How do humans group non-rigid objects in multiple object tracking?: Evidence from grouping by self-rotation

Previous studies on perceptual grouping found that people can use spatiotemporal and featural information to group spatially separated rigid objects into a unit while tracking moving objects. However, few studies have tested the role of objects’ self-motion information in perceptual grouping, although it is of great significance to the motion perception in the three-dimensional space. In natural environments, objects always move in translation and rotation at the same time. The self-rotation of the objects seriously destroys objects’ rigidity and topology, creates conflicting movement signals and results in crowding effects. Thus, this study sought to examine the specific role played by self-rotation information on grouping spatially separated non-rigid objects through a modified multiple object tracking (MOT) paradigm with self-rotating objects. Experiment 1 found that people could use self-rotation information to group spatially separated non-rigid objects, even though this information was deleterious for attentive tracking and irrelevant to the task requirements, and people seemed to use it strategically rather than automatically. Experiment 2 provided stronger evidence that this grouping advantage did come from the self-rotation per se rather than surface-level cues arising from self-rotation (e.g. similar 2D motion signals and common shapes). Experiment 3 changed the stimuli to more natural 3D cubes to strengthen the impression of self-rotation and again found that self-rotation improved grouping. Finally, Experiment 4 demonstrated that grouping by self-rotation and grouping by changing shape were statistically comparable but additive, suggesting that they were two different sources of the object information. Thus, grouping by self-rotation mainly benefited from the perceptual differences in motion flow fields rather than in deformation. Overall, this study is the first attempt to identify self-motion as a new feature that people can use to group objects in dynamic scenes and shed light on debates about what entities/units we group and what kinds of information about a target we process while tracking objects.     

Life satisfaction trajectories among junior high school students in China: The role of parent–child communication

A 3-year follow-up test (from grades 7 to 9) was administered to 807 junior high school students from two regions in Hunan Province, China, using multilevel analysis to examine trends in junior high school students' life satisfaction, differences by gender and location of life and the effects of father–child/mother–child communication on the development of life satisfaction. The results showed that (1) Chinese junior high school students' life satisfaction showed a decreasing trend from the seventh grade to the ninth grade, and there was a significant decreasing process in the eighth grade; (2) father–child communication and mother–child communication had a significant positive predictive effect on Chinese junior high school students' life satisfaction and (3) father–child communication and mother–child communication had a significant negative predictive effect on the decreasing trend of life satisfaction, in which the effect of mother–child communication was particularly significant.     

2007～2009年心理学核心期刊载文的文献计量分析*

采用文献计量学的方法,以2007至2009年《心理学报》、《心理科学》、《心理发展与教育》、《心理与行为研究》、《应用心理学》、《中国临床心理学杂志》刊载的2907篇学术论文为研究对象,统计在合作情况、研究机构、研究领域、研究内容、研究方法、统计方法等方面的情况。试图通过对各项统计结果的定量分析,描述我国心理学研究的发展现状,并分析未来发展的趋势。     

任务类型对不同SOA条件下基于颜色重复劣势效应的影响*

采用探测任务和辨别任务,分别考察了不同线索与目标呈现时间间隔(SOA)条件下出现的基于颜色的重复劣势效应(repetition disadvantage,RD)。研究结果发现:探测任务下和辨别任务下出现基于颜色的RD效应分别倾向于解释为重复知盲现象和基于颜色的IOR效应。关于不同的任务类型对基于颜色的RD效应的影响,可以用特征个体化理论解释。实验3采用Go/No go任务,通过进一步地分析提出任务类型背后,被试对目标刺激的语义加工水平才是影响基于颜色RD效应抑制本质的关键因素。关于该因素对基于颜色重复劣势效应的影响,可以用评价窗口理论解释。     

教师工作倦怠研究综述

工作倦怠是在以人为服务对象的职业领域中,个体的一种情感耗竭、人格解体和个人成就降低的症状。该文对教师工作倦怠的原因及其影响因素进行了分析,最后,还对工作倦怠的测量和诊断问题进行了介绍。