Processing of facial and non‐facial visual stimuli in 2–5‐year‐old children

The present experiments examined the degree to which analytic and holistic modes of processing play a role in the way 2–5‐year‐old children process facial and non‐facial visual stimuli. Children between 2 and 5 years of age were instructed to categorize faces (in Experiment 1) and non‐facial visual stimuli, such as birds and planes (in Experiment 2), into two categories. The categories were so constructed as to allow the children to categorize the facial and non‐facial stimuli either analytically (by focusing on a single attribute) or holistically (in terms of overall similarity). The results demonstrated that the previous conclusions concerning older children's (from 6 years onwards) holistic mode of facial processing could not be generalized to younger children because most of the 2–5‐year olds processed the faces by taking single facial attributes into account. A similar pattern of results emerged for the processing of objects, showing that the majority of the children focused on single attributes. Thus, for both visual domains, holistic processing was the exception rather than the rule. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Russia and the West: The Root of the Problem of Mutual Understanding

I examine issues tied to the allegeddifficulties of mutual understanding betweenRussia and the West. I show that some of thebackground to these issues lies in thedifference of culturally grounded differencesin perceptual and conceptual schemata. In theWest, a broadly understood Aristotelianism andin Russia Neoplatonism designate dominantattitudes to the world. The Russian `lunar'consciousness, in comparison with the `solar'consciousness of the West, tends by and largeprecipitously to totalize the world, and theexperienced multiplicity of the real isreferred to its imagined center. The differencebetween Russia and the West, limited to somedegree by mutual similarities, can become thebasis of an axiological and intellectualdialogue important for one side and theother.     

Prediction Errors and Attention in the Presence and Absence of Feedback

ABSTRACT— Contemporary theories of learning typically assume that learning is driven by prediction errors—in other words, that we learn more when our predictions turn out to be incorrect than we do when our predictions are correct. Results from the recording of electrical brain activity suggest one mechanism by which this might happen; we seem to direct visual attention toward the likely causes of previous prediction errors. This can happen very rapidly—within less than 200 milliseconds of the error-causing object being presented. It is tempting to infer that if learning is driven by prediction errors, then little can be learned in the absence of feedback. Such a conclusion is unwarranted. In fact, the substantial learning that is sometimes the result of simple exposure to objects can also be explained by processes of directing attention toward the likely causes of previous prediction errors.     

系统论方法在糖尿病性视网膜病变危险因素及治疗研究中的应用

全球糖尿病患者人数在不断的增多,大约10％的Ⅰ型糖尿病患者在10年后可出现糖尿病性视网膜病变,而大约95％的Ⅱ型糖尿病患者在20年后可出现糖尿病性视网膜病变。目前,糖尿病性视网膜病的发病机制尚不明确,影响其发生发展的因素也很复杂,因此,对糖尿病性视网膜病的发病危险因素及其诊治的研究,具有相当重要的意义。系统论,研究各种物质运动形态所共有的系统联系和关系,具有普遍的方法论意义,为现代医学的进步提供了全新的思维方式和科学方法论原则。本文试用系统论的整体性、优化原理阐述糖尿病性视网膜病变发病的危险因素与治疗进展,为对其深入研究提供方法论依据。     

干扰子的激活、抑制及其加工时程

针对有关干扰子激活和抑制加工的时程研究存在的分歧,采用干扰效应和负启动效应双指标,探讨不同知觉负载水平下干扰子的激活和抑制及其加工时程问题。结果显示：在同一实验条件下采用干扰效应和负启动效应双指标可将干扰子加工过程分离为激活和抑制两个阶段;激活加工时程发生在选择性注意早期,抑制加工时程发生在选择性注意的早期至中期之间。这一结果与Lavie等的推测及认知神经科学研究成果均有异同。     

Deviations from Prescribed Prompting Procedures: Implications for Treatment Integrity

The acquisition of new skills may be hindered when teaching procedures vary from previously validated approaches or contain errors. In the present study, we compared the acquisition and maintenance of response chains taught using a perfectly implemented system of least prompts and a multiple verbal prompts procedure (i.e., addition of multiple verbal prompts and failure to follow through with more intrusive prompts). Four children, aged 6–9, participated in the study. An adapted alternating treatments design was used to compare the effectiveness and efficiency of learning during the system of least prompts and the alternative system of least prompts. Results were consistent with those obtained in previous studies in that the perfectly implemented and alternative prompting procedures were effective in teaching new skills for all participants. However, the perfectly implemented treatment required fewer trials to mastery for 4 of the 5 evaluations. Response chains taught under the multiple verbal prompts condition had poorer maintenance for 2 of the 5 evaluations. The results of the current study suggest that deviations from empirically identified teaching procedures may reduce the speed with which new skills are acquired.     

The dynamic infrastructure of mind—A hypothesis and some of its applications

A mechanism underlying the computational properties of the cognitive architecture is construed based on a minimal list of operational clusters. This general processing mechanism constitutes the dynamic infrastructure of mind (DIM). DIM consists in categories of mental operations foundational for learning that contain inborn components called inner operations, which are self-developing in the interaction mind-environment. Within the DIM paradigm, the input cognitive systems are not domain specific or core-knowledge specific, they are operational specific and capable of further developments that become domain specific while experiencing the environment. Arguments for this construal come from three sources: literature review, data collected through classroom observations, and a four-year experimental study of teaching and learning mathematics in primary grades. The outcomes of that experiment led to a methodology of learning based on activating the operational infrastructure of mind, which enhances students' flexibility of thinking and predicts the capacity to solve creatively a variety of problems.     

听觉警报失聪的认知因素

无意失聪是指当人们集中精神做事时,会忽略非预期的听觉刺激。这种现象在现实生活中普遍存在,它对航空和交通安全构成巨大威胁。研究者们发现高知觉和高认知负荷条件下个体会因认知资源有限导致无意失聪,且随着负荷增加,被忽略的听觉刺激诱发的早期（N100）和晚期（P300）神经活动有所减弱。这表明非预期听觉刺激可以进入晚期加工阶段,但其能否被感知可能取决于与工作记忆相关的额顶网络的抑制控制程度。而工作记忆容量及其负荷与无意失聪关系的现有研究结果之间还存在不一致性。未来研究可以将其范式和理论拓展到其他安全生产领域,并运用认知训练等方式规避无意失聪,从而减少人因失误。     

亲亲相隐何时休?关系对揭发意向影响的边界

当组织中做出不道德行为的人跟自己关系非常亲近时,员工可能不会揭发他们的不道德行为,进而给组织带来潜在的隐患。鉴于先前研究较少关注如何降低不道德情境中关系的包庇作用,本研究考察了组织和个体特征在削弱关系与揭发负向关系方面扮演的调节角色。结果表明,关系会抑制员工对不道德行为的揭发意向(研究1~3),且关系对员工揭发意向的负向影响受到了组织关系取向(研究1和3)与员工正直(研究2和3)的调节。随着组织关系取向的下降或员工正直程度的提升,关系对员工揭发意向的抑制作用逐步降低。这些结果对于组织内部揭发机制设计具有借鉴意义。     

Narrative Quests and Social Change

In this response to Christian Smith's What Is a Person?, I raise questions about his conception of the human life as a narrative quest and his account of change in social structures and institutions. The metaphor of life as a quest suggests a solid, isolated, and integrated moral agent. I wonder whether the experiences of most moral agents render a different picture—one where life is fragmented and characterized by complex webs of relationships. Smith provides a detailed account of how social institutions change. I pose examples of more subtle and complex types of change as a way to press him to think about whether his account of change is too linear.