背景性渴求与事件性渴求:区分心理渴求对尼古丁成瘾的不同作用路径

大量研究发现心理渴求机制的紊乱是尼古丁成瘾的核心机制之一。线索暴露是探索心理渴求与尼古丁成瘾关系的重要研究范式。但最近研究者提出该范式较难区分事件性渴求与背景性渴求,导致无法清楚定位渴求在尼古丁成瘾中扮演的角色。通过对以往文献的回顾,对不同成瘾概念、作用机制和生理基础进行对比分析,认为事件性渴求与背景性渴求两者在维持成瘾行为上的确存在不同的作用路径。未来研究应改进实验范式,分别探讨两种心理渴求与尼古丁成瘾的内在联系,完善心理渴求与尼古丁成瘾的关系模型,为尼古丁成瘾的治疗和干预等方法提供一定的理论依据。     

Vygotsky and beyond: horizons for the future of psychology / Vygotski y más allá: horizontes para el futuro de la psicología

In this article some usually overlooked aspects of Vygotsky’s work are presented. First, the understanding of the mediation system as a trans-organic, extended branch of the psychological system. Second, the semantic nature of conscience and the systemic neuropsychological organization of higher functions. Third, the leading role played in the psychic system by directive functions. Fourth, the understanding of human evolution as open and permanently provisional. Last, a reference is made to the role of psychology in the process of human auto-evolution, which Vygotsky viewed as a mission.     

Maternal odor shapes rapid face categorization in the infant brain

To successfully interact with a rich and ambiguous visual environment, the human brain learns to differentiate visual stimuli and to produce the same response to subsets of these stimuli despite their physical difference. Although this visual categorization function is traditionally investigated from a unisensory perspective, its early development is inherently constrained by multisensory inputs. In particular, an early‐maturing sensory system such as olfaction is ideally suited to support the immature visual system in infancy by providing stability and familiarity to a rapidly changing visual environment. Here, we test the hypothesis that rapid visual categorization of salient visual signals for the young infant brain, human faces, is shaped by another highly relevant human‐related input from the olfactory system, the mother's body odor. We observe that a right‐hemispheric neural signature of single‐glance face categorization from natural images is significantly enhanced in the maternal versus a control odor context in individual 4‐month‐old infant brains. A lack of difference between odor conditions for the common brain response elicited by both face and non‐face images rules out a mere enhancement of arousal or visual attention in the maternal odor context. These observations show that face‐selective neural activity in infancy is mediated by the presence of a (maternal) body odor, providing strong support for multisensory inputs driving category acquisition in the developing human brain and having important implications for our understanding of human perceptual development.     

The development of executive function in early childhood is inversely related to change in body mass index: Evidence for an energetic tradeoff?

A well‐established literature demonstrates executive function (EF) deficits in obese children and adults relative to healthy weight comparisons. EF deficits in obesity are associated with overeating and impulsive consumption of high calorie foods leading to excess weight gain and to problems with metabolic regulation and low‐grade inflammation that detrimentally affect the structure and function of prefrontal cortex. Here, we test a complementary explanation for the relation between EF and body mass index (BMI) grounded in the energy demand of the developing brain. Recent work shows that the brain accounts for a lifetime peak of 66% of resting metabolic rate in childhood and that developmental changes in brain energetics and normative changes in body weight gain are closely inversely related. This finding suggests a trade‐off in early childhood between energy used to support brain development versus energy used to support physical growth and fat deposition. To test this theorized energetic trade‐off, we analyzed data from a large longitudinal sample (N = 1,292) and found that change in EF from age 3 to 5 years, as a proxy for brain development in energetically costly prefrontal cortex, is inversely related to change in BMI from age 2 to 5 years. Greater linear decline in BMI predicted greater linear increase in EF. We interpret this finding as tentative support for a brain–body energetic trade‐off in early childhood with implications for lifetime obesity risk.     

中国儿童青少年跨期决策的发展与脑发育机制

跨期决策是指人们对时间成本与收益进行权衡, 进而做出评价与选择, 其研究主要围绕时间折扣, 是指与当前或近期的损益相比, 人们赋予未来损益更小的权重。虽然有争议, 但Mischel等人很早就通过著名的“棉花糖实验”证明了延迟满足能力越强的儿童有着更高的学业成就。延迟满足与跨期决策都是在时间维度上进行的决策。研究者通过脑成像技术发现了成人大脑内支持跨期决策的三个神经网络系统, 但关于儿童的研究鲜有报道。这三大脑网络系统都位于额叶皮层, 该皮层在儿童青少年时期快速发育。通过采用横断研究和纵向研究相结合的实验设计, 对处于跨期决策发展关键期的中国儿童青少年人群进行测查和追踪; 借助神经影像技术, 考察跨期决策发展与脑发育的关系; 整合多模态神经影像技术, 构建可以预测跨期决策能力的脑影像指标。     

Cognitive consequences of playing brain-training games in immersive virtual reality

The goal of the present study was to examine the effects of playing an immersive virtual reality game that included a collection of gamified cognitive tasks, Cerevrum, on specific components of cognition, including perceptual attention, mental rotation, working memory, visualization, visual field of view, and visual processing speed. Participants completed a pretest of cognitive assessments, played one of the two mini-games within Cerevrum (Stardust or Heroes) for 1.5 hr over three 30-min sessions and then completed a posttest of cognitive assessments and a questionnaire about interest and engagement during the game. An inactive control group completed only the pretest and posttest. Results showed no significant differences among the Heroes group, Stardust group, and control group on the posttest scores, even when controlled for pretest scores. These findings do not support the claim that playing brain-training games for a short period results in transfer of cognitive training to nongame venues.     

人类大脑结构和功能的性别差异：来自脑成像研究的证据

大脑的性别差异近年来受到了广泛关注。脑成像技术的出现为脑结构和脑功能性别差异的研究开辟了新的道路。借助结构磁共振成像和弥散张量成像等脑结构信息, 以及脑电图、正电子发射断层扫描技术和功能性磁共振成像等脑功能信息, 当前研究主要探讨了脑灰质、脑白质和大脑的基线活动在脑局部区域、脑子系统、全脑连接组三个层次上的性别差异及其在年龄上的发展变化。此外, 为了更好地理解脑性别差异, 当前文章还探讨了脑性别差异研究领域的一些认识误区。有关脑性别差异的研究虽然已经取得了丰富的成果, 但现有的研究结果存在很多分歧, 仍然有深入挖掘的空间。未来应该加强对具有性别特异性的心理疾病脑机制的研究, 关注基因和环境对脑性别差异的交互作用, 并利用脑功能活动动态变化的特性、以及结合多模态的脑成像技术进一步阐明脑性别差异。     

IMPLICATIONS OF INTERPERSONAL NEUROBIOLOGY FOR A SPIRITUALITY OF COMPASSION

Interpersonal neurobiology (IPNB) is a burgeoning interdisciplinary field that focuses on ways in which relationships shape and transform the architecture and functioning of the human brain. IPNB points to four specific conditions that appear to encourage the emergence of empathy. Further, these conditions, when gathered together, may constitute the core components of a spirituality of compassion. Following definitions and a discussion of interdisciplinary method, this essay delineates IPNB's main tenets and demonstrates ways in which IPNB sheds light on important aspects of human empathy and compassion. Drawing on this analysis, it introduces the four conditions that encourage the emergence of empathy in individuals and groups and shows why they may be central elements of a spirituality of compassion. A case study, in which the Native American Ojibwe practice of the talking circle is described and assessed through the lens of the IPNB‐derived spirituality of compassion, demonstrates the evaluative usefulness of this set of conditions.     

NATURAL DOUBTS

Abstract: Many philosophers now argue that the doubts of the philosophical sceptic are unnatural ones, in that they are not forced on us by considerations that any reasonable person would have to accept as compelling but only arise if one has already accepted certain controversial theoretical commitments. In this article I defend the naturalness of philosophical scepticism against such criticisms. After defining “global ontological scepticism,” I examine the work of a number of anti‐sceptical philosophers—Michael Huemer, Michael Williams, and John McDowell. Although McDowell does move the debate to a deeper level by interpreting scepticism as a challenge to the very possibility of the mind's apprehending reality by being in a rational rather than a merely causal relation to it, none of them succeeds in showing that global ontological scepticism is, in the relevant sense, unnatural. This is not to say that the sceptic is correct; simply that it has not been shown that we can reasonably dismiss the sceptical questions and thereby evade the need to engage seriously with the sceptical arguments.