An investigation of DIF mechanisms in the context of differential testlet effects

This study investigated differential item functioning (DIF) mechanisms in the context of differential testlet effects across subgroups. Specifically, we investigated DIF manifestations when the stochastic ordering assumption on the nuisance dimension in a testlet does not hold. DIF hypotheses were formulated analytically using a parametric marginal item response function approach and compared with empirical DIF results from a unidimensional item response theory approach. The comparisons were made in terms of type of DIF (uniform or non‐uniform) and direction (whether the focal or reference group was advantaged). In general, the DIF hypotheses were supported by the empirical results, showing the usefulness of the parametric approach in explaining DIF mechanisms. Both analytical predictions of DIF and the empirical results provide insights into conditions where a particular type of DIF becomes dominant in a specific DIF direction, which is useful for the study of DIF causes.     

反应抑制的训练:内容、效果与机制

近期的研究发现,个体的反应抑制能力具有一定的可塑性。研究者多采用双盲随机对照实验设计,训练的对象包括儿童、成人和特殊群体,研究者通过Go/Nogo、Stop-signal等任务进行为期1周至3周,45至7200试次不等的抑制控制能力训练,并结合行为、脑电以及脑成像等技术对训练效果进行评估,研究结果发现,接受了抑制控制训练的个体其抑制能力得到提升,并伴随脑神经活动的变化。另外,研究者发现,抑制控制能力的训练效果还可以迁移至个体日常生活中的表现。但是,也有些研究并未发现抑制控制训练的效果。训练任务的设置,评估任务的选择以及被试反应策略的差异等因素可能会影响训练的效果。抑制控制训练引发行为与大脑活动的变化可能是由于训练导致了个体建立了自上而下有意识的抑制控制模式和自下而上的自动抑制模式。反应抑制和冲突抑制可塑性的比较,儿童与老年人抑制功能的训练以及训练效果的追踪研究将成为该领域日后研究的重点问题。     

Conditions under which children experience inhibitory difficulty with a "button-press" go/no-go task

Go/no-go tasks seem to provide a simple marker of inhibitory development in young children. Children are told to respond to one stimulus on go trials but to make no response to another stimulus on no-go trials; responding on no-go trials is assumed to reflect a failure to inhibit the go response. However, there is evidence to suggest that a type of go/no-go task, which we call the "button-press" task, does not require inhibition. We investigated the conditions under which young children (M=3 years 6 months, N=120) experience inhibitory difficulty with this type of task. The data suggest that the speed of stimulus presentation is crucial and that other studies using this type of task have presented the stimuli too briefly. The importance of establishing the inhibitory credentials of a task before it is used as a marker of inhibitory control is emphasized.     

重新认识心衰机制中的心脏舒张期耗能

长期以来,对心衰和心衰机制的认识一直存在争议,所以心衰的治疗一直是国内外心血管领域中的一个挑战.为了澄清心衰机制的内涵,本文用弗兰克-斯塔灵定律以及能量守恒定律作为重建心脏理论以及心衰机制的依据,论证了心脏的做功是从动能向势能,又从势能向动能的转换过程.并根据临床事实等来证实心脏舒张是在作功,与收缩期作功是等同的.没有心脏的舒张就没有心脏的收缩,心脏功能下降实际上是舒张与收缩功能同时的下降.不存在有收缩功能正常的舒张功能下降.心功能的判定标准不能采用射血分数,而应该采取能量消耗的定量方法来测定.     

Heterogeneity in Maltreated and Non‐maltreated Preschool Children's Inhibitory Control: The Interplay Between Parenting Quality and Child Temperament

This study examined the contribution of child temperament, parenting, and their interaction on inhibitory control development in a sample of maltreated and non‐maltreated preschool children. One hundred and eighteen mother–child dyads were drawn from predominantly low‐income, rural communities. Dyads participated in a laboratory session in which maternal warm autonomy support, warm guidance, and strict/hostile control were observationally coded during a joint teaching task. Independent assessments of children's inhibitory control were obtained, and observers rated children's temperament. After relevant covariates, including income, maternal education, and child age and IQ were controlled for, there were no differences between the maltreatment and non‐maltreatment groups in either children's inhibitory control or mothers' behaviours in the laboratory session. Even after much of the variance in children's inhibitory control was accounted for from the covariates, children's temperamental negativity moderated the effects of warm autonomy support on inhibitory control in both maltreatment and non‐maltreatment groups. Temperamentally negative children whose mothers displayed more warm autonomy support showed greater inhibitory control, at levels on par with low‐negative children. Findings suggest that heterogeneity in children's self‐regulation may be due in part to individual differences in sensitivity to caregiver support for children's independence, even among those exposed to maltreatment. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The effects of safety behavior availability versus utilization on inhibitory learning during exposure

ABSTRACT

This study re-analyzes data from Sy and colleagues (2011; Behaviour Research and Therapy, 49, 305–314) comparing safety behavior availability (SBA) to safety behavior utilization (SBU) during exposure therapy for claustrophobic concerns. The present investigation assessed differential rates of inhibitory learning (i.e. change in danger expectancy and coping self-efficacy) between SBA and SBU before, during, and after a single-session treatment. Thirty-nine participants with marked claustrophobic fear completed six consecutive 5-minute exposure trials in a claustrophobia chamber. Participants in the SBA condition exhibited more interference with inhibitory learning relative to the SBU condition. Danger expectancy was significantly higher in the SBA group and decreased at a markedly slower rate across exposure trials relative to SBU. Coping self-efficacy was also significantly lower among participants in the SBA condition, although groups demonstrated similar rates of change across trials. Limitations, clinical implications, and future directions are discussed.     

汉语同音异形词意义识别中的抑制过程

使用被试自定步速逐词阅读的移动窗口技术,考察了视觉呈现的均衡型和偏向型两类汉语同音异形词意义识别中的抑制过程。实验要求被试阅读由三个分句组成的句子。重复条件下,句子第一个分句中的一个词与第三个分句中的一个词同音异形。同不重复条件(用控制词替换重复条件下第一个分句中的同音异形词)相比,重复条件下,被试对第三个分句中均衡型同音异形词之后的第一个区段阅读时间要长,即出现重复性效应。这种效应在偏向型同音异形词中并未出现。这一结果支持VHMR模型的抑制控制模块假设。简单的抑制假设或衰退假设均无法解释上述结果。此外,上述重复性效应仅出现在阅读速度较快的被试身上。这说明正是对无关信息的高效能的抑制,使得被试表现出较快的阅读速度。     

Inhibitory stimulus control following errorless discrimination learning

Three generalization procedures were used to investigate inhibitory stimulus control following discrimination learning with few errors. Three groups of pigeons acquired a discrimination between a green stimulus (the positive stimulus) and a vertical or horizontal line (the negative stimulus) through differential autoshaping followed by multiple schedule presentation of the two stimuli with gradually increasing stimulus durations. Genereralization testing was along a line-tilt continuum. For one group, the test involved a resistance-to-reinforcement procedure in which responses to all line tilts were reinforced on a variable-interval schedule. For a second group, also tested with the resistance-to-reinforcement procedure, the lines were superimposed on the green field that formerly served as the positive stimulus. A third group was tested in extinction with the combined stimuli. Control groups had no discrimination training but responding to green was nondifferentially reinforced. The control subjects responded more to all line tilts during testing than did the comparable experimental subjects, indicating that the negative stimulus had become an inhibitory stimulus. Both resistance-to-reinforcement groups revealed inhibitory gradients around the negative stimulus, but the gradient for the extinction group was relatively flat. These data are consistent with others that modify Terrace's early conclusion concerning the failure of inhibition to develop during errorless training.     

Self-deception as affective coping. An empirical perspective on philosophical issues

In the philosophical literature, self-deception is mainly approached through the analysis of paradoxes. Yet, it is agreed that self-deception is motivated by protection from distress. In this paper, we argue, with the help of findings from cognitive neuroscience and psychology, that self-deception is a type of affective coping.First, we criticize the main solutions to the paradoxes of self-deception. We then present a new approach to self-deception. Self-deception, we argue, involves three appraisals of the distressing evidence: (a) appraisal of the strength of evidence as uncertain, (b) low coping potential and (c) negative anticipation along the lines of Damasio’s somatic marker hypothesis. At the same time, desire impacts the treatment of flattering evidence via dopamine. Our main proposal is that self-deception involves emotional mechanisms provoking a preference for immediate reward despite possible long-term negative repercussions. In the last part, we use this emotional model to revisit the philosophical paradoxes.