Facilitating and inhibiting effects of priming and selection criteria in a sequence of dichotic listening trials

Competing models of attention make different predictions of how priming from recent stimulus processing could interact with intended selection. The present experiment examined the interaction between exogenous attention and endogenous priming across trial sequences. A sound cue directed attention to left, right or both sides before a dichotic syllable pair was presented. Participants were asked to report one syllable from each trial. Results showed that responses were slower on trials where one of the presented syllables had also been presented on the previous trial. Within these trials, the repeated syllable was selected less frequently, and the responses doing so were slower. Examined according to response choice on the preceding trial, syllables that had been ignored on the preceding trial tended to be ignored on the current trial (negative priming), while syllables that had been selected on the preceding trial tended to be selected on the current trial (positive priming). Responses that followed these selection biases were faster than responses that did not. Response selection was also influenced by the attention direction cue for the current trial, but not by the cue presented on the preceding trial. The results support an attentional model where traces from the preceding processing are retained, and current selection is biased to minimize cognitive conflict between recent and current processing. Negative priming appears to be due to after-effects of preceding processing, independently of the intentions behind that processing. The study accounts for positive and negative priming of dichotic listening sequences within an established, computationally viable biased competition framework.     

视觉刺激探测的警觉性注意特征初探

采用"预警提示-目标探测"范式,对视觉刺激探测的警觉性注意特征进行初步探索。实验一表明,随着预备到目标刺激的时间间隔(interstimulus interval,ISI)变化,固定位置上探测目标刺激的速度也随之变化,并且对大概率刺激的探测更快,表现出了警觉性注意的稳定性和选择性特征。实验二进一步考察了目标刺激在不同ISI和不同空间位置的情况,除发现与实验一相似的结果以外,被试探测目标刺激的速度随注意视角增大而下降,表现出了警觉性注意的集中性特征。     

权力操作范式的分析与比较

从认知的视角研究权力已是目前权力研究的主流,但权力的认知研究结果和外部效度均受制于其实验操作范式.对国外现有权力操作范式进行分析,可在促进其完善的同时,更对建构适合中国背景下的权力操作方式有一定的借鉴意义.从对现有主流权力操作范式,即奖惩法、回忆法、信息控制法、具体数值法、BATNA法、语义唤起等方法介绍,以及对其实证应用与检验结果中,可以明显对比出各种范式的优势与不足.现有学者较少意识到该点,使用各范式时不加区分,这引起了各范式在适用研究、多等级操作、相关概念操作等方面的混乱.未来研究仍需从角色分配、区分自我权力与他人权力操作、操作检验等角度,改进现有权力操作范式.     

无意识信息加工中的“完型”——无意识捆绑假说的新证据

采用连续闪烁范式(Continuous Flash Suppression,CFS)考察了无意识状态下完型能否发生.研究通过2(线条完整性)×2(意义破坏)×2(熟悉性)的被试内实验设计考察了8种条件下图片的突破抑制时间(Suppression Time,ST).结果发现:线条完整和意义未破坏的图片能更快地克服噪音图片的抑制进入意识;熟悉性不影响突破抑制时间.重要的是,不完整的图片也可以出现意义破坏效应.这表明即使在被抑制的状态下,不完整图形的信息也能够传达至与完型相关的高级视觉区域形成客体表征.研究为无意识捆绑假说(The Unconscious Binding Hypothesis)提供了新的实验证据.     

Reflection-Impulsivity in Mexican Children: Cross-Cultural Relationships

Urban Mexican children aged 5 (n = 23) and 9 (n = 87) years were given the Matching Familiar Figures Test (MFFT). The results indicate that the MFFT was a valid test of cognitive style for Mexican children. The younger children's MFFT performance was characterized as fast and inaccurate in relation to the older children's performance, which was slower and more accurate. Cross-cultural comparisons of Mexican MFFT scores with normative data from America, Japan, and Israel indicated that Mexican children were relatively impulsive in cognitive style in relation to children of other cultures. Potential factors contributing to these cross-cultural differences are discussed here.     

EDITORIAL

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the usefulness of Barkley’s (1997a) model of inhibition and executive functioning in describing the deficits associated with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Besides group differences, the present study addressed the question of independent effects of inhibition and the other executive functions in discriminating between children with ADHD and controls and how well, in terms of sensitivity and specificity, these measures can classify the children into the correct group. The results showed that children with ADHD differed significantly from controls with regard to measures of inhibition as well as all other executive function measures, except repetition of hand movements. In logistic regression models, three different measures tapping inhibition, working memory and emotion regulation were shown to be significant independent predictors of group membership. The sensitivity for these three variables as a set was 76.2, the specificity was 90.5, with a total of 86% of the sample correctly classified. When excluding the parental rating of emotion regulation, the overall classification rate decreased some, but was still relatively high in comparison with previous studies within this area of research.     

Mind-reading without the scanner: Behavioural decoding of working memory content

ABSTRACT

Sophisticated machine learning algorithms have been successfully applied to functional neuroimaging data in order to characterize internal cognitive states. But is it possible to “mind-read” without the scanner? Capitalizing on the robust finding that the contents of working memory guide visual attention toward memory-matching objects, we trained a multivariate pattern classifier on behavioural indices of attentional guidance. Working memory representations were successfully decoded from behaviour alone, both within and between individuals. The current study provides a proof-of-concept for applying machine learning techniques to simple behavioural outputs (e.g., response times) in order to decode information about specific internal cognitive states.     

负性情绪刺激对大学生多目标追踪能力的影响

探讨了负性情绪对大学生多目标追踪能力的影响以及其影响机制。实验要求被试在观看国际情绪图库中的负性或中性图片后,完成多目标追踪和点探测任务,同时设置基线条件作为对照。采用状态-特质焦虑量表和贝克抑郁自评量表考察不同情绪图片条件下被试的诱发情绪状态。研究结果发现：（1）被试观看负性情绪图片后状态焦虑程度和抑郁量表评分显著提高,观看情绪图片有效诱发了被试的负性情绪;（2）基线条件下的被试追踪正确率显著低于中性条件,基线条件和负性图片条件下的追踪正确率无差异,说明训练可以提高被试的多目标追踪能力,但负性情绪抑制了被试在基线追踪任务中的训练效果;（3）负性图片条件下的点探测觉察率显著低于中性图片条件,说明负性情绪影响了被试的注意资源分配。研究结果表明：负性情绪可能干扰了被试目标导向的注意系统,使得个体更易受刺激驱动的注意系统影响,并且在追踪过程中影响被试中央执行系统的抑制和转移功能。     

疼痛恐惧相关的注意偏向及其矫正

疼痛恐惧是影响和维持慢性痛的重要因素。不同材料和被试类型情况下, 疼痛恐惧均主要作用于个体对疼痛相关信息的早期注意加工阶段, 表现为注意警觉模式。该注意模式使个体将注意维持在疼痛上, 从而干扰了对非疼信息的注意能力。矫正疼痛恐惧相关注意偏向可以改善疼痛体验。未来研究应采用更具生态效度的任务测量疼痛恐惧相关的注意偏向及其神经基础, 进一步考察矫正疼痛恐惧相关注意偏向能否改善慢痛患者的忧郁和功能丧失等问题。     

疼痛恐惧的形成、泛化与消退

疼痛恐惧源于把疼痛等同于伤害的灾难化信念及对疼痛的负性解释, 它在慢性疼痛和能力丧失的发生和发展过程中起着重要作用。疼痛恐惧可以通过联合学习和观察学习等方式获得, 并且在具有相似特征的刺激中存在泛化现象。通过教育干预和等级暴露疗法等可以成功消退疼痛恐惧, 在消退过程中要控制安全信息等因素的不良影响。在疼痛恐惧的获得与消退中, 主要有杏仁核, 脑岛和前扣带皮层等脑区参与。未来的研究可以集中在深入探讨疼痛恐惧形成中的泛化及消退后的恢复、再巩固等现象, 加强其临床上的应用, 并综合心理、生物和认知神经科学, 研究疼痛恐惧的获得、泛化与消退的深层机制。