自发性知觉经络反应中产生刺麻感和积极情绪的原因

自发性知觉经络反应(autonomous sensory meridian response,ASMR)是指在特定的视听刺激下,某些个体(ASMR敏感个体)在头皮后部、颈部乃至全身体验到一种令人极度愉快和放松的刺麻感的现象。其中,刺麻感的产生可能是个体大脑中负责感觉和肌肉运动的脑区高度激活引起的; 而与情绪和奖赏有关脑区的高度激活以及心率和呼吸频率的下降可能是产生愉快和放松感的重要原因。相比普通个体,ASMR敏感个体具有较高的神经质、共情特质、感觉受暗示性和特质正念。这可能说明ASMR敏感个体的感觉敏感性较高,情绪稳定性较弱,且比较关注自己身体的内外感受。这些个性特质可能导致ASMR敏感个体对某些视听刺激中所包含的一些感觉和情绪信息更加敏感,对其反应也更加强烈。目前,ASMR已经被用于抑郁,压力,失眠和慢性疼痛等的临床治疗以及商业广告之中。但ASMR可能会干扰个体的执行功能,在认知控制需求较高的情景下应尽量避免接触ASMR刺激。     

The social dynamics involved in recovery and return to sport following a sport-related concussion: A study of three athlete-teammate-coach triads

An athlete's connection to their team and team members is an important part of their sport experience. However, researchers currently know little about the nature of these social dynamics with respect to concussed athletes. Our study explored athletes' recovery and reintegration into the team environment following a sport-related concussion. We conducted semi-structured interviews with each member of three athlete-teammate-coach triads (N = 9). We analysed the data using thematic narrative analysis and present the results as three stories that focused on each athlete's experience. For Cassie, we found two major plot points in her story: the transition in her role (and shift in identity) from athlete to student assistant coach/team manager and, once recovered, back to an athlete on the team. For Jess, we found that the main plot in her story was “pressure”. Specifically, the interplay between internal (placed on herself) and external (perceived from teammates and coaches) pressures to return to sport. In the third and final story, the main plot point was the tensions that arose from Jaden's preferences for social support and the type of support that his teammates and coaches believed he needed during his recovery. Our results highlight the interplay between athlete's personal and social identities, feelings of pressure to return and readiness, and the challenges of providing the right amount and type of social support. This research contributes to our limited understanding of the social dynamics involved in athletes' return to sport following a concussion.     

教与学的大脑：人际神经科学助推教育研究

如何从神经生理层面刻画教育活动的人际互动模式和动态性是教育神经科学面临的一个重要挑战。人际神经科学视角为其提供了可能的解决途径; 这一新兴的视角通过记录和分析进行同一认知活动时两人或多人大脑活动之间的关联, 来揭示大脑活动的群体模式。目前, 人际神经科学方法已被应用于教育研究, 例如监控教学过程、预测教学效果和识别教学影响因素, 相应的研究成果对教育活动具有重要启示。未来的研究者可以更多地关注不同学习水平的学生大脑的互动机制及人际神经科学方法应用于技能教学及线上教学评估的巨大潜力。     

A systematic review of the effectiveness of machine learning for predicting psychosocial outcomes in acquired brain injury: Which algorithms are used and why?

Clinicians working in the field of acquired brain injury (ABI, an injury to the brain sustained after birth) are challenged to develop suitable care pathways for an individual client’s needs. Being able to predict psychosocial outcomes after ABI would enable clinicians and service providers to make advance decisions and better tailor care plans. Machine learning (ML, a predictive method from the field of artificial intelligence) is increasingly used for predicting ABI outcomes. This review aimed to examine the efficacy of using ML to make psychosocial predictions in ABI, evaluate the methodological quality of studies, and understand researchers’ rationale for their choice of ML algorithms. Nine studies were reviewed from five databases, predicting a range of psychosocial outcomes from stroke, traumatic brain injury, and concussion. Eleven types of ML were employed with a total of 75 ML models. Every model was evaluated as having high risk of bias, unable to provide adequate evidence for predictive performance due to poor methodological quality. Overall, there was limited rationale for the choice of ML algorithms and poor evaluation of the methodological limitations by study authors. Considerations for overcoming methodological shortcomings are discussed, along with suggestions for assessing the suitability of data and suitability of ML algorithms for different ABI research questions.     

Visual aspects of centrally elicited attack behavior in the cat: “Patterned reflexes” associated with selection of and approach to a rat

It has been previously suggested that the electrical brain stimulation which elicits quiet-biting attack in the cat actively affects the way the central nervous system processes visual and tactile information concerned with the reflexes involved in the terminal aspects of attack. In order to examine the effects of brain stimulation on a nonterminal aspect of attack – the stimulated cat's selection of and approach to a rat – cats were implanted with attack-eliciting electrodes in both the lateral hypothalamus and the midbrain ventral tegmental area. These cats were then tested in an 8-ft-long cage, one end of which was divided into three, 2-ft-long parallel compartments, whose openings faced the end of the cage from which the cat commenced its approach. An anesthetized rat was placed at the back of one compartment, a bowl of food at the back of another compartment, and the third compartment contained no object. It was found in the first experiment that the attack elicited by nearly all electrodes was selectively directed at the rat. However, the success of the cat in finding the compartment containing the rat varied dramatically for different electrodes in the same cat. Further, these differences were stable and did not change as the cat gained experience with the task. The results suggested that the stimulation of different brain sites in the same cat differentially affected the visual neural mechanisms involved in guiding a cat to a rat. Previous studies have also suggested that the effects of brain stimulation which elicits quiet-biting attack are largely lateralized to the side of the brain stimulated. In order to determine if the effects of stimulation on the neural mechanisms mediating the visually guided approach of a cat to a rat were also lateralized, attempts were made in a second experiment to disrupt the visual input to one side of the brain by unilaterally transecting the optic tract. It was found that this manipulation interfered with the visually guided selective approach to a rat, if the cat was stimulated through hypothalamic or mid-brain electrodes ipsilateral to the optic tract transection, but not if the hypothalamic or midbrain stimulation was on the contralateral (visually intact) side of the brain. However, any final interpretation of the results was confounded by the finding in all of these cats of a complex syndrome of neglect of all contralateral sensory information.     

“Together towards a Banquet”: The Feast as Promise and Resistance in Together Towards Life and Contemporary Theological Discourse

This article explores the symbol of the feast, as proposed by the 2012 World Council of Churches’ affirmation Together towards Life: Mission and Evangelism in Changing Landscapes (TTL). The feast is introduced as an appropriate hermeneutic tool to account for the multi-layered and dynamic reality of human life in the presence of others and in the presence of God. Interpreting the feast, together with TTL, as a symbol of the liberation and reconciliation of the whole creation and of the celebration of life in response to the outreaching love of God, the article reflects on some contemporary theological voices arguing that God’s invitation to the feast of God’s kingdom is a central element of Christian existence. Such feasting is, among other things, characterized by the dynamics of facing, the presence of the other, the awareness of human corporeality, and the particularization of the other that can overcome the idolatrous power of death. Entering this conversation, the present article will argue that the symbol of the feast can helpfully be understood in its two-fold dynamics of promise and resistance. While giving assurance about the transformation of all reality in the coming reign of justice and peace, the symbol of the feast, with its emphasis on inclusiveness and equality, also empowers people to resist all life-denying forces. Walking with the rest of the creation “together towards a banquet,” Christians are thus enabled, it will be asserted, to discern and actively live their vocation.     

Regression II. Development through regression

As shown in our previous paper (‘Regression I. Experimental approaches to regression’, JAP, 65, 2, 345-65), the common mechanism of regression can be described as reversible dedifferentiation, which is understood as a relative increase of the proportion of low-differentiated (older) systems in actualized experience. Experimental data show that regression following disease (chronic tension headache) is followed by adaptation and an increase in system differentiation in that experience domain which contains systems responsible for that adaptation. The results of mathematical modelling support the idea that reversible dedifferentiation can be one of the mechanisms for increasing the effectiveness of adaptation through learning. Reversible dedifferentiation, which is phenomenologically described as regression, is a general mechanism for restructuring the organism-environment interactions in situations where behaviours that were effective in the past become ineffective. Reversible dedifferentiation has evolved as a component of adaptation when new behaviours are formed and large-scale modifications in the existing behaviours are required in the face of changes in the external and/or internal environment. Thus, the authors believe that this article provides evidence for Jung’s view that regression is not only a ‘return’ to past forms of thinking, affects and behaviour, but that regressive processes provide a significant impetus for psychological growth and development.     

Cerebral blood flow in 5‐ to 8‐month‐olds: Regional tissue maturity is associated with infant affect

Infancy is marked by rapid neural and emotional development. The relation between brain function and emotion in infancy, however, is not well understood. Methods for measuring brain function predominantly rely on the BOLD signal; however, interpretation of the BOLD signal in infancy is challenging because the neuronal‐hemodynamic relation is immature. Regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) provides a context for the infant BOLD signal and can yield insight into the developmental maturity of brain regions that may support affective behaviors. This study aims to elucidate the relations among rCBF, age, and emotion in infancy. One hundred and seven mothers reported their infants' (infant age M ± SD = 6.14 ± 0.51 months) temperament. A subsample of infants completed MRI scans, 38 of whom produced usable perfusion MRI during natural sleep to quantify rCBF. Mother‐infant dyads completed the repeated Still‐Face Paradigm, from which infant affect reactivity and recovery to stress were quantified. We tested associations of infant age at scan, temperament factor scores, and observed affect reactivity and recovery with voxel‐wise rCBF. Infant age was positively associated with CBF in nearly all voxels, with peaks located in sensory cortices and the ventral prefrontal cortex, supporting the formulation that rCBF is an indicator of tissue maturity. Temperamental Negative Affect and recovery of positive affect following a stressor were positively associated with rCBF in several cortical and subcortical limbic regions, including the orbitofrontal cortex and inferior frontal gyrus. This finding yields insight into the nature of affective neurodevelopment during infancy. Specifically, infants with relatively increased prefrontal cortex maturity may evidence a disposition toward greater negative affect and negative reactivity in their daily lives yet show better recovery of positive affect following a social stressor.     

睡眠剥夺对风险决策的影响机制探讨

许多行业的决策者必须在睡眠不足的状态下做出选择与判断。睡眠剥夺是睡眠不足的实验室模型, 被证明能显著影响风险决策, 但内在机制不明。基于前人研究基础提出假设模型, 即睡眠剥夺通过影响个体的反馈加工、风险感知、抑制控制、决策理性, 进而影响风险决策。拟通过实验室研究与现场研究, 采用简单赌博任务、概率折扣任务、双选择Oddball任务等研究范式, 对比睡眠剥夺前后被试在执行上述实验任务时的行为差异, 同时比较执行控制网络、奖赏网络等脑功能网络连接强度, 以及任务诱发的FRN等脑电成分在睡眠剥夺前后的变化, 进而论证上述反应被试反馈加工等心理过程的行为-脑电-脑成像指标的变化与睡眠剥夺后被试风险决策变化的关系。研究结果将科学地解释睡眠剥夺影响风险决策的内在机制, 为进一步探讨如何规避睡眠不足导致的决策失误提供理论与实证依据。     

人名发音与脸型的跨模态映射效应

摘要:本文基于无意义词与简单几何体之间的跨模态映射效应,来研究社会知觉中人名发音与脸型的关系。本研究控制了人名发音的唇形和人物面孔的轮廓,通过简单匹配范式来考察人名发音与面孔之间是否存在跨模态映射效应。结果发现：被试将圆唇人名与圆面孔匹配、扁唇人名与尖面孔匹配的概率,均显著大于随机水平。该结果说明了人名发音和脸型之间存在跨模态映射效应,这不仅拓宽了声音-形状跨模态映射的研究范围,对于人们取名字方面具有一定的指导意义。