颞叶皮层在灵长类不变性知觉和原型表征中的重要作用

如果要走出人工智能在感知觉领域的困境．就必须认识到人类特有的受生物现实约束的认知特点。综合分析各种证据表明,知觉和客体识别的本质不是分析千差万别的局部特征,而是提取环境中的大范围不变量（早期为拓扑特性检测）,形成并存贮一定原型表征;颞叶皮层在灵长类这种不变性知觉和原型表征中具有重要作用。     

Intertrial-interval effects on sensitivity (A') and response bias (B") in a temporal discrimination by rats.

Killeen and Fetterman's (1988) behavioral theory of animal timing predicts that decreases in the rate of reinforcement should produce decreases in the sensitivity (A') of temporal discriminations and a decrease in miss and correct rejection rates (decrease in bias toward "long" responses). Eight rats were trained on a 10- versus 0.1-s temporal discrimination with an intertrial interval of 5 s and were subsequently tested on probe days on the same discrimination with intertrial intervals of 1, 2.5, 5, 10, or 20 s. The rate of reinforcement declined for all animals as intertrial interval increased. Although sensitivity (A') decreased with increasing intertrial interval, all rats showed an increase in bias to make long responses.     

Stimulus control and response bias in an analogue prey-detection procedure

The present study compared the performance of 6 pigeons trained to detect luminance differences in two different signal-detection procedures. Exposed to a three-key array, the pigeons were trained to peck the left key when the brighter of two light intensities had been presented on the center key and to peck the right key when the dimmer of two light intensities had been presented on the center key. Procedure A was a standard signal-detection procedure in which left/bright and right/dim responses produced food reinforcement and left/dim and right/bright responses produced periods of timeout. Procedure B was designed to simulate some of the contingencies operating in a prey-detection situation. Left-key responses produced reinforcement following the brighter center-key stimulus and a period of timeout following the dimmer center-key stimulus. Right-key responses always produced a short period of timeout irrespective of the stimulus. Within each procedure, the duration of timeout arranged for false alarms (left/dim responses) was varied between 3 s and 120 s. Measures of accuracy and response bias were compared between the two procedures. The timeout manipulation produced systematic, but relatively small, changes in these measures when right/dim responses (i.e., correct rejections) produced reinforcement (Procedure A). Arranging timeout for right/dim responses in Procedure B produced greater variability in accuracy and response bias than did arranging reinforcement, but this variability was not related to timeout duration. Overall, discrimination accuracy was considerably higher when right/dim responses produced timeout than when they resulted in reinforcement, and accuracy was accompanied by a large bias toward the response associated with reinforcement. These results are consistent with a recently proposed model of signal detection.     

Stimulus Presentation Ratios And The Outcomes For Correct Responses In Signal-detection Procedures

Three pigeons were trained to discriminate between two line orientations (S₁ and S₂). A left-key peck was correct when S₁ was presented, and a right key-peck was correct when S₂ was presented. In all procedures, correct responses were occasionally reinforced with food paired with the presentation of the magazine light. Incorrect responses produced a blackout. Six detection procedures were used. In the first, the signal presentation ratio was varied across conditions and the reinforcer ratio was allowed to covary. In the second, the signal presentation ratio was held constant at 1:1 and the reinforcer ratio varied across conditions. In the third, the signal presentation ratio was varied across conditions and the reinforcer ratio was held constant at 1:1. In these three procedures, correct responses that were not scheduled for reinforcement were followed by blackout. The remaining three procedures repeated those described above with one procedural change: Nonreinforced but correct trials were followed by the presentation of the magazine light. Birds showed systematic preferences for the key associated with the stimulus presented or reinforced most often. There was no change in the birds' performance over changes in the feedback for nonreinforced but correct responses.     

Effects of anxiety on attentional allocation and task performance: An information processing analysis

An information processing signal detection methodology was employed to examine attentional allocation and its correlates in both normal comparison (NC) and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) participants. In particular, the impact of neutral distractor and negative feedback cues on performance of an attention vigilance task was investigated. Individuals with GAD (N = 15) evidenced impaired performance on an attention vigilance task relative to NC participants (N = 15) when neutral distractor cues were presented. Contrary to prediction, no group differences in performance were detected under conditions in which participants were presented negative feedback cues they were told were relevant to their performance. Instead, GAD participants exhibited improvement during the experimental task such that their performance was equivalent to NC participants. Across trials, the clinically anxious group endorsed significantly higher levels of worry and negative affectivity; however, they failed to respond with concomitant physical arousal (e.g. increased muscle tension). These data are discussed within the context of Eysenck and Calvo's (1992, Cognition and Emotion, 6, 409–434) processing efficiency theory. Additionally, the results of this investigation provide support for Barlow's (1988, Anxiety and its disorders: The nature and treatment of anxiety and panic) conceptualization of anxiety as requiring the interaction of cognitive schema and physiological arousal.     

视觉监控作业中信号间隔时间和双任务对信号觉察的影响

本研究运用模拟实验,考察了以仪表显示为主的监控系统中信号间隔时间和双作业任务对人觉察信号的反应时间的影响.双作业中的主任务是要求被试同时监视4个仪表,次任务为对显示屏上一个红色亮点是否出现闪烁作简单的辨别反应.实验结果表明信号间隔时间是影响信号觉察反应时的一个重要因素.随着信号间隔时间由30-50秒延长到8-10分钟,信号觉察反应时随之先快后慢地增加.在低负荷的仪表监视作业中,通过增加一个刺激率较高而又比较简单的次任务,可使被试保持较高的唤醒水平和更好地集中注意,从而有利于提高信号觉察效率.     

Visual Signal Detection Measured by Event-Related Potentials

Signal Detection tasks typically involve within-subject signal changes. Such a procedure does not lend itself to event-related potential (ERP) experiments where the need for averaging necessitates the maintenance of consistent stimulus parameters. In the present ERP study we adopt a novel approach to thresholding that allows within-subject signal manipulation. The Signal Detection task required the identification of letter targets, formed from dots, in a random dot field. ERP waveforms were segmented into three windows corresponding to N1, N2, and P300 components. Analysis shows that ERP variations are dependent on both task demands and response characteristics for N1, N2, and P300 components.     

An inner face advantage in children's recognition of familiar peers

Children’s recognition of familiar own-age peers was investigated. Chinese children (4-, 8-, and 14-year-olds) were asked to identify their classmates from photographs showing the entire face, the internal facial features only, the external facial features only, or the eyes, nose, or mouth only. Participants from all age groups were familiar with the faces used as stimuli for 1 academic year. The results showed that children from all age groups demonstrated an advantage for recognition of the internal facial features relative to their recognition of the external facial features. Thus, previous observations of a shift in reliance from external to internal facial features can be attributed to experience with faces rather than to age-related changes in face processing.     

Moving to higher ground: The dynamic field theory and the dynamics of visual cognition

In the present report, we describe a new dynamic field theory that captures the dynamics of visuo-spatial cognition. This theory grew out of the dynamic systems approach to motor control and development, and is grounded in neural principles. The initial application of dynamic field theory to issues in visuo-spatial cognition extended concepts of the motor approach to decision making in a sensori-motor context, and, more recently, to the dynamics of spatial cognition. Here we extend these concepts still further to address topics in visual cognition, including visual working memory for non-spatial object properties, the processes that underlie change detection, and the ‘binding problem’ in vision. In each case, we demonstrate that the general principles of the dynamic field approach can unify findings in the literature and generate novel predictions. We contend that the application of these concepts to visual cognition avoids the pitfalls of reductionist approaches in cognitive science, and points toward a formal integration of brains, bodies, and behavior.     

Are errors differentiable from deceptive responses when feigning memory impairment? An fMRI study

Previous neuroimaging studies have suggested that the neural activity associated with truthful recall, with false memory, and with feigned memory impairment are different from one another. Here, we report a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study that addressed an important but yet unanswered question: Is the neural activity associated with intentional faked responses and with errors differentiable? Using a word list learning recognition paradigm, the findings of this mixed event-related fMRI study clearly indicated that the brain activity associated with intentional faked responses was different to the activity associated with errors committed unintentionally. For intentional faked responses, significant activation was found in the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, the posterior cingulate region, and the precuneus. However, no significant activation was observed for unintentional errors. The results suggest that deception, in terms of feigning memory impairment, is not only more cognitively demanding than making unintentional errors but also utilizes different cognitive processes.