Improving spatial abilities through mindfulness: effects on the mental rotation task

In this study, we demonstrate a previously unknown finding that mindful learning can improve an individual’s spatial cognition without regard to gender differences. Thirty-two volunteers participated in the experiment. Baselines for spatial ability were first measured for the reaction time on the mental rotation task. Next, the participants were randomly assigned to either a mindful or mindless learning condition. After learning, the mental rotation task showed that those in the mindful learning condition responded faster than those in the mindless learning condition. This study provides promising evidence for applying mindful learning to education.     

大学生心理健康影响因素及其应对策略

大学生心理健康教育已经成为高校学生教育和管理工作的一个重要方面。本文主要从个人、家庭、学校和社会四方面探讨了影响大学生心理健康的因素、指出开展心理健康教育的压力调节模式和三级预防模式,最后从个体和学校两个层面提出大学生心理健康的具体应对策略。     

高中生自我和谐与心理健康的相关研究

目的:了解高中生自我和谐总体状况、心理健康状况及其关系。方法:采用《自我和谐量表》(SCCS)和《中学生心理健康问卷》对湖南、贵州四所中学的高中生进行测量。结果:高中生自我和谐情况不太理想;高中生在不和谐因子得分与大学生常模并无显著差异,在灵活性上差异非常显著(p<0.001),在刻板性上差异显著(p<0.05);高中生自我与经验的不和谐、刻板性、自我和谐总分均与心理健康各因子呈显著正相关;自我的灵活性与心理健康总分、偏执、敌对、适应不良等呈正相关。结论:高中生自我和谐与心理健康存在显著的相关性,自我和谐对心理健康具有一定的预测作用,培养高中生的自我和谐性有助于提高其心理健康水平。     

藏族学生控制源、社会支持与心理健康的研究

目的探讨玉树民族中学藏族学生控制源、社会支持与心理健康的关系。方法采用心理健康、内外控制源和领悟社会支持量表。结果①不同性别学生心理健康总分差异显著,社会支持和控制源得分差异不显著。②不同年级学生在控制源差异显著,其余变量差异不显著。③除家庭支持外,心理控制源、社会支持及其各维度与心理健康显著相关。④控制源和朋友支持对心理健康有很好的预测作用。结论控制源和社会支持在一定程度上对心理健康有预测作用。     

高校大学生人际敏感与社交焦虑相关因素分析

目的:分析比较大学生人际困扰、社交焦虑和心理症状的现状与影响,为大学生心理健康教育提供见解。方法:采用自制大学生压力源情况调查表,症状自评量表,社交回避及苦恼量表对大一、大二、大三共1291名大学生进行了测查。结果:人际关系困扰各年级总检出率为27.2%;大二和大三人际敏感因子均分高于大一,女生得分高于男生,并有显著差异;社交苦恼因子和总均分高于常模,存在差异显著性(P<0.05),总体社交回避及苦恼与抑郁、强迫、焦虑等心理症状有显著正相关,并有统计学意义。结论:人际困扰、人际敏感症状存在年级、性别差异,和典型表现形式;社交回避及苦恼可导致不同类型心理症状。     

Listeners invest in an assumed other's perspective despite cognitive cost

We explored perspective-taking behavior in a visuospatial mental rotation task that requires listeners to adopt an egocentric or “other-centric” frame of reference. In the current task, objects could be interpreted relative to the point-of-view of the listener (egocentric) or of a simulated partner (other-centric). Across three studies, we evaluated participants’ willingness to consider and act on partner-specific information, showing that a partner’s perceived ability to contribute to collaborative mutual understanding modulated participants’ perspective-taking behavior, either by increasing other-centric (Study 2) or egocentric (Study 3) responding. Moreover, we show that a large proportion of participants resolved referential ambiguity in terms of their partner’s perspective, even when it was more cognitively difficult to do so (as tracked by online movement measures), and when the presence of a social partner had to be assumed (Studies 1 and 2). In addition, participants continued to consider their partner’s perspective during trials where visual perspectives were shared. Our results show that participants will thoroughly invest in either an other-centric or egocentric mode of responding, and that perspective-taking strategies are not always dictated by minimizing processing demands, but by more potent (albeit subtle) factors in the social context.     

The mental representation of causal conditional reasoning: mental models or causal models

In this paper, two experiments are reported investigating the nature of the cognitive representations underlying causal conditional reasoning performance. The predictions of causal and logical interpretations of the conditional diverge sharply when inferences involving pairs of conditionals—such as if P₁then Q and if P₂then Q—are considered. From a causal perspective, the causal direction of these conditionals is critical: are the P_icauses of Q; or symptoms caused byQ. The rich variety of inference patterns can naturally be modelled by Bayesian networks. A pair of causal conditionals where Q is an effect corresponds to a “collider” structure where the two causes (P_i) converge on a common effect. In contrast, a pair of causal conditionals where Q is a cause corresponds to a network where two effects (P_i) diverge from a common cause. Very different predictions are made by fully explicit or initial mental models interpretations. These predictions were tested in two experiments, each of which yielded data most consistent with causal model theory, rather than with mental models.     

Role of motor processes in extrinsically encoding mental transformations

Previous research has shown that imagined perspective rotations elicit spatial and low-level cortical motor areas of the brain when participants rely on knowledge of their physical body, or body percept (Wraga, Flynn, Boyle, & Evans, 2010). The current study used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate whether recruitment of the body percept would activate low-level cortical motor areas of the brain within other classes of mental transformations. Participants performed imagined object and perspective rotations of three-dimensional Shephard-Metzler (1971) stimuli. For each task, participants used button presses serving as virtual pointers to locate a prescribed portion of the stimuli with respect to their "right" and "left." We found low-level cortical motor activation (M1) for both mental transformations; however, the degree to which such activation related to participants' performance differed, as well as the recruitment of additional nonmotoric strategies. The results are discussed in terms of recent hypotheses regarding the role of the body percept in extrinsically encoded mental transformations.