位置提示下视觉注意范围的调控机制

研究视觉空间注意中不同注意范围引起脑内加工时程的动态变化。使用固定位置的、三种不同直径的线圈作为注意范围的位置性提示,祛除空间定位因素的影响,记录反应时和事件相关电位（ERP）数据。结果显示：在同等注意范围时,随着刺激位置远离视野中心,反应时延长,靶刺激诱发的P1、N1不受刺激位置的影响,而其前部N2的波幅明显受到刺激位置的影响;在靶刺激位置相同时,随着注意范围的扩大,反应时缩短,靶刺激诱发的P1、N1不受提示范围大小的影响,而其前部P2的波幅明显受到注意范围的影响。结果说明：①视觉注意范围信息加工与靶刺激诱发的P2成分相关;②视觉注意诱发的P1、N1成分,主要与注意方位相关,而与注意范围大小无关;③注意范围变化引起注意集中度的调节是在一定范围内进行的。     

爬行经验与婴儿空间认知能力的发展

本研究采用“A非B”时间延搁测验对34名9-12个月缨儿的爬行经验与其空间认知能力发展的关系进行了研究。协方差分析表明,婴儿的爬行经验对其在“A非B”延搁任务中表现出来的空间认知能力有显著的主效应,而年龄的效应不明显;进一步分析显示,爬行经验7周以内的婴儿与爬行经验10周以上的婴儿空间认知能力发展水平差异显著。本研究说明,爬行经验与婴儿在“A非B”延搁任务上表现出来的空间认知能力发展有密切的关系。     

压后皮质在空间导航的作用：认知地图与环境的映射

压后皮质在大脑中紧邻胼胝体压部,在空间导航中起到重要作用,但其具体功能尚未明确。目前存在空间更新、地标领航和参照系转换三种观点。本文通过梳理上述观点,认为压后皮质的功能为对认知地图与环境布局进行映射,这种映射功能有助于解释压后皮质在基于认知地图进行导航过程中的激活。未来研究应该关注对压后皮质的功能分区,也要关注压后皮质与不同脑区的连接,这将对进一步理解其功能有重要的意义。     

Spatial navigation: Cognitive variables involved in route retracing among an elderly population

The cognitive processes involved in route retracing are not well known. This study aims to highlight them in an elderly population in which contradictory results have been obtained, certain studies showing specific difficulties for route retracing, others not. Thirty-nine elderly subjects performed a route-learning task (forward-backward) in a garden, then completed spatial knowledge tasks and standardised cognitive tests. Results show four factors that were predictive of route retracing performance: route repetition, the pointing task, and two standardised cognitive tests, one assessing spatial working memory, and another global cognitive efficiency. According to these results, route retracing involves route and survey knowledge (i.e., egocentric and allocentric strategy), and the integration of forward-backward perspectives is underpinned by the spatial working memory. Moreover, the subjects did not make more errors in route retracing than in the route repetition task, suggesting that a real environment could compensate for a failing allocentric strategy.     

Prevention of Child Maltreatment: Evaluation of a Parent Education Program for Teen Mothers

We conducted an evaluation of a parent education program for the prevention of child maltreatment that served urban teen, unmarried mothers at risk for child maltreatment. Three to five years after the birth of their children, program graduates (n = 125) were significantly less likely than controls (n = 410) to have founded reports of maltreatment in the state database. On the basis of a follow-up phone call to a subset of 80 program graduates and 40 controls, mothers who enrolled in the 12-week parent education/support program showed trends toward being more likely to have completed high school, taken some college courses, and delayed subsequent pregnancies until after age 21.     

心理表征对正投影问题解决及轴测投影图再认水平的影响

借鉴内隐记忆的研究范式,采用平面、分离的正投影问题解决及其相应轴测投影图的再认任务,探讨问题表征的结构特征性对空间问题解决和再认水平的影响。实验结果表明,一般在正投影问题获得正确解决时,对其相应的、先前从未见到过的轴测投影图往往也可获得正确再认,而且基于正投影问题获得正确解决条件下的再认水平（PCC）显著地高于那些问题未得获得解决下的再认水平（PCI）。在结合被试口语记录的基础上,研究结果证明：基于正投影图上的问题解决过程是受到一个具有三维结构特性而非正投影图中二维特性心理表征的调节;并且,正是这一具有三维结构特性心理表征的建构,使得对具有相同结构特性的轴测投影图获得了更为有效的再认。     

To drive or not to drive: Neuropsychological assessment for driver's license among stroke patients

Seventy-two stroke patients, 43 with right hemisphere (RHD) and 29 with left hemisphere damage (LHD), and 7 coronary infarct controls with no evidence of cerebral damage, were neuropsychologically tested as part of an assessment program for driver's license. Mean age in the group was 53 years. Stroke patients were tested on average 4 months post injury. The groups did not differ on major demographic variables except that RHD patients were more often hemiplegic than LHD patients. The test battery was factor analyzed into 4 valid principal components: (I) visual perception , (II) spatial attention , (III) visuospatial processing , and (IV) language/praxis. The presence of hemianopia (factor I) excludes driving. In addition, measures of neglect and reduced speed of mental processing from factor II, III and IV, were found to be the most discriminating variables when classifying patients for driving. Even though neglect was more frequently observed among RHD than LHD patients, the two hemisphere groups did not differ significantly in number of patients denied driving, 58% RHD compared to 41% LHD patients. The need for comprehensive neuropsychological assessment is underlined.     

Learning about food: starlings, skinner boxes, and earthworms

Despite its importance as a tool for understanding a wide range of animal behavior, the study of reinforcement schedules in the laboratory has suffered from difficulties in the biological interpretation of its findings. This study is an operant-laboratory investigation of the ability of European starlings, Sturnus vulgaris, to learn to respond adaptively to the problem of foraging on patchily distributed prey that are uncertainly located in space. In order to maximize the biological relevance of the laboratory study, variation in the aggregation of earthworms, Lumbricus terrestris (a prey species), was rigorously quantified from the field, and the experimental birds were presented with reinforcement schedules designed to represent the extremes of the observed variation. The results demonstrate that, even for a single prey species, the degree to which individuals are aggregated can vary markedly over a range of spatial scales, and that starlings can rapidly learn to respond, in an adaptive manner, to these variations. These findings suggest that starlings are capable of adjusting their behavior to facilitate the efficient exploitation of prey that occurs in patches of an uncertain nature, and thus illustrate the heuristic value of an ecologically informed operant-laboratory approach to studying foraging behavior.