类别空间关系加工系统和数量空间关系加工系统的分离 ——来自多领域的研究证据

Kosslyn认为人类的空间关系加工系统分为类别空间关系加工子系统和数量空间关系加工子系统,这两个子系统不仅存在功能上的分离,并且存在大脑神经水平的分离,这种神经水平的分离表现为两种空间关系加工的大脑半球偏向,即类别空间关系加工的左半球偏向与数量空间关系加工的右半球偏向。对两种空间关系加工的研究,涉及的领域从低水平的空间知觉,至表象、记忆、语言、行动及物体识别等,涉及的研究方法包括半视野速示法,神经网络模拟,PET, fMRI, ERP, rTMS,脑损伤病人的研究及比较动物研究。综合现有研究,虽然大多数研究中得到的脑半球偏向为两种加工子系统在神经水平的分离提供了证据,但不同研究中脑半球偏向的获得是相当不稳定的,并且受到研究方法因素的影响。尽管造成神经水平的分离似乎与大脑左右半球对具有不同感受野特征的神经元输出的偏向有一定的关系,但这仍需要进一步的研究证据     

大脑两半球与整体和局部性质的选择性加工

研究大脑两半球在加工整体和局部性质中的优势以及两半球能否同时分别选择两个复合刺激的整体和局部性质。实验中把一个复合字母随机呈现在左视野或右视野,或者把两个复合字母同时分别呈现在左视野和右视野。实验一发现,在单侧呈现条件下,被试检测左右视野的整体或局部靶目标的反应时没有显著差别,但在双侧同时呈现条件下,检测右视野局部靶目标比检测左视野局部靶目标时的反应时短。实验二要求被试检测同时呈现在左右视野的整体或局部靶目标,发现当两个视野的靶目标处于同一水平时(整体或局部)反应时较短,两个视野的靶目标处于不同水平时(一侧处于整体水平而另一侧处于局部水平)反应时较长。这些结果提示,当两个复合刺激同时呈现在左右视野时,大脑左半球在选择性加工局部性质时具有优势;左右两半球更容易选择两个复合刺激同一个水平的性质,分别选择两个复合刺激不同水平的性质比较困难。     

Défaut d’information préalable : présomption de la souffrance morale et préjudice d’impréparation

The Conseil d’État, relatively to the ruling dated the 16th of June 2016, keeps defining the legal regime of the harm of unpreparedness which consists in a violation of the health professionals’ duty to inform their patients, based on article L. 1111-2 of Code de la santé publique. Moreover, it can be highlighted a shared understanding between the judicial and administrative jurisprudences. Yet, the Conseil d’État is likely withholding the patients’ right to information that the Cour de cassation may have headed toward.     

Afferent dysgraphia after right cerebral stroke: an autonomous syndrome?

Afferent dysgraphia is an acquired writing deficit characterized by deletions and duplications of letters and strokes. The commonly accepted interpretation states that afferent dysgraphia is associated with three main clinical features: production of spatial writing errors; the presence of left unilateral neglect; and no deterioration in performance when writing blindfolded. In order to test whether these symptoms necessarily co-occur with afferent dysgraphia, we studied the writing performances of a series of eight right brain-damaged patients. In sentence copying, spontaneous handwriting, and writing to dictation they showed afferent dysgraphia. However, signs of left neglect and spatial dysgraphia were evident only in some cases. Furthermore, the frequency of afferent errors increased when patients were required to write without vision. The present study demonstrates that afferent dysgraphia is an autonomous clinical entity and that it results from a selective impairment of a mechanism whose function is that of comparing the information about the number of letters and strokes specified at the level of letter motor programs and the actual number of movements already realized.     

When the self represents the other: a new cognitive neuroscience view on psychological identification

There is converging evidence from developmental and cognitive psychology, as well as from neuroscience, to suggest that the self is both special and social, and that self-other interaction is the driving force behind self-development. We review experimental findings which demonstrate that human infants are motivated for social interactions and suggest that the development of an awareness of other minds is rooted in the implicit notion that others are like the self. We then marshall evidence from functional neuroimaging explorations of the neurophysiological substrate of shared representations between the self and others, using various ecological paradigms such as mentally representing one's own actions versus others' actions, watching the actions executed by others, imitating the others' actions versus being imitated by others. We suggest that within this shared neural network the inferior parietal cortex and the prefrontal cortex in the right hemisphere play a special role in the essential ability to distinguish the self from others, and in the way the self represents the other. Interestingly, the right hemisphere develops its functions earlier than the left.     

Implicit self and the right hemisphere: Increasing implicit self‐esteem and implicit positive affect by left hand contractions

Unilateral hand contraction typically activates the contralateral hemisphere and has led to changes in psychological states and performances in previous research. Based on a right hemisphere model of the implicit self, we hypothesized and found that left hand contraction increases momentary levels of implicit self‐esteem (Studies 1 and 2) and implicit positive affect (Study 3). The findings are discussed with respect to potential differences between the hemispheres in implicit and explicit affective processing and how they can be integrated in the existing literature on hemisphere asymmetries.     

Effects of social dominance orientation and right‐wing authoritarianism on corrupt intention: The role of moral outrage

Previous research suggested that dominance orientation and authoritarianism may be associated with corruption, but little research has verified this assumption or uncovered its psychological processes. In this article, we examined empirically the relationships between social dominance orientation (SDO), right‐wing authoritarianism (RWA) and corrupt intention and explored the mediating role of moral outrage on these relationships. A total of 677 college students participated in the study and completed measures of SDO, RWA, moral outrage and corrupt intention. Our findings demonstrated that both SDO and RWA were positively associated with corrupt intention. Additionally, moral outrage partially mediated the relation between SDO and corrupt intention and fully mediated the relation between RWA and corrupt intention. Specifically, the results indicated that higher SDO or RWA was associated with reduced moral outrage and increased corrupt intention. This implies that the enhancement of morality and moral outrage may inhibit corrupt intention.     

国外关于右脑的语言功能研究的进展

对国外有关右脑语言功能的研究作了简要概述,对研究中达成的共识和存在的分歧作了初步介绍;在此基础上,对有关右脑的语言功能研究意义和趋势作了概括和预测。从而为国内相关研究提供借鉴和启示。     

正义的战争与战争的正义——关于战争伦理的反思

战争可以定义为两个或两个以上的国家间的有组织的政治暴力。根据战争的目的、过程和结果,战争伦理大致包括“战争权利伦理”、“战争行为伦理”和“战争责任伦理”三个方面。在战争伦理中最重要的是所谓“正义”问题。“正义”与“非正义”这对概念并非规定战争的客观性质,而是一种煽动人们拥战或反战热情的主观态度和伦理立场的表达。     

Non-verbal IQ is correlated with visual field advantages for short duration coherent motion detection in deaf signers with varied ASL exposure and etiologies of deafness

Studies have reported a right visual field (RVF) advantage for coherent motion detection by deaf and hearing signers but not non-signers. Yet two studies [Bosworth R. G., & Dobkins, K. R. (2002). Visual field asymmetries for motion processing in deaf and hearing signers. Brain and Cognition, 49, 170-181; Samar, V. J., & Parasnis, I. (2005). Dorsal stream deficits suggest hidden dyslexia among deaf poor readers: Correlated evidence from reduced perceptual speed and elevated coherent motion detection thresholds. Brain and Cognition, 58, 300-311.] reported a small, non-significant RVF advantage for deaf signers when short duration motion stimuli were used (200-250 ms). Samar and Parasnis (2005) reported that this small RVF advantage became significant when non-verbal IQ was statistically controlled. This paper presents extended analyses of the correlation between non-verbal IQ and visual field asymmetries in the data set of Samar and Parasnis (2005). We speculate that this correlation might plausibly be driven by individual differences either in age of acquisition of American Sign Language (ASL) or in the degree of neurodevelopmental insult associated with various etiologies of deafness. Limited additional analyses are presented that indicate a need for further research on the cause of this apparent IQ-laterality relationship. Some potential implications of this relationship for lateralization studies of deaf signers are discussed. Controlling non-verbal IQ may improve the reliability of short duration coherent motion tasks to detect adaptive dorsal stream lateralization due to exposure to ASL in deaf research participants.