工作记忆广度：资源限制、记忆消退还是转换机制？

为了检验工作记忆广度有限性的3种假说,即资源限制假说、记忆消退假说和转换机制假说,实验要求被试首先完成一项转换效率任务,然后完成工作记忆广度任务。结果发现,加工负荷对工作记忆广度具有重要影响,保持时间不影响工作记忆广度,转换效率与工作记忆广度也没有显著相关。实验结果支持工作记忆广度受认知资源限制的观点     

Neuropsychological functioning in kleptomania

Kleptomania is characterized by the failure to resist impulses to steal objects not needed for personal use or their monetary value. The objective of this study was to examine cognitive and executive functioning in subjects with kleptomania. Fifteen women with a primary DSM-IV diagnosis of kleptomania underwent a detailed psychiatric examination, including measures of kleptomania severity, and a battery of neuropsychological tests that emphasized executive functions. Correlational analyses were computed between measures of kleptomania severity and tests of executive functioning. Kleptomania subjects reported a mean duration of illness of 17.9 years and shoplifting a mean of 1.7 times per week. All subjects reported an inability to resist urges to shoplift. Neuropsychological testing revealed group mean test scores within 0.5 standard deviations of normative standards for age. Five subjects (33.3%), however, had below-average performance on at least one measure of executive functioning, and 4 (26.7%) had below-average scores on two executive measures. Correlational analyses revealed a statistically significant correlation between kleptomania severity and Wisconsin Card Sorting Test performance (r=-0.693, p=0.004). As a group, subjects with kleptomania did not demonstrate deficits on neuropsychological testing. Greater kleptomania symptom severity, however, was correlated with impairment in executive functioning.     

Global coherence in younger and older adults: Influence of cognitive processes and discourse type

The purpose of the present research was to examine the influence of cognitive processes on discourse global coherence ability measured across different discourse tasks and collected from younger (n = 40; 20–39 years) and older (n = 40; 70–87 years) cognitively healthy adults. Study participants produced oral language samples in response to five commonly used discourse elicitation tasks and they were analyzed for maintenance of global coherence. Participants also completed memory and attention measures. Group differences on the global coherence scale were found for only one type of discourse—recounts. Across discourse elicitation tasks the lowest global coherence scores were found for recounts compared to the other discourse elicitation tasks. The influence of cognitive processes on maintenance of global coherence differed for the two age groups. For the younger group, there were no observed significant relationships. For the older group, cognitive measures were related to global coherence of stories and procedures.     

Does inconsistency always lead to negative affect? The influence of need for closure on affective reactions to cognitive inconsistency

We present an experiment showing that need for closure (NFC)—defined as the epistemic desire for certainty—can moderate individuals' affective reactions to cognitive inconsistency. Informed by Kruglanski and colleagues' new theory, that cognitive inconsistency elicits negative affect particularly under certain circumstances, we find that NFC (i.e. the desire for certain, stable and unambiguous knowledge) influences the strength of consistency effects and resulting negative affect. More specifically, we find that individuals who are high on NFC experience more negative affect upon encountering an inconsistent (vs. consistent) cognition. However, when individuals are low on NFC, inconsistency is irrelevant, and their affect depends on whether the ultimate outcome of the cognition is positive or negative. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of this research.     

走神研究的理论、方法与展望

走神是一种将注意从当前主要任务转移到内部思维的认知现象,具有刺激独立、任务无关、主观自发等特点。其测量方法以主观报告法为主,同时也采用行为实验、电生理技术和认知神经科学等方法。本文重点回顾了走神的二分结构、负面结果和潜在功能等方面的研究成果。然后,在此基础上,从走神的发生机制及其与执行控制的关系角度,介绍了三个理论观点：执行资源假设、控制失败假设和资源控制假设。根据最新研究进展预测,未来对走神概念将会做更细致的区分,并考虑结合元认知监测相关理论进行研究,这不仅可以为学习者提供具体的指导建议,还将进一步加深我们对意识、元认知和注意的理解。     

Computational model of enactive visuospatial mental imagery using saccadic perceptual actions

From the onset of cognitive revolution, the concept of mental imagery has been given different, many times opposing, theoretical accounts. Mental imagery appears to be a ubiquitous, yet wholly individual, easy to explain experience on the one hand, being hard to deal with scientifically on the other hand. The focus of this research is on an enactive approach to visuospatial mental imagery, inspired by Sima’s perceptual instantiation theory. We designed a hybrid computational model, composed of a forward model, an inverse model, both implemented as neural networks, and a memory/controller module, that grounds simple mental concepts, such as a triangle and a square, in perceptual actions, and is able to reimagine these objects by performing the necessary perceptual actions in a simulated humanoid robot. We tested the model on three tasks – salience-based object recognition, imagination-based object recognition and object imagination – and achieved very good results showing, as a proof of concept, that perceptual actions are a viable candidate for grounding the visuospatial mental concepts as well as the credible substrate of visuospatial mental imagery.     

心理学:人力资源管理和开发的一条独特途径

企业竞争中其他资源的无差异化导致了人力资源成为关注的热点问题。研究人力资源问题时,心理学应该突出自己的学科特点和优势：从个体关怀的角度出发;回答“为什么”的问题;重视理论与实务之间的联系;强调意识层面的问题。要想对管理实践起到切实的指导作用,应该掀起一场心理学理论和知识的工具化和可操作化运动。     

Couple‐based Intervention for Depression: An Effectiveness Study in the National Health Service in England

This study represents an effectiveness study and service evaluation of a cognitive behavioral, couple‐based treatment for depression (BCT‐D) provided in London services that are part of the “Improving Access to Psychological Therapies” (IAPT) program in England. Twenty‐three therapists in community clinics were trained in BCT‐D during a 5‐day workshop, followed by monthly group supervision for 1 year. The BCT‐D treatment outcome findings are based on 63 couples in which at least one partner was depressed and elected to receive BCT‐D. Eighty‐five percent of couples also demonstrated relationship distress, and 49% of the nonclient partners also met caseness for depression or anxiety. Findings demonstrated a recovery rate of 57% with BCT‐D, compared to 41% for all IAPT treatments for depression in London. Nonclient partners who met caseness demonstrated a 48% recovery rate with BCT‐D, although they were not the focus of treatment. BCT‐D was equally effective for clients regardless of the clinical status of the nonclient partner, suggesting its effectiveness in assisting both members of the couple simultaneously. Likewise, treatment was equally effective whether or not both partners reported relationship distress. The findings are promising regarding the successful application of BCT‐D in routine clinical settings.     

Translating the ICAP Theory of Cognitive Engagement Into Practice

ICAP is a theory of active learning that differentiates students’ engagement based on their behaviors. ICAP postulates that I nteractive engagement, demonstrated by co‐generative collaborative behaviors, is superior for learning to C onstructive engagement, indicated by generative behaviors. Both kinds of engagement exceed the benefits of A ctive or P assive engagement, marked by manipulative and attentive behaviors, respectively. This paper discusses a 5‐year project that attempted to translate ICAP into a theory of instruction using five successive measures: (a) teachers’ understanding of ICAP after completing an online module, (b) their success at designing lesson plans using different ICAP modes, (c) fidelity of teachers’ classroom implementation, (d) modes of students’ enacted behaviors, and (e) students’ learning outcomes. Although teachers had minimal success in designing Constructive and Interactive activities, students nevertheless learned significantly more in the context of Constructive than Active activities. We discuss reasons for teachers’ overall difficulty in designing and eliciting Interactive engagement.     

Sequenced neurocognitive and behavioral parent training for the treatment of ADHD in school-age children

The present study examines the potential of sequencing a neurocognitive intervention with behavioral parent training (BPT) to improve executive functions (EFs), psychiatric symptoms, and multiple indices of functional impairment in school-age children aged 7 to 11 years who have been diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Specifically, in a randomized controlled trial design, 85 children were assigned to either Cogmed Working Memory Training (CWMT) followed by an empirically supported, manualized BPT intervention, or to a placebo version of CWMT followed by the same BPT intervention. Working memory maintenance (i.e., attention control/short-term memory), working memory processing and manipulation, ADHD and oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) symptoms, impairment in parent–child dynamics, familial impairment, and overall functional compromise were evaluated as outcomes. The results suggest specific effects of the combined CWMT and BPT program on verbal and nonverbal working memory storage and nonverbal working memory processing and manipulation but no incremental benefits in regard to ADHD symptoms, ODD symptoms, and functional outcomes. The present findings do not support the hypothesis regarding the complementary and augmentative benefits of sequenced neurocognitive and BPT interventions for the treatment of ADHD. These results, the study’s limitations, and future directions for research are further discussed.