心理模拟对陆军士兵构建沙盘表征的增强效应

跟随路径的心理模拟是一种想象练习。通过设定对照组检验了基于学习的第一人称和第三人称心理模拟完成方位判断任务和场景再认任务的情况,考察不同心理模拟条件下位置关系表征和视觉记忆表征的构建质量。结果发现,和休息条件相比,第三人称心理模拟和第一人称心理模拟均易于完成方位判断任务和场景再认任务;且第三人称模拟比第一人称心理模拟更易于完成两个任务。结果提示,心理模拟对表征质量有增强效应,场景外强化比场景内强化更易构建表征质量。结果支持位置关系表征一种表征假说。     

动词理解中空间表征的激活过程

探讨动词理解中空间表征的激活过程。被试听以不同空间轴向动词作谓语的句子后辨认视觉刺激的形状。实验1以肯定句为材料探讨语义理解对视知觉任务的影响。实验2以客观原因否定句为材料排除句子表征的影响。实验3以主观原因否定句为材料探讨动词空间元素的激活机制。总的结果表明,动词理解过程中激活其表征中的空间元素,这种激活是自动的、非策略性的,不受情境中客观原因或主观意愿否定的影响。动词理解空间效应反映了语言表征中的知觉运动特征     

汉语主动句、被动句的命题表征项目顺序特点

以中国大学生为被试,采用句子—图画验证任务(sentence-picture verification task )探讨了中国学生理解汉语主动句、被动句所形成的命题表征中项目顺序特点。结果表明,无论是语义水平较高的不可逆句,还是语义水平较低的可逆句,中国学生理解汉语主动句、被动句所建构的命题表征中项目顺序均为“施事→受事”。本研究结果初步表明,中国学生理解汉语主动句和被动句时,能根据它们不同的表层结构（汉语主动句的语言表达顺序为“施事→受事”、汉语被动句的语言表达顺序为“受事→施事”）建构相同的深层结构（语义内容的命题表征项目顺序“施事→受事”）,可能是一个按照“施事→受事”固定方向进行的系列认知心理加工的过程     

物体位置与空间关系的心理表征

外界环境中物体位置与空间关系在记忆中如何表征,一直是空间认知研究领域探讨和争论的热点问题。该文从空间表征的参照框架、朝向特异性、组织结构和存储内容四个方面,系统回顾了近年来对空间表征形成机制与内在特征的理论探讨。在此基础上,进一步讨论了当前空间表征研究中存在的生态效度问题,以及以后将虚拟环境技术引入到空间认知研究中的发展趋势     

语言与数量认知关系的新认识

数量认知研究近年有长足发展。文章从新近提出的独立于语言的两个数量表征核心系统,语言与精确数量运算,语言与算术事实的储存,语言对儿童早期数概念发展的影响,语言与数量认知关系的最新脑科学证据,以及语言在数量认知模型中的角色等方面,介绍和评述了人类存在依赖和不依赖语言的两级数量能力的新认识。对于是否还存在其它不依赖语言的理解数量的系统,以及这些非语言数量表征系统的认知机制,文章认为有待进一步研究     

Location representation in enclosed spaces: What types of information afford young children an advantage?

It has been suggested that young children can only reorient, locating a target object, when the geometry of an enclosed space provides distinctive shape information [e.g., Hermer, L., & Spelke, E. (1994). A geometric process for spatial reorientation in young children. Nature, 370, 57-59]. Recently, however, young children were shown to specify location in a square-shaped space, where geometry is uninformative, so long as scale-like information was available on the walls of the space [Huttenlocher, J., & Lourenco, S. F. (2007a). Coding location in enclosed spaces: Is geometry the principle? Developmental Science, 10, 741-746]. Here we build on this work by examining more closely what types of cues afford 18- to 24-month-olds an advantage in locating a target object following disorientation. Their performance was assessed when linear scale-like information was presented either in isolation or in composite form. It was found that, even in isolation, young children searched at the appropriate locations, with added benefit when presented as a composite. We suggest that linear scale-like dimensions, especially when available in composite form, play a critical role in supporting location representation in young children.     

Rigorous results,cross-model justification,and the transfer of empirical warrant: the case of many-body models in physics

This paper argues that a successful philosophical analysis of models and simulations must accommodate an account of mathematically rigorous results. Such rigorous results may be thought of as genuinely model-specific contributions, which can neither be deduced from fundamental theory nor inferred from empirical data. Rigorous results provide new indirect ways of assessing the success of models and simulations and are crucial to understanding the connections between different models. This is most obvious in cases where rigorous results map different models on to one another. Not only does this put constraints on the extent to which performance in specific empirical contexts may be regarded as the main touchstone of success in scientific modelling, it also allows for the transfer of warrant across different models. Mathematically rigorous results can thus come to be seen as not only strengthening the cohesion between scientific strategies of modelling and simulation, but also as offering new ways of indirect confirmation.     

Working memory impairment in people with Williams syndrome: Effects of delay, task and stimuli

Williams syndrome (WS) is a neurodevelopmental disorder associated with impaired visuospatial representations subserved by the dorsal stream and relatively strong object recognition abilities subserved by the ventral stream. There is conflicting evidence on whether this uneven pattern in WS extends to working memory (WM). The present studies provide a new perspective, testing WM for a single stimulus using a delayed recognition paradigm in individuals with WS and typically developing children matched for mental age (MA matches). In three experiments, participants judged whether a second stimulus ‘matched’ an initial sample, either in location or identity. We first examined memory for faces, houses and locations using a 5 s delay (Experiment 1) and a 2 s delay (Experiment 2). We then tested memory for human faces, houses, cat faces, and shoes with a 2 s delay using a new set of stimuli that were better controlled for expression, hairline and orientation (Experiment 3). With the 5 s delay (Experiment 1), the WS group was impaired overall compared to MA matches. While participants with WS tended to perform more poorly than MA matches with the 2 s delay, they also exhibited an uneven profile compared to MA matches. Face recognition was relatively preserved in WS with friendly faces (Experiment 2) but not when the faces had a neutral expression and were less natural looking (Experiment 3). Experiment 3 indicated that memory for object identity was relatively stronger than memory for location in WS. These findings reveal an overall WM impairment in WS that can be overcome under some conditions. Abnormalities in the parietal lobe/dorsal stream in WS may damage not only the representation of spatial location but may also impact WM for visual stimuli more generally.     

Studying action representation in children via motor imagery

The use of motor imagery is a widely used experimental paradigm for the study of cognitive aspects of action planning and control in adults. Furthermore, there are indications that motor imagery provides a window into the process of action representation. These notions complement internal model theory suggesting that such representations allow predictions (estimates) about the mapping of the self to parameters of the external world; processes that enable successful planning and execution of action. The ability to mentally represent action is important to the development of motor control. This paper presents a critical review of motor imagery research conducted with children (typically developing and special populations) with focus on its merits and possible shortcomings in studying action representation. Included in the review are age-related findings, possible brain structures involved, experimental paradigms, and recommendations for future work. The merits of this review are associated with the apparent increasing attraction for using and studying motor imagery to understand the developmental aspects of action processing in children.