Existential function of babies: Babies as a buffer of death-related anxiety

The present study examined babies as death anxiety buffers with Chinese participants in three experiments. In Experiment 1, death-related thoughts increased college-aged participants' interest in human babies. In Experiment 2, images of newborn animals reduced the number of death-related thoughts recorded by college-aged participants. In Experiment 3, female factory workers who read news articles describing deaths of babies had pessimistic estimations of their own life expectancies. An explanation of these results is provided within a terror management theory framework, with a primary focus on how babies reinforce cultural worldviews and enhance self-esteem via the notion of symbolic immortality. Thus, the anxiety-buffering function of baby is subsumed under cultural worldviews validation and self-esteem enhancement.     

从现代系统科学角度看冠状动脉支架置入术后再狭窄

随着介入治疗技术在临床的广泛应用,目前已成为治疗冠心病(CAD)的主要方法之一.目前国内外指南一致推荐对于CAD的大多数de novo病变常规置入支架,可有效减少单纯球囊扩张的并发症和再狭窄的发生率,但支架内再狭窄的形成又日益突出,成为严重影响介入治疗远期疗效的主要问题.对再狭窄发生机制的研究近十年来取得诸多新进展,对其发生机制的研究和探索为解决这个世纪难题提供了理论基础和依据.本文应用现代系统科学的自组织理论,从哲学角度深入认识和理解这一病理过程.     

论进化心理学的“心理机制”

“心理机制”是进化心理学的核心概念。对这一概念的理解直接影响着对整个进化心理学理论的理解。该文尝试从心理学其它相关学科的角度,对这一概念的性质进行充分的解读与分析,同时也指出进化心理学“心理机制”理论之明显误区,并在此基础上对进化心理学价值之所在给予充分的彰显。     

心理理论研究三十年：回顾与反思

自Premack和Woodruff于1978年提出心理理论至今,心理理论研究已走过了30年的历程。当前心理理论研究已经成为发展心理学、心灵哲学、认知科学所关注的热门课题。文章回顾了心理理论研究的缘起和概念、内容与基本范式、问题与困境,在此基础上反思了心理理论研究困境与解释模型的关系,并对该领域未来研究方向做了展望。     

Effect of spatial inhibition on saccade trajectory depends on location-based mechanisms

Abstract:  Saccade trajectory often curves away from a previously attended, inhibited location. A recent study of curved saccades showed that an inhibitory effect prevents ineffective reexamination during serial visual search. The time course of this effect differs from that of a similar inhibitory effect, known as inhibition of return (IOR). In the present study, we examined whether this saccade-related inhibitory effect can operate in an object-based manner (similar to IOR). Using a spatial cueing paradigm, we demonstrated that if a cue is presented on a placeholder that is then shifted from its original location, the saccade trajectory curves away from the original (cued) location (Experiment 1), yet the IOR effect is observed on the cued placeholder (Experiment 2). The inhibitory mechanism that causes curved saccades appears to operate in a location-based manner, whereas the mechanism underlying IOR appears to operate in an object-based manner. We propose that these inhibitory mechanisms work in a complementary fashion to guide eye movements efficiently under conditions of a dynamic visual environment.     

Overtensing and the effect of regularity

Regularly inflected forms often behave differently in language production than irregular forms. These differences are often used to argue that irregular forms are listed in the lexicon but regular forms are produced by rule. Using an experimental speech production task with adults, it is shown that overtensing errors, where a tensed verb is used in place of an infinitive, predominantly involve irregular forms, but that the differences may be due to phonological confounds, not to regularity per se. Errors involve vowel‐changing irregular forms more than suffixing inflected forms, with at best a small difference between regular ‐ed and irregular ‐en. Frequency effects on overtensing errors require a model in which the past‐tense and base forms of the verb are in competition and in which activation functions are nonlinear, and rule out models with specialized subnetworks for past‐tense forms. Implications for theories of language production are discussed.     

Evolution: Journey or Random Walk?

Though early ideas of evolution saw it as progressive, most modern theories see it as a random walk. The theories of Richard Dawkins, Stephen Jay Gould, Edward O. Wilson, Stuart Kauffman, Steven Rose, and Robert Wesson are surveyed, showing their agreement on the fact of evolution but not on the mechanism. Evolution is an incomplete theory. Any theology should therefore be based only on its broadest features. Generally, evolution is the development of complex forms from simple ancestors. Within a Christian context, it can be seen as a journey toward the unification of all things in Christ, the ultimate complexity.     

失用性失写的脑机制

失用性失写是指人们知道该如何书写, 但实际上却不会书写或错误书写的一种现象。失用性失写涉及的神经网络包括皮层与皮层连接、皮层与皮质下连接。其中前者包括额-顶叶相关脑区的连接、顶-枕叶相关脑区的连接以及额-顶-枕相关脑区的连接, 这些神经网络分别负责操作空间表征图像、回忆以及检索字母的形状等; 后者包括小脑与额-顶叶的连接、左丘脑-大脑皮质的连接以及纹状体-内囊-左额顶叶的连接等, 它们分别与图像输出程序、书写运动过程、操作指令的执行过程以及字素形成过程等有关。今后的研究应该集中在完善失用性失写的研究范式、深入探讨失用性失写的心理机制以及推动其康复工作的开展等方面。     

建议采纳的认知机制

决策者的认知特点, 以及决策过程中建议者,任务特征,环境因素等都会影响决策者的认知加工, 并最终影响建议采纳.目前建议采纳过程中的认知研究主要集中于决策者方面, 本文通过总结以往研究, 从决策者的认知风格,社会认知复杂性,认知策略以及情绪对认知的影响等四个方面, 系统阐述了认知对建议采纳的影响.同时, 结合态度改变理论,解释水平理论,具身认知理论以及认知失调理论等进一步讨论了建议采纳的认知发生机制, 并在此基础上初步构建了建议采纳认知机制模型.未来研究可进一步探讨决策者的认知灵活性,认知闭合需要等对建议采纳的影响, 以及建议提出的认知机制, 以丰富建议采纳领域研究.     

发展性阅读障碍的视听时间敏感性缺陷及其脑神经机制

阅读是一个视听加工过程,阅读障碍的产生可能是过程中视听时间敏感性缺陷的结果。视听时间敏感性指个体对视觉和听觉刺激出现时间的感知能力,可通过同时性判断、时间顺序判断和视听整合考察。研究发现,阅读障碍者在这一能力上表现出行为和脑层面异常。而这些研究多是拼音文字背景,汉语文字下该领域研究相当少。未来需要丰富实验设计,扩大对汉语背景下视听时间敏感性研究,并以此开发干预手段,为阅读障碍的机制和治疗提供借鉴。