Cognitive Control in the Face of Fear: Reduced Cognitive-Emotional Flexibility in Women with a History of Child Abuse

Child abuse can negatively affect neurobiological systems involved in regulating emotions. Adults who were maltreated as children show diminished capacity to flexibly integrate the prefrontal and limbic circuits underlying emotion regulation. Using a facial identification Stroop task with nonemotional and emotional stimuli, we found that women who reported more childhood abuse (N = 44) were no different from women reporting less childhood abuse (N = 45) on nonemotional conflict adaptation, but were significantly less able to adapt to emotional conflict. Women who reported more abuse were especially impaired in adapting to emotional conflict when incongruent stimuli involved a fearful face. These results help characterize the relation between cognitive control and emotion regulation and highlight the far-reaching effects of childhood abuse on cognitive-emotional flexibility.     

Moderator Role of Looming Cognitive Style (LCS) in the Relationship Between Attentional Control and Anxiety: Difference Between Shifting and Focusing Dimensions

Attentional control (AC) that is composed of shifting and focusing dimensions had been suggested as a transdiagnostic risk factor, associated with development and maintenance of various psychological disorders. In comparison, Looming Cognitive Style (LCS) had been documented as a trait-based, disorders-specific characteristic that is linked to high levels of subjectively felt anxiety. The present study investigated whether individual differences in LCS moderated the association of shifting and focusing with anxiety. Participants were 402 individuals between ages 18 and 68 recruited through advertisements posted on various forums, e-mail groups, and social media websites. They filled out questionnaires assessing AC, LCS, anxiety, and depression online. Results of the moderation analyses indicated that at high levels of LCS, low attentional shifting ability was associated with more intense anxiety. A similar relationship with LCS was not observed for focusing. In conclusion, for individuals who have high LCS and low shifting ability, content of and distress coming from looming images is experienced in a more intense manner due to difficulty in shifting to another (perhaps less anxiety provoking) content more flexibly. The findings are providing support for the interactive–synergistic perspective, indicating that deficits in shifting capacity may potentiate negative impact of looming cognitions.     

Encoding Strategies in Primary School Children: Insights From an Eye-Tracking Approach and the Role of Individual Differences in Attentional Control

The authors explored different aspects of encoding strategy use in primary school children by including (a) an encoding strategy task in which children's encoding strategy use was recorded through a remote eye-tracking device and, later, free recall and recognition for target items was assessed; and (b) tasks measuring resistance to interference (flanker task) and inhibition of attention to task-irrelevant stimuli (distractibility). Results revealed that the ability to inhibit distraction and resist interference undergoes developmental changes between the ages of 7–10 years. At the same time, children's capability to strategically focus on task-relevant aspects also continues to improve in primary school years. Although there were substantial relationships between encoding strategies and later recognition, encoding strategies appeared to be unrelated to basic aspects of attentional control.     

阈下语义启动效应影响因素述评

阈下语义启动效应是指阈下呈现的启动词能够对与之有语义联想关系的目标词的加工产生促进作用.阈下语义启动效应具有不稳定性且容易受到各种因素的影响.影响阈下语义启动效应的因素有外部因素和内部因素两大类,外部因素包括任务类型、实验材料和实验程序等因素,内部因素包括注意、任务设置、目的和期望.本文首先简单回顾阈下语义启动效应的研究历史,并介绍相应的研究范式及觉知状态的测量方法,然后重点对影响因素进行了总结和评述.未来的研究可以从优化研究范式、加强脑机制研究以及发展理论等几个方面进一步拓展.     

内源性注意定向对立体视觉加工影响机制的ERP研究

本研究采用行为测量与ERP分析相结合的范式,以视差分离方式、线索提示有效性为自变量,考察三维空间中内源性注意定向对立体视觉加工的影响及其脑电机制。结果发现：无论是短SOA还是长SOA,3D空间中预测性中央符号线索对后续辨认任务均产生了启动效应,且启动效应量不随SOA延长而变化。短SOA下,经典提示效应和跨深度提示效应均表现为有效提示下的N1波幅大于无效提示条件;长SOA下,线索提示效应则表现出了无效提示条件诱发较大N1波幅的趋势。     

基于反馈加工的规则学习:研究儿童认知灵活性的新范式

认知灵活性作为执行功能的三个主要成分之一,对个体能力发展和环境适应起着重要作用。但以往研究多采用不同范式来考察不同年龄段儿童在一个优势规则失效后灵活转换至新规则的能力。本研究旨在威斯康星卡片分类任务(WCST)的基础上设计一种新任务范式,考察年龄范围更大的群体在规则习得过程中根据不同性质的反馈信息保持与灵活修订假设的能力。我们设计了目标选择任务(target choose task,TCT),考察181名5~11岁儿童的认知灵活性。其中24名儿童亦完成WCST。结果表明,TCT通过率界于32~65.7%;TCT高分组成绩显著高于低分组;分半信度计算结果表明奇数编号题目与偶数题目得分正相关;TCT分数与WCST完成分类数和概念化水平数分别呈正相关。这些结果表明TCT难度适中,具有区分度,内部一致性高,效度良好,可以在更大的年龄跨度上研究儿童在规则习得过程中的认知灵活性。     

情绪场景图片的注意偏向：眼动研究

注意实验中,与不带情绪色彩的刺激相比,具有情绪意义的刺激可引起注意偏向。本研究以情绪场景图片为材料,通过眼动技术分别记录被试在反向眼跳任务和Go/No-go任务中的眼动数据,考察了情绪图片的注意偏向。结果发现：反向眼跳任务中,对情绪图片的眼跳潜伏期比中性图片更长,眼跳错误率也更高;在Go任务中,相对于呈现在中央的中性图片,情绪图片引起的对靶子的眼跳潜伏期更长;在No-go任务中,相对于呈现在中央的中性图片,情绪图片引起的眼跳错误率更低。实验结果说明,情绪图片可引起注意偏向,表现为更快的捕获注意并且注意更难从情绪图片上转移。     

网络游戏成瘾者注意焦点转换功能的特异性损伤研究

网络游戏成瘾对人类认知功能的损伤日益成为研究焦点之一。采用注意焦点转换任务,分别要求网络游戏成瘾被试与正常被试在工作记忆的语音环内、视空画板内及语音环——视空画板间进行注意焦点转换,然后比较两组被试在各转换任务中转换代价的差异,来探讨网络游戏成瘾者的注意焦点转换功能是否受损以及受损的特征。结果发现网络游戏成瘾组被试在视空画板内进行注意焦点转换时比对照组被试表现出更大的转换代价,而在其他两种转换任务中则没有发现组间差异。此结果表明网络游戏成瘾者的注意转换功能受到特异性损伤。     

注意控制与短时记忆的知觉组织

、考察了短时记忆中的知觉组织是否受双作业时指导语引导的注意策略控制。各有24名北京大学本科生参加了自由回忆和顺序回亿实验。实验任务有2种：记忆和声音监控。声音监控或者安排在记忆编码阶段,或者安排在记忆提取阶段。双作业时的指导语类型有3种,分别强调记忆、声音监控或两种作业同样重要。记忆项目表分2种：不分组和知觉分组。研究发现：自由回忆中的知觉组织仅受编码阶段的指导语影响;顺序回忆中的知觉组织仅受提取阶段的指导语影响。作者设想,短时记忆中的知觉组织在编码和提取阶段都受注意控制,但记忆类型不同,注意控制的作用地点和表现形式也有所不同。     

认知灵活性和顿悟表征转换：练习类型的影响

以停车场问题为实验材料,以42名大学生为被试,探讨认知灵活性高和低的被试在不同练习类型下顿悟问题表征转换的差异。结果表明：1）不同的练习类型对顿悟表征转换有影响,被试在难度逐渐增加的练习类型下比在简单的练习类型下顿悟产生得更快;2）顿悟表征转换的速度因认知灵活性的不同有差异,在简单的练习类型下,认知灵活性高的被试比认知灵活性低的被试顿悟产生得更早,在难度逐渐增加的练习类型下两者无差异;3）认知灵活性高的被试比认知灵活性低的被试顿悟问题解决更快。