Language learning and control in monolinguals and bilinguals

Parallel language activation in bilinguals leads to competition between languages. Experience managing this interference may aid novel language learning by improving the ability to suppress competition from known languages. To investigate the effect of bilingualism on the ability to control native-language interference, monolinguals and bilinguals were taught an artificial language designed to elicit between-language competition. Partial activation of interlingual competitors was assessed with eye-tracking and mouse-tracking during a word recognition task in the novel language. Eye-tracking results showed that monolinguals looked at competitors more than bilinguals, and for a longer duration of time. Mouse-tracking results showed that monolinguals' mouse movements were attracted to native-language competitors, whereas bilinguals overcame competitor interference by increasing the activation of target items. Results suggest that bilinguals manage cross-linguistic interference more effectively than monolinguals. We conclude that language interference can affect lexical retrieval, but bilingualism may reduce this interference by facilitating access to a newly learned language.     

Conflict and Cognitive Control in the Brain

ABSTRACT— Recent research from cognitive psychology and cognitive neuroscience has suggested that the control mechanisms by which people are able to regulate task performance can be dissociated into evaluative and executive components. One process, implemented in the anterior cingulate cortex of the brain, monitors the amount of conflict that occurs during information processing; another process, implemented in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, is involved with maintaining the requirements of the task at hand and with biasing information processing in favor of appropriate responses. In the current article, we review this theory and some of the research that has supported it, including its implication for understanding cognitive disturbances in clinical disorders such as schizophrenia and obsessive-compulsive disorder. We conclude by addressing several interesting possibilities for future research.     

Attentional Limitations in Doing Two Tasks at Once

ABSTRACT— People generally have difficulty doing two tasks at once. To explain this fact, theorists have proposed that central processing—the thought-like stages following perceptual encoding and preceding response processing—takes place for only one task at a time. Because this bottleneck imposes severe limits on human cognitive processes, research has attempted to find exceptions. There is now solid evidence that, at least in the laboratory, the entire bottleneck can be completely bypassed under favorable combinations of circumstances. While these findings provide a ray of hope for enabling parallel multitasking in real-world scenarios, it will not be easy to take advantage of the combination of conditions that appear to be necessary.     

儿科病房抗生素耐药情况调查及干预对策

调查儿科病房送检标本中优势细菌分布情况及耐药率,272株优势菌中产β-内酰胺酶菌占69.5%,其主要原因是儿科抗生素使用率明显高于成人,且较多的应用β-内酰胺类抗生素,分析儿科抗生素应用现状及危害,并提出抗生素滥用的干预对策。     

颜色词素在词义不透明双字词中的语义激活

多词素词的心理表征和和词义激活已成为心理语言学领域的研究热点。目前主要有三种理论:词素分解储存模型、整词储存模型和混合表征模型。针对词义不透明词中词素与整词的关系,利用语义启动和色词干扰的实验范式,对颜色词素在词义不透明双字词中的语义激活进行了研究。结果表明,词义不透明双字词的词素与整词之间存在着心理资源竞争,表现出相互抑制的关系,它们的力量对比随时间变化而改变,出现此消彼长的趋势。研究还表明,多词素词中的词素加工,不仅受词素结构影响,也受词素本身性质影响。由于颜色词素的加工既涉及语义系统,也涉及知觉系统,所以虽然在多词素词中处于附加词素的地位,也具有加工上的优势。     

INTERACTION EFFECTS IN MULTIELEMENT DESIGNS: INEVITABLE,DESIRABLE, AND IGNORABLE

A single-subject design often used to compare the effectiveness of two or more independent variables (like treatment programs) is the multielement (alternating treatments or simultaneous treatments) design. Variants of this design approximate the concurrent comparison of the effects of two or more variables (or levels of variables) by programming the variables (or levels) in rapid alternation, typically across or within daily sessions. Properly combined with conventional reversal designs, these designs can also display a variety of interaction effects, some of them worrisome, others highly desirable for the future development of the field. A worrisome model is the possibility that when Treatment B alternates rapidly with Treatment C, the effects of each will not be the same as when each is the only treatment used. A desirable model is the use of the multielement design as a fast-paced component of an otherwise conventional reversal design examining contextual control of some relationship: the possibility that some behavior responds differently to Controlling Variables A and B in Context X than in Context Y. This second possibility opens single-subject designs to the more efficient examination of all interactive effects and is highly desirable, considering the prevalence and importance of interactions in determining the limits and the generality of currently understood behavioral phenomena.     

双作业信息输入通道对作业绩效的影响

采用单作业和双作业操作,探讨了不同信息输入通道对双作业操作绩效的影响。实验结果证明：若采用相同的信息输入通道,同时操作的两种作业就会产生相互干扰,降低操作绩效;相反,若采用不同信息输入通道,双作业之间的相互干扰将减小,作业绩效得到提高。     

问题表征过程的一项研究

问题表征是解决问题时理解问题的方式．本研究选用智力数学题为实验作业,通过详细分析３４名大学生被试的问题表征环节及他们问题解决的结果,探讨问题表征中的信息加工过程及其对问题解决结果的影响．实验结果表明：（１）正确的问题表征是解决问题的必要前提,在错误的或者不完整的问题空间中进行搜索不可能求得问题的正确解．（２）问题表征是对问题信息的提取和理解的过程,问题规则在问题表征中起重要作用．（３）在问题表征过程中,导致建构出错误的或者不完整的问题空间的因素包括：信息遗漏（未能将问题的有关信息全部提取出来）,信息误解（对某些问题信息做了错误的分析和理解）,隐喻干扰（问题信息中潜在的歧义性使被试困惑或误导被试的解题思路）等．     

结构限制和信息干扰对双重作业绩效的影响

研究通过改变双重任务呈现的间隔时间来探讨结构限制与信息干扰对双重任务操作绩效的影响。实验结果表明：(1)两种作业呈现的间隔时间对双重任务操作绩效有明显的影响。间隔时间越大,双重任务的作业绩效越高。(2)信息干扰对双重任务的操作有明显的影响。信息干扰越大,双重任务的操作绩效越差。(3)两个作业呈现的间隔时间不同并不影响信息干扰对双重任务操作绩效的作用。根据实验结果,该研究提出了三因素假设：结构限制、信息干扰和资源竞争是影响双重任务操作绩效的三个主要因素。     

A longitudinal panel study on antecedents and outcomes of work-home interference

Theoretical models of the antecedents and outcomes of work-home interference (WHI) suggest that work characteristics (e.g., job stressors, working hours) increase the probability that an individual experiences work-home interference. Since work-home interference is considered as a role stressor, these experiences should be detrimental for long-term well-being. In this 2-wave panel study, the authors compared this suggested pathway with competing models that propose reverse causation and reciprocal effects in a sample of 365 employees (N at T2 = 130) from the German workforce using structural equation modeling. In particular, a model with two proposed antecedents (job stressors, working hours) of WHI and two proposed consequences (depression, turnover motivation) was analyzed in alternative configurations. The results support a cyclical model with a job stressors → depression → WHI → job stressors pathway. Furthermore, working hours affected WHI, and turnover motivation emerged as an outcome of WHI.