加工速度、自我监控对认知操作的影响

本研究用认知操作的部分内容,探索了青少年在认知操作活动中年龄、自我监控、加工速度对认知操作的影响,研究发现：本研究结果表明,年龄对自我监控有显著的负效应,对认知操作有显著的正效应,自我监控对加工速度有非常显著的正效应,对认知操作有显著的负效应,加工速度对认知操作有显著的负效应。     

CONTINGENT PAYMENT PROCEDURES FOR SMOKING REDUCTION AND CESSATION

We assessed the ability of a combined contingent reinforcement and intensive monitoring procedure to promote and sustain temporary smoking cessation among 34 hired research volunteers, and the ability of a smoking reduction test to predict the subsequent initiation of abstinence. During the 5-day cutdown test, subjects were paid from $0 to $6 per day depending on the extent of reduction from baseline CO levels. During the abstinence test, breath samples were obtained three times daily and subjects were paid $4 for each CO reading ≤11 ppm. Sixty-eight percent of subjects initiated abstinence. Of the breath samples collected during the abstinence test (91% of scheduled samples), 96.5% were ≤11 ppm and 80.5% were ≤8 ppm. Subjects who earned more money during the cutdown test were more likely to abstain (r = ?0.51, p < .001). Contingent reinforcement and intensive monitoring procedures appear to have usefulness for analog studies of smoking reduction and cessation.     

Objective assessments of quality of life: How much do they agree with each other?

Information was collected on 14 objective measures of service quality in 15 staffed houses for people with learning disabilities. Measures or dimensions of the measures were grouped under six headings: (1) quality of housing; (2) social and community integration; (3) social interactions; (4) development; (5) activity; and (6) autonomy and choice. Rank order correlation coefficients were calculated to explore the extent to which different quality assessments within each category agreed. Overall, there was a reassuring level of agreement. Some of the lack of agreement found could be attributed to the fact that, even though addressing the same general area, measures were focused on subtly different facets of the phenomenon under study. Other disagreement seemed to stem from the interaction between the nature of the information and the process for obtaining it. Comparisons between measures which required staff to give an opinion about how the setting was organized, and those which either required staff to comment on resident activity or employed independent observation, tended to disagree. The study illustrates that the basis for translating a multidimensional definition of quality into measurable terms is developing. Further research to examine the interrelationship between measurement approaches is warranted.     

An analysis of a performance feedback system: the effects of timing and feedback, public posting, and praise upon academic performance and peer interaction

In the first experiment, after establishing baseline composition rates in each classroom, timing (announcing time limits) and feedback (student self-scoring) were introduced followed by the introduction, removal, and reintroduction of public posting of highest scores. Timing and feedback improved story writing performance and public posting of highest scores improved performance even further in both classrooms. Teacher praise produced further improvement in one classroom but had no effect on performance in the other. Changes in on-task behavior paralleled changes in writing rate. Comments made by children concerning their own work or work of their peers were recorded throughout the experiment. Although the baseline rate of performance comments was almost zero, the introduction of each variable markedly increased the rate of performance comments. In the second experiment, baseline rates on reading and language exercises were established in a fifth-grade classroom. The entire performance feedback system was introduced on a multiple baseline across the two behaviors and then removed during the final phase of the experiment. Introducing the system improved performance on both tasks. These results further increased the generality of some of the findings of the previous experiment and of previous research on the efficacy of the experimental package of timing, feedback, public posting, and praise.     

The impact of spouse monitoring on target behavior and recorder satisfaction

The objectives of this study were (a) to determine the impact of a spouse monitoring procedure on the target's (husband's) behavior and the recorder (wife's) view of the marriage and (b) to assess the relationship between the target's positive behaviors and the recorder's marital satisfaction rating. In one condition, husbands were informed that their behavior was being observed, whereas in a comparison group, husbands were kept unaware of the observation procedure. In both conditions, wives kept daily recordings of (a) positive behaviors emitted by their husbands and (b) perceptions of their marital relationships. No differences were found in rates of husbands' behavior or in wives' perceptions of their marriages as a function of the awareness manipulation. Analyses examining the relationship between spouse behavior and daily satisfaction ratings indicated a statistically reliable association, although the majority of variance in satisfaction ratings was attributable to unique subject variables.This article is based on a thesis submitted by the first author to the Department of Psychology of the University of Pittsburgh. The described research was supported in part by a Faculty Research Grant from the University of Pittsburgh awarded to the second author.     

Fronto-parietal mirror neuron system modeling: Visuospatial transformations support imitation learning independently of imitator perspective

Although the human mirror neuron system (MNS) is critical for action observation and imitation, most MNS investigations overlook the visuospatial transformation processes that allow individuals to interpret and imitate actions observed from differing perspectives. This problem is not trivial since accurately reaching for and grasping an object requires a visuospatial transformation mechanism capable of precisely remapping fine motor skills where the observer’s and imitator’s arms and hands may have quite different orientations and sizes. Accordingly, here we describe a novel neural model to investigate the dynamics between the fronto-parietal MNS and visuospatial processes during observation and imitation of a reaching and grasping action. Our model encompasses i) the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and inferior parietal lobule (IPL), regions that are postulated to produce neural drive and sensory predictions, respectively; ii) the middle temporal (MT) and middle superior temporal (MST) regions that are postulated to process visual motion of a particular action; and iii) the superior parietal lobule (SPL) and intra-parietal sulcus (IPS) that are hypothesized to encode the visuospatial transformations enabling action observation/imitation based on different visuospatial viewpoints. The results reveal that when a demonstrator executes an action, an imitator can reproduce it with similar kinematics, independently of differences in anthropometry, distance, and viewpoint. As with prior empirical findings, similar model synaptic activity was observed during both action observation and execution along with the existence of both view-independent and view-dependent neural populations in the frontal MNS. Importantly, this work generates testable behavioral and neurophysiological predictions. Namely, the model predicts that i) during observation/imitation the response time increases linearly as the rotation angle of the observed action increases but remain similar when performing both clockwise and counterclockwise rotation and ii) IPL embeds essentially view-independent neurons while SPL/IPS includes both view-independent and view-dependent neurons. Overall, this work suggests that MT/MST visuomotion processes combined with the SPL/IPS allow the MNS to observe and imitate actions independently of demonstrator-imitator spatial relationships.     

错误后减慢理论模型述评

错误后减慢是指错误后正确反应与正确后正确反应相比反应时显著延长的现象.目前研究者已经发现错误后减慢、错误后正确率提高以及错误后干扰效应减少三种错误调控行为,其中错误后减慢是最稳定的错误后行为表现.早期研究主要从冲突监控理论、激活抑制假说、强化学习理论和失匹配理论等角度解释该现象,近年来,研究者又提出了注意朝向理论和评估适应假说.对于该领域未来的研究可以从错误类型、无意识加工、个体差异、新的分析技术的运用方面考虑,以便全面揭示错误后减慢现象的本质.     

乐观性对自我反思和内在觉知与心理健康之间关系的调节作用

本研究的主要目的是检验乐观性对自我反思和内在觉知与心理健康之间关系的调节作用。研究被试为来自北京市三所高校的568名大学生,所采用的主要测量工具有:个人自我意识量表,乐观性问卷、自尊量表和一般健康问卷(GHQ-20)。主要研究结果为:(1)乐观性可以调节自我反思和一般健康状况之间的关系、但是不可以调节自我反思和自尊之间的关系;(2)乐观性可以调节内在觉知和一般健康状况之间的关系,同时也可以调节自我反思和自尊之间的关系。本研究的主要结论是:乐观性对于自我反思和内在觉知与心理健康之间关系的调节作用假设得到部分支持。     

Proactive and reactive control depends on emotional valence: a Stroop study with emotional expressions and words

We examined proactive and reactive control effects in the context of task-relevant happy, sad, and angry facial expressions on a face-word Stroop task. Participants identified the emotion expressed by a face that contained a congruent or incongruent emotional word (happy/sad/angry). Proactive control effects were measured in terms of the reduction in Stroop interference (difference between incongruent and congruent trials) as a function of previous trial emotion and previous trial congruence. Reactive control effects were measured in terms of the reduction in Stroop interference as a function of current trial emotion and previous trial congruence. Previous trial negative emotions exert greater influence on proactive control than the positive emotion. Sad faces in the previous trial resulted in greater reduction in the Stroop interference for happy faces in the current trial. However, current trial angry faces showed stronger adaptation effects compared to happy faces. Thus, both proactive and reactive control mechanisms are dependent on emotional valence of task-relevant stimuli.