The role of midfrontal theta oscillations across the development of cognitive control in preschoolers and school‐age children

The development of cognitive control enables children to better resist acting based on distracting information that interferes with the current action. Cognitive control improvement serves different functions that differ in part by the type of interference to resolve. Indeed, resisting to interference at the task‐set level or at the response‐preparation level is, respectively, associated with cognitive flexibility and inhibition. It is, however, unknown whether the same neural mechanism underlies these two functions across development. Studies in adults have revealed the contribution of midfrontal theta (MFT) oscillations in interference resolution. This study investigated whether MFT is involved in the resolution of different types of interference in two age groups identified as corresponding to different latent structures of executive functions. Preschool (4–6 years) and school children (6–8 years) were tested with a task involving interference at the response level and/or the task‐set level while (electroencephalogram) EEG was recorded. Behaviorally, response time and accuracy were affected by task‐set. Both age groups were less accurate when the interference occurred at the task‐set level and only the younger group showed decreased accuracy when interference was presented at the response‐preparation level. Furthermore, MFT power was increased, relative to the baseline, during the resolution of both types of interference and in both age groups. These findings suggest that MFT is involved in immature cognitive control (i.e., preschool and school‐ages), by orchestrating its different cognitive processes, irrespective of the interference to resolve and of the level of cognitive control development (i.e., the degree of differentiation of executive functions).     

Toward ethical cognitive architectures for the development of artificial moral agents

New technologies based on artificial agents promise to change the next generation of autonomous systems and therefore our interaction with them. Systems based on artificial agents such as self-driving cars and social robots are examples of this technology that is seeking to improve the quality of people’s life. Cognitive architectures aim to create some of the most challenging artificial agents commonly known as bio-inspired cognitive agents. This type of artificial agent seeks to embody human-like intelligence in order to operate and solve problems in the real world as humans do. Moreover, some cognitive architectures such as Soar, LIDA, ACT-R, and iCub try to be fundamental architectures for the Artificial General Intelligence model of human cognition. Therefore, researchers in the machine ethics field face ethical questions related to what mechanisms an artificial agent must have for making moral decisions in order to ensure that their actions are always ethically right. This paper aims to identify some challenges that researchers need to solve in order to create ethical cognitive architectures. These cognitive architectures are characterized by the capacity to endow artificial agents with appropriate mechanisms to exhibit explicit ethical behavior. Additionally, we offer some reasons to develop ethical cognitive architectures. We hope that this study can be useful to guide future research on ethical cognitive architectures.     

Resistance and outcome expectations in cognitive‐behavioural therapy for generalised anxiety disorder

Greater client resistance has been consistently found to be negatively associated with outcome in psychotherapy. However, the pathways through which resistance impacts such outcomes are underexplored. Given that client outcome expectation (OE) has been identified as an important common factor in psychotherapy, the goals of the present study were to examine: (a) the impact of resistance on subsequent client and therapist OE (COE & TOE, respectively); and (b) whether COE and/or TOE mediate the relationship between resistance and outcome. These relationships were tested among 44 clients with severe generalised anxiety disorder treated with cognitive‐behavioural therapy in the context of a randomised controlled trial (Westra, Constantino, & Antony, 2016). Resistance was measured at a mid‐treatment session, and COE and TOE were assessed at baseline and immediately after the resistance session. Treatment outcome was measured via client‐rated worry severity at post‐treatment. As predicted, higher resistance was associated with lower subsequent COE and TOE; B = ?.73, p < .001 and B = ?.46, p < .001, respectively. In turn, lower post‐resistance COE predicted higher post‐treatment worry (B = ?.5, p < .001), indicating mediation. In contrast, TOE did not mediate the relationship between resistance and outcome (B = ?.02, p = .876). These results suggest that resistance can be demoralising to both clients and therapists. However, only lower client morale may be detrimental to therapy outcome. This study contributes to understanding outcome pathways through two common therapy processes.     

工作反刍及其“双刃剑”效应

工作反刍指在没有要求其出现的情境下, 有意识的、重复发生的工作方面的相关想法, 分为工作相关情感反刍与工作相关问题解决沉思两个维度。工作反刍对个体健康、工作及幸福感的影响有“双刃剑”效应。持续性认知理论、压力认知激活模型与认知资源视角理论, 可以解释该效应的内在机制。未来研究应分析影响双刃剑效应的边界条件, 寻求减少消极效应、增加积极效应的途径, 拓展其双刃剑效应心理机制的分析视角和该效应的作用层面。     

道德“沾光”效应：道德评价对道德自我知觉及道德行为的影响

人们喜欢关注道德事件并表达自己的立场。以往研究发现回忆自己(而非他人)的道德行为能影响个体的道德自我知觉和道德行为。本研究关注参与道德评价是否会对个体的道德自我和道德行为产生影响。2个研究共同发现：(1)存在道德“沾光”效应：评价支持他人的道德事件,或反对他人的不道德事件,能提升个体的道德自我知觉;(2)道德评价通过提升道德自我知觉,进一步增加个体的道德行为。     

价值观的稳定性与可变性：基于认知神经科学的视角

价值观的稳定性和可变性一直是该领域争论的焦点所在。近些年来, 研究者开始从认知神经科学的角度来探讨导致价值观稳定性差异的机制问题。已有的神经反应证据表明, 当某种价值观是基于道义主义的绝对规则来进行认知建构的, 或与自我概念在表征上存在一致性时, 其更倾向于保持稳定的状态; 若非如此, 便可能会在外界影响(如他人劝说)下发生重要程度上的改变。未来需要进一步丰富和完善认识价值观稳定性与可变性关系的认知神经加工模型, 并探索价值观长效改变背后的认知神经机制, 以促进理论研究在价值观教育中的实践和应用。     

Network change point detection in resting-state functional connectivity dynamics of mild cognitive impairment patients

Background/Objective: This study aims to characterize the differences on the short-term temporal network dynamics of the undirected and weighted whole-brain functional connectivity between healthy aging individuals and people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). The Network Change Point Detection algorithm was applied to identify the significant change points in the resting-state fMRI register, and we analyzed the fluctuations in the topological properties of the sub-networks between significant change points. Method: Ten MCI patients matched by gender and age in 1:1 ratio to healthy controls screened during patient recruitment. A neuropsychological evaluation was done to both groups as well as functional magnetic images were obtained with a Philips 3.0T. All the images were preprocessed and statistically analyzed through dynamic point estimation tools. Results: No statistically significant differences were found between groups in the number of significant change points in the functional connectivity networks. However, an interaction effect of age and state was detected on the intra-participant variability of the network strength. Conclusions: The progression of states was associated to higher variability in the patient's group. Additionally, higher performance in the prospective and retrospective memory scale was associated with higher median network strength.     

Enhancing social diffusion theory as a basis for prevention intervention: A conceptual and strategic framework

Social diffusion theory has recently been recognized as a promising approach for large-scale disease prevention and health promotion efforts. This paper describes how principles and tactics from social cognitive theory, operant psychology, social psychology, social marketing, and the overarching stages of change model can be used to further develop the conceptual and strategic (technological) bases of social diffusion theory. Within an integrative framework, we discuss in detail more effective ways to train peer mediators of behavior change as one example of how social diffusion theory can benefit from this conceptual and strategic reformulation. We then further illustrate the use of peer mediators of change in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and cancer prevention intervention studies with both interventions training peer mediators to diffuse information, norms, and risk reduction strategies. Although the results of these studies showed reductions in high-risk behaviors across population segments, more closely following the framework discussed in this article should further increase the behavior change potential of future interventions based on social diffusion theory.     

Development of rules and strategies: balancing the old and the new

The experiments described in the lead articles replicate findings from previous studies of development of knowledge about balance scales, add several new findings, and raise four key questions: (a) How can rule use best be assessed? (b) How can we reconcile systematic use of rules with variable use of strategies? (c) When do children begin to use rules? and (d) How do children generate new rules? In this Reflection, we summarize current understanding of development of knowledge about balance scales and consider each of the four questions.