Non-target language processing in Chinese-English bilinguals: a study of event-related potential

The event-related brain potential (ERP) technique was used to investigate the neural mechanism of non-target language processing in Chinese-English bilinguals. Participants were presented with a mixed list of Chinese and English words and required to make conceptual decisions for words in one language and ignore words in the other non-target language. Regardless of whether the nontarget word was in Chinese or English, the ERPs they elicited were modulated by word frequency, suggesting that their meaning had been accessed. The N400 peak was delayed in the English as the non-target language condition, probably because participants were less proficient in English. The results suggest that the non-target language can be processed during conceptual tasks with participants' proficiency in this language being a critical factor.     

Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis of a short-form of the EMBU among Chinese adolescents

The present study used a sample of Chinese adolescents and validated a short-form of the Egna Minnen Betr?ffande Uppfostran: One's Memories of Upbringing (s-EMBU) assessing perceived parental rearing styles. A Chinese revision of the s-EMBU by the authors was administered to a total of 779 high school students, ages 11 to 19 years. Exploratory factor analysis with half of the sample yielded a three-factor solution of Rejection, Emotional Warmth, and Overprotection, accounting for 47.1% of the total variance onthe father form and 48.8% of the total variance on the mother form. Then, confirmatory factor analysis indicated a good fit of the three-factor model to the data in the other half of the sample. The three subscales consisted of 6, 6, and 7 items, respectively. Scores on these subscales had Cronbach alphas ranging from .71 to .81, indicating adequate internal consistency. These psychometric properties suggest its applicability for research with Chinese adolescents.     

Self-esteem modulates attentional responses to rejection: Evidence from event-related brain potentials

Individuals with low self-esteem have been shown to exhibit an attentional bias for social rejection cues. The present study investigated whether individuals with low self-esteem would demonstrate greater reactivity to rejection-related stimuli during an attention shifting task than was exhibited by those with high self-esteem. Individuals with low self-esteem showed higher amplitude event-related potentials (ERPs) in response to rejection cues than was observed for those with high self-esteem. These results suggest that individuals with low self-esteem allocate more attentional resources to rejection cues than those with high self-esteem. Discussion will focus on the implications of these findings for understanding the connection between low self-esteem and social rejection.     

Neural correlates of audiovisual integration of semantic category information

Previous studies have found a late frontal-central audiovisual interaction during the time period about 150-220 ms post-stimulus. However, it is unclear to which process is this audiovisual interaction related: to processing of acoustical features or to classification of stimuli? To investigate this question, event-related potentials were recorded during a words-categorization task with stimuli presented in the auditory-visual modality. In the experiment, congruency of the visual and auditory stimuli was manipulated. Results showed that within the window of about 180-210 ms post-stimulus more positive values were elicited by category-congruent audiovisual stimuli than category-incongruent audiovisual stimuli. This indicates that the late frontal-central audiovisual interaction is related to audiovisual integration of semantic category information.     

Age effects on rotational hand action

We investigated age-related differences in finger coordination during rotational hand actions. Two hypotheses based on earlier studies were tested: higher safety margins and lower synergy indices were expected in the elderly. Young and elderly subjects held a handle instrumented with five six-component force sensors and performed discrete accurate pronation and supination movements. The weight of the system was counterbalanced with another load. Indices of synergies stabilizing salient performance variables, such as total normal force, total tangential force, moments produced by these forces, and total moment of force were computed at two levels of a hypothetical control hierarchy, at the virtual finger-thumb level and at the individual finger level. At each level, synergy indices reflected the normalized difference between the sum of the variances of elemental variables and variance of their combined output, both computed at comparable phases over repetitive trials. The elderly group performed the task slower and showed lower safety margins for the thumb during the rotation phase. Overall, the synergy indices were not lower in the elderly group. In several cases, these indices were significantly higher in the elderly than in the younger participants. Hence, both main hypotheses have been falsified. We interpret the unexpectedly low safety margins in the elderly as resulting from several factors such as increased force variability, impaired feed-forward control, and the fact that there was no danger of dropping the object. Our results suggest that in some natural tasks, such as the one used in this study, healthy elderly persons show no impairment, as compared to younger persons, in their ability to organize digits into synergies stabilizing salient performance variables.     

The relation of self-supporting personality, enacted social support, and perceived social support

This study examines the relational model of self-supporting personality, enacted social support, and perceived social support in a sample of 482 Chinese high school students using the Self-Supporting Personality Scale for Adolescent Students (SSPS-AS), the Social Support Rating Scale (SSRS), and the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS). Results from the cross-sectional structural equation analyses revealed that interpersonal initiative, interpersonal openness, personal openness and personal initiative predicted perceived social support through the mediating role of enacted social support, while interpersonal responsibility, interpersonal flexibility, and personal initiative predicted perceived social support directly. Thus, the hypothesized relational model of personality, enacted social support, and perceived social support was supported. The positive relational schema may be the main underpinning of the relation of self-supporting personality, enacted social support, and perceived social support. Culture also may influence the relation.     

Perspective-taking and depth of theory-of-mind reasoning in sequential-move games

Theory-of-mind (ToM) involves modeling an individual's mental states to plan one's action and to anticipate others' actions through recursive reasoning that may be myopic (with limited recursion) or predictive (with full recursion). ToM recursion was examined using a series of two-player, sequential-move matrix games with a maximum of three steps. Participants were assigned the role of Player I, controlling the initial and the last step, or of Player II, controlling the second step. Appropriate for the assigned role, participants either anticipated or planned Player II's strategy at the second step, and then determined Player I's optimal strategy at the first step. Participants more readily used predictive reasoning as Player II (i.e., planning one's own move) than as Player I (i.e., anticipating an opponent's move), although they did not differ when translating reasoning outcome about the second step to optimal action in the first step. Perspective-taking influenced likelihood of predictive reasoning, but it did not affect the rate at which participants acquired it during the experimental block. We conclude that the depth of ToM recursion (related to perspective-taking mechanisms) and rational application of belief-desire to action (instrumental rationality) constitute separate cognitive processes in ToM reasoning.     

A Sandwich-Type Standard Error Estimator of SEM Models with Multivariate Time Series

Structural equation models are increasingly used as a modeling tool for multivariate time series data in the social and behavioral sciences. Standard error estimators of SEM models, originally developed for independent data, require modifications to accommodate the fact that time series data are inherently dependent. In this article, we extend a sandwich-type standard error estimator of independent data to multivariate time series data. One required element of this estimator is the asymptotic covariance matrix of concurrent and lagged correlations among manifest variables, whose closed-form expression has not been presented in the literature. The performance of the adapted sandwich-type standard error estimator is evaluated using a simulation study and further illustrated using an empirical example.     

The impact of associative strength on performance in goal pursuit

The present research explored the hypothesis that strengthened attainment means–goal association leads to enhanced performance in goal pursuit. We hypothesize that because of the instrumental nature of means–goal association, strengthened associative strength leads to greater instrumentality expectancy of the means, which elicits greater motivation in the pursuit and hence better actual performance. We demonstrated in four studies that when the means is believed to facilitate goal attainment, a strong (vs. weak) means–goal association leads to greater performance in goal pursuit. Conversely, when the means is perceived to undermine goal attainment, a strong (vs. weak) association results in worse performance in goal pursuit.