Domain generality and domain specificity in aesthetic appreciation

Aesthetic appreciation is looked at with respect to domain generality and domain specificity. Within the classic cognitive paradigm, modality- and domain-specific receptive processes are explored. These are then complemented with central processing structures. These reveal domain-specific as well as domain-general processing. Extending the classic cognitive science approach, the role of emotion in aesthetic appreciation is also explored. While domain-specific models of aesthetic appreciation are clearly called for, there are also numerous domain-general subprocesses and structures.     

跨通道语义启动对视觉注意的影响

采用生活中的真实客体,考察了跨通道语义相关性对视觉注意的影响以及跨通道促进的时程。结合启动范式和点探测范式,实验1发现在听觉启动600ms后,被试对高相关视觉刺激的反应比对低相关刺激的反应更快,而在视觉启动下没有发现启动效应。实验2发现在启动刺激呈现900ms后跨通道启动效应消失。研究证明了基于先前经验的视、听语义相关能够促进视觉的选择性注意。     

基于厥阴病认识回光返照与濒死体验

认识死亡,是为了更好地活着。解锁死亡的奥秘,是为了给患者搏得一线生机。厥阴即阴尽,是阴尽阳生、阴阳转化的枢机。回光返照和濒死体验均以厥阴病为机理,前者是阴阳离决之象,体现为濒临死亡者出现除中、烦躁等客观表现;后者则是魂游幻境之象,表现为死而复生者穿过黑暗进入光明等主观感受。通过厘清二者概念,比较二者差异,总结出枢机正常运转和真阳生生不息这两大维持生命的要素。追本溯源,基于厥阴病之理法方药剖析死亡谜题。乌梅丸顺应肝木曲直之本性,四逆汤温补浮越欲绝之火种。通调枢机、补火铸魂,以期阴尽阳生、魂兴命复。

     

晚期肺癌化疗患者叙事护理体验的质性研究

对2021年1月～10月15名接受过为期2个月叙事护理的晚期肺癌化疗患者进行半结构式深入访谈,采用内容分析法归纳提炼主题,共归纳出3个主题：疗愈身心（减轻心理痛苦、缓解身体症状）;改变认知理念（对疾病的接纳、对自我意识的强化、自我反思）;提升生命意义感（征服对死亡的恐惧、支持性关系、浸入式意义体验）。在晚期肺癌化疗患者中实施叙事护理,能够从身体-心理-社会-精神四个维度促进患者成长,为肿瘤末期患者生命意义感的提升提供了新视角。

     

关于濒死体验记忆真实性研究

许多经历过濒死体验或类濒死体验的人都会产生持久且深刻的主观记忆。首先,梳理国内外对于濒死体验的相关研究并总结能够侧面验证这类主观记忆真实性的研究成果,旨在补足濒死体验研究领域在主观记忆层面研究的缺失。其次,研究发现可以从记忆理论的神经生理学角度进一步解释这类主观记忆深刻且持久的机制并对此展开解释,以作为濒死体验记忆真实性的理论支持。最后,观察到濒死体验研究在东方文化背景下的缺失,故建议进一步加强这类主观记忆的东方研究,以扩展其东方文化背景。

     

Driver responses to motorcycle and lead vehicle braking events: The effects of motorcycling experience and novice versus experienced drivers

In many countries, motorcyclists are over-represented in traffic collision fatalities and injuries compared to vehicle registrations. Why drivers may violate the right-of-way of motorcyclists traveling as lead vehicles in front of drivers is empirically examined in two studies that were conducted with a moderate-fidelity driving simulator. The purpose of the first study was to determine if drivers, who also held a motorcycle license (N = 16), drove cars differently than regular drivers (N = 16) around motorcycles. The two groups did not differ on responses to motorcycling braking events, which was consistent with previous research on car following. The second study compared the driving performance of sixteen novice teenage drivers (M = 16.2 years of age) to 15 experienced drivers (M = 32.9) over the span of six monthly simulator sessions. Novice drivers’ perception response times (PRT) to the braking events were significantly longer than those of the experienced drivers. PRTs to motorcycle and lead vehicle braking events decreased over sessions. For all participants, PRTs to the motorcycle events were longer than to the car events. The implications of these results for motorcyclists and drivers with different levels of experience are discussed.     

Effects of visual complexity and sublexical information in the occipitotemporal cortex in the reading of Chinese phonograms: a single-trial analysis with MEG

We employ a linear mixed-effects model to estimate the effects of visual form and the linguistic properties of Chinese characters on M100 and M170 MEG responses from single-trial data of Chinese and English speakers in a Chinese lexical decision task. Cortically constrained minimum-norm estimation is used to compute the activation of M100 and M170 responses in functionally defined regions of interest. Both Chinese and English participants’ M100 responses tend to increase in response to characters with a high numbers of strokes. English participants’ M170 responses show a posterior distribution and only reflect the effect of the visual complexity of characters. On the other hand, the Chinese participants’ left hemisphere M170 is increased when reading characters with high number of strokes, and their right hemisphere M170 is increased when reading characters with small combinability of semantic radicals. Our results suggest that expertise with words and the decomposition of word forms underlies processing in the left and right occipitotemporal regions in the reading of Chinese characters by Chinese speakers.     

Lateral biases and reading direction: a dissociation between aesthetic preference and line bisection

Perceptual asymmetries for tasks involving aesthetic preference or line bisection can be affected by asymmetrical neurological mechanisms or left/right reading habits. This study investigated the relative contribution of these mechanisms in 100 readers of Japanese and English. Participants made aesthetic judgments between pairs of mirror-reversed pictures showing: (a) static objects, (b) moving objects and (c) landscapes. A line bisection task was also administered. There was a strong effect of reading direction for static and mobile objects whereby Japanese readers preferred objects with a right-to-left directionality (and vice versa for English readers). In contrast, similar patterns were observed for the Japanese and English readers for the landscape and line bisection tasks. The results show that reading habits affect aesthetic judgments for static and moving object tasks, but not the landscape and line bisection tasks. The difference between the tasks may be related to the horizontal/vertical geometry of the stimuli, which makes the landscape and line bisection tasks more prone to universal effects related to cerebral dominance.     

Factor Analysis of the Mystical Experience Questionnaire: A Study of Experiences Occasioned by the Hallucinogen Psilocybin

A large body of historical evidence describes the use of hallucinogenic compounds, such as psilocybin mushrooms, for religious purposes. But few scientific studies have attempted to measure or characterize hallucinogen‐occasioned spiritual experiences. The present study examined the factor structure of the Mystical Experience Questionnaire (MEQ), a self‐report measure that has been used to assess the effects of hallucinogens in laboratory studies. Participants (N = 1,602) completed the 43‐item MEQ in reference to a mystical or profound experience they had had after ingesting psilocybin. Exploratory factor analysis of the MEQ retained 30 items and revealed a four‐factor structure covering the dimensions of classic mystical experience: unity, noetic quality, sacredness (F1); positive mood (F2); transcendence of time/space (F3); and ineffability (F4). MEQ factor scores showed good internal reliability and correlated with the Hood Mysticism Scale, indicating convergent validity. Participants who endorsed having had a mystical experience on psilocybin, compared to those who did not, had significantly higher factor scores, indicating construct validity. The four‐factor structure was confirmed in a second sample (N = 440) and demonstrated superior fit compared to alternative models. The results provide initial evidence of the validity, reliability, and factor structure of a 30‐item scale for measuring single, hallucinogen‐occasioned mystical experiences, which may be a useful tool in the scientific study of mysticism.