One-year follow-up analysis of cognitive and psychological consequences among survivors of the Wenchuan earthquake

The catastrophic Wenchuan earthquake measuring 8.0 on the Richter scale occurred on May 12, 2008 in the West of the Sichuan basin in China and caused severe damage. A project was undertaken to examine the cognitive and psychological effects one year after the disaster among 2080 individuals in the local area. We evaluated the influence of gender, age, education level, and ethnic group on five aspects: work satisfaction, living satisfaction, health self-perception, psychological pressure, and psychological recovery. Male subjects had a better performance in all five aspects, which indicated that women were more affected. Subjects of different ethnic groups showed significantly different attitudes with respect to psychological pressure and psychological recovery. Significant differences for all the five aspects were also found in education level and age. The results showed that older people and those with a lower education level probably had more psychological problems. There were significant correlations between work satisfaction and living satisfaction, living satisfaction and health self-perception, living satisfaction and psychological recovery, and psychological pressure and psychosocial recovery. Living satisfaction and education level were significant predictors of psychological pressure. For psychological recovery, significant predictors were living satisfaction, age, work satisfaction, education level, and gender. The study findings indicated that government programs should provide more support for females, older people, those with a lower education level, and those in lower living conditions. Attention should be given not only to the psychological effects on each victim, but also to related issues such as work and living conditions to promote psychological wellbeing. Limitations of this study are addressed.     

Contribution of temporal preparation and processing speed to simple reaction time in persons with Alzheimer’s disease and mild cognitive impairment

Temporal preparation was assessed in 15 Alzheimer’s disease (AD) patients, 20 persons with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and 28 healthy older adults. Participants completed a simple reaction time task in which the preparatory interval duration varied randomly within two blocks (short versus long temporal window). Results indicated that AD and MCI patients had difficulty preparing for the shortest preparatory interval of the short temporal window. AD and MCI patients also had difficulty maintaining an optimal level of preparation up to 5 s within the short temporal window. These results suggest that AD and MCI patients might show difficulty preparing for rapidly occurring events and maintaining preparation over time. This phenomenon should be considered when using reaction time measures with such patients.     

On the Observability of Purely Behavioral Sunk-Cost Effects: Theoretical and Empirical Support for the BISC Model

There is growing interest in whether and how sunk-cost effects for purely behavioral investments occur. In this article, we further discuss Cunha and Caldieraro's (2009) Behavioral Investment Sunk Cost (BISC) model and reconcile Otto's (2010) results with the BISC model predictions. We also report new data from two unpublished experiments that are consistent with the BISC model, and we discuss the conditions under which purely behavioral sunk-cost effects are likely to be observed.     

High regularities in eye-movement patterns reveal the dynamics of the visual working memory allocation mechanism

With only two to five slots of visual working memory (VWM), humans are able to quickly solve complex visual problems to near optimal solutions. To explain the paradox between tightly constrained VWM and impressively complex human visual problem-solving ability, we propose several principles for dynamic VWM allocation. In particular, we propose that complex visual information is represented in a temporal manner using only a few slots of VWM that include global and local visual chunks. We built a model of human traveling salesman problem solving based on these principles of VWM allocation and tested the model with eye-movement data. Exactly as the model predicted, human eye movements during traveling salesman problem solving have precise quantitative regularities with regard to both the general statistical pattern of attentional fixations and how they vary across individuals with different VWM capacities. Even though VWM capacity is very limited, eye movements dynamically allocate VWM resources to both local and global information, enabling attention to fine details without loss of the big picture.     

整合模型还是占优启发式模型? 从齐当别模型视角进行的检验

实验从齐当别模型的视角,通过对决策过程反应时的考察分别对以累积预期理论(cumulative prospect theory)为代表的整合模型和启发式模型家族的重要成员--占优启发式模型(priority heuristic)--进行检验。结果表明,决策过程反应时并未随着占优启发式模型所假定的决策步骤的增加而变慢;也未随着选项之间整体值差值的变大而变快;模糊决策过程的反应时反而快于风险决策过程的反应时。无论是以累积预期理论为代表的整合模型还是占优启发式模型均不能满意地描述和解释人们的实际决策过程,而齐当别模型则能解释大部分实验结果。文章建议多角度、多指标探讨人们的决策过程,检验、修改、完善,以及建立新的启发式模型或决策过程模型(process model),以增进对人们如何进行风险决策的理解。     

教师成就目标的测量及其与学校目标结构的关系

首先,依据Elliot关于成就目标的能力界定标准和能力效价的理论构想,提出教师成就目标的理论结构。浙江省内外十多所中小学523份有效调查数据的探索性和验证性因素分析的结果表明,教师成就目标由6个因素构成,即:绝对-回避目标、个人-回避目标、参照-回避目标、个人-接近目标、参照-接近目标、绝对-接近目标。然后,利用浙江省内外另外十多所中小学625份调查问卷的结果,采用结构方程模型技术对教师成就目标和学校目标结构之间的关系进行了分析。结果表明,掌握目标结构对绝对-接近目标、个人-接近目标具有显著正效应,对绝对-回避目标具有显著负效应;成绩目标结构对绝对-接近目标、参照-接近目标、个人-回避目标和参照-回避目标具有显著正效应。     

闪光滞后效应并非知觉延迟差异所致

闪光滞后效应(flash-lag effect)是指在与运动物体一致的位置上呈现闪光(flash),知觉上闪光落后于运动物体的视错觉。延迟差异理论认为,产生该现象的原因是视觉系统加工闪光的速度比加工运动物体慢。根据该理论,作者预测:如采用知觉加工速度更快(或更慢)的客体替代闪光,应能相应地产生更小(或更大)的闪光滞后效应。为了检验该预测,作者以"客体突现"(onset)和"客体消失"(offset)替代闪光滞后实验中的闪光,结果发现,"突现"的知觉滞后大于"消失",但时序判断任务表明"突现"的知觉延迟比"消失"短。该结果并不支持延迟差异理论。     

Moderating effect of Zhong Yong on the relationship between creativity and innovation behaviour

The present study examined the moderating effect of Zhong Yong on the relationship between perceived creativity and innovation behaviour in Chinese companies. A total of 273 paired questionnaires were collected with employee self-rated creativity and Zhong Yong and supervisor-rated innovation behaviour. The results show that for people higher on Zhong Yong, their creativity was not correlated with innovation behaviour; for people less immersed in Zhong Yong, this correlation is significant. This finding provides a new insight into the effects of Zhong Yong on the creativity-innovation behaviour transformation processes. The implications for future research are also discussed.     

自我中心视角转换——基于自身的心理空间转换

自我中心视角转换是通过调整自我中心参考系以认知外界物体的心理过程,是相对于基于物体空间转换的另一种心理空间转换方式。行为数据显示自我中心视角转换存在观察者优势,脑成像结果也表明这类转换与基于物体空间转换存在脑区上的分离,这些结论都支持了多系统模型,说明自我中心视角转换是一种拥有独立脑机制的心理转换方式。自我中心视角转换的研究有其独特的理论和现实意义。