Causality orientations moderate the undermining effect of rewards on intrinsic motivation

The present study tested the hypothesis that individual differences in autonomy or control causality orientation would moderate the undermining effect of rewards on intrinsic motivation. Equal numbers of autonomy- and control-orientated participants provided solutions to an interesting puzzle under reward or no reward conditions. Participants were then required to provide further solutions to the puzzle in a free-choice period. The time spent in solving the puzzle during the free-choice period constituted the dependent measure of intrinsic motivation. Results revealed a significant interaction effect of causality orientations and reward condition on intrinsic motivation. Control-oriented participants assigned to the reward condition exhibited significantly lower levels of intrinsic motivation compared to those assigned to the no reward condition. In contrast, there was no significant difference in intrinsic motivation levels across the reward conditions for autonomy-oriented individuals. Findings indicate that an autonomy-oriented causality orientation offered a degree of ‘protection’ from the undermining effect of rewards on intrinsic motivation. This is in keeping with self-determination theory in terms of the interactive effects of environmental events and interpersonal factors on intrinsic motivation.     

Changes in auditory frequency guide visual-spatial attention

How do the characteristics of sounds influence the allocation of visual–spatial attention? Natural sounds typically change in frequency. Here we demonstrate that the direction of frequency change guides visual–spatial attention more strongly than the average or ending frequency, and provide evidence suggesting that this cross-modal effect may be mediated by perceptual experience. We used a Go/No-Go color-matching task to avoid response compatibility confounds. Participants performed the task either with their heads upright or tilted by 90°, misaligning the head-centered and environmental axes. The first of two colored circles was presented at fixation and the second was presented in one of four surrounding positions in a cardinal or diagonal direction. Either an ascending or descending auditory-frequency sweep was presented coincident with the first circle. Participants were instructed to respond to the color match between the two circles and to ignore the uninformative sounds. Ascending frequency sweeps facilitated performance (response time and/or sensitivity) when the second circle was presented at the cardinal top position and descending sweeps facilitated performance when the second circle was presented at the cardinal bottom position; there were no effects of the average or ending frequency. The sweeps had no effects when circles were presented at diagonal locations, and head tilt entirely eliminated the effect. Thus, visual–spatial cueing by pitch change is narrowly tuned to vertical directions and dominates any effect of average or ending frequency. Because this cross-modal cueing is dependent on the alignment of head-centered and environmental axes, it may develop through associative learning during waking upright experience.     

Decreased load on general motor preparation and visual-working memory while preparing familiar as compared to unfamiliar movement sequences

Learning movement sequences is thought to develop from an initial controlled attentive phase to a more automatic inattentive phase. Furthermore, execution of sequences becomes faster with practice, which may result from changes at a general motor processing level rather than at an effector specific motor processing level. In the current study, we examined whether these changes are already present during preparation. Fixed series of six keypresses, either familiar or unfamiliar, had to be prepared and executed/withheld after a go/nogo signal. Reaction time results confirmed that familiar sequences were executed faster than unfamiliar sequences. Results derived from the electroencephalogram showed a decreased demand on general motor preparation and visual-working memory before familiar sequences as compared to unfamiliar sequences. We propose that with familiar sequences the presetting segments of responses is less demanding than with unfamiliar sequences, as familiar sequences can be regarded as less complex than unfamiliar sequences. Finally, the decreasing demand on visual-working memory before familiar sequences suggests that sequence learning indeed develops from an attentive to an automatic phase.     

记忆过程中海马CA1区神经元的集群放电特征

观察空间工作记忆过程中海马CA1区神经元群的放电特征。应用多通道神经元集群放电记录技术, 同步观察和记录清醒大鼠在执行延迟选择任务时的行为轨迹以及海马CA1区神经元的放电活动。发现：海马CA1区位置细胞的位置野是在学习过程中逐渐形成并可消退; 部分位置细胞的放电对未来目标定向性行为具有预测作用; 在空间工作记忆过程中, 神经元放电之间的相关性加强, 神经元之间以及神经元与局部场电位之间存在相位编码方式。结果提示海马CA1区神经元参与对空间信息的初级编码和加工, 并为未来行为决策提供有效信息, 而且海马对信息的加工是通过局部神经网络进行, 时间编码可能是海马信息加工的重要方式之一。     

认知方式、视错觉及其关系的跨文化研究

运用测验法研究了藏、回、汉族小学三年级、五年级、初二、高二共1032名儿童认知方式的特点,考察了不同认知方式与视错觉之间的关系。结果表明:1)认知方式的民族、居住环境和年龄差异显著,藏族儿童、居住在草原上的儿童、低年级儿童倾向于场依存性,汉族和回族儿童、生活在城市和山村的儿童、高年级儿童倾向于场独立性;2)视错觉的文化差异显著,居住环境和年龄是影响视错觉的重要变量;3)认知方式对视错觉有影响,场独立性者错觉量小,场依存性者错觉量大。     

相似性信息的激活对情境性表征影响的年龄差异

使用视觉搜索范式研究了6岁、9岁、12岁和成人,在限时和不限时呈现材料条件下对实物图形的视觉搜索及再认。结果表明:1)限时和不限时视觉搜索任务方式对视觉搜索和再认的准确性、反应时均有显著影响。2)视觉搜索和再认的准确性随被试年龄的增长而提高,反应时则随其年龄增长而缩短。3)靶项目是否作为搜索项目出现对视觉搜索和再认的准确性没有显著影响,但对视觉搜索和再认的反应时有显著影响,靶项目的出现使视觉搜索和再认的反应时都显著缩短。4)搜索项性质对视觉搜索和再认的反应时指标有显著影响,但对准确性没有显著影响。     

Identifying and Remedying Failures of Selective Attention in Younger Drivers

ABSTRACT— Newly licensed drivers are disproportionally involved in fatal crashes, and there is evidence that failure to attend to potentially relevant information is a major contributor to this problem. Corroborating this, in controlled scenarios on a driving simulator, we have found that younger drivers attend to (i.e., fixate) target regions in the virtual world that contain information about potential risks much less frequently than do more experienced drivers. We have developed a PC-based training program that substantially improves younger drivers' attention to these regions in the driving simulator and have recently replicated these training results on the road in a real driving situation.     

汉语单音节词汇产生中的激活反馈

采取图画-词汇干扰实验范式,探索汉语词汇产生中词条选择和音韵编码两个阶段之间是否存在激活的反馈。实验一探索的是字形激活能否反馈至语义层产生语义激活,结果发现,与无关条件相比,目标图画(如“锯”)的字形中介(“镇”)的语义相关字(“村”)条件显著地延长了图画命名的时间。这表明在汉语词汇产生过程中,字形层的激活能反馈至语义层。实验二探索的是语音激活能否反馈至语义层产生语义激活,结果发现,与无关条件相比,目标图画(“梨”)的语音中介(“厘”)的语义相关字(“毫”)条件并未显著地影响图画命名的时间。这表明语音层的激活不能反馈至语义层,或者反馈回的激活太微弱不能影响图画命名过程。实验一和二的结果更倾向于支持词汇产生中词条选择和音韵编码两个阶段独立的观点。     

A free and simple computerized screening test for visual field defects

About 30–40% of stroke patients suffer from visual field defects following injury. These can interfere with the standard neuropsychological assessment and complicate the interpretation of tests that use visual materials. However, information about the integrity of a patient's central visual field is often unavailable. We, therefore, designed a screening tool, the computerized visual field test (c‐VFT), specifically targeted at providing easily available, but rough, information about patients' central visual field. c‐VFT was tested in two samples of stroke patients. Eleven patients were tested on c‐VFT and on the Esterman test. Five patients were tested on c‐VFT and the Humphrey Visual Field Analyzer (HFA), central 10‐2. Criterion validity of the c‐VFT was investigated by calculating quadrantwise intraclass correlation for both comparisons. For the HFA comparison, we also calculated point‐to‐point intraclass correlation, sensitivity, and specificity. Analyses revealed moderately good correspondence between c‐VFT and the Esterman test, and between c‐VFT and HFA 10‐2, respectively. When looking specifically at test points within one degree of visual angle apart in the two tests, intraclass correlation increased. For these points, the sensitivity of c‐VFT was 0.89 and specificity was 0.97. While the c‐VFT is not designed to be diagnostic nor to replace the detailed visual field analysis, this study shows that it provides a reasonable screening of the central visual field. The test can easily be used and will be made freely available to neuropsychological clinicians and researchers.     

THE COLLAPSE OF OLIGARCHIC CAPITALISM AND THE RISE OF REGENERATIVE LEARNING: HOW THE SCIENCE OF ENERGY SYSTEMS CLARIFIES WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY AND WHAT COMES NEXT

We live in a head-spinning, gut-wrenching time of multiplying crises. At home we face outsourced jobs, crumbling cities, underpaid teachers, unaffordable healthcare, endless wars, political corruption, a co-opted corporate media, skyrocketing inequality, and public “austerity” measures whose main purpose is to make tax-breaks for the rich more affordable. Working-class stagnation is producing widespread anxiety, mounting debt, and “despair deaths” from opioid abuse. Fear is fueling populist outrage, along with extremism, authoritarianism, and the conditions for a fascist takeover. Meanwhile, climate change poses an existential threat to humanity itself. All of these calamities spring from the same root cause: an oligarchic capitalism that puts short-term profit for owners over people and planet. While this system seems immutable, upheavals from Occupy Wall Street to the rise of right-wing populism signal a backlash to a political–economic establishment that treats people and planet as resources to be pillaged and expenses to be minimized. Its failures have also been driving the development of new possibilities in the form of more systemic approaches. Still, while systems thinking has improved approaches in fields from agriculture to medicine, so far none of these reforms have been able to channel public frustration into true transformation because none addresses the root problem: oligarchy. The science of systemic vitality we need is also being born, but so far, its findings are diffuse. This article shows how the science of energy systems can galvanize today’s economic reformation by articulating the common sense rules and rigorous measures of systemic vitality, while anchoring them in an evidence-based vision of humanity as a collaborative learning species. The result is a practical path to building systemic socioeconomic vitality by revitalizing human networks, energizing collective learning, and clarifying why oligarchic capitalism is a distortion of our original democratic free-enterprise dream, which is now careening toward collapse.