作为效应的ERP研究

晚正成分能够反映不同效价和不同唤醒度的情绪。作为后悔的一种现象,作为效应是否与晚正成分具有关联是研究关心的问题。采用运气轮博弈的范式,记录与分析被试在“做”与“不做”决策下的ERPs。研究发现,决策结果的正误显著影响了FRN、P300和LPC的波幅大小。作为类别对FRN、P300和LPC波幅的影响受到不同决策结果的影响,在决策正确的条件下,作为类别对FRN、P300和LPC波幅不产生影响,而在决策错误的条件下,作为类别对FRN、P300和LPC波幅产生了显著的影响。结果表明作为效应不仅影响了FRN、P300的波幅,同时也影响了LPC的波幅,将来研究应进一步探明晚正成分与后悔的密切关联。     

Anticipatory attention during the sleep onset period

To examine whether anticipatory attention or expectancy is a cognitive process that is automatic or requires conscious control, we employed a paired-stimulus event-related potential (ERP) paradigm during the transition to sleep. The slow negative ERP wave observed between two successive stimuli, the Contingent Negative Variation (CNV), reflects attention and expectancy to the second stimulus. Thirteen good sleepers were instructed to respond to the second stimulus in a pair during waking sessions. In a non-response paradigm modified for sleep, participants then fell asleep while tones played. As expected, N1 decreased and P2 increased in amplitude systematically with the loss of consciousness at sleep onset; the CNV was increasingly more positive. Sleep onset latency was correlated with the amplitude of the CNV. The systematic attenuation of the CNV waveform at sleep onset and its absence in sleep indicates that anticipatory attention requires endogenous conscious control.     

Ursolic acid attenuates lipopolysaccharide-induced cognitive deficits in mouse brain through suppressing p38/NF-κB mediated inflammatory pathways

Evidence indicates that systemic administration of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) induces brain inflammation, ultimately resulting in cognitive deficits. Ursolic acid (UA), a plant-derived pentacyclic triterpenoid, is well known to possess multiple biological functions, including antioxidant, anti-tumor and anti-inflammatory activities. In the present study, we assessed the protective effect of UA against the LPS-induced cognitive deficits in mice. We found that UA significantly improved cognitive deficits of LPS-treated mice in open field, step-through passive avoidance and Morris water maze tasks. One potential mechanism of this action was attributed to the decreased production of pro-inflammatory markers including COX-2, iNOS, TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-2 and IL-6 in LPS-treated mouse brain. Mechanistically, UA markedly inhibited LPS-induced IκBα phosphorylation and degradation, NF-κB p65 nuclear translocation and p38 activation in mouse brain, but did not affect the activation of TLR4, MyD88, ERK, JNK and Akt. Taken together, these results suggest that UA may be useful for mitigating inflammation-associated brain disorders by inhibiting pro-inflammatory factors production, at least in part, through blocking the p38/NF-κB signaling pathways.     

Another dragon in the kitchen: Psychological experiences of hepatitis C treatment among HIV‐hepatitis C co‐infected gay men

Background: Increasing numbers of HIV‐infected gay men acquire hepatitis C virus (HCV) co‐infection, which causes serious medical consequences. Treatment for HCV is associated with many severe side effects, in some cases psychological, and many patients subsequently fail to adhere, even when psychological services are utilised, to improve treatment adherence. Objective: This qualitative study aimed to explore the experiences of HIV‐infected gay men undergoing treatment for HCV in order to inform psychological services to better meet specific treatment needs of this population. Methods: Thirteen HIV‐infected gay men who had undergone HCV treatment were interviewed and a qualitative analysis was conducted. Participants described HCV and its treatments in the context of their relationships and lifestyles. Findings: Four domains emerged: HCV diagnosis and treatment; HCV treatment education; change in sense of self; and sexual risk‐taking. Adhering to treatment was a significant challenge for all participants and emerged across all domains. Discussion: Psychological services for this population of co‐infected gay men should assist this clinical population not only with adherence to hepatitis C treatment but should also be available at an earlier stage in the process to help patients make informed choices about whether or not to begin a course of treatment. Assessing factors such as coping strategies, treatment readiness and knowledge, self‐awareness, and level of risk‐taking, can guide clinicians in tailoring treatment and adherence planning for HIV/HCV‐co‐infected gay men.     

网络游戏成瘾者对成瘾相关线索的注意偏向：一项ERP研究

近年来,网络病态使用的一个子类-网络游戏成瘾已经引起了学术研究的兴趣。本研究采用修正版 Stroop实验范式-Online Game Stroop探讨网络游戏成瘾者的注意偏向过程。结果发现,在网络游戏成瘾组中,网络游戏相关词语与中性词语相比诱发了更高的P200以及P300的振幅,但在正常对照组中未发现相同结果。此线索-反应证实了网络游戏成瘾者对特有的成瘾相关线索的高度敏感化引起的注意偏向可能是其成瘾行为产生和维持的重要基础。     

青少年网络成瘾研究进展

青少年网络成瘾是信息时代的一种阻碍青少年健康成长的问题。本文对青少年网络成瘾的测量、影响因素及其干预等问题进行综述,并对未来研究方向提出建议,为以后研究提供借鉴。     

Comparing positive and negative patterning in human learning

In human causal learning, positive patterning (PP) and negative patterning (NP) discriminations are often acquired at roughly the same rate, whereas PP is learned faster than NP in most experiments with nonhuman animals. One likely reason for this discrepancy is that most causal learning scenarios encourage participants to treat the presentation and omission of the relevant outcome as two events of comparable significance and likelihood. To investigate this, the current experiments compared PP and NP using a predictive learning paradigm based on a mock gambling task. In Experiment 1, one outcome (winning) was made more salient by being less frequent than the alternative outcome (losing). Under these circumstances, PP was learned faster than NP. In Experiment 2, subjects learned two PP and two NP discriminations, one involved win versus no change outcomes, the other involved lose versus no change outcomes. The subjects learned PP faster than NP, but only when discriminating win from no change. We argue that a difference in difficulty between PP and NP relies on a difference in the salience of the outcomes, consistent with the predictions of a relatively simple model of associative learning.     

Orienting numbers in mental space: Horizontal organization trumps vertical

While research on the spatial representation of number has provided substantial evidence for a horizontally oriented mental number line, recent studies suggest vertical organization as well. Directly comparing the relative strength of horizontal and vertical organization, however, we found no evidence of spontaneous vertical orientation (upward or downward), and horizontal trumped vertical when pitted against each other (Experiment 1). Only when numbers were conceptualized as magnitudes (as opposed to nonmagnitude ordinal sequences) did reliable vertical organization emerge, with upward orientation preferred (Experiment 2). Altogether, these findings suggest that horizontal representations predominate, and that vertical representations, when elicited, may be relatively inflexible. Implications for spatial organization beyond number, and its ontogenetic basis, are discussed.     

The relationship between executive functions,episodic feeling-of-knowing and confidence judgements

Metamemory processes and executive control may be related, given that both are frontally mediated. However, previous behavioural research has been limited in identifying common processes driving this somewhat weak relationship partly because they mostly relied upon global executive measures and composite scores of executive function (EF). The present study investigated the relationship between specific EFs (task shifting, interference resolution), working memory capacity and feeling-of-knowing (FOK) and confidence judgements (CONF) in an episodic memory task. We found that, of the EFs, only task-switching performance was correlated with FOK accuracy and proposed a shared mechanism that may be at play in both task-switching and FOK judgements. We also demonstrated that interference resolution and episodic memory measures were related, suggesting strategic influences on memory retrieval. Finally, we found a strong consistency in the strength and accuracy of FOK and CONF judgements, possibly due to retrieval-based mechanisms in both types of judgements.