Cultural variation in the correlates of flashbulb memories: an investigation in five countries

Flashbulb memory (FBM) refers to the vivid memory for the context of learning about a public news event. Past research has identified a number of factors that influence the formation of FBM, such as the importance of the event, the experience of intense emotions, and the amount of post-event rehearsal. Although such factors may be universal in predicting FBM formation across cultures, they may differentially impact FBM given different cultural belief systems and practices. In the present study we investigated the moderating effect of culture for various predictors of FBM in five countries: China, Germany, Turkey, the UK, and the USA. Results indicated that the effects of national importance and rehearsal of the reception context were consistent across cultures. In contrast, culture moderated the effects of personal importance, emotionality, surprise, and event rehearsal. In all cases the effects of these variables were significantly smaller in the Chinese sample.     

Vocational aspirations of Chinese high school students and their parents' expectations

This study examined the vocational aspirations and parental vocational expectations of high school students and their parents (1067 parent–child dyads). Participants completed a demographic questionnaire and an Occupations List. The Occupations List consisted of 126 occupational titles evenly distributed across the six Holland types. Parents were asked to check the occupations that they expected their children to pursue and students were asked to select occupations to which they aspired. The expectations of parents were compared to the aspirations of children according to the occupational field, prestige, and sextype of occupations. The expectation–aspiration gap was relatively small for occupational field, but the gap was larger for occupational prestige and sextype. There were also gender differences for both expectations (parents' expectation toward sons and daughters) and aspirations (aspirations of male and female students). Types of high school (key or regular high schools) and parental educational background also related to expectations and aspirations. Theoretical, research, and practice implications are discussed.     

调式和速度组成的不同音乐形态诱发情绪活动的脑电研究——兼顾音乐训练经验和性别因素的表现特征

该研究选取具有音乐训练经验和没有音乐训练经验的成年被试(研究生)共两组,每组男女数量各一半,使用脑电图(EEG)探讨了由速度和调式组成的不同音乐形态诱发情绪活动的脑电特征,结果表明:(1)在不同音乐形态上,小调音乐和慢速音乐诱发各脑区的δ、θ、β和γ四种波段的功率平均值均高于大调音乐和中速及快速音乐,只有α波的功率平均值低于大调音乐和中速及快速音乐;(2)所有音乐形态诱发音乐专业被试各脑区的功率平均值均高于非音乐专业被试,表明音乐训练经验导致了特殊神经网络参与加工;(3)所有音乐形态诱发男性被试各脑区的功率平均值均高于女性被试,表明两性在特异性信息加工方面具有神经解剖差异以及不同加工策略。     

论中国共产党第一代领导集体的宗教观

以毛泽东为核心的中国共产党第一代领导集体将马克思主义宗教观与中国宗教的具体实际相结合,对宗教问题进行了积极的探索,提出宗教具有有神论的世界观、群众性的信仰和文化内容的本质特征,具有自身起源、演化及其消亡的发展规律,具有一定的社会功能和双重性的社会作用;宗教在新中国将长期存在,必须处理好两者的关系,宗教应在一定范围内活动,要发挥其积极作用,为此,必须要改革与新中国不相适应的宗教制度;无产阶级政党必须坚持宗教信仰自由、与宗教界结成统一战线的原则,也要明确共产主义信仰与宗教信仰的区别。     

Why I remember that: The influence of contextual factors on beliefs about everyday memory

In the present study, we examined the role of contextual factors in beliefs about remembering personal experiences. Specifically, we examined why individuals think that they remember experiences in everyday life and whether the reasons for remembering varied as a function of recall context, memory theme, and culture. In Experiment 1, we examined young adults’ reported memories in two hypothetical contexts. In Experiment 2, memories were reported in response to cue words in European American and Chinese young adults. The results indicated that social sharing contexts appeared to favor social functions, whereas private reminiscence contexts tended to favor nonfunctional reasons for remembering and, to a lesser extent, directive functions. The European Americans reported more functional reasons for remembering, whereas the Chinese were more likely to report external cues as a reason for remembering. Finally, self functions were rarely reported. The results are interpreted in light of theories of memory functions and the role of contextual factors on remembering.     

Self-reference enhances relational memory in young and older adults

The present study investigated the influence of self-reference on two kinds of relational memory, internal source memory and associative memory, in young and older adults. Participants encoded object–location word pairs using the strategies of imagination and sentence generation, either with reference to themselves or to a famous other (i.e., George Clooney or Oprah Winfrey). Both young and older adults showed memory benefits in the self-reference conditions compared to other-reference conditions on both tests, and the self-referential effects in older adults were not limited by low memory or executive functioning. These results suggest that self-reference can benefit relational memory in older adults relatively independently of basic memory and executive functions.     

Gottfredson的职业抱负发展理论简介与研究评述

戈特弗雷德森（L.S.Gottfredson）的职业发展理论是有关职业抱负的内容及其发展的理论。该理论从职业类型、社会地位和性别类型3个维度对职业抱负的发展进行了论述,并提出了职业抱负的发展阶段论和决策过程中的妥协论。该文首先对戈特弗雷德森的职业抱负的发展理论做了简要介绍,然后从职业抱负的范围限定和妥协过程两个方面对已有的有关研究进行了回顾,并提出了已有研究中存在的问题和不足,最后论述了职业抱负发展理论在学校职业辅导中的应用     

Factors associated with intentions for colorectal cancer screenings in a Chinese sample

This study investigated factors associated with intention to screen for colorectal cancer among Chinese people age 40 yr. and older. In-depth individual interviews were conducted. Participants were recruited from urban middle-class communities in Taichung, Taiwan through homogeneous, criterion, and snowball sampling strategies (N=32). Immersion and crystallization techniques were used in data analysis. Member check was used to ensure data quality. Analysis showed that factors related to intentions to have fecal occult blood tests were influenced by the inconvenience (61%) and the unpleasant screening procedure (29%), while participants' gastrointestinal symptoms or family history (32%) and physicians' recommendation or patients' self-health conditions (25%) were more important to intentions for a flexible sigmoidoscopy or colonoscopy screening. This study suggests tailoring strategies and messages to encourage use of various screening. Unique cultural issues, such as avoidance of facing problems (28%), embarrassment (23%), or lack of acceptance of preventive behaviors (16%), were also discussed with recommendations provided.     

Synaptic plasticity and translation initiation

It is widely accepted that protein synthesis, including local protein synthesis at synapses, is required for several forms of synaptic plasticity. Local protein synthesis enables synapses to control synaptic strength independent of the cell body via rapid protein production from pre-existing mRNA. Therefore, regulation of translation initiation is likely to be intimately involved in modulating synaptic strength. Our understanding of the translation-initiation process has expanded greatly in recent years. In this review, we discuss various aspects of translation initiation, as well as signaling pathways that might be involved in coupling neurotransmitter and neurotrophin receptors to the translation machinery during various forms of synaptic plasticity.     

汉字特征内隐学习的初步实验研究

在汉字特征识别的范围内,在高强度练习和正确反馈条件下探讨内隐学习汉字的某些特点。实验采用了一种测量内隐和外显学习的特征分类方法．这些特征包括汉字的笔划维度（显著性特征）和汉字的偏好维度（非显著性特征）。实验结果发现：汉字偏好特征的学习,内隐组被试表现出更大的底层规则的迁移;汉字的偏好特征还表现出高潜力的内隐知识。