面孔识别的认知发展机制

关于面孔识别能力的认知发展机制问题,目前存在两种不同的观点。一种是面孔特殊性发展理论,认为儿童的面孔识别之所以不如成人,是由于儿童和成人对面孔的加工方式不同,代表性理论有部分加工-结构加工理论,内部特征-外部特征加工理论,多维空间理论等。另一种是一般认知能力观点,认为儿童很早就具备了成人式的面孔加工方式,之后面孔识别任务中成绩的提高都可归因于一般认知能力的发展。在对两种观点进行评述的基础上,对未来的面孔识别研究提出了建议。     

词汇语音学习的影响因素

摘要 词汇语音的学习受哪些因素的影响是心理语言学研究中一个重要的问题。语音回路理论认为,语音短时记忆在词汇语音的学习过程中发挥着关键性的作用,语音短时记忆能力越好越有助于词汇的学习;语音敏感性假说认为,语音意识是影响儿童词汇发展及学习的重要因素;另外一些研究者认为,语音知识可能发挥着更为基础和关键的作用,最近的研究则更加强调几种因素如何相互作用影响词汇语音的学习。本文最后提出了该领域需要进一步研究的问题。     

Walk this way: approaching bodies can influence the processing of faces

A highly familiar type of movement occurs whenever a person walks towards you. In the present study, we investigated whether this type of motion has an effect on face processing. We took a range of different 3D head models and placed them on a single, identical 3D body model. The resulting figures were animated to approach the observer. In a first series of experiments, we used a sequential matching task to investigate how the motion of an approaching person affects immediate responses to faces. We compared observers’ responses following approach sequences to their performance with figures walking backwards (receding motion) or remaining still. Observers were significantly faster in responding to a target face that followed an approach sequence, compared to both receding and static primes. In a second series of experiments, we investigated long-term effects of motion using a delayed visual search paradigm. After studying moving or static avatars, observers searched for target faces in static arrays of varying set sizes. Again, observers were faster at responding to faces that had been learned in the context of an approach sequence. Together these results suggest that the context of a moving body influences face processing, and support the hypothesis that our visual system has mechanisms that aid the encoding of behaviourally-relevant and familiar dynamic events.     

Phonological priming and cohort effects in toddlers

Adult word recognition is influenced by prior exposure to phonologically or semantically related words (cup primes cat or plate) compared to unrelated words (door), suggesting that words are organised in the adult lexicon based on their phonological and semantic properties and that word recognition implicates not just the heard word, but also related words. We investigate the phonological organisation of the toddler lexicon with two experiments using a picture priming technique. Twenty-four month olds showed inhibition of target recognition in related primed trials compared to unrelated primed trials (Experiment 1) and also in related primed trials compared to unprimed trials (Experiment 2). Further analysis of children’s responding found that this inhibition effect was modulated by the cohort and neighbourhood size of the words tested. Overall, the results indicate a lexical basis for the reported effects and suggest that the phonological properties provide an organisational basis for words in the toddler lexicon.     

Influence of subjective difficulty on the degree of configural and featural processing in face recognition1

This study aimed to assess the effect of subjective difficulty on the degree of featural or configural processing in face recognition. It could be assumed that featural processing is analytic processing ( Peterson & Rhodes, 2003 ), while configural processing is automatic processing ( Dunning & Stern, 1994 ). It has been suggested that task difficulty affected the automaticity of processing. Task difficulty was manipulated using a number of alternatives or time pressure. Subjective difficulty could also affect the automaticity of processing. If so, then subjective difficulty may in turn affect the degree of featural or configural processing. Participants in a difficult condition were given instructions mentioning that the face‐recognition task was difficult, while participants in the control condition were given no such instruction. The amount of retrieved featural information in the former condition was less than that in the latter. These results suggested that the degree of featural processing decreased when the participants found the task difficult.     

Further analysis of picture interference when teaching word recognition to children with autism

Previous research indicates that pairing pictures with associated words when teaching sight-word reading may hinder acquisition (e.g., Didden, Prinsen, & Sigafoos, 2000; Singh & Solman, 1990; Solman & Singh, 1992). The purpose of the current study was to determine whether this phenomenon was due to a previously learned association between the spoken word and picture (i.e., blocking) or due to the mere presence of a picture as an extrastimulus prompt (i.e., overshadowing). Three participants were taught to recognize words that were presented alone or paired with pictures that the participants either could or could not identify prior to training. All participants learned the words more quickly when they were presented alone rather than with pictures, regardless of their prior learning history with respect to pictures representing the words. This finding is consistent with the phenomenon of overshadowing. Nonetheless, consistent with blocking, all participants also acquired the words presented alone more quickly if they could not identify the associated pictures prior to training. Together, these findings have important implications for using prompts when teaching skills to individuals with developmental disabilities.     

Impaired emotion recognition in music in Parkinson’s disease

Music has the potential to evoke strong emotions and plays a significant role in the lives of many people. Music might therefore be an ideal medium to assess emotion recognition. We investigated emotion recognition in music in 20 patients with idiopathic Parkinson’s disease (PD) and 20 matched healthy volunteers. The role of cognitive dysfunction and other disease characteristics in emotion recognition was also evaluated.     

重症手足口病的早期识别与处理

手足口病(hand-foot-mouth disease,HFMD)是由肠道病毒[以柯萨奇A组16型(Coxsackievirus A16,CoxA16)、肠道病毒71型(Enterovirus 71,EV71)多见]引起的急性传染病,而重症多由EV71感染引起。由于EV71的高度嗜神经性,重症者可合并中枢神经系统(central nervous system,CNS)损害、急性肺水肿/出血等。现就重症手足口病的早期识别与处理进行简要综述。     

The processing of auditory and visual recognition of self-stimuli

This study examined self-recognition processing in both the auditory and visual modalities by determining how comparable hearing a recording of one’s own voice was to seeing photograph of one’s own face. We also investigated whether the simultaneous presentation of auditory and visual self-stimuli would either facilitate or inhibit self-identification. Ninety-one participants completed reaction-time tasks of self-recognition when presented with their own faces, own voices, and combinations of the two. Reaction time and errors made when responding with both the right and left hand were recorded to determine if there were lateralization effects on these tasks. Our findings showed that visual self-recognition for facial photographs appears to be superior to auditory self-recognition for voice recordings. Furthermore, a combined presentation of one’s own face and voice appeared to inhibit rather than facilitate self-recognition and there was a left-hand advantage for reaction time on the combined-presentation tasks.     

空格在文本阅读中的作用

本文总结空格在文本阅读中作用的相关研究, 主要包括以下内容: (1)删除或替代有空格文本中的空格, 对阅读产生的干扰作用; (2)在无空格的文本中插入空格, 对阅读产生一定的促进作用, 空格在汉语阅读中的作用受被试阅读经验、阅读方式和空格大小等因素影响; (3)被试母语和第二语言呈现方式的一致性会影响空格在第二语言阅读中的作用; (4)今后应结合眼动控制理论, 从注视点落点位置和熟悉性等方面开展研究。