统计学习的认知神经机制及其与语言的关系

统计学习是指个体在连续刺激流中发现转移概率等统计规律的过程, 在Saffran等(1996)的经典婴儿语音切分研究中首次被提出。大量研究证实了统计学习的普遍存在, 近期学界开始关注统计学习的特异性及其对认知的影响, 尤其是从学习过程及其特异性两个方面阐述统计学习的认知神经机制并揭示其和语言的交互作用。未来应从脑和行为的多模态数据视角, 丰富统计学习结果的行为和神经指标, 考察不同类型统计学习过程的动态神经活动模式, 建立统计学习行为和脑的关联, 深化对统计学习认知神经机制的认识, 在统计学习与语言交互作用的基础上, 从成人二语学习切入结合音乐统计学习训练探讨促进语言学习的统计学习干预手段。     

No evidence for overgeneral memories in borderline personality disorder

The hypothesis that borderline personality disorder (BPD) is related to overgeneral memories was tested in a mixed sample of 39 patients. A memory test with emotional cue words and the instruction to produce specific autobiographical memories was used. Specificity was judged by an independent rater. Regression analyses indicated that age and major depressive disorder were related to the production of less specific memories, whereas educational level and presence of personality disorder were positivily related to number of specific memories. Borderline personality disorder, anxiety disorders and childhood traumas were not related to number of specific memories.     

But I thought it was Mickey Mouse: the effects of new postevent information on 18-month-olds' memory

Two experiments examined the effects of postevent information on 18-month-olds' event memory. Experiment 1 (N=60) explored whether children's memory was reinstated when action information was eliminated from the reinstatement and only object information was introduced. Experiment 2 (N=48) examined children's recall when either (a). information about the objects' target actions was replaced with new action information or (b). the original training objects were replaced with new objects. In an elicited-imitation paradigm, children were trained to perform six target actions, watched a video reinstatement 10 weeks later, and were tested for recall 24 h after reinstatement. Two results were found. First, a video reminder eliminating action information reinstated children's memory as effectively as a video containing object and action information. Second, children were reminded of their past training when during reinstatement action information was preserved and new objects were presented but were not reminded when object information was preserved and new actions were presented.     

The influence of hierarchy on probability judgment

Consider the task of predicting which soccer team will win the next World Cup. The bookmakers may judge Brazil to be the team most likely to win, but also judge it most likely that a European rather than a Latin American team will win. This is an example of a non-aligned hierarchy structure: the most probable event at the subordinate level (Brazil wins) appears to be inconsistent with the most probable event at the superordinate level (a European team wins). In this paper we exploit such structures to investigate how people make predictions based on uncertain hierarchical knowledge. We distinguish between aligned and non-aligned environments, and conjecture that people assume alignment. Participants were exposed to a non-aligned training set in which the most probable superordinate category predicted one outcome, whereas the most probable subordinate category predicted a different outcome. In the test phase participants allowed their initial probability judgments about category membership to shift their final ratings of the probability of the outcome, even though all judgments were made on the basis of the same statistical data. In effect people were primed to focus on the most likely path in an inference tree, and neglect alternative paths. These results highlight the importance of the level at which statistical data are represented, and suggest that when faced with hierarchical inference problems people adopt a simplifying heuristic that assumes alignment.     

The Prediction of Negative Events Associated with Anxiety and Dietary Restraint: A Test of the Content Specificity Hypothesis

The prediction of future negative events was studied in a sample of undergraduate students varying on measures of anxiety and dietary restraint. Cognitive theories of psychopathology hypothesize that the emotional concerns of an individual determine which types of information are most often cognitively processed with a biased interpretation. This prediction has generally been called the content specificity hypothesis. Based upon this aspect of cognitive theory, we hypothesized that a high level of trait anxiety would be associated with higher ratings of the probability of future physically threatening events. In addition, it was hypothesized that a high level of dietary restraint would be associated with lower ratings of the probability of future occurrences of overeating. The results of the study supported these hypotheses. These prediction biases were found to be more pronounced in women, as compared to men. The findings were interpreted as supportive of the content specificity hypothesis.     

How category advertising norms and consumer counter‐conformity influence comparative advertising effectiveness

Surprisingly little research examines whether and how category advertising norms influence the effectiveness of comparative advertising. To address this void, the present research investigates if the persuasiveness of a particular comparative advertisement depends on whether or not it is viewed as a typical tactic that conforms to category advertising norms. Results from experiments 1 and 2 indicate that a comparative advertisement used in violation of category norms results in a persuasion penalty that is evidenced by a reduction in the ad's impact on brand attitudes. This effect of category norms on persuasion is shown to be mediated by evaluations of the comparative advertisement's appropriateness in the product category. A final experiment confirms this persuasion penalty with respect to consumers holding conformity-based motives. However, this penalty is found to be reversed for individuals seeking counter-conformity in the marketplace, who respond more favorably to a comparative advertisement when it violates rather than conforms to category norms.     

Domain Specificity and the Limits of Creativity Theory

A growing body of research evidence suggests that creativity is very domain‐specific and that domain‐general skills or traits contribute little to creative performance. The term “creativity” is a convenient term for collecting many interesting artifacts, processes, and people into a single category, and the term “creative thinking skills” may be a useful way to connect a diverse set of unrelated cognitive processes that operate on different content and in different domains. These concepts are misleading, however, because although they connect things that may seem similar to observers, they lack any underlying cognitive psychological validity. This has implications for the ways we understand and assess creativity, and also for how we should direct our efforts to develop creative‐thinking skills in diverse domains. Creativity training needs either to target the domains in which creativity enhancement is desired or to use a wide range of activities in diverse domains if the goal is more general improvement in many domains. Creativity assessment needs to focus on domain‐by‐domain assessment and to review findings based on allegedly domain‐general tests of creativity that may have misled researchers to unsupportable interpretations. Creativity theory needs to set more modest goals of domain‐by‐domain theory development and to recognize that theories that may seem domain‐general might better be understood as meta‐theoretical heuristics that do not actually describe domain‐general processes. These meta‐theories might in some cases help guide the search for domain‐based theories.     

Faking on self-report emotional intelligence and personality tests: Effects of faking opportunity, cognitive ability, and job type

We assessed the combined effects of cognitive ability, opportunity to fake, and trait job-relevance on faking self-report emotional intelligence and personality tests by having 150 undergraduates complete such tests honestly and then so as to appear ideal for one of three jobs: nurse practitioner, marketing manager, and computer programmer. Faking, as expected, was greater (a) in higher-g participants, (b) in those scoring lower under honest conditions (with greater opportunity to fake), and (c) on job-relevant traits. Predicted interactions accounted for additional unique variance in faking. Combining all three factors yielded a “perfect storm” standardized difference of around 2, more than double the overall .83 estimate. Implications for the study of faking are discussed.