You never know where you are going until you know where you have been: Disorganized search after stroke

Disorders in spatial exploration can be expressed in a disorganized fashion of target cancellation. There is debate regarding whether disorganized search is related to stroke in general, to right brain damage or to unilateral spatial neglect (USN) in particular. In this study, 280 stroke patients and 37 healthy control subjects performed a computerized shape cancellation test. We investigated the number of perseverations and several outcome measures regarding disorganized search: Consistency of search direction (best r), distance between consecutive cancelled targets and intersections with paths between previous cancelled targets. We compared performance between patients with left and right brain damage (L, R) and with and without USN (USN+, USN?), resulting in four subgroups: LUSN?, RUSN?, LUSN+, and RUSN+. Higher numbers of intersections were found for the left brain‐ and right brain‐damaged patients with USN and for the right brain‐damaged patients without USN, compared to healthy control subjects. Furthermore, right brain‐damaged patients with USN showed a higher number of intersections compared to right brain‐damaged patients without USN and compared to left brain‐damaged patients with USN. To conclude, disorganized search was most strongly related to the neglect syndrome, and patients with more severe USN were even more impaired.     

Profiles of meaning and search for meaning among prisoners

Meaning in life and searching for meaning are central in how people organize their lives and deal with various challenges during them. Studies on meaning and the search for meaning among prisoners are virtually nonexistent. Based on the presence of meaning in their lives and on their search for meaning, we discovered four different profiles in a sample of 365 prisoners: High Presence High Search, High Presence Low Search, Low Presence High Search, and Low Presence Low Search. Compared to prisoners with low meaning profiles, those whose profiles were marked by higher levels of meaning displayed less distress, more positive world assumptions, and higher levels of self-worth. They also show more empathy for others. Older prisoners and prisoners who were sexually abused during childhood were more represented in the profile that was marked by extremely low levels of meaning and low levels of search for meaning.     

Memory-based attentional capture by colour and shape contents in visual working memory

Current theories assume that there is substantial overlap between visual working memory (VWM) and visual attention functioning, such that active representations in VWM automatically act as an attentional set, resulting in attentional biases towards objects that match the mnemonic content. Most evidence for this comes from visual search tasks in which a distractor similar to the memory interferes with the detection of a simultaneous target. Here we provide additional evidence using one of the most popular paradigms in the literature for demonstrating an active attentional set: The contingent spatial orienting paradigm of Folk and colleagues. This paradigm allows memory-based attentional biases to be more directly attributed to spatial orienting. Experiment 1 demonstrated a memory-contingent spatial attention effect for colour but not for shape contents of VWM. Experiment 2 tested the hypothesis that the placeholders used for spatial cueing interfered with the shape processing, and showed that memory-based attentional capture for shape returned when placeholders were removed. The results of the present study are consistent with earlier findings from distractor interference paradigms, and provide additional evidence that biases in spatial orienting contribute to memory-based influences on attention.     

Stuck in the Muck? The Role of Mindsets in Self‐Regulation When Stymied During the Job Search

Although there is a vast amount of literature on the psychologically harmful effects of unemployment, there has been less scholarship aimed at helping those struggling with the motivational challenges involved in a frustrated job search. This conceptual article draws on theory and extensive research in educational, social, and organizational psychology to explain the likely role of mindsets in self‐regulation during the job search. Specifically, the authors outline how a person's mindset can cue patterns of functional and dysfunctional thoughts, feelings, and behaviors during a range of job search tasks. They then provide practical advice for counseling individuals—and for people helping themselves—through the job search process.     

线索靶子关联和搜索策略对注意捕获的作用——来自意义线索的证据

采用线索化范式,操作性地建立线索和靶子间的关联,通过比较不同搜索策略任务下不同线索靶子关联条件间的捕获量考察关联水平及搜索策略对注意捕获的作用,并分析抽象的意义概念对空间注意分配的调节作用。结果发现(1)意义线索的注意捕获符合关联性的注意定向假说,只有符合当前注意控制定势的线索才具有捕获注意的能力;(2)知觉关联在调节无意注意定向上具有主导性,调节能力强,能将其他因素效应掩盖;语义关联单独作用时对无意注意定向有调节作用,但调节程度小,效应易被掩盖;(3)搜索策略虽然能够大大提高反应速度,但只有基于特征独子的搜索模式对无意注意定向有调节作用,且调节能力有限。研究再次认证了空间无意注意转移中注意控制定势的作用,同时指出抽象的概念加工能够根据当前的环境有效指导后续的选择和行为。     

认知控制在工作记忆表征引导注意中的作用:来自眼动的证据

研究同时采用首次注视点百分率与行为反应时指标,探讨了认知控制在无关工作记忆表征引导视觉注意选择过程中的作用。实验1发现:当视觉搜索容易时,首次注视点百分率和反应时指标都出现了注意引导效应;而当视觉搜索困难时,在反映早期注意定向的首次注视点百分率指标上,搜索快的被试组的注意引导效应显著大于搜索慢的被试组,而在行为反应时指标上,搜索快的被试组表现出注意引导效应,但搜索慢的被试组则表现出相反的注意拒绝效应。实验2发现当采用更为突显的靶子刺激时,首次注视点百分率指标上表现出的注意引导效应并未受到视觉搜索靶子显著性的影响,甚至还表现出一定的优先性。这些结果表明认知控制在工作记忆表征引导视觉注意的过程中所起的作用是动态变化的,视觉搜索早期注意定向阶段的注意引导效应比较稳健,认知控制只能减弱其效应的量值,而在随后的视觉搜索过程中,当视觉搜索比较缓慢时,认知控制可能会将注意引导效应反转为相反的注意拒绝效应。     

Purchasing decisions,partial knowledge,and economic search experimental and simulation evidence

Several experimental studies have discovered high-performing heuristic strategies in the search for the most economic price of a good in situations where a searcher has both full prior knowledge and no prior knowledge of the underlying price distribution. This paper describes a new experiment set in a more realistic ‘partial-knowledge’ framework. Several new search heuristics are suggested which match well with observed behaviour, and which, over a large number of simulated trials, perform well in comparison with the optimal model and better than previously reported ‘no-knowledge’ rules.     

梨状皮层或苍白球损毁对大鼠空间认知能力的影响

在Ｍｏｒｒｉｓ迷宫中,梨状皮层或苍白球损毁大鼠的空间认知作业成绩较显著低于控制组,搜索目标以趋向式策略为主,与正常大鼠搜索策略的差异提示：①梨状皮层和苍白球参与了空间认知加工;②在图认知系统中梨状皮层和苍白球居辅助层次。     

基于干扰物特征的统计规则对注意抑制效应的影响

采用经典的额外单例范式的变式, 通过操纵基于干扰物颜色的统计规则, 考察其对注意抑制效应的影响。结果发现：(1)当迫使被试采取特征探测策略时, 与无颜色独子的条件相比, 被试在所有呈现独子的条件中反应都显著较快; (2)与呈现低概率颜色独子条件相比, 呈现高概率颜色独子条件下被试的反应显著较快。研究表明, 统计规则对注意的影响不局限于刺激位置, 基于干扰物特征的统计规则也会影响注意抑制效应的大小。     

共情的双刃剑效应：COVID-19心理热线咨询师的继发性创伤应激和替代性创伤后成长

关注新型冠状病毒肺炎流行期间的心理援助热线咨询师由共情带来的消极和积极影响及机制, 并探究从消极影响转变为积极成长的内在机制具有重要的理论和实践意义。本研究以国内疫情期间, 776名在教育部华中师范大学心理援助热线平台上工作的咨询师(平均年龄42.57岁, 平均咨询经验12.44年)为研究对象, 使用问卷法测量热线心理咨询师的共情、正念、寻求意义、继发性创伤应激(Secondary Traumatic Stress, STS)和替代性创伤后成长(Vicarious Posttraumatic Growth, VPTG)。采用潜变量结构方程模型进行分析, 结果发现：(1)咨询师的共情正向预测STS和VPTG; (2) 正念在共情和STS间起部分中介作用, 寻求意义在共情和VPTG间起部分中介作用; (3) 共情还可以分别通过STS、STS-寻求意义、正念-STS、正念-STS-寻求意义的中介路径对VPTG起正向预测作用。该结果提示要辩证看待共情带来的消极和积极影响, 关注从消极反应到积极成长的转变, 这不仅能够深化共情及其影响的理论, 还能为相关研究应用提供启示。