立型和场依存型自我认知,随即让被试做与场独立或场依存认知方式有关的认知作业,探讨自我认知类型是否引导认知方式,即启动场独立自我认知是否比启动场依存自我认知诱发更多场独立的认知方式;同样,启动场依存自我认知是否比启动场独立自我认知诱发更多的场依存的认知方式。结果是肯定的。     

亚里士多德的技艺概念:图景与问题

一技艺、技术、艺术与同时代的许多其他希腊哲学家一样,亚里士多德理解的同技术有关的概念是技艺(t′εχνη),这个概念包含着技术与艺术,两者在其中未加分别。他的这种理解方式来自柏拉图。柏拉图把工匠的制作活动和诗文、绘画的创作活动都作为运用技艺的活动来谈论。对柏拉图来说,理解技艺的重要之点在于,它是一种善,一种能力,但不是自然给予人的装备,而是人通过经验的学习获得的能力;因此也不是人人均享的,而是只为一部分人具有的;同时,运用这种能力的活动同理论的活动和实践的活动都不同。亚里士多德的讨论在这个基础上特别加深了对运…     

决策中的延迟选择行为

延迟选择(choice deferral)指个体在应该作出选择的时候却决定不作选择,包括推迟选择(如选择延迟选项)或拒绝在可选项中选择一个选项。本文首先探讨了影响延迟选择行为的认知因素和情绪因素;随后讨论了当在决策情景中引入延迟选项时,延迟选项对决策者随后情绪体验和决策行为的影响;最后对未来研究进行了展望。     

Doing business: an obscure notion of the ethics of public associations in ordinary Chinese

Along with the notion of being a person (zero run 做人), the notion of doing business (zuo shi 做事) in ordinary Chinese is basically an over-all notion of the norms in the practical and associative activities, carrying typically obscure meanings on practice and association affairs in some external world. Ordinary Chinese not only distinguishes these two notions but also defines a dictionary order of them, with the affairs of the internal world prior to those of the external. The fact that the notion of doing business refers to business (shi 事) rather than person (ren 人) makes this order clear at a deeper level. It shows that this notion regards the practical affairs of the external world less important to the person itself than those of the internal. Except for these qualities, the notion of doing business holds some normative meanings, although contains no definite rules. These meanings indirectly relate to the notion of person that people form in their private associations and emerge as some mixture with a tactical attitude out of the need of earning a life. The notion of person gives birth to some obscure requirements, for instance, the requirement of ‘doing business in accordance with your conscience’ and that of ‘doing business seriously’. The core world of family is marginalized in the public transition of associations. There are reasons to anticipate that in this process the notion of doing business will undergo more radical changes than that of being a person. __________ Translated from Zhexue Yanjiu 哲学研究 (Philosophical Studies), 2005 (7)     

自闭症谱系障碍者的视运动知觉

视运动知觉是人脑对外界物体的运动特性的知觉。视运动知觉异常是自闭症谱系障碍者的一种常见表现, 其检测光流、二阶运动、协同性运动、生物运动及运动速度的能力异于健康控制组, 且过度迷恋重复性运动物体。该群体视运动知觉异常的原因探析集中于背侧/M细胞通路特定假设、复杂性假设、神经噪声假设、经验缺失假设、时空加工异常假设、极端男性脑理论和社会脑假设。但到目前为止, 尚缺乏一个统一准确的、可验证的解释。未来研究应注重考察自闭症者视运动知觉异常的个体差异和神经生理机制, 进一步整合和验证解释理论, 并着眼开发有效的视运动知觉测评工具和干预策略