Generalization peak shift in rats under conditions of positive reinforcement and avoidance

Rats were trained to discriminate between two click frequencies. One frequency was associated with either variable-interval food reinforcement (Experiment 1) or free-operant avoidance (Experiment 2). The other frequency was associated with the absence of food in Experiment 1 and the absence of shock in Experiment 2. On a click frequency generalization test, the rats in both experiments showed positive peak shift with the shape of the relative gradients being very similar. This is the first reported instance of peak shift in rats when responding was maintained by an avoidance contingency. Nondifferentially trained controls showed that this shift was due exclusively to associative processes, with nonassociative stimulus factors in themselves apparently making no contribution to increased rates at particular stimulus values. These results show the comparability of appetitive and aversive control and support the position that gradient differences do not result from approach versus avoidance per se.     

The allocation of time to temporally defined behaviors: responding during stimulus generalization.

In one stimulus condition, reinforcement depended on rats holding a lever for a duration having both minimum and maximum boundaries. During a second light intensity, reinforcement was not available for some rats; for others, reinforcement depended on a second response duration requirement. Generalization test stimuli controlled the same response durations found during training, and the amount of time allocated to a given response duration depended on the proximity of the test stimulus to the training stimulus which controlled that particular duration. The results indicated that a gradient of stimulus control does not reflect an underlying continuous change in responding, but is a result of the mixing of responses previously controlled by stimuli present during conditioning.     

负荷水平和作业信息输入输出形式对视觉追踪操作心理负荷评估敏感性的影响

就负荷水平和信息输入形式,输出形式对视觉追踪作业心理负荷评估指标敏感性的影响进行了实验,获得以下主要结果：（１）主任务绩效具有较好的评估敏感性;（２）作业信息输入形式、输出形式对评估指标敏感性有显著影响。     

The Impact of Affective States and Affective Shifts on Creative Ideation and Evaluation

This study aims to examine the impact of affective states and affective shifts on ideation and evaluation of creativity. Affects were induced by a two‐stage imagination procedure of recalling autobiographical experiences. Three periods of divergent thinking were measured to represent the participants’ creative ideation at different times. Creative evaluation was measured by estimating the originality of each response provided by the participants. The results indicate that (a) during the initial period of ideation, groups with positive affect obtain better creative ideation than the groups with neutral or negative affect. (b) The ideation in positive affect groups gradually decreases over time, while the ideation in negative affect groups gradually increases over time. (c) During the evaluation of originality, groups with negative affect have a higher proportion of over‐estimates and a lower proportion of under‐estimates than groups with positive affect. The viewpoints of cognitive tuning theory, which posit that the affective state influences creativity, are supported.     

Lexical effects on speech perception in individuals with "autistic" traits

It has been claimed that Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is characterized by a limited ability to process perceptual stimuli in reference to the contextual information of the percept. Such a connection between a nonholistic processing style and behavioral traits associated with ASD is thought to exist also within the neurotypical population albeit in a more subtle way. We examined this hypothesis with respect to auditory speech perception, by testing whether the extent to which phonetic categorization shifts to make the percept a known word (i.e., the 'Ganong effect') is weakened as a function of autistic traits in neurotypicals. Fifty-five university students were given the Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ) and a segment identification test using two word-to-nonword Voice Onset Time (VOT) continua (kiss-giss and gift-kift). A significant negative correlation was found between the total AQ score and the identification shift that occurred between the continua. The AQ score did not correlate with scores on separately administered VOT discrimination, auditory lexical decision, or verbal IQ, thus ruling out enhanced auditory sensitivity, slower lexical access or verbal intelligence as explanations of the AQ-related shift in phonetic categorization.     

利手与语言功能偏侧化的遗传模型

利手与语言功能偏侧化现象不仅具有跨文化一致性和发生、发展上的关联性, 还具有明显的生态学优势, 从遗传角度探讨它们的成因是必要的。早期遗传模型认为, 存在一对等位基因分别决定左、右利手。当代单基因模型则将语言功能偏侧化也纳入进来, 认为等位基因不仅可以决定具有方向性的偏侧化, 而且可以使偏侧化有一定几率向左或向右。在这个框架下形成了方向-随机等位基因模型、X-连锁隐性基因模型和右侧位移理论, 它们对等位基因的位置和功能有不同表述, 对利手的划分标准、性别差异以及遗传和环境的关系也有不同阐释。今后需加强对语言偏侧化的数据验证, 进一步阐明语言感知、理解与利手的关系, 并注重基因怎样决定表型、基因多效性和多基因合作等问题的研究。     

注意转移在负相容效应产生中的作用:独立还是伴随*

采用两个实验设计,在确保负相容效应(NCE)的产生主要来自反应抑制贡献的实验范式基础上加入引发显性注意转移的目标刺激,探讨了注意转移在负相容效应产生中的作用。具体来说,实验一在经典NCE范式中加入中性目标刺激,并操纵启动与目标的关系。发现,不相容条件下的反应时最短,无关条件次之,相容条件下最长。证明在该范式中反应抑制在NCE的产生中占主导地位。实验二则在实验一范式的基础上,加入左、中、右呈现的加号目标刺激。发现,两种目标类型的反应时结果模式均与实验一相似。结果表明,注意转移并非如Cole和Kuhn(2010)提出的能够独立引发NCE,它只是伴随NCE的抑制加工过程而出现,且其加工模式与抑制加工模式类似。     

内源性眼跳前的空间注意转移

采用线运动错觉(illusory line motion)测量的单任务范式,以色块为眼跳提示刺激,用三个实验对内源性眼跳前是否存在空间注意转移进行了探讨。实验一要求被试将眼睛跳往提示刺激处,通过对线运动错觉的分析确定该条件下的空间注意转移规律;实验二要求被试在将视线保持在注视点处的条件下判断目标色块是否出现,以探明线运动错觉是否受对目标色块前注意阶段加工的影响;实验三要求被试将眼睛跳往提示刺激的对侧,分析眼跳位置与提示刺激空间方位的一致性对空间注意转移的影响。获得以下主要结果：(1)内源性眼跳前存在注意转移;(2)在视线保持在注视点处的条件下,注意未受对提示刺激前注意加工的引导;(3)眼跳目标位置与提示目标位置的空间一致性对眼跳前空间注意转移无显著影响。     

目标状态与时间信息在情境模型加工中的作用

采用移动窗口和记录探测句阅读时间的实时阅读技术, 对情境模型中目标状态与时间信息的关系进行了探索。运用重复测量的实验设计进行了三个实验, 实验发现(1)在顺序发生的事件结构中, 未达成目标作为持续追踪的焦点, 使得时间转换增大的条件下, 也不会对信息的整合产生影响; 而对时间距离的表征不仅起到了提高速度的作用, 而且也没有产生时间距离的远近效应。(2)同样是在顺序语篇中, 无目标和目标达成条件下, 随着时间转换的增大, 则出现了时间转换的大小效应, 也出现了时间距离的远近效应。(3)在回溯事件的建构中, 读者把回溯事件表征为时间距离的背景信息, 目标促进了信息的整合。     

The effect of positive emotion on infants' gaze shift

Infants often voluntarily glance at their social partner during their toy play, disengaging their gaze from a toy and selecting a caregiver as their new looking target. This study posed two research questions: Do positive emotions disengage infants' gaze from their point of fixation, and do positive emotions facilitate the selection of the caregiver as their next looking target? The rate of gaze shifts was calculated for neutral and positive emotional states during their toy play. Across all ages, infants exhibited more disengagement from their point of fixation in the positive state than in the neutral one. However, 6- and 9-month-old infants revealed no difference in selecting a caregiver or a physical object as their next looking target in the positive state, but 12-month-olds increased gazing at caregivers in the positive state. These results were discussed with regard to the role of positive emotions on the development of infants' initiating joint attention.