Cognitive models of choice: comparing decision field theory to the proportional difference model

People often face preferential decisions under risk. To further our understanding of the cognitive processes underlying these preferential choices, two prominent cognitive models, decision field theory (DFT; Busemeyer & Townsend, 1993 ) and the proportional difference model (PD; González-Vallejo, 2002 ), were rigorously tested against each other. In two consecutive experiments, the participants repeatedly had to choose between monetary gambles. The first experiment provided the reference to estimate the models' free parameters. From these estimations, new gamble pairs were generated for the second experiment such that the two models made maximally divergent predictions. In the first experiment, both models explained the data equally well. However, in the second generalization experiment, the participants' choices were much closer to the predictions of DFT. The results indicate that the stochastic process assumed by DFT, in which evidence in favor of or against each option accumulates over time, described people's choice behavior better than the trade-offs between proportional differences assumed by PD.     

Research on cognitive, social and cultural processes of written communication

This article compiles the investigations carried out by a Research Group of the University of Granada, Spain. Its different projects on writing’s cognitive social and cultural processes have been supported by the Spanish Government. This line of research joined together linguistic, psychological, social and cultural contributions to the development of writing from the 1970s. Currently, this line of research develops in collaboration with other European Universities: (a) Interuniversity Centre for Research On Cognitive Processing in Natural and Artificial Systems (ECONA), “La Sapienza” University of Rome (Italy); (b) Anadolu University, (Eskisehir, Turkey); (c) Coimbra University (Portugal); (d) University of Zaragoza (Spain); (e) the Institute of Education of the University of London (United Kingdom). The aforementioned collaboration is materializing into projects like the International Master on Multilingual Writing: Cognitive, Intercultural and Technological Processes of Written Communication () and the International Congress: Writing in the twenty-first Century: Cognition, Multilinguisim and Technologies, held in Granada (). This research line is focussed on the development of strategies in writing development, basic to train twenty-first century societies’ citizens. In these societies, participation in production media, social exchange and the development of multilingual written communication skills through new computer technologies spread multicultural values. In order to fulfil the social exigencies, it is needed to have the collaboration of research groups for designing and applying international research projects. International Master. Multilingual Writing Web: , .     

长时记忆中文本目标信息的激活机制

选取138名大学生被试,采用移动窗口实时阅读技术和探测技术,探讨文本理解过程中长时记忆的目标信息激活的机制。实验1探讨在中文条件下目标焦点是否也启动长时记忆中目标信息的整合。结果表明在目标实现的条件下,目标句1可以作为目标启动句,激活进入长时记忆中的目标信息。实验2和3探讨长时记忆中目标信息的激活是自然实现的还是需要目标愈合信号启动激活,实验结果表明长时记忆中目标信息的激活需要目标愈合信号的启动。该研究结果总的表明:阅读过程长时记忆中目标信息的激活不需要与当前阅读信息发生共振,目标愈合情境是影响长时记忆目标信息通达的关键因素。     

学习不良儿童研究的社会认知取向

用认知范式研究学习不良,可以从基本心理过程障碍和社会信息加工过程障碍这“两种认知过程障碍”来理解其学业和社会性困难的深层心理机制。根据该观点以及对学习不良的理解,提出用社会认知的范式推进学习不良儿童社会性研究的思路,以超越当前研究面临的困境。具体是从比较研究的视角探讨学习不良儿童与一般儿童在社会认知过程上的差异以及社会认知中主客体各因素之间的相互作用。     

Implicit learning revealed by the method of opposition

Complex information, such as that required for motor skills, can be learned implicitly, without awareness. Much debate has centered on the appropriate methods for proving that implicit learning is not influenced by explicit awareness. A recent study by Destrebecqz and Cleeremans has provided compelling evidence for implicit sequence learning without awareness by using the ‘method of opposition’.     

Prenatal testosterone treatment potentiates the aggression‐inhibiting effect of the neurosteroid dehydroepiandrosterone in female mice

The neurosteroid dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) is a powerful inhibitor of aggression in murine models when given for 15 days and potentially may be useful in the management of inappropriate human aggression. Although the biosynthesis and metabolism of DHEA have been described, little is known about the potential effect of the steroidal environment during sexual differentiation on the subsequent response to DHEA. Whether prenatal androgen exposure influences the subsequent response to DHEA was assessed by comparing the effect of DHEA (80 μg/d) on aggression in female offspring where dams were treated with 1, 10, or 100 μg of testosterone (T) on days 15 to 18 of gestation (Experiment I) or that developed in different uterine positions (Experiment II). The results showed that DHEA decreased attack behavior in general and that the 100‐μg prenatal T treatments enhanced the antiaggressive effect of this neurosteroid. Neither the lower doses of exogenously administered T nor the uterine position led to an enhanced response to DHEA. In addition, whether DHEA produced changes in social and nonsocial activities was examined. In the 100‐μg T females, DHEA increased the duration of the former and decreased the frequency and duration of the latter, indicating that it was not a general decrement in behavioral expression that mediated the enhanced response to the antiaggressive effect of DHEA. In the second experiment, DHEA treatment led to increased frequencies of social nonaggressive and nonsocial activities. However, the uterine positions × treatment interactions were not significant, demonstrating that contiguity to male fetuses did not differentially affect the response to DHEA. Aggr. Behav. 27:130–138, 2001. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

胼胝体调节大脑两半球相互作用的机制

胼胝体是哺乳动物脑内最大的白质结构,不仅可以在大脑两半球间传递信息,也能调节半球间的相互作用,“抑制模型”和“兴奋模型”是当前解释胼胝体调节机制的主要模型.前者假设,胼胝体对半球间的信息传递起抑制作用,表现为优势半球的功能增强,非优势半球的活动抑制,因而可以提高半球加工的独立性和功能不对称性;后者则认为,胼胝体对半球间信息传递起促进作用,导致两半球同时性活动,并增强其功能连接性,因而可以降低半球的功能不对称性,有利于半球间的信息共享与功能整合.近期的研究显示,胼胝体并不是一个结构与功能的单一体,而是包含了在空间与时间上既分离又互动的多通道信息加工复合体.抑制与兴奋信息可以通过胼胝体的不同空间通道以不同的速度在半球间进行传递,并受到任务计算类型与复杂性的调节,因此,胼胝体的抑制与兴奋的协同可以调节两半球的动态相互作用.     

Further remarks on the role of cognition in the comparative analysis of behavior

Recent interest in comparative psychology has stimulated much research and debate concerning cognitive processes in animal behavior. The present paper relates to this general area by treating particular issues in the analysis of comparative cognition: specifically, how cognition is inferred from animal behavior; whether the postulation of intervening cognitive processes furthers our understanding of behavior; and how rival approaches help advance the science of behavior.     

大学生智能手机成瘾与抑制控制能力的关系:手机位置和认知负荷的调节作用

本研究以66名大学生为被试,采用Flanker效应和工作记忆的双任务设计来探讨手机位置、认知负荷在智能手机成瘾与抑制控制能力之间的调节作用。结果发现：（1）在低认知负荷下,无论是否智能手机成瘾,手机存在视线之外比手机在视线之内时抑制控制能力更差;（2）在高认知负荷下,智能手机成瘾与手机位置交互作用显著：当手机在视线之内时,智能手机成瘾者的抑制控制能力显著差于非成瘾者;而当手机在视线之外时,两者没有显著差异。结果表明,智能手机成瘾大学生的抑制控制能力不仅会受到手机位置的影响,还会受到任务本身所带来的认知负荷的调节。