Human faces capture attention and attract first saccades without longer fixation

Human faces attract attention, evidenced by reaction time (RT) advantages over non-face stimuli in visual search tasks. In the current study, participants’ eye movements were tracked during a search task to test how the attentional capture of faces is related to looking behaviour. On each trial, participants were cued with a category name (automobiles, birds, chairs, dogs, faces, bodies, or plants). An array of images, one exemplar from each category, was then presented until participants indicated whether the target matched the cue. Results showed that faces as targets resulted in faster search times and were more likely to capture first fixations. Fixations on faces were also shorter compared to other categories. Faces captured attention, attracting first fixations, and participants appeared to be more fluent at processing faces, resulting in shorter fixations. Reaction time advantages for faces could be due to both attention capture and ultra-rapid processing.     

Do emotions play an essential role in moral judgments?

The past few decades of moral psychology research have yielded empirical anomalies for rationalist theories of moral judgments. An increasing number of psychologists and philosophers argue that these anomalies are explained well by sentimentalism, the thesis that the presence of an emotion is necessary for the formation of a sincere moral judgment. The present review reveals that while emotions and moral judgments indeed often co-occur, there is scant evidence that emotions directly cause or constitute moral judgments. Research on disgust, anger, sympathy, and guilt indicates that people only reliably experience emotions when judging conduct that is relevant to the welfare of the self and valued others. Moreover, many recent studies have either failed to replicate or exposed crucial confounds in the most cited evidence in support of sentimentalism. Moral psychologists should jettison sentimentalism, and focus instead on how considerations of harm and welfare—the core concepts of rationalist theories— interact with empirical beliefs to shape moral judgments.     

个人目标相关性对非临床抑郁者未来想象的影响

通过两个实验考查了非临床抑郁者未来想象的异常是否受到个人目标相关性的调节。实验1采用未来想象任务, 实验2采用可能性评估范式, 两个实验一致发现, 抑郁倾向者想象未来积极事件的异常, 受到了与个人目标相关性的调节：相对于非抑郁倾向者, 抑郁倾向者对未来与个人目标相关的积极事件的预期减弱, 而对未来与个人目标无关的积极事件的预期则没有表现出异常; 同时还发现, 抑郁倾向者表现出了对未来消极预期的普遍增强, 不受与个人目标相关性的影响。     

第三方惩罚的神经机制：来自经颅直流电刺激的证据

第三方惩罚既是社会规范在群体得以维系的基石, 也是个体维护社会规范的体现。当前关注社会规范的神经研究大多基于第二方惩罚的独裁者或最后通牒实验框架, 缺乏对第三方维护社会规范过程中相关脑区活动的探索, 对这一过程的内在神经机制也不清楚。本文基于第三方惩罚的独裁者博弈框架, 对右侧背外侧前额叶区域(DLPFC)进行不同极性的经颅直流电刺激(tDCS), 同时依据第三方是否需要为其惩罚付出成本设计了零成本和有成本两个实验任务。结果发现, 第三方在零成本任务的情绪反应和惩罚显著受到tDCS设置的影响, 且阴极刺激显著提升了第三方的惩罚值, 这表明情绪机制对第三方惩罚有着重要影响。另外, 第三方在零成本和有成本任务中的惩罚差异在不同tDCS设置之间也存在显著差异, 这与第三方惩罚还受到自利机制影响的观点相符。本文率先为右侧DLPFC活动影响第三方惩罚提供了神经层面的证据, 且支持了第三方对社会规范的遵从与其负性情绪反应和自利加工密切相关的机制解释。     

人类镜像系统参与音乐情绪的自动加工：来自EEG的证据

大脑中线电极诱发的μ抑制波(包括α和β频段)是人类镜像系统活动的电生理指标。尽管音乐情绪表现被认为是通过模仿个体的心理状态来实现的, 但是尚未有研究探讨人类镜像系统与音乐情绪加工的关系。本研究通过EEG技术, 采用跨通道情绪启动范式, 探究人类镜像系统是否参与和弦情绪的自动加工。愉悦或不愉悦的和弦启动情绪一致与不一致的目标面孔。行为结果显示, 被试对情绪一致面孔的反应显著快于情绪不一致面孔的反应。EEG结果显示, 在听觉刺激出现后的500~650 ms之间, 与情绪一致条件相比, 情绪不一致条件诱发了β频段的去同步化。在听觉刺激出现后的300~450 ms, 无论是情绪一致, 还是不一致条件, 都诱发了α频段的去同步化。源分析结果显示, μ抑制波主要出现在人类镜像系统的相关脑区。这些结果表明, 音乐情绪的自动加工与人类镜像系统的活动密切相关。     

表情对婴儿面孔图式效应的调节及其机制

婴儿面孔图式效应是促进早期亲子关系形成的一种先天本能反应, 该效应一直被认为主要是受婴儿面孔结构的影响。但近年来表情对该效应的影响开始得到关注, 在以成人面孔为基线的条件下, 婴儿面孔图式效应量会因表情不同而有所变化, 表现出中性婴儿面孔图式效应最强的现象。鉴于目前对该现象的成因及其神经机制知之甚少, 所以本项目拟先建立一套婴儿与成人同面孔多表情图片系统; 然后以此为基础, 分别考察面孔表情不确定性是否会调节成人对不同表情婴儿面孔的偏好和注意偏向, 并探究其相应神经机制, 促进养育脑研究在我国的开展。     

五官完整度对自闭症儿童面孔表情性别识别的影响

摘 要 为探讨自闭症儿童在不同面孔遮蔽部位和不同面孔表情下的性别识别能力,本研究选取自闭症、智力障碍和普通儿童各21名对240张面孔表情图片进行性别识别。结果发现,自闭症儿童的性别识别正确率显著低于普通儿童,且表现出对中性和高兴表情的识别优于生气表情,同时在遮蔽眼睛时正确率最低。研究认为,自闭症儿童的总体性别识别能力偏低,且受面孔遮蔽部位和表情类型的影响显著,在面孔表情加工过程中体现出较为明显的局部加工特征。     

负性情绪背景和延迟对时间性前瞻记忆的影响

采用2（情绪效价：负性、中性）×2（延迟设置：无延迟、有延迟）的实验设计,探究负性情绪对时间性前瞻记忆的干扰效应。结果显示在无延迟条件下,负性情绪组的前瞻记忆成绩差于中性情绪组,负性情绪组的总时间监控次数和监控后期的时间监控次数均少于中性情绪组;在有延迟条件下,负性情绪组的前瞻记忆成绩和监控后期的时间监控次数与中性情绪组均无差异。结果说明负性情绪会干扰时间性前瞻记忆,而延迟可以消除这种干扰效应。     

自动情绪调节对负性情绪面孔注意偏向的影响

本研究通过成语匹配任务启动情绪调节目标,在情绪flanker任务中考察了自动情绪调节启动对注意偏向的影响。结果表明,中性启动条件下,被试表现出对负性情绪面孔的注意偏向,而情绪调节启动条件下,被试对正性、负性情绪面孔的注意分配不存在显著差异。这一结果说明自动情绪调节可以有效地减弱被试的负性情绪面孔注意偏向。     

Seeing Is Believing: Using Video Feedback in Cognitive Therapy for Social Anxiety Disorder

Distorted negative self-images and impressions appear to play a key role in maintaining Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD). In previous research, McManus et al. (2009) found that video feedback can help people undergoing cognitive therapy for SAD (CT-SAD) to develop a more realistic impression of how they appear to others, and this was associated with significant improvement in their social anxiety. In this paper we first present new data from 47 patients that confirms the value of video feedback. Ninety-eighty percent of the patients indicated that they came across more favorably than they had predicted after viewing a video of their social interactions. Significant reductions in social anxiety were observed during the following week and these reductions were larger than those observed after control periods. Comparison with our earlier data (McManus et al., 2009) suggests we may have improved the effectiveness of video feedback by refining and developing our procedures over time. The second part of the paper outlines our current strategies for maximizing the impact of video feedback. The strategies have evolved in order to help patients with SAD overcome a range of processing biases that could otherwise make it difficult for them to spot discrepancies between their negative self-imagery and the way they appear on video.