Concept learning by monkeys with video picture images and a touch screen.

Two rhesus monkeys were trained in a same/different task to discriminate digitized computer-stored picture stimuli. The pictures were digitized from 35-mm slides and presented in pairs on a computer monitor. The monkeys were required to touch the pictures and then make a choice response to indicate whether the pictures were identical or nonidentical. The response areas and stimuli were located to the sides of the picture stimuli. Responses were defined and monitored by an infrared matrix touch screen. After learning the same/different task, both monkeys showed performance accuracy with novel picture stimuli similar to that with training picture stimuli. This accurate novel-picture transfer indicates that a same/different concept had been learned, a concept similar to the one they had previously demonstrated in a different apparatus with rear-projected slide stimuli and a response lever.     

The importance of the individual in the ‘causal’ relationship between attractiveness and self-esteem

This paper argues that many psychological explanations underlying health and social behaviour stress the importance of the relationship between attractiveness and self-esteem. The nature of this relationship is not well understood, yet can have important implications for the individual in areas of medical intervention which involve treatment on aesthetic grounds. A survey of psychosocial factors among 1018 children aged 11-12 years is reported. The study examined the association between perception of physical attractiveness and self-esteem in order to clarify the relationship between self-esteem and self versus others' perception of attractiveness. Self-ratings of attractiveness were linked to judges' ratings to determine whether subjects underrated, over-rated, or accurately perceived their own physical attractiveness. The results showed that although ratings of general facial attractiveness by others were associated with self-perceived attractiveness, in the specific area of dental health, attractiveness (as judged by others) was not. There were no significant relationships between ratings of attractiveness by others and self-esteem. Self-perception of attractiveness, however, was significantly associated with self-esteem. Further analyses showed that children who under-rated their own facial attractiveness had a lower mean score for self-esteem than over-raters or accurate perceivers (who did not differ significantly). In contrast, under-raters of dental attractiveness had a lower mean score for self-esteem than over-raters, but did not differ significantly from accurate perceivers. Over-raters of dental attractiveness had a higher mean score for self-esteem than accurate perceivers. These finding suggest that if an over-rater were to receive treatment on aesthetic grounds it is unlikely, given that they have high self-esteem already, that such intervention will have a profound psychological impact. These data indicate the importance of determining the way in which individuals evaluate their appearance compared to others, and may help to clarify previously equivocal findings concerning the relationship between self-esteem and attractiveness.     

幼儿对具体图片与抽象图片内隐记忆的实验研究

本研究选择３—６岁幼儿为被试,采用具体图片与抽象图片两种材料,分别交叉使用内隐学习与外显学习两种方式,探讨不同年龄幼儿内隐记忆与外显记忆的效果及特点。实验结果表明：幼儿期幼儿确实存在内隐学习,幼儿对抽象材料的内隐记忆效果优于外显记忆效果;幼儿内隐记忆与外显记忆两种效果均随年龄增长而逐步发展。     

低卷入情境中品牌远延伸的成功机制

品牌延伸是近年营销学界的一个研究热点。多数实证研究表明,母品牌认知、母品牌好感、延伸类别与母品牌类别之间的拟合度以及母品牌特定联想对品牌延伸评价有重要的影响作用。然而,已有理论在解释跨类别的远距离延伸的成功机制上比较乏力。本研究采用实证方法对这一点进行了补充。考虑到初始延伸评价所处的低卷入情境,概念层级较高的品牌相关变量在品牌远延伸评价中有重要的影响作用,本研究对三个品牌相关变量：品牌类别固着度、品牌抽象性与功能性特点、品牌声誉的主效应采用三个控制实验进行了测查。实验结果表明,较小的类别固着度,较高的品牌抽象性特点,以及较高的品牌声誉是品牌远延伸获得成功的机制保证。     

数量表征的符号特异性和符号非特异性

数量表征(numerical representation)指与特定数量相联系的心理表征。长期以来抽象的数量表征假说占据主导地位, 但随着自动化加工范式和脑成像技术的发展, 数量表征存在符号特异性的证据已不断涌现。其中, 最近有两个理论认为数量表征可能同时存在符号特异性和符号非特异性。计算的模型假说提出非符号数量和符号数字在总和编码阶段具有符号特异性, 而在之后的位置编码阶段具有符号非特异性。双重编码的延伸假说则认为数量表征在自动编码阶段具有符号特异性, 然后在有意编码阶段, 受任务要求影响, 数量表征向实时的抽象表征过渡。已有大量行为和神经基础研究为以上假说提供了证据, 但数量表征动态变化的内在机制和脑区还有待探索, 未来应该在发展、跨文化、自动加工范式与神经成像相结合、单细胞记录技术等方向继续开展数量表征研究。     

Observation can be as effective as action in problem solving

This study discusses findings that replicate and extend the original work of Burns and Vollmeyer (2002) , which showed that performance in problem-solving tasks was more accurate when people were engaged in a non-specific goal than in a specific goal. The main innovation here was to examine the goal specificity effect under both observation-based and conventional action-based learning conditions. The findings show that goal specificity affects the accuracy of problem solving in the same way when the learning stage of the task is observation-based as when it is action-based. In addition, the findings show that, when instructions do not promote goal specificity, observation-based problem solving is as effective as action-based problem solving.     

A Neo-Kantian foundation of Corporate Social Responsibility

‘Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is conceptualized in many ways. We argue that one cannot be indifferent about the issue of its conceptualization. In terms of methodology, our position is that any conceptual discussion must embed CSR in political theory. With regard to substance, we link up with the discussion on whether CSR must be defined on the basis of a tripartite or a quadripartite division of business responsibilities. We share A.B. Carroll’s intuition that a quadripartite division is called for as a basis to define CSR. However, defending the quadripartite division of business responsibilities requires that the distinctions between economic, legal, ethical and discretionary business responsibilities be made intelligible. Carroll’s account is defective in this respect. We argue that contemporary Neo-Kantian political ethics is able to make sense of these distinctions, because of its specific interpretation of liberalism. Interestingly, from a conventional liberal perspective this interpretation of liberalism is atypical, as it extends public morality beyond the domain of the law.

Local rather than global processing of visual arrays in numerosity discrimination by pigeons (Columba livia)

A series of experiments investigated which stimulus properties pigeons use when they discriminate pairs of visual arrays that differ in numerosity. Transfer tests with novel stimuli confirmed that the birds’ choices were based on relative differences in numerosity. However, pigeons differed from other species in the non-numerical cues that affected their choices. In human and non-human primates, numerical discrimination is often influenced by continuous variables such as surface area or overall stimulus brightness. Pigeons showed little evidence of using those cues, even when summed area and brightness had been correlated with numerosity differences and reward outcome. But when array-element sizes were asymmetrically distributed across numerosities, the birds readily utilized information about item sizes as an additional discriminative cue. These novel results are discussed in relation to pigeons’ tendency to focus on local, rather than global dimensions when they process other non-numerical complex visual stimuli. The findings suggest there may be inter-specific differences in the type of perceptual information that provides the input stage for mechanisms underlying numerical processing. Electronic supplementary material  The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Stability of choices in a risky decision‐making task: a 3‐year longitudinal study with children and adults

In a 3‐year follow‐up to Levin and Hart's ( 2003 ) study, we observed the same children, now 9–11 years old, and their parents in the same risky decision‐making task. At the aggregate level the same pattern of means was observed across time periods. At the individual level the key variables were significantly correlated across time periods for both children and adults. Taken together with the results from the original study and earlier studies, these results solidify the following conclusions: children utilize both probability and outcome information in risky decision‐making; the tendency to make more risky choices to avoid a loss than to achieve a gain of equal magnitude, which is a major tenet of the leading theories of risky decision‐making, occurs for children as well as adults; children make more risky choices than adults; temperamental predictors of risky choice are valid for children as well as for adults. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.