Acceptance and values-based action in chronic pain: a three-year follow-up analysis of treatment effectiveness and process

Recent developments in CBT emphasize the promotion of psychological flexibility to improve daily functioning for people with a wide range of health conditions. In particular, one of these approaches, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), has been studied for treatment of chronic pain. While trials have provided good support for treatment effectiveness through follow-ups of as long as seven months, the longer-term impact is not known. The present study of 108 participants with chronic pain examined outcomes three years after treatment completion and included analyses of two key treatment processes, acceptance of pain and values-based action. Overall, results indicated significant improvements in emotional and physical functioning relative to the start of treatment, as well as good maintenance of treatment gains relative to an earlier follow-up assessment. Effect size statistics were generally medium or large. At the three-year follow-up, 64.8% of patients had reliably improved in at least one key domain. Improvements in acceptance of pain and values-based action were associated with improvements in outcome measures. A “treatment responder” analysis, using variables collected at pre-treatment and shorter term follow-up, failed to identify any salient predictors of response. This study adds to the growing literature supporting the effectiveness of ACT for chronic pain and yields evidence for both statistical and clinical significance of improvements over a three-year period.     

意义的非事实论与规范性——规则遵循问题的语义分析

规则遵循悖论(the rule-following paradox)及其相关问题源于维特根斯坦的《哲学研究》,它是后期维特根斯坦论述语言的运用及其意义方面的一个重要议题。克里普克在《维特根斯坦论规则和私人语言》中对该问题进行了系统阐释并提出了怀疑论解决方案。在这一解决方案中,他暂且接受意义归因中语义事实的缺失和怀疑论论证的结论,同时拒绝扩展这种论证而导致彻底的意义怀疑论。     

高低行为激活系统个体在赌博任务下的决策模式

为考察不同行为激活系统/行为抑制系统下的个体在Iowa赌博任务反应模式下的决策行为,本研究采用人格问卷与行为实验相结合的方式,探讨了人格、冲动和行为决策间的关系。结果发现:(1)行为激活系统三个维度与行为决策存在显著负相关,行为激活系统低分组的IGT得分较高,行为激活系统高分组的IGT得分较低,而冲动特征与IGT得分相关不显著;(2)行为激活系统高、低分者在IGT任务上差异显著,且行为激活系统高分组者在收益-风险并存情境中表现出"即时收益优先"的决策模式。结果提示,在收益-风险并存情境中,高行为激活的人格特征者倾向风险决策模式。     

论整合推理的认知与跨文化实证研究的可能途径

一般的认知理论具有一个共同的基本假定,人的心智特征和结构具有普遍性,而跨文化研究则表明,东西方人的认知模式具有差异性。以推理这一基本而主要的思维形式为切入点,在已有文献基础上比较认知理论与跨文化研究关于推理机制的成果：并在双过程加工理论的框架下,寻找推理机制的普遍性与文化差异性的边界条件,整合上述两者的研究成果。     

Trait emotional intelligence and mental distress: The mediating role of positive and negative affect

Over the past decade, emotional intelligence (EI) has received much attention in the literature. Previous studies indicated that higher trait or ability EI was associated with greater mental distress. The present study focused on mediating effects of positive and negative affect on the association between trait EI and mental distress in a sample of Chinese adults. The participants were 726 Chinese adults (384 females) with an age range of 18–60 years. Data were collected by using the Wong Law Emotional Intelligence Scale, the Positive Affect and Negative Affect Scale, and the General Health Questionnaire. Hierarchical regression analysis showed that EI was a significant predictor of positive affect, negative affect and mental distress. Further mediation analysis showed that positive and negative affect acted as partial mediators of the relationship between EI and mental distress. Furthermore, effect contrasts showed that there was no significant difference between the specific indirect effects through positive affect and through negative affect. This result indicated that positive affect and negative affect played an equally important function in the association between EI and distress. The significance and limitations of the results are discussed.     

Automatic and controlled cognitive responses to intergroup threat as assessed using the process dissociation procedure: a study of a low-status group from China

Xiang, L. & Zhao, Y. (2012). Automatic and controlled cognitive responses to intergroup threat as assessed using the process dissociation procedure: A study of a low-status group from China. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology 53, 280-285. Explicit and implicit methods are typically employed to investigate the respective controlled and automatic cognitive responses to intergroup threat. However, these may not be "process pure" measures of automatic or controlled responses. The present study used the process dissociation procedure to investigate the relative contributions of automatic and controlled cognitive responses to intergroup threat. Following exposure to a threat/no threat manipulation, fifty Chinese rural undergraduates who were regarded as low-status group members completed a recognition memory task, in which they were asked to identify all or select "old" (previously presented) trait words relating to an urban outgroup. The results showed that compared to the non-threat group, when rural members perceived threat from an urban group, their automatic response was a decrease in favoritism for this outgroup, but was not derogative, whereas the controlled response was neither positive nor negative. These findings are inconsistent with previous research using explicit and implicit methods. The reasons for this discrepancy are discussed.     

The cost of serially chaining two cognitive operations

As Turing (1936, Proceedings of the London Mathematical Society) noted, a fundamental process in human cognition is to effect chained sequential operations in which the second operation requires an input from the preceding one. Although a great deal is known about the costs associated with 'independent' (unrelated) operations, e.g., from the classic psychological refractory period paradigm, far less is known about those operations to which Turing referred. We present the results of two behavioural experiments, where participants were required to perform two speeded sequential tasks that were either chained or independent. Both experiments reveal the reaction time cost of chaining, over and above classical dual-task serial costs. Moreover, the chaining operation significantly altered the distribution of reaction times relative to the Independent condition in terms of an increased mean and variance. These results are discussed in terms of the cognitive architecture underlying the serial chaining of cognitive operations.     

Neural correlates of feigned memory impairment are distinguishable from answering randomly and answering incorrectly: an fMRI and behavioral study

Previous functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have identified activation in the prefrontal-parietal-sub-cortical circuit during feigned memory impairment when comparing with truthful telling. Here, we used fMRI to determine whether neural activity can differentiate between answering correctly, answering randomly, answering incorrectly, and feigned memory impairment. In this study, 12 healthy subjects underwent block-design fMRI while they performed digit task of forced-choice format under four conditions: answering correctly, answering randomly, answering incorrectly, and simulated feigned memory impairment. There were three main results. First, six areas, including the left prefrontal cortex, the left superior temporal lobe, the right postcentral gyrus, the right superior parietal cortex, the right superior occipital cortex, and the right putamen, were significantly modulated by condition type. Second, for some areas, including the right superior parietal cortex, the right postcentral gyrus, the right superior occipital cortex, and the right putamen, brain activity was significantly greater in feigned memory impairment than answering randomly. Third, for the areas including the left prefrontal cortex and the right putamen, brain activity was significantly greater in feigned memory impairment than answering incorrectly. In contrast, for the left superior temporal lobe, brain activity was significantly greater in answering incorrectly than feigned memory impairment. The results suggest that neural correlates of feigned memory impairment are distinguishable from answering randomly and answering incorrectly in healthy subjects.     

一种对存在不惑的形而上学

从理解世界到理解意识,再到理解语言,形而上学的线索走的是一条唯心论道路。胡塞尔试图论证的不仅是主观性能够构造出客观性,而且只有在主观性之中才能够构造出客观性;于是,存在的客     

感知音乐音质的EEG探究

欣赏音乐是一种审美的体验活动,不同的音质会使人产生不同的感受。为探究音乐和EEG的关系,本文选用音乐《黑人舞曲》,运用主成分分析等方法,研究了11位在校大学生在欣赏不同音质音乐时的EEG特征。结果发现:在欣赏不同音质音乐时大脑皮层右颞等处快波功率差异显著。大脑对音乐的精细加工与大脑右颞等区的电活动密切相关。