学习能力与学习障碍的遗传学： 英国的近期发展和中国的研究的可能方向

中国的行为遗传学诞生在遗传学突飞猛进的时代,令人振奋。作为一个新兴学科,中国的行为遗传学研究可以避免走前人的弯路,而成为领先而不是滞后的领域。以学习能力的研究为例,计量行为遗传学可以避免“性与养”（nature vs. nurture）的争论而直接研究一些遗传学与心理学里有意义的问题,包括正常与异常、稳定与变动、同质与异质的关系等问题。尤为重要的是超越“性与养”的争论而直接研究遗传对行为的影响。本文也扼要介绍了英国“双生子早期发展”项目的计量行为遗传学和“全基因组关联”对学习能力研究的结果。可以预计,飞速发展的遗传学发现将会持续一些时日,其发展将会对中国和世界的心理学产生更大的影响     

脑科学与心理学研究

随着现代科技的进步,脑科学特别是脑成像技术能够无损伤地探测人脑,成为脑功能研究的“显微镜”。这些科技的发展对心理学研究具有重大影响。它使得意识能够受到真正科学地研究,促使心理学研究从“计算机隐喻”向“脑隐喻”的转变,并将使心理学理论形态更加复杂。     

咨询会谈中的人际互补及其与工作同盟、咨询效果的关系

Leary的人际理论将人际互动行为划分为\"情感\"和\"控制\"两个维度,互动双方在情感维度的一致性和控制维度的互补性统称为人际互补。为探究心理咨询过程中人际互补的发展趋势及其与工作同盟、咨询效果的关系,采用电脑操纵杆方法,编制《咨询会谈人际互补行为评分手册》,对16个个案的48个心理咨询会谈录像进行评估。结果表明:有经验的咨询师在咨询前期的情感轴一致性高于中期和后期,在咨询后期的控制轴互补性高于前期和中期,新手咨询师的情感轴一致性和控制轴互补性均无阶段性差异;咨询中期的情感轴一致性负向预测工作同盟和会谈深度;情感轴一致性呈高-低-高发展趋势的个案咨询效果更好。结论:心理咨询的人际互补三阶段模型得到一定程度的支持,其作用机制有待进一步验证。     

Emergence of spontaneous anticipatory hand movements in a probabilistic environment

In this article, we present a novel experimental approach to the study of anticipation in probabilistic cuing. We implemented a modified spatial cuing task in which participants made an anticipatory hand movement toward one of two probabilistic targets while the (x, y)-computer mouse coordinates of their hand movements were sampled. This approach allowed us to tap into anticipatory processes as they occurred, rather than just measuring their behavioral outcome through reaction time to the target. In different conditions, we varied the participants’ degree of certainty of the upcoming target position with probabilistic pre-cues. We found that participants initiated spontaneous anticipatory hand movements in all conditions, even when they had no information on the position of the upcoming target. However, participants’ hand position immediately before the target was affected by the degree of certainty concerning the target’s position. This modulation of anticipatory hand movements emerged rapidly in most participants as they encountered a constant probabilistic relation between a cue and an upcoming target position over the course of the experiment. Finally, we found individual differences in the way anticipatory behavior was modulated with an uncertain/neutral cue. Implications of these findings for probabilistic spatial cuing are discussed.     

Contributions of Neuroscience to Our Understanding of Cognitive Development

ABSTRACT— One major contribution of neuroscience to understanding cognitive development has been in demonstrating that biology is not destiny—that is, demonstrating the remarkable role of experience in shaping the mind, brain, and body. Only rarely has neuroscience provided wholly new insights into cognitive development, but often it has provided evidence of mechanisms by which observations of developmental psychologists could be explained. Behavioral findings have often remained controversial until an underlying biological mechanism for them was offered. Neuroscience has demonstrated promise for detecting cognitive problems before they are behaviorally observable—and, hence, promise for early intervention. In this article, we discuss examples drawn from imitation and mirror neurons, phenylketonuria (PKU) and prefrontal dopamine, maternal touch and stress reactivity, and nongenetic (behavioral) intergenerational transmission of biological characteristics.