Concepts as Semantic Pointers: A Framework and Computational Model

The reconciliation of theories of concepts based on prototypes, exemplars, and theory‐like structures is a longstanding problem in cognitive science. In response to this problem, researchers have recently tended to adopt either hybrid theories that combine various kinds of representational structure, or eliminative theories that replace concepts with a more finely grained taxonomy of mental representations. In this paper, we describe an alternative approach involving a single class of mental representations called “semantic pointers.” Semantic pointers are symbol‐like representations that result from the compression and recursive binding of perceptual, lexical, and motor representations, effectively integrating traditional connectionist and symbolic approaches. We present a computational model using semantic pointers that replicates experimental data from categorization studies involving each prior paradigm. We argue that a framework involving semantic pointers can provide a unified account of conceptual phenomena, and we compare our framework to existing alternatives in accounting for the scope, content, recursive combination, and neural implementation of concepts.     

Sex differences in spatial ability: a lateralization of function approach

The current study was designed to examine whether the extent of the male advantage in performance on a spatial task was determined by the extent to which the task was right-hemisphere dependent. Participants included 108 right-handed men and women who completed the mental rotation, waterlevel, and paperfolding tasks, all of which were presented bilaterally. The results partially supported the hypothesis. On the mental rotation task, men showed a right-hemisphere advantage, whereas women showed no hemispheric differences; however, no overall sex differences were observed. On the waterlevel task, men outperformed women, and both men and women showed a right-hemisphere advantage. On the paperfolding task, no sex or hemispheric differences were observed. Although the findings of the current study were mixed, the study provides a framework for examining sex differences across different types of spatial ability.     

孤独感对青少年问题性移动社交网络使用的影响：人际困扰和积极自我呈现的作用

摘 要：为探讨孤独感与青少年问题性移动社交网络使用的关系,以及人际困扰和积极自我呈现在孤独感与问题性移动社交网络使用行为间的作用机制。采用孤独感量表、人际关系综合诊断量表、社交网站自我呈现量表和青少年问题性移动社交网络使用行为评估问卷,按照年级整群分层取样方式选取2872名青少年为研究对象,采用SPSS18.0、Amos以及偏差校对非参数百分位Bootstrap置信区间法进行统计分析。结果发现,孤独感、人际困扰、积极自我呈现和问题性移动社交网络使用两两间均存在显著正向相关,孤独感、人际困扰和积极自我呈现对问题性移动社交网络使用行为均具有显著正向预测作用,人际困扰和积极自我呈现在孤独感与问题性移动社交网络使用关系间分别起中介作用,同时孤独感对问题性移动社交网络使用的影响通过人际困扰→积极自我呈现的链式关系发生作用。     

道教文化与心理健康研究刍议

心理学领域已经越来越多地关注道教的理念与实践对个体心理健康的影响。道教经典中蕴含了对人类心性的解读,以及试图恢复身心健康的方法。荣格等心理学家从中提取可发掘的心理学要素,并对之做出了相应的诠释。人本主义心理学、超个人主义心理学、社会心理学以及认知神经科学等流派与方法都已经或正在为认识道教与心理健康关系发挥着积极作用。然而现阶段相关研究尚未充分,若深入理解道教生命中心主义的特殊追求与信仰认同模式,并以此视角更精确地分析心理测量与实验生成的各项指标,则生出具有本土特色的宗教心理学范式可期。     

Health-Related Quality of Life Among Substance Abusers in Residential Drug Abuse Treatment

Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in substance abusers remains an area of inquiry in need of investigation. The few studies on the topic have found substance abuser HRQOL less than that of the general population. The present research compared 303 substance abusers in long-term residential therapeutic community treatment in New York with a general non-institutionalized adult sample from New York (N = 27,465) whose data were collected between 2002 and 2006 during the yearly administrations of the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), a state-based system of health surveys gathering data from upwards of 350,000 adults per year across all 50 states. One sample t-tests found that the in-treatment substance abusers reported significantly more physically and mentally unhealthy days over the past 30 days, as well as significantly more inactive days over the past 30 days due to illness.     

Linguistic and cognitive prominence in anaphor resolution: topic,contrastive focus and pronouns

This paper examines the role that linguistic and cognitive prominence play in the resolution of anaphor–antecedent relationships. In two experiments, we found that pronouns are immediately sensitive to the cognitive prominence of potential antecedents when other antecedent selection cues are uninformative. In experiment 1, results suggest that despite their theoretical dissimilarities, topic and contrastive focus both serve to enhance cognitive prominence. Results from experiment 2 suggest that the contrastive prosody appropriate for focus constructions may also play an important role in enhancing cognitive prominence. Thus different types of linguistic prominence (topic, contrastive focus) appear to have the common effect of increasing the cognitive prominence of the discourse referent. For pronouns with two possible antecedents, the cognitive prominence of an antecedent aids in anaphor resolution, immediately biasing selection towards the more prominent (and ultimately preferred) antecedent.

Prevalence and correlates of substance use among school children in six African countries

An increasing trend of noncommunicable diseases is a worldwide phenomenon, also including the developing countries. Few studies focus on adolescents' substance use in relation to mental distress and protective factors in African countries. The purpose of this study was to assess the prevalence and correlates (mental distress and protective factors) of substance use among school-going adolescents in six African countries. The sample included 20,765 students aged from 13 to 15 years from six African countries (Kenya, Namibia, Swaziland, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe), chosen by a two-stage cluster sample design to represent all students in grades 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 in each country. The measure used was part of the Global School-Based Health Survey (GSHS) questionnaire, including various domains of health behaviour. Results indicate a prevalence of 12.6% tobacco use (past month), 6.6% risky alcohol use (two or more per day for at least 20 days or more in the past month), and 10.5% of illicit drug use (three or more times ever) in school-going adolescents in six African countries. School truancy, loneliness, sleeping problems, sadness, suicidal ideation, suicide plans, and poverty were associated with substance use (tobacco, alcohol, illicit drugs), while school attendance and parental supervision and connectedness were protective factors for substance use, and peer support protective for tobacco use. It is concluded that tobacco use, risky drinking and illicit drug use were common, clustered together and were associated with school truancy, mental distress, and lack of parental and peer support among adolescent African school children. These findings stress the need for early and integrated prevention programmes.     

团队作业与团队互动两类共享心智模型的发展特征

共享心智模型指团队成员关于团队作业、策略、团队情境、团队互动等的共同的知识结构,根据内容不同可以分为团队作业模型和团队互动模型两类。该研究通过实验室实验探讨两类共享心智模型的发展特征。132名大学生组成44个3人团队,随机分为团队绩效反馈组和无团队绩效反馈组。采用相似性评定法在团队执行作业前、中、后三次测量两类共享心智模型。结果发现：（1）共享心智模型随团队运作时间增加而发展;（2）团队互动模型形成和发展的难度高于团队作业模型;（3）团队绩效反馈对两类心智模型发展的作用不同,反馈加速了团队作业模型的发展速度,但却是团队互动模型能否得以发展的决定性因素。两类共享心智模型的不同发展特征应归因于两者特异性高低的不同     

蒙汉族大学生父母教养方式、成人依恋与心理困扰的关系研究

通过整群抽样方法抽取了576名大学生,对其施测父母养育方式量表、亲密关系体验量表和心理困扰量表,运用结构方程模型技术,分别考察了父母养育方式的蒙汉族差异以及成人依恋模式在父母养育方式和心理困扰间的中介作用。结果表明:(1) 蒙古族父母对孩子的关爱程度和给孩子的自主性要显著高于汉族;(2) 汉族的成人依恋模式在父母过度保护与抑郁-焦虑-压力之间起着部分中介作用,而蒙古族成人依恋的中介作用不明显,但母亲的冷漠拒绝和过度保护会导致个体依恋回避和依恋焦虑,父亲的冷漠拒绝和过度保护会影响个体的抑郁和焦虑,母亲的过度保护和父亲的冷漠拒绝会影响个体的压力。     

Adult Age Differences in the Ability to Mentally Transform Object and Body Stimuli

ABSTRACT

Cognitive neuroscience literature suggests a strong dissociation between the ability to mentally transform object and body stimuli (Hegarty & Waller, 2004 Hegarty, M. and Waller, D. 2004. A dissociation between mental rotation and perspective-taking spatial abilities. Intelligence, 32(2): 175–191. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar] ). However, little is known about how this ability changes with age. This dissociation was explored in 20 younger (19–24 years) and 20 older (65–87 years) adults. Mental rotation of object stimuli was demonstrated for both age groups, suggesting that the neuro-cognitive network involved with performing (object-based) mental transformations is relatively preserved in older age. Compared to young adults, older adults displayed the greatest decline in performance efficiency for the whole-body task. The authors propose that an age-related decline in the integrity of body-schema information may account for this change.