Paradoxical cross-over due to attention to high or low spatial frequencies

The mechanisms underlying the right hemisphere's dominance for spatial and attentional functions lacks a comprehensively explanation. For example, perceptual biases, as observed in line bisection and related tasks, might be caused by an attentional asymmetry or by perceptual processes such as a specialization of the left and right hemisphere for high and low spatial frequencies (SFs), respectively. Here we used the gratingscales task to measure perceptual bias in SF judgements, and we cued participants' attention either to high or low SFs. Participants showed a leftward bias when comparing the high SF components of the stimulus, and a rightward bias when comparing the low SF components-opposite to what would be expected from a hemispheric lateralization for SFs. Two control experiments used different strategies to manipulate the width of the attentional window. However, we observed no influence on perceptual bias, thus ruling out the possibility that the results in Experiment 1 were due to differences in attentional window size. These data support the idea of an attentional asymmetry underlying perceptual bias. Our results provide novel support for the role of attentional asymmetry in perceptual biases.     

启动实验中收集基线反应时的必要性问题

启动实验的有效条件之一是,控制组和实验组的目标词在基线反应时上相同,但在实际操作中,不少研究没有收集基线反应时,只是确保了两组目标词在频率上相同.本研究实验结果显示:对于母语而言,如果词频很高,相同频率的词得到相同反应时的机率很大;相反,机率就比较低;对于外语而言,这种机率相对更低.实验说明,相同词频的词不一定能得到相同的反应时,因此收集基线反应时是启动实验不可或缺的步骤.     

五脏相音——《黄帝内经》失传2000多年的理论和技术的现代研究

2000年,德国洪堡大学的研究者发现动物患病或者受伤时的发音呈非线性改变。2002年,美国加利福尼亚大学的学者发现细胞从生到死,受酒精刺激和癌变时,都有细胞壁振动(声音)的改变。细胞声学由此建立。2004年,美国《科学》杂志刊登声细胞学研究论文,揭示了一项革命性的突破即将来临,建立在细胞病理学基础上的当代医学有希望在细胞尚未发生病变前,就通过识别细胞壁振动的改变而获得诊断。这些当代研究结论与2000多年前《黄帝内经》记载的五脏相音理论遥相呼应。介绍利用现代化高科技对该理论的整理、发扬和临床研究。     

汉语中词长效应的初步实验研究

该文以回忆出一个词表的序列呈现顺序的正确率为指标考察汉语中的词长效应(Word-Length Effect)。实验材料为汉语中不同音节数目的词语。实验结果发现,在纯词表中,存在显著的词长效应。但是在混合词表中(包括长短词交替词表以及随机词表),词长效应会消失。研究结果支持词长效应的基于词表的解释,同时,项目的特异性也具有一定的作用。     

Manipulating noise frequencies alters hemispheric contributions to decision making

Participants listened to the Asian disease problem framed in terms of either gains or losses and chose between two plans to combat the disease. All participants heard the problem embedded in other sounds; for some it was the relatively lower-frequency information, and for others it was the relatively higher-frequency information. The classic framing effect appeared only for those participants for whom the problem was the relatively lower-frequency information (p<.05). These results suggest that mixing filtered speech signals and noise may be a way to assess the role of the left and right hemisphere in various aspects of decision making.     

An experimental test of the effects of dieting on bulimic symptoms: the impact of eating episode frequency

Prospective studies suggest dieting increases bulimic symptoms, but experiments suggest that dieting decreases bulimic symptoms. One possible explanation for the conflicting findings is that real world dieting involves less healthy dieting techniques, such as meal skipping, than prescribed diets. We tested whether the manipulation of eating episode frequency during dieting impacted bulimic symptoms. We expected that people on a diet involving fewer eating episodes would exhibit greater increases in bulimic symptoms than people on a diet involving more frequent eating episodes or waitlist controls. Participants on both 6-week diets lost more weight than controls, confirming dieting was manipulated, and showed greater reductions in bulimic symptoms than controls; however, the dieting conditions did not differ on either outcome. Results provide further experimental evidence that dieting does not increase bulimic symptoms, but suggests that eating episode frequency has little impact on this outcome.     

Do the Predictors of Child Conduct Problems Vary by High- and Low-Levels of Socioeconomic and Neighborhood Risk?

This review seeks to examine whether the existing literature on child conduct problems (CP) supports the notion that certain CP risk factors vary in their importance across disadvantaged and better-off environments. Disadvantaged environments are represented by socioeconomic and/or neighborhood risk (SN risk) in this review. Three types of studies were reviewed: behavioral genetic studies that compare the importance of genetic and environmental influences on CP for youth from poor homes and/or disadvantaged communities versus youth from better-off contexts, studies that examine how SN risk and other CP risk factors interact, and studies that compare the antecedents for CP across levels of SN risk. Findings were inconsistent about the manner in which individual child risk factors interact with SN risk. However, familial risk factors were generally found to be of greater importance for youth from poor families and disadvantaged communities, particularly parental supervision. Most of the studies that indicated otherwise focused on physical discipline, or were limited to children from disadvantaged and extremely deprived environments. The findings suggest that in extremely deprived environments, familial influences are overwhelmed by the pervasiveness of other CP risk factors such as deviant peers. Implications for intervention and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

Rediscovering the Individual in Mediation Analyses

Using the article by von Eye and colleagues as a springboard, this commentary considers a variety of challenges to valid exploration of mediation processes. Along the way, a several alternatives for reinserting the individual back into mediation processes are entertained. The configural frequency approach to mediation analyses proposed by von Eye et al. (Integrative Psychological & Behavioral Science 43(3), 2009) represents a major step toward this objective. Idiographic approaches are proposed as the next step in the progression toward individual-centered mediation analyses.