Predictive Pointing Movements and Saccades Toward a Moving Target

The authors investigated whether and, if so, how velocity information is used to control predictive manual pointing movements and saccades. Participants (N = 6) intercepted an occluded moving target as if it were still visible. They kept their eyes fixated while the target moved. The target traveled over a fixed distance and changed its velocity on the way. The presentation time of the final velocity was varied. Both the eye and the hand overshot the slow target and undershot the fast target, particularly when the duration of the final velocity was short. Thus, responses were biased in the direction of the target's initial velocity. The error seemed to arise because participants did not take their latency into account when aiming at the target. Instead, they strategically aimed farther ahead when the target was fast. Amplitude was also more related to the position of velocity change than to final velocity duration. Both findings suggest that target velocity is not extrapolated but that individuals add an increment to the position of velocity change.     

Task‐irrelevant own‐race faces capture attention: Eye‐tracking evidence

To investigate attentional capture by face’s race, the current study recorded saccade latencies of eye movement measurements in an inhibition of return (IOR) task. Compared to Caucasian (other‐race) faces, Chinese (own‐race) faces elicited longer saccade latency. This phenomenon disappeared when faces were inverted. The results indicated that own‐race faces capture attention automatically with high‐level configural processing.     

Spiritual and Religious Implications of Aging with HIV: A Conceptual and Methodological Review

ABSTRACT

Spirituality and religious practices can buffer people from stressful life circumstances and promote positive biopsychosocial outcomes. The beneficial effects of spirituality and religious practices have been documented in aging and HIV. Unfortunately, little is known about spirituality and religious practices in older adults with HIV. As the number of older adults with HIV increases, with an estimated 91,000 adults over 50 being diagnosed with this disease in the United States, spirituality and religious practices may help HIV-positive people to age successfully. Crisis competence and spiritual trajectories are ways of conceptualizing spiritual development when confronting aging with a life-changing event such as a being diagnosed with HIV. Methodological issues in studying spirituality in adults aging with HIV are identified including defining spirituality and religiosity, heterogeneity of the population, timing of diagnosis, mode of transmission, sexual orientation, religious and cultural stigma, and hardiness. Implications for possible interventions are also posited.     

任务指导语及实验范式对朝向和反向眼跳的影响

采用2（眼跳方向）×3（实验范式）×4（任务指导语）的完全被试内实验设计研究任务指导语和实验范式对朝向和反向眼跳的影响效应。结果：（1）朝向眼跳潜伏期显著快于反向眼跳,且不受实验范式的影响;（2）在朝向眼跳任务中,空白范式下的延迟型指导语导致眼跳潜伏期延长;（3）在反向眼跳任务中,空白和重叠范式下延迟型指导语潜伏期最长;零范式下速度型指导语的潜伏期较短;（4）空白范式下的反向眼跳错误率显著低于重叠范式和零范式,反向眼跳潜伏期显著短于后两种范式。实验结果支持眼跳竞争模型。     

‘Theory of mind’ development of Pakistani children: Do preschoolers acquire an understanding of desire,pretence and belief in a universal sequence?

Research on “theory of mind” (TOM) suggests that a grasp of the mind develops universally and sequentially, but both these claims require testing in different cultural groups. Study 1, involving 72 preschoolers, showed the expected developmental transition on false belief tasks; 3 year olds were below statistical chance, while 4 year olds were at chance, representing a lag behind Western children. The same pattern of at chance (pretence, desire and belief) and below chance performance (false belief) was replicated in study 2 with 77 preschoolers (3–5 years) and corroborated the lag identified for some Asian countries. This deficient and varied timing of TOM performance is consistent with theories (social constructivist) supporting the role of social factors in TOM development. Moreover, significant inter-task correlations corroborate the need to broaden the research focus beyond false belief tasks.     

阅读中的眼跳目标选择问题

读者在阅读中面临如何选择眼跳落点位置的问题。研究者在有词间空格的字母文字中(如英语和德语)发现人们倾向于将眼跳落在词中心偏左的位置,这个位置被称为偏好注视位置(preferred viewing location,PVL)。中文文本并没有空格来标记词边界信息,这使得中文阅读的眼跳目标选择机制更加复杂。近年来,研究者从中央凹—副中央凹动态调节的角度研究了阅读中眼跳目标选择的机制。结果发现在中文阅读中眼跳目标选择受到中央凹和副中央凹信息加工的共同影响,而副中央凹的加工直接决定了眼跳落点位置。     

权力感对拟人化产品购买意愿的影响

从信息加工流畅性视角切入,探讨消费者权力感对不同类型拟人化产品购买意愿的影响及其作用机理。168名本科生参与分组实验。结果表明,对于高权力感的人来说,与热情型拟人化产品相比,他们对能力型拟人化产品的购买意愿更高;对于低权力感的人来说,与能力型拟人化产品相比,他们对热情型拟人化产品的购买意愿更高。信息加工流畅性在权力感与拟人化类型交互影响拟人化产品购买意愿关系中起完全中介作用。     

Task specificity and the timing of discrete aiming movements

In discrete aiming movements the task criteria of time-minimization to a spatial target (e.g., Fitts, 1954) and time-matching to a spatial-temporal goal (e.g., Schmidt et al., 1979) tend to produce different functions of the speed-accuracy trade-off. Here we examined whether the task-related movement speed-accuracy characteristics were due to differential space-time trade-offs in time-matching, velocity-matching and time-minimizing task goals. Twenty participants performed 100 aiming trials for each of 15 combinations of task-type (3) and space-time condition (5). The prevalence of the primary types of sub-movement (none, pre-peak, post-peak, undershooting and overshooting) was determined from the kinematics of the movement trajectory. There were comparable distributions of trajectory sub-movement profiles and space-time movement outcomes across the three tasks at the short movement duration that became increasingly dissimilar over decreasing movement velocity and increasing movement time conditions. Movement time was the most influential variable in mediating sub-movement characteristics and the spatial/temporal outcome accuracy and variability of discrete aiming tasks – a role that was magnified in the explicit task demands of time-matching. The time-matching and time-minimization task goals in discrete aiming induce qualitatively different control processes that progressively contribute beyond the minimal time conditions to task-specific space-time accuracy and variability characteristics of the respective movement speed-accuracy functions.     

Individual differences in trajectories of arithmetical development in typically achieving 5- to 7-year-olds

The arithmetical performance of typically achieving 5- to 7-year-olds (N = 29) was measured at four 6-month intervals. The same seven tasks were used at each time point: exact calculation, story problems, approximate arithmetic, place value, calculation principles, forced retrieval, and written problems. Although group analysis showed mostly linear growth over the 18-month period, analysis of individual differences revealed a much more complex picture. Some children exhibited marked variation in performance across the seven tasks, including evidence of difficulty in some cases. Individual growth patterns also showed differences in developmental trajectories between children on each task and within children across tasks. The findings support the idea of the componential nature of arithmetical ability and underscore the need for further longitudinal research on typically achieving children and of careful consideration of individual differences.