解读“反胜为败”的现象：一个“Choking”过程理论

运动员关键时刻以先赢后输的形式丢掉冠军的现象越来越多地发生在现代竞技体育比赛中。心理学上称之为压力下的“Choking”,并定义为压力条件下一种习惯的运动执行过程发生衰变的现象。对于“Choking”的研究开始于八十年代初中期,迄今为止,主要有干扰假说和自动执行假说解释其发生机制。但由于现有的假说过于简单,理论的研究一直不能为实践防治“Choking”提供可行的措施。本文基于笔者多年来的研究积累,就这一空缺,提出并讨论了一个“Choking”过程理论。该理论把“Choking”作为一个过程来讨论,包括引起因素、认知过程、应付过程和运动过程。根据过程理论,本文讨论了“Choking”发生机制。在此基础上,提供了防止“Choking”发生的具体可行性措施。     

Further remarks on the role of cognition in the comparative analysis of behavior

Recent interest in comparative psychology has stimulated much research and debate concerning cognitive processes in animal behavior. The present paper relates to this general area by treating particular issues in the analysis of comparative cognition: specifically, how cognition is inferred from animal behavior; whether the postulation of intervening cognitive processes furthers our understanding of behavior; and how rival approaches help advance the science of behavior.     

Rightly crossing the Rubicon: Evaluating goal self-concordance prior to selection helps people choose more intrinsic goals

We studied how people “cross the Rubicon” when making personal goal selections. In Studies 1 and 2 participants rated the self-concordance of four candidate goals, two with intrinsic and two with extrinsic content, before selecting two goals to actually pursue. Intrinsic goal content predicted higher self-concordance, as did matching between goal content and participant values and motives. Self-concordance in turn explained participants’ actual goal-selections. In longitudinal Study 2, intrinsic goal selection predicted increased well-being. In experimental Study 3, participants randomly assigned to rate candidate goals prior to selection made more intrinsic selections on average, compared to those not afforded this opportunity. We conclude that considering one’s motivations for various candidate goals prior to selecting among them can improve one’s goal choices.     

Fronto-parietal mirror neuron system modeling: Visuospatial transformations support imitation learning independently of imitator perspective

Although the human mirror neuron system (MNS) is critical for action observation and imitation, most MNS investigations overlook the visuospatial transformation processes that allow individuals to interpret and imitate actions observed from differing perspectives. This problem is not trivial since accurately reaching for and grasping an object requires a visuospatial transformation mechanism capable of precisely remapping fine motor skills where the observer’s and imitator’s arms and hands may have quite different orientations and sizes. Accordingly, here we describe a novel neural model to investigate the dynamics between the fronto-parietal MNS and visuospatial processes during observation and imitation of a reaching and grasping action. Our model encompasses i) the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and inferior parietal lobule (IPL), regions that are postulated to produce neural drive and sensory predictions, respectively; ii) the middle temporal (MT) and middle superior temporal (MST) regions that are postulated to process visual motion of a particular action; and iii) the superior parietal lobule (SPL) and intra-parietal sulcus (IPS) that are hypothesized to encode the visuospatial transformations enabling action observation/imitation based on different visuospatial viewpoints. The results reveal that when a demonstrator executes an action, an imitator can reproduce it with similar kinematics, independently of differences in anthropometry, distance, and viewpoint. As with prior empirical findings, similar model synaptic activity was observed during both action observation and execution along with the existence of both view-independent and view-dependent neural populations in the frontal MNS. Importantly, this work generates testable behavioral and neurophysiological predictions. Namely, the model predicts that i) during observation/imitation the response time increases linearly as the rotation angle of the observed action increases but remain similar when performing both clockwise and counterclockwise rotation and ii) IPL embeds essentially view-independent neurons while SPL/IPS includes both view-independent and view-dependent neurons. Overall, this work suggests that MT/MST visuomotion processes combined with the SPL/IPS allow the MNS to observe and imitate actions independently of demonstrator-imitator spatial relationships.     

线索有效性对儿童返回抑制的影响

采用通常的线索—靶子实验,来考察不同的线索有效性对儿童返回抑制的影响。所用的外源性线索分高有效性、低有效性和非信息性三类。儿童被试在实验中的任务为觉察圆形光点后即按键反应,记录反应时。结果表明,7岁、9岁和11岁儿童在高有效性和非信息性线索条件下均出现返回抑制;但7岁和9岁儿童在低有效性线索条件未出现返回抑制,而11岁儿童则出现。这些儿童的实验结果有别于成人。结果提示,7岁、9岁和11岁儿童的返回抑制是在外源性线索的作用下自动出现的,具有反射性质;但7岁和9岁儿童的返回抑制仍受线索有效性的制约,而11岁儿童返回抑制的发展已不受线索有效性的影响。     

Varieties of cognitive penetration in visual perception

Is our perceptual experience a veridical representation of the world or is it a product of our beliefs and past experiences? Cognitive penetration describes the influence of higher level cognitive factors on perceptual experience and has been a debated topic in philosophy of mind and cognitive science. Here, we focus on visual perception, particularly early vision, and how it is affected by contextual expectations and memorized cognitive contents. We argue for cognitive penetration based on recent empirical evidence demonstrating contextual and top-down influences on early visual processes. On the basis of a perceptual model, we propose different types of cognitive penetration depending on the processing level on which the penetration happens and depending on where the penetrating influence comes from. Our proposal has two consequences: (1) the traditional controversy on whether cognitive penetration occurs or not is ill posed, and (2) a clear-cut perception–cognition boundary cannot be maintained.     

A systematic review on perceptual-motor calibration to changes in action capabilities

Perceptual-motor calibration has been described as a mapping between perception and action, which is relevant to distinguish possible from impossible opportunities for action. To avoid movement errors, it is relevant to rapidly calibrate to immediate changes in capabilities and therefore this study sought to explain in what conditions calibration is most efficient. A systematic search of seven databases was conducted to identify literature concerning changes in calibration in response to changes in action capabilities. Twenty-three papers satisfied the inclusion criteria. Data revealed that calibration occurs rapidly if there is a good match between the task that requires calibration and the sources of perceptual-motor information available for exploration (e.g. when exploring maximal braking capabilities by experiencing braking). Calibration can take more time when the perceptual-motor information that is available is less relevant. The current study identified a number of limitations in the field of perceptual-motor research. Most notably, the mean participant age in the included studies was between 18 and 33 years of age, limiting the generalizability of the results to other age groups. Also, due to inconsistent terminology used in the field of perceptual-motor research, we argue that investigating calibration in older cohorts should be a focus of future research because of the possible implications of impaired calibration in an aging society.     

Aesthetics as evaluative forms of agency to perceive and design reality: A reply to aesthetic realism

Following a naturalist-realist point of view, this paper attempts to contribute to the metaphysical question of whether or not reality includes aesthetics. During evolution, cognitive agents have constructed (goal-directed) regulatory abilities forming anticipatory contents in the form of feelings regarding opportunities for interaction. These feelings are considered to be the fundamental part of an evaluative or (what in this paper considered as aesthetic) behavior through which agents show a preference to aspects of their external world. Thus, ‘aesthetic’ denotes an agential behavior based on an organization of processes integrated in a form that identifies, evaluates, and compares sources of interaction-success or error in specific aspects of external reality. While agents approach the same aspects of reality as they all interact with the same world, our claim is that aesthetic normativity cannot be an objective feature of this reality. This model overcomes problems of correspondence in the sense that an agent's actions and thoughts ought to react to any pre-given (aesthetic) quality or norm, while at the same time it emphasizes the self-directedness of aesthetic behavior that enables the development of creative forms of cognition.     

Psychoneuroimmunology: A bio‐psycho‐social approach to health and disease

Since the early 1980s, the interdisciplinary field of psychoneuroimmunology has explored the complex bi‐directional interactions between brain, behavior, and the immune system. Taken together, this research has expanded the limits of the questions we can ask about the organism by challenging the biomedical paradigm of the immune system as predominantly “autonomous”. Psychoneuroimmunology has played a key role in establishing a biological basis for the ancient idea that the mind can play a role in health and disease. This article describes the development of psychoneuroimmunology and reviews a number of key findings concerning psychological phenomena of potential relevance to understanding brain‐behavior‐immune interactions, including learning, emotions, stress, and the role of sensory processes.