P300 to emotionally relevant stimuli as an indicator of aggression levels

Severe acts of aggression have been associated with prefrontal dysfunction. Less severe aggression may be associated with more subtle abnormalities. P300 event‐related potentials were recorded from 32 healthy volunteers during a novel modified oddball task. The task required participants to respond only to rare, food words (targets), which occurred randomly among neutral words. Aggressive words appeared randomly with the same frequency as the target words. A median split divided subjects into high‐ and low‐aggression groups based on their scores on the Buss–Durkee Hostility Inventory. The groups did not differ in their responses to the target words. Participants with higher aggression scores had lowered responses to the aggressive words at the frontal relative to the other electrode sites. Cognitive processing of aggressive stimuli was less efficient at frontal sites in individuals who reported higher levels of aggression. This result extends work showing frontal P300 decrements in more severe aggressive groups, using simple oddball tasks. Aggr. Behav. 32:1–8, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Modeling human memory phenomena in a hybrid event memory system

Human event memory stores an individual’s personal experiences and produces their recollections with varying degrees of accuracy. To model this capacity, we recently developed a hybrid event memory system that combines aspects of the two main theories proposed in the philosophical literature. We aim to model a complete range of human event memory phenomena – successful remembering, misremembering, and confabulation – using this framework. In this paper, we review our hybrid event memory system and present empirical results from a remembering experiment we conducted using this system. The results show that our system successfully models the full range of human event memory usage and errors.     

Macro-event recognition in healthy ageing,Alzheimer’s disease,and mild cognitive impairment

Event perception and cognition is integral to our everyday experience and functional ability. A commonly reported complaint in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the inability to follow narratives – be it textual, conversational, video, or pictures. This phenomenon has received little systematic research so far. In the current study, we developed a novel paradigm to examine macro-event recognition in individuals with AD in the early stage and its preceding stage of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in comparison with cognitively healthy older adults, using pictures depicting events. In Experiment 1, we examined participants’ ability to integrate pictorially depicted sub-events into macro-events. The pictures were presented in a scrambled order, and participants were expected to arrange them in the temporally and causally appropriate sequence, as dictated by the macro-event schema. Additionally, we investigated the effect of cueing the appropriate event schema by providing a word cue (verb). In Experiment 2, macro-event recognition was examined again using a cognitively less taxing paradigm, where pictures depicting sub-events were presented in correct order, but staggered, and recognition speed was measured. We observed significant deficits in the AD and MCI groups’ performance compared with the cognitively healthy older adults, across both experiments, suggesting event perception and cognition is impaired early in the course of AD. There was no effect of cueing on the performance of any of the groups. The theoretical and clinical implications of these findings are discussed.     

青少年反应性攻击和结果评价的ERPs研究：基于自我控制资源的视角

采用竞争反应时任务并结合ERPs技术,以39名高中生为有效被试,从自我控制资源的视角揭示青少年反应性攻击和结果评价的电生理机制。行为结果发现：高自我损耗者比低自我损耗者表现出更多攻击行为;ERPs结果发现：(1) 在攻击决策阶段,高自我损耗者前脑区域所诱发的P2波幅显著高于低自我损耗者;(2) 在结果评价阶段,“输”反馈比“赢”反馈诱发更负的FRN成分,且仅在“输”反馈条件下,高自我损耗者比低自我损耗者所诱发的FRN更负。从一定程度上说明自我损耗是导致青少年反应性攻击行为的重要原因,高自我损耗会加剧反应性攻击行为的发生。     

不同概化的问题原型对问题归类和解决的影响

探讨原理学习过程中形成不同概化程度／问题原型对解决不同适宜程度问题的影响。实验1探讨个体形成不同概化程度问题原型对解决表面内容不同适宜程度的问题的效果;实验2探讨形成不同概化程度问题原型的被试解决问题的信息加工方式与机制;实验3进一步探讨形成不同概化程度问题原型的个体解决复杂问题的效果与机制。结果表明：(1)形成概化程度较高的问题原型有利于个体对表面内容不适宜题目的解答;(2)形成概化程度较高问题原型的被试在解答适宜或不适宜问题时均能迅速激活问题原型而通达原理图式,因此,更多地采用图式的方法解决问题;(3)形成概化程度较高的问题原型会有助于被试排除题目的无关信息,正确进行解答。     

Different brain mechanisms between stereotype activation and application: evidence from an ERP study

Stereotyping involves two processes in which first, social stereotypes are activated (stereotype activation), and then, stereotypes are applied to given targets (stereotype application). Previous behavioral studies have suggested that these two processes are independent of each other and may have different mechanisms. As few psychophysiological studies have given an integrated account of these stages in stereotyping so far, this study utilized a trait categorization task in which event-related potentials (ERPs) were used to explore the brain mechanisms associated with the processes of stereotype activation and its application. The behavioral (reaction time) and electrophysiological data showed that stereotype activation and application were elicited respectively in an affective valence identification subtask and in a semantic content judgment subtask. The electrophysiological results indicated that the categorization processes involved in stereotype activation to quickly identify stereotypic and nonstereotypic information were quite different from those involved in the application. During the process of stereotype activation, a P2 and N2 effect was observed, indicating that stereotype activation might be facilitated by an early attentional bias. Also, a late positive potential (LPP) was elicited, suggesting that social expectancy violation might be involved. During the process of the stereotype application, electrophysiological data showed a P2 and P3 effect, indicating that stereotype application might be related to the rapid social knowledge identification in semantic representation and thus may be associated with an updating of existing stereotypic contents or a motivation to resolve the inconsistent information. This research strongly suggested that different mechanisms are involved in the stereotype activation and application processes.     

我国医疗失效模式与效应分析的应用现状及问题

医疗失效模式与效应分析（HFMEA）是目前较为先进的前瞻性预防医疗风险的方法,强调对整个流程潜在医疗风险的量化及“事前预防”。本研究通过文献计量分析发现,国内HFMEA的研究和应用主要集中在护理操作、手术操作、给药流程以及医疗设备管理等方面,尚处于起步阶段,研究论文的数量较少、研究主题多集中在护理风险管理领域且研究方法不够科学。今后应顺应医疗风险管理的趋势,更科学、有效地开展更多HFMEA研究及应用工作,逐步建立健全医疗风险监测和预警机制,提高医疗安全。