智力运动专家领域内知觉与记忆的加工特点及其机制

智力运动是以开发智力为目的且涉及到较多认知活动的竞技运动。研究表明, 长期的智力运动经验会影响专家在领域内任务中知觉及记忆的行为表现及其大脑活动。智力运动经验使专家知觉广度增大的同时, 促进专家对棋子关系进行整体性知觉加工, 且这一过程与颞顶联合区、缘上回、压后皮质、侧副沟、梭状回等区域有关; 在长时记忆中存储的具体(空间位置)及抽象信息(知识、策略、棋子关系等)是专家记忆优势发生的基础, 该过程与内侧颞叶、额叶和顶叶有关。未来研究可以从智力运动类型、创新实验范式, 结合测量设备及认知特点, 深入探讨智力运动专家整体知觉优势及记忆优势的神经机制, 为人工智能和技能训练等提供理论依据。     

基于过程数据的问题解决能力测量及数据分析方法

问题解决能力是指在没有明显解决方法的情况下个体从事认知加工以理解和解决问题情境的能力。对问题解决能力的测量需要借助相对更复杂、更真实、具有可交互性的问题情境来诱导问题解决行为的呈现。使用虚拟测评抓取问题解决的过程数据并分析其中所蕴含的潜在信息是当前心理计量学中测量问题解决能力的新趋势。首先, 回顾问题解决能力测量方式的发展：从纸笔测验到虚拟测评。然后, 总结对比两类过程数据的分析方法：统计建模法和数据挖掘法。最后, 从非认知因素的影响、多模态数据的利用、问题解决能力发展的测量、其他高阶思维能力的测量和问题解决能力概念及结构的界定五个方面展望未来可能的研究方向。     

What matters is the underlying experience: Similar motor responses during processing observed hand actions and hand-related verbs

It is well-accepted that processing observed actions involves at some extent the same neural mechanisms responsible for action execution. More recently, it has been forwarded that also the processing of verbs expressing a specific motor content is subserved by the neural mechanisms allowing individuals to perform the content expressed by that linguistic material. This view is also known as embodiment and contrasts with a more classical approach to language processing that considers it as amodal. In the present study, we used a go/no-go paradigm, in which participants were requested to respond to real words and pictures and refrain from responding when presented stimuli were pseudowords and scrambled images. Real stimuli included pictures depicting hand- and foot-related actions and verbs expressing hand- and foot-related actions. We, therefore, directly compared the modulation of hand motor responses during the observation of actions and the presentation of verbs, expressing actions in the same category. The results have shown that participants gave slower hand motor responses during the observation of hand actions and the processing of hand-related verbs as than observed foot actions and related verbs. These findings support embodiment showing that whatever the modality of presentation (observed action or verb), the modulation of hand motor responses was similar, thus suggesting that processing seen actions and related verbs shares common mechanisms most likely involving the motor system and the underlying motor experience.     

单字词和复合词预视加工的差异性研究：词边界信息无影响

本实验采用眼动轨迹记录法并结合边界范式（Rayner, 1975）,操纵单字词和双字复合词的首字为一致预视或假字预视,考察单字词和复合词预视加工的差异性。另外,通过在中文句子中加入词边界信息——词间阴影,以考察词间阴影对单字词和复合词预视加工的影响。实验结果表明,复合词的预视效应大于单字词,并且词间阴影对单字词和复合词的预视加工均没有显著影响。因此,与印欧语系相比,中文阅读中更大更强的预视效应需从更深层次的语言和认知因素进行探讨。该结果更倾向于支持词切分和词汇识别模型。     

Novelty and processing demands in conceptual combination

In this article, we sought to isolate the processing demands of combining the concepts of modifier‐noun phrases from those of other language comprehension processes. Probe reaction time (RT) was used as an indication of the processing resources required for combining concepts. Phrase frequency (as measured by Google hit rates) was used as a metric of the degree of conceptual combination required for each phrase. Participants were asked to interpret modifier‐noun phrases using a sense‐nonsense decision (Experiment 1) and a phrase meaning access task (Experiment 2). Experiment 2 also used a lexical decision task to activate the word's individual meanings. Regression analyses for both experiments indicated that phrase frequency (indicating novelty) predicts a significant portion of the probe RT variance, such that low‐frequency phrases required more processing resources than high‐frequency phrases, when controlling for associative strength, word frequency, letter length, and lexical‐semantic activation. Overall, this study indicates that conceptual combination requires processing resources beyond those of other language processes.     

Understanding the Adoptive Family within the Context of Christian Hospitality

Abstract : Adoptive families can take many forms, yet there are similarities across adoptive family types that can be studied. Relevant research regarding the adoptive kinship network, openness and contact in adoption, family communication about adoption, adoption‐related curiosity and information‐seeking, and adoptive identity is reviewed. Christian hospitality is provided as a context within which adoptive families are formed and understood.     

Nervous Instability and Genius: Military and Political Leaders

Participants (N = 106) performed an affective priming task with facial primes that varied in their skin tone and facial physiognomy, and, which were presented either in color or in gray-scale. Participants' racial evaluations were more positive for Eurocentric than for Afrocentric physiognomy faces. Light skin tone faces were evaluated more positively than dark skin tone faces, but the magnitude of this effect depended on the mode of color presentation. The results suggest that in affective priming tasks, faces might not be processed holistically, and instead, visual features of facial priming stimuli independently affect implicit evaluations.     

Different kinds of bilinguals: different kinds of brains: the neural organisation of two languages in one brain

The aim of this study was to determine whether the type of bilingualism affects neural organisation. We performed identification experiments and mismatch negativity (MMN) registrations in Finnish and Swedish language settings to see, whether behavioural identification and neurophysiological discrimination of vowels depend on the linguistic context, and whether there is a difference between two kinds of bilinguals. The stimuli were two vowels, which differentiate meaning in Finnish, but not in Swedish. The results indicate that Balanced Bilinguals are inconsistent in identification performance, and they have a longer MMN latency. Moreover, their MMN amplitude is context-independent, while Dominant Bilinguals show a larger MMN in the Finnish context. These results indicate that Dominant Bilinguals inhibit the preattentive discrimination of native contrast in a context where the distinction is non-phonemic, but this is not possible for Balanced Bilinguals. This implies that Dominant Bilinguals have separate systems, while Balanced Bilinguals have one inseparable system.     

Parametric effects of syntactic-semantic conflict in Broca's area during sentence processing

The hypothesized role of Broca’s area in sentence processing ranges from domain-general executive function to domain-specific computation that is specific to certain syntactic structures. We examined this issue by manipulating syntactic structure and conflict between syntactic and semantic cues in a sentence processing task. Functional neuroimaging revealed that activation within several Broca’s area regions of interest reflected the parametric variation in syntactic-semantic conflict. These results suggest that Broca’s area supports sentence processing by mediating between multiple incompatible constraints on sentence interpretation, consistent with this area’s well-known role in conflict resolution in other linguistic and non-linguistic tasks.     

The question shapes the answer: the neural correlates of task differences reveal dynamic semantic processing

Task effects in semantic processing were investigated by contrasting the neural activation associated with two semantic categorization tasks (SCT) using event-related fMRI. The two SCTs involved different decision categories: is it an animal? vs. is it a concrete thing? Participants completed both tasks and, across participants, the same core set of items were presented in both tasks. Results showed task differences in the neural activation associated with these items: in the animal SCT there was greater activation in a number of frontal and temporal regions, including left superior and middle temporal gyri, while in the concrete SCT there was greater activation in left medial frontal gyrus and bilaterally in the precentral gyri. These results are interpreted as evidence of top-down modulation of semantic processing; participants make adjustments to optimize performance in a given task and these adjustments have consequences for the activation observed.