Right Hemisphere Activation during Indirect Semantic Priming: Evidence from Event-Related Potentials

Healthy subjects performed a lexical decision task in a semantic priming paradigm while event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded from 64 channels. Semantic distance between prime and target was varied by including directly, indirectly, and nonrelated word pairs. At centro-parietal electrodes an N400 to nonrelated pairs was elicited bilaterally which was sensitive only to direct, but not to indirect semantic priming. These N400 priming effects were mirrored by the RT data. At inferior fronto-temporal sites directly related words showed ERP priming effects over both hemispheres. However, indirectly related words only elicited ERP priming effects over the right hemisphere. These results support the hypothesis that the right hemisphere semantic system is involved in processing of remote semantic information.     

Neural dynamics of animacy processing in language comprehension: ERP evidence from the interpretation of classifier-noun combinations

An event-related potential experiment was conducted to investigate the temporal neural dynamics of animacy processing in the interpretation of classifier-noun combinations. Participants read sentences that had a non-canonical structure, object noun + subject noun + verb + numeral-classifier + adjective. The object noun and its classifier were either (a) congruent, (b) incongruent, but matching in animacy, or (c) incongruent, mismatching in animacy. An N400 effect was observed for both incongruent conditions, but not for additional mismatch in animacy. When only data from participants who accepted the non-canonical structure were analyzed, the animacy mismatch elicited a P600 but still no N400. These findings suggest that animacy information is not used immediately for semantic integration of nouns and their classifiers, but is used in a later analysis reflected by P600. Thus, the temporal neural dynamics of animacy processing in sentence comprehension may be modulated by the relevance of animacy to thematic interpretation.     

关于知觉干扰效应的ERP研究

利用ERP技术,采用知觉干扰效应的经典实验范式,首次从神经生理水平上探究知觉干扰效应的内部机制。结果发现,递进条件和标准条件均诱发了P2,P3,N400和晚期正成分LPC。在P2,P3和LPC成分上,标准条件的波幅均显著大于递进条件;在N400成分上,递进条件比标准条件波幅更负,潜伏期更长。此外,对递进条件下靶字各模糊水平（Level 1～Level 5）的ERPs进行比较分析表明,N400成分的波幅在各模糊水平间的差异均不显著。基本支持失匹配理论及词汇自动加工理论。     

“啊哈！”和“哈哈！”：顿悟与幽默的脑认知成分比较

作为人类智能的高级表现形式, 顿悟和幽默存在诸多共同之处。从认知和情感组成上看, 顿悟的非连续性、突发性、重构和惊讶, 对应于幽默的失谐、失谐探测、失谐消解和愉悦, 两者存在表征机制的重叠。神经机制的研究发现, 顿悟和幽默的心理事件都伴随着400 ms左右的额中央区负波(N400)以及前扣带回、顶颞叶联合区和前额叶等脑区的活动; 同时顿悟和幽默在P300成分以及海马、右侧前部颞上回等脑区活动上存在差异。未来可借鉴幽默的认知和情感成份的脑成像研究范式, 进一步探明顿悟过程的认知和情感组成。     

Font effects of Chinese characters and pseudo-characters on the N400: evidence for an orthographic processing view

Event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were recorded during a Chinese character decision task to examine whether N400 amplitude is modulated by stimulus font. Results revealed large negative-going ERPs in an N400 time window of 300-500ms to stimuli presented in degraded Xing Kai Ti (XKT) font compared with more intact Song Ti (ST) font regardless of whether the stimuli were real or pseudo-characters. ERPs for the pseudo-characters were more negative than for the real characters with similar timing and scalp distribution. The N400-like font effect on amplitude is interpreted as analogous to an N400 stimulus degradation effect, an extension to Holcomb (1993); the degraded perceptual cues provided by XKT supposedly account for this degradation effect. This effect is further interpreted to reflect relative difficulty, which results from orthographic processing difficulty, in retrieving the meaning of XKT stimuli compared with ST stimuli.     

Neuroscientific Measures of Covert Behavior

In radical behaviorism, the difference between overt and covert responses does not depend on properties of the behavior but on the sensitivity of the measurement tools employed by the experimenter. Current neuroscientific research utilizes technologies that allow measurement of variables that are undetected by the tools typically used by behavior analysts. Data from a specific neuroscientific technique, event-related potential (ERP), suggest that emission of otherwise covert responses can be indexed and that such covert responses are sensitive to stimulus control and selection by consequences. The P3 ERP effect is proposed as indicative of emission. Moreover, ERP results in semantic priming experiments suggest that operants are sensitive to changes in stimulus control even when they are not emitted (latent responses). Changes in response strength of latent responses as a function of stimulus control can in fact be measured by reaction time data and an ERP dependent variable called the N400 effect. If the interpretations provided in this paper are accurate, an index of covertly emitted operants (P3 effect) constitutes experimental evidence suggesting the validity of a Skinnerian radical behaviorist perspective on behavior. Moreover, in a Skinnerian paradigm, measured fluctuations in the response strength of latent operants as a function of environmental changes (N400 effect) would validate Palmer's (2009) concept of the repertoire.     

Conceptual priming for realistic auditory scenes and for auditory words

Two experiments were conducted using both behavioral and Event-Related brain Potentials methods to examine conceptual priming effects for realistic auditory scenes and for auditory words. Prime and target sounds were presented in four stimulus combinations: Sound–Sound, Word–Sound, Sound–Word and Word–Word. Within each combination, targets were conceptually related to the prime, unrelated or ambiguous. In Experiment 1, participants were asked to judge whether the primes and targets fit together (explicit task) and in Experiment 2 they had to decide whether the target was typical or ambiguous (implicit task). In both experiments and in the four stimulus combinations, reaction times and/or error rates were longer/higher and the N400 component was larger to ambiguous targets than to conceptually related targets, thereby pointing to a common conceptual system for processing auditory scenes and linguistic stimuli in both explicit and implicit tasks. However, fine-grained analyses also revealed some differences between experiments and conditions in scalp topography and duration of the priming effects possibly reflecting differences in the integration of perceptual and cognitive attributes of linguistic and nonlinguistic sounds. These results have clear implications for the building-up of virtual environments that need to convey meaning without words.     

关于患者家属在复苏现场的思考

医疗水平不断地发展和进步使越来越多的疾病可以在医院得到救治。但有研究显示,在医院接受心肺复苏（CPR）的患者中,只有很小的部分能被救治成功。由于CPR的成功率低,在CPR时是否允许有患者的家人陪伴在其身边逐渐成了医患双方共同关注的问题。家人的陪伴,或许能让患者抢救或死亡的过程变得更人性化,同时成为增加医患双方相互理解的渠道。但是这个过程的实施仍然面临许多问题,要让其成为常规制度,还有很长的路要走。     

老年患者主动脉瓣置换术后不匹配对患者远期生存影响的研究

研究老年患者主动脉瓣置换术（AVR）后生存情况,评估人工瓣膜-患者不匹配（PPM）对患者远期生存率的影响.回顾性分析了自2000年7月～2005年7月的100例65岁以上实施单纯性AVR或同时行冠状动脉旁路移植术患者的资料.临床随访时间定于术后1个月、6个月、1年、3年、5年、7年及以上,收集并分析主动脉瓣位平均跨瓣压差（MGP）、左室射血分数（LVEF）、实际生存率等数据,比较患者的远期生存情况.患者术后30天病死率两组间差异有统计学意义.长期生存率自第7年开始在两组间表现出显著差异,组内差异表现在重度不匹配组.老年患者AVR术后PPM与术后早期病死率密切相关,重度PPM似乎影响远期生存率.     

EGFR基因突变NSCLC全程管理

表皮生长因子受体（EGFR）基因突变的非小细胞肺癌（non-small cell lungcancer,NSCLC）是一类具有独特病理和临床特征的恶性肿瘤。目前由于针对EGFR基因突变阳性NSCLC治疗中TKIs的应用,患者的生存期已超过三年,所以此类患者从诊断到治疗应进行全程管理。首先要进行分子检测,发现EGFR基因突变NSCLC,以避免失去EGFR—TKIs的治疗机会。研究证明,EGFR基因突变NSCLC任何线接受第一代抑制剂治疗,患者疗效及生存获益且耐受性良好。一代EGFR—TKIs耐药后根据失败模式选择后续局部或全身治疗,或根据耐药失败分子机制给予新的分子靶向治疗。对EGFR基因突变NSCLC应实施科学、有序的全程管理。