Improving judgment accuracy by sequential adjustment

Judging an object’s value based on relevant cues can be challenging. We propose a simple method to improve judgment accuracy: Instead of estimating a value after seeing all available cues simultaneously, individuals view cues sequentially, one after another, making and adjusting their estimate at each step. The sequential procedure may alleviate computational difficulties in cue integration, leading to higher judgment accuracy. We tested this hypothesis in two real-world tasks in which participants judged either the price of diamonds or the fuel economy of cars. Two studies with professional jewelers and car salespeople show that most participants indeed judged more accurately with a sequential than with a simultaneous procedure. Another two studies with college students further support this finding and show additionally that the sequential procedure could raise the judgment accuracy of inexperienced students to the same level as that of professionals judging with the simultaneous procedure.

     

自尊的认知神经机制

自尊是个体对自己总体的情感性评价。自尊有助于促进个体的心理健康,帮助个体应对威胁,具有重要的适应价值。近年来随着社会认知神经科学的兴起,关于自尊的认知神经机制的研究日益增多,主要涉及三个方面:1)自尊与大脑的结构(如海马体积、前扣带回等区域的灰质体积)和功能(静息态下的默认网络活动以及脑区之间的功能联结性)存在一定的关联;2)自尊调节大脑对威胁的反应,与高自尊个体相比,低自尊个体面对威胁时产生更强的防御性反应,自尊通过影响个体面对威胁时的大脑活动帮助个体更好地应对威胁;3)自我评价过程涉及大脑前额叶、眶额叶、扣带回等多个脑区,自尊调节个体在自我评价过程中的大脑活动。总之,自尊作为个体重要的人格特质,与大脑的结构、功能以及活动状态等都具有一定的关系;这些发现在一定程度上揭示了自尊的神经机制,加深了对自尊及其功能的理解。     

德勒兹及其哲学创造

G.德勒兹是20世纪卓有创见的哲学家之一。他的《差异与重复》以及与F.伽塔里合著的《反俄狄浦斯》、《千高原》和《哲学是什么?》,是法国现当代哲学的精华,后现代思想的经典。本文对德勒兹和伽塔里的理解,得自与德勒兹的一次交谈和多方位的比较阅读,提供给读者的是这位哲学家的学术概况和思想风范。笔者阐述的重点放在对其术语的解析和创新精神探讨方面。     

焦虑情绪对奖赏学习的影响

焦虑是在我们日常生活中占据重要地位的一种情绪, 对人类的决策行为能够产生显著影响。探讨决策研究的重要领域--奖赏学习, 可以帮助我们更深入地认识焦虑情绪在决策过程中扮演的角色。过往研究者较少关注焦虑对奖赏学习的潜在影响, 而且已有研究在实验技术和任务范式方面存在一定的局限性。考虑到奖赏学习概念的复杂性, 为了全面地考察个体焦虑水平与奖赏学习的关系, 本文作者建议设置不同类型的奖赏学习情境, 例如概率学习、联结学习、逆向学习和社会学习等。在上述各类不同任务中, 个体焦虑水平对奖赏学习能力的影响模式可能并不一致, 有待研究者们进行深入探讨。     

The time course of figure-ground reversal

We report the results from five experiments employing a modified version of the short-term visual matching (STVM) method introduced by Driver and Baylis (1996). In STVM, participants see a study display with ambiguous figure-ground relations. After the study display, participants have to decide which of two shapes in a match display was seen before in the study display. STVM has been used by Vecera, Vogel, and Woodman (2002) to demonstrate that the lower region is a figure-ground cue. In our modified version of STVM, the study stimulus was preceded by a brief prime. This caused a biasing of the figural interpretation of the ambiguous figure-ground displays that contained the lower region cue. We show that 100-msec priming with an unambiguous display is enough to affect the subsequent interpretation of the ambiguous figure-ground display. It takes maximally 350 msec to complete a transition from the nondominant interpretation to the dominant interpretation of an ambiguous figure-ground display that contains the lower region cue.     

The role of glutamate in anxiety and related disorders

Anxiety, stress, and trauma-related disorders are a major public health concern in the United States. Drugs that target the gamma-aminobutyric acid or serotonergic system, such as benzodiazepines and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, respectively, are the most widely prescribed treatments for these disorders. However, the role of glutamate in anxiety disorders is becoming more recognized with the belief that drugs that modulate glutamatergic function through either ionotropic or metabotropic glutamate receptors have the potential to improve the current treatment of these severe and disabling illnesses. Animal models of fear and anxiety have provided a method to study the role of glutamate in anxiety. This research has demonstrated that drugs that alter glutamate transmission have potential anxiolytic action for many different paradigms including fear-potentiated startle, punished responding, and the elevated plus maze. Human clinical drug trials have demonstrated the efficacy of glutamatergic drugs for the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, and social phobia. Recent data from magnetic resonance imaging studies provide an additional link between the glutamate system and anxiety. Collectively, the data suggest that future studies on the mechanism of and clinical efficacy of glutamatergic agents in anxiety disorders are appropriately warranted.     

Which emotional regulatory strategy makes Chinese adolescents happier? A longitudinal study

Growing interest in emotion regulation is reflected in the studies of cognitive and social development. However, the extant studies mainly highlight how emotion regulation develops based on a western value system. This study utilised a longitudinal design to examine the development of emotion regulation and explored the contributions of different regulatory strategies to emotion experience regarding the early adolescent development period in a Chinese population. A total of 303 Chinese adolescents (age range = 10–14 years) were followed up in a three‐phase longitudinal study for 3 years. In each phase of the study, participants completed Adolescents Emotion Regulation Questionnaire and Daily Emotion Scale. Results of hierarchical linear regressions revealed that Chinese adolescents reported more down‐regulation. Down‐regulation is more effective than up‐regulation in enhancing desirable emotion experience and reducing undesirable emotion experience during adolescents' development. Also, the adaptive functions of emotional regulatory strategies in Chinese background were discussed.     

读《管子》——浅谈《管子》与当代社会的发展方向

《管子》书中治国安邦的政治经济思想对于当今的社会发展仍不乏启示意义。由《管子》对春秋战国秦汉时代政治经济文化思想的分析,由此及彼,得出了当代中国政治经济文化思想的发展方向是：政治文明建设是总根源,经济建设是中心,文化思想建设是可持续发展的根本保证,强调了社会发展有机统一的大社会时空观。