识解水平对跨期选择和风险选择的影响

通过考察识解水平启动对跨期选择和风险选择的影响, 探究两类选择对时间或风险心理加工的相似性。结果发现, 无论以思维诱导为识解水平的启动条件(实验1), 还是以视觉加工为识解水平的启动条件(实验2), 受高识解水平启动的被试对延迟选项和风险选项的主观值判断都要大于受低识解水平启动的被试, 说明跨期选择中的延迟时间和风险选择中的概率具有相似的表征, 而识解水平思维定势是通过影响金额和时间(或概率)的相对权重起作用。即由于高识解水平下的金额权重高于低识解水平, 时间(或概率)权重低于低识解水平, 从而使被试在高识解水平下更愿意等待或冒险。     

心理距离对风险决策框架效应的影响

解释水平理论是一种解释心理距离怎样影响个体的思维决策的社会认知理论。研究基于解释水平理论,探查了心理距离对风险决策框架效应的影响。实验从心理距离的四个维度入手,每个维度均采用2（解释水平高、低）×2（正框架、负框架）的被试间设计,用于检验解释水平是否调节框架对被试决策任务的选择。结果表明,当心理距离越远,解释水平越高时,被试产生明显的框架效应;而当心理距离越近,解释水平越低时,框架效应明显减弱。除了大概率情况下的框架效应削弱至不显著,其余维度的高、低解释水平下的框架效应均显著。     

基于群体水平评估的认知诊断模型开发与应用

本文开发了基于群体水平评估的认知诊断模型——G-AHM,采用Monte Carlo模拟方法探讨了模型的性能与表现,并探讨其在实践中的具体应用。研究发现：（1）新模型G-AHM不仅具有较高的边际判准率,还具有较好的模式判准率,且具有较强的稳健性,说明本研究开发的新模型基本合理、可行的。（2）与已有的具有较高效度的诊断结果比较发现：从认知状态、属性掌握概率与属性掌握比例三个方面,G-AHM模型所获得的群体诊断结果都与已有结果基本一致,即可以认为G-AHM方法获得的诊断结果也具有较高的效度。因此G-AHM模型在实际中是可行、可信的;且G-AHM方法中将认知状态与群体对属性的掌握概率信息相结合,可以更好的解释及分析被试的认知水平,提供的信息更具参考价值。     

Failure to find a distance effect in pigeon choice: Manipulating amount and delay of reinforcement

The choice behavior of primates, including humans, displays a distance effect: Latency to choose between alternatives appears to increase with smaller differences in value. There is, so far, no demonstration of this effect in birds. Tests of distance effects in birds have been conducted in binary choice situations with a dominant alternative, where one alternative is superior to the other in all aspects that meaningfully contribute to value (e.g., provides access to the same reinforcer, but with a shorter delay). The present study considers the possibility that including dominant alternatives in choice tests precludes distance effects. Four pigeons were presented with binary choices between alternatives that varied in amount and delay. Some choices had a dominant alternative (smaller–sooner or larger–later vs. smaller–later) and some did not (smaller–sooner vs. larger–later). Across phases, only the delay to the smaller–sooner reinforcer varied. Distance effects were expected to be expressed as longer latencies as choice between smaller–sooner and larger–later reinforcers approached indifference. Despite the sensitivity of choice to differences in amount and delay, no distance effect was observed. Alternative explanations for the failure to find a distance effect in pigeon choice, including the Sequential Choice Model (SCM), are discussed.     

Reconstructing Distances among Objects from Their Discriminability

We describe a principled way of imposing a metric representing dissimilarities on any discrete set of stimuli (symbols, handwritings, consumer products, X-ray films, etc.), given the probabilities with which they are discriminated from each other by a perceiving system, such as an organism, person, group of experts, neuronal structure, technical device, or even an abstract computational algorithm. In this procedure one does not have to assume that discrimination probabilities are monotonically related to distances, or that the distances belong to a predefined class of metrics, such as Minkowski. Discrimination probabilities do not have to be symmetric, the probability of discriminating an object from itself need not be a constant, and discrimination probabilities are allowed to be 0’s and 1’s. The only requirement that has to be satisfied is Regular Minimality, a principle we consider the defining property of discrimination: for ordered stimulus pairs (a,b), b is least frequently discriminated from a if and only if a is least frequently discriminated from b. Regular Minimality generalizes one of the weak consequences of the assumption that discrimination probabilities are monotonically related to distances: the probability of discriminating a from a should be less than that of discriminating a from any other object. This special form of Regular Minimality also underlies such traditional analyses of discrimination probabilities as Multidimensional Scaling and Cluster Analysis. This research was supported by the NSF grant SES 0318010 (E.D.), Humboldt Research Award (E.D.), Humboldt Foundation grant DEU/1038348 (H.C. & E.D.), and DFG grant Co 94/5 (H.C.).     

What makes words sound similar?

Although similarity plays an important role in accounts of language processing, there are surprisingly few direct empirical studies of the phonological similarity between words, and it is therefore not clear whether similarity comparisons between words involve processes similar to those involved in other cognitive domains. In five experiments, participants chose which of two monosyllabic pseudo-words sounded more similar to a target pseudo-word. Our results are generally consistent with the structural alignment theory of comparisons between complex mental representations, suggesting that phonological word similarity parallels similarity involving other kinds of information including visual objects and scenes, events, and word meanings. We use our results to test new metrics of word similarity, and identify predictions for future similarity research both in the domain of word sounds and in other cognitive domains.     

Differentiation of classical music requires little learning but rhythm

Detecting distinctions between the styles of classical music (e.g. Baroque and Romantic) is often viewed as the privilege of musicians. However, this elite perspective underestimates the abilities of non-musicians. We report that Western musicians and non-musicians, and non-Westerners (i.e. Chinese participants) rated pairs of excerpts presented auditorily as more similar as their compositional styles were closer in history. Moreover, the styles were considered by all participants as more different when presented in historical order, the older style preceding the more recent style (e.g. Baroque followed by Romantic), than the reverse (e.g. Romantic followed by Baroque). This historical distance effect appears related to rhythm (or temporal variability).     

内部竞争环境下内群体偏好的维持:群体认同和心理距离的影响

内群体偏好对群体及个人的生存发展都有重要价值。研究通过三个实验揭示了个体在内部竞争下维持内群体偏好的机制。实验一操纵内部竞争(有,无)和群体认同(高,低),发现内部竞争破坏了内群体偏好,而群体认同无法改变此破坏作用。实验二操纵内部竞争(有,无)和内群体心理距离(远、近),发现内部竞争破坏内群体偏好时,心理距离能够调节二者的关系,近心理距离有益于个体在内部竞争下维持内群体偏好。实验三进一步分析了心理距离维持内群体偏好的作用机制,发现心理距离通过个体知觉到的内部竞争感而影响内群体偏好。据此可认为,在内部竞争中维持内群体偏好需更多地关注成员间的关系(缩短心理距离),而非单纯地强调个体和群体间的联结(群体认同)。     

Dual-Task Training Reduces Impact of Cognitive Task on Postural Sway

Given the flexible organization of locomotion evidenced in the many ways the limbs can be coordinated, the authors explored the potentially correspondingly flexible organization of nonvisual (kinesthetic) distance perception. As kinesthetic distance perception is known to be affected by how the limbs are coordinated, the authors probed the potential perceptual contribution of the arms during locomotion by manipulating arm–leg coordination patterns in blind-walked distance-matching tasks. Whereas manipulation of arm–leg coordination for walking with free-swinging arms had no observable perceptual consequences, comparable manipulation for walking with hiking poles did affect distance matching. These results suggest that under conditions in which the arms act to propel the body (e.g., crawling or stair-climbing) a person's nonvisual sense of movement is conveyed in the coordinated actions of all four limbs.     

Feature overlap slows lexical selection: Evidence from the picture–word interference paradigm

How does the presence of a categorically related word influence picture naming latencies? In order to test competitive and noncompetitive accounts of lexical selection in spoken word production, we employed the picture–word interference (PWI) paradigm to investigate how conceptual feature overlap influences naming latencies when distractors are category coordinates of the target picture. Mahon et al. (2007. Lexical selection is not by competition: A reinterpretation of semantic interference and facilitation effects in the picture-word interference paradigm. Journal of Experimental Psychology. Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 33(3), 503–535. doi:10.1037/0278-7393.33.3.503) reported that semantically close distractors (e.g., zebra) facilitated target picture naming latencies (e.g., HORSE) compared to far distractors (e.g., whale). We failed to replicate a facilitation effect for within-category close versus far target–distractor pairings using near-identical materials based on feature production norms, instead obtaining reliably larger interference effects (Experiments 1 and 2). The interference effect did not show a monotonic increase across multiple levels of within-category semantic distance, although there was evidence of a linear trend when unrelated distractors were included in analyses (Experiment 2). Our results show that semantic interference in PWI is greater for semantically close than for far category coordinate relations, reflecting the extent of conceptual feature overlap between target and distractor. These findings are consistent with the assumptions of prominent competitive lexical selection models of speech production.