语言理解中抑制机制的研究概况

抑制是语言理解中的一种重要的认知加工机制。该简要介绍了语言理解中抑制的概念、分类和有关抑制机制的建构一整合模型、结构建构框架等理论;同时,概括介绍了对语言内部无关或不适当信息干扰的抑制、对来自语言外部无关信息干扰的抑制以及跨通道语言理解过程中有关抑制的研究。     

When the method makes a difference: Antagonistic effects on “automatic evaluations” as a function of task characteristics of the measure

Researchers often employ implicit measures as dependent variables to investigate processes of attitude formation and change. In such studies, experimentally induced differences are typically interpreted as reflecting change in automatic evaluations. We argue that experimentally induced effects on implicit measures may not always reflect genuine changes in evaluative responses, but can be driven by the mechanisms underlying the measurement procedure. In line with this assumption, the present research shows that these mechanisms can produce opposite effects of the same experimental manipulation for otherwise equivalent implicit measures. These results indicate that merely observing experimental effects on implicit measures does not allow direct inferences regarding changes in automatic evaluations. Instead, psychological interpretations of such effects hinge upon the mechanics of how a given measurement procedure responds to variations in the context. Implications for research using implicit measures are discussed.     

字距在视觉干扰中作用的实验研究

本研究分别以字距和刺激呈现的时序为变量,采用同一异匹配作业和视搜寻范型,通过两个实验论证,字距因素是导致语境产生视觉干扰的一种必要而充分的条件。     

Emotional distress and the perceived interference of menstruation

The relation of perceived interference of menstruation on expected behaviors to emotional distress was examined. It was predicted that the perceived interference of menstruation would be more predictive of emotional distress associated with menstruation than either menstrual or premenstrual pain. Participants completed measures of menstrual pain and visual analogue scales of emotional distress (anger, frustration, depression, anxiety, fear). Measures of perceived ability to tolerate the pain, the perceived interference of the pain, and attitudes toward menstruation were also collected. Results indicated that perceived interference was the strongest predictor of emotional distress secondary to menstrual pain. Ratings of menstrual and premenstrual pain were also significant predictors of emotional distress. Results supported the major hypothesis of the study and provide evidence that the appraisal of interference imposed by a particular condition or Stressor may be an important factor in stress and coping processes.     

Pigeons' spatial memory: III. Effect of distractors on delayed matching of key location.

The effect of distractors on pigeons' delayed matching of key location was investigated. Baseline trials began with a "ready" stimulus (brief operation of the grain feeder). Then one (randomly chosen) key from a three-by-three matrix was lit briefly as the sample. After a short delay (retention interval) the sample key was lit again along with one of the other eight keys. A peck at the key that had served as the sample (correct comparison) produced grain reinforcement, whereas a peck to the other key (incorrect comparison) produced only the intertrial interval. In Experiment 1, a houselight distractor, presented during either the sample, retention interval, or choice phases of the trial, had little if any effect on accuracy of matching key location. In Experiment 2, one of three types of spatial stimuli was interpolated during the retention interval, or the interval was blank as during baseline trials. The three stimuli were: the sample (correct comparison) location for that trial, the incorrect comparison location for that trial, or one of the seven unused locations for that trial. Relative to blank trials, accuracy improved slightly on sample-interpolated trials, decreased slightly on unused location-interpolated trials, and decreased considerably on incorrect comparison-interpolated trials. In Experiment 3, retention intervals were blank or had one of six types of interpolation: the sample, the incorrect comparison, two presentations of the sample, two presentations of the incorrect comparison, the sample followed by the incorrect comparison, or the incorrect comparison followed by the sample.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Note on delay-interval illumination effects on retention in monkeys (Cebus apella).

Two monkeys experienced with delayed matching to sample were given a 30-day baseline training period during which the delay interval was illuminated. Both subjects showed an increase in matching accuracy when shifted to dark delay intervals, and accuracy declined when the illuminated delay interval was reinstituted. These results, as well as earlier reports of facilitation of delayed matching behavior by dark delay intervals, support the view that the absolute level of delay-interval illumination can importantly affect visual retention in monkeys and may be indicative of significant differences in the retention mechanisms employed by monkeys and birds.     

Discrimination training facilitates pigeons' performance on one-trial-per-day delayed matching of key location

Six pigeons were tested on a one-trial-per-day variant of delayed matching of key location. In one condition, a trial began with the illumination of a pair of quasi-randomly selected pecking keys in a large 10-key test box. Pigeons' pecks to one key (the sample) were reinforced with 8-second access to grain on a variable-interval 30-second schedule, whereas pecks to the other key (the distractor) had no scheduled consequences. In the second condition, the nonreinforced distractor was not presented. In both conditions, subjects were removed from the apparatus after 15 minutes and placed in a holding cage. Subjects were subsequently replaced in the box after a delay (retention interval) of 30 seconds and were reexposed to the illuminated sample and distractor keys for 1 minute. If a pigeon made more pecks to the sample during this interval, the distractor was extinguished and subsequent pecks to the sample were reinforced on the previous schedule for an additional 15 minutes. If, however, a pigeon made more pecks to the distractor, both keys were extinguished and the subject was returned to its home cage. For all subjects, matching-to-sample accuracy was higher in the first condition. In a second experiment, the retention interval was increased to 5, 15, and 30 minutes, and then to 1, 2, 4, 8, 12, and 24 hours. Most subjects remembered the correct key location for up to 4 hours, and in one case, up to 24 hours, demonstrating a spatial-memory proficiency far better than previously reported in this species on delayed matching tasks. The results are discussed in terms of the commonly held distinction between working and reference memory.     

Short-term memory in the pigeon: delayed-pair-comparison procedures and some results.

A discrete-trials, delayed-pair-comparison procedure was developed to study visual short-term memory for tilted lines. In four experiments, pigeons' responses on left or right keys were reinforced with food depending on whether a comparison stimulus was or was not the same as a standard stimulus presented earlier in the same trial. In Experimental I, recall was an increasing function of the exposure time of the to-be-remembered stimulus and was a decreasing function of the retention interval. In Experiment II, retroactive interference was investigated: recall was poorer after a retention interval during which was presented either a tilted line or contextual stimuli in the form of the illuminated experimental chamber. In Experiment III, a subject was required to engage, throughout the retention interval, in one or the other of two different behaviors, depending on which of two stimuli a subject was to remember. This mnemonic strategy vastly improved recall after 15- and 20-second retention intervals. In Experiment IV, the opposite end of the performance continuum was studied: by combining the effects of a larger stimulus set and the effects of what presumably was an increased memory load, performance was reduced to approximately chance levels after retention intervals shorter than 1 second.     

A thinking aid

Writing a paper is often a process of discovering what you have to say. A small, inexpensive, "three-dimensional" outline of the paper is a help in guiding the process of discovery. New points can be accurately placed as they appear. The outline grows with the paper. The construction of such an outline is described.     

Delay-interval illumination changes interfere with pigeon short-term memory.

Pigeons acquired a successive depayed matching-to-sample task at delay intervals ranging from 2.5 to 7 seconds. Test sessions were conducted during which delay-interval illumination conditions were changed from those illumination conditions that prevailed during the baselines. Compared to baseline delayed matching performance, changing delay-interval illumination disrupted matching. This disruption occurred whether the change in delay-interval illumination represented an increase or a decrease, relative to the baseline, and whether there was or was not a change in illumination during the test session. It was concluded that illumination per se introduced during delay intervals of delayed matching tasks does not interfere with pigeon short-term memory. Rather, a change in delay-interval illumination, relative to the baseline, appears to retroactively interfere in pigeon short-term memory.