汉语短时识别中的偏好效应

使用2-AFC任务,对汉语短时识别中的偏好效应进行研究。结果表明：汉语识别中存在偏好效应;偏好效应受词频变化的影响,高频时有更大的偏好效应;本实验的偏好效应不受启动词加工水平的影响,说明它是在一种纯的内隐记忆条件下产生的。     

启动实验中收集基线反应时的必要性问题

启动实验的有效条件之一是,控制组和实验组的目标词在基线反应时上相同,但在实际操作中,不少研究没有收集基线反应时,只是确保了两组目标词在频率上相同.本研究实验结果显示:对于母语而言,如果词频很高,相同频率的词得到相同反应时的机率很大;相反,机率就比较低;对于外语而言,这种机率相对更低.实验说明,相同词频的词不一定能得到相同的反应时,因此收集基线反应时是启动实验不可或缺的步骤.     

五脏相音——《黄帝内经》失传2000多年的理论和技术的现代研究

2000年,德国洪堡大学的研究者发现动物患病或者受伤时的发音呈非线性改变。2002年,美国加利福尼亚大学的学者发现细胞从生到死,受酒精刺激和癌变时,都有细胞壁振动(声音)的改变。细胞声学由此建立。2004年,美国《科学》杂志刊登声细胞学研究论文,揭示了一项革命性的突破即将来临,建立在细胞病理学基础上的当代医学有希望在细胞尚未发生病变前,就通过识别细胞壁振动的改变而获得诊断。这些当代研究结论与2000多年前《黄帝内经》记载的五脏相音理论遥相呼应。介绍利用现代化高科技对该理论的整理、发扬和临床研究。     

关于假设检验的争议:问题的澄清与解决

对传统的假设检验作为心理学实验的数据分析工具的评价涉及两个标准:首先是它是否合法,其次是它是否有用。置于频率学派统计学框架中的传统假设检验在逻辑上实际上是合法的;但它在效用性方面则有着备择假设不可证伪以及只能提供定性结论这两方面的缺陷。置信区间能够集中地改进和弥补这些缺陷。对传统假设检验使用中错误的澄清也使得研究者们开始重视PSI问题,这使得心理学实验的设计和数据分析从关注总体转向关注个体。     

How semantic category modulates preschool children’s visual memory

The dynamic interplay between perception and memory has been explored in preschool children by presenting filtered stimuli regarding animals and artifacts. The identification of filtered images was markedly influenced by both prior exposure and the semantic nature of the stimuli. The identification of animals required less physical information than artifacts did. Our results corroborate the notion that the human attention system evolves to reliably develop definite category-specific selection criteria by which living entities are monitored in different ways.     

Is the go/no-go lexical decision task preferable to the yes/no task with developing readers?

The lexical decision task is probably the most common laboratory visual word identification task together with the naming task. In the usual setup, participants need to press the “yes” button when the stimulus is a word and the “no” button when the stimulus is not a word. A number of studies have employed this task with developing readers; however, error rates and/or response times tend to be quite high. One way to make the task easier for young readers is by employing a go/no-go procedure: “If word, press ‘yes’; if not, refrain from responding.” Here we conducted a lexical decision experiment that systematically compared the yes/no and go/no-go variants of the lexical decision task with developing readers (second- and fourth-grade children). Results showed that (a) error rates for words and nonwords were much lower in the go/no-go task than in the yes/no task, (b) lexical decision times were substantially faster in the go/no-go task, and (c) there was less variability in the latency data of the go/no-go task for high-frequency words. Thus, the go/no-go lexical decision task is preferable to the “standard” yes/no task when conducting experiments with developing readers.     

Age differences in forgivingness: The role of transgression frequency and intensity

The present study examined age differences in the disposition to forgive others and the role of interpersonal transgression frequency and intensity. Data from a representative cross-sectional sample of Swiss adults (N = 451, age: 20–83 years) were used. Participants completed a self-report measure of forgivingness and indicated whether and how intense they have experienced different types of interpersonal transgressions during the past 12 months. Results indicate that older adults were, on average, more willing to forgive others than younger adults. Frequency and intensity of transgressions were negatively related with age. Moreover, the results show that transgression frequency and intensity explained, in part, age differences in forgivingness. Future directions concerning the meaning of age differences in forgivingness are discussed.     

Upward versus Downward Anchoring in Frequency Judgments of Social Facts

Frequency estimation of social facts in two methods of judgment elicitation was investigated. In the “narrow-range” condition, subjects answered questions in the format: “Out of 100 incidents, how many belong to category X?” In the “wide-range” condition, the frequency for the same event was assessed with respect to “Out of 10,000”. Judged frequencies in the wide-range condition were divided by 100, and were compared with the corresponding judgments in the narrow-range condition. Such comparisons were made for low-frequency and high-frequency events. Previous research has shown that, for low-frequency events, judged frequencies are proportionally greater in the narrow-range than in the wide-range condition. These results reflect cognitive processes of implicit anchoring, whereby judged frequencies lie close to small numbers within the response ranges provided. I call this process “downward anchoring,” and predicted that this tendency would be replicated in the present study. Moreover, I predicted that assessments about high-frequency events would evoke similar cognitive processes operating in the opposite direction. By such “upward anchoring,” judged frequencies would lie close to relatively larger numbers within the given response ranges. Consequently, I predicted that judged frequencies for high-frequency events would be proportionally greater in the wide-range condition than in the narrow-range condition. These predictions were confirmed.     

Positive reinforcement and the elimination of reinforced responses

Key pecking was maintained on a fixed-interval schedule while either a differential-reinforcement-of-not-responding or a fixed-time schedule was imposed simultaneously. The lower the time parameter of the not-responding schedule, the lower was the response rate. Similar effects occurred with the fixed-time schedule, if the pigeons had experience with reinforcement for not responding. Otherwise the effects were less orderly, to the extent that rate could reach maximum with the lowest-valued fixed-time schedule. The not-responding and the response-independent schedules had similar effects on rate in experienced pigeons only when the time parameter or nominal frequency of food presentation was considered. When considered in terms of obtained frequency of food presentation, reinforcement of not responding produced larger decrements in rate than did the fixed-time schedule.