风险决策研究中的仿真气球冒险任务

仿真气球冒险任务(TheBalloonAnalogRiskTask,BART)能在实验室环境下模拟真实世界的风险情境,具有高生态性,稳定性和可靠性等优点,已经成为风险决策研究中最常用的实验范式之一。近年来,研究者发展了多种BART变体范式,对发展、健康以及精神病理等多领域的风险决策行为及其神经基础开展了广泛探索。BART任务中的风险决策加工与腹侧纹状体、前扣带皮层、脑岛、中脑及背外侧前额叶等脑区的激活相关。未来研究需要进一步完善BART任务在风险决策认知神经领域的信效度并扩展BART的应用情境。     

Gender and task confidence as predictors of the Domain-Masculine Intelligence Type (DMIQ)

This study investigated the relationship between gender, ability tests and task confidence as predictors of self-estimated intelligence. Participants estimated their mathematical and spatial intelligence before and after completing various ability tests which they also rated for their probable success. Males rated their intelligence higher than females on both before and after measures, as well on their task estimated probably success. There was no sex difference on the ability test. Gender and actual task success scores were predictors of self-estimates, with the former being twice as powerful as the latter. The results are discussed in terms of gender differences in confidence and expectations when approaching ability tests and their effect on self-estimated intelligence.     

Finishing on time: When do predictions influence completion times?

People typically predict they will finish projects earlier than they do. Whereas previous research has examined the determinants of this prediction bias, the present research explored potential consequences for behavior. In particular, we examined whether and when task completion predictions influence actual completion times. In four experiments we used anchoring manipulations to induce participants to make relatively early or late task completion predictions, and then examined when they started and/or finished the target tasks. As hypothesized, the prediction manipulation influenced completion times under certain conditions defined by the nature of the target task. Manipulated predictions affected completion times of closed tasks, defined as tasks carried out within a single, continuous session but not of open tasks, defined as tasks requiring multiple work sessions. This implies that task completion predictions help to initiate action, but their impact diminishes over the course of extensive, multi-stage projects.     

Sequential learning models for the Wisconsin card sort task: Assessing processes in substance dependent individuals

The Wisconsin card sort task (WCST) is a commonly used neuropsychological test of executive or frontal lobe functioning. Traditional behavioral measures from the task (e.g., perseverative errors) distinguish healthy controls from clinical populations, but such measures can be difficult to interpret. In an attempt to supplement traditional measures, we developed and tested a family of sequential learning models that allowed for estimation of processes at the individual subject level in the WCST. Testing the model with substance dependent individuals and healthy controls, the model parameters significantly predicted group membership, even when controlling for traditional behavioral measures from the task. Substance dependence was associated with (a) slower attention shifting following punished trials and (b) reduced decision consistency. Results suggest that model parameters may offer both incremental content validity and incremental predictive validity.     

ERP evidence for task modulations on face perceptual processing at different spatial scales

Does the perceptual processing of faces flexibly adapt to the requirements of the categorization task at hand, or does it operate independently of this cognitive context? Behavioral studies have shown that the fine and coarse spatial scales of a face are differentially processed depending on the categorization task performed, thus suggesting that the latter can influence stimulus perception. Here, we investigated the time course of these task influences on perceptual processing by examining the visual N170 face‐sensitive Event‐Related Potential (ERP), while observers categorized faces for their gender and familiarity. Stimuli were full spectrum, or filtered versions that preserved either coarse or fine scale information of the faces. Behavioral results replicated previous findings of a differential processing of coarse and fine spatial scales across tasks. In addition, the N170 amplitude was larger in the Gender task as compared to the Familiarity task for LSF faces exclusively, thus showing that task demands differentially modulated the spatial scale processing on faces. These results suggest that the diagnosticity of scale‐specific cues in categorization tasks can modulate face processing.     

Triple Bottomline Many‐Objective‐Based Decision Making for a Land Use Management Problem

A land use many‐objective optimization problem for a 1500‐ha farm with 315 paddocks was formulated with 14 objectives (maximizing sawlog production, pulpwood production, milksolids, beef, sheep meat, wool, carbon sequestration, water production, income and Earnings Before Interest and Tax; and minimizing costs, nitrate leaching, phosphorus loss and sedimentation). This was solved using a modified Reference‐point‐based Non‐dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm II augmented by simulated epigenetic operations. The search space had complex variable interactions and was based on economic data and several interoperating simulation models. The solution was an approximation of a Hyperspace Pareto Frontier (HPF), where each non‐dominated trade‐off point represented a set of land‐use management actions taken within a 10‐year period and their related management options, spanning a planning period of 50 years. A trade‐off analysis was achieved using Hyper‐Radial Visualization (HRV) by collapsing the HPF into a 2‐D visualization capability through an interactive virtual reality (VR)‐based method, thereby facilitating intuitive selection of a sound compromise solution dictated by the decision makers' preferences under uncertainty conditions. Four scenarios of the HRV were considered emphasizing economic, sedimentation and nitrate leaching aspects—giving rise to a triple bottomline (i.e. the economic, environmental and social complex, where the social aspect is represented by the preferences of the various stakeholders). Highlights of the proposed approach are the development of an innovative epigenetics‐based multi‐objective optimizer, uncertainty incorporation in the search space data and decision making on a multi‐dimensional space through a VR‐simulation‐based visual steering process controlled at its core by a multi‐criterion decision making‐based process. This approach has widespread applicability to many other ‘wicked’ societal problem‐solving tasks. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

ATTACHMENT IN INFANTS WITH CLEFT LIP AND/OR PALATE: MARGINAL SECURITY AND ITS CHANGES OVER TIME

This study examines the attachment quality and how this changed over time among infants who had cleft lip and palate (CLP), by conducting a prospective longitudinal study addressing the effects of this type of perinatal event on the parent–infant relationship and the emotional development of the infants. At 12 months of age, the Strange Situation Paradigm (SSP; M. Ainsworth, M.C. Blehar, E. Waters, & T. Wall, 1978) was administered to a sample of 38 CLP infants (born between 2003 and 2010) and 17 healthy controls. At 4 years of age, the Attachment Story Completion Task (ASCT; I. Bretherton, D. Ridgeway, & J. Cassidy, 1990) was administered to 32 individuals from the CLP sample and 14 from the control group. As reported in the literature, CLP infants display secure attachment behaviors as frequently as do control infants (55%). However, a more detailed analysis of the attachment scales revealed that CLP infants show more avoidance and less proximity seeking. In addition, a closer examination of the subcategories of attachment styles revealed that most CLP infants (71%) displayed distal attachment strategies such as the B1/B2 or A1/A2 subcategories. At 4 years old, CLP infants clearly displayed more deactivation and less security than did the control sample. Moreover, when detailing the evolution of attachment individually, almost 60% of the CLP children showing distal strategies at 12 months became deactivated or disorganized when they reached 4 years. Indeed, subtle differences in attachment behaviors at 12 months old—which can be considered marginally secure at that age—may reveal attachment vulnerabilities, which seem to be more apparent over the course of development.