抑郁症的内表现型:快感缺失及其测量方法

快感缺失,指的是体验快乐的能力下降,广泛出现在抑郁症中,但同时也是其他如精神分裂症的重要症状。虽然快感缺失在精神病理学上非常重要,但较少受到研究重视。文章探讨了抑郁症和快感缺失的关系以及快感缺失个体的大脑奖励系统受损的神经机制,同时介绍了快感缺失可以进一步区分为期待性和消费性两种损害类型以及研究所用的主客观测量方法。指出快感缺失作为抑郁症最有可能的内表现型及其对疾病发展的作用,需要进一步研究深入。     

无意识目标：激活与追求

目标自动激活模型认为,目标是行为满意状态或结果在个体头脑中的表征,它能够通过相关情境自动激活。无意识目标的激活方式有语义激活、工具激活和人际激活。无意识目标追求与有意识目标追求在目标实现、目标投射和动机特征方面相似,但其行为产生机制有所不同。未来研究应该对无意识目标的机制及其具体应用进行深入的探讨     

幽默加工的脑机制

幽默是人类一种独特又普遍的现象,其研究具有重要的应用价值。已有的研究对正常人和特殊个体幽默的神经机制进行了探讨,主要涉及幽默加工的双阶段理论模型和神经机制、幽默加工中的认知和情感因素研究、幽默加工脑机制的个体差异以及幽默加工的大脑不对称性。未来的研究需在更宽的视野中对幽默的加工阶段模型以及幽默与其它心理过程之间的关系进行探讨     

类别指称对象提取过程的眼动研究

采用眼动记录法,探讨了语篇理解中类别指称对象的可提取性。实验采用3（实验材料：指称对象、非指称对象、特别控制条件）×2（兴趣区：兴趣区1、兴趣区2）×2（工作记忆容量：高、低）3因素混合设计。通过分析第一次注视时间、总的阅读时间和回视次数等眼动指标发现,类别指称对象提取过程中包含激活和抑制两种过程。被试在阅读完上指示表达之后,立即激活了可能的指称对象,但是对非指称对象的抑制却发生在后来的整合过程中;高工作记忆容量的被试能更有效地抑制非指称对象,更容易形成语篇的完整表征,有效提取类别指称对象。     

On the automaticity of emotion processing in words and faces: event-related brain potentials evidence from a superficial task

The degree to which emotional aspects of stimuli are processed automatically is controversial. Here, we assessed the automatic elicitation of emotion-related brain potentials (ERPs) to positive, negative, and neutral words and facial expressions in an easy and superficial face-word discrimination task, for which the emotional valence was irrelevant. Both emotional words and facial expressions impacted ERPs already between 50 and 100 ms after stimulus onset, possibly reflecting rapid relevance detection. Following this initial processing stage only emotionality in faces but not in words was associated with an early posterior negativity (EPN). Therefore, when emotion is irrelevant in a task which requires superficial stimulus analysis, automatically enhanced sensory encoding of emotional content appears to occur only for evolutionary prepared emotional stimuli, as reflected in larger EPN amplitudes to faces, but not to symbolic word stimuli.     

Determinants of attentive blank stares. An EFRP study

Attentive blank stares mean a failure to notice changes in a visual scene, despite looking at the area of change (Caplovitz, Fendrich, & Hughes, 2008). In this research project we have shown that people differ in terms of attentive blank stare incidences. Novices tend to fail to notice changes in the target area more often than experts. This effect is greater in persons with low visual working memory capacity (VWMC) than with high VWMC. In addition, in a group of novices with low VWMC, attentive blank stares are more frequent compared to a group with high VWMC. Attentive blank stares did not disappear even after the high VWMC group were given expertise training. With the method of eye-fixation-related potentials (EFRP) we analyzed the amplitude of lambda response, which may reflect the state of the attentional system, during encoding information about a change, prior to a decision whether a change has occurred or not. We demonstrate that the cases of attentive blank stares are accompanied by significantly lower amplitude of the lambda response compared with cases involving change detection. In addition, we discovered greater lambda responses in a group with expertise who noticed the change than in novices. The EFRP record coming from occipital electrodes in the 80–180 ms window function was marked by left-sided asymmetry in the cases of change detection and by right-sided asymmetry in the cases of attentive blank stares.     

内-外倾人格对情绪调节的影响及神经机制

内—外倾人格(即外倾性)是与情绪活动密切相关的人格特质：该特质不但影响人类的适应能力与主观幸福感,还与焦虑、冲动等情绪—行为障碍的产生有密切关联。在以往研究中,外倾性与情绪健康的关系集中体现为内—外倾人格对情绪事件易感性的影响,如外倾人格得分的增高伴随着对奖赏刺激更强的积极情绪反应水平。然而,上述联系也有可能是由于外倾性不同的人群具有不同的情绪调节特点导致。因此,可通过系统操纵外倾性人格因素与情绪调节方式,从外倾性人格特质对情绪调节方式及调节效果影响的角度,深入探讨外倾性和人类情绪与健康的关系。拟综合使用行为调查与生理测量、EEG/ERP 与 fMRI 手段,开展如下三个层面的研究工作：1)情绪调节问卷的编制及内、外倾人群情绪调节策略的比较研究;2)外倾性对情绪调节的影响及其脑机制研究,探讨认知情绪调节的生理变化、时间进程及神经基础与内—外倾人格的关系;3)情绪稳定性不同的内、外倾人群其情绪调节的特点及其脑机制研究。通过上述系列研究,深化对情绪与人格关系的认识,从而为心理健康的维护,情绪障碍的治疗及相关疗法的开发应用奠定理论基础。     

Adapting Cognitive Processing Therapy to Treat Co-Occurring Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Mild Traumatic Brain Injury: A Case Study

This case study aims to provide evidence for the effectiveness of adapting a particular manualized cognitive behavioral therapy intervention to treat co-occurring posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). This study presents the treatment of a woman who experienced co-occurring mTBI and PTSD following a motor vehicle accident, a dual diagnosis that was established through a flexible assessment approach involving interviews as well as standardized psychological, neuropsychological, and neurobehavioral testing. Treatment planning led to a-priori adaptation of Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) to treat both her PTSD symptoms and the sequelae associated with her mTBI. The therapist maintained fidelity to the manualized structure and content of CPT protocol, adapting portions of the treatment to add specific emphasis on issues of identity confusion and role loss in service of addressing these common functional impairments that can accompany mTBI. Discussion focuses on application of CPT for future treatment of comorbid PTSD and TBI amidst complicating factors, including role losses and medical and safety issues. This case study is especially relevant due to the prevalence of co-occurring PTSD and TBI across a variety of populations.     

Deadly combinations: how leadership contexts undermine the activation and enactment of followers’ high core self-evaluations in performance

Employees with high core self-evaluations (CSE) generally perform well in their jobs. The enactment of CSE in performance occurs within contexts, and leadership is one form of context that influences the activation and expression of CSE. Drawing on theories of CSE and leader–member exchange (LMX), we characterized the leadership context as the interaction between leader CSE and LMX quality. Examination of 173 followers and their 31 leaders in a manufacturing organization showed a positive association between follower CSE and performance when the context comprised high leader CSE and high LMX. Conversely, leadership contexts comprising high leader CSE and low LMX, or low leader CSE and high LMX, resulted in a negative relationship between follower CSE and performance. We also show that low CSE followers have relatively high performance under some circumstances. Thus, we contribute to understanding how some leadership contexts undermine high CSE followers’ performance and promote low CSE followers’ performance.