P300 to emotionally relevant stimuli as an indicator of aggression levels

Severe acts of aggression have been associated with prefrontal dysfunction. Less severe aggression may be associated with more subtle abnormalities. P300 event‐related potentials were recorded from 32 healthy volunteers during a novel modified oddball task. The task required participants to respond only to rare, food words (targets), which occurred randomly among neutral words. Aggressive words appeared randomly with the same frequency as the target words. A median split divided subjects into high‐ and low‐aggression groups based on their scores on the Buss–Durkee Hostility Inventory. The groups did not differ in their responses to the target words. Participants with higher aggression scores had lowered responses to the aggressive words at the frontal relative to the other electrode sites. Cognitive processing of aggressive stimuli was less efficient at frontal sites in individuals who reported higher levels of aggression. This result extends work showing frontal P300 decrements in more severe aggressive groups, using simple oddball tasks. Aggr. Behav. 32:1–8, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

抑郁性神经症患者精神创伤的临床调查与分析

通过调查与分析。希望进一步了解导致抑郁性神经症的精神创伤的性质和易感人群的年龄、教育程度和性别等方面的特点。为此类疾病的病因分析及其防治提供客观的依据。结果表明：1．不同的年龄、教育程度和性别均有各自敏感的生活事件,部分生活事件在任何年龄阶段、教育程度、性别的人群中都可构成精神创伤;2．家庭矛盾、个人发展、疾病、失去亲人等生活事件容易构成精神创伤,其中家庭矛盾尤为突出;3．不可控的生活事件是构成抑郁性神经症近、远期精神创伤的重要基础。可见,抑郁性神经症的发病与精神创伤关系密切;不同教育程度、年龄、性别对生活事件的体验及其导致精神创伤的程度不同。     

Visual working memory load disrupts the space‐based attentional guidance of target selection

During visual search, the selection of target objects is guided by stored representations of target‐defining features (attentional templates). It is commonly believed that such templates are maintained in visual working memory (WM), but empirical evidence for this assumption remains inconclusive. Here, we tested whether retaining non‐spatial object features (shapes) in WM interferes with attentional target selection processes in a concurrent search task that required spatial templates for target locations. Participants memorized one shape (low WM load) or four shapes (high WM load) in a sample display during a retention period. On some trials, they matched them to a subsequent memory test display. On other trials, a search display including two lateral bars in the upper or lower visual field was presented instead, and participants reported the orientation of target bars that were defined by their location (e.g., upper left or lower right). To assess the efficiency of attentional control under low and high WM load, EEG was recorded and the N2pc was measured as a marker of attentional target selection. Target N2pc components were strongly delayed when concurrent WM load was high, indicating that holding multiple object shapes in WM competes with the simultaneous retention of spatial attentional templates for target locations. These observations provide new electrophysiological evidence that such templates are maintained in WM, and also challenge suggestions that spatial and non‐spatial contents are represented in separate independent visual WM stores.     

儿童早期的母亲生活压力对其5岁行为问题的预测效应：链式中介分析

通过对107名幼儿及其母亲历时5年的5次追踪测量, 考察了儿童早期(9~38个月)母亲生活压力对5岁时儿童行为问题的预测效应及其作用机制。结果发现, 在儿童早期, 母亲生活压力具有相对的稳定性, 但引起母亲生活压力的主要生活事件排序有所变化; 儿童早期母亲生活压力对儿童行为问题的作用机制有两种方式：一方面表现为母亲生活压力对儿童5岁时的情绪症状和品行问题的直接效应; 另一方面表现为通过减少母亲积极养育行为进一步影响儿童情绪症状和同伴问题的间接效应; 此外, 儿童早期母亲生活压力还通过积极养育和儿童努力控制的链式中介作用对儿童过度活跃和亲社会行为产生影响。结论:母亲生活压力对儿童行为问题具有预测效应, 这种效应的机制包括母亲生活压力的直接效应以及通过积极养育、努力控制的间接效应。     

事件切割：我们如何知觉并记忆日常事件?

事件切割指的是人们将连续的外界信息析解成若干个有意义且互相关联的事件的过程, 实验室中通常使用事件切割任务对其进行研究。事件切割既包含自下而上的加工过程, 也有自上而下加工的成分。事件切割活动对记忆有着重要的影响, 个体知觉事件、回忆事件的能力被认为与其日常生活紧密相关。解释事件切割加工过程和特征的理论模型主要包括情境模型、事件切割理论和事件视界模型。未来的研究可以深入探讨事件记忆在不同测试类型上的差异, 并关注事件切割过程中的注意分配过程。     

成瘾的生物心理社会模型

成瘾的易感因素和维持因素是一个复杂的因果网络系统．有三种研究取向。生物学取向综述了成瘾的脑机制和遗传基因观。心理学模式主要介绍成瘾人格的研究现状,以及成瘾的强化观。社会因素则阐述了创伤性事件、父母及同伴压力对成瘾的影响。本文支持三个因素的相互作用导致了成瘾行为的发生,以期从成瘾易感和维持因素的探析上为生物心理社会模型(BPS)提供依据。     

Effects of psychological defense on processing of neutral stimuli indicated by event-related potentials (ERPs)

The Defense Mechanism Test (DMT) is claimed to identify personnel with a high risk for accidents. A new explanation for why the DMT seems to predict performance when survival depends on split second decisions is proposed. Sixteen right-handed, adult male students were tested with the DMT and with an ERP paradigm (two sine wave tones, presented binaurally). Each subject was tested with a one-stimulus paradigm, and a passive and an active oddball paradigm. Under the passive oddball condition, High defensive subjects differed from Low, having significantly smaller N2 amplitudes (low immediate perception), and significantly larger P3 amplitudes (rely on later associative mechanisms). High defensive subjects seem to have less ability to perceive the environment correctly immediately. This slowness may be fatal when life depends on split second decisions. The fundamental neurophysiological difference may also be the basis for the very complex cognitive and perceptual mechanisms involved in psychological defense mechanisms.     

Similar minds in the family: COVID-19 centrality and relationship quality

We examined whether perceived similarity in COVID-19 centrality (i.e., the extent to which one thinks of the pandemic as shaping current and future life) is associated with family relationship quality during the pandemic. Thinking that other family members are similar to oneself regarding the pandemic's centrality may improve the quality of family relationships. We collected data from Turkish family triads (i.e., mother, father, 18–25 years old child) and had 481 participants from 180 families. Participants rated their similarity in COVID-19 centrality with the other two family members and reported the general and daily quality of their relationship with them (relationship satisfaction, closeness, conflict). We analyzed the data using the Social Relations Model. We found that family members who, on average, perceived more similarity in COVID-19 centrality reported higher levels in positive attributes of general relationship quality (i.e., satisfaction and closeness). The effects on conflict and daily relationship quality were less conclusive. This research confirms that family members' reactions during the COVID-19 pandemic are interdependent. Perceiving that other family members are of similar minds about the centrality of the pandemic relates positively to some aspects of relationship quality.     

I Am > Trauma: Experimentally Reducing Event Centrality and PTSD Symptoms in a Clinical Trial

Event centrality has been one of the strongest predictors of PTSD symptoms. We attempted to experimentally reduce event centrality using a modified version of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) in a sample of traumatized participants from a community outreach center. Relative to a control group, participants who received ACT evidenced significant decreases in PTSD symptoms, depression, and event centrality. A mediation analysis revealed that the effect of condition on PTSD symptoms was mediated by decreases in event centrality. Only the effect of condition on depression was still significant at six weeks posttreatment. This study is the first to manipulate event centrality and suggests that components of ACT may be effective at reducing event centrality.