An attribution-emotion-action interpretation of the “evil eye” in everyday conflict situations

An attribution-emotion-action model was used to examine individuals’ willingness to seek for another person's face in conflict situations. To induce interpersonal conflict and frustration, participants were engaged in the ultimatum bargaining game (UBG) where they received predetermined offers. A simple UBG consists of two players, a Proposer and a Responder, who must decide how to divide a resource. Our findings confirm our predictions in that during the interpersonal conflict (i.e., betraying the norm of equality in the UBG), participants made more controllable based attributions, felt more frustrated (less sympathetic), and more likely requested to view the Proposer's photograph than when there is no conflict. Stated differently, in conflict situations, the likelihood of seeking another person's face increases when controllable attributions are made and when frustration is felt.     

Aging in cognitive control of social processing: evidence from the attention network test

ABSTRACT

Aging seems to be associated with impairment of attentional network functioning. It is not known whether social information can modulate this age-related decline. We used three variants of Attention Network test to examine the age-related decline of attentional effects in response to stimuli with and without social-cognitive content. Three groups of younger, middle-aged, and older participants performed the ANT, using fish, drawings, or photographs of faces looking to the left or right as target and flanker stimuli. The results showed that both executive attention and alerting were more resistant to the age-related decline with social stimuli and that orienting attention scores showed a progressive increase with age in the presence of this kind of stimuli. These findings underline the importance of social information in modulating and contrasting the age-related decline and support the status of human faces as a special class of visual stimuli for the human attentional systems.     

单字词和复合词预视加工的差异性研究：词边界信息无影响

本实验采用眼动轨迹记录法并结合边界范式（Rayner, 1975），操纵单字词和双字复合词的首字为一致预视或假字预视，考察单字词和复合词预视加工的差异性。另外，通过在中文句子中加入词边界信息——词间阴影，以考察词间阴影对单字词和复合词预视加工的影响。实验结果表明，复合词的预视效应大于单字词，并且词间阴影对单字词和复合词的预视加工均没有显著影响。因此，与印欧语系相比，中文阅读中更大更强的预视效应需从更深层次的语言和认知因素进行探讨。该结果更倾向于支持词切分和词汇识别模型。     

Test-dependent expression of behavioral syndromes: A study of aggressiveness,activity, and stress of chub

Aggressiveness has been one of the behavioral traits most examined with various standard testing methods. We used two distinct methods (the mirror and the real opponent tests) to evaluate individual aggression and relate it to the activity and individual stress of chub (Squalius cephalus L.). Three hypotheses were formulated and tested: (a) there is a significant positive relationship between the aggressiveness of individuals measured with the mirror and the real opponent tests, indicating their convergent validity; (b) the irregularities in response to the aggressiveness and activity tests lead to the context-specific expression of the behavioral syndromes; and (c) there is a significant positive relationship between the stress induced in individuals by both tests of aggressiveness, demonstrating individually consistent stress-coping strategies. The first and the second hypothesis were confirmed, while the third hypothesis was rejected. Our results suggest that particular tests of aggressiveness could act as a situation with high strength, leaving little variation between individual responses. Thus, we propose that for the proper interpretation of various studies using different tests to study identical behavioral traits, it is important to consider the convergent validity of not only the tested behavioral traits but also the individual stress responses. The chub also showed stress relieve through aggressiveness, suggesting the species as a prospective animal model to the study interaction between the stress and the aggressiveness. A detailed aggression ethogram of chub was provided to facilitate the use of this specie in future studies.     

Talking while looking: On the encapsulation of output system representations

The idea that the human mind can be divided into distinct (but interacting) functional modules is an important presupposition in many theories of cognition. While previous research on modularity predominantly studied input domains (e.g., vision) or central processes, the present study focused on cognitive representations of output domains. Specifically, we asked to what extent output domain representations are encapsulated (i.e., immune to influence from other domains, representing a key feature of modularity) by studying determinants of interference between simultaneous action demands (oculomotor and vocal responses). To examine the degree of encapsulation, we compared single- vs. dual-response performance triggered by single stimuli. Experiment 1 addressed the role of stimulus modality under dimensionally overlapping response requirements (stimuli and responses were spatial and compatible throughout). In Experiment 2, we manipulated the presence of dimensional overlap across responses. Substantial performance costs associated with dual-response (vs. single-response) demands were observed across response modalities, conditions, and experiments. Dimensional overlap combined with shared spatial codes across responses enabled response-code priming (i.e., beneficial crosstalk between output domains). Overall, the results are at odds with the idea of strong encapsulation of output system representations and show how processing content determines the extent of interdependency between output domains in cognition.     

The minimal self hypothesis

For millennia self has been conjectured to be necessary for consciousness. But scant empirical evidence has been adduced to support this hypothesis. Inconsistent explications of “self” and failure to design apt experiments have impeded progress. Advocates of phenomenological psychiatry, however, have helped explicate “self,” and employed it to explain some psychopathological symptoms. In those studies, “self” is understood in a minimalist sense, sheer “for-me-ness.” Unfortunately, explication of the “minimal self” (MS) has relied on conceptual analysis, and applications to psychopathology have been hermeneutic, allowing for many degrees of interpretive latitude. The result is that MS’s current scientific status is analogous to that of the “atom,” at the time when “atom” was just beginning to undergo transformation from a philosophical to a scientific concept. Fortunately, there is now an opportunity to promote a similar transformation for “MS.” Discovery of the brain’s Default Mode Network (DMN) opened the door to neuroimaging investigations of self. Taking the DMN and other forms of intrinsic activity as a starting point, an empirical foothold can be established, one that spurs experimental research and that enables extension of research into multiple phenomena. New experimental protocols that posit “MS” can help explain phenomena hitherto not thought to be related to self, thereby hastening development of a mature science of self. In particular, targeting phenomena wherein consciousness is lost and recovered, as in some cases of Unresponsive Wakefulness Syndrome (UWS), allow for design of neuroimaging probes that enable detection of MS during non-conscious states. These probes, as well as other experimental protocols applied to NREM Sleep, General Anesthesia (GA), and the waking state, provide some evidence to suggest that not only can self and consciousness dissociate, MS might be a necessary precondition for conscious experience. Finally, these findings have implications for the science of consciousness: it has been suggested that “levels of consciousness” (LoC) is not a legitimate concept for the science of consciousness. But because we have the conceptual and methodological tools with which to refine investigations of MS, we have the means to identify a possible foundation—a bifurcation point—for consciousness, as well as the means by which to measure degrees of distance from that foundation. These neuroimaging investigations of MS position us to better assess whether LoC has a role to play in a mature science of consciousness.     

Having both hands on the steering wheel: Driving behaviour of white-collar workers with degenerative eye conditions

Because people in the United States are highly reliant on cars for transportation, individuals with restricted driving abilities face severe accessibility constraints in the labour market. Guided by the social exclusion framework, we used a qualitative approach to gain insights into the role of car driving and alternative commute modes in the lives of white-collar workers with degenerative eye conditions. The study participants gradually restricted their driving behaviour as the disease progressed. They also exhibited several types of commute solutions, which lent themselves to a variation in the experienced degree of exclusion (both between participants and within participants over time), with changes in vision state and available resources. Another aim of our study was to identify the motivations for driving behaviour. The results showed that while a desire to reduce the risk of an accident motivated the participants to stop driving, certain normative (for men) and practical considerations motivated participants to continue driving. While all of the participants eventually stopped driving due to vision decline, the decision to quit often occurred only after the participants experienced one or more car accidents. Workplace accessibility is a factor that hinders labour market participation of individuals with degenerative eye conditions and encourages individuals to engage in risky behaviour.