Dissociating the representation of action- and sound-related concepts in middle temporal cortex

Modality-specific models of conceptual memory propose close links between concepts and the sensory-motor systems. Neuroimaging studies found, in different subject groups, that action-related and sound-related concepts activated different parts of posterior middle temporal gyrus (pMTG), suggesting a modality-specific representation of conceptual features. However, as these different parts of pMTG are close to each other, it is possible that the observed anatomical difference is merely related to interindividual variability. In the present functional magnetic resonance imaging study, we now investigated within the same participant group a possible conceptual feature-specific organization in pMTG. Participants performed lexical decisions on sound-related (e.g., telephone) and action-related (hammer) words. Sound words elicited higher activity in anterior pMTG adjacent to auditory association cortex, but action-related words did so in posterior pMTG close to motion sensitive areas. These results confirm distinct conceptual representations of sound and action in pMTG, just adjacent to the respective modality-specific cortices.     

时空隐喻研究的新问题:时间表征的左右方向性

传统的时空隐喻研究主要通过启动范式来研究空间中的前后轴线和上下轴线与时间表征的关系;而近年来,研究者们通过综合运用排序法、判断法、比较法和线索范式,证明了个体会用左右轴线来表征时间.由于传统的理论无法很好地解释时间表征的左右方向性,研究者们倾向于用具身理论(embodiment theory)来解释这一现象.为了深化对空间轴线和时间表征之间的关系的认识,需要统一研究方法、整合不同理论并在神经机制层面上开展新的研究.     

不同线索化条件下返回抑制时程年老化研究

采用线索-靶子范式,比较了单线索和双线索条件下年轻人和老年人返回抑制时间进程的发展趋势。实验1采用单线索化程序和觉察任务,SOA分为9种水平;实验2采用双线索化程序和觉察任务,SOA分为10种水平。结果显示：线索化阶段的注意分配和年龄对返回抑制的时程发展产生影响。（1）在单线索条件下,老年人返回抑制的出现时间比年轻人晚约200ms,消失的时间比年轻人早约1000ms。（2）在双线索条件下,老年人返回抑制的出现时间比年轻人晚约100ms,消失的时间比年轻人早约500ms。     

敬畏对跨期选择的影响：时间洞察力和时距敏感度的作用

本研究考察了情绪(敬畏、愉悦和中性)对跨期选择的影响机制,以及时距敏感度和时间洞察力在其中的作用。结果显示：(1)相比中性,敬畏情绪下个体的折扣率更大;(2)相比中性,敬畏情绪下折扣率降幅更大;(3)对于未来取向者,敬畏情绪下折扣率比中性条件下更大;(4)对于现在取向者,敬畏情绪下折扣率降幅比中性条件下更大。结果表明,敬畏情绪通过未来时距的敏感度影响跨期选择偏好,使个体更加偏好延迟奖赏,同时,个体的时间取向在其中起调节作用。     

CS as an effect: action-based evaluative conditioning depends on temporal contiguity

ABSTRACT

In this study, we analysed Evaluative Conditioning (EC) with a recently introduced S-R paradigm [Blask et al., 2016 Blask, K. , Frings, C. , & Walther, E. (2016). Doing is for feeling. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General , 145 (10), 1263–1268. https://doi.org/ 10.1037/xge0000211 [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]. Doing is for feeling. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 145(10), 1263–1268], in which valence first transfers from an affective US to a response and then from this valence-laden response to a novel CS. Based on action control research, the CS in this procedure could be interpreted as an effect of the response. Hence, temporal contiguity of the valence-laden response and the CS should determine whether EC occurs. We tested this hypothesis in an experiment, in which we varied the time interval between the response and the subsequent CS. Results show that EC effects occurred only under conditions of high temporal contiguity thus supporting our assumptions. This finding sheds light on the processes underlying action-based EC in particular and evaluative learning in general.     

Effects of Developmental Task Constraints on Kinematic Synergies during Catching in Children with Developmental Delays

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine effects of a task intervention on kinematic synergies in catching. Participants were young children (5.58?±?0.52?years) with the lowest scores on two-hand catching, according to assessments with the Test of Gross Motor Development-2 (TGMD-2) and were allocated into two groups. The constraints group took part in an 8-week intervention, whereas the control group experienced a typical physical education. Both groups were assessed with motor development and kinematic coordination measures with a catching task with a ball thrown from 2?m distance. Kinematic variables were recorded using a wireless motion capture system. A principal component analysis (PCA) was used to measure the kinematic synergies formed among active body parts. Two synergies that emerged in catching were mainly utilised for “reaching” and “catching” the ball. The control group tended to re-organise the majority of active body parts into two functional units in all phases, whereas the constraints group adapted their active parts into functional units according to the requirement of the novel movement in the transfer task. The findings of this study suggested that task constraints could facilitate object control by re-organisation of active body parts into functional synergies to achieve successful performance.     

Rhythm and Melody in Children and Adolescents after Left or Right Temporal Lobectomy

Rhythm (a pattern of onset times and duration of sounds) and melody (a pattern of sound pitches) were studied in 22 children and adolescents several years after temporal lobectomy for intractable epilepsy. Left and right lobectomy groups discriminated rhythms equally well, but the right lobectomy group was poorer at discriminating melodies. Children and adolescents with right lobectomy, but not those with left temporal lobectomy, had higher melody scores with increasing age. Rhythm but not melody was related to memory for the right lobectomy group. In neither group was melody related to age at onset of non-febrile seizures, time from surgery to music tests, or the linear amount of temporal lobe resection. Pitch and melodic contour show different patterns of lateralization after temporal lobectomy in childhood or adolescence.     

中医是另一种可能世界的范式

运用科学哲学、后现代主义哲学、后殖民批判关于科学认识论、方法论问题的观点,讨论了中医药存在的合理性和价值问题,认为中医是对生活世界和主体性的回归,是另一种科学或文化范式,中西医都是各民族原创的具有同等地位的元叙说方式和文本。