To Use or Not to Use: The Prenatal Genetic Technology/Worry Conundrum

We conducted an exploratory, qualitative study investigating the factors influencing the use of genetic counseling and prenatal genetic testing for two groups: pregnant women 35 years of age and over (AMA) at the time of delivery and pregnant women with an abnormal maternal serum triple screen (MSAFP3). The convenience sample consisted of 25 semistructured interviews of women/couples and 50 observations of genetic counseling sessions. Worry turned out to be the most important variable influencing decision making about prenatal genetic testing and was greater in the MSAFP3 group than in the AMA group. The women in the AMA group appeared to assign the risk of having a child with Down syndrome to their age category rather than to themselves individually, whereas, the risk perception for women with an abnormal MSAFP3 appeared to have shifted from a general population risk for pregnant women to an individual, personal risk. There was a general lack of understanding and also more misinformation about the MSAFP3 screen compared to amniocentesis. Women in both groups were torn between fear of an invasive test and worry about the health of their fetus for the rest of their pregnancy if they did not undergo amniocentesis.     

大学生社交焦虑成因的研究

探讨大学生社交焦虑的形成原因 ,为临床治疗提供理论基础。方法 :采用社交焦虑量表(IAS) ,个人评价问卷 (PEI) ,自编社交技能和他信问卷对 194名大学生被试进行测试。用SPSS7.0作回归、相关等统计分析。结果 :以自我评价、他信、社交技能为自变量 ,社交焦虑为因变量进行逐步回归分析 ,进入方程的变量为自我评价和社交技能。贡献量分别为 0 .32 7和 0 .0 4 0。以自我评价的 5个子维度 (学业、外貌、爱情、社会交往、与人们谈话 )、社交技能为自变量 ,社交焦虑为因变量进行逐步回归 ,进入回归方程的变量为“与人们交谈”因子、“社会交往”因子和社交技能 ,贡献量分别为 0 .2 96 ,0 .0 71和 0 .0 30。结论 :自我评价和社交技能是造成社交焦虑的重要原因 ,自我评价中的“与人们交谈”和“社会交往”方面是成因中的重要一环     

Human perception of verticality: Psychophysical experiments on the centrifuge and their neuronal implications

The role of the otoliths in the perception of verticality is analyzed in two different gravitational environments, 1 g and 1.5 g , and in different roll body positions between upright and upside down. The subjective visual vertical (SVV) is determined when a subject judges the orientation of an indicator as apparently vertical. An increase of g level hardly affects the SVV in the subject's frontal plane (y-z plane). However, for the first time, a three-dimensionally adjustable indicator was used for the SVV and this revealed a new phenomenon: An increase of g level induces a backward slant of the SVV into subject's median plane (x-z plane). The data are discussed with regard to Mittelstaedt's SVV theory; particular emphasis is given to the otolith-head coordinate transformation and the normalization of afferent otolith components. The results of this study provide evidence that the former is implemented at an earlier level and thus precedes the latter.     

元记忆监测与人格特征相互关系的实验研究

运用ＲＪＲ标准程序,考察了元记忆监测与两种人格维度（内外向以及情绪性）的关系,结果表明：元记忆监测水平受到了人格自身优势倾向性及其行为定向性的影响,人格的内外向特点和情绪稳定性特点直接制约着元记忆监测的准确性和稳定性。据此认为元记忆能力的度量和开发,应充分考虑人格因素的影响。     

汉字识别早期知觉过程中的整体优先效应

以7画、10画、13画上下、左右结构低字频宋体汉字为材料,以整字或成字部件为检测目标,在0～1.5、0～2.0、0～2.5、0～3.0周/度空间频率条件下探讨整体-局部加工的关系.结果发现,空间频率一定时,整字辨别的正确率更高,反应时更短.汉字识别过程中存在着明显的整体优先效应.作者认为,知觉过程由整体加工水平向局部加工水平的转换使部件辨别时间延长、正确率下降;刺激图像中整体性空间信息比较丰富,细节信息相对不足,进一步促成了知觉辨别的整体优先效应.     

眼睛注视的知觉及其线索效应

对眼睛注视知觉、眼睛注视线索效应及其影响因素等相关研究进行了总结和分析。结果发现:(1)婴儿从一出生就对眼睛注视线索表现出强烈的敏感性,眼睛注视知觉对语言和社会等能力的发展有很大影响;(2)颞上沟是加工眼睛注视线索的特异神经结构,它与实时监控情绪和情感的杏仁核存在神经联结,成为社会认知神经系统的重要组成部分;(3)对眼睛注视线索的早期加工显示出特异的脑电活动模式;(4)眼睛注视线索效应与外周线索的反射式效应相类似,但持续时间较长;(5)眼睛注视线索效应不仅受面部结构信息的影响,也受自上而下加工等高水平认知因素的调节,并显示出明显的个体差异。对眼睛注视线索效应的进一步研究应涉及人格判断、喜好评价和心理理论等高级社会认知活动。     

Does criminal offender treatment work?

In examining the effectiveness of offender treatment, this article attempts to integrate disparate bodies of knowledge. An overview of the effectiveness of offender treatment is presented. To put offender treatment into perspectives, the psychotherapy outcome literature for nonoffenders is briefly reviewed. The complexity of offender treatment is further explored by reviewing correlates and antecedents of criminality that include antisocial personality disorder, antisocial behavior in children, and substance abuse. Implications of the existing body of knowledge on future policy and more active involvement by psychologists are discussed.     

The role of TPH2 variant rs4570625 in shaping infant attention to social signals

TPH2, the rate-limiting enzyme in the synthesis of serotonin, has been connected to several psychiatric outcomes. Its allelic variant, rs4570625, has been found to relate to individual differences in cognitive and emotion regulation during infancy with T-carriers of rs4570625 showing a relatively heightened attention bias for fearful faces. A significant gene-environment interaction was also reported with the T-carriers of mothers with depressive symptoms showing the highest fear bias.We investigated these associations in a sample of 8-month old infants (N = 330), whose mothers were prescreened for low/high levels of prenatal depressive and/or anxiety symptoms. Attention disengagement from emotional faces (neutral, happy, fearful, and phase-scrambled control faces) to distractors was assessed with eye tracking and an overlap paradigm. Maternal depressive symptoms were assessed at several time points during pregnancy and postpartum. The mean levels of symptoms at six months postpartum and the trajectories of symptoms from early pregnancy until six months postpartum were used in the analyses (N = 274).No main effect of the rs4570625 genotype on attention disengagement was found. The difference in fear bias between the genotypes was significant but in an opposite direction compared to a previous study. The results regarding the interaction of the genotype and maternal depression were not in accordance with the previous studies.These results show inconsistencies in the effects of the rs4570625 genotype on attention biases in separate samples of infants from the same population with only slight differences in age.     

音乐训练对4~5岁幼儿普通话声调范畴感知能力的影响

已有研究表明, 音乐训练能提高成人对普通话声调范畴感知的能力, 此种训练能否增强幼儿对声调范畴感知的能力?训练效果是否受到训练时间长短的影响?本研究对幼儿园4~5岁幼儿进行音乐训练, 共40人, 分成音乐组和控制组, 每组各20人, 追踪考察音乐训练和训练时间长短对幼儿声调范畴感知能力提升的影响。实验采用前测-中测-后测设计, 对音乐组开展每周3次, 每次30分钟, 以小钟琴演奏为主的音乐训练; 控制组不进行任何有组织的训练活动。结果发现, 12个月音乐训练提升了幼儿对声调范畴感知的程度, 表现为音乐组幼儿范畴边界宽度显著小于控制组, 而训练6个月时, 该优势并不显著。此外, 12个月音乐训练还加强了幼儿区分范畴内刺激声学差异的敏感性, 而对范畴间刺激的区分能力无显著提高。本研究结果支持了音乐学习的歌剧理论(OPERA), 音乐训练具有跨域迁移作用, 可提升4~5岁幼儿对普通话声调范畴感知的能力, 但只有长期持续的训练才可能真正提高幼儿的音高精细化加工水平。     

The Role of Personality Profiles in the Longitudinal Relationship Between Work-related Well-being and Life Satisfaction Among Working Adults in Switzerland

Drawing on the concept of spillover between work and life domains and using a person-centred approach, the present study examined the role of Big Five personality trait profiles in moderating the relationship between work-related well-being and life satisfaction over a 1-year period in a sample of working adults in Switzerland (N = 1204). Latent profile analysis was first carried out to derive and compare alternative latent personality profile models. Subsequently, a two-wave cross-lagged structural equation model using three personality profiles (resilient, average, and oversensitive) as moderators was tested. Work stress and job satisfaction were used as negative and positive indicators of work-related well-being. The results showed that in the overall sample, only Time 1 life satisfaction predicted Time 2 job satisfaction. We found a moderating role for the personality profiles, where the effect of Time 1 work stress on Time 2 life satisfaction became salient in the oversensitive profile, while a significant effect of Time 1 life satisfaction on Time 2 work stress was found in the resilient profile. The current study showed that different combinations of personality traits may determine the way in which work-related well-being and general well-being relate to each other. © 2019 European Association of Personality Psychology