EXAMINING THE STRUCTURE AND ROLE OF EMOTION: CONTRIBUTIONS OF NEUROBIOLOGY TO THE STUDY OF EMBODIED RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE

Abstract. Certain properties of the body and emotions facilitate the transmission of religious knowledge and the development of religious states through particular qualities of perception and memory. The body, which is the ground of religious experience, can be understood as transformative: the characteristic that recalled emotion is “refelt” in the present enables emotion to be cultivated or developed. Emotions and the stimuli that evoke them are necessarily culturally specific, but the automatic nature of this process is universal. Religious traditions have made use of these processes to educate the feeling toward certain qualities and to develop religious experience, through the use of sacred images, ritual posture and gesture, and repetition of ritual acts. Neuroscience contributes to our understanding of the emotional processes that take place when emotions are evoked, refelt, and developed; the neurobiological processing of emotion parallels experience. Keeping experience central makes it possible to bring religion and neuroscience together in a nonreductive examination of spiritual experience.     

权力感对拟人化产品购买意愿的影响

从信息加工流畅性视角切入,探讨消费者权力感对不同类型拟人化产品购买意愿的影响及其作用机理。168名本科生参与分组实验。结果表明,对于高权力感的人来说,与热情型拟人化产品相比,他们对能力型拟人化产品的购买意愿更高;对于低权力感的人来说,与能力型拟人化产品相比,他们对热情型拟人化产品的购买意愿更高。信息加工流畅性在权力感与拟人化类型交互影响拟人化产品购买意愿关系中起完全中介作用。     

Evaluating anxiety and depression symptoms in children and adolescents with prior mild traumatic brain injury: Agreement between methods and respondents

Psychological functioning can be adversely impacted after a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) and may be a potential target for intervention. Despite the use of symptom ratings or structured diagnostic interview to assess long-term anxiety and depression symptoms in children and adolescents post-injury, no known studies have considered the agreement between different assessment methods and between respondents. The objectives of this study were to investigate the agreement between symptom ratings and structured diagnostic interview and between children and parents’ symptom reporting. Participants (N = 33; 9–18 years old) were recruited from the Emergency Department and assessed on average 22.8 months (SD = 5.6) after their mTBI. Anxiety and depression symptoms were evaluated via subscales of a questionnaire (Behavior Assessment System for Children) and parts of a computerized structured diagnostic interview (generalized anxiety disorder and major depressive episode; Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children – C-DISC-IV) administered individually to children and their parents. Results showed that the inter-method agreement to identify high levels of anxiety and depression was moderate to perfect in children while it was lower in parents. Although a similar percentage of participants with elevated anxiety or depression were identified by both children and parents, the agreement between youth and parents was variable, ranging from poor to good for anxiety and poor to moderate for depression. These results highlight the importance of collecting youth and parents’ reports of anxiety and depression symptoms and considering potential discrepancies between informants’ answers.     

Electroencephalographic evidence for improved visual working memory performance during standing and exercise

While a substantial body of research has investigated the effects of aerobic exercise on cognitive performance, few have monitored exercise‐concurrent cognitive processes via electroencephalography and fewer still using an event‐related potential (ERP) approach. As such, little is known regarding how the temporal dynamics of cognitive processing are influenced during aerobic activity. Here, we aimed to elucidate the influence of aerobic exercise on the temporal dynamics of concurrent visual working memory (VWM) performance. Participants performed a VWM retro‐cue task at rest and during aerobic exercise across two postural modalities: seated (using a stationary bicycle) and standing upright (using a treadmill). Three consecutive phases of the VWM processing pipeline were assessed by means of lateralized ERPs: access of VWM representations, response selection, and response execution. Aerobic exercise and upright posture were found to have significant effects on VWM performance, facilitating processing speed in the retro‐cue task. This facilitation arose primarily at an intermediary stage between the phases of accessing VWM representations and response selection. Our findings hold implications not only for understanding the influence of aerobic activity on VWM, but also for contemporary models of VWM that are built exclusively on data recorded during stationary, seated conditions.     

Neck posture is influenced by anticipation of stepping

BackgroundPostural deviations such as forward head posture (FHP) are associated with adverse health effects. The causes of these deviations are poorly understood. We hypothesized that anticipating target-directed movement could cause the head to get “ahead of” the body, interfering with optimal head/neck posture, and that the effect may be exacerbated by task difficulty and/or poor inhibitory control.MethodWe assessed posture in 45 healthy young adults standing quietly and when they anticipated walking to place a tray: in a simple condition and in conditions requiring that they bend low or balance an object on the tray. We defined FHP as neck angle relative to torso; we also measured head angle relative to neck and total neck length. We assessed inhibitory control using a Go/No-Go task, Stroop task, and Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS).ResultsFHP increased when participants anticipated movement, particularly for more difficult movements. Worse Stroop performance and lower MAAS scores correlated with higher FHP. False alarms on the Go/No-Go task correlated with a more extended head relative to the neck and with shortening of the neck when anticipating movement.ConclusionsMaintaining neutral posture may require inhibition of an impulse to put the head forward of the body when anticipating target-directed movement.     

股骨头坏死治疗方案的比较及选择

股骨头坏死是骨科领域常见且难治性疾病,其治疗方式多种多样,目前尚无一种方法能治愈不同类型、不同分期的FHN。本文依据比较治疗学原理,通过比较股骨头坏死常用的各类治疗方法,得出对于不同的患者,应综合考虑患者的年龄、病情、预期寿命、活动量的大小、及经济条件等多种因素,制定最有效、最适宜患者个体的治疗方案。     

亚临床型血友病A合并颅脑外伤的围手术期处理2例分析

为了探讨亚临床型血友病A患者合并颅脑外伤行手术治疗时的围手术期处理方法,2例亚临床型血友病A合并颅脑外伤患者术后确诊,在围手术期通过动态的监测血Ⅷ因子活性（FⅧ：C）水平,调整FⅧ输入并维持FⅧ：C在止血水平（30％～50％）,至伤口愈合。结果显示,2例亚临床型血友病A合并颅脑外伤手术患者,术后都得到了及时的恢复。提示亚临床型血友病A合并颅脑外伤患者关键是准确诊断,围手术期要求保持血中凝血因子FⅧ的促凝活性维持在止血水平,直到伤口愈合为止。     

班主任互动风格与小学生自我概念的关系研究

本研究采用问卷法,以735名4～6年级小学生为被试,运用多层线性模型的分析方法,考察在个体水平和班级水平上班主任风格的两个维度与小学生自我概念的8个方面之间的关系。研究发现,除运动能力的自我概念以外,无论是在个体水平还是在班级水平,班主任的互动风格都与小学生自我概念存在显著相关,不过这种相关关系在互动风格的两个维度之间存在一定的差别;此外,按分析层次看,在班级水平上班主任风格对小学生的整体自我概念的预测力远远高于在个体水平上班主任风格对小学生个体自我概念的预测力。     

Posture,muscular tone and visual attention in 5 month‐old infants

The present paper aims at studying the relationships between posture, muscle tone and visual attention in 5 month‐old infants. To this end, a specially designed seating arrangement made it possible to vary posture while keeping constant the spatial relationship between eyes and stimuli. Five month‐olds were placed in the reclining position (30°) or in a more erect position (60°). The more erect the posture, the more difficult it should be for the infant to maintain a straight body axis. Muscle tone was evaluated, and infants distinguished in terms of whether they were hypertonic or hypotonic. It was hypothesised that in a more erect position hypotonic children, who experience more difficulties in maintaining posture, should organise their visual exploration in ways different from those considered to be hypertonic. To test it, pairs of three‐dimensional stimuli were presented in the distal visual field for one group (N=48) and in the proximal visual field in another group (N=32) for 2 min in each posture. The dynamical organisation of attention was evaluated through the number and duration of fixations on each target, the number of shifts from one target to the other (alternations) and the number of repetitions (back to the previous target). Results showed that visual behaviour was significantly affected by the distance at which stimuli were presented. Infants spent more time in visual exploration when the object was within reach than when it was out of reach. Although posture was shown to play a role in the organisation of visual exploration, no link with muscle tone was found, a surprising result which is discussed. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Dissecting the conditioned pecking response: an integrated system for the analysis of pecking response parameters.

The conventional pecking response key, although an excellent transducer of response rate, can provide minimal information on the topography, coordination, or localization of conditioned pecking. We describe the hardware and software components of a system that, in addition to recording response rates, permits simultaneous "on-line" monitoring of head acceleration, jaw movement, terminal peck location, and duration of pecking response. Head movements are monitored with a miniature accelerometer, jaw movements with a magnetosensitive transducer, and peck location with modified touch screen technology. Initial experiments with the system suggest that it will be useful in studies of response differentiation, acquisition and maintenance of complex discriminations, and interaction of conditioned and unconditioned stimuli in the control of pecking response probability and response topography.