Spatial representation of pitch height: the SMARC effect

Through the preferential pairing of response positions to pitch, here we show that the internal representation of pitch height is spatial in nature and affects performance, especially in musically trained participants, when response alternatives are either vertically or horizontally aligned. The finding that our cognitive system maps pitch height onto an internal representation of space, which in turn affects motor performance even when this perceptual attribute is irrelevant to the task, extends previous studies on auditory perception and suggests an interesting analogy between music perception and mathematical cognition. Both the basic elements of mathematical cognition (i.e. numbers) and the basic elements of musical cognition (i.e. pitches), appear to be mapped onto a mental spatial representation in a way that affects motor performance.     

The role of attention in the facilitation effect and another "inhibition of return"

The present study investigated how anticipation of a target's appearance affects human attention to gaze cues provided by a schematic face. Subjects in a 'catch' group received a high number of 'catch' trials, in which no target stimulus appeared. Subjects in the control group did not receive any catch trials. As in previous studies, both groups showed a facilitation effect to the cued location during shorter stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA). In both groups, an analysis of eye movements confirmed that subjects' eyes remained on the fixation point, ruling out the possibility that the facilitation effect was due to shifting eye movements (saccades) as opposed to a shift in covert attention. But while the control group's response time (RT) decreased as SOA increased, the catch group's RT had a U-shaped pattern and the facilitation effect to the cued location was reversed at the longest SOA (1005 ms). These results suggest that subjects in the catch group disengaged their attention during long SOAs because they expected the trial to be a catch trial. This disengagement of attention during long SOAs results in a delay before attention could be re-focused to the previous location regardless of the cue validity ["IOR (inhibition of return)"-like-phenomenon]. Unlike the conventional IOR, we suggest that this "IOR"-like phenomenon caused by an unpredictive central gaze cue is likely to be mediated by an endogenous mechanism.     

Time to Death and Cognitive Performance

We review a program of research that examines people's judgments about how they are seen by others. The research indicates that people tend to anchor on their own experience when making such judgments, with the result that their assessments are often egocentrically biased. Our review focuses on two biases in particular, the spotlight effect, or people's tendency to overestimate the extent to which their behavior and appearance are noticed and evaluated by others, and the illusion of transparency, or people's tendency to overestimate the extent to which their internal states "leak out" and are detectable by others.     

The SNARC effect: an instance of the Simon effect?

Our aim was to investigate the relations between the Spatial-Numerical Association of Response Codes (SNARC) effect and the Simon effect. In Experiment 1 participants were required to make a parity judgment to numbers from 1 to 9 (without 5), by pressing a left or a right key. The numbers were presented to either the left or right side of fixation. Results showed the Simon effect (left-side stimuli were responded to faster with the left hand than with the right hand whereas right-side stimuli were responded to faster with the right hand), and the SNARC effect (smaller numbers were responded to faster with the left hand than with the right hand, whereas larger numbers were responded to faster with the right hand). No interaction was found between the Simon and SNARC effects, suggesting that they combine additively. In Experiment 2 the temporal distance between formation of the task-relevant non-spatial stimulus code and the task-irrelevant stimulus spatial code was increased. As in Experiment 1, results showed the presence of the Simon and SNARC effects but no interaction between them. Moreover, we found a regular Simon effect for faster RTs, and a reversed Simon effect for longer RTs. In contrast, the SNARC effect did not vary as a function of RT. Taken together, the results of the two experiments show that the SNARC effect does not simply constitute a variant of the Simon effect. This is considered to be evidence that number representation and space representation rest on different neural (likely parietal) circuits.     

归因过程“背景效应假设”的初步实验研究

通过两个实验考证了归因过程的“背景效应假设”：实验1表明,当要求活动者和观察者采用同样的背景事件时．他们之间的归因差异消失了;实验2表明,当有其它的背景信息可供参考时,被试就不再完全按照Kelley所假定的一致性和区别性信息进行归因推断。     

The stimulating and inhibiting effects of weapons on Aggressive behavior

Evidence is presented suggesting that firearms violence is an important social problem. Research strongly suggests that the effectiveness of firearms as a cause of death and injury may be due to their widespread availability, their lethality, and the impulsivity of their use. The investigation of a possible causal link between firearms and impulsive aggression led to Berkowitz and LePage's (1967) weapons effect experiment. The results suggested that weapons can increase the instigation to aggression in aroused an uninhibited individuals. The researchers reasoned that weapons might stimulate aggression by classical conditioning processes resulting from learned associations between aggressive acts and weapons. Although a few studies have failed to reproduce an aggression-enhancing effect of weapons, the original finding has been replicated in several countries with diverse subject groups both in field and laboratory settings. However, these studies also indicate that many individuals may react with anxiety or fear in the presence of weapons and inhibit aggressive reactions. Manipulations of evaluation apprehension, subject suspiciousness, and/or hypothesis awareness about the purpose of the weapons in the experiments all seem to lead to reduced levels of aggressive response in the presence of weapons. These findings offer a possible explanation for the few failures to replicate the original weapons effect; if researchers used apprehensive subjects or subjects who were aware of possible experimental deceptions, they were more likely to observe an inhibitory reaction rather than an aggression-enhancing effect of weapons.     

The Life and Works of a Bottom-Up Thinker

A brief account is given of the author's life as a physicist and then a priest. The twin foundations of the author's theological endeavors have been a respect for traditional Christian thinking, though not exempting it from revision where this is needed, and a style of argument termed bottom-up thinking, which seeks to proceed from experience to understanding. The diversity of the world faith traditions is perceived as a major source of perplexity. A revised and modest natural theology and the issue of divine action have been at the top of a science and theology agenda. A defense is sketched in realist terms of the metaphysical strategy of using an ontological interpretation of the unpredictabilities of chaos theory to support a notion of top-down causality through active information. The success of Christian theology as a resource of total explanation depends on a credible account of eschatological hope. Reference is made to practical experience of ethics in the public square.     

Response mode does not modulate the space–time congruency effect: Evidence for a space–time mapping at a conceptual level

Previous studies reported a space–time congruency effect on response time, supporting the notion that people's thinking about time is grounded in their spatial sensorimotor experience. According to a strong view of metaphoric mapping, the congruency effect should be larger for responses that differ in their spatial features than for responses that lack such differences. In contrast, a weaker version of this account posits that the grounding of time is based on higher-level spatial concepts. In this case, response mode should not modulate the size of the space–time congruency effect. In order to assess these predictions, participants in this study responded to temporal stimuli either manually or vocally. Response mode did not modulate the space–time congruency effect which supports the weaker view of metaphoric mapping suggesting that this effect emerges at a higher cognitive level.     

错误信息效应的主要理论与影响因素的述评与展望

个体对原始信息的记忆受到随后错误信息的影响而产生错误记忆被称为错误信息效应.通过对新近研究的梳理与归纳,发现错误信息效应的研究热点集中于解释效应产生机制的理论研究以及效应的影响因素研究.因此,本文重点归纳和述评了错误信息效应的五种理论和三类影响因素.未来的研究建议从以下几方面开展:第一,错误信息产生机制和理论研究;第二...     

体育锻炼对大学生主观幸福感的影响:人际关系困扰和自尊的中介作用

为考察影响体育锻炼与主观幸福感关系的内在机制,该研究采用体育锻炼量表、自尊量表、人际关系综合诊断量表以及Campbell主观幸福感指数量表对521名高校大学生进行调查.结果显示:(1)人际关系困扰与体育锻炼、自尊及主观幸福感呈显著负相关,体育锻炼、自尊、主观幸福感两两之间均呈显著正相关;(2)人际关系困扰和自尊在体育锻...