语义距离半球效应的ERP研究

以通过视觉通路呈现的汉语双字词为实验材料,操纵启动词与目标词的语义距离。在词汇决定实验中记录ERP,发现：（1）除N300外,P240亦对语义距离敏感,它可能是一种与语义加工有关的新的ERP成分;（2）P240在头皮中央偏左的部位较早出现,但在头皮右侧波幅较大;（3）N300和P240都不存在语义距离的半球效应,该结果没有证实右脑更专擅远距离语义加工的假设,表明使用汉语与使用拼音文字的脑机制存在差异。     

Chronic violent video game exposure and desensitization to violence: Behavioral and event-related brain potential data

Numerous studies have shown that exposure to media violence increases aggression, though the mechanisms of this effect have remained elusive. One theory posits that repeated exposure to media violence desensitizes viewers to real world violence, increasing aggression by blunting aversive reactions to violence and removing normal inhibitions against aggression. Theoretically, violence desensitization should be reflected in the amplitude of the P300 component of the event-related brain potential (ERP), which has been associated with activation of the aversive motivational system. In the current study, violent images elicited reduced P300 amplitudes among violent, as compared to nonviolent video game players. Additionally, this reduced brain response predicted increased aggressive behavior in a later task. Moreover, these effects held after controlling for individual differences in trait aggressiveness. These data are the first to link media violence exposure and aggressive behavior to brain processes hypothetically associated with desensitization.     

Reconceptualizing adult attachment relationships: A network perspective

This article explores attachment relationships from a network theory perspective: Correlations among behaviors, beliefs, and feelings related to attachment are hypothesized to stem from causal relations. The authors used two data sets that assessed relationships with four attachment figures (mother, father, romantic partner, and best friend) using the Relationship Structures Questionnaire. Separate networks (Gaussian Graphical Models) were estimated based on 10 items for each attachment figure. Across networks in Study 1 (N = 310), items related to anxiety, seeking support, and discomfort disclosing feelings clustered with other items from their respective domains; a trust‐related item bridged the clusters. Study 2 replicated these findings in a larger and more diverse sample (N = 3,710). The potential of network analysis for advancing the study of attachment is discussed.     

Bi-hemispheric anodal transcranial direct current stimulation worsens taekwondo-related performance

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) is a neuromodulatory technique that has been used as an ergogenic aid in exercise/sports performance. However, little is known about its effects on highly-trained subjects, as athletes. The present study aimed to verify the effects of bi-hemispheric anodal tDCS (a-tDCS) on the performance of taekwondo athletes. Additionally, we investigated the persistence of the effects of the a-tDCS one hour after it. Nineteen Taekwondo athletes received active or sham bi-hemispheric a-tDCS over the primary motor cortex (M1). a-tDCS was delivered at 1.5 mA for 15 min. Athletes performed Countermovement Jumps (CMJ) and the Frequency Speed of Kick Test (FSKT) immediately (Mo1) and one hour after stimulation (Mo2). The athletes also reported their session-rating of perceived exertion (session-RPE). The total number of kicks (TK) was higher in sham than in the active a-tDCS condition (p < 0.01). In addition, TK was higher at Mo2 than at Mo1 (p < 0.05). Similarly, the session-RPE was higher in the a-tDCS condition (p < 0.05) and was greater one-hour post-stimulation (p < 0.01). No differences were found for CMJ performance (p > 0.05). Thus, bi-hemispheric a-tDCS worsens performance of taekwondo athletes, and the effect remains present even 1 h after the stimulation.     

Emergent complexity: What uphill analysis or downhill invention cannot do

In these notes we review emergent phenomena in complex systems, emphasizing ways to identify potential underlying universal mechanisms that generate complexity. The discussion focuses on the emergence of collective behavior in dynamical systems when they are poised near a critical point of a phase transition, either by tuning or by self-organization. We then present the rationale for our proposal that the brain is naturally poised near criticality and review recent results as well as the implications of this view of the functioning brain.     

Autism Overflows: Increasing Prevalence and Proliferating Theories

This selective review examines the lack of an explanation for the sharply increasing prevalence of autism, and the lack of any synthesis of the proliferating theories of autism. The most controversial and most widely disseminated notion for increasing prevalence is the measles–mumps–rubella/thimerosal vaccine theory. Less controversial causes that have been proposed include changes in autism diagnostic criteria, increasing services for autism, and growing awareness of the disorder. Regardless of its causes, the increasing prevalence of autism has put pressure on the field of autism research to generate productive and predictive theories of autism. However, the heterogeneity of brain deficits, impaired behaviors, and genetic variants in autism have challenged researchers and theorists, and despite 45 years of research, no standard causal synthesis has emerged. Research going forward should assume that autism is an aggregation of myriad independent disorders of impaired sociality, social cognition, communication, and motor and cognitive skills.     

Facet-like Structures in Computer Science

This paper discusses how facet-like structures occur as a commonplace feature in a variety of computer science disciplines as a means for structuring class hierarchies. The paper then focuses on a mathematical model for facets (and class hierarchies in general), called formal concept analysis, and discusses graphical representations of faceted systems based on this model.

Comparison of chemosensory, auditory and visual event-related potential amplitudes

To enhance understanding of neuropsychological processing underlying chemosensory event-related potentials (CSERPs), the objective of the present study was to compare CSERPs with auditory (AERPs) and visual event-related potentials (VERPs), and to approach the question of similarities in neuropsychological processing by means of correlation and cluster analyses. A multisensory ERP protocol was used, in which olfactory/chemosomatosensory (pyridine), auditory (1000-Hz tone) and visual (white circle) stimuli were presented in a pseudo-randomized sequence to 18 young, healthy adults. The results show (1) a morphological relation between P2 and P3 components that is different for the chemosensory than for the auditory and visual modalities, (2) a relatively weak association between the chemosensory and auditory/visual modalities for P3 in terms of both correlation and cluster, and (3) a P2/P3 cluster for the chemosensory but not auditory or visual modality. This supports the claim that the chemosensory P2 and P3 components reflect similar neuropsychological processes.     

The thalamus and basal ganglia: What is exactly where?: A reply to ‘Neuropsychological consequences of right thalamic injury: Case study and review,’ MJ Summers, Brain and Cognition 50 (2002)

The present paper re-analyzes anatomical and clinical data of a previous case report ([Summers, 2002]). In this case study, a patient with severe neuropsychological and behavioral impairments is described and it is claimed that these impairments are causally linked to an right thalamic lesion. A simple method how to perform a lesion analysis is introduced which shows that PD’s lesion was a striatocapsular hematoma, and not a thalamic bleeding. The results of this anatomical re-analysis challenge the original behavioral-lesion hypothesis and emphasize the importance to provide appropriate data on brain lesions and clinical findings in neuropsychological case reports.     

Logical Argument Structures in Decision-making

Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca's practical reasoning theory has attracted a great deal of interest since its publication in 1969. Their most important assertion, however, that argument is the logical basis for practical decision-making, has been under-utilized, primarily because it was not sufficiently operationalized for research purposes. This essay presents an operationalization of practical reasoning for use in analyzing argument logics that emerge through group interaction. Particular elements of discourse and argument are identified as responding to principles put forward by Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca, and are viewed as fitting together in a kind of logical argument structure that is well suited to the study of practical arguments in decision-making. Both the content elements and the logical argument structure are illustrated using examples from two studies examining decision logics in public participation and jury decision-making. Advantages of this approach and proposed recognition of a new `filtered' type of argument structure are discussed.