认知控制的层级性：来自任务切换的脑电证据*

认知控制的主要研究范式之一是任务切换。以往研究发现切换代价受到认知控制层级性的调节, 但鲜有研究探索这一调节过程的动态神经机制。本研究通过嵌套的线索-任务切换范式考察不同层级任务切换代价的差异及其神经机制。在实验中, 要求被试完成高低两种层级任务, 低层级任务要求被试判断数字大小(或奇偶); 高层级任务则须先加工数字的某一语义特征(如当前数字是否是偶数), 然后进行大小判断。行为结果表明, 高层级任务切换代价显著大于低层级任务切换代价。线索锁时的脑电结果表明, 层级效应最早出现于P2成分, 切换效应(切换与重复之差)在CNV成分上受到任务层级的调控, 反映了在任务目标重构阶段给予高层级任务更多的选择性注意以及更高的主动性控制。目标锁时的脑电结果表明, 在N2及慢波(SP)成分上, 高层级任务切换与重复的波幅差异相比低层级任务显著更大, 反映了在抑制旧任务集与重构新反应集的过程中增强的反应性控制。这些结果为任务设置重构论和认知控制的层级性提供了新的证据。     

多义词造句任务对负性解释偏差的测量

本研究旨在归纳中文里可以用于测量解释偏差的多义词,并使用多义词造句任务,在广泛性焦虑症状人群中评估其测量有效性。经过对多义词负性与非负性含义常用程度的评分以及多义词造句任务项目区分度、信度、效度和目的隐蔽性的检验,筛选出两含义常用程度大致相同且对焦虑较为敏感的34个题目构成多义词造句任务,该任务信度良好,可以有效测得高低广泛性焦虑和状态焦虑人群中解释偏差的显著差异,且与同类的乱句重排任务相比,能猜出与猜对实验目的的被试显著更少。因此,中文多义词造句任务信效度良好,具有便捷、隐蔽的优势,可以用于解释偏差的相关研究。     

任务数量与工作记忆容量对交错学习的影响

研究以分子结构式为材料,让被试在单任务或双任务条件下以集中呈现和交错呈现的方式进行学习,并通过操作广度、旋转广度和对称广度任务测量工作记忆容量（working memory capacity, WMC）,探究在基于规则类别学习中交错呈现优势的稳定性。结果显示,交错呈现优势仅体现在文科生中;而对于理科生,集中呈现效果较佳。另外,任务数量和WMC均不影响交错呈现优势,表明交错呈现优势稳定存在于单任务和双任务条件中,且不同WMC的个体均能从交错学习获益。     

挫折情境下自我肯定对执行功能的影响

为探讨挫折情境下自我肯定对执行功能的影响,创设挫折和非挫折情境,采用价值观自我肯定干预,通过Stroop范式和2-back范式分别测量抑制控制和工作记忆的刷新能力。结果发现,挫折情境下的Stroop任务和2-back任务反应时均高于非挫折情境;挫折情境下自我肯定组在Stroop任务和2-back任务上的反应时均显著低于非自我肯定组,而非挫折情境下两组的反应时没有显著性差异;Stroop效应量在情境与肯定条件上的交互作用不显著。结果表明挫折降低了执行功能的任务表现,自我肯定干预能够改善挫折情境下执行功能相关的任务成绩,促进了个体对工作记忆任务的刷新能力和Stroop任务的认知表现,但对抑制控制能力的改善没有明显作用。     

An Experimental Test of the Effects of Parental Modeling on Panic-Relevant Escape and Avoidance Among Early Adolescents

Escape and avoidance behaviors play a prominent role in the maintenance and possibly development of panic disorder, yet the literature regarding the etiology of these emotion-regulation strategies is relatively underdeveloped. The current study experimentally tests hypotheses that parental modeling of escape during a well-established panic-relevant biological challenge increases panic-relevant escape and avoidance among offspring. Fifty physically and psychologically healthy early adolescents (28 females; M_age = 11.58; 86% Caucasian), stratified by gender, were randomly assigned to observe one of their parents (39 females; M_age = 40.04): either (a) model completing a 3-min voluntary hyperventilation exercise (no escape modeling group) or (b) model premature termination of a similar procedure (escape modeling group). Offspring in the escape modeling group demonstrated a stronger escape response by discontinuing their own challenge sooner than those in the no-escape modeling group (r = .70). No group differences emerged in terms of avoidance responding, as indexed by nearly identical responding in terms of delay time before initiating the challenge, respiration rate, and self-reported willingness to engage in a second proposed challenge. Results suggest that parental behaviors may play an important role in the development of some forms of panic-relevant responding. These preliminary findings may have important implications for future prevention programs targeting parents and at-risk youth.     

Patterns of Responding on a Balloon Analogue Task Reveal Individual Differences in Overall Risk-Taking: Choice Between Guaranteed and Uncertain Cash

ABSTRACT. We explored the utility of analyzing within- and between-balloon response patterns on a balloon analogue task (BAT) in relation to overall risk scores, and to a choice between a small guaranteed cash reward and an uncertain reward of the same expected value. Young adults (n = 61) played a BAT, and then were offered a choice between $5 in cash and betting to win $0 to $15. Between groups, pumping was differentially influenced by explosions and by the number of successive unexploded balloons, with risk takers responding increasingly on successive balloons after an explosion. Within-balloons, risk takers showed a characteristic pattern of constant high rate, while non-risk takers showed a characteristic variable lower rate. Overall, results show that the higher number of pumps and explosions that characterize risk takers at a molar level, result from particular forms of adaptation to the positive and negative outcomes of choices seen at a molecular level.

Color versions of one or more of the figures in the article can be found online at www.tandfonline.com/vgen.     

Thyme to touch: Infants possess strategies that protect them from dangers posed by plants

Plants have been central to human life as sources of food and raw materials for artifact construction over evolutionary time. But plants also have chemical and physical defenses (such as harmful toxins and thorns) that provide protection from herbivores. The presence of these defenses has shaped the behavioral strategies of non-human animals. Here we report evidence that human infants possess strategies that would serve to protect them from dangers posed by plants. Across two experiments, infants as young as eight months exhibit greater reluctance to manually explore plants compared to other entities. These results expand the growing literature showing that infants are sensitive to certain ancestrally recurrent dangers, and provide a basis for further exploration.     

Is the Male Advantage in Mental-Rotation Performance Task Independent? On the Usability of Chronometric Tests and Paper-and-Pencil Tests in Children

This article presents a reanalysis of the data of 862 second and fourth graders collected in two previous studies, focusing on the influence of method (psychometric vs. chronometric) and stimulus type on the gender difference in mental-rotation accuracy. The children had to solve mental-rotation tasks with animal pictures, letters, or cube figures, either in a chronometric condition (computerized) or in a psychometric condition (paper-and-pencil). Results show a slight male advantage in mental-rotation accuracy, which is neither influenced by method nor by stimulus type. However, mental-rotation accuracy differed between the stimulus types, with the highest accuracy in animal pictures and the lowest accuracy in cube figures, and between age groups, with better performance in fourth graders than in second graders in both conditions. Results show that psychometric and chronometric mental-rotation tests with all the stimulus types are more or less similarly usable with children of that age.     

抑郁个体对情绪面孔的返回抑制能力不足

探讨抑郁对情绪面孔返回抑制能力的影响。以贝克抑郁量表、自评抑郁量表、CCMD-3和汉密顿抑郁量表为工具筛选出了正常对照组、抑郁康复组和抑郁患者组各17名被试进行了真人情绪面孔线索-靶子任务的行为学实验和事件相关电位(ERP)实验。在线索靶子范式中, 靶子在线索消失后出现, 被试对靶子的位置作出反应。行为学实验显示线索靶子间隔时间(stimulus onset asynchronies, SOA)为14ms时, 正常对照组对中性面孔有返回抑制效应, 抑郁康复组对所有面孔均存在返回抑制效应, 患者组对愤怒、悲伤面孔和中性面孔存在返回抑制效应; SOA为250ms时三组被试均对悲伤面孔存在返回抑制能力不足, 以患者组最突出, 康复组对高兴面孔存在返回抑制能力不足; SOA为750ms时正常组对悲伤面孔存在返回抑制效应, 康复组对高兴和悲伤面孔存在返回抑制能力不足, 患者组对悲伤面孔存在返回抑制能力不足, 对愤怒面孔存在返回抑制效应。在SOA为750ms的条件下, ERP波形特点为正常组对高兴面孔线索P3波幅大于其他组, 对高兴面孔无效提示P1波幅小于其他面孔, 对悲伤面孔有效提示P1波幅小于高兴面孔, 对高兴面孔有效提示P3波幅大于患者组, 对悲伤面孔无效提示P3波幅大于其他组; 康复组对悲伤面孔线索P3波幅大于其他面孔, 对高兴面孔有效提示P3波幅大于患者组, 对悲伤面孔无效提示P3波幅小于正常组; 患者组对悲伤面孔线索P1波幅大于其他组、P3波幅大于其他面孔, 对悲伤面孔无效提示P3波幅小于正常组, 高兴面孔有效提示P3波幅小于其他组。提示抑郁患者对负性刺激有返回抑制能力不足, 这种对负性刺激抑制能力的缺失导致抑郁个体难以抗拒负性事件的干扰而受到不良情绪状态的困扰, 所以他们可能更多的体验到抑郁情绪, 并致使抑郁持续和发展。而抑郁康复个体对高兴、悲伤面孔均有返回抑制能力不足, 这让康复个体能同时感受到正、负性刺激, 从而能保持一种认知和情绪上特定的平衡。     

Overestimation and contraction biases of depth information stored in working memory depend on spatial configuration

Depth perception is essential for effective interaction with the environment. Although the accuracy of depth perception has been studied extensively, it is unclear how accurate the depth information is stored in working memory. In this study, we investigated the accuracy and systematic biases of depth representation by a delayed estimation task. The memory array consisted of items presented at various stereoscopic depth positions, and the participants were instructed to estimate the depth position of one target item after a retention interval. We examined the effect of spatial configuration by comparing the memory performance in the whole-display condition where non-target memory items were present during retrieval with that in the single-display condition where non-target memory items were absent. In the single-display condition, we found an overestimation bias that the depth estimates were farther than the corresponding depth positions defined by disparity, and a contraction bias that the stored depth positions near the observer were overestimated and those far from the observer were underestimated. The magnitude of these biases increased with the number of to-be-stored items. However, in the whole-display condition, the overestimation bias was corrected and the contraction bias did not increase with the number of to-be-stored items. Our findings suggested that the number of to-be-stored items could affect the accuracy of depth working memory, and its effect depended crucially on whether the information of spatial configuration of memory display was available at the retrieval stage.