How linguistic and cultural forces shape conceptions of time: English and Mandarin time in 3D

In this paper we examine how English and Mandarin speakers think about time, and we test how the patterns of thinking in the two groups relate to patterns in linguistic and cultural experience. In Mandarin, vertical spatial metaphors are used more frequently to talk about time than they are in English; English relies primarily on horizontal terms. We present results from two tasks comparing English and Mandarin speakers' temporal reasoning. The tasks measure how people spatialize time in three-dimensional space, including the sagittal (front/back), transverse (left/right), and vertical (up/down) axes. Results of Experiment 1 show that people automatically create spatial representations in the course of temporal reasoning, and these implicit spatializations differ in accordance with patterns in language, even in a non-linguistic task. Both groups showed evidence of a left-to-right representation of time, in accordance with writing direction, but only Mandarin speakers showed a vertical top-to-bottom pattern for time (congruent with vertical spatiotemporal metaphors in Mandarin). Results of Experiment 2 confirm and extend these findings, showing that bilinguals' representations of time depend on both long-term and proximal aspects of language experience. Participants who were more proficient in Mandarin were more likely to arrange time vertically (an effect of previous language experience). Further, bilinguals were more likely to arrange time vertically when they were tested in Mandarin than when they were tested in English (an effect of immediate linguistic context).     

学龄前智力落后儿童早期干预的教学研究

本研究旨在通过一项早期教学实验,探索教育智力落后儿童学习的有效方法;描述智力落后儿童的心理特点和行为障碍,找出促进智力落后儿童学月进步的因素,为在我国开展这方面工作积累资料。 北京新运弱智儿童养育院20名2—7岁儿童参加了这项教学实验。经过一年教学、训练,17名儿童进步明显。文中还讨论了三种所用的教学方法的优缺点;语言障碍的特点和有效的教育方法以及3名儿童进步不大的原因。     

独生子与非独生子行为特点的比较研究

本研究有151名三至四岁半的幼儿园儿童参加,其中48名为非独生子,103名为独生子(其中48名为配对独生子)。所用方法为观察、评价和问卷。结果表明:三至四岁半儿童的性格无特异性与两端性。报告也讨论了独生子与非独生子行为和性格无显著差异的原因。此外,作者还提出:不同的环境反馈和儿童行为的有意性,会导致儿童的“双重性格”。     

智力落后的实验研究及普查结果的分析

智力落后,就其本身来说,不是一种综合症,而是许多不同病因导致中枢神经系统受到损伤,表现为大脑功能发生障碍的一种症状。它发生于发育阶段,是以智力低下和社会顺应不良为特征的。 智力落后的患病率在全世界范围都很高,虽然由于社会要求的标准及年龄取样不同而不完全一致。智力落后是当今社会面临的最重要的社会和医学问题之一,许多国家     

Identification of biological neurons using adaptive observers

Change detection performance is influenced by a number of factors, among which is the informativeness of targets. It has not been clarified, yet, whether the highly informative regions have a processing priority as a result of resource deployment from other tasks or whether it results from a better resource management. In this paper, we adopted a change detection paradigm in which thirty participants were randomly assigned to two groups: single (change detection task) and dual task [change detection and a simplified version of the Paced Auditory Serial Oppository Task (PASOT, Gow and Deary in J Clin Exp Neuropsychol 26:723–736, 2004), which implies a verbal effort]. Stimulus informativeness was defined as social relevance, that is, changing targets were people (high relevance) versus objects (low relevance), all other aspects (i.e., salience and position in the scene) kept constant. As hypothesized, data analyses showed a significant main effect of social relevance and task condition, i.e., better change detection performance and lower change detection times for people versus objects and for single than for dual task condition. Interestingly, the PASOT accuracy remained stable across the person versus object trials, thus implying that the better performance with socially relevant targets could not be explained by a resources withdrawal from the secondary task.

中国残疾人就业政策的结构与扩展

残疾人就业受到国际性的普遍关注,其就业水平以及就业政策结构不仅是各国经济发展水平的标志之一,也是各国人权观念的体现.我国自八五期间起便开始系统关注残疾人就业问题,迄今已经形成了相对完整的残疾人就业政策体系.本文在客观描述我国近年来残疾人就业的市场格局与系统概括我国残疾人就业政策结构的基础上,考虑我国和谐社会发展以及残疾人就业的自身特殊性,借鉴国外实践,对我国残疾人就业政策的扩展进行了初步探讨.     

Internet use among Chinese college students: implications for sex education and HIV prevention.

The Internet has gained great popularity among Chinese college students, but studies on Internet use behaviors and their relationship with sexual risk perception and behaviors have been limited. A survey was conducted among 1,845 college students in an eastern province of China, in order to assess the pattern of Internet use among Chinese college students, to examine the relationship of Internet use and HIV knowledge and susceptibility, and to explore the relationship of online risk behaviors with sexual status, sexual intention, and sexual perceptions. Data suggest that many students used the Internet frequently and often spent long hours online. Differences between genders and across grades were observed in the patterns of students' Internet use. Male students reported much higher rates of visiting pornographic websites or engaging in other online risk behaviors. Students' HIV knowledge or susceptibility did not differ by the extent of Internet use, but online risks were positively associated with their sexual status, sexual intention, and sexual perceptions. Students who were sexually active, planned to have sex, or possessed permissive attitudes toward pre-marital sex were more likely to report online risk behaviors such as visiting pornographic sites, cyberbullying, or distributing erotic materials via the Internet. The data underscore the importance to provide students with appropriate guidance on their Internet use, especially for reducing online risks and utilizing Internet as a source for sex education and HIV prevention.     

Similarity as threat: A motivational explanation of self–other similarity judgment asymmetry

People tend to judge others to be more similar to themselves than themselves are to others. This self–other similarity judgment asymmetry was often explained by a cognitive model. However, some findings were inconsistent with this model, implying that there might be complementary processes underlying such asymmetry. Although a motivational explanation has been proposed to account for the asymmetry, little evidence has been accumulated to verify this explanation and differentiate it from the cognitive model. The current research tested both the core assumption of the motivational explanation as well as a hypothesis derived only from it. Results suggest that the perception of oneself as being similar to others was more threatening to people's uniqueness than the perception of others as being similar to oneself. Individuals with high need for uniqueness exhibited greater asymmetry than did individuals with low need. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Predictors of Mental Health Among College Students in Guam: Implications for Counseling

The authors investigated sociodemographic predictors of the mental health status of college students (N = 308) in Guam. Results indicated prevalence rates of 17.8%, 40.2%, and 25.6% for moderate or more severe levels of depression, anxiety, and stress, respectively. Psychological distress was found to be predicted by gender, ethnicity, living arrangement, and academic level. Comparisons with college students in the U.S. mainland and Hong Kong were also examined. Implications for counseling services and strategies are discussed.     

The Influence of Arbitrary Breakpoints on Judgments of Maximum Output

Consumers often wonder about the product's maximum output: the highest rotation speed of a blender or the best printing quality of a printer. We examine how the number of levels (e.g., a blender with 3 vs. 7 speeds) influences judgments of maximum product output. Objectively speaking, the number of levels is no more than a set of breakpoints in an already predetermined continuum from the product's minimum to maximum output. Nevertheless, because of the ubiquitous association between number of breakpoints and quantity in daily life, consumers do not simply view more levels as a signal of greater precision (i.e., giving consumers more control over the possible outputs). They also incorrectly believe that the product has greater power (i.e., a higher maximum output), even when such an inference is in conflict with diagnostic attribute information (e.g., watts). A series of five studies documents the phenomenon, its asymmetric nature, and its boundary conditions. Reliance on the inaccurate “more levels, more power” lay theory weakens when participants consider a reduction rather than an increase in number of levels, and it disappears when the consumer is presented with an explicit relationship between each level and its corresponding output value (e.g., level 4:400 W).