Inferring agency from sound

In three experiments we investigated how people determine whether or not they are in control of sounds they hear. The sounds were either triggered by participants’ taps or controlled by a computer. The task was to distinguish between self-control and external control during active tapping, and during passive listening to a playback of the sounds recorded during the active condition. Experiment 1 required detection of a change in control mode within trials. Experiments 2 and 3 introduced a simple rhythm reproduction task that requires discrimination of control modes between trials. The results demonstrate that both sensorimotor cues and perceptual cues are used to infer agency. In addition, there may be further influences of cognitive expectation and/or multimodal integration. In accordance with hierarchical models of intention [e.g., Pacherie, E. (2008). The phenomenology of action: A conceptual framework. Cognition, 107, 179-217] this suggests that the sense of agency is not situated on one specific level of action control but subject to multiple influences.     

Preference for impossible figures in 4-month-olds

Can infants use interposition and line junction cues to infer three-dimensional (3D) structure? Previous work has shown that in a task that required 4-month-olds to discriminate between static two-dimensional (2D) pictures of possible and impossible cubes, infants exhibited a spontaneous preference for displays of the impossible cube but left open the question of whether they did so on the basis of purely local “critical regions” or whether they were able to employ more global clues. Here infants were presented with possible and impossible cubes in which the strictly local cues that could have derived from exterior binding contours were deleted. Results showed that infants were still able to discriminate possible cubes from impossible cubes, suggesting that longer looking infants are sensitive to global properties and that the capacity to integrate pictorial information to perceive aspects of global 3D shape may develop earlier than demonstrated previously using reaching tasks.     

教师社会线索对视频学习的影响*

当前,基于多媒体的视频学习成为一种重要的学习形式。其中一个重要问题是:视频中是否需要呈现教师形象?教师的社会线索能否影响学习体验和学习效果?基于近期的实证研究,总结了教师的眼神注视、手势、面部表情和语音四种社会线索对视频学习的影响。结果发现,教师的眼神注视(直接注视、引导注视)能够引导注意、降低认知负荷、提高准社会交往,促进视频学习;手势(象征性手势、隐喻性手势和指示性手势)可以引导注意、降低认知负荷,改善视频学习;积极的面部表情和语调能提高准社会交往和积极情绪,促进视频学习。同时,教师应使用第一人称和第二人称的表达来增强学习者的参与感,并尽量用标准的口音。     

不同线索下特质焦虑个体的返回抑制

焦虑与注意偏向的研究是近年来情绪与认知领域的热点。为探讨特质焦虑个体的注意偏向特点及其返回抑制能力是否受不同线索的调节, 采用特质焦虑量表筛选高特质焦虑大学生29名, 低特质焦虑大学生28名完成线索-靶子任务。要求被试在提示线索消失后, 对位置进行快而准地辨别反应, 分别探索中性和情绪性提示线索下被试的返回抑制。结果发现：(1)在中性线索条件下, 高焦虑个体平均反应时慢于低焦虑个体。(2) 在情绪线索条件下, 高焦虑个体在负性线索下的反应时小于在正性线索下的反应时; 高、低焦虑个体在各种SOA条件下均出现了返回抑制, 但各组返回抑制量受到情绪线索的调节：在正性情绪线索条件下, 两组返回抑制量没有显著差异; 在负性情绪线索下, 高焦虑个体返回抑制量显著小于低焦虑个体。这表明, (1)焦虑个体的注意偏向受到刺激信息的影响：只对负性情绪线索出现注意警觉; (2)只有在涉及负性情绪信息时高、低焦虑个体返回抑制能力才有差异, 高焦虑个体存在对负性情绪线索的抑制困难。     

“鸡尾酒会”环境中的知觉线索的去掩蔽作用

在有多人同时说话的嘈杂环境中,为什么具有正常听力的人能在一定的程度上听懂目标语句？研究这个著名的“鸡尾酒会”问题的一个新进展是将干扰言语的作用区分出了能量掩蔽和信息掩蔽两种成分。与发生在外周系统的能量掩蔽不同,信息掩蔽发生在心理层次并受到认知过程的调节。因此,主观空间分离、与目标语句节奏相关的视觉信号以及对目标语句某些特征的熟悉程度等知觉线索都具有去掩蔽作用。考察可减少信息掩蔽的知觉线索的交互作用及其高级认知调节是今后重要的研究内容     

词切分的韵律学线索

本文是关于汉语普通话词切分的一个实验报告。用无意文重复句和合成句作语音材料,探讨音节时长分布、基频曲线、音节强度以及共振峰等韵律学线索在词切分中的作用。得到的主要结果是,在排除语义和音段层面信息的条件下,听者能够根据句子的韵律学特征进行句子结构的判断和词的切分;在对切分有效的韵律学线索中,最重要的是音节的时长分布模式,其次是基频曲线,音节的强度和共振峰变化对切分没有贡献。     

面孔参照或观察者参照：性别二态线索、面孔吸引力与表情对正视面孔偏好的影响

本研究探讨了性别二态线索、面孔吸引力和表情对正视面孔偏好的影响。实验1基于面孔参照,被试普遍偏好正视面孔;相对男性化/厌恶和生气/低吸引力的面孔,被试更偏好女性化/高兴和中性/高吸引力的正视面孔;实验2基于观察者参照,总体并未表现出正视偏好;对低吸引力/中性表情/男性化面孔更偏好斜视面孔。     

TEACHING MENTALLY RETARDED ADULTS TO TIME-MANAGE IN A VOCATIONAL SETTING

Three retarded adults who had minimal ability to tell time were trained to “time-manage.” Each was given a card with clock face representations on which the hands of the clock were drawn, representing each trainee's assigned lunch and break times. Instruction was given before work to perform each of the required behaviors when the “real” clock matched the clock faces. Praise was given following correct responses, and reprimands, instruction, and, in some instances, delay or omission of the scheduled activity followed incorrect responses. Pre-instruction and instructional feedback were then sequentially withdrawn. Results indicated that the package consisting of pre-instruction, instructional feedback, and picture cues was effective in producing independent time management responding. When the first two components were withdrawn, two trainees maintained high levels of correct responding. Correct responding decreased for one trainee when pre-instruction was withdrawn. Reintroduction and subsequent withdrawal of the components resulted in maintenance by this trainee. Little improvement in time-telling ability resulted.     

Social cues modulate the representations underlying cross-situational learning

Because children hear language in environments that contain many things to talk about, learning the meaning of even the simplest word requires making inferences under uncertainty. A cross-situational statistical learner can aggregate across naming events to form stable word-referent mappings, but this approach neglects an important source of information that can reduce referential uncertainty: social cues from speakers (e.g., eye gaze). In four large-scale experiments with adults, we tested the effects of varying referential uncertainty in cross-situational word learning using social cues. Social cues shifted learners away from tracking multiple hypotheses and towards storing only a single hypothesis (Experiments 1 and 2). In addition, learners were sensitive to graded changes in the strength of a social cue, and when it became less reliable, they were more likely to store multiple hypotheses (Experiment 3). Finally, learners stored fewer word-referent mappings in the presence of a social cue even when given the opportunity to visually inspect the objects for the same amount of time (Experiment 4). Taken together, our data suggest that the representations underlying cross-situational word learning of concrete object labels are quite flexible: In conditions of greater uncertainty, learners store a broader range of information.