Infants’ perception of goal-directed actions: A multi-lab replication reveals that infants anticipate paths and not goals

Influential developmental theories claim that infants rely on goals when visually anticipating actions. A widely noticed study suggested that 11-month-olds anticipate that a hand continues to grasp the same object even when it swapped position with another object (Cannon, E., & Woodward, A. L. (2012). Infants generate goal-based action predictions. Developmental Science, 15, 292–298.). Yet, other studies found such flexible goal-directed anticipations only from later ages on. Given the theoretical relevance of this phenomenon and given these contradicting findings, the current work investigated in two different studies and labs, whether infants indeed flexibly anticipate an action goal. Study 1 (N = 144) investigated by means of five experiments, under which circumstances (e.g., animated agent, human agent) 12-month-olds show flexible goal anticipation abilities. Study 2 (N = 104) presented 11-, 32-month-olds and adults both a human grasping action as well as a non-human action. In none of the experiments did infants flexibly anticipate the action based on the goal, but rather on the movement path, irrespective of the type of agent. Although one experiment contained a direct replication of Cannon and Woodward (2012), we were not able to replicate their findings. Overall our work challenges the view that infants are able to flexibly anticipate action goals from early on, but rather rely on movement patterns when processing other’s actions.     

寻求者的注视方向对建议者建议提出的影响

基于信号理论, 研究采用3个依次递进的实验, 分别以大学生群体和在职员工为被试, 探讨了建议寻求者的注视方向对建议者建议提出意愿的影响。结果发现：(1)当建议寻求者的注视方向为正视时, 能够促进建议者提出建议的意愿, 建议者感知到的角色期待在其中起到了中介作用。(2)当建议者的拒绝敏感性高时, 寻求者的注视方向对建议提出意愿有显著影响; 当建议者的拒绝敏感性低时, 这种影响减弱或消失; 此外, 拒绝敏感性也调节了角色期待感知的中介效应。     

Infant gaze following depends on communicative signals: An eye‐tracking study of 5‐ to 7‐month‐olds in Vanuatu

Gaze is considered a crucial component of early communication between an infant and her caregiver. When communicatively addressed, infants respond aptly to others’ gaze by following its direction. However, experience with face‐to‐face contact varies across cultures, begging the question whether infants’ competencies in receiving others’ communicative gaze signals are universal or culturally specific . We used eye‐tracking to assess gaze‐following responses of 5‐ to 7‐month olds in Vanuatu, where face‐to‐face parent–infant interactions are less prevalent than in Western populations. We found that—just like Western 6‐month‐olds studied previously—5‐ to ‐7‐month‐olds living in Vanuatu followed gaze only, when communicatively addressed. That is, if presented gaze shifts were preceded by infant‐directed speech, but not if they were preceded by adult‐directed speech. These results are consistent with the notion that early infant gaze following is tied to infants’ early emerging communicative competencies and rooted in universal mechanisms rather than being dependent on cultural specificities of early socialization.     

塞勒关于行为金融学的实证研究及其理论贡献

理查德·塞勒(Richard H. Thaler)是行为金融学的主要创建者。全文按照行为金融学的发展脉络, 在简单介绍了行为金融学诞生的前提条件及理论基础之后, 详细介绍了塞勒等学者关于股票的输家-赢家效应、封闭式基金之谜以及股权溢价之谜的实证研究及其理论观点, 展示了塞勒等学者如何巧妙地以真实金融市场上的产品以及投资者的行为为样本, 通过对这些数据的挖掘、提炼以及模拟, 揭示出投资者的信念、情绪等心理因素是导致上述金融“异象”的主要原因。对这些现象的研究, 使得塞勒脱离了传统金融学研究的窠臼, 倡导了金融学研究中关注个体行为及心理因素的研究取向, 促成了行为金融学的发展与壮大。     

社会距离与分配差距对儿童有利不公平厌恶的影响

选取60名8-10岁儿童,采用迫选式独裁者游戏,考察个体与博弈对象的社会距离以及分配差距对儿童有利不公平厌恶的影响。结果发现：（1）在有利不公平条件下,与博弈对象社会距离越近,儿童对不公平分配提议的拒绝率越高;（2）分配差距越大,儿童对不公平分配提议的拒绝率越高;（3）社会距离和分配差距交互作用显著,在中等分配差距条件下,儿童对不公平分配提议拒绝率的社会距离效应最为明显。结果表明,社会距离和分配差距对儿童有利不公平厌恶有显著影响,在中度分配差距下社会距离具有更加明显的调节作用。     

Face processing is enhanced in the left and upper visual hemi-fields

We tested whether two known hemi-field asymmetries would affect visual search with face stimuli. Holistic processing of spatial configurations is better in the left hemi-field, reflecting a right hemisphere specialization, and object recognition is better in the upper visual field, reflecting stronger projections into the ventral stream. Faces tap into holistic processing and object recognition at the same time, which predicts better performance in the left and upper hemi-field, respectively. In the first experiment, participants had to detect a face with a gaze direction different from the remaining faces. Participants were faster to respond when targets were presented in the left and upper hemi-field. The same pattern of results was observed when only the eye region was presented. In the second experiment, we turned the faces upside-down, which eliminated the typical spatial configuration of faces. The left hemi-field advantage disappeared, showing that it is related to holistic processing of faces, whereas the upper hemi-field advantage related to object recognition persisted. Finally, we made the search task easier by asking observers to search for a face with open among closed eyes or vice versa. The easy search task eliminated the need for complex object recognition and, accordingly, the advantage of the upper visual field disappeared. Similarly, the left hemi-field advantage was attenuated. In sum, our findings show that both horizontal and vertical asymmetries affect the search for faces and can be selectively suppressed by changing characteristics of the stimuli.     

Explicit and implicit shame aversion predict symptoms of avoidant and borderline personality disorders

Research on the connections between shame and personality disorders (PDs) has focused predominantly on shame proneness. We examined the relationships of shame aversion, or experiencing shame as painful and unbearable, with avoidant and borderline personality disorders. Participants completed self-report measures assessing avoidant and borderline PDs, shame aversion, shame proneness and general experiential avoidance, as well as the recently developed questionnaire-based implicit association test that assessed shame aversion. Self-reported and implicit shame aversion correlated with both PDs, and hierarchical regression models showed that shame aversion incrementally predicted these PDs over and above shame proneness and general experiential avoidance. These findings suggest that individuals who perceive shame as particularly aversive tend to resort to maladaptive behavioral patterns that may impair personality functioning.     

Affect in the eyes: explicit and implicit evaluations

The present study investigated whether another individual’s gaze direction influences an observer’s affective responses. In Experiment 1, subjective self-ratings and an affective priming paradigm were employed to examine how participants explicitly and implicitly, respectively, evaluated the affective valence of direct gaze, averted gaze, and closed eyes. The explicit self-ratings showed that participants evaluated closed eyes more positively than direct gaze. However, the implicit priming task showed an inverse pattern of results indicating that direct gaze was automatically evaluated more positively than closed eyes were. Experiment 2 confirmed that the opposite patterns of results between the two tasks were not due to differences in presentation times of the gaze stimuli. The results provide evidence for automatic affective reactions to eye gaze and indicate a dissociation between explicit and implicit affective evaluations of eyes and gaze direction.     

关于成本沉没效应的实验研究

运用IAT 技术,通过实验,证明“损失厌恶”具有内隐性,“损失厌恶”存在内隐偏差,并且二者具有很强的稳定性,即不受当前情绪及刺激材料性质等的影响,为进一步认识成本沉没效应等现象的本质特点提供了证据。     

注视-西蒙效应的空间编码机制

采用注视-西蒙范式探讨了注视方向知觉的空间编码机制。实验一让被试采用双手交叉的反应方式,发现注视-西蒙效应并不随反应手的交叉而反转,说明它涉及抽象的空间方向编码,而非基于以手为参照系的半侧优势效应。实验二采用纯音音调辨别任务,发现了典型的注视-西蒙效应,结合实验一视觉通道的结果,说明注视-西蒙效应并非特异于视觉通道,它可能发生在晚期的反应选择阶段,而非早期的知觉阶段。结果支持注视线索能够自动诱发观察者形成抽象的方向表征的观点。