奖赏预期对面孔情绪加工的影响：一项事件相关电位研究

采用事件相关电位(ERPs)技术考察了奖赏预期对人类面孔情绪识别的影响。实验采用线索-目标范式, 分别记录了被试在奖赏预期条件下以及无奖赏预期条件下对正性、中性和负性面孔进行情绪辨别任务的ERP数据。行为结果显示, 被试在奖赏预期条件下的反应时快于无奖赏预期条件下的反应时, 对情绪面孔的反应时快于对中性面孔的反应时。ERPs数据显示, 奖赏线索比无奖赏线索诱发了更正的P1、P2和P300成分。目标刺激诱发的P1、N170波幅以及N300均受到奖赏预期的调节, 在奖赏预期条件下目标诱发了更正的ERPs。P1、N170、VPP等成分没有受到面孔情绪的影响, 而额中央位置的N300波幅显示情绪(正性与负性)面孔与中性面孔加工的差异。重要的是, N300波幅出现奖赏预期与情绪的交互作用, 正、负情绪加工效应以及负性偏向效应受奖赏预期的差异性影响。正性情绪加工效应不受奖赏预期的影响, 而负性情绪加工效应和负性偏向效应在奖赏预期条件下显著大于无奖赏预期条件下。这些结果说明, 奖赏预期能够调节对面孔情绪的加工, 且不同加工进程中奖赏对情绪加工的调节作用不同。动机性信息调节注意资源的分配, 促进了个体在加工面孔情绪时的负性偏向。     

焦虑障碍的认知偏向矫正：应用与争议

认知偏向是焦虑障碍患者的重要认知特征, 是指患者或高焦虑个体对负性或威胁性信息存在认知加工方面的偏向。目前该领域的研究聚焦于注意偏向和解释偏向。近年来, 研究者致力于将认知偏向的矫正应用于焦虑障碍患者的临床治疗, 得到了不一致的结果。本文总结了将认知偏向矫正应用于临床实践的不同方式, 并从主观报告的疗效证据、行为及生理指标的疗效证据, 以及未发现疗效证据的研究三方面回顾了近年来的研究成果。对于结果的高度不一致, 本文从期望效应、干预对象、因变量和其它参数等方面探讨了可能的原因, 并讨论了未来可能的研究方向。     

不同注意负载条件下刺激驱动的注意捕获

Lavie的注意负载理论认为:靶任务的加工负载决定无关干扰子被加工的程度;当靶任务的注意负载增高时,外周干扰子被注意的程度会减弱。实验通过改变靶任务的负载、以及干扰子出现的时程,发现干扰子在低和高负载条件下同样可以产生刺激驱动的注意捕获：低负载在333ms左右;高负载在0~167ms左右。这说明在高负载条件下干扰子同样会吸引注意,只是在时程上与低负载不同。     

网络成瘾倾向者对负性表情注意的脱离困难

采用Young编制的IAT量表从382名青少年中筛选出网络成瘾倾向者15名,非网络成瘾控制组被试18名,利用视觉搜索范式比较了两组被试对真人面孔和卡通面孔表情的注意偏向差异。结果表明：（1）在注意快速定向阶段,当要求被试快速准确地从中性面孔矩阵中搜索高兴或者愤怒面孔时,相较于控制组被试,网络成瘾倾向者搜索愤怒面孔更迅速,尤其表现为对卡通愤怒面孔的快速定向优势;（2）在注意的维持和脱离阶段,当在愤怒或高兴面孔矩阵中搜索中性面孔时,相较于控制组被试,网络成瘾倾向者在更具威胁性的真人愤怒面孔矩阵中最难脱离。结论：网络成瘾倾向者具有负性注意偏向特点,表现为对负性表情具有快速定向和解脱困难。且相较于控制组被试,网络成瘾倾向者对卡通面孔注意定向更快而更难从真人愤怒面孔矩阵中脱离,也说明了其注意偏向主要为对负性信息的注意解除困难。     

Associations between childhood adversity and daily suppression and avoidance in response to stress in adulthood: can neurobiological sensitivity help explain this relationship?

Background and objectives: Although it has been postulated that psychological responses to stress in adulthood are grounded in childhood experiences in the family environment, evidence has been inconsistent. This study tested whether two putative measures of neurobiological sensitivity (vagal flexibility and attentional capacity) moderated the relation between women’s reported exposure to a risky childhood environment and current engagement in suppressive or avoidant coping in response to daily stress.

Design and methods: Adult women (N?=?158) recruited for a study of stress, coping, and aging reported on early adversity (EA) in their childhood family environment and completed a week-long daily diary in which they described their most stressful event of the day and indicated the degree to which they used suppression or avoidance in response to that event. In addition, women completed a visual tracking task during which heart rate variability and attentional capacity were assessed.

Results: Multilevel mixed modeling analyses revealed that greater EA predicted greater suppression and avoidance only among women with higher attentional capacity. Similarly, greater EA predicted greater use of suppression, but only among women with greater vagal flexibility.

Conclusion: Childhood adversity may predispose individuals with high neurobiological sensitivity to a lifetime of maladaptive coping.     

Set size,assertion form,thematic content and sampling in the selection task

Participants attempted to solve a modified version of Wason's (1966) selection task. Variables were: (1) sizes of the sets referenced by a specified assertion, (2) form of the assertion (conditional or categorical), (3) thematic content of the assertion (letters and numbers or makes and owners of taxicabs), and (4) the need for sampling or not. In Experiment 1, participants were given enough information to determine the truth or falsity of the specified assertion with certainty; in Experiment 2, they had to rely on sampling and could not determine the assertion's truth or falsity with certainty. Performance was better in Experiment 1 than in Experiment 2, but in both cases much better than what is typically obtained with the conventional selection task. The results support the hypothesis that performance of the selection task is sensitive to the sizes of the sets involved, add credence to the conclusion that framing the task in a thematically meaningful way can facilitate performance, and demonstrate that facilitation does not require deontic reasoning or a well-known convention being involved. The relationship between expressed confidence and level of performance is consistent with other studies showing the former to be a good predictor of the latter.     

Set points of positivity ratio for different levels of well‐being: A latent profile analysis

Previous studies have explored the set points of the positivity ratio by grouping according to predetermined cut‐off scores, resulting in inconsistent criteria and unstable results. This study intends to further explore the set points of the positivity ratio using latent profile analysis. Two samples of 716 college students and 381 adults in China completed the Questionnaire for Eudaimonic Well‐Being, the Personal Growth Subscale from Ryff's Psychological Well‐being Scale, the Need Satisfaction Questionnaire, and the Emotional Experience of Well‐Being Questionnaire. College students were classified into four classes (2.0, 2.8, 3.7 and 5.0) with the set points of the positivity ratio, whereas adults were classified into three classes (1.9, 2.9 and 4.2) with the set points of the positivity ratio. The difference of the set points between college students and adults was nonsignificant for medium and high well‐being classes, and significant with a small effect size for the higher well‐being class. Future research should examine more diverse samples and combine the real experience method to further explore the set points of the positivity ratio.     

Attentional Capture by Emotional Stimuli: Manipulation of Emotional Valence by the Sample Pre‐rating Method

Eye movements directed at emotional and neutral pictures were investigated. Participants were instructed to fixate on a target and avoid looking at a non‐target. Results of trials consisting of emotional and neutral pictures were analyzed based on participants’ evaluations of the stimuli before the experiment. Results indicated that the number and duration of fixations were larger and longer for targets than for non‐targets. Further, the probability of first fixation was less for neutral targets than for emotional targets. This suggests that unpleasant pictures capture visual attention and that the attentional orienting is subject to automatic response. The possibility that top‐down processes of visual attention may be involved in attentional capture was also discussed.     

Cognitive trait anxiety,stress and effort interact to predict inhibitory control

Few studies have focussed on the link between anxiety and inhibitory control in the absence of stimulus-driven external threat. This two-part experiment examined the interactions between (1) somatic trait anxiety, somatic situational stress (i.e. threat of electric shock), and effort, and (2) cognitive trait anxiety, cognitive situational stress (i.e. ego-threat instructions), and effort, on inhibitory processes using a Go-No-Go paradigm. Trait anxiety was operationalised using questionnaire scores and effort was operationalised using a visual analogue scale. Performance effectiveness was measured using the d′ parameter from signal detection theory and processing efficiency was indexed by the ratio of d′ to response time on correct trials. Results indicated that somatic trait anxiety and stress did not predict effectiveness or efficiency. Cognitive trait anxiety and stress were associated with both inhibitory effectiveness and efficiency deficits; however, contrary to expectations these deficits were evident at higher rather than lower mental effort. Results suggest a distinction between how somatic and cognitive anxiety manifest on tasks involving inhibitory control.     

哭泣表情面孔的注意偏向:眼动的证据

研究采用双选择Oddball范式和线索-靶子范式,并结合眼动技术,以微笑、哭泣和中性表情面孔为刺激材料,综合考察哭泣表情面孔在识别和解离过程中的注意偏向。研究发现:在识别阶段,哭泣表情面孔的识别正确率和反应速度都显著优于微笑表情面孔,进一步的兴趣区注视偏向分析发现,哭泣和微笑表情面孔的注视模式既具有一致的规律,又存在细微的差异;在解离阶段,返回抑制受线索表情类型的影响,在有效线索条件下,哭泣表情线索呈现后个体对目标刺激的平均注视时间和眼跳潜伏期都显著短于其它表情线索。表明哭泣表情面孔在识别和解离过程中具有不同的注意偏向表现,在识别阶段表现为反应输出优势和注视模式上的一致性与差异性;在解离阶段表现为有效线索条件下,对目标刺激定位和视觉加工的促进作用。