反向对抗逻辑范式的创立与证实——人工语法PDP对抗逻辑的改进

人工语法对抗逻辑范式不能排除相似性和辨别力,导致自动反应不纯粹甚至虚假或无法检测到。本研究创立反向对抗逻辑范式,采用单因素(相容/对抗条件)被试间设计:内隐学习阶段将肯定标签与语法A绑定,否定标签与语法B绑定;测量阶段相容条件组对语法A和B做与学习阶段一致的判断,对抗条件组对语法B做与学习阶段对抗的肯定判断。实验证明:(1)外显否定标签可与语法B绑定学习而获得自动化特征,产生内隐联结自动化。(2)内隐否定知识比肯定知识更自动,知识从肯定转为否定易,从否定转为肯定难。(3)反向对抗逻辑范式能有效检测到自动反应,不受语法间形式相似性和辨别力影响。(4)首次析出高概率判断偏向效应,得到纯粹受控反应。     

Increasing self-efficacy reduces visual intrusions to a trauma-film paradigm

Background and Objectives: It has been proposed that self-efficacy plays a critical role in the onset and maintenance of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). This study aimed to test if increasing perceptions of self-efficacy using a false feedback technique about coping abilities prior to a trauma-film paradigm lead to a reduction of visual intrusions over the course of 6 days.

Design and Methods: Healthy participants recruited from the community were randomized to a high self-efficacy (HSE, N?=?18), low self-efficacy (LSE, N?=?21), or neutral self-efficacy (NSE, N?=?23) conditions.

Results: Participants in the HSE condition reported higher levels of self-efficacy. In addition, individuals in the HSE conditions reported significantly fewer intrusions over 6 days. Unexpectedly, individuals in the LSE condition reported fewer intrusions on the final day of the study compared to those in the NSE condition. The LSE group was also the only group showing a significant linear decline in intrusion across the 6 days.

Discussion: These findings provide further support that perceptions of self-efficacy are modifiable and may contribute to clinically-relevant processes underlying PTSD. Future prospective research with individuals exposed to trauma will help to shed light on the potential role of self-efficacy to buffer the negative impacts of traumatic stress.     

Peek-a-who? Exploring the dynamics of early communication with an interactive partner swap paradigm and state space grid visualization

Effective caregiver-infant communication occurs when interactive partners successfully coordinate multiple modalities (e.g., body movements, affect, eye gaze). The complex interplay of multiple modalities during caregiver-infant interactions is difficult to capture, which has made a comprehensive, evidence-based understanding of caregiver-infant communication difficult to achieve. We present a novel methodological approach to address this challenge by combining an Interactive Partner Swap (IPS) paradigm with a longitudinal design, detailed multimodal coding, and data visualization via state space grids (SSGs). We demonstrate the utility of our approach by presenting three sets of SSGs which reveal both dyadic flexibility and stability in caregiver-infant peek-a-boo interactions across three levels: micro (moment-to-moment), meso (interactive context), and macro (infant development). By using SSGs to explore the patterns that hold and others that differ systematically across interactive partner and infant development, our novel approach promises to offer critical first steps to creating a more detailed understanding of the dynamics of early multimodal communication.     

Flashbacks,intrusions, mind-wandering – Instances of an involuntary memory spectrum: A commentary on Takarangi,Strange, and Lindsay (2014)

In their paper, Takarangi, Strange, and Lindsay (2014) showed in two experiments that participants who had witnessed a shocking film frequently “mind-wandered without awareness” about the content of the film. More importantly, they equated this effect with the occurrence of traumatic intrusions. In this commentary, we argue that the authors adhered to conceptually ambiguous terms, and thereby unintentionally contribute to an already existing conceptual blur in the trauma-memory field. We postulate that clear definitions are urgently needed for phenomena such as intrusions, flashbacks, and mind-wandering, when using them in the context of trauma memory. Furthermore, our proposal is that these phenomena can fall under a spectrum of different involuntary memory instances. We propose that by adopting stricter definitions and viewing them as separate, but interrelated phenomena, different lines of trauma-memory research can be reconciled, which would considerably advance the field.     

Examining the unfolding of moral decisions across time using the reach-to-touch paradigm

Abstract

Recent theories of decision making are characterised by a growing emphasis on understanding the cognitive mechanisms that produce decisions. This has seen a growth in methods that allow for the continuous collection of data during reasoning. Current applications of these methods to complex decision making have been limited in their ability to examine the dynamics of responding across time. In the current study we address this issue by examining the online dynamics of moral decisions. Participants were required to respond to moral dilemmas that differed according to harm or intention by reaching out and touching one of two response panels. Utilitarian and deontological responses to personal moral dilemmas were found to differ across time. Utilitarian decisions did not emerge more slowly overall, but rather emerged across a wider (less consistent) time period. Importantly, this result did not generalise to a set of standardized moral scenarios. Taken together these findings highlight how dilemma-specific variables can significantly influence moral reasoning and emphasize the importance of using well controlled stimuli together with a measure capable of examining decisions as they unfold over time.