Beyond common features: the role of roles in determining similarity

Historically, accounts of object representation and perceived similarity have focused on intrinsic features. Although more recent accounts have explored how objects, scenes, and situations containing common relational structures come to be perceived as similar, less is known about how the perceived similarity of parts or objects embedded within these relational systems is affected. The current studies test the hypothesis that objects situated in common relational systems come to be perceived as more similar. Similarity increases most for objects playing the same role within a relation (e.g., predator), but also increases for objects playing different roles within the same relation (e.g., the predator or prey role in the hunts relation) regardless of whether the objects participate in the same instance of the relation. This pattern of results can be captured by extending existing models that extract meaning from text corpora so that they are sensitive to the verb-specific thematic roles that objects fill. Alternative explanations based on analogical and inferential processes are also considered, as well as the implications of the current findings to research in language processing, decision making, and category learning.     

轻度认知损伤的语义记忆研究述评

轻度认知损伤（Mild cognitive impairment,MCI）是介于正常老化与痴呆之间的过渡阶段,表现为与年龄和教育程度不相称的认知功能减退。本文回顾了近期有关MCI语义记忆的研究,分析比较了各研究的实验任务及结果,得出MCI患者存在一定程度的由多种原因造成的语义记忆损伤,语义记忆测验对MCI的早期筛查和转归预测有重要作用。最后指出将来的研究需要将包括语义记忆成分在内的多种认知测验相结合,以便及早发现有可能发展为痴呆的危险个体并开展相应干预。     

中文句子阅读中语义信息对眼动预视效应的影响

采用句子为阅读材料,变化句子中一个单字词形成语义连贯与语义违背两种实验条件,通过两个眼动实验探讨中文句子阅读中预视效应的产生是否受语义信息的影响。实验一运用自然阅读范式,考察当语义连贯与违背两类信息被读者直接注视时,读者眼动模式的变化。结果发现,在语义连贯与违背两种条件下,读者的眼动模式在目标位置立即产生差异,违背条件下首次注视时间更长,说明中文句子理解中语义加工可以进行得十分即时。实验二运用边界技术,使实验一的语义连贯与违背两类关键字只呈现在预视位置上,当读者的注视点越过边界时,两类预视字均变为另一个与句子意义连贯的目标字。结果发现,语义违背预视条件下,读者对预视位置将进行更长时间的加工。上述结果表明,中文句子阅读过程中,语义信息可以对预视效应产生影响     

类别不确定下的特征推理是基于类别还是基于特征联结

共有3个实验探讨归类不确定情况下的特征推理是基于类别进行还是基于特征联结进行。实验1在中文条件下重复了Verde等人2005的实验,得出了与之相符的结果,这个结果用基于类别的理性模型的设想或者是用基于特征联结的设想都可以解释。实验2考察被试在靶类别的类别特征频次并且特征结合出现频次高低不同的条件下特征推理的情况,实验2的结果表明,高集中与低集中两种条件下特征推理没有显著差异,不符合特征推理是基于类别进行的设想,而与特征推理是基于特征联结进行的设想吻合。实验3进一步考察被试在特征结合出现的总频次并且靶类别中特征结合出现的总频次高低不同的条件下特征推理的情况,结果表明,在高结合条件下进行特征推理要优于在低结合条件,支持了在归类不确定情况下的特征推理是基于特征联结进行的设想。据此可以认为,人们的特征推理是基于特征之间联结的频次进行,而不是基于类别进行     

汉字词和图片命名与分类的比较

采用命名与分类任务考察了汉字词和图片命名与分类的特点,揭示义符在汉字词和图片命名与分类中的作用。结果表明,汉字词和图片的命名与分类与拼音文字的词和图片的命名和分类既有共性,又有差异。汉字词和图片的命名与分类具有不对称性：汉字词的命名快于汉字词的分类,图片的分类快于图片的命名。义符对于汉字词和图片的命名与分类的影响具有不对称性：对汉字词的加工有重要影响,对图片的加工无影响;对汉字词的分类有重要影响,对汉字词的命名无影响。被试对有标示类别的义符的词的分类显著快于对无标示类别的义符的词的分类,甚至快于对图片的分类。所以如此,与汉字词的结构特点有关。汉字形声字多用义符来标记事物的类别,提供了重要的类别信息。根据上述结果,作者构建了汉字词和图片认知加工的综合模型     

自身抗体与疾病预测

研究显示,在一些自身免疫性疾病出现临床症状之前,患者血液内就会出现某些自身抗体,检测这些自身抗体可以预测机体日后的患病几率,在疾病的预防和控制等方面具有重要意义。本文将对部分疾病中预示性自身抗体的研究进展及用自身抗体预测疾病的价值和面临的挑战等问题作一综述。     

Overweight and cognition

There is a growing concern among health authorities that an increasing number of people in the Western world become overweight and even obese. It is well known that obesity is related to several diseases (e.g., diabetes, stroke, and high blood pressure) and that such diseases related to obesity lead to early death. It has also been discussed whether overweight and obesity in themselves or in relation to such diseases lead to cognitive decline. On the basis of data from a large, population‐based, prospective study we examined three cognitive domains: episodic memory, semantic memory, and spatial ability. Two body measures were used to define normal weight and overweight, body‐mass index and waist/hip ratio. Although these two body measures reveal quite different prevalence data of overweight, the associations between overweight and cognition are similar. For episodic memory, overweight interacts with age, but when controlling for hypertension, stroke and diabetes, this interaction disappears. For semantic memory, normal weight participants outperform overweight participants even after controlling for these diseases. For spatial ability, the well‐established advantage for men holds for young‐old and old‐old normal‐weight participants. For overweight participants, this advantage holds for middle‐age participants only. We conclude that there is a weight‐cognition relationship even after controlling for obesity‐related diseases. The results are discussed in terms of possible biological mechanisms.     

义符熟悉性对高频形声字词汇通达的影响

采用启动词汇判断范式,考察义符熟悉性对高频汉字形声字认知的影响。结果表明,义符加工与整字加工存在动态的交互作用。在加工早期,高频汉字形声字的整字语义已经激活,但此时义符的语义并未激活。高熟悉性义符的词形启动比低熟悉性义符早。随着SOA增长,高、低熟悉性义符的语义都出现激活。到了加工晚期,汉字形声字整字的语义激活仍然显著,但义符的语义激活消失,表明字词认知的整合过程已经完成。这一结果支持汉字认知中整字加工和部件加工相结合的观点     

句子背景下缺失音素的中文听觉词理解的音、义激活进程（Ⅰ）

听觉词的语义激活过程是认知心理学和心理语言学的热点问题。近期出现了两种假设：（1）全部通达理论;（2）语义背景依赖假设。采用缺失音素的中文双字词为材料,考察了中文听觉词的语音、语义激活进程。实验1考察了影响缺失音素的中文听觉词语音、语义激活的因素;实验2考察了在听觉词理解初期,词义提取是否存在句子背景效应。结果表明：（1）对缺失音素的中文听觉词识别受听觉词语音和句子语义背景影响;（2）句子语义背景在缺失音素的中文听觉词识别之初就开始发挥作用,并一直影响着中文听觉词的理解。     

A Dissociation between Symbolic Number Knowledge and Analogue Magnitude Information

Semantic understanding of numbers and related concepts can be dissociated from rote knowledge of arithmetic facts. However, distinctions among different kinds of semantic representations related to numbers have not been fully explored. Working with numbers and arithmetic requires representing semantic information that is both analogue (e.g., the approximate magnitude of a number) and symbolic (e.g., what / means). In this article, the authors describe a patient (MC) who exhibits a dissociation between tasks that require symbolic number knowledge (e.g., knowledge of arithmetic symbols including numbers, knowledge of concepts related to numbers such as rounding) and tasks that require an analogue magnitude representation (e.g., comparing size or frequency). MC is impaired on a variety of tasks that require symbolic number knowledge, but her ability to represent and process analogue magnitude information is intact. Her deficit in symbolic number knowledge extends to a variety of concepts related to numbers (e.g., decimal points, Roman numerals, what a quartet is) but not to any other semantic categories that we have tested. These findings suggest that symbolic number knowledge is a functionally independent component of the number processing system, that it is category specific, and that it is anatomically and functionally distinct from magnitude representations.