Developmental shifts in fMRI activations during visuospatial relational reasoning

To investigate maturational plasticity of fluid cognition systems, functional brain imaging was undertaken in healthy 8-19 year old participants while completing visuospatial relational reasoning problems similar to Raven's matrices and current elementary grade math textbooks. Analyses revealed that visuospatial relational reasoning across this developmental age range recruited activations in the superior parietal cortices most prominently, the dorsolateral prefrontal, occipital-temporal, and premotor/supplementary cortices, the basal ganglia, and insula. There were comparable activity volumes in left and right hemispheres for nearly all of these regions. Regression analyses indicated increasing activity predominantly in the superior parietal lobes with developmental age. In contrast, multiple anterior neural systems showed significantly less activity with age, including dorsolateral and ventrolateral prefrontal, paracentral, and insula cortices bilaterally, basal ganglia, and particularly large clusters in the midline anterior cingulate/medial frontal cortex, left middle cingulate/supplementary motor cortex, left insula-putamen, and left caudate. Findings suggest that neuromaturational changes associated with visuospatial relational reasoning shift from a more widespread fronto-cingulate-striatal pattern in childhood to predominant parieto-frontal activation pattern in late adolescence.     

Mental rotation of mirrored letters: evidence from event-related brain potentials

Event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were recorded while participants (n=13) were presented with mirrored and normal letters at different orientations and were asked to make mirror-normal letter discriminations. As it has been suggested that a mental rotation out of the plane might be necessary to decide on mirrored letters, we wanted to determine whether this rotation occurs after the plane rotation in mirror rotated letters. The results showed that mirrored letters in the upright position elicited a negative-going waveform over the right hemisphere in the 400-500 ms window. A similar negativity was also present in mirrored letters at 30 degrees, 60 degrees, and 90 degrees, but in these cases it was delayed. Moreover, the well-known orientation effect on the amplitude of the rotation-related negativity was also found, although it was more evident for normal than for mirrored letters. These results indicate that the processing of mirrored letters differs from that of normal letters, and suggest that a rotation out of the plane after the plane rotation may be involved in the processing of mirror rotated letters.     

Long-term ability to interpret facial expression after traumatic brain injury and its relation to social integration

There is considerable evidence that individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI) experience problems interpreting the emotional state of others. However, the functional implications of these changes have not been fully investigated. A study of 13 individuals with severe TBI and an equal number of matched controls found that TBI participants had significantly more difficulty interpreting facial expression and matching emotions to social situations. A significant relationship was also established between social integration and ability to interpret facial expression for TBI participants. These results support the inclusion of therapy targeting this area within rehabilitation programs for individuals with TBI.     

对恐怖情绪的调节：认知重评优于表达抑制 ——一样ERP研究

摘要 本研究采用事件相关电位（ERP）技术,通过测量由视觉诱发的脑电成分晚正波（LPP）来比较情绪调节策略在生理电特征上的差异,进一步探讨认知重评和表达抑制的优劣。实验结果表明：（1）从波幅的角度来比较：在400-600ms时间窗口内,认知重评条件下恐怖图片诱发的LPP波幅显著小于在自由观看条件下的波幅,而表达抑制和自由观看组所诱发的LPP波幅差异较小。（2）从时间进程的角度来比较：认知重评与自由观看组的差异发生在400ms并持续到600ms,甚至以后;而表达抑制和自由观看之间的差异发生在450ms但是只持续到550ms。这表明认知重评相较于表达抑制,对负性情绪起调节作用开始较早,并且持续时间较长。这为认知重评优于表达抑制策略提供了神经生理学上的证据。     

结构对称性汉字视觉识别特点的实验研究

用命名作业通过二个实验考察了结构对称性汉字的视觉识别特点,结果表明,汉字识别具有显著的结构对称性效应,识别结构对称性汉字的加工明显快于非对称性汉字,对称性效应与字频效应,笔画效应具有显著的交互作用,进一步的简单效应的分析表明,这种结构对称性效应在低频字中起作用,而在高频字中不起显著作用;在多笔画字中起作用,而在少毛画字中不起显著作用,这表明,对称性汉字中的具有冗余信息的格式塔部件促进地识别汉字的加     

Determinants of attentive blank stares. An EFRP study

Attentive blank stares mean a failure to notice changes in a visual scene, despite looking at the area of change (Caplovitz, Fendrich, & Hughes, 2008). In this research project we have shown that people differ in terms of attentive blank stare incidences. Novices tend to fail to notice changes in the target area more often than experts. This effect is greater in persons with low visual working memory capacity (VWMC) than with high VWMC. In addition, in a group of novices with low VWMC, attentive blank stares are more frequent compared to a group with high VWMC. Attentive blank stares did not disappear even after the high VWMC group were given expertise training. With the method of eye-fixation-related potentials (EFRP) we analyzed the amplitude of lambda response, which may reflect the state of the attentional system, during encoding information about a change, prior to a decision whether a change has occurred or not. We demonstrate that the cases of attentive blank stares are accompanied by significantly lower amplitude of the lambda response compared with cases involving change detection. In addition, we discovered greater lambda responses in a group with expertise who noticed the change than in novices. The EFRP record coming from occipital electrodes in the 80–180 ms window function was marked by left-sided asymmetry in the cases of change detection and by right-sided asymmetry in the cases of attentive blank stares.     

内-外倾人格对情绪调节的影响及神经机制

内—外倾人格(即外倾性)是与情绪活动密切相关的人格特质：该特质不但影响人类的适应能力与主观幸福感,还与焦虑、冲动等情绪—行为障碍的产生有密切关联。在以往研究中,外倾性与情绪健康的关系集中体现为内—外倾人格对情绪事件易感性的影响,如外倾人格得分的增高伴随着对奖赏刺激更强的积极情绪反应水平。然而,上述联系也有可能是由于外倾性不同的人群具有不同的情绪调节特点导致。因此,可通过系统操纵外倾性人格因素与情绪调节方式,从外倾性人格特质对情绪调节方式及调节效果影响的角度,深入探讨外倾性和人类情绪与健康的关系。拟综合使用行为调查与生理测量、EEG/ERP 与 fMRI 手段,开展如下三个层面的研究工作：1)情绪调节问卷的编制及内、外倾人群情绪调节策略的比较研究;2)外倾性对情绪调节的影响及其脑机制研究,探讨认知情绪调节的生理变化、时间进程及神经基础与内—外倾人格的关系;3)情绪稳定性不同的内、外倾人群其情绪调节的特点及其脑机制研究。通过上述系列研究,深化对情绪与人格关系的认识,从而为心理健康的维护,情绪障碍的治疗及相关疗法的开发应用奠定理论基础。     

尝试提取复杂信息失败的学习：吃一堑长一智？

摘 要：在学习中,提取失败能否产生对知识的有效学习是一个很有意义的研究课题。以事实和概念类知识为实验材料,三个实验采用经典范式探讨了复杂意义条件下的提取失败后的学习效果。结果显示仅在尝试提取事实类题目失败后,促进了知识的保持和迁移;在迁移成绩上延时反馈优于即时反馈的效果。表明尝试提取复杂材料的信息失败后,知识的类型和反馈的时机决定了学习效果。     

汉语隐喻理解时程的ERPs研究

摘 要 本研究使用ERPs技术考察隐喻句与本义句理解时程的异同,以研究汉语隐喻的理解机制。以句尾范式向被试随机呈现本义句、熟悉隐喻句、新奇隐喻句及错误义句各50句,被试的任务为判断每句话是否有意义。结果显示：两种隐喻句诱发的N400波形与头皮分布情况和本义句无明显差异,且两种隐喻句诱发的N400波幅高于本义句。本研究结果证明汉语隐喻义和本义理解的认知机制类似,支持隐喻理解的平行加工假说,且加工隐喻义需要耗费更多的认知资源。