干扰子的激活、抑制及其加工时程

针对有关干扰子激活和抑制加工的时程研究存在的分歧,采用干扰效应和负启动效应双指标,探讨不同知觉负载水平下干扰子的激活和抑制及其加工时程问题。结果显示：在同一实验条件下采用干扰效应和负启动效应双指标可将干扰子加工过程分离为激活和抑制两个阶段;激活加工时程发生在选择性注意早期,抑制加工时程发生在选择性注意的早期至中期之间。这一结果与Lavie等的推测及认知神经科学研究成果均有异同。     

外在暗示线索对学习者在多媒体学习中自我调节学习过程的影响

考察139名五、七年级学生在逐次阅读10组图文材料的过程中对阅读测试与媒体信息的关系的自我监察并据此对阅读时间分配模式的自我调节过程,结果发现：（1）二年级被试能够监察阅读测试和图文之间的相倚关系,并据此对图文阅读时间分配模式进行自我调节,分配更多时间在与测试相关的材料上;（2）五、七年级被试的图文时间分配均呈现逐步调节的模式。（3）七年级被试比五年级被试对阅读测试与图文的关系的监察更为准确、时间分配模式调节出现的时机更早,时间分配调节策略的使用更合理,测试成绩更高。     

跨期选择中的反常现象及其心理机制

时间折现是跨期选择研究的核心问题。指数折现效用模型（DU模型）是描述时间折现现象的基本模型。跨期选择的实验研究中发现的大量违背DU模型的反常现象表明,DU模型并不能很好地解释人们在跨期选择中的真实行为。文章从时间知觉、建构水平、参照点和价值函数、情绪激活、情绪麻木、期待效用等角度探讨了造成各种反常现象的心理机制,并提出了值得进一步研究的方向和问题。     

Working memory performance after acute exposure to the cold pressor stress in healthy volunteers

Effects of acute stress exposure on learning and memory have been frequently studied in both animals and humans. However, only a few studies have focused specifically on working memory performance and the available data are equivocal. The present study examined working memory performance during the Sternberg item recognition task after exposure to a predominantly adrenergic stressor. Twenty four healthy subjects were randomly assigned to a stress group or a control group. The stress group was exposed to the cold pressor stress test (CPS; i.e. insertion of the dominant hand into ice water for 60s), while 37 °C warm water was used with the control group. Twenty minutes after the stress exposure, working memory performance was tested with the Sternberg item recognition task with three levels of cognitive load. Sympathetic nervous system and hypothalamic pituitary adrenocortical (HPA) axis activation during CPS, were assessed by measuring heart rate and salivary cortisol before and during (heart rate) or 30 min after (cortisol) the stress procedure. Exposure to the CPS test was associated with a significant increase in heart rate but no increase in salivary cortisol. Participants exposed to the stress procedure showed significantly shorter reaction times during trials with higher cognitive load but tended to show higher false alarm rates than control subjects. The present results indicate that exposure to CPS can be associated with signs of both enhanced and impaired working memory performance. The observed behavioral pattern might represent a form of streamlined information processing advantageous in a threatening situation.     

Life Satisfaction is not a Balanced Estimator of the Good Life: Evidence from Reaction Time Measures and Self-Reported Emotions

A widespread belief in happiness research is that measures of life satisfaction capture the variety of an individual’s experiences along a single favorable—unfavorable dimension. The current article points to a possible violation of this assumption. With a combination of data and theory it argues that life satisfaction is not a balanced reflection of subjective experiences because the evaluation that drives judgments of life satisfaction is tilted towards pleasure and away from engagement. We postulate that feelings of pleasure are overrated in statements of life satisfaction, whereas feelings of engagement are underrepresented. Feelings of engagement and interest are further supposed to be indicators of personal growth. Measures of personal growth and life satisfaction should thus be unrelated. Empirical evidence for our model is provided by self-report and reaction time data from a Norwegian convenience sample (N = 30). Detection latencies for pleasant stimuli correlated significantly with life satisfaction but not with measures of personal growth. Life satisfaction correlated significantly with pleasant experiences, but not with engagement. Personal growth correlated significantly with feelings of engagement. Life satisfaction and personal growth were uncorrelated.     

儿童心理时间之旅的发展

人类在心理上把自我投射到过去以重新经历过去事件以及把自我投射到未来以预先经历未来事件的能力被称为心理时间之旅。心理时间之旅是认知心理学、认知神经科学、进化心理学、比较心理学、发展心理学等多个学科共同关注的研究领域。目前有关个体心理时间之旅的发展研究表明,心理时间之旅大约出现在儿童3~5岁时。未来有关个体心理时间之旅的发展性研究应从研究范式、研究技术、认知机制、文化差异等方面加以改进。     

FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS AND TREATMENT OF RUMINATION USING FIXED‐TIME DELIVERY OF A FLAVOR SPRAY

A functional analysis suggested that rumination exhibited by an adult with autism was maintained by automatic reinforcement. Next, a preference assessment with three flavor sprays (i.e., flavored sprays used by dieters) showed that apple pie spray was most preferred. Finally, the effects of fixed‐time delivery of the apple pie spray on levels of rumination were evaluated. The spray reduced rumination, and the participant was taught to self‐administer the spray.     

Fast and accurate calculations for first-passage times in Wiener diffusion models

We propose a new method for quickly calculating the probability density function for first-passage times in simple Wiener diffusion models, extending an earlier method used by [Van Zandt, T., Colonius, H., & Proctor, R. W. (2000). A comparison of two response-time models applied to perceptual matching. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 7, 208-256]. The method relies on the observation that there are two distinct infinite series expansions of this probability density, one of which converges quickly for small time values, while the other converges quickly at large time values. By deriving error bounds associated with finite truncation of either expansion, we are able to determine analytically which of the two versions should be applied in any particular context. The bounds indicate that, even for extremely stringent error tolerances, no more than 8 terms are required to calculate the probability density. By making the calculation of this distribution tractable, the goal is to allow more complex extensions of Wiener diffusion models to be developed.     

The mechanism underlying inhibition of saccadic return

Human observers take longer to re-direct gaze to a previously fixated location. Although there has been some exploration of the characteristics of inhibition of saccadic return (ISR), the exact mechanisms by which ISR operates are currently unknown. In the framework of accumulation models of response times, in which evidence is integrated over time to a response threshold, ISR could reflect a reduction in the rate of accumulation for saccades to return locations or an increase in the effective criterion for response. In two experiments, participants generated sequences of three saccades, in response to a peripheral or a central cue. ISR occurred across these manipulations: saccade latency was consistently increased for movements to the immediately previously fixated location. Latency distributions from individual observers were fit with a Linear Ballistic Accumulator model. ISR was best accounted for as a change in the accumulation rate. We suggest this parameter represents the overall desirability of a particular course of action, the evidence for which may be derived from a variety of sensory and non-sensory sources.     

'Reverberation time', dreaming and the capacity to dream

In this paper the author suggests that understanding the roots of the subjective sense of time can throw light on the disturbances in psychic time which are found in particular in the more severe pathologies. She introduces the argument that the roots of the development of the sense of time rest on a primitive sense of time she calls 'reverberation time'. By this notion she refers to the particular quality of the earliest 'back and forth' internalized exchange with the mother in which the auditory dimension plays a significant part. Referring to a wide range of literature and clinical examples, the author thus suggests that the subjective sense of time is created by the reverberation between mother and infant. Disturbances in this area will be reflected in the pathological 'arresting' of time which is observed in the different pathologies and, in particular, around the negotiation of the depressive position and the oedipal situation. Extending this argument, the author goes on to suggest that it is the internalization of this experience of 'reverberation' which lies at the heart of the experience of dreaming; she considers that dreaming understood as an internal dialogue points both to its roots in the relationship to the maternal object and to its fundamental role in psychic life. The author concludes that 'reverberation time' is also the building block of a psychoanalysis, leading to 'unfreezing' psychic time and enabling the reconnection of 'here and now' with 'there and then' in a flexible way which promotes open possibilities, and that this takes place via the analyst's reverie, or time of reverberation.