Object Recognition: Insights From Advances in fMRI Methods

ABSTRACT— Recent advancements in imaging methods and analysis approaches have provided important insights about the neural bases of object recognition. We address the potential limitations of standard functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and discuss methodological advancements, including fMRI-adaptation, pattern analyses, and high-resolution fMRI, that may be more appropriate for studying object and face representations. fMRI-adaptation and high-resolution fMRI measure responses of neural subpopulations within standard fMRI voxels, and pattern analyses examine the information in the distributed activations across voxels, which may differ from the mean response across these voxels. These methods have provided evidence for a multitude of representations across the human ventral stream that provide empirical constraints for cognitive theories of recognition.     

新生儿缺氧缺血性脑病诊疗的哲学与伦理思考

在新生儿缺氧缺血性脑病的诊疗中,乃至儿科疾病的防治中,应注重调节好矛盾的两方面,理论与实践的结合.医患双方处理好知情同意,避免诊疗中的过度医疗,对于建立积极主动的、和谐信任的医患互动模式非常重要.这也体现了双方对新生命的最大的珍惜和尊重.     

Implementation of Belief Change Operators Using BDDs

While the theory of belief change has attracted a lot of interest from researchers, work on implementing belief change and actually putting it to use in real-world problems is still scarce. In this paper, we present an implementation of propositional belief change using Binary Decision Diagrams. Upper complexity bounds for the algorithm are presented and discussed. The approach is presented both in the general case, as well as on specific belief change operators from the literature. In an effort to gain a better understanding of the empirical efficiency of the algorithms involved, a fault diagnosis problem on combinational circuits is presented, implemented and evaluated.     

Compensatory Control: Achieving Order Through the Mind, Our Institutions, and the Heavens

ABSTRACT— We propose that people protect the belief in a controlled, nonrandom world by imbuing their social, physical, and metaphysical environments with order and structure when their sense of personal control is threatened. We demonstrate that when personal control is threatened, people can preserve a sense of order by (a) perceiving patterns in noise or adhering to superstitions and conspiracies, (b) defending the legitimacy of the sociopolitical institutions that offer control, or (c) believing in an interventionist God. We also present evidence that these processes of compensatory control help people cope with the anxiety and discomfort that lacking personal control fuels, that it is lack of personal control specifically and not general threat or negativity that drives these processes, and that these various forms of compensatory control are ultimately substitutable for one another. Our model of compensatory control offers insight into a wide variety of phenomena, from prejudice to the idiosyncratic rituals of professional athletes to societal rituals around weddings, graduations, and funerals.     

Hierarchical forms processing in adults and children

Two experiments examined child and adult processing of hierarchical stimuli composed of geometric forms. Adults (ages 18-23 years) and children (ages 7-10 years) performed a forced-choice task gauging similarity between visual stimuli consisting of large geometric objects (global level) composed of small geometric objects (local level). The stimuli spatial arrangement was manipulated to assess child and adult reaction times and predisposition toward local or global form categorization under two distinct trial conditions, with varied density of the local forms comprising the global forms. In Experiment 1, children and adults were presented with common, simple geometric shape hierarchical forms composed of ovals and rectangles. In Experiment 2, adults were presented with hierarchical forms composed of the simple geometric shapes, ovals and rectangles, and additional novel complex geometric shapes, “posts” and “arches.” Results show a clear increase of global processing bias across the age ranges of the individuals in the study, with children at 10 years performing similarly to adults on the simple stimuli. In addition, adults presented with the novel complex geometric shapes showed a significant reduction in global processing bias, indicating that form novelty and complexity lead to additional attention to local features in categorization tasks.     

The global non-entropic arrow of time: from global geometrical asymmetry to local energy flow

Since the nineteenth century, the problem of the arrow of time has been traditionally analyzed in terms of entropy by relating the direction past-to-future to the gradient of the entropy function of the universe. In this paper, we reject this traditional perspective and argue for a global and non-entropic approach to the problem, according to which the arrow of time can be defined in terms of the geometrical properties of spacetime. In particular, we show how the global non-entropic arrow can be transferred to the local level, where it takes the form of a non-spacelike local energy flow that provides the criterion for breaking the symmetry resulting from time-reversal invariant local laws.     

Tatsuoka 矩阵理论的修正

K .K.Tatsuoka和她同事开发的规则空间模型（RSM）是一种在国内外有较大影响的认知诊断模型,但是Tatsuoka的RSM中 矩阵理论存在缺陷和错误,这些失误使得RSM中用布尔描述函数（BDF）计算被试理想项目反应模式（IRP）的方法缺乏理论依据。这里揭示了Tatsuoka的 矩阵理论的缺陷和错误并引进既不使用BDF又便于应用的计算IRP的方法;接着还介绍一种由可达阵计算简化 阵的方法,该方法显示了可达阵在构造认知诊断测验的重要性。这些结果对丰富 矩阵理论及正确使用RSM进行认知诊断有一定的意义     

多目标追踪任务中不同运动方式非目标的抑制机制

采用多目标追踪范式结合点探测技术的方法, 考察视觉系统对不同运动方式(静止和规则运动)非目标的抑制机制。实验一将部分非目标设置为静止, 考察静止非目标的抑制机制; 实验二将部分非目标设置为规则运动, 以提高任务难度, 考察规则运动非目标的抑制机制。结果发现: (1) 实验一中静止非目标受到抑制, 抑制量与运动非目标没有差异; (2) 实验二中规则运动非目标受到抑制, 抑制量显著小于随机运动非目标; (3)综合两实验发现, 随着任务难度的提高, 只有随机运动非目标的抑制量显著增加, 而静止非目标与规则运动非目标的抑制量差异不显著。最后, 就视觉系统对不同运动方式非目标的抑制机制进行了讨论。     

大学生人际关系质量的影响因素研究

采用Rosellberg自尊量表、EMBU、大学生价值观问卷、自编"大学生人际关系主观因素问卷"及"人际关系质量量表"为工具,对1,137名本科生进行调查,以探讨大学生自尊、价值观、父母教养方式及人际关系的主观因素与大学生人际关系质量的关系.结果表明,父母教养方式、价值观与自尊对人际关系质量的直接效应很低,它们对人际关系质量的影响要以人际关系的主观因素为中介.因此,要构建大学生和谐人际关系,应特别重视影响其人际关系质量的主观因素教育.     

3～5岁儿童模式认知能力发展的研究

选取北京市10所幼儿园的249名3～5岁儿童为被试,采用概括抽象程度不同的任务对儿童的模式复制和扩展能力进行个别测查。结果表明:(1)儿童早期模式认知能力发展的年龄主效应显著,性别主效应显著,年龄与性别的交互作用显著。(2)儿童模式复制能力在3 5～4 5岁之间发展较为迅速,模式扩展能力在4～5岁之间发展较为迅速。(3)儿童的模式复制能力无显著性别差异,但女孩的模式扩展能力显著高于男孩。(4)儿童的模式复制能力显著高于模式扩展能力,随着年龄的增长它们之间的差距有减小的趋势。(5)随着年龄的增长,儿童在模式复制和模式扩展任务中所犯错误水平在下降。