The Riddle of Laughter: Neural and Psychoevolutionary Underpinningsof Joy

Modest advances are being made in understanding the neurology and functions of laughter. The discovery of tickle-induced "laughter" in animals should facilitate the characterization of this basic emotional response of the mammalian brain. The existence of such vocal activities in species other than humans (e.g., rats) suggests that the fundamental brain processes for joyful affect may have emerged early in vertebrate brain evolution. Here, I summarize the little that we know about the evolutionary and brain sources of laughter, and how the accompanying positive emotions may solidify social bonds within the mammalian brain. Discovery of unique neurochemistries that specifically promote laughter and joy may provide clues for development of new classes of antidepressants.     

基于神经成像技术的青少年大脑发育研究

大脑成熟是一个动态过程, 高级神经活动的发育主要集中于个体发展的第二个10年：青少年时期。青少年时期是行为、认知和脑迅速发展的时期。青少年普遍表现出来的注意、冲动控制、计划、决策等认知能力的提高都是基于神经系统的成熟发展起来的。运用神经成像等技术的研究指出, 大脑在青少年时期的发展经历着突触精简以及髓鞘化的过程; 白质、灰质在青少年时期的成熟有不同的发展轨迹。青少年大脑皮层的成熟顺序与认知功能的发展相联系, 人脑的高级认知功能在青少年时期发展完成。在这一过程中, 脑的发展会受到情绪、环境以及经验等因素的影响。     

艺术创造力的脑神经生理基础

艺术创造力(Artistic Creativity)是创造力领域特异性研究的重要成果。它是个体产生新颖、独特而具有审美或艺术价值产品的能力, 和科学创造力一样也属于个体创造力的范畴。研究通过对已有脑损伤研究和神经影像研究梳理, 归纳和总结了艺术创造力的脑神经基础, 指出艺术创造力与科学创造力的神经基础存在一定差异, 认为艺术创造力主要和大脑的额叶、颞叶以及颞顶联合皮层密切相关。未来研究则需进一步借助巧妙的实验设计, 在严格控制个体差异和文化效应的基础上来对艺术创造力的脑结构和功能基础进行更细致的探讨。     

潜变量交互效应建模方法演变与简化

综述了近年来加入乘积指标的潜变量交互效应建模方法, 从产生乘积指标的策略、参数约束方法、均值结构与指标中心化的关系三个方面, 讨论了建模方法的简化进程。最后总结出同类方法中比较简洁又不失精确的潜变量交互效应建模方法—— 无需均值结构的无约束方法, 并给出了建模 步骤。     

Higher-order approximations to the distributions of fit indexes under fixed alternatives in structural equation models

Higher-order approximations to the distributions of fit indexes for structural equation models under fixed alternative hypotheses are obtained in nonnormal samples as well as normal ones. The fit indexes include the normal-theory likelihood ratio chi-square statistic for a posited model, the corresponding statistic for the baseline model of uncorrelated observed variables, and various fit indexes as functions of these two statistics. The approximations are given by the Edgeworth expansions for the distributions of the fit indexes under arbitrary distributions. Numerical examples in normal and nonnormal samples with the asymptotic and simulated distributions of the fit indexes show the relative inappropriateness of the normal-theory approximation using noncentral chi-square distributions. A simulation for the confidence intervals of the fit indexes based on the normal-theory Studentized estimators under normality with a small sample size indicates an advantage for the approximation by the Cornish–Fisher expansion over those by the noncentral chi-square distribution and the asymptotic normality. The author is indebted to the reviewers for their comments and suggestions, which have led to the improvement of the previous versions of this paper. This work was partially supported by Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology.     

Dreaming as a primordial state of the mind: The clinical relevance of structural faults in the body ego as revealed in dreaming1

Thetherapeuticactionofpsychoanalysis, attributedformanyyearstotheinterpretation of the repressed libido, has shifted its focus to object relationships. Some modern analysts maintain that the primary factor of psychic change is the new model of object relationship provided by analysis, and do not consider signifi cant the knowledge of episodes comprising implicit memories, whose irrecoverable nature is demonstrated by neuroscience. Nevertheless, the author proposes that the knowledge of specifi c archaic events, useless as their interpretation may be, offers a glimpse of the make‐up of the mind, contributing to the improvement of the empathy indispensable for inducing changes in the patient. Episodes linked to absolute narcissism, in the beginnings of the body ego, which do not appear either in associations or in transference, emerge in dreams. Neuroscience has made possible the understanding of aspects of dreaming capable of providing a glimpse of the genesis of the ego, whose development from the bodily phase of absolute narcissism to the psychic object phase can thus be traced. The unearthing of the genesis of primary structural faults in dreaming furnishes the analyst with an estimate of the possibilities for development of the ego, and this knowledge provides fi ne tuning capable of guiding the analyst's conduct. A clinical case illustrates how these phenomena occur, showing the intersubjective relationship as the silent primary generator of psychic changes, consolidated and developed secondarily by means of the analytical dialogue.     

外向性与快乐感相关变量的关系

该研究的目的是考察外向性对快乐感的直接和间接影响,建立外向性与快乐感相关变量的结构模型。对342名被试施测中国外向性量表、社会交往量表、社会支持量表、应对方式量表和情感量表,运用结构方程模型对数据进行拟合。结果显示：外向性不仅直接影响快乐感,还通过社会交往、社会支持、应对方式对快乐感给予间接影响。最后讨论了外向性人格特点与快乐感相关变量的关系。     

The development of executive function in early childhood is inversely related to change in body mass index: Evidence for an energetic tradeoff?

A well‐established literature demonstrates executive function (EF) deficits in obese children and adults relative to healthy weight comparisons. EF deficits in obesity are associated with overeating and impulsive consumption of high calorie foods leading to excess weight gain and to problems with metabolic regulation and low‐grade inflammation that detrimentally affect the structure and function of prefrontal cortex. Here, we test a complementary explanation for the relation between EF and body mass index (BMI) grounded in the energy demand of the developing brain. Recent work shows that the brain accounts for a lifetime peak of 66% of resting metabolic rate in childhood and that developmental changes in brain energetics and normative changes in body weight gain are closely inversely related. This finding suggests a trade‐off in early childhood between energy used to support brain development versus energy used to support physical growth and fat deposition. To test this theorized energetic trade‐off, we analyzed data from a large longitudinal sample (N = 1,292) and found that change in EF from age 3 to 5 years, as a proxy for brain development in energetically costly prefrontal cortex, is inversely related to change in BMI from age 2 to 5 years. Greater linear decline in BMI predicted greater linear increase in EF. We interpret this finding as tentative support for a brain–body energetic trade‐off in early childhood with implications for lifetime obesity risk.     

Maternal odor shapes rapid face categorization in the infant brain

To successfully interact with a rich and ambiguous visual environment, the human brain learns to differentiate visual stimuli and to produce the same response to subsets of these stimuli despite their physical difference. Although this visual categorization function is traditionally investigated from a unisensory perspective, its early development is inherently constrained by multisensory inputs. In particular, an early‐maturing sensory system such as olfaction is ideally suited to support the immature visual system in infancy by providing stability and familiarity to a rapidly changing visual environment. Here, we test the hypothesis that rapid visual categorization of salient visual signals for the young infant brain, human faces, is shaped by another highly relevant human‐related input from the olfactory system, the mother's body odor. We observe that a right‐hemispheric neural signature of single‐glance face categorization from natural images is significantly enhanced in the maternal versus a control odor context in individual 4‐month‐old infant brains. A lack of difference between odor conditions for the common brain response elicited by both face and non‐face images rules out a mere enhancement of arousal or visual attention in the maternal odor context. These observations show that face‐selective neural activity in infancy is mediated by the presence of a (maternal) body odor, providing strong support for multisensory inputs driving category acquisition in the developing human brain and having important implications for our understanding of human perceptual development.     

中国儿童青少年跨期决策的发展与脑发育机制

跨期决策是指人们对时间成本与收益进行权衡, 进而做出评价与选择, 其研究主要围绕时间折扣, 是指与当前或近期的损益相比, 人们赋予未来损益更小的权重。虽然有争议, 但Mischel等人很早就通过著名的“棉花糖实验”证明了延迟满足能力越强的儿童有着更高的学业成就。延迟满足与跨期决策都是在时间维度上进行的决策。研究者通过脑成像技术发现了成人大脑内支持跨期决策的三个神经网络系统, 但关于儿童的研究鲜有报道。这三大脑网络系统都位于额叶皮层, 该皮层在儿童青少年时期快速发育。通过采用横断研究和纵向研究相结合的实验设计, 对处于跨期决策发展关键期的中国儿童青少年人群进行测查和追踪; 借助神经影像技术, 考察跨期决策发展与脑发育的关系; 整合多模态神经影像技术, 构建可以预测跨期决策能力的脑影像指标。