Transfer-appropriate processing in the testing effect

The testing effect is the finding that taking a review test enhances performance on a final test relative to restudying the material. The present experiment investigated transfer-appropriate processing in the testing effect using semantic and orthographic cues to evoke conceptual and data-driven processing, respectively. After a study phase, subjects either restudied the material or took a cued-recall test consisting of half semantic and half orthographic cues in which the correct response was given as feedback. A final, cued-recall test consisted of the identical cue, or a new cue that was of the same type or different type of cue (semantic/orthographic or orthographic/semantic) as that used for that target in the review test. Testing enhanced memory in all conditions. When the review cues and final-test cues were identical, final recall was higher for semantic than orthographic cues. Consistent with test-based transfer-appropriate processing, memory performance improved as the review and final cues became more similar. These results suggest that the testing effect could potentially be caused by the episodic retrieval processes in a final memory test overlapping more with the episodic retrieval processes in a review test than with the encoding operations performed during restudy.     

慢性阻塞性肺疾病急性加重期临床路径应用效果评价

评价临床路径管理在慢性阻塞性肺疾病急性加重期（AECOPD）的应用效果。通过采用回顾性调查,比较进入临床路径（路径组）和没有进入临床路径（对照组）两组患者在住院费用、住院时间及治疗效果3项指标上的差别。结果显示实施临床路径患者（路径组）的平均住院费用、平均住院日等指标均有不同程度的下降,而治愈率有所上升。从而得出临床路径在AECOPD病种的应用能够规范医疗行为,提高医疗护理质量的结论。     

The Role of Fear-Avoidance Cognitions and Behaviors in Patients with Chronic Tinnitus

The current study investigated the role of fear-avoidance—a concept from chronic pain research—in chronic tinnitus. A self-report measure the “Tinnitus Fear-Avoidance Cognitions and Behaviors Scale (T-FAS)” was developed and validated. Furthermore, the role of fear-avoidance behavior as mediator of the relationship between anxiety sensitivity and tinnitus handicap was investigated. From a clinical setting, N = 373 patients with chronic tinnitus completed questionnaires assessing tinnitus handicap (Tinnitus Handicap Inventory), anxiety, depression (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale), anxiety sensitivity (Anxiety Sensitivity Index-3), personality factors (Big Five Inventory-10), and fear-avoidance. To analyze the psychometric properties, principal component analysis with parallel component extraction and correlational analyses were used. To examine a possible mediating effect, hierarchical regression analysis was applied. The principal component analysis resulted in a three-factor solution: Fear-avoidance Cognitions, Tinnitus-related Fear-Avoidance Behavior, and Ear-related Fear-Avoidance Behavior. Internal consistency was satisfactory for the total scale and all subscales. High correlations between tinnitus-related handicap scales, depressive and anxiety symptoms, and the T-FAS were found, whereas associations with personality factors were low. Moreover, results indicate a significant partial mediation of fear-avoidance behaviors in the relationship between anxiety sensitivity and the cognitive dimension of tinnitus handicap. Results show that fear-avoidance behavior plays an important role in tinnitus handicap. More attention should be paid to this concept in research and clinical practice of psychotherapy for chronic tinnitus.     

Information quality in personality judgment: The value of personal disclosure

We examined the relative quality of different types of information and its effects on accuracy in personality judgment. Three hundred and forty-four unacquainted undergraduates participated in a small group round-robin rating scheme. In one condition, participants were asked to disclose three things that were very important to them in life. In a second condition, participants were asked to disclose three distinctive personal facts: things that differentiated them from others. We found that (a) people believed values information was more personality-relevant than facts information and (b) although there was no clear advantage for one condition over the other in terms of generalized accuracy, there were some differences across conditions for specific traits. Implications for the study of information quality in personality judgment are discussed.     

Understanding cooperation in the Prisoner’s Dilemma game

In the standard one-shot Prisoner’s Dilemma game, participants often choose to cooperate, when the optimal strategy is to defect. This puzzling finding has attracted considerable interest both in terms of possible computational frameworks for modeling human judgment, but also regarding the more general debate of human altruism. In this research, we ask how much of human behavior in this task can be explained by a putative bias for cooperative behavior and whether this, in turn, is influenced by personality. We compared performance on the standard task with performance on a matched neutral one; we manipulated the optimal strategy (defect or cooperate); and we manipulated the amount of payoff for responding optimally. Results revealed little evidence for a bias for cooperative behavior, but significant associations with the personality factors of Behavioural Activation System (BAS) Reward Responsivity and Agreeableness were found. These findings are discussed in terms of the attempt to explain judgment in one-shot, Prisoner’s Dilemma tasks with statistical or probabilistic models.     

Continuous priming effects on discrete response choices

When primed by backward-masked, target-like stimuli, discrete responses (e.g. button presses) to simple visual targets can be slower when prime and target match (compatible) than when they do not (incompatible). The current study investigated the nature of the stimulus–response mapping underlying this negative compatibility effect (NCE). Discrete left–right responses to arrow targets were primed with arrows oriented in one of 16 directions. Responses were either a standard button press or a 10 cm movement on a graphics tablet. Both tasks showed an identical NCE; importantly, reaction times in both tasks decreased smoothly as the angular distance between prime and target increased (i.e. as compatibility decreased), with the largest NCE evident between the extreme cases (prime-target distances of 0° and 180°). Primes exerted an effect on the required response in proportion to the amount of overlap (reflecting population vector coding). The mapping between the priming stimulus and response is continuous, not categorical.     

Testing four explanations for the better/worse-than-average effect: Single- and multi-item entities as comparison targets and referents

In six experiments, we tested four explanations for the better/worse-than-average effect (B/WTA) by manipulating the number of items comprising the target or referent of direct comparison. A single-item target tended to be rated more extremely than a single-item or a multi-item referent (Experiments 1–3). No B/WTA was obtained, however, when a multi-item target was compared with either a single- or multi-item referent (Experiments 4 and 5). A bias favoring a multi-item target was found only if cohesiveness among the items was increased through instructions (Experiment 6). The Unique-Attributes Hypothesis generally provided the best explanation the findings; the focalism explanation also demonstrated some empirical viability. The results suggest that important preferential decision-making outcomes can be affected by both the number of items and whether items are strategically manipulated to serve as targets or referents of comparison.     

简单心算中数学学习困难儿童的数字距离效应

采用事件相关电位(ERP)方法,以阿拉伯数字的简单心算为任务,考察数学学习困难儿童(MD)的数字距离效应。行为数据的结果表明:MD组没有出现数字距离效应,对照组儿童出现了数字距离效应。事件相关电位数据显示:与对照组相比,MD组N270的潜伏期更长;两组被试在N270的波幅和潜伏期上都没有表现出数字距离效应。研究结果表明:MD儿童对数量信息的空间表征存在缺陷。     

“超级女生”的公众心理效应分析

本文试图从公众心理效应的角度分析“超级女生”受如此多海内外中国观众钟爱的原因,以及“超级女生”带给个人和组织在如何利用公众心理效应上的启示。