背景图相关度与知觉流畅性对意义材料学习的影响

可取难度理论和不流畅理论认为不流畅加工可促进学习,认知负荷理论则认为知觉不流畅所激发的额外认知负荷可能阻碍学习。研究采用2（知觉流畅性：流畅,不流畅）×3（背景图相关度：相关背景图、无关背景图和空白背景）被试间实验设计,考察学习意义材料时认知负荷（通过插入的背景图控制）与知觉流畅性的相互作用。结果发现：（1）知觉流畅性的主效应显著,知觉流畅时的学习成绩显著高于知觉不流畅时的成绩;背景图相关度的主效应显著,相关背景图条件下的成绩显著高于空白背景和无关背景图。（2）知觉流畅性与背景图相关度的交互作用显著,在知觉流畅条件下,呈现相关背景图的得分显著高于空白背景和无关背景图,后二者无显著差异;知觉不流畅条件下,三者间无显著差异。研究结果表明,在知觉流畅的条件下插入相关背景图有利于意义材料的学习;该结果支持认知负荷理论。     

不同认知结构被试的测验设计模式

正如不同的病症需要使用不同的医疗技术方法来诊断一样, 不同的认知结构也需要设计对应的测验模式来进行诊断, 从而保证测验具有高质量的诊断评估效果。但传统测验形式未考虑不同认知结构的针对性诊断测验需求, 导致“千人一卷”在测验效率上有所不足; 认知诊断计算机化自适应测验虽可针对不同认知结构的被试施测不同的项目, 然而支持自适应过程的题库却没有针对不同认知结构被试设计对应的项目, 导致题库使用效率较低。要解决上述问题的关键在于, 探索如何针对不同认知结构设计相对应的测验模式。本研究采用Monte Carlo模拟, 对六种属性层级关系下, 不同认知结构的测验设计模式进行探讨。实验结果表明(1)同一属性层级关系下, 不同认知结构的最佳测验设计模式不同; (2)依据不同认知结构的最佳测验设计模式构建的题库具有更高的使用效率。测验编制者可以根据实验结果针对不同认知结构优化对应的测验设计模式, 并用于指导题库建设。     

系统合理化何以形成——三种不同的解释视角

系统合理化理论认为, 人们会自然地将其所在的社会系统感知为公平合理的, 这一倾向即系统合理化。而系统合理化形成之原因, 一直是该领域理论和研究关注的重点。为此, 研究者先后提出了三种解释思路。认知失调视角认为, 系统合理化之所以产生是因为个体想要缓解因系统无法满足他们的需求而产生的焦虑。补偿性控制视角认为, 系统合理化源于个体自身控制感的缺乏。社会认知视角则认为人们固有的认知倾向特别是对于社会经济差异的内归因倾向是造成系统合理化的根源。未来可以考虑在同一个研究中包含来自于不同理论视角的解释变量, 借鉴相近领域的发现探索其他可能存在的系统合理化的形成机制, 探究中国文化特有的系统合理化的来源, 同时对积极的合理化与消极的合理化作出区分, 并在此基础上针对社会现实问题加强应用研究的开展。     

老年刻板印象威胁及其研究操纵

随着人口老龄化的不断加剧, 老年刻板印象威胁受到越来越多的关注。不同于种族或民族、性别等刻板印象威胁, 老年刻板印象威胁表现出累积性、共通性与连续性等特征。目前关于老年刻板印象威胁的研究多集中于认知老化尤其是记忆老化上, 关注老年刻板印象威胁对老年司机和老年员工的消极影响。消除与降低老年刻板印象威胁的消极效应可以从认知改变、群体认同、代际接触、老龄自我实现和个性化以及媒体宣传等五个方面来进行。在实验室研究中, 老年刻板印象威胁有外显与内隐两种不同的操纵形式。未来可以从扩展研究领域、细化“年龄”差异、比较整体效应大小和性别差异、侧重积极效应以及加强本土化检验和跨文化比较研究等方面来深化。     

前瞻记忆意图后效中执行错误的机制

前瞻记忆意图后效是指已完成或取消的意图失活失败对当前认知任务造成的干扰。近期研究采用前瞻记忆任务范式探究意图后效的影响因素及认知机制。自发提取-抑制失败和预备性监控两种认知机制的分歧在于提取旧意图是否依赖注意资源的参与。脑成像研究也证实意图提取存在两条神经通路：自发提取通路和预备性监控提取通路。未来研究应探索兼容有意遗忘失败、旧意图再提取、抑制失败三者的研究范式以及降低执行错误的有效措施。     

诱发的积极情绪会促进多媒体学习吗?

近来, 教育心理学领域开始关注情绪因素对多媒体学习的影响, 其中诱发情绪逐渐成为研究者关注的指导设计形式。已有研究主要通过外部情绪诱发和内部情绪设计来考察诱发的积极情绪在学习过程中的作用, 并发现外部情绪诱发和内部情绪设计能够成功诱发积极情绪, 但由于情绪诱发方式的多样性和多媒体学习过程的复杂性, 诱发的积极情绪对学习效果的促进作用比较微弱。综述发现, 7项涉及外部情绪诱发的实验在学习结果上产生的效应量中值分别为d_保持 = -0.25, d_理解 = 0.04, d_迁移 = 0.30; 14项涉及内部情绪设计的实验在学习结果上产生的效应量中值分别为d_保持 = 0.27, d_理解 = 0.36, d_迁移 = 0.29。诱发的情绪对学习过程的主观体验影响很小。多媒体学习认知情感理论认为诱发的积极情绪会通过动机的中介作用进而促进学习; 相反, 认知负荷理论认为诱发的积极情绪会增加学习者的外在认知负荷从而阻碍学习。未来研究仍需关注情绪的操纵方法、效果评定以及潜在调节变量的作用等。     

双价效应及其认知机制

任务转换时, 如果一个刺激不仅包含当前任务的特征还包含另一任务的关联特征, 这样的刺激被称为双价刺激。双价刺激能影响个体对单价刺激的加工, 使个体对后续所有单价刺激的反应减慢, 这种现象被称为双价效应(bivalency effect)。研究者发现双价效应具有一定的普遍性和稳定性。对双价效应的理论解释主要有情境捆绑说和基于经验的预测模型。双价效应的产生与额外视觉特征的提取及自上而下的认知控制调整有关, 前者主要与颞-顶联合区的激活有关, 后者主要与背侧前扣带回以及前辅助运动区的激活相关。     

Childhood antecedents of serious violence in adult male offenders

Prospective longitudinal studies have shown strong predictions from conduct disorders (CDs) in childhood to antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) and violence in adults. However, little is known of the childhood antecedents of serious violence nor whether these may vary depending on the context in which the violence occurs. In this study, 54 men aged 21-40 years serving prison sentences for violent crime were assessed. Standardized interviews of ASPD and violence were conducted independently of interviews covering retrospective recall of childhood psychiatric disorders and adverse experiences. Analyses of the predictors of overall violence suggested a pathway involving childhood CD and adult ASPD associated with interparental discord, and an additional pathway associated with experiencing interparental violence in childhood. Different results were however obtained when account was taken of the context of the violence. The CD-ASPD pathway was associated with social violence, but not with partner violence. Partner violence was predicted by retrospective reports of having been exposed to interparental violence during childhood but not by reports of childhood CD or adult ASPD. Thus developmental pathways to serious violence may be different depending on the social domain in which the violence occurs.     

Intra-individual reaction time variability in schizophrenia, depression and borderline personality disorder

Intra-individual reaction time variability (IIV) in neuropsychological task performance reflects short term fluctuations in performance. Increased IIV has been reported in patients with schizophrenia and could be related to a deficient neural timing mechanism, but the role of IIV in adult patients with other psychiatric disorders has not been established. Therefore, we compared IIV measures obtained in a Go/Nogo task from patients with schizophrenia, major depression and borderline personality disorder. IIV was increased for patients with schizophrenia. When correcting for differences in mean reaction time, depressive and borderline patients also showed increased IIV. Importantly, all groups showed a strong association between IIV and accuracy of task performance. This suggests that increased IIV might be a sensitive marker for the efficiency of top-down attentional control in all diagnostic groups. Aside from these similarities, the complete results including measures of IIV, mean reaction time and accuracy show differential patterns for patients with schizophrenia compared to those with borderline personality disorder or depression. These results are discussed with respect to common versus disorder-specific neural mechanisms underlying increased IIV.     

"I know what I like": stability of aesthetic preference in Alzheimer's patients

Two studies explored the stability of art preference in patients with Alzheimer's disease and age-matched control participants. Preferences for three different styles of paintings, displayed on art postcards, were examined over two sessions. Preference for specific paintings differed among individuals but AD and non-AD groups maintained about the same stability in terms of preference judgments across two weeks, even though the AD patients did not have explicit memory for the paintings. We conclude that aesthetic responses can be preserved in the face of cognitive decline. This should encourage caregivers and family to engage in arts appreciation activities with patients, and reinforces the validity of a preference response as a dependent measure in testing paradigms.