错误相关负电位（ERN）及其理论解释

错误动作发生后,在个体额叶中部可观察到一个明显的负相电位偏移,这称为“错误相关负电位”（error related negativity,ERN）。有研究者提出了“强化学习理论”,认为ERN反映了当前行为结果与预期之间的差异。与此不同的是“冲突监控理论”,认为ERN与反应冲突有关。还有研究者提出了“失匹配理论”,强调实际反应的神经表征（错误反应）与当前任务所要求的反应表征的差异产生了ERN。在阐述ERN的理论解释基础上,对三者之间的关系进行了分析与整合。     

预警、重复学习和反馈对错误记忆的影响——错误记忆的信号检测论分析

本研究用信号检测论分析预警、重复学习和反馈三种变量对错误记忆的影响.实验1考察预警指导语的影响.实验2考察重复学习和反馈的影响.结果表明:预警对被试辨别力和反应偏向的影响不明显,对错误记忆影响也不显著;重复学习不能明显影响被试的反应标准,但可提高辨别力减弱错误记忆;反馈明显使被试倾向于使用更为宽松的反应标准,难以降低错误记忆.再认双加工模型和激活/监测理论能对实验结果做出合理的解释.     

学习时间分配机制的眼动研究

本研究采用被试内的实验设计,以无意义词对为实验材料,利用眼动记录技术,通过分析在有无时间压力时,个体对不同难度词对的学习时间分配,检验学习时间分配的差距缩减模型和最近学习区模型.研究发现:(1)在总注视时间上,难度和时间压力的影响都是显著的,并且存在交互作用.(2)个体的学习次序是由易到难的.研究结果支持了最近学习区模型.     

Responding to negativity: How a risky tactic can serve a vigilant strategy

Regulatory focus theory distinguishes between two motivational systems—a promotion system concerned with nurturance and advancement and a prevention system concerned with security and safety [Higgins, E. T. (1997). Beyond pleasure and pain. American Psychologist, 52, 1280-1300]. In signal detection terms, a preference for eager strategies within the promotion system has been equated with a “risky” bias, whereas a preference for vigilant strategies within the prevention system has been equated with a “conservative” bias. However, we propose that when prevention-focused individuals face negative input, they should be willing to incur false alarms to ensure that negative stimuli are correctly identified. Across six studies, we found for negative stimuli a reversal of the traditional finding that prevention participants show a conservative bias in information processing. In these studies, prevention participants consistently exhibited a risky bias when the input was negative. We suggest that this new tactic—a risky bias in response to negativity—best serves the prevention strategy of vigilance.     

The analyst's implicit alpha-function, trauma and enactment in the analysis of borderline patients

The present paper discusses situations in which patient and analyst are involved in obstructive collusions, non-dreams-for-two, shaping enactments. Specifically, it describes explosions in the analytical field, acute enactments, which the analyst assigns, at first sight, to his faulty conduct. The subsequent amplification of the analytical dyad's capacity of symbolization makes the analyst investigate his presumed fault. The present work shows how acute enactments revive traumatic situations that were concealed by previous obstructive collusions, or chronic enactments. During chronic enactments unconscious exchanges occur between the dyad, in which the analyst provides implicit alpha-function to the patient, little by little recovering the traumatized parts. When there is enough recovery, the protective collusion is undone and the trauma is revived as acute enactment. This revival will not be traumatic because there are mental resources ready at hand to symbolize it. These situations are articulated with borderline patients. The patient clings to the analyst, using him as a protective shield against reality traumas. The implicit and explicit alpha-function exerted by the analyst contributes to the processing and symbolization of this reality, recovering the injured mind and elaborating the trauma. So the patient creates a triangular space to dream and think.     

An inexpensive infrared detector to verify the delivery of food pellets

The reproducibility of experimental outcomes depends on consistent control of independent variables. In food-maintained operant performance, it is of utmost importance that the quantity of food delivered is reliable. To that end, some commercial food pellet dispensers have add-on attachments to sense the delivery of pellets. Not all companies, however, offer such add-ons. Aside from availability, cost and temporary reduction in throughput may be a problem for smaller labs. The present paper outlines our recent development of a simple, inexpensive infrared device to detect and confirm the delivery of pellets. The in-line construction of the detector routes the falling pellet through a barrel so that it passes between an infrared emitter and receiver. The circuitry was designed to be compatible with all commercially available behavioral measurement systems, and so may be retrofit to any existing system. Our tests with the detector so far have shown that it is 100% accurate in detecting pellet delivery. The individual unit cost is approximately 25 dollars. The low cost and versatility of the device offer an easy method to ensure the integrity of food delivery in operant settings.     

规范美容医学临床技术--略谈《临床技术操作规范·美容医学》分册的编写体会

从现代医学模式转变出发,探讨了<临床技术操作规范·美容医学>分册的编写体会,阐明了该<规范>分册的指导思想、基本原则,介绍了美容医学临床技术实施效果评价的主要内容和要求.     

Technical Considerations When Handling Questions in the Initial Phase of Psychotherapy

Responding to patients' questions throughout the therapeutic process can be challenging. Questions posed at the beginning of treatment have unique features which make them especially difficult to negotiate. When handled skillfully and tactfully, questions asked during this phase can provide the therapist with important opportunities to foster engagement in treatment. Questions can provide valuable information about the patient's internal world, afford the opportunity to socialize the patient to the therapeutic process, and aid in rapport-building. This article will focus on ways to understand and handle questions patients ask during the initial phase of treatment. Vignettes will be presented and specific responses therapists can offer to patients will be discussed.     

From Cognitive Neuroscience to Geriatric Neuropsychology: What Do Current Conceptualizations of the Action Error Handling Process Mean for Older Adults?

The fields of cognitive neuroscience and neuropsychology have contributed an extensive corpus of research to the study of error monitoring processes in younger adults; however, less is known about error handling in older adults. This paper highlights current conceptualizations of error detection and correction in healthy and impaired older adult populations. The literature suggests that some error handling processes require fewer processing resources than others and may be performed relatively automatically. Compared with young adults, older adults demonstrate a reduced ability to recognize errors, but exhibit similar rates of correction. Older adults diagnosed with a neurodegenerative disease (e.g. Alzheimer’s disease) show a reduced ability to detect and correct their action errors. Thus, neurodegenerative disease processes amplify the impairments in error identification associated with normal aging by disrupting both automatic and controlled error corrections. The clinical implications of our current knowledge are discussed, and directions for future neuropsychological research are offered.

Shifting goal posts: First and second order access

Snodgrass et al.’s (2009) commentary makes explicit one of the major problems in consciousness research; that there seem to be just as many definitions of basic terms are there are people in the field. Although Snodgrass et al.’s position appears at odds with the views expressed in Irvine (2009), many of their arguments are actually consistent with the proposed views, or else fail to engage with them as a consequence of the shifting goal posts of what basic terms mean.