注意瞬脱神经机制的研究

在很短的时间间隔内连续呈现两个目标刺激时,被试对第二个目标刺激的正确报告率显著下降,这种现象就是注意瞬脱.该文简述了注意瞬脱的概念、容量有限性等方面,尤其详细介绍了注意瞬脱神经机制研究的新进展,并对今后的研究提出展望.     

幼儿认知灵活性的发展及其与言语能力的关系

认知灵活性是人类智力的一个重要特征,言语能力也是人类的一个关键能力,无论是个体灵活地使用语言,或者是语言在促进个体认知灵活性发展中的作用,都是不容低估的重要问题,但关于两者关系的研究却极其少见。以认知灵活性研究中经典的演绎范式DCCS任务和经典的归纳范式FIM、FIST任务为基础,从认知灵活性中对言语能力的探究、言语测验中包含的认知灵活性、以及两者共同的基础———表征能力等三个方面来阐明认知灵活性和言语发展之间的关系,最后表明了认知灵活性和言语能力之间的显著关系。     

海洛因戒除者对相关线索和负性生理线索的注意偏向

以84名海洛因戒除者和20名正常成人为被试,采用情绪stroop范式探讨了不同康复时相海洛因戒除者对海洛因相关线索和负性生理线索的注意偏向。结果发现,海洛因戒除者对表征与海洛因滥用相关的负性生理线索和表征海洛因使用行为的相关线索存在同等效力的注意偏向,且在不同康复时相内具有稳定性。该研究为解释基于戒除症状的负性情绪对于诱发依赖者药物渴求感和复吸行为的作用及整合基于对相关线索注意偏向的认知加工理论和基于对负性情绪的回避的负强化情绪加工理论提供了实验证据。     

Perseverance in solving Sudoku: role of grit and cognitive flexibility in problem solving

Problem solving is a higher order cognitive capacity with implications for everyday functioning. Although Grit predicts academic outcomes, the relation between facets of Grit, Consistency and Perseverance, and problem solving remain unknown. We report the results of two studies conducted to examine the impact of facets of grit on problem solving within the context of solving Sudoku puzzles. In Study 1, Grit-Perseverance predicted performance on the hard versus easy puzzle. In Study 2, we increased the difficulty level of the puzzles and assessed cognitive flexibility using the Wisconsin Card Sort Test. Grit-Perseverance was associated with effort on both the hard and very hard puzzles. Further, mediation analyses revealed that Grit-Perseverance indirectly predicted increased effort on the very hard puzzle through decreased cognitive flexibility. Overall our results demonstrate that Grit-Perseverance, not Consistency, impacts problem solving and highly gritty individuals may be most successful in solving challenging problems that are moderately constrained.     

When children succeed in changing their responses: Insights from three versions of a flexible categorization task

Cognitive flexibility is a hallmark of human cognition, but its development is still poorly understood. The present work examined the flexibility of categorization in preschool children. Thirty-three participants aged 3–4 years were divided into three groups, with each group receiving a different version of a flexible categorization task in which the targets belonged to two distinct categories. These versions manipulated the type of questions that were asked and the alternation of shape and color games. The children exhibited flexibility when the questions were specific (or asked about attributes). The results support the idea that instructions play a role in children’s performance in sorting tasks. Considering cognitive flexibility as an expression of the interaction between children’s knowledge and abilities on the one hand and the structure, specifics, or demands of the task on the other can help clarify what cognitive flexibility is and how it develops.     

Can Implicit Theory Influence Construal Level?

Beliefs about stability and change are captured by individuals’ implicit theories. Incremental‐theorists believe that human traits and world‐dispositions are malleable and can change through effort, whereas entity‐theorists believe that human traits and world‐dispositions are fixed. In this research we find that the implicit theory an individual holds influences an important aspect of the cognitive process, namely, the level of construal at which information is processed. In three studies we demonstrate that, compared to entity‐theorists, incremental‐theorists adopt a more abstract level of information construal, and the increased cognitive flexibility afforded by an incremental‐theory mindset explains this effect.     

Intergenerational transmission of attentional bias and anxiety

Earlier evidence has revealed a bi‐directional causal relationship between anxiety and attention biases in adults and children. This study investigated the prospective and concurrent relations between anxiety and attentional bias in a sample of 89 families (mothers, fathers, and first‐born children). Parents’ and children's attentional bias was measured when children were 7.5 years old, using both a visual probe task and visual search task with angry versus happy facial expressions. Generalized and social anxiety symptoms in parents and children were measured when children were 4.5 and 7.5 years old. Anxiety in parents and children was prospectively (but not concurrently) related to their respective attentional biases to threat: All participants showed a larger attentional bias to threat in the visual search (but not in the visual probe) task if they were more anxious at the 4.5 (but not at the 7.5) year measurement. Moreover, parents’ anxiety levels were prospectively predictive of the visual search attentional bias of their children after controlling for child anxiety. More anxiety in mothers at 4.5 years was related to a faster detection of angry among happy faces, while more anxiety in fathers predicted a faster detection of happy among angry faces in children at 7.5 years. We found no direct association between parental and child attentional biases. Our study contributes to the recently emerging literature on attentional biases as a potential mechanism in the intergenerational transmission of anxiety by showing that parents’ anxiety rather than parents’ attentional bias contributes to the intergenerational transmission of risk for child anxiety.     

社交焦虑注意偏向的动态变化

注意偏向是社交焦虑障碍(Social Anxiety Disorder, SAD)个体症状维持的重要因素, 其中注意警觉、注意回避、注意脱离困难三种注意模式得到了研究者最广泛的研究与讨论。随着研究深入, 有研究者提出SAD个体的注意模式不是单一、静态模式, 更有可能在不同注意模式间切换, 表现为动态的过程。目前, 依据相关研究结果和理论假设, 证据均指向SAD个体的注意偏向具有随着焦虑水平提高和注意控制能力受损而动态变化的倾向, 从注意警觉过渡到注意回避与注意脱离困难均如此。此观点还需研究进一步证实, 并且基于研究结果提出更具有针对性的干预方式。     

焦虑个体抑制控制缺陷的研究现状和争议：基于注意控制理论视角

根据注意控制理论的观点, 焦虑会削弱个体的抑制控制功能。虽然这一假设得到了大量行为学和神经生理证据的支撑, 但在高焦虑个体是增加还是减少自上而下注意控制资源来完成抑制控制任务这一核心问题上却存在较大争议。多种因素的存在造成了这一局面。理论解释本身存在明显的不足; 实证研究中多种额外变量的存在导致已有研究结果的信效度较低。未来可以通过探索焦虑水平、注意控制水平和抑制控制之间的关系来解决这一争议。     

社会性信息对Flanker效应的影响

研究显示,面孔Flanker任务中,经典Flanker效应会消失,但其机制还不明确。本文在ANT-I范式的基础上,除常规的箭头Flanker,增加面孔Flanker、两侧为箭头中间为面孔和两侧为面孔中间为箭头的混合Flanker,探究造成该现象的可能原因。结果发现,当Flanker任务中的干扰刺激为箭头时,Flanker效应存在;而干扰刺激为面孔时,Flanker效应则消失了。提示,Flanker任务中干扰刺激的社会性可能是造成Flanker效应消失的原因。这为冲突信息加工中社会性与非社会性信息的控制机制提供了新的视角。