How Speech Modifies Visual Attention

Auditory distractions can have serious consequences in critical situations such as driving. Mobile phones, radios, media players, and information devices that interpret and produce speech are increasingly common in vehicles, but the threats to visual attention are not yet fully understood. In three experiments, we found that most speech tasks had relatively small adverse effects on the detection of a briefly presented target among distractors across a 60° subarea of the visual field. Although there was a little impact on detectability, moderately difficult speech tasks slowed responding relative to silence. Our most demanding condition—generating and speaking a word beginning with the last letter of another word—had the greatest effects on accuracy and latency, with responding slowed by about 900 ms. An impairment of this magnitude presents a significant threat to safe driving and calls into question the belief that hands‐free voice‐controlled devices are the answer to the problem of driver distraction. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Core Knowledge Employee Creativity and Firm Performance: The Moderating Role of Riskiness Orientation,Firm Size,and Realized Absorptive Capacity

In this study, we examine when creativity is positively or negatively related to firm performance. Building on the creation–implementation tension theorized in the literature and the attention capacity perspective, we argue that the relationship between creativity and firm performance is contingent on riskiness orientation, firm size, and realized absorptive capacity. Data were collected from 761 core knowledge employees, 148 CEOs, and 148 HR executives from 148 high‐technology firms. The results indicated that core knowledge employee creativity was negatively related to firm performance when riskiness orientation was high. The relationship was positive when realized absorptive capacity was high. Finally, the relationship was more positive in small firms than in large firms. We discuss the implications of our findings for creativity research and managerial practices.     

Prevalence and associated factors of poly‐victimization in Chinese adolescents

Multiple types of victimization or poly‐victimization (PV) can occur simultaneously during childhood, resulting in outcomes that are detrimental and difficult to reverse. Very few studies have focused on PV in Chinese adolescents. The present study is based on information collected from a stratified cluster sample of 1,561 females and 1,594 males aged 12–18 years living in Shandong Province, China. A self‐administered questionnaire was used to assess background information, the Juvenile Victimization Questionnaire was used to measure the extent of victimization and PV, the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders was used to measure anxiety levels, and a Depression Self‐rating Scale for Children was used to ascertain depression. A majority of the study sample (66.2%) had experienced at least one form of victimization over the past year. Prevalence of PV was 16.9%, and was significantly higher among males (21.1%) than females (12.5%). Younger ages, one‐child families, and lower socioeconomic status were positively associated with PV. Logistic regression analysis indicated that smoking, alcohol consumption, exposure to pornography, and anxiety‐ and depression‐like symptoms were risk factors of PV. Results of this study highlight the need for further exploration of factors related to the PV of Chinese adolescents.     

Exposure to violence reduces empathetic responses to other’s pain

Past researches showed that empathy for pain not only triggers a resonance mechanism between other and self, but also is modulated by contextual factors. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, the present study demonstrated that short-term media violence exposure reduced both pain ratings and also the activation of anterior insula and anterior mid-cingulate cortex to other’s pain. Thus, violence exposure modulated empathic responses to other’s pain based on a physiological desensitization.     

汉语学龄前儿童正字法意识的发展

本研究选择北京地区幼儿园3岁、4岁、5岁儿童各31、48、33名, 采用单部件意识测验和部件位置及功能意识测验系统探查了学龄前儿童的正字法意识各个层面的发展状况。单部件意识测验包括部件替换、部件缺失和部件旋转三个部分; 部件位置及功能意识测验分为假字和非字两个部分, 而非字又包括两形非字和形声非字。结果发现单部件意识测验中, 5岁组儿童在部件替换水平上的得分显著高于3岁组儿童, 而3岁组与4岁组、4岁组与5岁组儿童之间无显著差异; 部件缺失和部件旋转水平上, 三个年龄段的儿童的得分表现出明显的增长趋势。部件位置及功能意识测验中, 假字得分在三个年龄段之间无显著差异; 非字得分随年龄增长显著提高。这些结果表明, 单部件意识在学前期处于不断发展的阶段, 其中对部件替换的非字的拒绝能力发展较早, 部件缺失和部件旋转非字的拒绝能力发展较晚; 部件位置及功能意识在学前期已经开始发展, 3岁儿童已经具有假字符合正字法规则的认识, 但对非字违反部件位置合法性和功能完整性的认识直到4岁左右才开始萌芽, 5岁还未成熟。     

真实火灾和模拟火灾情境下小鼠的逃生决策比较*

探讨并比较真实火灾和模拟火灾情境下小鼠是否采用直觉性逃生决策。研究包括一个预备训练和两个主实验。预备训练的目的：首先训练小鼠获得有关迷宫路线及出口的经验,然后再经过遗忘处理使它们遗忘相关经验。两个主实验均采用3(情境：真实火灾,模拟火灾,普通情境)×2(记忆：遗忘前和遗忘后)混合实验设计,因变量均为逃生决策。实验组被试为72只经过训练的小鼠,控制组为24只未经过训练的小鼠。通过考察小鼠在不同情境和不同记忆条件下的逃生时间和对逃生出口的选择探测并比较真实火灾和模拟火灾情境下小鼠的逃生决策差异。主要结果：(1)实验组在真实火灾情境下的逃生时间无论遗忘前后都明显比模拟火灾情境下短;(2)实验组在真实火灾和模拟火灾情境下的逃生时间都明显比控制组短;(3)当熟悉和陌生出口均开启同时熟悉出口处有烟雾条件下,真实火灾组在遗忘前后均倾向于选择熟悉出口逃生,其他两组则倾向于选择陌生出口离开。结论：真实火灾和模拟火灾情境下小鼠的逃生决策存在明显差异：真实火灾情境下受过训练的小鼠倾向于直觉性逃生决策;模拟火灾情境下受过训练的小鼠不倾向于直觉性逃生决策。     

Interactions between interfacial dislocations and γ/γ′ interface during high temperature – low stress creep in nickel-based single crystal superalloy

ABSTRACT

The interaction between interfacial dislocations and γ/γ′ interface is critical to the high temperature creep properties of single crystal superalloys. However, only a few studies have paid attention to the detailed structure such as local interfacial morphologies and the elemental distribution around interfacial dislocations. In this paper, the interfacial protrusions and related dislocations in a single crystal superalloy after creep at high temperature – low stress have been investigated in detail. It is found that the morphology and size of the interfacial protrusions remain almost the same during the early and middle stages of high temperature creep, which indicates a local equilibrium at the interfacial protrusions. Steps at different height are formed at the γ/γ′ interface at the initial stage of high temperature creep since dislocations could move along the γ/γ′ interface, which indicates that dislocation motion at different creep stage may affect the morphology of γ/γ′ interface.     

Locating dysprosium dopant atoms in the Bi2Sr2CaCu2Oy unit cell: Direct-space chemical crystallography

The position of Dy in the unit cell of Bi2Sr2CaCu2Oy has been determined by a real-space method. This is compared with the reciprocal-space atom location by channelling-enhanced microanalysis (ALCHEMI) method.     

Dependence of normal contact stress on the surface morphology of solid surfaces

Contact problems between two solids are essential to interpret the loading-unloading behaviour in indentation tests. Using linear elastic theory, a general relationship between the normal stress and the surface deformation for elastic contact of two solids was derived, in which the normal stress is a function of the mean curvature of the undeformed surface.     

Mapping the time course of the positive classification advantage: An ERP study

The aim of the present study was to investigate the time course of the positive advantage in the expression classification of faces by recording event-related potentials (ERPs). Although neutral faces were classified more quickly than either happy or sad faces, a significant positive classification advantage (PCA)—that is, faster classification for happy than for sad faces—was found. For ERP data, as compared with sad faces, happy faces elicited a smaller N170 and a larger posterior N2 component. The P3 was modulated by facial expressions with higher amplitudes and shorter latencies for both happy and neutral stimuli than for sad stimuli, and the reaction times were significantly correlated with the amplitude and latency of the P3. Overall, these data showed robust PCA in expression classification, starting when the stimulus has been recognized as a face revealed by the N170 component.