Alien voices and inner dialogue: towards a developmental account of auditory verbal hallucinations

The phenomenon of auditory verbal hallucinations (AVHs) is one of the most intriguing features of the psychiatric literature. Two alternative models of the development of AVHs in both normal and psychotic populations are proposed. In the disruption to internalisation (DI) model, AVHs result from a disruption to the normal processes of internalisation of inner speech. In the re-expansion (RE) model, AVHs result when normal inner speech is re-expanded into inner dialogue under conditions of stress and cognitive challenge. Both models draw on Vygotsky's (The Collected Works Of L.S. Vygotsky, New York, Plenum Press, 1987) ideas about the development of inner speech. On this view, normal inner speech is considerably abbreviated relative to external speech, and also undergoes some important semantic transformations. In both the DI and RE models, AVHs arise when the subject's inner speech involves inappropriately expanded inner dialogue, leading the subject to experience the voices in the dialogue as alien. The two models may prove useful in explaining some of the social-developmental evidence surrounding the phenomenon, and also make a number of testable predictions which are suggested as priorities for future research.     

Reward allocation decisions of Chinese managers: Influence of employee categorization and allocation context

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the relationships between employee categorization criteria and Chinese managers' allocation behaviors. Using a vignette approach and a four-factor within-subjects design, the effects of relationship (guanxi), loyalty, and competence, as well as their interactions with allocation context (private vs public) were examined. Results showed that subordinates who had a close relationship with the allocator, high loyalty, or high competence were rewarded more. Significant two-way interaction effects indicated that relationship, loyalty and competence interactively affected Chinese managers' reward allocation decisions. In addition, the moderating effects of allocation context on these three criteria were also significant. Limitations of the study and suggestions for further research were discussed.     

文化心理学的基本内涵辨析

由于文化心理学刚刚兴起,概念尚未十分清晰,不同的学者对之有不同的看法。不过,不同学者看法中也有一些共同之处。他们基本上都认为文化心理学研究的是意义;心理与文化相互建构;文化心理学的研究方法与主流心理学不同,主要采用客位研究策略。综合各家之言和文化心理学的基本特点,可以把文化心理学界定为研究文化心理或文化行为的具有边缘或交叉性质的独立学科。     

Attention and cognitive control networks assessed in a dichotic listening fMRI study

A meaningful interaction with our environment relies on the ability to focus on relevant sensory input and to ignore irrelevant information, i.e. top-down control and attention processes are employed to select from competing stimuli following internal goals. In this, the demands for the recruitment of top-down control processes depend on the relative perceptual salience of the competing stimuli. In the present functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, we investigated the recruitment of top-down control processes in response to varying degrees of control demands in the auditory modality. For this purpose, we tested 20 male and 20 female subjects with a dichotic listening paradigm, in which the relative perceptual salience of two simultaneously presented stimuli was systematically manipulated by varying the inter-aural intensity difference (IID) and asking the subjects to selectively attend to either ear. The analysis showed that the interaction between IID and attentional direction involves two networks in the brain. A fronto-parietal network, including the pre-supplementary motor area, anterior cingulate cortex, inferior frontal junction, insula and inferior parietal lobe, was recruited during cognitively demanding conditions and can thus be seen as a top-down cognitive control network. In contrast, a second network including the superior temporal and the post-central gyri was engaged under conditions with low cognitive control demands. These findings demonstrate how cognitive control is achieved through the interplay of distinct brain networks, with their differential engagement determined as a function of the level of competition between the sensory stimuli.     

Perspectives on dichotic listening and the corpus callosum

The present review summarizes historic and recent research which has investigated the role of the corpus callosum in dichotic processing within the context of audiology. Examination of performance by certain clinical groups, including split brain patients, multiple sclerosis cases, and other types of neurological lesions is included. Maturational, age related, and genetic factors are also discussed. Finally, some attention is given to recent trends in audiology research to develop improved diagnostic and rehabilitation tools for individuals with dichotic deficits potentially related to callosal dysfunction.     

预期推理在长时记忆中的表征形式

该研究采用移动窗口技术,通过两个实验研究探讨在高低不同竞争条件下预期推理结果在长时记忆中的表征形式。实验结果表明,预期推理在长时记忆中的表征形式依赖于文本中预期推理的引发语境,在不同竞争强度的预期语境中,预期推理的结果在长时记忆会以不同的形式进行表征。在低竞争条件下,预期推理的结果以确定的形式表征;只有在高竞争条件下,预期推理的结果才会以假定的形式进行表征。     

Determining Decision Values of Context Awareness in Ubiquitous Computing Environments

Research on context‐aware computing has been focusing on the technology aspect of context acquisition and interpretation of users' surrounding environment or physical context. There is no operational mechanism for integrating context awareness that is driven by user context such as users' ongoing activities and tasks. Although the necessity of integration of sensed context data with users' intent of conduct has been recognized by many researchers, it has never been empirically investigated. Using Analytic Hierarchy Process, we propose an integrated and comprehensive approach that takes into consideration both user and physical context in defining overall context awareness value. The approach is tested using secondary data of user activities in various situations and surrounding environment scenarios. The results suggest several preliminary guidelines for determining representative measures of user and physical context approaches in the design and evaluation of context‐aware systems. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Squeezing, striking, and vocalizing: Is number representation fundamentally spatial?

Numbers are fundamental entities in mathematics, but their cognitive bases are unclear. Abundant research points to linear space as a natural grounding for number representation. But, is number representation fundamentally spatial? We disentangle number representation from standard number-to-line reporting methods, and compare numerical estimations in educated participants using line-reporting with three nonspatial reporting conditions (squeezing, bell-striking, and vocalizing). All three cases of nonspatial-reporting consistently reproduced well-established results obtained with number-line methods. Furthermore, unlike line-reporting—and congruent with the psychophysical Weber–Fechner law—nonspatial reporting systematically produced logarithmic mappings for all nonsymbolic stimuli. Strikingly, linear mappings were obtained exclusively in conditions with culturally mediated elements (e.g., words). These results suggest that number representation is not fundamentally spatial, but builds on a deeper magnitude sense that manifests spatially and nonspatially mediated by magnitude, stimulus modality, and reporting condition. Number-to-space mappings—although ubiquitous in the modern world—do not seem to be rooted directly in brain evolution but have been culturally privileged and enhanced.     

The community substance use environment: The development and predictive ability of a multi‐method and multiple‐reporter measure

This study tested the feasibility and utility of developing a multiple‐method and multiple‐reporter measure that describes the community substance use environment. Data on community‐level norms and availability of substances were reported by 5261 students and 181 prevention‐focused community leaders (CL) involved in the 28 promoting school–university–community partnerships to enhance resilience (PROSPER) Project communities between 2002 and 2005. Additionally, locations of alcohol and tobacco outlets were geocoded. Initially, these four subscales were aggregated to measure the community substance use environment. Analyses demonstrated this measure was associated with community rates of adolescent reported cigarette use, but it was not associated with community rates of adolescent reported alcohol use. Further analyses tested the relative strength of the four different subscales in predicting rates of student use. Implications of these results for the field of community‐based prevention are discussed, as well as limitations and future directions. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.