Emotionally controlled decision-making and a gene variant related to serotonin synthesis in women with borderline personality disorder

The Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) was used to examine (i) social decision-making in women with borderline personality disorder (BPD), and (ii) the relationship between impaired decision-making and the tryptophan hydroxylase-1 (TPH-1) gene, involved in serotonin synthesis. Forty-two women with BPD and a history of suicide attempts were genotyped, and the frequency of a TPH-1 haplotype previously uniquely associated with BPD was calculated. The BPD group scored significantly lower than a control group in the IGT. Furthermore, the TPH-1 haplotype displayed a significantly higher frequency in BPD participants with impaired decision making, compared to BPD participants with normal scores. These findings suggest that impaired decision-making as determined by the IGT is a feature of BPD and may be (i) associated with serotonin dysfunction, and (ii) possibly relevant for suicidal behavior.     

Item difficulty parameter estimation using the idea of the graded response model and computerized adaptive testing

Abstract:  In test operations using IRT (item response theory), items are included in a test before being used to rate subjects and the response data is used to estimate their item parameters. However, this method of test operation may lead to item content leakage and an adequate test operation can become difficult. To address this problem, Ozaki and Toyoda (2005, 2006 ) developed item difficulty parameter estimation methods that use paired comparison data from the perspective of the difficulty of items as judged by raters familiar with the field. In the present paper, an improved method of item difficulty parameter estimation is developed. In this new method, an item for which the difficulty parameter is to be estimated is compared with multiple items simultaneously, from the perspective of their difficulty. This is not a one-to-one comparison but a one-to-many comparison. In the comparisons, raters are informed that items selected from an item pool are ordered according to difficulty. The order will provide insight to improve the accuracy of judgment.     

Neural correlates of Traditional Chinese Medicine induced advantageous risk-taking decision making

This fMRI study examined the neural correlates of the observed improvement in advantageous risk-taking behavior, as measured by the number of adjusted pumps in the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART), following a 60-day course of a Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) recipe, specifically designed to regulate impulsiveness in order to modulate risk-taking behavior. The 14 participants recruited for this study were randomly assigned to the experimental and control groups and the TCM recipe (Panax, 520 mg; Astragalus membranaceous Bunge, 520 mg; Masnetitum, 840 mg; Ostrea gigas Thumb, 470 mg; Thinleaf Milkwort Root Radix Polygalae, 450 mg; and Os Draconis, 470 mg) was administered, as a diet supplement, to the seven participants in the experimental group. The neural activity of the two groups was monitored by a 3T MRI scanner, before and after the 60-day treatment. Associated with the improved advantageous risk-taking behavior seen in the experimental group, significantly stronger blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) responses were observed in the bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), left putamen, left thalamus, right insula, and right anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), regions which have previously been reported as being involved in risk-taking decision making. The effect of the TCM in improving advantageous risk-taking decision making appears to have been related to the enhanced efficiency of the cognitive affective system, the PFC–ACC–insula–striatum network, which functions to inhibit impulsiveness, to sensitize reward-related information, and to allow the opportunity, during risk estimation, to evaluate potential gains and losses. The findings of this study suggest that interventions acting on factors modulating risk-taking decision making could have a beneficial effect in terms of optimizing risk-taking behavior.     

刺激的知觉辨认难度与大脑两半球间的分布式加工

采用半视野速示术将标准刺激在中间视野呈现,比较刺激以不同偏心视角（3.5°,5°和6.5°）在左或右视野同时呈现,以检查不同偏心视角引起比较刺激知觉辨认难度的改变对汉字大写数字奇－偶概念同/异判断任务在大脑两半球间分布式加工的影响。结果显示：随偏心视角的增大正确反应时和错误百分数均显著提高;三种视角条件下左右手的正确反应时均有明显的右视野（左半球）优势;3.5°视角右视野（左半球）呈现时右手反应明显快于左手,5°视角右视野（左半球）与左视野（右半球）呈现时均为右手反应明显快于左手,6.5°视角右视野（左半球）与左视野（右半球）呈现时均为左手反应明显快于右手。这些结果提示：本研究条件下只有比较刺激在6.5°偏心视角呈现时刺激和反应可能出现大脑两半球间分布式加工,3.5°和5°视角呈现时可能为左半球单独加工。6.5°视角刺激呈现的分布加工明显由于大视角呈现时比较刺激辨认难度与注意要求的提高所致。     

关系-表征复杂性模型的检验

目前有关问题难度的观点多是不全面的,在综合前人研究的基础上提出了关系-表征复杂性模型。在该模型里,区分了问题难度和问题解决难度两个概念,二者的本质分别是关系复杂性和表征复杂性;关系复杂性包括水平复杂性和等级复杂性,表征复杂性相应地包括表征广度和表征深度。以172名小学高年级学生为被试,以长方形面积问题方面的三种测验收集的数据对该模型的内部和外部效度进行了检验,结果表明它能够有效解释问题（解决）难度,区分优、中、差三类学生所能达到的表征复杂性。这说明该模型有理论价值     

n-back任务下视觉工作记忆负荷研究

实验采用n-back范式,考察了视觉工作记忆负荷与反应时、辨别力和主观评价的关系,以及空间位置记忆负荷与图形记忆负荷的差异。结果发现,随着记忆负荷的增大,反应时延长,辨别力降低,主观负荷提高。视觉图形记忆任务的负荷水平高于视觉空间位置记忆任务的负荷水平;同时也为视觉图形记忆和视觉空间记忆具有不同的加工过程提供了证据。     

瑞文测验项目认知难度因素分析及LLTM拟合验证

该文在以认知和测量相结合为特征的新一代测验理论的指导下,针对项目刺激特征,对影响瑞文测验项目认知难度的因素进行了分析,提取出图块繁简度、整体布局、变化维度和题序等4个因素,然后应用线性逻辑潜在特质模型（LLTM）对这四个因素进行了拟合检验,结果证明提取出的四个因素是有效的。文章还进一步探讨了研究结果在智力测验中的应用。     

Preferred Difficulty and Subjective Probability in Different Action Phases

Drawing on Gollwitzer's deliberative–implemental mindset distinction (P. M. Gollwitzer, 1990), it was predicted that people who are deliberating on different actions or goals would be more cautious or more realistic in their expectation of success in subsequent tasks than people who are going to implement a chosen action or goal. Participants were given a choice between different test-materials. They were interrupted before (deliberative) or immediately after decision-making (implemental). They then either had to choose between various levels of difficulty within one type of task (Experiment 1) or they had to predict their own future performance (Experiment 2). The results showed that deliberative participants preferred less difficult tasks and overestimated their probability of success less than implemental participants. In addition, deliberative participants referred more than implemental participants to their past performance when selecting levels of difficulty or predicting future performance; however, the two groups did not differ in actual performance. Taken together, the findings suggest that people are more realistic in a deliberative than in an implemental state of mind. The present studies extend prior research because for the first time they document mindset effects on peoples' estimates concerning their future performance in the achievement domain.     

Effects of task difficulty on use of advice

Although prior studies have found that people generally underweight advice from others, such discounting of advice is not universal. Two studies examined the impact of task difficulty on the use of advice. In both studies, the strategy participants used to weigh advice varied with task difficulty even when it should not have. In particular, the results show that people tend to overweight advice on difficult tasks and underweight advice on easy tasks. This pattern held regardless of whether advice was automatically provided or whether people had to seek it out. The paper discusses implications for the circumstances under which people will be open to influence by advisors. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Reproducibility and a unifying explanation: Lessons from the shape bias

The goal of science is to advance our understanding of particular phenomena. However, in the field of development, the phenomena of interest are complex, multifaceted, and change over time. Here, we use three decades of research on the shape bias to argue that while replication is clearly an important part of the scientific process, integration across the findings of many studies that include variations in procedure is also critical to create a coherent understanding of the thoughts and behaviors of young children. The “shape bias,” or the tendency to generalize a novel label to novel objects of the same shape, is a reliable and robust behavioral finding and has been shown to predict future vocabulary growth and possible language disorders. Despite the robustness of the phenomenon, the way in which the shape bias is defined and tested has varied across studies and laboratories. The current review argues that differences in performance that come from even seemingly minor changes to the participants or task can offer critical insight to underlying mechanisms, and that working to incorporate data from multiple labs is an important way to reveal how task variation and a child’s individual pathway creates behavior—a key issue for understanding developmental phenomena.