Hemispheric specialization for emotional word processing is a function of SSRI responsiveness

Vulnerability to depression and non-response to Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) are associated with specific neurophysiological characteristics including greater right hemisphere (RH) relative to left hemisphere (LH) activity. The present study investigated the relationship between hemispheric specialization and processing of emotional words using a divided visual field paradigm administered to never-depressed and previously-depressed individuals, who were subdivided into SSRI responders and non-responders. SSRI responders and never-depressed participants were similar in their left hemispheric lateralization for evaluating emotional words. In contrast, SSRI non-responders showed a relative shift towards RH processing of negative words, and a strong bias toward negative evaluation of words presented to the RH. The results are discussed within the context of a biological-cognitive model of vulnerability to depression.     

Colour fluctuations in grapheme‐colour synaesthesia: The effect of clinical and non‐clinical mood changes

Synaesthesia is a condition that gives rise to unusual secondary sensations (e.g., colours are perceived when listening to music). These unusual sensations tend to be reported as being stable throughout adulthood (e.g., Simner & Logie, 2007, Neurocase, 13, 358) and the consistency of these experiences over time is taken as the behavioural hallmark of genuineness. Our study looked at the influence of mood states on synaesthetic colours. In Experiment 1, we recruited grapheme‐colour synaesthetes (who experience colours from letters/digits) and elicited their synaesthetic colours, as well as their mood and depression states, in two different testing sessions. In each session, participants completed the PANAS‐X (Watson & Clark, 1999) and the BDI‐II (Beck, Steer, & Brown, 1996, Manual for Beck Depression Inventory‐II), and chose their synaesthetic colours for letters A‐Z from an interactive colour palette. We found that negative mood significantly decreased the luminance of synaesthetic colours. In Experiment 2, we showed that synaesthetic colours were also less luminant for synaesthetes with anxiety disorder, versus those without. Additional evidence suggests that colour saturation, too, may inversely correlate with depressive symptoms. These results show that fluctuations in mood within both a normal and clinical range influence synaesthetic colours over time. This has implications for our understanding about the longitudinal stability of synaesthetic experiences, and of how mood may interact with the visual (imagery) systems.     

主观时间流逝速度调节情绪效价的特异性

本研究在中国情绪图片系统中随机选取200张情绪图片,并在不同的主观时间流逝速度下,对其进行效价和唤醒度评分,探讨主观时间流逝速度对不同的情绪维度(效价和唤醒度)以及情绪的不同水平的调节效应是否一致。研究结果表明,主观时间流逝速度增加时,人们对中性和正性情绪图片的评价更加积极,但主观时间流逝速度不能调节人们对负性情绪图片的评价,也不能调节人们的唤醒水平。结果提示"时间飞逝时,我更快乐"效应具有效价特异性。     

Can orange colour facilitate the processing of happiness? An exploration study on happiness metaphor

Colour is a ubiquitous perceptual stimulus, and theoretical models of colour and psychological functioning posit that colour plays a key role in influencing the behaviour and mental function of a person. One investigation and two experiments investigated the colour metaphor representation of happiness concepts and the mapping mode of the colour metaphor of happiness concepts. A questionnaire was conducted to explore the relationship between colour preference and happiness. Study 2 shows that the identification of happiness words was facilitated more when words were viewed on an orange background than when viewed on a blue background. Study 3 further verifies the links of the connection between colour and happiness at the sentence level, and the orange-happiness facilitation effect was replicated. These results document a novel influence of colour on emotion recognition processes, where an orange background may facilitate the processing of the concept of happiness and provide support for conceptual metaphor theory and colour-in-context theory.     

聚焦词素语义加工的时间轴——先形后义还是形义并行?

目前学术界在词素的认知加工这一问题上存在两种观点.“先形后义”激活论认为词素加工首先经历词形分离,然后才能激活词素语义;“形义并行”激活论则认为上述两种加工同时发生.它们争论的焦点在于词素语义加工发生的阶段.“先形后义”有两种可能:词素形、义激活均发生于前词汇阶段,但形的激活发生更早些;或词素形的激活发生在前词汇阶段,而义的激活发生在后词汇阶段.“形义并行”则只有一种可能:词素形与义在前词汇阶段同时得到激活.两派观点均有相应的实证和理论支持(前词汇和后词汇模型).未来研究需解决研究范式及理论发展方面的问题.     

How counting represents number: what children must learn and when they learn it

This study compared 2- to 4-year-olds who understand how counting works (cardinal-principle-knowers) to those who do not (subset-knowers), in order to better characterize the knowledge itself. New results are that (1) Many children answer the question "how many" with the last word used in counting, despite not understanding how counting works; (2) Only children who have mastered the cardinal principle, or are just short of doing so, understand that adding objects to a set means moving forward in the numeral list whereas subtracting objects mean going backward; and finally (3) Only cardinal-principle-knowers understand that adding exactly 1 object to a set means moving forward exactly 1 word in the list, whereas subset-knowers do not understand the unit of change.     

The influence of skin tone, hair length, and hair colour on ratings of women's physical attractiveness, health and fertility

The present study investigated the role of skin tone, hair colour and hair length in perceptions of women's physical attractiveness, health and fertility. One-hundred and thirty men and 112 women rated a series of 12 line drawings that varied in three levels of skin tone, two levels of hair colour and two levels of hair length. Results showed a number of interactions between the three variables, suggesting that these phenotypes are highly intercorrelated. However, there were also significant main effects of each of the variables, with hair colour generally explaining the greatest amount of variance. In general, light-toned figures were rated the most positively. Contrary to expectations, however, brunettes were rated more positively than blondes, and hair length had only a weak effect on ratings of attractiveness. Implications of these findings and the limitations of the use of line drawings are discussed in conclusion.     

情境和任务对空间认知参考框架选择的影响

通过运动迷津和语言描述任务,考察情境和任务对大学生空间参考框架选择的影响。结果表明,开放空间和目标物同背景融为一体有利于被试选择绝对参考框架。习惯空间术语对空间参考框架选择有影响,但影响程度视情境和任务之间关系而定。     

热手谬误？赌徒谬误？ ——随机序列知觉中近因效应的格式塔现象研究

通过两个实验来探讨随机序列中的近因效应。在实验1中,采用传统实验范式,让被试进行一系列的抛掷硬币结果的猜测并给予反馈,结果发现：（1）在最近连续几次硬币呈现的结果不同时,人们通常把各个结果分别作为独立的单元来看待,大部分情况下做出随机性的预期;（2）在最近连续几次硬币呈现的结果相同时,人们通常把连续几次相同的结果作为一个认知单元来看待,在最近猜测对错两种情况下分别出现了截然相反的两种近因效应。当最近1次猜对时,对下一结果的预期出现正近因效应即热手谬误,但是最近几次连续猜对时谬误减少乃至消失;当最近1次猜错时,对下一结果的预期出现负近因效应即赌徒谬误,并且最近几次连续猜错时负近因效应并未受到太大影响。实验2在实验1范式的基础上,把硬币抛掷的结果人为分组,发现被试对每一组的第一个结果做出预期时,实验1中的各种效应均消失,该现象支持关于随机序列知觉的“格式塔理论”。