Delayed auditory feedback and movement

It is well known that timing of rhythm production is disrupted by delayed auditory feedback (DAF), and that disruption varies with delay length. We tested the hypothesis that disruption depends on the state of the movement trajectory at the onset of DAF. Participants tapped isochronous rhythms at a rate specified by a metronome while hearing DAF (for piano tones) of differing lengths. Motion capture was used to analyze movement trajectories. Mean Inter-Response Intervals (IRIs) varied as an approximately sinusoidal function of feedback condition, with DAF causing slowed production for shorter delays and speeded production for faster delays. Motion capture analyses revealed that finger velocity at the time of DAF predicted the effect of DAF on mean IRI whereas finger position predicted the variability of IRIs. A second experiment in which participants were instructed to vary the timing of peak finger height confirmed that the effect of DAF on timing variability is directly influenced by the finger trajectory.     

Children's self‐reports and parents' reports of internalising and externalising problems in Chinese and Anglo‐Celtic children in Australia

The Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL) and Youth Self‐Report (YSR) are widely used measures of internalising and externalising problems in children and adolescents, but cross‐cultural differences in these problems have not been examined in Australian children of Chinese and Anglo‐Celtic ancestry. Fifty‐nine Chinese (27 boys and 32 girls) and 65 Anglo‐Celtic Australian (35 boys and 30 girls) children aged 10–13 years completed the YSR, and one of their parents completed the CBCL. Cross‐informant agreement between these two measures was also examined. No differences were found between the Chinese and Anglo‐Celtic groups on parents' and children's ratings on any syndrome or overall scales. The overall level of agreement between YSR and CBCL scores was poor in the Anglo‐Celtic group (intraclass correlation coefficient for total problems = 0.33), but there was no agreement between these scores in the Chinese group. Results highlight the need to obtain multiple sources of information in assessments of mental health problems in children from different cultural backgrounds.     

The role of pitch and temporal diversity in the perception and production of musical sequences

In two experiments we explored how the dimensions of pitch and time contribute to the perception and production of musical sequences. We tested how dimensional diversity (the number of unique categories in each dimension) affects how pitch and time combine. In Experiment 1, 18 musically trained participants rated the complexity of sequences varying only in their diversity in pitch or time; a separate group of 18 pianists reproduced these sequences after listening to them without practice. Overall, sequences with more diversity were perceived as more complex, but pitch diversity influenced ratings more strongly than temporal diversity. Further, although participants perceived sequences with high levels of pitch diversity as more complex, errors were more common in the sequences with higher diversity in time. Sequences in Experiment 2 exhibited diversity in both pitch and time; diversity levels were a subset of those tested in Experiment 1. Again diversity affected complexity ratings and errors, but there were no statistical interactions between dimensions. Nonetheless, pitch diversity was the primary factor in determining perceived complexity, and again temporal errors occurred more often than pitch errors. Additionally, diversity in one dimension influenced error rates in the other dimension in that both error types were more frequent relative to Experiment 1. These results suggest that although pitch and time do not interact directly, they are nevertheless not processed in an informationally encapsulated manner. The findings also align with a dimensional salience hypothesis, in which pitch is prioritised in the processing of typical Western musical sequences.     

Advisory working alliance, perceived English proficiency, and acculturative stress

The aim of this study was to examine the moderators of (a) general or cross-cultural advisory working alliances and (b) perceived English proficiency on the association between acculturative stress and psychological distress. A total of 143 East Asian international students completed an online survey. Results from a hierarchical regression indicated significant three-way interactions of (a) General Advisory Working Alliances × Perceived English Proficiency × Acculturative Stress on Psychological Distress and (b) Cross-Cultural Advisory Working Alliances × Perceived English Proficiency × Acculturative Stress on Psychological Distress. Specifically, the present results indicated that acculturative stress was significantly associated with psychological distress only when students perceived lower English proficiency and had a stronger general or cross-cultural advisory working alliance. However, acculturative stress was not significantly related to psychological distress when these students perceived lower English proficiency and had a weaker advisory working alliance (i.e., general or cross-cultural). In addition, acculturative stress was also not significantly related to psychological distress when these students perceived higher English proficiency and had a stronger or weaker advisory working alliance (i.e., general or cross-cultural).     

Spirituality and Religiosity in Urban Adolescents with Asthma

Predictors of multiple dimensions of spirituality/religiosity (S/R) and adolescents’ preferences for having S/R (e.g., prayer) addressed in hypothetical medical settings were assessed in a sample of urban adolescents with asthma. Of the 151 adolescents (mean age = 15.8, 60% female, 85% African-American), 81% said that they were religious and spiritual, 58% attended religious services in the past month, and 49% prayed daily. In multivariable models, African-American race/ethnicity and having a religious preference were associated with higher levels of S/R (R ² = 0.07–0.25, P < .05). Adolescents’ preferences for including S/R in the medical setting increased with the severity of the clinical situation (P < .05).     

Do girls and boys perceive themselves as equally engaged in school? The results of an international study from 12 countries

This study examined gender differences in student engagement and academic performance in school. Participants included 3420 students (7th, 8th, and 9th graders) from Austria, Canada, China, Cyprus, Estonia, Greece, Malta, Portugal, Romania, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The results indicated that, compared to boys, girls reported higher levels of engagement in school and were rated higher by their teachers in academic performance. Student engagement accounted for gender differences in academic performance, but gender did not moderate the associations among student engagement, academic performance, or contextual supports. Analysis of multiple-group structural equation modeling revealed that perceptions of teacher support and parent support, but not peer support, were related indirectly to academic performance through student engagement. This partial mediation model was invariant across gender. The findings from this study enhance the understanding about the contextual and personal factors associated with girls' and boys' academic performance around the world.     

Social presence and service satisfaction: The moderating role of cultural value‐orientation

Two studies examine the role of the cultural value orientation, self‐construal, as a moderator of the relationship between social presence and service satisfaction. Cross‐cultural data are collected in China and the USA to maximize variation on self‐construal. Results suggest that social presence effects vary depending on the consumer's independent self‐construal. Regardless of whether the service encounter is positive or negative, social presence increases the strength of satisfaction or dissatisfaction for low independents but not for high independents. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Spatial orienting in the visual field: a unified perceptual space?

Visual attention can be oriented toward a spatial location in the visual field exogenously by an abrupt onset of a peripheral cue. In a series of behavioral studies on exogenous orienting of attention with a double-cue paradigm, we demonstrated a functional subdivision of perceptual space in the visual field. Specifically, inhibition of return (IOR) is much stronger at periphery relative to perifoveal visual field up to approximately 15° eccentricity, suggesting two dissociable functional areas in the visual field. To further investigate the generality of this functional subdivision of the visual field, we measured IOR effects with another single-cue paradigm and applied a very short cue-target interval that was typically anticipated not to observe any inhibitory effect at all. Consistent with this expectation, no IOR effects at the eccentricities up to 15° were observed. However, significant IOR effects beyond 15° eccentricities were consistently demonstrated. These results not only revealed an early onset of IOR for more peripheral stimuli, but also confirmed that the perceptual space in the visual field is not homogeneous but underlies a functional subdivision with a border of ca. 15° eccentricity.     

The wisdom of the crowd in combinatorial problems

The "wisdom of the crowd" phenomenon refers to the finding that the aggregate of a set of proposed solutions from a group of individuals performs better than the majority of individual solutions. Most often, wisdom of the crowd effects have been investigated for problems that require single numerical estimates. We investigate whether the effect can also be observed for problems where the answer requires the coordination of multiple pieces of information. We focus on combinatorial problems such as the planar Euclidean traveling salesperson problem, minimum spanning tree problem, and a spanning tree memory task. We develop aggregation methods that combine common solution fragments into a global solution and demonstrate that these aggregate solutions outperform the majority of individual solutions. These case studies suggest that the wisdom of the crowd phenomenon might be broadly applicable to problem-solving and decision-making situations that go beyond the estimation of single numbers.     

人学的自觉与哲学研究范式的转换——读《马克思主义人学与当代中国》丛书

<正>如何评价改革开放以来中国哲学的发展,特别是马克思主义哲学研究的创新,一直是学术界争论的问题。至今还有人认为,在市场经济的大潮中,中国的哲学研究更加"边缘化",没有取得太多的进展。我个人则一直倾向于认为,改革开放以来,中国的哲学研究取得了很大的进展,并且这一发展