From domain-generality to domain-sensitivity: 4-Month-olds learn an abstract repetition rule in music that 7-month-olds do not

Learning must be constrained for it to lead to productive generalizations. Although biology is undoubtedly an important source of constraints, prior experience may be another, leading learners to represent input in ways that are more conducive to some generalizations than others, and/or to up- and down-weight features when entertaining generalizations. In two experiments, 4-month-old and 7-month-old infants were familiarized with sequences of musical chords or tones adhering either to an AAB pattern or an ABA pattern. In both cases, the 4-month-olds learned the generalization, but the 7-month-olds did not. The success of the 4-month-olds appears to contradict an account that this type of pattern learning is the provenance of a language-specific rule-learning module. It is not yet clear what drives the age-related change, but plausible candidates include differential experience with language and music, as well as interactions between general cognitive development and stimulus complexity.     

When linking is stronger than thinking: Associative transfer of valence disrupts the emergence of cognitive balance after attitude change

The present research investigated the role of cognitive balance vs. associative transfer of valence in attitude change. Participants first formed positive or negative attitudes toward several source individuals. Subsequently, participants were shown source–target pairs along with information about the source–target relationship (‘likes’/‘dislikes’). Afterwards, participants’ attitudes toward the sources were changed by means of information that was opposite to the initially induced attitude. In a control condition, initial source attitudes remained unqualified. Results in the control condition showed that initially formed attitudes and available relationship information produced target evaluations that were consistent with the notion of cognitive balance. However, when attitudes toward the sources changed, target evaluations directly matched attitudes toward individually associated sources, irrespective of the relation between source and target. These results suggest that associative transfer of valence can disrupt the emergence of cognitive balance after attitude change.     

A computational model of Parkinsonian handwriting that highlights the role of the indirect pathway in the basal ganglia

Parkinsonian handwriting is typically characterized by micrographia, jagged line contour, and unusual fluctuations in pen velocity. In this paper we present a computational model of handwriting generation that highlights the role of the basal ganglia, particularly the indirect pathway. Whereas reduced dopamine levels resulted in reduced letter size, transition of STN–GPe dynamics from desynchronized (normal) to synchronized (PD) condition resulted in increased fluctuations in velocity in the model. We also present handwriting data from PD patients (n = 34) who are at various stages of disease and had taken medication various lengths of time before the handwriting sessions. The patient data are compared with those of age-matched controls. PD handwriting statistically exhibited smaller size and larger velocity fluctuation compared to normal handwriting.     

An empirical and computational investigation of perceiving and remembering event temporal relations

Events have beginnings, ends, and often overlap in time. A major question is how perceivers come to parse a stream of multimodal information into meaningful units and how different event boundaries may vary event processing. This work investigates the roles of these three types of event boundaries in constructing event temporal relations. Predictions were made based on how people would err according to the beginning state, end state, and overlap heuristic hypotheses. Participants viewed animated events that include all the logical possibilities of event temporal relations, and then made temporal relation judgments. The results showed that people make use of the overlap between events and take into account the ends and beginnings, but they weight ends more than beginnings. Neural network simulations showed a self-organized distinction when learning temporal relations between events with overlap versus those without.     

共情的认知神经研究回顾

共情是指个体对他人情绪和想法的感受及理解,它在人类个体和社会的发展中起到了重要作用。近年来,脑成像技术为研究共情的神经基础提供了有力的技术支持,发现了共情的关键功能脑区。基础与临床的实验证据表明,更好地理解共情的神经机制对于孤独症、反社会人格等精神障碍有重要的意义。该文对相关的研究进行了综述并对未来可能的研究方向提出了展望     

发展性口吃的脑机制

口吃是一种常见的言语障碍,对此曾提出过大脑半球言语功能偏侧化异常假设。近期,发展性口吃的神经成像研究在支持这一经典假设的同时,还发现负责言语监控的颞叶系统和负责言语运动控制的额叶系统与皮层下脑结构存在功能失调,这可能损害言语产生时的精确时间控制。据此,研究者开始用神经网络的观点来解释发展性口吃产生的脑机制,认为患者可能存在由多个言语产生相关脑区构成的“双通路”网络的功能障碍     

视觉意识及其神经机制

视觉意识的神经机制是当前认知神经科学研究的热点问题之一。过去普遍认为视觉信息加工主要有两条通路:腹侧通路和背侧通路;而新近的研究表明还存在不经过初级视觉皮层(V1区)的第三条通路。高级视觉皮层、V1区和皮层下结构都对意识觉知的产生起到了相应的作用。已有的实验证据表明,意识的产生过程异常复杂,仍有很多问题值得继续深入讨论和研究。     

Saccade landing point selection and the competition account of pro- and antisaccade generation: the involvement of visual attention--a review

This paper presents a review and summary of experimental findings on the role of attention in the preparation of saccadic eye movements. The focus is on experiments where performance of prosaccades (saccades towards a suddenly appearing item) and antisaccades (saccades of equal amplitude in the direction opposite to where the target moved) is compared. Evidence suggests that these two opposite responses to the same stimulus event entail competition between neural pathways that generate reflexive movements to the target and neural mechanisms involved in inhibiting the reflex and generating a voluntary gaze shift in the opposite direction to the target appearance. Evidence for such a competition account is discussed in light of a large amount of experimental findings and the overall picture clearly indicates that this competition account has great explanatory power when data on saccadic reaction times and error rates are compared for the two types of saccade. The role of attention is also discussed in particular in light of the finding that the withdrawal of attention by a secondary task 200 to 500 ms before the saccade target appears, leads to speeded antisaccades (without a similar increase in error rates), showing that the results do not simply reflect a speed-accuracy trade-off. This result indicates that the tendency for "reflexive" prosaccades is diminished when attention is engaged in a different task. Furthermore, experiments are discussed that show that as the tendency for a reflexive prosaccade is weakened, antisaccades are speeded up, further supporting the competition account of pro- and antisaccade generation. In the light of evidence from neurophysiology of monkeys and humans, a tentative model of pro- and antisaccade generation is proposed.     

Words, hemispheres, and processing mechanisms: A response to Marsolek and Deason (2007)

Ellis, Ansorge and Lavidor (2007) [Ellis, A.W., Ansorge, L., & Lavidor, M. (2007). Words, hemispheres, and dissociable subsystems: The effects of exposure duration, case alternation, priming and continuity of form on word recognition in the left and right visual fields. Brain and Language, 103, 292–303.] presented three experiments investigating the effects of exposure duration and format (normal vs mixed or alternating case) on the recognition of words presented in the left and right visual fields. The experiments were conducted within the framework of ‘dissociable neural subsystems theory’ developed by Marsolek and colleagues. Marsolek and Deason (2007) [Marsolek, C.J. & Deason, R.G. (2007). Hemispheric asymmetries in visual word-form processing: Progress, conflict, and evaluating theories. Brain and Language, 103, 304–307.] offer some reflections on our paper, including alternative interpretations of some of our findings. We respond to those reflections in this reply.     

社会情绪的神经基础

该文提出了社会情绪概念的界定及其分类,回顾并总结了近年来对社会情绪神经基础的研究结果,指出了现有的研究范式和方法存在的局限,并对该领域未来的研究方向和研究重点做了进一步展望