急性应激损害对威胁刺激的注意解除

急性应激会增强个体对威胁刺激的注意偏向,但急性应激是增强了对威胁刺激的注意定向还是损害了对威胁刺激的注意解除还不清楚。本研究采用社会评估冷压任务和点探测任务,结合事件相关电位技术,考察急性应激对威胁刺激注意偏向影响的认知机制。在进行社会评估冷压任务后,应激组个体的状态焦虑和皮质醇浓度显著升高。在注意偏向中,应激组对威胁刺激的注意解除比控制组更慢,应激组和控制组在对威胁刺激的注意定向上无显著差异。ERP结果上,威胁刺激诱发应激组比控制组产生了更负的SPCN,在N2pc上没有显著差异。应激组和控制组皮质醇增量的差异和N2pc、SPCN的组间差异均有显著正相关。这些结果说明,急性应激增强对威胁刺激的注意偏向是因为其损害个体对威胁刺激的注意解除,这可能是因为急性应激损害了与注意解除相关的额-顶网络的功能所致。     

血管壁切应力的优与非优

在生理水平的血管壁切应力属于优性因子,能促进血管重建,抑制内皮细胞凋亡,调节内皮细胞分泌功能,使内皮细胞形态产生适应性变化;而显著升高或降低的血管壁切应力则属于非优因子,导致高血压恶性循环发生、促进动脉粥样硬化及动脉血栓形成。实现切应力非优向优转化的重要途径是降低高血压和选择性阻断切应力对基因表达的调节     

贵州少数民族儿童青少年SNARC效应的发展

采用奇偶判断任务,考察二年级至大学阶段贵州民族儿童青少年SNARC效应的发展状况。结果显示：三年级开始出现SNARC效应（包括正确率SNARC效应）;各阶段SNARC效应无显著差异;高、低年级正确率存在显著差异,六年级以后各阶段正确率无显著差异。结论：民族儿童三年级开始形成数字的空间表征。SNARC效应的大小不因年龄而发生变化;被试对奇偶知识的掌握存在发展过程,三年级可能基本理解奇偶信息,六年级后熟练掌握奇偶信息。     

No evidence for infants’ contingency detection as a precursor of toddlers’ self-recognition

The aim of the present study was to assess the relationship between infants’ contingency preference and detection in the first year of life and toddlers’ mirror and video self-recognition in the second and third year of life in a longitudinal study (N = 113). Six- and 9-month-olds’ preference for a noncontingent over a perfect contingent view (contingency preference) and their differentiation between the two views – indicated by longer looking times to either view – (contingency detection) were assessed in two contingency tasks. A mirror-face-recognition task and a mirror-leg-recognition task were conducted at 18 months. A video-face-recognition task and a mirror-leg-recognition task were conducted at 26 months. Results revealed no predictive relationships between infants’ contingency preference and detection in the first year of life and their ability to recognize themselves in a mirror or on a video monitor in the second and third year of life. This finding supports the notion that self-recognition emerges independently from the experience of contingencies (Bischof-Köhler, 1991, 2012). Thus, a representation of the self seems to rely on more than a specific developmental pathway leading from contingency preference and detection to self-recognition.     

Developmental and medical factors associated with parenting stress in mothers of toddlers born very preterm in a neonatal follow-up clinic

The purpose of this exploratory, cross-sectional study was to identify child-related factors associated with maternal parenting stress in toddlers born very preterm and followed in a neonatal follow-up (NFU) clinic. The study aimed to describe the associations of current medical complications and presence of developmental delays with total parenting stress. Participants were 53 mother–child dyads presenting in a NFU clinic. Mothers completed the Parenting Stress Index-Short Form (PSI-SF), and children were administered the Brigance Early Head Start Screen II. Medical variables were also collected from the child's medical record. Approximately 24% of mothers had at least one elevated subscale score on the PSI-SF. Regression analyses indicated that receipt of early intervention services was associated with increased parenting stress among mothers of toddlers born very preterm, though number of current medical complications was not. Parents of children born very preterm are at increased risk for parenting stress that extends beyond discharge from the neonatal intensive care unit . Clinicians working in NFU clinics are positioned to monitor for increased parenting stress, particularly among families of children with emerging signs of developmental delay.     

Vivid memories of distant trauma: Examining the characteristics of trauma memories and the relationship with the centrality of event and posttraumatic stress 26 years after trauma

In the present study, we investigated the phenomenological characteristics of distant trauma memories and the relationship between the vividness of trauma memories, the centrality of event and symptoms of posttraumatic stress in two groups with different types of trauma exposure, namely survivors and bereaved, from the fire on the passenger ferry, Scandinavian Star, 26 years earlier. More than two decades after the fire, the traumatic event was represented as a vivid, emotional recollection for many of the victims. For both the survivors and the bereaved, a higher degree of vividness of trauma memories and centrality of the event were associated with higher levels of posttraumatic stress. The present findings show that even very distant trauma memories can be represented as vivid recollections. Furthermore, the findings suggest that both vividness of trauma memories and event centrality may contribute to explain how posttraumatic stress reactions can remain present over a very long time.     

PTSD and the influence of context: The self as a social mirror

The principal accepted models of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are based on both memory processing and biological/brain changes occurring when one's life or well-being is threatened. It is our thesis that these models would be greatly informed by community studies indicating that PTSD is predicted to a greater extent by earlier life experience and experiences that occur distant from the threatening event. These findings suggest posttraumatic responding is best conceptualized through the lens of the self-in-context, as opposed to imprinting that results from a given event at a given time. Moreover, studies of non-Western populations often do not express trauma as PTSD, or at least not primarily as PTSD, which argues against specific neural or memory encoding processes, but rather for a more plastic neural process that is shaped by experience and how the self develops in its cultural context, as a product of a broad array of experiences. We posit that fear and emotional conditioning as well as the ways traumas are encoded in memory are only partial explanatory mechanisms for trauma responding, and that issues of safety and harm, which are long term and developmental, are the common and principal underpinnings of the occurrence of posttraumatic distress, including PTSD.     

The more you have,the more you want? Higher social class predicts a greater desire for wealth and status

Traditional theories have focused on the intentions of lower-class individuals to climb on the social ladder, yet they have paid relatively little attention to the motivations of upper-class individuals to ascend even higher. Addressing this issue, Studies 1 and 2 provided cross-national evidence that higher social class is associated with a greater desire for wealth and status. Moreover, by manipulating perceived social class, Studies 3 and 5 experimentally confirmed that compared to people in the lower-class group, those in the upper-class group express a stronger desire for wealth and status. Furthermore, in line with self-categorization theory predictions, Studies 3–5 showed that upper-class individuals tend to see and use wealth and status as important attributes in defining and categorizing self, and this tendency explains the effect of social class on desire for wealth and status. Together, our findings demonstrate a “having more—wanting more” relationship, and its consequences are further discussed.