类别空间关系加工系统和数量空间关系加工系统的分离 ——来自多领域的研究证据

Kosslyn认为人类的空间关系加工系统分为类别空间关系加工子系统和数量空间关系加工子系统,这两个子系统不仅存在功能上的分离,并且存在大脑神经水平的分离,这种神经水平的分离表现为两种空间关系加工的大脑半球偏向,即类别空间关系加工的左半球偏向与数量空间关系加工的右半球偏向。对两种空间关系加工的研究,涉及的领域从低水平的空间知觉,至表象、记忆、语言、行动及物体识别等,涉及的研究方法包括半视野速示法,神经网络模拟,PET, fMRI, ERP, rTMS,脑损伤病人的研究及比较动物研究。综合现有研究,虽然大多数研究中得到的脑半球偏向为两种加工子系统在神经水平的分离提供了证据,但不同研究中脑半球偏向的获得是相当不稳定的,并且受到研究方法因素的影响。尽管造成神经水平的分离似乎与大脑左右半球对具有不同感受野特征的神经元输出的偏向有一定的关系,但这仍需要进一步的研究证据     

幼儿心理理论与时序记忆的关系——来自时序记忆分离的证据

研究检验了时序记忆与心理理论的关系.实验一对39个3.5～5.5岁儿童的时序记忆能力以及心理理论表现进行测查,考察了因果关系、相关关系、无因果无相关关系三类不同性质的材料测得的时序记忆与心理理论的关系;90个儿童参与了实验二,通过正叙、倒叙、预叙三种叙述方式将时序记忆分离为理解性时序记忆和机械性时序记忆,再分别考察与心理理论的关系.结果发现,在不同性质的实验材料中,时序记忆与心理理论相关均不显著;5.5岁儿童的理解性时序记忆显著高于3.5岁儿童,4.5岁、5.5岁儿童的机械性时序记忆显著高于3.5岁儿童;只有理解性时序记忆能够预测儿童的心理理论成绩.     

刺激持续时间对注意瞬脱影响的实验分离现象

通过三个实验,研究了注意瞬脱效应以便深入理解注意时间维度上的特性。实验一针对注意瞬脱效应（简称AB效应）和刺激持续显示时间（简称ED）之间的关系,发现SOA或者ED的延长能减小AB效应。实验二的结果再次证明ED的延长能减小AB效应,并且发现ED延长并没有伴随着对目标的加工速度的加快。实验三发现在目标与干扰项没有显著的特征差异时,AB效应随着ED延长而减小的现象消失了,即ED对AB效应的影响出现了实验性的分离。同时还证明突出显示可以通过加快对目标的反应速度来显著的减小AB效应,而且ED因素只有在目标具有突出的视觉特征时才能改变AB效应。     

Distinguishing Between the Facilitating and the Self-Serving Charismatic Group Leader

Winnicott informed us about the components of the facilitating environment. Kohut warned us to differentiate between the charismatic leader, who looks for enfeebled followers to further his own grandiose ambitions, and the idealizable leader whose actions are based on a sense of values. Findings from attachment theory and neurobiology indicate how specific developmental issues make for a perfect fit between the self-serving charismatic leader and those who have been deprived of attuned interactive regulation and secure attachment in early childhood. This article attempts to integrate the above ideas for application to group dynamics in therapeutic, supervisory, training, and institutional groups.     

Recovering memories of trauma: A view from the laboratory

The controversy over the validity of repressed and recovered memories of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) has been extraordinarily bitter. Yet data on cognitive functioning in people reporting repressed and recovered memories of trauma have been strikingly scarce. Recent laboratory studies have been designed to test hypotheses about cognitive mechanisms that ought to be operative if people can repress and recover memories of trauma or if they can form false memories of trauma. Contrary to clinical lore, these studies have shown that people reporting CSA histories are not characterized by a superior ability to forget trauma-related material. Other studies have shown that individuals reporting recovered memories of either CSA or abduction by space aliens are characterized by heightened proneness to form false memories in certain laboratory tasks. Although cognitive psychology methods cannot distinguish true memories from false ones, these methods can illuminate mechanisms for remembering and forgetting among people reporting histories of trauma.     

Hair cortisol in relation to acute and post-traumatic stress symptoms in children and adolescents

Background: We report on the preliminary results of two independent studies that (1) compare the hair cortisol concentrations (HCC) of healthy controls with patients displaying post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS, study 1+2), (2) investigate whether pre-trauma HCC are predictive for the development of acute stress symptoms (ASS) and PTSS (study 1) and (3) determine whether HCC correlate with PTSS in a clinical sample of children (study 2).

Methods: In study 1, the clinical symptoms of 35 minors were examined one (T1) and seven weeks (T2) after surgery following an accident. Hair samples were taken after the accident that reflect cortisol secretion over the past three months before the accident (healthy controls). In study 2, HCC and PTSS symptoms were cross-sectionally assessed in 22 minors who had experienced a psychological trauma.

Results: The HCC of patients with PTSS were lower than the HCC of healthy controls (study 1+2). Secondary analyses showed that HCC were significantly lower in male PTSS patients than in male healthy controls, whereas the HCC in females were comparably low in both groups. Pre-trauma HCC did not predict the total ASS and PTSS scores (study 1) and HCC were not directly related to the total PTSS scores (study 2).     

The relationship between suppression and subsequent intrusions: the mediating role of peritraumatic dissociation and anxiety

Background and objectives: Although previous studies showed that thought and emotion suppression represent risk factors for intrusions development, the mechanisms that explain these relations were less explored. This study aims to examine the relationships between thought and emotion suppression and the symptoms of intrusion following the exposure to a trauma-related event. Moreover, we explored if these relationships would be mediated by peritraumatic state dissociation and state anxiety.

Design and methods: The trauma film paradigm was used and the participants were students (N?=?148) experimentally exposed to an aversive film to model a traumatic experience. Thought and emotion suppression were measured before the trauma exposure. After exposure, the participants completed scales for measuring state dissociation and state anxiety. Intrusive images and thoughts of the film were recorded in the subsequent week using an intrusion diary.

Results: Thought suppression predicted intrusive thoughts frequency, and this effect was mediated by the peritraumatic anxiety. State anxiety predicted both intrusive images and thoughts, while state dissociation only predicted intrusive images.

Conclusions: Intrusive images and intrusive thoughts are different phenomena and they are predicted by different variables. The practical implications of these results for posttraumatic stress disorder treatment and secondary traumatization are discussed.     

Silenced by Betrayal: The Path from Childhood Trauma to Diminished Sexual Communication in Adulthood

Betrayal traumas (Freyd, 1996), abuses that violate trust or dependency, predict numerous negative outcomes, including dissociation and revictimization (DePrince & Freyd, 2007; Gobin & Freyd, 2009; Goldsmith, Freyd, & DePrince, 2012). No previous empirical research examines the relation between betrayal and sexual health, including dissociation during sex. This article addresses this gap with 2 studies, which provide support for a multiple mediation model where high betrayal in childhood predicts worsened sexual communication in adulthood through trait dissociation and sexual dissociation in serial. In both studies, the direct path between betrayal and sexual communication was nonsignificant; only when accounting for trait dissociation overall and sexual dissociation in particular does childhood betrayal predict diminished communication with sex partners in adulthood.     

What will Phil do next? : Spontaneously inferred traits influence predictions of behavior

Past research has shown that perceivers intentionally may make trait inferences about others and use this information to make predictions about these others' future behaviors. Other research has also shown that people can make trait inferences without intent—that is, spontaneously. However, one unexplored avenue is whether spontaneous trait inferences (STI), affect how perceivers predict others' will behavior. Three studies explored this issue. Results from Studies 1 and 2 showed that: (1) exposure to trait-implicative behaviors describing an actor influences subsequent behavior predictions made about the actor in a trait-consistent manner, and (2) predictions occurred regardless of behavior recall, implying that the behavior predictions were derived from prior trait inferences and not from behavior recall. Results from Study 3 bolstered this conclusion by showing that behavior predictions were similar regardless of whether subjects were explicitly instructed to make inferences or not, but that a manipulation known to interfere with inference generation (lie detection instructions) muted behavior predictions. Results from Study 3 also suggested that the prediction effects had both automatic and controlled components, and that reductions observed in the lie detection condition of Study 3 were caused by alterations in the automatic influence of trait knowledge to the behavior predictions. These results suggest that STI may be causal inferences about the actors' dispositions.     

不确定归类的类别等级一致性限制与分离

该文以大学生被试,实验考察在集中呈现类别成员信息的非对齐类别等级结构条件下的不确定归类。实验结果表明,对个体的不确定归类会受类别的上下级包含关系限制而保持等级一致性,导致出现下级归类错误或上级归类错误;而对群体的不确定归类不会受类别上下级包含关系限制而保持等级一致性,而是与类别层次的实际分布相一致,出现上下级归类的分离。