工作记忆对时间加工的影响

非时间信息加工与时间加工的关系是复杂的, 存在双向干扰或单向干扰, 结果的不一致与任务所需的注意资源及工作记忆都有关。工作记忆的中央执行系统在时间加工中起主要作用, 同时进行的非时间任务对中央执行功能的需求越多, 两种任务之间的干扰程度越大。语言环和视空间模板对时间加工的影响与非时间信息的类型有关。工作记忆作为一个整体以工作记忆容量为指标, 计时成绩也表现出与工作记忆容量有关的年龄、智力等方面的差异。时间加工和工作记忆在额叶、顶叶、基底神经节等皮质存在共同的神经机制。未来应该丰富工作记忆的研究内容, 结合时间加工的分段性探讨工作记忆影响时间加工的具体进程及神经机制, 并力求在应用方面取得一定的成果。     

案件无关情绪和案件相关情绪对法官量刑决策影响的实验研究

本研究通过两个模拟量刑实验,具体考察了案件无关情绪和案件相关情绪对法官量刑决策的影响。结果发现案件无关情绪显著影响法官量刑。法官在悲伤情绪下所判刑期短于中性情绪,愉悦和愤怒情绪与中性情绪下刑期无显著差异。案件相关情绪显著影响法官量刑,法官同情情绪下刑期更短,厌恶和愤怒情绪下刑期更长。性别对法官量刑无显著影响,从业时间对法官量刑无显著影响。性别和从业时间对案件无关情绪和相关情绪诱发均无显著影响。     

A formal framework for modelling the developmental course of competence and performance in the distance,speed, and time domain

The developmental course in the distance–speed–time domain is still a matter of debate. Traditional stage models are contested by theories of continuous development and adaptive thinking. In the present work, we introduce a formal framework for modelling the developmental course in this domain, grounding on Competence-based Knowledge Space Theory. This framework, as a more general case, widely includes assumptions and facets of previous models and covers empirical findings collected based on different experimental paradigms. By a distinction of latent competences and observable performance, model validation is not bound to a certain experimental paradigm and no one-to-one correspondence between competences and tasks is required. Therefore, the framework has the potential to bridge the gap between stage models and models of continuous development. The approach also precisely defines misconceptions, for example overgeneralization, and empirically investigates their occurrence. In the present work, we established a prototypical model for the development of understanding the distance–speed–time system. We extended this model with definitions based on different perspectives of overgeneralization. The assumptions of the model and its extensions were examined on the basis of the results of two empirical investigations using six judgment task types. The results yielded a reasonably good fit of model and data. No evidence was found for the occurrence of overgeneralization in this domain. The theoretical model and empirical results are discussed with respect to their relationship to other developmental models and theories.     

Intra-individual reaction time variability in schizophrenia, depression and borderline personality disorder

Intra-individual reaction time variability (IIV) in neuropsychological task performance reflects short term fluctuations in performance. Increased IIV has been reported in patients with schizophrenia and could be related to a deficient neural timing mechanism, but the role of IIV in adult patients with other psychiatric disorders has not been established. Therefore, we compared IIV measures obtained in a Go/Nogo task from patients with schizophrenia, major depression and borderline personality disorder. IIV was increased for patients with schizophrenia. When correcting for differences in mean reaction time, depressive and borderline patients also showed increased IIV. Importantly, all groups showed a strong association between IIV and accuracy of task performance. This suggests that increased IIV might be a sensitive marker for the efficiency of top-down attentional control in all diagnostic groups. Aside from these similarities, the complete results including measures of IIV, mean reaction time and accuracy show differential patterns for patients with schizophrenia compared to those with borderline personality disorder or depression. These results are discussed with respect to common versus disorder-specific neural mechanisms underlying increased IIV.     

Cosmic inflation and the past hypothesis

The past hypothesis is that the entropy of the universe was very low in the distant past. It is put forward to explain the entropic arrow of time but it has been suggested (e.g. [Penrose, R. (1989a). The emperor’s new mind. London:Vintage Books; Penrose, R. (1989b). Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 571, 249–264; Price, H. (1995). In S. F. Savitt (Ed.), Times’s arrows today. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; Price, H. (1996). Time’s arrow and Archimedes’ point. Oxford: Oxford University Press; Price, H. (2004). In C. Hitchcock (Ed.), Contemporary debates in philosophy of science. Oxford: Blackwell]) that it is itself in need of explanation. It has also been suggested that cosmic inflation could provide the explanation, but Price (2004) raises a serious objection to this suggestion, which has otherwise received very little attention in the philosophical literature. Price points out that the standard inflationary explanation involves a double standard: although the evolution of the universe described by the inflationary model seems natural from the standard temporal perspective it looks highly unnatural from the reversed temporal perspective. The main purpose of this paper is to propose a novel form of the inflationary explanation that avoids this objection. It is argued that the inflationary model would not involve a double standard (but would still explain the past hypothesis) if we construct the model with a global “boundary” condition instead of a conventional boundary condition: if we assume that the universe is as generic as possible overall, rather than as generic as possible at some given point (e.g. the Big Bang) as is assumed in the standard inflationary model. This novel form of the inflationary explanation is then compared with Price’s 1996 preferred explanation, a version of the so-called “Weyl hypothesis”.     

Time, tense, truth

A theory of time is a theory of the nature of temporal reality, and temporal reality determines the truth-value of temporal sentences. Therefore it is reasonable to ask how a theory of time can account for the way the truth of temporal sentences is determined. This poses certain challenges for both the A theory and the B theory of time. In this paper, I outline an account of temporal sentences. The key feature of the account is that the primary bearers of truth-values are not utterances, but sentences evaluated with respect to a time. I argue that unlike other views, the present proposal can meet the challenges faced both by the A and the B theory.     

Motor programming in apraxia of speech

Apraxia of Speech (AOS) is an impairment of motor programming. However, the exact nature of this deficit remains unclear. The present study examined motor programming in AOS in the context of a recent two-stage model [Klapp, S. T. (1995). Motor response programming during simple and choice reaction time: The role of practice. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 21, 1015–1027; Klapp, S. T. (2003). Reaction time analysis of two types of motor preparation for speech articulation: Action as a sequence of chunks. Journal of Motor Behavior, 35, 135–150] that proposes a preprogramming stage (INT) and a process that assigns serial order to multiple programs in a sequence (SEQ). The main hypothesis was that AOS involves a process-specific deficit in the INT (preprogramming) stage of processing, rather than in the on-line serial ordering (SEQ) and initiation of movement. In addition, we tested the hypothesis that AOS involves a central (i.e., modality-general) motor programming deficit. We used a reaction time paradigm that provides two dependent measures: study time (the amount of time for participants to ready a motor response; INT), and reaction time (time to initiate movement; SEQ). Two experiments were conducted to examine INT and SEQ in AOS: Experiment 1 involved finger movements, Experiment 2 involved speech movements analogous to the finger movements. Results showed longer preprogramming time for patients with AOS but normal sequencing and initiation times, relative to controls. Together, the findings are consistent with the hypothesis of a process-specific, but central (modality-independent) deficit in AOS; alternative explanations are also discussed.     

文本加工中情境模型建构的五个维度

情境模型理论是当代西方文本阅读加工的一个重要理论。该文通过详细介绍情境模型建构的空间、时间、因果、主人公、意图五大维度,以助于对情境模型理论整体理解。通过总结可知,目前国内外关于情境模型建构中的空间、因果和主人公三个维度的研究成果较多,研究范式也较为成熟,时间和意图维度则研究成果较少     

启动实验中收集基线反应时的必要性问题

启动实验的有效条件之一是,控制组和实验组的目标词在基线反应时上相同,但在实际操作中,不少研究没有收集基线反应时,只是确保了两组目标词在频率上相同.本研究实验结果显示:对于母语而言,如果词频很高,相同频率的词得到相同反应时的机率很大;相反,机率就比较低;对于外语而言,这种机率相对更低.实验说明,相同词频的词不一定能得到相同的反应时,因此收集基线反应时是启动实验不可或缺的步骤.     

Stimulus complexity and prospective timing: clues for a parallel process model of time perception

Whereas many studies have considered the role of attention in prospective timing, fewer have established relations between movement complexity and prospective timing. The present study aims at assessing to what extent motion complexity interferes with prospective timing and at delineating a neuropsychophysical plausible model. We have thus designed a visual paradigm presenting stimuli in sequential pairs (reference comparison interval). Stimuli are motionless or moving according to different complexities, and stimulus complexities are intermixed within each pair. To prevent a possible attention-sharing effect, no concurrent task was required. Our study suggests that movement complexity is a key component of duration perception, and that the relative judgement of durations depends on spatio-temporal features of stimuli. In particular, it shows that movement complexity can bias subjects’ perception and performance, and that subjects detect that comparison intervals are longer than reference before their end. In the discussion, we advocate that the classical internal clock model cannot easily account for our results. Consequently, we propose a model for time perception, based on a parallel processing between comparison interval perception and the reconstruction of the reference duration.