应激反应的特异性与非特异性

现代应激理论拓展并形成了许多新的观点。该文回顾了应激理论中关于特异性与非特异性反应的文献,以束缚、寒冷、疼痛三种应激源为例主要论述了特异性应激反应有关的神经内分泌脑区、特异性应激源的应激反应神经通路、临床应用及前景     

The development of automatic associative processes and children’s false memories

We investigated children’s ability to generate associations and how automaticity of associative activation unfolds developmentally. Children generated associative responses using a single associate paradigm (Experiment 1) or a Deese/Roediger–McDermott (DRM)-like multiple associates paradigm (Experiment 2). The results indicated that children’s ability to generate meaningful word associates, and the automaticity with which they were generated, increased between 5, 7, and 11 years of age. These findings suggest that children’s domain-specific knowledge base and the associative connections among related concepts are present and continue to develop from a very early age. Moreover, there is an increase in how these concepts are automatically activated with age, something that results from domain-general developments in speed of processing. These changes are consistent with the neurodevelopmental literature and together may provide a more complete explanation of the development of memory illusions.     

Ministering at the Margins in a Time of Pandemic

COVID-19 is having a devastating effect globally, especially among those who live at the margins of societies. Health and economic crises are impacting communities and countries, with particularly adverse effects on vulnerable populations. COVID-19’s impact is increased when we factor in racism, land displacement, and gender injustice. The marginalization and oppression experienced from racial injustice, displacement, and gender injustice increase vulnerability and intensify trauma from COVID-19 globally. Churches can respond effectively to the COVID-19 pandemic with particular focus on communities at the margins. Churches that respond to COVID-19 through ministries of evangelism, compassion, empowerment, and advocacy can demonstrate Christ’s love in the midst of the pandemic and contribute to reconciliation and solidarity with vulnerable communities forced to the margins. This article offers insights related to four themes identified by the reference group for the Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace that was initiated at the 10th Assembly of the World Council of Churches in Busan in 2013.     

Development of predictive responses in theory of mind brain regions

When we watch movies, we consider the characters’ mental states in order to understand and predict the narrative. Recent work in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) uses movie‐viewing paradigms to measure functional responses in brain regions recruited for such mental state reasoning (the theory of mind [“ToM”] network). Here, two groups of young children (n = 30 3–4 years old, n = 26 6–7 years old) viewed a short animated movie twice while undergoing fMRI. As children get older, ToM brain regions were recruited earlier in time during the second presentation of the movie. This “narrative anticipation” effect is specific: there was no such effect in a control network of brain regions that responds just as robustly to the movie (the “Pain Matrix”). These results complement prior studies in adults that suggest that ToM brain regions play a role not just in inferring, but in actively predicting, other people's thoughts and feelings, and provide novel evidence that as children get older, their ToM brain regions increasingly make such predictions.     

Fetal behavioral responses to the touch of the mother’s abdomen: A Frame-by-frame analysis

The aim of the present study was to examine whether fetuses respond to the touching of the mother’s abdomen, and if they do, whether they differentiate based on familiarity and the source of the touch, utilizing 3D real-time (4D) sonography.Behavioral responses of 28 fetuses (20th to 33rd week of gestation; N = 15 in the 2nd and N = 13 in the 3rd trimester) were frame-by-frame coded using a coding system comprising 20 codes and were analyzed in four conditions, during the touch of the (1) mother, (2) the father, (3) the stranger and in a (4) no-touch, control condition.Fetuses showed differential responses to the touch, in particular in the duration of their reaching out to touch the uterus wall in the four conditions, and self-touch, dependent on the gestational age of the fetus. Fetuses in the 3rd trimester touched the uterus wall significantly longer than fetuses in the 2nd trimester did, when the mother touched compared to the control condition. At the same time, fetuses in the 3rd trimester also touched themselves less during the mother’s touch, compared when the stranger touched and also compared to the control condition.This differential response of the older fetuses might be due to the maturation of the central nervous system, and may indicate the emergence of a proprioceptive self-awareness by the 3rd trimester.     

Probing the influence of unconscious fear-conditioned visual stimuli on eye movements

Efficient threat detection from the environment is critical for survival. Accordingly, fear-conditioned stimuli receive prioritized processing and capture overt and covert attention. However, it is unknown whether eye movements are influenced by unconscious fear-conditioned stimuli. We performed a classical fear-conditioning procedure and subsequently recorded participants’ eye movements while they were exposed to fear-conditioned stimuli that were rendered invisible using interocular suppression. Chance-level performance in a forced-choice-task demonstrated unawareness of the stimuli. Differential skin conductance responses and a change in participants’ fearfulness ratings of the stimuli indicated the effectiveness of conditioning. However, eye movements were not biased towards the fear-conditioned stimulus. Preliminary evidence suggests a relation between the strength of conditioning and the saccadic bias to the fear-conditioned stimulus. Our findings provide no strong evidence for a saccadic bias towards unconscious fear-conditioned stimuli but tentative evidence suggests that such an effect may depend on the strength of the conditioned response.     

Verbal mediating responses: effects on generalization of say-do correspondence and noncorrespondence

We analyzed the effects of verbal mediating responses on the acquisition and generalization of say-do correspondence and noncorrespondence. Participants were assigned to groups in which either reinforcers (feedback and tokens) were arranged for say-do correspondence and noncorrespondence, or no reinforcers were programmed. Participants in these groups were further subdivided into groups in which they were required to repeat what was said previously, were required to repeat random numbers, or no verbalizations were required. When correspondence was reinforced, repetition of what was said produced greater acquisition and generalization of correspondence. When noncorrespondence was reinforced, repetition of numbers facilitated acquisition and generalization of noncorrespondence. Verbal mediating responses interacted with contingencies of reinforcement in determining acquisition and generalization of correspondence and noncorrespondence.     

执行功能子成分与学业成就的关系

目的:探讨执行功能三个子成分(抑制功能、转换功能和信息刷新功能)与学业成就的关系。方法:采用认知任务对85名大学生的执行功能子成分进行测量,并进行执行功能子成分的Stroop效应、转换任务效应及信息刷新任务效应对学业成就的逐步回归分析。结果:抑制子功能的Stroop效应及信息刷新子功能的任务效应对学业成就具有负向预测作用,两者共同解释学业成就变异的15.1%。其中,抑制子功能的Stroop效应预测作用最大,可解释学业成就变异的8.5%。结论:执行功能抑制子功能的Stroop效应及信息刷新子功能的任务效应可作为学业成就的预测因子。     

The Effectiveness of Argumentative Strategies

In this article, I further analyze the notion of the effectiveness of argumentative strategies, introduced in Jovičić, 2001. The most relevant achievements of the theories of reasonable discussion and the theories of persuasion are called to mind with the aim of explaining the mechanism of the argumentative effectiveness. As a result, a procedure for evaluating the effectiveness of argumentative strategies is suggested.     

Individuals with chronic ankle instability compensate for their ankle deficits using proximal musculature to maintain reduced postural sway while kicking a ball

The aim of this study was to investigate anticipatory (APA), simultaneous (SPA) and compensatory (CPA) postural adjustments in individuals with and without chronic ankle instability (CAI) as they kicked a ball while standing in a single-leg stance on a stable and unstable surface. Electromyographic activity (EMG) of postural muscles and center of pressure (COP) displacements were calculated and their magnitudes analyzed during the postural adjustment intervals. Additionally, the COP area of sway was calculated over the duration of the whole task. The activities of postural muscles were also studied using principal component analysis (PCA) to identify between-group differences in patterns of muscle activation. The individuals with CAI showed reduced magnitude of EMG at the muscles around the ankle while around the hip the activity was increased. These were associated with a reduction in balance sway across the entire task, as compared with the control group. The PCA revealed that CAI participants assemble different sets of muscle activation to compensate for their ankle instability, primarily activating hip/spine muscles. These results set up potential investigations to examine whether balance control interventions enhance these adaptations or revert them to a normal pattern as well as if any of these changes proactively address recurrent ankle sprain conditions.