The modulation of stimulus structure on visual field asymmetry effects: The case of Chinese character recognition

Recent research suggests that visual field (VF) asymmetry effects in visual recognition may be influenced by information distribution within the stimuli for the recognition task in addition to hemispheric processing differences: Stimuli with more information on the left have a right VF (RVF) advantage because the left part is closer to the centre, where the highest visual acuity is obtained. It remains unclear whether visual complexity distribution of the stimuli also has similar modulation effects. Here we used Chinese characters with contrasting structures—left-heavy, symmetric, and right-heavy, in terms of either visual complexity of components or information distribution defined by location of the phonetic component—and examined participants' naming performance. We found that left-heavy characters had the largest RVF advantage, followed by symmetric and right-heavy characters; this effect was only observed in characters that contrasted in information distribution, in which information for pronunciation was skewed to the phonetic component, but not in those that contrasted only in visual complexity distribution and had no phonetic component. This result provides strong evidence for the influence of information distribution within the stimuli on VF asymmetry effects; in contrast, visual complexity distribution within the stimuli does not have similar modulation effects.     

Book reviews

Kast, Verena. Father-Daughter, Mother-Son: Freeing Ourselves from the Complexes that Bind Us
Edinger, Edward F. Melville's Moby-Dick: An American Nekyia
Edinger, Edward F. The New God Image: A Study of Jung's Key Letters Concerning the Evolution of the Western God Image
Dreifuss, Gustav & Riemer, Judith. Abraham, The Man and the Symbol
Storr, Anthony. Feet of Clay: A Study of Gurus
Taylor, Eugene. William James on Consciousness Beyond the Margin
Shulman, Helene. Living at the Edge of Chaos: Complex Systems in Culture and Psyche     

项目等距呈现过程中的系列位置效应

以中国汉字为材料,利用刘英茂提出的向前和向后联想的方法,证明在不同呈现时间和不同间隔时间条件下,系列位置曲线中首因效应和近因效应性质的分化过程。结果说明,系列位置曲线的近因部分对时间变化更为敏感,表现为绝对记忆的性质。系列位置曲线中首因效应和近因效应性质的分化,取决于项目呈现时间、项目间隔时间和系列包含的项目数。     

合体汉字字形识别过程探索

该研究用微观发生范式探索了合体汉字和假字的字形识别过程 ,结果发现 :(1 )部件字、真字和假字的正确提取率随呈现时间增长而提高 ,字形刺激的特征加工是一个有序的发展过程 ,对字形的识别加工过程受字形熟悉性和字形结构方式的影响 ;(2 )在左右型字刺激和上下型字刺激中 ,经常首先从右部件或下部件中提取笔画或笔画组合 (称首特征 ) ,而且首特征的提取不受字形熟悉性影响。根据以上结果可以推测 ,字形结构属性在字形识别加工的最初阶段先于特征获加工 ,字形熟悉性则对首特征提取后的特征或部件加工过程产生影响。     

Assuming a Position: Women and Men as Moral Critics in Their Own War Zone

In their search for an authentic moral self, women and men may at some time in their lives assume a position of resistance. Men are most likely to assume this position in the sphere of war. It is not clear, however, where or when women would be expected to assume such a position or what the nature of that position might be, and how far it could be likened to that of the resisting man. This paper explores the idea that choosing to be a single mother can be a position by and from which women can voice their moral criticism. Such position is comparable to the (known and well-studied) position taken by men who show their moral criticism by refusing to participate in a specific battle during a morally controversial war. The paper begins with an examination of the philosophical and psychological concepts of separate and connected moral positions available to resisting men and women in the spheres of war and family. The conclusions are based on data from two samples of resisters in the spheres of war and the family: 36 soldiers (30 years old on average) who decided to take a stand as selective conscientious objectors (SCOs) during a morally controversial war and 50 (biologically) mature single women (over age 30) who chose to become pregnant and to remain unwed mothers. The conceptual and methodological questions regarding this comparison are discussed.     

听力正常人与聋人短时记忆的比较研究

以视觉系列呈现,自由回忆的方法比较了听力正常人与聋人对分别被强化的厂类相似性汉语字表的短时记忆获得量。从总的平均获得量来看,两组结果没有显著差异,而从每一编码维量在短时记忆的加工过程中的作用来看,两组被试都显示出了形、义两维编码维量的作用最强,而音码的作用相对比较弱。两组被试也都显示出了明显的系列位置效应,但聋人组的次级记忆容量明显地低于听力正常组,而初级记忆容量两组没有显著差异。并对可能的机制进行了讨论。     

频率差异假设和长时记忆的视优效应

本文包括长时记忆视优效应的三项实验。实验一使用汉语为学习材料,北京人与广东人为被试;实验二使用英语为学习材料、美国人与中国人为被试;实验三使用日语为学习材料、日本人为被试。三项实验都有视觉、听觉两种呈现方式。三项实验的结果都有利于证明频率差异假设,即如果在书面言语中经验某字词的频率高于在口语中经验该字词的频率,则该字词的视觉呈现优于听觉呈现。     

Anogenital distance and dominance status in male house mice (Mus domesticus)

Factors influencing the tendency to be aggressive were investigated in male house mice using a series of paired encounters. Body size, body lenght, body temperature, age, and anogenital distance were measured on all males. Paired encounters were conducted using a standard mouse cage as an arena. Across 64 males involved in 224 encounters, the tendency to be dominant and win encounters was significantly correlated only with anogenital distance (r = 0.383). These findings suggest that there are significant behavioral effects in male mice that could parallel the intrauterine position and related prental hormone effects that have been elucidated in female house mice and other rodents. © 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Symbolic conceptions: the idea of the third

The idea of the third which appears in Jung's concepts of the transcendent function and the coniunctio also occurs in several psychoanalytic theories concerning the emergence of reflective and symbolic thought in childhood development (defined here as the development of 'imaginal capacity'). Noting the way this process is often conceived in terms of the metaphor of sexual intercourse leading to 'conception', this paper suggests that such images need to be understood as symbolic conceptions of the meaning-making functions of the human mind. This leads to a different view of psychoanalytic theories that attempt to account for the development of imaginal capacity in terms of the Oedipus complex. It is suggested that a) these functions must be operative in the mind before the Oedipal situation can become meaningful and b) that psychoanalytic theories are themselves symbolic conceptions which, like mythological narratives, seek to communicate and comprehend psychic reality through imaginal forms.     

Look: No hands! Driving on the motorway

How drivers hold their steering wheels when they are driving has been studied in restricted ways for many years. Here I describe the advantages (and disadvantages) of a more naturalistic way of studying this phenomenon, and present the results from two studies that observed the hand positions of motorway drivers from an elevated vehicle. In the first study I tape-recorded the data as we passed traffic on the left, and in the second I used paper and pencil to record the data as traffic passed us on the right. In both studies few drivers kept to the recommended 10-2 (or more generous 9-3) position for holding the steering wheel, and approximately one-third of them were driving with one hand on the wheel. Very few of the drivers observed (some 2%) were using mobile phones, but two were driving with no hands on the wheel. The paper concludes with some discussion of the value of this methodology for obtaining realistic data.