材料因素对学习判断及其孤立效应的影响

通过三个实验考察材料特有的内在因素差异对学习判断及其孤立效应的影响,选取814名的高一学生作为被试,男女各半。实验一是探讨性质不同的孤立项目对学习判断及其孤立效应的影响;实验二是探讨层次差异不同的同质项目对学习判断及其孤立效应的影响;实验三是探讨孤立项目的序列位置对学习判断及其孤立效应的影响。结果表明:在不同材料中,材料的性质的差异越大,孤立效应越显著,证明了孤立材料的距离效应;在同质材料中,材料内部层次差异越大,孤立效应越显著,证明了孤立材料的幅度效应;在学习判断中,不管孤立项目的序列位置处于前位还是后位,都存在孤立效应,且材料中孤立项目的位置越靠后面,其孤立效应就越明显,证明了孤立材料的后位效应。     

重复学习判断中的低自信效应

学习判断是元认知判断的一种重要形式,是对未来回忆成绩的预测。重复学习判断中的低自信效应是一个有趣而反常的现象,指在重复学习测验中,学习判断往往低估了回忆成绩的增加,出现低自信的一种现象。目前,大部分实验证据支持重复学习判断中的低自信效应是普遍存在的,但也有一些实验结果表明该效应是受一定条件限制的。对于这种低自信效应的作用机制,研究者提出了不同的理论模型（如,锚定调整假说、记忆偏向消除理论、过去测验记忆的启发式假说等）进行了深入探讨。最后,文章还指出了此领域现有研究的局限和有待研究的问题     

句子产生中的句法启动

句子产生中的句法启动是指个体产生一个句子时,倾向于重复使用刚刚加工过的句法结构。研究发现：（1）句法启动不能简单用词汇、题元或韵律等因素来解释;（2）启动句和目标句动词、题元角色数目以及顺序是否一致,影响句法启动;（3）层级结构和线性结构具有心理现实性;（4）存在说和写之间以及从理解到产生的跨通道句法启动。这些发现促使研究者提出了新的句子产生理论,如句法启动模型和动词句法表征模型。论文最后指出了进一步研究的方向     

Stroop 稀释效应的研究及其理论解释

Stroop稀释效应是指在Stroop效应的色词-色块范式中若增加无关词作为分心刺激,Stroop效应将被大大削弱的现象。文章回顾了Stroop稀释效应的相关研究及理论解释,并对这些理论进行了分析和比较。最后,对未来的研究趋势作了展望。     

电子地图导航中用户空间定向认知过程机制的研究

通过对33名大学生被试进行研究,考察在电子地图导航系统中四种条件下被试判断方位的反应时的差异,探讨电子地图导航中用户空间定向认知过程的时间模型。结果发现,这四种实验条件下的反应时两两之间存在显著差异,由于这四种条件分别代表用户判断方位时四种所需的认知环节的组合方式,故而证实了电子地图导航中用户空间定向认知过程的时间模型,即：用户方位判断＝心理旋转＋目标搜索＋方位定向。     

A comparison of the effects of thought suppression, distraction and concentration

This study compared the effects of suppression, focused-distraction, and concentration on controlling unwanted distressing thoughts, and examined how anxiety levels were associated with the use of each thought-control technique. In the study, college students were told to suppress thoughts about a distressing story, to suppress the same thoughts by focusing on an alternative distraction task, to simply concentrate on that alternative task, or to think about anything without restrictions for 6 minutes. This initial period was followed by a “free-thinking” period to assess the delayed effect of thought-control techniques. The results indicated that focused-distraction and concentration led to fewer intrusions of target thoughts than suppression, and concentration in turn resulted in fewer target intrusions than focused-distraction during the initial period. Participants in the focused-distraction and concentration condition also tended to report lower anxiety during the initial period than those who were told to suppress thoughts.     

Priming reveals differential coding of symbolic and non-symbolic quantities

Number processing is characterized by the distance and the size effect, but symbolic numbers exhibit smaller effects than non-symbolic numerosities. The difference between symbolic and non-symbolic processing can either be explained by a different kind of underlying representation or by parametric differences within the same type of underlying representation. We performed a primed naming study to investigate this issue. Prime and target format were manipulated (digits or collections of dots) as well as the numerical distance between prime and target value. Qualitatively different priming patterns were observed for the two formats, showing that the underlying representations differed in kind: Digits activated mental number representations of the place coding type, while collections of dots activated number representations of the summation coding type.     

Completed vs. interrupted priming: Reduced accessibility from post-fulfillment inhibition

We conceptualized an interrupted priming task as a state of an unfulfilled goal and a completed priming task as a post-fulfillment state. The accessibility of a primed construct was measured with both lexical decision and impression formation procedures. Lexical decisions showed enhanced accessibility of prime-related constructs after interrupted priming and reduced accessibility of the prime-related construct after completed priming. Replicating previous findings [Martin, L. L. (1986). Set/reset: Use and disuse of concepts in impression formation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 493-504], an ambiguous target was assimilated to the primed construct after interrupted priming, and was contrasted away from the primed construct after completed priming. Together, these results suggest that task fulfillment instigates inhibition of accessible constructs, in addition to (or instead of) a process of suppressing accessible constructs upon encountering a new target. These findings demonstrate how motivation can affect accessibility through inhibition as well as through suppression.     

The mere acceptance effect: Can it influence responses on racial Implicit Association Tests?

The Implicit Association Test (IAT) is designed to measure the strength of mental association between each of a pair of target categories (e.g., Black vs. White) and each of a pair of attributes (e.g., negative vs. positive). Recent work on the mere acceptance effect shows that, if one of the categories is the focus of attention, then an apparent preference for the focal category can emerge on the IAT, even when no such preference actually exists. It has been suggested that mere acceptance could influence responding on names-based racial IATs, perhaps leading to an exaggeration of anti-Black/pro-White bias. Whether such IATs can be influenced by a mere acceptance effect is unknown, though. By manipulating whether “Black” or “White” was the focal category on a names-based racial IAT, the present studies addressed this very issue. The results were consistent with the operation of mere acceptance effects, but not effects large enough to fully explain the appearance of bias on the IAT.     

Bicultural mind, self-construal, and self- and mother-reference effects: Consequences of cultural priming on recognition memory

Two experiments showed that American (vs. Chinese) culture priming influences Beijing Chinese undergraduates’ self-construal and its attendant memory strategies. Following American culture priming (vs. Chinese culture priming or control), the participants used relatively more independent self-statements and fewer interdependent self-statements to describe the self (Experiment 1). They also performed more poorly in a delayed recognition test if they had encoded the study materials (personality adjectives) with reference to the mother (Experiment 2). These results demonstrate the activation effect of culture on self-construal and its attendant memory processes. The results also show that biculturals can access different cultural conceptions of the self and change cognitive strategies flexibly in response to cues of changing cultural demands in the immediate context.