Dual scaling of comparison and reference stimuli in multi-dimensional psychological space

Dzhafarov and Colonius (Psychol. Bull. Rev. 6 (1999)239; J. Math. Psychol. 45(2001)670) proposed a theory of Fechnerian scaling of the stimulus space based on the psychometric (discrimination probability) function of a human subject in a same-different comparison task. Here, we investigate a related but different paradigm, namely, referent-probe comparison task, in which the pair of stimuli (x and y) under comparison assumes substantively different psychological status, one serving as a referent and the other as a probe. The duality between a pair of psychometric functions, arising from assigning either x or y to be the fixed reference stimulus and the other to be the varying comparison stimulus, and the 1-to-1 mapping between the two stimulus spaces X and Y under either assignment are analyzed. Following Dzhafarov and Colonius, we investigate two properties characteristic of a referent-probe comparison task, namely, (i) Regular cross-minimality—for the pair of stimulus values involved in referent-probe comparison, each minimizes a discrimination probability function where the other is treated as the fixed reference stimulus; (ii) Nonconstant self-similarity—the value of the discrimination probability function at its minima is a nonconstant function of the reference stimulus value. For the particular form of psychometric functions investigated, it is shown that imposing the condition of regular cross-minimality on the pair of psychometric functions forces a consistent (but otherwise still arbitrary) mapping between X and Y, such that it is independent of the assignment of reference/comparison status to x and to y. The resulting psychometric differentials under both assignments are equal, and take an asymmetric, dualistic form reminiscent of the so-called divergence measure that appeared in the context of differential geometry of the probability manifold with dually flat connections (Differential Geometric Methods in Statistics, Lecture Notes in Statistics, Vol. 28, Springer, New York, 1985). The pair of divergence functions on X and on Y, respectively, induce a Riemannian metric in the small, with psychometric order (defined in Dzhafarov & Colonius, 1999) equal to 2. The difference between the Finsler-Riemann geometric approach to the stimulus space (Dzhafarov & Colonius, 1999) and this dually-affine Riemannian geometric approach to the dual scaling of the comparison and the reference stimuli is discussed.     

无意识信息的刺激表征及其时间特性

无意识信息是否存在刺激表征有待解决。实验采用字母Flanker任务, 通过目标和flanker在刺激水平和反应水平上的冲突效应, 重点考察阈下flanker在刺激水平的表征。在相同的实验设计下, flanker可觉察时(实验1A), 观察到经典的刺激冲突效应和反应冲突效应; 而flanker无意识时(实验1B), 重复了反应冲突效应, 却观察到刺激冲突效应发生反转, 提示了无意识信息的反应加工及刺激加工。实验2采用符号材料促使刺激−反应的自动联结, 减少刺激−反应规则的难度, 结果重复了实验1B的发现--无意识信息引起反转的刺激冲突。刺激冲突下反转效应的一致结果表明无意识信息的刺激表征影响了认知加工。实验3考察这种影响在时间进程上的特点。无意识刺激表征的影响随反应时变化：在快速反应中观察到刺激冲突效应, 之后该效应发生反转且反转量随反应时增加而增大。相反, 无意识反应表征的影响在不同反应时下保持稳定。以上结果提供了无意识信息存在刺激表征的行为学证据并揭示了其时间特性, 提供了无意识领域中不一致研究结果的整合思路。     

不同亚型数学学习困难儿童应用题问题表征过程的研究

采用自编数学应用题解决能力测验题对小学四年级单纯型数困儿童、混合型数困儿童和普通儿童问题理解阶段、问题整合阶段的差异,以及问题表征能力与数学问题解决之间的关系进行探究。结果表明：（1）单纯型与混合型数困儿童有效识别信息的能力弱,难于利用相关信息和排除干扰信息。（2）单纯型数困儿童比混合型数困儿童更擅于运用图式表征策略。（3）图式表征策略能促进数困儿童应用题的解决。     

社会互动视角下人际公平形成的脑机制

最后通牒博弈任务被广泛用以探究公平行为, 以往研究大多集中于对博弈中某一方决策行为和神经机制的探讨, 但是人际公平可能是互动双方重复博弈的结果。因此只考察单个大脑活动, 并不足以揭示由互动双方共同完成的社会认知活动的脑机制。因此, 本研究结合修改版的最后通牒博弈任务和基于fNIRS的超扫描技术, 从群体脑水平上考察人际公平形成的脑机制。行为结果显示, 相比无惩罚条件, 惩罚下提议者的分配金额更高, 且惩罚力度越强, 分配越趋近公平分配。fNIRS的结果显示, 惩罚下右侧背外侧前额叶皮层、顶下小叶和颞-顶联合区的脑间活动同步性显著强于无惩罚条件, 而且两条件的分配金额差异越大, 右侧顶下小叶的脑间活动同步性差异也越大。综上, 脑间活动同步性可以作为惩罚下人际公平形成的客观脑指标, 研究为探讨人际公平的内在机制提供了新的视角。     

Locke,Arnauld, and abstract ideas

A great deal of the criticism directed at Locke’s theory of abstract ideas assumes that a Lockean abstract idea is a special kind of idea which by its very nature either represents many diverse particulars or represents separately things that cannot exist in separation. This interpretation of Locke has been challenged by scholars such as Kenneth Winkler and Michael Ayers who regard it as uncharitable in light of the obvious problems faced by this theory of abstraction. Winkler and Ayers argue that Locke instead held that to have an abstract idea is to attend selectively to some portion of the content of a particular idea. On this view, to have an abstract idea is not to have a special kind of idea but to have an ordinary idea in a special way. Ayers argues that Locke inherited this theory from Arnauld. I argue that the case made by Ayers for the attribution of the extrinsic theory to Locke rests on a misinterpretation of Arnauld. In fact, both Locke and Arnauld regard selective attention as part of a process whereby a new kind of idea is constructed.     

不诚实行为的认知神经机制

说谎,作为人性的一方面,已经成为心理学、生物进化学、实验经济学等多学科的关注点。说谎会受到多种文化的谴责,说谎行为也是人们所不支持的。但是国外的研究发现,在普通人群中,不诚实行为也是普遍存在的,而且这种不诚实行为并没有影响被试诚实的自我概念。因此了解这种不诚实行为的发生、发展过程,对人们认识和识别不诚实行为,提高人际互动质量至关重要。本文从不诚实行为的发生、发展过程出发,重点介绍了不诚实行为的研究范式、认知神经机制和影响因素。并针对已有研究的不足:(1)实验结果的解释水平低;(2)变量操纵不严谨;(3)研究方法局限; 提出了可能的解决方案。     

How many fingers am I holding up? The answer depends on children's language background

Monolingual English‐speaking preschool children tend to process number gestures as unanalyzed wholes rather than use the one‐to‐one (finger‐to‐quantity) correspondence. By school age, however, children can use the one‐to‐one correspondence. The purpose of the present studies was to test whether children learn one‐to‐one correspondence through exposure to a variety of finger configurations to convey a single quantity. In Study 1, we compared children with exposure to multiple one‐to‐one configurations, that is, French‐English and German‐English bilingual children, to English monolingual children who see consistent representations. As predicted, the bilingual children performed better in interpreting unconventional number gestures. In Study 2, we compared Chinese‐English bilingual children who knew arbitrary one‐handed Chinese numbers gestures for quantities 6–10 to Chinese‐English bilingual children who did not know these gestures, as well as to monolingual English speakers. Chinese‐English bilinguals who knew the arbitrary gestures were more likely to interpret unconventional gestures arbitrarily (i.e., influenced by the written and/or Chinese gesture forms). These children did not differ from English monolinguals in the interpretation of unconventional gestures. These results are consistent with the argument that children can become sensitive to the one‐to‐one correspondence in number gestures with exposure to multiple configurations for the same quantity.     

Efficiency investigation from shallow to deep neural network techniques in human activity recognition

In the last years, several researchers measured different recognition rates with different artificial neural network (ANN) techniques on public data sets in the human activity recognition (HAR) problem. However an overall investigation does not exist in the literature and the efficiency of complex and deeper ANNs over shallow networks is not clear. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the recognition rate and time requirement of different kinds of ANN approaches in HAR. This work examines the performance of shallow ANN architectures with different hyper-parameters, ANN ensembles, binary ANN classifier groups, and convolutional neural networks on two public databases. Although the popularity of binary classifiers, classifier ensembles and deep learning have been significantly increasing, this study shows that shallow ANNs with appropriate hyper-parameters in combination with extracted features can reach similar or higher recognition rate in less time than other artificial neural network methods in HAR. With a well-tuned ANN we outperformed all previous results on two public databases. Consequently, instead of the more complex ANN techniques, the usage of simple ANN with two or three layers can be an appropriate choice for activity recognition.     

“That's what they talk about when they talk about epiphanies”: An invitation to engage with the process of developing found poetry to illuminate exceptional human experience

This paper illuminates some of the journey taken by me, the researcher, whilst completing my doctoral research into the lived experience of epiphanies. The research journey is conceptualised as one of the discoveries into the task of qualitative research to “carry forward” the meaning of human experience, that is, considered “more than words can say.” Six participants took part in an unstructured interview aimed at exploring how they made sense of their epiphanic experiences. Following the application of an interpretative phenomenological analysis, an arts‐based representation of the research findings, in the form of found poetry, was chosen to supplement the emerging interpretation. Six found poems are dispersed throughout the paper. The aim is to offer the reader the crucial opportunity to simultaneously engage responsively and rationally with an exploration of the value of found poetry. Moreover, this style of presentation may offer the reader more space and time to notice, observe and reflect on the impact of research poetry as they move through the paper. An evaluation of the utility of found poetry is also offered. By providing an insight into the process of constructing found poetry, it is intended that the merits of its integration within qualitative enquiry are highlighted as successfully being able to bring the meaning of exceptional human experience alive to the reader. Furthermore, the experiential knowledge offered here is considered particularly relevant to professionals working in caring or therapeutic roles.     

心理韧性及其神经机制：来自非人类动物模型的证据

心理韧性是指个体对不幸、逆境或挫折等压力情形的有效适应。以非人类动物为模型的心理韧性研究一般改称心理韧性为“抗逆力”, 本文也将沿用“抗逆力”来区分不同物种的韧性研究。近年来采用非人类动物模型对抗逆力神经机制的探索取得了重要进展, 内侧前额叶、海马、奖赏环路等脑区及其投射均参与调控抗逆力的表现, 操控其神经环路的影响与所面对的压力形式有关, 并且高抗动物拥有特异性适应机制。鉴于人类研究的伦理及实验手段等原因, 抗逆力的研究将为人类的韧性研究提供重要参考。