平面几何解题过程中加工水平对迁移的影响

通过实验研究,平面几何靶题难度以及解题者对靶题与源题之间存在着共性关系的加工水平对解题迁移的影响得到了验证。结果表明,解题者对具有内在联系的先后问题之间共性关系的加工水平是影响解题迁移的因素之一;靶题的难度太大或太小,将导致解题者对先后问题之间共性关系的加工作用失败而出现地板效应和天花板效应,且靶题难度与加工水平在影响解题迁移时有交互作用。     

Empathy and viewing the other as a subject

Empathy and viewing another person as a subject rather than an object are often associated in theoretical contexts, but empirical research of the relation is scarce. The purpose of the present research was to investigate the relationship between subject/object view and empathy. In Study 1, participants watched film clips and indicated their empathy for specific characters in the clips, as well as the extent to which they saw these persons as subjects and objects. The subject/object view explained some, but not all, of the differences in empathy, which raised the question of what else accounts for differences in empathy. A second study was conducted to investigate whether the difficulty of the other's situation also contributes. In Study 2, another group watched the film clips and rated the difficulty of the film character's situations in addition to empathy and subject/object view. The results of Study 2 revealed that subject view/object and perceived difficulty together explain a substantial part of differences in empathy. It was concluded that empathy is evoked primarily when a person in difficulty is viewed as a subject.     

Implicit need for achievement predicts attenuated cortisol responses to difficult tasks

The present research tested the hypothesis that the implicit need for achievement (n Achievement) predicts attenuated cortisol (C) responses to difficult tasks, because it represents a propensity to view difficulty as a cue to mastery reward. In two studies, n Achievement was assessed through content-coding of imaginative stories and salivary C was assessed both at baseline and post-task. In Study 1 (N = 108 US students), n Achievement predicted an attenuated C response to a one-on-one competition in the laboratory, regardless of whether participants won or lost. In Study 2 (N = 62 German students), n Achievement predicted an attenuated C response to the Trier Social Stress Test (Kirschbaum, Pirke, & Hellhammer, 1993), but not to a non-stressful control task. In Study 2 only, the attenuating effect of n Achievement was moderated by gender, with only men showing the effect. Across both studies, the average effect size of the association between n Achievement and C responses to difficult tasks was r = −.28. These findings point to a role of n Achievement in emotion regulation.     

Decision Difficulty in the Age of Consumer Empowerment

In this review, we examine the impact of two key factors of consumer empowerment–choice freedom and expansion of information--on the choice difficulty consumers experience in today’s decision environment. We posit that though these two consumer empowerment factors offer numerous potential benefits, they also can magnify such sources of decision difficulty as task complexity, tradeoff difficulty, and preference uncertainty. Next we review several key moderators, including consumer knowledge, mental representation, and maximization tendencies as well as information type and organization, that can exacerbate or mitigate the effect of these consumer empowerment factors on decision difficultly outcomes. Lastly, we examine the effectiveness of decision aids in assisting consumers navigate the complexity of today’s decision environment, and we identify areas for future investigation.     

Depression mediates the relationship between social performance impairment and hostility

The goal of this study was to test depressive symptoms as a mediator between social difficulties and hostility in young adults. Hostility is often a reaction to both intrinsic and extrinsic factors; therefore a greater understanding of contributing factors is needed, especially among emerging adults. College students (n = 608; 408 females, 200 males) self-reported on social difficulties, depression, and hostility. Via exploratory factor analyses, two latent constructs related to social difficulty were identified: social performance and social motivation. Using structural equation modeling, the direct effects found that poor social performance was significantly positively associated with BPAQ Total (β = .44, p < .01). Social motivation was not associated with BPAQ Total (β = −.07, p = .21). Further, depression scores were found to partially mediate the relationship between social performance deficits (β = .34, p < .01; 95% CI = .05–.16), but not social motivation (β = −.06, p > .05; 95% CI = −.04 to .04), and overall aggression. Results are discussed in terms of the influence of negative affect and impaired emotion regulatory processes on hostility as a consequence of social performance deficits.     

识图方式与地图难度对定向运动员识图决策绩效与视觉搜索特征的影响

目的：研究旨在探究定向运动员在识别定向运动地图时的决策绩效与视觉搜索特征。方法：研究采用组内设计,操控地图难度（简单和复杂）和运动员识图方式（精确识图和概略识图）对高水平定向运动员进行实验研究。结果：（1）随着地图难度的加大,定向运动员识图准确性下降,概略识图反应时增加。（2）识图时,简单地图比复杂地图注视频率和眼跳距离更大,注视次数更少;概略识图比精确识图注视次数更多、注视频率更高、眼跳距离更大;概略识图时,简单地图条件下运动员从起点开始正向搜索,复杂地图条件下从终点开始逆向搜索,注视区域面积大且分散;精确识图时,无论是简单地图还是复杂地图,所有运动员均首先搜索检查点说明表和终点,注视区域面积小且集中。结论：地图难度制约着定向运动员的识图决策绩效。定向运动员识图的视觉搜索特征受识图方式与地图难度影响,表现出不同的视觉搜索策略。     

How providing more or less time to solve a cognitive task interferes with upright stance control; a posturographic analysis on healthy young adults

Contrasted postural effects have been reported in dual-task protocols associating balance control and cognitive task that could be explained by the nature and the relative difficulty of the cognitive task and the biomechanical significance of the force platform data. To better assess their respective role, eleven healthy young adults were required to stand upright quietly on a force platform while concomitantly solving mental-calculation or mental-navigation cognitive tasks. Various levels of difficulty were applied by adjusting the velocity rate at which the instructions were provided to the subject according to his/her maximal capacities measured beforehand. A condition without any concomitant cognitive task was added to constitute a baseline behavior. Two basic components, the horizontal center-of-gravity movements and the horizontal difference between center-of-gravity and center-of-pressures were computed from the complex center-of-pressure recorded movements. It was hypothesized that increasing the delay should infer less interaction between postural control and task solution. The results indicate that both mental-calculation and mental-navigation tasks induce reduced amplitudes for the center-of-pressure minus center-of-gravity movements, only along the mediolateral axis, whereas center-of-gravity movements were not affected, suggesting that different circuits are involved in the central nervous system to control these two movements. Moreover, increasing the delays task does not infer any effect for both movements. Since center-of-pressure minus center-of-gravity expresses the horizontal acceleration communicated to the center-of-gravity, one may assume that the control of the latter should be facilitated in dual-tasks conditions, inferring reduced center-of-gravity movements, which is not seen in our results. This lack of effect should be thus interpreted as a modification in the control of these center-of-gravity movements. Taken together, these results emphasized how undisturbed upright stance control can be impacted by mental tasks requiring attention, whatever their nature (calculation or navigation) and their relative difficulty. Depending on the provided instructions, i.e. focusing our attention on body movements or on the opposite diverting this attention toward other objectives, the evaluation of upright stance control capacities might be drastically altered.     

越难读意味着学得越好?学习过程中的不流畅效应

教育心理学领域的不流畅效应认为,学习难读材料要比学习易读材料的效果更好。已有研究主要通过操纵学习材料中的文本、画面或声音属性考察知觉流畅性在学习过程中的作用,并发现不流畅材料可能有助于缓解过度自信现象,但不一定能提高学习效果,不流畅效应的稳健性受到质疑。合理难度理论与不流畅理论均认为,知觉不流畅所引发的额外认知负荷促进了学习;相反,认知负荷理论认为这种额外认知负荷会阻碍学习。对现有研究进行元分析,结果表明,知觉不流畅既降低了学习判断的自信心(d=-0.54),也不利于提高学习效果(d=-0.36),一定程度上支持认知负荷理论。未来研究需关注知觉流畅性本身的操纵、界限及系统性评定,并探讨不流畅效应的边界条件等。     

Taken out of context? Cross-level effects of between-person self-efficacy and difficulty on the within-person relationship of self-efficacy with resource allocation and performance

Research examining the within-person relationship among self-efficacy, resource allocation, and performance has been decidedly mixed, with positive, null, and even negative relationships being observed. In the present research, we propose that relationship of within-person changes in self-efficacy with subsequent changes in resource allocation and performance depends upon one’s typical level of self-efficacy; that is, increases and decreases in self-efficacy have different implications for individuals that are generally highly efficacious than for individuals who are typically less efficacious. Moreover, we propose that these relationships further depend upon the difficulty of goal being pursued. Support for these arguments is found across two studies. These results provide support for self-efficacy’s non-monotonic relationship with resource allocation, including our proposition that the nature of this non-monotonic relationship differs as a function of difficulty. These results also help further illuminate when and for whom self-efficacy is likely to increase or decrease resource allocation and performance.     

The role of athletes' pain-related anxiety in pain-related attentional processes

Numerous researchers have highlighted the social determinants of athletes' attitude toward pain, yet little is known about the role of cognitive processes and emotions that are related to pain in sport endeavors. There is evidence, in a dot probe paradigm, that individuals with chronic pain selectively orient their attention toward pain-related stimuli, but no studies have differentiated between the two attentional processes of hypervigilance that are evident in athletes: facilitated detection of threat and difficulty in disengaging attention from threatening stimuli. In the present study using a dot probe paradigm, we examined whether professional rugby players (N=58) with high pain-related anxiety (HPA) would show an attentional bias for pain-related threat, and whether this hypervigilance would reflect difficulty disengaging from threat or facilitated detection of threat. Rugby players with HPA oriented their attention toward pain-related threat with a concomitant difficulty disengaging from threat. Difficulty disengaging from painful stimuli may increase anxiety, and thus be maladaptive in sport. This is the first study to identify pain-related anxiety as a vulnerability marker in athletes' attentional biases.