语言与数量认知关系的新认识

数量认知研究近年有长足发展。文章从新近提出的独立于语言的两个数量表征核心系统,语言与精确数量运算,语言与算术事实的储存,语言对儿童早期数概念发展的影响,语言与数量认知关系的最新脑科学证据,以及语言在数量认知模型中的角色等方面,介绍和评述了人类存在依赖和不依赖语言的两级数量能力的新认识。对于是否还存在其它不依赖语言的理解数量的系统,以及这些非语言数量表征系统的认知机制,文章认为有待进一步研究     

Beyond attitude consensus: The social context of persuasion and resistance

The current research presents a new type of social context effect on attitude certainty. It is proposed that when people receive persuasive messages, they appraise their attitudes not only in terms of whether they are shared or not shared by others, but also in terms of whether they are based on similar or dissimilar assessments of the information presented. In two experiments, participants were presented with persuasive messages. In Experiment 1, they were induced to perceive that they responded favorably (persuasion) or unfavorably (resistance) to the message arguments. In Experiment 2, they were allowed to vary in their actual message responses. In both experiments, message response similarity—the degree to which people perceived that their evaluations of persuasive arguments were shared or unshared by others—moderated the classic effect of attitude similarity on attitude certainty. In particular, attitude similarity only affected attitude certainty under conditions of message response similarity. When message responses were believed to be dissimilar, attitude similarity had no effect on attitude certainty.     

The role of familiarity in dietary development

The rise in inadequate and unhealthily diets in children has led investigations to examine the development of food preferences. This review outlines the ways in which children choose between foods made available to them and the subsequent shaping of their own habitual diet. Children are liable to form preferences to certain hedonic foods, and to exhibit neophobic reactions to the unfamiliar. Unfamiliar foods can elicit anxiety and suspicion. Trust and liking of a once novel food can be gained through exposure, increasing familiarity towards that food. This review examines: visual familiarity (awareness of foods within their environment); taste familiarity (knowledge and experience of the taste of foods); contextual familiarity (knowledge of how foods should be presented); and categorical familiarity (which family foods belong to). The influence of familiarity is also explained with regards to both positive and negative associative learning. These associations are influenced by the specific presentation and the social environment of a novel food. The potential benefits of understanding the nature of children’s learning and preference development for the promotion of healthy nutrition to both parent and child are discussed.     

Effect of spatial inhibition on saccade trajectory depends on location-based mechanisms

Abstract:  Saccade trajectory often curves away from a previously attended, inhibited location. A recent study of curved saccades showed that an inhibitory effect prevents ineffective reexamination during serial visual search. The time course of this effect differs from that of a similar inhibitory effect, known as inhibition of return (IOR). In the present study, we examined whether this saccade-related inhibitory effect can operate in an object-based manner (similar to IOR). Using a spatial cueing paradigm, we demonstrated that if a cue is presented on a placeholder that is then shifted from its original location, the saccade trajectory curves away from the original (cued) location (Experiment 1), yet the IOR effect is observed on the cued placeholder (Experiment 2). The inhibitory mechanism that causes curved saccades appears to operate in a location-based manner, whereas the mechanism underlying IOR appears to operate in an object-based manner. We propose that these inhibitory mechanisms work in a complementary fashion to guide eye movements efficiently under conditions of a dynamic visual environment.     

Neural mechanisms of social influence

The present investigation explores the neural mechanisms underlying the impact of social influence on preferences. We socially tagged symbols as valued or not – by exposing participants to the preferences of their peers – and assessed subsequent brain activity during an incidental processing task in which participants viewed popular, unpopular, and novel symbols. The medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) differentiated between symbols that were and were not socially tagged – a possible index of normative influence – while aspects of the striatum (the caudate) differentiated between popular and unpopular symbols – a possible index of informational influence. These results suggest that integrating activity in these two brain regions may differentiate objects that have become valued as a result of social influence from those valued for non-social reasons.     

从现代系统科学角度看冠状动脉支架置入术后再狭窄

随着介入治疗技术在临床的广泛应用,目前已成为治疗冠心病(CAD)的主要方法之一.目前国内外指南一致推荐对于CAD的大多数de novo病变常规置入支架,可有效减少单纯球囊扩张的并发症和再狭窄的发生率,但支架内再狭窄的形成又日益突出,成为严重影响介入治疗远期疗效的主要问题.对再狭窄发生机制的研究近十年来取得诸多新进展,对其发生机制的研究和探索为解决这个世纪难题提供了理论基础和依据.本文应用现代系统科学的自组织理论,从哲学角度深入认识和理解这一病理过程.     

论进化心理学的“心理机制”

“心理机制”是进化心理学的核心概念。对这一概念的理解直接影响着对整个进化心理学理论的理解。该文尝试从心理学其它相关学科的角度,对这一概念的性质进行充分的解读与分析,同时也指出进化心理学“心理机制”理论之明显误区,并在此基础上对进化心理学价值之所在给予充分的彰显。     

心理理论研究三十年：回顾与反思

自Premack和Woodruff于1978年提出心理理论至今,心理理论研究已走过了30年的历程。当前心理理论研究已经成为发展心理学、心灵哲学、认知科学所关注的热门课题。文章回顾了心理理论研究的缘起和概念、内容与基本范式、问题与困境,在此基础上反思了心理理论研究困境与解释模型的关系,并对该领域未来研究方向做了展望。     

Existential function of babies: Babies as a buffer of death-related anxiety

The present study examined babies as death anxiety buffers with Chinese participants in three experiments. In Experiment 1, death-related thoughts increased college-aged participants' interest in human babies. In Experiment 2, images of newborn animals reduced the number of death-related thoughts recorded by college-aged participants. In Experiment 3, female factory workers who read news articles describing deaths of babies had pessimistic estimations of their own life expectancies. An explanation of these results is provided within a terror management theory framework, with a primary focus on how babies reinforce cultural worldviews and enhance self-esteem via the notion of symbolic immortality. Thus, the anxiety-buffering function of baby is subsumed under cultural worldviews validation and self-esteem enhancement.     

情绪影响行为抑制的脑机制

行为抑制是一种重要的执行功能。考察情绪影响行为抑制的脑机制, 将有助于理解个体如何适应环境, 特别是如何在情绪情境中控制自己的行为。近年来, 研究者开始使用脑成像技术考察情绪影响行为抑制的脑机制。研究发现, 在情绪影响行为抑制的过程中不仅涉及前额叶抑制控制系统和边缘结构情绪加工系统, 而且涉及这两个系统的相互作用, 即情绪加工与行为抑制加工的整合。腹外侧前额皮层、背外侧前额皮层、前扣带回、杏仁核、脑岛等脑区在情绪加工与行为抑制加工的整合中起着重要的作用, 但情绪整合到行为抑制加工中的时间进程还不清楚。今后的研究应着眼于情绪影响行为抑制的时间进程、神经网络、个体差异的影响以及改进研究范式等方向。