Resolving defence mechanisms: A perspective based on dissipative structure theory

Theories and classifications of defence mechanisms are not unified. This study addresses the psychological system as a dissipative structure which exchanges information with the external and internal world. When using defence mechanisms, the cognitive‐affective schema of an individual could remain stable and ordered by excluding psychological entropy, obtaining psychological negentropy or by dissipating the energy of self‐presentation. From this perspective, defences can be classified into three basic types: isolation, compensation and self‐dissipation. However, not every kind of defence mechanisms can actually help the individual. Non‐adaptive defences are just functioning as an effective strategy in the short run but can be a harmful approach in the long run, while adaptive defences could instead help the individual as a long‐term mechanism. Thus, we would like to suggest that it is more useful for the individual to use more adaptive defence mechanisms and seek out social or interpersonal support when undergoing psychic difficulties. As this model of defences is theoretical at present, we therefore aim to support and enrich this viewpoint with empirical evidence.     

Gestational age and gender influence on executive control and its related neural structures in preterm-born children at 6 years of age

Within preterm-born children, being born male and at a lower gestational age (GA) have both been associated with a heightened risk for developmental difficulties. However, in this population little is known about the combined effect and the influence of these risk factors on cortical structures and executive control. In the present study, 58 preterm-born children (GA ranging from 24.0 to 35.1 weeks) were administered the computerized Child Attention Network Task at 6 years of age. Brain magnetic resonance imaging was performed and analyzed using Voxel-Based Morphometry (VBM) in all children. At a behavioral level, boys born <28 weeks of GA had significantly less executive control than preterm-born girls <28 weeks (p = .001) and preterm-born boys ≥28 (p = .003). The reduced executive control in preterm-born boys <28 weeks gestation was related to lower cortical densities in the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). The current study links the higher incidence of reduced executive control in preterm-born boys to a higher degree of prematurity (low GA) and identifies brain structural abnormalities in the prefrontal cortex related to these deficits. The implications of these results are discussed.     

音乐句法加工的影响因素

音乐句法是指将离散的音符元素组合成序列的规则。音乐句法加工受到音乐结构特征和听众自身特征两个方面的影响。针对每个方面,本文聚焦于近年来进展迅速的几个因素进行评述,分别是依存距离和音乐时间结构,听者的年龄和音乐训练程度。未来研究应进一步比较不同距离的句法加工,澄清音乐时间结构何时并且如何影响句法加工,考察音乐句法加工中遗传和环境的作用以及发展的敏感期,并对这些因素之间的共同影响展开研究。     

The effects of ordinal load on incidental temporal learning

How can we grasp the temporal structure of events? A few studies have indicated that representations of temporal structure are acquired when there is an intention to learn, but not when learning is incidental. Response-to-stimulus intervals, uncorrelated temporal structures, unpredictable ordinal information, and lack of metrical organization have been pointed out as key obstacles to incidental temporal learning, but the literature includes piecemeal demonstrations of learning under all these circumstances. We suggest that the unacknowledged effects of ordinal load may help reconcile these conflicting findings, ordinal load referring to the cost of identifying the sequence of events (e.g., tones, locations) where a temporal pattern is embedded. In a first experiment, we manipulated ordinal load into simple and complex levels. Participants learned ordinal-simple sequences, despite their uncorrelated temporal structure and lack of metrical organization. They did not learn ordinal-complex sequences, even though there were no response-to-stimulus intervals nor unpredictable ordinal information. In a second experiment, we probed learning of ordinal-complex sequences with strong metrical organization, and again there was no learning. We conclude that ordinal load is a key obstacle to incidental temporal learning. Further analyses showed that the effect of ordinal load is to mask the expression of temporal knowledge, rather than to prevent learning.     

Auditory statistical learning: predictive frequency information affects the deployment of contextually mediated attentional resources on perceptual tasks

Statistical learning is a general phenomenon in which environmental regularities are implicitly acquired through repeated exposure to those environments. Sometimes, that information can be utilised to affect various aspects of cognitive performance (e.g. reaction time) on tasks that utilise selective attention (e.g. visual search). In the current study, we examined the effect of passively listening to predictive auditory contexts in facilitating attention to a certain frequency or frequency range. In doing so, we found that there is a general tendency for attentional resources to be negatively affected when the context sequences are made novel after context–target associations have been formed (Experiment 1), and when the context no longer reliably cues the previous target (Experiment 2). The experiments are framed to contrast Associative Learning and Memory Hypothesis perspectives.     

工作同盟的结构：基于两种测量工具的检验

以大学心理咨询中心的当事人为样本,对国外两种广泛使用的工作同盟测量工具WAI-S和WAI-SR的结构和测量学指标进行检验。结果发现,WAI-S和WAI-SR的任务一致与目标一致两个维度的相关较高,分别为0.71和0.74;WAI-S和WAI-SR的一因素、二因素和三因素结构均没有得到充分支持;WAI-SR与咨询效果的相关不显著。WAI-S和WAI-SR的结构不能很好反映其所依据的理论假设,提示在对测量工具进行改进的同时,还需要对工作同盟的理论结构进行思考。     

西方婚姻沟通研究进展述评

目前西方婚姻研究领域的主流—— 婚姻沟通研究表现出三大进展：从个体研究视角转向互动视角; 从单一维度划分沟通类型转向功能性的划分; 从人格影响因素的探索转向权力结构的探索。该领域未来的研究趋势应集中在关注积极互动、扩展研究范式、探索调节或中介机制、探讨夫妻权力的不同层面以及重新评价人格因素的影响等方面。     

专家医生的知识结构及诊断推理方式

医学专长研究中“中间者效应”的发现,引发了研究者对专家医生知识结构的探讨。在“知识打包”的基础上,医生的临床知识以“疾病脚本”的方式组织起来。随着临床经验的增加,专家医生积累了丰富的疾病脚本。在临床诊断中,他们无需对病人所有的体征和症状进行仔细地和系统地分析,而是通过非分析性的推理方式——“模式识别”或“样例识别”便可自动激活与之匹配的疾病脚本,据此对病人做出迅速而准确的诊断。医学专长的本质就在于专家医生以“疾病脚本”的方式组织起来的知识结构。“适应性专长”代表了未来医学专长研究的新方向     

道路交通标志中对称结构效应的眼动研究

本研究考察了道路交通标志中路名信息对称结构效应的眼动模式。实验采用眼动跟踪技术和视觉搜索范式,共有16名被试参加。实验结果表明：（1）在对称结构路名信息的视觉搜索中,被试的反应正确率明显优于非对称结构条件下的正确率;（2）对称结构条件下,被试的注视点和回扫次数明显较少,凝视时间明显较短;（3）在以道路交通标志为视觉搜索材料时,搜索区有无路名目标对视觉搜索绩效没有影响。可以认为：在道路交通标志中存在对称结构效应;眼动模式的差异是引起对称结构效应的认知机制。     

子图问题学习对几何解题迁移的影响

将一个图形（称为母图）的若干条线段删除后得到的图形叫做母图的子图。运用实验方法探讨了子图结构学习和子图变式学习对解决问题的迁移效果。结果表明：子图结构学习仅对解决“图形结构相同、逻辑结构相同”问题有明显迁移作用;子图变式学习对解决“图形结构相同、逻辑结构相同”没有明显迁移作用,对“图形结构相似、逻辑结构相同”、“图形结构相同、逻辑结构相似”以及“图形结构相似、逻辑结构相似”四类问题均有明显迁移作用。