Positive emotion modulates cognitive control: An event‐related potentials study

There is substantial evidence to indicate that negative emotion can modulate cognitive control processing. However, only a few studies have investigated this effect with positive emotion. Therefore, the present study explored the electrophysiological correlates of the impact of positive emotional stimuli on cognitive control, using event‐related potentials (ERPs). Sixteen healthy young adults completed a modified Simon task (Simon, 1969). Behavioral data indicated that reaction times were faster for positive emotional stimuli than for neutral emotional stimuli in the incongruent condition, but not in the congruent condition, which suggested that positive emotion expedited conflict resolution. The ERP data showed that two negative ERP components (N300–400 and N450–550) were associated with the positive emotional stimuli in the incongruent minus congruent condition. It is suggested that these components may respectively be related to the conflict monitoring (N300–400) and response selection (N450–550) stages of cognitive control processing. Overall, our results indicated that positive emotion could facilitate cognitive control processing. These results are in line with the neuropsychological theory, according to which, positive emotion could modulate cognitive control mediated by increased dopamine levels in frontal brain areas.     

不同列队呈现方式下反馈对目击证人辨认自信心的影响

采用辨认后反馈范式研究不同队列呈现方式下反馈对目击证人辨认自信心的影响。结果发现：（1）所有辨认者中,反馈组被试自信心显著高于控制组被试的自信心;反馈方式与辨认选择的交互作用显著,辨认选择与列队呈现方式的交互作用显著;（2）积极辨认者中,反馈组被试的自信心显著高于控制组被试的自信心;正确辨认被试的自信心显著高于错误辨认被试的自信心。结果表明：目击辨认中存在辨认后反馈效应;积极辨认者中辨认自信心可以作为辨认准确性的一个参考指标。     

Gender Differences in Coping Styles of Chinese Military Officers Undergoing Intensive Training

This study investigated gender differences in anxiety and coping styles under the stress of intense military training. We surveyed Chinese female (n = 470) and male (n = 379) military officers who were surveyed during the third month of a 10-month intensive training program. Results indicated that state and trait anxiety were highly correlated in both women and men. In general, female officers had higher levels of anxiety, greater negative coping tendencies, and less perceived self-efficacy than their male counterparts. When compared with the norm, both women and men had significantly more positive coping strategies. A hierarchical multiple regression analysis showed factors that influenced male and female state anxiety. Avoidance, which was chosen by women more often than men, in general was less useful for female officers. The most common positive coping style for female officers was problem solving, whereas for men it was help seeking. We suggested that even female officers with lower mental health levels than their male counterparts made active cognitive changes to their coping styles when undergoing intense military training.     

Dislocations in Bi-Pb-Sr-Ca-Cu-O superconductors

Abstract

Dislocations and dislocation networks in superconducting Bi-Pb-Sr-Ca-Cu-O have been observed by means of TEM, confirming that this compound is a layer structure with low stacking fault energy. On the basal plane, dislocations and dislocation networks dissociate into partial dislocations and partial dislocation networks. However, the dissociation of [010] dislocations is hardly observed, which is related to the structural characteristics of the compound.     

Scanning electron microscopy-electron channelling contrast investigation of recrystallization during cyclic deformation of ultrafine grained copper processed by equal channel angular pressing

Cyclic deformation has been performed at ambient temperature on ultrafine-grained copper processed by equal channel angular pressing. Observations by electron channelling contrast in a scanning electron microscope revealed that pronounced recrystallization occurred and several distinct dislocation configurations such as dislocation walls and labyrinth structures were found within the recrystallized regions. A model is proposed to account for the evolution of recrystallization, emphasizing that its development results from an interaction between the cyclic deformation and the growth of recrystallized regions. The formation of recrystallized regions of different sizes is discussed.     

Structural phase transitions in epitaxial SrRuO3 thin films

The microstructural evolution of epitaxial SrRuO₃ thin films from ambient temperature (about 293K) to about 900K has been studied by in-situ transmission electron microscopy. Upon heating from the ambient temperature, the intensities of h, k, 2n+1 and h, -h+2n+1, 0 reflections in selected-area electron diffraction patterns decrease with increasing temperature. Two structural phase transitions were observed at about 673and about 783K, revealed by the vanishing of the h, k, 2n+1 and h,-h+2n+1, 0 reflections respectively. The examination of electron diffraction patterns along several different zone axes, taking into account the possible tilting configurations of RuO₆ octahedra, indicates that, upon heating, the orthorhombic structure of SrRuO₃ transforms into a tetragonal structure at about 673K, and further transforms into a cubic structure at about 783K. Possible structural models for the high-temperature phases are considered.     

表达形式影响自我积极偏向的表现:来自P200的证据

该研究运用事件相关电位技术,采用肯定和否定的表达方式呈现自我参照任务,探讨不同表达方式对自我积极偏向效应的影响。实验一中,行为数据显示,自我积极偏向效应表现的并不完整;ERP数据显示,P200波幅的结果与行为数据结果相一致。实验二中,行为数据显示,自我积极偏向效应表现得完整;ERP数据显示,P200成分上并未产生任何实验效应。综合两个实验结果,证明了不同表达方式对自我积极偏向效应的表现存在影响。导致这种差异的根本原因可能在于两种表达方式造成的注意资源不同。     

Unconsciously learning task-irrelevant perceptual sequences

We demonstrated unconscious learning of task-irrelevant perceptual regularities in a Serial Reaction Time (SRT) task in both visual and auditory domains. Participants were required to respond to different letters (‘F’ or ‘J’, experiment 1) or syllables (‘can’ or ‘you’, experiment 2) which occurred in random order. Unbeknownst to participants, the color (red, green, blue or yellow) of the two letters or the tone (1–4) of the syllables varied according to certain rules. Reaction times indicated that people indeed learnt both the color and tonal regularities indicating that task-irrelevant sequence structure can be learned perceptually. In a subsequent prediction test of knowledge of the color or tonal cues using subjective measures, we showed that people could acquire task irrelevant knowledge unconsciously.     

The nature of the memory buffer in implicit learning: Learning Chinese tonal symmetries

Previous research has established that people can implicitly learn chunks, which (in terms of formal language theory) do not require a memory buffer to process. The present study explores the implicit learning of nonlocal dependencies generated by higher than finite-state grammars, specifically, Chinese tonal retrogrades (i.e. centre embeddings generated from a context-free grammar) and inversions (i.e. cross-serial dependencies generated from a mildly context-sensitive grammar), which do require buffers (for example, last in-first out and first in-first out, respectively). People were asked to listen to and memorize artificial poetry instantiating one of the two grammars; after this training phase, people were informed of the existence of rules and asked to classify new poems, while providing attributions of the basis of their judgments. People acquired unconscious structural knowledge of both tonal retrogrades and inversions. Moreover, inversions were implicitly learnt more easily than retrogrades constraining the nature of the memory buffer in computational models of implicit learning.