Effects of interviewer behavior on accuracy of children's responses

Previous research has shown that certain interviewer behaviors can evoke inaccurate answers by children. In the current study, we examined the effects of approving and disapproving statements on the accuracy of 3 children's answers to questions in an interview (Experiment 1). We then evaluated 3 questioning techniques that may be used by interviewers during a forensic interview in which a child provides eyewitness testimony (Experiment 2). All participants responded with more inaccurate answers when approving statements followed inaccurate information and disapproving statements followed accurate information in Experiment 1. During Experiment 2, 1 participant responded most inaccurately when she was requestioned after providing an initial answer, whereas the remaining 2 participants responded most inaccurately when the interviewer provided cowitness information and suggestive questions.     

Impaired awareness of movement disorders in Parkinson’s disease

Background

This study analyzed the presence of awareness of movement disorders (dyskinesias and hypokinesias) in 25 patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) and motor fluctuations (dyskinesias, wearing off, on–off fluctuations). Of the few studies that have dealt with this topic, none have analyzed the differences in the awareness of motor deficits by comparing the on and off states using motor scales and an extensive battery of tests to assess cognitive and behavioral functioning.

Methods

PD patients were compared on three different scales that we have devised to measure awareness of movement disorders: Global Awareness of Movement (GAM) Disorders, dyskinesia/hypo-bradykinesia rating scales.

Results

Data showed that PD patients had greater awareness and psychological suffering in the off state than in the on state. In particular, they were troubled by motor disabilities related to hypokinesias and had mood-related symptoms and a perception of disability in activities of daily living. Interestingly, patients only showed a selective reduction of awareness of movement disorders associated with executive functions and related to dyskinesias in the on state, compared to a preserved awareness of hypokinesias in the off state. On the contrary, no association with executive functions was found in the off state.

Conclusion

Our findings suggest that the dopaminergic overstimulation of mesocorticolimbic pathways may cause a dysfunction of prefrontal–subcortical connections related to the impaired insight.     

Fitts’ law holds for pointing movements under conditions of restricted visual feedback

Fitts’ law robustly predicts the time required to move rapidly to a target. However, it is unclear whether Fitts’ law holds for visually guided actions under visually restricted conditions. We tested whether Fitts’ law applies under various conditions of visual restriction and compared pointing movements in each condition. Ten healthy participants performed four pointing movement tasks under different visual feedback conditions, including full-vision (FV), no-hand-movement (NM), no-target-location (NT), and no-vision (NV) feedback conditions. The movement times (MTs) for each task exhibited highly linear relationships with the index of difficulty (r² > .96). These findings suggest that pointing movements follow Fitts’ law even when visual feedback is restricted or absent. However, the MTs and accuracy of pointing movements decreased for difficult tasks involving visual restriction.     

Why do we move our eyes while trying to remember? The relationship between non-visual gaze patterns and memory

Non-visual gaze patterns (NVGPs) involve saccades and fixations that spontaneously occur in cognitive activities that are not ostensibly visual. While reasons for their appearance remain obscure, convergent empirical evidence suggests that NVGPs change according to processing requirements of tasks. We examined NVPGs in tasks with long-term memory (LTM) and working memory (WM) requirements. Experiment 1 yielded significantly higher eye movement rate (EMR) in tasks requiring LTM search than in a WM task requiring maintenance of information. Experiment 2 manipulated accessibility of items in study-test episodic tasks using the levels of processing paradigm. EMR was high in episodic recall irrespective of item accessibility. Experiment 3 examined functional significance of saccades in LTM tasks. Voluntary saccadic suppression produced no evidence that saccades contribute to task performance. We discuss the apparent epiphenomenal nature of spontaneous saccades from an evolutionary perspective and outline a neuroanatomical model of the link between the saccadic and memory system.     

运动轨迹和方向对视觉空间关系加工的影响

视觉空间关系分为类别与数量两种表征。研究通过控制起参照作用的运动客体消失状态与定位客体出现时间,分析客体运动信息对两种关系判断的影响。结果发现:运动信息在各间隔时间对类别任务影响呈序列排列,运动方向较轨迹信息有优势,轨迹较法线信息有优势;数量表征仅在0ms间隔受运动方向促进,在其他间隔下,三种位置上的判断均无差异。结果表明运动客体类别表征比数量表征更持久;且相对类别表征,数量判断作为精确距离表征不易受运动方向和轨迹信息影响。     

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。     

词汇获得年龄效应的眼动研究

采用两个实验考察了获得年龄因素在汉语词汇识别中的作用。实验一采用经典的词汇判断任务考察了获得年龄和词频因素在词汇判断中的作用,结果发现获得年龄和词频两个因素均影响词汇识别。实验二采用阅读句子任务,通过实时记录的眼动追踪技术进一步考察了在有语境的情况下,获得年龄和词频因素在词汇加工中的作用。结果发现,在阅读句子任务中,词汇获得年龄和词频因素都在词汇加工中起作用,二者存在交互作用,晚获得词存在词频效应。两个实验的结果均支持了在汉语词汇识别中,存在获得年龄效应。     

自由拦截启动策略与信息利用

手的启动方向自由, 伸手拦截不同速度的运动小球。本研究通过考察手启动时的运动参数, 研究自由启动的情况下的信息利用和拦截策略, 并且考察了人的启动模式。结果发现, 自由拦截时手的拦截区域相对固定, 在物体快速运动情景下启动晚, 而在慢速下启动早, 可能综合利用了接触时间和距离信息, 存在速度伴随效应, 手的拦截启动策略为启动有相对稳定的角度和加速度, 并不随物体运动速度和物体大小的改变而改变。     

汉语句子理解中句法启动机制的眼动和ERP研究

语言产生的句法启动效应在近20年得到较深入研究。那么, 语言理解和语言产生中, 句法启动效应具有相同的加工机制吗？近些年, 研究者考察了印欧语系语言理解中的启动效应, 但还存在较多争论。这究竟是句法效应, 还是策略或者语义效应, 是词汇驱动还是词汇独立的？而且, 这是人类语言理解的语系特性还是普遍特性？单独采用行为技术、眼动技术或者ERP技术很难为这些争论提供坚实的实验证据和较深入的理论解释。鉴于此, 本项目拟采用眼动和ERP结合的技术, 从心理学、语言学和认知神经科学等多学科交叉的视角考查汉语句子理解的句法启动效应。通过分析眼动和ERP实验提供的一致性和差异性证据, 本项目力图阐明和揭示汉语句子理解中句法启动效应的认知特点和机制, 检验内隐学习理论和论元结构理论在解释句法启动效应时的适用性。