USING DIFFERENTIAL REINFORCEMENT TO DECREASE ACADEMIC RESPONSE LATENCIES OF AN ADOLESCENT WITH ACQUIRED BRAIN INJURY

The present study investigated the effects of contingency‐specifying rules and a token economy to decrease the latency to comply with academic instructions by a 16‐year‐old girl with acquired brain injury. Results showed that treatment was successful in reducing academic response latencies. These results replicate previous research in which differential reinforcement was used to decrease slow responding to academic tasks.     

More is more: The relationship between vocabulary size and word extension

This study experimentally tested the relationship between children’s lexicon size and their ability to learn new words within the domain of color. We manipulated the size of 25 20-month-olds’ color lexicons by training them with two, four, or six different color words over the course of eight training sessions. We subsequently tested children’s ability to extend new color words to new instances. We found that training with a broader number of color words led to increased extension of new words. The results suggest that children’s learning history predicts their ability to learn new words within domains.     

Lateralization of egocentric and allocentric spatial processing after parietal brain lesions

The purpose of this paper was to verify whether left and right parietal brain lesions may selectively impair egocentric and allocentric processing of spatial information in near/far spaces. Two Right-Brain-Damaged (RBD), 2 Left-Brain-Damaged (LBD) patients (not affected by neglect or language disturbances) and eight normal controls were submitted to the Ego-Allo Task requiring distance judgments computed according to egocentric or allocentric frames of reference in near/far spaces. Subjects also completed a general neuropsychological assessment and the following visuospatial tasks: reproduction of the Rey-Osterreith figure, line length judgement, point position identification, mental rotation, mental construction, line length memory, line length inference, Corsi block-tapping task. LBD patients presented difficulties in both egocentric and allocentric processing, whereas RBD patients dropped in egocentric but not in allocentric judgements, and in near but not far space. Further, RBD patients dropped in perceptually comparing linear distances, whereas LBD patients failed in memory for distances. The overall pattern of results suggests that the right hemisphere is specialized in processing metric information according to egocentric frames of reference. The data are interpreted according to a theoretical model that highlights the close link between egocentric processing and perceptual control of action.     

Anomalous brain dominance and the immune system: Do left-handers have specific immunological patterns?

Geschwind and Behan (1982) and Geschwind and Galaburda (1985a, 1985b, 1985c) suggested a correlation between brain laterality and immune disorders. To test whether this hypothesis holds true not only for the frequency of immune diseases and circulating autoantibodies, but extends also to cellular immunity, we examined the association between handedness and markers of cellular immunity. Twenty-seven left-handed and 37 right-handed subjects were serologically screened for cellular parameters and 22 left-handed subjects were typed for human leukocyte antigen (HLA). When compared to the right-handers, the left-handed group showed a significant decrease in the inflammatory cell types CD3(+) T cells (total T cells), CD4(+) T cells (T-helper cells), and HLA-Dr (MHC-II, antigen-presenting cells) as well as in the CD19(+) cells (B cells) and CD16/CD57(+) cells (natural killer cells). We assume a relationship exists between cerebral hemispheric specialisation and the immune system not only for humoral but also for cellular immunity, and we discuss the role of the major histocompatibility complex in neurological and immunological development.     

共情的认知神经研究回顾

共情是指个体对他人情绪和想法的感受及理解,它在人类个体和社会的发展中起到了重要作用。近年来,脑成像技术为研究共情的神经基础提供了有力的技术支持,发现了共情的关键功能脑区。基础与临床的实验证据表明,更好地理解共情的神经机制对于孤独症、反社会人格等精神障碍有重要的意义。该文对相关的研究进行了综述并对未来可能的研究方向提出了展望     

自我和他人的协调与心理理论的神经机制

有关心理理论神经机制的研究远未达到共识。从自我与他人协调的角度看,可认为它是一个由多脑区有机组织而成的系统。自我中心化偏差是人类认知的一种默认选择,要正确理解他人的心理状态,需要抑制自我中心偏差。因此,心理理论的加工至少包括以下几个不同的过程：通过模拟自我理解他人,相应的加工脑区为镜像神经元系统;从他人与客体形成的二元关系中表征心理状态的内容,相应脑区是颞顶联合区;对模拟自我进行抑制,相应脑区为背外侧额叶;以及整合协调以上几个过程,其脑区可能是内侧前额叶     

发展中的行为决策研究

行为决策研究人们如何进行判断与选择。该学科希望能在描述决策的过程中帮助人们更好地进行决策,其研究的使命是促进和改善我们对人类决策行为的理解。在过去的1年里,中国科学院心理研究所行为决策课题组在社会与经济决策领域中已开展的研究包括：行为决策与脑、社会互动与决策、决策的文化差异、消费与投资的行为决策、效用最大化与幸福感。该文着重报告并讨论了我们在行为决策及其跨文化比较研究中的一些最新的主要发现     

关于条件推理的ERP研究

以抽象的条件命题作为实验材料,测定13名大学生在完成MP、AC、DA、MT推理（推测判断任务）和基线任务（记忆判断任务）时的事件相关电位（ERP）,初步探讨不同推理类型的脑内时程动态变化。这是使用ERP技术来研究条件推理脑机制的初步尝试。结果发现,五种任务所诱发的ERP早成分均不存在显著差异,在头皮前部的左外侧额区和左颞区,MP与DA推理与基线任务相比,均诱发一个更明显的晚期正成分（450-1100ms）,在右外侧额区则诱发一个更明显的晚期负成分（450~1100ms）;与之相反,MT与AC推理与基线任务相比,在左侧诱发一个更明显的晚期负成分（450~1100ms）,在右侧诱发一个更明显的晚期正成分（450~1100ms）,这一结果可能是由于左右脑在推理中的认知功能以及四种推理类型之间存在的差异所致,同时也表明推测过程主要激活了左右侧的前额部、颞叶等区域,基本支持Goel等人的双加工理论     

人工语法范式下内隐学习的脑机制及其教育启示

人工语法范式是研究内隐学习实验的重要范式。利用脑成像技术的研究发现：人工语法范式下内隐学习发生时,额叶、枕叶、顶叶以及基底神经节与内隐学习有密切关系。该结果对当前教育教学产生一定启示,即教师要多给学生创造知识迁移的机会;培养学生的动手实践活动;重视学习过程中内隐学习与外显学习的先后顺序和有序结合。     

思维与语言的关系：来自认知神经科学的证据

在有关人类心智的研究中,思维与语言的关系始终是一个复杂而重要的课题。借助于新的技术手段和研究思路,当代认知神经科学从新的角度探讨了这个古老而神秘的课题。其研究的基本逻辑是：如果某种特定的思维过程（比如简单的算术运算或者三段论推理）在本质上是“语言的”,那么,在进行这种思维活动时,大脑中负责语言信息处理的区域就会参与;反之,如果某种思维过程在本质上是“空间的”,则大脑中负责空间信息处理的区域就会参与其中。结合来自直观的脑功能图谱证据与其它的跨领域证据（如来自行为实验和脑损伤研究的证据）,能够帮助我们更加深入地认识和理解思维与语言的关系问题。